Over the past decade, Microsoft fans have been burned by a number of ill-fated initiatives including Windows Media Center, PlaysForSure, Zune, Windows Home Server, and, most recently, Windows RT. This most misunderstood and misguided Windows version never really had a chance, but for the millions of people still using these devices—many quite enthusiastically—that doesn’t matter.…

As you may know, Windows 10 Technical Preview 2 ships with a number of attractive new lock screen backgrounds. But here’s how you can unlock a hidden “Threshold” lock screen. The weird thing about this, and the reason why I’ve held off on publishing this tip for a few days, is that what you see…

Note: This was cross-posted from the Field Guide Books web site. If you’re not familiar with this site, I’ve been working on a series of free and inexpensive e-books that cover core Microsoft platforms. Windows 10 Field Guide will be a follow-up to last year’s Windows 8.1 Field Guide. —Paul I spent some time discussing Windows…

If you’re using a previous build of Windows 10, you can use the PC Settings Preview Builds interface to upgrade to Windows 10 Technical Preview 2. But anyone can download the ISO versions of this new build and perform a clean install or upgrade on the PC of their choice. Technically, you’re supposed to be…

For Windows 10, Microsoft is a new Photos experience, a universal app with improved features that will also work on Windows Phone.

I was so excited to hear Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella voice my “mobile first, cloud first, Windows best” mantra during his appearance at the Windows 10 event on Wednesday. And I thrilled to hear him say that Microsoft wanted people to love Windows. But I have bad news, Mr. Nadella. No one is ever going…

Good news, Windows fans: the wait is over. Microsoft this morning released Windows 10 Technical Preview 2 (TP2), or what is sometimes called the “January build of the Windows Technical Preview.” No matter what you call it, Windows 10 build 9926 is now available for download in x86, x64 and Enterprise variants. (In other words,…

Critics of Xbox Music have often pointed out that the service is too reliant on the Xbox Music Pass subscription and doesn’t handle private music collections very well. But with Windows 10, Microsoft will finally let users store their own music collections in OneDrive and then access and edit them from within Xbox Music on…

The latest Windows includes a number of technologies for replicating and backing up documents and other files on your PC, wiping out the PC to start over from scratch, and imaging the drive so that you can recover in the event of a hard drive failure. Which of these technologies you choose will depend on…