Tag Archive Microsoft

ByCharles Bunn

Backdoor – Microsoft Windows 10 Upgrade

The Windows upgrade had been a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users until July 29th, 2016, at least for most people. Microsoft then started charging $119 for the Home Edition or $199 for the Pro Edition. For now, a backdoor has been left open, you can still get a no-cost upgrade to Windows 10. Read on and follow the link to a page for people who use assistive technologies.

You qualify for the free upgrade if you use assistive technologies. Assistive technologies, such as a magnifier to see the screen enlarged, a narrator to read the text in browsers or in a document aloud, keyboard shortcuts or an on-screen keyboard. Assistive technology provides additional accessibility to people who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments or disabilities.

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ByCharles Bunn

Snipping Tool – Print Screen on Steroids

For many novice users, not realizing that the PrtScn key (Print Screen on some keyboards) was not printing their screen became a revelation when they understood that it was instead sending the image to the clipboard. Combining ALT with the PrtScn key brought them a new nirvana when they realized that would capture the active window. Capturing multiple active windows or one screen of a multiple screen setup did not seem possible unless you knew about Microsoft’s Snipping Tool. The Snipping Tool comes with Windows 10, 8, 7, and can be installed on Windows Vista and XP via the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC.

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ByCharles Bunn

Dangerous Path for Small Business

I find myself recalling the early days of PC’s when the mantra of the day was mainframes and modems and you rented the software you used. The PC brought freedom from this model, once you bought the software you owned it, well at least in theory. The rapid change in hardware and software brought about a dilemma of how to get but fixes and updates. The Internet came along at the right time and solved the whole delivery issue. No more having to call vendors like HP for drivers and then waiting for the disk to come in the mail, but that was the time when we rode a dinosaur to work. Now it seems Microsoft and others don’t want to sell you software anymore they want to rent it to you.

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ByCharles Bunn

Microsoft and Pitchforks

Microsoft never seems to be far from some sort of spite whether it’s the poorly designed security of Windows, virtual disdain for open source (I think they compared it to communism at one time…), or being the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. They reached a new low recently with the announcement of the Xbox One. Microsoft arrogantly assumed that it’s dominate position in consoles would allow it to dictate what the customer wanted. Personally, that seems to be one of the big problems at Microsoft, they don’t really innovate they just want to dominate. Apple is refined the art of innovation and integration, funny thing is I have problems with Apple because of their closed system, but that’s another blog. Well I was excited as my son was when I saw the demo footage of Titan Fall at E3 2013, that is until the fine print was read…

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