After the promise of better performance fell mostly flat, a couple of months later in November 2021, Microsoft devs promised that improving the overall snappiness of the various UI elements in the OS was its main focus in 2022.

A year and a half later, in May of 2023, Microsoft published a blog post highlighting all the improvements that it had made till then, although third-party testing from a few months prior suggested no notable improvements.

We have tried testing Microsoft's claim in the past in both scenarios, an in-place upgrade and clean installation. Interestingly, we did find Windows 11 to be faster in some scenarios, although nowhere near the margin of what Microsoft wants you to believe by making up ridiculous performance claims using paid studies, for example.

Besides Windows 10 vs 11, the performance differences between the versions of Windows 11 too are something worth looking at. As such, we decided to see what a user going from feature update 23H2 to 24H2 would experience.

For a clear progression, Windows 11 24H2 has to perform at least somewhat better, and some users do claim that is indeed the case even when running unsupported systems.

Unlike last time, our test would not just be straight-up apples-to-apples comparisons here. We are trying to replicate the usage of a general user and as such, all settings would be kept at default. This is how we will be evaluating the performance differentials for an in-place upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 from 23H2.

Thus, some of the settings like Core Isolation or Virtualization-based Security (VBS) have been kept enabled. Since we are looking at an in-place upgrade experience here, we updated our system to the first 24H2 Patch, ie, October 2024 Patch Tuesday (KB5044284).

In case you are wondering about the hardware we tested this on, Steven and I worked on this together (remotely), on his test bench comprising Intel's Core i7-14700K CPU and AMD's 7800 XT GPU. The latest GPU drivers were used at the time (Adrenalin version 24.10.1).

We start with synthetic benchmarks first.

We measured the CPU performance in synthetic gaming tests using Physics / CPU tests available in 3DMark's Fire Strike Ultra and Time Spy Extreme. The former is based on DirectX 11 while the latter is based on DirectX 12.

Interestingly, as you can see, 24H2 does significantly worse in Fire Strike. We wonder if this is because of the single-threaded nature of DX 11 which is something the 2024 Windows 11 feature update is not all that optimized for.

Following that we have 3DMark CPU Profile which is essentially a scaling test, and bizarrely, Windows 11 24H2 shows poor scaling for some reason.

After looking at the Fire Strike Ultra results above, we were honestly expecting the opposite, as we figured 24H2 may excel in multi-threading. Clearly, we were wrong.

After that, we ran 3DMark GPU tests. We chose Speed Way and Steel Nomad since these are more modern than Time Spy Extreme.

Although both Time Spy Extreme and Steel Nomad are running on DX 12, the latter has more modern workloads which is more representative of typical modern rasterization. Meanwhile, Speed Way is a DirectX Ray Tracing benchmark. [Please note here that we used the white background in our charts to indicate a CPU-heavy test and a radiant gray background was used when it's a GPU-heavy load. Thus the 3DMark chart below is radiant gray.]

The 7800 XT performed similarly on both 24H2 and 23H2 and the scores were within the margin of error.

Following synthetic gaming tests, we move on to real games.

We already mentioned that we were sticking to default settings since we are trying to evaluate the standard experience of a user, hence, we did not tweak any game (graphics) settings. As such, we were not GPU bound.

We start with the most interesting outcome as we are greeted with enormous performance improvement in Black Myth: Wukong on Windows 11 24H2 when Frame Generation (FG) option was enabled.

In the average framerate, we saw a 17.3% bump, while in the 95%iles, it was 15.5% better. This surprised us a lot as we were not expecting to see such a massive difference in any title.

With frame generation off, the performance was nearly identical.

Another interesting result was in the case of Far Cry 6 where we see that Windows 11 24H2 lags behind version 23H2. Far Cry games are known to be single-thread bound often, so this may perhaps be explained by the initial poor result we saw in 3DMark Fire Strike Physics.

In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which is yet another Ubisoft title, the two Windows versions run equally great.

We also included Intel's APO results in supported games. In the case of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, we saw no differences.

On Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the APO did not work as it kept crashing on 24H2, but worked fine on 23H2. But besides those, the scores were within the margin of error.

Finally, we have Final Fantasy XV and The Callisto Protocol.

As you can see in these two titles, neither Windows version was truly better.

After games, we move on to productivity tests, and we start with Cinebench 2024 CPU (multi-threaded) and GPU rendering tests, and there is nothing too exciting going on here.

Next up, we have 7-Zip, and while the decompression performance of both systems was pretty even, in compression, Windows 11 24H2 was around 6% ahead.

Finally, we test PCMark 10 to get a general idea of how the two systems feel.

The first thing we notice on Windows 11 24H2 (below) is that the app start-up performance for some reason is significantly lower than on 23H2 (above). Video Editing is another area where 23H2 comes on top.

Overall, 23H2 definitely has the edge with 10,734 points compared to 10,460 on 24H2.

Finally, we tested memory allocation on Windows 11 24H2 and 23H2. This shows how much system RAM each OS requests for caching page files, prefetch data, game/app data, among other things. Speaking of RAM, we were using TeamGroup's 32 GB DDR5-7600 kit that we reviewed last year.

Again, interesting results here as we find Windows 11 version 24H2 consistently allocates much more memory in apps and games than 23H2. The only exception was in 7-Zip.

So should you upgrade?

given that Microsoft has now started pushing the feature update out to more users.The answer depends on the situation. 24H2, for example, showed a clear victory in the case of frame generation, though, in single-threaded instances, Windows 11 24H2 started to fall behind. And also, if snappiness is your priority, then you may find 23H2 better since the app start-up performance on 24H2 was significantly behind.

RAM allocation is also something to keep in mind since 24H2 may warrant a minimum of 32 GB.

Those were our results. What has your experience on 23H2 or 24H2 been like?

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Despite the fact that it's only a point release in the Mint 22 series, it is still a substantial update. It comes with new power modes, Night Light integrated into the settings, Cinnamon 6.4, new artworks, and other improvements.

For those not familiar with Linux Mint, versions 22, 22.1, 22.2, and 22.3 will all be based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and receive updates until 2029. Unlike other operating systems, it's not necessary to stay on the latest point release, if you're happy with version 22, you can stay on that until 2029 with no issues or nagging.

Linux Mint adopts a very conservative ethos where new changes come incrementally, giving you time to get used to the changes. Given this fact, it's particularly popular among people who are more bothered about getting work done, rather than tinkering with their system. The Cinnamon edition, with its taskbar, isn't that different from Windows, making it popular with people who move from Windows to Linux Mint.

If you want Linux Mint 22.1 quickly after it passes the ISO testing, the best place to check will be on third-party mirrors, as it tends to arrive there first so they can be linked to in the official announcement a few days later. If you already run Mint 22, you'll eventually be able to upgrade via the Update Manager and if you are running the 22.1 beta, you'll also be able to upgrade just by applying available updates.

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The announcement was made in a new message added to the company's Microsoft 365 Admin Center, tagged MC976059, and it applies to Microsoft 365 apps users.

As Redmond explains, the new Outlook app will be installed on Windows 10 devices for users who deploy the optional January 28 update and force installed for all who install the February 11 security update.

The new Outlook client will run alongside the classic Outlook app and will not modify configurations or user defaults. Microsoft added that there's no way to block it from being installed on Windows 10 devices; however, those who don't want it can remove it afterward.

"New Outlook exists as an installed app on the device. For instance, it can be found in the Apps section of the Start Menu. It does not replace existing (classic) Outlook or change any configurations / user defaults. Both (classic) Outlook and New Outlook for Windows can run side by side," Microsoft says.

"Currently, there isn't a way to block the new Outlook from being installed - if you prefer not to have new Outlook show up on your organization's devices, you can remove it after it's installed as part of the update," the company added in a support document updated on Thursday.

To remove the new Outlook app package after it's force installed on your Windows device, you can use the Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage cmdlet with the PackageName parameter value Microsoft.OutlookForWindows.

This can be done by running the following command from a Windows PowerShell prompt and adding a new reg value:

PowerShell: Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -AllUsers -Online -PackageName (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.OutlookForWindows).PackageFullName

REG VALUE: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\Orchestrator\UScheduler_Oobe\OutlookUpdate

Next, add a REG_SZ registry setting named BlockedOobeUpdaters with a value of ["MS_Outlook"]. After removing the Outlook package, Windows Updates will not reinstall the new Outlook client.

The first preview version of the new Outlook for Windows was introduced in May 2022. The app was generally available for personal accounts in September 2023 (via the September 26 Windows fall update and the Microsoft Store on Windows 11) and for commercial customers in August 2024.

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Now, if you are on macOS 15.2, the issues with freezes should be gone. If not, you can use the following workaround until you get your Mac to the latest macOS release:

Here is the workaround for opening files:

1. Open Activity Monitor.
   Tip: You can find it in the Applications > Utilities folder, or search for it using Cmd + Space to open Spotlight.
2. In the search bar at the top right of Activity Monitor, enter OpenAndSavePanelService
3. Select the process from the list. It may have very high CPU usage or show "No response".
4. In the top menu bar, click the X button and then choose Force Quit.
5. Quit and restart OneDrive.
6. Save your Office file to another folder location.

And here is the workaround for saving files:

1. Open Activity Monitor.
   Tip: You can find it in the Applications > Utilities folder, or search for it using Cmd + Space to open Spotlight.
2. In the search bar at the top right of Activity Monitor, enter OpenAndSavePanelService
3. Select the process from the list. It may have very high CPU usage or show "No response".
4. In the top menu bar, click the X button and then choose Force Quit.
5. Move the file from your Desktop or Documents folder to another folder location.
6. Open your file as normal.

Not all OneDrive bugs on macOS and Windows are now fixed, though. There are several issues with the inability to find certain files, view shared folders, or preview msg files. You can find all the known OneDrive issues and their workarounds in the official documentation.

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The initiative has been undertaken by the Linux Foundation in partnership with Google, and Microsoft, Meta, and Opera, have since joined it. In its press release, the Linux Foundation has explained what this consortium is about. It writes:

The Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers will provide a neutral space where industry leaders, academia, developers, and the broader open source community can work together to support projects within the Chromium ecosystem. By fostering collaboration, the initiative aims to remove barriers to innovation, expand adoption, and ensure that projects within the Chromium ecosystem receive the resources they need to thrive.

 

The Chromium projects themselves will remain under current, existing governance structures while just the new Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers will be housed under the Linux Foundation.

In its blog post on the Chromium website, Google has explained why the Linux Foundation has been chosen to manage this as well as its thoughts about the whole thing as it cites millions of dollars in cost just for maintenance:

In 2024, Google made over 100,000 commits to Chromium, accounting for ~94 percent of contributions. While we have no intention of reducing this investment, we continue to welcome others stepping up to invest more.

 

The Supporters of Chromium-based Browsers fund will be managed by the Linux Foundation, following their long established practices for open governance, prioritizing transparency, inclusivity, and community-driven development. We’re thrilled to have Meta, Microsoft, and Opera on-board as the initial members to pledge their support.

Microsoft has also added its own thoughts and it mainly involves its aim to improve Edge while continuing its contributions to Chromium:

Six years ago, Microsoft announced that we would adopt the Chromium open-source project for our Edge browser. Today, our open-source principles remain unchanged and we continue to directly contribute to Chromium, bringing our expertise to the project

Opera has also chimed in:

For us, being part of the Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers from the get-go represents an opportunity to take an even more active role in Chromium’s development and future direction.

Meta, so far, has not released a press release or a statement.

What this means is that Chromium browsers are likely going to pick up even more steam, and this may not bode too well for Gecko engine based-Firefox, which is struggling hard against the Chromium juggernaut and especially Google with just ~6% desktop market share.

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The new collection is called "Fluid Textures." It was created in collaboration with George Stoyanov, a 3D artist who also helped other companies with wallpapers, such as Xiaomi and Apple. Fluid textures feature several backgrounds with a focus on "soft florals, fluid textures, and light-washed organic forms."

Each wallpaper is available in dark and light variants. If you want to make Windows switch them automatically on schedule or sunset/sunrise, you can use free apps like Windows Auto Dark Theme or WinDynamicDesktop—Windows 11 still cannot change themes on schedule (come on, Microsoft), so some help from third-party software is required.

Here are just a few wallpapers from the collection:

You can download the complete Fluid Textures wallpaper collection here.

Speaking of wallpapers, a bunch of early Windows 11 wallpapers were recently published online with details about Microsoft's planning to implement dynamic wallpapers on the lock screen and desktop. Check those concepts out and download static wallpapers here.

Also, Microsoft's recently announced Windows 365 Link mini PC comes with a pair of unique Windows 11 Bloom wallpapers. You can get them in high resolution here.

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Here is what is changed in Windows 11 build 27768:

[General]

 

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

 

[File Explorer]

 

• We’ve added a New Folder option in the context menu when right-clicking locations in the navigation pane.

 

[Settings]

 

• The ability to change time zones is available again under Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time for standard (non-admin) users.

Here is what was fixed:

[File Explorer]

 

• Fixed an issue where the date/time properties of files were unexpectedly updated in some cases after copying them.
• Fixed an issue where File Explorer may sometimes lose focus on the search box while typing.
• Fixed an issue where when you did a search it may unexpectedly trigger the search happening repeatedly.
• Fixed an issue where the Details Pane icons weren’t responding correctly to theme changes, making it hard to see if you switched from dark to light or vice versa.
• Fixed a black flash in File Explorer that appeared when duplicating a tab.

 

[Input]

 

• Fixed an issue which could lead to the mouse cursor unexpectedly stuttering when you moved it around sometimes.

 

[Graphics]

 

• Fixed an underlying issue which could result in some games appearing oversaturated when using Auto HDR.

 

[Other]

 

• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders in Canary to experience bugchecks with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.

And here are the known bugs:

[General]

 

• [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
• We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue where SFC /scannow is showing errors every time it’s run.

 

[File Explorer]

 

• [NEW] If you open a File Explorer window and minimize it in this build, it may not render correctly when you restore it.

You can find the announcement post here.

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Either one of the two error messages would be displayed, Microsoft states: "We couldn't log on to the incoming (POP/IMAP) server. Please check your email address and password and try again", or “We weren’t able to set up your Google account with IMAP. You may need to make changes to your Gmail settings.”

As of now, the bug stands as fixed. Microsoft has explained in detail how to apply the "Retry Solution" fix in case you were affected:

STATUS: FIXED

 

Starting with Current Channel Version 2412 Build 18324.20168, use the new Retry solution below.

 

Retry Solution

 

Once you are on the fixed build, if you missed checking the box for Microsoft apps & services can access: “Read, compose, send, and permanently delete all your email from Gmail.”, you can repeat the browser sign in by selecting the Retry link on the error window:

 

In case the Retry Solution above does not work, the company has also shared a manual workaround in a step-by-step guide. You can find that here in the support article on Microsoft's website.

The other Classic Outlook bug fixed is related to the Windows Copy shortcut (Ctrl + C) that is used very commonly by users. Essentially, Outlook would hang or freeze when copying text using the shortcut. The issue has been resolved in the following versions and builds across the different channels:

STATUS: FIXED

The Outlook Team implemented a fix for this issue which is available in the following channels and builds.

 

• Beta Channel: Version 2501 (Build 18410.15040) - Released

• Current Channel Preview: Version 2510 (Build 18429.20000) – For build availability go to, Release Notes Current Channel (Preview)

• Current Channel: Version 2501 (Build 18429.20000)– ETA ~1/27/25, for build availability go to, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date)

• Monthly Enterprise Channel: Version 2501 (18429.20000) – ETA 3/11/25, for build availability go to, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date)

You can find the support article here on Microsoft's website.

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For those unaware, KMS stands for Key Management Service, and it is tech that Microsoft uses for volume activation of various products in enterprise environments. For example, companies use authorized KMS servers to activate Windows and Office products for their systems. Regular consumers, on the other hand, use standard activation keys that can be purchased through authorized retailers or some shady places (which, according to the author, also do not bother Microsoft despite frequent reports).

However, KMS is also a popular piracy method. Hacked, unauthorized, or third-party servers are often used to activate Microsoft products without giving the company a single penny. Textbook piracy.

@Barnacules argues that Microsoft simply does not care if you use Windows 11 without a proper license because "you are the product." And with how many annoyances and ads Microsoft shoves into its operating system (here, here, and here, just to name a few), one might rightfully argue so.

However, piracy is still piracy, and it violates license agreements regardless of whether you have read them or not or what you think about Microsoft's modern approach to its operating system. And even though this sounds like a broken record, you risk falling victim to malware, ransomware, and all sorts of other digital STDs when pirating software. You also have no right to support, should you need it.

Still, it is surely interesting to watch a person who helped develop and ship major Windows versions basically promote piracy to over 100K of his followers on X.

Here is a certified banger to remind everyone that "piracy. it's a crime!"

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We’re less than a week away from the first round of updates for 2025, not just for Windows but for all our devices.

Although things have been relatively quiet at the end of the year, especially because many of Microsoft’s developers take extended time off over the holidays, we’ll soon be in the thick of patching. That’s why I strongly recommend deferring updates until we have time to study and test them. Therefore, I’m raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2.

We often consider what we already have to be good enough, until we get a new device or computer and realize that a technology that is new to us has been in the platform for many years. Many of my friends purchased updated Apple iPads over the holidays and are still getting used to their new features. Even if you aren’t into AI, there are some new settings that you may not know about if youְve had an older device for several years.

For example, there is a feature called Center Stage for both iPads and Macs. When you use your device for FaceTime or Zoom meetings, the feature will automatically center your face or whatever else it is focused on. If you move around, the camera angle moves around, too. Some like it, some don’t. You can turn it off. For FaceTime and many other apps, you’ll need to swipe down in the Control Center, where there is a new Video Effects button. Tap that, and a Center Stage toggle will appear. For Zoom, the Center Stage toggle is on the left side of the screen.

Be patient with new technology: it can take some time to deal with the changes. A common complaint about Windows 11 is that there is no way to move the start menu to the top or right side of the screen. If your patience is exhausted with that limitation, use third-party tools such as Start11, because Stardock is a vendor that regularly keeps up with Microsoft’s changes.

Consumers

You may have heard about warnings from a German translation of an ESET post that we are all going to suffer doom and gloom because 32 million computers in Germany are still on Windows 10. There is no cause for panic. You have time to take stock and determine the proper path. If you read your email in a Web application and don’t use your computer for surfing the Web — but you can’t let go of one beloved program that still runs well on Windows 10 — the sky is not falling. You can purchase a cheap tablet to surf and read your email while you continue to use your Windows 10 device for that prized app.

If you are currently on Windows 10 and your system supports moving to Windows 11, remember that Gibson Research’s InControl allows you to stay on Windows 10 as long as you wish. Just set it to Windows 10 22H2. It’s easy to control.

Figure 1. Keep Windows 10 22H2 as long as you like.

I know you’ve been paying attention, so you know I have yet to give the thumbs-up to deploy Windows 11 24H2. Unless you are doing everything in the cloud, and for business purposes only, there is no compelling need to take the risk merely to satisfy Microsoft’s quest for 24H2 installed-base numbers. The 24H2 release isn’t working well on games and is not being offered up consistently on my computers. Once again, use InControl to keep your PCs right where you want them.

Figure 2. Stick with Windows 11 23H2 as long as you like.

24H2 may already have been offered to you. Note that for many of these systems, the feature release won’t be “shoved” at you. In addition, when we get to the January updates, youְll be offered the January 23H2 patches once they are ready for your machine.

Businesses

Many of you know that in real life Iְm a shareholder in an accounting firm. From late January to April, I will install security updates once I deem them worthy. But I will not install feature releases during this time. My firm is not “cloud first,” even though I do use Microsoft 365. I do not see any features compelling enough to take the risk of disrupting our operations during this busiest time of our year.

We don’t do Copilot, we don’t do AI, and I need to ensure that my older accounting applications wonְt squawk at changes such as the SMB Firewall rule changes. As Microsoft notes:

Previously, creating an SMB share automatically configured the firewall to enable the rules in the File and Printer Sharing group for the given firewall profiles. Now, Windows automatically configures the new File and Printer Sharing (Restrictive) group, which no longer contains inbound NetBIOS ports 137-139.

This change enforces a higher degree of default of network security and brings SMB firewall rules closer to the Windows Server File Server role behavior, which only opens the minimum ports needed to connect and manage sharing. Administrators can still configure the File and Printer Sharing group if necessary as well as modify this new firewall group, these are just default behaviors.

The key selling feature for Windows 11 is the lifecycle of Windows 10, which ends in less than a year. That may be compelling for your business. But once you are on Windows 11, take control over the feature releases and do not let your client base get upgrades without your approval. As long as 24H2 keeps delivering what I deem boneheaded bugs, such as those recently documented on the Release Health dashboard, I’ll keep kicking 24H2 down the road.

According to Microsoft, if you used CD or USB flash drives to install Windows 11 24H2 between October and November and thus used media including these updates, you are now blocked from getting the January security updates. Microsoft is working on a fix.

An important item for Server admins to keep in mind is that authentication for certificates that do not meet the expected mapping requirements will be denied after you install the Windows security updates in February 2025. This change is known as Full Enforcement mode. However, you can move back to Compatibility mode until September 2025. For full details, see KB5014754.

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Although Command Prompt has been around for a long time, even before Windows 11, many users still ignore it. While the operating system's modern graphical interface seamlessly handles virtually every task, Command Prompt offers unparalleled control, efficiency, and troubleshooting capabilities.

Whether you're looking to navigate your file system faster, diagnose network issues, or perform administrative tasks efficiently, mastering the essential commands can save you time and effort.

In this how-to guide, I'll highlight 20 essential commands to manage files, troubleshoot issues, and perform various system-level tasks on Windows 11. These commands will also work on Windows 10.

Command Prompt essential commands for Windows 11

This list includes the most basic commands that any user should know. The list isn't arranged in any specific order.

To use these commands, open Start and search for and launch the Windows Terminal and then launch a Command Prompt console (if applicable).

1. cd (Change Directory)

The "cd" command, short for "change directory," is a fundamental command-line tool to move between different folders (directories) and switch between drives (like C:, D:, etc.).

Usage:

It's well-known that Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025, but that's not the only version of Windows that will stop receiving support on that date. The days of Teams Rooms on Windows 10 are also numbered. Microsoft shared a blog post discussing the cutoff and outlining steps for organizations and users affected by the change.

"Effective October 14, 2025, Teams Rooms on Windows 10 devices will no longer receive security and feature updates, making it essential to upgrade to Windows 11 to continue enjoying the latest productivity, security, and management features," said Microsoft.

"As we approach the end of support for Windows 10 on Teams Rooms, we want to offer a clear path forward for this critical infrastructure in your organization."

Microsoft Teams Rooms are meeting rooms for communication that work with a variety of devices. You can set up cameras, microphones, speakers, and displays to create an immersive environment that makes communication feel more natural. Microsoft's Surface Hub devices are likely the best-known Teams Rooms devices due to the Surface branding. But the list of Teams Rooms devices is long and includes hardware from Crestron, HP, Lenovo, Logitech, Poly, and Yealink.

Unlike the PC version of Windows 10, which still has more than a 62% market share on desktops according to Statcounter, Teams Rooms on Windows 10 is not used often these days. Microsoft noted that the majority of Teams Rooms devices have already upgraded to Windows 11 automatically. There are, however, some systems that cannot upgrade to the newer operating system.

Microsoft highlighted some devices that are unable to upgrade, but the list is not exhaustive:

• Lenovo Hub 500 (i5-7500T)
• HP Slice G2 (i5-7500T)
• HP Elite Slice (i5-7500T)
• Yealink NUC – NUC7i5DNKE (i5-7300U)
• Crestron Skull Canyon (i7-6770HQ)

Between now and October 14, 2025, Teams Rooms and Teams Rooms Pro Management software will support the Teams Room app on Windows 11. Those with Teams Rooms devices will need to upgrade their systems to continue to receive support.

Here is what the release notes have to say about this new feature:

Sometimes, the partitions on a Tails USB stick get corrupted. This creates errors with the Persistent Storage or during upgrades. Partitions can get corrupted because of broken or counterfeit hardware, software errors, or physically removing the USB stick while Tails is running.

 

Tails now warns about such partitioning errors earlier. For example, if partitioning errors are detected when there is no Persistent Storage, Tails recommends that you reinstall or use a new USB stick.

 

Here's a list of other smaller changes and updates that were made in this release:

• Update Tor Browser to 14.0.4.
• Update Thunderbird to 128.5.0esr.
• Remove support for hardware wallets in Electrum. Trezor wallets stopped working in Debian 12 (Bookworm), and so in Tails 6.0 or later.
• Disable GNOME Text Editor from reopening on the last file. (#20704)
• Add a link to the Tor Connection assistant from the menu of the Tor status icon on the desktop.
• Make it easier for our team to find useful information in WhisperBack reports.

In addition to all this, the Tails team says its operating system was recently audited by Radically Open Security. Three flaws were found but are not believed to have been exploited in the wild, though, the details are now known, so if you're upgrading after January 9 and have used Tails a lot, a manual upgrade is recommended by the Tails team.

Here are the flaws uncovered by the audit:

• Prevent an attacker from installing malicious software permanently. (#20701)

 

In Tails 6.10 or earlier, an attacker who has already taken control of an application in Tails could then exploit a vulnerability in Tails Upgrader to install a malicious upgrade and permanently take control of your Tails.

 

Doing a manual upgrade would erase such malicious software.

 

• Prevent an attacker from monitoring online activity. (#20709 and #20702)

 

In Tails 6.10 or earlier, an attacker who has already taken control of an application in Tails could then exploit vulnerabilities in other applications that might lead to deanonymization or the monitoring of browsing activity:

 

In Onion Circuits, to get information about Tor circuits and close them.
In Unsafe Browser, to connect to the Internet without going through Tor.
In Tor Browser, to monitor your browsing activity.
In Tor Connection, to reconfigure or block your connection to the Tor network.

 

• Prevent an attacker from changing the Persistent Storage settings. (#20710)

If you're running Tails 6.0 or above, you can now do an automatic upgrade to 6.11, this will preserve any persistent storage you may have. Alternatively, you can do a manual upgrade or perform a new installation.

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The Surface Studio 2+ received patches for security vulnerabilities related to several Nvidia advisories, namely CVE-2024-0117, CVE-2024-0118, CVE-2024-0119, CVE-2024-0120, CVE-2024-0121, and CVE-2024-0126. Also, the updated fixed audio failures and unexpected disruptions when playing or recording.

The Surface Pro 9 with Intel processors received the same audio patch, plus unnamed security improvements that "enhance the overall security posture of the devices, protecting customers from potential threats."

If you have a Surface Laptop Go 3, you will also receive various under-the-hood fixes that reduce the likelihood of encountering a system crash and blue screen of death. Finally, the Surface Laptop 4 with Intel processors received only security fixes.

As usual, you can download the latest firmware update for your Surface device by heading to Settings > Windows Update or the official Surface Support website (here for the Surface Studio 2+, here for the Surface Pro 9, here for the Surface Laptop Go 3, and here for the Surface Laptop 4). Keep in mind that firmware updates are non-uninstallable, so back up important data before proceeding.

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Ahead of the holiday season, Microsoft announced that it was upgrading its Bing Image Creator tool to the latest version of OpenAI's DALL-E 3, PR16. The company promised that the updated model would allow users to create images "twice as fast as before" with "higher quality."

However, the upgrade soon became a PR nightmare for Microsoft, as complaints from frustrated users flooded social media platforms like X and Reddit. "The DALL-E we used to love is gone forever," complained one Redditor, while another wrote, "I'm using ChatGPT now because Bing has become useless for me."

Users have claimed that PR16 produces images that are not realistic and devoid of detail and polish, with pictures often appearing "weirdly cartoonish and lifeless."

The backlash was so severe that Microsoft had to revert to the old DALL-E 3 PR13 model and keep it on until it cleans up the new PR16 version. According to Jordi Ribas, head of search at Microsoft, the company had been able to reproduce some of the issues that were being reported by users and, therefore, decided to roll back the upgrade.

Microsoft's own testing found the PR16 model to be "a bit better on average" compared to the previous version. Still, that assessment clearly did not align with the preferences of the majority of Bing Image Creator users, said Ribas.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first controversy an AI image model has found itself at the center of after a round of improvements. Earlier this year, Google had to pause its AI chatbot Gemini's ability to generate images of people after users complained about historical inaccuracies.

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Despite the fact that Windows 10 will reach its end of support in October of this year, there are still some features from the operating system that have not been added to Windows 11. Sadly, there are some parts of Windows 10 that will die along with the operating system's support. It seems that among those features will be the Windows 10 calendar flyout that, you know, actually worked like a calendar.

As much of a shock as this may come to Microsoft, I like my digital calendar to show events and things I've planned. My parents' home has a lovely wooden calendar with painted tiles for each day of the month. If I just wanted a calendar to look pretty, I'd have my mom or dad take a picture. Unfortunately, the makers of Windows 11 seem to have a different idea for their calendar, which made me turn to a third-party app called Calendar Flyout.

Calendar Flyout isn't a new app. I actually found it when reading about a different app with similar functionality. But Calendar Flyout is further along in its development, so it's worth highlighting now. The app costs $3.99 through the Microsoft Store. It's a shame we have to pay anything to restore functionality that was already in Windows, but the developer has done a good job, so I think it's worth supporting them.

With this new stable release, Firefox has finally gained support for hardware-accelerated playback of HEVC (high efficiency video codec) or H.265 on Windows. For reference, Google Chrome received support for H.265 decoding back in 2022 back when Mozilla was pushing back against it.

Another change is a refreshed New Tab layout (image below), as well as improvements to the browser's pop-up blocker as they should no longer be as overly aggressive.

The full changelog is given below:

New

 

• Firefox now supports touchpad hold gestures on Linux. This means that kinetic (momentum) scrolling can now be interrupted by placing two fingers on the touchpad.

• Hardware-accelerated playback of HEVC video content is now supported on Windows.

• Ecosia's availability has been expanded to all languages in the German region along with Austria, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

   

Changed

 

• Firefox now follows the model HTML specification for transient user activation more closely. This change makes popup blocking less strict in cases where previous versions of Firefox were overly aggressive, reducing erroneous blocking prompts.
• A refreshed New Tab layout is being rolled out to users in the US and Canada, featuring a repositioned logo and weather widget to prioritize Web Search, Shortcuts, and Recommended Stories at the top. The update includes changes to the card UI for recommended stories and allows users with larger screens to see up to four columns, making better use of space.

Several security fixes have also landed with this new version. They are:

• CVE-2025-0244: Address bar spoofing using an invalid protocol scheme on Firefox for Android

• CVE-2025-0245: Lock screen setting bypass in Firefox Focus for Android

• CVE-2025-0246: Address bar spoofing using an invalid protocol scheme on Firefox for Android

• CVE-2025-0237: WebChannel APIs susceptible to confused deputy attack

• CVE-2025-0238: Use-after-free when breaking lines in text

• CVE-2025-0239: Alt-Svc ALPN validation failure when redirected

• CVE-2025-0240: Compartment mismatch when parsing JavaScript JSON module

• CVE-2025-0241: Memory corruption when using JavaScript Text Segmentation

• CVE-2025-0242: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 134, Thunderbird 134, Firefox ESR 115.19, Firefox ESR 128.6, Thunderbird 115.19, and Thunderbird 128.6

• CVE-2025-0243: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 134, Thunderbird 134, Firefox ESR 128.6, and Thunderbird 128.6

• CVE-2025-0247: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 134 and Thunderbird 134

   

You can download the Firefox version 134.0 from the Neowin software stories page or from Mozilla's official site.

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Microsoft is pulling yet another trick to get people to use its Bing search engine. If you use Bing right now without signing into a Microsoft account and search for Google, you’ll get a page that looks an awful lot like... Google.

 

It’s a clear attempt from Microsoft to make Bing look like Google for this specific search query, and other searches just list the usual Bing search results without this special interface. The Google result includes a search bar, an image that looks a lot like a Google Doodle, and even some small text under the search bar just like Google does. Microsoft even automatically scrolls down the page slightly to mask its own Bing search bar that appears at the top of search results.

 

The Bing search result for Google right now has a special interface.

Image: Tom Warren / The Verge

 

While Bing still surfaces search results for Google underneath this spoofed Google UI, a lot of people will see this interface when they configure a new PC and search for Google in the address bar of Microsoft Edge. As 9to5Google points out, it’s a sneaky move from Microsoft to try and keep people using Bing instead of switching to Google.

 

Microsoft has a habit of this kind of behavior, too. We’ve been cataloging every trick Microsoft has used to convince people to switch to Bing or Edge instead of Google and Chrome over the past few years. Microsoft has modified Chrome download sites, added pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows, injected polls into Chrome download pages, and even used malware-like popups to get people to ditch Google.

 

Google also has its own notifications on its websites to encourage people to download Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge, but they’re nowhere near as aggressive as Microsoft’s use of operating system-level popups and website modifications.

 

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Aside from the changes that have been announced in the release notes, the Beta channel build also has an unannounced improvement that will be of help to IT and system administrators as well as general users who like to play around and be on top of Windows Update deployments on their systems.

The change was unearthed by Windows enthusiast and detective phantomofearth who shared it on their official X handle. This "configured update policies" page inside the Advanced section of the Windows Update settings helps users check the optional and feature update policies that are set on their device.

With this update, the policy page now shows additional details including what kind of Optional and Feature update policy value is chosen and there is also a helpful "Learn more" link now that goes to a related Microsoft support article.

For those who may not be familiar with how these policy configurations work, you can set the desired Group policy values in case you want a particular version of Windows. In October, we published a guide on how to update to Windows 11 version 24H2 immediately using this option in case Microsoft was not offering the feature update on your PC.

The update has since been made available to download to more users.

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Let's recap major launches and other big updates from 2024 related to OpenAI and ChatGPT. In your free time, you can check out our recaps of major Gemini features from 2024, services Google killed in 2024, and the Instagram wishlist for 2025.

Table of Contents:

• GPT Store, ChatGPT Team subscription, $200 Pro plan
• ChatGPT via landline phones
• Use ChatGPT without an account

• ChatGPT for Apple Vision Pro

• Watermarks for AI-generated images, deepfake image detector

• Memory for ChatGPT

• ChatGPT on iPhone

• Media Manager

• GPT-4o model, ChatGPT Edu

• Advanced Voice Mode

• Apps for Mac and Windows, cloud support

• ChatGPT in Audi and Mercedes-Benz cars

• CriticGPT to find mistakes

• SearchGPT and ChatGPT Search

• GPT-4o model updates

• OpenAI o1, o1 mini

• ChatGPT Canvas

• ChatGPT Projects

• Return of Sam Altman to the board

• Lawsuits by Elon Musk

• Lawsuits by authors and news agencies

• Shut down of US presidential candidate chatbots

   

Note: This list is not exhaustive and may not contain all updates related to ChatGPT and OpenAI. The features are not arranged in any order of preference.

GPT Store, ChatGPT Team subscription, $200 Pro plan

OpenAI started 2024 with a brand new GPT Store to expand the potential use cases of its chatbot. The store is a central hub where users can find and share custom versions of ChatGPT (called GPTs) made for specific tasks. Over three million GPTs were already available at launch, OpenAI announced, adding that bot creators can earn money through the revenue-sharing program.

A new paid subscription tier called ChatGPT Team was also introduced, targeting teams with up to 150 users for collaborative creation. Compared to the Plus tier, it offers higher message limits on GPT-4, GPT-4o, and other tools like DALL-E and data analysis.

The ChatGPT-maker unveiled a "Pro" plan in December with a hefty price tag of $200/mo for those with deep pockets. The company said that the highly-priced subscription offers the best of OpenAI and the highest level of access. ChatGPT Pro comes with all the perks of the Plus tier and unlimited access to advanced voice mode, GPT-4o, o1, and o1-mini models.

ChatGPT via landline phones

Yes, you read that correctly! Using ChatGPT via a landline phone is something you might rarely think of. However, OpenAI launched a new phone number (1-800-CHATGPT) that you can dial to get a taste of generative AI using legacy tech.

You can throw questions at the chatbot and interrupt it anytime. The experience might feel similar to the advanced voice mode. If you live in the US or Canada, you get 15 minutes of free calling in a month (standard carrier fees may apply). You can also save the number on your phone and talk to ChatGPT via WhatsApp. Again, there is a daily limit to how many WhatsApp messages you can exchange.

Use ChatGPT without an account

Walls around ChatGPT were lowered by OpenAI, allowing users to access the chatbot without an account completely free. OpenAI announced in April that it will "gradually" roll out account-free access to everyone, adding that there will be more "guardrails" with it and that some text prompts may be blocked.

You still need an account to unlock features such as chat history, share chats, voice conversations, and custom instructions.

ChatGPT for Apple Vision Pro

While tech giants like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube shied away from being early adopters of Apple's pocket-burning spatial computing headset, OpenAI hopped on the ship quickly.

The ChatGPT app for Vision Pro was launched in February last year, powered by OpenAI's then-latest large language model (LLM) GPT-4 Turbo. ChatGPT was among the 600 apps and games natively available for Apple Vision Pro at its launch.

Watermarks for AI-generated images, deepfake image detector

OpenAI started adding watermarks to AI-generated images created using its text-to-image model DALL-E 3 and ChatGPT. The move was to make dealing with sophisticated AI tools easier and help users identify whether a human or an AI created the image. The change aligned with the specifications issued by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).

The watermark includes details such as the creation date and C2PA logo in the upper left corner. While OpenAI assured no reduction in image quality or processing speeds, the watermark increased the image's file size. It added that removing provenance data by cropping the image or editing its pixels was technically possible.

Apart from that, OpenAI started testing a new tool to detect if an image was made using the DALL-E art generator. An early version of the unnamed tool successfully identified over 98% of images generated by DALL-E and misidentified images by less than 0.5 of the time as being made by DALL-E.

Memory for ChatGPT

A memory feature for ChatGPT went into testing in February last year, enabling the chatbot to remember past chats and use the information when needed for future chats. For instance, you can ask the chatbot to remember your name, if you have a puppy, if you have a neighborhood coffee shop, or if you prefer concise responses.

The feature allows ChatGPT to forget parts of its memory you don't want. It was released to ChatGPT Plus users in April and made available to free users in September.

ChatGPT on iPhone

Apple was late to the generative AI party. However, that changed last year with the iOS 18 update, which introduced the Apple Intelligence suite of AI features. Adding more to that was ChatGPT integration for Siri, allowing the iPhone's voice assistant to call up its more capable counterpart when things go out of hand.

A previous report claimed the deal was structured so that Apple didn't have to pay any money to OpenAI. Instead, the Cupertino giant believed offering OpenAI's brand and tech to over one billion active devices would provide more value than cash payment.

It might contribute to more ChatGPT Plus paid tier sign-ups as users can manage the chatbot directly from the iPhone's settings app. Meanwhile, Apple can earn a commission as a referring partner.

However, the partnership invited criticism from the tech mogul Elon Musk, who threatened to ban iPhones with ChatGPT from his companies and put them in a Faraday cage.

Apple was also rumored to add Google's Gemini chatbot to its Apple Intelligence suite and power Siri's responses. Meanwhile, OpenAI was reportedly in talks with Samsung about integrating ChatGPT into Galaxy devices.

Media Manager

Media Manager allows content makers and owners to inform OpenAI about their content ownership and whether or not they want their content to be used to train its AI models. OpenAI said during the announcement that it plans to have the tool, which was in the early stages of development, in place by 2025.

OpenAI added that Media Manager will be the first-of-its-kind tool built "to help us identify copyrighted text, images, audio, and video across multiple sources and reflect creator preferences."

GPT-4o model, ChatGPT Edu

The Spring Update event in May introduced the GPT-4o LLM for everyone using ChatGPT, including free users. Faster and more capable than GPT-4, the new model can process input modes such as text, image, audio, and video.

OpenAI followed GPT-4o's launch with a new ChatGPT Edu subscription aimed at university students, faculties, and researchers. While there have been concerns over students using ChatGPT to dodge their homework, OpenAI tried to push the chatbot as a helping hand. For example, students can discuss their assignments with a GPT trained on their course material, which can help them think more deeply.

Advanced Voice Mode

GPT-4o also made ChatGPT's advanced Voice Mode capable of delivering a human-like conversation experience. However, it landed in trouble after one of the female voices spoken by ChatGPT resembled American actor Scarlett Johansson. The actor later said that OpenAI offered to hire her to be one of ChatGPT's AI voices, but a deal didn't come to fruition.

Advanced Voice Mode was updated in later months with support for video input, screen sharing, and image uploads, enabling the chatbot to see, hear, and speak in real time.

Apps for Mac and Windows, cloud support

OpenAI also launched the ChatGPT app for macOS at last year's Spring Update event. Initially available for paid subscribers, ChatGPT's Mac desktop app was loaded with Voice Mode and the ability to upload files and take screenshots, among various features.

ChatGPT desktop app for Windows was previewed sometime in October and made available to all users in November. Features such as text scaling adjustment, advanced voice mode, and clicking photos using the built-in webcam were also added.

Building on ChatGPT's data analysis capabilities, OpenAI allowed users to upload files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, enabling the chatbot to access services such as Sheets, Docs, Slides, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

ChatGPT also got an expandable view for tables and charts. The chatbot can generate interactive tables from a dataset. Users can switch to a full-screen view and click on specific areas in the table to ask follow-up questions.

The situation became embarrassing for OpenAI after reports that the ChatGPT macOS app stored all the conversations in plain text inside an unprotected file location. The company later fixed it.

ChatGPT in Audi and Mercedes-Benz cars

Not just tech companies, automakers also tried their hands on the generative AI tech. German carmaker Audi announced ChatGPT integration for millions of its models released since 2021. Updated voice control features allow users to operate infotainment, navigation, and AC systems without using their hands. They can also ask general knowledge questions from the ChatGPT-powered Audi assistant.

Last month, Mercedes-Benz also rolled out its ChatGPT integration as a free update to over three million vehicles equipped with its MBUX infotainment system. The automaker developed a new voice experience on top of the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, bringing context-aware and up-to-date responses to the drivers. They can press the speech button on the steering or say "Hey Mercedes" to use the feature.

CriticGPT to find mistakes

OpenAI knows that no AI model is perfect, and there might be occasions when things get embarrassing. The company trained a new model called CriticGPT to find mistakes in the code snippets generated by ChatGPT and highlight inaccuracies.

CriticGPT is meant to assist human AI trainers who train and improve ChatGPT's responses. A model of such kind becomes more critical when a study suggests that programming answers given by ChatGPT could be wrong 52% of the time.

SearchGPT and ChatGPT Search

OpenAI now has an offering to rival Google in the search engine game. While CEO Sam Altman initially denied rumors of a ChatGPT search engine in the making, the company unveiled a prototype called SearchGPT in July.

Instead of simply presenting a list of links, SearchGPT tries to answer user queries with up-to-date information and provides links to the sources used. You can throw follow-up questions at the search engine while continuing the context.

OpenAI released ChatGPT Search in October after testing the prototype version for months. The company partnered with several news organizations to include their content in the ChatGPT search experience.

The search experience was initially limited to paying ChatGPT subscribers but was released to everyone in December. A Chrome extension allows users to use the search engine directly from the browser's URL bar.

GPT-4o model updates

OpenAI's updated frontier model, ChatGPT-4o-latest, quickly reclaimed the number one spot in the LMSYS Chatbot Arena. However, the model was intended for research and evaluation only; it supported a context length of 128,000 tokens and 16,384 output tokens.

This happened almost a week after gpt-4o-2024-08-06 was released with support for Structured Outputs in the API and the same number of input/output tokens as chatgpt-4o-latest.

Another GPT-4o API update named gpt-4o-2024-11-20 was pushed in November with improved creative writing ability. OpenAI claimed the model works better with uploaded files, providing deeper insights and more thorough responses.

OpenAI o1, o1-mini

A new large language model called OpenAI o1 was introduced last year that takes more time to think before responding. It is designed to handle complex reasoning tasks, particularly in coding, math, and scientific problem-solving.

However, the o1 model can't do some of GPT's tasks, such as finding information on the web or checking out uploaded images and other files. Its smaller, faster, and cheaper version, OpenAI o1-mini, was also launched last year.

ChatGPT Canvas

Canvas is the first major update to ChatGPT's visual interface since its debut in 2022. The new interface is designed to work with ChatGPT on specific tasks like writing and coding. It lets you refine prompts using a side panel and offers several usability improvements.

For instance, you can highlight parts of the output and ask ChatGPT to focus on those. You can use shortcuts to perform various tasks, such as adding emojis, reviewing code, suggesting edits, adding comments, and more. The new user interface was made generally available for all users in December during the 12 Days of OpenAI live stream series.

ChatGPT Projects

12 Days of OpenAI event also dropped the ChatGPT Projects feature, which lets users organize their chats about similar topics. In other words, users can create projects to keep related chats, files, and custom instructions in one place.

The feature works with the GPT-4o model and is available to Plus, Pro, and Team subscribers. Support for Enterprise and Edu users will be added in 2025, and Projects will also be available to free users (there is no word on the release date).

Return of Sam Altman to the board

OpenAI's co-founder and CEO Sam Altman's abrupt firing from his position and removal from the board in November 2023 sounds like a corporate movie plot. More so because Altman dramatically returned as OpenAI's CEO just five days later. Meanwhile, the board members who voted to fire him agreed to depart.

WilmerHale, a third-party group appointed to look into the matter, ended up reviewing over 30,000 documents and conducted dozens of interviews with prior board members, OpenAI executives, and others. Altman's official return to OpenAI's board was announced in March 2024 after the group found "that his conduct did not mandate removal."

Lawsuits by Elon Musk

Elon Musk was among the founding members of OpenAI. However, the tech billionaire has started bombarding OpenAI with lawsuits in recent years, mostly revolving around OpenAI's stance towards becoming a for-profit organization.

In one of the lawsuits filed in early 2024, Musk claimed OpenAI breached its own contract by trying to become a for-profit company rather than the non-profit organization initially set up to benefit humanity.

While there are more layers to the drama, a new motion filed late last year asked for a preliminary injunction to prevent OpenAI's for-profit transition and accused the company of anti-competitive behavior.

Lawsuits by authors and news agencies

It was not just new features; much legal and corporate drama happened around OpenAI and ChatGPT. Two non-fiction authors sued the AI company and Microsoft at the start of 2024, alleging their work was used without permission to train AI models for ChatGPT and other services.

One of the complainants previously worked for The New York Times (NYT), which had also filed a copyright lawsuit against the two companies. In return, OpenAI accused NYT of tricking ChatGPT into copying its articles, and Microsoft also wanted the court to dismiss parts of the lawsuit filed by NYT.

It was reported in February that lawsuits from more news organizations targeted OpenAI, echoing claims of copying stories from their sites as part of AI training.

Shut down of US presidential candidate chatbots

OpenAI's updated policies banned using its tools and services to create simulated versions of real election candidates. This was part of its efforts around combating false election information during the 2024 US Presidential elections.

In January, the generative AI company banned a developer who used ChatGPT to simulate Dean Philips, a declared candidate for US President in the Democratic Party. Another chatbot shutdown concerning the declared presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr was reported in March.

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Here is the changelog:

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on

 

Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post.

 

[File Explorer]

 

• To make it easier to use the File Explorer context menu, labels have been added to previously unlabeled actions such as cut, copy, paste, rename, share, and delete.

 

[Magnifier]

 

• In addition to the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + Minus to quickly toggle between the current zoom and 1X zoom introduced with Build 22635.4515, we have also added buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last/preferred magnification.
• New buttons in Magnifier to reset zoom to fit to screen and reset zoom to your last or preferred magnification highlighted in a red box.

 

[Other]

 

• Suggested actions that appear when you copy a phone number or future date in Windows 11 are now deprecated. With this build, we’re beginning to disable the feature.
• Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

 

[File Explorer]

 

• Fixed a few issues impacting File Explorer performance and reliability.

You can find the complete announcement on the official Windows Blog.

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Here is the changelog:

Changes and Improvements

 

[General]

 

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

 

Fixes

 

[General]

 

• We fixed the issue where if you roll back from Build 27764 to an earlier build (including if the upgrade failed), you would see an “Your organization used App Control for Business to block this app” dialog when attempting to use or install certain third-party apps on your PC due to an incorrect policy being enforced.
• As of the latest Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel, the main issues causing Insiders to experience an increase in rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to upgrade have been addressed. As a reminder, 0xc190010 is a generic error code that has multiple root causes, so if you’re continuing to experience issues, please file feedback (WIN + F) to investigate.

 

[Taskbar & System Tray]

 

• Fixed an underlying issue which was causing some Insiders in Canary to experience frequent explorer.exe crashes after they clean installed or reset their PC.

Here is the list of known issues:

[General]

 

• [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
• We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.

You can find the official announcement here.

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Most Neowin readers will be familiar with the concepts of beta software—an early release of software released for testing before the final, stable version. The terminology supposedly originated at IBM in the 1950s. An alpha (“A”) test was done internally to verify software before a public announcement, beta (“B”) tests were verifications done before releasing to manufacturing, and gamma (“C”) tests were verifications before releasing to the public. According to some sources, the terms were invented by IBM's Martin Belsky but were ultimately retired in the 1960s, not before gaining wider notice.

During the course of the 2010s, software companies transitioned from release cycles with longer testing periods to rapid releases. Google was the main instigator of this with its rapid Chrome updates, but firms like Microsoft and Mozilla soon took notice. Ever since Windows 10, Microsoft has moved to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, where it provides major upgrades for its existing operating systems.

Unfortunately, this software isn't always tested too well, as we saw with the Windows 11 Moment 5 update in 2024. After the update was sent out to Windows 11 users, several users took to the web to complain about installation issues, the blue screen of death, and black screen issues on startup. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident when it comes to rapid software releases, but it's not.

In this editorial, I will argue that Microsoft and other tech companies should slow down the development of their software in order to take proper care that updates are truly of a stable quality when pushed out to general users. More users than ever before have optional access to beta and developer channels if they want to try out experimental software. There's no reason major issues should get through to average users if more time is taken for quality assurance.

The decline of "stable" releases

Even going back to the days of Windows 95 through Windows 7, when major features were largely added at each new version, Microsoft has always issued security updates in a timely manner. Since 2003, it has been issuing security updates on Patch Tuesday (the second Tuesday of every month) to help admins protect the systems they're responsible for.

While Microsoft could take longer intervals between releasing the larger feature upgrades to ensure compatibility with existing devices, rather than blocking certain devices, the security updates, such as those released at Patch Tuesday, can't be delayed as they patch exploits.

In a recent example, people who installed Windows 11 version 24H2 via CD or USB with the October or November Patch Tuesday updates cannot update further. The company has fixed this now with the December Patch Tuesday, but it goes to show that extensive testing of the patches was not done. This led to problems for over a month for those wishing to install Windows 11 24H2 via CD or USB created with the official Media Creation Tool.

In the second half of 2024 alone, Patch Tuesday updates have also broken dual boot systems, the Start menu, and Wi-Fi. Obviously, with attacks on the rise, Microsoft needs to deploy patches fairly quickly, but it is a bit ironic that in the quest to avoid hacks, many systems get broken in the process.

Perhaps one solution for Microsoft to get a better handle on these issues would be to stop doing Patch Tuesday altogether. It has been a long time since they were introduced over 21 years ago, and Microsoft has gotten better at forcing updates on users. Perhaps it's better if individual security patches were pushed separately so that troublesome patches could be revoked without having to revoke other fixes too.

It's not only Windows that Microsoft has transformed into a service with feature updates. Ever since the Xbox 360, when Microsoft would drop massive UI changes, the potential for issues to open up in the Xbox lineup has increased too.

While it hasn't been an issue for most of this year, in the first four months, Microsoft was shipping Xbox updates with known issues present to general users. These issues pertained to intermittent audio issues and not connecting to the network on boot. Microsoft said both of these issues could be resolved by tedious system reboots—it did eventually fix the problem, though.

The system updates for Xbox are largely about pushing new features for its consoles. Given the fact that these new features aren't a matter of life or death, perhaps it'd be better for Microsoft to solve the known issues rather than dump them onto users who have not signed up to be beta testers.

Another company that now pushes software updates frequently is Mozilla. It changed to the rapid release cycle in response to Google's decision to do the same. Despite the fact that there is a Nightly and Beta channel, the stable Firefox channel, which most people use, also seems to get follow-up fixes after every release.

Firefox 133.0.3 (I'm not sure what happened to versions 133.0.1 and 133.0.2) is the most recent example of this. It was released just a few weeks after version 133 with fixes for missing scroll bars, invisible toolbar icons, and incorrect window positioning. Due to the rapid release of updates, things like these get overlooked and have to be fixed post-release.

The roots of the problem

The rapid release cycle, as mentioned earlier, arose during the 2010s for a combination of factors. Companies could adopt this release cycle to deliver features to users quicker and get a leg up against their rivals, at the expense of stability. Some of the enabling factors of this release model was the move away from installation media like CDs and the introduction of fast internet speeds that let browser and operating system updates get delivered relatively quickly.

Google with its Chrome browser is probably the most notable example of the adoption of rapid releases. It used these updates to subtly add new features and improvements every month without annoying users with big changes. As a result, it is the most popular browser in the world across desktop and mobile. While it uses its monopolist position to gain and maintain its marketshare, there is no doubt that its speed and simplicity are also major contributors to its popularity.

Most browser companies use Chromium as the basis of their own browsers now so they're onboard with the rapid releases too and Mozilla, along the way, realized it needed to switch to rapid releases so as to not lag behind. One notable difference with Chrome and Mozilla, however, is that Google barely ever touches Chrome's interface while Mozilla has gone through several interface refreshes. Frequent UI changes could be one factor for why Mozilla always seems to be pushing quite significant fixes for Firefox.

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model adopted by tech companies for their products encourages their competitors to adopt it as well to keep up when it comes to features. These updates, as we often see with Microsoft's products, come with the option for users to send feedback to Microsoft, as if they were testing a beta product. Microsoft takes this feedback to further refine its software in yet another small, rapid update.

Web browsers can kind of get away with this model because they are free of cost and giving feedback to the maker could be considered a fair deal. However, when it comes to operating systems like Windows or the Xbox operating system, which you have paid for, it gets trickier to justify pushing buggy software just because you want to deliver features faster. As we can see from some of the examples above, disruptions to Windows users can be significant. If you had bought a car, you wouldn't expect the wheels to fall off, so why can Microsoft push software you've paid for that doesn't even boot properly in some cases.

The competitive case for Microsoft pushing these updates is also less clear. Its main competitor is Apple which only pushes OS updates once a year. Linux distributions also tend to only roll out major features with new major versions too, which makes it harder to see who Microsoft is trying to keep up with regular big updates. It could spend more time polishing the experience.

The impact on consumers

The rapid release of new software versions is what's officially called agile development. The idea is that you continually push updates that introduce new features quickly and solicit feedback to fix any issues via further updates. The main benefit of this model is that users get new changes quicker, keeping people more engaged in an increasingly distracting world.

The cost of agile development, however, is product stability and an inconsistent user experience. As we've seen with Patch Tuesday updates, even small updates can cause a big headache and ultimately erode users' trust in Windows. While agile development is certainly beneficial in a competitive market, this quick firing of updates shouldn't mean that beta-quality software is launched to users with a promise to make it stable over time.

Anyone who has run into issues with software and tried to troubleshoot the issue themselves knows that it can be incredibly frustrating and time consuming to resolve. That's just the impact to individual users dealing with problems on a single home computer.

For a system admin, resolving issues on a large number of machines can take even longer to resolve, impacting an organization's operations and costing it a lot of money from inactivity. As the world has become increasingly digitized, having stable systems that don't go haywire is even more important and it seems like at the time we need stability the most, companies are pushing instability in the pursuit of releasing undercooked features faster.

To quantify the damage done by IT outages to businesses, we can look at these figures shared by Atlassian from a no-longer accessible study by Gartner from 2014 which said that the average cost of downtime per minute for businesses was a staggering $5,600.

For any organization unlucky enough to be hit by a computer-breaking Patch Tuesday update, that could result in hours of downtime and a significant financial impact. A business impacted in that way could be more reluctant to continue using Microsoft software as a result. By spending less time on adding new features continually and focusing more on testing, companies can create less financial destruction and do less damage to their reputation.

With reduced trust from users due to previous bad update experiences, companies like Microsoft could see their users attempt to disable things like automatic updates to avoid bricking their system, until they've had a few days to see other users' reactions online to check if the updates are safe. This could leave users open to exploits on their unpatched systems.

Furthermore, if checks to ensure stability have been rushed, it could also mean that the code that has been written is also more exploitable. In the case of security patches, Microsoft could be there trying to help people while unknowingly introducing extra vulnerabilities into its software.

The agile method of software development, when properly implemented can improve the quality of code that's written, but when companies rush to push features, as is the case in practice, it can lead to corners being cut and buggy software being released.

Industry practices and consumer options

In its Windows as a Service (WaaS) overview page, Microsoft explains that it works with organizations throughout the development process to get things fixed before release where possible. It also does extensive internal testing with its employees who install new builds daily and a larger group of employees who install builds frequently, before the software even makes it out to testers among the public.

If poor software quality is consistent, it can give users negative impressions of the company who makes the software. We've seen this in the browser wars and people being fanboys or fangirls about the operating system they run on desktop and mobile. The instance of this that is probably out in popular culture the most is the Android vs iOS rivalry.

Google gives manufacturers considerable freedom when shipping Android which can lead to a very poor experience that may not even be Google's fault. Apple, on the other hand, has an iron grip over its ecosystem and many people appreciate how their devices just work. Of course, Apple has its share of issues too, as seen with the recent launch of iOS 18.

With software being relied on in most aspects of life, and people getting increasingly frustrated with beta-quality software being released as stable software, we could eventually see new development styles emerge. We could see better quality assurance emerge with more rigorous testing done on software before it goes out to the public, more emphasis placed on clean code principles that make it easier to fix bugs, and possibly a focus on smaller workloads which could allow for easier testing.

With regulators around the world getting concerned about the monopolist aspect of big tech, it could eventually be the case that they take notice of the reduced testing time for software as firms race to push out features. That could even lead to more regulations in the industry around testing software adequately.

I mentioned earlier that this paradigm of pushing features out to users as fast as possible and asking for feedback can be controversial, especially when the user has already paid for the software.

The main benefit of soliciting feedback from users in the real world is that they will be running the software on a diverse array of hardware. A niche bit of hardware that companies aren’t aware of may cause issues which can then be reported via feedback, this is all well and good.

Given the widespread occurrence of issues, though, something seems off. In the iOS 18 update I mentioned earlier, Apple controls all the devices which its OS runs on, yet people are reporting similar problems and it seems strange that Apple wouldn't have encountered these issues. Then there is the case of Windows 11 version 24H2 being blocked on two computers from the popular OEM, ASUS.

For general users who are not signed up to a developer channel, the assumption is that software is going to be stable when they buy it. The fact that it’s not and companies are soliciting feedback in a widespread manner is troubling. In many cases, those users who do provide feedback are not even compensated in any way by the companies.

The impact that average people can have in this area is pretty limited, I mean, have you ever looked for Google’s contact details? They’re basically non-existent. If you dislike this fast development pace that contributes to software bugginess then it’s probably best to leave negative, but constructive feedback, leave negative reviews, or switch to alternative software.

Another aspect of this discussion that I raised was to do with regulations. While buggy software has always been a thing and always will be a thing, with our growing dependence on technology, it’s not implausible that governments could impose stricter testing criteria. For general consumer technology, I believe this is too restrictive as you always have the choice to use something else if you don’t like it. While it could improve things for users, it could impact innovation and make things too bureaucratic.

Conclusion

Anyone that is fed up with buggy software upon release can take several actions. In the case of iOS 18 which launched with bugs, users on Reddit suggested holding off upgrading for a few weeks or months until bug patches have been released. In the case of Firefox, there is an Extended Support Release (ESR) which only gets big feature updates once a year with smaller security patches released alongside rapid releases of Firefox.

These are the two primary ways of not becoming an unwilling beta tester for software companies; hold off on the update for a few weeks or months, or find the long term support releases of software, if available.

To conclude, I am not sure if we will ever see a break away from this rapid development model where more incremental changes are made at shorter intervals, to the apparent detriment of software quality. These smaller updates have definitely taken the excitement out of software updates for me a little; I remember being excited when Firefox 4.0 came out with all the changes that were made. I don't get that excited much anymore with all the frequent updates bringing smaller changes.

If the rapidness does continue, then hopefully companies can do something about the perception users feel about being testers of beta-quality software. Perhaps a balance can be found where new features arrive quicker than they did at the start of the 2010s, but are also tested more thoroughly than they are right now.

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Here is the changelog:

Highlights:

 

• Launch driver for Intel Core Processor N-series and Series 2 (Codename Twin Lake, Raptor Lake-H Refresh, Raptor Lake-U Refresh).

 

Fixed Issues:

 

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

 

• Skull and Bones (DX12) may experience an application crash while launching gameplay.
• Certain capture cards may exhibit visual artifacts in some scenarios.
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance.

 

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

 

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (DX12) may experience flickering during gameplay.

 

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

 

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit black shadow corruption in certain scenes during gameplay.

And here is the list of known bugs:

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

 

• F1 24 (DX12) with XeSS FG may exhibit certain corruptions and applications crashes
  • Application may crash when dynamically changing XeSS FG settings during gameplay. Recommendation is to toggle XeSS FG settings in the game menu before starting a race.
  • “Alt + Enter” shortcut may change the display mode to fullscreen exclusive, which is not supported in XeSS 2 and may cause the game to crash.
• MLPerf may exhibit intermittent errors when running on multi-GPU system configurations. It is recommended to disable integrated GPU as a workaround.
• Topaz Labs Photo AI may exhibit corruptions with certain image enhancement operations.
• Magix Vegas Pro may exhibit corruptions when using style transfer feature.
• Dassault Systèmes CATIA may experience an application crash when using HQAO option.
• Adobe Lightroom Classic may experience lower than expected performance. Workaround is to set recommended preferences in the application
  • Under Edit, Preferences, Performance options, choose Graphics Processor as “Custom”
  • Select “Use GPU for Display”, “Use GPU for Image Processing” and “Use GPU for Export” options.

 

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

 

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit darker than expected shadows in certain campaign scenarios.
• Topaz Gigapixel AI may experience intermittent crash while exporting images.

 

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

 

• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience errors intermittently with benchmark preset set to Extended.
• Davinci Resolve Studio v19.0 may experience errors while rendering OpenVino test scenarios.
• Topaz Video AI may experience corruption when exporting videos after using some models for video enhancements

 

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

 

• Adobe Premiere Pro may exhibit corruption in the output video after performing 8K AV1 Encode.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience errors intermittently with benchmark preset set to Extended.
• Davinci Resolve Studio v19.0 may experience issues while rendering certain OpenVino test scenarios.
• Davinci Resolve Studio v19.0 may experience errors intermittently while rendering certain AI/ML scenarios.
• Topaz Video AI may experience corruption when exporting videos after using some models for video enhancements.
• Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered (DX12) may experience crash during gameplay with frame generation enabled.

Intel 32.0101.6449 WHQL and 32.0101.6256 WHQL are available on PCs with 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11 with the following graphics products from Intel:

You can download the driver from the official website here. Full release notes are available here (PDF).

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ESET Germany's IT security expert Thorsten Urbanski says (Google-translated to English):

It's five minutes to twelve to avoid a security fiasco for 2025. We strongly advise all users not to wait until October, but to switch to Windows 11 immediately or choose an alternative operating system if their device cannot be updated to the latest Windows operating system. Otherwise, users expose themselves to considerable security risks and make themselves vulnerable to dangerous cyber attacks and data loss

 

The situation is more dangerous than when support for Windows 7 ended in early 2020.

 

Even before the official date, at the end of 2019, only around 20 percent of users were still using Windows 7. Over 70 percent were already using the new Windows 10. The current situation is extremely dangerous. Cyber criminals know these numbers very well and are just waiting for the day when support ends.

Microsoft is also actively urging users against installing Windows 10 even when someone tries downloading it from an official source, and to entice gamers, the company recently listed all the gaming features one can enjoy on Windows 11.

ESET has also mentioned the costly pricing policy of Microsoft's paid extended support of Windows 10 via its Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. It wrote:

Microsoft has already announced that there will be extended, paid support for Windows 10. What is new is that private users can also buy this service. However, the costs are high and double with each year of use.

The blog post also mentions general security tips and again recommends upgrading to Windows 11 but also adds that users on older unsupported hardware could also try Linux:

Always use the latest version of Windows, even if the change is difficult at first. Old versions such as Windows 7 or XP pose a high security risk and should be replaced urgently. The switch from Windows 10 should also be planned. ESET recommends switching to Windows 11 as quickly as possible. Alternatively, a Linux distribution can also be a good option, especially for older hardware.

Microsoft though officially recommends a new PC if you want to update to Windows 11 as it recently also clarified that the system requirements for Windows 11 have not been relaxed. Check out our dedicated piece on how to salvage an old PC that is ineligible for Windows 11.

You can find the blog post here on ESET Germany's official website.

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