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Microsoft’s Copilot is pushing into commerce and into the headlines — the company has rolled out a suite of agentic AI retail tools that bring discovery, catalog automation and an in-chat checkout into a single platform, even as a separate security episode — a single-click data‑exfiltration proof‑of‑concept known as “Reprompt” — forced rapid hardening of consumer Copilot flows. Background / Overview Microsoft’s January retail push reframes Copilot from an advisory assistant to an operational...

Windows and Microsoft product users are facing renewed urgency after a flurry of security advisories and the January 13, 2026 Patch Tuesday that fixed more than a hundred vulnerabilities — including at least one flaw Microsoft says was actively exploited in the wild — and security agencies and tech outlets are warning users to act now to avoid data theft, privilege escalation and system compromise. Background / Overview Microsoft’s first Patch Tuesday of 2026 (released January 13) addressed...

Microsoft’s latest shuffle of AI bets — quietly redirecting hundreds of millions toward Anthropic while keeping a tight embrace on OpenAI — represents a deliberate shift from single‑supplier dependence toward a multi‑model, multi‑cloud strategy that will reshape Azure’s product mix, sales incentives, and the economics of enterprise AI. Background: what changed and why it matters Microsoft has long been synonymous with large, strategic AI partnerships; its multi‑year alliance with OpenAI...

Microsoft’s AI playbook is shifting from a single‑partner sprint to a multi‑track strategy: Redmond is quietly reallocating engineering and cloud resources to develop and deploy its own smaller models while continuing to use OpenAI where it makes sense, even as enterprise buyers and CIOs signal renewed confidence in Microsoft’s software-and-cloud stack. Background For more than three years Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI defined its most visible AI initiatives: Bing Chat, GitHub...

If you use Windows, Microsoft Office, Azure services, SQL Server, or Microsoft developer tools, treat the latest advisories as urgent: India’s national cyber‑security agency CERT‑In has flagged multiple high‑severity Microsoft vulnerabilities and Microsoft has issued January 2026 security updates that address an actively exploited Desktop Window Manager (DWM) information‑disclosure flaw and many other serious issues. Background and overview Microsoft’s January 2026 Patch Tuesday closed out a...

The Logitech G35 remains one of the most frequently asked-about legacy headsets in Windows communities — users keep coming back because its USB digital audio, removable pads, and built-in voice morphing made it an unusual and still-useful piece of kit. That popularity has created persistent demand for a clear, reliable guide to downloading and installing G35 drivers on modern Windows systems (Windows 7, 8, 10), and for honest appraisal of risks when using third‑party driver updaters such as...

Microsoft’s Windows 10 story this week is a study in contrasts: new developer tooling and Insider builds that push the platform forward sit alongside a recurring set of update headaches that continue to undermine user trust and put IT teams on alert. Background / Overview Windows 10’s development model has always been a balancing act between rapid iteration and platform stability. Microsoft’s Insider Program and frequent SDK previews give developers early access to new APIs and tooling...

Windows 11’s recent news cycle reads like a user‑experience stress test: a redesigned, giant Start menu that many users find intrusive; a shadowy servicing update (KB5012432) that’s rolling in for insiders but not everyone; hints that Copilot is moving from the sidebar into File Explorer; small but useful Bluetooth Quick Settings improvements; reminders that WSL still can’t fully replace a native Linux desktop for some workflows; and a chorus of power‑user guides showing which default...

Microsoft's Copilot ecosystem landed in the headlines this week for two very different reasons: a high‑profile, single‑click data‑exfiltration proof‑of‑concept dubbed Reprompt that security researchers say Microsoft has patched, and the wider rollout of developer tooling with the Copilot Studio extension for Visual Studio Code moving to general availability — a milestone that expands how teams build, edit and version Copilot agents from the IDE itself. Both stories expose the trade‑offs of...

On January 6, 2026, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Microsoft announced a strategic collaboration to build a cloud‑native, AI‑driven unified data platform on Microsoft Azure designed to accelerate transmission planning, improve forecasting accuracy, and embed Copilot‑style decision support into grid planning and operations across MISO’s multi‑state footprint. Background / Overview MISO is one of North America’s largest regional transmission organizations, coordinating...

Microsoft and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) announced a strategic collaboration to build a cloud-native, AI-driven unified data platform on Microsoft Azure aimed at compressing transmission planning cycles, improving forecasting accuracy, and delivering Copilot‑style decision support into both planning and real‑time operations. Background MISO is one of North America’s largest regional transmission organizations, responsible for coordinating wholesale markets, balancing...

Microsoft has quietly drawn a line under a long-running promise to Windows on ARM users: x64 emulation will be supported as a general feature only on Windows 11 on ARM, not on Windows 10, a change that reshapes the upgrade, compatibility, and developer calculus for ARM-powered Windows machines. Background Microsoft first introduced x64 emulation for ARM-powered Windows PCs as an experimental preview for Windows 10 Insiders in late 2020, with the stated goal of allowing ARM64 devices to run...

This week’s BetaNews roundup of “Best Windows 10 apps this week” serves up a tight, practical mix: a polished YouTube client (Tubecast Pro) crowned App of the Week, a professional-grade photo editor in Polarr, a handful of small but useful utilities (Grid Maker for Instagram, WinDynamicDesktop, Norton Safe Web for Edge), plus platform-level items that matter to IT teams — notably an updated Windows 10 SDK drop and a Surface Pro 3 UEFI firmware update that adds finer lockdown controls...

Microsoft's recent Windows coverage reads like a compact masterclass in product evolution: a Release Preview update that quietly expands the built-in Windows share experience, weekly app roundups that spotlight useful utilities, a contentious public letter from a major browser vendor, and a continued debate over how Microsoft balances convenience with user control. Taken together, these items reveal the same theme: Microsoft is accelerating integration and discoverability across Windows...

Microsoft has quietly pushed another round of incremental but consequential updates across the Windows 11 ecosystem — a Start menu redesign that changes how users find apps, stronger driver validation for Wi‑Fi 7 hardware, a new Microsoft Store multi‑app install flow, and a string of practical guides and tools for users who want to reclaim control from Copilot and other built‑in services. Together these developments illustrate Microsoft’s dual strategy: ship iterative UX and platform...

Ryche Pharmacy’s shelves are quieter and its ledger looks healthier since the store began using an AI app called Zendawa, a Kenyan startup that pairs inventory automation, delivery routing and business intelligence with Microsoft Copilot and Power BI — and the savings are already tangible for neighborhood pharmacists. Background Pharmacy retail in Kenya is overwhelmingly a street‑level, small‑business ecosystem: tiny shops with limited shelf space, tight margins, and heavy reliance on manual...

Microsoft’s Copilot push accelerated again this week with two related but distinct developments: the Copilot Studio extension for Visual Studio Code has been declared generally available, and Microsoft’s Copilot-powered partnership with Kenyan startup Zendawa is rolling out practical, revenue‑preserving AI tools for neighborhood pharmacies. Together these moves illustrate Microsoft’s two-track Copilot strategy — expanding developer tooling inside VS Code while exporting Copilot capabilities...

Microsoft’s migration and enterprise backup moves are tightening the lifelines for businesses and power users preparing to leave Windows 10 behind, but the convenience comes with operational caveats IT teams must plan for now. In recent weeks Microsoft and third‑party reporting have surfaced two related developments: a native migration/backup flow intended to make upgrading to Windows 11 simpler for end users, and a new enterprise‑oriented “Windows Backup for Organizations” feature that...

Microsoft has quietly given IT administrators a supported — if deliberately narrow — way to remove the consumer Microsoft Copilot app from managed Windows 11 devices through a new Group Policy, but the control is a one‑time, conditional cleanup tool rather than a fleet‑wide “kill switch.” Background / Overview Microsoft’s Copilot family now covers several overlapping experiences: the free, consumer‑facing Microsoft Copilot app that shows up on many Windows 11 images, the paid, tenant‑managed...

Microsoft has begun a staggered, OS‑level rollout of its AI assistant Copilot across Windows 11, turning what was once a sidebar experiment into a multimodal platform woven into the taskbar, Start menu, File Explorer and core update channels while other Windows 11 components—from Sticky Notes to Secure Boot certificate handling—receive smaller but important updates in the same wave. Background Since its introduction as a cross‑surface assistant, Copilot has evolved from an add‑on chat window...