The "Game Mode" toggle Microsoft introduced with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709), is designed to improve gaming performance by prioritizing system resources for the game at the expensive of background processes, and preventing Windows Update from performing any automatic tasks (such as GPU driver updates, which would most certainly ruin your game). With "Call of Duty Warzone," however, this toggle appears to be having the opposite effect.

The Game Mode toggle reportedly causes Warzone to stutter, and sometimes even freeze. Apparently Windows 10 doesn't recognize it as a game. The issue affects users of both AMD and NVIDIA graphics hardware. It has so far been reproduced on the likes of the GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 980, RX 5700 XT, RX 570, RX 480, and R9 290. For now there's no workaround other than to simply disable Game Mode in Windows Settings. Find it in the "Gaming" section.

While not much happened during June's Microsoft Patch Day, the company is now pushing out updates for earlier builds of Windows 10, namely for the Anniversary Update (1607), Creators Update (1703), Fall Creators Update 1709). There is no updates for the latest Windows 10 April 2018 Update (1803).The change logs are below. You will receive those updates via Windows Update.

The next Windows 10 service pack major update has been named "Spring Creators Update." Windows Insider Program users toying with Build 17618 of the operating system spotted a listing of all the major updates of Windows 10 known to the build, when running "Get-VMHostSupportedVersion" in Power Shell. The last entry reads "Microsoft Windows 10 Spring Creators Update 1803." The version number (1803 in this case), often coincides with the public release date of the update. The Fall Creators Update 1709, released in 2017-09 (September) to Insiders. Going by that convenion, Spring Creators Update could see a "branded" Insider preview build this month, 2018-03 (March), with a public release usually 3-4 weeks after, presumably before Summer kicks in.

The Spectre/Meltdown road is long and pocked with lawsuits and security holes as it is, and Microsoft is one of the players that's trying to put the asphalt back to tip-top, Autobahn-worth shape. The company has already improved users' security to the Meltdown and Spectre exploits on its OS side; however, hardware patches, and specifically BIOS-editing ones are much harder to deploy and distribute by the PC chain. That may be one of the reasons why Microsoft is now again stepping up with software-based mitigations for Intel-based systems, specifically.

The new updates introduce a software-based CPU microcode revision update, and work at the OS-level to plug some security holes on your Intel processors that might otherwise remain unpatched. The reasons for them remaining unpatched can be many: either Intel taking even more time to deploy patches to the still vulnerable systems; your OEMs not deploying the Intel CPU microcode revisions via a BIOS update; or the good old "I forgot I could do it" user story. Of course, being software based means these Microsoft patches will have to be reapplied should users format their Windows system. The update can for now only be manually downloaded and installed, and can only be applied to version 1709 (Fall Creators Update) and Windows Server version 1709 (Server Core), but that's definitely better than the alternative of forcing less knowledgeable users to try and find their way through BIOS updates. Of course, that is assuming OEMs will ever push BIOS updates to their products.

Intel today released its latest Graphics Driver for Windows (GDW). Version 15.60 WHQL (15.60.0.4849), which is applicable for integrated graphics embedded into 6th generation "Skylake," 7th generation "Kaby Lake," and 8th generation "Coffee Lake" processors. The drivers are WDDM 2.3 compliant (Windows 10 Fall Creators Update), and add support for Netflix HDR and YouTube HDR on Windows 10. The drivers also add support for 10-bpc (1.07 billion colors) displays over HDMI, and adds video decode hardware acceleration for several formats introduced after DirectX 12.

For those with beefier Iris Pro graphics, Intel GDW 15.60 adds optimization for "Middle-earth: Shadow of War," "Pro Evolution Soccer 2018," "Call of Duty: WWII," "Destiny 2," and "Divinity: Original Sin." As a WDDM 2.3 compliant driver, version 15.60 enables Windows Mixed Reality headsets plugged into the integrated graphics connectors. Download the driver from the link below.DOWNLOAD: Intel Graphics Driver for Windows 15.60

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the graphics subsystem information, monitor, and diagnostic tool for PC enthusiasts and gamers. Version 2.5.0 introduces a slew of new features, support for new graphics cards, under the hood improvements, and bug fixes. To begin with, we've re-done the main tab to show graphics driver date and WHQL status in new fields. A refresh button is added, so you can manually refresh graphics card information, after a driver update for example. The BIOS string for NVIDIA BIOSes are now consistently cased, and driver version name titled "NVIDIA" instead of the retired "ForceWare" brand.

TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.5.0 adds support for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, with its new WDDM 2.3 driver model, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1050 Ti Mobile (GP106), Quadro GP100, and Quadro M620; from the AMD stable, support is added for Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Edition, and FirePro M4150; from Intel, support for Intel UHD 600-series "Coffee Lake" graphics was added. Among the new sensors added are Vega SOC Clock, VR SOC and VR Mem. The internal NVFlash module used to extract video BIOS, has been updated. A crash associated with failed BIOS uploads to our database, has been fixed. Grab TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.5.0 from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.5.0The change-log follows.

AMD released the latest version of its Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition drivers. Version 17.10.2 beta fixes a number of bugs, while building on the feature set of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update-exclusive driver update the company put out last week. To begin with, the drivers come with optimization for "Destiny 2," "Assassin's Creed: Origins," and "Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus." One can expect performance improvements of a massive 43-50 percent on "Destiny 2," a significant 13-16 percent on "Assassin's Creed: Origins," and 4-8 percent on "Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus."

The drivers also introduce an interesting new feature called "GPU Workload," found in Radeon Settings, which lets you instantly switch between two GPU optimization modes: "gaming" and "compute." The drivers can now simultaneously run up to 12 AMD Radeon GPUs on a single machine, making it economical for crypto-coin miners to install more GPUs into fewer machines, saving power and platform costs. The drivers also fix display corruption bugs related to "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds," and a rare game crash with "Hearts of Iron IV." Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.10.2

The change-log follows.

Microsoft released Windows 10, code named "Threshold 1," a little over two years ago. As of May of this year, there were approximately 500 million Windows 10 devices worldwide. Originally, Microsoft predicted that Windows 10 would be installed on 1 billion devices by mid-2018. When released, Windows 10 gained huge adoption from those running Windows 7 from the "free-upgrade program" which lasted one year.

Since then however, installations have slowly declined and in July of last year, Microsoft admitted that they would miss their projected goal of 1 billion devices. Since its release, Windows 10 has had three major update releases with "Threshold 2," in 2015, "Anniversary Update," in 2016, "Creators Update" in April of this year and today marks the release of Microsoft's fourth major feature update to its operating system, dubbed "Fall Creators Update," version 1709.

AMD today have released the latest (unnumbered) Beta version of their Radeon Crimson ReLive driver suite for Radeon graphics, which brings with it "Beta level support for the latest version of Microsoft's Windows 10 Operating System". Naturally, AMD says it should be considered "as is", which is always refreshing to see in a driver release. This update should improve users' experience when dealing with the Fall Creators Update's extended Mixed Reality features, so if you have one of those headsets ready to go and to power 343 Industries' "Halo Recruit" Experience please do and report back to this news editor. There's a list of known issues under MR and the Fall Creators Update, though, so be sure to check that list after the break. Follow the link below for AMD's driver download page.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Crimson ReLive Beta Edition Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Drivers

With its upcoming "Fall Creators Update" for Windows 10, Microsoft is preparing to roll out its own game anti-cheating platform, under two new technologies, TruePlay and Game Monitor. TruePlay provides a "new set of tools to combat cheating within their PC games," according to Microsoft. This is similar to VAC (Valve Anti-Cheating). From the looks of it, the TruePlay API is limited to games built for the UWP (Universal Windows Platform), such as recent additions to the Forza franchise. Game Monitor is another side of this coin. When enabled, the operating system shares system information with games to weed out cheating tools such as aimbots. Enabling it could soon become a requirement of certain online multiplayer games.

Games with TruePlay run in a "protected" (read: sandboxed) process, which mitigates a class of common cheating tools, as the game's real PID is never exposed to other processes. A separate Windows process will be on constant lookout for behaviors and manipulations that are common in cheating scenarios. Data (read: telemetry) of this process will be shared with game developers after determining that cheating could have occurred. The "Fall Creators Update" for Windows 10 is likely to be released before December.

Do you remember those times where your privacy wasn't such a concern? Where you could freely navigate through the world, and not have to worry if your apps, browsers, extensions, or operating systems weren't collecting way more data than you wanted them to? It seems eons behind us, now, but it's the world we've been living in - and the world we've been building up to with our choices as consumers. Now, consumers have to fight for almost every last scrap of privacy dignity we can expect to achieve.

Microsoft, through a blog post, has stated that they are continuing to assess and address privacy concerns users might have regarding how and when the operating system which is being hailed as the last major Microsoft OS release collects user information. Specifically, Microsoft states that "Continuing with our commitment to privacy and data control, today we're announcing privacy enhancements coming to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for consumers and commercial customers that further increase your access to information and provides you more control over what information is collected."

Microsoft made considerable noise on their vaulted Game Mode, a Windows feature which made its appearance in their latest Creators Update version of Windows 10. Game Mode was one of the foremost features in the latest Windows update, which was supposed to deliver improved performance in gaming or other full-screen 3D applications, by enabling more of the available CPU and GPU resources to be tapped into by specific applications. Specific CPU (through winding down of non-crucial processes) and GPU (through prioritization of game-related graphics memory allocation) improvements were baked into this latest version; supposedly, only performance improvements should result from this effort on Microsoft's part.

To be fair, the writing was already on the wall, in a way. It was so when Microsoft announced the introduction of a UWP app called Paint 3D. Paint 3D, which supplants Paint in a number of ways, is like the 1984-introduced app's big brother. It's meaner, faster, and thinks history is all its own. But that's fine.

So yes, Paint is dying. The prognosis: death by deprecation. Paint is being put on a "deprecated" list (which means "not in active development and might be removed in future releases" for Windows 10's latest update, the Fall Creators Update, which means that it's somewhat like Schrödinger's cat: it's in a limbo of life and death. It's not really dead, no; but at the same time, it really kind of is. "Whether you're an artist or just want to try out some doodles-Paint 3D makes it easy to unleash your creativity and bring your ideas to life. Classic Paint has been reimagined, with an updated look and feel and a ton of new brushes and tools. And now, create in every dimension. Make 2D masterpieces or 3D models that you can play with from all angles," Microsoft explains. And that's all well and good; but where is my nostalgia-factor? A small sentence lends hope to the Paint defenders out there, where Microsoft says "Paint will be available through the Windows Store." Alas, even so, it seems tales of Paint's demise weren't greatly exaggerated...

If you're a standard Windows user, you probably find Windows updates something of a pain - especially when they force you to reboot your PC after they're installed. But imagine you own a business that constantly has its machines up and running, but also requires the latest security upgrades; each minute of downtime for installing such updates is lost revenue. Because of that issue, which companies brought to Microsoft's attention over the years, the company is streamlining its update process, decreasing the amount of update steps that need to be taken offline (which means less time waiting for the machines to become available to use following an update.)

After announcing its plan for a new, six-month update cycle for Windows 10, which Microsoft is treating as the last, monolithic release of Windows, the Redmond company has now announced its plans for the forthcoming Fall Creators Update (aherm) update.

Microsoft also announced the adoption of a new, Fluent design language, which strikes me as aesthetically pleasing, and a far cry from the Metro interface we've been saddled with since Windows 8. It carries on the bold color schemes, but marries it with a more subdued, less in-you-face style of user interface, and is supposed to encourage developers to design their apps in a way that makes sense on a variety of platforms - which, considering the advent of the Universal Windows Platform, makes all kinds of sense, doesn't it?