Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

With the release of Chrome 111, Google is waving goodbye to the Chrome Cleanup Tool that has been available for a number of years.

After 8 years of service, Google has decided the Chrome Cleanup Tool -- which, the company explains, helps users to "recover from unexpected settings changes, and to detect and remove unwanted software" -- is simply no longer needed.

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With Windows 11, Microsoft made lots of questionable design, UI and UX choices, but one of the most baffling was the decision to make the taskbar immovable.

If you're one of the many people who would like to untether the taskbar from the bottom of the screen, there could be some good news. In recent preview builds of Windows 11, the taskbar can be moved to the top of the screen in a sign that the company may be ready to back-peddle on its stance that the taskbar has a fixed location.

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Starting next week, GitHub is going to require active developers on the site to enable at least one form of two-factor authentication (2FA). The security initiative will start with specially selected groups of developers and administrators on March 13.

Until the end of the year, GitHub will begin notifying those who have been selected of the 2FA requirement. As the year progresses, more and more users will be obliged to enable two-factor authentication.

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Having very recently introduced a new Paste As Plain Text module to PowerToys, Microsoft is now bringing the same option to Word.

Following the lead of many other applications, Microsoft's word processor is gaining a new keyboard shortcut that can be used to paste text and strip it of any formatting. Microsoft is calling the feature Paste Text Only, and it is available in both Word for Windows and Word for Mac.

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Following reports of problems with BSoDs and high CPU issues in Windows 10 and Windows 11, NVIDIA has released a new GeForce Hotfix driver.

As this is a Hotfix driver rather than a normal release, it has not undergone full Game Ready testing process and is not WHQL-certified. A Game Ready Driver will be released soon complete with these fixes and more, but for anyone affected by the problems, the hotfix offers a solution immediately.

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Just last week, Microsoft released PowerToys v0.68.0 complete with not one but two new utilities --  Mouse Jump and Paste As Plain Text.

Now a few days have passed, the company has released a small but important update, taking the collection of utilities up to version v0.68.1. Among the changes are a new default shortcut for Paste As Plain Text to avoid a conflict with Windows 11's new volume mixer.

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It may be old and it may be simple, but Notepad remains a firm favorite for many Windows users, particularly when it comes to coding. And while Microsoft has taken steps to improve the app with the addition of tabs, there are better options out there -- such as Notepad++.

With the release of Notepad++ 8.5, there is an important update that that will make life much easier for Windows 11 users: a context menu entry.

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Microsoft has detailed some of what it has planned for Windows 11 over the coming year, including big changes to the Windows Insider Program. As well as "rebooting the Dev Channel from the ground up", the company is also launching a new Canary Channel where we could see the first signs of Windows 12.

The idea of Canary builds will be familiar to many web browser users who like to be on the cutting edge. The likes of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge have Beta, Dev and Canary builds offering varying degrees of stability and experimentation. Now Microsoft is updating the Windows Insider Program so it will have four channels -- Release Preview, Beta (22000 series), Dev (23000 series), and Canary (25000 series).

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Things have been undeniably chaotic at Twitter since the arrival of Elon Musk, but the social network is still rolling out new features. Next in line for an update are direct messages.

DMs are due to receive a batch of new features and functionality, not least of which is a much-requested security feature -- encryption. But there is much more to look forward to. And if all goes according to plan, the new features will roll out later this month.

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Following a series of reports from users that the latest Radeon drivers have been causing serious issues with Windows, AMD has now confirmed that there is a problem and is working on a fix.

There have been complaints about the Adrenalin 23.2.2 drivers since they were released a few weeks ago, with users finding themselves plagued with boot issues and corrupt Windows installations. The issues stem from the way Windows interacts with the drivers, and AMD has offered up a workaround until a proper fix is available.

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AI is more than just the latest trend in technology, it is absolutely unavoidable. The likes of ChatGPT and Microsoft's recent OpenAI-driven update to Bing may have brought artificial intelligence to the fore, but it is everywhere... and spreading.

We already know that Microsoft is looking to enhance Windows 11 with AI, and this can already be seen with the introduction of the AI-powered Bing to the taskbar. But there are also signs that the company will be using the technology to make the desktop look better.

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Having already taken steps to kill off Chrome's reputation as a massive resource hog, Google is now working on a way of showing just how memory is being used by the browser.

The company recently started to roll out a new Memory Saver feature which does very much what the name suggests, and now it seem there are plans in the pipeline to be more transparent about just how much memory each open tab is using.

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There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Windows 11, but one of the most contentious issues with the operating system has been the recommended content Microsoft pushes on users in various ways.

One medium through which these recommendations -- everything from apps that may (but probably won't) be of interest, to tips and advice -- are delivered is via the Start menu. Hidden away in the latest build of Windows 11, however, is an official toggle that makes it possible to turn off these ads... er, recommendations... once and for all.

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Following a security disclosure by Intel way back in June of last year about vulnerabilities affecting its processors, Microsoft has issued a series of out-of-band fixes for the flaws.

In all, Intel revealed details of four data-exposing chip flaws (CVE-2022-21123, CVE-2022-21125, CVE-2022-21127 and CVE-2022-21166) described collectively as Processor MMIO (memory-mapped I/O) Stale Data Vulnerabilities. Now Microsoft has released a total of six emergency updates for various versions of Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server.

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Microsoft has released PowerToys v0.68.0, an update that sees the utility collection expanding with two new modules. We heard about both Mouse Jump and Paste As Plain Text only recently when we learned of their impending arrival.

Mouse Jump is designed with large displays or multi-monitor setups in mind, making it easy to quickly move the mouse cursor to a particular location. Paste As Plain Text is a tool that makes it possible to paste text with all formatting stripped away.

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