Microsoft recently released PowerToys 0.95, and while the new Light Switch module is the biggest change, my favorite update is one particular improvement for Peek. The latter works just like Quick Look in macOS, but in Windows, you can only trigger it by a combination of two or more keys, which is not as convenient as hitting the Spacebar. With PowerToys 0.95, you can finally invoke Peek with a single key press.

By default, PowerToys 0.95 still uses Ctrl + Space, but the app finally lets you switch to just the Spacebar. While it was possible to remap the trigger shortcut to a different combination, it was not possible to use a single key. If you want to switch from Ctrl + Space to Spacebar, update PowerToys to version 0.95 and then go to Settings > File Management > Peek. Select “Spacebar” from the “Activation method” drop-down.

Now, you can select a file in File Explorer and press Spacebar to preview it. PowerToys Peek can handle plenty of different file formats, but you should still set your expectations right. While the most common files, such as photos or videos, open nearly instantly, heavier files might take longer to load.

Neowin recently published a list of PowerToys utilities that Microsoft should make standard in Windows 11 to improve everyone's experience. After all, PowerToys is still a program you have to know about and install, so many users are missing a lot of cool features simply because they do not know about PowerToys. Peek is one of such features, and with it now being so much better, Microsoft should preach it to all Windows 11 users.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 12:56 pm AEST (my time).

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Localhost refers to the local computer or device you're currently using, which can be accessed through the special IP address 127.0.0.1.

Developers commonly use localhost to test websites or debug applications, but it can also be used by applications that need to connect to a locally running service to perform some action or query.

After installing the Windows 11 KB5066835 Patch Tuesday, and even September's KB5065789 preview update, users are finding that their applications are no longer able to complete HTTP connections to the localhost (127.0.0.1) IP address.

When attempting to do so, they received errors like "ERR_CONNECTION_RESET" or "ERR_HTTP2_PROTOCOL_ERROR".

These issues have been reported by Windows users on the Microsoft forums, Stack Exchange, and Reddit, all stating they are no longer able to make HTTP connections to 127.0.0.1.

The bug has impacted widely used applications, including Visual Studio debugging, SSMS Entra ID authentication, and the Duo Desktop app, which verifies device security posture and requires connections back to web servers running on the localhost.

"After performing Windows Updates for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, you may experience an issue where the Duo Prompt is unable to reach Duo Desktop," reads the Duo support bulletin.

"This may prevent successful authentication (or result in limited functionality) in situations where the following are in use: Trusted Endpoints, Policies such as the Duo Desktop & Device Health policy, Duo Desktop as an Authentication Method. Duo Passport. Verified Duo Push with Bluetooth Autofill or Proximity Verification."

BornCity suggests the following Registry entries help resolve the problem by disabling the HTTP/2 protocol but BleepingComputer has not been able to independently confirm this fix.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\HTTP\Parameters]
"EnableHttp2Tls"=dword:00000000
"EnableHttp2Cleartext"=dword:00000000 

Another method that some claim resolved the problem was to install the latest Microsoft Defender intelligence update. However, others report that it has not fixed the issue on their Windows devices.

Instead, the only sure way to resolve the bug has been to uninstall the October KB5066835 update and September's KB5065789 preview update.

Windows users can uninstall the updates using the following commands:

wusa /uninstall /kb:5066835
wusa /uninstall /kb:5065789

After uninstalling the updates and restarting Windows, the loopback interface should once again allow HTTP/2 connections, resolving the issues using applications.

BleepingComputer contacted Microsoft about this bug and will update our story if we receive a response.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 12:55 pm AEST (my time).

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Like virtually every major Windows announcement in the last three years, the spate of features that Microsoft announced for the operating system today all revolve around generative AI. In particular, they’re concerned with the company’s more recent preoccupation with “agentic” AI, an industry buzzword for “telling AI-powered software to perform a task, which it then does in the background while you move on to other things.”

But the overarching impression I got, both from reading the announcement and sitting through a press briefing earlier this month, is that Microsoft is using language models and other generative AI technologies to try again with Cortana, Microsoft’s failed and discontinued entry in the voice assistant wars of the 2010s.

According to Microsoft’s Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi, “AI PCs” should be able to recognize input “naturally, in text or voice,” to be able to guide users based on what’s on their screens at any given moment, and that AI assistants “should be able to take action on your behalf.”

The biggest of today’s announcements is the introduction of a new “Hey, Copilot” activation phrase for Windows 11 PCs, which once enabled allows users to summon the chatbot using only their voice rather than a mouse or keyboard (if you do want to use the keyboard, either the Copilot key or the same Windows + C keyboard shortcut that used to bring up Cortana will also summon Copilot). Saying “goodbye” will dismiss Copilot when you’re done working with it.

Macs and most smartphones have sported similar functionality for a while now, but Microsoft is obviously hoping that having Copilot answer those questions instead of Cortana will lead to success rather than another failure.

The key limitation of the original Cortana—plus Siri, Alexa, and the rest of their ilk—is that it could only really do a relatively limited and pre-determined list of actions. Complex queries, or anything the assistants don’t understand, often gets bounced to a general web search. The results of that search may or may not accomplish what you wanted, but it does ultimately shift the onus back on the user to find and follow those directions.

To make Copilot more useful, Microsoft has also announced that Copilot Vision is being rolled out worldwide “in all markets where Copilot is offered” (it’s been available in the US since mid-June). Copilot Vision will read the contents of a screen or an app window and can attempt to offer useful guidance or feedback, like walking you through an obscure task in Excel or making suggestions based on a group of photos or a list of items. (Microsoft additionally announced a beta for Gaming Copilot, a sort of offshoot of Copilot Vision intended specifically for walkthroughs and advice for whatever game you happen to be playing.)

Beyond these tweaks or wider rollouts for existing features, Microsoft is also testing a few new AI and Copilot-related additions that aim to fundamentally change how users interact with their Windows PCs by reading and editing files.

All of the features Microsoft is announcing today are intended for all Windows 11 PCs, not just those that meet the stricter hardware requirements of the Copilot+ PC label. That gives them a much wider potential reach than things like Recall or Click to Do, and it makes knowing what these features do and how they safeguard security and privacy that much more important.

AI features work their way into the heart of Windows

Whether you’re talking about the Copilot app, the generative AI features added to apps like Notepad and Paint, or the data-scraping Windows Recall feature, most of the AI additions to Windows in the last few years have been app-specific, or cordoned off in some way from core Windows features like the taskbar and File Explorer.

But AI features are increasingly working their way into bedrock Windows features like the taskbar and Start menu, and being given capabilities that allow them to analyze or edit files or even perform file management tasks.

The standard Search field that has been part of Windows 10 and Windows 11 for the last decade, for example, is being transformed into an “Ask Copilot” field; this feature will still be able to look through local files just like the current version of the Search box, but Microsoft also envisions it as a keyboard-driven interface for Copilot for the times when you can’t or don’t want to use your voice. (We don’t know whether the “old” search functionality lives on in the Start menu or as an optional fallback for people who disable Copilot, at least not yet.)

A feature called Copilot Actions will also expand the number of ways that Copilot can interact with local files on your PC. Microsoft cites “sorting through recent vacation photos” and extracting information from PDFs and other documents as two possible use cases, and that this early preview version will focus on “a narrow set of use cases.” But it’s meant to be “a general-purpose agent” capable of “interacting with desktop and web applications.” This gives it a lot of latitude to augment or replace basic keyboard-and-mouse input for some interactions.

Finally, Microsoft is taking another stab at allowing Copilot to change the settings on your PC, something that earlier versions were able to do but were removed in a subsequent iteration. Copilot will attempt to respond to plain-language questions about your PC settings with a link to the appropriate part of Windows’ large, labyrinthine Settings app.

These new features dovetail with others Microsoft has been testing for a few weeks or months now. Copilot Connectors, rolled out to Windows Insiders earlier this month, can give Copilot access to email and file-sharing services like Gmail and Dropbox. New document creation features allow Copilot to export the contents of a Copilot chat into a Word or PDF document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint deck for more refinement and editing. And AI actions in the File Explorer appear in Windows’ right-click menu and allow for the direct manipulation of files, including batch-editing images and summarizing documents. Together with the Copilot Vision features that enable Copilot to see the full contents of Office documents rather than just the on-screen portions, all of these features inject AI into more basic everyday tasks, rather than cordoning them off in individual apps.

Per usual, we don’t know exactly when any of these new features will roll out to the general public, and some may never be available outside of the Windows Insider program. None of them are currently baked into the Windows 11 25H2 update, at least not the version that the company is currently distributing through its Release Preview channel.

Learning the lessons of Recall

Microsoft at least seems to have learned lessons from the botched rollout of Windows Recall last year.

If you didn’t follow along: Microsoft’s initial plan had been to roll out Recall with the first wave of Copilot+ PCs, but without sending it through the Windows Insider Preview program first. This program normally gives power users, developers, security researchers, and others the opportunity to kick the tires on upcoming Windows features before they’re launched, giving Microsoft feedback on bugs, security holes, or other flaws before rolling them out to all Windows PCs.

But security researchers who did manage to get their hands on the early, nearly launched version of Recall discovered a deeply flawed feature that preserved too much personal information and was trivially easy to exploit—a plain-text file with OCR text from all of a user’s PC usage could be grabbed by pretty much anybody with access to the PC, either in-person or remote. It was also enabled by default on PCs that supported it, forcing users to manually opt out if they didn’t want to use it.

In the end, Microsoft pulled that version of Recall, took nearly a year to overhaul its security architecture, and spent months letting the feature make its way through the Windows Insider Preview channels before finally rolling it out to Copilot+ PCs. The resulting product still presents some risks to user privacy, as does any feature that promises to screenshot and store months of history about how you use your PC, but it’s substantially more refined, the most egregious security holes have been closed, and it’s off by default.

Copilot Actions are, at least for now, also disabled by default. And Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Windows Security Dana Huang put up a lengthy accompanying post explaining several of the steps Microsoft has taken to protect user privacy and security when using Copilot Actions. These include running AI agents with their own dedicated user accounts to reduce their access to data in your user folder; mandatory code-signing; and giving agents the fewest privileges they need to do their jobs. All of the agents’ activities will also be documented, so users can verify what actions have been taken and correct any errors.

Whether these security and privacy promises are good enough is an open question, but unlike the initial version of Recall, all of these new features will be sent out through the Windows Insider channels for testing first. If there are serious flaws, they’ll be out in public early on, rather than dropped on users unawares.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 12:54 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has today unveiled a major update coming soon to Windows 11 and Copilot that introduces a new, dedicated agentic AI assistant to the platform that understands natural language and can be used to control your PC and complete tasks or actions on your behalf, just by asking for it.

The new AI agent is called Copilot Actions, and is part of a new agentic AI framework coming to Windows 11. The feature is off by default, but once enabled, will integrate with the Copilot app and enable you to chat with your PC to ask it to do things for you.

Microsoft calls this the first general-purpose agentic AI experience on Windows, giving Copilot permission to act on your behalf and control or interact with the apps and files on your PC. You can command Copilot to complete a task, such as replying to an email or sorting through files, and Copilot Actions will take that task into its own hands and complete it for you, right in front of your eyes or in the background while you work on something else.

Here is the changelog:

• [Notification Center]
  • We are extending the functionality of Notification Center to secondary monitors. This means you will be able to see your calendar on any of your monitors as well as the option to show a bigger clock with seconds above calendar. You will be able to open Notification Center on any monitor by clicking the date and time in the system tray of your taskbar.

Here is what was fixed:

• [File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue in the latest Canary builds causing File Explorer to crash when transferring files to a network drive.
• [Lock and login screens]
  • Fixed an issue in the previous build where the media controls might not display on the lock screen.
• [Input]
  • Fixed an underlying issue related to microsoft.ink.dll and relevant APIs, which could result in pen and handwriting not working correctly in apps or app crashes recently due to unexpected exceptions being thrown.
• [Other]
  • Fixed an underlying issue which was causing protected content playback to fail for some apps recently.
  • Fixed an issue impacting the ability to start Hyper-V virtual machines with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) on ARM64 devices.

And here is the list of known bugs:

• [Settings]
  • Settings may crash when accessing drive information under Settings > System > Storage. This also impacts accessing the drive information from the properties when you right click a drive in File Explorer.
• [Start menu]
  • [NEW] Insiders with the new Start menu may experience it unexpectedly scrolling to the top.
• [Power and Battery]
  • We’re investigating reports that sleep and shutdown aren’t working correctly for some Insiders after the latest Canary builds.

You can find the announcement post here.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 4:06 am AEST (my time).

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Copilot Actions is not a new feature per se. Previously, Microsoft released Copilot Actions with the ability to act in your web browser, and now, it is enabling support for local files.

The gist is simple: select a bunch of files and tell Copilot what to do with them. For example, you can select several photos and ask Copilot to straighten them and delete duplicates. You can use natural language to describe your request, and the agent will try to make it for you by interacting with desktop and web apps.

While Copilot is doing what you asked it to do, you can switch to something else or simply watch it doing its job. Microsoft made the experience fully transparent so that you can see how exactly Copilot is using your computer. You can intervene at any moment, review the completed tasks, or stop Copilot. Also, Copilot will ask you for permission before moving to specific parts of your request.

Unlike "Hey Copilot" and Copilot Vision, Copilot Actions is not available right now. Microsoft will release the feature to Windows Insiders in the near future via Copilot Laps with "a narrow set of use cases." Microsoft is approaching this feature carefully, and it wants to optimize the model before expanding available use cases. Microsoft says it needs real-world testing to train Copilot to work with complex user interfaces and teach it to do complex tasks.

Like the rest of the features, Copilot Actions is an opt-in experience that you need to proactively enable before it starts.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 4:05 am AEST (my time).

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Windows 11 users are famously very sensitive to taskbar and Start menu changes, so this one may ruffle some feathers. Still, it could be a welcome change if you often use Copilot to chat about various things. The new taskbar experience is a search-bar-like button with quick shortcuts to Copilot Voice and Copilot Vision. It is not a real search bar, though, as clicking it reveals a small search window with fast search results.

Microsoft says that this new taskbar experience offers "lightning-fast search results in a refreshed design" that makes it easier to find apps, files, settings, and other elements. Here is how Microsoft describes it:

Our vision is simple yet bold: to make the taskbar a dynamic hub that helps you accomplish more with less effort, transforming everyday interactions into moments of productivity and delight. This opt-in experience provides one click access to Copilot Vision and Voice, enabling more natural engagement in your flow. With utility across voice, text, and guided support with Copilot Vision, you can engage Copilot on your terms, in the way that works best for you.

As for privacy, another sensitive topic among Windows users, the new taskbar experience does not give Copilot access to your files, apps, or settings. Instead, it uses existing Windows APIs that the operating system uses in Windows Search. In scenarios where Copilot needs direct access to your files or data, the app asks you for permission, and Microsoft keeps such experiences strictly opt-in.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 4:04 am AEST (my time).

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After waking up the assistant, you will hear a chime and a small window with a microphone at the bottom of the screen. Now, you can simply start talking to Copilot and ask questions. In addition to waking up Copilot with the new phrase, you can finish the conversation by simply saying "goodbye." After a few seconds of inactivity, Copilot will turn off with a chime, signaling you that the conversation is over.

The "Hey Copilot" voice activation feature is now generally available to all Windows 11 users (initially launched for insiders in May). Note that you need a microphone and a working internet connection to talk to Copilot.

In addition to "Hey Copilot," Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Vision to all markets where Copilot is available. This feature lets you share your desktop or a specific app with Copilot so that it can analyze content, provide insights, answer your questions, and offer tips. Moreover, you can ask Copilot to show you how to do a particular thing with the Highlights feature. If you use Copilot Vision with Office apps, Copilot can look "beyond your screen," for example, analyze your entire presentation, not just the current slide.

Finally, Microsoft is working on a new "Text-in Text out" feature that will let you speak with Copilot during Vision sessions using text, not just voice. Here is an example of asking Copilot to extract HEX codes from the most vibrant colors in a folder:

Here is what Yusuf Mehdi, Consumer Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft, says about the launch of Copilot Vision and "Hey Copilot":

The magic unlock with Copilot Voice and Copilot Vision is the ease of interaction. Using the new wake word, “Hey Copilot,” getting something done is as easy as just asking for it. And with your permission, Copilot Vision can analyze what’s on your screen helping you learn new apps, get recommendations for a project or show you how to do it. Since its initial release, early adopters of Copilot Vision have inspired us with their creative use cases, from troubleshooting settings, to getting step by step guidance, and even learning complex editing tools.

Voice activation in the Copilot app for Windows is turned off by default. It is a strictly opt-in experience, which you can enable by heading to Copilot settings and turning on the "Listen for 'Hey, Copilot' to start a conversation" feature.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 4:02 am AEST (my time).

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While the general public is aware of tools like Google Gemini and OpenAI ChatGPT, AI has also been making massive inroads into software development, too. Many products are extensions for existing IDEs, but we’ve also seen entirely new IDEs pop up with AI built in natively, such as Cursor and Windsurf.

JetBrains said that the current setup of CodeCanvas is obsolete. It explained:

“User and customer needs have changed and we cannot meet them with CodeCanvas the way it is right now, so we chose to drastically shift our focus and sunset CodeCanvas.”

The company said that it will no longer be providing new CodeCanvas licenses or subscription upgrades from today, and support will end on January 1, 2026, though paying customers will be assisted with migration options. If you’re an existing user, you can carry on using CodeCanvas until March 31, 2026, but after that, public artifacts will no longer be available, and any instances you have will stop working.

Going forward, JetBrains will create a new AI-first, cloud-native product that will help teams around the world adopt AI and autonomous AI agents. The company didn’t give a timeline for when we can expect the new IDE, so we’ll just have to wait.

JetBrains’ announcement is a bit vague overall about what customer demands were not being met by CodeCanvas. The firm also didn’t outline what AI-related features it wanted to build its new CDE around. One common interface in the newer AI developer tools is the sidebar with a chat interface to tell the AI what you want your code to do. In Windsurf, for example, you tell it what you want, and then it returns the code it thinks will work, and users can apply it with just one press.

This isn’t always so smooth when using an IDE like Visual Studio Code, depending on the coding extension you try. Whatever JetBrains makes with this CDE, expect it to be much more like Windsurf than an extension-dependent IDE.

Source: JetBrains

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 4:01 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft ended free security support for Windows 10 this week, though millions of people still use personal computers running the older operating system.

To entice people to upgrade, the software giant on Thursday announced new Windows 11 features, most of them further integrating the company’s AI chatbot, Copilot, into the experience of using a laptop.

Among the features is a voice mode that enables users to dictate “Hey, Copilot” to start chatting with their computer instead of typing or clicking a touchpad.

Microsoft first introduced Windows 10 a decade ago and launched its successor, Windows 11, in 2021.

But many people around the world still are using Windows 10, particularly those with older computers that can’t upgrade to Windows 11. Consumer advocates have spent months petitioning Microsoft to extend technical support for an estimated hundreds of millions of devices that will no longer get automatic security fixes.

“With the end of Windows 10, users face the choice between exposing themselves to cyberattacks or discarding their old computers and buying new ones,” said Brenna Stevens of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, which advocated on behalf of local repair shops, students and others.

Microsoft has said people can pay extra for a year of extended security support through October 2026. Some users, including those in the European Union as well as U.S. users who can synchronize with Microsoft’s cloud service, will be able to get that extended support for free.

But most people faced with unsupported devices are likely to either keep using them despite the vulnerabilities or throw them away, which “creates both a security problem and an environmental problem,” generating huge amounts of toxic electronic waste, said Nathan Proctor, who leads PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign. Both PIRG and Microsoft urge those who are replacing their computers to avoid sending their older models to the landfill.

Those concerns were not a focus of Microsoft’s Windows 11 announcements Thursday. Instead, Yusuf Mehdi, an executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Microsoft’s consumer division, argued that conversing with a laptop will be “as transformative as the mouse and keyboard” in shaping the PC experience. Microsoft says all Windows 11 users will also now have access to Copilot Vision, an AI feature that can analyze and give feedback on the documents, video games and other activities happening on the screen.

Mehdi acknowledged it could take some adjustment to get used to human-computer conversations in shared workspaces.

“Just like when the mouse came out, people have to figure out when to use it, what’s the right way, how to make it happen,” Mehdi told reporters.

The updates are Microsoft’s latest attempt to make its widely used Windows operating system a gateway to hook people on its suite of generative AI tools. The tech giant competes heavily on AI services with Apple, Google and startups like Anthropic and OpenAI.

Mehdi said the updates are “not a replacement for Recall,” a screen-tracking feature on some Windows computers that gives Copilot a “photographic memory” of a user’s virtual activity. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described it last year as a step toward machines that “instantly see us, hear, reason about our intent and our surroundings,” but the idea was met with criticism from privacy and security experts and took a year before it started to roll out.

Source

Also:  Microsoft launches new AI upgrades to Windows 11, boosting Copilot

Real-world speed comparisons that were gathered by the development team show search time reductions for terms like “access” (633ms to 113ms) and “copilot” (257ms to 78ms) between versions 0.94 and 0.95.

In addition, there is a brand-new utility called Light Switch that automatically switches your PC between light and dark mode. You can set custom start and end times or use the location-based sunrise and sunset times, with an offset available for customization.

Light Switch allows users to choose whether the shell, apps, or both should switch, and a keyboard shortcut can be configured for on-the-fly toggling. Light Switch has been a long-standing community request so many should like this feature.

PowerToys 0.95 also adds new options for shortcut management, including the ability to ignore specific shortcut conflicts directly from the conflict dialog. It is now possible to completely unassign shortcuts using the new Clear button in the configuration dialog.

The Find My Mouse utility now supports full transparency for the highlight, which is adjustable via a slider, allowing for a subtler effect. Additionally, Mouse Pointer Crosshairs can now be configured to show only the horizontal line, only the vertical line, or both.

Other notable non-utility changes include support for Desired State Configuration v3 and the addition of a Welsh layout for Quick Accent. The Gliding Cursor can now be canceled with the Esc key, and ZoomIt now supports smooth image zooming.

There are also upcoming plans for future releases including a revamped Keyboard Manager UI, custom endpoint and local model support for Advanced Paste, more Command Palette improvements, and a new Shortcut Guide experience.

Source: Microsoft

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Posted Thursday 16 October 2025 at 6:21 pm AEST (my time).

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There are many VS Code forks out there, but Zed is not one of them. It's written from the ground up using its own special UI framework, GPUI. The team built GPUI in Rust because they wanted something that worked like a game engine, using the GPU to make everything feel incredibly fast. This approach also makes Zed far more memory-efficient than its Electron-based rivals.

Zed offers features like real-time collaboration, Vim mode, and of course, AI that can help you write and refactor code (which you can disable, by the way). But for a while, if you wanted to enjoy these perks, you'd have to be on a Mac or Linux machine. That has now changed, as Zed Industries, the company behind Zed, has announced that the Windows version is now stable.

Zed Industries promises that it will maintain a dedicated Windows team. This team is responsible for integrating DirectX 11 and DirectWrite for rendering and text rendering, respectively. The goal was to "match the Windows look and feel" instead of just porting over a generic interface. It's a direct integration with the operating system, not a web app pretending to be a desktop app.

Features Zed on Windows ships with include deep integration with the Windows Subsystem for Linux and SSH remoting. You can open a WSL folder right from the terminal or connect to a remote server inside the editor. All the heavy lifting, like file operations and running language servers, happens on the remote machine.

Extensions are also fully compatible, powered by WebAssembly. This also means extension developers do not need to write special code for Windows paths, as Zed will handle it for them. AI was also not left out, with all its features like edit predictions, Agent Client Protocol (ACP)-powered agents, working on the platform.

The journey to get this thing running properly for Windows has been quite bumpy because of major platform differences between Windows and macOS/Linux. At first, the team wanted to use the same Vulkan-based rendering backend for Windows as they did for Linux, but that caused a bunch of compatibility problems. So, they had to build a whole new renderer using DirectX 11.

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Posted Thursday 16 October 2025 at 6:20 pm AEST (my time).

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As we quickly approach the first half of October 2025, we can now look at the most significant features and improvements that Microsoft has been working on for Windows 11 in the channels of the Windows Insider Program.

In the first two weeks, the software giant has made available several previews, including some from version 24H2 and 25H2, as well as others not tied to specific development versions.

In the case of the Canary Channel, Insiders received build 27965 and 27959. Also, the Dev and Beta Channels received two identical previews, including builds 26220.6772 and 26120.6772, as well as builds 26220.6780 and 26120.6780.

Here, I'll highlight the new changes and features that were released during the first half of October 2025. You can also check out the improvements released in September 2025 on this page.

Biggest improvements from the Windows Insider Program in October 2025

These are the most significant changes the development team has unveiled over the last two weeks.

1. Settings app AI agent improvements

Starting with builds 26220.6780 and 26100.6780, Windows 11 received an updated version of the Settings app that improves the AI agent integration.

Mozilla is in the process of testing a free, in-browser VPN service for Firefox users. 

A beta experiment announcement for the feature was posted back in June on Mozilla Connect, but several sites are now reporting that some Firefox users are being invited to test out the feature and provide feedback.

The VPN feature wouldn't be the first in-browser virtual private network. Opera has offered such a feature for almost a decade and Microsoft added the feature to its Edge browser.

Five years ago, Mozilla introduced a paid service, Mozilla VPN, at $10 a month or $5 a month with an annual subscription.

The free version would work as a switch that could be toggled in the toolbar. 

According to the Mozilla Connect post, "Our long-term vision is ambitious: to build the best VPN-integrated browser on the market." 

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On the web, we’re seeing “An error occurred. Please try again later” on every video. Similarly, the mobile apps show a “Something went wrong” message. You can browse YouTube (including channel pages and search), but nothing plays upon selecting a video.

In addition to the main service, we’re also having issues with YouTube Music where streaming fails. Offline downloads continue to play. We’re encountering these problems in the US and Europe.

We’re not seeing any issues with YouTube TV (in the US). No other Google services (Workspace or Cloud) are currently impacted.

YouTube has yet to acknowledge the issue.

Updating…

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The Mozilla Thunderbird 144 open-source email, news, chat, and calendar client has been released today as part of the Mozilla Firefox 144 web browser release, bringing various changes and plenty of bug fixes.

Mozilla Thunderbird 144 is here to update the Flatpak runtime to Freedesktop SDK 24.08, fix an issue where users could not read mail signed with OpenPGP v6 and PQC keys, fix an issue with Fastmail CalDAV app password access failing due to forced OAuth regression, and fix copying text from some error alerts.

This release also fixes an issue with the Delete key failing to prevent deleting attachments in OpenPGP messages, an issue with newly created folders missing from the “Recent” menu when moving a message, the broken ‘Copy Message to’ action in newsgroup filters, and a crash that occurred in various scenarios.

Also fixed is an issue with the Reply All button missing when using an Exchange account, an issue with news messages marked as read after an NNTP error prevented retrieval from the server, and an issue with changing the identity in the compose window caused by an unsaved modified draft.

Moreover, Thunderbird 144 fixes an issue where sending emails via servers with a self-signed certificate didn’t work, an issue where importing a profile located at the top level of a zip file didn’t work, and an issue where the sender avatar was displayed incorrectly for ‘Name’ via the address sender format.

On top of that, Mozilla Thunderbird 144 fixes an issue where sorting by threads only brought threads with unread top messages to the top, an issue with the image preview in the Insert Image dialog failing with CSP error for web resources, and an issue where calendar discovery with a certificate error displayed multiple exceptions.

Among other fixes, Thunderbird 144 addresses an issue where Shift-clicking ‘Compose Message To’ on a ‘mailto’ link didn’t open in plain text, an issue where Thunderbird could not copy an event in multiweek or month view via drag and drop, and an issue where task reminders failed for tasks without end dates or with shifted due dates.

Also fixed is a hang that occurred when auto-checking multiple accounts for new messages, an issue with multi-attachment delete/detach confirmation only citing the first attachment, as well as an issue where not all headers were signed when creating a digitally signed OpenPGP email.

Last but not least, Thunderbird 144 makes it possible to test a configured personal S/MIME certificate for a sub-identity, as well as to test an S/MIME certificate for an old/invalid certificate. This release also addresses a total of eleven security vulnerabilities and brings various visual and UX improvements.

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NordVPN (partner link) is one of the best no-logs VPNs for Linux around. The Panama-based service has consistently demonstrated its commitment to transparency through independent audits and a proven track record of protecting user data.

Over the past few weeks, the company has made two significant announcements that signal some interesting changes, with both moves appearing to be directly driven by user feedback and community engagement.

NordVPN's Open Source Move

Just a placeholder image of NordVPN's Linux GUI client.

First up, NordVPN has released the source code for its Linux application's graphical user interface under the GNU General Public License v3.0. The code is now available on GitHub, complete with build instructions and contribution guidelines for developers interested in improving the application.

The GUI version was initially introduced earlier this year and reportedly led to a 70% increase in Linux devices using NordVPN daily. The command-line interface for the Linux client was already open source, making this release the final piece of the puzzle.

The Linux client manages network interfaces through tuntap, handles firewall rules via iptables, routing through iproute2, and DNS management with systemd-resolved. It supports major distributions including Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Kali Linux, and OpenSUSE.

Additionally, the official NordVPN Snap package has been updated to include the GUI, which was previously limited to command-line functionality.

But Wait, There's More!

In a separate announcement earlier this month, NordVPN reversed its decision to discontinue the Meshnet feature following strong pushback from users. If you didn't know, Meshnet allows users to securely connect up to 60 devices in a private local area network (LAN) without routing traffic through NordVPN's servers.

The company confirmed that Meshnet will remain available "just the way you know it," with no changes to its current functionality. More significantly, they announced plans to open source Meshnet as well.

Talking about the open sourcing of the Linux app's GUI, Marijus Briedis, the CTO of NordVPN, added that:

Linux is built on openness and community collaboration. It’s what makes it one of the most resilient ecosystems in the world. We share these same values and seek to better serve the Linux community.

At the time of writing, NordVPN has not published an official blog post about either announcement on its website. The information appears to have been shared through press releases and social media channels.

People interested in following official updates can monitor NordVPN's blog portal for any future announcements.

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Microsoft finally pulled the plug on Windows 10 support, despite multiple requests and petitions to reconsider the decision. The Public interest Research Group (PIRG) claimed that the move would lead to the single biggest jump in junked computers, potentially leaving approximately 500 million PCs unsupported.

The group recently doubled down on its efforts in an attempt to get Microsoft to backtrack its decision. It claimed that ending support for Windows 10 only widens the digital divide gap, leading to a huge spike in electronic waste coupled with increased cybersecurity threats.

However, Microsoft moved forward with its plans, confirming Windows 10 is dead and that it had shipped the final security update for the OS with several fixes and improvements.

Windows 10's death has received backlash from users. As reported by The Register, protesters lobbied outside Microsoft's Brussels office following the company's decision to end support for the operating system.

The Right to Repair Europe coalition was among the anti-end of Windows 10 groups that lobbied outside Microsoft's Brussels office, and revealed that the protest was geared towards "exposing perfectly functional PCs rendered obsolete by the company's decision to end free and automatic Windows 10 updates."

Right now, Windows 10 users only have a finite number of options, including enrolling in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program by syncing their PC settings to the cloud via a Microsoft account or paying $30 or 1,000 Microsoft reward points. However, Microsoft recently backtracked on the move, at least for users in the European Economic Area, allowing them to access the ESU program for free without meeting the requirements highlighted above.

However, the protesters dismissed Microsoft's ESU program as a last-minute "snooze button," which only acts as a band-aid on a bleeding system and postpones the issue by 12 months. Instead, the protesters are pushing for Microsoft to continue providing free, automatic Windows 10 security updates until 2030.

On October 14, 2025, Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows 10. The software giant shipped the final security update for the operating system with several fixes and improvements. Consequently, the company confirmed that Windows 10 had reached End of Life, potentially impacting approximately 500 million PCs.

It's evident that the tech giant wants users to upgrade to Windows 11 and has been using full-screen multipage popup ads to get users to make the transition. Microsoft has made bold statements like "Windows 11 PCs are up to 2.3x faster than Windows 10 PCs" to push Windows 11 upgrades, prompting multiple users to claim that Windows 10's end of support feels like "programmed obsolescence," designed to bolster Copilot+ PC sales.

If you don't want to upgrade to Windows 11 predominantly due to the operating system's strict hardware requirements or flawed design elements, you can leverage Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program to continue receiving Windows 10 security updates despite its end-of-support.

It's worth noting that this will require you to either sync your PC settings to the cloud via a Microsoft account, redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Reward points, or pay $30 for extended security updates (ESU), which supports up to 10 devices. However, users in the European Economic Area won't need to meet the thresholds highlighted above because Microsoft backtracked the requirements in the region, making the program FREE.

Still, Microsoft continues to receive criticism and backlash from users for not reconsidering its decision to end Windows 10 support.

For instance, The Restart Project group, which helped co-develop the "End of 10" toolkit to support Windows 10 users who can't upgrade to Windows 11, says Microsoft's move to continue pushing security updates to Windows 10 beyond its end-of-support feels like a last-minute snooze button, which only acts as a band-aid on a bleeding system. It's also calling on the political class to support:

"Microsoft’s decision not only accelerates premature disposal but also undermines efforts to extend product lifespans and puts additional pressure on resource use and waste management systems."

ZDNET's key takeaways

•     October marks the final official Patch Tuesday for Windows 10.
•     This month's update included a record 173 security fixes.
•     All the new and improved features were reserved for Windows 11.

Microsoft has released its October Patch Tuesday update for Windows. Though that's business as usual, this marked the final monthly update for Windows 10 after 10 years of support. All the cool new features and enhancements were reserved for Windows 11, but both versions of Windows received a whopping number of security patches.

Security patches

With the latest updates for all versions of Windows, Microsoft has delivered a hefty 173 security patches, a record amount for 2025. Among these, nine are rated critical, according to patch management provider Action1, while six are zero-day exploits. Three of them have already been exploited in the wild, and three others have publicly available proofs of concept, which means sample code is publicly available to show how the flaw can be exploited.

As documented on a Microsoft security page, the bug fixes cover such core features and services as the Windows kernel, Windows Search, Windows Remote Desktop Protocol, Windows Hello, File Explorer, PowerShell, Copilot, BitLocker, and Bluetooth. Also in the mix are Microsoft Exchange Server, Visual Studio, Azure, and Microsoft Office.

In one case, Microsoft had to actually remove a built-in driver called the ltmdm64.sys driver for fax modem hardware, as attackers had already been exploiting it as a zero-day flaw.

"Active exploitation confirms that threat actors are already using this zero-day," Action1 said in its advisory. "Microsoft's decision to remove the driver rather than patch it suggests that the flaw is deeply rooted in its design and cannot be fixed without breaking functionality. This elevates both the security and operational risks for affected environments."

Other fixes

Beyond the numerous security patches are fixes for certain Windows features.

Today's KB5066791 update for Windows 10 patched a glitch with the Chinese Input Method Editor (IME), which lets you enter text in Chinese. Another resolved an issue with USER32 Edit controls, which let you create and edit text in a dialog box. A third patch fixed a problem in which PowerShell Remoting and WinRM commands timed out after 10 minutes.

The KB5066835 and KB5066793 updates for Windows 11 also fixed issues with certain Windows features.

One patch resolved a problem that caused the print preview screen to stop responding in Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome and Edge. Another fixed a glitch in which using a Gamepad at the lock screen affected Windows sign-in methods such as fingerprint recognition. In this case, apps and games then failed to respond to any input. Also resolved was an issue that impacted the setup process when using Windows Hello face recognition with USB infrared cameras.

This October was the final supported adventure for Windows 10. Well, it's not quite true to call it the final adventure. With its Extended Security Update plan, Microsoft will continue to supply qualifying Windows 10 computers with security fixes for another year. Without that plan, though, anyone who remains on the 10-year-old version of Windows shouldn't expect any security patches, bug fixes, or other updates.

Windows 11 improvements

With the official end of support for Windows 10, Microsoft has been pushing individuals and organizations alike to jump to Windows 11. That's where the company has naturally been focusing its efforts. And that leads us to the update for Windows 11, where you'll find the latest new and improved features this month.

The October update for Windows 11 kicks off with improvements to File Explorer, the Notification Center, the Windows Share tool, and the Click to Do feature.

For File Explorer, the new AI Actions tool lets you ask Copilot to analyze or summarize a file or edit an image. To do this, just select the file and press Shift+F10, or right-click the file and choose Ask Copilot from the menu. That brings you to the Copilot app, where you can request help with the selected file.

With JPG and PNG files, you're able to ask Copilot to search the web for information about the image. You can also blur the background or erase objects via the Photos app and remove the background through the Paint app. The AI Actions also extend to Microsoft 365. Here, you can ask for AI-based summaries of documents, spreadsheets, and other files stored in OneDrive and SharePoint.

Next up is the enhancement to the Notification Center. You can now move the hardware indicators for brightness, volume, airplane mode, and virtual desktops to different positions on your screen. To do this, head to Settings, select System, and then click Notifications. Go to the section for "Indicators from keyboard actions" and click the position button. You can then switch the position among bottom center, top left, and top center.

With the Windows Share tool, you're now able to add your favorite apps to the menu. That means you can quickly share a file or other item with a specific app.

The Click to Do feature now has more tags to help you run specific tasks and actions. Further, the Summarize Action command now delivers more concise and focused summaries of the item you select.

Other Windows 11 features that have been enhanced include the Taskbar, Narrator, passkeys, and AI agents for Copilot+ PCs.

How to update

To update your Windows 10 PC, head to Settings, select Update & Security, and then click the button to check for updates. The Tuesday updates will then be downloaded and installed.

To update your Windows 11 PC, go to Settings and select Windows Update. Since the October update is mandatory, it should automatically download and install. If not, just click the button to check for updates to kick off the process. 

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Unfortunately, the hardware system requirements for Windows 10 and Windows 11 are different. Consequently, not all Windows 10 PCs can be upgraded to Windows 11. For PCs that do not meet the technical requirements to run Windows 11, Microsoft recommends that customers enroll in the Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program or buy a new PC that supports Windows 11.

Consumers can enroll in Extended Security Updates in one of the following three ways:

• At no additional cost if you are syncing your PC Settings using a Microsoft Account.
• By redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.
• Through a one-time purchase of $30 USD or the local currency equivalent, plus applicable tax. The one-time purchase option is now live in the Microsoft Store here.

When a user joins the ESU program through any of the above methods, they will receive extended security updates until October 13, 2026. Users can join the ESU program at any time before the program ends on October 13, 2026. Furthermore, a single ESU license can be used on up to 10 devices.

To check whether you can enroll in the ESU program for your Windows 10 PC, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Microsoft will display a link to enroll in ESU if your Windows 10 PC meets the requirements.
2. If you are using a local Windows Account, Microsoft will prompt you to sign in to your Microsoft account.
3. If you are not syncing your PC settings, you can start syncing; otherwise, you can redeem existing Microsoft Rewards or make a one-time purchase to enroll in ESU.

While upgrading to a new Windows 11 PC is Microsoft's preferred path forward, the ESU program enables users on older hardware to remain secure for an additional year while they plan their transition to Windows 11.

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Posted Wednesday 15 October 2025 at 6:44 pm AEST (my time).

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For those unaware, WHCP is a workflow that is primarily aimed at hardware manufacturers, OEMs, and partners so that they can leverage tools like Microsoft's Hardware Lab Kit (HLK) to test the compatibility of their upcoming products on Windows. Devices which pass this certification are badged by Microsoft as such, increasing customer confidence while making informed purchases.

Starting later this year, Microsoft will begin enforcing the InfVerif /h validation, which checks for driver isolation in Windows. This is a check that was first introduced in Windows 11, version 24H2, and it ensures that Windows driver packages are resilient to external modifications, and are easy to install and update.

Microsoft has emphasized that this ruleset was already a part of the WHCP and Attestation workflows, but it will now be a mandatory requirement for compliance attestation. The tech giant hopes that this change will "help increase the security and quality of the Windows driver ecosystem".

OEMs and other partners are requested to ensure that they run the InfVerif /h ruleset on their driver package prior to submission. The ruleset is automatically run on the Windows 11, version 25H2 HLK, so if you're testing compatibility on that version of Windows, you don't need to do anything separately. The latest version of InfVerif is present in the most up to date version of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK). You can find out more details in Microsoft's dedicated blog post here, including information about how to run the InfVerif ruleset, and how to handle errors and warnings.

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Posted Wednesday 15 October 2025 at 6:43 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has teased that it's making a big announcement about Windows on Thursday this week, and has hinted that the announcement will be related to how people use and interact with Windows computers.

In the tweet posted by the @Windows account, Microsoft says "Your hands are about to get some PTO. Time to rest those fingers…something big is coming Thursday." No other clues or teases have been given as of yet.

In recent weeks, Microsoft has been open about bringing voice forward as a primary input method on Windows. The current head of Windows, Pavan Davuluri, recently claimed that soon "you'll be able to speak to your computer while you're writing, inking, or interacting with another person. You should be able to have a computer semantically understand your intent to interact with it."

tiny11 25H2 is built on Windows 11 version 25H2, which Microsoft released on September 31, 2025. Besides bringing Windows 11 to PCs that cannot run it officially, tiny11 removes "bloat and clutter," making the operating system lighter and more responsive, which is particularly important on older machines. Additionally, it does not require using a Microsoft Account, something that Microsoft keeps requiring from Windows 11 users (here is how you can bypass that).

Finally, users with compatible systems can also consider tiny11 as a better alternative to the stock Windows 11. Lighter, less cluttered, and overall less annoying without big compromises. tiny11 also exists in a "Core" variant, which is more heavily modified to reduce the overall installation size by two times, sacrificing serviceability in the process. tiny11 core does not support Windows Update, but it is a good tool for virtual machines, offline PCs, or experimentation (do not use it on your main PC).

While using a modified Windows 11 image involves risks, the maker of tiny11 says that the images were made with tiny11 builder, a special tool that only uses Microsoft-made utilities to debloat vanilla Windows 11. You can create one for yourself if you do not trust the existing tiny11 ISOs.

If you want to give tiny11 25H2 a try, head to the Internet Archive using this link.

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Posted Wednesday 15 October 2025 at 12:50 pm AEST (my time).

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YouTube is updating the look of the video player to be “cleaner and more immersive” beginning this week. “This includes updated controls and new icons to make the viewing experience more visually satisfying while obscuring less content,” YouTube says. It started testing changes to the player earlier this year. A screenshot from YouTube shows how the new look includes rounded on-screen buttons with a little bit of translucency, though the effect isn’t nearly as intense as Apple’s Liquid Glass. YouTube says the new player will be available on mobile, web, and TV devices.

Image: YouTube

 

The company is introducing a bunch of other updates, too. YouTube says the double-tap to skip feature will be “modern and less intrusive to your video watching experience.” A new “structured system for comment replies” is intended to “provide a more focused reading experience within the replies panel.” And on some videos, hitting the like button will show a “dynamic” animation, like a music note when liking a music video.

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Posted Wednesday 15 October 2025 at 12:45 pm AEST (my time).

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