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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, so you can get back to what’s important and be productive, recapturing that moment, saving time – we believe that’s the true value of Sets. Additional app integration with Sets is expected over time. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/07fc1e8522943e814ea7632557f14c20-1024x706.png If you are an Insider who was testing out Sets previously, you’ll find the following improvements to the experience: Support for desktop (Win32) apps. Sets now supports File Explorer, Notepad, Command Prompt, and PowerShell. One of the top feature requests by Insiders has been tabs for File Explorer and with Sets you can get a tabbed File Explorer experience! Try it out with these apps and let us know what you think! You can now launch apps from the new tab page by typing the app name into the search box. UWP apps are launched in the same window replacing the new tab page. The tab UI in Sets now shows icons including website favicons and app icons. Resume your project with more control – When restoring your projects you’ll be prompted to restore related apps and webpages. In Timeline you’ll see when a project has multiple activities associated with it. Here are a few keyboard shortcuts you can try out: Ctrl + Win + Tab – switch to next tab. Ctrl + Win + Shift + Tab – switch to previous tab. Ctrl + Win + T – open a new tab. Ctrl + Win + W – close current tab. Here are a few things we’re still working on that aren’t quite finished yet: Tab drag-and-drop does not work for re-ordering tabs. You can’t drag a tab to join another window. When launching a supported desktop (Win32) app from a tabbed window, such as protocol/file launch or from the new tab page, it launches in a new window instead of auto-grouping to the existing window. You can work around this for now by holding down the Ctrl key while launching a supported desktop (Win32) app – note, for File Explorer, in particular, you will need to hold down Ctrl until the new tab with File Explorer appears, not just Ctrl + click and immediately release. You may notice some flashes when switching between tabs within a Set. If your display scaling is higher than 100%, using touch to interact with the Sets title bar won’t work. If needed, you can find a setting to enable or disable Sets under Settings > System > Multitasking. We’re looking forward to your feedback as you try it out in today’s build! Windows Mixed Reality There are two issues impacting the usability of Windows Mixed Reality on this build. Windows Mixed Reality runs at a very low frame rate (8-10fps) that could result in some physical discomfort. And there are multiple crashes at startup that will cause Windows Mixed Reality to not work. For Insiders who want to keep Windows Mixed Reality working – you might want to consider hitting pause on taking new Insider Preview builds until these issues are fixed. You can pause Insider Preview builds by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and pressing the “Stop Insider Preview builds” button and choosing “Pause updates for a bit”. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue resulting in 3 and 4 finger gestures on the touchpad being unresponsive in the last two flights. We fixed an issue that could result in UWP apps sometimes launching as small white rectangular boxes. We fixed an issue where the Settings tile didn’t have a name if you pinned it to Start. We fixed an issue where navigating to Themes Settings crashed Settings. We fixed a typo in Storage Sense Settings. We fixed an issue resulting in all dropdowns in Settings appearing blank until clicked. We fixed an issue that could result in Settings crashing after having navigated to and left Sound Settings. We fixed an issue that could result in the labels for files on the desktop overlapping their icons. We fixed an issue resulting in the hamburger button in Windows Defender overlapping the home button. We’ve updated Start so that it now follows the new Ease of Access setting to enable or disable hiding scrollbars. We’ve updated the Action Center so that notifications will now appear with a fade in animation when you open it. We’ve updated the new notification to fix blurry apps so that it now will persist in the Action Center to be accessed later once the toast has timed out and dismissed. We fixed an issue resulting in some app icons appearing distorted in Task View. We fixed an issue where making a pinch gesture over the open apps in Task View might result in no longer being able to scroll down to Timeline. We fixed an issue where pressing and holding on a card in Timeline would open the corresponding app, rather than bringing up a context menu. We fixed an issue resulting in the title bar overlapping content when you opened your lists in Cortana’s notebook. We fixed an issue resulting in the Windows Defender offline scan not working in recent builds. We fixed an issue where the Japanese IME sometimes wouldn’t turn on correctly. We fixed an issue where the floating dictation UI could be unexpectedly tiny. We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard might stop invoking automatically after locking the PC and then unlocking the PC by using the touch keyboard to enter your PIN or password. We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard number pad would show the period as a decimal separator for countries that use the comma as a decimal separator. We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to turn on and off third-party IMEs using the touch keyboard. We fixed an issue resulting in numbers not being inserted when flicking up on the top row of letters in the wide touch keyboard layout. We fixed an issue where plugging in an external optical drive (DVD) would cause an Explorer.exe crash. We fixed an issue resulting in DirectAccess not working in recent builds, where the connection would be stuck with status “Connecting”. We fixed an issue where all apps in Task Manager’s Startup tab had the status “0 suspended”. We fixed an issue where after upgrading your speaker volume might change to 67%. We’ve updated Microsoft Edge’s Hub to now have an acrylic navigation pane. We fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to open a new inPrivate window of Microsoft Edge from the taskbar jumplist while in Tablet Mode. We fixed an issue where dragging a Microsoft Edge tab out of the window and releasing hold of it somewhere over the desktop might periodically result in a stuck invisible window. We fixed an issue where the keyboard combo to switch Virtual Desktops didn’t work if Microsoft Edge was open on multiple Virtual Desktops and focus was on the web content. We fixed an issue that could result in tabs hanging and not loading content recently in Microsoft Edge after using the browser for a few days with an adblocker enabled. We fixed an issue where clicking to zoom in on an image in Microsoft Edge would zoom into the top left corner rather than the area where you’d clicked. We fixed an issue from the last few flights where Microsoft Edge might crash if you refreshed a window with a PDF open in it. We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge where favicons in light theme were unexpectedly getting black backgrounds. We fixed an issue where the buttons on Game bar were not centered correctly. We fixed an issue where in some games—such as Destiny 2 and Fortnite—mouse and keyboard input would still go to the game while Game bar was open. We fixed an issue where keyboard and mouse input might not work correctly in Game bar when playing a first-person game (e.g. Minecraft). We fixed an issue in the text box for Mixer stream title, using non-character keys (e.g. Tab, Delete, Backspace, etc.) might cause the game to hang for a few seconds. We fixed an issue where bringing up Game bar using the Xbox button on an Xbox One controller didn’t work in some games. We fixed an issue where certain games using Easy Anti Cheat could result in the system experiencing a bugcheck (KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED). We fixed an issue where we had observed seeing longer-than-normal delays during install at the 88% mark. Some delays were as long as 90 minutes before moving forward. We fixed an issue in apps like Movies & TV where if you deny consent to access your library it crashes the app. We fixed an issue where on post-install at the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown, a small number of devices would experience a scenario wherein the OS fails to load properly and may enter a reboot loop state. We fixed an issue where selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opens the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the screenshot or game clip. We fixed an issue where tearing a PDF tab in Microsoft Edge will result in a bugcheck (GSOD). Known issues IMPORTANT: The Microsoft Store may be completely broken or disappeared altogether after upgrading to this build. Please see this forum post for details including a workaround on how to get the Microsoft Store back. If you open Settings and clicking on any links to the Microsoft Store or links in tips, Settings will crash. This includes the links to get themes and fonts from the Microsoft Store. 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). You can work around this problem by right-clicking on these files and selecting “Always keep on this device.” Any file-on-demand from OneDrive that is already downloaded to the PC should open fine. Office Insider + Skip Ahead = More awesome! Our friends on the Office team want to reiterate their invitation for Windows Insiders to participate in feedback and product usage which will inform the next generation of Office innovations! Windows and Office are continually looking for the best-connected experiences. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us and will help us to understand customer needs and scenarios and to prioritize our investments in the coming months. Please join the Office Insider Program to help directly affect product design decisions! No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17618 for Skip Ahead appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

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 high schools, on the road for months at a time. I was the first female attorney hired at Microsoft, supporting the engineering groups, and the “only woman in the meeting” far more times than I could count. Were it not for a few male mentors who took a chance to reach out over the years, I likely would have left my profession as a public relations professional, and later a lawyer. Now it’s an honor to “pay it forward.” As a society, we have a responsibility to inspire the next generation of female science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) leaders. Today’s youngest students – known as Gen Z – are unlike any previous generation. They are digital natives with the creativity and confidence to use STEM to drive to positive change. Yet we are failing to keep them engaged and excited about the possibilities that STEM studies and careers provide. Unless things change much faster, many in this bright, hopeful generation will not enter these fields. These are among the reasons Microsoft Philanthropies provides grants to nonprofits that prioritize increasing diversity in computer science, and more than half of beneficiaries are female. For the past four summers, we partnered with Girls Who Code, for example, to host high school girls enrolled in the nonprofit’s summer immersion program. Girls spend a portion of the summer on many of our U.S. campuses learning to build apps, games, websites and hardware. Microsoft women mentor the girls and often stay in touch after the program is complete. https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/03/GwC-_V0A7957-e1488932779698.jpg Microsoft Philanthropies provides grants to nonprofits, including Girls Who Code, that prioritize increasing diversity in computer science. Photo courtesy of Girls Who Code. Another nonprofit we support is Laboratoria, headquartered in Lima, Peru, which trains, in mere months, young women from low-income backgrounds to become web developers. Companies hired more than three-quarters of Laboratoria’s graduates into technology jobs that rely on computer science skills, and the average graduate triples her income. “I always had that eagerness to help and advance myself,” Laboratoria graduate Lizeth Kenny Lopez Zamudio said recently about her experience with the program. She took a Microsoft Azure workshop where she learned to use new software platforms, programming languages and artificial intelligence. She now uses those skills at her job in a financial services company by programming customer service chatbots, working remotely on a virtual machine and presenting case studies on Azure. Our education team also does excellent work around the world helping inspire girls to pursue computer science. Among many examples, a partnership forged with the United Arab Emirates help support girls as they participate in international technology competitions. Our education team also develops STEM curricula such as Minecraft: Education Edition, Hacking STEM and MakeCode, which help educators engage students with hands-on, immersive STEM experiences. The Minecraft tutorials they built for Code.org, a nonprofit that also emphasizes outreach to girls, has reached over 85 million people. On International Women’s Day, and beyond, I’m calling on everyone – women and men – to take the first steps in encouraging younger women and girls to pursue STEM careers. Here are a few ways to get involved: Mentoring: On International Women’s Day, several of our senior leaders will reach out to girls in our local community and elsewhere, to paint a relatable picture of what it’s like to work in STEM. Microsoft will also host more than 125 DigiGirlz events around the world, to give middle and high school girls opportunities to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands-on computer and technology workshops. You can volunteer as a mentor through nonprofits such as MillionWomenMentors.com and Girls Who Code’s Clubs Program. STEM workshops and speakers: Microsoft stores will host DigiGirlz workshops and Women in STEM panels throughout March, featuring women in aviation, coding, gaming and space. Learn to code and meet internationally recognized, aspiring astronaut 16-year-old Alyssa Carson, in Garden City, New York and Troy, Michigan. Meet former astronaut and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, in Bellevue, Washington. Learn more at the Microsoft Store website. Socialize STEM: Please share stories about girls doing amazing things in STEM, using the #MakeWhatsNext hashtag. Participate in the @MicrosoftEDU’s global tweetmeet using #MSFTEduChat, to share your ideas to motivate young women to pursue STEM careers. Gender disparity in STEM fields is a multi-faceted problem. We should each do a small part, and stand up as proud STEMinists. If we each inspire at least one young woman to see the immense potential in STEM fields, progress will come faster, and we’ll all benefit. The post International Women’s Day: Three simple ways we can all #PressforProgress for women in STEM appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

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 world. Featuring unique survivor characters with their own backstories and motivations, expanded options to manage your community and develop your base. In addition, State of Decay 2 features one of the most requested features from the community: cross-platform co-op, where you and up to three of your friends can survive together on Xbox One or Windows 10. Pre-order the Standard Edition for $29.99 and Ultimate Edition for $49.99 today! State of Decay 2 can be pre-ordered starting today at your favorite retailer’s site or at the Microsoft Store through the following links: Standard Edition and Ultimate Edition. Starting this week, fans can check out exclusive first reveals of State of Decay 2 on IGN throughout the month of March here, and stay tuned to Xbox Wire and Major Nelson for all the latest State of Decay 2 news! The post State of Decay 2 releasing May 22 on Windows 10 and Xbox One — Pre-orders start today appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

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 offers two new settings for Inking & Typing and Find my device. More details about the change can be found in this blog post here. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue where If you tried to open a file that was available online-only from OneDrive that hadn’t been previously downloaded to your PC (marked with a green checkmark in File Explorer), your PC could bugcheck (GSOD). We fixed an issue where post-install at the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown, a small number of devices experienced a scenario wherein the OS fails to load properly and might have entered a reboot loop state. We fixed an issue where the Microsoft Store might be completely broken or gone altogether after upgrading. We fixed an issue where when you denied Movies & TV access to your videos library (through the “Let Movies & TV access your videos library?” popup window or through Windows privacy settings), Movies & TV would crash when you navigated to the “Personal” tab. We fixed two issues impacting the usability of Windows Mixed Reality on the previous build (Windows Mixed Reality running at a very low frame rate (8-10fps), and a potential crash at startup that could cause Windows Mixed Reality to not work). We fixed an issue from recent flights resulting the Direct Messages section of Twitter.com potentially not rendering in Microsoft Edge. We fixed an issue from recent flights causing precision touchpads to periodically need a few tries to be able to move the mouse. We fixed an issue impacting the Italian touch keyboard layout where the period key would act as a delete key in UWP apps. We fixed an issue impacting the Czech touch keyboard layout where numbers on the &123 view couldn’t be inserted into UWP apps. We fixed an issue where you couldn’t use touch to interact with the Timeline scrollbar. We fixed an issue where a failed app update could result in that app becoming unpinned from the taskbar. We fixed an issue where the controls in the Focus Assist Settings subpages didn’t have accessible labels. We fixed an issue from the last few flights where after launching, minimizing, then closing UWP apps enough times, you would stop being able to launch UWP apps. Known issues There are currently no known issues for this flight however if any issues are discovered based off Insider feedback, we’ll add them here. No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17115 for Fast appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

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 Inking & Typing and Find my device. For our Windows Insiders who install today’s build, they’ll be able to experience this new set up for the first time. Not everyone will experience the same setup, however. For example, some will review their settings through a single screen set up where selections such as ‘Find My Device’ and’ Inking & typing’ are independent selections. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/f7d24d3567ab091819bfc94124f51efb-1024x727.png New single screen set up layout. Others will receive seven individual screens, each dedicated to a single privacy setting with the recommended Microsoft selection for the best Windows 10 experience distinguished by a dotted line. They will need to select a choice and then click accept to move to the next screen. In this example, Find My Device is shown on its own screen during set up. Microsoft recommends selecting Yes, depicted by the dotted line box, to allow us to use the device’s location data to help the customer find the device if it’s lost. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/1e398f5e1441a31b097e957fe9cbbdbf-1024x763.png New single screen for ‘Find my device’. These customers will also now be given a separate screen to enable improved inking and typing recognition. By enabling improved inking and typing, customers help us improve suggestion capabilities of applications and services running on Windows such as handwriting recognition, autocompletion, next word prediction and spelling correction in the many languages used by Windows customers. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/9eb32b41051294ffbe66eb58129e435e.png Enabling improve inking & typing recognition allows for improved text suggestions. By offering multiple experiences to our Insiders, we’re able to hear multiple points of view, along with preferences on the best set up experience that showcases privacy set up choices. We’re excited about the new Windows 10 update coming this spring that will deliver these new privacy set up experiences. All customers can review and update their privacy settings at any time in Start > Settings > Privacy. Windows offers previews to people who sign up for our Windows Insider program so they can provide us feedback while the product is still in development. By better understanding how they use Windows 10, and listening to their feedback, they help us build better products that more people and organizations will enjoy. If you’d like to join our Windows Insider Program and provide us feedback, you can find out more information and join at Insider.windows.com. -Marisa The post Windows Insiders get first look at new privacy screen settings layout coming to Windows 10 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/c9e6653e216c282a07193a18d2ae8b29-1024x576.jpg Graphics-wise, the Windows Edition includes many of the latest cutting-edge technologies, allowing for gameplay with an even more beautiful picture quality than Xbox One. With HDR support, the image quality can be output at 4K resolution and a maximum framerate of up to 120 FPS (Frames Per Second). Download FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION here! Windows Edition includes integrated Nvidia Gameworks technology, adding incredibly high-quality graphic expressions to various parts of the game, as well as support for Windows Sonic so you can experience more immersive audio with the flip of a switch. The other striking thing about the Windows Edition is that the game features have been expanded to meet the needs of PC gamers, including first-person view, mouse and keyboard controls and customization support for PC gamers, as well as support for 21:9 wide-screen display support, cloud-sharing and more. To read more about the magic of FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION , as well as the challenges the team overcame in its development, head over to Xbox Wire! The post FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION available now appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/99e3f7843acd4afde72be368d7f75e7f-1024x683.jpg We believe that every student deserves an education that unlocks their limitless potential. This is why Microsoft is committed to helping schools make the most of their budgets with affordable, easy to manage devices that are safe and secure, and equipped with Microsoft365 Education software that helps deliver better learning outcomes and saves teachers time. These Windows 10 devices are available at competitive prices and don’t force schools to compromise on features that will help students learn. With devices optimized for education, students can get access to cutting-edge tools like touch, inking, and 3D as well as free accessibility technology like Learning Tools, which in a recent study has shown to improve reading comprehension. Futuresource report reveals growth for Windows share in K-12 education Today, Futuresource released their quarterly market report for Q4, revealing Windows share grew an additional 6.5 points year-over-year in US K-12 education for devices under $300, marking the highest share in four years in this price category. Recent announcements illustrate our continued commitment to deliver devices and experiences that are affordable to schools. For example, in January at Bett in London we expanded our device and learning experience offerings with the introduction of new Windows 10 devices starting at just $189, building on our education device portfolio with new 2-in-1s under $300 and notebooks under $200. To make it easier for schools of all sizes to access Microsoft Education, earlier this year we also announced lifetime device licenses at just $30 per Windows laptop or 2-in-1, with qualified purchases eligible to receive free Professional Development led by certified Microsoft training partners. The power of teachers with the right technology I continue to be inspired by the educators using technology to empower their students in the classroom. We know the impact that personalized tools can have in helping improve critical skills like reading and language while ensuring that every student can contribute their voice in a truly inclusive classroom. Learning Tools improves reading, writing, and comprehension for all students and levels the playing field for the one in five students who have a learning difference. Most recently, we captured this story from a teacher at the City of Westminster College in London, who is using technology to better communicate with students who have hearing impairments. For educator Esam Baboukhanas, the question he needed to answer was: how do you make sure everyone can use their voice, especially when they don’t speak aloud? His student, Kabir, has a hearing impairment and is accompanied by a sign language interpreter in classes. Yet neither Baboukhan nor most of his students are versed in British Sign Language (BSL), so communicating with Kabir had always meant relying on his interpreter. “The way I teach needs to take into consideration everyone’s needs in my class, including Kabir’s,” says Baboukhan. Baboukhan looked for a technology tool that could help bridge this communication gap. As soon as he introduced Windows and Microsoft Teams into the classroom, Baboukhan knew he’d found the right tool to help all students collaborate more effectively. This is just one example of the positive impact technology can have on learning for both teachers and students. More schools choosing Microsoft as their technology partner The leaders, creators, and innovators of the future are sitting in today’s classrooms, and technology is changing the way these students work, communicate, create, and learn. At Microsoft, we are working hard every day to give educators the tools they need to unlock limitless learning for all students so they can achieve their wildest ambitions in life. With the extensive growth of our product portfolio in the past year, we’re proud and humbled to see more and more schools choosing Microsoft as their technology partner. Here are a few recent milestones: Every month, more than one million new Windows 10 devices are being used by students in K-12 and higher education. OneNote has grown more than 75 percent in the last year, and more than 18 million new student notebooks have been created in OneNote since the start of the school year. Microsoft Learning Tools usage is growing at an incredible rate with more than 10 million monthly active users across Word, OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Edge, and Office Lens2 and is supported in more than 30 languages. Learning Tools has been shown to increase reading speed and comprehension for students of all abilities, leading to test scores that are 10 percent higher than students who did not use Learning Tools. Our greatest goal is to empower students to reach their full potential and we will continue to work hard to deliver innovative technology for students and educators around the world to unlock limitless learning with Microsoft Education. More K-12 schools in the US are choosing affordable Windows devices, according to Futuresource Tweet This The post More K-12 schools in the US are choosing affordable Windows devices, according to Futuresource appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Windows 10 is all about letting you express yourself and create. Today, we’re going to show you some of the ways you can personalize your PC– whether it’s changing your desktop background to puppies, flowers or skylines, turning your taskbar pink, or enabling Windows Spotlight so beautiful photography will show up automatically on your lock screen. Here’s how: Download a desktop theme from Microsoft Store https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/498037ba7e31d72f8da94a7714f7684a-1024x575.png Choose from endless options to make your PC yours, including hundreds of wallpapers, sound options, and custom accent colors. Themes include photography, art and illustrations from creators across the globe – such as plants and flowers, landscapes, animals, natural wonders, and more. Simply open Settings, select Personalization, Themes, and then Get more themes in the Store. Once downloaded, click on Launch to open your Settings screen. You’ll find it alphabetically in your Themes list – just click on it to make it your new theme. That’s it! Download as many themes as you’d like. Or – create your own https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/650562caa375a15dc8367e8c2f50a788.jpg In the “Background” setting, choose your picture, background effect and fit. To create a custom theme, open Settings, select Personalization and then personalize your desktop by clicking on Background, Colors and more. Enable Windows Spotlight images on your lock screen https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/348e76867f318f4d09c170988617eff0-1024x574.png You can easily enable beautiful photography to show up automatically on your lock screen with Windows Spotlight images. Windows Spotlight updates daily with images that highlight beautiful scenery from around the globe. They’re also used to help you get the most out of Windows, including sharing tips and tricks. To enable Windows Spotlight images on your lock screen, simply head to Settings, select Personalization and then Lock screen and where you see the Background drop-down menu, select Windows Spotlight. Have a great week! The post Windows 10 Tip: Three ways you can personalize your desktop with fun themes and colors appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

This week at Mobile World Congress, Lenovo introduced their newest 2-in-1s: the new Yoga 730 (in 13-inch and 15-inch models) and the new 14-inch Flex 14. These new devices will start to become available at select retailers this April and range in price from $599-$899.6 Here’s five ways they make working on-the-go easier than ever: https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/1be1b8248cabf1a1c4bc136361bc0c07-1024x577.jpg #1: Take one with you – they’re convertible and lighter than ever The new Windows 10 convertibles are lighter than before, so you can easily take them with you wherever you go. Shedding 13 percent of its weight, the 15-inch Yoga 730 is just 1.89 kg (4.17 lbs) and 1.12 kg (2.47 lbs) for the even more compact 13-inch model. At 1.6 kg (3.53 lbs), the 14-inch Flex 14 won’t weigh your bag down, either – it’s 11 percent thinner than before at just 17.6mm (0.69 in). https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/1b125331e3d1270b2bb23e43b2e2cf6b-1024x577.jpg #2: Save time & effort with Cortana Cortana[1] is available on your Yoga 730 to help you with everyday tasks by just using your voice[2]. Say “Hey, Cortana,” and she’s ready to provide you with helpful information, check your calendar[3], give you a preview of your day across work and life, and take care of everyday tasks and reminders. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/12cd2df5cc3bc94b2d3e7179330f8aaa-1024x577.jpg #3: Log in with your fingerprint with Windows Hello Both the Yoga 730 and Flex 14 come with a built-in fingerprint reader, so you can quickly and easily log into your device with Windows Hello. When you’re on the go, feel at ease with Lenovo Vantage and its Wi-Fi monitoring security features. Lenovo Vantage combines several apps into one to help you identify secure Wi-Fi networks, migrate files and settings from one PC to another and get system diagnostics and support. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/03/72fab94a35dd6e10996ae5649a44c600-e1520034731883-1024x407.png #4: Charge your device for 15 minutes and get two hours of battery with built-in Rapid Charge[4] The Yoga 730 offers up to 11.5 hours of battery life on the 13-inch model and up to 11 hours on the 15-inch in FHD.4 Running from meeting to meeting on a busy day? With Rapid Charge, in just 15 minutes you can get up to 2 hours of usage of your Flex 14 and 13-inch Yoga 730 to help power through your day without worrying about plugging in.[5] #5: Write on your touchscreen with Windows Ink The new devices come with up to a UHD touchscreen display on the Yoga 730 and a FHD touchscreen display on the Flex 14, with razor-thin borders, so you can swipe, pinch and tap to browse the web with Microsoft Edge. You can also use the optional Lenovo Active Pen 2 with 4,096 levels of sensitivity to write, draw or annotate with Windows Ink for a pen-on-paper experience. Five things you can do with Lenovo’s two new Windows 10 PCs Tweet This Additional features of these new devices include: Engineered with up to the latest 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 discrete graphics (on the 15-inch Yoga 730) and comfortable full-sized keyboards, the new 2-in-1s are more than up to the task for content creation on the go. Up to a UHD (3840×2160) display, JBL speakers and Dolby Atmos on the Yoga 730 make for more immersive entertainment experiences. Connect the Yoga 730 to a 4K display through the laptop’s blazing-fast Thunderbolt 3 port to increase your productivity or share your holiday photo slideshow. From its thinner and lighter design to the long battery life, the new Yoga 730 and Flex 14 with Windows 10 offer remarkable performance and portability to help you get things done in a way that feels most natural and convenient to you. Discover more at lenovo.com/mwc, or head over here for more of our partners’ news from MWC. Pricing and availability: In North America, the 13-inch Yoga 730 will start at $879.99 and the 15-inch model will start at $899.99, both expected to be available on lenovo.com and select retailers starting April 2018. The Flex 14 with Lenovo Active Pen 2 included will start at $599.99, expected to be available on lenovo.com and select retailers starting April 2018.[6] For information on pricing and availability in other markets, visit lenovo.com/mwc. [1] Cortana available in select markets; experience may vary by region and device. Cortana skills only available in the U.S. Microsoft and Cortana are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. [2] Requires a microphone within your device, enabling Cortana to hear you when you say “Hey, Cortana,” and enabling above the lock screen. Learn more at www.microsoft.com/en-us/cortana/gettingstarted. [3] Requires connecting your email and calendar services to Cortana, and permissions for her to access calendar and email from above the lock screen. Learn more at www.microsoft.com/en-us/cortana/gettingstarted. [4] The 13-inch Yoga 730 has up to 11.5 hours of battery life in FHD and in UHD. The 15-inch Yoga 730 has up to 11 hours of battery life in FHD and up to 9 hours of battery life in UHD. The 14-inch Flex 14 has up to 10 hours of battery life in FHD. All battery life claims are approximate and based on test results using the MobileMark 2014 ver 1.5 battery life benchmark test. Actual results will vary and depend on numerous factors including product configuration and usage, software, operating conditions, wireless functionality, power management settings, screen brightness and other factors. The maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. See bapco.com/products/mobilemark-2014/ for additional details. [5] Charged in power-off mode, using 65-watt power supply. [6] Flex 14 is marketed as Yoga 530 outside of North America. Not all Yoga 530 SKU options will be bundled with a digital pen. Prices may not include tax and do not include shipping or options and are subject to change without notice; additional terms and conditions apply. Reseller prices may vary. On-shelf dates may vary by geography and products may only be available in selected markets. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings, features and specifications at any time without notice. The post Mobile World Congress 2018: Five things you can do with Lenovo’s two new Windows 10 PCs appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17112 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. Windows Mixed Reality There are two issues impacting the usability of Windows Mixed Reality on this build. Windows Mixed Reality runs at a very low frame rate (8-10fps) that could result in some physical discomfort. And there are multiple crashes at startup that will cause Windows Mixed Reality to not work. For Insiders who want to keep Windows Mixed Reality working – you might want to consider hitting pause on taking new Insider Preview builds until these issues are fixed. You can pause Insider Preview builds by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and pressing the “Stop Insider Preview builds” button and choosing “Pause updates for a bit”. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue where selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opened the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the screenshot or game clip. We fixed an issue where EFI and Recovery partitions were unexpectedly listed in Defragment and Optimize Drives. We fixed an issue optimizing drives in Defragment and Optimize Drives didn’t work in the last few flights. We fixed an issue resulting in a permanently black window if you dragged a tab out of a Microsoft Edge window, pulled it up to the top edge of the screen, and moved it back down and released it. We fixed an issue where the warning on Windows 10 S when trying to run non-Microsoft Store apps from File Explorer might end up stuck behind the File Explorer window. We fixed an issue where there was some unexpected extra space in the File Explorer navigation pane before the chevron icons to expand/collapse folders. We fixed an issue where if focus was set inside Action Center pressing Esc wouldn’t close the Action Center window. We fixed an issue that could result in ShellExperienceHost periodically waking the device from hibernate if active live tiles were pinned to Start. We fixed an issue where navigating to Settings > System > Focus Assist > “Customize your priority list” could crash Settings. Known issues IMPORTANT: The Microsoft Store may be completely broken or disappeared altogether after upgrading to this build. Please see this forum post for details including a workaround on how to get the Microsoft Store back. 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). You can work around this problem by right-clicking on these files and selecting “Always keep on this device.” Any file-on-demand from OneDrive that is already downloaded to the PC should open fine. Post-install at the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown, a small number of devices have experienced a scenario wherein the OS fails to load properly and may enter a reboot loop state. For affected PCs, turning off fast boot may bypass the issue. If not, it is necessary to create a bootable ISO on a USB drive, boot into recovery mode, and this this will allow bypass. When Movies & TV user denies access to its videos library (through the “Let Movies & TV access your videos library?” popup window or through Windows privacy settings), Movies & TV crashes when the user navigates to the “Personal” tab. No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17112 for Fast appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

As part of the Windows 10 Creators Update, we shared our goal to bring 3D to everyone and to empower you to create, play and share in a new dimension with the launch of Paint 3D. Whether you’re a professional or just wanting to express yourself creatively, Paint 3D is available to all skill levels and backgrounds, and with the Remix 3D online community, you can choose to start from scratch or be inspired by others. Now with editing in 3D View mode, creating in 3D has never been easier. 3D View enables you to edit from any angle, which means even more accurate and intuitive 3D creation. You can now orbit around your 3D designs and continue doodling, painting or stickering without having to switch back to the 2D camera. This means, if you’re creating a 3D replica of Earth, you can continue rotating around the planet with no interruptions in your work! Today, we’re sharing some quick tips for getting started with this new update. View and edit your creation from multiple angles Switching to 3D View is a great way to admire your work from different perspectives. In 3D View, you can orbit, pan and zoom around your 3D creation to get a better look at it. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/6280e26fe51e5dada5bbfc8253e31dc6.gif As you move around, you’ll see our familiar selection box, which will automatically twist so that it’s always facing you. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/d79b09a21143b60b40fdd7d370118b14.gif The angle of the box shows you the direction your models will move and scale. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/9db5b792d812ed4eaf91f8cba14286b3.gif You will also see the new selection highlight, which enables you to always see your models, even if they are behind something else. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/d0236bf87f489d32209c7cd29ce1c6f2.gif You can keep adding new objects, continue painting with different brushes, or put stickers on your work – all while remaining in your desired viewpoint. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/cc99bce430162c67761510b489adc46c.gif Start working in 3D View today To access the 3D View mode, you’ll just need to be on the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and ensure you have the latest app update to Paint 3D. Then, go to the top of your tool bar within Paint 3D and click 3D View. To learn how to get the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, check out this blog post. Let 3D View give you a new perspective on creativity and get started today! https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/cb79adbcc84f4f6874f1cf3ade455e19.gif The post New 3D View mode in Paint 3D improves ease and accuracy of editing appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

This week at Mobile World Congress, Huawei announced the new HUAWEI MateBook X Pro powered by Windows 10: a new, ultra-slim laptop that weighs only 2.93 lbs and offers up to 12 hours of 1080P video playback, 14 hours of regular work or 15 hours of webpage browsing[1]. Let’s take a closer look: HUAWEI MateBook X Pro Click to view slideshow. The new Huawei MateBook X Pro is an ultra-slim yet full-featured 13.9-inch notebook with an all-new 3K touch-enabled HUAWEI FullView Display and 91 percent screen-to-body ratio. Powered by an 8 Generation Intel Core i7/i5 processor and Windows 10, it boasts a long-lasting 57.4Wh (Typical Capacity) battery and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics with 2GB GDDR5[2] – making it incredibly light and powerful. The 3K High definition display with touch and incredible audio with Dolby ATMOS deliver a beautiful, productive computing experience. With Dolby Atmos Sound System, sounds flow above and around you, making you feel like you’re inside the action. With Windows 10, the MateBook X Pro arrives with great features built-in, including your digital personal assistant Cortana[3] and an integrated fingerprint reader that allows you to login quickly and securely with Windows Hello. The MateBook X Pro also weighs just 2.93 lbs., making it super portable, and has a battery life of up to 12 hours of 1080P video playback, 14 hours of regular work or 15 hours of webpage browsing[4], so you can work and play all day. Pricing and availability: Beginning in first half of 2018, the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro will be available in China, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Please visit this link to learn more. [1] Testing conducted by Huawei in Huawei’s laboratory environment. [2] Discrete graphics applied not to all configuration [3] Cortana available in select markets. [4] Testing conducted by Huawei in Huawei’s laboratory environment. The post Mobile World Congress 2018: Huawei announces a new ultra-slim laptop powered by Windows 10 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Microsoft continues to work diligently with our industry partners to address the Spectre and Meltdown hardware-based vulnerabilities. Our top priority is clear: Help protect the safety and security of our customers’ devices and data. Today, I’d like to provide an update on some of that work, including Windows security update availability for additional devices, our role in helping distribute available Intel firmware (microcode), and progress driving anti-virus compatibility. Additional steps being taken to address Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities Windows devices need both software and firmware updates to help protect them against these new vulnerabilities. Recently we added software coverage for x86 editions of Windows 10, and we continue to work to provide updates for other supported versions of Windows. You can find more information and a table of updated Windows editions in our Windows customer guidance article. We will update this documentation when new mitigations become available. While firmware (microcode) security updates are not yet broadly available, Intel recently announced that they have completed their validations and started to release microcode for newer CPU platforms. Today, Microsoft will make available Intel microcode updates, initially for some Skylake devices running the most broadly installed version of Windows 10 — the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update — through the Microsoft Update Catalog, KB4090007. We will offer additional microcode updates from Intel as they become available to Microsoft. We will continue to work with chipset and device makers as they offer more vulnerability mitigations.1 For commercial customers, Terry Myerson announced February 13 that Windows Analytics now helps IT professionals assess Meltdown and Spectre update status by providing device-level insights at scale. Antivirus (AV) Software Compatibility We have also been working closely with our anti-virus (AV) partners on compatibility with Windows updates, resulting in the vast majority of Windows devices now having compatible AV software installed. The continued focus of our work with our AV partners and customers is to manage the risk of compatibility issues, especially those that result from AV software that makes unsupported calls into Windows kernel memory. Due to this potential risk, we require that AV software is up to date and compatible. We will continue to require that an AV compatibility check is made before delivering the latest Windows security updates via Windows Update until we have a sufficient level of AV software compatibility. We recommend users check with their AV provider on compatibility of their installed AV software products. Staying up to date We continue to work with industry partners on further mitigations and tools to help protect against the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. As always, we emphasize the importance of keeping your devices up to date for both Windows security and feature updates. Windows 10 version 1709, the Fall Creators Update, is the most secure version of Windows and is fully available for all devices. 1 Customers should check with their CPU (chipset) and device manufacturers on availability of applicable firmware security updates for their specific device, including Intel’s Microcode Revision Guidance. The post Update on Spectre and Meltdown security updates for Windows devices appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/02/00164904-033_wm-1-1024x731.jpg A St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientist holds a flow cell used for genomic sequencing of pediatric cancers. Photo courtesy of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Healthcare is an industry that touches all of us, given the most basic of human goals: we all want to lead healthy lives. Last year we embarked on Healthcare NExT, a Microsoft initiative which aims to accelerate healthcare innovation through artificial intelligence and cloud computing. By working side-by-side with the healthcare industry’s most pioneering players, we are bringing Microsoft’s capabilities in groundbreaking research and product development to help healthcare providers, biotech companies and organizations around the world use artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud to innovate. It’s exciting work with unique challenges, and in the lead-up to next week’s Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, we’re announcing a number of solutions, projects and AI accelerators that we believe will help make intelligent health possible, with more details below: Microsoft Genomics: The general availability on Microsoft Azure, providing researchers and clinicians with highly accelerated, cloud-powered genomic processing services. The flagship partner for this launch is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Microsoft Azure Security and Compliance Blueprint: HIPAA/HITRUST – Health Data & AI: The general availability of an end-to-end application development foundation to help health organizations move to the cloud with greater simplicity, compliance, security and industry-standard compatibility. AI Network for Healthcare: An expansion of the Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare, now AI Network for Healthcare, to create an AI-focused network in cardiology, in partnership with one of the largest health systems in India, Apollo Hospitals. Microsoft 365 Huddle Solution Templates: The publication of new developer templates that extend Microsoft Teams, so health teams can benefit from state-of-the-art collaboration tools to drive quality and care outcomes in Microsoft 365. Project Empower MD: Project EmpowerMD, a research collaboration with UPMC, will create a system that listens and learns from what doctors say and do, to dramatically reduce the burden of note-taking for physicians. Project InnerEye: Announcing new integrations with TeraRecon and Intuitive Surgical. We will also continue progress on current Healthcare NExT research-based projects like our Health Bot project as well as our partnerships with UPMC and Adaptive Biotechnologies. Several themes emerge at the convergence of healthcare and technology. The explosion of data, incredible advances in computational biology, genomics and medical imaging have created vast amounts of data well beyond the ability of humans to comprehend. Clinicians and care teams are yearning to swivel their chairs from the computer and pay more attention to the patient, yet still they spend two-thirds of their time interacting with burdensome IT systems. And healthcare organizations everywhere still struggle with the lack of operational and regulatory clarity in managing and analyzing the datasets that they are generating every day. Providing cloud- and AI-powered tools will unlock the vast potential at these points of convergence. It’s why our focus is threefold: developing foundations for precision health care, enabling the health industry’s move to the cloud, and empowering the people that make healthcare work. https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/02/00191505-002-1-1024x732.jpg A scientist works in a genomic sequencing laboratory at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which has sequenced the cancers of thousands of pediatric patients. Photo courtesy of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Developing foundations for precision healthcare Today, we are introducing the general availability of the Microsoft Genomics service, on Azure, which provides researchers, data scientists and clinicians cloud-powered genomic processing services to handle the data-rich workloads. The flagship partner with us on the launch of Microsoft Genomics is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is leading the way the world understands, treats and cures childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. In collaboration with our partners at DNAnexus, the service is an implementation of the Broad Institute’s Best Practices pipeline and enables users to take advantage of the power of Azure to handle cloud-scale genomics workloads. From a genomics standpoint, few projects have produced this amount of data, and services and partnerships like this will help organizations like St. Jude do the great work they do, quicker and more efficiently. You can read more about this here. Microsoft Genomics joins other precision healthcare initiatives at Microsoft including Project Premonition, and perhaps our most ambitious project, our recently announced collaboration with Adaptive Biotechnologies to decode the human immune system. Enabling the health industry’s move to the cloud In parallel to helping lay foundations for precision medicine, we continue work to enable health data to live in the cloud, be properly structured and labelled, and allow its analysis by data and AI technologies. To that end, we are announcing general availability of a new Azure Security and Compliance Blueprint. The Azure Security and Compliance Blueprint: HIPAA/HITRUST – Health Data & AI provides a secure and automated foundation to build applications that manage sensitive and regulated data. Our aim is to make it easier for health organizations to move to the cloud and do so in a way that unlocks the full potential of data analytics and machine learning on that data. We are thrilled that leaders like IRIS and KenSci are using the blueprint to accelerate application development today. Last year we announced a consortium with world-class eyecare providers in India, the United States, Australia and Brazil towards earlier screening and detection of eye diseases through Azure Machine Learning, to reduce avoidable blindness. With over 285 million people visually impaired and 55 million blind worldwide, upward of 70 percent of visual impairment is avoidable. Over a quarter million patient trials in India have been conducted using our AI models and are now being adopted by Government for Public Health Screening Programs, hospitals and medical systems. Today we are excited to announce an expansion of the AI Network for Healthcare, with a focus on cardiology, in partnership with one of the largest health systems in India, Apollo Hospitals. Together, we will be developing and deploying new machine learning models to gauge patient risk for heart disease in hopes of preventing or reversing these life-threatening conditions. Empowering the people that make healthcare work Health experts want to spend more time with patients – and less on burdensome, tedious tasks. To ease this pain point, we’re announcing tools and projects aimed at helping clinicians and care teams better serve patients, make their lives easier and reduce burnout. The Health Team Huddle Templates, available today, are developer templates that extend Microsoft Teams by digitizing the huddle to create a single place to interact as a team. This can drive quality and care outcomes by scaling best practices, driving continuous improvement of care, and centralizing health teams’ ideas. More information on the Huddle Templates is available here. Project EmpowerMD, a research collaboration with UPMC, aims to create an AI-powered system that can capture and integrate medical expertise at scale by listening and observing doctors doing their work as they meet their patients. The EmpowerMD architecture is a learning system that captures and synthesizes patient-physician conversations while maintaining privacy and compliance, and supporting applications such as the automatic production of encounter notes. The goal is to allow physicians to spend more face-to-face time with patients, by bringing together many services from Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud including Custom Speech Services (CSS) and Language Understanding Intelligent Services (LUIS), customized for the medical domain. We have made great progress on building a rich medical knowledge graph and a recommendation system, all developed on an Azure-powered architecture for secure sharing of speech data with our healthcare partners. More information including a video is available here. https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/02/Inner_Eye_v10.00_00_30_07.Still007-1024x576.jpg Project InnerEye develops machine learning techniques for the automatic delineation of tumors as well as healthy anatomy in 3D radiological images. Announced in private preview at RSNA, Project InnerEye uses state-of-the-art machine learning and computer vision to turn medical images into measurement devices, to amplify a clinician’s ability to personalize treatment, spend more time with their patients, and for hospitals to save costs. InnerEye goes beyond the research lab through cloud-based image segmentation services that integrate with third-party software products to enhance the clinical workflow of healthcare professionals such as radiation oncologists, surgeons, radiologists and medical physicists. And the proof is in the partners and integrations: InnerEye is being made accessible through the world’s first AI-results viewer for radiology, Northstar, from TeraRecon. Intuitive Surgical, a global leader in robotic-assisted, minimally invasive surgery, is working with the InnerEye team to explore machine learning applications to improve surgical outcomes. Infusing technology and healthcare to achieve more Our mission at Microsoft is to empower every person and organization to achieve more, and with that in mind, our ambition is that innovators will be able to use AI and the cloud to unlock biological insight and break data from silos for a truly personal understanding of human health and in turn, enable better access to care, lower costs and improved outcomes. We’re excited to meet many of you next week at HIMSS18 and share more about what we are working on. Please be sure to stop by our booth No. 3832 to see our solutions in action, and follow our HIMSS18 story on @Health_IT to learn more. The post Microsoft’s focus on transforming healthcare: Intelligent health through AI and the cloud appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17110 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 17110 Improvements for Enterprise Customers in RS4 Enterprises can now run custom actions during feature update: In RS4, we are adding a new feature that will enable your enterprise to run your own custom actions/scripts synchronously with setup. Setup will execute custom actions during two update phases controlled by using preinstall.cmd or precommit.cmd: Pre-install: This would be just before all the system and device compatibility scans run. Pre-commit: This would be just before the system reboots into the offline phase. Setup also migrates the scripts for future updates. In the event of an update failure or rollback, a failure.cmd script can be used to perform custom operations or undo actions of previous custom scripts. Run (Migrate): C:\Windows\System32\update\run\<GUID>\preinstall.cmd C:\Windows\System32\update\run\<GUID>\precommit.cmd C:\Windows\System32\update\run\<GUID>\failure.cmd C:\Windows\System32\update\run\<GUID>\reflectdrivers\foo.inf C:\Windows\System32\update\run\<GUID>\reflectdrivers\foo.sys Run Once (Do not migrate): C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\<GUID>\preinstall.cmd C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\<GUID>\precommit.cmd C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\<GUID>\failure.cmd C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\<GUID>\reflectdrivers\bar.inf C:\Windows\System32\update\runonce\<GUID>\reflectdrivers\bar.sys https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/e5ef689525800220e00d22a272ff39ef-1024x272.png Enterprises can run post rollback scripts in system context: Current /postrollback scripts run if the first user logs in after the rollback has admin privileges. We received feedback from several enterprises that most of their employees don’t have admin privileges. With RS4, we are enabling /postrollback scripts to run in admin context or system context. We are not changing the behavior of the existing /postrollback switch. We have added a new switch /postrollbackcontext “xxx” to be used along with /postrollback switch to specify in which context should the scripts be executed: To run /postrollback scripts in system context – setup.exe /postrollback c:\Fabrikam\setuprollback.cmd /postrollbackcontext system To run /postrollback scripts with first user to login have admin privileges (admin context) – setup.exe /postrollback c:\Fabrikam\setuprollback.cmd /postrollbackcontext admin Windows containers Docker for Windows users, we are flighting the matching Windows container images of Server Core and Nano Server to the Docker Hub for continued testing and feedback. Thank you for all the great feedback and please keep it coming! General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue where buttons on Game bar were not centered correctly. We fixed an issue where a small number of PCs might have experienced one CPU under persistent high load or even a bugcheck (GSOD with error DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION). We fixed an issue where tearing a PDF tab in Microsoft Edge would result in a bugcheck (GSOD). We’ve updated Start so that it now follows the new Ease of Access setting to enable or disable hiding scrollbars. We fixed an issue resulting in some app icons appearing distorted in Task View. We fixed an issue where making a pinch gesture over the open apps in Task View might result in no longer being able to scroll down to Timeline. We fixed an issue where pressing and holding on a card in Timeline would open the corresponding app, rather than bringing up a context menu. We fixed an issue resulting in the title bar overlapping content when you opened your lists in Cortana’s notebook. We’ve updated the new notification to fix blurry apps so that it now will persist in the Action Center to be accessed later once the toast has timed out and dismissed. We fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to open a new inPrivate window of Microsoft Edge from the taskbar jumplist while in Tablet Mode. We fixed an issue where dragging a Microsoft Edge tab out of the window and releasing hold of it somewhere over the desktop might periodically result in a stuck invisible window. We fixed an issue resulting in DirectAccess not working in recent builds, where the connection would be stuck with status “Connecting”. We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard number pad would show the period as a decimal separator for countries that use the comma as a decimal separator. We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to turn on and off third party IMEs using the touch keyboard. We fixed an issue resulting in numbers not being inserted when flicking up on the top row of letters in the wide touch keyboard layout. Known issues Selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opens the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the screenshot or game clip. Post-install at the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown, a small number of devices have experienced a scenario wherein the OS fails to load properly and may enter a reboot loop state. For affected PCs, turning off fast boot may bypass the issue. If not, it is necessary to create a bootable ISO from an ISO on a USB drive, boot into recovery mode, and this this will allow bypass. When Movies & TV user denies access to its videos library (through the “Let Movies & TV access your videos library?” popup window or through Windows privacy settings), Movies & TV crashes when the user navigates to the “Personal” tab. No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17110 for Fast appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/435bc4f7def72f95831fcc5abf3890d4-1024x576.jpg Join your favorite heroes in Story Mode as they team up to battle the frightening Ultron Sigma, the merged form of Ultron and Sigma, who plans to unleash a virus that will decimate all organic life. Or, you can try your hand at Arcade Mode where every win will advance you towards a confrontation with the final boss in an epic showdown of skills. Download the Standard Edition or the Deluxe Edition from the Microsoft Store! In Mission Mode, you can complete a tutorial with 10 missions that focus on combos and special moves created to help you learn to play a specific character. In Training Mode, various parameters can be set to hone your skills, improve your fighting abilities, or discover new teams to play. Once you’ve completed your training, you can go head-to-head against the CPU to fight AI-controlled opponents of various difficulty. And be sure to access the Dr. Light Database which contains numerous unlockable items including cut scenes from the Story Mode, background information, concept art, and audio tracks! Take your skills online to battle other players across a variety of modes like Ranked Match, Casual Match, and Beginners League. Search for or create your own lobby where up to eight players can engage in simultaneous player-vs-player matches. View rankings or replay your favorite matches and experience them all over again! The Windows 10 version of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will include all balance changes and bug fixes since its initial launch in September 2017 and will include cross play with Xbox One players. The Windows 10 version will have the same features as the Xbox One version, and it’s compatible with Xbox Play Anywhere so you can play on Xbox One as well. The Standard Edition is available for MSRP $39.99 and the Deluxe Edition is available for MSRP $59.99. Read more over at Xbox Wire, and play Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite on Windows 10 now! Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite available today on Windows 10! Tweet This The post Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite available today on Windows 10! appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/6bfedd4703f319bab314b217884dea36.gif With the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you can shut down, restart, or sleep your PC simply by saying any of these: “Hey Cortana, lock my computer.” “Hey Cortana, shut down my computer.” “Hey Cortana, restart my computer.” Head over here to read more about what’s new in the Fall Creators Update, and have a great week! *Cortana available in select markets. The post Windows 10 Tip: Ask Cortana to shut down, restart or sleep your PC appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today, we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17107 (RS4) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. There won’t be a new build this week for Windows Insiders who opted into Skip Ahead. What’s new in Build 17107 Windows Update Improvements Keeping PCs Up-to-date: In an effort to prevent PCs from becoming out of date, we are introducing a change in behavior to Windows Update that is designed to be more proactive at keeping PCs updated. In RS4, now when Windows Update scans, downloads, and installs on a PC with AC power – it will prevent the PC from going to sleep when it is not in active use, for up to 2 hours when receiving an update in order to give Windows Update more opportunity to succeed. If you are not seeing this new behavior, let us know by sending in feedback via Feedback Hub. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue where Settings would crash when you tried to open Themes. We fixed an issue where the Settings tile didn’t have a name if you pinned it to Start. We’ve updated About Settings to include at a glance entries for the two new Windows Defender pillars (Account Protection and Device Security). We fixed a typo in Storage Sense Settings. We fixed an issue resulting in all dropdowns in Settings appearing blank until clicked. We fixed an issue that could result in Settings crashing after having navigated to and left Sound Settings. We fixed an issue where closing certain apps after using in-app search could result in them hanging on the splash screen the next time they were launched. We fixed an issue where plugging in an external optical drive (DVD) will cause an Explorer.exe crash. We fixed an issue resulting in the hamburger button in Windows Defender overlapping the home button. We fixed an issue where certain games using Easy Anti Cheat could result in the system experiencing a bugcheck (KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED). We fixed an issue where we had observed seeing longer-than-normal delays during install at the 88% mark. Some delays were as long as 90 minutes before moving forward. We fixed an issue resulting in the Windows Defender offline scan not working in recent builds. Some Insiders may have noticed a new message when holding down the power button which says “Please release the power button. We just need a few more seconds to shut down”. This is an Insider-only feature that gathers additional diagnostic data for situations where holding down the power button was used to recover an unresponsive or nonfunctional system. It is important to note that holding down the power button is not the appropriate way to shutdown/reboot a system that is functioning properly. See this support page for additional information on how to properly shutdown your PC. Known issues Buttons on Game bar are not centered correctly. Selecting a notification after taking a screenshot or game clip opens the Xbox app’s home screen instead of opening the screenshot or game clip. Post-install at the first user-prompted reboot or shutdown, a small number of devices have experienced a scenario wherein the OS fails to load properly and may enter a reboot loop state. For affected PCs, turning off fast boot may bypass the issue. If not, it is necessary to create a bootable ISO on a USB drive, boot into recovery mode, and this this will allow bypass. Tearing a PDF tab in Microsoft Edge will result in a bugcheck (GSOD). No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17107 for Fast Ring appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of This Week on Windows! Visit this post to read about the “MR Museum in Kyoto,” providing unique insight into centuries-old Japanese artwork; check out our Windows 10 Tip on how to use LinkedIn and Microsoft Word to help you write your resume; and head over here to read more about Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, now available on Windows 10 PCs worldwide. In case you missed it: We're excited to announce that the SMITE Pro League and SMITE Console Series will be broadcast exclusively on Mixer! With unique co-stream angles, perspectives and views, @SMITEGame Season 5 will be the best one yet. Details: Growing the SMITE Community on Mixer pic.twitter.com/gNP3KqAELL — Mixer (@WatchMixer) February 22, 2018 Have a great weekend! The post This Week on Windows: Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, Resume Assistant, Mixer and more appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

It’s called Resume Assistant, and it was created to help Office 365 subscribers craft compelling resumes with personalized insights powered by LinkedIn. Here’s how to get started: Simply open your resume in Word, click Review, and then Resume Assistant. (The first time you do this, click Get started in the pane). https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/76e5e7d620850883c775e9ed19996ee4.gif Type the role you’re interested in, and optionally, an industry – then click See examples, and Resume Assistant will show you work experience descriptions you can use as inspiration for writing your own description. Resume Assistant can also show you top skills related to the role, as identified by LinkedIn – try filtering the examples by the skills you have. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/a100f574771a916e7b853a8638d538ea.gif Resume Assistant also surfaces relevant job opportunities for you directly within Word. Once you spot a job you like, you can go directly to the job opening on LinkedIn to learn more about the opportunity and apply. You can even let recruiters know that you’re open to new opportunities by turning on Open Candidates. https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/18350ab3256a45784ae59634453148ee.gif You don’t need a LinkedIn account to use Resume Assistant, although you can sign in to LinkedIn (or sign up for an account) when you follow a link from Word to the LinkedIn site. Head over to the official LinkedIn blog or visit Office Support to learn more, and have a great week! Windows 10 Tip: How to use LinkedIn and Microsoft Word to help you write your resume Tweet This *Availability: Resume Assistant is now available to Office 365 subscribers on Windows whose Word 2016 desktop display language is set to English, who are located in and whose Windows region is set to one of the following region locations: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, and United States. The Region location setting can be found in the Control Panel under Clock, Language, and Region. Resume Assistant can be found in the Review tab of Word. The post Windows 10 Tip: How to use LinkedIn and Microsoft Word to help you write your resume appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/2661c39e732cd88fc0f89fcb6863a519-1024x576.jpg We created Age of Empires: Definitive Edition as a homage to all Real Time Strategy (RTS) fans and to PC gamers everywhere. The Definitive Edition brings back the original Age of Empires and its Rise of Rome expansion with 16 civilizations to explore 10 campaigns to conquer. Fully remastered with beautifully enhanced graphics that support up to 4K resolution, an impressive orchestral soundtrack, brand-new narrative, major gameplay improvements, Xbox Live support for multiplayer and Achievements, the Definitive Edition brings back the original feeling of Age of Empires, but even better than ever. Download Age of Empires: Definitive Edition here! We’re excited to start playing the game with you and can’t wait to show you what’s next for the award-winning RTS game. Celebrate the launch by joining fellow Age of Empires fans at select Microsoft Store locations for the Age of Empires Tournament to conquer other civilizations and advance your Empire to the next stage. Starting March 1, join a bracket style 1 v 1 tournament at 5 p.m. local time, to win prizes and a chance to receive Age of Empires swag. Tournaments are free to join, and players can sign up at smash.gg. On behalf of Microsoft Studios, Forgotten Empires and the rest of the Age of Empires team, thank you to the fans for supporting Age throughout the years. Download Age of Empires: Definitive Edition here, and visit a Microsoft Store near you or Microsoft.com to play or participate in the tournament action! Hope to see you soon! The post Age of Empires: Definitive Edition now available on Windows 10 PCs worldwide appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/02/One-Microsoft-Place-new-campus-official-opening-6-1024x683.jpg Microsoft’s new 365,000-square foot campus in Dublin, One Microsoft Place, brings together the 2,000 employees of Microsoft Ireland under one roof. Today I had the pleasure of joining the prime minister of Ireland (or Taoiseach, as we say in Irish), Leo Varadkar, and my colleague Cathriona Hallahan, the managing director of Microsoft Ireland, to officially open our new $165 million, 365,000-square foot campus in Dublin – fast becoming a digital hub of Europe. This new campus, One Microsoft Place, brings together 2,000 of our most talented employees in Ireland under one roof as they work to make our shared mission a reality – to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. During my last visit back in April, I was lucky enough to join the amazing advocate Sinéad Burke and speak to 800 young girls at an event Microsoft Ireland hosted for Girls in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Day. Our message that day was one we at Microsoft truly believe – that if you pursue a career in technology, you can absolutely change the world. I have no doubt that some of the girls I met on that trip are going to grow up and change the world right from inside this building. That’s what the new campus at One Microsoft Place is all about. It’s a place designed to help our team do their best work – fueling innovation and creativity, and inspiring everyone who visits. By embracing new ways of working, this space will empower our employees, optimize operations and help Microsoft more deeply engage with the local community. https://mscorpmedia.azureedge.net/mscorpmedia/2018/02/One-Microsoft-Place-campus-Launch-4-1024x683.jpg Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar joins Microsoft’s Peggy Johnson, right, and Cathriona Hallahan, at the mic, to celebrate the opening of One Microsoft Place. For the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with the Irish team as they continue their quest to transform. Because of my family ties, I’ve always known how special this country is, but the last two years have also taught me just how special this team is – representing 71 different nationalities, with people of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs. Ireland is the only location outside our headquarters in Redmond, Washington where every part of Microsoft is represented – from the team that operates our Dublin data center, to our engineering and product groups, operations and sales. The work that is undertaken here is helping to power the digital transformations of corporations, governments, schools and non-profits – not just in Ireland and the European Union, but all around the world. And since establishing the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Digital Sales team in Dublin, we’ve watched that impact accelerate beyond anything we could have hoped for. From its establishment a year ago, the organization has grown to almost 700 people, attracting top talent from across Ireland and around the globe. Microsoft has now been a part of the Dublin community for more than 30 years, and One Microsoft Place is both a celebration of our shared history, and an investment in our shared future. Thank you to everyone who made this beautiful campus possible – the Taoiseach, our customers and our partners in the local community. But above all, thank you to the incredible employees of Microsoft Ireland. We can’t wait to see what you accomplish here. To get a glimpse of or new campus at One Microsoft Place in Dublin see: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/aboutireland, or on Twitter, search for the #MicrosoftLifeIreland hashtag. The post Igniting a new era of transformation at Microsoft in Ireland appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/c2abef5636d6eee8e79113ba15f86d9c-1024x576.jpg How to watch the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Mixer Livestream on Feb. 19 Tweet This The Definitive Edition of the original Age of Empires with the Rise of Rome expansion pack is launching on Feb. 20, local time for Windows 10 PCs! To mark the occasion, the flagship Microsoft Store in New York is hosting a special livestream from the Mixer NYC Studio on Feb. 19, so fans around the world can experience the action. Join hosts Kate Yeager, Adam Isgreen from Microsoft Studios, Bert Beeckman from Forgotten Empires and more special guests as they discuss the remastering of the classic real-time strategy game, stream gameplay and share their best tips and tricks. You’ll be able to get the game from the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 beginning at midnight on Feb. 20! The post How to watch the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Mixer Livestream on Feb. 19 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2018/02/32bd827ebde7f5eb14358ac369accd8c-1024x683.jpg Cortana helps make your life easier by making it easy to control your smart home devices from afar. Rush out of the house and forget to turn off the lights? No problem, just pull out your phone, open the Cortana app and say, “Hey Cortana, turn off the lights,” and she’ll take care of it for you. Last October we announced you could use Cortana to manage your smart devices through Samsung SmartThings, Nest, Philips Hue, Wink, and Insteon. Today, we are pleased to announce that you can use Cortana to control your favorite smart home devices from ecobee, Honeywell Lyric, Honeywell Total Connect Comfort, LIFX, TP-Link Kasa, and Geeni. You can control these devices using Cortana on Windows 10, iPhone, Android, and the Harman Kardon Invoke speaker. Want to come home to a warm house from a long day at work? Just tap Cortana on your PC and say “Hey Cortana, set the living room thermostat to 72 degrees” to control your ecobee, Honeywell Lyric, or Honeywell Total Connect Comfort thermostat. With vivid colors from your LIFX Wi-Fi connected light bulbs, you can set the mood just right for movie night. With the slim smart plugs by TP-Link, you’ll never have to worry again about leaving the house and forgetting to turn off something like a space heater or straightening iron. Just say, “Hey Cortana, turn off the space heater.” Geeni’s smart bulbs and power products work with Cortana, and its smart surge protector even lets you name and control each outlet separately or in groups with Cortana. For example, if you have several lamps in your living room, plug them into your Geeni surge protector and say, “Hey Cortana, turn off the living room lamps”, and Cortana will turn off all the outlets named “living room lamp”. To set up your connected home with Cortana, open Cortana on Windows 10 or go to the Cortana app on your phone, click Notebook, then click Connected Home. From there, you can connect your favorite smart home accounts and control your devices from anywhere you use Cortana.* Cortana now works with hundreds of services on IFTTT We are also excited to share that starting today, Cortana works with IFTTT! IFTTT is a free platform that helps you connect your apps and services together. IFTTT works with 600 services from providers in a variety of areas. You could add items to your shopping list on Trello, post a tweet, open your Link shades, extend tumble time on your GE Dryer and log your weight on Fitbit among many other things. There’s a whole world of possibilities with Cortana on IFTTT. Using IFTTT, you will be able to customize your experience by creating your own phrases to use with services on IFTTT. For example, you could turn your lights off by saying, “Hey Cortana, let there be light” or put money towards that next concert trip on Qapital by saying, “Hey Cortana, penny for my thoughts.” Use triggers and responses on IFTTT to make Cortana your truly personal assistant. You can also use Applets on IFTTT with Cortana to trigger multiple actions with one phrase. So if you are watching a movie at home, you can say “Hey Cortana, movie time” and she’ll turn down your Hue lights, Harmony TV turned on, and your Nest Thermostat set to the right temperature. Cortana is always available to help you on Windows 10, Android, iPhone, and Harman Kardon Invoke devices. Set up your Cortana Applets on the Cortana channel on IFTTT! Hey Cortana, turn up the heat; Cortana now works with more smart home providers and IFTTT Tweet This *Additional requirements may apply per device. The post Hey Cortana, turn up the heat; Cortana now works with more smart home providers and IFTTT appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of This Week on Windows! Visit this post to read about the Amazon Music app for Windows 10, now available from Microsoft Store, check out our Windows 10 Tip on 7 pro tips for getting started with Microsoft Edge as your PDF viewer or head over here for the system requirements for Sea of Thieves on Windows 10! In case you missed it: Have a great weekend! The post This Week on Windows: Amazon Music app, fifth anniversary of Surface Pro and more appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...