A Virtual Assistant
虚拟助手

A new addition right next to the Start button is Cortana, Microsoft's virtual assistant. A user can do a search by typing in a query or speaking a command into the microphone. Saying commands like “Remind me to buy milk on Tuesday” sets up a reminder notification that will alert you on that day, and “Schedule meeting tomorrow at 3 p.m.” creates an appointment in your calendar.
就在开始按钮旁边，新增了微软的虚拟助手Cortana。用户只要键入一个问题，或对着麦克风发出一个指令，就可以在设备上实现搜索功能。说出类似“提醒我周二买牛奶”的指令，手机会自动设置一个提醒任务，然后在那天给你发出提醒。而发出“安排明天下午三点的会议”的指令，日程表上会自动创建这一日程。
On other questions, like finding a place to eat, Cortana often falls back to doing searches on Bing.com, Microsoft's search engine, which is less proficient than Google's search engine. In tests, Cortana generated mixed results. Asking Cortana to look up a place to eat nearby retrieved a list of Bing search results for the term “Find me places to eat nearby,” which included the website places-to-eat-near-me.com, as opposed to showing a list of restaurants. (By contrast, the same query on Siri, Apple's virtual assistant, brought up Yelp listings of popular restaurants within half a mile from me here in San Francisco.)
对于其他问题，比如寻找吃饭的地方，Cortana通常会转而在微软开发的搜索引擎Bing上进行搜索，而Bing没有谷歌的搜索引擎那么精进。在测试中，Cortana给出的结果比较杂乱。让Cortana在附近找一个吃饭的地方，得到的是在Bing上输入“在附近找吃饭的地方”后出现的一系列搜索结果，包括名为“附近吃饭的地方”的网站(places-to-eat-near-me.com)，而不是具体的餐馆列表。（相比之下，在苹果设备上问其虚拟助手Siri同样的问题，会出现餐饮网站Yelp上距离我在旧金山所在方位半英里以内最受欢迎的餐馆列表。）
On the other hand, Cortana did respond adequately to some other commands, like “Show me showtimes for ‘Trainwreck,'” which loaded a schedule of movie theaters showing the movie nearby.
但是，Cortana对一些其他指令反应的确足够到位。比如提出“显示《生活残骸》(Trainwreck)的放映时间”这一要求，它会显示附近上映这部电影的几个影院的时间表。
A big hole in Cortana is the mobile phone experience. Cortana is built in to Windows phones and the problem is, you probably don't own one. To date, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has 3.5 percent market share in the United States, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
Cortana的一大缺失在于其手机端的使用体验。Cortana是内置在Windows手机上的，问题是你可能不用这个品牌的手机。凯度消费者指数(Kantar Worldpanel)的数据显示，到目前为止，微软的Windows手机平台在美国的市场占有量只有3.5％。
Microsoft says that Cortana will eventually be available as an app on devices running Google's Android and Apple's iOS mobile software. For now, though, Cortana will primarily live on computers and tablets, limiting its usefulness.
微软表示，Cortana最终会成为使用谷歌的Android系统和苹果的iOS移动操作系统的设备上也可以安装的app。但目前Cortana将主要在微软的电脑端和平板电脑上使用，其实际使用价值会比较有限。
It's difficult to imagine that while on the go, people will yank a Windows tablet or computer out of their bag to ask Cortana to schedule a calendar appointment or create a reminder. In addition, the idea of using a voice assistant on a stationary computer in a typical office environment, where colleagues will overhear you over their cubicle walls yapping to Cortana, seems off-putting. As a result, in its current state, Cortana is a promising start, but it's far less useful than its direct rivals, Siri and Google's Now, which are widely available on smartphones worldwide.
很难想象，人们会一边走一边从包里拿出个Windows平板电脑或笔记本，让Cortana在日程表上添加一个安排事项或创建一个提醒事项。而且，想象自己在一个典型的办公环境里，对着一台固定不动的电脑使用语音助手，还有旁边格子间的同事能听到你和Cortana的对话，这场景还挺让人倒胃口的。结果就是，在目前的状态下，Cortana是个有希望的开端，但它远远没有其直接竞争对手Siri和 Google Now那么有用，后两者在智能手机领域使用非常广泛。

More Built-In Security
更多的系统内嵌安全保护
Microsoft has made some bold promises about improvements to security in Windows 10. Chris Hallum, a senior product marketing manager for Microsoft, said in an interview that because of all the security enhancements in Windows 10, consumers and businesses won't have to install additional security software to protect their machines. “We include a full-fledged antivirus solution in Windows,” he said.
微软已经就Windows 10的安全性能作出大胆承诺。微软高级产品营销经理克里斯·哈卢姆(Chris Hallum)在一次接受采访时表示，因为Windows 10在诸多方面大大提升了安全性能，消费者和企业用户将不再需要额外安装安全软件来保护自己的电脑。“Windows系统中包含了一个成熟的防病毒方案，”他说。
Microsoft has been including these deeper security features since Windows 8. But with Windows XP and Windows 7, far more popular versions of the software, it was practically a requirement to buy and install third-party antivirus software from McAfee or Norton, unless you wanted to be eaten alive by hackers.
自Windows 8开始，微软就在操作系统中增加了更深层次的安全特性。但是，用户使用更加流行的Windows XP和Windows 7时，实际上还是需要从迈克菲(McAfee)或诺顿(Norton)购买和安装第三方防病毒软件，除非你想被黑客生吞活剥。
Mr. Hallum said Microsoft was taking a multifaceted approach to protecting user identities as well as blocking malicious software. For one, Microsoft Edge, the default browser in Windows 10, includes a feature called SmartScreen, which can identify malicious websites by scanning them for suspicious characteristics. The Edge browser also keeps some add-on software for the browser, like Adobe Flash, to safeguard you from the latest vulnerabilities. Another feature, Windows Defender, can identify potentially harmful software you've downloaded and warn you before you run it.
哈卢姆表示，微软正采用多种措施保护用户的身份信息和阻挡恶意软件。比如，Windows 10的默认浏览器微软Edge包含一种叫智能屏的(SmartScreen)功能，可以通过扫描网页内容查找可疑特征，以辨别恶意网站。Edge浏览器上还能安装Adobe Flash等附加软件以避免电脑受到新漏洞的伤害。它的另一个功能Windows卫士(Windows Defender)可以辨别你下载的潜在有害软件，并在你运行它之前发出警告。
Are you really safe not installing additional antivirus software? As we should all know by now, almost all computer systems have some vulnerability. Still, Charlie Miller, a security researcher, said Windows 10's security features should work as well as other antivirus software. He noted that Windows Defender had been a strong security program for some time.
不额外安装防病毒软件真的能足够安全吗？以我们现有的认知，几乎所有电脑系统都会有一些漏洞。但安全研究员查理·米勒(Charlie Miller)表示，Windows 10的安全性应该能够和其他防病毒软件相媲美。他指出，Windows卫士作为一个强大的安全方案已经存在有一段时间了。
Beginning Wednesday, Microsoft will be releasing the operating system over the Internet in waves, starting with people who signed up to test early versions of the software as part of its “insiders” program. Later, Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who receive alerts notifying them of the upgrade will be able to download it.
从周三开始，微软将通过网络分批发布该操作系统。首先提供给之前曾报名参与测试该软件早期版本的人，这些人是其“内部人”计划的一部分。之后，收到升级提醒的Windows 7和Windows 8用户就可以下载它了。
At the time of my testing, ahead of the public release of Windows 10, I encountered a number of bugs. To name just two examples: In one incident, Microsoft's Edge browser blocked me for an entire night from using Google Mail, after mistakenly identifying it as a malicious website — though the next morning I was able to log in. I also had a frustrating time trying to compose a document inside Google Docs, when the Edge browser occasionally failed to detect when I was hitting the space bar; Microsoft confirmed it would fix the issue shortly after release.
在Windows 10正式发布之前的测试中，我发现了一些毛病。任举两例：有一次微软的Edge浏览器错误地把Google Mail识别为恶意网站，整整一晚上不给我用——不过第二天早上我成功登入了。还有一次在Google Docs里写文档，害我折腾了很久，因为Edge偶尔会无法识别到我敲出的空格；微软已经确认会在发布之后不久修正这个问题。
Combine the early bugs with the spottiness of Cortana and the fact that third-party app developers are still updating their Windows apps for Windows 10, and the operating system still has a little ways to go before it becomes a solid all-around upgrade. But the improvements to security, along with the familiar user interface, should be reasons to grab this upgrade sooner than later (especially if you're on Windows 7 and lacking up-to-date security tools). The upgrade will be free for up to a year — after that, Microsoft may begin charging for it.
结合早期的这些毛病以及Cortana的不稳定，还有第三方应用开发者还没完成向Windows 10的兼容，这个操作系统要实现一次稳定而全面的升级尚需些时日。但是安全方面的改进，以及让用户觉得熟悉的界面，会促使人们尽早去获取此次更新（尤其是如果你用的是Windows 7，缺乏最新的安全工具）。更新在未来一年里是免费的——此后微软可能会开始收费。
For to-be switchers, Microsoft offers a web tool where users can check if their apps are compatible with Windows 10 before making the switch. If you're eager to get in line for an upgrade, you can reserve a download on Microsoft's website.
微软为有意更新的用户准备了一个Web工具，用户可以在更新前，先到上面检查他们的应用是否兼容Windows 10。如果你急着想得到更新，可以在微软的网站上预订下载。