Security News

Microsoft says Windows 11 has now entered the broad deployment phase, making it available for everyone with an eligible device via Windows Update. "The upgrade offer to Windows 11 is entering its final phase of availability and is designated for broad deployment for eligible devices," the company said in a Windows Health dashboard status update.

Microsoft announced today that they would be releasing new Windows 11 features next month, including a preview of the long-awaited Android Apps on Windows 11 feature, a new windows sharing feature, taskbar improvements, and redesigned Notepad and Media Player apps. "Next month we're bringing new experiences to Windows that include a public preview of how you can use Android apps on Windows 11 through the Microsoft Store and our partnerships with Amazon and Intel, taskbar improvements with call mute and unmute, easier window sharing and bringing weather to the taskbar, plus the introduction of two new redesigned apps, Notepad and Media Player," Panay shared in a new blog post.

Microsoft has fixed a known issue affecting systems running Windows 11, version 21H2, where applications may have problems rendering colors correctly high dynamic range displays when using Win32 APIs. Microsoft has addressed the HDR color rendering bug with the release of Windows 11 KB5008353 cumulative update issued part of January 2022 monthly non-security "C" preview.

Microsoft has released the optional KB5008353 Preview cumulative update for Windows 11 with 39 fixes or improvements. This Windows 11 cumulative update is part of Microsoft's January 2022 monthly "C" update, allowing users to test upcoming fixes in the February 2022 Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft has released the optional KB5009596 Preview cumulative update for Windows 10 20H2, Windows 10 21H1, and Windows 10 21H2. This update includes fixes for reboots on domain controllers, L2TP VPN connection issues, and 25 other fixes or improvements. The KB5009596 cumulative update preview is part of Microsoft's January 2022 monthly "C" update, allowing admins to test upcoming fixes being released in the February 2022 Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft is testing a new hidden feature in the latest Windows 11 preview build that rejuvenates the user interface for Task Manager with a new design and modern appearance. Task Manager is one of the most commonly used built-in Windows apps, allowing users to see how much a process uses CPU and memory, terminate processes, manage auto-starting programs, or simply see what programs are running on a computer.

Microsoft has backpedaled its decision to forcefully redirect users from the Network Connections control panel to the Advanced Network Settings screen in Windows 11 preview builds. Microsoft has slowly begun to chip away at the old Control Panel interface for the past few years by redirecting users to similar settings found under the modern Settings feature.

McAfee has patched two high-severity vulnerabilities in a component of its McAfee Enterprise product that attackers can use to escalate privileges, including up to SYSTEM. According to McAfee's bulletin, the bugs are in versions prior to 5.7.5 of McAfee Agent, which is used in McAfee Endpoint Security, among other McAfee products. Cnf in a location used by McAfee Agent and thus potentially be able to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a Windows system that has the vulnerable McAfee Agent software installed.

McAfee has patched a security vulnerability discovered in the company's McAfee Agent software for Windows enabling attackers to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. McAfee Agent is a client-side component of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator that downloads and enforces endpoint policies and deploys antivirus signatures, upgrades, patches, and new products on enterprise endpoints.

Microsoft has started the forced rollout of Windows 10, version 21H2 to more devices approaching the end of service as part of a first machine learning training phase. Windows 10 21H2 is also rolling out to seekers on Windows 10 2004 or newer through a fast update experience similar to a monthly update.