This happened: Reports started to emerge on various social media sites on the weekend that the new Outlook would not start anymore for some users. Attempts to start the email program are met with no reaction whatsoever.

Users report that Outlook won't start anymore, which also means, that they can't access their emails anymore on their device. Martin Geuß, over at Dr. Windows, suggests that the issue is caused by the latest update for the email program. Microsoft published an update last Friday, which is also the day users started to report the issue.

While Microsoft has not acknowledged the issue at this stage, users have found a workaround. However, it needs to be noted that this reportedly works only if the Microsoft account is the standard account in Outlook. Worse, any additional account that has been added to Outlook is removed as a consequence and needs to be added again.

The solution, discussed here, suggests to delete the following folder on the system: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Olk

Rename <username> with the name of the actual user. Note that the folder is hidden by default and that you need to enable that hidden items are shown in File Explorer. This is done in File Explorer with a click on View > Show > Hidden Items.

While deleting (or renaming) the folder may be tempting, some users of the new Outlook client may also be able to access the mail accounts online for the time being. Since the issue appears widespread, it is likely that Microsoft is going to release a fix for it eventually.

Another option is to use the classic Outlook desktop app, if available. It is part of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft confirmed already that it will support it until at least 2029.

Now You: do you use Outlook as your email client or another app or service? Did you by chance run into the problem? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

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Posted Tuesday 9 December 2025 at 3:51 am AEST (my time).

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While Microsoft Office 2024 still remains a part of the Microsoft 365 family of apps and services, the company has detailed the key feature differences between Office 2024 and M365 subscription. Microsoft has done so in a support article that was published earlier this year and for anyone who has been wondering, this is indeed a useful piece that can help users understand the similarities and dissimilarities between the two products. In fact, Neowin spotted this while wondering about the same thing.

Microsoft has described those in a table given below which include things like cost (got a hike recently), available apps, support, and more:

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

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Posted Monday 8 December 2025 at 5:20 pm AEST (my time).

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Winaero Tweaker 1.64.1 is now available for download with a fix for the incorrect handling of font scaling, plus a few other notable improvements. Regarding the main issue, Sergey Tkachenko, the creator of Winaero Tweaker, explained that the app indeed used a legacy method that had worked fine for some time. The app is older than Windows 10, and the latter improved font scaling quite a bit. And since the feature was rarely used by many, it had remained under the radar for quite a while. Sergey claims he has never had any malicious intentions to harm users' PCs, and the whole situation is nothing but a bug, something that Winaero Tweaker still has enough of (there are some known issues in version 1.64.1 as well).

With the latest update, Winaero Tweaker features a fully reworked logic for handling font scaling, which properly creates a backup of the standard values and restores them whenever you reset the setting, leaving no hardcoded stuff behind.

"Pretending that I am intentionally damage user systems is far from reality. It is just yet another bug in my app, not the first one, and surely not the last one (see the change log above). Without bad faith attached.

 

Also, claims that the app corrupts users' profiles are false accusations. It was easy to rollback the change. There was no need to run into System Restore, or anything like that. One of the methods is mentioned in the linked Reddit."

The story also serves as a reminder that third-party apps for tinkering and modding have warning plastered all over them for obvious reasons. There are zero guarantees, there are risks of breakages, and you use those apps "as is." Always back up important data and always be ready to troubleshoot your system whenever you want to go beyond what Microsoft allows, especially with the help of third-party apps made by enthusiasts.

Besides addressing the primary issue with the previous release, Winaero Tweaker 1.64.1 adds the ability to disable animations when connecting displays to Windows 11, improves dark mode in the app itself, fixes the Xmouse options, and more. You can read the complete changelog for Winaero Tweaker 1.64.1 here. The app itself is available for download on the same page or Neowin's Software page.

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Posted Monday 8 December 2025 at 11:17 am AEST (my time).

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While that is the latest build for the Dev and Beta channels, in November, a previous build on those channels, 26220.7070, under KB5070300, introduced another interesting change that is somewhat significant, especially if you are someone who is looking forward to performance improvements.

In the build, the company confirmed that a Windows security feature called "Smart App Control" no longer has a mandatory requirement.

For those who may not be familiar, Smart App Control is an intelligent cloud-based security service that Microsoft introduced back in 2022. It is one of the few Windows 11-exclusive security features as it is not available on Windows 10, which is one of the reasons why Microsoft recommended users to upgrade to Windows 11 from 10 via a clean installation and not an in-place upgrade as a clean install is required to enable the Smart App control feature.

On the release notes Microsoft wrote: "We’re updating Smart App Control (SAC) so you will now be able to switch SAC off or on without any clean install requirement. To make changes, go to Windows Security > App & Browser Control > Smart App Control settings. When it’s on, it helps block untrusted or potentially harmful apps."

What makes this feature rather interesting is that it is supposed to help with performance too. Thanks to its proactive nature Microsoft says it is better in this regard compared to traditional anti-malware solutions which are more reactive. The company stated "An advantage of Smart App Control is its lighter impact on your PC’s performance. Since it helps block harmful apps before they can run. This means less strain on your system, so you can keep working or gaming without worrying about slowdowns." Thus a while a fairly powerful system user may not notice it, Smart App Control could help a PC with fewer resources at its disposal perform better, according to Microsoft.

This change is currently still in testing though and it will be interesting to see when it becomes generally available, likely early next year. We will get a better clue when it enters the release preview channel.

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Posted Monday 8 December 2025 at 11:16 am AEST (my time).

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Alongside that, Microsoft also released new dynamic update. 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.

This time only recovery updates were released for Windows 11 25H2, 24H2 (version 23H2 recently reached end of support). The updates for 25H2/24H2 also apply to Windows Server 2025. The changelogs are given below:

"KB5071844: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 24H2 and 25H2, and Windows Server 2025: December 1, 2025

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery environment (WinRE) in Windows 11, version 24H2, Windows 11, version 25H2 and Windows Server 2025."

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: KB5071844.

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Posted Monday 8 December 2025 at 5:10 am AEST (my time).

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On Windows 11, Notepad has evolved far beyond its origins as a basic text editor. It now integrates writing assistance powered by AI and offers lightweight Markdown capabilities designed for developers, creators, and anyone who writes regularly.

Beginning with version 11.2510.6.0 for devices enrolled in the , Microsoft is introducing table support in Notepad as part of its expanding Markdown feature set. This addition doesn't turn Notepad into an Excel-style spreadsheet tool. Instead, it delivers simple, Word-like table creation so you can structure information without leaving the editor.

In this how-to guide, I'll show you the steps to use the new table functionality available in the updated Notepad app for Windows 11.

How to use tables in Notepad

In the latest version of Notepad, you can create tables through the user interface or syntax, and you can use the available tools to modify an existing table.

Create a table in Notepad

To create tables in the latest update of Notepad, use these steps:

1. Open Notepad.
2. Click the Table option from the toolbar.
3. (Option 1) Select the number of columns and rows using the mouse to create a table.

|Header 1|||
|-|-|-|
|Row 1|||
|Row 1|||

As spotted by a user on Reddit, in the release notes, Microsoft says, "If there are no available or enabled AI Actions, this section will no longer show in the context menu." You can also remove AI Actions from the context menu in one fell swoop by going to Settings > Apps > Actions and unchecking all of the associated options, such as Paint, Photos, and Teams.

In previous versions of Windows 11, if you checked these options, it would leave the AI Actions visible in the context menu, but would be empty, taking up precious space in the context menu, which is already pretty busy. When interacting with an image, the AI Actions list allows you to do a Visual Search with Bing, Blur background with Photos, Erase object with Photos, or Remove background with Paint. These may be useful quick actions for some users, but those who don't want to see them can now remove them as of the latest insider build.

The AI Actions menu is also a bit lousy because, really, all it is doing is linking you off to different applications; you can already replicate its function by using Open With and selecting the program you want to open the file in and perform the actions there. A screenshot Neowin nabbed in May of the AI Actions feature even shows options for an image like Edit with Paint and Edit with Photos, giving you quick access to those apps.

That same image shows 18 items in the context menu, which doesn't include a top row of actions and the show more options item. By comparison, in Fedora Xfce, the context menu when you right-click an image has just ten items. Clearly, Microsoft is getting very carried away with the options it is giving users, and it's no surprise that people want the choice to remove options.

Microsoft is also making other context menu improvements, including a manage file sub-menu consolidating options like Compress to... and Copy as path. Additionally, all OneDrive-related options are being grouped into a single OneDrive option.

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• Windows 11 hides the AI Actions entry in File Explorer when all AI tools are disabled.
• Previously, the AI section stayed visible and just showed no suitable tools on hover.
• Nice win for now, but expect Microsoft to push Copilot harder over time.

If you've even dipped a toe within the Microsoft ecosystem recently, you'll already know that it's currently full of AI tools. It's not just Windows 11, either; everything from Microsoft 365 to the Game Bar has gotten a dash of Copilot. But as eager as the Redmond giant is to get everything using AI tools, some people don't want to do that, even if Microsoft cannot possibly fathom why.

Fortunately, it seems that Microsoft is (currently) allowing people to opt out of using AI tools within File Explorer. Now, as part of a recent Windows 11 update, Microsoft has finally allowed us to get rid of the "AI Actions" entry in the right-click menu altogether, which was presumably not implemented because the company couldn't imagine someone not wanting to use Copilot to edit their files.

Microsoft finally lets us get rid of the "AI Actions" menu from File Explorer 

As spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft previously didn't let us remove the "AI Actions" section of the right-click menu. The company has allowed us to customise which tools we see in this menu, but there was one problem: if you disabled all of the possible entries, the menu would refuse to go away. If you moused over it, it would just tell you that there are no suitable tools for the job.

At first, I felt this was deliberate; given how Microsoft is going big on making Windows 11 an agentic operating system, I believed that the company felt it was important to inform users that they had all the relevant tools disabled. That way, it would subtly prompt the users to re-enable them. However, in the latest Windows 11 Dev and Beta builds, there's this one single nugget:

If there are no available or enabled AI Actions, this section will no longer show in the context menu.

Well, Windows Latest got to testing that claim, and sure enough, when you disable every single possible AI tool and then right-click something, the "AI Actions" entry completely vanishes.

While this may feel like a win for now, I'm hesitant to claim that the users 'won the war' over controlling AI tools on their PCs. Windows is really going all-out on Copilot, and while it may be bowing to our needs to begin with, I have a nasty feeling it'll slowly begin turning up the heat once people get comfortable with Windows 11. Here's hoping Microsoft continues to respect that not everyone wants to use AI tools, even if the company has no idea why someone would opt out of them.

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Microsoft Teams

Users who leverage multiple tenant accounts in Teams will be very pleased to know that they'll soon be able to view notifications and reply to chats from other tenants without manually switching their account. This greatly improves productivity as it does not disrupt workflow. Tenants will also be able to pin tenants to the left side rail, along with all of the above, from February 2026.

Moreover, Teams customers across all platforms will be able to report suspicious calls from February of next year. This will help Microsoft tag malicious calls in a more robust manner, improving real-time threat detection for everybody.

Another capability landing next month is autocorrect for Teams messages. This may be beneficial for some users, and it may annoy others, but Microsoft has not detailed a toggle configuration for this right now. In the same month, IT admins will gain the ability to modify the notification string and the URL that is shown when a meeting recording or transcription is triggered. Finally, Teams users will also be able to select up to five messages to forward in order, also from January 2026.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge for Business is getting a New Tab Page (NTP) next month, which is expected to be "modern", but the Redmond firm has not specified anything beyond that. In the same month, those who are annoyed by Copilot's presence in Edge will also be able to hide its icon in their Toolbar. IT admins will also get a policy that toggles the Copilot icon's visibility.

Edge will also generally roll out a new security feature called "Tenant Restrictions v2 (TRv2)". Through this, companies will be able to "block access from unauthorized Microsoft 365 tenants directly in Microsoft Edge for Business, helping organizations maintain strict compliance and prevent data leakage across tenant boundaries", according to Microsoft.

Microsoft Outlook

Outlook for Windows and the web will get "Quick Parts" very soon. This productivity hack allows you to save email snippets for reuse and then insert them quickly when composing new messages. It's scheduled for release in January 2026.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Finally, we have Microsoft 365 Copilot, as expected. It's getting the following set of updates:

• Enhance the lighting of generated and uploaded images through Copilot Chat (January 2026)
• Select text during the review of a PDF and use Copilot to explain it or tailor your prompt for further advanced functionalities (January 2026)
• Availability of SharePoint List Agent for Copilot (January 2026)
• iOS users can leverage Copilot Chat to edit Pages (February 2026)
• Android users can utilize Copilot Shortcuts for Pages (February 2026)
• Copilot support for hierarchical access control lists (ACLs) for Service Now, Jira, and Confluence (April 2026)
• More frequent permission synchronization for Copilot (June 2026)

Which features excite you the most? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Posted Sunday 7 December 2025 at 5:20 pm AEST (my time).

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On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, Microsoft is expected to begin rolling out the final Patch Tuesday update of 2025 for Windows 11, which introduces several significant features, improvements, and bug fixes.

In this update, the company is finally addressing design inconsistencies between the Start menu and Windows Search, and an updated version of File Explorer brings dark mode improvements.

Also, the Settings app is getting a slew of improvements on the Home page with the addition of a new "Device info" card. The "About" page is getting another redesign. The Mobile Devices options are now integrated into the Settings app. Virtual Workspaces make it easier to manage virtualization features on Windows 11. More keyboard and mouse settings are coming to the app from Control Panel, and more.

Furthermore, there's a new Widgets dashboard design with a new settings experience. The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) is rolling out to more handheld devices and more.

Windows 11 new features coming in December 2025

Microsoft uses the Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) technology to push new features and changes gradually, so it may take some time before you see them all on your computer.

1. Windows Search visual improvements

One noticeable improvement in the last cumulative of 2025 is the Windows Search panel, which now (finally) matches the height of the new Start menu design, fixing some design inconsistencies across the operating system.

A pull request on GitHub revealed that Microsoft is working on a new "Personalization" page for Command Palette settings. There, you will be able to adjust the launcher's look, set a background, change its blur, tilt, and other options. Additionally, Microsoft will let you have the launcher colored with a matching system color, plus some of the existing settings will move to the new page.

Niels Laute, Product Manager at Microsoft working on PowerToys and Developer Platform, confirmed in his X that new personalization options are coming to Command Palette in version 0.97, which is expected to be this month's feature update:

In addition to new Command Palette customization, Microsoft is working on two brand-new utilities for PowerToys. One is for managing display settings like brightness, contrast, and volume, and another one to make you look better during video calls by placing a virtual light ring around the edges of your display.

PowerToys is available from the Microsoft Store, GitHub, and winget on Windows 11 and 10. Although the latter is no longer supported (outside the Extended Security Updates program), Microsoft has no plans to drop Windows 10 just yet.

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Posted Sunday 7 December 2025 at 11:48 am AEST (my time).

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For those unaware of the Prism emulator, it converts x86 instructions to Arm64 code. With the latest update, it now supports the translation of additional instruction set architecture extensions, including AVX and AVX2. It also supports other related extensions, including BMI, FMA, and F16C. Microsoft said that these extensions are especially relied on by creative tools and games that depend on the efficient parallel processing that these CPU instructions provide.

With the new Prism update, apps such as Ableton Live 12, which couldn't be installed before due to missing system requirements (AVX support in this case), will be able to run on Windows on Arm systems. The Redmond giant said that Ableton Live will also be coming to Windows on Arm as a native app next year, but in the meantime, it will work on the emulator.

This update to Prism has been rolled out to all Windows on Arm devices running Windows 11, version 24H2 or later. The updated CPU feature support is enabled by default for 64-bit x86 apps, but with 32-bit apps, support is off by default. You can turn on 32-bit app support via the compatibility settings.

Microsoft said that it is committed to enhancing Prism emulation on Windows and that it's excited about the apps and games today's update enables. We should expect future updates like this to continue adding support for more apps, and hopefully, 32-bit app support gets enabled by default too.

If you need to enable 32-bit support now, you can check out this documentation page to adjust your settings to allow these apps to run.

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Posted Saturday 6 December 2025 at 5:38 pm AEST (my time).

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Windows 11 may have just gained another must-have app. FluentFlyout adds fresh and functional flyouts for media on your PC. After a brief bit of testing, I'm both impressed by the app's developers and frustrated with Microsoft not making these features.

FluentFlyout adds media controls to Windows 11 that appear when you press media keys, such as play, pause, volume up, or volume down. The flyouts are customizable, but all of the options feel natural on Windows 11.

Of course, Windows 11 has built-in media controls, but they appear above the Quick Settings menu. I prefer the approach of FluentFlyout.

You can download FluentFlyout for free through the Microsoft Store. If you pay $2.96 for premium, you'll get access to a taskbar widget. You can also download FluentFlyout through GitHub and gain access to all of its features at no cost.

FluentFlyout has some nice little touches, such as an experimental feature that shows what media is about to play when a song ends. You can also customize what appears within the flyout, pick the flyout's position, and set the theme of the app.

To Microsoft's credit, the company has shown a bit more effort related to design lately. The Run dialog box was refreshed for the first time in 30 years recently. Dark mode improvements are also working their way through Windows 11 slowly but surely.

But when UI improvement cycles are measured in decades, it's fair to criticize Microsoft. Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden illustrated the unfinished state of Windows 11 last year.

Microsoft has started previewing a new feature coming soon to Windows 11 that is designed to streamline the ability to update your apps. The new feature is called the Update Orchestrator Platform (UOP,) and is an opt-in experience that developers can choose to lean on to improve the updatability of their apps.

"UOP makes app updates more consistent and predictable, with fewer interruptions" Microsoft explains. The feature introduces APIs for developers to integrate with their apps, which will then lean on the UOP framework to trigger the app to "scan, download and install updates based on user activity and system state."

These apps will continue to use their own content delivery networks for issuing and hosting app updates, but the OS is now capable of managing the checking for and pulling said update when the user requests it, or when the system deems it viable to install an app update without interrupting the user.

Microsoft is adding a new "app updates" page which will be where users can go to see if an app has recently been updated, and can also initiate a manual trigger to check for updates for all the apps installed that support the unified orchestrator platform.

Windhawk version 1.7 introduces several important upgrades. For one, the app is now much faster when installing and updating modules, thanks to downloading pre-compiled mods. Also, you can now install previous versions of modifications, filter existing mods, search the list of installed mods, and more.

Here is the complete changelog:

• Windhawk now downloads pre-compiled mods by default instead of compiling them locally, significantly speeding up installations and updates. This can be disabled in the settings.
• Added support for viewing and installing older mod versions.
• Settings editor improvements:
  • Added a textual mode for editing settings in YAML format.
  • Settings can now be saved with Enter or Ctrl+S.
  • A warning is shown when leaving the settings tab with unsaved changes.
• Multiple user interface improvements, including:
  • Added search, filtering, and list view for installed mods.
  • Added additional filtering options in the Explore view.
  • Mod cards in the Explore view now show additional metadata, and display a rating breakdown on hover.
  • Added back/forward navigation via Alt+Left/Right and mouse back/forward buttons.
  • Added zooming support with Ctrl+Plus/Minus, and reset zoom with Ctrl+0.
  • Custom process inclusion/exclusion lists for mods are now shown in the target processes tooltip.
• Windhawk can now be updated with a single click from the About tab. (This becomes active starting with the next update.)
• Mod description images now load from GitHub. Previously, some images loaded from Imgur, which is now blocked in the United Kingdom.
• Mod development: Added support for the @license and @donateUrl metadata fields.
• Added the following translations: Arabic, Hindi, and Thai.

Additionally, there is quite a long list of engine improvements, which you can check out in Windhawk's GitHub Releases page. You can download the latest update from the same page as well. Just keep in mind that mods like Windhawk could be potentially disruptive, and they sometimes have a steeper learning curve when it comes to personalization. Before using any mods, back up important data to make sure you can recover your stuff should the unexpected happen.

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Posted Saturday 6 December 2025 at 12:41 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 preview build today that introduces a new feature that will show recommended apps from the Microsoft Store in the "open with" menu when attempting to open a file that has no default app set or has an unknown file extension. The feature is designed to streamline the process between attempting to open an unknown file, and installing an app necessary to view said file.

"When you try to open a file in Windows with no associated app, the Open With dialog box pops up to suggest apps you can use by clicking on “see more apps in the Microsoft store”. Now, apps from the Microsoft Store are included directly in this list, so you don’t have to navigate to the Microsoft Store to find the right one. This makes it faster and easier to find and install the app you need."

The new change is rolling out gradually for Insiders in the Beta and Dev Channels, meaning you won't see it right away when you install today's preview build. It's unclear if the feature can be disabled for those who don't want to see recommended Microsoft Store apps, either.

Some may view this addition as another avenue for advertising, but if the feature really does only recommend apps that are known to deal with the file type in question, I can see this being a really handy streamlined experience. It's often frustrating when you try to open a file and find that you don't have the app installed to deal with it. Being able to install it directly via the Open With menu is a nice addition.

Other changes announced today include a new Unified Update Orchestrator Platform, which is designed to allow app developers to lean on Windows Update to install app updates, streamlining the update experience on the OS.

The company is making the Quick Machine Recovery feature default for professional devices as welll similar to how it is for home PCs. Another improvement is related to the new Unified UOP or Unified Update Orchestration Platform that promises to make app updates more faster and predictable.

The 'Open with' feature is also set to get an upgrade in this new build. Finally native support for MCP (Model Context Protocol) is now in public preview. The full changelog is given below:

New features gradually being rolled out with toggle on*

Public preview of native support for MCP on Windows

Windows now offers native support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that gives AI agents a universal way to connect with apps, tools, and services. Agents can discover and connect to these tools and other agents via a secure, manageable Windows on-device registry (ODR). By default, all agent connectors in the Windows on-device registry will be contained in a secure environment with their own identity and audit trail. With OS level integration, MCP on Windows delivers secure discoverability, consistent controls, and enterprise grade manageability—empowering developers, IT professionals, and end users to build and deploy agentic workflows at scale.

As part of this release, two agent connectors are built into Windows—File Explorer and Windows Settings.

• File Explorer Connector
  Agents can use the File Explorer connector to manage, organize and retrieve local files on a user’s device with their consent. On Copilot+ PCs, the connector can also perform natural language search to retrieve the exact file based on descriptions, content, metadata, and, for images, enhanced search based on image classification.
• Windows Settings Connector
  On Copilot+ PC devices, Windows Settings connector lets users check, change settings, or navigate directly to specific pages such as display, mouse, keyboard, and sound using natural language.

Feedback: Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Developer Platform > All other issues.

Quick Machine Recovery

Quick machine recovery (QMR) will now be turned on automatically for Windows Professional devices that are not domain joined. These devices will get the same recovery features as Windows Home users. For enterprise computers that are domain joined, nothing changes—QMR will stay off unless your organization turns it on.

Feedback: Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Recovery and Uninstall > Quick Machine Recovery.

Update Orchestration Platform (UOP)

The Unified Update Orchestration Platform (UOP) is starting to roll out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels. UOP makes app updates more consistent and predictable, with fewer interruptions. Insiders will see a new page in Settings > Apps > App Updates, where they can check update progress and take action if needed.

How it Works

• Apps will register with UOP via APIs.

• UOP triggers a registered app to scan, download and install updates based on user activity and system state.

• Apps continue to utilize their own backend for acquiring updates.
• Apps report update status back to UOP, so users can see it in the App Updates page.

Availability

No apps utilize UOP yet because the feature is new, but apps will start using it over time. The feature is partially enabled for Dev and Beta Channel Insiders today and will reach full enablement in these channels soon. API documentation will follow.

Feedback: Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update.

Windows MIDI Services

We’re excited to announce the highly anticipated production release of Windows MIDI Services, going to the Dev and Beta Windows Insider channels today, and then to retail Windows in the next few months. This is our update of MIDI on Windows with a focus on a great experience for musicians using MIDI 1.0 or MIDI 2.0.

• Full support for WinMM MIDI 1.0 and WinRT MIDI 1.0, complete with in-service translation, enabling any API to use any MIDI 1.0 or MIDI 2.0 device. This means your existing applications will use the new service and gain important new features like the ability for more than one app to open a MIDI port at the same time, custom port names, and more.

• New loopback and app-to-app MIDI support.

• Lots of performance improvements and bug fixes thanks to our vibrant community. Thank you!

The App SDK and Tools package is a separate download, versioned outside of Windows. This enables applications to use the in-box MIDI 2.0 features and also provides the tools you need to manage your MIDI setup on Windows, including the MIDI Console and MIDI Settings app. Current releases are available on our GitHub repo releases page or via the main Windows MIDI Services landing page. Please note that these are unsigned releases at the moment and so will give you a warning when you download and install.

We look forward to having Windows Insiders who create music try out the Windows MIDI Services release especially with your current applications and devices. You can also join the discussion on Discord if you have questions or are looking to help or provide feedback! You will find a list of known issues documented here.

Feedback: Share your thoughts on GitHub or Discord.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out with toggle on*

[“Open With” App Integration]

We’re updating Open With so that if you don’t have a relevant app you need installed, instead of having to open Microsoft Store to find it, it will now show directly in this list as available to install. This makes it faster and easier to find and install the app you need.

Fixes gradually being rolled out with toggle on*

[Search]

• Fixed a recent issue which could caused the search window to unexpectedly start floating above the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

• If there are no available or enabled AI Actions, this section will no longer show in the context menu.
• Fixed an issue where File Explorer might not search certain SMB shares after the latest updates.

[Windows Hello]

• Fixed an issue resulting in fingerprint recognition not working for some Insiders after the latest flights.

[Display and Graphics]

• Fixed an issue which could cause the Project pane to not appear after pressing WIN + P.

[Xbox full screen experience for PC]

• For Insiders with the new Xbox full screen experience for PC, the virtual keyboard should now show properly when needed for controller users on devices without a touch screen.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue in the previous flight which was leading to some Insiders seeing a bugcheck with error DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL when using a controller.
• Fixed an underlying issue that could lead to your PC freezing where attempting to run Windows Terminal elevated from a non-admin account.

Known issues

[Xbox full screen experience for PC]

• Some apps may behave unexpectedly when using FSE, particularly those that expect to be locked to a given size or launch additional windows.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• We’re working on the fix for an issue which is causing the Start menu to not open for some Insiders on click, although it will open if you press the Windows key. This issue may also potentially impact the notification center (which you can open with WIN + N) and quick settings (WIN + A).
• We’re investigating an issue where for some Insiders apps aren’t showing in the system tray when they should be.

[File Explorer]

• Scrollbar and footer are missing and showing a white block instead when text is scaled in dark mode version of the copy dialog.
• We’re working on the fix for an issue where File Explorer has started showing a white flash when navigating between pages after the latest flights.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue where opening the context menu is causing explorer.exe to crash for some Insiders after the previous flight.

[Bluetooth]

• We’re investigating an issue causing Bluetooth device battery level to not show for some Insiders.

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

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Posted Saturday 6 December 2025 at 12:37 pm AEST (my time).

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I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my personal homebrew Steam Machine, a self-built desktop under my TV featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 8700G processor and a Radeon 780M integrated GPU. I wouldn’t recommend making your own version of this build, especially with RAM prices as they currently are, but there are all kinds of inexpensive mini PCs on Amazon with the same GPU, and they’ll all be pretty good at playing the kinds of games that already run well on the less-powerful Steam Deck.

But this kind of hardware is an imperfect proxy for the Steam Machine that Valve plans to launch sometime next year—that box will include a dedicated GPU with 8GB of dedicated video memory, presenting both benefits and possible pitfalls compared to a system with an integrated GPU.

As a last pre-Steam Machine follow-up to our coverage so far, we’ve run tests on several games we test regularly in our GPU reviews to get a sense of how current versions of SteamOS stack up to Windows running on the same hardware. What we’ve found so far is basically the inverse of what we found when comparing handhelds: Windows usually has an edge on SteamOS’s performance, and sometimes that gap is quite large. And SteamOS also exacerbates problems with 8GB GPUs, hitting apparent RAM limits in more games and at lower resolutions compared to Windows.

Our testbed(s)

When we test GPUs, our goal is to have the best possible CPU, motherboard, and other components built around it so we can measure the graphics card’s performance without running into bottlenecks from anything else.

For this build, I tried a bit harder to replicate the kind of midrange components we can expect the Steam Machine to use in an attempt to control costs, though I had to work with the limits of what I had on hand—the 32GB DDR5 RAM kit is double what the Steam Machine will have, but none of the games we’re testing should have troubles running inside of 16GB. The 8-core Ryzen 7 7700X also has two more CPU cores than the Steam Machine will have and is running at a higher power limit, but it shares the same Zen 4 CPU architecture.

Our main goal was to test a range of dedicated GPUs to gauge how SteamOS would stack up against Windows. We did stick to all-AMD hardware here, though, because it gives us a better sense of how the Steam Machine itself might perform, and AMD CPUs and GPUs get the most attention from Valve since it’s what the company is actively supporting.

• A Radeon RX 7600 (32 RDNA3 CUs) with 8GB of RAM. This will give us the best idea of how the Steam Machine will actually perform, since Valve will be shipping an RDNA3 GPU with 28 CUs and the same amount of RAM.
• A Radeon RX 7600 XT (32 RDNA3 CUs) with 16GB of RAM. A higher-clocked version of the RX 7600, it should only perform 10 or 15 percent faster most of the time—except when games need more than 8GB of RAM. If a game is performing way better on the RX 7600 XT, it probably means the RX 7600 is running out of video memory, pointing to possible problems for the actual Steam Machine.
• A Radeon RX 6800 (60 RDNA2 CUs) with 16GB of RAM. A somewhat older card, but with the same RDNA2 architecture used in the actual Steam Deck. If SteamOS-vs-Windows numbers were different for this GPU than for any of the others, it could be because Valve has done more optimization work for this architecture than for newer versions.
• A Radeon RX 9070 (56 RDNA4 CUs, 220 W TBP) with 16GB of RAM. A newer card, thrown in to see how well SteamOS (and the open-source amdgpu Linux drivers) are doing with cards you could use if you wanted better performance at 4K.

All four of those GPUs were tested in the same system. For fun, we also threw in two PCs with integrated graphics:

• The high-end Framework Desktop, with its Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, Radeon RX 8060S GPU (40 RDNA3.5 CUs), and 128GB pool of unified LPDDR5X RAM. For $1,999, this is (hopefully!) a much more expensive box than the Steam Machine will end up being, but the basic $1,099 model is a decent alternative you can buy today, and this is as fast as integrated GPUs get.
• An Aoostar Maco mini PC from Amazon that I bought to play around with, using a Ryzen 7 H255 processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a Radeon 780M GPU. For a bit less than $500, this is one of the better values for the money you can get if you’re looking for a budget-ish Steam Machine with more power than the real Steam Deck.

The numbers

We run half a dozen built-in benchmarks across five games—they’re mostly a bit older, but they still represent a good mix of lighter and heavier games, both with ray-tracing effects on and off. And even in this relatively small number of games, not all of our data points in the same direction. But a few trends (and exceptions) do emerge.

The most noticeable, as we’ve covered elsewhere, is in games that hit the RX 7600’s 8GB RAM limit. Here, you see considerably larger gaps between Windows and SteamOS in some of the games we tested, most notably Returnal and Forza Horizon 5 at both 1440p and 1080p and Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with ray-tracing turned on. Returnal is the most noticeable example—the 16GB 7600 XT in SteamOS essentially ties with Windows, while Windows performs 60 or 70 percent faster on the 8GB RX 7600. The gap is smaller in most other games, but the 7600 does consistently struggle.

Other results vary from game to game and from GPU to GPU. Borderlands 3, for example, performs quite a bit better on Windows than on SteamOS across all of our tested GPUs, sometimes by as much as 20 or 30 percent (with smaller gaps here and there). As a game from 2019 with no ray-tracing effects, it still runs serviceably on SteamOS across the board, but it was the game we tested that favored Windows the most consistently.

 

 

 

Performance for Windows 11 25H2 vs. SteamOS 3.9 on the same hardware. In general, Windows edges out SteamOS on dedicated GPUs, even when VRAM isn't a factor.

 

 

 

In both Forza Horizon 5 and Cyberpunk 2077, with ray-tracing effects enabled, you also see a consistent advantage for Windows across the 16GB dedicated GPUs, usually somewhere in the 15 to 20 percent range.

To Valve’s credit, there were also many games we tested where Windows and SteamOS performance was functionally tied. Cyberpunk without ray-tracing, Returnal when not hitting the 7600’s 8GB RAM limit, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla were sometimes actually tied between Windows and SteamOS, or they differed by low-single-digit percentages that you could chalk up to the margin of error.

 

 

 

 

Now look at the results from the integrated GPUs, the Radeon 780M and RX 8060S. These are pretty different GPUs from one another—the 8060S has more than three times the compute units of the 780M, and it’s working with a higher-speed pool of soldered-down LPDDR5X-8000 rather than two poky DDR5-5600 SODIMMs.

But Borderlands aside, SteamOS actually did quite a bit better on these GPUs relative to Windows. In both Forza and Cyberpunk with ray-tracing enabled, SteamOS slightly beats Windows on the 780M, and mostly closes the performance gap on the 8060S. For the games where Windows and SteamOS essentially tied on the dedicated GPUs, SteamOS has a small but consistent lead over Windows in average frame rates.

Valve has told us that it’s working on memory management in SteamOS to help close that gap for 8GB GPUs—important for the Steam Machine, which will be saddled with 8GB of video memory for better or worse. Hopefully, this memory management work, perhaps combined with other driver tweaks, Proton changes, and power management improvements, can also benefit dedicated GPUs on SteamOS more broadly.

A work in progress

Along with the more specific problems around 8GB GPUs, our testing of dedicated GPUs under SteamOS shows that it’s not as impressive relative to Windows as it is on handheld hardware with integrated graphics. (Setting aside, of course, that running unaltered Windows games on Linux with a minimal performance penalty still feels like some kind of magic trick.)

The results we’ve seen from actual SteamOS should also make it clear that the conventional “SteamOS beats Windows on the same hardware” wisdom from SteamOS and Linux boosters is premature, or at least needs qualification. Other outlets have also been running similar tests recently that show just how far we are from being able to run any Windows game reliably without having to think about compatibility—like Gamers Nexus’ extensive testing with Bazzite, which relies on much of the same technology as SteamOS and also tries to provide better support for Intel and Nvidia hardware.

Running SteamOS on anything other than the Steam Deck or the Lenovo Legion Go S should still be considered a work in progress. Our testing helps us establish a baseline for evaluating SteamOS’ performance going forward as Valve implements its memory management fixes and gets closer to the launch of the actual Steam Machine next year. Hopefully, we see the kinds of improvements we’re looking for over the next few months. Either way, it will put us in a better position to decide whether the Steam Machine should earn a spot under your TV.

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Posted Saturday 6 December 2025 at 12:34 pm AEST (my time).

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However, it does not mean that personal computers are not affected. The latest KB5070311 update has confirmed dark mode artifacts but they can be fixed using a File Explorer tweak which also makes the app faster.

Despite this, Microsoft has confirmed that it is now allowing all supported systems download and install Windows 11 25H2. Whether you are on Windows 11 or Windows 10, users can opt to upgrade to the 2025 feature update provided they have a system that meets the system requirements of Windows 11.

The tech giant had earlier also said that Windows 11 23H2 users, the version which recently ran out of support, will be receiving 25H2 as well.

If you are wondering, the general system requirements have remained the same though certain AI features do require a more capable PC now. If you want to check for CPU compatibility, Microsoft recommends using the PC Health Check app.

To get it, users on supported systems will need to have the "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" toggle enabled on their Windows Update settings page for the new 2025 feature update to appear. Microsoft writes: "If you have an eligible Windows 10 or Windows 11 device, you can check if the update is available by selecting Settings > Windows Update and selecting Check for updates. If your device is ready for the update, you’ll see the option to Download and install Windows 11, version 25H2."

The company notes that managed enterprise PCs however have a separate set of requirements like the one recently introduced, related to more secure authentication.

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 6:00 pm AEST (my time).

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If you have been reading Neowin recently, you may have recently come across the news of major XAML-related UI issues on certain Windows 11 office PCs wherein the entire Shell (comprising Start menu, Explorer, Taskbar, and more) breaks. This week, Microsoft released more details about the problems.

It is not just enterprise PCs, home users are also still affected by UI and UX bugs even four years after the release of Windows 11. Recently the company confirmed that the latest KB5070311 update can cause flashbang-like artifacts on the File Explorer in dark mode.

Hence it kind of explains why users and enthusiasts are often on the lookout for third-party apps like FluentFlyout, for example, that often do a better job than what Microsoft officially offers.

Speaking of third-party apps, the flashbang-like File Explorer artifacts on Windows 11 can be fixed with a simple tweak that essentially stops WinUI, thus fixing the issue. The workaround was uncovered by X user and tech enthusiast Bob Pony, who also noticed that the File Explorer was now naturally loading up faster without WinUI. The user also says that they noticed a much lower memory footprint on the non-WinUI File Explorer side, and this makes sense too considering the faster improved loading times.

Users can use a third-party app like ExplorerPatcher to deselect the Windows 11 Command Bar and choose either the Windows 10 Ribbon or the Windows 7 Command Bar option instead.

You can find the option in the ExplorerPatcher properties under the File Explorer menu. You can download ExplorerPatcher from the Neowin software stories section. Hopefully the open-sourcing of WinUI will help make things much better.

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 12:19 pm AEST (my time).

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@phantomofearth published an early look at the upcoming Run redesign. While the new experience is not quite ready for its prime time, the shared screenshot shows a clear view of what Microsoft aims to deliver in future updates:

The new Run dialog has a larger box for your commands, and all your recently entered commands will appear above it. Also, as Windows Central reports, the dialog will automatically show the app's icon upon finding the executable you want to run. The "Browse" button that opens a File Explorer and lets you find executables is no longer there, though.

Interestingly, it appears that Microsoft will have the new Run dialog available side-by-side with the old one. The company is reportedly planning to give users a toggle that switches between the two variants, which is somewhat similar to having two context menu styles. By default, Windows 11 will use the old one, but the "Advanced" section in the Settings app will let you turn on the new variant:

Microsoft has not announced anything about this, and these bits are hidden in the latest preview builds, so we will have to wait a little more to get an official word from the company. Meanwhile, you can try some of the third-party attempts to give Windows 11 users a modernized Run experience.

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 12:15 pm AEST (my time).

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Thirty years ago today, Netscape Communications and Sun Microsystems issued a joint press release announcing JavaScript, an object scripting language designed for creating interactive web applications. The language emerged from a frantic 10-day sprint at pioneering browser company Netscape, where engineer Brendan Eich hacked together a working internal prototype during May 1995.

While the JavaScript language didn’t ship publicly until that September and didn’t reach a 1.0 release until March 1996, the descendants of Eich’s initial 10-day hack now run on approximately 98.9 percent of all websites with client-side code, making JavaScript the dominant programming language of the web. It’s wildly popular; beyond the browser, JavaScript powers server backends, mobile apps, desktop software, and even some embedded systems. According to several surveys, JavaScript consistently ranks among the most widely used programming languages in the world.

In crafting JavaScript, Netscape wanted a scripting language that could make webpages interactive, something lightweight that would appeal to web designers and non-professional programmers. Eich drew from several influences: The syntax looked like a trendy new programming language called Java to satisfy Netscape management, but its guts borrowed concepts from Scheme, a language Eich admired, and Self, which contributed JavaScript’s prototype-based object model.

The JavaScript partnership secured endorsements from 28 major tech companies, but amusingly, the December 1995 announcement now reads like a tech industry epitaph. The endorsing companies included Digital Equipment Corporation (absorbed by Compaq, then HP), Silicon Graphics (bankrupt), and Netscape itself (bought by AOL, dismantled). Sun Microsystems, co-creator of JavaScript and owner of Java, was acquired by Oracle in 2010. JavaScript outlived them all.

What’s in a name?

The 10-day creation story has become programming folklore, but even with that kernel of truth we mentioned, it tends to oversimplify the timeline. Eich’s sprint produced a working demo, not a finished language, and over the next year, Netscape continued tweaking the design. The rushed development left JavaScript with quirks and inconsistencies that developers still complain about today. So many changes were coming down the pipeline, in fact, that it began to annoy one of the industry’s most prominent figures at the time.

“Bill Gates was bitching about us changing JS all the time,” Eich later recalled of the fall of 1996. Microsoft created its own implementation called JScript for Internet Explorer, leading to years of browser incompatibility that plagued web developers.

Before finalizing on the title “JavaScript,” the language cycled through multiple names. Eich initially called his prototype “Mocha,” then Netscape renamed it LiveScript for the September 1995 beta release of Netscape 2.0. The JavaScript name arrived in December when Netscape and Sun finalized their partnership. “It was all within six months from May till December (1995) that it was Mocha and then LiveScript,” Eich explained in a 2008 interview with InfoWorld. “And then in early December, Netscape and Sun did a license agreement and it became JavaScript.”

That name has been a source of confusion for three decades. It was a marketing decision meant to capitalize on the buzz around Java at the time. The 1995 press release prominently positioned JavaScript as a complement to Java, with the former handling small client-side tasks while Java powered larger enterprise applications. Bill Joy, Sun’s co-founder and vice president of research, said at the time: “JavaScript will be the most effective method to connect HTML-based content to Java applets.”

Confusion about its relationship to Java continues: The two languages share a name, some syntax conventions, and virtually nothing else. Java was developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems using static typing and class-based objects. JavaScript uses dynamic typing and prototype-based inheritance. The distinction between the two languages, as one Stack Overflow user put it in 2010, is similar to the relationship between the words “car” and “carpet.”

From coffee name to industry standard

Industry standardization of JavaScript arrived in June 1997 through ECMA International as ECMAScript (with “ECMA” being short for “European Computer Manufacturers Association”). The language went through a rocky period in the early 2000s, when Internet Explorer dominated the browser market and innovation stalled somewhat, but the 2005 introduction of AJAX revitalized interest by enabling smoother web applications without full page reloads. Node.js arrived in 2009, letting developers run JavaScript on servers, and the language’s scope expanded far beyond the browser.

Today, JavaScript appears across virtually every corner of web development. The Stack Overflow Developer Survey for 2024 found that 62 percent of developers use JavaScript, making it the single most popular programming language (web or otherwise) for the twelfth year running. JetBrains’ State of Developer Ecosystem Report placed JavaScript at 61 percent usage among surveyed developers, with TypeScript, a JavaScript superset that adds static typing, growing from 12 percent adoption in 2017 to 35 percent in 2024.

The language now powers not just websites but mobile applications through frameworks like React Native, desktop software through Electron, and server infrastructure through Node.js. Somewhere around 2 million to 3 million packages exist on npm, the JavaScript package registry.

Today, people want to free the JavaScript trademark for public use. Oracle inherited the mark when it acquired Sun Microsystems, but the company has never built a product using the JavaScript name. An open letter signed by Eich, Node.js creator Ryan Dahl, and more than 28,000 members of the JavaScript community argues that Oracle has abandoned the trademark through non-use and that the term has become generic.

The group filed a petition for cancellation with the US Patent and Trademark Office in November 2024. Without risking a legal trademark challenge against Oracle, the letter notes, there can be no “JavaScript Conference” or “JavaScript Specification,” forcing community organizations to use awkward workarounds like “JSConf.” Eich himself wrote in 2006 that “ECMAScript,” the official name for the language standard, “was always an unwanted trade name that sounds like a skin disease.”

Skin disease or not, the underlying language stuck around far longer than anyone expected. Perhaps the biggest irony of all is that Java applets largely vanished from browsers years ago, but JavaScript dominates. The freaky sideshow became the main event. Happy birthday, JavaScript.

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 12:14 pm AEST (my time).

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Here we go again: This month brings the first security patches to be released to Windows 10 during the Extended Security Update program.

Because last month, Microsoft released an additional update to all Windows 10 PCs to fix an underlying issue with the ESU deployment. As a result, even if you weren’t enrolled in the Windows 10 ESU program, you would see additional updates being offered.

KB5072653 is the Extended Security Updates Licensing Preparation Package that needs to be installed on all Windows 10 PCs participating in the ESU process.

It’s time to put a pause on updates, and I’m thus raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2.

Wait to install the December updates until they are fully tested and vetted by yours truly. Already we’ve seen issues documented in the preview update released on December 1 for Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2. As Microsoft notes about KB5070311:

After installing KB5070311, you might experience issues when opening File Explorer in dark mode. The window might briefly display a blank white screen before loading files and folders.

The note goes on to explain when this might happen.

Microsoft is working on a fix. Because many geeks love dark mode, I’m sure this will be a priority.

Consumers

For either Windows 10 or Windows 11, I urge you to once again defer updates until I go through my normal process of testing. Because of the need to use a browser during the holiday season, do not defer browser updates such as those for Firefox, Chrome, Brave, or DuckDuckGo. And remember to have several browsers installed and to set one browser as your “Shopping” browser — for which you crank up the security settings to high. If you cannot get into a certain retail website, note the name, use a different browser with looser security settings, and then find the feedback button on the site and urge them to support stricter settings.

Be just as vigilant in your use of browsers on Apple and Android devices. Many times with Apple, you must be more “click-happy” and click on links that get offered to you. During the holiday season, be extra vigilant with text messages and emails you receive. Microsoft noted on LinkedIn that it had recently blocked a high-volume phishing campaign from an attacker using parking tickets and medical tests as the lure. Attackers use holidays to target consumers. Don’t fall for their tricks.

Businesses

Businesses often allow nearly everyone out on vacation when the year comes to an end, causing normal maintenance and functions to be deferred. Microsoft, in particular, historically skips putting out a preview update at the end of December because many employees are taking time off for the holidays. Attackers, knowing this, target help desks and users in order to trick them into giving up information or clicking on lures. They try new ways to enter into systems that are less carefully monitored and have fewer support resources available. Ensure you are extra vigilant at this time of year, and provide the proper resources for those employees still working.

Take extra time to remind your holiday help-desk staff members of their often unsung role in keeping the bad guys at bay by not falling for ruses and social engineering tactics to gain access to systems. Make it harder for attackers to infiltrate your network. Start with the humans, which is often the hardest part of your network to patch and defend.

Resources

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 3:55 am AEST (my time).

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Additionally, in a surprising move, Nvidia is bringing back 32-bit PhysX support in certain games. The RTX 50 series launched without PhysX support, which caused poor performance in old games, forcing some creative solutions, like buying an old Nvidia card just for old-school games. Now, however, Nvidia is bringing 32-bit PhysX support back into the following games:

• Alice: Madness Returns
• Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
• Batman: Arkham City
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Borderlands 2
• Mafia II
• Metro 2033
• Metro: Last Light
• Mirror’s Edge

What is no longer getting any support is the GTX 900 and GTX 10 series. These graphics cards are no longer supported, and driver 591.44 no longer works on PCs with those GPUs.

As usual, the latest update contains several bug fixes:

• Battlefield 6: Gaming stability issues
• Counter-Strike 2: Text may appear slightly distorted when in-game resolution is lower than the native resolution of the display
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth: Light flickering after driver update on some system configurations
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name: Corruption after driver update on some system configurations
• Black Myth: Wukong: Lower performance in driver branches newer than R570
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne: Some particle effects may be missing on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3: Gameplay becomes dim over time
• Madden 26: Stability issues
• Users running R580 branch drivers (58x.xx) or newer may observe lower performance in some games after updating to Windows 11 October 2025 KB5066835
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Random corruption on main character's sword corruption
• Adobe Premiere Pro: Freeze During Export Using Hardware Encoding
• Sophos Home Antivirus: System stability issues
• Green line observed while viewing videos in Chromium browser on GeForce RTX 50
  Series GPUs

You can download the latest Nvidia driver from the official website or the Nvidia app. Full release notes are available here.

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 3:55 am AEST (my time).

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If you are a home user and are also not so impressed by Windows 11's UI and wished it were better, there are unofficial third-party apps available which can be tried out. One of them is FluentFlyout, and as the app's name suggests, it brings fluent design-based flyout options on Windows 11.

If you are unfamiliar, Microsoft proudly touts Fluent as the design language and style that makes Windows 11 "effortless, familiar," and intuitive while being "complete and coherent," and with Fluent 2, which the FluentFlyout app is based on, Microsoft promises better performance.

The app author highlights the following features:

• Audio flyout: Displays Cover, Title, Artist and media controls

• "Up Next" flyout: shows what's next when a song ends

• Lock Keys flyout: displays the status of lock keys at a glance

• Taskbar widget: shows media info directly on the Windows taskbar

• Native Windows-like design

• Uses Fluent 2 components

• Utilises Windows Mica blur

• Supports Light and Dark mode

• Matches your device color theme

• Smooth animations

• Customizable flyout positions

• Includes Repeat All, Repeat One and Shuffle

• Sits unobtrusively in system tray

   

The headlining feature of the app is the Media Flyout Customization options, which include the ability to select between Background blur, a compact layout, flyout position, and more. The utility offers Mica blur by default, but there is also the option to opt for Acrylic using the "Acrylic Window" toggle. There is also a cool Next up Customization section under.

The app also offers Lock Key customizations and a very useful "Disable Flyouts" feature that can be toggled on to prevent DirectX games in exclusive full-screen mode from minimizing in case a flyout pops out.

The app is available for download on GitHub as well as on the Microsoft Store. If it is downloaded from GitHub, all features are free to use, including the Widgets customization. In the case of the Store version, the Taskbar Customization options remain under a paid "Premium" version.

The latest version of the app, 2.3.5, fixes performance issues related to when media keys are pressed rapidly. You can download it from its official GitHub repo or from the Microsoft Store.

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Posted Friday 5 December 2025 at 3:51 am AEST (my time).

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