A Microsoft OneDrive user has taken to Reddit with a cautionary tale about their precious personal data in the cloud becoming inaccessible. Redditor deus03690 says that they have lost “30 years worth of irreplaceable photos” due to their misplaced trust in Microsoft’s cloud storage service.

In the discussion thread, the Redditor admits they may have made “a bad move” with their eggs-in-one-basket plan. However, to give the decision context they explain that they were moving house, faced space and relocation constraints, and were hemmed in by limited resources.

As a paying user of OneDrive, deus03690 has also been incredibly disappointed in Microsoft’s locking of their account without warning, and subsequent dead-end automated responses to questions regarding what happened. So, what did happen?

Consolidating before a major move

Deus03690 seems to have come face to face with a data preservation problem as a major move loomed. With a modicum of experience in OneDrive, and also having swallowed the Redmond “coolaide” [sic] at work, they thought they could get past a sticky data and life move situation by parking their precious data on some freshly paid for expansive cloud server space.

It is easy to criticize this plan, which resulted in a single point of failure, and is far from adhering to a 3-2-1 backup policy. But, life sometimes makes the rational difficult. Deus03690 later explains that they would be basically living from a suitcase for a time, had limited funds for physical backups, and they planned to restore the data to new physical data later. That would be, we assume, after settling down again.

“Kafkaesque black hole of corporate negligence”

With the “30 years worth of irreplaceable photos and work” literally vanished into thin air, deus03690 naturally expected to be able to get in touch with Microsoft to iron out issues and get the suspended account reactivated. So many corporations make real-human contact an impossible task, and taking this Redditor’s experience at face value, you might include Microsoft in that number.

To start with, deus03690 says they never even received a warning about any potential break of T&Cs, which might have resulted in the OneDrive account suspension. No light has been cast upon the situation since, with “No human contact. No actual help. Just canned emails and radio silence” – and 18 compliance form submissions, so far.

The Redditor then goes on to contrast the ownership / access rights to physical property with that of digital property. But they say they faced “a Kafkaesque black hole of corporate negligence,” so seem to hold little hope of retrieving their 30 years of precious data.

Indeed, when you pay for a service and are met with a brick wall the first time you want to iron out anything that isn’t on script, having no recourse to talk to a real human can be extremely frustrating.

Automated ban hammer mis-strike?

Earlier this week, Microsoft broke from a long tradition of only offering paid versions of the native Microsoft Office app (web having been free for some time) and silently introduced a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Office exclusively for Windows 11 users. This was first spotted by Beebom, which tested it on Windows 11 machines and VMs (My testing on Windows 10 quickly revealed it to be business as usual on older versions of Windows. Go figure.)

Even so, it's nifty and arguably even intelligent of Microsoft to build in a "Skip for now" button leading into a free version of Microsoft Office allowing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to be used for free. The ads that support this use come in the form of the combination of a persistent ad banner onscreen, as well as a muted 15-second video ad playing every few hours.

However, there are still lots of caveats to your use of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint here. The greatest immediate caveat is that you can't save files locally and must instead save them to OneDrive, which means you don't have any support to edit local files. It's 2025, Microsoft — LibreOffice and Google Docs have existed way too long for you to be inconveniencing your free users like this.

A number of other problems also exist, though, greatly limiting the formatting and decorative options available to Microsoft's free users. Beebom painstakingly listed over 30 missing features in its original coverage. So, while I complimented Microsoft's prudence in having a free tier of its local Office applications available...there are some real glaring issues with the omissions here.

Even locking in just on Microsoft Word, the removal of key formatting options like line spacing, text wrapping, headers, footers, bookmarks, and even proper date & time fields is truly egregious. You can't even hyphenate anymore! While Beebom observes that the applications are still able to be used, their phrasing here is "most of the basic and some of the key features are available", but that honestly might be an understatement.

Because let's be very realistic about this. If you are willing to go through the trouble of using a free version of Microsoft Office instead of any number of truly-free alternatives that have been widely available to you for the past decade or more, you're doing it because maintaining compatibility with existing workflows and spaces reliant on Office is your priority. But with so many key formatting options locked behind a paywall, you really might as well not be using Microsoft Office at all at this point, and instead be hedging your bets with exporting files from LibreOffice or Google Drive.

If Microsoft is already insistent on monetizing its free users via advertisements, the least they could do is provide a usable version of Microsoft Office in exchange. The extensive list of cut features doesn't make Microsoft look any less stingy to the users of Windows 11, which already has plenty of ads.

It is not a secret that both Apple and Microsoft use optical character recognition (OCR) and image recognition for images stored on MacOS and Windows-based PCs to simplify search and enable other features. Security expert Brian Maloney, the author of the Malware Malone blog, claims that Microsoft's OneDrive for Business does the same for images it stores and then stores data it obtains from them in an unsecured database on the host PC. There are a couple of catches here.

Storing data locally for a cloud storage service is not a bad idea. It enables access to certain functions and some data offline and can potentially reduce transfers to and from the cloud, saving some money when using data roaming abroad. However, it appears that the data obtained from the images is stored in an unprotected format, meaning that if a perpetrator gets hold of the PC, they will be able to access that data by either removing the drive (assuming that it is not encrypted) and installing it into a different PC, or using a password.

"Would you be okay with Microsoft performing OCR on all of your saved OneDrive images, storing the OCR'd data in plain text locally, and making it accessible without administrative privileges," asked vx-underground.org in an X survey. "If you voted 'Yes' — your wish has come true! Microsoft performs OCR on all saved file images for OneDrive Business™! Any image saved with OneDrive is stored locally in an SQLite file (for offline mode, or something)."

Storing classified data in an unprotected format is not the best idea, mainly because we are dealing with the OneDrive for Business service, which is supposed to be secure. However, a couple of factors should be taken into account.

First up, business and commercial PCs tend to have robust security, and in most cases, they come with encrypted SSDs. Second, many expensive business machines use sophisticated fingerprint readers that cannot be easily deceived. Third, business desktops are not supposed to leave their premises, and the latter should be secure. So, while the whole situation does not look good, provided that the entire system is safe, perpetrators cannot easily use this potential exploit.

Microsoft has been working hard to wedge you into its ecosystem, and it appears to have taken one step further by making OneDrive backups an opt-out feature. OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud drive service, much like Google Drive and iCloud. It comes standard with 5GB of free storage for anyone who signs up for a Microsoft Account, which you’ll likely do from now on, since the company recently turned off the easy bypass to Windows 11’s online setup.

While Apple and Google offer online backups on their devices, these are opt-in, and you can always decline them before either of them starts syncing your device contents. However, Microsoft is irking its users by turning on OneDrive backups by default, as discovered by Neowin, thus anyone who intends to complete a clean Windows 11 install is currently being surprised by OneDrive desktop icons and drive folders on their newly installed operating system. 

If you prefer backing up your files via the cloud, OneDrive is an excellent option, especially as it seamlessly syncs with Windows File Explorer. However, there are times when users want to only backup specific files, and there are also situations when you want a clean PC with no bloat. If that is the case, then automatic OneDrive synchronization with a new PC would indeed be an unwanted annoyance.

Microsoft has clearly been pushing its users towards its closed ecosystem. For example, the company removed official instructions on how to convert your Windows 11 Microsoft Account login into a local account from its guide page. So, if you didn’t install Windows 11 using the local account bypass, you have to find less-official results to find instructions on converting your login account. Microsoft Edge will ask you why you’re moving to Chrome if you download its installer. Furthermore, even if you’ve already set a different default browser, searching from the Start Menu will still pull up the results on Edge — one of the company’s shady practices when it comes to anti-competitive behavior in Windows 11.

In fairness to Microsoft, OneDrive is one of the more affordable cloud storage options on the market at $2 a month. It’s also quite a robust product, with features including file versions, which helps protect you in case of file loss or a ransomware attack. However, shoving it down users’ throats isn’t the way to go if you want them to pay for it. Instead, the company should make using OneDrive a more seamless experience so much so that people will want to use it over Google Drive or iCloud. Or at least it should ask users first if they want to turn on device syncing via OneDrive, so they can get a clean install if they want to.

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.

After nearly two decades of performing the same function, Microsoft will reportedly change how the Print Screen key on your keyboard works in future builds of Windows 11.

In its current incarnation, pressing the Print Screen key takes a screenshot of whatever is currently displayed on your screen and saves it to the clipboard – it’s been that way since The Rolling Stones belted out “Start Me Up” to signify the arrival of Windows 95. In addition, if you have an active OneDrive account, the Print Screen command can automatically send the captured screenshot to your OneDrive/Pictures/Screenshots folder. 

That all changes with Windows 11 KB5025310, which is currently making the rounds in the Windows Insider Beta Channel. According to Windows Latest, which first discovered the change, pressing the Print Screen key will instead call up the Snipping Tool in Windows 11. The Snipping Tool is Windows 11’s native screenshot/screen recording tool.

However, thanks to this new behavior, pressing Print Screen won’t automatically save a screenshot to your clipboard or OneDrive. You will instead have to first interact with the Snipping Tool to select if you want to capture a screenshot of the entire screen, an active window, or a rectangular/freeform selection. You can also start a screen recording session from this menu. 

Microsoft’s clear intent here is a desire to have users, by default, interact with the feature-packed Sniping Tool. However, we’re confident many veteran Windows users will scoff at the extra steps involved with the refocused Print Screen key. Of course, Microsoft knows this as well, so Windows Latest reports that there is a way to revert to the “old” Print Screen behavior.

Windows 11 users will only need to navigate to Settings -> Accessibility > Keyboard, after which they must toggle off the button labeled “Use the Print Screen key to open Snipping Tool.”

It remains to be seen if long-time Windows users acclimated to the current behavior of the Print Screen key will welcome the upcoming change with open arms. However, Windows 11 users can at least take solace because the change can be easily reverted if it’s not to their liking.

Windows 11 has been with us for some time now, and for those of us with the best desktops we can guarantee the best performance. But what about that five year old laptop that your aunt has? The one with 4GB of RAM and a CPU that fell out of the best CPUs category in the prior decade. Sure Linux is an option, but what if they really need that one Windows app? 

This scenario is common to many of us who work in tech. A family member needs tech support and we don’t have a lot of time to help them. So what if there were a way to create a custom Windows 11 install, one that install on older hardware and breathe new life into it?

In this how to you’ll learn how to create your own custom Windows 11 image, ready for installation on your aunt’s old laptop, or on your gaming rig. An alternative to creating your own bespoke Windows 11 install is to use Tiny11 Builder. We sacrifice the ability to truly customize our install for a fully automated approach. If you are short on time, then perhaps this is a good compromise. But, if you want to truly tailor your Windows 11 experience, read on and learn exactly how.

Downloading the Windows 11 Image

Downloading the latest version of Windows 11 from Microsoft is generally the way to go, but for this custom build, the absolute latest bleeding edge release will be needed. The source of the latest bleeding edge release is uupdump, and from there is where this how to begins. The source ISO is the latest public version of Windows 11, which will be put through two tools, MSMG Toolkit and NTLite, to produce a custom ISO for machines which don’t make Windows 11’s cut.

1. Open a browser and go to uupdump.net and select the latest public release build for x64.

2. Select the latest Windows 11 version available.

3. Select your preferred language and click Next.

4. Select Windows 11 Pro and click Next.

5. Select Run Component Cleanup and click on Create download package to start the download. This will download an archive containing a tool to download the ISO.

6. Extract the contents of the archive to a new folder on your desktop.

7. Open the folder and double click on the uup_download_windows file to start the download. When done, press 0 to exit the script.

Using MSMG Toolkit to Slim Down Windows 11

MSMG Toolkit is a tool to tweak a Windows ISO to your own specifications. If you need to add specific drivers, updates or in this case, remove components and applications, then MSMG Toolkit is the tool to use. MSMG uses a DOS / ncurses type user interface via a command prompt, but don’t let that put you off. This is an easy tool to use. 

In this part of the process we’ll use MSMG Toolkit to remove specific built-in applications and features of Windows 11. If you don’t need Microsoft Edge, Azure, OneDrive etc, then this is the tool to remove them. By doing this, the ISO image size is reduced, and ultimately the Windows 11 install size is reduced, and the number of processes is lowered, giving even a low power machine a chance of comfortably running Windows 11.

1. Download Toolkit v13.2.7z and extract the archive to your desktop. You may need to install nanazip to extract the archive. Nanazip can be found in the Microsoft Store.

2. Double click to mount the downloaded ISO image and extract the contents into the DVD folder inside Toolkit’s folder.

3. From the Toolkit_v13.2 folder, click on Start to run a command. You may need to authorize the application to start as it triggers a warning message.

4. Press A to accept MSMG Toolkit’s EULA. Then press any key to continue.

5. Select [1] Source.

6. Press 1 to select the DVD folder as the source. Remember this is where the contents of the ISO have been copied.

7. Press 1 and Enter to select Windows 11 Pro.

8. Select No to the questions “Do you want to mount Windows Setup Boot Image” and “Do you want to mount Windows Recovery Image?”

9. Press any key to continue.

10. Select [3] Remove and then, in the next menu, select [1] Remove Windows Components. In the final menu, press [1] to Select Windows Components. The different components / applications of Windows 11 are broken down into categories such as Internet, Multimedia etc. By entering the category we can add or remove components from the Windows 11 ISO. Steps 11 to 18 are optional, depending on what components you want to remove or keep.

11. Select [1] Internet and then select [3] to remove Internet Explorer. Press X to go back to the category menu. Options 1 and 2 can also be used to remove Microsoft Edge, but this will mean that you have no method to install an alternative browser unless you have one on a USB drive. Note that when an item is marked for removal,  - will appear next to its entry.

12. Select [2] Multimedia and press [1] to remove all of the components. Then press x to go back. Should you wish to be selective, press the corresponding letter to remove the entry. The multimedia components are some of the easiest to remove. Most of us don’t use a screen saver, wallpaper is easily found online and Windows Media Player is royally beaten by VLC.

 [A] + First Logon Animation [B] + Game Explorer | Needed for: Microsoft Games [C] + Lock Screen Background [D] + Screen Savers [F] + Sound Themes [G] + Speech Recognition | Needed for: Cortana, Ease of Access & OOBE [H] + Wallpapers [I] + Windows Media Player [J] + Windows Photo Viewer [K] + Windows Themes [L] + Windows TIFF IFilter (OCR) [M] + Windows System Assessment Tool

13. Select [3] Network and select the following components 8, 9 to remove Microsoft Pay services and the Windows Mail application. Press X to go back. Networking tools such as SSH, TFTP and Telnet form the backbone of many developers' workflows, but if you are just interested in gaming or surfing, then you’ll most likely not need them. Also, if you are planning to install a third-party SSH app such as Putty, you don’t need Windows built-in SSH client.

 [1] + Offline Files [2] + Open SSH [3] + Remote Desktop Client [4] + Remote Differential Compression (RDC) [5] + Simple TCP/IP Services [6] + Telnet Client [7] + TFTP Client [8] - Wallet Service | Needed for: Microsoft Pay [9] - Windows Mail | Needed for: Windows Mail App

14. Select [4] Privacy and remove the following components B, F, K,to remove the Customer Experience Improvement Program files, Picture Password and Windows Insider Hub. Press X to go back. The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) service is a voluntary scheme which collects data on how users work with Windows. This and the Picture Password, where you draw a pattern over a family photo, are really not necessary for the vast majority of users.

 [A] + Assigned Access [B] + Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) [C] + Face Recognition [D] + Kernel Debugging | Depends on: Windows Error Reporting [E] + Location Service [F] + Picture Password [G] + Pin SignIn Support [H] + Unified Telemetry Client (Asimov) | Depends on: Windows Error Reporting [I] + WiFi Network Manager (WiFi Sense) [J] + Windows Error Reporting [K] + Windows Insider Hub

15. Select [5] Remoting and remove 3, OneDrive Desktop Client. If you want to use OneDrive, do not perform this step. Press X to go back. Here, MSMG can be used to remove the remote assistance and remote desktop tools. These can reduce the chances of external hacks, unless the hacker asks you to install their own software.

 [2] + MultiPoint Connector [3] - OneDrive Desktop Client [4] + Remote Assistance [5] + Remote Desktop Server [6] + Remote Registry [7] + Work Folders Client

16. Select [6] System and remove the following components. C,E,F,G,N,P,Q,R,S. Press X to go back. Here is where the underlying software can be removed. If you need accessibility tools (On Screen Keyboard, Magnifier, Narrator etc) then leave option E as installed. The other suggestions, with the exception of System Restore and Backup can be removed. Think carefully about System Restore and Backup. They could prove useful should you need to rollback a driver issue.

 [A] + Accessibility Tools [C] + Device Lockdown (Embedded Experience) [D] + Ease of Access Cursors | Depends on: Accessibility Tools [E] + Ease of Access Themes | Depends on: Accessibility Tools [F] + Easy Transfer [G] + File History [H] + Magnifier | Depends on: Accessibility Tools [I] + Manual Setup (InPlace Upgrade) [J] + Narrator | Depends on: Accessibility Tools [K] + Notepad : | Needed for: Open With Dialog [L] + On Screen Keyboard | Depends on: Accessibility Tools [N] + Projected File System (ProjFS) [O] + Security Center | Depends on: Windows Defender [P] + Steps Recorder [Q] + Storage Spaces [R] + System Restore | Depends on: Windows Backup [S] + Windows Backup [T] + Windows Firewall [U] + Windows Subsystem For Linux [V] + Windows To Go [W] + Wordpad

17. Select [7] System Apps and remove the following components. 3,4,6,8,10,14,15,17,18,19,20,25,26,27,31,33,35,41,44,45,46 Press Enter after each number. Press X then Enter to go back. System apps are the Microsoft-centric apps that we either love or hate. The only app that we are on the fence about removing is File Explorer, because we use that app everyday. The rest, such as Async Text service, CBSPreview (a camera based barcode scanner) are all ripe for the chop.

 [01] + AAD Broker Plugin - Credential Handler for Microsoft Azure Logon | Needed for: Microsoft Account, Windows Store [02] + Accounts Control - App to add Microsoft Account for Microsoft Apps | Needed for: Windows Store [03] + Add Suggested Folders to Library Dialog [04] + App Resolver UX - Modern Open With Dialog [05] + Assigned Access Lock App - Windows Kiosk Mode | Depends on: Assigned Access [06] + Async Text Service - Messaging extensions for People and Maps Apps [07] + Bio Enrollment - Windows Hello Setup [08] + Calling Shell App - App to host call progress on shell [09] + Capture Picker - A system picker UI control to select an item on the screen to capture | Needed for: Screen snip [10] + CBSPreview - App for Camera Barcode Scanner [11] + Content Delivery Manager - Automatic installation of sponsored or promoted apps, suggestions and Ads | Needed for: OOBE & Microsoft Account [13] + Credential Dialog Host - Authentication (Sign-in) shell support for Windows Hello [14] + ECApp - Modern UI Dialog App for Eye Movement Control | Depends on: WindowsMixedReality [15] + Edge Classic Browser [16] + Edge Developer Tools Client - An extension to edge containing tools for web developers | Depends on: Edge [17] + File Explorer - Modern File Explorer App [18] + File Picker - Modern File Picker Dialog [19] + Lock App - Container App for Apps and Messages on the Lockscreen [20] + Map Control [21] + Narrator Quick Start - QuickStart Guide for Narrator [22] + NcsiUwpApp - Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) [23] + OOBE Network Captive Portal - Captive Network Portals support during OOBE-Phase of Windows [24] + OOBE Network Connection Flow - Connection Flow Network Portals support during OOBE-Phase of Windows [25] + Parental Controls - App for Parental Controls [26] + People Experience Host - People Bar (People Hub) [27] + Pinning Confirmation Dialog [29] + Print Dialog - Modern Print Dialog | Needed for: Printing [31] + Retail Demo Content [33] + Secure Assessment Browser - Special Windows Mode for Exams (Take Test App) | Depends on: WebView2SDK [34] + Setting Sync - Sync settings between your Windows PCs and devices [35] + Skype ORTC [36] + Smart Screen - Windows Defender SmartScreen Functionality for Modern Apps [37] + Webcam Experience [38] + WebView2 Runtime [39] + Win32 WebView Host - Desktop App Web Viewer [40] + Windows Defender App [41] + Windows Mixed Reality [42] + Windows Reader (PDF) | Depends on: Edge [43] + Windows Store Back-end Client [44] + Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client [45] + Xbox Game Callable UI - Xbox Live [46] + XGpu Eject Dialog - Modern Dialog App for safe removal of external GPUs

18. Select [8] Windows Apps and remove the following components 1,5,7,8,9,11,16,17,18,22,24,25,32,33,34,35 Press Enter after each number. Press X then Enter to go back. These are the classic apps, many of which are never used. Widgets such as News, Office, Phone Link and Family are more of an annoyance than a convenience, so let's lighten the load and slice these out of the ISO.

  [01] + Alarms & Clock  [02] + App Installer  [03] + Calculator App  [04] + Camera  [05] + Clipchamp Video Editor  [06] - Cortana | Depends on: Speech Recognition  [07] + Family  [08] + Feedback Hub  [09] + Films & TV  [10] - Gaming App (Xbox App) | Depends on: Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client  [11] + Get Help  [12] + Google's VP9 WebM Video Codec Plugin  [13] + High Efficiency Image File (HEIF) Codec Plugin  [14] + High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) Plugin  [15] - Maps | Depends on: Map Control  [16] + Media Player  [17] + My Office  [18] + News  [19] + Notepad App  [20] + Paint  [21] - People | Depends on: People Bar  [22] + Phone Link  [23] + Photos  [24] + Power Automate Desktop  [25] + Quick Assist  [26] + Raw Image Extension  [27] + Screen Sketch  [28] - Solitaire Collection | Depends on: Xbox Live  [29] + Sticky Notes  [30] + Store Experience Host | Depends on: Windows Store App  [31] + Terminal  [32] + Tips - Windows tips and tutorials App  [33] + Todos  [34] + Voice Recorder  [35] + Weather  [36] + Web Media Codec Plugin  [37] + WebP Image Codec Plugin  [38] + Windows Web Experience Pack - News and Interests Widgets App | Depends on: Edge WebView  [39] - Windows Mail App | Depends on: Windows Mail  [40] + Windows Store App | Depends on: Windows Store Back-end Client, Xbox Identity Provider  [41] - Xbox Game Bar Plugin | Depends on: Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client  [42] - Xbox Game Bar |Depends on: Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client  [43] - Xbox Identity Provider | Depends on: Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client  [44] - Xbox Game Speech Window | Depends on: Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client  [45] - Xbox UI | Depends on: Xbox Console Companion Back-end Client

19. Press X to go back, then press [2] Start Removing Windows Components. This triggers the automatic removal of all the components that we have selected. The process can take some time. When done, press any key to exit.

20. Press X twice to go back to the first menu.

21. Select [5] Apply, then select [1] Cleanup Source Images.

22. Select [2] Apply & Save Changes to Source Images and when prompted to cleanup the image folder press Y.

23. Press X to quit, then any key to close the toolkit.

In the DVD folder there is now the filesystem that will make up the structure of the custom ISO image. But before it can be used as an ISO, more tweaking is required in NTLite.

Using NTLite to Tweak The Installation Image

NTLite is a useful tool, but many of us will never have heard of it. NTLite was developed to reduce the footprint of a Windows install, but it can also be used to remove Windows components and free up previous hard drive space. With NTlite you can create bespoke Windows ISOs to streamline your installation. NTLite is particularly useful in industries with harmonized platforms (the same spec machines for all staff).

In this part of the process, NTLite will be used to tweak the custom ISO to remove even more components and to tweak the ISO to bypass any RAM or TPM requirements. 

1. Download and install NTLite

2. Open NTLite and select Add >> Image Directory. Choose the DVD directory from earlier and click Select Folder.

3. Double click on the entry to mount the image.

4. Select Components and then System.

5. Disable the following components by clicking to deselect their entries in the list.

57-Bit Linear Addressing

Application Virtualization

User Experience Virtualization

6. Select Components >> Remoting and Privacy.

7. Disable the following components by clicking to deselect their entries in the list.

Braincache Client

File Server Resource Manager

Multipoint Connector

Peer Networking

8. Select Multimedia and disable the Share Media Control Panel component.

9. Click on Settings >> System and disable the following components by clicking to deselect their entries in the list.

Local User Account Setup Support

Setup Requirement - RAM

Setup Requirement - TPM and SecureBoot

Setup Requirement - TPM and SecureBoot - Host

10. Using the search box, search for Teams and set it to disabled.

11. Search for Telemetry and set Allow Telemetry to Security | Disable.

12. Click on Unattended and set Compress Windows (Compact OS) to True.

13. Click on Apply.

14. Select Remove nonessential editions and click Process. This will trigger a prompt to disable Windows Defender. NTLite claims that disabling Windows Defender will speed up the process. In our tests we did not disable Defender and our Ryzen 5600X based system performed the task in a couple of minutes. Click OK when the process is complete.

15. Click on Image and then select Boot/Setup.

16. Double click to mount the Microsoft Windows Setup image.

17. Click on Settings >> System and disable the following components.

Setup Requirement - RAM

Setup Requirement - TPM and SecureBoot

Setup Requirement - TPM and Secureboot - Host

18. Click on Apply and then Process to write the changes. Click OK when done.

19. Click on the Windows 11 Pro image and then click on Create ISO. Save the ISO using a unique filename.

20. Write the ISO to a USB stick using Rufus, or test it via a virtual machine.

Once you are happy with the ISO, you can do a clean install of Windows 11 on the PC of your choice.

MORE: Make a Windows 11 Image That Runs on 2GB of RAM With Tiny11 Builder

A future version of Windows 11 could have a new gallery feature built into a whole new File Explorer. Hidden in the latest dev build of Windows 11 (build 25300), the gallery shows your images in an attractive format, lets you browse them by date and search them using a built-in search box. Windows Hacker Albacore discovered the gallery ,which they say is based on XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language), by enabling the new WASDK (Windows App SDK) based File Explorer.

Both the WASDK File Explorer and its gallery feature are disabled by default in Windows 11 Build 25300, but with some registry edits and enabling of optional hidden features, I was able to turn them on. 

The WASDK File Explorer looks identical to the default File Explorer with the same exact icons, colors and layout. The only way I could tell that I was running it is that there's an icon of a slice of pizza in the toolbar, which says "You are previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer" when you hover over it.

The gallery icon appears below the Home icon in the left pane. When I clicked it, it showed me a series of thumbnails for images that were in my Pictures library, sorted by the file date. When I hovered over the right side of the window, a list of years appeared. Clicking on a particular year, 2012 for example, scrolled me down to that part of the gallery.

There's also a gallery search box in the upper right corner of the window. When I typed "cats" into the box, it pulled up one JPG file that I had named "cats.jpg," but didn't even show a thumbnail preview of the pictures. 

It looks like the search can only identify pictures by filename, which isn't very helpful when you're dumping images off of your phone. It would be nice if somehow this feature could use image recognition to search the content of your pictures.

By default, the gallery only grabbed pictures from my OneDrive Pictures library, but I was able to add additional folders to it by clicking on the Locations button that appears in the toolbar when the gallery is open. After I clicked Locations, I clicked Add in the subsequent dialog box and added the Documents library to the gallery.

Overall, this gallery feature seems nice, but not ready for primetime. Albacore warned in their Twitter thread that the WASDK File Explorer is not stable and, during my testing, crashed a couple of times. However, it does indicate that Microsoft is working on a new File Explorer and gallery experience, which we will likely see in a future production build of Windows 11.

How to Enable the Windows 11 XAML Gallery

If you want to try the Windows 11 XAML Gallery and WASDK File Explorer like I did, here's what you need to do. Keep in mind that these steps involve using a Dev build of Windows 11 which could be unstable or incompatible with your hardware. I installed the build into a virtual machine on my desktop so I didn't have to take any risks with my production environment. I recommend that you do the same.

1. Install Windows Insider Build 25300 if you don't have it already. You can download an ISO of it directly from Microsoft. 

2. Change this Registry Value from 0 to 1: HKLM \ SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion\ Shell\ Update\ Packages\ MicrosoftWindows.Client.40729001_cw5n1h2txyewy \Compatible.

Note that this Registry Value was locked for me and I could not modify it until I set ownership of the Registry Key to Administrators. You may need to do the same.

3. Download ViVeTool from github and unzip it in a folder (ex: C:\vivetool). 

4. Launch a command prompt as admin and navigate to that folder by typing cd C:\vivetool or whatever the path is.

5. Enter the following commands, each followed by Enter.

ViveTool.exe /enable /id:40729001ViveTool.exe /enable /id:40731912ViveTool.exe /enable /id:41969252ViveTool.exe /enable /id:42922424ViveTool.exe /enable /id:41040327ViveTool.exe /enable /id:42295138ViveTool.exe /enable /id:42105254

Each of these IDs is an optional feature or dependency that's not available from the control panel or elsewhere. ViVetool allows you to enable these functions by their IDs. Similarly, you can disable them by substituting /disable for /enable.

6. Reboot.

After that, when you launch the File Explorer, you should see the pizza slice icon, which indicates that you are using the WASDK File Explorer. The gallery icon should also be in the left pane.

Microsoft rebranded Office 365 to Microsoft 365 in Oct. 2022, part of its effort to slowly take the long-running "Office" brand out of the limelight. At the time, the company didn't make any significant changes to the subscription tiers or features offered. But that will change later this month with the addition of a new Microsoft 365 Basic tier, which will cost $1.99/month ($19.99/year).

Microsoft 365 Basic slots between Microsoft 365 (free) and Microsoft 365 Personal ($6.99/month). It replaces the previous 100GB OneDrive storage subscription and adds some perks. Microsoft says customers can expect these features with the new tier:

• 100GB cloud storage
• Works on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
• Web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and more
• Ad-free Outlook web and mobile email and calendar with advanced security (data encryption, suspicious link cheer, malware scanning for attachments)
• Microsoft technical support

The extra functionality seems like a nice upgrade for users currently getting by with just the 100GB OneDrive storage tier. In addition, Microsoft says it will add "even better advanced security features" later this year, including shared links that are password-protected, and ransomware recovery.

While the inclusion of Office is welcome, we should note that this tier only includes the basic, web-based versions of Microsoft's popular productivity apps, which are available for free. To access the "premium" desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, you'll have to step up to Microsoft 365 Personal.

Microsoft was quick to point out that Jan. 29, 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of Office 365. The high-end Office 365 Home Premium subscription initially included only 20GB of cloud storage. Today, the Microsoft 365 Personal tier offers 1TB of OneDrive storage. In addition, the flagship Microsoft 365 Family tier for consumers ($9.99/month) supports up to six people, each with their own 1TB allotment of OneDrive storage.

Microsoft 365 Basic will be available starting Jan. 30. Current 100GB OneDrive subscribers will automatically be shifted to the newer, more feature-packed tier.

Microsoft is preparing to retire or at least deemphasize its decades old Office brand in favor of Microsoft 365 branded cloud productivity tools. Users should expect to see the changes permeate throughout the Microsoft cloud ecosystem in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, PC stalwarts using offline standalone Office suites and applications will probably not notice any difference.

The news was secreted within Microsoft’s announcement of a new Microsoft 365 app on Wednesday. On that page you will find a FAQ which helpfully spells out what is changing with regards to Microsoft 365 and Office brands, when changes will be pushed through and what it means to users of either branded products / suites. It also explains that “over the last couple years, Microsoft 365 has evolved into our flagship productivity suite,” and this is seemingly behind the decision to transition Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows into Microsoft 365 branded products.

The key thing for many users of Microsoft's flagship office productivity tools, is that they are not going away. Microsoft says that “as part of Microsoft 365 you will continue to get access to apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.” Also, Office 365 subscribers in business / enterprises will not be moved to Microsoft 365 plans. Importantly to many readers, those seeking the most recent offline / perpetual Office editions will still have the opportunity to buy apps as one-time purchases via Microsoft’s Office 2021 and Office LTSC plans, too.

While the branding change is a pretty big deal, once you read all the small print, it isn’t very impactful. However, the same could be said of any branding or naming change. The most affected will be personal consumers, students, and small home offices which currently use the Microsoft 365 cloud-powered productivity platform via mobile and web-apps. Existing users of these cloud office tools won’t have to do anything; existing accounts, profiles, subscriptions, and files won’t be disrupted, even if you are accessing them from the new app with new branding and icon. In a way, the naming changes help emphasize the difference between the cloud-powered and the perpetual Office releases; with the online version highlighting collaborative tools like Teams and OneDrive being used alongside more traditional office productivity apps in the new hybrid working world.

Expect to see many of the above changes arrive with the rebranding of the unified Office app to Microsoft 365 in November, with the whole rebranding effort expected to be completed by January 2023.

If you're a current Amazon Drive customer, you might want to think about offloading your files from the cloud service sooner rather than later. Amazon just sent out an email informing customers that the service will be discontinued on December 31, 2023, giving you just over a year to get your affairs in order.

"Over the last 11 years, Amazon Drive has served as a secure cloud storage service for Amazon customers to back up their files," said Amazon in the email sent to current Amazon Drive customers. "On December 31, 2023, we will no longer support Amazon Drive to more fully focus our efforts on photos and video storage with Amazon Photos."

For those unfamiliar with Amazon Drive, it enables every Amazon customer to upload 5GB of files for free. In the case of Amazon Drive, customers can securely store photos, videos, and documents in the cloud. PC and Mac users can upload and download files to Amazon Drive using a web browser, while Android and iOS users can interface with the service using an app.

While 5GB of storage is provided for free, Amazon offers paid tiers starting at $1.99/month for 100GB on up to $11.99/month for 2TB of Amazon Drive storage. 

"We will continue to provide customers the ability to safely back up, share, and organize photos and videos with Amazon Photos," Amazon continued in its email. Amazon Photos is similar in concept to Amazon Drive, except that it only allows customers to upload photos and video. 

One perk of Amazon Photos is that customers with a Prime membership can access unlimited photo storage. On the other hand, Prime members are limited to just 5GB of free video storage. If you want to increase your Amazon Photos video storage with a Prime membership, additional storage starts at $1.99/month for 100GB.

With the impending demise of Amazon Drive, it's probably a good time to look at alternative cloud storage solutions for your documents like Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, or iCloud Drive (if you're an Apple user).

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 2/25/2022 6:57 PDT:

Microsoft has now confirmed data persistence issues after a wipe with Windows 10 and Windows 11 in an official post. Additional details have been added to the bottom of this story.

Updated Story

Microsoft MVP Rudy Ooms has discovered that the built-in Windows data wiping functions aren't doing their job. In other words, say you want to sell on or recycle a PC system, and you prudently use the "Reset PC > Remove Everything" option. That should be a good way to wipe your drive, but there will still be personal data left behind on the old system. This error applies to both local and remote wiping of PCs running Windows 10 version 21H2 and Windows 11 version 21H2.

Ooms first discovered that there were problems with the disk wipe functionality provided by Microsoft when doing a remote wipe via Microsoft Intune system management. However, he has tested several Windows versions and both local and remote wiping over the weekend to compile the following summary table.

At the bottom of the table you can see that both Wipe and Fresh Start options appear to work as expected in Windows 10 and 11 version 21H1, but are ineffectual in versions 21H2. Ooms installed and tested these four OSes, with local and remote wipe operations, then checked the results.

The most common issue was the leaving behind of user data in a folder called Windows.old on the "wiped" or "fresh start" disk. This is despite Microsoft warning users ahead of the action that "This removes all personal and company data and settings from this device."

Bitlocker Protection Is Also Removed

In his blog post, Oooms notes that some users might feel assured that their personal data was always stored on a Bitlocker drive. However, when a device is wiped, Bitlocker is removed, and he discovered that the Windows.old folder contained previously encrypted data, now non-encrypted. It was also noted that OneDrive files, which had been marked as "Always Keep on this device" in Windows previously, remained in Windows.old too.

Ooms has kindly put together a PowerShell Script to fix this security blunder by Microsoft. One needs to run the script ahead of wiping / resetting your old device. Hopefully Microsoft will step up and fix this faulty behaviour in the coming weeks, so you don't need to remember to run third party scripts.

If you must reset or refresh a PC soon, you could just restart the reset / refreshed device and go into Windows to check for and delete the Windows.old files manually. Then a wipe-free space utility might be useful to make sure any sensitive data can't be recovered using any undelete style utilities. Always double-check the contents of the drive after wiping, as you might not only find your old files in Windows.old but also on other storage hardware installed in your PC / laptop.

Microsoft Confirms File Deletion Bug

"When attempting to reset a Windows device with apps which have folders with reparse data, such as OneDrive or OneDrive for Business, files which have been downloaded or synced locally from OneDrive might not be deleted when selecting the “Remove everything” option," Microsoft explained. "This issue might be encountered when attempting a manual reset initiated within Windows or a remote reset. Remote resets might be initiated from Mobile Device Management (MDM) or other management applications, such as Microsoft Intune or third-party tools."

Microsoft goes on to say that "cloud only" OneDrive files are not affected by this particular bug. Microsoft says that it is currently working on a fix that will be delivered in a future update for Windows 10 and Windows 11, but for now, here are two workaround: 

• This issue can be prevented by signing out or unlinking OneDrive before resetting your Windows device. For instructions, see the "Unlink OneDrive" section in, Turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive.
• This issue can be mitigated on devices that have already been reset by following the steps in KB5012334—Delete the Windows.old folder using Storage sense in the Settings app.

Asustor NAS owners on Reddit and the official Asustor forums have reported that they've fallen victim to a DeadBolt ransomware attack. DeadBolt has been in the wild for some time now, infecting unprotected NAS systems connected to the Internet. The same ransomware previously wreaked havoc on QNAP devices, and it would appear that Asustor was the next target.

DeadBolt's modus operandi hasn't changed much. The attacker remotely slips into the victim's NAS, encrypts the latter's information, and consequently asks for a ransom in bitcoins. Each victim receives a unique Bitcoin address to send the funds. Once the payment goes through, the criminal sends the victim the decryption key to decrypt the files on the infected NAS system. The perpetrators are asking for 0.03 bitcoin, which by today's exchange rate is around $1,154. It's the same sum that the hijackers had demanded from their QNAP victims. Surprisingly, the gang didn't make Asustor any offers. With QNAP, the group had offered to share the vulnerability details with the company for five bitcoins ($184,000) or sell it the universal decryption master key for 50 bitcoins ($1.85 million).

Asustor users that synchronize their files from their NAS to a cloud service like Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive should sever the link as soon as possible. One Redditor commented his infected system pushed the encrypted files to his OneDrive and Google Drive accounts. While he could recover the files from the former, he didn't have any luck with the latter.

Asustor hasn't released a statement regarding the DeadBolt attack. The recommendation from infected owners is to disconnect the NAS system from the Internet and wait for Asustor's fix. Owners speculate that DeadBolt gained access through Asustor's EZ Connect utility, which allows users to connect to their NAS systems from anywhere around the world. What's funny is that even the live demo of ADM (Asustor Data Master), the operating system for Asustor NAS devices, wasn't saved from the DeadBolt.

It's unknown if all Asustor NAS devices are susceptible to the DeadBolt attack as there is user feedback that some models, such as the AS6602T, AS-6210T-4K, AS5304T, AS6102T, or AS5304T, are free of infection. Meanwhile, some affected models include the AS5304T, AS6404T, AS5104T, and AS7004T.

Suppose you're one of the lucky owners that didn't get infected. In that case, one Redditor recommends taking some preventative measures, such as disabling EZ Connect, automatic updates, SSH, blocking all NAS ports from your router, and only allowing connections from within your network.

Apple’s new Silicon-based laptops are gearing up to be genuinely exciting, more powerful additions to the Apple lineup, but there’s a catch that’s got some Apple fans worried: program compatibility. Because Apple Silicon uses a unique new architecture, apps built for previous chips aren’t always going to have native support for Silicon MacBooks. Apple’s got emulation-based workarounds for everything from games to productivity favorites, but whether Microsoft Office will have native support has been plaguing prospective buyers ever since Apple Silicon was announced. Now, Microsoft’s got the answer: eventually.

In a new post on the Microsoft Office support website, Microsoft explained today that while it is working on a version of Office that will "natively support both Apple Silicon and Intel chipsets within the same executable," that version’s not going to be available on Apple Silicon laptops at launch. Instead, the Office Suite will rely on Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulation to run the Intel version of the software on Apple Silicon. Microsoft suggests updating to the November 2020 Office release for the best experience, though it doesn’t seem necessary just to run the programs themselves.

"There are no features differences," Microsoft stresses, but that doesn’t mean the emulation is perfect. The downside here is that, as Microsoft puts it, "the first launch of each Office app will take longer as the operating system has to generate optimized code for the Apple Silicon processor."

Specifically, you can expect to see the emulated apps "'bounce' in the dock for approximately 20 seconds"  as it is translated by Rosetta 2 when you first open them, after which "launches will be fast."

We’re also not sure how emulating Office will affect performance, even if the programs themselves will remain unchanged. Rest assured, though, that you will be able to access some version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OutLook, OneNote and OneDrive on Apple Silicon machines from day one.

Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10X operating system (OS) for dual-screen devices is indicating a change in the company’s approach to file management, according to a new update released for the Windows 10X Emulator yesterday. While most of the patch notes for the update focused on bug fixes for development environments, Microsoft also snuck in a beta for the Windows 10X File Manager revamp, which reveals a greater focus on integration with Microsoft OneDrive. 

We learned last year that Microsoft would be applying its new “Fluent Design” principles, which focus on simplicity and seamless movement between multiple devices, to the Windows 10 File Explorer starting this year, and it seems like the time has finally come for the company to start playing its hand. 

• What Is Windows 10X: Microsoft's folding PC OS explained
• Windows 10X hands-on: Our first look at Windows for foldables
• Microsoft rolls out Fluent Design icons for Windows 10X

Preview images for the app show both light and dark modes, built-in OneDrive syncing and a more lightweight visual design similar to what’s already in place in numerous Windows 10 System Settings menus. 

Also, while some users worried that the new file manager would only be able to browse OneDrive files, a Twitter user has seemingly put those fears to bed by playing around with the emulator and accessing his C drive through the new app.

OneDrive currently comes pre-installed with all copies of Windows 10 and offers users 5GB of cloud storage, with additional plans available for up to 6TB. Microsoft has been pushing it as a sort of Dropbox alternative since it first launched in 2007 under the name SkyDrive, before changing its name in 2013 after losing a trademark case.

“When we announced the new name OneDrive, we noted how it is much more aligned with our vision for the future,” then corporate vice president Chris Jones noted during the re-launch. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get all of your favorite stuff in one place.”

The new File Explorer app seems to be finally bringing the old standard in line with that promise. And while this version of the app is currently only slated for 10X, it might point at things to come for other Windows products down the line.

It doesn't usually take long for people to report problems with Windows 10 updates. That doesn't mean all of the problems will be found right away, though, and Windows Latest reported yesterday that Windows 10 updates released on October 8 and October 15 have been causing more issues for their users than anyone thought.

We already knew about some problems with the KB4517389 update, which broke the Start menu and Edge web browser. 

But now several posts on the Microsoft community forum claim that installing the update leads to the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) because of a proxy driver used by OneDrive, iCloud and other cloud services. Uninstalling the applications those services rely on is said to resolve the issue, but that kind of defeats the purpose of these cloud-based storage offerings. People want their files to be available on every device they own; losing access to them on their PC because of a problem with a Windows 10 cumulative update isn't ideal.

An issue with KB4517389 affecting VBRUN300.DLL reportedly leads to apps coded in Visual Basic 3 to fail with the error message "unexpected error; quitting." That issue is less pressing, considering Microsoft released Visual Basic 3 in 1993. 

KB4517389 wasn't the only Windows 10 update experiencing problems. Windows Latest said the KB4520062 update released on October 15 has also broken Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). 

Microsoft at least recognized this problem in a support document related to the KB4520062 update.

"After installing this update, the Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) service might stop running and might fail to send reporting data. You might also receive a 0xc0000409 error in Event Viewer in MsSense.exe. [...] Note Microsoft Windows Defender Antivirus is not affected by this issue," it said. 

Microsoft is "working on a resolution." And said it thinks a solution will be available mid-November (although, there's no guarantee that next update won't break some other aspect of Windows.) 

In the meantime, Microsoft suggested "that "devices in an affected environment do not install this optional non-security update." 

Let there be light? Microsoft isn't having any of that: the company announced on Wednesday that it's bringing dark mode to Microsoft 365's web and mobile apps in the coming weeks.

Microsoft isn't any stranger to making its apps more friendly to night owls; the company added dark modes to its desktop apps with the introduction of Office 2010. But the shift to a services model--and the accompanying launch of web and mobile apps--led the company to refocus on early birds. Now it's finally making dark mode available to every Microsoft 365 product on the web, desktop, Android and iOS with a few updates at a time..

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These updates will serve multiple functions. The obvious is making it more comfortable to use Microsoft's web and mobile apps in the dark without being blinded. Microsoft said the introduction of dark mode in its apps could help save battery life, too, although we aren't sure how big a difference it will make. Some people also prefer to use dark mode just because it looks cool. (We blame George Lucas for making the dark side seem so badass.).

The new dark mode is available now in Office.com as well as Outlook for iOS and Android. This update will be followed with a much larger one in a few weeks: Microsoft said the "upcoming launch of iOS 13 will then extend this rollout to Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner,and To-Do on mobile." The project will continue with updates "for all Outlook clients, Planner and OneDrive on web" later on.

Dark mode wasn't the only Microsoft 365 update to arrive yesterday. The company also introduced new features to Office, OneNote and Yammer, as well as IT-focused changes. More information about those updates--plus another look at dark mode in action--can be found in the announcement.

Microsoft just hit the pause button on its new October 2018 update, also known as Build 1809. After some users reported that their documents were deleted as part of the update and others complained of driver issues, the software giant has stopped the update so its developers can work on fixes. 

The company first posted the news on one of its support pages. 

"We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating."

Microsoft advises users who have had an issue to call its support lines or access online help. The company says that users who have not installed Build 1809 yet will not get it via automatic update and it advises anyone who has created an installation disk using the Windows download tool not to install it to any new computers. 

Microsoft launched Build 1809 on Tuesday, but almost immediately some users began reporting that, after the updated completed, files in the user directory were gone, including documents, photos and music. MSPoweruser first reported the news.

On Reddit, a thread in r/Windows10 (the Windows 10 community on the platform) compiled several reports of the issue. Others were discussing the issue on Twitter and in Microsoft's own forums. 

Some users suggest that folders and documents backed up to OneDrive are the ones most likely to make it through the update. However, we didn't have files backed up to OneDrive and experienced no problems on four different laptops we updated to Build 1809 this week.

Additionally, ZDNet reports that some devices may see issues with certain Intel audio drivers (intcdaud.sys, versions 10.25.0.3 – 10.25.0.8) that "may result in excessive processor demand and reduced battery life," according to a Windows support document.

If you already installed Build 1809, Intel says a fix for the audio driver problem is available in version 10.25.0.10, which is included with Intel Graphics Driver version 24.20.100.6286. Intel suggests that all users with 6th Gen or newer processors update to that graphics driver before updating.

There's no word yet on when Microsoft plans to resume the rollout or how many users lost their files. We will update this article if more details become available.

Many people like being able to access their files no matter what device they're using. That's why services like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and OneDrive have become all but ubiquitous. It's also why companies like Western Digital offer connected drives like the My Cloud products, but in that particular case, a security flaw means the person who owns the drive isn't the only one who can access its contents.

Securify's Remco Vermeulen and Exploitee.rs independently found and disclosed a major authentication bypass flaw in My Cloud products in 2017. Vermeulen said he disclosed the problem to Western Digital last April but never received a response from the company. Exploitee.rs also said it contacted Western Digital about the problem last year and even publicly discussed it at Def Con 25, but its warnings also fell on deaf ears.

The flaw in question allows someone to gain administrator access to a My Cloud drive without a password. Vermeulen said that person could "run commands that would normally require admin privileges and gain complete control of the My Cloud device." He proved this on a My Cloud model WDBCTL0020HWT running firmware version 2.30.172 but said other models likely bear the same flaw because they use the same code.

Vermeulen and Exploitee.rs both developed proofs of concept demonstrating the flaw in action. It doesn't appear to be particularly difficult--Vermeulen's demo was presented in a GIF--and could probably be exploited by amateurs now that the flaw has been disclosed to the public. Western Digital hasn't developed a fix yet, either, but a year-and-a-half of silence left the researchers little choice but to go public.

We couldn't find public acknowledgement of this vulnerability from Western Digital on its website, blog, or Twitter account. The company has responded directly to some Twitter users, however, and linked to an unlisted blog post it quietly published on September 19. In it, the company said that My Cloud Home devices aren't affected and that it plans to address the vulnerability with a firmware update "within a few weeks."

Western Digital also seemed keen on downplaying its slow response to Vermeulen and Exploitee.rs' disclosures.

"Western Digital works continuously to improve the capability and security of our products, including with the security research community to address issues they may uncover. We encourage responsible disclosure by customers and researchers to ensure our customers are protected while we address valid vulnerabilities," it said in its blog post. 

My Cloud device owners are encouraged to enable automatic updates to make sure their devices aren't affected by this flaw as soon as possible.

Google is today allowing users in the United States sign up for Google One, its new consumer storage service with a new name and pricing. Users with paid Google Drive plans may have already been upgraded.

If you’re not in the U.S., you’ll have to wait a bit. Google says that it will open up One to more countries in the coming weeks.

Google One plans start at $1.99 per month for 100GB, $2.99 for 200GB or $9.99 per month for 2TB. Users with 1TB plans are automatically upgraded to the 2TB plan, and the 200GB option is brand new. Of course, you still get 15GB of free space with Google services, but none of the extra benefits. One does not replace Drive, but rather allows for space across all the entirety of Google’s ecosystem.

Additionally, Google One allows for a family plan, so you can have as many as five people sharing storage on a single bill. This is similar to Microsoft’s Office 365, which provides 1TB of storage for up to five users (plus five Office installs).

But Google One’s plans are a bit cheaper than Microsoft’s OneDrive, which offers 5GB of storage free, 50GB for $1.99 per month, 1TB for $70 per month, which includes Office 365, and 5TB with Office 365 (5 installs) for $99.99 per year.

Google One also adds 24/7 customer service to answer user queries. I had a chance to go hands-on with it. A little after 6:30 p.m., I contacted support to ask about how to access Gmail offline. I had to be transferred to another representative, but despite the simple question, the Google rep never made me feel dumb (and even backtracked when I pretended to be confused).

Additionally, Google is adding rewards to Google One members using its services. The company states that it has begun by issuing Google Play credits and deals on hotels found through Google Search (another odd echo of Microsoft’s Bing Rewards). Google suggests that in the future, deals on Google Express and the Google Store could become available.

Again, if you’re not in the U.S., you’ll have to wait a bit. Google says that it will open up One to more countries in the coming weeks.

Users who want to join Google One can go to the website for more details.

Nobody likes backing up all of their important files. It's tedious work that only really pays off when there's a disaster, and who really expects something disastrous to happen to them? But anyone who's lost files--or been forced to keep old devices because they can't be bothered to move them over to a new one--knows how important backing up and syncing files can be. Good thing Microsoft is making that easier, right?

Microsoft has started rolling out a "folder protection" feature to all OneDrive users. The feature debuted in June for the service's business customers, but according to The Verge, now it's going to be available to anyone who uses Microsoft's cloud storage tool. Just don't get too excited; the feature has some limitations that mean you still have to set a few things up before your files are automatically sent up to OneDrive.

Right now the feature is limited to your Desktop, Pictures, and Documents folders. Some people will be fine with that. (Who doesn't have that one relative who keeps every file they've ever made, downloaded, or otherwise interacted with on the desktop?) But anyone with more elaborate file organization systems will likely find themselves wishing the feature would just work for any folder on their PC instead of just those three.

Microsoft said in a support article that people with access to the folder protection feature will receive a prompt asking them if they want to enable it. That prompt asks you to confirm which folders you want to protect, and once you've selected them, you just have to hit "Start protection." OneDrive will handle the rest, and from that point on your files should remain in sync across your devices and be easily accessible via OneDrive.

The primary benefit of folder protection appears to be the automatic syncing. But the feature also lives up to its name by making sure your Desktop, Pictures, and Documents folders are stored in OneDrive with ransomware protection enabled. Given how popular ransomware attacks have become, and how ill-prepared many people are for them, setting up folder protection might be the easiest way to mitigate that risk.

Microsoft quietly announced a new handset, the Lumia 650, and it’s not especially clear why it exists. As the name implies, it’s not much different than the 640 and 640 XL. It’s true that some key specs are not the same, but they won’t affect notable differences in performance.

The biggest hardware change is that the 650 runs a Snapdragon 212 SoC whereas the 640 and 640 XL have the Snapdragon 400. It has twice the storage, although it’s still not much at 16 GB. All three phones have the same RAM, and the 640 and 650 displays are both 5 inches and 1280x720 resolution. Oddly, the camera is worse, offering just 720p HD performance. The 650 also has a smaller battery than its older brothers.

The 650 also runs Windows 10, which is great, but it kind of feels like a slap in the face to 640/640 XL owners who are still waiting for Windows 10 to drop onto their handsets.

It also makes no sense. For now at least, the 650 is aimed solely at European markets (UK, France, Germany and Italy), where the 640 is already sold, and it has Windows 10 (for phones).

But you can forget about Continuum support. The 650 doesn't meet the minimum requirements -- not even close.

It’s also $200 USD, which is less expensive than the 640/640 XL, and it’s available now. In some European countries. 

Update, 2/16/16, 6:50am PT: The original version of this article misstated the number of cores on the Snapdragon 400. There were also a couple of typos. The copy has been adjusted accordingly.

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Seagate's new Backup Plus Ultra Slim, which the company unveiled at CES 2016, reduces the thickness (Z-height) of its 1 and 2 TB enclosures to a mere 9.6 mm. Competing mobile HDD enclosures feature a Z-height of 20.9 mm (51 percent thicker), and the previous-generation mobile Seagate 2 TB HDD already provided the thinnest profile at 12.1 mm.

The new Seagate 5,400 RPM mobile 2 TB HDD with a 7 mm Z-height is nestled inside the enclosure, and is the key technological advance that enabled the thinner enclosure. Seagate managed to pack up to two platters into the thin drive and coupled them with its SMR technology, which is a first for the 2.5" HDD segment.

The svelte design allows users to tote around more data in a slimmer package. Seagate included its Dashboard software, which allows users to configure either one-click or customized scheduled backups for their devices. Seagate also provides a few extras for its customers, including 200 GB of OneDrive cloud storage for two years and the Lyve photo and video sharing application, which merges photos and videos into a single automatically managed library that is accessible from any computer or mobile device. 

The slim design features either a golden or platinum motif and the USB 3.0 connection, which is the primary speed limitation. Both the 1 and the 2 TB models are expected to provide enough speed to saturate the bus. The drive is compatible with the downloadable Paragon driver, which allows the use of the Backup Plus with both Windows and Apple machines.

The company referenced its "breakthrough ultra-mobile hard drive technology" as the driver behind the increased density, which refers (at least in part) to its SMR technology. SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) is a revolutionary new HDD recording technique that overlaps an HDD's tracks to improve storage density (we have a deeper explanation in our SMR 101 article) in comparison to the commonly-used PMR recording (which is found in the vast majority of HDDs).

The only disadvantage to SMR recording is that it suffers slow performance in some workloads due to the nature of the overlapped data tracks, which have to be re-written in large blocks whenever data is changed or moved. The internal functions of an SMR drive borrow heavily from SSD technology, namely the technique of abstracting the sector mapping scheme, to reduce the overall impact of the inevitable data re-write process.

As a result, SMR drives are unsuitable for any type of random write data but perform fine with sequential data. SMR HDDs debuted in the enterprise space with the Seagate Archive 8TB HDD, which brought the cost-per-GB down to a mere 3 cents-per-GB. Unfortunately, the architecture requires customizations to the broader computing environment to mitigate the performance limitations, which has hampered adoption (particularly in the face of very efficient helium HDDs). 

In an effort to increase adoption, Seagate is expanding its SMR scope to the client space for select applications, such as backup, archival tasks, videos and photo storage. Seagate is wise to position the drives for backup, photo and video applications. These types of data almost always consist of large-block sequential data patterns, thus preventing users from experiencing any noticeable performance slowdown.

SMR is geared to provide increased density and reduced cost. The Backup Plus Ultra Slim will retail for $99.99 for the 1 TB model and $129.99 for the 2 TB model. The new Backup Plus Ultra Slim features a two-year warranty, which is the same as the previous-generation PMR-based product.

The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim will be available in the first quarter of 2016 at either Amazon or Seagate.com and features a two-year warranty. 

Cyanogen's Cyanogen OS is a hit among Android users. The open source mobile operating system gives users a variety of features and functions that are otherwise unavailable on the Android operating system, such as adding slow motion video capabilities and making apps private by hiding them in a locked and protected folder. Today, the OS is getting new services thanks to a partnership with Microsoft.

The deal involves the addition of Microsoft apps and services into the Cyanogen OS, specifically Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Office and Bing. However, Microsoft doesn't just want these implemented on the system; the company is working on "native integrations" for the apps on Cyanogen OS, which will make them seem like native apps within the operating system.

Cyanogen hasn't provided an exact date for the integration; the statement only said that it's coming later this year. However, this partnership is crucial, especially for those who are using Cyanogen OS for business.

Many office workers already use the same Windows apps and services on their desktop computers. By having a native version of important Windows apps on Cyanogen OS, users can get that Windows experience in their pockets without having to switch to Windows Phone.

If anything, this development is bound to create competition in the mobile office space by giving users an alternative to both the Android operating system and Windows Phone.

Update (4/16, 12:20 PDT): The partnership with Microsoft only extends Cyanogen OS, the commercial operating system, and not CyanogenMod, the open source distribution. The story has been updated for clarification.

Update (4/16, 1:40pm PDT): We reached out to Cyanogen for comment on this story, and here is the reply (note that the Microsoft services are opt-in):

"Users are ultimately in control of what apps and services they want to opt-in to. Additionally, users can always delete apps and services they no longer want. Cyanogen is predicated on user choice as an operating system, and we want to offer best-in-class apps and services on our platform, and Microsoft services will be one of those great choices for consumers."

Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Most OneDrive users utilize the cloud-based software to store documents or photos, but now it also includes music storage. With Microsoft combining the Xbox Music app with OneDrive, you can now put songs in your cloud and listen to them on your Xbox or other Windows device.

The easiest way to put music in OneDrive is by placing songs in the Music folder. Then, the songs show up on the Xbox Music app as part of your collection, and you can download them so they're available for offline playback. Fortunately, OneDrive supports multiple music file formats such as MP3, M4A (AAC), and WMA.

As for devices, the feature works on any computer or tablet running Windows 8.1. Mobile devices using Windows Phone 8.1 can also use it via the Music app, and both the Xbox One and Xbox 360 gaming consoles have access as well. If you don't have any of the listed devices above, then the music can be accessed through a web browser of your choice on the Xbox Music website. Unfortunately, if you are running Windows 8 or use an iOS or Android device, this won't be available to you.

Depending on your OneDrive subscription plan, you won't be able to put all of your music in the cloud necessarily, but at least there will be enough space for a decent playlist. Subscribers to Xbox Music Pass, the company's music streaming service, get an added bonus of 100 GB of storage on their OneDrive account to store even more songs. Microsoft did say that you can put up to 50,000 songs in your collection, but again, that's limited to your storage subscription.

This added support for OneDrive is a big step in Microsoft's plan for the user to exclusively use Microsoft products in everyday life. Instead of using various third-party media players, you can now just put your favorite music in its cloud service and enjoy it anywhere. The lack of support for Android and iOS devices is a bit concerning, but if the company is willing to put Cortana on the App Store and Google Play, then maybe it can do the same thing with OneDrive's music storage and reach a whole new audience.

Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Microsoft launched the "Outlook for iOS and Android" app yesterday, which was in fact a rebranding of an existing app called Acompli that Microsoft purchased in early December 2014. However, according to IBM developer René Winkelmeyer, the app presents some major security issues for the companies that intend to use it, and access should be immediately denied to enterprise users.

By far the biggest security issue that the developer found is that Microsoft itself has access to the users' email credentials, including both the username and the password:

“What I saw was breathtaking. A frequent scanning from an AWS IP to my mail account. Means Microsoft stores my personal credentials and server data (luckily I've used my private test account and not my company account) somewhere in the cloud! They haven't asked me. They just scan. So they have in theory full access to my PIM data," said Winkelmeyer in a blog post.

Only Gmail emails, which require OAuth authorization, don't give Microsoft your credentials, according to Acompli's own current Privacy Policy. However, Exchange emails do:

"Some email accounts (ones that use Microsoft Exchange, for example) also require that you provide your email login credentials, including your username, password, server URL, and server domain. Other accounts (Google Gmail accounts, for example) use the OAuth authorization mechanism which does not require us to access or store your password."

The second major security issue concerns Microsoft's servers acting as some sort of "man-in-the-middle" servers by intercepting a company's private emails as they pass from one user to another.

“Those messages, calendar events, and contacts, along with their associated metadata, may be temporarily stored and indexed securely both in our servers and locally on the app on your device. If your emails have attachments and you request to open them in our app, the service retrieves them from the mail server, securely stores them temporarily on our servers, and delivers them to the app."

Microsoft and Acompli promote this indexing service as making email delivery slightly faster, but that comes with a rather significant privacy and security cost for the companies utilizing Microsoft's new app. This email interception could be especially worrisome for companies that don't want their data easily shared with certain U.S. government agencies. Those agencies may not have proper jurisdiction over that data when it's held by Microsoft's enterprise customers in other countries. However, they could get access more easily to Microsoft's copies of the data. The Outlook for iOS and Android app also collects all calendar and contact data.

The third security issue, which Winkelmeyer described as a "data security nightmare," is that Microsoft has built-in connectors to OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive, which allow an enterprise user to easily share confidential company data with others, or worse, to access files that could be infected with malware, for example. Winkelmeyer's point is that this feature can easily bypass a company's security policies, such as app containerization.

Some of these security issues seem to be older Acompli issues, and given that Microsoft has merely rebranded the app as Outlook, it's possible the company didn't take a hard enough look at the app before re-launching it.

At the same time, Microsoft may have already been aware of the issues but decided to keep the service as is, because indexing of other companies' private email is something Microsoft may want to do. It remains to be seen how Microsoft will react to this discovery, and that reaction should tell us more about the company's intentions regarding these security issues.

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Microsoft's Chris Jones, corporate vice president of OneDrive & SharePoint, updated the OneDrive blog on Monday to report that customers of Office 365 will get unlimited OneDrive storage for free. He said that the free storage is rolling out now for Office 365 Home, Personal and University editions.

The full rollout will take a few months to complete, but customers are able to get in front of the long line by heading here. After that, customers will be notified by email when their free storage becomes available. Jones said this move to free storage is an important milestone for the OneDrive cloud service.

"For OneDrive for Business customers, unlimited storage will be listed on the Office 365 roadmap in the coming days, and we will begin updating the First Release customers in 2015, aligned with our promise to provide ample notification for significant service changes," Jones wrote.

Office 365 Home costs $9.99 per month and can be installed on five PCs and Macs, as well as on five tablets. The Personal version costs $6.99 per month and can be installed on one PC or Mac and one tablet. Both include online versions of Office, support for offline and online storage, and $60 worth of Skype minutes each month.

On the business end, Office 365 Business Essentials costs $5 per user per month. There's also Office 365 Business that costs $8.25 per month per user and Office 365 Business Premium for $12.50 per month per user. All three have a user maximum of 300 individuals, and they require an annual commitment.

Microsoft changed the name of its cloud storage service back at the end of January from SkyDrive to OneDrive. The company was ordered to change the name as part of a legal trademark infringement lawsuit with UK satellite company BSkyB (aka Sky). The British company used to have a cloud service called "Sky Store & Share," but closed it in 2011. The company didn't want customers to be confused by Microsoft's own SkyDrive service.

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Comparison Guide To Cloud Storage Providers

Over the past 20 years, ubiquitous document access has become increasingly critical as digital portfolios have grown to span family, financial, work and school activities. At the same time, concerns about maintaining data safety and security have also escalated. Early services like FTP and peer-to-peer sharing remain popular, but predominantly with more technical users.

Today’s cloud storage provides simple file sharing, but also extends personal workstation file space, integrates document editing, includes real-time backup and document workflow. These services are cheap, fast, easy to use and require very little up front or long-term end user investment. The most time-consuming tasks, notably large backup and restore, can be automated or occur behind the scenes. 

Editor’s Note: Use the questionnaire below to have our sister site, BuyerZone, provide you with information from a variety of vendors for free:

The leaders include pure-play vendors Box, Dropbox and Google, and the two-walled garden approaches from Apple and Microsoft. The latter fall into this category because they offer cloud storage as a byproduct of a more robust offering – Apple began with a device backup service, and Microsoft uses OneDrive as the foundation to Office 365.  While Google Drive evolved from Google Docs (and still provides rich document editing), it can be more easily evaluated on its pure storage merits.

Among the offerings there is parity in features, functionality, security and price, but we aim to show where they differ.

What am I getting out of it?

From a practical storage perspective, these services offer a token amount of free space, with upgrades ranging up to paid plans for unlimited storage. For services promoting unlimited storage, limitations occur around file sizes. For example, Box Enterprise caps files at 5GB, whereas Google Drive has a very generous 1TB maximum. Note that “free” is a relative term – to open a free iCloud account, users must have an Apple iOS or Mac OS device.

Google’s top tier of $3600/year for 30TB of anywhere storage is not a lot of money. Personal plans ranging from $100-300/year are extremely reasonable for people interested in backing up computers; sharing files with colleagues, family members and classmates; and using cloud storage to support a small business.

The open (pure-play) cloud storage services allow storing any type, style, and kind of file. All services use Web browser interfaces by default (to create, upload and view files), and all have varying degrees of viewers. Google allows users to preview over 20 file types, Box has a high-fidelity mobile engine and Microsoft allows users to open Office files in their native format without a subscription. These are not replacements for fit-for-purpose presentation tools or AutoCAD, but they suffice for most situations.

Browser drag-and-drop upload is handled so well that it is now an expected feature, and is surprising when not supported. Even Microsoft provides drag-and-drop and right-click support across browsers and platforms, although the real-time feedback lags others (see Dropbox real-time identification).

Desktop synchronization is a powerful feature for users backing up or extending their computers to the Cloud. In this area, Dropbox shines. Other services lag behind either due to business decisions (Box prefers people use the browser to keep real-time file control with administrators), background service system resource spikes or technical gaps.

More than a feature comparison, we looked at the services as three use cases. The first is personal storage, or extending one’s own file system to the cloud. The second is sharing, especially of moderately size to large documents. Sharing was looked at in both a one-to-one and group sharing, with people who had accounts on the service and those who did not.

Finally, the third use case was extensibility, API and SDK. For this, we explored services’ abilities to be a platform or infrastructure backbone to support a small business or gaming-in-the-cloud.

Oh, a note about performance testing. We recognize that readers would be interested in performance, so why didn't we test speed? In our findings, performance varied wildly based on a number of factors related to physical connection and service architecture. First, our primary testing facility was serviced by high-speed cable. As is the case with many cable Internet packages, ours had a 'boost' function which artificially inflates initial download performance, then slows remaining downloads. Second, services vary based on their sync mechanism. Dropbox (and backup service Mozy) perform block- or bit-level replication. This means that once files are initially sent to the Cloud, additional saves only synchronize what actually has changed. This is most apparent on modern-era Office documents, which utilize a standards-based XML data structure. Finally, Dropbox also employs LAN sync, which allows computers running on a physical LAN to sync files locally, rather than downloading updates from the Cloud. Two caveats: updates are still sent to the Cloud, and when installing Dropbox on a new computer (or if the index becomes corrupted), all files must be re-synchronized from the Cloud.

Box Cloud Storage - Pricing And Features Overview

Box is all business. The service has gained tremendous momentum over the past year, and is now at an estimated 25 million individual customers and 225,000 enterprise ones.

The Box browser user interface is well-organized, streamlined, intuitive and feature-rich, offering a wide variety of built-in and third-party capabilities. Box behaves like a full application running in a Web browser, including drag-and-drop uploads, right-clicks and top menus. The user interface feels more like a competitor to enterprise tools like Documentum, OpenText LiveLink, IBM FileNet P8 and Microsoft SharePoint than a direct peer to the other services we tested. However, it is a cloud service at its core, and Box offers its sleek functionality and powerful document review (workflow) and collaboration tools to all users.

While administrative controls, unlimited storage and capabilities like Salesforce.com CRM integration are reserved for paying customers, the power and flexibility of Box means that individuals can quickly open a personal account and purchase additional storage.

Box has the most powerful full-text search of all the services, and returns the best results. For instance, while Dropbox returned one result for a sample query that included unique terms split between file name and full-text search, Box returned 58 spot-on results. The instant-results drop-down is handy, and the full-text index rivals enterprise solutions.

On Box’s mobile apps, all file names are easy to see with its thin font, as compared to the other services, which often truncate file names. File sorting can be done in three ways (name, date or size) and the thin iOS 7-matching font allows for more file details than other services.

Both the full browser preview and mobile app viewers are feature-rich, with the most accurate file renditions, including high-quality fonts and correct PowerPoint slide forms. But this comes with a cost – we found that file sizes were large, and previews consumed far more bandwidth than other services. Since users cannot choose between a low- or high-quality image, quick-viewing PDFs is much quicker using other services, even over Wi-Fi. Box errs on the side of quality, which can cost time and money over mobile connections. To its credit, Box warns you when you attempt to preview files on mobile networks.

Collaboration and Synchronization

At its core, Box is a document collaboration service, and performs an excellent job at this task. Everything reasonable and intuitive is here, including the file lock status, colored “flags” on files indicating version numbers, metadata tags, access statistics and workflow task management.

Box is first a Web app and secondarily a synchronization-to-the-desktop service. For people looking to extend their file systems to the Cloud, Box folder synchronization can be set at the top level (like most other services) and – somewhat unique in online services – at each sub-folder. Synchronizing individual folders to a PC is controlled via the Web application, but cannot be tweaked by the operating system (OS) extension.

Sending links to shared folders is also straightforward, and can be accomplished through the browser, mobile app and aforementioned OS extension. There is a lot of power to sharing in Box: links can be open access or only apply to pre-determined collaborators, shared files can be restricted to view-only (not download) and they can be set to automatically expire. These three thoughtful settings are additional mechanisms for the security-conscious or absent-minded.

We noticed a small bug in testing – if you accidentally click on “share” in  the browser UI, it immediately sets a link (indicated by the chain link icon) before you actually complete the full action/decision by clicking OK. “Un-sharing” doesn’t take much time, but this can be a security issue for those who don’t realize it.

Integrations

Box has a very comprehensive API integration program, with more than 1000 integrations through more than 550 partners, including CRM, office applications, social collaboration, security and product/project management applications. However, it is important to note that access to the enterprise integrations requires the highest tier of Box pricing, Box Enterprise (or the custom-priced Box Elite). Box Business and Box Enterprise customers also get Active Directory and SSO integration to align with corporate accounts and policies. With a focus on enterprise application integration, Box APIs are designed to make the service a platform for large systems and less of a “developer playground” for small developers.

Two of the more interesting integrations are with Microsoft Office and Google Apps. These illustrate Box’s commitment to being a cloud storage provider and not an application vendor. It clearly separates them from those who try to do both.

Finally, Box has a Content API that exposes all of its key functions to organizations looking to build their own content management platform.

Pricing is slightly different from the other cloud storage vendors. Since Box is designed for the enterprise, caps are set based on individual file size rather than overall storage volume. This is reasonable since bandwidth and practicality dictate a natural glass ceiling. In the past, Box offered lifetime 50GB storage promotions, so there are a number of well-endowed personal accounts in the market. Box truly realizes the promise set forth by cloud storage and sharing.

Box Pricing

Dropbox Cloud Storage - Pricing And Features Overview

[Editor's Note: After we finished testing and this article was being finalized, Dropbox announced some changes to the service, especially around pricing, but also with new functionality. We detail some of those changes under the subheading "Update" at the end of this page.]

Dropbox was initially a “magic folder” targeted at consumers, but it is now embraced by more than 300 million users, including universities, healthcare systems and other corporations. Dropbox was a pioneer in extending local PC content to the cloud for file sharing. While it is expensive – especially compared to Google’s 2014 pricing – its bit-level replication, ability to recover deleted files and unlimited version control through Packrat make for an award-winning tool.

Memory footprint is also something Dropbox users should be aware of. In our testing on a mix of machines with 8-16GB of RAM, the Dropbox client consumed between 70 and 160MB (the second-largest behind Windows SVCHOST).

Once installed, adding files through the browser interface is as easy as dragging and dropping them. Creating folders is also very easy, as is sharing those folders with others. We found that full sharing can only be controlled at root-level directories. This makes for an often top-weighted directory structure.

Two unique benefits of Dropbox: the service is intelligent enough to identify when multiple Dropbox-synced computers are on a local network, and the ability to re-build the Dropbox file index based on files that are already located on the local disk. The former feature allows for fast localized sync of files without having to go to the Dropbox cloud. The second feature comes into play if you install Dropbox on a brand new PC. You can copy your entire Dropbox directory structure – and files – and Dropbox will automatically re-build the index without having to re-download files from the cloud. These two features save bandwidth and time, while recognizing all of the file and folder security and sharing controls previously set.

Because it is a consumer-oriented service at its core, Dropbox makes purchase, setup, download and initial file sync very easy. For casual users, the Web interface is simple yet feature-rich, and has some unique capabilities unavailable in other interfaces, like browsing file creation, deletion and update events. While Dropbox lacks true workflow, I used event viewing to see changes by other users in shared folders and as a means to perform multi-user version control.

Syncing files

Backing up, sharing and syncing files are the core uses of cloud storage service, and Dropbox does this well. All clients work consistently, and syncs are generally quick. Starting up Windows and Mac clients (upon resume-from-sleep or initial boot) can take between 15 seconds and five minutes, presumably while the client is loading the cache and comparing the file list with the cloud. Initial start-up and sync time has become slower over the past two years. With desktop client version 2.8.2, it was not unusual to see the first sync 5-10 minutes into a Windows session.

Dropbox has a unique feature called "selective sync," which let each of our environments inherit a different persona. The feature allows users to turn on or off top-level directories on a per-machine basis, which minimizes the storage footprint and file clutter across PCs. For those using Dropbox on multiple computers running on a network (small business or family household), Dropbox provides the option to sync locally instead of going back to the cloud. If the same file is saved by multiple PCs or users, Dropbox will append the computer name and “Conflicted Copy” to the file, rather than reconciling changes (Microsoft OneDrive does a much better job of multi-user editing).

What shouldn’t be missed is Dropbox’s incremental (block- or bit-level) replication. Instead of synchronizing entire files, Dropbox only needs to update the pieces of the files that are actually changed, greatly minimizing bandwidth and sync times. This is a very high-end document management feature now available to the masses. It also conserves bandwidth.

Version control is supplemented by Packrat, which is Dropbox’s name for maintaining revision history over an unlimited time horizon (30-day file history is standard). This feature has saved us a couple of times, but you can only review versions via a Web browser. Dropbox, in response to customer feedback, has updated Packrat’s Restore function to work like enterprise document management systems (the restored version becomes the newest iteration). This is very powerful. However, moving directories eliminates all version history of files within the folders. Moving folders back to the original location shows the version history including when files were “deleted” and “added.” Version history needs some work to become folder independent.

Dropbox ‘Ecosystem’

Any good software platform has a rich set of third-party participants, and Dropbox is no exception. Dropbox has two major categories of extensions: drop-ins and three categories of Dropbox APIs.

Drop-ins are a simple way to add the two most common Dropbox functions to existing apps via prebuilt code: Chooser (or "Choose From") and Saver ("Save To").  While simple in nature, it is powerful in execution, because apps that use lots of structured content (but would value from unstructured documents and images) can leverage the Dropbox infrastructure with very little coding and QA.

In the formal API category, Dropbox has long promoted its platform to developers, who can add the ability view, create or edit rich documents. One of my favorite examples is the Microsoft Office editor CloudOn. Since editing remotely-stored files requires strong security, the newer value-added API includes security/encryption software. There are also integration modules for multi-platform mobile apps and Dropbox storage for pure structured data. The final API type is designed for smaller developers who wish to save "game state" and those who value conflict resolution through advanced data and file locking rules.

With greater corporate interest comes the need for additional hooks into the service and a management console. The API set is rich, but lags Box on real-world adoption and internal promotion (Box has right-click send-to Docusign and Chatter out of the box, for example). Dropbox is currently promoting “over 300,000 apps on the Dropbox platform,” but it is difficult to discern what exactly an app is and the level of integration.

Security

Dropbox doesn’t have built-in encryption, but is quick to refer users and organizations to various options supported through the Dropbox developer network.

One note for security-conscious users: those who synchronize files with their PCs are inherently able to take content with them, and since Dropbox uses PC/Mac sync as a core selling point, you should be aware that in our testing we found that “unsharing” folders still left files in our Dropbox cache directory, or allowed us to recover deleted files that weren’t really permanently deleted. The solution is simple: don’t install the desktop client. But of course that removes a key benefit.

One additional security worry surfaced in recent months – hackers are spreading malware through public Dropbox links (dl.dropbox.com). This is a security hole Dropbox needs to fix quickly.

Summer 2014 Updates

Dropbox made some recent changes to the service to reflect customer requirements and to gain parity in a few key areas. The most obvious change is the "Pro" tier, which includes 1TB of storage for the same price as the previous 100GB tier of storage. However, there is a lot more to the Pro service, particularly around security. Dropbox now has Remote Wipe, a feature that will let you remove Dropbox files on a device that is lost or stolen. We did not have an opportunity to test this, but previously found that files removed from unshared folders lingered on PCs in the .dropbox.cache folder.

Second, Dropbox allows the expiration of shared links and specific view/edit permissions on shared folders. This feature already exists in other services like Box, so Dropbox is playing catch-up. Finally, Pro comes with extended version history of up to one year, replacing the need for Packrat for many users. Dropbox is not offering Packrat to new users, and is actively promoting the change in version history policy as of November 1, 2014.

Dropbox Pricing

Google Drive Cloud Storage - Pricing And Features Overview

Google’s Drive service is an extremely affordable cloud storage option, yet very powerful for collaboration and teamwork. The features around team review and collaboration have been enhanced and polished through increased file change notifications, "live" in-document highlights, and integration with Google Hangouts online meeting tool. Google really thought through the functionality that both consumers and business users need.

In its most simple form, Google allows users to make comments and share files as viewers, collaborators or co-owners. This is simple and fast, yet powerful. While other tools can also do this, Google does the collaboration better through its tight integration between storage and editing tools, and its focus on platform-independent browser-based apps. The apps and ecosystem also work on Chromium zero- or minimal-storage devices.

For word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents, Google's full-featured and feature-rich Docs, Sheets, Forms and Drawing tools edge close to a "walled garden" approach. However, the document editing isn't required, nor is it forced on users as part of the value proposition.

File changes and updates are outlined when viewing files, including color highlights by user. The activity tab in the browser window shows all file changes and viewing activity within a folder, and lets you see detailed changes when individual files are selected. Unfortunately, we could not see detailed activity on older documents; many documents not edited prior to January 2014 did not have any logged activity in our Drive. 

As we tested Google Drive, the lines between the consumer-oriented Drive and Google Enterprise Apps appeared to be thinning. The late June 2014 announcement of Google Drive for Business further validated this. For $10 per month, Google offers auditing, reporting, retention rules and control over desktop client installation. The company  also addressed questions around security, specifically documents at rest and in transit, through security controlled via the enterprise administration console and mobile device management.

Google differentiates Drive around cross-platform usability. The iOS and Android apps are very polished, and have improved greatly over the past year. For example, fonts are slim and easy to read, and folders are now displayed on top of the file list, both of which make browsing Drive a much more logical task than with Dropbox, which mixes folders and files together in a list. However, Google removed the built-in editing capability from its Drive mobile app in early 2014, so users must now separately install Google apps to have native editing functionality on the go. 

Another interesting feature of Google Drive is its ability to convert Office documents to the native Google format within the Drive Web interface, and pull text from PDF documents and image files. The latter functionality acts as “lightweight OCR” and can save users time if they need the raw text out of otherwise read-only destination formats. This is optional, and can be controlled for corporate purposes through the admin console or via PDF creation rules (previously Google Docs allowed opening password-enabled PDF documents, but this was fixed).

The only perplexing piece of Google Drive is, surprisingly, its search functionality, especially compared to Box. First, the search results are sparse, the quick-results aren't instantaneous, and to engage a full-text search query, you have to take extra steps and go to the full list of results. Second, with search as Google’s core competence, the results screen pales in comparison to what we are accustomed from other Google products (for example, there aren’t highlights or explanations of where, within files, the full-text terms are found). 

Google has an incredibly powerful and open Drive SDK, including deep integration with Android app back-ends, and birthing many Drive-centric products like Teamlab Office (an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office). The Google API allows developers to write Drive applications in Java, Python, Javascript, .NET, Ruby, Go and Node.js. Getting started is as easy as setting up an account in Google’s Developer Console and attaching to a Drive-enabled Google account.

The Drive ecosystem and Google's open ethos has resulted in Chrome apps for Microsoft Office, Box and other products and services that arguably compete with Google on various products.

Google Drive Pricing

Apple iCloud Storage - Pricing And Features Overview

Apple's iCloud was originally developed as a backup mechanism for Apple devices and associated apps. It has come a long way in the past three years, but still shows the legacy of its core purpose.

For Apple computer and device users, iCloud is a no-brainer. It is seamless across all Apple devices, and the Windows client/plug-in extends contacts, calendar, tasks, bookmarks and photos to a vast majority of PC users. With Apple's new (2014) pricing model, iCloud is both attractive to end users and developers, the latter of whom get a nearly bottomless glass of storage - via CloudKit - for file assets, app development sandbox space and database storage.

The initial use of iCloud stands true today: it is an excellent backup system for iOS devices. The scheduled backup mechanism can help those who lose or damage an iOS device get back to their most recent state in a matter of minutes (only risking the loss of photos and videos).

Integration with MacOS has become tighter over the past few years. The Mac control panel is pre-installed on updated versions of Mountain Lion (10.8), and is fully integrated with Mavericks (10.9). Apple's Mail, Address Book and Calendar apps quickly download and sync data from iCloud, and mirror what is found on iOS devices and the iCloud Web interface.

Apple also makes a Windows iCloud control panel available for download. While iCloud integrates contacts, calendar and tasks with Microsoft Outlook, and bookmarks with Internet Explorer, the majority of Windows users install the control panel to view and sync photos taken by iOS devices. In my testing, I was a little frustrated with slow photo browsing and Windows Explorer crashes, demonstrating that Windows desktop integration is a work in progress.

While Apple is more expensive for traditional non-developer consumers than the pure-player Cloud storage vendors, Apple also provides the iWork applications – and excellent templates – for owners of devices that ship with iOS 7 (a $99 value).

The Web-based versions are still in "beta" according to Apple, but do not appear to be works-in-progress. The Web interfaces are clean, fast and easy to use, without being too cartoonish. Editing documents on iPhones and iPads has been improved dramatically in the past year. Document synchronization across Apple iDevices is seamless and fast.

The most challenging issue with iCloud is that it’s difficult to get documents out of the system. Since iCloud is designed as a walled garden for Apple content, sharing documents or collaborating with others – key features embraced by other services – require extra steps or just aren’t available. For example, link sharing requires collaborators to have an iCloud account. Downloaded presentations - even those in Microsoft PowerPoint format - have issues with fonts, objects and other formatting. This is not a “pure” cloud drive.

Based on the investment Apple is making, take a cautious look at iCloud if you have an Apple device foundation, but also want platform-independent, browser-based access to documents along with polished templates. The two greatest issues – high cost of plans and slow photo browsing – should improve. The “free” iWork applications are a boon to casual office users, as they are available across platforms and through a browser interface.

Apple iCloud Pricing

Microsoft OneDrive Cloud Storage - Pricing And Features

Microsoft rebranded SkyDrive as OneDrive earlier this year, and continues as a service primarily centered around Microsoft Office documents. While any file can be stored and shared in OneDrive, the greatest benefit is gained when saving, viewing and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

The core file storage component has improved because you get a larger amount of storage at a much lower cost, making OneDrive competitive with the pure-play providers. As of the summer of 2014, Microsoft increased the quota for paying Office 365 users to 1TB each for up to five users. The free service increased from 7GB to 15GB.

The ultimate value proposition of OneDrive revolves around tight Microsoft Office file and application integration. While the first product to utilize OneDrive for its cloud back-end was OneNote (a cross-platform note-taking tool), the service provides storage for all Office and non-Office files, with varying levels of integration and viewing capabilities.

You can view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files within a browser or download them for local editing, including directly within Microsoft Office 2013 applications. This is similar to the way SharePoint, running on corporate networks, allows cloud-based open and save, embedded right within Office 2010 and Office 2013.

However, there are some caveats. The first is that in order to provide a seamless experience, usernames have to “sync” between the host computer and the OneDrive service. This is easy on Windows 8 and Office 2013, which have direct OneDrive logins, but less so on earlier platforms, notably Windows 7 and Office 2010, which lack the direct sign-in hooks. In my testing, opening a Word, PowerPoint or Excel document for editing on a local instance of Office 2010 resulted in the system thinking that I was a different user from the OneDrive user I was signed in as.

For those wishing to strictly use Office in a browser, simple file viewing also has its limitations; we could only view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Support for Visio and Project documents is missing, resulting in an awkward “iTunes-like” permissions dialog box asking if the file opened properly or, if not, whether I wanted to purchase the tool.

Microsoft does provide a local computer sync app, just like the other file sharing services do, and it is conceptually very similar to the “Save to SharePoint site” feature in Office (2010+). For many users, this is an attractive means to save and retrieve documents, but from our experience with the earlier SharePoint integration, we found that it was difficult to remove old sites and/or strip the network save out completely. As noted above, Windows 8 and Office 2013 are superior in this regard, as they are directly tied into OneDrive accounts at the core, removing the need to download a separate sync app.

On the Mac OS X side, the Office programs are a generation behind, lacking the integration with OneDrive found on Windows. The only Mac Office application to use the new Office foundation platform is OneNote, which has been integrated with OneDrive (SkyDrive) for some time. Also as of this writing, Microsoft has not officially announced a date for the next version of Office Mac that aligns OneDrive sign-in with Office 2013 and Office 365 sign in.

While Microsoft provides a suite of applications and a large amount of storage, our primary beef with OneDrive is that it is not a differentiated service beyond the Office apps, and getting content into and out of the system is cumbersome compared to the cloud storage alternatives. While Windows 8.x integration is good, this addresses a small portion of the OS market (between 11% and 13% of OS shipments, according to The Next Web May 2014 research).

The greatest value in OneDrive comes from the premium service, including the most current version of Microsoft Office with automated Cloud-based backup. We just wish Microsoft took the next step to include Project and Visio to differentiate itself from the other players.

Microsoft OneDrive Pricing

Hewlett Packard (HP) refreshed its Stream line of thin and light devices on Tuesday with two new notebooks and two tablets. These devices will be made available in the United States beginning in November with a starting price of $99.99.

While the company didn't provide any specs, HP revealed that the two laptops will come with 11.6-inch (Stream 11) and 13.3-inch (Stream 13) HD displays with optional touch capabilities. Both feature a dual-core Celeron processor, 32 GB of internal storage and an "innovative" fanless design. These notebooks are also visually striking, arriving in Orchid Magenta and Horizon Blue, complemented by a gradient design.

According to HP, the laptops come with Windows 8.1 backed by Office 365 Personal and 1 TB of Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage for storing and sharing documents, images, videos and so on. The Stream 11 includes a battery that promises 8 hours and 15 minutes on a single charge, while the Stream 13 has a battery that lasts 7 hours and 45 minutes. The Stream 13 also has optional 4G connectivity with 200 MB of free data each month.

The HP Stream 11 starts at $199.99, while the HP Stream 13 starts at $229.99.

Next up we have the two tablets, the HP Stream 7 and the HP Stream 8. Again, HP didn't provide any hardware details. However, both of these devices run Windows 8.1 and come with a quad-core Intel chip, Office 365 Personal, 60 minutes of Skype per month and 1 TB of Microsoft OneDrive storage for a year. The HP Stream 8 also comes with a 4G option, providing 200 MB of free data per month for life.

Like Microsoft, HP is shooting to provide services first and hardware second. For these tablets, as well as the two notebooks, HP includes its suite of HP Connected apps. These include HP Connected Music for listening to tunes from multiple sources, HP Connected Photo for storing photos in one place and HP Connected Drive to access files from multiple devices.

The HP Stream 7 tablet starts at $99, and the HP Stream 8 tablet starts at $149.99.

Obviously, the big news here is that HP is offering these four devices at super low prices. Presumably, HP is using Windows 8.1 with Bing to keep the overall cost down. If you notice, all four also use Intel chips, meaning customers are getting the x86 version of Microsoft's platform rather than Windows RT, which runs on ARM-based chips such as the Tegra and Snapdragon processors.

We expect to see additional information about these four devices as we get closer to November, so stay tuned.

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

On Thursday, Brother International Corporation expanded its Business Smart Series of printers with the launch of the MFC-J4420DW. Designed with small offices and home offices (SOHO) in mind, it's a color inkjet all-in-one with faster print speeds, mobile device connectivity, and a 2.7-inch color touchscreen display.

"By committing to low-cost printing, mobile device connectivity, and versatile paper handling, we're making owning an innovative, hard-working Brother Inkjet All-in-One accessible to SOHO customers who are keeping a careful eye on their budget," said Eric Dahl, Brother Director of Marketing for SOHO products.

According to the specs, the new all-in-one printer is the fastest in its class, with up to 20 ppm black and 18 ppm color. The printer is also compatible with Super High-yield replacement ink cartridges, which delivers approximately 1,200 pages black and 1,200 pages color. That means a lower cost per page, which is ideal in higher volume SOHO printing environments.

Thanks to the printer's Wireless N connectivity, users can print and scan from mobile devices including Apple's iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Amazon's Fire OS. This is accomplished by connecting to the printer via AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, the free Brother iPrint&Scan app, Wi-Fi Direct, or Cortado Workplace. The printer can also scan to Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, Onenote and more.

Brother provides a list of features that includes the ability to print on 11" x 17" paper by using the printer's single-sheet bypass tray. The printer also has a 150-sheet paper tray capacity for paper up to 8.5" x 11," and a 20-sheet Automatic Document Feeder for unattended multi-page scanning, copying and faxing.

In addition to those features, the printer provides automatic duplex (two-sided) printing. The printer also includes Landscape Print Technology, which stores and feeds paper in a landscape orientation for a "space-saving, desk-friendly" design.

The MFC-J4420DW is available now for $169.99 USD.

On Thursday, the company also introduced the $179.99 MFC-J4620DW. This model builds upon the MFC-J4420DW by adding NFC “touch to print” capability and a larger 3.7-inch Color TouchScreen Display. The company also introduced the $149.99 MFC-J4320DW, which has the same features as the MFC-J4420DW, but doesn’t provide an automatic document feeder.

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

After months of talk that an LTE version of the Surface 2 tablet would show up in March or April, Microsoft's Panos Panay announced on Monday the tablet's highly-anticipated arrival, just over two weeks ahead of Microsoft's BUILD conference in April. Right now this tablet only supports AT&T, and costs a somewhat hefty price of $679 USD.

"Many of you have told me that you’d like the capability to be online, even when Wi-Fi isn’t available, so you can work, play, share, and communicate wherever you are," he writes. "In simple terms, we are continuously being asked for a Surface that allows you to use mobile broadband."

Customers who purchase the Surface 2 4G LTE model will receive 200 GB of OneDrive storage for two years, a $200 savings. OneDrive pricing currently costs $25 for 50 GB of space, $50 for 100 GB of space and $100 for 200 GB of space. The tablet already provides 64 GB of internal storage out-of-the-box.

Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet features a 10.6 inch screen with a 1920 x 1080 resolution and 5-point touch input. This screen is backed by the company's Windows RT 8.1 operating system, and Nvidia's Tegra 4 quad-core chip. This model is also unlocked so that owners can insert any SIM card, but the device will only work on specific 3G and 4G networks.

In addition to those features, the new Surface 2 includes 2 GB of RAM, Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, an integrated kickstand (24 degree and 40 degrees angles) a 5MP camera on the back, a 3.5MP camera on the front, a microSD card reader, a full-size USB 3.0 port and more. All of this is powered by battery promising up to 10 hours of video playback.

"Every day, more and more people are using Surface. As the device becomes a part of people’s everyday lives, I get excited about the possibilities that start to open up with a fully connected device," Panay writes.

To purchase the new 4G LTE version from Microsoft, head here. Customers who purchase this tablet will also receive unlimited Skype minutes and Skype Wi-Fi for an entire year. The device also has a 1-year warranty.

On Wednesday, Chris Jones, corporate vice president of Windows services, announced the "re-launch" of Microsoft's cloud storage service, OneDrive.

As previously reported, the name was changed from SkyDrive due to Microsoft losing a trademark case against British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) back in July 2013. BSkyB, which had its own cloud offering Sky Store & Share but shut it down in 2011, was afraid consumers would be confused by Microsoft's cloud storage. The courts agreed.

Microsoft settled with BSkyB for an undisclosed amount. BSkyB in turn allowed Microsoft to continue to use the SkyDrive name until it found a suitable alternative. The new name, OneDrive, now reflects Microsoft's vision of one platform, one service and one interface. The new name just makes more sense than the previous label.

"When we announced the new name OneDrive, we noted how it is much more aligned with our vision for the future," Jones writes. "Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get all of your favorite stuff in one place—one place that is accessible via all of the devices you use every day, at home and at work."

For new customers, Microsoft is offering a default 7 GB of storage space. Customers who refer ten friends can receive up to 5 GB of extra storage (500 MB per friend who signs on). Microsoft will even tack on another 3 GB of space if customers use OneDrive to back up the photos stored on their device.

Wait, there's more! Customers needing more than 15 GB of space can add 50 GB for $25 per year, 100 GB for $50 per year and 200 GB for $100 per year.

"To celebrate the official launch of OneDrive, today we will also give 100,000 people 100 GB of free storage for 1 year. That's 10 PB of free storage—enough storage space for a photo of everyone on the planet. If you want to be one of those 100,000, keep an eye on @OneDrive for clues," Jones writes.

Jones states that OneDrive is excellent for sharing documents, as users can work on Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents using the free online version of Office in OneDrive. The service is also great for storing, viewing and sharing photos and videos, such as posting videos directly to Facebook or sending an email with an attached picture with just one click.

"The deep integration with so many of the products you already use means you never have to worry about manually saving your photos and videos," Jones writes.

To get started with OneDrive, head here.

Last summer, Microsoft was ordered to change the name of its SkyDrive cloud storage service due to a legal dispute with BSkyB. The company wasn't given a deadline (or if it was, it wasn't publicized) and was permitted to continue using the SkyDrive name until it could find and transition to an alternative. Microsoft today revealed that alternative to be OneDrive. This morning, Preview.OneDrive.com went live with the following teaser:

"Get ready for an even better place to store and share your favorite things across all your favorite devices. OneDrive is everything you love about SkyDrive and more. And it's coming soon."

There was also a form to sign up for updates as well as a link to the OneDrive blog. Over there, Microsoft's SkyDrive blog has been rebranded to match the new name and Ryan Gavin has published the first official 'OneDrive' blog post. Explaining the change of name, Gavin writes:

"We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff," Gavin says. "One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life."

Gavin doesn't specifically mention the reason for the name change except to say that it wasn't an easy decision and dropped a quick link to a relevant news story on the issue, but Microsoft was actually brought to court over the OneDrive name last summer. UK satellite company BSkyB (commonly known as Sky) won a trademark infringement suit against Microsoft in July of 2013. Sky claimed that Microsoft's use of 'Sky Drive' in all forms relating to cloud storage services amounted to an infringement of BSkyB's trademarks because BSkyB used to have its own cloud storage service dubbed 'Sky Store & Share.' The service allowed users to upload documents, files and photos for storage or sharing with others and was wound down in 2011. Still, Sky was worried people would be confused by Microsoft's SkyDrive offering and the courts agreed. The case was related to use of the term 'SkyDrive' in the European Union, but Microsoft, understandably, wants one name for the service, not two, so OneDrive it is.

Though the rumor mill had spat out BingDrive, FetchDrive, and NewDrive as potential contenders, OneDrive definitely makes the most sense. Especially when you consider Microsoft's Xbox One, which Microsoft bills as one device for all your entertainment needs.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Cloud storage has its advantages over local solutions, but relying on a third party can make some folks uneasy. Western Digital is taking a crack at this issue and giving consumers their very own cloud. The company today announced the release of a new line of personal storage solutions called 'My Cloud.' The 'My Cloud' line allows customers the advantages of cloud storage (a central location for storing and accessing their digital content) without having to trust a third party with their data.

"We believe that there's no place like home for the cloud," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups. "Everyone is inundated with thousands of digital files scattered across multiple computers and mobile devices, and controlling that chaos is a challenge. WD's personal cloud is the easiest, most secure and most affordable way for customers to control that chaos, with access to all of their files anywhere, anytime."

In short, My Cloud is an NAS that's available in 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB capacities. Ranging in price from $150 to $250, the My Cloud drive features a dual-core CPU, a Gigabit Ethernet connection, and support for USB 3.0 (for expansion of storage). There are also iOS and Android apps and Western Digital's WD SmartWare Pro software. The My Cloud mobile app includes support for major public cloud services (like Dropbox, SkyDrive, and Google Drive), so that customers can easily transfer files between services.

Pricing is $150 for the 2 TB model, $180 for the 3 TB model, and $250 for the 4 TB model. The 2 TB and 3 TB models are already available, while the 4 TB version won't be out until November.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Microsoft didn't exactly get off to a great start with the Surface RT and Surface Pro, but Redmond isn't ready to give up just yet. Microsoft just announced two brand new Surface models at an event in NYC this morning.

The company is ditching the 'RT' branding and instead just calling the next iteration of Surface RT 'Surface 2.' This laptop will run Windows RT 8.1, and boasts a 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD display and comes with support for microSD, USB 3.0, and HD video out. The tablet comes in two varaitions, 32 GB or 64 GB, and ships with Office 2013 RT and 200 GB of SkyDrive storage (for two years). It's priced at $449, the same money customers were asked for when the original Surface RT launched.

The brand new Surface Pro 2 packs a full version of Windows 8.1 Pro, a 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD display, support for microSD, USB 3.0, and mini DisplayPort. Both 64 GB and 128 GB capacities are available with 4 GB of RAM. The 256 and 512 GB capacities will each have 8 GB of RAM. The Surface Pro 2 will start at $899 and will include 200 GB of SkyDrive storage (again, for two years). Pre-orders for both the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 will start tomorrow, September 24, and availability in 21 markets is expected on October 22.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

On Monday during Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Houston, Texas, Windows CMO and CFO Tami Reller announced that Windows 8.1 RTM will be available for OEM partners in late August. That means OEMs will be able to get the updated platform and begin preparing their new and current Windows 8 devices just in time for the holidays. Additional details regarding consumers and other customers on how to get Windows 8.1 will be provided in the coming months.

The update will bring a portfolio of improvements including the ability to bring the desktop background to the Start screen, making the transition from one to the other both less jarring and less disconnected. The Start button is also making a return, but it won't feature the familiar Start menu but rather bring users back to the Start screen. The mail app will also see an improvement among other much-needed updates and enhancements to the Windows 8 platform.

According to Brandon LeBlanc, Jensen Harris joined Reller on the conference stage and demoed a new Reading List app. It allows users to share articles from the web and content from other apps to read later using data that "roams" across Windows devices thanks to SkyDrive. He also demoed a search feature for music integrated with Xbox Music where users can share a webpage and the Xbox Music app will create a playlist according to what it pulls from that page.

"Jensen demoed for the first time new technology built into Windows 8.1 called Miracast that streams HD video and audio over Wi-Fi to another display like a TV," LeBlanc said. "With Surface Pro, he essentially turned a TV into a whiteboard with the OneNote app."

In addition to the Windows 8.1 news, Reller also introduced the User Experience Design Competency launching in January 2014. This will provide a way for partners to train their designers and get recognized for their expertise with the Microsoft Design Language. She also revealed a program called TouchWins, a new commercial channel incentive for authorized distributors and reseller partners who sell featured Windows devices.

Reller said at the conference that Microsoft now has more than 20 million enterprise evaluations and that Windows 8 has logged 60 billion hours of use. Even more, new customer activation continues at a consistent pace. Microsoft released a preview version of Windows 8.1 to customers just two weeks ago, presented as an update in Windows Store and as a downloadable ISO.

Antoine Leblond, Corporate Vice President of Windows Program Management, wrote a lengthy blog on Thursday that provides a "first look" at Windows 8.1 although we've seen plenty in reports stemming from leaked builds over the last several months. The OS update will deliver improvements and enhancements in key areas, he states, like personalization, search, the built-in apps, Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity. It will also include "big bets" for business in areas such as management and security.

"We’re only a bit more than seven months into this new, bold approach to computing," he says. "The response to Windows 8 has been substantial— from new devices to strong app growth to key enhancements to the OS and apps. We’ve learned from customers in how they are using the product and have received a lot of feedback. We’ve delivered hundreds of updates to the product and to apps. We’re just getting started, and the potential ahead is tremendous."

The new update will allow users to turn their PC or tablet into a picture frame by making their Lock screen a slide show of pictures stored locally or in the cloud via SkyDrive. Users can also take pictures with the built-in camera right from the lock screen without having to log in.

As for the Start screen, Windows 8.1 will provide more colors, backgrounds, and motion-based wallpapers. Users can also assign their current desktop wallpaper to the Start screen as well, providing the user a sense of unity between the two interfaces. As previously reported, more tile sizes are on the way – large and small ones – so users can organize the Start screen exactly the way they want it.

"It’s also even easier to name groups and rearrange tiles," he says. "You can now select multiple apps all at once, resize them, uninstall them, or rearrange them. We also found people were accidentally moving tiles on their Start screen so in Windows 8.1, you press and hold (or right click) to move things around."

Windows 8.1 also brings the ability to view all apps by swiping from the bottom, and to filter apps by name, date installed, most used, or by category. New apps won't automatically appear on the Start screen either, but will instead be shoved into the "view all apps" mode and marked as "new".

He goes on to talk about the Search charm which will provide global search results powered by Bing, and improvements to the built-in apps such as the Photos app which will sport new editing features, and a completely redesigned Music app. Users will also be able to share the screen between two apps, or have up to three apps on each screen if multiple displays are connected. Users can even have different Windows Store apps running on all the displays at the same time while the Start Screen stays open on one monitor.

The blog also talks about an improved Windows Store, improved cloud connectivity, better mouse and keyboard options, the addition of Internet Explorer 11, and an updated PC Settings that grants access to all the device settings without having to dive into the platform's Control Panel. That's fine and dandy, but what about that missing Start button? That's making a return, but not in its original pre-Windows 8 form.

"We’ve improved the way you navigate to Start with the mouse by changing the Start 'tip' to be the familiar Windows logo," he said. "The new tip appears anytime you move the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, and is always visible on the taskbar when on the desktop. There are also options to change what the corners do, and options to boot into alternate screens. For example, if you prefer to see the Apps view versus all the tiles, you can choose to have the Start screen go directly to Apps view."

These are just some of the changes arriving with Windows 8.1. More will be revealed in additional blogs in the coming weeks.

Microsoft's former Windows boss is now no longer a part of the world's largest software company. Here is his letter to all Microsoft employees (via WinSuperSite).

From: Steven SinofskySent: Monday, November 12, 2012 6:42 PMTo: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)Subject: RE: Windows Leadership Changes With the general availability of Windows 8/RT and Surface, I have decided it is time for me to take a step back from my responsibilities at Microsoft. I’ve always advocated using the break between product cycles as an opportunity to reflect and to look ahead, and that applies to me too. After more than 23 years working on a wide range of Microsoft products, I have decided to leave the company to seek new opportunities that build on these experiences. My passion for building products is as strong as ever and I look forward focusing my energy and creativity along similar lines. The Windows team, in partnerships across all of Microsoft and our industry, just completed products and services introducing a new era of Windows computing. It is an incredible experience to be part of a generational change in a unique product like Windows, one accomplished with an undeniable elegance. Building on Windows, Surface excels in design and utility for a new era of PCs. With the Store, Internet Explorer, Outlook.com, SkyDrive and more, each of which lead the way, this experience is connected to amazing cloud services. It is inspiring to think of these efforts making their way into the hands of Microsoft’s next billion customers. We can reflect on this project as a remarkable achievement for each of us and for the team. Our work is not done, such is the world of technology, and so much more is in store for customers. It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company. I am beyond grateful. I have always promised myself when the right time came for me to change course, I would be brief, unlike one of my infamous short blog posts, and strive to be less memorable than the products and teams with which I have been proudly and humbly associated. The brevity of this announcement is simply a feature. Some might notice a bit of chatter speculating about this decision or timing. I can assure you that none could be true as this was a personal and private choice that in no way reflects any speculation or theories one might read—about me, opportunity, the company or its leadership. As I’ve always believed in making space for new leaders as quickly as possible, this announcement is effective immediately and I will assist however needed with the transition. I am super excited for what the future holds for the team and Microsoft. With my deepest appreciation, Steven Sinofsky Sent from Surface RT

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Yesterday Microsoft accidentally let the cat out the of the bag that it would be releasing the Windows 8 Release Preview today, May 31. As a result, we weren't to surprised to get a press release from Microsoft announcing the launch of Release Preview. Included in this version of Windows 8 are several new apps, including ones for travel, news, and sports, as well as some more general tweaks throughout the platform.

If you're a Consumer Preview user, be sure to look for changes to Mail, Photo and People as well as more personalization options for the Start screen, improved multi-monitor support (which we talked about here), a fine-tuned approach to downloading apps through the Windows Store, new family safety features, along with enhanced privacy and security controls for online browsing.

"This is our final pre-release, and includes Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10, new Windows 8 apps for connecting to Hotmail, SkyDrive, and Messenger (and many more), and hundreds of new and updated apps in the Windows Store," said Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, adding that user feedback helps contribute to the development of the product.

"Since our first preview release last September, millions of people now use the pre-release product on a daily basis and millions more have been taking it through its paces, totaling hundreds of millions of hours of testing," Sinofsky said. "We genuinely appreciate the effort that so many have put into pre-release testing, and of course, we appreciate the feedback too. Direct feedback and feedback through usage contributed to hundreds of visible changes in the product and tens of thousands of under-the-hood changes."

Today's Windows 8 Release Preview brings us one step closer to RTM and then an actual physical launch. Microsoft says they should be in the final stages of RTM in about two months' time. 

The Windows 8 Release Preview is available for download in 14 languages. Check out the download links below:

Windows 8 Release Preview 32-Bit

Windows 8 Release Preview 64-Bit

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Microsoft has made dramatic changes to the Windows operating system with its upcoming Windows 8 platform; it seems one change includes re-branding its editions.  Simply put, Microsoft has decided to ditch its old branding (Home Premium, Ultimate, etc.) and condense them. The company is introducing three main editions: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Windows RT -- but only two of these will be available as upgrades from Windows 7.

The edition known as just Windows 8 condenses what was Home Premium and Home Basic previously. A notable change however is the addition of Language Packs, which were available exclusively on Enterprise/Ultimate editions in the past. The Windows 8 edition will be available as an upgrade from Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium.

Windows 8 Pro contains functionality you would find in what was Professional and Ultimate editions in the past. Exclusive features include Bitlocker, VHD Boot, Client Hyper-V, Domain Join, File Encryption, Group Policy, and Remote Desktop (host). The new “Windows 8 Pro” also comes with an available Windows Media Center add-on. This edition is upgradeable from Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate editions.

Perhaps the most interesting edition is Windows RT, which comes preloaded on devices running ARM processors and will not be available as an upgrade. Windows RT includes a bundled, touch-optimized desktop version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. This edition is designed to offer the fullest experience of Windows 8 on x86 processors, on devices with ARM chipsets.

Microsoft also made note of a Windows 8 Enterprise edition, which expands upon the Windows 8 Pro edition by including features for PC management, security, and more.

According to the blog post, we can expect pricing details and promotions in the coming months.