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Winsage

April 14, 2025

Can’t securely login to your PC using facial recognition anymore? New Windows 11 update patch is likely to blame – if you can install the update at all

The April 2025 cumulative update for Windows 11, identified as KB5055523, has caused issues with the Windows Hello feature, particularly affecting users with privacy shutters on their webcams. Reports indicate that facial recognition no longer functions properly unless the privacy cover is removed. Users have suggested uninstalling the update as a workaround, while a potential solution involves disabling the RGB camera in Device Manager. Microsoft has acknowledged a separate issue related to Windows Hello affecting specific security features in Windows 11 Pro or enterprise editions. Additionally, users have reported installation failures with the April update, encountering error messages and stalling during the process. Other notable bugs include language inconsistencies, the uninstallation of the Copilot app, and a glitch in File Explorer's menu display.

AppWizard

April 14, 2025

’Minecraft’, Jesus Lead Box Office Resurgence

Rory McIlroy won The Masters, achieving his career Grand Slam. Paramount is experiencing a strong start to Q2, with Cooper Flagg helping Duke achieve an 8-year ratings high and the men's championship game attracting 18.1 million viewers. The Naked Gun debuted successfully at CinemaCon, and MI:8 is projected for a record opening. 60 Minutes is performing well despite political challenges, and MobLand garnered 8.8 million global viewers in its first week on Paramount+. WBD paid its top 5 executives over million in compensation in 2024, while its stock was down approximately 7%. The source of autism is expected to be discovered by September, according to RFK Jr. Cosmopolitan is launching a sports content outlet called Cosmo Sports, and OpenAI is offering free ChatGPT Plus to college students through May. Disney is discounting at Disney World this summer, likely due to the upcoming opening of Universal's Epic theme park. Director Don Mischer passed away at the age of 85.

AppWizard

April 13, 2025

WhatsApp users unable to send messages and connect to app amid online outage

A significant WhatsApp outage is affecting users in the UK and other countries, with a surge in complaints reported. Downdetector indicates that around 49% of users are unable to send messages, and 46% are experiencing issues with the app. The outage has escalated, with over 100 users in the UK reporting problems, up from six an hour earlier. Users from India and the United States have also reported disruptions, with over 3,000 complaints in India, primarily related to message-sending issues. Complaints have been voiced on social media from users in Canada, Brazil, and Singapore. Some users are also facing challenges with other Meta-owned platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This outage follows a previous incident earlier this year that affected at least 68,000 users.

Winsage

April 10, 2025

Pay Just $30 Once and Get Microsoft Office Office for Life

Around 60% of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are seeking affordable technology solutions, according to McKinsey. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows is currently available for .97, reduced from its regular price of 9. This lifetime license includes essential applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with no ongoing subscription fees. Office 2019 is compatible with Windows 10 and 11 and offers improved inking tools, advanced data analysis features in Excel, and new presentation capabilities in PowerPoint. The one-time purchase model eliminates monthly fees and hidden costs, providing long-term stability for users.

Tech Optimizer

April 8, 2025

PostgreSQL Merges Initial Support For NUMA Awareness

The PostgreSQL open-source database server is integrating IO_uring support for asynchronous I/O operations and AVX-512 acceleration for CRC32 computations, potentially improving performance by up to three times. It has also introduced initial support for Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) awareness, aimed at enhancing performance on multi-node and multi-socket servers. This feature is available in the PostgreSQL Git repository ahead of the PostgreSQL 18.0 release scheduled for September and can be enabled with the "--with-libnuma" configuration option, currently limited to Linux systems. Enhancements include pg_shmem_allocations_numa for shared memory allocation insights and pg_buffercache_numa for buffer information across NUMA nodes.

Tech Optimizer

April 8, 2025

Pools across the sea: how Hyperdrive speeds up access to databases and why we’re making it free

Cloudflare has made Hyperdrive available on the free plan of Cloudflare Workers, allowing developers to create high-performance global applications that connect to SQL databases. Hyperdrive simplifies database connectivity by using existing drivers and connection strings, reducing the need for extensive refactoring. It has been adopted by Cloudflare's engineering teams for various functions, demonstrating its effectiveness in addressing common challenges in application development. Hyperdrive significantly improves performance, with a benchmark showing latency reduction from 1200 ms to 500 ms when using Hyperdrive instead of a direct connection, and further to 320 ms with caching enabled. It employs transaction-mode connection pooling to efficiently manage database connections, minimizing overhead and ensuring optimal performance for serverless applications. Hyperdrive's architecture includes a split connection approach that reduces latency by conducting necessary round trips over shorter distances. It also features a regional pool strategy for selecting data centers based on the inferred location of the Worker, optimizing connection latency. The system includes a dual-layer caching strategy to enhance query performance and reduce load on the origin database. Developers can easily start using Hyperdrive by executing a simple command or using a dashboard to set up a sample Worker application with their existing Postgres database.

AppWizard

April 6, 2025

Minecraft movie spawns ‘annoying’ cinema trend that viewers claim ‘ruins’ the film

The film A Minecraft Movie, featuring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, is projected to earn around million domestically and million internationally during its opening weekend. It has sparked enthusiastic audience reactions, particularly during a scene involving a "chicken jockey," leading to collective chanting and applause in theaters. Some viewers have shared positive experiences on social media, while others criticize the disruptive nature of audience participation, expressing a desire for a return to traditional movie etiquette.

Winsage

April 5, 2025

I hope these 3 long-lost Microsoft Windows 8 features stay gone forever

Windows 8 introduced a new interface that replaced the traditional Start Menu with a full-screen tile layout, leading to negative user feedback due to its touchscreen optimization and disruption of productivity for desktop users. The tile interface featured constantly updating tiles that distracted users, while Metro apps had a restrictive design that complicated tasks like image editing. The Charms bar was criticized for unintentionally activating and interrupting workflows. Despite some improvements like Fast Startup, the overall reception was poor, prompting Microsoft to release Windows 8.1, which reintroduced the Start Button. The subsequent launch of Windows 10 received a much more favorable response, indicating a shift in Microsoft's strategy away from the controversial elements of Windows 8.

Winsage

April 5, 2025

Nvidia driver 572.83 is causing a black screen on Windows 11, Windows 10

Nvidia's driver version 572.83, released on March 18, is causing black screens during installation, after rebooting, and while gaming for users of Windows 11 and Windows 10. The update was intended to fix issues with RTX 5080 and 5090 graphics cards but has instead led to widespread reports of black screens, particularly affecting newer 50-series GPUs like the 5070 Ti, 5080, and 5090, as well as some 40-series and older 30-series cards. Users have reported needing to force reboot their systems due to the black screen issue. Additionally, there are isolated reports of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) linked to the nvlddmkm.sys file, and some users have experienced severe issues like random white lines on the screen and crashes of Windows 11. Speculation regarding the root cause includes potential DisplayPort handshake problems at high refresh rates, although this has not been conclusively proven. Users facing these issues are advised to revert to a previous stable driver version or try workarounds such as disabling G-Sync or lowering refresh rates.

AppWizard

April 4, 2025

A Minecraft Movie (Christian Movie Review)

A Minecraft Movie is a family adventure film that emphasizes creativity and features over 300 million copies sold of the Minecraft video game, making it the best-selling game of all time. The film includes human characters, diverging from the game's core appeal, and takes inspiration from Jumanji. The narrative improves once characters enter The Overworld, with Jason Momoa's performance being entertaining and Jack Black contributing three songs. However, the film lacks significant building moments, which are central to Minecraft's essence. Directed by Jared Hess, it maintains a lighthearted tone with mild profanity and some quasi-sexual humor. The film's central theme is about nurturing individual creativity and its positive impact on the world, with characters seeking to reignite their creative sparks in a vibrant world.