It’s almost 1 year since launch and if you are still running Windows 7 or especially Windows 8.1 – it’s probably time to upgrade to Windows 10. Better still its free to upgrade until 29/07/2016.  With over 350 million devices running Microsoft’s flagship operating system you’ll be in good company!  From July 30th it is expected Microsoft plan to charge around £89.00 for the once free upgrade – however insider sources hint that this deadline may be extended.

Microsoft have worked hard on this latest release with a host of new features.

A More Personal and Natural Experience
Windows 10 adapts to people for a more personal experience.  Windows Hello lets them log in to their PC without a password – providing instant, more secure access to their Windows 10 devices through biometric authentication.

Windows 10 also lets people interact with their device via the traditional mouse and keyboard, or through more natural ways such as voice, pen or gesture.

Be More Productive
Windows 10 will help people get more done with less effort than ever before.  Microsoft Edge, the all-new browser designed to get things done online in new ways, offers built-in inking, sharing, and reading view.

Microsoft Edge offers quick results and content based on individual interests and preferences. Fast, streamlined and personal, Microsoft Edge empowers people to focus on just the content that matters to them and actively engage with the web.

With Microsoft Office, Windows 10 offers a consistent, touch-first experience across tablet and PC with new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook.

Designed from the ground up to run on Windows, Microsoft Office enables people to easily create and edit Word documents, annotate slides in real-time with inking features or easily present PowerPoint presentations, and create or update spreadsheets without a keyboard or mouse with new touch-first controls in Excel.

Work and Play the Way You Want Across Devices
Windows 10 offers a familiar and consistent experience across devices. Continuum enables devices to transform, enabling elegant transitions of a tablet into a PC, and back—and for a Windows phone to provide a rich desktop experience.

Xbox on Windows 10 brings the expansive Xbox Live gaming network to both Windows 10 PCs and tablets. People can communicate with their friends on Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One while playing any PC game, and share content using Game DVR.

People can also stream games directly from their Xbox One console to their Windows 10 tablets or PCs. Games developed for DirectX 12 in Windows 10 will see improvements in speed, efficiency and graphics capability.

For further information or to discuss how we can assist your business with the upgrade please contact us.

A recently released Microsoft Security Update is causing widespread issues for clients using Microsoft Outlook 2013.

The November 10th 2015 Microsoft Update KB3097877 is causing Outlook to crash upon opening a certain type of HTML interactive email. The update is working correctly for Windows 10 users, but is causing issues for users who are still on Windows 7 and 8.

If you need help resolving this issue, you can log an IT Support request and a member of our team will get in touch to carry out the remedial work required to get Microsoft Outlook operating as normal again.

With a little over a month left until the release of Windows 10, we’ll take a look at how the upgrade will impact you and your business IT infrastructure.

Everyone running Windows 7 or Windows 8 should get an invitation to install a free copy of Windows 10. For those running updated versions of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1, this will be much the same as the offer to upgrade from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1.

In other words, Windows Update will download the code in the background, and you will merely have to accept the offer to install it. The only limitation is that you have to install it within a year of Windows 10’s release.

How Will Windows 10 Benefit My Business

Using the latest version of any operating system is important, and helps maintain the safety and security of your data. You will also benefit from increased integration with Microsoft Office 365, and will provide a consistent user experience across all of your mobile, tablet and desktop devices.

From a productivity standpoint, Windows 10 offers multiple desktops and workspaces, so you can quickly move between tasks without having to minimize and close windows. You’ll also be able to use Cortana to quickly search and open programs using voice recognition.

Next Steps

While upgrading your home computer should not pose a significant problem, we would advise careful thought before committing to upgrading your office workstations and network to Windows 10. Compatibility with existing network infrastructure, such as printers and other third party devices and peripherals should of course be checked beforehand, as well as interfacing with any key back office systems such as accounting systems or bespoke software applications.

If you’d like our support in upgrading your business workstations or laptops to Windows 10, we would recommend an initial audit of your equipment, followed by some expert consultancy and advice from our IT Support team. We’ll take into account the hardware and network infrastructure on-site and offer our recommendation.

We can even manage the upgrade for you to ensure no issues arise and if any do be on hand immediately to troubleshoot and resolve. Windows 10 – do great things! – Contact us for more information.