Articles about Microsoft

The Snipping Tool app has proved itself to be one of the most useful and impressive utilities to be found in Windows 11. Microsoft has slowly worked to create something genuinely impressive; there have been some omissions, however.

One such oversight is the lack of support for creating GIFs, but this is about to change. The option of saving screen recordings as animated GIFs is overdue and extremely welcome.

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Signal has officially had enough, folks. You see, the privacy-first messaging app is going on the offensive, declaring war on Microsoft’s invasive Recall feature by enabling a new “Screen security” setting by default on Windows 11. This move is designed to block Microsoft’s AI-powered screenshot tool from capturing your private chats.

If you aren’t aware, Recall was first unveiled a year ago as part of Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC push. The feature quietly took screenshots of everything happening on your computer, every few seconds, storing them in a searchable timeline. Microsoft claimed it would help users “remember” what they’ve done. Critics called it creepy. Security experts called it dangerous. The backlash was so fierce that Microsoft pulled the feature before launch.

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One of the first things people notice about Windows 11 is its redesigned interface, most obviously, the taskbar and Start menu, which are now centered. It’s a major departure from the classic layout of Windows 10 and earlier, and for long-time users, the change can take some getting used to.

If you’re someone who prefers the familiar feel of earlier versions, particularly Windows 7, there’s now a stylish way to bring that experience back.

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Microsoft, Google, Apple, et al -- they are all at it. There is not a big-name tech firm in existence that is not deeply invested in artificial intelligence, and for end users this means having AI tools dangled in front of them at any given opportunity.

Windows 11 has already seen more than its fair share of AI, and this is not something that shows any signs of changing.

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Using an app store to keep installed apps up to date is something that the likes of Apple’s App Store and Google Play brought to the mainstream, and it eventually moved to the desktop. Until now, the Microsoft Store has been limited in its capabilities, but Microsoft has announced some huge changes.

Perhaps the biggest change is support for updating Win32 apps directly in Microsoft Store, which is something users have been asking for for some time. But there are other changes too, including zero onboarding fees for developers, and an expanded set of Health Report insights.

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Everyone likes to feel that they are in control of their computer, but the way the Settings app has been organized can make this hard. Acknowledging this, Microsoft had revealed new Advanced Windows Settings to allow for more configuration options.

The new Advanced section essentially replaces the For Developers section of Settings, but Microsoft says that it is now also aimed at power users. There are many options collected into one place that would otherwise be scattered, hidden or inaccessible.

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The release of the KB5058379 update for Windows 10 earlier this month resulted in frustration for many Windows 10 users. People with devices with Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) enabled on 10th generation or later Intel vPro processors were hit with BitLocker recovery problems.

It took Microsoft a little while to acknowledge the issue, but now the company has issued an out-of-band patch in the form of the KB5061768 update.

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Microsoft Build is usually about cutting edge development, but sometimes there are nods to the past. And this is precisely what is happening with the company’s new text editor.

Named -- uninspiringly -- Edit, this text editor is not only open-source, but it is a command line tool. While clearly not something that will be of interest to the majority of Windows 11 users, it is something that has strong developer appeal.

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Well, it finally happened, folks. Microsoft has open-sourced the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), giving developers full access to its code on GitHub! Yes, after nearly a decade of closed development and repeated requests from the community, the company has handed over the keys -- inviting coders to inspect, improve, and contribute to the very core of how Linux runs on Windows.

This isn’t some half-baked gesture, either. Microsoft has released the core WSL package (the components that power WSL 2) under an open source license. This includes command-line tools like wsl.exe, background services, init processes, networking daemons, and the Plan9-based file sharing system. You can now build WSL from source, fork it, or pitch in directly on GitHub.

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In a world full of AI agents seemingly trying to take control away, Microsoft has done something surprisingly refreshing -- it is handing the wheel back to the user.

With the launch of Magentic-UI, a new open source research prototype, Microsoft is inviting developers and researchers to explore a different kind of AI assistant. One that doesn’t just act on its own, but actually collaborates with people in a transparent, controllable way.

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Several days after users started to complain that a recent update for Windows 10 was causing them problems, Microsoft has acknowledged that there are issues with the KB5058379 update.

Many people reported the appearance of unexpected BitLocker recovery screens after installing the update on Patch Tuesday, and users were struggling to find commonalities between affected systems. Microsoft has now identified the cause and while it does not yet have a fix, it is “urgently working on a resolution”.

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There are a number of great tools you can use to improve Windows 10 and 11, including Winhance and BleachBit, both of which have been recently updated.

Crapfixer, which we’ve covered before, is another tool you can use to remove bloat, ads, creepy data collection, and more. It was originally created seven years ago but has been resurrected and completely rewritten for Windows 11. The modern incarnation appeared two weeks ago, and it has now reached the 1.0 milestone, meaning it’s considered stable and safe to use.

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Six-hundred-forty-seven in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Support for the consumer editions of Windows 10 ends in October 2025. While home users may extend support by one year by paying Microsoft, they will get three years of security updates for Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10.

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With support for Windows 10 coming to an end in October, Microsoft will not be releasing many more security updates for the operating system. Seemingly looking to go out with a bang, the recently released KB5058379 update is giving users grief.

Pushed out earlier this week on Patch Tuesday, the KB5058379 update is causing BitLocker recovery prompts to appear on some systems following a restart. Although Microsoft is yet to acknowledge the issue in the release notes for the update, company employees have confirmed the problem in forums and have also provided a workaround.

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It has been difficult to escape the fact Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 later this year -- on October 14 to be precise. The company has made much of issuing reminders about this date as well as endlessly pestering people to upgrade to Windows 11.

But it was not just Windows 10 that was to lose support in October. Microsoft had also said that Office (or Microsoft 365) on Windows 10 would not be supported from the same date. Now the company has had a change of heart, and will provide support for much longer than it previously announced.

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