The Redmond tech firm made numerous updates to its public Microsoft 365 Roadmap in the past few days, and a lot of the new items deal with Copilot. For starters, it is working on surfacing interactive Bing web answer cards in responses to prompts related to topics like stocks and weather, which is a good way to promote two services in one go. This is being tracked as ID 500865 and is scheduled to be released in November 2025.

In addition, small businesses will be pleased to hear about ID 501581, which indicates that the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard will no longer require 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses in order to track adoption trends in Copilot Chat Insights. This flexibility will become available in November 2025, too.

The OneDrive file browsing experience in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on iPad and iPhone is set to receive a major change, too. Users will be redirected to the dedicated OneDrive app for advanced actions like folder navigation, permission settings, and downloads. It will still be possible to search and view recent files in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, though. One major upgrade coming soon to both platforms is also the ability to create documents through prompts. The former capability is tagged as ID 501277 with a rollout date of October 2025, while the latter feature is identified as ID 500632 and is expected in September 2025.

Enterprise customers will be able to leverage the Copilot Chat to ask prompts about their meetings based on the RSVP status set by them and others, too. An example prompt is "List all events I have not RSVPed". This feature has an ID of 499429 and should become available next month. In the same month, organizations should also be able to reference a Loop or Page when creating a PowerPoint presentation with the help of Copilot, if IDs 500862-4 are anything to go by.

September will be a busy month, as Redmond is making it easier to launch the dedicated Microsoft 365 Copilot app from within the Copilot Chat pane in Microsoft 365 apps. This is tagged as ID 500866. In a similar vein, the Copilot Chat pane is also landing on Teams, inside chats, calls, and meetings next month, tracked as ID 501107.

Finally, Government Community Cloud (GCC) customers are not being left out in the cold either. Within the next couple of days, they are expected to be able to leverage GenAI capabilities present in Copilot to create images, posters, forms, and infographics that conform to their official branding. That said, it is important to note that the features and dates described in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap are not set in stone, so don't be surprised if plans change down the line.

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Posted Friday 29 August 2025 at 5:32 am AEST (my time).

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Windows 11 users will soon have a seamless way to resume apps from their Android phone on their PC. Microsoft just released an Insider build of Windows 11 that includes support for Cross Device Resume.

If you're a Windows Insider in the Dev or Beta Channels, you may see the option to continue listening to a Spotify track on your computer. The feature is gradually rolling out, so you may not see it even if you're in the Dev or Beta Channels.

I've used Windows my entire life and since the death of Windows Phone, my smartphones have run Android. While both of those operating systems meet my needs, I am envious of the Apple ecosystem sometimes.

If you're fully invested in Apple software and hardware, it feels like your devices are an extension of a single platform. Microsoft has taken several steps over the years to replicate this, but there are some gaps.

Microsoft has quite a few ways to connect devices across platforms, including OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, and Link to Windows. If you have a Samsung phone and laptop, you'll enjoy even more connections. The new Cross Device Resume feature builds on that idea.

In addition to Cross Device Resume, Windows 11 Build 26200.5761 improves the battery icon on the lock screen and includes the following changes, as outlined by Microsoft.

Windows 11 Build 26200.5761: Changes and Improvements

Click to Do (Preview)

The following changes and improvements are rolling out for Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs:

• Access 2016

• Access 2019

• Excel 2016

• Excel 2019

• OneNote 2016

• Outlook 2016

• Outlook 2019

• PowerPoint 2016

• PowerPoint 2019

• Project 2016

• Project 2019

• Publisher 2016

• Publisher 2019

• Skype for Business 2016

• Skype for Business 2019

• Visio 2016

• Visio 2019

• Word 2016

• Word 2019

• Exchange Server 2016

• Exchange Server 2019

• Skype for Business Server 2015

• Skype for Business Server 2019

   

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not declared any extension of dates for the versions. On a support article, the company notes that it will "will no longer provide technical support, bug fixes, or security fixes for Office 2016 and Office 2019 vulnerabilities," nor will you "receive Office 2016 and Office 2019 software updates from Microsoft Update."

The company's recommendation for such users is to get Microsoft 365. In fact, earlier this year, it explained why Microsoft 365 is the better way forward compared to Office. To further incentivize it, it also extended support for Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10 for an additional three-year period till October 2028, such that users who are looking to transition to Windows 11 from Windows 10 see Microsoft 365 as a good choice during this phase.

Fortunately for those who wish to stick to Office 2016 and 2019, 0patch has shared that it will continue to provide security support for them. Similar to Windows 10, which it had announced additional five-year support back in June 2024, the cybersecurity firm has added Office 2016 and 2019 to its "security-adopted" commitment. Hence, Office 2016 and 2019 apps will continue receiving updates "for at least 3 more years - and even longer if there's demand on the market" with its new micropatches.

If you are wondering, 0patch micropatches are delivered via in-memory and thus do not disrupt user workflow as they are not interrupted due to system restarts.

0patch notes that combined extended support for Windows 10 22H2 and Office 2016/2019 will be offered through a single license. There are a couple of paid plans for Office 2016/2019 support which the firm has detailed alongside the pricing information. It writes:

• 0patch PRO: suitable for small businesses and individuals, management on the computer only, single administrator account - currently priced at 24.95 EUR + tax per computer for a yearly subscription.

   

• 0patch Enterprise: suitable for medium and large organizations, includes central management, multiple users and roles, computer groups and group-based patching policies, single sign-on etc. - currently priced at 34.95 EUR + tax per computer for a yearly subscription.

   

Prices may get adjusted in the future but if/when that happens anyone having an active subscription on current prices will be able to keep these prices on existing subscriptions for two more years. (Another reason to subscribe sooner rather than later.)

You can find more details about them here on the official 0patch announcement post.

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 5:18 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has explained that Bluetooth audio quality is fairly low because Bluetooth Classic Audio offers two profiles. The first is Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), which prioritizes quality but doesn't allow use of the microphone, and the second is Hands-Free Profile (HFP), which enables the microphone at the cost of lower fidelity audio. So, there is no way in this classic technology to have both high-fidelity audio and a functioning microphone. The technology is a couple of decades old, and while HFP in particular has received some improvements, a major drawback in it is that it does not support stereo playback.

To tackle these problems, Microsoft has announced that it is working on a new feature in Windows 11, that enables Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio peripherals to play high-fidelity audio in stereo while having a functioning microphone too. This is a modern architecture that replaces both A2DP and HFP with flexible profiles that have a better compression algorithm and a "super wideband" audio fidelity at a bi-directional 32kHz sample rate while using voice, which means that audio won't be muffled anymore. As a trivia, super wideband audio sampling maxes out at 16kHz unidirectionally.

This should result in crisp audio across gaming sessions and spatial audio in Teams calls. Microsoft has described this technology as a game-changer and stated that it will be working with PC partners and Bluetooth Audio device-makers to enable this functionality on a wider scale.

In order to leverage superwide band (SWB) Bluetooth LE Audio for voice/speech, you'll need to be running at least Windows 11, version 24H2 (not all Bluetooth LE features require 24H2), but Microsoft says that PC- and audio device-makers will need to release driver updates to take advantage of super wideband Bluetooth LE Audio later in the year.

The Redmond tech firm expects new PCs released in late 2025 to support this technology out-of-the-box. Microsoft began testing Bluetooth LE earlier this year in Insider builds, but it's nice to have more concrete information about general availability at this point.

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 5:16 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft is set to cut support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. This move has received a lot of backlash from users, with some blatantly expressing a preference for Windows 10 over Windows 11, citing flawed design elements and stringent minimum system requirements among their reasoning.

While Windows 11 recently surpassed Windows 10 as the most dominant desktop operating system, a public interest group (PIRG) petitioned Microsoft to reconsider its decision to pull support for Windows 10, indicating that it could lead to the single biggest jump in junked computers ever.

Consequently, Microsoft has seemingly provided Windows 10 with a "buffer zone", or grace period, after its end of support. For instance, Windows 10 users can enrol in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which will grant them an extra year of support.

It's worth noting that the company recently changed the terms of the program from $30 per device to $30 for up to 10 devices. A Microsoft Account is also a mandatory requirement to make this payment. You can pay for the extended support program using 1,000 Microsoft Reward points if you don’t want to hand over any hard cash, either.

Alternatively, Windows 10 users can opt to sync PC settings data with the cloud via a Microsoft Account to continue receiving security updates from Microsoft for an extra year for free.

As you may know, enrolling your PC into the ESU program is done via a dedicated app that began rolling out in waves in July. However, October is fast approaching, and as it seems, a huge chunk of Windows 10 users are yet to gain access to the Extended Security Updates program.

Users with access to this critical update should see an 'Enroll' button in the Windows Update panel under the 'Check for updates' button, allowing you to sign up for the program pending Windows 10's imminent death.

With a little over a month until Microsoft cuts support for Windows 10, there seems to be plenty of users who have yet to gain access to the ESU program for their own extended support. However, while speaking to Windows Latest, Microsoft recently indicated that the toggle allowing users to sign up for the program will appear for Windows 10 users before the operating system's cutoff.

The Enroll button is seemingly rolling out in waves, and so far, there's nothing you can do to trigger it or make it appear faster. Perhaps the long-anticipated button could start appearing for most people on September 9, 2025, when Microsoft is expected to ship its next big update for Windows 10.

An extended year of Windows 10 support is enough

Microsoft announced that it is changing the default save location for Word documents on Windows.  "Anything new you create will be saved automatically to OneDrive or your preferred cloud destination", writes Raul Munoz, product manager at Microsoft on the Office Shared Services and Experiences team.

Munoz backs up the decision with half a dozen advantages for saving documents to the cloud. From never losing progress and access anywhere to easy collaboration and increased security and compliance.

While cloud saving is without doubt beneficial in some cases, Munoz fails to address the elephant in the room. Some users may not want that their documents are stored in the cloud. There are good reasons for that, including privacy.

Summed up:

• If you do not mind that Word documents are stored in the cloud, you do not need to become active.
• If you mind that Word documents are stored in the cloud by default, you need to modify the default setting.

Any document in Word that has the autosave option set to on at the very top of the window is saved in the cloud.

Furthermore, any new document will be named with the date instead of a traditional name by default. Microsoft notes that users may use the save option, e.g., by using the shortcut Ctrl-S, to change the file name or file location.

Word will display a prompt to the user when closing the document, if no save action was performed prior to the step.

The change is rolling out with Word for Windows version 2509 and later. Microsoft notes that the same change is coming to Excel for Windows and PowerPoint for Windows at a later stage as well.

Changing the default save location

Word customers who do not want their documents to be saved to the cloud by default need to become active to change the default save location.

Here is how that is done:

1. Open Word or any Word document.
2. Select File > Options.
3. Switch to the Save category in the Word Options window.
4. Uncheck "AutoSave files stored in the Cloud by default in Word".
5. Check "Save to Computer by default".
6. Make sure that the path under "Default local file location" is set correctly. Otherwise, click on browse to pick a new path or edit it manually.

Closing Words

Switching the default from local saves to cloud saves is a major change. It is unclear whether Microsoft intents to highlight it to every Word user before it is made, but my guess is that it will be one of those silent changes that you may not recognize for a while.

Now You: what is your preferred location for saving documents? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 4:56 am AEST (my time).

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About a day after we reported on the potential issue, the controller maker issued a statement on the matter saying that it was looking into it. Following its investigation, Phison issued a new statement to Neowin today about the progress:

As stated on August 18, Phison was made aware of the 'KB5063878' and ‘KB5062660’ updates on Windows 11 that potentially impacted several storage devices, including some supported by Phison. In response, Phison dedicated over 4,500 cumulative testing hours to the drives reported as potentially impacted and conducted more than 2,200 test cycles. We were unable to reproduce the reported issue, and no partners or customers have reported that the issue affected their drives at this time.

 

Phison remains committed to the highest standards of reliability and continues to closely monitor the situation in collaboration with our industry partners.

 

Best Practices for End Users
While our validation testing has not identified any concerns related to these Windows 11 updates, we have shared industry best practices to support high-performance storage devices. We continue to advise users that for extended workloads, such as transferring large files or decompressing large archives, make sure a proper heatsink or thermal pad is used with the storage device. This helps maintain optimal operating temperatures, reduces the likelihood of thermal throttling, and ensures sustained performance.

Thus Phison suggests it could be an issue on the user side rather than on the side of the controller as rigorous 4500 hours, that equates to over 2200 test cycles, did not lead to the kind of problems experienced by the user testing as Phison notes that it was "unable to reproduce the reported issue, and no partners or customers have reported that the issue affected their drives at this time."

Regardless Phison says that users who are having any such trouble should get in touch with Phison support, and in general, it has asked users to be careful when doing sustained writes that can be heavily stressful on a drive. A heatsink or some other heatspreader that can serve a similar purpose is recommended by the firm.

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 4:54 am AEST (my time).

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Fixed issues in Firefox 142.0.1 include bugs with tab dragging, text cursor appearing in wrong locations, crashes when using a gamepad on macOS, crashes on KDE Plasma, and more. Here is the changelog:

• Dragging multiple non-adjacent tabs in horizontal tab strip mode now correctly moves them together as a group. (Bug 1982933)

• Dragging multiple tabs no longer causes toolbar unresponsiveness or visual glitches. (Bug 1984342)

• Fixed an issue where the text cursor appeared in the wrong location.. (Bug 1984045)

• Fixed a crash related to gamepad use, particularly on macOS. (Bug 1870379)

• Fixed an issue where the expand on hover feature in the sidebar would sometimes stop working. (Bug 1982129)

• Fixed a crash in KDE Plasma when using certain custom window decorations. (Bug 1984823)

   

You can download Firefox 142.0.1 by heading to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Alternatively, get the browser from the official website or the Microsoft Store (Windows 10 and Windows 11).

In case you missed it, Mozilla recently released Firefox 142 with some useful productivity updates, such as the ability to preview a link by long-clicking it, Progressive Web App support, a feature that users have been asking Firefox to implement for years, and other changes. The update also fixed various bugs and security issues. You can check out the full release notes in our dedicated article. Additionally, Mozilla announced CRLite, a new certificate revocation system that should make the browser safer, faster, and more secure.

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 4:51 am AEST (my time).

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Other than optimizations for the two games, driver 32.0.101.7028 non-WHQL does not bring anything new to the table. There are no additional bug fixes, and the list of known issues remains the same:

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Visual corruptions may appear in certain scenarios with multiple application interactions.
• PEAK (DX12) exhibits flickering texture corruptions during gameplay. We recommend that PEAK be launched with the Vulkan rendering API to avoid flickering textures during gameplay.
• Broken Arrow (DX11) may experience lower than expected performance after changing graphics settings.
• World of Warcraft: Dragonflight may experience an application crash while switching the Graphics API to DX11.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio may experience an intermittent application crash while running the benchmark.
• Recommendation is to change the timeout slider to 1500 seconds or higher, to wait for each test to complete, in PugetBench benchmark settings.

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Broken Arrow (DX11) may experience lower than expected performance after changing graphics settings.
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (DX12) may experience an application crash with Ray-Tracing and XeSS enabled.
• World of Warcraft: Dragonflight may experience an application crash while switching the Graphics API to DX11.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio may experience an intermittent application crash while running the benchmark.
• Recommendation is to change the timeout slider to 1500 seconds or higher, to wait for each test to complete, in PugetBench benchmark settings.

Intel Core Ultra Series 1 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• World of Warcraft: Dragonflight may experience an application crash while switching the Graphics API to DX11.

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• World of Warcraft: Dragonflight may experience an application crash while switching the Graphics API to DX11.
• Adobe Premiere Pro may experience an application crash while using audio enhancement features.
• Topaz Video AI may experience visual artifacts when using certain AI models.
• PugetBench for Photoshop may experience an application crash while running the benchmark.
• PugetBench for Lightroom may experience an application crash while running the benchmark.

Intel 32.0.101.7028 non-WHQL supports 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 PCs with the following Intel processors and graphics cards:

You can download the driver from the official website here. Full release notes are available here (PDF).

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 4:47 am AEST (my time).

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For starters, OpenAI's latest GPT model, GPT-5 is now available in Visual Studio. It fits in quite well with the IDE since it is the company's most advanced reasoning model to date with upgrades to coding capabilities, math, reasoning, and more. In addition, MCP servers are now supported in Visual Studio and you can install them easily in order to connect your AI models and agents to disparate data sources and systems in a seamless manner.

Furthermore, code search via Copilot Chat has become a lot smarter because it now utilizes a more advanced Remote Semantic Search algorithm instead of the traditional BM25, which relies a lot on keyword matching rather than semantic meaning.

Microsoft has made some other enhancements too. Users can now authenticate with GitHub Copilot via their Google Account, connect their own language models through API keys, leverage better debugging mechanisms in Unreal Engine, reduce Copilot interference in their development workflows, and take advantage of the fact that Copilot Chat now understands your Git History.

The Redmond tech firm has emphasized that many of the aforementioned enhancements as well as improvements in general are a result of community feedback. As such, it has encouraged developers to continue submitting feedback about existing features and make requests for new capabilities. If you're interested in downloading the latest version of Visual Studio 2022, you can do so via the dedicated release notes page here.

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Posted Thursday 28 August 2025 at 4:45 am AEST (my time).

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The Redmond tech firm is testing a capability that autosaves Word in Windows content to the cloud by default. The company has touted numerous benefits in this approach, including better security and compliance in enterprise environments, no fear of lost progress, flexible storage options like SharePoint and OneDrive which also enable sync capabilities across other devices, and more online collaboration options. Of course, Microsoft has also mentioned Copilot integration for those who have a Copilot Chat or Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Customers who receive this change will notice a few differences. When they create a new Word file on Windows, it will be named Document-CurrentDate rather than DocumentIndex. The autosave toggle at the top will be enabled, and when you attempt to save through the Ctrl + S shortcut, you'll see a message at the top of the save dialog noting that "This file was created in the cloud". Alternatively, if you try to close a document without saving it, Word will ask you to confirm whether you want to save or discard it. Meanwhile, an empty document will be discarded without waiting for user consent.

The good news is that customers will have the option to change cloud locations or even disable the capability altogether through Word Options > Save > Create new files in the cloud automatically. In addition, you should also know about the known issues below:

• If you start a new Word session while another Word session is running, the new file created is not automatically saved.
• Sometimes, after changing the name of the document, there is a delay to refresh the list of recent files.
• If you have the Show the Start screen when this application starts setting disabled, the first file created after starting Word won’t be automatically saved.

Known issues are expected at this point, since the implementation is only available for Insiders. You need to be running Word for Windows Version 2509 (Build 19221.20000) or later in order to leverage cloud autosaves. Keep in mind that the capability will be landing on PowerPoint and Excel for Windows later this year too.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 5:26 pm AEST (my time).

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Here is what is new in KB5063842 with build number 19045.6282:

• [Common Controls] Fixed: An issue that affects how certain supplementary characters appear in Windows textboxes.
• [Input and Composition] Fixed: An issue with the Chinese Simplified Input Method Editor (IME). Some extended characters were shown as empty boxes.
• [Licensing] New! This update adds a new feature that allows customers using the Windows 10 keyless Commercial ESU solution—alongside a Windows 365 subscription—to block outbound network traffic. This enhancement supports compliance with Zero Exhaust policies.
• [Mobile Operator Profiles] Updated: Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles.
• [Multimedia] Fixed: An issue where mf.dll failed to enumerate redirected web camera devices on Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments.
• [Windows Hello] Fixed: An issue in which Narrator reads the incorrect name for the "Enhance Facial Recognition Protection" check box under the Facial Recognition setting.
• [Search pane] Fixed: An issue that might cause the Windows Search pane to not show the preview pane correctly.
• [Family Safety] Fixed: An issue where the "Ask to Use" approval flow was not being triggered for blocked apps. With this fix, the approval flow now appears as expected when a blocked app is accessed.
• [Portable Devices] Fixed: An issue where the Removeable Storage Access policy may not work properly.
• [Windows Backup for Organizations] New! Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available! Experience seamless device transitions with enterprise-grade backup and restore. Whether you're refreshing your organization’s devices, upgrading to Windows 11, or deploying AI-powered PCs, this solution helps sustain productivity with minimal disruption, ensuring business continuity and organizational resilience.

KB5063842 is an optional update, so feel free to skip it if you do not need any of those fixes. If you want to download it, go to Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update, check for available updates and click "Download and install." Alternatively, you can get it from the Microsoft Update Catalog using this link.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 5:25 pm AEST (my time).

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Aside from that, the new update also brings multiple bug fixes and other improvements. The full changelog is given below:

• [Windows Backup for Organizations] New! Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available! Experience seamless device transitions with enterprise-grade backup and restore. Whether you're refreshing your organization’s devices, upgrading to Windows 11, or deploying AI-powered PCs, this solution helps sustain productivity with minimal disruption, ensuring business continuity and organizational resilience.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 5:23 pm AEST (my time).

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In the release notes for the latest Windows Terminal updates, including the latest preview, Microsoft explained that it took the company that long because developers wanted to focus on stability in version 1.23, plus they backported "hundreds of changes" to today's release to make it "generally awesome".

In addition to being awesome, the update brings an improved windowing architecture, a reworked UI for the New Tab dropdown menu, more options in the Settings section (previously only accessible in the JSON file), and more. Here is what is new in Windows Terminal 1.23, which is now available:

• A completely new and more reliable windowing architecture, featuring a more robust tray icon, window actions, "summoning" (like, of the Quake window and its assorted demons)
• A whole new UI for customizing your New Tab dropdown menu (!)
• Actually, new settings which were previously JSON exclusives are showing up across the settings interface: bell sounds, compatibility, cell size customization, profile-specific foreground/background, a new spatial "padding" editor, and an icon picker just to name five.
• Drag/drop path translation, with a number of different options to suit most (some?) needs
• Support for applications to control the size of the window using CSI t (DTTERM Window Manipulation) in some cases
• Not forgetting about profiles that temporarily disappear (like if you launch Terminal while Visual Studio was upgrading and we'd permanently forget you ever used Visual Studio)

You can find additional changes, small fixes, and other improvements in release notes for all Windows Terminal 1.23 Preview updates:

• Windows Terminal Preview v1.23.10353.0
• Windows Terminal Preview v1.23.10732.0
• Windows Terminal Preview v1.23.11132.0
• Windows Terminal Preview v1.23.11752.0
• Windows Terminal Preview v1.23.12102.0

You can update Windows Terminal via the Microsoft Store. Additionally, check out the latest update for Windows Terminal 1.24 Preview, which includes bug fixes, stability improvements, and a few minor feature changes.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 5:22 pm AEST (my time).

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AnyDesk is a pretty useful application that allows anyone to access and remotely control your PC, as long as they have your consent. It is particularly beneficial in enterprise environments where helpdesk agents may take control of your PC in order to investigate or fix certain issues. That said, it also has its uses in personal environments where you may use it to access your other devices or collaborate on a project with online friends. Now, the software has received a fairly significant update, adding new features and fixing bugs.

In terms of new capabilities, the biggest item arguably is the option to continue the copy-paste process of files in transit rather than restarting the replication process from scratch. This will save a lot of time in many scenarios. Other nifty enhancements include the ability to mute separate tabs, and enable dark theme in AnyDesk One.

In addition, AnyDesk will now play a sound for an incoming connection request, improving accessibility. It will also offer hints for strong passwords, along with screen recording capabilities in Windows 7.

There are several bug fixes in tow too, summarized below:

• Fix bug that caused dynamic config to not trigger updates when reading cache
• Fix AnyDesk icon is black if user starts the service
• Fixed client IDs with spaces not being recognized in the ACL
• RMM: Favorite state of devices can now be set in device view
• RMM: Fix date and time of triggered alerts being cut off by long alert names

Finally, other minor enhancements include Georgian translations and icons for the News, Favorites, Recent Sessions, Discovered, and Invitations entries in the search panel of the main window. If all of this tickles your fancy and you're on the lookout for a remote desktop application, make sure to download AnyDesk version 9.6.0 through our dedicated Software stories section here.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 5:20 pm AEST (my time).

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This belief stems from the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant report for DaaS, where Microsoft has been crowned as the leader for the third year in a row. The company has been rated the highest both in terms of completeness of vision and the ability to execute.

Microsoft has highlighted that its strategy in this area is to use DaaS as an enabler for businesses rather than a purely technical solution. This is also where its AI strategy comes in to play through Copilot and Neural Processing Units (NPUs) that work in tandem with desktop solutions to meet various productivity and efficiency needs of organizations.

The Redmond tech firm is working on five principles to build the "next generation" of digital workspaces. They include empowering the modern workforce, building an integrated ecosystem, implementing a scalable architecture with a global reach and trust, enabling flexibility and choice especially in licensing and deployment practices, and innovating for the future through AI and cloud desktops.

To follow these principles, Microsoft has already deployed numerous solutions focused on cloud and AI, such as Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Security Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. It aims to facilitate organizations by offering them AI-powered cloud desktop solutions that are accessible from virtually anywhere and at any time, reduce the burden on IT admins, and enable flexible cost management. Other players in the DaaS leadership quadrant include AWS, Citrix, and Omnissa, with Parallels being a prominent entry in the "Visionaries" quadrant.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 3:08 am AEST (my time).

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Starting off with Excel for Windows and Mac, Insiders can now leverage the COPILOT() function that enables them to prompt the built-in AI model in natural language to achieve various outcomes like sentiment analysis, classification, summary generation, and more. It's quite similar to the AI() function that was introduced in Google Sheets a couple of months back.

Excel for Windows and the web also gained the Explain Formula feature, which does exactly what it says on the tin through the power of AI. We covered the inline assistant in detail here.

Meanwhile, all three main Excel platforms, Windows, Mac, and web can now leverage the Python programming language to analyze images directly in Excel. That said, the capability is exclusive to Insiders for now. Other minor enhancements that arrived on Excel for Windows are new customization options for the Draw tab and a couple of new pens for annotation.

Finally, Excel for web customers netted the ability to directly edit data label texts in visualizations, a feature that was already available on Windows. That said, its arrival on the web means that customers don't need to switch platforms for a relatively minor edit. This is something that was highly requested by Excel users so it has been tagged as "#FIA", which translates to "Feedback in Action". If you have feedback about existing capabilities or want to request new ones, make sure to let the company know via the built-in feedback utility in Excel.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 3:05 am AEST (my time).

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In addition to full support for the next operating systems from Apple and Microsoft, Parallels Desktop 26 features improvements to background process handling on macOS 26 and accurate Mac disk visibility in Windows-based virtual machines. The latter gives users better control during storage-intensive tasks and helps avoid freezes or crashes that could occur when running out of storage.

Parallels Desktop 26 also has several updates for enterprise users and IT admins, such as the ability to monitor and manage Windows virtual machine updates with Jamf Pro or other mobile device management platforms, a new guide about setting up a single Windows app without giving users access to the Windows operating system or Parallels Desktop interface, SOC 2 Type II Compliance, and granular policy controls for secure VM environments so that all virtual machines within an organization comply with security policies.

Prallels Desktop 26 for Mac is now available for $99.99 per year. A perpetual license will set you back $219.99. Pro Edition costs $119.99 per year, and Business Edition $149.99 per year. Additionally, you can update from any previous Parallels Desktop release to version 26 for $69.99. A free trial and enterprise licenses are also available. You can read more about Parallels Desktop 26 in a blog post on the official Parallels website.

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Posted Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 3:03 am AEST (my time).

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On Windows 11, Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) is a feature that has been designed to quickly restore your computer from a critical boot failure that prevents it from starting correctly.

Actually, it's part of Microsoft's Windows Resiliency Initiative and aims to reduce downtime and the need for manual intervention by network administrators during large-scale recovery scenarios. However, the company is also making this feature available for consumers running the Home or Pro editions of Windows 11 starting with the August 2025 Security Update for version 24H2 and higher.

Quick Machine Recovery process explained

When your computer repeatedly fails to boot, it automatically enters the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), and it automatically connects to the network using the internet connection.

After the network connection is established, the system will upload the diagnostic data to Microsoft's servers to identify the problem. If a known fix exists for the issue (especially for widespread outages), the company can deliver a targeted remediation.

Then, the system will download and apply the fix using the Windows update mechanism and reboot. If the fix is successful, the device boots directly into the Windows 11 environment. If not, it reboots back into the recovery environment and tries again.

Quick Machine Recovery comes enabled by default on Windows 11 Home, but devices running Windows 11 Pro or higher releases will have to configure the feature manually.

Also, this feature is an evolution of the Startup Repair feature. If it's enabled, the device will connect to the network and download the remediation using Windows Update. In contrast, when QMR is disabled, the computer will try to use the legacy Startup Repair feature to recover.

What this means is that under certain conditions, enterprise customers (more specifically, IT admins) will have the option to control if quality updates should be installed during the out-of-the-box experience (OOBE). Quality updates are designed to improve the general stability and performance of the system through bug fixes.

In order to meet this criteria, the device should be running Windows 11, version 22H2 or later on an Enterprise, Pro, Education, or SE SKU. It should be Entra-joined or Entra hybrid-joined, configured with Microsoft Intune, and have a Windows Autopilot Enrollment Status Page (ESP) profile. Finally, the machine should have either received the August 2025 OOBE zero-day patch update, or be imaged with the June 2025 Windows non-security update, at the very least.

The ability to control the installation of quality updates during OOBE can be configured through the Intune admin center via Devices > Enrollment > Enrollment Status Page. Locate the relevant ESP profile, and set Install Windows quality updates (might restart the device) to Yes. Microsoft has cautioned that existing ESP profiles will have the default toggle set to No, while new ESP profiles will have them defaulted to Yes.

The benefit of this approach is that quality updates will begin installing at the last OOBE view, and when a user logs in to the device for the first time, they will have necessary updates already installed.

Microsoft has noted that while its guide is geared more towards Intune, other non-Microsoft mobile device management (MDM) solutions which have ESP profiles may support the capability too. You can find out more details here, especially if you're an IT admin who wants September 2025's quality updates to be installed automatically during OOBE.

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Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 6:47 pm AEST (my time).

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Be very careful with updates this month.

KB5063878, an August 12 “routine” security update, seems to have sparked a potentially serious problem. I’ll get into that in a second, but the key takeaway is that I’m not lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4 or 5, as I usually do toward the end of a month. I’m lowering it only to 3.

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Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 6:41 pm AEST (my time).

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The VM Conversion utility can be leveraged as an extension in the Windows Admin Center. It specializes in converting VMware virtual machines to Windows Server with Hyper-V. It does this by forming a connection to the virtualization environment in an agentless manner, and begins replicating data from the source without any interruption or downtime. Then, the source VM is powered down after user consent, and data is moved to the target host.

Microsoft has boasted that up to 10 VMs can be migrated at a time within a few minutes, with BIOS-based VMs automatically mapped to Generation 1, and UEFI-based VMs mapped to Generation 2, while maintaining boot configurations. VM Conversion also supports multiple hard disks and the migration of both Windows and Linux guest VMs.

The Redmond tech firm says that all of this is accomplished by first performing prechecks that validate critical components and configurations of the guest VM. Any issues found during this process have to be manually fixed by IT admins. Then, VM Conversion leverages change block tracking (CBT) to create a replica of the source, while ensuring that the source remains operational, and once it is being powered down, another replication pass takes place which captures the delta changes between the first replica and the powered-down state, and carries over those changes too.

Of course, there are lots of other technical details too, which you can read about here. But do keep in mind that the extension is completely free and can be installed inside the Windows Admin Center.

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Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 6:41 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft wants to approach the task with four phases. Phase 1 is all about making more internal contributions available on GitHub. Phase 2 will let developers clone the repository and build WinUI locally. Phase 3 will allow third-party developers to contribute to the project, and the final phase will have GitHub as "the primary place for development, issue tracking, and community engagement," with internal repositories phased out.

Right now, developers at Microsoft are busy "untangling" WinUI from proprietary parts of Windows that cannot be shared publicly. Once Windows App SDK 1.8 is out later this month (currently in preview, and WinUI is tied to WASDK), developers will start implementing pull requests on GitHub. Microsoft plans to complete phase 1 by early October 2025.

As for allowing third-party devs to clone the repo and build locally, Microsoft says it is currently in "active exploration" of the idea. It requires a more cautious approach, so expect the company to take some time before sharing more details. Here is what the company says:

Because WinUI’s shipping schedule is tied to the Windows App SDK, our branching strategy now lets us start completing PRs alongside the upcoming WASDK 1.8 release. The 1.8 Preview shipped on August 19, and the stable release is coming soon, which gives us the right foundation to begin integrating changes. With that alignment, we’re targeting early October for completion of Phase 1.

 

Phase 2 is still in active exploration, and while we’re treating it more cautiously, we hope to share tangible progress soon.

You can follow the discussion about making WinUI open-source on GitHub.

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Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 6:00 am AEST (my time).

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Search is a critical part of tools like PowerToys. Windows 11's Settings app, for example, has a pretty advanced search, which, on supported devices, can understand natural language and even take action on your behalf. In PowerToys, though, you have to dig through different modules to find the exact setting you need. Quite inconvenient. However, it seems that the upcoming update will mitigate that.

A pull request with an "In for 0.94" tag on GitHub offers to upgrade PowerToys with a dedicated search bar that will let you find modules, specific settings, and other elements. Just type what you need to adjust, and the app will show you all the plugins that match your request.

Here is what the search bar could look like in the next PowerToys update:

PowerToys usually gets major feature updates every month, with a couple of servicing updates in between big releases. For now, there is no guarantee that the search bar will make it to the next release, but it is definitely a welcome change that Microsoft should implement in the fan-favorite app for Windows 10 and 11. You can track the feature progress on GitHub. PowerToys is open-source, which means every developer can offer suggestions and contributions. Some of them include useful new modules for PowerToys Command Palette, a handy launcher that every Windows user should try.

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Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 5:58 am AEST (my time).

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Torvalds started the Linux kernel as a personal hobby, but never intended for it to be professional. The initial project was started in April 1991 and by July 1991, he was working on user-level aspects like device drivers and a working hard disk. Other early milestones included porting bash and gcc, and he made the first sources for version 0.01 available to a small group of users in September 1991.

Interestingly enough, the earliest version of Linux, version 0.01, was just source code and not actually runnable. Torvalds has said that it was released as a token gesture for those who were interested at the time. Another interesting detail is that early versions of Linux were non-portable and were dependent on i386 features and the GCC compiler - notably, i386 support was cut from the kernel in version 3.8 released in 2012.

The Linux kernel finally became useful in October 1991 when version 0.02 was released. It was a significant step as the first usable version. With that said, it was still a “hackers kernel” with plenty of bugs and missing features like a floppy driver. However, it was able to successfully run important binaries such as bash, gcc, and GNU utilities.

By version 0.11, released in December 1991, the system had improved with demand loading, code/data sharing, better drivers, and support for various keyboards and graphics. It was also a major milestone as it was the first to include the programs mkfs, fsck, and fdisk, making it no longer necessary to use Minix for setup.

It was around this point when the Linux kernel evolved from a solo effort to a collaborative one with the addition of new features coded by others, such as POSIX job control by tytso. As more people began to learn about Linux, the first mailing list, “Linux-activists” was created alongside mirror sites for FTP access.

The community helped address a critical problem by needing to run the system with less memory, this led Torvalds to implement disk-paging. The initial copyright used on the kernel was quite interesting too. It was lenient, but also restrictive because it didn’t allow money to change hands, this was later changed.

With the launch of version 0.12 in January 1992, the kernel had become very stable and began to spread faster. The version included major corrections, VM (paging to disk), and job control, addressing key user needs. By this point, Linux was doing many things better than Minix, gaining significant interest. Following this, the version number jumped from 0.12 to 0.95.

Linux has come on a long journey since these early releases with the third release candidate of Linux 6.17 arriving just yesterday. While Linux hasn’t had much traction on personal computing devices, hovering around 5% of marketshare, it has had tremendous success in other areas. It’s widespread on servers, powers most cloud infrastructure, runs on most of the world’ supercomputers, it’s in many embedded devices, and it’s the core of Android.

Happy 34th birthday Linux!

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Posted Tuesday 26 August 2025 at 5:57 am AEST (my time).

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