The development of PowerToys for Windows 10 has been impressive, with Microsoft continuing to add new utilities all the time. Now the company is looking for feedback from users to help decide just what it should focus on next.
Specifically, the development team says that while it currently has ideas for three new PowerToys, it only has time to work on two of them next year. Rather than making the decision itself, power users are being asked to vote, choosing between a Gif/Video screen recorder, the ability to adjust font rendering, and a tool called "Mouse without borders".
Here on BetaNews, some of our most constantly popular posts relate to Windows 10's 'secret' screen recorder that is part of the Game Bar tool. Seemingly aware that people are keen to be able to create video of on-screen activity, Microsoft is now working on a dedicated screening recording app.
Currently known as Video GIF Capture, the tool is being created by the PowerToys developers and it promises to give people the ability to record what is happening on their screen and save it as an animated GIF or video file.
Updates to Windows 10 have become renown for introducing just as many problems as they aim to fix. Recent updates led to problems with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) displaying an "Element not found" error, and there were also various problems with internet connectivity.
To address these issues, Microsoft has now released the "non-security update" KB4577063. The patch also fixes a number of other problems Windows 10 users have been experiencing.
Cloudflare is best known for its security and DNS services, but now the company is branching out with a new tool to rival Google Analytics.
The site traffic analytics offered by Google are used by millions of people around the world, but Cloudflare wants to unseat the search giant with its own Cloudflare Web Analytics. What makes the services stand out is a focus on privacy, with Cloudflare neither storing not profiting from data gathered about site visitors.
It's been around a month since Microsoft last updated PowerToys for Windows 10, so it's nice to be able to report that a new version has finally been pushed out.
PowerToys v0.23.0 is a release that focuses on "stability, localization and quality of life improvements", and there are numerous fixes to the various the utilities that make up the suite. Unfortunately, there are no new tools in this version, but Microsoft has given an update about the upcoming Video Conference utility.
Spotify has announced a series of upgrades and additions to its Collaborative Playlists feature, making it easier than ever to compile playlists with friends and family.
The changes simplify the process of adding new contributors to a playlist so they can start adding songs, as well as making it easy to see who is working with you on a particular playlist. Spotify says the changes are being introduced to help people feel closer together during the current climate.
Numerous Microsoft 365 services were knocked offline for several hours, leaving users unable to log into accounts and use various tools. Affected services included Office.com, Outlook.com and Teams, and the problem hit users around the world.
The company scrambled to determine the root cause of the issues, eventually homing in on a "recent change" which needed to be rolled back. This, however, did not ultimately solve the problem, so Microsoft was forced to put other mitigations in place.
It is just days since the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) issued an emergency warning about a critical Windows vulnerability. Now Microsoft has issued a warning that the vulnerability is being actively exploited and the company is "actively tracking threat actor activity".
The Netlogon EoP vulnerability (CVE-2020-1472) is concerning not just because of its severity, but because of the fact that it can be exploited in a matter of seconds. The security issue affects Windows Server 2008 and above, and enables an attacker to gain admin control of a domain.
Torrents have appeared online containing the source code for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and other software from Microsoft. Shared on the notorious 4chan, a collection of files approaching 50GB in size also include the source code for Windows Server 2003, Windows NT and MS DOS.
The leaker justifies their decision to share the source code saying that "information should be free and available to everyone", and that to hold onto it for themselves would be an "evil act". The leaker also cheekily points out that Microsoft should be happy that the source code is publicly available given the company's current embracing of open source.
Many countries are in the process of rolling out "track and trace" mobile apps to make it easier for people to determine whether they have been in contact with anyone who has contracted coronavirus. Now Google has added a new layer to Google Maps that shows local information about COVID-19.
The optional layer shows a seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases for whatever area of the map you are looking at, and Google says that the aim of the new feature is to enable people to "make more informed decisions about where to go and what to do".
It has been a few weeks since there was an update to Windows Terminal, but now Microsoft has released a new version of the preview build. With Windows Terminal Preview v1.4.2652.0, the company has not only addressed various bugs, but also introduced key new features.
A important new addition to the command line tool is support for Jump Lists. In taking advantage of this Windows 10 feature, it is now possible to launch Windows Terminal Preview with a specific profile from the start menu or task bar.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has taken the extraordinary steps of issuing an emergency alert about a critical vulnerability in Windows.
CISA issued the warning to government departments, saying it "has determined that this vulnerability poses an unacceptable risk to the Federal Civilian Executive Branch and requires an immediate and emergency action". With Emergency Directive 20-04, the CISA requires agencies to install the August 2020 Security Update to mitigate against a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Netlogon Remote Protocol.
If you have installed KB4568831 for Windows 10 on your Lenovo ThinkPad, you may well have encountered the crashing issues caused by the update. Those affected by the problem have been hit by SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED error messages, and 0xc0000005 Access Denied messages in log files and memory dumps.
Microsoft has now acknowledged that there is an issue and has offered details of a workaround -- although you may want to think about whether you really want to follow the mitigation advice because of the security implications.
Hackers are increasingly turning their attention to attacking Linux servers and workstations, according to security researchers from Kaspersky.
While it is Windows systems that have traditionally been in the cross-hairs of attackers, advanced persistent threats (APTs) are now a serious issue in the Linux world. Linux systems are being specifically targeted with an ever-widening selection of malware tools.
Since adopting the Chromium engine for Edge, Microsoft has been eager for people to move away from the legacy version of its web browser.
To help ensure compliance with its wishes, the company has released the KB4576754 update which forces the installation of the new Microsoft Edge and removes the old version. With the update being mandatory, anyone wanting to avoid Edge will have to take action.