Software & Apps - Page 11

If you're one of those people who's lamenting the loss of a super-streamlined text editor in Windows 11 - now Microsoft has binned WordPad, and turned Notepad into more of an approximation of that dead and buried app - there's an official alternative on the radar.

Microsoft has a new app in the pipeline simply called 'Edit' as Windows Latest highlighted, and we're told it will be inbound for Windows 11 soon enough.

This is a completely stripped-back text editor with only basic functionality that can be accessed via the command prompt (or PowerShell). Microsoft notes that the app "pays homage to the classic MS-DOS Editor, but with a modern interface and input controls similar to VS Code."

Windows 11 is suddenly going backwards with its market share according to the latest figures for desktop operating systems from one analytics firm.

Statcounter just produced its report for May 2025 (hat tip to Neowin) which shows that Windows 11 has dropped to 43.22%, after hitting 43.72% in April, representing a slide of 0.5%. On the other hand, Windows 10 has gained 0.25% to move up to 53.19%, so it's almost back to 10% ahead of Microsoft's newest OS.

Should Microsoft be concerned here? We'll come back to that shortly, but obviously we have to take any individual set of figures with some seasoning, and differences in the sample of Windows PCs the stats are drawn from may come into play here too. However, there's no doubting that it's surprising to see Windows 11 dropping in this way.

Official Xbox social media accounts have been hacked by an unknown individual or group that has posted what appears to be a fraudulent cryptocurrency scam.

The post to the official Xbox Instagram account stated that "Xbox enters the blockchain," adding Microsoft's gaming brand is "proud to announce the launch of our official token." The post on the Xbox Instagram feed was removed approximately 10 minutes after it was made public, and also appeared on Xbox's Instagram Story.

The caption in the post included a link to what can now only be considered a shady website disguised as an official Xbox link. While we won't be posting the link here, you can see it in the above screenshot, courtesy of The Verge's Tom Warren.

Google just issued a statement that confirms the suspicions of Android smartphone owners who've been complaining about Instagram draining their battery way more than it should - and also let us know that a fix has been deployed.

In the past couple of weeks, we've witnessed a raft of complaints that Instagram is not just torpedoing battery life, but also causing phones to get uncomfortably hot, too.

In a post on the Android help forum that Android Authority flagged up, a Google community manager acknowledged the problem, and said Instagram has updated its Android app so the battery drain bug 'should' be fixed.

Apple is planning to reduce consumer confusion with a sweeping change to its operating system naming, with the company planning a rebranding of its OS's that is tied to a coming redesign.

According to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is planning on making a widespread overhaul of its branding for its operating systems, with the company planning on changing its naming scheme to align with the years.

For example, if the change was made this year, it would mean the current iOS 18 would be swapped to iOS 2026. As you can probably imagine, Apple's other operating systems would also follow this same name change: iPadOS 18.5 to iPadOS 26, macOS 15 to macOS 26, watchOS 12 to watchOS 26, and visionOS 2 to visionOS 26.

It probably didn't escape your attention that Microsoft has made a big deal out of how Windows 11 is a much tougher nut to crack than its predecessor in terms of security, and now the company is bolstering those defenses in an improbable sounding way.

This is the announcement that Windows 11 will benefit from new countermeasures designed to fend off the threat of quantum computers.

And yes, you're quite correct, those are machines which don't actually exist yet - at least not in any real form which is better than a traditional computer. What we have now in the way of quantum computers do work, but they're limited.

Windows 11's latest update for May is causing trouble, and we're witnessing bugs with File Explorer and installation failures (not for the first time in either case, it's worth noting).

This is the cumulative update for May (which is known as patch KB5058411) and Windows Latest highlighted these problems with the patch which was delivered last week. As ever, it takes time for issues to filter through and be reported.

There are some bugs with File Explorer, and while they don't appear to be anything like widespread, they're frustrating glitches. One report via Microsoft's Feedback Hub explains that the mouse and keyboard - one or the other, or indeed both in some cases - can fail to work in File Explorer, and some interface buttons can become unresponsive.

Microsoft has made it free for developers to get their wares onto the Microsoft Store in Windows 11 or Windows 10.

Previously, a software or game developer would have to pay a small fee to secure a spot in the Microsoft Store. That one-off payment of $19 has now been dropped, however, and it won't cost a cent to get an app on the store.

Microsoft announced this at Build 2025, noting that it is the first major digital store to make such a move. Windows Central, which flagged up this development, pointed out that Google charges $25 to get an app onto the Play Store.

Adding another layer of interactivity to Spotify's AI DJ, users can now utilize voice features to request the music of your choice.

As detailed in a recent blog post, the latest update allows you to talk to Spotify's DJ X. A button appearing in the bottom right of the Spotify DJ window lets you hold to make a request, from which users can "tell DJ X what kind of music you want to hear". From there, he'll curate a personalized set.

Spotify's AI DJ was first introduced in 2023. It features a fully voiced DJ host who recommends songs based on your listening preferences. While not a groundbreaker, the DJ was a fun way to personalize your listening experience, providing fully voiced and personalized recommendations based on your listening habits.

As Windows 10's End of Life comes closer and closer, Microsoft is again advancing arguments about how much better Windows 11 is - specifically on Copilot+ PCs.

In a new post on the Surface IT Pro Blog (highlighted by Windows Latest), it's not surprising to find that Microsoft is pushing its own Surface Copilot+ PCs. And to be fair to the company, it's not unreasonable to do so - they are good-quality devices, after all.

As it's an IT blog, the focus is on businesses, and Microsoft notes: "Surface devices are engineered for focused productivity, helping businesses accelerate results. Workflows run up to 50% faster on average compared to older devices. Whether creating content, reviewing documents, or analyzing data, Surface provides the performance to stay productive and competitive."

Microsoft is looking to shave the load times for Word by implementing a preload feature that should increase performance.

Microsoft wrote in a new Message Center note to IT admins that in a coming update, it will be introducing a new Startup Boost task from the Microsoft Office installer. Here's how it will work. Preloading on a PC can be a very useful technique for making applications, images, or various files run or at least appear to run faster. An example of this would be loading web content, such as images or videos, when they aren't needed.

These images, videos, or files are being loaded in the background, and when the user goes to access them, the loading process is already completed, giving the user the illusion that the files presented themselves extremely quickly. The Windows creator plans on rolling out the same feature for Word, and according to Microsoft, the new feature should be arriving sometime in May. Notably, when enabled, the system will perform the task shortly after the system is booted up, and after the process is completed, the app will remain in a paused state until the user launches it.

In the latest push towards a password-free Windows, Microsoft has implemented a new initiative that prompts new users to set up their accounts with passkeys, push notifications, and security keys over traditional methods.

The recent update, launched alongside Microsoft's new sign-in window, changes the behavior for new accounts to be "passwordless by default." The sign-in screen has also been adjusted to smoothly facilitate passwordless logins.

Windows has supported alternative login methods for years, but the recent move signals Microsoft's intent to prioritize simplified UX and to reduce friction in the sign-up process.

Your PC crashing is not something you look forward to, but this experience will soon change in Windows 11 - arguably for the better, or maybe for the worse - as Microsoft is testing a new BSOD.

The Blue Screen of Death is a more than familiar sight - though it's considerably rarer since Windows 10 rolled around a decade ago - but Microsoft is changing how it's implemented, albeit just in testing for now.

In the new Windows 11 preview that just debuted in the Canary channel (build 27842), Microsoft informs us that the idea is to bring in a more streamlined UI for what it calls unexpected restarts. (It's a line we've heard so many times before: 'Oh gosh, my PC has unexpectedly restarted, what a frightful bore.')

Microsoft is once again banging the drum to encourage folks to upgrade to Windows 11, and has outlined the security benefits of doing so in a new blog post.

Neowin noticed the recently published article in the Windows Learning Center, which has seen a fair few additions of late in terms of cajoling Windows 10 users to make the leap to Windows 11.

It's entitled 'What is Trusted Platform Module in Windows 11?' and as you'd expect, the post explains not just that, but the benefits of TPM 2.0, which is part of the compulsory system requirements for Windows 11.

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.