March 15 tech news roundup: Microsoft retires Remote Desktop app, Amazon Prime is getting more ads, Beware of polymorphic Chrome extensions

Amazon Prime is testing interactive ads

Amazon Prime subscribers will be aware that the streaming service already displays ads, and that you need to pay extra to remove said ads. While viewers have complained that ads are annoying, the company doesn’t seem to be bothered about the negative feedback. Amazon is testing some new ads that could make the experience worse.

A report says that Amazon Prime is working on interactive ads, which as the name suggests will have an option to click on the ad. To be precise, such ads will allow the user to add an item featured in the ad, to their Amazon shopping cart. For example, a watch that an actor is wearing in the video.

Amazon Prime will also start displaying ads when you pause a video stream, the ad will be played right on the pause screen. In addition to the two, the company is also preparing Carousel ads that will display various products as you scroll through using your remote. These new ad formats will be enabled for users in the UK.

Goodbye Remote Desktop, hello Windows app

Microsoft has confirmed that it is retiring the Remote Desktop app. The application allows Windows users to connect to other devices remotely, i.e. over the internet. Now that the app is going away, Microsoft wants users to switch to a different app called the Windows app. The company says that the new app is superior and offers unified access to multiple services such as Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Dev Box. Users may use the Windows app to customize the home screens, it also supports multiple monitors, and dynamic display resolutions.

But here is the thing, the Windows app does not support Remote Desktop connections or RDP on local networks, it does not work with personal Microsoft accounts. Oddly enough, the Mac, Android, and iOS versions of the Windows app offer such features.

The Remote Desktop will be removed from the Microsoft Store at the end of May 2025, and it will no longer be updated. Unsurprisingly, the decision to retire a perfectly functional app in favor of a new one that lacks core functionality offered by the former has drawn criticism from users.

Windows bug may cause printers to print automatically

A strange new bug has been discovered in Windows 11, one that is rather spooky! Your printer may print pages on its own. Microsoft has confirmed the bug, and the culprit is none other than Windows Update. Specifically, the issue occurs on computers that have the January 29 2025 Preview Update or later updates installed.

You may notice that your printer may print random text and data automatically, and sometimes the printout may start with “POST /ipp/print HTTP/1.12”, but not always. This happens when the Print Spooler service sends IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) messages to the printer, which in turn triggers the print command unexpectedly. Affected printers include those that support USB Print and IPP over USB. According to Microsoft, the automatic printing issue is present in Windows 10 22H2, Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2. It does not affect Windows 11 24H2.

Microsoft states that it has issued a Known Issue Rollback to resolve the problem on non-managed devices, i.e. computers that are not managed by IT admins. PCs that are managed by system administrators will need to edit a Group Policy to fix the issue.

Watch out for polymorphic Chrome extensions that steal your data

Malicious Chrome extensions aren’t exactly a new thing. But hacking and phishing methods evolve, as do the malware used by threat actors. A new type of malicious Chrome extensions have been unearthed by security experts at SquareX Labs. This strain of malware has been termed polymorphic extension, because they mimic other extensions.  Polymorphic extensions use icons of other plugins, and even behave like the original extension when a user installs them on their computer.

The malicious plugins prompt the user to pin the extension’s icon to the toolbar, and silently begin to scan the list of extensions that are installed in the browser. When the malware detects a high-value extension is installed,  i.e. a password manager or financial extension, or something that may contain sensitive user data, it executes some malicious code. For example, when a password manager extension is attacked, the polymorphic extension will change its own icon on the toolbar to resemble the hijacked extension. Then an HTML prompt will ask the user to log in to the password manager, but this user data is stolen and sent to the hackers. The malware restores the original password manager and changes its own icon again, making it difficult to trace the attack.

The only way to protect yourself from such attacks is to verify the authenticity of the Chrome extension on the Web Store.

Microsoft releases March 2025 Windows security updates

Microsoft has released this month’s security updates for Windows.  The security patches have fixed a total of 57 vulnerabilities for various Microsoft products and 10 security issues related to third-party software. The March 2025 Windows Update is available for the following versions of the operating system: Windows 10 version 1809, 21H2, 22H2, and Windows 11 version 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2.

Windows 10 users should watch out for the new Outlook app, which gets installed automatically by the March 2025 Windows Update. This also marks the final security update for Windows 11, version 22H2, Home and Pro. Users will be upgraded to newer version of Windows forcibly.

OpenAI wants U.S. to ban DeepSeek due to national security concerns

OpenAI has submitted a proposal to the U.S. government, suggesting it to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence platform, DeepSeek. The American company claims that DeepSeek poses security risks due to its potential ties with the Chinese government, which it believes could compromise national security.

OpenAI has been a vocal critic of DeepSeek, and has even accused it of stealing its data to train its artificial intelligence language models. It also says that the AI market should offer freedom not just to the competition, but also to users, and developers. OpenAI believes The AI Action Plan needs to ensure protect American innovations in AI, while preventing authoritarian governments from misusing their technologies.