News
- Apple is paying out $95 million to settle a Siri class-action lawsuit
- If you think you're eligible, you need to submit a claim by the end of July 2
- Apple has denied all wrongdoing in settling the case
Back in January, Apple agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit related to its Siri voice assistant. The case saw some Apple device owners claim that Siri had disclosed their private conversations to advertisers, following "unintended Siri activations".
Apple denied all wrongdoing and agreed to settle the case to "avoid additional litigation" (more on that below). But the result of the 'Lopez vs Apple Inc' suit means that, if you owned and used an Apple device between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024, you could be due a small slice of the payout. You'll need to be quick, though – the deadline is today, July 2.
Those who are eligible could be a line for a maximum payout of $100 (that's $20 per device, for up to five Siri devices). Not exactly a lottery jackpot, but worth investigating if you think you've been affected by unintentionally activating Siri during a private conversation during that period.
As The Verge reports, many of those affected will have received an email titled “Lopez Voice Assistant Class Action Settlement" (from the address 'info@lopezvoiceassistantsettlement.com'). Despite sounding like spam, this is a genuine email containing details like your 'claimant identification code' and more.
But even if you didn't receive this, you can also submit a claim. Here's a quick breakdown of what happened, how Apple's responded and how to file a claim if you think you've been affected...
What happened?The lawsuit's plaintiffs alleged that "confidential or private communications" were "obtained by Apple and/or shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation". According to the suit's homepage, that took place sometime between 17 September, 2014 and 31 December, 2024.
But how? Apple has always maintained that iPhones don't 'listen' to their owners, aside from when wake words like 'Hey, Siri' are used. Well, the key is that phrase "unintended Siri activation".
The plaintiffs say that Siri not only tuned into private conversations by mistake – perhaps by mishearing a wake word – but also used that information to subsequently trigger ads.
(Image credit: Shutterstock / DedMityay)Again, Apple denies that this is possible, stating that "Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles and it has never been sold to anyone for any purpose".
Nevertheless, as Reuters reported, two plaintiffs claimed that their mentions on Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants later resulted in them getting ads for those products, while another plaintiff claimed they got ads for a brand name surgical treatment after talking about it with their doctor.
What did Apple say?Despite agreeing to pay $95 million to settle the Siri lawsuit, Apple was pretty bullish in its response – and admitted no wrongdoing, despite settling the suit.
Apple told us that "Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles and it has never been sold to anyone for any purpose,” adding that collected data is only used to improve the virtual assistant.
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Tada Images)In a separate statement, it added: "Apple settled this case to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019. We use Siri data to improve Siri, and we are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private."
That's fairly emphatic then, but the settlement means that potentially millions of Apple device owners could be eligible for a claim – here's how to check to see if you're one of them.
How to claim(Image credit: Lopez v Apple Inc)If you think you're eligible for a payout in the 'Lopez v Apple Inc' lawsuit, you'll need to use the official claim form and submit it by the end of July 2, 2025.
You'll need to meet some pretty specific criteria in order to be eligible for a payout. That criteria is below and the claim form asks you to confirm all of the below under oath:
- between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024 you bought or owned a Siri device in the United States, and enabled Siri on that device
- you experienced an "unintended Siri activation" in that period
- that unintended Siri activation took place "during a conversation intended to be confidential and private"
You can make claims for up to five Siri devices – these can include iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, iMacs, HomePods, the iPod touch, or Apple TVs.
As mentioned above, many of those who are potentially eligible will have received an email titled "Lopez Voice Assistant Class Action Settlement". But you don't necessarily need to have received that email to make a claim – if not, just click "New Claim" in the claim form and enter your details from there.
You might also likeNow that the PS5 Pro is in the hands of gamers everywhere, the list of PS5 Pro enhanced games continues to grow. Around launch, Sony detailed 50+ titles that have dedicated modes that make use of everything the upgraded console has to offer. Since then we've even put together a best PS5 Pro games list, highlighting the ten top titles that are enhanced on the new console.
Now that the PS5 Pro is out, and we've finalized our PS5 Pro review, there's a lot to love about Sony's most powerful console. Thanks to the PS5 Pro specs, it's no surprise that games such as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 look and feel better than ever, leveraging AI-driven upscaling and improved raytracing. Now that the dust has settled on the PS5 Pro launch, we’ve even been able to spend time with many of the upgraded games, and feel confident offering some recommendations on the PS5 Pro games to play first.
Before you seek out where to buy a PS5 Pro, however, you'll want to know what games have received upgrades, which is where we come in. In this article, we'll cover every PS5 Pro game confirmed so far, including a look at what's set to change in each title. As more games are unveiled in the future, we'll be sure to update this list.
Update (July 2, 2025): Added details on Death Stranding 2, which is out now, featuring PS5 Pro enhancements.
PS5 Pro games list - confirmed PS5 Pro-enhanced titles(Image credit: Guerrilla Games)Given that there are now over 100 PS5 Pro enhanced games, and with each developer handling things slightly differently, the list below represents just a small slice of the headline games that have received beefy PS5 Pro updates since launch:
- 007: First Light - enhanced for PlayStation 5 Pro, using PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) and having optimized performance, with the game playable at 60 FPS in Quality Mode. Coming in 2026.
- Alan Wake 2 - Performance Mode now offers 4K at the same fidelity as the base PS5's Quality Mode. The PS5 Pro Quality Mode however, will target raytracing. As confirmed in this blog post.
- Assassin’s Creed: Shadows - exhibist an enhanced ray-traced global illumination technology. Improved fidelity thanks to expanded GPU capabilities, and leveraging of PSSR. As per the PS Blog.
- Death Stranding 2 - higher visual fidelity in Performance Mode. You can read our thoughts on the upgrades here: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach sold me on the PS5 Pro
- Demon’s Souls - 4K image-like quality at 60 frames per second.
- Dragon’s Dogma 2 - benefits from the power of the PS5 Pro, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) and new ray tracing technology, allowing improved framerates.
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard - The game’s Fidelity and Performance modes both see improvements on the hardware, including improved resolution in 30FPS Fidelity and 60FPS Performance modes.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - enhanced on PlayStation 5 Pro
- Doom: The Dark Ages - enhanced on PS5 Pro. details not given.
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth - The new Enhanced Mode* developed especially for PS5 Pro combines the characteristics of the existing Performance Mode and Graphics Mode to offer players a new visual experience.
- F1 24 - F1 24 is upgrading its Quality mode to add new ray tracing effects that shined particularly on rain-soaked courses and made the tracks feel more realistic and immersive. As per the PS Blog.
- Gran Turismo 7 - now able to support ray tracing during races, which was previously impossible. This allows not only for car surfaces to show full reflections of other cars, but also for a car to reflect its own parts, greatly enhancing realism and immersion throughout the whole game.
- Hogwarts Legacy - Players are able to experience crisper, richer, higher resolution graphics, leveraging PSSR on all visual modes.
- Horizon Forbidden West - you can now enjoy a visual quality that matches or surpasses the Quality mode on the regular PlayStation 5, but now at 60 FPS – double the framerate.
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - experience next-level realism and image clarity with native 4K resolution and advanced ray tracing.
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Spider-Man 2 finds a new default Performance Pro mode, which marries the crisp 4K resolution and ray tracing features of Fidelity mode with the speedy 60 frames per second of Performance mode.
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - PSSR technology allows for the trees and the lush vegetation of the game’s iconic jungle terrain to become more vivid, and enhances the sense of realism of infiltrating through a natural environment
- Monster Hunter Wilds - Resolution Mode for full Ray Tracing at 4K and 30FPS. Performance Mode allows for uncapped frame rate. Balanced Mode with some Ray Tracing at 40FPS on 120Hz monitors
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - new default Performance Pro mode, which marries the crisp 4K resolution and ray tracing features of Fidelity mode with the speedy 60 frames per second of Performance mode.
- Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered - new default Performance Pro mode, which marries the crisp 4K resolution and ray tracing features of Fidelity mode with the speedy 60 frames per second of Performance mode.
- Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales - new default Performance Pro mode, which marries the crisp 4K resolution and ray tracing features of Fidelity mode with the speedy 60 frames per second of Performance mode.
- Resident Evil 4 Remake - the game runs at a higher framerate, making the dynamic action even more intense. Resident Evil 4 also uses the power of PS5 Pro for ultra-high-resolution technology, painting vividly realistic imagery brimming with detailed environments and more natural and beautiful visual effects than ever before.
- Resident Evil Village - added 120fps gameplay to provide the best possible user experience on PS5 Pro.
- Returnal - new resolution offering a boost of up to 2.5x
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - In Quality Mode, the game offers its highest-ever console resolution at 2160p. At the same time, Performance Mode continues to deliver a solid 60 fps—but now with higher resolutions and the added visual depth of ray tracing for reflections and ambient occlusion.
- Stellar Blade - 4K resolution at 50fps or more, with smoother gameplay, and you’ll notice an improvement in grain and detail in the game in PSSR upscale mode. Plus, the HFR (high framerate) option is supported, allowing you to enjoy a fluid gaming experience at 80 fps (120hz display support required).
- The Crew Motorfest - more objects on-screen – decals, vegetation, crowds – all running at 60fps.
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered - PS5 Pro Enhanced
- The First Descendant - expanding the ray tracing feature by leveraging PS5 Pro’s superior GPU performance and enhanced ray tracing architecture.
- The Last of Us Part I - new PS5 Pro-specific enhanced rendering mode that takes advantage of improved graphics processing, rendering 1440p, then upscaling to 4K via PSSR super resolution. This mode maintains the 60 fps target, offering an ideal balance of framerate and resolution.
- The Last of Us Part II Remastered - new PS5 Pro-specific enhanced rendering mode that takes advantage of improved graphics processing, rendering 1440p, then upscaling to 4K via PSSR super resolution. This mode maintains the 60 fps target, offering an ideal balance of framerate and resolution.
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 - Upscaled resolution of 2160p. Target performance of 60FPS, unlocked with VRR enabled. Leverages PSSR upscaling technology.
- Lies of P - "Quality Mode benefits from more than a 30 percent increase in FPS, delivering smoother, more fluid gameplay. Additionally, Performance Mode now supports full native 4K resolution, allowing players to enjoy stunning visuals without sacrificing responsiveness," - Lies of P director Jiwon Choi in an interview with Eurogamer.
- Lords of the Fallen - the PS5 Pro enhanced version of the action role-playing game (RPG) allows players to experience a "40% increase in pixel density over the base PlayStation 5 console, resulting in a sharper image and finer details. Read the full details here.
- Zenless Zone Zero - native 4K resolution and 60 FPS simultaneously with the average frame rate increasing by nearly ten frames. Update arrives December 18, 2024.
And now, a highlight of the major titles that have received a PS5 Pro patch, as previously confirmed on the PS Blog ahead of the PS5 Pro launch.
- Alan Wake 2
- Albatroz
- Apex Legends
- Arma Reforger
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage
- Assassin's Creed Shadows
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- EA Sports College Football 25
- Dead Island 2
- Dead Rising Deluxe Remastered
- Demon’s Souls
- Diablo IV
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Dying Light 2 Reloaded Edition
- Dynasty Warriors: Origins
- EA Sports FC 25
- Enlisted
- F1 24
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Fortnite
- God of War Ragnarök
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
- Kayak VR: Mirage
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
- Lies of P
- Lords of the Fallen
- Madden NFL 25
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- NBA2K 25
- Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
- No Man’s Sky
- Palworld
- Paladin’s Passage
- Path of Exile 2
- Planet Coaster 2
- Professional Spirits Baseball 2024-2025
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil Village
- Rise of the Ronin
- Rogue Flight
- Slitterhead
- Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
- Star Wars: Outlaws
- Stellar Blade
- Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown
- The Callisto Protocol
- The Crew Motorfest
- The Finals
- The First Descendant
- The Last of Us Part I
- The Last of Us Part II Remastered
- UFC 25
- UFL
- Until Dawn
- War Thunder
- Warframe
- Warhammer 40,000 Darktide
- World of Warships: Legend
- Zenless Zone Zero
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
The games above have received dedicated PS5 Pro versions, and are even be labeled separately to indicate as such. There's also a whole host of PS4 and PS5 games that'll benefit from what Sony is calling PS5 Pro Game Boost (as per the PS Blog):
"With the PS5 Pro version of the Game Boost feature, you can enjoy faster and smoother frame rates in some of the PS4 and PS5 console’s greatest games."
This is said to apply to at least 8,500 PS4 and PS5 titles, so there are plenty of changes and upgrades on the way to the games you already own if you do choose to pick up a PS5 Pro. In addition, PS5 Pro will significantly enhance PSVR 2 games according to Mark Cerny.
PS5 Pro enhanced games - what's the difference?As part of the initial PS5 Pro technical presentation, we saw a few games running on the new hardware, highlighting the differences relative to the base PS5 console. Each enhanced game benefits from the new specs in different ways, but they all pull from the improvements below:
- Upgraded GPU with 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory; resulting in 45% faster rendering
- Advanced ray-tracing
- AI-driven upscaling known as PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR)
- 2TB SSD
- PS5 Pro Game Boost
- Optional disc-drive
- VRR and 8K gaming support
In our PS5 Pro review, we came to the conclusion that the main attraction is really “the convergence of graphical fidelity and performance with games now able to tap into the PS5 Pro’s hardware and features to shine in both ways - at the same time”. This boosted graphical fidelity is, more often than not, on par with the Quality Modes of the base PS5, but with a much smoother experience thanks to 60FPS or higher. This best of both worlds approach is really going to be the key difference moving forward, though it’s likely that we’ll see developers experiment further with higher end graphical settings that focus on ray tracing, or make use of the hardware’s new AI-boosted upscaling.
Speaking on ray tracing, there have been significant advancements for many of the games now enhanced by the PS5 Pro. In our PS5 Pro review, we were impressed by the ray tracing across the board, noting that “you can now enjoy some of the best ray-tracing PS5 has to offer in a performance mode, targeting 60 frames per second, which is truly special in games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.” So far, we’re looking at games that have already come out as well, so moving forward we’re excited to see what the PS5 Pro’s ray tracing capabilities can achieve as games get bigger and better looking across the board.
PS5 Pro review: The TechRadar Gaming verdict(Image credit: Future)Our Managing Editor, Rob Dwiar, spent some time with the PS5 Pro pre-launch, and gave his verdict in the TechRadar Gaming PS5 Pro review. He concludes that the PS5 Pro “is a superb console and now the best PlayStation 5 machine available. The advancements are glorious and bring a new level of immersion and beauty to games, while also boosting performance levels to offer fluid and smooth frame rates and very high levels of image fidelity - at the same time - offering a clear advancement over the base PS5, and will be perfect for those enthusiasts yearning for more from the camps of fidelity and performance.”
One thing that is immediately surprising when taking the PS5 Pro out of the box is its size and weight relative to the base model, especially the one that launched with a disc drive back in 2020. The PS5 Pro is much lighter than you’d expect, and its sleek design and black vented sides really stand out alongside the all white of the PS5’s faceplates. Under the hood, you now get 2TB of storage as standard, meaning that you can hold more games on your hard drive without having to swap things out for new releases.
While the technical upgrades and visual changes are indeed exciting, it’s also vital to point out the price jump between the base PS5 and the PS5 Pro. For $699.99 / £699.99 / AU$1,199, you do not get a disc drive, or even a vertical stand, something that really represents a sting in the tail for an otherwise enticing mid-generation upgrade. Our review concludes that “If you’ve a keen eye for detail, are a PlayStation fanatic who wants to be at the bleeding edge of the brand’s console and wants the most performant PlayStation console going, or you’re a graphics obsessive who wants the best experience going, or are a PS5 user with a new 120Hz-capable gaming TV or PS5 monitor, then the gaming experiences provided by the PS5 Pro are going to be very tempting indeed. For everyone else, it’s just going to be too expensive.”
You can read more on the differences between the Pro and the base PS5 in our PS5 Pro vs PS5 article.
PS5 Pro games: FAQsWill new games be PS5 Pro-enhanced?While we'll have to wait and see what upcoming PS5 games like Ghost of Yōtei do with the new PS5 Pro technology, it's highly likely that first-party games will offer some form of PS5 Pro version. This was how things worked with the PS4 Pro, so expect there to be boosts to upcoming games like Marvel's Wolverine, and Saros. In terms of third-party, PS5 Pro enhancements will come on a case by case basis. Some games will lean into the PS5 Pro's features, even offering separate PS5 Pro-labelled versions, while others may focus on a more general PS5 offering.
How much does the PS5 Pro cost?The PS5 Pro launched on November 7, 2024, and currently retails for $699.99 / £699.99 / AU$1,999.95. This is a significant step up from the base console, especially when you consider that you won't get a disc drive or a vertical stand with it.
What games are the TechRadar Gaming looking forward to on PS5 Pro?Now that the PS5 Pro is out, we’ve spent some time with the currently available list of enhanced games. Looking ahead, Borderlands 4 and Ghost of Yōtei will most likely show off the next level of PS5 Pro enhancements, especially the latter, which is being developed by Sony first party studio Sucker Punch. Beyond that, we've just had news of 007: First Light's PS5 Pro support, arriving in 2026.
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The first time I heard The Velvet Sundown’s album Dust and Silence on Spotify, I thought to myself, hmm, that’s not too bad. It hits a lot of the notes I look for in music I can listen to in the background while I work: acoustic guitar, nice vocals, chill beats, and a mellow 60s psychedelic vibe. There’s only one problem: this band might not exist.
The Velvet Sundown is suspected of being an entirely AI-generated band. Despite posting pictures of its band members on its Instagram and X.com accounts, the pictures look very fake. In fact, they look exactly like they were created by AI.
It’s very hard to prove definitively if the band is fake, but the evidence mounts up: The pictures look fake, there’s no evidence that the band members really exist, and the music sounds like it could have been generated in an AI music tool, like Suno.
Famous YouTube musician Rick Beato even released an episode about the band, breaking down its songs into individual tracks to see if he could tell if it was AI-generated. His opinion? Yes, it is.
Upcoming tourThe band’s account on X.com is adamant that the band is real and makes its own music, even promising an upcoming live tour! A post from the band says, “This is our music, written in long, sweaty nights in a cramped bungalow in California with real instruments, real minds, and real soul. Every chord, every lyric, every mistake — HUMAN.”
I’ve reached out to the band, and they’ve emailed me back, saying they’re happy to answer questions, except that as soon as I suggest a video interview, they immediately ghost me. It feels like whoever is behind The Velvet Sundown is very much trolling the rest of us for publicity by pretending to be a real band, and as this article shows, it’s working.
Yesterday, The Velvet Sundown had 470,000 monthly listens on Spotify. When I look at its page today, they have gone up to 634,000. That’s a lot of revenue being diverted away from real bands who actually made their own music and towards a band whose music is created by AI from being trained on other people’s material, usually without attribution.
Dust and Silence from The Velvet Sundown, playing on Apple Music. (Image credit: The Velvet Sundown)Apple and SpotifyWhat’s interesting is that both Apple and Spotify are happily streaming the band’s music while not flagging it as AI. Don’t we, the paying punters, deserve to know if the band we are listening to is fake?
In fact, The Velvet Sundown is one of a number of recent ‘bands’ that have exposed a massive loophole in the big music streaming services like Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Music: They have absolutely no requirement that AI music be flagged as AI-generated.
Interestingly, the smaller-sized streaming service Deezer does, and it has used its own technology to identify The Velvet Sundown’s music as AI-generated, and it flags it as such.
Deezer flags Dust and Silence as "Ai-generated content". (Image credit: Deezer)The Velvet Sundown isn’t the only band suspected of being AI-generated (other suspected bands include Stellar Cruise and The Luna Lounge), but we’re only at the start of this problem. Music streaming services are about to be overrun by AI-generated content, and they need to act fast.
I don’t want to be sending whatever meagre cents that music streams generate these days to a band that doesn't exist when there are plenty of struggling artists who need genuine support. Perhaps this whole mess will lead Apple and Spotify to rethink their policies on flagging AI music and take a leaf out of Deezer’s book, because I think it should be their responsibility to tell us, their paying customers, if the music we are listening to is AI-generated or not.
Whether they are real or not, after the success of The Velvet Sundown, an absolute deluge of AI music will be on the way now that people have realized it’s an easy way to generate revenue, and Apple and Spotify do not flag it as such. And the next generation of AI bands will probably be a bit cleverer about hiding the fact that they are AI-generated.
We’ve reached out to both Apple and Spotify for comment on AI music on their streaming platforms and will update this article if we receive any.
You might also like- Windows 10 PCs are getting an update stealthily installed
- The under-the-radar arrival of KB5001716 may confuse some folks
- This patch is deployed to versions of Windows which are about to run out of support, and it'll nudge you to make a move to keep your PC secure
Windows 10 PCs are getting an update stealthily piped to them, and some folks may be confused as to what it is.
The good news is that it's nothing to worry about as such – although the update is a bit of an oddity, and it does herald the end of Windows 10 (I'll come back to why momentarily).
Neowin noticed the arrival of the patch labelled KB5001716, and observed that this is an upgrade that Microsoft deploys ahead of 'force-installing' a new feature update.
That's somewhat dramatic phrasing for KB5001716 being pushed to Windows versions which are about to run out of support – hence the users will indeed need to upgrade soon, or they'll be left without security updates (and potentially open to vulnerabilities that could be exploited as a result).
So technically, the comment about a forced installation is true, but only because the upgrade is a necessary move to ensure the safety of the host PC.
Here's what Microsoft tells us about this patch: "After this update is installed, Windows may periodically display a notification informing you of problems that may prevent Windows Update from keeping your device up-to-date and protected against current threats. For example, you may see a notification informing you that your device is currently running a version of Windows that has reached the end of its support lifecycle."
In this case, the update is being quietly installed on PCs running the latest version of Windows 10, which is 22H2, as well as 21H2 – the latter is already out of support, mind you. (As is Windows 11 21H2, which Microsoft also lists as receiving this patch currently, rather oddly).
Analysis: the beginning of the end(Image credit: Microsoft)What this really represents is Microsoft preparing the ground for the end of Windows 10, which happens in October of this year. With this patch now being installed on all Windows 10 PCs, as noted, those machines will receive periodic notifications warning that the operating system is about to run out of support (and security updates).
Microsoft is keeping something of a tight rein on those nudges (which will doubtless mention upgrading to Windows 11), though. The company notes that they "will respect full screen, game, quiet time and focus assist modes" meaning that they won't be overly intrusive. And hopefully they won't be too regular, either.
So, if you've been worried about the appearance of this update, there's no need to fret. It's not a big deal, although that said, it is in some respects, in terms of the fuse effectively being lit for the final countdown with Windows 10.
There are only three months left to go before the End of Life of the older OS now, and so there is some urgency to act. If you can't upgrade to Windows 11 due to falling short of the system requirements, you need to be thinking about alternatives (or getting an extra year of support).
I think it would really help if Microsoft was clearer about what this update is. In fact, KB5001716 is rolled out to PCs every time a support deadline for a version of Windows is imminent. Indeed, in the past, we have seen reports of this patch failing to install because it's already present on the system.
Strictly speaking, that shouldn't happen – due to the patch only being pushed out to versions of Windows that are at death's door, as noted – but if it does somehow, the solution is simple. Uninstall the existing copy of KB5001716 in Windows Update, and the new one should then patch successfully. Otherwise, it'll keep repeatedly failing, which will doubtless get tiresome quite swiftly.
Overall, this is a somewhat odd approach from Microsoft for managing dying Windows versions. It's not surprising that KB5001716 can cause some confusion, in terms of the stealthy, and repeated (over the years), installation of this 'update for Windows Update' as the company bills it.
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- NordVPN has been recognized for its ability to detect and block phishing websites
- NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro blocked 90% of phishing websites in the test
- Threat Protection Pro is available for NordVPN Plus, Complete, and Ultra subscribers
NordVPN’s phishing protection has been again certified by AV-Comparatives, further cementing its status as the best VPN on the market today. This adds to the growing evidence of the effectiveness of NordVPN’s anti-malware tool, Threat Protection Pro.
AV-Comparatives, an independent testing lab, had already recognized Threat Protection Pro’s ability to detect and block phishing websites in 2024. A repeat result in 2025 sees NordVPN awarded an anti-phishing certification for the second year running.
Threat Protection Pro detected 90% of phishing URLs in AV-Comparatives comprehensive testing, well ahead of the 85% minimum required to earn the anti-phishing certification. The news means that NordVPN is still the only VPN with certified phishing protection.
How Threat Protection protects you from phishing sitesThreat Protection Pro is available only on Windows and MacOS devices (Image credit: Future)Introduced to NordVPN’s feature lineup in June 2024, Threat Protection Pro helps NordVPN users avoid not only phishing attempts, but a variety of other online dangers including tracking, malware, ads, and scams.
"Phishing websites are one of the biggest threats to internet users worldwide. They steal personal data, login credentials, and financial information from unsuspecting users," said Product Director at Threat Protection, Dominickas Virbickas. "We put our greatest effort into protecting our customers from the consequences caused by these sites."
Threat Protection Pro is available with NordVPN Plus, Complete, and Ultra subscription plans. Subscribers to the Basic tier won’t have access to Threat Protection Pro and its independently certified phishing protection but do benefit from Threat Protection.
Not to be confused with Threat Protection Pro, Threat Protection is a DNS filter capable of blocking ads and malicious domains. In contrast, Threat Protection Pro works at the URL and Javascript level and, unlike Threat Protection, doesn’t require you to be connected to a NordVPN server to benefit from its protection.
NordVPN is still the only VPN with certified phishing protection
This isn’t the first time NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro anti-malware tool has been recognized by AV-Comparatives.
In 2024, it ranked as the third-best software for avoiding online shopping scams out of 35 competitors, emerging as a top tool for avoiding online shopping scams.
Two more independent audits further confirmed NordVPN's blocking capabilities. Experts at AV-Test awarded NordVPN as the winner among five recognized VPN providers. During testing from West Coast Labs (WCL), NordVPN scored a hugely impressive 99.8% malware protection rate.
What else you can do to prevent phishing attacksThreat Protection Pro has been proven to offer a solid line of defence against increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks. However, there are still some things you can do to further reduce your risk of falling victim:
- Think before you click. Tell-tale signs of phishing attempts include poor spelling or grammar. Scare tactics are also common in an effort to prompt you into action. When in doubt, re-read messages and carefully check the sender’s contact information.
- Enable two-factor authentication. Make use of two-factor authentication (2FA) which adds an extra layer of security to your online accounts. It requires you to provide an additional method of authentication to log in, such as a code sent to your phone.
- Check for HTTPS. Get in the habit of checking URLs in your browser’s address bar. When you do this, check for HTTPS and confirm the domain is correct. Some URL changes can be difficult to detect such as a number “1” instead of the letter “l”.
- Keep devices and software up-to-date. Phishing attacks may look to exploit unpatched vulnerabilities. Keeping your devices and software updated via official sources helps close off these vulnerabilities.
- Verify the source. Phishing often relies on impersonation with messages designed to look like they’ve come from someone you trust. If at all suspicious, you should avoid clicking or replying and instead contact the person or organization via official channels to verify the message’s authenticity.