Microsoft blocks registry trick that unlocked performance-boosting native NVMe driver on Windows 11 — workarounds still exist to enable support, however

The Hot Take: I wonder why given that Windows has gotten bashed for the lack of performance vs Linux.

Microsoft has blocked the registry trick that allowed Windows 11 users to enable a native NVMe driver on their PCs. However, third-party tools can still help with a workaround.

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SoftBank to build massive AI datacenter on former US nuclear weapons site

The Hot Take: Interesting place to put an Ai Data-Center, giving it's probably hardened against military attacks.

10GW server farm, 10GW of new generation, and $4.2bn grid upgrade. And someone else is paying for the uranium cleanup Softbank's SB Energy is redeveloping Department of Energy (DoE) land in Ohio for a massive datacenter campus, adding extra generation facilities and power infrastructure alongside it.…

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Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus & Core Ultra 5 250K Plus Official Benchmarks: Faster Than 14900K & Comparable To Ryzen X In Gaming, Much Faster In Apps, Superb Value

The Hot Take: I'm wondering if Intel is holding out on the 290K to drop after AMD's price drops in response to these chips. They're getting good response from what I've been seeing.

Intel has shared official benchmarks of its Core Ultra 7 270K Plus & Core Ultra 5 250K Plus in gaming, apps, and more, against AMD Ryzen CPUs. Core Ultra 200S Plus Are Now The Fastest Gaming CPUs From Intel, Surpassing the Core i9-14900K. For performance comparisons, Intel is pitting the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus against the Ryzen 7 9700X and the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus against the Ryzen 5 9600X. Both of these CPUs are valid comparisons based on their prices. The company also compares the performance against existing Core Ultra 200S "Non Plus" & 14th Gen CPUs […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/intel-core-ultra-7-270k-plus-core-ultra-5-250k-plus-official-gaming-app-benchmarks/

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Microsoft once tried to cut Windows 11 RAM usage, install size by 20%, now it’s trying again in 2026

The Hot Take: Did they set the goal AFTER stating 32GB ram is more than enough for windows 11? I'm sorry loving my 64GB and would double it if I didn't have to sell a kidney.

A recent X post by Mikhail Parakhin, who was the former boss of Windows and Bing, revealed that years ago, Microsoft engineers had an internal “20/20 project” that had a goal of reducing Windows’s idle RAM usage and installation size. Parakhin, who had several titles at Microsoft, was replying to a post by the present Windows President, Pavan Davuluri, about Microsoft’s commitment to Windows quality, which, if you haven’t heard already, is the company’s attempt at fixing Windows 11 from the ground up. Mikhail Parakhin talking about 20/20 project that could’ve reduced RAM usage by 20% The then Microsoft executive expressed appreciation that Pavan Davuluri was “restarting” a push he and Jeff Johnson (present-day CTO at Microsoft) had started many years ago, called the ‘20/20 project,’ which aimed to reduce Windows’ idle memory consumption and the fresh install size on disk, both by 20 percent. If it worked out, the idle Windows 11 RAM usage would’ve been around 4.8GB, but unfortunately, as Prakhin said, “We never got to finish”. Now, fast forward to 2026, and Microsoft is once again talking about improving performance, responsiveness, and memory efficiency. It’s the same problem Microsoft tried to solve years ago. Which brings up the obvious question. If Microsoft couldn’t complete something as fundamental as reducing RAM usage back then, what has changed now? And more importantly, can Windows 11 become efficient, or is this just another attempt that may run into the same challenges? Why is Windows 11 RAM usage high? Windows 11 runs more background services than all previous versions, including telemetry systems, indexing, and security features. Components like Windows Defender run continuously, search indexing is always active, and features such as Widgets and feeds keep refreshing content in the background. Add cloud integration like OneDrive syncing, and the system is constantly doing something even when it appears idle. Everything is preloaded, pre-indexed, and always available, which improves perceived responsiveness but increases baseline memory usage. Web-based apps are inflating memory usage in Windows 11 Even if Microsoft optimizes Windows itself, there is a much bigger problem sitting on top of it. A large number of popular apps today are built using Chromium-based frameworks like Electron or on WebView2 inside Windows. Apps like WhatsApp Desktop and Discord are well-known examples. “WhatsApp” is new version and “WhatsApp Beta” is old UPW/WinUI in the screenshot Even Microsoft’s own apps, including Teams, Clipchamp, and Widgets, are already using WebView2, and these come built in. What’s surprising is that despite pushing AI like it’s the most important technology in the world, Microsoft is apparently ditching the native Copilot app in favour of a web wrapper. Web apps like thus runs its own instance of a Chromium engine, along with multiple processes for rendering, scripting, and background tasks. So, a single app can easily consume hundreds of megabytes of RAM. Now imagine using them together… Fragmented UI stack increases overhead Windows 11 is not based on a single unified UI framework. Instead, it uses a mix of legacy Win32 components, UWP elements, modern WinUI layers, and web-based technologies like WebView2 and React. Microsoft developers explaining the use of React Native in Windows 11 Start menu in 2023 This hybrid approach gives Microsoft flexibility, but when different parts of the OS rely on different rendering pipelines and system resources, it leads to additional memory usage. Microsoft has already acknowledged this problem and is now moving more components toward WinUI3, which, being a native framework, will have lower latency and better efficiency. However, this transition will take time because Microsoft developers have to rewrite core parts of the OS. Why the original 20/20 project likely stalled Mikhail Parakhin hasn’t mentioned why the 20/20 project never got finished, but it’s safe to assume that it needed more time and resources. Reducing RAM usage in Windows requires some deep architectural changes. To cut memory usage, Microsoft would have had to remove or rethink background services, simplify its UI stack, and potentially limit the expansion of web-based components. But at the same time, the company was adding more features, integrating cloud services, and later pushing AI experiences into the OS. You cannot aggressively reduce system overhead while simultaneously expanding platform capabilities. The 20/20 project likely ran into these trade-offs and became impractical without sacrificing features or slowing down development. And instead of making those compromises, Microsoft chose to continue expanding Windows. Can Microsoft fix Windows 11 RAM usage in 2026? In its latest Windows Insider communication, Microsoft says it’s working to lower the baseline memory footprint of Windows, which should make more available RAM for apps and smoother day-to-day usage. Windows 11 PCs are getting a performance boost in 2026. Source: Microsoft At the same time, Microsoft is targeting responsiveness under load. Instead of Windows slowing down when multiple apps are open, the goal is to keep interactions consistent throughout the day. That also includes improving multitasking behavior so switching between apps feels instant. Microsoft is focusing on reducing interaction latency, improving the shared UI infrastructure, and moving more components toward native frameworks like WinUI3. Why 2026 might be different for Windows 11 Windows is facing more public scrutiny than it has in years. Performance complaints have become mainstream conversations. Microsoft cannot afford to ignore that anymore. Then there’s the hardware and market pressure. Apple’s efficiency-focused chips have reshaped expectations, and the MacBook Neo has brought RAM usage into the limelight. Add to that the global rise in memory prices, and Windows 11 performance improvements become a business priority. For the first time in years, user expectations, competitive pressure, and Microsoft’s internal priorities are all pointing in the same direction. The post Microsoft once tried to cut Windows 11 RAM usage, install size by 20%, now it’s trying again in 2026 appeared first on Windows Latest

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Some Microsoft Insiders Fight to Drop Windows 11's Microsoft Account Requirements

The Hot Take: Windows getting beat up on Ai, bugs and privacy. I've been playing with the idea on Linux myself, when they keep ratcheting up the intrusiveness gets more enticing by the day.

Yes, Microsoft announced it's fixing common Windows 11 complaints. But what about getting rid of that requirement to have a Microsoft account before installing Windows 11? While Microsoft didn't mention that at all, the senior editor at the blog Windows Central reports there's "a number of people" internally pushing at Microsoft to relax that requirement: Microsoft Vice President and overall developer legend Scott Hanselman has posted on X in response to someone asking him about possibly relaxing the Microsoft account requirements, saying "Ya I hate that. Working on it...." [Hanselman made that remark Friday, to his 328,200 followers.] The blog notes "It would be very easy for Microsoft to remove this requirement from a technical perspective, it's just whether or not the company can agree to make the change that needs to be decided." Elsewhere on X someone told Hanselman they wanted to see Windows "cut out the borderline malware tactics we've seen in recent years to push things like Edge, Bing, ads into the start menu, etc." Hanselman's reply? "Yes a calmer and more chill OS with fewer upsells is a goal." Q: When will we see first changes? for now it's just words... Hanselman: This month and every month this year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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