It’s not that long ago, really not a distant memory, when Microsoft were hauled before regulators in the US and Europe for several years over the anti-competitive practices of bundling Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player with Windows.  Competitors such as Opera and Real Networks (remember them?) said such practices were damaging their own success [...]

Yesterday Microsoft finally announced their plans for Windows 8 running on ARM-designed processors.  The news came with two very interesting pieces of information… “WOA (Windows on ARM) includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. These new Office applications, codenamed ‘Office 15,’ have been significantly architected for both touch and minimized [...]

The beta “Consumer Preview” version of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system could be released on Wednesday 29th February.  Microsoft have announced a “Windows 8 Consumer Preview event” in the city, that is also home to the Mobile World Congress expo that week. This looks like a reasonable time to launch the beta given that [...]

In case you missed it, we’ve had a great Windows 8 discussion going on here at gHacks in the last couple of days, one that is no doubt set to continue for a while yet in various forms as we look forward to the release of the Consumer Preview (beta) at the end of this [...]

Yesterday Martin wrote up his thoughts and concerns about the forthcoming Windows 8 operating system from Microsoft.  I’ve spent much more time with Windows 8 so far, have given talks about and I’m current writing two books about how to get the best out of it, one for complete novices and another for IT Pros [...]

News reached the world-wide-web last week that Microsoft Office 15 had reached the Technical Preview stage, and that a beta would be available this summer.  That’s all we know about the company’s next generation integrated Office suite at the moment except that the company in a recent blog post said that “Office 15 is the [...]

Last week Google announced changes to its privacy policy that, on the face of it seem perfectly reasonable.  In essence they want to treat all the different Google services you use as a single big account and share the data.  What this ultimately means though is that the company will know absolutely huge volumes of [...]

It is widely expected that when Microsoft launch the Windows 8 beta in a few weeks that it will be labelled the “Windows 8 Consumer Preview”.  This has alarmed and concerned many IT Pros who feel that Windows 8 is cutting them out with Microsoft putting all the focus on consumers and tablets with its [...]

It seems like just a short while ago that I was writing about how Windows XP had just 1,000 days of support left but now that number is down to under 800!  Microsoft reminded us of this on the weekend with a blog post encouraging companies to migrate to Windows 7 as soon as possible [...]

Google recently revealed the plan to merge the privacy policies and terms of service for most of the company’s products. This move gives all Google services direct access to all user data. Google search for instance can take into account what kind of emails a user gets in Gmail to personalize the search results based [...]

We take for granted these days that Microsoft will always provide new versions of Windows and Windows Server, that Google will always provide world-leading search and that many other companies will just be there for us in perpetuity.  After all, look at the big names like Coca Cola, Ford and and more that have been with [...]

The closer we get to the unveiling of the Windows 8 beta, the more I’m thinking about the impact (or not) this operating system is going to have on the world.  Since we first saw that Metro would be the default interface for Windows I have been as sceptical as many IT Pros, but now [...]

As we approach the beta of Windows 8 I’ve been thinking more about Windows tablets, and on our sister site Windows8News I’ve today written an article about the pros and cons of Windows on ARM.  One of these issues will be how successful the platform is overall.  In a large part this will rest on [...]

In a week where Microsoft have released a SkyDrive app for Windows Phone, OneNote for the iPad and updates to Hotmail, the Senior Director of Office 365, Tom Rizzo, has said we should expect more platforms to be supported by Microsoft mobile products next year. In an interview with veteran Microsoft journalist Mary-Jo Foley, Rizzo said [...]

If you are using Microsoft’s Hotmail email service you have probably already noticed new options that are displayed in the web interface. Here is the new feature overview for those who have not, and those who have spotted some but not all of the new features. New email accounts can be created on the official [...]

One of the core issues that Microsoft is facing in the browser-war is that many users of the Internet Explorer browser are not updating the web browser. If you look at the browser’s market share, you will notice that users are still working with Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8 and not the latest version [...]

Microsoft in the beginning of December launched a SkyDrive update that improved the functionality of the service significantly. One of the biggest new features is what Microsoft calls simple app-centric sharing. This basically adds easy sharing options to applications. Instead of having to leave the application they are working on and thinking about file permissions [...]

How do you make Excel data available on the Internet? You could upload the spreadsheet directly, or use the program’s export feature to export the spreadsheet as a static table full of data. Developers who wanted more than that had to find a way to use the spreadsheet data with a web scripting language, for [...]

Microsoft has released a new version of Silverlight, a technology for creating interactive web and mobile applications. It is in many regards Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s Flash technology. There have been rumors for quite some time now that Microsoft would stop Silverlight development as it was never really able to break Flash’s dominance on the [...]

When it comes to tech support for their products, Microsoft tries to handle most requests via websites like Microsoft Answers or the Microsoft Support website. Depending on the product, problem and country, phone support may be available. Some support requests redirect users to the new Answer Desk website which – according to Microsoft – is [...]

As Martin wrote earlier, today marked the unveiling of the new Windows Store that will be integrated into all Microsoft products including Windows 8, Windows Phone and the Xbox.  One very interesting snippet of information that came from the Windows Store launch though was ‘confirmation’ of the availability date for the Windows 8 beta. I [...]

Microsoft’s next operating system Windows 8 will have an app store. That’s what every tech savvy Windows user knows. Microsoft’s own Antoine Leblond and Ted Dworkin have now started a small series of posts about the Windows Store over at the Building Windows 8 blog. Much of what’s being said in the first post is [...]

Microsoft’s Technet site is a huge documentation repository for all things Microsoft. The library on Technet offers technical documentation for Microsoft products and technologies. Sometimes you may want to save documents to your local computer system, for instance to access the documents when no Internet connection is available or to include documents in learning materials. [...]

Microsoft have begun issuing invitations to testers who expressed an interest in the next generation version of their Security Essentials, free anti-virus product. In the invitation email the company say… The Beta program is a fully functional antimalware app with ongoing updates to help protect your PC from viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.  In [...]

Microsoft have today announced that new features are rolling out to users of its SkyDrive service.  There’s no wait for the new features either as they’re going to start rolling out immediately.  SkyDrive has come under extensive criticism in recent months for limiting the sync storage that Windows Live Mesh (and Windows 8) can use [...]

Microsoft’s free security software, Microsoft Security Essentials, has become a very popular program in the world of Windows. There is no single reason for that, factors that weight in heavily are that it is free, relatively lightweight and unobtrusive, and that it is developed by Microsoft directly. Microsoft yesterday has opened registrations for the next [...]

While Google Translate is probably the most popular online translation service, there are others that may be less popular but are often equally good when it comes to translating contents into other languages. Microsoft’s Translation service is without doubt not as popular as Google’s service. The service is available over at Microsoft Translator. It works [...]

Whenever possible I prefer not to enter login information on third party computer systems and networks. Why? Because I do not have full control over the software running in the background. Other means of logging in are preferred, especially passwords that are only valid once and expire afterwards. That’s what Hotmail has added to their [...]

I’ve used a lot of Windows Phone handsets since the platform was first released a year ago so you can imagine that I was a little sceptical about the new HTC Titan because of it’s near 5 inch screen.  Dell’s 5 inch touchscreen device is marketed as a tablet after all and, as the Titan comes [...]

The Security Intelligence Report is a biannual report by Microsoft that analyzes past and present security trends. It focuses on “software vulnerabilities, software vulnerability exploits, malicious and potentially unwanted software, and security breaches”. The latest report published yesterday focuses on the first and second quarter of 2011 and compares the findings with data from previous [...]

Those of you who follow my articles with any regularity will know that one of the biggest arguments I make about the modern technology industry is their insistence on playing Patent tennis with each other.  This back and forth of legal battles, and the scrabbling by technology giants to buy up valuable patent libraries only [...]

When you look at the performance view of Windows Task Manager on your desktop PC you probably see between two or eight logical processors listed in the interface. On large scale computer systems running Windows 7, the count may be a lot higher. Microsoft showed a screenshot of the performance tab of Windows Task Manager [...]

Skype is a voice over IP software that millions of computer users use every day to communicate with each other. The Skype protocol or functionality up until now has not been made available in many third party applications or services. The most prominent example in recent times is without doubt the integration of Skype’s video [...]

Spam is a thorny issue, but Ed Bott has written today about a little known clause in the contracts for Microsoft Office 365 customers that could give them serious cause for concern.  The clause deals with how many recipients can be sent emails each day from an Office 365 account. Small business accounts are limited [...]

With Skype now being a Microsoft Division it was clear that some things had to change. There is still a lot of speculating going on in this regard. The Skype development team has released Skype 5.6 for the Windows operating system and an update for Skye 5.5 that removes the Google product bundling from the [...]

Microsoft yesterday announced that the company closed the acquisition of Skype which is now an official part of Microsoft Corp. The acquisition, which cost Microsoft $8.5 billion US Dollars was originally announced on May 10, 2011. Former Skype CEO Tony Bates is the first president of Microsoft’s Skype division reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Steve [...]

One of the aspects of buying a specific product online or offline is that product’s support lifecycle. The support lifecycle in plain terms refers to the time the developer or manufacturer of the product supports it with updates and staff to help users in support related tasks. It is on the other hand not as [...]

Microsoft have launched a new website aimed at helping people identify how secure their web browser really is.  www.YourBrowserMatters.org will tell visitors in a simple score from 0 to 4 just how secure they are when they go online. In a blog post today, the company said that 24.4% of all web browsers are outdated [...]

While some experts say that daily deals sites are already fading away again others say that their boom will continue in the next years. Microsoft with its Bing search engine certainly thinks that there is money to be made as they have just launched Bing Daily Deals in twelve US cities. Cities included in the [...]

If you had the chance to play around with the Windows 8 developer preview that Microsoft released publicly last month you have noticed that it feels different from previous versions of the operating system in many regards. This can be largely attributed to the new Metro start screen that pops up whenever you start the [...]

Microsoft introduced gadgets when the company launched the Windows Vista operating system. First in a limited gadget’s sidebar that restricted the location that gadgets could be placed in, and then usable on the full desktop with the release of Windows 7. Users who visit the Windows Live Gallery page are now redirected to a Looking [...]

It’s not been a good year for Microsoft when it comes to their overall standing in the technology business space.  A couple of months ago Apple overtook the company as the number 1 international technology company in terms of value because of the frankly amazing work done by Steve Jobs and his team over the [...]

When Microsoft released a late alpha, but generally stable version of the Windows 8 Developer Preview the other week a great many people, including myself, were greatly surprised.  This is because it goes against everything Windows chief Steven Sinofsky generally believes.  But it was very clear why Microsoft had made this decision. They know full [...]

I’m really delighted to be able to announce that this morning five of my Windows 7 troubleshooting tutorial videos went live on the official Microsoft support website at support.microsoft.com.  The videos, which are about three minutes each cover the subjects Using the Automated Troubleshooters, Repairing Corrupt Boot Files, Using the System File Checker, Using the [...]

Bing just like Google may display sitelinks or authority links underneath the first search result for a certain query. Google recently gave those sitelinks more room which I criticized for being to large for what little value they add to the search results page. Bing basically stayed with the initial design that displays a list [...]

You have probably read a good dozen or even more Windows 8 related articles in the past week. With the release of the developer preview came a huge increase in articles and guides about Microsoft’s new operating system. Microsoft do their part by releasing new articles on the Building Windows 8 blog regularly. Plus, they [...]

I’ve been using the Windows 8 Developer Preview now for a few days on three different machines, a desktop, a laptop and a tablet, to get a good overall view of how this beta (early beta) operating system runs on these different devices.  Now I feel I’m ready to let you know what I think [...]

A recent search engine trend is to personalize the user experience. You can best see this on Google Search, where you not only see personalized search results based on previous searches and activities, but also +1′s by friends. If you take ten users and ask them to search on Google Search for the same topic, [...]

In 5 Things I Love About Windows 8 I listed five features of Microsoft’s upcoming operating system that I really like. If you read that article you may have noticed that those features are all “desktop” related. They do not have anything to do with the new Metro UI of Windows 8, and that is [...]

Microsoft demoed the Windows 8 operating system publicly for the first time yesterday on the Build Conference. And while that presentation was concentrating on developing applications and compatible hardware for the operating system, end users were able to get a good sneak peek of things to come as well. Especially so considering that Microsoft made [...]