Articles about Microsoft

Development continues apace on Windows 11, and today Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel get a new flight which introduces improvements to Copilot, Microsoft’s AI component.

With Build 23570, Copilot can now be used across multiple monitors and Microsoft has made this addition very easy to configure and use.

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In the third quarter of this year, phishing attacks soared by 173 percent compared with the previous three months, and malware was up 110 percent over the same period.

Email security company Vade has released its quarterly Phishing and Malware Report which shows Q3 2023's malware volumes almost set a record for the highest total of any quarter, trailing only Q4 2016's mark of 126.8 million.

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It is a number of weeks since we first learned about Windows 11's new System Components section in Windows 11. Initially discovered hidden in a Canary build of the operating system, Microsoft is now readying the new hub for a wider launch.

When it is made available to everyone, the new System Component hub will make various aspects of system management easier. It serves as a handy portal through which it is possible to change default apps, and take control of built-in apps and components without the need to hunt around in numerous places.

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Although Microsoft is actively updating Windows 11, fixing problems and adding new features to its latest operating system -- most notably with the introduction of AI in the form of Copilot -- there are still lots of problems evident in the OS.

These issues and design inconsistencies ruin Windows 11 for many users, but thankfully Rectify11 is here to solve those, and the software has just been updated to version 3.0.

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Microsoft now has a bug bounty program that aims to find issues in artificial intelligence. Specifically, the Microsoft AI Bounty Program is focused on tracking down vulnerabilities in the company’s own AI-powered "Bing experience". This catch-all term covers a surprising number of products and services.

Interestingly, with this bounty program Microsoft is only offering rewards for the discovery of vulnerabilities considered Critical or Important. Those that are deemed of Moderate or Low severity will go unrewarded.

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This month’s Patch Tuesday update was a significant one for Windows 10 users. The release of the KB5031356 update saw Microsoft addressing a number of security flaws, as well as fixing other issues -- and even introducing some new features.

But there have been problems. Following reports from users, Microsoft has confirmed that it is investigating instances of the update failing to install. The company says that the most frequently encountered issue is Error 8007000D (ERROR_INVALID_DATA), and it is using a KIR (Known Issue Rollback) to recall the update for now.

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Microsoft is working hard at improving Windows 11, fixing problems and adding new features like AI, but the new OS is still lagging some considerable distance behind Windows 10 in terms of market share.

Windows 12 is already reportedly being worked on and, if the rumors -- and statements from Intel -- are to be believed, we might not have that long to wait for it to arrive. But if you want inspiration for what it could look like, feast your eyes on MiracleOS.

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Five-hundred-and-sixty-four 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.

Windows 11 version 21H2, also known as the initial release version of Windows 11, is no longer supported. Users are encouraged to upgrade to Windows 11 version 22H2 to stay supported.

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One web browser spying on another? Surely not! However, if you are using both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, Microsoft's browser could be grabbing all of your browsing history from Chrome every time you launch it.

If you decided to jump from Firefox to Chrome, from Edge to Firefox, from Opera to Edge or any other combination, you will probably have taken advantage of the option to import browsing history, saved passwords and so on. But you likely don’t want this cross-browser communication to continue indefinitely. Here’s how to check whether this sneaky data swapping is happening in the background and how to stop it if it is.

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With the release of this month's security updates for Windows, Microsoft has brought to an end support for not only Windows Server 2012, but also Windows 11 21H2.

What this means for users of these versions of the operating system is that there will be no more updates of any sort made available -- and this means both security updates and non-security updates. For anyone who wants or needs to stick with Windows 2012, things could get expensive, but there are free upgrades available to those currently running Windows 11 21H2.

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The latest biannual Cyber Threat Intelligence Report from Critical Start reveals the top 10 cyber threats, including a rise in phishing attacks using QR codes are on the rise with bad actors masquerading as Microsoft security notifications.

Since May this year a major campaign has seen emails with a QR code embedded inside a PNG image or a PDF attachment. This has been aimed across industries with the energy sector being hardest hit -- one US energy company received 29 percent of all emails in the campaign.

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Microsoft has quietly announced plans to deprecate VBScript in "future releases of Windows". The company has not been more specific about the timeline than this, but there are some details about the deprecation process.

As part of a phased withdrawal, VBScript (Visual Basic Scripting Edition) was initially removed from Internet Explorer, and before being killed off in Windows completely, it will become an optional component. While a useful scripting language in its day, VBScript became something of an abused security nightmare, and has since been replaced by PowerShell.

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For anyone running Windows 10 21H2 or Windows 10 22H2, Microsoft has a new cumulative update that fixes various issues with the operating system as well as introducing new features and options.

As is customary, Microsoft provides sparse details about the security issues the update addresses, but it does share information about the various other improvements included in the KB5031356 update.

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Although it’s easy enough to find new wallpaper for Windows, many users prefer to stick with the default images supplied by Microsoft.

The software giant includes a choice of wallpapers with the OS, so if you don’t like the default ones, you can pick any of the available variations. Today, Microsoft adds two new images to its collection which you can download right now.

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Although new Windows 11 test builds typically arrive on a Wednesday, they can drop almost any day of the working week.

Today, Microsoft releases a new Windows 11 build to Insiders in the Beta Channel, and makes changes to how future features will be delivered going forward. Insiders will have the choice to be among the first to receive new features, or to just get them gradually, over time.

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