Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

With the Start menu being at the heart of Windows, it is vital that it functions in a way that makes sense to people. Sadly, this has not always been the case.

Over years of development, Microsoft has taken a series of questionable design decision with this iconic part of the operating system, but a change that could prove popular is about to land in Windows 11.

Continue reading →

Various versions of Microsoft Office have a serious security vulnerability which could expose sensitive data to an attacker. Worryingly, while disclosing the flaw, Microsoft has also conceded that there is no patch available.

The issue is being tracked as CVE-2024-38200 and it affects a variety of edition of the office suite -- namely the 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office 2016, Microsoft Office 2019, Microsoft Office LTSC 2021, and Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise. While there is no fix available right now, one is expected in the coming days.

Continue reading →

Every country in the world has a vested interest in the outcome of the US election in November. The choice of either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will have huge impact around the globe, and there are some countries that are actively engaged in trying to sway voters and influence 2024 US election.

That the likes of Russia and China are engaged in targeting the result of the poll is unsurprising, but Microsoft has issued a warning that Iran is also planning to influence this year's US presidential election. A report from the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center highlights evidence of Iranian cyber-influence operations which have already been running for months.

Continue reading →

Working much like Microsoft's Smart App Control tool that is part of Windows, Apple has Gatekeeper for macOS. It is a security feature which is designed to ensure that only trusted software runs on a user's Mac.

In the upcoming macOS Sequoia, Gatekeeper is being updated to help boost security. While this runtime protection change may be welcomed by many, the approach Apple has taken is also likely to irritate some users as it makes it more awkward to run unsigned software.

Continue reading →

The saga of Apple's notoriously unreliable MacBook butterfly keyboards could be drawing to a close after almost a decade.

The company has finally started to issue compensatory payments to people who bought a MacBook between 2015 and 2019 only to be plagued by sticky and unresponsive keys. With payouts nudging towards $400, this is a significant sum that should not be sniffed at.

Continue reading →

Smart App Control is just one of various security features Microsoft has built into Windows 11. But while many users place faith in the tool to block malicious apps, Elastic Security Labs warns that it is fundamentally flawed.

The company says that Windows Smart App Control and its predecessor SmartScreen "have several design weaknesses that allow attackers to gain initial access with no security warnings or popups". In an investigatory report, Elastic Security Labs details numerous types of attack that can be used to bypass Windows Smart Control as well as revealing a bug in the handling of .lnk files which can be used to get around security.

Continue reading →

Generative AI is hard to avoid whether you like it or not. Images created by artificial intelligence proliferate online, as do news reports and countless other types of content -- including essays and research articles.

While it is sometimes incredibly easy to tell when Gen AI has been used to create a portion of text, this not always the case. But that could be set to change as OpenAI is working on a way to watermark Gen AI text, just as has been possible with images created by AI.

Continue reading →

After a lengthy period of testing, Microsoft has announced that the oddly named "new Outlook for Windows" has hit general availability. This means that commercial users, as well as those with personal accounts, are now able to take advantage of the latest version of Microsoft's email client.

As was the case with the previous stage of the rollout, full-scale general availability sees the new Outlook for Windows remaining an opt-in experience -- although this will change. There is, of course, a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on your view...) dose of AI sprinkled throughout, but there is much more to this update.

Continue reading →

Skype is one of those apps that has found numerous ways to irritate users over the years. But in something of a surprise move, Microsoft has announced a change that will instead delight.

Considering that this is a company that has faced complaints and criticism for stuffing ads into its Windows and Office products, the announcement feels very out of character. But the killing off of ads is not the only change in Skype.

Continue reading →

Google has announced a series of updates for both Maps and Waze which will help to keep drivers better informed on their journeys. One of the most pleasing updates for Google Maps is an easier way to report when you've seen cops in the area so other drivers can be alerted -- and you can benefit from other drivers' reports.

Another helpful addition to Maps means that when you navigate to an address, the building you are looking for and, importantly, the entrance, will be highlighted for you. New features and options are not limited to Google Maps; Waze also has a number of handy additions.

Continue reading →

Google has apologized for a Chrome problem that resulted in millions of users being unable to use the browser's password manger.

The issue meant that affected users were not able to access saved passwords for the majority of a day. In issuing its apology, Google explains that a faulty update for the M127 version of Chrome for Windows was to blame, noting that the problem hit users globally.

Continue reading →

Apps, operating systems and websites have been offering users the choice between light and dark color schemes for a number of years now. While most of the big names have kept pace, there have been a handful of notable exceptions -- including Wikipedia.

Whether for accessibility reasons or just pure aesthetic preference, such has been the demand for a dark mode for Wikipedia that numerous skins and hacks have sprung up to give people what they want. But now such techniques are not needed as Wikipedia, at long last, has an official dark mode option.

Continue reading →

Troublesome apps can be terminated using Task Manager, but this feels like an unnecessarily lengthy process to simply kill something. How about a way to achieve the same in just a couple of clicks?

Despite the inherent usefulness of being able to kill tasks using Taskbar icons, Microsoft has seen fit to hide this option away to the extent that it's not apparent that it exist at all. But it does. Here's how you can add an End Task option to the Windows 11 Taskbar.

Continue reading →

Artificial intelligence is underpinned by the data used to train it, and even in this early stage of the game this has already proved controversial. In addition to complaints about the use of copyrighted content to train AIs, concern has also been voiced about the use of personal data.

Elon Musk, unsurprisingly, wants a slice of the AI pie, and is looking to train up the Grok AI model. The social platform formerly known as Twitter, X, is being used as a source of training data, meaning that your tweets (sorry, posts) are, by default, being sucked up for this very purpose.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has managed to do it yet again. With the security update released earlier this month for Windows, the company has delivered a buggy patch which is causing problems for a lot of users.

The problem has hit users of not only Windows 10 and Windows 11, but also various editions of Windows Server. As the update in question is a security update, it was automatically installed on a large number of systems; the unwanted payload is being dumped into a BitLocker recovery screen. Microsoft says that it is aware of the issue but does not currently have a fix.

Continue reading →