Microsoft

Today, at its Build developer conference, Microsoft surprised no one with the news that it is betting big on the power of artificial intelligence.

The most exciting news was undoubtedly the announcement of Windows Copilot for Windows 11, but the company is also bringing AI to the Microsoft Store.

At its Build developer conference today, Microsoft announced plans for Windows Copilot, bringing centralized AI assistance to Windows 11.

That's not the only place that Microsoft is introducing AI to its products either -- the company is also introducing new AI features and experiences to the Microsoft Store, and extending Bing Chat plugins to Windows.

There is a lot to be said in favor of ARM-powered PCs, but there are also limitations. For anyone who has been frustrated by the inability to run a Windows 11 virtual machine on ARM, there is now some good news.

With the release of Windows 11 build 25370 -- an Insider build available to people signed up to the Canary Channel -- Microsoft has added Support for vTPM (virtual TPM or Virtual Trusted Platform Module) in Hyper-V.

Microsoft’s Chinese division has unveiled a major new update of its system optimization and maintenance tool with the release of Microsoft PC Manager 3.0 Beta. The app, which provides users with easy access to a wide -- and growing -- selection of built-in Windows tools, adds a new floating desktop toolbar option for even easier access to its offerings.

The new desktop toolbar is made accessible via Microsoft PC Manager’s Toolbox section, where users can both enable the feature and choose which tools to place on it for easy access.

If you have been experiencing problems opening the Start menu, launching UWP apps or accessing Windows search, you can draw some comfort from the fact that Microsoft is acknowledging that something is going wrong.

But, to make a change, the company is shifting the blame away from an often-at-fault Windows update. Microsoft says that the cornucopia of issues -- which can affect both Windows 10 and Windows 11 -- stem from updates to apps themselves rather than a problematic update for Windows.

Microsoft’s new approach to bigger updates for Windows 11 has already seen the release of Moment 1 and Moment 2. The Moment 3 update is due very soon, and the company is already working away on Moment 4.

This fourth update to the operating system is also known as Windows 11 23H2, and it seems that this may be a bit of a damp squib.

You thought Internet Explorer was dead and buried? Almost... but not quite. IE11 is still clinging to life, but Microsoft has detailed plans to finish the task of killing it off.

While the company has used updates to disable the browser in Windows 10, parts of it remain in the operating system. Microsoft has now provided an update about how it plans to completely eliminate Internet Explorer 11 -- which remains accessible in certain circumstances -- from Windows.

If you are dissatisfied with Windows 11 or macOS, and intrigued by Linux, deepin, a distro from China, could be a great choice to switch to. It's one of the most beautiful operating systems around, and sports a well-designed user interface.

The newest version of that operating system, deepin V23 Beta, is now ready to be downloaded. This updated version of deepin comes with a number of new features including DDE changes, terminal, cross-version upgrades, and application compatibility.

The curse of the problematic Windows update may have struck again. Some users who installed the KB5025305 preview update or the KB5026372 update for Windows 11 are complaining about a significant slowdown in VPN speeds.

Microsoft says that it is looking into speed issues with L2TP/IPsec VPN connections in Windows 11. The company is yet to provide a fix, but there is a less than ideal workaround available in the meantime.

Just last month, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft because of concerns about the impact on competition in the cloud gaming arena. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission is also seeking to block the deal

But now EU regulators have cleared the acquisition, subject to conditions. The European Commission will hold Microsoft to commitments it has made to ensure gamers in Europe will have  the ability to stream all Activision Blizzard games for which they have a licence via any cloud game streaming services, as well as a corresponding free license to cloud game streaming service providers to allow EEA-based gamers to stream any Activision Blizzard's PC and console games.

Microsoft has been spotted scanning for malware within password protected zip files stored on its cloud services.

Security researcher Andrew Brandt was among those to notice that Microsoft appears to be bypassing passwords added to zip archives in order to check for malware. While the intentions of the company may be good, the practice raises serious questions about privacy and security.

There's been a lot of talk about Windows 12, Microsoft's inevitable successor to Windows 11. Two months ago, my colleague Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson reported on Microsoft's plans for that future OS here.

We've also seen some hints about it tucked away in Windows 11.

Windows’ default file management tool, File Explorer, has a preview pane. Windows users may toggle it with the keyboard shortcut Alt-P or the selection of View > Preview Pane.

It displays previews of supported file types. If you select an image in the main pane, a thumbnail of that image is displayed in the preview pane.

No operating system is supported forever, and this is true of Windows 10. In fact, anyone using Windows 10 21H2 has just one month of servicing left.

As such, Microsoft has issued a reminder about the approaching end of service, giving users time to prepare. The company has also confirmed that anyone still running this version of Windows should expect to be automatically updated to a supported version of Windows.

It is that time of the month again; Microsoft has released a new update for Windows 11, not only addressing security issues, but adding new options.

With the release of the KB5026372 update for Windows 11, Microsoft has addressed an issue with Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) as well as fixing numerous other security flaws, including three zero days. The update also adds the option for Windows 11 users to receive non-security updates faster in future.