Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

Windows 11 users have something of a strained relationship with telemetry, with many people viewing Microsoft’s collection of data as invasive. This has not stopped the company from gathering more and more information from users, and in the most recent Insider builds of the operating system, things are being taken up a notch.

This time around, telemetry is not only optional, but its collection is for a good cause, one that just about everyone can get onside with – improving performance. In short, Microsoft is looking to speed up Windows 11.

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There is some disappointing news for WhatsApp users who like to work with the desktop app. In what appears to be part of a streamlining process, Meta is dropping the UWP app in favor of a web wrapper.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this, but few people who have compared the native Windows app with the web-based version off WhatsApp can have failed to notice the performance difference. The WhatsApp UWP app has always been snappier, more responsive, and used fewer resources, so in some ways it feels like a backwards step to switch to a web wrapper.

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If you have ever wanted to output sound from Windows 11 to more than one set of speakers, you will be aware that it can be tricky. Yes, you can splice together cables, use various adaptors or fiddle with a confusing selection of settings – but it is not a quick and easy task by any means.

But this looks set to change. While some might think that using more than one set of speakers at a time is something of a niche thing, enough Windows 11 users appear to want it for Microsoft to start working on a way to achieve this simply.

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Out of the blue, Microsoft has killed off its digital storefront for movies and TV shows. The sudden change means that the Microsoft Store can no longer be used to buy or rent this type of content on Windows or Xbox.

There has been no big announcement about the decision to stop offering such content, but a support document makes Microsoft’s decision clear. The company stresses that anything that has been paid for will remain accessible.

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Microsoft has released emergency patches for two remote code execution vulnerabilities in SharePoint. The CVE-2025-53770 and CVE-2025-53771 security flaws are addressed by KB5002768 and KB5002754.

The issue was discovered by security researchers back in May, when it was found that the vulnerability allows for RCE attacks dubbed ToolShell. Microsoft had tried to plug the security holes earlier in the month with the July Security Update, but this only partly addressed the problem – hence the need for the emergency, out-of-band patches.

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Emoji are unavoidable these days, regardless of whether you hate them, tolerate them, love them, or write using nothing else. The launch of new emoji is an event that is greeted by excitement, shrugs and shaken fists, and the Unicode Consortium has just unveiled some of the latest additions.

In all, eight new emoji have been revealed. They are scheduled to arrive in Unicode 17.0 later this year, but it is likely that they will be joined by other new images as well.

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Newspapers have long been associated with all manner of games and puzzles, including crosswords, sudoku and so on. This is something that has endured the crossover from print to digital, with the likes of Wordle from the New York Times remaining incredibly popular.

Now Apple is looking to get in on the action, announcing a new puzzle called Emoji Game. The puzzler is just the latest addition to the Apple News+ collection, giving subscribers a new challenge every day.

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Across all platforms, Google Chrome remains one of the most popular – if not the most popular – web browser. But while the desktop version of the software is versatile, customizable and flexible, the same cannot be said of the mobile apps.

And this is why an announcement made by Google several weeks ago caused a flurry of excitement. On the face of things, the news that it would be possible to move the address bar from its familiar position at the top of the browser may not seem huge, but now that it is rolling out, it is becoming clear that it is actually pretty significant for Android users.

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Support has ended, or is coming to an end, for a lot of Microsoft products at the moment. Perhaps the most notable or well-publicized is Windows 10, but this is far from being the end of the story.

In a move designed to push people towards Teams, killing off Skype and Skype for Business made a lot of sense. The same is true of the aging Exchange 2016 and 2019 losing support. But while this makes sense for Microsoft, it is also incredibly disruptive and expensive for businesses that rely on these tools – hence two newly announced Extended Security Update programs.

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The Matanbuchus malware loader is not new – it has been around for at least 4 years – but it has evolved into something incredibly dangerous.

Matanbuchus 3.0 has been found targeting victims as part of a ransomware attack. Described as being “highly targeted”, the cyberattack campaign uses Microsoft Teams as a delivery method for the latest version of the malware loader. The highly sophisticated attack employs a Microsoft Teams call impersonating an IT helpdesk.

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Microsoft’s development of Copilot continues apace, and the latest update is one that could prove to be divisive. Windows 11 users signed up to the Windows Insider program are being given a new option in Copilot Vision for Windows – namely the ability to share the entire desktop with the AI tool.

Sharing your desktop in this way means that Copilot Vision for Windows will be able to see everything that is on your screen asnduse it in your interactions. While there are many potential uses for this, the controversy caused by screenshotting desktops with the Recall feature of Windows that was so controversial that Microsoft had to withdraw and rebuild it.

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WhatsApp is not only one of the most popular communication apps out there, but also one of the most dynamic and frequently updated. The beta releases for WhatsApp are exciting places to hang out and a great way to try, or at least glimpse, new features.

The latest update does not buck the trend. In the most recent beta release for Android, we see developers working a new way to make use of status updates. These are already highly versatile but soon will provide a way to pose questions.

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Owning a smartphone is just about a given these days, and it is also becoming true for a smartwatch. If you have bought into the OnePlus ecosystem for your phone and watch, the company has just released an incredible 2-in-1 charger cable.

While not an entirely unique idea – there are various chargers out there that can charge two devices at the same time – the solution from OnePlus has at least a couple of features that make it stand out from the crowd.

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When Microsoft released the KB5062553 update for Windows earlier this month, it addressed a number of issues in the operating system. However, it also caused problems with Azure Virtual Machines.

As such, Microsoft has been forced to publish another emergency patch to fix a problem caused by one of its own software updates. This time around, the out-of-band fix is the KB5064489 update, and it is available for both Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025.

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A study into harmful personal finance trends on TikTok has found that the hashtag “side hustle” is the most common trending term. #sidehustle was found attached to millions of posts on a daily basis, with many providing misleading, incorrect or costly advice.

There has long been concern about the negative impact of social media influencers, and a key area of alarm is financial guidance. A particular worry is that Gen Z is increasingly turning to social media platforms such as TikTok for financial advice, or ideas about how to make money quickly.

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