Microsoft

Of all the things you probably don’t need, but which you'll likely want, a mirror that places you inside the retro stylings of Microsoft Paint has to be right up there. As spotted by Yanko Design, designer RaffySculptures is selling a handcrafted “Paint Mirror” on Etsy.

It blends digital nostalgia with practical design, bringing the classic MS Paint interface into modern homes.

Microsoft has announced that the price of Xbox Series S and Series X consoles is due to increase next month. This is the second time this year that the company has raised prices and the jump from the initial launch prices are quite extreme.

A 512GB Xbox Series S console is now a massive 25 percent more expensive than when it first went on sale – up from $300 in 2020, through $380 earlier this year, up to $400. For now, the price changes on impact the US.

Want to know a secret? If you don’t like Windows 11, you don’t actually have to use it! I know, shocker right? With Windows 10 support ending on 14 October 2025, millions of PCs will soon be left behind. For users who want to keep their existing desktop or laptop, Linux offers another way forward, and Zorin OS is one of the best Windows alternatives around.

Zorin OS 18 has now entered beta, giving Windows 10 users a chance to try a modern desktop that feels familiar without demanding new hardware or chucking you in at the deep end.

This October marks the end of support for Windows 10, but the same is true for some version of Office. Microsoft has issued a reminder for anyone still using Office 2016 and Office 2019 that their version of the office suite will receive no more updates after the middle of next month.

Also losing support are Visio 2016, Visio 2019, Project 2016 and Project 2019, with the important date to keep in mind being October 14, 2025. Microsoft has advice for anyone who is working with any of these software titles.

Whether you are using Windows 11 on a desktop PC or a laptop, keyboard backlighting can be extraordinarily useful... or a huge annoyance. We are talking about standard lighting up of keys here, not RGB craziness, by the way.

When using a keyboard in the dark or low light, the right amount of backlighting can be a boon. But just what is the correct backlighting level is not only a matter of personal taste, but also something that is extremely circumstantial. Microsoft is about to make it much quicker and easier to adjust lighting levels so you can adapt to ambient lighting changes.

There are plenty of internet speed test tools you can access from your browser, but it looks as though Microsoft is playing with the idea of adding one straight into Windows 11.

If the idea of an internet speed test tool being integrated into Windows 11 interests you, you should perhaps keep your expectation low. Early signs are that this is not an integrated speed tester as such, but a shortcut. Still, it is a useful feature, and making speed testing more accessible is very welcome.

This will all be over soon, we promise you. But for a little while longer you are going to continue hearing about Windows 10. It is something that has been talked about for so long that it would be easy to start to feel numb to any more mentions of the operating system, but the end of support for Windows 10 has reached an important milestone.

Over the weekend, we hit the point of there being only 30 days left. Never one to miss an opportunity to remind users of Windows 10 about the end of support – or, indeed, to suggest upgrading to Windows 11 – Microsoft issued a reminder about the upcoming end of servicing.

Microsoft is by no means a stranger to nagging its customers in one way or another – usually with the intention of parting people from their money. In a somewhat unusual move, the company has used the latest preview builds of Windows 11 to introduce a way to pester Microsoft 365 (or “Office” to most of us) subscribers.

A full screen “reminder” – or nag screen – has been added in the Dev and Beta builds of Windows 11 released to Windows Insiders. Microsoft, of course, is talking about it in rather different terms.

Microsoft has managed to avoid a hefty fine or other sanctions after the European Commission accepted the company’s proposal for unbundling Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

 A complaint from Slack a few years ago started the European legal wheels turning as Microsoft was accused of anti-competitive behavior once again. The European Commission agreed that the company had “granti[ed] Teams an undue competitive advantage in terms of distribution”, but now accepts Microsoft’s unbundling proposal.

Microsoft has announced that it is going to allow app developers to publish to the Microsoft Store without having to pay.

The company says that by removing a friction point of requiring a credit card, it is “creating a more inclusive and accessible platform”. More than just taking away registration fees, Microsoft is also offering free hosting, free signing and automatic updates for MSIX packages.

Fans of debloating Windows now have another tool to experiment with. NTDEV, the developer behind the well known Tiny11 project, has created Nano11 Builder, a PowerShell script that hacks Microsoft’s operating system down even further.

While Tiny11 already produced a lighter and more flexible alternative to the full-fat Windows 11 install, Nano11 takes things to the extreme by automating the creation of an installer image that is a fraction of the original size.

The rollout of Windows 11 25H2 is now underway – at least to anyone signed up for the Windows Insider Release Preview channel. When the rollout started, there was disappointment when Microsoft did not have the ISOs for the build ready, saying that they would be coming soon.

But now the company has released the Windows 11 25H2 ISOs which is great news for anyone who likes to keep an offline. It is also extremely useful for people looking to install Windows 11 25H2 on multiple machines – ISOs just make things easier.

Microsoft has released a new Canary build of Windows 11, and among the additions is the arrival of AI actions in File Explorer. The company implores users to “leverage[e] the power of AI” to summarize documents and edit images directly from File Explorer new AI Actions context menu entry.

For Microsoft, this is the highlight of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27938, but there is much more to this release. There are, of course, lots of bug fixes but there are also new clock options including the ability to show seconds.

Windows 10 is nearly at its end of life, and while Microsoft would love users to switch over to Windows 11, the truth is a lot of people aren’t keen. That's especially true for those with older hardware who are worried their systems either won’t run the latest OS at all or will struggle with reduced performance and compatibility issues.

It’s perhaps no surprise that the latest figures show Windows 11 actually losing market share.

If you are a fan of Lite apps – those mobile apps that are light on data usage and small in size – prepare to mourn the loss of Outlook Lite. Microsoft has announced plans to kill off the lightweight email app, and will start by blocking new installations.

The company does not use the words “streamlining" or “money saving”, but says that the decision was taken so “we can focus our investments on the Outlook Mobile app, our flagship Android experience, which provides better functionality and user experience”.