Microsoft has officially announced details about the newest upgrades to its office 365 suite moving forward along with its new OS release.
It seems that Microsoft has listened to its user base and feedback since Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are getting much-needed redesign taking into account many suggestions from the community.
The new office should feel more like an application suite guiding focus on the interconnection of applications themselves providing users with a much more natural experience of using them.
The new office features so far
From Microsoft themselves:
“This Office visual refresh is based on feedback from customers who asked for a more natural and consistent experience within and between your applications, specifically on Windows. With this update, we deliver an intuitive, coherent, and familiar user interface, using the Fluent Design principles, across all your applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Project, Publisher, and Visio. We aligned this visual refresh with the design of Windows 11 to provide seamless experiences on your PC.”
It is always refreshing to hear when a company listens to its user base and actually does what is needed instead of trying to invent the wheel.
How to switch
Since beta is already rolling and if you have an active 365 subscription to office suite visual refresh will be automatically available to all Office insiders running beta channel builds. It can be turned on and off using the coming soon feature in the top right corner of the menu in any application.
Just click on the megaphone icon to open the coming soon pane and apply settings to all office apps.
Note that The Coming Soon feature is not available in Access, Project, Publisher, or Visio. If you turn on the visual refresh in any of the 4 apps mentioned above (Work Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote), it will also be available in these 4 apps.
Difference themselves
The Home tab menu still has a familiar look with a few tweaks. For example, accessing frequently used Word commands will be a lot easier. By navigating to Designer > Show Quick Access Toolbar, users can add a customizable shortcut ribbon to Word that houses conveniently placed options.
Also, the office will not match your Windows operating system color theme so if you have a dark theme enabled, the office will also have a dark color theme.
Color palettes are more neutral, corners are a bit softer but customizable ribbons are a win here for me.
Conclusion
There was not much said other than visual upgrades and small tweaks that were supposed to make your life easier but then again Windows 11 itself is in the same boat.
I am not sure if this is a great update offering just some visual tweaks and focus on workflow mechanics or just being plain lazy and trying to cash in visuals as a completely new product.
There are instances when the Windows 10 installation needs interaction before it reaches the file process. And so if you suddenly encounter the Windows Update Installation Failure 0x80240020 error under the Windows Update History, then you need to get it fixed.
When you encounter this kind of Windows Update Error, you will see an error message that says, “The operation did not complete because there is no logged-on interactive user”. This error also indicates the “WU_E_NO_INTERACTIVE_USER” code. To resolve this issue, in this post we’ll walk you through a couple of steps but before you get started, know that you don’t have to run any troubleshooter or delete any file just to fix this error since all you have to do is enable one option that can automatically login with your account and complete the installation for you. With that said, just make sure to only try running Windows Update once you’re told to do so.
There are two ways you can enable the option that could resolve the Windows Update Installation Failure 0x80240020 error. One is via Settings while the second one is via Registry Editor.
Option 1 – via Settings
Step 1: Go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options.
Step 2: From there, toggle on the “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device and reopen my apps after an update or restart” option.
Step 3: After that, it will make sure that the interaction part is removed from the Windows Update process.
Note: If your device is joined in a domain or if some work or email policies are applied to your device by your company or organization, then you wouldn’t be able to see this option in Settings and that’s where the Registry Editor comes in. Just make sure that you’re logged in as an administrator and that you create a System Restore Point first since registry hacks are sensitive and could highly impact how your computer behaves or functions. Once you have that covered, follow the steps below.
Option 2 – via Registry Editor
Step 1: In the Start search, type “Regedit” and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Step 2: Navigate to the following registry key:
Note: If the above-given registry key does not exist, you can simply create it. All you have to do is right-click on the WindowsUpdate key and then select the New Key option and type “OSUpgrade” as its name. Afterward, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it “AllowOSUpgrade” and set its value to 0x00000001.
Step 3: Restart your computer and check if the error is now fixed. And then try to update your Windows 10 computer again and while you’re at it, make sure that you’re around your computer to interact with the prompts needed to complete the installation process.
DuckGoGo a popular private search engine is releasing its first browser soon that is focused on privacy like its search engine.
From the recent blog, Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo, has stated:
“Like we’ve done on mobile, DuckDuckGo for desktop will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy,”
From everything that we have learned so far, the browser will be focused on making privacy super easy and simple, eliminating tons of different settings about privacy, and making the whole environment robust privacy protection all set by default. Settings will be applied in all fields, across search, browsing, email, and more. Gabriel also said that aim of the browser is not just a privacy browser, it is meant to be built and used as your everyday browser, for everyday use that protects your privacy as a bonus.
One interesting thing that was stated is that browser itself is built upon OS-provided rendering engines instead of typical Chromium. DuckDuckGo says this approach will strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that's accumulated over the years in major browsers. Also, the company stated that when compared to Chrome, the DuckDuckGo app desktop is cleaner, way more private and that early tests have found out that it is significantly faster as well.
Is this just corporate advertising or reality? We will see once the browser is released, or once it is released for public testing. Until then take care and happy holidays.
Overwatch has taken the world by the storm, it introduced new mechanics in gameplay, colorful characters, various game modes and it is constantly updated with new content for free. If you have friends to play with this game is even better but sometimes errors occur and the game loses connection to the game server making it unplayable since it requires a constant internet connection to the server to function.
Keep reading and try provided solutions as they are presented to fix this issue and continue gaming.
You might have experienced a situation where you’re trying to install or update your Java application on your Windows 10 computer but were not able to do so for some reason. One of the problems you can encounter while updating or installing Java is Error Code 1603.
There are two ways you can install Java – you have the option to choose where to get Java either from the online download or offline download. There are times when before you can install Java, you might have to disable the firewall first as it may interrupt the Java online installation. And while doing so, if you are getting the “Java Update or Install did not complete – Error Code 1603” error message, read on as this post will show you what you can do to fix it.
At the time of writing, the exact cause of this error is still unknown. On the other hand, you must still check if you have fulfilled all the system requirements needed to install Java. You have to make sure that your Windows 10 PC has sufficient disk space available for the Java installation or update. In addition, you also have to make sure that you meet all the hardware requirements and you are using a popular web browser for the installation, and that you have administrative privileges for download and installation.
To fix the “Java Update or Install did not complete – Error Code 1603” error, here are some suggestions you can try.
Option 1 – Restart your computer before you install the new Java package
You might have to restart your computer if you got the error code 1603 while installing Java through an offline download.
Restart your computer.
Next, download and install the offline installer of the Java package from the official site of Java and not some third-party source.
In the prompt box that appears while downloading the Java package, select the option Save in and save the package in your preferred folder.
After that, navigate to the saved, downloaded package on your computer and then double click on the file to begin the installation process.
After that, if it didn’t fix the problem and you’re still getting the error code 1603, follow the next given option below.
Option 2 – Uninstall the old versions of Java before you install the new package
Open the Control Panel.
After that, click on Programs and features.
Then select the old Java package and click on Uninstall.
Restart your computer and then try installing the new Java package again from its official site.
Option 3 – Disable the Java content in the browser you’re using via Java Control Panel and reinstall Java
Open the Control Panel again.
And then click on the Java icon to open the Java Control Panel.
Next, navigate to the Security tab and then uncheck the “Enable Java content in the browser” option.
Then click on Apply and then Ok to save the changes made.
Now install the new Java package again after you download it from its official website.
Once the installation is completed, re-enable the “Enable Java content in the browser” option in the Java Control Panel as it is essential especially if you are running Java content in your browser.
Rstrui.exe is a service assigned to controlling system restore, it is considered an essential part of the Windows system and without it working you will not be able to perform a system restore operation.
Without system restore working you will not be able to "rewind" Windows into a working state if needed which can create in itself many new complications. Luckily we have working solutions for this specific problem, so get ready, and let's start.
SFC scan
Sfc scan is a built-in Windows tool that scans and repairs system corrupted and missing files. To run it open up the command prompt in administrator mode and type in it:
SFC /SCANNOW
then, let the whole process finish, do not interrupt it, and reboot after it is done.
DISM scan
Similar to SFC scan, DISM is also a built-in tool for fixing files linked to Windows essential working. Start a command prompt in administrator mode and type in:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Again let the process completely finish and then reboot your system.
Scan for viruses and other malware
Viruses and other malware can seriously damage the system and with it rstrui.exe along with it. Scan your system with Windows defender or even better with some other dedicated security suite to eliminate malicious threats if they exist.
Update Windows
Keeping Windows updated can bring you more good than harm, it is very advisable to keep it up to date all the time so all security leaks and bugs are repaired and that you have your OS in top-notch working order. Updating can also fix corrupted system files or replace them with newer versions so if your Windows is not updated go to update central and do it.
Congratulations, you have just Fixed the Rstrui.exe error in Windows 10 all by yourself. If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.
Your Rstrui.exe error in Windows 10 should have been fixed now.
One of the most critical errors inside your Windows operating system is The Extended Attributes Are Inconsistent error. This error means that your operating system has been corrupted and it may produce many annoying issues like for example time lags, random crashes, and even freezing of the system when running multiple applications.
There are a lot of reasons for this error, from the registry to faulty application installations to sometimes even hardware issues like bad RAM memory or bad hard drive. Mostly issue is due to corrupted files inside Windows and most often people only think that resetting the PC or complete reinstallation is the only way to fix this problem.
Although reinstalling the system or resetting the PC will solve this error for sure there are other less time-consuming ways to fix this error.
In this guide, we will show you common ways in fixing Extended Attributes are inconsistent errors inside your Windows that are easy to do and less time-consuming than complete reinstallation of the system.
Fixing Extended Attributes Are Inconsistent error
Run SFC scan
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X to open the hidden menu
Click on command prompt (admin)
In command prompt type in SFC /scannow and press ENTER
Wait for the operation to complete
Reboot your PC
Use System Image Repair Tool
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X to open the hidden menu
Click on command prompt (admin)
In command prompt type in Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and press ENTER
Wait for the operation to complete
Reboot your PC
Change all user accounts to the administrator
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run dialog
Type in netplwiz and press ENTER
Select a first user account and click on Properties
Click on the Group Membership tab
Choose Others from the options
Select administrator (if all accounts are already administrators change all to users)
Repeat process for all other accounts
Click OK to save settings
Change Windows Sound scheme to default
Right-click on the sound icon in the taskbar
Click on Sound options
Go to the Sounds tab
In Sound Scheme click and choose Windows Default
Under Program Events choose Windows User Account Control
Click on the drop-down menu and choose None
Click on Apply
Click on OK
Downgrade the Sound driver
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X to open the hidden menu
Click on Device Manager
Find your Audio driver and right-click on it
Click on uninstall and then on OK
Reboot your system
Do System Restore
If none of the provided solutions have worked, perform a system restore to the last point where everything was working fine.
Reset PC
If even system restore has not solved the issue or you do not have valid point in system restore time, perform Reset this PC and hopefully, the error will be finally fixed.
Conclusion
If all of the provided methods have not managed to repair this error that checks your hardware, your computer might have some faulty components if after complete PC reset error persists.
Chkdsk (Check Disk) is a built-in Microsoft Windows O/S utility tool.
This tool is designed to verify the integrity of data stored on the hard drive. In addition to this, it resolves and finds errors that may corrupt and damage stored data on your system and affect your PC’s performance.
This tool is intended to keep your PC’s Windows database clean.
However, this tool has certain limitations. It prevents the hard disk from getting damaged but if it gets damaged and corrupt then this tool is no good. It fails to disk check and repair. As a result, you may come across Chkdsk error pop-ups.
In such an event, it is not advisable to run the malfunctioned Chkdsk utility on your PC as it may damage your system beyond repair making you lose all your valuable data saved on your system.
Solution
Error Causes
Chkdsk errors are triggered by multiple reasons:
Viruses
Hard Drive failure
Registry Corruption Due to Data Overload
Poor PC Maintenance
Chkdsk errors may cause PC to freeze and lag and also result in data loss as we discussed above.
Further Information and Manual Repair
To avoid serious damages that the Chkdsk error code can cause to your system, it is advisable to fix it. You can either hire a professional or install Restoro. The latter is not just the best way but also a time and money-saving option. It is fast, user-friendly and you can download it for free thus saving hundreds of dollars that you would be paying for professional services.
Why Use Restoro?
Restoro is an advanced PC repair tool embedded with multiple features such as a registry cleaner, anti-virus, system optimizer, and Active X and Class error scanner. It helps resolve practically all types and kinds of PC-related errors including the most notorious ones like the Chkdsk errors.
It has an automated and intuitive interface smoothly integrated with the latest technology that enables this software to scan your entire PC and detect errors in seconds.
With the help of its super functional registry cleaner, Restoro detects errors registry issues triggering Chkdsk errors on your system.
It cleans all the unnecessary files like junk files, bad and invalid registry entries, and internet files that are stored in your hard disk and taking a lot of space. It removes the clutter and frees up your disk space and repairs the damaged registry.
It boosts the speed of your systemand ensures that programs run smoothly on your PC and there are no hang-ups or system freezes.
The privacy error detector functions as a powerful anti-virus. With the help of this feature, Restoro identifies and scans for viruses and malware infecting your system. These are removed right away.
Restoro is 100% safe and efficient. It has a backup feature that enables users to create backup copies. This is carried for safety purposes. In case you lose your data during the repair of the Chkdsk error, you can always recover and restore the lost files without any hassle.
With some registry cleaners and repair tools you may often have to struggle with compatibility issues but not with this PC Fixer.
Restoro is compatible with all Windows versions.
It is simple and very easy to use. From beginners, intermediate to experienced, all levels of users can use it with ease.
Once the installation is complete, run the fixer for a scan. You have the option to either scan some portions of the PC or the entire PC.
Scanning will take a few seconds
Once the scanning is complete, Restoro will display the scan results. This is presented in a comprehensive report showing you errors found including the Chkdsk error and errors related to it.
After that, all you need to do is press the repair button to resolve the error(s) promptly.
Once the error is resolved, try running the Chkdsk utility again.
Virtual Reality or VR for short has come a long way from its infant stage and as 2022 is in half period we are looking at the VR market and reflecting on what has changed in one year. For starters, games have increased in quality and quantity while the hardware price has decreased making the whole VR experience a little closer to a wider audience.
Many companies have tried to get on the VR bandwagon but also many have failed. What remained are staples in VR hardware from large companies that have started with VR early and kept improving their headsets.
So with great pleasure, we are presenting the remaining best 3 virtual headsets so far of 2022 brought to you from Sony, Valve, and Meta.
SONY PLAYSTATION VR
If you want VR on consoles then there is really one option, and that is SONY VR. Premium Virtual Reality solution from SONY, sadly you can do this only on Playstation 4 and Playstation 5. Sony managed to pull off great quality hardware and packed with its exclusives on playstore at a very affordable price that is still cheaper than other products.
While waiting for the Sony PlayStation VR2 headset this one is still a great option and quality is still among the top of the game. From the time of its release until today, many AAA titles have been released for it as exclusives that you can not play any other way and some of them are really worth it.
VALVE Index
Altho there are headsets like HTC Vive Cosmos Elite that have some features that place it as a better solution than Valve Index, Index is still an overall better VR headset as a whole product but its price is something that is keeping it still way out of reach of your standard user. The price, however, is really an illusion since it applies only when buying the system first time, you see Valve has created this headset as a modular design system making it upgradable meaning that you can, for example, buy newer controllers only and they will work perfectly with rest of hardware.
The modular design will save you money when you want to upgrade your VR system but as said entry price is steep. Besides its somewhat higher price than competitors, it is also notable that Index is a positional tracking VR set which means that it relies on a base station in order to locate the user. This means that once set, it is not so easy to change its location of use.
However, its quality and steam use are unmatched, high-quality games and compatibility that no other headset with steam will even pull off probably make Index one of the 3 best headsets out there. Half-life Alyx, arguably and currently one of the best VR games ever made so far was specifically designed for Valve Index and other games are behaving also incredibly nice with this headset, so if you want a great powerhouse for PC VR gaming, you will no go wrong in purchasing Valve Index.
META QUEST 2
Cheapest of the three and coming in various iterations, Meta has established itself from the beginning as a leading player in VR technology with its oculus line of products. Quest 2 is the next product in their line and it comes with 128GB and 256GB versions.
Meta has removed the need for the Facebook account for its VR systems and now you can use them without the need to send any kind of data to meta. Priced fairly for its entry 128 models this standalone VR set improves in any way possible from its previous iteration and sets the bar for what will come in VR's future.
Offering both wired and wi-fi connection with its standalone battery Quest 2 also is packed with a large library of games and it is user friendly as your typical game console but still allows some under-the-hood tinkering if you wish so.
Also, Meta's Vr solution since it uses inside-out tracking makes it incredibly easy to just pick it up and carry it with you wherever you go.
Mscomctl.ocx is a Microsoft library Windows Common Controls file. The Mscomctl.ocx error occurs when this file is either lost or gets corrupt.
The error is displayed on the screen when the user tries to run a program that is dependent on this file. It appears as:
“Component 'MSCOMCTL.OCX' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid”
Solution
Download Available to Completely Repair the Error Mscomctl.ocx
Error Causes
Installing and then uninstalling a large number of applications on the Windows operating system often corrupts or unregisters the Mscomctl.ocx library.
This message will continue to appear on the screen until you re-register the library file again on your system.
Further Information and Manual Repair
You don’t need to have the sound technical knowledge or call a professional to resolve Mscomctl.ocx error on your PC. The Mscomctl.ocx error is easy to repair and can be fixed in a couple of minutes.
Here are 2 solutions to repair the Mscomctl ocx error code on your system:
Cause: Error occurs because the Mscomctl ocx file is unregistered
Solution:
Go to the start menu and type ‘Mscomctl.oxc and press enter
Copy the ‘Mscomctl.ocx’ file and paste it in "C:WindowsSystem32" folder
Now click the start menu again and type ‘CMD’ in the search box. This will open your computer's command prompt.
Once this opens, type either of the following commands and then press enter. If you have a 64-bit operating system, then type: Regsvr32 "C:WindowsSysWOW64MSCOMCTL.OCX” and if you have 32-bit operating system, then you should type ‘Regsvr32 "C:WindowsSystem32MSCOMCTL.OCX"
By doing this, you will be able to register the Mscomctl.ocx file on your PC and then you will no longer receive Mscomctl.ocx error code.
Cause: Error code occurs because the Mscomctl.ocx file is missing
Solution:
First search for MScomctl ocx on your local drive to see if it is missing.
If the file is missing, then download the MScomctl.exe file from a reliable website.
Now extract the file to your C:WINDOWSsystem32 directory
Then click start and run.
Now type ‘REGSVR32 MSCOMCTL.OCX’ and press enter
Please note to implement any of the two solutions stated above, you will need administrator rights. If you have the administrator rights then only can you make the above registry changes.
Therefore to make the following changes you will have to access the PC using the Administrator account.
Simply follow the instructions given above to repair this error code problem right away!
Direct replacement for Apple M1 Chip is near. There were some M1 Chips versions like M1 MAX and M1 ULTRA that were upgrades of the existing M1 chip, but the new and upcoming M2 is something different and it is aiming to replace M1 completely.
Made in a 5-nanometer design, with 20 billion transistors and 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth is meant to increase performance over M1. It has the same M1 8 core design with 4 high-efficiency cores and 4 high-performance ones.
All CPU and GPU cores are faster than their M1 equivalents and Apple states that when running M1 and M2 at the same power level M2 will perform 25% faster. The first version of the chip will place focus on power efficiency so if you are more on side of being a power user wait for the MAX or ULTRA version of M2.
Tech details of M2
M2 system on a chip like its predecessor M1 combines both CPU and GPU on a single chip with shared memory in order to increase performance compared to systems that have separate CPU and GPU. M2 so far has been only announced for MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro that suppose to hit the market somewhere around July this year. Of course, we expect that M2 is included in future iPad series or Mac Mini series as well.