Windows 10 - OUT NOW

Users taking advantage of the free upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8 can continue to use Windows 10 as valid license owners indefinitely.
Those who for some reason don't upgrade until after the offer has expired will likely have to pay for Windows 10.

Xbox August Update Brings Game Streaming in 1080p and 60fps

When Windows 10 launched around the world on July 29, we brought the best of the Xbox Live gaming network to Windows 10. Windows 10 was built with gamers in mind, integrating some of the most popular Xbox features such as Game DVR, screenshots, Avatars and Achievements. We also included new functions like game streaming from Xbox One to Windows 10 PCs. The response from fans has been amazing and starting today, that feature gets even better with support for streaming games in 1080p/60fps.

New features starting to roll out today in the August update include:

*1080p/60fps Game Streaming – You can now stream games from your Xbox One to Windows 10 devices in high-res HD quality at 1080p/60fps. The new streaming capability works best for gamers who have home networks with adequate bandwidth. In the Xbox app on Windows 10, go to Settings > Game Streaming and set the video encoding level to Very High, which will then stream games from your Xbox One to your Windows 10 PC at 1080p and 60fps (frames per second).

*Right Click – You can now right-click on one of your friends and select Send Message or Invite to Party to more quickly connect with your friends.

*Notifications – Starting today, you can enable or disable notifications for when you are invited to a party or a multiplayer game via Settings > General > Party & Games Invitations.

*Recently Played – Now you will see an animated display alternately showing you how many friends have played each game along with the four most recent players. The display will then switch to show a second tile with your last played date, Gamerscore and Achievements percentage complete. If you click on the game, it will take you to the Game Hub, where you can see a list of all of your friends who have played the game sorted by most recently played along with their online status.

*Compare Achievements with a Friend – You can now compare your achievement status with one of your friends who has played the game. From a Game Hub page, select Achievements > Compare at the top right above the list of all of the achievements.

*My Games – We updated My Games to support a grid view with a jump list, where your games are now displayed in a grid sorted alphabetically. If you click on a letter, you can collapse the list and then select a specific letter of the alphabet to more quickly find a game. The list of games that are automatically discovered has been updated as well.

*Add Games – The ability to manually add games to your collection that have a link in the Start Menu by selecting My Games > Add a game from your PC has been updated with a help link to help you add games to your collection.

The team also updated the Xbox app on Windows 10 to address some issues around sign-in, localization and game streaming reported by a subset of Windows 10 users. The Xbox app on Windows 10 should automatically update to the new version when it becomes available in the Windows Store. Once you receive the update, your version number should be 8.8.6000.00000 or higher. You can verify the version number of the Xbox app on Windows 10 under Settings > General later today.

We’re thrilled at the response we’ve received from fans who are enjoying Xbox on Windows 10 and we appreciate all the feedback. Keep it coming at Xbox Feedback and, if you are a Windows Insider Preview member, with Windows Feedback.

Don't plan on using any games or bootleg software downloaded from the Pirate Bay on Windows 10. The End User License Agreement in the new operating system makes it clear that Windows 10 is capable of scanning user machines and prohibiting them from using any services that appear to have been obtained illegally.

Section 7b of Microsoft's Services EULA (under “Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms”) warns users that Windows 10 “may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.”

By agreeing to these terms, Alphr.com reported, users are enabling Microsoft to sift through their files in search of the vaguely defined “unauthorized hardware peripheral devices,” which could mean anything from modified Xbox controllers to unauthorized versions of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft's Services EULA is different from the one governing Windows (Microsoft Software License Terms), which means that the amendments Microsoft added recently were to protect against counterfeiting of Xbox Live and Windows Store content, and not monitoring (or disabling) illicit content on Windows 10.

Errkal wrote:The emulators themselves arn't illegal / pirated, also I imagine for a company to have pirate versions removed they would have to register the "genuine" version with microsoft and have some sort of validation in there, unless Microsoft are planning on reading and learning everyone's license terms and build some mega inventory solution for determining what is and isn't genuine.

Winckle wrote:You can do either an in place upgrade, or a clean install.