Don't blame Microsoft's war on open source all on Steve Ballmer, says former Windows boss Steven Sinofsky.

It's as if millions of sysadmins cried out and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. //

Today, we’re happy to announce the Generally Available (GA) release of PowerShell 7.0! Before anything else, we’d like to thank our many, many open-source contributors for making this release possible by submitting code, tests, documentation, and issue feedback. PowerShell 7 would not have been possible without your help.
What is PowerShell 7?

For those unfamiliar, PowerShell 7 is the latest major update to PowerShell, a cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and macOS) automation tool and configuration framework optimized for dealing with structured data (e.g. JSON, CSV, XML, etc.), REST APIs, and object models. PowerShell includes a command-line shell, object-oriented scripting language, and a set of tools for executing scripts/cmdlets and managing modules.

Supports Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, Debian 8, Debian 9, Debian 10, CentOS 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, openSUSE 42.3, openSUSE Leap 15, Fedora 27, Fedora 28, and Arch Linux.

For Linux distributions that aren't officially supported, you can try to install PowerShell using the PowerShell Snap Package. You can also try deploying PowerShell binaries directly using the Linux tar.gz archive, but you would need to set up the necessary dependencies based on the OS in separate steps.

All packages are available on our GitHub releases page. After the package is installed, run pwsh from a terminal.

WinHlp32 for Windows 10 restores the ability to open and view .hlp files on Windows 10.

As you are probably aware (if you're reading this) Microsoft removed the .hlp reader on Windows 10. If you open a .hlp file, you're redirected to a Microsoft page that, big shock, doesn't help any.

WinHlp32 for Windows 10 comes as an installer and is what we like to call "install it and forget it." After installation, .hlp files will open again for you. Should you change your mind, you can uninstall WinHlp32 from the Control Panel. It's worth noting that WinHlp32 only takes up 1.39MB of disk space, so there's another reason you'll never know it's there.

As an early domain name investor, Mike O’Connor had by 1994 snatched up several choice online destinations, including bar.com, cafes.com, grill.com, place.com, pub.com and television.com. Some he sold over the years, but for the past 26 years O’Connor refused to auction perhaps the most sensitive domain in his stable — corp.com. It is sensitive because years of testing shows whoever wields it would have access to an unending stream of passwords, email and other proprietary data belonging to hundreds of thousands of systems at major companies around the globe.

Now, facing 70 and seeking to simplify his estate, O’Connor is finally selling corp.com. The asking price — $1.7 million — is hardly outlandish for a 4-letter domain with such strong commercial appeal. O’Connor said he hopes Microsoft Corp. will buy it, but fears they won’t and instead it will get snatched up by someone working with organized cybercriminals or state-funded hacking groups bent on undermining the interests of Western corporations.

One reason O’Connor hopes Microsoft will buy it is that by virtue of the unique way Windows handles resolving domain names on a local network, virtually all of the computers trying to share sensitive data with corp.com are somewhat confused Windows PCs. More importantly, early versions of Windows actually encouraged the adoption of insecure settings that made it more likely Windows computers might try to share sensitive data with corp.com.

Microsoft has released Intel Microcode Updates for all supported versions of the company's Windows 10 operating system.

Prepare your Windows 10 device for a hardware change

First, follow these steps to find out if Windows 10 is already activated.

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation .

Link your Windows 10 digital license to your Microsoft account.

In Windows 10 (version 1607 or later), it is essential that you link your Microsoft account with the Windows 10 digital license on your device. Linking your Microsoft account with your digital license allows you to reactivate Windows using the Activation troubleshooter whenever you make a significant hardware change.

First, you'll need to find out if your Microsoft account (What is a Microsoft account?) is linked to your Windows 10 digital license. To find out, select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security and then select Activation . The activation status message will tell you if your account is linked.

• Windows is activated with a digital license
  ** This means that your Microsoft account is not linked to your digital license.

** Follow instructions for Add an account.

If your Microsoft account is not linked to your digital license, follow these steps to Add an account:

1. Sign in as an administrator to add your Microsoft account. To confirm that you're using an administrator account, select the Start button, then select Settings > Accounts > Your info . Under your name, you’ll see Administrator. If you’re not an administrator, see Create a local user or administrator account.
2. Go to Your info in Settings
3. Confirm that the administrator account is also your Microsoft account by checking to see if an email address is displayed above Administrator. If an email address is displayed, this is a Microsoft account. If not, you’re logged in using a local account. If you don’t yet have a Microsoft account, see How to create a new Microsoft account.
4. Once you confirm that you’re an administrator and using your Microsoft account, go back to the Activation page, select Add an account, enter your Microsoft account and password, then select Sign in.

After your Microsoft account has been added, the message on the Activation page will change to: Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account.

Reactivate Windows 10 after a hardware change

When you're ready to reactivate, make sure that your device is connected to the internet and then follow the steps for either a digital license or product key.

You’ll need to first add your Microsoft account and link your account to the digital license on your device. After linking your Microsoft account, run the Activation troubleshooter to reactivate Windows 10.

This troubleshooter will only be available if your copy of Windows 10 (version 1607 or later) isn’t activated.

To use the Activation troubleshooter:

1. Sign in as an administrator. For more info, see Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10.

2. Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Activation > Troubleshoot . The troubleshooter will show Windows can’t be activated on your device.

3. Select I changed hardware on this device recently, then select Next.

4. Enter your connected Microsoft account and password, then select Sign in. The troubleshooter will only work with the connected Microsoft account.

5. From the list of devices that are linked to your Microsoft account, select the check box next to This is the device I’m using right now.

6. Select Activate.

If you have the OneDrive desktop app for Windows installed on a PC, you can use the Fetch files feature to access all your files on that PC from another computer by going to the OneDrive website. You can even access network locations if they're included in the PC's libraries or mapped as drives. When you browse a PC's files remotely, you can download copies of them to work on. You can also stream video and view photos in a slide show. To access files on your PC remotely, make sure the PC you want to access is turned on and connected to the Internet. OneDrive also needs to be running on that PC, and the Fetch files setting must be selected.

Activate using a digital license

Digital licenses are associated with your hardware and linked to your Microsoft account, so there's nothing you need to find on your PC. You're all set once your PC is connected to the internet and you log in to your Microsoft account.

Activate using a product key

A product key is a 25-character code, that looks like this:

PRODUCT KEY: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

During installation, you'll be prompted to enter a product key. Or, after installation, to enter the product key, select the Start button, and then select Update & Security > Activation > Update product key > Change product key.

Microsoft's much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended in 2016, right? Not exactly. The GWX tool may be gone, but all the other upgrade tools still work. The end result is an apparently valid digital license, and there's no evidence that the free upgrades will end any time soon.

Click on the icon that represents the account signed in (the circular graphic shown in my screenshot above) to open the menu in the screenshot.

Click on the name of the individual signed in - this will open up a new window over the top of the Store.

Click on the account again to be provided with a "sign out" option.

Then click on the icon clicked on in the first step (now represented with circle with a line sketch of a head with shoulders).

Click on "Sign In".

This will provide options for signing in as the original account or as a different Microsoft account.

Note - any account that has been signed into the store within this logon to the machine will be available for use in the store on this account from now on without needing to provide a password. Example: My son logs into the computer, I log him out of the store and log in to my own account. I can then go to my Library, tell the store to install each of the apps for this logon account, sign out as myself and sign him back in. When I sign him back in, a password doesn't need to be provided. If I need to switch back to my account to link something else (say I forgot to link something), I can sign him out again, and when I click on my own account to sign in, I do not have to provide a password.

You'll automatically get signed into Minecraft with the account you bought it with, and signing into Windows 10 with another account won't let you play that version of Minecraft UNLESS you download it again for that account. So that you don't have to buy it twice just sign into Windows 10 with THEIR account, then on the Windows store sign in with YOUR account and download it again. It means having 2 copies of Minecraft on 2 separate accounts. That's how I did it so that my niece has her own version associated to her gamertag and gamerscore.

The challenge started when I, like many others, bought a nice new Windows 10 laptop for the family in time for the holidays. I wanted to set it up so that our two children could use each their Microsoft Account in order not to step on each other and to benefit from the age appropriate content filters provided by the Windows Store.

The issue is that Windows Store apps are not shared between users, so unlike ‘classic’ Windows desktop apps, you can’t install them once and have them be available to all users on a particular device. That is, if I buy a Windows Store app and install it on the PC, it is not automatically made available to anybody else. The Windows Store Licensing Model allows you to install apps across a number of devices and users. However, before you can actually share your apps, there are a few hoops you need to go through first.
Creating a Family of Microsoft AccountsEnabling Family Members to Sign in to your DeviceIn Settings, select Accounts and then Family and other users where you should see your family members. To enable them to sign in to the device, click on each one and select Allow. Each member of your family can now sign in to your device using a short PIN but each will see their own Windows Store tailored to them. To share apps with a family member, you first sign in as that member and then change the account used to interact with the Windows Store. That is, while signed in as family member, you switch the account used to talk to the Windows Store enabling you to install your apps into your family member’s account. This is a little tricky, so let’s do it step-by-step.

You should now be signed into the Windows Store while the overall account is still that of your family member. You can now either buy and share a new app or share an already bought app with that family member. In the first case you just go through the normal payment process as you and hit Install to share the app with your family member.

If you have already bought the app then you should see something like this: “You own this product and can install it on this device”. Hit Install to share the app with your family member.

The Store’s app licensing model centers on the idea of providing customers with access to all of their apps on all of their Windows 8 devices. It gives customers control over their apps and keeps them connected to those apps across the multiple PCs that they’ll use over time. They can get updates for apps, write reviews for them, reinstall them on a new PC, and share them with their families. At the same time, the Store’s app licensing model provides developers with built-in protection against casual piracy, so that they can confidently build a business around developing apps for Windows 8 PCs.

These days, people may use several PCs in the course of their daily lives, or share PCs with more than one person in their household. We want these customers to have access to a great Windows 8 experience on all of those PCs.

The licensing terms allow customers to install and use their apps on any user accounts on up to 5 PCs. Why only 5 PCs? Because we also believe in the value of the developer’s investments in their apps, and we want to protect that investment from abuse.
Say, for example, that your family has a shared PC. You have previously used your Microsoft account to purchase a game that all your kids like to play. You can install it for each of your kids by having each of them sign in to their Windows accounts on the shared PC, then launch the Store and sign in to the Store using your own Microsoft account. There, you’ll see all your apps and you can re-install the app on your kid’s Windows account. Installing apps on multiple user accounts on a shared PC still only counts as one of the five allowable PCs where you can install apps.

If you have multiple Windows 10 devices, you’ll need to make sure that the device you intend to use offline is set as the designated offline device. You can only have one device as your designated offline device.

To set your device as your designated offline device:

1. Make sure that you’re online.
2. Check that your device has the latest Windows updates: Go to Start > Settings > Update & security > Windows Update and see if any relevant updates are available.
3. Open the Store. You’ll be prompted to sign in if you haven’t already.
4. Select the Me icon (this is your profile picture).
5. Select Settings, and then under Offline Permissions, make sure that the toggle is set to On.

Once you set this, any devices previously designated as offline will be toggled to Off, and you’ll no longer be able to play games offline on those devices.

Prepare your game or games

Once your device is set up, you’ll need to launch each game you want to play offline while signed in to Xbox Live. You only need to do this once per game, and you’ll need to do this even if you’ve already launched the game on your device.

1. Make sure that you’re online, and that your device is set as your designated offline device. (See the steps above for details on how to do this.)
2. Launch the game you want to play offline. When prompted, sign in to Xbox Live with your account.
3. Once you’ve started playing the game, you can exit at any time.

Repeat this process for each game you want to play offline. Once completed, you can go offline at any time and launch those games whenever you want to play them, without needing to sign in online each time.

Office 365 Education

Get Office 365 for your entire homeschooling family for FREE

In this pilot program*, homeschooling families get access to Office 365 Education at no cost.

The pilot program is currently full.

To learn about future education opportunities similar to this one, follow @Microsoft_EDU on Twitter. We invite homeschool educators to participate in our community of educators at Microsoft in Education.

Every Windows product has a lifecycle. The lifecycle begins when a product is released and ends when it's no longer supported. Knowing key dates in this lifecycle helps you make informed decisions about when to update, upgrade or make other changes to your software.

What is Microsoft Update Catalog?

It's a service from Microsoft that provides a listing of updates that can be distributed over a corporate network. You can use it as a one-stop location for finding Microsoft software updates, drivers, and hotfixes.

Tips for searching the Microsoft Update Catalog The Microsoft Update Catalog lets you search on a variety of update fields and categories. These include the update title, description, applicable products, classifications, and knowledge base articles (e.g. KB9123456). When searching for hardware updates ("drivers"), you can also search for driver model, manufacturer, class, or a 4-part hardware id (e.g "PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_1677&SUBSYS_01AD1028"). You can narrow the scope of your search by adding additional search terms.

And you shouldn't be either. Every company wants to rule Linux -- none of them can or ever will. //

So it doesn't matter if Microsoft has a competing agenda to Red Hat or IBM or anybody else. Developers are still expected to work together in the Linux kernel with a transparent agenda." In short, Microsoft may be big, but no one is bigger than the entire Linux community. //

Microsoft is a Linux company now. Kroah-Hartman continued: "Over 50% of their Azure workloads are Linux now. It's amazingly huge." He said Microsoft now has a Linux distribution, just like Amazon with AWS, which is a Linux distribution, and Oracle. //

None of these Linux leaders, or anyone else I talked to at Plumbers, were the least bit worried about Microsoft taking over Linux. It's the other way around. Linux is now the driving force for almost all technology companies -- and that includes Microsoft.