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The name of the site may be Hot Hardware but you've got to have solid operating systems and apps to drive all that high tech gear. Whether you're a Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android or iOS user, here we'll cover the major updates, releases, patches and roll-outs for end user and enterprise IT types alike.

Microsoft has just set new performance targets for PCs to be considered AI-ready. The trillion-dollar software, services and devices company has specified 40 TOPS (Trillions Of Operations Per Second) in AI computational throughput and 16GB of memory at a minimum, for a system to potentially have all AI features... Read more...
Juggling a bunch of windows can be a pain, even with the UX enhancements in Windows 11. Microsoft is helping to reduce the clutter with the recently released tabbed file explorer, and now it appears another core app is getting tabs. According to a now-deleted Tweet, Microsoft is on the verge of releasing a version of... Read more...
Windows Updates are great when they work properly, but many users like to have more control over when and how they update their OS. Microsoft's TechCommunity Blog, however, says there are a bunch of things that you probably should not attempt to control yourself. Power users and system administrators commonly use... Read more...
Under Satya Nadella's leadership, Microsoft has made no bones about embracing subscription services for their products. Office 365 has largely phased out its perpetual licensed counterpart - e.g. Office 2019 - by enticing users with a low up-front cost, continual updates, and additional perks utilizing Microsoft's... Read more...
Microsoft has announced the launch of the Windows Server 2019 Preview. The preview build is available right now through the Insiders Program, while the full Server 2019 OS will be available in the second half of 2018 according to Erin Chapple, Director of Program Management, Windows Server.  Chapple gives some idea... Read more...
Say goodbye to CodePlex. Microsoft just recently announced that it will be shutting down CodePlex, the eleven year-old open-source project hosting website. Microsoft has disabled the ability to create new projects and will officially shut the website down on December 15th, 2017. CodePlex was initially launched in... Read more...
The design of Windows Update in Microsoft's latest Windows 10 OS hasn't been the best-received solution the company has released over the product's life cycle thus far. The updated mechanics for WU is one of the major sticking-points for even wanting to upgrade to Redmond's latest platform (but thankfully, there... Read more...
When it comes to operating systems of the past two decades, Windows XP had a remarkably long run thanks to its robust app and hardware support (and ubiquity). Microsoft hoped to build on these strengths with its successor, Windows Vista, but ultimately failed. So, when Windows 7 came around, it was seen as a breath of... Read more...
We’ve stated on many occasions that Windows 10 is an excellent operating system, albeit one with a few rough edges that could be smoothed-out. However, Microsoft has angered some users over the past year or so, in its willingness to dance right up to the line of what customers feel is acceptable practice for promoting... Read more...
A few botched updates from Microsoft this week have us questioning their forced update strategy with Windows 10.  If you've had issues logging into your Windows 7 computer, if Outlook is crashing randomly, or if you are unable to open documents from Sharepoint, the fixes are below.  The troublesome KB's in question... Read more...
The upgrade cycle begins, with Microsoft’s latest operating system--the highly anticipated Windows 10--rolling out over Windows Update for free, for users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. For those that are ready to take the plunge over the weekend, there are some things to note. While this guide is by no means exhaustive, there are some useful... Read more...
When Microsoft said on Wednesday that the next Windows 10 preview build would be available "within the week", I'm not sure anyone actually expected it to land before the weekend. But, it has, and I'd have to say that it's worth getting excited for. Why? Because it includes not only the feature-rich Cortana AI... Read more...
By this point, everyone and their dog should know that the oddly-named Windows 10 is en route. Months ago, Microsoft released a developer preview that anyone could download, and surprisingly enough, it happens to be very, very good. I've personally been running it on and off and have been quite pleased with it. The... Read more...
It seems like we can't go a single month without seeing a major change happen at Microsoft that wouldn't have likely happened had the company still been under the rule of Steve Ballmer. Today, another such change is tossed on the pile, and it's a great one for anyone using a Windows Phone 8 device. When Windows... Read more...
There's a fine line to balance when it comes to providing users with a comprehensive backup service and providing that service in a manner that fundamentally compromises the security of the people it's supposed to be protecting. According to security researcher Jeffrey Paul, iCloud has thoroughly breached that barrier... Read more...
Microsoft seems to be doing all it can to make sure that Windows 10 will do better than its current Windows 8 operating system. The developer has been busy with the Windows 10 preview, rolling out updates, and asking consumers to join its Windows Insider Program and the latter seems to be paying off. According to... Read more...
It looks like Microsoft is really hoping to entice people over to Windows 10 considering that Windows 8 has failed to take off. With its latest announcement that DirectX 12 will be included with Windows 10, Microsoft is targeting game developers and gamers. On its DirectX developer blog, Microsoft revealed additional incentives for game developers... Read more...
Microsoft decided to really shake things up today when, instead of announcing what many expected to be called Windows 9, they jumped right to announcing their next OS as Windows 10. Many of the leaks and rumored feature enhancements were in fact accurate, though with full details on how Microsoft will implement... Read more...
Buzz has been building for the last week that Microsoft would soon unveil the next version of DirectX at the upcoming Games Developer Conference (GDC). Microsoft has now confirmed that its discussion forums at the show won't just be to discuss updates to DX11, but that it's putting a full court press behind the... Read more...
For Windows users of all kinds, the Windows "Blue" 8.1 update has been long-awaited. Those who've been using the base OS since launch have no doubt been anticipating some of the enhancements that are coming, while many others have been waiting patiently to see if the update manages to right enough wrongs to help persuade them to make... Read more...
After freaking out the gaming community with an email that seemed to signal the end of DirectX, Microsoft is now assuring everyone that DirectX is alive and well. The Microsoft XNA toolset is what’s being cut loose. It looks like DirectX isn't going anywhere, after all. The confusion arose from an email that was sent to DirectX/XNA MVPs... Read more...
Windows 8 is damned impressive. That's our one-sentence summary of the company's keynote and it applies despite the appearance of a few bugs and hiccups during the on-stage OS demonstrations. The new operating system shares certain design elements with Windows Phone 7, but it's far from a large-screen version of Microsoft's smartphone OS.... Read more...