Readers asked us about Window 10 naming, version and builds after Overdue changes to Windows 10 available now. Some told us we were wrong while others are confused, with both groups quoting various Microsoft sources for their ‘truth’. The sad fact is Windows naming, version and builds are a confused
Microsoft is rolling out a ‘patch’ to Windows 7 which is really a series of annoying ads for Windows 10. The ads are reminders that Win7 support ends in mid-January 2020 as encouragement to buy Windows 10. Here’s how to stop the patch or the ads it installs. See Microsoft starts
What can you do when two Windows computers can’t ‘see’ each other for file sharing on a local network? It’s an old, old Windows problem with too many possible faults, but a smart Office Watch reader found one possible fix. File sharing is necessary to let you share documents and
If you like Reddit but want to hide it from your boss, co-workers, partner etc then we’ve got a web site for you. It makes Reddit look like Outlook Web Access (aka OWA). Go to https://attaxia.github.io/MSOutlookit/ or http://pcottle.github.io/MSOutlookit/ There’s a web page with the latest Reddit posts in the familiar
Microsoft’s Project Natick now has two live camera feeds showing fish around their underwater data centers. One of the big problems for server farms is heat. All those computers generate a lot of heat that must be dissipated somehow. Microsoft’s servers store your OneDrive files, Azure data, run Office cloud
Here’s some tips from our Editor-in-Chief, Peter Deegan on getting the most from a Edinburgh visit in August. Create an online account with the main festival sites (International, Fringe and Underbelly). You can login and see what shows you’ve booked, make your own list of ‘favorites’ to choose from. Sign
A jury has found Corel guilty of six patent violations in it’s WordPerfect and QuattroPro products which have breached Microsoft Office related patents. Yes, WordPerfect and QuattroPro are still out there! We were surprised too. The patents relate to the Office interface like the ribbon. In WordPerfect, Corel even goes
The passing of the author Ursula Le Guin, aged 88, is a great sadness. “Truth, is a matter of the imagination” – Genly Ai Her stories, novels and other writings were always thoughtful, well constructed, elegantly written and much loved by her many readers. Peter, our Editor in Chief recalls:
There’s so much information and mis-information about the Spectre and Meltdown chip problems, we’ve decided to have a look at what Windows and Mac users need to do about Spectre/Meltdown, what not to worry about, plus some trivia and nerdy details. A quick What to Do that quickly tells you
Microsoft has released a preview of their Whiteboard app for Windows 10 which includes collaboration options if you’ve got an Office 365 account. Here’s how you can try it, with help on some features. You can use the Whiteboard on your own or with a group online (combined with audio/video
Kaspersky has blamed a National Security Agency (NSA) contractor using pirated Office software for the leak of classified documents to their Moscow servers. The US government had banned Kaspersky security software after classified files were uploaded to the Russian company. It’s alleged those documents where passed to the Kremlin. Kaspersky’s
With all the gushing over the $1,000 iPhone, it was nice to see a different perspective recommending the cheapest iPhone instead. Ben Gilbert at The Independent points out that the iPhone SE was made $50 cheaper with the release of the iPhone X. From Apple direct, the iPhone SE 32GB
If you love digging into US election details you’ll love these spreadsheets with US Presidential Election results, by County and Party from 1836 to 2016 Unleash your inner Nate Silver, see how your county or state voted over the years, starting at Google Docs There are tabs for each state
Can you believe it? Clippy, the unloved spawn of Office 97 is returning. Eros Fratini is a developer with, presumably, a perverse sense of humor. He’s created a Visual Studio add in which lets developers make Clippy part of their projects. Get it from GitHub. Oh joy, we can hardly wait.
Office Watch has a presence on Facebook, finally, https://www.facebook.com/OfficeWatch/ Our new Facebook page has the very latest Office related news posted to it as soon as we publish. Go to https://www.facebook.com/OfficeWatch/ and click Follow to see our posts in your timeline. Admittedly, we’ve been slow to adopt social media. We’ve
Some readers know that Peter Deegan (our editor-in-chief) is an eclipse chaser. The USA eclipse next Monday will be his tenth Total Eclipse of the Sun. Here’s his tips and links for anyone heading for the totality zone and for people who can’t make it. A total eclipse of the
WPS Office, a Microsoft Office clone, has announced they’ve stopped development on their Linux version. UDPATE: WPS Office now denies there’s a halt to Linux version development and blamed the media for the ‘false’ story (sound familar?). So where did Office-Watch.com and many other outlets get the idea? Errrr, from
We’ve all played Solitaire, it’s been part of Windows since v3.1 but how did it begin? Surely there was a team of Redmond developers dedicated to the task, beavering away day and night, powered by diet cola and chocolate bars? Nope. Solitaire was made by a bored intern at Microsoft
The Creators update to Windows 10 is coming this week. Windows 10 for Microsoft Office users, Creators edition is ready now before Microsoft publicly releases the new Windows 10. Past purchasers of Windows 10 for Microsoft Office users get a free update to the new edition. Be ready for the
The sad Antipodean news (at least for me and many others) is the death of John Clarke. Office-Watch.com has often referenced John Clarke’s early work, using names like Bruce Bayliss, Trevor, sheep-dip and Gumboots from his most famous character Fred Dagg. John was little known outside Australia and his native
Facebook Messenger is the instant messaging part of anyone’s Facebook account but it’s not something that everyone likes … far from it. We all have many forms of communication clamoring for our attention – phone calls, SMS/texts, email to various accounts and instant messaging. Checking each of these can be
Avecto has released an analysis of Microsoft’s security lapses and patches over the last few years. It makes interesting reading even though the headline conclusion hasn’t been well understood. Administrator Rights problem Most media have focused on a quote from the report that says “94% of Critical Microsoft vulnerabilities would
In our recent article – USB charging – check the adapter AND the cable we tested some USB cables to see how much power they supplied from the same AC adapter. The results showed that a poor quality cable would only transmit a fraction of the available power and that
We’ve been digging and found something interesting – when charging a device from a USB socket, the CABLE can make a big difference to charging speed. I’ve been having trouble with slow charging of my phone … sometimes the charge can only keep up with use and there’s little improvement
