This week’s Microsoft Weekly news recap brings you the latest news from the PC world. $10 gift cards to victims of a massive outage, fresh Windows 11 preview builds, File Explorer updates, and more.
In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at the CrowdStrike outage fallout, a lot of new Windows 11 preview builds, fresh non-security updates for Windows 10 and 11, some keyboard and GPU reviews, plenty of gaming news, and more.
Table of contents:
Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft’s latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.
As sleepless IT admins continue to deal with the recent CrowdStrike outage, Microsoft and CrowdStrike continue releasing new tools and guidance to help fix the situation. CrowdStrike released detailed guides, and Microsoft outed an updated tool with new methods to resuscitate knocked-out computers. Sadly, the problem caused an influx of malware disguised as recovery utilities and recovery manuals, so beware.
Besides offering guidance and even a brief analysis of what happened, CrowdStrike issued . $10 Uber Eats gift cards to the affected customers. We are not sure what to say about this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Microsoft, on the other hand, published a blog post where it highlighted the importance of “change and innovation in resiliency” after what happened with CrowdStrike.
Speaking of Windows and security, a Microsoft spokesperson recently blamed the EU, calling it the reason why Microsoft cannot lock down and secure its operating system. Windows is allegedly not as secure as it could be because Microsoft is forced to give developers the same OS access as it has.
Windows 10 users received a new non-security update. KB5040525 arrived in the form of build number 19045.4717 with different updates and changes to improve the overall experience. As for Windows 11 users, they have got KB5040527. And if you prefer not to download previews of cumulative updates, think twice because this time, the update has some much-needed improvements for the Start menu and File Explorer.
Also, there was an update for OOBE in Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 24H2.
Also, Microsoft confirmed a bug with Windows 11 and 10 PCs booting into BitLocker recovery after applying some of the recent updates. While Microsoft is investigating the root of the problem, the company suggests typing your BitLocker key and booting it as usual.
Apple recently approved the first PC emulator in the App Store. Naturally, users are already trying to install Windows 11 on Apple devices. Thanks to the tiny11 project, you can now run Windows 11 on the iPhone 15 Pro. Of course, it is barely usable, so do not expect to turn your iPad Pro or iPhone into a Windows 11 tablet any time soon.
Another piece of Windows trivia and whackery from this week is this project attempting to convert Windows 10 into an extremely similar Windows 7 replica. Some users just won’t let Windows 7 die, so they go above and beyond to preserve its beautiful aesthetics in modern Windows versions.
Windows Insider Program
Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:
Build 26257, which was released this week in the Canary Channel, introduced new mouse settings, File Explorer improvements (you can now duplicate tabs), some networking changes, and more. There are also a lot of new features and improvements in build 26100.1297 (Release Preview).
However, probably the biggest announcement in the Windows Insider program this week was a new feature in File Explorer that now lets you wirelessly browse your phone’s file system without using any cables. It now neatly integrates into File Explorer and shows up right under the “This PC” section in the side pane.
By the way, Microsoft quietly turned off the recently introduced simplified tray area in Windows 11 preview builds. The company said it temporarily disabled the new feature to fix a bunch of technical issues.
This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.
As usual, this week brought a bunch of browser updates, namely changes in their development plans. Microsoft, for one, decided to give systems without SSE3 support a little more time. Initially, the company planned to ditch SSE3-less processors in Edge 126, but now, that is scheduled for Edge 128.
