Short Takes Weekly: What went on in the world of Microsoft on August 24-28, 2015

This week in the news: Happy 20th birthday to Windows 95; your smartphone will soon be a 3D scanner; good luck waiting for a cumulative changelog of Windows 10 updates; your identical twin won't be able to fool Windows Hello.

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Windows 95 started up 20 years ago today -- Windows 95 was the initial introduction of the Start Menu, Taskbar and long files names among many innovative features. Many believe Internet Explorer 1.0 was released with Windows 95 but it actually arrived later in the Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 add-on.

Cortana Android beta goes public in US -- Richard Hay has been using the Cortana beta — he's been impressed by the mobility of the experience on his Android phone.

The demise of detailed info about Windows 10 Cumulative Updates -- If you are holding your breath hoping that Microsoft will soon provide detailed change lists of updates and fixes? Time to exhale.

Windows 10 Tip: Project Your Screen is Now Connect -- Do you miss the ability to wirelessly push your screen and audio to a remote screen or monitor? Here's how to do it in Windows 10.

Symantec Offers Fix Tool for Windows 10 Screen Flickers -- The company has provided detailed steps on how to accomplish the Safe Mode boot, apply a special Screen_Fix.exe tool, and then reinstall Norton Antivirus.

Microsoft Band just $149.99 on Amazon -- The fire sale for Windows products continues apace.

Surface App Gets Redesigned for Windows 10, Fixes Pen Issues
There's not much new in the redesigned Surface app from the Windows Store — saving for fixing a glaring issue where the Surface Pro 3 pen stopped working after the Windows 10 upgrade.

How To: Manage Browsing History in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge offers some capabilities for removing browsing history. Here's how to protect your surfing habits from prying eyes.

Review - Eikon Mini USB Fingerprint Reader
The Eikon Mini USB Fingerprint Reader is the perfect way to log into your device without having to carry extra cables to connect it to your system.

Fun with Skype - More Hidden Skype Messenger Icons
We have learned about some other hidden icons in Skype. Go wild figuring out a way to use them.

Q. I'm done with Windows 10. How do I get back to Windows 7?
It’s easy to roll back a Win10 upgrade provided you do so within a month of installation. After that, it’s still possible to go back to Win7 or Win8.1, but the process requires more effort.

Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcut Guide
n case you were wondering, "What can I do with that Windows key?" on your keyboard, we have a bunch of different answers.

Windows 10 now running on more than 75 million devices worldwide
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's Corporate VP for Marketing in the Windows & Devices Group, breaks down the numbers for us.

Intel RealSense Camera drivers updated; improve Windows Hello responsiveness
An updated Intel RealSense DCM driver package improves the speed with which your camera wakes up for facial recognition.

Microsoft Snip Beta Arrives
A new screen snipping and annotation tool, Snip, has been released by Microsoft for Windows users as a beta preview today. Once installed and running, it replaces your standard Windows Print Screen functionality and allows you to capture whatever area of your current screen you choose.

Windows 10 Build 10532 drops for Insiders
Windows Insiders who opted back in the preview program for Windows 10 have just received their second testing build for the month old operating system.

Stop automatic driver updates on Windows 10
You can actually disable the downloading of universal drivers in Windows 10 and avoid the issue of universal drivers downloading and replacing the better performing drivers manually installed on a system.

Microsoft clarifies Windows 10 Mobile Insider Program status
Users on older builds will need to upgrade to the latest Insider mobile build, and notifications will be used beginning on 15 Sep to make Insiders aware of this.

Top 5 Wish List items for Windows 10
Not everything is perfect with Microsoft's latest operating system. So with updates in the development stages, we wanted to come up with a list of five items that should be in Windows 10 at some point.

Video 101: How to capture and edit footage on your phone
Does your video shake, sound like it was recorded in a hurricane or otherwise look not exactly how you want? Follow these easy steps and your content will look much more professional. You don’t need a lot of equipment beyond your mobile device.

News from the Future: Drones with frickin’ lasers on their heads
In this week's installment of news to look out for, fish that deliver medicine via your bloodstream and drones that do, indeed, accessorize with laser chapeaus.

Windows 10 Home users can now toggle automatic app updates in Windows Store
The biggest thing we did notice was that the toggle for turning automatic app updates on and off is now working in Windows 10 Home. That certainly points towards the greyed out toggle simply being a bug in the OS versus a new mandatory update policy from Microsoft.