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We’ve showed you how to clear your workspace in two simple steps and three ways you can personalize your desktop with fun themes and colors – today, we’re going to show you six keyboard shortcuts to help you easily find what you’re looking for! Find apps, files and more on your PC https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/44df806c4ca36b050fdce3a1c1ac1b22.gif Press the Windows logo key and type the name of whatever you want to find in the search box. Easily search Settings https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/4f875b0cfc7537aa30a7176f9d09b885.gif Press Windows logo key + I, then search for the setting you’re looking for. Switch between open w…

I’m excited to share this month’s blog post with you all. In addition to highlighting some of the cool work we are seeing from the mixed reality community, I also have some important Simplygon news to share. In the time since we acquired Simplygon they have been working quickly to bring the value of the Simplygon service to mixed reality. Let’s dig in! Bringing Computer Aided Design (CAD) into the era of mixed reality Throughout history, media portability has been critical to the adoption of new computing experiences. For example, prior to the mid-1990s, compact disc owners were unable to move their music from physical to digital media. As audio encoding tec…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17128 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. On Build 17128, you will notice that the watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop has disappeared. This does not mean this is the final build as we are not done yet. We’re just now beginning the phase of checking in final code to prepare for the final release. The only difference between this build and Build 17127 from Tuesday is the removal of the watermark. However, we’ve got more fixes being checked in for the next flight. Additionally, we have also released Build 17127 to Windows Insiders in the Slow ring. We plan t…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17627 (RS5) to Windows Insiders who have opted into Skip Ahead. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue where If you try to open a file that is available online-only from OneDrive that hasn’t been previously downloaded to your PC (marked with a green checkmark in File Explorer), your PC could bugcheck (GSOD). We fixed an issue resulting in the Emoji Panel not working in the last two flights. When a process in Task Manager is suspended, or has suspended child processes, you’ll now see an icon indicating as much in the Status column of the Processes tab. …

Today I’m thrilled to announce the spring 2018 release for Microsoft Business Applications. We’re unleashing a wave of innovation across the entire product line with hundreds of new capabilities and features in three core areas: new business applications; new intelligent capabilities infused throughout; and transformational new application platform capabilities. As I talk with business leaders to learn what draws them to Dynamics 365, the answer is almost always the same: they want to digitally transform and believe Microsoft is uniquely capable of helping them succeed on that journey. Microsoft is the only provider of a modern, unified and intelligence-infused family …

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are pleased to release the first build of the Windows Server vNext Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) release that contains both the Desktop Experience as well as Server Core in all 18 server languages, as well as the first build of the next Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel release. What’s New in Windows Server vNext LTSC Build 17623 For every preview release, we will provide a focus area that we would like you to take a look at and provide us with feedback on. We encourage you to try out any functionality in the release and we welcome your feedback. Validation for every preview: There are two major areas that we would like…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17127 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 17127 Cortana Improvements A new profile page! We’re introducing a new server-powered profile page in Cortana for you to add and edit your favorite places. The places you add are used to give you traffic updates for your daily commute, and let you easily set reminders when you arrive or leave your places. To get to this page, head to the Notebook section of Cortana and click the button to the right of your name. This is available for all Cortana markets*. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/d0ad4b5b7…

The week of launch is basically one long celebration of Sea of Thieves, with an array of cool activities across the world. We have our launch events across all Microsoft Store locations in the U.S., with special events at the flagship Microsoft Store in New York and Sydney. The Quest for the Golden Bananas offers crafty crews riddles to solve for a chance to win four 18-carat gold bananas, while which The Voyage live stream in the UK presents an opportunity for the community to engage with their favorite content creators. The game is available to buy now for $59.99/£49.99/€69.99, and you have the ability to purchase it for your personal library or become a member of Xb…

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/4ea72d73cc109dcbf315a2971ea47dc4-1024x706.jpeg With the 360 Viewer extension and a Windows Mixed Reality headset plugged into your PC, you can view 360° videos and photos in your headset from Microsoft Edge, simply by clicking the Windows Mixed Reality icon that has been added to the video or photo. You can also navigate to a website in Microsoft Edge on your desktop, play a 360° video and click on the Mixed Reality icon. This will automatically launch Windows Mixed Reality and start playing the 360° video in your headset, as long as you have your headset plugged into your PC. Once you’ve downloaded this extension, you c…

Our journey this year begins with maintaining our investments on visual accessibility features as well as diversifying our efforts across new and improved accessibility experiences coming in the next update of Windows 10. Many of these new features are available to preview in the Insider builds today. These include, easier to navigate new Ease of Access Settings; continued improvements for Narrator usability and eye control navigation; added features for improved reading and writing outcomes; and collaborating with assistive technology partners to support emerging Windows 10 experiences and bring more assistive technology related apps to the Store. New Ease of Acces…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17123 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 17123 Introducing High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) in Windows 10 The High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) has arrived for Windows 10 and the Photos app! HEIF is an image container that leverages modern codecs like HEVC to improve quality, compression, and capabilities compared to earlier formats like JPEG, GIF, and PNG. In addition to traditional single images, HEIF supports encoding image sequences, image collections, auxiliary images like alpha or depth maps, live images & video, audio, and H…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17623 (RS5) to Windows Insiders who have opted into Skip Ahead. What’s new in Build 17623 Introducing High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) in Windows 10 The High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) has arrived for Windows 10 and the Photos app! HEIF is an image container that leverages modern codecs like HEVC to improve quality, compression, and capabilities compared to earlier formats like JPEG, GIF, and PNG. In addition to traditional single images, HEIF supports encoding image sequences, image collections, auxiliary images like alpha or depth maps, live images & video…

I’m thrilled to share that we plan to deliver the Microsoft Cloud from our first datacenter locations in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, and we’ll expand the cloud options for customers in Germany. I’m also excited to reveal that the Microsoft Cloud in France is officially open with the general availability of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office 365 today, and Dynamics 365 will follow in early 2019. By delivering the comprehensive, intelligent Microsoft Cloud – comprising Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 – from datacenters in a given geography, we offer scalable, available and resilient cloud services for companies and organizations while meeting data resi…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17120 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 17120 Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) Improvements The Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) Team has introduced new improvements for users to have a better experience with our upcoming release. We have combed through our user feedback and acted to ensure your needs are met. On top of significant performance improvements, we have added an ability to download documents highlighted below. Performance improvements: The teams at Microsoft are constantly working to improve performance for our users…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are pleased to release Project Honolulu Technical Preview 1803 to Windows Server Insiders. Also available is the Insider preview package of Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 10 Insider build 17110 or higher. Available Content Project Honolulu Technical Preview 1803 Remote Server Administration Tools Build 17108 What’s New in RSAT This preview build of Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) can be installed on Windows 10 Insider build 17110 or higher. FIXED: DNS server tools are now correctly installed as part of the RSAT package. FIXED: Shielding data files and template disks can now be create…

Earlier this month I shared news on Microsoft’s continuing efforts to help protect our customers against the Spectre and Meltdown hardware-based vulnerabilities. Today, we are announcing the expansion of devices covered by Windows security updates by removing the anti-virus compatibility check for Windows 10 devices, expanding the availability of Intel microcode updates in the Microsoft Catalog, and adding coverage for x86 editions of Windows 71 and Windows 8.1. Expanding availability of Windows security updates based on broad anti-virus compatibility Our recent work with our anti-virus (AV) partners on compatibility with Windows updates has now reached a sustaine…

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/f0a3b79e8c06d4ca348a96e732c0b3f8.gif To close out all the windows besides the one you’re working on, select and hold any open window, then give your mouse a back-and-forth shake. All the other open apps will automatically minimize to clear your workspace. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/e5369b1098c8b3582d10ef29d7d13847.gif You can also clear up a messy desktop quickly. Press and hold (or right-click) on the desktop, select View, and then clear Show desktop icons. To see them again, re-select Show desktop icons. In case you missed it, check out three ways you can personalize your desktop with fun themes and …

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/f56d883fead31e9d6ce89a33fc871a52-1024x683.jpg Last year around this time I had the chance to write a post about one of my favorite mixed reality uses cases – healthcare. Since that time, we have continued to see remarkable momentum for mixed reality across numerous facets of the industry. This week at HIMSS our team had the privilege to once again be on the ground to see and experience how customers and partners are embracing mixed reality to transform the way they innovate, support, and help others. Coming out of the show I wanted to take a moment to spotlight some of the innovation work we are seeing from organiza…

Some of you may have seen a discussion around our plans for Windows 10 S on Twitter today, and given some additional questions I’ve received, I thought it might be helpful to share more about our plans with Windows 10 S. Last year we introduced Windows 10 S – an effort to provide a Windows experience that delivers predictable performance and quality through Microsoft-verified apps via the Microsoft Store. This configuration was offered initially as part of the Surface Laptop and has been adopted by our customers and partners for its performance and reliability. Since that time, we’ve received great feedback from customers and partners on Windows 10 S. Customers love…

Hello Windows Insiders! https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/d92784689f1fc626005d67f274261fa6-1024x575.jpg We’re excited to offer our Fast ring insiders a sneak peek at the latest features coming this spring to Windows Mixed Reality! Our favorite new updates in Insider Preview Build 17115 include: A brand-new environment. In October we mentioned that the Cliff House was the first of many environments you’ll be able to enjoy in Windows Mixed Reality, and now we’re rolling out the Skyloft for you to customize and expand your MR experience. You can navigate there by selecting Places on the Mixed Reality Start menu. As requested, we’ve added haptic feedback t…

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17618 (RS5) to Windows Insiders who have opted into Skip Ahead. What’s new in Build 17618 Sets: Sets is designed to make sure that everything related to your task: relevant webpages, research documents, necessary files, and applications, is connected and available to you in one click. Starting today in RS5 builds, we have turned the Sets experiment back on so any Insider who has opted into Skip Ahead will be able to try out Sets. With Sets, 1st party experiences like Mail, Calendar, OneNote, MSN News, Windows and Microsoft Edge become more integrated to create a seamless experience…

https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/03/Mary_GM_edited-1024x864.jpg Mary Snapp, promoting science and technology in high schools in 1976. Women around the world are taking to the streets on International Women’s Day to urge faster progress on gender parity in economic opportunity, education and other important issues. The theme this year, #PressforProgress, is perfectly tuned to the challenges society faces. I know what’s it’s like to be the “first woman.” It’s really lonely! It feels like all eyes are watching you. I was the first woman hired by an auto company to give science and technology demonstrations at school assemblies in middle schools and h…

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/4395bd96f36b09fafcc9ce72135b0640.jpg State of Decay 2’s Standard Edition will be available for $29.99 and fans can also purchase State of Decay 2: Ultimate Edition for $49.99. State of Decay 2: Ultimate Edition includes 4 days early access beginning May 18, along with two add-on packs: “Independence Pack” and “Daybreak Pack” (available at a later release date) on both Xbox One and Windows 10. Gamers who pre-order between now and May 21 will also receive some exclusive in game pre-order items. State of Decay 2 is the ultimate zombie survival fantasy, where it’s up to you to decide how to survive in an open, post-apocalyptic …

Today, our Windows Insiders will get the first look at the new privacy set up experience coming to Windows 10 this spring, and we’re excited to hear what they think. Windows Insiders are among the first people to experience the new ideas and concepts we’re building in the next version of Windows 10. In return, we get to hear what they think, to help us make Windows the best it can be for our customers. This spring, Microsoft will release an update to Windows 10 that will include changes to the setup experience for privacy settings. This new design conveys focused information to help our customers make focused choices about their privacy and offers two new settings for …

Hello Windows Insiders! This week we have 50 Windows Insider MVPs on campus as a part of the global MVP Summit. It’s been a pleasure to get face-to-face time with some of our biggest advocates as well as the people who help the overall Windows community the most. Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17115 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. A new privacy settings layout in the set up experience This spring, we will release an update to Windows 10 that will include changes to the set up experience for privacy settings. This new design conveys focused information to help our customers make focused choices about their privacy and of…