Articles about Microsoft

The latest Windows 11 development build includes a new TPM Troubleshooter tool designed to help administrators fix TPM related issues. The tool may help fix TPM related issues automatically and it may also be used to reset TPM.

Microsoft made TPM a requirement when it released Windows 11. The company claims that it improves overall security and ensures that certain features are supported on all Windows 11 devices.

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A new report reveals the most impersonated brands in phishing attacks for the first half of 2023, with Facebook taking the top slot, followed by Microsoft.

The report from email security company Vade, shows Facebook accounted for 18 percent of all phishing URLs and Microsoft for 15 percent. Taken together these two accounted for more unique phishing URLs than the next top five brands combined (Crédit Agricole, SoftBank, Orange, PayPal and Apple).

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First detailed last year, Microsoft Dev Box is now finally generally available. This is Microsoft's "ready-to-code, cloud-based workstation optimized for developer use cases and productivity" and it comes from years of development building on Visual Studio Codespaces.

These preconfigured, container- and Linux-based dev environments served their purposes in 2019, but the demands of developers forced Microsoft to push things further. The result is Microsoft Dev Box, combining developer-optimized capabilities with the enterprise-ready management of Windows 365 and Microsoft Intune.

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As part of its software updates for July, Microsoft has released the KB5028185 update for Windows 11. The update not only addresses a large number of problems and security issues, it is also being used to give users access to the new features of the Moment 3 update.

The scores of security fixes to be found in the KB5028185 update are reason enough to install it as soon as possible, but the raft of new features and options serves as an added incentive.

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Microsoft is always eager for as many people as possible to be using the very latest versions of Windows. This not only means encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 11, but also ensuring that the majority are running the most recent version of Windows 11.

To promote this idea, Microsoft gives each edition of Windows a product lifecycle during which it will be fully supported. One such period is coming to an end, and the company has issued a reminder to users of Windows 11 21H2 that they need to update very soon.

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Not everyone is running Windows 11 on their PC -- there are many who are not even running Windows 10. If you are one of a surprisingly large number of people still rocking an old version of Windows, you will be well aware that Windows Update no longer works.

The Windows Update Restored project can help though. This is an unofficial, community-led operation that makes it possible for Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98, Me, 2000 and XP users "to obtain updates like they used to".

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Notifications can be useful, but all too often they are used by websites to spam people. To help protect users against such irritations, Microsoft has announced new notification blocking for its Edge browser.

The company says it is aware that website notifications may not only be annoying, but can be misleading or even dangerous. The aim in block spammy notifications is to not only offer protection to users of Microsoft Edge, but also to help them to get the most out of notifications.

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Five-hundred-and-fifty 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.

Microsoft is making changes to the Windows 11 Start menu which will highlight its own apps in the operating system.

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It feels as though it has been a while since the last update for PowerToys, but Microsoft has now rectified this. The company has released PowerToys v0.71.0 which sees not only a large number of bug fixes, but also numerous tweaks, improvements and additions.

This is a hugely significant update that adds support for the previewing of archives in the Peek utility, as well as making it possible to use Registry Preview as the default tool for opening .reg files. PowerToys developers have really gone to town with this release; just about every module has been updated and there is an improved look that is more in line with the Windows 11 aesthetic.

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Three months ago, Microsoft announced the public preview of Windows 365 Frontline. If you're not familiar with it, Windows 365 is a service that allows users to stream Windows 10 and Windows 11 from the cloud to any device. Frontline is a special version for workers who only need a Cloud PC for a limited amount of time during a working day.

Unlike Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PCs, Windows 365 Frontline Cloud PCs remain in a powered-off state by default when they are not in use. Employees need to save their work at the end of their shift and then disconnect or sign out. Companies don't need to purchase a Cloud PC for every employee, rather, they only need enough Cloud PCs for the maximum number of active users at any given time.

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Microsoft is testing a change to the Start menu in Windows 11 that will make it clearer which shortcuts relate to system apps. Built-in apps and tools are highlighted with a new "System" badge.

The update came in recent build of the operating system, but is not currently enabled by default. With a little tweaking, however, it is possible to switch on the new Start menu labeling system.

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Yesterday, Microsoft made the first preview version of Copilot available for Windows 11 Insiders in the Dev Channel. This AI-powered feature appears as a docked sidebar on the right and lets users ask questions and perform actions, such as take a screenshot or turn on do not disturb.

Copilot is unquestionably the future of Microsoft's operating system, and will likely be a major part of Windows 12, but there are other AI tools on offer, including a modern take on Microsoft's ancient Office assistant, Clippit (more commonly called Clippy).

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With the release of Windows 11 build 2349 Microsoft has introduced numerous changes and additions, not least of which is the arrival of the eagerly awaited AI-powered Copilot tool. But the latest update to Windows 11 also includes a new look for the Settings app.

Microsoft has given the homepage of Settings a revamp that sees the interface split into clear, easy-to-read sections, which the company is referring to as cards. The new look is clean and uncluttered, but there has been the controversial decision to use at least one of the cards to display ads.

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Back in May, at its Build developer conference, Microsoft announced a new Copilot feature which is designed to bring the power of AI to Windows 11.

At the time, the company said that the feature would be made available in preview form in June, and today it finally arrives for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. To try it out, you will need to be running Build 23493 and Microsoft Edge version 115.0.1901.150 or higher.

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Users of Microsoft Teams have a series of updates to explore. Microsoft has launched a selection of new features to enhance the online meeting experience.

The new options and settings relate to Live Caption and Live Transcription, with users being given far greater control over the look and positioning of captions. But what Microsoft talks about first are the new controls for the profanity filter which censors what the company has deemed to be bad language. Enabled by default, there have been complaints that the filter is far too sensitive -- so Microsoft has come up with a solution.

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