Windows 10 will be free for some

It’s official, folks: Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for existing Windows users—as long as you claim it quickly.

Kicking off the consumer-focused Windows 10 event in Redmond on Tuesday, Microsoft operating system chief Terry Myerson announced that current users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free for one year after the operating system launches. Once you’ve claimed the upgrade, Microsoft will keep you updated for the supported lifetime of the device.

“We think of Windows 10 as a service,” Myerson said.

Is there a catch? Here's the fine print from the Windows 10 page on Microsoft's site: 

“It is our intent that most of these devices will qualify, but some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. ISP fees may apply. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise outside of this offer. We will be sharing more information and additional offer terms in coming months.”

The decision to make Windows 10 a free upgrade for existing users—at least for a limited time—makes sense. Windows 8 users have vocally expressed their displeasure with the operating system, prompting happy Windows 7 users to stay put on that OS. That hinders Microsoft's ability to execute its vision for a service-centric, cloud-connected future for Windows; making Windows 10 free could spur more users into embracing a modern Microsoft operating system. 

And hey, it'd be weird to charge for Windows 10 after Windows 8 flopped so hard and Apple started giving away OS upgrades. Right?

Google Earth Pro - Now Free

Google Earth Pro, which had a price tag of $399, is now available for free.

Google, in a blog post Friday, said its customizable mapping application – complete with all of its features and imagery – will be available for free. Anyone interested can obtain a free key and download Earth Pro immediately.

The Pro version has the same features as the standard Google Earth along with tools that help users measure 3D buildings, print high-resolution images for presentations or reports, and record HD movies of virtual trips around the world.

Individuals may use the service when planning a trip or an enterprise might use it when plotting out a new office building, according to Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. Saving nearly $400 a year is always a good thing for a business and using geo data and images is also helpful, he said.

"Using this information could jazz up presentations," he added. "It could help companies find prospects through measurement and plan deployment of infrastructure, like networking. It also could help sell tourism."

For Google to make its Earth Pro app free, two things have to be true, Gottheil said.

"First, the revenue they were accruing from it wasn't so great," he said. "And second, they see a way to monetize it in the long run, if it's more broadly used."

New Computers available on the site

Check out Available computers section on the site, various new laptops have been added.  If interested, send me an email or call!

How bad is your password?

Think you're being clever by using your own name, or that of your favorite superhero, as your online password? You're not.

SplashData today released its annual list of 25 most common Internet passcodes: or, hackers' 25 best friends.

The new report—compiled during 2014 from more than 3.3 million leaked passwords—continues to prove that folks are generally uncreative and lazy: "123456" and "password" once again took the top two spots.

In a showcase of creativity, "696969" and "batman" joined this year's top 25—nine of which are comprised of numbers-only codes. In general, Web users are leaving themselves at risk by using weak, easily guessable keys.

"Passwords based on simple patterns on your keyboard remain popular despite how weak they are," SplashData CEO Morgan Slain said in a statement, adding that passwords using only numbers should be avoided, especially sequences.

"As more websites require stronger passwords or combinations of letters and numbers, longer keyboard patterns are becoming common passwords, and they are still not secure," he said.

Sequences like "qwertyuiop"—otherwise known as the top row of a standard keyboard—or "1qaz2wsx" (a slightly more complicated version of the "column" code), are just plain bad ideas.

Much like using a sport or sports team, your birthday or birth year, and baby names as your password is a terrible idea. Also in the top 100: swear words/phrases, hobbies, famous athletes, car brands, and film titles.

"The bad news from my research is that this year's most commonly used passwords are pretty consistent with prior years," online security expert Mark Burnett said. "The good news is that it appears that more people are moving away from using these passwords."

In 2014, the top 25 codes represented about 2.2 percent of passwords exposed, Burnett explained.

Most passwords were held by users in North America and Western Europe; the millions of passwords leaked from Russian accounts last year were not included in SplashData's analysis.

"While still frightening, that's the lowest percentage of people using the most common passwords I have seen in recent studies," he added.

Changing your password isn't difficult, according to SplashData, which suggests folks use a combination of eight or more letters and numbers and avoid using the same username-password combination for multiple websites.

Also, password managers are a great way to organize and protect passwords, generate random codes, and automatically log into websites. Check out PCMag's favorites.

SplashData's "Worst Passwords of 2014" (new entries in bold):

• 123456 (unchanged from 2013)
• password (unchanged)
• 12345 (up 17 spots)
• 12345678 (down one)
• qwerty (down one)
• 1234567890 (unchanged)
• 1234 (up nine)
• baseball
• dragon
• football
• 1234567 (down four)
• monkey (up five)
• letmein (up one)
• abc123 (down nine)
• 111111 (down eight)
• mustang
• access
• shadow (unchanged)
• master
• michael
• superman
• 696969
• 123123 (down 12)
• batman
• trustno1 (down one)

Disable MS Office 2013 Start Screen & Always Open Blank Documents

MS Office 2013 is without argument the most polished face the productivity suit has ever had, to date. It’s an obvious outcome of it being around for years and being improved upon. That said, I don’t always like the new start screen in Office 2013 which stalls the actual program being launched. I use Word quite often and I’m still in the habit of launching it from the taskbar and immediately being able to start typing or at times, pasting text. The start screen is often an unnecessary extra step for me and at times very annoying. For anyone in the same boat, there is a simple solution to this problem and that is to disable the start screen. It’s an option that can be exercised on a per-app basis for the Office Suit and is very easily reversible.

Launch the MS Office and go to File>Options>General.

Scroll down this screen and under Start up options, uncheck the ‘Show the Start screen when this application starts’. The option refers to the myriad of document options you see when you first launch the respective Office app and disabling it will set the default to always open a blank document.

If at any point you want the Start screen to appear again, return to this window and enable the option again. Granted, you can’t choose which type of document will open by default but this does get rid of the added step to launching the most commonly used type of document or presentation, or spreadsheet.

The Start screen exists to make the more obscure but still highly useful templates available in the Office Suite more easily accessible to users but it can be a hindrance because you’re more likely to create blank documents, load custom presentation templates or use blank ones, and use the default spreadsheet layout than needing the other pre-sets.

Google Glass...another orphan tech gadget.

There are a couple of big changes to the Google Glass project that are taking place, the first of which is that it's now being overseen Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive and founder of Nest, which Google purchased for $3.2 billion a year ago. Ivy Ross will still run the daily operations, she'll just now report to Fadell. And the second? You can kiss the Explorer program goodbye -- Google has decided to shutter its Glass Explorer program as it moves into the next phase.

"Explorers, we asked you to be pioneers, and you took what we started and went further than we ever could have dreamed: from the large hadron collider at CERN, to the hospital operating table; the grass of your backyard to the courts of Wimbledon; in fire stations, recording studios, kitchens, mountain tops and more," Google Glass stated on its Google+ page.

After a bit of reminiscing, Google got to the point.

"As we look to the road ahead, we realize that we’ve outgrown the lab and so we’re officially 'graduating' from Google[x] to be our own team here at Google. We’re thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality," Google Glass continued. "As part of this transition, we’re closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what’s coming next."

The team said that today (January 19, 2015) is the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition, which we suppose can now be considered collector's items. As for what the future holds, Google didn't say specifically, adding that you'll see the future versions of Glass "when they're ready."

We wouldn't be surprised if Google decided to show off a new prototype at its Google I/O conference later this year, though it will be interesting to see what the new vision entails.