windows security

Microsoft is turning up the default security posture in Windows 11 with a pair of features designed to make low-level tampering harder and make application behavior more visible to users and administrators: Windows Baseline Security Mode (BSM), which enables runtime integrity safeguards that...

After the January 2026 Windows security rollup, Microsoft quietly but deliberately tightened how Windows credential dialogs accept input — and the change is now visible to administrators and helpdesk teams: credential prompts, sign-in dialogs, and Windows authentication interfaces will no longer...

If you’re running Windows 11, update now — Microsoft has closed a high‑severity remote code execution flaw in the modern Notepad app that could let a single click in a Markdown file turn into code execution under your user account. Background: Notepad’s unexpected attack surface Notepad has been...

Microsoft’s warning that the Secure Boot certificates issued during the Windows 8 era are being retired in 2026 is not a hypothetical maintenance note—it’s a scheduled refresh of the cryptographic trust anchors that run before Windows even starts, and it has meaningful operational and security...

PCMag’s security reviews and lab-test coverage make one point very clear: antivirus is no longer a single-number contest between scanners — it’s a layered decision about detection, usability, privacy, and cost that must be matched to how you actually use Windows. Background / Overview PCMag’s...

Microsoft has announced a major security pivot for Windows 11: a new Windows Baseline Security Mode (BSM) that will, by default, permit only properly signed applications, services, and drivers to execute — paired with a system-wide User Transparency and Consent (UTC) model that brings...

Microsoft has issued a coordinated warning: the original Secure Boot certificates that have underpinned Windows platform integrity since 2011 are reaching the end of their lifecycle, and a deliberate, ecosystem-wide refresh is required before mid‑2026 to avoid a progressive loss of...

Microsoft’s latest security pivot for Windows 11 signals a major change in how the operating system will ask for — and enforce — user consent, bringing smartphone-style permission prompts and a stricter runtime integrity posture to the desktop in ways that could reshape end‑user experience...

Microsoft has begun steering Windows 11 toward a secure‑by‑default posture by proposing a new Windows Baseline Security Mode that, when enabled, will restrict runtime execution to properly signed and verified applications, services and drivers — pairing that enforcement with a mobile‑style User...

Microsoft’s proposal to make Windows “secure by default” is not a small tweak — it’s a philosophical and technical reset of how the operating system trusts software and asks for user consent. In a Windows Experience Blog post dated February 9, 2026, Microsoft introduced two linked initiatives —...

Microsoft is quietly rolling out a replacement for long‑lived Secure Boot certificates first issued in 2011, and while Microsoft and OEMs say most modern PCs will receive the new 2023 certificate family automatically, a material minority of systems—especially unmanaged Windows 10 machines not on...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 security pivot reframes desktop trust around consent, signatures, and visible agent behavior, moving the platform closer to the permission-first model smartphone users have long experienced. The company’s announcement — led by Distinguished Engineer Logan Iyer —...

Microsoft and the PC industry have quietly opened a narrow but critical window to prevent a pre‑OS security gap this year: Windows will start rolling replacement Secure Boot certificates into device firmware via staged OS updates, while Microsoft is simultaneously intensifying its public push...

Microsoft’s February Patch Tuesday closed a dangerous loophole in the modern Notepad app that could let an attacker turn a simple Markdown (.md) file into a remote code execution (RCE) trap — a single click on a crafted link inside Notepad’s Markdown view could launch unverified protocols and...

Avira’s antivirus offerings have vaulted back into the conversation as a top-tier option for Windows users — but the story is more nuanced than a single headline. Recent reporting tied to a Consumer Reports roundup prompted renewed interest in Avira Free Security and Avira Antivirus Pro, and...

Microsoft is rolling out a coordinated refresh of the Secure Boot certificates that have anchored Windows boot security since 2011, and if you run Windows on older hardware you should treat this as a time‑sensitive maintenance event: new 2023 certificate authorities will be injected through...

Microsoft’s plan to make Windows “secure by default” hinges on two tightly coupled ideas: a default-deny runtime integrity posture called Windows Baseline Security Mode (BSM), and a system-wide User Transparency and Consent (UTC) model that surfaces mobile-style permission prompts and auditable...

IT administrators now have practical, fleet-scale ways to check whether Windows devices are carrying the updated Secure Boot certificate chain and whether they’re ready to accept the upcoming Secure Boot updates — a crucial capability as Microsoft and OEMs rotate the platform’s cryptographic...

CISA’s catalog has just expanded again, and this time the additions hit the Windows stack: six Microsoft vulnerabilities — spanning Windows Shell, MSHTML, Office Word, Desktop Window Manager, Remote Access Connection Manager, and Remote Desktop Services — were added to the Known Exploited...

Microsoft’s long-neglected desktop has, shockingly to some and unsurprisingly to others, begun to show signs of life: the company that many argued had turned Windows into a legacy cash cow amid an AI-and-cloud renaissance is now publicly re-prioritizing the platform, reorganizing leadership, and...