Wednesday Newsbytes: Microsoft Extends Windows 10 Updates (for a price); IRS Warns About Pig-Butchering Scam; 6.9 Million 23andMe Users Hacked; Microsoft Bug Renames Printers… and more!
Wishing you and your family a very happy Holiday Season!
Every day we scan the tech world for interesting news in the world of technology and sometimes from outside the world of technology. Every Wednesday, we feature news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s ‘Wednesday Newsbytes’ informative and interesting!
Microsoft Extends Security Updates for Windows 10 Beyond 2025 (for a Price)
We don’t know how much it will cost yet, but this marks the first time Microsoft will offer extended security updates for individual users, not just corporate clients.
Microsoft will officially end support for Windows 10 on Oct. 14, 2025. But if you desperately need to keep using that older operating system rather than upgrading to Windows 11, you can pay to extend the expiration date, Microsoft announced today.
This Extended Security Update (ESU) program will be available to individuals as well as corporate clients for up to three years. In the past, this has only been an option for business installations. Windows watchers have been calling for such an option.
The announced program will be a boon to those who can’t upgrade to Windows 11 because they use older, less-secure hardware, including PCs with no TPM security chip or those using older CPUs. But it’s also good for Microsoft in at least two ways: as a push to move people to the newer OS version and as a revenue stream. The latter will likely be less significant than the money coming from corporations wanting to extend the life of the OS they use on hundreds or thousands of PCs.
How Much Will It Cost to Use Window 10 After 2025?The extended support will be available as a yearly subscription for up to three years, but Microsoft has not yet released pricing for individual PC users. It’s still almost two years away, so you have time to save up…
The IRS isn’t the only government agency to warn people about ‘pig-butchering’ scams
There seems to be more victims of online cryptocurrency-related scams. They are also known as “pig-butchering” scams due to the scammers’ activities being analogous to fattening the pig before slaughtering it. Most of these scammers operate in Southeast Asia. They are known to kidnap people and force them to participate in the scam.
The scammers follow a plan. They connect with a victim online. They find a hook to grab the victim’s attention, such as romantic affection, promises of an unusually large investment return, or both. After establishing trust, the scammers convince their victims to convert their money into cryptocurrency and then transfer the cryptocurrency into a fake investment app. The fake app would show the victims’ funds rising dramatically and the scammers would entice their victims to put in more money. When the victims try to withdraw, the scammers either force them to pay a nonexistent government exit tax or additional fees (further attempts to con money from the victim). At this point, the victims discover they have been scammed…
23andMe admits hackers accessed 6.9 million users’ DNA Relatives data
23andMe put a number to the millions of users affected by a recent data breach.
23andMe confirmed that a recent breach leaked data belonging to 6.9 million users. In an emailed statement to The Verge, company spokesperson Andy Kill says the breach affected around 5.5 million users who had DNA Relatives enabled, a feature that matches users with similar genetic makeups, while an additional 1.4 million people had their family tree profiles accessed.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and update to its blog post late on December 1st, 23andMe said a threat actor using a credential stuffing attack — logging in with account info obtained in other security breaches, usually due to password reuse — directly accessed 0.1 percent of user accounts, making up around 14,000 users. With access to those accounts, the attackers used the DNA Relatives feature, which matches people with other members they may share ancestry with, to access the additional information from millions of other profiles…
Microsoft upgrades Copilot with OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo and DALL-E 3
You’ll also be able to select a block of text and ask the bot to rewrite it.
The year’s coming to a close, but there’s still plenty of time for more AI news. Microsoft just announced its Copilot AI chatbot is integrating with OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4 Turbo, and the image generator DALL-E 3, among other upgrades. This should drastically improve the overall functionality of the service, just in time for its one-year anniversary/birthday. Wait, do AI chatbots have birthdays?
First up, there’s OpenAI’s latest and greatest large language model. GPT-4 Turbo integration will allow Copilot users to tackle complex tasks that would cause previous iterations of the software to sputter into madness. The last generation allowed for just 50 pages of text as a data input, while GPT-4 Turbo accepts up to 300 pages. The end result? More meaningful responses to queries. The integration is currently being tested by select users, with wider availability in the next few weeks.
There’s also integration with the newest DALL-E 3 Model. This chatbot generates higher quality images than ever before and, more importantly, with a greater regard for accuracy. In other words, the image should match the prompt more often than not…
Microsoft confirms Windows bug renames printers to HP LaserJet M101-M106
Microsoft has confirmed an issue causing the HP Smart app to automatically install on Windows systems after all printers are renamed to HP LaserJet M101-M106.
Customers have been reporting this issue since last week on the Microsoft community website and on online social networks.
According to these reports, the HP Smart App is automatically installed on some Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices via the Microsoft Store, even though users don’t own or use an HP printer or an HP computer.
While initially, some users thought that their systems had been compromised, Microsoft has now confirmed that this is a known issue affecting both client (Windows 10 1809 or later) and server (Windows Server 2012 or later) platforms.
According to Microsoft’s findings, devices without access to the Microsoft Store should be unaffected by this particular issue.
Additionally, all printers, regardless of their original manufacturer, are being relabeled as HP printers on impacted systems, with the possibility that the printer icons will also get changed…
Read the rest at Bleeping Computer.
Thanks for reading this week’s Wednesday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful. Merry Christmas! Darcy & TC
Hey Merry Christmas to you both….and all the best in health, joy and love in the New Year,
Richard
🧑🎄🎄Wishing you and your family all the blessings of the Christmas season!❄️🧑🎄
TC & Darcy