It’s been almost two months since Microsoft started rolling out the Windows 10 April 2018 update, and the company has just announced that it’s now fully available for all compatible devices. According to Redmond, over 250 million PCs are already running the April 2018 update, which represents the fastest rollout in the history of Windows 10.

In case you forgot, 250 millions PCs represents roughly 35% of the 700 million active Windows 10 devices out there. As expected, this number is much lower than AdDuplex’s recent 50% number, and that’s because the cross-promotion network for Microsoft Store apps only takes into account PCs where apps using the company’s SDK are being used. Still, 35% of the user base is pretty good after less than two months, and this number should grow pretty quickly now that the major update is generally available.

“Artificial Intelligence continues to be a key area of investment for Microsoft, and we’re pleased to announce that for the first time we’ve leveraged AI at scale to greatly improve the quality and reliability of the Windows 10 April 2018 Update rollout,” explained John Cable, Director of Program Management, Windows Servicing and Delivery. The exec also says the company is seeing “higher satisfaction numbers, fewer known issues, and lower support call volumes compared to previous Windows 10 releases,” which is honestly a bit surprising.

Indeed, you may remember that the road towards the release of the April 2018 update was quite a bumpy one, with the major release starting to roll out on the last day of April. After its release, several issues surfaced including File Explorer crashes, BSOD when updating as well as installation problems with Intel SSDs. Microsoft has since released several patches to fix these bugs, and this month’s Patch Tuesday also addressed brightness controls issues on select laptops.

“Early data shows the quality of the April 2018 Update exceeding earlier versions of Windows 10 in both reliability and performance,” said Cable. “Of course, this work is never done, and we continue to partner to with our hardware and software partners to drive additional performance and reliability improvements in Windows 10,” he continued. Do you agree with Microsoft’s telemetry data, and do you think the April 2018 update has been less problematic than previous major releases? Sound off in the comments below.

For some, it definitely feels like we’re in the early stages of Windows Insider testing round. The number of known issues and fixes have seemingly outweighed the features list and todays preview of build 17692 is no different.

Here are list of fixes, general changes and improvements for Fast Ring and Skip Ahead testers downloading preview 17692.

• We fixed an issue resulting in audio glitching on systems with lots of firewall rules.
• We fixed an issue from the last few flights where Eye Control would fail fast and not start.
• We fixed an issue resulting in certain games, such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, to crash on launch in the last two builds.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Settings crashing when attempting to open Data Usage Settings in the last few flights.
• We fixed an issue resulting in an unexpected “codecpacks.vp9” entry in the Start menu.
• We fixed a recent issue for some Insiders resulting in an explorer.exe crash with AppXDeploymentClient.dll.
• We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders recently experiencing a bug check (green screen) with the error SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION in afd.sys.
• With Build 17672 we made a fix for an explorer.exe crash in structuredquery.dll – that fix stopped anyone new from encountering the crash, however we heard your reports that anyone already impacted was still impacted. Today’s build has a fix for this issue that should resolve it for anyone who was already impacted.
• To improve discoverability, we’ve moved Delivery Optimization Settings to now be directly listed as a category under Settings > Update & Security.
• We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge impacting websites like Facebook.com, where when starting a message only the first contact name entered was automatically resolved while typing.
• We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge where if both images and text were selected, right-clicking on the image and selecting copy wouldn’t work.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the Windows Security app crashing recently when adding a process to the exclusion list.

There is a lot of spot fixing that needs to occur with this particualr Windows 10 update and it looks as though the Windows 10 is slowly starting to plug the holes.

Microsoft has just released the Windows 10 Insider build 17692 for Fast and Skip Ahead Insiders, and it’s a pretty big release compared to the previous flight. One the most interesting additions is that Microsoft’s Swiftkey keyboard, which was previously an iOS and Android exclusive is now available on Windows 10 PCs with shape writing support.

“SwiftKey gives you more accurate autocorrections and predictions by learning your writing style – including the words, phrases and emoji that matter to you,” the blog post reads. Going forward, the intelligent keyboard will be the default when using the touch keyboard to write in English (US and UK), French (France), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Spanish (Spain), Portuguese (Brazil), or Russian.

Microsoft acquired SwiftKey back in 2016, so it took two years for the company to bring the intelligent keyboard to Windows 10. Well, better late than never, and SwiftKey should be a nice improvement over the pre-existing Windows 10 touch keyboard. It’s also safe to expect some synergies with iOS and Android, as Microsoft previously said that its upcoming Cloud Clipboard feature with leverage SwiftKey on these mobile platforms.

Microsoft just pushed out Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17692 and it’s jam-packed with a lot of new features. This build introduces Swiftkey intelligence in Windows 10, improvements for Microsoft Edge and the Gamebar, and much more. As always, you can have a look below at all the new features while you wait for this build on your Skip Ahead or Fast Ring PC.

New in Build 17692:

• SwiftKey gives you more accurate autocorrections and predictions by learning your writing style – including the words, phrases and emoji that matter to you. It’s available for Android and iOS, and starting with today’s build SwiftKey will now power the typing experience on Windows when using the touch keyboard to write in
• Microsoft Edge: One common piece of Insider feedback for Microsoft Edge is that you want more control over autoplay videos. In this build, we’ve added a new setting in Microsoft Edge to allow you to control whether sites can autoplay media. You can find an early preview of this setting under “Advanced Settings,” “Allow sites to automatically play media.” We’ll be improving these options and adding additional controls in upcoming flights and in response to your feedback, so stay tuned!
• Microsoft Edge: Beginning with this build, we’re making it easier than ever to automate testing in Microsoft Edge using WebDriver. First, we’ve made WebDriver a Windows Feature on Demand, so you no longer need to match the build/branch/flavor manually when installing WebDriver. When you take new Windows 10 updates, your WebDriver binary will be automatically updated to match.

• Accesiblity: We’ve heard your feedback and are excited to announce that the ability to increase text size across the system is back and better than ever! When you go to Settings > Ease of Access > Display in today’s build, you’ll find a new setting called “Make everything bigger” – this slider will adjust text across the system, win32 apps, and UWP apps.
• Game bar: We’re now rolling out more functionality to the RS5 Game bar. In this flight are the following new features: Audio controls. Change your default audio output device and mute or adjust the volume of games and apps running. Performance visualizations. See your game’s framerate (FPS), CPU usage, GPU VRAM usage, and system RAM usage.
• Gamemode: New options are now available for Game Mode that are expected to improve the gaming experience on desktop PCs. Gamers on PCs with many background processes may also see performance improvements when they toggle “Dedicate resources” in Game bar.

• Search: Continuing our theme of improving the search preview experience, we’re rolling out an update to make it easier to find official download pages for Windows software you want to install. The team is continuing to develop this experience and more is coming. Check out the example below, and let us know what you think!
• Windows Mixed Reality: Starting with this build you can stream audio to both the headset and the PC speakers simultaneously. To try it out make sure that you can hear sound from your normal PC speakers when not running the Mixed Reality Portal (MRP) and from the headset’s audio jack or built-in headphones when mixed reality is running. Then close all apps, including MRP, and go to Settings > Mixed reality > Audio and speech to turn on “When Mixed Reality Portal is running, mirror headset audio to desktop.” You should now hear audio from both the headset and PC speakers when running mixed reality.
• Narrator: Narrator now ships with a new keyboard layout that is designed to be more familiar to screen reader users. Narrator will now automatically read the contents of a dialog box when brought to the foreground. You now have the ability to search for text using Narrator’s new Find feature. If the text is found Narrator will move to the found item. Narrator now has the ability to present a list of links, headings or landmarks present in the application or content. Along with being able to select content in Narrator’s scan mode using Shift-selection commands, you can now also select a block of data by first moving to one end of the block and pressing F9, moving to the other end of the block and pressing F10

As you can tell, there is a lot to look forward to in this new build. The Swifkey integration is definitely most interesting and was a long time coming. All the other improvements are definitely appreciated too. Get downloading now, and feel free to let us know how this new build is running for you by dropping us a comment in the section below.

A couple of months ago, traces of a “freemium” features for Microsoft Teams were discovered in a developer preview of the team collaboration app, suggesting that a free version of Teams for MSA accounts could be near. Yesterday, Microsoft detective WalkingCat discovered new mentions of this free tier in official documentation.

Microsoft has since taken down the links describing this “free” version of Microsoft Teams, but the official description provided by Thurrott.com clearly explains that this new tier will be for small businesses:

Microsoft Teams (free) is intended for use by organizations, such as small businesses or groups of coworkers. If you were invited to join a group in Microsoft Teams (free), the group you are joining in the Microsoft Teams (free) instance will be considered your organization for the purposes of this notice, and the person administering the group will be considered the administrator of your account in Microsoft Teams (free).

Offering a free tier for Microsoft Teams makes sense as this strategy worked really well for competitor Slack. Since its launch last year, Teams has already become a core app in Office 365 that gets iterative updates every month, and making it a freemium product could help convince more SMBs to jump on the Office 365 bandwagon. We don’t know yet when Microsoft will officially announce this new free tier, but the fact that it briefly appeared in official documentation suggests that it’s a little bit closer to reality.

There’s no shortage of premium flagship Windows 10 2-in-1 devices these days, and consumers can easily go out and buy one from many different manufacturers. Google, though, recently tried to take a bite out of Microsoft’s market by introducing the Pixelbook, a premium 2-in-1 device running Chrome OS. Well, it now looks as though the search engine giant might be now trying to play nice with Microsoft by getting the Pixelbook certified for Windows 10 (via 9to5Google.)

The news is fueled by a report from XDA-Developers, which discovered coding mentions of Microsoft’s tools which are traditionally used to try and get Windows 10 to run on any given device. These include both the WHCK (Windows Hardware Certification Kit) and HLK (Windows Hardware Lab Kit) which are for ensuring driver and other device compatibility with Windows.

The HLK code line also specifically mentions “Eve” which is the codename for the Pixeblook. Google was already said to be rumored to be working on an “AltOS” for the Pixelbook, and this all but hints that said OS might end up being Windows 10.

Nothing is official as of yet though, and there’s no telling if the Windows compatibility or certification will be for developers or just the average consumer. At any rate, this definitely is an interesting situation, so feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The official Plex app for Xbox One consoles updated today with a variety of fixes and changes. Among the most noteworthy is the return of the ability to delete recommended items and the fixing of a bug that was preventing the correct audio and subtitle selections from activating as fast as they should have.

Here’s the full release notes.

• Restored ability to delete Watch Later/Recommended items
• Fixed Browse by Folder showing unwatched flags on folders
• Fixed cursor getting lost when navigating up to menu on Live TV Watch Now
• Fixed metadata being displayed behind episode thumbnail in some cases
• Fixed audio & subtitle preference changes not being reflected immediately on the preplay page
• Removed Discover and Watch Now buttons from Live TV Browse All

Plex is a powerful media consumption app that allows users to watch their own library of digital content and record live TV. Do you use Plex on your Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below and then like us on Facebook for more Xbox One news.

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Two months ago Microsoft pushed out Windows Template Studio 2.0 to developers. Today the company has followed up with a version 2.2 release which adds in a brand-new 3D Launcher feature, wizard enhancements, and much more to the experience.

This version 2.2 update is a small step in the development patch, and Microsoft says the next few releases will bring smaller updates and new pages and fixes. Anyway, have a peek below for what’s new with version 2.2, and check here for the full changelog.

Included in this version:

• 3D Launcher feature
• Wizard enhancements
• Improved documentation
• Improved testing
• Bug fixes

Dev platform updates:

• Updated Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform to 6.15
• Updated Newtonsoft.Json to 11.0.2
• Updated Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp,
• Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.Notifications and
• Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.UI.Controls to 3.0.0
• Update Telerik.UI.for.UniversalWindowsPlatform to 1.0.1

To get this release, you can try two update paths. If you already have Windows Template Studio installed, Visual Studio will auto update the extension, but you can also force an update by going to Tools>Extensions and Updates. And if not installed, you can head here and click download, and then double-click the VSIX installer.

Clint Rutkas, Senior Technical Product Manager, Windows Developer Team said in today’s blog post that Microsoft is working towards a “multi-project solution” for Windows Template Studio 3.0. He teased that there are new things being built out for future releases, so be sure to keep your feedback coming to Microsoft and make your requests heard.

Microsoft might have another consumer reports battle on its hands as the UK consumer watchdog Which reports that roughly half of all Windows users are having problems with their PCs.

Unfortunately, it’s not hyperbole, nor is it something Microsoft can brush off as manufacturing growing pains. This time around it’s not necessarily the Surface hardware failing consumers but the Windows 10 operating system itself.

Techradar is reporting that Which has polled some 1,100 of its members and it’s concluded that half of that pool has experienced issues such as glitches, bugs and driver issues all stemming from recent Windows 10 updates.

The headaches only begin with the minor inconveniences brought on by Windows 10 updates listed above. In most cases, users have reported encountering Bluetooth and USB peripherals not working, crashed apps, and in rarer cases, PCs that become bricked or failed to boot after updates.

Of the roughly half of Windows 10 Which users who have run into OS-level issues, nearly 46% of them reported having to pay a 3rd party retailer to repair their devices.

Which is now advocating that Microsoft take a hard look at the way it implements updates as well figuring out a way to compensate the unfortunate users who have experienced costly issues with their Windows 10 devices.

Which is not alone in its complaints, other watchdog groups and consumer advocacy establishments have been protesting Microsoft’s seemingly arbitrary rushed update cycle. Which would like Microsoft to consider separating critical security updates from feature updates and leaving the latter as a choice rather than an inevitability.

Another consideration brought up, is give users a full disclosed list of possible issues that come along with each update and lastly, allowing users to ask for their money back when the OS goes awry. The latter proposition is a bit tricky with a majority of Microsoft’s Windows 10 base essentially using a free OS right now.

For its part, Microsoft has heard the complaints coming from Which and has agreed to at least consider some of the proposals.

“We want to make sure our customers receive the right support they need to get the best Windows update experience and we will continue to review customer esquires and issues on a case-by-case basis to ensure individual help and resolution where possible.

In addition, Which members are very important to us so we are currently exploring ways in which we can work together in the future to ensure they have the support that they need in a wy that is easy and quick.”

Obviously, the proof is in the pudding and we’ll have to wait and see how Microsoft addresses consumer complaints about Windows 10 updates in the future.

Perhaps, with the new Windows re-org, we’ll see elongated Insider periods and fewer actual consumer releases per year as the emphasis on Windows 10 ratchets down in favor of a focus on the cloud.

Thales, a European leader in defense and cybersecurity, announced it has partnered with Microsoft to help build a common defense cloud solution for armed forces. The solution is based on the Microsoft Azure Stack platform and will be designed to help drive the digital transformation of armed forces.

Under the partnership, the armed forces will be able to keep their sensitive data inside their own infrastructures. Thales will also become Microsoft’s preferred partner for developing cloud technology for demanding customers. This makes Thales and Microsoft the first to offer a complementary solution adapted to the differing needs of armed forces from national command centers.

In the words of Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations, Microsoft.

We are thrilled to announce our unique partnership with Thales to accelerate digital transformation in the defense sector. Our solution, Microsoft Azure Stack will help armed forces in the analysis of huge volumes of sensitive data in order to make break through developments. Together with Thales, we will be able to provide a flexible cloud platform with an unequalled level of security that will help overcome challenges within the defense industry

Microsoft’s Azure Stack is being used as the baseline system here, and Thales will then integrate its connectivity and end-to-end solutions. This all means that sensitive data can be handled, but with it being hosted by the Ministry of Defense in the field instead. At the same time, it also combines the cloud computing power and functionalities of Azure Stack with Thales’s resilient and cybersecurity functionalities.

This month’s Patch Tuesday for Windows 10 came with an important security update for Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant that is built into the OS. Indeed, Microsoft patched a “Cortana Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability” that has been discovered by the McAfee Labs Advanced Threat Research team, which allowed hackers to get access to a Windows 10 PC by using Cortana on the lock screen.

“In Windows 10, on the most recent build at the time of submission, we observed that the default settings enable “Hey Cortana” from the lock screen, allowing anyone to interact with the voice-based assistant. This led to some interesting behavior and ultimately vulnerabilities allowing arbitrary code execution,” explained the security researchers at McAfee yesterday.

The report details three different vectors of attack, the first one being an information leak leveraging Windows indexing and the “Hey Cortana” voice command. The researchers also explained different techniques that an attacker having physical access to a Windows 10 PC could use to execute code from the lock screen, including a full password reset.

McAfee encourages Windows 10 users to install this month’s security update as soon as possible, though turning off Cortana on the lock screen is also a good mitigation. “The attack surface created by vocal commands and personal digital assistants requires much more investigation; we are just scratching the surface of the amount of research that should be conducted in this critical area,” the researchers said.

There have been teases of the Xbox Official Gear online store for a few days now but it’s finally online and ready for business.

The Xbox Official Gear store is available for American Xbox gamers and sells a variety of products ranging from official Xbox-branded t-shirts and caps to toys inspired by Xbox game franchises like Halo and Minecraft. The store is actually a part of the official Microsoft website and uses the same account system as online purchases made through the Microsoft Store.

It’s interesting to note that while the Xbox Official Gear store has gone live during E3, there was no mention of it during Microsoft’s Xbox conference which is odd as it likely would have gotten a positive response. The fact that it’s US-only may have been the reason for its absence as people do watch E3 from all over the world.

Do you buy official video game merch and does this Xbox gear interest you? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox news. Need to catch up on all of the Xbox E3 announcements? Check out our coverage of it all here.

Microsoft has announced today that they will be moving the Xbox Forums to the Microsoft Community Forums. This all is part of plans to “empower users with discussions” at a time when Microsoft says the Xbox community is growing and evolving. As part of the move over to the Microsoft community forums, Xbox Forums members are promised the same ability to ask questions, chat about games, and help each other out with technical problems.

All existing conversations will also transition over, though there will be some updates to the structure of Xbox forums. According to Microsoft:

With Xbox joining the community, you’ll be able to talk about gaming on Xbox consoles, Windows PCs, and mobile devices all in one place! It’s like our own version of cross-play for Microsoft gaming discussions.
As the first step, we’ll be updating the structure of the current Xbox Forums, which you will start seeing in the next few weeks. The new structure will have fewer levels of depth, so more of the conversations will be kept together and it will take fewer clicks to find.

The post does not make it clear when the move will happen, but it does mention it built on the feedback of Xbox Ambassadors “around the beginning of July.” Interestingly, this all happens to coincides with yesterday’s news that Microsoft Answers staff would no longer provide technical support for older Microsoft products. So it definitely looks as though Microsoft is now positioning support for all its products under one roof— the Microsoft Community Forums.

If it wasn’t clear enough by Microsoft’s E3 showcase this year, head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty would like to reiterate that the company is, now, more than ever, committed to gaming. In an interview with Polygon, Booty discussed the rationale and thinking behind Microsoft’s recent announcement of five new gaming studios that are intended to come on board and help bolster the company’s gaming profile in the coming years.

In his explanation, Booty lays down a foundation that highlights how important head of Xbox Phil Spencer’s presence at the table of Microsoft leadership was in getting the company back to a more invested interest in the gaming division:

Let’s go back to last summer, last fall, where Phil was promoted, elevated to sit on Microsoft’s executive leadership team. As part of that, Xbox was really made a pillar in the company that sits right alongside Windows and Azure and Office. That’s a pretty big statement by Microsoft to say that, “Look, gaming is important. We’re going to treat it seriously. We’re going to resource it well. We’re going to give it support.” It’s that level of support and kind of encouragement to go big, to chase a bigger gaming ambition.

Now that the relatively small business division has the blessing and financial backing of the rest of Microsoft, it now becomes a strategic dance to acquire the brightest minds in the gaming industry and, according to Booty, the deciding factors included studio heads with a creative mindset:

Phil used some great language today about how we were on a quest to find the great creators. If you look at each of the five groups that we’re looking forward to bringing into the fold, they all have in common a studio leader who really appreciates creativity and the craft of making games. They’re all studios that have got a unique point of view, and they’re really more about their creativity and what they’ve brought to bear there.

That’s kind of how we piece it together. We’ve got different ways and different ideas come in to our bigger family. We’ve got our established franchises like Halo, Gears, Forza, Minecraft, Age of Empires, and then we’ve got new things. That’s how State of Decay came in.

Another aspect that Microsoft Studio mulled over was the proposition that developers get fatigued over rehashing the same IP year after year, and Polygon was apt to point out the trend in their interview. Booty responded by first acknowledging that it was indeed something the division looked at and was part of the acquisition portfolio.

Part of the new studio acquisitions is a focus on exploration, and having the manpower and resources to let developers “try something new:”

“Yeah. Well, your observation is exactly dead on, that you’ve got to really be careful about teams. It can get …anybody working on something for a decade can want to try something new, which is exactly why in almost all our studios we do have pockets of incubation. We’ve got pockets of teams exploring new ideas.”

Booty went on further to discuss taking already existing IPs and expanding “out sideways onto new devices and new audiences,” hinting that future games can lean on existing IPs to create device-specific experiences such as the Gears franchise that is seeing its first PC-centric title in Gears Tactics, as well as its first mobile experience with Gears Pop. Judging by Booty’s comments, the one size fits all mentality has been scuttled for a more realistic and gamer-focused approach for anyone looking to entertain themselves on various devices.

While Booty’s heart and rhetoric appear genuine and heading in the right direction, it’ll be some time before Xbox fans will see the fruits of the recent Microsoft Studios efforts. Realistically speaking, these acquisitions appear to be more in preparation for a potential new Xbox console release in 2020, rather than appeasing thirsty gamers today.

However, the careful thought put into the purchases, the Xbox division getting a seat a Microsoft’s coveted leadership table and a revitalized checkbook should go a long way to reassuring that the company is looking to rebuild its gaming cred in the industry, and build a lasting foundation for a well of entertainment for years to come.

Ahead of E3 2018, Microsoft announced it would be adding a Skip Ahead option for the select Xbox Insiders who have consoles in the Alpha-ring. Well, enrollment is now officially open and it is soon set to give Xbox Insiders early access to new Xbox features.

Happy Monday, Xbox Insiders! We thought we'd make an already exciting week even more exciting. Alpha Skip-Ahead, the newest Xbox One Update Preview ring, is open for enrollment. Learn more: https://t.co/fqdEmC2p8n

— Xbox Insider (@xboxinsider) June 11, 2018

Enrollment is currently limited to only Alpha-ring Xbox Insiders, and invites will be required for everyone else to join. Once enrolled, Alpha ring users can decide if they want to stay on the current Redstone 4 builds or continue ahead to Redstone 5 release to try new Xbox features. Users can also change back their enrollment status instantaneously via their Xbox if they see fit.

Microsoft hasn’t yet pushed out a Redstone 5 build for the Xbox One just yet, but Xbox’s Brad Rossetti says Insiders can expect is “later in the week.” Do you want to live life on the cutting edge and Skip Ahead to try new features? Let us know in the comments below.