Items tagged with Windows
In case you weren't aware, VMware operates a security arm called Carbon Black. On Halloween, Carbon Black's Threat Analysis Unit (TAU) announced that it had found 34 different vulnerable Windows drivers that had firmware access. To be clear, that's 34 unique filenames; the actual number of different driver files is...
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AI chatbots and assistants are being integrated into nearly every software product and services at a blistering pace. Take, for example, Windows, which has recently been infused with Bing Chat AI via a feature called “Copilot.” While this feature might be cool for some, others may not want an AI bot lurking in the...
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The free Windows upgrade party is over, or at least much more restrictive. It's common for Microsoft to offer a free upgrade path when releasing a new version of Windows, but it swung the doors wide with the release of Windows 10 and 11. It's been possible to upgrade from Windows 7 all the way to Windows 11 until now...
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Paint has been part of Windows since time immemorial, but it's never been able to hold a candle to more robust image editors like Photoshop. It's making an important step in the right direction, though. Microsoft has announced that Paint is getting a major update, adding support for layers and PNG transparency in a...
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After a 30-year run, Microsoft WordPad is being put out to pasture in favor of newer software. Microsoft says there is no need to worry, however, as it offers two options to take its place.
As Microsoft has updated its Windows OS through the years, certain features and functionality have been deprecated or simply...
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Using keyboard shortcuts in Windows is a great way to save time and make you more productive. That's not news to many of you reading this who have long since mastered the basics, like CTRL-X to cut, CTRL-V to paste, ALT + Tab to quickly switch between open apps and windows, and so forth. Then there's my personal...
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In the era of tracking your every move online, DuckDuckGo has been the privacy-forward search engine that puts a digital condom over your searches so none of your data goes where it shouldn’t. However, browsers are implementing features to aid in tracking you across the web, so, of course, a privacy-focused browser is...
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Microsoft announces that it is killing off its productivity assistant, Cortana, in Windows later this year. While users will no longer have access to Cortana in Windows, Microsoft says the helpful assistant will still be available to use in other capacities, such as Outlook Mobile.
The announcement that Cortana is...
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New reports suggest that Microsoft’s making a new version of Windows, creatively called Windows 12. It could be coming in under a year from now, featuring several new standout features that should separate it from Windows 11. Some of these new features will reportedly include a new UI re-design that will copy UI...
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Meta is shoring up WhatsApp's multi-device support by releasing a new WhatsApp app for Windows. This latest update not only is said to launch faster, but now allows video calls for up to eight people and 32 for audio calls.
WhatsApp is one of the largest go-to text/video messaging platforms and is a crucial...
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A new bug affecting AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs has been discovered that artificially boosts the CPU's clock speed beyond what the chip is physically running at. YouTuber PRO Hi-Tech discovered the issue from one of his viewers who found that his Ryzen 9 7950X would boost to 6.3GHz if he put his system into sleep mode...
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It's probably fair to say that a good number of PC enthusiasts have pirated a copy of Windows once upon a time. It's also probably fair to say that a certain number of folks have had the thought "I'll go legit and buy my Windows this time!" One such fellow in South Africa had exactly that thought, but he couldn't get...
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Virtualization-based Security, as the name suggests, is a security system that uses the Windows hypervisor (Hyper-V) to virtualize sensitive portions of the Windows operating system against exploits and malware. One example of VBS is related to Hypervisor-Enforced Code Integrity (HVCI), which uses VBS to create a...
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Intel has provided motherboard makers with a patch to sidestep stuttering and disconnecting issues with certain Ethernet controllers, including the one found on many of the newly launched 700 series boards for Raptor Lake CPUs. However, it's only a temporary workaround while Intel continues to investigate the...
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In 2022, the National Security Agency, in conjunction with the U.K’s National Cyber Security Centre, reported a critical vulnerability in the Windows CryptoAPI to Microsoft. While this was patched in August of 2022 and published in October of 2022, it could still prove to be a problem as threat actors could still...
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Square-Enix's Forspoken is out now, meaning that you can actually test DirectStorage in a real game. Forspoken even includes a built-in benchmark that not only shows framerates but also tracks load times. As you'd expect, faster SSDs mean faster load times, but they have another curious effect too: lower frame...
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Among the requirements for installing Windows 11 are two security features: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0 and Secure Boot. As we’ve documented before, it’s possible to sidestep these requirements and force a Windows 11 install or upgrade anyway. Microsoft even published a registry hack to give users this...
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DirectStorage is out! No, seriously—DirectStorage 1.1, which can drastically accelerate game asset loading time, is already released and available for developers to use. Unfortunately, there aren't actually any games that take advantage of DirectStorage yet, which is why PCGamesHardware.de had to use a synthetic demo...
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Cybersecurity researchers at ASEC have uncovered a threat campaign distributing remote access software under the guise of a Pokémon NFT card game. While many threat campaigns distribute Remote Access Trojans (RATs) that operate in the background to grant threat actors access to compromised systems, this particular...
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Juggling a bunch of windows can be a pain, even with the UX enhancements in Windows 11. Microsoft is helping to reduce the clutter with the recently released tabbed file explorer, and now it appears another core app is getting tabs. According to a now-deleted Tweet, Microsoft is on the verge of releasing a version of...
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Microsoft teased the next version of DirectStorage technology back in mid-October, saying that it was "coming soon." Well, the developers weren't kidding around, because it's barely three weeks later and DirectStorage 1.1 is now available and ready to use.
Despite the small version number increment, DirectStorage 1.1...
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If you run Windows, do you use third-party cleaner apps like CCleaner and PrivaZer? These apps are of dubious utility for most users, but they do have legitimately-useful functions, like clearing out temporary folders and removing leftover update data. Microsoft would apparently prefer that you use its own software...
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