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Microsoft has released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 23H2, 22H2, and 21H2. The 23H2 and 22H2 versions' update is delivered via KB5041585, while the 21H2 update is KB5041592. You will be on build versions 22621.4037, 22631.4037, and 22000.3147, respectively, after applying the update.

It's the second Tuesday of the month, which means it's Patch Tuesday time again. As such, today, Microsoft is rolling out the monthly security update (also called "B release") for August 2024 on Windows Server 20H2 and Windows 10 for the latest supported versions, 20H2, 21H2, and 22H2. The new updates are being distributed under KB5041580, bumping up the builds to 19044.4780 and 19045.4780.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Despicable Me 4' tops the chart, followed by 'Deadpool & Wolverine'. 'The Instigators' 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.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at a new and now-working layout for the Start menu in Windows 11, Paint 3D going six feet under, a new deprecated feature in Windows 11, fresh Windows 11 preview builds, some gaming news, important changes in Nvidia drivers for users with old hardware, app updates, and more.

By Susan Bradley

Hold off on updates from both companies until they are fully vetted.

With so much activity around forthcoming Windows updates, continued caution is recommended.

That’s why I’m raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2.

Towards the end of last month, Microsoft released its non-security Windows preview update (C- release) for Windows 11 and Windows 10 under KB5040527 and KB5040525, respectively. However, a few days later, the company also quietly released one for Windows 11 version 24H2 (2024 update) as well under KB5040529 for Copilot+ PCs.

Both AMD Ryzen 9700X and Ryzen 9600X CPUs offer just minor improvements in gaming performance. But they perform well in applications and their power efficiency.

The Bing Wallpaper app recommends "different browser settings" for fast and secure search results.

About two months ago, Microsoft announced that the new Sticky Notes app was finally "available to all users." However, as it usually goes with Microsoft products, the rollout began gradually, and it took a while for Microsoft to finish it. Now, every OneNote user on Windows can access the new Sticky Notes app, and people are not happy about it.

There is a big new update for Files, a great file manager for Windows 10 and 11. In the latest release, version 3.6, developers introduce Dual Pane improvements, a new action menu, custom folder backgrounds, performance optimization for large folders, and many small changes.

In February of this year, Nvidia released the new Nvidia app, a program that aims to unify the Nvidia Control Panel, GeForce Experience, and RTX Experience. Today, the app received a new update with support for extra features, such as display settings, RTX Video controls, app sorting, new localization, and more.

Nvidia has released a new driver for supported graphics cards. Version 560.81 is now available for download with a bunch of important fixes. There are no optimizations for new games, but those playing Farming Simulator 22 will be happy to know that 560.81 fixed the bug with the game crashing on systems with RTX 30/40 Series and driver 560.70.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'A Quiet Place: Day One' tops the chart, followed by 'Deadpool & Wolverine'. 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' completes the top three.

Do you remember that story about old computers unable to run recent Windows 11 versions due to the missing POPCNT instruction set? As it turned out, the problem is not just about installing the latest OS on ancient hardware. Windows 10 users with old processors may now stuck in a blue screen of death loop due to unsupported Nvidia graphics drivers.

Paul's Hardware (1.48M subscribers)
 
August 4, 2024
 
Video length: 13m 24s
 
0:00 Welcome to Paul’s Tech News - August 4, 2024
1:42 Intel Cuts 15,000+ Jobs As CPU Scandal Deepens, Class Action Lawsuits Loom
5:06 AMD’s Ryzen 9000 CPUs Almost Ready, Pricing Leaks
6:40 AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Reviewed, Impressive Efficiency and Performance
 
TECH BRIEFS
 
8:48 Nvidia hit by antitrust investigation
9:24 Bad GDDR6X might mean supply shortage for RTX 4070 and up
9:47 Intel to Launch "Lunar Lake" Core Ultra Chips on September 3rd
10:34 Newegg expands hardware trade-in program to include CPUs
11:18 Logitech has an idea for a “forever mouse” that requires a subscription
12:13 Microsoft 365 and Azure outage takes down multiple services

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at Microsoft's latest financial report, fresh Windows 11 stats, big updates for Skype (yes, it is still alive), a new PowerToys release, some good and not-so-good gaming news, one new Windows 11 preview build, and more.

Google Chrome is now encouraging uBlock Origin users who have updated to the latest version to switch to other ad blockers before Manifest v2 extensions are disabled.
 
As uBlock Origin lead developer and maintainer Raymond Hill explained on Friday, this is the result of Google deprecating support for the Manifest v2 (MV2) extensions platform in favor of Manifest v3 (MV3).

Here are nearly two dozen lesser-known features you should try in Windows 11.

Windows 11 has a slew of features designed to enhance your productivity, creativity, and overall computer experience. While many of these features are well-known, there are hidden gems that most users overlook. 

Microsoft has released a new feature update for PowerToys, a set of various tools for Windows 10 and 11 users. Although the July 2024 update does not contain any new modules, it reworks the Awake tool (the tool that can prevent your computer from going to sleep) and adds improvements and fixes for other existing tools.

Users of the Thunderbird email client who still use Thunderbird 115.x will be upgraded to the new version automatically starting today.

By Susan Bradley
It’s time to check whether your boot drive is encrypted.
As I predicted, Microsoft’s July 2024 security update may trigger a request for recovery keys among those who enabled BitLocker or drive encryption. That’s because the update included a change to Secure Boot.

No recall is planned, but a preventative fix for unaffected CPUs is expected in the coming weeks.

At least AMD's Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X desktop chips have issues worthy of delaying the 9000 Series launch.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' tops the chart, followed by 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'. 'A Quiet Place: Day One' 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.

ExplainingComputers (1.03M subscribers)
 
July 28, 2024
 
Video length: 23m 35s
 
00:54 Getting Linux Mint
03:10 Installation
06:11 NVIDIA GPU driver
07:16 What’s New?
11:11 Applications
14:43 Updates & Snapshots (Timeshift)
18:06 Fixing the Font! (Ubuntu Classic)
20:29: Xfce & MATE Editions
22:43 Wrap