Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Every year Microsoft updates their massive library of free eBooks, and the list of their 2017 offerings has just been announced.
You’ll find eBooks for virtually every Microsoft product and service, all the way from Azure to Windows 10.
While most of these eBooks were written for developers on topics that won’t interest the average user, there are several great titles that will benefit most everyone. [Read more…]
Question from Paula H.: I’ve noticed that Microsoft releases most Windows Updates to everyone at once but every now and then they’ll release one to people in batches, over several days.
Why don’t they just release all updates to everyone at the same time? Seems like it would be simpler that way.
Rick’s answer: That’s a great question, Paula. And if memory serves you’re the only person who has ever asked it.
There are actually two reasons why Microsoft “rolls out” some updates instead of making them available to everyone at the same time: [Read more…]
Do you still have a laptop or desktop PC that’s running Windows Vista? If so, you’ll soon have to decide whether want to keep using it or not.
Microsoft officially ended support for Windows XP about a year ago, and Vista is scheduled to get the boot on April 11 of this year.
What does this change mean for Vista users?
Well, your PC won’t simply stop working on April 11. In fact, you won’t notice any change at all from your perspective as a user. But there’s a problem… [Read more…]
For many Windows users, the biggest frustration of 2016 was having to fight Microsoft tooth and nail just to prevent their PCs from being automatically upgraded to Windows 10.
As you probably remember, the company was determined to get as many users to “accept” the free upgrade to Windows 10 as possible during the free upgrade period.
They kept getting more aggressive by the day as the calendar approached the end of the free upgrade period on July 29, and it finally got to a point where I asked if the “Get Windows 10” app hadn’t actually morphed into the realm of malware.
A lot of people agreed that the app had indeed morphed into malware, but many of the tech experts and pundits that I follow disagreed even though the evidence was quite compelling.
Well, it turns out I was right, and Microsoft themselves just admitted it (in a round-about way). [Read more…]
Did you know that Microsoft uses your computer’s Windows 10 installation to spy on you?
Windows 10 has a “Telemetry and Data Collection” tool that gathers several kinds of user data from your PC and sends it back to Microsoft via the Internet.
Personally, I don’t much like that. [Read more…]