August 2015

Most Windows Insider builds of Windows 10 displays a watermark in the lower right corner of the screen right above the system tray area. It reads "Windows 10 Pro Technical Preview. Evaluation Copy. Build xxxxx".

Some users may find the information useful, as it reveals the build number of the operating system but winver displays the same information on the about screen that it spawns.

Others may dislike the watermark for cosmetic reasons as it is always there sitting on top of the desktop background or plain irritating.

One of the perks of being a Windows Insider is that you can use the operating system for free. As long as you remain an Insider, you don't need to purchase an extra Windows 10 license, and that is a big incentive for users to join the program.

Some may also like the "getting things first" perk as Microsoft rolls out updates to the operating system to Insider systems first.

The downside to this is that your system may become unstable or that you may encounter bugs or other issues more frequently.

This is a personal post as you can see when you read the title. Windows 10 shipped less than a month ago and was available as a preview version months before that.

A core difference to previous Microsoft operating systems is the modular nature of the operating system. It is a work in progress even after the release of the final version, and new features will get pushed out regularly to it.

If you spend time working with the operating system you may have noticed issues doing so. Some may have been minor, other cosmetic in nature but some probably also major.

If one of your computer systems is set up as a Windows 10 Insider system you may have already received an update to preview build 10525.

The update is being rolled out to Fast Ring users, those Insiders who want to receive updates as soon as they are released by Microsoft.

Not all Fast Ring users have received the update yet and the same is true for Slow Ring users who don't receive the update at this point in time.

PeStudio is a helpful portable program for Windows to analyze executable files before they are run on the system.

The program scans the program for relevant information, strings and resources for instance, and displays all information in its interface after the scan.

In addition to local scans, it is querying Virustotal to report the service's findings as well.

Opera Software launched a new version of the company's data compression application Opera Max for Android today. The main new feature is compression support for YouTube and Netflix videos. We take the new version for a test ride to find out how effective the new feature really is.

Microsoft published a new out of band security bulletin today that informs about a newly detected critical security vulnerability in the company's Internet Explorer web browser.

The vulnerability, which is already exploited in the wild according to the company, affects Internet Explorer 7 to 11 on client and server operating systems. Microsoft Edge, the default Windows 10 web browser, is not listed on the page and thus not affected by the vulnerability.

The developers of the Vivaldi browser have yet to release a stable version of it. That does not mean that they are not hard at work adding new features to the browser which, for the most part, should run well and without greater issues.

What I like most about Vivaldi is that it is not just a Chrome copycat but that its developers add unique features to it that other Chrome-based browsers don't offer.

While it is unlikely that Vivaldi will ever offer the same feature set of classic Opera, it is likely that it will come closest to that.

Windows 10's usage share is on the rise and with it comes a new default system browser called Microsoft Edge.

While Edge does not have the market share of Firefox, Chrome or even Internet Explorer yet, it will be a force to reckon with in the future.

Web Developers who want to make sure that content and services work fine under Microsoft Edge need to test them regularly to make sure that this is the case.

This meant up until now to install a copy of Windows 10 on a machine or in a virtual environment to do so.

When you launch a music streaming service these days, you need to distinguish yourself from established and competing services to survive. Most services offer similar functionality, millions of songs to play, web, desktop and mobile access, and a free and premium business model.

The new music streaming service Baboom launched yesterday. It looks similar to other services such as Spotify, Tidal or Apple Music on first glance as it offers free and pro accounts just like the majority of other services.