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Microsoft plans to remove the ability to create and edit embedded Loop components in OneNote for the web by mid-September 2026, while retaining the full embedded experience in OneNote for Windows. The change was first reported by Neowin, citing Microsoft 365 Message Center post MC1454385; Microsoft has not publicly published an exact retirement day or a technical explanation for splitting the two clients. For organizations that use browser-based OneNote as a standard collaboration surface...

MakeUseOf’s test of changing a home router’s 5 GHz channel width from 20 MHz to 80 MHz produced a real, if highly variable, throughput increase: reported download results rose from roughly 85–100 Mbps to a range of 125–300 Mbps, with occasional results above 325 Mbps. For a Windows PC connected over 5 GHz, that can be the difference between a connection that merely exceeds ordinary web use and one that can actually make use of a fast broadband line. But the experiment does not establish that...

Lafayette, Indiana, is creating a Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee to review the city’s use of Flock Safety cameras, artificial intelligence tools and the policies governing them. The immediate significance for residents and city IT staff is less the committee’s creation than its stated assignment: Lafayette says it will examine Flock data, participate in audits and recommend safeguards around privacy and constitutional rights, but it has not yet published a meeting calendar, audit...

SlashGear is right to flag the environmental pressure created by Windows 10’s end of support, but its “400 million PCs are now e-waste” framing overstates what the underlying evidence shows. Those machines did not become waste on October 14, 2025, when regular Windows 10 security servicing ended. They became a large population of otherwise usable PCs facing a support deadline, an upgrade barrier, and a choice that many owners may eventually resolve by replacing hardware. The number itself...

Windows 11’s movable Taskbar and more configurable Start menu have crossed an important threshold: Microsoft has now placed the features in the Release Preview channel for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. That makes a stable-channel rollout plausible, but it does not mean the options are available to every regular Windows PC today—or that Microsoft has published a general-availability date. WinCentral’s report correctly identifies the broad direction of Microsoft’s work: users will be able to place...

GSC Game World will ship S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 2.0, “Back to the Zone,” on August 20, 2026, as a free base-game update alongside the first paid expansion. The important change for PC players is deeper than a package of guns and weather effects: the update moves the game to a newer Unreal Engine 5 version while revising its A-Life simulation, visuals, difficulty controls, and official modding tools. There is also a material error in the supplied report that players...

Windows 11 can rotate attractive Microsoft images on both the desktop and lock screen, but it does not offer one switch that makes the exact Bing homepage photograph appear everywhere. The built-in route is Windows Spotlight, which supplies a changing Microsoft-curated image feed. For the actual daily Bing homepage image on the desktop, Microsoft offers the separate Bing Wallpaper app; it does not provide a corresponding automatic Bing lock-screen mode. That distinction is missing from much...

Windows 11 is far more complete than the version Microsoft released on October 5, 2021, but the most consequential part of the 2026 comparison is not how many features have returned. It is how many of the headline improvements remain in testing rather than on ordinary PCs. Windows Central’s five-year retrospective captures a real direction of travel, yet its side-by-side framing blurs a distinction Windows users and administrators need to keep clear: Windows 11’s shipped experience is...

Windows 11 devices that restart more than once while installing the August 2026 cumulative update may be completing Microsoft’s Secure Boot certificate transition, but a long black screen should not be casually treated as normal. Microsoft has warned since April that a limited set of PCs can require one additional restart when the Secure Boot update is applied. It has not published guidance saying that an indefinitely black display is an expected success state. Windows Latest reported fresh...

AMD’s Ryzen AI Embedded X100 is a real attempt to move the “robot brain” away from a discrete-GPU-plus-host-CPU design, but the important correction is timing and naming: EE Times’ August 11 report calls it “Ryzen AI X100,” while AMD’s product pages identify the family as Ryzen AI Embedded X100. AMD disclosed the series in January 2026 and filled in the platform details on July 23 alongside its Kria AI system-on-module and robotics developer platform. That distinction is more than branding...

A Geekbench entry dated August 15 identifies an unannounced GMKtec EVO-X5 running AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 under Windows 11 with 128GB of memory, making it the first public evidence that GMKtec is preparing a second compact desktop around AMD’s Gorgon Halo platform. Notebookcheck and VideoCardz both spotted the same benchmark record, which reports a valid Vulkan result of 103,729 and names both the system and motherboard as “GMKtec EVO-X5.” The listing is meaningful, but it is not a...

Channel partners are being pulled into a more consequential role as customers give AI agents access to production systems: deciding which actions may run unattended, which require approval, and how an organization can reconstruct what the agent did after the fact. ChannelE2E’s August 14 brief reports that a Caylent survey found 59.5% of enterprise leaders already operate autonomous AI agents in production, with 83% placing guardrails at least on par with model intelligence. Those figures...

Intel’s Graphics Driver 32.0.101.8974 is a worthwhile update for a narrow set of Arc users, but its headline FPS gains are more specific than “Arc graphics gets faster” suggests. Intel says the August 14 WHQL release improves Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Farming Simulator 2022 on Core Ultra Series 3 laptops with integrated Arc graphics, while the discrete Arc B-series result is limited to a 5% uplift in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II on an Arc B580. Neowin first highlighted the driver’s...

SlashGear’s rundown of Windows 11 minimum requirements is broadly correct, but it leaves out the part that still catches out otherwise capable PCs: Windows 11 eligibility is not a simple contest of clock speed, RAM, and free disk space. Microsoft requires a processor from its supported CPU lists, TPM 2.0, and UEFI firmware capable of Secure Boot, while Windows Update can also delay an upgrade for a known driver or application compatibility problem. That distinction matters more now than it...

PCMag’s new walkthrough gets the central point right: the original Nintendo Switch Pro Controller remains easy to use on a Windows PC, while the Switch 2 Pro Controller is straightforward only over USB. The controllers look similar and share a name, but their wireless behavior on Windows is materially different—and treating them as interchangeable is where many setup guides leave PC players stranded. For the original Switch Pro Controller, Windows can pair the pad over ordinary Bluetooth and...

Epic Games appears to be building a native Linux version of the Epic Games Launcher, but Linux and Steam Deck users should treat the news as an early development signal rather than a release announcement. The evidence is a response from Epic staffer OnePercentNachos during a community Discord AMA on August 13, reported by PC Gamer and independently repeated by TechRadar: the launcher is said to be coming “soon,” but not in Epic’s next preview release because the work involves more than...

Satechi’s ChargeView 240W Desktop Charger gives USB-C-heavy Windows desks something most multiport bricks still lack: a way to see, in real time, which connected device is actually receiving power. The $149.99 unit has six USB-C ports, a shared 240W output budget, and a front display that reports the draw on each port—useful for anyone trying to run a Windows laptop, a handheld PC, phone, dock, and accessories from one outlet without guessing why one device has suddenly begun charging...

Microsoft plans to remove Excel’s experimental =COPILOT worksheet function on September 14, 2026, ending a feature that let eligible users send natural-language prompts and cell ranges directly to an AI model from the formula bar. XDA, citing Microsoft 365 Message Center notice MC1454373, reports that existing =COPILOT calls will stop working on that date; Microsoft is directing users to the Copilot side pane instead. The practical consequence is more serious than the announcement’s...

Microsoft has started consolidating its consumer Copilot app and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app into a single experience, beginning with mobile and web users and scheduled to reach Windows and macOS from mid-September. The change should reduce a long-running source of confusion for people who use Copilot both personally and at work, but it also comes with a firm August 18, 2026 deadline for several consumer features and their data. As reported by Windows Central and reflected in Microsoft’s...

Microsoft has moved the long-promised Windows 11 Taskbar and Start menu personalization work into the Release Preview channel for versions 24H2 and 25H2, putting it on the last public test track before a broader rollout. The change restores the ability to place the Taskbar at the top, left, or right of the screen, adds a compact Taskbar mode, and lets users choose a small or large Start menu while hiding individual Start sections. Windows Central first reported the Release Preview move on...