We, however, noticed that some of Neowin's forum members are complaining about installation issues with this update. They are coming across the "0x80070643" error message which users have become familiar with recently due to the installation issue with another update, namely KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11).

Forum member Gus. writes:

There were some problems installing updates, but we'll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0x80070643)

Another one of our newer members Enigmatic Irreverence writes:

2024-01 Security Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5034441)

 

2023-10 Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5001716)

 

Download error for both.

It is not just Neowin readers who are facing issues with this update. There are multiple reports on Feedback Hub regarding the KB5001716 where users are reporting installation failure with the 0x80070643 error.

Some Reddit users, though, were able to find a solution for the issue. Though a fair bit of trial and error must have happened on the way. One user writes they already increased their Windows Recovery Partition size - which is an official workaround - but that did not work. This is not surprising as the KB5034441/KB5034440 were WinRE updates and the KB5001716 update is not.

Apparently, the problem seems to be happening since the update may already be present on your system. Redditor Holiday-Cartoonist-5 writes:

FOUND THE SOLUTION: ITS BECAUSE ITS ALREADY INSTALLED..... Go to settings, click apps, go to apps and features , scroll down till you see the update already there installed and uninstall it...go back into windows update and check for updates and it will re install it and then your done it will give you that nice green checkmark your waiting for. LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKS...WORKED FOR ME

Another Redditor Apax-Legomenon confirmed this fix works:

Same. If you notice, you most probably have the update already installed. I think that's why we get the error. It's the update that is shown separately in Apps & Features, version 8.94.0.0

 

It's one of those features that help your Windows 10 with the update-process all-around.

 

Unless this one now is slightly newer version or something (for instance, it could be 8.96.0.0). I don't know. I'll try to simply uninstall from apps & features the installed update to try again.

 

EDIT: It did work. It's now has been installed normally. However, it's still the same version, 8.94.0.0. I guess a mistake from Microsoft's part. However, searching for updates, it still gives me the "new" along with the error, again.

Hence, if you seem to be facing installation issues with this update, it looks like the best bet is to uninstall it from Apps & features from within your Settings app, and then proceed with the update.

Let us know in the comments below if you faced this issue and if this solution worked for you.

Source

Summary

 

This update includes a new user interface (UI) functionality for Windows Update in Windows.

 

This article applies to the following:

 

• Windows 10, version 22H2
• Windows 10, version 21H2
• Windows 10, version 21H1
• Windows 10, version 20H2
• Windows 10, version 2004

 

Notes about this update

 

• When this update is installed, Windows may attempt to download and install feature updates to your device if it is approaching or has reached the end of support for your currently installed Windows version. Feature updates offer new functionality and help keep your device secure.
• After this update is installed, Windows may periodically display a notification informing you of problems that may prevent Windows Update from keeping your device up-to-date and protected against current threats. For example, you may see a notification informing you that your device is currently running a version of Windows that has reached the end of its support lifecycle, or that your device does not meet the minimum hardware requirements for the currently installed version of Windows.

 

Known issues in this update

 

We are currently not aware of any issues that affect this update.

Hence, it looks like KB5001716 is designed to offer the next feature update in case your current Windows version is approaching the end of support status. Microsoft recently announced that it was going to automatically update eligible Windows 11 21H2 and 22H2 PCs to version 23H2.

And while this is Windows 10 we are talking about, the idea is similar here. Those on older Windows 10 versions will be offered newer Windows 10 while those on the newest version, 22H2, are likely going to be offered Windows 11.

Microsoft says the update will be installed automatically though it does recommend getting the latest servicing stack update (SSU). You can find such information on this advisory (ADV990001).

Although unrelated it is interesting that while Microsoft is offering a newer Windows version, it may be the really old ones that may seemingly be immune to the Y2K38 Unix Millenium bug.

Source

• npm install -D typescript

While explaining TypeScript, Microsoft mentioned that if you use Visual Studio or VS Code to write JavaScript code, it turns out you’ve really been writing TypeScript code all this time. That enables TypeScript’s editor tooling to do auto-completion, code navigation, and refactorings.

TypeScript 5.4 comes with plenty of new upgrades for software developers to try out and leverage in their projects. Below, you can find a list of all the new features in TypeScript 5.4 and clicking the links will take you to Microsoft's announcement which contains a longer description of each feature plus code examples.

• Preserved Narrowing in Closures Following Last Assignments
• The NoInfer Utility Type
• Object.groupBy and Map.groupBy
• Support for require() calls in --moduleResolution bundler and --module preserve
• Checked Import Attributes and Assertions
• Quick Fix for Adding Missing Parameters
• Auto-Import Support for Subpath Imports
• Upcoming 5.5 Deprecations
• Notable Behavioral Changes

With TypeScript 5.4 out of the door, Microsoft is turning its attention to TypeScript 5.5. According to the roadmap, a beta release is due on April 16, the release candidate is due on June 4 and a final release is due June 18.

The company said that it is also possible to run nightly versions of TypeScript 5.4 via npm. Nightlies are released at midnight PST every day but it's crucial to understand that these builds may not be well tested and could feature significant bugs. If you want to have a look anyway, enter the following command:

• npm install -D typescript@next

To learn more about setting up TypeScript nightly with your IDE, check out the nightly documentation, it include instructions for setting up with VS Code, Visual Studio, Sublime Text, and IntelliJ.

Source: Microsoft

Source

For years now, the most popular end-user operating worldwide has been Linux. Or, to be more precise, it's Android. According to the Irish analysis site Statcounter's most recent numbers, Android had 43.74% of the market in February 2024, followed by Windows with 27.39%. On the desktop, as it's been for decades, Windows is still the champ. Recently, though, desktop Linux has crawled up to 4.03%. 

If you count ChromeOS as Linux, which I do, with its 2.26% market share, Linux is even more popular. Mind you, modern Chromebooks's ChromeOS owes more to the open-source, real-time operating system Zephyr than it does Linux.   

Why is Linux finally growing? 

That's a good question. While Windows is the king of the hill with 72.13% and MacOS comes in a distant second at 15.46%, it's clear that Linux is making progress. Below I'll go over the five reasons why I think it's growing but first let's look at the headwinds.

I can tell you in great, painful detail why we haven't yet had a "Year of the Linux desktop". Linus Torvalds himself has already explained why we'll never see a classic Linux desktop on every PC: fragmentation.

If you take a serious look at the Linux desktop, since the days when the big desktop debate was whether you'd use the Borne or C shell, there have always been multiple versions of Linux. 

According to DistroWatch, the master site of Linux distributions, there are over 200 Linux distributions. On those, you'll find over 21 different desktop interfaces. There are more than half a dozen different package managers to install software on Linux. These include Debian Package Management System (DPKG), Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), Pacman, Zypper, and more besides. In addition to those, there are newer containerized package managers such as Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage.

Heck, I make my living tracking the Linux desktop, and I can't keep track of them all. Ordinary users, who just want to get their work done or have fun? Forget about it. They can't do it. I wouldn't expect them to.  

It also doesn't help that the major Linux distributors -- Canonical, Red Hat, and SUSE -- don't make the Linux desktop a priority. Of course, they have desktops. Canonical and Red Hat, in particular, also strongly influence the look and feel of the Linux desktop, but the desktop isn't their priority. Why would it be? They make their money from servers, containers, the cloud, and the Internet of Things. 

So, why is Linux still gathering steam?

1. Microsoft isn't that interested in Windows

If you think Microsoft is all about the desktop and Windows, think again. Microsoft's profits these days come from its Azure cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Microsoft 365 in particular. Microsoft doesn't want you to buy Windows; the Redmond powerhouse wants you to subscribe to Windows 365 Cloud PC. And, by the way, you can run Windows 365 Cloud PC on Macs, Chromebooks, Android tablets, iPads, and, oh yes, Linux desktops.

2. Linux gaming, thanks to Steam, is also growing

Gaming has never been a strong suit for Linux, but Linux gamers are also a slowly growing group. I suspect that's because Steam, the most popular Linux gaming platform, also has the lion's share of the gaming distribution market.

3. Users are finally figuring out that some Linux distros are easy to use

Even now, you'll find people who insist that Linux is hard to master. True, if you want to be a Linux power user, Linux will challenge you. But, if all you want to do is work and play, many Linux distributions are suitable for beginners. For example, Linux Mint is simple to use, and it's a great end-user operating system for everyone and anyone. 

4. Finding and installing Linux desktop software is easier than ever

While some Linux purists dislike containerized application installation programs such as Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage, developers love them. Why? They make it simple to write applications for Linux that don't need to be tuned just right for all the numerous Linux distributions. For users, that means they get more programs to choose from, and they don't need to worry about finicky installation details.

5. The Linux desktop is growing in popularity in India 

India is now the world's fifth-largest economy, and it's still growing. Do you know what else is growing in India? Desktop Linux. In India, Windows is still the number one operating system with 70.37%, but number two is Linux, with 15.23%. MacOS is way back in fourth place with 3.11%.

I suspect this is the case because India's economy is largely based on technology. Where you find serious programmers, you find Linux users.

So stay tuned. Heck, if Microsoft continues to move away from the old-school desktop in favor of Windows as a Service, maybe we will have a year of the Linux desktop! It could happen!  

Source

The recently released Windows 11 preview update from the Beta Channel contains a hidden taskbar indicator/button for Windows Studio Effects, a set of AI-based audio and video enhancements for video calls. As of build 22635.3276, the new button does not do much besides sitting in the tray area and showing a tooltip with the following text:

Enhance your video experience using Studio Effects.

The release notes for build 22635.3276 do not mention the Windows Studio Effects button, so we can only guess how it will work or what its purpose is. For example, it might serve as a quick and easy way to access various effects during video calls.

The current implementation does not allow removing the Windows Studio Effects button after bringing it up. You cannot move it to the overflow menu or toggle it off in the Settings app. However, it is too early to judge Microsoft for that, so let's give the company some slack and wait for the official announcement. As a reminder, things in preview builds often change, not to mention stuff that is not even official yet.

Here is how you can turn on the new Windows Studio Effects button:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
3. Type vivetool /enable /id:46107637 and press Enter.
4. Restart your computer.

You can turn off the button by repeating the steps above and replacing enable with disable in step 3.

Credit for the ID goes to @PhantomOfEarth on X.

Source

In case you are not aware, the superbug had its roots in the usage of two digits to represent the year instead of four digits. While this was alright utill 1999, at the stroke of midnight on December 31, when the year turned 2000, the digital time bomb was all set to go off. A massive effort was put forth to diffuse it and fortunately, it worked for the most part. You can read about it and more such incidences in this feature article we did.

Much more recently, something similar happened at the onset of 2022 wherein Microsoft Exchange Servers broke, and the media decided to label it as the "Y2K22" incident.

It is believed that the year 2038 holds something of a similar nature. Y2K38 or Epochalypse is also a time-related bug and is related to how Unix time operates on 32-bit operating systems as it is stored in 32-bit integer, and Windows is no exception.

Unix time, also known as POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) time, is a measurement of time that counts the number of seconds that have passed since January 1, 1970. This date is referred to as the Unix Epoch, and hence the term "Epochalypse." Under such operating systems, date values are stored in a signed 32-bit integer indicating the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. A problem arises with the 32-bit integer overflowing at approximately 0314 hours on January 19, 2038, causing systems to interpret the date value as December 13, 1901.

Security researcher and Twitter (now X) user Enderman, who recently dug up a secret Windows 11 24H2 OOBE shortcut, recently reminded users about the possible issue that 32-bit Windows 10 systems could face.

While it is expected that such systems will be troubled come January 19th, 2038, another X user Bob Pony, interestingly, discovered that Windows Media Player (WMP) version 6 and older, is seemingly unaffected by the Y2K38, which is not the case with versions 7 and newer.

For those who need a recall, Windows Media Player version 6 was released with Windows 2000, and was also available in Windows XP, though it was hidden from plain sight. This means the versions of the app which were released during the Windows 95, 98, 2000, and XP eras are not affected by the Epochalypse for some reason.

It is noteworthy that 32-bit support has existed in Windows since NT 3.1. Regardless, this sort of reminds me of the recent story we did where a fun little experiment hinted at the incredible backward compatibility of Windows.

At the end of the day though, this will likely be a non-issue as Windows 11 only exists in 64-bit mode and the last edition of Windows 10 to be supported is Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2021, which has its end of support date slated for January 13, 2032.

Source

What is new in the March 2024 firmware update for the Surface Laptop 4?

The changelog for the AMD-based variant includes the following:

• Improved interoperability with the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock by resolving issues that were preventing the system from detecting audio devices.

• Addresses a concern where users were experiencing unexpected frozen frames while using Microsoft Teams video calling features.

Here is the list of new drivers:

Here is extra information about the release:

In addition, Microsoft updated the Intel-based Surface Laptop 4, but its changelog contains nothing but patches for security vulnerabilities.

The fourth-generation Surface Laptop 4 still has three years of active support ahead of it. Microsoft plans to pull the plug on the device's firmware updates on April 15, 2027.

In case you missed it, rumors say Microsoft plans to announce the next-generation Surface Laptop on March 21, 2024. It will feature improved design, narrower bezels, a haptic touchpad, a dedicated Copilot key, and, for the first time for the lineup, a configuration powered by ARM processors. The Surface Laptop 6 should be one of Microsoft's first AI PCs.

Source

Besides that, Microsoft was also working pretty hard to make it better as almost exactly a year ago, the company made bold claims of performance gains of up to 50% on x86 CPUs from AMD and Intel.

In the announcement, Microsoft wrote:

Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). As a result, the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will no longer be supported beginning March 5, 2025. Until then, technical support will remain available to customers.

Customers that have installed the Amazon Appstore or Android apps prior to March 5, 2024, will continue to have access to those apps through the deprecation date of March 5, 2025.

Now users are starting to receive an email from Amazon itself about the Amazon Appstore, which let you download and install Android apps on Windows. The email reads:

Dear Customer,

 

We are writing to inform you about changes to the availability of Amazon Appstore on Windows 11.

 

Starting March 6, 2024, Amazon Appstore will no longer be available for download from the
Microsoft Store on Windows 11 devices. AfterMarch 5, 2025, Amazon Appstore on Windows
11 and any apps downloaded from it will not be supported. For additional details and insights into this transition, please read our Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs) section: www.amazon.co.uk/appstoreonwindowsFAQ

 

Despite this change, we want to assure you that Amazon Appstore will continue to be available and supported on Fire TV, Fire Tablet and Android devices. We appreciate your
understanding and continued support as we work to enhance and evolve the Amazon
Appstore experience on those devices.

 

If you have further questions, please contact Amazon Customer Service.
Amazon Appstore

On Amazon's website too, the company has updated the section about downloading the Amazon Appstore on Windows 11. The notice says:

From March 6, 2024 onwards, the Amazon Appstore is no longer available to download from the Microsoft Store on Windows 11 devices.

 

Microsoft will end support for the Windows Subsystem for Android on March 5, 2025. Windows Subsystem for Android is essential to run Android apps on Windows 11. Its discontinuation means that Windows 11 devices won’t support the Amazon Appstore anymore.

 

If you’ve already installed the Amazon Appstore, you can access it by searching for Amazon Appstore in your Windows Search bar.

You can find more information regarding app support or updates on this FAQ page put up by Amazon.

Source: Xeno (X / Twitter)

Source

A couple of days ago, we wrote about a fun experiment that shows the incredible backward compatibility of Windows. And earlier today, we published a story about a dive into the Windows 10 kernel that reveals why, despite Microsoft's claims, isn't slower or less performant than Windows 11.

Following those, X (erstwhile Twitter) user Enderman who happens to be a security researcher, published their findings when they dug deep into the source code of Windows 11 OOBE (Out of Box Experience). The OOBE happens to be for the first Windows 11 24H2 build, 26052.

First up we have some OOBE shortcuts or hotkeys. While many Windows users may already be familiar with the Shift + F10 bypass trick for requirements, there are a few others too that are quite interesting. Here are a few more that most home users may not be aware of:

Audit mode:

Using the Ctrl + Shift + F3 hotkey, admins or users can access the Audit Mode inside the System Preparation Tool (Sysprep). Audit mode essentially allows making additional changes and customizations to the Windows image.

Windows Autopilot diagnostics:

Admins or users can also access the Diagnostics Page during OOBE using Ctrl + Shift + D. This page allows users to view troubleshooting details about the Autopilot provisioning process.

(A secret?) Developer Console hotkey:

While Microsoft documents the above two shortcuts on its website, it appears that Enderman managed to dig up one more that has not been publicly stated. Hence, one may say this is indeed a secret shortcut.

Similar to elsewhere, this JavaScript-based OOBE developer console can also be accessed by using "Ctrl + Shift + J" as revealed by a Global Event Listener in the code. The researcher decided to have a bit of fun here with the OOBE EULA (end-user license agreement).

You can view the full video that walks through various things at the source link below.

Source: Enderman (YouTube)

Source

Microsoft has published a post on the official Microsoft Edge blog, where the company detailed the new API. According to the company, the Ad Selection API features "robust privacy protections" with K-anonymity constraints, differential privacy, and ad auctions. It also included Trusted Execution Environments for offloading resource-insensitive tasks off the user device without allowing anyone to observe the processed data.

According to Microsoft, the proposed API is "substantially similar" to proposals from other browser manufacturers. Yet, it features several differences that should help the web ecosystem move to privacy-preserving ads. Everyone can check out the detailed overview of the API on GitHub.

Microsoft supports the overall idea of phasing out third-party cookies. However, the company also recognizes the importance of the gradual approach and close monitoring of how changes impact the industry. Therefore, Microsoft wants to test the Ad Selection app and receive as much feedback as possible to see whether the ecosystem is ready for a change.

Microsoft will start experimenting with deprecating third-party cookies in the coming months, starting with roughly 1% of all Microsoft Edge users. The company says that it will help measure and evaluate various impacts on consumers and partners. Although managed devices will not be affected by the experiment, Microsoft recommends commercial customers test the Ad Selection API on their public and internal websites.

If you want to participate, head to edge://flags and find the "Test Third Party Cookie Phaseout" flag. Set it to "Enable," then restart the browser.

You can send your feedback to Microsoft by pressing Alt + Shift + I.

Source

We are trying out a new hover experience for Copilot in Windows. When you move your mouse cursor over the Copilot icon on the taskbar, it will open the Copilot pane. The Copilot pane will close unless interacted with after it opens. This will begin rolling out slowly over the next few weeks to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel.

Technically, this is not a new concept for Microsoft. You may remember how Microsoft once experimented with opening Windows Search the same way. However, that thing was never released to the public.

In addition, Microsoft Edge has a dedicated Copilot button, which does not require a click to open the assistant; just hover the cursor over it to open Copilot. When first introduced, this feature received mixed feedback from users, but the company still pushed it into production. Now, the same fate awaits Windows 11 users.

Opening Copilot on hover is not the only experiment Microsoft is currently conducting among Windows Insiders. The company wants to auto-open Copilot when on boot on systems with 27-inch or larger monitors with a horizontal resolution of 1920 pixels or more.

In addition to changes that quite a few users consider slightly head-scratching, Microsoft is working on several features to make Copilot more useful for Windows 11 users. For example, smart actions with neat animations and better integration with system settings, device information, and accessibility features.

Source

According to Windows Central, AI File Explorer will be one of the main selling points for AI PCs. Described as "advanced Copilot," it will offer advanced search and timeline features for everything you do with your computer. Although some might object to the idea of a Windows computer remembering every step you take, AI Explorer will open new capabilities and conveniences, allowing you to interact with your device using natural voice.

The upgraded File Explorer on AI PCs should be able to understand requests like "find me that list of restaurants Jenna said she liked" or even less apparent questions like "find me that thing about dinosaurs." Copilot will then present you with everything related to your request.

In addition, AI PCs will offer you actions based on what is on your current screen. For example, you will be able to edit the currently open picture with features like the recently introduced background removal in the Photos app.

Although Microsoft plans to launch the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 in April and June, the new AI features are not expected until the second half of the year. Therefore, Microsoft's first AI PCs will ship without their AI magic, or at least the most exciting part of it. It also sounds like the new AI Explorer will not work on currently existing hardware, but we have to wait for Microsoft to clarify this topic.

Are you excited about "AI File Explorer" coming later this year? Is AI enough to convince you to upgrade your computer?

Source: Windows Central

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What you need to know

• Microsoft has announced that it is deprecating the Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11.
• This means support for installing and running Android apps is being removed from the OS.
• The feature will be deprecated on March 5, 2025.

In a shocking move, Microsoft has announced that it is deprecating the Windows Subsystem for Android, a feature that allowed Windows 11 users to run Android apps directly on their PCs. Tied to the Amazon Appstore, users have been able to browse and download Android apps since the launch of Windows 11 in 2021.

The death of the Windows Subsystem for Android was announced in a developer document:

"Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android™️ (WSA). As a result, the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will no longer be supported beginning March 5, 2025. Until then, technical support will remain available to customers. Customers that have installed the Amazon Appstore or Android apps prior to March 5, 2024, will continue to have access to those apps through the deprecation date of March 5, 2025."

The company does say that users who already have Android apps installed will be able to continue using them beyond the deprecation date, but users looking to install new Android apps after March 5, 2025 will not be able to do so.

It's likely that Microsoft is killing the Windows Subsystem for Android because not enough people use it. There's little use for Android apps on Windows, especially with the lack of Windows tablet hardware on the market these days. 

Source

What you need to know

• Windows 11 continues to lag behind Windows 10 in terms of market share.
• The latest figures from StatCounter state Windows 10 has a 67.23% market share, while Windows 11 only has a market share of 28.18%.
• Many PCs are unable to upgrade to Windows 11 due to not meeting minimum upgrade requirements, such as having a TPM 2.0 chip.
• Windows 10 users seem reluctant to upgrade or purchase new hardware to run Windows 11.

Windows 11 launched in 2021, and despite Microsoft's best efforts, the new operating system still lags behind Windows 10 in terms of market share. Windows 11 sits at just 28.18% market share compared to the 67.23% market share of Windows 10. Those figures are according to StatCounter and show little change compared to recent months.

Even before Windows 11 shipped, it was clear that some people would not upgrade to the new operating system. Microsoft's minimum requirements for upgrading were controversial when first announced and continue to cause tension today.

Windows 10 will reach end of support in October 2025, giving people roughly 19 months to upgrade their PC, get a new computer, or risk running an out-of-date operating system. At the current trend of market share changes, it would take much longer than 19 months for Windows 11 to pass Windows 10. We'll have to see if Windows 10 reaching end of support changes things.

Microsoft has pressured Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11 will full-screen popup ads. While the upgrade to Windows 11 is free, some are not interested. Others who would like to upgrade cannot do so because their PCs do not meet Windows 11's minimum requirements. There's even been a petition to have Microsoft extend support for Windows 10 beyond October 2025.

Microsoft did introduce a new "Extended Support Updates" (ESU) program for Windows 10, but it requires monthly payments and is only for security updates. The program is primarily for commercial customers.

Google has tried to take advantage of the millions of PCs that will not be able to upgrade by offering a pathway to convert Windows laptops to run ChromeOS Flex.

Windows 11 vs Windows 10

Even some gaming features once exclusive to Windows 11 have been backported to Windows 10.

(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)

Microsoft may not want to hear this, but it's easy to see why people won't upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Even if a system meets the minimum requirements to upgrade, there aren't many features exclusive to Windows 11 that move the needle.

A chart comparing Windows 10 and Windows 11 appears on Microsoft's website. Even on a Microsoft website, which is the most likely place to see an argument for upgrading, the list of exclusive features is short.

Are people going to upgrade their PC for a new interface, wake on approach/lock on leave, Smart App Control, and better redocking? Live captions, Natural Narrator, and Windows Studio Effects are nice, but I'm not sure many will upgrade just to have them.

Gamers do get a bit of a boost with Windows 11 in the form of Auto HDR and the Controller bar. But even features once planned to be exclusive to Windows 11, such as DirectStorage and DirectX 12 Ultimate, have been ported back to Windows 10.

Windows 11 is a fine operating system, but it's not enough to convince everyone to upgrade. Figures suggest that people are reluctant to migrate from Windows 10 to Windows 11, which is likely due to a variety of factors. The strict upgrade requirements of Windows 11 prevent some from upgrading their PCs and Windows 11 lacks killer features that will make people buy a new computer.

Source

Version 123.0.1 fixes incorrect color rendering on Windows and the wrong indicator when using the Firefox Translation feature. There are also improvements for Linux users and various under-the-hood fixes. Here is the official changelog for Firefox 123.0.1:

• Fixed the Firefox Translation language indicator in the address bar displaying a colored square icon instead of the language code icon. (Bug 1879415)
• Fixed incorrect rendering of Canvas2D conic gradients colors on Windows. (Bug 1851963)
• Fixed a regression with the onChange event not firing when clearing the value of a textarea HTML field. (Bug 1881457)
• Fixed availability of system-level dictionaries for Linux users with Firefox installed as a Flatpak package. (Bug 1881830)
• Fixed a regression in the JavaScript JIT engine incorrectly inlining strings in some cases. (Bug 1882386)
• Fixed low contrast of text when selecting rows in the Developer tools' Storage panel. (Bug 1877090)

Firefox automatically downloads available updates in the background and installs them between browser launches. However, you can also force-update Firefox by heading to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Alternatively, download the installer from the official website or Neowin's software page. Firefox is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

In other news, Firefox currently holds roughly 7.26% of the desktop browser market. According to Statcounter, the only non-Chromium mainstream browser lost a chunk of its users in February 2024, going down from 7.57% in January 2024. However, Statcounter's reports are not 100% accurate, so the real picture could be slightly different.

Source

The Nvidia 551.76 WHQL Game-Ready driver is now available for download to those using a supported graphics card from the "green camp." The latest update delivers DLSS 3 and Reflex support and various optimizations for The Thaumaturge. It also fixes NVENC issues and stability problems in The Talos Principle 2 and adds support for the new Nvidia app, which unifies the GeForce Experience and the Nvidia Contol Panel.

What is new in Nvidia 551.76 WHQL Game-Ready driver?

Game Ready for The Thaumaturge

 

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 3 technology including The Thaumaturge. In addition, this driver supports the beta release of NVIDIA App, which unifies GeForce Experience and the NVIDIA Control Panel.

 

Fixed Gaming Bugs

 

• The Talos Principle 2: Game stability issues when DLSS FG is enabled.

 

Fixed General Bugs

 

• Using NVENC to encode videos may result in corrupted videos or error message on GeForce GTX 16xx GPUs.
• Steamwebhelper.exe blocking notebook display mode switch.

And here is the list of known bugs:

• [Netflix] Display issues for videos when using Edge browser. Recommend using Windows Netflix application as workaround.
• GeForce GTX 10/RTX 20 series: PC may randomly freeze when Windows HardwareAccelerated GPU Scheduling and NVIDIA SLI are both enabled.

Nvidia 551.76 WHQL supports 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 systems with the following graphics cards:

You can download Nvidia's latest driver from the official website or the GeForce Experience app on existing installations. Full release notes are available here (PDF).

Source

When users found certain elements of the OS were still not quite as snappy or smooth, Microsoft promised improvements were in the pipeline for 2022. Microsoft has continued to make performance claims and has also not hesitated to detail all such improvements it has made.

Intel users, especially, were promised better performance on Windows 11 as the 12th Gen (Alder Lake) and newer Intel processors, based on the hybrid Performance Hybrid architecture (or Big-Bigger) design, had specific optimizations for the Thread Director hardware scheduler.

However, these claims never really materialized into actual results that show significant differences. In July of 2022, almost a year after the initial performance claims of Intel 12th Gen were made, third-party testing showed that it was a mixed bag with neither of the OS being outright better. When similar testing was conducted half a year later with a focus on gaming, the results were again nothing too exciting.

Neowin also conducted a set of tests using the latest Intel 14th Gen CPU to see if we could find a palpable performance difference between the two, and again, our results were also in line with what others found. We also did two different tests, one for in-place upgrade and one where we clean installed.

This was certainly very surprising as the presence of dedicated hardware (Thread Director in this case) generally leads to better performance unless the OS itself is missing specific optimization.

Windows archive website BetaWiki may have the answer to why that is. Technology enthusiast and Twitter (now X) user Albacore performed a kernel mode Write to Model Specific Register (wrmsr) instruction for "MSR_IA32_HW_FEEDBACK_THREAD_CONFIG," they found that the Thread Director-specific optimizations were already present in Windows 10, going all the back to build 21301.

The build was released in February of 2021 which was a few months before Windows 11 was publicly revealed. On their Twitter post, Albacore writes:

I looked into which Windows versions support Intel's Thread Director — the key to correct scheduling among Efficiency and Performance cores on 12th gen & newer CPUs. Windows 10 build 21301 & newer + all of Windows 11 support it. The changes were never backported to older builds.

 

I performed the check by looking for a '__writemsr' instruction with target register 'MSR_IA32_HW_FEEDBACK_THREAD_CONFIG' (0x17D4) in the kernel. Checked latest Windows 10 & Server 2022 and I can confirm no such instruction exists. Builds 21301+ have it, regardless of edition.

Hence, it is likely that you will see actual performance improvement on your Intel 12th or newer chip if you were to upgrade from a build even older than 21301 to either Windows 11 or one of the latest Windows 10 releases.

Source

The company has confirmed that reports of Task Manager frequently crashing are real and that it is investigating the issue. Aside from this issue, the recent Edge issue where websites would not load, has also been acknowledged. The full changelog is given below:

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

[Nearby Sharing]

 

• Fixed an issue where devices with long names weren’t shown in nearby sharing.
• Fixed an issue where device names may unexpectedly show “????” instead of the name.

 

[Task Manager]

 

• Fixed an issue impacting Task Manager reliability.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to everyone in the Beta Channel

[Copilot in Windows*]

 

• We are trying out a new hover experience for Copilot in Windows. When you move your mouse cursor over the Copilot icon on the taskbar, it will open the Copilot pane. The Copilot pane will close unless interacted with after it opens. This will begin rolling out slowly over the next few weeks to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel.

 

Fixes for everyone in the Beta Channel

 

[Search]

 

• Fixed an issue where the search highlights icon in the taskbar could get out of sync with the search highlights for the day.

 

Known issues

 

• Microsoft Defender Application Guard (MDAG) for Microsoft Edge users may hit a no network connection issue when browsing inside MDAG. The workaround is to disable the MDAG enterprise policy or uninstall MDAG via “Turn Windows Features on and off” and reboot. As a reminder – MDAG for Edge is a deprecated feature.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing an increase in explorer.exe crashes for Insiders in the Beta Channel after the last flight.

You can view the official blog post here on Microsoft's website.

Source

What is new in PowerToys 0.79?

Update highlights:

• New feature: Keyboard Manager allows mapping shortcuts to start applications or opening URIs.
• New feature: Keyboard Manager allows shortcuts with chords.
• Modernized Color Picker with Fluent UX.
• Peek now is able to preview drives.
• File Locksmith has a Windows 11 tier 1 context menu.

And here is the rest of the changelog:

General

 

• Refactored code so that the English language is used as a fallback when a localized resource is not found.

   

Awake

 

• The setting reverts to "Keep using the current power plan" after Awake deactivates itself after any of the timed modes has expired.

   

Color Picker

 

• Now uses WPFUI and the UI was updated to follow Fluent UX principles.

• Added enable and disable telemetry to align it with the other utilities.

   

Command Not Found

 

• Added telemetry for when a module instance is created in PowerShell.

   

FancyZones

 

• Fixed a memory leak occurring on work area changes.

   

File Explorer add-ons

 

• Added support to the .ksh, .zsh, .bsh and .env file types to Monaco previewer.

• Re-enabled the RendererAppContainer feature in WebView 2, since the associated crash has been fixed in the latest WebView 2 releases.

   

File Locksmith

 

• Added a Windows 11 tier 1 context menu.

   

Hosts File Editor

 

• Tweaked filter button style to indicate if filters are applied.
• Added an error indicator to each input field to indicate why a new entry can't be created.
• Added an in-line delete button for each entry.

 

Image Resizer

 

• Units and resize modes are now localized.

   

• Tweaked and improved UI.

   

Keyboard Manager

 

• Added a feature that allows remapping a shortcut to starting an application.
• Added a feature that allows remapping a shortcut to open a URI.
• Added chords to shortcuts.
• Send telemetry about the key/shortcut to key/shortcut remappings that are set. This doesn't include remap to text, application or URI since those might contain personal information.
• Added telemetry to send a daily event that at least a key/shortcut to key/shortcut remapping was used.
• Tweaked and fixed the chords code to better follow conventions when trying to call the same chord multiple times.

 

Mouse Without Borders

 

• Fixed an issue causing the target path string to be corrupted when registering as a service.

 

Paste as Plain Text

 

• Prevent the windows menu from activating when the windows key is part of the activation shortcut and is released sooner.

 

Peek

 

• Fixed a title bar issue after maximizing the Peek's window.
• Fixed a crash when trying to use Peek in File Explorer alternatives.
• Added a previewer for drives.
• The folder previewer will now asynchronously calculate size, similar to the Properties screen in File Explorer.

 

PowerRename

 

• PowerRename context menu accelerator key readded.
• Tweaked PowerRename apply button style.

 

PowerToys Run

 

• Fixed an issue causing win32 application icons to not appear correctly in the Programs plugin.
• Unified phrasing in the plugin descriptions.
• Fixed an issue causing the PowerToys Run plugin settings to be cleared with each upgrade.
• Fixed an issue causing VSCodeWorkspaces plugin to not find WSL workspaces.
• Fixed results tooltip closing fast.
• Improved the Registry plugin tooltip spacing.
• Allow pressing '=' to replace the query with the current result when using the calculator plugin.
• Optimized the code that gathers results from the plugin to reduce CPU consumption.
• Optimized memory usage in the Window Walker plugin.
• Fixed crashes and improved error handling when saving json configuration files.
• The Program plugin will now correctly get the icon for a newly installed packaged application.

 

Quick Accent

 

• Added support for the Slovenian character set.

 

Registry Preview

 

• Fixed a crash when closing the application and the editor's right click menu is opened.

 

Settings

 

• Fixed an alignment issue in the flyout icons causing some icons to be centered when they shouldn't.
• Added the mention that Monaco supports .txt files.
• Fixed an issue causing the Settings window to lose its previous maximized state.

 

Development

 

• Updated Microsoft.MSBuildCache to 0.1.258-preview.
• Fixed CI to point VCToolsVersion to VC.CRT instead of VC.Redist version.
• Updated MSTest adapter and framework to 3.2.
• Fixed CI by pointing WiX 3.14 urls and hashes to the latest release on GitHub.
• Added Pro and Enterprise editions of Visual Studio to the repository's development configuration DSC scripts.
• Updated CppWinRT to 2.0.240111.5.
• Updated System.Drawing.Common to 8.0.2 to fix CI builds after the .NET 8.0.2 upgrade was released.
• Updated WPFUI version to 3.0.0.
• XAML Styler is now fully enabled in the solution.
• Updated Microsoft.Web.WebView2 to 1.0.2365.46.

The next PowerToys update, version 0.80, should bring additional stabilities and fixes, language selection, and more.

You can download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store, GitHub, or via winget.

Source

A lot of longtime Neowin readers have probably had their fair share of Windows-based PCs, even though some may have later switched over to the other side.

Users have also shown an affinity for sticking to older versions of Windows as the newer offering, perhaps, just hasn't been up to their taste. This is quite evident from the market share reports, which suggest less than a third of PCs have Windows 11 on them, as many have preferred staying on 10.

A similar trend was noticed back with Windows 7 as well since people were quite dismissive of Windows 8 as Microsoft had, rather foolishly, removed the Start button.

Some may even argue that Microsoft is trying to force people to upgrade to Windows 11 with mandatory hardware requirements. While that's the story of the hardware side, the compatibility of the software can be a bit of a different matter.

A Twitter (now X) user, Niko, did a cool little experiment where they managed to run Microsoft Office 95 (version 7.0) on Windows 10 Enterprise edition, build 15063.

The post was shared by another Twitter (now X) user, WinExperiments, who is the developer of the Windows modding app Rectify11. He explains the process:

How was this done?

 

First, 32-bit Office 2021 was installed on the computer, then Office 95 (without Excel) was installed, then the Excel Spreadsheet button was clicked on Word 95. I assume the API calls are still the same so you get this beautiful UI amalgamation 26 years apart.

You can view the video below (if the below-embedded video does not load properly on the first try, refresh the page and wait for it to load):

This shows that plenty of underlying code is probably the same for these modern software. And aside from some major issues or glaring bugs, there is probably not much wrong with this either. As they say, if it's not broken, why bother fixing it?

Source

Lex Fridman has done many long interviews on his popular podcast. Even so, the episode with the legendary programmer John Carmack has an unhinged director’s-cut feel to it. Over five hours, Carmack dishes on everything from vector operations to Doom. But it’s something Fridman says, offhand, that really justifies the extended run time: “I think that if we’re living in a simulation, it’s written in JavaScript.”

To review: JavaScript is what makes static web pages “dynamic.” Without it, the internet would resemble nothing so much as an after-hours arcade, lifeless and dark. These days, the language is used in both front- and backend development for a whole host of mobile platforms and apps, including Slack and Discord. And the main thing to understand about it, in the context of Fridman’s nerdy koan, is this: For any self-respecting programmer, admitting to actually liking JavaScript is something of a faux pas—much like an art-house filmmaker confessing to Marvel fandom.

I suppose this has something to do with the fact that JavaScript was created in less time than it takes to home-brew a jar of kombucha: 10 days. In 1995, Netscape hired a programmer named Brendan Eich to create a language to embed in its browser, Netscape Navigator. Originally called LiveScript, the language was renamed JavaScript to piggyback on the hype around an unrelated language called Java, which had been introduced earlier that year. (Asked the difference between Java and JavaScript, a programmer is likely to joke: “Java is to JavaScript what car is to carpet.”) To this day, few people consider JavaScript a particularly well-designed language, least of all Eich. “I perpetrated JavaScript in 1995,” he once said, “and I’ve been making up for it ever since.”

What was his crime, exactly? You can easily find scads of blog posts, memes, and Reddit threads sandbagging JavaScript, but my favorite is a four-minute talk by software engineer Gary Bernhardt titled “Wat.” Imagine, for starters, showing a group of non-English speakers the present and past forms of verbs like boil (boil/boiled) and chew (chew/chewed). Then, when you ask them for the conjugation of eat, who could blame them for answering eat/eated? Similarly, the “Wat” talk is a blooper reel of JavaScript’s quirks and unpredictable behaviors. Let’s say you want to sort a list of numbers: [50, 100, 1, 10, 9, 5]. Calling the built-in sort function in any sane language returns the list in numerically ascending order: [1, 5, 9, 10, 50, 100]. Doing so in JavaScript returns [1, 10, 100, 5, 50, 9], where 10 and 100 are considered larger than 5. Why? Because JavaScript interprets each number as a string type and does lexical sorting, not numerical sorting. Total insanity.

When Fridman says JavaScript runs the world, in other words, what he means is that our world is, like the underlying source code, massively screwed up and incomprehensible. It’s the equivalent of pronouncing, with a sigh, that considering the sorry state of the planet, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must have been written in Comic Sans.

At this point, I should confess that while JavaScript is not my favorite language, I like it. Adore it, in fact. So I can’t help but feel a flare of disapproval whenever a certain fraternity of programmers polemicizes against it. Often they focus on flaws that were dealt with years ago. To dwell on JavaScript’s original shortcomings is to overlook the fact that any piece of software—and every programming language is, in essence, a suite of software—is amenable to revision and improvement.

One of the principal criticisms of JavaScript is that it’s slow. This holds some truth in a general sense, but saying one language is “slower” than another is, technically speaking, an ill-formed objection. The performance of a language depends not only on the language itself but also on the caliber of its run-time environment—the setting in which the code is executed—and its compiler, which translates source code into a machine-readable format. Put differently, uncompiled code is akin to an uncast magic spell. Much as the potency of a spell depends on the caster, languages deemed “faster” but executed with crappy compilers could perform not much better than “slow” languages.

What’s more, JavaScript was, in a sense, bailed out of its terribleness by colossal advancements in software engineering and industry-wide efforts. Carmack acknowledges this in the same podcast: “The systems that make JavaScript run as fast as it does right now are kind of miracles of modern engineering in many ways.” A prime example is the Google Chrome team’s V8 JavaScript engine, which compiles JavaScript “just in time,” significantly boosting its performance.

If there were an equation to calculate the overall utility of a programming language, I’d bet the vibrancy of the language’s ecosystem would be an exponential variable that dominates the other linear terms. This is to say, no well-designed language is useful on its own without useful libraries. But when backed by a healthy community of developers, as is the case with JavaScript, even a modest language becomes supremely effective. (Python dominates scientific computing for similar reasons.) JavaScript is also an easy language, and by that I don’t imply any insult. Learnability is a killer feature.

JavaScript has undergone multiple iterations. The development of the language is steered by the rather unremarkably named Technical Committee 39 under a Geneva-based standards organization called Ecma International. (Imagine an international committee that could decide once and for all whether the past participle of get is got or gotten, and you have some sense of what TC39 does.) While some languages are governed by a conclave of experts, the process for JavaScript provides more visibility. Proposals and meeting notes are publicly available on GitHub. Meetings, once routinely held in the San Francisco Bay Area, have expanded to other places such as Bergen, Galicia, and Tokyo, as if to resist the notion that the tech industry can be metonymized by Silicon Valley. In some ways, JavaScript is the people’s programming language: egoless and all-embracing.

In a blog post titled “The Subjective Experience of Coding in Different Programming Languages,” the tech blogger Matt Webb explores the concept of “code synesthesia”: how coding in different languages can offer a “visceral, kinesthetic” experience. Many programmers often liken coding in Python, for instance, to writing in plain English, thanks to its friendly syntax. Likewise, reading old C code feels like engaging in the hermeneutics of ancient script, while Coq demands the exactitude of proving mathematical theorems. In this light, coding in JavaScript feels to me like an exercise in stenography—it affords a kind of buoyancy and effortlessness, allowing prototypes to be whipped up in an afternoon. While its namesake Java may be a reliable, muscular language, it lacks the charm and humor of its winsome sibling.

According to the annual Stack Overflow Developer Survey—as close to a global census of the industry as there is—2023 marked the 11th consecutive year that JavaScript has been the most commonly used language. Let’s be clear: I’m not trying to deny that vanilla JavaScript can be hacky. I am, however, trying to argue that there’s nothing fraudulent or even disagreeable about its ubiquity. In an industry that prides itself on the hacker ethos, calling JavaScript hacky may even be an honorific.

So an apology is in order, I think—and a congratulations. Look how far you’ve come, JavaScript, hopscotching across different eras of the internet, rising from a laughingstock to the lingua franca of the web. Well done, you ridiculous language. If I am being simulated by you, so be it.

Source

In a separate article, the company also detailed another security fix for a BitLocker Secure Boot bypass vulnerability that is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666." Microsoft said that the security flaw could allow threat actors to bypass BitLocker encryption if they manage to get physical access to an unpatched PC.

The issue was addressed by KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11) which were WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) updates.

Microsoft, however, also cautioned that inadequate space on the recovery partition could lead to a "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" error message when trying to install the WinRE WIM (Windows Imaging Format) update. The issue could be resolved by allocating an additional 250 MB of storage space to the recovery partition. Details on how to do that can be found in this dedicated article.

Microsoft wrote:

Some computers might not have a recovery partition that is large enough to complete this update. Because of this, the update for WinRE might fail. In this case, you will receive the following error message:

 

Windows Recovery Environment servicing failed.
(CBS_E_INSUFFICIENT_DISK_SPACE)

 

Known issue Because of an issue in the error code handling routine, you might receive the following error message instead of the expected error message when there is insufficient disk space:

 

0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE

A few days later, the tech giant promised a fix. Although such a fix has not been delivered, the company later added that those without a Recovery Partition can skip the troublesome WinRE update.

During this time, Microsoft also published a PowerShell script for managed devices for the easy deployment of the WinRE update. The company, in the support document, explained:

The sample PowerShell script was developed by the Microsoft product team to help automate the updating of WinRE images on supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. Run the script with Administrator credentials in PowerShell on the affected devices. There are two scripts available—which script you should use depends on the version of Windows you are running. Please use the appropriate version for your environment.

 

• PatchWinREScript_2004plus.ps1 (Recommended)
  • This script is for Windows 10, version 2004 and later versions, including Windows 11. We recommend that you use this version of the script, because it is more robust but uses features available only on Windows 10, version 2004 and later versions.

 

• PatchWinREScript_General.ps1
  • This script is for Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier versions, but executes on all versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11.

While these were first published in January 2024, Microsoft, a few days ago, made minor tweaks to the PowerShell script. The update might be to accommodate the recent Moment 5 release, similar to the new OOBE update.

The script now adds the ID of the vulnerability "CVE-2024-20666" in some of the lines and replaces "BootMenuUx.dll " with "winload.efi" on a couple of others indicating a change in the targeted file inside the System32 folder.

You can find the scripts in the support document (KB5034957) on Microsoft's official website.

Source

In a separate article, the company also detailed another security fix for a BitLocker Secure Boot bypass vulnerability that is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666." Microsoft said that the security flaw could allow threat actors to bypass BitLocker encryption if they manage to get physical access to an unpatched PC.

The vulnerability was patched by KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11) which were WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) updates. The company also published a PowerShell script that automates the process for managed devices, and recently, it tweaked that script slightly.

Microsoft, however, also cautioned that inadequate space on the recovery partition could lead to a "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" error message when trying to install the WinRE WIM (Windows Imaging Format) update. The issue could be resolved by allocating an additional 250 MB of storage space to the recovery partition. Details on how to do that can be found in this dedicated article.

Microsoft wrote:

Some computers might not have a recovery partition that is large enough to complete this update. Because of this, the update for WinRE might fail. In this case, you will receive the following error message:

 

Windows Recovery Environment servicing failed.
(CBS_E_INSUFFICIENT_DISK_SPACE)

 

Known issue Because of an issue in the error code handling routine, you might receive the following error message instead of the expected error message when there is insufficient disk space:

 

0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE

A few days later, the tech giant promised a fix. Although it does not seem to have delivered on that promise yet, Microsoft has made an update on KB5034440 and KB5034441.

On the support page for these 9th January updates, Microsoft has attached a "note" which now adds that users who do not have a WinRE recovery partition on their system are not required to install these updates.

The company has added:

NOTE If your running PC does not have a WinRE recovery partition, you do not need this update.

If you are wondering whether your PC has a recovery partition(s), you can find that information by running the Disk Management console (run "diskmgmt") to check disk details.

As you can see in the image above (click to zoom in), my Disk 2 has two Recovery Partitions where one of them is 545MB and the other is 669MB.

Source

Linux’s march to its 4.03% market share has been a steady process ever since the final months of 2020 when Linux held just 1.53% of desktop market share. One of the biggest contributors to the growth of Linux is likely the stringent hardware requirements of Windows 11.

When Windows 11 launched, computers needed to support TPM 2.0, which many didn’t; users without this hardware had to remain on Windows 10 which was released back in 2015. Additionally, the recently released 24H2 update for Windows 11 further altered the hardware requirements, invalidating even more computers.

Unlike Windows 11, Linux distributions don’t impose such severe restrictions on users. While it’s true most of the main Linux distros have discontinued 32-bit support, you can still find some distros that support it; there are no TPM 2.0 or secure boot requirements, though.

Another reason that we could be seeing more people using Linux is that people are more confident with computers nowadays because more people grew up with them. While it may sound scary to some people to install Linux, it’s actually relatively straightforward given the big improvements to installers.

With the shift to online computing and software vendors releasing their apps on Linux, the barrier to entry has been drastically reduced. The Linux kernel also includes support for most hardware out of the box so setting up is typically easy.

The final possible reason for the increase in market share is to do with saving money. Right now, we are all being squeezed by stagnant wages and runaway inflation, and frankly, a lot of people just don’t want to blow their money on a PC upgrade.

By switching to Linux, they can revive a computer that was purchased over the last decade. Reviving an older computer also means that it stays out of a landfill, which is good for the environment.

Source

File Explorer in modern Windows versions has a system that tries to detect file types in each folder you open to optimize specific options, like default view. This mechanism can cause significant performance issues regardless of your storage type or its speed. Therefore, forcing Windows to "consider" each folder as one containing miscellaneous items should make things a lot faster.

Sadly, Windows does not have a user-friendly option to turn off file type parsing, so the only way to toggle it off is to tweak the system registry. Keep in mind that messing around with the registry could potentially break things, so proceed at your own risk and always back up important data.

1. Press Win + R and type regedit to open Windows Registry Editor.
2. Copy the following path and paste it into the address bar: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
3. Click Edit > New > String Vale and call it FolderType.
4. Double-click the new value and change its Value Data to NotSpecified.
5. Restart your computer.

It is also worth noting that you should set your expectations right. Do this only if you often deal with folders containing large numbers of files. If you do not, this magical registry tweak will most likely change nothing for you. But you can still try to make File Explorer faster using a rather odd and unconventional method that was discovered some time ago.

Source