Windows 10: Windows 10? Out, says Microsoft. Buy Windows 11 instead!

Computer users who plan to purchase a Windows 10 license from Microsoft directly need to hurry, as the company plans to end Windows 10 sales on January 31, 2023 to fully focus on Windows 11.



The official Windows 10 Home and Windows 11 Pro product pages on Microsoft's website highlight the plans. Currently, customers may purchase Windows 10 Home and Pro licenses from Microsoft directly, but this ends in February 2023.

Microsoft notes on both product pages:

"January 31, 2023 will be the last day this Windows 10 download is offered for sale. Windows 10 will remain supported with security updates that help protect your PC from viruses, spyware, and other malware until October 14, 2025."
​

The wording reemphasizes Microsoft's decision to put Windows 10 development on the backburner. Here, the company states explicitly that Windows 10 will remain supported with security updates. No word on future feature updates or improvements.

The decision to end direct sales does not affect the support lifespan of the operating system. It is also worth noting that third-party sales through sites such as Amazon, Newegg and others are not affected by Microsoft's decision. These are often a better choice for computer users, as operating system licences can often be bought at a discount.

Microsoft wants customers to purchase Windows 11 licenses instead and to make sure that everyone understands the message, it decided to end Windows 10 license sales for non-business and Enterprise customers early.

Besides buying Windows 10 Home and Pro licenses from third-party retailers, customers may also buy Windows desktop PCs and laptops with the operating system. All Surface products on Microsoft's website use the Windows 11 operating system.

A quick check on Amazon's website shows plenty of options to buy PCs and laptops with Windows 10 as the installed operating system. Some of these may be upgraded to Windows 11 via Windows Updates and other means, provided that the hardware requirements of Microsoft's latest operating system are not in the way off that.

It is recommended to verify that updates to Windows 11 are supported, even if Windows 10 is the desired operating system.

Now You: what is your take on this decision? (via PC World)

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Windows 10 Tweaks

As you may already know, Windows 10 (as well as Windows 8) allow you to log in with a valid Microsoft account, instead of creating a local account that only works on your machine. However, you may prefer to keep a local account for privacy reasons. If you do, though, some Windows 10 features—like Cortana—may not work. Despite the default behavior, the Windows 10 Store is not one of them. You can still log in to your Microsoft account for just the Store without switching to a full Microsoft account. The process, however, is not terribly obvious. To do so, follow these steps:

• Launch the Store from your Start menu.
• Click the user icon next to the search box.
• Click “Sign-in” from the menu that appears.
• Choose “Microsoft account” and log in like normal.
• When the “Make it yours” box appears do not enter your password. Instead, click “Sign in to just this app instead.”

from Lifehacker

 

Microsoft Selects Dolby Audio for Windows 10

it would've been great if microsoft added HEVC decoders, LAV filters along with other codecs with Windows 10, and developing WMP to be better than VLC, KMPlayer and such sorts of media players.

Nevertheless, this is good step for microsoft, by far.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.