Microsoft

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.

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.

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.

New versions of PowerToys are always eagerly received, especially when there are new utilities to explore. This was certainly the case with the release of PowerToys v0.95 last week, but in addition to the excitement there has also been confusion.

With PowerToys v.0.95, Microsoft added a new module called Light Switch. Designed to automatically switch Windows between Light Mode and Dark Mode, it is a tool that addressed an issue for many people. So where does the confusion come from? Light Switch is enabled by default.

Microsoft has unleashed PowerToys v0.95, and it is an impressive one. This is a release cycle which is billed as offering “new features, stability, optimization improvements, and automation”, and that’s very much what this particular release is about.

The first thing to ask about any new PowerToys release is whether there are any new modules. And this time around the answer is a resounding “yes”. In addition to a raft of changes, improvements and optimizations across the suite of utilities, there is also the new Light Switch module.

Microsoft was the most impersonated brand in worldwide phishing attacks during the third quarter of 2025. 40 percent of such attempts used the company’s name, according to Check Point Research’s Brand Phishing Report for Q3.

Google took the second spot with 9 percent of global phishing activity, while Apple was third with 6 percent. Together, those three names accounted for more than half of all brand impersonation attempts in the period.

With the most recent security updates released this month, Microsoft has introduced an issue for some Windows Server users. The KB5065426 update was released a few days ago, including not only security fixes, but also new features.

The unexpected payload, however, is the appearance of a problem with active Directory. Microsoft summarizes the problem in an advisory notice entitled “Directory synchronization fails for AD security groups exceeding 10,000 members”.

The day has come and gone: Microsoft no longer supports Windows 10 for users who are not signed up for Extended Security Updates. Much has been made of the price and availability of these updates, including the difference between the EU – where they are free – and the rest of the world.

There are various ways to access and sign up for Extended Security Updates (ESU), and Microsoft has just added a new one. It is now possible to access the ESU program via the Microsoft Store – but there is no change to pricing.

Want to know a secret? If you don’t like Windows 11, you don’t actually have to use it. With Windows 10 support officially ending today, millions of PCs are being left behind. For users who want to keep their existing desktop or laptop, Linux offers another way forward, and Zorin OS 18 arrives just in time as one of the best Windows replacements available.

Zorin OS 18 is one of the most user-friendly Linux distributions around and introduces a new design, updated features, and improved compatibility with more of the tools people rely on every day.

The impact of Internet Explorer is still being felt years after the world moved on from the web browser. Microsoft has announced that it is “Restraining IE Mode Access” in Microsoft Edge, citing concerns about exploitation of 0day vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer’s JavaScript engine.

That Internet Explorer continues to live on in Edge remains astonishing to many, but it has been retained for compatibility issues. Nonetheless, Microsoft is now taking steps to plug holes that have enabled threat actors to gain access to devices.

Windows 10 meets its end of life tomorrow, and from then anyone still using the hugely popular OS will have to accept that -- unless they pay Microsoft for extended support -- they will no longer receive security updates, putting their computers and data at risk.

Microsoft would like Windows 10 users to switch to Windows 11, but for many older laptops and desktops, Windows 11 is simply not an option. This is where Winux comes in. Winux 11.25.10 “W10EOL” is the latest version of the Windows-style Linux distribution that offers a familiar environment and runs much faster on aging machines.

The day on which Windows 10 is no longer supported is finally upon us, and there is no shortage of advice about what the best course of action is. Microsoft wants Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11, Windows 10 users want Microsoft to provide updates for longer.

Fans of Linux are using the death of Windows 10 to push for more people to adopt their favorite distros, but we’ve not heard a great deal from Apple. When asked, though, the company is happy to suggest that Windows 10 users being abandoned by Microsoft should consider switching allegiances and embracing macOS. And Apple has reasons.

Tomorrow, October 14, is the day on which Microsoft ends mainstream support for Windows 10. As such, there is a lot of interest – perhaps not quite as much as Microsoft might like – in switching to Windows 11 and potentially using the Windows 11 media creation tool.

So, the news from the company that the “Windows 11 media creation tool might not work as expected on Windows 10” could not really have come at a worse time. Microsoft has some advice and help for anyone affected by the malfunction, however.

Windows 10 reaches its end of life in a couple of days, on October 14, 2025. Users who haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 11, perhaps due to compatibility issues with older hardware or a general dislike of Microsoft’s new OS, now face a choice between running an unsupported system without ongoing security updates or moving to a new operating system.

Alternatives include Linux distributions like the recently updated Ubuntu and Linux Mint, both of which are popular choices and for good reason. We’re big fans of Oreon 10, a Linux distribution designed for Windows users, and it has just rolled out a new feature update, Build 2510, in time for Windows 10’s end of life.