Twitter is digging one of its most important new features out of its settings and putting it within easy reach. Twitter is now testing with a small number of iOS users a homescreen button that lets you instantly switch from its algorithmic timeline that shows the best tweets first but out of order to the old reverse chronological feed that only shows people you follow — no tweets liked by friends or other randomness.
Sometimes you want to see the latest Tweets, first. We’re testing a way for you to make it easier to switch your timeline between the latest and top Tweets. Starting today, a small number of you will see this test on iOS. pic.twitter.com/7NHLDUjrIv
Twitter had previously buried this option in its settings. In mid-September, it fixed the setting so it would only show a raw reverse chronological feed of tweets by people you follow with nothing extra added, and promised a more easily accessible design for the feature in the future. Now we have our first look at it. A little Twitter sparkle icon in the top opens a menu where you can switch between Top Tweets and Latest Tweets, plus a link to your content settings. It would be even better if it was a one-tap toggle.
Twitter’s VP of Product Kayvon Beykpour tweeted that “We want to make it easier to toggle between seeing the latest tweets the top tweets. So we’re experimenting with making this a top-level switch rather than buried in the settings. Feedback welcome.. what do you think?”
Given the backlash back in 2016 when Twitter started shifting to an algorithmically sorted timeline based on what you engaged with, many users will probably think this is great. Whether you’re trying to follow a sports game, a political debate, breaking news, or are just glued to Twitter and want the ordering to make more sense, there are plenty of reasons you might want to switch to reverse chronological.
Still, Twitter’s apprehension to make the setting too accessible makes sense. Hardcore users might prefer reverse chronological, but for most people who only open Twitter a few times per day or week, that’d mean they’d likely miss the tweets from their closest friends that could be drown out by the noise of everyone else. Twitter’s user growth rate perked up after the shift to algorithmic.
We’ve asked whether the setting reverts to the Top Tweets default when you close the app. That might be frustrating to some expert users, but could prevent novice users from accidentally getting stuck in reverse chronological and not knowing how to switch back. The company tells TechCrunch that it’s trying out several different duration options for the setting based on user inactivity to see what works best. For example, one version will revert the setting to the Top Tweets default if they’re gone for a day. That method would make sure people who’ve been inactive long enough to forget changing their timeline setting will get the default back and not end up stuck in a chronological abyss.
If Twitter gets the reversion to default situation figured out, the new button could make the service much more flexible, thereby boosting usage. You could start algorithmic in the morning or after a weekend away to see what you missed, then quickly toggle to reverse chronological if something big happens or you’ll be on it non-stop all day to get the real-time pulse of the world.
Twitter is digging one of its most important new features out of its settings and putting it within easy reach. Twitter is now testing with a small number of iOS users a homescreen button that lets you instantly switch from its algorithmic timeline that shows the best tweets first but out of order to the old reverse chronological feed that only shows people you follow — no tweets liked by friends or other randomness.
Sometimes you want to see the latest Tweets, first. We’re testing a way for you to make it easier to switch your timeline between the latest and top Tweets. Starting today, a small number of you will see this test on iOS. pic.twitter.com/7NHLDUjrIv
Twitter had previously buried this option in its settings. In mid-September, it fixed the setting so it would only show a raw reverse chronological feed of tweets by people you follow with nothing extra added, and promised a more easily accessible design for the feature in the future. Now we have our first look at it. A little Twitter sparkle icon in the top opens a menu where you can switch between Top Tweets and Latest Tweets, plus a link to your content settings. It would be even nicer if that was a one-tap toggle.
Twitter’s VP of Product Kayvon Beykpour tweeted that “We want to make it easier to toggle between seeing the latest tweets the top tweets. So we’re experimenting with making this a top-level switch rather than buried in the settings. Feedback welcome.. what do you think?”
Given the backlash back in 2016 when Twitter started shifting to an algorithmically sorted timeline based on what you engaged with, many users will probably think this is great. Whether you’re trying to follow a sports game, a political debate, breaking news, or are just glued to Twitter and want the ordering to make more sense, there are plenty of reasons you might want to switch to reverse chronological.
Still, Twitter’s apprehension to make the setting too accessible makes sense. Hardcore users might prefer reverse chronological, but for most people who only open Twitter a few times per day or week, that’d mean they’d likely miss the tweets from their closest friends that could be drown out by the noise of everyone else. Twitter’s user growth rate perked up after the shift to algorithmic.
We’ve asked whether the setting reverts to the Top Tweets default when you close the app. That might be frustrating to some expert users, but could prevent novice users from accidentally getting stuck in reverse chronological and not knowing how to switch back. The company tells TechCrunch that it’s trying out several different duration options for the setting based on user inactivity to see what works best. For example, one version will revert the setting to the Top Tweets default if they’re gone for a day. That method would make sure people who’ve been inactive long enough to forget changing their timeline setting will get the default back and not end up stuck in a chronological abyss.
If Twitter gets the reversion to default situation figured out, the new button could make the service much more flexible, thereby boosting usage. You could start algorithmic in the morning or after a weekend away to see what you missed, then quickly toggle to reverse chronological if something big happens or you’ll be on it non-stop all day to get the real-time pulse of the world.
Last year, the top subscription video apps like Netflix and Hulu raked in a combined $781 million, and that trend is showing no sign of slowing down in 2018. In the third quarter of 2018, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $329 million in the top 10 subscription video-on-demand apps across the App Store and Google Play — a figure that’s up 15 percent from the $285 million spent in Q1.
The data is the latest in a new report from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which has been following the growth of subscription video apps for some time. Last year, for example, it found that Netflix’s app topped the charts in terms of revenue, when compared with all the other non-game apps on the market.
Netflix hasn’t fallen from its top-ranked position, the new data shows. In fact, it’s continuing to grow.
The app pulled in an estimated $132 million in consumer spending across the app stores in Q3, which is up 78 percent from the $74 million spent in the third quarter of 2017.
However, Hulu is now growing faster, the report found. It saw subscription revenue jump 86 percent to $39 million, up from $21 million a year ago.
It seems some consumers may have made the move to Hulu thanks to the extra cash they had on hand, thanks to dropping their HBO subscription.
The only subscription video app that saw revenue decline in Q3 was HBO NOW, which took in $41 million in the quarter, down 40 percent from the $68 million in Q3 2017. But notably absent this quarter was the network’s biggest draw, “Game of Thrones,” which had been airing at this time last year. A drop was expected.
The top-grossing chart of these subscription video apps for Q3 2018 looks very similar to last year’s in terms of the apps included, and sometimes, even their rankings.
But two services made moves, the report says.
YouTube TV jumped from $3 million in the year-ago quarter to $16 million in Q3 on Apple’s App Store, thanks to its expanded market penetration and consumer adoption. And ESPN Live Sports, which added in-app subscriptions in Q2, grossed $4.6 million in the third quarter, up 119 percent from Q2.
Even CBS is doing well, despite the fact that noteveryoneloves the new “Star Trek.”
Still, it appears CBS made a good move by betting on fans’ devotion to the franchise, as U.S. consumers spent $6 million in the app in Q3 2018, up 50 percent from the $4 million spent in Q3 2017.
The report’s data includes subscription revenues only, not refunds or in-app advertising revenues, Sensor Tower notes.
The broad increases in consumer spending on these video apps is yet another example of the significant and growing subscription business — much of which is taking place on mobile. Subscriptions accounted for $10.6 billion in consumer spend on the App Store in 2017, and are poised to grow to $75.7 billion by 2022, an earlier report found.
However, the top subscription apps aren’t all video apps. Others that consistently rank highly in the U.S. include Tinder, Spotify and Pandora, for example. Currently, the top-grossing chart for the App Store includes a number of non-games, like Netflix (No. 1), YouTube (No. 2), Tinder (No. 3), Pandora (No. 4), Hulu (No. 7), and Bumble (No. 8).
Robots just want to get things done, but it’s frustrating when their rigid bodies simply don’t allow them to do so. Solution: bodies that can be reconfigured on the fly! Sure, it’s probably bad news for humanity in the long run, but in the meantime it makes for fascinating research.
A team of graduate students from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania made this idea their focus and produced both the modular, self-reconfiguring robot itself and the logic that drives it.
Think about how you navigate the world: If you need to walk somewhere, you sort of initiate your “walk” function. But if you need to crawl through a smaller space, you need to switch functions and shapes. Similarly, if you need to pick something up off a table, you can just use your “grab” function, but if you need to reach around or over an obstacle you need to modify the shape of your arm and how it moves. Naturally you have a nearly limitless “library” of these functions that you switch between at will.
That’s really not the case for robots, which are much more rigidly designed both in hardware and software. This research, however, aims to create a similar — if considerably smaller — library of actions and configurations that a robot can use on the fly to achieve its goals.
In their paper published today in Science Robotics, the team documents the groundwork they undertook, and although it’s still extremely limited, it hints at how this type of versatility will be achieved in the future.
The robot itself, called SMORES-EP, might be better described as a collection of robots: small cubes (it’s a popular form factor) equipped with wheels and magnets that can connect to each other and cooperate when one or all of them won’t do the job. The brains of the operation lie in a central unit equipped with a camera and depth sensor it uses to survey the surroundings and decide what to do.
If it sounds a little familiar, that’s because the same team demonstrated a different aspect of this system earlier this year, namely the ability to identify spaces it can’t navigate and deploy items to remedy that. The current paper is focused on the underlying system that the robot uses to perceive its surroundings and interact with it.
Let’s put this in more concrete terms. Say a robot like this one is given the goal of collecting the shoes from around your apartment and putting them back in your closet. It gets around your apartment fine but ultimately identifies a target shoe that’s underneath your bed. It knows that it’s too big to fit under there because it can perceive dimensions and understands its own shape and size. But it also knows that it has functions for accessing enclosed areas, and it can tell that by arranging its parts in such and such a way it should be able to reach the shoe and bring it back out.
The flexibility of this approach and the ability to make these decisions autonomously are where the paper identifies advances. This isn’t a narrow “shoe-under-bed-getter” function, it’s a general tool for accessing areas the robot itself can’t fit into, whether that means pushing a recessed button, lifting a cup sitting on its side, or reaching between condiments to grab one in the back.
A visualization of how the robot perceives its environment.
As with just about everything in robotics, this is harder than it sounds, and it doesn’t even sound easy. The “brain” needs to be able to recognize objects, accurately measure distances, and fundamentally understand physical relationships between objects. In the shoe grabbing situation above, what’s stopping a robot from trying to lift the bed and leave it in place floating above the ground while it drives underneath? Artificial intelligences have no inherent understanding of any basic concept and so many must be hard-coded or algorithms created that reliably make the right choice.
Don’t worry, the robots aren’t quite at the “collect shoes” or “collect remaining humans” stage yet. The tests to which the team subjected their little robot were more like “get around these cardboard boxes and move any pink-labeled objects to the designated drop-off area.” Even this type of carefully delineated task is remarkably difficult, but the bot did just fine — though rather slowly, as lab-based bots tend to be.
The authors of the paper have since finished their grad work and moved on to new (though surely related) things. Tarik Tosun, one of the authors whom I talked with for this article, explained that he’s now working on advancing the theoretical side of things as opposed to, say, building cube-modules with better torque. To that end he helped author VSPARC, a simulator environment for modular robots. Although it is tangential to the topic immediately at hand, the importance of this aspect of robotics research can’t be overestimated.
Spotify has teamed up with Google to get Google Home (our Google Home review) in more, well, homes. For a limited time only, Spotify Premium for Family subscribers can get a free Google Home Mini speaker as part of their existing Spotify subscription.
How to Get a Free Google Home Mini From Spotify
To get your free Google Home Mini from Spotify, you need to be the master account holder for an existing Spotify Premium for Family subscription. You also have to be located in the U.S., so all of Spotify’s international subscribers are out of luck.
If you’re eligible, you just need to head to spotify.com/us/family/ to claim your free Google Home Mini. The limited time offer starts on November 1, 2018, and ends on December 31, 2018. Anyone who hasn’t claimed their free Google Home Mini by then will be out of luck.
Announcing the promotion on the Spotify Blog, Alex Norström, Chief Premium Business Officer, said:
“We’re excited to be partnering with Google Home to bring the magic of voice to our Spotify Premium Family subscribers. After all, what’s more fun than sharing the music you love with the people you love. For Family Plan subscribers, enjoying those moments will only get better. Now anytime their favorite artists comes up, they can simply say ‘Hey Google, turn it up!'”
Spotify Premium for Family costs $14.99/month and allows up to six people in one family to enjoy Spotify Premium. Google Home Mini, which is, as its name suggests, the miniature version of the Google Home smart speaker, currently retails as $49.
Google Chooses Spotify Over the Competition
This promotion is great for Spotify Family subscribers. However, it’s not so good for Google Play Music and YouTube Music, which are both competition for Spotify. Still, this is Spotify and Google teaming up to head off both Apple and Amazon, which is understandable.
All of the major music streaming services offer family plans, as well as some video streaming services. So we compiled a list of the best streaming services that offer family plans. But a free Google Home Mini certainly makes Spotify Family more appealing.
Removable disk drives—either USB flash drives or external hard drives—should be easy to use. But in some cases, you may connect your drive to a Windows PC or another device with a USB port and find the hard drive isn’t showing up.
This problem has several possible causes: partition issues on the external drive, using the wrong file system, dead USB ports, or driver issues in Windows. In a worst-case scenario, the drive itself may be dead.
Let’s take a look at how to diagnose undetected external drives in Windows. Note that this guide is also available as a video:
Step 0: Make Sure Your Drive Powers On
This is a preliminary step, but one worth checking. Nearly every flash drive and many external hard drives don’t require a separate power source—they receive power over USB. However, some desktop external drives do have dedicated power cables, or at least a physical power switch.
If this is the case for you and your external hard drive is not showing up, you could have an issue with the power cable. Try plugging it into another power outlet, or swap the cable if possible. Check for flashing lights on the unit that indicate activity before moving on.
Step 1: Check the Drive in Disk Management
First, let’s check whether Windows detects the drive when you plug it in. Plug your removable drive into your computer if it isn’t already.
Next, open the Disk Management tool. To do so, press Windows Key + X (or right-click the Start button) to open the Power User menu and select Disk Management from the list. You can also open the Run dialog with Windows + R and enter diskmgmt.msc to open this utility.
You should see your external drive listed in the Disk Management window, likely below your primary and any secondary disks. Even if it doesn’t appear in the This PC window because it doesn’t contain any partitions, it should show up here as Removable.
If you do see the drive here, jump down to section four, “Create a New Volume and Assign a Drive Letter.” There, you’ll partition and/or format it properly so Windows and other devices can access it.
If your external drive is still not showing up, continue on. You’ll need to determine why your drive isn’t recognized. It’s possible you have a hardware issue, driver problem, or a dead drive.
Step 2: Try Another USB Port and Computer
The problem may not lie with your device, but the port you’re using to connect it to your computer.
Unplug the drive from its current USB port and try plugging it into another port on your computer. If it works in one USB port but not another, you may have a dead USB port.
If you’ve plugged the drive into a USB hub, try connecting it directly to the computer instead. Some USB hubs don’t provide enough power for your external drive to function.
What if the drive doesn’t show up in Disk Management even after trying both of these steps? It’s tough to know for certain whether the drive is bad or your computer is having a problem. If you have another computer nearby, try plugging the drive into it to check whether it’s detected.
If the drive doesn’t work on any computer you plug it into, the drive itself is likely dead and you’ll need to replace it. When you try another machine, be sure to check whether it appears in the computer’s Disk Management window, not just This PC, as discussed above.
Step 3: Troubleshoot Driver Issues
If the drive does show up on other computers—or you don’t have another computer around to check—Windows may have a driver problem with your device. You can check for this using the Device Manager.
You’ll find a shortcut to the Device Manager under the same Windows + X menu mentioned earlier. You can also enter devmgmt.msc into the Run dialog to open it.
Expand the Disk drives category and check for any devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them. If you see a this symbol, that device has a driver problem.
Right-click the device with the issue, select Properties, and look at the error message. This error message can help you fix the problem; you may want to perform a Google search for the error message you find.
Driver problems are often tricky to fix. If the problem started recently, try running System Restore to roll back the changes.
If this doesn’t work, you can try the Update Driver button to install an updated driver. However, this rarely finds a new driver for generic devices like flash drives. Instead, you may want to check the manufacturer’s website for a specific driver for your external hard drive.
The Driver menu for your drive in the Device Manager has a few other options. Roll Back Driver button will revert any recent driver updates, which probably won’t have an effect if System Restore didn’t work.
As a final resort, use the Uninstall button to remove the device from your system. Hopefully, upon rebooting, Windows will reinstall the driver and configure it correctly when you reconnect the drive.
Step 4: Create a New Drive Volume
If your device showed up in Disk Management in Step 1 or one of the above troubleshooting steps made it show up, you’re ready to initialize the drive so it’s usable. Aside from showing you basic information, the Disk Management tool can fix partition and file system issues with your drive.
If your removable drive shows only Unallocated space, you’ll need to create a new partition on it. This allows Windows and other operating systems to use it. To do so, right-click anywhere on the Unallocated space, select New Simple Volume, and go through the wizard to create a new partition.
If your drive is partitioned (meaning it doesn’t have Unallocated space) and you still can’t see it, ensure it has a drive letter set. This should happen automatically, but if you’ve manually removed the drive letter, the drive may not be accessible in Windows.
To change the drive letter, right-click the removable drive’s partition and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. If the device doesn’t already have a letter, click Add and choose one. If it does, click Change and try another one.
Something later in the alphabet, like G or J, is standard for removable drives and will work fine.
Step 5: Format the Drive
If the drive appears partitioned, but you still can’t access it, it’s probably partitioned with a different file system.
For instance, you may have formatted the drive with the XFS file system from Linux or APFS on a Mac. Windows can’t read these file systems. You’ll thus need to reformat the drive with the newer NTFS or older FAT32 file system so Windows will be able to recognize it.
To reformat a partition in the Disk Management utility, right-click it and select Format.
Note that formatting will erase all files on your drive, so you should copy any important files on it to another device before continuing. If you formatted the drive on a Linux or Mac machine, take it to a computer running that OS and back up the files before you format it.
When you format, you can give the drive a new name if you like. Leave Allocation unit size as Default; leaving Perform a quick format checked is fine too. More importantly, you’ll need to select a file system. Which one you should choose depends on the type of drive and what you use it for.
If you have a small flash drive, it likely came formatted as FAT32. In most cases, this is the best choice. While FAT32 can’t save files over 4GB and only supports volumes up to 2TB, it’s unlikely you’ll run into either of these issues using a flash drive. More importantly, FAT32 is compatible with all sorts of devices, such as cameras, media players, game consoles, and more.
NTFS is the modern standard for Windows, but there’s really nothing to gain by using it on a flash drive. Many older devices aren’t compatible with NTFS. Thus, we recommend formatting as FAT32 for flash drives and SD cards, and NTFS for large external hard drives.
You do have two other file system options. exFAT is a Microsoft file system that supports larger files that FAT32, but isn’t as widely compatible. We’ve compared FAT32 and exFAT if you’re interested. FAT is ancient, so you can ignore that one.
Your External Drive, Fixed and Recognized Again
Following this process when external hard drives don’t show up should solve most of the disk recognition issues you’ll encounter. If you’ve tried the drive with multiple computers and it never shows up in the Disk Management window after these steps, the drive is probably dead.
“Good night, sweet angel,” he texts you, just before you turn off your phone for the night. You’ve found Mr. Perfect. Sure, he’s an online boyfriend who lives halfway across the world, but he’s the best guy who’s ever come into your life.
Or is he?
Online Dating Is More Popular Than Ever Before
More and more people are meeting their significant other online these days. This is probably due to the number of dating sites and dating apps available, which makes it much easier to find your potential happy ever after.
However, with that increased use of online dating comes an increased risk that you’ll come across a shady character who is not exactly what he makes himself out to be.
Not every guy you meet online will be a player. In fact, some great guys are just so shy that finding a date online is a necessity.
Many very nice guys are just painfully shy when meeting new people. In some cases this borders on clinical social anxiety disorder. There are some tips for talking to strangers, but dating is something else altogether.
However, when they have an opportunity to introduce themselves to a girl through the safety of the internet, those girls get to know their personality first, making the first date go more smoothly.
Unfortunately, through a combination of hormones and immaturity, there are some guys who transform the system into one where they try to convince just about any girl to go on a date with them. This has led to a situation where the different sexes have different experiences of online dating.
Here are the red flags you should keep an eye out for to spot a guy who’s trying to pull a fast one on you. The following tips are some of the techniques online “players” use. Study them, and when you spot them, keep your guard up.
1. He’s Funny and Oh So Poetic
Most girls seem to love a guy with a good sense of humor. For those individuals, all it takes is a witty remark or flirty jesting to make a girl smile and break down those defensive shields around her heart.
This is difficult to accomplish in person, because it requires quick thinking and perfect timing. However, in a message on a dating app, a guy can think for several minutes before typing a reply.
How to spot him: Every joke he makes is extremely funny. He never misses an opportunity to show off his wit, but his responses are rarely quick. Seriously, time him. You’ll see.
2. He Talks About His Sister/Niece/Puppy All the Time
Animals are well known for attracting potential dates. Walk a puppy across a college campus, and you’ll see what we mean.
Why is this the case? Well, any guy who can express his love for a puppy becomes more attractive to some women (especially women dreaming about starting a family).
John Grogan, the author of Marley & Me, explained that after he wrote his book, he was suddenly approached by the sort of women who never would have given him a second glance before. In an op-ed on Men’s Health, Grogan wrote:
“…it’s all about the dog—and what that tells women: A man who can love, and be loved by, a dog is a man they can trust, a man with good odds of being decent and sincere and in touch with the soft center beneath the hardened shell.”
A player knows that this is a weakness nearly all women have. An online player manipulates that weakness skillfully. He’ll often describe how close he is to his dog, his little sister, or his young niece.
Hot to spot him: When the subject often returns to one of these hot topics, it means he’s constantly probing for your weak spot. If he does it too often, you’ve got an online player on your hands.
“Plant a good seed in people who have fertile hearts. When you are away, they’ll miss you. When you are coming again, they can’t wait!”
Every male player knows that the only way to grow the tree of desire in your heart is to plant a seed and water it often.
How this plays out online takes time and dedication. He’ll text you first thing in the morning so that he’s the first thing you think about. He’ll text you a sweet “good night” message just before you go to sleep so he’s the last thing you think about.
He may even be so clever as to learn your work schedule through conversation, and text you the moment you get home.
If done in a way that isn’t too intrusive in your schedule, this online personality will ease his way into every aspect of your day – even your lunch break and your train ride home.
Hot to spot him: Impeccable timing with messages. Short messages throughout the day. He may even drag you into all-night texting sessions.
4. He’s Done Everything
You mention rock climbing. He claims he’s a repelling expert, with hairraising stories to boot. You mention you’ve taken some photography classes, and he announces he’s an expert photographer with $15,000 worth of camera equipment.
You name it, he’s done it.
The rule of thumb is if he sounds too good to be true—if every one of your interests seem to mesh so perfectly into his—it’s probably not true.
Reality is usually far from perfect. Some core interests may align, but not usually all. And if he’s only 20- or 30-something, the odds are also pretty good he hasn’t had time to become an “expert” in that many things.
Hot to spot him: The “player” technique here is called “mirroring”. The online player is skilled at recognizing your “likes” and making sure to convince you that he has a lot to offer you in all of those areas.
5. He Uses Sexual Innuendo
The last move a guy usually makes while chatting with you online will be the sexual innuendo.
This will come at a point in the conversation where he believes you’ve developed a certain level of trust and attraction to him. It’ll usually start off small:
Man: “What what are you up to?”
Woman: “Oh, just laying in bed watching TV.”
Man: “Ooooh, what are you wearing? ;-)”
It’s written humorously, but it’s a passive way to test the waters to see if you’re potentially open to having more intimate or risque conversations.
Hot to spot him: The skilled “player” uses very subtle flirtations, first dipping his toes into your pool and checking to see if the water is warm. This can be a normal behavior in many relationships, but if it happens too often (and too early) then you know there’s a problem.
There’s Nothing Wrong With Online Dating
The idea here isn’t to make you mistrust every single guy you meet online. There are a lot of wonderful men out there looking for love, just like you are.
These tips are offered only to help you identify and avoid the players. There’s nothing wrong with online dating, but there’s no place for naivety when you’re opening your heart to a stranger.
You can argue that Windows 10 is better when you’re using it in conjunction with a Microsoft Account. It means you can sync your data and settings, install apps across multiple devices, and automatically sign in to apps and services that use a Windows ID for authentication.
That said, some people are uncomfortable with using a Microsoft Account to log into their machines. Whether it’s concerns over security, worries about how Windows handles private data, or a simple yearning for the olden days, some users feel happier using a local account.
In this article, we look at how to totally delete your Microsoft Account and how to make a local account on a Windows 10 machine.
How Do You Get a Windows Account?
Lots of people will have a Windows Account without even realizing it. In fact, if you’ve ever had a Hotmail email address, an Xbox Live account, a .NET Passport, or used some other Microsoft service, the chances are you’ve got one.
Note:Hotmail is now dead. Microsoft’s email services are all under the Outlook umbrella.
It is the latest incarnation of Windows Live ID, with the rebranding occurring around the time of Windows 8’s release in late 2012. It now provides a single sign-on for most of Microsoft’s services, including Outlook, Bing, Office 365, Skype, and OneDrive.
Replace, Remove, and Delete Your Microsoft Account
Getting rid of your Microsoft Account is a three-step process. Firstly, you need to create a local account to log into Windows. Secondly, you’ll have to remove your Microsoft Account from Windows 10, then finally, you can go ahead and delete the account itself off Microsoft’s servers.
Before you start, be aware that although you can re-add your account to a computer, once it’s deleted online there is no return—your data will be lost forever.
Step 1: Create a Local Account
You cannot delete an account from your machine while you are signed into it—you’ll need to create an alternative login with a local account first.
To do that, access the Settings menu; you can find it in the Start Menu or by pressing Windows + I.
Next, navigate to the Accounts page. Once there, make sure you’re on the Your info tab. Here you will see the option to Sign in with a local account instead underneath your name.
Click it, and follow the on-screen instructions.
Step 2: Remove the Microsoft Account Login
After you’ve set up the new local account, you need to navigate to Settings > Accounts > Email and app accounts. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and highlight your Microsoft Account in the Accounts used by other apps section.
You’ll be presented with two options—Manage and Remove. “Manage” is essentially a shortcut to Microsoft’s online account management portal. You need to choose “Remove” and follow the remaining on-screen instructions.
Step 3: Delete Your Microsoft Account
Now that you’ve successfully removed the account from your machine, you can go ahead and delete it from Microsoft’s database. This will ensure that none of your data is used by the company without your consent, and will prevent it being harvested by an unapproved third-party without you being aware.
Before proceeding, make sure you’ve done some basic housekeeping by deleting any credit card details you might have saved in the Windows Store, erasing all your emails (and get to inbox zero!) and emptying the trash, removing any sensitive data from OneDrive, and backing up any important files.
Once you’re sure that you are ready to proceed, navigate to login.live.com in your web browser and enter your login credentials.
You’ll be presented with your account’s welcome page. You need to navigate to the Security tab along the top of the screen, then click on More security options at the bottom of the page.
Finally, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on Close my account. You’ll be presented with a warning screen that highlights some additional steps you should take before you make the plunge. Click Next.
You’ll then be shown one final screen. Tick all the checkboxes to confirm that you understand and agree that a host of services will be deleted and lost, select the reason for the closure from the drop-down menu, then click Mark account for closure.
You will notice that you still get 60 days of grace. If you change your mind at any time during the grace period you can reactivate your account by logging back in and answering some security questions. If the 60 days lapses, your account is gone for good.
How do you use your Windows 10 machine? Are you running a local account, or do you prefer to use a Windows Account? You can let us know in the comments section.
Birthdays come and go, but do you know what doesn’t? Happy birthday memes! These hilarious images with funny phrases are everywhere and are shared again and again.
So, if you have a friend or family member with an upcoming birthday that appreciates, humor have a look at this list. We’ve collected dozens of the best birthday memes that joke about age, cake, gifts, and more.
Tease Them Over the Hill
It seems like when we’re younger we want to be older and when we’re older we want to be younger. But one thing is for certain, our age will never go down in years.
So, if you have a friend or family member who doesn’t mind jokes about their age, then this set of memes is for you. Better to laugh than cry about our age, right?
Mr. Bean is a funny guy to many people around the globe. So, if your friend enjoys his comedic ways, then send them this meme. Complete with a joke about what goes up but never comes down (your friend’s age) is sure to put a smile on their face.
If the birthday candles shaped like a 2 and a 9 are burned so far down from relighting each year for your favorite lady, then this is the meme you want to send on her next birthday.
For your bestie or sibling, someone who you’ve known all of your life, give them a giggle like the one on this toddler’s face. Yes, it’s time to remind them that you will always know their real age.
Do you know a movie-goer with an upcoming birthday? If so, then here’s your meme. Adorned with popcorn, movie tickets, and a reminder that the senior citizen discount at the theater isn’t that far off, share this with the movie buff in your life.
Who better to put on your grumpy pal’s message than Grumpy Cat himself? This feline gives you the perfect way to say Happy Birthday to someone who may not be thrilled to be celebrating another birthday.
If a cranky kitty isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but a cat meme for your girl is ideal, here you go. Let her know how close she is to becoming that crazy cat lady.
Your friend may be okay with a little innocent joking when another birthday comes, but deep down inside it might still irk them to be another year older. This funny monkey face can’t help but make them laugh, even though, it might be the face they actually make when you all sing “Happy Birthday” to them.
Let Them Eat Cake
A birthday tradition that no one can deny is the birthday cake. That sweet treat decorated with candles and sometimes written birthday wishes is a delicious way to celebrate.
If you know someone who looks forward to that special, yearly, candle-holding delectable a little more than most people do, send them one of these funny birthday memes.
If you like cake just as much as your birthday friend, send this amusing meme. Cakes definitely come in all shapes and sizes. But this drawing that shows a partially eaten cake being given the birthday boy, well, it takes the cake.
If your cake-loving friend also enjoys the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, then send a bit of Captain Jack for their birthday. As the meme implies, that silly pirate had hopes for a smashing good cake but ended up smashed himself.
This meme is hilarious for those you know who always bake the birthday cakes for others. A birthday candle taped to a box of cake mix, and the message “I got you a cake” is simply funny. At least the baking pan is included, right?
Modern Day Birthday Wishes
Some birthday traditions carry across the generations. A delicious cake, exciting gifts, and a song to celebrate it all have been around for many years.
But bringing a bit of modern-day fun into that birthday celebration can be enjoyable too. Here are a few birthday memes that are geared towards current day jokes and social media.
2018 is the year of the Tide Pods and this meme fits right into the craziness. Check out the little Tide Pods with a lit candle in each one. Just keep in mind that if your friend was one who actually ate the Tide Pods and became quite ill, you may want to keep looking on this list for a different meme.
Mark Zuckerberg is the face behind Facebook. So, why not share his face with your friend this year? We all know that Facebook has a wonderful way of letting you know when it’s someone’s birthday and this meme confirms that, well, Facebook has a lot of information about people (wink).
Don’t Forget the Gift
For this birthday, did buying a gift for your friend slip your mind? Or did you happen to buy one at the very last possible minute? Either way, each of these memes jokes about it, so hopefully your pal will too.
Give your friend two tips on their birthday. One is nice and serious, a simple reminder that the past is the past. The other is also simple; you didn’t buy them a present. If they cry like the baby on this photo because they didn’t get a gift from you, run out and buy them a box of tissues as their present.
We’ve all done it at least once in our lives; bought a gift for someone at the last possible second. This cute and funny meme jokes about those last-minute gifts and how you hope with everything inside of you that the recipient doesn’t know it.
Just Simple Fun
If none of the above memes are quite what you’re looking for, for your friend’s or family member’s birthday, then take a look at this last set. They are each funny in their own way.
Women just love Johnny Depp as Captain Jack. As he leans back and eyes up what’s in front of him, your friend might just feel that much more special this birthday.
If you’re looking for a birthday meme that’s just plain comical, this pup with his cake is awesome. The smile on his face after chowing down on that birthday cake is priceless.
Hey Seinfeld fans, we’ve got a meme for you but no soup! You guessed it, it’s none other than the Soup Nazi. As he politely will tell your friend, “No happy birthday for you! Come back one year!!” your friend will definitely laugh if they love that character.
What would a list of funny birthday memes be without the Dos Equis guy? Send this one to the man in your life letting him know that he is certainly a legend. He’s sure to believe it because, after all, the message is from The Most Interesting Man in the World.
Wrap Up a Happy Birthday Meme to Send
Hopefully one of these happy birthday memes is exactly the ticket to making your friend or family member smile this year. And if you want to try your hand at making your own meme, check out these meme generators or apps you can use to create memes.
