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Digital Disruptions Cause Major Supply Chain and Economic Losses

A 2024 cybersecurity incident involving CrowdStrike software led to a global IT outage, disrupting flights, hospitals, and payment systems, and resulting in $5.4 billion in losses for top US firms. Additionally, a 2025 blackout in Spain and Portugal halted internet and electronic payments, costing €1.6 billion. These events highlight how digital failures can have widespread economic impacts without physical damage.

Microsoft's 'Copilot+ PC' label fades from new Surface and OEM devices

Windows Central reports that Microsoft and its hardware partners have quietly stopped using the 'Copilot+ PC' branding introduced in 2024. None of the Surface PCs launched in 2026 carry the moniker in their names, unlike earlier models, and Nvidia's upcoming RTX Spark platform—despite meeting the spec requirements—also avoids the label. The underlying technical requirements for Copilot+ PC hardware still exist, but the marketing name is increasingly absent from spec sheets and product listings.

Microsoft to deprecate Windows Deployment Services in next Server release

Microsoft announced it will deprecate the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) role, including its management tools, PXE boot functionality and related services, starting with the next Windows Server release. The company will stop active development after deprecation and eventually retire and remove WDS, though it remains supported on Windows Server 2025 and earlier per their existing lifecycles.

Microsoft issues emergency fix for buggy Windows 11 25H2 update

Microsoft released an out-of-band patch to address problems introduced by its September 2026 Windows 11 update, which had shipped with new taskbar and Start menu customization features alongside nearly 1,000 security fixes. The rollout caused crashes on AMD Radeon GPUs, audio input/output failures, Remote Desktop instability, and Explorer black-screen issues after login. The emergency update addresses several of these regressions, though the AMD GPU crashes were not explicitly called out as fixed.

Microsoft ships out-of-band patches fixing RDS crashes from September updates

Microsoft has pushed emergency out-of-band updates for Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server to resolve Remote Desktop Services instability caused by its September 2026 security patches. The bug had triggered RDP sign-in failures, unresponsive servers, and related issues in MMC, File Explorer, and the Windows Update page. Separate fixes for the update also address Hyper-V and USB audio problems reported on some Windows versions.

Microsoft's September Windows updates break Remote Desktop, USB audio, and Excel paste

Microsoft has acknowledged that its September security patches are causing Remote Desktop Services to fail across several Windows versions, silencing certain USB Audio Class 1.0 devices, and disrupting the paste function in Excel. Affected users report frozen management tools, unresponsive Windows Update pages, and audio glitches that can sometimes be worked around by switching to two-channel sound.

Microsoft confirms September patches break Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server

Microsoft has verified that its September 2026 security updates are causing Remote Desktop Services failures across Windows Server 2012 and later, plus Windows 10 and 11. Affected systems show RDP connections dropping after a few minutes, sign-in errors, servers stuck loading the Remote Desktop Configuration screen, and related tools like MMC and File Explorer becoming unresponsive.

Microsoft confirms September 2026 updates break some USB audio on Windows 11 24H2

Microsoft has acknowledged that the KB5124008 and KB5124012 security updates released on September 8, 2026 can cause USB Audio Class 1.0 devices to stop working on Windows 11 24H2 and later systems. Affected users report Code 10 errors in Device Manager, silent audio output, and frozen volume controls, with some speakers only failing when multichannel modes like 3D or 8-channel audio are used. No official fix exists yet, though switching to 2-channel mode has helped some users regain sound.

Microsoft: Retiring VBScript will break Slmgr.vbs Windows activation tool

Microsoft is telling enterprises to migrate away from Slmgr.vbs, the VBScript-based tool used to manage Windows product activation, because VBScript itself is being phased out of Windows. The company recommends switching to PowerShell equivalents before VBScript is removed entirely in a future Windows release.

Microsoft adds Cloud Rebuild recovery tool to Windows 11 Insider Beta

Microsoft is testing a new Windows 11 recovery feature called Cloud Rebuild in Insider Beta Preview Build 26220.9343. It reinstalls Windows directly from Windows Update even when the existing installation is corrupted or won't boot, eliminating the need for a USB recovery drive. The tool is accessed through the Windows Recovery Environment, which can now also reuse saved Wi-Fi credentials to connect during recovery.

Microsoft patches KB5120998 bug that reset Windows 11 mouse settings

Microsoft has fixed a bug introduced by the optional KB5120998 preview update that caused mouse cursor personalization settings to revert to defaults on some Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 devices, particularly non-English installations. The company says the September 8 KB5124008 cumulative update resolves the issue and is urging affected users to install it, noting that uninstalling the buggy update did not restore settings.

Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday update fixes black-wallpaper bug on Windows 11

Microsoft has resolved a bug that made desktop wallpapers turn solid black and reset mouse settings on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 devices. The issue stemmed from the KB5120998 preview update released in August 2026, and Microsoft says installing the KB5124008 update from September 8 fixes it.