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Many Ghacks users use the backup software Macrium Reflect Free for their backup tasks on their Windows devices. The free for non-commercial use version is being retired by parent company Paramount Software UK Limited on January 1, 2024.

The recently released Windows 11 build 25247 has a somewhat controversial feature that upsets quite a lot of Windows Insiders. Users are not happy with Microsoft shoving more and more ads into the OS, and the latest Windows 11 Dev build with its new website recommendations on the Start menu does not make the situation any better.
 
Fortunately, like other experimental features from the Dev channel, you can turn off website recommendations on the Start menu in Windows 11 build 25247. All you need is the Vivetool app and one command generously provided by @PhantomOfEarth. The command also lets you change the number of recommended websites (two or one).

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Black Adam' tops the chart, followed by ‘Smile'. 'Spirited' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

New phishing attacks use a Windows zero-day vulnerability to drop the Qbot malware without displaying Mark of the Web security warnings.
 
When files are downloaded from an untrusted remote location, such as the Internet or an email attachment, Windows add a special attribute to the file called the Mark of the Web.
 
This Mark of the Web (MoTW) is an alternate data stream that contains information about the file, such as the URL security zone the file originates from, its referrer, and its download URL.

We are at the end of the week again and it is time once more to recap everything important that happened in the Microsoft-verse in the past few days. This time around, we have items related to Windows bugs (again), some nifty improvements to Windows 11 - including the Taskbar -, and games in Microsoft Teams (!), among other things. Without further ado, let's dive into our weekly digest for November 12 - November 18.

The wait is finally over, and Windows Insiders can finally download a new Dev build. As expected, it contains quite a large number of new features and improvements. There are some long-anticipated changes (seconds for the tray clock and Task Manager enhancements) and several unexpected additions, such as website recommendations on the Start menu. Here are all the details about Windows 11 build 25247.

Windows 11's inability to automatically switch between dark and light modes is one of those things that constantly grind my gears. However, it appears that Microsoft is finally on track to improve the situation with a new toggle in Action Center.
 
According to Zac Bowden (@zacbowden), Microsoft is working on adding a new button to Windows 11's Action Center to let users enable or disable dark mode with a single click. This might not be the best solution (how hard is it to allow us to switch between themes automatically?), but I am still happy to see one step in the right direction.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned' tops the chart, followed by ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'. 'Amsterdam' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

We are at the end of yet another week as time keeps on flying by, racing towards the end of the calendar year. As we do each week, it is time to recap everything important that happened in the Microsoft-verse in the past few days. This time around, we have items related to some Windows 11 updates, enhancements for developers and power users, and a sprinkle of Microsoft 365 news for good measure. Find out more in the latest digest covering November 5 - November 11!

Microsoft has released the latest Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 22H2 and 21H2. The update is KB5019980 on Windows 11 22H2 and KB5019961 on Windows 11 21H2. The updates also comes with Windows 11 servicing stack updates, which ensure future Windows updates can be delivered reliably.

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 November 2022 on Windows Server 20H2, and Windows 10 for the latest versions, 21H1, 21H2. The new updates are being distributed under KB5019959, bumping up the builds to 19042.2251, 19043.2251, 19044.2251, and 19045.2251.

Microsoft has released its Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 (KB5020023) and Windows 7 (KB5020000). To get the Windows 7 update, you will need to be a customer that has purchased the Extended Security Update (ESU).

With the RDNA 3 based AMD Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards, AMD has re-entered the graphics card race against Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series.

On Friday, AMD announced its newest generation of graphics cards. The RDNA 3 based AMD Radeon 7000 series cards were announced via its live-streaming conference.

AMD is launching the RX 7000 series graphics cards today based on the RDNA 3 architecture (codenamed Navi 3x). As of today, AMD has only announced its Navi 31-based RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'All Quiet on the Western Front' tops the chart, followed by ‘Barbarian'. 'Bullet Train' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

Microsoft has released a new cumulative update KB5018496 (Build 22621.755) on Windows 11 22H2 and below. The new update brings the right click Task Manager option, a new enhanced backup experience using Microsoft Account (MSA), and many more changes.

The company’s RV offering is getting a new capability — but it won’t be cheap.
SpaceX has announced that its Starlink for RVs satellite internet service will be available for moving vehicles starting in December 2022. While you’ve been able to mount one of the satellite dishes onto or outside of a stationary vehicle for a while now, it was intended for use only while parked, like at a campsite or remote cabin (though there were those that tried to make it work on the go). Soon, you won’t have to sacrifice connectivity when you pack up and hit the road, but that ability won’t come cheap.
 
While the standard Starlink for RV service uses SpaceX’s $599 satellite dish, using it in motion requires a Flat High Performance dish, which will cost a whopping $2,500. (When I visited the order screen, there was also a $50 shipping and handling fee.)

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Bullet Train' tops the chart, followed by ‘Top Gun: Maverick'. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

We are at the end of yet another week, which was quieter than the last one due to the lack of any Ignite or Surface events. That said, a lot of stuff did take place in the past few days including the rollout of the Windows 10 2022 Update, a few conflicts related to Microsoft, and some news related to app updates. Find out more in our weekly digest for October 15 - October 21!

Microsoft started rolling out the "Moment 1" update for Windows 11 22H2 on October 18, 2022. We knew what Microsoft would pack in the release, but the company still managed to surprise users with a last-minute addition of the ability to open Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar. The problem with this feature is that it is not available by default, even though Microsoft mentions it in the changelog. Luckily, you can fix this confusion with the ViveTool app or Registry Editor.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Bullet Train' tops the chart, followed by ‘Clerks III'. 'Hellraiser' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

Ever wanted to find a way to scroll through hundred of tabs quickly? Well now you can. Thanks to a Windows program called Windhawk. From the creator of 7+ Taskbar tweaker, this software brings a modular to approach to modifying programs on Windows.
 
After installing Windhawk on Windows, users will see suggestions for mods on the main screen. Upon selecting a mod, the user only needs to click the install button. A call to action will appear where the user will need to choose between accepting to install the mod or rejecting it.

Microsoft has released an out-of-band (OOB) update KB5020387 (Build 22000.1100) to fix the Transport Layer Security (TLS)/ Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) handshake failure issue that users are reporting. The bug is leading to failure of connection establishment between clients and servers. These were set off by this month's Patch Tuesday for both Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Earlier today, we reported about performance issues that AMD's recently released Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 desktop CPUs are having on Windows 11 22H2 during gaming. Funnily, the Ryzen 9 7950X, which is the flagship 7000 series SKU, is found to be losing performance when SMT and both its CCDs are enabled. While it is possible that drivers are causing the problem, the new Windows feature update is certainly a suspect regardless.
 
The AMD Ryzen 7000 series is on the Windows 11 22H2 supported CPUs list (the system requirements are the same as on Windows 11 21H2) and these kinds of performance bugs, though not unexpected, are certainly undesirable on a supported CPU. Ironically, however, a 12-year-old Intel CPU, that's not officially supported by Windows 11, has been found to be running the new feature update like a dream.

The Windows 11 2022 Update (22H2) started rolling out to the public last month, and although we knew this would be a staggered process, Microsoft has since put upgrade blocks (1) (2) in place on some Windows 11 PC configurations, meaning they cannot yet upgrade. In one of our examples, a clean installed VM on VMware Workstation Pro 16 was still only being offered the recent Windows 11 21H1 Patch Tuesday Update, as you can see below.
 
The blocks appear to be active even on devices and VMs that are not part of the upgrade issues, and as such, in this guide we will offer a way to upgrade without having to opt into the Windows Insider program.
 
It is possible through the official Microsoft Windows 11 Installation Assistant, which, helpfully, has been updated with the 22H2 bits. So, assuming your PC is compatible with Windows 11, this is a seamless way to update your Windows 11 21H1 device to 22H2 without too much effort.