Items tagged with Windows 10
We fully realize we are preaching to the choir, but never open up unsolicited and/or unexpected email attachments. Remind your friends and remind your family members. Lest anyone need a reminder of why this is a bad idea, security researchers are warning of a group of attackers who have been phishing for victims as part of a TrickBot malware campaign. The hackers are using the remote desktop ActiveX control in Word documents to carry out their malicious deeds. Once initiated on a Windows 10 PC, the ActiveX control automatically executes a malware downloader called Ostap, which was recently adopted by TrickBot for delivering payloads. And it all starts with phishing. Malicious actors send out...
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Microsoft has been trying for months to root out and eliminate various bugs related to the Search box in Windows 10, and the company thinks it finally has things figured out. By way of a new optional Windows 10 update (KB4535996) for builds 1903 and 1909, Microsoft says a stubborn search issue is no more, along with a few other other fixes. The trouble with Search first began with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903) delivered last year. After the issue arose, Microsoft pushed out an initial fix, stating in the patch notes that it "addresses an issue that causes high CPU usage from SearchUI.exe for a small number of users. This issue only occurs on devices that have disabled searching the web...
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Microsoft is investing heavily into its next-generation Microsoft Edge browser, which is based on Google Chromium. And as you might expect, Microsoft wants to get as many people over to the new Edge as soon as possible. With that in mind, the company has announced that Windows Insiders who are currently enrolled in the Release Preview ring will begin seeing Edge pushed to them automatically. If you are a regular consumer that hasn't already manually installed Edge, and don’t have any plans to use the browser anytime soon, the update will eventually makes its way to you whether you like it or now [more on that later]. “You can wait for it to be installed in a future...
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Microsoft is presumably putting the final touches on Windows 10X, a special version of Windows designed for dual-screen devices like the Surface Neo. Some of Windows 10X's colorful design language will probably land on the regular version of Windows 10 as well. While we wait, there are two ways to bring the Windows 10X experience to your PC. As we outlined earlier this month, one way is to try out the Windows 10X emulator Microsoft recently made available. "We focused on creating an emulator experience that behaves naturally and adapts to the different device postures. This is an early preview of the experience and you will see updates regularly that follow the same standard Insider builds process,"...
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Microsoft is tweaking the local account settings within Windows 10, this time outside of the U.S., and is upsetting some Windows users in the process. Towards the end of 2019, Microsoft began testing a Windows 10 process that prevented users from signing into Windows during setup with an offline account. This was a change from offering the "offline account" sign in option during setup. The "offline" account was only offered to users after they were forced to create a Microsoft account, then allowing the account to be retroactively disabled after setup. It appears that Windows 10 users outside North America are also now losing the offline account option during setup. Microsoft is reportedly rolling...
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When new drivers come out, it's sometimes a good idea to hold off updating until others have done so, to see if any unintended consequences arise. This is especially true for graphics drivers, though it applies to any hardware driver, really. Well, you may not have a choice, with the changes Microsoft is making to Windows Update. This could be either good or bad, depending on your perspective. Here's the deal—starting today, Microsoft is making changes to Windows Update in an effort to "streamline things a bit." Specifically, all of Microsoft's partners now have the option of publishing drivers as automatic, rather than optional. "This grants access to driver flighting, and gradual rollout....
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Microsoft’s track record when it comes to major (and cumulative) Windows 10 updates hasn’t exactly been stellar in recent years. We’ve recounted numerous times how users have encountered issues with cumulative updates, including recently with KB4532693. This Patch Tuesday update was meant to fix a number of minor bugs including issues with cloud printers, but it also introduced a few of its own. Many users were affected by a bug that would cause their user profile to simply disappear. Other issues included resetting the Start Menu to its default state, wiping out custom icons in the process. For its part, Microsoft is now owning up to the update goof (at least unofficially)...
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Microsoft recently released another update that has caused additional issues for computer users. The KB4524244 update was released earlier in the week and was intended to be a security update for all versions of Windows 10 except 1507 and 1511. The only thing in the KB4524244 update was a fix for third-party UEFI boot managers that could expose PCs to a security vulnerability. The KB4524244 update caused new issues for some Windows 10 users. Microsoft has now confirmed two known issues with the update, including a potential failure with "Reset this PC" or "Push Button Reset" features. Microsoft also warned, "You might encounter issues trying to install or after installing KB4524244." Some users...
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Another Microsoft Patch Tuesday has come and gone. Ninety-nine flaws in total were addressed during this major patch. Unfortunately, the update does not provide a blanket fix for all ninety-nine issues. There are various prerequisites before some users will be able to install a patch for a secure boot vulnerability. “CVE-2020-0689” or the “Microsoft Secure Boot Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability” allows attackers to bypass secure boots. A secure boot is intended to guarantee that a device is only making use of software with valid credentials from an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). However, this vulnerability permits attackers to load their own software. Thankfully,...
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Windows 10 is Microsoft's fastest growing operating system, and has been ruling the roost as the company's top consumer platform since the summer of 2015. To keep Windows 10 fresh, Microsoft performs two major updates per year, which brings new features and better usability for consumers. Perhaps the most maligned and hated release, however, was the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809). Among the issues that plagued the release were a zip file bug, problems with mapped drives, a file deletion bug, various Intel and AMD driver issues, and a host of other maladies that annoyed users. "Even a multi-element detection process will miss issues in an ecosystem...
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At this point in time, it is reasonable to assume Microsoft is wrapping up work on the upcoming Windows 10 20H1 update, which will be the first of two major upgrades to Windows 10 this year. The Windows Insider program supports this notion—things have slowed down, in terms of what is being introduced. From now until release, it is probably a matter of polishing things up and stomping out bugs, rather than continuing to introduce more features into the mix. So, what can we expect? First let's talk about how Microsoft handles Windows 10. As with prior versions of Windows, Microsoft dishes out monthly security patches. This come on the second Tuesday of every month, and are often referred...
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Multiple report have surfaced complaining about one of the patches included this month's Patch Tuesday cumulative update package that Microsoft began pushing out to Windows users on February 11. The problematic update, KB4532693, is for Windows 10 and is intended to fix a few different issues, including one that occurs when migrating cloud printers during an upgrade. However, it is apparently introducing some bugs of its own. Some users who installed the update say the user profile goes missing. There have also been complaints of custom icons and settings getting wiped with the desktop and Start Menu being reset to default, and desktop files going missing. It's not yet clear how widespread the...
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Back in early October, Microsoft gave us a first taste of its Surface Neo dual display folding PC. In a way, the Surface Neo reveal was the culmination of a decade of anticipation that started when Microsoft's initial Courier concept first leaked. The Surface Neo makes use of two displays that can fold rather than a single, flexible display (a la the ThinkPad X1 Fold). As such, customers will have new and innovative ways to interact with the device, which necessitates the use of the new Windows 10X operating system. Windows 10X is specifically designed to accommodate dual screen and folding displays. For those that want to see what Windows 10X has in store, Microsoft has made available...
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Microsoft is company that produces numerous software apps across many popular platforms. From its Windows software, to apps for Android and iOS, to its Office family of products, to its Edge web browser, Microsoft reaches a broad segment of the consumer market when it comes to computing devices. However, the company's practices with respect to advertising some of these software packages to customers has been called into question recently. The most recent example of this is are advertisements that are showing up in Windows 10 for the Microsoft Edge browser. For Windows 10 users that have Mozilla Firefox installed and configured as their default internet browser, an ad is showing up in the Start...
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