Windows 7 doubles its market share in two months; Sick of AI in Windows 11?… Here’s how to get rid of it; Microsoft is offering trade-in and recycling services for old PCs… and more!
Every day, we scan the tech world for interesting news, sometimes from outside the tech world. Every Thursday, we feature news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s ‘Thursday Newsbytes’ informative and interesting!
Please note that the tips, tricks, programs, and apps appearing in the articles below are not necessarily recommended by Cloudeight. Try at your own risk.
Windows 7 doubles its market share in two months
Against all odds, this decades-old Windows OS grew over 100% in just two months
Windows 10 will reach end-of-support in October this year, meaning users will no longer be able to install the latest security updates from Microsoft. This has prompted many to finally switch to Windows 11, something that StatCounter’s OS market share data from the last few months corroborates.
The spike in Windows 11’s market share is primarily due to the purchase of new PCs and, of course, people upgrading from Windows 10. While users ditching Windows 10 in favor of Windows 11 is good news for Microsoft, though some are switching to Linux, the software giant may have reason to worry about rising usage of one of its decades-old OS: Windows 7.
Windows 7 is growing in popularity once again, StatCounter data shows
According to StatCounter data, Windows 11 surpassed the market share of Windows 10 worldwide in July this year. As of September, its usage share stands at 50.74% as against 43.09% in the case of Windows 10…
Sick of AI in your Windows 11 PC? Here’s how to get rid of it
Microsoft wants to put AI everywhere on your PC, but you can take back control.
Microsoft is flooding every inch of Windows 11 with AI features… and if you’re like me, you aren’t thrilled about it. I’d rather choose the AI tools I want to use instead of Microsoft shoving them into my PC unprompted.
The good news is, you can turn off the AI features in Windows 11. The bad news is, they’re scattered across various option pages. It’s a bit like disabling all the ads in Windows—you have to hunt down the settings, but it’s possible. I’ll show you where to find them.
Replace your PC’s Copilot key
Most new laptops now come with a Copilot key on the keyboard. Yet while you can’t change the logo that’s printed on your PC’s keycap, you can change what happens when you press the key.
If your PC has a Copilot key, you can head to Settings > Personalization > Text input to configure it. Click the “Customize Copilot key on your keyboard” option. For an AI-free experience, select “Search.” The key will then open the search experience in the Start menu…
Microsoft aims to reduce e-waste while promoting Windows 11 upgrades and Copilot+ PC sales.
In less than a month, Windows 10 will hit its end-of-support date, slated for October 14, 2025. However, the move has received backlash from users, who’ve blatantly expressed their reservations about upgrading to Windows 11. Some have attributed the reluctance to Microsoft’s strict minimum hardware requirements for the operating system and flawed design elements.
The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) petitioned Microsoft’s decision to kill support for Windows 10, indicating that it will lead to the single biggest jump in junked computers ever.
While it might be considered a last-minute snooze button that only postpones the problem for 12 months, Microsoft is providing an extra year of support for Windows 10 users who can’t upgrade to Windows 11 through its Extended Security Updates (ESU) program…
Back Market, the popular marketplace for refurbished gadgets, has decided to take a stand against the end of Windows 10.
If you missed the memo, starting from October 14, 2025 onwards, Microsoft will no longer issue free software updates to fix vulnerabilities, bugs, and critical glitches within its desktop operating system. Without these, Microsoft has warned anyone who continues to use Windows 10 will be left “at greater risk for viruses and malware”. Once a flaw in the operating system has been uncovered, hackers can continue to exploit the vulnerability in millions of PCs with no fear that Microsoft will issue a fix.
Beyond these troubling security concerns, compatibility issues will mount. Microsoft recently extended support for its own 365 applications, like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but these apps had been due to lose support next month too. If you’re reliant on a third-party developer to maintain support on a very specific Windows application, you might find resources are moved elsewhere.
If you’re still using Windows 10, there are a few things you can do. First up, you can follow Microsoft’s advice and make this your “year of Windows 11 PC refresh” and buy a new laptop or desktop PC. Or, you could upgrade to Windows 11 on your existing devices.
However, that might come with some issues. Since the launch of Windows 11 four years ago, the minimum system requirements have proven to be a source of controversy due to the strict demands that many older computers, perfectly capable of running Windows 10, simply cannot meet.
According to Back Market, which was founded in Paris, almost 400 million working laptops will become obsolete due to a business strategy referred to as “planned obsolescence”. That’s 160 million more than an earlier estimate about the impact of Windows 10 being put out to pasture…
Scammers Are Now Driving Around With Fake Cell Towers That Blast 100,000 Texts Per Hour
These “SMS blasters” can trick your phone into connecting to them, bombarding anyone in the vicinity with scam texts.
Leave it to phone scammers to innovate new ways to be as annoying — and scummy — as humanly possible.
These cybercriminals are no longer content with just sending you the odd phishing text or two. As Wired reports, more and more of them are using so-called “SMS blasters” that basically act as a portable cell tower, tricking your phones into connecting with them as they cruise by. The scammers walk or drive around with the devices, firing out a ludicrous volume of SMS messages that contain dangerous links.
And we do mean ludicrous. Last year, Thai police reported that one device was capable of sending 100,000 texts per hour. In its short period of operation, police said, it unleashed nearly one million messages.
This isn’t new tech. But it is “essentially the first time that we have seen large-scale use of mobile radio-transmitting devices by criminal groups,” Cathal Mc Daid, vice president of technology at telecommunication and cybersecurity firm Enea, told Wired.
And the scary thing? You don’t need any technical know-how to actually blast the texts. “This has been shown by reports of arrests of people who have been basically paid to drive around areas with SMS blasters in cars or vans,” Mc Daid added…
Thanks for reading this week’s Thursday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful.
