The release of Windows 11 is still a number of months away, and we're still learning a lot about Microsoft's latest operating system update. In addition to the confusion about hardware requirements, there have been questions about other necessities.

According to sources close to Microsoft, anyone opting for Windows 11 Home will be required to have a Microsoft account. The same is not true for Windows 11 Pro; users will be able to use local accounts if they want.

Microsoft is changing its famous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) to black in Windows 11. The software giant started testing its new design changes in a Windows 11 preview earlier this week, but the Black Screen of Death isn’t fully enabled yet. The Verge understands Microsoft will be switching to a Black Screen of Death for Windows 11, matching the new black logon and shutdown screens.

Microsoft's first version of Windows appeared more than 35 years ago, marking what would become the most used operating system for personal computers. Windows has dominated my life and career for those past three decades, and yet it hasn’t changed dramatically since the Start menu interface was introduced in Windows 95 (let’s just pretend Windows 8 never happened).

Windows 11 isn’t a massive change either, but then it’s not supposed to be. Windows chief Panos Panay compared Windows to his family home last week, a place that has been renovated and changed over the years, but still manages to stay familiar and feel just like... home.

The hardware requirements for Windows 11 have been causing some confusion and controversy. The minimum specification is about getting the right trade-offs between security, reliability, compatibility and performance to deliver a good Windows experience, and many enterprises will be ready for Windows 11.

The minimum system requirements of 1GHz or faster dual-core processors, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage are what Microsoft Office and Teams already specify.

Microsoft is releasing its first Windows 11 preview build today. Windows Insiders can download the Windows 11 preview (build 22000.51) right now, which includes access to the new Start menu, multitasking features, and overhauled Microsoft Store. Unlike the previous Windows 11 leak, this official preview also features an updated File Explorer that replaces the ribbon with a command bar to simplify file management a little more. Most of the Windows 11 visual changes that Microsoft revealed last week will be available in this initial preview. The new Start menu with its centered launcher-like interface is part of this build, alongside rounded corners throughout the OS and improvements to the notification center, volume flyouts, and more. If your PC has an accelerometer, the Windows 11 lock screen will also include a parallax motion effect.

When Microsoft released the first Insider preview of Windows 11 earlier today, it made an already confusing situation even harder to parse. As you may have noticed, you don't need a specific CPU or a TPM 2.0 chip to install the preview. In a new blog post, the company has outlined its reasons for doing that, and it comes down to a desire on Microsoft's part to get a better idea of what systems can run Windows 11.

"By providing preview builds to the diverse systems in our Windows Insider Program, we will learn how Windows 11 performs across CPU models more comprehensively, informing any adjustments we should make to our minimum system requirements in the future," the company said.

Microsoft just released the first official Windows 11 build and despite some controversy around the minimum hardware requirements, there’s a group of people who just can’t wait to upgrade.

That is all according to a new study from the firm YouGov, which found that 35% of users plan to upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as they can.

As of 2016, the “Y2K problem” or “millennium bug” is little more than a memory for anyone who was around to see the turn of the millennium firsthand. However, back in 1999, there were concerns that it could wreak havoc on computers all over the world — and, as it turns out, Microsoft had a plan in place in case the worst fears were realized. For the uninitiated, the “year 2000 problem” refers to the way that 20th century computers handled dates. Some early programmers had taken to representing the four-digit value of a year with only two digits, which meant that when the millennium came around, these systems would confuse the year 2000 for the year 1900

Under the contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Microsoft will provide consulting services that include software developers and product teams "to leverage a variety of proprietary resources and source code" and Microsoft premier support services, such as tools and knowledge bases, problem resolution assistance from product developers.

Microsoft claims that more people are switching to Surface devices from Macs than ever before. That's a concept that would have been hard to picture when Microsoft first released the Microsoft Surface RT and Surface Pro in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The Surface RT suffered from a watered-down version of the new -- and generally disliked -- Windows 8 operating system and, while the Surface Pro featured the full desktop version, it came with hardware limitations and a high price tag.

Microsoft has just launched a new Windows 10 app whose purpose is to help users discover the benefits of Windows Defender security solution and always stay up to date with the latest security trends with information provided by the software giant itself.

Called Windows Defender Hub, the application is available in the Store with a free license and works exclusively on PCs - a universal app doesn’t make much sense since Windows Defender is specifically aimed at desktop computers.

Near the end of the last year, Microsoft released version 1511 of its System Center Configuration Manager, optimizing it for Windows 10 and transitioning to Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Now, the company has released version 1610 of the System Center Configuration Manager for the Current Branch (CB).