The issue was tested by tech YouTuber Bang4BuckPC Gamer, who noticed that their high-end RTX 5090 was suddenly pulling less than 1V and dropping well below 3,000MHz after installing the 595.71 update. Other users quickly chimed in, confirming that the throttling is also affecting other cards in the lineup.

Right now, the throttling seems to mostly happen for users with overclocked graphics cards. We still don’t know how severely the update impacts factory-overclocked cards or those in their default states, but the risk of installing this update, if you haven’t already, is simply not worth taking.

Losing that much of your performance could be the difference between an enjoyable experience and an unplayable game. As someone who’s battled NVIDIA’s drivers for the past couple of years, I can attest that these mishaps are happening more often than they should.

If you already downloaded version 595.71, you can use a tool like MSI Afterburner to check the voltage and clock speed of your graphics card, as well as the FPS in games. If you notice a significant drop in performance, perhaps the best option is to completely roll back your GPU driver to a stable 591 variant, such as version 591.74 or 591.86. However, rolling back GPU drivers isn’t always straightforward, so make sure to do proper research for your particular NVIDIA GPU model before rushing to downgrade.

Via: Sebastian Castellanos (X)

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Posted Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 11:51 am AEST (my time).

News posts: 2023 5,800+ | 2024 5,700+ | 2025 5,700+ | 2026 (to end of February) 854

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With the release of Chrome 153 on September 8, Google will start shipping two new stable versions of the browser every month, breaking the long-standing schedule developers followed since 2021.

The new model applies to both beta and stable releases across Desktop, Android, and iOS. The new development cycle is reflected in the table below:

However, the Dev and Canary channels for early development and testing will continue on the current schedule. Also, the ‘Extended Stable’ branch will remain on its existing eight-week cycle for enterprise customers who need longer update timelines.

Google says the smaller, more frequent releases will reduce disruption and simplify debugging while maintaining stability due to recent process improvements.

“While releases will be more frequent, their smaller scope minimizes disruption and simplifies post-release debugging,” Google says in a press release.

“And thanks to recent process enhancements, we are confident this shift will maintain our high standards for stability.”

For Chrome users, the impact of this change should not be dramatic, but they can expect to see new feature rollouts more frequently. Chrome updates occur silently in the background, but restart prompts may appear more often now.

Although security fixes will still arrive as part of milestone releases, Chrome will receive weekly security updates according to the current model announced in August 2023.

According to it, Chrome receives security fixes every week to reduce the “patch gap,” shortening the opportunity window for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities in one of the world's most popular web browsers.

With the latest announcement, Google increases the new release cadence for Chrome, building on the previous change, but with a broader, more structural goal this time.

Chrome had a relatively calm start to the year so far, with only one zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2026-2441) reported as actively exploited in the wild. In 2025, hackers leveraged eight Chrome zero-days in attacks.

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Posted Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 6:13 am AEST (my time).

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For those unware, Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc) in Windows is typically used to automate repetitive tasks that are either based on a trigger or follow a time-based schedule. Although it doesn't really have a lot of mainstream use-cases for consumers, it is still leveraged in some enterprise environments for niche scenarios. Now, a Windows enthusiast has modernized Task Scheduler for the modern era.

TRGLUL over on the r/windows subreddit has detailed their initiative to rebuild the Windows Task Scheduler using Fluent Design principles, WinUI3, and .NET 8. We wouldn't call it the prettiest looking interface out there (see screenshot above), but it's at least modernized compared to what we have now.

This "FluentTaskScheduler" acts as a wrapper for the Windows Task Scheduler API that offers several functionalities such as dashboard and monitoring, comprehensive trigger support, a centralized script library, customization options, and more. However, the developer has acknowledged some flaws in the implementation such as inefficient handling of smooth scrolling, small launch window, and close to tray behavior. They have also admitted to utilizing AI to code some of their application, but of course, that's not a flaw by itself.

Task Scheduler might not fit in your daily workflows, but if it does, then FluentTaskScheduler may serve as a nice alternative to the legacy application. The code is open-source under the MIT license and is hosted on GitHub here. However, before you proceed to install it, we would like to recommend caution and due diligence because the software comes from a third-party developer and accesses Windows APIs.

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Posted Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 6:12 am AEST (my time).

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Since the demise of Windows Phone nearly a decade ago, I've been bouncing between Android and iOS, attempting to settle into one ecosystem. I'm currently in an iPhone cycle, complete with a set of AirPods Pro that I actually enjoy using.

Well, I enjoy using them most of the time, anyway. You probably already know where this is going. Connecting AirPods to a Windows PC is not always a fun experience. While they seemed to work fairly well on Windows 10, changes to the audio codec in Windows 11 have created some annoying issues. Slow or failed connections, lagging audio, unwanted idling; that sort of thing.

It's not entirely Microsoft's fault, of course. Apple's hardware is designed to work with other Apple hardware, at least if you want the full experience. Many of the perks I enjoy when my AirPods are connected to my iPhone, like immediate pairing, adaptive audio, and noise cancellation control, are missing when I'm using them with my Windows 11 PC.

It's just something I've put up with, but now I feel like an idiot for living like this for so long after learning about a MagicPods app (via XDA). It's an app available via the Microsoft Store, and it costs $1.99 for a one-time purchase. There's also a free trial that I used (and you can use) to test the app, but it's working well enough that a full buy is basically a no-brainer.

The MagicPods app experience on Windows 11

A look at the initial app launch with AirPods Pro animated widget that pops up when connected.

(Image credit: Future)

 

After downloading the MagicPods app from the Microsoft Store, I grabbed the community-signed MagicAAP driver (which doesn't require Windows to be put into test mode) and installed it using the official instructions from the MagicPods website.

 

I then launched the MagicPods app, clicked Connect (my AirPods were already paired to my laptop), and let the app take over. An immediate connection? Yup. A little animated window showing battery status for the AirPods and case? You bet.

 

I was expecting these changes; what I wasn't expecting were the myriad customization options available through the app. Practically every setting I care about is here and can be tweaked, including the press speed of the physical buttons, noise cancellation, ear detection behavior, and low battery warning threshold.

 

Perhaps the most noticeable change is that there's no longer that awful audio delay when you hit play on your music or video, something I've put up with for far too long. My AirPods immediately begin sounding off when I click Play. Awesome.

 

A look at the MagicPod app's primary audio controls.

(Image credit: Future)

 

A look at the rest of the MagicPod app's primary audio controls.

(Image credit: Future)

 

A look at the customizable hotkey options in the MagicPods app.

(Image credit: Future)

 

Putting my AirPods back in the case and pulling them out again saw them reconnect to my PC almost immediately, even with my iPhone at my side. There's still a bit of a delay as my laptop's Bluetooth abilities catch up, but it's better than what I used to experience: failed connections, painfully slow connections, etc.

 

The app has a built-in dark mode, which I love, and there's a long list of customizable hotkeys you can set up for easier control over your wireless audio setup. Whether or not you enable hotkeys, the app's most important controls can all be handled from the tray icon.

Is the MagicPods app worth $1.99?

My AirPods Pro sitting on an HP laptop's palmrest.

(Image credit: Future)

 

The creator of the app, Aleksandr Maslov, says the app works with AirPods, Beats, "fake AirPods with Airoha chips," a handful of Sony models, and some other headphones. I haven't tested anything other than my AirPods, but you might have some luck elsewhere. The app can work on a Steam Deck via the Decky Loader, which I'm sure a lot of people will love.

 

The creator also adds that the app involves "no data collection, no ads, no subscriptions, no paid content. Just a convenient tool that works offline. And yes—no AI."

 

With these promises in mind, and with my own experience coming out quite smoothly, MagicPods is absolutely an app I can recommend to most people who hate how AirPods function with Windows 11.

 

The only qualm I have with the app is its unsigned driver and community-signed alternative. I don't recommend you use the app on a company- or school-managed laptop, nor do I recommend using it on a gaming PC lest your anti-cheat throws up a false positive.

 

Now, excuse me while I go listen to the new Johnny Blue Skies album while further tweaking my audio setup via the MagicPods app.

What do you think about the MagicPods app?

Is the MagicPods app something you can see using with your Windows PC? Are you already using it? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments section!

 

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Posted Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 6:09 am AEST (my time).

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Starting with KRdp, users who faced the issue where high-resolution scroll events from touchpads and certain RDP clients got ignored will be happy to hear that this has been fixed. Users reported that scrolling with a touchpad on a remote connection felt broken because the system ignored most scroll events unless you moved your fingers at warp speed. It turns out that some RDP clients send scroll data differently than others. Developers adjusted how the system tracks mouse positions and scroll deltas to handle these specific cases better.

In KWin, Text caret tracking is now respectful of your actual settings. Before this update, the tracking feature stuck itself to proportional mode even if you explicitly disabled it or set it to strict mode. That made typing difficult for users relying on screen magnifiers. Other changes in KWin include:

• A crash related to updating display modes on the DRM backend has been fixed.
• The workspace can now correctly find displays even when mirrored outputs are disabled.
• The game controller plugin now builds correctly on 32-bit systems.
• A placeholder output will no longer improperly change the power saving mode.
• Input gaps in window decorations have been sealed.

In Discover, there is a small fix for the "See more" arrows that appeared reversed in languages that read from right to left. Plasma Desktop saw over a dozen bug fixes, including one where widget resize handles now properly close when you exit edit mode.

Other fixes Plasma 6.6.2 ships with include a patch for the classic Oxygen theme, which now correctly indicates minimized windows in the taskbar. When you clear the clipboard history, it now also removes any secrets managed by the KWallet service, closing a potential information leak.

Spectacle no longer crashes when trying to export a rectangular region screenshot via KDE Connect. The network manager icon now properly reflects the connection status of bridged and VLAN interfaces. Finally, Plasma Mobile gained device support profiles for the Fairphone 5 and the Nothing Phone (1).

You can check out the full changelog here.

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Posted Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 6:08 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft is moving its annual Build developer conference from Seattle back to San Francisco and making some changes along the way. This year, the event will be held at Fort Mason, the former US Army post located in the San Francisco Bay Area, instead of the bustling downtown of Seattle. Microsoft is moving Build to this location to capture the AI buzz of San Francisco and to make the event more intimate.

“There are great conferences that are enormous, and part of it is just the sprawl and scale of it, and there are great conferences that are tiny that are really a personalized experience,” says Kyle Daigle, chief operating officer at GitHub, in an interview with The Verge. “I think we’re trying to fit in the middle of it where meeting with people that attend is just as much a part of the actual conference content, announcements, and using the tech.”

Microsoft is inviting 2,500 developers to register for Build this year, which will be held from June 2nd to June 3rd instead of the typical May timing. That’s less than the roughly 3,000 to 5,000 who have attended the event previously. “I think this venue really forces folks like us to consider the attendees and focus really on those developers coming to the event,” says Daigle. “They’ll be able to go see a keynote, walk into a hall and touch the demo experience, and have way more interaction with each other.”

The move to San Francisco is part of some “bigger shifts” to change Build into a more developer-focused event. Over the years, Build has been host to many Windows-related announcements or news that isn’t always strictly about developers. “We just need to show you what we’ve been doing, what you’ve been building on top of it, and how you can use it,” says Daigle. “Not pitch you on both our vision and a third-party person’s vision over and over.”

Microsoft’s new Build logo for 2026.

Image: Microsoft

 

Microsoft is also inviting more external speakers to Build, and some of these speakers will also be appearing in sessions. Datasette founder Simon Willison will be speaking at Build this year, as will Thiink’s Priyanka Sharma, AI engineer Shawn Wang, and many more. Microsoft’s own speakers will include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, GitHub SVP Jared Palmer, and Scott Hanselman, VP of Developer Communities.

“[Attendees] will be able to have access to what we’re announcing, as a developer in a hall with your laptop out,” says Daigle. “It should feel more of a community-centric developer experience where we’re learning from each other and with each other.”

The move away from Seattle doesn’t necessarily mean Microsoft won’t return to its home city at a later date, especially as Build originally moved from San Francisco to Seattle in 2017. Daigle denied reports that the decision to move was related to negative attendee experiences in downtown Seattle, though. “Build has been in many different locations over the years, but it clearly has an identity with the Seattle area, but like with everything in software, it’s a little bit of ship to learn,” says Daigle. “Let’s ship it to San Francisco and see what we learn this year with that audience that can come and join us, and see about the years following.”

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Posted Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 6:07 am AEST (my time).

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The affected user recently upgraded their system to Windows 11 25H2 from 23H2 and claims that their Dot3Svc folder, which contains essential policies and settings for NAC (Network Access Control), got wiped of its contents which means they can't connect to the internet via wired means as the authentication via 802.1x no longer works for them.

For anyone wondering, the Windows Wired Auto Config service (dot3svc) in Windows 11/10 is a system service that manages IEEE 802.1X authentication on wired or Ethernet connections. The user wrote:

Is there any update on Microsoft acknowledging/fixing the issue that is still plaguing our Windows 11 upgrades? ... This occurred from 10 to 11, but is now also occurring when updating from one yearly release to another (23H2 to 25H2). In each case, the dot3svc folder is wiped of its contents and the computer is off the network until a gpupdate is run with it on the network."

If you are wondering why the person says "still plaguing", the issue is not new as it first originated on Windows 11 24H2 or 23H2, when users noted that in-place upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 was leading to such 802.1x authentication problems, which meant they no longer could access the internet via Ethernet.

This is a bit ironically funny considering Microsoft wants users to be connected to the internet when they install Windows 11, but then immediately afterwards, they found themselves shut out of it.

There are multiple threads online documenting the issue though it seems Microsoft never publicly acknowledged the problem on its open Windows health dashboard website. However, the company appeared to have fixed it with the November 2024 and December 2024 Windows 11 Patch Tuesdays (via Reddit).

Still for anyone wondering how to resolve this issue, the only thing that seems to work is to connect to a functioning wireless port and run a gpupdate, which essentially updates the Group Policy settings to restore the correct policies.

Source: Reddit (link1, link2, link3), Microsoft forums (link1, link2)

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Posted Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 6:20 pm AEST (my time).

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The ribbon interface, introduced way back in Office 2007 (and redesigned in 2021), features large, tabbed toolbars that group commands by functionality. Its design seems to have inspired other developers like Avid Tech's Sibelius, MathWorks' MATLAB, and yes, LibreOffice, which offers a "Tabbed" UI variant mimicking the ribbon.

But LibreOffice says that users who prefer to use Microsoft Office because of the ribbon interface, instead of its open source alternative, are simply wrong. It argues that the ribbon interface should not even be regarded as a standard, "nor a good example of ergonomics".

According to LibreOffice, its UI is simply better and "more thoughtful" than what Microsoft has to offer in Office because, at least, you can customize it, and that unlike Microsoft Office and its popular alternatives like WPS and OnlyOffice (which it says just copied Microsoft's UI), it did not take the easy way out.

There are several UI modes in LibreOffice: the ribbon style (mentioned earlier), the classic interface with toolbars, a compact tabbed variant, a compact grouped bar, a single contextual toolbar, and a sidebar-focused layout.

According to LibreOffice, there is no evidence that the ribbon offers "superior usability", especially for experienced users who might find it less efficient.

Incidentally, the characterisation of ribbon-style interfaces as "modern" or "standard", used by several users, is not based on any objective usability parameter or design principle, but is the result of Microsoft's dominance in the market and the huge investments made when the ribbon was introduced in Office 2007 as a new paradigm for productivity software.

 

The idea that "modern" equals "similar to a ribbon" is a normalisation effect: the Microsoft interface has become a benchmark because of its ubiquity, not because of its proven advantages in terms of usability. Added to this is the fact that many users evaluate office software through the lens of familiarity with Microsoft Office and consider deviation from it as a problem rather than a design choice.

There are other things LibreOffice believes it does better than Microsoft Office. These include options for macros in Basic, Python, and JavaScript, no ads or user profiling, full access to the source code, data privacy, and the big one, native support for the ODF format, which it argues prevents vendor lock-in, unlike Microsoft's OOXML.

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Posted Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 6:19 pm AEST (my time).

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A user, who had not yet upgraded as they were holding out on Windows 10, says that their system was being bombarded with upgrade request pop-ups and even though they claim they never explicitly accepted any of those requests, Microsoft allegedly automatically installed Windows 11 on their PC with an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 while they were away from their PC for half an hour taking a shower.

The naturally annoyed user has called Microsoft an "idiot" for the whole saga and also for the centrally designed Start menu they do not like. On their Reddit post they write:

"I'd been getting messages to upgrade to Windows 11 for the past month or two now, and each time, I decline. It's gotten to the point that I get random, frequent pop_ups asking to update, and "install update" options pop up right next to the shutdown/restart uptions.

 

Well, I made the mistake of going to take a shower with my PC on. Half an hour later, I come back tothis. Windows had automatically started installing the update. Now I'm sitting here staring at the Start button and all the open programs center-justified on the task bar and wondering what idiot thought that was a good idea."

While there are often legitimate reasons to be annoyed and irritated at Microsoft, it is difficult to be sure what exactly happened in this case. While Microsoft is known to nudge users to try and coax them into upgrading, Windows typically does not automatically install major feature updates if a user does not grant permission (excluding Patch Tuesday, which now seems to include new feature rollouts too).

As reported by Neowin last year, this change in upgrade behavior was introduced by Microsoft last year in July 2025 under the KB5001716. This is the very update responsible for all such nudges and frequent upgrade requests and pop-ups, and it is well known that Microsoft often installed this KB5001716 update without notifying users. It is perhaps possible that the pre-July version of the update remained on the user's PC, or perhaps it could also be a bug, which is quite common on Windows.

If you are on the same boat and don't want Microsoft to install updates automatically, try turning on the "Metered Connection" option for your Wi-Fi via the Internet adapter settings. Another option could also be to disable the "Windows Update" services entirely.

However, keep in mind that running a system which is not up to date is also very risky, especially if you spend a significant amount of your time online.

Source: djseifer (Reddit)

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Posted Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 5:26 am AEST (my time).

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• 595.59: HW monitoring software not detecting all fans on the GPU
• 595.59: One or more fans not spinning on GPUs after driver update
• Blackmagic Design: AV1 decode crash with multiple obu in one packet

And in case you missed it, the rest of the update includes the following improvements:

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new
games supporting DLSS 4 technology including Resident Evil Requiem. In addition, there is
Game Ready support for Marathon which features DLSS Super Resolution and NVIDIA
Reflex.

 

• The Ascent: Intermittent black bar on top of the screen on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs.
• Total War: THREE KINGDOMS: Green artifacts appear on GeForce RTX 50 series
• FINAL FANTASY XII The Zodiac Age crashes with a fatal error after a driver update
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019) displays image corruption after a driver update
• Quantum Break: Performance drops significantly on Act 4 Part 1

As usual, you can update your NVIDIA driver using the NVIDIA app or by downloading it from the official website. Full release notes for driver 595.71 WHQL are available here (PDF). The driver announcement article is available here.

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Posted Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 5:20 am AEST (my time).

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Starting with groups, members can now create custom tags next to their names to showcase a group role or just any other bit of information to help you introduce yourself, share your interests, or flex about something. Admins can assign tags themselves or allow users to create custom tags on their own. Those running polls in groups or channels can see when each member casts their vote (only applies to polls with visible votes).

Another big change is the ability to restrict sharing in private chats. This feature was previously available in groups and channels, and now, Telegram has enabled it for one-on-one chats, albeit only for Telegram Premium subscribers. With disabled sharing, you cannot forward messages, save media, or even screenshot a chat.

Other changes in the latest update include the ability to add a caption when selecting a GIF (above or below it), generate instant stickers from a photo with a single tap (you can then add text or emoji before sending), and edit existing GIFs and stickers with the built-in media editor. There is also the ability to sign up or log in to apps with your Telegram account and the ability to send a specific time and date in a message so that the recipient can tap it to create a calendar event or a reminder.

You can read more about the latest Telegram update in a blog post on the official website. The messenger is available on iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and the web.

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Posted Tuesday 3 March 2026 at 5:19 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft also publishes important policies from time to time which can be deployed by admins, and savvy users too can find ways and hacks around restrictions with the help of this powerful tool. The most recent such example is that of a new policy to remove Copilot from enterprise-managed PCs.

Recently, the company has made an update to the official GPO files for Registry configurations called Registry.pol. The new change can be especially useful for quickly making fixes in case of erroneous and corrupt Registry policy files. The update rolled out to Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2 with the latest February 2026 Patch Tuesday release.

Alongside that, Microsoft confirmed this past week that it is also releasing another Group Policy feature upgrade on the aforementioned Windows versions. The tech giant is making GPP debugging available to local group policies too, which should again make Group Policy troubleshooting easier for admins.

If you are not familiar with what GPP or Group Policy preferences are, they essentially allow administrators to configure their preferred additional settings that are not available through regular Group policies. However, these are not enforced as they are done via various client-side extensions, which means users can also tweak them.

This is where GPP Debug logging comes in as it allows creating detailed logs such that admins can track user-made changes so that troubleshooting and debugging gets easier. So with this newly announced improvement, admins will be able to troubleshoot directly on client devices as GPP debug logging is no longer limited to domains.

You can find the full details on how to use the feature here on Microsoft's official Tech Community blog post.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 4:53 pm AEST (my time).

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This release also diverges from the traditional driver-heavy pattern of early kernel candidates, with drivers only accounting for 25% of the total changes. Instead, the update is dominated by internal plumbing, including core kernel updates, networking, and filesystem changes that carry a higher-risk of system-wide instability.

This week, filesystem updates, specifically regarding SMB client, XFS, and EROFS, accounted for a quarter of the changes in the update. They focus on storage reliability with XFS alone receiving 19 separate patches that address everything from inode counter stats to potential pointer access races.

Security and memory management also got attention this week with fixes for KASAN (KernelAddressSANitizer) dynamic memory error detector hardware tag faults in the memory manager and speculative safety measures for x86 FRED (Flexible Return and Event Delivery). These low-level fixes are important for protecting against side-channel exploits.

The update also includes a large number of BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) updates and related selftests which aim to refine how the kernel handles sandboxed programs. This week’s updates includes fixes for out of bounds writes and race conditions in PREEMPT_RT configurations.

Torvalds also mentioned that this update’s unusual size is likely a hangover effect from the Linux 6.19 cycle, which was extended by one week. This led to the creation of a bottleneck of pent-up work that has now flooded into Linux 7.0. Torvalds says he is looking for a quiet RC3 to confirm this week was random noise. If the next candidate is large as well then it could mean Linux 7.0 will see extra weeks of testing before the stable release arrives.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 4:52 pm AEST (my time).

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Alongside the C release, Microsoft released corresponding new dynamic updates. 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.

Both setup and recovery updates were released this time. The company writes:

"KB5078169: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 26H1: February 24, 2026

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

KB5079271: Setup Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 24H2 and 25H2: February 24, 2026

This update makes improvements to Windows setup binaries or any files that setup uses for feature updates in Windows 11, version 24H2 and Windows 11, version 25H2.

KB5079270: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, versions 24H2 and 25H2: February 24, 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 Monday 2 March 2026 at 12:18 pm AEST (my time).

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Speaking of performance boost and Windows 11, Microsoft has confirmed that one such feature it has highlighted in the past still requires a clean installation. If you are wondering, the tech giant has always maintained a clean installation as a necessity for Smart App Control, a Windows 11-exclusive feature. The company has mentioned this multiple times and has also emphasized how it can help boost system performance.

If you are wondering, Microsoft had stated that a major "advantage of Smart App Control is its lighter impact on your PC’s performance since it helps block harmful apps before they can run" which indicates there should not be a need for "constant scanning of active files" which in turn should put less strain on user PCs. The company added that this was different from "traditional antivirus software that can sometimes use more resources as it scans files and processes continuously."

Back in December at the end of the year, Microsoft said the Smart App Control would not be needing a clean install anymore as it was testing the change as part of Insider previews, and it even published support documentation for the January C-release update to confirm this change was coming to all users.

However, Microsoft has since backtracked as it has again updated the support page to remove the mention of this from the release notes. Neowin noticed this change while browsing.

The company has written: "Update: This feature, originally documented in the January 2026 non‑security update (KB5074105), has been removed from the documentation and is planned for a future release.

• [Smart App Control] New! You can turn Smart App Control (SAC) on or off without any clean install requirement. To make changes, go to Windows Security > App & Browser Control > Smart App Control settings. When turned on, SAC helps block untrusted or potentially harmful apps."

Thus, if you were looking to try the feature out and were not able to succeed in it without a clean install, this is likely why. Microsoft says we should expect the feature in a future Windows update.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 12:16 pm AEST (my time).

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Amongst the myriad of new hardware shown off by Lenovo at MWC 2026, there's another announcement that gives us new information about the AI super agent known as Qira.

If you haven't heard of Qira, it's Lenovo's personal AI assistant that I went hands-on with at CES 2026. Lenovo calls it a "Personal Ambient Intelligence" that is capable of becoming your digital twin as it learns about your personality, your workflow, and your devices.

Announced at MWC, Qira is beginning its rollout on "more than 20 devices" in the next month or so. It will arrive with a combination of pre-loaded software and updates to existing hardware, with Lenovo stating that everything from ThinkPad to Yoga to Legion to IdeaPad will have devices compatible with the AI super agent.

Qira is expected to launch first in nine separate regions, including the US, UK, India, Latin America, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. Lenovo has six languages covered at launch, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese.

What is Lenovo Qira, and why would I need it?

According to the latest data by Statcounter, in February 2026, Windows 11's market share jumped from 62.41% to a whopping 72.57%, displaying a nearly identical increase to a month before (50.73% to 62.41%). Windows 10, on the other hand, is losing its market share proportionally, going from 35.77% to 26.45% in just one month. Similar jumps are observed in specific regions, with Windows 11 showing massive gains in Europe, the United States of America, India, the United Kingdom, and more.

Here is what the Windows market looks like according to Statcounter:

1. Windows 11: 72.57% (+10.16 points)
2. Windows 10: 26.45% (-9.32 points)
3. Windows 7: 0.62% (-0.43 points)
4. Windows XP: 0.2% (-0.23 points)

A 10-point increase is undoubtedly an odd one, especially considering that there were no major announcements from Microsoft or PC manufacturers that could have sparked a massive exodus. Also, Windows 10 is still supported in the Extended Security Updates program, so regular users are supported until October, while Microsoft has commercial users' backs for a few more years.

Statcounter often adjusts its data over time, so it is possible that the latest value will change in a couple of weeks. Recently, Statcounter reported a massive spike in Windows 7's market share, which was later corrected. Therefore, take this information with a fair share of skepticism.

Despite the odd report, Statcounter remains a useful service for approximate tracking, as Microsoft refuses to provide exact figures. However, Microsoft recently announced that Windows 11 had finally crossed the 1 billion users mark, and it did that faster than Windows 10, despite all the hate and flak the latest operating system keeps getting from the community.

Source: Statcounter

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 5:47 am AEST (my time).

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For those wondering, io_uring was introduced in the Linux kernel 5.1 back in 2019 as a modern asynchronous I/O (aio) framework. The design is meant to minimize system calls and context switches, which should result in substantial performance improvements for both files as well as network I/O.

Microsoft's Paul Moore, a Principal software engineer at the company, highlighted some of these benefits earlier:

What is interesting is that Microsoft borrowed this feature for Windows 11 as the current implementation of Windows I/O Ring API is apparently heavily based on Linux's io_uring, with certain modifications made for compatibility purposes, among other things.

The pull request was put forth by Ben Adams, who is the CTO and Co-founder of Illyriad Games and also a Microsoft MVP, and here are some of those "expected improvements" that are being promised with this upgrade under various workloads and scenarios:

• Kestrel HTTP/1.1 Keep-Alive (TechEmpower Plaintext)

  • 15-40% reduction in per-request CPU cost. TechEmpower plaintext is historically syscall-bound; io_uring batching directly attacks this.

• Kestrel HTTP/2 Multiplexed Streams (gRPC, Modern Web)
  • 5-15% per-connection throughput improvement. HTTP/2 is less I/O-bound than HTTP/1.1 at the TCP layer.
• High Connection Count Idle Servers (WebSocket/SignalR Hubs, 10K+)
  • 30-50% memory overhead reduction for idle connections. 10-30% wake latency improvement.
• Ultra-Low-Latency with SQPOLL (Game Servers, HFT, Real-Time)
  • 20x average / 100x P99 submit latency reduction under sustained load
• HttpClient Outbound Requests (Microservice-to-Microservice)
  • 10-20% per-request latency reduction for short-lived connections.
• Database Drivers (Npgsql, MySQL Connector, Redis)
  • Expected improvement: 5-15% latency reduction per query.
• UDP Workloads (DNS, Game Servers, Telemetry Collectors)
  • 20-40% increase in packets-per-second for high-rate UDP.
• Accept-Heavy Workloads (Load Balancers, Proxies, Connection Bursts)
  • Expected improvement: 20-50% improvement in connections-per-second under burst load.

Interestingly, the pull request, titled "Use io_uring for sockets on Linux," was edited heavily to remove all the above performance claims after its initial publication on the 17th of last month. However, it is still accessible through the archive.

Source: Wayback Machine

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 5:45 am AEST (my time).

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Over time, Microsoft moved away from Windows XP's green hills to more abstract wallpapers in Windows Vista and Windows 7. While Windows 10's wallpaper was a unique project (did you know that that image is a photo, not a render?), Windows 11 went back to abstract wallpapers. We have already seen plenty of alterations of the stock Bloom wallpaper (even Microsoft has quite a few takes on it), but what about a mix with Windows XP's Bliss?

A Reddit user u/Left_Hovercraft451 published two images of Bloom fused together with Bliss. Windows XP's iconic green hills and blue skies blend into creases of Windows 11's flower (or fabric, depending on how you look at it), creating quite an interesting wallpaper. Of course, it does look like AI-made, but the result still looks pretty and unique, preserving the spirit and feel of both operating systems and their stock wallpapers. Additionally, there is a light and dark variant:

Unfortunately, the OP has not published higher-resolution originals of their creation, so the images above are upscaled to a better resolution. If you want to get the original, head to this Reddit thread, where people are already nagging the OP to publish high-resolution originals (to no avail so far).

Do you link this remix of Windows XP's Bliss and Windows 11's Bloom? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 5:43 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft now lets you customize volume for each device so that each listener can have their own comfortable volume level without affecting the other party. Previously, Windows 11 would adjust the volume for both devices simultaneously. With the latest update, you can access dedicated volume sliders in the control center by selecting Shared Audio (Preview). However, it is still possible to adjust the volume for both devices with the main volume control in the system tray.

In addition to separate volume sliders, Microsoft is adding a dedicated tray indicator so that you can see when shared audio is enabled. Look out for a speaker icon with two people next to the Wi-Fi indicator, which is also a quick way to access the feature without opening Action Center first.

Finally, Microsoft is adding support for more headsets and earbuds that can work with shared audio in Windows 11. The latest additions include the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro, the Sony WF-1000XM6, and the Xbox Wireless Headset. Unfortunately, shared audio remains a Copilot+ PC-exclusive feature, so users with "traditional" processors still cannot use it.

If you have an eligible device and you want to try the latest shared audio improvements, download build 26300.7939 (Dev Channel) or 26220.7934 (Beta). Keep in mind that these features are rolling out gradually, so getting them could take a few days or weeks. In other audio news, Microsoft recently added MIDI 2.0 support to Windows 11, making the operating system more capable for musicians.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 5:41 am AEST (my time).

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Instead of juggling separate windows or constantly switching tabs, Split View creates a tiled layout inside Chrome itself, displaying two pages in equal horizontal halves.

What Chrome Split View Does?

Split View allows users to open two tabs in a single window using a side-by-side layout. Each half behaves like an independent tab, but both remain grouped together for easier multitasking.

The feature works with things like web pages, images, videos, PDFs, and any content viewable in Chrome

Split View appears in the tab bar as a paired tab grouping, keeping both pages visually linked so you always know which tabs belong together.

How to Open Split View Inside Chrome

There are multiple ways to start using Split View:

Option 1: Right-click a link Right-click on a link Select “Open link in Split View” This opens the new page alongside the current one instantly.

Option 2: Right-click an existing tab Select “Add tab to new split view” Choose a second tab to pair with it.

Option 3: Drag a tab Drag a tab to the left or right side of the window. Drop it to enter Split View.

Users Can Manage and Resize The Space Between Pages

By default, Chrome divides the space evenly between both pages. Users can:

• Drag the center divider to resize each pane • Double-click the divider to swap sides • Close either half individually • Exit Split View via the toolbar icon

Each pane remains scrollable independently, and keyboard navigation continues to work as expected, so you can browse and interact with both pages without limitations.

How Split View Helps Google Chrome Users?

For users who frequently compare documents, browse search results, reference guides while working, or monitor dashboards, Split View significantly reduces friction. Because it operates within a single window, it avoids the overhead of managing multiple browser windows or relying on operating-system-level tiling features.

The integration into Chrome’s tab system makes it especially convenient compared to traditional OS split-screen tools, particularly on macOS and Windows.

Chrome Split View is now available on desktop for users running Chrome 145 or later.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 5:40 am AEST (my time).

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Discord has been busy performing damage control in response to the backlash it received after announcing a global rollout of age verification measures. You know, the same measures with ties to a vendor funded by Peter Thiel. Implemented by the same company that saw the age ID information of 70,000 users get leaked last year.

Fearing unnecessary monitoring and data harvesting, many of Discord's users have expressed that they're ready to leave the platform, and that includes a majority of Windows Central readers we polled.

Just one day after the official announcement from Discord on February 9, searches for "Discord alternatives" spiked by 10,000% in Google overnight. It seemed like Stoat (which you might recognize by its old name, Revolt) had the most to gain, with search gains of its own topping 9,900%.

It's clear that many Discord users are searching for proper alternatives where they can not only communicate over voice chat but also create a community of like-minded friends and acquaintances. I'm in the same boat; although I'd never be considered a Discord power user, it's the app I've been using for years when gaming with friends.

I decided to back up my words with actions, and I spent a chunk of my weekend searching for the perfect Discord alternative for not only myself but also the friends with whom I regularly game.

Why is it so hard to find a real Discord alternative?

Well, the balance may have recently tilted to the "love" side of the equation, because of a very simple feature that Microsoft recently introduced in Teams that was sorely needed. Without further suspense, this is the network strength indicator that began rolling out in the last couple of weeks.

Although it may be self-explanatory, the network strength indicator displays the connectivity status of people in a meeting. This is similar to the signal strength bar that you see on the status bar at the top of your phone screen, which is good because it means that it is intuitive and doesn't require separate training for its use.

During a meeting, Teams now displays the network strength of each participant through a three-bar system. If you get one bar, this indicates a weak/bad connection, two bars represent unstable/poor, and three bars highlight a good connection that is ideally having no issues during the call.

If you're getting less than three bars, Microsoft also highlights actions that you can take to mitigate issues and improve your call quality. These include turning off your camera and incoming video, moving closer to the router, and switching to a wired connection.

A good aspect of this implementation is also that the indicator is visible to all participants. So you don't need to spend time wondering during a call if it's because of your own network issue that you can't clearly hear someone or if it's something on the end of the other participants. Goodbye, "Am I audible?"

This works great for me because I work remotely and access Teams through an Amazon Workspaces virtual machine assigned to me by my client. This machine is hosted in Singapore while I am based in Pakistan, so optimizing signal strength and latency is an essential requirement for ensuring a smooth workflow and communication process. Network strength indicator is a godsent in this scenario, I no longer need to play a guessing game regarding call quality issues.

That said, I do believe that there are still some improvements that can be made. For starters, while the indicator is mostly sufficient, I do believe that it would be even more intuitive if it's color coded as red, yellow, and green. Of course, there are accessibility scenarios to keep in mind so I believe that this should only be added as an optional configuration that you can enable if desired.

Lastly, I do hope Microsoft documents this feature a bit better. I understand that it's a bit recent but perhaps if there was some guidance around what upload/download speed and other metrics constitute a bad, poor, and good connection, customers could proactively prepare and ensure that their network connectivity is optimal.

All in all, while the network strength indicator could use some improvements as highlighted above, I believe that this simple feature is an excellent addition, especially for customers who live in regions with unstable internet connections and/or those who actively work in remote conditions. This capability started rolling out a couple of weeks ago and should now be available to everyone. There is no admin control surrounding the network strength indicator and it cannot be disabled.

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Posted Monday 2 March 2026 at 5:38 am AEST (my time).

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With this feature, Copilot can move personal appointments and one-on-one meetings if another meeting lands on the same time slot and takes precedence. It is suitable for situations like recurring check-ins where the meeting doesn’t have to happen at the exact same time every week. Once enabled, users can ask Copilot to manage the meeting, and it will monitor their calendar and adjust the event if users schedule or accept a conflicting meeting.

Here's how users can enable this feature:

• Go to the new Outlook for Windows or Outlook for the web.
• In the New > Event page, or an existing event or series page, there will be a new "If conflicts arise, let Copilot reschedule this event" toggle; enable it.
• Optionally, under Acceptable times, users can configure the day(s) and timeframe(s) they are available to find the best alternatives if Copilot needs to reschedule the event or series. This is an optional step to get better results.

This feature will only work with events with a status of Busy or Out of office. If the conflicting meeting is set to Tentative, Copilot won’t reschedule it.

Users will also receive notifications about rescheduling changes in the Outlook notifications pane. In the future, Copilot will also send emails when a meeting is rescheduled. This new Copilot feature is now rolling out on Teams, Outlook for the web, and the new Outlook for Windows for Microsoft 365 Copilot Enterprise license users. You can learn more about this feature here.

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Posted Sunday 1 March 2026 at 7:21 am AEST (my time).

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Here is the changelog:

[Emoji]

• The Emoji 16.0 releaseintroduces a small thoughtfully curated set of new emojis, one from each major category. Each emoji carries timeless symbolism and practical versatility. These new emojis now appear in the emoji panel.

[Backup & Restore]

• The first sign-in restore experience is now part of Windows Backup for Organizations, bringing this restore capability to more device types. This experience restores user settings and Microsoft Store apps automatically at first sign-in on Microsoft Entra hybrid joined devices, Cloud PCs, and multi‑user environments. This capability helps create a consistent setup process during device refreshes, upgrades, or migrations.

[Quick Machine Recovery]

• Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) now turns on automatically for enterprise managed Windows Professional devices, as well as Windows Professional devices that are not domain-joined. These devices receive the same recovery features available to Windows Home users. For domain-joined devices, QMR stays off unless it is enabled by the organization.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• A built‑in network speed test is now available from the taskbar. You can open it from the Wi‑Fi or Cellular Quick Settings, or by right-clicking the network icon in the system tray. The speed test opens in the default browser and measures Ethernet, Wi‑Fi, and cellular connections. This feature helps check network performance and troubleshoot issues.

[Accounts]

• The account menu on the Start menu now includes a new option that directs you to the benefits page, making it easier to explore and manage your Microsoft account benefits.

[Camera Settings]

• You can control pan and tilt for supported cameras in the Settings app. The controls appear under Settings> Bluetooth & devices > Cameras, in the “Basic settings” section for your selected camera.

[Widgets]

• Widget Settings now open as a full‑page experience in the Widgets app instead of opening in a dialog.

[Search on Taskbar]

• Group headers now show the number of results, so you can quickly see when more results are available. Select a group header to see all results for that group and hide results from other groups.
• You can preview search results by hovering over a result and selecting Preview to see the content without opening it.

[Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)]

• This update adds support for Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 11 Arm64 devices. IT administrators can now install and use tools such as Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools, Active Directory Certificate Services Tools, Server Manager, Group Policy Management Tools, DNS Server Tools, and DHCP Server Tools. These tools are available as optional features and can be installed through Settings > System > Optional Features or from Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off.

[File Explorer]

• We’re continuing to make improvements to the dark mode experience in File Explorer. You will now see a consistent dark mode experience in the Folder Options dialog.

  

   

• Addressed an issue where all File Explorer open windows and tabs might unexpectedly jump to Desktop or Home.

[Settings]

• Improved reliability of configuring options in Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Wheel.

[Nearby Sharing]

• Improved the reliability of sending larger files using nearby sharing.

You can find the announcement post here.

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Posted Saturday 28 February 2026 at 5:06 am AEST (my time).

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