The company has released the Radeon RX 7700 desktop graphics card today. Sporting 40 last-generation RDNA3 compute units, 40 ray accelerators, and 80 AI accelerators, the card is touted as a 1440p gaming GPU. It will also come with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and AMD recommends a 700W PSU for the system powering this. The latest driver is required to get optimal performance from the GPU too.

At the same time, AMD has added support for Techland's Dying Light: The Beast, with the driver landing just in time for the horror action game's launch today.

The fixed issues of the 25.9.2 driver are these:

• Corruption may appear while playing games based on the Godot engine with Vulkan.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed while playing Cronos: The New Dawn with Ray Tracing enabled on Radeon™ RX 9070 series graphics products.
• Failure to launch may be observed while using the Oasis Driver with Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

The known issues the AMD driver team is working on are these:

• Intermittent application crash may be observed while playing The Last of Us Part II on Radeon™ RX 7900 series graphics products.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed while playing NBA 2K25 in MyCareer mode on Radeon™ RX 9070 series graphics products. AMD is actively working on a resolution to be released as soon as possible.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed while playing FBC: Firebreak on some AMD Ryzen™ processors such as the Ryzen™ AI 300 series and the Ryzen™ 8000 series.
• Corruption (missing scan travel lines) may be observed while playing GTFO™ on Radeon™ RX 7000 series graphics products.
• Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while loading a saved game in Cyberpunk 2077 with Path Tracing enabled.
• Stutter may be observed while playing games with some VR headsets at 80Hz or 90Hz refresh rate on some AMD Radeon™ Graphics Products such as the Radeon™ RX 7000 series. Users experiencing this issue are recommended to change the refresh rate as a temporary workaround.
• Intermittent system crash may be observed while playing World of Warcraft while watching YouTube on Radeon™ RX 7900 GRE graphics products.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed while playing games with EA Javelin anticheat and Radeon™ Anti-Lag enabled on some AMD Graphics Products. Users experiencing this issue are recommended to disable Radeon™ Anti-Lag as a temporary workaround.

The new AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.9.2 driver is now available for download from the AMD Software app as well as its official changelog page.

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Posted Friday 19 September 2025 at 4:51 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Video Player aims to deliver a distraction-free, chromeless interface, and Papers uses a streamlined design with PDF annotation and digital signature integration. While both of these apps are new, they still maintain the core functions that users expect.

Also updated in GNOME 49 is the Calendar app, which is now fully accessible to keyboard-only and assistive technology users. While accessibility features may not be a big concern to many people, they can mean a world of difference for those who do rely on them, so this is a notable improvement.

There are also over 100 bug fixes and new features in GNOME’s default internet browser, Web Browser. These include better ad blocking, a new site-specific menu, and enhanced security features. There are also performance improvements in the Software app, which now uses less memory and speeds up parsing data from large Flatpak repositories - this is major because, as anyone knows who has used GNOME, the Software app can be a huge pain point due to its slowness.

This wouldn’t be a new GNOME release without new wallpapers. GNOME 49 introduces a new HDR wallpaper catalog, enabled by improvements in the Mutter window manager and Glycin image loading backend. This update also features enhanced remote desktop capabilities, including support for multitouch input, relative mouse input, and extended virtual monitors.

Other key improvements include lock screen media controls, a more prominent accessibility menu, and new HDR brightness controls. There are also new third-party apps included in GNOME Circle, Mahjongg and Wordbook.

While GNOME 49 is now available, the recommended course of action is to wait until an official distribution packages it. If you can’t wait, you can try out the GNOME OS image, however, this is nightly software and not stable enough to run on a production computer.

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Posted Friday 19 September 2025 at 4:50 am AEST (my time).

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In the announcement post, Vivaldi says update 7.6 opens "completely new ways of personalizing" the browser. You can select what tools appear on the tab bar, move it to any side of the screen, create an ultra-minimalistic look or fill it with buttons and toggles to the brim.

Another addition is the new Tab Button, which opens a single menu to control all your tabs. You can find tabs and access the list of open, duplicate, synced, and recently closed tabs.

Besides improved customization and the new Tab Button, Vivaldi 7.6 received cleaner context menus and a smarter address bar. You can type keywords to switch search to specific parts, like @tabs, @bookmarks, and @history. This allows instant filtering and faster search.

There are also updates to the built-in ad-blocker, which now supports pop-up rules, allowing you to close tabs or windows that automatically open without your consent. Vivaldi says that this feature targets known advertisements while keeping legitimate sites intact.

For Windows users, Vivaldi 7.6 introduces new swipe gestures for quick navigation back and forward. Finally, developers made a few improvements under the hood to make the browser wake up sleeping tabs much faster.

Vivaldi 7.6 is part of the company's push to give users more control over their browsing experience. Recently, Vivaldi published a statement, claiming it does not plan to cram AI into the browser, unlike Google, Microsoft, and other companies. Vivaldi believes browsing the internet should be an active experience, and users should not be turned into passive spectators.

You can download Vivaldi 7.6 from the official website. The browser is available on all modern platforms, including mobile devices.

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Posted Friday 19 September 2025 at 4:48 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has recently launched the Microsoft Learn MCP Server. As the name implies, this server enables connectivity between AI agents, such as LLMs, and the Microsoft Learn knowledge base, which is the repository where the Redmond tech firm hosts the documentation for many of its products and services.

What this means is that users can leverage only this MCP server to interact with the Learn website in real-time through streamable HTTP rather than installing extra components or scrapers. The server has the ability to return up to 10 chunks of focused information or complete pages when broader context is required.

Microsoft believes that this MCP server can help in various ways, such as creating a virtual helpdesk for Microsoft services such that those with issues can query an AI assistant using natural language and resolve their issue faster. Another use-case for this is also building an "onboarding agent" that helps new resources get up to speed on technical tooling faster. And finally, an obvious use-case directly involves seasoned developers being able to write code and leverage services with more confidence when building their apps.

Developers can utilize the Microsoft Learn MCP Server using the documentation available here. Connecting to this MCP endpoint requires no authentication and is free-of-cost. In the coming weeks, Microsoft plans to provide agents with precise code samples through this MCP server.

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Posted Thursday 18 September 2025 at 5:23 pm AEST (my time).

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Starting with Paint, the app received two big upgrades. With version 11.2508.361.0, Paints lets you save your artwork as projects, preserving all the layers. This enables you to transfer your work to another device or continue at another time. Saved projects will have the .paint file extension in File Explorer.

The next upgrade is an opacity slider. You can now change the transparency of pencils and brushes for more realistic strokes and blends when drawing.

Snipping Tool version 11.2508.24.0 is getting the Quick Markup feature, something Microsoft calls "a faster way to annotate your screenshots and streamline your workflow." This feature was spotted several weeks ago, and in a nutshell, it lets you annotate your screen before taking a screenshot. To try it out, press Win + Shift + S to open Snipping Tool and click the Quick Markup button (you can also press Ctrl + E). After that, select the area you want to capture and start doodling. Available instruments include a pen, a highlighter, an eraser, shapes, and emojis. Additionally, you can resize the selected screen area, share, perform a visual search with Bing, and ask Copilot.

Finally, Notepad version 11.2508.28.0 enables AI-powered features that no longer require a premium subscription. If you have a Copilot+ PC, you can use its Neural Processing Unit to draft, rewrite, and summarize text (these features also work without a Microsoft Account). However, if you have a premium subscription that enables AI features in Windows 11's apps, you can switch to cloud-based models. Note that as of right now, local processing in Notepad only works in English.

You can read more about these updates (now rolling out to Canary and Dev Insiders) in the announcement post.

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Posted Thursday 18 September 2025 at 5:21 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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First off, Microsoft announced that Click to Do's ability to detect tables is delayed. The company announced this feature in last week's build, but it is no longer rolling out. Next, Microsoft fixed a few important bugs, which include problems affecting DRM-protected content playback, incorrect battery indicator, the Settings app crashes, and the 0x80070002 error in Windows Update.

Here is the list of all the fixes:

• [Media] Fixed: This update addresses an issue that affects playback of protected content in certain Blu-ray, DVD, and digital TV apps. This can occur after installing KB5064081.
• [Performance] Improved: Added support for Certificate Revocation List (CRL) partitioning in Windows Certificate Authorities.
• [Battery] Fixed: The battery icon in the taskbar may not display a charging state even though your PC is charging.
• [Settings] Fixed: Settings may crash when attempting to access drive information under Settings > System > Storage. This also impacts trying to launch these pages from File Explorer drive properties.
• [Windows Update] Fixed: Some Insiders see error 0x80070002 when attempting to install the build.

Windows 11 version 25H2 is coming later this year as an enablement package for Windows 11 version 24H2, which is why Release Preview insiders are getting updates with identical changelogs. If you want to try the update right now, you can download the recently released ISO for a clean installation.

You can find the updated announcement post here.

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Posted Thursday 18 September 2025 at 5:20 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Like the rest of its Big Tech cadre, Google has spent lavishly on developing generative AI models. Google's AI can clean up your text messages and summarize the web, but the company is constantly looking to prove that its generative AI has true intelligence. The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) helps make the point. Google says Gemini 2.5 participated in the 2025 ICPC World Finals, turning in a gold medal performance. According to Google this marks "a significant step on our path toward artificial general intelligence."

Every year, thousands of college-level coders participate in the ICPC event, facing a dozen deviously complex coding and algorithmic puzzles over five grueling hours. This is the largest and longest-running competition of its type. To compete in the ICPC, Google connected Gemini 2.5 Deep Think to a remote online environment approved by the ICPC. The human competitors were given a head start of 10 minutes before Gemini began "thinking."

According to Google, it did not create a freshly trained model for the ICPC like it did for the similar International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) earlier this year. The Gemini 2.5 AI that participated in the ICPC is the same general model that we see in other Gemini applications. However, it was "enhanced" to churn through thinking tokens for the five-hour duration of the competition in search of solutions.

At the end of the time limit, Gemini managed to get correct answers for 10 of the 12 problems, which earned it a gold medal. Only four of 139 human teams managed the same feat. "The ICPC has always been about setting the highest standards in problem-solving," said ICPC director Bill Poucher. "Gemini successfully joining this arena, and achieving gold-level results, marks a key moment in defining the AI tools and academic standards needed for the next generation."

More than human

At the ICPC, only correct solutions earn points, and the time it takes to come up with the solution affects the final score. Gemini reached the upper rankings quickly, completing eight problems correctly in just 45 minutes. After 677 minutes, Gemini 2.5 Deep Think had 10 correct answers, securing a second-place finish among the university teams.

You can take a look at all of Gemini's solutions on GitHub, but Google points to Problem C as especially impressive. This question, a multi-dimensional optimization problem revolving around fictitious "flubber" storage and drainage rates, stumped every human team. But not Gemini.

According to Google, there are an infinite number of possible configurations for the flubber reservoirs, making it challenging to find the optimal setup. Gemini tackled the problem by assuming that each reservoir had a priority value, which allowed the model to find the most efficient configuration using a dynamic programming algorithm. After 30 minutes of churning on this problem, Deep Think used nested ternary search to pin down the correct values.

Gemini's solutions for this year's ICPC were scored by the event coordinators, but Google also turned Gemini 2.5 loose on previous ICPC problems. The company reports that its internal analysis showed Gemini also reached gold medal status for the 2023 and 2024 question sets.

Google believes Gemini's ability to perform well in these kinds of advanced academic competitions portends AI's future in industries like semiconductor engineering and biotechnology. The ability to tackle a complex problem with multi-step logic could make AI models like Gemini 2.5 invaluable to the people working in those fields. The company points out that if you combine the intelligence of the top-ranking university teams and Gemini, you get correct answers to all 12 ICPC problems.

Of course, five hours of screaming-fast inference processing doesn't come cheap. Google isn't saying how much power it took for an AI model to compete in the ICPC, but we can safely assume it was a lot. Even simpler consumer-facing models are too expensive to turn a profit right now, but AI that can solve previously unsolvable problems could justify the technology's high cost.

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Posted Thursday 18 September 2025 at 5:19 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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On Windows 10 and Windows 11, connecting a second display allows you to expand your desktop and work with multiple apps, as well as play games, on your laptop or desktop computer.

Although setting up an external monitor is usually straightforward, the operating system may sometimes fail to detect older displays or second monitors due to driver or hardware-related issues. However, if your device has a problem, you can use several troubleshooting steps, including checking the connection and installing the correct drivers, to fix the issue quickly.

In this how-to guide, I'll explain several ways to troubleshoot and fix issues that block the system from automatically detecting the second monitor. This set of instructions is focused on Windows 10, but you can also refer to them if you're dealing with the same issues on Windows 11. I have also added a section with more specific steps for the newer version of the operating system.

Windows 11 users have another reason to be jealous of those on macOS. Apple just announced a new sports widget that extends the iOS and iPadOS experience to the desktop.

While the new sports widget on macOS is nice, it's not what taunts me and other Windows 11 users. Microsoft has actually had a sports widget available for quite some time on Windows 11. What's frustrating is that Apple has made an effort to promote widgets on macOS, which is a stark contrast to what Microsoft has done over the years and of late.

Microsoft first launched the widgets board on Windows 11 in 2022. Shockingly, it took until the end of 2023 for the tech giant to start testing the option to disable the news feed within the widgets board.

Even in 2025, the browser wars are still alive, and as you might have guessed, two of the usual culprits, Microsoft and Google, are at it again. This time, Microsoft is trying to challenge Google Chrome's dominance by packaging its Edge browser as the superior option when users search for Chrome on Bing.

As spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft appears to be using an ad that features a fully-fledged comparison table between Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge when users search for Chrome on Bing with the intent to install it.

According to the screenshot shared by the outlet, Microsoft promotes Edge as the better and preferred browser, highlighting key features such as a built-in VPN, AI personalization, and the Microsoft Rewards program as its main selling points.

As we approach the first half of September 2025, it's time again to review the most significant changes that Microsoft has been working on for Windows 11 in the Windows Insider Program channels.

Currently, the software giant has made available six previews, some of which were part of the version 24H2 and 25H2, while others were not part of any specific development.

In the Canary Channel, we've seen builds 27943 and 27938. In the Dev and Beta Channels, the company rolled out the preview builds 26120.6682 and 26220.6682 as well as 26120.6682 and 26220.6682.

As part of the new features and changes in the Dev and Beta Channels, we've seen fluid dictation for Voice Access, Studio Effects for secondary cameras, a new hover-over menu for File Explorer, as well as improvements for Click to Do, Start menu, a new Advanced page that replaces the "For developers" settings, and more.

The Canary Channel has also been getting new features and visual changes, but they're nothing new since this branch is still catching up with improvements we've already seen in the other channels.

Here, I'll highlight the new visual changes and features that were released during the first half of September 2025.

1. Voice Access with fluid dictation

As part of builds 26120.5790 and 26220.5790, Windows 11 introduced the "fluid dictation" feature for Voice Access, which uses on-device Small Language Models (SLMs) to correct grammar, punctuation, and filler words as you dictate to minimize manual editing.

Fedora Kinoite users will have auto-updates enabled by default, ensuring systems are consistently running the latest bug fixes and features. This puts it on par with Fedora’s immutable distribution that runs GNOME, Fedora Silverblue, which also uses auto-update by default. Kinoite is an immutable system that uses the KDE desktop. Another change in this update is the inclusion of a new default monospace fallback font which ensures consistent and predictable font selection, preventing jarring changes that occurred in past versions.

There are numerous upgrades for core systems and build processes in this beta. The GNU Toolchain has been updated to stay current with the latest features, security fixes, and bug improvements from upstream projects. Package-specific RPM Macros are now available for build flags, offering a cleaner and more consistent method for maintainers to make per-package adjustments. The build process for Fedora CoreOS now uses a standard Containerfile, moving away from a custom tool. This helps to simplify the build process, as anyone with Podman installed can now build Fedora CoreOS.

The beta also brings major language stack updates and new features. Notably, the beta updates the Python stack to Python 3.14 so that critical bugs can be identified and reported before the final release. Golang has also been updated to version 1.25, providing new features like leak detection and the ability to use subdirectories as a module root. The programming language Idris 2 is now included too, giving users access to new features such as Quantitative Type Theory (QTT) for type-safe concurrent programming.

Fedora also announced strategic deprecations for the long-term health of the project. The binutils-gold subpackage is being deprecated to simplify the developer experience by reducing the number of available linkers. The python-nose package will be removed in Fedora 43 when it goes stable to prevent new packages from depending on an unmaintained test runner. Developers are encouraged to move to supported frameworks. Finally, older, unmaintained versions of gtk-rs bindings are also being retired, preventing Fedora from shipping obsolete and potentially insecure software.

The Fedora 43 beta is quite lengthy. According to the current release calendar, Fedora 43 won’t go stable until November 11.

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Posted Thursday 18 September 2025 at 4:40 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Consumer Reports is calling on Microsoft to extend the October 14th deadline that will cut off free security updates for Windows 10 computers. In a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Consumer Reports says the move will “strand millions of consumers” who have machines incompatible with Windows 11.

As noted by Consumer Reports, data suggests that around 46.2 percent of people around the world still use Windows 10 as of August 2025, while around 200 to 400 million PCs can’t be upgraded to Windows 11 due to missing hardware requirements.

In the letter, Consumer Reports calls Microsoft “hypocritical” for urging customers to upgrade to Windows 11 to bolster cybersecurity, but then leaving Windows 10 devices susceptible to cyberattacks. It also calls out the $30 fee Microsoft charges customers for “a mere one-year extension to preserve their machine’s security,” as well as the free support options that force people to use Microsoft products, allowing the company to “eke out a bit of market share over competitors.”

Consumer Reports asks that Microsoft continue providing support for Windows 10 computers for free until more people have upgraded to Windows 11. A Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has also petitioned for an extended deadline, saying “as many as 400 million perfectly good computers that can’t upgrade to Windows 11 will be thrown out.”

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 5:44 pm AEST (my time).

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Earlier this year, a group called The Restart Project released a new "End of Windows 10 toolkit" to help guide community repair groups on ways to deal with this massive upcoming change. The change is indeed massive as it is expected that between 240 million and 400 million systems will become obsolete as they will not be able to upgrade to Windows 11. That is because of the hardware requirements that Microsoft has set for Windows 11, and those have not been relaxed since their original conception.

Today, The Restart Project reached out to Neowin to reiterate its stance on the matter. The group offered the following statements that continue to urge Microsoft to extend support. Fiona Dear, Co-Director of The Restart Project said the following: 

“On International Repair Day we celebrate the power of communities around the world to resist premature obsolescence, implementing alternatives and sharing skills to protect people and the planet from manufacturers' throwaway approaches. Meanwhile, ironically, the end of Windows 10 support coincides with ‘E-waste Day’.

We need Microsoft to extend free, automatic support for Windows 10. And we need legislation to make software obsolescence illegal for all products. Companies like Microsoft are getting away with mass e-waste flytipping. With the UK’s Circular Economy Strategy, the new DEFRA minister, Emma Reynolds, has a chance to stop us sleepwalking into further software obsolescence disasters."

Cristina Ganapini, the Coordinator of the Right to Repair Europe coalition, added:

“Microsoft's decision to end support for Windows 10 could make 400 million computers obsolete — not because they’re broken, but because of software. Companies can do this because there are no regulations to stop them. In Europe, EU Ecodesign requirements for laptops could prevent this in the future. We need strong horizontal requirements on minimum durability and repairability, with software and security support to match the potential lifespan - not just for computers, but for all products with a plug or battery. No more devices designed to break or become obsolete before their time.”

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 5:41 pm AEST (my time).

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In yet another blog, Microsoft has encouraged customers to "experience the future" through the new Outlook after they switch from the classic experience. The company has boasted better performance, security, agility, and stability in the new app, along with the following features:

• Pin important emails
• Sort and search for attendees
• Apply new themes and colored mailbox folders
• Add shared mailboxes as accounts
• Use Copilot-powered inbox prioritization and email drafting
• Create structured, professional, and richly formatted newsletters

Microsoft has emphasized that this is exactly the right time to migrate to the new Outlook, as it is consistent across different devices and contexts and offers hybrid RSVP and better trackability for meeting attendees. But perhaps the most important aspect of the new Outlook is the integration with Windows, through capabilities like opening of attachments in the default app of your choice, dragging and dropping them to the desktop, sending content to OneNote, and integration with Teams.

As usual, you can switch to the new Outlook experience by clicking the "Try the new Outlook" toggle on the top-right corner of the inbox and then tapping "Switch". This experience is available for all customers running Windows 10 and 11, but Microsoft has assured users that this transition will be gradual. Perhaps this will serve as enough time to convince the haters who believe that the new app is "hot garbage".

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 5:40 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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On Windows 10, checking your computer's hardware and system specifications can be useful for many tasks. Whether you're verifying compatibility for an app, preparing to upgrade to a new Windows version, troubleshooting issues, or considering a hardware upgrade, knowing your specs gives you the insights you need.

For instance, if the system slows down or crashes, identifying the processor, memory, graphics, and storage configuration can help you determine the root cause.

Windows 10 provides multiple ways to view detailed system specifications, including CPU, RAM, motherboard, graphics card, BIOS or UEFI firmware, device model, driver versions, update history, and Windows version. You can access this information through built-in tools such as Settings, System Information, and the Command Prompt. However, available details may vary slightly depending on the method you choose.

In this how-to guide, I'll walk you through the steps to check your device's complete hardware and software specifications.

Google has so many products that it can be near-impossible to keep track. And yet, the company has rarely created desktop apps to go with those services. There are a handful, like Drive and Quick Share, but the company's flagship product is only now coming to the desktop. The new Google app for Windows is available now, allowing you to search the web, Google Drive, and even your local files.

The company stresses that the new app is experimental—it's limited to personal Google accounts, and you may encounter some bugs. The core functionality appears to be solid because it's not trying to do too much. After installation, you can press Alt+Space (or a shortcut of your choice) at any time to bring up a floating Google search bar. Just type your query, and the results page appears in a small window directly below the bar. It can also pull in select Knowledge Graph content, so you may not even have to type the whole query to get the information you need.

Microsoft's built-in Windows search functionality is notoriously crummy, and even in this experimental form, Google's Chrome OS-style search experience is better. It's fast, pulling up local files, Drive documents, and installed apps in a single interface. Both local files and Drive are optional, so you can use them only for search if you prefer. The app also includes Google Lens, which allows you to select anything on your PC's screen for image search or translation.

Despite Google's obsession with all things AI, the default search experience in the new app is the traditional results page. You can, however, switch it to AI Mode in the settings. If you're going to use Google's AI bot, this is a pretty good way to do it. The app doesn't take up much space and can float on top of other windows. It won't clutter up your browser tabs, either.

When you're done with the conversation (or search page), you can close the search bar with Alt+Space or Esc. You can also leave it floating on the screen, and the shortcut will move your cursor to the search bar. However, while the bar is resizable, the minimum size is still quite large.

The Google app for Windows is available for Windows 10 and Windows 11. You will need to opt in via Google's search labs before you can download it. Currently, the app is only available in the US and in the English language. Unfortunately, you do need to be logged in to use the Windows app.

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 5:34 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Today's updates do not add much to the operating systems. In fact, they do not even have dedicated changelogs. Microsoft has only updated release notes for the previous updates, build 22631.5982 and 19045.6388. The updated changelogs say that the new releases are only "small updates that addresse some issues with the updates themselves." Other than that, changes remain the same.

One of Windows 10's final Release Preview updates introduced a small set of general improvements and fixes to enhance the overall experience. Windows 11, on the other hand, which is not going anywhere in the foreseeable future, received an update with a more substantial changelog. It resolved bugs with authentication, display kernel issues, some input bugs, and problems with printing. You can find the complete changelog in our dedicated article here.

Note that today's Windows 11 update is for Windows Insiders with version 23H2. If you are on Windows 11 version 24H2 in the Release Preview Channel, you can check out builds 26100.6713 and 26200.6713, which introduced new features, such as the ability to change where hardware indicators appear. Additionally, in case you missed it, Microsoft recently released Windows 11 version 25H2 images for Release Preview Insiders.

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 4:49 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Today, Google announced a new Google app for Windows in Search Labs. This new app will allow users to find information from the web, Google Drive files, installed apps, and files saved on their Windows PC.

This new official Google app can be launched with a simple keyboard shortcut, Alt + Space. After installation, during the first run, users have to sign in using their Google account. After a successful sign-in and consent, users will be presented with the screen below, where they can allow the Google app to access their Google Drive and local PC files.

The Google app also comes with the popular Google Lens feature. Using Google Lens, users can just select and search anything they see on their PC screen. This feature will make it easy for users to translate content in other languages that has appeared on the screen. They can also use Google's AI Mode to solve homework problems. Users can also enter follow-up questions in AI Mode to get the expected answers.

Vinay Mahagaokar, Group Product Manager, Google Search Team, wrote the following regarding this new app:

"Now you can search without switching windows or interrupting your flow. Whether you're writing in a doc or in the middle of a game, just press Alt + Space to instantly search for information from your computer files, installed apps, Google Drive files — and of course, the web."

This new Google app is still in the experimental phase and has some known limitations. More importantly, this app is currently only available in English to users in the US. Other eligibility requirements for this app:

• Users 13 or older.
• On a Windows 10+ desktop device.
• Have a personal Google Account that you manage on your own. For now, Search Labs and its experiments are not available to Google Workspace accounts, including Google Workspace for Education accounts.

Interested users can join this experiment on Google Search Labs here.

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 4:47 am AEST (my time).

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With Firefox 143, Windows users can pin websites as web apps to the taskbar and run them in windows without the Firefox UI. A similar feature has been available in Edge and other browsers for quite a while, and Firefox is finally following suit. Keep in mind that this feature is not available in the Microsoft Store version of the browser.

Another Microsoft-related addition in Firefox 143 is Copilot. You can now have Microsoft's AI assistant in the sidebar to use it alongside your current tab. Additionally, Firefox now supports Windows UI Automation for improved accessibility, especially for built-in tools like Voice Access, Text Cursor, and Narrator.

Other useful changes in Firefox 143 include the ability to auto-delete files downloaded when in Private Browsing mode, xHE-AAC playback support on Windows 11 (version 22H2 and newer), macOS, and Android (verison 9 and newer), webcam preview in camera access prompt (useful if you have several cameras and you want to ensure the website uses the correct one), improved Fingerprinting Protection, and more features for the address bar. The latter can now show important dates in events if you live in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, or Italy.

As usual, the latest Firefox release includes security updates, various changes for developers, and a series of enterprise-related changes. Security updates will be available on this page (once it is live), and enterprise release notes will be here.

If you do not want to wait for Mozilla to ship Firefox 143 using its regular update channel, you can download the latest Firefox release from the company's FTP using this link. The browser is also available on Neowin's software page.

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 6:48 pm AEST (my time).

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The new operating system update for Mac is called macOS 26, not macOS 16, as many expected until earlier this year when Apple renamed all of its operating systems to include version "26." It is being pushed alongside iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26, which you can download on your respective Apple devices.

macOS 26 comes with a platter of new features and changes, including the Liquid Glass design language Apple has introduced across its OS lineup. It's the biggest visual overhaul from the company in years, with a visionOS-inspired glass-like user interface "that reflects and refracts its surroundings."

You will see a touch of Liquid Glass in the updated app icons, Spotlight, transparent menu bar, and refreshed apps with reflective sidebars and toolbars. Apple says it's pushing its "biggest Spotlight update ever" that lets you perform hundreds of actions. For instance, you can send a message to someone directly from the Spotlight or easily browse your installed apps.

macOS 26 builds on Apple's Continuity features, offering support for Live Activities from iPhone and a new native app to make phone calls from your Mac. The Phone app lets you access your Recents, Contacts, and Voicemail.

While you might be waiting for an upgraded Siri, Apple Intelligence now powers more of the Shortcuts app. You can have shortcuts to summarize text or create images. It also fuels the Live Translation feature to translate texts in Messages and displays automatically live captions in FaceTime and the Phone app.

If you don't have automatic updates turned on, you can download and install macOS 26 on your supported Mac model by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Here, click on the "Check for Update" button to get started with the update process.

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 6:47 pm AEST (my time).

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A high-speed internet connection is essential for many in 2025. Whether you're streaming games through NVIDIA GeForce Now, watching your favorite shows, or syncing files, you'll need to know your connection is up to par. Soon, Windows 11 will feature a "built-in" internet speed test tool.

The bad news is that the "built-in" tool is actually a pair of shortcuts to open Bing's built-in network speed test tool in a browser. The good news is that Microsoft has time to fix it.

The feature was spotted by phantomofearth on X, and it is hidden within the latest Windows 11 preview builds.

Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden already covered the new speed test feature in Windows 11. He also highlighted that it will likely be several months before we see the feature roll out to general users.

In that time, Microsoft could change how the tool works, though I don't have high hopes for a native interface.

As the support of Windows 10 comes to an end on October 14, 2025, it's now the time to sign up for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program to continue getting critical security updates after 2025.

When a version of Windows reaches the end of life, it typically marks the time when Microsoft officially abandons the development of that specific version of the operating system and stops providing security and maintenance updates, as well as technical support.

However, this doesn't mean that the operating system will stop working. Actually, the computer will continue to work normally, but as time passes, it'll become vulnerable to hackers and malware, and eventually, the device may start experiencing compatibility problems with apps and hardware.

Although the next logical step is to upgrade Windows 10 to the next supported version, which in this case is Windows 11, many people are still not ready to switch, and a significant number of devices are incompatible with the newer version due to the stricter hardware requirements imposed by Windows 11.

As a result of these challenges, Microsoft is currently offering regular users access to the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program to extend support for another year, until October 13, 2026.

The program has been available for a long time. However, it was initially limited to commercial customers, allowing them to keep devices running on retired versions of the operating system for up to three years. However, the option is now available to regular consumers, but it is limited to one year since the operating system reached the end of its support.

The company offers at least three options for signing up for the program:

• Free – This option is available if you're backing up files to OneDrive, regardless of whether you have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
• Microsoft Rewards – You can also redeem 1,000 points if you're enrolled in the rewards program.
• Paid – If you don't want to use the other options, you can pay $30 to access the program.

You can enroll up to 10 computers tied to the same Microsoft account, regardless of the option you choose. The only requirement is that you must be signed in with a Microsoft account, since the enrollment information is stored in this account.

Also, the computer must be running Windows 10 version 22H2 with the latest updates already applied. The device doesn't have to be compatible with Windows 11 to be eligible to enroll.

In this how-to guide, I'll outline the steps to enroll your PC running Windows 10 in the Extended Security Updates program.

How to enroll Windows 10 in the Extended Security Updates program

To sign up for the ESU program, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on Update & Security.
3. Click on Windows Update.
4. Click the "Check for updates" button to ensure the device has the latest updates, and the enrollment option becomes available.

The next step in Microsoft's plans for world domination is the rollout of the Copilot app for many Windows users. Microsoft confirmed plans to start the rollout this Fall, which means in the coming months.

According to Microsoft, the application will install itself in the background autoamatically, if another Microsoft 365 app is installed on the system. In other words, if you have installed a Microsoft 365 version of Word, Excel, or any of the other Office apps on a Windows machine, you will get the Copilot app installed automatically.

However, if you are from the European Economic Area, then you won't have the application installed automatically according to Microsoft.

Microsoft writes: "Windows devices with the Microsoft 365 desktop client apps will automatically install the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. This app installation takes place in the background and would not disrupt the user. This app installation will start in Fall 2025."

The company published instructions to prevent the automatic installation of the Copilot app on Windows PCs that meet the requirements.

Here they are:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center with an admin account.
2. Go to Customization > Device Configuration > Modern App Settings.
3. Select Microsoft 365 Copilot app, then clear the Enable automatic installation of Microsoft 365 Copilot app check box.

REgular users may disable Copilot via the Group Policy Editor or the Registry

Note: the following options disable Copilot on the Windows system. It needs to be seen whether these will also prevent the installation of the app.

Windows 11 home users who run the Pro edition of the operating system may also block the installation via the Group Policy Editor:

• Open the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). 
• Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot. 
• Enable the "Turn off Windows Copilot" policy

All Windows users may add the following option to the Registry

• Open the Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot. 
• Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it TurnOffWindowsCopilot. 
• Set its value data to 1

In any event, you may uninstall the Copilot application if it was installed automatically on your system via the Apps section of the Settings app.

Now you: what is your take on the auto-installation? Good move by Microsoft or yet another overreach?

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 3:00 am AEST (my time).

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Apple revealed Liquid Glass as part of its WWDC announcement this June, with all the pomp usually reserved for shiny new gear. The press release promised a “delightful and elegant new software design” that “reflects and refracts its surroundings while dynamically transforming to bring greater focus to content.” Today it launches globally onto compatible Apple devices.

If you haven’t encountered it yet, brace yourself. Inspired by visionOS—the software powering the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset—Liquid Glass infuses every Apple platform with a layered glass aesthetic. This is paired with gloopy animations and a fixation on hiding interface components when possible—and showing content through them when it isn’t.

The reaction during the summer’s public beta program was divisive. And while some people just hate change, Liquid Glass does invite criticism. Instead of sharpening focus, it too often muddies it due to legibility issues and distracting visual effects. On Mac, controls are overly prominent, yet on iPhone, they are relentlessly eager to disappear into a new Apple take on hamburger menus, denying users the chance to build effective muscle memory.

At times, Apple even verges on parody. Its press release talked of “establishing greater harmony between hardware, software, and content,” which in practice often means further blurring the line between interface and content and slapping huge rounded corners that echo the iPad’s screen onto every Mac and iPad window. The result: chopped-off content and a baffling disregard for more conventional rectangles, the most efficient shape in the history of multi-window computing.

Apple’s own press images champion a desktop devoid of color, making it tricky to distinguish between a row of “etched glass” icons.

COURTESY OF APPLE

Style Over Substance?

Jonas Downey, designer of Hello Weather, doesn’t entirely buy Apple’s pitch: “I dig Apple and weird flashy stuff and am impressed with a lot of execution details in the glass concept. But the new interfaces feel complicated and overbearing, with Apple imposing its own aesthetic ideas on everyone else. I could get on board if there was an obvious benefit,” he adds, “but I haven’t seen one beyond the old adage that user interfaces should get out of the way of content. That’s a fine principle, but Liquid Glass too often does the opposite.”

He reels off a list of issues. Translucent components causing distraction. Low contrast making it harder to differentiate elements. Excess shading and dimension on buttons and tabs making them pop more than the content beneath them. This, he says, can result in friction rather than focus. “Liquid Glass splits the difference between flat and skeuomorphic design, landing in a fragile middle space,” he concludes. “By trying to become more floaty and deconstructed, the system ends up more visually complex.”

For Ben McCarthy, creator of Obscura Camera, there’s at least promise in the “Liquid” part of the equation: “Dynamic Island was praised for its fluidity—how it expanded and contracted like viscous ink. Liquid Glass seems born of similar thinking, in that animations should be fun, dynamic, and rooted in material behaviors—and that aspect is hugely successful.”

The “Glass” part, though? Not so much. “Apple’s goal is to blend interface and content to reduce distraction, but I think Liquid Glass achieves the opposite,” McCarthy says. “It creates distortions that catch your eye as content scrolls. There are fundamental legibility issues, because Liquid Glass can’t control what passes behind it. And as the system tries to adapt, flipping between light and dark to stay readable, that only further adds to the distraction.”

Tension at the Core

Not everyone is down on Liquid Glass, though, and there has been excitement about the existence of a fresh, new design. Gregory de Jonckheere, creator of Quiche Browser, echoes McCarthy in being “particularly drawn to the exquisitely organic animations that build on what Apple started with Dynamic Island.” But he adds, “Even if these don’t directly improve usability, a Dieter Rams principle is that good design is aesthetic. Liquid Glass makes iOS feel more alive than ever. Apple raising the bar on visual delight pushes me to do the same in my own apps.”

He also reckons many of the loudest critics are “old-timer Apple developers from the pre-iPhone era,” rooted in nostalgia and resistant to change. He suggests Liquid Glass should be considered an opportunity: Users will see their devices refreshed, and creators infusing their output with new life may convince people to reconsider their go-to apps.

Guillaume Ardaud of Héliographe spent eight years at Apple and is less convinced. He identifies the deeper problem: Liquid Glass can’t decide what it wants to be. “There are real tensions between stated goals—separating interface and content layers, and then elevating the latter—and the reality of elements partially obscuring content and creating a swirl of distracting, constantly shifting colors as you scroll,” he says.

For Ardaud, though, this aspect of Liquid Glass merely reflects a wider trend in tech. Early computing emphasized usability because hardware was limited. Now that such constraints are gone, aesthetics are free to dominate, even when they may undercut information hierarchy and discoverability. Still, he retains optimism: “Apple has a history of course correction. Many of its people care deeply about usability, consistency, and accessibility. If we don’t see improvements over time, that’s when we’ll have to start worrying.”

Beta the Devil You Know

To be fair, some change has already happened. Liquid Glass isn’t quite the same beast it was in June. As the operating systems featuring it roll out on September 15, they’ll have replaced transparent glass with surfaces that appear more frosted. Aspects of design have been honed. Text on iPhone buttons has evolved from impossible-to-read to sometimes merely being indistinct. Progress. And that’s what a public beta is for: iteration in the open.

Still, the degree to which we saw the sausage being made was unusual. Apple likes to present designs as if they sprang forth fully formed. Even when the company feels compelled to make rapid alerations—Safari’s controversial iOS 15 redesign, for example—the fallout doesn’t usually impact entire operating systems. And regardless of any improvements, this year’s changes will still be seismic for everyday users who don’t follow Apple’s every move. “I’m curious to see the reactions of people who’ve never heard of Liquid Glass before updating their devices,” says Ardaud. “Some people dislike sudden change, particularly on gear they use for hours every day. Drastic redesigns can cause negative reactions, not least when they discard hard-earned lessons.”

App creators may also struggle. Instead of building new features, they’re now stuck supporting Liquid Glass alongside legacy interfaces. “It’s extra overhead,” says Ardaud. His fix: Use Liquid Glass sparingly, “only where it makes sense,” rather than plastering it everywhere. And he suspects companies with their own design systems may ignore it entirely.

Nobody Asked, but Apple Answered

All of which raises a larger question: Should we just move beyond wholesale redesigns that are heavily driven by aesthetic novelty? Downey believes so: “Devices like the iPhone and the Mac are no longer rapidly evolving technologies that demand constant reinvention. They’ve matured into essential tools that power global communication and commerce. They’re infrastructure, and they need to be stable.”

So why risk it? Why throw everything into upheaval when nobody needs Liquid Glass? Because Apple needs it. Design changes aren’t only about usability—they’re about marketing. Shiny visuals help keynote demos pop and screenshots look fresh. A feature called Liquid Glass sounds sexier than “refinements to Safari’s tab bar.” A whole new look plays better with potential customers than more of the same.

It’s also strategic. Rendering Liquid Glass is computationally expensive, creating what Ardaud calls a “design moat” around Apple. The effects run smoothly on recent Apple gear but would choke lower-spec devices common in the Android world. In short, Liquid Glass is Apple’s alone—and tricky to steal.

But who’d even want to? Some critics argue Android’s current aesthetic looks and feels sharper than Apple’s. And while Apple’s previous bout of major wheel reinvention, iOS 7, had copycats, it arguably aligned with prevailing simplification trends of the time. Skeuomorphism was done. Everyone needed something new. In 2025, though, who is clamoring for interfaces that recall the shapeshifting “big bad” from Terminator 2?

Liquid Gloss

If Apple is doing this primarily for itself, that’s a real problem. Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” By that measure, Liquid Glass falls short. As it stands, it often objectively doesn’t work, at least not well. Ideally, form should follow function. Good design should be informed by function, or it’s just gloss.

For its part, Apple clearly disagrees. It’s proud of Liquid Glass. And it even used the Jobs quote to headline its September 2025 event that featured new iPhones with Liquid Glass—much to the chagrin of many Apple followers.

Yet it apparently also took until a public beta for Apple to spot fundamental flaws like unreadable text in the first place. This led some to question whether anyone sufficiently senior at Apple now has the taste and authority to kill such bad design decisions? Sure, those aforementioned tweaks have since come. However, as McCarthy points out, “Apple spent the summer tweaking the behaviors of Liquid Glass, but a design that still has to lean either toward illegibility or constant flickering is fundamentally flawed.”

There may be one final angle. Alan Dye, Apple’s VP of human interface design, called Liquid Glass “the foundation for new experiences in the future.” Translation: Don’t judge it too harshly today—it’ll make sense on hardware you can’t yet buy. Foldables, maybe, or a “bezel-less” iPad. But Liquid Glass isn’t launching on hypothetical gadgets. It’s arriving on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac imminently. And instead of elevating content, it frequently obscures or dominates it.

Naturally, Apple won’t talk about future plans. It wouldn’t even comment on the record to WIRED about the present state of Liquid Glass. So we’re left to guess about the why. Future hardware? Marketing? Rousing apathetic customers? Apple’s design team chasing a sci-fi aesthetic that dazzles in Avengers movies but breaks down in actual use?

Layered glass works when you’re supposed to focus on an actor. But in the real world, Liquid Glass too often doesn’t help you focus attention on what matters most—your content. It demands attention for itself.

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 2:55 am AEST (my time).

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