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OpenAI reported elevated errors and latency on ChatGPT Work, its enterprise AI agent, for about three hours on Monday, while Microsoft separately confirmed degraded functionality across Exchange Online. Downdetector logged over 1,100 reports for OpenAI products and nearly 4,600 for Microsoft Outlook around 2:24 p.m. ET, though the companies gave no indication the two incidents were related.
Microsoft confirmed a widespread outage of Exchange Online on Monday, causing Outlook users to experience delayed or failed emails, authentication errors, and search failures. The company traced the problem to an authentication component and began testing a fix on part of its infrastructure before a broader rollout. Downdetector logged over 5,000 user reports by 2 PM ET, with complaints also flooding social media.
Microsoft confirmed that its optional KB5120998 preview update, released August 27, is resetting or corrupting users' custom mouse cursor settings on Windows 11. Affected users report cursors becoming oversized, appearing as generic white icons, or vanishing entirely, with custom animations reverting to defaults. Microsoft acknowledged the bug on its known issues page but has not yet issued a fix.
Perplexity has extended its agentic AI feature, previously exclusive to Mac, to Windows 10 and 11 users on paid Pro, Max, or Enterprise plans. The tool can access local files, control native Windows applications, and connect to cloud services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox to complete multi-step tasks with minimal user input. A ZDNET reviewer tested it on five complex tasks to gauge its real-world usefulness.
OpenClaw released version 2026.8.1, branded as 2.0, marking its biggest update since launching last November. The overhaul began as a plan to simplify installation and rebuild the browser client but expanded into a full codebase rework, involving 933 contributors and over 16,000 merged pull requests.
Microsoft has identified a new ClickFix-style attack called TerminalFix that uses fake Cloudflare CAPTCHA pages on compromised websites to trick users into pasting and running malicious PowerShell commands in Windows Terminal. Rather than deploying simple infostealers, the campaign runs a multi-stage chain that hides payloads inside PNG images via steganography, establishes persistence through scheduled tasks and registry keys, and ultimately installs a custom Python-based reverse tunnel into the victim's internal network.
Microsoft confirmed it is investigating a major Exchange Online disruption, tracked internally as EX1464935, after a flood of user reports began around 5:30 PM UTC. Tens of thousands of users reported problems sending and receiving emails, logging into accounts, and managing mailboxes through Outlook and admin tools, according to Downdetector data.
Microsoft is rolling out a new button in Windows 11's full-screen backup prompt that lets users permanently dismiss repeated nudges to enable OneDrive backup through Windows Backup. Windows Latest spotted the option on two PCs running stable Windows 11 25H2 builds, even on machines without the OneDrive sync client installed. Microsoft says clicking it won't delete existing OneDrive files or change sync settings—it simply stops the recurring prompt.
Microsoft has acknowledged that its optional KB5120998 preview update, released August 27, 2026, is causing custom mouse cursor personalizations to revert to default settings on Windows 11. Affected users report high-DPI cursors being swapped for standard white ones and custom animations disappearing, with no way to restore prior settings. The company says it is investigating and is asking impacted users to submit reports through the Feedback Hub.
Microsoft confirmed a bug causing the Windows Security app to falsely display 'Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off' notifications after recent Defender updates, even though protection remains active. The issue, which has quietly affected Windows Insiders since June, now impacts all supported Windows client and server versions, including Windows 11 26H1 and Windows Server 2025. Microsoft says a fix is in development and will roll out in a future Defender update.
Microsoft does not send Xbox users a birthday gift directly, but it does award extra Microsoft Rewards points during a user's birthday week. Those points can be redeemed in the Xbox Rewards hub for items like gift cards, in-game currency for titles such as Sea of Thieves and Minecraft, or small charity donations, rather than for full games.
A leaked internal Microsoft spreadsheet revealed that one employee in the Customer and Partner Solutions unit racked up $28,000 in AI usage costs over a 28-day period, dwarfing the company-wide median of about $300. The disclosure came after Microsoft added an 'AI $ Usage Per Month' tracking column to its compensation data, exposing wide disparities in spending among roughly 350 employees who reported figures.