What, who, when, where, why, how?
These are the questions we answer here on TechLinked because as far as we're aware,
there's no more question words. Unless you count hoomst.
Windows 11 users who use a third-party app to make Windows 11 less bad
may have trouble updating their operating system.
Users of Start All Back, a third-party tool
that adds back elements of the Windows 7 and 10 UI
and functionality are being blocked from installing the newest preview build of Windows 11
due to security or performance issues.
This is significant since this preview build is allegedly the release-to-manufacturing version
of the major upcoming 2.4H2 update for Windows 11.
But the supposed security issues must not concern Microsoft too much
since the problem has an easy workaround. Simply uninstall Start All Back, upgrade Windows,
then rename Start All Back's exe file
to literally anything that doesn't contain Start All Back before reinstalling it.
Right-click, enter hacking mode.
In fact, fellow UI customization app Explorer Patcher
is having the same issue with the exact same workaround.
As for why Microsoft is doing this, Windows development MVP, Rafael Rivera,
tweeted that the company is probably blocking unreliable high-crash rate software
that is extremely sensitive to OS changes. Personally, I would be more open-minded to Rivera's point
if Windows wasn't being fooled by the world's laziest fake ID.
Didn't even have to print it out or anything. To be fair, it's not like these are the only apps
that may block the upgrade. According to multiple sources, a list of blocked apps even contains programs published
by Microsoft itself. These days, not even Microsoft trusts Microsoft.
Microsoft also doesn't trust you to manually change your default browser
by modifying the registry in Windows 10 and 11. This was first noticed by IT consultant,
Kristoff Kolbic, after two of his programs that let Windows admins alter file associations
to change default apps, stopped working. Turns out Windows February update
added a driver, ironically called user choice protection driver,
that prevents the editing of registry keys for HTTP and HTTPS URL associations,
as well as the key for PDF file association.
We're trying to protect you from your own choices.
Some of you may recognize those as the three things Edge likes to open the most.
Now, it's important to note that you can still change your default browser
in the plain old Windows settings, which may explain why Kolbic thinks
this is a response by Microsoft to the EU Digital Markets Act
by adding this driver, Windows 10 and 11 can't override default browser policies
for PCs in the European economic area. But the new driver is also present
on Windows machines in the US. Presumably so, we can get a little taste
of what life is like over there. They fancy.
Fancy cheese, locked down computers. Long, long, why their bread is so long, it must be nice.
Intel 13th and 14th gen chips are reportedly being returned
in significant numbers in Korea. This has apparently led Team Blue to investigate the issues.
According to ZDNet Korea, this all kicked off in the country when Tekken 8 launched.
More globally, however, complaints about gaming instability on 13th gen chips
go back to 2022 when they first launched, but complaints about both 13th and 14th gen processors
have become commonplace over the past few months. There are multiple reports of crashes
from different users playing different games all with the same story.
During shader compilation, an error claims there's not enough video memory
and their game crashes. Interestingly, all of these reviews and reports
claim that the crashing issues start occurring after one to three months of using Raptor Lake CPUs.
Now, some suggest the issue may be Silicon degradation,
the 13th and 14th gen i9 CPUs
are given so much power and get so hot
that they basically destroy themselves over time, kind of like celebrities and professional athletes.
It's not even a joke. Whatever the case is,
these issues are so prevalent in Korea that an official for one of the three Korean companies
that distribute and support Intel chips says more than 10 Raptor Lake chips
are being returned daily. Intel issued a statement to ZDNet Korea
saying they are aware of and investigating these problems. So perhaps they'll figure out how to release a processor
that is slightly more stable than Adobe Premiere Pro.
What did the editor get in the script? When it comes to writing a good QuickBits intro,
the key is to make it short. You see, since QuickBits themselves are shorter stories,
you want the introduction to reflect their brevity. I mean, can you imagine what it would be like
if I just kept talking before we even got to the quick...
Google is finally rolling out the expansion to their Find My Device network
a year after they initially planned. Apparently, thank goodness, it's Apple's fault.
To prevent stocking, Google and Apple announced a joint standard for unknown tracker alerts
so Android's Bluetooth tags couldn't be used to stock iPhone users and vice versa.
While Google took a month to get their network to detect mysterious air tags,
Tim Cook and the Cupertino crew took a year to add their half of the standard to iOS.
And this is why everyone hates group projects. Is that like Josie and the Pussycats?
Google is also testing Lookup, a new feature on Pixel phones,
which will allow users to look up unknown numbers
straight from their call log, rather than copying the number and pasting it
into an external phone number search tool. This might seem like just a handy quality of life measure
for the average person, but it's potentially an extremely useful safety tool
for less tech-savvy users, who will be able to get more information
with the click of a button before they continue talking to their new friend, Spam Likely.
NVIDIA is expected to launch at least one
RTX 50 series GPU by the end of this year,
according to graphics card manufacturers who spoke to Taiwanese news outlet, United Daily News.
In a reassuring sign that Team Green has not, in fact,
forgotten that people once used their products to play games.
Apparently gamers can anticipate that NVIDIA will save just enough Blackwell chips
from the AI accelerator factory to give us an RTX 5090
and maybe even an RTX 5080, complete with GTDR7 memory
and a heavy survivorship bias. Microsoft has reportedly claimed in internal documents
that upcoming Windows AI PCs with Qualcomm's ARM-powered Snapdragon X Elite processors
will have faster app emulation than Rosetta 2.
The x86 to ARM translation layer that helped Apple's Intel to M1 transition
go smoother than the smoothest thing in existence,
a baby's bottom. If Microsoft is correct though, this Windows transition will go even smoother
than a baby's bottom, but that's impossible. So logically, they must be talking
out of their baby's bottoms. Does that make sense? Said AI PCs will also reportedly feature an AI Explorer tool
that can search for anything you've ever done on your computer.
And if you get the premium subscription, hold it against you.
It weighs your browser history on a scale against a feather.
And Spotify launched a beta version of AI Playlist,
allowing premium users to generate personalized playlists
with text prompts. The tool will first be available in the UK and Australia
where users will be able to generate playlists with real prompt examples
like sad music for painting dying flowers
and then further refine those playlists with additional prompts.
If you're uncomfortable with the thought of AI being everywhere,
might I suggest generating playlists with prompts like indie bops for when AI takes my job
or music to be hunted by terminators too?
It's a vibe. And if you're hunting for more tech news, just stop, okay?
Just come back on Wednesday and we'll have it ready for you.
So I don't know why you're, why do we do this?