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As the spring 2025 edition of Fiverr’s “Business Trends Index” shows, companies are looking for specialists who can effectively implement AI agents. According to new data from the freelancer platform, search queries for this expertise have risen by 18,347% in the last six months. In Germany, inquiries increased by an even larger 19,033%.

According to Fiverr, this is due to technological advances in the field of agentic AI, which enable “digital colleagues” to perform tasks such as reading emails, scheduling meetings, or answering customer inquiries independently and without constant supervision. While experts predict that agentic AI could become a trillion-dollar market, many companies are struggling with the challenges of implementing the technology — so they’re turning to freelancers with these specific skills.

“Nearly 30% of my Fiverr assignments are for AI agent development, with demand shifting dramatically from simple chatbots to multi-agent systems that work across web, WhatsApp, and voice channels,” says Mark Kashef, an AI consultant on Fiverr and founder and CEO of Prompt Advisors. “Companies have gone from asking ‘What can AI do?’ to ‘How quickly can we integrate AI into our workflows?’ — with automation, voice and integration requests now making up 49% of my project pipeline.”

[ Related: Freelancers now represent more than one in four US workers ]

Yoav Hornung, Head of Verticals at Fiverr, explains the increased demand with the strong discrepancy between companies’ ambitions and their technical realities. Despite the great interest in AI agents, most companies do not know exactly what they are or how they can be used. This knowledge gap is driving the increased demand for freelancers.

“Now that generative AI is widely available, many companies are turning to freelancers to elevate their content with new perspectives, creativity, and expertise that will elevate their work beyond what automation alone can achieve,” says Hornung.

According to Fiverr, this paradox is reflected in the 641% increase in global demand for freelancers who can “humanize” AI content — rewriting chatbot scripts, marketing emails, and website content to make it appear more natural.

“I thought my copywriting services wouldn’t be as much in demand after the launch of ChatGPT, but I get requests almost daily to rework AI texts so they still sound human,” the platform operator quotes Gabrielle Gerbus, a freelance brand developer.

In addition to AI itself, companies are also increasingly relying on freelance experts to implement workflow automation tools. Fiverr data shows a growing demand for experts in workflow tools such as Go High Level (up 1,489%) and Make.com (up 1,083%). Experts who can create newsletters on trend platforms such as Substack (up 2,028%) and Beehiiv (up 1,211%) are also increasingly in demand.

Zoho has announced Zoho Payments as a unified payment platform for US businesses, aimed at helping CIOs streamline financial operations with enterprise-grade security and scalability.

Fully integrated with Zoho’s ecosystem — including Zoho Books and CRM — Zoho Payments supports card and ACH transactions across 135+ currencies, according to a company statement.

“Businesses need a payment solution that not only offers flexibility, but is also tightly connected to their financial operations,” Raju Vegesna, chief evangelist at Zoho, said in a press note. The platform taps into Zoho’s AI capabilities — from Analytics 6.0 to DDPM — to automate workflows and accelerate digital transformation in a cashless economy.

The move positions Zoho against entrenched players such as Stripe and PayPal, offering a natively integrated alternative built for mid-size companies and large enterprises.

Native integration

Zoho Payments aims to eliminate third-party gateways by integrating with Zoho’s finance and sales apps and reducing system sprawl — a top CIO pain point. Built to mirror the synergy seen in Zoho Analytics 6.0 and DDPM, it is designed to focus squarely on end-to-end financial workflows.

“Our transportation company used third-party portals before, but the extra logins and disconnected integrations disrupted our flow,” James Martin, Founder and CEO of Keystone Transport Services, said in a press release. “Zoho Payments, integrated with Zoho Books, unified our processes and cut onboarding time significantly. Now, one person can easily accomplish over 100 times the work as before,” Martin noted. 

“Zoho Payments’ native integration simplifies IT environments and reduces costs,” said Divya Baranawal, principal analyst at QKS Group. “With automated reconciliation and payout tracking, it eases finance workloads while aligning IT with business goals.”

Market positioning

Zoho Payments provides enterprises with PCI DSS Level 1 compliance and real-time fraud detection, mirroring Zoho’s security focus in Analytics 6.0. The offering supports over 135 currencies, enabling global transactions while maintaining local compliance. Zoho Payments will support both one-time and recurring payments, catering to e-commerce and subscription-based business models.

Industry data indicates a broader trend towards cashless transactions, with approximately 87% of transactions now cashless, according to Capital One Shopping data, and 81% of US consumers preferring card payments. This shift is driving businesses to adopt payment systems that accommodate these evolving preferences.

In a crowded field, Zoho’s edge lies in native plug-and-play integration with Zoho Books and CRM, contrasting with Stripe’s API-heavy setup and PayPal’s SMB focus. Adyen offers strong global coverage but involves more complex integration. While Zoho’s pricing is comparable to Stripe’s, transparency remains limited.

“Zoho Payments’ value proposition hinges on AI-driven automation via Zia Agents and Projects Plus, offering CIOs real-time insight and agility,” said Baranawal. Still, Stripe’s API flexibility remains a key advantage for organizations requiring highly customized solutions.

OpenAI is introducing two new AI models, GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini, to ChatGPT. The GPT-4.1 model will be available to paying subscribers on the ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team plans. The GPT-4.1 mini model, meanwhile, will be made available free of charge to all ChatGPT service users.

With the introduction of the new models, OpenAI is phasing out the existing GPT-4.o mini model in ChatGPT, it said a post on X.

The new models are coming at a time when interest in AI tools to support programming is growing. The GPT-4.1 model offers more help to developers creating applications: Compared to the earlier GPT-4o mini model, the GPT-4.1 model offers higher performance in terms of coding and command execution.

The GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini models debuted in April of this year and were heavily criticized at the time for the lack of a report discussing their security level. Responding to this charge, OpenAI argued that the models do not support new modes of interaction, so their security requirements are different from those of the most advanced models and thus the criticism is unjustified.

The vendor also said it will publish the results of internal security assessments of both models more frequently. The data will be available on the company’s newly launched Safety Evaluations Hub, which shows safety evaluation results for OpenAI’s models in four categories: harmful content, jailbreaks, hallucinations, and adherence to instructions hierarchy.

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have restricted data brokers from selling US citizens’ personal and financial information.  

The decision, announced Wednesday in the Federal Register, marks a significant reversal in consumer privacy protection efforts and raises serious concerns about the security of sensitive personal data. 

Despite high-profile return-to-office mandates from the likes of Amazon, AT&T, Dell, and even the US government, many organizations continue to support employees who work remotely. According to a November 2024 Gallup poll, 26% of US workers with remote-capable jobs work outside the office full-time.

Embracing remote work opens the door to having employees located in different parts of the country or different regions of the world — and that makes it more likely that individual employees will be affected by emergencies that occur far from corporate headquarters, ranging from simple power outages to catastrophic storms, wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

In the US alone, 90 major weather-related disasters were declared in 2024, according to an analysis of federal data conducted by the International Institute for Environment and Development. The researchers estimate that 137 million Americans — about 41% of the population — live in areas that were under major disaster or emergency declarations last year.

When disaster strikes, employees may be without electricity, internet, or cell service for days or weeks. They may have to evacuate their homes. They may be struggling with the loss of family members, friends, or neighbors.

Just as organizations have disaster mitigation and recovery plans for main offices and data centers, they should be prepared to support remote employees in disaster situations they likely have never encountered before. Employers must counsel workers on what to do, provide additional resources, and above all, ensure that their mental health is attended to.

This may sound like a job for HR — and it is — but it’s IT’s responsibility to make sure remote employees have the tools they need to stay in contact during a disaster, to protect sensitive data on their devices, and to help them get back to work when it’s safe to do so.

Organizations that look after their employees when they need it the most may see benefits in the form of increased engagement, productivity, and retention: Who wouldn’t want to work for an employer that truly cares about your welfare?

We spoke with tech leaders and disaster recovery experts for their advice on how companies can prepare for and support remote employees facing a disaster situation.

Plan for the worst through simulations 

Dr. Oliver Schlake, director of the BSE Scholars Program at the University of Maryland and a survival instructor for 40 years, says there is a significant cultural component to disaster preparedness — or the lack thereof.

People often prefer the “hero” over the “person who’s doing the continued maintenance,” he says. For example, people will hail the firefighter who rescues a victim from a burning house, but not the janitor who changes the battery in the smoke detector that helps to prevent the spread of fire in the first place.

As a result of this cultural tendency, organizations under-invest in tools, resourcing, and programs necessary for disaster preparedness. “There’s no ROI on their reliability until [a disaster] happens. And that’s why a lot of organizations cut out those backup systems,” he says.

To avoid this short-sighted thinking, business leaders should prepare well in advance of any disaster. While companies can offer disaster preparedness training in a classroom setting, Schlake recommends hands-on simulations for greater effectiveness. For example, the organization could shut off its intranet or force employees to switch off their usual internet connection to mimic a disaster where connectivity is limited.

Schlake introduces companies conducting these exercises to a decision-making framework called the Rule of Three. “You basically use time intervals of three — three seconds, three minutes, three hours, three days, three weeks, three months — to prioritize your activities in a disaster situation,” he says.

The goal is not for business leaders and employees to respond flawlessly to a simulated disaster. Instead, it is to help them identify gaps they can address before a real crisis occurs.

For example, during an exercise, a B2B organization working with Schlake realized that if its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system were disrupted, its employees would be unable to make client calls. To mitigate this risk, the company purchased around 100 burner phones, pre-programmed them, and stored them for emergency use. The foresight paid off: six or seven months later, when a disaster prevented employees from coming on-site, the phones became essential for maintaining client relationships.

Organizations will come to their own unique realizations through these simulations, which should include remote and hybrid workers as well as those who work in the office full-time. If a company discovers it has no means of communicating with remote workers in a power or internet outage, for example, they may decide to outfit those workers with additional communication tools or come up with other contingency plans.

Protect employee devices

Depending on the disaster, a remote employee’s home office may be unavailable: It may have been ravaged by a fire or flood, or they may be under evacuation orders from local or federal authorities.

In such cases, employees who are otherwise unaffected by the disaster may go to coffee shops, libraries, or other public locations to connect to the internet and continue working. These environments make organizations more prone to cyberattacks, says Jocelyn Rhindress, a senior manager in business resource initiatives at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

During an outage of a Canadian telco in 2022, remote workers had to take this exact risk. “A lot of at-home workers flocked to places — coffee shops and quick-service restaurants — to use their public Wi-Fi,” she says. “So one big problem is just unsafe networks.”

To mitigate this risk, the organization’s IT department needs to make sure that employees are provided with the right tools to protect sensitive information, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), says Kris Lahiri, CSO and co-founder of Egnyte. Like all disaster planning, installing VPNs and other security tools on workers’ laptops should be done well in advance of an actual disaster.

Help with ‘personal disaster recovery planning’

Beyond cybersecurity risks, being forced to leave their home environment presents employees with another significant challenge: the potential loss of personal artifacts, from tax documents and family heirlooms to cherished photos.

Lahiri refers to the process of safeguarding such items as “personal disaster recovery planning” and notes that this aspect of worker support is often overlooked. While companies have experience migrating servers from local offices to distributed teams, few have considered how to support employees on a personal level, he says.

Lahiri urges IT teams to take a more empathetic approach and broaden their scope to include disaster recovery planning for employees’ home offices.

“It’s important for IT to help these people to think, ‘Hey, have you thought of your personal stuff? Like, where do you keep your valuables? Are you making sure that your tax files and other financial info is backed up someplace?’” he says.

Some might see advising employees on personal disaster recovery as beyond the IT department’s role. However, Lahiri argues that this guidance is essential as part of the organization’s broader mandate to ensure employees’ safety and well-being.

Mitigate risks across geographies

Beyond addressing individual employees’ needs, companies must also take a macro view of their workforce to prepare for disasters. As businesses become not only more remote but also more global, understanding employees’ locations becomes crucial.

“As a company, I would monitor where all my remote workers are,” says Schlake from the University of Maryland. The goal is to help companies create contingency plans when a disaster is on the horizon for a particular location.

“When I see there’s a crisis coming up in a certain area, I can take preventive measures,” he says. For example, if a typhoon is approaching the Philippines, a company can plan how it will compensate if, say, 5% of its Philippines-based workforce loses internet access.

To maintain business continuity, companies must pay special attention to business-critical roles. Hiring and training should be approached with a global mindset, allowing for backup workers in different locations to step in when disasters affect specific geographies, says Egnyte’s Lahiri.

Oxfam International takes this kind of strategic approach to workforce management. According to CIO Kenny Kamal, the organization’s mission to fight inequality and end poverty often requires responding to natural disasters and crises worldwide.

“This often means that Oxfam staff and partners are responding while managing the risks to themselves and their own communities,” he says.

To tackle this challenge, Oxfam prioritizes “key operational locations rather than individual endpoints,” Kamal says. This strategy relies on hubs that support hybrid teams in disaster-affected areas. These hubs are equipped with redundant power solutions, backup internet connectivity, and prepositioned resources such as satellite kits and solar-powered chargers.

Building on this foundation, Oxfam develops multiple contingency plans to guide employees in crisis situations.

“To prepare for a range of scenarios, organizations should develop scalable disaster response plans. By categorizing disasters by impact — localized, regional, or wide-scale — teams can follow clearly defined protocols,” he says.

Put employee well-being above all else

Preparing for disasters is a complex challenge that requires companies to focus on agility, redundancy, flexibility, resilience, and business continuity. But employee well-being must remain the top priority.

CFIB’s Rhindress notes that in some locations, such as Canada, health and safety are legally mandated components of any disaster response plan. However, organizations should aim to go beyond mere compliance — starting with effective communication.

“It might come down to sharing your personal cell phone number or making sure there’s a way for your employees to always get in touch with someone,” she says.

Mario Jabbour, Chief Finance & Admin Officer for Project HOPE, a global health and humanitarian organization, echoes this perspective.

“Prioritizing employee well-being with mental health resources and balanced expectations, along with clear policies, training, and disaster response guides, is key to navigating crises effectively,” he says.

Oxfam’s Kamal also advocates for mental health support, flexible work arrangements, and open communication. Since no organization will execute employee support perfectly, he stresses the importance of continuous self-assessment.

“After every disaster response, it’s essential to evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Learning from these experiences allows organizations to refine their plans and strengthen their collective resilience,” he says.

Kamal emphasizes that while disasters are inherently unpredictable, proactive preparation can significantly mitigate their impact. “By focusing on resilience, flexibility, and the well-being of hybrid teams, organizations can empower their workforce to navigate challenges with confidence and continue delivering on their mission when it matters most,” he says.

Before organizations can effectively deploy generative AI tools, the data on which they must be trained has to be preprocessed to ensure it’s organized, standardized, and cleaned from outliers, duplication, and errors.

Without that, attaining ROI from any genAI project is next to impossible. In fact, over the past couple of years, case studies have shown one in three AI projects fail to reach completion or produce an ROI because of unclean data.

A Gartner survey this week indicated that one top-level position in particular is key to genAI deployment success: the Chief Data & Analytics Officer (CDAO) — so much so that the position has now been given executive status at most companies. (Gartner added “analytics” to the CDO title a few years ago to indicate a changing role, which now involves combining data management with analytics strategy to generate insights and business value.)

“The integration of AI into business strategies has further solidified the CDAO’s role as a top-tier position within companies,” said Sarah James, a Gartner senior director analyst.

Beyond data and analytics, CDAOs are now central to genAI readiness — critical for driving better business outcomes, as shown in Gartner’s CDAO Agenda Survey for 2025. “This year is a critical one for CDAOs, as AI presents a new opportunity for them to establish their rank in AI leadership,” James said.

The exact mission and function of the CDAO role, however, remain unclear.

In Gartner’s CDAO Agenda Survey for 2024, 74% of respondents reported that executive leadership has confidence in their data and analytics (D&A) function, but the rationale for that confidence is not fully substantiated. Only 49% had established business-outcome-driven metrics that allow stakeholders to track D&A value.

“Respondents reported having an average of 14 primary responsibilities — a year-over-year increase of 56% from 2023 — suggesting a tactical rather than strategic focus,” James said. “There is clearly work to do for CDAOs to establish themselves, their function, and their value to the organization.”

Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that by 2027, 75% of CDAOs who aren’t seen as essential to their organization’s genAI success will lose their C-level position.

CDAOs are currently uniquely positioned to lead genAI efforts thanks to their data expertise and cross-organizational reach, according to James. “Their role is pivotal — no one else is better placed to connect the dots and drive AI success,” she said.

According to the survey, 70% of CDAOs have the primary responsibility for building AI strategy and an operating model for the organization. In light of that, 36% of CDAOs now report to the CEO, up from 21% in 2024.

Tom Davenport, a distinguished professor of IT and management for Babson College, said he was surprised Gartner’s survey found 70% of CDAOs reportedly have primary responsibility for genAI efforts. His research shows it’s usually shared with CIOs, CTOs, and CDOs.

If true, he said, it would mark a major shift in the CDO/CDAO role, even as AI is a “hot topic” many execs want to lead. “That said, responsibility for AI will have its challenges for CDOs, who already face a number of them,” Davenport said via email. “An IBM survey of CEOs released last week found that only 25% have seen the expected ROI from their AI projects. It won’t be easy for CDOs to address that issue.”

At the same time the CDAO or CDO role is gaining importance, only 8% of companies considered to be leaders in genAI deployments are scaling the tech at an enterprise level, which means embedding the technology into core business strategy, according to a report by professional services firm Accenture.

Scaling AI starts with data, according to Accenture, and while 70% of the 2,000 companies it surveyed recognize its importance, few fully leverage their proprietary data. And only 15% are “AI reinvention-ready” and have built the essential capabilities needed to scale AI successfully, according to the firm.

The CDAO role is expected to soon evolve in three distinct directions, according to Gartner:

• Expert D&A Leader: A senior data leader (often a vice president or head of data) with a cross-functional view, overseeing business intelligence, mobile device management, reporting, and data platforms. The person typically reports to IT and supports data strategy across the business.
• Connector CDAO: Someone who bridges CxOs with D&A, embedding smart solutions into products and services. They drive the AI agenda and act as key leaders in an organization.
• Pioneer CDAx: A transformational exec who combines the CDO, CDAO, and CDAIO roles, leads cross-functional D&A and AI efforts, ensures ethical governance, and champions innovation.

Some believe CDO and CAIO roles might have a built-in expiration date. An earlier Gartner survey of 400 software engineering leaders indicated that up to half of their software development teams employ various genAI tools to augment workflows, acting as force multipliers rather than replacements.

Davenport agreed, and has written about the phenomenon in the past.

After years of being focused primarily on data — not employee — management, surveys show CDOs often lack the skills to tackle the cultural challenges critical to a data-driven culture, Davenport said. “Surveys of CDOs also suggest that their jobs are less well understood than other C-level executives,” he added.

In one recent article, Davenport argued there are too many technology-focused C-level executives in many companies, including CIOs, CTOs, Chief Data and/or Analytics Officers, Chief Digital Officers, and CISOs. “The CIO role is much better understood and while it, too, once was characterized by short tenures, it’s much more familiar than the CDO role,” he said. “Many CDOs focus primarily on data governance and management activities for which it is difficult to demonstrate value. Those who also have analytics and AI responsibilities have a somewhat easier time of that.”

Given the critical role now of genAI in shaping business strategies, aspiring CDAOs should focus on developing expertise in data, analytics, and AI technologies, James said.

The demand for CDAOs who can effectively lead genAI initiatives, navigate the technology’s complexities, and leverage it for competitive advantage is increasing, she added. “Individuals interested in this career path should aim to acquire skills in AI readiness, data governance, and strategic leadership, as these are essential for driving successful AI integration within organizations,” she said.

Microsoft faces more legal action in the UK, this time from a barrister named Alexander Wolfson who issued an opt-out class action claim this week alleging that public or private organizations in the UK that purchased certain software licenses (including for Microsoft Office and Windows) since October 1, 2015, were overcharged due to Microsoft’s market practices.

Wolfson, who retained the services of Stewarts LLP, a litigation-only law firm, said in a release issued on Wednesday, “Microsoft’s actions have had a significant and far-reaching impact on UK consumers, businesses, and public bodies.”

This claim, he said, “seeks to hold Microsoft to account and to secure compensation for the many affected members of the class. With billions of pounds potentially at stake, this case is about ensuring fairness in the digital marketplace and ensuring even the largest tech companies play by the rules.”

“Microsoft’s conduct has had a profound and costly impact on millions of individuals and private and public sector organizations that rely on its software for daily business operations,” said Kate Pollock, the head of competition litigation at Stewarts. “We believe that Microsoft abused its market dominance by imposing restrictive licensing practices that effectively shut down competition and inflated prices.”

Highlights an industry-wide issue

An FAQ created by the plaintiff explained the format of the suit: “Opt-out collective proceedings are a special form of court proceedings that enable a class representative to bring a claim on behalf of a defined class of persons in the UK affected by an infringement of competition law,” it said. “This means that if your organization fits within the class definition you will automatically be included in the claim and will be bound by any judgment or settlement unless you choose to opt-out of the proceedings.”

Ellora MacPherson, managing director and chief investment officer at Harbour, which has agreed to fund the case, described the suit as “likely to be one of the largest the UK has seen and is an example of how big corporate entities can be held to account.”

Forrester Senior Analyst Dario Maisto pointed out Wednesday via email, “this is not the first time that Microsoft gets attention for allegedly unfair commercial practices. Microsoft was also sued in the UK in 2024 over allegations that it overcharged Windows Server customers to use the software on competing cloud platforms.”

He added, “the Cloud Infrastructure Providers in Europe organization (CISPE) took a similar action on Microsoft’s licensing practices when its cloud computing competitors filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission.”

According to Maisto, “while it is totally understandable why law firms and competitors keep engaging in such lawsuits against Microsoft, we should finally admit that these are all symptoms of a bigger issue, that is, people and organizations’ extreme [dependence] on third-party proprietary solutions and a fundamental lack of alternative standards.”

This is, he said, the problem that we as an IT industry need to solve, as we cannot keep relying on specific lawsuits to address — one at a time — all the problems of what we could start to define now as a much broader market disfunction.” 

Computerworld reached out to Microsoft for a comment but at press time had not received a response.

More Microsoft news:

• Microsoft to cut an estimated 6,000 employees
• Microsoft OneDrive move may facilitate accidental sensitive file exfiltration
• Microsoft urges Office users to upgrade to 365 — or face doom
  

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A report that crossed my desk today should be of interest to any enterprise seeking to get bigger benefits from their existing training budgets: it suggests that Apple’s soon-to-be growing family of visionOS devices really can boost training.

Researchers evaluated a 12-week electrical contracting certification program delivered at a facility in New Jersey. During the course, instructors used both traditional classroom and hands-on teaching alongside three modules developed by BILT for Apple Vision Pro.

The combination delivered impressive results, according to the report.

Spatial reality is good for learning

Apparently spatial computing can help with training with measurable results:

• Students using the Apple devices completed the course almost 24% faster than classes using traditional curriculum alone.
• 76% of the class tracked at least three weeks ahead of schedule, while 88% were 2.5 weeks ahead.
• 93% of students said they felt ready to apply their new skills in the field. 
• Student engagement increased by 50%; learners liked that immersive content allowed them to practice hands-on without risking damage, injury, or delay. 
• The retention of knowledge also increased. Preliminary analysis suggests that observed retention of course material directly supplemented with spatial learning improved from 30%, including vocabulary and terminology retention, to 90% compared to cohorts.

In every measured metric, students completed learning tasks faster using visionOS than they did without, which gave instructors considerable additional class teaching time.

These should all be seen as significant outcomes. They suggest that using Apple’s spatial reality devices can and do deliver big improvements in training. You can watch a short overview of the results here.

Apple and the blending of reality

It also looks as if this kind of XR training can help students eliminate some errors completely. The study suggests that reverse polarity and sheathing errors were eliminated entirely (from 18% and 20% respectively, to 0%), while some wiring errors were reduced by 90%. It clearly makes a huge difference to some learners to interact with things in the virtual world while learning — “visual learners” are a thing; we knew it, and the tech leans deep into serving that need effectively. 

“BILT for Apple Vision Pro catapults students over the steep learning curve,” said BILT CEO Nate Henderson. “The study underscores how powerful immersive training can be for a new generation of workers.”

Of course, it should be considered that BILT’s report would make claims of this kind, given that delivering learning experiences in extended reality is part of what the company is all about. But the data — gathered through a range of metrics — aligns with what we’ve heard before.

We are seeing ever more illustrations of this kind of use, including Endo’s Spatial Computing Injection Simulator introduced last month, CAE’s Vision Pro-based pilot training solution, or the way the tools are used at Dassault Systèmes. Just as surgeons have already experimented with using VisionPro during surgery to collaborate with experts remotely to help handle challenging cases, BILT notes the potential for field service and other engineers to call in help with their own complex tasks.  

We do need some education

But when it comes to training, the big takeaway seems to be that use of visionOS helps make sure students get it right first time, which can boost confidence and make them more likely to get something right again. 

“Project one has so many fundamentals,” said Electrical Instructor, Kristian Desjardin. “Students seeing BILT on the Apple Vision Pro set the fundamentals up correctly from the beginning. If they mount their boxes right the first time, they’re going to mount right the second time. If they put their sheathing in the first time, it’s not going to take them until the third time. And that’s what we saw in projects 1-10.”

The instructors also claimed that they got their students through their learning grades far faster than they had before.

Can this work for everyone? It’s wise to maintain a certain incredulity when you experience stories of this kind, but the indication is that there are some learning tasks that really benefit from visionOS devices — and that using them may help people learn faster and more effectively. The inference has to be that such tools might yet enable swift skills education on a local, national, or even international level, which could help resolve some strategic skill gaps.

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House Republicans have proposed banning states from regulating AI for the next ten years. The sweeping moratorium, quietly tucked into the Budget Reconciliation Bill last Sunday, would block most state and local governments from enforcing AI regulations until 2035 if passed.

The proposed legislation stated that “no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems,” for 10 years.

Industry experts warn that this potential regulatory vacuum would come precisely when AI systems are becoming more powerful and pervasive across the US society.

Oversight gap raises concerns

The moratorium would create an unprecedented situation: rapidly evolving AI technology would operate without state-level guardrails during what may be its most transformative decade.

“The proposed decade-long moratorium on state-level AI regulations presents a double-edged sword,” said Abhivyakti Sengar, practice director at Everest Group. “On one hand, it aims to prevent a fragmented regulatory environment that could stifle innovation, on the other hand, it risks creating a regulatory vacuum, leaving critical decisions about AI governance in the hands of private entities without sufficient oversight.”

The proposed legislation includes specific exceptions. According to the bill text, states would still be allowed to enforce laws that have “the primary purpose and effect of which is to remove legal impediments to, or facilitate the deployment or operation of, an artificial intelligence model, artificial intelligence system, or automated decision system.”

States could also enforce laws that streamline “licensing, permitting, routing, zoning, procurement, or reporting procedures” for AI systems.

However, the bill explicitly prohibits states from imposing “any substantive design, performance, data-handling, documentation, civil liability, taxation, fee, or other requirement” specifically on AI unless such requirements are applied equally to non-AI systems with similar functions.

This limitation would prevent states from creating AI-specific oversight frameworks that address the technology’s unique capabilities and risks.

State AI regulations threatened

If enacted, the impact could be significant. Several states have been developing AI oversight frameworks that would likely become unenforceable under the federal provision.

Various state-level efforts to regulate AI systems — from algorithmic transparency requirements to data privacy protections for AI training — could be effectively neutralized without public debate or input.

The moratorium particularly threatens state data privacy protections. Without these state laws, consumers have few guarantees regarding how AI systems use their data, obtain consent, or make decisions affecting their lives.

Global standards diverge

The US approach now stands in stark contrast to the European Union’s comprehensive AI Act, which imposes strict requirements on high-risk AI systems.

“As the US diverges from the EU’s stringent AI regulatory framework, multinational enterprises may face the challenge of navigating conflicting standards,” Sengar noted. This divergence potentially leads to “increased compliance costs and operational complexities.”

Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research, sees a splintering global AI landscape ahead.

“America’s moratorium will likely deepen the regulatory divergence with Europe,” said Gogia. “This will accelerate the fragmentation of global AI product design, where use-case eligibility and ethical thresholds vary dramatically by geography.”

Enterprises face a new reality

For businesses, the regulatory clarity comes with difficult strategic decisions. Companies must determine how aggressively to implement AI systems during this regulation-free decade.

[ Related: What IT leaders want from US AI regulation ]

Many large companies aren’t waiting for government guidance. “Even before public oversight being put on hold, large enterprises have already launched internal AI governance councils,” Gogia explained. “These internal regimes — led by CISOs, legal, and risk teams — are becoming the primary referees for responsible AI use.”

But Gogia cautioned against over-reliance on self-regulation: “While these structures are necessary, they are not a long-term substitute for statutory accountability.”

Legal uncertainty remains

Despite the moratorium on regulations, experts warn that companies still face significant liability risks.

“The absence of clear legal guidelines could result in heightened legal uncertainty, as courts grapple with AI-related disputes without established precedents,” said Sengar.

Gogia puts it more bluntly: “Even in a regulatory freeze, enterprises remain legally accountable. I believe the lack of specific laws does not eliminate legal exposure — it merely shifts the battleground from compliance desks to courtrooms.”

While restricting state action, the legislation simultaneously expands the federal government’s AI footprint. The bill allocates $500 million to the Department of Commerce for AI modernization through 2035.

The money targets legacy system replacement, operational efficiency improvements, and cybersecurity enhancements using AI technologies.

This dual approach positions the federal government as both the primary AI regulator and a major AI customer, consolidating tremendous influence over the technology’s direction.

Finding balance

Industry observers emphasize the need for thoughtful governance despite the moratorium.

“In this rapidly evolving landscape, a balanced approach that fosters innovation while ensuring accountability and public trust is paramount,” Sengar noted. Gogia offers a succinct assessment of the situation: “The 10-year moratorium on US state and local AI regulation removes complexity but not risk. I believe innovation does need room, but room without direction risks misalignment between corporate ethics and public interest.”

Despite the numerous advantages working from home offers employees, enterprises, and the environment, many bosses struggle with the concept and want to see their staff back in the office as often as possible. (So does US President Donald J. Trump.)

Trust is good, control is better?

If company bosses can’t get workers back to the office full-time, they can call to check on a worker if their presence indicator in Teams or another messaging service is set to inactive (yellow) for too long. But some go further, resorting to monitoring the activity of workers’ keyboards or mice with so-called “bossware.” This software, which is banned in the EU for data protection reasons, is used to ensure that employees work from home during their entire working hours.

The employee-led US organization Coworker.org had already found more than 550 products in its 2021 Bossware and Employment Tech Database that use technologies such as AI, location tracking and biometrics to “manage” employees and collect their data — often without their knowledge. And that was four years ago. With the rise of generative AI tools, bossware has become even more potentially intrusive.

Always stay on the move

In the US, where even more rigid controls are legal, the monitoring of company computers was a hot-button issue long before 2020 and the COVID-19 outbreak. It was the epidemic of bossware that followed the coronavirus pandemic that led to a boom in solutions to limit what companies can find out, according to Vice magazine. Search queries for so-called “mouse mover” and “mouse jiggler” solutions skyrocketed after March 2020, when many desk workers moved from the office to home at the start of the pandemic — and have remained consistently high ever since.

The virtual shelves of online retailers such as Amazon are also full of plug-and-play mouse mover devices that allow the mouse pointer to be rotated from below, or USB sticks with pre-installed software that mimics mouse movements. By inserting the stick, the computer is tricked into believing that it is an active mouse.

‘Simulation’ software is also available

In some cases, however, you don’t even have to buy a device to imitate a moving mouse. Numerous programs are offered for free on the internet for this purpose. The catch is that employees who need such devices because their employers distrust them so much are unlikely to have admin rights to install new software on a company PC.

In general, the effectiveness of these work tools should not be fully trusted. For example, Bloomberg reported in June 2024 that US investment bank Wells Fargo & Co. had fired more than a dozen employees for allegedly faking their work. “The staffers, all in the firm’s wealth- and investment-management unit, were ‘discharged after review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work,’” Bloomberg wrote, quoting from a Wells Fargo memo to the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) on May 6 2024.

It is not clear from Wells Fargo’s statement whether the fired employees used Mouse Jiggler or other devices in their home offices.

It comes as no surprise that online scraper bots are scouring the web looking for content to train generative AI (genAI) models, causing massive bandwidth charges to enterprises who told them not to crawl their sites. What is surprising is the world of large language model (LLM) makers’ use of unattributed browsers and other means of escaping responsibility.

As bad as that situation is, something worse lies below it. And it’s an inequity that’s been around for decades, starting in the earliest days of the web.

The problem is simple, but the answer is not: enterprises have had business reasons to ignore the issue for years. 

Since the earliest days of the web, hosting companies have charged enterprises for bandwidth based on usage. That seems fair enough. The problem is that those same companies have limited control over their bandwidth use — and limited finite budgets. 

In other words, corporate budgets for bandwidth are based on typical activity. But then someone says something on social media that post goes viral, readers flock to a site in a massive way, and bandwidth costs soar. Are enterprises really now on the hook for an infinite amount of money?

Here’s where things get complicated. Businesses of all types tolerated this situation with the expectation that a big jump in traffic would generate big jump in revenue. So, they didn’t object to bandwidth cost increases.

Then came search engine spiders. (Note: Spiders, browsers and crawlers are interchangeable. They are also all bots.) Sure, they ate up bandwidth, but again, the assumption was that search traffic would be beneficial — it brought in customers and new prospects. 

For the most part, search spiders respected robots.txt instructions about which sites they could visit and which pages on those sites they could crawl. Because search providers knew most sites welcomed their visits, they more or less respected the restrictions. 

That brings us to today, when we find that the companies behind LLMs — through various sneaky mechanisms — do not respect those do not enter signs. And their crawlers don’t deliver the perceived value of human visitors or even search engine spiders. Instead of bringing with them new prospects to an enterprise site, they steal data, use it for their own apps and then sell it to others. 

Website owners get no meaningful benefit and higher costs from increased bandwidth use. Most of the major model makers deny they do this, but that’s because they are using undeclared crawlers to do most of their dirty work. And, we detailed recently, they’re done in a way designed to cleverly avoid legal consequences. 

There have been some efforts to address the problem. Cloudflare makes a popular one that essentially creates an attractive honey pot to keep unauthorized crawlers at bay.

But, to reiterate, the real problem is that companies generally have agreed to pay an infinite amount of money for bandwidth they can’t control. So, it’s hard now to fight something you’ve knowingly tolerated for decades.

If unauthorized crawlers were forced to pay those costs, the situation would likely resolve itself quickly. Or perhaps cloud vendors could charge for the bandwidth. Conveniently, many of the large cloud companies — think Amazon, Google and Microsoft — also happen to own the operations sending out cowboy crawlers. Isn’t that special? 

More importantly, doesn’t that create a massive conflict of interest?

The problem will be difficult to fix. Most of the obvious mechanisms are untenable. A site could, for example, say they are willing to spend X number of dollars on bandwidth and no more. But what happens when a site hits that number? Would Walmart or Chase Bank really say, “Turn off the bandwidth hose until next month?” 

Of course not.

That brings us to an attribution problem. An enterprise knows that its bandwidth numbers are soaring by a certain percent above normal. But during that time, they were visited by millions of humans and a greater number of bots from all kinds of companies, including search and genAI crawlers. 

Most sites’ analytics struggle to attribute specific bandwidth increases to specific visitors. And even for those that do, the biggest violators are going to be undeclared bots, or bots not easily identified with a specific company. Sometimes the bots come from countries such as China, Russia and North Korea that rarely play nice with US laws.

Still, enterprise IT needs to have some serious conversations with hosting vendors — or with business partners that handle those arrangements — about getting unauthorized bandwidth charges under control. Given various reports that bots represent more traffic than humans today, that conversation needs to happen soon.

Ever since Donald J. Trump was re-elected president, we’ve witnessed a disheartening spectacle: big tech companies bending their knees to him, hoping to get him to kill antitrust actions against them and defend them from European Union rules and fines. 

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Apple CEO Tim Cook have all in one way or another shown or declared support for the president’s agenda, especially his opposition to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs. Notably, all four attended his Jan. 20 inauguration and were front and center during the proceedings. 

Zuckerberg killed DEI efforts at Meta, abandoned attempts to contain misinformation on his services, makes regular pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago, and called then-candidate Trump a “badass” after last year’s assassination attempt. He sounded like nothing so much as Trump himself (while using words of more than one syllable) when he told Joe Rogan on a podcast: “The corporate world is pretty culturally neutered. A culture that celebrates aggression a bit more has its own merits. Masculine energy, I think, is good.”

Bezos killed DEI at Amazon. As the owner of The Washington Post he also squashed the newspaper’s endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris last fall, killed a cartoon of tech leaders and Mickey Mouse bowing down to Trump, and ruled that the paper’s editorial and opinion pages will become right-wing, covering only “personal liberty and free markets,” with no opposing viewpoints allowed.

Pichai killed off DEI efforts at Google and makes regular visits to see Trump in Florida. Cook is a bit of an outlier — although he attended the inauguration, he didn’t kill DEI at Apple and has made noises about working with Trump on tariff issues.

The four companies haven’t gotten anything (yet) for their efforts; legal action against them begun under Trump’s predecessor are proceeding. Google faces being broken up after a judge ruled it illegally monopolized the advertising tech market. Meta is being prosecuted for illegally monopolizing the social media market by buying Instagram and What’s App and could be broken up as well. Amazon has been charged by the FTC with protecting its online retail monopoly by imposing fees on third-party sellers and favoring its own services over theirs. Apple has been sued by the Department of Justice for a variety of antitrust actions in protecting and extending its monopoly in the smartphone market.

And while Trump has made statements about EU regulators — the White House last month criticized recent fines against Meta and Apple as a “novel form of economic extortion” — but has done little to get the EU to halt its actions against the companies.

Microsoft takes on Trump

Meanwhile, Microsoft not only won’t valorize Trump, it’s also pushing back against him. The company has publicly supported its DEI efforts rather than killing them. In December, the company’s Chief Diversity Officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyr, wrote on LinkedIn that Microsoft’s DEI efforts are vital to the company’s success: “The business case for D&I [diversity and inclusion] is not only a constant, but is stronger than ever, reinforcing our belief that a diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial for innovation and success.”

When worries surfaced that Trump might require American tech companies to suspend their cloud operations in Europe, or turn Europeans’ data over to the federal government as part of a trade war, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post that he won’t turn over the data or suspend European cloud operations. In fact, he said the company is expanding them. He also said he would sue the Trump administration to protect them, if necessary.  

Two days after that, Microsoft dropped the big law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which had agreed to give the administration $125 million in free legal work after threats from Trump. Microsoft hired Jenner & Block to take its place — and Jenner & Block sued the Trump administration instead of giving in to it.

Microsoft becomes the world’s most valuable company

You might expect that after all that, Trump would have publicly attacked Microsoft or used the power of his office to go after the company. So far, that hasn’t happened. And unlike Meta, Apple, Google, and Amazon, Microsoft has thrived since Trump took office. 

Its stock price inched up from $434 a share just before Trump’s inauguration past $445 this week, while the share prices of the others have all declined, sometimes significantly. Along the way, Microsoft became the world’s most valuable company, with a market cap approaching $3.3 trillion. 

Gauging by the company’s most recent quarterly results, even better times may be ahead. The New York Times had this to say about the results: “Overall, Microsoft’s results showed unexpected strength in its business. Sales surpassed $70 billion, up 13% from the same period a year earlier. Profit rose to $25.8 billion, up 18%. The results far exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Despite the economic uncertainty, the company predicted more strength ahead, saying revenue would surpass $73 billion in the current quarter.”

Not out of the woods yet

All that said, Microsoft is being investigated by the feds for possible antitrust violations having to do with AI and cloud computing. That investigation, like the others, wasn’t begun by the Trump administration; it was set in motion during the Biden administration. So far, Microsoft’s actions don’t appear to have had any effect on the suit — or the company.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has shown that it’s possible for a company to maintain its values under Trump and thrive. Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta should follow suit.

A modern Windows PC works without much tweaking — mostly. But some settings out of the box are simply bad, undercutting your PC’s full performance or keeping you from getting the best picture from your monitor, for example. And somehow, File Explorer still doesn’t show file extensions by default in the year 2025. That’s just bad for security!

I recently spoke to someone who was surprised to find he had been using his display incorrectly for years and found a few quick clicks instantly made his experience better. Lots of things in Windows are like that; every time I set up a new PC — and I do that often — there are settings I change immediately.

Follow this roadmap, and you’ll find yourself getting a much better Windows experience than the software ever gave you out of the box.

Want more Windows PC tips? Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter. I’ll send you free in-depth Windows Field Guides as a special welcome bonus!

Windows default #1: Wrong Power Mode

Windows 11 has a “Power Mode” option in its Settings window. On a high-performance desktop PC, it may be set to “Balanced” mode by default, likely making your CPU perform worse than it otherwise would. You likely want the best performance on your system — not slightly lower electricity use.

The same is true on laptops. Windows 11 can now set different performance modes that will be used when your machine is plugged in and when it’s unplugged. But your laptop may not be set to run at maximum performance, even when it’s plugged in.

To check this on Windows 11, head to Settings > System > Power and look under Power Mode. On a laptop, you’ll find those different options for when the PC is plugged in vs. running on battery power. I expect you’ll want Best Performance while plugged in — even if it may use a bit more electricity.

It’s worth selecting maximum performance while your desktop or laptop is plugged in.

Chris Hoffman, Foundry

On Windows 10, you’ll find power plan options at Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options.

Windows default #2: Low refresh rate

A modern monitor “just works” out of the box — or so it appears. But while Windows will generally choose the right resolution, it’ll usually default to a low 60Hz refresh rate. This is true both for desktop PCs and laptops. On a laptop, a lower refresh rate means more battery life. But a higher refresh rate means a smoother picture.

To check available refresh rates on Windows 11, head to Settings > System > Display > Advanced display and look at the “Choose a refresh rate” box. On Windows 10, go to Settings > System > Display, scroll down, and click “Advanced display settings.”

Another tip? Windows also offers variable refresh rates if your hardware supports that feature, but sometimes that, too, is disabled by default. Be sure to activate the “Dynamic refresh rate” option here if it’s available, too. (If it’s not, your hardware likely doesn’t support it. Also, note that this feature is only available on Windows 11, not Windows 10.)

You don’t have to stop there. Check out other ways to make your display easier on the eyes.

Windows default #3: Hidden extensions

Everyone should have file extensions visible on Windows. It’s crazy they’re not enabled by default in 2025. This isn’t just a geeky thing — it’s important for security. This will help you distinguish between a virus named Report.pdf.exe and a real document named Report.pdf.

To unhide file extensions in Windows 11, launch File Explorer, click the “View” button on the toolbar, point to “Show,” and activate “File name extensions.” On Windows 10, open File Explorer, click the “View” button on the ribbon, and activate “File name extensions” under Show/hide.

Windows default #4: Browser data access

Whenever you launch Edge for the first time, it asks if you want to make your Edge experience better by importing data from other browsers. Edge can do this automatically if you don’t read closely, and it may be regularly slurping up browsing data from Chrome.

Here’s how to stop Edge from copying your Chrome data.

Windows default #5: Bing, Bing, everywhere

Personally, I don’t want web searches in the Start menu. They slow down my searches and take me to Bing and Edge, a search engine and browser I don’t use. You can stop seeing web search results by turning them off with a registry hack or switching to a third-party Start menu, but Microsoft doesn’t provide an easy graphical toggle for this.

Or, you can try using a different launcher entirely. Command Palette integrates web search results that respect your choice of default browser and search engine.

The launcher Microsoft bundles in PowerToys is much more respectful of user choice than the Start menu.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

Windows default #6: HDR mistakes

Some modern desktop displays (and laptop displays) support HDR content. However, like those smooth higher refresh rates, HDR may be deactivated by default until you hunt it down. And, even if it’s activated, it might not be calibrated correctly for your display unless you do it yourself.

To check whether HDR is available for your display on Windows 11 — and to activate it, if it is — head to Settings > System > Display. You’ll find an HDR toggle here, and you can turn it on or click it to see more settings. (On Windows 10, you’ll find HDR options at Settings > System > Display > Windows HD Color.)

To calibrate your HDR display — assuming you have HDR available and turned on —download and run Microsoft’s Windows HDR Calibration app. It’ll walk you through choosing settings that look good to your eyes on your display and installing a color profile that’ll make HDR look better in Windows.

Windows default #7: OneDrive aggression

Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud syncing software is built right into Windows, which is convenient if you use it. But even if you do, you might not want OneDrive syncing your Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders to the cloud. If nothing else, these might use a good amount of space — and that’s a pain unless you have a Microsoft 365 subscription with 1TB of data (which is admittedly a good deal).

The decision is up to you, but OneDrive often seems to make choices to sync data on its own. (And when it comes to data in particular, you should always make your own decisions.)

To control what OneDrive is syncing, look for the “Manage backup” option in its Settings window. Here’s how to take control over folder backup and fight other OneDrive annoyances.

Windows default #8: Taskbar and Start mess

The standard Windows taskbar, Start menu, and Widgets pane are packed with things you probably don’t care about. To make a PC feel more like your own, I recommend customizing them. Here’s how:

• Taskbar: Unpin any shortcuts you don’t want by right-clicking them and choosing “Unpin from taskbar.” Then remove other items (such as the search box) by right-clicking an empty spot on the taskbar, selecting “Taskbar settings,” and tweaking the settings on this screen.
• Start menu: Unpin any shortcuts you don’t want by right-clicking them and selecting “Unpin from Start.” You can also select “Uninstall” to remove preinstalled apps you may not want. Then head to Settings > Personalization > Start to configure which exact elements are and aren’t included. You can hide lots of the recommendations, for example.
• Widgets: Here’s how to make the Widgets menu worth using on Windows 11.

If you hide the feed, the Widgets experience instantly gets better.

Chris Hoffman, Foundry

Windows default #9: Ad overload

By default, Windows is extremely noisy with advertisements all over the place, from the lock screen to the taskbar to the Start menu and notification popups. To trim this down and make Windows leave you alone, follow my guide to turning off ads in lots of places throughout Windows.

Windows default #10: Disappointing app selection

While Windows includes a variety of default apps that work fine, many of them aren’t the best. But you don’t have to pay for alternatives. I’ve got a list of my favorite free upgrades for built-in Windows applications. From better search tools to surprisingly powerful image editors and Notepad replacements, these are tools Windows enthusiasts like me have long relied on.

Don’t just limit yourself to changing settings. Swap some of those default apps for ones you might prefer, and enjoy an enhanced Windows experience from start to finish.

Let’s stay in touch! Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter today. I’ll send you three new things to try each Friday.

Brace yourself, my fellow Android-appreciating amigos: By this time next week, we’re gonna be positively drowning in all things AI.

All right — to be fair, we already are fairly suffocated by the scent of generative AI (genAI) these days. But with Google’s annual I/O developers’ conference kickin’ off this coming Tuesday, a whole new wave of over-the-top promises is about to hit hard.

At this point, in fact, signs suggest the conference — which traditionally has featured Android and other associated areas as key parts of its keynote — will revolve mostly around Gemini and (a) breathless hype around feats the generative AI technology can theoretically achieve along with (b) demos of things the system can actually do but with ample factual errors and counterproductive inconsistencies (that conveniently won’t be mentioned as part of the conversation).

For those of us still living in a land where accuracy matters — and if you’re using any of this stuff for professional purposes in particular, my goodness, I hope you’re among us — all this genAI gobbledygook should be interesting mostly just from a limited, carefully controlled perspective that doesn’t exactly jibe with how tech companies are framing it. The real meaningful progress here in the Android arena comes down to two key areas that have nothing to do with Gemini or any of the high-profile generative-AI ballyhoo we’ll be hearing about incessantly in the days ahead.

If you’re relying on Android for your professional and/or personal life, these are the areas worth watching.

[Get fresh Android insight in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. Three new things to know and try each Friday!]

1. Stronger Android security

It may not always be the sexiest subject around, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that Android security is one of the most important parts of the platform in front of us. And this year, amidst all the Gemini and genAI jibber-jabber, El Googeroo’s cookin’ up some significant improvements around Android security that’ll bring a big boost to our devices’ defenses.

Now, for my standard caveat: Android security is far less scary than most headlines make it out to be. The operating system has long sported numerous layers of built-in protection, and the odds of encountering anything truly troubling in the real world are shockingly slim. (Consider: When’s the last time you or anyone you knew had a run-in with any of that nasty “Android malware” we’re always hearing about?) Generally speaking, you’ve really gotta go out of your way — and/or exhibit a complete lack of common sense — to see a serious problem.

Even so, extra security can obviously only be a good thing, for business and casual use alike. And as we speak, Google’s sautéing up a slew o’ new security measures that’ll soon be sliding into our lives — including:

• A new Advanced Protection Mode that enables the most secure possible settings across the operating system itself as well as system-level apps and even third-party apps with a single simple switch
• An Android Intrusion Detection system that creates an encrypted, locally stored log of system actions and network activity and allows you to search it for potential weak points if you spot any signs of suspicious activity
• An elevated in-call scam detection option that seeks out signs of someone trying to trick you into sharing sensitive info (including banking access) and stops you before it’s too late
• A beefier on-device scam protection setup for sensing and warning you about all sorts of scams within messages, with privately and entirely local on-device processing
• Stronger protections around the factory reset and remote lock processes as well as one-time password access
• More extensive ongoing scans of already-installed apps to safeguard against any deceptive behavior
• A security-minded auto-restart system that automatically restarts a device — thus re-encrypting all of its data and requiring a password to unlock and get into anything — anytime it’s been inactive for three consecutive days
• And expanded access to an Identity Check option that requires biometric authentication to change any sensitive system security settings

Some of these elements may be included in the upcoming Android 16 update, while others could show up separately via smaller subsequent rollouts. (Google sometimes even sends these sorts of improvements out through under-the-hood updates to Play-Store-housed Android system elements, which means they reach every device worldwide at the same time — without any reliance on notoriously unreliable device-makers to do the lifting. That happened just recently, in fact, with a new improvement that automatically revokes permissions for any apps that are deemed to be dangerous.)

However and whenever they reach us, though, they’re all actively in the works and headed our way. And they’re all excellent illustrations of why, even outside of any more apparent surface-level considerations, Android system upgrades absolutely do matter and should always be a key consideration in any device-buying decision.

2. Smarter Android efficiency

Aside from the important but not exactly visible under-the-hood enhancements, Google’s got a trio of truly tantalizing twists under development for Android — and they’re all things you’ll absolutely notice and almost certainly appreciate.

First and most exciting for me, personally, is the advent of a platform-wide dock-style taskbar that could completely reimagine how we multitask and get around our devices. It’s seemingly the same concept introduced with the first Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet and available in a limited capacity, in certain large-screen environments, already.

If you’ve ever used a computer of any kind, it’ll immediately feel familiar. See for yourself:

The Android taskbar, as seen on Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold phone.

JR Raphael, IDG

That’s it — the bar at the bottom of the screen. But mundane as it may seem, man alive, lemme tell ya: It makes a world of difference in your day-to-day Android experience.

That bar, which in its current form can either be summoned on demand with a special swipe gesture or set to remain visible at all times, makes it as easy as can be to pull up any app, anytime — without having to first galumph back to your home screen and wade around to find it. You can hop instantly to any app you’ve got set as a favorite, swiftly switch to any app you’ve used recently, or access your entire app drawer on demand right then and there, even, with just one more tap.

Maybe even more interesting yet is the way the taskbar puts Android’s long-out-of-sight and oft-forgotten screen-splitting system front and center for the first time in — well, ever. Just press and hold any icon in the taskbar and drag it up into the main screen area, and…poof: You’ve got both apps visible together.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?quality=50&strip=all 600w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=289%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 289w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=162%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 162w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=81%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 81w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=463%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 463w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=347%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 347w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=241%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 241w" width="600" height="622" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px">The Android taskbar lets you start a split screen simply by dragging an icon up.

JR Raphael, IDG

I’ve been begging Google to bring this same smart setup to all Android environments, regardless of their screen size, since we first saw the thing in action a couple years back. (You can technically force it to happen on any Android device, incidentally, but it requires some crafty configuring and awkward compromises.) Now, it looks like the company’s listening and we’ll likely see this one in front of us everywhere before long, even if the development hasn’t officially been announced just yet.

If that isn’t enough, signs suggest Google’s also cookin’ up a new native Android Desktop Mode that’d let you plug a phone into an external monitor — with a keyboard and mouse connected — and use it like an actual computer. You’d see a fully functional desktop-style interface on the monitor while your phone remains in its standard usable state. It’s similar to systems certain Android device-makers are already offering, but as a native feature built into Android itself, it’d be more broadly available, standardized, and also actively (and consistently) developed and supported. Again, this one isn’t yet official, but it’s plainly being developed out in the open and where anyone can see it.

Last but not least, a rather bold new design change is now officially comin’ our way — one that brings bulky elements, bright colors, and all sorts of wacky fonts into Android’s exterior. Like any interface evolution, it’s bound to be divisive. (To wit: I asked readers of my Android Intelligence newsletter what they thought about the look last Friday, following an early leak of the info. As of this writing, 17% say they hate it, 14% say they love it, and everyone else falls somewhere in the middle.)

Google, for its part, is convinced the updated visuals will result in an easier-to-use, more efficient Android interface — with “time to tap on key actions decrease[d] by seconds” compared to the current approach.

Only time will tell if that holds true for all of us, but combined with all the other incoming elements we just went over, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that the Android experience we know and love is on the brink of a near-total reinvention.

And despite the all-consuming AI focus we’re certain to see at Google I/O next week, none of this has anything to do with Gemini.

Want even more Googley knowledge? Join my Android Intelligence newsletter to get practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters.

Microsoft 365 (and Office 365) subscribers get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches, and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing this for you, so you don’t have to.

Following are summaries of the updates to Microsoft 365/Office 365 for Windows over the past year, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.

Note: This story covers updates released to the Current Channel for Microsoft 365/Office 365 subscriptions. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the Microsoft 365 Insider blog.

Version 2504 (Build 18730.20168)

Release date: May 13, 2025

This build fixes a bug in which users were seeing high CPU usage when typing in Outlook. It also includes a variety of security updates: see details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2504 (Build 18730.20168).

Version 2504 (Build 18730.20142)

Release date: May 6, 2025

This build includes various bug and performance fixes.

Get more info about Version 2504 (Build 18730.20142).

Version 2504 (Build 18730.20122)

Release date: April 29, 2025

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which PowerPoint was unable to open a file from a network mapped drive from File Explore, another in which Word closed unexpectedly when opening .doc files, and another for the entire Office suite in which large 3D files couldn’t be inserted.

Get more info about Version 2504 (Build 18730.20122).

Version 2503 (Build 18623.20208)

Release date: April 17, 2025

This build fixes a bug that could cause Excel to stop responding.

Get more info about Version 2503 (Build 18623.20208).

Version 2503 (Build 18623.20178)

Release date: April 8, 2025

This build fixes a single bug in Word in which users may have encountered an issue with saving, seeing the message “saving…” in the title bar. It  also includes a variety of security updates. Go here for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2503 (Build 18623.20178).

Version 2503 (Build 18623.20156)

Release date: April 2, 2025

This build lets you use Dark Mode in Excel, which darkens your entire sheet, including cells, and may reduce eye strain. It also fixes several bugs, including one in Word in which opening specific files that contain many tracked changes and comments resulted in poor performance, and one in PowerPoint in which the app was not displaying the icon for an inserted PDF object.

Get more info about Version 2503 (Build 18623.20156).

Version 2502 (Build 18526.20168)

Release date: March 11, 2025

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which some Word files with numerous tracked changes and comments were slow. It also includes a variety of security updates: see details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2502 (Build 18526.20168).

Version 2502 (Build 18526.20144)

Release date: March 5, 2025

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Word in which the default font size may not be 12pt as expected, and another in which PowerPoint automatically closed when the system went into hibernate or sleep mode.

Get more info about Version 2502 (Build 18526.20144).

Version 2501 (Build 18429.20158)

Release date: February 11, 2025

This build removes the option to display Track Changes balloons in left margin in Word. It also includes a variety of security updates. See “Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates” for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2501 (Build 18429.20158).

Version 2501 (Build 18429.20132)

Release date: January 30, 2025

In this build, the advanced Track Changes option to set the margin for balloons in Word has been removed.

A wide variety of bugs have also been fixed, including one in which ActiveX controls used an excessive amount of GDI handles in PowerPoint, and another for the entire Office suite in which images couldn’t be pasted from SharePoint.

 Get more info about Version 2501 (Build 18429.20132).

Version 2412 (Build 18324.20194)

Release date: January 16, 2025

This build fixes one bug, in which apps would exit unexpectedly when running on Windows Server 2016.

Get more info about Version 2412 (Build 18324.20194).

Version 2412 (Build 18324.20190)

Release date: January 14, 2025

This build fixes a bug in Word in which the layout of tables were changed unexpectedly. It also includes a variety of security updates. See Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2412 (Build 18324.20190).

Version 2412 (Build 18324.20168)

Release date: January 7, 2025

This build makes tables in Outlook more accessible for screen readers. It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Word in which a document saved to a network shared folder and set to “Always Open Read-Only” would open in “Editing” mode, and another for the entire Office suite in which application didn’t render the grid properly after switching from page break preview to normal view.

Get more info about Version 2412 (Build 18324.20168).

Version 2411 (Build 18227.20162)

Release date: December 10, 2024

This build fixes a bug in Word and Outlook where characters didn’t render correctly when using Save Selection to Text Box Gallery. It also includes a variety of security updates. See Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2411 (Build 18227.20162).

Version 2411 (Build 18227.20152)

Release date: December 5, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which some cells might not be rendered properly upon scrolling in a worksheet using freeze panes, one in Word which prevented emails with linked SVG content from saving or sending, and one in which some PowerPoint presentations created by third-party tools didn’t open correctly and some content was removed.

Get more info about Version 2411 (Build 18227.20152).

Version 2410 (Build 18129.20158)

Release date: November 12, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which all characters didn’t appear correctly when creating an Outlook task from OneNote, and one in PowerPoint in which embedded BMP images in the PowerPoint slide were not opening.

This build also includes a variety of security updates. See Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2410 (Build 18129.20158).

Version 2410 (Build 18129.20116)

Release date: October 28, 2024

This build enables filtering capabilities for the comment pane in Excel and fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which the title bar no longer showed a “Saved” status for locally saved files, and one in PowerPoint in which a graphics-related issue caused the app to close unexpectedly at times.

Get more info about Version 2410 (Build 18129.20116).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20160)

Release date: October 15, 2024

This build fixes a single bug in Word, in which emails with linked SVG content couldn’t be saved or sent.

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20160).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20140)

Release date: October 8, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which text wasn’t clearly visible in High Contrast Mode when using “Draft with Copilot” and referencing a meeting under “Reference your content.”

This build also includes multiple security updates. See Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20140).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20104)

Release date: September 25, 2024

This build fixes a single bug, in which when you saved a file in Word, the save status was missing from the Title bar.

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20104).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20096)

Release date: September 23, 2024

This build improves the user experience for selecting which users should have which permissions when a sensitivity label configured for user-defined permissions is applied to a file or when configuring standalone Information Rights Management through the Restrict Access feature. This change affects Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which Document Mode would switch from “editing” to “viewing” if user enabled “Track Changes” and set “For Everyone.”

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20096).

Version 2408 (Build 17928.20156)

Release date: September 10, 2024

This update will remove Flip video support when the service goes offline on October 1, 2024. The build also includes a variety of security updates. Go here for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2408 (Build 17928.20156).

Version 2408 (Build 17928.20114)

Release date: August 26, 2024

This build allows you to disable connected experiences for privacy concerns without impacting data security policies, such as sensitivity labels. Services associated with Microsoft Purview (e.g., sensitivity labels and rights management) are no longer controlled by policy settings to manage privacy controls for Microsoft 365 Apps. Instead, these services will rely on their existing security admin controls in Purview portals.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Outlook that caused default SMIME labels to fail to apply when a user replied to or forwarded an unlabeled message, and one for the entire suite in which people couldn’t install Microsoft 365 apps on an enrolled device.

Get more info about Version 2408 (Build 17928.20114).

Version 2407 (Build 17830.20166)

Release date: August 13, 2024

This build includes a variety of security updates for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Visio, and the entire Office suite. See Microsoft’s Release notes for Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2407 (Build 17830.20166).

Version 2407 (Build 17830.20138)

Release date: August 1, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which coauthoring on text boxes in Excel sometimes gave unexpected results, another in PowerPoint in which line widths were not preserved when exporting arrow shapes to PDF, and another in Word in which revisions were sometimes skipped when reviewing using VBA.

Get more info about Version 2407 (Build 17830.20138).

Version 2406 (Build 17726.20160)

Release date: July 9, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Word and Excel in which characters don’t appear correctly in Text Box Gallery. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2406 (Build 17726.20160).

Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126)

Release date: June 26, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which Excel documents might be unexpectedly edited when a mandatory sensitivity label has not been applied, one that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly shortly after launch for some users, and one in which pasting data from Word or Excel to an Outlook template as a link would cause an error message to appear.

Get more info about Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126).

Version 2405 (Build 17628.20164)

Release date: June 19, 2024

This build includes a variety of unspecified bug and performance fixes.

Get more info about Version 2405 (Build 17628.20164).

Version 2405 (Build 17628.20144)

Release date: June 11, 2024

This build fixes one bug, which prevented users from sending mail for a few hours after updating add-ins with on-send events. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2405 (Build 17628.20144).

Version 2405 (Build 17628.20110)

Release date: May 30, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which an embedded workbook in .xls format might not have closed properly, one that that caused Outlook to close when using Copilot Summarize, one in Word in which content controls may have been removed when coauthoring, and one for the entire Office suite in which the Organization Chart Add-In for Microsoft programs was not loading properly.

Get more info about Version 2405 (Build 17628.20110).

Version 2404 (Build 17531.20152)

Release date: May 14, 2024

This build fixes a number of bugs, including one in Word where content controls might be removed when coauthoring, and one that caused Sovereign users to be unable to create ToDo tasks from Outlook.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2404 (Build 17531.20152).

Version 2404 (Build 17531.20140)

Release date: May 7, 2024

This build fixes two bugs in Outlook, one in which it closed unexpectedly using the Scheduling Assistant when creating a new meeting or viewing an existing meeting, and another that caused add-in developers to hit timeouts when retrieving notifications from an Outlook client context.

Get more info about Version 2404 (Build 17531.20140) .

Version 2404 (Build 17531.20120)

Release date: April 29, 2024

This build reduces workbook size bloat from unnecessary cell formatting with a new “Check Performance” task pane. In addition, it fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which the default font could not be set; one in Outlook in which custom forms from MAPI form servers stopped responding; one in PowerPoint in which online videos did not play in some cases; one in which when opening certain Word documents would cause the error, “Word experienced an error trying to open the file”; and one in which the Office update installer appeared to be unresponsive.

Get more info about Version 2404 (Build 17531.20120) .

Version 2403 (Build 17425.20176)

Release date: April 9, 2024

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2403 (Build 17425.20176).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20184)

Release date: March 12, 2024

This build fixes three bugs: one in which Access closed unexpectedly, one in which Excel closed unexpectedly when opening files with pivot tables and table design in macro-enabled files, and one in which Word closed unexpectedly when the undo function was used.

This build also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20184).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20162)

Release date: March 4, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one that crashed Outlook when a link was clicked on, and another for the entire Office suite in which opened Office apps didn’t automatically start when a laptop was reopened, and an error message appeared after manual relaunch.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20162).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142)

Release date: February 28, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when expanding a conversation in the search results from a search of “All Mailboxes,” and another in which users were not able to create a bullet list with hyphens in PowerPoint.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20236)

Release date: February 13, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which macros were being corrupted when saving Excel files and another that affected the entire Office suite in which add-ins would not load after Click trust for content add-in was selected.

This build also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20236).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20194)

Release date: February 1, 2024

This build fixes a single bug in which expanded groups in the message list collapsed when users changed which column they were arranged by.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20194).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20182)

Release date: January 30, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which Excel would stop responding when saving changes, one in PowerPoint in which Notes and Slide layout would open with incorrect proportions when a file was opened from a protected view, and one in Word in which comment cards appeared too wide and cut off text when changing or switching the screen in use.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20182).

Version 2312 (Build 17126.20132)

Release date: January 9, 2024

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2312 (Build 17126.20132).

Version 2312 (Build 17126.20126)

Release date: January 4, 2023

This build introduces a new sensitivity toolbar in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that helps users understand the security policies that apply to their documents. It’s available when users are creating copies of their documents in File / Save As. In addition, Office now had a new default theme, which Microsoft says is “more modern and accessible.”

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which Custom Menu text was truncated when right-clicking in a cell, one in PowerPoint in which restoring a previous version of a presentation was not working as expected when using Version History, and one in Word in which the content control end tag was marked at the end of the document automatically if the document was edited in Word Online and then opened in Word desktop.

Get more info about  Version 2312 (Build 17126.20126).

Version 2311 (Build 17029.20108)

Release date: December 12, 2023

This build fixes one bug in Outlook, in which the message list was blank when switching between the “Focused” and “Other” views.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2311 (Build 17029.20108).

Version 2311 (Build 17029.20068)

Release date: November 29, 2023

This build automatically inserts image captioning for Excel’s images. When you insert an image into a spreadsheet, accessibility image captioning is automatically generated for you.

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which list box controls would not respond to mouse clicks after scrolling using the mouse wheel, and one in Word in which the language of a presentation was not retained when saving or exporting the presentation to a PDF file.

Get more info about Version 2311 (Build 17029.20068).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20150)

Release date: November 14, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which Outlook failed to comply with the default browser settings for some users, and another in which new lines were added to an Outlook signature when pressing Enter in the body of the email.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20150).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20124)

Release date: Oct. 31, 2023

This build fixes a bug that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when clicking the More link in the Search results list.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20124).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20106)

Release date: Oct. 25, 2023

In this build, the Teams Meeting App works in Outlook, too. With it, you’ll be able to configure a meeting app while scheduling an invite in Outlook. The meeting app will be ready to use when you chat or join the meeting on Teams.

A wide variety of bugs have also been fixed, including one in Excel where certain Pivot Tables would load slowly; one in which OneNote would close unexpectedly when rapidly navigating from one .PDF file to another .PDF file between different sections, or when performing an undo operation on a .PDF printout insertion; and one in the entire Office suite that caused unexpected black borders to appear around screen captures added with the Insert Screenshot functionality.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20106).

Version 2309 (Build 16827.20166)

Release date: October 10, 2023

This build fixes two bugs, one in which users were missing their Outlook add-ins, and another in Word in which subheading numbering with a custom Style would disappear if the file was saved and reopened. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2309 (Build 16827.20166).

Version 2309 (Build 16827.20130)

Release date: September 28, 2023

This build introduces two new features, including the ability to disable specific types of automatic data conversions in Excel and support for the “Present in Teams” button to present local files in PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams.

Several bugs have also been fixed, including one in which the setting to control how Outlook opens previous items at start-up was missing from the Options window, and another in Word in which the Add-ins tab was not visible when using custom toolbar information.

Get more info about Version 2309 (Build 16827.20130).

Version 2308 (Build 16731.20234)

Release date: September 12, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when viewing an email, and another in PowerPoint in which the presenter view slide section zoomed in and out when zooming in the notes section.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2308 (Build 16731.20234).

Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) on Tuesday said it is laying off 3% of its employees, which equals an estimated 6,000 positions.

This move will reportedly include a cut in the number of middle managers in the company, though it will affect “all levels, teams, and geographies,” Microsoft told CNBC, which reported that the company is “aiming to reduce management layers.” It reported that the current layoffs are not tied to performance, unlike the round of layoffs in January.

A second goal, according to another report, is to increase the ratio of coders versus non-coders on projects.

While no official announcement about the layoffs was issued, a Microsoft spokesperson told Computerworld, “we continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace.”

Patrick Moorhead, founder and chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “technology companies like Microsoft are rebalancing workforces to align with AI delivery and their internal use of AI tools. Delivering AI tools requires different developer and data skillsets, and Microsoft’s AI tools are making employees more efficient.”

Big tech headcount reductions routine

John Annand, practice lead at Info-Tech Research Group, agreed, and said that when it comes to staffing requirements, “the most important thing to remember is that big tech doesn’t operate quite like other companies. A periodic headcount reduction of 3%–5% is often routine housekeeping for firms like Microsoft, Cisco, Meta, Salesforce, and IBM.”

It is, he said, “certainly devastating for those affected, but the impact on customers is usually non-existent unless, like Google, for example, they cut an entire division or product team that your company happens to rely upon. In the case of stockholders, the impact can even be positive as the market rewards a perceived increase in profitability.” 

In addition, noted Melody Brue, VP and principal analyst at Moor, “for companies selling AI as a tool for workforce efficiency, a layoff of their own staff serves as a tangible demonstration that their technology delivers on its promise. This offers a subtle, often overlooked proof point that AI can achieve the very productivity gains they market, not just cost savings or headcount reduction.”

Reprioritization of resources

Jason Wong, distinguished VP analyst on the digital workplace team at Gartner, said, “Microsoft has made some significant organizational and operational changes over the past two years, such as discontinuing investments in HoloLens, creating a new CoreAI engineering division and unifying AI under Mustafa Suleyman. These changes likely drive the staffing changes we are witnessing, and Microsoft recalibrates talent and resources to deliver on new products and services.”

As well, Annand observed, “in today’s announcement, Microsoft explicitly cites a reduction in middle management and so seems to be taking what is so far, a very successful page from Lip-Bu Tan’s book as he focuses on turning around Intel.”

Google, he said, has “also recently been experimenting with modifying the day-to-day expectations of middle management with an eye for streamlining and increasing efficiency. The specter of AI coming for white-collar jobs looms large these days, but substantiating that fear remains difficult. In the drive for efficacy, a partnership between AI and their human counterparts, at least for now, seems to be required.” 

Jason Andersen, a VP and principal analyst at Moor, summed up the layoff announcement this way: “What we are seeing in software development organizations is a reprioritization of resources due to AI. Methods like scrum or other agile approaches can be significantly streamlined using AI tooling and AI-capable people.” This, he said, “leads to less effort on reporting and data gathering, so a reduction of this size makes sense. And for enterprise customers, this is good. More money goes into making better products and less goes into Microsoft internal processes.”

Keep up with tech industry layoff news in Computerworld’s layoff tracker.

Microsoft 365 apps for Windows 10 will continue to get security updates until Oct. 10, 2028, three years after the company ends support for Windows 10 this coming Oct. 14, Microsoft said in a blog post.

At the same time, the company noted that the apps could experience performance issues over time when running on Windows 10. If a customer contacts support about a problem with an M365 app for Windows 10 that does not occur on Windows 11, the customer will be told to upgrade to Windows 11.

If the user can’t do so, support will then only assist in troubleshooting the problem. Technical solutions might be limited — or not available at all. And it will not be possible to report bugs or request other product updates.

The extension of M365 support is a change from Microsoft’s plans in January, when it said support would end in October 2025.

Generative AI (genAI) companies are adopting a larger assortment of open-source and smaller language models that excel at automating specific tasks.

A number of genAI players, including HubSpot, Microsoft, and ServiceNow, are hot on the trail of open-source models that can be easily customized to create AI agents that better meet customer needs.

“Companies are going to have hundreds of models…, they’re going to be domain-specific models that are getting built rapidly now,” said Craig LeClair, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Service providers are adopting open-source AI models for several reasons, including flexibility, customization, smaller footprints, and lower computing costs.

Microsoft is building an ensemble of small-footprint AI tools that will include open-source AI models for Microsoft 365 that will work offline, said Aparna Chennapragada, Microsoft’s chief product officer of experiences and devices.

These smaller models are aimed at offline users who want to use M365 on Windows AI PCs with Copilot and neural processors. “Our own internal teams are also looking at post-training these models for specific use cases, for example, for writing versus analysis versus image creation, etc.,” Chennapragada said.

Open-source models that are smaller in size are an important part of the pipeline, Chennapragada said.

Microsoft’s own open-source small language model, called Phi Silica, is available for Windows developers to write offline applications that take advantage of NPUs.

HubSpot last week expanded its availability of agents in its Breeze AI platform, which already includes genAI tools to improve employee productivity. Then company’s offerings include a back-end of open-source models to automate tasks. The company offers Mistral AI SAS’s open-source Mistral AI LLM to their AI agent pipeline for sales, marketing and support processes, and Stability Diffusion 3 Large for text-to-image generation.

The open-source models are in addition to OpenAI’s proprietary GPT and Anthropic’s Claude large language models (LLMs). HubSpot’s AI model card lists the models available to customers.

“Our AI strategy is not trying to develop any sort of deep proprietary models or do something that no one else is doing,” said Nicholas Holland, head of AI and senior vice president of product at HubSpot. “Our job is to apply the best AI to our customers’ problems.”

The back-end models for agents depend on the task, speed, quality and accuracy, needed he said. Some agents require extensive reasoning, while  smaller models built on open-source principles might excel at text or image generation, he said.

“We work with all the vendors; we have open-source models that we use. We look at the customer problem and are able to apply the best solution at the time,” Holland said.

Customers don’t have to worry about models or tokens, as orchestrators do the job in the background. Humans are still in the loop — and remain an important part of the process, he said.

“To use a reasoning model requires a certain degree of depth, thinking complexity, and cost. Once you have the reasoning done, if you want to generate text or imagery, that’s a different model that might be less expensive,” he said.

HubSpot opted for the Stability Diffusion 3 model for image generation after trying out DALL-E 3 from OpenAI. The latest Stability Diffusion model 3.5 is considered open source under specific terms.

ServiceNow collaborated with Nvidia to develop an open-source genAI model called Apriel to create learning AI agents that decide on processes such as IT support, human resources, and customer-service functions.

With only 15 billion parameters, Apriel is lean and specializes in reasoning, said Dorit Zilbershot, ServiceNow’s group vice president of AI experiences and innovation. “If you look at the foundation models, they’re very big, very slow…. This is only a 15-billion-parameters model, and it’s highly trained on reasoning,” Zilbershot said.

The Apriel model should provide faster inferencing while also saving on computational costs, Zilbershot said.

A fully governed AI platform is going to have a list of approved models that fit within a company’s AI policies, Forrester’s LeClair said.

“I think there’s a drift back to on-premise. Companies are going to want models that have their proprietary information training them. They’re going to want really good control because they’re worried about IT leakage. So open-source models are going to be run in controlled on-premise environments,” said LeClair, who has authored a book about automation and AI in the workplace.

Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) has spent decades making sure everyone can use its hardware, which is why the company regularly celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day with news about upcoming improvements in its operating systems. This year’s collection is particularly compelling, including a tool to let you read real-time Live Captions of conversations taking place around you using your Apple Watch, enabling people with poor hearing to engage more actively during meetings.

The company announces a raft of new accessibility features in the weeks prior to WWDC each year. This year is a bit of a feature jamboree, with a host of new accessibility tools promised in Apple’s devices when iOS 19 and macOS 16 ship later this year. The company has invested in accessibility for 40 years, ever since 1985.

What Apple said

“At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year. That includes tools to help people access crucial information, explore the world around them, and do what they love.”

“Building on 40 years of accessibility innovation at Apple, we are dedicated to pushing forward with new accessibility features for all of our products,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives. 

Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store

The big new addition this year, Accessibility Nutrition Labels, are similar to the Privacy Nutrition Labels Apple introduced some years ago but focused on accessibility. These labels will show you which of Apple’s accessibility tools (including Voice Over, Reduced Motion, and many more) the app supports. The idea is to help consumers identify those apps most suitable for their needs. “These labels will give people with disabilities a new way to easily make more informed decisions and make purchases with a new level of confidence,” said Eric Bridges, the American Foundation for the Blind’s president and CEO.

Apple A Mac surprise

In a really interesting use of iPhone Continuity Camera, Apple is bringing the Magnifier app to the Mac. Magnifier has been available on iPhones since 2016; it helps users zoom in, read text, and detect nearby objects. Now it works with the Mac using Continuity Camera to take images from the iPhone or using an attached USB camera. You might use this feature to read a whiteboard during a presentation, or to read documents using Desk View. The tool lets you adjust brightness, contrast, color filters, and even perspective to make text and images easier to see.

New tool: Accessibility Reader

The all-new Accessibility Reader tool takes text from the world around you, digitizes it and makes it available to you in a legible on-screen format. It’s a new system-wide reading mode designed to make text easier to read for users with a wide range of disabilities, such as dyslexia or low vision, and it can speak the content. You can launch Accessibility Reader from any app, and you’ll find it in the Magnifier app.

Apple Live Captions on Apple Watch

Given we recently learned Pope Leo XIV wears an Apple Watch, it’s not inconceivable he might use Live Captions with watchOS 11. It’s based on Live Listen on your iPhone, which uses your microphone to stream conversation directly to AirPods and Made for iPhone hearing aids. Live Listen controls will now be available on an Apple Watch when a session is active on iPhone, meaning users can view Live Captions on their watch of what their iPhone hears while listening along to the audio. You can also start and stop Live Listen sessions or jump back in a session to pick up on something you missed.

The idea here is that you’ll be able to place your iPhone near the person/people you need to listen to and then hear, read, and control the Live Listen session from across the room. This will be invaluable for students with hearing problems, or anyone with a memory that favors written words above spoken speech.  They are particularly invaluable when used with Assistive Touch.

Braille Access

Apple’s new tools for braille turn any Apple device into a full-featured braille note taker. There’s a built-in app launcher, which makes it easy to open any app by typing with Braille Screen Input or a connected braille device. Once you’ve opened it, you’ll be able to take notes in braille and perform calculations using Nemeth Braille, a braille code often used in classrooms for maths and science.

Braille Access will also open Braille Ready Format (BRF) files, unlocking books and files previously created on a braille note-taking device. But perhaps the most interesting feature is that, thanks to Live Captions, it’s possible to transcribe conversations in real time directly on braille displays.

Brain Control

This will become more important in down the road. For users with severe mobility disabilities, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS will add a new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), an emerging technology that allows users to control their device without physical movement. The neural link is getting closer.

Apple Vision Pro

There’s some interesting accessibility features coming for visionOS. These include the capacity to magnify everything in view, including surroundings. For VoiceOver users, Live Recognition uses on-device machine learning to describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more. There is one more thing, ostensibly only available to accessibility developers: a new API will enable approved apps to access the main camera to provide live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation in apps like Be My Eyes, giving users more ways to understand their surroundings hands-free.

My take? The digitization of daily life is accelerating.

Many more features

There are more than a dozen improved accessibility features on the way. For example, the setup period for Personal Voice has been reduced to just one minute, rather than overnight; Sound Recognition can also now alert users when their name is called; and Voice Control introduces a new programming mode in Xcode. There are lots of smaller improvements, including a new way to temporarily share your own accessibility settings with another device.

Apple Services

Apple is also celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness day with a range of initiatives across the company. Apple stores will offer displays and training on accessibility features while Apple TV+ shares a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new Apple Original film Deaf President Now!, which premieres on Apple TV+ May 16. Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and Apple News will spotlight stories of people with disabilities and those who are working to make the world more accessible for everyone. The company has also published new how to videos for some of its existing features on YouTube.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

A Windows launch isn’t the end a process — it’s really just the beginning. Microsoft continually works on improving Windows 11 by fixing bugs, releasing security patches, and occasionally adding new features.

In this story we summarize what you need to know about each update released to the public for the most recent version of Windows 11 — currently version 24H2. For each build, we’ve included the date of its release and a link to Microsoft’s announcement about it. The most recent updates appear first.

The easiest way to install updates is via Windows Update. Not sure how? See “How to handle Windows 10 and 11 updates” for full instructions. Note that Windows 11 version 24H2 is being released as a phased rollout and may not be available to you in Windows Update yet.

If you’re still using Windows 10, see “Windows 10: A guide to the updates.” And if you’re looking for information about Insider Program previews for upcoming feature releases of Windows 11, see “Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build?”

Updates for Windows 11 24H2 KB5058411 (OS Build 26100.4061)

Release date: May 13, 2025

This update fixes two bugs, one in which your microphone might have muted unexpectedly, and the other in which the eye controller app didn’t launch. It also has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and May 2025 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5058411.)

KB5055627 (OS Build 26100.3915) Preview

Release date: April 25, 2025

This build gradually rolls out several new features for Copilot+ PCs, including a preview of Windows Recall. When you opt in, Recall takes snapshots of your activity so you can quickly find and go back to what you have seen before on your PC. With it, you can use a timeline to find the content you remember seeing.

Copilot+ PCs also get a new natural-language Windows search in which you can search for anything on your PC without having to remember specific file names, exact words in file content, or settings names. Just describe what you’re looking for. On Copilot+ PCs, you can also more easily find photos stored and saved in the cloud by typing your own words (like “summer picnics”) in the search box at the upper-right corner of File Explorer. 

All PCs get a number of new features, including speech recap, in which you can keep track of what Narrator has spoken and access it for quick reference. With speech recap, you can quickly access spoken content, follow along with live transcription, and copy what Narrator last said using keyboard shortcuts.

A variety of bugs are being fixed, including one in which some devices experienced intermittent internet connections when resuming from sleep mode. Several AI components have also been updated.

There are two known issues in this build, including one in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox from the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5055627 Preview.)

KB5055523 (OS Build 26100.3775)

Release date: April 8, 2025

This update includes a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and April 2025 Security Updates. 

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are two known issues in this build, including one in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows. 

(Get more info about KB5055523.)

KB5053656 (OS Build 26100.3624) Preview

Release date: March 27, 2025

This build gradually rolls out several new features for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, including one in which you can search for anything on your PC without having to remember specific file names, exact words in file content, or settings names. Just describe what you’re looking for.

On Copilot+ PCs you can also more easily find photos stored and saved in the cloud by typing your own words (like “summer picnics”) in the search box at the upper-right corner of File Explorer. In addition to photos stored locally on your Copilot+ PC, photos from the cloud will now show up in the search results together. 

Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs also will allow you to use natural-language processing in voice access, by using your own words rather than using rigid, predefined commands.

In addition, the build includes a variety of bugs being immediately fixed, including one in which some third-party apps rendered the graphics settings page unresponsive.

There are two known issues in this build, including one in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox from the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5053656 Preview.)

KB5053598 (OS Build 26100.3476)

Release date: March 11, 2025

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and March 2025 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are two known issues in this build, including one in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5053598.)

KB5052093 (OS Build 26100.3323) Preview

Release date: February 25, 2025

In this build, a variety of new features are being rolled out gradually, including one that lets you snooze or turn off the “Start backup” reminder in the File Explorer address bar. This only applies if you are not already backing up your files and folder. To view this new option, right-click Start backup.

A number of bug fixes are being rolled out gradually, including one for a bug in which the address bar overlapped files in File Explorer when you used the F11 full-screen mode. A variety of bug fixes take immediate effect, including for a bug in which there were display rendering issues when you tried to connect to certain PCs.

There are two known issues in this build, including one in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows. In addition, devices that have certain Citrix components installed might be unable to complete installation of the January 2025 Windows security update. This issue was observed on devices with Citrix Session Recording Agent (SRA) version 2411.

(Get more info about KB5052093 Preview.)

KB5051987 (OS Build 26100.3194)

Release date: February 11, 2025

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and February 2025 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are three known issues in this build, including one in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5051987.)

KB5050094 (OS Build 26100.3037) Preview

Release date: January 28, 2025

In this build, a variety of new features are being rolled out gradually, including one in which an icon will appear in the system tray when you use an app that supports Windows Studio Effects. This only occurs on a device that has a neural processing unit (NPU). Select the icon to open the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings. To view the app that is using the camera, hover over the icon for a tooltip.

A number of bug fixes are being rolled out gradually, including one for a bug in which a search would sometimes repeat when you didn’t want it to. Other bug fixes are immediately available, including one in which the display of some games appears oversaturated when you use Auto HDR.

There are three known issues in this build, including one in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows. In addition, following the installation of the October 2024 security update, some customers report that the OpenSSH (Open Secure Shell) service fails to start, preventing SSH connections. And devices that have certain Citrix components installed might be unable to complete installation of the January 2025 Windows security update

(Get more info about KB5050094 Preview.)

KB5050009 (OS Build 26100.2894)

Release date: January 14, 2025

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and January 2025 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are three known issues in this build, including one in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5050009.)

KB5048667 (OS Build 26100.2605)

Release date: December 10, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and December 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There is one known issue in this build, in which players on Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5048667.)

KB5046740 (OS Build 26100.2454) Preview

Release date: November 21, 2024

This build adds a number of interface features are being rolled out gradually. The system tray shows a shortened date and time, and there’s a new section for touchscreen edge gestures in Settings. When you right-click an app on the Start menu, a jump list will appear (if the app has a jump list). And if you hold Ctrl + Shift down when you click a jump list item, you open the item as an admin.

A variety of bugs have been fixed in this build, including one in which the users page might have caused Task Manager to stop responding when you use the keyboard.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5046740 Preview.)

KB5046617 (OS Build 26100.2314)

Release date: November 12, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and November 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5046617.)

KB5044384 (OS Build 26100.2161) Preview

Release date: October 24, 2024

In this build, you can now configure the Copilot key on the keyboard. On new devices, the key opens the Copilot app. If you sign in to your account using a Microsoft Entra ID, the key opens the M365 app. You can make the key open a different app or open Search. To do this, go to Settings > Personalization > Text input. 

In addition, a variety of features are being rolled out gradually, including one in which you can stop the suggestions to turn off notifications from certain apps. Select the ellipsis (…) in the notification and turn it off. You can also go to Settings > System > Notifications and turn it off from there. 

A variety of bugs have also been fixed, including one in which you were unable to view some parts of the UI when you run certain apps.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5044384 Preview.)

Windows 11 24H2 KB5044284 (OS Build 26100.2033)

Release date: October 8, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and October 2024 Security Updates.

This build also fixes one bug in which the Remote Desktop Gateway Service stopped responding when a service used remote procedure calls (RPC) over HTTP.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5044284.)

Windows 11, version 24H2

Release date: October 1, 2024

The Windows 11 24H2 update (also called Windows 11 2024 Update) is now being gradually rolled out. It may take some months before it reaches everyone, so you may not have it yet. As with previous annual Windows updates, it’s not a major upgrade, but does include a variety of minor new features.

Following are the highlights for end users:

• File Explorer gets several new features, including support for TAR and 7z compression and the ability to add metadata to PNG files, so you can add information to your images.
• New privacy settings for Wi-Fi networks give more control over which applications can access the list of nearby Wi-Fi networks. Limiting the applications that can access that list can make it more difficult for others to pinpoint your location.
• You can now join Wi-Fi networks by scanning QR codes, and create a QR code to allow others to share your mobile hotspot with others.
• A new Energy Saver mode reduces electric consumption on desktop PCs as well as laptops, helping you reduce your carbon footprint and improving laptop battery life. It reduces energy consumption from background tasks as well as those running in the foreground.
• Copilot now runs as a separate app, and is movable and resizable like any other app, rather than running in a sidebar panel.
• Copilot+ PCs get several new features, including Cocreator in Paint, which uses AI to generate images; enhancing video calls with AI-powered noise cancellation and improved lighting; and what Microsoft calls Auto Super Resolution, which gives games higher resolution and offers smoother gameplay.

For IT admins, highlights include:

• Policy improvements and automatic account management for Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS)
• Personal Data Encryption (PDE) for users’ Documents, Desktop, and Pictures folders
• App Control for Business
• Windows protected print mode
• Local Security Authority (LSA) protection
• Support for Wi-Fi 7
• SHA-3 support

See this blog post from Microsoft’s Harjit Dhaliwal for more information.

Prerelease updates for Windows 11 24H2 KB5043178 (OS Build 26100.1882) Preview

Release date: September 30, 2024

This build for Windows 11 24H2 offers a variety of new features, some of which will show up immediately and some of which are being rolled out gradually. Among the features that will roll out gradually is a new energy recommendation to turn off high dynamic range (HDR). This helps to conserve energy on devices that have HDR displays. Go to Settings > Power & battery > Energy recommendations.

Among the features available immediately is one that lets you manage your Copilot Pro subscription in Settings. Sign in to your Microsoft account and go to Settings > Accounts.

Several bugs have been fixed, including one in which Task Manager stopped responding when you switched from a high-contrast theme to a normal theme.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5043178 Preview.)

KB5043080 (OS Build 26100.1742)

Release date: September 10, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and September 2024 Security Updates.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5043080.)

KB5041865 (OS Build 26100.1591) Preview

Release date: August 27, 2024

This build for Windows 11 24H2 offers a variety of new features that are being rolled out gradually, including one in which you can share content to your Android device from the Windows Share window.

Several bugs have been fixed, including one in which a deadlock occurred in the domain controller when it started up in the DNS client.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5041865 Preview.)

KB5041571 (OS Build 26100.1457)

Release date: August 13, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and August 2024 Security Updates. It also fixes several bugs, including one in which the “Use my Windows user account” checkbox was not available on the lock screen to connect to Wi-Fi.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5041571.)

KB5040529 (OS Build 26100.1301) Preview

Release date: July 30, 2024

This build for Windows 11 24H2 offers a variety of new features that are being rolled out gradually, including the new account manager being on the Start menu. When you use a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows, you will get a glance at your account benefits. This feature also makes it easy to manage your account settings.

One feature is being rolled out immediately, in which Widgets icons on the taskbar are no longer pixelated or fuzzy. You also get a larger set of animated icons.

Several bugs have been fixed, including one in which devices that use certain WLAN cards stopped responding.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5040529 Preview.)

KB5040435 (OS Build 26100.1150)

Release date: July 9, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and July 2024 Security Updates. It also This update adds PCR 4 to PCR 7 and 11 for the default Secure Boot validation profile.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5040435.)

KB50439304 (OS Build 26100.1000) Preview

Release date: June 28, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) failed to verify the policies of some apps.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5041865 Preview.)

KB5039239 (OS Build 26100.863)

Release date: June 15, 2024

This build pins Copilot to the taskbar and makes it behave like a traditional app that can be resized and moved. The build also fixes several bugs, including one in which the volume of Bluetooth devices were automatically set to maximum when you connected to them.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Arm devices are unable to download and play Roblox via the Microsoft Store on Windows.

(Get more info about KB5039239.)

Updates to Windows 11 version 23H2 KB5043145 (OS Builds 22621.4249 and 22631.4249) Preview

Release date: September 24, 2024

This build, for both Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, offers a variety of new features and bug fixes, some of which will show up immediately, and some of which are being rolled out gradually. Among the features that will roll out gradually is the ability to share local files directly from the search results that appear in the Search box on the taskbar. Among the bug fixes that roll out immediately are one that addresses an issue in which Task Manager stopped responding when you switched from a high contrast theme to a normal theme.

(Get more info about KB5043145 Preview.)

KB5043076 (OS Builds 22621.4169 and 22631.4169)

Release date: September 10, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and September 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There is one known issue in this build, in which you might face issues with booting Linux if you have enabled the dual-boot setup for Windows and Linux in your device. Your device might fail to boot Linux and show the error message “Verifying shim SBAT data failed: Security Policy Violation. Something has gone seriously wrong: SBAT self-check failed: Security Policy Violation.”

(Get more info about KB5043076.)

KB5041587 (OS Builds 22621.4112 and 22631.4112) Preview

Release date: August 27, 2024

This build, for both Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, includes the ability to share content to your Android device from the Windows Share window. To do it, must pair your Android device to your Windows PC and use the Link to Windows app on your Android device and Phone Link on your PC.

In Voice Access, you can also now dictate the characters that you spell at a faster speed, and you have more editing options for the commands that select, delete, and move within text. The build also fixes several bugs, including one in which when you pressed Ctrl + F, sometimes the search did not start.

The new features and bug fixes will roll out to users gradually.

(Get more info about KB5041587 Preview.)

KB5041585 (OS Builds 22621.4037 and 22631.4037)

Release date: August 13, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and August 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5041585.)

KB5040527 (OS Builds 22621.3958 and 22631.3958) Preview

Release date: July 25, 2024

This build, for both Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, offers a variety of new features and bug fixes, some of which will show up immediately and some of which are being rolled out gradually. Among the features that will roll out gradually is pinning apps to the taskbar by dragging them from the Pinned section of the Start menu, and right-clicking a tab in File Explorer to duplicate it. Among the bug fixes that will roll out gradually is a memory leak that occurred when you interacted with archive folders.

Among the bugs fixed immediately is one in which in Group Policy Preferences you could not choose a group from the target domain for ILT or choose an account from Local Users and Groups.

(Get more info about KB5040527 Preview.)

KB5040442 (OS Builds 22621.3880 and 22631.3880)

Release date: July 9, 2024

This update has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and July 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There is one known issue in this update, in which enterprise users may face issues while upgrading from Windows Pro to a valid Windows Enterprise subscription. OS upgrade operations may fail, and this might be shown in the LicenseAcquisition scheduled task in Task Scheduler > Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Subscription as ‘Access denied error (error code 0x80070005)’ under ‘Last Run Result.’

(Get more info about KB5040442.)

KB5039302 (OS Builds 22621.3810 and 22631.3810) Preview

Release date: June 25, 2024

This build, for both Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, offers a variety of new features and bug fixes, some of which will show up immediately and some of which are being rolled out gradually. Among the bug fixes that will show up immediately is one that addresses an issue in which ejecting USB devices using the Safely Remove Hardware option failed when Task Manager was open.

Among the features that will roll out gradually is a new account manager on the Start menu that makes it easier to manage your account settings and lets you see your account benefits. Also being rolled out gradually is support for Emoji 15.1.

(Get more info about KB5039302 Preview.)

KB5039212 (OS Builds 22621.3737 and 22631.3737)

Release date: June 11, 2024

This update fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which the taskbar might briefly glitch, not respond, or disappear and reappear.

In addition, it has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and June 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5039212.)

KB5037853 (OS Builds 22621.3672 and 22631.3672) Preview

Release date: May 29, 2024

This build introduces a variety of minor feature updates, including one that lets you use your mouse to drag files between breadcrumbs in the File Explorer address bar and another that lets you create QR codes for webpage URLs and cloud files from the Windows share window.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which File Explorer stopped responding when you swiped from a screen edge after turning off edge swiping, and another in which handwriting panels and touch keyboards did not appear when you used a pen.

(Get more info about KB5037853 Preview.)

KB5037771 (OS Builds 22621.3593 and 22631.3593)

Release date: May 14, 2024

This update fixes a bug that caused VPN connections to fail, and another in which Server Message Block (SMB) clients failed to make SMB Multichannel connections, making file transfers are slow.

In addition, it has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and May 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5037771.)

KB506980 (OS Builds 22621.3527 and 22631.3527) Preview

Release date: April 23, 2024

In this build, the Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps. In addition, widgets icons on the taskbar are no longer pixelated or fuzzy, and Windows widgets on the lockscreen are more reliable.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which Windows Local Administrator Password Solution’s Post Authentication Actions (PAAs) did not occur at the end of the grace period. Instead, they occurred at restart.

There is one known issue in this build, in which you might be unable to change your user account profile picture.

(Get more info about KB5036980 Preview.)

KB5036893 (OS Builds 22621.3447 and 22631.3447)

Release date: April 9, 2024

This build offers a wide variety of minor new features, including dedicated mode for Windows 365 Boot. When you sign in on your company-owned device, you also are signed into to your Windows 365 Cloud PC. This uses passwordless authentication, like Windows Hello for Business.

The update also adds suggestions to Snap Layouts. When you hover over the minimize or maximize button of an app to open the layout box, app icons will display various layout options. Use them to help you to choose the best layout option.

In addition, the update changes the apps that appear in the Windows share window. The account you use to sign in affects the apps that are in “Share using.” For example, if you use a Microsoft account (MSA) to sign in, you will see Microsoft Teams (free). When you use a Microsoft Entra ID account (formerly Azure Active Directory) to sign in, your Microsoft Teams (work or school) contacts show instead.

This build also has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and April 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5036893.)

Windows 11 KB5035942 (OS Builds 22621.3374 and 22631.3374) Preview

Release date: March 26, 2024

In addition, in Windows Hello for Business admins can now use mobile device management to turn off the prompt that appears when users sign in to an Entra-joined machine. To do it, turn on the “DisablePostLogonProvisioning” policy setting. After a user signs in, provisioning is off for Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Windows devices using more than one monitor might experience issues with desktop icons moving unexpectedly between monitors or other icon alignment issues when attempting to use Copilot in Windows.

(Get more info about KB5035942 Preview.)

KB5035853 (OS Builds 22621.3296 and 22631.3296)

Release date: March 12, 2024

This build fixes a bug that affected the February 2024 security and preview updates. They might not have installed, and your device might shave stopped responding at 96% with the error code “0x800F0922” and the error message, “Something did not go as planned. No need to worry – undoing changes. Please keep your computer on.”

This build also has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and March 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5035853.)

KB5034848 (OS Builds 22621.3235 and 22631.3235) Preview

Release date: February 29, 2024

In this build, you can now use the Snipping Tool on your PC to edit the most recent photos and screenshots from your Android device. You will get an instant notification on your PC when your Android device captures a new photo or screenshot. To turn this on, go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices. Choose Manage devices and allow your PC to access your Android device.

The build also adds support for the USB 80Gbps standard, the next generation of USB4 that has twice the bandwidth of USB 40Gbps. To use USB 80Gbps, you must have a compatible PC and USB4 or Thunderbolt peripheral.

The build also fixes several bugs, including one in which the Windows Settings Home page randomly stopped responding when you went to the page, and another in which devices failed to make the automatic switch from cellular to Wi-Fi when they could use Wi-Fi.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Windows 11 devices attempting to install the February 2024 security update, released February 13, 2024 (KB5034765), might face installation failures and the system might stop responding at 96%.

(Get more info about KB5034848 Preview.)

KB5034765 (OS Builds 22621.3155 and 22631.3155)

Release date: February 13, 2023

In this build, the Copilot in Windows icon now appears on the right side of the system tray on the taskbar. Also, the display of “Show desktop” at the rightmost corner of the taskbar will be off by default. To turn it back on, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar. You can also right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings. These changes will be gradually rolled out.

This build also has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and February 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5034765.)

KB5034204 (OS Builds 22621.3085 and 22631.3085) Preview

Release date: January 23, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one that stopped search from working on the Start menu for some users because of a deadlock, and another that that caused devices to intermittently stop responding after you installed a print support app.

There is one known issue in this build, in which Windows devices using more than one monitor might experience issues with desktop icons moving unexpectedly between monitors or other icon alignment issues when attempting to use Copilot in Windows (in preview).

(Get more info about KB5034204 Preview.)

KB5034123 (OS Builds 22621.3007 and 22631.3007)

Release date: January 9, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which devices shut down after 60 seconds when you used a smart card to authenticate on a remote system, and another in which some Wi-Fi adapters could not connect to some networks, particularly those that use 802.1x to authenticate.

It also has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and January 2024 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are three known issues in this build, including one affecting ID admins, in which using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in mobile device management apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment. To mitigate the issue in Microsoft Intune, you can set the “Enforce drive encryption type on operating system drives” or “Enforce drive encryption on fixed drives” policies to not configured.

(Get more info about KB5034123.)

KB5033375 (OS Builds 22621.2861 and 22631.2861)

Release date: December 12, 2023

This build has a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and December 2023 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are four known issues in this build, including one which affects ID admins, in which using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in mobile device management (MDM) apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment. To mitigate the issue in Microsoft Intune, you can set the “Enforce drive encryption type on operating system drives” or “Enforce drive encryption on fixed drives” policies to not configured.

(Get more info about KB5033375.)

KB5032288 (OS Builds 22621.2792 and 22631.2792) Preview

Release date: December 4, 2023

In this update, Copilot in Windows (in preview) can be used across multiple displays, and it can be used with Alt+Tab. When you press Alt+Tab, the thumbnail preview for Copilot in Windows appears among other thumbnail previews of open windows. You can switch between them using the Tab keystroke. This is available to a small audience initially and will deploy more broadly in the months that follow.

The update also fixes a wide range of bugs, including one in which the Copilot icon did not show as being as active when it’s open on the taskbar.

There are four known issues in this update, one applicable to IT admins, in which using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in mobile device management (MDM) apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment.

(Get more info about KB5032288 Preview.)

KB5032190 (OS Builds 22621.2715 and 22631.2715)

Release date: November 14, 2023

This build introduces a preview of the Copilot for Windows AI assistant and a File Explorer with a new interface that includes new files displayed as a carousel, and that recognizes local and cloud folders. It also introduces the Windows Backup app that can be used to quickly get your current PC backed up and ready to move to a new PC. In addition, there are many other new features and interface changes throughout Windows, including for Settings, Windows Spotlight, security graphics, voice access, Narrator, and others.

It also includes a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and November 2023 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

There are three known issues in this build, including one that affects ID admins in which using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in MDM apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment. To mitigate the issue in Microsoft Intune, you can set the “Enforce drive encryption type on operating system drives” or “Enforce drive encryption on fixed drives” policies to not configured.

(Get more info about KB5032190.)

KB5031455 (OS Builds 22621.2506 and 22631.2506) Preview

Release date: Oct. 31, 2023

This update introduces a preview of the Copilot for Windows AI assistant and File Explorer with a new interface that includes new files displayed as a carousel, and that recognizes local and cloud folders. It also includes minor interface changes to many parts of the operating system, including taskbar, system tray, security notifications, and more.

There is one known issue, which applies to IT admins: using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in mobile device management (MDM) apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment.

(Get more info about KB5031455 Preview.)

KB5031455 (OS Build 22621.2506) Preview

Release date: Oct. 26, 2023

This build introduces a preview of the Copilot for Windows AI assistant and a File Explorer with a new interface that includes new files displayed as a carousel, and that recognizes local and cloud folders. It also introduces the Windows Backup app that can be used to quickly get your current PC backed up and ready to move to a new PC.

There is one known issue in this build that applies to IT admins: using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in mobile device management (MDM) apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment.

(Get more info about KB5031455 Preview.)

KB5031354 (OS Build 22621.2428)

Release date: October 10, 2023

This build includes a wide variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and October 2023 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5031354.)

KB5030310 (OS Build 22621.2361) Preview

Release date: September 26, 2023

This update adds websites to the Recommended section of the Start menu. These websites come from your browsing history. You can remove any website URL from the Recommended section using the shortcut menu. To turn off the feature, go to Settings > Personalization > Start.

It also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which the search box tooltip did not appear in the correct position, and another in which the search button disappeared when you interacted with the search flyout box.

In addition, if you want to use a variety of new features, such as the AI-driven Copilot for Windows and improvements to File Manager, Paint, and other apps, go to Settings > Windows Update, toggle on “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available,” and then restart your PC. For more details, see Microsoft’s blog post.

(Get more info about KB5030310 Preview.)

KB5030219 (OS Build 22621.2283)

Release date: September 12, 2023

This build removes a blank menu item from the Sticky Keys menu and includes a variety of security updates. For details, see Microsoft’s Security Update Guide and September 2023 Security Updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

(Get more info about KB5030219.)