Microsoft

Xbox lays off 268 more people as Activision takes over Halo and Bethesda absorbs Obsidian

In a nutshell: The next round of Microsoft's previously announced layoffs includes major studio consolidations and possibly more closures. The Halo franchise just got its biggest shakeup in years as the Xbox manufacturer seeks to cut costs and the number of moving parts. Meanwhile, the fates of Ninja Theory and Arkane Lyon hang in the balance.

Internet Explorer is finally, truly dying, and Microsoft wants you ready by 2029

Putin's awkward online video shows him running an unactivated copy of Windows on a US-made Dell PC

Facepalm: Russia might have spent more than a decade trying to drop US technology in favor of home-grown alternatives, but it appears that even President Vladimir Putin is happy to use a Dell PC and Windows for a video showing him casting his vote. It also seems that the Kremlin didn't want to pay Microsoft $139 for an activation key (or $10 for that matter): Putin was using an unactivated copy of the OS, and looked about as comfortable using the computer as most 73-year-olds would.

Microsoft patent describes in-game advertising triggered by boss fights, loading screens, and cutscenes

Microsoft exec says AI training might be the "largest labor theft in human history"

Microsoft will reveal what's next for Windows and Surface next month, Nvidia RTX Spark included

Forward-looking: Microsoft will use an event in San Francisco next month to lay out its next moves in Windows and Surface, with local AI computing expected to take center stage. The October 7 presentation marks Microsoft's first major Windows-focused event in more than two years – its last one came in May 2024, when the company unveiled Copilot+ PCs and laid out a strategy built around AI-ready hardware.

Microsoft issues emergency Windows 11 patch to fix Remote Desktop and audio, but not AMD GPU crashes

Winners & losers: Microsoft has released an out-of-band update to repair the damage from September's Patch Tuesday. That release fixed nearly 1,000 vulnerabilities across Microsoft's products and broke a number of things along the way. The emergency patch fixes Remote Desktop failures, a virtualization bug, and part of an audio problem. Several of the most disruptive complaints remain unresolved, including AMD Radeon crashes and Explorer failing to load.

Microsoft warns that killing VBScript could break Windows activation for businesses

Hideo Kojima to part ways with Sony, will bring his new gaming projects to Xbox

Windows 11 can now reinstall itself from the cloud, no USB stick required

Switzerland is paying $11 million to stop using Outlook and Teams

Editor's take: Switzerland is joining a growing list of European countries that no longer want to do business with Microsoft and other US IT giants. The federal government has already begun ditching Microsoft's productivity tools in favor of open-source alternatives, and the country's military authorities are moving even faster with the transition.

Windows users are getting Harry Potter ads as their Bing Wallpaper, and they aren't happy

Microsoft promises faster Windows 11 boot times and better performance on 8GB PCs

A Microsoft engineer says "typing code is absolutely over," here's what he means

Microsoft unveils distraction-free Windows for developers, but anyone can replicate it

Xbox Cloud Gaming is getting monthly time limits, and you'll be able to pay for more

Microsoft Defender briefly decided Google Search was malware

Microsoft will soon enable memory integrity by default on eligible Windows 11 PCs

Windows may finally take no for an answer, adding a permanent opt-out for OneDrive backup nags

Xbox unveils disc-to-digital feature designed to digitize existing physical games

Windows NT 4.0 turns 30: when Microsoft brought the Windows 95 look to the enterprise

Microsoft confirms latest Windows 11 update is crashing games and rebooting PCs

Modern Warfare 4 beta includes a campaign mission, Switch 2 support, and background shader compilation

Sony still hasn't decided when the PlayStation 6 will launch

China pulls the plug on Windows 10 for government machines months ahead of schedule