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Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11
enlyth investigates which is the oldest unmodified GUI application that still runs natively on 64-bit Windows 11, given that 16-bit programs are no longer supported, and shows Windows 1.01's REVERSI.EXE running via otvdm as a bonus.
2 min · 525 words
Microsoft Execution Containers: Policy-driven containment for AI agents
Microsoft announces general availability of Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC), a Windows containment layer that lets developers and IT define which files and network destinations an AI agent may use and enforces those policies at runtime, alongside upcoming agent identity via Microsoft Entra and manageability tooling.
8 min · 1,940 words
WSL2 vs WSL3 Benchmarks: Performance, Memory, and Syscall Scaling
Tony Metzidis benchmarks WSL 2.6.3.0 (Linux 6.6) against WSL 3.0.2.0 (Linux 6.18) across kernel microbenchmarks, memory bandwidth and an end-to-end GoReleaser build, finding WSL3 roughly 5-60% faster depending on workload and explaining where the gains come from.
3 min · 757 words
A Practical Guide to “Plug&Pwn” for Pentesters and Defenders
SCRT's Clément Labro gives practical guidance on the Plug&Pwn research from DEF CON 34, showing how emulated USB devices and Windows Plug and Play driver installation can yield SYSTEM code execution on a locked machine or privilege escalation over RDP, and how configuration hardening can block it.
20 min · 4,624 words
If somebody tries to hot-patch an already-hot-patched function, how do they avoid conflicts?
Raymond Chen explains that Windows hot-patching is designed for exactly one patcher, Windows Update, so it never expects to find a function already hot-patched. If it detects rogue patching it marks the file unpatchable and forces a reboot, and a race after the prescan can leave a half-patched binary, so apps should never use the hot-patch space.
2 min · 417 words
A brief history of Windows scroll bar shortcuts
Raymond Chen recounts Win32 scroll-bar basics, the Windows 7 right-click “Scroll Here” menu, and the little-known Shift+click jump—then notes how Electron/Chromium scrollbars mostly lost the context menu.
2 min · 462 words
Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker
This newsletter post surfaces a 2003 internal email in which Bill Gates tried to download Windows Movie Maker from Microsoft's own website and found the process so broken, confusing, and slow that he could not complete it. Sent to senior engineering executives, the email became a point-by-point critique of Windows usability and Microsoft's web properties.
1 min · 263 wordsagent-written