Judging by many comments on the Microsoft Answers forum and elsewhere, Microsoft's Jan. 15 firmware update for the Surface Pro 3 has solved almost all outstanding issues with Wi-Fi connections, hibernating, Bluetooth connectivity, battery drain on standby, Hyper-V interference with Wi-Fi, and more.
Microsoft has just acknowledged a problem with Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 8, which I first saw described on the German language site <a href="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Update-Probleme-mit-Exchange-2010-SP3-2486155.html">heise.de</a>. Apparently there have been many more reports of problems.
I've spent the last three weeks taking six business-oriented Chromebooks through their paces. I started out as a skeptical Windows-rules-them-all kind of guy: I've been using Windows since the early days, and I've rarely strayed from the ghosts of my Windows masters. By the end of my Chromebook experiment, however, my old biases were shaken.
The causes of the problem remain cloudy, but the symptoms are quite clear. Starting on Nov. 18, some Server 2003, Windows Home Server 2003, and Windows XP SP3 machines suddenly refused to connect to Microsoft Update. As best I can tell, Microsoft has not responded to the problem, not documented a workaround, and is basically doing nothing visible to fix it.
This month's Black Tuesday crop of patches held <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/2834535/security/four-more-botched-black-tuesday-patches-kb-3000061-kb-2984972-kb-2949927-and-kb-2995388.html">more than a few surprises</a>. True to form, my choice for the "most likely to splat," the <a href="https://support2.microsoft.com/kb/3000061">KB 3000061</a> kernel mode driver patch, repeatedly fails to install on many machines. Although the Knowledge Base article hasn't been updated, Microsoft support engineer joscon confirmed a workaround for the problem on Thursday afternoon.
Hated Windows 8? Good news: Many of the features in Windows 10 aren't nearly as annoying
It's looking more and more likely that Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is warning about a Trojan:DOS/Alureon.J infection when none exists.
Yesterday Microsoft released <a href="https://support2.microsoft.com/kb/3005628">patch KB 3005628</a> for Windows 8, 8.1, Server 2012, and Server 2012 R2. It's a trivial, non-security patch. The fact that it wasn't kept and issued in the normal cadence (patches usually arrive on Update Tuesday, which is next Tuesday) points to either an accidental release to the Automatic Update chute -- which we've seen before -- or an unwelcome switch in Microsoft's patching strategy. Either possibility is troubling.
If you've been using Windows 10 for more than a few days, it's time to reconnoiter a bit. If you haven't yet learned about tweaking the Start Menu, searching, snapping, or creating new desktops, Mark Hachman at PC World can take you on a whirlwind tour. That's beginner's stuff. But what about the things lurking under the covers?
Microsoft rolled out the widely anticipated Windows Technical Preview yesterday morning, playing to a handpicked crowd of Microsoft reporters and analysts. Although Microsoft didn't have the technical will to broadcast the event live, you can see a recording of the 40-minute presentation on YouTube.
The power of Waggener-Edstrom, Microsoft's PR agency, never ceases to amaze me. Now it seems the PR folks have the entire Windows 9 press pack chasing its collective tail in pursuit of the Windows Technical Preview.
Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft's CEO six months ago, on Feb. 4, 2014. While that six months seemed to have gone a lot quicker than the gestation period prior to Nadella's coronation, it's plenty long enough for us to get a bead on the kind of supremacy it will be in Redmond.
Dell's big, fast, 15-inch flagship laptop and its amazing touchscreen give the MacBook Pro Retina a run for its money
Online word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation apps can be surprisingly useful, or surprisingly lame, and not even Microsoft aces Office document compatibility
This is the third in a series of three reviews covering the major online office productivity apps: Microsoft Office Online (Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online), Apple iWork for iCloud (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iCloud), and in this article, Google Drive (with Docs, Sheets, and Slides) aka Google Docs and Google Apps.
