Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

Microsoft has added yet another bug bounty program to its growing portfolio. With the launch of the Microsoft Defender Bounty Program, the company is offering financial rewards to researchers who "uncover significant vulnerabilities" in its range of security products and services.

The program is focused solely on vulnerabilities of Critical or Important severity, and Microsoft is putting up rewards of between $500 to $20,000 for eligible submissions. Starting off somewhat limited in focus, the aim is to open up the program to have a wider scope further down the line.

Continue reading →

Microsoft may have been engaged in a game of will-they/won't-they when it comes to the possibility of hiring OpenAI's Sam Altman, but it has not stopped the company from making good on its recent promise to give Windows 10 users access to Copilot.

Rumors of the AI assistant migrating from Windows 11 to Windows 10 were circulating for a little while before Microsoft confirmed that it would indeed be happening. The big day has now arrived, and Windows 10 users can now access Copilot... providing certain conditions are met.

Continue reading →

After what feels likes years of user complaints, Microsoft is at long last introducing a way to quickly refresh the list of available wireless networks in Windows 11.

Added in the recently released build 25997 of Windows 11 but -- for reasons we'll go into shortly -- not mentioned by Microsoft in the changelog, there is finally a "Refresh network list" button in the Wi-Fi popup menu.

Continue reading →

Despite its age and the not-unrelated fact that end of support can be seen on the horizon, Microsoft continues to surprise by bringing new features and options to Windows 10.

With the release of this month's optional updates for the operating system, the company has announced a new option for Windows 10 admins that allows for great control of system updates. It's a feature that is being ported across from Windows 11.

Continue reading →

There are a number of ways to install Windows 11, including using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to creation installation media.

While Windows 11 23H2 has been available for a little, now, many people were disappointed that the Media Creation Tool could not be used to download it. Now this changes.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is giving users of Windows 10 and Windows 11 living in the European Economic Area (EEA) greater control over their software. The company will soon be making it possible to extricate Microsoft Edge and Bing from the operating system.

This is not really by choice, however. Microsoft is introducing the changes in order to comply with the EEA's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The removal options will be rolling out to Windows 11 users in preview first followed by Windows 10. Microsoft says that both Windows 10 22H2 and Winodws 11 23H2 will be fully compliant by March next year.

Continue reading →

Microsoft may have previously indicated that Windows 10 is not going to receive any more significant updates, but the company has made an announcement that indicates a change of heart. The AI-powered assistant Copilot is coming from Windows 11 to Windows 10.

While on one hand this is slightly surprising given the previous stance on not bringing new features to Windows 10, there have been recent rumors that Copilot was going to be making its way to Windows 10. This is now official, and the ball is in motion

Continue reading →

Microsoft has announced a rebranding of Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise to Copilot as part of its "vision to bring Microsoft Copilot to everyone". There is now a lengthy list of products under the Copilot banner, including Microsoft Copilot and Copilot in Windows, but this latest rebrand feels a little odd.

Despite describing Bing as "our leading experience for the web" Microsoft has opted to ditch much of the Bing branding as it embraces Copilot more fully. The company has also revealed that Copilot will become generally available on December 1.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is slowly but surely trimming the fat away from Windows 11. Over the course of recent months, the company has either removed or announced the future removal of numerous app components, including the Tips and WordPad apps.

Now a new victim has been added to the list. With the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23590 to the Dev Channel, Microsoft has revealed that screen recording stalwart Steps Recorder is no longer being updated and is lined up for removal further down the line.

Continue reading →

It is that time of the month again; Microsoft has released a slew of updates including the KB5032190 update for Windows 11.

As this is a cumulative update that includes security fixes, it is therefore mandatory. But the security patches, while nice, are far from being the highlight. KB5032190 is the update with which Microsoft is giving all Windows 11 users access to the new features of Moment 4, including Taskbar changes and Windows Copilot.

Continue reading →

There is some good news for anyone who wants or needs to stick with Windows Server 2012 for a little longer.

Just a month after Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Embedded Server 2012 R2 reached end of support, Microsoft has announced that administrators are able to get three additional years of Extended Security Updates (ESUs).

Continue reading →

Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of each month when Microsoft releases updates for Windows, has been with us for a long time now. In fact, Microsoft has been using the predictable schedule for releasing patches for no less than 20 years.

The emergence of Patch Tuesday -- a day anticipated for its bug-fixing and dreaded for its bug-introductions -- dates back to the days of Bill Gates and Windows Vista. In celebrating the incredible landmark of two decades of update releases on a reliable timetable, Microsoft has shared some of the history behind it and reiterated the importance of updating the operating system in this way.

Continue reading →

In a sea of messaging apps, WhatsApp remains one of the most widely used, its popularity buoyed by end-to-end encryption. Meta has now added a new feature aimed at "those who are particularly privacy-conscious".

There is a new option to protect your IP address by hiding it from other WhatsApp users during calls. This is important as IP addresses can reveal quite a lot, including location. While the new call relaying privacy measures are likely to be welcomed, there are a couple of significant caveats to keep in mind.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is far from being a stranger to killing off features in Windows, and this even holds true for the latest version of the operating system, Windows 11. It is usually the case that things that are removed are old, broken, or pose a security risk -- such as recently removed services like WebDAV -- but not always.

The latest victim of Microsoft's deprecation drive is the Tips app that has been used for years to provide users with helpful information and advice about getting the best from Windows.

Continue reading →

Windows Copilot has been available to users of Windows 11 for a little while now, as Microsoft continues its march into the world of artificial intelligence. Now it seems that the company is looking bring the AI-powered assistant to Windows 10 as well.

This is, in some regards, a little surprising -- particularly given the age of Windows 10. But there are still over a billion Windows 10 users out there, so it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft to tap into this to extend the userbase for Copilot.

Continue reading →