Just a couple of bits of news…

Just a quick one today, since it’s a bank holiday. The office is closed today, so there’s no-one here to take your calls I’m afraid. We’ll be back in bright and early tomorrow morning, though.

I’ve got a couple of little bits of news while I’m here, though. The first is about the NHS Covid-19 app, and the other is about Windows 10.

Bye bye Covid-19 app
If you live in England and were using the official Covid-19 app on your phone, you should have got a notification over the weekend. They’ve shut the system down now – it’s done its job – so the app isn’t actually doing anything any more. That means you’re safe to delete it from your phone.

To do that, find the icon for it on your home screen or in your list of all apps – it’s got a blue icon, and it’s the one called “NHS Covid-19”. On most phones, you can uninstall the app by tapping and holding on it until a menu pops up, then choosing “delete” or “uninstall”. Leaving it on your phone won’t do any harm, it’s just a bit tidier to get rid of old apps when you’ve finished with them.

No more major updates for Windows 10
Last week, Microsoft officially announced that Windows 10 is on security updates only from now on. So the last major update for Windows 10 was the one that came out at the end of last year.

This isn’t too surprising, since Windows 11 has been out for over a year and a half now, but Microsoft have made it official.

Don’t worry if you’re still using Windows 10, though. It will keep getting its regular security updates for another two and a half years – all the way up to October 2025. It’s just that Microsoft are saving any general improvements and new features for Windows 11 only.

Anyway – that’s it from me for now. I hope you enjoy the bank holiday, whatever you’re up to!