Last minute changes to government’s gang laws escaped public scrutiny through select committee and human rights assessment from Attorney-General Read...

The other day, we reported that Microsoft has made good on its promise to speed up Windows 11 apps that have been suffering from performance issues. That fix is currently in testing and should roll out soon. But in another positive move, Microsoft is showing that they’re paying attention to performance on a broader scale — in this case, we’re about to see performance improvements to the Microsoft Store. According to the company’s dev blog, Microsoft is introducing a new path for app developers to migrate their UWP apps to .NET 9 and Native AOT (which stands for Ahead-of-Time compilation). Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro This is great news as app developers can now modernize their UWP apps in two phases rather than with one monolithic change. This particular path makes it possible to get apps working on .NET 9 and Native AOT, which should make it easier to later switch to WinUI 3. According to the post, apps on .NET 9 and Native AOT have better performance than UWP apps on .NET Native, and Native AOT is actively being improved over time. As such, this is a change that should be pursued by most UWP app developers at some point. Interestingly, the dev blog post also mentions in a side note that the Microsoft Store is going through this exact migration. The Microsoft Store is currently being switched over to .NET 9 and we can expect to see a new version of the app running on Native AOT “in the near future.” Of course, when that happens, it will most likely roll out to Windows Insiders first before reaching the general public. Further reading: Should you become a Windows Insider? The pros, cons, and what you need to know Read...

Two ministers have argued politicians` scrutiny - by Cabinet and Parliament - is enough, and the Attorney-General says it wasn`t necessary to examine the changes. Read...

Amazon’s October Prime Day, aka “Prime Big Deal Days,” is returning once again, as Amazon endeavors to lengthen the holiday shopping season. The pre-holiday sales take place on Oct. 8 and 9 2024, and are Amazon’s fall complement to its July Prime Day event. Expect to see big sales on all types of tech gear, alongside deals of up to 55 percent on Amazon-branded electronics. And of course, you’ll find discounts on seasonal clothing and decor. As you might expect, you’ll need to be an Amazon member to take advantage of the savings. You can either join now, or visit Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days page to launch a trial account. So, what’s hot for Amazon Prime Big Deal Days? Amazon is positioning this sale as a pre-holiday extravaganza, hoping to save you the effort of rushing out to the mall to buy stuff. Obviously, a lot of tech gear will go on sale, and if you want to stock up on Amazon devices, this is usually the time to buy. At PCWorld, we’ll be looking for deals in all the major tech categories, including laptops, Chromebooks, desktops, storage, docks and hubs and more. This article will be updated as soon as we publish our deal roundups in all the tech categories PCWorld covers. For now, you can check out all our Prime Day coverage from July. October Prime Day 2024 FAQ 1. When are Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days? Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days kick off at 12:01 AM PT on Oct. 8 and run through Oct. 9. They’ll take place in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., the U.S., and for the first time, Turkey. Prime members in Japan can shop on Prime Big Deal Days later in October, Amazon says. 2. What’s the difference between Amazon Prime Day and Amazon Prime Big Deal Days? We consider Amazon Prime Day in July to be the “big” deals event, with a number of discounts across various categories of electronics and gadgets. Prime Big Deal Days, meanwhile, kicks off the fall shopping season (well, according to Amazon, anyway). Holiday and Black Friday sales happen later, and Amazon obviously participates in these, too. The bottom line is that Prime Day is the big event, and Prime Big Deal Days typically showcases fewer great tech deals. It’s more like a soft lead in to general holiday shopping. 3. Do you need to subscribe to Amazon Prime to shop Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days? Yes, you do. You’ll need to either be an existing Prime Day member or visit Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days page to launch a trial account. 4. What electronics deals can I expect during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days? According to Amazon, you can expect savings of up to 55 percent on select Amazon devices, including the Blink Outdoor 4 six-camera system, eero mesh wifi systems, 40-inch Fire TV 2-Series, and Luna gaming controllers. You’ll also see Amazon’s lowest price ever on its Blink Outdoor 4 four-camera system. If you pay with your Prime credit card, you’ll earn 10 percent back on select Amazon device purchases, including the Fire Max 11 tablet, Amazon Echo (4th Gen), and 65” Fire TV Omni QLED Series. Amazon’s handing out a $150 Amazon gift card to sign up for a Prime Visa from Oct. 2-31, and you can get $80 in Amazon credit if you sign up for a Prime Store card between Oct.3 and Oct. 9. One place to start is with Amazon’s earlier Prime Day deals. They’ve since expired, but you can use them to help comparison shop. (And sometimes, Amazon will launch a few stealth sales early!) 5. Are there any more electronics-related deals during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days? Customers who haven’t tried Amazon Music Unlimited can listen free, for a limited time, Amazon says. Non-Prime members can get access to three months free, and Prime members can get four months free. If you already subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you can upgrade to a family plan for two months, with no extra cost. Amazon has already opened their Holiday Shop to start planning out your gifts. Read...

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the release of the final version of Microsoft Office LTSC 2024, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, and Microsoft Access. LTSC stands for Long-Term Servicing Channel and it denotes a version that doesn’t receive feature updates for a long while. As described by Microsoft, it’s a “locked-in-time” version that gets some of the features that were released since the last LTSC release, and it gets five years of support from the time it’s released. Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro As such, Microsoft Office LTSC versions are one-time purchase, have no subscription obligations, can only be installed on a single device per license, and don’t require internet connectivity. However, it’s important to note that Microsoft Office LTSC is expressly meant for companies, not private users — LTSC licenses can only be acquired through volume licensing agreements. After lengthy praise for Microsoft 365, the Redmond-based company is now ready to admit that there are still good reasons for a non-subscription version of Office. Microsoft writes: “Still, we know that some customer scenarios require a different approach. Some devices must never be connected to the internet; others need to remain unchanged for years at a time. We remain committed to supporting our customers and these scenarios.? Earlier this year, we offered a public preview of Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) 2024. Today, we’re announcing the general availability of this next perpetual version of Office for commercial and government customers.” Microsoft will support Office LTSC 2024 for five years as part of the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. Office LTSC 2024 will not receive any feature updates, only security updates, and it offers the following benefits: “Office LTSC 2024 offers a locked-in-time version of familiar productivity tools, updated with a subset of the features that have been added to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise over the last three years. New features for this release include Dynamic Charts and more than a dozen new text and array functions in Excel, enhanced search and meeting creation options in Outlook, and improvements to performance, security, and accessibility.” At the bottom of this page, there’s a comparison of Microsoft 365 and Office LTSC 2024. Key benefits of Microsoft 365 include the ability to install apps on up to 5 devices, access to web app versions, eligibility for the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on, and 1TB of cloud storage. Corporate customers can find the GVLKs for Office LTSC 2024 here. Microsoft Office 2024 is not yet available for home users. Further reading: Everything you need to know about Microsoft 365 Read...

The BBC director general says the convicted former presenter would not return `for obvious reasons`. Read...

If Windows 11 no longer works properly, you can reset the operating system, download the installation files from the Microsoft cloud, and reinstall Windows 11. You can also restore your data in the process. However, this requires a fast internet connection, as the operating system downloads all the required data from the internet. The advantages of this method are that you do not need an installation medium and can restore your data from the cloud. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro Cloud recovery is generally also possible in the computer repair options, which start when Windows 11 can no longer boot completely. But you will need a cable network connection in this case, as there are no Wi-Fi drivers available in the recovery environment. However, if Windows 11 starts reasonably stable, you can also perform the recovery via Wi-Fi in the settings. Starting the restore process in Windows 11: Backup and OneDrive Before you start the process for restoring Windows 11 from the cloud, you should make a few preparations. Firstly, you should make sure that you have backed up as much data as possible that you still need after the installation. Either back up the data to a drive or to the cloud. Further reading: Best Windows backup software It makes sense to use OneDrive here, as the Microsoft cloud storage works perfectly with Windows 11 and recovery. Other cloud storage is of course also possible, but OneDrive is integrated directly into the operating system and allows you to synchronize various data and settings without having to use other apps and services. Foundry Foundry Foundry Windows 10/11 includes the Windows Backup tool. You can start it directly from the Start menu. The tool backs up the data on your PC to OneDrive. If you restore Windows 11, whether via the cloud or a local drive, you can then restore your data quickly and easily using the internal backup program. If you are not yet using the free app, you can set it up with just a few clicks before the cloud restore and back up your data to OneDrive. This makes cloud recovery much easier. This allows you to restore them to your PC, but also to other devices that you sign in to with the same Microsoft account. The tool can also back up your settings in Windows 11 and apply them after a restore. This not only allows you to restore your PC from the cloud, but also to restore your data and settings. Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Before you restore Windows 11 from the cloud, you should run the backup once so that you can restore all data later. In general, it doesn’t hurt to synchronize your data with OneDrive using Windows 11. This means that the data for which you have activated synchronization is available in the cloud. If you log in again with your Microsoft account after restoring Windows 11, the synchronized data will also be available. Therefore, if you use OneDrive in Windows 11 in conjunction with Windows Backup, all your data is collected in one central location and can therefore be accessed and restored anywhere. Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Document drivers and applications Before you restore Windows 11, you should check the drivers used. This ensures that if drivers are missing from the Windows 11 installation, you can download the latest drivers yourself from the device manufacturer. To do this, open the device manager with “devmgmt.msc” in the search field of the taskbar. Make a note of the exact type of graphics adapter, network adapter, and other special devices such as cameras, scanners, or printers. This will make it easier for you to update the drivers later if necessary. Foundry Foundry Foundry You should do the same with the installed applications. Call up “appwiz.cpl” to display a list of all installed applications. Make sure that you have the installation files of the programs you want to continue using in the event of a complete restore. Foundry Foundry Foundry If you perform the restore in such a way that apps and data are retained, you do not need to reinstall anything. For a complete reinstallation, however, you will need all installation files. Resetting Windows 11 and restoring from the cloud In the Windows 11 settings, go to System > Recovery. Then click on “Reset PC.” At this point, you can either select “Keep my files” or “Remove all.” If the restore does not work with “Keep my files,” you can start the process again with “Remove all.” If you have backed up your data in the cloud using Windows Backup and synchronized your data with OneDrive at the same time, Windows 11 can restore the data from the cloud at any time. Foundry Foundry Foundry On the next page of the wizard, select “Cloud Download” if you want to ensure that Windows is completely restored with new installation files from the cloud. You will then receive a summary of the data entered so far, which you confirm with “Next.” However, you can cancel the process at any time without consequences. Foundry Foundry Foundry The installation wizard then prepares a few more things and finally starts the reset. You must confirm this with the “Reset” button. The wizard then starts downloading the necessary files, resets Windows 11 completely, and allows you to set it up again. Once you confirm the process, it can no longer be cancelled. If you log in after the reset with the same Microsoft account that you used to back up Windows and set up OneDrive synchronization, all your data will be available again. However, you can also just log in to the Windows backup app with the Microsoft account to restore. Check the device manager to see if any drivers are missing and download them. The documentation created for the installed drivers will help you do this. If you have removed everything, you will need to reinstall the applications you need. It is therefore advisable to ensure in advance that you have the installation files for the applications. Documentation is therefore also useful here before a reset. Further reading: 18 tweaks that give Windows 11 a personalized feel Completion of the cloud restore As soon as Windows 11 has been restored from the cloud, you should ideally log in again with the same Microsoft account. Then make sure that OneDrive is started and you are logged in with the Microsoft account. Synchronization will then start. You can also restore your data and settings from the Windows Backup app after starting the app. You can find the settings for this under Account > Windows Backup. Of course, you can also restore using other tools and cloud storage. The advantage of using Windows Backup and OneDrive is that both solutions are firmly integrated into the operating system, which makes restoring and synchronization much faster. Further reading: The best cloud backup services Read...

Tracy Littlewood was about to be promoted to general manager when her house of cards came tumbling down. Read...

Today, Microsoft is announcing “Wave 2” of its Microsoft 365 Copilot AI innovation, which is geared towards users who are paying for a Microsoft 365 Copilot Pro subscription. But one feature, known as Pages, may be available to business customers who use Copilot without a subscription. The subtext of Pages — and the overall theme of the new Copilot wave in general — is that Copilot’s AI contributions matter. Normally, any advice provided by Copilot remains within Copilot and only for a short time. Microsoft characterizes Copilot’s output as “ephemeral,” signifying something that eventually passes over. But the new Pages feature treats Copilot’s insights as equal to something that you or your coworkers themselves might have authored, saving Copilot’s output on a “page” to be worked on with your colleagues. Here’s what Copilot Pages looks like. Here’s what Copilot Pages looks like.Microsoft Here’s what Copilot Pages looks like.Microsoft Microsoft Pages will initially be available to users who subscribe to Microsoft 365 and have a Microsoft 365 Copilot Pro subscription, which is a $20-per-month add-on. But in the coming weeks, Pages will also be added to Entra accounts. (Entra is Microsoft’s corporate identity solution, which your employer may or may not use.) Entra accounts won’t require a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription to use Pages. The goal, of course, is to sell more of these Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscriptions. But Microsoft is also trying to make Copilot itself stickier and more appealing. The company cited customer testimonials that say Copilot saved them several hours per week. Microsoft is also adding additional features to its Microsoft 365 apps, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Copilot in Excel: Copilot in Excel is now generally available. The key addition is Copilot in Excel with Python, which means you’ll be able to “write” Python functions for Excel using a Copilot prompt. Copilot for Excel now also supports XLOOKUP and SUMIF, conditional formatting, and the ability to iterate with Copilot on visualizations like charts and PivotTables, Microsoft said. Microsoft’s Excel is gaining Python capabilities, combined with Copilot. Microsoft’s Excel is gaining Python capabilities, combined with Copilot.Microsoft Microsoft’s Excel is gaining Python capabilities, combined with Copilot.Microsoft Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint: Narrative Builder is the latest feature within Copilot for PowerPoint, helping to come up with a “draft” presentation and then refine it until you’re satisfied with your product. Soon Copilot will also be able to add images from your SharePoint library and create approved branded presentations. Copilot in Teams: Later this month, Copilot will be able to summarize both Teams meetings and related chats in meetings, so that the official stuff and the backchannel explanations are summed up. Copilot in Outlook: Although Outlook already has Focused Inbox, a new Prioritize My Inbox feature will pull out your most important emails based on the contents of emails and relationships of senders to you. A summary email sums up those emails and explains why they’re important. Prioritize My Inbox inside Copilot for Outlook. Prioritize My Inbox inside Copilot for Outlook.Microsoft Prioritize My Inbox inside Copilot for Outlook.Microsoft Microsoft Copilot in Word: “Coming later this month, Copilot in Word will enable you to quickly reference not only web data and work data like Word, PowerPoint, PDFs, and encrypted documents, but also emails and meetings,” Microsoft said. Microsoft recently added suggested prompts, which are generally available. Copilot in OneDrive: Later this month, Copilot for OneDrive will allow you to compare up to five files and provide “insights” into the others. Hate PowerPoint? Copilot might help you bang out a quick presentation. Hate PowerPoint? Copilot might help you bang out a quick presentation.Microsoft Hate PowerPoint? Copilot might help you bang out a quick presentation.Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft is also announcing Agent Builder, the ability to create agents with Copilot Studio. These agents, now available, can automate business processes, ranging from simple prompt-and-response agents to “more advanced, fully autonomous agents,” said Microsoft. One of the example agents is a Visual Creator agent, which creates AI images, designs, and soon videos. Further reading: What can Copilot Pro really do? Read...

Microsoft recently unveiled plans to clean up the increasingly labyrinthine Settings page in its Edge browser. First spotted by Windows Latest, you can see these plans for yourself if you head over to the official Microsoft 365 roadmap page and expand the description for the item labeled “Microsoft Edge: Elevating top settings and improving settings page navigability.” The plan appears to include three distinct parts: The first part will be “introducing quick access to the most used actions on the landing page of Edge Settings.” The second part will be to “feature quick access to [the] most used actions” on “each densely populated page,” which will include the pages for Privacy, search, and services; Appearance; Cookies and site permissions; System and performance. The third part will be for those same pages as well, where “each section will now click-through to its respective sub-settings (similar to a table of contents).” All of this should have a beneficial clean-up effect on the Settings page, making it far easier to navigate as it won’t be bombarding you with tons of overwhelming information at every turn. The new Settings page should start rolling out worldwide in October with general availability, but don’t be surprised if it takes longer before they appear in the stable version of Edge. Further reading: What’s the fastest web browser? Edge vs. Chrome vs. Firefox vs. more, compared Read...