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Microsoft has patched a bug that stopped Teams and the new Outlook for Windows from launching on ARM-based devices like the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7. The issue, triggered by August 2026 security updates (KB5121003), mainly hit new or freshly imaged PCs without Microsoft Store updates. The fix arrived with the September 8 cumulative update, KB5124012.
Google has launched a standalone Gemini desktop app for Windows, letting users summon the AI assistant instantly with the Alt+Space shortcut while working in other programs. The app also supports deeper tasks like drafting documents using Gmail and Drive content, delegating multi-step work to the Gemini Spark agent, and generating images and video via Nano Banana and Gemini Omni.
A technical analysis compares Microsoft's Prism binary translator, which lets x86-64 Windows software run on Arm-based aarch64 processors, against native Geekbench 7 performance. Using a pro key from Primate Labs founder John Poole to profile individual workloads, the tester measures how much performance is lost when translating x86-64 instructions instead of running aarch64 code directly.
Google has released a native Gemini AI desktop application for Windows, following a similar Mac app launched in April. The app offers image generation via Nano Banana, video generation through Gemini Omni for eligible subscribers, and access to multiple Gemini model tiers depending on a user's Google subscription, all launchable with an Alt+spacebar shortcut.
Google has released a dedicated Gemini application for Windows PCs, accessible via an Alt+Space keyboard shortcut similar to its Mac counterpart launched earlier this year. The app connects with other Google AI tools including Gemini Spark, Gmail, Google Drive, Nano Banana, and Gemini Omni for image and video generation.
Windows admins report that this month's cumulative updates for Windows Server 2019, 2022, and 2025 are breaking Remote Desktop Services, with servers working fine for a few hours before connections begin to fail. Existing sessions can get stuck unable to disconnect, new logins hang and time out, and in many cases only a hard reset restores service. Some administrators say uninstalling the September patch is the only reliable fix so far.
Security researcher Nightmare-Eclipse has published a new proof-of-concept exploit called ShieldCrash on GitHub, claiming it circumvents Microsoft's fix for CVE-2026-69414 (ShieldBreak), a privilege escalation bug in the Malware Protection Engine. The exploit reportedly allows arbitrary file reads as SYSTEM on all supported Windows versions, despite Microsoft's September patch. Microsoft has not yet responded to requests for comment on the claim.
Microsoft has designated Rust as a Tier-1 supported language for internal development, placing it alongside C++, C#, and TypeScript with full toolchain, tooling, and compliance support. As part of this effort, the company introduced rustc_codegen_utc, a new code generation backend that connects Rust's compiler to the MSVC backend used across Windows.
Developer Mayuki used Claude to vibe-code ReProgman, a lightweight clone of the classic Windows 3.1 Program Manager shell that ran until Windows 95 replaced it in the mid-1990s. The 12-16MB tool requires no installation, runs on both Windows 11 and Apple Silicon Macs via .NET SDK 10.0+, and has been published on GitHub under the MIT license.
WIRED published a guide identifying nine Windows laptops that compete with Apple's MacBooks on quality and performance, alongside broader advice on choosing a laptop. The guide recommends spending $750 to $1,000 for a 13- or 14-inch machine with at least 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and modern chips like Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series or Intel's Core Ultra lineup. It cites models such as the Dell 14 Plus and HP OmniBook 5 14 as strong examples in this price range.
A technical breakdown explains how Windows XP picked a user's initial account picture: it used the RtlRandomEx function seeded with GetTickCount(), scanning the default pictures folder once rather than twice. This single-pass method is a special case of reservoir sampling, selecting one item fairly as the folder is enumerated.
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.