ICYMI: April 1, 2016

Hello! We promise, soberly and sincerely, we are not pulling any April Fools' tricks here.

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Windows Phone is going on a break: As Tom Warren at The Verge reported on March 30:

"We're fully committed to that 4-inch screen, there will be a time for it to be our focus, but right now it's part of the family but it's not the core of where I hope to generate developer interest over the next year," explains Terry Myerson. "There's no lack of recognition to realize how important that form factor is, but for Microsoft with Windows and for our platform it's the wrong place for us to lead."

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"If you wanted to reach a lot of phone customers, Windows Phone isn't the way to do it," admits Myerson. "If you want to reach a lot of Windows customers, then this is the largest install base of 9 to 30-inch screens. If you wanted to do new and exciting things, then the Xbox and HoloLens is the place to have a discussion."

Also worth reading the tea leaves for: Microsoft is shutting down the Lumia Voices Twitter account, phasing out the brand's social presence.

You'll be e-mailing people coffee: Well, maybe not directly, but add-ins for Office have become more robust, with opportunities to use email productivity scripts from Boomerang or to actually send Starbucks gift cards via Outlook. The add-ins are now available for Mac users too.

Also worth paying attention to: An emerging story about what's getting baked into the Microsoft Edge browser. Following a report that Microsoft's Edge browser would have an ad blocker built right into it, Edge engineer Jacob Rossi hastened to set the record straight: "We are not building a native ad blocker within MS Edge, but we will support third party ad blockers like AdBlock and AdBlock Plus."

There are other browsers that do offer built-in ad blocking, namely Brave and Opera. Neither enjoy the advantage of being the default browser on Windows 10.

Also worth paying attention to: Gartner says PC sales are going to stall out this year, and Windows 10 is one of the key reasons. How? Because upgrading enterprises to Windows 10 is a time- and budget-intensive venture, says Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal. Expect more Windows 10 upgrades in 2017, when more money might be available. Windows 10 is currently running on an estimated 16% of all Windows PCs.

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The most useful news for daily work and play on your devices:

Lifehacker's been running a series on Microsoft's heavy hitters, Office edition: How to master Microsoft Outlook; eight useful Excel shortcuts worth memorizing; how to master Microsoft Excel; how to master OneNote; how to master PowerPoint; and how to master Word.

Here are eight ways to fix common annoyances in Windows 10.

Customize your Xbox One's privacy settings.