Monday, October 19, 2026
The technology industry has spent years promising to make everything easier. This week, Windows has managed to interfere with its own security settings, criminals have discovered that your calendar is a perfectly good place to hide a scam, and a journalist spent 25 hours trying to repair an AI system designed to prevent AI mistakes. Meanwhile, Firefox wants to fill out forms for you, Apple has apparently declared November a national product-launch holiday, and somebody has figured out how to put a cellular tower in the sky without building a tower. It's another promising week for people who enjoy technology, provided they don't insist that it work.
Windows Security Is Having a Little Trouble With Security
Microsoft's October Windows 11 update fixes several problems, including a black-screen issue and mouse glitches, but introduces a new one: some users can no longer turn on Smart App Control, the feature designed to prevent suspicious software from running.
Microsoft has published a temporary workaround involving changes to the Windows Registry. There's no permanent fix yet.
Why you should care: If Smart App Control was already enabled, it should continue working. If it was disabled, however, you may find yourself unable to turn it back on. Check Windows Security before assuming everything is operating normally, and don't start modifying the Registry unless you know what you're doing.
Read more: PCWorld — Windows 11's October Update Blocks Smart App Control. Here's the Fix
Your Calendar Would Like to Steal Your Password
Apparently, criminals have decided that suspicious emails aren't getting enough attention, so they're sending suspicious appointments instead.
Security researchers report that calendar-invitation scams increased tenfold in a single month. The invitations may appear to come from legitimate services and often contain links designed to steal passwords or other personal information.
Unlike ordinary spam, a malicious calendar invitation can turn up right alongside your dentist appointment and your reminder to buy milk.
Why you should care: Treat unexpected calendar invitations with the same skepticism you'd apply to unsolicited email. Don't follow unfamiliar links, and review your calendar settings to prevent invitations from strangers from appearing automatically.
Read more: PCWorld — Calendar Invite Scams Jumped 10x in a Month
Firefox Wants to Fill Out Your Forms. It Also Fixed 77 Problems.
Mozilla has released Firefox 158, introducing AI-assisted form filling, improved PDF handling, and support for the JPEG XL image format.
More importantly, the update addresses 77 security vulnerabilities, including 30 classified as high risk. Some could potentially allow malicious code to execute or escape the browser's security sandbox.
The AI form-filling feature is being introduced gradually, so don't panic if your browser hasn't volunteered to complete your paperwork yet.
Why you should care: Your browser handles passwords, banking, shopping, email, and a considerable amount of personal information. Keeping it updated is one of the simplest security measures available. Firefox users should check for the latest version, regardless of whether they want its new AI features.
Read more: PCWorld — Firefox 158 Adds AI Form Filling and Fixes 77 Security Flaws
The AI Expert Who Learned Not to Trust AI
PCWorld editor Brad Chacos spent months developing an AI system intended to identify and prevent hallucinations, the confident but incorrect answers AI systems sometimes produce.
Then the system failed spectacularly.
The resulting troubleshooting ordeal consumed approximately 25 hours and potentially $1,500 in work and computing costs. Worse, the AI tools he enlisted to diagnose the problem couldn't be trusted to explain what had gone wrong.
It's rather like hiring a consultant to investigate why your consultant keeps making things up, only to discover that the second consultant is making things up too.
Why you should care: AI can be enormously useful, but its confident explanations aren't necessarily correct. If you're using it to generate business documents, modify software, analyze financial information, or troubleshoot technical problems, maintain independent backups and verify important results.
Read more: PCWorld — The Better I Got at AI, the More I Realized I Can't Trust It
Apple Has Apparently Booked Every Friday
Apple is preparing a succession of product releases stretching into November. The iPhone Duo arrives October 23, followed by the HomePod mini 2 on October 30 and the new HomeView and Apple TV 4K on November 13.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, additional Macs and possibly a new iPad mini could arrive November 6, although those products and dates remain unconfirmed.
Apple seems determined to make sure nobody finishes paying for one device before being tempted by another.
Why you should care: If you're considering a new Mac, iPad, or home-entertainment device, waiting a couple of weeks could be worthwhile. New products often change the value proposition of existing models, even if you have no intention of buying the latest thing.
Read more: MacRumors — Apple Expected to Release New Products on Next Four Fridays
The Cell Tower That Floats Above the Weather
An American company called Sceye has successfully flown an enormous unmanned airship from New Mexico to Japan and back, demonstrating technology that could provide cellular coverage from the stratosphere.
Flying roughly 60,000 feet above Earth, the solar-powered aircraft can remain over an area for extended periods. During testing in Japan, it provided mobile connectivity in an area where ordinary cellular coverage had been deliberately disabled.
Unlike a satellite, the airship can potentially be positioned where it's needed. Unlike a conventional cell tower, it doesn't require somebody to build a structure on the ground.
Why you should care: This technology could eventually provide temporary communications after earthquakes, wildfires, floods, and other disasters that damage conventional networks. It may also help extend coverage into remote areas where building traditional infrastructure is difficult or expensive.
Read more: Ars Technica — Stratospheric Airship Flew From US to Japan to Test Sky Cell Tower Concept
Your Next Apple TV Wants to Have a Conversation
Apple's forthcoming Apple TV 4K includes a substantially more capable Siri assistant, powered by Apple Intelligence, and built-in microphones for hands-free voice commands.
Instead of searching through menus, users will be able to make more conversational requests to find movies, television programs, and other entertainment.
Apple is also expanding the device's role as a smart-home hub, including AI-generated descriptions of camera activity and summarized notifications.
In theory, you should be able to ask your television to find something worth watching without spending 45 minutes browsing until you're too tired to watch anything.
Why you should care: The new Apple TV may be especially attractive to households already using HomePods, HomeKit, or other Apple devices. But if your current streaming box works perfectly well, consider whether conversational search and smart-home features justify replacing it.
Read more: Apple — Apple Unveils the New Apple TV 4K
The Latest Laptop Innovation Is Apparently Making Laptops Faster
Microsoft says recent Windows 11 improvements can make parts of the operating system up to 20 percent faster, with particular benefits for computers equipped with 8GB of memory or less.
The company cites improvements to the Start menu, File Explorer, Windows Search, and the update process.
Of course, Microsoft has been making Windows faster for decades, which raises the question of where all that speed keeps going.
Why you should care: Before replacing a computer that feels sluggish, make sure it's running current software and investigate what may be slowing it down. An aging PC won't necessarily become a speed demon, but software improvements and routine maintenance can sometimes postpone an expensive replacement.
Read more: PCWorld — Latest Windows News and Performance Improvements
The PlayStation I Won't Be Fixing
Someone contacted me recently about having a PlayStation 5 cleaned. Apparently, Yelp had decided that video game console repair was among the services I offer. It isn't, and I've since corrected the listing.
I don't do hardware repairs, and I don't pretend to know how to do everything. After 23 years in the IT business, I've learned that knowing when to call somebody else is a skill in itself.
But that doesn't mean I can't help. When someone comes to me with a problem outside my wheelhouse, I'll often help them figure out what kind of specialist they need and, when possible, point them toward someone who can do the job.
A shoutout to Tilson Tverdy at Laptop Repair Center of Boise, who helped point me in the right direction. Two local shops worth contacting about PlayStation repairs are Four Corners Repair Center and FixitPro Boise. Both advertise PS5 repair and cleaning services.
To be clear, I haven't personally worked with either shop, so these are leads to investigate, not endorsements based on firsthand experience. I'd suggest calling ahead to confirm they can handle your particular problem and asking about pricing.
Why you should care: You shouldn't have to become a technology expert just to figure out which technology expert to call. Sometimes the most useful thing I can do is help you find the right person, even if that person isn't me.
One Last Thing
There's a curious pattern running through today's news.
Software designed to protect us occasionally needs protecting. AI designed to eliminate mistakes can introduce new ones. Applications meant to save time sometimes require more time to manage than the work they were supposed to eliminate.
And yet, somewhere above the Pacific Ocean, an enormous solar-powered airship is demonstrating that technology can still accomplish something genuinely remarkable.
Perhaps the secret is to stop expecting every new feature to transform our lives.
Sometimes it's enough for something to work, do what we asked, and leave us alone afterward.
