Software & Apps - Page 13

Miss the heady days of Windows Vista? Well, some people must, as the ancient operating system from Microsoft has been recreated in a modern take, as a theme for Windows 11.

To be precise, this is a DIY patchwork theme for the utility Windhawk that goes by the name of the 'Windows Vista 2025 Edition.'

Windows Central spotted this, and explains that the setup process is rather convoluted (not to mention that it comes with something of an oddity).

Microsoft has made the Copilot app available on macOS, so those curious to try out the AI on an Apple computer can now grab it from the Mac App Store.

It's not available to all those with a Mac, though, and there are some notable system and regional requirements to be aware of.

You'll need to be running macOS 14.0 or better, and Apple M-series silicon is also necessary to run the Copilot software (M1 or better, in other words).

Mozilla has released its Terms of Service for Firefox, which has sparked some outrage from users who noticed broad language such as, "When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information."

The official Terms of Service for the Firefox browser have been showcased along with an update to the Privacy Policy, in which Mozilla explains that prior to these updates, it has been using an open-source license paired with public promises, but beginning in March 2025, users will have to agree to the new and more specific license agreement to use the browser.

According to the updated terms, Firefox users will need to agree to give Mozilla a worldwide, royalty-free license to use all information uploaded or inputted into the Firefox browser, as Mozilla claims the data it will be gathering is critical to making Firefox a competitive and feature-rich browser. As you can probably imagine, the language used sparked immediate pushback from Firefox users, some of which noticed Mozilla removed previous statements in its terms of use, such as "Unlike other companies, we don't sell access to your data".

With the rise of digital media, ownership of games, books, and music has shifted dramatically from the days of physical copies. In a recent move, Amazon has removed the ability to download and transfer purchased books from the Kindle store, further restricting user control over their digital libraries.

As reported by The Verge, the change took effect on February 26. Previously, Kindle users could download purchased books as files for use on a PC or other devices. Following the update, users can still transfer files from their computer to a Kindle, but can no longer download fresh copies of purchased books directly from Amazon's store.

Amazon responded to the change, emphasizing that purchases will remain accessible through its ecosystem:

Apple has confirmed its voice-to-text feature does currently have a glitch that makes it write "Trump" when a user says the word "racist".

Apple has verified this bug is real, and it's currently working on a solution for the glitch that has been detected by some users who have shared video footage of it occurring on social media platforms. According to Apple, the glitch happens because the speech recognition models powering the feature can sometimes display words with phonetic overlap until further analysis from the model can be conducted and the correct word displayed. Apple says the bug has been suggesting "Trump" in replacement of several other words beginning with the "r" consonant.

Microsoft has subtly launched a new version of Microsoft Office for Windows users, but it has arrived in an intentionally gimped state.

The new version of Microsoft Office has been unsurprisingly paywalled by the Redmond-based company, with the suite of apps being based on their full counterparts, but access to the entirety of each app's features is locked behind a Microsoft 365 subscription. Additionally, advertisements are present on-screen at all times when a user is within each of the free apps, and this new free version of Office only allows files to be saved to Microsoft's OneDrive, which means users are unable to edit files locally stored on a device.

The list of limitations don't stop there, as the free Office apps don't come with support for add-ins, dictation, advanced formatting, designer, smartart, and many other features. Judging by what is available, Microsoft solely intends these free versions of the Office apps to be used in their most barebones state, with the lack of features being the enticing aspect of getting users to sign up for Microsoft 365.

Data conscious iOS users across the UK just lost the ability to add extra layers of security as Apple has revoked the option of Advanced Data Protection for iCloud users.

For those unfamiliar with Advanced Data Protection, the feature enables users to add end-to-end encryption for their iCloud data, making it extremely difficult for their iCloud data to be stolen, tampered with, or viewed. However, UK users of this feature won't be able to use it any longer as Apple has responded to the recent UK government orders that force companies such as Apple to add backdoors to its encrypted systems.

Instead of enabling the backdoors Apple has decided to remove the feature entirely for UK users, and for users that currently have it enabled Apple says they will have to disable it to regain access to their iCloud account. Notably, due to the nature of the end-to-end encryption system, Apple is unable to make the change remotely, so users will have to navigate to the Advanced Data Protection page within the settings and disable it manually.

Notepad has been around for more than 40 years, and throughout that time, Microsoft made simple software free, but that time has now come to an end, or at least if you want full access to Notepad.

The age of Notepad having a paywall has arrived, with the simple writing software now prompting users to sign into a Microsoft account to access new tools such as Rewrite, a new feature that uses artificial intelligence to rewrite highlighted text. Users attempting to use the new feature will be prompted with a Microsoft account sign-in page, and if the account doesn't have an active Microsoft 365 membership, the user will be required to sign up. This is the paywall.

It should be noted that you can still use Notepad without a Microsoft account, and users can go as far as removing the Rewrite icon completely from Notepad. Despite the ability to still use the software without an account, Microsoft has received some criticism for implementing what is most definitely a paywall/advertisement for a built-in piece of Windows software.

Microsoft has fixed a longstanding bug with OneDrive in Windows 11 where interacting with cloud-based files in a folder can be seriously laggy - albeit the fix is still in testing for now.

The cure for this annoying problem is contained in the latest preview version of Windows 11 to arrive in the Release Preview channel (build 22631.4969).

As noticed by Windows Report (via PC Gamer), this build resolves the bug with File Explorer which meant the right-click context menu opens "slowly" (that's Microsoft's description) when interacting with a file in OneDrive.

If you own an ASUS laptop and have been unable to install Windows 11 24H2 due to a block being put on the upgrade by Microsoft, you should be free to grab the update now.

Windows Latest spotted that there's a BIOS update available from ASUS for affected notebooks which resolves the issues that prevented the 24H2 upgrade from being applied.

The original problem was witnessed when 24H2 was first rolled out, back in October 2024, with ASUS laptops getting hit by blue screen crashes and installation failures.

AIDA64, the popular system diagnostic, monitoring, and benchmarking tool from FinalWire, has been updated to Version 7.60. This update brings improvements and support for new hardware, plus a few surprises. AIDA64 v7.60 finally removes support for the now-ancient Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me operating systems.

It's been a while since we've seen the words Windows Me. Released in the year 2000, the Millenium Edition of Windows was the follow-up to the popular Windows 98 and gained a reputation for being one of the most unstable versions of the operating system to date. Microsoft ended its PC support twenty years ago, so it's pretty admirable that AIDA64 has continued to keep the Windows Me lights on for as long as it has.

Back to AIDA64 v7.60, the latest update adds support for the latest GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs and the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT cards from AMD. Also. there's for the latest Ryzen CPU chipset for desktop PCs and B840, B850, and B860 motherboards.

Windows 10 is still the world's most popular operating system, and Microsoft plans to officially end support for the OS this October, which will result in hundreds of millions of machines around the world exponentially becoming more vulnerable to security issues.

Of those hundreds of millions of machines around the world, millions are Steam users, and according to Valve's latest Steam Hardware Survey, nearly 50% of users that opt into the survey are still using Windows 10. Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 will officially come to an end on October 14, 2025, which means the company will no longer provide free updates, technical assistance, or new security fixes. Since the announcement, the Redmond-based company has been on a marketing campaign to push as many Windows 10 users over to Windows 11.

However, the adoption rate of Windows 11 appears to be lackluster, and given the current adoption rate there will still be millions of machines on the old operating system by the time the deadline is reached. Steam appears no different in this regard, as the recent hardware survey reveals 96.55% of Steam users are on a Windows operating system, with Windows 11 accounting for 53.46%, and Windows 10 still holding 42.87% of users.

Reddit has just confirmed it will be rolling out a paywall later this year, according to Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman, who dropped the news during a recent Ask Me Anything (AMA).

Huffman has suggested previously that Reddit may look into introducing a paywall into the platform, and those who feared such news have now had their fears brought into reality, as Huffman has confirmed during the AMA that paid subreddits are on the horizon and are scheduled to release later this year. "It's a work in progress right now, so that one's coming. We're working on that as we speak," said the Reddit CEO. For those who don't know what that will entail, paid subreddits will require a fee to access their content, which is that aforementioned paywall.

At the moment, the specifics of how paid subreddits will work are up in the air, but we will presumably learn more about that closer to its rollout. Reddit introducing this new feature is part of the company's overarching plan to monetize the platform as much as it possibly can. It wasn't too long ago the platform signed licensing deals with both OpenAI and Google for access to its content. Around the same time, the company axed third-party apps from its API.

It wasn't too long ago we heard about the new Windows 11 debloat tool designed to gut the operating system of any unnecessary Microsoft clutter in just two clicks. That tool is now available to download.

Those who have experienced it know exactly what it feels like to do a fresh install of Windows 11 and have to spend a considerable amount of time uninstalling Microsoft's unnecessary programs that come baked in with Windows 11. In some instances - looking at you Edge and OneDrive - simply uninstalling the program can be quite difficult. What if you could do that all that and more in just two clicks? Well, a team of developers who were frustrated with the Windows 11 bloatware built a new tool called Talon, designed to streamline the removal process.

For those who are already thinking about security concerns for your machine, firstly, good thinking. Second, Talon has been made open source, and its entire code can be viewed here. I got into contact with the development team about Talon and asked a few general questions about the software and how it can benefit both the casual Windows users and also someone who is more technically inclined. While the questions/answers below provide some great information, I do advise watching the above video for a full breakdown of the tool by the developers themselves.

We are, of course, very much used to Microsoft pushing folks to upgrade to Windows 11, but for certain users, some fresh advice from the company is the exact opposite - albeit there's a good reason for this.

The advice to downgrade to Windows 10 is being given (via a support document) to people who are running Windows 11 on an unsupported PC (that doesn't meet the hardware requirements of the OS).

The document in question is entitled 'Ways to install Windows 11' and is all about just that, but it previously contained some advice on implementing an installation on a PC that didn't meet the necessary system specs.

Google and Apple have officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, following an executive order signed by President Trump.

Following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, tech companies in control of maps have begun changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, with Google announcing at the end of last month that it would adhere to the executive order and will apply the name change when official government sources have been updated.

Government resources have now been updated, and Google has rolled out the respective changes, with the company confirming in an update that anyone connecting to Google Maps from the US will see "Gulf of America," while the rest of the world will still see "Gulf of Mexico," but with "Gulf of America" in brackets.

There are only a few truly infinite things: the size of the universe, Elon Musk's inability to handle criticism, the number of times Bethesda has released or remastered The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and the length of WinRAR's "40-Day Trial." The popular and decades-old compression software is renowned for being that app you never have to pay for, even though it says that you do.

This is part of WinRAR's business model, which allows users to continue using it indefinitely - even after the 40-day trial period ends. Although some users and businesses pay for WinRAR, not paying for it has become a meme that the company has fully embraced.

Case in point, one of the company's recent social media posts highlights an officially licensed WinRAR bag that you can purchase. It is fashioned in the style of the iconic books, wrapped in a leather belt with the WinRAR logo and app icon.

If you are an avid user of Siri, you have undoubtedly experienced substantial frustration at the digital assistant completely fumbling a request. But that is about to all change.

According to Bloomberg reporter and Apple insider Mark Gurman, Siri is about to have her IQ massively increased in an upcoming iOS update. According to Gurman, who has long been entrenched in the happenings at the Cupertino company, Apple developers have shifted their focus to iOS 18.4, which is slated to "finally include changes to the Siri digital assistant that were originally announced at WWDC in June 2024. So, what will these improvements include? Siri is about to get a whole lot smarter.

Gurman writes the new major update will enable Siri to "tap into personal data to fulfill queries," but it won't be at the same level of sophistication as an AI assistant. The Bloomberg reporter says Apple is still very far behind in terms of turning Siri into a fully fledged AI-powered assistant (besides the integration of ChatGPT) and that iOS 18.4 won't be the update that brings Siri up to that level. The iOS 18.4 update is expected to hit beta in the coming days or sometime between the middle of this week and next week.

Much of the digital environment is centered around optimizing for attention, from the Gattaca-style design of social media apps to the engagement-optimized matchmaking in online games. Opera's newest browser release, Opera Air, aims to remedy this struggle by offering a browsing experience designed around mindfulness.

Introduced as "the world's first mindfulness-based browser," Opera Air comes equipped with a range of unique, digital-wellness-based features. Visually, the UI has a friendly, tranquil feel, with bubbly, rounded address bars and transparent backgrounds covering the entire browser. On the left-most toolbar, you'll find a suite of browser-specific tools, including boosts, which 'simulate different brain waves through music and sound to boost creativity.' The 'take a break' button contains a range of breathing, neck exercises, meditations, and full body scans.

While these features might sound unusual or tacked on for a web browser, they feel very well refined and integrated with the experience. For users who work with hour-long focus music playlists on YouTube, you'll quickly embrace the audio options available in Boosts. The stretching-focused 'take-a-break' exercises are accessible, with voice guides and a 3D model you can follow along with. You can also set break reminders, which are built into your browser.

GPU-Z 2.62.0 is here, bringing support for NVIDIA's just-released GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 graphics cards, you can download GPU-Z 2.62.0 right here.

The previous version of GPU-Z wasn't displaying Hot Spot temperatures correctly, with temps stuck at 255 (an unassigned 8-bit integer value). But in the latest release, TechPowerUp has confirmed with VideoCardz that in GPU-Z 2.62.0, it will no longer show information for the Hot Spot temperatures once the 255 value is detected.

In his review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition, our GPU reviewer Kosta explained: "The transition has begun, but the GeForce RTX 5090 solidifies a shift to Neural Rendering for performance and image fidelity. The raw performance capabilities of a gaming GPU will always be vital because you can't have one without the other - but after spending an entire week with the GeForce RTX 5090, it's safe to say that DLSS 4 is not only a selling point but a set of AI models and features that improve PC gaming as a whole".