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Microsoft is quietly testing native animated video wallpapers in Windows 11 Insider builds, a modern revival of the Vista-era DreamScene that lets users set common video files (MP4, MKV, MOV and more) as looping desktop backgrounds — but the capability is experimental, hidden behind an Insider flag, and carries real-world tradeoffs for battery, compatibility, and enterprise management. Background / Overview Windows Vista shipped an official experiment in animated wallpapers called Windows...

Microsoft’s DevDays Asia 2025 framed this year’s debate in stark terms: the industry has moved from “AI-ready” to an AI agent era that will reshape how software is built, deployed, and operated. Major Microsoft voices — from product leaders to region heads — used the Taipei stage to accelerate an urgent narrative: agents are not niche research toys but a platform-level shift requiring new developer tooling, identity and governance controls, and a rethink of enterprise application...

Microsoft has set a hard line: mainstream security updates for Windows 10 and for on‑premises Office suites including Office 2016 and Office 2019 end on October 14, 2025 — but the story doesn’t stop there. Consumers and small businesses face a narrow set of official escape ramps (a one‑year consumer ESU for Windows 10, paid multi‑year ESUs for commercial customers, and a migration to Microsoft 365 or newer Office releases), while third‑party vendors such as ACROS Security’s 0patch are...

Microsoft has quietly folded a new, context-aware AI teammate directly into Teams channels: Channel Agent, an AI-powered assistant that adopts a channel’s name, ingests channel conversations and meetings, generates Loop-formatted status reports, and can be invited into meetings and group chats to summarize, schedule, and track work. Launched into Teams Public Preview, Channel Agent is positioned as a collaboration-first extension of Microsoft 365 Copilot—built to act as a project concierge...

Microsoft’s deadline is unambiguous: Windows 10 stops receiving security updates on October 14, 2025 — and yet, telemetry from the security vendor Kaspersky shows that, across its monitored sample, more than half of all PCs are still running Windows 10 with only a third on Windows 11, leaving millions of devices exposed the moment Microsoft’s monthly patches stop. Background / Overview Windows 10 was released in 2015 and has been the default desktop operating system for a decade, but...

Microsoft’s personalization team appears to be answering a long-standing user request: native video wallpapers — a modern take on the old DreamScene feature from the Windows Vista era — are now visible in recent Windows 11 Insider preview builds, but they remain experimental, hidden behind feature flags, and subject to change. Background DreamScene, nostalgia, and why this matters today Windows DreamScene debuted as an “Ultimate Extras” addition for Windows Vista that allowed video clips to...

Last week’s public furor over Microsoft’s planned shutdown of Windows 10 support crystallized into two clear facts: the end-of-support date is fixed, and consumer groups are asking the company to change course. The practical consequences are unambiguous — after October 14, 2025, mainstream security updates and feature servicing for Windows 10 Home and Pro will stop unless devices enroll in Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program or users migrate to supported platforms. This...

Apple’s macOS 26 “Tahoe” is the most persuasive Mac update I’ve seen in years — and as a longtime Windows enthusiast, that hesitation matters. Tahoe’s Liquid Glass redesign, deeper Apple Intelligence integration, and an unusually practical set of Continuity improvements make it less a cosmetic update and more a meaningful re-think of how Apple wants macOS to fit into a multi‑device life. The features Apple highlighted at WWDC and the hands‑on impressions since then suggest Tahoe isn’t just...

Microsoft Teams now includes a dedicated Channel Agent — an AI-powered, productivity-focused assistant that lives inside a Teams channel, autonomously handling meeting recaps, task tracking, Planner integration, Loop report generation, and other routine coordination work so teams can spend less time on follow-up and more time on actual work. Background Microsoft continues to embed generative AI across Microsoft 365, moving beyond single-user Copilots toward team-centered agents that act as...

This comparative evaluation of five leading conversational AIs in infectious disease education — ChatGPT 3.5, Google Bard (Gemini), Perplexity AI, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta AI — presents both an encouraging and cautionary picture for educators and clinicians. A recent peer-reviewed analysis using 160 multiple-choice questions drawn from 20 clinical case studies reports that ChatGPT 3.5 led numerically with 65.6% accuracy, closely followed by Perplexity (63.2%), Microsoft Copilot (60.9%)...

Dog in a red tracksuit sprinting on a track.

Microsoft has removed the compatibility hold that prevented a subset of PCs from receiving the Windows 11, version 24H2 feature update after fixing a long‑running camera bug tied to object/face detection — meaning affected devices should begin seeing the 24H2 offer again within the next 48 hours once they have the required updates installed. Background / Overview In October 2024 Microsoft confirmed a compatibility problem in Windows 11 version 24H2: on some devices, using the integrated...

Microsoft’s role as both the maker of Windows and an increasingly powerful security software vendor is reshaping the economics, engineering and trust model of the MSP security market — and the implications are now impossible for partners to ignore. Background The debate was center stage at a recent industry roundtable where security executives laid out the realities that managed service providers (MSPs) and independent security vendors face when a single platform owner owns the operating...

Microsoft released an out‑of‑band cumulative update on September 22, 2025 — KB5068221 (OS Build 26100.6588) — for Windows 11, version 24H2, delivering a targeted set of quality and security fixes (including items from the September 9, 2025 security rollup) while also documenting a persistent connectivity caveat for environments still using the deprecated SMBv1 protocol over NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT). Background Windows 11 servicing in 2025 continues to ship updates across two servicing...

Microsoft issued an out‑of‑band cumulative update today — KB5068221 (OS Build 26100.6588) — for Windows 11 version 24H2, delivering a focused set of quality and security fixes while reiterating several high‑impact operational advisories that administrators and power users must act on now. Background Microsoft’s September servicing cadence began with the Patch Tuesday release on September 9 (KB5065426, OS Build 26100.6584), followed by additional Release Preview and hotpatch rolls through...

For years the quickest way I reached for the volume on Windows was a keyboard shortcut or the tiny slider in Quick Settings—only to discover that Windows 11 quietly restored a single, frictionless gesture: hover the mouse over the speaker icon in the taskbar and roll your mouse wheel to change system volume instantly. Background / Overview Windows 11 version 22H2 was the first major feature update that refined dozens of small usability gaps left over from the initial release. Microsoft...

Microsoft released an out‑of‑band cumulative update for Windows 11 version 24H2 on September 22, 2025 — KB5068221 (OS Build 26100.6588) — that bundles quality fixes (including the fixes from the September 9, 2025 security rollup), updates several AI components, and quietly re‑emphasizes the looming Secure Boot certificate expiration program affecting many devices next year. Background Microsoft’s September servicing cycle already shipped a large September 9, 2025 security rollup (LCU + SSU)...

Apple’s macOS 26 “Tahoe” and Microsoft’s Windows 11 no longer represent two lightly tweaked desktops but two competing philosophies for how a modern personal computer should look, behave, and help you get work done—and the choice between them now hinges more on ecosystem, AI model placement, and hardware strategy than on simple feature lists. Tahoe doubles down on a curated, privacy‑centric desktop with a bold visual refresh and deeper on‑device intelligence, while Windows 11 leans into...

ADMANITY’s “Toaster Test” — a staged experiment the company says involved feeding a compact slice of its offline “Mother” emotional algorithm to two leading chat AIs, ChatGPT and Grok — has been republished broadly as proof that a discrete, model‑agnostic persuasion protocol can convert neutral product descriptions into emotionally driven, higher‑converting copy in one pass. ADMANITY’s announcements claim broad endorsement from other major AI platforms (Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini...

Asda has expanded its multi‑year collaboration with Microsoft in a deal the retailer and vendors portray as a major step in turning the supermarket into a cloud‑first, AI‑driven business — establishing Microsoft Azure as Asda’s primary cloud platform and bringing tools such as Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, Copilot Studio, and Microsoft 365 Copilot deeper into its operations. Background Asda’s renewed agreement with Microsoft builds on a commercial relationship that began in 2022 and...