Here is the change log:

Changes and Improvements

 

[File Explorer]

 

We’re rolling out the ability to duplicate a tab by right-clicking on a tab in File Explorer.

 

[Networking]

 

If you use the netsh wlan show networks command, you should be able to read SSIDs that are UTF-8 encoded. This means that Wi-Fi SSIDs with Unicode characters (like emojis) should be properly displayed in netsh output. This change is beginning to roll out so not all Insiders in the Canary Channel will see it right away.

 

[For Developers]

 

Updated the logic for the “End Task” option in the taskbar so that it no longer shows a Not Responding dialog to give confirmation before ending the task.

 

[Other]

 

Updated System Info (msinfo32) to now follow your text size preference under Settings > Accessibility > Text Size.

 

Fixes

 

[General]

 

Fixed an underlying issue causing some Insiders to see bugchecks in recent builds citing KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE.

 

[File Explorer]

 

Did some work to help address an issue where the address bar dropdown might appear unexpectedly while you were using File Explorer.

 

[Settings]

 

Fixed an underlying issue leading to some of the pop-up windows in Settings unexpectedly appearing left aligned, for example, the window for selecting a custom color for Dynamic Lighting.

 

Known issues

 

[General]

 

[IMPORTANT NOTE] We are investigating reports that some Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels are stuck on Build 26040 or Build 23620. The investigation is ongoing, however if you are impacted by this and really want to get onto the latest build in the Canary or Dev Channel today – you can download the latest ISO here and do a clean install and opt your device back into flighting in the Canary or Dev Channels.

 

[Windows Sandbox]

 

[NEW] Windows Sandbox will fail to launch with error 0x80370106.

 

[Input]

 

[NEW] We are working on the fix for an issue causing the emoji panel to close when trying to switch to the kaomoji and symbols sections, or after selecting an emoji.

You can check out the full blog post here.

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Alongside security fixes, these Patches often introduce major bugs. With the July Update Tuesday, Microsoft has now confirmed that several versions of Windows, both client (Windows 10 /11) and Server, are affected by a BitLocker-related bug wherein a user PC will be stuck at a BitLocker recovery screen when booting up the system post installation of the Patch Tuesday update.

On its Windows health dashboard, describing the problem, Microsoft writes:

After installing the July 2024 Windows security update, released July 9, 2024 (KB5040442 / KB5040427), you might see a BitLocker recovery screen upon booting your device. This screen does not commonly appear after a Windows update. You are more likely to face this issue if you have the Device Encryption option enabled in Settings under Privacy & Security -> Device encryption. Resulting from this issue, you might be prompted to enter the recovery key from your Microsoft account to unlock your drive.

 

Affected platforms:

 

• Client: Windows 11 version 23H2, Windows 11 version 22H2, Windows 11 version 21H2, Windows 10 version 22H2, Windows 10 version 21H2.
• Server: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft has also provided a workaround describing how users on affected PCs can work their way around the issue, and it requires the BitLocker recovery key:

Workaround:

 

Your device should proceed to start up normally from the BitLocker recovery screen once the recovery key has been entered. You can retrieve the recovery key by logging into the BitLocker recovery screen portal with your Microsoft account. Detailed steps for finding the recovery key are listed here: Finding your BitLocker recovery key in Windows.

 

Next steps: We are investigating the issue and will provide an update when more information is available.

You can learn more about the bug here on the Windows health dashboard page on Microsoft's official website.

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Here are the update highlights:

• This update addresses non-security issues for your Windows operating system.

And here is the full changelog:

• This update addresses an issue that affects MSIX applications. When you install them from an HTTPS URI, they fail to open. This issue occurs when the download of the application is not complete. This damages the package.
• This update affects mobile device management (MDM). When you enroll a device, the MDM client sends more details about the device. The MDM service uses those details to identify the device model and the company that made it.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Direct Composition batched presentations. A brief flash of triangles or boxes show on the screen. This issue affects browsers, like Microsoft Edge, and other apps.
• This update brings Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.
• This update addresses an issue that might stop your system from resuming from hibernate. This occurs after you turn on BitLocker.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). The issue copies unsigned WDAC policies to the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) disk partition. It is reserved for signed policies.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a folder context menu. When you choose the command that removes items, the command adds items instead. This occurs when a third-party service implements a sync feature.

There's just one known bug in this update, along with a workaround:

In addition Microsoft also tweeted an undocumented fix that is included in this release:

You can get to the latest Windows 10 non-security update by navigating to Settings > Windows Update, clicking "Check for updates," and downloading KB5040525. Alternatively, head to the Microsoft Update Catalog and get the KB5040525 as a manual install package.

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The next version of Windows 11 is coming soon, and we already know what to expect regarding new features and changes coming in this release known as the 2024 Update or version 24H2. The focus for this next update is on platform improvements and general quality-of-life updates, and less on big new surface-level features (unless you have a Copilot+ PC.)

There's quite a lot coming in this next release, and you can read all about it in our in-depth Windows 11 2024 Update rundown. However, we wanted to streamline that list down to just five of the most notable new features coming with version 24H2 later this year, based on my own usage of the update so far.

So, let's get into it!

File Explorer and Context Menu updates

What you need to know

• Microsoft shipped Windows 11 Build 22635.3936 to Insiders in the Beta Channel recently.
• The update tests a new design for the "Open with" dialog.
• Insiders running the latest version of the Microsoft Store will also see a new flyout that appears when searching for apps in the store.
• Many debate if suggestions such as the one seen in the flyout are ads, useful suggestions, or a mixture of the two.

Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 Build 22635.3936 to Insiders in the Beta Channel this week. The biggest change that appears within the latest Insider build of Windows 11 isn't a Windows 11 feature at all. Instead, it's a new feature within the Microsoft Store. The full changes seen in the build are listed below, but they're relatively minor, so I'll focus on the Microsoft Store change.

Starting with version 22406.xxxx.x of the Microsoft Store, you'll see a new flyout that shows suggested apps. The Microsoft Store already displays suggestions based on the app you search for, but the flyout adds another section for content. Microsoft did not specify if the apps that appear within the flyout appear organically or as a result of paid advertising.

Here are the official release notes:

Version 128.0.2, first offered to Release channel users on July 23, 2024

 

• Fixed an audio echo in video calls on macOS under certain conditions. (Bug 1908539)
• Fixed an issue where the Adguard extension popup was not displaying. (Bug 1906132)
• Fixed an issue causing some screen readers to fail to read when navigating by character in rich text editors. (Bug 1905021)
• Fixed visual glitches when dark mode is enabled in Windows ARM devices. (Bug 1897444)
• Fixed an issue causing NTLM authentication failure. (Bug 1908115)
• Fixed an issue where content displayed on mouseover was not captured in a screenshot. (Bug 1905468)
• Various stability fixes.

If you use Firefox, you probably know that, like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and other browsers, Firefox updates itself automatically in the background. However, you can speed things up by heading to Menu > Help > About Firefox. The browser will check for updates, download the latest release, and offer you the option to restart itself to apply available updates.

Firefox is available on Windows 10, 11, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux. Windows users can get the browser from the official website or using the Microsoft Store via this link. By the way, Mozilla is the only mainstream browser still offering support for now-deceased Windows versions, namely Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Recently, Mozilla confirmed its plans to support Firefox on those systems beyond the previously set deadlines.

In case you missed it, check out the new features and changes in Firefox 128 in our dedicated coverage.

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We believe a cleaner internet is a better internet. One without the popups, ads, banners that get in the way of focusing on the things that matter most.

With Chrome’s transition to Manifest V3, many of you were asking how we plan to keep Arc clear of the clutter. Well, great news! Mateusz, Omar, Brian, Andrzej, and Miko are working hard on bringing native Ad Block to you! It's still baking, but we're adding the finishing touches!

The native ad-blocking capabilities are not available yet, but you can expect to see them in the Early Bird program first before they head out to the general public. If you want to sign up for the preview program, head to this website, click "Join our next cohort," and fill in your info. Developers will ask you for your Arc account and your technical knowledge level.

This week, we’re rolling out Arc Early Birds – a community program for members who want to help us test and fine-tune the newest versions of Arc ahead of their public release.

You can download the Arc Browser from the official website. For now, it is only available on Windows 11, but The Browser Company promises to add Windows 10 support in the near future.

As an online publication, Neowin relies on ads for operating costs, and if you use an ad blocker, we'd appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support!

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Keep in mind that the update is only available for the Surface Studio 2+, and it is not available for the regular, non-plus variant of the Surface Studio 2 all-in-one.

Here is the official changelog:

The following update is available for Surface Studio 2+ devices running Windows 11 September 2022 Update, Version 22H2, or greater.

 

Improvements and fixes:

 

• Resolves the issue with the camera app that resulted in changing its orientation to horizontal by default.
• Mitigates a potential security vulnerability that might otherwise grant unauthorized access to manufacturing mode, averting the possibility of substantial harm.

Here is the list of new drivers:

Here is extra information about the release:

The Surface Studio 2+ has a six-year lifecycle, which means it will continue receiving software support from Microsoft until October 2, 2028. The computer is not only Microsoft's largest Surface device, but it is also the most expensive—the company sells it in only one configuration for a whopping $4,499.

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Modifying and debloating the OS is something that has become somewhat of a common practice among enthusiasts, though at times, these are done just for the sake of it, like running Windows 11 on an iPhone 15 Pro.

The Statcounter data above also suggests that there are users still on Windows 7, one of the most loved Windows ever, even though, presently, Windows 10 holds on to the highest market share.

A Windows enthusiast and YouTuber recently published a video where they transformed their Windows 10 into Windows 7 by modifying and tweaking the Registry, the Group Policy, and finally using AME Wizard to make the main transformation. On AME Wizard, a Playbook titled "Transforming Windows 10 into Windows 7 pack" was used. Besides these, there is a touch of Revert8Plus as well.

For those wondering, AME Wizard is a Windows modding tool that helps users modify it using Playbooks. Playbooks are pre-made with the necessary modifications and settings tweaks already in place. Playbooks can be custom-made by users too.

For example, verified Playbooks for AtlasOS and ReviOS are available on the official website of AME Wizard.

There are two variants of AME Wizard one for each of Windows 11 and 10. While AME Wizard 11 is for the latest Windows OS, AME Wizard 10 is compatible with Windows 10.

You can watch the full 17-minute video above. Do we recommend you to do this? Well obviously not on your actual PC, but this can be something fun to play around with in a VM.

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Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's Founder and CEO, expressed his vision for an open AI ecosystem in a separate blog post. He believes Llama has the potential to become the "Linux of AI." Just as Linux, through its open-source nature, has become the industry standard for cloud computing and mobile operating systems, Zuckerberg envisions open-source AI achieving similar ubiquity. He highlighted that the open-source Llama 3.1 already competes with, and in some cases surpasses, the most advanced models. Looking ahead, he predicts that future Llama models will lead the industry in advancement.

Zuckerberg's rationale for why open source AI benefits developers and the industry is detailed below.

• We need to train, fine-tune, and distill our own models. Every organization has different needs that are best met with models of different sizes that are trained or fine-tuned with their specific data. On-device tasks and classification tasks require small models, while more complicated tasks require larger models. Now you’ll be able to take the most advanced Llama models, continue training them with your own data and then distill them down to a model of your optimal size – without us or anyone else seeing your data.
• We need to control our own destiny and not get locked into a closed vendor. Many organizations don’t want to depend on models they cannot run and control themselves. They don’t want closed model providers to be able to change their model, alter their terms of use, or even stop serving them entirely. They also don’t want to get locked into a single cloud that has exclusive rights to a model. Open source enables a broad ecosystem of companies with compatible toolchains that you can move between easily.
• We need to protect our data. Many organizations handle sensitive data that they need to secure and can’t send to closed models over cloud APIs. Other organizations simply don’t trust the closed model providers with their data. Open source addresses these issues by enabling you to run the models wherever you want. It is well-accepted that open source software tends to be more secure because it is developed more transparently.
• We need a model that is efficient and affordable to run. Developers can run inference on Llama 3.1 405B on their own infra at roughly 50% the cost of using closed models like GPT-4o, for both user-facing and offline inference tasks.
• We want to invest in the ecosystem that’s going to be the standard for the long term. Lots of people see that open source is advancing at a faster rate than closed models, and they want to build their systems on the architecture that will give them the greatest advantage long term.

Zuckerberg also explained why open source AI is good for Meta. Instead of relying solely on closed AI system companies and its policies, Meta can truly innovate without any restrictions. Also, Meta's successful track record in the past with open-source projects, like Open Compute Project and PyTorch, further reinforces the benefits of this approach for long-term growth and innovation.

You can read Mark Zuckerberg's full blog post here.

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Several European countries are betting on open-source software for their technology. In the United States, eh, not so much. In the latest news from across the Atlantic, Switzerland has taken a major step forward with its "Federal Law on the Use of Electronic Means for the Fulfillment of Governmental Tasks" (EMBAG). This groundbreaking legislation mandates using open-source software (OSS) in the public sector.

This new law requires all public bodies to disclose the source code of software developed by or for them unless third-party rights or security concerns prevent it. This "public money, public code" approach aims to enhance government operations' transparency, security, and efficiency.

Making this move wasn't easy. It began in 2011 when the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published its court application, Open Justitia, under an OSS license. The proprietary legal software company Weblaw wasn't happy about this. There were heated political and legal fights for more than a decade. Finally, the EMBAG was passed in 2023. Now, the law not only allows the release of OSS by the Swiss government or its contractors but also requires the code to be released under an open-source license "unless the rights of third parties or security-related reasons would exclude or restrict this."

Professor Dr. Matthias Stürmer, head of the Institute for Public Sector Transformation at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, led the fight for this law. He hailed it as "a great opportunity for government, the IT industry and society." Stürmer believes everyone will benefit from this regulation, as it reduces vendor lock-in for the public sector, allows companies to expand their digital business solutions, and potentially leads to reduced IT costs and improved services for taxpayers.

In addition to mandating OSS, the EMBAG also requires the release of non-personal and non-security-sensitive government data as Open Government Data (OGD). This dual "open by default" approach marks a significant paradigm shift towards greater openness and practical reuse of software and data.

Implementing EMBAG is expected to serve as a model for other countries considering similar measures. It aims to promote digital sovereignty and encourage innovation and collaboration within the public sector.

The Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS) is leading the law's implementation. However, the organizational and financial aspects of the OSS releases still need to be clarified.

Other countries in Europe have long supported open source. For example, in 2023, French President Macron stated, "We love open source," and France's National Gendarmerie (Think FBI if you're an American) uses Linux on its PCs. The European Union (EU) has long worked on securing OSS via the EU-Free and Open Source Software Auditing (FOSSA) project.

It's not all wine and roses in the EU. There's some worry that the European Commission will cut funding for the NGI Zero Commons Fund, an important funding source for OSS projects.

In the States, there's some support for open source, but not nearly as much as our European cousins. The Federal Source Code Policy, for instance, requires federal agencies to release at least 20% of new custom-developed code as open-source software. It doesn't, however, mandate the use of open source.

Similarly, the General Services Administration (GSA) has an OSS Policy that requires GSA organizations to account for and publish their open-source code. This policy promotes an "open first" approach for new custom code development.

So, while this legislative move positions Switzerland at the forefront of the global open-source movement, more work needs to be done both in Europe and the United States.

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When a CPU overheats, typically, thermal throttling sets in which works to lower the temperature back to safe levels. However, the temperature at which a chip starts to throttle is generally pretty high, 90+ Celsius, and not everyone may be as comfortable with such high temperatures.

Third-party utilities like Alcpu's Core Temp allow setting lower overheating protection temperature that warns the user of an overheating processor when that threshold is reached.

There is a new third-party utility called Camomile Optimizer that is of a similar nature and aims to lower the temperature and help in cooling down a CPU. The app developer has made some pretty huge claims regarding the software's performance.

There is an article titled "How to Optimize Your CPU to Lower PC Power Usage by 34% and Minimize Carbon Footprint" essentially implying that users can lower the power consumption of their system by more than a third.

The features of the app are described as follows:

Lower PC Temperature

 

Camomile cools down a PC, ensuring optimal temperature even under heavy workloads, such as gaming or other processes with increased CPU usage.

 

Reduce Fan Noise

 

Powered by its effective optimizations, Camomile significantly reduces the load on cooling fans, making them work much quieter. Also, less fan activity means less dust buildup, which could help you keep a PC cleaner.

 

Extend Battery Life

 

Reducing the load on your operating system with Camomile can help extend laptop’s battery life, allowing you to use a laptop longer without constantly needing a power outlet.

Temperature with Camomile disabled

Temperature with Camomile enabled

The app maker has provided examples of how it works using a Ryzen 5 5500 for demonstration wherein it shows that the temperature of the chip was reduced from 83C down to 67C, though the clock speed of the chip went down quite heavily.The developer does caution about this stating "this may slow down some processor-intensive applications".

The app is available for download on its official website though we are not sure if you should try it and whether it will provide any tangible benefit. Perhaps you may be better off using Windows' built-in power-saving options or something like Core Temp linked above.

Spotted by BetaNews

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Here is the changelog:

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

 

[General]

 

We are trying out updated designs for the “Open with” dialog where the group headers are removed, among a few other changes.

 

[Taskbar & System Tray]

 

We have temporarily disabled the more simplified system tray with shortened date/time change that began rolling out with Build 22635.3930 to address several issues. We will begin re-enabling this on a future flight. If you saw this change previously, it will likely disappear after updating to this build today.

 

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

 

[Input]

 

• Fixed an issue causing text suggestions for the hardware keyboard to not work properly in recent builds (selecting one unexpectedly concatenated).
• Fixed a few high hitting ctfmon.exe crashes, which could impact the ability to input text.
• Fixed an issue which could cause certain mice and keyboards to not work in safe mode.

 

Known issues

 

[General]

 

• [NEW] We’re investigating a couple of issues causing an increase in explorer.exe crashes for some Insiders with the latest builds.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing the Notification Center to get stuck and not open sometimes for some Insiders with the latest builds.

 

[File Explorer]

 

Insiders in the Beta Channel with the updated Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections on the File Explorer homepage may see the following known issues:

 

• Files shared with you may not appear if there has been no interaction with that file.
• Keyboard focus may be lost on selection of an unselected tab item.
• Narrator may not work as expected when navigating through the Recent, Favorites, and Shared tab items.

 

[Widgets]

 

Insiders in the Beta Channel who have the new position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars may see the following known issues:

 

• Swipe invocation for Widgets may not work if taskbar is center-aligned instead of left-aligned.
• Unpinning Widgets from the taskbar may not work if taskbar is center-aligned instead of left-aligned.
• The Widgets board is incorrectly positioned when Copilot is in side-by-side mode.

 

[Input]

 

[NEW] We are working on the fix for an issue causing the emoji panel to close when trying to switch to the kaomoji and symbols sections, or after selecting an emoji

You can check out the full blog post here.

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So if you are not a hardware vendor, you probably do not have much need for that. That's where the highly popular unofficial lightweight Windows images from NTDEV come in.

If you are not familiar, X user NTDEV is known for creating modified, stripped-off Windows images that are meant to be free from all the bloatware that users do not need. Lite versions of both Windows 11 and 10 exist in the form of tiny11 and tiny10.

On their official X handle this past weekend, NTDEV published about their experience running tiny11 core on an Apple iPhone 15 Pro. They note that the boot-up was extremely slow taking 20 minutes but the experiment was still fun as it is probably the first-ever instance of running Windows 11 on an iPhone.

The UTM SE emulator, which landed in the Apple App Store last week, was used for the test.

For those wondering about the differences between tiny11 and tiny11 core, compared to the vanilla one, the "core" variant further reduces the size of the Windows installation pretty heftily such that it may require just around three gigs of space.

In case you need a refresher on the hardware specifications of the Apple iPhone 15 Pro, the device packs the 6-core A17 Bionic chipset with a 6-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine. It has 8GB of system RAM.

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Although the build itself is still available for everyone to download, the simplified tray area is no longer rolling out. In a now-updated blog post, Microsoft says it turned off the updated tray due to unnamed issues:

We have temporarily disabled the more simplified system tray with shortened date/time change to address several issues. We will begin re-enabling this in a future flight.

Here is how Microsoft describes the now-disabled (temporarily) change:

We are trying out a more simplified system tray to highlight the date/time in a shortened form and to show the notifications bell icon based on DND status. Without the notification bell icon, you can get to your notifications by clicking the date and time to Notification Center.

 

You can revert to the long form of the date/time and bell icon visuals by toggling the values in the Settings via Settings > Date and Time under “Show time and day in the system tray” and Settings > System > Notifications under “Notifications”. These settings are also accessible through the context menu shown by right clicking the system tray clock/bell icon button.

The updated tray area appears to be the only feature Microsoft reverted in build 22635.3930. Other changes are still available (some are rolling out gradually and require force-enabling with the ViVeTool app for those who do not want to wait). Those include taskbar thumbnail animations, shared content in File Explorer, new taskbar shortcuts, and more. You can learn more about Windows 11 build 22635.3930 in our dedicated coverage.

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That change was supposed to become effective with the release of Edge 126, which was launched in its Stable Channel in mid-June. However. Microsoft has quietly announced that the hardware requirement change for Edge has been pushed slightly back.

Petri reports that in a message sent on Microsoft's M365 Admin Center app, the company has delayed the end of Edge support for non-SSE3 PCs and lower to version 128. The message did not offer any explanation for the delay in this hardware requirement change for Edge.

The message added:

Impacted devices will see a banner in Microsoft Edge versions 126 & 127 stating: “This computer will soon stop receiving Microsoft Edge updates because its hardware is no longer supported.”

The M365 Admin Center message added that while Edge 128 will still work on PCs that don't have SSE3 support, they will no longer receive any feature or security updates. Microsoft does not recommend users keep running Edge 128 on those older PCs.

Edge 127 is now available in the Dev Channel, and is currently expected to be released in the Stable channel sometime later this week. Edge 128 is available for Mac PC users to check out in the Dev Channel and should be available for Windows users in that same channel soon. Edge 128 is not expected to be released on the Stable channel until late August at the earliest.

Even with this delay, this change will likely only affect a small percentage of PCs. The SSE3 instruction sent was launched for processors in 2004, which means Edge should soon not be supported on PCs that are 20 years old or older.

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Microsoft has now released the official Reflect app for Windows PCs in the Microsoft Store. However, it is not a native app; it is simply a packaged version of the Reflect web experience.

Reflect allows educators to create check-ins to gain insights into students' well-being. They can create check-ins for staff and families to understand how they feel about any topic. Reflect also supports live check-ins to collect responses during meetings. Students can respond to check-ins using emojis and the Feelings Monster, a research-backed character that showcases 60 different emotions in an engaging way.

Based on the responses from students, educators can gain valuable insights into where their students are doing well and identify areas that need improvement.

Microsoft Reflect also allows students to take a brain break through its curated collection of short, inclusive activities focusing on mental fitness, refreshing the mind, and refocusing. Some of the activities include:

• Breathing activities
• Movement activities, including stretching and dancing with the Feelings Monster
• Guided mindfulness videos featuring the Feelings Monster
• Audio meditations
• Focus music tracks and soundscapes to overcome distractions and stay on task
• Short podcasts to help students learn about navigating their emotions
• Games such as a memory game, connection cards, and coloring pages.

Microsoft is regularly adding new updates to the Reflect platform. For example, Reflect can now be integrated within Learning Management Systems (LMS) including Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard Learn, D2L Brightspace, Google Classroom, Schoology, and more.

You can download the Microsoft Reflect app here from the Microsoft Store. The app is available for free, but it requires a valid Microsoft school account to access the experience.

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The beta of Linux Mint 22 was released 20 days ago, on July 2. It includes Linux 6.2, new wallpapers, and a better Software Manager. A week after the beta came out, its head, Clem Lefebvre, said that the stable release could be more than two weeks away. At the time, 109 bug reports had been filed, and 53 had still not been solved.

Lefebvre said that Linux Mint 22 would be a solid base for the future but that several issues were threatening to extend the beta testing period, and that has manifested. At the time, Neowin reported the following:

"There are bugs related to AppArmor security changes leading to application crashes, there are hardware acceleration playback libraries making Xorg crash, and there are issues with Flatpaks and Mint Install."

We also mentioned in that article that Mint 22 will be supported until 2029, so a few extra weeks of testing are really not that big of a deal. The extended beta testing follows a longer-than-usual wait for the beta to arrive.

Like other Linux Mint series, the Linux Mint 22 series will feature three-point releases after new Ubuntu versions come out. These point updates will feature new desktop changes made by the Mint team, however, they are optional and you can stay on a previous version and continue to get updates as normal.

Many of Mint's users like this aspect because they can install Mint, forget about it, and get on with their work. Even if users do decide to upgrade, the changes are very conservative, so you don't need to sit there for ages figuring out a new layout.

Source: Linux Mint

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The app debuted last year for Windows 10 and 11, to help users back up their data. It does not include a complete backup of your system, instead Windows Backup makes a copy of your important files and folders (Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Videos), your settings, and credentials. The problem with it is that it relies on OneDrive’s cloud storage, and as you may know, free Microsoft accounts are limited to 5 GB of storage. Users can run out of space rather quickly if they store a lot of files in the aforementioned directories. Microsoft recently made a change to the initial setup of Windows 11, which enables OneDrive folder back up by default, this also poses a similar problem, i.e. you could run out of storage space, unless you upgrade to a premium plan which starts at $1.99 per month.

Windows 11 is displaying another annoying pop-up asking users to use Windows Backup

Now, Microsoft has begun displaying a pop-up to promote Windows Backup. The nag-screen, which was spotted by Windows Latest, is a server-side change. The message warns the user that "Your PC is not fully backed up", and the wording below it says "Backup is not turned on for Credentials and Folders. Back up now to save them if something happens to your PC". The pop-up has a button to "Back up now", and another to "Dismiss" the warning.

Considering that Windows Backup saves a limited amount of user data, i.e., your local folders are not backed up, the warning about backing up your PC is actually incorrect. This makes the pop-ups even more annoying. Windows Latest says that dismissing the notification will disable the pop-up for a few weeks, but the pop-up could reappear if you disable some Settings.

TechRadar suggested that Microsoft should consider making a Promo Center in Windows 11, to highlight the features and options that a user may have not enabled, such as the Windows Backup app. That's a good idea, limiting all the ads to a specific app that you can access if you want to would be a great improvement, instead of these pop-ups that are shoved in your face. That said, it is highly unlikely that it will happen. If anything, we can expect even more ads, because that is sadly what Microsoft cares about these days.

There have been several other ads in Windows over the past year. Windows 10 users ran into full-screen pop-up messages which prompted them to upgrade them to Windows 11. And then there were the Bing pop-up ads that appeared in Google Chrome. I have lost count of the number of times Microsoft has promoted Edge, Bing, OneDrive, in other areas of Windows 11. You may run into ads in the Start Menu, Settings app, and File Explorer. Did you know that the Microsoft Weather app shows ads too? Microsoft needs to stop this nonsense and focus on improving Windows 11. You don't see Apple pushing its products aggressively on macOS, do you? That's how you treat your users, it's their computer, not your billboard to display ads.

If you want to back up your PC, you can use free apps like Veeam Agent, Rescuezilla, or Macrium Reflect Free, and save the data to your external hard drive.

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We will start with a feature that's included in the classic Outlook for Windows app that's finally coming to the new Outlook app and on the web later in July:

With this update, customers will be able to add apps to their meetings, similar to how they can do that in classic Outlook for Windows.

Another feature that will be added to the new Outlook app and on the web in September concerns its calendar functions:

When focused on the calendar grid, you will be able to navigate the time slots on the calendar via left/right/up/down arrow keys in day, week, and work week views.

Sometime in August, the new Outlook Windows app and the web version will get some meeting recap features:

Shortly after a meeting ends, meeting participants will automatically get a set of all the meeting artifacts in the calendar for the new Outlook in Windows and web. Included in this set is a quick entry point to the meeting recap page, the transcript, the recording, and any files that were shared. For users with access to intelligent meeting recap, in addition to the entry point to intelligent recap in Microsoft Teams, users will also see highlights like number of speakers, number of name mentions, and suggested tasks directly within Microsoft Outlook.

Some changes to the Sort and Filter options will be added to the new Outlook Windows app and on the web in August:

Sort and Filter will now be separate buttons in the Message List. This will make it easier to change the Sorted by and the Filtered by values separately.

Android and iOS users of Outlook will be able to chat with Microsoft's Copilot AI chatbot starting in August. In November, the Android Outlook app is scheduled to add the email auto-advance setting.

Finally, users of the classic Outlook app for Windows will get some new Copilot features in the near future:

In classic Outlook for Windows, when composing an email, customers can select portions of text in an email and use Copilot to rewrite it. Users can give detailed instructions on how to rewrite and also able to modify tone and length.

The feature will be released in a preview version in October, followed by general availability in November.

That's it for this week's Outlook-exclusive Microsoft 365 Roadmap recap. We will be back next Sunday with the highlights from the roadmap site for the upcoming week.

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• Edge is getting even more aggressive in trying to convince Chrome users to switch, with potential new pop-ups and triggers.

• Microsoft is closely monitoring Edge usage and may intervene if you use Chrome too much, even in Private Browsing mode.

• These new tactics to promote Edge may backfire and annoy users, showing Microsoft's struggle to compete with Chrome.

If you've bought a Windows machine in recent years, there's a good chance you used Edge to download another browser. The problem is, Edge really, really doesn't like it when you use it to download another browser, especially if it's Chrome. While other browsers such as Firefox still trigger some pester boxes, Microsoft has practically declared an all-out war against Chrome. Now, it seems that a future update will dial up the pestering if you dare consider downloading Chrome with Edge - or even if you don't use Edge enough.

Microsoft ramps up its mission to convince Chrome users to use Edge

As spotted by Windows Latest, the new Canary branch of Edge has gotten some new variables. These refer to Chrome in different ways, explaining what action the user has to take in order for it to fire.

The first anti-Chrome variable spotted was titled "msNurturingFeatureChromePBTrigger." Windows Latest makes a guess that the "PB" in the variable name refers to "Private Browsing." It surmises that it may involve a pop-up that appears when you enter Private Browsing on Chrome, presumably to tell the user that Edge can do that too. Another is titled

"msRewardsOpenActionCenterOnChromeDownloadThankyou," which will likely detect when you arrive at the Chrome "thank you for downloading" page. From the name, I believe it will open the Action Center to advertise Microsoft Rewards, the Redmond giant's way of allowing users to earn digital currency for using its products.

Perhaps the most worrying is one called "msNurturingFeatureEdgeBrowserUsageLessThanThresholdPolicyManagerTrigger." This one will keep tabs on how much you use Edge versus other browsers, and will presumably cause something to happen once it drops below a specific threshold.

Windows Latest goes on to list more variables, which it believes are for internal testing purposes:

msChromePBDetectionEdgeUsageLessThanFiftyTrigger: This activates if Edge usage is below 50% when Chrome’s Private Browsing is used.

msNurturingFeatureBrowserLaunchCooldownTrigger: A feature that limits how often browsers can be opened to manage usage.

msNurturingFeatureChromeBrowserUsageGreaterThanThresholdTrigger: Similar to the policy manager trigger but specifically activates with high Chrome usage to promote Edge.

msNurturingFeatureEdgeBrowserUsageLessThanThresholdTrigger: Activates when Edge usage is low, prompting more frequent use.

msNurturingFeatureNonMVUUserTrigger: Targets users who are not frequent users.

msNurturingFeatureTotalBrowserUsageGreaterThanThresholdTrigger: Another trigger for when overall browser usage is high.

Hopefully, these and the earlier variables are just for testing. If they're intended for consumer use, we may see a torrent of new pester boxes for downloading and using Chrome. Unfortunately, this is just but one of the ways Microsoft shoots itself in the foot with Edge.

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CrowdStrike has published a new “Remediation and Guidance Hub” that collects details related to its faulty update that crashed 8.5 million Windows computers across the globe on Friday.

The page includes technical information on what caused the outage, what systems are affected, and CEO George Kurtz’s statement. It contains links to Bitlocker key recovery processes and to various third-party vendor pages about dealing with the outage, as well.

The page points to a knowledge base article (which only logged-in customers can access) for using a bootable USB key. Microsoft released such a tool yesterday that automatically deletes the problematic channel file that caused machines to blue screen.

CrowdStrike also published a blog yesterday warning that threat actors have been taking advantage of the situation to distribute malware, using “a malicious ZIP archive named crowdstrike-hotfix.zip.”

The ZIP archive contains a HijackLoader payload that, when executed, loads RemCos. Notably, Spanish filenames and instructions within the ZIP archive indicate this campaign is likely targeting Latin America-based (LATAM) CrowdStrike customers.

Later in the blog:

Following the content update issue, several typosquatting domains impersonating CrowdStrike have been identified. This campaign marks the first observed instance in which a threat actor has capitalized on the Falcon content issue to distribute malicious files targeting LATAM-based CrowdStrike customers.  

CrowdStrike says organizations should only be working directly with CrowdStrike’s representatives using official channels, and should use only the guidance its support team provides.

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Using the CrowdStrike recovery tool on Windows PCs requires a separate working PC with a 64-bit Windows and at least 8GB of RAM.

You also need a USB drive with a minimum of 1GB of storage, Administrative privileges to execute the tool, and BitLocker recovery keys on affected systems with BitLocker encryption.

In a nutshell, the tool creates a bootable USB drive that, when launched, applies the necessary fixes automatically and executes "issue-remediation scripts" suggested by CrowdStrike, saving users, especially IT admins, a lot of time and effort. Once everything is done, the affected system should boot into Windows without any issues.

Here is the official guide on how to use the utility. On a separate working Windows machine:

1.         Download the signed Microsoft Recovery Tool from the Microsoft Download Center.
2.         Extract the PowerShell script from the downloaded solution.
3.         Run MsftRecoveryToolForCS.ps1 from an elevated PowerShell prompt.
4.         ADK download and install will start, may take several minutes to complete.
5.         You will be prompted to optionally select a driver directory for image import. We recommend you select “N” to skip this step. Some devices may need specific keyboard and/or mass storage drivers, however “N” is sufficient for most devices. NOTE: The tool will import any SYS and INI recursively under the specified directory.
6.         Insert the USB drive when prompted and provide the drive letter.
7.         Once the USB creation is complete, remove the USB from the Windows client.

On the affected system that needs recovery:

1.         Insert the USB key into an impacted device.
2.         Reboot the device.
3.         During restart, press F12 (or follow manufacturer-specific instructions for booting to BIOS).
4.         From the BIOS boot menu, choose Boot from USB and continue.
5.         The tool will run.
6.         If BitLocker is enabled, the user will be prompted for the BitLocker recovery key. Include the dashes in for the BitLocker recovery key when entering. The recovery key options are provided here.
7.         The tool will run the issue-remediation scripts as recommended by CrowdStrike.
8.         Once complete, reboot the device normally.

You can learn more about the tool in a post on the official Tech Community website.

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Microsoft has released a recovery tool that’s designed to help IT admins repair Windows machines that were impacted by CrowdStrike’s faulty update that crashed 8.5 million Windows devices on Friday. The tool creates a bootable USB drive that IT admins can use to help quickly recover impacted machines.

While CrowdStrike has issued an update to fix its software that led to millions of Blue Screen of Death errors, not all machines are able to automatically receive that fix. Some IT admins have reported rebooting PCs multiple times will get the necessary update, but for others the only route is having to manually boot into Safe Mode and deleting the problematic CrowdStrike update file.

Microsoft’s recovery tool now makes this recovery process less manual, by booting into its Windows PE environment via USB, accessing the disk of the affected machine, and automatically deleting the problematic CrowdStrike file to allow the machine to boot properly. This avoids having to boot into Safe Mode or a requirement of admin rights on the machine, because the tool is simply accessing the disk without booting into the local copy of Windows. If a disk is protected by BitLocker encryption, the tool will prompt for the BitLocker recovery key and then continue to fix the CrowdStrike update.

Microsoft also has separate recovery steps available for Windows Virtual Machines running on Azure, and the company has also published recovery steps for all Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices over at its support site.

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Have you turned it off and on again? That familiar refrain from IT departments and The IT Crowd is being echoed by Microsoft today as a recommended way of fixing the faulty CrowdStrike update that has taken down thousands of Windows PCs and servers today.

In a support note on Microsoft’s Azure outage page, the company says it has heard from customers that rebooting virtual machines and PCs multiple times can help. “We have received feedback from customers that several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting step at this stage,” says Microsoft.

If rebooting a machine 15 times doesn’t do the trick, Microsoft recommends the workaround that many IT admins have been using today, which involves deleting the faulty CrowdStrike driver. In the case of Microsoft’s Azure virtual machines, it should be easier for IT admins to mount a disk and attempt to delete the faulty file rather than having to boot machines into Safe Mode.

We’ve heard from some IT admins that rebooting is indeed fixing the problems. It’s amazing that one of the worst global IT outages in history can be fixed by just turning it off and on again. A meme saves the day.

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