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Articles · 25

Microsoft Halts July 2026 Windows 11 Update Rollout on Select Dell Machines
Microsoft has suspended the July 2026 Windows 11 Patch Tuesday update on certain Dell models after it triggered unexpected shutdowns, sluggish performance, higher heat and fast battery drain. The flaw traces to an Intel driver clashing with a new USB-C Connection Manager interface; exact affected machines remain undisclosed while a fix is prepared.

Microsoft to cut 605 jobs in Redmond
Microsoft has filed notice to permanently lay off 605 workers at its Redmond headquarters effective September 4, 2026. Axios notes 493 Redmond + other WA sites for the 605 total. The cuts are part of a sweeping Xbox gaming division restructure inside a global plan targeting approximately 3,200 roles in FY2027.

Critical RCE Flaw in Windows GDI+ Carries 9.6 CVSS Score
Microsoft disclosed CVE-2026-50380, a critical heap-based buffer overflow in Windows GDI+ that enables remote code execution over a network with a 9.6 CVSS score. The flaw affects numerous Windows 10 and 11 releases and is being patched as part of the July 2026 Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft Secure Boot bypassed for 13 years via unrevoked shims
ESET researchers found that 11 defective Microsoft-signed shims allowed trivial bypasses of UEFI Secure Boot for 13 years until revocation in the June 2026 Patch Tuesday update. The flaw affects Windows and Linux devices alike and enables persistent bootkit installation with minimal attacker effort.

Microsoft tells Windows 10 holdouts they can keep using their PCs until 2027
Microsoft is now emailing Windows 10 users about the consumer Extended Security Updates extension to October 2027 while making no reference to Windows 11. The outreach recognizes ongoing hardware cost barriers and stalled adoption rates that still leave millions on the older platform.

Microsoft to expand Patch Tuesday security releases with AI
Microsoft is expanding the number of fixes delivered in each Patch Tuesday release for Windows 11 by using AI to surface potential security issues earlier. The adjustment comes amid rising AI-assisted vulnerability hunting and exploitation by both attackers and security researchers.

Microsoft patches Nightmare Eclipse's RoguePlanet Defender zero-day
Microsoft has fixed the RoguePlanet zero-day in Defender via an update to the Malware Protection Engine. The patch closes the latest vulnerability publicly disclosed by researcher Nightmare Eclipse, who has sparred with the company over its handling of bug reports all year.

CVE-2026-58525 Reserved by Microsoft, Details Under Embargo
NIST lists CVE-2026-58525 as reserved by Microsoft with details withheld until the embargo ends. The placeholder NVD entry directs to an MSRC link while providing no severity, affected products, or technical description.

id Software reportedly cut in half amid Xbox layoffs
id Software has laid off roughly 50 percent of its staff, or about 95 employees, as part of Microsoft's Xbox layoffs. The reductions hit on the day of a major Doom expansion release and come as ZeniMax shifts focus to its biggest franchises, raising concerns about future game quality and release timelines.

Microsoft accelerates Quantum Safe Program to 2029
Microsoft has moved its Quantum Safe Program target to 2029 because cryptographically relevant quantum computers could arrive sooner than previously expected. The update underscores the need for organizations to begin preparing now against harvest-now-decrypt-later attacks and future quantum decryption threats.

Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs as new financial year starts
Microsoft eliminated approximately 4,800 roles on the first day of its new financial year, with the largest share coming from Xbox and commercial sales. The company cited industry-wide changes driven by AI, while noting that it has redeployed thousands of workers and used a voluntary retirement program to limit forced layoffs.

Microsoft assigns 6,000 workers and $2.5 billion to new AI client deployment subsidiary
Microsoft is committing $2.5 billion and reassigning 6,000 employees to its new Microsoft Frontier Co. subsidiary to help clients deploy artificial intelligence. The announcement follows similar forward deployed engineering initiatives launched this year by Amazon, Anthropic and OpenAI.

CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of SharePoint RCE Flaw
CISA warned Wednesday that attackers are exploiting CVE-2026-45659, a SharePoint RCE flaw patched by Microsoft in May, and added it to its KEV catalog on July 1 with a July 4 deadline for federal agencies. The deserialization vulnerability lets low-privileged authenticated users execute code remotely over the network, and more than 10,000 SharePoint servers remain exposed online.

Xbox employees test disc-to-digital conversion feature
Microsoft is reportedly testing a disc-to-digital feature that would convert physical Xbox One and Series X games into digital entitlements tied to the specific disc. The capability could become critical if the company's next-generation console launches without a disc drive.

Cloudflare to block mixed-purpose bots from ad-supported sites by default
Cloudflare will block mixed-use crawlers from ad-supported pages by default beginning September 15, 2026, aiming to protect publisher revenue from unpermitted AI training scrapes while still allowing search indexing. The policy affects bots from Apple, Google, and Microsoft that combine indexing with data harvesting and encourages clearer separation of those activities.

Microsoft pulls forward quantum-safe encryption deadline to 2029
Microsoft is accelerating its quantum-safe security roadmap to transition critical products and services to post-quantum cryptography by 2029. The move reflects advances in quantum computing that have shifted the risk horizon for "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks sooner than previously expected.

Xbox reportedly mulls shuttering at least five studios and axing Blade
Microsoft is preparing Xbox layoffs next week that could close at least five studios, including the team behind Marvel’s Blade, and scrap the troubled project as part of cost reductions. The changes belong to a larger reset under new CEO Asha Sharma while the division contends with slipped schedules, overspending, and an unsustainable operation.

Oblivion Remastered arrives on Switch 2 August 11
Bethesda has confirmed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on August 11 with a trailer highlighting the Adoring Fan. The news comes as the remaster has already reached 9 million players on other platforms while Microsoft weighs major changes at Xbox.

CISA Adds BlueHammer to KEV Catalog Over Ransomware Exploitation
CISA confirmed ransomware gangs are exploiting the BlueHammer Microsoft Defender privilege escalation vulnerability, CVE-2026-33825, previously abused in zero-day attacks. The KEV Catalog update highlights continued danger to federal networks and the urgency of patching.

Undead Labs Reportedly Facing Possible Shutdown
Overnight reports indicate Microsoft is seeking a buyer for Undead Labs, with its zombie survival title at risk of cancellation if none is found. The move is part of broader layoffs threatening hundreds of jobs across Xbox gaming studios including Double Fine, Compulsion, and Ninja Theory.

Anthropic Claude Models Now Run on NVIDIA GB300 in Azure
Anthropic’s Claude models in Microsoft Foundry are now generally available on Microsoft Azure running on NVIDIA GB300 Blackwell Ultra GPUs. This gives Azure-native enterprises a new platform for building autonomous and domain-specific AI agents with enhanced performance and governed security.

Italy launches probe into Microsoft 365 price increases linked to AI
Italy's AGCM is investigating Microsoft over claims that fragmented notices left Microsoft 365 subscribers automatically moved to costlier plans once Copilot and Designer features were added without clear explanation of the changes.

Microsoft extends free Windows 10 security updates to 2027
Microsoft has extended free Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for personal devices by one year to October 12, 2027. The move gives users more time to transition amid hardware shortages and draws mixed reactions from consumer groups who say it comes too late.

Oracle's workforce shrinks by 21,000 amid AI-driven restructuring
Oracle reduced its global headcount by 21,000 to approximately 141,000 as of May 31, 2026, citing AI adoption among the factors. The job cuts freed resources for data-center construction serving clients including OpenAI and mirror similar workforce reductions at Microsoft and Meta.

Microsoft, Chevron and Engine No. 1 Reach Exclusivity Agreement on Power Supply
Microsoft, Chevron and Engine No. 1 entered an exclusivity agreement for power generation to supply AI data centers. The pact targets a proposed $7 billion natural gas-fired plant in West Texas capable of 2,500 megawatts with targeted startup in 2027.
From the feed · 60
102.4 Tbps Spectrum-6 Ethernet switches are now in production at gigascale AI factories. • CoreWeave • Microsoft • Nebius • SpaceX • Tesla
Microsoft and Mistral are expanding their partnership to deliver controllable frontier AI models aimed at enterprises and regulated industries. The move focuses on data sovereignty and compliance features for sensitive deployments.
Microsoft's $900 Surface Laptop reportedly freezes on basic tasks under Windows 11, strained by AI RAM demands and OS bloat.
Microsoft 365's default 90-day MFA reauthentication window is giving way to Conditional Access sign-in frequency policies. The old "remember MFA on trusted devices" setting relies on a fixed trust period that no longer aligns with dynamic risk signals.
Microsoft published manual mitigations for WSUS servers experiencing sync delays and timeouts during Windows Update scans. The steps address a known issue that causes scans to fail for affected administrators.
Id Software laid off 136 people, more than half its workforce, as Microsoft cuts 1,600 roles with another 1,600 Xbox positions still at risk.
Microsoft targeted 77 million Game Pass subscribers. Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown says the service failed to attract enough users to be viable.
Protesters derailed a PNW Climate Week closing event by confronting Microsoft CSO Melanie Nakagawa over data center energy use tied to AI expansion. The fireside chat with a GeekWire reporter was halted as concerns about carbon goals were raised.
The Document Foundation says OOXML's ISO certification does not ensure consistent rendering outside Microsoft Office. Only the company's own apps can be trusted with the files.
Microsoft's 3,200 layoffs reached id Software, where director Hugo Martin claimed the studio avoided major cuts. Current and former employees are now disputing that assessment.
Appointments set for 2050 are hiding commands for the HOLLOWGRAPH malware campaign inside Microsoft 365 calendars. The operators use Redmond's own cloud sync to retrieve instructions and exfiltrate data.
Microsoft is expanding Azure's AI and HPC infrastructure with additional AMD hardware. The update adds more AMD-based instances for large-scale training and simulation workloads.
AMD's first rack-scale AI system, Helios, now counts four hyperscale buyers. • Microsoft • Meta • OpenAI • Oracle
AMD and Microsoft expanded their partnership to deliver a full stack of AMD AI solutions for Azure, spanning GPUs, CPUs, networking, and software. Microsoft will deploy AMD Helios for frontier model inference.
Microsoft is addressing WSUS server sync delays and timeouts that have persisted for more than a week. The company confirmed it is working on a fix for the known issue.
Microsoft is overhauling File Explorer search in Windows 11 to fix its long-standing performance issues. The update targets the feature's slowest areas after years of user avoidance.
Microsoft shipped KB5121767 as an out-of-band fix after the July Windows 11 updates triggered shutdowns on some Dell systems. The patch targets the regression without requiring a full monthly cycle.
Microsoft is seeing a surge in ACR Stealer malware campaigns aimed at enterprise customers, harvesting browser passwords, auth tokens, and documents.
Todd Howard called Microsoft's Xbox cuts "very difficult for our teams." The Bethesda head noted the impact on staff after recent layoffs and project shifts.
Microsoft ends OneDrive support for Windows 10 versions before 22H2 next month. Version 22H2 keeps access through 2028.
Microsoft Security will present supply chain research and AI trust sessions at Black Hat USA 2026, including hands-on labs and an evening reception.
8GB of RAM is now the base spec on Microsoft's $950 Surface Laptop 13-inch. Windows 11 still struggles with it.
Valve's Steam Machine review calls the hardware a compromised console that shines with indie games yet leaves Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo in control of living-room play.
Microsoft restored a 25-year-old account to a Dutch streamer after a hack, following sustained player pressure. The incident highlights how little ownership players retain over decades-old digital libraries.
Microsoft disclosed CVE-2026-58598, a high-severity race condition in the Windows Backup Engine. An authorized local attacker can exploit it to elevate privileges on multiple Windows 10 and Windows 11 releases. The flaw carries a CVSS score of 7.0. No patches appear in the July 16 NVD record.
From late April to mid-June 2026, Microsoft Defender Experts tracked increased ACR Stealer activity. Campaigns used ClickFix lures to pull browser credentials, authentication tokens, and enterprise documents.
Nadella told staff that Anthropic's Fable restrictions "doesn't make sense," even as Microsoft continues work on private-data model refinements.
US and Canadian video game unions filed charges with the NLRB accusing Microsoft of bad faith bargaining over Xbox. The complaints center on contract talks with affected workers.
Microsoft open sourced Comic Chat, the 1990s IRC client that rendered conversations as comic strips. The code is available on GitHub.
Microsoft's Secure Boot contained a flaw that left it open to bypass for roughly a decade. Affected systems need current firmware and OS updates.
Microsoft says id Tech remains safe after the id Software layoffs. Former staffers say the cuts removed everyone who could maintain the engine.
Microsoft announced that Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro editions will stop receiving updates in 90 days. Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016 faces the same cutoff.
Microsoft explained why Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 was pulled from the upcoming Xbox Game Pass schedule. The title was set to arrive but no longer appears on the list.
Microsoft deleted a 25-year-old account after it was hacked, removing the owner's OneDrive files, digital games, and his son's baby pictures rather than restoring access.
A Windows zero-day exploit called HiveLegacy reportedly dropped the same day Microsoft released a record number of patches. The flaw is described as a powerful primitive with potential for further abuse.
Microsoft 365 apps are affected by CVE-2026-55898, a high-severity vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.1. An out-of-bounds read in Excel allows local information disclosure by an unauthorized attacker.
Microsoft canceled this month's Patch Tuesday for some Dell users after devices began shutting down unexpectedly and overheating. Affected models have not been named.
Microsoft Windows DNS carries CVE-2026-50465, a CVSS 7.1 flaw that lets an authorized local attacker tamper with data.
Microsoft fixed more security vulnerabilities in Windows 11 this month than in any previous month. The push comes as attackers increasingly use AI to find flaws.
Microsoft Excel contains a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability, CVE-2026-50675, with a CVSS score of 7.8 that allows local code execution.
Microsoft's Universal Disk Format File System driver contains an elevation of privilege vulnerability, CVE-2026-49790, rated 7.3 on CVSS.
Microsoft's Windows App Store contains a use of uninitialized resource vulnerability, CVE-2026-49165, rated CVSS 7.1 and allowing local information disclosure.
Microsoft Office SharePoint contains a critical deserialization flaw, CVE-2026-58644, that lets an unauthenticated attacker run code over the network.
Microsoft Copilot has a critical command injection flaw, CVE-2026-48561, that lets an attacker execute code over the network.
Microsoft rolled out its July Patch Tuesday update for Windows 11, adding the option to pause updates for up to 35 days at a time with repeated extensions.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence tracked ShinyHunters-linked activity abusing OAuth in SaaS apps through vishing, supply-chain compromises, and misconfigured guest access.
Satya Nadella warned companies to lock down their IP against frontier AI labs. The Microsoft chief's comments highlight a sharper stance toward the labs Redmond once funded heavily.
Microsoft is updating the Windows Search Box for Insiders with less clutter and added controls for faster, more relevant results.
Microsoft is applying AI to spot Windows vulnerabilities for future security updates. Only the highest-confidence results reach engineers, with humans still handling decisions and fixes.
Microsoft AI is powering a lifelike avatar of Theodore Roosevelt at the new presidential library in Medora, North Dakota. Visitors can ask the avatar questions about his life, leadership and legacy.
Xbox users can now claim 32 packs of Black Ops 2 DLC for free on the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft reportedly never canceled the Ryse series. Work on it simply stopped.
Microsoft's Copilot now flags processes that might be slowing down a PC. The feature itself takes up a noticeable chunk of system RAM.
Microsoft lost a lawsuit to an Xbox gamer and must restore the account and digital library while paying roughly $400 in damages.
Microsoft Edge contains an untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-58596 with a CVSS score of 8.3. The flaw lets an attacker elevate privileges over a network.
Microsoft Edge contains a high-severity deserialization flaw, CVE-2026-58281 with CVSS 8.3, that lets an attacker run code over the network.
Microsoft's climate-warming emissions surged 25 percent, driven by its AI infrastructure buildout.
Samsung Gallery will stop syncing with Microsoft OneDrive in September 2026. Users will need another backup option before then.
A Brazilian Xbox gamer won a lawsuit against Microsoft, forcing the company to unlock their account and restore access to a blocked digital library.
Microsoft communications lead Frank X. Shaw called reports linking H-1B visas to the Xbox layoffs bad information. He said those workers represent a small percent of staff and are not specific to the division.