6+ hour ago (289+ words) Laptops & PC News: Attention Windows 11 users! A recent string of updates has caused an intriguing hiccup: the password sign-in icon is mysteriously missing from the loc Microsoft has issued a warning to Windows 11 users about its recent updates The software giant said that recent Windows 11 updates are causing the password sign-in icon to disappear from the lock screen, even when multiple sign-in options are enabled Typically, the password icon appears in Windows 11 only if other sign-in options (such as a PIN or fingerprint) are also available If a user only has a password, the system defaults to showing the password field directly The issue is affecting users who installed the August 2025 KB5064081 non-security preview update or later versions on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 systems While the icon is missing, Microsoft confirmed the function itself is still working Users can access the password option…...

12+ hour, 9+ min ago (421+ words) I tried a secure alternative identity tool, now it's got a huge Black Friday discount too VPNs now do far more than just encrypt your online traffic. Surfshark's Alternative ID tool, however, takes added security functionalities to a level unseen among all the best VPNs out there. Given the possibilities this feature offers, I spent a week using an alternative identity, becoming 64-year-old Brendan Lloyd Lewis, to see if it'd help me stay secure day-to-day, and frankly, I was impressed. Creating my pension-collecting alter ego took only a few clicks, and, once complete, I could copy and paste any details I needed straight from the app. It's also been built into Surfshark's web extension too, so it can auto-fill sign-up forms for you without needing to manually copy and paste. I took it for a spin with a few of…...

16+ hour, 2+ min ago (244+ words) Here we go again. Another update failure is plaguing Windows users, with Microsoft forced yet again to issue advice on user workarounds to bypass a failure. There's no fix available, and it affects a wide array of Windows PCs. The issue dates back to August " any update since then may trigger the failure on your PC. "Windows 11's recent updates have been nothing less than a disaster," Windows Latest says. The password failure follows the WinRE failures and multiple emergency updates. Microsoft admits that after updating your PC, "you might notice that the password icon is not visible in the sign-in options on the lock screen. If you hover over the space where the icon should appear, you'll see that the password button is still available." It's there " it's just hidden. Microsoft "is working to resolve this issue and will…...

16+ hour, 34+ min ago (207+ words) In addition to the releases today of updated Endeavour OS and CachyOS, Solus 4.8 is out as the latest version of another desktop Linux distribution popular with enthusiasts... - Categories Computers Display Drivers Graphics Cards Linux Gaming Memory Motherboards Processors Software Storage Operating Systems Peripherals Cyber Week 2025: If you wish to enjoy the site ad-free, multi-page articles on a single page, and other benefits, consider joining Phoronix Premium. This week only is our Cyber Week promotion to help support all of our Linux/open-source hardware and software operations while enjoying the added premium benefits at a discounted rate. Thanks for your consideration and support this holiday season with providing daily original content for over 21 years. Happy Holidays: 21+ years in providing Linux hardware reviews with more than 5,500 original reviews / featured multi-page articles and more than 48,400 original news articles. 99% of the content written by…...

17+ hour, 9+ min ago (421+ words) I tried a secure alternative identity tool, now it's got a huge Black Friday discount too VPNs now do far more than just encrypt your online traffic. Surfshark's Alternative ID tool, however, takes added security functionalities to a level unseen among all the best VPNs out there. Given the possibilities this feature offers, I spent a week using an alternative identity, becoming 64-year-old Brendan Lloyd Lewis, to see if it'd help me stay secure day-to-day, and frankly, I was impressed. Creating my pension-collecting alter ego took only a few clicks, and, once complete, I could copy and paste any details I needed straight from the app. It's also been built into Surfshark's web extension too, so it can auto-fill sign-up forms for you without needing to manually copy and paste. I took it for a spin with a few of…...

18+ hour, 34+ min ago (289+ words) The development team behind the Solus distribution announced today the release and general availability of Solus 4.8 (codename Opportunity) as the latest ISO snapshot of this independent rolling-release distro featuring Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma, and Xfce editions. Coming ten months after Solus 4.7, the Solus 4.8 release is powered by the latest and greatest Linux 6.17 kernel and ships with the latest Budgie 10.9.4, GNOME 49.1, KDE Plasma 6.5.3, and Xfce 4.20 desktop environments as separate editions. Worth noting is that the GNOME edition no longer ships with an X11 session by default. Starting with this release, Solus now uses a new package repository called Polaris, which opened the door to removing "Usr-Merge" compatibility symbolic links from packages and update the systemd package among other changes, while Python 2 has been removed from the repos and live ISOs once and for all. Finally, the Solus Software Center has been retired…...

19+ hour, 15+ min ago (268+ words) Get over this AI fixation, Microsoft " that's what many are telling you, so listen and rejig your priorities However, Microsoft has, of late, likely lost all its mirth (one top executive in particular certainly seems to have done so), because there has been something of an explosion of unpopularity around Windows 11. This rather intense burst of hate " in some quarters, because yes, this isn't an all-pervading sentiment " is largely wrapped up in one issue: AI. Potential upgraders to Windows 10 didn't end up marvelling at the tricks they might be able to eventually avail themselves of if they went ahead and upgraded to Windows 11. Yes, they were likely astonished, true enough " not by the potential of AI, but rather the fiery outpouring of complaints about how Microsoft needs to fix the basics with Windows 11 before worrying about fancy AI trimmings. This…...

19+ hour, 49+ min ago (222+ words) With the Linux 6.18 stable kernel release expected to take place tomorrow on 30 November, here is a reminder about some of the new hardware support and other interesting features coming in this next stable version of the Linux kernel... - Categories Computers Display Drivers Graphics Cards Linux Gaming Memory Motherboards Processors Software Storage Operating Systems Peripherals Cyber Week 2025: If you wish to enjoy the site ad-free, multi-page articles on a single page, and other benefits, consider joining Phoronix Premium. This week only is our Cyber Week promotion to help support all of our Linux/open-source hardware and software operations while enjoying the added premium benefits at a discounted rate. Thanks for your consideration and support this holiday season with providing daily original content for over 21 years. Happy Holidays: 21+ years in providing Linux hardware reviews with more than 5,500 original reviews / featured multi-page articles…...

22+ hour, 6+ min ago (230+ words) Perplexity and Snapchat today announced a major partnership. Perplexity's AI answer engine will power conversational searches inside Snapchat's chat interface starting early 2026. The agreement gives Perplexity access to Snapchat's roughly 943 million monthly users worldwide." Under the deal, Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million in cash and equity over one year." Inside Snapchat, users will be able to type questions in chat. Perplexity's AI will return answers with sources directly within the app. That avoids switching to a browser or search engine." For many users, especially younger demographics, this may become the default way to search or look up information. It marks a shift from classic search results to conversational, in-app discovery. As AI-powered search and chat-based discovery rise, traditional link-based clicks may shrink. Sites may get less direct referral traffic from search engines. Page visibility will depend more on structured data,…...

22+ hour, 16+ min ago (457+ words) KDE Plasma 6.6 will add new media-seeking controls, improved widgets, smoother menus, and early UI refinements ahead of the upcoming release. KDE developers continue preparing Plasma 6.6, and although there are still a few months to go before the final stable release (scheduled for February 17, 2026), the team has published on the KDE Blogs what changes to expect from this version. After covering some of them last week, we now have a new batch to look at. Plasma 6.6 will introduce new global actions for seeking forward or backward by fixed intervals, 5 or 30 seconds, when controlling MPRIS-compatible media players. These actions ship without default shortcuts, letting users map them to their preferred keys. Additionally, the Window List widget gains new behavior options, including showing its menu on hover and displaying only the active window name when desired. Users will also be able to reorder…...