Computer enthusiasts are always looking to push the boundaries of technology. This urge seems to apply mainly to the latest hardware and software, but some, like Bob Pony, also have a soft spot for ancient technology. A case in point is provided by Pony’s recent escapade, where he recounts successfully installing Windows 8.1 on a system restricted by the ancient EGA graphics standard. Not a simple task. And the result, though somewhat functional, wasn't aesthetically pleasing.

EGA technology recap

It is worth providing some context regarding EGA and outlining its key features. IBM introduced this PC graphics mode in October 1984, and its initials are an acronym for Enhanced Graphics Adapter. The first EGA graphics cards (I keep stopping myself from typing EVGA by accident) originated from IBM, and they were heralded as the successor to the even more restrictive Monochrome Display Adaptor (MDA) and Color Graphics Adaptor (CGA) standards. EGA would be eclipsed by the perhaps better-known VGA standard in 1987.

An unscaled EGA screen on a modern monitor would cover just a small patch of your display. Standard modes available from this 40-year-old graphics adaptor maxed out at just 640 × 350 pixels, using 16 colors from a paltry palette of 64. Later in its life, third-party EGA ISA graphics card makers would boost the resolution available to up to 800 x 600 pixels.

Pony leaps hurdles in emulator

According to the diminutive equine tech enthusiast, getting his emulated EGA system working, with virtualized era-appropriate parts, wasn’t quick. In the video above, you will notice that some of the setup process was sped up 5,300%. Pony blamed the sluggish performance on an ‘Intel Generic CPU’ selected in the PCBox emulator.

Boot screens are mainly absent from the startup process, a quirk of the emulated system. However, we have some really awful-looking color-clashing setup screens ahead of the awful-looking Windows 8.X UI.

SuperEGA?

You may also notice that the video card emulated was one that expanded upon IBM’s standard by boosting VRAM from 64KB to 256KB, among other tweaks, according to a DOS Days article. The upshot was that this Chips & Technologies Inc. design, which debuted in 1987 (the same year VGA arrived), could address up to 800 x 600 pixels in 16 colors. Wowsers.

Despite my recitation of those specs, when we pay attention to Pony’s video of the Windows 8.1 installation and setup, you can see that the OS lists the graphics adapter mode as having 256MB, not KB, of memory. Moreover, it allows for a 640 x 480 pixels, True Color (32-bit) display mode at 64 Hz. Something may be wrong with the OS’s display hardware reporting…

Regardless, the specs appear to still be well below the official Windows 9 requirements published by Microsoft in 2012. For example, the OS requires a display with a minimum resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels, powered by an adapter with DirectX 9 support and a WDDM driver. Such specs only became mainstream multiple eras beyond EGA’s heyday.

Back in June 2023, Microsoft officially announced it had deprecated support for its New Technology LAN Manager authentication protocol, which debuted in 1993 with Windows NT 3.1. It advised users to upgrade to Windows Negotiate but unfortunately, modern TLM vulnerabilities are still targeted at machines from Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 to Windows 11 Version 24H2 and Server 2022, and 0Patch recently discovered a new NTLM vulnerability that allows credential hijacking from merely viewing an infected folder, not even requiring the file to be directly opened.

While newer versions of Windows like Windows 11 will likely see a patch for this exploit in the coming weeks or months, older versions of Windows like Windows 7 are in particular danger. Windows 10 should still see a patch, but with 10's support due to end in October of next year and a paid support plan being required to extend it past that, the risk of issues like these remaining unpatched in the final release only increases.

This zero-day NTLM authentication exploit isn't the only one found and reported to Microsoft by 0Patch recently — 0Patch also mentions three non-NTLM zero-day vulnerabilities and three other NTLM-related "won't fix" vulnerabilities as vulnerabilities it has patched in Microsoft's stead in its original blog post. These patches will all remain free until Microsoft releases its own patches — which they won't at all for "won't fix" vulnerabilities, or for versions of Windows that are no longer being supported or covered under a paid support extension plan. We've covered 0Patch in the past for providing an alternative to Microsoft's support model, on this note.

Fortunately, 0Patch notes in the comments of its official post that an attack exploiting this particular NTLM authentication issue has yet to be seen in the wild. Some existing security solutions may even automatically block these issues as they arise — but there's no guarantee that all or even most of the impacted users will have such mitigations in place.

Additionally, the actual patch ("micropatch") only addresses a single vulnerable NTLM instruction. So in theory, installing it should be pretty harmless... but this is still an unofficial security patch, so you can choose what to do according to your own discretion. Hopefully, Microsoft addresses this and other vulnerabilities in official updates sooner rather than later — if networking credentials being stolen from even just viewing an impacted folder in File Explorer it is quite a scary possibility.

Valve has finally totally dropped Windows 7 and 8 compatibility with its latest Steam client update, meaning the last holdouts using these operating systems will need to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 (or switch to Linux or Mac) to continue gaming. According to the Steam Client Update (h/t PCGamesN), "This version of the Steam client will no longer run on Windows 7 or Windows 8. Users on these OS versions will not automatically update to this new version of the Steam Client."

This development has long been expected, especially as Microsoft has stopped supporting both operating systems for years now, with Windows 7 reaching end-of-life in January 2020 and the same happening to Windows 8 in January 2023. Steam said that it would stop releasing updates for these operating systems as of January 1, 2024, but users could still use the platform without technical support.

However, the November 5 Steam Client Update means that you can no longer use the latest version of the Steam client on your Windows 7 or Windows 8. You should still be able to continue gaming on your system as long as you don't forcibly update Steam, though how long that remains possible remains to be seen.

Despite its age, Windows 7 (which launched in 2009) still has 0.28% of Steam users as of the October 2024 Steam Survey. That's a small number by percentage, but Steam has 132 million active users as of June 2024, so that could equate to around 350,000 people. If you’re one of the few who refuse to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11, you can still continue using the latest version of Steam by switching to Linux or SteamOS (or a Mac).

The latest Steam Client supports macOS 10.15 Catalina and newer, and Apple usually lets you update your Macs and MacBooks for several years. So, an iMac, Mac, or MacBook from 2013 onward should suffice, as far as the OS requirements go. Alternatively, you could install Linux on your old Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC. Steam supports distributions based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or newer; it’s also easy and free to upgrade to a newer Linux OS if you already have a computer running an older version.

Windows 7 was one of the more well-regarded Windows versions to ever come out. That’s why it’s still in use by hundreds of thousands of people today. But as all good things come to an end, so must Steam support for this esteemed operating system. Besides, there are plenty of documented security holes in Windows 7 so it's not exactly a good idea to keep using it while connected to the internet.

Its appearance is a cause for concern if not consternation. You might be in the middle of working on a project, reaching a major game milestone, or booting up a Windows 10 or 11 PC. And just like that, the OS crashes and presents you with the eponymous “Blue Screen of Death” (aka BSOD).

A BSOD occurs when Windows issues what’s called a “stop code.” This is an error that’s severe enough to force the OS to quit working, write some log files, and then restart. The lead-in photo shows a BSOD on a computer monitor. Here’s an example that stands up to closer investigation:

This particular BSOD comes courtesy of the SysInternals NotMyFault program, a tool designed to forcibly crash Windows 10 or 11 PCs with one of 8 different stop codes. It’s handy when testing recovery tools and strategies (and when gathering screenshots for stories like this). Behind the scenes the program includes a variety of illegal instructions that can provoke a variety of BSODs on demand.

Understanding a BSOD Display

The screen starts with an old-fashioned “frowny face” emoticon “ :( “ (a colon, followed by an open parenthesis). Next, you see a brief explanation that “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart.” Windows writes one or more log files when a stop error occurs, so you see language about “collecting some error info” and a counter that keeps track while it’s writing such data (shows as “85% complete) above.

Microsoft provides a scannable QR code for modern BSODs (lower left) that you can scan with a smartphone and look up that way. The message also provides a lookup URL for stopcodes, where you can enter a numeric stopcode (and where you’ll see most common stopcodes, including the one shown above). The most common stop codes include:

• CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED
• SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
• IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
• VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED
• PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
• SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
• DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION

You can also download the Microsoft Error Lookup Tool (current version: Err_6.4.5.exe) to look up numeric error codes at a command prompt or in PowerShell, if you prefer. 

Here’s a Catch: BSODs Aren’t Always Blue

Before Windows 8 came along in October 2012, BSODs always appeared in text-only formats on dark blue screens. These were chock-full of tips and instructions (see below). With Windows 8, Microsoft switched to a kinder, gentler format like the one shown in the preceding screencap. 

The company also whittled down the information that appears on screen. In fact, the background color in Windows 11 or 10 is sometimes black, green or even red. Here’s an example of an old-fashioned, pre-Windows-8 BSOD to put this information into historical context: 

Making Sense of BSOD Information

Nobody wants to see a BSOD on a Windows PC. Even so, they do occur from time to time. In the vast majority of cases, the PC will restart itself automatically after an error log, called a crash dump or a dump file (extension .dmp) is created. By default, Windows stores OS dump files in one of two locations – namely:

        C:\Windows\Minidump

        C:\Windows

You can manage crash dumps through Advanced System Settings in Windows 11 or 10 (type “Advanced System Settings” into the search box, then click “Settings” in the Startup and Recovery pane). You can also choose to toggle “Automatically restart” to off here, if you would prefer that any future BSODs stay on-screen until you get a chance to see them and write down (or take a pic of) any relevant data.

Other memory dump options include a small memory dump (256 KB), kernel memory dump, automatic memory dump, and active memory dump. Each of these will vary in size (the so-called small memory dump corresponds to the foregoing minidump folder).

If you select “Small memory dump” as the option for saving crash dumps, such files show up as Minidump.dmp files. For all other selections, the crash dump is named Memory.dmp. Crash dumps get written to the %SystemRoot% folder, which usually expands to C:\Windows. By design, small memory dump files are limited to 256KB in size. Other memory dumps vary in size up to the size of memory on the PC where the dump occurs. Thus, on a PC with 16GB of RAM, a Complete memory dump file will always be 16GB in size (and other dump files, except for the small memory dumps, can be as large as 16GB, but will often be smaller).

Examining a crash dump file can be helpful when troubleshooting related causes. For more details, see our story on how to use a minidump file to fix your Windows BSOD. That said, many users simply search on the stopcode and/or the numeric error code when seeking remediation advice. (Note that Microsoft also calls that numeric code a “bug check code” or “bug check string.”

What To Do When Troubleshooting BSODs

The immediate tendency following a BSOD is to get right into fix-it mode, start looking things up, and attempting repairs. Not so fast! Microsoft explains the entire troubleshooting process in its “Resolving Blue Screen errors in Windows” tutorial. While you can – and probably should – read the Microsoft advice in its entirety, here’s a summary of its key recommendations:

1. Shut down the Windows PC that experienced the BSOD. Sometimes a restart will clear things up all by itself.
2. Disconnect all USB-attached devices except for mouse and keyboard (or wireless dongles).
3. Reboot your system into safe mode from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
4. If you recently installed new software, uninstall that software.
5. If you recently installed a new device driver (or your BSOD info points to a driver or device), uninstall or roll back that driver (if you don’t really need the device you can disable it temporarily instead)
6. Restart the PC, and see if the BSOD recurs. If not, you’ve probably isolated the cause and can start researching some kind of fix.

If the BSOD recurs despite the items taken out of the picture by removing, disabling or uninstalling them, whatever’s still left in the picture remains problematic. At this point you want to reboot into safe mode once again, and open an administrative command prompt or PowerShell session. From the command line, enter these commands, one at a time: 

1. DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
2. SFC /scannow

The first of these two commands finds and replaces any damaged operating system components in the side-by-side filestore (aka WinSxS). The second of these commands runs the System File Checker (SFC) and will repair any damaged files it finds. 

Note that if SFC finds and fixes anything, you should run that command until it comes back with a clean bill of health (in some cases, I’ve had to run it two or three times before it came back clean). Note further that running either or both of these commands can take some time to complete, especially if one or both find items in need of fixing. Here’s what you want to see after your final SFC run:

Try NifSoft’s BlueScreenView Tool

There’s a complete BSOD handling infrastructure available from Microsoft, built around a tool called the Windows Debugger (aka WinDBG). You can download it as part of Microsoft’s free Windows SDK if you really want to dig into the gory details. There are a lot of details to learn about, and minutiae to address, if you want to put this tool to work on crash dumps. For non-IT professionals or non-developers, I recommend Nir Sofer’s excellent BlueScreenView utility instead. It’s set up to automatically load the symbol tables it needs to resolve error codes, and it knows where to find crash dumps in need of analysis. It also presents crash dump data in a highly-readable form.

As an illustration, I forced one of my test laptops (a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Copilot+ PC) to blue screen using the SysInternals NotMyFault program. As you can see the stop code is 0X13a, which the error code lookup tool describes as KERNEL_MODE_HEAP_CORRUPTION error (NotMyFault calls it “Double free” for whatever reason).

When I fired up BlueScreenView on that PC, it found a pair of mini-dump files that the forced BSOD created during its post-crash log collection, to wit:

The top pane of the window shows all the crash dumps it finds on the target PC. Because there are only two, I shrunk it down to more details from the bottom pane. Even so, the data in the top pane is important, with information in certain columns of special interest. Column 1 shows the name of the dump file. Column 3 shows an empty “Bug Check String.” Column 4 shows the associated hexadecimal error code, 0x13a which it labels “Bug Check Code.”

For most genuine BSODs (remember, I forced this one to happen) the stopcode and the error code will often help affected users zero in on causes and potential cures for their woes. In my experience, at least 90% of BSODs get fixed thanks to this information. That’s because it will often be solved by disconnecting, disabling, or uninstalling related devices, drivers, applications, or updates – just as Microsoft recommends, and I summarized in the preceding section.

The Other 10%

Ultimately, where there’s enough will to get a Windows BSOD fixed, there’s a way to make that happen. Keep at it, and you’ll learn this for yourself.

Some BSODs won’t be amenable to quick and easy fixes. When they come up, as they sometimes will, it’s time to ask for help to get things figured out. I can recommend several terrific sources of troubleshooting assistance available online, each with its own dedicated user forum specifically focused on solving BSOD issues. Likewise, each one stipulates certain requirements on users seeking BSOD help.

Source number one comes from TenForums.com (key disclosures: I am a VIP member of this community; I contribute input and suggestions to its members daily). The TenForums venue is in its BSOD Crashes and Debugging forum; its Windows 11 equivalent is named BSOD Crash Analysis. Posting instructions are explicitly provided, along with a collection of BSOD tutorials, including those on WinDBG Basics,and  how to Install and Configure WinDBG for BSOD Analysis, Run BSOD Error Troubleshooter in Windows 10, and Enable or Disable BSOD Automatic Restart in Windows 10 (similar items for Windows 11 are available at ElevenForum.com as well: visit the Tutorials page and search on “BSOD” for the good stuff).

Source number two comes from British PC security and troubleshooting site BleepingComputer.com. They operate a user forum named Windows Crashes and Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Help and Support. There, you’ll find pinned threads for the following topics (all of which are worth reading through):

• BSOD – Using WinDbg (Windows Debugger) and !analyze -v: information for those seeking deep and advanced details inside Windows crash dump files.
• BSOD Posting instructions: what information users should gather (based on downloading and running WinDbg) to obtain necessary dump files and content.

Thus, you’ll have to read up a bit, download some tools, run some scripts and/or collect some logs that you’ll submit to make a semi-formal request for BSOD help. This will take one or more hours and force you to do some homework before such help becomes available. It may also involve numerous back-and-forth communications, where you’re asked to run additional diagnostic tools and collect additional logs and data to shed more light on your situation. Trust me: these guys know what they’re doing. I’ve seen only a handful of issues where users did everything asked of them where the BSOD experts couldn’t help them get things fixed.

Related Tutorials

• How to Make Windows 11 Look and Feel Like Windows 10
• How to Make a Bootable Windows USB Install / Recovery Drive
• How to Get Windows 11 for Free (or Under $15)

Microsoft says it has closed an installation path that allowed Windows 7 and 8.X owners to upgrade to Windows 10 and 11 for free. An official statement to this effect was posted on the Microsoft Device Partner Center communications portal earlier this month and spotted by Windows Central.

One of the things that Microsoft did differently with the introduction of Windows 10 in 2015 was to make the new OS a free upgrade for existing users of older OSes. Specifically, it used this free carrot to tempt OS sticklers wedded to the popular Windows 7 release.

The offer officially ended on July 29, 2016. However, PC enthusiasts and DIYers noticed that Microsoft's activation servers continued to be happy with people deciding on an overdue update. People could even download fresh Windows 10 and 11 ISOs and install them straight onto machines using 'spare' Windows 7 or 8.X keys from old systems. On September 20, 2023, this grace period finally came to an end.

The company explains its newly enacted Windows upgrade policy as follows: "Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 / 11 ended July 29, 2016," it says. "The installation path to obtain the Windows 7 / 8 free upgrade is now removed as well." However, Windows 10 users can still upgrade to Windows 11 for now.

In addition to the above notice, Microsoft sought to remind those interested in Windows 11 of the operating system's minimum system requirements. Tom's Hardware regulars will be well aware of the arbitrary Windows 11 install restrictions concerning processor generatioTPMs, andl as the more usual recommendations about RAM/storage. Furthermore, we have documented several ways to get around the Windows 11 minimum system requirements. Some third-party Windows 11 distributions, like tiny11 from NTDEV, have built-in OS requirements dodges.

The Upgrade Window Remains Ajar

Windows Central tested whether Microsoft's new statement on the closure of the free installation path for Windows 7 and 8.X users had actually come into effect. In short, it found that "these older keys still activate the production builds of Windows 11." It's difficult to be certain how long this upgrade window will remain ajar in the wake of the recent official statement from Microsoft.

Windows offers multiple built-in methods to back up your PC so you don't lose your precious data files in the event of a hardware failure or accidental erasure. But choosing a backup plan without knowing its pros and cons is a recipe for disaster. Not all backup methods on Windows are created equal, and each has a specific use case. 

If you want to keep a backup of your entire drive so that you can restore everything – the OS, the apps, the settings and the data – onto a replacement disk, see our article on how to make a full system image backup in Windows. However, for regular backups, it’s often preferable to keep copies of your data files only. 

Microsoft bundles three types of backup solutions for a Windows PC: Backup & Restore, File History, and OneDrive (Cloud Backup). The first two do not require an internet connection, while cloud backup with OneDrive needs an active internet connection to work properly. We will discuss each in detail to help you clearly understand them. Let's begin.

Back Up Your PC Using File History

Microsoft introduced File History in Windows 8 to offer a slightly better backup solution for personal files. Unlike the old Backup and Restore feature (see below), it can preserve older versions of files so you can go back to an earlier draft of a document or an earlier version of your code. By default, File History only saves the data in the User's folder, including Downloads, Videos, Documents, Music, Desktop, OneDrive files, and more folders. So, all the folders that contain your personal data on the C: drive are safe and backed up every hour.

You must use an external hard disk for File History because it automatically backs up files every hour. So, you will have multiple backup versions of personal files, which requires more storage space. 

Unlike the Backup and Restore feature, File History stores the files in an unencrypted format. It doesn't create a big single archive file and stores and creates folders. So, you can use File Explorer to view, copy, and modify any file or folder inside the FileHistory folder on the external hard drive. Or, you can use the Restore personal files option on the Control Panel's File History page.

To use File History on your Windows PC, repeat the following steps:

1. Navigate to Control Panel->System and Security->File History.

2. Click the Turn On button to enable File History. It will begin copying the files to your external hard drive and will do so every hour.

You can change this schedule by clicking Advanced Options to alter the backup frequency and deleting old copies.

3. Click the Run now button to force create a file backup anytime.

File History is great for preserving the data in the C:\users\ folder but ignores the data on other locations and drives. You can manually add folders to the Library folder using File Explorer to force File History to back up those too.

Back Up Your PC Using OneDrive

Microsoft's OneDrive is now deeply integrated into Windows 11. You can back up the User folder and your system preferences, settings, and apps using a Microsoft Account on your Windows PC. This approach will help you save your crucial files in the cloud and sync them across all the devices signed in with the same Microsoft Account. 

It is also useful while reinstalling Windows or setting up a new PC because you can sign in with the same Microsoft Account. The setup will configure Windows to use all the previous settings and preferences, and you can reinstall all the Microsoft Store apps in one click. 

To use OneDrive on your Windows PC, repeat the following steps:

1. Launch OneDrive. You can do this by searching "OneDrive" in the Start menu and pressing the Enter key.

2. Sign in using your OneDrive email address or Create a new Account.

3. Click Next.

4. Enable the toggles of all folders you want OneDrive to back up. Click the Start backup button.

By default, it adds only the Documents, Desktop, and Pictures folders, but you can add more folders afterward. Wait for OneDrive to upload all the folders. Click Next repeatedly.

5. Click the Open my OneDrive folder button to view all the uploaded files of OneDrive in File Explorer. If you want to add more folders, drag and drop any folder to the OneDrive folder.

OneDrive is useful because you rely on cloud storage and can access your files with or without a Windows PC. But it requires a decent internet connection with ample bandwidth to upload files. It cannot save your installed programs and has a meager 5GB storage limit in the free tier. You can upgrade to get 1TB of cloud storage, but compared to the other two Windows backup options, you will have to pay for it.

Back Up Your PC Using Backup and Restore

Backup and Restore is a legacy backup option in Windows which still exists in the Control Panel. It was designed for Windows 7, but still is available and works in Windows 11. You can use it to either back up your data folders or create a full system image you can restore from if your boot drive fails. However, we recommend using third-party disk imaging software for a complete image and employing Backup and Restore for your files – perhaps all the content of your Document, Photos, Video and Music libraries.

Backup and Restore lets you save the data from all internal drives on an external drive (perhaps one of the best external SSDs) or a USB Flash Drive. The latter will only be useful for small files with a slow copying speed. We recommend you use an external hard drive that can accommodate bigger backups. 

Another great thing about the Backup and Restore option is that you can schedule automatic backups. It detects changes in files and saves the newer ones as well. Backup and Restore will create three files: a Windows backup file, a mediaID.bin file, and a "WindowsImageBackup" folder. The size of the Windows backup file depends on the data stored in C and other drives and can be more than 3 GB. The "WindowsImageBackup" folder is about 11 GB. 

You can view and restore the contents stored inside the backup file using the Restore option on the Control Panel's Backup and Restore page. Restoring a particular file, folder, or even a drive is possible. However, you cannot view or modify the files and folders inside the backup file directly using File Explorer due to the encrypted nature of the backup.

To use Backup and Restore on your Windows PC, connect the external hard disk to your PC and repeat the following steps:

1. Open Control Panel. The easiest way to do so is by searching for "Control Panel" using the Start menu or Windows Search and clicking on the first relevant search result.

2. Navigate to System and Security->Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

3. Click the Set up backup option.

4. Select the external hard drive name from the list and click Next.

5. Click the Let me choose radio button to personally select all the files you want to backup from the C drive and other drives. Click Next.

6. Select the C drive and other drives. Keep the Include a system image of drives: EFI System Partition, (C:), Windows RE tools checkbox selected, and click Next.

7. Click the Save settings and run backup button.

By default, Windows will run an automated backup every Sunday at 7:00 PM. We recommend you go with the default settings unless you handle a lot of new important files daily. To change this schedule, click the Change schedule button and pick the backup's preferred day, frequency, and time.

Always keep the external hard drive connected to your PC all the time or on the scheduled backup date, never to miss an automatic update. You can restore individual files or folders whenever you need using the Backup and Restore section in the Control Panel. If your PC encounters a major issue, you can use the system image backup to restore all its drivers, files, and installed programs in a few clicks. 

The legacy Backup and Restore feature with scheduled backups is a decent option if you run into an issue. File History is useful for preserving personal files and saving multiple versions. Lastly, OneDrive paired with appropriate Windows 11 backup settings can benefit while reinstalling Windows 11.

There are many apps competing for your attention on your Windows desktop at any given time: your websites, your email, your alerts, and your productivity software or games. But there’s some information that’s helpful to always have readily available: the weather, your CPU and RAM usage, or maybe a stock ticker. 

Windows 11 offers this functionality via the Widgets Panel, a collection of dynamic content “cards” that appear when you click on the so-called “live weather icon” (it appears by default on the left-hand side of the taskbar). However, Desktop Gadgets, which were introduced in Windows Vista and officially discontinued in Windows 8, still work and are a better choice for getting quick information, because they can live anywhere on your desktop.

What is a Widget, Anyway?

In that same reference, Microsoft offers the following definition for, and description of, widgets:

Widgets are small cards that display dynamic content from your favorite apps and services on your Windows desktop. They appear on the widgets board, where you can discover, pin, unpin, arrange, resize, and customize widgets to reflect your interests. Your widgets board is optimized to show relevant widgets and personalized content based on your usage.

With the recent introduction of a new Windows 11 app called Dev Home (Preview) in the Microsoft Store, MS also makes a certain class of widgets available on that developer-focused application’s dashboard pane. Figure 1 shows that selfsame dashboard, with some of the available widgets enabled:

The number of widgets available to the Dev Home dashboard is limited. As I write this story, it offers only 5 items. That includes the four shown in Figure 1, plus an item named SSH keychain that shows all SSH connections defined in a PC’s SSH config file (click any such item to open the corresponding connection in Windows Terminal). That’s it.

Exploring the Widgets Panel and Add Widget

When you open the Widget Panel in Windows 11 by clicking on the weather icon, you will see an Add widgets dialog at its top edge. If you click the plus sign (“+”) to its right, you’ll see a list of choices in a menu, as shown in Figure 2. You’ll also see an option to “Find more widgets.” If clicked, that shows you the complete collection of widgets available through the Microsoft Store. These appear in Figure 3, and include 18 items at present, as shown (I’ll list them by name, with brief explanations following Figure 3). 

There are 13 items in this list, of which Weather shows up by default on the Taskbar. Here’s the complete list with a brief explanation for each widget item (notice that many of them simply echo content from existing Windows 11 apps):

1. Core: shows the Home Dev dashboard with pinned widgets, one at a time, in left-to-right order.
2. Entertainment: provides access to various streamlining media services and their upcoming content schedules.
3. Family Safety: Provides access to messaging and contact information for individuals identified as family members.
4. Game Pass: Provides access to game information, play resume, and more for the Xbox Game Pass.
5. GitHub: Provides access to already-linked GitHub projects, communities, and more.
6. Outlook Calendar: shows mobile device view for known Outlook Calendar instances on the PC.
7. Phone Link: Shows information available from Phone Link app in compact form for phones linked to this PC.
8. Photos: Shows various views of the images known to the Photos app on this PC.
9. Sports: Shows a curated sports news and information feed via Bing.
10. Tips: selected items from the Tips app.
11. ToDo: leading items from the ToDo app.
12. Watchlist: leading items from the user’s stockmarket selections and history.
13. Weather: Shows curated local weather and related news and information via Bing.

Any or all of these widgets may easily be pinned to the Widgets Panel. By default they appear at the top, but may be dragged around as users see fit. In addition, the “Find more widgets” button leads to this table of choices in the Microsoft store:

From left to right, and top to bottom, here are more widgets available at the Microsoft Store. Some of them repeat from the preceding menu (Xbox and Phone Link) others require cash outlays, usually $1.99 (marked with an asterisk).

From top to bottom, and left to right, here’s what’s in this collection:

1. Xbox: ties into Windows Xbox app.
2. Facebook: ties into Facebook app.
3. Messenger: ties into Meta Messenger app.
4. Phone Link: ties into Microsoft Phone Link app.
5. Spotify: Tied into Spotify music streaming service (free users see/hear ads).
6. My Slider Puzzle: purpose-built game widget.
7. My Tic-Tac-Toe: purpose built game widget.
8. My Lunar New Year*: ties into desktop personalization app.
9. My Christmas Tree*: ties into desktop personalization app.
10. My Photo Slideshow*: widget ties into local photos and wallpapers for desktop personalization.
11. Hard Disk*: widget monitors live hard disk space consumption on the desktop.
12. My Feed Reader*: widget echoes traffic from a list of incoming feeds (social media, RSS, etc.).
13. Fast Shutdown*: Windows control widget for shutdown, restart, sleep, lock.
14. Note Sidebar: widget for recording notes into the Widgets panel.
15. CPU Check*: widget to check CPU status (overall and per-thread activity, clock rate, etc.)
16. Memory Check*: widget to check physical and virtual memory consumption, paged and non-aged pool values, etc.
17. Network Usage Monitor: widget displays network stats, up/download speeds, IP address.
18. Battery Meter: widget displays battery level, remaining time, health and more.

Interestingly, all of the for-a-fee items (8-18) come from a single developer named “Stefan vd.” And while the collection of available widgets is interesting and shows their potential, a larger body of more capable and sophisticated gadgets is available – all for free, too. Currently, they also enjoy other runtime advantages as well, all of which I’ll review in the next gadget-laden section. 

Blast from the Past: Windows Gadgets

When Windows Vista made its debut in January, 2007, it included a facility called the Windows Sidebar. By default this reserved a strip of screen real estate on the right-hand edge of the display. It also served as an engine inside which small tools, utilities and programs could appear. These were called Desktop Gadgets. Windows Vista and Windows 7 both included Sidebar and Desktop Gadget support. The Gadgets could also be dragged onto any part of the desktop, even outside of the sidebar.

MS discontinued Desktop Gadget support in Windows 8. All Windows 8 beta releases included such support, but they did not make the final cut. MS issued a security advisory in July 2012 that identified the Sidebar and Desktop Gadgets as prey to security vulnerabilities that could allow remote code execution. Despite this warning, I have never seen a CVE or any other documented exploit that involved Desktop Gadgets and/or the Sidebar.

In July of 2012, German software developer Helmut Buhler released Version 1.0 of what is still known today as 8GadgetPack. Basically, this free software restores the Sidebar and a sizable collection of Desktop Gadgets to the Windows desktop. Today, the homepage for 8GadgetPack asserts that it works with Windows 7, 8.1, 10 and 11 (I have personal experience with the package on all these Windows versions to verify this assertion). A free 27MB download (.msi or Microsoft installer file) is available on the homepage (top right) for version v36.0 updated in January 2023.

Before I enumerate the Desktop Gadgets available for 8GadgetPack, let me explain its advantages over Windows 11 Widgets as I understand them:

• Desktop Gadgets remain visible on the desktop at all times. To access Widgets, one must click on the weather icon and open the widget panel, then the widget of choice. MS has announced It plans to support always visible Widgets in some future Windows 11 release, however.
• Gadgets an be set to “always on top” so they can float above your application windows if you want.
• In all, over 60 Desktop Gadgets for 8GadgetPack are available from over two dozen developers; 31 Widgets are currently available (20 from Microsoft, 10 from Stefan vd). The range and sophistication of capabilities in Desktop Gadgets currently beats Widgets by a wide margin.
• All Desktop Gadgets are free. Microsoft’s Widgets are free, but all others cost $1.99 each.

I find Desktop Gadgets sufficiently useful and informative to install them on all my Windows 10 and 11 PCs. I have done so since 8GadgetPack appeared (on earlier Windows versions). Here’s a side-by-side picture of my everyday Desktop Gadgets (they’re normally in-line, but this view is more compact):

These Desktop Gadgets offer easily accessible settings and appearance controls through a mouse click inside any of them. The Clock gadget, for example, comes in a variety of styles, enables a second hand (if desired) and permits a name string to appear on the clock face. I plug in the machine name so I can tell which PC I’m seeing (I mostly use RDP to access test and secondary machines from my primary production desktop). 

The Control System gadget provides access to (left to right) buttons for standby, shutdown, restart, logoff and hibernate commands. These work in remote sessions, too (that’s why I like this control). Network Meter shows internal and external IP addresses, network status info, and upload/download speeds plus cumulative bandwidth consumption. 

All CPU Meter (labeled “CPU Usage”) shows CPU model and generation, memory values and consumption, plus activity for all cores and threads. It also integrates with CPU Temp to show temperatures, with an activity graph at the bottom. I can function without access to these gadgets. But I find them sufficiently handy to use them on every Windows machine I run, physical or virtual. I can’t yet say the same for Windows 11 widgets.

The table below lists the Desktop Gadgets available through 8GadgetPack, with links to additional information (where available, a hyperlink appears), developer info, and a brief description. Apologies in advance: this is a LOT of gadgets.

8GadgetPack’s Desktop Gadget Collection

If you examine the list of Gadgets that Helmut Buhler’s Add Gadget application makes available across 4 panes of choices (65 items in all), you’ll find some that appear therein but not in the preceding table. That’s because I couldn’t get them to work, or because they referenced unavailable data sources.

If you consider the range of capabilities and functions that Gadgets still deliver today in Windows 10 and 11, they considerably outdo and outperform what you’ll find by way of Widgets in Windows 11. This may change with time, especially in light of Microsoft’s future plans to enable Widgets to be pinned to the Windows 11 desktop (see this May 5,2023 Windows Central story for more details). When (and if) that happens, the balance between Gadgets and Widgets could shift, but will take time. Until then, it’s my opinion that Gadgets beat Widgets by a wide margin, and offer continuing utility and value to Windows users for all current, supported versions. 

Steam, the world’s most popular PC gaming client, community, and store, will shut its doors to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users next year. The cut-off date for Windows upgrade holdouts is January 1, 2024. To be clear, from January 2024, Windows 10 will be the oldest Windows OS that is compatible with the Steam Client.

In a short blog post on Windows 7 and 8 support today, Valve states that users will have to upgrade to a newer version of Windows “in order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam.”

Some reasoning behind the support policy is revealed. It turns out that the newest Steam features “rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome” that offers limited functionality on older Windows versions. It is thus at least partly due to this software embed that Steam must enact a Windows 10 or newer policy. However, with the transition now set in stone, future versions of Steam are also set to rely on feature and security updates that are only present / destined for Windows 10 or above.

While it is somewhat sad that Valve is dropping support for the older Windows OSes, we must remember that Windows 10 was launched in July 2015. At nearly eight years old, with widespread use in schools, homes, and businesses, it is long past any teething troubles. It is admittedly more of a heavyweight than Windows 7 and 8, but there’s a Tiny10 lightweight version of it (and Tiny11 version of Windows 11) for those worried about the impact on their hardware resources.

In the latest Steam Hardware Survey, Windows accounts for 96.4% of gamers. Windows 10 and 11 are by far the most popular versions, with 62.3% and 32.1% of users, respectively. Meanwhile, earlier versions of Windows (7 and 8.1) add up to just 1.9% of all users — and continue to slide in the popularity stakes. There are even 0.09% of surveyed Steam PCs that are still running the 32-bit version of Windows 7.

Those with old machines that users resolutely want to remain Steam connected may be tempted to switch to Linux, or even HoloISO — a PC version of the portable Steam Deck’s SteamOS. However, please remember that despite large strides in game compatibility made since the arrival of the Steam Deck, there are still some Linux and PC Steam games wrinkles.

Regardless, Valve is set to move on from the Windows 7/8 era. Windows 7 originally released in 2009 and was well received (especially compared to its Vista predecessor). Windows 8 came out in 2012, and many disliked the new Start Screen along with other aspects. Windows 8.1 followed a year later, with an attempt to right the wrongs of Windows 8.

Microsoft officially discontinued support for Windows 8 in January 2016, while Windows 7 reached end of life in January 2020. Windows 8.1 joined them at the start of this year. As such, it's understandable that Valve would want users to upgrade to Windows versions that are still supported by Microsoft.

Microsoft has admitted that it has erroneously been offering Windows 11 updates on ineligible devices. The software and devices maker’s newest OS has a long way to go to catch up with Windows 10, so it is keeping the pressure on with promotions, ads, and upgrade offers. However, in its efforts to boost Windows 11 adoption, it seems that Microsoft has been mistakenly dangling the upgrade carrot in front of owners of ineligible systems. Thankfully, Microsoft’s above described Windows 11 upgrade offer issue has now been fixed.

“Some hardware ineligible Windows 10 and Windows 11, version 21H2 devices were offered an inaccurate upgrade to Windows 11,” wrote Microsoft in the most recent update to its known issues and notifications portal. “These ineligible devices did not meet the minimum requirements to run Windows 11. Devices that experienced this issue were not able to complete the upgrade installation process.”

Affected systems were running Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H2; and Windows 10, version 20H2. Microsoft says it first became aware of this upgrades issue on Thursday, and pats itself on the back for putting a sticking plaster on this self-inflicted wound “on the same day.”

Breaking down a user’s will enough that they submit to the Windows 11 upgrade process, then snatching it away, isn't ideal. Moreover, this process could have wasted some considerable time for end users, chaperoning them through the upgrade process only for it to be unable to complete. We don’t know exactly how far the upgrade process progressed before it was halted, and whether the previous installations were in any way impacted, potentially causing even greater inconvenience. However, one Windows user reported that the sizable updater files started downloading in preparation for installation.

According to the latest StatCounter figures measuring website visitors worldwide, Windows 11 users account for approximately 18% of desktop Windows users. Windows 10 users make up 69% of users, and some people are still holding tightly to Windows 7 ( 9.5%), but hardly anyone now uses Windows 8.X or Windows XP and is active on sites StatCounter monitors. Pondering over the StatCounter chart for the last year it looks like the point where Windows 11 eventually passes 10 is still a long way off.

Microsoft must hope that compelling new devices with Windows 11 preinstalled and the end of support for Windows 10 Home and Pro in October 2025 will accelerate the changing of the guard. Windows 11 might have got off to a rocky start but it gained some important tweaks in December, when it was reported its gaming performance issues had at last fully been addressed.

In other recent Windows 11 news, we reported that the OS is soon going to get a proper search box on the taskbar. However, Microsoft was again ruffling feathers with its decision to show watermarks on systems running Windows 11 despite not meeting all the hardware requirements.

One of the worst aspects of Windows 11 is how it replaces the fully-functional search box from Windows 10 with a search button that forces you to type your query into a pop-up menu. Making you do your search in another window is jarring, annoying and reminds me of the Windows 8 experience where you had to leave the desktop screen in order to view the Start menu or search bar. 

Finally, more than a year after Windows 11 launched, Microsoft is about to bring the search box back to the taskbar where it belongs. The company has been experimenting with an in-taskbar search box since September in Dev and Beta builds, but today it has come to the latest Release Preview build, which is build number 22621.1343. 

Enabled by default, the new search box shows the text from your query as you type it while displaying the results in pop-up menu. You can then click on the result you want to launch. For example, when I searched for ""solitaire," the menu showed me the icon for "Solitaire Collection," and it also showed me the text for "Collection" as a suggestion in the search box itself.

When I searched for content that didn't have a match on the computer itself, I got results from the web. For example, when I entered "McDonald's" in the search box, I got a list of local restaurants from that franchise. This is typical Windows search behavior, but it's nice to have the query text appear right in the taskbar.

As you could before, you can also initiate a search from the Start menu itself. However, you'll have to enter the query into a text box that appears at the top of the Start menu and, once you click on the box, you'll be switched from the Start menu to the Search pop-up menu, but your query won't end up in the taskbar search box.

If you don't like the search box in your taskbar, you can turn it back into a label or an icon by right clicking on the taskbar, selecting Taskbar settings and then choosing an option from the Search select menu. 

If you're a Windows Insider in the Release Preview Channel, you will be getting this build as an update right now. If you are not an insider, you will probably be getting the new search experience very soon in an update to the release build.  

More New Features of Windows 11 Build 22621.1343

The search box isn't the only new feature you'll get in Build 22621.1343. Others include:

• Link to Quick Assist support app added to bottom of Settings > System > Troubleshooters
• Energy recommendations provided in the Settings > System > Power & Battery > Energy Recommendations
• Improved System Tray experience with rounded focus and hover treatment
• Touch optimized taskbar for 2-in-1 devices
• Improved support for braille devices
• Better voice access

As we reported a few days ago, Microsoft is also looking to add a new Gallery and File Explorer to future versions of Windows. You can test that hidden Gallery out right now in the Dev built of Windows 11. 

At the BUILD developer conference, Microsoft announced that third party widgets will be enabled in Windows 11 beginning "later this year." Widgets are a handy way to present bite-sized bits of information without hogging screen real estate. They're easy to summon and dismiss, letting you quickly check some news or other real-time information and get back to your main task(s).

At present, Microsoft is the sole provider and publisher of Windows 11 widgets. This obviously limits the scope of the offerings, but there are still some useful widgets designed to show snippets of news, to do lists, weather, traffic, your Outlook calendar, and stock prices, as well as providing a mini slideshow of photos from your OneDrive cloud storage. However, most if not all of the existing widgets won't work if you use a local account to sign into Windows 11, rather than a Microsoft account.

Later this year, Microsoft is going to open up the widget building experience for third party developers. Widgets in Windows 11 are powered by Microsoft's Adaptive Cards platform. Due to this, developers will be able to easily create widgets with actionable buttons, texts, graphics. The new third party widgets will be companions to installed Win32 and PWA apps.

One attraction of the Adaptive Cards platform is that it can leverage the "capabilities of touch, pen, voice, and AI, to create features that increase engagement and differentiate your apps with more natural interactions for your customers," explains Microsoft. Windows 11 widgets are resizable and repositionable, but in this newest OS they live on a quick popup overlay with a vertically scrollable menu summoned by a taskbar button, and they can't be placed randomly and stick to your desktop.

What third party widgets would readers like to see arrive? We'd appreciate a local media / music player widget, a streaming audio / radio widget, a sticky note widget, and a system info widget (CPU utilization, temperature, etc.) Other welcome additions would be some of Google's apps in a compact widgetized UI, and perhaps a Twitter feed.

Microsoft Widgets: Some History

Microsoft's history of implementing widgets in Explorer began in the days of Windows Vista with the appearance of the Windows Sidebar, which evolved into Windows Desktop Gadgets with the advent of Windows 7. As noted by Wikipedia, Windows Vista would ship with eleven gadgets for its sidebar, while Windows 7 broke the gadgets out of the sidebar for positioning anywhere on the desktop and introduced some widget favorites like the Media Player and Stocks ticker. Third party developers could share widgets online via Microsoft's Windows Live Gallery until Oct 2011. Widgets were dumped by Microsoft in July 2012 due to inherent security vulnerabilities.

In Windows 8, Live Tiles were a pretty adequate widget functionality surrogate. With the Metro UI you basically got quick access to all the widgety information you might desire at the press of the Windows key, thanks to that full screen 'Metro' style Start Menu.

With the demise of live tiles, moving from Windows 10 to 11, Microsoft introduced widgets in the newer OS as a way to facilitate the convenient streaming of little nuggets of info to appropriately-sized portions of our screens. Now we are seeing the Windows 11 widgets embrace the wider world with third party app companionship being telegraphed at BUILD.

Update (9:51 pm GMT): After publishing a Tweet claiming that Windows 12 was being worked on and would have "two TPMs," Swift on Security has put up a second Tweet saying that the first one was nothing more than a joke. Deskmodder.de, however, maintains that a new version of Windows will begin development in March 2022. An earlier version of this article had cited Swift on Security's tweet as corroboration of Deskmodder's still-serious claims. We've clarified where necessary in the article below. 

Amended article:

We don't know much about Deskmodder.de's alleged inside source at Microsoft, but the German site claims it has information that the Redmond software giant has either started or is on the verge of beginning the development of Windows 12 (via Computerbase.de). If true, Microsoft would do this just days after delivering the most significant update to Windows 11 since its introduction.

Earlier in the day, it appeared that Deskmodder.de had some very reliable corroboration. For example, Microsoft MVP Swift on Security tweeted that a source at Microsoft had told him, "Windows 12 is already under development, and it's going to require two TPMs." 

The "two TPMs," was a joke which is relevant because Windows 11 is the first version of the OS to require TPM at all (see how to bypass Windows 11's TPM requirement). However, before Swift said this was a joke, we speculated that the "two TPMs" could actually refer to two different security methods, such as the fTPM still present in the AMD Platform Security Processor and the additional security in the new on-chip Microsoft Pluton Processor.

Now that Swift has stated that its information was nothing more than a joke, we are left without much detail about the rumor Deskmodder.de is reporting, and it's unclear whether there's any grain of truth to it. However, it's easy to imagine that there will eventually be another major version of Windows after Windows 11 and that Microsoft could begin the multi-year process of development even now.

Are Windows Major Version Updates on a Roll Again?

Windows 10 was presumably the last version of the Windows OS when released back in 2015. It was pleasant to know that we would have an extended period of stability, with biannually alternating under-the-hood and feature updates from the OS that saved us from Windows 8. However, the announcement and launch of Windows 11 rudely awoke us from our contented undulating OS progress.

The story goes that Windows 11 was somehow necessary as the scale of the change demanded it. Some of the most significant heralded changes included a revamped task scheduler, which would make PCs more efficient with Intel's hybrid architecture Alder Lake processors becoming mainstream. Furthermore, there was a lot of emphasis on system security. It was mainly on this altar that Microsoft felt confident enough to sacrifice many serviceable older-gen CPUs (Intel Kaby Lake or older, AMD Ryzen 1000 or older).

So far, Windows 11 doesn't seem to have caught the hearts and minds of PC users. However, Windows has a fabled good version / bad version cycle. For this reason, as well as perhaps pressure from systems and component makers to promote hardware upgrades, Microsoft might be getting back on the regular major Windows version update track.

However, at this point, these rumors about Windows 12 development require a really big grain of salt.

Nvidia has surprised us by releasing a new graphics driver for Kepler GPU users. Support for these users via the regular GeForce Game Ready Driver releases ceased last summer. A significant clue to the impetus behind this out-of-the-blue driver release is that it is headlined as a "GeForce Security Update Driver," in the release notes. Nvidia will continue to offer this level of support for Kepler users up until the end of September 2024.

The new driver for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 (all 64-bit) users is called the GeForce Security Update Driver 473.04 WHQL. A driver that covers the same set of updates, for Windows 10 and 11 users, is version 472.98 WHQL. Both drivers were made available, along with release notes on January 31. As a reminder, in case you aren't using a GeForce GPU right now, the current newest officially available GeForce Game Ready Driver, for GPU architectures following Kepler, is version 511.23.

Both new GeForce Security Update Drivers are claimed to deliver patches for "issues that may lead to multiple security impacts." In a security bulletin, published January 31, Nvidia state that the issue is "NVIDIA Omniverse Launcher contains a Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) vulnerability which can allow an unprivileged remote attacker, if they can get user to browse malicious site, to acquire access tokens allowing them to access resources in other security domains, which may lead to code execution, escalation of privileges, and impact to confidentiality and integrity."

Security patches aren't the only reasons to grab the new GeForce drivers. Both the releases, linked above, also include; added support for CUDA 11.4, added support for the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB, and offer the new Nvidia Image Sharpening resolution scaling technology. Moreover, if you download the Windows 10 version of the driver (472.98 WHQL) you will get official Windows 11 support too.

Remember this isn't a Game Ready Driver, so there are no new game optimizations in the driver builds, or none that Nvidia is telling us about. However, one shouldn't really complain, as this release is a nice surprise after the October's Game Ready Driver 496.13 WHQL arrived lacking any Kepler GPU support, as well as dropping support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. The impending removal of Kepler GPU support from Game Ready Drivers was foretold back in May 2021, when the architecture was nine years old.

Used GPU Buyers Watch Out

With the current state of the GPU market, it is hard to get the best GPUs and this means that some PC builders and upgraders will be tempted to go for a used GPU, to make-do until something pleasant happens. We have had quite a few stories of GPU-mining activity being on the wane and the big three ramping up GPU manufacturing, so the tide will turn in this industry with its characteristic cycles, sooner or later.

The state of drivers for Kepler GPUs got some good news today, but it is obviously not a GPU family to buy into right now. Nvidia Maxwell and Pascal Architectures might also be nearing the cut-off feature/support points in coming months, so please bear support lifecycles in mind when looking for "used bargains."

Microsoft has released another Windows 11 Preview Build for Windows Insiders to test on the beta channel, version 22000.194. This new build features new updates for the Snipping Tool, Calculator and Clock, plus introduces a new system requirement for virtual machines that is necessary to install Windows 11 on Hyper-V clients. If you are updating to the new preview build from Windows 11, this build is known as cumulative update KB5005635.

The new system requirement for virtual machines is known as Generation 2 VM support. This is what Microsoft calls its second generation of virtual hardware for Hyper-V, and it is significantly updated from Generation 1. Generation 2 supports the latest PC hardware standards including UEFI, TPM, and Secure Boot, and new disk formats, all of which gen 1 systems do not support. Bare in mind, this only affects Hyper-V clients and no other hypervisors. All you need to do with other hypervisors is ensure the physical hardware supports the Windows 11 system requirements.

New Snipping Tool

The Snipping tool has been completely refreshed from its original incarnation in Windows 7 (which you can still access in Windows 10), and it also has a couple of extra features. The app's layout is identical to the original version, but the classic interface that originated with Windows 7 is now replaced with Windows 11's modern UI. Plus, a new toolbar now appears at the top of the screen whenever you create a new snip. Its buttons have the same features as the "Modes" menu in the classic Snipping Tool, including Freeform Snips, Window Snips and Fullscreen Snips.

An editing window also appears whenever you create a new snip, which is a feature that was originally in Windows 10's Snip & Sketch tool but has now been moved to Snipping Tool and given a facelift. This editing window gives you access to tools like highlighters, pens, erasers and cropping to further customize your snips.

The Windows 11 Snipping Tool is technically the third image capturing tool Microsoft has developed since Windows 7. We had the original Snipping Tool that came with Windows 7 and Windows 8, then starting with Windows 10 we got the "new" Snip & Sketch tool that was available from the Microsoft Store. Both Snipping tools have always existed within Windows 10, allowing you to choose between "new" and old.
The Snip & Sketch tool was somewhat of an improvement over the original Snipping Tool. It has the same features, but the different UI arguably made it more difficult to use. When you first opened the Snip & Sketch tool, all you were treated to was a single button for creating new snips and an arrow to the left with another menu for choosing delayed snips. Functionally it was fine, but the interface was a bit clunky compared to the original.

Strangely, Microsoft has barely done anything with the Snip & Sketch tool since. We presumed that Snip & Sketch was a replacement for the original, but Microsoft never acted on it. Instead, they have surprised us with this new version of Snipping Tool designed for Windows 11. In this latest Windows 11 preview, if you try finding the Snip & Sketch tool on the Microsoft Store, it will automatically open the new Snipping Tool instead.

Calculator & Mail Apps

The Calculator has also received some major updates. The app now includes a theme setting to choose between dark and light modes, and Microsoft says the app has been rewritten in C# so that more people can contribute to it on GitHub.

Finally, Microsoft has freshened up the Mail & Calendar app to look like Windows 11 with some new visuals and a new light mode and dark mode, to match Windows 11's new themes.

Known Issues:

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not patched the taskbar and start menu issues from the previous beta channel build. The issues include the taskbar and start menu completely disappearing if you upgrade to Windows 11 from another OS.

If you find yourself having these issues, the workaround is to go to Windows update, uninstall the latest cumulative update, then reinstall it by checking for updates.

Also, a new issue has emerged where you cannot enter text when using the Search function from the start menu or taskbar. The simple way to fix this is to press win + r so the Run box will open, then close it.

For mpre info on bug fixes and more known issues, check out the Windows blog post here.

Those looking aghast at the new, centralized, Windows 11 Start button and taskbar can feel soothed by the news that Stardock’s Start 11 beta is now available to return a more familiar Start menu experience to the nascent OS. 

Windows 11 testers already have the ability to move the Start button and Taskbar into the more familiar left-hand corner, following the removal of a registry hack that replaced the controversial center-mounted content catalog with something more conventional, but Start 11 gives you more control over the appearance of the menu itself. Readers with longer memories may recall Start 8, which replaced the Windows 8 Start screen with a more sensible menu, returning the Start button to its place in the bottom-left corner - something Microsoft itself would do with Windows 8.1.

The replacement Start menu can be changed between a Windows 7-inspired look and a ‘Modern’ theme that claims to take its cues from Windows 10, though is quite different if you compare them. There are plenty of configuration and personalization options, including the ability to split the menu into columns of larger icons. A ctrl+click on the Start button gets you the Windows 11 menu, while right-clicking it still pops up the ‘secret’ Start menu with control panel-like options.

Start 11 is available as a one-off $4.99 purchase from Stardock, with upgrades available if you already own Start 8 or Start 10, or can come as part of an Object Desktop subscription. It’s currently in beta, so new features may be added before the final release.

Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death could soon change its colors and become a "Black Screen of Death." The Verge's Tom Warren reports that Microsoft intends to change the color of the crash screen to black in order to match the color of its shutdown and start screens in Windows 11.

However, the current Windows 11 preview build may not actually give you a Black Screen of Death. When we deliberately caused a CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error, we still got the classic blue screen. Later, we read a Tweet from a user named Xeno who said that, to get the new color, you have to change a registry key. After performing the change, we, too, got a Black Screen of Death.

In reporting the change, Warren did not cite a specific source within Microsoft, which has not officially announced any such change. "The Verge understands Microsoft will be switching to a Black Screen of Death for Windows 11, matching the new black logon and shutdown screens," he wrote (emphasis mine).

Considering that Windows Blue Screens of Death go back decades, changing the color is a big deal. The last major change occurred when Microsoft added the frowny face and QR codes back in Windows 8. 

It's important to note, though, that Microsoft has experimented with different colors before. At least at one point, users of Windows 10 Insider Builds got green screens of death, and those with hardware errors have been known to occasionally get red screens of death. However, the most common crash screen has always been blue.

In the absence of an on-the-record comment from Microsoft, we might assume that a black crash screen is something the company is testing right now and that it's possible it will replace the blue one. Either way, we'll still be calling it a BSOD. 

How to Get the Black Screen of Death in Windows 11

If you want to experience a Black Screen of Death in Windows 11, assuming you have the Windows 11 preview installed, you'll need to edit your registry (launching regedit), navigating to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl and setting the value of DisplayPreRelaseColor to 0. 

Of course, you won't actually see the black screen right away, unless you deliberately cause your computer to crash. If you really want to do that, make sure everything is saved. Then go into Task Manager, click More details, navigate to the Details tab, select an instance of svchost.exe, right-click and select End Process Tree. Then click the Shutdown button when warned.

That will cause a CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error and, unless you've set your computer not to restart on BSODs, will make your computer reboot itself in a few seconds.

Traditionally, we think of Windows as the operating system for the masses and that each new version is a no-brainer upgrade, even for those with older PCs. Right now, after six years on the market, Windows 10 makes up 78 percent of all Windows installs with Windows 7, which launched in 2009 (12 years ago!) taking second place at 16 percent. Windows 10 grew this fast because there was absolutely no reason not to upgrade. It works on every PC that runs Windows 7 or 8, it’s free (see how to get Windows 10 for free or cheap) and it has a slew of new features. 

Microsoft didn’t make Windows 10 a free and easy upgrade just to be kind. The company wants to spend its time supporting the latest OS and it wants people using features like the Microsoft Store and Edge browser. It wants developers using its latest SDK to make groundbreaking apps that help the platform grow.

But Windows 11 changes all that, leaving a significant number of Windows 10 computers -- even high-end workstations from just three years ago and possibly current Surface Studio  -- out in the cold, because they won’t meet the minimum requirements, which have changed significantly for the first time since Windows 7 launched in 2009. 

To be fair, these new requirements, particularly requiring TPM 2.0 functionality (more on that below) and DX12 GPUs, are designed to provide a higher minimum baseline of security and performance than we’ve seen before. And Microsoft even seems like it’s expecting a significant number of users to stay on the current OS, having recently announced that it plans to support Windows 10 through 2025.

Update (6/26): Since we originally published this article on Friday morning, the situation has gotten more opaque as Microsoft spokespeople have said that, if a CPU is not on the company's compatibility lists, it may not work with the final release of Windows 11, even if it otherwise meets standards. Also, the company edited a document which had said that TPM 1.2, rather than the newer TPM 2.0 would be acceptable so that now only TPM 2.0 is mentioned.

This is a sea change for Microsoft, because the company has previously prioritized new OS adoption over most else. In fact, the company was likely disappointed when it took two years longer than expected to reach 1 billion active monthly devices for Windows 10. With Windows 11, it’s going to take a lot longer and, as with Android devices, there’s likely to be more computers running older operating systems than the latest one for years and years to come. That’s bad news for users and developers. 

These new minimum requirements don’t look too strenuous at first glance. According to Stephen Baker, vice president at analyst firm NPD, less than 4% of PCs sold in the last year have storage drives that were 64GB or smaller and the amount of systems with less than 4GB was “inconsequential.” In other words, almost all 2020-era new PCs would fit the bill, even if they don't have one of the best SSDs.

However, most people don’t buy a new PC every year. In fact, according to Baker, the average replacement cycle for computers is 4 to 5 years. And I’m sure we all know people or have computers in our homes that are older than that. 

You might think that the only computers affected by these changes are netbooks or sub-$200 laptops like the Dell Inspiron 3000 series (circa 2018) and Amazon VivoBooks, some of which had 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage quite recently. However, even a major workstation CPU that came out in 2018 will likely not be able to run Windows 11 and it's quite possible that any PC processor older than 8th Gen Core Intel or AMD Ryzen 2000 series will not be supported in the final release.

For example, Intel’s Xeon W-3175X, which launched in Q4 of 2018 for $2999 and sports 16 cores, drops into a platform that does not come with built-in TPM support. You can purchase a motherboard that has a TPM header and add a TPM chip after the fact, but many systems don’t have this by default. It’s hard to argue that a massive HEDT (high end desktop) system from less than three years ago should not be able to run Windows 11.

 TPM: A Deal Killer for Some 

The problem for most users is not the RAM, storage or GPU requirements, but the need for TPM 2.0, a feature most consumers don’t even know about that isn’t present on many computers from just a few years ago and is disabled on a lot of current-generation systems too.

A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) provides a secure way to store encryption keys, certificates and other sensitive data in hardware. For example, if you use Bitlocker encryption, TPM is what prevents someone from being able to just remove your hard drive, stick it in another computer and read the data.  

In a blog post, Microsoft explained its rationale for the TPM requirement saying:

“PCs of the future need this modern hardware root-of-trust to help protect from both common and sophisticated attacks like ransomware and more sophisticated attacks from nation-states. Requiring the TPM 2.0 elevates the standard for hardware security by requiring that built-in root-of-trust.” 

And, to be fair, TPM 2.0 is hardly brand new. Starting in 2016, Microsoft required that “all new device models, lines or series” of devices come with TPM 2.0 implemented and enabled by default. However, clearly, that only applied to the company’s partners making OEM laptops and desktops, because many current motherboards come with TPM disabled by default and some recent high-end chips don’t have it on board. The good news is that, if you have a processor from the last three to five years, there’s a good chance you can enable TPM in the UEFI BIOS and solve this problem.

CPU Limits 

Though it seems likely that preview builds of Windows 11 will install on any machine that meets the on-paper requirements of TPM 2.0 with secure boot, a 1-GHz 64-bit dual-core CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space, Microsoft has hinted that any processor that's older than an 8th Gen Intel Core series CPU or AMD Ryzen 2000 chip may be left out in the cold.

Microsoft posted official AMD and Intel CPU compatibility lists, which omit processors that came out as recently as 2017 and are still actively sold. For example, Microsoft's own Surface Studio 2, which can cost up to $5,000 and is still made and sold, tops out with a 7th Gen,  Core i7-7820HQ CPU. While it's possible that these compatibility lists aren't the final word for when Windows 11 launches, a company exec has strongly implied that they are.

Speaking on Twitter,  Microsoft VP Steve Dispensa wrote that "Windows 11 is only supported on the CPU list I posted above. There are more requirements than just TPM 2.0 support (and all supported chipsets should have TPM 2.0, so that's not generally a blocking requirement)."

Even if earlier CPUs would work, there a lot of PCs on the borderline here that don’t have TPM capability. Senior Writer Michelle Ehrhardt reports that her Core i7-6700K that she bought in 2016 did not have a TPM option in the motherboard BIOS so she’s probably out of luck. Some motherboards offer the ability to add a physical TPM module as an upgrade but who is going to do that?

Also note that there will be no more 32-bit Windows. So, if you have an old netbook with a 32-bit processor, there is no way it will run Windows 11.

 Incompatible GPUs 

Where Windows 10 required only DirectX 9 support, Windows 11 demands that your GPU handle DirectX 12. DirectX 9 is a standard that goes all the way back to 2002 when it debuted on Windows 98, Me and XP, but version 12 is only from 2015. 

Now, to be fair, Nvidia GPUs as old as the Fermi (GTX 400), AMD chips as old as Graphics Core Next (Radeon 7000) and integrated Intel graphics going back all the way to Haswell (2013) work with DirectX 12. But if you were thinking of throwing Windows 11 on your Viliv N5 UMPC, a personal favorite of mine which runs on a low-power Atom processor from 2010, you’re out of luck. 

Bifurcated Windows  

At some point it was inevitable that Microsoft would stop supporting older hardware. However, even if the CPU compatibility list grows to include older models, the TPM requirement by itself may force a lot of people with even four year old PCs to either stick with Windows 10 or upgrade to new computers.

The cynic in me says that Microsoft and OEMs are looking for reasons to drive a new PC upgrade cycle. But it’s also inevitable that, to guarantee a decent user experience with graphical features like rounded edges and translucent window widgets or modern security features like secure boot, you need to up your requirements. Just don’t expect to see Windows 11 hit 1 billion active devices any time soon. 

Note: As with all of our op-eds, the opinions expressed here belong to the writer alone and not Tom's Hardware as a team. 

Windows 7 users might finally decide to upgrade soon. Windows Latest today reported that a leaked build of Windows 11 suggests Microsoft plans to offer a free upgrade to the next significant update to the operating system when it debuts.

A caveat: This is based on a configuration package in a leaked build of an operating system that hasn't officially been announced yet. Microsoft's plans could have changed, or it may have planned for the upgrade to be paid all along. 

Windows Latest said its claim was "based on the configuration keys found within Pkeyconfig (product key configuration package) in the leaked build of Windows 11." Those keys suggest Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users will be able to upgrade at no cost.

That upgrade path would make sense. Microsoft offers a free update to Windows 10, too, and that promotion is still valid even though it was supposed to end in 2016. Anyone with a valid key for Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 can take advantage of that offer.

Microsoft continues to sell licenses for Windows 10, of course, but the free upgrade from a prior version of Windows reinforces the platform's status as an operating-system-as-a-service on top of which the company's real money-makers are built.

Charging for Windows 11 when Windows 10 was a free update would come as a surprise. So would requiring systems running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 to install a free upgrade to Windows 10 before installing a free upgrade to Windows 11.

Windows 7 users have been on borrowed time—Microsoft officially dropped support for the operating system in January 2020. Windows 8.1 will follow suit in January 2023, and Microsoft plans to stop supporting Windows 10 in October 2025.

We should know more about how Windows users, from those relying on a version released over a decade ago to those running the most recent update, will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 after Microsoft's announcement on June 24.

The time has finally come. Nvidia announced earlier today that it would stop supporting its Kepler-based graphics cards on older Windows operating systems with its next GeForce R470 driver. You won't find Kepler on the list of best graphics cards, but plenty of gamers still own one. As a result of the change, they'll no longer have access to new day-zero drivers.

The GeForce R470 driver, scheduled for August 31, is the last driver to support Kepler graphics cards that debuted back in 2012. Owners of Kepler graphics cards will continue to receive critical security updates until September 2024. However, they will lose out on Game Ready driver upgrades, including performance uplifts, new features and/or bug fixes.

Additionally, the GeForce R470 driver also marks the end of support for Microsoft's Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. The same conditions apply to users of the aforementioned operating systems. They are eligible to receive critical security updates through September 2024 but do not qualify for Game Ready driver updates.

Therefore, the future GeForce R495 driver, which goes public on October 4, will be the first GeForce driver to arrive without support for Kepler-powered products and pre-Windows 10 operating systems.

We've attached a list of Kepler GeForce gaming graphics cards that are affected by Nvidia's latest move.

• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Black 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 Ti 
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 (192-bit)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 Ti OEM 
• Nvidia GeForce GT 740 
• Nvidia GeForce GT 730 
• Nvidia GeForce GT 720 
• Nvidia GeForce GT 710
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 690
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 680
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 670
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 660
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 645
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 640
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 635
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 630

Microsoft has indefinitely delayed Windows 10X, its lightweight operating system for low-spec systems and foldables, according to reports from Windows Central and Petri. Instead, the company will turn its focus to the existing desktop experience.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Tom's Hardware that "Microsoft has nothing to share at this time."

Windows 10X was introduced in 2019 at a Surface-based event as a version of the Windows 10 operating system designed for dual-screen devices, like the Surface Neo. But Windows 10X was delayed to spring 2021 after a shift to single screen devices to service people's needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Surface Neo was delayed, and no date was ever given for a release. The device was also removed from Microsoft's website.

In theory, not only would Windows 10X power foldables, but also rival Google's Chrome OS with support for low-power computers. The Surface Neo, for instance, was going to run on Intel's Lakefield platform.

The company is reportedly focusing on the existing Windows 10 experience now. Its Sun Valley update, which will include a visual overhaul will likely see the benefits of Windows 10X later this year.

Windows 10X was not Microsoft's first attempt to rejuvenate Windows 10. Windows 10 S showed up with the Surface Laptop in 2017, but was seen as limited and later made into a locked down mode that users could easily switch out of. And let's not forget Windows RT, which launched alongside the original Surface Tablet in 2012, only to be discontinued a year later, although technically that was in the days of Windows 8.

Recently, Microsoft announced that 1.3 billion active devices are running Windows 10. It appears that Microsoft is focusing on those experiences instead.

Amidst all the news of Cyberpunk 2077 being delayed, it's refreshing to see something else come along once in a while. Alas, today's news is both good and bad news: it looks like Cyberpunk 2077 will be a DirectX 12 only title on PC. 

The information comes from an interview with PC Games Hardware, where lead graphics programmer at CD PROJEKT RED, Marcin Gollent, told the German publication about this.

In a way, we're happy to hear this. It means that the studio is focusing on just one graphics API, ensuring they don't have to spread their attention across multiple APIs, potentially making sacrifices along the way. This saves them time, and thus ensures that DirectX 12 can be used to its fullest.

However, there is a big catch that comes along with this choice. By limiting the graphics API to DirectX 12, anyone that's running an older graphics card that doesn't support the API, and anyone running an operating system that hasn't been given the full DirectX 12 treatment will be missing out. This includes users of Windows 8, though Windows 7 did get the DirectX 12 goodies -- not that you should be using Windows 7 anymore.

Of all graphics cards, pretty much any GPU that has come out in the last 5 years, and many from before then, supports the API. This might leave some users of older GPUs in the dust, but to be fair, they're probably not powerful enough to run the game anyway.

At the end of the day, we don't think that limiting Cyberpunk 2077 to DirectX 12 only will hamper much -- if anything, we reckon that the ability to fully commit to one API will lead to worthwhile gains, even if it leaves a small group of potential users behind.

Meanwhile, go here to find out what the system requirements are to run Cyberpunk 2077.

Windows 10 may be seeing a change to the start menu. Windows Latest reported yesterday that Microsoft plans to replace Live Tiles in the Start menu with a more traditional grid of application icons at some point in 2020 or 2021.

Live Tiles were developed to offer more at-a-glance information than the icon grids found on iOS and Android smartphones. That way people could view important details, like the weather forecast or a meeting time, right from the Start screen.

• We answer the question: What is Windows 10X?
• Windows 10 can be expensive. Here's how to get it cheaper.

Live Tiles were a core part of the Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 user interfaces. Even though Microsoft switched to a more traditional UI for Windows 10, the tiles remained in the Start menu, and they've stayed pretty consistent ever since.

But that could be about to change. Windows Latest said that "people familiar with the development told us that Microsoft is planning to replace live tiles with icons in a future update after Windows 10’s 20H2 release." (Which arrives later this year.)

Microsoft already removed Live Tiles from the Windows 10X operating system it developer for foldable devices and replaced them with standard icons. That didn't necessarily mean it planned to remove them from Windows 10 proper, though.

Or at least it didn't until Microsoft brought those icons to Windows 10 preview builds. The icons obviously clash with the rest of the current Start menu, so it makes sense that the tiles could be removed.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and while many are throwing out Windows 7 since it reached end-of-life (EoL) this week, there’s at least one group of tech enthusiasts who plan to continue using the outdated operating system. Professional overclockers don't care that Microsoft will no longer issue security updates or patches for the OS it debuted in 2009. Instead, they prefer Window 7's lighter footprint, which allows for speedier benchmark results.

“We care more about performance than security,” professional overclocker Joe Stepongzi, also known for Bearded Hardware, explained to Tom’s Hardware. “It’s all about bleeding-edge performance. Windows 10 is quite large and excessive compared to Windows 7, so I see Windows 7 [still] being used to gain some points in some benches.”

Allen “Splave” Golibersuch also uses the OS for competing because it's a “low-resource platform."

“It is highly tweaker-friendly, and its longevity has led to many smart people cracking the bits that help it be so speedy. There’s no bloat built in, like Cortana et cetera,” he told Tom’s Hardware. “Nothing is more frustrating than when you are chasing a world record on liquid nitrogen cooling, and Windows 10 starts doing an automatic update -- even when there is no Internet connection!”

The general perception is that legacy benchmarks run better on the platform for which they were originally designed. In fact, some of the benchmarks overclockers use to compete, such as the PCMark Vantage and PCMark 05 PC benchmarks, won’t run properly on Microsoft’s latest OS. 

“PCMark Vantage requires debugging to get working, and PCMark 05 doesn't run on Windows 10 at all,” pro overclocker Charles Fugger told Tom’s Hardware. 

Splave also plans to keep using Windows 7 for certain benchmarks and certain platforms.

“Current-generation AMD, for instance, does not have very good support for even Windows 8, let alone Windows 7. Ryzen Master [overclocking software] will not even install. Intel X299 Windows 7 is definitely my go-to OS for performance,” Splave said. 

Stepongzi will also continue leveraging Windows 7, which he described as being “great for performance” ever since its release. However, he does suspect that eventually newer PC platforms will lose the ability to support Windows as new drivers come with newer hardware releases. 

Of course, these tech extremists know all about Windows 10. In fact, all three of these pro overclockers have Windows 10 on their personal computers. But for competitive overclocking, Windows 7 offers less bloatware and overhead than its younger sibling, and 32-bit benchmark applications favor older OSes, as Fugger put it.

It’s even commonplace for overclockers to use Windows XP, which came out in 2001 and hit EoL in 2014, for benchmarks, including wPrime, a multi-threaded benchmark for x86 CPUs, and SuperPi -32M, for testing speed and stability. 

“An example of that is ... SuperPi XS, where we can see the performance reduction on every OS, including Windows 8 and Windows Vista,” Fugger said. “Windows XP is the best OS for SuperPi, and overclockers will go to great lengths (very far beyond normal) to install Windows XP on modern hardware. I am understating the ‘great lengths,’ -- this is a trade secret to some people.” 

So if you’re mourning Windows 7, perhaps you can take some solace in knowing that there are some overclockers out there who will be using it for a long time to come.

Hackers attempting to mass-infect PC users with cryptocurrency miners have started exploiting the Windows BlueKeep vulnerability, as recently reported by BleepingComputer. The security flaw can impact the Remote Desktop Protocol of Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Server 2003 and Server 2008 operating systems.

Microsoft has been warning both individual users and businesses to update their machines with the BlueKeep patch for months, but some computers have remained vulnerable. Cyber attackers are now taking advantage of that. 

The somewhat good news is that the attack is not a worm, meaning it can’t spread from one computer to another in the same network.

BlueKeep Threat Persists

According to Beaumont, over 724,000 machines remained vulnerable to BlueKeep worldwide. Therefore, we may continue to see this sort of attack until those machines patch to a version of Windows that's newer than May 14, 2019, when Microsoft released its BlueKeep patch.

About two weeks afters Microsoft released the patch, almost 1 million machines remained vulnerable to BlueKeep. The quarter million or so machines that have been patched since include PCs that received the updates automatically. So chances are that months or even years will pass before the remaining computers at risk will enable the patch.

The BlueKeep bug exists before authentication into the Windows Remote Desktop Protcol (RDP), and an attacker can take advantage of it remotely. It's believed that the vulnerability could become equally or more dangerous than WannaCry or NotPetya, especially if wormable capability were enabled.  In that case, Microsoft says that Windows 8 and Windows 10 machines are protected worm transmission infections because they have Network Level Authentication, an anti-worm defense that requires users to authenticate before attempting to use RDP.

BlueKeep Malware in the Wild

The issue was discovered by security researcher Kevin Beaumont. He tweeted that he started noticing that some of his EternalPot RDP honeypots were crashing and rebooting for the first time since he set them up six months ago.

The crashes were analyzed by Marchus Hutchin, a security researcher known as MalwareTech famous for temporarily stopping some WannaCry attacks. Hutchin analyzed the crashes and found some “BlueKeep artifacts in memory and shellcode to drop a Monero Miner."

According to Hutchin's analysis, hackers were first sending an encoded PowerShell script to the vulnerable machines. Those machines would download a second encoded PowerShell script. The final payload is a cryptocurrency miner that installs on the infected machines and then generates Monero digital coins for the attackers using the computers’ local resources.

The researchers believe that the malware was created with publicly available code without the hackers putting much thought into it. This why it wasn’t created as a worm, even though the BlueKeep vulnerability makes the creation of worm exploitation. Hutchin noted that the attack likely used a predefined list of vulnerable machines. 

Update 3/21/19, 8:30 a.m. PT: Microsoft has released an update to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 whose sole purpose is to enable the reminders about the operating system's end of life schedule as outlined in the original article. The update is available via Windows Update, and if automatic updates are enabled, this one will be installed in the background. Because it doesn't require a system restart to be installed, the notification about Windows 7's looming demise will probably be the first indication many Windows 7 users will have that their systems just got one of their last updates.

Original article, 3/13/19, 7:35 a.m. PT:

Microsoft said yesterday that it plans to make sure people know Windows 7 won't receive any updates after January 14, 2020, by repeatedly notifying them of the looming deadline throughout 2019.

Here's how Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows, Matt Barlow, described the planned notification process in a blog post:

"To help our customers get advanced notice of this change, we are reaching out with information and resources. Beginning next month, if you are a Windows 7 customer, you can expect to see a notification appear on your Windows 7 PC. This is a courtesy reminder that you can expect to see a handful of times in 2019. By starting the reminders now, our hope is that you have time to plan and prepare for this transition. These notifications are designed to help provide information only and if you would prefer not to receive them again, you’ll be able to select an option for 'do not notify me again,' and we will not send you any further reminders."

The notifications will also include a "learn more" button through which Windows 7 users can "learn more about the latest line-up of modern PCs and information for moving from Windows 7 to Windows 10." This information is also available on Microsoft's website.

Microsoft previously said that it would only release updates for Windows 7 to January 2020. Then it will finally be time for people using the operating system to decide if they'll update to Windows 10 or stick with a completely abandoned platform.

That news was followed by Microsoft ending metadata support for Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player on Windows 7. (And, for Windows Media Center, Windows 8 and 8.1 as well.) The programs simply weren't used often enough to warrant their maintenance.

Microsoft actually stopped updating the base version of Windows 7 in 2013, when it required users to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1. Then it stopped mainstream support for that release in 2015; January 2020 marks the end of Windows 7 SP1's extended support.

That seems like a reasonable length of time to support an operating system. Windows 10 is currently installed on 800 million active devices, too, so it's clear why Microsoft would rather not have to maintain a Windows release from a decade ago.

Oh, and if the cost of Windows 10 is what's holding Windows 7 users back, there are some ways to get the operating system for free. (Or at least under $30.) They should just make sure their hardware can run the operating system first.

Microsoft has just hammered another nail into Windows 7’s coffin. On Friday the company announced, that it would be ending support for metadata across Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 (although 8 and 8.1 will still have access to it on Media Player). This apparently comes as a result of Microsoft “looking at customer feedback and usage data”, and deciding that maintaining the service was no longer cost-efficient.

Although this is a bit of a nuisance for those with expansive media libraries, it’s worth noting that this will not have any effect on media that you already have the metadata downloaded for. However going forward, seeing information such as title, genre, artist, director, etc will be gone, unless you opt for a third-party service instead.

Fortunately, Microsoft is still continuing to support media player playback, meaning if you are still clinging on for dear life to the ad and Candy Crush free OS, you won’t be entirely out of luck just yet.

Why this feature is disabled in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, yet still available on Windows 10 is clearly a bit of a mystery, or maybe not. Read Microsoft's official statement about it here. Or alternatively we recommend you try out a free media player alternative such as VLC player, or Media Player Classic.

Add one more problem to the Windows 10 October 2018 Update pile. After issues with deleting data, now it seems the update also broke iCloud.

At least the Windows 10 October 2018 Update isn't compatible with Apple's cloud service right now. According to 9to5Mac, numerous people have reported problems with iCloud after updating to the latest version of Windows 10, and Microsoft has even blocked the update from rolling out to people who already have iCloud installed. (Just like it's not allowing folks with certain Trend Micro apps or AMD graphics cards to update their systems either.)

9to5Mac said that some people who already have iCloud installed on their systems have reported issues with "Photos syncing and other features." Microsoft said on its support page that the issue lies with Shared Albums, which allow iCloud users to privately send photos and videos to other people. It's not clear what the exact problem is, how it persisted even after the operating system update was delayed a month, or when it will be fixed.

People who attempt to install the latest version of iCloud (7.7.0.27) are reportedly shown an error message claiming the app "requires Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (April 2018 Update) and earlier." This means that people attempting to install iCloud on a new system right after downloading the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, for example, won't be able to access the service without having to resort to a web browser.

Problems with iCloud probably aren't the end of the world for most Windows 10 users. But this is just the latest example of something with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update going wrong, and unless people are using Arm-powered laptops or raring to experience ray tracing for themselves, at this point it seems wiser not to install the update just yet. Maybe wait until the namesake year is wrong as well, just to be on the safe side.

Update: Nov. 8, 8:10 p.m. ET: Microsoft sent a statement saying this issue will soon be fixed for users automatically:

“A limited number of customers experienced an activation issue that our engineers have now addressed. Affected customers will see resolution over the next 24 hours as the solution is applied automatically. In the meantime, they can continue to use Windows 10 Pro as usual.” – Jeff Jones, senior director, Microsoft

The company also said that watermarks will disappear once the fix is applied. The original story is below:

Microsoft's had a rough month. The company attempted to release the Windows 10 October 2018 Update during its namesake month only to pull it after numerous file system bugs were discovered; it still has yet to be re-released to the public. Now several Redditors have reported that their Windows 10 Pro licenses have been mysteriously deactivated, with their systems prompting them to install Windows 10 Home instead. Windowsunited.de was among the first to report on the issue.

It's not clear what's causing this issue. Numerous people said their Windows 10 Pro license was carried over from Windows 8, so it could be related to that migration, though it's strange to encounter problems like this so long after Windows 10 debuted. Several members of the Windows Insider Program who tested Windows 10 Pro before its release have also had this problem, which could mean the migration path isn't at fault.

Update, Nov. 8, 3:36 p.m.: "We’re working to restore product activations for the limited number of affected Windows 10 Pro customers." said Jeff Jones, a senior director at Microsoft.

Things got even weirder after the original poster said they restarted their system only to find that their license now claimed to be for Windows 10 Enterprise for Virtual Desktops. At this point it almost seems like Windows 10 is flicking a spinner whenever the system is restarted, noting the result, and then saying the license is for whatever version of Windows 10 it landed on. That's not what people want from their operating system.

We haven't experienced this problem ourselves, and like always, the warnings about online complaints apply here. The vast majority of Windows 10 Pro license owners probably haven't been affected by this problem.

According to digital forensics and incident response expert Barnaby Skeggs, there is a file in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 operating systems, called WaitList.dat, that can collect sensitive information, such as email text and passwords, such a manner that many users might not know about it. The file records data from other plaintext files, like word documents and emails, processed on the operating system. This issue primarily affects owners of touch-enabled devices.

Skeggs' Findings

During an investigation in which Skeggs was trying to see whether or not a certain email was being silently stored on Windows 8.1, Skeggs didn't get any positive results. However, when he searched for the email’s title across the entire forensic image, he found one result: the email was copied to the WaitList.dat file, found at C:\Users\%User%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\InputPersonalization\TextHarvester\WaitList.dat.

Skeggs not only found the email for which he was looking, but also found the metadata and full body text of over 36,000 emails and documents, spanning a period of three years. The entire file was only 140MB in size.

Sensitive Data Silently Stored in WaitList.Dat

The WaitList.dat file is activated upon enabling the handwriting recognition capabilities in Windows 8.1 and later. Microsoft seems to be using the file to collect text from all of your documents to improve its handwriting technology. The issue is that it doesn’t just use handwritten text from other documents, but typed text too.

Some people write passwords in documents on their PCs (a practice that's not recommended by security experts). By the time they delete those documents, the passwords would have long been stored in the WaitList.dat file. If attackers couldn’t get a chance to extract your passwords from your document before you deleted it, they can certainly do it from the WaitList.dat file later.

Furthermore, according to Skeggs’ findings, attackers shouldn’t normally be able to find copies of deleted emails on a user’s PC outside of the WaitList file. That means Microsoft is exposing users to unnecessary risk by copying all of the emails to that file.

If you want to disable handwriting recognition, you can search on Windows for “Services” and then go to “Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service.” Right click on it. Iff it’s enabled you should see a “Stop” option in the menu. Otherwise, you’ll see the Start option, which means the capability is already disabled.

This tutorial was written by Tom's Hardware Community member JamieKavanagh. You can find a list of all their tutorials here.

RAID, or a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is usually a configuration for enterprise systems. It brings together multiple of the best hard drives using striping, mirroring, or parity to create a reliable data store within a network or computer. It takes a bit of work, but for a hobbyist or someone who needs reliable storage, it can deliver great results. If you want to know how to set up RAID in Windows 10, this is for you.

Windows 10 has made it simple to set up RAID by building on the good work of Windows 8 and Storage Spaces, a software application built into Windows that takes care of configuring RAID drives for you. We’re going to use that here.

You will need a working install of Windows 10, three unformatted hard drives of the same size and speed, and this guide.

Configuring RAID in Windows 10

1.Install the hard drives into your computer and let it boot into Windows 10.
2.Back up everything you cannot afford to lose from your OS drive before starting.
3.Type or paste ‘Storage Spaces’ into Search Windows.
4.Select Create a new pool and storage space. Windows will check all drives and select them in the next window.
5.Select the RAID type under Resiliency by selecting the drop down menu. Simple pools the disks, Two-way mirror and three-way mirror are similar to RAID 1, and Parity is similar to RAID 5.
6.Set the drive size under Size if necessary. It should default to the correct setting.
7.Select Create storage space.
8.Wait for the process to complete and you should then see a single disk with the correct size in Windows Explorer.
9.Type or paste ‘Manage Storage Spaces’ into the Search Windows box to keep an eye on the array.

Configuring RAID in Windows 10 is now easier than ever. Just remember to keep an eye on error reporting once you have it set up in case of any issues.

RAID 1 is a mirror which basically means the data is copied into both disks. RAID 5 is striped, meaning the data is spread across the drives with parity bits on each to allow the RAID to rebuild data from a lost disk.

This tutorial was written by Tom's Hardware Community member JamieKavanagh. You can find a list of all their tutorials here.

DPC Watchdog Violation errors were very common when Windows 10 was first released—so much so that Microsoft had to release an update to tackle it. Originally it was caused by an SSD driver that was found to be incompatible with Windows 10, and it's actually a repeat of an issue that occurred in Windows 8 when that was released, too. If you need to fix the Windows 10 error DPC Watchdog Violation, this tutorial is for you.

The actual syntax is ‘DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION’ and the error usually results in a memory dump being taken and a BSOD.

Fix Windows 10 error DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION

The original fault was with the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller installed with Windows 10. The fix was to use a different driver.

• 1.Navigate to Control Panel, Hardware, and Sound and Device Manager.
• 2.Open the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers section.
• 3.Select the controller that says ‘SATA AHCI’, right click and select Properties.
• 4.Select the Driver tab and Driver Details. Make sure the driver is ‘iastor.sys’. If it is, carry on. If it isn’t, try another or move on to the next step.
• 5.Select Update Driver Software, Browse, and Let me Pick from a list of devices.
• 6.Select ‘Standard SATA AHCI Controller’ from the list and install.

This process addresses the vast majority of DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION errors in Windows 10. Otherwise, performing driver updates across the board is also considered effective. As a last resort, some users have said updating their motherboard BIOS has also fixed the error.

Earlier this year, Qualcomm announced that its next-generation chips will be the first to fully support Windows 10, including all the programs built for the x86 architecture. In a recent video, Microsoft demonstrated how both x86 and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps would run on ARM chips. It also talked about the underlying technology enabling x86 apps to run on ARM chips with near-native performance.

Windows 10 On ARM Not Like Windows RT

Windows RT launched alongside Windows 8 in 2012. It was basically a version of Windows 8 for ARM chips, and it lacked any support for x86 programs. It primarily targeted tablets, and it was supposed to be the Windows version that would bring Intel some ARM competition in the PC market.

The operating system only supported UWP apps, though, which had to be developed from scratch. Developers didn’t adopt UWP apps at the rate Microsoft was expecting, which ended up negatively impacting the sales of Windows RT devices. An operating system for which people typically expect to have “all the apps”--a reasonable expectation given the association with Windows--isn’t as appealing when it actually has very few useful applications.

By contrast, from a user’s point of view, the new Windows 10 on ARM (which may not be the final official name) should work the same way as an x86 version of Windows. You’ll have access to both UWP and x86 applications, just like you do on the regular version of Windows. The only difference is that x86 apps will run emulated in the background at “near-native speeds.”

Microsoft recently announced Windows 10 S, too, which makes things a little bit more confusing. It’s a little like Windows RT, in the sense that by default only UWP apps work on it, but you can upgrade to the full Windows experience for an extra $50. Because ARM chips are now fully supported in Windows 10 (or at least Qualcomm’s chips are), we may see some Windows 10 S devices with ARM processors that can also be upgraded to the full version of Windows for $50.

X86 Apps On ARM At Near-Native Speeds

According to Microsoft, the x86 Win32 apps run unmodified on Windows 10. This only makes sense; if Microsoft wanted this project to be a success, there wasn’t any other way to do it, anyway. Even many x86 apps haven’t been updated in years, so it would’ve been impractical to expect developers to update them to work on ARM. Microsoft had to find a way to make x86 apps work automatically on ARM chips without requiring any extra work from developers.

Google also learned this lesson, when it wanted developers to port Android apps to Chrome OS. Eventually, Google realized that it could simply put the whole Android framework in a container, and in that way, all Android apps in the Play Store could also run on Chrome OS, at near-native speeds.

Windows 10 on ARM will translate all x86 instructions to ARM64 at runtime, and then they’ll be cached both in memory and on disk for future use. The translation for an app will happen only once, which should save battery life and CPU usage because the x86 apps won’t have to be emulated every time you open them.

To make things even more efficient, Microsoft will use as much native ARM code as possible in Windows 10 on ARM. That includes parts of the OS itself (such as native system DLLs), the Edge browser, the shell, and so on. The idea is to limit emulation to third-party apps, and run pretty much everything else natively.

ARM Competition

Initially, Windows on ARM will work only on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chips. Microsoft likely wants to limit the higher complexity of the ARM chip environment so that it doesn’t have to support dozens of ARM processor variants from day one. However, Microsoft will likely end up supporting high-end ARM chips from MediaTek and Samsung, which should have similar performance, before long.

This should spark heated competition in the PC market, at least in the budget notebook category. ARM chips have typically cost much less than even Intel’s lowest-end chips (which one of the main reasons Intel couldn’t make it in the mobile market). However, without full x86 app support, ARM couldn't make significant strides in the PC market. Because of this new Windows on ARM, though, high-end ARM chips should have a much better opportunity to compete head-to-head against Intel's own budget offerings.

Until now, there wasn’t any point in making ARM chips with a higher power envelope than what is typically considered acceptable in a smartphone or tablet. However, if things go well for ARM chip makers in the PC market, we could eventually see more powerful ARM chips that aren't constrained by a low TDP. That means ARM chips could eventually compete more directly against Intel's higher-end products, too.

Qualcomm said that the first Windows on ARM devices using its chips will appear in the second half of 2017.

WikiLeaks recently published thousands of documents that the organization said belongs to the CIA. Among them, there was a document that showed a list of antivirus and other security products that have been exploited and bypassed by the CIA.

The list included the following software products:

• Comodo
• Avast
• F-Secure
• Zemana Antilogger
• Zone Alarm
• Trend Micro
• Symantec
• Rising
• Panda Security
• Norton
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
• EMET (Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit)
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• McAfee
• Kaspersky
• GDATA
• ESET
• ClamAV
• Bitdefender
• Avira
• AVG

You probably recognize most, if not all, of the products on that list. The list includes Microsoft’s “Security Essentials” antivirus program, which was later converted into the built-in “Windows Defender” program in Windows 8 and later, as well as EMET, Microsoft’s anti-exploit security tool (mainly for enterprise users).

EMET was recently deprecated by Microsoft, because the company said that many of EMET’s anti-exploit features such as DEP, ASLR, Control Flow Guard (CFG), as well as other mitigations to bypass the User Account Control (UAC), were already built into Windows 10.

Microsoft said that because the security features are built-in, they should offer better security than the ad-hoc security that EMET tried to provide. The CIA documents released by WikiLeaks date from 2014, before Windows 10 came out. Therefore, we don't know what new capabilities the CIA may have obtained since then, and whether or not the new Windows 10 security features were also bypassed.

Bypassing Antivirus Programs

The leaked documents pertaining to the list of antivirus programs that have been exploited by the CIA seem to have been redacted, likely by WikiLeaks. The organization said that it made over 70,000 redactions in total, mainly to remove harmful code (WikiLeaks has been accused in the past of “hosting malware” because the emails it released contained malware targeted at the recipients of the leaked emails), as well as personal details and IP addresses. However, it’s not clear why the organization removed the technical information about how most of the antivirus programs in the list were exploited.

Only partial information was left about CIA’s exploit capabilities against three antivirus programs: F-Secure, Avira, and AVG.

On F-Secure

In OSB's experience, F-Secure has generally been a lower tier product that causes us minimal difficulty. The only annoyance we have observed is that F-Secure has an apparent entropy-based heuristic that flags Trojaned applications or other binaries containing encrypted/compressed payloads. Two defeats are known to exist: On involves using RAR file string tables in the resource section, the other involves cloning a RAR file manifest file – the manifest technique also works against Avira's entropy-based heuristics.

On Avira

Avira has historically been a popular product among CT targets, but is typically easy to evade. Similar to F-Secure, Avira has an apparent entropy-based heuristic that flags binaries containing encrypted/compressed payloads, but there are two known defeats.

On AVG

AVG Catches a Payload Dropped to Disk and Launched via Link File Well After Execution (Process Hollowing)

Perhaps the fact that the CIA can bypass most antivirus products should not be that surprising. After all, any sophisticated attacker who wants to develop new malware would also try to find ways to bypass the popular antivirus products. Otherwise, the malware wouldn’t be very effective, and it would be caught too early.

Google’s Project Zero security research team has also shown that antivirus programs can sometimes be some of the most vulnerable programs you may be running on your system. That’s not just because some of the antivirus companies are careless with the code they write, but mainly because the same techniques they use to “make users safer” are what create the vulnerabilities in users’ systems in the first place.

For instance, some of them do man-in-the-middle attacks against users’ browsers in order to analyze the encrypted pages that the users are visiting. However, an attacker could exploit this by taking over the capability and then using it against the users. Therefore, in this case, the antivirus created a vulnerability that perhaps wouldn’t have existed otherwise.

Staying Safe Online

The most common sense ways to stay safe are still to be careful about what you install on your system, use accounts with limited rights by default, and update your operating system and applications on time. This should save you from the vast majority of attacks and malware.

If you want to go the extra mile, you could also browse the web in a Linux virtual machine, or even use a more compartmentalized operating system such as Qubes OS, but these tools may not be for everyone.

Microsoft Origins

Microsoft is well known today for its Windows operating system, which is used on computers around the world. It's hard to think of a time when Microsoft didn't produce Windows. In the beginning, however, Microsoft developed other operating systems such as Altair BASIC. Over the years, Microsoft developed other OSes outside of the Windows product line, which contributed to the development of Windows.

In this article, we will look at the major desktop-oriented operating systems developed by Microsoft. This means we will not look closely at server operating systems or versions of Windows designed for mobile phones, cars, or other devices.

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MS-DOS (1981)

Although Microsoft got its start with Altair BASIC, it didn't become the OS powerhouse that it is until the introduction of MS-DOS. The initial release of MS-DOS (known as 86-DOS at this time) was actually developed by Tim Paterson, who worked for Seattle Computer Products at the time. In many ways, it was a clone of the CP/M OS developed by Digital Research, but Paterson made it compatible with x86 processors and introduced the FAT12 file system as the primary disk format.

Microsoft later acquired 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products and hired Paterson to continue development on the OS. After rebranding the OS as MS-DOS, it was licensed to IBM, which rebranded it again as PC-DOS.

MS-DOS was not particularly unique in terms of its functionality or user interface, but it had two key advantages over all other contemporary DOS-like OSes. First, it supported x86 processors, which would ultimately become the most heavily used type of computer processor. Second, Microsoft's contract with IBM lead to an enormous amount of software being developed for MS-DOS/PC-DOS. These advantages allowed Microsoft's MS-DOS to dominate the PC market for the next decade.

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Windows 1.0 (1985)

Immediately after Microsoft launched MS-DOS, it started working on the first version of Windows. This early version of Windows 1.0 is best viewed as a graphical user interface (GUI) for MS-DOS; the OS itself is incapable of operating without DOS. Microsoft introduced new APIs with Windows 1.0 that allowed programs to run natively on the Windows OS itself, but the number of programs that used these APIs was dwarfed by the ever growing library of MS-DOS applications. Windows 1.0 also introduced virtual memory, which allowed the OS to use a limited amount of space on the hard drive as RAM. Virtual memory is significantly slower than actual RAM, but larger applications that require more than the available amount of RAM to run can take advantage of the capacity.

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Windows 2.0 (1987)

Windows 2.0 was an overhaul of the original Windows 1.0 operating system and had a richer feature set. A key improvement found in Windows 2.0 was the ability to have Windows overlap each other. This made multitasking easier, because users could better utilize the available desktop real estate.

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OS/2 (1987)

Although IBM's OS/2 was technically a competitor to Microsoft's Windows, it is worth noting that it was co-developed by Microsoft. Early versions of OS/2 looked similar to Windows 2.0 and Windows 3.0, but they were functionally quite different. Both OS/2 and Windows (all versions) were capable of executing DOS software, and they both aimed to extend the functionality of the PC by allowing you to multitask between DOS and native software.

Eventually IBM and Microsoft would clash as Windows and OS/2 competed against each other in the market. Microsoft ultimately ended its involvement with OS/2; at the time, it was developing OS/2 3.0. Instead of putting the project on hold, Microsoft used its work on OS/2 3.0 to jump start its development of a new OS that would later be known as Windows NT.

As for OS/2, it was actively developed by IBM into the late 1990s, and the company continued to provide support until December 31, 2006. OS/2 ultimately failed to be profitable to maintain, however, as it was developed specifically for IBM's hardware and was more expensive than Windows. It was later sold to another company and is still developed under the name "eComStation."

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Windows 2.1 (1988)

Windows 2.1 was an incremental update to the Windows 2.0 operating system. It was optimized to take advantage of new features present in Intel 80286 and 80386 processors. This lead to the operating system sometimes being referred to as Windows/286 and Windows/386. One of the key improvements was the inclusion of HIMEM.sys, which allowed Windows 2.1 to access larger amounts of memory than Windows 2.0. Microsoft also added support for protected mode on Intel 80386 processors, which allowed the processor to run multiple programs in parallel. Before the introduction of protected mode, you could work on only a single application at a time; all other applications were suspended in the background.

Windows 2.1 was subsequently replaced by Windows 2.11 in 1989, but the two OSes are essentially identical. The key improvements in 2.11 included improved drivers and support for AppleTalk.

Due to the enhancements in Windows 2.1, it was the first Windows operating system to require a hard disk drive.

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Windows 3.0 (1990)

Windows 3.0 featured numerous improvements over Windows 2.11, but it is closely related to its predecessor. The user interface was polished, and support was added for 16-color images. In VGA mode, the OS was capable of rendering 256 colors on screen at the same time. The OS also supported an enhanced protected mode that allowed programs to easily access larger amounts of system memory. "Larger," though, is relative, as Windows 3.0 could support a maximum of 16MB of RAM. Fully installed, the OS consumed roughly 5MB of space.

Windows 3.0 quickly outshined its predecessors due to its numerous enhancements. By working with OEMs to ship systems with Windows pre-installed and by pricing the OS competitively against OS/2 and Apple's Mac OS, Microsoft was able to sell millions of copies of Windows 3.0 in its first year.

As an interesting side note, this was also the first version of Windows to ship with Solitaire.

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Windows 3.1 (1992)

Microsoft continued to improve Windows 3.0, which lead to the release of Windows 3.1.

There are three key improvements inherent in Windows 3.1. First, it removes support for real mode. This limited the OS to running on 80286 or newer hardware, but it significantly improved system stability. Second, it added Truetype font support, which made Windows more useful for office and document publishing work. Third, it raised the maximum memory support to 4GB, with individual programs able to access up to 16MB each. The OS required a minimum of 1MB of RAM and at least 15MB of hard drive space to be fully installed.

Microsoft also produced a few alternative versions of Windows 3.1, such as Windows for Workgroups 3.1 and Windows 3.1 Multimedia PC. These versions of Windows 3.1 contained enhancements that were important to specific clients, but not particularly useful to everyone.

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Windows NT 3.1 (1993)

In 1993, Microsoft released its first version of Windows NT. The OS was called Windows NT 3.1 to mimic Windows 3.1, which had been released the previous year.

Although Windows NT and Windows 3.1 look similar, they are actually quite different. Unlike Windows 3.1, Windows NT 3.1 was built from scratch as a fully 32-bit OS. It was started as a redesign of IBM's OS/2, but the design was forked and heavily modified. This gave Windows NT 3.1 the ability to run applications created for Windows, MS-DOS, and OS/2. Microsoft also created the OS to support multiple processing architectures. Upon its release, it was able to run on x86 and MIPS CPUs, and it later gained support for DEC's Alpha processors. Windows NT 3.1 was also more stable than Windows 3.1.

Although Windows NT 3.1 was more advanced and feature rich than Windows 3.1, it had limited sales and was less successful than its counterpart. The operating system had relatively high system requirements for its time, which prevented most people from using it. The minimum requirements for the OS were a 32-bit 25MHz 80386 processor, 12MB of RAM, and a 75MB HDD. As a result, Windows NT 3.1 was mostly reserved for use on servers and high-end business systems.

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Windows 95 Part 1 (1995)

After the release of Windows 3.1, Microsoft planned to cease development of future DOS-based OSes. Windows 3.1 would be maintained as a consumer-oriented product for a number of years, while Microsoft worked on future versions of Windows NT. Eventually, a more user-friendly OS known as "Cairo" was to be released as a solution for both consumers and businesses. Fierce competition from other operating systems such as Mac OS and OS/2, however, cut into Microsoft's market share and showed the company that it needed to quickly develop a new operating system to battle Apple and IBM. As Cairo was still years away from being finished at that time, Microsoft turned its attention to creating a new OS that would become Windows 95.

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Windows 95 Part 2 (1995)

The initial design goals for Windows 95 were to create a more user-friendly OS that supported 32-bit software, was easier to install, and was more stable. Originally, Microsoft planned to make the OS easier to use by simplifying the way software and networks were configured by end users.

The user interface was supposed to remain unchanged from Windows 3.1, as Microsoft was already developing a new UI for Cairo. Ultimately, though, Microsoft ported the new UI to the Windows 95 project. As a result, Windows 95 became the first version of Windows to feature the Start bar, and it also was the first to use Windows Explorer.

Windows 95 was technically still DOS-based like Windows 3.1, but it also had an unprecedented degree of independence from DOS in terms of its architecture and internal operation. System stability was significantly increased by running multiple virtual machines under the OS. This reduced the impact of a single piece of software crashing. It also placed a layer of software between programs and the hardware, which made it less likely a software crash would cause the entire OS to fail.

Performance was drastically improved in Windows 95, because the OS supported execution of preemptively multitasked 32-bit applications in protected mode. The OS was also able to use faster processors, and it had practical memory support for up to 512MB of RAM. The minimum requirements called for just a 32-bit processor, 4MB of RAM, and 50MB of hard drive space. This meant the OS could be run on a wide number of computers that didn't meet the requirements of Windows NT.

As For Cairo, it was ultimately scrapped, but parts of its code were re-used in future OSes.

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Windows NT 4.0 (1996)

Microsoft updated Windows NT to version 4.0, which brought several enhancements. Windows NT 4.0 inherited its Start bar and GUI from Windows 95, which made the two OSes look similar. They were functionally different, however, and Windows NT 4.0 was much more server- and business-oriented.

Windows 95 was also much more user friendly than Windows NT 4.0; the latter did'nt include features such as Plug and Play (PnP) and Device Manager. Microsoft also used a new hardware abstraction layer on Windows NT 4.0 to reduce the likelihood of a system crash, but that also made installing new hardware more complicated. Further, just like Windows NT 3.1, Windows NT 4.0 had rather high system requirements. The OS could technically run with just 16MB of relatively expensive protected memory, but Microsoft recommended at least 32MB of RAM. It also required at least 110MB of hard drive space.

Although Windows NT 4.0 was outshined by Windows 95, it was fairly popular for businesses and servers. It was far more stable than Windows 95, and it was possible for the OS to run for several days or even weeks without crashing. Anyone who lived through the 1990s knows the same cannot be said for Windows 95.

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Windows 98 (1998)

Windows 98 was essentially a polished version of Windows 95. It included several new applications such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Chat, NetMeeting, and NetShow Player. The OS also included FrontPage Express and a Personal Web Server with a built-in Web Publishing Wizard that allowed you to develop, publish, and host websites on your home PC. The UI introduced in Windows 95 was integrated with Internet Explorer and given several new features, as well. Forward and back buttons were added to ease file navigation, and Microsoft made it easier to minimize and launch new windows.

Microsoft also wanted to make Windows 98 more stable than its predecessor. By implementing numerous tweaks to the kernel, system drivers, system registry, and system memory management, Microsoft was successful in making Windows 98 less prone to crashing. This also helped to improve overall performance.

Due to their user friendliness, affordability, and wide program support, Windows 95 and Windows 98 lead Microsoft to a place of dominance in the operating system market. Over the next few years, Microsoft further cement its dominance as numerous other companies went out of business.

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Windows 98 SE (1999)

Around the year 2000, Microsoft released four operating systems in quick succession. The first of these was Windows 98 SE, which was essentially just an updated version of Windows 98 with numerous bug fixes. This version also included a few new programs such as Windows Media Player, and it shipped with an updated version of Internet Explorer and the new DirectX 6.1 API. Windows 98 SE is considered by many to be the best DOS-based OS created by Microsoft. Although it is no longer supported by Microsoft itself, fans of the OS continue to support it with unofficial service packs that improve the operating system's feature set and stability.

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Windows 2000 (1999)

Windows 2000 was released just a few months after Windows 98 SE and less than two weeks before the year 2000. (It was originally planned for release in 2000--hence the branding.) Essentially, the design goal for Windows 2000 was to add all of Windows 98's user-friendly features and programs to an OS based on Windows NT.

Windows 2000 received updated versions of most Windows 98 programs, and it shipped with several new features not found on any prior OS. It had unprecedented PnP support for USB and internal hardware devices. Like Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 was also rather stable. Microsoft also introduced Windows File Protection with Windows 2000, as well as enhanced software debug tools. This helped to improve system security and further improve overall stability.

Although Windows 2000 had a client-oriented version complete with games and multimedia features, it was mostly targeted as a server solution. The OS required just 32MB of RAM and 1GB of free storage space, but Microsoft recommended that users have 128MB of RAM and a 5GB HDD. Unlike Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 required at least an Intel Pentium 133MHz x86 CPU. With these easy-to-meet hardware requirements, Windows 2000 could cover all but the low-end home market, which was handled by Windows 98 SE.

This would be the last time Microsoft would use a general-purpose OS to target both servers and client workstation machines.

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Windows Millennium Edition (2000)

Windows Millennium Edition (ME) was Microsoft's last DOS-based operating system and a direct successor to Windows 98 SE. To create Windows ME, Microsoft tweaked the Windows 98 SE kernel to limit software access to real-mode (DOS) in order to improve system stability and security, and to accelerate load times.

The UI was also updated to look similar to Windows 2000, and PnP and some other eatures were updated to have parity with Windows 2000. Ultimately, Windows ME proved to be a failure, and it may well be the least popular OS ever developed by Microsoft.

A key reason for Windows ME's failure in the market was its restricted real-mode access. Even in the year 2000, DOS-based software was heavily used; when Microsoft restricted real-mode access, it essentially removed backwards compatibility with a large number of DOS programs. Because of this issue, most people opted to either continue to use Windows 98 SE or switch to the more expensive Windows 2000.

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Windows XP (2001)

Windows XP was released in August 2001, and it was the fourth OS released by Microsoft in a relatively short two-year period. Microsoft developed Windows XP as both a consumer- and business-oriented solution that could handle any non-server aspect of the market. The OS was in many was an upgraded version of Windows 2000 with enhancements to essentially all aspects of the software, except the server utilities, which were not included with Windows XP.

It would take several pages to adequately cover all of the new features and improvements in Windows XP, but suffice it to say that the OS was more user-friendly and stable than its predecessors. It also further simplified the process of adding new hardware to a system.

Windows XP is arguably the most popular operating system ever produced. By the time Microsoft discontinued Windows XP, more than one billion copies had been sold. Later Microsoft operating systems struggled to pull users away from Windows XP, and it's actually still quite common to see the OS in use today, 15 years after its initial release.

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Windows XP 64-bit Edition (2002)

Although Windows XP was primarily a 32-bit OS, Microsoft did develop 64-bit versions of the operating system. Windows XP 64-bit Edition was released in 2002, but it supported only Intel Itanium 64-bit processors. This version of Windows XP had a relatively short life due to its limited CPU support, and it was discontinued in 2005.

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Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (2005)

Not long after Microsoft discontinued Windows XP 64-bit Edition, the company launched Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Although the two OSes have similar names, they support completely different types of processors. Whereas Windows XP 64-bit Edition was designed for Itanium processors, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition supports x86-64 CPUs from both AMD and Intel. This eased adoption of 64-bit hardware and software, as the systems were capable of executing essentially any 32-bit x86 software.

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Windows Vista (2006)

Windows Vista was designed as a successor to Windows XP, but it was ultimately unsuccessful in luring large numbers of users away from the aging OS.

Vista was designed with an updated UI and a wide number of other improvements. The most critical update to Windows Vista was its increased software security. Ironically, the increased security safeguards are in part what lead to Vista's downfall. Software was run in a non-administrator protected mode by default, which caused some programs to malfunction. When you attempted to change system settings or access more advanced system controls such as those found in Control Panel, Vista required you to verify (several times) that you wanted to continue as an administrator and alter the settings.

The idea was that the verification prevented users from accidentally giving malicious software access to the rest of the system, but it also made it more difficult for experienced users to adjust settings and fix issues.

Vista is also criticized for being overall slower than Windows XP due in part to the aforementioned security improvements.

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Windows 7 (2009)

Windows 7 was designed essentially as a heavily polished version of Windows Vista. Although Microsoft continued to push for increased security, the company also listened to feedback about Windows Vista and made Windows 7 less intrusive. You were still required to tell software to run in Administrator mode, but far less often. Performance was also significantly increased over Windows Vista and Windows XP. This performance gap is the most pronounced when you examine compute-intensive workloads that take advantage of new processor instructions found in Windows 7, such as Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX). Windows 7 was also more stable than its predecessors, which encouraged users to switch from the somewhat crash-prone Windows XP.

Windows 7 is regarded as Microsoft's second most successful OS of all time, behind XP. Although the OS struggled to pull users from Windows XP, it has had a steadily growing user base since its introduction and is widely used today.

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Windows 8 (2012)

With its dominance on the desktop secure, Microsoft began to push into other OS markets. It released a number of lightweight Windows-based OSes for mobile devices, and it later created Windows 8 to target both desktops and mobile devices. Windows 8 used a new UI that did away with the Start bar first introduced on Windows 95. Instead, the start screen on Windows 8 used a series of tiles.

When you launched most Windows programs in Windows 8, they opened in full-screen mode. This was somewhat surprising, as it was the first Windows OS to force programs to launch in full-screen mode since Windows 3.1. Although such a feature is desirable on a tablet, for example, it was poorly received on desktop PCs. It proved especially bothersome for multitasking. Windows 8 did manage to succeed in gaining a following among some users that found its tablet-inspired interface useful, but it was unable to surpass its predecessors in sales.

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Windows 8.1 (2013)

Microsoft released Windows 8.1 just one year after Windows 8; it was offered as a free upgrade to users with Windows 8. Windows 8.1 was nearly identical to Windows 8, but with a few changes that users had demanded. Microsoft returned the Start button to the desktop, and it also had the option to boot directly to the desktop instead of the start screen. These changes pleased users accustomed to the machinations of older versions of Windows. Even so, Windows 8.1 was unable to overtake Windows 7 in the OS market.

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Windows 10 (2015)

Windows 10 is Microsoft's most recent OS, with a wide range of improvements over its predecessor. Microsoft returned to a more traditional UI centered around a desktop view with a Start bar at the bottom of the screen. You can see some aspects of Windows 8/8.1 in Windows 10, such as the live tiles in the start menu, but Microsoft added numerous new features to Windows 10, as well. Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant, is built into the OS and can perform a number of functions by voice command, and Microsoft redesigned many of its applications in Windows 10 for Cortana compatibility. The OS also launched with a new web browser called Microsoft Edge, which is designed to be faster and easier to use than the older Internet Explorer browser.

There have been a few criticisms leveraged against Windows 10 in regards to user privacy and the amount of information gathered by Microsoft from the OS, but otherwise it has thus far been well received.

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Updated, 9/11/2016, 11:20am PT: Microsoft sent us a statement shortly after we published this article. The statement is below, and we've adjusted the article copy to reflect the new information.

“The jailbreak technique described in the researchers’ report on August 10 does not apply to desktop or enterprise PC systems. It requires physical access and administrator rights to ARM and RT devices and does not compromise encryption protections," said a Microsoft spokesperson.

Two security researchers, MY123 and Slipstream, uncovered multiple security vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Secure Boot policies on Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 devices. The flaws can now allow anyone to unlock devices that were supposed to load only the signed Windows operating system. Because Secure Boot can now be bypassed, it also means the devices are vulnerable to bootkit and rootkit types of malware, much like PCs were in the pre-Secure Boot era.

Windows’ “Golden Key" Backdoor

The researchers described the vulnerabilities as a “golden key” backdoor that Microsoft created, supposedly to allow developers to debug the devices. However, as expected with any type of backdoor, once it’s created, anyone that discovers it gets access whether they're supposed to or not.

This seems to be the point the researchers were also trying to make:

“A backdoor, which MS put in to Secure Boot because they decided to not let the user turn it off in certain devices, allows for Secure Boot to be disabled everywhere! You can see the irony. Also the irony in that MS themselves provided us several nice 'golden keys' (as the FBI would say) for us to use for that purpose,” wrote the security researchers on their website.“About the FBI: are you reading this? If you are, then this is a perfect real world example about why your idea of backdooring cryptosystems with a 'secure golden key' is very bad! Smarter people than me have been telling this to you for so long, it seems you have your fingers in your ears.You seriously don't understand still? Microsoft implemented a 'secure golden key' system. And the golden keys got released from MS['s] own stupidity. Now, what happens if you tell everyone to make a 'secure golden key' system? Hopefully you can add 2+2....,” they added.

A Backdoor That Can’t Be Closed

To make matters worse, according to the researchers, this isn’t even a backdoor that can be closed. That means Windows devices that have a locked Secure Boot, such as smartphones and tablets, may have become permanently vulnerable to physical unlocking or to bootkits and rootkits.

The security researchers said that it would be "impossible in practise [sp] for MS to revoke every bootmgr earlier than a certain point, as they'd break install media, recovery partitions, backups, etc."

Microsoft Hasn’t Tackled The Issue Head-On

The two researchers discovered the vulnerabilities in March of this year and alerted Microsoft about them soon after. However, according to the researchers, Microsoft didn’t seem too responsive to these bug reports, but it eventually awarded them the bug bounties in June. Microsoft then followed up with a few patches in July and August, in the latest "Patch Tuesday" update.

The security researchers noted that these patches don’t do much at all to resolve the issue. According to them, Microsoft blacklisted most of the Secure Boot policies that made the boot process vulnerable in the first place, but not all of them. Also, before the blacklist file is loaded, the boot process loads up a vulnerable Secure Boot policy, so the fix isn’t much of a fix right now.

On the latest Windows 10 build 1607 (Anniversary Update), an attacker would have to replace the existing boot manager with an older boot manager for the attack to work. That should be relatively easy, though, if the attacker has physical access to the device.

Windows 10 has been quite a controversial operating system for Microsoft, and unlike the situation with Windows 8, it hasn’t been because of an interface design choice. This time, the issue stems from Windows 10’s broader privacy policy, the collection of all sorts of user behavior data by default, and the company’s more aggressive upgrade tactics.

The Commission Nationale de l'informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), which is the French Data Protection Authority, served a formal notice to Microsoft because of what it believes are multiple violations of French and EU privacy laws by the company’s Windows 10 operating system.

Excessive Data Collection

The biggest violation, according to the agency, is that Microsoft collects excessive amounts of telemetry data about Windows Store usage, such as all the apps downloaded and installed on the system, as well as how much time the user spends using each one of them. The agency believes this sort of collection is “not necessary for the operation of the service.”

Weak (PIN) Security

The CNIL also accuses Microsoft of weak PIN security, because Windows uses the PIN to protect confidential data, including data related to payments made through the Microsoft account.

When Microsoft announced Windows Hello authentication protocol, and other Windows 10 security features, it was strange to see that one of authentication methods was a four-digit PIN number that didn’t have a limit to how many attempts you could try before the device would temporarily block access.

Microsoft’s security experts should know that a four digit PIN could be easily bruteforced (only a maximum of 10,000 attempts is necessary, which could take only minutes on fast hardware), so it’s unclear why the company hasn’t added any protection from bruteforce attempts.

iOS recently moved to six-digit PINs and it implements ever-bigger delays between successive PIN attempts, and users could even enable the phone to erase itself after ten failed attempts. Android has similar protections for PIN authentication.

Lack Of Individual Consent

The EU Data Protection laws usually require consent to be explicit, rather than implicit. The CNIL accuses Microsoft of enabling an advertising ID by default, which tracks browsing behavior for targeted advertising without specific permission from users.

No Option To Block Cookies

The agency also complained that Microsoft doesn’t alert users when it sends them cookies, and it also doesn’t give them the option to block those cookies.

The EU “cookie law” has been controversial, mainly because most sites will keep serving those cookies regardless and users will just have to agree to accept them if they want to use the site. This problem arises from a combination of lack of enforcement on EU’s part against companies that violate this law, which means the companies are under no pressure to change their behavior, and because the EU may not have defined the law itself in a way that makes sense for today’s internet.

Data Transfers On “Safe Harbor” Basis

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the Safe Harbor agreement between the EU and the U.S. in October last year. Since then, it has been essentially illegal to transfer data to the U.S. under the Safe Harbor agreement. In practice, many companies have continued to do it, mainly because the European Commission promised to draft up and implement an alternative as quickly as possible.

The CNIL is giving Microsoft three months to comply with all of its demands, or the company could face sanctions. However, if Microsoft complies, and in this case, that could mean transferring the data under the new Privacy Shield agreement, the EU would not sanction it over the issue.

"The purpose of the notice is not to prohibit any advertising on the company’s services but, rather, to enable users to make their choice freely, having been properly informed of their rights," said CNIL, the French Data Protection authority, in an official announcement."It has been decided to make the formal notice public due to, among other reasons, the seriousness of the breaches and the number of individuals concerned (more than ten million Windows users on French territory).For the record, the CNIL wishes to state that formal notices are not sanctions and no further action will be taken if the company complies with the Act within the specified timescale, in which case the notice proceedings will be closed and this decision will also be made public.Should Microsoft Corporation fail to comply with the formal notice within the specified timescale, the Chair may appoint an internal investigator, who may draw up a report proposing that the CNIL’s restricted committee responsible for examining breaches of the Data Protection Act issue a sanction against the company," added the agency.

Windows 10 has been with us for a little over eight months now, which means there are only about four months remaining to get a free upgrade from an older Windows operating system. As the clock counts down, Microsoft has begun to auto-schedule PCs to upgrade to Windows 10 with or without consent from end users.

When Microsoft created Windows 10, it tied in numerous monitoring and data collection tools. The operating system is capable of gathering your search history, web usage, Windows Store usage, details of what applications you use, voice recordings, emails, geographic information and just about anything else that is on your PC. This information is gathered in part for improving Windows-based services, but it is also used for market research and advertising purposes.

Because each user on Windows 10 increases the amount of advertising information available to Microsoft, which in turn enables Microsoft to earn more revenue from selling this data, it is not surprising that Microsoft wants everyone to use its new OS. This lead to Microsoft offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade to both Windows 7 and Windows 8, as users of either OS were unlikely to want to pay for a new OS on an already relatively new PC.

Still, there were numerous users that opted to stick with their older Windows OSes, but they were still subject to  annoying pop-ups trying to get you to move to Windows 10. Even after you close the pop-up, it returns after a few short hours, relentlessly probing you to upgrade.

Now, as we near the end of the free upgrade period, Microsoft’s malware-like upgrade system is becoming even more intrusive by autoscheduling upgrades to Windows 10. I noticed that the Windows 10 upgrade reminder pop-up on a Windows 7 PC was no longer asking me to upgrade; instead, it’s now informing me that it has already scheduled an update for May 17.

There are options to cancel the scheduled upgrade or to change the upgrade date, so the system isn’t exactly forcing you to upgrade if you catch it soon enough. The problem is that some users won’t see it in time to stop it; they’ll wake up one morning to use their PC and find it is stuck attempting to upgrade to Windows 10 or hogging bandwidth while Windows 10 downloads.

If you want to switch to Windows 10, now may be the best time to do so, as the free upgrade official expires July 29. It is possible, though, that in its drive to lure users onto Windows 10, Microsoft may continue to offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade. There has also been some talk that Microsoft may consider offering the Windows operating system as a service, where the OS would be free for anyone to use and the company would make all of its cash from advertising. Microsoft has not officially announced that it will do either, however, so for now you should proceed with the expectation that the free upgrade is available only for a short amount of time.

If you wish to stay with your older OS, however, you should check your Windows 10 update pop-up daily to ensure that it does not force you to upgrade without your knowledge.

Hopefully after July 29, Microsoft will deactivate this overbearing upgrade system, but until then, watchfulness and diligence is the only way to be sure your system does not upgrade to Windows 10 without your knowledge.

Follow Michael Justin Allen Sexton @EmperorSunLao. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Introduction & Q4 2015 Build Lineup

System Builder Marathon Q4 2015

Here are links to each of the five articles in this quarter’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon.

To enter the giveaway, please fill out this SurveyGizmo form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!

1. $1184 Gaming PC
2. $1055 Prosumer PC
3. $895 LAN Box PC
4. System Value Compared
5. $912 AMD LAN Box PC

System Value Compared

Performance remains a key component of the performance-per-price equation we call “Value”. Last quarter, we tried to squeeze as many high-performance parts into our $800 builds as possible, and every machine failed to provide convincing numbers due to the inadequacies of other components. My Prosumer PC sacrificed graphics power to pay for a better CPU, Eric’s Mini Gaming PC sacrificed CPU capability to pay for more graphics power, and Chris’ Gaming PC sacrificed a little of both to get a better performance balance across the complete benchmark set. Comparing results, we decided that $800 wasn’t enough to satisfy even the most frugal of performance enthusiasts. Cutting down to $650 or so might get us better value in an economy PC, but the extra $150 was just tempting us with high-end parts that other components couldn’t keep up with.

This time around, we spent more money to fix the performance shortcomings of each machine, with Chris taking the lead at $1184. That’s barely below the bottom of the high-end market, but it’s also pretty tough to find any low-end components on his list. Eric stuck closer to home in his $895 expenditure, yet departed completely from his previous AMD platform.

Similarities between certain components are neither coincidental nor collaborative, except for the expected collaboration between readers and writers. Readers of last quarter’s System Builder Marathon recommended that my replacement machine receive the graphics from Eric’s previous machine and the SSD from Chris’, and so it has. As those were also the best components of Eric’s and Chris’ previous builds, they felt no obligation to replace these. Each of us also tried our hand at overclocking, though Eric’s CPU and motherboard were “locked”.

I’ve only been using 1.30V to overclock Haswell CPUs, but I have no problem with the 1.39V setting Chris used to gain a 100MHz overclocking advantage. This is a competition after all, and he hasn’t shown any evidence of his CPU overheating. Real-world users must decide for themselves if the small boost in performance is worth the moderate increase in power consumption.

With the hardware set up, we’re ready to see how these machines run!

How We Test & Results

We’re still finishing development of our Windows 10 test suite, so this quarter we're still using our legacy Windows 8 benchmark set.

Synthetics

Chris gets top position in the charts this time, because we expect the most expensive computer to have the highest performance. The pressure to start out on top pays off in 3DMark and PCMark, but can his machine stay on top?

My $1055 dual-purpose Prosumer PC catches Chris’ machine in Sandra’s CPU tests, but only at stock speed. Chris overclocks his CPU 100MHz higher, while I was able to squeeze out a little more memory bandwidth.

Gaming

Eric and I use the same graphics card, but my CPU appears to have a slight gaming advantage when using single-monitor resolutions. Some games also respond to better memory performance, and I have a lead there as well. Is Eric’s $895 machine trending towards a top-resolution-only value win?

Using the same CPU as my $1050 machine, Chris’ Radeon R9 390 performs similarly to my GTX 970. The R9 390 does fall significantly behind at Arma 3’s Standard quality, but stages a comeback in triple-monitor Battlefield 4 tests.

The $1184 machine’s loss in Far Cry 3’s High quality single-monitor resolutions appear to point towards the legendary impact of Radeon graphics on CPU performance. More evidence comes from Eric’s mediocre scores at those same settings, since he has the same graphics card (but a weaker CPU compared to the $1055 PC).

Applications

The dual-core CPU of Eric’s $895 build loses badly to the quad-core chips in multi-threaded applications, but performs adequately in single-threaded audio encoding. Meanwhile, our Adobe After Effects workload shows that it really needs the extra RAM of my $1055 PC by punishing Chris’ otherwise-similar $1184 gamer.

Adobe Photoshop OpenCL filters treat us to a wide range of configuration data points, preferring my GTX 970 to Chris’ R9 390 and my faster CPU to Eric’s slower model.

Power, Heat & Efficiency

At stock settings, Chris’ CPU uses much less load power than my identical CPU, even though my entire machine has lower idle energy draw than his. Rather than confirm that his Prime95 configuration had both four threads and small FFTs, I’ll hand him a small concession. After all, his GPU load and combined load numbers are terrible.

Even without asking Chris to retest his CPU load wattage, our efficiency chart hands my $1055 machine an enormous “green” victory.

Value & Conclusion

My build takes top honors in the overall value chart for the third quarter in a row, but it’s only the second time I’ve competed against Chris and Eric, but we can see these guys sneaking up, so my future as a builder may not be as triumphant.

Moreover, Eric saved $20 on his OS by getting the download version, then spent an extra $4.46 on a thumb drive to allow him to send the OS to the winner without requiring the winner to download it a second time. And he didn’t even include the price of the thumb drive in his build. But he’s not the worst offender.

You see, I was the only builder who didn’t include an adequate amount of storage space. Both Eric and Chris added 1TB hard drives to theirs, even though secondary storage doesn’t put any points into the performance analysis. To top it off, I used a $20 case. Platform price-to-performance is really the only fair way to compare the value of these machines, since Eric and I scratched $20 and $100 off what we should have respectively paid if we wanted to put all three builds in the same class.

When we compare these machines fairly, my 99% baseline (of the total average) value is a dead match to Eric’s. Only by overclocking am I able to retain my victory against a system with a locked CPU. And that is fair, because the extra amount I paid for overclocking capability is in the calculation.

If we only look at the 5760x1080 tests, Eric proves that he’s the only builder with top gaming value. Chris’ gaming machine even falls behind my own dual-purpose build, but that’s because it’s actually a slightly more expensive dual-purpose build in spite of its name.

Nobody ever said that every System Builder Marathon needed to be a fair competition. We could all be building for different purposes, and at different prices, as we were a year ago. The Platform Performance Value chart shows that my competitors are quickly progressing towards best-overall-value victories, and the final chart shows that Eric nailed his gaming-value theme.

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware, covering Cases, Cooling, Memory and Motherboards. Follow him on Twitter.

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Introduction

And Thecus was the first company with appliances based on a new class of Windows Storage Server software, which was designed for small businesses looking for affordable, cloud-connected network-attached storage.

Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials fits between the limited WSS Workgroup and more fully featured WSS Standard software from Microsoft. Essentials uses Windows Storage Spaces like the other WSS versions (that's a fancy name for software-defined storage for SMB users). But in reality, Storage Spaces simply fills in a few more check boxes than the Windows software RAID we've had for years.

Of course, adding functionality is a good thing. Storage Spaces brings SSD caching to software RAID, though it only works in RAID 10. RAID 0, RAID 5 and RAID 6 were enhanced with DRAM buffers, but when you peel away the fancy name and write data out of cache, the performance is still reminiscent of Windows software RAID.

That isn't to say WSS doesn't have a place in the market. Despite how easy NAS companies try to make Linux configuration, Windows remains more accessible. No matter when you were born, there's a good chance that Microsoft's baby was the operating system you learned first. The name alone is a familiar greeting when you turn on a PC. People know it, use it and, regardless of how much of a pain it can be, love it. Just look at the backlash Microsoft received after trying to change it.

Technical Specifications

The Thecus W5000 is a five-bay unit designed to bring Windows Storage Server features down to an affordable price.

MORE: All Storage ArticlesMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

The W5000 is nearly identical to Thecus' N5550 NAS in both hardware specifications and design. Of course, the W5000 moves away from the Thecus OS based on Linux and moves to Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials on a dedicated hard disk.

The heart of the system is an Intel D2550 Atom processor running at 1.86GHz. Backing the SoC is 2GB of DDR3-1600 memory, just like you'd find on the N5550 Linux-based system. Microsoft's WSS license allows for up to 4GB, and it'd be easy enough for you to add another 2GB DDR3-1600 module to augment Thecus' factory configuration.

At Computex 2015, Thecus released a new W5000-series model that coexists with the W5000 we're testing today. The W5000+ does, in fact, ship with 4GB of system memory, and shares all of the same features. We think the additional 2GB is necessary, given that the W5000 runs with up to 80 percent of its capacity utilized before adding additional software features.

The primary system I/O comes from two gigabit Ethernet ports that can be teamed in the WSS operating system. Easy NIC Teaming is a primary feature in Windows Server 2012 R2, and the technology trickles down to the lower-cost WSS operating systems as well. Expansion comes from four USB 2.0 ports on the back of the NAS, along with a single eSATA port. USB 3.0 is only on the front of the NAS, letting you charge mobile devices and back-up external storage products easily.

The W5000 ships with a 500GB Seagate SSHD that hosts the Windows operating system. The drive is partitioned into two sections: one 32GB chunk for the OS and the other in which to build a non-redundant storage volume. Redundant storage comes from the five hot-swappable drive bays on the system's front. Add drives as you need them, but WSS requires at least three disks for redundant storage. RAID 0, RAID 5, RAID 6 and RAID 10 are all supported, though we'd expect most folks to tap RAID 5 with three to five drives installed.

Software Features

Almost all of the software features come from Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials, but Thecus does add a few value-added bits as well.

First, let's look at differences between the three Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 versions to find where Essentials fits in. Microsoft broke up a lot of the features to make Essentials a product with a real need.

All of the Storage Server variants are based on Windows Server 2012 R2. That right there costs roughly $550, and the Datacenter version sells for thousands. The three storage-specific versions bring many of their features down to embedded appliances at much lower prices.

If you haven't used a Microsoft Windows Server OS, many of its capabilities may be new to you. For the most part, the features list is standard in Windows environments, but desktop users rarely need or come across these specific options. Windows Server looks and feels like regular desktop Windows, but there are some areas you'll need to explore and read about in order to configure them.

Server 2012 R2 introduced data deduplication (dedupe) to the Windows storage environment. The feature is included in the Essentials version, and it's amazing. In brief, the technology searches for similar files and remove duplicates. When you open a folder, the data is still there for you to click on, open, run or whatever you want to do with it. After all, the information was never really deleted. It's just combined to save disk space and available in both places. Dedupe incurs a lot of CPU overhead, so we recommend trying different settings to find the right balance for your workload.

Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

Thecus' W5000 ships with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials for $526 (via Newegg, at the time of this writing). The N5550 model with equivalent hardware, but with Thecus' award-winning Linux-based OS, costs just $389. You're paying a heavy tax for Windows and the SSHD needed to host it.

All Thecus NAS products include a two-year warranty. We would love to see NAS makers increase warranty coverage, but two years is normal for this product group. Most NAS products are deployed for much longer. We rarely hear of failures in the field. In our own experience, NAS failures come from easy-to-replace fans and power supplies, rather than the main components that make up the heart of the system.

The W5000 ships with a deployment guide, power cable, screws for mounting drives and a single Ethernet cable. And again, the system includes a Seagate SSHD drive loaded with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials.

A Closer Look

The system should arrive with an outer box that contains the Thecus W5000 package (shown above) inside.

The packaging gives you useful information to help guide your purchasing decision in a retail environment. While we'd love to see even more detail conveyed on the box, Thecus' products are mainly available online. B&H does carry Thecus products in its retail stores, though.  

Thecus includes an installation guide, Ethernet cable, power cable, screws for mounting drives and four drive sled keys.

Thecus has used this same chassis for several years on a number of models, including the current N5550 with its Linux OS. This is the company's go-to five-bay enclosure for lower-cost NAS products, but it does leave a little to be desired in the security department. The front door opens without a key lock. Anyone walking by can just press the middle-right edge, open the door and turn the system off. Though the drive sleds are lockable, we'd like to see a lock on that front door as well to keep unauthorized fingers out.

The front panel is straightforward and clutter-free. Power and reset buttons on the bottom are separated from the display control buttons. A single USB 3.0 port on the front of the system lets you charge a phone or back-up data from an external storage device. Status LEDs show power, network and disk activity.

Vents on the side of the chassis keep the internals cool through convection. The low-power Intel Atom processor is passively cooled, as is the chipset.

A large, 120mm fan blows air across the installed drives. Its size means the fan can spin slower than a smaller one to move the same amount of air. As a result, the configuration is extremely quiet, unlike some NAS systems that almost need to live in a closet.

The HDMI and VGA outputs give you the option to plug in a monitor for configuration purposes. The four USB ports support keyboards and mice, so it's possible to use the system as a desktop. We wouldn't recommend it though, on account of the machine's 2GB of system RAM.

Seagate's speedy SSHD does help with performance somewhat. If you're not already familiar with SSHDs, they're essentially a marriage of traditional hard disks and tiny SSDs used for caching. Small SSDs are slow and hard drives are slow. When the two are paired, they are still fairly slow. But the benefit of an SSHD is that it utilizes specialized algorithms to keep commonly-used information in the NAND cache, improving performance beyond what a mechanical disk could achieve on its own.

Thecus' system offers two other notable I/O features. The first is eSATA. We normally don't care too much about whether that interface is present. Recently, however, I needed to add more storage to a NAS system that didn't have eSATA, and went mad after finding the system lacked eSATA support. Sometimes, features are not always used right away, but over time, they become indispensable.

Hopefully, that's also the case with the analog audio I/O on the back of Thecus' W5000. You get connections for a microphone, line in and audio out. But you'll have to fiddle with Windows Server 2012 R2 to get the audio functions working, since DirectX isn't enabled.

Thecus gives you access to a vacant memory slot for a performance upgrade. It also gives you the option to swap out the SSHD for an SSD if you'd like. Simply remove three thumbscrews on the back of the chassis to pop off the top cover.

Inside, there's an mSATA slot for solid-state storage. This option goes unused by default, but it's possible to convert the system over to a SATA 6Gb/s SSD, which could be useful for adding SSD cache to Windows Storage Spaces, if only Microsoft allowed SSD cache to work in RAID 5. Sadly, the feature only works with RAID 10 in Storage Spaces.

Software Interface

On the surface, Windows Server 2012 R2 and its derivatives look similar to Windows 8. The Start menu is missing, but you still have desktop icons and a Recycle Bin. Moreover, this operating system can run all of your Windows applications.

The system has a Dashboard feature that guides users through configuration, settings, most used options, users and user groups.

You also get access to Microsoft's Pinpoint marketplace. Think of this as the Microsoft Store for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. You can navigate to Pinpoint through this link. A few applications are found here, and you can rate and review the software. It's a nice start, but the selection is limited compared to the number of add-ons Thcus makes available for its Thecus OS, based on Linux.

Windows Server offers an easy backup feature that works seamlessly with other Windows-based PCs on your network.

Server 2012 R2 gives you access to the NAS from remote locations and uses DLNA to share media. BranchCache is a nice feature that syncs files and folders from the NAS to other systems.

Moving away from Dashboard, the Server Manager lets you adjust other settings. This is also where you dive into Storage Spaces.

Windows has built-in roles and features as well. Some are easy to set up and others are more complicated. If you've never built an Active Directory before, then you'll probably want to read up on it first. Other options, like configuring the system to act as a DHCP server, are much easier. Fortunately, Microsoft offers a number of extensive walk-through articles to get you started. And if you don't want to mess with tracking down an official how-to, there is always a video on YouTube showing the easiest way to perform an action.

Storage Spaces let you build pools of storage, arrays and even SSD cache accelerators. RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD are all options, though given the number of drive bays on the W5000, we recommend RAID 5 as a single volume.

iSCSI works flawlessly as both a target and an initiator. You can share storage with other PCs or even import additional space from other servers.

As your WSS knowledge advances, you'll be able to make configuration changes using PowerShell, the modern equivalent of a command-line interface.

For the rest of us, there are always apps, scripts and add-ons that resolve Windows' shortcomings. Sadly, we haven't found an application that fixes the low write speeds you are about to read about, though.

Sequential Data Transfer By Size

Thecus' W5000 delivers acceptable sequential read performance at larger block sizes. However, the system trails its competition, including Seagate's NAS Pro and Western Digital's My Cloud DL4100, both of which also employ low-power Atom processors.

Windows Storage Spaces won't give you the same level of performance as hardware RAID, FreeBSD or Linux-based operating systems. As an example, I recently built a large dual-Xeon server with 32 mixed SSDs and hard drives. In Windows, its write speed hovers around 700 MB/s. And once it's outside of buffers and cache, performance drops to less than 100 MB/s. In Linux, the same hardware delivers over 2000 MB/s. WSS suffers a real performance deficit when writing data.

In today's test, we see that same low sequential write performance outside of the buffers. Our benchmark takes place after the system has exhausted its cache, so we see real disk performance in RAID 5 built using Storage Spaces.

Random Data Transfer By Size

Surprisingly, WSS delivers good random read performance, allowing the W5000 to outperform some systems with more powerful processors and more system memory.

Random writes lag behind, though as you can see, most of the systems deliver erratic performance from their caching algorithms. We are in the process of transitioning testing to full steady state, which will smooth out the graphs.

The W5000 test was identical to the others in today's review. In steady state, however, random write performance drops even further.

Sequential Performance By Queue Depth

With two larger block sizes, we measure sequential performance at increasing queue depths. In the read tests, Thecus' W5000 is able to saturate a gigabit Ethernet port.

The sequential write tests at the same two large block sizes show that, even when we increase the number of outstanding commands, performance continues to trail the Linux systems.

Random Performance

Random data reads scale well as the queue depth increases. Incidentally, this is affected by the cache. If you read our SSD reviews, you already understand how caching exerts its influence on the performance of storage hardware. Even without Storage Spaces' tiering, WSS makes use of available DRAM to increase I/O performance.

Different products use cache differently. Here, we see Thecus' N5810Pro caching random data writes. The heavy waves demonstrate the appliances strong performance when data is in the cache, and lower performance after a cache flush when information is not ready to be read back. A cache miss, demonstrated by the N5810Pro at a queue depth of 128 in the 8KB chart, can cause very slow performance.

The W5000 delivers smooth random write speeds, though its IOPS are troubling. A result of less than 100 IOPS with both 4KB and 8KB blocks is not good.

Sequential Mixed Data Sweep

Applications like video editing, which pull files from the NAS, involve reading and writing data at the same time. SATA devices are inherently handicapped in these workloads because they communicate over a half-duplex interface. SAS is full-duplex, but most of us can't afford to run arrays of expensive, hot-running SAS-based disks. Mounting an iSCSI share in a desktop allows the host PC to see the resource as a local drive. The NAS can then work around the limitations of SATA with cache.

That works out great when you have sufficient read and write performance to sustain solid mixed workload numbers. Unfortunately, the W5000 doesn't fare particularly well writing data, and in this sequential chart, you can see the metric is mired as a result.

Random Mixed Data Sweep

This test starts with 100 percent random reads and progresses to 100 percent writes in 10 percent increments. Most of the contenders begin with nearly identical random read performance at a queue depth of one. It's the other end of the scale where we see large differences. The W5000 lands at the bottom of the pack when we look at 100 percent 4KB writes.

Single-Client SMB Performance

With the synthetic tests completed, we turn to real-world performance in the applications you might use on a daily basis. These tests run over SMB/CIFS, the most common use for a NAS appliance in the home or small office.

When we read data back from the W5000, its performance looks good. Conversely, any time we need to write data to the W5000, performance drops off rapidly.

Multi-Client SMB Performance

The multi-client test is my favorite for showing small business users what to expect from shared storage in a networked environment. This benchmark uses real Microsoft Office software and 120 gigabit Ethernet ports. The workload doesn't push full gigabit bandwidth at any single port, similar to a real office environment. The throughput component is naturally important, but the average response time chart holds more weight since it is directly tied to to user experience.

Thecus and Microsoft position systems like the W5000 as small office dream machines with that familiar Windows smell that anyone can configure. Sadly, the performance we measure doesn't fit the needs of modern offices, where system backups, spreadsheets and other data are managed directly on the NAS for redundant storage.

Single Client iSCSI Workloads

In this set of workloads, we use the appliances in an iSCSI configuration, where the NAS appears as a local drive on the host. Some of the tests are more home-oriented than office, but the mix of traces makes this benchmark universal for small servers that generally see a wide range of uses.

The W5000 performs well in a read-centric environment. After all, home and small office users typically read more data than they write. More users create more intensive workloads, generating an increasing number of writes.

Conclusion

At CES in 2007, Bill Gates announced Windows Home Server. Before the end of that same year, products were on retail shelves. The software was intended to be a solution for home users' problems with multiple PCs. Enterprise features were wrapped in the familiar Windows shell, and customers received easy access to file sharing, automated backups, remote access and print server sharing.

In 2011, Microsoft updated its software package, though it fizzled out along with dedicated home theater PCs. Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 was the next step in the evolution of a product that never really caught on. Indeed, WSS looks great on paper. In practice, though, it leaves much to be desired.

Microsoft is trying to compete with a free operating system and still trying to make a profit. Thecus and its competition have spent time and money developing their own custom Linux-based operating environments, and now they have refined implementations. Thecus' own solution is very efficient, imposes low overhead and is intuitive to use. Furthermore, the Thecus OS lets you transfer files faster than WSS.

Granted, Windows is a piece of cake to navigate for anyone who grew up using it. That's the idea behind sacrificing performance for familiarity. But WSS 2012 R2 is not like Windows 7 or even Windows 8. Users of the desktop OS don't normally set up Active Directory, advanced permissions or most of the features highlighted in WSS. Familiarity gets tossed out the window when Windows users are faced with the complexity of a storage server.

After using both operating systems for years, I think the standard Thecus OS is easier to work with than Microsoft's version. And I'm no seasoned Linux veteran. The last time I installed Linux on a desktop, it took me two weeks just to get everything set up correctly.

Sadly, Thecus bought into the Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Standard hype. Hopefully, Microsoft kicked back something on the Windows license fees. The company now has nine models listed. All three SOHO/SMB models were revisited within their first six months of availability to address the hungry OS' need for more DRAM.

If you are looking for a low-cost NAS that is easy to work with, offers enough power to run applications and is hassle-free, Thecus' N5550 is a good choice. The Windows equivalent that we tested today costs roughly $150 more, offers fewer resources to run applications and provides a less satisfying user experience.

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Introduction

"In a Class of Its Own"

This is the marketing slogan that AMD keeps feeding us. Over and over, the company tells us just how great it is to game at 4K using a small form factor platform. Believe us AMD, we know. The Tom's Hardware audience certainly appreciates the technical acumen that goes into generating big frame rates in compact enclosures.

We're certainly not surprised to see AMD emphasize the highest resolutions with its newest products. As far back as last year’s FirePro W8100 and W9100, AMD declared high-res 3D to be the killer feature distinguishing it from the competition. The thought process was fairly simple. If you can't beat the other team in a straight-up battle, find a way around them.

So what does all of that have to do with the launch of AMD's Radeon R9 Nano? As we saw in theory when we teased the Fiji GPUs, and then in practice when we reviewed the Fury X, the graphics processor's design shines particularly at high resolutions.

And it’s easy to explain why: a quick look at the Fiji block diagram illustrates the chip's four shader engines, similar to Hawaii's configuration. Each has its own geometry processor and rasterizer, as well as four render back ends that can process up to 16 pixels per clock each. Fiji distinguishes itself by increasing the number of compute units (CUs) per shader unit from 11 to 16. With 64 shaders per CU, each engine ends up with 1024 shaders, or 4096 shaders total. AMD stuck with four texture filter units per CU, which means that there’s a total of 256 per shader engine, as opposed to Hawaii’s 176.

Perhaps you're wondering if the lack of change in the front end bottlenecks the back? We got our answer back when we reviewed the Radeon R9 Fury X. That's why Fiji fares better at high resolutions, but runs into trouble against the competition at Full HD.

The Form Factor as the Next Big Thing?

With our guesses as to AMD's newly-discovered focus on Ultra HD out of the way, we turn to the company's most recent obsession: compact high-end graphics cards for the mini-ITX form factor. There’s no real competition in this space. The nearest threat is Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 Mini, which has trouble with high resolutions due to its memory subsystem.

If there’s one thing that Nvidia and its board partners have completely missed, it’s high-end graphics designed for small PCs (though that doesn't stop companies like Falcon Northwest from dropping GeForce GTX 980 Tis into mini-ITX builds). The HBM that AMD takes advantage of on its single-GPU flagship is also a boon for the Radeon R9 Nano. Still, the GeForce GTX 970 Mini shows us that a small card from Nvidia isn't out of the question, even if GDDR5 makes layout more of a challenge.

Without a diminutive 980 variant planned (that we know of), the gap in Nvidia’s line-up is exactly what AMD wants to capitalize on, delivering high performance at demanding settings without generating a ton of heat. As it turns out, AMD's Radeon R9 Nano is a great piece of hardware; there's really nothing like it out there. That’s probably why AMD is setting its price at an eye-popping $649.

A lack of competition shapes our testing. Really, we're forced to narrow our focus to the Radeon R9 Nano versus Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 Mini, which is close in size but not as fast.

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In addition to our usual test system, we’re using the X-Hardware X-Trem 4790 for operating temperature, power consumption and noise measurements. This PC case fits well with our test setup, and employs AMD’s preferred mini-ITX form factor.

AMD’s Target: Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 Mini

We have a number of mini-ITX graphics cards in the lab, but again, only Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 Mini is in a similar league. More specifically, we’re using the Gigabyte’s GTX 970 OC (Mini). The factory-overclocked board can be further tuned by another 150MHz or so. Even at those clock rates, it stays stable, its power consumption remains reasonable and the card doesn’t sound like a jet engine.

Its performance is acceptable for 1920x1080 and often for 2560x1440 as well. In light of its reasonable $320 street price, Nvidia's card actually sits pretty. But is 3840x2160 viable with just 3.5GB of usable memory? We’ll have to see about that. The plan is to test with and without optimized overclocking. In the end, though, it'll be at a disadvantage no matter what.

Gigabyte's GTX 970 OC Mini has the same power target as the reference card: 145W. We managed to raise it by 12 percent, giving us two test points (the original stock frequencies with a stable GPU Boost clock rate of 1151MHz and the manually overclocked version at 1301MHz+).

The cooler is surprisingly strong, but can’t overcome physics. Consequently, it gets loud above 160W. This is why we’re using the original BIOS, without any additional changes to the power target. Usually, end users won’t mess with that either. There are two DVI outputs (one combined with an analog connector), three DisplayPort connectors and one HDMI 2.0 port found on the back of the card. The latter is a feature that is both noticeably and painfully absent from AMD's Radeon R9 Nano with its 4K emphasis.

We’ll find out later how the small Nvidia graphics card fares against AMD’s Radeon R9 Nano, which is supposedly "In a Class of Its Own." Let’s first take a look at AMD’s new offering, though.

Detailed Overview

Let’s get to the main attraction: AMD's Radeon R9 Nano. The company made a lot of promises when it announced this card. It’s supposed to be smaller than most air-cooled graphics cards, but only slightly smaller than the water-cooled Radeon R9 Fury X. In addition, the Nano is claimed to be a more efficient implementation.

Before we get to our benchmarks, let’s go over the new card's specifications:

Small, compact and air cooled. AMD’s Radeon R9 Nano has enough confidence to forgo a backplate. Its shroud is almost entirely free of plastic and reminiscent of the Fury X’s. This is just for looks, though. There’s no actual rubberized removable cover. You'd only think so from a distance.

The exploded view shows the card’s components, from the PCA to the aforementioned cover.

As with AMD's Fury X, this card is especially compact due to the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) stacked on the interposer. What’s new is the stabilization plate that makes contact with the voltage converters and carries their cooler. The VRM’s waste heat is transferred to this cooler via its own heat pipe. The sink doesn’t actually connect to the GPU cooler, but should still be able to take advantage of the fan’s airflow.

The graphics card’s design shows us that the GPU’s power supply is composed of just four phases. The included coils are also just standard fare, rather than low-vibration models.

The GPU cooler has a hybrid design. Instead of using a heat sink and pipes, there’s a large vapor chamber in the center and two massive heat pipes that extend to the ends of the thermal solution. This is an interesting new design, and we’re eager to test how well it works.

The cooling fins are aligned horizontally. This assures that at least some of the heated air is blown out the back via the slot cover.

The top and bottom of the graphics card are closed. This means hot air that doesn’t exit through the slot cover is blown out the opposite side and into your case. An eight-pin PCIe power connector sits right next to the opening. We can already tell you that one auxiliary connector is more than enough for AMD's Radeon R9 Nano.

As compact as the Nano may be, you need to add at least 3cm to its length as a result of that power connector pointing out the back. If all else fails, an angled adapter (available from any modding store) could save the day. It would have been great if AMD included connectors at the top and front of the card, giving builders a choice of which one to use.

There aren’t a lot of connectors on the back of AMD's Radeon R9 Nano. You get three DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI port. In light of the R9 Nano’s focus on high-resolution gaming, we’re really disappointed the company didn't update its display controller to include HDMI 2.0 support. Except for those Ultra HD TV set owners who want to fiddle with active adapters, 30Hz is all you'll get.

How We Tested

Test System

Since the specifications of our 4.2GHz Intel Core i7-5930K-based test system haven’t changed, the following table is just an overview. The only notable change is our update from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, keeping us current and enabling the adoption of DirectX 12.

Comparison of the Tested Graphics Cards

AMD’s Radeon R9 Fury X is set as the top of the field to allow for a direct comparison to the new Nano. A factory-overclocked MSI GeForce GTX 980 Gaming 4G should have approximately the same performance level as the Nano across the benchmarks and resolutions. Next, MSI's R9 390X Gaming 8G is expected to provide similar performance as well, and it sports 8GB of memory, which is the largest amount in this test line-up.

Finally, we round out the field with a Gigabyte GTX 970 OC Mini. It actually competes twice, once at stock settings and once after being manually overlocked. Still, this smaller graphics card should be considered a step down in performance. Then again, it’s the fastest out there for mini-ITX.

Benchmark Settings and Resolutions

The benchmarks are set to taxing detail presets, since that's what we expect someone who buys a graphics card in this price range to do. In order to demonstrate differences between the cards at progressively higher resolutions, we’re using Full HD (1920x1080), QHD (2560x1440) and Ultra HD/4K (3840x2160).

QHD is a good compromise between the two other resolutions. We include it since even the Radeon R9 Nano isn’t always able to provide playable frame rates at 4K. In the end, most people would rather turn down their settings than endure choppy playback. The QHD results are a good indicator for this. By and large, QHD at high settings runs about the same as 4K with low settings.

Frame Rates and Frame Time Variance: What’s New?

We completely updated how we represent frame time variance. In the end, percentages just don’t tell the whole story for longer benchmarks, which can have very different sections when it comes to rendering speed. We’ve settled on two ways of representing the results. First, we show how long it takes to render each individual frame, which tells you a lot more than bar graphs or an FPS graph that’s based on averages. Second, we plot two different evaluations of each frame’s time.

We start by normalizing each frame time by subtracting the average of the overall benchmark’s frame times. This puts all the curves for all the graphics cards at a common average on the x-axis. This allows us to more easily spot outliers. After doing this, we assess the curve’s smoothness, which is to say that we’re looking at the relative differences in render time between the frames. This helps us to find subjectively annoying stuttering or jumps more easily without having the actual frame time influence the curve.

Power Consumption Measurement Methodology

We measure the power consumption of these graphic cards as described in The Math Behind GPU Power Consumption And PSUs. It's the only way we can achieve readings that facilitate sound conclusions about efficiency. We need two oscilloscopes in a master-slave setup to be able to record all eight channels at the same time (4x Voltage, 4x Current). We measure each PCIe power connector separately.

We use a riser card on the PCIe slot (PEG) to measure power consumption directly on the motherboard for the 3.3 and 12V rails. The riser card was built specifically for this purpose.

Infrared Measurement with the Optris PI450

We’ve identified a method to confirm what our sensors tell us and to spice up our usual temperature graphs a bit in the form of the PI450 by Optris. This piece of equipment is an infrared camera that was developed specifically for process monitoring. It allows us to shoot both videos and still shots at a good resolution, providing us with not just the the peak temperatures, but also a good view of any weak points in the graphics card's design.

The Optris PI450 supplies real-time thermal images at a rate of 80Hz. The pictures are sent via USB to a separate system, where they can be recorded as video. The PI450’s thermal sensitivity is 40mK, making it ideal for assessing small gradients.

Noise

As always, we use a high-quality microphone placed perpendicular to the center of the graphics card at a distance of 50cm. The results are analyzed with Smaart 7.

The ambient noise when our readings were recorded at night never rose above 26 dB(A). This was noted and accounted for separately during each measurement. The setup was calibrated on a regular basis as well.

Results: The Witcher 3 And GTA V

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

AMD’s Radeon R9 Nano is slower than the Fury X, of course. It also clearly loses to the factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 980 at 1920x1080. This changes as the resolution increases, though. At UHD, the Radeon R9 Nano comes in slightly ahead of its competition from Nvidia. However, none of the graphics cards deliver a really smooth gaming experience at the highest resolution.

The Radeon R9 Nano’s main competitor (at least according to AMD), Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC), lands well behind the R9 390X. Its frame rates are simply unplayable at 4K. This changes if you're willing to use lower settings or step down to QHD, where the card fares just well enough to provide a playable experience. Full HD doesn't present as much of a challenge; we don't observe any issues at that resolution.

Now lets take a look at the frame times, which are a lot more interesting than the FPS curve with its per-second averages. The GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC)’s longer times between frames and substantial jumps, which can be perceived as frame drops, are easy to spot. Manually overlocking the card makes a big difference in consistency compared to its stock version.

In the last graph, the frame render times were represented by the vertical position. After subtracting the averages from each card's frames, the curves end up on top of each other. This makes it easier to see the differences between them.

We’re now looking at smoothness by comparing the individual frames to each other and plotting the differences (that is, the time variance between individual frames). This makes it even easier to spot larger stutters and jumps.

Grand Theft Auto V

GTA V is one of those games that tends to stutter, or even get stuck, when there’s too much happening at once in the open world. Although this can be difficult to identify when you're looking at average frame rates, let's start with those numbers for our three test resolutions.

There are no surprises to speak of. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 980 can’t be beat until it hits 4K. Again, we see why AMD focuses so much on that resolution.

When it comes to frame times, the Radeon R9 390X doesn’t do very well. Just remember that the individual frame render times provide a general overview, and mostly show how much the graphics cards are stressed.

Taking a look at the GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC)’s normalized curve at Ultra HD, it quickly becomes apparent that AMD’s graphics cards encounter much higher frame time variance. This isn’t a new finding, and it does mirror our subjective impressions that the game runs more smoothly on Nvidia hardware.

Jumping straight to the Ultra HD graph, we see that AMD's frame time variances are getting worse. We put the GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) front and center here again to show the difference.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) might not be able to handle Ultra HD at maximum settings, but the experience is smoother and more balanced all the way up to QHD. Then again, GTA V is somewhat of a negative outlier. AMD’s driver team should really invest some time here.

Results: Metro Last Light And Bioshock Infinite

Metro Last Light

Let’s take a look at a classic game that's so demanding we can't help but retain it as a benchmark. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 980 comes out ahead in Metro Last Light across all resolutions, including UHD. The Radeon R9 Nano’s performance might not be good enough for a win, but it is ample for playable frame rates at 3840x2160.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini does surprisingly well, beating a factory-overclocked Radeon R9 390X all the way to our highest test resolution. This came as a surprise to us. Old though it may be, Metro just isn't well-optimized on AMD's hardware, it seems. At least the performance we're reporting is playable.

The Radeon R9 Nano’s anything-but-smooth (red) curve at Ultra HD shows the strict power consumption limit in action. AMD's limit results in a varying clock rate, which keeps the card from doing better in this benchmark. The results are still alright, especially when you consider the card's low power consumption.

Normalization via the frame time averages doesn’t really show anything new. The different frame render times attributable to a constantly changing core frequency are easy to spot.

The last graph gives us the bottom line: neither AMD's Radeon R9 Nano nor any other graphics card encounter extreme spikes. They all stay below a calm 5ms of variance between any two frames.

Bioshock Infinite

It’s striking that the factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 980 dominates the Radeon R9 Nano across all resolutions. Even Nvidia’s smaller GeForce 970 Mini (OC) with its 3.5GB of usable graphics memory scores points by leading the Radeon R9 390X and its 8GB of GDDR5 across each resolution, including Ultra HD. By the way, all of the graphics cards we're testing provide playable frame rates at 4K. This is an uncommon and certainly welcome sight.

The frame render times don’t show AMD or Nvidia pulling ahead, so the competition ends up fairly balanced. The only exception is AMD's Radeon R9 390X, which shows more spikes overall and gets worse as resolution increases.

After normalizing the graph with the help of each card’s average frame time, the above observation becomes even easier to see. AMD's boards are worse when it comes to frame render time variance, but the Radeon R9 390X is the only card to do badly enough for it to be perceivable during gameplay.

Our smoothness analysis confirms these findings as well. The Radeon R9 390X’s performance is worse in the middle of the benchmark. The culprit is found in the high overclock all the way to 1100MHz. If the clock rate is set to 1000MHz, then frame time variance decreases significantly. We reproduced this behavior in the lab.

Results: Tomb Raider And Battlefield 4

Tomb Raider

This AMD title should be a home run for the red team. What we've seen previously happens over again at Full HD, and by the time we hit Ultra HD, AMD does end up in the lead. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) performs particularly badly in Tomb Raider. The resulting frame rates just aren’t playable.

The frame render times promise an interesting analysis, since we can already see that the Nvidia graphics cards demonstrate very different results at higher resolutions.

This phenomenon affects the normalized graph as well, clearly showing that the curve is anything but smooth at Ultra HD.

If you thought that was bad, take a look at the frame-to-frame variance analysis at 4K. It's a horror story across the board for Nvidia. The GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC)’s performance in particular is a nightmare.

Tomb Raider might not be the most taxing title out there, and it might even look dated by today’s standards. But it’s the first game that really shows the GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC)’s memory limit, which really impacts performance in a negative way at 4K.

Battlefield 4 (Single Player)

Unfortunately, in order to produce reliable results, we have to forgo multi-player mode and use the single-player campaign instead. We’re running fresh benchmark numbers with the most up-to-date drivers, since many people still like to play Battlefield 4. Consequently, there is still optimization work being done by the graphics card manufacturers. Mantle didn’t really add anything to the Radeon R9 Nano’s performance, so we decided to skip it for all AMD graphics cards.

There’s not much of a difference between the Radeon R9 Nano and GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) at 1920x1080. The latter completely collapses at 3840x2160, though. The factory-overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 yields to the Nano as well.

The frame times are fairly well-balanced for all the tested graphics cards at the lowest resolution.

The normalized view looks a lot better with increasing resolution than it did in Tomb Raider.

Looking at the smoothness analysis, we see the same picture emerge. There is barely any visible stuttering.

BF4 stands the test of time, giving us the opportunity to watch graphics drivers evolve.

Results: Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor And Thief

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

The AMD graphics cards dominate the field across all resolutions in this benchmark. Interestingly, the Radeon R9 Nano is inched out by the 390X at 4K.

There’s only one short stretch of the frame time curve where the GeForce GTX 980’s results fluctuate briefly. This can be replicated.

Even in the normalized view, there are barely any deviations. It’s interesting to see how the AMD and Nvidia graphics cards differ in where in the benchmarks they show strengths and weaknesses. It’s easy to see where the individual graphics cards do well (negative, faster) or not (positive, slower) compared to their own averages.

The two benchmark runs with the GeForce GTX 970 Mini at stock and overclocked frequencies don’t just look less smooth, but the graph bears this observation out as well. Jumps between the frames show when the card gets stuck. We’d also like to direct your attention to the GeForce GTX 980 and its yellow curve for another look at its brief fluctuation.

Overall, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) manages to stay just above the 30 FPS mark. But this level of performance is still nothing to write home about. To achieve a smooth gaming experience, either the resolution or the graphics settings need to be decreased.

Thief

Full HD is the only resolution where AMD's Radeon R9 Nano loses to the factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 980. The Nano takes the lead from QHD and up. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) just isn’t powerful enough for Ultra HD.

The frame render time curves show how the differences between cards increase as the resolution goes up.

After normalizing and superimposing the curves, it becomes clear where the GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC) runs into trouble at UHD.

Thief is one of the games in our benchmark suite that pushes graphics cards to consume a lot of power. This doesn’t explain why AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X at Full HD demonstrates the worst frame time variance in this benchmark. The card actually improves at higher resolutions, where the 390X doesn’t do as well.

Be this as it may, the bottom line is that the hard power consumption limit doesn’t have the same negative impact on the frame time variances that it had in Metro Last Light.

Results (DirectX 12): Ashes Of The Singularity

Since there are no mature DirectX 12 games yet, we had to fall back on Ashes of the Singularity, which is currently in pre-beta. Due to its lack of optimization, this benchmark doesn’t have the same validity as our other metrics. It should still provide us with a preview of things to come, though. We originally meant to add Ark: Survival Evolved to our suite as well, but ultimately had to skip it since the promised DirectX 12 patch keeps getting pushed back.

This brings us to the second point of our preamble, which concerns a somewhat touchy subject originating with an interesting discussion on the overclock.net forums. In short, the statements of an Studio Oxide Games employee, as well as Nvidia’s and AMD’s reactions to them, say a lot if you read between the lines and add the content of a few individual posts that were apparently deleted.

The exchange is about DirectX 12’s asynchronous computing/shading function, which allows for a parallel and, more importantly, asynchronous (which is to say independent of order) execution of computational (computing) and graphical (shading) tasks. This function can massively cut down latency if it’s implemented well and fully supported by the hardware.

To quickly summarize, evidence points toward an issue with all of Nvidia’s graphics cards, starting with Fermi. They seem to have an efficiency problem with this specific function since they can only execute one context at a time at runtime. That alone isn't news, especially since Nvidia pointed it out already. And it's especially true when the developer advises that command chains should generally be kept as short as possible to avoid an accumulation of tasks, and with it the circumvention of priorities when the tasks get executed.

The reason seems to be that Nvidia designed its current GPUs so that the draw level always gets priority and the context switches for the pure computing operations can only be inserted after it’s finished. This means that the graphics card hangs until the end of a call, when it becomes possible to change again.

We can’t really judge the overarching implications of this issue, since Nvidia hasn’t officially commented on it yet. What we do have, however, are our benchmark results, as well as the results of an interpreter that we programmed to automatically analyze the log files. It outputs the number of CPU calls and the ratio between those calls and the number of frames that were actually rendered, giving us the reason why Nvidia’s benchmark results are (currently) as bad as they are.

The different views of the individual frame render times are interesting as well. The total times per frame result in a curve that represents the challenge of the individual benchmark scenes pretty well.

A similar result is achieved after normalizing the frame render times that make up the curve by subtracting the overall average frame time. This provides a comparable impression of the different loads during the benchmark.

Finally, let’s take a look at the smoothness, which is to say the ratio between the individual frame render times. Large jumps should only occur during scene changes. But, once again, the results show that all of the graphics cards encounter massive jumps that result in perceptible stuttering, no matter how good their performance looks in the FPS bar graph. Not even minimum and maximum frame rates help with this.

After our FPS and frame time benchmark results, we turn our attention to the total number of CPU calls during the benchmark run, represented in a bar graph. It makes sense that faster graphics cards have more CPU calls, but that's not the whole story.

Next, we look at the results as a curve instead. We find that, particularly at the beginning of the benchmark, all of AMD’s and all of Nvidia’s graphics cards act in a similar fashion.

Looking at the entire benchmark run, as well as the ratio of CPU calls to rendered frames, AMD looks good.

Growing fluctuations in the Radeon R9 Nano’s results with increasing resolution are a bit irritating, though. This trend is consistent and most definitely not a fluke.

Bottom Line

Overall, we’re left with the impression that AMD's Radeon R9 Nano does well in our DX12 benchmark, along with the feeling that there's actually something to the whole asynchronous computing/shading function debate. We’ll keep an eye on this as announced DirectX 12 titles approach, including Caffeine, Project Cars, DayZ, Umbra, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Hitman, Fable Legends, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and King of Wushu, as well as several Windows 10 exclusive titles such as Minecraft Windows 10 Edition, Halo Wars 2 and Gigantic.

Update: Earlier in the week, Nvidia announced that it will publish a driver that’s supposed to take care of, or at least mitigate, the asynchronous computing/shading problem. We weren’t able to find out anything more specific than that, but we’ll keep following up on this topic.

Results: Power Consumption And Efficiency

Idle/2D Desktop

We aren’t going to spent a lot of time in this section since very little changes from the Radeon R9 Fury X. The Nano’s pleasantly low power consumption of 10 to 12W at idle is one of the best results we’ve ever measured for an AMD graphics card in this performance range. Multiple monitors don’t change the story either, similar to what we saw from the Fury X.

Gaming / 3D Operation

Here's where the story gets more interesting. AMD states a typical power consumption of 175W. With a cold card, we actually hit this number, which is great if you’re living in northern Alaska and love to keep your windows open. For everybody else, AMD's specifications prove elusive as soon as a full load, 4K resolution and a warm card come into play. The additional 8W of leakage current doesn't sour us on the Nano's power result, though.

Let’s take a look at the power numbers we measured across the entire benchmark suite and compare them to Nvidia's GTX 970 Mini (OC).

The highest power consumption was reported in Metro Last Light and Thief. We used long scenes for those measurements, not just short sections with uncharacteristically high spikes. Our reasoning will become clear in the stress test section below.

But let’s go back to gaming. We’re puzzled by the bars’ evenness. It’s not a secret that Nvidia’s GPU Boost is restrictive when it comes to hitting power targets. Up until now, AMD seemed fairly contrarian. But these results make it look like AMD is putting its foot down as well. You no longer see bursts of power consumption in certain scenes.

What about the gaming performance to go along with these figures? We just saw that AMD's Radeon R9 Nano consumes more power than the GTX 970 Mini (OC) on average. Putting this into context with frame rates gives those numbers a different spin.

It turns out that the Radeon R9 Nano uses more power, but also provides more performance than the Nvidia GTX 970 Mini (OC). So what happens if we calculate the ratio of the two numbers to get watts per FPS?

No doubt, the resulting graph will cause a lot of head-scratching. The Nano’s efficiency is better in one game, similar in two games and not far behind in all the other games compared to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini (OC). The exception is Ashes of the Singularity, and the reason why was covered on the previous page. Here’s the efficiency graph:

There’s simply no comparing this to the Radeon R9 Fury X or AMD’s Hawaii-based graphics cards. AMD is declaring war on power companies, it seems. Power Tune with a real and restrictive limit finally works like it’s supposed to.

For those who like their details, we’re also showing the usual gaming loop measurements. The individual rails’ power consumption numbers, including peaks, can be found right here:

A Stress Test that’s Really Not a Stress Test

This used to be where older Radeon cards were pushed to the point of glowing red-hot. Power Tune put an end to all of that though, so try as you might, you can't use your graphics card as a space heater any longer. First let's look at the curves:

The Radeon R9 Nano’s power consumption is actually slightly lower during the stress test than some of our gaming benchmarks due to a constant load that pushes clock rates down quite a bit.

Power Consumption Overview

Results: Frequencies And Temperatures

Actually Reached Clock Frequencies

Those wondering why we’re testing both short graphics cards on our open bench rather than in a mini-ITX case shouldn't worry. Even though the telemetry does take temperature into account for the GPU's frequency and voltage regulation, AMD is emphasizing the power consumption limit a lot more this go-around. In our small PC case, all clock rate throttling would have been due to power consumption, and not the graphics cards’ temperature.

We’re using the X-Trem 4790 by X-Hardware for our mini-ITX system. It’s based on the Nebula PC case by Xigmatek. The reason we chose this particular chassis is its easy-to-remove side cover that snaps in and out of place.

Let’s take a look at the clock rate results in the closed mini-ITX PC case, which, we might add, don’t really differ from those of the open configuration. The temperature curve shows us that the warm-up phase doesn’t change due to the different thermal setup.

It’s baffling that the clock rate drops so much during the stress test, which then results in the Radeon R9 Nano drawing slightly less power than the average during our gaming benchmarks. We also have to note that AMD’s stated “up to 1000MHz” isn’t really a lie, though it’s certainly not what we see during actual gaming either. We’d estimate that our average GPU frequency was more like 850 to 900MHz. Looking at the average, it turns out we were right on the money.

Temperature

A small PC case like this isn’t a fridge, but more of a greenhouse. Both compact graphics cards deal with this fact really well, though. The reason that the temperatures are comparable, even though the Radeon R9 Nano draws more power than the GTX 970 Mini (OC), is that the former pushes more air out of the back of the card via its slot cover. It’s not like 180W is an insurmountable number either, allowing both boards to operate in the small enclosed space without any thermal throttling.

Topping out at 77 degrees Celsius in a tiny closed PC case during a harsh gaming loop is great. Even larger graphics cards with more fans installed in big enclosures do well to achieve those thermal results.

Infrared Measurement in the Closed PC Case

But let’s get back to our PC case and an accompanying DIY project. Perhaps you're wondering how we managed to squeeze a huge infrared camera like the Optris PI450 into a chassis so small that most graphics cards won't fit in it. Simply, we’re taking advantage of the case’s modular design and removing its right side cover. We then borrow a product development procedure. Openings are closed with a special IR-penetrable foil, allowing IR cameras to “see” though them. This sounds simpler than it actually is, since you first need to know the foils’ transmittance (how easily waves of the desired frequency spectrum pass through it).

We’re using a thin industrial foil with known transmittance for this. It sticks to the PC case without needing any glue. So, airflow and temperatures are identical to a closed case.

In addition, we used a transparent lacquer so that we could use every measurement point’s exact emissivity and transmittance in our software. The end result of all of our efforts can be seen in the following pictures from inside the tiny PC case.

The Radeon R9 Nano has a unique feature: its VRM’s pins don’t stick out of the back of the PCA. This means they can’t be used for temperature measurements. Some of the smaller chips, such as the 5230 RCA, take over this duty by providing a nice strong glow, though.

Our results aren't as dire as they might appear. The board remains under 95 degrees Celsius even after an hour of continuous load. This is quite a feat in today’s graphics card landscape, especially in a closed mini-ITX PC case.

The reason for this great performance can be found in the form of the voltage regulator’s dedicated cooler, which consists of a thick heat pipe and a cooling body with fins. Even during our stress test, things stayed (relatively) cool, with the temperatures, just like the power consumption, slightly lower than our gaming workloads.

So how about the competition? Even though the Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini is meant as a low-cost option for SIs, it does really well when it comes to temperatures. Since it doesn’t employ HBM, we observe the expected hot spots: VRM, memory and GPU.

These results are exemplary as well, especially considering the case's limited space. During the stress test, temperatures increase just slightly.

Overall, the Radeon R9 Nano’s cooling solution is very well designed and executed. It’s sufficient to keep the card cool in a small PC case, as long as there’s at least a little bit of airflow.

Results: Fan RPM And Noise

Fan Control and RPM

AMD is using a single high-RPM fan with nine thin rotor blades in the Radeon R9 Nano’s cooler. The blades are twisted toward the inside of the fan and turn at a maximum speed of 7000 RPM. For comparison, the Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini’s fan tops out at 3500 RPM. It has 11 rotor blades with a better geometric design. Consequently, it's less noisy.

We’ve added the temperature curve to the graph to make it easier to put these results into their proper context.

On average, the AMD cooler’s fan spins 500 RPM faster than Nvidia's. Then again, it also has to deal with 30W of additional waste heat.

Looking at the graphs, what jumps out immediately are the different shapes of the fan curves. AMD takes things slow, whereas Nvidia uses a more classic curve. AMD’s fan ramps up gradually until approximately 65 degrees Celsius. From there to approximately 72 degrees Celsius, it really gets going. We're reminded of prior implementations starting at 75 degrees Celsius.

Noise

Just like we did for the infrared measurements, we had to get creative in order to achieve good noise results. We recorded the fan speed, and then manually set the graphics card to this speed in our test room in order to measure the noise level of just the graphics card itself.

As usual, the fans are the worst offenders when it comes to noise. Unfortunately, the coils are doing their part as well, though. As long as the fan speed stays under 1500 RPM or so, AMD’s marketing slogan of “library” noise levels applies. It’s just too bad that there’s some very pronounced peaks to be seen on the spectrogram between 8 and 14kHz, which can't be ignored.

Once AMD’s graphics card hits 2600 RPM, the fan’s air turbulence and rotor noises drown out almost all of the coil whining.

From a distance of 50cm, we measured just under 46 dB(A) with our calibrated microphone. This is certainly well above what AMD would like you to believe according to its marketing materials, but it’s also a lot lower than some of the company's previous efforts. Remember uber mode?

Overall, this is certainly a respectable result. The way that the Radeon R9 Nano squeezes into our tiny case, 180W of waste heat can’t really be dealt with any better using air cooling. The Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini might operate at a somewhat lower noise level, 39.9 dB(A) and 42.3 dB(A) under full load, but the comparison isn't even close to fair given the performance discrepancy between them.

Conclusion

Enthusiasts fond of space-saving gaming PCs have dreamed of a graphics card that runs as fast as a factory-overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 at Full HD resolution, and even faster at Ultra HD, while being smaller, lighter and even a bit less power hungry.

We certainly didn't expect that the company to enable such a combination of attributes would be AMD. The Nano's price and availability will make it somewhat of an exclusive product, but it seems that AMD took this into account already. To say the R9 Nano is "In a Class of Its Own" is accurate, since there’s really nothing else out there even remotely like it. Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 970 Mini might go in the same direction, but it doesn’t come close. Consequently, AMD defines a whole new target group for its small form factor flagship.

In the end, we stand in amazement before a great product and wonder why AMD has been unable (or unwilling?) to implement a restrictive power consumption limit in the past. This should have been doable via a firmware update, and would probably have done wonders for graphics cards like the Radeon R9 390X.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen good sense win over the mad chase after performance. When it comes down to it, I think that most gamers would prefer a cooler, lighter and quieter graphics card over one that averages a few more frames per second on average, but runs hot and loud to get there. This is where the forum threads about undervolting, power limits and planned cooler changes come from. It just can’t be good for a company to ignore the clear signals of its user base for such a long time.

We’d also like to say a few words about Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 Mini. This is only fair, since AMD put a target on its back. The GeForce is only half as expensive and it's easy to find in stores right now. If a mini-ITX system is supposed to drive a monitor with Full HD or QHD resolution without downsampling, then Nvidia’s offering remains a great fit. Its power consumption of 140W during gaming is a great number, as long as you don’t want to join AMD and play at Ultra HD on a mini-ITX system. The GeForce GTX 970 Mini’s also a bit quieter than AMD’s offering, and has its PCIe power connector on the top.

A word to the wise for those who’re now thinking, “Great, the GeForce GTX 970 Mini’s half as expensive as AMD's Radeon R9 Nano and offers almost the same performance. Let’s buy two in SLI and call it a day!” Unfortunately, we have to burst your bubble. Mini-ITX motherboards are generally limited to one graphics card due to space and motherboard logic considerations. This kind of SLI setup wouldn’t be a problem in a normal-size system, but it’s impossible here. This is what makes AMD’s Radeon R9 Nano so interesting. It offers vastly superior performance for this particular form factor, and it has reasonable heat and noise to boot.

The overall performance of the Radeon R9 Nano really impresses us. We even benchmarked it under extreme circumstances in a closed mini-ITX case under full load. The former king of the hill for mini-ITX systems was the GeForce GTX 970 Mini, followed by AMD’s Radeon R9 380 ITX (too rare to sample, it seems), followed in turn by Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 960 Mini and 950 Mini. The latter have a lot less power and are flat-out unsuitable for higher resolutions.

So, AMD finally takes a performance crown, even if it’s not as prestigious as the one for the best overall high-end graphics card. The crown is still well-deserved, though, and AMD got there without resorting to intrusive acoustics or fiery temperatures.

One feature of AMD’s new Radeon cards that shows big potential is their DirectX 12 performance. Developers won’t always be able to keep command queues short enough to produce perfect conditions for all manufacturers’ graphics cards, which could turn out to be a very bad thing for Nvidia. AMD, on the other hand, finally has a leg up on its competition.

We’re not going to award the Radeon R9 Nano our purchase recommendation. This would be a bit cynical, since there’ll probably be so few of them that anyone who wants one might have a hard time actually finding it in spite of the high price. The even more prestigious Editor’s Choice award seems apropos, since nobody can deny this card is a special piece of hardware. It doesn’t just represent a rare case study of what’s possible, but also proves what’s achievable when good sense, listening to customers and the search of alternative markets come together.

All of this lets us overlook smaller caveats, such as the R9 Nano’s cheap coils, which make the card sound like cicadas in love. The new graphics card’s fan also isn't our favorite, since it gets obnoxious once a certain temperature is reached.

What’s also annoying is the lack of HDMI 2.0, which makes it impossible for the card to play some 4K content, and effectively limits playback on current Ultra HD TV sets to 30Hz. We’ve weighed all of these caveats in light of the great benchmark results, though, and, in the end, we decided that the award should stand anyway.

Bottom Line

AMD doesn't overstate the Radeon R9 Nano’s status in its marketing materials. This board really is “In a Class of Its Own.” Affluent enthusiasts who either don’t have or don’t want to make the space for a mid-tower PC case, but still want to game at high resolutions, will clearly find the pinnacle of this brand-new segment in AMD’s new graphics card.

Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 Mini is a good alternative, especially since it can be had for about half the price. So if money is a consideration, or waste heat needs to be kept at a minimum, then it might be worth a closer look. However, make no mistake, it just can’t compete with the AMD Radeon R9 Nano at high resolutions, even after being solidly overclocked. Then again, if you’re gaming at Full HD, you’ll be just fine.

Hardcore AMD fans, hardcore mini-ITX fans and hardcore collectors will make sure that the AMD Radeon R9 Nano flies off the shelves. This graphics card might cost $649, but it’ll still be semi-permanently sold out everywhere, which is why we’re not lamenting its MSRP too much.

What we’d really like to see are changes to AMD’s other graphics cards’ power limits that take those boards into the same general direction as the new Radeon R9 Nano. In conjunction with the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X, it shows very nicely that it’s not the GPU that’s to blame for those graphics cards’ shortcomings. Without its brakes applied at the right time, the Fury X draws power like there’s no tomorrow.

The AMD Radeon R9 Nano shows that you don’t always have to be the fastest to win the race. Some races are more of a marathon, and it’s more important to pace yourself well.

MORE: Best Graphics Cards For The Money
MORE: All Graphics Content

Igor Wallossek is a Senior Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware Germany, covering CPUs and Graphics.

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Mac users are still able to utilize Windows operating systems through Apple's Boot Camp software, which is already installed on Apple desktops and laptops. With the introduction of Windows 10, Apple's latest update to the program added support for the new OS so that Mac owners can join in on the fun.

Windows 10 can be delivered to the Mac as an ISO file, installation disc or a USB drive, and it seems that the update works for those who have OS X Yosemite. Obviously, there are a few other system requirements for the upgrade, the first of which is that only the 64-bit version of Windows 10 can work on a Mac. If you have a previous 32-bit version of a Windows system, you'll need to remove that partition to make way for Windows 10.

The other requirement comes in the form of support software, or drivers for Boot Camp to work with the new system. Fortunately, these drivers are automatically installed if you enlist the help of the Boot Camp Assistant during the installation. If you own one of the following Mac products, you should be able to get Windows 10 installed on the laptop or desktop.

The process of upgrading is easier for those who have yet to use Boot Camp on their Macs. After ensuring the Mac and its operating system are up to date, you can use the Boot Camp Assistant to guide you through installing a new copy of Windows 10.

For those who already have previous versions of Windows in a 64-bit format, there are a few more steps added to the process. After checking that OS X and the Mac firmware are up to date, use the Apple Software Update from your Boot Camp partition of Windows to update any necessary features, and then use the traditional Windows Installer to get Windows 10.

Additionally, you will need 10 GB of free space on the Boot Camp partition. Those who have Windows 8 via Boot Camp will need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 prior to getting Windows 10.

When Windows 10 is finally up and running, most of the hardware features on a Mac should be able to work with Microsoft's new software. This includes Apple's mouse, trackpad and keyboard; Thunderbolt; the built-in optical drive or Apple's portable USB Superdrive; the built-in SD or SDXC card slot; USB 3.0; and for those who own an Early 2015 version of the 12-inch MacBook Pro Retina, its USB-C port.

It was only a matter of time before Windows 10 would make its way to Mac devices. The fact that Apple actually placed Boot Camp on its laptops and desktops goes to show that it's willing to play ball with its rival.

Apple is already in the process of getting its latest operating system, OS X El Capitan, ready for users this fall.

Having issues with Windows 10? Tom's Hardware has a team of community staffers standing by in the forums to answer your questions 24/7. You can also share your own experiences, or jump in and help others.

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With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft brought the world several new features, an improved user interface, and plenty of troubles to keep us busy for weeks to come. One of the main problems that commonly occurs when a new OS is released stems from driver compatibility, as new drivers must be developed for the new operating system. To that end, Sony stated that its Sony Vaio laptops will not get new Windows 10 drivers until sometime in October.

This driver issue is often one of the greatest difficulties a new OS faces, especially for one like Windows which will be used on a diverse range of hardware. Developing these drivers takes time, and until the drivers are ready, users may face a range of problems from program instability to the entire system crashing.

Because new drivers are so important, you want to see them come out as quickly as possible, but that doesn't look like it will happen for Sony's Vaio laptops. Sony stated that the Vaio laptops that came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 won't see Windows 10 driver updates until October. If your Vaio has an older OS, the problem only gets worse.

Systems that came pre-installed with Windows 8 won't receive Windows 10 drivers until November. A date hasn't been set for Windows 7 systems, but it will likely be some time after the Windows 8 systems.

Although some drivers, such as those for the GPU, can be updated manually as new drivers are developed, it is unlikely that all of the drivers the system needs can be obtained this way. The end result is that users of these laptops will face difficulties trying to use Windows 10 until Sony has driver updates ready.

For the time being, it is probably best if owners of these laptops avoid upgrading to Windows 10 until updates for their system have been sent out.

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Windows 10 is finally here, and users in the Windows Insider program are already test driving the finished operating systems, while everyone else looks on with envy. But apparently, you don't have to. Anyone can download a program that will place the Windows 10 installation media on a DVD or flash drive of your choosing.

Microsoft has told us many times that Windows Insiders will get the new OS first, while other users will get it at a later date. The company seems to have made a mistake while pushing out the OS to Windows Insiders, as the webpage hosting the download for Windows Insiders is publicly available, and anyone can download the OS.

After downloading and running the program, you have two options. You can either upgrade your Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 system to Windows 10, maintaining your current programs and files, or you can create installation media. You will note that the tool used is identical to the one used throughout Windows 8's life.

We tried to figure out to what extent this tool was available to the public, and talked with a few moderators here at Tom's Hardware about who upgraded last night using this method. From what we were able to gather, there aren't any limitations as to who can access and use this tool.

In the long run, however, installing Windows 10 with this method could prove problematic. The installation will ask multiple times for a Windows 10 activation key, but you can click a button to skip putting this in until later. After installation you will be able to use Windows 10, even though it's not activated. Microsoft will likely lock down these unactivated systems later. If your copy is not activated, you will see this in the bottom right corner, and it stays on top of all Windows you might open.

However, a wrinkle here is that Windows Insiders are expected to keep a free copy of Windows 10, and unless Microsoft sends out keys via email to guaranteed Windows Insiders, those Insiders would also lose access to their Windows 10 OS when Microsoft locks out the other unauthorized users.

Whatever the case, if you want to try Windows 10 out, you and anyone else can download and try it for the time being.

Update, 7/29/15, 12:25pm PT: Microsoft replied to our query about this issue with the following statement:

"We want to make sure everyone has a great upgrade experience, so weare rolling-out Windows 10 in phases to help manage the demand. For those who are eligible for the free upgrade, the optimal path to Windows 10 is through the Get Windows 10 app. If customers feel comfortable, they can also use the Media Creation Tool to download ISO files for purposes such as installing Windows 10 on multiple devices or having the ability to clean install Windows 10 after they upgrade. Visit Windows.com for additional information."

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The Windows 10 rollout followed a lengthy and very public process that not only kept the new operating system steadily in the news, but also provided Microsoft with constant customer feedback that the company hopes will provide properly-set customer expectations and overall superior stability.

In other words, Microsoft's stance on what will be available and when is predicated on a particular practicality, rather than hidden motives -- say, getting people hooked on free Windows 10 and then trying to pull them into Windows 10 Mobile (which is, by the way, the new nomenclature for Windows Phone).

Windows 10 Mobile, Coming Later

The same Insiders for Windows 10 also have access to Windows 10 Mobile builds. Windows 10 Mobile will ship when it is stable and when Microsoft has ironed out all of the quality issues, much as it has done with the desktop version of Windows 10. The latter arrived at a finishing point more quickly.

With the desktop version of Windows 10, Microsoft had to worry about whether users were coming from Windows 7 or Windows 8 (or XP), what hardware and drivers they were running, and so on. With Windows 10 Mobile, some of the parameters are different, including hardware, but also screen size and geographic characteristics. Microsoft has different work to do on Windows 10 Mobile, and based on the feedback the company is getting from Insiders, that work isn't done yet.

Again, the staggering is a practical, not a philosophical choice.

Insiders First, Reservers Second, Sort Of

For the first year after the release of Windows 10, anyone with Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 will get it for free. There is a hierarchy for who will get Windows 10 when, and that too is based on practical issues, including managing the scale of a massive software distribution, but also managing the quality of experience and end user expectations. No surprise here, but Insiders will get it first. Those customers have already been using the builds, have already set expectations, and Microsoft already knows that it's going to work for those 5.5 million customers.

Although Microsoft hasn't said exactly when users who reserved copies of Windows 10 will get theirs, it will begin pushing out the update to these users in waves starting on July 29. The reason for pushing out the OS in this manner is likely an effort to reduce the load on Microsoft's servers during the transition. This method of pushing out the OS will see some users with reserved copies get the OS on day one, while others may not get it until a week after the release or later.

On To Retailers

Two days after the initial release, Microsoft will expand the availability of Windows 10 to retailers. Online retailers such as Newegg and Amazon are set to release the OS on July 30, and it can already be pre-ordered with various methods of distribution, including on USB media.

Next up are the businesses and educational license users. Windows 10 will be available to these entities on August 1. Although many users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 will get the complimentary upgrade to Windows 10, businesses and educational institutions are not eligible for the freebie.

An exception here includes some of the big OEMs. Acer, Dell and HP have announced they will have new systems with Windows 10 in brick and mortar stores starting on July 29, and undoubtedly other OEMs will, too. Dell has even gone one step further, shipping its pre-ordered Windows 10 systems in North America on July 28. As a result, many of these users will get the OS at the same time as the Windows Insiders.

You Didn't Reserve A Copy? Ouch.

Those who did not reserve an upgrade copy of Windows 10 will get the OS last. Microsoft claimed that this is due to the need to test for compatibility issues that might arise when a user upgrades. Note that Microsoft has already stated that it has successfully tested compatibility between the OSes, and those with reserved copies are getting Windows 10 earlier.

If compatibility is an issue, it is likely caused by hardware and driver compatibility issues. When we reserved our copies, we weren't asked any information about our hardware, but it is possible Microsoft automatically gathered this information to know when to push the update to us. It is possible, then, that systems with newer hardware will get the update first, and older systems will get it at a later date.

Further, if Microsoft allowed everyone to upgrade at the same time, it is unlikely the servers could handle the load. To resolve the issue, Microsoft's only solution was to prioritize some customers over others, and as a business, it only makes sense to put the paying customers (i.e., businesses and educational institutions) ahead of those getting the free upgrade.

A Clean Windows 10 Installation

Many users have inquired about the ability to have a clean install of Windows 10. The procedure for this will be similar to clean installing Windows 8.1 after upgrading from Windows 8. You will first upgrade your system to the new OS, and then you'll be able to create a USB drive or a DVD with the installation files to do a clean install. It isn't clear at this time how Microsoft will do this, or if it will be an ISO or an application.

The rollout will happen as quickly as possible, but for now Microsoft isn't worried about keeping score, about how many people switch to Windows 10 by a magical date. The company is more focused on successful switches, a philosophy that began with the Insider program, continues through rollout, and will likely be kept in play, not just with other versions of Windows (including on phones and the Xbox), but in future updates as well.

Microsoft thinks it has hit on a very manageable way to ensure success this time around, and if it works, it may just change the lingering perceptions from the Windows 8 debacle.

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Back in May 2014, Lenovo introduced the ThinkPad 10, a 10-inch Windows 8.1-based tablet aimed at business professionals who need a slim solution both on the road and in the office. When combined with the optional keyboard, the tablet provided four different modes: desktop, laptop, stand and tablet. The device also came packed with a digitizer pen and Intel's Atom Z3795 processor, as well as multiple options for memory and internal storage. The starting price was $539.99.

A year later, the second-generation ThinkPad 10 has arrived. However, Lenovo indicated that this version is a bit more consumer-friendly than its predecessor. The device also sports a soft touch resin back, a new LCD screen, an optimized camera and the promise of 25 percent better performance, thanks to Windows 10 and a faster SoC from Intel. The tablet even provides support for Wireless AC and USB 3.0.

Despite the tablet form factor, Lenovo promised a full PC experience for both the consumer and the professional. Backing this pledge is a number of peripherals that are compatible with the tablet, including the Quickshot Cover, the Ultrabook Keyboard, the Folio Keyboard and the Tablet Dock. Further, users can quickly take notes using the new Pen Pro anywhere on the screen and convert it all into text or as an image.

Additionally, the new ThinkPad 10 boasts enhanced security thanks to a fingerprint reader, dTPM encryption and a smart card reader. The device is also "enterprise-ready," making it easy on network administrators and IT personnel who must integrate the tablets into secured networks.

The new tablet has a 10.1-inch screen with a 1900 x 1200 resolution, 10-point touch input and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. Powering this screen is a quad-core Intel Atom Z8500 or an Intel Atom Z8700 SoC (depending on the model) and a 32Wh Li-Polymer battery, promising up to 10 hours on a single charge.

What's really interesting is that Lenovo's revamped tablet sports Windows 10 right out of the box instead of Windows 8.1. That means this will be one of the first products to include Microsoft's upcoming and highly-anticipated operating system on day one. That should be good news to offices and homes that were turned off by the Start Screen (or lack thereof) in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

(Editor's Note: We know what you're thinking, and no, Lenovo did not provide a specific launch date and therefore give away the Windows 10 release date. All Lenovo said is that the ThinkPad 10 will be available "later this summer," with an asterisk stating that "Windows 10 is on track for release during summer 2015.")

For a full list of specifications, check out the table provided by Lenovo below. Note that like the processor, there are two options for the memory and internal storage.

The starting price for the ThinkPad 10 will be $549 when it launches this summer, but if you want a keyboard, it will cost you extra. The Folio Keyboard will be another $110, or you could go with the Ultrabook keyboard for $119. A QuickShot cover will be $45, and a ports-adding Tablet Dock will run you $129. That aforementioned ThinkPad Pen Pro stylus will cost $40.

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