July 12 tech news roundup: Gmail adds a new way to manage subscriptions, Microsoft Edge now loads pages up to 40% faster, Beware of malicious browser extensions on Chrome, Edge and Firefox

Windows 11 finally overtakes Windows 10 usage-wise

Windows 11 was released in October 2021. Four years later, it has finally overtaken Windows 10 as the most used operating system on desktop computers.  A report reveals that Windows 11 is installed on 52% of computers, as opposed to 44.59% on Windows 10. A couple of months ago, Windows 11 had just 43.22% of the market share, and Windows 10 was at the top with 53.19%. Windows 11’s sudden rise in popularity is likely due to the fact that Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025.

So, users have just two choices, upgrade to Windows 11, or stay on Windows 10 and not get any security updates. Microsoft has recommended users with old PCs that do not meet the minimum system requirements to run Windows 11, to trade in their PC or buy a new computer. Users on older, unsupported PCs may consider switching to Linux.

Microsoft Edge loads pages faster than ever, here’s how

Microsoft says that Edge is now faster than ever before, thanks to some improvements that it made under the hood. The Redmond company had begun switching from React to WebUI 2.0 last year, to minimize code bundles and reduce the JavaScript code during initial loading. It allows Edge to render elements on web pages 4x faster. This was highlighted in a benchmark that was published by the company, and also highlighted in a demo video on YouTube.

Microsoft says that these changes reduce the page load time in Edge by 40% on average compared to the previous update. Edge will get more performance improvements for Print Preview, Extensions, and more in the coming months.

Gmail gets a new way to manage subscriptions

Google has introduced a new tab in Gmail that lets you unsubscribe from email newsletters. The feature is called Manage Subscriptions, and appears on the side panel. It is quite similar to the Unsubscribe button in Gmail. When you click on Manage Subscriptions, you will see a list of all newsletter senders along with their name, email address, and the number of emails that you have received from them recently. The list is sorted in descending order, i.e. the most frequent sender is listed at the top. Each listing has an unsubscribe button next to it, which you can click on to opt out of the mailing list.

Manage Subscriptions is currently rolling out to users on the web, and will be available in the Gmail app for Android and iOS in the coming weeks.

Millions of users installed malicious extensions on Chrome, Edge, Firefox

Koi Security has published a couple of reports that reveal dozens of malicious extensions that were uploaded to the Chrome Web Store, Microsoft Edge Add-ons, and Firefox Add-ons.

Researchers who investigated a color picker extension had discovered that it was just one of many Chrome/Edge add-ons that were part of a sophisticated attack campaign. The add-ons were not malicious from the start, they would be released as proper utilities that did what the description said. For example, VPN, Weather Forecast, Color Picker tools. A user who installed the add-on would find that the add-on works as intended. However, these add-ons were later updated in a coordinated effort called “The RedDirection Campaign”.

After a version update, the extensions began spying on users when they would visit a new page, the information would be monitored silently by a hidden background service. The extensions captured the URLs and send them to a remote server along with a unique tracking ID, and could even redirect URLs. Hackers could then exploit it and attack the browser remotely.

Meanwhile, Firefox had a bit of a malware problem of its own. In this case, hackers had created extensions to extract wallet credentials for cryptocurrencies, which were then sent to a remote server.

The total number of malicious extension installations on Chrome and Edge is over 2.3 Million users, while Firefox’s numbers were somewhere in the thousands. The full list of affected Firefox add-ons is listed here, while the Chrome/Edge extensions are listed here.

Your Android phone notifications will soon be categorized automatically, with AI

Google seems dead-set on bringing AI to every app, and now it might be baking it right into its operating system. Android 16 will soon introduce a feature called notification organizer. The feature will bundle notifications automatically using AI. Your phone will detect notifications from different apps, and identify the category that they belong to, and organize them accordingly. Notifications will be categorized as follows: Promotions, News, Social, Suggested.

It is unclear whether notification organizer will be exclusive to Pixel phones, but rumors suggest it may be available for more devices after a brief period of Pixel-exclusivity. The news has raised concerns about privacy. A report says that the feature is optional, and can be disabled from the Settings.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Flip 7, and Flip 7 SE announced

Samsung has announced its latest foldable devices. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the newest flagship, which is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor, has an 8-inch screen, with a 6.5-inch cover display. The main camera is a 200MP sensor, which is assisted by 12MP and 10MP cameras.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Flip 7 FE are powered by an Exynos 2500 and 2400 respectively, and sport a 6.9-inch and 6.7-inch screen. Both devices are equipped with a 50MP camera and a 12MP camera. All three phones run on One UI 8 based on Android 16. The foldables are rated IP48 for water and dust resistance.

Samsung has priced the Galaxy Z Fold 7 starting at $1,999/€1,199/£1,799. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 price starts at $1,199/£1049/ €1,999. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE price starts at $899/£849/ €999. Foldable phones are still very expensive, and sadly out of the reach of most people.

7-Zip 25.00 has been released

The open source archiving utility, 7-Zip, has been updated to version 25.00. 7-Zip now supports processors that have more than 64 CPU threads. The improved compatibility makes it faster to compress zip/7z/xz archives on supported computers.

BZip2 compression is now 15 to 40% faster, while deflate for zip/gz compression is 1 to 3% faster. 7-Zip has also improved support for zip, cpio and fat archives. The update also comes with some bug fixes and security fixes.