Microsoft certainly seems to be ramping up the help for its new operating system at the moment. First it uploaded a "Get to know Windows 8" video to YouTube, and late yesterday it published a "Windows 8 End User Training Brochure" in its Download Center.

Unlike the video, the 36-page PDF guide is definitely new (there’s a screenshot from April 2013) and will prove a godsend for anyone struggling to get to grips with Windows 8 or Surface. Each of the multi-colored pages clearly and concisely explains how to use a particular element of the operating system, with the aid of large, friendly illustrations.

Samsung is rebranding all of its Windows PCs as Ativ.

Ativ is Vita backward -- that's Samsung's reasoning -- and previously only applied to the Ativ Smart PC and Smart PC Pro, both Windows 8 tablets. (There was also the Ativ Tab, a Windows RT slate that never saw the light of day. And an Ativ S Windows Phone came out with little fanfare.)

THE END OF EXTENDED SUPPORT for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system (OS) is now exactly one year away.

Microsoft acknowledged the countdown to the end of support for Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 almost a year ago, advising back then that it was is a good time for organisations that still have PCs running the software to migrate to a newer version, such as Windows 7.

Today marks the 365-day countdown, so the advice that Microsoft customers must abandon the Windows XP ship is now more relevant than ever.

Google purportedly is eyeing up mobile messaging service Whatsapp, with speculation suggesting that the app might be its next $1bn purchase.

That speculation comes from Digital Trends, which heard from an "inside source" that Google is in talks with Whatsapp to acquire the company.

According to the rumours, Whatsapp is "playing hardball" with Google in a bid to get a higher aquisition price, which reportedly is hovering around $1bn at present.