AI Finds Lots of Bugs
At the Club in June, I mentioned Anthropic’s powerful new AI, Mythos, which could find flaws in software which could be exploited by hackers. The unconstrained version of Mythos was made available to software vendors so they could fix their software before the bad guys could get hold of this kind of powerful AI. I gave the example that a new Firefox update had fixed a massive 432 flaws in April and suggested we would see many more fixes being issued by all major software vendors. We can now see this happening. Microsoft shipped fixes for a record 206 CVEs (“Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures") in June’s Patch Tuesday for Windows. This was followed up in July’s Patch Tuesday with 622 CVEs being fixed! See this Malwarebytes article for more:-
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/bugs/2026/07/july-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-622-microsoft-cves-including-three-zero-days
And Windows August Patch Tuesday (yesterday) fixes another 400 flaws:-
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-august-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-400-flaws-3-zero-days/
Also, Google has released 1,072 bug fixes for its Chrome web browser – that’s more than the last 23 updates combined! Google is looking at doing updates more often – potentially twice a week instead of once per month. Also, Chrome currently only installs an update when it is restarted, so Google is working on a system to ensure updates are implemented more quickly. See this article from Ars Technica:-
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/chrome-may-get-faster-updates-with-no-restart-required/
This trend will probably continue for a few months, as ever more powerful AI tools are used to shake the 1000s of legacy bugs out of the common software we all use.
We briefly discussed that some updates, such as Windows updates, are not applied until the system is restarted. Dave pointed out that Windows "Fast Startup" can cause issues with updates, as it saves the system kernel and drivers to the storage drive so they can be quickly reloaded on startup - effectively, it is a reduced version of hibernate. Some updates may need a complete restart to load all the new components. It turns out that Fast Startup is enabled by default. Since the meeting, I have found this SuperOps website that explains more about this and offers some advice on when to turn it off:-
https://superops.com/tech-hub/what-is-windows-fast-boot
This article also explains how a feature called "Fast Boot" in the system BIOS (the system's firmware, technically known as UEFI on modern systems) works and compares it to Fast Startup in Windows.
Built-in security in Windows (and other systems) is continually improving, but nothing is 100% safe. Windows Security does provide a range of protections in addition to antivirus protection - have a look at this Microsoft article if you want to know more:-
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/operating-system-security/system-security/windows-defender-security-center/windows-defender-security-center
Google Search Operators and Tricks
The Toolbar
When you perform a search, you will see a Toolbar at the top which looks something like this:-
Initially, it starts on “All”, showing all types of sites, but you can be more specific by selecting, for example, Videos or Shopping.
The Tools tab allows you to select websites created within a specified timeframe, e.g., Past week.
You can also use the All results option to select Verbatim for more exact matches to your search words, rather than including spelling variants etc.
The Advanced Search allows you to narrow down the search. Some of these things can also be done using Operators (see below) – if you know them.
Operators
Google Search can use a number of operators to help you search more effectively. Some commonly used examples are:-
- Placing a phrase inside double quote marks (“…..”) will search for the exact phrase, rather than just the individual words in any order.
- A minus sign ( - ) in front of a word or phrase will search for sites that do not include that word or phrase. (Note, using ”-ai” removes the AI overview at the beginning of the search results.)
- Placing “OR” between 2 words or phrases will search for pages containing either one, but not necessarily both.
This site has a complete(?) list of these operators:-
https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/
Calculate and Convert
Just search for “Calculator” (or just “calc”), and one will appear on the screen.
You can also just search for the equation to see the solution – and the Calculator will appear too. For example, searching for “94+58” gives:-
You can express calculations in a number of ways, e.g. “sqrt 256” will reveal the square root of 256.
Google can also convert between units. For example, “300 metres in ft”.
Currency conversions will be based on the real-time conversion rates.
WikiHow has more on this:-
https://www.wikihow.com/Use-the-Google-Calculator
Easter Eggs
On a more frivolous note, Google Search has a number of Easter Eggs built in, that is, little surprises when you search for certain things. My favourites are:-
- Solar eclipse
- do a barrel roll
- askew
You can find a complete(?) list of Easter Eggs and other odd things on Wikipedia:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_Easter_eggs
Google Doodles
The Google logo which you see at google.com changes regularly to celebrate or commemorate current or historic events. All these logos are curated on this site:-
https://doodles.google/
You can use the Library tab at the top to find Doodles by date, topic, etc.
iPhone Fold
There are rumours that Apple may announce a folding iPhone next month when they introduce the iPhone 18. This would be Apple’s first folding phone and is expected to be called the iPhone Ultra. Folding phones have existed in the Android world for a while, from companies including Samsung, Motorola and Google. See this Tom’s Guide article for more on the Ultra and the iPhone 18:-
https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/iphones/iphone-ultra-and-iphone-18-pro-pre-order-date-just-tipped-heres-when-you-can-get-yours
NotebookLM becomes Gemini Notebook
We have mentioned Google’s NotebookLM product a few times. It is an AI research assistant with a number of features to analyse and present information. I used it at the July Club last year to turn the previous month’s Club into a podcast – see “AI Tools” in the blog:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2025/07/
Google is rebranding NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook. This article by Paul Thurrott explains more:-
https://www.thurrott.com/a-i/339032/google-rebrands-notebooklm-to-gemini-notebook
Google Drive Storage Limits
You get 15GB of free storage (* see below) on your Google Drive. From 7th July, backups of your Android devices will count towards your total allocation. To be honest, I thought they already did! See this article from PCMag:-
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-is-giving-you-less-free-storage-for-your-android-backups
Google Photos used to be stored for free, but these now (since June 2021) also count towards your storage limit. To see your current usage, go to:-
https://one.google.com/storage
You can buy more storage space by clicking on Get more storage.
Google’s free offering of 15GB is considerably more generous than Apple and Microsoft, who only provide 5GB of free iCloud and OneDrive storage.
* Dave pointed out that, in some cases, you may only get 5GB of Google Drive when you set up a new Google Account. To get 15GB, you need to link your mobile number to the account. This would presumably prevent someone setting up multiple accounts of 15GB, as they could only link the mobile number to one of them. This was introduced earlier in the year, as reported by this 9to5Google article from 14th May:-
https://9to5google.com/2026/05/14/google-account-free-storage-changes-15gb/
Office 2021 – End of Support
If you are using Microsoft Office 2021, note that support ends on 13th October this year. This means it will not get any more security updates or bug fixes after that date. You can, of course, continue to use it if you wish. See this Microsoft Support page:-
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/system-requirements/end-of-support-for-office-2021
You can purchase the newer version – Office Home 2024 – from Microsoft for £119.99:-
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/get-started-with-office-2024
This gives you Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
If you want a free alternative that is probably as powerful, consider LibreOffice:-
https://www.libreoffice.org/
Google Assistant Ends
If you use the Hey Google voice command to open the assistant on your Android phone, you will be switched to Gemini rather than the old pre-AI assistant. According to this article in Ars Technica, the old assistant will be killed off on 4th September or shortly after:-
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/google-plans-to-kill-assistant-on-your-phone-on-september-4/
You should receive an email from Google explaining this change.
Windows Virtual Desktop
Brian asked about this. You can configure Multiple Desktops in Windows 10 or 11. You can launch a new Desktop by either:-
a) Click on the Task View icon on the Taskbar which looks like this:-
(Note: if the Task View icon is not on the Taskbar, right-click on the Taskbar, select Taskbar Settings, then turn Task View on.)
b) Or, press the Windows Key and Tab (Win Key + Tab).
Click on New Desktop to open a new desktop. You can repeat this to open more virtual desktops. If you close a Desktop with apps open, those apps will move to another desktop.
You can move between virtual desktops by using:-
Ctrl+Win Key+Left/Right Arrow
This PCWorld article has more on this subject:-
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2940362/windows-11s-multiple-desktops-saved-my-sanity-even-when-i-missed-one-big-feature.html
Next Session
Wed 9th September 2026 at 2pm by Zoom
