Microsoft Support & Discussions

This past weekend the folks over at WinBeta posted a video of an unreleased build of Windows 10 that shows off some interesting changes to the Start Menu and Start Screen. I have embedded the video below but I wanted to specifically cover the changes that are being shown in the Start Menu and Start Screen. Since they are the primary portal we use into the operating system it is an area that everyone keeps a very close eye on. Let me say this up front – I like these changes and I hope they remain permanent. I have never been a big fan of the menu running up the left side of the expanded Start Screen as it takes up valuable screen space. This new implementation do…

In a deal announced this morning before the stock market opens, Verizon and AOL have reached an agreement that will see the wireless company gain control of some very popular websites. When I hear the name AOL my mind flashes back to the early days of the Internet and the various channels of information that were available on the dial up network. Oh, and CD’s as well – lots of CD’s. Well today AOL is the parent company of such sites as The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget and all of these will soon come under the direction of Verizon. According to Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam this acquisition is all about content: Verizon's vision is to provide cust…

If you make a lot of purchases from the Mac App Store, your Purchased tab can get very unwieldy. The Purchased tab in the Mac App Store shows you all the apps you've downloaded, free and paid. If you find the Purchased tab hard to navigate due to the sheer amount of apps you have downloaded, you can hide apps you may not need to see a record of, such as apps you never uninstall and always have running on your Mac. Or maybe you have young children using your Mac that you don't want accessing certain apps. Whatever the reason may be, hiding and unhiding Mac App Store purchases is easy. To hide Mac App Store purchases Launch the Mac App Store on your Mac. Click Si…

The Watch has done for me what no other health gadget has: tracked my full-contact sport and kept me accountable. One of the chief reasons I've been so excited for the Apple Watch these past few months is the possibility of using it to properly track my movement and exercise day-to-day. Four nights a week I play roller derby, a full-contact sport on quad roller skates, which has proven... difficult for most health and fitness gadgets to track. Steps aren't tracked nor helpful when you're talking about wheeling around, nor can most devices be worn without fear of them falling off or otherwise being destroyed. But two weeks in, not only is the Apple Watch giving me pr…

This hard case is designed to provide protection against impacts when they occur, while keeping a slim form around your iPhone 6. The metallic bumper adds contrast to the case and leaves access to all the important features. Choose your favorite color today for only $13.95 Continue reading...

It looks like Apple CEO Tim Cook has gone global with his social media presence, opening account on Chinese social network Weibo. Weibo is a Chinese microblogging service, similar to Twitter. The service, like Twitter and Facebook, has been integrated into iOS and OS X for the past few years. Tim Cook's account, which is verified by the service, has only one post, announcing Apple's new environmental initiatives in China during a stop in Beijing. From Tim Cook on Weibo: Hello China! Happy to be back in Beijing, announcing innovative new environmental programs. As of this writing the account has 327,821 followers since its creation earlier today. By compar…

Transport for London and Santander have teamed up to release a new official app for those who rely on the Boris Bike scheme in London. The new app will help you travel around the capital using only two wheels. The Boris bikes scheme isn't an easy method of public transportation to rely on. There's not only the task of finding the nearest docking station, but also journey times, availability of bikes at any given location and how much you'll be charged. This new official app helps make your life easier traversing through the capital, locating the nearest station, how many bikes are available and the ability to pay for your ride. The app will also serve as a …

Today, as part of Update Tuesday, we released 13 security bulletins. We encourage customers to apply all of these updates. For more information about this month’s security updates, including a detailed view of the Exploitability Index (XI), visit the Microsoft Bulletin Summary webpage. If you are not familiar with how we calculate the XI, a full description can be found here.

If you get a new Apple Watch, or had to reset yours to resolve an issue, restoring from a backup is simple! The Apple Watch backs up on its own accord with no effort or steps involved on your part. That means if you ever get a new Apple Watch, or had to unpair and restore yours due to a software problem, you can easily recover all your settings and installed apps in a snap! It's worth noting that as far as we know, a backup of your Apple Watch is only created when you unpair a Watch. That means if you've never unpaired your Apple Watch or restored it, you may not have a backup to restore from. We are assuming incremental automatic backups, like iCloud does with ou…

Apple is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund to increase responsibly managed forests in China, and is bringing renewable energy initiatives to manufacturing facilities in the region. The new program covers up to 1 million acres of forest, which is used to provide materials for pulp, paper and wood products. According to Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of Environmental Initiatives: Forests, like energy, can be renewable resources. We believe we can run on naturally renewable resources and ensure that we protect—and create—as much sustainable working forest as needed to produce the virgin paper in our product packaging. This is an important step towar…

Smartphone growth in China has contracted for the first time in six years, according to latest figures from market research firm IDC. According to IDC, smartphone shipments fell in Q1 2015 by 4 percent compared to the same quarter last year, with shipments totaling 98.8 million. Comparing data from this quarter to Q4 2014, the research firm states that shipments have fallen by 8 percent. The stumped growth is believed to be related to the struggle of convincing those already with a feature phone to switch, much like other developed markets. Kitty Fok, managing director at IDC China commented on the report: "China is often thought of as an emerging market…

Comex, the developer behind the jailbreak utility JailbreakMe, has figured out a way to get a web browser working on the Apple Watch. The limited screen real estate of the Apple Watch makes it difficult to fit the entire contents of a website, but that hasn't stopped the Comex from trying to get a browser on the Apple Watch. The video also shows a Copy/Define contextual menu that is very similar to what is found in the full-fledged version of iOS, unsurprising given that Watch OS runs a custom version of iOS 8.2. At this stage, Comex hasn't released any information on when the hack will be made publicly available. Check out the video at the link below. Source: …

The CEO of Fiat Chrysler talked about visiting both Tesla and Apple during a recent trip to California. Sergio Marchionne runs Fiat Chrysler, and recently visited a new Maserati dealership in Toronto, Ontario Canada (Fiat owns luxury motor brand Maserati). Marchionne wouldn't elaborate about his meetings with Tim Cook and Elon Musk beyond some cursory comments. "I'm incredibly impressed with what that kid has done," he said, referring to [Tesla CEO Elon] Musk. With regard to Apple's Cook, he said: "He's interested in Apple's intervention in the car, that's his role." Marchionne was not more specific about Apple. Rumors suggest Apple's working on its own s…

These Google search results may look normal at first glance, but if you look closely, you’ll see that these ads are being “injected” into the page by a third party. Legitimate advertising is an annoyance that most of us tolerate and do our best to ignore. But there are more pernicious forms of advertising that aren’t just a nuisance but actually pose a potential security risk, like the “injected ads” that find your way into your web browser through software and extensions. Ad injectors work by replacing the ads that are supposed to be served to your browser or by inserting completely new, unwanted and unapproved ads. Many users affected by these injectors acquire th…

Made from a glossy and matte double molded polycarbonate, this durable frame conforms perfectly around the iPhone 6 to provide casual protection against minor drops. The bumper even slightly elevates the phone from flat surfaces, keeping it safe from unwanted scratches and scuffs. Continue reading...

Happy Saturday, iMore! Because Rich is awesome, he's letting us run some of his Mac-themed comics from the Diesel Sweeties archive on weekends. Bonus comics, woo! We hope you enjoy. Read more comics from the Pixel Project on iMore.com. Continue reading...

With the right parts, you can replace an iPhone 5 screen in under 10 minutes. While a typical iPhone 5 DIY repair requires you to transfer all the small parts from the cracked display over to the new one, we can show you a way to replace your broken screen that will require a lot less work on your part. Not only will it save you lots of time, it will make this repair much more feasible for people with even the most modest DIY experience. And once you're done, your iPhone 5 will be as good as new again! The only difference between this version of the repair and our traditional method is the type of replacement display you will buy. Our friends over at eTech Parts n…

If you're within range of Woodstock, IL and interested in learning and talking with other Mac users, check out Macstock. And if you have time, come to the MacBBQ too! Midwesterners don't get too many Mac events to call their own, so it's fortuitous that Macstock is happening. It's a one-day event scheduled for June 20, 2015 from 8:00 to 3:00 PM, taking place at McHenry County College just outside of Woodstock, IL (hence the "Macstock" name). Speakers include Dave Hamilton of The Mac Observer and Mac Geek Gab, Julie Kuehl of the SciFi Tech Talk podcast, NosillaCast's Allison Sheridan, MyMac.com's Guy Serle, TechFan and OWC Radio's Tim Robertson and others. Break…

Easy to snap around your iPhone 6 Plus, the Amzer SlimGrip Hybrid shields against impacts with its low-profile bumper and resists scratches with the clear acrylic window that lets the original look of your device shine through. Grab yours in black or white today for only $6.95! Continue reading...

Apple has released a Golden Master candidate for Xcode 6.3.2, which fixes issues with Swift compiling and more. While there is no formal launch date for Xcode 6.3.2, the release of the Golden Master (GM) should mean that it's right around the corner. In addition to a fix for the Swift compiler, the GM also fixes issues with account management, testing, and more. You can see all of the issues resolved in the list below. Swift Compiler Fixed a regression in the compile time of larger projects using Swift frameworks or using projects supplied from external sources (e.g. CocoaPods). (20638611) Account Management Xcode does not attempt to revoke and …

Sega has plans to remove an unknown number of its iPhone and iPad games from the iOS App Store in the near future. In an announcement today, Sega said that it recently evaluated its current number of mobile games and "determined that a number of them no longer meet our standards." Those games will be removed from the iOS App Store sometime in the next few weeks. Sega has not yet announced which games will be removed, but the company did offer hope that they could return in some kind of updated version. It added: If you have already purchased a game that is being removed from the store you will be able to continue to play it after it's been taken down. It w…

Music labels will reportedly be able to offer a small selection of songs for free on Apple's rumored music service. Apple's heavily-rumored streaming music service will reportedly lack a free tier, though there will apparently be a free trial of the service, which could extend between one and three months. Additionally, it's said that labels will be able to provide some songs for free, according to Re/code: A feature that will let music owners upload a sampling of songs that users could could listen to without subscribing to the service. Several sources describe this feature as something akin to SoundCloud, the music streaming service that describes itself as the…

The Apple Watch brings a brand new set of animated emoji for you to share with others. Though your Apple Watch has access to the same standard emoji that are available on the iPhone, it also offers special animated emoji via the Messages app. Since the Watch is designed for quick communication, sending an appropriate face or hand signal is sometimes much easier than dictating a message if the quick reply response you want isn't available. Even better, if the person on the receiving end doesn't have an Apple Watch, they'll still be able to receive animated emojis. And if you decide you'd rather just send a regular old emoji, you can do that too! How to reply with an …

The Apple Watch has proven itself to be nearly as accurate in measuring a person's heart rate as other wrist-mounted heart rate monitors. If you've been wondering how accurate the Apple Watch's heart rate monitor is, we now have a better look at how exactly it performs against dedicated devices. Engineer Brad Larson measured the Apple Watch agains the Mio Alpha, and found they reported similar results after a run: Aside from the Apple Watch capturing heartrate once per 5 s, and the Mio Alpha every 3 s, the readings are nearly identical. Impressed. — Brad Larson (@bradlarson) May 7, 2015 Larson posted a chart to go along with his findings: It looks li…

DirecTV has updated its iPhone and iPad app to include support for the Apple Watch, specifically to allow control of its DVRs from the smartwatch. Subscribers to the DirecTV satellite TV service can now download an update to the iOS version of its app that allows them to control aspects of their DVR on the Apple Watch. Here's what's included in the 4.0.106 update: Now you can now control your connected HD-DVR right from your Apple Watch! Play, pause, rewind, and fast forward Live TV, On Demand and Recorded content. Set episode and season recordings. Navigate and select options from the on-screen guide, playlist and menu displays on your HD-DVR. This wil…