Hot on the heels of Windows 10's end of support, Microsoft is just over two weeks away from ending support for another active version of Windows. This time, Windows 11 version 23H2 is reaching end of life, with its official end of support date set for November 11, 2025.

Windows 11 version 23H2 was first released in October 2023, and as has been the case with all consumer versions of Windows 11 to date, was only ever promised 24 months of support. Two years are now up, and individuals still running this older version of Windows 11 will now need to upgrade to either 24H2 or 25H2 to remain supported.

Remaining supported is important if you wish to continue receiving important security updates, as well as bug fixes and new features. If you choose to remain on Windows 11 version 23H2 after support ends, you'll be vulnerable to any security exploits that are discovered in the OS after November 11.

In most cases, Windows 11 will have automatically offered Windows 11 version 24H2 or 25H2 to users on 23H2 months ago, and so you'll need to initiate the upgrade process through Windows Update soon to remain supported if you haven't already. You'll always have the option to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 11, even after support ends.

If you don't know what version of Windows 11 you're running, type "winver" into the Windows Search box and hit enter. That window will tell you which version of Windows 11 your PC is running. If it's on version 24H2 or version 25H2, you're safe and fully supported. If it says 23H2, 22H2, or 21H2, you're running on borrowed time.

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AMD's Adrenalin software support center for its Radeon graphics received a significant update on October 29 as part of its regular release schedule.

The 25.10.2 update appears to be rather standard at first glance, with newfound support for Battlefield 6 (DX12) and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 (DX12), new support for the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330's integrated Radeon 820M graphics, expanded Vulkan support, several bug fixes, and more.

What makes this update stand out is tucked away at the bottom of AMD's Adrenalin update notes. It's the first update to arrive with no listed support for Windows 10 systems.

According to AMD, this update is only designed to work with Windows 11 version 21H2 or later. For the record, 21H2 was Windows 11's first official release in 2021, so it's not exactly a matter of age. Regardless, we all knew this type of thing was coming after Microsoft sent Windows 10 to an early grave on October 14, but it's still a bit jarring to see.

The previous AMD Adrenalin update, version 25.10.1, launched on October 9, 2025, with full Windows 10 and Windows 11 support. It's amazing what just a couple of weeks can do.

AMD's older RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 graphics cards are also being dropped

As mentioned, AMD's Adrenalin 25.10.2 update has added game support for Battlefield 6 and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. However, the new game support only extends to AMD's Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 GPUs.

That means that AMD's RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 graphics cards — including the likes of the RX 6800 and RX 5700 XT — won't have access to the new game support despite the overall Adrenalin update applying to those generations.

Version 1.10.2 (Desktop) was recently released in early access with several notable bug fixes. Starting with Mermaid, the issue where attempting to export a document containing Mermaid diagrams, which are diagrams generated from text, would result in a render error, is now gone.

The plugin and theme repository is also now accessible even if your network blocks GitHub, which is a significant change for users in certain environments. In addition to that, Obsidian improved the canvas zoom speed when using a trackpad pinch gesture on macOS.

The formula error that would cause the list view in Bases to crash has been fixed. The developers also attempted to fix the YouTube embed error 153 where possible and corrected an issue where editing dates in the metadata editor, then navigating away, could sometimes cause the new file's metadata to be overwritten.

For developers working on plugins, there are new APIs for bases views, including BasesView.createFileForView let a plugin programmatically display the "new note" menu for the current view. BasesViewConfig.getEvaluatedFormula allows a plugin to get a configuration as a formula and evaluate it against the current base file.

Bases, if you don't know, was introduced back in version 1.9.0 as a core plugin that transforms a collection of your notes into structured, database-like views. You can use it to organize research sources, manage project tasks, or even track a reading list, complete with properties like author, genre, and status. It gives you some of the power of an application like Notion but keeps all of your data in local Markdown files, using a new .base file format to store the view's configuration.

The fixes version 1.10.2 brings aren't available to everyone just yet, as the release is currently for users with an Obsidian Catalyst license. The Catalyst plan is a way to support the developers with a one-time payment of $25. It is not a subscription. In return for your support, you get early access to new builds like this one and receive special badges on the community's Discord server and forums.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:19 am AEST (my time).

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The situation was quite ironic: the company wants as many Windows 10 users on Windows 11 as possible, but its main upgrade tool is broken. Fortunately, the necessary fix is here.

Microsoft has updated the Media Creation Tool app to a newer version, which is now fully compatible with Windows 10. As such, you can use it to upgrade to Windows 11, download an ISO, or create a bootable media. If you need it, you can download the Media Creation Tool app from the official website. Alternatively, the same website offers direct Windows 11 ISO downloads so that you can use other tools, such as Rufus, Ventoy, or similar.

Crashes on Windows 10 were not the only issue with the recent versions of the Media Creation Tool app. Computers with Arm64 chips could not run the program due to a bug, which was recently fixed in the latest non-security update for Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2. That update also introduced the redesigned Start menu, new battery indicators, and plenty more.

Although the Media Creation Tool app now works on Windows 11 on Arm64 devices, Microsoft notes that it is "not currently supported" on Windows 10 computers with Arm64 chips. There, if you have an old Arm-based Windows 10 PC, the best course of action is to use third-party apps to create a Windows 11 install media.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:18 am AEST (my time).

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The latest Windows 11 non-security update for versions 24H2 and 25H2 has an odd issue where closing Task Manager does not end its process. Instead, it continues running in the background, and when you open Task Manager again, the process simply duplicates, creating a new instance every time. Launch Task Manager multiple times, and you get a whole bunch of identical processes running side-by-side.

Fortunately, Task Manager is not a very resource-taxing process, so having several of them running should not affect your usage experience much. However, if you have a hundred of them running at once, the resource impact could be quite noticeable, especially on lower-end machines. If that happened to you, the easiest option is to simply restart your computer.

You can also kill all the duplicate processes and then close Task Manager with the "End task" command to make sure you do not get another copy when opening Task Manager next time. Another option is to use the "End task" option in the jump lists. It is one of those useful hidden features that every Widnows 11 user should use exactly in scenarios like this. When an app misbehaves and Task Manager is not helping, you can just right-click the app's icon on the taskbar and click "End process" to kill it on the spot.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows about this handy feature. It is a relatively new addition to Windows 11, and Microsoft keeps it turned off by default. You can enable it by navigating to Settings > Advanced and toggling on the "End Task" option.

Microsoft has not confirmed this bug yet. We tried it on several systems and virtual machines with the latest Windows 11 24H2/25H2 updates, and all of them have this problem.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:17 am AEST (my time).

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With the new scheme, each update now has a "user-friendly" name and only the most relevant identifiers. These include a KB number, build number, or version number. Microsoft no longer includes unnecessary and complicated technical details, such as platform architecture, date prefixes, etc.

Here is what a cumulative update currently looks like in Windows Update history:

2025-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11, version 25H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5066835) (26200.6899)

With the new approach, it will look like this:

Security Update (KB5066835) (26200.6899)

Microsoft says the new approach applies to quality updates for Windows (Patch Tuesday updates, preview updates, etc), .NET Framework updates, driver updates, AI components updates, and Visual Studio updates. You will see the updated names in Windows Update, Windows Update history, and on the Windows Release Health page. Updates in the Microsoft Update Catalog and Windows Server Update Services will remain unchanged, just like Windows feature updates.

Microsoft also offered an example of what each update will look like:

• Monthly or out-of-band security updates: Security Update (KB5034123) (26100.4747)
• Monthly preview non-security updates: Preview Update (KB5062660) (26100.4770)
• .NET Framework security updates: .NET Framework Security Update (KB5056579)
• .NET Framework non-security updates: .NET Framework Preview Update (KB5056579)
• Driver updates: Logitech Driver Update (123.331.1.0)
• AI component updates: Phi Silica AI Component Update (KB5064650) (1.2507.793.0)

The new naming scheme is a welcome change, as it improves readability and simplifies the experience for all users, leaving only the most important parts in the name. Besides improving Windows update names, Microsoft recently fixed error 0x800f0983 and resolved other issues.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:16 am AEST (my time).

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Starting off with chat and collaboration enhancements, Copilot in Teams can now generate file summaries for Word documents shared in group and 1:1 chats. In addition, Microsoft is bringing Teams closer to industry standards in terms of emoji shortcuts by allowing the insertion of emoji using the keyword separated by colon marks.

Next, we have improvements for meetings, webinars, and town halls. Audio recaps are generally available in three styles: Newscast (an AI speaker delivers a brief summary), Executive (two AI speakers deliver a concise summary with minimal commentary), Casual (two AI speakers deliver a summary with some color). In addition, Event Chat in town halls is now available for Teams Premium customers in GCC, GCCH, and DoD customers. Finally, multiple camera views and IntelliFrame are supported from Teams Rooms on Windows in Teams webinars and structured meetings.

And for those keeping track of Teams hardware, the following devices are now Teams-certified:

• MAXHUB Express Install A–F
• Lenovo ThinkVision T24D-4v and T27QD-4v

There are lots of other improvements in tow for Teams Phone customers and those utilizing workplace solutions, such as the Facilitator agent. It's also interesting to note that Gartner has recognized Microsoft Teams as a leader in the 2025 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, ranking it the highest in terms of completeness of vision and ability to execute for the seventh year in a row. The company is expected to announce a ton of new features for Teams at its annual Ignite event next month.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:15 am AEST (my time).

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The Redmond giant hasn’t stopped there, though. There are now memories in Copilot that allow the AI to learn and apply project-specific coding standards and team best practices, making it consistent across sessions. Your preferences are intelligently detected and saved into one of three files: .editorconfig for coding standards, CONTRIBUTING.md for best practices, guidelines, and architectural standards, and README.md for high-level project information.

Copilot Chat also now includes built-in planning to guide large, multi-step tasks. When you give it a complex question, Copilot will automatically make a markdown plan file detailing a task list, the files it plans to edit, and the context for its approach. By default, these plan files are temporary and must be saved to the repository to reuse or share them.

This update also brings instruction files. Getting Copilot to respond how you want it to can be difficult, especially if you have different coding standards, best practices, or architectural patterns in other areas of your codebase. With instruction files, you can make Copilot project-aware and consistent across sessions. Check out Microsoft’s announcement for details on enabling this.

Next up, we have improvements for model control and chat management. New Azure Foundry integration provides an additional layer of control over the models used in GitHub Copilot Chat. There are also new chat commands: /clear clears the current chat conversation to start fresh, and /clearAll clears all old chat threads from history.

Lastly, Microsoft announced the Visual Studio Hub, a new central location for staying informed with access to the latest release notes, YouTube videos, social updates, and community discussions.

The new update should be offered automatically within Visual Studio 2022, or you can download it from the Visual Studio 2022 website.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:15 am AEST (my time).

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In the latest non-security update for Windows 11, Microsoft is adding two important Windows Update changes. For one, the company fixed the bug causing Windows Update to fail with error 0x800f0983. Yes, Microsoft is fixing Windows Update problems with another Windows update, but that is just how things work in the world of the software giant. Here is what the company says in the release notes:

Improved: Addressed underlying issue which can cause Windows Update to fail to install with error 0x800f0983.

If you do not have error 0x800f0983 on your system, you still might want to install KB5067036 because it addresses a very irritating Windows Update quirk, when, instead of applying the pending update and shutting down the system when selecting "Update and Shut down," Windows would install the update and restart instead. This buggy behavior should be finally addressed in KB5067036, according to Microsoft:

Improved: Addressed underlying issue which can cause “Update and shutdown” to not actually shut down your PC after updating.

In addition to fixing Windows Update and making it less irritating, KB5067036 fixed the bug with the non-working Media Creation Tool app on Arm64 devices. Microsoft also resolved problems with text rendering, network issues, protected content playback, screen readers, and authentication. You can find the complete changelog here.

If you want to install KB5067036 right now, head to Settings > Windows Update and check for available updates. The app will then offer to download and install the update.

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Posted Thursday 30 October 2025 at 12:16 pm AEST (my time).

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October is almost done, so it's now a good time to recap the new features and changes that Microsoft has been working on for Windows 11 in all the channels of the Windows Insider Program.

In addition to the changes rolled out during the first two weeks of October, in the last two weeks of this month, the company has made available even more previews for versions 25H2 and 24H2.

In the case of the Canary Channel, devices received build 27971 and 27975. In the Dev and Beta Channels, the company also rolled out builds 26220.6982 and 26120.6982, as well as builds 26220.6972 and 26120.6972 In this guide, I'll highlight the new changes and features that were released during the second half of October 2025.

Biggest improvements from the Windows Insider Program in October 2025

These are the most significant changes that Microsoft has unveiled over the last two weeks.

1. Copy & Search new feature

Fortunately, Windows 11 has no shortage of apps for such tasks. Also, Microsoft fixed the issue pretty quickly. The latest non-security update for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, KB5067036, fixed the problem with the Media Creation Tool app:

Fixed: The Media Creation tool (version 26100.6584), released on September 29, 2025, might not work as expected on devices with Arm64. Users may encounter an error message such as: “We’re not sure what happened, but we're unable to run this tool on your PC." This is a known issue for Windows 11, version 25H2.

KB5067036 is an optional update, so you need to manually download it through Windows Update. Go to Settings > Windows Update, click "Check for Updates" and then click "Download and installed" when offered the update. Microsoft will include all the fixes and improvements in future Patch Tuesday updates.

In addition to the fixed Media Creation Tool app, KB5067036 is packed with plenty of useful changes and new features. The update has finally brought the redesigned Start menu to Windows 11 24H2/25H2 users, the redesigned battery indicator on the taskbar and lock screen. Also, if you have a Copilot+ PC, the KB5067036 gets you more Click to Do improvements, Voice Access updates, File Explorer tweaks, and more.

Most of the new features, excluding several bug fixes, are rolling out gradually. Fortunately, you do not have to play the feature lottery. Check out this guide, which describes how to enable new features in KB5067036, including the Start menu, redesigned battery indicators, and more.

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Posted Thursday 30 October 2025 at 5:00 am AEST (my time).

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Before version 1.41, Flyoobe allowed upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 only on devices with supported processors. Now, however, you can skip the processor check by deleting the cpuchecknative.dll file from the app folder.

The ability to skip CPU checks is the biggest change in release 1.41. However, there are several other changes and fixes, including redesigns for several dialogs, fixes for the built-in debloater, and more. Here is the complete changelog:

• Previously, the upgrade process (Flyby11) only worked on CPUs that passed the compatibility check. You can now delete CpuCheckNative.dll from the app folder to skip the CPU check - proceed at your own risk. The CPU check is always performed by FlyOOBE during the upgrade, but there are cases where skipping it is also supported.
• The update check has been completely redesigned and moved to GitHub Pages. This setup will also allow us to offer helpful guides and additional documentation there in the future
• Fixed an issue where the Installer OOBE Page didn’t properly update the progress bar during app installation
• Fixed a bug where the Apps OOBE Page (Debloater) didn’t correctly reflect progress while uninstalling apps
• Several input dialog windows have been redesigned and improved-
• Updated Bloatware and installer signatures
• Minor fixes and improvements

The maker of Flyoobe also wants to hear from its audience on what kind of user interface they prefer. There is a poll where you can cast your vote on the design direction for the app and influence its future look.

You can download the latest Flyoobe release from its GitHub repository.

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Posted Thursday 30 October 2025 at 4:59 am AEST (my time).

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In addition to optimizations for Windows 11 version 25H2, Intel Wireless Wi-Fi driver 23.170.0 introduces Wi-Fi 7 support for enterprise access points. Note that Wi-Fi 7 is only supported on Windows 11, even though the driver itself is still available for Windows 10.

Here is the changelog for the Wi-Fi driver:

• Wi-Fi drivers version 23.170.0 have been validated to support all new Wi-Fi features introduced with Microsoft Windows 11 25H2, including Wi-Fi 7 capabilities to enterprise access points and support for native Wi-Fi sensing.
• This software release version 23.170.0 has been updated to include functional updates. There may be other minor issues addressed that will impact performance, stability, or vendor-specific functionality not listed above. Users are encouraged to update to the latest version for the best performance.

As for the Bluetooth driver, its changelog also only mentions Windows 11 version 25H2 support and "functional updates" for optimal performance:

• Intel Wireless Bluetooth 23.170.0 driver supports the latest Microsoft Windows 11 25H2.
• Intel Wireless Bluetooth 23.170.0 driver has been updated to include functional updates. Users are encouraged to update to the latest version for the best performance.

Intel Wireless drivers 23.170.0 are available for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 systems with the following adapters:

You can download the Wi-Fi driver here, and the Bluetooth driver here.

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Posted Thursday 30 October 2025 at 4:58 am AEST (my time).

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Some of the key new features and changes on the desktop include vertical tabs and tab groups, inherited from Firefox. The Tor Browser also gets the new unified search button to easily switch search engines, search bookmarks, or tabs.

On the Android version of Tor Browser, there is a new optional screen lock feature to secure open tabs if you switch away from the browser without closing it. You can protect your session against people messing on your phone with your fingerprint, face, or pass code.

This version of the Tor Browser also brings in WebAssembly management changes, for example, control over disabling WebAssembly has been moved to the bundled NoScript extension to address compatibility issues with Firefox’s internal PDF reader. The Tor Project said that Wasm is still disabled at the Safer and Safest security levels so that the attack surface is reduced but now works properly with privileged browser pages such as the PDF renderer.

If you’re on an older Android version, specifically, version 5.0, 6.0, or 7.0, Tor Browser 15.0 will be the last major release. It’s also the last major release for x86 CPUs for Linux and Android. This is all because Mozilla is increasing its minimum support requirements to Android 8.0. Tor Browser 16.0 will be released mid-next year.

Explaining the reasoning for the dropping of support, the Tor Project said:

“Although nobody wants to see support for their platform get dropped, it's an important step to maintain the stability and security of both Firefox and Tor Browser over time, and will allow developers to utilize newer technologies in both browsers. In addition, supporting x86 for Android has been particularly challenging for our developers due to the 100MB package size limit imposed by Google Play. While we have deployed several workarounds to stay within this limit in the recent past, these often come at a cost – such as x86 Android users missing out on the Conjure pluggable transport, for example.”

You can now download the latest version of the Tor Browser for the Tor download page.

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Posted Thursday 30 October 2025 at 4:56 am AEST (my time).

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ZDNET's key takeaways

•     Strawberry Browser is a new agentic browser.
•     With Skills, you can make repetitive tasks even simpler.
•     These skills can be used for all sorts of tasks, such as shopping.

Strawberry Browser is one of the many agentic browsers popping up everywhere.  However, Strawberry Browser includes a handy feature that elevates it above the rest.

What is Strawberry Browser?

An agentic browser can serve as a traditional browser or take actions on your behalf. It can fill out forms, book reservations, compare prices, shop, summarize, and more. Agentic browsers allow you to automate certain tasks, and many can even personalize actions and results based on your browsing history.

Most agentic browsers are based on the open-source Chromium browser (the browser used as a foundation for Chrome), so you shouldn't have any trouble with the UI. However, getting into the more advanced AI functionality might trip up some users. Still, that shouldn't discourage you from giving an agentic browser a try, and one of the newer options is Strawberry Browser.

Strawberry Browser is designed to automate tasks and enhance productivity by integrating AI assistants that perform various online activities and help you create skills for automated, repeatable actions. Those skills are the feature that sets Strawberry Browser apart from the competition.

What are skills?

Say you regularly shop online and want to simplify the process. If you frequently shop for shoes, you might create a skill that checks all major online shoe retailers and shops for the shoes you describe in a prompt. Once you've created the skill, you could call it up and then simply query the type of shoe you're looking for.

For example, you pull up your shoe-shopping skill and then type "Mary Jane flats" or "neutral road running shoes with a 10mm heel-to-toe drop." The skill will then apply that input and begin to generate a report for any/all items that fit your description.

It's impressive and handy.

Before I show you how to create a skill, we need to discuss Strawberry Browser's AI companions.

What are companions?

Strawberry Browser offers various AI companions, and you'll want to match the right companion with the right skill. For example, in the shopping skill above, I'd want to use the default companion, Lora. If, however, I wanted to create a Skill to refine leads, I'd select the Sales Sally Companion. Strawberry Browser includes various companions for you to select from during installation. Those companions include:

•     Lora (the default companion for general purposes) and a good one to try first
•     Sales Sally (for finding high-quality leads, generating personalized outreach, and following up with prospects)
•     Recruiter Ryan (for finding job talent, creating job descriptions, and handling candidate screening)
•     Extractor Ella (for extracting structured data, enriching data, and populating Google Sheets)
•     Assistant Astrid (for managing your email inbox and calendar, as well as prepping meetings)
•     Competition Camilla (for analyzing competitor data, tracking market trends, and learning competitor strategies)

How to create a skill

What you'll need: To make this work, you'll need Strawberry Browser installed on either MacOS or Windows.

1. Open Strawberry Browser

After installing Strawberry Browser, open it from your desktop menu.

2. Access skills

Once Strawberry Browser is opened, you should see a + button near the center bottom. Click that button to create your first skill.

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“I believe Microsoft clearly want people to dump Windows 10,” Mayank Parmar from Windows Latest tells me, “even if that means installing Windows 11 on unsupported PCs.” In his latest tests, Parmar says “all known bypasses still work.”

“I have a Windows 10 PC,” Parmar reports, “which runs very well on just 2GB of RAM. However, the Windows Update page shows that my PC doesn’t meet the minimum requirements.” Even so, he tested three of the most reliable methods to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. We used our Windows 10 PC with 2GB RAM, which doesn’t have TPM 2.0 support.” And all three worked.

“It’s interesting how the workarounds still work,” Parmar says, given that we’ve seen a continual game of cat and mouse for the last year or so with workarounds and bypasses blocked before coming back before being blocked again.

The three bypasses tested — a command line instruction, an open-source tool called Rufus and a registry edit — are described in detail in Parmar’s report. You do need to be fairly green-fingered to tackle any of them and the risk is that most users will not tackle any. The threat is that users won’t enroll for extended security updates either.

There is a more serious warning as well. “Doing any of these comes with inherent risks,” Parmar. says. “The main risk is stability and compatibility issues that could come from unsupported Drivers, lower performance, or app crashes.”

But there’s worse. “Doing so will void your warranty on the device you’re using. Then there might be some inherent security risks from firmware attacks due to the absence of Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, which was the whole point of why Microsoft decided to stick with these requirements.” And that’s the crux.

Yes, you can bypass Microsoft’s hurdles. And yes, Microsoft clearly wants users to upgrade from Windows 10. But if doing so involves a bypass which leaves you exposed to security risks because you don’t have the right hardware to support Windows 11, then you shouldn’t do so. You’re better with Windows 10 and the ESU for now.

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In a service alert seen by BleepingComputer, Microsoft says this known issue affects users who have installed the KB5050094 January 2025 preview cumulative update and later Windows updates.

"The cumulative update failure might be accompanied with error code 0x800F081F (CBS_E_SOURCE_MISSING)," Microsoft said.

"This issue has been identified to be caused by missing language packs and feature payloads required for cumulative updates, resulting from ACR (Automatic Component Repair) and MCR (Manual Component Repair) cleanup processes, leading to update failures."

Microsoft acknowledged the issue on October 15, and it fixed it with the KB5067036 October 2025 preview update released this Tuesday.

Redmond also provided a temporary workaround for IT administrators who can't immediately install yesterday's optional updates on affected devices.

This requires them to perform an In-Place Upgrade using Windows installation media to reinstall the missing components, leaving personal files and programs untouched.

Another option is an In-Place Upgrade via Windows Settings by following these steps:

1.     Open Windows Settings by clicking Start and then Settings.
2.     Navigate to System – Recovery.
3.     Select "Fix problems using Windows Update," then click "Reinstall now."
4.     Confirm the action by clicking OK.
5.     Windows Update will download and reinstall the current version of Windows while keeping your files, apps, and settings intact.
6.     After installation, click Restart now to complete the repair install. Your device might restart multiple times.

Since the start of the year, Windows admins have experienced several other issues when trying to install updates.

For instance, in April, Microsoft resolved a bug issue preventing enterprises from installing the April 2025 security updates on Windows 11 22H2/23H2 systems via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

In August, following widespread reports, it fixed an identical bug that caused the August 2025 Windows 11 24H2 cumulative update to fail with 0x80240069 errors when deployed via WSUS.

Just days later, it also addressed a known issue that was causing Windows updates to fail when installed from a network share using the Windows Update Standalone Installer (WUSA).

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Microsoft has released the October non-security preview update for Windows 11 version 24H2 and version 25H2 that introduces the long awaited new Start menu, which includes a more customizable layout among other quality of life improvements.

The update, known as KB5067036, is available now for users with the "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" toggle enabled in Windows Update. Unfortunately, the new Start menu itself is rolling out in waves, meaning not everyone will see it right away once the update is installed.

If you choose to skip this update, the new Start menu is expected to roll out more generally with next month's Patch Tuesday update, so it won't be long before everyone has the new Start menu now.

Windows 11's new Start menu has been rebuilt from the ground up with better customizability in mind. The layout is now more dynamic, meaning you can choose to hide certain parts of the interface if you never use them. If you don't want to see pinned or recommended apps and files, you can turn them off.

The big new change in this release is the inclusion of a new web-based installer as the default user interface for all Fedora 43 spins. Anaconda WebUI was previously used in Fedora Workstation 42, but now everyone can experience it, no matter the version of Fedora you pick.

Another big change is that the GNOME desktop in Fedora 43 is now exclusively Wayland-based, dropping Xorg support. This follows the GNOME upstream’s decision to end support for X11, which was disabled as a compile-time default in GNOME 49.

Under the hood, this version introduces RPM 6.0. It brings important security enhancements, such as enabling multiple key signing for packages to prepare for a future transition to post-quantum-crypto OpenPGP keys. Additionally, Fedora CoreOS updates will now be delivered exclusively as OCI images, entirely disabling the use of the older OSTree repository method that was available during the FCOS 42 transition period.

If you want to use the new version of Fedora, you can either do an easy in-place upgrade or download a fresh install media of the edition you want. The easiest way to create installation media is via the Fedora Media Writer which you can download for Windows, Mac, or Linux, just scroll down a little bit.

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 6:21 pm AEST (my time).

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The redesigned Start menu addresses several drawbacks of the original version. For example, it is no longer split into two pages. You can now have the list of all apps right when you open the menu. Next, you can finally turn off the Recommended section and have more space for your pins and all apps. Also, the list of all apps has three views: grid, list, and categories.

The new Start menu is available as part of the October 2025 non-security update, and it is rolling out gradually to all users on Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2, alongside other improvements, such as the redesigned battery indicator. If you do not want to wait, here is how to enable the upgraded Start menu right here, right now.

How to enable the new Start menu in Windows 11?

1. Start by downloading KB5067036. You must be on build 26100.7019 or 26200.7019 to enable the new Start menu. As of late October 2025, the update is available as an optional non-security release, and its rollout is expected to broaden in the next weeks.
2. Once the update is installed, download ViVeTool from GitHub and unpack it whenever convenient.
3. Launch Command Prompt as Administrator and navigate to the folder with ViVeTool files using the CD command. For example, CD C:\vive.
4. Type vivetool /enable /id:57048231,47205210,56328729,48433719 and press Enter.
5. Restart your computer.

That's it. Now you have the new Start menu, the redesigned battery indicator, and other upgrades. By the way, did you know that Microsoft considered several versions for the updated Start menu? You can check out some of the prototypes here.

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 12:44 pm AEST (my time).

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The main highlight of the update is the redesigned Start menu, which now features a single scrollable section with additional views, Phone Link integration, and the long-requested ability to turn off the Recommended section.

For laptop and tablet users, KB5067036 introduces the redesigned battery indicators on the lock screen and taskbar with colorful indicators and the ability to enable battery percentage for better understanding of the current battery level.

For Copilot+ PCs, today's update adds multiple changes to Click to Do, Fluid Dictation for Voice Access, French support for the Settings agent, and Windows Search improvements.

Here is everything that is rolling out gradually for all Windows 11 users:

• [Start menu] New! The redesigned Start menu, built to help you access your apps more quickly and smoothly. Its redesigned layout makes it easier than ever to find what you need.
  • Scrollable ‘All’ section: The main page now includes a scrollable “All” section, making it easier to find apps.
  • Category and grid views: Switch between two new views—category view, which groups apps by type and highlights frequently used ones, and grid view, which lists apps alphabetically with more horizontal space for easier scanning. The menu remembers your last selected view.
  • Responsive layout: The Start menu adapts to your screen size. Larger displays show more pinned apps, recommendations, and categories by default. Sections like Pinned and Recommended expand or collapse based on content. You can customize these views under Settings > Personalization > Start.
  • Phone Link integration: A new mobile device button next to Search lets you expand or collapse content from your connected phone. This feature supports Android and iOS devices in most markets and will roll out to the European Economic Area (EEA) in 2025.
• [File Explorer]
  • New! 3 Recommended files in File Explorer Home are now available for personal Microsoft accounts and local accounts. These files include content you frequently use, have recently downloaded, or added to your File Explorer Gallery. If you prefer not to see the recommended section in File Explorer Home, you can turn it off in File Explorer Folder Options. When this feature is turned off, folders pinned to Quick Access will appear instead.
  • New! StorageProvider APIs are now available for cloud providers to integrate with File Explorer Home. Developers can learn to enable the system to query for suggested files.
  • Fixed: The File Explorer context menu might unexpectedly switch back and forth between the normal view and Show More Options on each right click.
  • Fixed: When opening a folder from another app (for example, opening the Downloads folder from a browser), your custom view — including sorting files by name, changing the icon size, or removing grouping — unexpectedly resets back to default.
  • Fixed: The body of the File explorer window might no longer respond to mouse clicks after invoking the context menu.
  • Fixed: Extracting very large archive folders (1.5gb+) might fail with a “Catastrophic Error” (error code 0x8000FFFF).
  • Fixed: File Explorer might become unresponsive when opening Home.
• [Lock screen] New! The new battery icons, which include color indicators and battery percentage, now appear in the lower-right corner of the lock screen. This feature makes it easier to check your device’s charging status and battery level at a glance. To learn more about the battery icon feature, see Taskbar.
• [Microsoft 365 Copilot] New! A new Microsoft 365 Copilot page has been added to the Get Started experience for commercial devices with an active Microsoft 365 subscription. This page helps you learn about Microsoft 365 Copilot features and begin using them more easily.
• [Settings] New! The “Email & accounts” section is now called “Your accounts.” You manage all your accounts under Settings > Accounts.
• [Taskbar]
  • New! The battery icons have been updated to make it easier to check your PC’s status at a glance. Color indicators show charging and battery levels: green indicates the PC is charging and in good condition, yellow shows that battery saver mode is on at 20% or below, and red signals a critically low battery. Simplified overlays keep the progress bar visible, and the icons appear in the system tray, Quick Settings, and Settings, with Lock screen support coming soon. To show the battery percentage next to the icon, go to Settings > System > Power & battery, then turn on Battery Percentage. You can still view detailed battery information by hovering over the battery icon or opening the Power & battery settings.
• [Administrator Protection Preview] New! Administrator protection aims to protect free floating admin rights for administrators. It enables users to perform administrative tasks using just-in-time privileges. This feature is turned off by default and can be enabled using OMA-URI in Microsoft Intune or through Group Policy.
• [Display and Graphics]
  • Fixed: Apps and browsers might display partially unresponsive onscreen content when other maximized or full-screen apps are updating in the background. This issue is especially noticeable when scrolling, as only parts of the window content might update.
  • Fixed: After you install KB5064081, some videos and games might be unexpectedly red.
  • Fixed: If the Connected Devices Platform Service is disabled, Settings might stop responding or close unexpectedly when you try to open Settings > System > Display, including when launched from the desktop context menu.
• [Input] Fixed: An issue with microsoft.ink.dll and related APIs might cause pen and handwriting input to stop responding in apps or lead to apps closing unexpectedly due to thrown exceptions.
• [Narrator] Fixed: Narrator fails when trying to launch it while setting up Windows using an ISO.
• [Open and Save Dialog] Fixed: Certain apps might become unresponsive when launching the Open or Save Dialog.
• [Remote Credential Guard] Fixed: Remote Credential Guard scenarios between the latest Windows 11 builds and Windows Server 2022 or earlier might unexpectedly fail.
• [Sign in to your PC]: Improved: Made underlying changes to improve the performance of loading the taskbar after unlocking your PC from sleep. This also helps in cases where the password field and other sign-in screen contents didn’t render when transitioning from the lock screen to the sign-in screen after sleep.
• [Task Manager] Fixed: Some apps might unexpectedly not be grouped with their processes.
• [Windows Update]
  • Improved: Addressed underlying issue which can cause “Update and shutdown” to not actually shut down your PC after updating.
  • Improved: Addressed underlying issue which can cause Windows Update to fail to install with error 0x800f0983.

Here are the new features for Copilot+ PCs:

• [Click to Do]
  • New! 1 The prompt box in Click to Do streamlines interaction with Copilot, helping you work more efficiently. You can type a custom prompt directly into the text box, which sends your prompt and selected on-screen content to Copilot. Suggested prompts appear below the text box and are powered locally by Phi-Silica. These suggestions are available for text selections in English, Spanish, and French.
  • New! 1 You can now translate on-screen text using Microsoft Copilot with the Click to Do feature. When you select text in a different language than your Windows display language or preferred language setting, Copilot suggests a translation. After you choose to translate, the translated text appears in the Copilot app. You can see the supported regions and languages in Microsoft Copilot.
  • New! 1 Click to Do helps you convert units like length, area, volume, height, temperature, and speed. Hover over a number and unit pair to see a floating tooltip with the conversion. Select the number and unit to open a context menu with more conversion options. You can also access additional conversions through the Copilot app.
  • New! Press and hold two fingers anywhere on your Copilot+ PC touchscreen to open Click to Do. This gesture simultaneously opens Click to Do, selects the item beneath your fingers, and displays relevant actions.
  • New! You can now select objects in Click to Do using Freeform Selection, Rectangle Selection, or Ctrl + click. To use Freeform Selection Mode, select the Freeform button on the toolbar, then use your pen or finger to draw freely around the items you want to select. To use Rectangle Selection Mode, select the Rectangle Selection button on the toolbar, then drag a box around the items. Everything inside the rectangle will be selected. You can also use Ctrl + Click to select multiple types of items—such as text and images—by holding down the Ctrl key and selecting each item.
  • New! Live Persona Cards from Microsoft 365 now appear in Click to Do. To view a profile card, press Windows key + click on an email address from your organization.
  • New! Visual cues now make key items, such as emails, tables, and more, light up on your screen as you open Click to Do.
  • Fixed: Click to Do might unexpectedly invoke sometimes when pressing Windows key + P.
• [File Explorer] New!2 When you hover over a file in File Explorer Home, commands such as “Open file location” and “Ask Copilot” appear as quick actions. This experience is available if you’re signed in with a Microsoft account. Support for work and school account (Entra ID) will be available in a future update.
• [Voice access]
  • New! Fluid Dictation in voice access makes voice-based dictation smoother and smarter. It helps correct grammar, punctuation, and filler words in real time. Powered by on-device small language models (SLMs), it offers fast and private processing. Fluid Dictation is on by default—just open the Voice Access app to start. To turn it on or off, go to Settings or say Turn on Fluid Dictation or Turn off Fluid Dictation. You can use it in most text input apps, but it’s disabled in secure fields like passwords or PINs Fluid Dictation is available in all English locales on Copilot+ PCs.
  • New! You can now configure a delay before a voice command is executed. To set this up, go to Voice access settings > Wait time before acting, and select the option that best matches your preferences.
  • New! Voice access now supports Japanese, expanding accessibility for more users. You can now navigate, dictate, and interact with Windows using voice commands. With this update, Windows users who speak Japanese can enjoy a hands-free, voice-powered PC experience.
  • Fixed: Voice access unexpectedly stops working, showing error code 9001.
• [Agent in Settings] New! The new agent in the Settings experience now supports French.
• [Improved Windows Search] New! The Improved Windows Search feature, now available through controlled rollout (CFR), is available on all Copilot+ PCs.

Finally, here are the changes that are rolling out to all users:

• [Authentication]
  • Fixed: An issue that caused an ACCESS_DENIED error when users attempted to change passwords remotely on member servers or workgroup devices, even when they had the required permissions.
  • Fixed: This update addresses an issue that affects the Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) service on server domain controllers. When the KDC service is manually stopped, the server cannot retrieve Kerberos tickets.
  • After installing the September 2025 security update for Windows Server 2022 (KB5065432), you might experience repeated reauthentication issues with Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS).
• [Display] Fixed: After the latest updates, text may not render correctly when editing content within a multiline text box in certain apps.
• [Installation (known issue)] Fixed: The Media Creation tool l (version 26100.6584), released on September 29, 2025, might not work as expected on devices with Arm64. Users may encounter an error message such as: “We’re not sure what happened, but we're unable to run this tool on your PC." This is a known issue for Windows 11, version 25H2.
• [Media (known issue)] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where protected content playback fails on some machines after installing KB5064081.
• [Networking (known issue)] Fixed: An issue occurred where web servers using HTTP.sys (such as Internet Information Services [IIS]) rejected incoming HTTP requests with a “NOT_SUPPORTED” error.
• [Screen readers] Fixed: After the latest updates, screen readers may unexpectedly say "legacy window" without reading out the window contents when interacting with certain apps.

You can download KB5067036 by heading to Settings > Windows Update or in the Microsoft Update Catalog. Keep in mind that the update is optional, and you can skip it if you want. Also, new features are rolling out gradually, so you might get them at a later date.

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 12:42 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft announced this capability earlier this month, when it unveiled upgrades to Copilot. Before now, Copilot Vision only supported voice mode, leaving those without microphones unable to use the feature. Now, however, you can use Copilot Vision and issue instructions with your keyboard—great for when you are not in the talking mood or when you want to be quiet.

It is not just you who inputs text. In text mode, Copilot does not speak with a voice. Instead, it issues replies in text, similar to how we are all used to talking to Copilot, ChatGPT, and other LLMs.

To get started with Copilot Vision in text mode, click the glasses icon, toggle off the "Start with Voice" setting and select what app or screen you want to give Copilot access to. Shared apps will have a colorful glow surrounding them, and Copilot will respond to your questions in the same chat window. If you want, you can switch to voice mode any time by pressing the mic button.

Note that text mode for Copilot Vision does not currently support highlights, a feature that enables Copilot to point to or highlight specific parts of the shared app to help you better understand how to do certain tasks.

Text mode for Copilot Vision is now rolling out to Windows Insiders across all channels with app version 1.25103.107. As usual, the rollout is gradual, so some will get it sooner, and some later.

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 12:41 pm AEST (my time).

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Following the Plasma 6.5.0, some users reported that their cursor was replaced by a set of horizontal lines. The bug affected people with older AMD GPUs using the legacy Radeon driver, and a developer figured out that a workaround for legacy modesetting had been accidentally removed. Plasma 6.5.1 brings a fix that restores the use of "dumb buffers" for the cursor on these systems, correcting the visual glitch.

This release also stops KWin from getting stuck in an infinite loop when calculating window placement offsets. It improves how HDR metadata is handled and prevents the active display from getting corrupted when you plug in or unplug a monitor.

In the Plasma Desktop, a really old bug that has existed since 2017 finally got squashed. Previously, when you dragged an application from the Kickoff launcher's favorites list to your desktop to create a shortcut, the launcher would also reorder your favorites.

The new code resets the internal grid layout if the drag operation leaves the launcher's window, so your favorites only get reordered if you actually drop the icon inside the favorites list. Another fix makes sure that the content inside panel applets properly respects the panel's separator line.

Moving over to Discover, the software manager received some stability updates. A crash that could occur was fixed. For users on immutable operating systems like Fedora Kinoite, Discover's handling of rpm-ostree backends was improved. The software center will no longer use skopeo to fetch tags, and it provides better progress notifications once a transaction is complete.

Other small fixes include Spectacle now setting the correct export timestamps on screenshots taken in rectangle mode, a problem that could screw up file sorting. KPipeWire now builds correctly with older versions of the FFmpeg multimedia framework.

The Plasma Firewall settings page correctly grays out the enable button if the firewall service is not running. In the Plasma Workspace, the icon for removing a wallpaper was updated to something more intuitive. Lastly, libksysguard, the backend for the system monitor, now correctly reports swap usage.

You can check out the full changelog here.

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 12:40 pm AEST (my time).

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The real magic is its integration with the host system, giving containers access to your home directory, external storage, USB devices, graphical applications (X11/Wayland), and audio. This means you can, for example, save a file in the container and find it in your regular home folder without any hassle.

The project has just gotten its version 1.8.2 release, nine months after its predecessor, and it also welcomes a new maintainer to the team. This update brings a host of polishing and stability fixes, including the decommissioning of Clear Linux support, the addition of unshare-groups capability for distrobox-assemble, and smarter Bash completion.

Clear Linux has lost support in this version, possibly because Intel shut it down a few months back. Other changes to expect when you install the new version include better handling for NVIDIA's Vulkan ICD config files, which is a specific fix for driver integration on openSUSE and Fedora systems. Systemd compatibility inside containers got some work, and there is now initial support for running Chimera Linux and Alt Linux containers.

Performance sees an improvement by excluding schroot mountpoints from socket searches. The distrobox-create command now explicitly prefers using crun if it is present. If you use doas instead of sudo, you will find that integration is improved, and passwordless operation works better now.

On the documentation side, the project has updated its terminology. It now refers to Fedora Silverblue and similar systems as "Atomic Desktops" across its guides. New instructions have been added for setting up the Hyprland Wayland compositor. The documentation also adds compatibility information for upcoming distributions like Debian 13, CentOS Stream 10, and Fedora 42.

To install distrobox, you first need to have either Podman or Docker on your system. For example:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install podman git curl

Then, you clone the GitHub repo:

git clone https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox.git ~/distrobox

And finally, run the installer:

cd ~/distrobox
./install

If at any point in the future you want to uninstall, simply enter the directory and run ./uninstall.

The full release notes for Distrobox 1.8.2.0 can be found here.

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 12:39 pm AEST (my time).

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I’m going to do something unusual.

And because of that, I’m not lowering the MS-DEFCON level as much as I usually do toward the end of the month. I recommend caution for now, while at the same time recommending an out-of-band update right away.

For Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, hold off on the regular monthly patch, KB5066835, and instead install a slightly later patch, KB5070773. Why?

Because the latter patch resolves a serious problem introduced by the earlier patch, in which the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) failed to recognize USB keyboards and mice. You can’t very well deal with a repair issue that puts you into WinRE if you can’t use it. So avoid KB5066835 and install KB5070773.

Depending upon your situation, this matter may have gone completely unnoticed, especially if you have Windows updates set to “Get the latest updates as soon as they are available.” If you had not otherwise paused updates, the out-of-band KB5070773 may have installed automatically (and quietly), solving the problem.

If you did pause updates and KB5066835 has not yet installed, use Windows Update or WUMgr to manually force the installation of KB5070773. To download from the Update Catalog site, click this link to get to the Microsoft Update site and then select either 24H2 or 25H2, as needed. Find the .msu file once it fully downloads, and click to install it on your machine.

There is one bug that was fixed using a known-issue rollback. I have seen it impact more business machines than consumer machines. The issue is self-hosted applications that may not be able to launch after the installation of the October updates. You may need to reboot your computer in order to fix this. Some folks who use KeePass pointed to .NET updates as the source of the problem, but I think the real fix is merely rebooting the computer several times to trigger the rollback.

Consumers

If you have a Windows 10 22H2 PC, now is the time to install KB5066791. With this update, you should (but, unfortunately, may not) finally see out-of-support notice for Windows 10. As long as your PC is not managed (i.e., controlled by policies from a business environment or Intune), your PC should get an ESU enrollment notification in Windows update.

In Windows 10’s final release, there is a major change to File Explorer. As Microsoft notes:

Starting with Windows security updates released on and after October 14, 2025, File Explorer automatically disables the preview feature for files downloaded from the internet. This change is designed to enhance security by preventing a vulnerability that could leak NTLM hashes when users preview potentially unsafe files.

If you want to unblock the file and allow it to be seen in the preview pane, right-click the file’s name, select Properties, and click Unblock. The change may not take effect until after the next login.

Next month will be the real test for those of you who signed up for Windows 10 ESU patches. November will see the first set of extended security updates released. I’ll be testing for any side effects and reporting on them, just as I’ve done for years.

You can check whether you are ready to roll for ESUs by running the following from an elevated command prompt:

See Figure 1.

Figure 1. Getting the state of ESU eligibility on a Windows 10 PC

As you can see, two Registry keys are shown, each with its value. As it turns out, there are quite a few possible values, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. A long list of values for the two ESU Registry keys

Yes, it’s a long and confusing list. Need help? Visit our Windows 10 ESU forum.

Businesses

The Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2 releases are a bit bumpier. One issue affecting both is Smartcards. As noted by Microsoft in a Learn post:

You can detect if your smart card will be affected by this security enforcement if, prior to installing the October 2025 Windows security update (KB5066835), the System log contains Smart Card Service or Microsoft-Windows-Smartcard-Server Event ID: 624 with the message text: “Audit: This system is using CAPI for RSA cryptography operations. … If you encounter this issue, you can temporarily resolve it by setting the DisableCapiOverrideForRSA registry key value to 0.”

For those deploying the ESU for Windows 10 in businesses, be aware that even after manually adding the ESUs by using the MAK/SLR process on your PCs, you will still be notified that Windows 10 is past its prime and is now unsupported. That’s a bit confusing, because that notice comes up despite your having deployed ESUs. Security updates will flow.

Next, if you’ve reused and reimaged machines, you may hit an issue where duplicate Security IDs (SID) cause issues. Microsoft at one time assured us that duplicate SIDs would never cause an issue and so removed its NewSID tool from its online resources. Now this is causing problems again. After the install of the Preview updates in August or the security update in September, you might experience Kerberos and New Technology LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication failures across devices that have duplicate SIDs. There are third-party tools that will work, but if you have a support contract with Microsoft, you can reach out for a special Group Policy fix.

For businesses that still use Windows Software Update Services (WSUS), an out-of-band patch released on October 23 CVE-2025-59287 fixes a remote code execution bug. Patches are available for Windows 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2015 and should be installed on the WSUS server as well as the ConfigMgr server.

Resources

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Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 4:19 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

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