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May 20 will be a big day for Microsoft, Qualcomm, and their partners. The companies are about to launch the first wave of the next-gen Windows on ARM PCs powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Series processors. We have already seen a few leaks, many of which have one thing in common: the wallpaper. It seems that Microsoft is preparing a new default wallpaper for Windows 11, and you can already download it in high-res, even though the official announcement is not here yet.

Good news! Microsoft has finally made it possible to use the Widget Board on Windows 11 without being subjected to an onslaught of clickbait news articles.

It appears that Microsoft is working on even more tabs for File Explorer in Windows 11. One of the upcoming updates, which is currently available for testing in the Beta Channel, contains a hidden feature for File Explorer's Home page. Enabling it will place three new tabs under the Quick Access section, allowing you to quickly switch between recent files, favorites, and shared files. In addition, each section now features additional graphics and a brief explanation of what you can expect to show up there.

Microsoft today has released a new Beta Channel build for Windows Insiders. The new build, 22635.3640 under KB5037867, brings more upgrades and improvements to the native Windows 11 file archive as more compression formats are available on the right-click context menu.

Microsoft has released the latest Windows 11 build for members of the Insider program in the Dev channel. The build number is 26120.670, under KB5037869.
 
This Dev Channel release looks like it will be a pretty minor update. Microsoft says it includes some unnamed general improvements and some bug fixes, including a fix for an issue that was causing Windows updates not to complete if a device had to restart more than once. It also has a known Widgets issue.

Winamp used to be a popular audio player for Windows. Things went quiet after its heyday and rights changed hands several times in that period.
 
Veteran users of the player had big hopes when a comeback of the player was announced in 2021. After a, mostly, bug fix release in 2022, a new Winamp Player was announced for release in 2023.

In case you have not been following, Microsoft is looking to block off really old processors from running the next feature update for Windows 11, 24H2. A couple of instructions, SSE4.2 and PopCnt, are being made mandatory for a CPU to be able to run the next version of Windows 11. Since this is an instruction-level block.
 
However, these chips were never really supported in the first place so it will only affect those who are used to bypassing the Windows 11 requirements on their ancient systems.

Members of the Windows Insider Program in both the Dev and Canary channels can try out some new updates today for both the Windows 11 Paint and Snipping Tools apps. Both have some new features and improvement for those Insider members to check out.

Microsoft, this week, released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 10 (KB5037768 / KB5037765 / KB5037763 / KB5037788) and Windows 11 (KB5037771 / KB5037770) for May 2024. These updates improve the security of the Windows OS.
 
Back when Windows 11 was released, Microsoft explained how some of the features like TPM 2.0 and VBS were so key for security, and also demoed a hacker attack being blocked thanks to such features
 
However, the nostalgia can be strong sometimes and people get carried away and tend to look back at the old outdated Windows operating systems through rose-tinted glasses. A video that conducts an experiment on how Windows XP, which received its last update ten years ago, would fare in 2024, was uploaded.

Back in the day, CCleaner used to be a very popular app among the general Windows user base as it would "clean" your PC to get rid of 'unwanted' stuff that could potentially slow down system performance. However, from mid-2020 onwards, CCleaner began to be flagged by Windows Defender as a potentially unwanted application (PUA), though in an interesting turn of events, CCleaner later managed to make its way to the Store.
 
Meanwhile, Microsoft saw this and released its own "Microsoft PC Manager" later. The app recently landed as an offline installer after it made its way to the Microsoft Store.

A few days ago, Microsoft released May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates for all supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions and editions. As it happens sometimes, shortly after the release, Microsoft confirmed a new bug. Fortunately for home users (unfortunately for IT Admins), it only affects Windows Server 2019. Consumer-focused editions, such as Home or Professional, should get the latest updates without problems.

VMware, which Broadcom purchased for $61 billion, announced some big changes to its virtualization software suite. Starting today, VMware Workstation Pro for Windows and Linux and VMware Fusion for Mac no longer require a license for personal use.

Microsoft has released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 23H2, 22H2, and 21H2. The 23H2 and 22H2 versions' update is delivered via KB5037771 while the 21H2 update is KB5037770. You will be on build versions 22621.3593, 22631.3593, and 22000.2960 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 May 2024 on Windows Server 20H2 and Windows 10 for the latest supported versions, 20H2, 21H2, and 22H2.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' tops the chart, followed by 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire'. ‘'Dune: Part Two' 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 has issued a reminder that Windows 10 version 21H2 is reaching its complete end of support in less than 30 days. On June 11, 2024, Windows 10 21H2 Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise will receive their final security update. After that, 22H2 will be the only supported Windows 10 version for regular and business consumers.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at another round of layoffs at Microsoft (in its gaming division), some big changes for the Start menu, fresh Windows 11 preview builds, Copilot updates, app updates, and more.

JustScroll is a software that allows one to adjust the volume of your PC easily with the use of the mouse’s scroll wheel. It’s an excellent software for gamers.

Apple aims to improve iPhone's AI capabilities with iOS 18 [and iPadOS 18 and MacOS 15]. To achieve this, the company is in talks with OpenAI and Google. Recently, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claimed that Apple is close to an agreement with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to the iPhone [and iPad and Mac].

Microsoft, today, has released the newest build to Windows 11 Dev channel Insiders. The new build, 26120.470, under KB5037864, fixes a Modern Standby-related bug, an NPU reading issue on Task Manager, and lots more.

The Start menu in Windows 11 is a controversial piece of design that scares away some Windows 10 users, especially in light of Microsoft botching UI customization apps and adding blatant ads. However, the company is also working on some user-requested improvements, especially for the "All Apps" section.

The recently released Windows 11 Canary build 26212 quietly introduced support for so-called "Start Menu Companions"—widget-like apps for the Start menu to show up next to your pins or the All apps list to display glanceable information, such as weather, stocks, etc.

By Susan Bradley

Patch Tuesday is only a few days away. As usual, caution is in order.

I’ve therefore raised the MS-DEFCON level to 2. Make sure your system is backed up and you have deferred updates.

Rufus users can try out a new beta release of the app. Version 4.5 is now available on GitHub with runtime UEFI media validation and various fixes and improvements, such as an increased buffer size for copying ISO files and security patches. With the latest beta release, Rufus can perform MD5 hash verification on each boot. More information about MD5 checksum UEFI validation is available on this GitHub page.

Here's a glimpse of the current state of AI at work after its rapid growth and adoption by organizations.