Microsoft

Firefox Support for Windows XP/Vista to Continue in 2017

Mozilla has announced Firefox will continue to be supported for Windows XP and Vista users into most of 2017. Here is the timeline for continued support ub 2017: March 2017 users will (automatically) be moved to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR). September 2017 Mozilla will end support for Windows XP and Vista users. via Firefox Future Release

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The Windows 10 Free Upgrade Period Is Over (for now).

That’s right it is over! The ‘free upgrade’ period to Windows 10 also known as GWX (Get Windows 10) based on the name of the files Microsoft secretly downloaded onto users machines in hopes that they would unwilling install Windows 10. Clicking on the Get Windows 10 icon in the taskbar tray now brings up this “too bad, so sad” message: However, while the Get Windows 10 notifications have ended, Microsoft MSFT 417,00 +4,13 +1,00% is going to take their time in getting the GWX crapware application off users machines. There is a slight chance Microsoft may reintroduce the offer this fall (one reason why…

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Can Microsoft Get Anymore Annoying?

One thing about Microsoft MSFT 417,00 +4,13 +1,00% is they are persistent about reminding users of Windows 7/8.1 about the “free” Windows 10 upgrade. In the past users were presented with  pop-up Windows asking them to update to Windows 10 now or tonight. There were even notifications that Windows 10 was already installed,  just restart to finish the install. Microsoft execs have even resorted to using scare tactics that Windows 7 is unsafe and you should upgrade to Windows 10. With less than a month (25-days and counting) left before the free upgrade offer “officially” ends (there are rumors Microsoft…

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To upgrade, or not to upgrade (to Windows 10) –

that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of Windows 10, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, keep Windows 7/8.1. My apologies to my readers who may be Shakespeare or Hamlet fans…. With about 60-days left until the ‘free upgrade’ period ends on July 29th there is still time. But, chances are if you haven’t upgraded by now and have managed to avoid falling victim to Microsoft’s MSFT 417,00 +4,13 +1,00% “dirty tricks” to get you to upgrade, you likely don’t plan on going to Windows 10. In…

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We’ve Broke Windows 7, So Why Not Get Windows 10?

I am not making this up. Microsoft MSFT 417,00 +4,13 +1,00% almost as if in an attempt to get users of Windows 7 to go out and buy a new Windows 10 machine has intentionally broke Windows 7 for users with Asus ASUUY 91,23 0,00 0,00% system boards. Windows update KB3133977 which use to be an “Optional” but recently became a ‘Recommended’ update. This update enables secure boot on Windows 7 (a feature that was previously disabled). Older PC’s with Asus boards don’t support secure boot, which will cause users to get the below red screen upon first bootup after…

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Oracle to Deprecate Java Plugin

Earlier this year Oracle ORCL 182,76 -7,61 -4,00% announced starting with JDK 9 (eta September 2016), they will remove the plugin support. They are encouraging developers to move towards the plugin free Java Web Start technology. Oracle’s reasoning for this move has to do with more and more browsers removing support the 20+ year old Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) plugin technology. GoogleGOOG 170,49 -0,33 -0,19% Chrome no longer supports NPAPI plugins such as Java and Silverlight. Google has partnered with Adobe ADBE 518,73 +6,58 +1,28% to include an integrated version of Flash within Chrome. The Windows 64-Bit version of Firefox also does not…

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32-Bit Windows Firefox Still Supports NPAPI plugins

Seems like every couple months people start crying ‘the sky is falling’ with Firefox and Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) plugins. Earlier this week there was a flurry of activity with Bug 1165981. Again people seem to think that Firefox is not going support NPAPI plugins anymore on Windows since the 64-Bit (Win64) versions does not (except for Flash). As a reminder the removal of NPAPI support only applies to the Win64 version of Firefox. The 32-bit Windows version still supports all the NPAPI plugins including Java and Silverlight. However, Mozilla does plan on discontinuing support in the future with the Firefox 32-bit…

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Windows 10 BSOD Becoming More Helpful

Nothing worse than getting a Blue Screen of Death aka BSOD when Windows has a critical crash due to hardware or software issue. Worse yet, the screen contained a cryptic message about what went wrong along with a long hexadecimal code. Coming in the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition Update (August 2016), the BSOD will include a QR code which can be scanned by a smartphone or tablet. However, Microsoft has an opportunity here for aiding self-support when it comes to problem-solving a Windows installation as it could offer assistance via a website or even a dedicated app for troubleshooting using…

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Windows 10 Anniversary Update

It has been about 3-months since I last posted. I had to retire the machine I was running Windows 10 on, an old Dell Optiplex as it was having hardware issues. I did not want to be putting money into a system that is over 10-years old, especially since I only paid $25 for it last year. Yet, I currently do not plan on upgrading anytime soon to Windows 10 on either of my two machines (Gateway Windows 8 Desktop and HP Windows 7 Laptop). Still not sure what I am going to do as I would like to try out Windows 10…

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Microsoft to end Support Early for some Windows 7/8.1 Computers

Microsoft MSFT 417,00 +4,13 +1,00% has announced on the Windows Blog they will stop supporting Windows 7/8.1 on computers running the latest chips from Intel INTC 22,47 -1,46 -6,10%, AMD or Qualcomm QCOM 163,03 +4,50 +2,84%. Specifically these are listed as ‘Kaby Lake’ (Intel), ‘Bristol Ridge’ (AMD) and Qualcomm’s ‘8996’ (the base for the Snapdragon 820). Between them these chips will dominate sales of all new desktops, laptops, hybrids and tablets in 2016. This means for user of devices using these chipsets as well as the current generation Intel Skylake processors the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 deadlines of January 2020 and…

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