The glitch occurs when a file is deleted after save if the title contains a capitalized file extension (.DOCX, .RTF) or #. Microsoft further clarified that “the issue happens after editing the file and saving when prompted while closing Word”.

Fortunately, the bug is specific to version 2409 and only affects files with capitalized file extensions. Additionally, it only occurs when you are prompted to save the document as you close the application, not when saving manually during editing.

Also Read: How Motorsports Teams Use Big Data To Drive Innovation On The Racetrack

Several users have reported encountering the bug on platforms such as Reddit and Microsoft forums. Until the issue is fully resolved, we’d recommend exercising caution when saving documents with capitalized extensions or avoid closing Word without saving manually.

The post A Microsoft Word Bug May Delete Files With Certain Titles appeared first on Tech Magazine.

“This groundbreaking capability not only adds a touch of familiarity and comfort for the users but also showcases the power of AI in transforming the way we interact with our digital assistants,” explained Truecaller product director and general manager Raphael Mimoun in a recent blog post.

The AI Assistant in Truecaller screens incoming calls, informing recipients of a caller’s purpose. Based on this information, users can decide whether to answer the call themselves or let the AI Assistant handle it.

When the feature was introduced in 2022, users could only choose from a collection of preset voices. The ability to record one’s own voice represents a significant step towards the complete personalization of the service.

Also Read: Getting Started With Google Gemini: A Beginner’s Guide

Azure AI Speech, showcased during the last Build conference, only recently added a personal voice feature that lets people record and replicate voices. Microsoft explained in a blog post, however, that Personal Voice is available on a limited basis and only for specific use cases like voice assistants.

To maintain ethical standards, Microsoft’s Azure AI Speech automatically adds watermarks to AI-generated voices. Additionally, a code of conduct requires companies to obtain full consent from individuals being recorded and prohibits impersonation.

The post Truecaller To Use Microsoft Azure AI Speech For Call Answering appeared first on Tech Magazine.

Over time, G42 and Microsoft aim to empower nations and improve equity by allowing access to services that address vital government and business concerns while promoting the highest privacy and security standards.

H.H. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of G42, explained: “Microsoft’s investment in G42 marks a pivotal moment in our company’s journey of growth and innovation, signifying a strategic alignment of vision and execution between the two organizations. This partnership is a testament to the shared values and aspirations for progress, fostering greater cooperation and synergy globally”.

The partnership will support the creation of a skilled AI workforce and develop a talent pool to drive innovation and boost competitiveness in the UAE and beyond with a $1 billion investment fund for developers.

As part of the newly expanded partnership, Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, will join G42’s board of directors. In a recent statement, Smith said: “Our two companies will work together not only in the UAE, but to bring AI and digital infrastructure and services to underserved nations [combining] world-class technology with world-leading standards for safe, trusted, and responsible AI, in close coordination with the governments of both the UAE and the United States”.

Also Read: Getting Started With Google Gemini: A Beginner’s Guide

As part of their regional plans, Microsoft and G42 have firmly committed to complying with US and international trade laws. They will also adhere to responsible AI and business integrity regulations governed by a detailed Intergovernmental Assurance Agreement (IGAA).

Peng Xiao, G42’s Group Chief Executive Officer, stated, “This partnership significantly enhances our international market presence, combining G42’s unique AI capabilities with Microsoft’s robust global infrastructure. Together, we are not only expanding our operational horizons but also setting new industry standards for innovation”.

The G42 and Microsoft collaboration has passed several significant milestones over the past twelve months. A joint plan to develop AI solutions for industry and the public sector and industry was unveiled in April 2023, and last September, Microsoft and G42 laid out plans to unlock the potential of the Azure public cloud platform. Finally, in November 2023, Microsoft added G42’s Jais Arabic Large Language Model to its Azure AI Cloud Model.

The post Microsoft Invests $1.5 Billion In Abu Dhabi AI Tech Firm G42 appeared first on Tech Magazine.

Users can now seamlessly connect Copilot with various services like OpenTable and Instacart, allowing them to book restaurant reservations and do grocery shopping directly within the chat interface. Additional plugins from Kayak, Klarna, and Shopify are slated for release in the coming month, underscoring Microsoft’s aim to optimize usability within the Copilot environment.

In addition, Microsoft is streamlining access to system settings by enabling users to perform tasks like toggling battery saver mode, and managing hardware profiles directly from inside of the AI chat interface. Copilot can also execute commands to activate accessibility features such as Live Captions, Narrator, and Screen Magnifier, as well as display available Wi-Fi networks. This enhanced integration should improve the user experience by eliminating the need to navigate through the Settings app.

Furthermore, Microsoft is enhancing AI capabilities in select Windows 11 apps such as Photos and Clipchamp. Photos now features a Generative Erase function for removing unwanted elements from images, while Clipchamp is set to introduce a Silence Removal AI tool for editing videos.

Also Read: Getting Started With Google Gemini: A Beginner’s Guide

These Copilot and AI enhancements will be gradually rolled out to users with Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2. To access these updates, Microsoft advises users to enable the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” option. Most features are expected to be accessible with the optional March 2024 non-security preview update.

The post Microsoft Enhances AI Capabilities In Windows 11 Update appeared first on Tech Magazine.

G42 will deliver advanced AI solutions, while Microsoft will help to expand existing data center infrastructure and Azure cloud services in the Emirates, according to an announcement made on Monday.

“This strategic collaboration with Microsoft is not just about technology […] it’s about creating a holistic ecosystem for societal resilience and growth,” explained Peng Xiao, group chief executive of G42.

“By combining our respective expertise and shared forward-thinking approach, we aim to not only transform industries but also create positive economic opportunities and lasting impacts on the well-being of individuals, communities, and society as a whole,” Mr Xiao continued.

The two companies will also focus on bringing AI solutions to various sectors, including health, life sciences, energy, sustainability, and other projects of national significance, such as the Cop28 climate summit to be held in Dubai later this year.

According to a study released last October, Microsoft expects its portfolio of cloud services to add over $39 billion to the UAE economy over the next four years, along with the creation of 100,000 jobs.

Also Read: Saudi Arabia’s Gaming Sector Is Quickly Gathering Momentum

The UAE’s digital economy is expected to grow from $38 to $140 billion by 2031. Meanwhile, in July, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, announced a new cloud technology project in a bid to boost the Emirate’s tech infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.

The UAE also recently approved the formation of a Higher Committee for Government Digital Transformation as the country races to develop a strong and tech-first digital economy.

The post G42 Teams With Microsoft To Boost UAE Cloud Infrastructure appeared first on Tech Magazine.

Meta is releasing pre-trained and conversation-oriented versions of Llama 2 for free. Meanwhile, Microsoft is making the AI tool available through the Azure AI catalog to use with cloud tools, including content filtering. Llama 2 can also run directly on Windows PCs and will be available through outside providers such as Amazon Web Services and Hugging Face.

Major rivals like the popular OpenAI GPT-4 are often locked down for greater subscription or licensing revenue, but Llama 2’s Open Source code lets companies customize the AI technology for their own purposes — such as chatbots and image generators — while providing a way for outsiders to check for biases, inaccuracies, and operating flaws.

Also Read: The Largest Data Breaches In The Middle East

For Microsoft, Llama 2 is an important project in the fight against AI rivals — notably Google. Microsoft already uses OpenAI systems in Azure and Bing, so the latest Meta collaboration should give business customers greater choice, especially if they’re interested in fine-tuning an AI model to suit more specialist needs.

The post Meta & Microsoft Release AI Language Tool For Commercial Use appeared first on Tech Magazine.

The steady flow of unique titles will be replaced by a base collection of over 25 games, with new additions limited to bi or tri-annual additions. Most titles will come from Microsoft’s catalog, including franchises such as Doom, Forza Horizon, and Halo 5. Third-party content will be far more limited, though titles such as Among Us and Human Fall Flat are known to be included.

Existing Xbox Live Gold members will automatically switch to Game Pass Core when the old service ends on September 1st. However, subscribers can still access any Xbox One games claimed if they’re either a Core or Ultimate member. Redeemed Xbox 360 games will be yours to keep forever, even if your subscription lapses.

Also Read: Top 10 Best Video Games Set In The Middle East

The change might be disappointing for players used to Games with Gold’s more frequent catalog refreshes. While you do get some hits, Microsoft is obviously trying to steer gamers towards an Ultimate subscription, where a much larger selection of titles can be found, including cloud gaming and an EA Play membership.

Microsoft stopped offering year-long subscriptions back in 2020 and ditched Xbox 360 games in 2022. The company announced plans to raise Gold prices in 2021 before quickly reversing its decision.

The post Xbox Will Retire Games With Gold On September 14 appeared first on Tech Magazine.

Long-term servicing channel (LTSC) releases of Windows Server get 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support. For example, Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 was released in 2013, and it will be supported until October 2023. After this date, service packs and security updates will not be provided, so users will be at a greater risk of an attack.

With each major release, Microsoft’s operating system for servers gains many useful features and capabilities to help the numerous businesses and organizations that depend on it run critical workloads. The latest version, Windows Server 2022, is no different, and this article is here to explain everything you need to know about it.

Brief Introduction To Windows Server 2022

Windows Server 2022 was initially released by Microsoft on August 18, 2021. As the tenth LTSC release of the server operating system, Windows Server 2022 is expected to deliver a good number of major improvements and innovations even though the launch event was modest due to the circumstances surrounding the pandemic.

Just like previous versions, Windows Server 2022 is aimed at small, medium-sized, and large businesses and organizations that want to build an infrastructure of connected applications, networks, and web services. The latest version allows them to do just that on premises, in Azure, and at the edge.

The codebase on which Windows Server 2022 is based is derived from Microsoft’s desktop operating system, namely Windows 10. Unsurprisingly, Windows Server 2022 can run only on 64-bit CPUs (the last version to support 32-bit CPUs was Windows Server 2008).

Different Versions Of Windows Server 2022

There are various versions of Microsoft Windows Server 2022 licenses to meet the needs of many different customers:

• Windows Server 2022 Standard: The Standard version of Windows Server 2022 targets entirely physical or partially virtualized environments with up to two virtual machines and one Hyper-V host.
• Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Businesses and organizations that really heavily on virtualization and the cloud shroud choose Windows Server 2022 Datacenter because of its great flexibility in server deployment and support for an unlimited number of virtual machines.
• Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Azure Edition: This version of Windows Server 2022 is for purely virtualized environments, offering features such as Azure Extended Networking, Hotpatch, and SMB over QUIC.

What’s New In Windows Server 2022

Now that we’ve introduced Windows Server 2022 and each of its versions, it’s time we take a closer look at some of the most noteworthy new features and capabilities it has to offer.

Security

To combat the rise of firmware vulnerabilities being exploited by cybercriminals, Windows Server 2022 uses Windows Defender System Guard to isolate critical parts of the system with virtualization-based security. These and other security-related enhancements make Windows Server 2022 the most secure version to date.

A server operating system that’s not secure enough to keep modern cyber threats at bay can easily create more problems than it solves. The security of Windows Server 2022 is enhanced with support for TPM 2.0, AES-256 encryption on SMB, UEFI Secure Boot, Boot DMA Protection, and DNS-over-HTTPS.

Hybrid Capabilities

For many businesses and organizations that have decided to embrace digital transformation, the hybrid model is the most optimal choice, allowing them to combine existing on-premises resources with the cloud.

Fortunately for them, Windows Server 2022 comes with extensive hybrid capabilities thanks to Azure Arc, a solution for running cloud-native applications even on existing hardware, virtual machines, and Kubernetes clusters. Azure Arc is designed to work hand-in-hand with Microsoft Sentinel, the first cloud-native security information and event manager (SIEM) platform.

Also, users can now perform virtual machine lifecycle management for Azure Stack HCI and VMware environments from a centralized location.

Application Platform Flexibility

Windows Server 2022 features a smaller container image size, making it faster to deploy container applications. The Windows Admin Center tool has been enhanced to allow users to easily containerize .NET applications, host them on the Azure Container Registry, and then deploy them to other Azure services, such as the fully managed Kubernetes service provided by Azure Kubernetes Service.

These improvements make it easier for businesses and organizations to take advantage of the benefits of containerization and deploy applications in a more efficient and secure manner.

Windows Server On Azure

Azure is a great platform for Windows Server to run on thanks to its native support or SQL, .NET, and other Windows Server workloads.

Azure is the only cloud platform that offers end-to-end hybrid infrastructure and consistent security, identity, and management features, allowing you to operate seamlessly across your on-premises data center and the cloud. With migration and modernization planning tools and guidance, businesses and organizations can move to Azure with confidence.

Those who use Windows Server licenses on Azure can save 40 percent or more and get free Extended Security Updates, and they can even bring their on-premises Windows and SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance to Azure to pay a reduced compute rate thanks to Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Hardware Support

Windows Server 2022 can run even on a dusty old server with a 1.4 GHz x86-64 CPU and 2 GB of RAM, but it can take advantage of much more powerful hardware than that. To be more specific, it supports up to 2,048 logical cores and 48 TB of RAM.

Windows Server 2022 also supports the latest Intel Xeon processors, providing users with hardware-level security in addition to the software-level security they’ve come to expect. The built-in security capabilities of Intel Xeon CPUs enable fast data encryption with minimal performance impact, while Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX) offers additional protection for data in memory.

Windows Server 2022 Support Lifecycle

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 was released in 2013, and it will be supported until October 2023. After this date, service packs and security updates will not be provided, so users will be at a greater risk of an attack. As a last resort option, Microsoft runs the Extended Security Update (ESU) program, giving customers the option to obtain security updates and bulletins rated critical and important for a certain amount of time (until October 2026 for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2).

Compatibility With Microsoft Server Applications

Windows Server 2022 supports the installation and functionality of many different Microsoft server applications including but not limited to Azure DevOps Server 2020.1, Exchange Server 2019 CU12 and its later versions, Host Integration Server 2020, Project Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019, and SQL Server 2019, all of which are supported on server with desktop experience.

On top of these, Windows Server 2022 also supports more recent and updated applications such as System Center Data Protection Manager 2022, System Center Operations Manager 2022, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2022, which are not supported by the previous versions of Windows Server.

Conclusion

Windows Server 2022 is the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system for servers. It offers many enhanced features and capabilities to help businesses and organizations support their digitally transferred operations. Microsoft is supporting the notion of Hybrid Working Models, combining on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud services; Windows Server 2022 reflects this through and through.

For more information on Windows Server 2022, you can visit the related page on Microsoft’s website. If you’re interested in trying out the operating system before purchasing, you can download the official ISO file and test it out for 180 days.

The post What You Need To Know About Windows Server 2022 appeared first on Tech Magazine.

Surface Pro 9

The Surface Pro 9 edition was unveiled at the event, featuring a 13-inch display with a 2,880 x 1,920 resolution and an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. Processors come in several flavors, with either an i5 or i7 version of Intel’s 12th gen Core processor installed, or a (possibly Qualcomm-based) Microsoft SQ3 chip. The Wi-Fi models come with 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of RAM, while the 5G version ships with 8GB or 32GB.

In terms of storage, the Intel Surface Pros come with removable SSD drives in sizes up to 1TB, while the SQ3 version maxes out at 512GB — though the lower specced device will achieve 19 hours of battery life, compared to the Intel unit’s 15.5.

When it comes to ports, the Surface Pro 9 comes with a pair of USB-C ports offering Thunderbolt 4 compatibility, with the SQ3 version only getting regular USB-C, along with a SIM slot.

Surface Laptop 5

If you’re in the market for a more conventional laptop, Microsoft also has you covered with their new Surface Laptop 5. Resolution is slightly lower for the 13.5 screen than on the Surface Pro, coming in at 2,256 x 1,504, though you’ll get similar configurations of storage and Intel Core processors.

Interestingly, the 13.5-inch laptop seems to beat the 15-inch model when it comes to battery life. Microsoft rates the smaller portable at 18 hours, while the 15-inch version is only good for 17. Buyers will get one USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4, one USB type-A port, and the faithful 3.5mm headphone jack will also be present.

Surface Studio 2+

Last but not least, desktop PC enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that Microsoft has also announced a new all-in-one computer in the form of the 28-inch Surface Studio 2+. The big-screen device is aimed at creative users who need large amounts of processing power for art projects or complex 3D rendering.

The Surface Studio comes with a massive 4,500 x 3,000 resolution, powered by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of fast storage.

Everything Else

Although the surface computers stole the show at Microsoft’s 2022 event, the tech giant also made several small announcements about a range of adaptive accessories, including the Xbox Adaptive Controller, and a new Microsoft 365 app called Microsoft Designer, powered by AI.

While we’d love to give release dates and prices for everything announced at the show, no details have emerged just yet, but we’ll hopefully see shipments begin well before the new year.

The post Microsoft Reveals New Products At Surface 2022 Event appeared first on Tech Magazine.

The group was abusing Microsoft’s file hosting service, OneDrive, to target private and government organizations in Israel. Based on its tools and techniques, it seems that Polonium is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

“Polonium has targeted or compromised more than 20 organizations based in Israel and one intergovernmental organization with operations in Lebanon over the past three months,” explains MSTIC.

The good news is that all legitimate OneDrive accounts are completely safe because the attack didn’t involve any security issues or vulnerabilities. Instead, Polonium used the file hosting service for command and control to execute part of their attack operation.

Polonium’s targets include primarily organizations in critical manufacturing, IT, and defense industry. “In at least one case, Polonium’s compromise of an IT company was used to target a downstream aviation company and law firm in a supply chain attack that relied on service provider credentials to gain access to the targeted networks.”

MSTIC is still actively investigating how Polonium gained initial access to many of their victims, but it knows that most victims were running Fortinet appliances. Based on this fact, MSTIC suspects that the CVE-2018-13379 vulnerability was used to gain access inside the targeted organizations.

Also Read: Is Your Phone Hacked? How To Find Out & Protect Yourself

While the threat has been contained, there are certain actions MSTIC recommends all organizations to take to protect themselves, such as confirming that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is updated, enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA), and blocking in-bound traffic from specific IP addresses.

This isn’t the first instance of threat actors using OneDrive and other similar file hosting services to achieve their nefarious goals. Last year, for example, Microsoft discovered that OneDrive was used to host malware files commonly used to launch Conti ransomware attacks.

The post Microsoft Blocks Lebanon-Based Hackers Targeting Israel appeared first on Tech Magazine.