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Posts tagged "break"

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Windows 10 apps break after Microsoft Store update, no fix in sight yet
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Windows 10 users are finding themselves unable to use their apps after a Microsoft Store update.

Many Windows 10 apps update through the Store directly, which means fixes and new features can be pushed down independently of Windows OS updates. This is generally a positive thing, as said apps can be stabilized and upgraded without having to wait long periods for an OS update. But in this case, that also means if an update breaks a Store app or several, it can be problematic. 

So when apps like Calendar, Photos, and Calculator were given an update like this in January 2024, the result was many users no longer being able to use them. When those users went to report said breaks to the Feedback Hub, lo and behold it was also broken. From there, a massive thread on Microsoft’s support forum kicked up, with many replying about their woes.

Because the update wasn’t an official Windows one which meant no word from Microsoft, some intrepid users unearthed what’s most likely causing these apps to break. It seems that a common thread among all the reports is old hardware, including the Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors as well as AMD Athlon chips. These components are technically not listed as compatible hardware for Windows 10 but have had no issues running the OS.

One of these users spoke to The Register about the underlying issue. “A common theory is that the faulting component uses some instruction extension that Core 2 doesn't support, such as SSE 4.2. I believe that some dev at MS set a compiler switch incorrectly when building a shared component (some evidence points to the Visual C++ runtime).”

However, there has been no official word from Microsoft concerning the official problem, nor when can affected users expect to see a fix. When TechRadar requested comment from Microsoft, a spokesperson said “For the latest information on Windows releases and servicing milestones, including news about known issues, please refer to the dashboard.”

Hopefully, there’ll be an update soon, as not having access to such vital apps is a huge issue in the long run. With the end of support for Windows 10 being October 14, 2025, there’s still plenty of time for Microsoft to push down a fix.

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AI might take a ‘winter break’ as GPT-4 Turbo apparently learns from us to wind down for the Holidays
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It seems that GPT-4 Turbo – the most recent incarnation of the large language model (LLM) from OpenAI – winds down for the winter, just as many people are doing as December rolls onwards.

We all get those end-of-year Holiday season chill vibes (probably) and indeed that appears to be why GPT-4 Turbo – which Microsoft’s Copilot AI will soon be upgraded to – is acting in this manner.

As Wccftech highlighted, the interesting observation on the AI’s behavior was made by an LLM enthusiast, Rob Lynch, on X (formerly Twitter).

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The claim is that GPT-4 Turbo produces shorter responses – to a statistically significant extent – when the AI believes that it’s December, as opposed to May (with the testing done by changing the date in the system prompt).

So, the tentative conclusion is that it appears GPT-4 Turbo learns this behavior from us, an idea advanced by Ethan Mollick (an Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in AI).

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Apparently GPT-4 Turbo is about 5% less productive if the AI thinks it’s the Holiday season. 

Analysis: Winter break hypothesis

This is known as the ‘AI winter break hypothesis’ and it’s an area that is worth exploring further.

What it goes to show is how unintended influences can be picked up by an AI that we wouldn’t dream of considering – although some researchers obviously did notice and consider it, and then test it. But still, you get what we mean – and there’s a whole lot of worry around these kinds of unexpected developments.

As AI progresses, its influences, and the direction that the tech takes itself in, need careful watching over, hence all the talk of safeguards for AI being vital.

We’re rushing ahead with developing AI – or rather, the likes of OpenAI (GPT), Microsoft (Copilot), and Google (Bard) certainly are – caught up in a tech arms race, with most of the focus on driving progress as hard as possible, with safeguards being more of an afterthought. And there’s an obvious danger therein which one word sums up nicely: Skynet.

At any rate, regarding this specific experiment, it’s just one piece of evidence that the winter break theory is true for GPT-4 Turbo, and Lynch has urged others to get in touch if they can reproduce the results – and we do have one report of a successful reproduction so far. Still, that’s not enough for a concrete conclusion yet – watch this space, we guess.

As mentioned above, Microsoft is currently upgrading its Copilot AI from GPT-4 to GPT-4 Turbo, which has been advanced in terms of being more accurate and offering higher quality responses in general. Google, meanwhile, is far from standing still with its rival Bard AI, which is powered by its new LLM, Gemini.

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Windows 11 third-party apps break the Start Menu and Microsoft refuses to fix it
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Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 version 22H2 update, which will be introducing several new features to the Start Menu interface, can also break said Start Menu if certain third-party apps are also installed on the OS.

Windows 11 update 22H2, which will most likely be coming out sooner rather than later in 2023 according to a recent report from Windows Latest, would add a feature that if you hover over a recommended file, a preview panel pops up showing relevant details. However, according to PCMag, a preview build of the update that launched ahead of the general release is already breaking the Start Menu.

Microsoft seems to have already narrowed down the cause: third-party user interface modification apps, such as ExplorerPatcher, which “aims to enhance the working environment on Windows.” But instead of planning a patch for the bug, the tech giant is instead suggesting that users uninstall from this list of third-party apps before they install the update.

But what if you already installed the update, and now your Start Menu is bugged? Then Microsoft suggests that you contact the app developer for a solution. This means that those already suffering from the bug could have a broken OS by the time the update officially launches.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft concerning the issue and will update this article with any official statements.

Who’s fault is it? 

On one hand, when a user installs a third-party app on their PC, they’re accepting the risk involved with that app. While Microsoft allows for users to have third-party apps, the developers of said apps are the ones responsible for maintenance and bug fixes, unlike Microsoft and its own first-party apps. So the tech giant refusing to fix this issue in particular is fair game, especially since it has its own list of bugs and issues to patch.

However, considering that it’s several third-party apps tied to a specific type and that Microsoft quickly narrowed down the cause, it’s clearly an issue with the update not playing nice with user interface modification apps. And Microsoft not offering any solutions, especially those with a now suddenly broken OS, is not a great look for an OS that’s constantly and consistently riddled with bugs and issues.

It’s technically not either entity’s fault, third-party app developers wouldn’t have a reason to suspect their apps would bug the Start Menu with this update, and Microsoft has a solid reason for not wanting to get involved with the cleanup.

Hopefully developers have a patch coming in soon to fix this major headache, though the most ideal solution would be for Microsoft to patch it instead.

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Google Chrome 100 won’t break the internet – but could change how you search it
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Searching for a query in Google Chrome could soon get much easier, thanks to an upcoming feature that adds a sidebar as you browse the web.

With Google's Chrome web browser approaching version 100, we're already seeing some features that can help change the way you use the browser, such as improvements to closing tabs in Android, and it's likely that we may see other features appear as we approach the big release.

If you have multiple tabs open at once, this could be a great feature for searching as you browse. However, it looks like the sidebar will only show in one tab – it won't stay in the same place as you switch between different tabs.

However, this is still a feature in testing, so the sidebar could change before it appears in a final version of Google Chrome.

How do you enable the side search bar?

Google Chrome Canary showing how to enable Side Search

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As it stands, the sidebar isn't available in Google Chrome 99, but it is in the test version of Chrome, called Canary.

Go to chrome://flags when running Google Chrome Canary version 100, and you'll be brought to the flag page, where you can enable many features in testing.

In the search bar, type in 'Sidebar' and you'll be greeted with three options. Enable all of these, then close and open up the browser.

Search for a query and select the first result. A 'G' icon will appear alongside the address bar. Click on this, which will make the sidebar appear. You can then use this to search for anything else while you browse in the main window.

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Google Chrome 100 won’t break the internet – but could change how you search it
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Searching for a query in Google Chrome could soon get much easier, thanks to an upcoming feature that adds a sidebar as you browse the web.

With Google's Chrome web browser approaching version 100, we're already seeing some features that can help change the way you use the browser, such as improvements to closing tabs in Android, and it's likely that we may see other features appear as we approach the big release.

If you have multiple tabs open at once, this could be a great feature for searching as you browse. However, it looks like the sidebar will only show in one tab – it won't stay in the same place as you switch between different tabs.

However, this is still a feature in testing, so the sidebar could change before it appears in a final version of Google Chrome.

How do you enable the side search bar?

Google Chrome Canary showing how to enable Side Search

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As it stands, the sidebar isn't available in Google Chrome 99, but it is in the test version of Chrome, called Canary.

Go to chrome://flags when running Google Chrome Canary version 100, and you'll be brought to the flag page, where you can enable many features in testing.

In the search bar, type in 'Sidebar' and you'll be greeted with three options. Enable all of these, then close and open up the browser.

Search for a query and select the first result. A 'G' icon will appear alongside the address bar. Click on this, which will make the sidebar appear. You can then use this to search for anything else while you browse in the main window.

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Firefox and Chrome 100 could break parts of the internet, Mozilla warns
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Mozilla is giving a heads up to website developers that the upcoming three-digit versions of the popular internet browsers Firefox and Chrome might cause some websites to break.

In a Mozilla blog post by Karl Dubost, Chris Peterson, Ali Beyad, the company says the error might happen when browsers parse user-agent strings containing the three-digit version numbers. 

The user-agent string contains various information about the browser software, such as the name, or, crucially – version number and supported technologies. When websites receive this information, they modify their response based on the browser version and the technologies supported. 

Preparations and mitigations

When browsers made the jump from single-digit versions, to double-digit versions, some websites could not be displayed. 

However, this time around – both Mozilla and Google are preparing for the new versions (coming in early May and late March, respectively) in advance. Last August, Mozilla started experimenting to see if version 100 would break some websites, and Google soon followed. 

In fact, both developers found a few misbehaving websites, where “unsupported browser” messages would be displayed, or broken interfaces shown.

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“Without a single specification to follow, different browsers have different formats for the User-Agent string, and site-specific User-Agent parsing. It’s possible that some parsing libraries may have hard-coded assumptions or bugs that don’t take into account three-digit major version numbers,” Mozilla says. 

“Many libraries improved the parsing logic when browsers moved to two-digit version numbers, so hitting the three-digit milestone is expected to cause fewer problems.”

If the companies fail to solve the issues by the release dates, they both have contingency plans: to freeze the user-agent at 99. Furthermore, Firefox will also be able to inject CSS and other similar overrides.

Mozilla has also urged website developers to test their websites for upcoming browsers, with the detailed steps available on the Mozilla blog here. 

Via: BleepingComputer

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Chrome 100 could break your website – but Google is on it
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After launching back in 2008, Chrome will reach version 100 early next year but unfortunately this milestone will cause some websites to no longer work in Google's browser.

Although there are no major changes or revolutionary new features planned for Chrome 100, the search giant has been aware for some time that this major release will likely lead to problems for older websites. While Chrome 100 will release in March of next year, Google already began warning users and site owners about potential issues in a blog post published in November, saying:

“In the first half of 2022, Chrome will reach a three-digit major version number: 100! When browsers first reached version 10 many eons ago, lots of issues were discovered with User-Agent parsing libraries as the major version number went from one digit to two. Now that we are approaching version 100 in both Chrome and Firefox, with Edge not far behind, we want to detect possible issues related to three-digit version number early, so we are ready when it becomes a reality.”

When Chrome's major version number goes from two digits to three, websites developed with the web design kit Duda will no longer display correctly. Thankfully though, Google has a plan to avoid disrupting the web and the company has already begun contacting individual developers to warn them about the upcoming change.

User Agent string

In order for a website to know what browser and what version of it you're currently using, the site will check the User Agent string which is essentially a line of text that your browser attaches to every web connection it makes.

Here is an example of a User Agent string: “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/96.0.4664.110 Safari/537.36”. At the end, you can see “Chrome/96.0.4664.110” which means we're running Chrome version 96. 

The problem with Duda resides in the fact that its developers chose to only read the first two digits so “Chrome/96” would be 96 while “Chrome/100” would be seen as 10 or version 10 to be more precise. To make matters worse, Duda automatically blocks any version of Chrome below version 40. For this reason, Chrome 100 will seen as Chrome 10 and will be automatically blocked by the web design kit, rendering websites built using it unreadable.

While Google has considered forcing the major version number to the minor version position and staying at 99 so “Chrome/100” would instead be “Chrome/99.100”, this is only a backup plan. Instead, the search giant has begun contacting individual developers to let them know about this issue before Chrome 100 is released. Google has also added a new flag to Chrome (#force-major-version-to-100) which developers can use to see whether or not their sites will be affected.

Although moving to version 100 has the potential to disrupt a lot of older sites, Google and Mozilla are working hard to address the issue before the rollouts of version 100 of both Chrome and Firefox next year .

We've also highlighted the best browser, best website builder and best web hosting 

Via 9To5Google

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