Dona Sarkar, the head of the Windows Insider program said in her blog post this weekend the following: Windows 10 Preview Build 14385 for PC After you install this latest build, you should find the following improvement for Windows 10 Anniversary Edition on PC: You should no longer see a notification pop-up once a day saying that your Windows evaluation copy expires on 7/15/2016. I know this has caused a lot of you some angst so thank you for being patient....

Windows 10 Redstone 4 Preview Build This new build introduces the long-awaited Windows Timeline which was rumored to be included in the Fall Creators Update but was inevitably kept out. It is a more robust version of the current Task View (Alt + Tab) and is a visual timeline that is directly integrated into Task View, so you can move back into the activities of files and apps you were using – up to thirty days’ worth....

Windows 10 Cumulative Update KB3118754 Here’s a look at what this update contains according to the Microsoft Support page: Of course, the update will come automatically to you, or if you want to get ahead of the situation, you can manually download the update now by heading to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Windows 10 Version 1511 updates are cumulative. Therefore, this package contains all previously-released fixes (see 3105211)....

One of the new features in the Windows 8 desktop user interface is the Ribbon in Windows Explorer (now called File Explorer). If you find no use for it, here’s how you can hide it. Hide Windows 8 File Explorer Ribbon You can minimize or expand the Ribbon in Explorer by clicking the small arrow icon in the upper right corner. It works just like it does in MS Office 2007 and 2010....

Update: 11/02/2012 If you’re looking for a good way to bypass the Windows 8 Start screen and boot directly into the classic desktop, give Start8 from Stardock a try. Update: 06/29/2013: Microsoft was listening, and now with the updated version — Windows 8.1 — you can now easily set it to boot to the desktop. Oh, and the Start Button is back too! The new Metro-style UI in Windows 8 makes sense on a tablet, sure....

Microsoft has not updated the software in any significant way for well over a year. With the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, it is clear that, even with Microsoft’s much-anticipated move away from the Zune brand, the critical components of the software will live in the Metro apps Store, Video, and Music apps. Microsoft has already said it will come preinstalled in the final Windows 8 release. Take Video, for example; opening this Metro app preview in the Consumer Preview released in February displays spotlight, collection, and marketplace options....

This version promises several new improvements including the return of the Start button and boot to desktop – two of the biggest complaints from users of Windows 8. There are several other enhancements to the new version and we’ll be taking a look at them more in-depth in the coming days and weeks. If you’re one of the few users of Windows RT, you’re system can be updated too. The RT update adds Outlook to the Office 2013 suite of programs that are included in the Surface price....

Whether running it on a tablet or desktop, the Bing app gives you a clean and intuitive tiled interface for searching the web. It displays high quality images of the day that you see when you visit bing.com. You can switch pictures by swiping with your finger on a tablet, or use the scroll wheel on your mouse. Like the Bing site, you can click the live squares on the image to find out more about the image....

It lets you view the full agenda, speakers, session videos and notes as they’re posted. The event was held on the Redmond campus and the app includes a full map of buildings and the surrounding area. If you’re a developer looking for more info on Windows 8, RT and Windows Phone 8, you’ll definitely want to check this out. Even if you’re not a developer, it provides an interesting look at what you can expect from Windows 8 in the coming months, and check out the first keynote presented by Steve Ballmer himself....

When Stardock last updated Start8, it included the ability to bypass the Windows 8 Start screen and bring you directly into the desktop. It still has that feature, and has been redesigned to really look and feel like the traditional Start menu in Windows 7. Here’s an example of it running on the Windows 8 Pro RTM. Select All Programs and you’ll have access to traditional desktop and Modern Style Windows 8 apps....

These types of phones would include the lower end and affordable Lumia 521/520 or Lumia 635 as examples. I have owned both phones which started with the 520 on AT&T’s no contract GoPhone program, then upgraded last year to the Lumia 635 on the same carrier. Now, there hasn’t been any reports about which specific models will support Windows 10 preview, but Gabe Aul, Microsoft Engineering General Manager, gave us more hope today in a Twitter post you can read below....

20GB Free SkyDrive Space for a Year If you have a Microsoft account and own a Windows Phone, you should receive an email letting you know of the 20GB of free SkyDrive space. The email for the offer should be sent to the Microsoft email account you used to set up your phone. The catch? Well, the additional 20GB of space is gifted for a year. After that, according to the email: It’s not clear what will happen to your data after that year of gifted space....

The Windows Snipping Tool is a quality screenshot utility that takes up little disk space and is easy on system resources. You can launch it by hitting the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut. It’s not perfect, though; like any built-in Microsoft utility, it has flaws. If you experience an issue with the Windows Snipping Tool not working, here are five fixes you can use to get it working....

Just about all of the core activities you may need to use in either a private or a business environment, you can do with PDFelement 7. These include: Markup existing PDFs and print themEdit nearly any element inside the PDFConvert PDF documents to other popular formats like Word or HTMLPassword protects your PDF filesCreate PDF documents with form fieldsDigitally sign documentsPerform OCR analysis on images with textBatch process multiple PDF docs to convert them or fix simple formatting...

Using my iPhone Headset, not 5 minutes ago from 35k feet up I just had a conversation with my wife. The quality? Surprisingly clear (according to her) for both of us. A few times it skipped out a little but I had a nice 5 minute conversation with her before I told her I had to go so I could blog about it… (sorry honey)… Halfway through writing this groovyPost, it occurred to me I could demonstrate for myself the quality of the call....

Making a PowerPoint Presentation Read-Only With read-only turned-on in Microsoft PowerPoint, you can no longer edit the presentation. Therefore, you shouldn’t make this change until you’re finished with the presentation. To make a PowerPoint Presentation read-only: In the pull-down menu, you’ll see four options: When selected, Always Open Read-Only tells readers the file is read-only and shouldn’t be edited.Mark as Final lets readers know this is the finished copy of this file....

Whether it’s the images you send or the videos you record for your stories, they each have a limited time span on Snapchat unless you decide to keep them. This is a good approach, but if you want to take things further, you could make your Snapchat stories private. This allows you to limit who can see your content. You don’t need to worry about prying eyes figuring out what you’re doing or where you’re going....

OneDrive as the Default Save Place To get started, click the OneDrive icon in the notification area on the taskbar and choose Settings. Next, select the Auto Save tab, and there you can choose OneDrive for desktop items, your new documents, and pictures to save automatically. Make sure to click OK, and then the file you place on your Desktop will automatically save to OneDrive. Note that you can also check the option to have photos from devices you connect to your PC be automatically uploaded to OneDrive....

Update: If you are looking for a quality alternative sound app that adds extra features, check out the Ear Trumpet App. Adjust Volume and Audio Settings in Windows 10 Basic audio settings can be accessed from the Speakers notification on the taskbar. You can use the slider to increase or lower the volume. Audio can mute audio by clicking the speaker icon on the new volume menu. The Windows 10 Anniversary Update now makes it easier to switch between different audio devices....

Here are two ways to do it: Method 1: Sync Apple Mail via IMAP The first method is the easiest, and for most cases, it’ll work. Apple’s built-in mail client uses the IMAP storage format, which keeps a copy of your messages on both the server and your Mac. If you are already using an iCloud email address, you can sign into a supported email client on Windows 10 such as Windows Mail, Microsoft Outlook, or Mozilla Thunderbird, and your emails will show up....