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A week ago, we reported on how Windows 11 resurrected a 20-year-old bug in GTA San Andreas by changing how it handled memory, exposing an old flaw in the game's code. It turns out Windows has had its share of quirky, hidden behaviors over the years, and a recent explanation from a long-time Microsoft engineer highlights another fascinating historical example. Back in 2009, around the time Windows 7 was released, members of the Neowin forum, and users elsewhere, began reporting a puzzling issue: the welcome screen sometimes took an unusually long time, up to 30 seconds, to disappear after logging in. This delay seemed particularly tied to a specific, simple setting involving a solid color chosen as the desktop background. A Microsoft Support article later confirmed this issue existed for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 users with solid color backgrounds. Raymond Chen, a long-time Microsoft engineer and author of the blog The Old New Thing, recently explained the technical reason behind the odd login delay. According to Chen, who has used a solid color background since Windows 95 to save memory and make bug reporting easier, the Windows login process involves several components loading at once, like the taskbar, system services, desktop icons, and the background. The system waits for all of them to signal they are ready. Only after getting the all-clear, or after 30 seconds pass, does the Welcome screen fade and the desktop appear. The reason for the 30-second delay, Chen explains, was that one of these components failed to send its "ready" signal. He illustrates this with a simplified example of what the code for loading the wallpaper might have looked like: InitializeWallpaper() { if (wallpaper bitmap defined) { LoadWallpaperBitmap(); } } LoadWallpaperBitmap() { locate the bitmap on disk load it into memory paint it on screen Report(WallpaperReady); } The crucial part, Chen points out, is that the Report(WallpaperReady) call was placed inside the LoadWallpaperBitmap function. This function only runs if a "wallpaper bitmap" is defined. If you selected a solid color instead of an image, the LoadWallpaperBitmap function was skipped entirely, meaning the Report(WallpaperReady) line was never executed. The login system kept waiting for this signal, which never came, eventually hitting its 30-second timeout before proceeding to show the desktop. Chen notes that a similar problem could occur if you enabled the "Hide desktop icons" group policy. This was because the code that reported desktop icons as ready was likely put inside the conditional check for that policy. // Original code InitializeDesktopIcons() { bind to the desktop folder enumerate the icons add them to the screen Report(DesktopIconsReady); } // Updated with group policy support InitializeDesktopIcons() { if (desktop icons allowed by policy) { bind to the desktop folder enumerate the icons add them to the screen Report(DesktopIconsReady); } } If the policy prevented icons from showing, the report call was skipped there too, leading to the same 30-second timeout on the Welcome screen. It is important to understand, Chen emphasizes, that the login process itself did not necessarily take an extra 30 seconds to complete all its tasks. The Welcome screen just stayed visible for the full 30-second timeout because one specific component failed to report its completion, even if all other parts of the login had finished loading much sooner. As the Microsoft Support article indicates, a hotfix addressing this problem was released for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in November 2009. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

When Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 officially for most users in 2023, it soon thereafter stopped supporting its browser on the operating system. Other companies, including Google, pulled support as well. Mozilla did not. The organization's initial plan was to continue supporting Windows 7 with Firefox's extended support release 115 until that release would run out of support. Mozilla announced an extension in late 2024, so that support was guaranteed until March 2025. Today, Mozilla announced another extension. In short: Firefox 115 ESR remains supported until September 2025. Users who still run it will continue to receive security updates until at least September 2025. Note: Windows 7 is not the only operating system that is getting an extension. The same applies to Windows 8.1 and macOS 10.12 to 10.14. The last Firefox ESR version for Windows 7 will be Firefox ESR 115.27 according to the new release schedule. Firefox ESR 128 continues to be supported for newer operating systems as well. Mozilla's announcement on the official What Train Is It Now website confirms the decision. The organization plans to evaluate the September 2025 end of support date in August 2025. This could mean that there will be another support extension Windows 7 still widely used When you look at the distribution of Windows systems on Statcounter, you will notice that Windows 7 continues to cling to about 2.x percent, even two years after its support ended. With hundreds of millions of Windows devices, that is still a sizeable number of systems that still run the operating system. Statcounter records hits to websites and uses the data for its statistics. There could be even more Windows 7 systems, those that are not connected to the Internet anymore. Closing Words You could say that Mozilla needs these users, as Firefox's usership has been declining for a long time. There may be some truth to that. For Windows 7 users who use Firefox, it does not really matter why Mozilla is extending support again. They can continue to use a browser that remains supported and should work on most websites. Being based on Firefox 115 means that it lacks some of the advancements made in browser technology since its introduction back in July of 2023. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Earlier this week, Valve released a big update for the Steam client, bringing gamers new features like gameplay recording and other improvements. Sadly, all those goodies are not for those sticking to now-unsupported Windows versions, namely Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Valve made it clear that the latest Steam update will not work unless you are on Windows 10 and newer (that also applies to older macOS versions, but who cares, right?). Here is what Valve said in the release notes: It is worth noting that Steam still works on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Therefore, you can still access your library and play games if updating to Windows 10 is not an option. However, Valve will not provide you with tech support in case something happens, and there is a high chance that Steam will soon stop working on pre-Windows 10 releases altogether. Valve dropped Windows 7 and 8/8.1 support in January 2024, one year after when Microsoft ended the Extended Security Update program for those operating systems. As a result, Google and other mainstream browsers ditched Windows 7 as well. Since Valve relies on Chrome, it should align its Steam support with what Google does to the browser. Also, Steam requires some features and security updates that are only present on Windows 10 and newer. According to Valve, Windows 7 still has a small chunk of users. According to the Steam Hardware and Software Survey results for October 2024, roughly 0.28% of all Windows users on Steam run Windows 7. Sadly, those wanting to move away from Windows 7 or its failed successor are in a tricky situation as Microsoft closed the ability to update to Windows 10 for free. Now, the only choice is to buy a new license or an entirely new PC with Windows 10 or 11 preinstalled. Via VideoCardz Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Fan-made Windows concepts are always fun to look at as they often offer a drastically different version than what the official one is. Part of the charm of such concepts is that they highlight what the fans of that product deeply desire to have. As such, at Neowin, we cover some of these interesting ideas as our community consists mainly of Windows enthusiasts who generally love going through the abstracts presented. Recently, YouTuber AR 4789, who is a prolific Windows concept creator, published a concept on the alleged next Windows, "Windows 12," imagining it as a revolutionary operating system from Microsoft in their video named "Windows 12 - The Revolutionary." Another interesting abstract was presented before, where Windows XP was showcased in the style of Windows 11. The same creator has again gone retro, though not as far back, as they have published a new video about Windows 7. The general public sentiment around Windows 7 has mostly been positive. It took the best of Windows Vista while also addressing its shortcomings and criticisms. And even in 2024, Windows 7 is far from dead as it holds on to about 3% of the market per the latest Statcounter data. The concept has an interesting touch as it includes the popular and beloved Windows Experience Index, a free hardware performance tool that, while basic, gave users an idea about how their overall system was and which component was the weak link. Sadly, Microsoft removed it on a Windows 8.1 Preview. There is an error in the above screenshot (purposely, perhaps) as it highlights the highest score (of 9.9) instead of highlighting the least. Moving on, the video starts with the OOBE (out-of-box experience), and it contains the all-too-familiar window prompting users to connect to the internet, like on Windows 11. After that, we are greeted by the Windows desktop with the Start menu and Widgets, each of them having mixed the classic Windows 7 GUI style with a touch of modernity. Finally, we have the File Explorer and a hint of the Settings app that shows some of the personalization options: The changes made in this concept are rather subtle (especially when compared to something older like XP), and it kind of shows how good Windows 7 really was for its time that even today, we have hardly made much progress in the GUI department. You can watch the full video above. Source

This week, Microsoft released one of the biggest Insider builds in quite a while. The build, 26052, was delivered on both the Canary and the Dev channels, and it has several interesting additions and improvements like a better Registry Editor, new Taskbar icons, and the addition of the new Sudo command on Windows. You can find all the details in the original article. Besides those, the build is the first Windows 11 version 24H2 build, and as such, there appear to be substantial installation issues, likely related to Sysprep, that are leading to GSODs, among other problems. While Sudo is now available on Windows 11 24H2, Microsoft confirmed that it released it on Windows Server by mistake, and it will be withdrawn soon. And if you are a Windows 10 user or someone who is still on Windows 7, perhaps due to weak or incompatible hardware, or you simply love the OS, there is good news. Despite no official announcement, X (formerly Twitter) user and Windows enthusiast Bob Pony found out that the new Sudo command works on Windows 7. On the Windows 11 Insider build 26052, users can enable Sudo by navigating to Settings > System > For developers and then toggling on the "Enable sudo" command. There should also be an option to configure how Sudo runs apps. However, on Windows 7, things are different. You can make it work by downloading the Sudo for Windows app separately, placing it in the System32 folder, and then executing a couple of commands in elevated CLI like Command Prompt (as Administrator) or PowerShell. Aside from Windows 7, Sudo for Windows works on Windows 10 as well. Hence, you can launch elevated commands now on Windows 10 and Windows 7. As you can see in the image above, I tried it on my PC and it worked, however, this has likely not gone through wider compatibility testing at the moment, and therefore, users may encounter some bugs or issues while doing so. Source

Microsoft stopped supporting Edge on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023, which means Edge 109 was the final browser update available for those operating systems. Still, as revealed by Microsoft at the beginning of this year, the company is willing to release intermittent security updates and critical patches. One such patch has just landed, bringing Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and Server 2012 R2 users an important update. If you are still using pre-Windows 10 versions, do not get too excited about the latest Microsoft Edge update for your old operating system. It is based on Edge 109, the last version to support old Windows releases, and it adds nothing but fixes for security vulnerabilities, namely for heap buffer overflow in WebP in Chromium versions prior to 116.0.5845.187 that allowed a remote attacker to perform an out-of-bounds memory write using a specially crafted HTML page. Here is how Microsoft describes the update in its documentation: Version 109.0.1518.140: September 15, 2023 This update was done for our M109 Windows down-level extended support. We're shipping 109 to Win 7, 8, and 8.1 (including Server 2012 R2 which is based on Win 8.1). Microsoft has a fix for CVE-2023-4863 to Microsoft Edge Stable Channel (Version 109.0.1518.140), which has been reported by the Chromium team as having an exploit in the wild. For more information, see the Security Update Guide. This backport was done to our M109 Windows down-level extended support." It is worth noting that Microsoft will soon stop releasing even those rare security updates. M109 down-level extended support for Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and Server 2012 R2 will end on October 20, 2023. After that, Firefox will become the only mainstream browser actively supporting now-dead Windows versions. Mozilla Foundation plans to keep releasing security updates for Firefox for one more year, with the end of Firefox 115 Extended Support Release (ESR) scheduled for September 2024. As a reminder, according to Statcounter, old Windows versions still account for about 4.45% of all PC users. Source

14 years ago today, on October 22, 2009, Microsoft launched Windows 7. The company's then-latest operating system for PCs was something of a redemption for the release of Windows Vista, which was called one of the world tech products ever made by some critics (of course, this was before the release of Windows 8, but we will get to that a bit later). This article is not about the tech aspects of Windows 7. Rather, this is about the huge marketing and promotion campaign that Microsoft held for the public release of the OS. The biggest launch event was in New York City on October 22. Steve Ballmer, then the CEO of Microsoft, was the host and he revealed that a total of 15 million people had tried out the beta versions of the OS (a precursor to the Windows Insider Program). Ballmer revealed that 91 percent of the people who tested the Release Candidate version of Windows 7 would recommend it to friends. In the UK, Amazon tried to compare the pre-orders of Windows 7 to the release of the seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series that launched a few years earlier. In our story, we wrote: In the Netherlands, we wrote about another odd Windows 7 promotion. Microsoft gave away 777 copies of the OS to residents of the town of Zevenhuizen, which translates to "Seven Houses". Microsoft selected a number of people to host Windows 7 parties, and even shipped them "party packs" that included a copy of the OS, along with puzzles, posters, playing cards, napkins, and tote bags. Microsoft opened up a pop up cafe in Paris to promote the OS as well. Over in Japan, Burger King teamed up with Microsoft to launch a "Windows 7 Whopper" with seven burger patties that would be sold for only a few days. You can actually watch someone try to eat this truly monster hamburger, if you can stomach it. Speaking of Japan, Linux creator Linus Torvalds was in the country when Windows 7 launched. He went into a Windows 7 promotion location and took a picture of himself giving a very sarcastic thumbs up for the OS. One promotion for the OS that ended up not happening as planned was a team up with Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the TV show Family Guy, among other things. The plan was fo Fox to air "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show" on November 8. As we reported at the time on October 14, 2009: However, on October 26, Microsoft did a 180 and pulled its sponsorship for the show. A Microsoft spokesperson stated at the time that after it reviewed an early version of the show "it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand." The special did air as planned with trailers for the films Sherlock Holmes and Ninja Assassin. Windows 7 ended up being a big success for Microsoft, and when Windows 8 launched with its poor response, many people decided not to upgrade. Microsoft eventually ended its official support for the OS in January 2020, over 10 years after in launched. However, the company still updates part of the OS. Just a few weeks ago, it updated Microsoft Edge for Windows 7 to fix some security issues. Source

The team that is responsible for the open source email client Thunderbird has released Thunderbid 115 earlier this week. The new version of the email client features a new design and several new features, including new folder views, different new layouts for the client, improved calendar and address books and more. The new release is not yet available via the built-in updating functionality of the email client, and it may take a while before the upgrade is enabled. Some users noted that some of their extensions stopped working in the new Thunderbird and there are issues to be sorted out first. Support for older versions of Windows and macOS Thunderbird 115 will be the last version that is compatible with Microsoft's Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 operating systems. It furthermore is also the last version compatible with Apple's macOS 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14 systems. Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 and 8.1 in January 2023. These operating systems are no longer supported by Microsoft. Similarly, Apple does not support the older macOS versions anymore. Most Windows 7 and 8.1 devices can be upgraded to Windows 10, a version of Windows that is supported until October 2025. Microsoft did not change the system requirements between the older versions of Windows and Windows 10. Thunderbird 115 supports the operating systems. The email client will be supported until late 2024, just like Mozilla Firefox 115 ESR. Thunderbird users on these operating systems will receive the update to Thunderbird 115 eventually, just like users on newer systems. The email client will then receive regular updates throughout 2023 and most of 2024 on the older systems. Users on these systems can't install newer versions of Thunderbird anymore, however. Thunderbird 116, which is available as a Beta currently, won't install on these systems anymore. Closing Words Windows 7 and 8 users, and macOS 10.14 and earlier users, may continue using Thunderbird until late 2024. This should give most users ample time to move on to a new operating system on the same device or another device. Source

steamLike many other services, PC gaming giant Steam is soon dropping support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. The major change will make the Steam client inoperable on these legacy operating systems, with users losing access to their games library unless they are using an updated version of Windows. The support drop will occur on January 1, 2024, with Valve saying that "after that date, the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows. In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows." The change was announced in the latest Steam beta update by the company. Beta versions will now alert players running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 with an "End of Life" notice with a recommendation to switch or upgrade to a newer version before support goes away. The alert should arrive to the regular Steam client soon as well. "The newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows," added Valve explaining the reasoning behind the change. "In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above." According to Valve's own survey data, 1.86% of Steam's user base is on the three operating systems getting the boot. The vast majority of Windows users, which amount to 96.37% of total active accounts on the platform, are using Windows 10 (62.33%) and Windows 11 (32.06%). Steam won't run on Windows 7/8/8.1 starting in 2024 as support goes away

Microsoft has released the June Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 7 (KB5014742) and Windows 8.1 (KB5014746). Both updates bring improvements to their respective operating systems but also carry issues that you may have to use a workaround on. Without further ado, here’s what’s new. Windows 7 Improvements This security-only update includes new improvements for the following issue: Printing to a NUL port from a Low Integrity Level (LowIL) process application could cause printing failures. Known issues Symptom Next step After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer,” and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article. Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, "STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)". This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Windows 8.1 Improvements This security-only update includes new improvements for the following issue: Printing to a NUL port from a Low Integrity Level (LowIL) process application could cause printing failures. Addresses an elevation of privilege (EOP) vulnerability under CVE-2022-30154 for the Microsoft File Server Shadow Copy Agent Service. To become protected and functional, you must install the June 14, 2022 or later Windows update on both the application server and the file server. The application server runs the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)-aware application that stores data on the remote Server Message Block 3.0 (or higher) shares on a file server. The file server hosts the file shares. If you don’t install the update on both machine roles, backup operations carried out by applications, which previously worked, might fail. For such failure scenarios, the Microsoft File Server Shadow Copy Agent Service will log FileShareShadowCopyAgent event 1013 on the file server. For more information, see KB5015527. Known issues Symptom Next step Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Unlike the Windows 11 and Windows 10 updates which will be delivered through Windows Update, the updates for Windows 7 (download) and Windows 8.1 (download) are best being manually downloaded as they won’t come through Windows Update. You can also configure Windows Server Update Services to get the updates. Windows 7 (KB5014742) and Windows 8.1 (KB5014746) June Patch Tuesday updates arrive

Microsoft has released the Patch Tuesday update for Windows 8.1 (KB5014011) and Windows 7 (KB5014012) today as it’s the second Tuesday of the month. Installing them will protect your system against certain vulnerabilities but both also come with known issues. Here’s what each release contains and their known issues. Windows 8.1 Improvements This cumulative security update contains improvements that are part of update KB5012670 (released April 12, 2022) and includes new improvements for the following issues: The Key Distribution Center (KDC) code incorrectly returns error message KDC_ERR_TGT_REVOKED during Domain Controller shutdown. After installing the January 2022 Windows update or a later Windows update on the Primary Domain Controller emulator (PDCe), listing or modifying name suffixes routing by using Netdom.exe or "Active Directory Domains and Trusts" snap-in may fail and you receive the following error message: "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service." The Primary Domain Controller (PDC) for the root domain incorrectly logs warning and error events in the System log when trying to scan outbound-only trusts. Known issues in this update Symptom Workaround Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. After installing updates released January 11, 2022 or later updates, apps using Microsoft .NET Framework to acquire or set Active Directory Forest Trust Information might fail, close, or you might receive an error from the app or Windows. You might also receive an access violation (0xc0000005) error. To resolve this issue manually, apply the out-of-band updates for the version of .NET Framework used by the app. Windows 7 Improvements This cumulative security update contains improvements that are part of update KB5012626 (released April 12, 2022) and includes new improvements for the following issues: The Key Distribution Center (KDC) code incorrectly returns error message KDC_ERR_TGT_REVOKED during Domain Controller shutdown. After installing the January 2022 Windows update or a later Windows update on the Primary Domain Controller emulator (PDCe), listing or modifying name suffixes routing by using Netdom.exe or "Active Directory Domains and Trusts" snap-in may fail and you receive the following error message: "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service." The Primary Domain Controller (PDC) for the root domain incorrectly logs warning and error events in the System log when trying to scan outbound-only trusts. Known issues in this update Symptom Workaround After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer,” and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article. Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, "STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)". This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. You can get these updates through Windows Update or download them manually: Windows 8.1 KB5014011, Windows 7 KB5014012. May's Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 (KB5014011) and Windows 7 (KB5014012) out now

At one point Microsoft was considering directional lighting effects for Windows 7 UI For many, the journey from Windows Vista’s Aero Glass to the Metro UI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 was a major step backwards, but I think few could have imagined just how radical some of Microsoft’s UI ideas were in the past. Stephan Chapman has been posting historical mockups, pictures and video from the history of Windows, and today posted a short clip showing how Microsoft was considering adding ray-traced-like lighting animation effects to Windows 7. He said: Here’s a snippet from a fascinating, super-early Windows 7 prototype that really reimagines the desktop environment. I’d love to see something like this today taking advantage of raytracing to really accomplish some neat effects, interactions, etc.! Chapman appears to suggest Microsoft rapidly dropped the idea, but it seems the skeuomorphic pendulum is swinging the other direction again (just look at the new Windows 11 shell icons), so who knows, maybe this UI concept will make a comeback. At one point Microsoft was considering directional lighting effects for Windows 7 UI (tweet substituted for article video)

Windows 7 and 8.1 Patch Tuesday updates are now out, here's the complete changelog As is the case every month, Microsoft is releasing cumulative updates for all supported Windows versions. These include the three most recent Windows 10 versions for consumers and a few versions that are supported for specific channels and select SKUs. Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 too are receiving updates, with the latter being reserved for those who have opted to pay for extended updates. As usual, the updates are split into two parts – monthly rollup and security-only updates. Monthly rollup packages are automatically served through Windows Update and security-only updates can be manually downloaded through the update catalog. Starting with Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, the monthly rollup is KB5003671 and can be downloaded manually from the Update Catalog here. The changelog for this patch includes: Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Cloud Infrastructure, Windows Authentication, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows HTML Platform, and Microsoft Scripting Engine. As for the security-only update, that is labeled as KB5003681 and can be manually downloaded from here. The list of fixes is similar to that of the monthly rollup. Here's the changelog posted by the firm: Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Cloud Infrastructure, Windows Authentication, Windows Fundamentals, and Windows Storage and Filesystems. Both updates share the same known issue that users must be aware of. Here are the problems documented by the firm: Symptom Workaround Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Moving on to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, the monthly rollup is KB5003667 and can be downloaded from here manually. It comes with the following fixes and improvements detailed in the knowledge base changelog: Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Cloud Infrastructure, Windows Authentication, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Remote Desktop, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows HTML Platform, and Microsoft Scripting Engine. The security-only update is labeled KB5003694 and can be downloaded manually from the Update Catalog here. The fixes listed in this patch are as follows: Addresses an issue in the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol which may cause frequent crashes with Stop error 0xA on devices that run Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Security updates to Windows App Platform and Frameworks, Windows Cloud Infrastructure, Windows Authentication, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Remote Desktop, and Windows Storage and Filesystems. Both these updates share the same set of known issues, with the renaming issue now being there on the list for a long time. Symptom Workaround After installing this update or later updates, connections to SQL Server 2005 might fail. You might receive an error, "Cannot connect to , Additional information: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (.Net SqlClient Data Provider)" This is expected behavior due to a security hardening change in this update. To resolve this issue, you will need to update to a supported version of SQL Server. After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer,” and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the "How to get this update" section of this article. Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. As is always the case, you can head to Windows Update and check for updates to pull the monthly rollup patches. You can also head to the individual download links for the security-only updates which can only be manually installed. Windows 7 and 8.1 Patch Tuesday updates are now out, here's the complete changelog

Microsoft is releasing updates for all supported Windows versions today as part of its Patch Tuesday updates. This includes the Windows 10 versions currently supported, both completely and for specific SKUs, Windows 8.1, and customers that have opted for extended Windows 7 security updates. However, unlike Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 do not receive mid-month updates and are locked to just one update per month, unless there are urgent security fixes. As usual, there are two types of Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 updates – monthly rollup and security-only updates. While monthly rollups are served through Windows Update, security-only updates can only be manually installed. Both these updates are available for download through the Update Catalog. This month, there is also an IE security update rolling out to Windows 7 and 8.1 users, which you can check out here under KB5005563. To begin with, Windows 8.1 and the corresponding Windows Server release - Windows Server 2012 R2 - users are receiving monthly rollup KB5005613, which can be manually downloaded from the Update Catalog here. The improvements made as part of the update include the fix for the zero-day vulnerability: This update contains miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. No additional issues were documented for this release. The known issue listed for the update is mentioned below: Symptom Workaround Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. The security-only update is KB5005627 and can be found here for manual download and installation depending on the version. As mentioned earlier, these are not available through Windows Update. The changes and fixes are identical to that of the monthly rollup. Next up are Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. The monthly rollup heading out to these customers is termed KB5005633 and can be manually downloaded from here. These updates are only available for those that have opted for paid updates. The changes and fixes are as follows: Addresses an issue in which a driver might not install if the driver is signed with more than one code sign signatures. This update also contains miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. As is always the case, the known issues are separately mentioned in the KB article. Here is the list for Windows 7 users to note: Symptom Workaround After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, "Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer", and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article. Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, "STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)". This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. The security-only update for this version is KB5005615 and can be manually downloaded from here. Just like for Windows 8.1, the fixes and known issues in the security-only update are identical to that of the monthly rollup. As usual, you can head to the linked KB articles to read through more information about the updates and useful links. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 Patch Tuesday updates are now live

Windows 7 and 8.1 Patch Tuesday updates are live, here's the complete changelog Just like clockwork, Microsoft is today releasing cumulative updates to all supported Windows versions as part of its Patch Tuesday updates. These include Windows 10 versions that are fully supported – such as the three latest versions, and other SKUs that are supported for certain types of customers, along with Windows 8.1 and users that have opted for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESUs). While Windows 8.1 and 7 usually receive a single update a month, the firm released emergency updates for the PrintNightmare vulnerability earlier this month, which will also be bundled into these packages. As is always the case with updates for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7, there are two types of updates. They are monthly rollup packages and security-only updates. While monthly rollups are automatically served through Windows Updates, security-only updates can be manually acquired from the Update Catalog and installed on systems. For Windows 8.1 and the corresponding Windows Server release, the update is KB5004298, which can also be downloaded from the Update Catalog here. The improvements and fixes made in this update are as follows: Addresses an issue in which 16-bit applications fail with an error message that states a general fault in VBRUN300.DLL. Addresses an issue in which some EMFs built by using third-party applications that use ExtCreatePen and ExtCreateFontIndirect render incorrectly. Adds Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption protections for CVE-2021-33757. For more information, see KB5004605. Removes support for the PerformTicketSignature setting and permanently enables Enforcement mode. For more information and additional steps to enable protection on domain controller servers, see Managing deployment of Kerberos S4U changes for CVE-2020-17049. Security updates to Windows Apps, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Authentication, Windows Operating System Security, Windows Graphics, Microsoft Scripting Engine, Windows HTML Platforms, and Windows MSHTML Platform. The security-only update for Windows 8.1 is served by KB5004285, which can be downloaded manually from here. The changelog is similar to that of the monthly rollup, bringing fixes for CVE-2021-33757 and removing the PerformTicketSignature setting. It also contains the single known issue found in the rollup. The firm has listed one known issue that is common across both updates, which has been present for a long time. It is not clear when the renaming issue will be fixed. Here is the explanation of that issue provided by the company: Symptom Workaround Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 users that have opted for ESUs will receive monthly rollup via KB5004289 that can be found for manual download here. The security-only update is KB5004307 which can be manually downloaded from here. The changelogs for both the monthly rollup and security-only update are identical to that of Windows 8.1, which is listed above. The updates for Windows 7, however, have an additional known issue that might cause the update to fail. The rename bug in Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) folders affects this OS as well. Here is the changelog that details the additional issue: Symptom Workaround After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer,” and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the "How to get this update" section of this article. As usual, the monthly rollups will be served through Windows Update for supported devices. The security-only updates are to be manually pulled from the Update Catalog links. Windows 7 and 8.1 Patch Tuesday updates are live, here's the complete changelog

Windows 7 users upgrading to Windows 11 will need to clean install Many corporate networks run a Windows 7 image on brand-new hardware because this is what the company standardised on. If you want to make the big jump from Windows 7 to Windows 11 however, it turns out Microsoft will not be much help. In a support document from Lenovo the company confirmed that apps and settings will not be migrated if you install Windows 11 on a Windows 7 PC, with Lenovo saying: What is the upgrade path from Windows 10 to Windows 11? My company still has some Windows 7 devices. If they meet the hardware floor, can these devices be upgraded directly to Windows 11? Most devices available for purchase now will be upgradeable to Windows 11. You will have the option to upgrade, clean install, or reimage Windows 10 devices to move to Windows 11. For Windows 7 devices that meet hardware requirements, you will need to clean install or reimage to go directly to Windows 11. If it is essential to retain settings, it may make more sense to upgrade to Windows 10 first before attempting the jump to Windows 7. The full support document can be seen here. via WindowsLatest Windows 7 users upgrading to Windows 11 will need to clean install

Firefox users who run the open source web browser on Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system need to make sure that Windows update KB4474419 is installed on their devices. The update is a prerequisite for Firefox 100 as Mozilla switched to SHA-256 digest signing in that release. The Windows update KB4474419 introduced support for SHA-2 code signing on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 / 2008 R2. The last version of the update dates back to September 2019, and it should be installed on most Windows 7 devices by now, as it was released before the operating system reached end of support. Systems without the update may get Windows Update error 0x80092004 because of the missing dependency; this may happen on manually updated systems. Customers who run legacy OS versions (Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP2) are required to have SHA-2 code signing support installed on their devices to install updates released on or after July 2019. Any devices without SHA-2 support will not be able to install Windows updates on or after July 2019. Windows 7 administrators find the update on the Microsoft Update Catalog, but it should also be available on Windows Update and other update management systems. Mozilla notes on the Firefox 100 release notes for the Nightly version that the update is required to install Firefox successfully on Windows 7 devices. Beginning in this release, the Firefox installer for Windows is signed with a SHA-256 digest, rather than SHA-1. Update KB4474419 is required for successful installation on a computer running the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. SHA-1 was phased out by Microsoft because of weaknesses and to "align to industry standards". SHA-2 does not have these weaknesses and it ensures that the Firefox installation or update has not been tampered with. Mozilla does not mention if Firefox's installer displays an error message if the required Windows update is not installed on the system. It would make sense to highlight the missing dependency to help users resolve it. The change affects Firefox for the Windows 7 operating system only. Firefox running on newer versions of the Windows operating system will install or update normally once Firefox 100 is released. Mozilla plans to release the first three-digit version of the web browser on May 3, 2022 according to the release schedule. Now You: do you run Firefox on Windows 7, or other systems? (via Techdows) Firefox 100 requires the Windows Update KB4474419 on Windows 7

Microsoft says Windows 7 recovery discs created using the Control Panel Backup and Restore app will fail to start after installing Windows updates released since January 11, 2022. However, while Microsoft did not explain why this happens, it said the recovery discs would work on systems where the problematic updates weren't installed. As the company further noted, no other third-party backup or recovery applications are currently known to be impacted by this known issue. "After installing the Windows updates released January 11, 2022 or later Windows versions on an affected version of Windows, recovery discs (CD or DVD) created by using the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) app in Control Panel might be unable to start," Microsoft said. "Recovery discs that were created by using the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) app on devices which have installed Windows updates released before January 11, 2022 are not affected by this issue and should start as expected." The list of Windows versions affected by the recovery disc start failures includes all editions of Windows 10 versions 1607 or later and all editions of Windows 11. Redmond added that it's working on a fix to address this issue that will be delivered with an upcoming release. According to StatCounter statistics, 11.99% of all Windows devices are still running Windows 7, with various versions of the Microsoft OS being used by 75.86% of desktop devices worldwide. January updates behind a series of known issues Microsoft has previously fixed multiple issues linked to the Windows January 2022 updates, including: Windows Server DNS resolution problems, a Bluetooth issue causing Windows blue screens, Windows domain controller restarts caused by LSASS crashes, Windows Server Netlogon issues, and a Windows Active Directory bug. The company also addressed issues caused by the January 2022 Patch Tuesday updates by releasing out-of-band (OOB) emergency updates. They fixed problems related to Windows Server Domain Controllers restarting, VPN connectivity, ReFS-formatted removable media mount failures, and Virtual Machines failing to start. Microsoft: Windows 7 recovery app fails after January updates

With it being the second Tuesday of the month it means it’s Patch Tuesday. Two of the operating systems receiving updates today are Windows 7 (KB5011552) and 8.1 (KB5011564). The improvements and known issues in both of these updates are quite extensive so we’ll copy verbatim what Microsoft had to say. Windows 8.1 Improvements and fixes Addresses an issue in which some low integrity level process apps might print unexpectedly. Addresses an issue that occurs when you try to write a service principal name (SPN) alias (such as www/contoso) and HOST/NAME already exists on another object. If the user has the RIGHT_DS_WRITE_PROPERTY on the SPN attribute of the colliding object, you receive an “Access Denied” error. Addresses an issue in which after the January 2022 Windows update is installed on the Primary Domain Controller emulator (PDCe), listing or modifying name suffixes routing by using Netdom.exe or "Active Directory Domains and Trusts" snap-in may fail with the following error message: "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service. Known issues in this update Symptom Workaround Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. After installing updates released January 11, 2022 or later updates, apps using Microsoft .NET Framework to acquire or set Active Directory Forest Trust Information might fail, close, or you might receive an error from the app or Windows. You might also receive an access violation (0xc0000005) error. To resolve this issue manually, apply the out-of-band updates for the version of .NET Framework used by the app. Windows 7 Improvements and fixes Addresses SHA1 deprecation in Windows Embedded platforms by removing specific SHA1-signed security and non-security fixes and resigned the fixes with SHA2 in this release. Addresses an issue in which after the January 2022 Windows update is installed on the Primary Domain Controller emulator (PDCe), listing or modifying name suffixes routing by using Netdom.exe or "Active Directory Domains and Trusts" snap-in may fail with the following error message: "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service." Known issues in this update Symptom Workaround After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, "Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer", and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, "STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)". This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. The update should be delivered automatically but if you’d like to hurry Windows along head to Windows Update and try to get your system to update manually. It’s worth noting too that this update on Windows 7 is only for customers paying to keep their system up to date. Microsoft releases Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 7 (KB5011552) and 8.1 (KB5011564)

Microsoft has released its Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 7 (KB5021291) and Windows 8.1 (KB5021294) for December 2022. They both contain pretty much the same improvements, however, the Windows 8.1 notes do not list any known issues. It’s important to note that only Windows 7 users who have purchased extended security update (ESU) support will receive the update. Improvements (applies to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1) This security-only update includes new improvements for the following issue: By order of the Fijian government, Fiji will not observe daylight saving time (DST) in 2022. Therefore, clocks do not change by an hour at 02:00 on November 13, 2022. A memory leak in the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS.exe) occurs on Windows domain controllers. This issue is known to occur after installing Windows updates dated November 8, 2022, or later. For more information about the resolved security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Deployments | Security Update Guide and the August 2022 Security Updates. Known issues in this update (Windows 7 only) Symptom Next step After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer,” and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article. After this update or a later Windows update is installed, domain join operations might be unsuccessful and error "0xaac (2732): NERR_AccountReuseBlockedByPolicy" occurs. Additionally, text stating "An account with the same name exists in Active Directory. Re-using the account was blocked by security policy" might be displayed. Affected scenarios include some domain join or re-imaging operations where a computer account was created or pre-staged by a different identity than the identity used to join or re-join the computer to the domain. For more information about this issue, see KB5020276—Netjoin: Domain join hardening changes. Note Consumer Desktop editions of Windows are unlikely to experience this issue. After installing this update, apps which use ODBC connections through Microsoft ODBC SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) to access databases might not connect. Additionally, you might receive an error in the app, or you might receive an error from the SQL Server. Errors you might receive include the following messages: The EMS System encountered a problem. Message: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver] Protocol error in TDS Stream. The EMS System encountered a problem. Message: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver] Unknown token received from SQL Server. To decide whether you are using an affected app, open the app which connects to a database. Open a Command Prompt window, type the following command and then press Enter: tasklist /m sqlsrv32.dll If the command returns a task, then the app might be affected. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. This Windows 7 update is not available via Windows Update. The best way to get it would be to download it through the Microsoft Update Catalog. Known issues in this update (Windows 8.1 only) Symptom Next Step After this update or a later Windows update is installed, domain join operations might be unsuccessful and error "0xaac (2732): NERR_AccountReuseBlockedByPolicy" occurs. Additionally, text stating "An account with the same name exists in Active Directory. Re-using the account was blocked by security policy" might be displayed. Affected scenarios include some domain join or re-imaging operations where a computer account was created or pre-staged by a different identity than the identity used to join or re-join the computer to the domain. For more information about this issue, see KB5020276—Netjoin: Domain join hardening changes. Note Consumer Desktop editions of Windows are unlikely to experience this issue. We have added guidance to KB5020276 and are evaluating whether optimizations can be made in a future Windows Update. This guidance will be updated as soon as those changes are released. After installing this update, apps which use ODBC connections through Microsoft ODBC SQL Server Driver (sqlsrv32.dll) to access databases might not connect. Additionally, you might receive an error in the app, or you might receive an error from the SQL Server. Errors you might receive include the following messages: The EMS System encountered a problem. Message: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver] Protocol error in TDS Stream. The EMS System encountered a problem. Message: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver] Unknown token received from SQL Server. To decide whether you are using an affected app, open the app which connects to a database. Open a Command Prompt window, type the following command and then press Enter: tasklist /m sqlsrv32.dll If the command returns a task, then the app might be affected. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. The Windows 8.1 update is also unavailable via Windows Update, but you can grab that via Microsoft Update Catalog too. Microsoft outs Windows 7 (KB5021291) and Windows 8.1 (KB5021294) December 2022 Patch Tuesday

Nvidia stopped issuing GPU drivers updates to systems running Windows 8 and 7 in late 2021. Still, the company promised to release periodical security patches to unsupported devices until September 2024. One such update has just become available to those refusing to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. Driver 473.81 is available only to systems running Windows 7 and 8, and it contains no new features or game-related fixes. According to the release notes, the driver brings only security patches, and all the details will soon be available on the Nvidia Product Security Page. Nvidia says users with supported hardware need to update to Windows 10 and 11 to receive performance enhancements, new features, bugfixes, and game-specific improvements. Hardware-wise, Nvidia GeForce 473.81 driver supports desktop graphics cards from the GTX 600 to RTX 3000 Series and mobile GPUs from the GeForce 800 Series to RTX 3000 Series. Users can download the latest release from the official Nvidia website. On the AMD side, owners of older Radeon GPUs received an unofficial driver that enables AMD's latest AI-based noise suppression technology. Official drivers allow using the new tech only on the Radeon 6000 Series, but you can get it using a third-party driver from NimeZ without investing into a new graphics card. Nvidia issues driver security update for unsupported systems with Windows 7 and 8

Microsoft ended support for its Windows 7 operating system in 2020. The company offers extended support to organizations and businesses, but not to Home customers. Microsoft's initial plan was to limit extended support to three years after support end, but it appears that the company could extend support by another three years, making it six years in total. Our colleagues over at Deskmodder report that the July security updates KB5015861 and KB5015862 include the required ESU licenses and keys to extend support beyond the first three years. The second extension would guarantee support of Windows 7 until January 2026. Microsoft creates updates for the following Windows 7 editions as part of the extended security updates program: Windows 7 SP1 Enterprise Windows 7 SP1 Pro Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Embedded Standard 7 Windows Embedded POS Ready 7 Microsoft released the monthly and security-only cumulative updates for Windows 7 ESU systems as part of the July 2022 Patch Day. ESU updates can only be installed officially on licensed machines. Bypasses exist to install Microsoft's official updates on Windows 7 Home devices, including Windows 7 Home and Professional. Microsoft has not confirmed or denied the extension of Windows 7 ESU. Windows 7 holds a sizeable share of the desktop operating system market. Statcounter, one of the third-party companies that is tracking usage statistics, sees it at 11.54% of the Windows market share. Windows 11, Microsoft's newest operating system, sits at 10.96%, which makes Windows 7 the second most used version of Windows according to the company. It makes sense to extend support if the numbers are close to real usage numbers. Organizations may require more time to move to a new version of Windows, or another operating system. The extension gives organizations that time. Organizations who have devices with ESU can protect the devices for another three years. Microsoft announced earlier this month that it won't provide Windows 8.1 customers with a similar offer. Windows 8.1's usage share is less than 3% according to Statcounter, even though it is still officially supported. If Windows 7 support is extended by another three years, it would mean that the operating system will be supported for longer than its direct successor, Windows 8.1, and even Windows 10. Both operating systems will run out of support before 2026. Microsoft could offer support extensions for Windows 10, the most used version of Windows at the time of writing. Now You: what is your take on this? It looks as if Microsoft could extend Windows 7 Support by another three years

Microsoft has released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 (KB5015874) and Windows 7 (KB5015861). They each come with a whole host of improvements and known issues with workarounds. It’s worth noting that support for Windows 8.1 will end in January, so Microsoft urges you to upgrade to a later edition of Windows. The Patch Tuesday update for Windows 7 requires you to have purchased the Extended Security Update (ESU) support. Windows 8.1 Improvements Starting with this release, we are displaying a dialog box to remind users about the End of Support (EOS) for Windows 8.1 in January 2023. If you click Remind me later, the dialog box will appear once every 35 days. If you click Remind me after the end of support date, the dialog box will not appear again until after the EOS date. This reminder does not appear on the following: Managed Pro and Enterprise devices. Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Enterprise and Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro devices. When you use Encrypting File System (EFS) https://docs.microsoft.com/windows/win32/fileio/file-encryption files over a remote Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol connection, the connection might be unsuccessful. NTLM authentication through an external trust is unsuccessful when serviced by a domain controller that has the January 11, 2022 or later Windows update installed. This issue occurs if the DC is in a non-root domain and does not hold the global catalog (GC) role. Impacted operations may log the following errors: The security database has not been started. The domain was in the wrong state to perform the security operation. 0xc00000dd (STATUS_INVALID_DOMAIN_STATE) Applications might not run after an AppLocker publisher rule is deployed. Addresses a known issue that might prevent you from using the Wi-Fi hotspot feature. When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might lose the connection to the Internet after a client device connects. Addresses a known issue in which Windows Servers that use the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) might be unable to correctly direct Internet traffic. Devices which connect to the server might not connect to the Internet, and servers can lose connection to the Internet after a client device connects. Known issues in this update Symptom Next step Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Windows 7 Improvements When you use Encrypting File System (EFS) files over a remote Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol connection, the connection might be unsuccessful. NTLM authentication through an external trust is unsuccessful when serviced by a domain controller that has the January 11, 2022 or later Windows update installed. This issue occurs if the DC is in a non-root domain and does not hold the global catalog (GC) role. Impacted operations may log the following errors: The security database has not been started. The domain was in the wrong state to perform the security operation. 0xc00000dd (STATUS_INVALID_DOMAIN_STATE) Addresses a known issue that might prevent you from using the Wi-Fi hotspot feature. When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might lose the connection to the Internet after a client device connects. Addresses a known issue in which Windows Servers that use the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) might be unable to correctly direct Internet traffic. Devices which connect to the server might not connect to the Internet, and servers can lose connection to the Internet after a client device connects. Known issues in this update Symptom Next step After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer”, and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article. Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege. Do one of the following: Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege. Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Both of these updates are now available to download through Windows Update if you’re eligible. Your systems will download and install the updates automatically. Windows 8.1 (KB5015874) and Windows 7 (KB5015861) Patch Tuesday updates land

One year ago, AMD released the first Radeon Software driver without official Windows 7 support. Starting with version 21.6.1, you need Windows 10 and newer to run the most recent AMD drivers. Still, sometimes developers release unplanned updates to fix specific issues or security bugs in unsupported products. That is what happened to driver 22.6.1 that AMD has now released for systems running the good-old (and now deceased) Windows 7. AMD Radeon Software 22.6.1 focuses on fixing a single Windows 7-related bug: AMD Radeon™ Software may fail to install on some AMD Graphics Products such as the Radeon™ RX 6900 XT. The company also warn users about two known issues in driver 22.6.1: Enhanced Sync may cause a black screen to occur when enabled on some games and system configurations. Any users who may be experiencing issues with Enhanced Sync enabled should disable it as a temporary workaround. Radeon performance metrics and logging features may intermittently report extremely high and incorrect memory clock values. Note that today's release is available only for systems with Windows 7. The most recent update for computers with Windows 10 and 11 is version 22.5.2. Download AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.6.1 Driver for Windows 7 64-bit Download AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.6.1 Driver for Windows 7 64-bit (AMD Radeon RX 6400 and Radeon RX 6500 XT only) AMD releases driver 22.6.1 to fix a single issue on Windows 7

Microsoft has released its Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 7 (KB5016679) and Windows 8.1 (KB5016683). They both contain pretty much the same improvements, however, the Windows 8.1 notes do not list any known issues. It’s important to note that only Windows 7 users who have purchased extended security update (ESU) support will receive the update. Improvements (applies to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1) This security-only update includes new improvements for the following issue: Addresses an issue in which Speech and Network troubleshooters will not start. Addresses an issue that might cause the Local Security Authority Server Service (LSASS) to leak tokens. This issue affects devices that have installed Windows updates dated June 14, 2022 or later. This issue occurs when the device performs a specific form of service for user (S4U) in a non-Trusted Computing Base (TCB) Windows service that runs as Network Service. Enforces a hardening change that requires printers and scanners that use smart cards for authentication to have firmware that complies with section 3.2.1 of RFC 4556. If they do not comply, Active Directory domain controllers will not authenticate them. Mitigations that allowed non-compliant devices to authenticate will not exist after August 9, 2022. For more information about this change, see KB5005408. For more information about the resolved security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Deployments | Security Update Guide and the August 2022 Security Updates. Known issues in this update (Windows 7 only) Symptom Next step After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer,” and the update might show as Failed in Update History. This is expected in the following circumstances: If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181. If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated. If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article. This Windows 7 update is not available via Windows Update. The best way to get it would be to download it through the Microsoft Update Catalog. The Windows 8.1 update is also unavailable via Windows Update, but you can grab that via Microsoft Update Catalog too. Microsoft releases Windows 7 (KB5016679) and Windows 8.1 (KB5016683) Patch Tuesday updates