Best Windows apps this week
Six-hundred-forty-four 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 announced the deprecation and removal of the Maps app by July 2025 from the Microsoft Store. The app won't be uninstalled on user machines, but it won't receive updates anymore and can't be installed again if it is removed by the user after July 2025.
Lenovo launches new ThinkPad laptops and workstations with Ryzen AI and Copilot+ for Windows 11
ThinkPad computers are absolutely legendary, and today Lenovo is expanding its lineup with a fresh batch of laptops and mobile workstations. The company has announced updates across several models, including the ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 AMD, ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 AMD, new L Series business laptops, and additional configurations for its X1 Aura Editions.
Leading the charge are the new ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 AMD and P16s Gen 4 AMD mobile workstations. These machines aim to offer a balance of power and portability, with the P14s weighing in at just over 3 pounds and measuring 16.13mm thin.
Best Windows apps this week
Six-hundred-forty-three 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.
The Windows 11 Snipping Tool is getting improved OCR support. The functionality is now available directly via a button or the shortcut Shift-Windows-T. You had to take a screenshot first previously to extract text from it.
Flying high: Ubuntu 25.04 'Plucky Puffin' is here to deliver better performance to desktops and data centers
Canonical has announced the arrival of Ubuntu 25.04 -- "Plucky Puffin." This latest interim release introduces a number of updates across the desktop, as well as developer tools, and improved hardware support, with a focus on boosting performance and improving the user experience.
Ubuntu 25.04 ships with GNOME 48, offering new features like a Preserve Battery Health mode, HDR support, and Canonical’s triple buffering patches, now accepted upstream. A new Wellbeing Panel helps users manage screen time, while a redesigned install and boot experience adds improved partitioning options and experimental Dracut support for faster system startup.
It must be a day with a 'y' in it -- there's a problematic Windows 11 update causing blue screens
Microsoft has once again been forced to mitigate a problem caused by a faulty update for Windows 11 with a Known Issue Rollback (KIR).
The KB5055523 update, release earlier this month is causing BSoDs and a 0x18B error. The same issue applies to the KB5053656 preview update from March. While it used to be possible to refer to KIRs as a rarely used fix for particularly serious issues, it is something Microsoft is falling back on more and more. The problem is, they don’t work for everyone.
Microsoft brings a new text extraction tool to Windows 11
We’re huge fans of PowerToys, and one of the greatest modules included in the utility collection is Text Extractor. As the name suggests, this provides a way to pull text out of images ready to edit and use in other documents. Microsoft has also added a similar tool to Microsoft Photos, and now the company has brought it to another area of Windows 11.
The increasingly useful and powerful Snipping Tool has been updated with a text extractor button in the app’s capture bar. This makes the process of copying text from your screen to the clipboard insanely quick and easy, eliminating the need to take a screenshot before extracting text.
Stylish Windows 11 replacement Nitrux is about to solve a big app headache for users
Nitrux, which is one of our favorite Linux-based Windows 11 alternatives, is rolling out a major upgrade to how users manage software on the system. The move, which is aimed at improving reliability and user control, replaces two aging tools -- the NX Software Center and the zap CLI -- with a new, purpose-built system called NX AppHub.
For those unfamiliar, Nitrux doesn’t use a traditional package manager like apt or rpm. Instead, it focuses on AppImages, which are self-contained applications that run independently of system libraries. Although this approach avoids dependency issues, it previously came with a rather major downside -- apps were often outdated or pulled from unreliable sources. That’s where NX AppHub comes in.
Manjaro Linux 25 now available for download
Great news, folks -- the developers of Manjaro have officially launched version 25 of the popular Linux distribution. Codenamed “Zetar,” this release delivers updated desktop environments, new features aimed at improving performance and usability, and expanded hardware support through the latest Linux kernel.
The GNOME edition now ships with version 48 of the desktop environment, a release first introduced in March 2025. One of the key features is notification stacking, which organizes alerts from the same app into expandable groups. GNOME 48 also includes dynamic triple buffering, a technology aimed at delivering smoother animations and reducing skipped frames.
Microsoft says that Windows 11 24H2 now plays nicely with wallpaper customization applications
Microsoft is starting the process of lifting a compatibility hold that was preventing some Windows 11 users from updating to Windows 11 24H2.
The block has been in place since September, stopping users with certain unnamed wallpaper customization applications from installing the latest version of the operating system. Microsoft has still not provided a list of the apps that it has, until now, considered troublesome, but says that it will “gradually remove this safeguard hold”.
Debian 12-based MX Linux 23.6 is the Windows 11 alternative of your dreams
You know what, folks? Sometimes, the best updates are the ones that don’t try too hard. That’s exactly the case with MX Linux 23.6. There’s no nonsense to be found here -- just a strong Linux distribution that continues to get better.
While Microsoft continues to push AI distractions and questionable design changes in Windows 11, MX Linux sticks to what matters: speed, stability, and letting the user stay in control. In fact, MX Linux 23.6 could truly be the Linux distribution of your dreams!
Microsoft says that an empty folder created by a system update increases Windows 11 security
Cast your mind back to just last week, and there was the usual chaos of problematic updates from Microsoft. But one of the more peculiar things about one of the updates was the creation an empty folder called inetpub after installing the KB5055523 update for Windows 11.
The appearance of this folder caused confusion, but failed to be explained by Microsoft. Users who were irritated by the folder materializing unbidden simply deleted it without side effects -- but now Microsoft has spoken out. The company says that the folder should not be deleted because it improves system security -- but leaves many questions unanswered.
Windows 7 Elite Edition fixes Microsoft's biggest Windows 11 mistake
Ever since Microsoft pulled the plug on support for Windows 7 in January 2020, many users have felt like something was missing. Known for its clean interface, reliability, and minimal bloat, Windows 7 struck a balance that newer versions of Microsoft Windows have struggled to replicate.
While Windows 10 and 11 have introduced modern features and visual updates, not everyone welcomes the shift, especially those who value simplicity and familiarity (and don't want AI features jammed in everywhere). For a lot of longtime Windows users, Windows 7 wasn’t just an operating system; it was the sweet spot in Microsoft’s design history, and its "end of life" marked the beginning of a long search for that classic experience in a modern shell.
From bland to beautiful: Seelen UI transforms Windows 10/11 into the OS it should be -- get it today!
If you’ve ever wished that Windows 10 or Windows 11 were a little less, well, boring, you’re not alone. Microsoft’s operating systems are functional, but they hardly wow in the design department.
Thankfully, Seelen UI is here to save the day. It’s a free tool that reimagines what a Windows desktop could look like and behave, providing users with everything they need to completely transform Microsoft’s OS. The customization features on offer allow you to craft a unique, stylish, and practical workspace.
Best Windows apps this week
Six-hundred-forty-two 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 released security updates for Windows this week that introduce a few new features to Windows 11 as well. The update creates a mysterious inetpub folder in the root drive next to that, which is empty and can be deleted.
Microsoft thinks its controversial Recall feature is ready for some Windows 11 users to try out... install it if you dare
When Microsoft first added the AI-powered Recall feature to Windows 11, it could hardly have been expecting the backlash that came from users. Concerns about privacy and security forced the company to delay the rollout of the activity and screen monitoring snapshot tool.
Now Microsoft thinks it has made the improvements required to calm the concerns of those who spoke out very loudly against the tool. A new preview version of Recall is making its way to some users right now.
Recent Headlines
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.