Here is what is rolling out gradually:

• [Recall]
  • New! Recall is now available in the European Economic Area (EEA). For more info, see Retrace your steps with Recall. In the EEA, Recall supports exporting snapshots to share with trusted third-party apps and websites. When saving snapshots is turned on for the first time, a unique Recall export code appears. This code is required to decrypt exported snapshots and is shown only once during initial setup. Microsoft doesn’t store or recover this code. To export, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Recall & Snapshots > Advanced Settings and authenticate with Windows Hello. Choose to export past snapshots (from the last 7 days, 30 days, or all) or start a continuous export. Third-party apps can access exported snapshots only when both the export code and folder path are provided. If you lose or compromise the export code, reset Recall to generate a new one.
  • New! For all Recall users worldwide, you can now reset Recall and delete all its data. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Recall & Snapshots to find a new advanced settings page. There, you’ll see a reset button that deletes all your snapshots and restores Recall to its default settings.
• [Click to Do]
  • New! Practice in Reading Coach is a new Click to Do text action that helps you improve reading fluency and pronunciation. Select text on your screen, choose Practice in Reading Coach, and read the text aloud. Reading Coach gives you feedback and shows where to improve. To use this feature, install the free Microsoft Reading Coach app from the Microsoft Store.
  • New! Read with Immersive Reader is a new text action in Click to Do that displays text in a focused, distraction-free environment. It helps improve reading and writing for all skill levels and abilities. You can adjust text size, spacing, font, and background theme, have text read aloud, break words into syllables, and highlight parts of speech. The picture dictionary shows images for unfamiliar words. To use this feature, install the free Microsoft Reading Coach application from the Microsoft Store.
  • New! With the Draft with Copilot in Word text action, you can quickly turn any recognized text into a full draft. Whether it’s a sentence in an email or a snippet on your screen, press Win + Click on the recognized text, then select Draft with Copilot in Word. No more blank pages. No more writer’s block. Just momentum. To use “Draft with Copilot in Word” a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription is required.
  • New! Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs now supports actions through Microsoft Teams. When you select an email address recognized by Click to Do on your screen, you can choose to send a Teams message or schedule a Teams meeting. These options make it easy to ask a question or set up time to talk without interrupting your workflow.
• [Settings]
  • New! The new agent in Settings is part of the Copilot+ PC experience and is designed to address one of the most common frustrations: finding and changing settings on your PC. You can describe what you need help with, such as “how to control my PC by voice” or “my mouse pointer is too small,” and the agent will suggest steps to resolve the issue. The agent uses AI on your PC to understand your request and, with your permission, can automate and complete tasks for you. This experience is rolling out to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, with support for AMD and Intel™-powered PCs coming soon. It currently works only if your primary display language is set to English.
  • New! On non-Copilot+ PCs, the Settings app now shows the Search box at the top center to make searching easier and more consistent.
  • Fixed: If your PC is set to ‘Do nothing’ when you close the lid (under Settings > System > Power and Battery) and the Settings window is left open when you close the lid, reopening the lid might cause the Settings window to stop responding. It might become unresponsive to input or resizing and instead just display your accent color.
  • Fixed: Settings might stop responding when you try to save Wi-Fi network credentials.
• [Windows Resiliency Initiative] The following changes are part of the Windows Resiliency Initiative announced at Ignite 2024:
  • New! Quick machine recovery is now available. When enabled, it automatically detects and fixes widespread issues on Windows 11 devices using the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This reduces downtime and avoids the need for manual fixes. If a device experiences a widespread boot issue, it enters WinRE, connects to the internet, and Microsoft can deliver a targeted fix through Windows Update. IT admins can enable or customize this experience for their organization through the Intune Settings Catalog UI using the RemoteRemediationCSP. There is also a dedicated quick machine recovery settings page available under System > Recovery > Quick machine recovery. Today, it’s enabled by default for home users.
  • New! A more streamlined interface appears during an unexpected restart. This updated design aligns with Windows 11’s visual style and helps you return to work faster. The screen displays a more readable layout while keeping the technical details visible. This screen appears with a black background.
• [Start menu] New! We are adding a Boolean option to the Configure Start Pins policy to allow admins to apply Start menu pins once. This means that a user will receive admin pins on day 0 but can then make any changes to their Start pinned layout and have those changes safeguarded. These changes can be optionally applied through the existing configuration Service Provider (CSP).
• [Snap] New! Improvements make it easier to learn and use Snap in Windows 11. Inline messages now appear when you accidentally open the Snap Bar by dragging an app to the upper center of your desktop or open the Snap menu by hovering over the Minimize or Maximize button. These messages provide helpful tips on Snap app windows and show keyboard shortcuts.
• [Windows Search] New! Windows Search settings are now easier to find. Instead of two separate pages for settings (“Search permissions” and “Searching Windows”), you can find everything in one place under Settings > Privacy & security > Search. This new page has a modern look and a better layout, so you can quickly view and manage all your Windows Search settings.
• [Input] New! The Gamepad layout of the Windows touch keyboard now includes enhanced controller navigation and improved focus handling for child keys, menus, word suggestions, language switching, and settings. A new Gamepad keyboard, designed for gaming, also supports PIN sign-in on the Windows lock screen. It offers controller shortcuts for quick PIN entry and full navigation for those who prefer not to use shortcuts.
• [File Explorer]
  • Fixed: If you open More options in File Explorer to view the full list of folders for the current path, the dropdown menu might not display completely, making the bottom part inaccessible.
  • Fixed: File operation progress dialogs might stop appearing when displayed from apps.
  • Fixed: Syncing more SharePoint sites to File Explorer might slow performance when navigating folders or opening the context menu. This can also affect how quickly files launch.
• [Desktop icons] Fixed: If you have an app pinned to your desktop and it updates, the app icon might not display correctly and instead show a white page.
• [Notifications] Fixed: When you select a Windows notification, it might not bring the related app to the foreground as expected—for example, this can happen with Outlook notifications.

Here are the changes that are available to all users right here and right now:

• [Authentication] Fixed: This update addresses an issue that affects the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). LSASS might stop responding during machine password changes with specific audit settings.
• [File Explorer] Fixed: File Explorer Home might unexpectedly only display a single folder (for example, Desktop), rather than the expected content with recent files and more.
• [File system] Fixed: This update addresses an issue in the Resilient File System (ReFS) where using backup applications on large files could occasionally result in system memory becoming fully exhausted.
• [Graphics] An issue where external graphics cards connected through Thunderbolt weren’t always recognized in some cases.
• [Input (know issue)]
  • Fixed: An issue when using the Microsoft Changjie IME (input method editor) for Traditional Chinese might cause problems such as not being able to form or select words, unresponsive spacebar or blank key, incorrect word output, or a broken candidate window display. This can occur after installing KB5062553.
  • Fixed: This update addresses an issue that affects Phonetic input methods, including the Hindi Phonetic Input keyboard and the Marathi Phonetic keyboard, which might not work correctly after installing KB5062553.
• [Stability issue] This update addresses an issue observed in rare cases after installing the May 2025 security update and subsequent updates causing devices to experience stability issues. Some devices became unresponsive and stopped responding in specific scenarios.
• [Windows Firewall] Fixed: This update addresses an issue found in Event Viewer as Event 2042 for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. The event appears as "Config Read Failed" with the message "More data is available." For more information about this issue, see "Error events are logged for Windows Firewall" in the Windows Health Dashboard.

You can download KB5062660 by heading to Settings > Windows Update and clicking "Check for Updates." The update is also available via the Microsoft Update Catalog.

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 1:08 pm AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Microsoft says that users reported that the ESU wizard would not work correctly when they tried to use the option to extend support for Windows 10 for another year; this bug should be fixed now. The company has also fixed "stability issues" with this release as it resolves problems in the core file system. Affected users reported unresponsive systems since the May 2025 Patch Tuesday.

There are other improvements as well. The full changelog is given below:

• [Extended Security Updates] Fixed: An issue impacting the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) enrollment wizard. Some users experienced a problem where clicking “Enroll now” caused the wizard window to open, begin loading, and then close unexpectedly. This occurred due to incomplete app registration, which prevented the wizard from loading correctly. This update addresses that issue to ensure a smoother enrollment experience.

   

• [Mobile Operator Profiles] Updated: Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles.

   

• [Secure Boot] New! Adds the ability to deploy SKUSiPolicy VBS Anti-rollback protections through the Secure Boot AvailableUpdates registry key.

   

• [Core File Systems] Fixed: An issue observed in rare cases after installing the May 2025 security update and subsequent updates causing devices to experience stability issues. Some devices became unresponsive and stopped responding in specific scenarios.

   

• [Input]

   

  • Fixed: A known issue with the Microsoft Changjie Input Method. Users were unable to select words after a recent update.

  • Fixed: A known issue when searching for an emoji in the emoji panel. After a recent update, the search always returns no results.

  • Fixed: An issue in which phonetic input methods, including the Hindi Phonetic Input keyboard and Marathi Phonetic keyboard do not work correctly after a recent update.

     

You can find the official support article here on Microsoft's website.

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 1:07 pm AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Excel for the web has recently netted a very important feature: the ability to refresh authenticated data sources leveraging Power Query. Previously, if you wanted to refresh an external data source in Excel for the web, you would need to download the file locally and apply the refresh there before syncing it to the web version or uploading it there.

With the latest enhancement, you can simply apply Refresh All through the Data tab or refresh individual data sources through the Queries pane. Currently, refreshes are limited to 1,000 connections per user, and once you trigger a refresh, you may be prompted to enter your credentials to the authenticated data source, which includes SharePoint, SQL Server, Web API, and more. You can continue working on other aspects of your workbook while the refresh completes.

In the same vein, it is now possible to view and manage data source credentials for queries authored by Power Query through the Data > Data Source Settings tab. Users have the ability to view, delete, and modify credentials at a global level or just for their current workbook. They will also be able to authenticate to a data source that already exists in the Excel workbook through the same tab.

Both these capabilities are now available for all Excel for the web customers. Microsoft says that its future plans include the migration of the full-fledged Power Query experience from desktop to the web, but it is yet to share a public timeline.

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 1:06 pm AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

July has been a cooler weather month than usual for my little corner of California. But I’m still getting the heat — from updates.

I’ve been blistered by the number of vulnerabilities that were patched this month, along with some unique bugs that were seen only in the cloud. Nevertheless, things have settled down, and I’m lowering MS-DEFCON to 4.

Microsoft is once again experiencing some bugs unique to its cloud desktop platform. As noted in KB5064489 for an out-of-band update to OS Build 26100.4656:

[Fix for Azure Virtual Machines with Trusted Launch disabled] This update addresses an issue that prevented some virtual machines (VMs) from starting when Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) was enabled. It affected VMs using version 8.0 (a non-default version) where VBS was offered by the host. In Azure, this applies to standard (non–Trusted Launch) General Enterprise (GE) VMs running on older VM SKUs. The problem was caused by a secure kernel initialization issue.

Note that this was not seen on desktops, only on hosted virtual machines. That’s why I’m recommending that you go ahead and install updates to your Windows 11 24H2 machines. Note you will not be offered that particular update, but rather the normal released patch of KB5062553.

KB5062553 also included several bug fixes:

[Graphics] Fixed: This issue occurs only if the June 2025 non-security update (KB5060829) is installed. Game content might become out of sync with the cursor position after using Alt+Tab to switch away and back from certain games running in full screen exclusive mode, when the game resolution doesn’t match the desktop resolution.

[Multimedia] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where notification sounds didn’t play. Affected sounds included those for on-screen alerts, volume adjustments, and sign-in.

I’m always amazed that so many little bugs get introduced into what should be a stable and boring platform.

I have yet to see the offer to receive extended security updates on my other two Windows 10 machines at home, but we are still in the “dribble phase” of the rollout and I’m not concerned. We have plenty of time to worry about Windows 10 before October. For those of you in business, don’t expect to see the ESU offering for businesses sooner than September. I’m watching this closely and will report on both the consumer and business situations as soon as I know.

Consumers

Those of you with Windows 11 24H2 may see a cosmetic error in your System event logs after the installation of KB5062553. It will read Event 2042, Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and indicate Config Read Failed (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A typical event description for Event 2042

Don’t worry — nothing is wrong, and everything is working as it should. Microsoft plans to come out with a new feature related to the firewall; this is a merely cosmetic bug impacting some machines. Unfortunately, logged error messages such as this one (and others) are not helpful at all — can you see anything in the dialog above that gives you any clue about what’s going on?

If you check your logs and see messages such as this one, ask yourself a simple question: Is your system working as you expect? If so, it is almost always the case that the log entry is meant to help the folks at Microsoft diagnose behaviors — rather than a bona fide warning that something is seriously wrong.

If you are still on the fence about Windows 11 on an older computer, a tool on GitHub called Flyby11 allows you to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. I will once again warn — based on my direct experience — that, although you can force Windows 11, the next feature release will not automatically download and install. You’ll have to do that work manually.

We’ve spent a lot of time over the past year talking about Windows 11 24H2. I’m sure we’ll have much more to say, but a few weeks ago Microsoft posted Get ready for Windows 11, version 25H2 to its Windows IT Pro blog. This time around, the 25H2 feature release will be pushed to us in pieces that are part of the monthly Latest Cumulative Updates (LCUs) for 24H2, but the pieces will not be enabled. Later this year, an enablement package (which Microsoft calls an “eKB”) will be part of an update but will not be installed automatically. When you elect to install it, the update will simply enable the previously delivered pieces and update the Windows version. As Microsoft put it:

New features we develop for Windows 11, version 25H2 are part of the version 24H2 branch. When the new code is complete, we include it in the monthly LCUs for Windows 11, version 24H2 in a Disabled state. Think of it as having the new feature code slowly staged on devices running version 24H2—yet another reason to stay up to date with monthly Windows updates!

The code remains disabled on the device until it receives the eKB. The eKB changes flags in the staged code from Disabled to Enabled. When you restart the device, the new features become enabled, and you’re officially on Windows 11, version 25H2!

From all the exclamation points in that excerpt, you can tell that Microsoft is very excited. That aside, it does make the update to 25H2 less bulky and thus faster to download and install, because parts of it have already been staged on the PC. Microsoft claims that this method, based upon its shared servicing model (described in a 2024 PDF), reduces the size of the ultimate update by 40%. This method is not new and was first used with Windows 10.

I have been picking up some bargain PCs on Amazon — HP EliteDesk computers designed for Windows 11 with support for multiple monitors — that in general make for a very nice Windows PC. They definitely would not be good candidates for gaming machines, but they are more than enough for boring folks like me who use a PC for some streaming entertainment, emails, photos, and a bit of light work. I mention this because if your current, aging PC doesn’t have at least 16GB of RAM (and probably more), your experience with Windows 11 will be, shall we say, suboptimal. It may be time for a fresh start.

I’m not tracking any major issues with Windows 11 24H2 KB5062553, Windows 11 23H2 KB5062552, or with KB5062554 for Windows 10 22H2. Mind you, I don’t use the Windows Emoji Panel (Win+. or Win+;) feature — I didn’t know it existed. If you do use it, rest assured that Microsoft is aware that it broke and is working on a fix.

Businesses

We had a bumpy start to patching due to issues with Microsoft WSUS sync servers. No updates were released to businesses. Those running virtual servers may also be impacted by the bug introduced in KB5062553, as described above. To fix the issue, apply KB5064489 from the Microsoft catalog.

Plus member Michael S. McElrath pointed out a fix for an issue that had plagued him for several weeks. He would attempt to open Classic Outlook but instead get this error message:

Initially, he thought it was due to an update, However, not enough folks were reporting the issue to allow the problem to be traced back to an update. As the Microsoft Learn post You cannot start Outlook in cached mode or create a new cached mode profile notes:

This problem occurs because the hidden PR_OST_OSTID property in your mailbox is larger than 32 kilobytes (KB).

This property is located on Top of Information Store in the default store. Every time that you create a new cached mode profile for the mailbox, approximately 20 bytes of data is added to this property. Eventually, the size of the data in the property exceeds approximately 32,720 bytes, and you start to receive the error.

The resolution, as noted in the article, was to download a special tool, select the Outlook cached mode profile, and then delete the data noted in the post.

This is one of those issues you may want to bookmark for the future. Even the Microsoft tech support folks McElrath contacted didn’t point him to this post.

Resources

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 2:37 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend 

Although Windows 11 is already a mature operating system that has received multiple feature updates (with version 25H2 currently in development), it continues to ignore some of the most requested features that users have been asking for a long time.

The new visuals and security improvements are a welcome addition, but many of the changes have come at the cost of customization and functionality.

We have seen this with the new Taskbar and Start menu designs, the Microsoft decision to force users to use a local account during setup and make updates mandatory, the increase in hardware requirements to install the operating system, and the list goes on.

In this guide, I'll highlight eight features that the company should prioritize for Windows 11 (inspired by years of user feedback).

Features I wish were part of Windows 11

These are my top feature requests that I'd want the company to bring to Windows 11.

1. Control over Windows Update

Although updates are necessary to patch security vulnerabilities, fix system and app bugs, improve performance, and introduce new features, Microsoft tends to roll out buggy system updates that often break functionality or compatibility, which can negatively impact the experience.

Cortana

Let's start with the most obvious one: Cortana. This digital assistant - sharing its name with a popular AI character from the Halo series - was rumored back in 2013, and although it first came to Windows Phone 8.1 (R.I.P.) in 2014, Windows 10 was the first desktop operating system to include it as a feature in 2015.

Although Microsoft publicized it heavily as a personal assistant with a personality to match against mobile competitors like Siri, customers just weren't a fan of the idea of talking to an AI model on their PCs at that time. Coupled with the limited capabilities of the assistant (especially its focus on U.S. customers while pretty much ignoring everyone else) and Microsoft's frequent pivots in strategy, interest in Cortana just began to fizz out by 2019, leading to its death in 2023.

Groove

Microsoft launched Groove in Windows 10 as a competitor to iTunes and Spotify, and a replacement for Xbox Music. On the surface, it did exactly what it said on the tin, but that also became its downfall since there was no differentiating factor. It was too much of a hassle for people who were well-entrenched in their music ecosystem to migrate their existing libraries to a whole new service just for the heck of it, despite Microsoft doing regular giveaways and massive discounts. Eventually, Groove Music sung its swansong at the end of 2017, with customers being migrated to Spotify.

Sets

Now this is an interesting one. In 2017, Microsoft revealed that Sets were coming to Windows 10. This was meant to be a new interface for UWP apps (initially) allowing multiple instances of an app to be open in one window, similar to a web browser. The company began testing this UX in Insider builds, but could never get it just right. Eventually, it was silently killed off without ever being launched. That said, at least some of that vision survived with tabbed File Explorer in Windows 11.

Windows Timeline

Windows Timeline was pitched as a revolutionary continuity feature in Windows 10 back in 2017. The idea behind it was that Windows would maintain an activity history of everything you do on your PC, and then enable two additional capabilities. One was to "go back in time" to a previous activity, and the other involved syncing your activity to another device so you could pick up from where you left off, regardless of your hardware. However, this feature never quite hit its desired level of popularity and Microsoft eventually disabled its headlining synchronization capabilities. Although Timeline is still a part of Windows 10 (launch it through the Win + Tab combo), it's a scaled down version that only maintains local history.

Live Tiles in Start menu

Live Tiles have always had a controversial history, some adore it while others absolutely hate it. It is important to note that Live Tiles isn't a concept that was introduced in Windows 10; in fact, they were first introduced in Windows Phone 7, before making their way to Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.

However, what we'll be focusing on is the implementation of Live Tiles in the Start menu of Windows 10, which basically combined the classic Start menu with this UX to appease both categories of customers. You would think that Microsoft would be successful in making both groups happy, but the issue was that Live Tiles weren't actively supported by developers and most just ignored it. Of course, fans of the interface still enjoyed them, but it's clear that they weren't in the majority since Microsoft completely did away with Live Tiles in Windows 11.

Paint 3D

Before Microsoft went all in on AI, its fascination was 3D and Mixed Reality aspects in Windows. To that end, it launched Paint 3D in Windows 10, hoping to fascinate everyone with 3D capabilities. However, just like we have in the current case with Copilot, there was a lukewarm reception to the idea. We don't really have statistics regarding how many people actually used it, but the number is likely quite low, which is why Microsoft ended up retiring the Windows app just last year.

Windows 10 in S mode

This is just something that randomly came to my mind last week and also served as the baseline for why I wanted to write this article. Windows 10 in S mode was announced at an education event back in 2017 as "Windows 10 S", but it later received Enterprise and Pro SKUs too. This is a locked down but performance-focused version of Windows 10 where you can only download software from the Microsoft Store and can only leverage Edge with Bing as a search engine.

Windows 10 S was meant to be a competitor to Google's ChromeOS and Microsoft marketed it quite heavily for a long time, but it seems like it faded into the background over time. This might be because of low interest due to confusing SKUs, a steep upgrade price to switch out of S mode, and just too many restrictions. At that point, most organizations would rather just use Intune to manage their tenant devices. Windows in S mode is still alive (there is a Windows 11 version too), but no one talks about it anymore; the last article we wrote about this was back in 2019.

Legacy Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is not the most popular browser out there, but it does have its fanbase. However, Edge in its current state is much different than what was offered through Windows 10, at least from an infrastructure perspective. Edge originally launched with Microsoft's in-house EdgeHTML rendering engine, but in 2018, Redmond decided to ditch its own implementations in favor of Google's Chromium initiative. This was very controversial at the start as there were pros and cons to both approaches, but it did emphasize that Microsoft had not been able to capture the Windows 10 user base despite its best efforts.

The Chromium-based browser officially launched in 2020, and Microsoft has stuck with it since then, which implies that the company made the right decision.

Continuum

Continuum was at the center of Microsoft's marketing push for Windows 10, when the company still had a mobile OS. For those of you who are new to Redmond's world, this was Microsoft's initiative to "convert" a Windows phone into a desktop PC through a physical dock. The company launched the Lumia 950/950 XL in India with a free Continuum dock and even had HP join in on the fun. But this never quite became mainstream due to the low market share of Windows phones in general, and the service died a quiet death along with Microsoft's mobile efforts.

Univeral Windows Platform (UWP)

In 2014, prior to the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft had this grand vision of enabling developers to build an app once only, and have it run across different platforms including Windows, Windows phone, and Xbox. The company made some tangible headway in this area when it announced Windows 10 and the idea of having a single app store for all its products, powered by the Universal Windows Platform (UWP).

Microsoft did manage to onboard some developers and even built tools to migrate apps built for other operating systems directly to Windows, but it failed to convince the vast majority of developers. Interest in the technology began to wane further along the years as developers realized that the ability to build one app for multiple products and form factors wasn't as easy as Microsoft had made it seem. The tech firm itself published guidance in 2021 about how to migrate from UWP to the Windows App SDK. Right now, interest in UWP is at an all-time low, and as we discovered yesterday, even WhatsApp is ditching UWP in favor of a Progressive Web App (PWA).

This is the first story in our new "10 Years of Windows 10" collection, in celebration of the operating system's tenth anniversary, falling on July 29, 2025. Over the next few days and weeks, you'll be able to find more content on this topic in our dedicated section available here.

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 2:22 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Here is the changelog:

• Counter-Strike 2: Black screen using 4:3 aspect ratio resolution on ASUS ROG
  PG27AQN monitor
• NARAKA BLADEPOINT: Stability issues on a specific map when using DX11 and DLSS
  Super Resolution

DLSS override, a feature that allows manual control over Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling, is now available for 11 new games:

• 7 Days to Die
• Brickadia
• Monster Energy Supercross 25 - The Official Video Game
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• REMATCH
• RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business
• Strinova
• Stygian: Outer Gods
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks
• WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers

Finally, GeForce Experience and the Nvidia App received one-click optimal settings for three more games:

• Broken Arrow
• Mecha BREAK
• PEAK

Here is the list of known bugs:

• Cyberpunk 2077 will crash when using Photo Mode to take a screenshot with path tracing enabled.
• Battlefield 2042: random square artifacts may appear around lights during gameplay.
• World of Warcraft: displays artifacts when ray tracing is enabled.
• Counter-Strike 2: Text may appear slightly distorted when the in-game resolution is lower than the native resolution of the display.

The driver is compatible with 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 systems equipped with one of the following graphics cards.

Note that the GTX 10, 900, and 700 series are still supported. Nvidia is expected to drop these GPUs in driver branch 580 somewhere in the future.

You can download driver 577.00 WHQL from the official Nvidia website, GeForce Experience, or the Nvidia app. Release notes are available here (PDF).

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 2:19 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Azure Linux 3.0 brings significant upgrades to core components that enhance performance, security, and the developer experience. The Linux kernel is upgraded from version 5.15 to 6.6, bringing performance and hardware compatibility improvements. The Containerd package has been updated from version 1.6.26 to 1.7.13, improving container management.

The SystemD package has been upgraded from version 250 to 255, streamlining system and service management, and OpenSSL has jumped from version 1.1.1k to 3.3.0, providing enhanced encryption and security. Azure Linux 3.0 also brings more packages and better tooling.

Major versions of Azure Linux are typically supported for three years, with Azure Linux 3.0’s EOL projected for Summer 2027. It became generally available in August 2024.Microsoft said that users must migrate to Azure Linux 3.0 by upgrading their Azure Local instances to the 2507 release when it becomes available.

After the Azure Local instance has been upgraded, users can then upgrade their Kubernetes clusters. Microsoft gives you the option to remain on the same Kubernetes version during this upgrade by providing the same version number on the aksarc upgrade command. After upgrading, you can verify the kernel version on your Linux nodes by adjusting the file path in this command: kubectl --kubeconfig /path/to/aks-cluster-kubeconfig get nodes -o wide

This upgrade is mandatory for continued support. If you want to learn more, check out Microsoft’s announcement which also includes how to reach out to the AKS Arc team if you need to.

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Posted Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 2:18 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

The new backup experience uses a local network to connect two devices and transfer all your files, settings, and preferences. On your old computer, you can launch the Windows Backup app, select "transfer information to a new PC," and then follow on-screen instructions to pair the two devices with a special code.

After that, Windows 11 will ask you to select what folders you want to move. You can choose any user folder and even entire drives (make sure your BitLocker drives are decrypted). After that, you can click "Start transfer" and watch Windows 11 move your files from one PC to another via the network.

Once the process is over, Windows will show you a summary of everything that has been moved to the new computer. After that, you will be able to finish the initial setup as usual and have all your important files ready for you.

In the support document, Microsoft adds that the backup experience cannot transfer the following items:

• System files and folders such as Program Files, Program Data, Temp, etc.
• OneDrive. You have to set up OneDrive on the new PC separately.
• Installed apps.
• Credentials and passwords.
• Data on BitLocker-encrypted drives. You have to decrypt them first.

The new file transfer experience is available for Windows Insiders, and it will soon be ready for all users. To try it, your old PC must run Windows 10 or 11 (with the latest cumulative updates), and the new PC should run Windows 11 version 24H2 or newer. Note that as of right now, ARM-based computers are not supported, so if you plan to buy a Surface Laptop 7 or another ARM-powered Copilot+ PC, get ready to move files manually until Microsoft fixes this unfortunate omission.

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Posted Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 11:38 am AEST (my time).

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When is the end of Windows 10 support?

October 14, 2025.

Can I continue using my PC after the end of Windows 10 support?

Yes, you can. Your computer will not kill itself on October 15. However, it is not recommended to use a modern computer without security updates. Therefore, consider enrolling your system in the Extended Security Update program to get one more year of Windows 10 security updates.

Will my apps and games work after the end of Windows 10 support?

Yes, for some time. However, eventually, developers will stop supporting Windows 10 with app updates. Some might continue working as is, while others will stop working altogether. Microsoft 365 apps, for example, will continue receiving new features until August 2026 and security updates until October 10, 2028. For now, there is no information about the end of support for major apps like Chrome or Adobe.

What is the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates program?

It is a special program that grants additional security-only updates for Windows 10 after October 14, 2025.

How long can I receive Windows 10 updates in the Extended Security Updates program?

If you are a home user, the program gets you 12 months of additional updates from October 14, 2025, through October 13, 2026.

Enterprise users can get up to three years of security updates.

Is the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates program free?

Yes and no. Home users can get 12 months of updates for free by backing up their PCs' settings in OneDrive or by paying Microsoft 1,000 Reward Points or $30. Enterprise users have to pay Microsoft a fee for each PC and each year of additional support.

The Extended Security Update program applies to all users on your computer and up to 10 devices with the same Microsoft Account. Note that you have to enroll each device separately.

What do I need to get additional security updates for Windows 10?

Your computer must be on Windows 11 version 22H2 with the latest cumulative updates and one of the following editions: Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, or Pro Education. You also have to sign in with a Microsoft Account and have administrator privileges.

You can check your Windows 10 version by heading to Settings > System > About.

How to enrol in the Extended Security Updates program?

Check out this guide: How to get one more year of Windows 10 updates for free. You can enroll now or after October 14, 2025.

Can I update to Windows 11 for free after the end of Windows 10 support?

Yes, if your device supports Windows 11. If not, also yes, but using unofficial methods.

What are the other options for unsupported Windows 10 PCs?

The Extended Security Updates program is not your only option. You can update to Windows 11 for free if your computer supports it. You can also update unsupported PCs using various workarounds and third-party apps. Also, there are third-party security update providers. For example, 0patch offers up to five years of paid security updates.

Note that you can upgrade to Windows 11 for free even after the end of Windows 10 support, regardless of whether your computer is enrolled in the Extended Security Update program or not.

You cannot enroll if your computer is in kiosk mode, Entra or Active Directory domain-joined, or enrolled in Mobile Device Management.

What should I do with my Windows 10 PC after October 15, 2026?

As of right now, Microsoft does not plan to extend the ESU program beyond the initial deadline, which may or may not change in the future. Therefore, you should plan to upgrade to Windows 11 or switch to another supported operating system. Again, you can continue using Windows 10 as is, but you risk encountering malware or ransomware that utilizes an unpatched vulnerability.

If your Windows 10 PC does not support Windows 11, you have two options: upgrade to Windows 11 using unofficial methods or upgrade it to supported hardware. You can find Windows 11's system requirements here.

If you have additional questions, leave them in the comment section. We will update the article should Microsoft announce additional information or changes.

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Posted Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 4:59 am AEST (my time).

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Over time, though, tests showed that Microsoft's promise was not quite materizaling and the underlying kernel for the two Windows versions may have had an answer for why that was, at least in the case of Intel's "Big-Bigger" CPUs.

However, Microsoft has always claimed otherwise and shared detailed stats for performance boosts on 11 back in 2023, and if we are to believe the company, even elements such as the clipboard carry some great optimization underneath.

While there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong about a company praising its own products, the issue is that Microsoft's claims are meant to mislead users into wrongly believing that the newer Windows 11 OS is much faster than Windows 10.

In October last year, Microsoft cited a paid study to declare Windows 11 the winner over 10 as it compared completely different systems: the faster hardware had Windows 11; and this year, the tech giant again repeated the same thing, albeit this time in a different package, making claims of 2.3x faster performance on Windows 11.

However, after all the promises, Microsoft may finally be getting more serious in terms of improving the OS performance and the general system sluggishness that users often report.

On the latest Dev and Beta builds, the company is introducing the ability to auto-generate system logs when the OS notices system performance issues. Microsoft however notes that users must report and submit the logs via the Feedback Hub so that the company can look into the root cause of the trouble.

It explains:

As part of our commitment to improving Windows performance, logs are now collected when your PC has experienced any slow or sluggish performance. Windows Insiders are encouraged to provide feedback when experiencing PC issues related to slow or sluggish performance, allowing Feedback Hub to automatically collect these logs, which will help us root cause issues faster.

 

Use the Desktop > System Sluggishness category when filing feedback to allow Feedback Hub to automatically pick up these logs. These logs are stored locally (%systemRoot%\Temp\DiagOutputDir\Whesvc folder) and only sent to Microsoft via Feedback Hub when feedback is submitted.

Hence, when Windows 11 25H2 is out to the general public later in the year, a lot of performance kinks should hopefully be ironed out. Aside from the UX improvements, Microsoft has also confirmed that it is trying to improve drivers on the upcoming Windows version by the way it is testing third-party drivers. You can find the details in this dedicated piece.

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Posted Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 4:57 am AEST (my time).

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With Firefox 141, Mozilla is introducing automatic tab grouping with AI, which means the browser can automatically group tabs and suggest names for each group based on the tabs each group contains. Mozilla adds that AI processing happens on-device for improved privacy. This feature is rolling out gradually.

If you use vertical tabs, you can now have more (or less) space for tabs by shrinking or expanding the tools area at the bottom of the sidebar. Just grab the divider and drag it up or down. Tools and buttons that do not fit in the adjusted area will be available in the overflow menu.

Mozilla has some nice changes for Linux users. Firefox now uses less memory and no longer requires a forced restart after an update by a package manager. There is also a separate change for Windows 11 users where the browser now uses system-provided font icons for the caption buttons.

Another big change in Firefox 141 is WebGPU support on Windows. Websites can now tap into your graphics card to perform heavier tasks such as complex 3D graphics, resource-heavy calculations, and more.

Other changes in Firefox 141 include address autofill support in Brazil, Spain, and Japan, the ability to use the address bar as a unit converter (length, temperature, mass, force, time zones, and angular measurement), a built-in Catalan dictionary for Firefox in Valencian, and more languages for Firefox Translate (Albanian, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Kannada, Malay, Malayalam, Persian, and Telugu).

As usual, the latest Firefox update also brings security fixes, which you can find here. Release notes for enterprise users will be available here. Both pages, including the official changelog, will be publicly available on July 22.

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Posted Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 4:53 am AEST (my time).

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WhatsApp appears set to drop its native Windows app to shift to a web wrapper. The latest version of WhatsApp Beta looks significantly different from the app currently available to everyday users.

The new version of WhatsApp places the web interface of the communication app inside a web wrapper.

Whether it's right to call it “enshittification” — a term popularized to describe the gradual degradation of digital services — or simplification is a matter of debate. The shift to a web app makes it easier for WhatsApp to maintain a single code base that extends across platforms.

I suspect some WhatsApp users will focus more on the negatives, including the fact that the web app uses more RAM than the native version of WhatsApp. WhatsApp also looks out of place on Windows 11, since it no longer uses the same design language as the operating system or well-designed apps that adopt the same UI elements.

Notifications will also work differently with the WhatsApp web wrapper.

Moving to a web app adds some functionality, though. The current beta version of WhatsApp has more options for the Status and Communities section of the app.

Despite the volume of fixes, many of the pull requests were “tiny” with just single fixes included with most of them. The main areas that got updates were documentation, self-tests, and tooling; the core kernel code wasn’t the focus. While there was an uptick in pull requests, Torvalds said that nothing really stands out, so hopefully this means there won’t be any delays to the stable version.

The overall sentiment from the founder of Linux seems to suggest that the kernel is in good shape, despite the small patches submitted this week. Usually, the rc7 is the last release candidate to be released before the stable version; if that’s the case this week, we will see Linux 6.16 on July 27. If there's a need for an rc8, then the stable will drop on August 3.

Some of the fixes in this update include regmap memory leaks, dma build warnings, ASoC DMI entries, Bluetooth fixes, KVM improvements, netfilter bug fixes, and numerous driver updates (drm/amd, usb, wifi). As a release candidate, the focus is not on new features, but polishing the new features that were introduced during the merge window after the Linux 6.15 release.

General Linux users shouldn’t really try out these release candidates, they’re squarely aimed at developers. Even trying to install these kernels can lead to crashes on your system, so if you do want to experiment, do it in a virtual machine. Generally, the best way to use these new kernels is when your Linux distribution releases them officially. Fedora and Arch-based systems release kernel updates quickly so these are among the best ways to experience new kernels quickly after they go stable.

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 5:47 pm AEST (my time).

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With Files Preview 3.9.12, the app is getting the new Omnibar. It is a new control that works the same as your browser's address bar. It combines the "breadcrumb" path and the search box into a single UI element. By default, the new Omnibar displays breadcrumbs, which are the current path to the folder with quick access to each directory in the path and their nested folders.

Besides the visual overhaul, the new Omnibar introduces a new Home button with a dedicated flyout that lets you navigate to quick access items, drives, and other elements.

You can click the new Omnibar (or press Ctrl + L) to edit or copy the current path, paste a new address or navigate to another folder by typing its location. The Omnibar also now hosts the Command Palette, which you can trigger by pressing Ctrl + Shift + P.

With the Omnibar, Files no longer uses a dedicated search bar. You can search for files by pressing Ctrl + F or clicking a search button in the omnibar. It is also worth noting that developers changed how filtering works. Now, Files has a dedicated filter UI instead of defaulting to filtering items when typing in the search box. It works faster and it is more intuitive.

Other changes in Files Preview 3.9.12 include OX Drive integration and partial RTL support.

You can download Files Preview 3.9.12 from the official Files.community website. If you want to support developers, you can purchase the preview version from the Microsoft Store.

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 12:34 pm AEST (my time).

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ExplainingComputers (1.11M subscribers)

July 20, 2025

Video length: 18m 42s

Enrolling in consumer Windows 10 extended security updates (ESUs) without paying any money, but in a manner where the minimum quantity of personal information is shared with Microsoft for the shortest period of time. This video is applicable to computers running the latest version of Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.

00:00 Titles & Intro 

02:33 Getting ESUs 

09:40 Back to Local 

12:38 A One Year Fix

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 4:27 am AEST (my time).

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Starting with version 2.2569.0.0, WhatsApp Beta for Windows is no longer a UWP app. Instead, it is a web-based application that uses WebView2 on Windows. You can easily check that by launching the Task Manager and expanding the WhatsApp Beta process (notice the difference in memory consumption):

Here is what the messenger looked like before with version 2.2564.282.0:

Web apps are universally disliked among Windows users these days, especially when they arrive as "upgrades" for native applications. The WhatsApp client for Windows initially came as a web app and was then updated to Electron and then to UWP, offering all the benefits of native apps. Now, however, Meta is making a step back, returning to PWA. A thread on Reddit already has reports of users encountering memory leaks (don't you like when WhatsApp takes 1GB of RAM?) and other issues.

In addition to being less gentle with system resources, the latest WhatsApp Beta ditches native Windows UI elements, which only make the messenger look out of place on Windows computers. However, WhatsApp makes up for that with Channels and more features for Status and Communities.

As of right now, there is no information on when the new web-based WhatsApp client will make it to all users in the Stable channel. Interestingly, WhatsApp is not the only Meta product heading that way. Messenger used to be a native UWP app, which eventually was replaced with a web app. While the overwhelming reaction from users is negative, many argue that switching to PWA will actually improve the experience by eliminating bugs and delivering the previously missing features.

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 4:25 am AEST (my time).

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I already published a guide back in 2021 explaining how you can enable Windows Sandbox in your installation. The process is pretty much the same: just check that you have enabled virtualization on your PC (the process may differ for each OEM), enable Windows Sandbox from optional features, restart your PC, and simply launch the environment from Windows Search. The entire process should take less than 30 minutes, in most cases. That said, it is important to note that Windows Sandbox is not offered for Home environments; you need Windows 10/11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education SKUs to leverage it.

Since Windows Sandbox is an optional capability in the operating system, many people don't know about it at all. It's essentially a lightweight and temporary desktop environment with the kernel isolated from the host. Since it's ephemeral in nature, you lose all data in Windows Sandbox as soon as you close the environment.

The power of Windows Sandbox

There are a lot of benefits to using Windows Sandbox. It offers a brand-new and clean Windows environment that you can utilize to test your software or run suspicious .exe files (more on that later) from third-party sources. If you're not sure about opening an untrusted website but still want to open it for some reason, using Microsoft Edge in Windows Sandbox is probably better than running it in your primary environment.

But perhaps Windows Sandbox's strengths lie in its backend architecture. The ability to launch a full-fledged OS in a matter of minutes is a huge plus. The process of installing and configuring VMs, and then finding image files for an operating system, can be very daunting, so the streamlined setup for Windows Sandbox easily beats that. In addition, the environment is quite lightweight and consumes a lower amount of RAM than traditional VMs in most scenarios.

The fact that Windows Sandbox is ephemeral in nature is also a major advantage from a cybersecurity standpoint. Anything you do inside this environment only stays until that instance is open, and it's isolated from the host, making it quite secure. From Windows 11, version 24H2, you do have the option to retain the instance's resources if you trigger a restart from Windows Sandbox, but you will lose everything if you just close the example in any other way.

Finally, Microsoft also offers ways to have more granular control over Windows Sandbox through an XML configuration file and Policy CSP. These have fine-grained configuration settings such as audio and video input, clipboard redirection, mapping folders, networking, and more. So, if you're conscious about running certain services even inside the sandbox, you can simply disable them.

Not a silver bullet

Despite its plethora of benefits, Windows Sandbox is not a silver bullet that will solve all your problems. For starters, apart from the OS SKU requirement, it has a set of hardware requirements without which you simply can't launch Windows Sandbox. This includes Arm64/AMD64 architecture, 4GB of RAM, 1GB of free space, and at least two CPU cores. These mandates aren't very steep, but they may restrict utilization for some.

Next, it is important to remember that while it is better to run untrusted .exe files or open suspicious websites from within Windows Sandbox rather than your primary environment, this is not foolproof. Certain sophisticated varieties of malware may still break free from the sandbox to wreak havoc on your PC, so you should keep that risk in mind anyway. Windows Sandbox offers decent kernel isolation, but malware is evolving all the time, too.

In the same vein, do note that some advanced forms of malware can also recognize that they are being run in a virtualized environment. As such, they may alter their behavior dynamically to appear harmless inside the VM and then activate malicious activities as soon as they are transferred over to your host environment. That said, both the aforementioned risks apply to a traditional VM too, so this is just something to know about, not a diss against Windows Sandbox.

Also, while it's great that Windows Sandbox is ephemeral, this can be a headache if you are doing extensive testing spread out across days or weeks. You would need to keep your instance up at all times and risk losing your progress at any second. Similarly, it's not possible to run multiple instances of Windows Sandbox, so a customized setup with various environments isn't really feasible.

Moreover, inbox apps from the Microsoft Store like Calculator and Notepad aren't supported right now, and there is no Microsoft Store either. Optional Windows features cannot be enabled inside the Sandbox either. Finally, Windows Sandbox only virtualizes your current OS. You can't be running Windows 11, but virtualize Windows 7 inside the sandbox through native methods.

Windows Sandbox or a traditional VM?

Both Windows Sandbox and traditional VMs offer similar functionalities, but with different selling points. The former is more focused on the lightweight, resource-efficient, and simplified nature of the sandbox environment, while the latter emphasizes more customization options and freedom of use.

At the end of the day, whether you end up using Windows Sandbox or a traditional VM depends on your preferences and use case. If you want a persistent environment with more configurability, a traditional VM is the way to go. Still, for almost everything else, Windows Sandbox is a great option, especially due to how quickly you can spin it up.

A good rule of thumb would be to give Windows Sandbox a go first, find out in a few minutes if it meets your requirements, and switch to a traditional VM installation if it doesn't. Windows Sandbox is a very handy utility overall, and it's just a shame that not many people know about it due to it being an optional feature that you need to manually enable.

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 4:23 am AEST (my time).

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@phantomofearth, the ever-giving source of Windows insights, discovered that the latest Windows 11 preview builds have a hidden toggle in quick settings that lets you share audio to multiple devices with just a few clicks. All it takes is clicking "Shared Audio" in the control center, selecting two or more available devices, and pressing "Share."

As usual, there are no official announcements yet, so details about this feature remain unknown. Still, you can probably expect the new shared audio feature to make it to a Windows 11 preview build in the near future.

In other Windows Insider news, Microsoft recently revealed that one of the recent taskbar changes was pulled from the operating system due to negative feedback. The company experimented with a simplified taskbar tray area, but later decided to nuke it because people did not like it. Still, there are plenty of other features coming soon to Windows 11. Check out our recent top 10 list here. Hopefully, all of them will make it to the Stable channel soon.

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 4:22 am AEST (my time).

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Today, UniGetUI has received version 3.3.0. It is interesting to note that this release was actually meant to be version 3.2.1, following on from a respectable 3.2.0 release back in May. But since it features a massive change log with more changes than originally planned, the developer decided to bump it up to version 3.3.0 directly.

The highlights from the latest release include an option to bulk-download installers, select a package manager executable, default install options for each package manager, and cloud backup and restore functionalities. In addition, more commands are now supported, and users have the ability to kill processes before installing, uninstalling, or updating a package.

There are lots of other capabilities in tow, too. PowerShell7 now clears older versions when updating, the Searchbox has been moved to improve space utilization, the toolbar has been enhanced, internal error detection mechanisms have been upgraded, and some dialog boxes have netted updates.

There are tons of other backend changes too, including a note that XAML and YAML files cannot be created anymore due to low usage - the developer says that these formats are only used by 0.7-1.3% of all bundles, so it's difficult to maintain the development overhead required to manage them.

As expected, there are lots of fixes contributed by the very active UniGetUI community, too. You can find out the full details in the massive change log here. You can download UniGetUI version 3.3.0 stable from the Neowin software stories page or from its official GitHub repo linked above.

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Posted Monday 21 July 2025 at 4:19 am AEST (my time).

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It all started back in 2021 when details about a Notepad redesign for Windows 11 leaked with Fluent Design and minimalist menus. This was followed by the rollout of a dark theme and leaks about another UX change, that being a tabbed interface. Then came 2023 and we received automatic save states, Edit in Notepad, and a character counter. Most of these changes were welcomed since Notepad had been in such a dormant state for such a long time from a development perspective.

However, I would argue that this was the turning point as likely enthralled by the positive feedback it was receiving, Microsoft decided to inject dreaded AI capabilities into Notepad as well. The timing was unfortunate, given that Notepad development had finally been reactivated and AI trends were on the rise too.

In January 2024, AI writing assistance features were spotted by internet sleuths, and next month, Insiders could leverage Explain with Copilot directly in Notepad. Soon after, Microsoft also introduced a spellchecker. In the same week, my fellow Neowin Editor Taras Buria published a guide explaining how to restore the old version of Notepad, without all the latest bells and whistles. It became clear that not everyone wants new features being added to their simple note-taking app all the time, especially AI capabilities. Since then, Notepad has received several new capabilities, including AI-powered Rewrite, text summarization, text formatting, and text generation.

Notepad has evolved quite a bit in the past few years, for better or for worse. I do think it's losing its original vision though. Previously, we had Notepad for those quick note-taking scenarios, WordPad for additional customization options, and Microsoft Word and OneNote offering the full-fledged text editing experience for those with Office or Microsoft 365 licenses. Now, WordPad is dead, and the capabilities between Notepad, Word, and OneNote are muddled to the point that the lines between them are being blurred.

Notepad is becoming more than a simple note-taking app, it's competing with other Microsoft apps in the area of AI-powered text modification. This isn't inherently a bad thing, but it also means that it wouldn't be surprising to see the tech company introduce even more AI features (bloat) in the app just because AI and Copilot integration across all its products is a part of its latest strategy.

What used to be a tool to just quickly launch and take notes is now yet another advertising surface for Copilot. Extra capabilities in an application isn't a bad thing, but it can detract from the core purpose of the software, while also opening the door to distasteful forms of advertising that we know Microsoft is capable of. An early indicator of this is the fact that AI-powered text generation requires a paid Copilot Pro or Microsoft 365 license with AI credits.

Perhaps it would have been better to keep things mostly as they were:

• Notepad for hassle-free note-taking, while borrowing basic text formatting capabilities from WordPad
• Microsoft Word / OneNote for those with Office or Microsoft 365 licenses and subscriptions
• Microsoft Word Online for those who don't want to pay for a subscription

In the above scenario, Copilot capabilities would be offered to the latter two categories only and Notepad would be restricted to its original purpose. But of course, this is me talking from a user standpoint. From the business perspective held by Microsoft, it only makes sense to inject Copilot into as many products as possible, which is rather unfortunate. One can only hope that Notepad doesn't devolve solely into an ad platform for Copilot.

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Posted Sunday 20 July 2025 at 6:47 am AEST (my time).

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Extensibility is another great thing about Command Palette. Third-party modules make the launcher more capable with features like an internet speed test or a built-in library of various error codes. The latter, aptly called Errors and Codes, makes troubleshooting Windows much easier.

Errors and Codes for Command Palette is available in the Microsoft Store. When installed, you can open Command Palette, switch to the Errors and Codes module and type the error you want to troubleshoot. Then, the module will tap into error databases from the Windows SDK to offer you quick and concise information about the error without the risks of encountering AI hallucinations.

Of course, the module won't fix your errors, and you still have to figure them out on your own. However, it is a good place to start when troubleshooting Windows error codes, which are often frustratingly cryptic and impossible to understand. Having a simple explanation will help figure out the next step in resolving the problem.

You can install Errors and Codes for Command Palette using this link to the Microsoft Store. The latter has a dedicated section for Command Palette extensions, which you can access by typing store and pressing Enter in the launcher.

In case you missed it, Microsoft is working on a useful improvement for Command Palette. A future PowerToys update will let you pin your favorite tabs to the list of all programs and the launcher's main screen.

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Posted Sunday 20 July 2025 at 6:45 am AEST (my time).

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The most notable thing the team worked on this week is the implementation of rounded bottom corners for Breeze-decorated windows. This visual refresh, planned for the upcoming Plasma 6.5, is a feature that many users have been asking for over a long period, with a formal proposal even being submitted back in 2021.

Its official arrival will mean less need for community-developed workarounds like kde-rounded-corners, a popular third-party script that has served this purpose for years. The feature will be enabled by default, but it includes an option for those who prefer the classic, sharp-cornered look.

Still on UI improvements for Plasma 6.5, work has started on improving the search result ordering in KRunner, with initial changes removing the priority bump for KDE apps and favorites to provide less random-feeling results. The Disks & Devices widget is also getting more flexible, now letting you mount a disk without running an error check or, alternatively, run a check without mounting it.

On top of that, the sidebars in applications like Discover and System Monitor are now resizable and will remember whatever width you set. The Weather Report widget now immediately fetches new data after the computer wakes from a long sleep.

On the bug-squashing front, there's a bug fix planned for the lock screen cursor so it dims correctly when HDR mode is turned on. To improve performance, Plasma 6.5 will have KWin be less trusting of the colorimetry information that comes from a display's EDID data, as this information is frequently incorrect.

Data for the file dialog's window size is now stored in the state config file instead of the settings config file, and the developers have added more autotests to verify Plasma's loading processes.

Plasma 6.4's fourth bug fix release, 6.4.4, is dropping on the 5th of August. This update is expected to resolve a number of problems, addressing issues like the Volume Controls page failing to resize properly in certain languages, applications crashing when using software rendering, and forms flickering inside System Settings.

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Posted Sunday 20 July 2025 at 6:42 am AEST (my time).

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In a forum thread, the Clear Linux OS team has announced that effective immediately, Intel is ending support for the project. What this means is that no security updates or patches will be provided for the OS. In addition, the project's GitHub repository will soon be archived in a read-only mode. Intel has urged users of Clear Linux OS to migrate to any other Linux distro that is being actively maintained.

No reason for abandonment has been highlighted, but it is likely that this decision is backed by cost-cutting measures. Intel recently announced layoffs impacting 5,000 employees, while also making a rather somber comment that it is too far behind in the AI race to catch up now. It's possible that the Clear Linux OS project was axed to improve the company's financial posture, but it is unknown if the team behind the initiative is impacted too.

Intel has emphasized that despite this closure, it remains fully committed to the Linux ecosystem, and will continue supporting open-source projects and distros maintained by others. Its efforts will revolve in the same area of improving the performance of Linux software on Intel hardware.

Responses to the thread have been very sympathetic and supportive, with many expressing gratitude to the Clear Linux OS team for supporting the project for over a decade. It remains to be seen which Linux distro Clear Linux OS customers will gravitate to next.

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Posted Saturday 19 July 2025 at 5:20 pm AEST (my time).

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Happy Friday. I’m back from vacation and still getting caught up on everything I missed. AI researchers moving jobs is getting covered like NBA trades now, apparently.

Before I get into this week’s issue, I want to make sure you check out my interview with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on Decoder this week. It’s a good deep dive on the main topic of today’s newsletter. Keep reading for a scoop on Substack and more from this week in AI news.

So far, when most people think of the modern AI boom, they think of a chatbot like ChatGPT. Now, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the web browser is where the next phase of AI is taking shape.

The reason is simple: the chatbots of today don’t have access to your online life like your browser does. That level of context — read and write access to your email, your bank account, etc. — is required if AI is going to become a tool that actually goes off and does things for you.

Two recent product releases point to this trend. The first is OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent, which uses a basic browser to surf the web on your behalf. The second is Comet, a desktop browser from Perplexity that takes it a step further by allowing large language models to access logged-in sites and complete tasks on your behalf. (OpenAI is rumored to be planning its own full-fledged browser.)

Neither ChatGPT Agent nor Comet works reliably at the moment, and access to both is currently gated to expensive subscription tiers due to the higher compute costs required to run the reasoning models they necessitate. Perhaps most frustratingly, both products claim to do things they can’t, not just in marketing materials, but in the actual product experience.

ChatGPT Agent is a read-only browser experience — it can’t access a logged-in site like Comet — and that severely limits its usefulness. It’s also very slow. My colleague Hayden Field asked it to find a particular kind of lamp on Etsy, and ChatGPT Agent took 50 minutes to come back with a response. It also failed to add items to her Etsy cart, despite claiming it had done so.

While Comet is nowhere near as slow, I’ve had numerous experiences with it claiming it has completed tasks it hasn’t, or stating it can do something, only to immediately tell me it can’t after I make a request. Its sidecar interface, which places the AI assistant to the right of a webpage, is excellent for read-only tasks, such as summarizing a webpage or researching something specific I’m looking at. But as I told Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on Decoder this week, the overall experience feels quite brittle.

It’s easy to be a cynic and think the current state of products like Comet is the best AI can do at completing tasks on the web. Or, you can look at the last few years of progress in the industry and make the bet that the same trend line will continue.

During our chat this week, Srinivas told me he’s “betting on progress in reasoning models to get us there.” OpenAI built a custom reasoning model specifically for ChatGPT Agent that was trained on more complex, multi-step tasks. (The model has no public name and isn’t available via an API.)

Even with the many limitations and bugs that exist today, using Comet for just a few days has convinced me that the mainstream chatbot interface will merge with the browser. It already feels like taking a step back to merely prompt a chatbot versus interacting with a ChatGPT-like experience that can see whatever website I’m looking at. Standalone chatbots certainly aren’t going away, especially on smartphones, but the browser is what will unlock AI that actually feels like an agent.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Posted Saturday 19 July 2025 at 5:19 pm AEST (my time).

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