The days of burning operating system ISO images to a disc are long gone. Today most PCs can boot from USB so it's just easier to update and more convenient to install Windows from a USB flash drive. Another good reason to install this way is the installation speed, which is significantly faster than setup running from an optical drive. Many modern devices do not come with an optical drive. Here is a method you can use to create a bootable USB stick with Windows 10 using PowerShell and a regular Windows 10 ISO image.
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Tag: Windows 10
Change Search Index Location in Windows 10
Windows 10 comes with the ability to index your files so the Start Menu can search them faster. Indexing runs in the background without trying to affect your PC's performance. In this article, we will see how to change the search index location in Windows 10. This can be useful if you have an SSD and want to reduce its write cycles.
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Aero Glass and transparency for Windows 10 Creators Update
Windows Vista introduced the Desktop Window Manager and the Aero theme for window borders, title bars and the Start menu. This theme is very beautiful. Windows 7 and Windows Vista came with a blur effect for the transparency used in the Aero theme. This glass effect got removed in Windows 8. Due to user feedback, it was restored in Windows 10 but title bars and window borders continue to use only flat colors. Thankfully, there is a solution for Windows 10 version 1703 "Creators Update".
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OEMs are already working on first Windows 10 devices with ARM64 chips
Recent Microsoft announcements about Windows 10 arriving on ARM64-based devices and its support for x86 apps has attracted a lot of attention in the tech industry. Many are speculating about the potential success of such devices compared to the ones running Windows RT and whether x86 emulation and support for 32-bit classic apps could make a difference. And now, as sources close to Microsoft and its partners told Digitimes, some OEMs already working on such devices for test purposes.
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Instagram for Windows 10 is finally getting a live tile
Instagram for Windows Phone was always one of the reasons for users to complain about the platform. At first, there wasn't an official client at all, but some good 3rd party alternatives were created by independent developers. Then there was a version for Windows Phone 8.1 which was updated just a few times and always lacked some features compared to variants for other platforms. Instagram then announced that they were bringing the full Instagram experience to Windows 10, including both Mobile and PC apps. These apps are still being updated. Instagram has started to close some feature gaps. They are adding a Live Tile for Instagram, a feature unique to the Windows platform. Continue reading "Instagram for Windows 10 is finally getting a live tile"
Microsoft may reveal more about third party VR plans at WinHEC
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced its plans to bring Windows Holographic to 3rd party hardware from partners. This includes not only VR-ready PCs from Windows OEMs, but also head-mounted displays (HDMs): the company is actively working on HDM specifications in collaboration with Intel. The goal of this project is to create a new hardware category for consumers allowing almost everyone to get into the world of Virtual Reality without spending large amounts of money on buying a compatible device.
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Windows DVD Player gets a major update on Windows Insider Fast Ring
When Microsoft shipped the original version of Windows 10 to the market in July 2015, there was a lot of talk about the separate Windows DVD Player app which was going to be sold in the Windows Store for $14.99. Most user reviews says the app is too basic for the amount of money they're charging and lacks many features that other DVD software includes for free. Microsoft hadn't done anything to the app lately so it was considered abandoned. However, last week Microsoft released a major update for the Windows DVD Player which includes some playback tweaks and improvements to the overall user experience.
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Centennial apps bug causing Windows 10 to crash is now fixed by recent update
With Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft finally allowed developers to "convert" their classic Win32 apps to be distributed via Windows Store. A special tool called 'Project Centennial' or 'Desktop Bridge' allows packing classic Desktop apps into the *.appx format used by UWP. It also gives them the ability to use new APIs which were exclusively available to UWP apps only. However, there was a critical bug causing lots of computers to crash when using converted apps which now appears to be fixed with the latest update for Windows 10 version 1607. Continue reading "Centennial apps bug causing Windows 10 to crash is now fixed by recent update"
Fix .NET Framework install error 0x800736b3 14003
In Windows 10, a number of users are trying to install .NET Framework 3.5 and facing an issue. While installing .NET 3.5 using DISM, it produces an error 14003 and gives some Microsoft-Windows-NetFx3-OnDemand-Package error 0x800736b3. Here is what you can do to avoid it.
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Add Run to Start menu in Windows 10 RTM
Unlike the good old Start menu in Windows 7, the Start menu in Windows 10 does not come with any option to add the Run command. Many users prefer to have a clickable item to open the Run dialog. It can be useful especially for mouse and touchpad users who really miss the Run item in Windows 10's Start Menu. I already covered how it could be done in early Technical Preview builds of Windows 10. Here are updated instructions to add the Run command to the Start menu in Windows 10 RTM.
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