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This week also Microsoft unveiled that they had sold 40 million licenses of Windows 8 the first month, with a little help, of course. Do you have a touch-enabled device like a tablet or a new all-in-one PC? If yes and if you want to learn more touch gestures to get the most out of your device, you should check the new free training from Microsoft — The interesting part is that each tutorial was created with GIF animated images....

In this guide, I’ll walk you through step-by-step to successfully complete the Windows Setup. To get started, download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO file that will suit your hardware configuration; you can choose from 32-bit or 64-bit version and different languages are also available. You should also check How to prepare your PC for Windows 8 Consumer Preview, in this article you’ll find many important tips you need to know to deal with a pre-release version of Windows (system requirement, use a virtual machine or a physical machine, what is the optimal screen resolution for Windows, what to do before install and much more)....

Sources familiar to the project revealed the port layout expected to appear in the back of the Xbox Series X console, which will include two USB ports, one HDMI input, Ethernet, optional audio, and power port. If you ever wondered why a Solid-State Drive (SSD) degrades performance over time, you can check this guide to find out. In case you missed it, you can also download the pick of the week theme: Classic Cars to refresh your desktop....

All these new releases are just minor updates with small improvements and changes. The software giant also released the ISO file for build 17115 for those who want to test the upcoming version of Windows 10 using a clean installation. Also, don’t forget to check the video review with Windows 10 build 17618 highlighting the new improvements and features, including a closer look at Sets and tabs in File Explorer....

The company also revealed that it’s now in the process to update devices running Windows 10 version 1903 to version 1909 automatically. Although the automatic update was expected since version 1903 is nearing the end of service, it’s uncommon to see Microsoft updating to a follow up version instead of the most recent version, which in this case is version 20H2. As part of the November Patch Tuesday update, Windows 10 version 20H2 received its first official quality update....

Though we still don’t have a specific date for the first public preview of Windows Threshold, ZDNet reported that Microsoft is right on schedule to deliver a preview that anyone can download in the fall timeframe. If everything falls into place, it means the tech giant won’t be delaying the final version of the operating system, which may be called “Windows 9”, and we could be seeing a final version by spring 2015....

Previous report suggested that the official name would be “April 2018 update,” as it was referred with that wording by a Microsoft employee in a video that was first spotted by Microsoft watcher WalkinCat on Twitter. Just remember that whatever the company end up deciding as the final name, “Windows 10 April update” (via Neowin) will be the marketing (friendly name), as it’s already officially known as Windows 10 version 1803....

DataSense isn’t fully implemented on build 9860, but users can already go to PC settings and access the new feature. While in DataSense users will be presented with three different sections: Overview, Usage, and Settings. The Overview shows small details of data usage in different type of networks: Wi-Fi and Cellular. While Usage at this point shows the same details from Overview, but it adds information on System Services data usage....

Like in Windows Phone, Storage Sense is a feature to manage the storage in your computer. In Windows 10, you can use the feature to understand what’s filling out the storage and free up some space as necessary. The new feature is located in the main list of items for PC settings, and when you go inside the new page, you’ll find two sections: Storage overview and Storage locations....

Below, you’ll find a list of feature deprecation in Windows 10: Microsoft is discontinuing Windows Media Center, as such Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, or Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center users will see this the feature removed. Windows 10 Home users will have updates from Windows Update automatically available. Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise users will have the ability to defer updates....

The 20H2 update is the second semi-annual feature update that comes after version 2004, and since the company will be using the same “major” and “minor” schedule like the updates released in 2019, the Windows 10 20H2 update will be available as a quick minor update using an enablement package for devices already running the May 2020 Update (with the June 2020 cumulative update). On devices without the May 2020 Update, the new release will be available as a feature update that will require full reinstallation of the operating system and it’ll take longer to install....

The three new updates include the KB3050279 that addresses the problem with sharing a desktop in a meeting using Lync. The KB3050284 fixes the issue that could result in a transparent Start menu and Task View, transparencies when snapping or dragging windows, and can cause desktop thumbnails to appear as black squares. In addition, this update resolves a problem that results in severe graphical artifacts on screen when Magnifier is launched in docked or lens mode, and contains a reliability improvement to resolve a common system crash....

According to Microsoft, the major changes are happening on Microsoft Edge. In Windows 10 build 10576 for PCs, the software giant is finally enabling “Cast media to device”, which enables users to play content from the web browser to any Miracast or DLNA enabled device over the local network. At this moment, you can try casting YouTube videos, Facebook photo albums, and music from Pandora. All you have to do is browse any of these content providers and click on the “…” menu from the top-right side of the app, and select “Cast media to device”....

Windows 10 Insider Preview build 17123, according to the company, introduces the High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF), which is an image container that uses modern codecs like HEVC to improve quality, compression, and capabilities compared to earlier formats like JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Also, this new format supports encoding image sequences, image collections, auxiliary images like alpha or depth maps, live images, video, audio, and HDR for improved contrast....

According to the company’s announcement, the update KB5022282 bumps the version number to build 19042.2486 (20H2), 19043.2486 (21H1), 19044.2486 (21H2), and 19045.2486 (22H2) and addresses issues that affect the Local Session Manager (LSM), apps that use Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) to connect to databases, and problems with startup on some Windows devices. (These are the same fixes you will find in the update for Windows 11 21H2....

Windows 10 build 19592, according to the company, brings back the new tablet experience for convertible devices, which allows users entering tablet posture to stay in the familiar desktop experience without interruption. Some of the improvements for the tablet experience, include spaced out Taskbar icons. The search box in the taskbar will only appear as an icon. The touch keyboard auto invokes when you tap a text field, and the File explorer elements will have a little more padding....

Windows 10 build 19613, according to the company, fixes a problem causing app icons in the taskbar to not display correctly. Addresses issues impacting Windows Forms applications, doskey /listsize and doskey /reinstall, and fixes problem that will cause the Settings app to crash when removing a font. Alongside the fixes for build 19613, the company is now enabling Bing Answers and Assistant Conversations for the new Cortana app in more languages, including Australia: English, Brazil: Portuguese, Canada: English/French, France: French, Germany: German, India: English, Italy: Italian, Japan: Japanese Mexico: Spanish, Spain: Spanish, and United Kingdom: English....

The build 21364 for Windows 10, according to the announcement, brings improvements to the Task Manager to show process classifications for Microsoft Edge, and there is a new experimental feature known as “Eco mode” that allows users to throttle resources manually. This flight also ships with an updated version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that adds support for graphical Linux applications. Furthermore, Windows 10 build 21364 includes changes for the Japanese touch keyboard, tweaks for notifications, and a bunch of fixes....

The screenshots from the build 9901 do not show any new changes in the Start menu, but it does show that Cortana is taking shape in the latest leaked version of Windows 10. In the screenshot below, you can see a normal search query done in the new search box that brings results from the web and apps. And at the top you can see the unmistakable Cortana button at the center with a home button at the top-left....

However, this doesn’t mean that devices will be getting new feature updates every December and June. The schedule only reflects when Microsoft considers a new update complete, and then it shifts to testing and fixing bugs before shipping the final release to every device. Once a new version of Windows 10 is complete, it usually takes a couple months before it starts rolling out to compatible devices. Although the new schedule will continue to offer two feature updates every year, and users won’t see any difference, now that the schedule is changing, it’s possible that Microsoft could change the version number scheme from 03 (March) and 09 (September) to 06 (June) and 12 (December)....