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Microsoft’s audit of the August Windows 11 cumulative update has closed one chapter of an unusually noisy storage scare, but it has left behind a tangle of reproducible community tests, partial vendor confirmations, and unanswered forensic questions that IT teams and power users should still treat seriously. Microsoft says it “found no connection between the August 2025 Windows security update and the types of hard drive failures reported on social media,” while Phison — the SSD controller...

When a single AI service becomes central to millions of workflows, a short outage stops more than casual conversation — it exposes systemic fragility and forces users to choose alternatives they may previously have ignored. Recent market shifts and intermittent service interruptions have pushed many Windows power users, content teams, and developers to evaluate the rising field of ChatGPT alternatives. This feature pulls together the most compelling replacements in 2025, verifies core claims...

Microsoft’s definitive update: after an internal review and partner testing, the company says the August 2025 Windows 11 security rollup did not directly corrupt or “brick” SSDs — but the incident has exposed a fragile interaction between OS updates, SSD controller firmware, and real-world workloads that still leaves some users exposed and data at risk. Background / Overview Over the second half of August 2025 a cluster of alarming user reports began circulating online: users installing the...

Dr. William L. Bain’s career bridges the arc of modern parallel computing — from Bell Labs and Intel research labs through a Microsoft acquisition to founding ScaleOut Software — and his work today pushes operational intelligence and in‑memory computing into production systems where latency, availability, and real‑time insight matter. Background Dr. William L. Bain holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with a focus on parallel computing from Rice University and has spent decades designing...

Australian Data Centres has bolstered its executive bench with three senior hires — appointing Matt Holden as Chief Operating Officer, Greg Gale as Chief Information Security Officer, and Peter Adcock as Chief Technology Officer — moves the company says will accelerate its national expansion, strengthen sovereign-ready offerings, and position the business to meet surging demand for AI‑ready and high‑assurance data centre capacity. (arnnet.com.au, ausdatacentre.com.au) Background Australian...

Files 4.0 lands as a major milestone for an already feature-rich third‑party file manager, shipping a redesigned address experience (the new Omnibar), a polished Dual Pane workflow, wider cloud-drive support, and a host of security and productivity tools aimed squarely at power users and IT professionals. This is the most substantial update in the app’s history: a full release with coordinated UI changes, keyboard-driven workflows, and deeper integrations that make Files not just an...

The moment your Windows PC starts whispering “Low disk space,” it isn’t always because you’ve hoarded videos or forgotten to empty the Recycle Bin—sometimes the culprits are ordinary system and application folders that quietly balloon over time. A recent practical roundup identified the usual suspects—Temp, Recycle Bin, Downloads, update caches, leftover app data, system restore points, and browser caches—and showed how Windows’ built‑in tools and a handful of safe third‑party utilities can...

Windows 11 gives enthusiasts a stronger baseline, but a Virtual Private Network (VPN) remains the most practical way to extend that protection across networks, locations, and services—turning a secure machine into a truly private and travel‑ready workspace. Overview Microsoft has repeatedly touted Windows 11’s security improvements: hardware-backed baselines, secured‑core PCs, and built‑in protections that have driven a measurable drop in reported security incidents. Microsoft’s own security...

Microsoft’s surprise consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) window is real — and it’s urgent: Windows 10 users now have a one‑year lifeline to keep receiving security updates through October 13, 2026, but you must enroll before Windows 10’s support ends on October 14, 2025. The enrollment appears as an “Enroll now” button in Settings → Windows Update and offers three ways to claim a year of protection — a free path tied to backing up PC settings to OneDrive, a Microsoft Rewards redemption...

ZDNET’s compact roundup of "45+ time‑saving Windows keyboard shortcuts" is less a listicle and more a practical playbook: a curated set of high‑impact keystrokes that swap repetitive mouse motions for instant, repeatable actions and unlock features many users overlook. The author prioritizes real‑world wins — quick access to File Explorer, smarter window management with Snap Layouts, selective screenshots with Snipping Tool, and the clipboard history stack — then folds those shortcuts into a...

NanaZIP’s preview of version 6 lands as a clear evolution of the 7‑Zip fork: deeper Windows 11 integration, a host of interface rewrites using XAML, a controversial new extract‑on‑open workflow, and security‑minded codec changes that move the project further from its 7‑Zip lineage while tightening compatibility requirements. Background NanaZIP began as a modern, Microsoft Store–friendly fork of 7‑Zip, with the stated aim of bringing the raw power of the 7‑Zip engine to a Windows 11‑style...

Microsoft's Surface Pro line is on the move again: after a year of careful iteration and the arrival of a new 12‑inch Surface Pro variant, the rumor mill and a handful of leaks point toward a more ambitious flagship refresh commonly referred to as the Surface Pro 12 (12th Gen) — a device that may redefine what a Windows 11 tablet 2‑in‑1 looks like in the AI era. Early reporting and leaked briefs sketch a roadmap that blends Qualcomm's ARM advances, Microsoft’s Copilot+ ambitions, and a...

A quiet software miracle has turned a stack of nearly obsolete Windows Mixed Reality headsets back into usable PC VR hardware: Oasis, a free, unofficial SteamVR driver released by Matthieu Bucchianeri, restores direct SteamVR support to Windows MR devices on modern Windows 11 systems and, in the process, exposes a tangle of engineering, platform policy, and vendor cooperation issues that every VR owner should understand. Background Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) launched in 2017 as Microsoft’s...

Windows 11’s long‑running Bluetooth headache — game sound collapsing into muffled, mono audio the moment a headset microphone is used — has finally been addressed at the operating‑system level: Microsoft has added support for Bluetooth LE Audio and a “super‑wideband stereo” path that lets stereo game and media audio coexist with a high‑quality microphone stream on compatible headsets and PCs. Background: why Bluetooth on Windows sounded like a compromise For more than a decade, PC Bluetooth...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has publicly shared the five AI prompts he now relies on inside Microsoft 365 Copilot — a short, practical blueprint that reveals how a top executive turns generative AI into a daily decision engine and meeting prep assistant. Background / Overview On August 7, 2025, Microsoft announced the integration of OpenAI’s GPT‑5 into Microsoft 365 Copilot as part of a broader rollout that put the model to work across Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and Copilot Studio. Twenty...

Microsoft has made Windows 11, version 25H2 (Release Preview Build 26200.5074) available to the Release Preview channel — a near‑final, enablement package release that flips features already staged in the 24H2 servicing stream and brings a focused set of manageability, security, and AI refinements targeted at enterprise and education customers. Background / Overview Microsoft’s 25H2 update continues the company’s shift away from monolithic “rebase” feature updates and toward a shared...

Microsoft and the U.S. General Services Administration have struck a governmentwide cloud agreement that promises major discounts on Microsoft 365, Azure, Copilot and related cloud services — a deal the GSA says could deliver roughly $3.1 billion in savings in the first year and significantly accelerate federal AI adoption under the agency’s OneGov strategy. Background The U.S. General Services Administration’s OneGov initiative centralizes purchasing power to negotiate governmentwide...

Rogue Factor’s Hell is Us ships with surprisingly specific PC demands: the studio has published clear minimum, recommended and ultra tiers that lean on modern upscaling tech to make the game playable on mid-range rigs while reserving native 4K/ray-traced fidelity for very high-end GPUs. The headline: you can play the game on many 16 GB systems at 1080p if you accept compromises, the recommended sweet spot targets 1080p/60 on GPUs in the RTX 2080 Ti / RX 6750 XT class, and full 4K Ultra is...

Microsoft’s surprise move to offer a one‑year safety net for Windows 10 users has become the most time‑sensitive Windows story of the moment: a consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) path is available, enrollment is controlled through a new “Enroll” option in Settings → Windows Update, and the enrollment rollout is phased — meaning millions will need to update, check, and claim the extension before the October cutoff or risk falling off Microsoft’s security stream. Background / Overview...

Mint’s roundup of “10 best computer sets under ₹30,000” shows how far entry-level desktops have come: modest but practical builds with fast NVMe storage, 16 GB RAM in many cases, and familiar mainstream CPUs that can handle remote work, online learning, and light gaming — if buyers understand the trade-offs. The list packages balanced storage and memory with old-but-capable processors and budget GPUs, delivering the essentials for students, office users, and families without blowing the...