April 2017

RebootBlocker is a free program for Windows 10 that prevents automatic reboots after the installation of updates on Windows 10 systems.

Windows may restart the PC automatically after the installation of updates. This can be highly problematic, especially if the PC is still used at the time.

Think of rendering a video, using it during a presentation, or while work has not been saved yet.

If you check the list of installed programs on a Windows PC that you have used for some time, you may notice that it has several, often a lot, Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installation listings.

The PC that I use to write this article for instance has three Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable, eight Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, two Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable, three Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable, and two Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable installations listed on that page.

Microsoft published new Windows 10 Enterprise Creators Update ISO images -- Windows 10 version 1703-- for evaluation purposes.

Custom Resolution Utility is a free portable program for Microsoft Windows devices that enables you to add custom display resolutions.

The program is a specialized tool, and it is likely that most Windows users have no need for it. But there are a couple of applications for it that some may find worth exploring.

Mozilla plans to release a theme refresh of its Firefox web browser when the browser hits version 57 in November 2017. The refresh is code-named Photon, and it is the first major design refresh of Firefox since the launch of Australis back when Firefox 29 was released. Australis was a highly controversial change, not only because of the design elements that it introduced, but also the things that it removed or blocked from customization.

Driver Store Explorer is a free program for Microsoft Windows that enables you to enumerate, add, and delete drivers on Windows PCs.

New drivers are usually installed on Windows machines when you connect hardware for the first time to the device. This can be an automatic process, or one that requires you to run a program that adds the driver to the operating system.

Windows won't dismiss those drivers anymore, even if you never connect the device the driver is for again.

The Windows 10 Creators Update has been available as a manual download and installation since April the 5th, and will be available through Windows Update next Tuesday (April 11th).

This apparently does not keep Microsoft from releasing the first build of the next feature update for Windows 10 to the Fast Ring release channel.

Before you get your hopes up that it contains anything uber cool, it does not. Still, it is the first build that is going to get updated frequently in the coming months before that next feature update is released near the end of the year.

The Nvidia GeForce Driver 381.65 adds support for the Windows 10 Creators Update, and the newly released Nvidia Titan Xp video card.

While you can run older versions of the Nvidia GeForce driver on machines that run the Windows 10 Creators Update, version 381.65 is the first to introduce official support for the newest version of Windows 10.

This article provides you with information on the Windows 10 Creators Update applications that you can, and can't uninstall.

The Windows 10 Creators Update version ships with native applications that are installed by default. Some of these applications replicate functionality that legacy Windows programs offered in previous versions, others are new and unique to Windows 10 (and maybe also Windows 8.x).

Microsoft released the .NET Framework 4.7 on April 6th, 2017 for all supported operating systems featuring bug fixes and improvements.

The new version of the Microsoft .NET Framework is included in the Windows 10 Creators Update. It is also available for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on the client side of operating systems, and for Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 on the server side.