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"Windows 8.1" news, interviews, and features

Features about Windows 8.1

  • Three things to consider before ditching your laptop for a tablet

    For a few years now I've been watching tablets develop into ever more potent machines, with an eye towards making the jump from a laptop to a slate for my mobile workstation. Sure, people have been working on iPads for years, but until recently it's always seemed like a bit of a hack to me.

  • Don't wait for Windows 9: How to get a Start Menu, windowed Metro apps today

    Between the release of the PC-friendly spring update for Windows 8.1 and the newfound introduction of universal "buy once, play anywhere" Windows apps, Microsoft is doing all it can to spur the One Microsoft vision while, well, letting a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet. But, sadly, the most anticipated improvements have yet to arrive.

  • Five key things Windows XP users need to know before buying a new PC

    On Tuesday, April 8, Microsoft will bid adieu to Windows XP, delivering the final security updates for the twelve year-old OS. While many XP users out there plan on keeping their PC--with or without Microsoft's support--many others are looking to at long last switch to a new computer.

  • Microsoft and Google aren't happy with mutant Android-Windows hybrids

    Microsoft may be comfortable with Windows Phone and Android splitting time on a single phone, but when it comes to PCs, fuhgeddaboutit. Google also isn't too thrilled with the idea of Frankenstein Android-Windows computers, and at least one PC maker may have to dump the hybrid devices from their lineup as a result.

  • Surface 2 review: Cautious upgrades don't help a tablet in desperate need of relevance

    Microsoft could have impressed the world with the update to its entry-level Surface tablet, but instead it released the Surface 2. The new tablet's price tag might be $50 less than the original, introductory cost of the Surface RT, but no price reduction can mitigate the Surface 2's fundamental problems--most of which stem from Microsoft's operating system and apps ecosystem.

  • How to eradicate Metro from your Windows 8.1 PC

    PC lovers rejoice! Windows 8.1 is here, and it's chock full of refinements and fresh new features that make Microsoft's finger-friendly, Live-Tile-spattered vision of the future more appealing--or at least less annoying--than ever before. But as helpful as those tweaks to Windows 8's modern interface are, they won't matter a lick to devout desktop diehards, who are no doubt muttering something about lipstick and pigs this very second.