Microsoft is working to make your and your family’s online experience safer. Today the company is launching its new Defender security dashboard for 365 subscribers. Users on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and Android devices have access to the Microsoft Defender security app that utilizes existing antivirus software or other protections.
Microsoft Defender is simplified online security that meets you and your family where you are by bringing multiple protections together into a single dashboard. It provides online protection across the devices you and your family use. It offers tips and recommendations to strengthen your protection further. And, as you grow your digital footprint by adding family members and devices, Defender grows with you and keeps your defenses up-to-date using trusted technology.
According to The Verge, Microsoft Defender’s features will vary by which platform. For instance, on iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Defender users won’t have antivirus protection. However, they’ll have some phishing protections alongside their dashboard that features alerts for their other devices.
Additionally, the new app includes security alerts for your devices to ensure maximum protection. While not on iPhone, you can also view Microsoft Defender’s cybersecurity tips on your Mac or Windows computer.
This is just the start. As we look forward, we will continue to bring more protections together under a single dashboard, including features like identity theft protection and secure online connection. Microsoft Defender is simplified online security that grows with you and your family to help keep you safe.
Windows are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.71 to everyone in the Dev Channel!
Changes and Improvements
We’re introducing a new entertainment widget! The entertainment widget allows you to see new and featured movie titles available in the Microsoft Store. Selecting a movie will direct you to the Microsoft Store to see more information about that title. Just open widgets and click or tap on the “Add widgets” button and choose the entertainment widget. [UPDATE] The entertainment widget is available for Insiders in the following countries: US, UK, CA, DE, FR, AU, JP.
The new entertainment widget gives you quick access to featured moved titles in the Microsoft Store.
The new context menus and other right-click menus have been updated to use acrylic material.
The new Windows 11 context menus before acrylic and after.
We are testing the usability of a SplitButton for making new folders and files in the File Explorer command bar.
The Taskbar previews (when you mouse-over open apps on the Taskbar) have been updated to reflect the new visual design of Windows 11.
Taskbar previews with rounded corners!
Fixes
Taskbar:
We fixed an issue where if you drag app icons on the Taskbar to rearrange them, it was making the apps launch or minimize when you released the icon.
Using a long press with touch on an app icon in the Taskbar to open the jump list should now work.
After right-clicking the Start icon in the Taskbar, clicking somewhere else should now dismiss the menu more reliably.
Shift + Right-click on an app icon in the Taskbar will now bring up the window menu like it used to and not the jump list.
We’ve addressed an issue that was making your mouse move slowly when hovering over the Taskbar previews.
We’ve included the fix for an issue when using multiple Desktops where an app icon in the taskbar might give the appearance of multiple windows being open when that wasn’t the case on that Desktop.
When using the Amharic IME you should no longer see an unexpected X next to the IME icon in the taskbar.
The issue where if you click on the input indicator on the Taskbar and it would unexpectedly highlighted Quick Settings has been fixed.
When you hover over Task View, the preview flyout for your Desktops will no longer pop back up after using Esc to dismiss them.
We made a fix to address an issue where explorer.exe might crash after hovering over the Task View icon in the Taskbar.
We fixed an issue where the selected date in the calendar flyout was out of sync with the date in the Taskbar.
We made an update to address a scenario resulting in some Insiders not seeing the lunar calendar text in the calendar flyout when enabled in Settings.
This flight addressed an issue that could unexpectedly make the Taskbar background transparent.
Right-clicking the focus assist icon in the taskbar should now show a context menu.
The issue from the previous flight where icons in the taskbar corner were getting crushed against the top of the Taskbar has been addressed.
The tooltip for the location in use icon in the Taskbar should no longer appear blank sometimes.
Settings:
We fixed an issue making Settings crash on launch periodically.
Using the volume mixer sliders in Sound Settings should be more responsive now, as well as the page responsiveness as a whole.
We fixed an issue resulting in Disk and Volumes Settings’ change size option being clipped.
There was a non-functional verify link under Backup Settings – this has been fixed.
The Power and Battery Settings page should no longer be reporting that battery saver is engaged in it’s not.
The Power and Battery Settings page should also now not crash when launched from Quick Settings.
We fixed a grammatical error in the Sign-in Settings text.
The “I forgot my PIN” link was unexpectedly missing in Sign-in Settings when a PIN was set up and has now been returned.
The issue where the Move option under Apps & Features in Settings wasn’t working reliably should be addressed in this build.
We’ve mitigated a problem where some of the colors in Settings weren’t updating after switching between dark and light mode, leaving unreadable text.
We’ve done some work to help improve the performance of Settings when switching between light and dark mode.
We addressed an issue where some of the elements of the Themes page in Settings would end up crowded together when the window size was small.
We resolved an issue where the Pen menu toggle under Taskbar Settings was not in sync with the actual state of the feature.
Changes made to “Dismiss notification after this amount of time” in Accessibility Settings should now persist.
Some of the icons you could enable in Taskbar Settings were erroneously labeled Windows Explorer even though that’s not what they were – this should now be fixed.
The Connect text in Quick Settings has been updated to say Cast.
File Explorer:
Clicking the command bar button twice should now close any dropdown that appeared.
The new command bar should now appear when “Open folders in a separate process” is enabled under File Explorer Options > View.
This build addresses an issue where right clicking a file and selecting Open With > Choose another app might launch the file in the default app rather than opening the Open With dialog.
Fixed an issue the desktop and File Explorer context menu would stop launching.
Search:
We fixed an issue where the option to verify your account in Search wasn’t working.
Hovering over the Search icon on a secondary monitor will now show the flyout on the correct monitor.
Search should now work if you open Start and start typing after having gone to the apps list and back.
Widgets:
When using the Outlook client with a Microsoft account, Calendar, and To Do updates should sync faster down to the widgets.
We addressed an issue where if you added multiple widgets quickly from the widgets settings, it could result in some of the widgets not being visible on the board.
We fixed a bug where widgets could all become stuck in a loading state (blank squares in the window).
The traffic widget should now follow the Windows mode (light or dark).
The title of the sports widget should no longer mismatch with the content of the widget.
Other:
This build addresses an issue where ALT + Tab was getting stuck open sometimes after you released the keys and had to be manually dismissed.
We made a fix for an issue where Narrator focus wasn’t ending up on the emoji panel after using the keyboard shortcut to open it.
Magnifier’s lens view has been updated so the lens now has rounded corners.
We found an issue that was noticeably impacting Start launch reliability for some Insiders, and have addressed it with this flight.
We’ve updated the “Most Used” text in the Start menu’s app list so it should no longer be getting clipped.
Using the semantic zoom in Start’s app list should no longer result in the list being pushed down and to the right off the edge of the window.
We fixed an issue where if you pressed WIN + Z you would need to press Tab before you could use the arrow key to navigate through the snap layouts.
We addressed an issue where an acrylic area could get left on the screen after repeatedly snapping and unsnapping a window with touch.
We’ve done some work to mitigate an unexpected flash when moving a snapped window with touch.
We made a change to help window borders have a little more contrast when “Show accent color on title bars and windows borders” was turned off.
Known issues
[REMINDER] When upgrading to Windows 11 from Windows 10 or when installing an update to Windows 11, some features may be deprecated or removed. See details here.
Start:
In some cases, you might be unable to enter text when using Search from Start or the Taskbar. If you experience the issue, press WIN + R on the keyboard to launch the Run dialog box, then close it.
Based on feedback, we are working on adding access keys to WIN + X so that you can do things like “WIN + X M” to launch Device Manager. Insiders may see this functionality in this build, however we are currently investigating an issue in which sometimes the option is unexpectedly unavailable.
Taskbar:
There is an issue in this build where Explorer.exe will crash when the date and time button on the Taskbar is clicked to access new notifications with Focus Assist turned off. The workaround for this is to enable Focus assist to priority or alarms mode. Note that when focus assist is turned on, notification popups won’t appear, but they will be in the notification center when opened.
The Taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.
Taskbar previews may draw partially offscreen.
Settings:
When launching the Settings app, a brief green flash may appear.
When using Quick Settings to modify Accessibility settings, the settings UI may not save the selected state.
The button to rename your PC doesn’t work in this build. If needed, this can be done using sysdm.cpl.
Settings will crash when clicking “Facial recognition (Windows Hello)” under Sign-in Settings if Windows Hello is already set up.
Reset this PC and Go back buttons in Settings > System > Recovery do not function. Reset and roll back can be accessed from the Windows Recovery Environment by selecting System > Recovery > Advanced startup, and pressing Restart now. Once in Windows Recovery, choose Troubleshoot.
Choose Reset this PC to perform a reset.
Choose Advanced options > Uninstall Updates > Uninstall latest feature update to perform a rollback.
File Explorer:
Explorer.exe crashes in a loop for Insiders using the Turkish display language when battery charge is at 100%.
When right clicking the desktop or File Explorer, the resulting context menu and submenus may appear partially off screen.
Clicking a desktop icon or context menu entry may result in the wrong item being selected.
Search:
After clicking the Search icon on the Taskbar, the Search panel may not open. If this occurs, restart the “Windows Explorer” process, and open the search panel again.
When you hover your mouse over the Search icon on the Taskbar, recent searches may not be displayed. To work around the issue, restart your PC.
Search panel might appear as black and not display any content below the search box.
Widgets:
Widgets board may appear empty. To work around the issue, you can sign out and then sign back in again.
Launching links from the widgets board may not invoke apps to the foreground.
Widgets may be displayed in the wrong size on external monitors. If you encounter this, you can launch the widgets via touch or WIN + W shortcut on your actual PC display first and then launch on your secondary monitors.
Store:
The install button might not be functional yet in some limited scenarios.
Rating and reviews are not available for some apps.
Windows Security:
Device Security is unexpectedly saying “Standard hardware security not supported” for Insiders with supported hardware.
“Automatic sample submission” is unexpectedly turned off when you restart your PC.
Localization:
There is an issue where some Insiders may be missing some translations from their user experience for a small subset of languages running the latest Insider Preview builds. To confirm if you have been impacted, please visit this Answers forum postand follow the steps for remediation.
For developers
You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. The Windows Insider SDK will be continuously flighting with corresponding Windows 11 Insider Preview builds, and the latest Windows Insider SDK for Build 22000.71 is now available.
Beginning with Windows Insider SDK version 22000.71 and the latest .NET 5 update, we have also added support for .NET 5 developers who want to target the Windows Insider SDK and access these new APIs. For more details on this support, refer to the Windows Insider SDK download page.
Important Insider Links
You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Are you not seeing any of the features listed for this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.
When Microsoft said that it was going to announce the next version of Windows on June 24, it was only a matter of time before the leaks started coming. The first Windows 11 build leaked today, first offering up some screenshots on Baidu. Now, the full build is here.
First of all, we should be clear that this is very much a new version of Windows 10. It has a big visual redesign, but under the hood, this is the same OS. Microsoft wanted to build excitement around it, so that’s why we’re getting the new branding. Because of this, the first thing you’ll see when booting up this leaked build is a very familiar out-of-box experience.
Indeed, all of the different Windows 11 versions are the same as they were for Windows 10, including Home, Pro, Enterprise, and more. Once you get past that part where you choose your edition, decide how to partition your drive, and it actually installs the bits, that’s where the OOBE takes a left turn from what’s familiar.
The questions are the same, and at this point, you might have realized that this looks a lot like Windows 10X. That’s because it is. Windows 10X promised a lot of under-the-hood changes, such as running apps in containers so they couldn’t access the rest of the file system. That’s not happening here.
What’s happening here is that Microsoft is pretty much bringing over the Windows 10X shell on top of Windows 10, and calling it Windows 11.
You also may have spotted a new Windows logo, which is a blue Microsoft logo. It’s replacing the trapezoidal logo that we had before and flattening it out into a square. This is likely a big part of the Redmond firm’s move to make things more Microsoft-branded instead of Windows-branded. We’ve seen various references to Microsoft Server in Windows Server.
Another thing that you’ll surely notice, and it’s a big part of the Sun Valley design refresh, is rounded corners. While Microsoft has included sharp corners since the days of Windows 8, it’s finally scaling that back.
The Start Menu is exactly what you’d expect. The taskbar is centered, and if it wasn’t for the new rectangular logo, you’d absolutely think that this screenshot was fresh out of Windows 10X. But the Windows 11 logo gives it away.
Windows Search is getting an entirely new look here. This seems to be a trend with the new Sun Valley UX, with these floating, centered fly-outs like this. As you can see from the image, you can filter down results by apps, documents, settings, and more.
If you take a look at the File Explorer, there are no surprises there. Sure, coming from Windows 10, all of the icons look visually different. All of that is already in preview though. If you’re a Windows Insider on the Dev channel, you’ve seen the new Windows 11 icons.
Nothing is changing in the Microsoft Edge browser. It’s worth noting that as far as apps go, nothing is really changing. These things still exist across Windows 11 and Windows 10, and in the case of Edge, older versions too. This is independent of the OS.
Settings doesn’t seem to have changed either, despite some earlier leaks. This was the same as it is in Windows 10 and was in Windows 10X leaks. It’s also possible that Microsoft may update this before it goes public. The same goes for other inbox apps.
There are some new settings though. There are a bunch of customization options for the taskbar, including an option to align the taskbar, and as we continue to look through this build, we’re sure to find more.
Virtual desktops are in the same place, but this might be a good time to mention that there’s a new stock wallpaper. The one you’re seeing is for light theme, but there’s another one that has a dark background. There are several wallpapers like this, and one thing you won’t find is something with a Windows logo with light shining through it, like we saw with the Windows 10 hero image.
There’s a new option right next to that called widgets. This is exactly the same as it is on macOS, and it’s presumably taking the place of Live Tiles. Live Tiles tried to be a widget and a shortcut all at once. Now, those things are being separated like they are on every other operating system. The widgets look differently in light and dark modes.
Here are some more examples of what Windows 11 looks like in dark mode. It’s pretty, and also what you’d expect.
At first glance, the keyboard looks the same. But as was teased a lot in Windows 10X, there’s a bar above it that you can open to insert GIFs, emojis, and more. Again, Windows 11 really comes down to putting the Windows 10X shell on top of Windows 10.
You’ll be able to unpin things like Task View and Windows Search from the taskbar. That means that you won’t have to just hide them anymore.
Another thing that’s new is that you can easily set different split view options, right from the maximize button in any app. You can choose split view, or views with three or four apps on the screen at once. It makes things a lot easier than the standard side-by-side view that we get now.
Besides that, there’s not a whole lot else to show. Windows 11 is set to ship later on this year, but we’re just a week away from Microsoft’s big announcement.
Microsoft has already revealed that the successor of Windows 10 will be unveiled on June 24th. However, the support page for Windows 10 was also recently updated to reflect some of the upcoming changes, including the date when Microsoft will officially end support for Windows 10 Home and Pro versions.
Spotted by Thurrot, the company has announced the news in a support page update. The page displays all of the version numbers and the releases, as well as the support date. In this case, Windows 10 Home and Pro versions will be updated until October 24th, 2025.
There’s also an important note displayed at the top of the page:
“Microsoft will continue to support at least one Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel until October 14, 2025.”
This isn’t necessarily bad news, we were expecting some big changes, including some form of a redesign, although it will be significantly smaller then what we’ve seen back in the day with Windows 7 and 8. Windows 11 – it may be called something else – will likely feature rounded corners, a more refined user interface and hopefully some meaningful changes to the search and other core parts of the OS, as well as it will likely get rid of the legacy UI, pop-ups that were still present in Windows 10.
The new version of Windows will be revealed next week on June 24th.
Six months after announcing Immersive View, Zoom is finally launching the feature, which introduces a “more engaging and collaborative way to meet.”
Immersive View resembles Microsoft Teams’ Together Mode, where users in a meeting can appear in a classroom, old-fashioned boardroom, etc.
Announced at Zoomtopia 2020, Immersive View allows hosts to arrange video participants and webinar panelists into a single virtual background, bringing people together into one scene to connect and collaborate in a cohesive virtual meeting space.
It’s possible to use the Immersive View feature with up to 25 participants, creating a classroom ambient, boardroom, conference auditorium, or your favorite place to catch up with friends.
Meeting and webinar hosts can select Zoom’s Immersive View in the same way they would select the Speaker or Gallery View. Hosts will have the option to automatically or manually place participants into a virtual scene of their choosing.
When a host wants to share their screen, the Immersive View feature will end and be replaced by the shared screen. When sharing stops, the Immersive View will begin again with the same positions as before.
This feature is available in the web and macOS apps with Zoom’s version 5.6.3 or higher and is enabled by default for all Free and single Pro accounts.
Based on feedback, the Feedback Hub Team has made a change so that Insiders can now both upvote and add similar feedback for all feedback types in the Feedback Hub. Insiders will now see the upvote and “Add similar feedback” options available side by side for both Problems and Suggestions. You can help our engineering teams investigate your problem reports better by also clicking to add similar feedback when upvoting on a problem if you have additional details to provide. This will enable you to write a description of exactly what happened when you experienced it and add your screenshots or diagnostic logs if you can reproduce it. This change is available in app version 1.2009.10413.0 and higher, which is currently rolling out to Insiders in the Dev Channel via a Microsoft Store update.
Changes and Improvements
The 3D Objects folder will no longer be shown as a special folder in File Explorer after updating to this build. If you need to access this folder, you can do so via typing %userprofile% in File Explorer or through the navigation pane option “Show all folders”.
[News and interests] We removed the “Reduce taskbar updates” option from the context menu. We expect it to return in a future update.
We have temporarily removed the touch keyboard refinements noted in Build 21301 to fix some issues. However, the updates to the default keyboard layout on 12” or larger screens and the candidate bar remain available to everyone in Dev Channel as noted last week with Build 21318.
Fixes
We fixed an issue where if you tried to access an Azure Active Directory (AAD) joined device via Remote Desktop (RDP), it would fail after updating to recent Dev Channel builds.
We fixed an issue that could result in your PC bug checking when switching between users.
We fixed an issue that could result in deleted files unexpectedly remaining visible on the desktop until the desktop was refreshed.
[News and interests] We fixed an issue where the taskbar button might show no content after the primary monitor was changed.
[News and interests] We fixed an issue where news and interests would continue to refresh content in the background even when the screen was turned off, consuming resources.
[News and interests] We fixed multiple issues impacting performance and reliability.
We fixed an issue with the new “Paste as plain text” option in clipboard history where clipboard history didn’t close after it was used, inconsistent with the normal paste behavior.
We fixed an issue that could result in erroneous torn write errors being logged.
We fixed an issue that could result in delayed audio playback on certain devices in the last few builds.
We fixed an issue where if you changed the calendar format multiple times under Settings > Date & Time > Region, the enumerated values of the other data formats may not be correct.
Known issues
There is an issue in Build 21318 where the Windows Update page in Settings unexpectedly will display offered OS updates as both optional and required. This issue is fixed as of Build 21322; however, you will see it when upgrading from Build 21318.
We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
We’re investigating an issue impacting the reliability of Start and other modern apps, which started in recent Dev Channel flights. If you are impacted, you may experience the Start menu layout resetting.
Live previews for pinned sites aren’t enabled for all Insiders yet, so you may see a grey window when hovering over the thumbnail in the taskbar. We’re continuing to work on polishing this experience.
We’re working on enabling the new taskbar experience for existing pinned sites. In the meantime, you can unpin the site from the taskbar, remove it from the edge://apps page, and then re-pin the site.
[News and interests] We’re addressing an issue where news and interests may not be available when signing into Windows without internet access but returns when online.
[News and interests] Sometimes the news and interests flyout cannot be dismissed with pen.
[ARM64] Insiders who installed the preview version of the Qualcomm Adreno graphics driver on the Surface Pro X may experience reduced brightness of the display. This will be addressed in a future update. If you are experiencing this issue, please see the feedback collection for more information.
We’re working on a fix to address reports from Insiders that the Chinese text for the lunar calendar in the clock and calendar flyout is no longer displaying properly as of the previous flight.
We’re investigating reports that Insider devices are experiencing hangs when an Xbox controller is connected while shutting down, restarting, or entering sleep in recent Dev Channel builds.
If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated.
The end is officially here for Adobe Flash. As previously announced, Adobe has confirmed that it will no longer provide support for Flash Player after December 31, 2020, and it will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning on January 12, 2021.
The writing has been on the wall for the end of Adobe Flash for years. Way back in 2017, Adobe announced its plans to drop support for the Flash plug-in by the end of 2020, and it is now making good on that promise.
As Adobe has worked to wind down Flash over the last three years, Apple’s message has been consistent. The company emphasized on its WebKit blog at the time of Adobe’s announcement that the transition from Flash began in 2010 for Apple users:
Apple users have been experiencing the web without Flash for some time. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch never supported Flash. For the Mac, the transition from Flash began in 2010 when Flash was no longer pre-installed. Today, if users install Flash, it remains off by default. Safari requires explicit approval on each website before running the Flash plugin.
But of course, the relationship between Apple and Adobe in regards to Flash had been strained for years, ever since Steve Jobs famously published his “Thoughts on Flash” piece back in 2010 to address what was a major point of criticism at the time for iPhones and iPads as computer replacements.
I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true.
In the letter, Jobs bemoaned Flash for its many flaws, including things like reliability, security, battery life, and performance. While Adobe contested Jobs’ claims at the time, Apple never did bring Flash to the iPhone and iPad, and Flash’s downfall began shortly thereafter.
Adobe has a website dedicated to providing information about the end-of-life plans for Flash, saying that users should uninstall Flash from their computers immediately to “help protect their systems.”
Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems. Some users may continue to see reminders from Adobe to uninstall Flash Player from their system.
Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems.
Some users may continue to see reminders from Adobe to uninstall Flash Player from their system. See below for more details on how to uninstall Flash Player.
UPDATED: December 2, 2020
As previously announced in July 2017, Adobe will stop supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 (“EOL Date”).
Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content. Also, major browser vendors are integrating these open standards into their browsers and deprecating most other plug-ins (like Flash Player). See Flash Player EOL announcements from Apple,Facebook,Google,Microsoft and Mozilla.
By providing more than three years’ advance notice, Adobe believes that there has been sufficient time for developers, designers, businesses, and other parties to migrate Flash content to new standards. The EOL timing was in coordination with some of the major browser vendors.
After the EOL Date, Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches. Therefore, Adobe will continue to prompt users to uninstall Flash Player and strongly recommends that all users immediately uninstall Flash Player.
To help secure users’ systems, Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021.
Major browser vendors will disable Flash Player from running after the EOL Date.
Flash Player may remain on your system unless you uninstall it. Uninstalling Flash Player will help secure your system since Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the EOL Date. Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021 and the major browser vendors will continue to disable Flash Player from running after the EOL Date.
Click “Uninstall” when prompted by Adobe in Flash Player, or follow these manual uninstall instructions for Windows and Mac users.
Since Adobe is no longer supporting Flash Player after the EOL Date, Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021 to help secure users’ systems. Flash Player may remain on the user’s system unless the user uninstalls it.
As the EOL Date approaches, the number of Flash-supported browsers and operating systems will continue to decrease so Adobe strongly recommends that all users immediately uninstall Flash Player.
Apple Safari version 14, released for macOS in September 2020, no longer loads Flash Player or runs Flash content. Please visit Apple’s Safari support for more information.
Adobe will continue issuing regular Flash Player security patches, and maintain certain OS and browser compatibility through the end of 2020.
No. Adobe will remove Flash Player download pages from its site after the EOL Date. Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021.
No. These versions of Flash Player are not authorized by Adobe. Users should not use unauthorized versions of Flash Player. Unauthorized downloads are a common source of malware and viruses.
Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches after the EOL Date. Adobe strongly recommends that all users uninstall Flash Player immediately.
iCloud can be used on a Windows PC, which is particularly helpful to iPhone and iPad users who have a PC but not a Mac, or Mac users who have installed Windows 10 in Boot Camp, or even to those who have both Mac and Windows computers, and want to be able to access all of their iCloud content through the PC as well as their other Apple devices. This includes the ability to access iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, iCloud data syncing like contacts, emails, and bookmarks, and more.
This article will walk through you how to download, install, and setup iCloud for Windows.
iCloud requires an Apple ID as the two are associated together, so we’re assuming you already have an Apple ID ready to use and that it matches the same Apple ID and iCloud login in use on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as well. If for some reason you don’t have one yet, you can learn how to create a new Apple ID.
How to Install & Setup iCloud for Windows PC
Using iCloud for Windows is available for Windows 7 and Windows 10 or later, so if the Windows version is much earlier then it likely won’t be compatible with iCloud.
First, download the iCloudSetup.exe for Windows installer. For Windows 10 and later, you can download it directly from Microsoft Store here for free, otherwise you can get it from Apple here
If the iCloudSetup.exe file doesn’t launch automatically to install, locate the iCloudSetup.exe file through Windows File Explorer and launch it directly
Go through the process of installing iCloud for Windows on the PC, then reboot the computer when it is finished
iCloud for Windows should be open automatically upon reboot, if not go to the Start menu then choose Apps / Programs > iCloud
Login with your Apple ID to sign into iCloud on Windows
Select the iCloud features you want to enable (iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Mail, Contacts, & Calendar, Bookmarks, Notes, etc), then click Apply
Now you have iCloud setup and installed in Windows, and you’ll be able to access the iCloud features you enabled and plan on using on the Windows PC.
If you’re an iPhone owner with a Windows PC, it’s highly recommended to go through the process of installing iCloud on the PC as you’ll gain access to syncing features like iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos that wouldn’t be available otherwise in Windows (though you can always download photos from iCloud with these instructions on Mac or PC by using the iCloud.com web interface).
Of course if you’re an iPhone or iPad owner with a Windows PC, or running Windows in Boot Camp on a Mac, you’ll also want to make sure the computer has the latest version of iTunes installed on it too, and keep that app up to date so that you can always sync your device with Windows at any time.
While iCloud features are built-in to MacOS, in the Windows world you’ll need to download, install, and setup iCloud for PC separately as shown here. But aside from that initial setup difference, many of the features are available to Windows users as they are to Mac, so don’t ignore a Windows PC as it works just fine with iPhone and iPad. And similarly if you have a Mac with Boot Camp, it can be a nice feature to have iCloud available in the Windows side of things there too.
You can run the very first version of Microsoft Windows 1.0 with almost no effort, and right in your web browser! If you’re feeling like experiencing what the Windows PC world was like in 1985, then you’re in for a real retro treat.
All you need to do is visit a webpage in a modern web browser to load Windows 1.01 today and play around with it, it should work on any Mac or PC.
You’ll have all the greats you know and love, including MSDOS.EXE and COMMAND.COM, WRITE.EXE, PAINT.EXE NOTEPAD.EXE, CLOCK.EXE, CALC.EXE, and more!
Note: press the ESCAPE key to regain use of the mouse cursor if it locks into the Windows 1.01 virtualization window.
This is obviously not for serious use or consideration, but it sure is fun to play around with, and it makes for an excellent proof of concept to demonstrate just how powerful modern computers and web browsers are when you can virtualize an entire operating system just in a web browser.
If toying around with ancient Windows 1.0 whets your appetite for nostalgic computing experiences, you’d probably also enjoy using the very first web browser called WorldWideWeb, running Classic Mac OS in a web browser, running HyperCard in a browser-based MacOS emulator, or running Linux in a web browser too. Or if you’d rather experience some retro computing locally, you can download and run Windows 95 as a self-contained application, and we’ve covered many other emulator posts and virtual machine articles before too.
Need to delete a virtual machine from Parallels or Parallels Desktop Lite? Removing a virtual machine can be necessary when you’re finished using a particular environment, operating system, or VM for any reason, and it’s also common to remove unneeded virtual machines to free up disk space.
Here’s how you can easily delete a virtual machine in Parallels and remove it from the Mac (or Windows PC).
How to Remove Virtual Machines in Parallels & Parallels Desktop Lite
Launch Parallels or Parallels Desktop Lite, but do not start any virtual machine
Select the virtual machine you want to delete from the Control Center (if Parallels launches immediately into a VM, exit the VM and go to the main screen first)
Go to the “File” menu and choose “Remove”, or alternatively right-click on the VM and choose “Remove”
Select “Move to Trash” to delete the virtual machine without saving anything, or choose “Keep Files” to be able to use the VM again in the future if needed
Repeat with other virtual machines you want to delete
Now go to the Finder and empty the Trash as usual (or right-click the Trash icon in the Mac Dock and choose “Empty Trash”)
Emptying the Trash is necessary to actually delete the virtual machine from the Mac and free up disk space on the computer.
It doesn’t matter if you use the File menu or the right-click menu to delete the virtual machine, the steps are the same afterwards.
Note: if you’re deleting a virtual machine from Parallels on Windows, you empty the Recycle Bin instead of the Trash like on the Mac.
Note that if you simply move the virtual machine to the Trash but don’t empty the Trash on the Mac, that VM can be recovered anytime before the Trash is emptied by simply going to the Trash, locating the vm file (usually labeled as the OS with the file extension “.pvm” like ‘Debian Linux.pvm’) and adding that VM file back into Parallels.
Virtual machines offer a powerful way to test out and use other operating systems by running them in an application layer atop an existing operating system, and this capability is not limited to Parallels or Parallels Desktop Lite. You can use virtual machine software like VirtualBox or VMWare for running Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows 2000, NT, 98, 95, 3.11, Windows with older versions of Internet Explorer ranging from IE 7 to IE 9, Ubuntu Linux, ParrotSec Linux, or just about any other Linux distribution, BSD, a variety of versions of Mac OS and Mac OS X including MacOS Mojave and macOS Sierra, BeOS / HaikuOS, and many other operating systems too. And of course you can delete virtual machines from VirtualBox and VMWare too if needed.
