Software & Apps - Page 32

Whatever your preferred search engine, sometimes you run a query and don't get a great set of returns - so off to another engine you pop to spin the wheel of search again - but Microsoft Edge is taking a new approach when this scenario occurs.

As highlighted on X (formerly Twitter) by Mikhail Parakhin, who is head of Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, now when you search in Edge with Bing, you get Google results presented simultaneously in the browser's side panel.

Or vice versa, if you Google, you get Bing results, and the idea is you can glance across and easily see alternatives to what your primary search engine has dug up on any given search query.

We've only just heard a rumor that Microsoft was going to introduce Copilot Pro, a subscription version of the AI, and it's officially happened.

Copilot Pro will cost $20 per month and is aimed at individual users who want the best AI experience, or as Microsoft puts it:

What do you get for your money? As mentioned in the leak yesterday, one of the major selling points is access to the latest AI models, and with this initial incarnation of Copilot Pro, users will get the benefit of GPT-4 Turbo (for faster and more accurate responses to queries).

YouTube has been at war with ad blocker extensions since they came into popularity, and now the company behind the largest video platform in the world has moved to implement what is easily the most annoying change yet. Slowed video load times.

This isn't the first time YouTube has targeted popular ad-blocking software such as AdBlock Plus, uBlock Origin, or Ghostery, as it was back in November last year when the company annoyed millions of users around the world by disabling video-watching for select accounts. A recent video posted to Reddit indicates the company is now throttling video load times for accounts using ad-blocking software.

These suspicions were backed up by a report by 9to5Google, which stated there is "an artificial timeout written within YouTube's code to act as a laggy internet connection," and while this code has been within YouTube's software for quite some time, it appears it's being used to a much wider effect.

Microsoft could be planning a Copilot Pro subscription service if a fresh leak is anything to go by.

Currently, the Copilot AI is free, but that might change if some hidden code that Android Authority unearthed (via TechRadar) turns out to indicate the direction Microsoft is going to head in.

The code is for a 'Copilot Pro' in Edge which is paywalled and requires a subscription. The text provided says the paid version has the following benefits:

Microsoft has acknowledged a problem with the latest Windows 10 update and the company has said it's working on a fix.

As we reported last week, the issue lies with the KB5034441 security update - which is piped to Windows 10 PCs alongside the cumulative update for January 2024 - which fixes a flaw that potentially allows an attacker to bypass BitLocker encryption.

The long and short of it is that the odd error caused by KB5034441 - which consists of an unhelpful stop code - is apparently due to the recovery partition (WinRE) in Windows 10 not being large enough.

Microsoft might be experimenting with presenting Copilot straight away, as soon as Windows 11 boots - a controversial idea in testing, naturally - but another more useful change has been spotted in the latest preview build of the OS (23615).

This was flagged up on X (formerly Twitter) by well-known Microsoft leaker PhantomOfEarth, and it consists of the ability to drag and drop files onto the Copilot icon on the taskbar.

You can see how it works in the above tweet, but it's exactly as you'd expect - pick up a file, drag it over to the icon, and then the Copilot side panel opens, whereupon you can drop the file in and have the AI interact with it.

In a change that could prove controversial - who are we kidding, it will prove divisive, for sure - Microsoft is making it so that the Copilot side panel pops up right on your desktop when you boot the PC.

This behavior is only being tested right now, with some Windows Insiders in the Dev channel, coming packaged with Windows 11 preview build 23615.

So, only a small number of testers will get this (at least to begin with - there's going to be a wider rollout), and there is a way to turn it off (in Settings > Personalization > Copilot for those interested).

Windows 10's latest cumulative update is coming off the rails due to a security update that's installed alongside the Patch Tuesday upgrade for January.

Bleeping Computer reports that the KB5034441 security update is failing to install with an '0x80070643' error code for some Windows 10 users. That update patches up a security flaw, namely a BitLocker encryption bypass that could let an attacker access encrypted data (leveraged via the Windows Recovery Environment).

After KB5034441 failing and the PC rebooting, users are presented with a message informing them that there were problems with installing updates, and the OS would try again later.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's leak of the Cowriter AI functionality for Notepad in Windows 11, we've now got a glimpse of the full interface for this feature.

As flagged up by regular leaker Albacore on X (formerly Twitter), the UI is in place, and while it still feels like placeholders in terms of the implementation, the main options are shown and give us a good flavor of what to expect.

The Notepad user will be able to summon Cowriter and get the AI to rewrite chunks of text in much the same vein as previously seen with Copilot (formerly Bing Chat).

Intel has pushed out a new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth driver for Windows 11 (and 10) that fixes some nasty wireless-related issues.

The Intel PROSet Wi-Fi Software release version 23.20.0 (spotted by Neowin) fixes a particularly irritating bug which triggers a BSOD crash when heavy traffic is present on the network.

That gremlin is present in Windows 11 only, but the other bugs affect not just Microsoft's latest operating system, but Windows 10 as well.

Windows 11's Notepad, the venerable default app, is set to be infused with the power of AI in the near future.

Windows Central's Zac Bowden spotted that leaker PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter) did some digging and discovered that there are references to a 'Cowriter' feature for Notepad in Windows 11.

That includes files such as 'CoWriterCreditLimitDialog' along with 'CoWriterDropDownButton' and 'CoWriterInfoButton' plus more besides.

We've just seen another clue that the next version of Windows, due to arrive later this year, will be Windows 11 2024 Update, as opposed to a whole new version of the operating system that needs an entirely new name (like Windows 12).

This comes courtesy of HP spec sheets - unearthed by Windows Latest - for its new Spectre laptops in which the PC maker mentions that the next incarnation of Windows will be the Windows 11 2024 Update (and elsewhere it refers to Windows 11 24H2).

As you may recall, it was rumored for some time that Microsoft would bring out Windows 12 this year. However, in more recent times, we've been hearing consistent mentions of Windows 11 24H2, which seems to indicate that the software giant is opting for a more straightforward upgrade for its desktop OS this year.

Samsung has collaborated with Microsoft to bring a unique Copilot feature to its incoming Galaxy Book 4 laptop that'll benefit those who also own a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Over at CES 2024, Samsung announced that the Copilot AI will be able to find and read - or indeed summarize - text messages from your Samsung phone. On top of that, should you wish, you'll be able to get the AI to compose and send replies to those messages, all from the Windows 11 desktop.

As you might guess, this ability will require you to have your Galaxy phone linked to the Galaxy Book via the Microsoft Phone Link app (which brings all sorts of integration into the mix between the two devices).

Microsoft is bringing a new feature to its Copilot AI in Windows 11 that could prove a handy addition in terms of help for the average user.

It goes by the name of 'Add a screenshot' and we're told that this is now rolling out to Windows 11 users across the globe - but as ever, it's a phased process, so you may not see this for a while yet.

Windows Latest discovered the capability, which consists of the ability to take a screenshot of Windows 11 and get Copilot to explain the content of that grab (in the same vein as a standard image query).

NVIDIA is partnering with Twitch and OBS for something special for content creators and streamers: the ability to stream multiple encodes concurrently to give viewers the 'optimal viewing experience.'

GeForce RTX GPUs power the new Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting beta, which solves an issue with Twitch streaming: choosing between higher resolution or more reliable lower bandwidth streaming for older devices. Server-side transcoding is only available for the top-performing channels, with most streamers left with a single-stream solution. So, if someone doesn't have enough bandwidth to watch a 1080p or higher stream, they're out of luck.

With Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting (the beta coming later this month), using NVENC hardware in GeForce RTX and GTX GPUs, streamers can broadcast up to three resolutions simultaneously - up to 1080p. And that's just the first version; there's an update coming that will support up to 5 concurrent streams using the new and improved AV1 codecs for GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs, up to 4K.

Twitch has updated its attire policy once again, effectively putting an end to the viral topless streams and any other implied nudity on its site.

This change is in response to the rise of popular new topless streams, or "black bar" meta as they are also known, in which streamers would imply they are nude, but cover up any of the areas that would make them nude through the use of clever camera angles, framing, or just using black censor bars to cover their breasts or genitals. These streams were very controversial in the Twitch community and were tagged for "sexual themes," although they didn't actually breach Twitch's attire policy in which the site forbids streamers to display nudity.

As per the new policy set in place on Wednesday, streamers are no longer allowed to "Imply or suggest that they are fully or partially nude," Streamers are also not permitted to show visible outlines of genitals covered or not, with an additional prohibition on covering either breasts or genitals with objects or censor bars. Female streamers must have their nipples covered but are allowed to show cleavage as long as "it is clear that the streamer is wearing clothing."

If you've been following Windows 11 in terms of its battle with adoption, you'll have doubtless noticed that Microsoft's desktop operating system has very much struggled to recruit fresh users - and some new stats underline exactly how wonky progress has been in one major aspect.

We're talking about attracting upgrades from Windows 10 users, in the light of the latest monthly figures for December 2023 which have just been published by Statcounter.

Those stats show that Windows 11 has basically remained flat for its market share in terms of worldwide Windows versions (for the last three months, in fact).

Valve has announced that as of January 1, 2024, Steam no longer officially supports the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. This means that the Steam Client running on PC hardware with these outdated Microsoft operating systems will no longer receive updates, including those focusing on security.

As for the reasoning, this isn't a decision spearheaded by Valve, as Steam relies on an embedded version of Google Chrome, "which no longer functions on older versions of Windows." In addition, future Steam Client updates will require features and security updates that are only available in Windows 10 and higher.

On that note, Microsoft ended its security updates for Windows 7 in January 2020, and Windows 8.1 security updates ended in January 2023. "Computers running these operating systems, when connected to the internet, are susceptible to new malware and other exploits which will not be patched," Valve writes in the Steam Support update.

Researchers from a technology research firm have warned that Microsoft's announcement of Windows 10's scheduled end-of-life (EOL) may result in up to 240 million PCs becoming obsolete.

It was only earlier this month that Microsoft announced it was ending support for its most popular operating system, Windows 10. The company announced it will be severing support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, and its recent announcement is undoubtedly a push to move Windows 10 users over to Windows 11. Notably, Windows 10 remains the dominant Operating System with a massive 71.64% market share, according to data from StatCounter.

Now, technology firm Canalys has warned that when Microsoft moves to stop support for Windows 10 in 2025, it could result in up to 240 million PCs being sent to landfill sites due to Windows 11's strict hardware requirements. PCs that are unable to meet the Operating System's hardware requirements will become obsolete, which would create the equivalent of about 320,000 automobiles of e-waste.

Windows 11 got a pretty nifty feature this year in the form of Dynamic Lighting controls which provide a centralized hub to cater for all the devices with RGB lighting attached to your PC - and ASRock now supports this.

Naturally, a new feature is all well and good, but not much use until vendors support the functionality, so it's good to see a motherboard manufacturer come forward in this respect with Dynamic Lighting.

ASRock announced that its motherboards now support the Dynamic Lighting hub, which allows for all your (supported) RGB lighting to be synced via Windows - thus avoiding having to install multiple pieces of software to configure your lighting.