DRM and Unauthorized Console modding/rooting the system Dead?


Recommended Posts

I would think the word ignorant is far more fitting (of those that think otherwise).

What ultimately happens with those exploits (by far less capable people), is another matter entirely, but that concept seem to be lost on some people.

Anyway, I am on my second bottle of vino, so I would be wise to let you talk **** amongst yourselves.

kMjohqi.gif

Good evening.

Get real. The consoles are cracked for pirating games first.

The whole "homebrew" thing is just a legal scapegoat so that the hackers/crackers can pretend that they have good intentions.

but but. there's a website with a linux distro you can install on a 360, it's absolutely useless and no one uses it, but that definitely proves it hacked for linux. ;)

I would think the word ignorant is far more fitting (of those that think otherwise).

What ultimately happens with those exploits (by far less capable people), is another matter entirely, but that concept seem to be lost on some people.

Anyway, I am on my second bottle of vino, so I would be wise to let you talk **** amongst yourselves.

Good evening.

what ultimately happens.... the consoles got hacked, immediately there was piracy. months-years later there was a linux distro and the first crappy homebrew. both made as a proof of concept experiment.

PS3 mostly avoided hacking because it was open / had linux option.

Sony didn't allow access to the gpu memory, and that spurred hacking some hacking to gain access to the other have 1/2 of the Ps3's available memory.

Once they found a potential hole, Sony overreacted (as in fix the exploit) and removed linux from the console with future updates.

This had an effect like throwing down the gauntlet challenges to hackers, which kindly responded in turn.

If I'm not mistaken, Sony has done a good job at blocking exploits on systems that are up to date, but the master hardwired encryption key was discovered / leaked so currently cracked PS3's can be "updated" to the current firmware level while still being cracked.

  • Like 2

Modding is the only reason I bought a wii...

I wasn't going to buy one until I could hack it. Then one night I watched a kid show the procedure of installing the homebrew channel. I said "???? It's that easy?" Then within 30 mins, I drove to walmart and bought one. Within another 30 mins I already had it hacked.".

well the first part in any hacking is actually getting a dump of the software/OS. you cant possibly do anything if you don't know what and when its doing things.

as I understand it, the way the xbox360 OS dump was made was through a dev unit,which allowed access to unencrypted RAM. once the dump was made, holes were found.

the king kong exploit abused a kernel bug found by studying the dump, and used unsigned shaders in the game disc to feed data into memory to perform this hack. the jtag hack uses the gpu jtag and SMC to modify memory to perform the hack.

the RGH glitches the system when the system is doing the bootloader sig checks,and this causes the system to believe the signatures match when in reality the code is not properly signed. none of these hacks would be possible if a dump was not available.

ps3 was dumped by a hack performed in Linux,which allows people to run their own code on the system. once dumped, the first hack used a bug in the USB driver to gain access to the whole system,and this opened the floodgates to other bugs and vulnerabilities that allowed keys to be dumped,which lead to self signing and running other unsigned code. if it weren't for Linux on board, I doubt even today the ps3 is hacked.

im positive current xb1 and ps4 dev units prevent any such memory accesses and third party code is sandboxed from such sensitive areas. the general public will not be allowed to tinker and run their own code on these systems. although I believe you'll be able to run xbox rt apps, I believe this will only be open to select developers who are invited because of their work in the windows 8 store.

unless someone has access to a focused ion beam workstation and has access to chemicals,and other expensive tools to work on 40nm parts, it isn't happening. then again,if someone has access to these things,i doubt they would be hacking consoles .

Everything you say there is true except one detail regarding the hacked 360. The hacked DVD firmware was also required to abuse such a shader signing hole, which was part port of the working xbox DVD flash work for XBL support on their original console, and part 'not locking the firmware' down on MS's end. Without the ability to dump that DVD-ROM firmware the 'JTAG' hole couldn't be used as you can't modify an official disc.

On top of this, there is actual drive to disarm the 360's DRM scheme which is employed with network responses, a security measure not used in previous generations. Im sure it won't be in the clear but any patterns emerging can be just as effective in side-stepping... Of course expect a ban when you go to re-sign in and your system is good to go but MS hasn't seen it for months (PC-side server maybe that could authenticate the xbox as well as pleasing MS so everything aligns)

Everything you say there is true except one detail regarding the hacked 360. The hacked DVD firmware was also required to abuse such a shader signing hole, which was part port of the working xbox DVD flash work for XBL support on their original console, and part 'not locking the firmware' down on MS's end. Without the ability to dump that DVD-ROM firmware the 'JTAG' hole couldn't be used as you can't modify an official disc.

On top of this, there is actual drive to disarm the 360's DRM scheme which is employed with network responses, a security measure not used in previous generations. Im sure it won't be in the clear but any patterns emerging can be just as effective in side-stepping... Of course expect a ban when you go to re-sign in and your system is good to go but MS hasn't seen it for months (PC-side server maybe that could authenticate the xbox as well as pleasing MS so everything aligns)

Maybe my beer (wine) goggles are hindering my ability to comprehend what you just wrote. But my current view is that you are talking absolute ******** regarding the JTAG/SMC hack.

No offense intended but my I ask, is English your first language?

Maybe my beer (wine) goggles are hindering my ability to comprehend what you just wrote. But my current view is that you are talking absolute ******** regarding the JTAG/SMC hack.

No offense intended but my I ask, is English your first language?

Summary: hadn't MS left the DVD out of the hypervisor, the 360 wouldn't have been possible to hack.

Everything you say there is true except one detail regarding the hacked 360. The hacked DVD firmware was also required to abuse such a shader signing hole, which was part port of the working xbox DVD flash work for XBL support on their original console, and part 'not locking the firmware' down on MS's end.

that is true, a hacked drive was needed,but it was also needed to be dumped first. this wasn't really Microsoft fault either. the mediatek chip was opened with nitric acid,and the flash die was found floating on top of the dvd controller die in some silicon dioxide with bond wires exposed ready to be probed for dumping, like a ###### with her legs wide open,ready for action.

Without the ability to dump that DVD-ROM firmware the 'JTAG' hole couldn't be used as you can't modify an official disc.

my current view is that you are talking absolute ******** regarding the JTAG/SMC hack.

actually, DARKFIB3R is right. the jtag/smc hack had nothing to do with a hacked drive. its a totally different method. the KK exploit needed the drive yes, to run the game with modified shaders,since you cant modify a pressed retail disc, but not jtag,that was the work of jtag and the nand controller.

Summary: hadn't MS left the DVD out of the hypervisor, the 360 wouldn't have been possible to hack.

the RGH didn't need the drive either.

I was already thinking of ways to exploit the online system check.

Here are my current ideas:

Time Reset: Example. Go online at 1:00PM you would need to go back online before 1PM the next day. So just reset the date back a few 100 years or the time back a few hours. (I guess there will be a simple way to select the time on console)

Firmware Flash: Flash the DVD Drive to enable playback of copied games. This would mean being not connected to the internet.

Mod console to accept unsigned code: There will be a system flag for online and offline, you could simply just jump this so the xbox thinks it is always online (providing it does not need to get data from the online cloud every 24hs)

Whatever happens the Xbox one will be cracked fairly fast, You will most likely see firmware hacks at first and possibly timebomb hacks before any actual mods.

I was already thinking of ways to exploit the online system check.

Here are my current ideas:

Time Reset: Example. Go online at 1:00PM you would need to go back online before 1PM the next day. So just reset the date back a few 100 years or the time back a few hours. (I guess there will be a simple way to select the time on console)

That will never work. Always online means they're always going to ping a time server to keep your time accurate to your timezone.

That will never work. Always online means they're always going to ping a time server to keep your time accurate to your timezone.

They say you can play offline 24hs this is what i mean, set the time within that 24hs not connected to the net. Or reset the date back a few days. They have made more stupid mistakes in the past i would not be shocked if they left this open to exploit.

that table isn't entirely accurate. 360 hacked for linux and homebrew... eh no. it was hacked for piracy, I have seen noone running linux on it, and extremely little homebrew. also if the dvd drive hadn't been l?eft out of the hypervisor, it wouldn't have been hacked in the first place.

Lest gen was almost hack proof. Next gen is going to take the next step and be even harder to hack.

We had unsigned code and piracy on the 360 within 12 months, sure it was a lot harder to hack, and a lot easier to patch exploits but still it happened in a year...

In regards to unsigned code hacks... the Xbox 360 WAS hacked for Linux / legal homebrew not created by the Microsoft SDK.

To quote tmbinc who had a lot to do with hacking the 360, and XeLL (Xenon Linux Loader):

I will do my very best to prevent the 360 homebrew becoming illegal. That's why i absolutely don't care for XDK homebrew.

I can only ask people to better invest their time into trying to create something free for the 360. I know it will probably not work out, because somebody will write a "XDK loader", but definitely i won't be doing that.

Source

Now of course piracy was going to happen after he released the hack, however his motivation was to keep everything legal:

My personal believe is that the xbox1 scene was so piracy-centric that nobody ever cared much for free alternatives. Linux development, for example, suffered a lot, because it was so easy to just use the XDK.

I believe it's a real pity that really fine projects (like XMBC), who invested a hell of work, cannot publish their binaries. I would be pretty upset if i had worked on some software which would become illegal at compile time.

Source

You are right that most people used the Jtag and RGH hacks to boot a hacked Microsoft kernel and pirate games, that wasn't the intention of the people behind both hacks however.

There's a lot of crap in this thread, pretty unbelievable really.

Anyway, security on consoles is achieved through obscurity or public/private key encryption. Cracking obscurity is hard if you don't have the right tools and knowledge, but if for example you know how to de-pot chips, have a very intensive microscope and somehow to scan the whole chip at a clear level and have enough time to search the chip, you'd be able to de-obscurificate it and crack the encryption. Some academic did that with the PS3 and xbox 360 and got some private keys somehow.

Public/private key is much harded because you need an exploit or the private key really.

that is true, a hacked drive was needed,but it was also needed to be dumped first. this wasn't really Microsoft fault either. the mediatek chip was opened with nitric acid,and the flash die was found floating on top of the dvd controller die in some silicon dioxide with bond wires exposed ready to be probed for dumping, like a ###### with her legs wide open,ready for action.

You are talking new console revisions there. back in 2006 it was the sammy and hitachi. the sammy wasn't encrypted or even locked (MS25 - the MS28 was locked but overcame in seemingly hours). any SATA controller would happily dump the firmware using slightly modified for the command-existing samsung DVD firmware tools... Hitachi just used a fancy batch script as the TSOP was in the EEPROM or something preventing complete overwrite IIRC, it was also encrypted but easily reversed. Eventually they merged the eeprom and TSOP of the DVD into the mediatek chip and then the real fun began.

You are talking new console revisions there. back in 2006 it was the sammy and hitachi. the sammy wasn't encrypted or even locked. any SATA controller would happily dump the firmware using slightly modified for the command-existing samsung DVD firmware tools... Eventually they merged the eeprom and TSOP of the DVD into the mediatek chip and then the real fun began.

right,forgot about those ones.

I was already thinking of ways to exploit the online system check.

Here are my current ideas:

Time Reset: Example. Go online at 1:00PM you would need to go back online before 1PM the next day. So just reset the date back a few 100 years or the time back a few hours. (I guess there will be a simple way to select the time on console)

Firmware Flash: Flash the DVD Drive to enable playback of copied games. This would mean being not connected to the internet.

Mod console to accept unsigned code: There will be a system flag for online and offline, you could simply just jump this so the xbox thinks it is always online (providing it does not need to get data from the online cloud every 24hs)

Whatever happens the Xbox one will be cracked fairly fast, You will most likely see firmware hacks at first and possibly timebomb hacks before any actual mods.

Time resets haven't worked to reset time bombs for years.

the DVD/BD drive won't be outside the hypervisor this time.

leaving only the last option. and it took a long time for that to happen on the 360 and it required above average skill to mod. chances are they will make this even harder this time around. so I think your fairly fast is going to stretch to at least 3 years, possibly ever.

There's a lot of crap in this thread, pretty unbelievable really.

Anyway, security on consoles is achieved through obscurity or public/private key encryption. Cracking obscurity is hard if you don't have the right tools and knowledge, but if for example you know how to de-pot chips, have a very intensive microscope and somehow to scan the whole chip at a clear level and have enough time to search the chip, you'd be able to de-obscurificate it and crack the encryption. Some academic did that with the PS3 and xbox 360 and got some private keys somehow.

Public/private key is much harded because you need an exploit or the private key really.

decapping the chips were never done on xbox or ps3 CPUs,it was all software hacking. only the dvd drive ic was decaped. you can decap these main CPUs all you want, unless you have access to expensive tools,then theres no way you're going to be able to work on 40nm parts. the maximum you can see the transistors on optically with a microscope is 350nm. anything smaller and you are exceeding the wavelength of light. if you want to rent time on a focused ion beam workstation,get ready to pay $400+ an hour using such devices. And even then, there are security meshes,5+ layers,light sensors, encrypted busses,invisible roms, all which would take an enourmous amount of time to figure out.

Not everyone who mods their consoles goes straight to pirating games.

Original Xbox, PS2 and the Wii when modded all have the ability to use a HDD to run games. That's the biggest reason I have them all modded. Throw in a large HDD loaded with copies of the games that I PAID FOR and less loading times and no wearing down the optical drive. Extending the life of the consoles and the discs themselves. Same thing with my PSP. Would rather load everything from a 32gb card instead of that idiotic, battery killing, slow-loading UMD drive.

decapping the chips were never done on xbox or ps3 CPUs,it was all software hacking. only the dvd drive ic was decaped. you can decap these main CPUs all you want, unless you have access to expensive tools,then theres no way you're going to be able to work on 40nm parts. the maximum you can see the transistors on optically with a microscope is 350nm. anything smaller and you are exceeding the wavelength of light. if you want to rent time on a focused ion beam workstation,get ready to pay $400+ an hour using such devices. And even then, there are security meshes,5+ layers,light sensors, encrypted busses,invisible roms, all which would take an enourmous amount of time to figure out.

I'm pretty sure it was done, it wasn't done for a crack or whatnot it was academic, can't find anything with some quick searches only loads of links to exploits but I'm sure it was reported on years ago saying security on the 360 was done through obscurity.

I'm pretty sure it was done, it wasn't done for a crack or whatnot it was academic, can't find anything with some quick searches only loads of links to exploits but I'm sure it was reported on years ago saying security on the 360 was done through obscurity.

could be analysis on the bootloaders,which are actually dumped. that would make sense,because it would take years and years even with the right tools to dig into the chip enough to extract this sensitive data. even the guys that do this for a living and have access to these tools,like chris tarnovsky and karsten khnol take a long time to do this on simple microcontrollers. tarnovsky took 6 months to hack the Infineon TPM chip,which is an 8-16 bit microcontroller,and I believe its in the 200s nm. the PPC chips of last gen are totally different beasts. no way it was done. tarnovsky was asked to do work on the xbox 360 chip actually,and the other party offered $200K,and he turned them down and said no way,thats not enough money.

could be analysis on the bootloaders,which are actually dumped. that would make sense,because it would take years and years even with the right tools to dig into the chip enough to extract this sensitive data. even the guys that do this for a living and have access to these tools,like chris tarnovsky and karsten khnol take a long time to do this on simple microcontrollers. tarnovsky took 6 months to hack the Infineon TPM chip,which is an 8-16 bit microcontroller,and I believe its in the 200s nm. the PPC chips of last gen are totally different beasts. no way it was done. tarnovsky was asked to do work on the xbox 360 chip actually,and the other party offered $200K,and he turned them down and said no way,thats not enough money.

Looked it up and that must be the guy, seems that maybe one article has it a bit wrong and that's the article I read?

http://news.techworld.com/networking/3211829/xbox-360-chip-can-be-hacked-claims-researcher/

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • I still don't think it's as simple as that. Should Amazon drop "Cloud" from their product/service branding? That's a platform too?
    • Microsoft explains why PowerToys 0.100.0 is faster and slimmer, there are new features too by Sayan Sen Microsoft has released PowerToys version 0.100.0 today, bringing a sizeable collection of upgrades across the utility suite. While the release contains fixes and improvements for multiple modules, the biggest highlights revolve around performance, reduced package size, Command Palette enhancements, a redesigned Shortcut Guide experience, and further refinements to the recently introduced Power Display utility. For anyone not familiar or who does not read Neowin regularly, Microsoft PowerToys is a free, open-source set of utilities for Windows 10 and 11 that are designed to help with customization that can also in turn boost your productivity. It offers tools such as FancyZones for window layouts, PowerToys Run for quick app launching, Color Picker, PowerRename, and more. The app is primarily meant for power users on Windows, and hence the name. One of the most notable changes in PowerToys 0.100.0 is its migration to .NET 10. Besides modernizing the codebase, the move greatly reduces the application's overall footprint and also claims to improve startup times and general responsiveness. For users who keep PowerToys running continuously in the background, this could mean a smoother experience and lower resource usage over time. It is no fluke for sure as is evident from the download size. While the previous release 0.99.1 was 376MB, the latest release is substantially smaller at just 272MB. That's a 28% drop. Microsoft is also continuing its development of Command Palette as the launcher receives another round of upgrades including a new utility called Extension Gallery. As the name suggests, it lets users browse through and also install various extensions without leaving the Command Palette. It is available within the Command Palette settings. Speaking of new utilities, a newly revamped Shortcut Guide experience has been added. It basically displays available Windows key shortcuts on demand and has been redesigned to make discovering and learning keyboard shortcuts easier. Given that Shortcut Guide was one of the earlier PowerToys features in its open-source era, the refresh brings it more in line with the modern design language Microsoft has been introducing throughout the project. Power Display, the monitor-management utility introduced recently, also receives meaningful improvements. The tool allows users to control supported monitor settings such as brightness, contrast, volume, and color profiles directly from the system tray without reaching for physical monitor buttons. Several existing modules have received smaller but useful improvements as well. Microsoft has continued refining FancyZones, File Locksmith, Advanced Paste, Image Resizer, Mouse utilities, and other components. As usual, the release includes a long list of bug fixes aimed at improving stability, reducing crashes, and addressing user-reported issues across the suite. The full changelog is given below: Advanced Paste Fixed Advanced Paste clipboard-to-JSON conversion so clipboard read failures return an empty result instead of surfacing an exception in #48124 Command Palette Extension Gallery & Extensions Added the Command Palette Extension Gallery so users can discover, browse, install, update, and uninstall community extensions from within Command Palette, with cached gallery data, extension details/screenshots, and WinGet status/progress integration in #46636 by @jiripolasek Added Command Palette parameter pages so extensions can prompt for lightweight command inputs directly in the search experience, including sample pages and SDK support for parameter runs in #47826 Updated Command Palette bookmarks to collect placeholder values as inline parameters, so bookmarked commands can be filled in directly instead of opening a separate placeholders page in #47886 Improved Command Palette Extension Gallery link handling so only HTTP/HTTPS homepage, author, install, and metadata links are shown or opened from the gallery UI in #47898 by @jiripolasek Fixed Command Palette Extension Gallery UI bindings so WinGet operation indicators continue to update correctly without build warnings in #47899 by @jiripolasek Fixed an AOT-only Command Palette Extension Gallery crash when opening an extension page with screenshots in #48065 Updated the Command Palette extension template to use the 0.11 SDK package in #48066 Improved Command Palette accessibility so Narrator announces checkbox labels on the Installed Apps page in Extensions settings in #48135 by @chatasweetie Dock Added Command Palette Dock support for customizing dock bands separately per monitor, allowing multi-monitor setups to keep independent dock layouts in #46915 Added Command Palette Dock edit mode support for dragging dock bands between monitors, so pinned commands can move across per-monitor dock layouts in #47921 Added Command Palette Dock drag-and-drop bookmarking for files and URLs, immediately creating and pinning bookmarks, improving pinned folder bookmarks so they open the Command Palette browse experience in #47989 Fixed Command Palette dock context menu commands so Page commands and confirmation dialogs open the palette at the dock item when invoked from a dock item menu in #47991 Fixed Command Palette Dock band tooltips so they refresh when the item title or subtitle changes in #47557 Fixed Command Palette dock startup animations so items pinned to the End section animate consistently with Start and Center items in #48099 Fixed Command Palette dock subtitle visibility in compact mode so subtitles refresh correctly after async updates in #48088 by @michaeljolley Fixed Command Palette hotkey navigation when the palette is showing a transient dock page in #48089 by @michaeljolley Fixed a Command Palette dock window border that occasionally remained visible after disconnect/reconnect, by ensuring the owner HWND is set before frame removal in #48180 Improved the Command Palette Pin to Dock dialog by reordering controls so they appear above the preview, making the dialog easier to scan in #48250 Performance Monitor Added a Battery widget to Command Palette Performance Monitor that shows live charge percentage, charging/AC status, and estimated time remaining, updating the dock-band battery icon to reflect current charge level and charging state in #47870 by @Knyrps Added Command Palette Performance Monitor dock bands for individual metrics like CPU, memory, network, GPU, and battery when available in #47967 Fixed Command Palette Performance Monitor's CPU dock reading to use a 0–100% system CPU counter, preventing boosted CPUs from showing values above 100% in #47864 by @Knyrps Improved Command Palette Performance Monitor network widgets by giving Send and Receive distinct up/down arrow icons and simplifying their labels in #48118 Reordered Command Palette Performance Monitor network dock bands to match Task Manager's send/receive order in #48098 by @michaeljolley Fixed a Command Palette Performance Monitor crash when a GPU index falls outside the available range in #48103 by @michaeljolley Fixed a Command Palette Performance Monitor settings file path collision that could cause widget settings to overwrite one another in #48251 by @namdpran8 Calculator Added rand() and randi() to the Command Palette Calculator and improved error messages by distinguishing invalid expressions, NaN, and out-of-range results in #47725 by @daverayment Fixed Command Palette Calculator parsing for multi-argument functions in cultures where comma is both thousands separator and argument separator, so expressions like max(1,2) and grouped numbers are handled correctly in #47731 by @daverayment Fixed the Command Palette and Run Calculator 'log' and 'ln' functions when whitespace separates the function name from its argument, so 'log (n)' computes log base 10 and 'ln (n)' no longer errors out in #47767 by @daverayment Reliability & UX Added a pinned commands section to the Command Palette Home page with context-menu actions for reordering pinned commands in #45869 by @jiripolasek Updated Command Palette Shell provider to behave more like Windows Run, improving command execution and suggestions for network paths, NTFS paths, and other edge-case paths in #47642 Improved Command Palette Window Walker by showing a loading state while open windows are queried during search in #47919 Improved Command Palette list items by limiting visible tag pills to three and showing a +N overflow badge, preventing tags from crowding out titles in #47140 Added a Command Palette All Apps setting to hide app description subtitles in search results for a cleaner list view in #47128 Fixed Command Palette back navigation so the bottom command bar refreshes immediately when returning with Esc or Backspace in #47126 Fixed Command Palette Extensions settings text so single command and fallback command counts use singular wording in #47125 Improved Command Palette extension logging by routing extension messages to info, warning, or error logs according to their reported severity in #47896 Updated Command Palette versioning to 0.11 in #47841 Added stable Command Palette automation IDs so UI testing tools can reliably target controls and generated list items across sessions in #48033 Fixed Command Palette Dock positioning when opening palette items from secondary displays, so the palette appears on the correct monitor in #48061 Updated developer documentation with steps for debugging Command Palette directly through its Visual Studio solution filter in #48108 by @Morma016 Added Command Palette Remote Desktop support for connecting to arbitrary hostnames typed into the list page, in addition to discovered connections in #48069 by @michaeljolley Improved Command Palette result scoring by synchronising fallback title and subtitle formatting so similar items rank consistently in #48085 by @michaeljolley Added a Command Palette "Show details" / "Hide details" toggle (with an icon) to the context menu, replacing the previous separate entries in #48140 by @chatasweetie FancyZones Added translator-comment guidance to the FancyZones Editor strings 'Space around zones' and 'Highlight distance' so localizers translate them as margin/padding and adjacent-zone detection distance, fixing misleading Japanese renderings in #47226 File Explorer Fixed a Markdown preview crash on UTF-8 files (notably CJK content) that exceeded WebView2's NavigateToString byte limit by switching the size check to count UTF-8 bytes and falling back to the temp-file rendering path when the threshold is exceeded in #47391 File Locksmith Fixed File Locksmith handling of Unicode file paths when passing paths between normal and elevated runs, preventing certain non-ASCII paths from being corrupted in #47361 Grab And Move Fixed the LNK2038 C++/WinRT version mismatch breaking GrabAndMove on CI by adding the Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT NuGet to GrabAndMove.vcxproj so it uses the repo-pinned CppWinRT instead of whatever the Windows SDK ships in #47910 Removed the "NEW" tag from the Grab And Move entry in Settings now that the module has shipped through a full release in #48174 by @moooyo Image Resizer Added live settings reload to Image Resizer so external changes to settings.json take effect immediately without relaunching the flow in #45266 by @daverayment Improved Image Resizer accessibility so Narrator announces the Resize button by name and the window title now reads 'Image Resizer' instead of the generic 'WinUI Desktop' in #47752 Keyboard Manager Enabled the redesigned Keyboard Manager editor by default, so new installations open the WinUI 3 editor without changing settings in #48245 Mouse Without Borders Added Mouse Without Borders Refresh Connections to Quick Access and the Settings Dashboard so users can reconnect devices faster in #46025 Refactored Mouse Without Borders logging cleanup with no intended user-facing behavior change in #44553 by @mikeclayton Peek Added a 'Show file preview tooltip' toggle to Peek's Behavior settings so users can disable the on-hover metadata tooltip (filename, type, date modified, size), and fixed the binding so toggling off no longer leaves an empty popup attached in #46624 PowerDisplay Improved Power Display by automatically disabling the feature after a detected DDC/CI capability crash and showing a Settings warning before users re-enable it in #47734 Fixed Power Display flyout keyboard handling so pressing Escape closes the window in #48026 Improved Power Display monitor detection by rescanning displays when the screen wakes and temporarily locking controls until the refresh completes in #47876 Updated PowerToys documentation to include telemetry events for Grab And Move and Power Display in #47228 Updated Power Display localization comments so the product name remains untranslated in UI strings, including the system tray tooltip in #47351 Improved Power Display monitor discovery by distinguishing internal panels from external monitors before applying brightness controls, reducing unnecessary DDC/CI probing on built-in displays in #47740 Fixed Power Display upgrades so existing per-monitor preferences are carried forward from older monitor IDs to the current stable IDs in #47977 Added a Power Display Max compatibility mode setting that can find monitors skipped by standard DDC discovery, with an immediate rescan and warning in Settings when enabled in #47875 Improved Power Display brightness, contrast, and volume sliders by committing changes after a short debounce and allowing mouse-wheel adjustments in #47756 Fixed Power Display brightness, contrast, and volume controls on monitors whose native DDC/CI ranges are not 0-100 by scaling slider percentages correctly in #47679 Added a Power Display Settings confirmation prompt before enabling the module and improved monitor diagnostics for troubleshooting in #48111 Fixed Power Display per-monitor settings so toggles persist across restarts, monitor reordering, and transient discovery failures in #47712 Added a built-in Power Display monitor blacklist so known problematic displays are skipped during DDC/CI discovery and reported in logs instead of being probed in #48051 Fixed a Power Display false-positive crash detection when the host process exits cooperatively, so the safety lockout no longer triggers on clean shutdowns in #48173 by @moooyo Removed the "NEW" tag from the Power Display entry in Settings now that the module has shipped through a full release in #48174 by @moooyo Reworked the Power Display warning dialog with clearer messaging, distinct warning kinds, and a dedicated dialog view-model so users get more actionable guidance after a DDC/CI issue in #48249 PowerToys Run Improved PowerToys Run Calculator to return a friendly error for expressions whose result is a complex number (e.g. sqrt(-1)) instead of throwing during decimal conversion in #47506 by @MardSilva Documented the third-party PowerToys Run plugin Community.PowerToys.Run.Plugin.DiskAnalyzer for scanning folders/drives to find the largest files and folders in #48106 by @thetsaw Quick Accent Updated Quick Accent’s popup UI to standard PowerToys styling while keeping the accent selector experience unchanged in #46604 Improved Quick Accent language selection consistency by sharing the same language list between the accent popup and Settings UI in #47211 by @daverayment Added Greek Polytonic as a Quick Accent language, making polytonic Greek characters available from matching letter keys and Settings in #47021 by @daverayment and @guidotorresmx Fixed Quick Accent popup sizing, positioning, and selection glitches on high-DPI or multi-monitor setups, and improved Shift-key detection for navigation in #46593 by @daverayment Settings Added Image Resizer size preset validation so empty or whitespace names are ignored, keeping presets named and easier to understand in #45425 Fixed the Settings UI resource list by removing a duplicate Quick Accent Greek Polytonic language entry, allowing Settings builds to complete cleanly in #48054 Improved Settings UI with refreshed PowerToys imagery, constrained OOBE/SCOOBE layouts, and cleaner General settings controls and icons in #48024 Fixed the Settings “No shortcuts to show” empty-state message so it displays with a single period in #47287 by @daverayment Updated Grab And Move settings localization guidance so the Korean translation for “Activation modifier key” uses the feature activation meaning instead of product activation wording in #47352 Fixed the Quick Access flyout shortcut editor so clicking Reset no longer crashes PowerToys Settings and leaves the shortcut empty cleanly in #47407 Fixed PowerToys auto-update so it now actually relaunches after install with a 'successfully updated' toast, backs up all JSON configs before updating with restore on detected corruption, and defaults AutoDownloadUpdates to true for fresh installs in #46889 Renamed the OOBE overview "Learn" link label to "Documentation" so the call-to-action is clearer to first-time users in #48155 Shortcut Guide Fixed Shortcut Guide key visuals to show readable key names instead of raw numeric key codes, while preserving arrow key glyph behavior in #48037 by @noraa-junker Improved Shortcut Guide V2 reliability and accuracy by showing the configured shortcut, including additional PowerToys module shortcuts, matching app manifests correctly, and exiting cleanly from Esc or the close button in #48043 by @noraa-junker Added Shortcut Guide V2, a redesigned shortcut reference with built-in manifests for Windows, PowerToys, and common apps, plus taskbar/context-aware navigation and updated Settings, OOBE, docs, and installer support in #40834 by @noraa-junker Renamed the Settings UI module label from "Shortcut Guide V2" to "Shortcut Guide" now that V2 is the only shipping version in #48151 Fixed a Shortcut Guide V2 crash that occurred when the per-app Manifests directory was missing or unreadable, by treating the directory as empty in that case in #48171 by @MuyuanMS Reworded the Shortcut Guide module and OOBE descriptions so they better explain what V2 does and how to invoke it in #48248 Workspaces Reworked the Workspaces editor with WPF Fluent theming (dropping ControlzEx and ModernWpf), refined fonts, spacing, and Mica background, and moved action buttons to the top with full-width scrolling in #46172 by @Jay-o-Way ZoomIt Removed a stale Microsoft.Windows.ImplementationLibrary NuGet import from ZoomItBreak.vcxproj that was unused but broke the official build after the .NET 10 upgrade bumped the sibling project's WIL version in #47649 Added webcam capture overlay and multi-clip append-with-transitions support to the ZoomIt recording/trim editor, exposed the new options in the ZoomIt Settings page, and fixed microphone/webcam selection-dialog bugs along the way in #47529 by @foxmsft and @markrussinovich Fixed ZoomIt's record-hotkey registration so when Alt is the only modifier the window-record hotkey (base XOR Alt) is no longer registered as a modifier-less key that had been hijacking every bare keypress in #47388 Exposed ZoomIt's 16:9 aspect-ratio toggle for the screen-region recording hotkey (default Ctrl+Shift+5) in the PowerToys Settings UI in #47695 by @foxmsft Development To download the new release, head over to the official PowerToys GitHub repo here. Build / dependency improvements: Updated PowerToys build and developer tooling to .NET 10, with Visual Studio 2026 now required for building from source in #41280 by @jerone and @snickler Fixed Shortcut Guide v2 release signing by adding the YamlDotNet dependency to the signed binaries list in #48050 Updated shared PowerToys .NET runtime and library packages from 10.0.7 to 10.0.8 for the latest servicing fixes in #48010 by @snickler Improved PowerToys build tooling so build scripts discover Visual Studio 2026 Insiders/Preview installations with C++ tools and skip unusable installs in #47462 Updated PowerToys WinUI platform dependencies, including Windows App SDK 2.0.1 and WebView2, for apps and the Command Palette extension template in #47470 Updated shared PowerToys .NET runtime and library packages from 10.0.6 to 10.0.7 for the latest servicing fixes in #47517 by @snickler Fixed Quick Accent release signing by adding PowerAccent.Common.dll to the signed binaries list in #48058 Fixed Advanced Paste release signing by adding the Google Gemini-related dependency DLLs to the signed binaries list in #48001 Updated Advanced Paste AI dependencies, including Semantic Kernel and provider connectors, to newer package versions in #47819 CI & automation: Added a Telemetry PR Check workflow that detects telemetry event changes in pull requests and posts contributor guidance in #47889 Updated GitHub issue triage automation by renaming the area-labeling workflow and removing the legacy product auto-label workflow in #47911 Added GitHub issue triage automation that applies Product/Area labels to new or reopened issues and supports manual backfill in #47808 Fixed GitHub issue auto-labeling by correcting Product label names so the workflow applies existing repository labels in #48027 Added a GitHub Action and tester for issue triage that applies Product labels from issue template areas, with AI fallback and manual modes in #47485 Fixed GitHub issue auto-labeling so the workflow can authenticate with GitHub Models and apply area labels again in #47820 Updated spell-check CI expectations by removing obsolete tokens, reducing noisy advisory comments on pull requests in #48110 Updated CI to skip automatic builds for draft pull requests until they are ready for review in #47442 Fixed the README roadmap reference for v0.100 so it renders as a clickable milestone link in #47785 Updated README download guidance to point users to release assets and changes the release notes link to the releases page in #47432 Updated the GitHub issue tracker duplicate-resolution reply to more clearly point users to the original tracking issue in #47981 To download the new release, head over to PowerToys official GitHub repo here.
    • A bunch of clowns!! Lacking resolve entirely & whatever they commit to is typically substandard. I cannot tolerate that organisation & given I am an MCSE, that speaks volumes! 😂
    • Bandizip 7.44 by Razvan Serea Bandizip is a powerful archiver which provides an ultrafast processing speed and convenient features. Available free of charge, and its paid editions support a variety of advanced features. Main features Supported OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 (32bit/64bit/arm64) All-inclusive compression / decompression / browsing / editing Archiver Extraction for 30+ formats, including RAR/RAR5/7Z/ZIP Compressing an archive with password and multi-volume Fast compression with multi-core Windows 11 Context Menu support Compression Supported formats: ZIP, 7Z(lzma2), ZIPX(xz), EXE(sfx), TAR, TGZ, LZH(lh7), ISO(joliet), GZ, and XZ ZIP file modification (add/delete/rename) Up to 6 times faster compression using multi-core Encrypted archive creation Supports AES256 encryption algorithm Supports compression of 4GB+ size files Unicode or MBCS filename for ZIP format Multi-volume archive creation of ZIP/7z format Decompression Supported formats: 7Z, ACE, AES, ALZ, ARJ, BH, BIN, BR, BZ, BZ2, CAB, Compound(MSI), DAA(1.0), DEB, EGG, GZ, IMG, ISO, ISZ, LHA, LZ, LZH, LZMA, PMA, RAR, RAR5, SFX(EXE), TAR, TBZ/TBZ2, TGZ, TLZ, TXZ, UDF, WIM, XPI, XZ, Z, ZIP, ZIPX, ZPAQ, PEA, UU, UUE, XXE, ASAR, ZSTD, and NSIS Easy view of an archive's file list Extraction of selected files only. Also supports drag & drop Availability of ZIP & RAR format archive comment One-step extraction of TGZ/TBZ formats Various features File integrity check test to ensure whether an archive is damaged or not Supports Code-page change features Explorer shell menu integration Bandizip 7.44 changelog: Fixed a vulnerability that certain file extensions are not recognized as executable files (KVE-2026-0830) Fixed a vulnerability that could occur when processing hard links in some (specially crafted) TAR archives (KVE-2026-0925) Fixed a vulnerability that could occur when processing symbolic links in some TAR archives (KVE-2026-0932) Fixed a vulnerability related to some ISZ files (Thanks to zzoru) Fixed a vulnerability related to some UDF files (Thanks to zzoru) Other modifications Download: Bandizip 64-bit | Portable | ~7.0 MB (Free, ad-supported) Download: Bandizip 32-bit | 11.0 MB Download Bandizip 6.29 (last freeware version) View: Bandizip Home Page | Bandizip Edition Comparison | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Year In
      Primer1st earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Experienced
      JayZJay went up a rank
      Experienced
    • Reacting Well
      Sir_Timbit earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      rubentuben8 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      ARaclen earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      229
    3. 3
      Edouard
      136
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      87
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      80
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!