There are also those who don't like the Search bar on Windows 11. Perhaps it is the way it looks or the ads there. If you are in that category and are looking for a small, lightweight app to hide the Search bar, you can do so using TranslucentSM, where the SM stands for Start Menu, and the initial idea behind the app was to enable tweaking the Windows 11 Start menu's opacity levels.

The latest version, 0.6.9, of the app rectified an issue such that the hide Search bar option now works on Windows 11 24H2 as well.

0.6.9

 

another bugfix release(bruh)

 

• hide search works on 24h2 now
• fix layout breaking when hide recommended + hide search (finally)

Aside from that, there has been a flurry of releases from the developer of the app. The Recommended section, which is like the main hub of a lot of the ads and promos, can also be hidden.

And the app works on Windows 10 as well. The changelogs for the recent releases are given below:

0.5

 

• edit button in windows 10 start menu
• uses UCRT instead of msvcrt
• dll is separate (no more false positives)

 

0.6

 

• hide recommended
• hide some white border idk see for yourself
• make the w10 start menu hamburger background transparent

 

0.6.5

 

bugfix release

 

• fixes layout breaking when hide search + hide recommended
• fixes crash on windows 10

If you find this utility interesting, you can download it from its official GitHub repository. Do keep in mind that this is a third-party app, and hence, you should, as always, proceed with a bit of caution.

Source

Based on the release notes, the new Canary Channel build is a pretty minor update, with a number of general, but unnamed, improvements, It also lists fixes for two small issues, along with a couple of known issues. Microsoft also has a reminder message for developers that at the moment the company does not plan to release an SDK for any of its Canary Channel builds. There's no word on when SDKs for Canary builds will be offered again.

Here is the changelog:

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.

 

Fixes for known issues

 

[Settings]

 

• Fixed an issue where after using the Disable button for a camera under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Cameras, the Enable button wouldn’t work.
• Fixed an issue where the text showing the color filters keyboard shortcut was missing from Settings > Accessibility > Color filters.

 

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.

 

[Widgets]

 

• The WIN + W keyboard shortcut may not work correctly and open the Widgets board on Build 26212.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

Windows Development Environment version 2405 is based on Windows 11 Enterprise (Evaluation) version 22H2, build 22621.3447. It contains the April 2024 Patch Tuesday updates, which Microsoft released on April 9, 2024 (KB5036893). That means you can try out the new features of the latest "Moment 5" update for Windows 11.

Besides the OS and its updates, Windows Development Environment version 2405 contains the following:

• Windows 11 Enterprise (Evaluation)

• Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabled

• Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 enabled with Ubuntu installed

• Windows Terminal installed

• Developer mode enabled

   

If you want to try WDE 2405, you need a minimum of 8GB RAM and 70GB disk space. These virtual machines do not support activation, so you will have to download a newer version once 2405 expires on July 15, 2024. Microsoft updates its virtual machines every month, so expect another one in June.

Windows Development Environment virtual machines are available on the official website. You can get one for VMware, Hyper-V (Gen2), VirtualBox, and Parallels. By the way, VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro are now available for free for personal use, so you can try Microsoft's official Windows 11 virtual machines using that software (check this guide).

Keep in mind that VirtualBox still has some rendering issues, so it is better to use other hypervisors to run a Windows 11-based virtual machine. You can find more information about Windows Development Environment here.

Source

There's no shortage of utilities to tweak, customize, and modify Windows, but one of the best utilities is made by Microsoft itself. PowerToys is a free and powerful customization tool for Windows 11, and well worth installing if you want to see what's possible beyond the default settings and layouts of Microsoft's operating system.

From window management to image resizing, there's a lot to explore. Here I'll introduce you to some of the best features PowerToys brings with it, giving you enough of an introduction that you feel able to play around with it yourself. It's grown to include so many different tools, most people are going to find something of use here.

Once you've downloaded and installed the utility, you'll be met with a dashboard where you can browse through the various modules available and customize them as needed.

FancyZones

Specify zones for your windows.

Courtesy of David Nield

FancyZones can bring some order to an unruly desktop. It lets you set specific layouts on screen for your windows to drop into, and these layouts can be saved for later use too, so you can switch between different configurations as needed.

Choose Launch layout editor from FancyZones settings and you're able to pick between different layouts for windows on the screen. You can stack windows in columns, for example, or have them in rows on top of each other, or keep them stacked in one corner of the screen. It's particularly handy for widescreen monitors, or when using multiple displays.

With FancyZones enabled and your preferred layout selected, just hold Shift while dragging a program’s window to drop it into a zone, where it will snap into position. You can even tweak zone colors, and the margins between the zones.

Keyboard Manager

If you feel a little bit limited by the keyboard customization options you get with Windows, give Keyboard Manager a go. This PowerToys module lets you remap keys and key press combinations so they do something different than the defaults.

For example, maybe you never use the Scroll Lock key on your keyboard, and you want to set it up to minimize all the windows on screen when pressed. Shortcuts can be set up to only work in specific apps if you want, and you're also able to have certain keys produce specific blocks of text—handy if you're always typing out certain sentences and phrases.

Use the Remap a key and Remap a shortcut links in the Keyboard Manager settings pane to get the keyboard working the way you want it to. Note there are some system keys you won't be able to remap—Microsoft explains that here.

Crop and Lock

The best way to understand Crop And Lock is to see it in action, but if I were going to attempt a description, I'd say it works like an “always on top” mode for a video player—only instead of a video, you can lock anything, anywhere on screen.

Maybe you're waiting on a countdown to ticket sales for an event: With Crop And Lock, you can have the countdown part of the website visible in its own window, which always stays on top of everything else on the screen. There are lots of ways to use it.

The default shortcut for Crop and Lock is Win+Ctrl+Shift+T, though you can change it if you want to. Press this combination, then drag your mouse over the part of the screen you'd like to pin, and it pops up in a new window.

PowerToys Run

If you've used macOS as well as Windows, you'll know how useful the Spotlight search tool can be: A floating bar in the middle of the screen which helps you find files, search the web, and launch applications.

PowerToys Run brings something similar to Microsoft's operating system. Once it's enabled, you can launch it with the Alt+Space keyboard shortcut (you can change this if needed). Then, type whatever it is you're looking for into the box.

You can use the same box to run calculations, conversions, and system commands too. Use the settings available in PowerToys to change various aspects of the search box behavior, including how many search results you get at once.

Image Resizer

PowerToys can enhance Windows’ File Explorer in a variety of different ways, and Image Resizer is one of them. As the name suggests, it enables you to quickly resize images without having to open up a photo editor.

It's best used for processing batches of pictures that you need to get into a consistent size and shape (for publishing on the web, for example). In the settings for Image Resizer, you're able to specify the preset sizes you'd like to work with, and the file formats you want your images to end up in.

As long as Image Resizer is enabled, you'll see it when you right-click on a picture in File Explorer and choose Show more options. You can work with images one by one, or select a whole group of them and right-click to resize them all together.

Source

Here is the official changelog:

New features:

 

• The Copy Without Site Tracking option can now remove parameters from nested URLs. It also includes expanded support for blocking over 300 tracking parameters from copied links, including those from major shopping websites. Keep those trackers away when sharing links!
• Firefox now supports Content-encoding: zstd (zstandard compression). This is an alternative to broti and gzip compression for web content, and can provide higher compression levels for the same CPU used, or conversely lower server CPU use to get the same compression. This is heavily used on sites such as Facebook.

• Catalan is now available in Firefox Translations.

• Enabled AV1 hardware decode acceleration on macOS for M3 Macs.

• Telemetry was added to create an aggregate count of searches by category to broadly inform search feature development. These categories are based on 20 high-level content types, such as "sports,” "business," and "travel". This data will not be associated with specific users and will be collected using OHTTP to remove IP addresses as potentially identifying metadata. No profiling will be performed, and no data will be shared with third parties. (read more)

• NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution (“VSR”) is now available in Firefox. RTX VSR enhances and sharpens lower resolution video when upscaled to higher resolutions and also removes blocky artifacts commonly visible on low bitrate streamed video. VSR requires at least a 20-series or higher NVIDIA RTX GPU, Microsoft Windows 10/11 64-bit, and NVIDIA driver version R530 or higher. The feature can be enabled in the NVIDIA control panel.

• NVIDIA RTX Video HDR is now available in Firefox. RTX Video HDR automatically converts SDR video to vibrant HDR10 in real time, letting you enjoy video with improved clarity on your HDR10 panel. It requires at least a 20-series NVIDIA RTX GPU, Microsoft Windows 10/11 64-bit, and NVIDIA driver version 550 or higher. The feature can be enabled in the NVIDIA control panel.

   

Other Changes:

 

• The URL Paste Suggestion feature added in Fx125 was temporarily disabled while the team investigates a potential performance issue. The feature will be re-enabled in a future release once the performance issue is addressed.

Security fixes in Firefox 126 are available here, and Firefox for Enterprise 126 Release Notes are available here.

You can download Firefox 126.0 from the official website. If you already use Firefox, click Menu > Help > About Firefox to get to the latest version. Full release notes are available here.

Source

However, going free is not the only great news that the app brings with this release. The latest version also fixes a high CPU usage bug that was related to VMware NAT Service (vmnat.exe), wherein Windows Task Manager would report close to 100% usage on some of the cores, and this happened even when VMware was not running. Users have been reporting about it since last year.

The issue has now finally been resolved with the latest version. The full release notes are given below:

What's New

 

• This release introduces product enhancements to support a new commercial subscription and personal use license model. For more information, see Learn Subscription.
• This release resolves CVE-2024-22267, CVE-2024-22268, CVE-2024-22269, and CVE-2024-22270. For more information on these vulnerabilities and their impact on VMware products, see VMSA-2024-0010.
• This release contains security and bug fixes.

 

Known Issues

 

• The multi-monitor feature might not work correctly in specific topologies

In specific situations, based on different hardware and topologies, the multi-monitor feature does not work as expected. You might see issues like reverting the topology to a single screen, or not cycling through monitors.

 

Workaround: None.

 

Resolved Issues

 

• VMware NAT Service uses high CPU even with no virtual machine running

 

On Workstation Pro 17.5.0 and 17.5.1, vmnat.exe might have high CPU utilization even when no virtual machine is running.

 

This issue is resolved.

 

• Security Issues

 

OpenSSL, which is consumed by OVF Tool, is updated to version 1.0.2zj.

For those wondering, the NAT or the Network Address Translation device operates as a Domain Name System (DNS) proxy that transmits DNS requests from a virtual machine to a host-recognized DNS server. A NAT device essentially allows accessing an external network from a virtual machine.

Source: VMware

Source

After the announcement was made, Michael Roy, the Product Line Manager for VMware Desktop Hypervisor products, published a detailed guide on his official blog.

A summary of the steps involved in downloading and installing have also been put up by Roy so users can have a quick glance at what they need to do. The gist of it mainly involves going to Broadcom's site, registering, and choosing the appropriate version of Fusion Pro or Workstation Pro. (For Workstation Pro it is 17.5.2, for Fusion Pro it is 13.5.2). This release also fixes a high CPU usage issue that was the consequence of a buggy NAT device.

Here is the summarised version:

Summary

 

1. Go to broadcom.com
2. In the upper right corner, select 'Support Portal'
3. Either log in by clicking 'Go To Portal' or 'Register' for a basic Broadcom account Quick link to the registration form
4. Once logged in, go to support.braodcom.com if you're not redirected there
5. Click the dropdown to choose the VMware Cloud Foundation division
6. On the left, click 'My Downloads'
7. Search for either Fusion or Workstation
8. Click the product name (VMware Fusion or VMware Workstation Pro )
9. Notice the dropdown for the Personal Use edition (it is the exact same binaries as the Commercial one)
10. Select 17.5.2 or 13.5.2
11. Download and install

Aside from the download and install guide, Michael Roy also published a guide on how to switch to Pro in case you are already using Workstation Player or Fusion Player.

In case you want to upgrade from Workstation Player to Workstation Pro, you can simply uninstall the former and download Pro using the above guide.

The one for Fusion Pro is trickier though as it involves manual steps with the help of Sudo as Fusion "doesn't currently allow you to 'delete' an active license."

You can check out the guides in detail at the source links below.

Source: Michael Roy (link1, link2)

Source

05/13/2024 Microsoft Edge support on CPUs without SSE3 will be out of support in Edge version 126.

Just like the story with POPCNT instructions in Windows 11 24H2, SSE3 support in Microsoft Edge will only affect a small fraction of users who run the browser on very old hardware. Intel introduced SSE3 in 2004, and AMD followed suit shortly. The earliest Intel processors with SSE3 include chips with Prescott cores (Pentium 4, Pentium D, Celeron D, etc). On the AMD side, those are Opteron, Sempron, Athlon 64, and others that were based on K8.

Microsoft Edge 126 is expected in the Stable Channel on the week of June 13, 2024.

As of right now, Microsoft Edge has the following software requirements:

• Windows: Windows 10 and Windows 11
• macOS: Catalina 10.15 and newer
• iOS: iOS and iPadOS 14 and newer
• Android: Android 4.4 KitKat and newer
• Linux: yes
• Chromebooks: Edge does not support Chromebooks

The last time Microsoft updated the documentation was in January 2023, when the company notified users about the end of Microsoft Edge support on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012, and Server 2012 R2. Edge 109 is the last version that works on those platforms.

Some of the other processor-related changes in Microsoft products include the original Windows on ARM PCs. Although Snapdragon 835 was never supported in Windows 11, it was possible to bypass hardware requirements and run the latest OS unofficially. Starting with Windows 11 version 24H2, the operating system requires ARM v8.1 and newer, which renders the Snapdragon 835 physically unable to run the upcoming update. There are also reliable rumors about AMD not supporting Windows 10 in next-generation Ryzen processors.

Source

With the latest Windows Server Patch Tuesday update, Microsoft has resolved this issue. It notes on the Windows Health Dashboard website:

Resolution: This issue was resolved by Windows updates released May 14, 2024 (KB5037782), and later. We recommend you install the latest security update for your device. It contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one.

The resolution has also been listed in the highlights of KB5037782. However, there is no mention specifically of the LSASS crashes so that may or may not be resolved:

This update addresses a known issue that might affect domain controllers (DC). NTLM authentication traffic might increase.

The full list of improvements in the KB5037782 Server update is given below:

• This update addresses a known issue that might affect domain controllers (DC). NTLM authentication traffic might increase.

• This update addresses an issue that affects IE mode. A webpage stops working as expected when there is an open modal dialog.

• This update addresses an issue in that affects IE mode. It stops responding. This occurs if you press the left arrow key when an empty text box has focus and caret browsing is on.

• This update addresses an issue that affects Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) in the Group Policy editor. HTML preview rendering fails.

• This update addresses an issue that affects a server after you remove it from a domain. The Get-LocalGroupMember cmdlet returns an exception. This occurs if the local groups contain domain members.

• This update affects next secure record 3 (NSEC3) validation in a recursive resolver. Its limit is now 1,000 computations. One computation is equal to the validation of one label with one iteration. DNS Server Administrators can change the default number of computations. To do this, use the registry setting below.

   

  • Name: \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DNS\Parameters\MaxComputationForNsec3Validation

  • Type: DWORD

  • Default: 1000

  • Max: 9600

  • Min: 1

     

• This update addresses an issue that affects a network. An error occurs when credentials expire.

• This update addresses an issue that occurs when you use LoadImage() to loada top-down bitmap. If the bitmap has a negative height, the image does not load, and the function returns NULL.

• This update includes quarterly changes to the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.

• This update addresses an issue that affects a workstation that is not in a domain. When you connect from it to a share and use an IPV6 address, you get the error, “ERROR_BAD_NET_NAME.”

• This update addresses a known issue that might cause your VPN connection to fail. This occurs after you install the update dated April 9, 2024, or later.

• This update addresses an issue that might affect Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) scenarios. They might fail. These scenarios include VPN, Windows Hello, Credential Guard, and Key Guard.

• This update addresses an issue that affects Group Policy Folder Redirection in a multi-forest deployment. The issue stops you from choosing a group account from the target domain. Because of this, you cannot apply advanced folder redirection settings to that domain. This issue occurs when the target domain has a one-way trust with the domain of the admin user. This issue affects all Enhanced Security Admin Environment (ESAE), Hardened Forests (HF) or Privileged Access Management (PAM) deployments.

You can view the support article on this page on Microsoft's website.

Source

Microsoft initially started the public rollout by the end of April 2024, when the company released the latest non-security update. Now, however, the update is mandatory for all Windows 11 users.

Despite the negative reaction from customers during the short-lived testing period (Microsoft first introduced those Start menu ads in Windows Insider builds), Microsoft decided to go for it and ship "app recommendations" in the Start menu to all users. If you have a PC with Windows 11 version 22H2 or 23H2, get ready for some uncalled app shortcuts after installing KB5037771. Here is how Microsoft describes that:

The Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps. These apps come from a small set of curated developers. This will help you to discover some of the great apps that are available.

 

 

Fortunately, you can turn Start menu ads in Windows 11 pretty easily. To do so, open the Settings app, go to Personalization > Start menu, and toggle off the "Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more" option. You can also take a more radical approach to the ad problem in Windows 11 and use third-party apps, such as the OFGB, which, ironically, was made by a Linux user.

Windows 11 might soon get more useful changes. Enthusiasts discovered that the latest Windows 11 preview build from the Canary Channel of the Windows Insider program contains so-called "Start menu companions," live tile-like widgets sitting right next to your pins. Microsoft has not announced that yet, but you can have a first look here.

Source

Microsoft has updated the official documentation to notify users that VPN connection failures introduced in KB5036892 (Windows 11) and KB5036892 (Windows 10) are now fixed. If you use Windows 11, you need KB5037771 (applies to both versions 22H2 and 23H2), and if you use Windows 10 version 22H2, you need KB5037768.

Here is the updated post from the official documentation on the Microsoft Learn website:

Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update (KB5036893) or the April 2024 non-security preview update.

 

Resolution: This issue was resolved by Windows updates released May 14, 2024 (KB5037771), and later. We recommend you install the latest security update for your device. It contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one.

 

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.

Interestingly, there is still one known bug that the May 2024 Patch Tuesday update could not fix. Users still cannot change profile pictures for their local accounts, resulting in the Settings app throwing an error message with the 0x80070520 code. If you cannot live without a new profile picture for your local account, you can bypass the bug by manually changing the image as described in our separate article.

More information about the May 2024 Patch Tuesday updates are available here (Windows 10) and here (Windows 11).

Source

Reddit users noted that they have been getting notifications in their Netflix Windows app this week, informing them of the upcoming update to the app. The biggest change is that after the update, the app will no longer be able to download videos of Netflix's movies and TV shows on their PC for offline viewing.

This change is also confirmed by a Netflix support page for the Windows app. The new version will add some features, including "support for watching live events, increased streaming quality, compatibility with ad-supported plans, and more."

However, it's the removal of the video download feature that will most likely be missed by Windows 10 and 11 users. In particular, people who travel a lot with their Windows laptop and want to watch the latest episode of Too Hot to Handle won't be able to download those episodes ahead of time so they can be watched if there's not a handy internet connection. In that instance, the new app will be about as useful as watching Netflix on its official website.

Indeed, most of the comments about this change to the Netflix Windows app center on losing the downloads feature, One user, "Huntracony", stated:

My internet isn't always reliable, having the ability to download shows is essential. Why even have a Windows app if you can't use it offline? Might as well use the site at that point, at least that gets updated.

So far there's no official word from Netflix on when the update for the Windows app will start rolling out. We will post the news when the new version of the Netflix Windows app, without the download feature, starts to become widely available.

Source

Here's what's new:

23H2 and 22H2

Highlights

 

• This update addresses a known issue that might cause your VPN connection to fail. This occurs after you install the update dated April 9, 2024, or later.

Improvements

 

Windows 11, version 23H2

 

Important: Use EKB KB5027397 to update to Windows 11, version 23H2.

 

This security update includes quality improvements. Key changes include:

 

• This build includes all the improvements in Windows 11, version 22H2.

• No additional issues are documented for this release.

   

Windows 11, version 22H2

 

This security update includes improvements that were a part of update KB5036980 (released April 23, 2024). When you install this KB:

 

• This update addresses an issue that might affect domain controllers (DC). NTLM authentication traffic might increase.

• This update addresses an issue that might affect Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) scenarios. They might fail. These scenarios include VPN, Windows Hello, Credential Guard, and Key Guard.

• This update addresses an issue that affects Server Message Block (SMB) clients. They fail to make SMB Multichannel connections. Because of this, file transfers are slow. This issue occurs after you install KB5036980 (April 23, 2024). In the Windows Event Log, Event ID 30826 appears for Microsoft-Windows-SMBClient/Connectivity.

   

If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.

 

For more information about security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Security Update Guide website and the May 2024 Security Updates.

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22621.3522 and 22631.3522

 

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

 

Known issues in this update

 

Applies to	Symptom	Workaround
All users	After installing this update, you might be unable to change your user account profile picture.   When attempting to change a profile picture by selecting the button Start> Settings> Accounts > Your info, and then selecting Choose a file, you might receive an error message with error code 0x80070520.	We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

21H2

Highlights

 

• This update supports the currency change in Croatia from the kuna to the euro.

• This update addresses an issue in that affects IE mode. It stops responding. This occurs if you press the left arrow key when an empty text box has focus and caret browsing is on.

• This update addresses a known issue that might cause your VPN connection to fail. This occurs after you install the update dated April 9, 2024, or later.

Improvements

 

This security update includes improvements. When you install this KB:

 

• This update brings Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.

• This update includes quarterly changes to the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist file, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds to the list of drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.

• This update addresses an issue that affects Active Directory. Bind requests to IPv6 addresses fail. This occurs when the requestor is not joined to a domain.

• This update addresses an issue that might affect domain controllers (DC). NTLM authentication traffic might increase.

• This update addresses an issue that affects Group Policy Folder Redirection in a multi-forest deployment. The issue stops you from choosing a group account from the target domain. Because of this, you cannot apply advanced folder redirection settings to that domain. This issue occurs when the target domain has a one-way trust with the domain of the admin user. This issue affects all Enhanced Security Admin Environment (ESAE), Hardened Forests (HF) or Privileged Access Management (PAM) deployments.

• This update addresses an issue that might affect Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) scenarios. They might fail. These scenarios include VPN, Windows Hello, Credential Guard, and Key Guard.

   

If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.

 

For more information about security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Security Update Guide website and the May 2024 Security Updates.

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22000.2958

 

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

Known issues in this update

 

Applies to	Symptom	Workaround
All users	After installing this update, you might be unable to change your user account profile picture.   When attempting to change a profile picture by selecting the button Start> Settings> Accounts > Your info, and then selecting Choose a file, you might receive an error message with error code 0x80070520.	We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

These updates will be available from Windows Update and should install automatically in most cases. If you would like to download these updates for offline installation then you can get them from the Microsoft Catalog website. You can find the updates for 23H2 and 22H2 here and the update for 21H2 here.

Source

The major highlight of the release as usual is security updates for Windows 10.

Highlights

 

This update addresses security issues for your Windows operating system.

After a couple of weeks without any, known issues are back:

Known issues in this update

Some of the older Windows 10 versions have also received updates today, which have been listed below with their respective release notes (KB) linked as well as links to download them at Microsoft's Update Catalog:

It is noteworthy here that Windows 10 20H2 and Windows 10 1909 reached the end of servicing. Some editions of 21H2 have also reached the end of servicing.

Source

Welcome to the first alpha release for the upcoming 5.1 update! This new version adds color management support, some new and updated effects, it completes the migration of all Effects and Adjustments to run on the GPU (which can all be used by plugins, btw!), and adds some canvas customization settings.

Here is what is new in Paint.NET 5.1 Alpha:

• Color management: Like other image editors, especially premium ones, Paint.NET now lets you manage your color profile, which ensures a specific image looks the way it is supposed to. The new Image > Color Profile in version 5.1 replaces the old "Apply Embedded Color Profile" feature introduced in version 5.0 as a temporary solution. Now, with version 5.1, users can select one of several built-in color profiles or import their own using icc or icm files. You can see how using a proper color profile affects the image you get in the app:

   

  

  Before

• 

  After

• Effect updates: Paint.NET 5.1 introduces two new blur effects: Sketch Blur and Square Blur. Also worth noting is that several effects are now running on the GPU. They include Auto-Level, Curves, Levels, Opil Painting, Reduce Noise, Surface Blur, and Outline.
• Canvas customization: You can now toggle canvas drop shadow and its border color (the background behind the canvas). The logic behind it is to provide better accessibility for people with high-contrast themes and prevent incorrect image size perception or color bleed. Finally, the developer says extra customization is good for just having some fun.

If you want to try Paint.NET 5.1 Alpha, head to its GitHub repository and download the installer. Alternatively, users can opt-in for pre-release updates and get the latest version using the built-in updater. The complete list of changes made since version 5.0.13 is available on the official Piant.NET forums.

Source

If you want to set up a bunch of virtual machines on your computer to experiment with Windows 11, Linux, or something else, VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion are now available for free. All you need to do is to register and download the app for your platform. Commercial use, however, still requires purchasing a license.

Besides making Workstation Pro and Fusion free for personal use, VMware discontinued Workstation Player and Fusion Player. They are no longer available for purchase, and existing customers can upgrade to the more feature-packed Pro version without any cost. However, VMware Player will remain bundled with Workstation Pro.

Existing customers with commercial licenses for Fusion Player 13 and Workstation Player 17 can continue using the products without any changes. VMware recommends updating to Workstation Pro once those apps reach their end of life.

VMware says the new model helped reduce its product offerings down to just one SKU for those in need of a commercial license, eliminating over 40 different editions and making purchasing VMware's virtualization software much easier.

To help users better understand changes, VMware published a small guide:

You can learn more in a post on the official VMware blog.

Source

Interestingly, it has been found that the default software-based BitLocker encryption (XTS-AES 128, - , where XTX stands for XEX Tweakable Block Cipher with Ciphertext Stealing and AES is Advanced Encryption Standard -) on Windows, can lead to massive performance loss even on some of the fastest data drives, like a PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD, which means users can expect some performance hit on their systems,

Meanwhile, over on Linux, Google's Eric Biggers recently started working on various tweaks to AES-XTS implementation and it was found to massively improve performance on AMD as well as Intel x86 systems.

The test results post-implementation of these changes see a huge improvement in terms of throughput data on both AMD and Intel. The biggest improvement was seen on Zen 4. We covered this in detail previously in this article.

Hence, if encryption becomes the norm, users may want to go for the superior solution, whether it's Windows or Linux. However, it is unclear at the moment how this improved performance on the Linux side will compare with Windows.

This change has now been proposed for pushing in the upcoming Linux kernel version 6.10. The patch notes says:

This update includes the following changes:

 

API:

 

• Remove crypto stats interface.

 

Algorithms:

 

• Add faster AES-XTS on modern x86_64 CPUs.
• Forbid curves with order less than 224 bits in ecc (FIPS 186-5).
• Add ECDSA NIST P521.

 

Drivers:

 

• Expose otp zone in atmel.
• Add dh fallback for primes > 4K in qat.
• Add interface for live migration in qat.
• Use dma for aes requests in starfive.
• Add full DMA support for stm32mpx in stm32.
• Add Tegra Security Engine driver.

 

Others:

 

• Introduce scope-based x509_certificate allocation.

Hence, in addition to a better-optimized algorithm for AES-XTS, there appear to be several other improvements as well including DMA (direct memory access) advancements, among several other things.

Source: LKML via Phoronix

Source

What you need to know

• OpenAI announced a new native desktop app for ChatGPT today.
• The app was announced exclusively for macOS, with no mention of a Windows app.
• Even with Microsoft investing over $10 billion in OpenAI, a Windows app was seemingly not feasible. 
• OpenAI says it is prioritizing where its users are, which suggests they are not on Windows. 

OpenAI today held a live event where it unveiled several updates for ChatGPT, including GPT-4o which is an updated large language model with enhanced real-time voice capabilities and faster performance. Microsoft and OpenAI share a close partnership, with Microsoft investing over $10 billion in the company and utilizing OpenAI’s technology in its own Copilot services.

Alongside the announcement of GPT-4o, OpenAI announced a brand new ChatGPT app for macOS, built using Apple’s native Mac app platform. Curiously, there was no mention of a Windows app launching alongside the Mac app, and unfortunately it turns out that’s because OpenAI didn’t think it was necessary to launch a Windows app at this time.

In an interview with Ina Fried, OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati said “we’re just prioritizing where our users are” when asked about why there isn’t a Windows app launching today. That must sting a bit for Microsoft, especially when you consider how the company has been trying to market Windows as the platform for AI developers. Frustratingly, OpenAI hasn’t given a solid timeframe for when a native Windows app for ChatGPT is coming.

According to OpenAI, the majority of its users on a desktop operating system are using Mac, even though Windows has a much larger share of the PC market. Windows users aren’t totally left out in the cold, however, as ChatGPT is available as a web app in your browser of choice, but that’s not going to deliver the same native experience as a dedicated app.

There is some hope for Windows users, as OpenAI engineer Javi has mentioned that the company is looking for Windows engineers, hopefully to help build a native ChatGPT app for Windows 11. Microsoft is holding its annual Build developer conference next week, which will be all about AI. Perhaps we will hear more about OpenAI's plans for Windows then. 

Source

What is new in the Intel 31.0.101.5518 non-WHQL driver?

Gaming Highlights:

 

Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs for:

 

• Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT
• Homeworld 3

 

Fixed Issues:

 

Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics Products:

 

• Dragon’s Dogma 2* (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance.

 

Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs:

 

• Dead Space* (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance.

 

Intel® Arc™ Control Fixed Issues:

 

• Endurance Gaming Power Options per application may not show correct status in Arc Control with on Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs

Here are the known bugs in this update:

Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics Products:

 

• No Rest for the Wicked* (DX11) may experience intermittent application crash during gameplay.
• Enshrouded* (VK) may experience application crash during gameplay.
• Doom Eternal* (VK) may exhibit intermittent flickering corruptions in game menu and during gameplay.
• PugetBench* Extended Preset Benchmark may fail to complete on certain Adobe Premiere Pro* Processing Tests.
• Topaz Video AI* may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

 

Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs: Avatar:

 

• Frontiers Of Pandora* (DX12) may experience a crash during game loading.
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection* (DX12) may experience an application crash on loading to gameplay.
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League* (DX12) may exhibit corruption on shadows during gameplay.
• PugetBench* Extended Preset Benchmark may fail to complete on certain Adobe Premiere Pro* Processing Tests.
• Blender* may experience an application crash while rendering some scenes on certain system memory configurations.
• Topaz Video AI* may experience errors when using some models for video enhancements.
• Procyon AI* may experience an application crash while running benchmark with precision float32.

 

Intel® Core™ Processor (12th -14th Generation) Products:

 

• Dragon Quest X Online* (DX9) may experience sporadic application crash during gameplay

Intel's graphics driver is available for 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems with the following products:

You can download Intel 31.0.101.5518 non-WHQL from the official website. Full release notes are available here (PDF).

Source

Source

As a reminder, consumer editions of Windows 10 version 21H2 reached their end of life in June 2023. It received 8 years of active support, with 12 more months for enterprise SKUs.

The end of support means Microsoft will no longer release security updates and bug fixes. Therefore, customers and businesses should plan to upgrade their systems to keep them protected from potential security vulnerabilities. Non-managed systems will update to version 22H2 automatically.

From the official documentation:

On June 11, 2024, Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise editions of Windows 10, version 21H2 will reach end of servicing. The upcoming June 2024 security update, to be released on June 11, 2024, will be the last update available for this version. After this date, devices running this version will no longer receive monthly security and preview updates containing protections from the latest security threats.

 

To help keep you protected and productive, Windows Update will automatically initiate a feature update for Windows 10 business devices not managed by IT departments when these are nearing end of servicing. Moving to Windows 10, version 22H2 keeps your device supported and receiving monthly updates that are critical to security and ecosystem health.

Of course, Microsoft also took the opportunity to remind users that Windows 11 exists and eligible devices can jump-ship to the latest operating system, which struggles to maintain its customer base as of recently:

As always, we recommend that you upgrade eligible devices to Windows 11. For detailed information, see the Windows 10 Enterprise and Education and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise lifecycle pages. For information about servicing timelines and lifecycle, see Windows 10 release information, Windows 11 release information, Lifecycle FAQ - Windows, and Microsoft Lifecycle Policy search tool.

It is worth noting that the end of Windows 10 version 21H2 support does not affect the LTSC 2021 release. Lont-Term Servicing Channel versions have a much longer lifecycle (hence the name), and Microsoft plans to continue providing support for Windows 10 Enterprise and IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 until January 12, 2027.

Source

On Chrome, Google apparently forgot to include a screenshot-taking feature like Microsoft Edge, but it's still possible to capture part of the screen or the entire page using different tools. 

For example, you can use the Snipping Tool to capture areas of a page. The Developers tool gives you a more advanced tool to take screenshots from an area or the entire area of the page. And then, you can choose from countless plugins that can add capturing capabilities to the browser.

In this how-to guide, I will explain three ways you can easily take screenshots using Google Chrome on Windows 11 and 10.

How to take screenshots on Google Chrome

Although Chrome doesn't include a feature to take screenshots, you can still use the Snipping Tool on Windows 11, Chrome's Developer tools, and (my choice) the Screenshot Master Full Page Capture plugin.

Snipping Tool 

If you have a device running Windows 11, you can use the Snipping Tool to capture parts of the screen. 

To use the Snipping Tool to take screenshots on Microsoft Edge, use these steps:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Open the page showing the content to capture.
3. Use the "Windows key + Shift + S" keyboard shortcut.
4. Click the Snip button.
5. Select the "Window" option.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

6. Select the Chrome window to create the capture.

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

7. Click on the Snipping Tool notification to open the capture on the app.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

• Quick tip: If you don't see the notification, you can access it from the "Notifications" panel using the "Windows key + N" keyboard shortcut.

Once you complete the steps, you can edit the image and save the capture as an image file.

You can also check my previous guide with all the different ways you can use the Snipping Tool app to take screenshots on Windows 11.

Chrome DevTools

If you're willing to follow some extra steps, the browser DevTools includes an odd approach to taking screenshots. This feature is meant for developers, but anyone can use it.

To screen capture with DevTools, use these steps:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Open the page showing the content to capture.
3. Press the F12 key or right-click the page and choose the Inspect option.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

4. Click the "Customize and control DevTools" (three dots) menu and choose the Run command option.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

5. Type "screenshot" in the Run command.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

6. Choose one of the options, for example, "Capture full size screenshot" option.

Once you complete the steps, the screenshot of the entire page will be saved on the computer as a ".png" file.

It's important to note that this feature only includes the basic functionalities for screen capturing. It doesn't include markup or other type of tools. Once you select the area or choose screenshot mode, the image will be saved automatically on the device.

Chrome Extension

Alternatively, if you need a tool that offers an easier-to-use experience and editing tools with the option to screen capture the entire page, you can choose from many plugins from the Chrome Web Store. 

On a side note, the Chrome Web Store includes many extensions. I have tried many of them, and the only one that provided me with the feature I think everyone needs to take screenshots in Chrome was the "Screenshot Master Full Page Capture."

To use an extension to take screenshots on Chrome, use these steps:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Open the Chrome Web Store.
3. Search the screen capture plugin. For example, Screenshot Master.
4. Click the "Add to Chrome" button.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

5. Click the Add extension button. 

• Quick tip: You can access the extension faster by going to the "Extensions" menu and clicking the pin button.

6. Open the page showing the content to capture.
7. Click the extension button.
8. (Option 1) Press the space bar key to capture the viewable area of the page.
9. (Option 2) Press the "F" key to capture the entirety of the page.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

6. (Option 4) Select the mouse for the area to capture. 
7. (Optional) Use the available tools to mark up the image with shapes and text.
8. Click the Download button to save the image on your computer.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

• Quick tip: You can open the download menu to choose the file extension, including ".jpg," ".png," or "Webp."

After you complete the steps, you will end up with a captured image file.

Source

In June, Microsoft Teams on the desktop will soon have a file preview feature:

When you share documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF) in chat or channel conversation, you can see a thumbnail image of the file in the thread. This lets you preview the file’s content without opening it and find the file you need quickly.

Desktop Teams users will also be able to rename the general channel for their team in June:

In our efforts to bridge the gaps between general and other channels, introducing the ability to rename the general channel in your team. General channel in a team can be renamed by the team owner, or member (if they have permissions), to show up in the teams and channels list in alphabetical order.

In July, Teams users for both the desktop and Mac will see a simplified header bar:

With this change, the "About" tab and other utility actions will be moved to the overflow menu. In addition, the "Chat" tab will be moved to a right-hand side panel for apps that support it.

If you use the Microsoft Loop collaboration tool, you will be getting a new Copilot-powered feature later in May:

Collaborate with Copilot to go from a blank page to a structured document ready for collaboration as quickly as possible. Start from scratch or select an existing page or template as the starting point and Copilot can modify it for the task at hand.

Finally, OneDrive for web users will see a change to the shared folder experience in June:

Currently, when a user opens a shared folder in OneDrive, they are taken to a view of that folder within the sharers OneDrive. In the new experience, opening a shared folder will take the user to the shared folder within the People view of their own OneDrive. This view, organized by people, shows and allows access to all the files and folders that have been shared with the user.

That's it for our look back at last week's Microsoft 365 Roadmap. Come back in seven days for the latest look at new entries on the roadmap.

Source

A few days ago, we were asked to review a very nice software. It’s called JustScroll. After testing it for a few days, we finally decided to post a review for it.

It’s a relatively new software which aims to fix an annoying issue by making it really easy to increase and decrease the volume of your PC. Is it good? Let’s find out in the review.

First, the official description:

JustScroll is a small app that allows you to adjust your volume by scrolling with your mouse. It is designed to be intuitive, comfortable and it feels like second nature from the very first scroll. Change the volume on the desktop, while gaming or while watching a video, JustScroll allows you to do all of that and more.

Key Features

• Windows Key + Scroll – volume adjust without minimizing.
• Taskbar Scroll – volume adjust by scrolling with the cursor on the taskbar.
• Precision Scroll – volume scrolling while the left mouse button is held for a precise adjustment.
• Background Running – JustScroll runs in the background, independent of Steam.

Our Review

We reviewed JustScroll and we were massively impressed. It works exactly as it should. Interestingly, it doesn’t use any external UI to increase or decrease the PC’s volume. It just uses the OS’s built-in volume overlay UI.

Taskbar Scroll

Increase volume by bring the mouse cursor to taskbar and then using the mouse scroll bar. Credit: JustScroll.

We tried the taskbar scroll function of the software. Took the mouse cursor to the taskbar and tried increasing and decreasing the PC’s volume. It worked perfectly. We never thought it would be so easy to do so.

We managed to make it work by scrolling while aiming the cursor in the taskbar many times. It worked perfectly 9.9 out of 10 times. The only one time it didn’t work, it was fixed by restarting the software.

The great thing about taskbar scrolling is that it doesn’t require the taskbar to be active or clicked on. One could be working on other software, keep that software active, scroll to the taskbar and increase / decrease volume easily without any clicks and without any issues.

Windows Key + Scroll In Games / Full Screen Videos

The second most important feature of JustScroll is the ability to increase the PC’s volume with the mouse’s scroll wheel when gaming or watching videos in full screen mode.

Now, as there’s no taskbar visible while gaming or watching videos in the full screen, this software has an excellent feature of using the Windows key on the keyboard combined with the scroll wheel on the mouse to increase or decrease the PC volume.

Here too it works excellently. We tested this feature while gaming for a few days and it worked perfectly each and every time. Not a single time did it refuse to work. Whether it was during a heavy loading screen or while inside the game. It worked perfectly without any issues.

We tried the same inside a full screen video, both in a media player and a YouTube video in the browser. Here too it worked perfectly.

The great thing about the software is, while one expects games to minimize while pressing the Windows key or the browsers to become inactive / move to the background, it does none of it. Neither it minimizes the games while pressing the keyboard key (combined with the mouse scroll wheel) nor it makes the active software inactive.

When gaming, it works fine in a borderless mode, fullscreen mode and in exclusive fullscreen mode without any issues.

Features

JustScroll comes in six different languages so far. Has a small but easy “how to use” guide. Runs quietly in the taskbar tray. Has a new option of running the software as admin on startup.

But the biggest feature we were searching for was to increase volume by a certain amount, as by default it used to increase the PC volume by 4 points. There’s a simple option in the taskbar tray to set the amount of number of change in volume. It allows one to set options to increase or decrease the volume by 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 points. We tried all of them and here too it worked great.

We also tested the precision scroll that the developer advertises. It allows one to increase or decrease the volume by 2 points, while the settings are set for let’s say 10 points. Here too it works great.

Bugs / Issues

The only issue we faced. Steam sometimes might not detect that the software has been shut correctly, as it runs independently of it after launch, so manual stopping might be required inside Steam.

Also, by default when one clicks the software shortcut icon or sets the software to run at startup, it runs in Steam. However, this can easily be fixed by running it independently by running the executable from the original installation folder. This doesn’t require Steam to be running in the background.

Download

The issue with JustScroll is that it’s not a free software. It’s a paid software that needs to be purchased through Steam, which is the most preferred PC gaming client and store for most PC gamers out there.

However, JustScroll is very cheap. It costs just $1.99 to purchase. This is a pricing of just one location. Thanks to Steam’s regional pricing feature, it’s cheaper than even that. For example, in some countries, it’s available for under $1.

Not to forget, there are more than 30 reviews for this software on Steam and each one of them talk favorably of it.

Here are the links for the JustScroll:

• Homepage
• Steam Page (Purchase and Download)

The software also gets regular updates, in which the developer adds features based on user feedback. The changelog and news for the updates can be found here.

The software is developed by a UK based developer named Eduard Georgiev. His LinkedIn profile can be found here and his Twitter (now X) profile can be found here.

The developer also has a Patreon page, which he updates regularly.

To prevent any malware from this software, we scanned the folder in which it was installed in. We also uploaded the Steam launcher executable and the independent non-Steam executable to VirusTotal. In all cases, no AV found any issues or any malware in it.

As it’s hosted on a big gaming platform like Steam, it’s likely to be completely safe to use.

Conclusion

JustScroll is an excellent software to increase and decrease the PC volume that everyone should use, whether gamers or casual users. It works perfectly and without any issues.

We read somewhere that within a few days one would get so used to it that you wouldn’t be able to use your PC without it and we completely agree with their claim. We are using it from a few days and we were wondering why we didn’t get hold of it before.

Pros

• Works excellently.
• Works perfectly in games without minimizing or breaking them.
• Gets regular updates based on user feedback.
• Cheap to purchase.

Neutral

• Requires Steam by default. But can be run independently by running the executable from the installation folder or making a shortcut through it.
• Scripts for achieving the same already exists. But the author claims the software is way easy to use and isn’t buggy as those scripts.

Cons

• It’s not free and or open source.
• Minor bugs.

Rating

9.5 out of 10 stars.

Editors message

This paid software was provided to us for free for its review. However, our review is free from any bias of any kind. We get no direct monetary benefit whatsoever from the developer. We try to be honest in our reviews as much as possible and we welcome all the feedback required, especially constructive feedback.

If anyone wants to read reviews about other software and games we have tested, they can be found here.

Source

Here is the official changelog:

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs for:

 

• Hades II

And here is the list of known issues and bugs:

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

 

• No Rest for the Wicke= (DX11) may experience intermittent application crash during gameplay.
• Enshrouded (VK) may experience application crash during gameplay.
• Doom Eternal (VK) may exhibit intermittent flickering corruptions in game menu and during gameplay.
• PugetBench Extended Preset Benchmark may fail to complete on certain Adobe Premiere Pro Processing Tests.
• Topaz Video AI may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

 

Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

 

• Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora (DX12) may experience a crash during game loading.
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (DX12) may experience an application crash on loading to gameplay.
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (DX12) may exhibit corruption on shadows during gameplay.
• PugetBench Extended Preset Benchmark may fail to complete on certain Adobe Premiere Pro Processing Tests.
• Autodesk Maya may experience an application crash while running SPECAPC benchmark.
• Blender may experience an application crash while rendering some scenes on certain system memory configurations.
• Topaz Video AI may experience errors when using some models for video enhancements.
• Procyon AI may experience an application crash while running benchmark with precision float32.

 

Intel Core Processor (12th-14th Generation) Products:

 

• Dragon Quest X Online (DX9) may experience sporadic application crash during gameplay.

Intel Arc and Iris Xe 31.0.101.5448 WHQL graphics driver is available for download from the official website. You can check out the full release notes here (PDF).

Source