Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

We're less than a week into the new year, but Microsoft has already started to push out new software. Having released a new build of Windows 11, the company has also rolled out a significant PowerToys update.

With the release of PowerToys v0.66.0, Microsoft has added a self-contained .NET 7, eliminating the need to add .NET as part of the installer. In addition to a batch of significant fixes, this latest update also includes new options and settings for the Quick Accent and Text Extractor modules.

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WhatsApp may be one of the most popular communications apps available, but it is not available everywhere. The very thing that makes it appealing to anyone concerned about privacy and security -- namely end-to-end encryption -- is the same thing that causes some countries to block access to it.

To help out people whose governments deny them access to WhatsApp, the app now offers proxy support. As well as being useful to anyone whose internet is censored or controlled, support for proxy connections can also prove helpful in case of internet shutdowns.

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The arrival of tabs in File Explorer with the release of Windows 11 22H2 was warmly welcomed after years of users requesting the feature. But it seems that in introducing a tabbed interface to Windows' file browser, Microsoft has also exposed users to a seriously annoying bug.

Growing numbers of people are complaining that the updated version of the app is stealing focus. Those affected by the problem report that the File Explorer window randomly jumps in front of other apps.

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In just a week's time, Microsoft will cease offering even critical security updates for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.x.

We wrote about Windows 7 Extended Security Update (ESU) coming to an end, and the termination of support for Windows 8.x just last month, but with a large number of people and businesses still unwilling -- or unable -- to move on from these aging operating systems it is a warning that bears repeating.

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Players of Madden NFL 23 have had a poor start to the year. Over the festive period, game producer EA confirmed that users were "experiencing connection issues when trying to connect to CFM" (Connected Franchise Mode). The company put its game servers into maintenance mode while it addressed the issues and things started to go wrong when they came back on.

Many gamers who logged into their accounts between December 28 and 29 were hit by what EA has described as a "data storage issue". These problems resulted in the corruption of franchise save data, and the latest news from EA is bad.

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If you have been considering buying a replacement battery for your iPhone, iPad or MacBook, now is the time to do so.

Apple has, very quietly, announced that the out-of-warranty battery service fee is set to increase. While the company has not given would-be battery-replacers much notice, there is still time to take advantage of the current, lower pricing. This is particularly important to know if you're thinking of getting a new battery for your MacBook.

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This time of year is significant for various reasons, not least of which is that it is the start of a new year for those who follow the Gregorian calendar. In the world of technology, we're moving towards CES, but December/January has also been the period during which movie piracy has tended to peak.

In previous years, because of screeners being sent out for viewing by critics and judges ahead of the Oscars in a few months, this is when there has traditionally been a glut of big-name movies leaking before their official released dates. This year, there have been none.

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There are many reasons for the slow uptake of Windows 11, but fairly high on the list of what puts off many potential users is the number of frankly bizarre design changes Microsoft decided to make. A good example is the context menu that appears when right clicking on files and folder which the company saw fit to tweak the menu so there are far fewer options available.

It is possible to access the old style, classic context menu by Shift-right-clicking, but in a future update to Windows 11 Microsoft is planning to introduce a way to make this the default.

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The reputation of LastPass has taken quite a battering over the past year, with the handling of security incidents doing nothing to improve things. Just last week the company gave an update about a security breach that took place back in August, revealing that it had been more serious than first suggested.

But now the updated announcement from LastPass has been ripped to shreds by security experts with one denouncing it as being "full of omissions, half-truths and outright lies".

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Having revolutionized the way we browse the web, tabs made their way to File Explorer in Windows 11. Now, thanks to a premature -- and now-deleted -- tweet, we also know that Microsoft is looking to do the same with other apps.

A Microsoft employee shared a screenshot on Twitter that depicts an updated version of the Notepad app, complete with two open tabs. It is not known if the addition of tabs will come in the next Moment update for Windows 11, but it is something that is undergoing internal testing.

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Twitter has, without making an announcement, removed a feature that directed users towards suicide prevention services after searching for certain content.

The #ThereIsHelp feature was removed after Elon Musk issued an order to that effect. Sources familiar with the matter say that the removal is only temporary and that a revamped version will be launched in the future. But the social platform has been criticized not only for the timing -- Christmas is a tough time for many people -- but also for removing the existing support feature before having a replacement ready. [UPDATE -- the feature is now back. Despite the fact Twitter confirmed its removal, Musk used a series of tweets to denounce reports that it had temporarily been removed as 'fake news']

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Things have been more than a little turbulent at Twitter since Elon Musk took over at the company. Having overseen various controversial changes including an overhaul to the verification system, the CEO has now announced a feature that is likely to be rather less divisive -- View Count.

The feature is a very simple idea, revealing how many people have viewed a tweet. The information is public so you can see how popular other people's tweet are as well as monitoring your own viewing figures.

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Password management firm LastPass has issued an update about a security breach that was first revealed back in August. The news is not good; the data breach is significantly worse than initial reports suggested.

LastPass says that its investigations into the incident now show that the hackers were able to obtain customer vault data. The company points out that these vaults are home to both encrypted and unencrypted data, and tries to play down the significance of a threat actor gaining access to unencrypted data.

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Earlier this month, Microsoft released the KB5021237 and KB5021249 updates which it later confirmed were causing Hyper-V issues for some users.

Now the company has now released a pair of out-of-band patches to address the virtual machine problems. The KB5022553 and KB5022554 updates have been issued as emergency fixes for affected systems.

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A Microsoft security researcher has unearthed a security vulnerability in macOS which has been named Achilles.

Tracked as CVE-2022-42821, Jonathan Bar Or found that the flaw could be used to bypass the Gatekeeper security feature of macOS in order to execute malicious apps. Apple has now fixed the vulnerability in Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura versions of macOS.

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