Microsoft Confirms Windows Update Now Functional Again

Last week, Windows Update stopped working properly for many users. The global outage was an odd one, and user investigations soon discovered it appeared to be linked to DNS services. Changing one’s DNS settings to Google’s publicly provided DNS service often restored Windows Update’s functionality. US Comcast and UK BT customers seem to be most affected, though the problem may have hit other customers worldwide as well.
Microsoft has now confirmed that the issue was caused by DNS problems with an external service the company contracts with. Microsoft writes:
The Windows Update service was impacted by a data corruption issue in an external DNS service provider global outage on January 29, 2019. The issue was resolved on the same day and Windows Update is now operating normally, but a few customers have continued to report issues connecting to the Windows Update service. We expect these issues will go away as downstream DNS servers are updated with the corrected Windows Update DNS entries.
Microsoft has not specified which service caused the problem in the first place or why it occurred, but the outages were larger than simply a few customers. Windows Update is also rolling out new Intel drivers to resolve a problem from several months ago that prevented the installation of Windows 10 Update 1809 on systems that used Intel graphics. The baseline driver Intel released supposedly caused problems with Windows by enabling features that weren’t intended to be enabled (Intel disputed this characterization). According to ZDNet, this problem should now be resolved with the drivers being pushed over Windows Update, if you allow WU to install drivers.

Intel has published its own documentation on how to resolve this problem, as well as an instructional video to help users identify whether they’re using an Intel graphics card. Details on that question and how to resolve it can be found here. The appropriate driver to install to allow for Windows 10 1809 capability is here.
Continue reading

Microsoft: Pluton Chip Will Bring Xbox-Like Security to Windows PCs
Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are working to make Pluton part of their upcoming designs, which should make PCs more difficult to hack, but it also bakes Microsoft technology into your hardware.

Apple: ‘It’s Up to Microsoft’ to Get Windows Running on New ARM Macs
According to Apple, the question of supporting Windows on the M1 is entirely in Microsoft's court.

How Does Windows Use Multiple CPU Cores?
We take multi-core awareness for granted these days, but how do the CPU and operating system communicate with each other in the first place?

Minecraft With Ray Tracing Now Available for All Windows 10 Players
You don't usually think of Minecraft as a realistic game, but the developers have been hard at work adding RTX ray tracing to the game for the last eight months. It's finally out of beta today, and it really works with the blocky look of Minecraft.