There’s this little app that got updated almost a week ago now. You may or may not have heard of it. It’s called Windows.
Anyone with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 gets a free upgrade to Windows 10, assuming you upgrade before July 29. For the most part, upgrading is really easy. You have that really annoying Windows logo in your system tray, reserve your copy of Windows 10 (in case they run out?), and after the bits have downloaded in the background, you upgrade right from there.
I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Windows 10 is officially here. I’m sure you’ve seen that little Windows logo sitting in your system tray. You might wish it wasn’t there. You might be excited about it. Nevertheless, today is the day.
There have been numerous accounts from Microsoft about how this thing rolls out. They originally said that your computer would start downloading the bits in the weeks prior to July 29. Then, they backtracked a bit and said that PCs would begin downloading the bits on July 29 and we would get Windows 10 over the next couple weeks.
Windows 10 was released today. You might be waiting for the automatic update. You might want to manually install it now, which I did. Either way, there are some good tips for after you install Windows 10.
It’s been a long and winding road to Windows 10. It started on September 30 and Windows 10 finally gets here on July 29.
You might have noticed the Windows logo sitting in your system tray. You might have even reserved your copy of Windows 10. Even if you did, you should still read on.
Get Windows 10 is the app that allows you to reserve your copy of Windows 10. There is no option to opt out of Windows 10 and they use the word “reservation” as if there’s a chance that they might be sold out when the time comes.
While there’s no option to say “No thanks. I don’t want this”, you can cancel a Windows 10 reservation if you made one. You might want to do that. You might not. Here’s a quick guide.
One of the greatest features that came with Lumia Denim was Lumia Camera 5. One of the greatest features in Lumia Camera 5 is Rich Capture. It truly is amazing; however, it never ceases to amaze me just how many people have never used it. I suppose it sounds more complicated than it actually is. I decided to make a video explaining it.
Lumia Camera 5 is available on the Lumia 930, Icon, 1520, 640, and 640 XL. It’s also available on some Lumia 830s. The stock Camera app in Windows 10 Mobile also has a Rich Capture feature and we’ll go over that as well.
Ever since that early Windows 10 Technical Preview build shipped that changed the way OneDrive works, I have been very vocal in the fact that I will not be upgrading to Windows 10. It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that I rely too much on the OneDrive functionality that they stripped out of it.
While OneDrive placeholders are gone for good, Microsoft has promised an “alternative” to the deprecated placeholders, which won’t be available in time for the release of Windows 10 on July 29. It’s coming in late 2015.
If you’re not familiar with OneDrive placeholders are. It’s the way OneDrive integration works in Windows 8.1. With any Windows 8.1 PC you sign into with your Microsoft account, you can see your entire OneDrive. You can use it as your file system, using your local storage for only apps.
Don’t install WatchOS 2 Beta. Just don’t do it. I don’t care if you’re a developer, a fan, or if you’re an alien from fucking Mars. Just don’t do it.
Keep in mind, this is coming from someone that always installs betas on everything with no fear of the impact it will have on performance. This isn’t about performance. It’s about so much more, and we’ll get to all of it.
I’m trying something new. To be completely honest, it’s inspired by Paul Thurrott. He has a series of columns that he writes called “What I Use”. It occurred to me that it would actually be a lot of fun just to write about which devices and services I use. After all, I get a new phone every week and I’m currently wearing three smart watches. I do have personal preferences and daily drivers.
I figured I’d start with Windows Phone apps, as I just got the Microsoft Lumia 640 XL in today and just downloaded all the apps I need. Personally, I use an iPhone 6 as my daily driver, so I don’t use Windows Phone apps as much as I’d like to. If the Nokia Lumia 930 was on sale in the United States, I would most certainly use that as my daily driver, but it’s not.
Download For the Love of Tech for free
First of all, the best Windows Phone app that exists in the universe is the official For the Love of Tech app, so I’ll leave this right here. You know what, it’s really not right if I call it the best Windows Phone app in the universe. Let’s just call it the best app in the universe. Then again, I might be a little biased.
Today, Apple released the iOS 9 Beta to developers. You might have installed it already and it might be buggy. You might even be thinking about going back to iOS 8.3.
There are any number of reasons you might want to go back to iOS 8.3. It might be too buggy, it might be because iOS 9 doesn’t have the News app yet, it might be because you want to get on that new Apple Music service when iOS 8.4 comes out, and it might even be because you got locked out of your device because you didn’t register your UDID with a developer account before downloading and installing the beta.
If you’re running a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you’ve either gotten a message about Windows 10 or there’s a little Windows icon in your system tray that if you click on it, it will display that message. This is called Get Windows 10. It is not a virus, even though it sort of looks like one. This is Microsoft asking you to opt into the free Windows 10 upgrade.
You may think that the little Windows logo will just go away if you open it and click the “No, I don’t want Windows 10″ button. Well, the hard truth is, there is no option to say “No, I don’t want Windows 10″. All you can do is reserve your copy of Windows 10 and even if you do, that Get Windows 10 app still doesn’t go away, presumably until Windows 10 actually ships.
