diff --git a/.github/workflows/pullrequest.yaml b/.github/workflows/pullrequest.yaml
index e880289b..25e7a9a3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pullrequest.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pullrequest.yaml
@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        java: [ '8' , '11', '17' , '21']
-    name: build with Java ${{ matrix.Java }}
+        java: [ '8', '17', '21', '25']
+    name: build with Java ${{ matrix.java }}
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
       - name: Set up Java
-        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v5
         with:
-          java-version: ${{ matrix.Java }}
+          java-version: ${{ matrix.java }}
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: maven
       - name: run headless maven build
diff --git a/act/execute-pullrequest-workflow.bat b/act/execute-pullrequest-workflow.bat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f0427958
--- /dev/null
+++ b/act/execute-pullrequest-workflow.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+pushd ..
+act --workflows .\.github\workflows\pullrequest.yaml pull_request -P ubuntu-latest=-self-hosted
+popd
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/act/readme.md b/act/readme.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3c1a7701
--- /dev/null
+++ b/act/readme.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# using act on Windows to run GitHub Actions locally
+## introduction
+Some notes on how to use [act](https://nektosact.com/) on Windows to run GitHub Actions workflows locally for
+quick testing without pushing changes to GitHub.
+
+The current setup uses the "self-hosted" runner type, which requires all necessary tools to be installed on the host
+system (see preconditions).
+
+## preconditions
+the following tools must be installed and available in the system PATH:
+- act.exe (https://nektosact.com/installation/index.html)
+- node.exe (https://nodejs.org/en/download/)
+- apache-maven-3.x (mvn command) (https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi)
+- git.exe (https://git-scm.com/install/windows)
+
+## execution
+- open a command prompt (cmd.exe) or PowerShell
+- execute one of the batch files inside this directory (assumption: current directory is <root>/act/)