microsoft
Microsoft Excel KB5002914 update breaks copy and paste for some users
Microsoft Excel users report that this week’s KB5002914 Office security update is breaking copy-and-paste operations and formula dragging, with affected users saying that removing or rolling back the update restores normal functionality. Microsoft released the security update this week as part of its September 2026 Patch Tuesday, and reports of the problem soon appeared on both Reddit and […]
Microsoft fixes bug that wiped Windows desktop settings
Microsoft says the September 2026 Patch Tuesday updates fix a known issue causing desktop settings to be lost or reset on some Windows devices. The company confirmed last week, after a wave of user reports that their wallpaper switched to a black background automatically, that this bug is triggered after installing the KB5120998 August 2026 preview update on Windows 11 24H2 and Windows 11 25H2 […]
New Microsoft Defender ‘ShieldCrash’ zero-day grants SYSTEM access
An anonymous security researcher known as Nightmare Eclipse has released a new Microsoft Defender zero-day exploit named “ShieldCrash” right after Microsoft rolled out its September 2026 Patch Tuesday security updates. ShieldCrash is described as a bypass for the ShieldBreak Defender privilege escalation flaw patched on Thursday, which itself bypassed RoguePlanet, another Defender flaw disclosed in June and patched by Microsoft […]
Microsoft adds age-awareness APIs that can tell if users are children, teens, or adults
Microsoft is adding new age-awareness APIs to Windows 11 that will allow apps to determine whether someone is a child, teenager, or adult without exposing their exact date of birth. The new Windows Age API uses information associated with a Microsoft account and can return age ranges such as under 10, 10-12, 13-15, 16-17, and […]
Windows 11 cumulative updates KB5124008 & KB5122880 released
Microsoft has released Windows 11 KB5124008 and KB5122880 cumulative updates for versions 25H2/24H2 and 23H2 to fix security vulnerabilities, bugs, and add new features. Today’s updates are mandatory as they contain the September 2026 Patch Tuesday security patches for 1,000 vulnerabilities discovered in previous months. You can install today’s update by going to Start > Settings > Windows Update and clicking on ‘Check for Updates.’ You can also manually download […]
Microsoft releases Windows 10 KB5122878 extended security update
Microsoft has released the Windows 10 KB5122878 extended security update, which includes this month’s record-breaking September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes, along with a few bug fixes. If you are running Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC or are enrolled in the ESU program, you can install this update like normal by going into Settings, clicking on Windows Update, and manually […]
Microsoft September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 966 flaws, 2 zero-days
Today is Microsoft’s September 2026 Patch Tuesday, with security updates released for a record-breaking 966 flaws, including two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities. This Patch Tuesday addresses 105 “Critical” vulnerabilities, 81 of which are remote code execution, 20 are elevation of privileges, 2 are information disclosure, and 1 security feature bypass. The approximate number of bugs in […]
August updates trigger 0xc0000409 errors on Windows Server 2016
Microsoft says the August 2026 security update may trigger 0xc0000409 errors on Windows Server 2016 systems where the Compatibility Appraiser diagnostic service is enabled. On affected systems, users will see the CompatTelRunner.exe (Compatibility Appraiser Telemetry Runner) process crashing. Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser, which controls CompatTelRunner and is a Windows Compatibility Telemetry component, is a background system […]
Microsoft: Windows Server 2025 changes causing app crashes
Microsoft warned customers last week that they may experience application crashes on some Windows Server 2025 due to recent memory management changes. This known issue affects apps that use Address Windowing Extensions (AWE), a set of extensions that lets an application use more than 4GB of physical memory within a 32-bit virtual address space. “Applications running on […]
Attackers conceal phishing lures using invisible Unicode characters
Threat actors have adopted the ASCII smuggling technique in phishing campaigns, using invisible Unicode characters to evade email security filters. ASCII smuggling has been used in AI prompt injection attacks to conceal malicious instructions from users by encoding them with Unicode characters from the Tags block (U+E0000–U+E007F). Microsoft threat researchers discovered a large-scale phishing campaign using this […]