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New Windows 11 users might be confused by this full-screen pop-up
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Windows 11 and Windows 10 users might be faced with a rather odd-seeming full-screen pop-up after they’ve upgraded, pertaining to Windows Hello logins using facial recognition or a fingerprint.

Neowin spotted a Microsoft support document explaining that after June 13 – the day the most recent cumulative update was released for Windows 11 (and 10) – you might see the aforementioned pop-up panel if you’ve recently updated to a later version of Windows.

And it can also appear if you haven’t signed into your Windows device using Windows Hello in over a year, and you’ve just installed an update.

The prompt reads, “Choose if you want to keep signing in with your face or fingerprint,” then poses the question: “Do you want to keep storing your face or fingerprint data on this PC?”

If you choose ‘yes’ then nothing more needs to be done. If you decide you don’t want to use these biometric login methods any longer, when you click ‘no’ Windows will take you to the Settings app, where you can change your sign-in method.

Analysis: Permission to be confused, Captain

This is a strange one because we’re not told why Microsoft has decided this prompt is necessary. Has the software giant just spontaneously decided to check if users still want to continue with Windows Hello?

Well, if they haven’t used their biometric login for over a year, that seems like a fair enough helpful check to implement. However, that’s clearly not the full story, as folks who’ve used Windows Hello recently and regularly are seeing this panel too, if they’ve recently upgraded to a newer version of Windows 11 or 10. So why quiz them on the matter?

We’re not told, and that’s a bit confusing – it’d be nice to be given a reason. Could it be something to do with issues around login data permissions? Well, we’re just guessing here.

Whatever the case, it would really make sense to clarify the reason on the actual pop-up screen in Windows, or at least provide a link to that clarification for the curious. Just so people aren’t potentially confused about why they’re seeing the prompt on their PC.

Granted, plenty of folks may not care, and in the bigger picture, this is a very minor inconvenience, but still, the whole episode just seems a bit odd to us – the support document is all well and good, but doesn’t tell the full story.

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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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Windows 11 lost users this month – should Microsoft be worried?
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Windows 11 has slipped with its market share over the last month, at least going by a report from one analytics firm.

According to Statcounter’s figures for May, Windows 11 fell to a market share of 22.95% (across all Windows versions). That’s only a touch lower than April, during which Windows 11 stood at 23.11% – but it’s a real surprise to see Windows 11 effectively stall at this point (we’ll discuss why shortly).

Windows 10 rose very slightly to hit 71.9%, and it remains by far the most dominant version of Windows, even though Windows 11 has been around for a year and a half now.

Microsoft’s newest operating system has made slow progress, and particularly with this latest small stumble, that must be something of a concern for the company.

Elsewhere in the stats, Windows 7 remains fairly static on 3.6%, and Windows 8 versions amount to 1.09%.

Windows XP, believe it or not, still has users out there, holding a 0.32% niche market share. (There are reasons some might be forced to use Windows XP, as we chewed over recently – that said, though, if you are running the ancient OS, you really should be keeping it fully offline for obvious reasons).

Analysis: Trouble ahead for Microsoft?

The reason why Windows 11 slipping slightly for adoption is so surprising is because recently the operating system has been taking some sizeable strides forward (with Statcounter’s figures for earlier this year).

Now, granted, some of that was due to Windows 7 finishing its extended support period, meaning a bunch of users were then forced to migrate – initially more to Windows 10 than 11, but both platforms saw a boost.

However, even after Windows 7’s userbase settled at its new lower level (just under 4%), where it’s been for a few months now, Windows 11 has been up by a significant market share over the last two months – about 2% for both March and April in fact.

This led us to believe that the OS was having something of a surge, and would finally start making serious headway towards that 30% mark – but now, in May’s figures, we see Windows 11 having stalled.

Why might that be? The irony is that Microsoft announced the end of feature updates for Windows 10 at the close of April, a move that was clearly designed to persuade folks to migrate to Windows 11 (if they want any new features at all – except for minor tweaks). And yet during May, Windows 11 has suddenly floundered compared to the rest of 2023.

Is that an element of pushback, people digging their heels in – rather like our reaction to the end of feature updates for Windows 10? Perhaps there’s a touch of that here.

Windows 11

(Image credit: Unsplash)

More likely, though, this could be bound up in faltering laptop sales, with fewer new pieces of hardware being sold – cost of living crisis, and all – resulting in less progress for Windows 11, maybe? That’s certainly a compelling possibility, as the current PC slump is being seen to hit some laptop makers hard (in the consumer and business arenas).

It’s possible, too, that we could be starting to hit a wall in terms of the number of PCs that are actually capable of being upgraded to Windows 11 (at least without changes to meet the more stringent hardware requirements, like adding a TPM module – and folks may not want to be bothered with that kind of hassle). Combined with lower sales of new PCs, this could be a recipe for a poor outlook, at least in the shorter-term, for Microsoft.

That said, all this theorizing aside, we shouldn’t get carried away with one month, and a single set of figures, from one analyst firm. Let’s keep an eye on Statcounter next month, and if Windows 11 once again flails around, then it’ll be time for Microsoft to be concerned about how its new OS is being received. After all, with the recent announcement of the Copilot AI – and killing off Cortana in Windows 10 (where it won’t have Copilot as a replacement) – Microsoft will doubtless be expecting to generate more footfall of users heading towards Windows 11.

If not, then Windows 11 is likely to have a tough time of things until we get closer to the end for Windows 10 starting to come into view (2025). Either that, or the current PC sales slump starts to ease off…

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Microsoft gets defensive and reminds users how great Windows 11 is
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Microsoft recently released a feature update for Windows 11 called Moment 3, which was full of useful upgrades and performance enhancements, that could even win over many Windows 10 users in the battle to get them to upgrade to Windows 11. 

Soon after the release of Moment 3, Microsoft released a list of enhancements that the company has made throughout the year to “more than a billion users worldwide” via a blog post. The list is basically a rundown of every change made in the past year on Insider channels that are now present in the Moment 3 update.

According to Neowin, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer Panos Panay had reminded people that the newest iteration of Windows is focused on quality, and that Windows 11 is the “most reliable version of Windows ever.”

The official blog post from Microsoft with the rather unsubtle title ‘Delivering Delightful Performance for More Than One Billion Users Worldwide’ dives into all the major changes made thus far that Windows users should be grateful for.

There’s been no shortage of negative news stories, crashes and bugs crawling around Windows 11 and subsequent updates and fixes this year, so the blog post comes across like doubling-down from the tech giant. While the Moment 3 update was definitely welcomed with open, almost desperate arms, it does seem a little strange for Microsoft to put out a blog post detailing every ‘good’ change it’s made so far.

The improvements boasted by the tech giant are listed in full in the post, with some notable mentions like making PCs more sustainable, Microsoft Edge starting up faster and increasing users productivity by speeding up how long it takes to get to the desktop.

Microsoft still needs to entice more people to move over to Windows 11, and the recent string of bad headlines definitely hasn’t helped with the migration, but the new blog post could be persuasive.  If you’re apprehensive about upgrading to Windows 11, having every major change listed out could help settle any concerns and aid your decision to upgrade or stay put. That being said, some of the listed upgrades are a little vague, perhaps purposely so.

The Moment 3 update is definitely a step in the right direction and does show that Windows has moved pretty far away from the dark days of Windows Vista. Giving users a whole blog post on all the changes you’ve been making is a straightforward step towards enticing people to upgrade, and we will have to see just how persuaded users are. 

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ChatGPT-fueled Bing now has 100 million users – but will they stick around?
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Microsoft tells us that its Bing search engine has hit new highs, now boasting 100 million daily active users.

The news came via a post on the Microsoft Bing blog site observing the difference that the ChatGPT-powered AI has made to Bing traffic in its first month of existence, pushing numbers up over 100 million for the first time ever.

The company notes that there are over a million users of the new Bing AI (in preview), and that this helped boost the figures of the search engine to realize the fresh milestone.

Microsoft then goes on to say that a third of the “millions of active users” of the Bing AI are new to Bing, which shows that the chatbot is driving folks to the search engine, although there seems to be an element of confusion here.

Is it a ‘million plus’ users of the AI, or ‘millions’? While technically those aren’t contradictory statements, we don’t see why Microsoft didn’t just call it ‘millions’ in both cases as that clearly sounds like more. Like a couple of million, or a few, even? Insert shoulder shrug here.

At any rate, Microsoft also acknowledged the obvious truth that Bing is still a long old way off the pace compared to Google: “This [100 million] is a surprisingly notable figure, and yet we are fully aware we remain a small, low, single digit share player. That said, it feels good to be at the dance!”

Analysis: Can this growth be sustained?

Let’s face it: Bing AI isn’t just a chatbot. It’s a vehicle to help Bing challenge Google, and one that Microsoft hopes will be swiftly moving up through the gears to gain momentum.

This isn’t just about pushing for market share with the Bing search engine either, it’s also a line of attack for the Edge browser, as we’ve already seen with the taskbar implementation of the Bing AI in Windows 11: an icon that linked through to the Bing page, opening it up in Edge.

(Note that after the disappointment around this, and the way Microsoft made it seem like the AI was integrated into the taskbar, rather than just being a link, the Bing icon has vanished from the search box for now, though we’re told it will be returning periodically).

Anyway, we can see that Microsoft’s plan is working thus far, with the Bing AI preview successfully recruiting regular users to add to the ranks of Bing searchers – and a good dollop of them – but will this state of affairs last?

A laptop screen showing the new ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine

(Image credit: Microsoft)

We’re doubtful. You see, the Bing chatbot is all shiny, new, and still very much an object of curiosity right now. It had a serious pull to begin with, as you’d expect from new tech, and that interest has been carried through with measures like the recent introduction of a trio of personalities to experiment with, as well as various limits Microsoft had previously imposed on chats being lifted.

And doubtless there’s still entertainment to be had prodding the AI, trying to engage with it using different angles – humor inevitably being one of them – and generally messing with the chatbot. That won’t last, though.

Don’t get us wrong, there will be serious users of the Bing bot out there, of course, but we’d imagine a sizeable chunk of the early attraction comes from the curious or mischievous.

And in that respect, initial figures are not really a yardstick of how much impact the ‘new Bing’ as Microsoft calls it will make. If growth is sustained, and the AI is meaningfully honed and improved over the next few months, we can come back and talk about a new wave of adoption for Bing.

Until then, we remain skeptical, and our overall feeling is that Microsoft has opened the doors too early on this one. We’re not sure the AI is going to be well tuned enough to seriously impress in the way it should for some time yet, but it’s easy to see why Microsoft was keen to launch. It needs all the weaponry it can muster in the battle against Google (and Chrome for that matter), and the latter company is forging ahead with its own AI tech (Bard).

Via MS Power User

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Wix users can now collect debit card payments on iPhone
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Website builder company Wix has extended its partnership with Stripe to enable US-based Wix merchants to use Tap to Pay on iPhone.

Tap to Pay on iPhone is available on compatible devices to Wix Payments merchants using the ecommerce, bookings and events solutions. 

In its latest bid to broaden its POS capabilities, Wix says that the method is a secure and trusted way to make the payment experience more flexible.

Tap to Pay on iPhone displayed on a smartphone

(Image credit: Wix)

Tap to Pay with Wix 

Merchants now have the ability to use an iPhone to accept in-person payments from physical debit and credit cards, Apple Pay and other digital wallets without the need for additional hardware.

A spokesperson from Wix told TechRadar Pro that the fee users will need to pay is 2.6% of the transaction amount plus a 0.20 USD processing fee per transaction.

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In a press release, Amit Sagiv and Volodymyr Tsukur, Co-Heads of Wix Payments, said: “We’re constantly evolving our solutions to help users efficiently grow both their online and offline sales.” 

“Tap to Pay on iPhone offers merchants a reliable and secure payment option to increase customer touchpoints and deliver new in-person experiences, ultimately optimizing their multichannel strategy and increasing the monetization of their offline sales.” 

“Our partnership with Stripe gives merchants the ultimate flexibility to sell anytime, anywhere – whether in-store or on the go, at their own convenience to never miss a sale.”

In addition to Wix, Tap to Pay on iPhone is supported by payment platforms Square, Adyen, and Stripe.

“Tap to Pay on iPhone lets merchants accept and process contactless payments in seconds without additional hardware,” said John Affaki, Terminal Business Lead at Stripe. 

“Wix merchants and their customers can use Tap to Pay on iPhone anywhere knowing they’re completing fast and secure payment transactions using iPhone.”

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Windows 7 users are finally abandoning ship – but not for Windows 11
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Windows 7 is finally being abandoned if new stats are anything to go by, with its userbase practically cut in half following support for the OS being completely discontinued – and of course the end-of-life being reached for Windows 8.1, which similarly saw its user numbers cut in half.

This is according to Statcounter’s figures for February, which show that Windows 7 market share (among all Windows versions globally) has dropped from 9.55% to 5.39%, a huge slide. Windows 8.1 similarly halved from 2.28% to 1.15%.

The timing is notable, seeing as Windows 8.1 just went out of support in January 2023, and while Windows 7 became officially unsupported in January 2020, since then it has had a period of Extended Security Updates (ESU) – and that just expired in January 2023.

As Windows 8.1 isn’t getting an ESU programme, effectively both Windows 7 and 8/8.1 are finally and completely on the scrapheap regarding security updates, so it’s no longer safe to run them. And with February’s figures, we’re seeing the results of that quite clearly indeed.

Where are these people migrating to? It looks like mainly Windows 10, which received a 4.39% uptick for February to hit a 73.25% market share. The ranks of Windows 11 users were also bolstered somewhat to the tune of a smidge over 1%, with that OS now at 19.13% of overall share, but Windows 10 was clearly the big gainer here.

Analysis: A long slow goodbye, most likely

You could say that this was predictable enough, given that all support and security updates are now out of the window (sorry) for both of these outdated Microsoft operating systems – but not really.

Folks are prone to staying with a favorite OS even past its security sell-by-date, and if ever there was a testament to that, it’s Windows XP. If you recall, Windows XP still held a 10% market share two years after it ran out of road for support (15 years after the OS first arrived).

Indeed, there were still XP users in evidence (a small but meaningful amount – just over half a percent) when it turned 20-years-old, can you believe? This is why Windows XP became known as the OS that refused to die.

It doesn’t look like Windows 7 will be pulling similar levels of longevity, given this February plunge. Although we do expect that erosion of its share will slow down considerably after the initial defection has taken place.

Of course, bear in mind that this is just one set of figures on desktop operating systems, so we mustn’t get too carried away with drawing conclusions – though this is such a strong indication, you’d be hard pressed not to read something substantial into it.

Via Neowin

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Our favorite Microsoft Teams feature is coming to more users
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Microsoft is preparing an update for collaboration platform Teams that will extend access to of the most useful features to a wider range of users.

As explained in a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Microsoft is bringing the meeting transcription service to customers running Teams on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

The update is currently scheduled to take effect in June, after which employees using virtual machines will have full access to the feature.

Microsoft Teams update

The transcription feature was first made available to Teams users roughly a year ago, giving meeting attendees an easy way to review the conversation after the fact. It also gives anyone either late to join or unable to participate the ability to catch up after a meeting has concluded.

“Live transcripts provide a way to follow along with what has been said and who said it. After a meeting, the transcript file is automatically saved in the chat tab for that meeting,” the roadmap entry explains.

Until now, the feature has been available exclusively to employees running the standard Microsoft Teams clients for desktop and mobile, excluding the fairly sizable section of users running Teams out of a virtual machine.

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With the upcoming update, however, Microsoft will ensure that all users are able to benefit from the functionality.

The broad objective is to ensure the meeting experience is consistent for all Microsoft Teams users, no matter which client or hardware they are using to dial in. Beyond the transcription feature, the company has made a number of recent additions with this goal in mind.

For example, Microsoft recently extended access to background blur to VDI users, announced an update that will improve the meeting experience on Mozilla Firefox, and enabled the live captions feature for guest users.

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