[German]Microsoft has released version 0.73.0 of its free PowerToys for Windows 10 and Windows 11 on August 31, 2023. In this version, the developer says it has focused on new features, stability and improvements. Here is an overview of the current status. Continue reading
[German]Microsoft has updated the Edge browser to versions 116.0.1938.69 as of August 31, 2023. The security release notes for Edge 116.0.1938.69 state that the update includes the latest Chromium browser security fixes (CVE-2023-4572) in addition to bug fixes and stability improvements (thanks to EP for pointing this out).
The Thunderbird developers have released another update of the email client to version 115.2.0 on August 29/30, 2023. It is an update, which should eliminate errors. Furthermore, Thunderbird 102.15.0 has been released as the last version in this branch.
[German]The EU competition investigations underway against Microsoft seem to be having an effect. Suddenly, Redmond is announcing changes to Microsoft 365 and Office 365 to address European competition concerns. These changes will affect our Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, it says. For example, customers will be able to choose a Microsoft business suite without Teams at a lower price (but this has long been known). And interoperability between competing communications and collaboration solutions and the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites is to be made easier. Furthermore, third-party providers will get the opportunity to host Office web applications themselves.
[German]There is currently an uproar in the US media because Microsoft has overdoing it with its ads in Windows 11, which ask users to use Bing.com as a search engine. US media claims that the Microsoft ads behaves like malware – and I was already thinking about an EU complaint. It seems that Microsoft respects the regulations of the EU. Because users in Europe get the option to open links in the default browser – instead of Edge.
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[German]A security researcher has come across a way to determine the IP address of a Skype user without the target person even having to click on a link (IP address spoofing). This could be used to spy on people (e.g. activists, dissidents, etc.). Microsoft has been contacted by the security researcher about this, but is of the opinion that this vulnerability in Skype does not need to be fixed immediately and wants to take its time with a patch. To my knowledge, however, it currently only affects Skype's mobile apps.
[German]Google has released updates to Google Chrome browser 116 in the stable channel for Mac, Linux and Windows as of August 29, 2023. These are security updates that are being rolled out and are intended to eliminate a vulnerability (classified as "high"). Furthermore, there is an update to the Chrome app for Android as well as for iOS.
As of August 29, 2023, the Mozilla developers have released the new Firefox 117 as well as the maintenance updates of Firefox 115.2 ESR and Firefox 102.14 ESR. With the updates, some vulnerabilities have been closed. Here is a brief overview of the updates in question, including the fixes and the new features.
[German]In an international operation, the U.S. FBI and Europol, together with local partners, dismantled the Qabot network. The action succeeded after law enforcement managed to take over the PC of a Qakbot administrator. The infected devices were instructed to download and run an update to uninstall this malware. This is estimated to have freed over 700,000 devices from this botnet.
[German]Microsoft tried it again, and rolled out a campgaign of aggressive ads for their Bing search engines to Google Chrome users on Windows 11. Could have been the reason why some people contacted me about the obskure files BGAUpsell.EXE /BGAUpdate.exe found on their system Meanwhile, Microsoft had to stop this campaign again because the ads even affected games running on Windows 11 and the notification covered parts of the game.
MVP:
2013 – 2016
WIMVP:
2017 – 2020
