Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

If you have ever been confused by updates for Windows 11, you are not alone. Microsoft is aware that the mish mash of unclear and inconsistent names used for different types of updates has left many people confused – so it is doing something about it.

The company has announced a change to the way in which it labels updates, making them simpler, more consistent, and easier to understand. Here is how things are changing.

Instagram is borrowing an idea from TikTok, introducing a Watch History section that will be welcomed by many users.

While undeniably useful, pretty much the only thing that is surprising about this particular feature is that it has taken so long to appear in the app. It solves the problem of viewing a Reel within the app – and then never being able to find it again.

In the most recent Windows Insider builds of Windows 11, Microsoft is testing a new feature that will make it quicker and easier to perform search based on text copied from other documents. The new Copy & Search feature is currently available in the new Dev and Beta channels, and it could be a real time-saver.

While it may not seem like much, Copy & Search reduced a three-step process to a two-step process. In the big scheme of things, it is not much, but it is something that feel significantly faster, even if the difference is quite small in reality. But this is not just a change that is about speed.

When Microsoft released PowerToys 0.95.0 recently there was excitement that it included a new module – Light Switch. But the excitement quickly turned to disappointed and confusion because of a bug that has managed to slip through the net.

Microsoft was fairly quick to acknowledge that when it added the new Light Switch module to PowerToys, it should not have been enabled by default. But as it was enabled by default, many people wondered what on Earth was happening when their computer started randomly changing between Light and Dark Mode.

Android users have a message range of keyboards to choose from, Gboard among them. The beauty of the level of choice is the selection of options and degree of personalization that is made possible.

And it is with personalization in mind that Google has updated Gboard, introducing the option to hide the period and comma keys.

Having someone sliding into your DMs on Instagram could be about to look a little different. The social media platform is rolling out the ability to adorn direct messages with stickers as well as freehand drawing.

As this has been in testing for a reasonable amount of time already, these options may already be familiar to subsets of Instagram users – but now they are rolling out to everyone. If you are yet to experience these new messaging tools, they may not be quite what you expect them to be.

You may have tried to forget Clippy, but Microsoft is still hanging doggedly on to the idea of character-based assistants. Having thrown everything at its AI assistant Copilot, the company is now giving it a friendly face – Mico.

As part of what it refers to as the Copilot Fall Release, Microsoft is trying to soften its artificial intelligence powered digital assistant and, by extension, people’s attitudes to it. This is the company moving towards making AI more personal, useful, and human-centered, and there is a lot of attention given to relationship.

Microsoft is a big fan of marking milestones and anniversaries by releasing wallpaper. Now the company is doing just that to celebrate the eleventh anniversary of the Windows Insider Program.

The program was designed with a dual purpose. Firstly it gives Microsoft a way to mass test changes to its operating system, and secondly it gives eager users the chance to test out and shape the future orf Windows.

There are countless ways to waste time online, and scrolling your way through a never-ending selection of Shorts on YouTube is one of them. If you are someone who has found you have lost hours to the content served up by the platform, there is some good news.

A new digital well-being tool is starting to roll out that lets users set a time limit for the daily viewing of YouTube Shorts. While far from perfect, it may prove helpful for anyone who tends to lose track of time.

Microsoft has made another admission that its updates for Windows may have caused problems for some people. The company says that updates released for Windows 11, version 24H2, Windows 11, version 25H2, and Windows Server 2025 in August and September could have resulted in login issues for some.

There are two offending update – namely the August 29, 2025—KB5064081 (OS Build 26100.5074) Preview and September 9, 2025—KB5065426 (OS Build 26100.6584) – which Microsoft says could lead to Kerberos and New Technology LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication failures.

In an age of fragmented news, deepfakes present a real problem. YouTube is taking action to stop AI-generated videos being used to impersonate people.

The company has revealed details of its new Likeness Detection tool. For now, YouTube is targeting creators, giving them access to the tool – not only because creators are among those likely to be deepfaked, but also because the company will be hoping to be able to use their influence to hype up Likeness Detection.

Online scams are nothing new, but there are now more channels through which they can be run. Among them are social platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger, and it is sad fact that older users are more likely to fall victim

This is precisely why Meta is rolling out a new system of warnings that appear in its messaging apps. The aim is to make users think twice about who they connect to and who they share information with as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Most of the talk about teenagers using social media centers around keeping them safe or restricting what they are able to do. In many regards Instagram is no different, but now younger users are being given something extra.

Instagram’s design team has proudly announced the users with Teen accounts will be able to choose between a number of “aesthetics” for the app. Not available to anyone with a non-Teen account, the new option allows teenagers to select a different icons for the app, designed by Carlos Oliveras Colom.

Microsoft has released an out-of-band update for Windows 11 to address a problem caused b y the October security updates published for the operating system earlier this month.

Users who installed the KB5066835 update found that they were not able to use their USB mouse or keyboard within the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This made it impossible for some to navigate the recovery options, forcing Microsoft to investigate what was going on.

Any major visual change to software is likely to result in a mixed reaction – this is certainly true of the Liquid Glass transparency effect Apple introduced into its desktop and mobile operating system recently.

Apple is a company that prides itself on producing designs that balance beauty with utility, so it was probably surprised when users complained about Liquid Glass. Not willing to give in entirely and allow users to switch the effect off completely, Apple has relented a little, introducing controls to change the intensity of the look.