boot13No, not really. But one of those annoying messages did pop up on the screen in the middle of a live weather forecast by KCCI 8 News Meteorologist Metinka Slater. To her credit, Slater laughed off the incident, which is probably not how I would have reacted.
Category Archives: Windows 10
In keeping with its traditionally senseless naming conventions, Microsoft decides to skip Windows 9 and call its next O/S Windows 10.
Windows 10 Preview Builds 14328 and 14316
Since I’m curious about the Windows 10 auto-update process, I usually wait for new builds to be installed automatically before I write about them. Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14328 was announced on April 22, but this morning (April 27), I started to wonder why my test computer was still running Build 14316.
The Windows Update settings page informed me that there had been a problem connecting with the update servers. Below this message was a Retry button. Clicking the button immediately started installing Build 14332, which was announced on April 26.
I’m not sure I understand what Microsoft thinks an ‘automatic’ update system should do, if it doesn’t automatically retry after failed server connections. Oh well, this is a preview build. Presumably this sort of thing won’t happen with release builds.
In any case, this means we have two builds to discuss.
Build 14328
The most notable change in 14328 is the introduction of Windows Ink, which adds pen/touch input support to Windows 10 and many of its included apps. If you don’t use a touch interface, this won’t be of much interest, although you can still use the Ink features.
Build 14328 includes welcome enhancements to the Start menu, although it’s still not possible to add custom entries. That functionality died with Windows 7, and it seems unlikely to return at this point.
Cortana can now be activated from the lock screen, which is obviously much more convenient for folks who use Cortana but also value security.
Windows 10’s search capabilities are improved in Build 14328; it now searches files on OneDrive cloud storage as well as local files.
Improvements to the Action Center include a more distinct notification icon, which now shows the number of pending notifications. Quick Actions may now be customized.
You can now access your calendar from the date/time display in the notification area, a feature that existed in Windows 95 but vanished in later versions for no apparent reason.
The taskbar clock now appears on all displays, something that gamers will appreciate. Taskbar settings are now on the All Settings screen. Why they were ever missing is a mystery.
The audio icon in the notification area now allows switching between audio output devices, something we’ve wanted to see in Windows for ages.
The Apps and Features settings page has a new feature that will reset a misbehaving app to its default settings.
Security was improved further with the removal of email addresses from the lock screen (by default). The lock screen now also includes media controls, so you don’t need to unlock Windows to play the next track.
Various bug fixes and visual changes round out this build, including new and improved icons for Windows Explorer and settings pages.
Build 14332
In this build, support for Linux programs is improved. I’m still not able to use this interesting feature, because my test PC is running a 32-bit Windows 10 build. I could upgrade it to 64-bit, but it also only has 2 GB of RAM, and although that’s technically enough to run 64-bit Windows 10, enabling the Linux subsystem and its other requirements will almost certainly overload it. 🙁
Cortana can now search documents on Office 365.
Changes to power management should improve battery life in this build.
Numerous bugs were also fixed in this build.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14316
Last week Microsoft pushed out another preview build for Windows 10: build 14316.
For me, the most interesting aspect of build 14316 is ability to use Linux commands from the Windows 10 command line. Getting this to actually work involves a few additional steps, including installation of Visual Studio, Microsoft’s main development platform. Sadly (for me, anyway), this essentially requires at least 4 GB of RAM, and my test PC has only 2 GB.
Build 14316 also sports improvements to Cortana, more new extensions for Edge, and better control of alerts in the Action Center. You can now switch between dark and light visual modes globally. Virtual Desktops have been enhanced with multi-desktop pinnable windows. Battery settings were improved. The Feedback Hub now allows user comments.
The BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) screen that appears when Windows crashes has been improved with QR codes. This is a neat idea, because it means you no longer have to write down the error details. Just scan the code with your smartphone to find out what the error means.
A new setting in Windows Update allows you to specify a window of time during which the computer should not be restarted automatically. Unfortunately, the window can be ten hours long at the most.
With this build, Microsoft changed the status messages that appear on your screen during installation. These messages now look more like the ones you see when installing Windows updates. This change may be partly due to the unintentionally humourous nature of the original messages. My favourite was “All your files are exactly where you left them”, which was presumably meant to be reassuring, particularly as upgrades in previous Windows versions would sometimes blow away user data.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14295
Late last week, preview build 14295 started making its way to computers enrolled in the ‘Fast track’ Windows 10 Insider Preview program. Yesterday, the build was made available to computers on the ‘Slow track’.
This latest build actually includes some interesting features. Or it will when the accompanying developer tools become available. With this build, Microsoft is expanding support for Linux tools on Windows 10, including the BASH scripting language.
While not of much interest to regular users, adding Linux tools to Windows 10 shows that Microsoft is actually listening to developers and other power users.
Build 14295 also fixes some minor problems affecting XBox compatibility, the Edge browser, and Kaspersky security software.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14291
There’s another preview build for Windows 10. According to the accompanying announcement, build 14291 includes improvements to Edge and the Feedback Hub, Microsoft’s mechanism for reporting Windows 10 issues.
The changes to Edge show that Microsoft is still playing catchup, adding features that have existed in the other major browsers for a while. So there’s nothing particularly revolutionary, but if you’re forcing yourself to use Edge, being able to use extensions and pin tabs will be helpful.
Several of the Windows 10 apps have also been improved, including Maps, and Alarms & Clock.
Privacy-related updates to avoid on Windows 7 & 8.1
If you use Windows 7 or 8.1, by now you’ve no doubt noticed that Microsoft is trying to push you to upgrade to Windows 10. In my opinion, Microsoft is doing this because Windows 10 includes a lot of features that track your activities, and the information gathered is extremely valuable for the purposes of advertising. Windows 10 doesn’t have a lot of advertising yet, and Microsoft denies that this is what they’re planning, but it seems clear that Microsoft is jealous of Google’s enormously lucrative ad-supported empire.
But what about all those people staying with Windows 7 and 8.1? Microsoft’s solution is to retrofit those versions, via Windows Update, with some of the privacy-invading features from Windows 10. And of course, because we’re talking about Microsoft, they’re trying to hide what they’re doing by obfuscating the true purpose of these updates. The language used to describe these updates tends to include phrases like “This service provides benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded.”
We’ve discussed the KB3035583 update (and how to remove it) before. That’s the update that adds all those annoying upgrade prompts to Windows 7 and 8.1. But you should be aware of (and watch for) a few other sneaky updates. These have been generally categorized as ‘telemetry’ updates; a reference to the way they monitor what’s happening on your computer.
Telemetry Updates
If you want to avoid these telemetry updates, check to see if they are already installed. If they are, uninstall them, and use the ‘hide’ feature of Windows Update to prevent them from reappearing. If you see these updates listed in Windows Update, make sure to de-select them, then hide them.
Varying interpretations
Woody Leonhard is getting a bit of a reputation as a Microsoft apologist. You may recall that he refused to believe that Microsoft would push Windows 10 onto Windows 7 users, and later had to admit he’d been wrong. Woody’s analysis of the telemetry updates is predictably pro-Microsoft.
At the other end of the spectrum, there’s a project on Github that consists of a batch script that automatically removes all of the telemetry updates from Windows 7 and 8.1. It actually removes twenty-one updates, many of which are shady for other reasons besides privacy.
A more balanced analysis is provided by the GHacks site. This article identifies the most problematic (telemetry) updates and explains how to get rid of them.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14279
Improvements to Cortana are featured in the latest Windows 10 preview build. Cortana now understands Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil) and French (Canada), and it’s now easier to set reminders without a specific date or time.
Build 14279 also includes fixes for a few stability issues, including problems experienced by some users when installing driver updates.
Opera 35.0.2066.92
A few minor bug fixes and performance improvements found their way into version 35.0.2066.92, the latest release of Opera ‘Stable’.
None of the changes are related to security, so there’s no rush to update, although if you’ve been experiencing problems with Opera on Windows 10, the new version should help.
The full change log doesn’t provide any additional information this time.
Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14271
Windows 10 preview builds are being pushed out more frequently these days. Build 14271 doesn’t include anything particularly exciting, consisting mostly of minor bug fixes. The associated announcement provides details.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14267
For those of you interested in the Windows 10 Insider Preview builds, the latest is build 14267, which was announced on February 18.
Build 14267 finally fixes the WSClient.dll error dialogs that were popping up in previous builds. Problems with certain front-facing cameras have been fixed. The ‘Reset this PC’ function is once again working properly with this build.
It’s now easier to use Cortana to identify playing music. There are several improvements to Edge, including Favorites management, an option to clear browsing data on exit, and better download management.