The most popular operating system in the world, Microsoft’s Windows is the software that powers hundreds of millions of PCs. Introduced back in November 1985, Windows has changed and evolved over time to grow as gaming, design, development, and productivity needs have shifted. Whether XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, or, most recently, Windows 11, Microsoft’s OS is one of the most important pieces of software ever made.
Proton’s end-to-encrypted password manager launched last year — but only on the web, Android, and iOS. This new Windows app lets you access your passwords offline (as long as you have a Proton Pass Plus or Unlimited subscription). It also keeps passwords protected with the Argon2 hashing algorithm.
Proton is planning to launch its password manager on macOS and Linux later this year.
Originally, Microsoft made it hard — but not impossible — to install Windows 11 on older machines. That’s reportedly changing. Bob Pony:
So HUGE discovery found in Windows 11 Version 24H2, since build 25905.
A CPU with the instruction “POPCNT” IS NOW REQUIRED!
“That effectively bars mid-2000s Intel Core 2 Duo systems and early Athlon 64-era PCs from booting Windows 11 at all,” writes Ars Technica.
The rumors are true, even Notepad is getting a generative AI boost. A new update called “Explain with Copilot” will help users decipher any text, code segments, or log files they select within the text editor as Microsoft’s AI add-on enters its second year.
Microsoft announced the feature is in beta testing, available to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels.
Linux fans and regular macOS Terminal users are more likely than anyone to be familiar with the “sudo” command. Short for “superuser do,” it tells your system to elevate your privileges to root access when you’re bopping around your system using command line — that is, text-only — control.
Bleeping Computer writes that this concept is coming to Windows Server 2025, according to a newly-leaked preview build reported by Windows Latest. Wild times.
Update February 4th, 2024, 4:11PM ET: Added Windows Latest link.
[BleepingComputer]
The latest Windows 11 Insider build (22635.3066) for the beta channel includes “the first major update” of the USB4 standard, which enables 80Gbps performance instead of 40Gbps. Microsoft says the capability will only launch on “select” devices with the Intel Core 14th Gen HX-series chip, including the Razer Blade 18.
[Windows Insider Blog]
The company’s valuation surpassed Apple during trading early Thursday, though Apple took the top spot at the end of the day. However, Microsoft won the day yesterday with a market valuation pegged at $2.89 trillion (versus Apple’s $2.87 trillion).
This all happened, as Tom Warren wrote for The Verge, against a backdrop of floppy iPhone sales and Microsoft’s aggressive moves with its Copilot AI features.
The company initially said some Windows Insiders on “widescreen devices” would have to deal with Copilot automatically launching, but Microsoft updated its blog post to caveat that even further:
We’re trying this experience out on devices that have minimum diagonal screen size of 27” and pixel width of 1920 pixels and limited to primary display screens in multi-monitor scenarios.
So, while the test still seems like it could be annoying, it requires a pretty specific setup to even be eligible for it.
Lenovo’s new 2-in-1 is a Windows laptop with a detachable Android tablet. They run on separate hardware. This is the least awkward way Lenovo could have done this.
Apple, on the other hand, uses the exact same chips for iPads and MacBooks and could simply make an iPad Pro that runs MacOS when the keyboard is attached. And yet!
The latest Canary build of Windows 11 (Preview build 26020) debuts the ability to create and map custom voice commands to one or more actions like opening a folder or triggering a key combination. Users start by saying “show voice shortcuts,” then clicking “Create Command.”
It’s a bittersweet update, though — WordPad won’t install on this build, signaling the true beginning of the end for the trusty, simple word processor.
[Windows Insider Blog]
95.57 percent of surveyed Steam users are already on Windows 10 and 11, with nearly 2 percent of the remainder on Linux and 1.5 percent on Mac — so we may be talking about fewer than 1 percent of users on these older Windows builds.
Older versions of MacOS will also lose support on February 15th, just a month and a half from now.
Correction: It’s macOS 10.13 and 10.14 that are losing support. Not macOS period.
[Steam Support]
If you’ve never come across it, here’s a 1986 commercial featuring then-future Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer selling Windows for $99 (except in Nebraska).
It’s a parody, of course, and was never actually aired in the first place. But Ballmer’s unfiltered enthusiasm at Microsoft events and elsewhere really sells it for those who want to believe.
Today’s Windows 11 Insider Preview (Build 22635.2850) adds WhatsApp to the “Share using” sheet in the OS, according to a blog post about the update. Microsoft plans to add more apps to the share window over time.
There’s also now a one-click install experience in the Windows Store app that lets you continue browsing as the app downloads and installs.
[Windows Insider Blog]
At BlackHat EU, Binarly showed how custom boot logo features could be exploited by crashing vulnerable image parsers, report SecurityWeek and ArsTechnica, allowing them to take over Windows and Linux systems. Binarly’s researchers write, “we detected parsers vulnerable to LogoFAIL in hundreds of devices sold by Lenovo, Supermicro, MSI, HP, Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Samsung, and Intel.”
Not all of those systems are actually exploitable this way, but some vendors, like Lenovo, have issued BIOS updates or advisories in response.
XDA Developers spotted a Github issue posted by Microsoft developer Jordi Adoumie, who wrote that the company is exploring a new Windows advanced settings pane for Dev Home users. The new options that fill it would come from the darkest reaches of Windows: the registry.
Currently, there are many settings/registry keys that developers desire to tweak that are either not accesible via the Windows Settings app and/or are difficult to discover throughout the OS.
The feature is just a concept right now, and Microsoft wants input on its creation. Here’s hoping something like it comes to regular users.
Android Authority reports that there’s code in the Microsoft Phone Link app that “suggests that the company is working on letting your Android phone provide a video stream to your Windows PC.” Sounds handy — and potentially like a Windows-ified version of Apple’s Continuity Camera feature.
[Android Authority]
It started as an April Fool’s tease, but the very real handheld gaming PC is now six months old. Along with gyro controls, a new Armoury Crate update is adding a new Feedback Hub, the ability to turn CPU Boost off, new AMD Advanced Graphics Options, and direct sharing of images and video to Discord and TikTok.
Windows Central highlights this Asus video tracking everything added since launch (we revisited our review over the summer), or you can read the changelog here.
