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The small, enthusiast-focused apps that let users bypass Windows 11’s strict hardware checks have quietly evolved into full-featured maintenance suites—adding Windows Update controls, enablement-package support for 25H2, and safer migration helpers—raising fresh questions about manageability, security, and who should (or shouldn’t) use them in production environments. Background Microsoft’s Windows 11 servicing model for the 2024–2025 cycle shifted toward a shared servicing branch and...

India’s strategic moment for a homegrown “critical digital stack” is no longer academic—it is urgent, practical and already unfolding at pace across government, industry and the startup ecosystem. Recent calls from the Prime Minister and visible ministerial endorsements of Indian software, coupled with fast-moving geopolitical shocks and fresh policy initiatives, mean India must treat digital sovereignty as infrastructure policy rather than rhetoric. Background / Overview The debate about...

Microsoft’s official countdown is now real: Windows 10 reaches its end of support on October 14, 2025, and users who want to stay protected must choose between a supported upgrade to Windows 11, a time‑boxed Extended Security Updates (ESU) bridge, or replacing the device with a modern Windows 11 PC. The AOL briefing that prompted this guide summarizes the options and urges practical preparation — check compatibility, back up your data, and pick a migration path that balances security, cost...

Denmark’s new quantum fund has just shifted the geopolitical and commercial map for quantum computing: a Copenhagen-based venture platform called 55 North closed an initial €134 million first round toward a €300 million target, anchoring a capital stack that already includes QuNorth’s €80 million purchase of a Level‑2 machine (Magne) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s multi‑year NQCP program targeted at fault‑tolerant systems. This is not incremental grant-making — it’s an explicit...

Windows 10 reaches its official end-of-support milestone on October 14, 2025 — a hard cut that stops security patches and routine updates for millions of PCs worldwide — and for many users the safest, most practical next step is a carefully planned upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft’s scheduled transition includes a short, paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) window and explicit upgrade pathways, but the process requires preparation: checking hardware compatibility, backing up data, updating...

Wintoys’ latest update tightens the app’s role as a pragmatic, low-friction Windows maintenance suite by adding explicit Windows 11 version 25H2 readiness, expanding cleanup and network troubleshooting tools, and smoothing a long list of UX and stability issues that matter to power users and technicians. Background / Overview Wintoys is a free Windows utility distributed through the Microsoft Store that collects a wide range of system maintenance, cleanup, and tuning functions into a single...

Flyoobe’s new 1.25 release bolts Windows 11 25H2 readiness to a deeper set of debloat tools and — most controversially — ships a built-in “Windows Update Tamer” that promises far more aggressive update controls than Windows exposes by default, including a claimed ability to pause updates for years rather than weeks. Background / Overview Flyoobe started life as Flyby11: a compact community utility that bundled well‑known installer workarounds to let technically confident users install...

Windows 10 will continue to start and run after October 14, 2025 — but for most users that’s no comfort: Microsoft will stop issuing routine security and quality updates on that date, and the choices you make now will determine whether your PC remains safe, supported, or quietly vulnerable. Background Microsoft set a firm end-of-support date for mainstream Windows 10 servicing: October 14, 2025. After that day, Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro Education and Workstation editions will no longer...

This week’s tech calendar read like a compressed year: Microsoft quietly shipped the Windows 11 25H2 enablement update, Google and Amazon accelerated AI and hardware bets for the smart home, Raspberry Pi moved deeper into enterprise endpoint territory with the new Pi 500+, and Linux and open‑source projects shipped consequential updates that matter to both hobbyists and IT teams. The headlines range from low‑impact but important OS housekeeping to platform shifts that change how apps are...

The Black Ops 7 beta has arrived, and with it a predictable mix of excitement, server strain, and a roster of bugs that range from minor display glitches to game‑blocking entitlement errors — this feature unpacks what’s broken, what’s been confirmed by developers, and what practical steps players and PC admins can take now to reduce risk and remain ready for launch. Background / Overview The Black Ops 7 multiplayer and Zombies beta ran in two phases in early October 2025: an Early Access...

Xbox Game Pass’s value proposition—once the clearest, most compelling subscription in gaming—has just been fundamentally rewritten, and for many players the result feels less like an upgrade and more like a betrayal: the top-tier Game Pass Ultimate has been increased from $19.99 to $29.99 a month while being repackaged around bundled third‑party services and an expanded day‑one slate that shifts where the service is most valuable and who it’s really designed for. Background Xbox Game Pass...

Wintoys’ latest release sharpens the utility’s role as a safe, modern Windows 11 tweaking toolkit by adding explicit support for the incoming Windows 11 25H2 enablement path and a long list of small-but-practical features and fixes that make everyday system maintenance less fiddly—although readers should be aware of a version-number inconsistency in early coverage and take routine precautions before running system-level changes. Background / Overview Wintoys is a free, Microsoft...

Windows 11’s 25H2 update slips onto PCs more like a maintenance switch than a spectacle—Microsoft has shipped the bulk of this year’s work earlier in the servicing branch and is now flipping the enablement switch that turns those changes on for eligible devices. Background / Overview Microsoft delivered Windows 11, version 25H2 as an enablement package (eKB) rather than a full rebase, meaning most feature binaries were already staged on devices running the previous servicing baseline (24H2)...

Windows 11’s long-standing multi-monitor friction — the inability to open the Notification Center from a secondary display — has finally been addressed in Microsoft’s September 2025 preview update, KB5065789, which also restores an opt‑in, larger clock (including seconds) inside the Notification Center’s calendar flyout. Background For many power users, the smallest UI details have outsized effects on daily productivity. After the Windows 11 taskbar redesign in 2021, several small...

The "Do Not Track" switch in your browser is not a magic privacy shield — it is simply a polite HTTP header that says "please don't track me," and because that request is voluntary, turning it on has almost no guaranteed effect on the advertising and analytics networks that actually follow you around the web. Background / Overview The Do Not Track (DNT) mechanism began as a reasonable idea: add a small, machine-readable flag to every web request — typically the header DNT: 1 — that signals a...

Paul Thurrott’s short, wry response in Ask Paul: October 3 crystallizes a tension millions of Windows users are feeling right now — admiration for what AI can do, coupled with reluctance to pay a new recurring premium for features many believe used to be “just part of the product.” His position — that he’ll pay for productivity where it adds clear, standalone value but balks at expensive AI add‑ons bundled onto existing subscriptions — is both practical and illustrative of a much larger...

This week’s Prospect Weekly Roundup sketched three stories that converge on power, choice, and the friction between public promises and private capacity: Naomi Bethune’s dispatch from Boston on Mayor Michelle Wu’s runaway re‑election—and what her dominance says about political power at the municipal level; the looming technical and civic reckoning as Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 and forces hundreds of millions of PC users into awkward upgrade choices; and the...

I turned a messy collection of movies, TV shows, ripped CDs, and phone photos into a single, Netflix‑style hub on a Windows 11 PC using Plex Media Server — and the process is straightforward enough that many enthusiasts can replicate it today, while also avoiding the security and performance pitfalls that trip up first‑time server builders. Background / Overview Plex is two things: a free, polished client experience (apps on smart TVs, phones, tablets, and PCs) that also includes...

Pennsylvania officials and local groups have joined a broader U.S. campaign pressing Microsoft to reverse or soften its plan to end routine, automatic security updates for Windows 10—arguing the move will expose millions of machines to cyber risk, force premature hardware replacement, and accelerate electronic waste across schools, nonprofits and households that cannot upgrade to Windows 11. The push—led nationally by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and amplified by state...

Windows 10 reaches a hard, non‑negotiable end of support on October 14, 2025 — and if your PC is still running the platform, you have a narrow, high‑priority set of choices to keep that machine secure, compliant, and useful. Background / Overview Microsoft has set the official end‑of‑support date for Windows 10 as October 14, 2025. After that date Microsoft will no longer provide routine feature updates, quality fixes, or the standard stream of security patches for consumer Windows 10...