• Preloading makes Windows 11 File Explorer open faster than before, at ~30MB extra RAM.
• Despite gains, Windows 11's preloaded Explorer still lags Windows 10's Explorer in open/close speed.
• That performance gap could slow Windows 11 adoption and keep users on Windows 10.

Microsoft knows that Windows 11's File Explorer is a little on the slow side. That's why it announced it would introduce a new process that would preload File Explorer; that way, it would be ready to open the moment you ask for it. And while I initially had my doubts that it would do much of anything, some testing has seemingly proven that it actually does speed things up when compared to the non-preloaded version.

However, one operating system still has it beat. And, unfortunately, that operating system is Windows 10.

Windows 11's new preloaded File Explorer is still slower than Windows 10's

The news comes to us via Windows Latest, which did some testing with the new preloaded File Explorer. They pitted it against Windows 11's older, non-preloaded File Explorer, and while the new one took up 30MB more RAM (which, let's be fair here, won't make too much of an impact), it opens marginally quicker when no other apps are open, and noticeably quicker when the RAM is chock full of apps. So, in terms of Windows 11's scope, the new one wins.

However, Windows Latest then did a test where it compared the sped-up Windows 11 File Explorer to Windows 10's. It's worth noting that Windows 10 did not get the preload update, so it was still running on the regular version of File Explorer. And despite that, Windows 10's version still opened and closed faster than Windows 11's pre-loaded one.

So, why should we care? Well, Microsoft has a problem on its hands right now. Its big Windows 11 push, including the announcement that it'll be making it an agentic operating system, did not go down well. Paired with the COO of Dell's claim that 500 million Windows PCs had compatible hardware with Windows 11, but their owners chose not to upgrade, and Microsoft is going to really struggle with getting people to make the jump to its newer operating system. Having a system that feels slower and less responsive than its predecessor doesn't do Windows 11 any favors, and it's bound to keep Windows 10's user base firmly planted on their PCs for another year or so.

Can Microsoft finally make Windows 11's File Explorer as responsive as Windows 10's, or perhaps even faster? It's really hard to tell. The preloading update was definitely a step in the right direction, and I'm glad that it, at the very least, makes it quicker than the normal File Explorer. But it seems it may need to do a little more work if it hopes to win over the hardened Windows 10 users, if they ever can.

Source

Understanding the Linux 6.19 merge window delay

With the Linux 6.18 kernel release being pushed, the merge window for Linux 6.19 is now open, giving developers the opportunity to submit their new features, ready for several months of testing. While the last few kernels have been released on time, 6.19 is going to be delayed because the merge window coincides with the year kernel maintainer summit, so Torvalds will be traveling during the second week. This is why the Linux 6.19 merge window delay is expected.

To address this, he plans to complete a bulk of the merging before traveling. The summit may mean that the RC1 release may be delayed slightly, and any late merge window pull requests will not be accepted. Linux 6.19 is scheduled for release in February, with there potentially being a one-week delay; this could lead to there being an eighth release candidate.

How to install Linux 6.18

Now that Linux 6.18 is available, you generally do not want to try compiling it and running it yourself, as this will most likely lead to a broken system. Instead, you should wait for your distribution maintainer to make it available via the update manager. This is part of the general Linux kernel update guide for users. Once installed, you will just reboot your system. The first distributions that will get the update are Arch-based distros and bleeding-edge systems like Fedora. If you're on Ubuntu-based distributions, you won't get it immediately and may have to wait for a new version. These different Linux distribution updates are typical for a new Linux kernel release.

Unlike Windows, where you install third-party drivers, in Linux, they are usually included in the kernel, so when you boot Linux, everything should just work. However, if you have newer hardware, these kernel updates are important because they mean some of your hardware that didn't work before now does. This includes the notable Sony DualSense headphone jack fix that Linux users have been anticipating.

Source: LKML via OMG! Ubuntu

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Posted Monday 1 December 2025 at 6:01 pm AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Microsoft has admitted that the non-security preview update KB5064081 has an issue that will make it a bit harder to log into your computer using your password. According to Microsoft Support, one of the known issues in this update is that the “Password icon might be missing or invisible in the lock screen sign-in options.” While the button might have disappeared, you can still sign in with a password by clicking on the empty space where the button should be, and the password field will appear.

Insider channel users caught this bug before it went mainstream

This isn’t a critical security or performance issue, especially as it only impacts the Windows user interface. Furthermore, it’s part of a preview update, meaning users in the preview channel should be the only ones affected. It’s nonetheless annoying to those users, especially if you forgot your PIN for Windows Hello and you now can’t quite figure out how to type in your password. Microsoft said that it’s already “working to resolve this issue and will provide information when it’s available.”

Windows Updates are meant to fix security issues, bugs, and release new features, but if you’re tinkering with a complicated operating system such as Windows 11, you’re bound to break something else if you aren’t careful. In fact, Microsoft released an emergency patch last month after an update prevented users from using the keyboard and mouse when in the Windows Recovery Environment.

In the same month, the company also broke the Media Creation Tool just a day before Windows 10 end-of-life, which might prevent some users from updating their system to Windows 11. Even other companies need to deal with Windows Updates shenanigans. For example, Nvidia released an emergency driver update in the latter part of November after a Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 update significantly reduced performance in some games. This hotfix resulted in 50% performance increase for affected titles, giving many frustrated gamers a reason to rejoice.

Thankfully, Microsoft has several Windows Insider channels where most bugs are caught before they’re rolled out to the average user. These should catch most of the biggest bugs that Microsoft’s engineering and programming teams might have missed, but even then, a few issues sometimes slip through the cracks and get a wider release.

Source

 ZDNET key takeaways

•     The Linux desktop has continued its slow growth.
•     Linux has been making gains in no small part because of Microsoft Windows' blunders.
•     Users and governments have been losing trust in Windows and Microsoft.

My colleague Jack Wallen and I have been telling you for a while now that you should switch from Windows to the Linux desktop. Sounds like some of you have been listening.

The proof of the pudding comes from various sources. First, with Windows 10 nearing the end of its supported life, we told you to consider switching from Windows to Linux Mint or another Windows-like Linux distribution. What do we find now? 

Zorin OS, an excellent Linux desktop, reports that its latest release, "Zorin OS 18 has amassed 1 million downloads in just over a month since its release." What makes it especially interesting is that over "78% of these downloads came from Windows" users.

Now, that's got my attention... 780,000 Windows users don't download a 3.5 Gigabyte Linux desktop distribution if they're not giving it serious consideration. Linux desktop fans download different distros all the time. For them, it's a hobby. 

For Windows users? You have to think they are considering making the Linux switch.

The real top dog operating system

Many have already been making the leap. By May 2025, StatCounter data showed the Linux desktop had grown from a minute 1.5% global desktop share in 2020 to above 4% in 2024, and was at a new American high of above 5% by 2025.

In StatCounter's latest US numbers, which cover through October, Linux shows up as only 3.49%. But if you look closer, "unknown" accounts for 4.21%. Allow me to make an educated guess here: I suspect those unknown desktops are actually running Linux. What else could it be? FreeBSD? Unix? OS/2? Unlikely.

In addition, ChromeOS comes in at 3.67%, which strikes me as much too low. Leaving that aside, ChromeOS is a Linux variant. It just uses the Chrome web browser for its interface rather than KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, or another Linux desktop environment. Put all these together, and you get a Linux desktop market share of 11.37%. Now we're talking.

If you want to look at the broader world of end-user operating systems, including phones and tablets, Linux comes out even better. In the US, where we love our Apple iPhones, Android -- yes, another Linux distro -- boasts 41.71% of the market share, according to StatCounter's latest numbers. Globally, however, Android rules with 72.55% of the market.

Yes, that's right, if you widen the Linux end-user operating system metric to include PC, tablets, and smartphones, you can make a reasonable argument that Linux, and not Windows, is already the top dog operating system. Take that, Redmond!

The view from DAP

Now, of course, StatCounter's numbers, as Ed Bott has pointed out, have their problems. So I also looked at my preferred data source for operating system numbers: the US federal government's Digital Analytics Program (DAP).

This site gives a running count of US government website visits and an analysis. On average, there are 1.6 billion sessions over the last 30 days, with millions of users per day. In short, DAP gives a detailed view of what people use without massaging the data. 

DAP gets its raw data from a Google Analytics account. DAP has open-sourced the code, which displays the data on the web, and its data-collection code. You can download its data in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format so you can analyze the raw numbers yourself.

By DAP's count, the Linux desktop now has a 5.8% market share. That may not sound impressive, but when I started looking at DAP's numbers a decade ago, the Linux desktop had a mere 0.67% share. We've come a long way.

If you add Chrome OS (1.7%) and Android (15.8%), 23.3% of all people accessing the US government's websites are Linux users. The Linux kernel's user-facing footprint is much larger than the "desktop Linux" label suggests.

I'll also note that although Windows 10 should be heading into retirement by now, DAP numbers show it's still the most popular version of Windows, with 16.9% compared to Windows 11's 13.5%. StatCounter, however, has Windows 11 leading in the US, with 64.83% of all Windows users, while Windows 10 is well behind with 31.92%. 

That's still way too many Windows 10 users taking chances with their security.

But wait, there's more data. According to Lansweeper, an IT asset discovery and inventory company, in its analysis of over 15 million identified consumer desktop operating systems, Linux desktops currently account for just over 6% of PC market share.

Why is Linux growing? 

Earlier this year, I identified five drivers for people switching from Windows to Linux. These are: Microsoft's shift of focus from Windows as a product to Microsoft 365 and cloud services, the increased viability of gaming via Steam and Proton, drastically improved ease of use in mainstream distros, broader hardware support, and rising concern about privacy and data control.

Three others have emerged since then. One is that many companies and users still have perfectly good Windows 10 machines that can't "upgrade" to Windows 11. ControlUp, a company that would love to help you move to Windows 11, has found that about 25% of consumer and business Windows 10 PCs can't be moved to Windows 11.

This hardware lockout is a key reason many users plan to ride Windows 10 beyond the end of support instead of paying for a new machine just to meet Microsoft's specs.

Another is that many people really, really don't want to move to Windows 11. A UK survey by consumer group Which? in September 2025 found that 26% of respondents intended to keep using Windows 10 even after updates stopped. Interestingly, 6% plan to go to an alternative operating system such as Linux.

Why so stubborn? Well, besides wanting to save money, surveys and vendor analyses consistently mention three main reasons users hesitate: Windows 10 is "good enough," Windows 11 is not seen as meaningfully better, and they don't like the forced interface changes (e.g., the centered Start menu, context menus, default app behavior, and Copilot integration).

Gaming users are also afraid that Windows 11 will slow down their games or come with compatibility bugs. For example, Windows 11's October update came with a bug that hurt gaming performance on some NVIDIA-equipped gaming PCs.

Finally, not everyone is thrilled with Windows 11 being turned into an AI-agentic operating system. Despite all the AI hype, some people don't want AI second-guessing their every move or reporting on their work to Microsoft.

After Microsoft president Pavan Davulur tweeted on Nov. 10 that "Windows is evolving into an agentic OS, connecting devices, cloud, and AI to unlock intelligent productivity and secure work anywhere," he probably expected Windows users to be happy with this vision. They weren't.

Instead, the top response from one person on X was "It's evolving into a product that's driving people to Mac and Linux." Exactly so. If you want a traditional desktop where you control what's what on your PC without an AI Big Brother looking over your shoulder, Linux will be almost your only choice going forward.

Don't forget digital sovereignty

My last reason for people looking to Linux from Windows doesn't matter much to users in the US, but it matters a lot to people outside the US. You see, the European Union (EU) governments don't trust Microsoft to deliver on its service promises under potential US political pressure.

This has resulted in the rise of Digital Sovereignty initiatives, where EU companies and not American tech giants are seen as much more trustworthy. As a result, many EU states have dropped Microsoft programs and have switched to open-source software.

That includes the desktop. Indeed, one EU group has created EU OS. This is a proof-of-concept Linux desktop for a Fedora-based distro that uses the KDE Plasma desktop environment.

It's not just the EU. The UK also no longer trusts Microsoft with its data. A 2024 Computer Weekly report revealed that Microsoft told Scottish police it could not guarantee that data in Microsoft 365 and Azure would remain in the UK.

Nicky Stewart, former UK Cabinet Office ICT chief, told Computer Weekly at the time: "You've got Microsoft touting what they describe as sovereign cloud, but what do they mean by sovereign...because truly sovereign data would not be offshored under any circumstances." 

With Windows 11 data potentially being sent back and forth to US data centers, more and more governments will be wary about trusting Windows.

Taken together, all these shifts make Linux less of a tinker's special and more of a pragmatic option for people who want out of the Windows upgrade treadmill or subscription model.

Desktop Linux is moving from perennial underdog to a small but meaningful slice of everyday computing, especially among technically inclined users, non-American public-sector agencies, and ordinary consumer and business users who want a cheaper, more trustworthy desktop. 

Source

To that end, Microsoft has announced an interesting feature for the new Outlook application on Windows and the web, allowing customers to run rules on specific folders rather than just incoming emails in their mailbox. This is something that users have been requesting since at least 2022, so it will likely be welcomed by the community and may help to improve the abysmal reputation of the new Outlook as well. It's slated for rollout in January 2026. Furthermore, Outlook on Android and iOS will also begin receiving "Up Next" notifications prior to scheduled meetings from next month, offering a "Prepare" option that will help you get up to speed regarding the meeting, with assistance from Copilot.

Switching gears to Teams, we have something that will likely make some IT admins happy. With the infiltration of bots and AI agents in enterprise environments, it is difficult for IT admins to evaluate whether an AI agent complies with their organizational framework. Microsoft is making this particular job easier by allowing IT admins to define their requirements once and then have an automated system generate a "Trust Score" based on that. This will enhance the speed of the decision-making process regarding AI agents and is scheduled for release in February 2026.

Interestingly, Microsoft is also renaming a couple of features in Microsoft Edge. Efficiency mode, which offers Balanced and Maximum savings, is being renamed to Energy Saver. Meanwhile, Efficiency mode for PC gaming, which reduces Edge's resource consumption to free up more resources for gaming, is being rebranded to PC gaming boost. Microsoft hopes that this new naming scheme will present a clearer messaging around the intended functionality. These changes will happen in January 2026.

Finally, we have Microsoft 365 Copilot, which will allow users to disburse the Copilot-generated summary of shared files within the share dialog, further improving productivity and allowing the recipient to know at a glance what the shared content is about. It will be available in File Explorer and the OneDrive Activity Center in January 2026.

Source

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Posted Sunday 30 November 2025 at 3:16 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Windows 11 has hit some very choppy waters of late. There's never been much in the way of plain sailing for Microsoft's newest operating system, right from its inception, mind you, for various reasons. Whether that's complaints of 'it's just not that different from Windows 10' except that maybe 'it has more bugs', or 'this feature that I love is missing', or 'this part of the interface is slower than Windows 10'. Or indeed 'stop shoving ads in my face, Microsoft' (although that happens on Windows 10, too, but not quite as much).

However, Microsoft has, of late, likely lost all its mirth (one top executive in particular certainly seems to have done so), because there has been something of an explosion of unpopularity around Windows 11. This rather intense burst of hate – in some quarters, because yes, this isn't an all-pervading sentiment – is largely wrapped up in one issue: AI.

Microsoft recently revealed some big new features for Windows 11, and many key pieces revolved around AI and so-called AI agents. Indeed, the software giant went as far as saying that Windows 11 is now 'evolving into an agentic OS' and that sparked quite a rebellion. Folks complained in droves that 'people don't want this' and that Microsoft should instead be working on some of the fundamental parts of Windows 11, which are still wonky, four years after its launch.
 

The timing of this fresh push with AI can't be coincidental, seeing as it came a month after Windows 10 hit its end of support – earlier in November, when the first update wasn't delivered to unsupported PCs. Presumably, the idea was to show off the sparkling agentic future of Windows 11 in the hope that this would help encourage some Windows 10 users to upgrade (those who had started to worry about their security, lacking those updates). If so, the plan backfired quite spectacularly.

Potential upgraders to Windows 10 didn't end up marvelling at the tricks they might be able to eventually avail themselves of if they went ahead and upgraded to Windows 11. Yes, they were likely astonished, true enough – not by the potential of AI, but rather the fiery outpouring of complaints about how Microsoft needs to fix the basics with Windows 11 before worrying about fancy AI trimmings.

This amounted to a lot of pointing out Windows 11's various shortcomings (some of which I touched on at the outset) and awkward questions being raised. Like: why is File Explorer (the basic folders on your desktop) so slow compared to Windows 10?

Seeing the level of anger reached in some posts must have been off-putting to some onlookers still on the fence about a Windows 11 upgrade. Small wonder, then, that folks are sticking with Windows 10, as Dell underlines – or looking to Linux, and migrating away from Microsoft's ecosystem entirely, as Zorin OS contends.

Source

On Windows 11, the password icon appears only if multiple sign-in options (e.g., PIN, security key, password, fingerprint) are available. If you only use a password, the icon may not appear at all since Windows will just show the password field by default.

As Microsoft revealed in updated support documents this week, users with multiple sign-in options enabled may still not see the password icon on the lock screen if they installed the August 2025 KB5064081 non-security preview update or subsequent updates on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 systems.

However, it added that hovering over the space where the icon should appear reveals the button, allowing users to sign in with their password.

"If you hover over the space where the icon should appear, you'll see that the password button is still available," Microsoft explained. "Select this placeholder to open the password text box and enter your password. After entering your password, you can sign in normally."

Microsoft has not released a workaround beyond using the invisible button functionality and said that it's working to resolve the problem, but has yet to provide a timeline for a fix.

In late September, it addressed another known issue triggered by the KB5064081 optional update that caused playback interruptions, freezing, or black screens when trying to play DRM-protected video in Blu-ray/DVD/Digital TV applications.

The same month, it fixed other issues caused by the August 2025 Windows updates, including app installation problems for non-admin Windows users due to unexpected User Account Control (UAC) prompts and severe lag and stuttering issues affecting NDI streaming software on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.

In August, after releasing the monthly Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft also had to resolve a known issue that caused security updates delivered via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to fail with 0x80240069 errors and released emergency Windows updates to fix broken Windows reset and recovery on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Enterprise devices.

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Posted Saturday 29 November 2025 at 9:47 am AEST (my time).

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KDE Plasma 6, which was released in February 2024, switched from X11 to enable Wayland as the default display server. Initially, the developers did not plan to remove X11/Kwin before Plasma 7, however the codebases of Kwin were split this year, one for X11 and the other for Wayland.

Now, KDE has announced that Xorg/X11 will be ditched completely in the future. The plans are to make Wayland exclusive in Plasma 6.8. That's still far away. For context, the current version is KDE Plasma 6.5, which was released in October 2025, and supports X11 sessions. KDE says LTS distributions that ship with older versions of Plasma will be ideal for users who need X11 support.

But, you can use the Xwayland compatibility layer to run X11 apps, though screenshots/screencasting apps may need some additional tweaks. KDE apps will still support X11 as well. The official article highlights the improvements of Wayland such as support for accessibility tools like screen readers, sticky & bounce keys, zoom controls, a better gaming experience, Adaptive sync, optional tearing, and high-refresh-rate multi-monitor setups, and HDR (with tweaks). It also noted that NVIDIA drivers for Linux have improved considerably, and older GPUs can use the open source Nouveau driver if required.

Games run fine on Linux with Proton, and big YouTube channels are ditching Windows for their videos. Of course, there is the Steam Machine,  which runs on the Arch-based SteamOS3, it is coming in early 2026.

KDE says a vast majority of Plasma users are already using the Wayland session, it’s the default on most distributions. KDE has its own distro too, but it's still in alpha. In case you didn't know, GNOME dropped support for X11 in GNOME 49, but added it back later. It is going away in GNOME 50. However, some distros have already stopped supporting Xorg. Fedora 43 has already ditched X11 in favor of Wayland display server as the only option. Ubuntu 25.10 doesn't support X11 session, neither does Kubuntu 25.10 which uses KDE Plasma. The Linux Mint team is also working on improving Wayland support in Mint 22.3, which is expected to be released in December 2025.

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Posted Saturday 29 November 2025 at 2:34 am AEST (my time).

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Dell has revealed that there are millions upon millions of PCs out there that are still running Windows 10 and simply cannot run Windows 11. The company also used its Q3 earnings call to share the news that PC sales are slowing – something it predicts will continue into 2026.

Speaking during the earning call this week, Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke said: “We have not completed the Windows 11 transition. In fact, if you were to look at it relative to the previous OS end of support, we are 10-12 points behind at that point with Windows 11 than we were the previous generation”.

Microsoft has two routes to present to users still hanging on to Windows 10. The company can suggest that they upgrade their operating system for free, in place. But, as Dell points out, this is simply not an option for millions of systems. Dell put the number at a staggering half a billion, in fact.

The second thing Microsoft can encourage is for people to buy a new PC with Windows 11 pre-installed. This is easy to say, but it is clearly not something that is happening. Dell’s data shows that sales of new PCs are best described as flat. This is concerning for Microsoft, but it is also concerning for the world of security as Windows 10 systems pose far more of a security risk than Windows 11.

Is the situation going to improve? Not any time soon. Dell predicts that sales will – at some point – “flourish”, but the pace at which this is happening will be a source of frustration for Microsoft.

The recent shift in direction Microsoft is taking with Windows 11 is likely feeding into people’s reluctance to jump on board. Even for people who have the hardware to use Windows 11, there is the question of how receptive people are to artificial intelligence. While there is a lot of love for many aspects of AI, Microsoft's insistence on cramming it into every corner of Windows 11 is proving a friction point.

With Microsoft seemingly hellbent on continuing its AI binge, it is not clear what needs to change in order to improve the uptake of Windows 11 – or, more importantly, the move away from Windows 10.

Source

Windows 10 support ended in October, but around 1 billion PCs are still running the operating system. That figure comes from Dell's latest earnings call and suggests Microsoft will have an uphill battle to convert users to the latest version of the operating system.

"We have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven't been upgraded," said Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke during the company's Q3 earnings call. "And we have another 500 million that are four years old that can't run Windows 11. Those are all rich opportunities to upgrade towards Windows 11 and modern technology. Equally important AIPCs."

Clarke was referring to all Windows PCs, not just computers made by Dell. The COO did not share exact figures, but some quick math places the number of Windows 10 PCs that have not been updated to Windows 11 to around 1 billion.

The Motley Fool shared a transcript of the entire Dell earnings call.

That's actually an improvement compared to just a few months ago. In July of this year, a study said that about 50% of all PCs were still on Windows 10. Statcounter figures show that Windows 11 only passed Windows 10 in desktop market share in June.

Although November is coming to an end fast, it gave Microsoft some time to begin the rollout of several significant features to Windows 11, and in this guide, we're going to take a look at them.

In addition to the improvements rolled out during the first half of November, in the last two weeks, Microsoft has made available previews for version 25H2 and 26H1.

In the Dev and Beta Channels, devices received Windows 11 build 26220.7271 as part of 25H2. Also, in the Canary Channel, we've seen build 28000.1199 for version 26H1, but it didn't include any significant changes beyond general improvements and fixes. In this guide, I'll highlight the biggest changes available through the Windows Insider Program.

Biggest improvements from the Windows Insider Program in November 2025

These are the most significant changes Microsoft has unveiled since the last roundup.

Xbox Full Screen Experience for all PCs

The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) isn't new, but it was originally only available for handheld gaming devices. Starting with build 26220.7271, the company began testing to bring the experience to every computer as another feature for the operating system.

The feature transforms the desktop into a console-like experience, where the Xbox app serves as the main interface, removing the complexities and resource overhead of the typical Windows experience. When using this feature, the system won't load the standard shell of Windows 11 and turn off unnecessary background processes, which, according to Microsoft, should reduce memory consumption by approximately 2GB.

Microsoft is rolling out this feature gradually, but when it becomes available on your device, you'll be able to enable it by going to Settings > Gaming > Full screen experience.

Microsoft is pitching a future where AI controls everything on your PC and agents go and do work for you in the background. But before the company gets there, it has to build the tools to make these systems work and convince its own developers that AI is actually capable of achieving these big promises.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed earlier this year that up to 30 percent of the code of “some of our projects” is written by AI, and I’ve been eager to learn exactly how Microsoft’s developers are using the technology ever since. I’ve been speaking to sources and company execs to get a better idea of how AI is being used by Microsoft developers. Some employees have told me they’re skeptical that AI agents will be able to fully replace the work of humans, leaving developers to fix the mistakes of automated agents.

When I ask the company for more specifics, though, Microsoft touts its early success in deploying AI internally.

“We want to really look at where there’s developer toil, where we have inefficiencies,” says Amanda Silver, a CVP in Microsoft’s CoreAI team who leads product for the company’s Apps & Agents platform, in an interview with Notepad. “Part of what we’re looking at is both how we can apply [AI] and where we can apply it.”

There are over 100,000 code repositories inside Microsoft, from brand new projects to legacy codebases that are more than 20 years old and still up and running. “We have pretty much every programming language, architecture, and lifecycle stage that you can imagine, and this really reflects a lot of our customers,” says Silver. That’s a lot of code for AI to potentially touch, especially as Microsoft pushes beyond simple code completion towards more automation with AI agents.

In May, Microsoft embedded a coding agent directly into GitHub Copilot, letting developers assign it work to do. The agent then goes off and creates its own development environment, runs in the background, and creates draft pull requests. “What we see is that developers save on average 30 minutes on simple tasks, over a half day on medium tasks, and two weeks on complex tasks,” says Silver. Microsoft’s developers are using it for time-consuming and monotonous tasks like fixing bugs and improving documentation for apps and services.

Microsoft looks at developer hours saved, incidents mitigated, or estimated hours saved for tasks to get to these numbers. “Additionally, we look at the actions completed by the agentic capabilities, such as the number of pull-requests it contributes to,” says Silver.

Measuring the impact of AI on developer productivity is something that I hear Microsoft is obsessing about internally, even if some studies show AI can make experienced developers slower. Some employees, who wish to remain anonymous, feel that Microsoft executives aren’t happy with how often developers use AI right now. There’s a push internally to get developers to use AI first for everything, but I hear that adoption isn’t always organic.

“It does require a little bit of intentional engagement to allow the mindset shift to click in,” admits Silver. While Microsoft’s developers could ignore GitHub Copilot Chat because it was in a separate window, the agentic mode and coding agent are right in the context of how developers work. “It becomes habit forming and changes behavior,” says Silver.

Microsoft says 91 percent of its engineering teams use GitHub Copilot, but sources have shared data that suggests, in some parts of the company, overall AI tool adoption is much lower – closer to the 51 percent of developers who told Stack Overflow they’re now using AI tools professionally every day.

Silver rattles off a list of teams that have sped up their work with AI. The Xbox team used Copilot’s app modernization agent to upgrade their core Xbox service from .NET 6 to .NET 8 recently. “They saw an 88 percent reduction in manual migration effort,” she says, taking “months of work and compressing it down into days.” Microsoft’s discovery and quantum team used the Copilot agent to migrate a Java app to the latest version, and saw a similar “reduction in the effort that was needed, thanks to the AI agent auto detecting deprecated APIs, suggesting fixes, and identifying security vulnerabilities.” The company’s “ES Chat” agent, which can answer questions about Microsoft’s engineering systems, has saved engineers “46 minutes per task compared to traditional search methods.” Microsoft is also using AI agents to help Site Reliability Engineers (SRE) respond to outages of systems and apps. There, the company has already saved over “10,000 hours of operational time.”

All of these time savings mean that Microsoft’s code is increasingly being built by AI instead of just humans, but Silver won’t put a number on how much of Microsoft’s code is being built by AI. She argues it’s too hard to track everything as AI is embedded in code generation, review processes, test generations, and deployment pipelines. “The agents really become a core part of the engineering system itself,” says Silver. “This is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to pin a precise number on the number of lines of code that the AI is contributing.” I also get a sense that promoting a number that’s either too high or too low would be counterproductive to Microsoft’s marketing efforts, both internally and externally.

Still, I don’t doubt the complexity of the task. A human engineer could submit code while Copilot is running inside their editor, or the engineer could copy and paste AI code into their editor. It’s fair to say that AI is prevalent in some parts of Microsoft’s developer output. You only need to look at the codebases of Aspire, Typescript Go, and Microsoft’s Agent Framework to see that Copilot is a major contributor to all of them.

The AI systems also aren’t perfect. Silver says engineers review their work. And a source at Microsoft told me that some of the tools aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. “ES Chat saves me time in that I don’t use it,” the person joked.

Microsoft’s aggressive push towards AI agents coding for developers has also got some employees inside the company concerned about the future. I’ve spoken to engineers in Microsoft’s CoreAI division that are worried about the use of autonomous AI agents, particularly as they pick up the types of projects that junior developers could be assigned. There’s a real fear in the industry, and inside Microsoft, that junior developer roles are disappearing, leaving experienced devs having to babysit the output of AI tools.

With Nadella’s goal of overhauling Microsoft into a company that’s focused on AI agents doing work, this all sounds like less humans involved in coding in the future. Silver is taking the optimistic view that AI will simply allow developers to offload the boring tasks and focus on creativity instead.

“No developer got into the industry because they wanted to be assigned a months-long code maintenance migration effort,” says Silver. “They want to be at the cutting edge, they want to create, they want to innovate. These are the kinds of things they want to offload to AI so they can get back to the process of creation.”

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Posted Friday 28 November 2025 at 4:26 am AEST (my time).

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If you rely on the same group of apps to start your day or move between tasks on Windows 11, PowerToys Workspaces can automate the entire setup. The feature streamlines your environment by launching and arranging your frequently used apps exactly the way you want.

Workspaces is a feature designed for users who want a faster and more consistent desktop experience. Instead of opening the same programs every morning or constantly shuffling windows into place, you can trigger a complete layout with a single click. You decide which apps open, how they open, and where they appear on the screen, creating a repeatable workspace you can use for any activity.

If you typically work with only one or two apps, the advantage may be subtle. For multitaskers or anyone using structured workflows, Workspaces can save time, reduce clutter, and maintain a predictable desktop. In this how-to guide, I'll teach you how to set up and customize a workspace with your frequently used applications.

How to install PowerToys on Windows 11

If you don't already have PowerToys installed on the computer, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
3. (Option 1) Type the following command to install the latest preview of PowerToys and press Enter: winget install --id Microsoft.PowerToys

If you rely on the same group of apps to start your day or move between tasks on Windows 11, PowerToys Workspaces can automate the entire setup. The feature streamlines your environment by launching and arranging your frequently used apps exactly the way you want.

Workspaces is a feature designed for users who want a faster and more consistent desktop experience. Instead of opening the same programs every morning or constantly shuffling windows into place, you can trigger a complete layout with a single click. You decide which apps open, how they open, and where they appear on the screen, creating a repeatable workspace you can use for any activity.

If you typically work with only one or two apps, the advantage may be subtle. For multitaskers or anyone using structured workflows, Workspaces can save time, reduce clutter, and maintain a predictable desktop. In this how-to guide, I'll teach you how to set up and customize a workspace with your frequently used applications.

How to install PowerToys on Windows 11

If you don't already have PowerToys installed on the computer, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
3. (Option 1) Type the following command to install the latest preview of PowerToys and press Enter: winget install --id Microsoft.PowerToys

Canonical has announced that Ubuntu 26.04 LTS will switch out two longstanding applications with new picks. It said that the goal of the switch is to implement modern applications that are more consistent and easy to use, that fit in naturally with the rest of the desktop environment. The two applications being switched out are the Totem video player, which is being replaced by Showtime, and GNOME System Monitor, which is being replaced by Resources.

Both of the new applications are built using GTK4 and libadwaita for seamless integration with the desktop. Showtime has an immersive user interface, and it's a GNOME Core App that is already replacing Totem upstream in GNOME 49. On the other hand, Resources is a community-made tool that is part of GNOME Circle. It is a simple but powerful monitor that displays hardware usage as well as listing and terminating graphical apps and processes. Canonical went with Resources over another alternative called Mission Center due to its superior accessibility support, making it a better fit for an LTS release.

You can install both of these applications in Ubuntu right now without waiting. To get Showtime in Ubuntu 25.10, just run: sudo apt install showtime. For Resources, you can get it from Flathub.

If you find that you do not like the new app choices, Totem and GNOME System Monitor will remain available to install from the Ubuntu archives. When Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is released next year, and you upgrade, the two new apps will be installed alongside the old apps. If you want to remove the old apps, you will need to do so manually, or just keep them, but they won't be there in a new install.

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is due for release in April and is codenamed Resolute Raccoon. As a Long-Term Support release, it will get updates for five years, taking support out all the way to 2031.

Source: OMG! Ubuntu

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Posted Friday 28 November 2025 at 4:15 am AEST (my time).

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In case you weren't aware, many AI services integrated their chatbots within WhatsApp to allow users to access their AI models right within the instant messaging app. This included the likes of Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Perplexity. Meta's own AI is deeply integrated into WhatsApp.

The Verge reports that a month ago, WhatsApp had announced some changes to its terms. You can read it here. This is the main change, "are strictly prohibited from accessing or using the WhatsApp Business Solution, whether directly or indirectly, for the purposes of providing, delivering, offering, selling, or otherwise making available such technologies when such technologies are the primary (rather than incidental or ancillary) functionality being made available for use, as determined by Meta in its sole discretion".

This is essentially Meta's way of gatekeeping its rivals off of its platform. In its defense, a company spokesperson had told TechCrunch, that "The purpose of the WhatsApp Business API is to help businesses provide customer support and send relevant updates". When this policy comes into effect in January 2026, Meta's AI will be the sole AI option available for users on WhatsApp. That's one way to force your users to use your AI.

OpenAI released a statement a couple of weeks ago, expressing its disappointment about Meta's policy, and being unable to serve users on WhatsApp. It is directing users to use the ChatGPT app on their preferred platform of choice, along with instructions on how to preserve their chat history with ChatGPT. Microsoft has released a similar statement to inform Copilot users about the change, and details on how to export their chat with Copilot.

Users can continue accessing ChatGPT and Copilot in WhatsApp until January 15, 2026. But the tools will no longer be available beyond the said date. Perplexity hasn't announced its exit from WhatsApp yet, but it's only a matter of time before it does.

On a side note, Perplexity unveiled its AI Shopping Assistant recently.

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Posted Friday 28 November 2025 at 4:14 am AEST (my time).

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This update method is designed to ensure that apps are up to date even when the Microsoft Store is inaccessible, for example, due to admin policies or if the Store app is uninstalled.

Right now, the page is not entirely functional, and pressing the check for update button doesn't work. It was speculated that the page is going to be reserved for business-facing programs; however, it has been confirmed that any application will be able to delegate updates to Windows Update.

Microsoft said earlier this year that the Windows ecosystem can feel fragmented when it comes to updates for IT admins managing applications. To solve this, the company said it is working to build a vision for a "unified, intelligent update orchestration platform capable of supporting any update (apps, drivers, etc.) to be orchestrated alongside Windows updates."

It will be interesting to see whether Microsoft moves toward a paradigm where app updates are delivered alongside Windows Updates to streamline updates. Many Linux users will already be familiar with this style, as app updates and security updates are all usually delivered via an update manager in one go, especially on systems like Linux Mint.

It is key to point out that this feature is still in development, and it's unclear how long it will take before it appears in stable releases. Stay tuned to Neowin for all the latest developments.

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The latest Release Preview Channel builds do not have dedicated changelogs. Instead, Microsoft claims these updates only contain "minor changes," with nothing specific in the release notes. Therefore, you will have to figure it out on your own and report findings to Microsoft using the Feedback Hub.

If you are updating from older builds, there will be quite a lot of stuff to try. For example, more Control Panel elements made their way to the Settings app, Microsoft restored the taskbar animations, and File Explorer finally supports proper dark mode across more common UI elements. For Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft enabled Windows Studio Effects on external cameras, brought more Click to Do improvements, and improved the Settings agent. Make sure to check out the full release notes here.

Meanwhile, the updated announcement post is available on the official Windows Blogs website.

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Posted Thursday 27 November 2025 at 12:48 pm AEST (my time).

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It’s a little rocky.

For the most part, the November updates have gone well, albeit with a few expected hiccups. That includes the first suite of updates that are included with the Windows 10 ESU enrollment. A lowering of the MS-DEFCON level to 4 is warranted. Spend some holiday time this weekend installing updates!

One problem that I didn’t expect was somewhat self-inflicted on machines that Microsoft upgraded from Windows 10 Professional to Windows 10 Enterprise and Education. On November 17, KB5072653 was released to fix the problem. The KB states:

Note this preparation package must be installed after the October 2025 security update (KB5066791) is installed.

KB5072653 provides a fixed version of the ClipSp.sys file and is being offered up to all machines already participating in the ESU process and with already installed November Windows updates.

What is ClipSp.sys? A Talos Intelligence Vulnerability Deep Dive blog post describes it:

ClipSp is a first-party driver on Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 that is responsible for implementing licensing features and system policies, and as such it is one of the main components of the Client Licensing Platform (CLiP). Little is known about this driver; while most Microsoft drivers and DLLs have publicly available debug symbols, in the case of ClipSp, those were removed from Microsoft’s symbol server. Debug symbols provide function names and other related debug information that can be leveraged by security researchers to infer the intent behind the many functions of a binary; their absence hinders that. Surprisingly, the driver is also obfuscated, a very rare occurrence in Microsoft binaries, likely to deter reverse engineering even further. Limited public research exists, much of which either predates our findings or was released in response to our reports. The latter research also shares symbols from an older version of ClipSp, which could be a useful springboard for anyone wanting to research this driver. The most interesting aspect of this software involves implementing features related to licensing Windows applications from the Windows App store and activation services for Windows itself.

So in addition to the November security updates, I’ll recommend that you install KB5072653 as it will replace the ClipSp.sys with the final build that works with the ESU process. Then go ahead and install KB5068781, which is the November security update.

For users of Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, I’ve not been tracking any major issues with the cumulative update for Windows 11, versions 25H2 and 24H2 (KB5068861). Now, that’s not to say that you can’t go out to various forums or AI-generated recaps and think that this update is causing horrific issues. Whenever any update is released, at least one person may report issues.

But I don’t see widespread issues that will impact all of us. Rather, I see reports of issues that often can be fixed with a repair install over the top. Some of the symptoms make me wonder what is going on. I see some reports that the patch took a long time to download, but in my testing on several platforms, I’m not seeing this issue. Once again, be wary of clickbait headlines that are not representative of what’s really going on.

In my testing, I see no major issues and thus recommend installing KB5068861. That said, I urge you to ensure your video-card drivers are up to date because NVIDIA is warning that some gaming performance issues may occur if you don’t update your drivers.

File corruption in Windows is something that you have probably dealt with at some point in time if you are a system administrator. In the consumer world, doing an in-place repair over the top is a relatively easy way to fix the problem without damaging the system. But if you are a system administrator and you patch servers, you might hesitate — especially if that server holds a special role. You can attempt to fix the issue by using DISM commands tto repair the operating system. In my experience, that hasn’t always worked.

There is another way to repair a server, especially if it’s suffering from the error evidenced by the following message in CBS.log:

The PowerShell script shown in Figure 1 will mark the corrupted packages as absent.

Figure 1. Mark_Corrupted_Packages_as_Absent.ps1 Source: Reddit

Microsoft is working on integrating these processes into future wizards. It can’t occur soon enough.

Resources

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Posted Thursday 27 November 2025 at 6:01 am AEST (my time).

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In its Q3 results for Financial Year 2026 (FY26), Dell's COO Jeffrey Clarke is quoted by The Register as saying that people have been quite slow in migrating to Windows 11 compared to its predecessor in the same phase:

"We have not completed the Windows 11 transition. In fact, if you were to look at it relative to the previous OS end of support, we are 10-12 points behind at that point with Windows 11 than we were the previous generation."

The executive also noted that 500 million PCs don't meet Windows 11's system requirements while the others don't need a hardware upgrade to run the OS. Although this would indicate that 500 million PCs would potentially be replaced with newer alternatives capable of running Windows 11 at some point, Clarke hinted at "roughly flat" sales for Dell PCs would moving forward. Clarke didn't explain the reasoning behind this statement, but it could mean that people are just not that interested in upgrading to Windows 11 PCs.

For what it's worth, Windows 11 does have some issues that customers have been complaining about, but Microsoft is working on fixing them. The company is also heavily leaning on its latest AI capabilities to entice users in upgrading to Windows 11. Dell and AMD have been following in Microsoft's footsteps by marketing AI tools to customers as well.

Overall, Dell posted a very strong quarter with $27 billion in revenue, emphasizing that FY26 will be "another record year". It also highlighted accelerating AI momentum with huge orders for AI servers, resulting in the company "winning the AI race". You can read Dell's full quarterly report here.

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Posted Thursday 27 November 2025 at 6:01 am AEST (my time).

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Starting with the missing module, PowerToys 0.96.1 fixes Image Resizer, now working on Windows 10. Instead of opening a window with various size options, PowerToys would simply do nothing when invoked, forcing users to use other methods. Now, with the latest update, Image Resizer should work as expected for those still using Windows 10.

Next is Awake, a tool that prevents your computer from turning off or going to sleep. Version 0.96 has a bug where the module won't do its job in Timed Mode. Once the timer is over, Awake would keep the system running instead of turning off the monitor or going to sleep.

Finally, Microsoft fixed Advanced Paste, which, in version 0.96, received support for multiple local and online models:

• Removed deprecated OpenAI Prompt Execution Settings properties, enabling the use of new models such as GPT-5.1 in Azure OpenAI.

• Updated Foundry Local model parameters to allow for longer output tokens.

• Fixed an issue where a model could appear unavailable immediately after being downloaded from Foundry Local.

   

Microsoft usually releases big PowerToys updates every month, so expect a new release in December. While we do not know what exactly Microsoft is preparing for the December 2025 release, the company could bring a new webcam tool that improves lighting during video calls and a dedicated module to control monitor settings, such as brightness, contrast, speaker volume, and more.

You can download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or GitHub.

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Posted Thursday 27 November 2025 at 6:00 am AEST (my time).

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According to Google's own report in its Workspace status dashboard, the problem is isolated in the Asia region with a population of over 4.8 billion. Downdetector shows more than 1700 users reported service disruptions, with 62% reporting a website problem and 35% saying Server Connection. The sudden outage surprised people in the region, as they were unable to join meetings. At the time of writing this report, the service has been down for over 3 hours.

Google Meet customers are experiencing issues loading meet.google.com in the Asia region. - Google Workspace Status Dashboard

Google's dashboard will provide further details on the issue on Wednesday, 2025-11-26 at 02:00 PST (10:00 UTC). As a workaround, customers can use the mobile app version of Google Meet to continue their work, which seems to remain unaffected for users worldwide on both iOS and Android. This band-aid may work for many users, but it is not ideal for professional setups requiring sharing VSCode or work-specific materials requiring desktop access.

It is not the first time that it has faced service disruptions. On 8 September 2025, Google Meet had a global outage caused by an overloaded cache in the Static Content Service (SCS). The incident started at 2025-09-08 17:25 UTC and lasted until 2025-09-08 18:17 UTC. This SCS issue was resolved via rollback.

Earlier this month, Google deep dived into AI and announced the Gemini 3 model lineup, including Gemini Enterprise, to challenge Microsoft. It also launched Nano Banana Pro for image generation and editing.

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Posted Thursday 27 November 2025 at 5:59 am AEST (my time).

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Windows 11's Microsoft Store will soon make it easier to uninstall apps from your PC. A new feature that is currently being tested among Windows Insiders lets users uninstall Store-managed apps from the Microsoft Store's library page.

The feature feels so natural that you may have assumed it was already available. But I assure you that clicking the three-dot menu in the library does not show the option to uninstall an app (unless you're an Insider testing the experimental feature).

The change is rolling out gradually to Windows Insiders running Microsoft Store version 22510.1401.x.x and higher. Microsoft outlined the change in a recent blog post. Since that same post also discussed the future expansion of the Xbox full screen experience for PC, the Microsoft Store change was almost a footnote.

Of course, you can uninstall apps through the Settings app or using other methods, but it's nice to be able to remove store-managed apps through the Microsoft Store.

This time around, the Redmond tech firm announced only four features for its popular spreadsheet software across all platforms. Starting with Windows, we have two enhancements. The first is a collection of upgrades made in Agent Mode for Excel, targeted at Frontier organizations. For those unaware, "Frontier" is a term that Microsoft has coined to describe firms which adopt the latest AI advancements to accelerate their growth in a scalable manner.

Now, Agent Mode can extract information from the internet directly using web search, leverage Anthropic's Claude models, and be used in Windows. That said, it is important to note that Agent Mode in Excel for Windows is only available for Beta Channel Insiders, with general availability and Mac support planned for later. Another smaller enhancement in tow for Windows customers is a revamped Get Data dialog, which should make the data ingestion process more streamlined.

Next, we have a feature that is available for Windows, web, and iOS. These are comment previews on protected files directly accessible in your email notifications, which is something that customers have been requesting for quite some time, which is why it has been tagged as "#FIA" (Feedback in Action).

Finally, we have an update rolled out just for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro users on the Insider channel. The Excel app on these platforms now features Liquid Glass styling and a search experience that is available on the bottom of the screen so that it aligns with iOS 26's design language.

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Posted Wednesday 26 November 2025 at 12:56 pm AEST (my time).

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A new process, ms-teams_modulehost.exe, will be used after rollout to handle calling features under the primary ms-teams.exe app process, according to Microsoft.

"We're improving the performance and startup time of calling features in the Microsoft Teams Desktop Client for Windows," it announced in a new message center update for enterprise customers.

"To achieve this, we're introducing a new child process named ms-teams_modulehost.exe that will handle the calling stack separately from the main application process (ms-teams.exe). This change optimizes resource usage and enhances meeting experiences."

This architectural change will not affect user workflows or require additional end-user training, and the calling features will function identically from the user perspective, with performance improvements occurring behind the scenes.

However, IT administrators are advised to prepare for the change by allowlisting the new ms-teams_modulehost.exe process in security software and endpoint protection systems to prevent false-positive detections and calling issues.

Organizations should also inform their helpdesk staff about this new process to avoid confusion while troubleshooting user reports and address any concerns about unfamiliar executable files.

The rollout will begin in early January 2026 for all deployment environments, including worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD tenants, with completion expected by late January 2026.

Since the start of the year, Microsoft has also begun working to enhance protection against malicious URLs and file types in Teams chats and channels, and announced that Teams will also warn users when they send or receive private messages with links flagged as malicious.

Microsoft is now rolling out a new Teams feature that automatically blocks screen-capture attempts during meetings and will let users report messages mistakenly flagged as security threats.

On Friday, it also began testing File Explorer preloading to improve performance and launch times on Windows 11 systems.

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Posted Wednesday 26 November 2025 at 3:40 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of October): 5,009

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