Microsoft Weekly: $30 to keep Windows 10 alive, Recall recalled again, and more

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at Microsoft's latest financial reports, Recall being recalled again, fresh Windows stats, paid Windows 10 updates for consumers, removed features, new known bugs, and more.

Table of contents:

1. Windows 10 and 11 news
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Gaming news
5. Great deals to check

This week's Microsoft Weekly starts with the latest financial report from Microsoft. The company announced over $65.5 billion in revenue, $24.7 billion in operation income, and $3.30 earnings per share. The company's CFO said that "strong execution by our sales teams and partners delivered a solid start to our fiscal year."

Windows 11 and 10

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

The biggest story of this week was Microsoft's announcement of yet another Recall delay. This time, the company plans to start its public testing somewhere in December. The initial plan was to launch the feature in June, but it was delayed until October, and now it is all the way to December. Here is what Microsoft said about the delay:

We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders. Originally planned for October, Recall will now be available for preview with Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs by December.

Another big announcement is related to Windows 10. Microsoft finally revealed how much it would cost for consumers to continue receiving Windows 10 security updates past its end-of-support date in October 2025. Get ready to pay the company $30 to keep your Windows 10 in supported state.

However, unlike enterprises, which will be able to use the Extended Security Program for three years, consumers are only entitled to twelve months of additional updates.

Microsoft also confirmed a bunch of various bugs in its operating system. For starters, it fixed non-working apps on Windows 10. The bug hit users trying to launch certain apps from non-admin accounts. Affected programs included Quick Assist, Microsoft Teams, Windows Narrator, and many more. Fortunately, it was fixed in no time, thanks to the Known Issue Rollback feature.

What is not yet fixed is Windows 11 24H2's Task Manager, which incorrectly reports zero running apps and background processes. The bug occurs on Windows 11 version 24H2 with the latest non-security update, which was released by the end of October.

Another bug is hitting Azure Virtual Desktop users on Windows 10. Microsoft says that recent Windows 10 updates caused long black screens when connecting to AVD, connectivity issues in Office apps, and more. The company is working on fixing the problem in a future update.

Next, we have some fresh stats about Windows 10 and 11. Statcounter reported that Windows 11 is increasing its adoption rate speed. According to the latest data, Windows 11 holds over 35.5% of the Windows market, with a monthly increase of 2.13 points.

The OS is also doing well among gamers, according to Valve. The Steam Hardware and Software Survey for October 2024 says Windows 11 is installed on nearly 52% of all Windows PCs on the platform.

AMD announced details about its upcoming Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor and shared performance improvements it will bring on Windows 11 over rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 285K, Intel Core i9-14900K, and even the previous-gen Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Windows Server 2025 is now generally available. Microsoft announced the launch of its next-gen Server operating system alongside System Center 2025. The company also shared the complete list of supported processors, which includes some pretty low-end models, such as Intel Pentium.

To finish the Windows section, here is a useful guide that will help you turn on folder sizes in Windows 11's File Explorer without resorting to third-party file managers. It involves installing a small open-source mod.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:

If one of your computers is enrolled in the Insider program and it received the Super Resolution feature despite having a "traditional" PC, that is because of a bug. Microsoft confirmed that the feature was mistakenly rolled out to non-Copilot+ PCs, and it is now fixed. No more image upscalers for those with x86 Intel and AMD computers.

Another missing feature is the ability to unlink a phone in Windows 11's Phone Link app. So far, there is no info on why Microsoft removed it.

Sadly, we are not done with features that are no longer available. In the release notes for the latest Windows 11 Beta build, Microsoft confirmed that the new gamepad keyboard for Windows 11 is no longer available. That applies not just to preview builds but also to stable Windows 11 24H2 releases (the keyboard was released as part of the October 2024 non-security update).

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

On November 1, Microsoft announced the winners of the Microsoft Store Awards 2024. Fourteen applications from the Microsoft Store (submitted by developers and regular users) received special recognition in 14 different categories.

Microsoft Teams is getting a revamped chat and channel experience, which now features new filters, an updated mention view, improvements for the favorites section, channel updates, and more. In addition, Teams now lets you choose a skin tone for emojis and reactions for better self-expression.

Microsoft's text editor, Word, marked its 41st anniversary this week, and the company celebrated the occasion with a new blog post outlining new features that Microsoft implemented based on user feedback.

Outlook, another app from the Office suite, received an update on mobile devices to boost privacy for businesses and consumers. Microsoft is also changing how to enable or disable New Outlook for Windows and the Web.

By the way, if you do not want the new Outlook on your PC, check out this simple trick. You might also want to do some tricks to fix Classic Outlook hanging when copying text on certain systems.

As usual, we also had a lot of browser updates this week. Starting with Opera, its Android version received new features, such as AI image recognition, QR code sharing, and more. Next, Mozilla released Firefox 132 for all platforms, bringing 4K DRM video streaming support, a wider color gamut support, and other changes.

Google prepared some neat upgrades for Chrome users as well. The company announced new performance controls to improve the browsing experience, such as the ability to release memory from inactive tabs, performance issue notifications, and more.

Microsoft Edge 132 arrived in the Dev Channel with profile improvements and fixes for various crashes. In the Stable Channel, Edge received fixes for the STATUS_BREAKPOINT error and two security patches. Microsoft also reminded users that MDAG and its APIs are no longer available in Windows 11 version 24H2.

On the third-party side, Windows users have a new app coming straight from macOS and iOS. Fantastical, a popular feature-packed calendar, is now available in the Microsoft Store.

There is another piece of Apple ecosystem that is now available on Windows (sort of). Parallels released a new version of its hypervisor to enable Apple Intelligence features in Windows-based virtual machines.

OpenAI also updated its ChatGPT app for Windows with support for the Advanced Voice mode, which makes it possible for Chat GPT to respond to audio inputs with incredibly short delays (average of 320 milliseconds).

Other notable updates include the following:

• Microsoft announced a new Bing experience for the 2024 US presidential race.

• Ex-Meta VP Jay Parikh joined Microsoft.

• Microsoft released Visual Studio Code 1.95 with various new features and improvements.

• Steam now requires games to disclose the use of kernel mode anti-cheat systems.

• Microsoft and A16z offer policy ideas for AI startups.

   

And here are the newest drivers released this week:

• AMD 24.20.19.05 Beta with Dragon Age: The Veilguard support and a single fir for The Crew Motorfest.
• Surface Go 4 received new firmware with display flickering fixes, faster Wi-Fi, and more.
• Surface Laptop 5 received battery improvements and fixes for random shutdowns.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

If you wonder why Microsoft has not ported Halo 5 to PC, a new report will make things a bit clearer. A former 343 Industries (now Halo Studios) developer revealed that the port was scrapped due to "significant tech hurdles."

Halo Studios also announced a bunch of Halo 2 maps and third-person Firefight mode coming to Halo Infinite next week to commemorate 20 years of Halo 2. The update will be available on November 5.

Treyarch announced a massive Season 1 update for the recently launched Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. It will start on November 14, with Infected mode and Nuketown arriving first. By the way, there is already a patch available that fixes black screen issues and other bugs.

Forza Horizon 5, another Microsoft-owned game, is getting a lot of the latest Porsche vehicles as part of the new Track Day update. In addition, Event Lab creators will be able to equip their maps with a horde of new Halo-themed props.

A big update also arrived for Payday 3. The game now has a server browser, cross-platform voice chat, new masks, a revamped user interface, and other quality improvements.

Rockstar also had some great news for PC gamers this week. The studio finally launched the original Red Dead Redemption on PC, alongside its additional content, such as Undead Nightmare. You can purchase the game on Steam and the Epic Games Store for $49.99.

In addition, Rockstar announced graphics updates for GTA V on PC. They arrived on consoles first in 2022, and PC games will be able to enjoy improved graphics somewhere in 2025. Sadly, no exact dates were provided.

On the Xbox Insider side, Microsoft is testing a redesigned Xbox app for Windows users. The updated UI features a new Home page with games, deals, recommendations, and other useful content.

For non-insiders who stick with stable Xbox updates, Microsoft released an Xbox OS update under version 10.0.26100.2499. It introduced Natural Language Search and thumbstick calibration for the Wireless Elite Controller.

Nvidia announced new games for the GeForce NOW cloud streaming service. The latest additions include Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Resident Evil 4, VRChat, and 18 more titles that will be available in November 2024.

Deals and freebies

This week, we have quite a lot of specials and discounts. Valve, for one, is hosting its annual Steam Halloween Sale, where you can claim thousands of spooky games with big discounts. It runs through November 27, so you still have plenty of time to buy some scary titles.

The Epic Games Store is giving away Tango's Ghostwire: Tokyo, a creepy game about a dead city filled with ghosts and other spooky stuff. You can get the game for free until the next Thursday.

Another giveaway is happening in GOG. The store lets everyone have a classic horror game for free until November 4. The game in question is Return of the Phantom, a MicroProse-developed point-and-click adventure that was released all the way back in 1993.

But even that is not everything. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can claim two games right now and over 20 more for free over the course of November.

If you want more, check out this week's Weekend PC Game Deals, which is full of various discounted games.

Other interesting stories from the gaming world this week include the following:

• Bungie published an update on Marathon development, with playtest expanding in 2025.
• Homeworld 3 developers removed Denuvo DRM from the game.
• The next Mass Effect installment will retain the mature tone of the original trilogy.
• EA removed Apex Legends Linux and Steam Deck support to stop cheaters.
• DayZ creator announced a new space sim to take on Kerbal Space Program.
• Paradox Interactive warned about malware in a popular Cities: Skylines II mod.

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Microsoft Weekly image by AcatXlo on Pixabay.

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