Security firm Netskope found Google ads pushing a browser-locking scam across hundreds of legitimate websites, including maps, weather and sports sites, from August 31 to September 14. The fake alerts freeze the screen, hide the cursor and disable exit keys to pressure victims into calling a bogus support number, where scammers demand fees, remote access or personal data; Netskope says it blocked the attempts for the 619 client organizations it monitored, over 60 percent of them in the US.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-25
Microsoft's newly announced Surface Pro (2nd Edition) and Surface Laptop (2nd Edition) meet all technical specs for the Copilot+ PC label but aren't marketed under that name, according to Surface VP Brett Ostrum. Both machines use Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus chips with an 80 TOPS NPU, well above the 40 TOPS threshold Microsoft originally set for the category. Microsoft's Copilot+ PC marketing page has also been quietly replaced with one for 'performance PCs.'
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-25
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.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-25
Researchers identified a double-fetch flaw in Avast's kernel driver that can lead to a pool overflow, potentially allowing code execution outside the antivirus sandbox. The flaw involves multiple reads of the same user-supplied data, which can be manipulated between fetches. Recent Windows updates mitigate this issue by enforcing user-mode access checks, reducing the exploit's viability.
safateam.com
· 2026-09-25
Microsoft has acknowledged that recent Windows updates, including August 2026 preview builds and this month's Patch Tuesday releases (KB5120996, KB5120998, KB5124008, KB5122880), can cause black screens after sign-in and Windows Explorer crashes. The issue mainly affects Azure Virtual Desktop hosts using FSLogix profile software. Microsoft has issued a Known Issue Rollback fix for enterprise admins and suggests manually relaunching explorer.exe as a temporary workaround for individual users.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-25
Microsoft's new 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop meet the technical specs for Copilot Plus PCs but are not being marketed under that name, Surface CVP Brett Ostrom confirmed to Windows Central. Qualcomm's Kedar Kondap indicated similar devices will likely drop the branding going forward too.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-24
Microsoft released KB5124010, a September 2026 optional preview update for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, containing 46 changes but no security patches. The update adds Emoji 17.0 support, an 'Open apps maximized' accessibility setting, Bluetooth reliability fixes, and a new option to remap the Copilot key to act as Right Ctrl or Context Menu.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-24
Microsoft has resolved a bug that stopped File History from backing up or restoring files to external drives or network locations after the September 2026 security update. The fix ships in the optional cumulative updates KB5124006 and KB5124010 for Windows 11 26H1 and 24H2/25H2 respectively. Affected users had seen crash events referencing FileHistory.exe, false 'Reconnect your drive' prompts, and backups that stopped updating.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-24
Flashpoint researchers confirmed a Windows evasion technique called 'process parameter poisoning,' first disclosed in July by Max Hirschberger and Ogulcan Ugur, which hides malicious payloads inside standard process initialization structures rather than using memory APIs like VirtualAllocEx and WriteProcessMemory that EDR tools typically monitor. Flashpoint built its own Rust implementation of the method and found it evaded detection when paired with additional evasion techniques, echoing the original researchers' finding that code injection succeeded against four major EDR products without triggering alerts.
darkreading.com
· 2026-09-23
A developer has released ForensicDbg, a post-mortem debugging tool for native Windows x64/x86 crashes, now in private beta. The tool exposes its debugging engine to AI systems via an MCP server, aiming to improve AI-assisted crash analysis while reducing token usage. As an example bug, the release notes describe a null-pointer dereference in CTextWindowBase::SetSelectionBegin that occurs when a disassembly panel is clicked before any code lines are loaded.
forensicdbg.com
· 2026-09-23
Raymond Chen recounts that Windows 7 added a right-click context menu to the classic vertical scroll bar, including a 'Scroll Here' option letting users jump directly to a clicked position instead of dragging the thumb. A lesser-known companion shortcut, holding Shift while clicking the scroll bar, does the same thing. He notes that most modern app frameworks have replaced native Win32 scroll bars with custom ones that only partially preserve these features: Chromium-based apps support Shift+click but not the context menu, WPF supports both, and WinUI supports neither.
devblogs.microsoft.com
· 2026-09-23
Microsoft is releasing an updated Surface Mouse on October 13th, its first refresh since 2016. The new mouse adds haptic feedback for clicks and alignment cues, a customizable action button defaulting to Copilot, Bluetooth 6.0 for pairing with up to three devices, and a redesigned soft-touch body. It will cost $79.99 in black or platinum and launches alongside refreshed Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-23
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