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Windows 11 may soon no longer require a reboot when installing security updates every month.

Tips and tricks for making Microsoft leave you alone while you use your PC.

I've written before about my nostalgia for the Windows XP- or Windows 7-era "clean install," when you could substantially improve any given pre-made PC merely by taking an official direct-from-Microsoft Windows install disk and blowing away the factory install, ridding yourself of 60-day antivirus trials, WildTangent games, outdated drivers, and whatever other software your PC maker threw on it to help subsidize its cost.

While advancements in technology like Microsoft DirectStorage are helping to significantly reduce I/O-based load times in games, long shader compilation times are something games continue to struggle with. There are ways to reduce this like shader pre-compilation or shader caching in GPUs but in worst-case scenarios, like in the case of The Callisto Protocol, shader compilation and shader loading can lead to a stuttery mess.

Owners of PCs with Nvidia GPUs have had to access a number of apps to get the info they need. Today, the company announced it is merging most of the features in three of those apps into one, and its named, appropriately enough, as simply the "Nvidia app."

Copilot for Windows could see a wave of new capabilities thanks to Power Automate Desktop and an update.

You can finally highlight and split your WhatsApp messages into things like shopping lists and step-by-step instructions.

Four new text formatting options have been added to WhatsApp to help users communicate more effectively. Available starting today, WhatsApp users can now use bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code to highlight and organize their messages, making it easier to break down large sections of text into something easier to read.

A message on the Windows Health Dashboard website has confirmed that Microsoft is now beginning to roll out Windows 11 version 23H2 to devices with 21H2 and 22H2.
 
Microsoft says it will automatically update such PCs gradually as they have reached the end of servicing - in the case of Windows 11 21H2 - or are soon going to reach the end of servicing, like in the case of Windows 11 22H2, that reaches the end of servicing in October later this year.

At the time of writing, at least dozens but most likely hundreds of pirate sites are effectively down due to a domain issue at a single registrar. The problem seems to be isolated to sites using .TV domains registered at Sarek Oy in Finland, a registrar well known for its pirate-friendly policies. As things stand, hundreds of domains are completely devoid of DNS, resulting in one of the biggest mass blackouts in recent history.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft officially acknowledged Windows 11 version 24H2 as this year's big feature update for its operating system coming in the second half of the current year. "24H2" is a technical moniker, and Microsoft will most likely use a different name for marketing purposes. It seems that now we know what that name will be.

Earlier this month, Microsoft released cumulative updates for all supported Windows versions. Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 got KB5034765 with security fixes and other quality-of-life improvements. However, for some users, KB5034765 introduced nothing but problems, particularly with the taskbar.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'The Iron Claw' tops the chart, followed by 'The Beekeeper'. ‘'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' 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 issue of Microsoft Weekly, we look at new changes in Windows 11 processor requirements, new builds for each Windows Insider Channel, Patch Tuesday updates, Xbox updates, and app updates. There were a lot of updates.

Windows users with Intel processors and graphics cards inside their computers can update to the latest non-WHQL driver under version 31.0.101.5330. It adds support and optimizations for Nightingale and Pacific Drive, plus some notable performance improvements for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Fortnite, and Remnant 2.

Microsoft released a major Insider build earlier this week on the Dev and Canary channels. The new build, 26052, introduced several features like "Sudo for Windows," an improved Registry editor, among other things.
 
It also is the first Windows 11 version 24H2 build, and interestingly, it looks like Microsoft is making a fairly major change in terms of CPU instruction set architecture (ISA) support on next-gen Windows 11. The company is seemingly looking to make the SSE4's "POPCNT" instruction a mandatory requirement for running Windows 11. When a user tried to boot into Windows 11 24H2 on a system powered by such a chip, the machine failed to boot up.

Microsoft created the PowerToys project in the late nineties to give Windows users more advanced features unavailable out of the box. Eventually, Microsoft integrated those old-school options into the operating system (changing the screen resolution was once considered an advanced utility). The modern PowerToys app serves the same purpose, and we are finally seeing Microsoft turning parts of PowerToys into native Windows 11 features.

The redesigned context menus are a controversial part of Windows 11. Although they look nice and provide convenience by moving common file actions closer to the cursor, some people dislike the extra complexity of the "Show more options" button and slower performance. Other people find it confusing that the cut, copy, rename, share, and delete buttons are unlabeled. Windows 11 build 26058, which was recently released for public testing, aims to fix that confusion.

If you are unhappy with how much time Windows Update takes to install the latest update, do not bother cleaning the registry (even though there are now Microsoft-made apps for that) or doing other questionable stuff Windows gurus across the Internet often suggest. Especially if you have an older computer without much horsepower.

Here's the list of features you should disable on every installation of Windows 11.

Windows 11 comes with a plethora of features and functionalities, catering to a wide range of users.

However, not all of these features are universally essential or desirable. 

Microsoft has released its Patch Tuesday update for Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2 (KB5034765). It's the same KB update for both versions of Windows but depending on which version you have, you'll land on a different Build number, either 22621.3155 or 22631.3155.

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 February 2024 on Windows Server 20H2, and Windows 10 for the latest supported versions, 20H2, 21H2, and 22H2. The new updates are being distributed under KB5034763, bumping up the builds to 19044.4046 and 19045.4046. You can find standalone links to download the new update on the Microsoft Update Catalog at this link here.

Here's the roundup highlighting the official changes included in the last preview of Windows 11.
Microsoft recently released the Windows 11 build 26052.1000 for devices enrolled in the Canary Channel and build 26052.1100 in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program with a new scope of new features and changes.

Earlier today, we reported about an unofficial WinPE that allows a user to check if their unsupported hardware can run Windows 11 24H2. For example, the creator of the tool confirmed their Intel 3rd Gen processor was capable of running the upcoming Windows version.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'The Beekeeper' tops the chart, followed by 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'. ‘'The Marvels' 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.

New Outlook for Windows requires Microsoft Edge to run certain features. Users are concerned it’s a push for Edge adoption, given its lower market share. Unclear if intentional or a technical requirement, Microsoft silent so far.

Microsoft released a major update to the Canary and Dev channels this week with build 26052. The build adds Sudo, among several other things. It is also is the first official Windows 11 version 24H2 release. If reports are to be believed, we will also have another feature update for Windows 11 before that, and it reportedly lands in less than a month.