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What, who, when, where, why, how?

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These are the questions we answer here on TechLinked because as far as we're aware,

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there's no more question words. Unless you count hoomst.

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Windows 11 users who use a third-party app to make Windows 11 less bad

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may have trouble updating their operating system.

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Users of Start All Back, a third-party tool

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that adds back elements of the Windows 7 and 10 UI

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and functionality are being blocked from installing the newest preview build of Windows 11

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due to security or performance issues.

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This is significant since this preview build is allegedly the release-to-manufacturing version

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of the major upcoming 2.4H2 update for Windows 11.

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But the supposed security issues must not concern Microsoft too much

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since the problem has an easy workaround. Simply uninstall Start All Back, upgrade Windows,

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then rename Start All Back's exe file

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to literally anything that doesn't contain Start All Back before reinstalling it.

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Right-click, enter hacking mode.

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In fact, fellow UI customization app Explorer Patcher

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is having the same issue with the exact same workaround.

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As for why Microsoft is doing this, Windows development MVP, Rafael Rivera,

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tweeted that the company is probably blocking unreliable high-crash rate software

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that is extremely sensitive to OS changes. Personally, I would be more open-minded to Rivera's point

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if Windows wasn't being fooled by the world's laziest fake ID.

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Didn't even have to print it out or anything. To be fair, it's not like these are the only apps

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that may block the upgrade. According to multiple sources, a list of blocked apps even contains programs published

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by Microsoft itself. These days, not even Microsoft trusts Microsoft.

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Microsoft also doesn't trust you to manually change your default browser

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by modifying the registry in Windows 10 and 11. This was first noticed by IT consultant,

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Kristoff Kolbic, after two of his programs that let Windows admins alter file associations

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to change default apps, stopped working. Turns out Windows February update

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added a driver, ironically called user choice protection driver,

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that prevents the editing of registry keys for HTTP and HTTPS URL associations,

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as well as the key for PDF file association.

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We're trying to protect you from your own choices.

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Some of you may recognize those as the three things Edge likes to open the most.

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Now, it's important to note that you can still change your default browser

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in the plain old Windows settings, which may explain why Kolbic thinks

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this is a response by Microsoft to the EU Digital Markets Act

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by adding this driver, Windows 10 and 11 can't override default browser policies

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for PCs in the European economic area. But the new driver is also present

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on Windows machines in the US. Presumably so, we can get a little taste

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of what life is like over there. They fancy.

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Fancy cheese, locked down computers. Long, long, why their bread is so long, it must be nice.

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Intel 13th and 14th gen chips are reportedly being returned

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in significant numbers in Korea. This has apparently led Team Blue to investigate the issues.

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According to ZDNet Korea, this all kicked off in the country when Tekken 8 launched.

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More globally, however, complaints about gaming instability on 13th gen chips

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go back to 2022 when they first launched, but complaints about both 13th and 14th gen processors

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have become commonplace over the past few months. There are multiple reports of crashes

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from different users playing different games all with the same story.

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During shader compilation, an error claims there's not enough video memory

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and their game crashes. Interestingly, all of these reviews and reports

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claim that the crashing issues start occurring after one to three months of using Raptor Lake CPUs.

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Now, some suggest the issue may be Silicon degradation,

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the 13th and 14th gen i9 CPUs

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are given so much power and get so hot

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that they basically destroy themselves over time, kind of like celebrities and professional athletes.

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It's not even a joke. Whatever the case is,

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these issues are so prevalent in Korea that an official for one of the three Korean companies

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that distribute and support Intel chips says more than 10 Raptor Lake chips

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are being returned daily. Intel issued a statement to ZDNet Korea

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saying they are aware of and investigating these problems. So perhaps they'll figure out how to release a processor

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that is slightly more stable than Adobe Premiere Pro.

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What did the editor get in the script? When it comes to writing a good QuickBits intro,

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the key is to make it short. You see, since QuickBits themselves are shorter stories,

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you want the introduction to reflect their brevity. I mean, can you imagine what it would be like

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if I just kept talking before we even got to the quick...

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Google is finally rolling out the expansion to their Find My Device network

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a year after they initially planned. Apparently, thank goodness, it's Apple's fault.

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To prevent stocking, Google and Apple announced a joint standard for unknown tracker alerts

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so Android's Bluetooth tags couldn't be used to stock iPhone users and vice versa.

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While Google took a month to get their network to detect mysterious air tags,

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Tim Cook and the Cupertino crew took a year to add their half of the standard to iOS.

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And this is why everyone hates group projects. Is that like Josie and the Pussycats?

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Google is also testing Lookup, a new feature on Pixel phones,

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which will allow users to look up unknown numbers

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straight from their call log, rather than copying the number and pasting it

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into an external phone number search tool. This might seem like just a handy quality of life measure

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for the average person, but it's potentially an extremely useful safety tool

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for less tech-savvy users, who will be able to get more information

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with the click of a button before they continue talking to their new friend, Spam Likely.

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NVIDIA is expected to launch at least one

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RTX 50 series GPU by the end of this year,

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according to graphics card manufacturers who spoke to Taiwanese news outlet, United Daily News.

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In a reassuring sign that Team Green has not, in fact,

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forgotten that people once used their products to play games.

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Apparently gamers can anticipate that NVIDIA will save just enough Blackwell chips

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from the AI accelerator factory to give us an RTX 5090

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and maybe even an RTX 5080, complete with GTDR7 memory

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and a heavy survivorship bias. Microsoft has reportedly claimed in internal documents

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that upcoming Windows AI PCs with Qualcomm's ARM-powered Snapdragon X Elite processors

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will have faster app emulation than Rosetta 2.

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The x86 to ARM translation layer that helped Apple's Intel to M1 transition

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go smoother than the smoothest thing in existence,

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a baby's bottom. If Microsoft is correct though, this Windows transition will go even smoother

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than a baby's bottom, but that's impossible. So logically, they must be talking

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out of their baby's bottoms. Does that make sense? Said AI PCs will also reportedly feature an AI Explorer tool

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that can search for anything you've ever done on your computer.

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And if you get the premium subscription, hold it against you.

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It weighs your browser history on a scale against a feather.

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And Spotify launched a beta version of AI Playlist,

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allowing premium users to generate personalized playlists

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with text prompts. The tool will first be available in the UK and Australia

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where users will be able to generate playlists with real prompt examples

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like sad music for painting dying flowers

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and then further refine those playlists with additional prompts.

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If you're uncomfortable with the thought of AI being everywhere,

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might I suggest generating playlists with prompts like indie bops for when AI takes my job

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or music to be hunted by terminators too?

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It's a vibe. And if you're hunting for more tech news, just stop, okay?

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Just come back on Wednesday and we'll have it ready for you.

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So I don't know why you're, why do we do this?