macOS has been riddled with bugs lately – but the new macOS 14.4.1 update has just fixed the most notorious one

The last few weeks have been plagued with bugs and oddities for users who updated their Mac devices to macOS Sonoma 14.4, including a particularly thorny issue that functionally broke a lot of users' USB hubs. A new update, macOS 14.4.1, has just been released to address the most notorious issues – so you’ll want to update your system as soon as possible. 

According to TweakTown, the update was released yesterday to the public and will resolve an issue that affected USB hubs connected to the monitors people were using with their Macs. Discussions on Reddit threads and Apple’s support forums indicated that while the problem might not have been incredibly widespread, it was still affecting a decent number of people.

While Apple hasn’t released any formal statements about the issues, it’s good to see Apple swoop in and provide a quick, no-frills solution for the issue. The new update doesn’t offer any new features besides the bug fixes, so if you’re worried about possibly catching another macOS bug from it you can assume there’s likely nothing else to go wrong with such a targeted fix.

Call the exterminator!

Sonoma 14.4 hasn’t just been plaguing users' USB hubs, it’s been taking down printers as well. While the printer issue hasn’t been reported as widely as the USB breakdown, it’s still another unwelcome bug that arrived courtesy of the update. 

The update has also been reported to be deleting previously saved versions of files in users’ iCloud Drives, effectively deleting people’s backups if they moved files out of iCloud. Normally, when you save your files in iCloud Drive all the edited versions of your file are saved for future reference, but thanks to yet another bug in Sonoma 14.4  these previous versions could be erased – which might mean all your work is gone. 

Hopefully, another upcoming update will address these issues alongside the USB hub bug, but we’ll have to wait and see if that is the case. There’s no indication so far that the new update deals with all the currently reported issues – but you’re better off updating your system just in case. 

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Windows 11’s next big update is almost ready to roll – but most people won’t get it for a long time yet

Windows 11’s next major update is coming close to completion, and in fact it’s rumored that it’ll hit its final stage of development very shortly – though its launch for all users will still be a good way down the line (we’ll come back to that).

As well-known Microsoft leaker Zac Bowden shared on X (formerly Twitter), Windows 11 24H2 is on track to hit RTM (release to manufacturing) in April.

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What this means is that the 24H2 update is ready to go to PC manufacturers so that they can work on installing it on their devices. In other words, Windows 11 24H2 is all but done at this point, save for final testing and changes that might need to be applied if PC makers run into any last-minute stumbling blocks.

Bowden mentions the ‘ge_release’ which refers to Germanium, a new platform that Windows 11 is built on with 24H2. While this won’t make any difference to the visible parts of the OS, under the hood, Germanium will offer tighter security and better overall performance.

With RTM for 24H2 happening in April, in theory, the plan is that it’ll take two months to finalize the new Windows 11 Germanium build, and it will be installed on ARM-based AI PCs when they start shipping in June.


Analysis: Clarifying the 24H2 release timeline

Note that as Bowden outlines on X, this does not mean Windows 11 24H2 (Germanium) will be released for everyone in June.

It will only be out on ARM-based laptops running Snapdragon X Elite chips (or variants) initially – like the consumer spin on the Surface Pro 10 or Surface Laptop 6. Which is why only the business models were unveiled recently – they have Intel CPUs that don’t need Germanium. Whereas the Germanium platform is actually required for these new ARM chips – which have been stoking a great deal of excitement – so this is why Microsoft is pushing it out ahead of time so as not to hold up those notebooks any longer than necessary.

As Bowden makes clear in a later tweet, Windows 11 24H2 won’t actually be ‘done’ until August, so the leaker suspects Microsoft wants to limit where Germanium is present until then.

What we can surmise from this is that while Windows 11 24H2 will be out on those mentioned AI PCs as early as June (if everything stays on schedule), not all of 24H2’s full library of features will be enabled – presumably.

Whatever the case, the full rollout of Windows 11 24H2 to all users won’t happen until after it’s fully done in August, meaning a September or October rollout to all Windows 11 users. This is the timeframe Microsoft is working to based on rumors that go back to the start of this year, in fact.

The long and short of it is that while Windows 11 24H2 may be ready for RTM next month and on the cusp of finalization technically, it won’t fully arrive until September (at the earliest). And the rollout will be phased as ever, so you might not get it on your particular Windows 11 device until several months after, which is all standard practice.

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Spotify for Windows 11’s annoying new update shoves one of the app’s most important features to the side

Spotify recently released the new “Jam” feature for its Windows 11 and 10 app, which allows users to listen to the same playlist or album at the same time on different devices. So you and a friend or coworker can enjoy the same tunes while you work, study, or just jam out (hence the name). However, with this new feature, the queue list has been booted to a small space on the right side of the app's UI. 

Please, please change it back. This is the opposite of an improvement.

foryoublue94 via Spotify Forum

This change has proven to be rather unfavorable among Spotify users, who’ve taken to Reddit to voice their complaints. The official blog post that announces the arrival of Jam dubs this change as the “new Queue experience”, explaining that the right sidebar now allows you to browse content in the app and keep an eye on what's currently playing. 

The official post has several disgruntled comments from users dismayed by the change, with one user saying “Why on earth has Queue and Recently Played been moved and is now cramped into the small right-hand column? This is just horrible, and a pain to look at. It makes zero sense from a usability standpoint.

Thanks, I hate it 

You may be thinking something along the lines of what an odd little change for people to be riled up about! Pre-update, you could have your library on the left, your queue in the center, and your Now Playing view on the right. In other words, you could boot up the app and have everything you need all in one place. Now, you can only have one or two of these views open at once because of the new layout. 

If you’re someone who’s a fan of the Jam feature and plans to use it quite often with your mates, you’re probably not as upset as other users. But, as a person who will probably never use the Jam feature, I feel robbed of a pretty decent app layout with nothing in return. Now, I am no longer able to see how long the current song is or the album name in the queue.

It seems like Spotify users live in fear of every new update that is implemented. A common notion that’s shared on Spotify Reddit and in the blog post comments is ‘another Spotify update, another change no one asked for.’ I use Spotify every day, and I can’t remember a single update implemented to the app on mobile and desktop that didn’t make me mad. Hopefully, we can convince Spotify to change everything back to how it was – or we'll just end up waiting until another update comes around and knocks everything out of place again. 

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Windows 11 is about to fix two of its most frustrating flaws

We're always keeping an eye on the early preview versions of Windows 11 to see what's coming down the pipe, and so we're pleased to see two small but useful fixes on the way that should be rolling out to everyone soon.

First up, at long last it looks as though Microsoft will add the option to hide the news feed from the widgets box. This has been enabled in build 26058 (via XDA Developers), so you can check up on the weather or sports scores without being bombarded by the latest headlines from across the web.

The new view is simply called My Widgets, and the thinking is that it may have been introduced in part to appease EU regulators – regulators who are keen to give users as much flexibility as possible. Based on the Dev and Canary channels of Windows 11 though, this tweak will be available worldwide.

You can access widgets by clicking the widgets icon on the taskbar. It should be to the left of the other icons, and might already be showing some dynamic information (like the weather or a traffic alert) – otherwise it's a white rectangle next to a blue rectangle.

Clearer cutting, copying, and pasting

A laptop screen on a pink background showing a new crosshair cursor in Windows 11

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Second, and sticking with Build 26058 (via MSPowerUser), Windows 11 is adding text labels to the cut, copy, and paste icons that appear when you right-click in File Explorer. If you've ever squinted at this pop-up menu to try and figure out exactly where to click, you'll know how useful these labels will be.

Of course, you can still use the familiar keyboard shortcuts if you prefer, but for those of us going through the context menus in File Explorer, this should make a significant difference – and avoid files being moved or copied to the wrong place.

For more details, you can check out Microsoft's blog post on the latest update. Other features to look out for include a new crosshairs mode for the cursor (see above), which is intended to help low vision users select items more accurately.

As always, Microsoft's plans can change, and features that appear in preview versions of Windows don't always make it out to everyone. However, these fixes seem to have a good chance of making it so we're looking forward to seeing them appear.

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Meta Quest headsets are losing one of their most useful features

If you're using a Meta-made virtual reality headset such as the Meta Quest 3, you might have noticed a disappointing development in the past few days: it seems that the ability to directly send the VR action you're immersed in to a big screen via a Chromecast has been removed.

As reported by Android Central and noted on multiple Reddit threads, the v60 software update for Meta Quest headsets takes away the option to beam the gameplay to a Chromecast dongle connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

While Meta hasn't come out and said anything about this publicly, it has updated the official documentation for its headsets: “Chromecast is not fully supported with Meta Quest” the documentation now reads.

The updated advice is to cast the VR feed from your headset to the Meta Quest app for Android or iOS, and from there to a Chromecast. You can also cast whatever's happening in VR to a computer, through the Meta Quest website.

What's going on?

If you're playing games in VR then of course you don't need to see the action on a TV set – but if you're playing with friends and family then it's really useful to be able to share what's happening on a different display that everyone can see.

Without any official comment from Meta (or indeed Google), we can only speculate about why the feature has been removed. It's possible that the functionality isn't reliable enough, or that Meta wants to funnel people through its own apps.

Even stranger, it seems that secondary accounts on these Meta headsets can still send gameplay directly to a Chromecast, while primary accounts can't, which suggests there's no technical reason for the feature being withdrawn.

If Meta decides to come out and say why it's taken away the ability to connect directly to a Chromecast, we'll let you know. In the meantime, it's now a little bit harder to share your VR gameplay on a connected television set.

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Meta’s Quest Pro can track now your tongue, but it’s not the update the headset needs most

The Meta Quest Pro has received an unexpected update – its face tracking can now follow your tongue movements.

One of the main hardware upgrades featured in the Meta Quest Pro is face and eye tracking. Thanks to inbuilt cameras, the headset can track your facial features and translate your real-life movements onto a virtual avatar. Because it's perfectly mimicking your mouth flaps, nose twitches, and eye movements, the digital model can feel almost as alive as a real human at times – at least in my experience with the tech.

Unfortunately, this immersion can break down at points, as the tracking isn’t always perfect, with one fault many users noticed being that it can’t track your tongue. So if you wanted to tease one of your friends by sticking it out at them, or lick a virtual ice cream cone you couldn’t – until now.

Meta has released a new version of the face-tracking extension in its v60 SDK, which finally includes support for tongue tracking. Interestingly this support hasn’t yet been added to Meta avatars – so you might not see tongue-tracking in apps like Horizon Worlds – but it has already started to be added to third-party apps by developers.

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This includes developer Korejan (via UploadVR) who develops a VR Face Tracking module for ALXR – an alternative to apps like Virtual Desktop and Quest Link, which help you connect your headset to a PC. Korejan posted a clip of how it works on X (formerly Twitter). 

All the gear and nothing to do with it 

Meta upgrading its tech’s capabilities is never a bad thing, and we should see tongue-tracking rolling out to more apps soonish – especially once Meta’s own avatar SDK gets support for the feature. But this isn’t the upgrade the feature needs. Instead, face tracking needs to get into more people’s hands, and there needs to be more software that uses it.

Before the Meta Quest 3 was released I seldom used mixed reality – the only times I did were as part of any reviews or tests I did for my job. That’s changed a lot in the past few months, and I’d go as far as to say that mixed reality is sometimes my preferred way to play if there’s a choice between VR and MR.

One reason is that the Quest 3 offers significantly higher quality passthrough than the Quest Pro – it’s still not perfect, but the colors are more accurate, and the feed isn’t ruined by graininess. The other, far more important reason is that the platform is now brimming with software that offers mixed reality support, rather than only a few niche apps featuring mixed reality as an aside to the main VR experience.

A Meta Quest 3 user throwing a giant die onto a virtual medieval tabletop game board full of castles, wizards and knights

Mixed reality is great, and more can use it thanks to the Quest 3 (Image credit: Meta)

Even though they’ve been out for the same length of time on Meta hardware, there isn’t the same support for face tracking or eye tracking. That’s despite all the talk before the Quest Pro released of how much realism these tools can add, and how much more efficiently apps could run using foveated rendering – a technique where VR software would only properly render the part of the scene you’re looking at with your eyes.

The big problem isn’t that face tracking isn’t good enough – if it can track your tongue it definitely is impressive – it’s (probably) the Quest Pro’s poor sales. Meta hasn’t said how well or badly the Pro has performed financially, but you don’t permanently cut the price of a product by a third just four months after launch if it’s selling like hotcakes – it fell from $ 1,500 / £1,500 / AU$ 2,450 to $ 999.99 / £999.99 / AU$ 1,729.99. And if not many people have this headset and its tracking tools, why would developers waste resources on creating apps that use them when they could work on something more people could take advantage of?

For face tracking to take off like mixed reality has it needs to be brought to Meta’s budget Quest line so that more people can access it, and developers are incentivized to create software that can use it. Until then, no matter how impressive it gets, face tracking will remain a fringe tool.

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Google Gemini is its most powerful AI brain so far – and it’ll change the way you use Google

Google has announced the new Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) model, an AI system that will power a host of the company’s products, from the Google Bard chatbot to its Pixel phones. The company calls Gemini “the most capable and general model we’ve ever built,” claiming it would make AI “more helpful for everyone.”

Gemini will come in three 'sizes': Ultra, Pro and Nano, with each one designed for different uses. All of them will be multimodal, meaning they’ll be able to handle a wide range of inputs, with Google saying that Gemini can take text, code, audio, images and video as prompts.

While Gemini Ultra is designed for extremely demanding use cases such as in data centers, Gemini Nano will fit in your smartphone, raising the prospect of the best Android smartphones gaining a significant AI advantage.

With all of this new power, Google insists that it conducted “rigorous testing” to identify and prevent harmful results arising from people’s use of Gemini. That was challenging, the company said, because the multimodal nature of Gemini means two seemingly innocuous inputs (such as text and an image) can be combined to create something offensive or dangerous.

Coming to all your services and devices

Google has been under pressure to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its advanced AI capabilities. Just a few days ago, in fact, news was circulating that Google had delayed its Gemini announcement until next year due to its apparent poor performance in a variety of languages. 

Now, it turns out that news was either wrong or Google is pressing ahead despite Gemini’s rumored imperfections. On this point, it’s notable that Gemini will only work in English at first.

What does Gemini mean for you? Well, if you use a Pixel 8 Pro phone, Google says it can now run Gemini Nano, bringing all of its AI capabilities to your pocket. According to a Google blog post, Gemini is found in two new Pixel 8 Pro features: Smart Reply in Gboard, which suggests message replies to you, and Summarize in Recorder, which can sum up your recorded conversations and presentations.

The Google Bard chatbot has also been updated to run Gemini, which the company says is “the biggest upgrade to Bard since it launched.” As well as that, Google says that “Gemini will be available in more of our products and services like Search, Ads, Chrome and Duet AI” in the coming months, Google says.

As part of the announcement, Google revealed a slate of Gemini demonstrations. These show the AI guessing what a user was drawing, playing music to match a drawing, and more.

Gemini vs ChatGPT

Google Gemini revealed at Google I/O 2023

(Image credit: Google)

It’s no secret that OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been the most dominant AI tool for months now, and Google wants to end that with Gemini. The company has made some pretty bold claims about its abilities, too.

For instance, Google says that Gemini Ultra’s performance exceeds current state-of-the-art results in “30 of the 32 widely-used academic benchmarks” used in large language model (LLM) research and development. In other words, Google thinks it eclipses GPT-4 in nearly every way.

Compared to the GPT-4 LLM that powers ChatGPT, Gemini came out on top in seven out of eight text-based benchmarks, Google claims. As for multimodal tests, Gemini won in all 10 benchmarks, as per Google’s comparison.

Does this mean there’s a new AI champion? That remains to be seen, and we’ll have to wait for more real-world testing from independent users. Still, what is clear is that Google is taking the AI fight very seriously. The ball is very much in OpenAI’s (and Microsoft's) court now.

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Microsoft delays one of Windows 11’s most promising new features due to bugs

Microsoft has pulled back on an upcoming upgrade to the video casting feature in Windows 11 due to reported bugs. The new feature was temporarily available to Windows Insiders, members of Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program who get to test upcoming additions, and has been dropped from the latest Windows 11 preview. 

Many users will be familiar with video casting features if you use something like Chromecast, or if you go back even further back in time, you might remember using HDMI cables to connect your computer to your TV. This allows you to choose and control media on your computer (or device) and see it on your TV screen, for example, to see it better or share it with others.

The removal of the feature was discovered in an update released on October 19, known as Windows 11 Preview Build 22635.2486, via the Windows Insider Program’s Beta Channel (one of four preview channels through which Microsoft releases previews). If users choose to upgrade to this preview build, they will find that it lacks the casting experience that Microsoft is in the process of testing. The casting feature was first added to Build 22631.2129 back in August of this year, and Windows Central writes that it’s been explicitly disabled by Microsoft while it carries out fixes on bugs and improves the feature.

Windows Central goes on to quote Microsoft apparently planning to switch the casting feature back on in a future Beta Channel release. 

Highlights of the new preview build

That’s the main development of note in this current update and it doesn’t introduce any major new features overall. Other notable changes include that the Xbox Game Bar now shows up just as ‘Game Bar’ in the Start menu, and system components showing up under a ‘System’ label in the Start menu. The latter should make system components easier to identify and find, and should show up as ‘System’ in the All apps display (once you open the Start menu). The Game Bar will also show up under Settings > System > Apps > Installed apps, and will apparently update via the Microsoft Store.

Some more minor fixes address crash-related issues with the Start menu being affected by language settings and taskbar glitches that were causing problems with the search function. 

Windows Central writes that dropping the upgraded video casting feature is for a “good reason,” even though it temporarily reduces Windows 11’s functionality. I can see why Microsoft is taking its time to get this one right. Chromecast is an extremely popular and beloved feature in Google Chrome and Google devices that’s existed for years, so if Microsoft wants to compete, the feature has to be slick and function reasonably well. If Microsoft wants users to adopt its cast feature in the same way, it has to prove its worth.

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The Meta Quest 3 feature I was most excited about might come at a price

The Meta Quest 3 launch event is less than a month away, and excitement for the new VR headset is reaching boiling point. But if this leak is correct, the feature I was most excited about might require a pricey add-on.

Ahead of the Oculus Quest 2  successor’s reveal the online retailer UnboundXR.eu has seemingly posted prices for several Quest 3 accessories. This includes a carrying case for €79.99 (around $ 86 / £68 / AU$ 134), an Elite Strap with Battery for €149.99 ($ 161 / £128 / AU$ 252), and a Silicone Face Interface for €49.99 ($ 54 / £42 / AU$ 84). These were spotted by u/Fredricko on Reddit, but the store pages have since been hidden. 

The one that’s most disappointing to me is seeing the Meta Quest 3 Charging Dock for €149.99 ($ 161 / £128 / AU$ 252). 

Thanks to a different Meta Quest 3 leak (courtesy of a US Federal Communication Agency filing) it looked like the new gadget would be getting a charging dock – my favorite Meta Quest Pro feature. Thanks to this peripheral I’ve never gone to wear my Quest Pro and found it’s out of charge – something I can’t say about my Quest 2. The dock also makes it easy to keep the headset and controllers powered up without needing to use multiple power outlets for charging – an issue with headsets such as the HTC Vive XR Elite, which requires three outlets for charging instead of one.

The Meta Quest 3 and its controllers are sat in a white plastic dock in an official looking image

The leaked Quest 3 dock. (Image credit: Meta)

Most importantly, this dock was included in the price of the Meta Quest Pro – which was $ 1,500 / £1,500 / AU$ 2,450 at launch and is now $ 999.99 / £999.99 / AU$ 1,729.99.  According to Meta, the cheapest Meta Quest 3 will be $ 499 / £499 / AU$ 829 / €499  so I was already a little worried that the dock wouldn’t come with the cheaper headset – forcing us to pay a little extra for its advantages. What I didn’t expect, however, was that the dock might be roughly a third of the price of the new machine, as this leak has suggested.

While these leaks come from a semi-official source – a Reddit user claims UnboundXR has said the prices are from Meta directly  – it’s still worth taking the information with a pinch of salt. They could be best-guess placeholder prices while the store builds the product pages ahead of the Quest 3 launch later this year. What’s more, the peripherals UnboudXR listed might still come packaged with the headset with the listings here merely being for replacement parts. We won’t know how pricey the add-ons really are until the headset launches at Meta Connect 2023.

Out with the old

If the price of these XR peripherals has got you down, I’m sorry to say the bad news doesn’t stop there. According to separate leaks, the Quest 3 may not be compatible with your Quest 2 accessories – forcing you to pay for all-new add-ons if you want them.

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This is with respect to the headset strap; @ZGFTECH on X (formerly Twitter) posted a picture seemingly showing a side-by-side of the Quest 3 strap and the Quest 2 Elite strap with the two having pretty different designs – suggesting the old strap will be incompatible with the new hardware. I’m still holding out hope however that my Quest Pro charging dock will be compatible with the Quest 3, though given the new dock’s wildly different design, I’m not holding my breath.

Admittedly this shouldn’t be entirely unexpected – it’s not unheard of for tech peripherals to be exclusive to specific devices. But it’s something to keep in mind if you’re looking to upgrade to Meta's latest VR hardware.

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Windows 11 gets a troubleshooting tool for one of its most controversial spec requirements

Windows 11 requires the TPM 2.0 security feature (at least officially), but what if you’re having trouble with that particular chip (which remains a controversial system requirement)?

Well, help could soon be at hand, at least going by a new feature spotted in testing – by ever-present leaker PhantomOfEarth on Twitter – with Windows 11’s latest build (25905) in the Canary channel.

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As you can see, the Windows Security app now carries a ‘TPM troubleshooter’ option. As the text for the feature lets us know, this is useful for finding and fixing problems with your TPM 2.0 module.

For the uninitiated, TPM (which stands for Trusted Platform Module) can be a separate hardware chip, or firmware TPM (fTPM) that uses your CPU, and it’s a system that provides tighter security for your PC. (There’s a lot more to it than that, mind, but that’s the gist).

Why is TPM 2.0 so controversial, then? Because a lot of older PCs don’t have it – or even not-all-that-old machines – and people feel that being forced to upgrade (either their motherboard and CPU, or adding a TPM security chip) is an unfair stipulation to get Windows 11. (Windows 10 does not have this requirement, of course).

Microsoft, however, has made it quite clear that beefing up security requires TPM 2.0, and argues that this is something implemented for the good of users, and protecting them against being exploited by hackers.


Analysis: A handy extra to help with TPM woes (we hope)

What might this troubleshooter actually do, then? Well, as Neowin, which spotted the tweet revealing the presence of this feature in testing, points out, it’s possible to encounter odd errors with TPM. For example: “Can’t get TPM information. Contact your device manufacturer.”

That’s not a very helpful error message, and with the new feature, what you’ll be able to do is fire up a Windows troubleshooter to look further into the issue. Hopefully, that might give you further clues as to what’s gone awry (and maybe even solve the problem, with any luck – though Microsoft’s troubleshooters are not always that reliable).

Whatever the case, having some help on-hand is certainly better than nothing (plus there’s another option here to reset your TPM back to default settings, too). Provided, of course, this feature makes the cut for the release version of Windows 11, if it proves useful and well-received in testing. Currently, we’re told that this capability is a limited rollout, so not every Canary channel tester is seeing the TPM troubleshooter.

That’s not unusual, as with many features, Microsoft deploys them to only a small subset of testers to begin with, just to check if there are any major problems, and to monitor early feedback.

Given the controversy around TPM 2.0 – and the fact that it’ll definitely be a requirement for Windows 12 too – we can guess that this troubleshooter is likely to be something that’ll appear in the finished version of Windows 11. Because anything that makes running TPM a smoother experience has to be useful.

This functionality could even pitch up in the 23H2 update, which we’ve just heard some news on – something that makes us think that the Copilot AI, which is rumored for inclusion in 23H2, won’t actually be part of that upgrade due later this year.

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