Articles about Microsoft

Microsoft releases PowerShell scripts (KB5025175) to help address BitLocker vulnerability

Microsoft mirror building logo

Microsoft has published details of PowerShell scripts which the company has designed to help automate updating the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to address a BitLocker security vulnerability.

The security feature bypass vulnerability affects both Windows 10 and Windows 11, and sample scripts are available for different editions of both versions of the operating system.

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Experience an entirely new way of working with AI-powered Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft today took the wraps off Microsoft 365 Copilot, a new tool that combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with business data and Microsoft 365 apps.

Currently in testing with select commercial customers, Microsoft says that Copilot isn’t just a better way of doing the same things, it’s "an entirely new way of working".

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Microsoft is giving free USB drives to Windows 11 users

Windows 11 pink USB drive

Earlier this month, Microsoft made significant changes to the Windows 11 Insider program including introducing a new Canary Channel. While this caused much excitement for those keen to try out the very latest features as soon as possible, the fact that a clean installation of Windows was needed put off some users.

Now Microsoft has decided to make things a little easier for people, notably those lacking a way to create installation media. The company is sending out free USB drives so Insiders can perform a clean installation of Windows 11 and get started with the Canary builds.

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Microsoft is bringing integrated MFA to mobile Outlook and widening the availability of the new Outlook for Windows app

Outlook search

A couple of recent entries on the Microsoft 365 roadmap shed light on what is in store for Outlook. Over the coming weeks, Microsoft has big plans for both the mobile and desktop versions of its email client.

Starting this month, Outlook security is being boosted thanks to the arrival of built-in multi-factor authentication (MFA). And next month, a larger number of Windows users will have access to a preview version of a completely new Outlook app.

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Microsoft is rolling out video filters to Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams video filters

Microsoft has announced the general availability of video filters in its meeting software, Teams.

The arrival of filters complements the existing AI-powered options to change backgrounds and improve the appearance of videos. To deliver the new filters, Microsoft has created a dedicated app called Custom Filters which can be used to add animated frames to video, tweak appearance, and more.

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Sorry, but it looks as though Microsoft is keeping the Windows 11 taskbar fixed at the bottom of the screen

Top taskbar in Windows 11

A few days ago, news started to spread that Microsoft appeared to be working on a much-requested feature for Windows 11 -- the ability to move the taskbar to somewhere other than the bottom of the screen.

But it seems that this is not actually the case. The very same source that served as a catalyst for excitement has now poured water on the flames of anticipation. What appears to have happened is that Microsoft accidentally left code in place in a recent build of Windows 11 that made the taskbar movable; there remains no evidence that the option to reposition the taskbar will ever arrive.

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Microsoft releases new Canary build of Windows 11... and it might be the most boring yet!

Laptop running Windows 11

A few days ago, Microsoft announced sweeping changes to the Windows Insider program, introducing the new Canary channel for those wanting to live right on the cutting edge.

Now the company has pushed a new build to this channel in the form of Cumulative Update Build 25314.1010. Also known at the KB5025135 update, this build is possibly the least exciting Windows 11 release yet -- but that does not mean that it isn't important.

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Microsoft is about to launch multi-modal GPT-4 complete with video

GPT-4

Microsoft has revealed that the company is about to launch GPT-4 and this time it is about more than just text and chat. The next iteration of the AI technology is described as multi-modal, meaning there is support for much more -- including video.

The news came at an event in Germany called KI im Fokus (AI in Focus) on Thursday. Here, Microsoft Germany's CTO and Lead Data & AI STU, Andreas Braun, said: "We will introduce GPT-4 next week, there we will have multimodal models that will offer completely different possibilities -- for example videos".

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Microsoft may soon let you move the Window 11 taskbar

Top taskbar in Windows 11

With Windows 11, Microsoft made lots of questionable design, UI and UX choices, but one of the most baffling was the decision to make the taskbar immovable.

If you're one of the many people who would like to untether the taskbar from the bottom of the screen, there could be some good news. In recent preview builds of Windows 11, the taskbar can be moved to the top of the screen in a sign that the company may be ready to back-peddle on its stance that the taskbar has a fixed location.

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Microsoft is adding a new keyboard shortcut to paste unformatted text in Word

Paste Plain Text in Microsoft Word

Having very recently introduced a new Paste As Plain Text module to PowerToys, Microsoft is now bringing the same option to Word.

Following the lead of many other applications, Microsoft's word processor is gaining a new keyboard shortcut that can be used to paste text and strip it of any formatting. Microsoft is calling the feature Paste Text Only, and it is available in both Word for Windows and Word for Mac.

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The next killer app: What the OpenAI investment means for Microsoft

OpenAI and Microsoft

Earnings season in January 2023 was a bit of a mixed bag for cloud providers. The latest financial reports show that, following a dip in cloud revenue, Microsoft’s earnings missed Wall Street estimates at the end of 2022. The negative economic climate that took hold in 2022 is clearly having an impact, forcing users to make difficult decisions about their cloud spending.

But as always, the best of Silicon Valley is relentlessly planning for the future -- not focused on present uncertainty. So enters ChatGPT. The news that Microsoft had put $10 billion additional investment into OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, shook the tech industry.

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Microsoft releases Windows 11 Build 25314 to the new Canary Channel

Canary-Windows-11

As well as releasing a new Windows 11 build to the 'rebooted' Dev Channel, Microsoft today gives Windows Insiders their very first Canary Channel flight, Build 25314.

Announced earlier in the week, the new Canary Channel will be the "place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers". Examples of this will include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, and so on.

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Microsoft releases Windows 11 Build 23403 on the rebooted Dev Channel

Windows 11 laptop

Microsoft announced a massive overhaul to the Windows Insider Program earlier in the week, which includes 'rebooting' the Dev Channel and introducing a new Canary Channel for more experimental features, and where we may well see the first signs of Windows 12.

This week’s new Insider flight, Build 23403, is the first to arrive in the rebooted Dev Channel. If you're wondering what the rebooting means, Microsoft explains:

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Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.68.1 with fixes for new Paste As Plain Text module

Tiled PowerToys icons

Just last week, Microsoft released PowerToys v0.68.0 complete with not one but two new utilities --  Mouse Jump and Paste As Plain Text.

Now a few days have passed, the company has released a small but important update, taking the collection of utilities up to version v0.68.1. Among the changes are a new default shortcut for Paste As Plain Text to avoid a conflict with Windows 11's new volume mixer.

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This isn't Windows XP -- it's a new version of Windows 10, and you can install it now for free

If you want to run a modern operating system like Windows 10, but miss the simplicity and aesthetics of Windows XP, then we have some great news for you.

Windows EXPERIENCE Freestyle Update is a free Windows 10 mod that does a fantastic -- and virtually flawless -- job of mimicking Windows XP, and you can download and install it now directly from the Internet Archive.

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