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Office 365 – the easiest way to get the new Office.

Microsoft
Partner Network

Office 2016

Now, there’s more opportunities than ever to build your business.Office 216 is the latest addition to Office 365—taking the work out of working together. The new Office is built for teamwork. Perfect for Windows 10. Smart. Secure. Full of new features.

Consider the opportunities.

Exciting new advances in Office open new opportunities for you to deepen your role as trusted advisor and to expand your practice—and your revenue potential. Here are a few paths to consider:

  • Reach new customers by leveraging the innovative user experiences in Office 2016 apps
  • Grow your hybrid practice with cloud-inspired infrastructure in Office 2016 servers
  • Capitalize on Office 2016 launch momentum to renew or upsell Office 365

We think that Office 2016 is an important step in empowering every organization on the planet to achieve more. Action Pack and Competency partners can get started right away by using your internal use rights (IUR) benefits to download Office 365. Once you’re familiar with the new Office you can show your customers how to get the most from the new features.

Quick steps to get started:

Let’s do great work together.Your Microsoft Partner Network Team

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Microsoft will let you unlock Windows 10 with your face

Hello
With a quick glance at your Windows 10 laptop, you’ll be able to unlock it — without entering a password.

Microsoft introduced the latest new feature for Windows 10, called Windows Hello. The security tool will let you access your PC through facial recognition, an iris scan or a read of your fingerprint.

But before you get ready for your closeup, you’ll need get some special equipment — most PCs don’t come with biometric scanners installed (though some do). Windows Hello is primarily targeted at businesses and government agencies.

Microsoft opted not to rely on your webcam for facial recognition because the photos it captures are not terribly secure, and they’re easy to spoof. Instead, Microsoft got infrared cameras to do facial recognition for Windows Hello.

Facial recognition is possible on a low-grade camera. Google allows its Android phones to be unlocked with facial recognition, but the company warns that someone with a photo of you — or even someone who looks like you — will be able to unlock your phone too.

With the proper tools, faces, irises and fingerprints are possible to spoof, but it’s not easy — someone’s got to really want to break in to your PC to go through the trouble.

Microsoft opted for more robust security in Windows 10, because it wants to meet strict standards that companies and government agencies impose for secure logins. Microsoft said Windows Hello has a 1 in 100,000 false accept rate, which is very high. It’s a lot safer than a password, which, as we know, can easily be forgotten, lost, stolen or hacked.

Though it’s not necessarily aimed at the average PC buyer, consumers will be able to use the Windows Hello feature too.

Microsoft promised “plenty of exciting new Windows 10 devices to choose from which will support Windows Hello.” And if your PC already has a fingerprint reader, you’ll be able to login with a fingerprint scan.

Passport: Windows 10 will also support another new security feature, codenamed “Passport,” which lets you login to participating websites, apps or networks without a password. Microsoft said the list of sites and apps that support Passport is growing, but it didn’t say how many participate.

Microsoft is trying to position Passport as the end of passwords. Since you never enter a password to enter a website, “there is no shared password stored on their servers for a hacker to potentially compromise,” says Microsoft boldly in its press release.

But that’s not quite true. Passwords will still exist. Even if you can login to your email via Passport from your work PC, you’ll still need a password to login from your iPad. So passwords aren’t going away anytime soon — and they’ll still be stored on email providers’ servers, which means hackers could potentially still grab them in a cyberattack.

The primary way that Passport ensures that you’re you is through Windows Hello. Oddly, however, you can also enter a PIN into Passport, which is significantly less secure than a password.

Still, it’s about time that something replaces passwords, and Hello and Passport are good starts.

Have questions?

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What’s new (and still to come) in Microsoft’s Office 2016 for Windows

Microsoft’s Office 2016 suite for Windows 7, 8 and 10 PCs and tablets is available since September 22, 2015. Here’s what’s new and what’s still to come for Office users.

 

Microsoft made a first public preview of the suite — which runs on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 PCs and laptops — back in March of 2015. Testers had been working with private previews of the suite since 2014.

The full Office for Windows 2016 suite includes new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Project, Visio and Access.

There are not a lot of major new features in this release. Microsoft’s main focus with the new version of Office for Windows has been on adding team-collaboration functionality. Among some of the new features in the suite are coauthoring for Word, PowerPoint and OneNote; real-time typing in Word; new integrated Power BI publishing functionality in Excel; and updated search and navigational capabilities in Outlook.

Users who subscribe via Office 365 consumer and/or business plans which include rights to the Office apps also get will get additional, supplemental services and features, including Microsoft’s Sway digital-storytelling app/service; new Office 365 Groups functionality; and more.

As is the case with Windows 10, Microsoft is planning to fill out some of the partially baked Office 2016 features in the suite with regular updates in the coming months. Microsoft is still working on improving and syncing its OneDrive online-storage service. The promised new sync clients for Windows and Mac are due later this year. Built-in coauthoring for the other Office 2016 apps beyond Word is also still in the works. And Enterprise Data Protection, a security feature that Microsoft has promised for Windows 10, also will be coming for Office 2016 for Windows in early 2016, and the Office Mobile apps later this year, company officials said.

Starting with the Office 2016 for Windows release, Microsoft is moving to a new servicing model for Office 365 which is similar to the one it has put in place for Windows 10, with different servicing “branches” providing users with new Office features and fixes on a regular basis.

While on the subject of dates, here’s what Microsoft officials are saying in terms of availability for Office 2016 for Windows (and other related Office apps and services).

The Office 2016 apps are available in 40 languages starting today. Office 365 Office 2016subscribers can choose to download manually the new Office 2016 apps as part of their subscription starting today. Automatic updates of the Office 2016 apps will begin rolling out to consumer and small business subscribers in October 2015, and to commercial customers early next year. Office 2016 is also available today as a one-time purchase for both PCs and Macs.

Update:

A Microsoft spokesperson said MSDN subscribers will have access to both Office 2016 for Mac and Windows today, starting at about 9 am PT/noon ET. Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) availability for Office 2016 for Windows will be October 1. (VLSC customers got Office 2016 for Mac in August.)

Office 365 Planner, the lightweight project-management service (formerly codenamed “Highlander”), which Microsoft is building into its Office 365 business subscriptions, will be available in preview to Office 365 First Release customers starting next quarter. And GigJam — a new task-completion service which Microsoft demonstrated earlier this summer — is in private preview as of today, and will be available to Office 365 business subscribers in 2016.

Office 2016 for Windows and Office 2016 for Mac are Microsoft’s two fully-featured Office desktop suites. The company also offers a variety of universal’ and/or mobile Office mobile apps for iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Windows Phones and Windows PCs and tablets.

Have questions?

Get help from IT Experts/Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner
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How to upgrade to Windows 10: A step-by-step walkthrough

Windows 10 is now available as a free update. Here is what you can expect when you say “yes” to the update.

Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of the upgrade process while upgrading Windows 8 machine to Windows 10.

Launch Windows 10 upgrade through Windows Update

Look for the Update screen in Windows 8 and click the Check for Updates link. When the check is over, you will see the screen shown in Figure A.

Figure A

As you can see, it is a 2699.0 MB download. Click the Get Started button and then the screen shown in Figure B will appear.

Figure B

You may be able to get Windows 10 via a free update, but it still requires that you agree to a license/user agreement.

The next screen (Figure C) is very important. Updating takes about 2 hours depending upon the machine. If you cannot afford to be off your computer for that long, it may be a good idea to schedule a time when you can.

Figure C

Installation process

After you start the update process, your PC will immediately restart. From that point on you will just have to wait for the update to finish. During update the screen gets blank for over an hour, so please don’t panic and turn your PC during this seeming lack of activity.

Your PC may also restart several times during the update, but eventually you will reach a screen that asks if you want to do an Express Configuration or a Custom Configuration. Express configuration will be the best choice for most people.

Note that the update does take a bit of bandwidth, so it might be more efficient to update one PC at a time.

When the entire update procedure is complete, you will be presented with the Windows 10 desktop or tablet interface depending on your device as you can see in Figure D.

Figure D

There are new versions of OneDrive and the Snipping Tool in Windows 10. Of course, there is also the new web browser, Microsoft Edge, too.

Get Windows 10 without using Windows Update

If you would like to get Windows 10 without going through the update process, for a clean install for example, then you will have to download the Windows 10 ISO file.

If you have a Windows Vista or Windows XP PC you would like to update, you have to purchase Windows 10. Windows 10 Home will cost you $119, while Windows 10 Pro will cost $199.

As of July 29, 2015, most new devices will be available with either Windows 10 or Windows 8.1, which can be upgraded to Windows 10 for free. If your PC is more than a few years old, it might make more sense to spend money on a new device rather than to update an old one.

Have questions?

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When should businesses upgrade to Windows 10?

Looking at upgrading your business PCs to Windows 10 but not sure when to make the leap? Here are some issues to consider.

Business customers can often be years behind the state of the operating system art: right now most businesses are still running Windows 7, launched back in July 2009, having shown limited interest in Windows 8 which arrived in August 2012.Windows 10

Even when they buy new PCs, most companies today still downgrade them to Windows 7, so it’s usually home users that are first to take the plunge with the new software, whether they like it or not.

However, businesses may be significantly faster to adopt Windows 10, which arrives on 29 July (volume licensing customers will be able to download Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education on Volume Licensing Service Center from 1 August) than previous versions of Microsoft’s operating system.

Part of the reason for the change is the huge public testing process – five million testers strong – that has preceded the arrival of Windows 10. As a result, the standard policy of waiting for the first service pack to arrive before rolling out a new OS is now longer the right one, says Stephen Kleynhans, research vice president at analyst Gartner.

However, that doesn’t mean firms should be full steam ahead with upgrades. “I’m not one who believes there is a need to rush to a new operating system. You want to let the ecosystem around the operating system mature a little bit before you jump right in,” he says.

Companies should wait until it’s clear if the line of business applications they use work happily with Windows 10, and whether they can find enough expertise to make sure any rollout is a smooth one. “All of that has to build up before you want to jump in and start running it in your production environment,” he said.

Kleynhans said businesses need to spend some time testing out Windows 10 in a controlled fashion: “Bring it into a lab, bring it into a test environment, let some folks run it for the rest of this year. Then, in 2016, get serious about it, start looking at it in a real test environment, start piloting it with some real users to see how it’s performing.”

He said that if all goes well companies should be ready to start deployments in the second half of 2016 or the beginning of 2017, depending on how large and complex their IT environment is.

“If you’re a large company nothing happens really fast. If you’re a small company the timeline is going to be a lot faster – if you’re testing with 10 people you might be testing with ten percent of the company.”

Starting the rollout a year to 18 months after the operating system is launched might seem like a long delay, but it would still be six months to a year faster than with previous upgrades.

Kleynhans said that it took most big companies 18 months of testing and remediation work before they were able to start rolling out Windows 7. In contrast, most companies will get Windows 10 testing and remediation done in less than six months.

The analyst said that some organizations are keen to get moving as soon as Windows 10 is available – such as those that are still using Windows XP or who have plans to deploy hybrid PC devices. But, for most companies, this will be too soon.

“There are pieces of the operating system targeted at the enterprise that we really haven’t had a chance to try out yet. You can’t consider significant production rollouts even in the most aggressive cases until later in the fall.”

He cited Windows Update for Business as a new tool that small and medium sized businesses will want to use, but that wasn’t part of the tech preview. There are also some other security components that haven’t been as broadly tested or available during the tech preview, he said.

As Ed Bott notes over at Tech Pro Research, other missing features will include the new unified sync client for OneDrive (the consumer cloud storage service) and OneDrive for Business (the cloud storage service for business Office 365 subscriptions). He predicts these will be wrapped up by late October, in time for Windows 10 PCs to hit the retail channel for the festive season.

Other factors to consider: at a prosaic level, the upgrade will inevitably cause disruption so don’t plan it for a busy time of year. If you’re in retail, starting the upgrade in November or December might be a career limiting decision for the CIO.

The state of your current infrastructure is another element to take into account. Gartner says that companies planning Windows 8.1 deployments should instead redirect their efforts toward earlier deployment of Windows 10.

“In almost all cases, enterprises currently planning to deploy Windows 8.1 should switch to Windows 10. Enterprises that already have Windows 8.1 deployed should continue with those deployments for the time being. Customers on Windows 7 with no plans for Windows 8.1 should begin evaluating Windows 10 for deployment in 2H16 or later,” the analyst firm said in a research note.

Equally, for some, the upgrade may never take place. David Gewirtz has no plans to upgrade any of his Windows 7 devices to Windows 10: “They work, they’re rock solid, and all their drivers are perfectly tuned to the hardware they’re running on,” he notes.

However long it takes enterprises to take the plunge, Windows 10 is likely to become widely adopted, if only because most firms will need to move off of Windows 7 eventually, while the relatively few who did move to Windows 8 will also update sooner rather than later. The pressures that forced companies to migrate off Windows XP and onto Windows 7 will eventually make them move from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

“Windows 7 comes to end of life in January 2020. That’s only four and half years away so you’re going to see the same sorts of pressures mount to get off of Windows 7. They need to go somewhere and they’ll go to Windows 10,” he said.

Have questions?

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Office 2016 for Mac is here!

Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office Client Applications and Services team said “Today we are taking a big step forward for Mac® users—Office 2016 for Mac is now available in 139 countries and 16 languages. Based on feedback from the great Mac Office community, we’ve made major updates to each of the apps, and we couldn’t be more pleased to deliver it first to our Office 365 customers.”

Unmistakably Office, designed for Mac

The new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote provide the best of both worlds for Mac users—the familiar Office experience paired with the best of Mac.

If you already use Office on a PC or iPad, you will find yourself right at home in Office 2016 for Mac. It works the way you expect, with the familiar ribbon interface and powerful task panes. Mac users will appreciate the modernized Office experience and the integration of Mac capabilities like Full Screen view and Multi-TouchTM gestures. With full Retina® display support, your Office documents look sharper and more vibrant than ever.

Office for Mac is cloud-connected, so you can quickly get to the documents you’ve recently used on other devices and pick up where you left off. New, built-in document sharing tools make it easy to invite teammates to work on a document together. When sharing documents, you won’t have to worry about losing content or formatting, as Office for Mac offers unparalleled compatibility with Office on PCs, tablets, phones and online.

Five modern, first-class applications

Word for Mac

 

Word for Mac—Word’s powerful writing and reviewing tools make it easy to create great-looking documents. The new Design tab lets you easily apply designer-quality layouts, colors and fonts throughout your document. You can work on the same document simultaneously with your teammates and use threaded comments to have a conversation right next to the corresponding text.

 

Excel for Mac

 

Excel for Mac—The new Excel for Mac helps you visualize your information by recommending charts best suited for your data with chart previews. Familiar keyboard shortcuts, autocomplete and an improved formula builder save you time when creating spreadsheets or entering data. For deeper analysis, new PivotTable Slicers help you filter large volumes of data and discover patterns.

PowerPoint for Mac

PowerPoint for Mac—PowerPoint’s improved Presenter View gives you full control when you present by showing you the current slide, next slide, speaker notes and a timer on your Mac screen, while the audience only sees your presentation on the big screen. The new animation pane helps you design and fine-tune animations, and the latest set of slide transitions add polish to your presentations.

Outlook for Mac

Outlook for Mac—Managing your email, calendar, contacts and tasks has never been easier. The new Outlook for Mac has push mail support so your inbox is always up-to-date. The improved conversation view automatically organizes your inbox around threaded conversations, so you won’t have to hunt for related messages. And the new message preview shows you the first sentence of an email just below the subject line so you can quickly decide if you want to read it now or come back later.

One Notebook for Mac

OneNote for Mac—OneNote is the newest addition to Office for Mac. You can capture your ideas in digital notebooks and access them on any device. Find things quickly with the OneNote search engine that tracks your tags, indexes your typed notes and recognizes text in images and handwritten notes. Bold, italicize, underline or highlight notes, insert files, pictures and tables and organize your notes however you want. You can also share notebooks with friends, family or colleagues so everyone can work together on travel plans, household tasks or work projects.

Made better by Mac users

The customer participation in Office for Mac preview since its launch in March exceeded expectations, making it largest Office for Mac beta ever. Thanks to everyone who participated in the preview program and helped improve the product.

Mac preview participants provided with over 100,000 pieces of feedback. Based on this feedback, Office released seven updates in four months with significant improvements in performance and stability. Also added features like improved Mail Merge in Word, Propose New Time in Outlook and support for External Data Connections in Excel.

And the best news is that Office for Mac will continue to see ongoing improvements over time. With released updates and new features for Office 365 customers at least once per quarter.

Available today for Office 365 customers

Office 365 subscribers can get the newest version of Office for Mac today. All you need is an Office 365 subscription (Office 365 Home, Personal, Business, Business Premium, E3 or ProPlus), which includes the rights and access to use Office applications on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices, along with additional value in OneDrive and Skype.

Here are a few different ways to get Office 2016 for Mac today:

  • Already an Office 365 customer? On your Mac, just browse to your account page (office.com/myaccount), sign in and follow the installation instructions. If you have Office 365 through your organization, go to portal.office.com/OLS/MySoftware.aspx.
  • Are you a student? You may get Office 2016 for Mac for free or at a substantial discount. It takes only 30 seconds to find out at office.com/student.
  • Otherwise, go to office.com/mac or buy an Office 365 subscription at your local retailer.

Office 2016 for Mac will become available as a one-time purchase option this September.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about the new Office for Mac. It’s one of many important releases this summer. “We released Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android phones just two weeks ago, which join Outlook and OneNote for Android phones, and we are just weeks away from delivering Office Mobile apps for Windows 10.” said Kirk Koenigsbauer

Have questions?

Get help from Microsoft’s Cloud Solutions Partner.
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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When free Windows 10 becomes Expensive. You Must Know this!!

Is Microsoft really going to charge $100 to $200 to users who want the Pro edition or who don’t qualify for the free upgrade? Lets take a look at some alternative pricing ideas.

In Last week’s article, qw showed you how to reserve your free copy of Windows 10 upgrade from your Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 System. As you may know, the free upgrade will move you to the same edition of Windows that you’re currently running.

 

Windows 10 cost

“When you upgrade, you’ll stay on like-to-like editions of Windows. For example, Windows 7 Home Premium will upgrade to Windows 10 Home.”

However, what if you get Windows 10 Home and then decide that you would like Windows 10 Pro? How much will it cost to upgrade? What if you are running Windows Vista or XP? Or, what if you are planning on building your own system and want to install Windows 10 from scratch? How much will you have to pay for Windows 10? Let’s take a closer look.

The free upgrade chart

Along with the like-to-like editions description, Microsoft presented an upgrade chart (Figure A).

Figure A

sjt-blog-photo-windows

As you can see, this is how Microsoft will be doling out the free editions of Windows 10. For those getting the Pro edition of Windows 10, this will be perfect. And for most folks getting the Home edition of Windows 10, this will be a fine deal. However, what if you’re really a Pro type of user who just happened to end up with a Home edition of Windows 7/8? Will you be satisfied with the Home edition of Windows 10?

For example, my main system is running Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center. However, my laptop is running the standard Windows 8.1, because that’s what was preinstalled when I purchased it last year from Dell. I’ve always wished that it had the Pro edition, as there are certain features that I’ve grown accustomed to on the Pro edition that I sorely miss, such as being able to configure my laptop as a Remote Desktop host.

I know that I won’t be satisfied with the Home edition of Windows 10 on my laptop.

The Windows 10 Pro Pack

Microsoft has released statements to various technology media sites, such as CNET, confirming the existence of an upgrade package called the Windows 10 Pro Pack that will allow you to move up from the Windows 10 Home edition to Pro edition. The Windows 10 Pro Pack will cost $99 (USD).

While that might not sound like a lot, when compared to FREE, it seems kind of unfair.

I understand that I’m getting a like-to-like edition upgrade, but I was hoping for some kind of break. After all, I’ve been a loyal Microsoft customer for years.

How about selling the Windows 10 Pro Pack for $39.99 for a limited time? Say, 90 days after launch? That would be more than acceptable to me–and it’s not unprecedented.

As you may remember, back when Windows 8 was first launched in October of 2012, upgrades to the Pro edition were priced at just $39.99 for anyone using an existing product. That offer ran until January 31, 2013. After that, the price of Windows 8 went up to the regular price point.

Retail packages

Microsoft has also released the MSRP for copies of the new operating system. Windows 10 Home will sell for $119 and Windows 10 Pro will sell for $199. Again, this seems to be a pretty stiff deal when compared to FREE.

This is the price that anyone using Windows XP or Windows Vista on a system that’s capable of running Windows 10 will have to pay for the full install of the new operating system. This also applies to users who are planning on building their own systems.

If the goal is to really get everyone off of old operating systems and onto Windows 10, Microsoft should offer these folks a special price for a limited time.

Again, such a deal is not unprecedented. When Windows 8 first came out, the retail package of the Pro edition cost $69.99.

If Windows XP/Vista users and system builders could get Windows 10 Pro for $69.99 for the first 90 days after launch, I think that a lot more people would go for it than if they have to pay $199.

What’s your take?

If you get a free Windows 10 Home upgrade, will you be satisfied–or will you want to move up to Windows 10 Pro? If so, would you be willing to pay $39 for the upgrade? If you don’t qualify for the free upgrade, would you be willing to pay $69 for Windows 10? Let us know

Have questions?

Microsoft’s Partner are here to help.
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South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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How to reserve your free copy of Windows 10

A new notification prompts Windows 7 and 8.1 users to reserve an upgrade to the upcoming OS, due to debut July 29.

Microsoft is now pushing Windows 10 via a notice suggesting you reserve a copy. On Monday, the software giant announced thatWindows 10 will officially roll out July 29. That means it will be available on any PCs you purchase as of that date — and as a free upgrade to your existing Windows 7 or 8.1 tablet or PC.

Microsoft has a lot riding on Windows 10. The new OS has the task of erasing the bad experiences people had with the touchscreen-focused Windows 8, which ultimately failed to catch fire among PC users. Windows 10 comes packed with new features, such as a redesigned Start menu, the Cortana voice assistant and a new browser called Edge, all designed to win over jaded Windows users. The new OS will also offer a more unified experience among PCs, tablets and smartphones as a way to convince consumers to go the Windows route for all their devices. As such, the company wants to make sure that current device owners know they can now get in line to pick up Windows 10.So how can you now reserve your free copy of Windows 10?

Windows 10 Free Upgrade

You can now reserve your free copy of Windows 10, if you meet the necessary requirements.

First, you must be running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1, and you must have installed a March the Windows update dubbed KB3035583, according to blog site VentureBeat. That update will already be on your PC as long as you have Automated Updates enabled.

Peek at your Windows system tray in the lower right corner, and you should see a new icon displaying the Windows logo. Hover over it, and the popup messages says: “Get Windows 10.”

Click that icon, and up pops a window that explains how the free upgrade works. Once it’s available, Windows 10 will automatically download onto your PC. You’ll receive a notification after the download is complete so that you can choose an appropriate time to install it.

You can scroll through the various screens of the Get Windows 10 window to read more about the new OS.

When you’re done, simply click the button to reserve your free upgrade.

The reservation screen asks for your email address so you can receive the notification. Enter your email address and click the Send confirmation button. You can now close the Get Windows 10 window.

Should you change your mind and wish to cancel the reservation, just click the Get Windows 10 icon again.

Click the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner to display the menu and click the link for View confirmation.

Then click the link to Cancel reservation and click the button for Cancel reservation to confirm your choice.

Windows 10 is a free upgrade. The upgrade offers the full version of Windows 10, not simply a trial or limited version. It also ensures that you can run Windows 10 on your specific device for free “for the supported lifetime of your device,” according to Microsoft.

But there are some caveats. The free upgrade applies only to Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1. So if you haven’t upgraded Windows 7 to SP1 or Windows 8 to 8.1, you’ll have to perform those tasks first. Also, you have one year from July 29 to upgrade your PC to Windows 10 for free. After that year is up, you’ll have to purchase Windows 10 yourself.

Those of you running Windows RT or RT 8.1 are out of luck. Microsoft has excluded Windows RT and RT 8.1 from the free upgrade offer.

And what will Windows 10 cost you if the miss the free upgrade window? On Monday, Microsoft revealed the various prices. Windows Home will retail for $119. Windows 10 Pro wil sell for price of $199. And the Windows 10 Pro Pack, which lets you upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro, will cost you $99.

Have questions?

Our Upgrade Assistants and IT business team is here to help.
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Windows 10’s features

The new Windows 10 notifications will follow you everywhere

Windows 10 has a new notifications center for your apps — even the ones from your Windows Phone.

When you’re poking around Windows 10, you’ll notice something new: A small taskbar button that, when clicked, reveals a sidebar full of app notifications.

Welcome to the new notifications center, which is basically the Windows 10 version of the Action center in Windows Phone 8.1. The notifications center is part of Microsoft’s dream of “Windows everywhere” — it’s a universal notifications center that will pop up your app notifications across multiple platforms. Because who doesn’t want to be alerted about new Twitter followers on their phone, tablet, and now PC?

The new notifications center consists of two parts: The notifications area at the top, and the “quick actions” bar at the bottom. In the notifications area you’ll see notifications from various apps, including Twitter, Facebook, and your email account, as well as notifications from phone apps (e.g. alarms) if applicable.


Mouse over notifications and click the ‘X’ to dismiss them.

You can dismiss notifications three different ways: You can mouse over the app name (e.g. Twitter) and click the ‘X’ next to it to dismiss all notifications from that app. You can also mouse over each individual notification and click the ‘X’ next to it to dismiss that specific notification. Or you can click Clear All in the upper right corner of the notifications center to dismiss all notifications from all apps. Because this is a “Windows everywhere” feature, notifications you dismiss in the notifications center will also be dismissed on your other Windows devices, such as your phone.

In the quick actions bar, you’ll see four quick-access buttons as well as an Expand link. Click Expand to see all quick actions. Actions include things like a Tablet Mode toggle button, a link to the Display settings, a link to all settings, and toggle buttons for Location and Wi-Fi. Tap a quick action button to toggle a setting (tablet mode, location, Wi-Fi) on or off, or to go directly to the settings menu so you can configure your display, connection, or VPN.

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Pick your quick access quick actions from the Settings menu.

To choose which quick actions appear above the break, go to Settings > Notifications & actions > Choose your quick actions. Here, you’ll see four small buttons that you can click on to swap out actions. If you’d prefer to have your Wi-Fi toggle on hand whenever you open the notifications bar, you can switch it for the Display button. Of course, you’ll always be able to see all of the quick actions by clicking Expand in the notifications bar.

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In the Settings menu, you can also choose which apps’ notifications to display.

Here, you can also pick and choose which app notifications you’ll see in the notifications bar. If you want to turn all notifications off, you can simply click the toggle next to Show App Notifications. You’ll no longer see pop-up banner notifications, nor will you see app notifications when you open the notifications center.

If you’d prefer to just turn off notifications for specific apps, you can do that, too — find the app in the list and click its toggle to Off. Next to each app in the list you’ll see a link to Advanced notifications settings for that app. Go into Advanced to turn off specific notifications for that app — either banner notifications (pop-ups in the lower right corner of your screen) or notifications in the notifications center.

Want to turn your clock off? You can do that, too.

In the Notifications & Actions section, you can also clean up your taskbar by clicking “Select which icons to appear in the taskbar” (you can turn on and off things like the Network icon and the Volume icon), or by clicking “Turn system icons on or off.” In “Turn system icons on or off,” you can turn off the clock, input indicator or action center — in other words, you can turn off all system tray icons and have a completely icon-less system tray, if you so choose.

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Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

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From today, Windows users will be able to reserve their upgrade to the new operating system, which has seen its icons revamped by Microsoft.

Microsoft’s next operating system will be available for PCs and tablets from 29th July – with existing Windows users able to reserve their upgrade from today.

Windows 10 will be available both on new PCs and as a free upgrade for those running Windows 7 and 8.1. Owners of these operating systems will see a Windows icon in their taskbar that will allow them to “reserve” their upgrade. The 3GB file can be downloaded from 29th July.

The free upgrade will be available until July next year and those choosing to switch to Windows 10 can cancel their reservations at “at any time”, according to Microsoft.

While Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise and Windows RT/RT 8.1 releases can’t be upgraded in this way, Microsoft has said that “Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing” will be able to “upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer”. Microsoft are yet to clarify when users of Enterprise versions of Windows will be able to move to Windows 10 Enterprise.

Microsoft is betting Windows 10 will win over users with its ability to run on a variety of platforms, allowing users to use the same cloud services and software as they swap between fixed and mobile computers.

“We designed Windows 10 to run our broadest device family ever, including Windows PCs, Windows tablets, Windows phones, Windows for the Internet of Things, Microsoft Surface Hub, Xbox One and Microsoft HoloLens-all working together to empower you to do great things,” said Terry Myerson, VP of Microsoft’s operating systems group in a blog post.

Features such as Continuum mode will detect when mobile Windows 10 devices are docked with a mouse, keyboard and monitor and reorient the UI to suit – for example switching from tap-friendly tiles to smaller icons suited to a mouse pointer – whileUniversal Apps will tailor their interface to the device they are being used on.

Myerson is keen to stress that “Windows 10 brings back the Start menu” familiar to Windows 7 users, following the backlash against Windows 8’s fullscreen Start menu.

Microsoft is also hoping users will take to Cortana, the built-in virtual assistant that users can talk to in order to set appointments, search for information and answer rudimentary queries, and which should become more capable as it learns more about you.

Windows 10 will include the free anti-malware software Windows Defender, which will have free updates for the lifetime of the OS, as well as its new faster and more capable Edge web browser.

While the operating system will launch on PCs and tablets in July, it is expected tolaunch on phones, small tablets, Xbox, and Hololens at unspecified later dates.

Microsoft said it had refined the OS using feedback from more than four million Windows Insiders testing early builds of the OS.

The firm revealed a new, or at least slightly tweaked, look for Windows 10, in its latest Build 10130, which has just been made available via the Windows Insider programme.

The update overhauls the rather plain icons present in earlier builds and replaces them with what Microsoft describes as “more modern and lightweight” alternatives. The revamp means that app icons will also be more consistent between desktop and mobile in apps such as Word and Excel.

While the new icons may not look vastly different, Microsoft said extensive work had gone into the redesign.

“Between the legacy aero-style icons and new app icons, several thousand icons were designed and redesigned. We explored Swiss graphic design, Dutch product design, and modern architecture (among other design fields and styles) to inform and inspire the design process. The icon evolution will continue as we push more consistency and better functionality,” according to a blog post.

Other improvements in the latest build include the ability to customise the Start menu, a new look for Jump Lists on the Taskbar, new swipe shortcuts for Tablet mode, the addition of a Favorites pane and other features to the Edge browser, Taskbar settings for Virtual Desktops, a Cortana keyboard shortcut, Print to PDF feature and fullscreen playback for the Movies & TV app.

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