windows

A fix for the multifile-selection glitch in Windows 7 and 8

Sometimes you wish Microsoft would let customers decide when to delete a feature. Reader Dan Baechlin depends on Windows Explorer's ability to retain the selection of multiple files after changing the sort order. The feature has been removed from the version of Explorer in Windows 7 and 8. As Dan explains:

My job requires the ability to highlight multiple files or folders in a directory, and to retain that highlighting while re-sorting them by different fields (modification dates, thematically-based titles, etc.) Windows provided that feature -- until version 7. My work unit indexes, manages, and compares policy documents that … Read more

How Dish's deal could improve Sprint

CNET Update dishes the details:

Dish has made a $25.5 billion unsolicited bid to merge with Sprint. Today's video explains what this deal means for consumers and how it might improve Sprint's network.

Also in this tech roundup:

- Microsoft reportedly is considering making a smartwatch

- Windows 8 apps for news and maps get updates

- Electronic Arts will shut down Sims games on Facebook

- This 55-inch Panasonic plasma is the first television to get a 5-star rating from CNET

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links … Read more

Windows RT demand is weaker than hoped, Dell exec says

Microsoft had grand ambitions for its Windows RT operating system, but more signs are pointing to trouble.

A Dell executive today said demand for the company's first Windows RT device, the XPS 10, has been weaker than hoped, largely because consumers still don't really know what the operating system is or what it can do.

"Demand is not where I would like it to be at this point in time," Neil Hand, head of Dell's tablet and high-end PC business, told CNET. "The amount of market information about it is not good enough, and … Read more

Nokia's next flagship to have 41-megapixel camera, quad-core?

Nokia could at long last migrate the gigantic lens from its 808 PureView Symbian smartphone over to a more modern smartphone design.

According to the latest Nokia smartphone rumor, obtained from a source by My Nokia Blog, the company's forthcoming "Eos" is intended to feature a 41-megapixel camera sensor. On the 808 PureView, this lens captures incredible detail and provides lossless cropping.

The Eos could also possess a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, though after testing, My Nokia Blog posits that Nokia could release it as a dual-core device after all.

Other rumored features include a 1,280x768-pixel … Read more

Nokia Lumia 520 review: One of the best budget phones around

When Nokia first unveiled its Nokia Lumia 520 this past February, the Windows Phone proved that Nokia could achieve new lows.

That's only when it comes to price, though, not features. As CNET UK discovered while fully reviewing the Lumia 520, Nokia has managed to create a very inexpensive handset that will sell in the U.K. for about 100 pounds at full retail price.

In U.S. currency, that translates to just under $200 without a contract. Luckily for us Yankees, a variant of this 520 is coming to T-Mobile in May, off-contract, as the Nokia Lumia 521.… Read more

Microsoft updates Windows 8 News, Maps, other apps

Microsoft has updated its various Bing apps for Windows 8 in a move designed to make them quicker to use and easier to customize.

The News app now lets you manage the different news categories that appear in the app. You can add or remove categories for world news, technology, politics, business, and entertainment, and sort the order in which they appear. You can also add a particular news source or RSS feed to your featured sources and to the Windows Start screen so that you can more quickly access their stories.

The News app's app bar has also … Read more

As PC sales tank, what's Microsoft's Plan B?

When market analyst IDC last week noted the sharp 13.9 percent quarterly drop in worldwide PC sales, it placed much of the blame on the "radical" user interface changes of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system.

"Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market," Bob O'Donnell, IDC's program vice president for clients and displays, said in a statement.

Therein lies a core challenge for Microsoft. The software giant doesn't really have a plan B.

Microsoft can't undo the … Read more

Windows 8.1 'boot to desktop' rumor: Wishful thinking?

A Windows 8.1 option to boot to desktop? That seductive rumor has been making the rounds over the weekend.

What could be a reflection of wishful thinking, a post at WinBeta (via Neowin), cites a Russian-language Web site as the source.

Apparently, there is Windows 8.1 code that disables the Metro Start Screen and sends you "to the desktop automatically."

That is a feature that more than a few Windows 8 users would undoubtedly take advantage of since the tiled Metro screen is of questionable utility for some.

Market researcher IDC, among others, has been making the case over the past month or so … Read more

Use Ctrl-Shift-Esc for quick access to the Task Manager

Windows Task Manager is a useful tool to monitor your system and quit applications that are not responding. If you are using the tried-and-true Ctrl-Alt-Delete to access the Windows Task Manager, you are taking the long way there. Instead, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Esc to access the Task Manager directly.

In Windows 8, Ctrl-Alt-Delete calls up a menu, of which the Task Manager is one option. This means it's a two-step process to get to the Task Manager. With the Ctrl-Shift-Esc shortcut, you call up the Task Manager directly, giving you quicker access. It may seem like a trivial … Read more

Chinese daily fooled by spoof that Win 8 glitch forced missile test delay

Over the years, Windows users have shared plenty of war stories about their computers suddenly freezing up, forcing them to shut down and then reboot their machines at the worst possible times. But declaring war on Microsoft? Even in the wildest realms of hyperbole, that's cuckoo talk.

But not so crazy if we're talking about 21st Century Business, the Guangdong, China-based publication which fell hook, line, and sinker for a spoof column authored by New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz. The Thursday edition of the Borowitz Report reported that North Korea's military had scrapped a planned missile test … Read more