By Don Miller @ Combatsim.com

Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users this week will soon notice that the Windows 10 Update will be downloaded through Windows Update and attempt to install on your system. Especially if you have Windows Update set at “Install Updates Automatically”, which is the default setting. If so, after a reboot of you system Windows 10 Update will begin to install.

In Windows Update, under “Optional”, you have to check the box to download an item and install. “Recommended” items, will be downloaded and installed unless you change the default setting of Windows Update.

Now I am not to get into the whys and wherefores here, or if Microsoft is a corporate bully forcing an operating system on you. I just want to point out a couple things you can do to prevent this install from happening on your PC or laptop if you are not yet ready to make the change, or simply do not want to.

First, change the Windows Update setting from “Install Updates Automatically” to “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.” Here is how you get to Windows Update and make the changes manually:

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

• Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, by pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), then tapping or clicking Settings, tapping or clicking Change PC settings, and then tapping or clicking Update and recovery.
• Tap or click Choose how updates get installed.
• Under Important updates, select the option that you want.
• Under Recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates check box, and then click Apply.

Windows 7

• To turn on or off Automatic Updates yourself, follow these steps:
• Click Start, type Windows update in the search box, and then click Windows Update in the Programs list.
• In the left pane, click Change settings.
• Select the option that you want.
• Under Recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates or Include recommended updates when downloading, installing, or notifying me about updates check box, and then click OK.

Here is how the Windows Update Panel looks like in Windows 7:

Now that you have completed that task, I recommend you download and install GWX Control Panel by Josh Mayfield. Not only does GWX Control Panel have settings to remove the annoying “Get Windows 10″ icon from your taskbar, but its also “protects you from unwanted Windows 10 upgrades and notifications without disabling important or popular operating system features, and without requiring you to change the way you work with Windows.”

GWX Control Panel is highly recommended by many windows news and help sites. You can visit Josh Mayfield’s website to view his user guide for GWX Control Panel. I recommend watching the following tutorial videos that Josh has created on how to set up GWX Control Panel. Click on the links below to view…

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

If you have already downloaded and installed GWX Control Panel, or are going to after watching the above videos, you will notice that Josh has made considerable upgrades to GWX Control Panel since the videos were made. Josh has added many actions within GWX Control Panel, including a button to directly access Windows Update so you can make the setting changes there. Very nice addition to GWX Control Panel!

I have installed GWX Control Panel on my wife’s laptop, which had the “Get Windows 10″ icon in the taskbar. Using GWX Control Panel, I was able to get rid of it. I also performed the recommend setting changes. Since then I have nor has my wife had any issues with the laptops performance. I have also installed GWX Control Panel on my desktop PC. I had no “Get Windows 10″ icon showing in the taskbar. I am assuming that since I have built my own PC, using OEM Windows 7, that may be the reason why. My wife’s desktop that I built is the same way. GWX Control Panel showed that the icon app was not running. On the laptop it showed it was running. Shows me this program is working nicely.

And once you decide to upgrade to Windows 10, you can make the changes in the GWX Control Panel to allow you to upgrade. Remember you have 30 days to try out Windows 10, and if you do not like it, you can revert back to your original system. I have played with Windows 10 on my PC by creating a dual boot setup with a clean install of Windows 10. So far, I have not had a single program that I have installed that hasn’t worked. And I must say, so far I am warming up to Windows 10. It is a vast improvement from Windows 8/8.1. Its functions and interface is more like Windows 7 with a bit of Windows 8/8.1 mixed in. I have not performed the Windows 10 upgrade on my Windows 7 system as of yet, as I wanted to really see if I would like Win 10 or not. So I cannot tell you how it well the update works. Most people I have talked to have said it worked just fine for them. If you do decide to update to Windows 10, make sure you back up all your important documents, photos, video, etc. Also I would recommend that you do not have any other storage drives to your motherboard, or any external drives connected when you perform the upgrade. Also, make sure you turn off any antivirus and anti-malware software too.

Source: IGN

The latest Rainbow Six Siege patch may have introduced a series of new glitches to the game. On the Rainbow Six: Siege Reddit players are reporting issues with hit registration, rendering problems (operators become black shadows), and problems with knife melee attacks, such as those demonstrated in the video here.

“Nothing was as game breaking before as I’m seeing now,” said one player, while another added: “I don’t play that often, but yesterday I got a headshot bonus without getting a kill. Is that normal?”

Updating its forum post, Ubisoft has responded to a list of player issues and complaints but is as yet unable to confirm when we can expect some errors to be resolved.

We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for comment and will report back as/when they get back to us. The next Rainbow Six: Siege patch is expected mid-February.

Source: Gamer’s Hell

Ubisoft offers another video for Tom Clancy’s The Division, an online, open-world RPG developed by Massive Entertainment and due to launch on March 8th, 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The Division takes place in New York 3 weeks after a lethal virus, released on Black Friday, swept through the city. One by one, basic services have failed. Society has collapsed into chaos. The President invokes Presidential Directive 51, and The Division, a top-secret unit of self-supporting tactical agents, is activated. Leading seemingly ordinary lives among us, Division agents are trained to operate independently of command in this type of emergency situation. When the lights go out, their mission begins. You will explore the once-familiar streets and landmarks of the Big Apple, now decimated by looting and overrun by clans that will do anything to survive.

Panzer Corps, the revolutionary turn-based wargame, is ready to strike back with a new exciting chapter!

In Soviet Corps, you will fight with the Red Army, from the brink of its collapse to the final victory, through an epic and tough, branching campaign! Counterattack whenever you spot a weak point, withdraw tactically to preserve your forces, and as soon you gained superiority force the enemy to retreat!

Take a look at the trailer here and stay tuned! The game will be released on February 18th!

Get more information on Soviet Corps from its official product page.

Firefly Studios has just released a new expansion pack — Stronghold Kingdoms: Island Warfare. Currently available on PC and Mac, with a redesigned mobile version set for release in the coming months, Stronghold Kingdoms has introduced another heavily-requested feature in the form of player ships and a new game mode. View the launch trailer here.

The lords of Stronghold Kingdoms can now turn the ocean red by waging bloody war across 38 tropical islands with new, changing sea conditions! Players must fight for a single kingly throne avoiding rough seas and the occasional hurricane as they attack, scout and trade across 18 provinces and 99 separate counties.

Conditions change daily with tail winds, rough seas, violent storms either slowing or accelerating the progress of attacks, trade ships and scouting parties as they move between islands. Attacking forces may catch a strong tailwind and obliterate their enemies in the blink of an eye. Traders can double their earnings in a single day by all casting off while conditions are favourable. Scouts on the other hand could be so heavily delayed by storms at sea that, upon returning home, find their actions have sparked a conflict that has destroyed their home!

Releasing soon after Stronghold Kingdoms: Global Conflict, Island Warfare introduces fresh changes to the game’s most basic mechanics for hundreds of thousands of monthly active players. The top requested feature by players since the release of the ‘Global Conflict’ world map, Island Warfare renders old strategies irrelevant in a new mode where the movement of your forces is impossible to predict beyond current sea conditions. The first in a series of updates in 2016, Island Warfare paves the way for both a new events system and the release of Stronghold Kingdoms on iOS and Android.

Players can download and play Stronghold Kingdoms: Island Warfare for free at the official Stronghold Kingdoms website.

Obsidian Entertainment and Paradox Interactive today revealed several forthcoming updates to Pillars of Eternity, the award-winning title backed by dedicated fans of classic role-playing games (RPGs). Later this month, alongside the release of the game’s second expansion, The White March – Part 2, Obsidian will make new updates to the gameplay and features of Pillars of Eternity available for all players. These updates will include a streamlined combat UI, updates to the in-game Stronghold and portions of the game world, a new “Story Time” game mode, and improvements to a broad variety of in-game features such as knockout injuries that change the difficulty during combat. Version “3.0” of the game will arrive as a free update to all players of Pillars of Eternity on February 16, 2016, the same day as the release of The White March – Part 2. Full details on all upcoming changes are available in a new developer video, available here.

With the forthcoming release of the update and expansion, Obsidian and Paradox bring the exciting first chapter of Pillars of Eternity to a close. “We’re committed to expanding and supporting the Pillars of Eternity experience. We have many stories to tell in this world and this has only been the first one,” said Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart. Gamers who have been waiting for the complete Pillars of Eternity story can now experience the incredible narrative from start to finish, up to and including the exciting conclusion to the story of The White March.

Pillars of Eternity, created by veterans also known for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Fallout: New Vegas, and South Park: The Stick of Truth, is an RPG inspired by classic titles such as Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. Created thanks to over 75,000 crowdfunding backers, Pillars of Eternity has sold over 700,000 units, was released to critical acclaim in March 2015, and is among Metacritic’s 15 Best PC Games of 2015.

For more information on Pillars of Eternity and The White March – Part 2, visit the games official website.

Sim155 Ltd, developer of the flight and naval combat simulator Combat Air Patrol 2, has announced that the DX11 C++ conversion is complete and they are now moving on to steam integration, TrackIR support and gameplay polishing and tweaking. Faye Scio of Sim155 Ltd said the conversion has increased performance noticeably and the development team has it running well on there in house testing laptop. “We are confident it’s going to be a smooth experience, even if you don’t have a top end gaming machine” Faye Scio reported.

Combat Air Patrol 2 (CAP2) is a flight and naval combat simulator game for PC (Steam/Windows) where you pilot the AV8B Harrier II. After initial flight and tactical training you will be pitched into an immersive scenario against aggressive ground, sea and air based enemies. Use your skill as a pilot and your tactical awareness to engage in dogfights, carry out ground attacks and command your fleet to ultimately ensure the safety of your comrades and the final capitulation of the enemy. Strategic decisions such as commanding your fleet on the tactical map and your performance in the air will affect the final outcome: Go ‘gung ho’ with a full out assault and the outcome will be in the balance or plan ahead and the end result will be your ultimate victory.

Find out more about Combat Air Patrol 2 at the games official website.

Source: TechSpot

AMD has released a new set of Radeon Software Crimson Edition graphics card drivers, version 16.1.1 Hotfix, which are optimized for Rise of the Tomb Raider which launched on PC a couple of days ago.

The 16.1.1 Hotfix drivers bring performance optimizations and a Crossfire profile for Rise of the Tomb Raider, as well as a long-awaited Crossfire profile for Fallout 4. Both Nvidia and, to a greater extent, AMD have struggled to get multi-GPU configurations working in Fallout 4, although a recent patch to the game (which also brings HBAO+ and new debris effects) might have improved the situation as well.

Aside from optimizations for the two aforementioned games, the 16.1.1 Hotfix drivers are mostly concerned with addressing bugs. These drivers include fixes for the Radeon Settings app, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate on FreeSync setups, Star Wars: Battlefront, Dota 2, and Battlefield Hardline. There are still known issues, but that’s the case with most driver releases.

Download the 16.1.1 Hotfix here.

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• Apacer OffersBlade Fire DDR4-3200 32GB Memory Kit
• Logitech Announces New G810 Orion Spectrum RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – VIDEO
• ASUS Announces B150I and B150M Pro Gaming Aura Series Motherboards
• Roccat’s Ryos MK FX Keyboard Available Now, Includes RGB Lighting
• BitFenix Announces the Alchemy 2.0 PSU Cables
• Cooltek Announces the Value 80 Plus EU Series Power Supplies
• NEC Announces MultiSync PA322UHD-2 Ultra HD Monitor
• AMD Offers New Thermal Solutions and Processors for Near-Silent Performance
• Icy Dock Intros ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB Enclosure
• ADATA Reveals HD650X and HD710M USB 3.0 External Hard Drives
• Sony Reveals SLW-M Series of Consumer SSDs
• ASRock A88M-ITX/ac Gives AMD APUs a Fun-sized Foundation
• Lian Li PC-M25 mATX Mini Tower Chassis Released
• OCZ Announces Trion 150 Series Next-Generation SSDs
• Expert Oriented GeForce GTX 980 Ti DuraPro Graphics Card Released
• EK Water Blocks EK-XRES Revo D5 Lineup Gets New Glass Edition Reservoir Pump Combo
• Seagate Hit by Lawsuit Over Faulty 3TB Hard Drives

Specialist wargaming developer The Lordz Games Studio and Check Your 6! board game developer Scott Fisher are happy to announce an exclusive licence deal to bring the multiple award winning and popular set of WWII air combat rules and scenario books to the digital gaming arena.

Check Your 6! was designed to reflect the realities of air combat with the simplest wargame mechanics possible. The CY6! game series will closely reflect the realities of WWII and Modern air combat while allowing for a playable game. Combat is reflected in 3D and the game is the result of years of research into Air-to-Air, Air-to-Ground and Ground-to-air weapons, combat manoeuvres, aircraft statistics and the influence of pilot skill on combat. Statistical analysis was extensively used to find the most efficient game systems. In addition, former US Air Force and US Marine Corps pilots were a part of the design team from the start, greatly influencing the design and playtesting.

“We are extremely proud Scott has trusted us with the task to bring, in my mind the best air combat game board and tabletop game series, to the digital market.“, said Rudolf-Tim van der Moer, CEO of The Lordz Games Studio. “We have been a long-time fan of Scott`s specialist team and their excellent game design. Playing CY6! on digital devices will make a lot of wargamers, air combat fans and armchair generals happy and excited.”

Scott Fisher, CY6! main designer, said: “After eight incredible years as a board/miniatures game, we’re excited to extend CY6 into the digital world. Bringing CY6 to this new domain will further our commitment to not only provide a great game but also allow players worldwide to learn the lessons of real air-combat campaigns. With CY6, it was always our goal to put players in the cockpit, compelling them to deal with the same issues and decisions of historical pilots. What maneuver do I do? Should I shoot? Do I attack the bombers or fighters? How good is my opponent? Do I risk it!?“

“In the digital version of CY6, players will focus even more on the combat situation rather than rule mechanics and, of course, will be surrounded by our trademark historical accuracy. We plan to bring not only a great game system to the digital medium, but also plan to convert our signature air campaigns books to be part of the system. We are very proud of the research that went into these books, in many cases they provide information never before published.“

“I am glad to be working with the Lordz development team on this project. The Lordz team has shown the same commitment to excellence and historical accuracy that we prided ourselves on in developing the original CY6 board/miniatures game. In addition to the dedicated Lordz team, all members of the original CY6 Design Team (including several combat veteran pilots) have agreed to help with this effort. All of us are thrilled to bring the entire CY6 line of rules and scenario books to the digital customer!“

The first game is already well under development at The Lordz Games Studio. The complete current range of rules and scenario books, including any future editions, will be brought to a wide variety of digital game platforms to form a complete digital CY6! game series.