In the newly published blog post, Microsoft outlined several key features that make Windows 11 a better operating system, not just a poorly reskinned Windows 10, as some think. Microsoft quotes faster performance, simpler navigation, new features and experiences, and better security. Here are some of those reasons:

• Security: Making TPM 2.0 and implementing other security features like Smart App Control and VBS helped reduce security incidents. Microsoft claims "a reported 62% drop in security incidents and a 3x reported reduction in firmware attacks."
• Speed: Windows 11 features several Windows Update improvements that make update installation faster by up to 2.3 times than Windows 10. This is a pretty strong argument, considering how much people hate installing updates, especially on their PCs.
• Modernized user experience: Windows 11 has several productivity-boosting features like Snap Layouts, virtual desktop improvements, and more. Microsoft also mentions cleaner looks of the taskbar and Start menu, but we all know that those areas are the reason why many actually do not want to upgrade to Windows 11, even though some notable improvements are on the way.
• Accessibility improvements: This is legitimately a big reason to update if you rely on assistive technologies. Windows 11 is more accessible than its predecessor and features brand-new accessibility features like Voice Access, Focus Sessions for fewer distractions, Live Captions, Voice Typing, and more. You can check out an overview of all Windows 11 accessibility features here.
• New AI-powered features: Windows 11 has several exclusive AI features that are not available on Windows 10. They include Recall, Click to Do, AI-powered Windows Search, a Settings agent, Paint Cocreator, and more. However, these are only available on new devices, and you cannot get them when upgrading an existing PC from Windows 10 to 11. Still, some AI features work on all devices as well, such as the recently launched Copilot Vision.

If those reasons are not enough, no worries. Microsoft lets users stay on Windows 10 even after the end of support. Today, Microsoft announced that the Extended Security Update program would be free for all customers. All you need to do is back up your PC settings in the Windows Backup app using your Microsoft Account (paid options are still present). You can learn more about that here.

What about you? Do you think Windows 11 has enough solid reasons for you to switch and forget about Windows 10?

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Microsoft is rolling out KB5062324 gradually. You can get it by heading to Settings > Windows Update and toggling "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available." After that, restart your computer and check for available updates. Windows Update should properly detect KB5062324 and download it to fix issues with update detection.

In the support document for KB5062324, Microsoft added that the bug could be mitigated by restarting Windows. This will get Windows Update unstuck and allow the system to finish update scanning. Users can also get a permanent solution by downloading KB5058499 (the May 2025 non-security update) or a newer release. Note that the bug only affects computers with Windows 11 version 24H2. Older releases are unaffected.

Windows 11 version 24H2 still has a few known issues awaiting their fixes. For example, there are compatibility issues with the sprotect.sys driver, which causes apps to stop responding, audio output losses on PCs with Dirac Audio, apps hanging when using cameras, and more. You can find the complete list of known issues in Windows 11 version 24H2 here.

Speaking of updates and fixes, Microsoft today released a non-security update for Windows 10. KB5061087 (build number 19045.6036) is now available for download, and it includes various fixes for the Start menu, USB printers, incorrect Windows version reporting, and more. The update arrived minutes after Microsoft announced that the Extended Security Update program would be free for Windows 10 users. Also, the company recently revealed its plans to pull legacy drivers from Windows Update.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

In today's update, Windows 10 users get fixes for the Settings app incorrectly reporting Windows version, issues with Multi-Function printers with dual protocol interface, disappearing jump list in the Start menu, and other bugs.

Here is the changelog:

• [Mobile Operator Profiles]
  • Updated: Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles.
• [App Platforms and Frameworks]
  • Fixed: An issue affecting Component Object Model (COM) functionality on Windows platforms. Remote COM activations were failing with error 0x8001011.
  • Updated: The version of the curl tool included in Windows is updated to v8.13.0.
• [Authentication Platform]
  • Fixed: An issue affecting the device registration in Entra ID Windows Account Manager (WAM) plugin.
• [Input and Composition]
  • Fixed: An issue affecting the complete removal of unused language packs and Feature on Demand (FOD) packages. This issue led to unnecessary storage use and increased Windows update installation time.
• [Print and Peripherals]
  • Fixed: An issue affecting USB-connected Multi-Function printers with dual protocol interfaces. Scanning failed and prevented using the built-in scanning functionality in the operating system.
• [Start Menu]
  • Fixed: An issue causing jump lists to disappear from the Start Menu.
  • Fixed: An issue where the Start Menu was not starting after installing an update.
• [WinSaS]
  • Fixed: Settings > System > About incorrectly shows version 2009 instead of version 22H2.
  • Change of behavior: To maintain DMA compliance in the European Economic Area (EEA), when a new default browser is set, it is automatically pinned to the Taskbar and Start menu.
  • Change of behavior: Associates HTTP and .pdf file types when setting default browser.
• [Servicing]
  • Fixed: An issue where Kiosk devices using the ForceAutoLogon configuration and Shift Override might stop responding with a blue screen after being locked and unlocked by support administrators.
• [File Server]
  • Fixed: An issue where the system may stop responding when acknowledging an Oplock break request on resources located on SMB shares.

Known issues include a single bug with Noto fonts appearing blurry in Chromium-based browsers such as Edge or Chrome. For now, the only fix is to set your screen scaling to 125% or higher.

As usual, feel free to skip KB5061087 if you do not need any of those fixes. Non-security updates are optional, and they eventually arrive with monthly Patch Tuesday updates. You can get KB5061087 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog using this link.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Microsoft finally announced program enrollment details for Windows 10 users. Starting today, Windows 10 Insiders can access a new enrollment wizard through the Settings app and push notifications to set up their systems for the Extended Security Update program (ESU). More importantly, Microsoft is introducing free enrollment options, allowing Windows 10 users to remain supported for one more year without paying Microsoft a single dollar.

Now, you can get 12 more months of security updates using one of the following three options:

• Use the Windows Backup app to sync your settings to the cloud
• Pay 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points
• Pay $30 (local prices may vary)

This is the first time that Microsoft has made the Extended Security Update program available for consumers. Previously, this program was reserved for commercial customers only. However, four years after the release of Windows 11, Windows 10 remains the dominant desktop operating system. At this scope, Microsoft cannot just drop hundreds of millions of users behind. Microsoft's initial plan was to give customers 12 months of extra updates for $30, but now, the company is seemingly giving up on that.

While the $30 option is still available, the program is pretty much free for every consumer, which addresses some of the concerns I expressed earlier. 1,000 Microsoft Reward points is a pretty small price to pay, and the Windows Backup option is entirely free (all you need is to sync your PC settings using a Microsoft Account). With these two new options, Microsoft makes security updates more accessible to users (governments are already warning users about the end of Windows 10 support), giving them more time to plan their migration to Windows 11 without sending their computers to the landfill and generating thousands of tons of e-waste.

The enrollment wizard is now available to Windows 10 Insiders. Next month, it will be available outside the Insider program as part of the July non-security updates. Broad availability is expected by mid-August.

Commercial organizations can also enroll their devices today using the Microsoft Volume Licensing Program. The price is $61 per device for one year. For Windows 365, these Cloud PCs are eligible for extended security updates at no extra cost.

It is worth noting that the program only grants one year of security updates, from October 15, 2025, to October 13, 2026. However, those who need more support can opt for third-party solutions like 0patch, which promises five more years of security updates.

The end of mainstream Windows 10 support means that the company will stop providing technical support and feature/security updates outside the ESU program. As such, many developers will start dropping Windows 10 support in their products, reduce available functionality, and more. However, Windows 10 PCs will not stop working overnight. Moreover, some of Microsoft-made services will continue receiving support. Those include Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Defender updates. Microsoft 365 apps will be getting new features until August 2026 and security updates until October 10, 2028.

For many users, the biggest problem with Windows 11 is not its controversial taskbar or Start menu (which is getting a big redesign, mind you). Steeper hardware requirements prevent many users from updating their still-capable computers to a supported release. To mitigate this, Microsoft is willing to offer free security updates for one year instead of lowering Windows 11's hardware requirements. Several months ago, Microsoft doubled down on those and stressed that Windows 11's minimum hardware requirements would not be lowered.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Last fall, Microsoft announced that individuals who wanted to keep using Windows 10 past its official end-of-support date could do so by opting into the company's Extended Security Update (ESU) program at a cost of $30 per PC. That payment would get users a single year of additional security updates. Today, less than four months before that October 14, 2025, cutoff, Microsoft is announcing additional options for people who can't or don't want to pay that fee.

Individuals who want to pay $30 for the additional year of updates will still be able to do so. But Microsoft will also extend a year of additional Windows 10 security updates to any users who opt into Windows Backup, a relatively recent Windows 10 and Windows 11 app that backs up some settings and files using a Microsoft account. Users can also opt into ESU updates by spending 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, which are handed out for everything from making purchases with your Microsoft account to doing Bing searches.

These offers don't formally extend the end-of-support date for Windows 10. But for users who don't want to move to Windows 11 or who can't do so because their PC doesn't meet the requirements, they do effectively offer an additional year of free updates for the OS that's still installed on a slim majority of the world’s Windows PCs, according to Statcounter data.

Microsoft's blog post says that Windows 10 users will be offered access to the ESU program proactively via notifications and the Settings app. Given how aggressively Microsoft has used these and other means to push Windows 11 upgrades and new Copilot+ PCs, it's at least nice that the company isn't making Windows 10 users go digging to keep getting updates. Microsoft will test these notifications in the Windows Insider Preview channel for Windows 10 starting today. They'll begin appearing for regular Windows 10 users in July and should be rolled out to all Windows 10 PCs "by mid-August."

Once enrolled, the ESU program will support consumer Windows 10 PCs until October 13, 2026. Businesses, schools, and other organizations can still get up to three years of ESU updates, but they'll have to pay for the privilege; the year of free-ish updates only applies to consumer PCs. Microsoft said recently that it plans to support the Microsoft 365 and standalone versions of the Microsoft Office apps on Windows 10 until 2028.

Free* updates

It's worth noting that the Windows Backup and Microsoft Rewards methods for getting these updates require the use of a Microsoft Account, something Microsoft has been pushing with slowly increasing intensity in Windows 11. Windows 10 pushed Microsoft Account usage in various ways, too, but it was generally easier to create and sign in with a local account; for those people, the "free" update offer seems like another effort from Microsoft to bring them into the fold.

The Windows Backup option seems intended to ease the migration to a new Windows 11 PC when the time comes. The company may be offering a short reprieve for Windows 10 users, but the goal is still to shift them to Windows 11 eventually.

"To help make your move to a Windows 11 PC, as simple and secure as possible, we recommend using Windows Backup—built right into Windows 10," writes Microsoft Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Medhi in Microsoft's blog post. "It’s an easy way to help you safely and securely transfer your data, personal files, and most settings and applications, so everything’s ready for you the moment you sign in."

People with existing Microsoft Accounts who don't want to use Windows Backup may already have the 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points you would need to enroll in the ESU program; my Microsoft account has 3,411 points attached to it for some reason despite an 18-month expiration window and even though I’ve never taken any intentional steps toward earning any. Users creating a new account for the first time can accumulate that many points fairly trivially over the course of a few days, including by downloading the Bing app and doing various Bing searches.

We have asked Microsoft several logistical questions about the ESU program enrollment. If you reset or totally reinstall Windows 10 on the same PC, is that PC automatically enrolled in the ESU program, or will users need to enroll again? If you temporarily enable Windows Backup to access the ESU program but then stop using Windows Backup, will your PC keep receiving the updates? And if you have multiple PCs, do you need to enable Windows Backup or spend the 1,000 Rewards points on each of them individually to join the ESU program? We'll update this article if we get answers to any or all of these questions.

It’s still the “year of the Windows 11 PC refresh”

As welcome as a year of basically free-of-charge Windows 10 security updates is, Microsoft is still sticking to its guns in promoting Windows 11 upgrades (for PCs that can install it) and full PC replacements (for everyone else). Medhi once again reiterated that 2025 is "the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh," a not particularly catchy catchphrase that the company began using back in January. Microsoft hasn't changed the end-of-support date for Windows 10, nor has it loosened the system requirements for Windows 11 to make it more broadly compatible with existing PCs.

Microsoft's efforts do seem to be paying off (or, at least, some combination of Microsoft's efforts and Windows 10 PCs naturally aging out of the install base). While Windows 10 is still running on the majority of Windows PCs worldwide (about 53 percent, according to Statcounter's May 2025 data), Windows 11's share has increased from roughly 34 percent in December 2024 to around 43 percent as of May 2025.

On PCs in the US, Statcounter's data shows Windows 11 overtaking Windows 10 in March 2025—it currently runs on around 53 percent of US-based Windows PCs, compared to 43 percent for Windows 10. Just a year ago, Statcounter's data shows Windows 10 PCs outnumbering Windows 11 PCs by roughly two to one. The Steam Hardware Survey shows a similar arc—as of May 2025, Windows 11 runs on 61 percent of Steam Windows PCs, compared to around 39 percent for Windows 10.

These stats are all a bit noisy and inconsistent, but they're useful for observing broad trend lines, and those are all pointing in the same direction: Windows 11 is making real gains after stalling out for most of 2023 and 2024.

Another year of free-ish updates won't be enough to make Windows 10 completely disappear. And the fact that you need to opt in to the ESU program instead of just getting the extra updates automatically means that some less technically savvy users probably won't get the updates no matter how low the barriers to entry are. But the additional enrollment options do at least give Windows 10 users some more choices, whether they can't install Windows 11 or just don't want to.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

If Windows 10 has been your favorite version so far, but you had to move to Windows 11, you're not alone, and you should know that many users share that feeling.

Although Windows 11 builds on the foundation of its predecessor, it also introduces a new design language and interface tweaks that can feel unfamiliar. Changes like the centered Taskbar, the stripped-down Start menu, and the new version of File Explorer and Settings app may take some getting used to.

The good news is you can customize many of these elements to make it look a little more like the Windows 10 experience. Whether you prefer built-in tweaks or third-party tools, it's possible to restore the classic Start menu, reposition the Taskbar, and bring back the traditional File Explorer layout.

In this how-to guide, I'll outline two ways to customize your desktop to resemble the Windows 10 experience on Windows 11.

Warning: These instructions involve making system changes. As such, it's important that you create a before proceeding in case something breaks and you need to roll back to a good working state.

How to make Windows 11 look like 10 without third-party tools

These are the subtle changes you can make to your setup to make it look a little more like the older version.

Start menu and Taskbar alignment

On Windows 10 and previous versions, the Taskbar and Start menu have always been aligned to the left, which is a layout many users find familiar. On Windows 11, however, the default center alignment gives the interface a more modern look, but it can feel unfamiliar. Fortunately, the new version of the operating system includes a setting that lets you shift these elements back to the traditional left-aligned position.

To use the tab unload feature, you simply right-click on a single tab or a selection of tabs and hit "Unload Tab". This kicks the tab out of your computer's memory, freeing up system resources without you having to close it for good. If you are someone who keeps a lot of tabs open, this could definitely help if your machine starts to chug.

The other big thing is support for a custom search engine. If you want to use something other than the pre-packaged options, you can now add it by right-clicking a search field on a site or by manually adding it in the settings. If you are a fan of vertical tabs, you can now drag a divider to resize the pinned tabs section.

On the flip side, some things are getting the boot. The Pocket integration, including its toolbar icon and New Tab presence, has been removed completely. This follows the service's shutdown announcement and cleans up the interface a bit, for better or worse, depending on how much you used it.

As you may know, 140 is also the new base for the next Extended Support Release (ESR). This version brings a massive number of updates that non-ESR users have had for a while.

ESR is for organizations that prefer stability over new features. The new ESR brings in a massive number of features that standard users have had for a while, like vertical tabs, tab grouping, a redesigned sidebar, and better privacy protections like bounce tracking protection.

Other notable improvements in the main Firefox 140 release include:

• The full-page translation tool now works smarter, prioritizing the text in your current view to speed things up.
• Address autofill support has been rolled out to users in Italy, Poland, and Austria.
• Firefox builds in Arabic now come with a built-in dictionary for the spellchecker.
• For web developers, there is new platform support for a variety of APIs, including the CookieStore API and Service Workers in Private Browsing Mode.
• You can now remove the dedicated extensions button from the main toolbar.

If you're interested in this release, you can grab a build for your operating system from our Software Stories page. Release notes for Firefox 140 and the ESR version are also available.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

However, there can be major problems too. For example, earlier this month, we reported on an incident wherein a Windows user was locked out of their Microsoft Account when Windows flagged their OneDrive upload activities, and apparently there was no way to recover their account. We discussed how, in such a case, users can lose all their data, especially if it's BitLocker encrypted, which is not all that unlikely on Windows 11 24H2. You can read the story in full in this article here.

Meanwhile, on the topic of MSA, Microsoft has finally released a detailed step-by-step guide for fixing the Office 2024 licensing bug. The tech giant had already published an update earlier back in December last year. While that was supposed to fix the issue, the problem likely persisted for many users.

For those who need a refresher, users whose Microsoft accounts held licenses for both Office 2024 and earlier editions like Office 2021. After upgrading to Office 2024, the MSA continued to display the older version.

At the time, Microsoft only stated that installing the latest version of the Office 2024 app would fix the issue. This week, though, a detailed guide has been shared. The company writes:

If you are still having this problem after installing the latest updates, please follow the steps below.

 

[Office 2024 Microsoft account Based]

 

1. Close all open Office apps, then navigate to %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Office\Licenses.
2. Delete the Folder named “5” in that directory.
3. Launch any of the Office apps and sign in to the Microsoft account associated with Office 2024 then select Office 2024 from the available Office list.
4. Confirm Office 2024 shows on [Product Information].

 

[Office 2024 with Office Pre-installed PC for corporate]

 

1. Close all open Office apps and then navigate to %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Office\Licenses.
2. Delete the Folder named “5” in that directory.
3. Launch any of the Office apps and follow the steps to use Office 2024.
4. Confirm Office 2024 shows on [Product Information].

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

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Microsoft has announced a new Windows 11 preview build this week that includes a redesigned Windows Recall app with a new home page tab that showcases recent snapshots captured by Recall, as well as snapshots from your most used apps and websites.

The new home page interface looks super clean, and Microsoft says it's designed to "bring your recent activity and top-used content front and center, enabling you to easily get back to your previous tasks."

Indeed, the new homepage does enable the ability to quickly jump to a snapshot that was captured earlier in the day, as well as view snapshots across your top 3 most-used apps or websites at a glance. The top 3 websites or apps are based on your most used over the last 24 hours only.

The KB5062324 update is available for Windows 11 version 24H2 devices that have not yet applied the May Windows non-security preview update or later updates.

"This Windows configuration update addresses an issue in Windows that can cause the scan for Windows updates to stop responding. Restarting Windows should allow the scan for Windows updates to be completed," the company explains in a support document updated today.

"A permanent resolution for this issue is contained in the May Windows non-security preview update (KB5058499) and later updates. We recommend you install the latest update for your device."

Those affected by this known issue can install the KB5062324 update by going into Settings > Windows Update and enabling the 'Get the latest updates as soon as they're available' option. Next, restart Windows, and click 'Check for updates.'

However, since the update is gradually rolling out to devices worldwide, you might have to try more than once.

Last month, Redmond resolved another bug preventing Windows 11 24H2 feature updates from being pushed with 0x80240069 error codes via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) after installing the April 2025 security updates.

One month earlier, the company addressed what it described as a "latent code issue," causing some PCs to be upgraded to Windows 11 overnight despite Intune policies that should block Windows 11 upgrades.

That was not the first time Windows systems had been upgraded without prior notice in recent months. Microsoft acknowledged in November that some Windows Server devices had been upgraded to Windows Server 2025 without user consent.

In May, Redmond revealed that it wants Windows to update all software on your PC via a new update orchestration platform built on the existing Windows Update infrastructure that aims to unify the updating system for all apps, drivers, and system components on Windows systems.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

In a surprising (if overdue) turn of events, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and the creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, recently met for the first time during a dinner hosted by Microsoft's Azure CTO Mark Russinovich.

Russinovich captured the iconic moment and shared it on LinkedIn with a little witty caption (via The Verge )

"No major kernel decisions were made, but maybe next dinner."

Windows and Linux have a long-standing rivalry as operating systems, though the former still holds a competitive advantage over the latter, predominantly due to its market dominance and broad app compatibility.

However, Linux attracts users because, among a wealth of other reasons, it's an open-source operating system offering wide customization options, privacy benefits, and massive cost-effectiveness.

To that end, it remains unclear what the two executives discussed over dinner, but it's fun to imagine. It'll be interesting to see if absolutely anything tangible comes from this meet-up and how it could work given the difference in ideologies for the two companies, especially with Windows 10's end-of-life around the corner.

Microsoft is seemingly focused on monetizing software through licensing to profit, while Linux leans more on collaborations with developers at the forefront. Torvalds is well known for not mincing his words and not holding back any punches when it comes to throwing lethal jabs at Microsoft (via wccftech )

The search giant announced that Google Earth is getting historical Street View imagery to celebrate the milestone. "Now, you can access historical Street View imagery right from Google Earth — and if you use Google Earth in a professional capacity, you can easily access new datasets, like tree canopy coverage for cities, land temperatures and more," Google said in a blog post.

Google Earth is well-known for offering many internet users an interactive bird's-eye view of the world at a time when mapping apps weren't as advanced. It was launched in June 2005 and features 3D buildings across major US cities, integrated local search, and 3D terrains showing mountains, valleys, and canyons around the world.

Users could activate, tilt, and rotate 3D terrain for a different perspective of a location. It was an instant hit after launch, with over 100 million downloads in its first week. Just months later, Google worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to make updated imagery available to first responders battling Hurricane Katrina.

However, the tech that powers Google Earth is a bit older than that. It was initially developed as Earth Viewer by Keyhole Inc., which Google acquired in 2004 and later rebranded. Now accessible via web browsers and mobile apps, Google Earth was initially available as free-to-download desktop software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The company also offered Google Earth Pro for $399 per year, but it was later made available for free.

Google Earth differs from Google Maps, which also debuted in 2005. While Google Earth is more focused on exploration and research, its sibling is inclined towards finding real-time information and navigation.

Google Earth is known for the flying animation that appears when you go from one place to another. Not just the Earth's surface, you can also explore the ocean floor, the Moon, and Mars (via desktop app).

The virtual globe app has been used to discover a rare type of coral reef off the west coast of Australia, often referred to as "the rainforest of the sea." The 2016 movie Lion told the story of a man who used Google Earth to reunite with his mother 25 years after he got separated from his family.

Google Earth has seen several new features over the past two decades, including VR support, distance measuring support, the ability to create virtual tours, and Timelapse. In 2017, the 'new Google Earth' added the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and a discovery-focused feature called Voyager.

Another redesign introduced in 2023 allows professionals to evaluate building and solar design options. A feature introduced last year allows users to view historical aerial imagery of places dating back up to 80 years.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

While the upgrade is certainly not mandatory, as users can continue sticking to Windows 10 if they want, at least for a while, the governments are now beginning to issue advisories on the upcoming massive change. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Government of India (GoI) has published guidance on the matter.

Like Microsoft, Asus, and others, the GoI has also recommended upgrading to Windows 11 to keep their systems secure. In the new advisory, it writes:

Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Windows 10 is approaching the end of their support lifecycle on 14 October 2025. After this date, Windows 10 will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or technical support from Microsoft. Systems running on Windows 10 will become increasingly susceptible to zero-day attacks, malicious software, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

 

Users of Windows 10 are recommended upgrading to Windows 11 to continue receiving critical security updates.

For enterprises as well as individual users who need more time to plan the upgrade, the CERT-In has reminded them about the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. It writes:

Individual consumers and organizations who need more time to transition to Windows 11 have the option of enrolling in the paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for critical patches. The ESU program does not extend the official product lifecycle or offer full technical support for the product beyond its lifecycle.

If you recall, Microsoft also extended the support for Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Word, Excel, Outlook, OneDrive, and more, for another three years. You can find the advisory here under CIAD-2025-0023 on CERT-In's official website.

Meanwhile, the United States' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is probably going to publish its own official guidance sometime soon, similar to how it did for Windows 7 and others. Others like the EU are going to follow suit as well.

If you do not like Microsoft's latest OS offering, you can also switch over to Linux. Recently, LibreOffice urged users to do so, citing the "real costs" of Windows 11.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

The June updates are a mixed bag.

So far, I have not seen any side effects from this month’s updates. However, I am tracking some other issues that may impact businesses.

That’s a problem, because I’m not sure what the root causes or triggers are. I just know that some IT administrators have indicated that their DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) servers were impacted. This issue affects Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025. Therefore, I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level just one notch, to 3.

For consumers engaged in gaming, systems already received an out-of-band patch for Windows 11 24H2 to fix an issue where systems were spontaneously rebooting after the installation of the June 10, 2025, security update (KB5060842).

“Out-of-band” means that an update is deployed outside the normal update schedule in order to address an urgent matter, such as a security flaw under active attack. But in this unusual case, it’s about a patch that was released to fix an issue triggered by another update. This patch, KB5063060, was released the next day to fix the problem. According to Microsoft, if a system wasn’t impacted, the user wouldn’t see the second out-of-band update. But on my Windows 11 24H2 laptop, I received both the original and the replacement updates.

The June updates (KB5060533) had a detrimental impact on Surface Hub v1 (Hub 2S and Hub 3 are not affected). It failed to start, noting the error “Secure Boot Violation.” The Surface team developed a recovery solution that can be used in coordination with Microsoft Support, and it advised users not to deploy KB5060533 and instead use KB5063159.

Why do I mention something that obviously affects a relatively small number of users and almost no consumers? Because no matter what the problem is, you must have a recovery plan if your policy is to install updates; otherwise, you should follow my advice and not install updates immediately. Instead, defer them until any issues and side effects are identified and dealt with.

Consumers

As I stated above, I’m not seeing any issues on Windows 11 24H2 or 23H2 or on Windows 10 22H2 on my home computers — or even those at my office. Thus I recommend you install updates at this time. Of course, it goes without saying that you should ensure you have a backup before installing updates.

For Office, several users have reached out to me regarding a new Copilot icon that has shown up on the right-hand side of Outlook. Using a left or right mouse click on Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 gives you options to pin it, but not to remove it. One frustrating part of dealing with tech is having to navigate through the different versions of Office. From Home (personal) editions to Microsoft 365, there are nuances. So if I provide guidance for one version, it may not work for another.

Regardless of how you obtain Copilot (e.g., Copilot Pro or the built-in features in Office, Windows, or Edge), you may or may not be able to disable it. But for certain consumer versions of Office, the only way not to get Copilot is to change to a classic subscription plan. In a small roundtable discussion with a few of our contributors, I learned that confusion is rampant among even these experts.

Businesses

For businesses, the impact of updates is rockier and thus triggers my middling recommendations this month. After the June updates for Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025, are installed, the DHCP service might intermittently stop responding. This issue affects IP renewal for clients. However, the key word in the description of the known issue is “might.” For example, on my Server 2019 that handles both DHCP and DNS services, I do not see this side effect. However, I know of situations in which the server is providing only DHCP, and it does not stop responding.

It would be grand if Microsoft were a bit more specific about the exact circumstances involved, so we could determine whether we are likely to experience the problem.

DHCP is a network-management protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks to automatically assign IP addresses and other communication parameters to devices connected to the network. If you set up a network with static IP addresses, you won’t see this side effect. Microsoft is working on an update, and I will send out a special notification when it releases yet another out-of-band update.

I’m hearing from several sources that ESU licenses will be sold via the CSP (Cloud Service Provider) channel, closer to the October end of life for Windows 10. This is not the same offering as the consumer single-year option that has also been discussed. So far, every vendor I’ve contacted regarding Windows 10 ESUs via volume licensing sales is unable to find the SKU in their price listing. Stay tuned — I am going to track these down, no matter how long it takes.

Resources

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

The new Recall home page features more personalized content to help you get back to recent activities. It displays your latest snapshots and a curated view of the top three applications and websites you have spent the most time on in the past 24 hours. Here is what it looks like:

In addition, Recall received a new nav bar on the left side of the screen with quick links to Home, Timeline, Feedback, and Settings.

The next big addition is the ability to change where system indicators (brightness, volume, and more) appear on the screen. Now, you can set these at the top-left corner or top-center.

To adjust this, go to Settings > System > Notifications > Position of the onscreen pop-up.

Here are other changes included in today's builds:

• [Start menu]
  • We are adding a Boolean 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 safeguarded. These changes can be optionally applied through the existing configuration service provider (CSP).
• [File Explorer]
  • We are restarting the roll out of AI actions in File Explorer that began rolling out with Build 26120.4151. Some Insiders may have seen the feature disappear.
• [Settings]
  • In the most recently flights, we have added the country or region selected during device setup under Settings > Time & language > Language & region.

Here is what was fixed:

[General]

• Fixed the issue causing the Windows Vista boot sound to play instead of the Windows 11 boot sound.
• Fixed an issue where the option to reset your PC under Settings > System > Recovery wasn’t working on the previous build.
• Fixed an underlying issue leading to certain KVM virtual machines unexpectedly failing to boot, showing “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR”.

The Dev build has an extra fix:

• Fixed the issue causing a small number of Insiders to experience repeated bugchecks with KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE after upgrading to most current Dev Channel builds.

Known issues include the following:

[General]

[IMPORTANT NOTE] When joining the Beta Channel on Windows 11, version 24H2 – you will be offered Build 26120.4250 After installing Build 26120.4250, you will be offered the most recent update available. This 2-hop experience to get onto the latest flight in the Beta Channel is just temporary.

• After you do a PC reset under Settings > System > Recovery, your build version may incorrectly show as Build 26100 instead of Build 26120. This will not prevent you from getting future Beta Channel updates, which will resolve this issue.
• Some Windows Insiders may experience a rollback trying to install this update with a 0x80070005 in Windows Update. We’re working on a fix for Windows Insiders impacted.

[Start menu]

The following are known issues for Windows Insiders with the new Start menu:

• Using touch to navigate the new Start menu may not work reliably. For example, it currently does not support the swipe-up gesture.
• Drag and drop capabilities are limited from “All” to “Pinned.”
• In some cases, duplicate entries may appear in folders on the Start menu.

[Xbox Controllers]

• Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.

[Click to Do (Preview)]

• The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
• Windows Insiders on AMD or Intel™-powered Copilot+ PCs may experience long wait times on the first attempt to perform intelligent text actions in Click to Do after a new build or model update.

[File Explorer]

The following are known issues for AI actions in File Explorer:

• Narrator scan mode may not work properly in the action result canvas window for the Summarize AI action for Microsoft 365 files when reading bulleted lists. As a workaround, you can use Caps + Right key to navigate.

[Widgets]

• Until we complete support for pinning in the new widgets board experience, pinning reverts you back to the previous experience

You can find the announcement for the Dev build here and for the Beta build here.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Last month, Microsoft released a modern remake of its classic MS-DOS Editor, bringing back a piece of computing history that first appeared in MS-DOS 5.0 back in 1991. The new open source tool, built with Rust and simply called "Edit," works on Windows, macOS, and—in a twist that would have seemed unlikely three decades ago—Linux.

The cross-platform availability has delighted longtime users who never expected to see Microsoft's text editor running on their preferred operating system. "30 years of waiting, and I can use MS Edit on Linux," wrote one Reddit user, capturing the nostalgic appeal of running a genuinely useful version of a Microsoft DOS utility on a Unix-like system.

An animated GIF from Microsoft showing the modern "Edit" application in action. 

(Credit: Microsoft)

The original MS-DOS Editor represented a major step forward for Microsoft's command-line text-editing capabilities at the time of its release. Before 1991, DOS users suffered through EDLIN, a line-based editor so primitive and user-hostile that many people resorted to typing "COPY CON filename.txt" and hoping for the best. MS-DOS Editor changed that by introducing concepts that seem basic today: a full-screen interface, mouse support, and pull-down menus you could actually navigate without memorizing cryptic commands.

And those cryptic commands persist today in some Linux editors, like Vim, a modal text editor where users must switch between different modes for editing versus navigating text, which famously confuses newcomers. "Many of you are probably familiar with the 'How do I exit vim?' meme," wrote Christopher Nguyen, a product manager on Microsoft's Windows Terminal team, in a blog post about Edit. "While it is relatively simple to learn the magic exit incantation, it's certainly not a coincidence that this often turns up as a stumbling block for new and old programmers."

Aside from ease of use, Microsoft's main reason for creating the new version of Edit stems from a peculiar gap in modern Windows. "What motivated us to build Edit was the need for a default CLI text editor in 64-bit versions of Windows," writes Nguyen while referring to the command-line interface, or CLI. "32-bit versions of Windows ship with the MS-DOS editor, but 64-bit versions do not have a CLI editor installed inbox."

An animated GIF from Microsoft showing the modern "Edit" application in action. (Credit: Microsoft)

So far, the development community seems to be giving Microsoft's new open source tool a mixed-to-positive reception. But the cross-platform nature of the new tool editor has already excited some developers. "Microsoft released a new terminal text editor! It's called Microsoft Edit, it's open source, it's tiny (about 250KB as a Rust binary) and it works cross-platform," wrote independent AI researcher Simon Willison on X on Saturday. "They built it for Windows 11 - I've been trying it out on my Mac and it's a nice alternative to Vim or nano."

Linux users can download Edit from the project's GitHub releases page or install it through an unofficial snap package. Oh, and if you're a fan of the vintage editor and crave a 16-bit text-mode for your retro machine that actually runs MS-DOS, you can download a copy on the Internet Archive.

The hallowed legacy of “Edit”

When MS-DOS 5.0 launched in 1991, the computing world looked vastly different from today. A typical PC might include a 286 or 386 processor, a mere 4MB of RAM was considered wildly generous, and the Internet remained largely an academic curiosity. Windows 3.0 had arrived the year before, but MS-DOS still ruled desktop computing on IBM PC clones. For millions of users, MS-DOS Editor became their first introduction to "modern" text editing—a stepping stone between the command-line era and the graphical interfaces that would soon dominate.

Looking back to when MS-DOS Editor debuted, it's interesting to learn that the original editor shipped in an unusual form. According to Wikipedia, EDIT.COM was actually just a stub that launched the QBasic programming language editor in a different mode—a clever way to reuse existing code while providing a more approachable text-editing experience. Later versions of EDIT.COM became standalone programs as Microsoft phased out QBasic from Windows distributions.

Originally, MS-DOS Editor was the same as the QBasic editor, seen here.

Benj Edwards

 

Bonus shot of GORILLA.BAS, the QBasic game that also originally shipped with MS-DOS 5.0. It was a good release.

Benj Edwards

 

At 250KB, the new Edit maintains the lightweight philosophy of its predecessor while adding features the original couldn't dream of: Unicode support, regular expressions, and the ability to handle gigabyte-sized files. The original editor was limited to files smaller than 300KB depending on available conventional memory—a constraint that seems quaint in an era of terabyte storage. But the web publication OMG! Ubuntu found that the modern Edit not only "works great on Ubuntu" but noted its speed when handling gigabyte-sized documents.

At a time when AI coding assistants and sophisticated IDEs dominate software development, it's fun to think that we may be on the verge of a renaissance in appreciation for simple, fast tools that just work. After all, some tasks are timeless. The fact that Microsoft's 1991 design philosophy from MS-DOS translates so well to 2025 suggests that most fundamental aspects of text editing haven't changed much despite 34 years of tech evolution.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

My biggest complaint with Liquid Glass in the first iOS 26 developer beta was that it sometimes made Control Center nearly unreadable, but Apple has seemingly fixed that with the second beta, which is out now.

In the first beta, the glassiness of everything meant that you could still see a fair amount of what was under Control Center, making it all look really cluttered. With the second beta, what’s under Control Center is much more opaque, making it much easier to read at a glance.

Take a look in this comparison:

In the second developer beta, some colors still bleed into the Control Center buttons in a way that could potentially be confusing. But overall, I think Apple is moving in the right direction here. I’m curious if the company will make more changes ahead of the general release this fall.

As reported by 9to5Mac, the beta includes a few other changes, too, including an excellent new ringtone that’s an alternate of the Reflections song. It sounds like something you’d hear in an Ace Attorney game. I switched to it right away.

If you want to try the developer beta yourself, here’s our guide on how to install it. If you don’t want to be on the bleeding edge but still want to try what Apple is working on, the company is set to launch a public beta next month.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

As with any operating system that ushers in a major new look and feel, this year's Apple operating systems and their new Liquid Glass aesthetic will likely merit some extra attention from power users who want to see all the new stuff and developers who suddenly need to acclimate to a new design language. Apple put out one early beta build of all of its new operating systems after its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote a couple of weeks ago—these updates are the first to standardize on year-based version numbering, making them all version 26—and today the company has formally released the second developer betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and most of its other updates.

For those who don't normally dabble in Apple's beta programs, the company offers two tracks: a developer beta and a public beta. The developer beta builds are offered earlier but tend to be buggier and less stable, and they change more from release to release. The public betas, which typically hit in mid- to late-July, are usually roughly the same code as the third or fourth developer beta and represent a nearer-to-final, more stable experience. Once the public betas begin, both developer and public beta builds are usually updated more or less in lockstep, though the developer betas are still usually available slightly earlier.

Apple used to gate its developer betas behind a $99-per-year developer program paywall. While app developers who want to distribute apps on Apple's App Stores still need to pay that fee, two years ago Apple began making developer betas available to anyone who signed up for a free developer account.

Users who sign up for developer accounts can either access restored images for flashing a "clean install" to a Mac or iDevice or download the betas directly by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update and then tapping Beta Updates and selecting one to install. Users signed up for both developer and public beta downloads will see all of them listed as separate options.

Should you install these betas?

We are not highlighting this second round of developer betas because we think you should go out and install them on the Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches that you use daily. These are still early versions, and they're likely to have significant performance, battery, and stability problems relative to the current publicly available versions of the software.

But generally speaking, these second developer builds are the first ones I install on my secondary test devices—a collection of mostly older devices that have been replaced but are still considered current enough to run the new update. The initial builds are usually little more than a tech demo and can have major show-stopping bugs (an M1 iPad Air with the first developer beta on it simply stopped responding to any input, including a hard restart, and I needed to set it aside so its battery could drain all the way before I could do anything else with it), but the second betas tend to be somewhat more amenable to normal everyday use.

The new iOS and iPadOS betas will run on just about any hardware that can currently install and run iOS and iPadOS 18, with a couple of older exceptions. The macOS beta will run on any Apple Silicon Mac and on a handful of Intel Macs released in 2019 and 2020. The other betas will generally run on anything that supports the current versions, with some caveats (Liquid Glass effects only show up on newer Apple TV 4K boxes, for example, while the first-gen Apple TV 4K and the old 1080p Apple TV will run the update but without Liquid Glass).

If you don't have spare devices you can dedicate to testing, we'd recommend waiting until the public beta in July before you even think about running any of these betas, and only after backing up all the important data on those devices. Rolling back to an older software version is doable, but a bit of a pain. Alternatively, those with Apple Silicon Macs who want to test the latest versions could try setting up a virtual machine using an app like VirtualBuddy or one of the others that leverages Apple's built-in Virtualization framework.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Microsoft announced plans to clean up the drivers that Windows Update pushes to user devices when the operating system checks for updates. The company says that this is done to improve stability and security, and it has a valid point to a degree.

It plans to remove old drivers. In the first phase only drivers that have been superseded by newer drivers. Often, newer drivers introduce fixes for issues or patch security bugs, and that is likely what Microsoft is referring to in its announcement.

Technically, cleanup means that these drivers are no longer associated with any audience in Windows Update. Since they are not associated anymore, they won't be offered to any device anymore when Windows runs checks for updates.

These drivers will then be removed by Microsoft from Windows Update. Hardware manufacturers may republish expired drivers, but Microsoft says that companies may need to justify the republishing.

Regular spring cleanings

Driver cleanups will run regularly according to Microsoft. It plans to extend the cleanup to other types of drivers, but did not mention any in particular.

Microsoft recommends that hardware manufacturers expire drivers from Windows Update proactively

Impact on users

This behind-the-scenes cleaning won't impact the majority of users. Some users may be impacted, however, in some scenarios. New drivers may, for example, lack support for older hardware devices. Additionally, bugs or issues introduced in newer driver versions may cause issues on some systems.

Windows users may still install drivers manually at any time, provided that they have access to the driver. Most manufacturers provide driver downloads on their sites, at least for still-supported devices. CDs with drivers on them are not as common anymore as they were a decade ago.

Driver download sites on the Internet are another option, but you may want to make sure that they are legitimate before you download anything from them.

Just in case, here is a tutorial on exporting Windows drivers using DISM.

Closing Words

Only time will tell if Microsoft's driver cleaning initiative will indeed be mostly beneficial to Windows users, or if it will introduce issues of its own.

Now You: when was the last time you installed a driver manually? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Phantom Of Earth has shared some screenshots that showcase the changes. Before you get too excited, I must point out that it doesn't look similar to the one on Windows 10. In case you've forgotten, Windows 10 has a vertical on-screen indicator (OSD) for the volume control, the upcoming OSD on Windows 11 uses a horizontal design. This horizontal volume slider was introduced about 3 and 1/2 years ago. The new bar looks exactly the same as it does now, but you can move it to the top left, or top center. It is a welcome change, especially as the volume bar appears in the bottom center of the screen, right where the subtitles or playback bar usually appear, which can be a little annoying. Moving it to the top or the corner of the screen could fix the problem.

According to the leaker, the option to customize the OSD location will be available under the Settings > System > Notifications page. The setting is under a section that is labeled "Indicators from keyboard actions", and is called "Position of on-screen indicators". It also changes the location of the OSDs for brightness, and other controls.

On a sidenote, Microsoft is also adding some options to the Settings app such as displaying additional clocks in the system tray, which might be useful who want to know the time in different time zones. Microsoft is also said to be testing a Dynamic Background, which will automatically update the wallpaper based on your selections. Yes, this is an AI-powered feature.

Do you remember Quick Machine Recovery? It is a feature will automatically fix boot failures on Windows 11. Well, XenoPanther says that this option is being enabled by default on Windows 11. All these changes are currently being tested in the Windows Insider Program, but haven't been announced by Microsoft yet. So it may take a while before they make their way over to the stable channel.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Announced today as the 'aggregated gaming library' feature, it's poised to land this holiday on the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X to easily manage all their installed games from a single place. But before that, Xbox Insiders on PC can have a crack at it to see how it functions and provide feedback to Microsoft.

In its current state, Microsoft says that the feature now supports Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net, and "other leading PC storefronts," all handled via the Xbox PC app. The company did not detail what these other storefronts are, but Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, and EA Play apps seem likely candidates.

"Whether you’re on a Windows PC or a handheld device, your Xbox library, hundreds of Game Pass titles, and all your installed games from leading PC storefronts will now be at your fingertips," said the company.

When a game from a supported store is installed on a PC, Insiders should now see it appear on the Xbox app in the My Library and Most Recent sections for easy access. "And this is just the beginning," adds Microsoft. "We’ll continue rolling out support for additional PC storefronts over time."

Insiders can also disable this functionality and hide games from specific stores if needed from the Settings > Library & Extensions menu.

Anyone interested in testing out the new 'aggregated gaming library' update can use the Xbox Insider app on PC to enroll in the ongoing Insider Previews.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

The main criticism of the existing trash can icon is that without the recycling icon, it kind of looks like a letter box, rather than a bin. When the bin has files in it, the papers that appear in the bin look quite neat, like letters, boosting the impression that it’s a post box, rather than a bin.

Designs that are being suggested now are fully open at the top to make it clearer that it's a bin and when there are files inside it shows crumpled papers. The designer, ochi12, has published several iterations of the icons and put them in different sizes to see how it’d look in different use cases. The latest version definitely seems to survive being shrunk down to smaller sizes.

Right now, the designer is still being given feedback by other contributors so that ones that have been made so far are unlikely to be what shows up in Ubuntu, if one is ever agreed upon. That’s an important point too, the change may never be agreed to and it could be that we never see the change materialize.

Notably, some people who commented said they liked the existing bin icon and hope it doesn’t change, showing the subjective nature of what makes for a good trash bin icon. Hopefully, we get some consensus on a design so that Ubuntu users can get a more fresh experience when upgrading to upcoming versions of Ubuntu.

There is still a lot of time until Ubuntu 25.10 drops in October so it’s feasible we could see the new icon by then, but if not, maybe we’ll see it in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.

Source: GitHub via OMG Ubuntu

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

If you remember last week, Torvalds said that rc2 seemed smaller than usual, putting it down to people going on vacation. He said this week’s rc3 seems to be in the usual ballpark for this time of the cycle, so everything looks “entirely normal.”

In terms of changes, this release is “dominated” by wireless networking and GPU driver updates, however, Torvalds doesn’t think that anything really huge stands out this time. While nothing stands out Torvalds urged people to carry on testing and submitting patches.

This update saw improvements to the core system and architecture. There have been improvements to ARM64 KVM that improve stability and correctness of virtualizations on ARM64. There are also improvements to RISC-V KVM and Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) for Intel which expand and secure virtualization capabilities on those architectures.

On the graphics front, there are fixes for the amdgpu and amdkfd drivers that fix job handling, engine resets, display corruption, and power management features. The driver used for Qualcomm’s Adreno GPUs has been updated to improve fault handling, display timing, and driver binding.

The open-source Nouveau (Nvidia) driver has been updated with fixes for GSP message queue references, potential integer overflows, buffer size adjustments, and a use-after-free bug. Finally, the Intel i915 driver has been updated to address early wedge issues, memory initializations, and build errors.

There are also improvements to Wi-Fi devices (ath12k and iwlwifi), sound (ALSA), power management on AMD, and file system improvements (OverlayFS, EROFS, XFS, NFS, SunRPC).

Linux 6.16 is due for release at the end of July and will then be picked up by Linux distributions, which will be the first interaction most end users have with the new features in this update. The main benefit of a newer kernel is that Linux will work on newer hardware, so if you’ve had issues with Linux, be sure to try it periodically in case your hardware is now supported.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

It seems many Linux developers see Wayland as the future. Just recently, Linux Mint started working to improve support for the protocol in Cinnamon, tackling lingering issues with keyboard layouts and input methods. You can even see the progress in KDE's development, where an upgrade to Wayland PiP is planned for KDE Plasma 6.5.

So what's the logic behind dropping a session that, for the most part, still works? According to Kubuntu's Rik Mills, the team wants to "rip off this sticking plaster" now, in an interim release, rather than piss off a lot of people by doing it in the next Long-Term Support version, 26.04. The developers feel that maintaining code for the aging X11 system holds back progress on security and new features that Wayland can enable more easily. Plus, supporting two separate display servers is a massive undertaking.

Of course, this change might have some people worried, but relax; all is not lost if you still need the old session. If you're running hardware that acts up, like some older NVIDIA cards, or who relies on an ancient application that doesn't play nicely with the XWayland compatibility layer, you can still get your familiar session back. Just enter the following command in your terminal:

sudo apt install plasma-session-x11

Once that command finishes, the X11 session will appear as an option on the login screen, so you can carry on as before.

As OMGUbuntu notes, not everyone in the Ubuntu family is following its lead just yet. Other official flavors like Xubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, and Ubuntu Cinnamon are expected to keep offering an X11 session on their default installs for this cycle.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Still, credit where it is due: Windows 10 is still more responsive than Windows 11 (not as Windows 8 was, though). Even when running on a virtual machine, Windows 10 is snappier, and overall, it feels "lighter" than its successor. Animations in Windows 11 feel heavy and a bit wonky even on my pretty capable PC with a Radeon RX 7800 XT and a 144Hz display. While coming back to Windows 10 is not an option, I found a simple solution that not everyone is aware of.

My tip of the weekend for Windows 11 users: turn off all animations (genius, I know).

As soon as I turned off animations, everything became much snappier: the start menu, virtual desktop switching, context menus (not much faster, but still noticeable), Task View, and other user interface elements. The most notable improvement was virtual desktop switching: instant and without the taskbar going haywire.

There are two ways to turn off animation effects in Windows 11. One is in Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects. Toggle off "Animation effects."

The second option is in the legacy "System Properties" applet. Press Win + R, type sysdm.cpl and go to the Advanced tab. Click "Settings" in the Performance section and untick the following options:

• Animate controls and elements inside windows
• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Animations in the taskbar

Of course, you can leave some of those options enabled if you wish. Toggling all three will also turn off the "Animation effects" in the Accessibility settings section. Note that these settings affect not only the general Windows 11 UI but also animations in various apps, which, in turn, can make them feel snappier.

I should also add that this simple tweak will not make your computer run faster or generate more FPS in games. It will only address janky animations, which, unfortunately, are still present in Windows 11. While my PC runs perfectly and without performance issues, slow animations play a big role in how it feels. And if you ask me, no animations are better than fancy yet choppy animations (I spoke about it in my recent "Windows 11 still grinds my gears with these 5 things" article).

I recently published another guide with five important things every Windows 11 user should do. Therefore, if you want to make the OS run a bit better for you, check out that article here as well. Meanwhile, share your thoughts about Windows 11 animations in the comments.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend