However, the web version of Excel is not being ignored. In fact, today, Microsoft announced that it is getting a facelift with a new user interface that adds some new functions.

You can see the overall visual difference between the older version of Excel on the web and the new edition in the image above. In a blog post, Microsoft talked more about the new Excel web app update. One big change is that it should be much faster to resize any rows and columns in Excel with the new web version. Users can move their cursor over the border of an Excel row or column header. They can then click on that border and hold the handles so they can resize a row or column.

The new Excel web edition should also make it easier to add any new rows and columns. Just take the cursor, hover it over a row or column header, and then click on a circle. It should turn to a "+" icon where you can then click it again to make a new row or header.

Here are some of the other new functions in Excel on the web:

• Show hidden rows or columns with one click and get a complete view of your data instantly. Just hover over the row or column header and then select the small arrows that appear.
• Keep important headers or columns visible as you scroll to ensure that important information stays visible, no matter how far you scroll down or across your spreadsheet. To do so, drag the handles in the top left corner of the headers and drag them to the desired position. To change existing freeze panes, just drag the freeze pane line.
• Effortlessly rearrange elements in your worksheet with drag and drop, making data organization a breeze. To try the drag and drop feature, select any row or column, hold and drag when the cursor shows the hand icon, and then drop in any other row or column
• Highlight important cells to emphasize critical information and improve readability. To use this feature, just select a row, column, range of cells, or individual cell.

All of these features should be available now for all Excel web users.

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Turns out Microsoft pushed the update as Copilot+ PCs are starting to arrive, although it did add later that x86 systems were technically compatible too.

Sometimes since then, Microsoft also released a SafeOS dynamic update for Windows 11 24H2. This dynamic update adds improvements to the Windows recovery environment or WinRE and should help the recovery of a device in case something goes south.

The update is available under KB5041137, and Microsoft writes:

KB5041137: Safe OS Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 24H2: June 28, 2024

 

Summary

 

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery environment in Windows 11, version 24H2.

In a Techcommunity blog post about Windows 10 Dynamic Updates, Microsoft explained Dynamic Updates in more detail regarding its various components and uses. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more:

As soon as a Windows 10 feature update initiates, whether from media or a Windows Update service-connected environment, Dynamic Update is one of the first steps invoked. Windows 10 Setup reaches out to an Internet-facing URL hosted by Microsoft to fetch Dynamic Update content, then applies those updates to your OS installation media.

 

Content acquired includes:

 

• Setup Updates: Fixes to Setup binaries or any files that Setup uses for feature updates.
• Safe OS Updates: Fixes for the "safe OS" that are used to update Windows recovery environment (WinRE).
• Servicing Stack Updates: Fixes that are necessary to address the Windows 10 servicing stack issue and thus required to complete the feature update.
• Latest Cumulative Update: Installs the latest cumulative quality update.
• Driver Updates: Latest version of applicable drivers that have already been published by manufacturers into Windows Update and specifically targeted for Dynamic Update.

 

In addition to these updates, Dynamic Update will preserve Language Pack (LP) and Features on Demand (FODs) content during the upgrade process. These are not updates to LPs and FODs, but reacquisition to ensure the user has these elements present with the update completes.

These dynamic updates are not pushed through Windows Update and are only available for manual downloading from the Windows Update Catalog website. You can find it here. It is available for both Arm64 and AMD64 devices.

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In June 2024, Windows 11 increased its market share by 0.55 points. It now sits at 46.63%, less than 3% away from Windows 10. Speaking of the latter, Windows 10 lost 0.93 points. The aging operating system currently holds about 49.42% of all Windows users on Steam.

Windows 7 and 8.1 are still alive and kicking. 64-bit Windows 7 has 0.4% (+0.02), and 64-bit Windows 8.1 has 0.08%. Overall, 96.61% of all survey participants reported using Windows to play games from Steam (+0.40%). Linux is in second place with 2.08% (-0.24), and macOS is third with 1.31% (-0.16 )

For those unfamiliar, Steam Hardware & Software Survey is a monthly survey Valve conducts to help developers better understand the situation on the market, how to optimize their products, and more:

Steam conducts a monthly survey to collect data about what kinds of computer hardware and software our customers are using. Participation in the survey is optional, and anonymous. The information gathered is incredibly helpful to us as we make decisions about what kinds of technology investments to make and products to offer.

Here is what was happening on the hardware side in June 2024.

You can check out more information on the official Steam Hardware & Software Survey page.

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Here are the update highlights:

• New feature added to PowerRename to allow using sequences of random characters and UUIDs when renaming files.
• Improvements in the Paste As JSON feature to better handle other CSV delimiters and converting from ini files.
• Fixed many crashes that were reported to Microsoft servers.
• Fixed UI issues that were reported after upgrading to WPF UI on Color Picker and PowerToys Run.

The rest of the changelog includes the following:

Advanced Paste

 

• Fixed an issue causing external applications triggering Advanced Paste. (This was a hotfix for 0.81)
• Added a GPO rule to disallow using online models in Advanced Paste. (This was a hotfix for 0.81)
• Improved CSV delimiter handling and plain text parsing for the Paste as JSON feature.
• Added support to convert from ini in the Paste as JSON feature.
• Fixed a memory leak caused by images not being properly cleaned out from clipboard history.
• Added an option to hide the UI when it loses focus.
• Improved telemetry to get better data about token usage and if clipboard history is a popular feature.

 

Color Picker

 

• Fixed the opaque background corners in the picker that were introduced after the upgrade to WPFUI.

 

Developer Files Preview (Monaco)

 

• Improved the syntax highlight for .gitignore files.
• Checking for the sticky scroll option in code behind was being done twice. Removed one of the checks.

 

Environment Variables Editor

 

• Added clarity to the UI section tooltips.

 

File Explorer add-ons

 

• Fixed a crash when the preview handlers received a 64-bit handle from the OS.
• Fixed a crash when trying to update window bounds and File Explorer already disposed the preview.

 

Find My Mouse

 

• Added the option to have to use the Windows + Control keys to activate.

 

Hosts File Editor

 

• Improved spacing definitions in the UI so that hosts name are not hidden when resizing and icons are well aligned.
• Added horizontal scroll instead of wrapping in the additional lines dialog.
• Improved the duplication check's logic to improve performance and take into account features that were introduced after it.

 

Installer

 

• Fixed the remaining install failures when the folders the DSC module is to be installed in isn't accessible by the WiX installer for user scope installations.
• Fixed an issue causing ARM 64 uninstall process to not correctly finding powershell 7 to run uninstall scripts.

 

Peek

 

• Prevent activating Peek when the user is renaming a file.
• Added support to preview special folders like Recycle Bin and My PC instead of throwing an error.
• Fixed a crash caused by double releasing a COM object from the module interface.

 

Power Rename

 

• Improved apostrophe character handling for the Capitalize and Titlecase renaming flags.
• Added a feature to allow using sequences of random characters or UUIDs when renaming files.

 

PowerToys Run

 

• Improved the plugin descriptions for consistency in the UI.
• Fixed UI scaling for different dpi scenarios.
• Fixed crash on a racing condition when updating UWP icon paths in the Program plugin.
• Fixed PowerToys Run hanging when trying to close an unresponsive window in the WindowWalker plugin.
• Fixed the example in the UnitConverter description to reduce confusion with the inches abbreviation (now uses "to" instead of "in").
• Brought the acrylic background back and applied a proper fix to the titlebar accent showing through transparency.
• Fixed an issue causing the transparency from the UI disappearing after some time.

 

Quick Accent

 

• Added support for the Crimean Tatar character set.
• Added the Numero symbol and double acute accent character.
• Added the International Phonetic Alphabet characters.
• Fixed the character description center positioning.
• Added feminine and masculine ordinal indicator characters to the Portuguese character set.

 

Screen Ruler

 

• Updated the default activation hotkey to Win+Control+Shift+M, in order to not conflict with the built-in Windows Explorer shortcut that restores minimized windows (Win+Shift+M).

 

Settings

 

• Disabled the UI to enable/disable clipboard history in the Advanced Paste settings page when clipboard history is disabled by GPO in the system. (This was a hotfix for 0.81)
• Updated Advanced Paste's Settings and OOBE page to clarify that the AI use is optional and opt-in. (This was a hotfix for 0.81)
• Corrected a spelling fix in Advanced Paste's settings page.
• Added localization support for the "Configure OpenAI Key" button in Advanced Paste's settings page.
• Fixed extra GPO warnings being shown in Advanced Paste's settings page even if the module is disabled.
• Fixed a crash when a PowerToys Run plugin icon path is badly formed.
• Disabled the experimentation paths in code behind to improve performance, since there's no current experimentation going on.

You update to PowerToys 0.82 by navigating to Settings > General and clicking "Check for updates." Alternatively, download the installer for version 0.82 from GitHub.

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Now on one of the Microsoft forum threads, Mia.H, a moderator and Microsoft Agent, has responded confirming that Microsoft is looking into it. The response is thoroughly detailed and goes into the impact summary, latest update, and current status:

This appears to be a known issue currently affecting OneDrive shared folders. Users from different regions have reported the same issue beginning approximately June 2024. We've summarized the main points of our current situation in this issue, you can review them at your convenience:

 

1-> Impact Summary:

 

Many customers worldwide have reported that their OneDrive shared folders have become inaccessible as regular file folders in File Explorer and instead appear as internet shortcuts. The reported issues include:

 

• Shared Folder Visibility - Users can see shared folders in a web browser, but these folders appear as link files (.URL) in File Explorer, which open the OneDrive website rather than displaying the folder contents.
• Synchronization Issues - Shared folders are not syncing properly with OneDrive on the desktop. Attempts to add these folders to "My Files" result in creating internet shortcuts instead of actual folders.
• Access and Sync Problems - Users are unable to sync shared folders with their local devices, resulting in workflow disruptions and inability to access files offline.

 

2-> Latest Update:

 

This issue may be due to an internal error affecting data synchronization and handling within the OneDrive service. Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and is actively working on a resolution.

 

Efforts are underway to restore proper access to affected shared folders. Initial steps include investigating the issue's root cause and implementing fixes to ensure shared folders appear correctly as file folders in File Explorer.

 

A comprehensive analysis is being conducted to determine the exact cause of the issue. Preliminary findings suggest a possible misconfiguration or recent update affecting shared folder handling and synchronization processes.

 

3- > Current Status:

 

Some users have reported temporary workarounds, such as accessing shared folders directly via OneDrive web interface -

 

Microsoft internal engineers are closely monitoring the service and implementing fixes to ensure stability and proper synchronization of shared folders.

 

We fully understand the inconvenience and disruption caused by this issue. Our team is actively addressing it and working hard to fix it as soon as possible. We are still gathering and monitoring many cases and thread behaviors, so we can always follow up with any new updates or fixes that come up.

You can find the answer in this thread (spotted by Dr. Windows).

Hence, if you are one of the users facing this problem, the good news is Microsoft is aware of and is investigating it. Hopefully, the root cause will be identified soon and a fix will be deployed.

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Before we get onto an overview of what's new, here are the download links for the Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions of Linux Mint 22 Beta:

• Cinnamon
• MATE
• Xfce

The main addition in this update that people will notice is the new Software Manager, changes have been made so that the main window opens instantly, even before the content has loaded. The Software Manager has also been updated to include a warning that a flatpak package is unverified - the Mint team recommends against installing those.

One of the best background changes in this update is the language support, before this release, things were a little hackish because, at the end of an installation, preinstalled languages that were no longer needed were not removed from the system as expected. In this version, this has been rectified and unused languages will be removed at the end of installation to help save a "significant amount of disk space post-installation."

Further, these ISOs come with English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian language packs so you can use these languages during an offline installation. If you have internet, other language packs can be used.
Here are some new technologies shipping with this update:

• Linux Mint 22 ships with modern components and the new Ubuntu 24.04 package base.
• To guarantee better compatibility with modern hardware, the kernel is version 6.8 and Linux Mint 22.x point releases will follow the HWE series.
• The default sound server switched to Pipewire.
• The Software Sources received support for the new Debian DEB822 format.
• Themes were updated to support GTK4.
• JXL support was added to Pix and a new thumbnailer was implemented for it.
• All software using libsoup2 was migrated to libsoup3.
• HiDPI support improvements were made in the boot sequence, in Plymouth and Slick-Greeter.

While these are some nice changes, this release doesn't come without a few issues. The main one is that a number of GNOME applications have moved to libAdwaita and stopped supporting the system theme. Rather than fixing the issue, the team decided to remove the GNOME Font Viewer and downgrade the following apps back to their GTK3 versions: Celluloid, GNOME Calculator, Simple Scan, Baobab, System Monitor, GNOME Calendar, File Roller, and Zenity.

The team didn't say what their long-term plan was in regard to these programs but continuing to use old versions is not going to be sustainable because new features won't be added and bugs could be found. It's possible that we see the Mint team fork them and add them to its Xapps collection.

If you use the Cinnamon edition, you'll get the new Cinnamon 6.2, here are the release notes for that:

Nemo actions can be organized neatly thanks to a new Layout Editor.

 

Separators and submenus can be added.

 

Labels and icons can be overridden to tune actions to your liking in your context menu.

 

Cinnamon 6.2 also features many bug fixes, performance improvements and the following changes:

 

• Less printer added notifications (silenced for 2 hours)
• Wayland support: Clutter polkit agent
• Spices: keybindings support
• Better avatar support in polkit agent and user applet
• Workspace switcher: middle click removes the workspace being hovered
• Keybindings: ability to search by binding
• Cornerbar applet: shift+click action added
• Applets: improved precision in reporting VPN and battery states

Finally, you can see some thumbnails of the new artworks. If you want to use them, why not give Linux Mint 22 Beta a spin? You can find the wallpapers in /usr/share/backgrounds/ if you want to copy them and take them to your preferred operating system.

With the Beta FINALLY out of the door, the Beta period should last for about two weeks and then we will get the final release. As Mint is based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, it will get security updates until 2029. It comes with Linux 6.8 which was released in March and it will follow the hardware enablement series at point releases to ensure newer hardware is supported over time.

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In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, the company stated that with this change, ODF files in these apps will only be saved in the new ODF 1.4 version. Older files that were made and saved with ODF 1.3 and earlier versions can still be opened in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but when people save them in those apps, they will switch to the ODF 1.4 file version. Microsoft says that some of the older Office apps that supported the ODF 1.3 format can still open files saved as ODF 1.4, but they won't be able to access the new features in the latest version.

All users have to do is open an existing file, or launch a new file in Word, Excel, and/or PowerPoint, and then go to the File section, and then click on the Save As option. They can then find the folder for the saved file.

After that they can click on the Save as type  down arrow, followed by selecting the OpenDocument Text (*.odt) in the Word app, OpenDocument Spreadsheet (*.ods) in Excel, or OpenDocument Presentation (*.odp) in PowerPoint. They can then click on Save.

Microsoft listed some of the new features ODF 1.4 adds to each of these apps:

Word

 

• Tables in shapes: Tables are now allowed within shapes. Previously, only textboxes allowed tables.
• Lists from zero: Lists that start at 0 are now supported.
• Non-overlapping images and shapes: ODT files now support the option to prevent images and shapes from overlapping with other images and shapes.
• Number list formats: Previously, ODT files supported only a subset of the number list formats available in Word. Now, all formats are supported.
• Odd and even page breaks: If you add a section break and specify an even or odd page, that will now be saved to the ODT file.
• Additional writing modes: New writing modes have been added to the ODT specification. If you have certain languages enabled, you’ll be able to use them in tables and paragraphs where supported for .docx files.
• Decorative objects: A new accessibility attribute to specify that an object is purely decorative and may be ignored by assistive technologies.

 

Excel

 

• Error values: Minor adjustments were made for persisting error values to an ODS file.
• Filter by color: Added support to save color filter settings to an ODS file (with certain restrictions).
• Text direction: Minor improvements to load text rotated 90° clockwise or counterclockwise.
• Decorative objects: A new accessibility attribute to specify that an object is purely decorative and may be ignored by assistive technologies.

 

PowerPoint

 

• Page numbers: ODP files now support slide numbering starting from 0. Previously, support was only for values starting from 1.
• Table cell text direction: ODP files now support 90° and 270° rotated text direction within table cells.
• Decorative objects: A new accessibility attribute to specify that an object is purely decorative and may be ignored by assistive technologies.

Microsoft 365 Insiders in the Beta Channel can check out ODF 1.4 support in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with Windows on version 2404 (Build 17531.20078) or later or on the Mac apps with version 16.84 (Build 24041420) or later. There's no word on when ODF 1.4 support will enter general availablity.

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More and more new features are being added to the Microsoft Designer app, which lets users type in some text prompts to create AI-generated artwork and graphics. Today, the company has revealed it has added a feature in Designer specifically for making AI-created greeting cards.

In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider site, it states:

Greeting Cards is a fast and intuitive tool that turns your text description into a personalized greeting card tailored to your unique style and message. The front of the card features an AI-generated design inspired by your description. The inside includes an editable message for that extra personal touch.

Now, when users sign into their Microsoft account and head to the Microsoft Designer site, they can navigate to the new Greeting Cards section. They can choose to check out the section's Explore Ideas tab to see if there's already a greeting card design they like. If that's the case, they can simply make some changes to the text prompt below to customize their design.

Alternatively, users can simply type in their own test prompts in the Description box found in the Greeting Cards section. Then, they can click on the Generate button and see four different designs based on that prompt.

You can pick from one of those designs or rewrite your prompt in case none of them work for you. All of the designs get automatically saved to the My Creations tab in case you might want to use one or more later.

When you pick your favorite greeting card design, you can then click on it and select Edit text to create your own message inside the card. After that, click on the Looks Good button, and finally, click the Download option. The card is saved on your device as a vertical PNG file, which works well on mobile devices. It's available now in English, but there's no word on if other languages will be supported.

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The Windows 11 Settings app will soon feature an advertisement for Game Pass. (Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

• Microsoft shipped a pair of Windows 11 Insider builds recently.
• Windows 11 Build 26244 is available for those in the Canary Channel, while those in the Beta Channel can install Windows 11 Build 22635.3858.
• The Canary Channel build adds a controversial advertisement in the Settings app and a prompt to add a recovery email for your Microsoft account.

Windows 11 Insiders have a new build to install on their PC if they're in the Canary or Beta Channels. Microsoft rolled out the updates late last Friday, giving Insiders a chance to try out the latest features and fixes for Windows 11. Changes in the builds include a controversial new ad within the Settings menu and improvements to backing up your settings.

The new ad within the Settings app has been in testing for a while and is expected to make its way to general users later this month with a Patch Tuesday update. The "feature" is already available in a preview build of Windows 11. The ad will only appear for those who play games on their PC. Users also need to use a Microsoft account on Windows 11 and be on either Windows 11 Home or Pro to see the ad.

On the topic of Microsoft accounts, Microsoft is adding a banner to the Settings app prompting users to add a recovery email address for their Microsoft account.

Microsoft outlined the changes in the builds in separate blog posts (Build 26244, Build 22635.3858)

Windows 11 Build 26244: Changes and Improvements

General

• This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

Windows Backup

• If you have both Personalization and Other Windows settings toggled on under Settings > Accounts > Windows backup, many of your sound settings (including chosen sound scheme) will be backed up which can be restored via the Windows Backup app.

Settings

• To ensure you don’t lose access to your Microsoft account, we’re beginning to roll out a new banner with a “Add now” button under Settings > Account for adding a recovery email address if you haven’t added one for your Microsoft account yet. This will only show if you are signed in with a Microsoft account.
• We are introducing a new Game Pass recommendation card on the Settings homepage. The Game Pass recommendation card on Settings Homepage will be shown to you if you actively play games on your PC. As a reminder – the Settings homepage will be shown only on the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 and if you’re signed into Windows with your Microsoft account.
• We’re beginning to roll out a change that redirects links for the Fonts Control Panel page to the Fonts settings page at Settings > Personalization > Fonts. Insiders who see this change can still access the Fonts Control Panel UI by navigating to the system fonts folder in File Explorer and a link to the system fonts folder is also provided on the Font settings page.

Windows 11 Build 22635.3858: Changes and Improvements

File Explorer

• The preview thumbnail title in the taskbar, ALT + Tab and Task View for File Explorer windows will now indicate if that window includes multiple tabs.

Windows Share

• We’re rolling out some minor UI changes to simplify the Windows share window which removes the search box.

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 the Run dialog to now follow text scaling (Settings > Accessibility > Text size).

Microsoft recently started rolling out a preview of the new floating sidebar experience for the Start menu, which brings direct access to your mobile device using the Phone Link app on Windows 11. However, this feature doesn't seem to be the best approach or even necessary, and here's why.

The problem

First, the company touts the experience as a feature that allows you to stay connected and effortlessly access your mobile device. However, the interface is nothing more than a collection of links to features inside the Phone Link app. 

The interface dynamically shows a few notifications from emails and messages and some phone details like battery and Bluetooth, but nothing more. You cannot interact with your messages, photos, or calls. Anything you click will open the Phone Link app on that specific feature, including opening a photo, sending or reading a text, or making and receiving calls. 

In other words, aside from the few alerts, you cannot do anything with this experience since you still have to open the Phone Link app to perform any task.

You may recall that a year ago, Microsoft had actually removed the ads from the app, and it appeared that the company had finally listened to feedback from users. But the annoying banners are back, and there's two of them now on the Forecast page. For those unaware, the old version of Microsoft Weather was a UWP app, but the company replaced it with an Edge WebView, which is a container that uses the Edge Engine. In other words, the Weather app is technically just a web wrapper for MSN.com/weather. You can test this yourself, just open the website in your browser and temporarily disable your ad blocker to take a look at the ads, now open the desktop app, and you can see that the same ads appear in the Weather app.

Microsoft Weather app displays ads on every page

Windows Latest spotted the addition of more ads in the Weather app, and it gets worse. The advertisements are persistent, i.e. they are pinned, so they are always displayed even when you scroll down the screen.

Ghacks can confirm that the ads appear in the app, the main page displays the banners on the right side of the screen. But that is not the only place where you will encounter the ads, they actually appear in every page in the Weather app. Switch to another tab in the sidebar, and you will notice that the ads appear there too. The ads are shown on the left side of the screen in the Map pages. There are no options to hide or close the ads, unless you block some servers via the hosts file, but it may take some effort to dig in to find the information.

That's a shame, because the weather info is actually pretty good. But here is the good news, the advertisements only appear in maximized mode, so all you need to do is use the app in the smaller window. The bad news is that this trick only works with the main page, i.e. the Forecast tab in the Weather app, so the ads still appear on all the other pages.

The ads are not the only annoyances in the Weather app, you will also see news articles from various outlets, and most of these maybe irrelevant to the location, unless you change the Edition (region) in the App's Settings. You may want to consider using Safing's Portmaster app, or AdGuard, or set up Pi-hole via Docker, to block ads system-wide in Windows 11.

On a side note, the Weather app now has a fluent design with blur and transparency effects that can be seen in the menu, main page, and the tiles. The sidebar has some new options, you can now switch between the daily, weekly, monthly, forecasts, maps and other data.

Microsoft's ad strategies have been rather pushy, and anti-consumer. The Redmond company has been pushing ads aggressively in various apps, including Game Pass ads in the Settings app in Windows 11. We have also seen promotions for Microsoft 365 in the Start Menu, the Settings, and the new Outlook app. Even Windows Defender displays a warning to set up OneDrive to protect yourself from ransomware attacks.

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UPDATE 6/30: We have temporarily paused the enablement of these features to investigate a few issues reported by Windows Insiders. We plan to begin the enablement again shortly.

Sadly, there is no information on the specific issues Microsoft is talking about. At this point, we can only guess what forced Microsoft to halt the rollout.

As a reminder, the Windows 11 Dev Channel features in question are narrator improvements with voice access support, the new account manager in the Start menu, Windows Share upgrades, new emoji, Windows Backup improvements, a bunch of modernized UIs for the Settings app, and various fixes for Task Manager, graphics, virtual desktops, and more. You can check out the complete list of what you can no longer get in this post.

This is not the only update that has been recalled recently. Last week, Microsoft pulled the plug on KB5039302, the latest non-security update for Windows 11. It was breaking computers with virtualization software, causing infinite boot loops with no hope of getting to the desktop. Microsoft restored the update a couple of days later.

That is the nature of early updates, regardless of whether they are from the Windows Insider Program or a non-security update preview. If you want to keep your computer as stable as possible, stay away from those things and keep its Windows Update running as is. Microsoft also allows pausing Windows Update for up to seven days, which is a viable option for those who do not want their systems to install the latest updates as soon as possible.

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In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider site, the company said that handwritten notes can now be analyzed by the Copilot AI assistant. Copilot was previously able to scan and analyst typed in text in the OneNote app but being able to scan handwritten notes will come in handy as well.

There are actually two ways that Copilot can be launched to analyze handwritten text. One is clicking on the Copilot icon that's on the OneNote app's ribbon. That will open the Copilot pane on the side where you can type in a text prompt asking it to scan the notes.

The other method is to select some handwritten notes on the app via your finger, your mouse, or your stylus/pen. You can then click or tap on the Copilot icon. It should launch a menu with several choices for changing those notes, including a summary, a rewrite, or creating a To Do list from those notes.

Microsoft 365 Insiders can download and use OneNote on Windows with Version 2404 (Build 17628.20006) or later to check out the new Copilot handwritten note feature. There's no word on when this will become generally available for all OneNote users.

In just the past few weeks, Microsoft 365 Insiders have been able to try a number of new OneNote functions, They include the addition of Loop components in the app, along with a new interactive ink tutorial, Insiders can also try out a new Eyedropper color tool in OneNote that support the creation of custom pens in any image, shape, or inked notes.

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In June 2024, Windows 11 increased its market share by 2.14, climbing up from 27.67% to 29.71%. Earlier this year, Statcounter reported a two-month decline, which made Windows 11 the first OS to lose customers mid-cycle. However, it is now catching up and picking up some good steam.

Of course, it is still far away from Windows 10. Even though the aging OS is bleeding users, it still holds an overwhelming 66.1%. That is a decline of 2.23 points in one month.

Slow but steady, customers will continue upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 in light of its upcoming end of support in October 2025 (Microsoft is already displaying full-screen ads about that), but things like the Extended Security Update program and unofficial solutions like 0patch will help the OS stay afloat for years to come.

It will be very interesting to see how much time it will take for Windows 11 to dethrone Windows 10. You can expect a more significant decline after October 2025 as analysts predict more users will upgrade their PCs after Windows 10 is out of free support.

Here is what the Windows market looks like as of July 1, 2024, according to Statcounter:

1. Windows 10: 66.1% (-2.23)
2. Windows 11:29.7% (+2.14)
3. Windows 7: 2.95% (+0.09)
4. Windows 8.1: 0.4% (-0.03)
5. Windows XP: 0.39% (+0.02)

Keep in mind that third-party analytic services are never 100% accurate. Only Microsoft can know for sure how many devices each Windows version has, but unlike Apple, Microsoft never shares detailed breakdowns of its desktop OS market.

You can learn how Statcounter prepares its report in the FAQ section on the official Statcounter website.

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According to Statcounter, Google Chrome currently holds 64.69% of the entire desktop browser market. In June 2024, its share decreased by 0.18 points. The remaining 35% are split between multiple browsers. Microsoft Edge has 13.36%, which is a new record for the browser and a +0.24 points increase.

Apple's Safari, the only non-cross-platform browser in the list, is third. Statcounter says Safari currently holds 8.99%, which is also a 0.24% increase over the previous month. Firefox is fourth with 6.53% (-0.11 points), and Opera is fifth with 2.91% (-0.32 points).

1. Google Chrome: 64.69% (-0.18 points)
2. Microsoft Edge: 13.36% (+0.24 points)
3. Apple Safari: 8.99% (+0.24 points)
4. Firefox: 6.53% (-0.11 points)
5. Opera: 2.91% (-0.32 points)

On the mobile side of the market, Chrome and Safari hold the overwhelming majority of all users. Google Chrome has 66.98% (+1.02 points), and Safari has 22.81% (-0.66 points). Samsung Internet is third with 4.26% (-0.16 points). As for Microsoft Edge, it is still far behind all the other competitors. It only has 0.38% (+0.04 points)

1. Google Chrome: 66.98% (+1.02 points)
2. Apple Safari: 22.81% (-0.66 points)
3. Samsung Internet: 4.26% (-0.16 points)
4. Opera: 1.90% (-0.26 points)
5. UC Browser: 1.59% (+0.11 points)

You can learn more about Statcounter's latest findings here. There is also fresh data about Windows market share, which you can check out here, where Windows 11 nearly reached 30%. Keep in mind that Statcounter's reports are not 100% accurate. Click here to learn more about how the company gathers its data.

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Over on the Windows 11 side, Microsoft also resumed the rollout of a problematic Windows 11 update which led the company to pause the update. Meanwhile, others found that they were unable to download the June Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10 as it would lead to a "0x80245006" error.

The issue was brought up by a Windows 11 Forum user Draken who wrote:

Hi i recently do a Win 11 repair (reset) and now when i press search at Windows Update i have the error 0x80245006 and Win Update dont search and find anything ... I google it and do many "solutions" but nothing works .

Another user N K Evinrude posted about the issue on the Microsoft Learn forum and suspected that a Bitdefender VPN update may be related:

I can't update windows. Error code: 0x80245006. I also use Bitdefender as well as Bitdefender VPN. Bitdefender VPN was just updated.

 

I suspect that Bitdefender VPN update may be related, but I'm not sure what settings may need to be changed, what specifically those settings are, and where they need to be changed.

However, that is unlikely to be the case as Microsoft has clarified that the error 0x80245006 Windows update issue has been resolved. On a Feedback Hub post about the bug, a Microsoft employee Jennifer G, gave the following response:

This should be resolved now - as always, please don't hesitate to file a new piece of feedback if you continue experiencing issues

Therefore, if you were also unable to update Windows and were greeted with a 0x80245006 error, you should probably try it again now. If the issue persists, make sure to report the issue on Feedback Hub.

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Windows 11's pre-installed weather app will soon receive a new update with some notable changes. These updates were highlighted by @ChangeWindows on X (formerly Twitter), and a summary of the changes can be found below.

• The existing two ad blocks on the Weather app's home page are still there.
• The home page top bar now has a Fluent-like design with rounded buttons and more.
• Previously, the home page title bar had the option to change between Light and Dark themes. Now, you can change the theme from the temperature unit selector pop-up and then the existing title bar button. Right now, it doesn't work the way we expect, but Microsoft may fix it in the upcoming updates.
• The new navigation control on the home page will have links to various sections on the page allowing you to jump between sections easily without scrolling up and down.
• There is a new light theme which looks pleasing to the eyes. Take a look at it below.

• The "SEE MONTHLY PLANNER" button is replaced by "SEE MONTHLY," and it will now just scroll down on the same page instead of opening a separate monthly overview page.
• The "WEATHER INSIGHTS" section is now replaced by the "Weather details" section, which will now display Cloud Cover, Wind, AQI, Visibility, Dew point temperature, Moon phase, and more.
• The new redesigned home page has the new Weather maps section with a new set of controls; take a look at it below.

• Scrolling further down, the new Monthly section on the new home page introduces two new ad blocks.
• The final section on the home page is the Weather trends section, which shows historical weather data of a location.
• Apart from the home page, the Weather app remains the same as before.

This Weather update is currently rolling out gradually, so it may not be available to everyone yet. If you've already received it, we'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

You can download the MSN Weather app from the Microsoft Store.

Image via @ChangeWindows

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Microsoft Designer is an AI-powered graphic design tool that lets you create stunning visuals and graphics for various platforms. With Designer, you can generate professional-quality social media posts, invitations, digital postcards, logos, website banners, and more. As of today, all the features in Microsoft Designer is available for free for everyone.

One of the key limitations of Microsoft Designer was the size of the images it could create. Until recently, it only allowed users to create images in a square (1024 x 1024) format. Even though the square format may suit various needs, users were asking for more size options. Based on user feedback, Microsoft has now added support for two more sizes:

• Portrait (1024 x 1792)
• Landscape (1792 x 1024)

The new portrait and landscape options will make Microsoft Designer even more useful for users since it will allow them to create desktop wallpapers, images for PowerPoint presentations, and more.

Recently, Microsoft announced two brand-new features for Microsoft Designer. First, the new Frame Image tool can add a personalized, AI-generated frame to any image. Second, the new Collage Creator feature allows you to add up to ten photos, and Designer will intelligently arrange them in a neat layout and enclose it in a custom-designed frame. Both the Frame Image and Collage Creator features are now available on the Microsoft Designer website in English to anyone with a Microsoft account.

Frame Image and Collage Creator can be used to create anything from wedding and birthday invitations to vision and mood boards.

In addition to adding new features to Microsoft Designer, Microsoft is also integrating it across its products and services. In April, Microsoft announced Designer integration in the Windows Photos app, which allows users to edit their photos in Designer with a single click. In May, Designer was integrated directly into Teams chats and channels, allowing users to create images during their work chat sessions.

Source: Derek Johnson (X)

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Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 users with multi-monitor systems can finally get Copilot on their PCs or update to Windows 11. The bug was resolved with a new Copilot experience, which is a part of KB5039299, the latest non-security update for Windows 10. However, the new Copilot experience is rolling out gradually, which means some users will get Copilot on their Windows 10 PCs a bit later than others.

Microsoft explains:

We are gradually rolling out a new Copilot experience for devices with Windows updates released June 25, 2024 () or later. This new experience will resolve this issue for Windows 10, version 22H2. This update () was released on June 25, 2024, and you can expect to receive the new Copilot experience between now and the coming months.

The new Copilot experience in question is the ability to pin Copilot to the taskbar like a regular app and have it work in a regular app window:

We are advancing the Copilot experience on Windows. The Copilot app is now pinned to the taskbar and behaves like an app. This gives you the benefits of a typical app experience. For example, you can resize, move, and snap the window. For existing Windows 10 PCs, the timing of availability and delivery method will vary. This might not be available to all users because it will roll out gradually.

You can learn more about the bug in the official documentation. There are still a bunch of open issues with Windows 10. One is preventing users from changing their local profile image in the Settings app, and the other is causing problems with the Microsoft Connected Cache.

As for Windows 11, Microsoft recently confirmed taskbar issues in Windows 11's June 2024 non-security updates, which are once again available for download after a brief pause due to significant bugs on certain systems with virtualization software.

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Having said that, there were still a few new listings on the site that might be of some interest. For Microsoft Teams users on Windows and Mac, Teams Rooms Meetings will add support for more cameras in August:

Teams Room on Windows will support up to four single stream cameras that will be shown to remote meeting attendees. With multiple camera view, remote meeting attendees will have the ability to follow all the action in the room and manually toggle between views from the room that they want to see

All versions of Microsoft Teams will be adding some new admin features in August:

We are excited to announce the availability of administrative units (AUs) for Teams administration. AUs are a way to delegate admin roles and delegate administration to a subset of users in your organization, based on attributes such as department, location, or business unit. With AUs, you can create more granular and flexible management scenarios for your Teams environment. You can assign the following roles, allowing them to manage only the users, groups & devices within their AU: Teams Administrator Teams Device Administrator Teams Communication Administrator Teams Communication Support Engineer Teams Communication Support Specialist Teams Telephony Administrator

Teams for Windows and Mac will include a feature made specifically for hybrid workers (people who work remotely some days and in the office other days) in August.

The user's work location can be automatically set to 'In the office' upon plug-in to peripherals at a bookable desk. Once IT enables the policy for a tenant or a group, users can opt-in to automatically update their location making it easier to connect with co-workers when they are in the office.

Finally, the OneNote Windows app will get a new virtual printer feature in November that will work with the Widows Protected Print (WPP) mode.

That's it for this rather brief look back at last week's new Microsoft 365 Roadmap entries. Come back next Sunday to see what else is new on the site.

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In case you missed it, KB5039302 was causing boot loops on systems with nested virtualization software, such as CloudPC, DevBox, Azure Virtual Desktop, and more. Although KB5039302 is back in Windows Update, the release is still unavailable for those affected by the issue. Therefore, if you use nested virtualization, you will most likely not receive KB5039302 until Microsoft has a permanent patch.

Here is what Microsoft added to the official documentation:

Availability of this update via Windows Update and Windows Update for Business was paused for a couple of days, but is being resumed today for most devices. This update offering is now paused only for devices affected by the issue. As a result, this update might not be offered to Hyper-V virtual machines running on hosts that utilize certain processor types.

 

Users of Windows Home edition are less likely to experience this issue, as virtualization is less common in home environments.

Boot loop issues due to conflicts with virtualization software are not the only open issue in KB5039302. Microsoft also confirmed that the update is breaking the taskbar on systems with Windows N editions, which do not include apps like the Windows Media Player and more. You can learn about that issue in our dedicated coverage. Full release notes for KB5039302 are available here.

If you want to get KB5039302, go to the Settings app > Windows Update and toggle on the "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available" option. Although the update has some neat changes, for most users, the best option is to wait for Microsoft to deliver those changes "organically," as part of monthly Patch Tuesday updates.

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One feature that's due in July will allow users to access the Microsoft Designer AI art creator inside Word and PowerPoint apps. Microsoft says:

To do this, they just open Copilot and use a prompt to create an image… and Copilot will generate the image. Users can also open Copilot and type a prompt telling it to find an image…, and Copilot will find options from Microsoft’s stock photography library to select from. In PowerPoint, Designer will automatically add the image into a compelling slide design.

Another feature that is scheduled to roll out next month is Copilot in SharePoint Text v1. It will allow SharePoint users to ask Copilot to rewrite current texts on SharePoint news posts and sites. It adds:

Within seconds, users can easily change the tone of their text, review the content before replacing it, make the text concise or longer, and even auto rewrite the text.

Finally, Microsoft has revealed it has expanded the access of Copilot for Microsoft 365 to a number of its software stand-alone subscriber plans. Each of these plans can now add the service as an add-on:

• Microsoft 365 Apps for business and enterprise
• Microsoft Teams Essentials, Enterprise, and EEA
• Exchange Kiosk, Plan 1, and Plan 2
• SharePoint Plan 1 and Plan 2
• OneDrive for Business Plan 1 and Plan 2
• Microsoft Planner Plan 1 (formerly Project Plan 1)
• Microsoft Project Plan 3 and Plan 5
• Project Online Essentials
• Visio Plan 1 and Plan 2
• Microsoft ClipChamp

Copilot for Microsoft 365 currently costs $30 a month, paid as an annual subscription.

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Microsoft published a new message on its official Windows Health Dashboard website to warn users that KB5039302 is breaking the taskbar on specific Windows 11 editions, namely Windows N.

For those unfamiliar, Windows N is a special version of the operating system with a bunch of media features removed, such as the Windows Media Player app. Microsoft also said that the bug affects customers with regular editions who turned off media features in the "Turn Windows features on or off" UI.

According to Microsoft and the official documentation, affected customers cannot interact with the taskbar, while the rest of the UI and File Explorer continue operating as usual:

After installing the June 2024 Windows preview update (KB5039302), released June 25, 2024, you are likely to face issues with the Taskbar. This issue is only expected to occur if you are using a Windows N edition device or if you turn off the ‘Media Features’ via Control Panel->Programs-> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off. N editions of Windows include the same functionality as other editions of Windows, except for media-related technologies, Windows Media Player, and certain preinstalled media apps.

 

You might not be able to view or interact with the Taskbar after logging in to your device once the update is installed. Other applications like File Explorer, Desktop and Settings will continue to work.

Microsoft is working on a resolution, which will be available in a future update. As a reminder, KB5039302 is no longer available for download—Microsoft pulled it after confirming reports about infinite restarts.

You can uninstall KB5039302 by heading to Settings > Windows Update.

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Two big things happened in the world of text-based disk operating systems in June 1994.

 

The first is that Microsoft released MS-DOS version 6.22, the last version of its long-running operating system that would be sold to consumers as a standalone product. MS-DOS would continue to evolve for a few years after this, but only as an increasingly invisible loading mechanism for Windows.

 

The second was that a developer named Jim Hall wrote a post announcing something called “PD-DOS.” Unhappy with Windows 3.x and unexcited by the project we would come to know as Windows 95, Hall wanted to break ground on a new “public domain” version of DOS that could keep the traditional command-line interface alive as most of the world left it behind for more user-friendly but resource-intensive graphical user interfaces.

 

PD-DOS would soon be renamed FreeDOS, and 30 years and many contributions later, it stands as the last MS-DOS-compatible operating system still under active development.

 

While it’s not really usable as a standalone modern operating system in the Internet age—among other things, DOS is not really innately aware of “the Internet” as a concept—FreeDOS still has an important place in today’s computing firmament. It’s there for people who need to run legacy applications on modern systems, whether it’s running inside of a virtual machine or directly on the hardware; it’s also the best way to get an actively maintained DOS offshoot running on legacy hardware going as far back as the original IBM PC and its Intel 8088 CPU.

 

To mark FreeDOS’ 20th anniversary in 2014, we talked with Hall and other FreeDOS maintainers about its continued relevance, the legacy of DOS, and the developers’ since-abandoned plans to add ambitious modern features like multitasking and built-in networking support (we also tried, earnestly but with mixed success, to do a modern day’s work using only FreeDOS). The world of MS-DOS-compatible operating systems moves slowly enough that most of this information is still relevant; FreeDOS was at version 1.1 back in 2014, and it’s on version 1.3 now.

 

For the 30th anniversary, we’ve checked in with Hall again about how the last decade or so has treated the FreeDOS project, why it’s still important, and how it continues to draw new users into the fold. We also talked, strange as it might seem, about what the future might hold for this inherently backward-looking operating system.

FreeDOS is still kicking, even as hardware evolves beyond it

If the last decade hasn't ushered in The Year of FreeDOS On The Desktop, Hall says that interest in and usage of the operating system has stayed fairly level since 2014. The difference is that, as time has gone on, more users are encountering FreeDOS as their first DOS-compatible operating system, not as an updated take on Microsoft and IBM's dusty old '80s- and '90s-era software.

 

"Compared to about 10 years ago, I’d say the interest level in FreeDOS is about the same," Hall told Ars in an email interview. "Our developer community has remained about the same over that time, I think. And judging by the emails that people send me to ask questions, or the new folks I see asking questions on our freedos-user or freedos-devel email lists, or the people talking about FreeDOS on the Facebook group and other forums, I’d say there are still about the same number of people who are participating in the FreeDOS community in some way."

 

"I get a lot of questions around September and October from people who ask, basically, 'I installed FreeDOS, but I don’t know how to use it. What do I do?' And I think these people learned about FreeDOS in a university computer science course and wanted to learn more about it—or maybe they are already working somewhere and they read an article about it, never heard of this “DOS” thing before, and wanted to try it out. Either way, I think more folks in the user community are learning about “DOS” at the same time they are learning about FreeDOS."

 

Though it's still being downloaded and used, shifts in PC hardware are making it more difficult to install and run FreeDOS directly on a new PC (called a “bare metal” install, to distinguish between an operating system installed directly on your PC and one that’s being run on top of another OS via some kind of emulator or virtual machine). And it's not just about the slowly rising wave of systems with Arm-based processors in them, chips whose language FreeDOS doesn't speak.

 

One issue is the UEFI firmware used to boot modern PCs. UEFI began replacing the traditional PC BIOS at the tail end of the 2000s, and today, it’s the default mechanism used for booting Windows, macOS, and Linux, though Windows and Linux both technically can still boot on non-UEFI systems.

 

For a long time, new computers with UEFI firmware still included some kind of legacy compatibility mode to support operating systems like FreeDOS that will only boot in BIOS mode. Many PCs still do, particularly home-built desktop PCs whose motherboards offer users lots of configuration options (your motherboard may refer to BIOS support as “CSM,” which stands for Compatibility Support Module). But plenty of new PCs will only boot using UEFI, and that’s a problem for running FreeDOS directly on the hardware.

 

"People have asked if it’s possible to rewrite or update the FreeDOS kernel to use UEFI instead of BIOS, and the answer is more complicated than just that," Hall told Ars. "Maybe it’s possible to replace those parts of the kernel that use BIOS, but a ton of DOS applications and games call BIOS directly. Remember, DOS isn’t like more modern operating systems that use a Hardware Abstraction Layer or HAL, where applications talk to the HAL and the HAL talks to the hardware. A DOS program typically interacted with the hardware directly."

 

In other words, you could write a version of FreeDOS that could boot on a UEFI system, and you might even be able to write a version that booted on an Arm system. But either change would break the vast majority of existing DOS applications, and running those old applications is the main reason why FreeDOS exists in the first place.

 

"That’s one reason why we recommend running FreeDOS in a virtual machine," said Hall. "The virtual machine provides the BIOS. Although, from a practical side, I think most people aren’t interested in trying to run FreeDOS on bare hardware on a new desktop or laptop, with a 16-core Intel Core Ultra CPU, 32GB memory, 512GB SSD, and Wi-Fi. If you’re going to run FreeDOS, you are probably looking for that 'retro' computing experience, so you’re more likely to install FreeDOS on an older PC anyway."

Weird retro PCs are a great way to experience FreeDOS

On the topic of retro PCs, they've actually gotten a bit easier to find and use in the last couple of years. That's thanks in part to the rise of oddball AliExpress hardware like the Book 8088, Hand 386, and Pocket 386. Though they exist in an ethical gray area at best—the Book 8088 we used shipped with all kinds of old-but-still-copyrighted software on it, plus a BIOS swiped from the open-source community with no attribution—they're also easier to buy and make room for than an actual hoary old IBM PC or suitcase-sized Compaq Deskpro.

 

These portable systems use a mix of genuine vintage parts and newer replicas to replicate, mostly faithfully, the experience of using a retro PC. Modern screen and battery technology and solid-state storage make them a bit more pleasant to use than the genuine article, but it's still closer to the original experience than an emulator like 86Box running on a fully modern system.

 

Hall thinks these old systems are "great," and he has been running retro games and applications in FreeDOS running on a Pocket 386. With its 40 MHz 386SX processor and 8MB of RAM, this PC would have been considered a bit outmoded when FreeDOS came on the scene in the mid-'90s, but it's still representative of the kind of system you might have found slowly aging in any given computer lab, office, or family room at the time.

 

"The higher-end games like DOOM and Rise of the Triad run slowly, so you have to minimize the screen for those to work. Tomb Raider (demo) crashes during setup, and Shadow Warrior won’t run at all," Hall said. "But a lot of other classic DOS games run great there! Dark Forces runs a little slow but it is very playable. Duke Nukum (that’s the first game, and the correct spelling) and Commander Keen and Biomenace are all 2-D action games, and they are very smooth. Jill of the Jungle plays very well and fully supports the soundtrack through the on-board OPL-3 AdLib-compatible music card, although I noticed some video glitches in VGA mode so I switched to EGA, and that’s fine. Epic Pinball and Wolfenstein 3D also work very well and are a lot of fun to play."

 

Hall also sang the praises of the Pocket 386 as a retro word processor and spreadsheet machine; these kinds of DOS productivity apps run reasonably well even on an 8088, so a 386 delivers a much more pleasant experience.

 

Plenty of people will choose to run actual MS-DOS or IBM PC-DOS on these systems, and MS-DOS is what the manufacturer ships them with. But the benefit of FreeDOS' continuing development is that it can support a few modern amenities that make the retro-computing experience more pleasant.

 

"We provide a lot of extensions in 'user space,'" said Hall when asked about extending FreeDOS' capabilities. "The FreeDOS kernel has to be a pretty classic DOS kernel, but we can add pretty much anything we need as separate utilities and tools. So we provide extra archive programs like 7z and zip/unzip, and even gzip and tar. You have extra device drivers like a CD-ROM cache (cdrcache), DOS long file name support (doslfn or lfndos), and a cacheing driver for hard disks and SSDs on UDMA (uhdd). And, of course, a large collection of developer tools—including compilers, assemblers, debuggers, and editors—so you can create your own programs. And I didn’t even mention the games."

What could be coming to FreeDOS 1.4

Since hitting 1.0 in September of 2006, the project has averaged about one major numbered update every four to six years. You can't do a ton to DOS without trying to make it into something that it isn't; upgrades tend to be gradual and narrowly focused. But work is definitely underway on a collection of updates that Hall says will most likely constitute a FreeDOS 1.4 update.

 

"Our distribution coordinator, Jerome Shidel, created a monthly test release that we use to test the latest versions of FreeDOS programs. And our plan is that one day, that test release will become the basis of the next distribution," Hall told Ars. "The test release currently has a lot of cool updates, most of which provide fixes to things, like the new fdisk that provides workarounds for the Book8088 BIOS bug, a new zoo archiver that has a fix for cluster sizes over 32 kB, and an updated edlin editor that has a quieter startup."

 

One other new feature that might make its way to a theoretical FreeDOS 1.4? Windows support.

 

Though FreeDOS maintains compatibility with the vast majority of classic DOS software, one thing that current versions can't do is serve as a bootloader for older versions of Windows like 3.1 or 3.11 for Workgroups—at least, it can't run those operating systems in their fully functional "386 Enhanced" modes. Though FreeDOS was started because Hall and others wanted to stay away from Windows, Hall says that support for those old Windows versions is a common user request.

 

"Maybe when that kernel is ready, we might spin off the test release to be the new “1.4” distribution," said Hall. "But that’s just my thought, I don’t want to get ahead of the community. We discuss everything on the freedos-devel email list, and that’s where we’ll make the decision."

 

Listing image by FreeDos.org

 

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Today, Microsoft will roll out new features, improvements and bug fixes for people who have the Windows 11 Dev channel build 26120.961 and have turned their toggle on in the Windows Update part of the Settings menu to receive the latest updates.

Microsoft added:

We’re starting the enablement of these at a small percentage at first so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel with this toggle turned on will see all these features right away. And some features may show up while others might not just yet. We hope to further expand the enablement of these new features, changes and improvements, and fixes with the next new Dev Channel build. Insiders will need to reboot to see if they have received the enablement of these features.

Here is the changelog. Keep in mind that the Dev Channel updates are based on the upcoming Windows 11, version 24H2.

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

 

Narrator users can now use voice access to dictate text hands-free

 

Narrator users can start using voice access in Windows 11 to dictate text with voice and hear what is dictated. In addition, you can also use voice access to give Narrator commands. For example, “Turn on Narrator,” “speak faster,” “read selection,” “read next line,” etc.

 

To know the entire list of Narrator commands supported with voice access, click help icon (?) on the voice access bar, select “View all commands” and choose “Narrator commands.”

 

What will work:

 

• Start and set up voice access which includes downloading a speech model.
• Read a list of voice access commands and Narrator commands from voice access help menu.
• Changing voice access microphone state.
• Dictating text with voice and hearing back what was dictated.

 

Tips:

 

• If you don’t use headphones for listening to the screen reader, the audio output from the screen reader may get picked up by voice access microphone, leading to unwanted behavior.

 

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

 

Auto Restart for Voice Access & New Voice Access Command for Windows Search

 

We are introducing auto restart for voice access in Windows 11. This feature ensures that voice access will automatically restart if it encounters any issues so that individuals with limited mobility can get back to using voice access as quickly as possible. Customers will no longer need to rely on alternative assistive technologies or assistance from others to reactivate voice access. Should voice access automatically restart due to a crash, we are making it easier to report those crashes once voice access restarts so the team can investigate and work on fixes.

 

We are introducing a new command for searching directly with Windows search. Users can now say the command Search “Entity”; Search Windows for “Entity”; or Search for “Entity” to search for their desired application or file in Windows (“Entity” is replaced with whatever application or file you want to search.)

 

FEEDBACK: Send us feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice access.

 

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

 

[Start menu]

 

This update starts the roll out of the new account manager on Start menu. When you sign in with a Microsoft account, the new design gives you a quick glanceable view of your account benefits and makes it easy to manage account settings.

 

[Windows Share]

 

We are beginning to roll out the ability to copy files from the Windows share window. Just click the new copy button.

 

Users will be able to now generate QR codes for URLs and cloud file links through the Windows share window to seamlessly share webpages and files across their devices. To try this out in Microsoft Edge, just click the share button in the Edge toolbar and choose “Windows share options”.

 

To prevent accidentally closing the Windows share window, clicking outside the Windows share window will no longer close it. To close the Windows share window, just press the close button at the top right corner.

 

If your Microsoft account uses a Gmail address, you can now send email to yourself from Windows share window and receive it in your Gmail account.

 

[Emoji]

 

We’re adding support for Emoji 15.1 which introduces a small number of brand-new emoji such as head shaking horizontally and vertically, phoenix, lime, brown mushroom and broken chain. Other changes for Emoji 15.1 include Unicode’s decision to revert family combinations to symbol-like shapes. Windows has chosen to stay with our existing style that uses people in family combinations. We are also supporting the new directionality updates for person/man/woman walking, kneeling, with cane, running, manual wheelchair and motorized wheelchair. You can now select right facing or the original left facing orientation for these emoji.

 

[Windows Backup]

 

• If you have both Personalization and Other Windows settings toggled on under Settings > Accounts > Windows backup, many of your sound settings (including chosen sound scheme) will be backed up which can be restored via the Windows Backup app.

 

[Settings]

 

• To ensure you don’t lose access to your Microsoft account, we’re beginning to roll out a new banner with a “Add now” button under Settings > Account for adding a recovery email address if you haven’t added one for your Microsoft account yet. This will only show if you are signed in with a Microsoft account.
• We are beginning to roll out updated visuals for the “Rename your PC” and “Change date and time” dialogs to match the Windows 11 visuals.

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

 

[Task Manager]

 

• Updated the units (from MHz to MT/s) for DDR speed.
• Fixed an issue where the Safely Remove Hardware option for ejecting USB devices wouldn’t work if Task Manager was open.
• Did some work to ensure Task Manager releases process handles quickly when terminating processes.
• Made some more improvements to help with Task Manager reliability.
• We have improved the performance when changing the sort order.
• Made multiple improvements to overall accessibility of Task Manager, including improving keyboard focus, tab navigation, text scaling, names of items read out by screen readers, and more.
• We made it a little easier to resize Task Manager when trying to resize by grabbing the top of the window.

 

[Graphics]

 

• Fixed an issue where some monitors would get stuck at a 60Hz refresh rate and couldn’t be set higher even though the monitor supported it, because dynamic refresh rate was stuck.

 

[Multiple desktops]

 

• Fixed an issue where the option to set a different wallpaper on each desktop wasn’t working.

 

[Other]

 

• Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to some apps not starting on startup even though they were enabled as startup apps in Setting.
• Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to the pop up asking for permission to use location not appearing, which could lead to app issues without location access.
• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with error DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in recent flights.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

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