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Microsoft's October 13 Patch Tuesday update for Windows 11 introduced a bug that disables the Smart App Control security feature and prevents users from turning it back on through normal settings. Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and published a Registry workaround involving two new keys while it prepares an official fix.
A longtime Asus Zenbook Pro 17 owner describes years of the laptop fully rebooting instead of waking from sleep, wiping open work sessions. After repeated troubleshooting, the user identified the MediaTek Wi-Fi 6E MT7922 adapter's power-saving setting as the cause and fixed it by disabling that option in Windows Device Manager.
A how-to guide explains that fake 'virus detected' full-screen pop-ups are browser hijacks that should never be clicked. It recommends closing the offending tab via the browser's task manager (Shift+Escape), force-quitting the browser through Windows Task Manager if needed, and clearing cookies and notification permissions to stop repeat alerts. It also advises checking browser extensions for unknown or malicious add-ons.
Retrocomputing developer Yeo Kheng Meng has released xHCI98 v3.0.0.0, an experimental driver suite that adds support for USB 3.x, USB4, and Thunderbolt 3/4 host controllers to Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. The project, built with AI assistance, replaces Windows' native USB drivers to enable hotplugging, storage, Ethernet, and audio devices on systems whose chipsets lack legacy EHCI controllers.
Developer Yeo Kheng Meng used AI to write a driver enabling generic USB 3.x, USB4, and Thunderbolt 3/4 host controllers to function on legacy Windows versions, including 98 SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. Meng has published details of the project on his personal blog.
Microsoft says Windows Server 2025 will gain Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) once the October 2026 security update is installed, extending a feature previously limited to Windows 11. QMR boots a failing machine into the Windows Recovery Environment, runs a recovery tool, and sends crash data to Microsoft so it can remotely remove faulty drivers or updates. On Server 2025, cloud-based remediation is off by default and must be turned on through Group Policy settings.
Rouler is a new Windows utility that allows users to assign individual applications, or specific IP addresses, to separate network interfaces at the same time. For example, a browser could use a privacy VPN, a work app could use a corporate tunnel, and other traffic could go through the normal connection simultaneously. The developer describes it as working purely at the network layer, distinct from a VPN or firewall.
Windows 11 26H2 retains a compatibility fix called EmulateHeap that reproduces Windows 95's forgiving memory-management behavior for older applications that depend on it. The feature traces back to a 1990s bug in SimCity, where Microsoft rewrote part of Windows 95's memory allocator to stop the game crashing rather than wait for a patch, and later generalized that fix into EmulateHeap to keep other legacy apps running on newer Windows versions.
The open source ReactOS project announced it can now be installed directly onto NTFS-formatted partitions, ending its previous dependence on FAT32 drives. The new NTFS driver still lacks caching, journaling and security support, and the team has warned of possible undiscovered bugs.
Developers have successfully ported Wine to OpenBSD, enabling dozens of 64-bit Windows applications to run on the operating system. OpenBSD developer Thomas Frohwein noted that even the recent remaster of The Witcher 3 runs well under the new port. The port currently lacks WoW64 support, meaning 32-bit Windows software remains incompatible.
Microsoft has fixed a bug that caused games and Windows 11 apps using AC-3 (Dolby Digital) audio decoding to crash or fail to launch after installing the September 2026 preview update KB5124010. The fix arrives in the KB5127648 October 2026 Patch Tuesday update, which Microsoft says affected users on Windows 11 24H2 and later should install.
Microsoft has patched an issue in the classic Outlook desktop client that caused Copilot Chat and Copilot buttons to disappear from the navigation pane and ribbon for some licensed users. The company traced the problem to Outlook failing to retrieve certain account information from users' profiles, and said the fix addresses that root cause. This marks the second time Microsoft has fixed the bug after it resurfaced following recent updates despite an earlier June patch.