Microsoft

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.

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.

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.

The latest long-term support release of Linuxfx, version 11.25.07 “NOBLE,” is now available.

Based on Ubuntu 24.04.2 and styled to look like Windows 11, the update offers a familiar yet open-source experience that skips many of the frustrations commonly associated with Microsoft’s OS.

Tomorrow -- July 19th -- marks a year since the CrowdStrike outage, which saw major disruption to Microsoft systems around the world caused by a faulty security software update.

Whilst it made the headlines at the time what have been the long-term effects of the outage and what has the industry learned to prevent something similar happening in future?

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.

There are a number of great tools that you can use to improve Windows 10 and 11, but our new favorite is CrapFixer. The free program can remove bloat, ads, AI, unwelcome data collection, and more from the operating system.

Although it was originally created seven years ago it has been completely rewritten for Windows 11 and a new update makes it even better, with its own small, modern Policy Editor.

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.

SparkyLinux 7.8 is now available to download, bringing a welcome selection of updates to the “Orion Belt” stable release series. Based on Debian 12 “Bookworm,” this latest point release offers a modern Linux experience that’s a strong alternative for users looking to move away from Windows 11.

With Microsoft's OS continuing to introduce clunky AI features, bloat, slow performance and limited user control, SparkyLinux serves as a lighter, faster, and fully customizable alternative. Version 7.8 delivers updated software, improved desktop environments, and superior system performance.

As we are being reminded on a near daily basis, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in mid-October. The company has made it clear that the end of support means the end of security updates, but this does not mean that all Windows 10 users will take notice and jump to Windows 11.

However much Microsoft might wish otherwise, Windows 10 will remain in popular usage for some years to come – so the company is tightening the thumbscrews. A quiet announcement reveals that anyone sticking with Windows 10 will no longer receive feature updates for their Microsoft 365 (Office) apps.

Microsoft has announced that it is moving away from Jscript in Windows 11 24H2 to make scripting more secure, and boost Windows 11 security overall.

The change sees the company enabling JScript9Legacy by default in the latest version of Windows 11. Despite stressing the important security implications of the change, Microsoft is not changing from Jscript to JScript9Legacy in operating system edition prior to Windows 11 24H2.

Following complaints from users about problems with Windows Server Update Services, Microsoft has spoken out. The company has confirmed that WSUS has suffered issues preventing synchronization and deployment of updates.

This is a serious headache for businesses and organizations that rely on WSUS to manage Windows updates across networks. Reports of errors have been popping up for a couple of days, with scheduled synchronization actions showing to have failed in event logs.

Microsoft has released the KB5062553 update for Windows 11 24H2. Billed primarily as a security update for the operating system, it is actually more than that – much more.

As is the case with Microsoft’s monthly security updates, it also includes the non-security improvements, fixes and additions that were previewed last month. One of the key new arrivals here is the new PC-to-PC migration experience which uses the Windows Backup app to ease the process of moving to a new computer.

Windows Restrictions Fixer is a lightweight tool that can detect disabled Windows features and give you the opportunity to re-enable them in just a few clicks.

While it's possible to manually reverse many restrictions through the registry or Group Policy Editor, this app offers a much simpler route for those who prefer not to dig around in system files, or just don’t know where to begin.

It took a long time, undoubtedly much longer than Microsoft would have liked, but Windows 11 is now more popular than Windows 10. The most recent version of Microsoft’s desktop operating system is now installed on more desktop computers than its predecessor.  

Is this a cause for celebration at Microsoft HQ? Probably not. While Windows 11 may finally have a larger install base than Windows 10, it took four long years for this landmark to be reached. In the world of software development, that is an age.