There are also fixes for Command Palette, Find My Mouse, and the installer. Here is the changelog:

• CmdPal
  • Fixed crashes on pages using filters (e.g., Windows Terminal profiles, Windows Services) when built with trimming or AOT by removing runtime bindings from the FiltersDropDown control.
  • Fixed an issue where window style changes (such as WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) were not properly applied by ensuring cached window data is refreshed.
• Light Switch:
  • Fixed a bug where Light Switch was enabled by default
  • Fixed a bug where the Manual time schedule was being overridden by sunset calculations
  • Renamed "Manual" mode to "Fixed Hours" for clarity
  • Created a new "Off" mode that disables the schedule but still allows the shortcut to be used
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the taskbar to be the accent color in light mode (this should only be allowed in dark mode)
  • Fixed a bug where light/dark times were not updating when switching between modes (Specifically, manual back to the Sunset to Sunrise mode).
• Find my mouse:
  • Fixed a bug that would cause the window to lose focus
  • Fixed a bug that would cause the mouse to go busy (hourglass)
• Installer:
  • Removed WiX v3 infrastructure and migrated exclusively to WiX v5, cutting build times.
• Bug report:
  • Improvements to the bug report system

You can download PowerToys 0.95.1 from the Microsoft Store or GitHub. Existing installations can be updated on the "General" tab.

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Posted Friday 24 October 2025 at 8:24 am AEST (my time).

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On Tuesday, OpenAI unveiled a new web browser called Atlas that integrates its ChatGPT technology directly into the browsing experience, marking the company’s entry into the competitive browser market as it seeks to capture internet traffic and advertising revenue.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman characterized the launch as a "rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one," in the company’s latest bid to capitalize on consumers' growing reliance on AI for online information.

Atlas features familiar browser elements including tabs, bookmarks, extensions, and incognito mode, but sets itself apart by embedding ChatGPT functionality throughout the interface. Users opening a new tab can enter traditional URLs or ask questions directly to the AI assistant. The browser automatically organizes results into content-specific tabs for search links, images, videos, and news.

Google vs. OpenAI: Browser Wars Heating Up, Kind Of

The release intensifies competition in the emerging AI-enhanced browsing sector. Google has already incorporated its Gemini AI assistant into Chrome, while Perplexity, an AI search startup, launched Comet, a Chromium-based AI browser, earlier this year.

The move comes as tech companies race to integrate artificial intelligence into core internet services, with browser technology becoming a new battleground for AI dominance and the advertising dollars that follow online traffic.

But the uncomfortable truth for OpenAI is that Google has been fighting this war on entirely different terrain and winning decisively.

While OpenAI builds standalone products that require adoption, Google has quietly embedded AI agents into the digital infrastructure where billions of people already spend their days: Gmail, Docs, Search, Chrome, and Android. This isn't innovation as spectacle; it's innovation as inevitability.

Atlas may expand OpenAI's interface layer, but Google owns something far more valuable – the default behavior of the web experience itself. There's no friction, no download, no learning curve. Google's AI simply appears where users already are, integrated into workflows they've spent years refining. That's not a competitive advantage, but a structural moat.

Google Beyond the Browser Is On Offense

And while the browser wars are heating up, Google is continuing to go on offense. This week reports surfaced that Anthropic is in talks with Google for a cloud computing partnership that could be valued in the tens of billions of dollars, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The potential partnership would represent a significant expansion of the relationship between the two companies, positioning Google Cloud as a key infrastructure provider for Anthropic’s AI operations. Also making Google unique as the rumored story will include featuring Google TPU as a key part of the deal. A first big scale custom AI chip customer for Google changing the narrative of its custom AI chip being mainly for its own use.

Furthermore, the narrative that Google faced an existential threat from OpenAI always required willful blindness to the fundamentals.

Google Cloud remains the number one platform for AI startups to build on, a detail that should puncture any illusion about which company controls the infrastructure of the AI economy and its search dominance has shown signs of seeing growth in recent periods while its generative AI tools have continuously inserted into its entire portfolio. Google was never in danger. Not in search, not in cloud, not in AI development.

OpenAI Has Its Work Cut Out to Take Google Market Share in the Browser

OpenAI’s entry into the browser space presents a significant uphill battle, by any measure.

Chrome commands approximately 3 billion plus worldwide and has begun incorporating AI capabilities through Google’s Gemini technology, giving it substantial advantages in both market share and established infrastructure.

OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users but many of them get it for free.

Perhaps most damning for OpenAI's prospects: SimilarWeb data shows Google consistently growing its generative AI traffic share at OpenAI's expense. The company that supposedly disrupted search is losing ground to the incumbent it was meant to displace.

Atlas might generate excitement in tech circles, but excitement doesn't equal market position. In the AI agent race, Google didn't just get a head start: It designed the track.
 

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Microsoft just announced Mico, a new expressive avatar interface for Copilot that will appear when you talk to it. It can emote, change shape, and float around the Copilot interface while you chat, providing a more human and interactive chatting experience.

But hidden within Mico is another assistant, one far more legendary and potentially capable. If you tap on Mico a number of times, it'll eventually turn into... CLIPPY.

Spotted by TestingCatalog on X, the Clippy avatar is fully animated just like Mico, and although it seems you can't set Clippy to be your default avatar just yet, he's always there waiting in the background for you to awaken him. Clippy has finally entered the modern AI era.

Microsoft has formally unveiled Mico, its new face for Copilot. Mico is an expressive avatar that will appear when you interact with Copilot using your voice, taking the form of an abstract blob that floats around the screen and can change shape, emote, and react to conversations as you're having them.

Microsoft says the name Mico was chosen in reference to Microsoft Copilot, and is an optional interface that you don't have to use if you find it too distracting. "This optional visual presence listens, reacts, and even changes colors to reflect your interactions, making voice conversations feel more natural. Mico shows support through animation and expressions, creating a friendly and engaging experience."

This new Mico avatar is a step towards making Copilot feel more natural to talk with. Many people find it awkward to talk to their computer, and Microsoft is hoping that Mico reduces the barrier for people using their voice to interact with Copilot. And the best bit? If you tap on the Mico avatar a bunch of times, it'll eventually turn into Clippy!

• [Input] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where the touch keyboard does not enter characters into text fields after the device wakes from sleep. Although touch keyboard animations appear correctly, key presses do not register—for example, when entering a password on the sign-in screen.
• [Networking] Fixed: An issue where external virtual switches lose their physical network interface card (NIC) bindings and convert to internal switches when the host restarts, resulting in network connectivity loss. The issue was caused by incorrect detection of orphaned virtual switch objects during Host Network Service startup.
• [Shell] This update enables the Personalized Offers feature during device setup in the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE), and in Settings after the user reaches the desktop.
• [Storage] Fixed: This update addresses an issue that affects disk communication and causes connectivity errors during Azure Stack Hub or Azure Local cluster upgrades.

You can find the announcement blog here. Note that Windows 11 version 23H2 is approaching its end of support. Microsoft will stop updating this version in November, so it is now a good time to update to something more recent, such as version 24H2 or the freshly released version 25H2. The latter is now available for more users.

In case you missed it, Microsoft also released a big Release Preview update for Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2. The latest build brings the redesigned Start menu, File Explorer improvements, and other changes, which are expected in the stable channel in a couple of weeks. You can find all the details here.

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Posted Thursday 23 October 2025 at 11:58 am AEST (my time).

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Although Visual Studio allows quick prompts and reusable prompt files for development workflows, Microsoft understands that they don't work well in complex projects and require constant monitoring and iterations from the developer. To work around this problem, Microsoft has announced a public preview of the Planning feature in Visual Studio.

When Copilot is run in Agent Mode using this feature, it will have the ability to research your codebase, break down your ask into smaller problems, and then work on them step by step with iterations that refine the output. Microsoft believes that this structured breakdown of tasks will give developers more transparency when it comes to the generated code.

Developers who utilize this feature in Visual Studio will notice that Copilot will automatically determine if it should treat the problem as a quick prompt that will generate a faster response, or a multi-step plan that offers a coordinated path to the solution. If it's the latter, the plan will be generated in markdown format and will also indicate the progress of the overall task. The plan will also be written to the %TEMP%\VisualStudio\copilot-vs\ location so that you can reuse it across threads, if needed. That said, if you edit the plan, the changes won't be instantaneous, and you will have to execute the prompt again; Microsoft is looking into making this process smoother, though.

Microsoft has highlighted that in its own testing, both GPT-5 and Claude Sonnet 4 models gained improvements in accuracy and speed when they leveraged Planning. The company measured it as having "15% higher success and 20% more tasks resolved", but it is in the process of testing other models to confirm the presence of a trend too.

In terms of upcoming improvements, Microsoft is looking to improve caching processes, improve model reasoning, and increase contextual understanding of projects. For now, Planning in Copilot Chat is available in public preview in Visual Studio 2022 17.14. It's undergoing a staggered rollout, but if it's not enabled for you yet, do check Tools > Options > Copilot > Enable Planning.

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Posted Thursday 23 October 2025 at 11:57 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft is celebrating the occasion with two new wallpapers for everyone to get. Every year, with each anniversary, Microsoft releases unique wallpapers. Last year, the celebratory wallpapers were filled with throwbacks to the classic Windows UI elements, and this time, the Microsoft Design team came up with two wallpapers with fabric-like elements.

As usual, the new wallpapers are available in dark and light variants. Also, you can have them in a traditional widescreen or square variant so that they look best on your PC, tablet, or smartphone. Here is the light variant:

And here is the dark variant:

Celebrating 11 years of the Windows Insider Program is a bittersweet moment for many, as only one week ago, Microsoft put Windows 10, the operating system that started it all, to its well-deserved rest. And now, with full focus on Windows 11, Copilot, and AI, Microsoft is looking forward to the next 11 years of Windows Insider:

Over the past 11 years, millions of Windows Insiders have previewed our developing experiences, shared invaluable feedback, and inspired us to meet what customers need today—and to keep evolving for what’s next. Looking ahead, we’re committed to driving innovation and growth that empowers people and organizations everywhere.

You can download the Windows Insider 11th Anniversary wallpapers on the official Windows Insider website.

Here is to the next 11 years of Windows preview builds!

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Posted Thursday 23 October 2025 at 11:56 am AEST (my time).

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The main highlight of the update is the Restyle feature. As the name suggests, it lets you reimagine your current picture with a different style. For example, you can turn a photo into Pop art. You can access the Restyle feature from the Copilot menu on the toolbar. Once opened in a sidebar, select the style you want and click "Generate." After that, Paint will let you copy the generated image, save it as a separate file, or insert it onto the current canvas.

Here is what Microsoft says about it in the announcement post:

In this update we are introducing Restyle, an AI-powered feature that lets you transform the art style of images on the canvas. To get started, open Paint and select the Restyle option from the Copilot menu. Choose from a preset list of styles and select the Generate button. Once the restyled images are generated, you can click on the Add to canvas button, copy, or save it for later use.

The Restyle feature is now rolling out to all Windows Insiders in the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels on Windows 11. Do not expect this feature on Windows 10, though, as the operating system is now unsupported and no longer receiving any updates outside the Extended Security Updates program.

In case you missed it, Microsoft recently introduced a bunch of other useful features for Paint, including a transparency slider, the ability to save a file as a project, and more. You can check out the details here.

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Posted Thursday 23 October 2025 at 11:55 am AEST (my time).

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On October 14, 2025, Microsoft released the Windows 11 cumulative update KB5066835. It was intended to deliver security fixes and stability improvements, but instead introduced a serious problem. The update broke localhost functionality for many users, causing major disruption for developers who rely on local testing every day.

Reported on by TechPowerUp, the update broke localhost connections, which use the 127.0.0.1 or localhost address and are essential for testing websites, apps, and APIs on a local machine. After the update, browsers could no longer load anything running on localhost, and local projects stopped responding entirely.

Localhost is a loopback network address that essentially allows a PC to communicate with itself. It is used by developers to run and test websites or applications locally before pushing them online. It also powers common development tools like Visual Studio, MySQL, PostgreSQL servers, and Docker.

This does not affect everyday users who only browse the web or use normal apps. It is a serious problem for developers, though, because localhost is central to coding, debugging, and testing work.

The root cause has been traced to HTTP.sys, a low-level Windows networking component that handles HTTP and HTTPS connections behind the scenes. The update changed how HTTP.sys processes loopback traffic, which caused local connections to fail or reset.

Microsoft has confirmed the issue and has deployed a fix. However, the community did find a workaround to resolve the issue before Microsoft pushed a patch. Uninstalling the KB5066835 update restores localhost functionality. Some users also had to remove the September preview update KB5065789 if both updates were installed. It’s also worth noting that some users are still reporting the issue.

There is a trade-off. Removing the update also removes recent security patches, so users need to decide whether to wait for an official fix or uninstall the update to continue working.

Although the Windows 11 2025 Update (version 25H2) doesn't technically introduce any new features, throughout 2025, Microsoft has been rolling out a bunch of new features and improvements each month using its cumulative update mechanism. When you group all of them, you can see that the operating system has received substantial changes during the course of the year.

For example, the Taskbar has received several features, such as the ability to show smaller icons, new battery iconography, and a share option for recent files. On the other hand, File Explorer has received several updates, including AI actions and changes to the Home page, among other enhancements.

The company then rolled out various completely new features for the operating system, including Windows Recall, Click to Do, Sematic Indexing, and an AI agent for the Settings app for Copilot+ PCs, as well as Quick Machine Recovery (QMR), Cross-device Resume, a camera with multiple stream support, a new sidebar to access mobile features from the Start menu, and more.

In this guide, I'll highlight the most interesting features and changes that Microsoft has officially made available for Windows 11 24H2. Since both operating systems are identical, these features and changes also apply to version 25H2.

Best features introduced on Windows 11 during 2025

These are the most interesting new features and changes available (or still rolling out) in 2025 for Windows 11 versions 25H2 and 24H2.

Desktop hardware indicator repositioning

Although you can still not change the position of the Taskbar, Microsoft has added a new option to change the location on the screen for the hardware indicators, such as brightness, volume, airplane mode, and virtual desktops.

Microsoft says that file preview was disabled to fix a vulnerability that could leak NTLM hashes when working with potentially unsafe files. If the user previews a file with HTML tags that reference an external path, attackers could capture sensitive data, such as user credentials. Now, file preview is disabled by default for files with "Mark of the Web" to make sure the vulnerability is closed. As such, an attempt to preview a file downloaded from the internet results in the following message:

The file you are attempting to preview could harm your computer. If you trust the file and the source you received it from, open it to view its contents.

If you trust the file and its source, you can remove the Mark of the Web tag by right-clicking a file, selecting "Properties," and clicking "Unblock." It is also worth adding that the change does not affect your ability to open downloaded files or other workflows.

The preview feature is now disabled for files downloaded from the internet on Windows 11, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 23H2, and Windows Server 2025. It does not apply to Windows 10, which is now unsupported unless you are willing to enroll your device in the Extended Security Updates program. The latter gives you 12 months of security-only updates, while business customers can pay Microsoft for up to three years of such updates.

You can find the support article for the latest File Explorer change here (KB5070960).

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Posted Thursday 23 October 2025 at 3:48 am AEST (my time).

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The full changelog is given below. The following features are being released per a Gradual rollout schedule:

• [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.
• [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.
• [Settings] New! The “Email & accounts” section is now called “Your accounts.” You manage all your accounts under Settings > Accounts.

• [Click to Do]
  • New! 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 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ai/apis/phi-silica. These suggestions are available for text selections in English, Spanish, and French. This feature isn’t currently available in the European Economic Area (EEA) or China.
  • New! You can now translate on-screen text with Microsoft Copilot with Click to Do. When you select text that is in a different language from your Windows display language or preferred language setting, a translation suggestion appears. After selecting the option to translate the text, the translated text will appear in the Copilot app. You can see the supported regions and languages in Microsoft Copilot. This experience is not yet available for customers in the EEA (European Economic Area) or China.
  • New! Click to Do provides unit conversions for length, area, volume, height, temperature, and speed. When you hover over a number + unit, a floating tooltip will show you the conversation. When you select the number + unit, the context menu opens with additional conversation options. You can also access more conversions via the Copilot app. This experience is not yet available for customers in the EEA (European Economic Area) or China.
  • New! By pressing and holding two fingers anywhere on your Copilot+ PC with a touch screen, you can simultaneously launch Click to Do, select the entity under your finger and see relevant actions.
  • New! You can now select objects in Click to Do using Freeform Selection, Rectangle Selection and 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 the 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! Click to Do can now detect tables. You can now highlight any simple table and send it to Excel, copy or share it. With a table in any application, you can press Win + Click to invoke Click to Do, or Win + Q or right swipe and tap to select the table. Once selected, you’ll see the actions you can take like Convert to table with Excel. Just click, capture and continue. This is available on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, with support for AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs coming soon. You’ll need the latest Microsoft Excel application installed on your PC to see Convert to table with Excel and a Microsoft 365 Subscription. This change is not yet rolling out to Windows Insiders in the EEA (European Economic Area).
  • New! Live Persona Cards from Microsoft 365 now appears in Click to Do. To view a profile card, press Win + 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 launch Click to Do.
  • Fixed: Click to Do may unexpectedly invoke sometimes when pressing Windows key + P.

• [File Explorer]
  • New! Recommended files in File Explorer Home are now available in personal Microsoft accounts and local accounts. Recommended files show content such as files you frequently used, have recently downloaded, or added to your File Explorer Gallery. This change is not yet rolling out in the EEA (European Economic Area). If you would prefer not to see the recommended section in File Explorer Home, this can be turned off in File Explorer Folder Options. When turned off, folders pinned to Quick Access will display instead.
  • New! When you hover over a file in File Explorer Home, commands such as Open file location or Ask Copilot 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. This change is not available in the EEA (European Economic Area).
  • 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 may 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 may no longer respond to mouse clicks after invoking the context menu.
  • Fixed: Extracting very large archive folders (1.5gb+) may fail with a Catastrophic Error (0x8000FFFF).
  • Fixed: File Explorer may become unresponsive when opening Home.

• [Taskbar]
  • New! The battery icons are now improved to display colored icons to indicate charging states, simplified overlays that don’t block the percentage bars, and an option to turn on battery percentage. A green battery icon shows that your PC is charging and is in a good state. A yellow icon indicates your battery is less than or equal to 20%. You can also enable the ability to see the battery percentage next to the battery icon in the system tray. To turn on this feature, go to Settings > Power & battery and toggle on the “Battery Percentage”
  • New! When you hover over an open app icon on the taskbar, a thumbnail preview of the app window appears with a new “Share with Copilot” button beneath this preview. Selecting it allows Copilot Vision to scan, analyze, and offer insights on the content displayed by the app at that time. This option can be turned off if preferred under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, using the checkbox “Share any window from my taskbar”.
  • Fixed: If you hover over an app icon on the taskbar, and then click the window preview, the preview may dismiss and not bring the window to the foreground.

• [Lock screen] New! The new battery icons, featuring color indicators and battery percentage, now appear in the lower-right corner of the lock screen.

• [Microsoft 365 Copilot] New! A new Microsoft 365 Copilot page is added to the Get Started experience for commercial devices managed with an active Microsoft 365 subscription. This page helps you discover and engage with Microsoft 365 Copilot more easily.

• [Windows Setup Experience] New! You can now name your default user folder during set up. On the Microsoft account sign in page, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt. Type the following command: “cd oobe”, press Enter. Then type ““SetDefaultUserFolder.cmd ”. Enter a folder name of your choice and proceed with the MSA sign-in. The folder name cannot be more than 16 characters and only Unicode characters are supported. The custom folder name will be applied if valid. If not, Windows will automatically generate a profile folder name from your Microsoft email address.

• [Logging into your PC] Improved: Made underlying changes to help improve the performance of loading the taskbar when unlocking your PC after coming out of sleep. This should also help with cases where the password field and other login screen contents didn’t render when transitioning from lock screen to login screen after sleep.
• [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.
• [Remote Credential Guard] Fixed: Remote Credential Guard scenarios between the latest Windows 11 builds and Server 2022 (and below) may unexpectedly fail.
• [Display and Graphics]
  • Fixed: Apps and browsers may have partially stuck onscreen content when other maximized / full screen apps are updating in the background. This is noticeable particularly when trying to scroll the window content, as only some parts update.
  • Fixed: After recent updates, some videos and games may be unexpectedly red.
  • Fixed: If Connected Devices Platform Service has been disabled, Settings may crash when trying to open Settings > System > Display (including if launched using the menu when right clicking the desktop.
• [Input] Fixed: An issue related to microsoft.ink.dll and relevant APIs can result in pen and handwriting not working correctly in apps or app crashes recently due to unexpected exceptions being thrown.
• [Open and Save Dialog] Fixed: Certain apps may become unresponsive when launching the Open or Save Dialog.
• [Administrator Protection Preview] Administrator protection aims to protect free floating admin rights for administrator users allowing them to still perform all admin functions with just in time admin privileges. This feature is off by default and needs to be enabled via OMA-URI in Intune or via group policy.

The following features are being released under the Normal rollout schedule:

• [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.

• [Media] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where protected content playback fails on some machines after installing KB5064081.

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

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 6:12 pm AEST (my time).

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As noted on its Windows Release Health dashboard, Microsoft finally has a fix for the smart card authentication issue that cropped up on various editions of Windows after installing October 2025's Patch Tuesday update.

Basically, after installing the latest security updates, some users began experiencing errors related to smart card authentication and certificates. Their smart cards were not recognized as valid Cryptographic Service Providers (CSPs) in 32-bit applications, they were unable to sign documents, and application functions which rely on certificate-based authentication kept failing.

This error was being tagged as EVent ID 624 in the system events log with error messages about "invalid provider type specified" and "CryptAcquireCertificatePrivateKey error". Microsoft realized that this error is associated with a recent change in Windows, which requires the use of Key Storage Provider (KSP) instead of CSP for RSA-based smart card certificates to enhance security.

The good news is that Microsoft has a fix for those impacted by this issue. The bad news is that it won't be delivered through a Windows Update as it requires changing a Windows Registry value that is not included by default in Windows installations. As usual, keep in mind that editing registry values carries its own set of risk and incorrect modifications may result in your system being rendered unusable. But if you're confident about making this change, check out the instructions below:

1. Open Registry Editor: Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter. If prompted by User Account Control, click Yes.
2. Navigate to the subkey: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\Calais
3. Edit the key and set the value: Inside Calais, check if key DisableCapiOverrideForRSA exists. Double-click DisableCapiOverrideForRSA. In Value date, enter: 0
4. Close and restart: Close Registry Editor. Restart the computer for changes to take effect.

This particular bug affected Windows 11 (version 25H2, 24H2, 23H2, 22H2), Windows 10 (version 22H2), and Windows Server (2025, 23H2, 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2).

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 12:47 pm AEST (my time).

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The specific version of Office getting the axe towards the end of 2026 is Office Online Server. For those unaware, this is a variation that allowed enterprise customers to use browser-based versios of Office applications hosted in their on-prem environments rather than Microsoft's cloud servers. It served as a decent option for customers who want to host everything on-prem while still allowing their tenants to leverage modern applications.

Microsoft's rationale for this retirement is that it wants to modernize its productivity experiences by focusing on cloud-first solutions. Office Online Server does not fit into this vision so it is being killed off on December 31, 2026.

Following this date, Office Online Server will not receive security patches, bug fixes, technical support, or compliance guarantees. As such, Microsoft has recommended impacted customers to switch to Microsoft 365, which is more aligned with its cloud-first vision. That said, it is important to note that this retirement date does not impact the support agreements for other products, such as Exchange Server Subscription Edition, which integrate with Office Online Server. On that note, Microsoft says:

For organizations using SharePoint Server Subscription Edition or Exchange Server Subscription Edition, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and Office LTSC 2024 remain supported desktop clients for viewing and editing documents hosted on those servers.

 

If your organization uses Office Online Server to host Excel workbooks in Power BI Report Server, that functionality will no longer be supported. Alternatives include viewing workbooks in the Excel desktop application or migrating to the Power BI service.

Microsoft has emphasized that a move to Microsoft 365 will bring several benefits, such as real-time collaboration, automatic updates, continued security and compliance, integration with other cloud-powered products like Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint Online, along with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot (obviously). Although the end of support date is still well over a year away, the Redmond tech giant has encouraged impacted customers to kick off their transition processes as soon as possible, as it may take some time to migrate away from the existing on-prem solution.

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 12:45 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has quietly removed the ability to stop apps from the Microsoft Store from automatically updating on Windows 11 and Windows 10. In the last couple of months, users have noticed that the Microsoft Store's option to turn off automatic app updates now prompts the user to pause them for up to 5 weeks instead.

In the past, the toggle to turn off automatic app updates did just that. It would turn off the Microsoft Store's ability to automatically update installed apps, leaving the ability to check for updates and install them entirely up to the user. Now, when turning off the automatic app updates toggle, the user is presented with a drop down that only allows you to pause it between 1 and 5 weeks.

"You may pause automatic updates for a period of time" says the Microsoft Store. Curiously, no changelog for the Microsoft Store's recent updates mentions this change in behavior.

After all that negative coverage, here is something positive to say about the Windows 11 25H2 update, at least in the case of the enterprise segment. The company has shared a full list of the new Windows 11 25H2 settings that IT admins and sysadmins can use.

If you are wondering what it is about, system administrators can use these to configure, manage and deploy various settings on enterprise-managed systems. There are total 36 new settings and their names as well as friendly names have been shared.

You can see the full list in the table given below:

The official blog post is available here on the Microsoft Tech Community website.

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 4:47 am AEST (my time).

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However, for an inexperienced user, drivers could be a major hassle, especially when you consider multiple ways to get, install, update, or remove them. Especially now, after the end of Windows 10, more users are upgrading their PCs, and the driver question becomes more relevant. To clear things up a bit, Microsoft now has a new support article with answers to some common questions about Windows drivers.

KB5070538, titled "Understanding driver updates," provides answers to several basic questions, such as "what is a driver update," "where do driver updates come from," and more. While some of those questions are pretty basic, the article offers quite useful insights, such as why certain drivers in Windows Update have a different naming scheme than others:

Older drivers displayed a compiled name of publisher name – device class – version number. If your device installs one of these older drivers, the name will be displayed the old way.

Additionally, the document answers a very popular confusion point among users: old drivers. Sometimes, Windows Update downloads drivers with a very old release date, causing many to believe that they have very outdated drivers (not to be confused with outdated versions). Microsoft explained that driver dates are specified by driver providers, and they could be anything they want. What is more important is that Windows Update targets the best driver based on information and criteria set by the driver manufacturer, not by the driver date. By doing this, Windows tries to get the best driver for your device, even if its release date does not make any sense.

There is also an answer to the question of why Windows sometimes installs multiple drivers that look the same. To this, Microsoft says the following:

Device design often separates functionality across multiple drivers for efficiency. This can result in multiple related drivers being installed simultaneously. Depending on the driver's provider, their custom version numbers might not be intuitive. However, Windows understands when to install these different drivers, even if the version numbers look older or even duplicative.

You can read more about understanding driver updates in Windows here.

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 4:45 am AEST (my time).

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Atlas is not an entirely new user experience for web browsing. Instead, it follows most of the conventions of existing web browsers, such as tabs and favorites. As expected, ChatGPT is front and center in the Atlas browser, with a built-in ChatGPT Agent that can take actions on the web on your behalf.

ChatGPT Atlas features:

• Users can open a ChatGPT sidebar in any tab to summarize content, compare products, or analyze data from any website they visit.
• ChatGPT Atlas can remember information using ChatGPT's memory feature, allowing it to bring up relevant details when users need them.
• In Agent Mode, ChatGPT can interact with websites, and users can take control at any time if needed.
• ChatGPT can also be invoked inline from any text field on a website with a single click.
• Users can choose which sites ChatGPT can access, clear their browsing history, use incognito mode, and manage browser memories at any time.
• When performing general searches, users can easily switch between text, images, videos, or news results, just like on Google or Bing.

The Agent mode in Atlas can be used in either a logged-in or logged-out mode, depending on the requirement. To minimize potential risks, Agent mode has the following limitations:

1. System access: It cannot run code in the browser, download files, or install extensions.
2. Data access: It cannot access other apps on your computer or your file system, read or write ChatGPT memories, access saved passwords, or use autofill data.
3. Browsing activity: Pages that ChatGPT visits in Agent mode are not added to your browsing history.

ChatGPT Atlas is now available globally on macOS, you can download it here. OpenAI confirmed that Atlas is coming soon to Windows, iOS, and Android as well. The agent mode in Atlas will be available in preview only for ChatGPT Plus, Business and Pro subscribers.

If you set ChatGPT Atlas as default browser on macOS, OpenAI will temporary increase your ChatGPT rate limits for a fixed period of up to 7 consecutive calendar days. The rate limit increase only applies to your use of ChatGPT within ChatGPT Atlas, and not on chatgpt.com from other web browsers or mobile apps.

This move signals OpenAI's ambition to expand beyond AI models and directly challenge Google in the critical web browser space. It will be interesting to see if Atlas's AI integration is compelling enough to draw users away from Chrome.

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 4:44 am AEST (my time).

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To fix the problem, a new WinRE update has also been released alongside the update. It is good to see Microsoft making this fix so quickly, and similarly to the main update, this WinRE (Safe OS dynamic update) is also an out of band (OOB) emergency update.

These Dynamic Update packages are meant to be applied to existing Windows images prior to their deployment. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more. Dynamic Updates also help preserve Language Pack (LP) and Features on Demand (FODs) content during the upgrade process. VBScript, for example, is currently an FOD on Windows 11 24H2. Microsoft writes:

"KB5070762: Safe OS Dynamic out-of-band update for Windows 11, version 24H2 and 25H2, and Windows Server 2025: October 20, 2025

Summary

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

The following is a summary of the issue that this update addresses when you install this update. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change we are documenting.

• [USB] Fixed: After installing the Windows security update released on October 14, 2025 (Windows 11, version 24H2 or 25H2, or Windows Server 25H2), USB devices, such as keyboards and mice, do not function in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This issue prevents navigation of any of the recovery options within WinRE. Note that the USB devices continue to work normally within the Windows operating system."

Microsoft says that the update should be downloaded and installed automatically but you can also manually do so by visiting the Microsoft Update Catalog website at this link.

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Posted Tuesday 21 October 2025 at 5:51 pm AEST (my time).

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Today, Microsoft has released a new emergency out of band (OOB) update which is said to fix the problem. This OOB update has been released under KB5070773 and Builds 26200.6901 (on Windows 11 25H2) and 26100.6901 (on Windows 11 24H2).

The changelog states:

"This out-of-band (OOB) update includes quality improvements. This update is cumulative and includes security fixes and improvements from the October 14, 2025, security update (KB5066835), in addition to the following:

• [USB] Fixed: After installing the Windows security update released on October 14, 2025 (KB5066835), USB devices, such as keyboards and mice, do not function in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This issue prevents navigation of any of the recovery options within WinRE. Note that the USB devices continue to work normally within the Windows operating system."

Microsoft says this update will be downloaded and installed automatically but you can also manually get it on the Microsoft Update Catalog website at this link.

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Posted Tuesday 21 October 2025 at 1:00 pm AEST (my time).

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The Redmond tech giant has highlighted the multiple ways in which it is bringing AI to the center of your user experience on Windows 11 rather than a background process. Some examples of these include Copilot Voice, Copilot Vision, Copilot Actions, and Click To Do. Together, all of these open up new avenues and opportunities for interacting with PCs in a natural manner, and have AI do most of the heavy lifting.

Microsoft has emphasized that it is transforming Windows 11 into an AI-native platform that offers you the latest agentic capabilities in a secure manner, suitable for both consumers and enterprise customers. This is not only being made possible through Copilot+ PCs, but also Windows 365 offerings, which are discounted by 20% for new customers looking for Cloud PCs.

Through all of the technologies mentioned above, Microsoft believes that the future of work is already here, thanks to Windows 11's integration with AI capabilities in an invisible manner. Windows 11 also acts as the glue between Copilot and Copilot Studio, allowing users to craft AI-powered workflows to boost productivity.

Although all of the AI features discussed in this piece are available generally or through Insider builds, Microsoft plans to share more about commercial opportunities in this area for enterprise customers next month at its Ignite conference. Microsoft's vice president for product marketing, Stefan Kinnestrand, believes that "the next chapter of Windows and AI is on the horizon, and it’s built for business."

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Posted Tuesday 21 October 2025 at 12:59 pm AEST (my time).

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While no huge surprises were encountered this time, Torvalds did say that this release was on the bigger side and that some of the regressions are still outstanding, but slow progress will be made over the course of the release. He said that it’s still early days for Linux 6.18 so he’s not very worried and things look “fairly normal”.

Regarding trivial configuration issues mentioned earlier, Torvalds said there was a case in big-endian SH4 which had bugs in the QEMU test environment. He said, luckily, that these were not actually new kernel bugs.

The announcement was topped off with a call for developers to keep testing the new kernel update, this is pretty standard. If you do decide to have a look into testing it, be sure to do so on a virtual machine or non-production machine as the kernel is a low-lying component and can easily cause you a headache if things go wrong.

The second release candidate brought with it plenty of subsystem fixes for major components such as KVM, AMDGPU, BPF, and filesystems like Btrfs and ext4. There was also a commit made by Torvalds himself that says a long-standing ext3 defconfig option was removed, suggesting some minor clean up and maintenance is happening too. It’s important to keep in mind that these release candidates aren’t about introducing new features; that is done during the merge window. The release candidates are for stabilizing features before they’re given to the public.

Source: LKML

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Posted Tuesday 21 October 2025 at 4:01 am AEST (my time).

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In an update on its Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the Redmond tech giant has stated that it is migrating the PDF Viewer in Edge to WebUI2. This should result in better performance and responsiveness while viewing PDF documents. It will also allow a few "subtle" visual upgrades that will enhance the overall usability. The details of these aesthetic changes are currently unknown but they should align the design of the PDF Viewer with other elements of the browser. Microsoft has assured users that only improvements for performance, design styling, and interaction are in tow; no existing workflows will be impacted.

This development item is being tracked as ID 516043 on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, but general availability still seems quite far off. The roadmap currently indicates that rollout will begin in May 2026, but keep in mind that the dates listed on this roadmap are tentative and subject to change.

There is also the possibility that an item listed on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap does not arrive for the public at all, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim with regards to this update, at least. Over the past few months, Microsoft has been migrating portions of Edge to WebUI2, highlighting significant performance gains along the way. We'll just have to wait and see to find out what the performance gains are like when it comes to the PDF Viewer in Edge though.

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•     Zorin OS, a Linux distro, has boasted about a flood of new recruits
•     In two days after Windows 10 support ended, Zorin OS 18 saw 100,000 downloads
•     Almost three-quarters of those were from Windows PCs, we're told

Some of the best Linux distros have been looking to capitalize on the end of support for Windows 10 with various initiatives or projects, and apparently one of them – Zorin OS – is going great guns following the End of Life of Microsoft's OS last week.

Neowin reports that the latest version of Zorin OS was launched on the same day that Windows 10 shuffled off its mortal codebase – October 14 – pitched as a "modern alternative that makes your computer feel brand new".

The developer of the Linux distro informed us on X that in just two days, Zorin OS 18 notched up 100,000 downloads, almost three-quarters of which (72%) were made on Windows systems, indicating that these were Windows 10 users migrating to the Linux OS.

Zorin Group also posted about a city in France, Échirolles, which has shifted some of the Windows 10 PCs in its town hall to free and open-source software which includes Zorin OS.

(Image credit: Zorin Group)

Zorin Group bills this as a victory for alternative desktop platforms over the "incumbent operating systems from Big Tech", meaning Windows. However, when you look into the latter Linux transition in France, in actual fact only 10% of the town hall's PCs are running Zorin OS (or another distro), and much of the movement has been away from Microsoft's Office apps (to LibreOffice) rather than Windows.

At any rate, the official end of Windows 10 is certainly prompting some people and organizations to think about Linux as a genuine alternative, and a boost of something like 70,000 Windows 10 users in a couple of days is quite impressive to see for a relatively minor player in the desktop OS world like Zorin.

If you want to know more about Zorin, it's one of the better Linux choices for those coming from Microsoft's operating system, seeing as it's quite similar in design to Windows 11, as we explore in more detail in our hands-on Zorin 17 review. You might also want to consider some of the other recommendations we have for the best Windows-like Linux distros.

While switching to Linux could be a good alternative, particularly for users of older PCs that can't get near the system requirements for Windows 11, there are compromises involved in such a move. You may run into issues with hardware drivers, or software compatibility, and games could be especially problematic – for starters, lots of online PC games won't work due to their anti-cheat systems.

It's also worth noting that you don't have to abandon Windows 10 just yet – there's another choice in terms of taking up Microsoft's offer of extended support for an extra year of security updates. Yes, you are just putting off the decision of where to go next with your Windows 10 PC to next year, but if you need some breathing room the option is there (with a small catch, albeit that caveat doesn't apply to everyone).

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The issues stem from update KB5066835, rolled out earlier this month as part of the company's regular security cycle.

According to Windows Latest, the patch disrupts locally hosted network connections, meaning applications or web servers that rely on localhost (127.0.0.1) can no longer communicate properly.

The publication stated that Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and confirmed that a hotfix is being released to address it.

However, the rollout may take up to 48 hours before it becomes visible to all affected devices.

Technical Fault Traced to HTTP.sys Regression

The bug appears to originate from a regression in HTTP.sys, the kernel-mode HTTP server used by Windows to process local and web-based requests.

Windows Latest reported that when a browser or application tries to connect to HTTP/2 services hosted on localhost, HTTP.sys mishandles the handshake process and resets the connection.

This fault has impacted developers and IT professionals who depend on Internet Information Services (IIS), ASP.NET, or similar frameworks for testing and hosting applications.

Ongoing Issues Reported

Windows 11 KB5066835 is causing a series of problems for some users on versions 24H2 and 25H2. Among the most common reports:

• The October 2025 Patch Tuesday update fails to install, returning error codes such as 0x800f0922, 0x800f0983, 0x800f081f, 0x80071a2d, and 0x800f0991.
• File Explorer document previews are blocked in the Preview pane due to a false security warning.
• Certain Logitech peripherals have stopped working correctly. Mouse and keyboard devices are unresponsive in WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment).

Users encountering installation failures are advised to download the patch manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog or use the Media Creation Tool for an in-place upgrade. Internet "fixes" circulating in forums are strongly discouraged, as they appear ineffective or risky.

Windows Recovery Environment Rendered Unusable

A separate, equally serious problem has also surfaced. The same update has effectively disabled USB keyboards and mice within the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), leaving users unable to troubleshoot or repair their systems if they encounter startup issues.

Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), as the name suggests, is a built-in suite of tools that allows users to diagnose problems, boot into Safe Mode, or access system restore options. It is a crucial component of Windows—but under the new bug, USB peripherals stop working entirely, meaning users cannot navigate the recovery interface.

Windows Latest confirmed that the fault originates from the October build of Windows 11, noting that the issue 'renders WinRE useless because a bug blocks the mouse or keyboard from working.'

Users Advised to Wait for the Fix

While some users have shared unofficial workarounds online, Windows Latest and The Register both caution against manual registry or system modifications, which can make Windows unstable or prevent it from booting.

Microsoft has not yet issued a formal statement beyond acknowledging the issue, but reports suggest an emergency update is being distributed and should reach most affected systems within the next few days.

Users are advised to check Windows Update regularly and reboot their PCs once the patch becomes available.

Wider Context

The disruption follows Microsoft's decision earlier this month to end free security updates for Windows 10, affecting around 500 million users worldwide.

Those who wish to continue receiving protection can subscribe to the Extended Security Updates (ESU) programme until 2026.

The back-to-back issues highlight 'how fragile Microsoft's ecosystem still is,' even as the company continues to push users toward its latest operating system.

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