Microsoft patches cause Windows activation and printing problems, and Trezor finds security-breaking implants in crypto wallets
Microsoft confirmed that this month’s Patch Tuesday updates caused Windows activation and licensing failures.
It also warned customers that the November 2026 patches could break printing for documents with complex formatting.
Meanwhile, major cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor confirmed that devices sold by Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis contained malicious hardware implants.
The implanted chips were designed to steal wallet recovery phrases. CryptoBilis is the same retailer that sold the tampered Ledger devices discovered earlier this year.
In global markets, another selloff in chipmakers weighed on stocks, overshadowing inflation data that helped ease concerns about an outsized Federal Reserve rate hike.
A closely watched gauge of chip giants sank 3.4%, with Nvidia Corp. hit by worries about its future after Jensen Huang’s ouster. Its shares plunged 13% this week, the most since April 2025.
The Nasdaq 100 lost 1.2% Friday. Tech weakness dragged down the S&P 500 despite gains in most of its firms. Short-dated Treasuries outperformed. Bitcoin slid below $70,000.
Nvidia’s leadership turmoil has rippled through the tech sector, whipsawing industry giants. Dip buyers’ hesitation shows anxiety around the artificial-intelligence trade ahead of the chipmaker’s results on Tuesday.
“The next real test arrives when Nvidia reports on 17 Nov., and the thing to watch is not who is at the podium but whether the order book has changed,” said Brian Jacobsen at Annex Wealth Management.
Beyond Huang’s departure, Nvidia faces heightened regulatory and legal scrutiny, with probes into whether US export restrictions were circumvented in sales to Chinese companies.
Its earnings call presents interim Chief Executive Officer Colette Kress — Nvidia’s veteran chief financial officer — an opportunity to assuage investor fears over the abrupt exit of Huang, the company’s sole CEO in its more than three-decade existence.
Nvidia tamped down speculation that the company is already engaging with potential CEO candidates, saying it’s still in the process of selecting a firm to find a successor to Huang.
The statement follows a Financial Times report that the board had approached Arm Holdings Plc CEO Rene Haas about the job.
Traders also parsed inflation figures for clues on the Fed’s December rate decision. The producer price index climbed in October from a year earlier at the fastest pace since 2022, but the data came slightly below estimates.
While policymakers still have plenty of work to do on inflation, the PPI components that feed into the Fed’s preferred price gauge were weaker in October, according to Vail Hartman at BMO Capital Markets.
“While some committee members may advocate more aggressive action, we should expect a 25-basis-point rate hike,” said Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial. “Given the fragility of the broader economy, a larger 50-basis-point increase could pose unnecessary risks.”
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin continued its slide, declining 3.9% to $68,700.7, and Ether fell 3.7% to $1,940.14. [Bloomberg]
5 important things happening in tech today
November security update breaks Windows Activation and printing: Microsoft confirmed that this month’s Patch Tuesday updates caused Windows activation and licensing failures with 0x80041008 error codes. It also warned customers that the November 2026 patches could break printing for documents with complex formatting. [Bleeping Computer]
Another major crypto hardware manufacturer confirmed implanted chips in its devices: Trezor confirmed that Safe 5 devices sold by Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis contained malicious hardware implants designed to steal wallet recovery phrases. CryptoBilis is the same retailer that sold the tampered Ledger devices discovered earlier this year. [Bleeping Computer]
SpaceX launches 15th Starship flight, skips “chopsticks” booster catch: Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its Starship on a pivotal flight that aimed to perform a first-of-its-kind spacecraft landing. SpaceX aborted an attempt to catch the rocket’s booster, but still hopes to land the craft. [Space.com]
People can now give Google Gemini access to their wallets: Google launched functionality in its Gemini large language model AI system which lets users connect their bank accounts through Google Wallet. Unlike Meta Muse’s shopping platform, which lets chatbots buy items for users, Google said its new feature was a way to “get more tailored responses around personal finance.” [Engadget]
Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online come back online after day-long outage: Consumers and businesses that rely on Microsoft cloud infrastructure for email have started receiving messages again after a day-long outage. The outages occurred when requests were redirected from a large number of Microsoft servers that began failing automated health checks, overwhelming the remaining servers. Microsoft said a full report detailing the root cause of the outage will be published. [MyBroadband]
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