Oh Microsoft, you can't even FUD users into Windows 11 properly!

What's worse than (another) full-screen pop-up from Microsoft warning Windows 10 users that they should be planning for Windows 11's arrival? A pop-up that freezes and crashes as soon as it appears. It's not a good look for Microsoft and does little to instil confidence in Windows 10 users who refuse to upgrade despite the OS' impending end-of-support date.

Microsoft has been nagging Windows 10 users to move to Windows 11 for years. With the older operating system reaching its end-of-life date on October 14, 2025, the Redmond firm has been ramping up its efforts to get people to make the move, reviving an aggressive upgrade campaign in February and again in November.

Most people still using Windows 10 have little intention of upgrading until they absolutely have to, which means intrusive, full-screen pop-ups aren't something they want to see. Incredibly, Microsoft has managed to make its latest one even worse for some users.

www.techspot.com

Reading for today: seeing through the light of Christ

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; 

not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

By C.S. Lewis

From The Weight of Glory

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) - there's no such thing as a safe backdoor!

In the wake of the Salt Typhoon hacks, which lawmakers and privacy advocates alike have called the worst telecoms breach in America's history, the US government agencies have reversed course on encryption.

After decades of advocating against using this type of secure messaging, "encryption is your friend," Jeff Greene, CISA's executive assistant director for cybersecurity, told journalists last month at a press briefing with a senior FBI official, who also advised us to use "responsibly managed encryption" for phone calls and text messages.

Just this week, CISA published formal guidance on how to keep Chinese government spies off mobile devices, and "strongly urged" politicians and senior government officials — these are "highly targeted" individuals that are "likely to possess information of interest to these threat actors" — to ditch regular phone calls and messaging apps and instead use only end-to-end encrypted communications.

It's a major about-face from the feds, which have historically demanded law enforcement needs a backdoor to access people's communications — but only for crime-fighting and terrorism-preventing purposes.

"We know that bad guys can walk through the same doors that are supposedly built for the good guys," Virtru CEO and co-founder John Ackerly told The Register. "It's one thing to tap hard-line wires or voice communication. It's yet another to open up the spigot to all digital communication."

www.theregister.com

A New Year's gift from Microsoft: Surprise, your scanners don't work

Windows 11 24H2 is still causing problems with multifunction devices despite Microsoft marking an issue with the eSCL scan protocol as resolved.

A Register reader got in touch to say they still had trouble with a Canon ImageClass MF269dw, a multifunction printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine. They said: "It works on a Windows 10 machine, but not on Windows 11, unless both the computer and the scanner are on wired Ethernet." Our reader also noted that a Canon technician they'd spoken to said the issue was "erratic," adding: "It seems to work or fail randomly for different users in different situations."

Microsoft issued a compatibility safeguard hold on USB-connected devices using the Scanner Communication Language (eSCL) protocol in November after users who installed the Windows update experienced glitches with device discovery. The issue was reported resolved by Microsoft in December.

However, it seems that KB5048667 might not have fixed all the problems for Canon owners. According to our reader: "Canon support tells me that the 24H2 eSCL issue still is not fixed."

www.theregister.com

If you charge me, I’m going to bring 50 homeless people to eat the meal I’ve paid for

Jon Kuhrt (CEO of Hope into Action) writes: A few Christmases ago, when I was running a homeless charity in London, we took a phone call that I will never forget.

A businessman was due to host a major event for 50 colleagues and clients in a prestigious London member’s club. A number of guests were flying in to attend, but there was a sudden cold snap and the freezing conditions meant many flights were cancelled. So, he decided to postpone the event and contacted the club to tell them.

However, because of the late notice, the club said that he would have to pay the full amount even if no one came. As a long-term member who had spent thousands of pounds there, he was disgusted not to be given more flexibility. He phoned the manager and said: “If you charge me, I am going to bring 50 homeless people here to eat the meal I have paid for.” 

The manager thought he was bluffing and reminded the businessman of the club’s dress code and that they would refuse entry to anyone who was intoxicated. The businessman replied: “Nonsense, you always let me in wearing jeans, and if you barred people who had had a drink then no one would be let in.” He slammed the phoned down. And then he phoned us... READ MORE...

www.premierchristianity.com

Apple to pay $95m to settle Siri 'listening' lawsuit

Apple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission. The tech giant was accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri. The claimants also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers. Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment.

In the preliminary settlement,, external the tech firm denies any wrongdoing, as well as claims that it "recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation" without consent. 

Apple's lawyers also say they will confirm they have "permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019".

But the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally - without using the phrase "Hey, Siri" to wake it. They say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.

The lead plaintiff Fumiko Lopez claims she and her daughter were both recorded without their consent. They allege they were served targeted ads after talking about products including Air Jordans.

www.bbc.co.uk