It’s fair to say that there are many people in our community who just love to dunk on Microsoft Windows. It’s an easy win, after all, the dominant player in the PC operating system market has a long history of dunking on free software, and let’s face it, today’s Windows doesn’t offer a good experience. But what might the future hold? [Mason] has an unexpected prediction: that Microsoft will eventually move towards offering a Windows-themed Linux distro instead of a descendant of today’s Windows.

The very idea is sure to cause mirth, but on a little sober reflection, it’s not such a crazy one. Windows 11 is slow and unfriendly, and increasingly it’s losing the position once enjoyed by its ancestors. The desktop (or laptop) PC is no longer the default computing experience, and what to do about that must be a big headache for the Redmond company. Even gaming, once a stronghold for Windows, is being lost to competitors such as Valve’s Steam OS, so it wouldn’t be outlandish for them to wonder whether the old embrace-and-extend strategy could be tried on the Linux desktop.

We do not possess a working crystal ball here at Hackaday, so we’ll hold off hailing a Microsoft desktop Linux. But we have to admit it’s not an impossible future, having seen Apple reinvent their OS in the past using BSD, and even Microsoft bring out a cloud Linux distro. If you can’t wait, you’ll have to make do with a Windows skin, WINE, and the .NET runtime on your current Linux box.

If you are using a Windows PC, your privacy and security are nothing short of a myth, and this incident proves it.

With Microsoft's long-term vision aiming for Windows to become an agentic OS, you may think about switching away. I don't blame you because it sounds like a horrible idea, and one that I believe will end in disaster—I have three reasons why.

This was another busy week for tech news, including more updates (and bugs) for Windows 11, cheaper plans for YouTube TV, Amazon bricking smart home hardware, and more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

Microsoft has announced the public preview of the Windows App Development CLI (winapp), a new open-source command-line tool designed to simplify Windows application development across multiple frameworks and toolchains. The tool is now available on GitHub for developers working outside traditional Visual Studio or MSBuild environments. The winapp CLI targets developers using cross-platform frameworks including […]

The post Microsoft Open-Sources winapp, a New CLI Tool for Streamlined Windows App Development appeared first on GBHackers Security | #1 Globally Trusted Cyber Security News Platform.

Jeffrey Snover, the driving force behind PowerShell, has retired after a career that reshaped Windows administration. The Register reports: Snover's retirement comes after a brief sojourn at Google as a Distinguished Engineer, following a lengthy stint at Microsoft, during which he pulled the company back from imposing a graphical user interface (GUI) on administrators who really just wanted a command line from which to run their scripts. Snover joined Microsoft as the 20th century drew to a close. The company was all about its Windows operating system and user interface in those days -- great for end users, but not so good for administrators managing fleets of servers. Snover correctly predicted a shift to server datacenters, which would require automated management. A powerful shell... a PowerShell, if you will. [...] Over the years, Snover has dropped the occasional pearl of wisdom or shared memories from his time getting PowerShell off the ground. A recent favorite concerns the naming of Cmdlets and their original name in Monad: Function Units, or FUs. Snover wrote: "This abbreviation reflected the Unix smart-ass culture I was embracing at the time. Plus I was developing this in a hostile environment, and my sense of diplomacy was not yet fully operational." Snover doubtless has many more war stories to share. In the meantime, however, we wish him well. Many admins owe Snover thanks for persuading Microsoft that its GUI obsession did not translate to the datacenter, and for lengthy careers in gluing enterprise systems together with some scripted automation.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft’s new winapp CLI simplifies Windows app development with one-command setup, faster testing, and easier packaging.

The post Microsoft Launches winapp to Simplify Windows App Development appeared first on TechRepublic.

A sophisticated three-stage malware attack campaign against Windows users in South Korea using specially crafted LNK (shortcut) files. The attack begins with a deceptive LNK file named “실전 트레이딩 핵심 비법서.pdf.lnk” (translating to “Practical Trading Core Secret Book”), specifically crafted to target South Korean investors seeking financial guidance. This social engineering approach exploits users’ trust […]

The post Threat Actors Exploit LNK Files to Deploy MoonPeak Malware on Windows Systems appeared first on GBHackers Security | #1 Globally Trusted Cyber Security News Platform.

Microsoft’s new winapp CLI simplifies Windows app development with one-command setup, faster testing, and easier packaging.

The post Microsoft Launches winapp to Simplify Windows App Development appeared first on TechRepublic.

Let’s be clear, I could use any OS but, for some reason, I always use Windows. It can be a great operating system, but lots of times it feels like it’s working against me instead of for me. Between privacy and telemetry collection, the constant nudges toward Edge and Bing, and the AI features I never asked for, a fresh Windows install rarely feels clean. Add in the pile of preinstalled apps I’ll never use, and it often feels like I’m undoing Windows before I can even start using it.

Unlike traditional attacks that rely on exploits, this succeeds through social engineering combined with abuse of Windows' own security architecture.

The post Hackers Disable Windows Security With New Malware Attack appeared first on TechRepublic.

Good ideas can come from anywhere, so why not take UX inspiration from a video game? Well, if you're going to do it, it better be one of the best games created by certified geniuses, so what better choice than the still-legendary Quake?

Unlike traditional attacks that rely on exploits, this succeeds through social engineering combined with abuse of Windows' own security architecture.

The post Hackers Disable Windows Security With New Malware Attack appeared first on TechRepublic.

A sophisticated multi-stage malware campaign targeting Russian users, leveraging social engineering, legitimate cloud services, and native Windows functionality to achieve full system compromise without exploiting vulnerabilities. The campaign begins with deceptively crafted business-themed documents delivered via compressed archives. Victims receive Russian-language files that appear to be routine accounting tasks, but the archive contains a malicious […]

The post New Multi-Stage Windows Malware Disables Microsoft Defender, Deploys Malicious Payloads appeared first on GBHackers Security | #1 Globally Trusted Cyber Security News Platform.

Microsoft’s Xbox app is now available on Windows 11 ARM PCs, with over 85 % of Game Pass games supported natively.

The post Your ARM Windows laptop just became a gaming machine appeared first on Digital Trends.

Notepad was overhauled with a modern interface and new features alongside Windows 11, and Microsoft has continued updating it. Now, the text editor is getting even more Markdown editing features and a few other changes.

Microsoft has confirmed that its latest Windows updates, released on January 13, 2026, are causing several applications to freeze when accessing files stored on cloud services like OneDrive and Dropbox. This is just one in a series of critical bugs discovered in the recent patch.

Have you ever wondered if there was an easier way to install and update apps on your Windows 11 machine? One of the best tools for doing so is the Windows Package Manager (WinGet), which ships with the operating system itself.

Internet outages are incredibly disruptive in our modern world. We don’t realize just how much is actually connected until everything goes down. While massive outages are uncommon, they do happen—here are 10 of the worst.

Recently, some in the computer geek community have started referring to Microsoft and its products as "Microslop". Partly alluding to the company pushing its AI technology everywhere (i.e. AI "slop") and partly because of the perceived degradation of Windows and all other products from the formerly glorious software company in Redmond.