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These malware-like pop-ups are gross.

Microsoft is once again injecting pop-ups into Google’s Chrome browser in a bid to get people to switch to Bing. The software giant first introduced malware-like pop-up ads last year with a prompt that appeared over the top of other apps and windows. After pausing that notification to address “unintended behavior,” the pop-ups have returned again on Windows 10 and 11.

In November 2023, leaked screenshots showed that Microsoft was internally testing Office 2024, the next stand-alone version of its suite of productive apps. Today, Microsoft confirmed it was working on Office 2024 for both businesses and consumers.

In December 2023, Proton announced that it had launched beta versions of a new Mail desktop app for Windows and Mac platforms. Today, the company revealed those desktop apps are now officially available in non-beta versions.

I fear that Microsoft has sidelined Edge's Sidebar in favor of Copilot.

The Sidebar in Microsoft Edge is one of my favorite features in the browser. I use it like a phone within my browser that syncs to all my services, such as Telegram, Spotify, and Instagram. It's also handy for other things, such as searching the web without leaving your current window and sending files to yourself through the Edge Drop feature (which is arguably the best Edge feature you aren't using). But while I like the Edge Sidebar, it has some flaws that need to be taken care of.

Microsoft has released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 23H2, 22H2, and 21H2. The 23H2 and 22H2 versions' update is delivered via KB5035853 while the 21H2 update is KB5035854. You will be on build versions 22631.3296, 22621.3296, and 22000.2836 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 March 2024 on Windows Server 20H2, and Windows 10 for the latest supported versions, 20H2, 21H2, and 22H2.

Windows 10 version 21H2 is about to reach its end of life. Microsoft published a new support document notifying that June 11, 2024, will mark the end of support for the remaining editions of Windows 10 version 21H2, including Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Argylle' tops the chart, followed by 'Poor Things'. ‘'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.

Pretty much like Windows 11, Microsoft tries to find ways to push more users into using OneDrive or upgrading their existing capacity.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at another no-build week, the death of Windows Subsystem for Android, an upcoming Surface/Windows/Copilot event, new controllers, all sorts of Windows updates, and more.

Copilot and other AI projects are big new things for Microsoft, and with the company investing billions of dollars into this area, it wants to make sure customers know about its products and, more importantly, use them. As a result, Windows is getting multiple Copilot entries plastered across its UI, and some of those implementations look borderline ridiculous.

You can use these five ways to determine if your device has a good wireless signal on Windows 11.
On Windows 11, you can check the Wi-Fi signal strength in multiple ways, and in this guide, I will show you how to complete this task.

Copilot in Windows might launch like an unwanted pop-up ad.

What you need to know

Microsoft is testing a new way to launch Copilot AI on Windows 11.
In Windows 11, users might be able to launch the chatbot by hovering their mouse cursor over the Copilot icon on the Taskbar.
The hovering experience is exclusively available to Windows Insiders in the beta channel.
We asked our readers how often they interact with Microsoft Copilot on Windows 11, and the results are finally out.

Unsurprisingly, WSA struggling to make money stopped Android apps on Windows from being viable.

What you need to know

Microsoft announced the deprecation of Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) recently. Support for WSA will end on March 5, 2025, but Amazon has already stopped downloads of the Amazon Appstore from the Microsoft Store.
Andrew Clinick, who worked for Microsoft for almost 30 years, shared insight as to why WSA was shut down.

By Susan Bradley

Because of the ongoing rollout of Copilot enhancements, I recommend deferring or pausing updates.

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

Earlier today, we noticed that Microsoft had quietly released a KB5001716 update for Windows 10 users. In a nutshell, it is meant to offer the next feature update for your PC. You can learn more about what the update is meant to do in the dedicated article.
 
We, however, noticed that some of Neowin's forum members are complaining about installation issues with this update. They are coming across the "0x80070643" error message which users have become familiar with recently due to the installation issue with another update, namely KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11).

Microsoft has quietly released an update for all supported versions of Windows 10 earlier today. The new update has been released under KB5001716 and is meant to improve a "UI functionality" on Windows 10 PCs. The release notes for the update are given below under KB5001716 and it applies to versions 2004, 20H2, 21H1, 21H2, and 22H2:

Unless you got into Windows very recently, you are probably aware of the famous or rather infamous Y2K also referred to as the Millenium superbug. When the millennium (2000) approached, many thought Y2K would create havoc in the digital world.

A couple of days ago, we wrote about a fun experiment that shows the incredible backward compatibility of Windows. And earlier today, we published a story about a dive into the Windows 10 kernel that reveals why, despite Microsoft's claims, isn't slower or less performant than Windows 11.
 
Following those, X (erstwhile Twitter) user Enderman who happens to be a security researcher, published their findings when they dug deep into the source code of Windows 11 OOBE (Out of Box Experience). The OOBE happens to be for the first Windows 11 24H2 build, 26052.

Microsoft is working on a new method to launch Copilot in Windows 11. In addition to its dedicated keyboard shortcut (Win + C) and the ability to click the Copilot button on the taskbar, Microsoft wants its new AI assistant to open whenever you hover the cursor over the button. The company announced this change in the latest Windows 11 preview build released on Monday in the Beta Channel:

The upcoming Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, expected to arrive on March 21, will be Microsoft's first true "AI PCs." While we wait for the company to provide more details on how AI PCs differentiate from regular computers, a new report spilled the beans on parts of the upcoming Windows 11 2024 Update and its AI-powered capabilities.
 
According to Windows Central, AI File Explorer will be one of the main selling points for AI PCs.

Users will no longer be able to install Android apps on Windows 11 starting next year.

Windows 10 support ends in October 2025, making the current market share numbers look concerning to Microsoft.

Windows 11 continues to lag behind Windows 10 in terms of market share.

Microsoft today has released a new Beta Channel build for Windows Insiders. The new build, 22635.3276 under KB5034857, has bug fixes related to the Task Manager, Nearby Sharing, and Taskbar.
 
The company has confirmed that reports of Task Manager frequently crashing are real and that it is investigating the issue. Aside from this issue, the recent Edge issue where websites would not load, has also been acknowledged.

Microsoft released the first Windows 10 and 11 Patch Tuesday updates of 2024 on the 9th with January's KB5034122 and KB5034123 respectively. Aside from security patches, the one for Windows 11 also fixed some Wi-Fi troubles that led to networks not connecting or the Wi-Fi icon not showing.
 
In a separate article, the company also detailed another security fix for a BitLocker Secure Boot bypass vulnerability that is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666." Microsoft said that the security flaw could allow threat actors to bypass BitLocker encryption if they manage to get physical access to an unpatched PC.