John Lister

Reports that Microsoft is already working on Windows 12 appear to be little more than a joke that got out of hand. The reports trace back to a Twitter post by a security blogger. Check out Google News or other aggregation sites and you'll find a ... wide range of tech websites of varying credibility running headlines about Windows 12 being in development now, soon or "next month." Many of them reference a post from German site Deskmodder, which gives the March date and says Microsoft is recruiting staff. It gives some extra detail, though it doesn't make a lot of sense through automated ... (view more)

Microsoft is testing another new way to nag users running Windows 11 on unsupported devices. It's another development in the company's dilemma over user upgrades. As we've previously covered, the upgrade requirements for Windows 11 have proven a ... sore point for many users. Many relatively recent machines that run Windows 10 fine don't make the cut, even though the changes in Windows 11 are largely about the user interface. Related: Some Windows 11 Users Must 'Sign' Disclaimer MS Gives More Detail On Windows 11 Compatibility Trusted Platform Module Required for Windows 11 In particular, many ... (view more)

Major browser developers are preparing to mitigate a quirky bug that could make some websites unavailable. It's a low key version of the Y2K/Millennium Bug problems of 1999. By something of a coincidence, Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and ... Microsoft's Edge browsers will all be hitting version 100 in the coming months. While it's good to know they've continued to improve the browsers and fix bugs, that milestone brings its own problems. Many websites include code to check the version number of the visitor's browser. They will then block the site from opening on older browsers which won't ... (view more)

A new form of computer memory could cut costs and storage space. "UltraRAM" would combine storage and memory on a single unit. Historically computers have always had to use separate units for memory (which is only needed temporarily) and file ... storage (which needs to be available until intentionally deleted or altered). As a rough analogy, file storage is like a filing cabinet, while memory is more like an in-tray, holding information to hand for quick access during the current task. Today many machines use flash memory for both RAM (the main memory on a PC) and solid state drives (a quicker ... (view more)

Nearly three in every four dollars paid to ransomware scammers goes to Russian-affiliated groups according to new research. The authors also accuse Russia of turning a blind eye to large-scale money laundering. The figures come from Chainalysis, ... which tracks crime involving cryptocurrencies. These are "virtual" currencies such as Bitcoin where all transactions are tracked on a public "ledger". The way cryptocurrencies work means its relatively straightforward to track the amount of money a particular user has spent or received. However, it's often difficult to prove who a particular user is. ... (view more)

Security experts have reminded users to take extra care when sourcing installation files for Windows 11. A look-alike "Microsoft" site was actually distributing some nasty malware. Normally such scams tend to mainly work on people who are either ... trying to get round paying for software or are trying to get early access without going through official test programs. That's not quite the case with Windows 11 where people running "incompatible" machines can still upgrade to the system by downloading official files and creating a USB installation. However, when some people came looking for Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft is testing a warning message for users running Windows 11 on unsupported machines. It's the first time such a warning has appeared after an upgrade rather than before. The situation with upgrades to Windows 11 has been complicated to say ... the least. Microsoft originally annoyed many users by insisting the upgrade was only available for machines with certain specifications and features. Some of these, such as a hardware component called a Trusted Protection Module (TPM v2.0), aren't on even some recently-manufactured PCs. Microsoft later clarified that "incompatible" machines can be ... (view more)

Microsoft is making it harder for scammers to distribute ransomware and other malware through Office documents. However, the tighter block on visual basic macros running by default may frustrate some users. A macro is a way of reducing a series of ... instructions to a single instruction, while VBA (visual basic language) is a way of handling macros in Microsoft programs. It's often used for frequently performed tasks. To give a hypothetical example, a user could create a macro in a spreadsheet that means pressing a couple of keys together which tells the computer to check two columns for any ... (view more)

Microsoft will forcibly upgrade some Windows 10 computers, even where automatic updates are switched off. The upgrade is between Windows 10 editions rather than to Windows 11. The move is designed to reduce the number of machines running unsupported ... editions of Windows 10 , something that could increase security risks as well as mean more people experiencing performance problems. In simple terms, Windows 10 gets two major updates each year and Microsoft usually supports the three most recent. Put another way, the longest users can go at a time without getting the latest update but still ... (view more)

Microsoft has warned users may need to leave computers on overnight to be sure of getting all security updates. It raises questions about how efficiently the update process works. The warning comes in a company blog aimed at IT professionals, though ... the findings also apply to the general public. Whether to leave devices running is a particular issue in offices where it would make sense from a power use perspective to get staff to shut down their machines at the end of the working day, particularly if it's only used for around eight hours a day. Microsoft says it's been investigating what may ... (view more)