Tech News Weekly: Issue 145

A look at new Windows 11 features, Adaptive Energy Saver and Quick Machine Recovery, malicious browser extensions from the official Stores, and more in this episode.

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Article(s)

Be careful when you sign up for a free Google trial, if you already have a subscription

Here is quite the interesting story that I discovered at German tech site Deskmodder the other day. Here is what happened.

The user had a Google One subscription already, paid for a year in advance. When Google’s offer to test Gemini for a month came up, the decision was made to accept it. After a while, the user decided to cancel the Gemini One trial.

Google, instead of reverting to the old subscription, did not restore it. The user was left without the subscription that was paid for in advance.

Contacting Google support did not resolve the issue, as the support pointed out to the user that this was how Google handled the matter according to its terms.

So, if you have a subscription already, you better be very sure that you plan to upgrade to include Gemini. Otherwise, you may end up without your existing subscription after the trial ends.

News

Operating Systems

• Ashwin published a quick tutorial on installing Linux on a secondary SSD to start using it without affecting a primary Windows installation. Link

• Quick Machine Recovery is a new Windows feature that Microsoft tests currently. It may automate the fixing of devices that have boot problems, using crash reports and Windows Update. Link

• Windows 11 could soon support Adaptive Energy Saver, a new power-feature that will enable energy saver on devices with battery, even if enough power is available. Main idea is to extend life on battery. Link

• Windows 11 Administrator Protection is a new security feature that is opt-in. It is designed to display an authorization prompt whenever a process requires elevation. Link

Mobile

• Android will soon organize notifications using AI. What could possibly go wrong? Link

• Google is testing new parental controls in Android to improve accessibility. Link

• Google started to merge ChromeOS and Android into a single platform. Link

• Thunderbird 11 for Android is now available. The new version promises an improved drawer navigation, improved dark mode, and more. Link

Browser

• A security researcher discovered malicious Chrome extensions with more than 2.3 million installs that were offered via the Chrome Web Store. As always, be very wary when installing extensions or when extensions upgrade automatically. Link

• The same security researcher uncovered a network of malicious Firefox extensions as well. Link

• Chrome 138 Stable has received a new update that includes six security fixes, including one that is exploited in the wild. Link

• Google ended support for macOS 11 (BigSur) in Chrome 138, which means that Chrome 139+ require macOS 12 at least. Apple stopped support for macOS 11 in 2023. Link

• The content blocker uBlock Origin is on life-support in Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers. If it was disabled in your browser, you may still be able to restore it for a few more weeks before it is ultimately no longer supported by Google Chrome. Here is how:

  • Load chrome://flags.

  • Find Temporarily unexpire M137 flag.

  • Set to Enabled.

  • Find Temporarily unexpired M138 flags.

  • Set to Enabled.

  • Restart Chrome.

  • Go back to chrome://flags.

  • Find Extension Manifest V2 Deprecation Warning Stage.

  • Set to Disabled.

  • Do the same for Extension Manifest V2 Deprecation Disabled Stage and Extension Manifest V2 Deprecation Unsupported Stage.

  • Find Allow legacy extension manifest versions and set it to Enabled.

  • Restart Chrome. Link

• If uBlock Origin is disabled in Chrome, you could install uBlock Origin Lite or switch to another browser that still supports the extension for continued access. Link

Privacy and Security

• JScript9Legacy replaces JScript in Windows 11, version 24H2 and newer. Microsoft says that the move “helps mitigate the risk of cross-site scripting (XSS) and other web-based attacks”. Link

Software and Services

• FlyBy11, the open source tool to bypass several of Windows 11’s system requirement checks, supports the official Media Creation Tool as a download source now. Also, ISO mounting should be more reliable now. Link

• KeePass 2.59 password manager is now available. The big new feature of the release is support for Arm64 on Windows. Link

• Microsoft announced an Extended Security Update program for Exchange 2016 and 2019, and Skype for Business 2015 and 2019 (until April 2026 only, and no commitment). Link Link2

• Microsoft 365 Apps will stop receiving feature updates next year for Windows 10 and stop receiving any updates in 2028 on Windows 10. Link

Gaming and Entertainment

• A new Commodore computer will be released later this year. Called the Commodore 64 Ultimate, it is bringing the classic computer to the modern age. No emulation according to the website, but the real-deal. Claims that the device is compatible with over 10k games (promising 99% compatibility), cartridges and peripherals, supports Wi-fi. HDMI and USB. Price starts at around 250 Euros. Link

• Google is removing the Trending page on YouTube to a) focus on charts for music and movies, and b) personalized trends, the latter only for users who are signed in. Link

• Google is introducing a Hype option on YouTube to help smaller publishers. All users may hype up to three videos per week and the most-hyped videos are shown in regional top lists. Soon, Google plans to introduce paid options to hype more. Link

• The price of the Asus Xbox gaming handhelds has leaked apparently. The smaller version costs about 600 Euros, the larger more powerful one about 900 Euros. Won’t play Xbox games, as it runs on Windows 11 Home. Apart from the Xbox-like experience that Microsoft promises, it has little to do with Xbox.

• Xbox PC Apps supports streaming Xbox console games now. The feature is in testing right now, but marks another key advancement for Microsoft’s attempts to unify the Xbox and PC gaming offerings. Link

• YouTube is disallowing monetization for what Google calls “inauthentic” videos. Is that the end of AI and spam videos on YouTube? Far from it, it seems. Link

AI

• Anthropic launched Claude for financial services promising that it will unify financial data into a single interface. Link

Hardware

• Seagate Exos M and Ironwolf Pro, both with 30 terabytes of storage, are now available.

Other

• Cloudflare’s DNS Resolver 1.1.1.1 had a one-hour outage on July 14th caused by a “misconfiguration of legacy systems”. It meant that users who used it could not connect to Internet services during that time. Link

• Here is how you disable AI mode on Google Search using uBlock Origin. Link

Did I miss something of importance this week? Let me and everyone else know in the comments!