Microsoft Support & Discussions

Graduation is a milestone in one’s life. It signals the end of an era – and the beginning of something new. Starting April 24 through June 18, Microsoft Store is offering great savings on Surface devices, select Windows 10 PCs, VR headset, headphones and more to help the grad in your life celebrate with a gift that can help them tackle everything that lies ahead. We’ve rounded up some of the top deals available today to prepare your graduate for next stage in life: Save up to $150 on Surface Pro 4*: These well-crafted, beautiful devices empower the creator in all of us. Surface Pro 4 , a device that offers the balance of portability and performance of a lapt…

After a mysterious disappearance, Locky has reemerged -- and is borrowing attack techniques from Dridex. The ransomware that drove last year's boom in file-encrypting malware is back, and this time it's even harder to detect. Ransomware cost its victims some $1bn during 2016, with Locky one of the most widespread variants, infecting organisations across the globe. However, the start of 2017 saw a sudden decline in the distribution of Locky, to such an extent that another form of ransomware -- Cerber -- has usurped Locky's dominance. But after being all but written off, Locky is staging a comeback. Cybersecurity researchers at Cisco Talos have observed a su…

This week, we’ve shared a new video and blog post every day to introduce you to the best of Microsoft Edge, and, in our final post today, we’re talking all about entertainment. Did you know Microsoft Edge is the only browser that enables you to stream 4k Ultra HD Netflix movies and TV shows*, and the only browser on Windows 10 to support Dolby Digital Plus audio format natively? We also designed Microsoft Edge to deliver more battery life when unplugged – without any special battery saving mode or changes to default settings – so you can stream content longer than on other browsers, giving you more time to binge-watch your favorite show without hunting for an outlet. …

The Security Update Guide has been in public preview since November 2016. This month marked our first release when security update information was published entirely in the new format. Over the last few months, customers and partners have provided a lot of feedback on the direction and implementation of the Security Update Guide. As we completed Preview this month, we want to let you know that we are continuing to listen to your feedback, and are working to enhance your experience. So—thank you! Here are some highlights of what we are rolling out this month: Fixed a few bugs in translations and data population Improved the experience of using advisories, such as a…

Over the past year we’ve introduced many new features in Windows 10 Mail & Calendar apps for users with Outlook.com accounts—such as easily tracking travel and shipping deliveries, making emails more actionable, helping you easily track your favorite sports events, faster search, and more. We’re now excited to bring these features to our users with Gmail accounts, so you can enjoy the best of what Windows 10 Mail & Calendar have to offer. We’ll roll out the improved experience gradually to users with Gmail accounts in the Windows Insiders program over the next several weeks. We’d love for you to provide feedback on the experience in this phase. After we’ve inco…

The Security Update Guide has been in public preview since November 2016. This month marked our first release when security update information was published entirely in the new format. Over the last few months, customers and partners have provided a lot of feedback on the direction and implementation of the Security Update Guide.

Security is a critical component of our products at Microsoft. A strong emphasis on security is a persistent factor throughout our entire development process. Microsoft is committed to designing and developing secure software. Testing is performed both internally and by working closely with the broader security community. This is done through a wide range of partnerships and programs including bug bounties to ensure that customers receive the most secure products. Serving this mission, Microsoft launched its first bounty program in 2013 to compensate researchers for their time spent investigating and reporting security vulnerabilities directly to Microsoft. Since then, Mi…

We hope you enjoyed today’s episode of This Week on Windows! Head over here to see our series, “A Week with Microsoft Edge,” all about the browser designed for Windows 10. Check out five ways to get started with the Paint 3D app, learn more about the new creativity apps for Surface Dial, download the Netflix app from the Windows Store to get ready for Bill Nye Saves the World on April 21 – or, keep reading to catch up on all of this week’s news. In case you missed it: HP announces new Pavilion convertible PCs powered by Windows 10 at Coachella Click to view slideshow. HP revealed a new lineup of Pavilion laptops powered by Windows 10 with sophisticated desig…

Next up in our series, A Week with Microsoft Edge we’re talking about how the browser is built for books and reading. With the Windows 10 Creators Update, we’ve worked to make reading in Microsoft Edge a great experience and have expanded the type of content you can read right within the browser. You can read PDF files, the e-book file format EPUB and books you’ve downloaded from the Windows Store right within Microsoft Edge. You can also simplify the layout of web pages with Reading view, save pages to read later in your reading list, and more. Here are some tips for a great reading experience in Microsoft Edge. You can catch up on other blog posts in this week…

Security is a critical component of our products at Microsoft. A strong emphasis on security is a persistent factor throughout our entire development process. Microsoft is committed to designing and developing secure software. Testing is performed both internally and by working closely with the broader security community. This is done through a wide range of partnerships and programs including bug bounties to ensure that customers receive the most secure products.

License keys for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 can be used to activate a fresh copy of the Windows 10 Creators Update, even if Microsoft has "officially" stopped offering free upgrades to Windows 10 back in the summer of 2016. This means that users who want to update from Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 to the latest Windows 10 version don't need to buy new license keys to activate their new Windows OS. All they have to do is install a fresh copy of the Windows 10 Creators Update, enter their old license key, and enjoy their new OS. Upgrade mechanism continued to work past June 2016 When Microsoft launched Windows 10, it allowed users of older Windows versions a one-year grace …

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to be releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16179 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. We are also releasing Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15204 to Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s New in Build 16179 For PC Revert VM: Continuing our theme of simplifying Hyper-V for developers on Windows 10 (see What’s New), we’re introducing automatic checkpoints so that you’ll always be able to undo a mistake in your virtual machine – you can now always revert to the last time you started a virtual machine. Introducing Power Throttling*: You may remember some of the power experiments we did back in January…

Next up in our series, A Week with Microsoft Edge we’re sharing tips for personalizing the web. With so much time spent browsing the web, we all want an experience that feels personal and custom, and with Microsoft Edge it’s easy to do just that. Here are some tips on how to personalize the web in Microsoft Edge. In case you missed our previous blog posts, we kicked off a blog post series, A Week with Microsoft Edge earlier this week all about introducing you to the best of Microsoft Edge. Here are some additional resources for personalizing the web in Microsoft Edge. Stay tuned this week for more on Microsoft Edge! The post A Week with Microsoft Ed…

Most people running Windows like having multiple apps running at the same time – and often, what’s running in the background can drain your battery. In this latest Insider Preview build (Build 16176), we leveraged modern silicon capabilities to run background work in a power-efficient manner, thereby enhancing battery life significantly while still giving users access to powerful multitasking capabilities of Windows. With “Power Throttling”�, when background work is running, Windows places the CPU in its most energy efficient operating modes – work gets done, but the minimal possible battery is spent on that work. You may remember some of our January power experiments …

“13 years, 6 month and 25 days. That’s how much time has passed since Voodoo Vince first appeared on the original Xbox in September of 2003. The half-life of a game is unbelievably short. A game doesn’t get much time before it’s relegated to the past. The march of technology and player demographics weren’t on our side in 2003. Voodoo Vince was quickly lost in the shuffle and seemed like it would remain in obscurity. This revival of Vince would have been far less likely without the encouragement of Phil Spencer and the amazing team over at ID@Xbox. ID@Xbox made it possible for a small team to publish a game independently. Phil reminded me of what a game can mean to p…

Yesterday, we introduced you to a series of blog posts we’re publishing throughout this week about Microsoft Edge. Each day we’ll be sharing a new video and blog post to introduce you to the best of Microsoft Edge. Today, we’re showing you the Microsoft Edge features that can help you keep the web organized. We all spend a lot of time browsing the web, and it’s more important than ever to have the tools you need to stay organized, productive, and focused on the web. With the Windows 10 Creators Update, we’ve added new features to make this easier than ever – including the new tab preview bar and a simple way to set your tabs aside. You can catch up on yesterd…

CHOICE Humanitarian is a non-profit organization with a vision to free the world from the ravages of extreme poverty, where all people are treated with dignity and valued for who they are and the unique contribution they bring. They have been working to eliminate extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as living on an average of $1.90 USD a day, for 35 years. Today, we are excited to share a new web-based learning tool we have created with the Microsoft Edge team, called Accent. “The CHOICE partnership offered the Microsoft Edge team a remarkable opportunity to take our browser technology and create an education solution to meet the unique literacy needs…

In the Windows 10 Creators Update, you have a new, free, built-in app called Paint 3D that allows you to unleash your creativity. Anyone can experience, create, and share in a new dimension. Make 3D masterpieces or 2D scenes, all with a stroke of your digital pen. You can also access an online 3D community, Remix 3D, to pull and remix models from within the Paint 3D app! Today, we’re going to show you a couple ways you can get started with Paint 3D: Easily create a scene in 3D With pre-made 3D models and objects, it’s easy to get started right away and begin personalizing. Click on 3D objects in the top task bar Select one of the pre-made 3D mode…

Today, we’re kicking off a series of videos and blog posts to introduce you to the best of Microsoft Edge – the faster, safer browser designed for Windows 10. We’ll be publishing a new video and blog post every day this week to share tips and tricks for making the most out of your browsing experience with Microsoft Edge. First up, we’re introducing you to Microsoft Edge and sharing tips on how to get started. Since the release of Microsoft Edge in 2015, Microsoft Edge has been steadily improving to offer competitive performance, security, and expanded functionality. Just last week, we began to roll out the latest version of Windows 10: the Windows 10 Creators U…

Today, Microsoft triaged a large release of exploits made publicly available by Shadow Brokers. Understandingly, customers have expressed concerns around the risk this disclosure potentially creates. Our engineers have investigated the disclosed exploits, and most of the exploits are already patched. Below is our update on the investigation. When a potential vulnerability is reported to Microsoft, either from an internal or external source, the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) kicks off an immediate and thorough investigation. We work to swiftly validate the claim and make sure legitimate, unresolved vulnerabilities that put customers at risk are fixed. Once v…

Today, Microsoft triaged a large release of exploits made publicly available by Shadow Brokers. Understandingly, customers have expressed concerns around the risk this disclosure potentially creates. Our engineers have investigated the disclosed exploits, and most of the exploits are already patched. Below is our update on the investigation. When a potential vulnerability is reported to Microsoft, either from an internal or external source, the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) kicks off an immediate and thorough investigation.

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to be releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16176 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. We’re continuing work to refine OneCore with some code refactoring so that teams can start checking in new code. So, you still won’t see any noticeable changes or new features in new builds just yet. We are also releasing Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15204 to Insiders in the Fast ring. As we release new builds from our Development Branch for PC, we will also be doing the same for Windows 10 Mobile just like we have been in the past. However, Windows Insiders will likely notice some minor differences. The biggest …

The partnership kicks off today with open registration for Porsche’s esports sponsorship debut in Forza Racing Championship Season 3: The Porsche Cup – the most inclusive racing esports program and home to the largest online racing community in gaming. Today also brings the release of the Forza Horizon 3 Porsche Car Pack, featuring an exciting lineup of Porsche cars for 2016’s best-selling racing game Forza Horizon 3, exclusively on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs. Kicking off ForzaRC this year is the Forza Racing Championship 2017 New York Invitational Presented by Porsche on April 15-16 at Microsoft’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue, showcasing 18 of ForzaRC’s Elite playe…

Deploying a virtual machine on Microsoft Azure is a great way to add scalability and flexibility to an existing datacenter and applications. Now customers can deploy Windows Server virtual machines in Azure and save up to 40 percent with the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit. Due to its popularity, we’ve recently made new UI changes in Azure that make it even easier to discover and utilize this benefit directly from the Azure Portal. To learn more on how to use the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit as part of a bigger datacenter migration strategy, check out the announcement we made today! Continue reading...