Quote:Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 2019 reach end of support on October 14, 2025. That is the last day of support, which means that Microsoft won't release security updates or any other type of update for the applications anymore. Technical support, furthermore, is also ending on that day.

Office customers won't get an option to extend support by paying Microsoft, as Microsoft made it clear that it won't offer extended security updates (ESU).

The Office apps will continue to work after the day, but security issues won't be patched anymore. Microsoft warns that running unsupported software could lead to "harmful security risks". The company suggests that customers upgrade to a newer version of Office to remain supported.

Home customers have two options in this regard:

• Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2024, which is available as a one-time purchase.
  • Office Home 2024 is available for 150 US-Dollar.
    
  • Office Home & Business 2024 is available for 256 US-Dollar.
    
• Subscribe to Microsoft 365, which requires an active subscription and monthly or yearly payments.
  

A third option is provided by 0Patch, an independent service by ACROS Security that creates micro-patches for Microsoft products such as Windows or Office. The company will support Office 2016 and 2019 after Microsoft ends support. The service costs about 30 US-Dollar per year and may be the most cost-effective option to keep Office secured after October 2025.

Windows 10 users may benefit from this especially, as support for Windows 10 is also included in the subscription.

Users may also check out the open source alternative LibreOffice. While it lacks some of the advanced features of Microsoft Office, most regular users may not notice the limitations, especially if they do light editing only.

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Quote:Intel is open sourcing its platform for generative AI

Works only for Intel hardware.



Yesterday, AMD announced an important update for its generative AI acceleration. In collaboration with Tensorstack and Stability.AI, they developed optimized AI models for their Radeon RX 9070 and Ryzen AI (MAX) series. Generative AI acceleration on consumer hardware is gaining a lot of attention right now, and there’s also a new update from Intel.

Intel was one of the first GPU vendors to develop its own tools for generative AI. Their AI Playground is designed for Arc GPUs, including integrated variants (Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake, and Arrow Lake). The AI Playground is much more than just an image generation tool. Intel refers to it as an “AI HUB” because it can also support chat LLMs. Many believe that this is one of the best and easiest-to-use tools for generative AI, but the problem is that it only supports Intel hardware.

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Quote:Microsoft announced the deprecation of the security feature VBS Enclaves today for earlier versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server. Based on VBS, Virtualized-Based Security, VBS Enclaves were formally introduced by Microsoft in Windows Server 2019. Microsoft improved the feature ever since, for instance by opening it up for third-party apps last year.

The deprecation announcement offers no explanation why the feature is being removed from older versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server.

The details:

• VBS Enclaves continue to be supported in Windows 11, version 24H2 and later, or Windows Server 2025 and later.
  
• The feature is deprecated on Windows 11, version 23H2 and earlier, and Windows Server 2022 and earlier.
  

Note: This has nothing to do with VBScript, which Microsoft deprecated in 2023.

VBS Enclaves explained

VBS Enclaves provide isolated, secure environments for sensitive data on Windows systems. Only a few Microsoft and Windows-specific programs are confirmed to use the feature at the time of writing. Besides Microsoft Azure SQL Database, it is Windows 11's Recall feature and Credential Guard that are making use of it as well.

One advantage of VBS Enclaves is that they do not have hardware dependencies. As long as the VBS Enclaves feature is enabled on a supported Windows PC, it should work fine.

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Quote:Microsoft will support Classic Outlook for Windows until 2029, but that doesn't necessarily seem like the app gets priority. The classic version of the mail client has had a bug that users have been complaining about for nearly a year.

Microsoft has finally acknowledged the problem, outlining it as a high CPU usage issue. The bug in question causes the CPU to spike up by 30 or 50% when a user types an email in the Classic Outlook app. The company noted that users can observe this behavior if the Task Manager is open.

According to a support page spotted by Beta News, this bug exists in Windows 11 Version 2406 Build 17726.20126 and above. It affects users on all channels, including the Current, Monthly, Enterprise release channels, and even those in the Windows Insider Program. Microsoft released Windows 11 v2406 in June 2024.

While Microsoft stated that the Outlook Team is investigating this issue, it has not provided an explanation for the problem. Users are puzzled at what could be causing the performance issue? This is rather concerning given that CPU usage spikes also increase the power consumption of the computer.

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AhnLab Launches Proprietary AI Platform 'AhnLab AI PLUS'






AhnLab AI PLUS applies generative AI and large language model (LLM) technologies to further advance traditional machine learning and deep learning-based detection capabilities. 
AhnLab began applying ‘AhnLab AI PLUS’ by integrating the AI security assistant ‘Annie’ into the SaaS-based ‘AhnLab XDR’ platform. Starting with this, the company plans to expand AI functionalities across various products and services. 

In the future, AhnLab aims to implement Agentic AI-based autonomous security operations, where AI can independently perceive, analyze, and respond to situations.


Enhanced Intelligent Threat Detection and Analysis with Generative AI and LLMs

‘AhnLab AI PLUS’ applies generative AI and large language model (LLM) technologies to further advance traditional machine learning and deep learning-based detection capabilities. It analyzes various types of unstructured data such as files, URLs, behavioral data, and phishing messages to deeply understand the root causes of threats and attack techniques, and provides detection results along with actionable response guides. This enables security personnel to better understand security events intuitively and identify threats more quickly. The accuracy and speed of response improve, allowing for more efficient handling of various threat situations.

• Enhanced intelligent threat detection and analysis based on generative AI and LLM 
  
  
• Expansion of AI-driven operations across various products and services 
  
  
• Provision of advanced AI services and security assurance through learning systems based on self-collected data.
  

Quote:Malwarebytes 5.2.11.183 component package 131.0.5227

Offline: https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb5_offline
Online: https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb5-windows
Features and improvements

• Added location info in VPN connection notification.
  
• Introduced a new setting to disable the “What’s New” notification.
  
• Refined Dashboard layout for free users.
  

Issues fixed

• Fixed an issue where the first VPN connection rule added was not persisted and was lost after restarting the product.
  
• Fixed minor localization issues.
  

Quote:AMUSE 3.0 released, optimized for RDNA3.5 and RDNA4

AMD and TensorStack have updated AMUSE software to support more hardware and new AMD-optimized AI models from Stability.AI.



The generative AI market has experienced significant growth over the past three years. Most advanced models that can generate high-quality images and videos require powerful graphics cards with plenty of RAM. However, a lot has changed, and now it’s possible to use smaller models even on Ryzen APUs.

AMUSE 3.0 comes with several updates, which require both a special driver from AMD and AI models released by Stability.AI. This is not a simple download-and-play setup but requires some preparation, such as verifying hardware compatibility. You’ll also need a special driver from AMD.

Once you have these, it’s time to download AMUSE 3.0 from here and AI models from here. These models introduce 1.4x to 3.3x speed update (courtesy of Stability.AI). Keep in mind the table header incorrectly says 32 GB for RX 9070 XT.

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Quote:Traditionally, Google has maintained a large number of country-code domains such as google.de or google.co.jp to better distinguish between American-English Google users and users who wanted localized search results.

Soon, users from all over the world won't be able to access any other Google Search domain than google.com. Attempts to load any of the country-code Google domains result in a redirection to the main google.com website.

Google announced the change this week on its The Keyword blog. The company says that its "ability to provide a local experience has improved" over the years and that it has become this good, that "country-level domains are no longer necessary".

The details:

• The change will roll out gradually over the course of months.
  
• Some users may be prompted to re-enter some of their search preferences when they are redirected.
  
• The change won't affect "the way Search works".
  

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Quote:Earlier this year, Google released a security feature known as Identity Check, which adds an extra layer of security for accessing devices outside trusted locations. Currently, this feature is exclusively available on select Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices.

Android Central reports that this could change soon, as Identity Check has been spotted on a OnePlus 13. This suggests that Google may soon extend the security feature to more smartphones equipped with Android 16.

Identity Check can be managed from the Settings > Google > Theft Protection menu post-update, it requires users to authenticate the option via the phone's fingerprint reader or facial recognition. Users cannot use a PIN or a password to access sensitive areas of their devices when they are not connected to a known location, that's because the feature is designed to protect user data in the event of theft or loss of the device. This innovative feature aims to thwart unauthorized access to user accounts, particularly Google accounts, even if a malicious party is aware of the user’s credentials. It is quite similar to Apple's own Stolen Device Protection.

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