In queste ultime settimane si è parlato molto del futuro di Xbox, la divisione gaming di Microsoft, che sotto la guida di Asha Sharma sta attraversando un periodo difficile, ma a quanto pare necessario, di profonda ristrutturazione, che ha visto massicci tagli al personale (e a quanto pare ancora non è finita) e chiusure / riorganizzazioni degli studios interni. Spesso si è parlato anche di una possibile cessione, o quantomeno di uno scorporo dalla “casa madre”. E benché Microsoft abbia sempre confermato di non essere interessata a vendere, qualcuno ha manifestato interesse.
Stando a quanto racconta The Information, qualche fondo di investimenti si è fatto effettivamente avanti. Le discussioni, tuttavia, sono rimaste nelle fasi preliminari, senza mai diventare delle trattative formali. Non sono stati resi noti i nomi delle società interessate, né sono emersi dettagli sufficienti per ricostruire le motivazioni alla base dei contatti. Il report parla di confronti esplorativi di breve durata; che, in effetti, è abbastanza in linea con la linea dichiarata pubblicamente da Microsoft. Qualcuno ha manifestato interesse, Microsoft ha detto di no, fine dell’interazione.
Quello che è interessante è che da queste conversazioni, per quanto brevi, sono trapelate alcune valutazioni di massima di Xbox, che a quanto pare si aggirano tra i 100 e i 150 miliardi di dollari - certo, è una bella forbice, che possiamo interpretare come una sorta di ulteriore conferma che la questione non è stata approfondita più di tanto, ma è quantomeno indicativa delle dimensioni raggiunte dal brand.
Microsoft sta lavorando a una modifica al Lock Screen di Windows 11 che promette di rendere più semplice e immediato l'accesso al desktop dal dispositivo bloccato: in sostanza non sarà più necessario specificare che metodo di autenticazione si vuole usare - saranno tutti attivi a prescindere, basterà usarli. È un cambiamento relativamente piccolo, ma è proprio quello di cui ha bisogno l’interfaccia di Windows di questi tempi: non necessariamente rivoluzioni, ma rifiniture, ottimizzazioni e levigature, come del resto ha riconosciuto anche Microsoft stessa.
Allo stato attuale il Lock Screen richiede di scegliere la procedura di accesso desiderata tra quelle configurate sul dispositivo - ci sono pulsanti per esempio per il PIN, per il riconoscimento del volto e per lo scanner di impronte digitali, se il computer lo supporta. In una delle ultime build rilasciate agli Insider, c’è invece una nuova funzionalità nascosta che cambia leggermente il layout del Lock Screen: il campo del PIN è sempre visibile e attivo, basta semplicemente digitare il codice, oppure guardare la webcam, oppure appoggiare il dito sullo scanner di impronte.
Nei primi test la feature sembra già funzionare esattamente come ci si aspetta, senza particolari problemi o complicazioni; questo potrebbe voler dire che il rilascio nel canale stabile potrebbe non richiedere tantissimo tempo. Tuttavia è meglio non farsi troppe false illusioni, queste cose sono sempre estremamente difficili da prevedere e non c’è mai un caso uguale all’altro. Finché Microsoft non dirà qualcosa a livello ufficiale, bisogna essere preparati a qualsiasi eventualità - anche che il progetto venga cancellato e la feature completamente rimossa.
Windows 11 is cutting some Copilot features on the right-click menu
At the same time, a Microsoft exec said that "AI has already helped our design team accelerate significantly"
The exec added that "we're even seeing designers contribute directly to code fixes" and this has caused quite a stir online with anti-AI pushback
Windows 11 is getting tweaked to cut back on Copilot functionality, while at the same time, a Microsoft exec has admitted that the operating system's design team are using AI to help them – which has provoked something of a reaction, as you might expect.
First up, the move to cut back on AI, which as Windows Latest reports consists of stripping out some Copilot options from Windows 11's context menu, the one which pops up when you right-click on a file or folder.
In a post on the Microsoft 365 Message Center, the company explained: "We're retiring the OneDrive Copilot Summarize, Create FAQ, Compare Files, Ask a question, Explain image, Explain images, Compare images, Extract text actions from the File Explorer context menu."
These are Copilot actions which are tied to OneDrive, then, that folks who don't use Microsoft's cloud storage wouldn't have seen anyway.
You can still reach these options using the 'Ask Copilot' icon in the right-click menu, so overall, this is a streamlining change for the better (albeit one that some users won't even realize has happened).
It's not being implemented right away, but from mid-November, and by the end of the year, these options will have disappeared from Windows 11's context menu.
Now for the more controversial development that Windows Latest also noticed, namely a comment from a Microsoft executive on X. Diego Baca, who is VP of Design for Windows, posted in reply to a comment pushing for "Windows design unification" (better consistency) and using AI to help to that end.
Baca observed: "On AI agents, 100% agree. I'm not the best person to speak to the engineering side, but AI has already helped our design team accelerate significantly. We're even seeing designers contribute directly to code fixes that improve craft, consistency, and quality. That's exciting progress, and we're only getting started."
The key part of this that's getting picked up on social media is the admission that AI is being used by the Windows 11 design team to ensure tasks are completed more swiftly, and that it's helping designers to contribute code fixes. As you might guess, there are some unhappy people out there due to this admission.
Analysis: a chorus of noticing
(Image credit: Phovoir / Shutterstock)
As noted, the reaction on Reddit has been predictably full of barbs and withering fire at Microsoft. This upvoted post complains: "We noticed [the use of AI in coding], the rapid decline in quality, every patch bricking at least some devices, major releases bricking entire fleets, and the introduction of major security vulnerabilities that are easily exploitable makes it clear the codebase is being vibecoded with insufficient code review and testing."
In fact, there's quite a chorusing of "we noticed" or "we know" regarding Microsoft turning to AI in coding, as well as the inevitable "slop" accusations, including the likes of: "And this is how Linux goes mainstream, not because it becomes better, but because Microslop becomes unusable thanks to AI integrations." (I should note that as you may have seen, Linux has its own controversies with AI, but that's a whole other story).
At any rate, I think we need to dig down a bit into the meaning of Baca's statement here. When the exec says, "AI has already helped our design team accelerate significantly," it's a pretty broad statement – perhaps referring to assistance on the design brainstorming front more than coding.
Yes, designers may "contribute directly to code fixes" now with the help of AI, but how often is that really happening? I'm guessing not that much, and that this work is more about simple interface tweaks and polish than anything, and this code will be passed to software engineers to be fully checked and reviewed – the main hope being it saves a bit of time. There's a lot of the Windows interface to fix, after all.
I think the hostility here is a bit unfair given that Baca is just trying to be honest about what Microsoft is doing, and I don't think the reality is that Windows 11's interface is suddenly being vibe-coded (by AI) to any great extent. What's happening is that Windows 11 users are jumping on this and venting because they're fed up of too many bugs, and that has nothing to do with the design team.
For me, this is about Microsoft's broader failure with Windows 11 bug testing and flaky updates, which isn't something you can lay at the door of AI as such. Rather, this is about the overall QA (quality assurance) processes which aren't picking up these problems and sorting them out before release (whether any given bug was introduced by AI, or not).
This is what's really the root cause of the outbursts on social media here, and the comments about patches going wrong and general unreliability. And this is what Microsoft really needs to fix, and fast – it remains the biggest problem with Windows 11 that needs addressing.
Microsoft is working on a small yet meaningful change to the lock screen and sign-in experience on Windows 11 that will streamline the authentication process that users must go through to log into their desktop.
The current Windows sign-in flow requires the user to manually select the method of authentication they wish to use to login. If you've set up a PIN, face unlock, and fingerprint unlock, the only method of authentication that is active is the one you manually click on to use on the lock screen.
This is a huge gripe of mine, and it's super frustrating when you want to login using your face, but Windows has selected PIN or fingerprint. It means your webcam isn't looking for you in that moment, and you have to manually switch to face unlock to force Windows into checking for your face and logging in.
Well, it looks like this is finally changing. In the latest Windows 11 preview builds, a hidden feature ID enables a new experience that automates this. Now, by default, the PIN box is always on show, but face unlock and fingerprint unlock are also active and ready to authenticate at the same time.
No longer does the user need to manually choose their login method. (Image credit: Zac Bowden / Windows Central)
This means users no longer need to manually select the login method of their choice. Windows will automatically capture whichever biometric authentication method is set up, even when the PIN box is on screen. This also means the lock screen looks cleaner as a result, as the options to choose which authentication method you want to use is no longer displays as it's not necessary. It's also faster for those with biometric authentication enabled.
I really like this change, as it encourages Windows to keep trying my face unlock even if it fails the first time. Of course, there's an eventual timeout if it fails too many times, but I find it is able to log me in before it ever reaches that point. Also, being able to just type my PIN without having to manually select the PIN option first is also great.
Microsoft is yet to announce this new sign-in flow, but I suspect it won't be long until it's officially put into testing as it's already very polished and has been in the works for a number of months now. What do you think? Is this a good change for the Windows lock screen? Let us know in the comments.
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In what may be one of the year's least surprising stories, Microsoft's VP of Product Design, Diego Baca, has explained how AI is being used to help designers after being asked whether it's possible to launch a "fleet of viable agents" to address issues in Windows 11.
On AI agents, 100% agree. I’m not the best person to speak to the engineering side, but AI has already helped our design team accelerate significantly. We’re even seeing designers contribute directly to code fixes that improve craft, consistency, and quality. That’s exciting progress, and we’re only getting started.
Microsoft acknowledges Windows 11's longstanding design inconsistencies as AI helps accelerate improvements across the operating system. (Image credit: Microsoft)
“Consistency across Windows is something we all want, and it’s an active workstream we’re continuing to accelerate,” he explained.
And to be fair, I have to agree. Windows 11 is now five years old (that's made me feel so old), yet parts of the operating system still feel like they're lacking the modern stylings, almost as though some of it still belongs in Windows 7, or even earlier, as Windows Latest points out in its own take.
Don't get me wrong, Microsoft has made progress, particularly with its efforts to modernize Windows Search, Run, and other legacy interfaces using WinUI 3. But I do wish these inconsistencies had been addressed before Windows 11 launched, though perhaps I’m wishing for too much.
Baca also acknowledged the criticism, admitting, “Finally, I completely recognize that people expect more from Windows. We expect more from ourselves, too.”
Finally, he added that Microsoft hopes to “earn back your enthusiasm for Windows through what we deliver, not just what we say.” It’s a refreshingly open response, and one I massively appreciate. How do you feel about Diego Baca's comments? Let me know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll below:
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Microsoft is testing a way to update Edge without forcing a restart, potentially letting you keep working while it switches to a more secure version.
Browser updates can interrupt your work, so you might put off restarting the browser. However, this can delay important security fixes. Microsoft's solution aims to solve both problems by updating Edge in the background while keeping compatible tabs open.
The project is still an early experiment, not a feature you can use today. Microsoft says the prototype isn't part of Edge's production code or the Chromium project.
Microsoft wants Edge updates to be seamless
Currently, browser updates require a restart to safely switch to a newer version. Although Microsoft Edge can restore your open tabs afterward, restarting can still interrupt your work. Microsoft's prototype aims to change that by downloading an update in the background and moving the browser and its supporting processes to the newer version while keeping your work available.
For example, imagine you're filling out a long online form when a security update becomes available. Instead of asking you to restart Edge and interrupt your work, the browser would update in the background while you continue working.
Microsoft demonstrated the prototype in a video, and when the company clicked the "Update" button, the browser switched to the new version while keeping compatible tabs open. Eventually, the goal is to apply updates automatically without requiring users to click anything.
One limitation is that existing tabs can stay open only if they're compatible with the new version. Other tabs will switch to the updated version when you navigate to them.
AI makes faster security updates more important
(Image credit: Future | Daniel Rubino)
The project isn't only about convenience. Microsoft notes that AI is accelerating vulnerability discovery and changing the pace of attacks, increasing the need to roll out security fixes more quickly. The company describes the time between a security fix becoming available and an update being applied as the "patch gap." During this period, users who don't install the fix remain vulnerable.
A security update can only protect you after apply it. Restarts add friction to that gap: people may keep a browser open for days because they are in the middle of something important.
Microsoft
The requirement to restart the browser can also make the problem worse when people postpone updates because they don't want interruptions. As a result, applying security updates faster could reduce the time users remain exposed to known vulnerabilities.
So, when can we use it?
This isn't built into the current version of the browser, so don't go through the settings trying to find the option. Microsoft says that the prototype isn't part of the browser or the Chromium project. Instead, the company is sharing its work early and inviting developers and other organizations to collaborate on this project.
Edge already has an update option for idle devices
(Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)
While the company continues developing its new update mechanism, Microsoft Edge already offers a feature called "Restart to update on idle," previously known as "Instant Updates."
The feature restarts Edge when your device is idle, installs the update, and reopens your tabs. It still requires a restart, but the interruption happens when you're not using the browser.
What's next?
For now, Microsoft Edge's existing update options help reduce delays, while the seamless-updates prototype offers a glimpse of what could come next. Microsoft hasn't announced when, or whether, this approach will become available. The company is sharing the prototype early to encourage collaboration with the community.
However, we'll have to wait and see whether the concept will make it into a future version of the browser. What are your thoughts on this new way to update the browser? Let me know in the comments.
More resources
Explore more in-depth how-to guides, troubleshooting advice, and essential tips to get the most out of Windows 11 and 10. Start browsing here:
In this episode of the Windows Central Podcast, Daniel Rubino and Zac Bowden regroup following a week of extensive hands-on hardware testing and benchmarking. The central focus is the initial review wave for the Surface Laptop Ultra and the broader Nvidia RTX Spark mobile platform.
Zac details his full review of the Surface Laptop Ultra, highlighting its MacBook-inspired design improvements, haptic touchpad, outstanding audio, sleep battery efficiency, and magnetic USB-C connector—while contrasting its 2,000-nit Mini-LED display against competing Tandem OLED panels. Daniel shares first impressions of two rival RTX Spark flagships: the ultralight 3.9 lb ASUS ProArt P16 and the robust HP OmniBook Ultra 16.
The hosts dig into real-world local AI and agentic workflows (including tests with Hermes Agent and local LLMs), explain the critical architectural advantage of configurable unified memory allocations for GPUs, discuss gaming performance with DLSS/frame gen, and showcase the newly launched ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20 handheld console bundle featuring XREAL AR glasses.
This episode of the Windows Central Podcast is sponsored by Surfshark VPN. Unlimited devices, access your content from anywhere, and auto-block malware on Windows, Edge, and other platforms from $2.50/mo, with 3 months extra FREE. Sign up today!
[01:44] – Introduction: Daniel and Zac kick off Episode 407, outlining their week spent benchmarking and testing retail RTX Spark laptops and handhelds.
[05:51] – Surface Laptop Ultra Design & Build: Zac breaks down the chassis aesthetics, MacBook Pro styling parallels, lack of a notch, seamless lid lip design, and weight (4.5 lbs).
[08:00] – The Mini-LED Display: Deep dive into Microsoft’s 2,000-nit Mini-LED panel, evaluating ghosting zones (1,344 dimming zones), glossy reflections, and comparisons to Tandem OLED screens.
[13:09] – Battery Life & Standby Sleep Performance: Real-world longevity on the 92 Wh battery (10–12 hours light use) and standout sleep endurance matching Apple Silicon.
[15:18] – Magnetic Breakaway USB-C: Testing the breakaway angle, data capabilities, and custom charging brick interoperability.
[18:04] – RTX Spark CPU & Gaming Benchmarks: Breakdown of 20-core multi-threaded CPU output versus single-core scores, plus gaming results with DLSS in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 (approaching RTX 4070/5060 laptop levels).
[25:59] – Local AI & Unified Memory Allocation: Why configurable system RAM sharing to the GPU CUDA cores enables large local LLM deployment that traditional gaming laptops cannot match.
[29:11] – Agentic AI Experiments: Practical workflows with Hermes Agent, desktop automation in Photoshop, automatic folder cleanup, and local data safety risks.
[46:00] – Speakers, Haptics & Missing Copilot+ Features: Praise for the class-leading haptic signals and audio alongside the notable delay of Windows Recall and semantic search on RTX Spark.
[53:56] – ASUS ProArt P16 Review Preview: Daniel highlights the 3.9 lb featherweight design, dual-fan thermals, 4K anti-reflective touch options, and port selection.
[58:50] – HP OmniBook Ultra 16 Breakdown: Frame build quality, rear tower exhaust design, Zero-Lattice Gen 2 keyboard, and compact 140W GaN charger.
[01:06:08] – PCIe SSD Speed Shootout: Massive speed discrepancies across devices—Surface’s 14,000 MB/s drive vs. HP's 10,000 MB/s and ASUS’s variable read speeds.
[01:14:55] – ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20 Handheld Impressions: Translucent chassis, 7.4-inch 120Hz anti-reflective OLED panel, Z2 Extreme performance, and testing the bundle with XREAL AR glasses.
[01:24:02] – Live Audience Q&A: Viewer questions regarding boot/restart bugs, NVMe expansion, OneDrive Microsoft 365 storage allocation backlash, and future low-tier RTX Spark silicon.
Microsoft just celebrated 12 years of the Windows Insider Program by sharing a collection of wallpapers. But the origin of those wallpapers has drawn a bit of criticism. It turns out that they were not made on a Surface Laptop Ultra or, in fact, any Windows 11 device. Instead, they were created using a Mac.
Rafael Rivera checked the properties of the wallpapers and noticed that they were created using the Mac version of Adobe Photoshop.
New Windows Insider email: "we created new backgrounds for all Insiders inspired by 12 years of the Windows Insider Program and the latest Surface design aesthetic"https://t.co/4gzu6wPcWOCreated on a Mac. https://t.co/0d8HgHlvh0October 15, 2026
Rivera noted in a follow-up post on X that the images were made by Microsoft's in-house design team. If accurate, that precludes the possibility of a contracted company happening to use Macs in their normal workflow and being commissioned to make the images.
Even if the images were made by a contracted company, Microsoft would have a little bit of egg on its face because that would indicate that even a creator that works with Microsoft prefers to use an Apple product.
Windows Central take
I don't think this is a big deal, but the situation has emerged at an awkward time. Microsoft is in the middle of refreshing Windows 11. The tech giant just shared a massive blog post positioning Windows 11 as a selling point to buy a new PC.
Having Windows Insider wallpapers created on a Mac opens the door to jokes like "even Microsoft staff prefer Mac."
It's perfectly reasonable for Microsoft to use tools created by another company. It's not as if Microsoft should force its design team to use the new Photos app instead of Photoshop. Creators, and any worker, need to use tools that can get the job done.
But considering Adobe Photoshop is available on Windows 11, it's a bit strange that Microsoft couldn't send a few Windows 11 PCs over to its design team.
Alternatively, Microsoft could call up ASUS and make a deal to get some ProArt P16 laptops to the design team. Our friends at Tom's Guide said "The ASUS ProArt P16 is an outstanding laptop for creativity."
If you thought the Copilot+ PC promise of NPU-powered local AI experiences was dead, I wouldn't blame you. Microsoft has been slow to build out NPU-based AI features on Windows 11, with Click To Do and Semantic Search being the last Copilot+ PC exclusive features to launch over a year ago.
But that seems to be finally changing with "Hybrid intelligence," a part of which is being built directly into the Copilot app on Windows 11 and will intelligently route AI tasks and experiences between on-device processing and the cloud on Copilot+ PCs. Here's what's coming soon to Windows 11:
Local context: With your permission, Copilot can understand relevant content on your PC, including files and recent activity, bringing local context into the flow of work.
Local actions: Copilot can take action on your behalf across Windows, helping complete tasks like organizing files, assessing device diagnostics, troubleshooting issues, coding, and carrying out workflows directly on your device.
Local models: Copilot can tap into AI models running on your PC, using local compute for the right tasks while combining it with cloud intelligence when needed.
Hybrid Intelligence looks to be a natural evolution of Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft is finally giving this AI hardware more to do, with the ability to reach out to the cloud when required for more complex workloads. These Hybrid Intelligence features enhance the new Copilot Home, Code, and Autopilot experiences that were recently announced.
"Copilot understands your PC, takes action with your permission, and uses local models when it makes sense, with you in control at every step," Microsoft says. "Copilot features powered by hybrid intelligence are expected to begin rolling out on Copilot+ PCs in the coming months."
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft says Hybrid intelligence requires Copilot+ PC compatibility, which naturally implies that these new AI experiences will lean on the NPU for local processing, as that's one of the hardware requirements for meeting the Copilot+ PC feature bar.
Microsoft believes that a hybrid approach to AI will be the way forward for computing. It's important for PCs to have local AI compute power and capabilities to reduce pressure on data centers, and it's also important for privacy and security reasons too.
Agents on Windows are being heavily pushed as a local AI experience, though it requires PCs with powerful GPUs and lots of system memory to really take advantage of. The NPU is not powerful enough to handle most large language models at current, and so is reserved for less power intensive tasks and automations.
The company has also announced Aion Instruct, an on-device AI model that replaces Phi Silica and runs on not just the NPU, but GPU and even CPU in some cases. It's a small language model capable of handling text generation, instruction following, and web tasks.
Microsoft has confirmed that the Copilot+ PC brand is going away as a marketing asset, but it will continue to exist as a feature set. OEMs and Microsoft itself have stopped calling their new Surface PCs Copilot+ PCs, even though they are all Copilot+ PC compatible.
Now, the Copilot+ PC moniker is simply a checkbox on a spec sheet, and it looks like Hybrid intelligence PCs is the new marketing term that Microsoft wants to get in front of as many people as possible.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
Microsoft just celebrated 12 years of the Windows Insider Program by sharing special wallpapers with Insiders. The images are all reminiscent of the Windows Bloom wallpaper that ships with Windows 11 and that has been remixed several times by Microsoft and enthusiasts.
I'm partial toward the blue version, likely because I learned how to use a PC on Windows 95. There are also white, green, orange, and purple variants as well as several dark-theme wallpapers.
This direct download link should get you all of the wallpapers, but you should also see them in an email from Microsoft if you're a Windows Insider.
Microsoft shared the following message alongside the wallpapers:
"Thank you for 12 incredible years, Windows Insiders!
From exciting program changes to meetups that brought us together in the past year, you're at the heart of it all. As a thank-you, we created new backgrounds for all Insiders inspired by 12 years of the Windows Insider Program and the latest Surface design aesthetic."
The Windows Insider Program has been around for 12 years, but it has shifted in structure in that time. I've been an Insider since the beginning, as have many members of our team at Windows Central. In that time, we've seen everything from major Windows features not being tested with Windows Insiders to feedback directly shaping the future of Windows.
Windows Insider meetups also returned this year, giving the community a chance to meet in person and interact with the Windows product team directly. The first Windows Insider meetup was in Seattle, Washington. Later, events took place in New York City (USA), Hyderabad (India), Taipei (Taiwan), San Francisco (USA), and London (UK).
I'm happy to see the Windows Insider Program on the right track. Microsoft is engaging with the community and shaping Windows 11 based on feedback.
Microsoft has shown the positive impact of listening to feedback through its recent changes to Xbox. Sometimes grabbing low-hanging fruit and addressing the top community concerns is exactly what's needed.
The wallpapers shared by Microsoft are a small gesture thanking Windows Insiders, but such gestures can go a long way. Ignored Insiders become Insiders who disengage from the Windows Insider Program, and that hurts all Windows users in the long run.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
Long before Taco Tuesday became part of the pop-culture vernacular, Tuesdays were synonymous with security — and for anyone in the tech world, they still are. Patch Tuesday, as you most likely know, refers to the day each month when Microsoft releases security updates and patches for its software products — everything from Windows to Office to SQL Server, developer tools to browsers.
The practice, which happens on the second Tuesday of the month, was initiated to streamline the patch distribution process and make it easier for users and IT system administrators to manage updates. Like tacos, Patch Tuesday is here to stay.
Patch Tuesday coverage has long been a staple of Computerworld’s commitment to provide critical information to the IT industry. That’s why we’ve gathered together this collection of recent patches, a rolling list we’ll keep updated each month.
In case you missed a recent Patch Tuesday announcement, here are the latest six months of updates.
October Patch Tuesday: 1,408 CVEs, 1 exploited flaw and a SharePoint surprise
Microsoft just shipped 1,408 vulnerabilities in one month, and a SharePoint flaw it marked “not exploited” is actually under attack right now. Our expert recommends a Patch Now scheduling for Windows, Office, Exchange and the developer tooling, and a standard release schedule for SQL Server.
September Patch Tuesday: 963 CVEs, 2 exploited flaws, 1 message
September’s Patch Tuesday is Microsoft’s biggest of 2026, with 963 CVEs, two exploited flaws and a clear message: prioritize Windows, Office and SQL Server.
Two vulnerabilities are already exploited: CVE-2026-81963 in the Windows Update Stack and CVE-2026-85880 in Advanced Local Procedure Call. Nothing in this release was publicly disclosed ahead of the patch. Readiness recommends a Patch Now scheduling for Windows, Office, SQL Server and the developer tooling, and standard patch release for Exchange.
August’s Patch Tuesday is a monster: 751 fixes, with an exploited Windows flaw
Microsoft’s August 2026 Patch Tuesday closes at 751 CVE entries (across all product families), with 108 rated as critical. One flaw is already exploited, CVE-2026-68820, an elevation of privilege in the Windows WinSock driver (afd.sys). Two more were disclosed but not exploited.
This security-only release earns Patch Now for Windows, Office and Exchange; no SQL Server updates this month. Unfortunately, several critical issues affect server roles: Windows DNS Server carries a cluster of critical RCEs; Windows DHCP Server is the most-populated Microsoft product family at 14 entries. Testing should lead with printing and fonts and the Remote Desktop client, then a WinSock smoke test given the exploited afd.sys flaw.
July’s Patch Tuesday sees an end-of-support collision amidst a massive, record-setting patch wave
Microsoft addressed 722 CVEs this month once the 427 Chromium upstream relays are set aside — roughly three times a normal cycle and one of the largest single months in recent memory. Two vulnerabilities arrive under active exploitation: an elevation of privilege in Active Directory Federation Services (CVE-2026-56155), and an elevation of privilege in SharePoint Server (CVE-2026-56164). A third, a BitLocker security feature bypass (CVE-2026-50661) is publicly disclosed but not yet exploited.
The July 2026 Patch Tuesday earns Patch Now recommendations for Windows, Office, Exchange, and SQL Server. SharePoint has two critical RCEs on top of its exploited zero-day, and Exchange Server returns with a critical on-premises spoofing flaw. Adding to our (dear) administrator’s efforts, SharePoint Server 2016/2019 and SQL Server 2016 all reach end of support today.
Microsoft this month released 206 updates affecting Windows, Office, Exchange Server, and its developer tools — including three Windows vulnerabilities already publicly disclosed. That trio includes an elevation of privilege in the Collaborative Translation Framework (CVE-2026-45586), a denial of service in HTTP.sys (CVE-2026-49160), and a BitLocker security feature bypass (CVE-2026-50507). At the moment, none appear to be under active exploitation, but all three are rated “Exploitation More Likely.”
Even without an exploited zero-day, the June 2026 Patch Tuesday release requires Patch Now recommendations for Windows, Office, and Exchange. The latter is back in the patch picture with a consolidated security update that Microsoft recommends installing “as soon as possible.”
For May, Patch Tuesday means 139 updates — but no zero-days
Microsoft this month released 139 updates affecting Windows, Office, .NET, and SQL Server (though there were no updates for Microsoft Exchange Server). Despite the absence of zero-days, the May Patch Tuesday update still requires Patch Now recommendations for Windows and Office.
The combination of three unauthenticated network RCEs (Netlogon, DNS Client, and SSO Plugin for Jira and Confluence), four Word Preview Pane RCEs, the large TCP/IP vulnerability cluster, and the carry-over BitLocker recovery condition (still active on Windows 10 and Windows Server) warrants an accelerated deployment release schedule.
NVIDIA officially entered the Windows PC race this week, and its arrival brings a formidable new competitor to the premium AI PC market. With its RTX Spark platform, NVIDIA is bringing its Grace Arm CPU architecture, Blackwell GPU technology and extensive software ecosystem together in a new generation of Windows laptops. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra is among the first systems to showcase this collaboration, leveraging NVIDIA’s tech and putting it squarely in competition with Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and even Apple for high-performance local AI and creation-optimized laptops.
For Microsoft, the partnership expands the capabilities of Windows on Arm considerably, particularly for local AI development, content creation and other demanding professional workloads. Starting at $2,599.99, Surface Laptop Ultra is clearly a premium offering, but its combination of processing horsepower, large, unified memory capacity, and premium industrial design gives it an interesting position in the market.
My personal testing suggests NVIDIA and Microsoft have delivered a compelling platform with strong AI throughput, graphics performance and competitive CPU compute. Just as importantly, the Surface Laptop Ultra offers a glimpse of how AI development and local AI agent workflows could become more practical on a portable Windows PC.
NVIDIA RTX Spark brings Grace Blackwell to Windows on Arm
At the heart of Surface Laptop Ultra is NVIDIA’s RTX Spark N1X SoC, combining up to 20 Grace Arm CPU cores with a Blackwell GPU featuring up to 6,144 CUDA cores. Configurations support up to 128GB of unified memory, shared between CPU and GPU. The Surface Laptop Ultra model I tested has this full-fat configuration with an eye-watering $5,899.99 price tag (thanks, memory crunch), though there are lower-cost base configs as noted previously, offering an 18-core CPU with a 5,120-core GPU and 24GB of unified memory.
NVIDIA and Microsoft
Regardless, this architecture is particularly powerful for running on-device AI. Rather than being constrained by the dedicated graphics memory found in conventional laptops with discrete GPUs, RTX Spark can make a much larger pool of memory available to GPU-accelerated applications. This allows larger language models, longer context windows and demanding inference workloads to run locally. It’s similar in design to AMD’s Ryzen AI Max series, aka Strix Halo, in that regard, but with a more potent GPU engine on board.
NVIDIA’s CUDA ecosystem is another important advantage. Developers can leverage familiar tools including TensorRT, PyTorch and llama.cpp, with a base software foundation that also extends into NVIDIA-powered workstations and data center infrastructure.
For organizations building AI applications, this offers a solid development path. Models and workflows can be prototyped locally before moving to larger systems, reducing cloud compute and token expense while allowing sensitive data to remain on-device. (See: Around the corner: Agentic AI PCs that cut token costs.)
Microsoft has also optimized Windows 11 for RTX Spark, with improvements to workload scheduling, power management, memory allocation and application compatibility. These platform-level investments were essential to making NVIDIA’s Arm architecture practical for everyday Windows computing, and I was able to put some of them to the test in the few days I’ve had the machine on hand.
Surface Laptop Ultra: Premium design meets practical function
Microsoft has given RTX Spark an appropriately premium home with this machine. The Surface Laptop Ultra features a 15-inch PixelSense Ultra mini-LED touch display with up to 2,000 nits of claimed peak HDR brightness, a 120Hz refresh rate and excellent potential for creative work requiring high accuracy and wide gamut coverage.
Dave Altavilla
The machine’s aluminum chassis is less than 18 mm thick, and it weighs in at under 4.5 pounds. It’s not an ultraportable per se, but considering the horsepower on board, Microsoft has struck a reasonable balance between portability and performance.
The design is refreshingly understated, with clean lines and rigid aluminum construction. My initial hands-on impressions have been particularly positive, thanks to the keyboard’s tactile response, smooth and responsive haptic touchpad, and bright, high-contrast display.
The larger touchpad should be especially welcome for users navigating complex applications, while the touchscreen adds flexibility for reviewing documents, annotating designs, and interacting directly with creative content.
Connectivity options are also very good, relative to other premium laptops. Microsoft includes three USB-C ports, HDMI, USB-A, an SD card reader and a headphone jack. One USB-C connection features Microsoft’s new magnetic charging mechanism, combining the convenience and safety of a breakaway power connector with the versatility of a standard USB-C port.
Microsoft has also designed the cooling system with large fans and significant thermal capacity, while making the machine’s internal SSD removable and offering good internal serviceability in general. These are practical considerations for professional users and IT departments concerned with reliability, maintenance and long-term ownership.
Battery life and sustained performance under prolonged workloads are important aspects Microsoft focused on for the overall experience, particularly for a machine designed to deliver workstation-class capabilities away from a desk. More on this shortly.
Local AI agents: Moving from inference to action
RTX Spark also supports locally running autonomous AI agents, including one that I tested out called Hermes, which can execute multi-step workflows, access files and interact with applications. Its potential impact spans software development, research, document analysis, business automation and many other disciplines. Hermes provides the agent framework, while supported models leverage RTX Spark’s CUDA-accelerated inference and unified memory.
For businesses, local agents can keep sensitive data on-device and reduce cloud inference costs, provided they’re configured appropriately. However, granting agents access to files, code execution and corporate systems introduces security risks. Microsoft’s Execution Containers and NVIDIA’s OpenShell aim to provide isolation and access controls, though their effectiveness depends on proper enterprise policy implementation.
Hermes running Qwen3.8-27B locally on Surface Laptop Ultra, generating a benchmark report.
Dave Altavilla
To test this capability, I ran Hermes with the Qwen3.8-27B language model locally on the Surface Laptop Ultra. I asked it to extract benchmark charts from an Excel spreadsheet and create a formatted Word report with performance commentary. Hermes autonomously generated and executed Python scripts, processed the spreadsheet and assembled the document in approximately five minutes. Color me impressed.
That’s a respectable turnaround for a task requiring several manual steps. My results demonstrate how local AI agents can streamline reporting and analysis without cloud-hosted model inference. Human review remains essential, but this was a promising demonstration of practical, real-world agentic AI on a Windows laptop.
AI performance: Strong results as expected
My team’s preliminary AI benchmarks highlight the advantages of NVIDIA’s RTX Spark architecture. However, we’re still digging deeper into AI-enabled use cases and performance.
In UL Procyon’s AI Text Generation benchmark using Phi 3.5, a family of lightweight, open-source small language models (SLMs) released by Microsoft, the Surface Laptop Ultra scored 2,703, compared with 2,027 for Lenovo’s Intel Core Ultra X9 388H-powered IdeaPad Pro 5, an advantage of approximately 33%.
Dave Altavilla
The difference was even more substantial in MLPerf’s Flux 2 Klein 4B image generation workload, where the Surface Laptop Ultra delivered 26.97 images per minute versus 9.96 for the Lenovo machine, or roughly 2.7 times the throughput.
These results demonstrate the platform’s potential for accelerating local inference, image generation, agentic workflows and other AI workloads. Actual application performance will depend on model selection, software optimization and available system memory, though NVIDIA does provide a nice memory partitioning tool in the NVIDIA App for Windows.
Content creation, gaming and battery life: Blackwell’s versatility
RTX Spark’s Blackwell GPU delivers impressive graphics performance, extending the Surface Laptop Ultra’s capabilities beyond AI development and everyday creation or productivity tasks.
Dave Altavilla
In 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite, the Surface Laptop Ultra achieved 98.29 FPS, more than double the 46.07 FPS of Lenovo’s Core Ultra X9-powered IdeaPad Pro 5. In the ray-tracing-focused 3DMark Speed Way test, it delivered 30.31 FPS versus 19.72 FPS for the ASUS ROG Flow Z13, powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and Radeon 8060S graphics.
Dave Altavilla
Actual gaming performance was similarly strong. In Cyberpunk 2077, the Surface Laptop Ultra averaged 71.05 FPS, ahead of the ROG Flow Z13’s 63.76 FPS. However, the AMD system narrowly led in The Talos Principle 2, delivering 89.5 FPS versus the Surface’s 84.5 FPS at 1080p medium settings.
CPU performance for tasks like 3D rendering also holds up well. In Cinebench 2026, the Surface scored 6,787 in the multi-threaded test, edging out the AMD-powered ROG Flow Z13’s 6,546. Notably, the Surface retained 99% of its multi-threaded performance on battery power as well.
For creative professionals, native Arm applications including Blender, DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Photoshop offer opportunities to leverage RTX Spark’s potent GPU. However, Windows on Arm compatibility remains a consideration. Microsoft’s Prism translation supports many x86 applications, but specialized software, drivers and certain games (like EA anti-cheat-supported titles currently) may still encounter limitations.
Dave Altavilla
Battery endurance was respectable for the Surface Laptop Ultra, at 14 hours and 35 minutes in my PCMark video playback testing, though competing mainstream thin-and-light laptops lasted considerably longer. The Surface Laptop Ultra and RTX Spark operate within a different power envelope, however, more akin to a beefier gaming laptop, rather than a svelte 2 – 3-lb business machine.
Final thoughts: A serious new AI Windows PC competitor
The Surface Laptop Ultra marks an important milestone for NVIDIA’s expansion into Windows PCs and Microsoft’s ambitions for high-performance Arm-based computing.
My initial testing shows the RTX Spark-powered Surface Laptop Ultra delivers exceptionally strong AI acceleration, competitive multi-threaded CPU performance and impressive graphics horsepower. Combined with Microsoft’s premium industrial design, extensive connectivity and I/O options, and Windows platform integration, RTX Spark makes a convincing first impression.
Starting at $2,600, this is a specialized, premium system, and mainstream business users will find more economical alternatives to be sure. However, for developers (even vibe coders), creative professionals and organizations evaluating local AI workflows, the Surface Laptop Ultra offers a compelling combination of performance, beautiful industrial design, portability and local AI capability, especially with its higher-tier memory configurations.
NVIDIA has arrived in the Windows PC market with serious technology, and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra is an impressive first showcase of what this new partnership can deliver.
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