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TSMC makes most high-end chips for Apple, Nvidia, AMD, and others.

Chipmaking operations at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) were briefly paused today following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that hit Taiwan, according to a company statement provided to Bloomberg and others.

Microsoft will end Windows 10 support in October 2025 (this does not apply to LTSC editions), which means the operating system will no longer receive security updates, fixes, and new features. However, not every user will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 or buy a new PC, especially in the enterprise segment. For such customers, Microsoft has the Extended Security Program that lets you receive additional updates beyond the end of the support date.

About three months ago, the Windows enthusiast community including Neowin was bustling with the alleged impending arrival of the next generation of Windows, casually referred to as Windows "12," sometime in 2024.
 
However, a lot of the speculation fell flat as a new report suggested Windows 12 was not happening, at least not in 2024, anymore. However, the report also added that version 24H2 of Windows 11 was going to be a major update, unlike 23H2.

Would you like to play your favorite Android games on your PC? Run Android apps on PC to use them even without your Android device? It is easier than you may think thanks to Android emulators.
 
Microsoft recently announced the end of built-in Android emulation on Windows. The company announced the deprecation of the Windows Subsystem for Android, which offered a comfortable option to run Android games and apps on Windows.
 
With it gone, users must look at other options to run Android apps and games on their devices.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Road House' tops the chart, followed by 'Oppenheimer'. ‘'Madame Web' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.
 
Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

Microsoft began rolling out its Moment 5 feature update for Windows 11 initially at the end of February via a KB5034848 update. Microsoft labels such updates as Configuration Updates.
 
This past week, the update was made available to all Windows 11 users via KB5035942 as an optional update. However, we noticed several users online complaining about various issues installing the update as it would fail or the system would crash with a blue screen.
 
Regardless, Microsoft, as always, published a standalone package to improve the compatibility of KB5035942 by updating the Windows recovery. This WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) update has been delivered via SafeOS update under KB5036567.

Microsoft began rolling out its Moment 5 feature update for Windows 11 initially at the end of February via a KB5034848 update. Microsoft labels such updates as Configuration Updates.
 
This past week, the update was made available to all Windows 11 users via KB5035942 as an optional update. However, several users online are reporting installation issues, and some of the affected who are managing to complete the installation and setup are further experiencing black screen issues on startup.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at a jam-packed week full of Microsoft news. From a new Windows head to a redesigned Start menu in the latest Windows 11 preview builds, leaked pictures of a new Xbox Series X, revoked Edge updates, and plenty of various app updates.

The weather button will now be located on the right when the Start button is left aligned.

Windows 11 version 23H2, which was released in late 2023, brought a few modern elements to File Explorer, including a redesigned address bar. Despite the fancy looks, improved accessibility, and better optimizations for touch inputs, there was one major catch: the operating system would no longer let you drag files and folders onto the address bar to move them up a folder or few. The change upset quite a lot of Windows users, so Microsoft is fixing the situation.

Microsoft has been giving members of the Windows Insider Program a preview of a new lock screen experience. Today, the company confirmed that the new lock screen will become officially available in April for both Windows 11 23H2 users and Windows 10 version 22H2 users.

Microsoft deprecated WordPad, the old text editor first introduced in Windows 95, in September 2023. Later, release notes for one of the Windows 11 preview builds confirmed that the company plans to delete WordPad from the operating system with no way to install it back. Now, we have more information about the inevitable death of the old WYSIWYG text editor.

By Susan Bradley
 
Business patchers take heed.
 
Usually, monthly updates have the same impact on both business and consumer PCs. This month, applying patches to consumer machines is generally safe, which would have earned a MS-DEFCON level of 4. But business machines are another matter; I’ve lowered the level to 3.

Windows 11 "Moment 5" update is now available to all users in the form of the March 2024 optional non-security update. KB5035942 (build numbers 22621.3374 and 22631.3374) is now available for download from Windows Update.

Microsoft, earlier today, published the latest Stable version of Windows Terminal, and it has a significant change that will affect those users who are running PCs with older processors, like Intel Core 2 Duos, in a positive way. The company had recently updated the compiler following which it stopped working on such CPUs which lack PopCnt and SSE 4.2 instructions.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Road House' tops the chart, followed by 'Madame Web'. ‘'Oppenheimer' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.
 
Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

There is no denying that when it comes to desktops, Windows is a popular OS. But while most users prefer to use their mouse clicks and occasionally the keyboard to type in things, the latter can be useful in many more ways thanks to keyboard shortcuts that most casual users rarely use as their usage tends to be confined to enthusiasts and working professionals.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at the new Surface Laptop 10 for Business and the Surface Laptop 6 for Business, a bunch of extra deprecated features in Windows client, the new Microsoft AI division, more lock screen widgets for Windows 10 and 11, and other news.

Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed problems with LSASS (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service) memory leaks on several Windows Server versions, which could trigger an unscheduled reboot of domain controllers. Shortly after, the company pushed an out-of-band update to resolve the problem.

Microsoft Edge 123 is now available in the Stable Channel. The latest feature update delivers bug fixes, performance improvements, and security patches. In addition, Edge 123 contains two new features for businesses and a plethora of new policies. Here are the details.

There are plenty of tricks and tools to use in your searches.

While a lot of our files are stored in the cloud, there are still many ones and zeros that get stored locally. But as the capacity of the drives used by our desktops and laptops has increased, finding files has gotten that much harder. How many photos and videos do you have stacked up in your computer? How many documents and downloads?

These are the settings you should be using on Microsoft Edge for the best experience on Windows 11.

On Windows 11, if you prefer Microsoft Edge over other browsers to access the internet, there are some configuration changes every user should make for the best experience.

The 40-year-old app still receives love and updates from Microsoft.

What you need to know

Notepad will soon support spell check and autocorrect, according to recent leaks.

The app will allow you to enable or disable spell check and autocorrect separately and choose which file types will use the features.

While Notepad is a basic app, Microsoft has worked on new features for it recently, including tabs, character count, and even AI.

Back in September 2023, rumors started flying that Microsoft might automatically install the New Outlook for Windows on with the Windows 11 23H2 (2023 update). Following that, the press began reporting about another quirk of the new Outlook: it would send users' non-MSA data to its servers and Microsoft felt it was for your own good.

There are certainly valid reasons why you may not like Windows 11. A lot of it has to do with the stringent system requirements Microsoft introduced, which turned off a lot of users who had PCs that were only a few years old - at the time of the Windows 11 announcement - labeled incompatible. There have been more changes since then. And those on eligible systems often find Windows Update reminders or forced / automatic updates.