Featured content

Windows 11 just picked up a file‑automation superpower: AI‑driven “actions” built directly into File Explorer that let you right‑click any supported file and instantly summarize documents, remove image backgrounds, erase objects, or launch a Bing Visual Search—no manual app juggling required. Microsoft is testing these “AI actions” with Windows Insiders and pairing them with a new “Ask Copilot” entry in File Explorer’s context menu, turning routine file chores into one‑click workflows...

If you’ve felt the AGI timeline accelerating, you’re not alone: Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis now says systems with “all the cognitive capabilities humans have” could emerge in five to ten years—perhaps on the shorter end—ushering in “radical abundance” and a transformation “10 times bigger and maybe 10 times faster” than the Industrial Revolution. In a wide-ranging interview he also wrestles with who benefits, the resource costs (power, water), and how society will adapt—framing a...

A cozy bar-management sim just poured onto Steam, but a wave of “free download” pages is already trying to cash in on the buzz—some even urge Windows users to disable antivirus and run a cracked build bundled with a Steam emulator. Here’s what’s actually official, what’s risky, and the safest way to play Lakeside Bar on Windows right now. (store.steampowered.com, gamerroof.com) Overview Lakeside Bar is a Casual/Indie/Simulation title from developer BITCOVER and publisher CC_Games, released...

Microsoft has quietly confirmed a welcome twist for holdouts on Windows 10: a single consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) license, tied to your personal Microsoft account, can cover up to 10 PCs—plus you don’t have to pay the previously announced $30 if you opt to sync settings with the Windows Backup app or redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. All consumer enrollment paths deliver critical and important security updates through October 13, 2026. Overview With Windows 10 support...

Hackers showed at Black Hat that Windows Hello for Business can be fooled into accepting an attacker’s face by swapping biometric templates on a compromised PC—an attack that works stunningly fast if the intruder already has local admin privileges. In a live demo, German researchers Tillmann Osswald and Dr. Baptiste David injected their own facial data into the target’s biometric database and unlocked the machine instantly; Microsoft’s Enhanced Sign‑in Security (ESS) blocks the technique...

A vibrant retro cafe with orange walls, black counters, and yellow stools.

Microsoft is facing a fresh legal challenge over the looming end of support for Windows 10, with a San Diego lawsuit accusing the company of “forced obsolescence” and a strategy to “monopolize the generative AI market” as Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs become the default path forward. The complaint, filed by California resident Lawrence Klein, seeks a court order compelling Microsoft to continue free Windows 10 updates until usage falls below 10% of all Windows installs—an extraordinary remedy...

Microsoft has sketched a sweeping “Windows 2030 Vision,” teasing a future where AI agents, voice, and other multimodal cues do much of the work we handle today with a mouse and keyboard. In a new company video, Microsoft security executive David Weston argues that by the end of the decade, talking to your PC will feel more natural than clicking and typing—a bold claim that’s already ignited debate across the Windows community. The first episode hints at agentic AI woven into the desktop...

Microsoft is pushing the “AI on your PC” era into high gear, rolling out OpenAI’s new open‑weight gpt‑oss‑20b model to Windows 11 through Windows AI Foundry, just as fresh labor‑market data shows early AI‑related displacement hitting young tech workers—and as OpenAI offers ChatGPT Enterprise to U.S. federal agencies for $1 per agency for a year. Meanwhile, Bill Gates is urging Gen Z to treat AI literacy as necessary but insufficient for job security. (azure.microsoft.com, cnbc.com...

Microsoft is openly sketching a “Windows 2030 Vision” where talking to your PC becomes the default and the mouse-and-keyboard era starts to fade. In a new Microsoft video, David Weston, corporate vice president for Enterprise & OS Security, describes near‑term Windows builds evolving into a multimodal, voice‑first environment with AI agents that “work alongside you” on everyday tasks—joining meetings, answering email, and handling routine workflows. The message is clear: Windows will hear...

Microsoft has turned on GPT-5 across the Copilot ecosystem—and, crucially, is extending free access to the new model via a “Smart mode” in the Copilot web experience—marking the broadest, fastest rollout of an OpenAI flagship yet across Windows and Microsoft 365. The update landed on August 7 with parallel announcements from OpenAI and Microsoft, and it covers consumer Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, and GitHub Copilot. Early access appears in a phased rollout, but the core...

Security Boulevard’s new roundup of the “Top 15 SSO Providers 2025” is a handy entry point for anyone modernizing authentication, but several pricing notes and protocol claims need updating—and Windows shops in particular should weigh some very specific trade-offs around Entra ID, AD FS migrations, and phishing‑resistant passkeys before they buy. Overview The Security Boulevard guide surveys workforce and customer identity (CIAM) options from incumbents like Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping...

Corporate conference calls just got a lot harder to trust: new research shows attackers can hijack Microsoft Teams and Zoom’s TURN infrastructure to covertly tunnel command-and-control traffic, blending in with normal WebRTC media flows and slipping past enterprise defenses without exploiting a patchable bug. The post‑exploitation technique—dubbed “Ghost Calls”—relies on temporary TURN credentials issued when a client joins a meeting, then repurposes those credentials to route attacker...

SendQuick says its Conexa authentication platform has achieved FIDO2 server certification from the FIDO Alliance, a milestone the company claims will help enterprises cut password risk with phishing‑resistant, standards‑based sign‑ins. While this announcement signals a strategic shift toward passwordless authentication in complex Windows and hybrid environments, the FIDO Alliance’s public Certified Products Directory did not yet show a Conexa listing at time of publication; we’ll update this...

Barracuda Networks has launched Entra ID Backup Premium, a cloud-based backup-and-recovery service that protects 13 critical Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) components and promises fast restoration beyond Microsoft’s native 30‑day recovery window, with centralized visibility and management through the BarracudaONE platform. Background Microsoft Entra ID sits at the heart of sign-in, authorization, and policy enforcement for Microsoft 365, Azure, and scores of third‑party SaaS apps...

HID is betting big on enterprise passkeys: the company has launched a refreshed line of FIDO‑certified Crescendo authenticators alongside a new Enterprise Passkey Management (EPM) service aimed at making large‑scale, phishing‑resistant sign‑ins easier to deploy and run. The August 5 announcement leans on fresh FIDO Alliance data showing 87% of enterprises are now deploying passkeys—even as complexity and cost still deter holdouts—positioning EPM as the control plane that brings hardware...

HID is bringing enterprise-grade passkeys to the mainstream, unveiling a refreshed line of FIDO2 authenticators alongside a new Enterprise Passkey Management (EPM) service designed to provision, monitor, and revoke credentials centrally at scale. The announcement introduces redesigned Crescendo Keys and Cards, a new OMNIKEY 5022 contactless reader, and FIDO-enabled Seos and MIFARE DESFire EV3 cards—all positioned to simplify passwordless rollouts for Windows and Microsoft Entra ID...

The clock is ticking for Windows 10 devices: with free security updates ending on October 14, 2025, millions of PCs face a crossroads—pay for Extended Security Updates, replace aging hardware, or move to Windows 11 despite official roadblocks. The good news is that Windows 11 can run surprisingly well on many older, “unsupported” machines. The better news is that with careful preparation, you can upgrade in-place and keep your apps and files. The trade-off is clear: you’ll bypass Microsoft’s...

Microsoft’s sweeping rollout of OpenAI’s GPT‑5 across Copilot, Microsoft 365, GitHub, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry signals a decisive new phase for Windows and enterprise environments: AI is no longer an add‑on, it’s the operating principle. The headline change is simple but profound—smart, adaptive model selection and improved reasoning are now embedded from the desktop to the datacenter, with developers and knowledge workers seeing tangible lifts in code quality, document...

Title: Microsoft 365 Copilot gets GPT‑5 sessions: what it means for your tenant, your budget, and your workflows Executive summary Microsoft has begun rolling out the option to run selected Microsoft 365 Copilot chats on GPT‑5, with a “Try GPT‑5” control appearing for licensed users in Copilot Chat as the rollout progresses. Copilot now routes each request in real time: simple prompts go to a faster, high‑throughput model, while complex, open‑ended, or ambiguous prompts can be escalated to...