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The recent revelations about classic Outlook's escalating CPU usage have sent ripples of frustration and concern across the Windows user community, particularly among enterprise IT professionals and power users who rely heavily on stable, efficient email clients. Microsoft’s official admission that classic Outlook can unexpectedly spike CPU usage between 30 to 50 percent, leading to increased power consumption and performance degradation, has underscored a persistent struggle in maintaining...

Microsoft’s latest preview cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2, KB5055627, delivers an extensive suite of new features, performance improvements, and critical bug fixes. Positioned as an optional monthly non-security preview update, this release serves as a prelude to next month’s Patch Tuesday, allowing administrators and enthusiasts to test enhancements before they become generally available. It distinctly focuses on advancing productivity with AI-powered tools while addressing...

Microsoft's release of the February 2025 security update KB5051987 for Windows Server 2025 has triggered significant Remote Desktop freezing issues, affecting administrators and users reliant on remote management capabilities. After installing this update, many Remote Desktop sessions freeze almost immediately upon connection, rendering mouse and keyboard inputs unresponsive. Users are forced into a disruptively repetitive cycle of disconnecting and reconnecting to continue their remote...

Microsoft’s recent Windows 11 24H2 updates have sparked a wave of user frustrations and technical challenges, firmly continuing the company’s somewhat notorious legacy of problematic Windows patches. Two particular recent updates, the April cumulative update KB5055523 and the March preview update KB5053656, have been identified as causing blue screen crashes—familiarly known as the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)—for devices running Windows 11 24H2. This issue typically manifests soon after the...

Since the launch of Windows 8 in 2012, many classic Windows games that users fondly remember, such as Minesweeper, Spider Solitaire, Hearts, FreeCell, and others, disappeared from the default Windows installation. They were replaced by modern versions available in the Microsoft Store that, while still playable, often come with intrusive ads, prompts to purchase premium versions, and require Microsoft account logins. This shift disappointed many users who cherished the straightforward...

The ongoing clash between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft regarding licensing costs underlines a critical competitive dynamic shaping the cloud computing landscape, especially concerning the use of Microsoft software on cloud platforms not owned by Microsoft. AWS’s recent submission to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) paints a compelling picture: half of the enterprise workloads running on Microsoft’s Azure cloud might migrate to competing clouds like AWS or Google...

Microsoft's response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding the regulator's provisional ruling on cloud software licensing pricing is robust and critical. Microsoft calls the CMA's intervention "extraordinary and unprecedented," emphasizing that no other software provider would be subject to similar price constraints on licensing its software in competitors' clouds. Specifically, Microsoft points out that AWS and Google, classified as listed providers, must pay...

Microsoft has issued a critical warning concerning a significant bug in Windows Server 2025, specifically affecting domain controllers running the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) role. This bug manifests after a system restart, where the domain controllers fail to apply the correct firewall profile. Instead of using the specialized "domain" firewall profile—which restricts network ports and protocols appropriately for a domain environment—the server reverts to the "standard" or...

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates in March 2025 unveiled a significant security challenge tied to the legacy NTLM protocol widely used across Windows environments. Despite Microsoft's rating of the vulnerability CVE-2025-24054 as "less likely" to be exploited, threat actors demonstrated their ability to weaponize it rapidly, underlining a persistent tension in legacy protocol support and modern cybersecurity defense. The flaw resides in the Windows NTLM authentication handling, specifically...

Windows Server 2022 users operating Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments with VMware Horizon (recently renamed Omnissa) have reported perplexing display scaling issues during remote sessions. The problem manifests as inconsistent DPI scaling—the visual elements on the remote desktop appearing either too large or too small depending on client resolution—resulting in a jarring and unusable experience. This issue affecting Windows Server 2022 in RDS environments over both native RDP and...

The "inetpub" folder that appeared on your system after the April 2025 Windows 11 update (KB5055523) is not an accidental or superfluous addition. Instead, it is a deliberate and important part of a security patch addressing a specific vulnerability known as CVE-2025-21204. This vulnerability involves improper handling of symbolic links within the Windows Update process, which could potentially allow local attackers to manipulate system files or escalate privileges. Microsoft created the...

As Windows 10’s official support expiration date looms in October 2025, millions of users face critical decisions about their computing futures. For those whose PCs do not meet the stringent hardware requirements for Windows 11, this transition can be particularly daunting. Yet, the end of Windows 10 mainstream updates does not necessarily spell the end for these machines or the platform they run. In this exploration, we’ll delve deeply into the often overlooked but compelling alternative of...

Microsoft's Windows Server 2025 has recently encountered a significant operational hiccup that has alarmed IT administrators and enterprise users alike. Following the installation of a crucial February 2025 security update, identified as KB5051987, many Windows Server 2025 systems have exhibited a persistent issue where Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sessions freeze shortly after connection. This freeze causes mouse and keyboard inputs within the session to become unresponsive, forcing users...

Microsoft’s recent decision to extend support for Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) beyond the previously scheduled end date of April 18, 2025, marks a significant pivot in the software giant’s approach to systems update management. Initially, Microsoft had planned to discontinue driver update synchronization support for WSUS at that date, shifting focus primarily to its cloud-based management tools, such as Intune and Windows Autopatch. However, based on customer feedback, particularly...

When setting up a fresh Windows installation, or switching to the Windows LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) edition, the often tedious task of reinstalling and updating essential software is a major undertaking. Here, tools like Ninite offer a powerful, yet understated solution that has remained relevant through multiple Windows generations, continuing to save hours of manual effort. The Enduring Usefulness of Ninite for Windows Provisioning Ninite is elegantly simple: it automates the...

The competition landscape of cloud computing in the UK is currently embroiled in a significant antitrust dispute that centers on Microsoft’s software licensing practices and their impact on market competition. At the heart of the controversy is a provisional ruling by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which takes a critical look at how Microsoft prices its software licenses for use on major non-Microsoft cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. The...

Microsoft's ambitious rollout of its Copilot AI assistant across Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 applications has sparked a mixed reception, marked by both enthusiasm and significant user frustration. At the heart of this debate lies a tension between the promise of AI-enhanced productivity and the realities of intrusive, sometimes stubbornly persistent AI features that many users find unwelcome or even risky. The Persistence of Copilot: An Unwanted AI Companion One of the most vexing...

Microsoft’s recent April 2025 patch cycle for Windows 10 and Windows 11 has sparked a wave of both intrigue and concern across the IT community due to the unexpected appearance of the “inetpub” folder on users’ system drives, usually the C: drive. This folder, historically associated with Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS)—a web server platform primarily used by developers and administrators—is now appearing even on systems where IIS has never been enabled or used. Despite its...

Microsoft has recently alerted IT administrators to a critical bug impacting Windows Server 2025 domain controllers, raising significant operational and security concerns in Active Directory (AD) environments. This issue manifests immediately following a system reboot, causing domain controllers to improperly manage network traffic and firewall policies. Instead of using the required domain firewall profile, the servers revert to the default standard (often public) firewall profile. This...

When enterprises heavily invested in Microsoft infrastructure migrate to the cloud, they find themselves facing a daunting paradox. Despite the widespread appeal of Linux as a cost-effective, flexible cloud operating system, many companies cannot simply rewrite their existing Microsoft-dependent applications to run on Linux. This results in a near-monopoly scenario where migrating Windows Server or SQL Server workloads effectively forces customers into Microsoft Azure or payable steep...