offbeat Xbox respawns IKEA furniture with gaming range At last, somewhere comfy to sit while your PlayStation 5 game loads
software Word 97's ghost in the machine: The crash that vanished the moment anyone looked at it Microsoft veteran recalls how a CPU errata, a mythical ICE, and a single sneaky NOP saved Clippy's big debut
os platforms Microsoft preps this year's Windows 11 feature tweaks: 26H2 hits Release Preview Same servicing branch as 24H2 and 25H2... and the same buggy updates
security Industry that built the problem offers to sell you the solution 100+ tech giants warn AI attacks are coming, skip the part where they pay for defenses
software Microsoft slaps a fresh coat of AI paint on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap AI at Work roadmap is the new name for upcoming Microsoft 365 capabilities
personal tech Microsoft sketches out a Whiteboard extension Users have a little more time to migrate from Azure storage to OneDrive
ai and ml Gates warns society faces an AI-pocalypse unless we get more socialist AI and robots are advancing faster than you think, and we're not prepared for a world where the majority may be out of work
software Microsoft warns that transitioning Excel workbooks to new Exchange connectors might not be smooth sailing Current Exchange connector is retiring - and new ones won't work if you don't upgrade
offbeat Windows XP was released to manufacturing a quarter of a century ago So incredibly stable, govt branches, banks, and dentist offices still haven't figured out how to close it
os platforms Microsoft breaks WPF printing with .NET update Summer in Redmond, Winter for everyone else
ai and ml Microsoft AI watermarks in Paint and Photos are linked to user IDs, researcher finds Privacy? Not if you use hosted AI services
security You don't want this Sleepwalker backdoor on your Windows machine Its own command language, 23 instructions - signs point to 'well-resourced operation rather than an opportunistic one'
os platforms Windows NT 4 went on sale 30 years ago today The version that started to bring all Microsoft’s pieces together
applications I picked Task Manager 'to see how ready AI is for primetime… or if it would just degrade to slop' – OG dev talks to The Reg Original author of legendary 1996 system utility tries to answer the question: 'How would I do it today?'
ai and ml AI vendors are turning to custom hardware as Microsoft winds back the clock on Windows Vendors are moving way beyond Nvidia’s GPUs in the datacenter
devops 'We let you down': GitHub pledges to scale up before developers give up CTO promises architectural overhaul following second outage of the month
cyber-crime Microsoft sounds alarm over perfect-10 Entra ID flaw Redmond says the cloud identity bug is already fixed
os platforms Microsoft gives Task Manager another task: Watching AI workloads Per-process NPU metrics arrive as one more venerable Windows utility risks feature bloat
os platforms Microsoft probes reports of games taking exception to Windows 11's August update Affected titles crash, freeze, or restart PCs while Redmond works out whether it is to blame
virtualization Microsoft ends one of the last ways to buy VMware without big bundles Broadcom’s VCF-or-nothing licenses are coming to Azure
saas GitHub blames 8-hour outage on autoscaling fail and VS Code retry storm Load balancers buckled after a monitoring blind spot allowed traffic to spiral
os platforms Microsoft finally fixing File Explorer and the Context Menu Time to flex that Windows 10 muscle memory
research Copilot tricked into telling reseachers how to hack itself How to social engineer an AI's reasoning engine
software Government Teams users face another ******* month of filtered captions Officials must wait a little longer before Live Captions tells it like it is
software Microsoft MVP creates site to remind you of all the brands Redmond replaced If you’re still talking about ‘DirSync’ or ‘Active Directory’ instead of ‘Entra’, and need to explain why, this is the site for you
ai and ml GitHub has Issues as repo downloads hit 50% error rate Copilot also wobbles as another outage tests developer patience
os platforms Windows 11 movable taskbar edges closer to general release Preview also brings compact icons, Start menu sizing, and the final shove for WMIC
security Crook hawks millions of records allegedly plundered from corporate Azure tenants McDonald's, Vodafone, TCS, Kyndryl, and others named as researchers point to compromised credentials
ai and ml Excel's Copilot function is headed for the Recycle Bin Microsoft realizes the side pane should be enough for anyone
software Microsoft blames AI for delayed Exchange update, can’t say when it will arrive Dealing with machine-made bug backlog makes it hard to find a moment to deliver promised subscription service
ai and ml Less than a year on, Microsoft tells Mico to pipe down Copilot's gurning blob is leaving Voice for a new career in education
ai and ml Microsoft's dueling Copilot apps have combined into a single entity Consumer and work experiences converge, while a few features face the chop
cyber-crime Microsoft-vendetta hacker has a new zero day that gives system privileges on fully patched Windows Exploit Wednesday's back, baby
applications Microsoft tosses Teams Live chat into its feature graveyard Website support widget lasted 18 months before Redmond ended the conversation
devops Latest GitHub outage squeezes Actions, Pages to death Look over there, Copilot - it's a beautiful AI farm where you can tend some digital rabbits
ai and ml Microsoft excludes Domain Exclusion from MS 365 Copilot – days after rolling it out Perhaps an allow list of domains might be better?
os platforms Windows 10 LTSC 2021 has five months before security updates cost extra ESU meter starts running in January, unless you're on the IoT edition
offbeat Azure CTO pastes Doom into Paint one frame at a time It computes nothing, renders everything, and even has sound
ai and ml Microsoft tells engineers to curb their token-burning enthusiasm Redmond wants results from Copilot, not impressive-looking consumption figures
security AI helps Microsoft bug hunters chase a record $20M payday Broader bounty rules added to a swelling volume of machine-assisted vulnerability reports
Security Russian spies turn public Wi-Fi into malware delivery systems Keyloggers, audio-visual surveillance, and token theft on CaptivePortal's agenda as hospitality sector put on alert
OS PLATFORMS Microsoft says 8 GB of RAM should be enough for anyone running Windows 11 Redmond adds new items to its make-Windows-better list
OFFBEAT Meet the 'internet radical' who helped Microsoft get email and AT&T get online Tom Evslin on Bill Gates, the birth of Exchange, and dragging Ma Bell onto the web
SOFTWARE Update Teams mobile app by October or lose your calendar A nice little summer job for someone
ON-PREM Microsoft makes Copilot harder to miss in Classic Outlook New button beside the ribbon promises consistency – and more questions for admins
security Russian spies take their half-click email attack from Zimbra to Outlook Opening a booby-trapped message unleashes a browser implant that can survive password changes and device rebuilds
OFFBEAT 30 years ago, AT&T gave Internet Explorer the default advantage Netscape still ruled the browser market, but Microsoft had Windows 95, WorldNet, and a very valuable foothold
ON-PREM Cisco 'retires' its Azure Local offering rather than catch up to Microsoft’s changed hardware requirements Redmond now allows only locked-down rigs with joint software and hardware support for its on-prem hyperconverged cloud and Switchzilla won't go there
SOFTWARE Microsoft's cloud brings rain of revenue but modest M365 AI revenue harvest Capex spending? What? Me worry?
security Word worm crawls into Copilot, spreads chaos Researcher says months of coordination with Microsoft have yet to produce a robust mitigation
SOFTWARE Microsoft faces competition probe over Copilot subscription price hike Watchdog asks whether customers were clearly told how to avoid the costlier AI-equipped plans
DEVOPS Microsoft lays out a buffet of Windows goodies for JavaScript Developers Just don’t call the WinRT projection for Node.js a lock-in
PATCHES Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leaves some Linux boxes defenseless after update One bug disabled the security service on restart, another blocked installation on hardened RHEL systems
SOFTWARE Microsoft seeks Supreme Court lifeline in pre-owned license battle £270M ValueLicensing case remains mostly paused while Redmond pursues permission to appeal
columnists Digital sovereignty is real in Europe. The UK? Not so much Trump's unpredictability is pushing governments and businesses toward open source while Britain remains glued to US tech
columnists FOSS smashed one Microsoft monopoly. After 20 years of failure, it's time to smash another Word up
Security Google goes it alone with a new cybercrime crew taxonomy So much for Microsoft and CrowdStrike’s plans for consistent names across the industry
PERSONAL TECH LG kills McAfee pop-up after Windows boss steps in Advert gets the chop, but the silent app installation mechanism remains untouched
off-prem Microsoft fiber foul-up cut off Azure California for almost five hours Maintenance mistake caused immediate issues and took out 27 services
PUBLIC SECTOR Ireland stalls €1B Microsoft tender amid digital sovereignty questions Government plans another Redmond-only procurement despite calls to consider European rivals
Security Kratos phishing-as-a-service kit loses its battle with international law enforcement Alleged developer arrested in Indonesia after more than 200 servers slain
os platforms Windows 11 Start menu changes trickle into Beta, movable taskbar still MIA Users asked for flexibility, but a leaner OS for older PCs might matter more as hardware prices soar
PERSONAL TECH LG monitors are using Windows 11 feature to serve adware Plug in your new display and get a McAfee pitch you never asked for
APPLICATIONS The Document Foundation says Microsoft's file formats keep users on a short leash OOXML may carry an ISO certificate, but only Office can be trusted to render it properly
security Microsoft 365 calendars become spy drop boxes in HOLLOWGRAPH campaign Malware hides commands in appointments set for 2050 and uses Redmond's own cloud to phone home
SYSTEMS Windows Server Update Services buckle under Microsoft's metadata mountain Redmond has stabilized new installations, but existing deployments remain stuck in sync purgatory
OS PLATFORMS Microsoft rushes out Windows fix for Dell's hot and bothered PCs With a wave of the wand, affected models will go to the Patch Tuesday ball after all
columnists Airbus takes flight from AWS. What happens next is critical Which way to the Land of the Free again?
OS PLATFORMS Microsoft cuts OneDrive support for older Windows 10 versions next month 22H2 has until 2028, or there's always Windows 11
SAAS Microsoft gives admins Exchange Online breathing room Retirement of PowerShell -Credential parameter pushed back to the end of 2026
PASS and iaas Europe's chip ambitions won't break dependence on US cloud and software, says Forrester Brussels may spend billions on semiconductor fabs, but tech sovereignty remains firmly in American and Chinese hands
ai and ml Amsterdam activists throw acid at Microsoft datacenter project Extinction Rebellion claims responsibility for chemical-filled balloon attack targeting concrete and steel
OFFBEAT Microsoft open-sources Comic Chat, its cartoon IRC curiosity Step back three decades to 'a period when software teams were willing to color outside the lines'
OS PLATFORMS Windows 10 refuses to die, and the security bill is coming due One in six machines still run the old OS as migration stalls and patch deadlines creep closer
Security CISA sounds alarm over trio of exploited SharePoint flaws Three bugs are under active attack, and two more critical holes could add to the pain
security Patchpocalypse Now: Microsoft tops last month's record with 622 Patch Tuesday CVEs Remember when last month's 206 CVEs seemed eye-watering? Yeah, those were the days
os platforms Microsoft rolls out Windows Search updates and they're... quite good Who are you, and what have you done with Microsoft?
offbeat Excel competition goes extreme, makes spreadsheet geeks compete from the street Defending world champ Diarmuid Early wins again despite being forced to solve puzzles outdoors
ai and ml Microsoft chief turns hostile on frontier AI labs, warns companies to guard their IP Lock it down, warns Satya Nadella, seemingly forgetting the billions Redmond chipped in to OpenAI back in the good old days
OS platforms Microsoft emails Windows 10 holdouts: Fine, keep your old PC another year Consumer security updates now run to October 2027, and Redmond doesn't mention Windows 11 once
columnists Microsoft is losing the battle to protect license lucre. It better get used to the feeling Time for the Clone Wars remake
AI + ML AI customers are coming around to the idea that small is beautiful OpenAI and Anthropic have built AI Swiss Army Knives, but the future may be smaller built-for-purpose tools
security Destructive Windows backdoor stuffs multiple wipers and ransomware code into a single package Microsoft says GigaWiper combines at least 3 malware families into one modular tool
on-prem AI-driven datacenter builds drive Microsoft's emissions up a quarter in one year Firm faces quandary of wanting to help the environment, but also wanting to force AI on everyone
Security Microsoft warns customers AI will mean busier Patch Tuesdays More patches mean more reasons to buy Redmond’s auto-patching tools
applications Outlook for Mac bug makes font choice a purely decorative feature Monospaced code snippets among the reported casualties
security Microsoft closes book on Nightmare Eclipse's RoguePlanet zero-day Weeks after the exploit code dropped, Redmond has finally ships a fix for the Defender zero-day
devops Speedier type checks in TypeScript 7.0 as first stable Go release ships 10X faster build times could force Slack developers back to their keyboards
Applications Microsoft to switch off OWA Light after nearly two decades Nobody needs a simple web client for Exchange, do they?
PERSONAL TECH Windows 95 detected installers by looking for magic words and hoping for the best If your name's not on the list, you're... probably not a setup program
off prem Microsoft shifts to annual exchange rate price revision for cloudy products Previously did it twice a year, so customers now have fewer chances to surf FX waves
software Microsoft says the world is changing faster than it can keep up as it guts commercial, Xbox teams
security Microsoft said exploitation was 'less likely' ... but CISA just added SharePoint RCE to KEV list
columnists Telling internet platforms where to stick public service media will serve nobody. Turn it on its head
SYSTEMS Engineer accused of insider trading tied to Microsoft's reboot of Three Mile Island nuclear plant
Research Boffin claims Microsoft's supposed quantum leap does not compute due to 'basic Python errors'
Cyber-crime Crooks found a new way to collaborate using Teams – by hiding command-and-control traffic
SECURITY Microsoft has mostly repaired flaw in Surface hardware that allowed unprotected devices to be bricked by a single packet
security GitHub nukes 70+ Microsoft repos, breaks CI/CD pipelines, following suspected worm infections
Security Another bug hunter leaks Microsoft exploits in defiance of company’s handling of vulnerability disclosures
OS PLATFORMS Microsoft Build News: Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, Coreutils for Windows, air-gapped GitHub and more
os platforms I designed Microsoft's $5B EA channel architecture in 2001. The 2026 transition is missing what made it work
Security Lone attacker published 14 malicious npm packages mimicking popular OpenSearch, Elasticsearch libraries
Security Disgruntled 0-day hunter 'humiliated' by Microsoft pledges 'bone shattering drop' as Redmond calls cops
Security Microsoft shuts down illegal code-signing operation used by ransomware crims to mask their malware
Columnists Microsoft's bad obsession is showing up in shabby services and slipshod software. Here's proof
Patches Microsoft's patch for a 0-day exploited by Russian spies fell short. Another Windows flaw is under attack
Public Sector UK.gov's DCMS to new CDIO: Migrate from Google to Microsoft, overhaul ERP, build a team
Software Microsoft tackles quality control issues. Just kidding, it's encouraging experienced workers to leave
