The Register·28wZed's dead, baby. Zed's dead? No, wait – it's on Windows
Zed Industries has released a public beta of its Rust-based code editor for Windows, addressing a critical gap since Windows is used by 49.5% of professional developers. The beta is available through Discord with general availability planned for October. Performance tests show Zed uses significantly less RAM than VS Code (142MB vs 730MB) and includes WSL integration for Linux development workflows.
DevBlogs·29wAnnouncing WinUI Gallery 2.7
WinUI Gallery 2.7 introduces sample history and favorites functionality, new samples for TitleBar and ThemeShadow controls, upgraded StoragePicker APIs with Windows App SDK 1.8, fresh typography and button styles, and over 100 community-driven improvements including accessibility fixes and UI polish.
DevBlogs·32wPowerToys 0.94 is here: Settings search, shortcut conflict detection and more!
PowerToys 0.94 introduces quality-of-life improvements including a search function in Settings with fuzzy matching, shortcut conflict detection that highlights conflicting hotkeys in red, and a new gliding cursor mode for Mouse Pointer Crosshairs that enables single-button navigation. Additional updates include WiX5 installer upgrade, Maltese language support in Quick Accent, runtime registration for Win10 context menu modules, and various bug fixes across Command Palette and other utilities.
The Verge·29wWindows 11 is getting a video wallpaper feature
Microsoft is testing video wallpaper functionality in Windows 11, allowing users to set MP4 or MKV files as animated desktop backgrounds. This brings back the DreamScene feature from Windows Vista and could reduce reliance on third-party solutions like Wallpaper Engine, which remains popular among Windows users for desktop customization.
The Register·31wNano11 cuts Windows 11 down to size and then some
NTDEV has created Nano11, an extremely stripped-down version of Windows 11 that occupies just 2.8 GB of disk space after installation. This unofficial modification removes most Windows components including Copilot, Teams, Windows Update, system services, and Windows Defender. While not suitable for daily use due to its lack of serviceability and missing features, Nano11 demonstrates that Windows bloat is a deliberate choice by Microsoft and could be useful for testing or embedded VM environments.
SK NEXUS·31wMaking Your Windows PC Work Better
Windows PCs often come with bloatware that significantly impacts performance and can pose security risks. Removing this unnecessary software can dramatically improve system speed and responsiveness, particularly beneficial for gaming and general computing tasks.
InfoSec Write-ups·32wHow to Ruin Your Weekend: Building a DIY EDR
A detailed walkthrough of building a custom Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) system called 'RottenTomato' from scratch. The project demonstrates kernel driver development, process monitoring through Windows callbacks, static analysis of executables, and DLL injection techniques for runtime monitoring. The implementation includes a kernel driver that intercepts process creation events, a static analyzer that examines binaries for suspicious characteristics, and a remote injector that performs user-space hooking to detect malicious memory allocations.