Montgomery and his partners run the screen about once a month, sometimes more if there are strong inflows from investors.

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The company works with 104 partners in 184 countries, which screen applicants for legitimacy and creditworthiness.

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Microsoft says the policy switch isn't meant to "encourage partners to regularly use a lower screen resolution", and it warns that such dimensions will be incompatible with Windows 8's split-screen feature, known as "snap".

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