Software & Apps

Microsoft has confirmed that there's a bug in Outlook for Microsoft 365 - the classic version of the email app, that is - and it's an odd one that can ramp up the workload on your CPU.

Yes, for some business users, just typing an email message in classic Outlook can cause their processor fan to suddenly kick up a notch and spin faster to cope with a 30% to 50% usage spike, as Microsoft describes it.

Commonly users report around the lower end of that spike, but still, it's pretty alarming to have this happening when just typing some letters on your keyboard.

If you've ever put off a Windows 11 update because you weren't sure if you had the time to run through the full process before, say, you had to leave the house, then you might be interested to learn about a new feature Microsoft is working on.

This falls neatly into the category of 'simple but useful' in terms of feature additions. Windows Latest caught sight of it in the most recent preview of Windows 11, buried later in the blog post for build 26100.3902 in the Release Preview channel.

The change for Windows Update is simply that it "provides an estimated time for how long your PC will be offline to install updates."

AIDA64 is a popular PC diagnostic, monitoring, and benchmark tool. It's one of those solid apps that has been around for several years. The latest update, AIDA64 v7.65, brings several additions to the app, including support for the nVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti. AIDA64 has existed for so long that it still spells NVIDIA as "nVIDIA."

It's no secret that the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is coming very soon; months of leaks, rumors, and listings point to a mid-April launch, with NVIDIA set to launch GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB models. The only thing is that with all of the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti chatter, including AIDA64 developer FinalWire confirming the existence of the GPU in its latest patch notes, NVIDIA has yet to announce or even tease the RTX 5060 Series formally.

AIDA64 v7.65 also supports the new AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE while improving support for Intel Panther Lake CPUs and Zhaoxin KX-6000G and KX-7000 Series processors. And if you're in Greece, AIDA64 has finally added Greek localization. Here's the list of new features as part of the update.

You probably didn't miss the recent fuss about Microsoft cutting off a workaround to enable a Windows 11 installation to be carried out with a local account, rather than being tied to a Microsoft account - but it turns out that when one door closes, another two open.

To recap on this, the door being closed was the so-called 'bypassnro' method (used in the command prompt during Windows 11 setup), although there remains a way to do this via the Registry still (although that's clunkier, and surely likely to be stripped out soon enough, anyway).

WitherOrNot subsequently highlighted a better workaround on X, and on top of that, Neowin noticed that there's now yet another way to fudge a local install of Windows 11 - check out the post above from XPower7125 on X.

Microsoft has made its PC gaming handheld and Xbox on Windows 11 plans pretty straightforward in that its goal is to offer a seamless experience like booting up an Xbox console. In recent days and weeks, rumors of this initiative getting a release have been ramping up with word that Microsoft is partnering with ASUS to launch a new version of the ROG Ally to sport this updated version of Windows 11 designed for PC gaming.

Thanks to some sleuthing from Xeno Panther on BlueSky, we now have our first confirmation that PC gamers will be able to boot up Windows 11 into a full-screen Xbox and PC gaming interface that they can navigate with a controller.

The language pack for an in-development build of Windows 11 under Gaming contained references to "Boot into the Full screen experience at device startup" and "Choose your Full screen experience," which means Windows 11-based PC gaming handhelds are about to get a Steam Deck-like upgrade that is less clunky and desktop-free.

Windows 11 has seen a sizeable growth in its adoption, although that's hardly surprising given that Windows 10's end of life is now only half a year away.

Clearly, that prospect is getting folks thinking about migrating, and according to Statcounter, which publishes monthly statistics pertaining to the usage of different Windows versions, Windows 11 is up by 4.53% in March 2025. This means the newer OS is now on 42.66% and is finally closing the gap with Windows 10.

That said, Windows 10 is still on 54.23%, with more than a 10% lead, but it lost 4.43% this past month, and that kind of erosion is likely to continue apace as 2025 rolls on.

The Blue Screen of Death, or BSOD, has been a part of Windows since Windows 3.0 launched in 1990. The latest version has been around for a few Windows versions, where errors necessitating a complete system restart display a sad smiley face with a QR code and some information on what happened.

As part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3653, Microsoft is "previewing a new, more streamlined UI for unexpected restarts which better aligns with Windows 11 design principles." For Windows Insiders, this new screen is green, drops the sad smiley face and QR code, and presents a simple "Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart" message alongside information on the error at the bottom of the screen.

Green is a more neutral and positive color than blue, so maybe the idea is, "Hey, it's okay; we just need to reboot." However, a new report at Windows Latest says that once the Blue Screen of Death disappears, it will be replaced by a Black Screen of Death.

CrystalMark Retro 2.0, from Crystal Dew World, is a free benchmarking tool that has just been updated to support Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me systems. It took a year of development to extend the tool to cover retro hardware older than Windows XP.

"I decided that Windows 95/NT 4.0 compatibility was necessary to call ourselves a true retro benchmark," Hiyohiyo, the President and CEO of CrystalMark Inc., wrote in the release notes. "It really took a whole year." In addition to supporting ancient beige machines rocking Windows 95, users can post their benchmark results and compare them against modern machines at https://crystalmarkdb.com/retro.

CrystalMark Retro is a complete benchmark suite that measures CPU, storage, 2D graphics, and 3D graphics (OpenGL) performance. It's compatible with VMware, so you can see how Windows 95 runs on a system with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995X 64-Core CPU - per the screenshot above.

Microsoft is working on a new feature for Windows 11 called 'Quick Machine Recovery' which is designed to help companies (or individuals) quickly recover from serious problems with their PCs.

Bleeping Computer spotted the revelation of this tool as one of the elements of Microsoft's Windows Resiliency Initiative, which just as the name suggests aims to make the desktop operating system more bulletproof from gremlins that can cause serious havoc with Windows 11 systems.

The Quick Machine Recovery facility is currently in testing for Windows 11 in the Beta channel (see some screenshots from a well-known Windows Insider, XenoPanther, above), and can be accessed via the Startup menu. (It's in the Advanced Options page, and is labeled as replacing the Startup Repair functionality).

The debut of Windows 11 22H2 introduced the requirement of a Microsoft account for both Windows 11 Home and Pro versions, but users who were particularly annoyed at this requirement and technically inclined enough, discovered a workaround that bypassed the dreaded Microsoft Account.

What is considered to be one of the most popular workarounds is "bypassro," which is a command line prompt that's entered during the setup process that circumvents the requirement of an internet connection to continue the setup process and a Microsoft Account. Unfortunately, this workaround is now being removed by Microsoft, as confirmed in the latest Windows 11 preview build, with Microsoft's reasoning being to "ensure that all users exit setup with internet connectivity and a Microsoft Account."

As you can probably imagine, this change will be quite annoying for any Windows 11 user who doesn't want a Microsoft Account or an internet connection during setup, but this doesn't mean it's impossible to bypass the requirements. Notably, "bypassro" can be manually re-added in a command line by typing the following, "reg add HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionOOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f shutdown /r /t 0".