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Windows 11 update crashes and burns on some PCs due to ‘unsupported CPU’ error
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Windows 11 has a new spanner in the works with the latest update for the operating system, a worrying one that crashes the PC with an ‘unsupported processor’ error.

The Verge reports that they – and other folks on Reddit – have experienced this error, and that it happened after installing the KB5029351 update for Windows 11 22H2. Note that this is a preview update, so it’s optional and doesn’t have to be installed (it won’t be downloaded unless you manually check for updates and choose to do so).

In affected cases, after installing the update, a Blue Screen of Death appears with the mentioned error message about the CPU not being supported by Windows 11, and the PC then reboots.

The good news is that the system apparently recovers and rolls back the patch, according to reports (and The Verge says this is what happened to them).

Microsoft has acknowledged the problem, and advises: “KB5029351 might automatically uninstall to allow Windows to start up as expected.”

The common factor among those who have encountered this bug is that they have an MSI motherboard (with an Intel CPU) that has been updated to the most recent BIOS release.

Microsoft informs us: “We are presently investigating to determine if this is an issue caused by Microsoft. We will provide an update when more information is available.”

Analysis: Prevention measures in place – but there’s still scope for concern

While we’re all likely aware that Windows 11 brought in some much stricter requirements for supported CPUs compared to Windows 10, being told that their processor was unsupported probably caused a few folks to almost fall out of their chairs.

As reported, the error should allow the PC to reboot and uninstall the update to go back to normal, but Microsoft’s use of the term ‘might’ automatically uninstall in its advisory does leave some room for concern. What if it doesn’t? That could be a nasty problem indeed.

The good news is that Microsoft has now instigated measures to prevent the Windows 11 update in question from being delivered to PCs that will be affected (those with Intel chipset-toting MSI motherboards on that most recent BIOS). So, at this point, you don’t have to worry – if you do fall into this group of PC owners, the patch will be pulled, and you won’t be offered it under Windows Update.

The remaining concern, then, is that this optional preview patch becomes the full (mandatory) update for Windows 11 22H2 in September. So Microsoft will have to make very sure this bug is fully squashed by that time – or that MSI addresses it with a new BIOS update that happens in a swift manner, if it isn’t a glitch in the Windows matrix.

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Fed up with Microsoft’s default apps bloating Windows 11? We’ve got some good news
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Windows 11 is set to give you the option to remove more of its default apps if you wish to streamline the operating system a bit.

The ability to uninstall more of these so-called ‘inbox apps’ (or core applications) is present in the latest preview build (25931) which has been released in the Canary channel (Microsoft’s earliest test builds).

As of that build, you can now uninstall the default Photos app, People app, and Remote Desktop (MSTSC) client, as well as the Camera app (which you could already remove since preview builds in March, as The Verge, which spotted this, observes).

Furthermore, Cortana can now be dropped from Windows 11 following the official deprecation of the digital assistant, as we recently reported.

Cortana being swept away is part of preparing the ground for the arrival of the Windows Copilot AI – possibly later this year with the Windows 11 23H2 update – so that case is a little bit different.

Analysis: Expect more of this going forward

It’s useful to have the ability to trim away these default apps. Even though they aren’t huge in size, if you never use them, you can save a bit of storage space, and streamline your system in general. Also, you won’t have to look at pointless programs when scrolling through your lists of apps in Windows 11 menus.

It’s likely Microsoft will give users the choice to uninstall more of these core apps going forward, and you can already remove a fair few. Anything that isn’t system-critical should be fair game to be given the elbow in our book.

Build 25931 doesn’t do a huge amount elsewhere – it’s mainly about porting over features from the Dev channel – but there are some interesting tweaks, such as a change to Dynamic Lighting to allow you to match your Windows accent color with the RGB lights on the devices attached to your PC. Nifty.

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Windows 10 gets some love from Microsoft with updated Photos app
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Despite concentrating on its latest version of Windows, it seems Microsoft is still keen to bring new features to the ageing Windows 10, with a revamped Photos app apparently coming soon.

After bringing the Windows Backup app to Windows 10, after initially only offering it to Windows 11 users, there's been a further indication that Microsoft will continue making features and apps that were originally thought to be only for Windows 11 also available for Windows 10.

The next such app to join the Windows Backup app is the modernized Photos app, as reported by Neowin and X (formerly Twitter) user @techosausrex. The early preview version of the app is now supported in Windows 10, giving a pretty solid nod that it will be released in a future Windows 10 update.

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The new Photos app for Windows 10

It has also apparently been somewhat confirmed by Microsoft as the current version of the Windows 10 Photos app now states that “a new update for the Photos app is coming soon with exciting enhancements,” as evidenced by Neowin.

What users can expect in the new Photos app is a more sophisticated interface, improvements to photo library management, better integration with OneDrive, a refined “Memories” feature, a multi-window capability and multi-screen usability, and upgraded abilities to import from external sources.  Another anticipated development is that the built-in video editor will be swapped out for Microsoft’s web-based video editor, Clipchamp. 

How to install the new Photos app

If you’d like to try the new Photos app for Windows app before it’s available in a future update, you can do so by following these steps: 

First, you need to go to https://store.rg-adguard.net. 

This will allow you to generate a direct link for the new Photos app from the Microsoft store. 

Second, make sure the first drop-down menu shows “URL (link)” and paste this link into the long middle URL box: 

https://www.microsoft.com/store/productid/9WZDNCRFJBH4 

Third, in the smaller drop-down box next to the URL box, select “Fast” and click the checkmark button directly next to it. 

Then, you may have to scroll down a bit (if you can’t see the long list of available links) which should show up in a table. You want to find the link that looks exactly like this: 

Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2023.11080.4003.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

Next, you have to right-click this link and from the menu that appears, select Save link as. Allow for your device to download the file. 

Finally, you’ll want to open the file you just downloaded and click Update. This will prompt Windows 10 to update the app and allow you to open it. 

Woman using free video editing software on laptop

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Things for users to consider

It’s worth noting that the Windows 10 Photos updated app won’t work exactly like the Windows 11 version, at least for now. For instance, the Windows 11 Photos app allows for iCloud integration as the Windows 10 version doesn’t. Also, if you install the updated Photos app and find that you don’t like it as much as the older app, there’s an easy way to downgrade to the previous version. You can go to Settings in the Photos app and click the Get Photos Legacy button, and this should revert your Photos app.

I appreciate Microsoft’s approach to enable users to adjust their Windows experience to their liking, no matter what version they are using. If you like the older version of the operating system, you can get most apps and features in Windows 10 that you’d find in Windows 11. 

Microsoft’s continued support for Windows 10 by bringing new apps and features to the older operating system, despite the existence of Windows 11 (which the company clearly wants its users to upgrade to), is good to see, and hopefully will put pressure on other companies (especially Apple and Google) to continue to bring new features that are compatible with older operating systems.

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Windows 11 update breaks Start menu for some customization apps – and Microsoft isn’t going to help this time
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Windows 11 again has a problem with third-party customization apps that are used to modify the operating system’s interface, with one of these applications clashing with the latest update for the OS.

That’d be the new preview (optional) update for Windows 11 22H2 (patch KB5028254), which as XDA Developers spotted has broken the Start menu for some users of the customization app ExplorerPatcher (going by reports online).

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because earlier in the year we witnessed issues with ExplorerPatcher (and StartAllBack) causing trouble with File Explorer (and nasty boot loops). This was with the Moment 2 update, in fact, back in March (when that was released in preview).

With this gremlin rearing its head again – albeit causing a different issue – what is Microsoft doing? Well, not a lot it seems. Let’s dive into why.

Analysis: Not our problem

Back in March, when these third-party apps became problematic for Windows 11, Microsoft said it would investigate the matter (as The Register reported at the time) and provide more info. What happened was that the developers of both ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack released patches for their clients to solve the bug, and that was that. We didn’t hear anything else from Microsoft.

Now that issues have appeared again, it seems Microsoft has got fed up, and is washing its hands of the matter. As advised in a release health status update for Windows 11, Microsoft says: “We recommend uninstalling any third-party UI customization app before installing KB5028254 to prevent this issue. If your Windows device is already experiencing this issue, you might need to contact customer support for the developer of the app you are using.”

The issue is marked as ‘mitigated external’ which basically means it’s up to the developer (an external party) to fix it for their app (as happened in the past), and Microsoft doesn’t want to know.

In short, affected users only have two options: nag the developer for a fix, or uninstall the customization app in question.

Is that a reasonable response from Microsoft? In fairness to the software giant, it has previously noted that some of these apps use “unsupported methods to achieve their customization” and that this can produce weird side-effects. Given that the methods are ‘unsupported,’ Microsoft’s view is that it doesn’t have to take this software into consideration when updating Windows 11 code (especially if this is going to happen repeatedly, which seems to be the case).

We don’t feel that’s unreasonable of Microsoft in all honesty, but still, the response does feel a little cold and ‘not our problem’ in nature.

Note that KB5028254 is an optional update right now, so there’s no need to install it, and the upgrade is still in testing; you can simply steer clear.

However, this will become a mandatory cumulative update for August, and therein lies the problem – ExplorerPatcher users (and possibly those employing other third-party customization apps) could then have a broken Start menu. Hopefully, though, the developer of this app will have implemented a fix by then (because Microsoft certainly won’t, that’s abundantly clear).

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Windows 11 finally gets 3D-style emoji (about 2 years too late for some folks)
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Windows 11 has a new preview build and it introduces 3D emoji, plus it takes an important first step for change on the security front.

You may recall that 3D emoji were promised by Microsoft in the past – the distant past, in fact, since this was something that was supposed to launch with Windows 11 – but they’re finally here. Putting paid to what was quite the controversy almost two years ago (we’ll come back to ‘emojigate’ shortly).

Build 25905 for the Canary channel gives us some smart-looking emoji that are nicely fleshed out with a 3D-like appearance.

As Microsoft notes: “These emoji use gradients to bring the design style that our customers have been asking for.”

Windows 11 3D Emoji

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Elsewhere in this preview build, security has been tightened thanks to the introduction of Rust in the Windows Kernel. Not rust as in metal-gone-bad, but Rust as in the coding language which offers advantages over C++ (the currently used programming language), notably in terms of memory safety (and defending against exploits that take this route).

At the moment, the initial steps with Rust are just a “small trial” as Microsoft describes it, but expect the Windows 11 kernel to get rustier as time goes on.

It’s also worth noting that the Microsoft Store now has an AI Hub, and not just for the Canary channel, but all testers who are running version 22306.1401.x.x or better of the store.

We discussed this in detail yesterday, but the idea is for Microsoft to highlight some top apps that make good use of AI (and more besides, eventually).

Check out the full details of everything going on in this new preview build by reading through Microsoft’s blog post on the release.

Analysis: Fiery feelings over emoji

What’s all this about ‘emojigate’ then? Well, as mentioned, Microsoft did tease 3D-like emoji before the release of Windows 11, promising that they’d arrive with the OS. However, when Windows 11 launched in October 2021, the redesigned emoji looked nothing like the promised 3D-style affairs, and were simply flat icons.

That caused quite an outpouring of rage on social media. While emoji may seem like a relatively unimportant facet of an operating system to some folks, to others, they’re a key part of the experience and communicating with friends. More to the point, people don’t like feeling duped, and indeed at the time, some threw accusations at Microsoft of ‘scamming’ them.

Over the top, yes, but that’s how folks can react when they feel they’ve been lied to in some way. Microsoft explained that the wrong graphics had been used for teasing the feature, and there had been some kind of a mix-up, but that didn’t sit well with some Windows 11 users back at the time, either.

At any rate, Brandon LeBlanc, Senior Program manager at Microsoft, told the disgruntled users that the 3D emoji could arrive in Windows 11 at a later date – and they finally have. At least in testing, anyway, and they should be in the release version of Windows 11 later this year.

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ChatGPT-powered Bing AI is getting a feature some folks desperately want
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Microsoft’s Bing AI is getting a ‘no search’ feature and it’s coming soon, we’re told.

What does this ability do? Much as the name suggests, it instructs the Bing chatbot to answer off its own bat, and not search the web to use that data in the reply to your query.

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OnMSFT spotted that Mikhail Parakhin, who is head of Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, let us know about the incoming functionality on Twitter.

Parakhin has actually mentioned the feature a few times in tweets over the past week, and in the most recent message, said that ‘no search’ is coming “soon” (as you can see above).

We shouldn’t be waiting long, then, to get this capability, and it’ll add to the growing armory of features that Microsoft is building out for Bing AI.

In case you missed it, Bing AI was recently furnished with improved sports knowledge for queries on the big game(s), and a major incoming feature is image recognition (so you can sling a picture at the chatbot, and have the location or building identified, for example). Bing Vision, as it’s called, is due to arrive for all users in the very near future.

Analysis: Another useful option for Bing AI

Another facet of the chatbot Microsoft is working on is to reduce the time it takes Bing AI to respond in the case of certain queries (eliminating so-called latency spikes). Presumably, using ‘no search’ will also have the benefit of speeding up the chatbot’s answers too (as Bing will be doing less in this case). We shall see, but better performance is clearly something Microsoft wants to gun for with the AI.

Why would you want to use a ‘no search’ query in general, though? Well, as the Twitter user who Parakhin replied to makes clear, with some questions, you don’t need Bing to go rifling around the web – and in some cases, scraping data from multiple websites could potentially make an answer less useful. (As another user points out, this affects Bing’s coding abilities detrimentally, for example).

Also, you may just want a quick and streamlined reply, rather than a heap of web references thrown at you. So, while this might be a somewhat niche feature, it’s going to be a very useful one to have for some folks.

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Bing AI gets some handy new features in Microsoft Edge browser
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Microsoft has bolstered the capabilities of its Bing AI in the Edge browser’s side panel with a couple of welcome new features.

As flagged up by Leopeva64, a regular source of Edge leaks and developments on Twitter, there’s now an export button built into the Bing Chat pane in Microsoft’s browser.

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Click it and you get the choice of exporting whatever content you’re currently looking at in the chatbot to a Word document, PDF, or text file.

A second change for Edge spotted by Leopeva64 is that the Bing Chat side panel has a new section entitled ‘Mentioned’ which picks out highlights of things that are, well, mentioned by the chatbot.

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As you can see in the example provided in Leopeva64’s tweet, selected movies are shown as images (movie posters, in this case) that you can click on to learn more about the film (with the AI pulling info from Wikipedia in this case).

Analysis: Next up – the huge change for browsers

Clearly, it’s good to have the export feature in the Edge side panel. If you’ve found something particularly interesting, it’s great to have the ability to export it as some kind of document file with a couple of clicks.

Microsoft actually announced that this feature was inbound at the start of May (in one of those many Bing blog posts which are crafted on a weekly basis), so it has taken a little while for it to go live.

The new ‘Mentioned’ box has arrived more out of the blue, but again, it’s a useful addition to have and provides a jumping-off point for deeper exploration into related materials from any particular query.

Bing is steadily being built out in all kinds of directions, then, but in terms of the browser experience, the biggest change is going to be the introduction of the chatbot to browsers outside of Edge. That should be happening soon enough, going by chatter from sources at Microsoft, so you’ll be able to use the Bing AI in Chrome, for example, without having to resort to an unofficial (and clunky) extension.

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Apple Vision Pro might be lacking some features at launch, says leak
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Apple's Vision Pro headset hasn't even gone on sale yet, and it might not do for another year yet. But that was never going to stop Apple from working on what will follow it and now a recent report suggests that isn't just one, but two new headsets.

Unfortunately for Vision Pro hopefuls, that same report also suggests that Apple will hold back some visionOS features for when those successors are shared with the public – and worst of all, they're features that were originally penciled in for the Vision Pro's launch instead.

However, Apple appears to have chosen to delay those software features until the next found of hardware is ready, and that, among other things, could be enough to give potential buyers a reason to consider hanging fire – not that we imagine people are lining up to buy this insanely expensive device, even if it does turn out to be the best VR headset ever made.

Two is better than one

Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that  Apple has not one, but two new versions of the Vision Pro headset in development already – one of which will be a lot cheaper. Apple only announced the Vision Pro at WWDC on June 5, but it's already moved some employees from that project and onto teams that are working on what comes next in Apple's AR/VR lineup.

We noted the two new Vision Pro models previously, but the latest report from Gurman suggests that new software features will debut with those updated models, rather than the first headset – even though that one isn't even releasing until 2024.

Gurman says that Apple is working on “The ability to show multiple Mac desktop screens when connected wirelessly to a Vision Pro,” whereas the first Vision Pro will only connect to a single desktop at launch. There's also the suggestion that Apple Fitness Plus will be integrated somehow, allowing headsets wearers to work out while in an AR/VR world.

Finally, Gurman says that Apple also wants to offer “the ability for multiple Vision Pro users in a several-person FaceTime conference to use Personas.” The Vision Pro due to go on sale in the first half of 2024 will only allow one-on-one calls with Apple's haunting 3D avatars.

It's still too early to know when Apple will announce these new headsets of course, nor do we know how much that cheaper model will cost. We can hopefully expect to learn more as the leaks roll out in the coming months.

It's a bit disappointing that Apple will apparently be holding back some features – it's particularly odd to be hearing about it now, when the first iteration of the headset is still more than six months away from release. We'd imagine there probably is enough time for Apple to implement those features, in fact, which makes the whole thing all the more disheartening.

In other words, we're probably going to hold off on dropping $ 3,499 on the Vision Pro next year – at least, unless Apple confirms these features will be backward-compatible when they finally do arrive.

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Windows 10 update is reportedly causing havoc for some users
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Windows 10’s latest patch is causing some problems with slow installations, or even complete failures to install, among other more worrying sounding bugs.

This is patch KB5027215, which doesn’t do anything except fix some security issues (remember, Windows 10 is not getting any new features from now on, save for maybe minor tweaks here and there, it’ll all be security work).

As Neowin spotted, there are complaints on Reddit that KB5027215 installs very slowly. One Redditor reports: “Only unusual thing that I noticed which others might have experienced is the long ‘cleaning up’ process post-update/pre-login on the reboot. That happens if you reboot for the cumulative update and the NET update at the same time.”

There are some other reports in that thread regarding the cumulative update for June completely failing to install (with the usual garbage error messages that mean nothing). Those instances are backed up by other users on Microsoft’s Feedback Hub.

There are also a couple of reports (from Redditors) that KB5027215 is causing more serious trouble, and in one case, it bricked the PC, and in another, Windows Update got stuck in a loop checking for updates.

Analysis: Be careful drawing conclusions

We must be careful about how much we read into reports of bricking devices, of course, when they are scattered findings. To illustrate this, in the above linked Reddit thread, there’s a complaint of a Windows 10 laptop going wonky post-update, with its charger no longer recognized, but it turns out that the cumulative update wasn’t to blame in this case.

In actual fact, it was a Dell firmware update pushed alongside patch KB5027215 which messed up the notebook’s charging functionality. So, while the initial reaction was to rage at the update – unsurprisingly – after investigation, KB5027215 was innocent here.

That said, the blame for pushing the new firmware directly to the laptop can be laid at the feet of Windows Update, which really shouldn’t be running that kind of firmware update automatically, in the background, without the user knowing. (It was not an update piped directly from Dell). So, this is still an issue Microsoft (indirectly) caused.

At any rate, the hints of serious trouble around KB5027215 may lead the cautious to pause this update for the time being, and that could be a wise decision. Hopefully Microsoft will investigate the issues flagged here, and any necessary fixes can be applied in a timely manner. The downside being that you’ll be left without those security measures brought in by KB5027215, of course.

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Windows 11’s latest update proves disastrous for some Chrome users
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The latest update for Windows 11 has totally broken Google’s Chrome browser for users of a popular antivirus app.

For Malwarebytes users, patch KB5027231 for Windows 11 22H2 causes Chrome to fail to work – the browser window simply doesn’t appear, even though there is a running Chrome instance in Task Manager.

Neowin spotted that Malwarebytes staff members have posted several times on the issue, to let affected folks know that the company is investigating and working on an update to fix the issue. Users also note that there’s no issue with Windows 10 and Chrome.

A Malwarebytes employee going by the forum name Msherwood posted to say: “We’re currently experiencing issues with Malwarebytes Exploit Protection and Chrome in Windows 11 where you’ll see Chrome crash. We suspect this is happening due to a Windows Update (KB5027231) that was released on June 13, 2023.

“We’re actively troubleshooting this and we’ll be back with more info as soon as possible.”

A further update to that post notes that there is a fix now in the beta of Malwarebytes 4.

Analysis: There is a fudged workaround, too

The good news is that if you don’t want to switch to the beta of Malwarebytes – and let’s face it, most folks won’t (beta software may well have problems of its own) – there is a workaround which has been successfully applied according to numerous reports.

Some people have simply turned off Malwarebytes Exploit Protection, but that leaves you vulnerable as you might imagine, and there’s a more targeted fudge as provided by another staff member at the company, Arthi.

That is to turn off Chrome as a protected app in Malwarebytes. To do this, go to Settings, and the Security tab, and under Exploit Protection, click the ‘Manage Protected Applications’ button. Then find Google Chrome in the list of apps and turn off the protection slider.

Obviously that still isn’t ideal, as Malwarebytes will no longer be protecting Chrome against exploits. If that makes you uncomfortable, the only other path is to uninstall the Windows update (KB5027231) and live without it until the security company provides a full fix. That should be soon enough, given that the cure is already in beta as mentioned.

There is one other workaround suggested by Arthi, and this is to set Chrome as your default browser in Windows 11 (if it isn’t already, obviously). However, a couple of reports in the customer support thread suggest that this didn’t make any difference.

It’s worth a shot, though, seeing as this is a workaround which won’t hinder your level of security with Chrome (turning off exploit protection certainly does).

Interestingly, there’s a claim that Malwarebytes isn’t the only antivirus vendor affected, and an ESET user reckons they have encountered it – and that the problem is caused by having any other Chromium browser set as your default (such as Microsoft Edge).  Take that with lots and lots of salt, though it makes some sense in that one of the suggestions from Malwarebytes is to change Chrome to be your default browser.

We’ll keep an eye on the situation as it develops to ascertain whether or not other antivirus apps are also hit by this gremlin.

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