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Microsoft has released a targeted fix in Insider preview builds that finally addresses the long‑running “Update and shut down” problem in Windows 11 — the scenario where choosing “Update and shut down” installs updates but leaves the PC powered on instead of finishing with a true shutdown. Background For more than two years some Windows 11 users have reported an intermittent but persistent annoyance: selecting Update and shut down would appear to install the update, the system would reboot...

Microsoft has started the staged rollout of the Windows 11 Version 25H2 update — a lightweight, enablement-package style release that flips on a year’s worth of AI integrations, UI polish, and security hardening for supported devices while tightening setup and legacy cleanup across the platform. Background Windows 11 25H2 is not a traditional, monolithic feature upgrade. Instead, Microsoft delivered it as an enablement package for devices already running Windows 11 version 24H2, meaning most...

Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6772 (KB5065797) to the Dev Channel, delivering a compact but consequential set of feature rollouts, UI refinements, and stability fixes aimed primarily at Copilot+ hardware and early adopters. The flight couples new on-screen AI tooling — notably an enhanced Click to Do experience with object extraction and inline unit conversion — with security and setup changes that tighten the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) and expand Windows...

Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27959 to the Canary Channel, delivering a small but user-focused wave of changes — most notably a new setting to reposition on-screen hardware indicators, a system-wide keyboard shortcut for inserting en and em dashes, and the ability to pin apps in the Windows Share UI — along with a batch of stability fixes and a new known issue affecting sleep and shutdown on some devices. Background Microsoft’s Canary Channel is the earliest preview...

Microsoft appears to be preparing a purpose-built OneDrive app for Windows 11 that foregrounds photos, video, and AI-driven file interactions — a move that could reshape how OneDrive is used on PCs while raising familiar questions about performance, privacy, and licensing. Background / Overview Microsoft has scheduled a Copilot + OneDrive digital event for October 8, 2025, where the company will showcase new OneDrive and Copilot integrations; the event page and blog posts make it clear...

Windows 11’s long-suffering dark mode just stopped getting interrupted by glaring white copy and delete pop-ups, and the change makes File Explorer feel like a finished product instead of a patchwork of modern and legacy surfaces. Overview Microsoft’s latest Dev Channel Insider Preview build brings a targeted but highly visible fix: File Explorer’s action and error dialogs now respect the system dark theme. Copy, move, and delete dialogs — in both their compact and expanded states — along...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview makes a decisive break with the small command-line and script “escape hatches” that enthusiasts, refurbishers and technicians have used to finish Windows 11 setup without linking a Microsoft Account — in recent Dev and Beta channel flights the familiar BYPASSNRO trick and the one-line ms-cxh:localonly shortcut have been neutralized, and Microsoft explicitly says it is “removing known mechanisms for creating a local account in the Windows Setup experience...

Microsoft has quietly closed the low‑friction loopholes that let technicians, enthusiasts and refurbishers create local accounts during Windows 11’s Out‑of‑Box Experience (OOBE), effectively forcing the default consumer setup path to complete with an internet connection and a Microsoft account in current Insider preview builds. Background / Overview For several years Microsoft has been nudging Windows toward an account‑first model: OneDrive sync, Windows Hello recovery, BitLocker key escrow...

One week before Microsoft’s hard cutoff, millions of Windows 10 PCs face a stark decision: remain on an OS that will no longer receive routine security patches or pick one of five practical paths—each with trade‑offs in cost, security, and convenience. The end‑of‑support date is fixed: October 14, 2025, and Microsoft’s official guidance and marketplace responses make clear that this is a firm inflection point for consumers, education institutions and businesses alike. Background / Overview...

Microsoft has quietly tightened the screws on Windows 11’s Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE): Insider Preview updates issued October 6 remove the remaining local-only setup shortcuts and now require an internet connection and a Microsoft account to complete consumer OOBE flows, even on editions that historically offered offline/local account options. Background For the past two years Microsoft has been gradually moving Windows 11’s consumer setup toward an online-first, cloud-connected model. The...

Microsoft’s newest Windows 11 Insider build tightens what was already a steady march toward a cloud-first operating system: it introduces smarter, context-aware AI tools and fixes cosmetic and usability rough edges, but it also closes almost all remaining escapes from Microsoft Account sign‑in during initial setup — a move that will reshape how enthusiasts, privacy-minded users, and IT teams approach new installs. Overview The October Insider flight, released in the Dev Channel as Build...

Microsoft’s latest Insider flight makes it unmistakably clear: the era of effortless, in‑OOBE local accounts on Windows 11 is ending — Microsoft is explicitly removing the known shortcuts that let users bypass Microsoft account (MSA) sign‑in during the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE), and the change is already visible in preview builds such as Build 26220.6772. Background Windows setup has been moving toward a cloud‑first, identity‑anchored model for years. Features such as OneDrive sync...

OpenAI’s ambitious move into consumer hardware—centered on the high‑profile acquisition of Jony Ive’s device startup and the promise of a new “family of AI devices”—has hit a practical wall: the project faces three deeply intertwined problems—compute, privacy, and personality—that now look likely to push any meaningful consumer launch well beyond previous targets. Recent reporting indicates these are not minor UX tweaks but structural engineering and business challenges that affect the...

Grand Traverse County’s Board of Commissioners has approved a coordinated package of technology investments that pushes several core services toward vendor‑hosted cloud models, renews enterprise productivity licensing, and seeds a controlled pilot of generative AI — moves framed publicly as a direct response to past cyber incidents and a strategic shift toward continuous security and operational resilience. The package pairs a planned rollout with identity hardening and governance...

Microsoft’s latest Copilot experiments in Edge move the browser closer to acting like a personal digital assistant that can not only summarize and suggest but also take action inside your browsing context — and that raises both exciting productivity possibilities and serious privacy questions for users and administrators. Background Microsoft has been steadily turning Edge into an AI-first browser, folding Copilot capabilities directly into the browsing experience through features such as...

Microsoft and Checkout.com have announced a multi‑year strategic technology collaboration that will see Checkout.com adopt Microsoft Azure as a primary cloud platform to scale its AI‑driven payments services — a move their press materials frame as a step to deliver faster, more secure and agentic‑ready payments at enterprise scale. Background / Overview Checkout.com is a London‑founded payments processor that has grown rapidly by offering enterprise merchants an end‑to‑end, data‑driven...

Oracle and Wipro announced a targeted migration of Wipro’s mission‑critical HR databases to Oracle Base Database Service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) — a move Oracle says accelerated Wipro’s recruitment workflows by more than 50 percent and slashed payroll batch processing from “over 70 minutes” to just 29 minutes, a roughly 60 percent reduction. Background Wipro is a global IT services and consulting giant with a complex, high‑scale HR footprint that supports hiring, payroll...

Microsoft has begun the controlled rollout of Windows 11 version 25H2 — a lightweight enablement package that flips feature flags on systems already running 24H2 and brings Microsoft’s expanding AI toolbox, incremental security hardening, and a handful of usability refinements to eligible devices with minimal disruption. Background / Overview Windows 11 version 25H2 is not a wholesale rework of the operating system; it’s a service-style update delivered as an enablement package for devices...

Oracle and Wipro today announced a migration of Wipro’s mission‑critical HR databases to Oracle Base Database Service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), a move Oracle says cut Wipro’s payroll processing time by roughly 60 percent and improved recruitment system performance by more than 50 percent—changes Wipro attributes to the converged performance, multicloud interconnects, and database services provided by Oracle. Background Wipro is a global IT services and consulting group with a...

Microsoft has quietly started closing the last low‑friction loopholes that let people finish Windows 11’s Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) without an internet connection or a Microsoft Account (MSA), forcing an account‑first setup path in recent Windows Insider preview builds and signalling a durable change to the consumer setup experience. Background / Overview Microsoft has nudged Windows users toward a cloud‑tethered identity since Windows 10, and Windows 11 intensified that trajectory by...