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Microsoft has quietly closed a long-standing productivity gap in Windows 11 by adding an OS-level keyboard shortcut that inserts an em dash — the long punctuation mark writers use for emphatic breaks — directly while you type, joining the en dash on the system-level keyboard map and removing the need for awkward Alt codes or hunting through the emoji and symbols panel. Background For decades, Windows users have had to rely on workarounds to insert typographic dashes: numeric Alt codes (Alt +...

Microsoft is preparing a targeted overhaul of Windows 11’s long‑complained‑about right‑click menu in File Explorer — a redesign, previewed in WinUI developer materials, that replaces jammed vertical lists with split menu entries driven by a new WinUI control called SplitMenuFlyoutItem. Background Since Windows 11 launched, the Context Menu (the right‑click menu) has elicited steady user criticism for being cluttered, repetitive, and inconsistent across shell surfaces. What started as a...

Microsoft has quietly closed one of Windows’ most irritating little reliability gaps: the Start‑menu option “Update and shut down” now behaves like it promises in recent Windows 11 preview builds and in the October 28, 2025 optional cumulative preview, KB5067036, which Microsoft documents as addressing the long‑standing problem that caused systems to return to the desktop or lock screen after installing updates instead of powering off. Background For many users the menu item Update and shut...

If you’re one of the many Windows 11 users who never changed the machine name assigned during setup, that inscrutable string — usually something like DESKTOP-5PH9MNH — isn’t just ugly and confusing: it’s a missed opportunity to improve security, device management, troubleshooting, and everyday clarity across local networks and your Microsoft account inventory. Overview Out of the box, Windows typically assigns a randomized host name when no explicit name is provided during setup. That...

If your Windows 11 desktop freezes and every normal restart method fails, there’s a built‑in, under‑the‑radar option that can get you moving again: the Emergency Restart from the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen — a software‑initiated, last‑resort reboot you trigger by holding Ctrl while clicking the power icon on the Secure Attention Sequence (SAS) screen. Background Windows exposes the Secure Attention Sequence — the full‑screen menu you get when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del — as a privileged escape hatch...

Microsoft’s October 2025 cumulative update wave unexpectedly pushed a measurable number of Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems into the BitLocker recovery flow, in some cases combined with a broken Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) that prevented users from entering their 48‑digit recovery key until Microsoft shipped an out‑of‑band fix and enterprise mitigations. Overview Microsoft delivered its October 14, 2025 cumulative updates (originating KBs such as KB5066835 for Windows 11 and...

Infosys today announced an AI agent built specifically for energy-sector operations that combines the company’s newly launched Infosys Topaz platform and Infosys Cobalt cloud offerings with Microsoft Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models, and OpenAI’s GPT-4o family, positioning the solution as a conversational, real‑time assistant for field operations, reporting automation, predictive insights and early warnings aimed at reducing non‑productive time and improving safety and...

Windows 11 still treats a mapped network drive as one of the most practical ways to make a remote folder feel local — and the baonghean.vn guide you provided walks readers through three effective methods to map a network drive: File Explorer, the classic Command Prompt net use command, and PowerShell/New-PSDrive — each with distinct strengths and trade‑offs. Background / Overview Mapping a network drive gives a shared folder a drive letter (for example, Z:) so it appears inside File Explorer...

Microsoft's new deep-dive on Known Issue Rollback (KIR) pulls back the curtain on a quietly powerful safety net built into Windows: a targeted, run-time mechanism that can disable a specific change introduced by an update without uninstalling the entire package — keeping devices secure while restoring stability for affected features and apps. Background KIR did not arrive overnight. It evolved as Microsoft wrestled with a fundamental trade-off in modern patching: how to restore functionality...

Microsoft’s October servicing wave has tripped a familiar trap: a BitLocker recovery and WinRE regression that is once again blocking some Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs from booting cleanly — and the immediate fixes, mitigations, and sensible defenses every user and IT team needs right now are straightforward but urgent. Background / Overview In mid‑October 2025 Microsoft shipped cumulative security updates (originating KBs such as KB5066835 for Windows 11 and KB5066791 for some Windows 10...

Windows 11’s audio quick controls are a small, frequent friction point that adds up: the taskbar volume slider hides the active device name and forces extra clicks to switch outputs, and the Settings layout exposes long lists of audio endpoints that clutter the workflow. You can’t change the OS design overnight, but you can remove the clutter — by disabling unused audio devices in Settings — and reclaim a faster, clearer audio workflow without resorting to hacks or third‑party drivers...

Microsoft’s Configuration Manager is shifting from a semi‑annual update rhythm to a once‑a‑year major release cadence, with the product team signalling a new emphasis on security, reliability and long‑term support rather than frequent feature delivery — a change that will reshape upgrade planning, hotfix expectations and the migration calculus toward cloud management with Microsoft Intune. Background / Overview Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr, historically SCCM) has been the on‑premises...

Microsoft’s new AI roadmap shifts from partner dependence to a deliberate strategy of multi‑model orchestration and first‑party capability building, combining in‑house models, third‑party engines, and continued—but recalibrated—ties to OpenAI in a move that promises lower latency, lower per‑inference cost, and tighter enterprise governance while raising fresh questions about safety, competition, and product fragmentation. Background Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI has been one of the...

Microsoft’s Teams ecosystem moved decisively in November, rolling out features that push collaboration deeper into the platform while adding new AI model choices and hardening security — developments that promise real productivity gains but also demand immediate, concrete governance and risk controls from IT teams. Background / Overview Microsoft Teams is no longer just a chat-and-meetings app; the November wave cements Teams as a hub for device management, workplace telemetry and an...

Infosys’ new AI agent for the energy sector signals a purposeful shift from proof-of-concept experiments to agentic, production-ready solutions that promise to turn mountains of field data into conversational, actionable intelligence for drilling, production and field operations. The vendor says the solution stitches together Infosys Topaz, Infosys Cobalt, Microsoft’s Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI / Foundry-hosted models and multimodal families such as GPT‑4o to ingest well logs, telemetry...

Microsoft and Abu Dhabi’s G42 have announced a coordinated expansion that will add 200 megawatts (MW) of new data‑center capacity in the United Arab Emirates — a move the partners say will be online in phases before the end of 2026 and that sits inside Microsoft’s broader $15.2 billion investment program for the UAE. Background The announcement formalizes a deeper operating relationship between Microsoft and G42 that builds on prior investments and collaboration, including Microsoft’s...

Lakeside Software’s announcement that SysTrack Cloud now has a dedicated Azure region in India signals a clear push to meet latency, compliance, and scalability demands for Digital Employee Experience (DEX) tooling in one of the world’s fastest-growing cloud markets. The company framed the launch as a response to customer demand for in‑country telemetry processing, lower latency, and easier scaling for enterprise DEX workloads, and the region is presented as immediately available for...

Microsoft has added a formal, anonymous channel inside its employee Integrity Portal called Trusted Technology Review, giving staff a dedicated, non‑retaliatory path to flag concerns about how Microsoft builds, sells, and deploys technology — a procedural change announced by Microsoft President Brad Smith as part of the company’s ongoing response to investigations and employee unrest over Azure use in the Israel–Gaza conflict. Background Microsoft’s new reporting option arrives after months...

European cloud challenger Nebius this week unveiled a full‑stack “Open AI Platform” — marketed as Nebius Token Factory — positioning the company as a direct, enterprise‑focused alternative to hyperscaler AI services such as Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock. The platform promises production‑grade inference, integrated fine‑tuning and model lifecycle tools, explicit support for open‑weight models, regional zero‑retention endpoints, and vendor‑neutral APIs designed to ease migration...

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 lands with a clear, tiered PC roadmap, an enforced anti‑cheat posture that now reaches into the firmware layer, and a timed preload window for players who bought digitally — all designed to reduce day‑one friction but also to raise the minimum bar for many older Windows systems. Background / Overview Beenox — working with Treyarch and Activision — delivered the PC build as a platform‑first client engineered to give Windows players control over performance and...