microsoft
Windows 11 24H2 preview brings new taskbar features
Windows 11 taskbar is testing a new feature that helps you understand the current power state of your laptop’s battery, including showing the battery percentage directly on the taskbar. Microsoft is testing the feature in Windows 11 24H2 Build 26120.3000, which is rolling out in the Dev Channel. As shown in the screenshot above, the battery icon […]
Microsoft Teams phishing attack alerts coming to everyone next month
Microsoft reminded Microsoft 365 admins that its new brand impersonation protection feature for Teams Chat will be available for all customers by mid-February 2025. Once enabled, it will display alerts when detecting phishing attacks targeting organizations that have enabled external Teams access (which allows threat actors to message any user from external domains). The company […]
Microsoft to deprecate WSUS driver synchronization in 90 days
Microsoft has reminded Windows administrators that driver synchronization in Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) will be deprecated on April 18, 90 days from now. The company first announced the deprecation in June 2024, when it also encouraged customers to adopt its newer cloud-based driver services. “If you’re using driver synchronization updates via Windows Server Update Services […]
Microsoft: Outdated Exchange servers fail to auto-mitigate security bugs
Microsoft says outdated Exchange servers cannot receive new emergency mitigation definitions because an Office Configuration Service certificate type is being deprecated. Emergency mitigations (also known as EEMS mitigations) are delivered via the Exchange Emergency Mitigation Service(EEMS), introduced three years ago in September 2021. EEMS automatically applies interim mitigations for high-risk (and likely actively exploited) security flaws […]
Microsoft: Exchange 2016 and 2019 reach end of support in October
Microsoft has reminded admins that Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019 will reach the end of extended support in October and shared guidance for those who need to decommission outdated servers. Exchange 2016 reached its mainstream end date in October 2020, while Exchange 2019 reached the end of mainstream support on January 9, 2024. “On October 14, 2025, 9 months […]
Microsoft fixes Windows Server 2022 bug breaking device boot
Microsoft has fixed a bug that was causing some Windows Server 2022 systems with two or more NUMA nodes to fail to start up. NUMA (short for non-uniform memory access) is a computer memory architecture in which multiple processors are connected to the same shared memory pool via high-speed interconnections to control performance bottlenecks. This design […]
Microsoft shares temp fix for Outlook crashing when writing emails
Microsoft has shared a temporary fix for a known issue that causes classic Outlook to crash when writing, replying to, or forwarding an email. These problems appear after updating Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2021, Outlook 2019, or Outlook 2016 to Version 2412 (Build 18324.20168), released on January 7, and will trigger “0xc0000005” exception codes. “You […]
Microsoft removes Assassin’s Creed Windows 11 upgrade blocks
Earlier this week, Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Assassin’s Creed Origins patches to fix Windows 11 24H2 compatibility issues that caused crashes, freezes, and audio problems. In late November, Microsoft blocked Windows 24H2 upgrades on PCs with Assassin’s Creed, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, following a stream of user complaints on Reddit [1, 2] […]
Microsoft starts force upgrading Windows 11 22H2, 23H3 devices
Microsoft has started the forced rollout of Windows 11 24H2 to eligible, non-managed systems running the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2. According to the company’s Lifecycle Policy site, Windows 11 23H2 will reach the end of support in October 2025, while Windows 11 22H2 Home and Pro have already reached it in October 2024. “We have reached a new […]
Microsoft expands testing of Windows 11 admin protection feature
Microsoft has expanded its Windows 11 administrator protection tests, allowing Insiders to enable the security feature from the Windows Security settings. First introduced in October in a preview build for Windows 11 Insiders in the Canary Channel, admin protection uses a hidden, just-in-time elevation mechanism and Windows Hello authentication prompts that only unlock admin rights when needed […]