Articles about Microsoft

Toast notifications in Windows 10 and 11 provide handy real-time updates and alerts. These notifications pop up from the bottom right corner of the system tray, and display brief, timely information about specific events or actions. They can include text, images, and buttons that allow the user to interact with the notification directly.

Users can choose which apps can send toast notifications, and adjust their priority levels to manage their visibility. They can also set quiet hours, during which notifications will not disturb them. But what if you want to customize things further and choose where these notifications pop up from? We have the answer.

Continue reading →

Microsoft's love for Linux shows no signs of waning, with the company releasing an update-packed pre-release build of WSL 2.0.0.

There are many changes in Windows Subsystem for Linux 2.0.0, and as this is a pre-release version it’s perhaps to be expected that many of the new additions are described as "experimental". One of the biggest new features is experimental.autoMemoryReclaim which shrinks the WSL VM in memory by reclaiming cached memory.

Continue reading →

Far from abandoning Paint after nearly four decades, Microsoft is actively developing the app. Having already updated the longstanding image editor with a powerful background removal feature, the company is continuing to equip Paint lovers with new tools.

The latest additions to the beloved app are support for layers and transparency. This is yet another example of Microsoft elevating Paint above being a basic bitmap editor, and there is more on the way. There are also hints in the code of the app that generative AI is under development, meaning that Paint will be able to create images using the DALL-E-powered Cocreator.

Continue reading →

There is a great deal of copying of features and ideas in the browser world, so it can be hard to say which is "best". From Chrome and Firefox to Edge and Opera, there is so much inspiration and cross-contamination that it's difficult to find much that is unique.

The latest example of this is Google using the latest Canary build of Chrome to introduce its own version of a feature found in Microsoft Edge. Google's implementation of "Read Aloud" is near-identical to Microsoft's, but Chrome has a significantly larger user-base meaning that this handy tool will be enjoyed by more people.

Continue reading →

In a just a few days, Microsoft is holding a special event which -- although the company has offered nothing in the way of detail -- is widely expected to be a launch event for various Surface devices.

But while Microsoft has been tight-lipped about what the event is about, details of the hardware that will be making an appearance have leaked. Specifically, specifications, images and pricing for the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and the Surface Laptop Go 3 have been revealed.

Continue reading →

As ever, the Dev and Canary channels of the Windows 11 Insider Program are exciting places to be, bringing updates for not only the operating system itself, but also the bundled apps.

The latest builds of the OS include significant changes and new features for the Snipping Tool, Windows Photos and Phone Link apps. Perhaps the most important addition is Text Actions which brings OCR functionality to Snipping Tool.

Continue reading →

It's the time of the month when Microsoft releases its regular security updates, and this September is no different. As the KB5030219 update is a security update, it is rolling out automatically to all Windows 11 users.

As well as numerous security fixes, the KB5030219 update removes a blank item from the Sticky Keys menu, a problem introduced by the previously released KB5029351 update.

Continue reading →

It won't come as any surprise that there's a thriving market among threat actors for the latest vulnerability exploits. A new report from Flashpoint lifts the lid on this world and reveals the exact vulnerability exploits that were listed for sale, purchased, and/or traded in the first half of 2023.

One of the most expensive was a remote code execution exploit for Adobe Commerce -- the eCommerce platform formerly known as Magneto -- which was listed for sale at $30,000. A Citrix ShareFile exploit was priced at $25,000.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Mastercard, the result of a partnership with Barclays. The card will launch in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii later this month, and has no annual fee,

Initially available exclusively to Xbox Insiders, the credit card will ultimately be made available to everyone in the US. Aside from the lack of annual fee, there are other incentives for getting an Xbox Mastercard; every purchase made with the card earns points that can then be spent on games and add-ons at xbox.com.

Continue reading →

Drivers have long been the source of problems for Windows users, with security flaws, compatibility issues and other bugs blighting the experience of getting hardware to work as it should. Now Microsoft has announced plans that will shake up how drivers work in Windows.

The company has announced plans to not only end support for third-party printer drivers in Windows, but also to stop the provision of printer driver updates via Windows Update. The change is a significant one which Microsoft is phasing in over a number of years to reduce the potential negative impact for hardware manufacturer and users alike.

Continue reading →

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would be retiring legacy troubleshooters in Windows 11. These built-in tools have helped users diagnose and fix common Windows problems since their arrival in Windows 7 back in 2009.

Now, the company has started the process of removing these troubleshooters.

Continue reading →

Microsoft Paint has been the subject of ridicule for as long as it has existed, but much of the mockery is ill-placed these days. While it may not be the most advanced image editor in the world, there is a lot more to the app than it is generally given credit for.

Microsoft is not done with development of the app, updates rolled out to the latest Insider builds of Windows 11 show that the company is on the verge of bringing a Photoshop-level tool to Paint: background removal.

Continue reading →

The vast majority of software bugs are, almost by definition, a problem. A bug can cause unexpected behavior, reduce performance, and cause endless other issues. But there is a bug in Windows 11's File Explorer that actually makes it better.

If you've ever thought that File Explorer would benefit from a speed boost, there's some good news. A strange bug can be exploited to noticeably improve performance in a split second.

Continue reading →

It is now a couple of weeks since a Windows 11 update resulted in a large number of people suddenly seeing UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR error messages.

At the time, the finger of blame was pointed at Microsoft, although the company was quick to suggest that the fault may be elsewhere. With the issue affecting MSI motherboards, the hardware manufacturer offered up a workaround. Now MSI has released a BIOS update that properly fixes the problem for Intel 700 and 600 series boards.

Continue reading →

Hot on the heels of a reminder about the end of support for Windows 11 21H2, Microsoft has reminded everyone that Windows will soon have TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 disabled.

Transport Layer Security (TLS) has been around for a number of years, with TLS 1.0 not only dating back to 1999, but having been superseded by far more secure versions. TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.2 are now very much the norm, so Microsoft is following others in the industry by dropping 1.0 and 1.1.

Continue reading →