Meta has confirmed that it is working on a new "WhatsApp Plus" premium subscription tier for its messaging app, which will include perks such as the ability to send premium stickers, change the app’s theme and icon, pin up to 20 chats, and access custom ringtones. Subscribers will also get access to an "Update/Upgrade List" for their contacts.

Speaking to TechCrunch, Meta said that WhatsApp Plus is currently running as a "small test to gather feedback and ensure we’re building something people find genuinely valuable". The company did not specify pricing for the subscription, but WABetaInfo says it could cost around €2.49 per month in Europe, with a one-month free trial offered to some users.

WhatsApp Plus is part of Meta's latest mission to introduce subscription tiers across its services. Apart from WhatsApp Plus, the company is currently testing "Instagram Plus" in select countries like Mexico, Japan, and the Philippines. In Mexico, the service costs users roughly $2.20 USD per month.

Instagram Plus has several perks, including the ability to segment followers into multiple lists beyond just "Close Friends". Subscribers can also see exactly who has viewed their stories more than once. The plan gives users more control over their Stories, letting them preview a story before it goes live, extend its expiration from 24 to 48 hours, and even "spotlight" a story to push it to the top of their followers' feeds.

In other Meta news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly the subject of an internal project to build a photorealistic AI clone of himself. The company is training this digital "Zuckerbot" on his voice, tone, mannerisms, photos, public statements, and recent strategic thinking. The AI is being designed to hold real-time conversations, give advice, and help staff "feel more connected" to the founder.

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Posted Tuesday 21 April 2026 at 8:10 am AEST (my time).

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It has been just five days since Microsoft released its April Patch Tuesday update (KB5083769) and already people are starting to report more issues on Microsoft’s Learn Q&A pages. One that stood out was the update being suspected of creating a “death loop” for several users. It’s unclear how many people are experiencing these death loops but aside from the poster, one commenter said they were having the same issue and so were three other people in their company.

The poster, who goes by the name Vagabond Superstar, said they attempted to install the Patch Tuesday update for April, but their PC got stuck in a “death loop” (similar to the bug on Windows Server perhaps) where the screen shows a “mosaic of weird pixels” followed by a blue screen saying that Windows needs to be recovered. The user was then given an option to retry, but after attempting this, the computer went into a boot loop where it kept giving the message that it was attempting to repair the issue, then it would loop back through the pixelated screens.

Vagabond Superstar notes that their PC is a HP Pavillion 590-p0044. It has an AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 32GB RAM, GTX 1080ti GPU, and is running Windows 11 Home. Another commenter, who goes by the name “L M”, said they’re having exactly the same problem on a Dell Desktop and describes the pixelated screen and repairs similar to what the original poster said they experienced.

The final commenter to report the same issue was Thomas B who said they’ve been experiencing the same thing and so are another three people in their company who are no longer able to boot into Windows, potentially preventing them from accessing important work documents. Thomas B noted that they were able to uninstall the latest “Quality” update and get back into their system, but one of the users had a recovery environment that was so broken, they couldn’t get back into their system.

It isn’t clear if this issue is being caused directly by Microsoft or if there is some common driver or software issue affecting all of these users. Microsoft’s Q&A Assist, which is AI-generated, says that similar issues have been documented when a cumulative/security update corrupts boot-critical components or drivers, especially on some AMD-based systems.

It recommends going into the Window Recovery Environment, attempting a System Restore, then a Startup Repair, then a Local reinstall if the first two recommendations fail. You can find its detailed answer in the post’s comments section.

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Posted Monday 20 April 2026 at 5:41 pm AEST (my time).

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A few days ago we covered a Windows Server bug wherein systems were repeatedly restarting as a result of a compatibility conflict following the latest Patch Tuesday updates like KB5082063 and KB5082142.

This weekend, Microsoft has released multiple emergency out-of-band (OOB) updates for all supported versions of Windows Server. The company has fixed the problem as well as an installation bug. Microsoft writes:

"Microsoft has released out-of-band (OOB) updates today, April 19, 2026, to address issues introduced by the April 2026 Windows security update. ... A limited number of Windows Server 2025 devices might experience failures installing the April 2026 security update (KB5082063). In addition, some versions of Windows Server may experience domain controllers restarting repeatedly after installing the April 2026 security update. ... To address these issues, Microsoft has released OOB updates for the Windows Server versions"

As part of the improvements in the changelog, Microsoft writes:

"This out-of-band update contains quality improvements from KB5082063 (released April 14, 2026).

• [Domain controllers (known issue)] Fixed: After installing the April 14, 2026, Windows security update (KB5082063) and restarting, domain controllers with multi-domain forests that use Privileged Access Management (PAM), might experience startup issues. In some cases, Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) might stop responding, leading to repeated restarts, and preventing authentication and directory services, which can make the domain unavailable.
• [Windows update installation] Fixed: A small number of Windows Server 2025 devices might fail to install the April 14, 2026, Windows security update (KB5082063). When this issue occurs, affected devices might display one of the following error messages: “Install error: 0x800F0983” or “Some update files are missing or have problems. We’ll try to download the update again later. Error code: 0x80073712.”"

The BitLocker recovery bug, though, still remains as a known issue. You can find the official support articles here on Microsoft's official website.

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Posted Monday 20 April 2026 at 5:39 pm AEST (my time).

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Out of the box, Windows 11 looks polished and modern, but many of its default choices steer the system toward background services, recommendations, and cloud integration rather than straightforward user control.

That design makes setup feel seamless for some, but it also enables telemetry, promotional prompts, automatic background processes, and forced sign‑in flows that can clutter the Start menu, drain resources, and erode privacy.

This new Windows guide walks through the 14 default configurations that most often cause friction — from web results in Start and persistent diagnostic data to post‑setup prompts, preinstalled apps, and Edge startup behavior — and explains exactly what to change and why.

Let's get into it.

Windows 11's worst default settings

Windows 11 includes several default settings that can affect performance, privacy, and usability. Some are useful for convenience, but others may not suit every user. Here are the key ones worth changing and why.

1. Web results in Start search

By default, the Start menu blends local search results with web suggestions powered by Bing. Instead of prioritizing apps, files, and settings, it often surfaces online content.

Windows 11 has over a billion users, but we all know that it isn't perfect, obviously. Although there are several third-party tools that you can use to improve your experience, there also several built-in configurations that you can leverage to the same effect. Here is a list of 10 tweaks, in no particular order, that you can make to your Windows 11 experience more enjoyable. Each of these should take around a minute to execute, which means that you should be done in about 10 minutes.

1 - Turn off Start menu recommendations

Although this was already a thing in Windows 10, the problem regarding recommended apps became a lot more apparent in Windows 11. Microsoft shows a series of suggestions regarding apps and files that you should use when you open the Start menu. Some find this experience intrusive and consider them "ads" trying to upsell Microsoft Store software, but Microsoft simply considers them recommendations. Different strokes for different folks. The good thing is that you can easily turn these off by simply heading over to Settings > Personalization > Start.

2 - Show file extensions

Consider this a matter of personal preference, but I like to know the file format of the content on my PC. This can also be useful in a number of cases where certain tools don't accept certain formats so if I have, for example, an image file in the .JFIF format that isn't consider a friendly format by my image processing software, I can immediately know about that rather than hitting errors later. It also improves your cybersecurity posture as you reduce the risk of accidentally running and opening malicious content. You can toggle on file extensions in File Explorer by clicking on View > Show > File name extensions.

3 - Enable dark mode (or Night Light)

Some people do not really appreciate being blinded by bright displays, especially while working in low-light environments. Although reducing your display's brightness manually is one option, there are a couple of other more desirable configurations built-in as well. One involves enabling dark mode through Settings > Personalization > Colors, and the other requires you turn on Night Light from the Taskbar. The former does not offer a scheduling mechanism unfortunately, but you can enable it through the Light Switch PowerToys. You can also use these two capabilities together. Dark mode also just looks cool while Night Light can reduce eye strain by getting rid of blue light.

4 - Disable unnecessary startup apps

Certain apps get themselves registered as startup apps upon installation. What this means is that they'll automatically launch as soon you boot up your PC. This can lead to slower boot times and a sluggish experience. The good news is that you can monitor this list of apps and their impact, and get rid of the ones you don't need to launch immediately through Settings > Apps > Startup.

5 - Turn off background permissions for apps

Certain apps have the ability run in the background, silently consuming compute resources and battery life. While they may go unnoticed if you are not resource-constrained, you may experience performance degradation if there are many apps running the background. You can simply turn off background permissions for individual apps by heading over to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, where you can click on the three-dot menu for a specific app and click on Advanced options.

6 - Snap Layouts

I still think Snap Layouts is one of the best Windows 11 features, especially considering how intuitive it is and the wonders it can do for your productivity. I wrote about this back in 2021, but in a nutshell, it allows you to quickly "snap" a window to one of the predefined areas if you hover over the maximize button. Check out the screenshot above.

7 - Simplify your Taskbar

The Taskbar is among the most controversial UX in Windows 11. Although Microsoft has promised to fix it to some extent, there are already some settings that you can leverage to get rid of extraneous stuff that you don't need. If you right-click on the Taskbar and click Taskbar settings, you'll be able to get rid of the search bar, Task View, Widgets, and Resume.

8 - Enable Clipboard History

As I have said before, Clipboard History is an extremely underrated feature packaged in Windows 11. Consider it a supercharged version of the standard ctrl + c, ctrl + v experience as it allows you to save up to 25 items, even rich content like emoji. In addition, it syncs history across connected devices, which is very cool. You can trigger it with the Win + V shortcut.

9 - Configure default apps

Windows 11 has a rather controversial history when it comes to allowing user-configured default apps. I remember bashing this experience back in 2021, but things have improved considerably, with signs of more to come. Regardless, one of the best ways to feel in control of your PC is by setting your preferred default apps. This can be accomplished through Settings > Apps > Default apps, and although I have experienced Windows 11 resetting my configurations after an update - which is something I have seen others complain about too - I haven't been able to reliably reproduce this bug. However, this should not stop you from using your desired apps, it's just a chore sometimes.

10 - Play around with notification settings

Notifications can be pretty intrusive, especially if they get triggered when you are actively engaged in any work or play activity. Fortunately, Windows 11 offers several built-in configurations to customize this experience according to your liking. This includes settings for scheduling Do not Disturb (DnD), setting priority notifications, managing notification sounds, and a lot more, all available through Settings > System > Notifications.

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Posted Monday 20 April 2026 at 6:54 am AEST (my time).

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KDE Plasma fans are finally getting a feature they have been requesting as far back as 2005: Per-screen virtual desktops, coming to Plasma 6.7, according to the KDE team's latest "This Week in Plasma" report.

This feature is already standard in many Linux tiling window managers (like i3, xmonad, and Hyprland). When you have two monitors, for example, you will be able to switch between workspaces on your primary monitor while keeping a video, a reference document, or a presentation slide static and visible on your secondary monitor.

Before this update landed on KDE, switching virtual desktops in a standard multi-monitor setup changed the workspace across all monitors simultaneously. For a long time, implementing per-screen virtual desktops was considered hard to implement because of the X11 display server's design.

The Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH), the standard X11 uses for window states, assumes a single active desktop, so any deviation would cause your apps to misbehave. But now, with KDE ditching X11 for Wayland as its default, this limitation is gone as Wayland's new ext-workspace protocol provides a modern way to handle this exact scenario.

KDE's implementation works a bit differently from dedicated tiling window managers like i3 or Hyprland, where you might see something like Workspace 6 always opening on Monitor 2. The developers insisted that the core request for decoupled desktops was addressed and that anyone wanting strict binding was free to open a new request.

Other highlights from "This Week in Plasma" include a new "Badge" component from the Kirigami framework that is now used across many Plasma applications for a more consistent look. The team also improved the design of Discover's store pages to show more information, allowed System Monitor to tell GPUs apart by their actual names instead of just numbers, and updated the Kicker menu to highlight newly-installed applications.

As for the bug fixes, Plasma 6.6.5 (dropping next month) will fix a KWin crash that could happen on logout if you used any emulated keyboard or mouse events. The update also corrects a screen locker bug where pressing the Escape key could leave you unable to unlock your session, a color picker issue that returned random colors for some users, and a problem where the lockscreen clock would show different times on each of your monitors.

And in Plasma 6.7, apps in the Quick Launch widget can finally be rearranged again. The Audio Volume widget will also properly notice when a new audio device is connected and set as the default.

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Posted Monday 20 April 2026 at 6:52 am AEST (my time).

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Windows 11 has been around for almost five years at this point, and it wouldn't be wrong to say that it's been a rocky journey for the OS so far. Microsoft has promised to resolve some major pain points faced by users of the OS and also return some missing functionalities people have been clamoring for. As it continues to fix some of these problems, I believe that one aspect in particular is still not getting attention. Microsoft has powerful automation capabilities available in Windows 11 already, but it has been ignoring them for the past several years.

Some of you may not be aware since it's never a part of Microsoft's advertising for Windows 11, but the operating system does come with a built-in automation tool called Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc) that is over 30 years old. This is an ancient tool that hasn't received a significant upgrade in several years. In fact, version 2.0 of the software was released with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and well, it certainly shows. Remember how I said that Microsoft doesn't advertise Task Scheduler for its latest OS? That's the reason: it seems to be stuck in the past.

On paper, Task Scheduler sounds like a very powerful utility. You can use it to build tasks that can be automated based on certain triggers and events, or based on a time schedule. However, in reality, a lot of its functionalities are deprecated, it isn't compatible with most modern software, and if you were to try it out for the first time today, you would feel very overwhelmed by the outdated UX, the plethora of options, and the complicated jargon. Perhaps the reason for this is also that it is primarily meant for IT admins, even though it has so much potential to be consumer-oriented.

Microsoft has been a big proponent of productivity in Windows 11. Most of its marketing revolves around how Copilot and AI tools can do work on your behalf. But this ideology is in stark contrast to what's already available and can be used or even enhanced for the same purpose. Imagine just launching Copilot (or whatever Microsoft may end up calling it in Windows 11) and telling it to "Clean my Downloads folder on a weekly basis, zip it, and archive it on the 😧 drive". Copilot leverages Task Scheduler as an invisible bridge and simply creates a task on the backend along with the necessary triggers. It's honestly a bit surprising that Microsoft isn't working along these lines already, at least publicly. It's such a useful productivity tool to have on your fingertips, provided that it works reliably.

But even if you don't trust Copilot to build automated flows on your behalf, Task Scheduler should be modernized to the point that everyday users should not feel friction while leveraging it directly either. In fact, Microsoft has a blueprint for this already. The company has a tool called Power Automate which comes bundled with Microsoft 365. It already contains templates of flows that allow you to configure automations with various apps, file types, and even the browser. This low-code, GUI-based tool has a slight learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you can set up very complex, customized automation flows as well. Of course, there are limitations with the included license, but there is just so much potential here to utilize the same learning and modernize an ancient tool like Task Scheduler.

Windows 11 is an incredibly complex piece of software, but this is one area where it doesn't necessarily have to be. Automation shouldn't be fragmented across Task Scheduler, Power Automate, and batch files, none of which are easily discoverable or usable for the ordinary user right now. I strongly believe that not combining all of these capabilities inside a unified and modern automation platform is such a missed opportunity from Microsoft to make Windows 11 truly feel like a powerhouse.

Sure, AI is changing how we interact with the technology around us and it will continue to transform this experience even further. But, one of the core principles behind most of its utilities right now is automation, be it in processes like code generation or image generation. As such, it is frankly astounding that Microsoft is not capitalizing on this potential by showing Task Scheduler some love. It doesn't have to integrate it with Copilot or merge it with Power Automate Desktop, just make it usable with better compatibility for the average user. There are some isolated third-party efforts underway to modernize Task Scheduler, but Microsoft already owns the keys to the kingdom, why wait for others to steal your thunder?

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Posted Sunday 19 April 2026 at 5:34 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft releases various Windows updates including quality updates, feature updates, security fixes, and more, via the Windows Update channel. The latest one published this week, for example, is the April 2026 Patch Tuesday update including new OS recovery releases.

However, these updates can get blocked for some reasons like safeguard holds, wherein Microsoft stops an update on purpose in case there is a known compatibility issue on certain devices. A manual delay initiated by the user may also be in place. Besides those, Windows updates can also be blocked due to limited storage. The OS understands this and Microsoft notes that "before the installation process starts, Windows checks to make sure there’s enough storage space on your device for the installation process and for these new features and security improvements. If there isn’t enough space, you’ll be prompted to free up storage."

There are several popular third-party, unofficial Windows apps available for the purpose of removal of 'junk' files including controversial ones like CCleaner.

Microsoft itself also offers its own version of PC optimizer and performance boosting app called the "Microsoft PC Manager" and much like certain third-party apps, it too has had its fair share of critics and for good reasons.

In a support article that was updated sometime after the release of Windows 11 version 24H2, the tech giant has outlined in some good bit of detail on how to use official native tools like Storage Sense, Disk Cleanup, and more. All of these features are available inside Windows for free. While the article had already existed, these tools were not mentioned before for some reason, even though they have had existed for a long time. We discovered this while scouring support documents.

First, we have Storage Sense which essentially automatically frees up the system drive (the Windows installation drive or C:) space by getting rid of items that you no longer need, like temporary files and items in your Recycle Bin. Typically, the setting is not enabled on Windows 10/11 by default; you can check and switch it on by visiting Settings > System > Storage and toggling Storage Sense to "On" if it is not already.

Up next, Microsoft discusses Disk Cleanup, which also helps clear up lots of space across your different disk drives. It works by first scanning the selected drive, say C:, and then letting the user choose what they want to delete.

Microsoft also notes that by opting for the elevated "Clean up system files" option, users can free up "several gigabytes" of storage space. That is because the system files also include Windows Update Cleanup alongside the likes of Delivery Optimization Files (something we recently covered), DirectX Shader cache, and more.

Additional elevated options feature removal of system restore points and volume shadow copies though neither Neowin nor Microsoft recommends you do that unless you have some specific reasons to.

It is very important that users pay attention to the chosen options here on Disk Cleanup, since in the past, Microsoft had even attempted to delete the entire Downloads folder.

Besides these free software-based fixes, Microsoft also mentions using an external storage to carry out the update. The company says that the external drive must have 10 GB of free space to proceed. If that's ensured, you can go ahead with the external download via the "Fix Issues" option. You can view the official support article here on Microsoft's site.

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Posted Sunday 19 April 2026 at 2:18 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft earlier this week released its latest Patch Tuesday update, the release is for the month of April 2026. On Windows 11 under KB5083769 and KB5082052, the new update brings a major Remote Desktop-related change, among other things. There have been bugs too, like a BitLocker recovery bug as well as another one where Windows Server systems keep restarting.

Alongside the Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft also released new dynamic updates for Windows 11 and 10. For those who may not know, dynamic updates bring improvements to the Windows Recovery process in the form of Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) updates, which are also called Safe OS updates. The dynamic updates also affect the Setup file binaries in the form of Setup updates.

These Dynamic Update packages are meant to be applied to existing Windows images prior to their deployment. Dynamic Updates also help preserve Language Pack (LP) and Features on Demand (FODs) content during the upgrade process. VBScript, for example, is currently an FOD on Windows 11 24H2.

This time, only recovery updates were released. The company writes:

"KB5083817: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 26H1: April 14, 2026

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery environment (WinRE).

KB5083826: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, versions 24H2 and 25H2: April 14, 2026

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery environment (WinRE).

KB5087371: Windows Recovery Environment update for Windows 10, version 21H2 and 22H2: April 14, 2026

This update automatically applies Safe OS Dynamic Update (KB5082241) to the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) on a running PC. The update installs improvements to Windows recovery features.
NOTE This update requires 250 MB of free space in the recovery partition to install successfully.

KB5082241: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 10, versions 21H2 and 22H2: April 14, 2026

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery environment (WinRE).

KB5082240: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 10, version 1809 and Windows Server 2019: April 14, 2026

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery environment (WinRE)."

Microsoft notes that both the Recovery and Setup updates will be downloaded and installed automatically via the Windows Update channel.

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Posted Sunday 19 April 2026 at 7:49 am AEST (my time).

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It is time for a new list of 10 useful apps for Windows 10 and 11 that can boost productivity, make the operating system more convenient, capable, or just plain fun. In our 2026 edition, we have cross-platform apps for file transfer, screen time utilities, powerful text expanders, notification tweakers, Task Manager replacements, and more.

Without any particular order, here are 10 cool apps for your Windows PC:

1. Blip

Free in the Microsoft Store.

Google managed to make Android compatible with AirDrop on iOS and Mac, but Windows, unfortunately, remains incompatible. However, if you have an iPhone, Mac, or any other device, including Android, you can try Blip, a cross-platform file transfer app. Blip works like AirDrop, allowing you to transfer files locally via Wi-Fi or even across the internet. It also lets you beam files to other people if you have their contacts.

Blip is free, cross-platform, and it gets extra points for using Windows 11's native UI framework. In a few weeks of using it, Blip proved to be a reliable and fast way to transfer files.

2. MagicPods

$1.99 in the Microsoft Store

MagicPods makes Apple's earbuds and headphones more friendly to Windows PCs. With it, you can track your AirPods / Beats (it also supports certain Sony and Samsung models) battery, customize various features, such as what happens when you take off earbuds, set custom shortcuts, and even use dedicated Windows widgets.

While MagicPods is not free, $1.99 is a very small price to pay for such a feature-rich program.

3. WindowSill

Free in the Microsoft Store with in-app purchases

WindowSill is a taskbar-like app with multiple modules to give you quick access to various widget-like apps and commands. It sits on top of your taskbar and offers stuff like media controls, AI writing tools, resource monitoring, image tools, meeting controls, URL tools, and more. It comes with plenty of extensions by default, but you can download more from the official website.

WindowSill works with various AI models, and you can connect your own API keys or subscribe to WindowSill+ to use built-in AI. You can set your own custom prompts and rules and pin them for quick access. My favorite extensions include the hardware monitor widget (CPU, RAM, and GPU usage), quick notifications, app launcher, and AI text tools. Soon, WindowSill will let you run scripts and commands without copying them to Windows Terminal.

4. AppControl

Free on the official website

AppControl is an advanced Task Manager for Windows 10 and 11. Its primary trick is activity history, which lets you track app launches, resource load, and other vital data over the last three days. This helps you understand app behavior on your computer and troubleshoot issues if necessary. AppControl can also warn you when unknown processes spawn, check detailed descriptions for each process, monitor CPU/GPU temperature, and more.

If the stock Task Manager is not enough for you, AppControl is a solid alternative to the stock experience.

5. Windows 11 Context Menu Manager

Free on GitHub

I use this app to clean Windows 11's context menus and improve their performance. Apps clutter Windows 11's already slow menus, and as entries grow, performance gets absolutely miserable, not to mention having redundant or completely useless options like opening videos in Notepad. Windows 11 Context Menu Manager lets you remove all third-party apps from context menus with a couple of clicks, and it is a complete must-have for each Windows 11 user.

6. PeekDesktop

Free on GitHub

This small app was inspired by macOS Sonoma and its feature that minimizes all apps by simply clicking on the desktop. Click anywhere on the desktop, and all apps go away. Click again, and the open windows return to their positions. Of course, this app's target audience is users who keep stuff on their desktops, but it is also a solid substitute for Windows 11's stock bottom-right "Show desktop" button.

By the way, PeekDesktop was developed by a Microsoft engineer, Scott Hanselman.

7. Raycast

Free in the Microsoft Store

Raycast is a powerful, feature-rich launcher that recently came from macOS to Windows. For now, it is available for free during the beta testing period. Once that is over, some of its features will be locked behind a subscription.

You can use Raycast to launch apps, execute commands, do calculations, ask AI, find files, and more. It is particularly good at finding apps on Windows, where the stock file search is infamous for being absolutely terrible at its job. You can also assign commands for quick system actions, use Raycast as a "Run" replacement, and more.

Like WindowSill, Raycast is highly modular and configurable, which makes it very flexible and adaptable to different setups and workflows. Raycast is also good at quick AI chats when you need to look up something without launching ChatGPT or Copilot. Just press Win + Spacebar, enter your question, and hit Tab.

8. TopNotify

Free in the Microsoft Store

TopNotify is a more niche app in this list, and not everyone may find it useful. With this tool, you can change where Windows 11 notifications appear, a convenient feature on extra-large or white monitors. It also lets you make notifications transparent and enable click-through. Click-through is a useful feature when playing games, as it prevents accidental app switching when a notification appears. You can still read it, but clicking it no longer kicks you out of what you are currently playing.

9. Espanso

Free on the official website

Espanso is a powerful text-expanding app that lets you automate various text inputs. For example, you can type ":date" and it will automatically paste today's date. You can create custom rules to paste emojis, special symbols, email templates, code snippets, or anything else you want to automate. All you need is a semicolon and a command (you can also click Alt + Space to see the list of all commands). There is also an extension hub where you can download custom-made packages from other users.

The main downside is that there is currently no dedicated GUI for configuring snippets, so you will have to learn the app's syntax and edit it in a text editor.

10. Scolect

Free in the Microsoft Store

Windows 11 lacks built-in tools for tracking screen time, so this free app from the Microsoft Store fixes that. Like Apple's Screen Time or Google's Digital Wellbeing, Scolect tracks how much time you spend in each app and generates reports with the ability to export them to Excel. The app is free, and developers claim that it stays fully local, with no data being sent anywhere.

What I like about Scolect is that you can create custom categories and assign categories to each app. Also, it lets you flag apps as productive or unproductive to better understand your screen time quality. There are also alerts, time limits, trends, break reminders, and a dedicated focus mode with a pomodoro timer.

Overall, Scolect is a very helpful productivity tool for controlling screen time. I only wish it had a snappier, more Windows 11-like user interface, but despite being a bit sluggish, it gets its job done very well.

If you want more useful apps, you can check some of our previous articles here, here, and here.

If you know other great Windows 10 and 11 apps, share them in the comment section!

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Posted Sunday 19 April 2026 at 7:47 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has released the latest Friday Windows 11 preview builds in the Dev and Beta Channels for Windows Insiders. Build 26300.8276 is out in the Dev Channel, while build 26220.8271 is available in the Beta Channel.

Today's updates include improvements to the Settings app and privacy settings, Windows Hello enhancements, a new search bar for File Explorer, faster clipboard history, and better font rendering for certain languages.

Here is the changelog with all the features that are rolling out gradually (Microsoft is ditching gradual rollouts soon😞

[Settings]

• Based on feedback, we’re providing clarity regarding location options in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location. When Location Services is turned off, options like Default location and Allow location override are unavailable because apps and services aren’t receiving location info. To make that clearer, these options will now appear disabled (greyed out) until Location Services is turned back on.
• We have improved the reliability of navigating to Settings > Apps > Installed apps.

[File Explorer]

• We have updated iconography placement in the File Explorer search box to be more consistent across different PCs.

  

   

• Improved File Explorer reliability.
• Improved navigation pane usage for Voice Access users.

[Windows Hello]

• Improved reliability and performance of Windows Hello fingerprint after your PC wakes from sleep.

[Input]

• Improved performance of opening the clipboard history.

[Fonts]

• We’ve made some font improvements, including updating the Leelawadee UI font family for the Thai, Lao, Khmer, and Lontara scripts to help improve glyph sequencing, positioning, and rendering for these scripts.

You can find the announcement post for the Dev Channel here and the Beta Channel here.

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Posted Saturday 18 April 2026 at 7:40 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has released a couple of new Windows 11 builds for Insiders flighting the Canary channel. The first build, 28020.1863, under KB5083725, fixes sign-in problems related to internet connectivity. Meanwhile, the second build, 29570.1000, adds a new way to remove preinstalled Microsoft apps, improves context menu, and more.

First we have the changelog for build 28020.1863:

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out with toggle on*

• This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

[General]

• Fixed an issue that prevented some apps from signing in due to a false report of no internet connectivity.

Up next, we have build 29570.1000:

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out with toggle on*

• This update includes platform changes in moving to a new active development build.

[Gaming]

• Xbox mode is now available on Windows 11 PCs, including laptops, desktops, and tablets. Inspired by the Xbox console experience, Xbox mode offers a streamlined, full‑screen interface that puts your games front and center while minimizing background distractions. Xbox mode is designed for those moments when you want to lean back, pick up a controller, and focus on the game. Enter Xbox mode from the Xbox app, Game Bar settings, or by pressing Win + F11. For more information, see Full screen experience expands to more Windows 11 PC form factors.

[Policy-Based Removal of Preinstalled Microsoft Apps]

• This update adds support for a dynamic app removal list to the “Remove Default Microsoft Store packages” policy for Windows Enterprise and Education. Administrators can remove additional MSIX/APPX-packaged apps by specifying their app package family names using Group Policy. The dynamic list is not currently available in Intune Settings Catalog. Validation must be performed using Group Policy or custom OMA-URI. For more information, see Policy-based in-box app removal.

[Context Menu]

• When right clicking on a .exe, .bat, or .cmd file, the context menu’s “Open” verb will now match the icon associated with the file’s default app.

[Touchpad]

• We’re adding a new setting in Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touchpad so you can choose how large the right-click zone size is (this is the portion in the bottom-right of your touchpad where pressing a single finger will result in a right-click), between default, small, medium, and large. Note – this setting only appears for touchpads that have a pressable surface for this. Some manufacturers may provide customization for this in their own apps – if you’ve customized your setting using an app like this, a “Custom” entry will be added to the dropdown, which preserves that value.

[Lock screen]

• More widget options and support for lock screen widget personalization (previously referred to as “Weather and more”) are rolling out. After initial launch with Windows Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA), these updates are expanding to all regions. You can add, remove, and rearrange lock screen widgets such as Weather, Watchlist, Sports, Traffic, and more. Any widget that supports the small sizing option can be added. To customize your lock screen widgets, go to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen.

[Input]

• Pen settings: we have made refinements to the Pen settings page including small changes to the options for the pen tail button. A new option, “Same as Copilot key”, enables the pen tail button to launch the same app as the Copilot key.

The official blog post is linked here (link1, link2) on Microsoft's site.

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Posted Saturday 18 April 2026 at 7:39 am AEST (my time).

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In 2025, Microsoft introduced a redesigned Start menu to address user feedback and bring some much-needed, long-requested features. While the new version is indeed significantly better than what Microsoft shipped in 2021, it is still far from perfect and is missing some important things. The good news is that Microsoft is redoing the Start menu once again.

According to a newly published report, Microsoft is reworking the Start menu using WinUI 3, with the main goal of improving performance and making it more customizable. If you often use your PC under heavy load, you probably know how slow the Start menu can be. With the upcoming redesign, Microsoft wants to make the Start menu snappy and responsive even under 100% resource load.

It is not just performance, though. A major point of criticism is the inability to resize the Start menu. While Windows 11 can adjust the menu's size per your monitor settings, there is no way to resize it manually, unless you use third-party mods like Windhawk. It is a stark contrast to Windows 10, where you can resize the Start menu by simply holding and dragging one of its edges. Details remain scarce, but the report claims that you will be able to switch between small and large layouts.

Finally, Microsoft wants to make the Start menu more modular. In the current version, you can remove the Recommended section (finally!), but some other major elements remain always on (again, unless you opt for third-party mods). The "third-generation" Start menu should fix that by letting you disable pins, app groups, the list of all apps, and recommendations.

With Microsoft recently revealing its plan to fix Windows 11, it makes sense for the company to focus on the Start menu, the most iconic and widely used part of the operating system. This, in addition to Windows Update changes, taskbar updates, a redesigned Windows Insider program, and many more, should make a solid effort to reignite the long-gone enthusiasm and excitement in Windows.

Source: Windows Central

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Posted Saturday 18 April 2026 at 7:38 am AEST (my time).

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Earlier this week Microsoft released its latest Patch Tuesday update for April 2026. On Windows 11 under KB5083769 and KB5082052, the new update brings a major Remote Desktop-related change, among other things, though there are bugs too; like the one forcing BitLocker recovery and another one leading to repeated restarts, though that's on Servers.

Microsoft however says these issues do not affect home PCs, and so if you wish to, you can download and install the update via Windows Update in the settings. But if you want to run a clean install using a USB flash drive or other such bootable media, then the Media Creation Tool (MCT) is now offering the Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2 April 2026 Patch Tuesday updates.

Most of you probably already are very familiar with what it is and how it helps, but for those who may not, it is essentially Microsoft's official bootable ISO media creation utility. It downloads Windows 11/10, and currently the company's Windows Update servers are delivering the latest available KB5083769 (build 26200.8246 on 25H2).

Interestingly, Microsoft has not updated the MCT version as it remains at 10.0.26100.7019 (spotted by Deskmodder). After the Windows 11 25H2 feature update release, the MCT got quite a bit buggy as both Windows 11 and 10 were experiencing bugs and issues. The timing of that was a bit ironic on Windows 10 considering the OS just ran out of support and Microsoft was encouraging users to update to Windows 11, and the Media Creation Tool was probably one of the first things people were trying to use.

If you are worried about those, you need not be. That is because the new version of the MCT app contains fixes for Windows 11, and though the latest ESU Windows 10 patch is not available via it, the issues there have been fixed too.

To download it, head to Microsoft's official website at the following links: Windows 11 | Windows 10, and navigate down the page to the "Create Windows 11/Windows 10 Installation Media" section. It should be bundled with the latest available Windows Defender update at the time of writing.

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Posted Saturday 18 April 2026 at 7:37 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft earlier this week released its latest Patch Tuesday update, the release is for the month of April 2026. On Windows 11 under KB5083769 and KB5082052, the new update brings a major Remote Desktop-related change, among other things.

As is often the case though, the new update has introduced new bugs. Microsoft already confirmed a BitLocker recovery bug that affects Windows clients (Windows 11 and 10) as well as Server systems. Speaking of which, Microsoft today has confirmed another issue affecting Server systems as it reports domain controllers (DCs) restarting repeatedly as a result of a new conflict between PAM and LSASS.

Microsoft explains: "After installing the April 2026 Windows security update (KB5082063/KB5082142) and rebooting, non‑Global Catalog (non‑GC) domain controllers (DCs) in environments that use Privileged Access Management (PAM), might experience LSASS crashes during startup. As a result, affected DCs may restart repeatedly, preventing authentication and directory services from functioning, and potentially rendering the domain unavailable" The company also adds that in some environments, the bug can also be encountered when setting up a new DC or on existing DCs if authentication requests are processed very early during startup.

For anyone wondering, Local Security Authority Server Service or the LSASS process helps validate and authenticate users for local and remote sign-ins by enforcing local security policies. Meanwhile, Privileged Access Management or PAM helps administrators restrict privileged access within an existing and isolated Active Directory (AD) environment. It is only recommended for spaces that are not connected to the internet. PAM essentially adds protection by making it harder for attackers to access a network and obtain privileged account access.

In terms of a workaround, Microsoft has urged IT administrators to reach out to Microsoft Support for business to access a mitigation. The said mitigation can be applied to affected devices that already have installed the new buggy April 2026 update. It will also work even in case the new Windows Server update has not yet been downloaded and installed. The tech giant says it is working on a fix.

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Posted Saturday 18 April 2026 at 7:36 am AEST (my time).

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It's driver update time for Intel integrated and discreet GPU owners, as the company has now pushed out the 32.0.101.8724 non-WHQL release. This one is adding day-one support for Capcom's brand-new action game Pragmata that released earlier today. Other than that, there is a handful of bug fixes included in this release too.

Speaking of bug fixes, Intel's driver team has begun its work on Crimson Desert. The game refused to run on Intel graphics at launch, and only after a community backlash did the developer promise to bring support. With this driver, the corruption effects on plants should go away when playing the open-world adventure.

Here are the fixed and known issues of this release:

Fixed Issues:

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Crimson Desert (DX12) may exhibit flickering corruption on plants during gameplay.
• No Man’s Sky (VK) may exhibit corruptions on certain terrains during gameplay.
• Adobe Premiere Pro may experience an application crash when exporting HEVC codec based media on Microsoft Windows OS 26200.7840 or later.

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Crimson Desert (DX12) may exhibit flickering corruption on plants during gameplay.

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• No Man’s Sky (VK) may exhibit corruptions on certain terrains during gameplay.

Known Issues:

Intel Core Series 3 with built-in Intel GPUs:

• Fortnite (DX12) may experience a system crash on launch.

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• The Finals (DX12) may experience an intermittent application crash.
• Mafia: The Old Country (DX12) may experience an application crash during gameplay.

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain water surfaces during gameplay.
• Dune: Awakening (DX12) may exhibit flickering corruptions during gameplay.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio may experience an intermittent application crash while running the benchmark. Recommendation is to change the timeout slider to 1500 seconds or higher, to wait for each test to complete, in PugetBench benchmark settings.

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Crimson Desert (DX12) may exhibit corruption when using upscaling during gameplay.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio may experience an intermittent application crash while running the benchmark. Recommendation is to change the timeout slider to 1500 seconds or higher, to wait for each test to complete, in PugetBench benchmark settings.

Intel Core Ultra Series 1 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Battlefield 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain maps during gameplay.

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain water surfaces during gameplay.
• Battlefield 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain maps during gameplay on some notebooks with Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs.

The non-WHQL Intel graphics driver 32.0.101.8724 is now available for download from Intel. Here's the official changelog (PDF).

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Posted Saturday 18 April 2026 at 7:33 am AEST (my time).

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If you have a PC with a supported NVIDIA GeForce graphics, you can download a new driver with optimizations for two games and a single gaming fix. NVIDIA has released driver 596.21 WHQL featuring DLSS 4.5 support for PRAGMATA, NTE (Neverness to Everness), and Windrose.

NVIDIA often bundles new games with its graphics cards, and this time, it offers the same with PRAGMATA. You can get a free copy of the game by purchasing a qualifying GeForce RTX 5090, 5080, 5070 Ti, or 5070 graphics card or a laptop with a corresponding laptop GPU. Additionally, PRAGMATA is now available on GeForce NOW, which allows those without a powerful PC to enjoy the game about fighting AI controlling a space station alongside an android.

PRAGMATA will be available on April 17 on Windows, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

In addition, NVIDIA has updated Project G-Assist, an AI-powered feature in the NVIDIA App that helps you optimize and tune your computer to achieve the highest possible framerate using natural language (voice or text commands). The latest version now provides more accurate recommendations through an improved knowledge system. It can also better detect misconfigured settings in e-sports titles and configure various RTX features, such as DLSS Override, Smooth Motion, RTX HDR, Digital Vibrance, and encoder settings.

As for fixed bugs, there is only one resolved issue:

• Arknights: Endfield: stutter may be observed in some gameplay.

There is also one known bug:

• God of War: Ragnarok: Certain textures may intermittently flash white during gameplay.

You can download NVIDIA's latest driver from the official website or via the NVIDIA App. It supports 64-bit Windows 10 and 11. As for hardware, NVIDIA supports the GTX 16 / RTX 20 Series and newer. Full release notes are available here.

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Posted Friday 17 April 2026 at 7:40 am AEST (my time).

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For the past couple of years, Microsoft has been trying different tactics to get people to use its Edge browser, such as the chance to win monetary rewards. However, some deem these strategies as shady, with a browser collective consisting of Google and Opera claiming that Microsoft is actually bribing people to use Edge. Well, it appears that this criticism has fallen on deaf ears at Microsoft, as the company has started showing another promotion that rewards users for switching to Edge.

I don't use Edge except to open PDFs, because I'm lazy when it comes to switching this particular default configuration. So, while I was opening a press release PDF from a firm, I came across a new promotion in Edge, taking significant real estate on my display.

Once again, it appears that Microsoft is offering massive prizes worth millions of dollars if you switch to Edge and continue using the functionalities integrated in it. The headliner, as can be seen in the screenshot below, offers $1 million dollars in cash, or a car if you win its latest sweepstakes. It also displays a QR code that enables you to download Edge on your phone.

Curious, I clicked on the terms and conditions, and this where another interesting behavior became apparent to me. The promotion does not go away if you open new tabs, it persists across each page unless you manually close it or snooze it, more on that later.

The terms and conditions showed multiple ways to increase your entries for the sweepstakes prize. This involves visiting the sweepstakes page, sharing personalized links to the page with friends and family, using the Microsoft Rewards extension, redeeming Microsoft Rewards rewards, leveraging the Bing and Copilot mobile apps, and trying Bing Image Creator, Video Creator, and Copilot Search.

There are other PC-specific ways to increase your chances of winning too. You can enable OneDrive backups on Windows 10 and Windows 11, set Edge as your default browser on PC, view the Lenovo and Acer Copilot+ PC product pages, use the Microsoft Store. And I am barely scratching the surface over here. There are tons of other ways too, involving the downloading of apps and games, and more.

The sweepstakes is open to residents of the U.S. and a few countries in Europe, along with Canada and Mexico. The grand prize is $1 million, but the promo highlights some luxury Mercedes-AMG cars as well.

Now, in terms of skipping the promo banner. You can either close it using the "x" button or snooze for an unspecified period of time. Additionally, you have the option to disable these "recommendations" (as Microsoft calls them) for a week, or this particular promo forever.

Regardless of the prizes on offer, many will consider this behavior intrusive, especially since it directly obstructs the browsing experience. The disablement of recommendations also doesn't give the option to disable all recommendations forever, just this particular one. You can expect some backlash to originate from consumers and other browser vendors regarding the latest "bribe" as this promo starts to appear for more users.

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Posted Friday 17 April 2026 at 7:39 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has just released the latest version of Visual Studio Code, version 1.116. For those who don’t know, VS Code updates come along weekly now. This time, Microsoft has included Agent Debug Logs for previous agent sessions, Copilot CLI thinking effort configuration, Terminal agent tools, and GitHub Copilot is now built-in so you can use AI tools without installing it as an extension.

The Agent Debug Log panel shows a chronological event log of all the agent interactions during a chat session, this allows you see what happens when you send a prompt and debug chat customizations. With VS Code 1.116, you can now view the log for the current session and previous sessions.

Additionally in this update, you can configure the thinking effort of reasoning models in Copilot CLI sessions with the language model picker. To use this feature, choose a reasoning model in the picker and select the arrow to show the available effort levels. The effort levels vary by model and non-reasoning models won’t show the arrow at all.

With this update, Microsoft says that the send_to_terminal and get_terminal_output agent tools now work with foreground terminals rather than just background terminals that were created by the agent. With this update, the agent can read output from and send input to any terminal visible in the terminal panel, such as a running REPL or interactive script.

Finally, Microsoft has decided to build-in the GitHub Copilot Chat extension into VS Code. This enables users to start using AI features right away and makes a lot of sense given how much of the release notes now pertain to AI features. Microsoft hopes that this change will help new users get started with VS Code.

You can grab this update from here or check for updates within the VS Code menus.

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Posted Thursday 16 April 2026 at 5:58 pm AEST (my time).

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The team behind Zorin OS has just released Zorin OS 18.1, just six months after Zorin OS 18 was launched. According to the team, Zorin OS 18 has already clocked up 3.3 million downloads. With this new update, there’s more polish, new features, and better hardware support, making it an even better choice if you’re switching from Windows.

As this distribution really does try to go hard after Windows users, one of the most interesting changes is the expansion of its built-in database to detect installer files for popular Windows apps by more than 40%. It now supports over 240 apps that users can use instead of attempting to install their original Windows EXEs.

The detector is quite flexible, for example, if you try to install the Plex EXE then Zorin OS will direct you to the Software store as this is the best way to install the app. If you attempt to install a Windows-only app, then you’ll be directed to the closest native alternatives, for example, if you try to install Microsoft Outlook, you will be directed to Evolution Mail.

Another big change in this update is that Zorin OS Lite is finally back. We haven’t seen it since Zorin OS 17.3 Lite, but now its back with a bunch of updates, here they are:

• Based on the XFCE 4.20 desktop environment. Take advantage of the major features and improvements introduced in the newer version of the upstream desktop environment.
• Redesigned File Manager app. The default interface has been streamlined to display its most useful features in a more sleek and compact way, making it better for smaller displays.
• Fingerprint reader support. If your computer has a fingerprint reader, you can now enroll your fingerprints for authentication using the new “Fingerprints” section in the Settings app.
• Updated desktop themes. The default theme has been tastefully refreshed with a more rounded appearance, giving it a sleek and inviting feel. Selected elements make use of a lighter colour palette, while backgrounds and sidebars have an increased tint, making it more comfortable on the eyes. You can also select from two new theme colours in Zorin Appearance: Yellow and Brown.
• Seamless integration with Web Apps. Turn any website into a desktop app through an easily accessible interface. Your web apps will appear in the start menu and can be used just like native applications.

Zorin OS 18.1 is available now to download from the Zorin OS website. If you are on Zorin OS 18, then you can upgrade by just applying the latest updates from the Software Updater today. If you’re on Zorin OS 17, then you can directly upgrade to 18.1 using this guide.

This version will continue to get software updates and security patches until June 2029. This should be plenty of time for most people.

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Posted Thursday 16 April 2026 at 5:55 pm AEST (my time).

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Recall, Windows 11's flagship AI feature, was launched in 2024 alongside the first wave of Copilot+ PCs. Users met the feature with a fair share of skepticism, which later turned into a massive PR disaster for Microsoft when security researchers showed how easy it was to extract all user data. This forced Microsoft to recall (boo!) the feature and re-release it months later with a newly designed set of security measures. Those security measures are still not enough.

Newly updated tool, aptly called TotalRecall, proves that the data captured by Windows Recall remains unsafe. Alexander Hagenah published his creation on GitHub, revealing that while Recall's security vault is solid, the way Windows 11 delivers data is far too easy to crack, and Microsoft itself sees no problem with that.

The updated version of TotalRecall, which is now publicly available, utilizes the AIXHost.exe process to get all your snapshots. The researcher explains that "the process that renders the Recall timeline has no PPL, no AppContainer, no code integrity enforcement," which allows code injection and data extraction once the user authenticates with Windows Hello.

The idea is to sit in the background, wait for the user to authenticate (say you want to use Recall as intended), and then siphon your data without any suspicion. AIXHost.exe cannot verify callers, and everything inside the process is considered trusted. This is something that the redesigned Windows Recall security was supposed to prevent, ensuring no malware can "ride along" and get to your data. In addition to that, TotalRecall Reloaded is capable of retrieving your latest cached snapshot even without prompting Windows Hello.

Alexander Hagenah argues (via The Verge) that while the vault is indeed properly secured, Microsoft should improve things by securing the delivery mechanism and making sure the rendering process is properly secured. Alexander Hagenah submitted their findings to Microsoft before making them public, but the company says TotalRecall does not represent any bypasses or security vulnerabilities. Now, TotalRecall Reloaded is available publicly, and you can get it on GitHub.

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Posted Thursday 16 April 2026 at 9:41 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft this week released its latest Patch Tuesday update, the release is for the month of April 202. On Windows 11 under KB5083769 and KB5082052, the new update brings a major Remote Desktop-related change, among other things (read the changelog in full in the linked article above).

While initially Microsoft did not report any known issues with the latest Patch Tuesday, the company has now added that all systems which have received the updates are affected by a BitLocker-related issue. This means Windows 11, Windows 10 (KB5082200), as well as Windows Server 2025 and Server 2022, are all hit by this.

The company has explained that the issue is due to an unrecommended BitLocker-based Group Policy configuration. This leads to a BitLocker Recovery key prompt on affected systems. The good news, Microsoft says, is that the key will only be necessary to be entered once, plus it also seemingly affects only a limited number of systems. Such devices have to meet the following criteria:

• BitLocker is enabled on the OS drive.

• The Group Policy "Configure TPM platform validation profile for native UEFI firmware configurations" is configured, and PCR7 is included in the validation profile (or the equivalent registry key is set manually).

• System Information (msinfo32.exe) reports Secure Boot State PCR7 Binding as "Not Possible".

• The Windows UEFI CA 2023 certificate is present in the device’s Secure Boot Signature Database (DB), making the device eligible for the 2023‑signed Windows Boot Manager to be made the default.

• The device is not already running the 2023-signed Windows Boot Manager.

   

Microsoft has also provided the following workarounds for the bug that will let an admin or user to remove the problematic Group Policy configuration before downloading the Windows update. This is also the recommended solution. It writes:

1. Open Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) or your Group Policy Management Console.
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives.
3. Set "Configure TPM platform validation profile for native UEFI firmware configurations" to "Not Configured".
4. Run the following command on affected devices to propagate the policy change: gpupdate /force
5. Run the following command to suspend BitLocker (where BitLocker is enabled on the C : drive): manage-bde -protectors -disable C :    [remove space in "C :"]
6. Run the following command to resume BitLocker (where BitLocker is enabled on the C : drive): manage-bde -protectors -enable C :        [remove space in "C :"]
7. This updates the BitLocker bindings to use the Windows-selected default PCR profile.

Aside from that, admins can also apply a known issue rollback (KIR) to prevent the issue before downloading the Patch Tuesday.

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Posted Thursday 16 April 2026 at 9:37 am AEST (my time).

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Mainstream support for Skype for Business (SfB) Server and Exchange 2016/2019 ended in October 2025, but many customers were still actively using this product and could not migrate to newer versions for multiple reasons. To continue offering support to them, Microsoft announced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program. Now, the first phase of this program has ended, and customers have the option to purchase the second phase.

Period 1 of the ESU program for both these software suites began in October 2025 and is scheduled to end at the start of May 2026. As such, customers can now begin to purchase ESUs for Period 2. Any ESU purchase that they make from today will be considered a purchase for Period 2 and give them six months of extended support, going up until October 2026. Even if you purchased Period 1, you will need to purchase Period 2 separately, as you will not be automatically enrolled into the latest ESU. You do not need to purchase Period 1 prior to purchasing Period 2.

Just like the existing ESU phase, updates for Period 2 won't be made available publicly. Instead, Microsoft will privately explain to your organization how you can continue receiving security updates.

Speaking of which, it's worth highlighting that ESU customers only receive security updates that patch important or critical vulnerabilities. Updates are not guaranteed, so you could theoretically go on six months without an update, although you paid for Period 2.

Microsoft has emphasized that Period 2 is not an extension of Period 1, and is just meant to support customers as they plan their migrations to more modern support versions of Exchange Server and SfB Server; it claims that it would rather not sell any Period 2 ESUs at all. Do keep in mind that the latest ESUs are not available automatically in Volume Licensing or Software Assurance, and can only be purchased by commercial entities with a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA).

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Posted Thursday 16 April 2026 at 9:36 am AEST (my time).

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Earlier this year, Microsoft veteran engineer Dave W. Plummer (perhaps better known for "Dave's Garage" across modern social media) teased what Windows' Task Manager could look like today. It featured a modern dashboard featuring a pounding synthwave soundtrack.

Task Manager for Windows is Plummer's brainchild, and as you may know, it's designed to help users address common issues affecting their operating system's performance and memory usage.

Plummer recently shared how he built the original version of the app at just 80KB while still ensuring that it was "insanely fast" and efficient (via Tom's Hardware).

For context, the current Task Manager build is about 4MB. During development, the engineer prioritized making the platform crisp and responsive, especially since its role is to help recover the PC after a system failure.

Plummer wrote Windows' Task Manager at 80 KB because of the hardware limitations at the time. “Every line has a cost; every allocation can leave footprints. Every dependency is a roommate that eats your food and never pays rent,” indicated Plummer. “And so, when I ended up writing Task Manager, I didn’t approach it like a modern utility where you start with a framework, add nine layers of comfort, six layers of futureproofing, and then act surprised when the thing eats 800MBs and a motivational speech to display just a few numbers.”

Like many people, my experience with Excel is mainly surface despite it being a profoundly deep program. I've used it to keep track of expenses and to make some charts for the site, but that's about as far as my knowledge allows.

Such a complicated program understandably has a load of support dedicated to proper operation, and scrolling through the Excel section in the Microsoft 365 troubleshooting pages sends a shiver down my spine.

Why was I here looking at support pages? I was checking out a troubleshooting article titled "Excel incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year" after reading about it on PC Gamer. How does an issue like this get a complete support page instead of a fix?

As explained in the accompanying article, Excel would almost surely break down to a point that you'd not want to use if it were ever forced to correctly consider 1900 a non-leap year.

Excel's leap year problem has ties to Lotus 1-2-3's launch in 1983