•     Windows 10 has a new update as part of Microsoft's extended support
•     It reportedly breaks StartIsBack, a popular customization app
•     The December patch also apparently causes issues with multiple monitors and performance slowdown in some areas

Windows 10 has a new update as part of Microsoft's extended support scheme, but there are reports of this latest release causing trouble for some users.

A notable issue that's been raised in multiple reports about the December update for Windows 10 (patch KB5071546) is that it breaks a popular customization app that revamps the Start menu.

That app is StartIsBack, and according to said reports on Reddit and X (see below), it's failing to work completely, but only on some PCs, where users are facing a blank screen instead of the desktop.

The system is apparently still functioning behind the black screen, but obviously not being able to have the desktop rendered makes using Windows 10 very tricky (though you can still access interface elements via keyboard shortcuts).

Another Reddit thread that contains a further complaint about StartIsBack highlights some other issues with this patch.

One Redditor observes that the December update meant their "wallpaper engine broke, wallpaper animations became choppy, task manager showed increased CPU spikes suddenly, [and] the UI started lagging." This was cured by reverting away from the update, and another Windows 10 user confirms they suffered a similar problem.

There could be some minor gaming issues here, too, as another Redditor claims the update causes frame rate drops in Overwatch, and a further disgruntled gamer says it broke the Xbox app.

There's another complaint on Reddit about the December update repeatedly trying to install itself, even though it's already installed.

Add to that an apparent bug with multiple monitors whereby a pair of displays hooked up to the PC stopped working after KB5071546 had been installed, with the Windows 10 desktop apparently failing to load (again). Disabling one monitor fixes the problem, we're told, as does removing the December update – and two other Redditors chime in to say they've experienced this exact same problem.

There are also scattered reports of the December update failing to install (for example, here's one on Microsoft's Tech Community hub).

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Analysis: StartWasBack but the December update took it out

At the moment, we need to be cautious around these initial reports of bugs, some of which may be far from widespread. Still, it seems like there is something amiss with a few aspects of the December update for Windows 10, and certainly there's a problem with StartIsBack (and potentially other similar Windows customization tools).

This isn't uncommon, to be fair, as these kinds of apps tinker with bits of the underlying Windows interface, and when updates make changes, they can clash with the customized parts of the UI, causing Microsoft's OS to throw a hissy fit.

There is an apparent solution for the StartIsBack woes raised by one Redditor, InterestingKale3483, and that's to simply install the latest version of the app (someone else verifies that this works). It could be tricky to resolve the situation seeing as those affected are facing a blank desktop, mind, but you can follow the advice in this post to remove the existing copy of StartIsBack, so you can get to a visible, working desktop – then install the latest version of the application.

What's odd about all this is that I assumed Microsoft would only be patching security vulnerabilities at this point, so it's not clear why stuff would get broken in this way. However, there is one change highlighted by Microsoft in the documentation for KB5071546, namely a tweak (security fix) for PowerShell 5.1, which could be the cause of the problems with StartIsBack (and other interface-related glitches, perhaps).

It's worth noting that without Windows 10's December update, you are missing some defenses against fresh possible exploits out there – so bear that in mind if you're mulling over rolling back the upgrade.

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The company also announced that it was beginning to roll out Windows 11 25H2 to all supported user PCs including on Windows 10. Microsoft explained how this could be done by switching a toggle.

Microsoft released corresponding new dynamic updates too alongside the Patch Tuesday 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. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more. 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. Microsoft writes:

"KB5072537: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 24H2 and 25H2, and Windows Server 2025: December 9, 2025

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

KB5071416: Setup Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 23H2: December 9, 2025

This update makes improvements to Windows setup binaries or any files that setup uses for feature updates in Windows 11, version 23H2.

KB5072543: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 23H2: December 9, 2025

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

Microsoft notes that both the Recovery updates will be downloaded and installed automatically via the Windows Update channel. You can also avail both of them on Microsoft's Update Catalog website: KB5072537, KB5071416, KB5072543.

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Posted Sunday 14 December 2025 at 11:53 am AEST (my time).

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WhatsApp just took another step toward pushing PC users to its new web app. If you open WhatsApp for Windows, you'll see a vague warning message that mentions "changes are coming to WhatsApp for Windows."

What that message fails to mention is that WhatsApp is shifting back to a wrapped web app. WhatsApp started testing its new web wrapper back in July. The move makes development easier for WhatsApp, but the change comes at the cost of system resources for users.

The warning message mentions the update starting on December 9, but it appears to be rolling out gradually.

The new version of WhatsApp can use an astronomical amount of RAM. Windows Latest performed testing earlier this month and saw the WhatsApp web wrapper consume up to seven times more RAM than its native counterpart.

I haven't seen spikes quite that high, but RAM usage can vary depending on how many active conversations you have.

The new WhatsApp is powered by WebView2, which is a factor in why it uses more RAM.

As we approach the end of 2025, it's a good moment to look back at the many improvements Windows 11 has received throughout the year, most of which arrived through monthly cumulative updates.

Some changes introduced entirely new capabilities, such as multi-stream support for cameras, smaller Taskbar icons, Quick Machine Recovery, multiple clock support, Administrator Protection, the Xbox Full Screen Experience, and the addition of battery percentage. Others enhanced existing features, including the option to disable the Drag Tray, a redesigned Start menu layout, better dark mode consistency in File Explorer, and more.

In this guide, I'm highlighting my favorite features and improvements that became available for Windows 11 in 2025.

Windows 11 features recap for 2025

On Windows 11, you can now switch to smaller Taskbar icons, and in this guide, I'll explain how the feature works and how to enable it.

Earlier versions of the operating system offered a "Use small Taskbar buttons" setting, but that option disappeared when Windows 11 launched. Microsoft has now brought the feature back, though its behavior has changed. Previously, enabling small icons also reduced the Taskbar's height. On Windows 11, only the icon size changes, and the Taskbar remains the same height.

This update isn't designed to free up vertical space. Instead, it helps you fit more apps on the Taskbar before they spill into the overflow menu. Smaller icons allow the bar to hold more pinned or running apps, which is especially useful on systems with limited screen width or for users who keep many apps open.

In this how-to guide, I'll outline a new, easy way to change the size of icons in the Taskbar.

How to enable smaller icons in the Taskbar on Windows 11

To show smaller app icons in the Taskbar, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on Personalization.
3. Click the Taskbar page on the right side.

2025 was an absolutely insane year for games.

Whether you're on Xbox, Windows PC, Steam, Nintendo Switch, or PlayStation, one thing unites all platforms: there was a seriously huge amount of high-quality games to play this year.

For those that don't know, the Tails operating system is a private operating system that runs on a USB stick. The developers work closely with the Tor Project to make an entire operating system that is hidden behind the Tor network, rather than just the web browser.

This update does not contain too much in the way of major user-facing changes like some versions of Tails do. The main improvements here are the update to key software, helping to protect you from anyone looking to uncover your identity. The updated software includes Tor Browser, which is now on version 15.0.3; the Tor client was updated to 0.4.8.21, and Thunderbird is now on version 140.5.0.

The new version of Tails can be acquired following various methods, including automatic upgrade, manual upgrade, new installation, and direct download. Automatic updates are available on Tails 7.0 and later and will be offered after you connect to the internet. These are by far the easiest. In case of difficulties, you can also perform a manual upgrade by following these instructions.

If neither upgrade option works and you want to start fresh or you want to get Tails for the first time, you can create installation media following the specific instructions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you do not need to install Tails for whatever reason but just want a copy, you can simply do a direct download of the images for USB devices or DVDs and virtual machines.

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Posted Saturday 13 December 2025 at 5:28 pm AEST (my time).

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If you however want to run a clean install using a USB flash drive or other such bootable media then the Media Creation Tool (MCT) is now offering the Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2 December Patch Tuesday updates. Some features still require a clean installation to enable.

Most of you probably already are very familiar with what it is and how it helps, but for those who may not, it is essentially Microsoft's official bootable ISO media creation utility. It downloads Windows 11/10, and currently the company's Windows Update servers are delivering the KB5072033 Patch via it.

If you do proceed to upgrade to the Windows 11 2025 Update, note that AMD recently published a new chipset driver while Intel posted new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth driver with support for the new Windows version.

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

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

To download it, head to Microsoft's official website at the following links: Windows 11 | Windows 10, and navigate down the page to the "Create Windows 11/Windows 10 Installation Media" section.

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Posted Saturday 13 December 2025 at 4:10 am AEST (my time).

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Kali Linux is a distribution designed for cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers to perform red-teaming, penetration testing, security assessments, and network research.

The distribution is available as an installable operating system or a live environment and supports a wide range of hardware, including Raspberry Pi devices and compatible Android phones through Kali NetHunter.

New tool added to Kali Linux 2025.4

Every new Kali release brings a few fresh tools to play with, and this update is no exception.

This time, we're getting three new additions:

• bpf-linker - Simple BPF static linker
• evil-winrm-py - Python-based tool for executing commands on remote Windows machines using the WinRM
• hexstrike-ai - MCP server that lets AI agents autonomously run tools

Desktop environment updates

Kali Linux 2025.4 brings many new updates to its desktop environments, including Gnome 49, KDE Plasma, and Xfce.

GNOME 49 includes refreshed themes, a new Showtime video player, reorganized tool folders in the app grid, and new shortcuts for quickly opening a terminal. GNOME also entirely removes X11 support in this release, now running solely on Wayland.

The developers also added support for keyboard shortcuts to open a terminal quickly.

"Another quality-of-life improvement is the addition of a shortcut to quickly open a terminal (finally!), using Ctrl+Alt+T or Win+T - just like in our other desktops," explains the Kali Linux 2025.4 announcement.

KDE Plasma has been updated to version 6.5, introducing improved window tiling, an enhanced screenshot tool, easier clipboard access, and more flexible fuzzy search in KRunner.

Xfce now supports color themes that offer functionality similar to that already available in GNOME and KDE, allowing users to adjust icons and interface colors more easily.

With GNOME now running entirely on Wayland, the Kali Linux team has added full VM guest utilities support for VirtualBox, VMware, and QEMU.

Kali Nethunter updates

Kali NetHunter received new updates with this release, including expanded device support for Android 16 on the Samsung Galaxy S10 and the OnePlus Nord, and Android 15 on Xiaomi Mi 9.

The NetHunter Terminal has also been restored with updated compatibility for Magisk versions that use interactive mode. This prevents terminal sessions from closing when pressing CTRL+C.

Wifipumpkin3 also sees enhancements, including updated phishing templates and the addition of a preview tab in the NetHunter app. 

Other changes

This release also includes additional updates and improvements, including:

• The Kali Live image is now distributed only via BitTorrent, as its size has grown too large for traditional HTTP downloads.
• Three new community mirrors have been added in Asia and one in the United States to improve download availability.
• Kali Cloud and the Kali WSL app received several behind-the-scenes improvements and reliability fixes.

How to get Kali Linux 2025.4

To start using Kali Linux 2025.4, you can upgrade your existing installation, select a platform, or directly download ISO images for new installs and live distributions.

For those updating from a previous version, you can use the following commands to upgrade to the latest version.

echo "deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free non-free-firmware" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade

cp -vrbi /etc/skel/. ~/

[ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f

If you are running Kali on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, upgrade to WSL2 for a better experience, which includes the ability to use graphical apps.

You can check the WSL version used by Kali with the 'wsl -l -v' command in a Windows command prompt.

Once done upgrading, you can check if the upgrade was successful by using the following command:

grep VERSION /etc/os-release

You can view the complete changelog for Kali 2025.4 on Kali's website.

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Posted Saturday 13 December 2025 at 4:07 am AEST (my time).

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The latest addition to Excel is an on-grid Copilot tool that enables customers to describe what they need in natural language and then have Copilot generate the formula, along with a preview of the result. For example, you can just select the cell where you want the result, enter "=", and type "Calculate total profit" in the Copilot prompt UX, after which the AI assistant will suggest a formula and show you the result. If you like the output, you can select "Keep It", but if you believe the result is wrong, you can click on "Discard", and try the same process again.

This Copilot prompt bar is quite smart in some other ways too. It can modify existing formulas, combine and utilize data from different sheets, and refine the generated formula to comply with more granular requirements. All of this is done through the natural language interface.

Although Copilot can handle various complex use-cases, it is currently only limited to generating one formula that handles one range at a time, and is exclusive to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers using Excel for the web right now. Microsoft is considering adding support for multiple formulas in future updates, but the timeline for that is not known right now.

Microsoft hopes that this latest enhancement will make Excel easier to use for beginners and also help more advanced users as they will be able to focus on retrieving their required insights rather than spending unnecessary time on getting their formulas right.

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Posted Friday 12 December 2025 at 12:26 pm AEST (my time).

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Windows themes in the Microsoft Store are not a new concept. The ability to install Windows themes from the Microsoft Store is nearly a decade-old feature. Now, Microsoft is giving it some well-deserved attention by introducing a single page where users can browse free themes and apply them with a single click.

For now, these themes are somewhat limited. You only get a set of wallpapers and accent colors, so these feel more like glorified wallpaper packs. Sadly, themes do not include sounds, cursors, or icons. Still, there are plenty of good-looking wallpaper collections, which is nice to have, particularly in a single, user-friendly place.

In the announcement post, Microsoft brags that the new section has over 400 themes, 35 of which are new to the store. In the future, Microsoft promises to improve on "making every device a true reflection of its owner," so expect more improvements in this area. You can find some of the best-looking themes and links to them here.

Microsoft says that the Themes department is now rolling out to "select users in the Microsoft Store on Windows," so do not be shocked if your system does not have it (mine is on the latest updates and still has no new Start menu). Still, you can download those themes if you have a direct link to them.

The announcement post on the Windows Experience Blog is not just about wallpapers. Microsoft gave a shout-out to some third-party apps that allow UI modification beyond what stock Windows 11 has to offer, such as TranslucentTB, Lively Wallpaper, and more.

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Posted Friday 12 December 2025 at 12:21 pm AEST (my time).

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With this new update, you can now use GitHub Copilot and custom agents together to accelerate and parallelize your development. Another new feature is Agent HQ, which gives you a central location to manage all your agents and lets Copilot and custom agents collaborate across tasks. With 1.107, developers will also get improved background agents, which have just received enhanced isolation with support for Git worktrees. Now, when you make a new background agent, you can choose to run it on the current workspace or in a dedicated Git worktree.

Another relatively big change in this update is that the standalone Agent Sessions view is being disabled by default, as they are now integrated directly into the Chat view. The Chat view now shows a list of your agent sessions, displaying status, progress, and file change stats. Furthermore, local agents will now continue running in the background even if the chat session is closed, which is helpful for long-running tasks.

VS Code 1.107 also carries with it some improvements to the editor. For example, it now has support for TypeScript 7.0 Preview. The new version of TypeScript is a complete rewrite in native code and delivers much better performance. The preview has almost complete type checking support, and the TypeScript team has been adding editor features, including auto import completions, rename support, and references for code lenses. It also brings experimental support for Git stashes in the Source Control Repositories view, allowing you to view, apply, or drop them.

To get the new update, check for updates in the Help menu. If you don't have it installed yet, you can download it from the Visual Studio Code website.

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Posted Friday 12 December 2025 at 4:06 am AEST (my time).

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Quality Windows Updates, if you are wondering, are the monthly cumulative updates called Patch Tuesdays that bring new features, bug fixes, as well as security patches, as they resolve many security flaws and vulnerabilities including zero-days. The latest quality updates, for example, are the December 2025 Patch Tuesday releases for Windows 11 (KB5072033, KB5071417) and Windows 10 (KB5071546, KB5071544).

However, within just a few days, the company confirmed that it was delaying it following feedback from the industry and IT admins.

To make it easier and more convenient to apply the updates via OOBE, Microsoft earlier this year in February 2025 introduced new policies that admins could apply in order to deploy updates according to their devices' readiness. A new Group Policy as well as an Intune (MDM) policy were announced. The approach was quite similar to feature update deployment policies that Microsoft had introduced earlier.

Later on in August, Microsoft shared new details on how system administrators could deploy these changes. However, this week, the tech giant has confirmed that it has delayed the feature to January 2026 and that it will no longer be enabled by default, as Microsoft adds that "this policy will be available starting with the January 2026 security update and will no longer be enabled by default."

In terms of requirements, Microsoft says that systems should be running Windows 11 22H2 or later on an Enterprise, Pro, Education, or SE edition, and that devices should be Entra-joined or Entra hybrid-joined and configured with Microsoft Intune with a Windows Autopilot Enrollment Status Page (ESP) profile. Of course, as expected, the latest November 2025 OOBE update should be pre-installed.

You can find the blog post here on Microsoft's official Tech Community website.

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Posted Thursday 11 December 2025 at 5:37 pm AEST (my time).

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• Windows 11 25H2 OS support added
• Installer EULA is updated
• Bug fixes.

And here is the list of known bugs:

• After installing the AMD Chipset Installer version “7.xx.xx.xx”, users cannot install version “6.xx.xx.xx” or earlier.
• Workaround:
  • Uninstall the latest version of the AMD Chipset installer (version 7.xx.xx.xx or later).
  • Delete the “Qt_Dependencies” folder located at "C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\Chipset_Software\".
  • Install any older version of the AMD Chipset installer (version 6.xx.xx.xx or earlier).
• On a non-English OS, some driver names may appear in English. 
• Occasionally, Ryzen PPKG may not install or upgrade.

AMD's Chipset Software is a set of multiple drivers, so here is the list of everything new in version 7.11.26.2142:

You can download AMD's latest chipset driver for Windows 10 and 11 from the official website. Full release notes are available on the same page as well.

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Posted Thursday 11 December 2025 at 12:30 pm AEST (my time).

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AMD today finally unveiled the details on FSR Redstone at a special keynote. The company alongside it has also released the new driver version 25.12.1 for Windows systems. It is WHQL-certified and interestingly, it brings some performance boost over the previous release.

If you recall, we had tested AMD's Ray Regeneration denoising performance recently in Call of Duty Black Ops 7, and we liked it a lot. We thought it offered a visually clear image quality enhancement over the default game's denoiser.

We again retested the title with the new driver and noticed improvement in performance as well as in visual fidelity.

We have uploaded the two images in before-and-after format below. The visual split between the two is very obvious once you know what to look for. For anyone trying to guess, the "before" is the default denoiser while the "after" screenshot is that of FSR Ray Regeneration.

Before

After

If you notice the reflections on the floor, where the ray tracing effects lie in this game, the "after" image presents a lot more details of the reflections of the different objects. If you notice the couches on the far left, their reflections on the floor are a lot clearer on the after side.

Also the reflections of the cupboard also contain more detail on the FSR side, the overall resolution of the images is definitely much more well defined with ray regeneration on.

We saw a definite improvement in the framerate output in the case of FSR performance, as this time the 9070 XT, on which we ran the test, was faster with ray regeneration than with the default denoiser.

This was a significant uptick over the performance from our last round of testing. Previously, FSR was a bit slower than the default performance while the tables reversed this time as FSR got the lead.

The changelog for the driver is given below:

New Features

• Support for AMD FSR™ “Redstone”

New Product Support

• AMD Radeon™ AI PRO R9600D
• AMD Radeon™ AI PRO R9700S

Fixed Issues

• Radeon Anti-Lag 2 option may not be available while playing Counter-Strike 2 (DX11) with Radeon Anti-Lag 2 enabled on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 9070 XT.
• Intermittent system crashes may be observed while using some high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 displays during display standby.
• Intermittent application freeze when using the in-game Radeon™ Overlay.
• Intermittent application crash when playing ARC Raiders on the Blue Gate map on Radeon™ RX 9000 series products.

Known Issues

• Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while loading a saved game in Cyberpunk 2077 with Path Tracing enabled. AMD is actively working on a resolution with the developer to be released as soon as possible.
• Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Battlefield™ 6 on AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.
• Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Roblox Player (Car Zone Racing & Drifting) when task switching between media on Radeon™ RX 7000 series products.
• Texture flickering or corruption may appear while playing Battlefield™ 6 with AMD Record and Stream on some AMD Graphics Products.
• Some shadows may not render correctly while playing Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7 on some AMD Graphics Products. AMD is actively working on a resolution with the developer to be released as soon as possible.

You can download the driver on this page from AMD's official website.

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Posted Thursday 11 December 2025 at 3:08 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has just released its final security update (KB5072033) for Windows 11 in 2025, and with it comes a handful of new features and changes that cap off the year. The new features include improvements to File Explorer and file sharing, mobile device integration, quality of life improvements, and much more.

The big highlight of this feature drop is the more consistent dark mode in File Explorer, which now applies to popups and windows such as the file copy UI and file deletion prompts. You can now also disable the share drag tray that appears at the top of the screen whenever you grab and drag a file in File Explorer.

Other improvements include the Windows Search pane now matching the size of the Start menu, the ability to skip to the next background when Windows Spotlight is set as your default wallpaper, and haptic feedback for when you snap apps and drag files using a compatible peripheral.

Meanwhile, WebView2 is Microsoft Edge's Chromium-based implementation of this web control. Starting with the Patch Tuesday update released for Windows 11 today, Microsoft will allow Entra ID app sign-ins taking place through Web Account Manager (WAM) to be powered by WebView2. The tech giant notes that this transition is critical in enabling a secure authentication experience that is also consistent.

Microsoft has highlighted many advantages of WebView2 such as support for the latest web technologies, including React and Fluent UI. It also features support for advanced scenarios like passwordless sign-in, passkeys, and conditional access (CA) policies. Finally, all of this also ties in to having better compatibility with third-party identity providers and apps that rely on modern web standards.

For most customers, this eventual transition to WebView2 should be seamless. IT admins should ensure that their environments are compatible with WebView2 runtime requirements, but it should theoretically work for anyone who has seen their authentication flows work in Microsoft Edge. IT admins can also follow the guide detailed here to enable or disable WebView2 in the Entra ID plugin. It requires modifying registry values, so do so at your own risk only.

Microsoft emphasized the importance of this transition by noting that:

Moving to WebView2 is more than a technical upgrade — it’s a strategic investment in secure, user-friendly identity experiences. We’re committed to evolving Entra ID to meet the needs of modern organizations and developers.

In future Windows releases, WAM authentication will be powered by WebView2 as the EdgeHTML WebView will be deprecated.

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 1:39 pm AEST (my time).

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[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.
• This update is beginning to enable some more of the new features and improvements originally released with the October non-security preview update for Windows 11, version 24H2 and 25H2.

[Administrator Protection]

• The admin protection feature is temporarily disabled for Insiders in Canary. We appreciate your patience.

[Storage]

• Fixed an issue which could cause some Storage Spaces to become inaccessible or Storage Spaces Direct to fail when creating a storage cluster.

You can view the official blog post here on Microsoft's site.

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 1:37 pm AEST (my time).

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Essentially, Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium subscribers can now leverage meeting recordings for online calls taking place on Teams. This is something that is a core feature in the enterprise version of Teams but had interestingly not been available with personal licenses up until now.

Microsoft hopes that by enabling this capability, customers who use Teams in personal environments can also benefit. For example, a student learning piano from an instructor online can play back their recordings to practice more, while friends planning a trip can simply revisit their recordings to make notes later too.

Meeting recordings are available for up to 30 days on the cloud after the meeting ends, but they can also be downloaded for offline viewing beyond that. While they are available on the cloud, all participants can view them directly from within the meeting chat. Starting a meeting recording is as simple as pressing the More options (...) menu during a call and then pressing Start recording.

In order to utilize this feature in your personal environment, make sure that you have an active Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscription, and that your Teams app is fully updated. Microsoft says that this capability was highly requested by customers, and you can provide further feedback on it through the in-app feedback form or the dedicated portal available here.

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 1:36 pm AEST (my time).

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The new updates are being distributed under KB5071546, bumping up the builds to 19045.6691 and 19044.6691. You can find standalone links to download the new update on the Microsoft Update Catalog at this link.

Some of the older Windows 10 versions have also received updates today, which have been listed below with their respective release notes (KB) linked as well as links to download them at Microsoft's Update Catalog:

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 5:29 am AEST (my time).

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The changelog is given below:

Highlights

• This update addresses security issues for your Windows operating system.

Improvements

[Copilot] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where Ask Copilot didn’t activate the Click to Do window as expected. The window now appears in the foreground when you share data with Copilot.

[File Explorer (known issue)] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where File Explorer briefly flashes white when you navigate between pages. This issue might occur after you install KB5070311.

[Networking] Fixed: This update fixes an issue where external virtual switches lose their physical network adapter (NIC) bindings after a host reboot. When this happens, the switches revert to internal mode, resulting in loss of network connectivity for virtual machines and blocking normal server operations.

[PowerShell 5.1] Invoke-WebRequest now includes a confirmation prompt with a security warning of script execution risk. You can choose to continue or cancel the request. For additional details, see CVE-2025-54100 and KB5074596: PowerShell 5.1: Preventing script execution from web content.

These updates will be available from Windows Update and should install automatically in most cases. If you would like to download these updates for offline installation, you can get them from the Microsoft Catalog website. You can find the update for 25H2/24H2 at this link.

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 5:03 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of November): 5,412

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Regardless, this past week Microsoft announced that it was rolling out Windows 11 25H2 to all users as long as they were running supported systems. All a user needs to do is flip the toggle switch to become eligible to receive the latest feature update Windows has to offer.

If you were wondering about upgrading and your system packs Intel Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, there is good news for you. That is because the company earlier today released new Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers, and this latest version brings support for Windows 11 25H2.

Aside from that, the new driver also introduces support for several Intel Wi-Fi 7 products. In the release notes, the company writes, "This software package includes drivers for new Intel® Wi-Fi 7 products* - Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE211 and Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE213", and later also mentions the other preexisting models like the BE202, BE201, and B200. Intel further clarifies that Wi-Fi 7's 6GHz band is reliant on Windows 11 mainly, specifically Windows 11 24H2 and newer, as prior versions of Microsoft's desktop OS do not support this wireless standard.

Other than these, Intel does not list any other specific fixes and improvements, as it notes that the driver has "functional updates" and there may also be "other minor issues addressed which will impact performance, stability, or vendor specific functionality." The Bluetooth driver also contains the same release notes.

Get the latest Intel Wi-Fi driver, version 24.0.2, on the company's official website at this link, and the Bluetooth driver, version 24.0.1, at this link.

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 5:02 am AEST (my time).

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This new update will add new collaboration features while retiring several existing ones. The first notable addition is task chats in basic plans, which will allow team members to collaborate directly on tasks using rich text formatting and @mentions. The change is to ensure colleagues receive notifications only when they are specifically mentioned.

Custom templates are also being introduced, enabling organizations to create reusable plan layouts tailored to their needs. These templates are expected to save time and promote consistency across projects. In addition, the project manager agent will now be available in all plans for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users, thus extending advanced management capabilities to basic plans.

At the same time, Microsoft has also confirmed that several features will be retired. The existing task comments experience in basic plans will be replaced by the new task chat functionality. While the comments pane will no longer be directly visible, users will still be able to access older comments through Outlook. Interestingly, the legacy comments system will remain functional on mobile apps, though new chat messages will not appear there initially. Microsoft confirmed that email notifications for comments will continue unchanged, while premium plan conversations remain unaffected.

Another feature getting the axe is the whiteboard tab in premium plans. This feature, which automatically created a whiteboard linked to Planner and allowed sticky notes to be converted into tasks, will no longer be available. Though the company notes that existing whiteboard content will remain accessible in the Whiteboard app, users will lose the ability to generate tasks directly from it. Microsoft has stated there is no replacement for this functionality at present.

Some features will be temporarily unavailable during the rollout. For example, the ability to convert a basic plan into a premium plan will be paused. Users will need to manually create new premium plans and copy tasks until similar functionality is restored in the future.

The rollout for the 2026 Planer update is scheduled to begin between mid-January 2026 and mid-February 2026, affecting both basic and premium plans.

Beyond Planner itself, integrations with other Microsoft services are also being retired. Viva Goals, which is scheduled to be retired on December 31, 2025, will lose its Planner entry point. The iCalendar feed integration, which allowed tasks to be viewed in compatible applications such as Outlook, will also be discontinued during the rollout window. Users will no longer be able to create new feeds or view tasks in existing ones, with no replacement announced.

Finally, the Planner component in Loop pages will be retired. Previously accessible by typing /planner in a Loop workspace, this option will be removed in favor of the Task List Control. Workspaces that already contain Planner components will display the plan URL, such that existing tasks should remain available even after the retirement.

Those who have access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center portal can view the entry here under ID MC1193421.

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Posted Wednesday 10 December 2025 at 5:01 am AEST (my time).

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Every now and then, we take a trip down memory lane, particularly regarding Windows’ iconic evolution into the modern operating system it is today, even as Microsoft plans to transform the platform into an agentic OS, despite plenty of user backlash.

Today, we get to debunk some myths and misconceptions about Windows 3.1's 'Hotdog Stand' color scheme. Compared to modern operating systems like Windows 11, which arguably ship with a wide range of customization GUI options, classic editions like Windows 3.1 were pretty basic, "with grey windows and blue highlights as the default".

Over the years, Microsoft's bold integration of the Hotdog Stand color scheme in Windows 3.1 was described as utterly insane, with some speculating that it must have been an inside joke within Microsoft's Windows 3.1 development team.

While attention in the Windows ecosystem has recently centered on failed updates and Microsoft’s newly activated automated upgrade system, the company has quietly issued another Windows 11 update it classifies as “critical.”

The release, now available to all eligible devices, targets the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and plays a major role in how systems recover from boot failures.

The update arrives at a pivotal moment for Windows users, as Microsoft ramps up deployment of Windows 11 25H2 using machine-learning-driven rollout strategies that increasingly automate the upgrade experience. Together, these changes point to a more controlled, more seamless—and for some users, less transparent—future for Windows lifecycle management.

What the update changes

The update was first highlighted by Neowin, which noted that Microsoft’s new dynamic update brings improvements to the Windows Recovery process in the form of WinRE updates, which are also called Safe OS updates. The dynamic updates also affect the Setup file binaries in the form of Setup updates.

According to Microsoft’s documentation, these enhancements include fixes to Setup.exebinaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more. Dynamic Updates also help preserve Language Pack (LP) and Features on Demand (FODs) content during the upgrade process.

These behind-the-scenes components are not visible to most users, but they are vital. Setup binaries determine how reliably upgrades and installations proceed, while SafeOS components differ from the standard Windows installation and allow the system to boot into a secure, isolated environment when something goes wrong. By improving these layers, Microsoft aims to reduce failed installations, prevent recovery errors, and ensure systems can revert or repair themselves when updates malfunction.

The update applies only to newer Windows releases. Because Windows 11 version 23H2 has reached end-of-support, the fixes are available solely for Windows 11 25H2, Windows 11 24H2, and Windows Server 2025.

So this is permanence

Microsoft states that this update is available through Windows Update. It will be downloaded and installed automatically. Significantly, no reboot is required, and unlike most patches, this update cannot be removed once it is applied to a Windows image.

That limitation reflects the nature of WinRE. The Windows Recovery Environment sits outside the normal operating system and exists to repair common causes of unbootable operating systems. Once the recovery environment is updated, the system embeds the new version permanently. After installation, the WinRE version on Windows 11 machines should read 10.0.26100.7297.

The inability to roll back the update may raise questions among IT administrators who prefer strict change-control processes. However, Microsoft’s approach suggests the company views these fixes as structurally necessary for secure and reliable system recovery.

The future of Windows

This WinRE update arrives as Microsoft continues shifting toward a more automated and predictive update model. Many Windows users—whether on Windows 10 or Windows 11—should now see a one-click option inviting them to upgrade to Windows 11 25H2, assuming their device meets the system requirements.

Behind the scenes, Microsoft is increasingly using machine learning to decide when and how systems receive major feature updates. Windows Update will silently download version 25H2 in the background and let you decide if you want to install the update or postpone it. And that decision is guided by machine-learning algorithms trained on hardware compatibility, known issue tracking, and telemetry from millions of devices.

The implications are wide-reaching. For consumers, silent background downloads may make major updates feel faster and more convenient. For enterprises, it represents a step toward predictive maintenance, reducing the likelihood that updates hit devices ill-prepared for them. But it also raises transparency concerns: users may not be aware that gigabytes of upgrade data are being downloaded quietly, and administrators must adjust their deployment practices accordingly.

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