Microsoft has warned that the original Windows Secure Boot certificates issued in 2011 are set to expire beginning in June 2026, and that systems which do not receive replacement certificates before that date may stop receiving critical pre‑boot security updates — leaving them exposed to...
Microsoft has confirmed that the original Secure Boot certificates shipped with most Windows PCs are nearing the end of their life, and the transition to new certificates is already underway — a quietly consequential change that affects Windows servicing, OEM firmware, Linux compatibility, and...
Microsoft’s choice to omit the x86 HLT (halt) instruction from Windows 95’s shipped idle path was not a bug or oversight — it was a deliberate, conservative engineering decision taken to avoid a catastrophic failure mode that, in lab and field tests, could leave some laptops effectively bricked...
apic
bios
bricked laptops
cpu idle
engineering decision
firmware
hardware compatibility
hlt
hlt instruction
kernel idle
legacy os
oem ecosystems
power efficiency
power management
recovery and rollback
risk management
smm
system safety
windows 95
x86
Phison has publicly acknowledged and replicated a key finding first raised by the PCDIY community: a wave of disappearing and allegedly “bricked” NVMe SSDs linked in timing to Windows 11’s August cumulative update (KB5063878) appears to have been driven, in at least some test cases, by...
Windows 95 engineers walked away from a simple CPU instruction — the x86 HLT (halt) — not because the idea was exotic or useless, but because using it risked turning customers’ laptops into permanent bricks. What looks, in hindsight, like a small compatibility choice was in fact a high-stakes...
apm
bios
compatibility engineering
cpu idle
firmware
hardware brick
hardware testing
hlt
linux nohlt
nohlt
oem ecosystem
power management
raymond chen
risk management
software history
windows 95
x86
Microsoft and Phison have now all but closed the book on the late‑August panic: after weeks of community reports, lab reproductions and headlines warning that Windows 11 24H2’s August cumulative (KB5063878) was “bricking” SSDs, thorough vendor and Microsoft testing found no reproducible link...
Intel’s Application Optimization (APO) has received another round of support updates, expanding the number of game profiles and refining how hybrid Intel CPUs are used while gaming — a move that promises small-to-noticeable frame-rate and frame‑time improvements for certain titles, but that also...
Microsoft is pushing PC makers to stop treating USB Type-C as a cosmetic port and to implement the platform-level hooks Windows 11 needs to deliver consistent, useful notifications when Type‑C connections behave unexpectedly. The company’s guidance — now baked into Windows’ hardware requirements...
acpi
billboard descriptors
bios
certification
charging
displayport
displayport alt mode
docking
driver
enterprise it
firmware
hlk
mutt
oem
oem guidance
oem guidelines
pd
pd negotiation
pld
port labeling
power delivery
thunderbolt
ucm
ucmcx
ucsi
upc
usb charging
usb notifications
usb power delivery
usb testing tools
usb troubleshooting
usb type-c
usb-c
usb-c diagnostics
usb-c port management
usb4
whcp
windows 11
windows 11 24h2
windows notifications
Modern PC shooters are raising the bar: several recent AAA titles now refuse to run on Windows 10 unless Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are enabled, forcing many players to move from legacy BIOS/MBR setups to a UEFI/GPT configuration before they can even launch the game. (ea.com)
Background / Overview...
anti-cheat
attestation
battlefield-6
biosbios vs uefi
bitlocker
boot process
call-of-duty
disk conversion
disk management
efi system partition
firmware
gpt
hardware security
hardware-security
mbr2gpt
multi-boot
pc gaming
pc-gaming
ricochet
secure boot
secure-boot
system migration
tpm 2.0
tpm-2.0
uefi
windows 11
windows-10
Create and Use a Bootable Windows 10/11 Recovery USB to Repair Startup
Difficulty: Intermediate | Time Required: 20-30 minutes
Introduction
A bootable Windows recovery USB gives you the tools to fix startup problems, run offline repair utilities, restore system images, and — if needed —...
bcdboot
bios
bootrec
chkdsk
diskpart
efi partition
gpt
installation media
mbr
media creation tool
recovery drive
recovery usb
reinstall windows
sfc
startup repair
system restore
uefi
windows 10
windows 11
winre
Microsoft says the recent reports that a Windows 11 cumulative update “bricked” consumer SSDs are not supported by its telemetry and lab findings, and vendor testing so far has failed to reproduce a fleet‑level failure tied to the August servicing wave tracked as KB5063878.
Background
The story...
The Dell Precision 5550 spec sheet that appears in the teamduval.org listing — claiming a 10th‑generation Intel Core i7‑10850H, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD, NVIDIA Quadro T1000 and Windows 11 Professional in a 15.6‑inch mobile workstation chassis — largely matches configurations Dell offered for...
1tb nvme
32gb ram
3d modeling
bios
buyer guide
cad
dell
hardware verification
i7-10850h
isv-certified
mobile workstation
precision 5550
pricing red flags
quadro t1000
refurbished
service tag
used laptop
warranty
windows 11 pro
Windows 11 promises a cleaner interface, deeper security and better performance — but not every PC qualifies. This guide gives a clear, practical pathway to find out whether your machine can run Windows 11, how to fix the common blockers (TPM and Secure Boot are the usual suspects), and what...
bios
cpu compatibility
firmware update
hardware upgrade
installation media
mbr to gpt
pc compatibility
pc health check
secure boot
system requirements
tpm 2.0
uefi
unsupported install
upgrade path
windows 10 esu
windows 11
The VAN 9003 crash that left many Valorant players staring at the message “This build of Vanguard is out of compliance with current system settings” proved to be less a single bug and more a collision of modern Windows security posture, anti‑cheat kernel drivers, and inconsistent platform...
backup
bios
display
drivers
hardware
networking
performance
power settings
security
solid state drives
storage
troubleshooting
updates
windows
windows 11
When Task Manager shows fewer cores than your CPU’s spec sheet promises, it triggers an immediate alarm: is Windows misreporting, is some software throttling the chip, or is the processor literally losing cores? The truth lives between these possibilities. In many cases the fix is a handful of...
KB5065505 is a Microsoft update that delivers Phi Silica AI component version 1.2507.797.0 targeted to AMD-powered Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11 (version 24H2). (support.microsoft.com)
Overview and what this article covers
What KB5065505 is and which devices it applies to.
What Phi Silica is...
Battlefield 6’s highly anticipated launch has brought new energy to the storied first-person shooter series, but many PC players have encountered an unexpected roadblock before they can even enter the heat of battle: the Secure Boot requirement. Anyone booting up Battlefield 6 only to be greeted...
anti-cheat
battlefield 6
bios
boot troubleshooting
csm
disk management
gpt
javelin anti-cheat
mbr
mbr2gpt
pc gaming security
secure boot
system information
uefi
windows 10/11
The launch of the Battlefield 6 Open Beta has ignited excitement among gamers worldwide, but a new technical hurdle—Secure Boot—has stopped many PC players in their tracks. For the first time in the franchise, Electronic Arts requires Secure Boot to be enabled on Windows 10 and 11 machines to...