Intel released CPU microcode updates to address four new security vulnerabilities disclosed by the company on May 14, 2019. These microcode updates can be encapsulated as motherboard UEFI firmware updates, and for some processors even distributed through Windows Update. In its Microcode Revision Guidance document put out on Tuesday, Intel revealed that all Core and Xeon processors going as far as the 2nd generation Core "Sandy Bridge" architecture are eligible for microcode updates.

2nd generation Core is roughly the time when motherboard vendors were forced to adopt UEFI (unrelated to these vulnerabilities). A number of low-power microarchitectures, such as "Gemini Lake," "Cherry View," "Apollo Lake," and "Amber Lake," which are basically all low-power processors released after 2012-13, also receive these updates. Until you wait for your motherboard vendor or PC/notebook OEM to pass on these microcode updates, Intel advises you to disable HyperThreading if your processor is older than 8th gen "Coffee Lake," and seek out the latest software updates.Additional slides follow.

One of the big no-nos for some users looking to upgrade do Windows 10 was the fact that Microsoft enforced constant, 6-month update cycles independent of whether users wanted them or not. This move was done to streamline the update process and keep all users at parity when it comes to important security and feature updates that Microsoft considered relevant. However, it seems Microsoft is now abandoning this practice, which means that users that like to know exactly what is being changed in their systems - and at a time of their convenience - now have one less reason to not upgrade.

Not only will Windows no longer push updates inadvertently, now home users will also have the ability to not only pause updates, but also remove them. There's a caveat, though - you won't be able to postpone feature updates forever. As it stands, Microsoft has an 18 month "end of life" period for major Windows 10 versions, which means that after your 18 months of postponing updates are up (and all of the kinks have been ironed out), you PC will still update to the latest version. There are some other details, which I will transcribe from the Microsoft blog post for your perusal.

Let's give credit where it is due- Microsoft was quick in admitting that their Windows 10 update (KB4482887) from March 1 had a detrimental effect on performance, especially as it related to specific gaming scenarios. Under a week later, we now have a public fix available as well. The latest update from today, March 12, is version KB4489899 (OS Build 17763.379) and claims to address "an issue that may degrade graphics and mouse performance with desktop gaming when playing certain games, such as Destiny 2, after installing KB4482887", among other things.

Other listed improvements and fixes include improved HoloLens tracking and device calibration, solving a bug that caused some users to get "Error 1309" when dealing with some .MSI and/or .MSP files, and a host of general security updates to various Microsoft software solutions. There remain some issues with this update, however, which are listed in the source page linked below. The update should be available for download and install automatically via Windows Update, as of the time of this post.

For those doing a fresh install of Microsoft's latest Windows 10 operating system (version 1809 October 2018 Update), you may encounter an issue with NVIDIA graphics drivers. Namely, a message may pop up when you install the graphics driver, telling you "The standard NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of Windows". The issue is caused by the operating system automatically installing the GeForce 398.36 DCH graphics driver through Windows Update, immediately after first log-on. DCH drivers are also known as "Universal Windows Driver", "UWD", "DCHU", and "Declarative, Componentized, Hardware Support App", and leverage the Windows UWP platform for driver control panels while promising simpler updates and maintainability.

If networking is available during the Windows 10 installation, the operating system will automatically look for a graphics driver on Windows Update, which is a good thing, as it simplifies the setup process for the majority of users. At this point, everything will appear to be fine, however, once you attempt to update from that driver to the newest version from NVIDIA's driver download page, the error will appear. This is highly frustrating for some users, who have been reporting the issue on several online forums, including NVIDIA's own, with little attention paid thus far from their developers. We encountered the problem ourselves today, during the setup of our 2019 SSD review benchmarking install and got motivated to investigate this further.

Microsoft earlier this week released Windows 10 October 2018 (version 1809) update. You can either get it through Windows Update, and install it leaving your personal files and settings largely unchanged, or perform a clean install by making yourself an install media using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool. PC Watch noticed something curious about getting the new Windows version through Windows Update on their notebook. The process was sapping too much power from the battery, and the update process is interrupted by an incompatible driver dialog (screenshot below).

Intel processors running with Gen 9.5 iGPUs enabled (that's 6th generation "Skylake" or later), expose an integrated audio controller to the operating system. This controller is responsible for digital audio output through the iGPU's HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, and is similar to the one NVIDIA and AMD integrate with their discrete GPUs. Users with driver version 10.25.0.3 or older for this controller, could run into problems when Windows Update is re-loading the drivers as part of the upgrade process. Intel has since released driver version 10.25.0.10 part of the latest Graphics Drivers 25.20.100.6323. If you're still on Windows 10 version 1803 and use your iGPU, it's recommended that you update your Intel graphics drivers before initiating Windows Update to version 1809.

The "DoublePulsar" exploit exposed recently as part of the leaked NSA-derived hacking toolkit posted online, is set to become one of the more significant issues related to the leak. Not because it is unpatched, because it has been patched for roughly a month, but rather because according to a threatpost.com report, few users are as up to date as they should be.

Microsoft, in a bid to ensure users of 7th generation Intel Core "Kaby Lake," AMD A-series "Bristol Ridge," and AMD Ryzen "Summit Ridge" processors stick to Windows 10, ensured that the three platforms don't receive software updates when running older Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 operating systems. A new user-made patch removes this draconian restriction, letting you install Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on your new-generation CPU powered machine, and receive regular software updates through Windows Update.

The patch is open-source, so you can inspect its code, and available on GitHub. The author of the patch, Zeffy, discovered two new functions to system file wuaueng.dll after the March 2017 update for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, labeled "IsCPUSupported(void)" and "IsDeviceServiceable(void)." This library is patched to toggle those two functions "1," telling Windows Update that the CPU is "supported" and that the platform is "serviceable," making it eligible to receive updates.

DOWNLOAD: New-gen CPU Windows Update Unlocking Patch for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 by Zeffy

Wednesday at Build 2014, Microsoft Corp.'s developer conference, the company announced several advances to Windows including Windows Phone 8.1, the availability of Windows 8.1 Update, a converged developer platform, and a $0 royalty licensing program for OEM and ODM partners developing smartphones and tablets with screens under nine inches.

Microsoft detailed new developer opportunities on the Windows platform with a common platform across devices, a single toolset, a common infrastructure across the Windows and Windows Phone stores, and a clear commitment to interoperability. The announcements highlight Microsoft's continued commitment to its partners and the developer community by maximizing opportunities across the broadest range of devices and services. Also as a part of the conference, Nokia announced three new Lumia smartphones for Windows Phone 8.1, including the flagship Lumia 930, the affordable Lumia 635 and the first dual-SIM Lumia 630.

Ahead of its anticipated mid-March launch, the Update 1 package of Windows 8.1 was leaked to the web. Not very different in definition to a service pack, Update 1 adds a host of features and under-the-hood changes to Windows 8.1. When updated, it should change the version string of your Windows 8.1 installation to look something along the lines of "6.3.9600.17031.WINBLUE_GDR.140221-1952." You'll notice how it's formatted similar to those of Microsoft's Windows Phone operating systems. NGOHQ.com hosts a repository of the Microsoft Update (*.msu) files that must be applied in sequence, to update your Windows 8.1 installation. If you're not sure, wait out till the update is formally out, and Windows Update will update the operating system with close to zero user intervention.DOWNLOAD: Windows 8.1 Update 1 MSU files

Microsoft has no plans to release a new service pack (SP) for Windows 7. Sources at Microsoft's engineering team told The Register that breaking precedent (of releasing a new SP every 2 or so years), Microsoft will not release SP2 (service pack 2) for the operating system. Apart from being a collection of important software updates over a period, a service pack allows Microsoft to introduce major updates to key components of the operating system, such as its kernel. Apparently, Microsoft's Windows team is too busy with Windows 8, and it is observed that by choosing to not release an SP, Microsoft could be pushing users to its newer OS. Instead of newer SPs for Windows 7, Microsoft will release timely updates for Windows 7 SP1 over Windows Update, till the operating system's support lifetime runs out (that's January 2020).

In an effort to ensure that Windows users have the latest version of Internet Explorer installed and ready for use, Microsoft has decided to add its browser to the automatic update list. This means that Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 installations which have automatic updating enabled in Windows Update, will also be seamlessly upgrading Internet Explorer, from time to time.

For starters the automatic update switch for IE will be turned on for customers in Australia and Brazil. This will happen in January (2012) and will expand in other areas throughout the year.

AMD is teasing us with its latest Catalyst driver suite. Catalyst 10.11 WHQL from AMD has come after no less than five hotfix updates to the previous version Catalyst 10.10. The new version of Catalyst is reported by many to have been added to Windows Update late yesterday (11/16), but wasn't backed by any release notes document then. The driver is now uploaded on AMD's Game website. AMD Catalyst software suite includes drivers for all current ATI/AMD Radeon GPUs, AMD integrated graphics, and other ATI multimedia products. This version of AMD Catalyst brings a small number of game-specific performance enhancements, as well as fixes a few bugs. To begin with, performance is expected to go up by 3% for Battleforge, on Radeon HD 5800 series GPUs, both single and CrossFire, with AA disabled. Up to 5% performance increase can be expected for STALKER: Call of Pripyat benchmark.


DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 10.11 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

Highlights of changes follows.

Microsoft had a rather clever idea. Why not use the worm virus for a useful purpose, such as updating Windows? Microsoft, for a while, was researching a way to make the worm code more efficient, and was going to put it to good use. That way, important security updates could spread just as quickly as viruses, if not quicker, considering that Microsoft's best were in the study. However, this idea was received about as well as the Giants victory in Super Bowl XLII. Some people cheered, but most people cried foul. Using a worm to spread things like Windows Updates would be a massive invasion of privacy, does not allow a user to say no to an update and would totally bungle up any attempt to uninstall or interrupt installation. What's worse is what would happen if a bad guy got their hands on the enhanced worm code.

Microsoft, upon hearing what users thought of a worm-based security patch, decided against using it. If the new worm they've developed will have any benevolent use, we certainly haven't heard of it yet.

With the company putting the finishing touches to no less than three major service packs at the moment, Microsoft has released a tool which will allow users to prevent them from being automatically downloaded. The Windows Service Pack Blocker Toolkit lets users block XP SP3 and Vista SP1 for up to one year, and Server 2003 SP2 until March next year. There are three versions - an executable, a script and a group policy template - so take your pick. This is recommended for any users worried about potential security and stability issues that may result from installing the service packs.

Microsoft's automatic updates system has once again found itself in the limelight following an issue with Windows Desktop Search 3.01 which has slowed thousands of computers and is causing havoc for IT technicians around the world. Despite client computers being configured only to update currently installed software, numerous blogs have reported that the Desktop Search software is installing itself and then hogging resources by loading an indexer, resulting in client computers slowing to a crawl and file servers struggling with the increased load. A Microsoft spokeswoman says the company is looking into reports, but IT administrators won't be too impressed with Windows Update at the moment as this comes just weeks after news that the update services secretly downloads and installs updates even on computers with automatic update disabled.