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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- October marks the ultimate official Patch Tuesday for Home windows 10.
- This month’s replace included a file 173 safety fixes.
- All the brand new and improved options have been reserved for Home windows 11.
Microsoft has launched its October Patch Tuesday replace for Home windows. Although that is enterprise as typical, this marked the ultimate month-to-month replace for Home windows 10 after 10 years of assist. All of the cool new options and enhancements have been reserved for Home windows 11, however each variations of Home windows acquired a whopping variety of safety patches.
Safety patches
With the newest updates for all variations of Home windows, Microsoft has delivered a hefty 173 safety patches, a file quantity for 2025. Amongst these, nine are rated critical, in keeping with patch administration supplier Action1, whereas six are zero-day exploits. Three of them have already been exploited within the wild, and three others have publicly out there proofs of idea, which suggests pattern code is publicly out there to indicate how the flaw might be exploited.
Additionally: Can’t upgrade your Windows 10 PC? Support has ended, so you need to act now
As documented on a Microsoft security page, the bug fixes cowl such core options and companies because the Home windows kernel, Home windows Search, Home windows Distant Desktop Protocol, Home windows Whats up, File Explorer, PowerShell, Copilot, BitLocker, and Bluetooth. Additionally within the combine are Microsoft Alternate Server, Visible Studio, Azure, and Microsoft Workplace.
In a single case, Microsoft needed to truly take away a built-in driver referred to as the ltmdm64.sys driver for fax modem {hardware}, as attackers had already been exploiting it as a zero-day flaw.
Additionally: The Windows 11 upgrade tool stopped working at the worst possible time – but you have options
“Lively exploitation confirms that risk actors are already utilizing this zero-day,” Action1 stated in its advisory. “Microsoft’s choice to take away the driving force somewhat than patch it means that the flaw is deeply rooted in its design and can’t be fastened with out breaking performance. This elevates each the safety and operational dangers for affected environments.”
Different fixes
Past the quite a few safety patches are fixes for sure Home windows options.
Right this moment’s KB5066791 update for Windows 10 patched a glitch with the Chinese Input Method Editor (IME), which helps you to enter textual content in Chinese language. One other resolved a problem with USER32 Edit controls, which allow you to create and edit textual content in a dialog field. A 3rd patch fastened an issue through which PowerShell Remoting and WinRM instructions timed out after 10 minutes.
The KB5066835 and KB5066793 updates for Home windows 11 additionally fastened points with sure Home windows options.
Additionally: Leaving Windows 10 today? How to clear your new Windows 11 PC cache (and start fresh)
One patch resolved an issue that brought on the print preview display to cease responding in Chromium-based browsers akin to Chrome and Edge. One other fastened a glitch through which utilizing a Gamepad on the lock display affected Home windows sign-in strategies akin to fingerprint recognition. On this case, apps and video games then failed to reply to any enter. Additionally resolved was a problem that impacted the setup course of when utilizing Home windows Whats up face recognition with USB infrared cameras.
This October was the ultimate supported journey for Home windows 10. Effectively, it isn’t fairly true to name it the ultimate journey. With its Prolonged Safety Replace plan, Microsoft will proceed to provide qualifying Home windows 10 computer systems with safety fixes for an additional 12 months. With out that plan, although, anybody who stays on the 10-year-old model of Home windows should not anticipate any safety patches, bug fixes, or different updates.
Home windows 11 enhancements
With the official finish of assist for Home windows 10, Microsoft has been pushing people and organizations alike to leap to Home windows 11. That is the place the corporate has naturally been focusing its efforts. And that leads us to the replace for Home windows 11, the place you will discover the newest new and improved options this month.
The October replace for Home windows 11 kicks off with enhancements to File Explorer, the Notification Heart, the Home windows Share instrument, and the Click on to Do function.
Additionally: Windows 11 upgrade not working? Try my 4 favorite troubleshooting tricks
For File Explorer, the brand new AI Actions instrument allows you to ask Copilot to research or summarize a file or edit a picture. To do that, simply choose the file and press Shift+F10, or right-click the file and select Ask Copilot from the menu. That brings you to the Copilot app, the place you possibly can request assist with the chosen file.
With JPG and PNG information, you are capable of ask Copilot to go looking the online for details about the picture. It’s also possible to blur the background or erase objects through the Pictures app and take away the background by the Paint app. The AI Actions additionally prolong to Microsoft 365. Right here, you possibly can ask for AI-based summaries of paperwork, spreadsheets, and different information saved in OneDrive and SharePoint.
Subsequent up is the enhancement to the Notification Heart. Now you can transfer the {hardware} indicators for brightness, quantity, airplane mode, and digital desktops to completely different positions in your display. To do that, head to Settings, choose System, after which click on Notifications. Go to the part for “Indicators from keyboard actions” and click on the place button. You possibly can then swap the place amongst backside heart, high left, and high heart.
Additionally: This free tool installs Windows 11 on unsupported PCs – without any bloatware
With the Home windows Share instrument, you are now ready so as to add your favourite apps to the menu. Which means you possibly can rapidly share a file or different merchandise with a selected app.
The Click on to Do function now has extra tags that will help you run particular duties and actions. Additional, the Summarize Motion command now delivers extra concise and centered summaries of the merchandise you choose.
Different Home windows 11 options which have been enhanced embrace the Taskbar, Narrator, passkeys, and AI brokers for Copilot+ PCs.
Learn how to replace
To replace your Home windows 10 PC, head to Settings, choose Replace & Safety, after which click on the button to examine for updates. The Tuesday updates will then be downloaded and put in.
Additionally: Don’t want to upgrade to Windows 11? You don’t have to, but here’s what you should know
To replace your Home windows 11 PC, go to Settings and choose Home windows Replace. For the reason that October replace is necessary, it ought to routinely obtain and set up. If not, simply click on the button to examine for updates to kick off the method.
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