Here is the changelog:

This update includes the following features and improvements for Windows Insiders in BOTH the Beta and Release Preview Channels

 

Items bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented:

 

• [Input Method Editor (IME)] When a combo box has input focus, a memory leak might occur when you close that window.
• [Country and Operator Settings Asset] This update brings COSA profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.
• [Bluetooth] An app stops responding because of a memory leak in a device.
• [Bind Filter Driver] Your system might stop responding when it accesses symbolic links.
• [Unified Write Filter (UWF) and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)] An SCCM task to re-enable UWF fails because of a deadlock in UWF. This stops the device from restarting when you expect it.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Microsoft has already released new Windows Insider Release Preview builds for Windows 11. One release was for Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2, and contained a number of additional features. The other was for the newest version of Windows 11, 24H2. It was originally a pretty minor build in terms of features, but Microsoft rolled out some additional features mostly for its File Explorer section, a day after the initial release.

Microsoft has also released Windows 11 builds for members of the Windows Insider Progam in the Dev Channel and Beta Channel earlier this week. Members of the Canary Channel last got a build on August 15 which got updated two days later on August 17.

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Accessibility fixes

 

• Widgets can now be rearranged with the keyboard (Alt+Shift+Arrow Keys). (#3426)
• Narrator should now announce the information button next to "Generate Configuration file" and the content in its teaching tip within Machine Configuration. (#3497)
• Narrator should now announce when you click the "remove all" button on the Install Applications page. (#3605)

 

Changes

 

• You can now configure an environment from the Environments page. (#3492)

 

Bug fixes

 

• Disabling an extension now hides its widgets. (#3253)
• The summary view for configuration files should now load much faster. (#3397)
• The maximized state should no longer be lost when launching a second instance (Thanks @davidegiacometti!). (#3437)
• The Dev Home process should now fully terminate the Dev Home process. (#3524)
• The correct user should now be added when adding yourself to the Hyper-V admin group. (#3532)
  • Dev Home should no longer crash when navigating away from the Dashboard while widgets were still loading. (#3587)
• Pinned WinGet packages should now load in the Install Applications page. (#3596)

The Dev Home app is available for download from GitHub and the Microsoft Store. Keep in mind that Dev Home is still a preview, so rough surfaces or missing features should not be a big surprise.

Besides discussing the Dev Home app, Microsoft talked about PowerToys, another fantastic app for Windows 10 and 11. It will soon receive the "Workspaces" utility that will let you launch several pre-arranged apps with just one click. You can learn more about PowerToys Workspaces here.

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One of the main new features in this update pertains to privacy. You can now go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Security > Options and enable Remove personal information on saving. This prevents personal information from being exported, such as author names and timestamps, editing duration, printer name and config, document template, author and date for comments, and tracked changes.

The full changelog is as follows:

PRIVACY

 

• If the option Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice ▸ Security ▸ Options ▸ Remove personal information on saving is enabled, then personal information will not be exported (author names and timestamps, editing duration, printer name and config, document template, author and date for comments and tracked changes)

 

WRITER

 

• UI: handling of formatting characters, width of comments panel, selection of bullets, new dialog for hyperlinks, new Find deck in the sidebar
• Navigator: adding cross-references by drag-and-drop items, deleting footnotes and endnotes, indicating images with broken links
• Hyphenation: exclude words from hyphenation with new contextual menu and visualization, new hyphenation across columns, pages or spreads, hyphenation between constituents of a compound word

 

CALC

 

• Addition of FILTER, LET, RANDARRAY, SEQUENCE, SORT, SORTBY, UNIQUE, XLOOKUP and XMATCH functions
• Improvement of threaded calculation performance, optimization of redraw after a cell change by minimizing the area that needs to be refreshed
• Cell focus rectangle moved apart from cell content
• Comments can be edited and deleted from the Navigator’s right-click menu

 

IMPRESS & DRAW

 

• In Normal view, it is now possible to scroll between slides, and the Notes are available as a collapsible pane under the slide
• By default, the running Slideshow is now immediately updated when applying changes in EditView or in PresenterConsole, even on different Screens

 

CHART

 

• New chart types “Pie-of-Pie” and “Bar-of-Pie” break down a slice of a pie as a pie or bar sub-chart respectively (this also enables import of such charts from OOXML files created with Microsoft Office)
• Text inside chart’s titles, text boxes and shapes (and parts thereof) can now be formatted using the Character dialog

 

ACCESSIBILITY

 

• Several improvements to the management of formatting options, which can be now announced properly by screen readers

 

SECURITY

 

• New mode of password-based ODF encryption

 

INTEROPERABILITY

 

• Support importing and exporting OOXML pivot table (cell) format definitions
• PPTX files with heavy use of custom shapes now open faster

You can download LibreOffice 24.8 now from the LibreOffice download page. The minimum requirements are Windows 7 SP1 and macOS 10.15. Linux users should stick to whichever version of LibreOffice is in their repositories for the best experience, although they can upgrade. If you are on LibreOffice 24.2, you can stay on that version, too, as fixes are being backported to it.

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Google Essentials lets users easily install some of the more popular apps, including Google Play Games, Photos, and Messages. The former can actually let users play thousands of mobile and PC titles in the Google Play Store, where progress is saved across devices. Photos and Messages make it easier than ever to view photo albums or reply to texts from any computer.

For example, from Google Essentials or HP’s OMEN Gaming Hub, you’ll be able to access thousands of mobile and native PC games from Google Play Games, such as Clash of Clans and CookieRun: Tower of Adventures. Signing in to your Play Games account allows you to sync your in-game progress and reward benefits for certain titles, so you can pick things back up whether you’re on an Android device or PC.

It also offers you productivity tools like Google Drive, Docs, and Calendar with shortcuts for quick file access, editing, and sharing, or coordination of schedules without moving between browsers. Other perks include eligible Google One subscribers gaining a two-month trial of 100GB of cloud storage.

Google Essentials will come pre-installed on every new HP consumer and gaming laptop range, including Spectre, Envy, Pavilion, OMEN, and Victus. The company also stated it plans to expand the app to more devices from other OEMs in the coming months.

Finally, Google noted that users would have full control over their experience and could uninstall any Google service - or Google Essentials altogether - at any time.

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On June 13, Microsoft said that in order to address concerns about the security and safety of Recall, it would "shift from a preview experience" over "to a preview available first in the Windows Insider Program (WIP) in the coming weeks."

Today, Microsoft updated that initial announcement with news about when Recall would be available for members of the Windows Insider Program. It stated:

With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we’re sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October. As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs. Security continues to be our top priority and when Recall is available for Windows Insiders in October we will publish a blog with more details.

Microsoft had previously added some hidden Recall features and improvements in a Canary Channel build of Windows 11 in June. Data miners found a new Recall home page design, along with improvements with Copilot integration and more.

It's possible more hidden Recall features will show up in future Insider builds of Windows 11 before the feature finally becomes available to those testers sometime in October. It could be months before Recall is officially added to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs outside the Insider program.

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A notification posted in the official Windows documentation confirmed that installing the August 2024 Patch Tuesday updates results in the following error message when attempting to launch Linux on a dual-boot system:

Verifying shim SBAT data failed: Security Policy Violation. Something has gone seriously wrong: SBAT self-check failed: Security Policy Violation.

The source of this problem is a Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) setting for blocking old and vulnerable boot managers. It was not intended to land on dual-boot systems, but as it sometimes happens in the world of Microsoft, it somehow did. The company says that happened because of failed dual-boot detection:

This SBAT update will not be applied to devices where dual booting is detected. On some devices, the dual-boot detection did not detect some customized methods of dual-booting and applied the SBAT value when it should not have been applied.

As a temporary workaround, Microsoft suggests customers with dual-boot Windows-Linux systems not restart their Windows copies to apply the August 2024 Patch Tuesday update and use a certain registry key to block the update:

Workaround: If you haven’t finalized the installation of the August 2024 update with a reboot yet, you can use the below opt-out registry key, so your device doesn’t install this update. You will be able to delete the registry key if you want to install future SBAT updates later on.

 

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot\SBAT /v OptOut /d 1 /t REG_DWORD

There is also a forum thread about SBAT revocation that can help you fix an already broken system.

The problem affects all supported client and server editions of Windows 10 and 11, from Windows Server 2012 and Windows 10 2015 LTSB all the way up to Windows 11 version 23H2 and Windows Server 2022.

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Unfortunately, AMD just could not capitalize on the situation, it seemed, as most of the independent third-party tech media community felt the performance uplift on Ryzen 9000 was not enough compared to Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series CPUs for it to be considered a generational uplift worthy of an upgrade.

Comparative performance testing between Windows 11 24H2 and Linux (Nobara) also revealed that the latter generally came out on top much more often in gaming as well as other workloads, we guessed that perhaps Windows needed more optimization; and our speculation turned out to be right as AMD did confirm later that this was indeed the case and in order to bypass the performance bug, the hidden Windows Admin account was summoned.

AMD had promised that it was working on a fix and today, it has revealed more details about its upcoming performance patch. The company essentially says that Windows 11 24H2 in its current state (without the Admin account) is unable to properly utilize the wider branch prediction capabilities of the Zen 5 architecture.

For those not familiar, branch prediction in CPUs helps minimize branch misprediction penalties and is especially useful in highly pipelined processor designs.

It writes:

The “Zen 5” architecture incorporates a wider branch prediction capacity than prior “Zen” generations. Our automated test methodology was run in “Admin” mode which produced results that reflect branch prediction code optimizations not present in the version of Windows reviewers used to test Ryzen 9000 Series.

 

...

 

Optimized AMD-specific branch prediction code will be available in Windows 11, version 24H2 in preview through the Windows Insider Program (Release Preview Channel - Build 26100) or by downloading the ISO

 

...

 

"Zen 5" will see the biggest boost, but this Windows update will improve performance for "Zen 4" and "Zen 3" as well. We're collaborating with Microsoft to roll out this optional update to all Windows 11 users soon.

AMD has also provided a few examples of the improvement it is expecting post-patch. Using a Ryzen 9950X, the company expects to see the biggest gain in Far Cry 6 with an uplift of 13%. FC 6 is a single-thread heavy title indicating that users may see some nice single-core boosts. Cyberpunk 2077 and UL Procyon Office test also see decent gains of 7% and 6% respectively.

You may find more details about the upcoming patch here on its official blog post on AMD's website.

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Similar to Paint 3D, which Microsoft had seemingly hoped to kill off sooner, the Windows Control Panel is a feature that the tech giant has been wanting to deprecate for a while.

The first such reports started surfacing back in 2011 when a leaked Windows 8 screenshot suggested that Microsoft was looking to replace the Control Panel with "PC settings". This Settings option was made with touch-friendliness in mind though the Control Panel continued to co-exist still.

Later in 2015, it was rumored that the company may finally do away with it as a senior Microsoft official confirmed that "Settings will eventually supersede Control Panel." However, the application continued to persist still as some of the things had not been moved over.

Although that was said by a Microsoft employee nearly a decade ago, the company itself never published anything such on its official site until just a few days ago.

On a new support page about the various native Windows configuration tools that we have covered in detail in this dedicated article, Microsoft has finally stated that the Control Panel is "in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app".

Additionally, the company also adds that there are certain compatibility reasons as to why the older app still exists. It writes:

The Control Panel is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience.

 

Tip: while the Control Panel still exists for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet migrated, you're encouraged to use the Settings app, whenever possible.

For those who may not be aware, the Control Panel was first introduced to Windows in 1985 with version 1.0. If you are curious to know more about the early days of Windows, you can read about it in our dedicated "look back" piece we did last year.

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While most users who are well-acquainted with the Windows OS are well aware of these, Microsoft understands that not everyone is as savvy as others. The company has thus published a new support page on its official website detailing all these applications giving users a brief idea of what they do and how they can be accessed.

The list starts with the Settings app which is the most common place where users can tweak how things are set up on their PC. Microsoft has also defined it as the "main application to customize and manage Windows settings," and that is certainly true given that most of the basic Windows management options can be found here.

To open Settings you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Right-click on Start and select Settings

• Use the keyboard shortcut +I

• Use the following link:

   

  Settings

Following Settings, we have Task Manager which helps users monitor the resource usage of their systems, ie, CPU, RAM, GPU usages, among others, although it can be inaccurate sometimes due to some underlying bugs. It also helps to deal with apps that run when Windows starts. Task Manager also has an "Open Resource Monitor" option which provides greater insight into system monitoring.

To open the Task Manager, you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Right-click on Start and select Task Manager

• Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+ESC

Up next, we have Computer Management which comprises several other options like Device Manager, Disk Management, Event Viewer and more, making it perhaps the most comprehensive system component management application available on Windows.

To open the Computer Management console, you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Search for it in the Start menu

• Right-click on Start and select Computer Management

• Use the keyboard shortcut +R, type compmgmt.msc and press Enter

Following that, Microsoft talks about Event Viewer, which provides detailed entries and logs of Windows services and processes, as well as other apps. The tech giant also mentions the Control Panel though it has also finally offered confirmation that it is heading for deprecation and will not be around for longer.

System Configuration follows next and is another major utility that helps set up Windows to our liking. Similar to Task Manager which allows us to tweak the startup apps, System Configuration has the option to tinker around with certain boot-related settings like choosing the kind of Startup we want or the boot drive.

To open System Configuration, you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Search for it in the Start menu

• Use the keyboard shortcut +R, type MSConfig and press Enter

System Information is up next and as the name suggests, it allows users to check details about the hardware and the other various component information that the PC has. Using "msinfo32" the System Information app can be launched.

Following System Information, Microsoft lists probably the two of the most powerful utilities on Windows, the Registry Editor and the Local Group Policy Editor. This is also why there is a big wall of text that cautions users against tinkering with these settings if they are not familiar.

The Registry is essentially a Windows database that stores the various configuration settings for the OS and apps. It was introduced with Windows NT and replaced most of the text-based INI and/or BAT files that were used in earlier versions of Windows like Windows 3.x and MS-DOS configuration files, such as the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys.

In a way, the Local Group Policy Editor is quite similar to the Registry Editor as the former is used to manage various local group policy object (GPO) settings.

To open the Registry Editor, you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Search for it in the Start menu

• Use the keyboard shortcut +R, type regedit and press Enter

   

[...]

 

To open the Local Group Policy Editor, you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Search for it in the Start menu

• Use the keyboard shortcut +R, type gpedit.msc and press Enter

Microsoft has ended its list with Advanced System Settings which allows users to access additional settings that are not available under Control Panel or the Settings app. As the name suggests, it is mostly useful to advanced users or IT professionals.

To open Advanced System Settings, you can use one of the following methods:

 

• Search for it in the Start menu

• Use the keyboard shortcut +R, type SystemPropertiesAdvanced and press Enter

If you want to learn more, you can find more details about each of these apps and utilities on this page on Microsoft's official website.

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Microsoft is back with its annual Windows 11 feature update, this time focusing on the underlying platform and surface-level quality-of-life improvements and updates. Version 24H2 (also known as the 2024 Update) includes everything from better performance to UX changes designed to make Windows 11 easier to use.

In my opinion, the 2024 Update is a bigger release compared to the 2023 Update, thanks to those underlying platform enhancements alone. We have improvements to Windows Update, a faster x86 emulation layer for Arm PCs, and new AI features that benefit from having a dedicated NPU (neural processing unit.)

This release of Windows 11 is also unique as it's the first version to ship with features that are exclusive to a new type of Windows device: Copilot+ PCs. If you're not using a Copilot+ PC, you will miss out on some features when upgrading to version 24H2, including the controversial "Windows Recall" AI feature.

I've been using Windows 11 version 24H2 since June 18, and this is my full review. Please note that due to the nature of how Microsoft updates Windows these days, you may already have several of the features detailed in this review without updating to version 24H2. Alternatively, you may update to version 24H2 and be missing some of the features outlined in this review. It's potluck, I'm afraid. 

Windows 11 version 24H2: What's new?

Not interested in reading thousands of words about new features in a Windows OS? Don't worry; I've got you covered with my quick 20-minute hands-on video showcasing all the notable new features, as well as a bullet-point list of the most notable changes below. 

Desktop & Start

• Phone Link is now integrated with the Start menu
• Taskbar system tray layout has been simplified
• Quick Settings has been rebuilt to be faster and more customizable
• Windows Spotlight image is now the default wallpaper setting
• Taskbar app preview thumbnails now have an animation
• You can now set HDR images as a desktop wallpaper

File Explorer

• File Explorer home tab now includes updated layout with shared documents
• You can now duplicate tabs by right-clicking the tab.
• Context Menu layout has been updated with better labelling to be easier to use.
• You can now create .7z and .TAR archive formats. 
• You can view your Android phone's file system directly in File Explorer

Apps

• A new Outlook app for email, calendar, and contact is included
• Microsoft has updated Copilot as a standalone web app
• Photos now includes AI-enhanced generative erase and background editing
• Photos can now generate AI images based on user criteria (Copilot+ PC)
• A new Recall app uses AI to capture everything you do and makes finding things easier (Copilot+ PC)
• Paint now has built-in generative AI capabilities based on user drawn sketch (Copilot+ PC)

Settings & Misc

• Windows Update now supports checkpoints and hot patching for faster and less obtrusive updates
• Voice Clarity uses AI to remove background noise picked up by your microphone in supported apps
• Power settings for plugged/unplugged state can now be configured simultaneously
• A new Energy Saver mode replaces battery saver and applies to both laptops and desktops
• You can now configure mouse scroll wheel direction in Settings
• Wi-Fi 7 hardware is now supported
• New PRISM emulation layer makes x86 emulated apps run better on Arm
• Arm-based devices should now run smoother
• AutoSR uses AI to enhances the framerate and quality of games (Copilot+ PC)
• Live Captions can now translate languages into English in real-time locally (Copilot+ PC)
• Advanced Windows Studio Effects enhance your webcam with filters (Copilot+ PC)

Windows 11 version 24H2: Release Date & Availability

To make use of Wi-Fi 7, your computer should be running Windows 11 version 24H2, Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Driver 23.70.2 and have a compatible Wi-Fi 7 network card, such as Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE202, BE201, or BE200. If you do not know your adapter version, go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Hardware properties and check the Description string.

Here is what is new in the Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Driver 23.70.2:

Intel's latest Wi-Fi driver supports the following network cards:

You can download Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Driver 23.70.2 from the official website. Full release notes are available here.

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If you own one of the latest Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processors, such as the Surface Pro 11, you can now run Start11 natively without any performance or compatibility sacrifices. While Copilot+ PCs are pretty good at running "classic" x86 apps through the emulation layer, nothing beats the performance and energy efficiency of a native app.

Besides ARM support, Start11 brings other notable updates and improvements. In Start11 version 2.1, more elements of the legacy Control Panel should show up in search results, making it easier to tweak your PC settings that have not made their way to the Settings app:

Along with ARM support, there are several other updates in this release including enhanced search for legacy Control Panel items – more legacy Control Panel items will now show up when searching. In addition, there are also updates for how folder paths are stored to be more resilient with deployments and Networx is also supported when enhanced taskbar is turned on.

You can learn more about the latest update in a post on the official Stardock website. Start11 v2 2.1 is now rolling out to all users, and you can get to the latest version in the app's settings section. Start11 v2 is available on Stardock's website and Steam. Alternatively, download the entire Object Desktop package from Stardock. Object Desktop includes programs such as Fences, roupy, SoundPackager, DeskScapes and Multiplicity.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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In its current form, Windows 11 only lets you use a webcam in one application, so launching the Camera app during a Zoom call results in the former showing a "Close other apps" message. With build 26120.1542, Microsoft is changing that. A hidden feature lets you toggle on the "Multi-app Camera" feature and stream to several applications at once.

Here is what Microsoft says in the description:

Designed for the hard-of-hearing community, to allow multiple video apps to stream from this camera at the same time. Once turned on, camera settings such as Brightness can only be changed from this page.

To toggle on the "Multi-app Camera" feature, head to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Camera, then select the camera you want to use and click "Advanced Camera Settings." A new window will show up on the screen, allowing you to turn on multi-app camera streaming.

In addition to the ability to use your webcam in multiple apps simultaneously, Windows 11 build 26120.1542 features a so-called Basic Mode for camera troubleshooting:

Turns on basic camera streaming functionality. To be used to debug serious camera issues when all other methods have failed.

Microsoft has not mentioned those features in the official release notes, so the official details currently remain unknown. Expect to hear more about them in future Windows 11 preview builds. Until then, you can toggle on and test those two features using the vivetool app and the following IDs: 49575624, 50292326, and 48433719.

Source: @PhantomOfEarth on X.

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On Windows 11, Microsoft is finally ditching the legacy Mail and Calendar apps (originally introduced on Windows 10) with the new unified experience for emails and calendars. The new experience will eventually replace the desktop version of the Outlook app that's part of the Microsoft 365 (Office) apps.

The new experience is identical to the online version of Outlook but with an application wrapper specifically designed for the desktop with offline and multiple account support. Using this app, you can connect Outlook accounts, Hotmail, Live, and other services, such as Google Gmail, Yahoo, and iCloud, and you can even attach IMAP accounts.

The idea with the new Outlook for Windows 11 is to have only one experience across the devices and on the web, allowing the company to improve the app's development and features more quickly. 

In addition, the app aims to help you compose better emails using AI features, and with the integration of the Microsoft Editor, you get rich editing, spelling, and auto-complete suggestions. 

The calendar experience introduces various improvements, such as the addition of Google Calendar, multiple time zones, weather, and calendar-sharing support.  Of course, the app also offers access to your contacts with the People service and Microsoft 365 apps and services (online), such as Word, Excel, To Do, and more.

In this how-to guide, I'll give you an overview of the new email client for Windows 11 and the steps to configure the most important settings.

Beginner's guide to the Outlook app for Windows 11g

This guide covers the steps to switch to the new version, a walkthrough of the new interface, and the most important settings for Accounts, General, Mail, and Calendar.

In a blog post, Microsoft stated that Teams users who want to add more than one of their accounts to the new Teams app can first sign into one of those accounts on the app. Then they can select their profile picture, which is found in the upper right corner of the app, to add those other accounts. When you launch the new Teams app from your work, personal, or education account, they will open in side-by-side windows from that app.

Microsoft added:

Additionally, we know that many users have multiple Teams accounts, so we made it simple to choose your preferred account when joining a Teams meeting. You can also join as a guest without signing in. Whether you’re joining a call to connect with a customer or discuss your school’s fall fundraiser, simply select your preferred account the moment you join the meeting.

This new unified app means that Windows 10, Windows 11, and Mac users who sign into the app with a personal email can connect and collaborate with any other Teams users for free. If you sign into a Teams app with a work email account, the app will still be subject to the restrictions that Teams admins have previously set up.

This new unified desktop app joins Microsoft's Teams apps for Android and iOS, which have already supported sign-ups for work, personal, and educational users.

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This issue is caused by Microsoft's decision to apply a Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) update to block Linux boot loaders unpatched against the CVE-2022-2601 GRUB2 Secure Boot bypass vulnerability, which could "have an impact on Windows security."

"The vulnerability assigned to this CVE is in the Linux GRUB2 boot loader, a boot loader designed to support Secure Boot on systems that are running Linux," Microsoft says in an advisory published last week to address this issue.

"It is being documented in the Security Update Guide to announce that the latest builds of Windows are no longer vulnerable to this security feature bypass using the Linux GRUB2 boot loader.

"The SBAT value is not applied to dual-boot systems that boot both Windows and Linux and should not affect these systems. You might find that older Linux distribution ISOs will not boot. If this occurs, work with your Linux vendor to get an update."

However, while Redmond says that the SBAT update that blocks vulnerable UEFI shim bootloaders should not impact dual-boot systems in any way, many Linux users say that their systems (running Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Puppy Linux, and other distros) no longer boot after installing the August 2024 Windows updates on the Windows OS.

Those affected see "Verifying shim SBAT data failed: Security Policy Violation. Something has gone seriously wrong: SBAT self-check failed: Security Policy Violation" errors, and, for some, the devices will also immediately shut down.

Currently, there is no definitive list of Linux distributions and versions affected by this known issue and Linux users who tried working around the issue say that deleting the SBAT policy or wiping the Windows installation and restoring Secure Boot to factory settings will not work.

The only apparent way to revive the device is to disable Secure Boot, install the latest version of their favorite Linux distro, and re-enable Secure Boot.

Microsoft has yet to acknowledge that installing this month's Patch Tuesday update may render dual-boot systems unable to boot.

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The first fixed bug is for customers who use Firefox on Nvidia-powered systems and rely on accessibility technologies, like screen readers. In some cases, the screen reader would say "Alert" when hovering over tabs (by the way, Firefox recently received tab preview support). This bug affects only Windows users—Firefox for Linux and macOS works with screen readers as it should.

The second bug is related to drag-and-drop operations, where Firefox would not trigger an action, such as moving a tab outside the current window to create a new one. This issue has been successfully fixed in Firefox 129.0.2.

Here is the official changelog for Firefox 129.0.2 with the corresponding links to the patched bugs:

Version 129.0.2, first offered to Release channel users on August 20, 2024

 

• Fixed an issue with screen readers prompting "Alert" when hovering over tabs. (Bug 1908873)

   

• Fixed an issue where drag-and-drop operations would not work as expected with extensions that rely on this functionality. (Bug 1911486)

Interestingly, this is the second drag-and-drop bug that has been fixed in Firefox 129. The previous update, 129.0.1, resolved the problem with uploading documents to certain websites by dragging them onto the current tab. You can check out the full release notes for Firefox 129.0.1 here. For reference, release notes for Firefox 129.0 are available here.

You can download Firefox 129.0.2 by heading to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Another way to update is to download the installer from the official website or just continue using the browser as is. It will download the update in the background and update itself automatically upon the next restart.

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The main highlight of the release is optimizations and DLSS 3.5 support for Black Myth: Wukong and Star Wars Outlaws. Also, the driver extends DLSS technology support for Final Fantasy XVI, Concord, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 3.5 technology including Star Wars Outlaws. Further support for new titles leveraging DLSS technology includes Black Myth: Wukong, FINAL FANTASY XVI, and Concord which support DLSS 3. In addition, this driver supports the launch of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

Fixed issues in the Nvidia 560.94 WHQL driver include only one:

• [Octane Benchmark]: Unable to finish octane benchmark

And here is the list of open issues that will be fixed in future updates:

• [GeForce Experience] Performance Monitoring overlay may stop refreshing GPU information
• [NVIDIA App] Freestyle filters are missing when you press Alt+F2

You can get it from the official website or the GeForce app. As usual, here is the list of supported Nvidia graphics cards:

As for supported operating systems, they include 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11. 32-bit Windows 10 is no longer supported (and there is no 32-bit Windows 11). Full release notes are available here.

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Black Myth: Wukong released today, August 20, and AMD graphics users wanting to monkey around in the tough action game will want to get this driver beforehand. Unfortunately, the driver team has not provided any data on what kind of performance improvement, if any, can this driver provide.

Aside from games support, the HYPR-Tune feature for automatic configuration of FSR 3 frame generation has been expanded to include Modern Warfare 3, Spider-Man Remastered as well as Miles Morales.

Moreover, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag 2 support now supports one more game, that being for the PC port of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut from Sony.

Here are the fixed issues included in the 24.8.1 driver:

• Intermittent application crash may occur while playing Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess on some Radeon™ RX 6600 and 6700 series GPUs.
• Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may occur while launching Pacific Drive or KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX-.
• Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering settings from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition may fail to correctly apply for OpenGL® applications.
• Artifacts may appear while playing certain games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales or Rust.
• Increased memory usage may be observed while playing certain versions of Minecraft Java Edition.
• Improved “Optimizing Shaders” time when initially launching Forza Motorsport.

There are known issues too:

• Audio and video may intermittently become out of sync while recording using the AV1 codec in AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. [Resolution targeted for 24.9.2]
• AMD is working with the developers of Star Wars Outlaws™ to address an intermittent corruption issue that occurs after changing certain in-game graphics settings. As a temporary measure, users experiencing this issue may need to relaunch the game.
• AMD is working with the developers of Black Myth: Wukong to address an issue with transparent models when ray tracing is enabled and an intermittent purple or blue corruption appearing in certain areas.

The WHQL-certified AMD Adrenalin Edition 24.8.1 driver is now available for installation via the Radeon Settings app. A standalone download link can also be found on its release notes page for the driver here.

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The highlight of the update is the ability to swap screen contents in the Layout tab. Stardock says this feature should help users who often connect and disconnect from external monitors. Also, you will notice performance improvements when resizing Folder Portals and compatibility updates when syncing files with Dropbox and OneDrive.

Another change in Fences 5.81 is improved compatibility with the latest Windows 11 preview builds from the Insider program. With the newest update, Peek provides a "more consistent experience," which is a nice addition, considering that most developers rarely support preview versions of operating systems.

Finally, the update contains various bug fixes and changes to the auto-adjustment settings. All users are now defaulted to "Store my layout on a per-monitor configuration," a feature that was released in version 5.5. While the legacy options are still available, Stardock recommends using the new engine, which works better with multi-monitor setups and is overall "superior in every way to the legacy tooling."

You can update to the latest Fences version by heading to Settings > About. The update is now rolling out to all users, so it should be there waiting for you. Fences 5 is available as a standalone app on the official Stardock website and Steam. However, you can also download the entire Object Desktop package. Object Desktop includes programs such as Start11, Groupy, SoundPackager, DeskScapes and Multiplicity.

You can learn more about Fences 5.81 in a post on the official Stardock blog via this link.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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Here is the changelog:

Normal rollout

 

This update includes the following features and improvements that are rolling out as part of this update. Text bolded in brackets indicates the area of the change being documented.

 

• [FrameShutdownDelay] The browser ignores its value in the “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main” registry key.
• [Domain Name System (DNS)] A deadlock occurs in the domain controller (DC) when it starts up in the DNS client.
• [OpenSSH] This update adds a prompt that asks you to confirm when you turn on OpenSSH using the Server Manager UI.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Microsoft has been very busy over the past month with Windows 11 24H2 updates. Earlier in August, we noticed the company released a new 24H2 Safe OS Dynamic Update. Microsoft said the update was for "improvements to the Windows recovery environment"

Yet another Windows 1124H2 update, under KB5041178, is available as well. This update "makes improvements to Windows setup binaries or any files that setup uses for feature updates in Windows 11, version 24H2" according to the company.

Microsoft also released a Windows 11 24H2 update, under KB5040529, a few weeks ago. This one had a number of new features, including Emoji 15.1 support, a new account manager for the Start menu, a way to "drag apps from the pinned section of the menu and pin them to the taskbar", a new way for Windows to back up a number of sound settings, new Lock screen content to view such as sports, traffic, and finance news, and quite a lot more.

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Here is the changelog:

Gradual rollout

 

These might not be available to all users because they will roll out gradually. Text bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented.

 

[Windows Share] New! You can now share content to your Android device from the Windows Share window. To do this, you must pair your Android device to your Windows PC. Use the Link to Windows app on your Android device and Phone Link on your PC.

 

[File Explorer]

 

• When you press Windows logo key + E, a screen reader might say a pane has focus, or the focus might not be set at all.
• When you press Ctrl + F, sometimes the search does not start.
• Keyboard focus sometimes might get lost when you press Shift + Tab.
• Screen readers do not announce when you open or browse items that are in a breadcrumb of the Open or Save dialog.
• Screen readers do not announce when you open or browse items in the column header.

 

[Narrator] This update makes scan mode respond quicker. This is especially helpful when you use Microsoft Edge and read large documents. To use scan mode, you must turn on Narrator first (Windows logo key + Ctrl + Enter). Then, turn on scan mode by pressing Caps lock + Spacebar during a Narrator session.

 

[Voice access] You can now dictate the characters that you spell at a faster speed. You also have more editing options for the commands that select, delete, and move within text.

 

Normal rollout

 

This update includes the following features and improvements that are rolling out as part of this update. Text bolded in brackets indicates the area of the change being documented.

 

• [Input Method Editor (IME)] When a combo box has input focus, a memory leak might occur when you close that window.
• [Country and Operator Settings Asset] This update brings COSA profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.
• [Bluetooth] External devices lose their connection when you deploy certain Bluetooth policies.
• [Bind Filter Driver] Your system might stop responding when it accesses symbolic links.
• [File Explorer] The navigation pane does not update when you browse folders that are in a shell namespace extension.
• [Unified Write Filter (UWF) and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)] An SCCM task to re-enable UWF fails because of a deadlock in UWF. This stops the device from restarting when you expect it.
• [Hibernate stop error] Your laptop stops responding after you resume it from hibernate. This occurs if you have closed and opened the lid many times.
• [Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO)] The SSO notice that the European Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires prompts too often. This occurs when you authenticate using a certificate. To learn more, see Upcoming changes to Windows single sign-on.

You can check out the full blog post here.

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Here is the changelog:

New features gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on

 

New position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars

 

We’re beginning to roll out a new position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars. The taskbar entry-point will move to the left of the systems tray and will be wider so you can see richer content from Widgets on your taskbar. When you launch the Widgets board, it will fly out from the right side instead of the left side.

 

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

 

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on

 

[Taskbar & System Tray]

 

Updated the taskbar to now support first letter navigation, so when keyboard focus is set to the taskbar (WIN + T), you can press a letter, and it will jump to the open or pinned app whose name starts with that letter. Pressing the letter multiple times will jump to the subsequent app which starts with that letter, if there are multiple apps for that letter. For those using uncombined taskbar, rather than app name, the first letter navigation will use window name. Along with this, pressing Home and End will now move keyboard focus to the first and last (respectively) items in the taskbar.

 

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on

 

[Input]

 

• Fixed an issue causing text suggestions for the hardware keyboard to not work properly (selecting one unexpectedly concatenated).
• Fixed an issue causing the emoji panel to close when trying to switch to the kaomoji and symbols sections, or after selecting an emoji.

 

[Other]

 

Fixed an issue in Registry Editor where when editing a DWORD or QWORD if you pasted in a HEX value into the text box and saved it, the value saved might not be the one you had entered (for example, pasting 0x1 would become 0x411).

 

Fixes for everyone in the Dev Channel

 

[General]

 

Fixed an issue where adding additional languages or optional features might fail with error 0x800f081f in the last few flights.

 

[Other]

 

• [Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file (DriverSiPolicy.p7b)] This update adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• [Group Policy Preferences Item Level Targeting (ILT) and Local Users and Groups] You cannot choose a group from the target domain for ILT. Also, you cannot choose an account from Local Users and Groups. The forest does not appear. This issue occurs when you deploy multiple forests, and the target domain has a one-way trust with the domain of the admin. This issue affects Enhanced Security Admin Environment (ESAE), Hardened Forests (HF), or Privileged Access Management (PAM) deployments.
• [NetJoinLegacyAccountReuse] This update removes this registry key. For more information refer to KB5020276—Netjoin: Domain join hardening changes.
• [Share button] On USB controllers, the button might not work with Game Bar.
• [GPU-Paravirtualized VM or Container] After you restart it, graphic allocation creation might fail. Because of this, the VM and Container are not as reliable as you expect.
• [Domain Name System (DNS)] This update hardens DNS server security to address CVE-2024-37968. If the configurations of your domains are not up to date, you might get the SERVFAIL error or time out.
• [PowerShell and VBScript] The issue stops you from using Windows Update Agent (WUA) APIs in your scripts.
• [BitLocker] A firmware update might fail if you turn on BitLocker.

 

Known issues

 

[General]

 

[IMPORTANT] Windows Insiders joining the Dev Channel on PCs running Windows 11, version 24H2 Build 26100.xxxx will see “(repair version)” noted next to the latest Dev Channel build from Windows Update. This is nothing to worry about as all it means is that an in-place upgrade will happen to update your PC to the latest build in the Dev Channel.

 

[Task Manager]

 

Navigating between different pages in Task Manager may crash Task Manager.

You can check out the full blog post here.

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Here is the changelog:

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on

 

[Windows Studio Effects]

 

The improvement introduced with Build 22635.3930 that introduces a Studio Effects icon in the system tray when using any application with a Studio Effects-enabled camera has temporarily been disabled with this build. We plan to re-enable this feature in a future flight.

 

Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on

 

[File Explorer]

 

Fixed an issue where keyboard focus might get lost on selection of an unselected tab item.

 

[Voice Access]

 

Fixed an issue where Voice Access commands weren’t working for non-English supported languages.

 

[Input]

 

Fixed an issue causing the emoji panel to close when trying to switch to the kaomoji and symbols sections, or after selecting an emoji.

 

[Other]

 

Fixed an issue in Registry Editor where when editing a DWORD or QWORD if you pasted in a HEX value into the text box and saved it, the value saved might not be the one you had entered (for example, pasting 0x1 would become 0x411).

 

Fixes for everyone in the Beta Channel

 

• [NetAdapterCx module] A system stops responding when large amounts of data travel over Wi-Fi. This issue occurs on devices that have certain wireless network cards.
• [Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file (DriverSiPolicy.p7b)] This update adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• [Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC)] When you apply WDAC Application ID policies, some apps might fail. A memory leak occurs that might exhaust system memory as time goes by. This issue occurs when you provision a device.
• [Group Policy Preferences Item Level Targeting (ILT) and Local Users and Groups] You cannot choose a group from the target domain for ILT. Also, you cannot choose an account from Local Users and Groups. The forest does not appear. This issue occurs when you deploy multiple forests, and the target domain has a one-way trust with the domain of the admin. This issue affects Enhanced Security Admin Environment (ESAE), Hardened Forests (HF), or Privileged Access Management (PAM) deployments.
• [Autopilot] Using it to provision Surface Laptop SE devices fails.
• [FrameShutdownDelay] The browser ignores its value in the “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main” registry key.
• [Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCPIP)] The issue causes high CPU usage and loss of packets. It also affects TCP connection success rates.
• [Cache manager] It might stop responding. This occurs when you use Hyperthreading on Windows Server 2022.
• [Print Support App] When you use the app with a USB device, the app stops responding and does not print. This issue also limits the functions of the user interface.
• [Universal Print clients] They fail to communicate with the Universal Print service. This affects printing functions. This issue occurs when you turn on Web Proxy Auto Discovery (WPAD).
• [NetJoinLegacyAccountReuse] This update removes this registry key. For more information refer to KB5020276—Netjoin: Domain join hardening changes.
• [Windows Backup] Backup sometimes fails. This occurs when a device has an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) system partition (ESP).
• [PowerShell and VBScript] The issue stops you from using Windows Update Agent (WUA) APIs in your scripts.

 

Known issues

 

[Taskbar]

 

We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash for some Insiders when closing apps from the taskbar in the latest builds.

 

[File Explorer]

 

[NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash when interacting with archive files starting with the previous flight.

You can check out the full blog post here.

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Microsoft Loop 2.0 comes with a revamped UI that looks clean and simple. Beyond the new UI, Microsoft has made it easier to access your meeting notes, favorites, recent items, and more with the new navigation menu on the left. There is a new prominent Create button on the top left that allows you to create workspaces or draft ideas from anywhere in the app. Previously, you could create new Loop items only from the home page.

With Loop 2.0, you can now add your Loop Components, pages, or ideas to a workspace directly from the breadcrumb at the top. You can add them to existing workspaces or create brand new ones. All the Collaborative Meeting Notes from Microsoft Teams are now organized under the Meeting Notes tab. You can also create your pre-read notes or agenda items for all of your upcoming meetings within the new Loop experience.

The Favorites tab on the left navigation bar will allow you to easily access and switch between your favorite and recent workspaces in the Microsoft Loop app. Finally, the Recent tab on the navigation bar will allow you to easily find your most recent Loop pages and components across Microsoft 365. In addition to the ones you created using the Loop app, the Recent tab will even show you Loop components that you created directly in Microsoft Teams, Outlook, OneNote, and Whiteboard.

Microsoft Loop 2.0 is not live for everyone yet, but Microsoft is actively rolling it out, and it will be available for everyone soon.

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