Where Did Microsoft Solitaire Go
Users of Microsoft's new Windows 10 software were elated to find the firm had brought back solitaire, the famous free game.
Currently, the Microsoft Solitaire collection costs $15 per year, Microsoft Minesweeper costs $10 per year, and Microsoft Mahjong costs $10 per year. These are separate fees. So, to play all three games without ads, you’ll need to pay $35 per year.
In its latest incarnation it boasts more features and can even track your stats.
However, there is just one problem - to play without ads, users have to pay Microsoft $10 a year, every year.
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Users of Microsoft's new Windows 10 software were elated to find the firm had brought back solitaire, the famous free game - until they found it would cost $10 every year to play without ads.
Experts have describe the decision as odd.
'Netflix charges you $7.99 per month for thousands of streaming movies and TV shows, Spotify, Slacker, Rdio and others charge about $10 per month for unlimited music,' said Mark Hachman of PC World.
'And Microsoft? They want you to pay $1.50 per month to remove ads from Solitaire.'
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However, the game has had a massive overhaul.
The Microsoft Solitaire Collection, as it is now called, bundles the classic Klondike with other familiar variants like Freecell and Spider Solitaire, tracks stats and logs achievements, and will even have leaderboards, Microsoft says.
A video ad running on Solitaire, covering the entire app.
However, it also has video ads that run over the entire screen for between 15-30 seconds.
The Premium version of the game does away with ads, and also offers more coins for completing 'Daily Challenges,' and a boost when you play TriPeaks or Pyramid, for $1.49 for a month and $9.99 for a year.
However, unlike previous version, Windows 10 is a free update, which many believe makes the extra cost of solitaire worthwhile.
'Windows 10 itself is free, so complaining too much about this might seem ungracious,' said Hachman.
'But I think that perhaps what we're getting here is a flash of insight into exactly why it's free. Fair trade?'
The feature is designed to easily let people share wifi passwords with friends, but security experts describe it as 'an accident waiting to happen'.
HOW TO SWITCH IT OFF
To change your settings, go to Network settings then Manage Wi-Fi settings (Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Manage Wi-Fi Settings).
There, you can choose which contacts you share Wi-Fi settings with.
You can toggle the setting to discover friends' Wi-Fi networks, or opt not to.
If you want none of it, you can uncheck every box.
The complaints are the second controversy to hit Windows 10.
Yesterday experts already warned of a major security risk in the software.
The feature is designed to easily let people share wifi passwords with friends.
However, experts say the feature actually automatically shares your wifi passwords with all Outlook, Skype and Facebook contacts who also use Windows 10.
They warn new users of the software to 'be vigilant' with the settings, a feature known as wifi sense.
'Wi-Fi Sense automatically connects you to Wi-Fi around you to help you save your cellular data and give you more Internet connectivity options,' Microsoft says.
'It can do a lot things for you to get you connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi, so you don't have to. And you're always in control with it—you choose whether to get on Wi-Fi, stay on, or jump off.'
The Krebs on Security blog says the feature is 'an accident waiting to happen'
'This brilliant new feature, which Microsoft has dubbed Wi-Fi Sense, doesn't share your WiFi network password per se — it shares an encrypted version of that password.
'But it does allow anyone in your Skype or Outlook or Hotmail contacts lists to waltz onto your Wi-Fi network — should they ever wander within range of it or visit your home (or hop onto it secretly from hundreds of yards away).'
'For networks you choose to share access to, the password is sent over an encrypted connection and stored in an encrypted file on a Microsoft server, and then sent over a secure connection to your contacts' phone if they use Wi-Fi Sense and they're in range of the Wi-Fi network you shared,' Microsoft says.
Experts say the feature was an understandable one to try and include - but a disaster in practise.
To change your settings, go to Network settings then Manage Wi-Fi settings (Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Manage Wi-Fi Settings). There, you can choose which contacts you share Wi-Fi settings with. You can toggle the setting to discover friends' Wi-Fi networks, or opt not to. If you want none of it, you can uncheck every box.
'I can entirely understand why someone thought this feature, known as WiFI Sense, was a good idea,' wrote PC Gaming Blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
'How many times you done that awkward dance where you go to a friend's house and want to use their wifi, so he's upstairs with the router, trying to bend the cable further than it will go so he can see the sticker on the back, and shouting 'X94 no sorry X49″ down to you, then it takes twelve goes and you still don't get anywhere?
'WiFI Sense is intended to take the pain out of this: you go to your mate's house and your Windows 10 laptop/tablet immediately hops online because the password's been shared via MS' servers.'
'In theory, lovely.
'In practice – Microsoft have, somewhere, an enormous database full of people's passwords.
The new Windows 10 start menu: Following an outcry among users, Microsoft is bringing back the Start Menu, which was removed from Windows 8.
WHAT'S NEW IN WINDOWS 10
Microsoft's new operating system will run on the 'broadest types of devices ever'.
It will come with Cortana and the personal assistant app will run on the desktop.
It merges various app stores into one platform, called the One Store. Insidious 4 full movie download.
Microsoft is bringing back the Start Menu, which was removed from Windows 8.
And users can create multiple desktops to keep things organised.
'Microsoft don't exactly go out of their way to tell you that they're doing this, so if you agree to Express Settings when installing or updating to Windows 10, WiFI sense is silently turned on for you.
'Realistically, the risks are small and yet to be proven, but this shouldn't be something we all unknowingly agree to, or something that only tech-savvy PC users are aware of or understand.
Windows 10, the biggest update Microsoft has made to its computer software, was finally launched today after a massive beta test programme.
The new software will be the first to work across all Windows-powered devices, from smartphones to tablets and desktop computers, as well as Microsoft's Xbox One games console.
The firm is allowing some customers who pre-registered to get access before others.
Microsoft is also introducing a new web browser - Edge - to replace Internet Explorer, while the firm's voice assistant Cortana will also move to desktop computers for the first time.
Windows 10 will include a new Xbox app to allow users to easily share with friends, and is extremely similar to the firm's Xbox One console system. Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, Microsoft said it will continue to keep it up-to-date for the supported lifetime of the device at no cost
The much-loved Start menu, which was removed in Windows 8 to much public outcry, is also making a return in the new software, as the US-firm looks to modernise and appeal to a new range of customers.
Millions of PC users will also be able to upgrade for free as Microsoft is making the update available at no extra cost to those who are already using Windows 7 or 8, though this offer will expire next year.
The firm's chief Satya Nadella has said Microsoft wants to move from 'people needing Windows, to choosing Windows, to loving Windows'.
Windows users who have registered their interest will be notified once Windows 10 becomes available to them, with the roll out beginning in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and set to be staggered over the coming days.
Autodesk autocad 2017 free download. Windows 10 is coming to PCs and tablets first, but it's also designed to run phones, game consoles and even holographic headsets.
The software was unveiled earlier this year. It will run on everything from mobile phones to the firm's Xbox One games console. The firm also showed off an augmented reality headset called HoloLens (pictured) running the software. Microsoft boss Satya Nadella described HoloLens as 'magical' but wouldn't say how much it will cost
It has new features, a streamlined Web browser called Edge and a desktop version of Cortana, the online assistant that is Microsoft's answer to Google Now and Apple's Siri.
Still, the company insists Windows 10 will seem familiar to users of Windows 7, the six-year-old operating system still running on most PCs.
Microsoft and PC makers want to erase the memory of the last big update, 2012's Windows 8, which alienated many with its jarring, unwieldy design.
Microsoft skipped the name Windows 9, as if to distance itself further from the last release.
While many analysts believe Windows 8 made sagging PC sales even worse, it's unclear if Windows 10 will spur the industry back to growth.
The company wants to get the new software on as many devices as possible to convince independent programmers that it's worth their time to build useful or entertaining apps for Windows 10 devices.
The Windows 10 free upgrade is finally here, and lurking in the shadows of the start menu is the triumphant return of Solitaire. But playing the iconic game is not for free—it’s for freemium.
Technically you don’t need to pay to play the Microsoft Solitaire Collection on Windows 10, but if you want an ad-free experience, it’ll cost you. Launch the app in Windows 10 and you’ll be prompted by a splash screen to upgrade to the Microsoft Solitaire Collection Premium Edition. Upgrading will remove the full-screen video advertisements, and grant you access to boosts in “TriPeaks” and “Pyramid” (two versions of the game in the Solitaire bundle) and some extra coins for completing “Daily Challenges.” But it’s essentially a subscription service, at $1.49 a month, or a discounted annual fee of $9.99.
Microsoft Solitaire For Windows 10
Is Microsoft secretly verging on bankruptcy? Windows 10 charges you $10/year to make Solitaire ad-free. pic.twitter.com/sysYPfxYnz
— Bennett (@bfod) July 29, 2015Much to the dismay of devoted Solitaire enthusiasts, the desktop version of Solitaire, a game rooted in the nostalgia of a simpler time—when hovering over the start menu and navigating to “Programs > Accessories > Games” brought you endless hours of free, mind-numbing comfort in a fraught world—was removed from Windows 8.1. It was replaced by a modern version of the game available only from the Windows Store, ads included.
Now that the game is back in its default app glory, the way it had been with every iteration of the Windows operating system since the '90s, why is Microsoft making users pay to remove ads from a built-in application?
“The gaming industry is so closely linked with the online world and the tech industry, and these are all places where huge companies and individual creators alike are trying out new experiments in revenue every day,” said Playboy.com Gaming Editor Michael K. Rougeau. “Seeing someone shilling a product with informal sponsored posts in my Instagram feed kind of ruins Instagram for me, but for others it's no big deal. It's the same with games.”
Microsoft Solitaire Download
A Microsoft spokesperson provided Newsweek with the following statement:
“Microsoft Solitaire has been free to play for the past 25 years on Windows, and continues to be free to play on Windows 10. Users can access and play everything within the game for free, including new premium features like Daily Challenges and Star Club. The Microsoft Solitaire Collection game experience and Premium Upgrade features such as Double Coins for Daily Challenges, and removal of advertisements, is identical to the Windows 8 version that has been available for purchase for years.”
Fair enough, Microsoft. It does seem odd, though, to trade a slice of pizza per month to go ad free on a built-in Microsoft Windows service that is available with a free upgrade. But perhaps classic default computer games like Solitaire and Minesweeper just don’t hold that special place in our hearts anymore.
“As a kid I eagerly searched every computer I could get my hands on for the included games, unearthing gems like Ski Free, Full Tilt Pinball and Minesweeper, some of which have endured more than others,” Rougeau said. “But what kid today would do the same? They all have thousands of games at their fingertips every time they pick up an iPad, or whatever. I think the market for Solitaire and whatever other free games come with Windows these days is adults, and I'm not sure those adults care all that much one way or the other.”