enterprise-it

  1. Windows 11 KB5063878 SSD Issues: Firmware Edge Case and Recovery

    A sudden wave of reports last month that solid‑state drives were vanishing from both File Explorer and UEFI/BIOS left Windows 11 users alarmed — but the truth, based on community forensics and vendor testing, is more complicated than a simple “bad Windows update” narrative. Background /...
  2. Windows AI Actions in File Explorer: One-click Image Edits & Visual Search

    Microsoft’s latest Insider whispers fold AI deeper into the Windows shell: right‑click a picture in File Explorer and you may now see an “AI actions” submenu offering Bing Visual Search, background blur, object erase, and background removal — a small set of micro‑workflows that signal a broader...
  3. Windows 11 25H2: No Performance Gain Over 24H2; Linux Leads CPU Benchmarks

    Microsoft’s own numbers (and independent testing) make the headline simple: Windows 11 version 25H2 delivers no measurable raw performance gain over 24H2 — it’s an enablement package, not a re‑engineered OS — while modern Linux builds continue to show a meaningful edge in CPU‑bound workloads...
  4. Windows 11 Canary Build 27938: AI Actions in Explorer, Seconds Clock, and AI Activity

    Microsoft’s latest pre-release whisper to the Windows Insider Program’s most experimental ring landed with a thud of déjà vu: the Canary channel recently received a new build — reported as Build 27938 — that mainly repackages features already seen elsewhere in the Insider ecosystem, notably...
  5. Brilliant Windows 12 Concept: AI-Driven, Multimodal OS Ahead of Win10 EOL

    Microsoft’s next operating system may not exist outside of a concept video, but the ideas in Abdi’s latest Windows 12 mockup capture a broader moment in PC computing: Windows 10’s upcoming end-of-support deadline, a swinging market-share pendulum between Win10 and Win11, and Microsoft’s own...
  6. Windows 11 25H2 Release Preview: Enablement Package Explained for IT Pros

    Microsoft has quietly opened the gates: Windows 11 version 25H2 is now available to testers in the Windows Insider Release Preview channel as a small, fast enablement package that flips features already staged in the 24H2 servicing branch — which means you can install the 2025 annual update on...
  7. Microsoft Windows App Pruning: IE, Paint 3D, and Mail Transition to Outlook

    Microsoft’s quiet pruning of long‑standing Windows apps has accelerated into a visible strategy: the company is retiring or removing familiar built‑ins — from the browser that once ruled the web to niche creative tools and the lightweight Mail client — and asking users and organizations to...
  8. Windows 11 KB5063878: No fleet SSD bricking, Microsoft and Phison say

    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...
  9. Windows 11 KB5063878 Update Not Linked to SSD Failures: What It Means

    Microsoft says its August Windows 11 security update (KB5063878) is not behind the recent wave of reports alleging SSDs and HDDs have been rendered inaccessible or corrupted, but the episode has exposed gaps in forensic clarity and left many users mistrustful of a conclusion drawn without a...
  10. Azure Latency Spike as Red Sea Cable Cuts Disrupt Global Cloud Traffic

    Microsoft has warned that users of its Azure cloud may see higher-than-normal latency and intermittent disruptions after multiple undersea fiber-optic cables in the Red Sea were cut, forcing traffic onto longer alternate routes while repair work and global rerouting continue. Background The Red...
  11. Microsoft Retires Internet Explorer, Paint 3D, Groove Music, and More: A Windows Migration Guide

    Microsoft has quietly closed another chapter of Windows history by retiring a clutch of familiar apps — Internet Explorer, Paint 3D, Movies & TV (storefront), Groove Music’s streaming service, and the legacy Mail app — each disappearance reflecting a larger strategy to consolidate services, cut...
  12. ThinkPad TB5 Smart Dock 7500: 3x8K, 180W PD, enterprise-grade

    Lenovo’s new ThinkPad Thunderbolt 5 Smart Dock 7500 promises to bring a professional docking experience that feels like a leap into the future: support for three 8K displays at 60Hz, an unheard-of 180W USB Power Delivery (PD 3.1) power budget, and cloud-enabled fleet management — all wrapped in...
  13. August 2025 Windows Installer UAC Prompts Break Silent MSI Repairs (CVE-2025-50173)

    Microsoft has confirmed that its August 12, 2025 cumulative security update introduced a security hardening to Windows Installer that is triggering unexpected User Account Control (UAC) prompts and breaking silent MSI repair/configuration flows for standard (non‑administrator) users across a...
  14. Windows 11 25H2: Release Preview Enablement Package & ISO Delay Explained

    Microsoft quietly pulled back the promised ISO images for Windows 11, version 25H2 this week, updating its Release Preview announcement to say the ISOs are “delayed and coming soon” even as the update itself lands in the Release Preview channel as an enablement-package style release. Background...
  15. Windows August 2025 Updates: UAC Prompts, MSI 1730, CVE-2025-50173 Mitigations

    Microsoft has acknowledged a compatibility regression introduced by the August 12, 2025 cumulative Windows updates that can cause unexpected User Account Control (UAC) elevation prompts and MSI Error 1730 failures for non‑administrator users when applications trigger Windows Installer (MSI)...
  16. WinGet Hacks: Automate Windows provisioning, upgrades, and maintenance

    WinGet has quietly become one of the most practical productivity tools in a Windows 11 power user's toolbox — not just for installing apps, but for managing whole system states, enforcing upgrade policies, and automating maintenance. A recent MakeUseOf piece showed four simple WinGet workflows —...
  17. August 2025 Windows Update Regression: UAC Prompts, MSI 1730, CVE-2025-50173

    Microsoft has confirmed that its August 12, 2025 cumulative updates — most notably KB5063878 for Windows 11 (OS Build 26100.4946) and companion packages for Windows 10 and Windows Server — introduced a UAC-related regression that prevents many non‑administrator users from performing routine...
  18. KB5063878 Storage Mystery: Windows 11 Update and SSD Testing

    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...
  19. Granular Windows Quality Update Management in Intune: Per-Update Approvals

    Microsoft has quietly put a new tool on the 2026 roadmap that promises to change how IT teams manage quality updates for Windows on corporate PCs: Windows Quality Update management policies in Microsoft Intune will let administrators approve and roll out individual quality updates — including...
  20. Windows 11 brings native clipboard sync to Android via Link to Windows

    Microsoft quietly added a native option in Windows 11 to push your PC clipboard to Android — and in early hands‑on testing it appears to land inside any Android keyboard that reads the system clipboard, including Gboard. Overview Windows 11’s clipboard has long been more than a lone Ctrl+C...