According to Microsoft, future Windows releases, such as the upcoming next-gen Windows client scheduled for 2024, will not offer the legacy console mode by default. However, Microsoft is not removing it altogether—the tool will remain available as an optional on-demand feature installable using the DISM /add-Capability command.

Legacy console mode

 

The legacy console mode is deprecated and no longer being updated. In future Windows releases, it will be available as an optional Feature on Demand. This feature won't be installed by default.

Microsoft has dedicated documentation detailing how the legacy console mode works. You can check it out using this link to the Microsoft Learn website. In a nutshell, the legacy console mode reverts the console (Command Line or PowerShell) to an older version if a specific program is not displaying or operating properly in the default, up-to-date Windows console. You can switch to the legacy console mode by right-clicking the title bar, selecting "Properties," and checking the "Use legacy console" option on the "Options" tab.

The legacy console mode joined plenty of other features and components Microsoft recently deprecated. Those include the old Windows Vista-era Speech Recognition tool (substituted by Voice Access in Windows 11), Steps Recorder, the Tips app, WordPad, VBScript, Remote Mailslots, and more.

As a reminder, deprecated features usually remain accessible for quite a while after the initial deprecation. However, they no longer receive updates and eventually disappear from Microsoft's operating systems. You can check out this page to find more information about deprecated features in Windows 10 and 11.

Source

According to Microsoft, the legacy service infrastructure for chat messaging will reach its end of life by the end of March 2024. After that, Teams clients older than three months may experience delayed chat messages in one-on-one chats, group chats, and channels.

The change will affect Microsoft Teams Desktop, Teams on iOS and Android, and Virtual Desktop Interface clients (VDI). It will not change how phones, panels, meeting rooms, Surface Hubs, or the web version operate.

In addition to issuing the warning, Microsoft provided a short guide about updating Teams to the latest version on computers and mobile devices. IT Admins can pass this information to their clients to ensure they are running the most recent version.

The Desktop client automatically installs new updates, and a new version is usually available once a month. The Teams application could be stuck on an old version if the user has not restarted it for a long time.

 

Desktop clients can be downloaded and installed by users directly from https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads if they have the appropriate local permissions. Administrator permissions are not required to install the Teams client on Windows PCs but are required on Macs.

 

1. In Teams, select the ellipsis (…) next to your profile picture, and then click Check for Updates, the banner might show: “We will check and install any updates while you continue to work.”
2. The link should be shown in a few minutes as this process downloads the latest supported version of Teams.
3. The banner also lets you know if you are already running the latest version, in which case, no update is necessary.
4. Click the refresh link in the banner.

 

Mobile apps are distributed and updated through the respective mobile platform’s app store only. Please open the Google Play app on your Android device or App Store on iOS device to check for updates to the Teams app.

Source: handsontek.net

Source

We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 26016.1012 (KB5034402). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Canary Channel.

Original Story - December 13 - Microsoft has released the latest Windows 11 build for members of the Windows Insider Program in the Canary Channel. The build number is 26016 and includes ISO file downloads. This will be the last Canary Channel build released in 2023.

This new build adds a Windows Protected Print Mode feature along with some bug fixes. Here is the changelog:

What’s new in Build 26016

Windows Protected Print Mode

Windows protected print mode lets your PC exclusively print using the Windows modern print stack which is designed to work with Mopria certified printers only. With Mopria certified printers, users no longer must depend on third-party software installers as well as get additional security benefits. Print devices will “just work” resulting in a safe and streamlined installation and printing process. Read more about the security benefits of switching to IPP printing here.

 

Here is how you can enable Windows protected print mode. These instructions are also published in a Quest for Insiders in Feedback Hub:

 

1. Press Start.
2. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
3. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers.
4. Right click on ‘Configure Windows protected print’ and click ‘Edit’.
5. Select the ‘Enabled’ radio button.
6. Click ‘Apply’ and click ‘OK’.
7. Windows protected print is now enabled.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Print.

Changes and Improvements

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Added an icon to the “Diagnose network problems” entry when right clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the taskbar.

Fixes for known issues

• Fixed an issue causing WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) to not render correctly in the previous flight.
• Fixed an issue causing keyboard shortcuts to not work on the desktop – including using the delete key to delete files off of your desktop, CTRL key combos to take action on desktop icons, or using ALT + F4 on the desktop to open the shutdown dialog.
• Fixed an underlying issue causing the details pane in File Explorer to unexpectedly take keyboard focus sometimes.
• Fixed an issue causing it to not be possible to save changes to shortcuts (.lnk) in the previous flight, as they would cite something was using the process.
• We did some work to help improve the performance of loading Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
• Fixed an issue where Settings was crashing when attempting to navigate to the “System and Reserved” section under System > Storage.

Known issues

[General]

• [REMINDER] Some popular games may not work correctly on the most recent Insider Preview builds in the Canary Channel. Please be sure to submit feedback in Feedback Hub on any issues you see with playing games on these builds.
• We’re investigating an issue where the print queue is showing a messaging saying it can’t find the app when opened.
• [NEW] We’re investigating an issue causing a small number of Insiders to not be able to open Settings after the previous flight. If you are impacted, please see this forum post for a workaround.
• [NEW] Navigating to Settings > Power will crash Settings on this build. As a workaround, you can use commands to configure power modes on your device. powercfg /overlaysetactive will set the active user configured power mode, powercfg /q OVERLAY_SCHEME_CURRENT will get the active user configured power mode. For more information on using powercfg to adjust these settings, click here.

[Widgets]

• You may experience a loading delay when the Microsoft Start feed is reenabled.
• Announcements from the Microsoft Start feed are still shown on the taskbar after the feed is hidden.
• The Widgets Board should automatically close and reopen when enabling or disabling feeds.
• Keyboard navigation from settings subpages back to the top-level Settings page is broken.
• Incorrect spacing and fonts used in some settings pages.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, Microsoft stated:

As a Teams Premium user, you now have the option to leverage AI to augment your real-life surroundings and create a personalized atmosphere for your meetings when using camera.

If you want to change and decorate your background either before or during an online video meeting you can select the Effects and Avatars option. You can then pick the  Video effects selection and then you can click on the Decorate button.

You should see the Background settings pane. You can pick a theme from the pane, and then click on the Generate backgrounds button. Pick one of the backgrounds, and then click on the Apply and save background button so your custom background is available for others to see in the meeting.

At the moment, this new feature is available for Teams Public Preview or Microsoft 365 Targeted Release users. Admins must set up their Teams clients to accept public preview features. They must also have a paid Teams Premium license and they have to use the new Teams app for Windows or Mac.

Microsoft has already announced that the new custom background decoration feature will be generally available for Teams Premium users sometime in early 2024. Other new features, including using avatars in virtual immersive spaces meetings, will also roll out generally for Teams users in the early part of next year.

Source

2023 was a busy year for Microsoft and Windows 11, and not just because of AI. The company spent a lot of time deprecating a number of features that have been part of Windows for many years. What is feature deprecation you ask? It's the process of slowing killing off, and eventually removing, a feature or component from the Windows OS that will no longer be updated. 

But just how many features did Microsoft deprecate from Windows this year? By my count, 16 different features were announced as deprecated in the past 12 months. What were they? Let's dive in. 

Cortana for Windows

The Cortana app is no longer functional. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Now that Windows Copilot is shipping, the company is wasting no time with killing off and removing the older Cortana assistant from Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft announced the deprecation of Cortana just a week after Windows Copilot was announced, stating that the older assistant would continue to work until later in 2023.

As of writing this, the Cortana app is fully dead. If you try to open it on your PC, it will throw up a message that states "Cortana in Windows as a standalone app is deprecated," with no option to progress into the app to start using it. If you're using an older version of the Cortana app, it no longer connects to Microsoft's servers.

Cortana was unveiled in 2014 alongside Windows Phone 8.1, and was Microsoft's answer to Siri and Google Assistant. When it first launched, it was a true competitor to Apple's and Google's assistants, and in many scenarios often surpassed them. Sadly, Cortana slowly fell behind the competition, and was pretty much abandoned by Microsoft when it decided to kill off Windows Phone in 2017. 

WordPad

WordPad is waving goodbye after almost 30 years. (Image credit: Windows Central)

WordPad has been a staple app in the Windows OS since 1995, alongside the launch of Windows 95. It's been updated many times over the last few decades, but ended up stagnating during the Windows 10 era, and was never updated for Windows 11. WordPad has always served as a rich text editor compared to Notepad, which is a barebones text editor.

Windows WordPad was great because it supported Word documents, something Windows Notepad doesn't support. It also supports rich text, which means you can have big text, small text, bold text, and different fonts and page formats. It was essentially a lightweight version of Word, good for those who need to whip up a quick letter but don't want to pay for Microsoft Office.

Sadly, those days will soon be over. WordPad is being deprecated, meaning the company plans to remove it from the OS at some point in the near future. 

Mail & Calendar

The Mail & Calendar app warns that it's being replaced. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Microsoft announced this year that the built-in Mail & Calendar apps on Windows 10 and Windows 11 are in maintenance mode, and will be retired in 2024 once the new Outlook client reaches general availability. The Mail & Calendar apps debuted with Windows 8 back in 2012, and have been the default email and calendar clients for Windows ever since.

Sadly, in the last handful of years, Microsoft has slowly abandoned the Mail & Calendar apps in favor of a new Outlook client that has been built from the ground up as a web app. The new Outlook incorporates both email and calendar capabilities, and uses Edge's WebView2 to render the interface.

The new Outlook is available in preview now, and the Mail & Calendar apps are already popping up a warning to let the user know that the new Outlook will replace these apps in 2024. Microsoft says the Mail & Calendar apps will stop being part of Windows with the next release, which is expected to ship in September 2024.

Windows Tips

Windows Tips are no more. (Image credit: Windows Central)

The Windows Tips app has historically been the place to go to learn about all the new features that are shipping as part of a new OS update. It even pops up when you move a 2-in-1 into tablet mode for the first time, teaching you how to use the Windows interface with touch. 

Sadly, Microsoft has announced that the Windows Tips app is being retired, and will be removed in the next big Windows update. This means users will no longer have a one-stop shop to learn about new features, outside of heading to the Windows website and reading about what's new there.

If you need help using Windows on your computer, there's still a built in "Get Help" app that let's you search for help and even contact a support representative if you can't find what you're looking for.

Windows Speech Recognition

Goodbye classic Speech Recognition Tool. (Image credit: Windows Central )

The classic Windows Speech Recognition tool, which debuted with Windows Vista in 2006, is being retired this year. The company says the more modern "voice access" feature is replacing it, which is a much more capable voice navigation tool that better understands human language.

The new voice access feature is available on Windows 11, and features a modern interface unlike the classic Windows Speech Recognition tool, which is using a much older "Aero" aesthetic design that was current at the time of release. 

Other deprecated features

Above are just the highlights, here's the rest of the features that Microsoft is killing off in Windows. 

Steps Recorder: Steps Recorder is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. For screen recording, we recommend the Snipping Tool, Xbox Game Bar, or Microsoft Clipchamp.

Timeline for Microsoft Entra accounts: Cross-device syncing of Microsoft Entra user activity history will stop starting in January 2024. Microsoft will stop storing this data in the cloud, aligning with the previous change for Microsoft accounts (MSA) in 2021. The timeline user experience was retired in Windows 11, although it remains in Windows 10. The timeline user experience and all your local activity history still remains on Windows 10 devices. Users can access web history using their browser and access recent files through OneDrive and Office.

Legacy Console Mode: The legacy console mode is deprecated and no longer being updated. In future Windows releases, it will be available as an optional Feature on Demand. This feature won't be installed by default.

TLS 1.0 and 1.1: Over the past several years, internet standards and regulatory bodies have deprecated or disallowed TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 due to various security issues. Starting in Windows 11 Insider Preview builds for September 2023 and continuing in future Windows OS releases, TLS 1.0 and 1.1 will be disabled by default. This change increases the security posture of Windows customers and encourages modern protocol adoption. For organizations that need to use these versions, there's an option to re-enable TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1. For more information, see Resources for deprecated features.

Microsoft Support Diagonostic Tool: MSDT is deprecated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. MSDT is used to gather diagnostic data for analysis by support professionals. For more information, see Resources for deprecated features.

Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office: Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office is being deprecated and is no longer being updated. This deprecation also includes the Windows.Security.Isolation APIs that are used for Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office. We recommend transitioning to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint attack surface reduction rules along with Protected View and Windows Defender Application Control.

Computer Browser Protocol: The Computer Browser driver and service are deprecated. The browser (browser protocol and service) is a dated and insecure device location protocol. This protocol, service, and driver were first disabled by default in Windows 10 with the removal of the SMB1 service. For more information on Computer Browser, see MS-BRWS Common Internet File System.

WebDAV Service: The Webclient (WebDAV) service is deprecated. The Webclient service isn't started by default in Windows. For more information on WebDAV, see WebDAV - Win32 apps.

Remote Mailstots: Remote Mailslots are deprecated. The Remote Mailslot protocol is a dated, simple, unreliable, insecure IPC method first introduced in MS DOS. This protocol was first disabled by default in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build . For more information on Remote Mailslots, see About Mailslots and [MS-MAIL]: Remote Mailslot Protocol.

VBScript: VBScript is deprecated. In future releases of Windows, VBScript will be available as a feature on demand before its removal from the operating system. For more information, see Resources for deprecated features.

AllJoyn: Microsoft's implementation of AllJoyn, which included the Windows.Devices.AllJoyn API namespace, a Win32 API, a management configuration service provider (CSP), and an Alljoyn Router Service has been deprecated. AllJoyn, sponsored by AllSeen Alliance, was an open source discovery and communication protocol for Internet of Things scenarios such as turning on/off lights or reading temperatures.AllSeen Alliance promoted the AllJoyn project from 2013 until 2016 when it merged with the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), the sponsors of Iotivity.org, another protocol for Internet of Things scenarios. Customers should refer to the Iotivity.org website for alternatives such as Iotivity Lite or Iotivity.

Cleaning house

(Image credit: Windows Central)

Microsoft has been quite busy in the deprecation department in the last 12 months. It's good to see Microsoft cleaning house and attempting to remove older Windows components that no longer make sense in the modern Windows OS, but it is sad to see some of these features go.

Specifically, I'm sad to see WordPad be deprecated. WordPad has come in handy time and time again over the last couple of decades, and I know I'm going to miss it when it's gone. 

What are your thoughts on this list of deprecated features? Are you happy to see it go, or do you wish some of it was staying?

Source

Errors and warnings are something developers deal with regardless of their experience. While some messages are straightforward and easy to understand, other warnings will grind your gears hard. Reading the DevTools console in Microsoft Edge is sometimes a real challenge. Microsoft wants Copilot to be your always-available coworker capable of explaining complicated topics and saving you time on Googling things.

Starting with Edge 120, the DevTools console places a small Copilot icon next to every error or warning. You can click that icon to launch Copilot and generate a detailed explanation of a particular message.

Besides, you can ask Copilot to explain any code snippet from the Sources tool. Select the part you do not understand, right-click it, and press "Copilot: Explain these lines of code." After that, Edge will open Copilot in a sidebar and present you with the necessary information. DevTools will give Copilot the context to understand and explain a specific problem.

It is worth noting that Copilot for DevTools is still under active development, so you must enable it manually in Microsoft Edge 120 and newer. Here is how to do it:

1. Sign in with your Microsoft Account in the Edge browser and turn on the Copilot icon in the upper-right corner of the screen under Settings > Sidebar > Copilot.
2. Type edge://flags and search for "Explain DevTools with AI."
3. Enable the flag and restart the browser.
4. Launch DevTools with the F12 key and click a Copilot icon next to any warning or error.

You can learn more about using Copilot to troubleshoot errors in DevTools in the official documentation. Microsoft also wants to hear more from developers, and it encourages everyone to share their feedback, questions, comments, and ideas on GitHub.

Source

The new section is called "AI Components," and according to its description, it will let users view and remove AI-powered features in the operating system. This change aligns with the recent report about Microsoft planning a big Windows client update in 2024, with a major focus on AI. In addition, AMD's and Intel's newest mobile chips promise big AI performance improvements, just in time for Microsoft to release a next-gen Windows.

Sadly, a placeholder section is currently all we have. The "AI Components" section does not contain anything noteworthy, and its icon in the Settings app is identical to the recently introduced "System Components" section with apps like Microsoft Store, Phone Link, Windows Backup, and more. You can take a look yourself by force-enabling "AI Components" using the ViVeTool app.

Important: Back up your data before tweaking Windows with third-party tools.

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Windows Terminal to the Command Prompt profile with the Ctrl + Shift + 2 shortcut or by clicking the arrow-down button at the top of the window.

    

   
4. 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.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id:47688503 and press Enter.
6. Restart your computer.
7. Check out the new section in Settings > System.

You can revert the changes using the vivetool /disable /id:47688503 command.

What AI components, if any, would you like to see Microsoft implement in Windows 11 and its successor? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Credit for the finding goes to @PhantomOfEarth on X (Twitter).

Source

In a blog post, Microsoft says the new OneDrive app for the new Teams app will be rolling out later in December and will replace the current Files app. It states:

The new OneDrive app gathers in one place all the files, Loops, dashboards and design boards you need to work on, no matter where they live in Microsoft 365. The app makes it easy to get back to all the content you’ve created as well as those shared with you across Microsoft 365, right from Teams. The new views and filters enable you to quickly find relevant results, making your file management experience more effective.

The new OneDrive app in Teams will include some other new features including a new "For you" section with AI-recommended files, a "Shared view" section where you can see any file that's been shared by someone else with you, and a "People view" where you can see the files that have been shared by specific users. There will also be filters for files that have been shared in Teams meetings and of course, there will also be a Favorites filter as well.

The older classic Teams app will also be getting the same new file features that the new Teams app will receive this month. However, those features will be added sometime in early 2024, and it will remain labeled as Files in classic Teams rather than OneDrive. There are no updates planned for the Files app on the company's mobile Teams apps. Microsoft will also still allow users to access third-party file storage services in Teams via their own apps.

Source

On this edition of the Sams Report, Microsoft is unsure what to call Windows, the mistake with Windows 11 and the best Xbox Series S deal on the planet.

Source

A prime example of this is Log4j, a popular logging utility used by scores of organizations for recording events such as status reports and errors. In a situation which came to be known as 'Log4shell', a zero-day vulnerability allowed threat actors to compromise systems using malicious code and take control all while remaining undetected. At the time, its impact was described as "enormous" and the implications of its implementation into countless commercial products underlined the inherent vulnerabilities of some open-source technologies when weak points are exposed.

While these packages serve as invaluable tools for developers, saving countless development hours, there are a range of risks to address. Even when leveraging established OSS solutions to speed up a design, their inclusion within a product leaves end users unaware of the potential threats they are exposed to in these integrations, unknowingly presenting significant risk factors for anyone who then uses the resulting software.

In addition, public OSS repositories, the primary sources from which developers source these packages, are typically inundated with new third-party software and application updates on a daily basis. While these repositories offer the prospect of accelerated development, the sheer volume on offer makes security vetting a huge undertaking. As a result, responsibility for winnowing out malicious or unsuitable software predominantly falls upon security researchers and firms, rather than being managed by a structured, mandated system.

Threat actors look to capitalize on these vetting shortfalls by manipulating legitimate packages with malicious insertions, which they then re-upload onto public repositories under similar names and wait for their victims to download them. Another common method hackers use is to develop something new to upload to the sites, embedding secondary malicious code in otherwise useful open-source packages. Some of these cyber criminals have honed this approach to such an extent that they have established fake social media profiles, positioning themselves as credible developers within well-known companies to present a more convincing persona.

While numerous malicious security problems within OSS packages have been flagged because they predominantly cater to larger audiences, by the time these vulnerabilities surface, they are often too entrenched within developed software to be isolated and removed effectively.

Although OSS attacks can occur in software used across any industry, those which often rely on and reuse predictable applications are the most at risk. Take the banking sector, for example, whose well-established and formulaic software landscape offers an enticing option for open-source-focused attackers. Here, hackers can almost anticipate the software that will be run by any given bank and look to infect it with malicious code accordingly. Attackers can also be highly pragmatic in their approach, assessing the potential return of tactics which provide more in terms of efficiency and reliability rather than attacking a higher volume of random targets with more unpredictable infrastructures.

However, no industry is invulnerable, not least because the development ecosystem is geared towards optimizing the use of open-source technologies. Modern work environments in particular usually operate using a significant amount of 'off the shelf' software -- many with some form of OSS package built in. Developers sharing packages throughout their community is not a new concept -- after all, why spend the time developing something new when you can readily access tried and tested programs? But the problem today is that external awareness of these ecosystems has increased so attackers have now turned their attention to how they can capitalize on the tradition of community trust that has been cultivated over many years.

Navigating the OSS Threat Landscape

In the case of the Log4j incident, the impact of the attack was largely exacerbated by widespread ignorance about the software integrations involved. To protect against future attacks of the same nature, there's also a need for an accessible software directory that facilitates rapid vulnerability assessments.

Organizations must have an in-depth understanding of every piece of software they deploy. In this context, comprehensive documentation detailing OSS integrations can be invaluable. Though, if this is not available, tools that analyze and identify packages within software can effectively see organizations through should the worst occur.

To a large extent, protection from OSS attacks hinges on awareness and knowledge. Although open-source software has been proven to be immensely beneficial over a long period of time, showcased by its widespread adoption, it is not without its vulnerabilities. By definition, as OSS becomes universally incorporated, the vulnerabilities it can contain are likely to be magnified. In this context, greater levels of vigilance, knowledge and proactive measures are the best defense in this evolving and crucial sector of the technology industry.

Source

This last Beta Channel build of the year includes bunch of new additions and changes, including extended language support, new screen casting discoverably features and much more.

Here is the changelog:

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

Extended languages, multi-display support, and custom commands for voice access

Extended language support: We have extended voice access to support other languages such as French (France), French (Canada), German, Spanish (Spain) and Spanish (Mexico).

 

When voice access is turned on for the first time, you will be prompted to download a speech model to enable on-device recognition of voice data. In case voice access does not find a speech model matching your display language, you can still choose to proceed ahead to use voice access in English (United States).

 

 

New languages under settings on the voice access bar.

 

You can always switch to a different language by navigating to Settings > Language on the voice access bar.

 

Multi-display support: You can now use all voice access features on multiple displays, including number and grid overlays which were previously unavailable on any display other than the primary one.

 

The grid overlay feature has been further developed to allow you to not only interact with the screen you are currently using, but also quickly switch to another display. You can also use the drag and drop feature to move files, apps, and documents from one display to another.

 

 

You can use either the alphabet or NATO phonetic in your command to shift focus to another display.

 

After invoking the grid overlay, use to quickly shift to focus to another display. You can use either the alphabet or NATO phonetic in your command; for example, “B” or “Bravo” would both be valid as shown in the above screenshot.

 

 

Use mouse grid command to move your mouse to a specific point on a specific display.

 

You can also use the accelerated command “mouse grid ..” to quickly move your mouse to a specific point on a specific display. In this case we used “mousegrid A 114” as shown in the above screenshot.

 

Voice shortcuts: We are introducing voice shortcuts or custom commands to enable you to create your very own command. This is currently available if you use voice access in English.

 

Creating commands that map to single action, such as opening a URL, or a series of actions performed in sequence, is easy. To get started, say “what can I say” and click on the “Voice shortcuts” tab on the left panel, or use the command “show voice shortcuts” to directly launch the voice shortcuts page. Then, click on the Create Command button to begin the process.

 

 

New voice shortcuts tab for creating custom commands in voice access.

 

Create a command by using either voice or any other input modality. Give it a name, select one or multiple actions, fill in the necessary information and then click “Create”. Your command is now ready to be used.

 

 

Creating a new custom command to use in voice access.

 

 

Select one or multiple actions for a custom command in voice access.

 

You can view all the voice shortcuts you have created either from the command help page or by using the command “show voice shortcuts”.

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice Access.

Improving discoverability of screen casting in Windows 11

Casting from your Windows PC allows you to wirelessly extend your display to another nearby PC, TV, or other external displays. We are introducing improvements that focus on educating users about the Cast feature and improving its discoverability in Windows 11. Those improvements include:

 

When doing multitasking activities on your PC such as often switching between windows to complete a task or using Snap Assist to organize your screen space, we will provide the suggestion to Cast via a notification toast.

 

We have updated the Cast flyout in Quick Settings with additional support for you in case you face any trouble discovering nearby displays, fixing connections, and more.

 

 

Cast flyout in Quick Settings now shows link for troubleshooting device discovery and other casting issues.

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Display and Graphics > Wireless Display and Casting.

New features and improvements for Windows 365 Boot

The following improvements are beginning to roll out for Windows 365 Boot. (Local PC and Cloud PC should be on the same Beta Channel build.) Also check out this month’s Windows Insider webcast on-demand here featuring the Windows 365 team!

 

Dedicated mode for Windows 365 Boot: We are now launching a new mode for Windows 365 Boot – dedicated mode. You can now boot to your Windows 365 Cloud PC from your designated company-owned device. You will be able to seamlessly login to your Windows 365 Cloud PC from Windows 11 login screen using password-less authentication methods like Windows Hello for Business. The new dedicated mode also comes with fast account switcher experience to effortlessly switch profiles to login in, personalized experience with your username and password, display picture on lock and login screen, remember your username, etc. The feature will begin to get enabled for Windows 365 customers via a private preview in early 2024.

 

 

Login screen showing fast account switching with Windows 365 Boot.

 

Customized company logo and name for Windows 365 Boot: In shared mode, organizations can now customize the login page to include their company branding from Intune. The feature will begin to get enabled for Windows 365 customers via a private preview in early 2024.

 

 

Example of customized logo and name on the login screen.

 

Fail fast mechanism for Windows 365 Boot: You no longer need to wait for the sign in process to the Cloud PC to complete only to find out Windows 365 Boot failed due to network issues or incomplete setup. The smart logic proactively informs users to resolve network issues or complete app setup so users can experience a smooth login to their Cloud PC.

 

 

Warning at login for setup issues.

 

 

Notification when there are network issues trying to connect.

 

Manage local PC settings through Windows 365 Boot: With this feature, it is now easier for you to access and manage sound, display, and other device specific settings of their local PC directly from your Cloud PC in under Windows 365 Boot.

 

 

Button to open local PC settings while in Windows 365 Boot.

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Windows 365.

New features and improvements for Windows 365 Switch

The following improvements are beginning to roll out for Windows 365 Switch. (Local PC and Cloud PC should be on the same build.) Also check out this month’s Windows Insider webcast on-demand here featuring the Windows 365 team!

 

Improved disconnect experience for Windows 365 Switch: You can now disconnect from their Cloud PC directly from their local PC. This can be done by going to Local PC > Task view > Right click on the Cloud PC button > Disconnect. We have also added tooltips on disconnect and sign-out options in the Cloud PC Start menu so that you can differentiate between these functionalities.

 

 

Disconnect experience for a Cloud PC as shown in Task view.

 

Desktop indicators to differentiate between Cloud PC and local PC for Windows 365 Switch: You will now see the term “Cloud PC” and “Local PC” on the desktop indicator when you switch between your respective PCs.

 

 

New Cloud PC or Local PC label on the desktop indicator.

 

Gracefully handling increased connection time for Windows 365 Switch to Frontline Cloud PC: You will now see updates regarding the Cloud PC connection status and the connection timeout indicator while waiting on the connection screen. In case there is an error, you will now be able to copy the correlation ID using the new copy button in the error screen for quicker resolution.

 

 

Text indicating the Connection status on the connection screen.

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Desktop Environment > Switch to Cloud PC (From Task view).

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

[General]

 

Windows 11 is transitioning from Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) to voice access. WSR is being deprecated. A dialog will pop up when WSR is opened directing you to try voice access and we have also added a banner under Settings > Accessibility > Speech as well. Voice access, our new assistive technology in Windows 11, uses on-device speech recognition, enabling control of your PC and authoring text without an internet connection. It will support multiple languages and custom commands in a future update (these features are now available for Windows Insiders to try in the Beta Channel as noted above). We recommend WSR users try and start using voice access today.

 

 

Dialog directing you to try voice access when opening Windows Speech Recognition.

 

[Nearby Sharing]

 

We are introducing the ability to quickly give your device a more friendly name to identify sharing to and from with nearby share under Settings > System > Nearby sharing.

 

 

Give your device a more friendly name to identify sharing to and from with nearby share.

 

[Narrator]

 

Narrator users can now use voice access to open applications, dictate text and interact with elements on the screen using their voice. Narrator users can use voice access to give Narrator commands using their voice . For e.g., “speak faster”, “read next line”, etc. To get started, search for “voice access” in Windows search and set it up.

 

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

[Task Manager]

 

• When creating a dump file for a process, the dump file location should be selectable now, so you can copy it out.

 

[Desktops]

 

• Made some improvements to help address an issue where the background could be seen jumping when switching between desktops.

Notepad Update

We are rolling out an update for Notepad (version 11.2311.33.0) to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel that introduces the following improvements:

 

Edit with Notepad: Easily access Notepad for file modifications directly from File Explorer. Just right-click on any file or multiple files in File Explorer to find the [Edit with Notepad] option in the context menu, a quick and streamlined way to open and edit files in Notepad.

 

 

New Edit with Notepad option in the context menu in File Explorer.

 

Character Count: Keep track of your document’s length with the new character count display in the status bar. When text is selected, the status bar shows the character count for both the selected text and the entire document. If no text is selected, the character count for the entire document is displayed, ensuring you always have a clear view of your document’s length.

 

 

Character count for selected text in Notepad.

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Notepad.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

According to X user Daniel @kid_jenius, Microsoft Store version 22311 fixes an issue with the program showing only the most recent app installs or updates. After getting the latest release, the Microsoft Store app will display everything in the Library section.

The Microsoft Store app on Windows 10 and 11 has been getting plenty of attention from developers lately. The most recent additions include a new "Arcade" section with instant games, the ability to select where to install games, and an easier way to install apps as you browse. More importantly, with the latest updates, the app launches significantly faster than before. The Microsoft Store app also supports third-party billing systems, and you can check out this article to learn how it works.

Like Microsoft Edge and other browsers, the Microsoft Store app automatically updates itself quietly in the background by default, so you can continue using your computer as is. However, you can also force-update it by launching the app and clicking the Library icon in the bottom-left corner. After that, press "Check for updates" and install everything available.

To check your Microsoft Store version, click your profile icon, select Settings, and scroll down to the About section.

Tip: The library section in the Microsoft Store shows only installed products by default. If you want to access all your previously purchased apps and games, click Sort and Filter> Show installed products only.

Source

Microsoft has just released the latest preview 0.8 version of its Dev Home app which first launched in May 2023 as part of Build 2023. As a reminder, the app allows software developers access to a number of different features, including the recently launched Dev Drive, WinGet configuration, and GitHub codespaces together in one place.

This latest preview release concentrates on fixing bugs and making some improvements to the app including a couple of fixes related to the app's accessibility features. Here's the changelog which is available to see in full on the official Dev Home GitHub page:

Accessibility fixes

 

• The Pin button for adding widgets shouldn't get cut off anymore when the text scaling gets too large.
• All of the buttons should now be properly read by Narrator.

 

Changes

 

• UI tweaks for the Dev Drive creation flow.
• Sample configurations are now linked on the Configuration file option in Machine Configuration.

 

Bug fixes

 

• The Dev Home icon in the Windows widget picker should now look better.
• We caught some strings that weren't getting properly localized, those should be localized now.
• Microsoft Store pages should now be properly localized as well.
• Widget names and descriptions should now also have proper localization.

The new version of the app is now available to download from the Microsoft Store. Developers can get more info on the Dev Home app on Microsoft's documents site. They can also provide ideas for new features for the app, or report any bugs, to Microsoft's GitHub repository.

At the moment, there's no word on when the Dev Home app will come out of its preview stage and become generally available for Windows developers. That being said, we seem to be getting closer to the version 1.0 launch, which means that the app could become generally available sometime in early 2024.

Source

Here's a look at the release notes for the new driver update:

DRIVER VERSION: 31.0.101.5081 WHQL and 31.0.101.5122 WHQL

 

DATE: December 14, 2023

 

Intel Graphics Driver package size has temporarily increased because of the inclusion of Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics and Intel Graphics driver.

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

 

Launch driver for Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics and Intel Graphics.

 

GAMING HIGHLIGHTS:

 

Game performance improvements on Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products versus Intel 31.0.101.5074 software driver for

 

• Battlefield 1 (DX11)
• Up to 30% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings

 

INTEL ARC CONTROL HIGHLIGHTS:

 

• Support for Neural style transfer webcam filters over background effects.
• Support for HDR Capture and HDR to SDR streaming on HDR compatible displays.
• Support for hotkey customization.

 

FIXED ISSUES:

 

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

 

• Fortnite (DX12) may exhibit line corruption during gameplay with certain Anti-Aliasing settings.

 

KNOWN ISSUES:

 

 

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

 

• Dead by Daylight (DX11) may experience an application crash during gameplay.
• Topaz Video AI may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.
• Intel Smooth Sync may not work as expected with certain DX11 games.

 

Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics Products:

 

• Diablo 4 (DX12) may exhibit corruption on the terrain during gameplay.
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (DX12) may experience application crash after loading into gameplay.
• The Talos Principle 2 (DX12) may experience an application crash during gameplay with certain Upscaling Presets.
• Autodesk Maya may experience application crash while running SPECAPC benchmark.
• Blender may experience application crash while rendering some scenes on certain system memory configurations.
• Topaz Video AI may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

 

Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics Products:

 

• Driver installation may not complete successfully on certain notebook systems with both Intel Iris Xe + Iris Xe MAX devices. A system reboot and re-installation of the graphics driver may be required for successful installation.

 

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

 

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

 

INTEL ARC CONTROL FIXED ISSUES:

 

• Virtual camera may intermittently fail to activate on hybrid system configurations.
• May observe error pop-up after power events with Capture/Highlights/Broadcast toggle on.
• Arc Control may not retain overall application settings in Overlay mode after system reboot.
• Camera preview may intermittently fail to show preview when changing camera resolution to 1440p.
• Arc control UI window may incorrectly become cropped while minimizing and changing display resolution.
• Capture and Highlights recording file may become corrupted if Overlay mode is disabled during active recording.
• Performance Graphs may scale incorrectly with maximum reported values.
• GPU Voltage Offset may show unformatted maximum values on Intel Arc A-series Graphics.
• Arc Control notifications time on-screen has been reduced.

 

INTEL ARC CONTROL KNOWN ISSUES:

 

• Using Arc Control Studio capture with certain games may incorrectly generate multiple video files.
• The “Connector” type in the Display page may incorrectly show DP when using an HDMI display connection.
• Arc Control Studio capture recording file may become corrupted when the mouse cursor is enabled during HDR capture.
• Camera preview may turn off after the system goes into connected standby mode.

 

Intel Arc Control Performance Tuning (BETA):

 

• Intel Arc Control Performance Tuning is currently in Beta. As such, performance and features may behave unexpectedly. Intel® will continue to refine the Performance Tuning software in future releases.

You can download the new drivers here and check out the release notes in PDF format here.

Source

The kernel 6.6.6 version number delighted many a black-clad open source fan, but not for long. It's already been replaced with a more neighborly 6.6.7.…

At the end of October, Linux version 6.6 came out, and just over a couple of weeks later, it became the latest long-term supported release. It's not always the case, but in recent years it's been common for the last complete point-release of the year to be declared a stable release that will get several years of updates. This also means that August's kernel 6.5, released on the project's 32nd birthday, is now at the end of its life. After 13 point releases, it won't be getting any more.

Stable kernel supremo Greg Kroah-Hartman released version 6.6.5 last Friday, with over 100 changes. One of these was the same problematic back-port that also affected kernel 6.1.66, as we reported earlier this week. A change to Wi-Fi handling depended on an earlier change that wasn't included in kernel 6.1.66 and led to the very rapid release of 6.1.67, with the wireless-breaking change removed again.

The same problem affected release 6.6.5, and just as in the older stable kernel series, the change was removed again the following working day. Monday (December 11) saw the release of the satanically significant kernel 6.6.6, backing out just that single change from the previous version. That made quite a few redditors very happy, although Hacker News commenters were less delighted. The omens were there to be seen, even back in October when 6.6 appeared.

But now comes the bad news for all the spooky kids out there: the kernel bearing the Mark of the Beast didn't last long at all. By Wednesday (13 December), it had been superseded by kernel 6.6.7. This is a much bigger release, with 268 files changed, and a hefty changelog, which by our count has 7,562 lines.

With such a short window of opportunity, it's no wonder there wasn't an update and re-release of Ubuntu Satanic Edition. ®

Source

While 78% of the 2,200 respondents faced only embarrassment, in 13% of cases, the situation resulted in a break-up or even divorce. Now, the Oslo-based developer comes with an interesting solution dubbed Panic Button.

The feature aims for higher privacy in situations where you are doing something you are not supposed to do right now, or at all. Did your boss unexpectedly enter the office while playing Minecraft? Or did your mother enter the room while, for instance, playing Minecraft?

The solution is pretty straightforward and according to Opera it works as follows: “You can quickly hit the F12 key and the Panic Button is activated. This quickly mutes and pauses playback from all tabs and forces open a new window of totally bland, ‘safe’ content, keeping your secrets safe for another day. To restore all tabs to the previous state you just need to press the F12 button again.”

Opera labels this feature “a first line of defense”. It comes with a pre-defined list of safe websites like Wikipedia. The user can also configure their own bland websites to act innocent when surprised by an unexpected visitor.

Panic Button is already available for the users of Opera GX. However, they need to first activate the “Early Bird” option in the browser settings.

As the name suggests, Early Bird allows users to access new features and updates before they are officially released. On the other hand, this comes with the price of potentially lower stability and other hiccups that may affect the overall experience. However, you can still wait until the feature is officially rolled out.

Source

Vivaldi 6.5 for desktop brings a freshly-baked Sessions Panel, which has been among the top-requested features, at least since 2018. It's a new side panel that lets you quickly create, manage, and reopen your saved Sessions. You can rename, edit, and search your saved Sessions, as well as, turn on automatic session backup from the bottom of the Sessions Panel.

The company has done some work to improve Vivaldi's cross-device experience. Tabs synced from other devices were previously accessible via the cloud icon on the Tab bar. You can now view synced tabs in the Windows Panel as well and locate them using the Address Field on your current device.

If you use Vivaldi Sync to move your browsing data across devices, the feature now syncs your entire browsing history in addition to bookmarks, settings, passwords, reading lists, etc. All the browsing data synced across your devices is now end-to-end encrypted, starting with the Vivaldi 6.5 update.

Improving on Workspaces, Vivaldi has added some automation and the ability to set rules for your Workspaces. You can go to Settings > Tabs > Workspaces to create new rules. The feature helps you better organize things by automatically moving the tabs to the correct workspace.

For instance, if you're in your travel workspace and click an Amazon link to shop for something, the tab will be moved to your shopping workspace. Apart from that, the built-in Notes tool in the browser lets you add text snippets to a note you created in the past.

To do so, right-click after selecting a text snippet on a web page, then click on the "Append to Note" option. This feature will let you collate related text content from various sources into a single note.

Vivaldi 6.5 for iOS

Speaking of its iOS counterpart, the Vivaldi 6.5 update brings a configurable address bar and tab bar that you can place at the bottom or top of the screen depending on your preference. Adding to that, the browser can now display search suggestions in a reversed order, which is particularly helpful when the address bar is placed at the bottom.

For the unversed, the first iteration of Vivaldi for iPhone and iPad was introduced earlier this year in September. The browser got its first feature update last month, bringing features like tab pinning and search engine nicknames to save time while finding stuff.

On Vivaldi 6.5, the Start Page is more customizable now as you can add custom images as wallpapers to decorate it. It comes with 12 pre-loaded wallpapers that you can find in Settings > Appearance, where you can also pick between dark and light themes.

Vivaldi 6.5 update also brings dynamic accent colours to iOS. The Tab bar background and Status bar background (when the bottom address bar is enabled) will automatically pick the accent colour of the website you are visiting. Vivaldi for iOS is also getting support for full history sync and end-to-end encryption, similar to the desktop version.

You can download Vivaldi 6.5 for Windows, Linux, and macOS from its official website. For iOS, you can head over to Vivaldi's App Store page if you haven't enabled automatic app updates.

Source

Popular secure email provider Proton has finally released its standalone desktop app, raising above some of its big tech competitors.

Available in beta at the time of writing, Proton's new app gives both Windows and MacOS users full access to its Proton Mail and Proton Calendar services.

The new application also comes with over 50 enhancements to help you boost productivity, while ensuring a secure and private experience. Offline access to emails will soon be available as well.

Proton Mail desktop app

"While many people use email on desktop in a browser, desktop apps can still provide certain advantages such as better offline support. For this reason, we have decided to launch a desktop app, something that even Gmail does not provide," said Andy Yen, Founder and CEO at Proton.

Yen explains that users can still configure standard third-party email desktop apps via Proton Mail Bridge. Yet, the new app comes as a more straightforward way of using privacy-first products. A step closer towards Proton's quest of cut big tech products, like Google Gmail or Microsoft Outlook, out of your digital life.

A shiny new application deserves some new features, though. Among the 50+ improvements, there is an email auto-forwarding option—Proton said to be the first and only email provider to offer this. A snooze button allows you to temporarily set aside some emails from your inbox for helping you to stay focused, and attachment previews should make it easier looking for documents across messages.

Proton Calendar got some improvements as well. You can now search your end-to-end encrypted calendar on the web, and view public holidays to keep track of national days off at ease. 

Proton promises to store all your email with zero-access encryption, meaning that the provider can never access your messages or hand them over to third parties.

(Image credit: Proton)

The provider also promises an even better level of security thanks to a new encrypted email forwarding feature. Bart Butler, CTO of Proton, described this as "a first" for encrypted email service.

He said: "Messages sent between Proton Mail accounts are always end-to-end encrypted by default. But to maintain end-to-end encryption for messages forwarded to other Proton users presented a huge technical challenge. We needed to figure out how to re-encrypt messages for different recipients without the server being able to access the content. Our cryptographic engineers have made this possible."

The beta version of the new Proton Mail desktop app is now available on Windows and MacOS devices for all Visionary users—you can sign-up until January 4 for the equivalent of about 30$ a month. It will land for all users sometime early 2024. The auto forwarding feature is still exclusive of paying subscribers, but all other updates are included with both free and paid plans.

Source

Windows AI Studio is a new tool designed to help developers integrate AI into their Windows apps. 

It's offered as an extension to Visual Studio Code and is available to install now. 

But first, you must install Linux (and have an NVIDIA GPU). 

Microsoft has a new developer tool it has made available to help make it easier to integrate generative AI into apps. It all sounds pretty interesting, but there's an important requirement that, while deadly serious, is also quite humorous. 

Let me paint the picture. 

This morning I was scrolling through social media, as I always do, and came across a post on Mastodon. To use the Windows AI Studio, you have to first install Linux?!

Specifically, you need to be running Ubuntu 18.04 or later. Naturally, Microsoft isn't suggesting you run Linux over Windows, this is of course referring to the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). 

VS Code operates seamlessly on Windows while using WSL as its backend, and that seems to be what's happening here. Microsoft has built WSL so it has interoperability between Windows and Linux without users having to jump through unnecessary hoops. 

Assuming you have WSL set up and Ubuntu is set as your default, the Windows AI Studio will just work without any additional setup on your part. If you need help with the Linux part, our guide on how to install WSL 2 will get you pointed in the right direction. 

You'll also need an NVIDIA GPU right now to use it at all. 

Linux is important even for Windows developers

Some might not want to admit it, but Linux is important. It's a useful thing to learn about, even if you're not a developer, and I think WSL is the perfect way to do this if you've only ever really used Windows. 

If Linux wasn't important, then WSL probably wouldn't exist, either. There are still things it can do easier than Windows, and it looks like giving access to AI tools and models for Windows developers is one of those things. 

The argument for Windows being a superior development environment now, though, has legs, in part thanks to its integration with Linux. Without leaving the comfort of Windows 11 you can work inside Linux, use Linux apps, even code using Linux from within the Windows version of VS Code. 

Jokes aside, the Windows AI Studio is a perfect example of the two working in perfect harmony. You can't laugh at that. 

Source

Earlier today, Microsoft rolled out new Windows 11 builds for some users in the Windows Insider Program. Insider members in the Dev Channel got a new 23606 build, while the Canary Channel Insider members received the 26016 build.

As it turned out, Microsoft left out a new feature that was added to both the new Dev and Canary Windows 11 build in their official blogs, but those blogs were later updated with that info. The new feature is a change in the name of the Phone Link settings page.

Microsoft stated:

We’re beginning to rollout a change that renames the Phone Link settings page under Settings > Bluetooth & devices to Mobile devices. As part of this change, a new section will appear for allowing a PC to access mobile devices – this section currently does not introduce anything new yet and we’ll have more to share in a future flight.

Again, this name change for the Settings section from Phone Link to Mobile devices was not disclosed at first in Microsoft's official blog releases earlier. The company is hinting that there's much more to this change in the Settings section than just the name but Microsoft is keeping that info to themselves for now.

Today's Canary Channel update also includes the new Windows Protected Print Mode, which is designed to eliminate the need to install third-party drivers in order to get Windows 11 to access printers, for better security. The new Dev Channel update is switching from the deprecated Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) feature to the new voice access version. Both build also have a selection of bug fixes as well.

The new Windows 11 Dev and Canary Channel Insider builds will also be the last ones released by Microsoft for 2023. We have yet to see a new build for Windows 11 Beta Channel members this week but it's likely coming soon.

Source

Now, wake up; it is the end of 2023, and Microsoft Edge is spiraling down in a head-scratching attempt to become one of the most disliked browsers. Multiple controversial and user-hostile practices force users to voice their complaints on social media, and most of the time, Edge's official X (Twitter) account ignores such posts, busy focusing on posting TikTok-styled videos with hedgehogs. Today, however, someone behind the Microsoft Edge account decided to make a bold move.

On December 12, 2023, X user @cadenzza_ made a post with a screenshot of one of Edge's multiple upsells demanding recommending to set Bing as the default search engine. The funniest part was the lack of a clear "No" button, just like the infamous Windows 11 upgrade prompt with two "Yes" buttons. Mario tagged the official Microsoft Edge account on X and, two days later, got an audacious and cringeworthy response.

In a reply to the complaint about the missing "Never" button, someone behind the Microsoft Edge account said, "No, it's not," with a blue heart emoji as a cherry on top. Great touch!

Unsurprisingly, the post spawned a wave of heated replies, with some users wishing Microsoft antitrust lawsuits and others calling out the company's disrespectful behavior. Others said they had left Microsoft Edge for other alternatives and even went the extra mile to rip the browser off Windows 10 and 11.

If you share the sentiment and think Microsoft Edge has lost its way, good news: the EU forced Microsoft to let customers uninstall the browser. Although the change is only officially available to EU citizens, you can use our guide to uninstall Edge in Windows 10 and 11 on systems outside the European Union.

It is clear as day that Microsoft must rethink its strategies since all they do is annoy and harm customers. And monthly reports from Statcounter show that desperate upsells are not getting Edge anywhere.

Source

The original article follows below:

PowerToys 0.76 is now available for download with new Add-ons for File Explorer, and modernizations for PowerToys Run, Quick Accent and Text Extractor UI that bring Windows 11-like visuals, as is to be expected, this release also brings a massive list of fixes and improvements.

Without further ado:

What is new in PowerToys 0.76?

Update highlights:

• Upgrade to .NET 8. Thanks @snickler!
• Keyboard Manager can now remap keys and shortcuts to send sequences of unicode text.
• Modernized the Keyboard Manager Editor UI. Thanks @dillydylann!
• Modernized the PowerToys Run, Quick Accent and Text Extractor UIs. Thanks @niels9001!
•  
• New File Explorer Add-ons: QOI image Preview Handler and Thumbnail Provider. Thanks @pedrolamas!

Full release notes:

General

• Updated the WebView 2 dependency to 1.0.2088.41. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed unreadable colour brushes used across WinUI3 applications for improved accessibility. Thanks @niels9001!
• Flyouts used across WinUI3 applications are no longer constrained to the application's bounds. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Upgraded the WPF-UI dependency to preview.9 and then preview.11. Thanks @niels9001 and @pomianowski!
• Upgraded to .NET 8. Thanks @snickler!
• Updated the WinAppSDK dependency to 1.4.3.

Awake

• Added localization to the tray icon context menu.

Crop And Lock

• Fixed restoring windows that were reparented while maximized.

Environment Variables

• Fixed crash caused by WinAppSDK version bump by replacing ListView elements with ItemsControl.

FancyZones

• Reverted a change that caused some applications, like the Windows Calculator, to not snap correctly. (This was a hotfix for 0.75)
• FancyZones Editor will no longer apply a layout to the current monitor after editing it.
• Fixed and refactored the code that detected if a window can be snapped. Added tests to it with known application window styles to avoid regressions in the future.

File Explorer add-ons

• Solved an issue incorrectly detecting encoding when previewing code files preview.
• Fixed the background colour for Gcode preview handler on dark theme. Thanks @pedrolamas!
• New utilities: Preview Handler and Thumbnail Provider for QOI image files. Thanks @pedrolamas!
• GCode Thumbnails are now in the 32 bit ARGB format. Thanks @pedrolamas!
• Added the perceived type to SVG and QOI file thumbnails. Thanks @pedrolamas!

GPO

• Added the missing Environment Variables utility policy to the .admx and .adml files. (This was a hotfix for 0.75)
• Fixed some typos and text improvements in the .adml file. Thanks @htcfreek!

Hosts File Editor

• Added a proper warning when the hosts file is read-only and a button to make it writable. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Image Resizer

• Fixed a WPF-UI issue regarding the application's background brushes. Thanks @niels9001!

Installer

• Included the Text Extractor and Awake localization files in the install process.

Keyboard Manager

• Modernized the UI with the Fluent design. Thanks @dillydylann!
• Added the feature to remap keys and shortcuts to arbitrary unicode text sequences.

Mouse Without Borders

• Removed Thread.Suspend calls when exiting the utility. That call is deprecated, unneeded and was causing a silent crash.

Peek

• Added the possibility to pause/resume videos with the space bar. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed high CPU usage when idle before initializing the main window. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Implemented Ctrl+W as a shortcut to close Peek. Thanks @Physalis2!
• Solved an issue incorrectly detecting encoding when previewing code files.
• Fixed background issues when peeking into HTML files after the WebView 2 upgrade.

PowerToys Run

• Moved to WPF-UI and redesigned according to Fluent UX principles. Thanks @niels9001!
• Fixed an issue causing 3rd party plugins to not have their custom settings correctly initialized with default values. (This was a hotfix for 0.75) Thanks @waaverecords!
• Fixed a crash in the VSCode plugin when the VSCode path had trailing backspaces. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed a crash when trying to load invalid image icons.
• Fixed a crash in the Programs plugin when getting images for some .lnk files.
• Fixed a rare startup initialization error and removed cold start operations that were no longer needed. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Improved calculations for Windows File Time and Unix Epoch Time in the DateTime plugin. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Fixed a crash when trying to get the icon for a link that pointed to no file.
• Cleaned up code in the WindowWalker plugin improving the logic. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Quick Accent

• Moved from ModernWPF to WPF-UI. Thanks @niels9001!
• Added support to the Finnish language character set. Thanks @davidtlascelles!
• Added currency symbols for Croatian, Gaeilge, Gàidhlig and Welsh. Thanks @PesBandi!
• Added a missing Latin letter ꝡ. Thanks @cubedhuang!
• Added fraction characters. Thanks @PesBandi!
• Added support to the Danish language character set. Thanks @PesBandi!
• Added the Kazakhstani Tenge character to the Currencies characters set. Thanks @PesBandi!
• Renamed Slovakian to Slovak, which is the correct term. Thanks @PesBandi!
• Added the Greek language character set. Thanks @mcbabo!

Settings

• When clicking a module's name on the Dashboard, it will navigate to that module's page.
• Fixed the clipping of information in the Backup and Restore section of the General Settings page. Thanks @niels9001!
• Updated the File Explorer Add-ons fluent icon. Thanks @niels9001!
• Added a warning when trying to set a shortcut that might conflict with "Alt Gr" key combinations.
• Added a direct link to the OOBE's "What's New page" from the main Settings window. Thanks @iakrayna!
• Changed mentions from Microsoft Docs to Microsoft Learn.
• Fixed the slow reaction to system theme changes.

Text Extractor

• Move to WPF-UI, localization and light theme support. Thanks @niels9001!
• Disabled by default on Windows 11, with a information box on Settings to prefer using the Windows Snipping Tool, which now supports OCR.

Documentation

• Fixed some typos in the README. Thanks @Asymtode712!
• Reworked the gpo docs on learn.microsoft.com, adding .admx, registry and Intune information. Thanks @htcfreek!

Development credits:

Development

• Updated the check-spelling ci action to 0.22. Thanks @jsoref!
• Refactored the modules data model used between the Settings Dashboard and Flyout.
• Fixed a flaky interop test that was causing automated CI to hang occasionally.
• Increased the WebView 2 loading timeout to reduce flakiness in those tests. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added support for building with the Dev Drive CopyOnWrite feature, increasing build speed. Thanks @pedrolamas!
• Addressed the C# static analyzers suggestions. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Addressed the C++ static analyzers suggestions.
• PRs that only contain Markdown or text files changes no longer trigger the full CI. Thanks @snickler!
• Updated the Microsoft.Windows.CsWinRT to 2.0.4 to fix building with the official Visual Studio 17.8 release.
• Fixed new code quality issues caught by the official Visual Studio 17.8 release.
• Added a bot trigger to point contributors to the main new contribution issue on GitHub. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Removed unneeded entries from expect.txt.
• Turned off a new feature from Visual Studio that was adding the commit hash to the binary files Product Version.
• Refactored and reviewed the spellcheck entries into different files. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Added Spectre mitigation and SHA256 hash creation for some DLLs.
• Reverted the release pipeline template to a previous release that's stable for shipping PowerToys.

PowerToys is available on Windows 10 and 11. You can download the app from the Microsoft Store or GitHub.

Update Dec 7: Following Monday's 0.76 update, Microsoft has posted a patch update to fix issues deemed important for stability based on incoming rates.

The 0.76.1 Patch Update lists the following changes, and includes all of the changes from the 0.76 release.

• #30148 - Fixed issue causing FancyZones not to be able to zone specific apps (e.g. Facebook messenger).
• #30224 - Fixed results list height when changing maximum number of results to be shown setting for PowerToys Run.
• #30225 - Fixed WPF apps crash caused by SystemThemeWatcher.
• #30228 - Fixed loading .lnk files icons in PowerToys Run.
• #30237 - Fixed PowerToys Run theme setting.
• #30251 - Fixed suggestion text margin when text direction is right to left in PowerToys Run.

Update Dec 13: A second patch was deemed necessary to fix a couple of issues.

The 0.76.2 Patch Update lists the following changes, and includes all of the changes from the 0.76 release.

• #30357 - Fixed issue causing Wpf apps to crash or report error dialogs by using latest WPF-UI package version.
• #30370 - Workaround for WebView2 based preview and thumbnail handlers issue caused by WebView2 runtime latest update.

You can grab the update by checking for updates within the app, on the Microsoft Store, or on GitHub.

Source

In collaboration with Polar Signals we have committed that beginning with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, our GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) package will enable frame pointers by default for 64-bit platforms. All packages in Ubuntu, with very few exceptions, will be rebuilt with frame pointers enabled, making them easier to profile and subsequently optimise.

“I’ve enabled frame pointers at huge scale for Java and glibc and studied the CPU overhead for this change, which is typically less than 1% and usually so close to zero that it is hard to measure. Frame pointers allow more complete CPU profiling and off-CPU profiling. The performance wins that these can provide far outweigh the comparatively tiny loss in performance. Ubuntu enabling frame pointers by default will be a huge win for performance engineering and the default developer experience”. said Brendan Gregg, computer performance expert and Intel Fellow.

Precision profiling with frame pointers

The first and most important tool for performance engineers is the profiler; a new collaboration between Polar Signals and Canonical evolved from a shared vision to improve the performance of applications worldwide. By ensuring that Ubuntu’s compiler enables frame pointers by default, we streamline profiling and debugging processes.

Often overlooked, frame pointers play a crucial role in simplifying the stack tracing process during profiling. Enabling them by default in compiled binaries ensures that developers have immediate access to clearer and more accurate data for performance analysis, with no additional configuration.

There is a small performance penalty associated with the change, but in cases where the impact is high (such as the Python interpreter), we’ll continue to omit frame pointers until this is addressed. Our analysis suggests that the penalty on 64-bit architectures is between 1-2% in most cases. We will not make this change on 32-bit architectures where the penalty is higher.

Enabling such trivial access to performance insights, combined with a commitment to investing in the performance of the platform from Canonical, will facilitate global performance improvements for Ubuntu and the workloads it supports.

Detailed performance benchmarks will be provided in a follow up post closer to the release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Community and developer impact

More than just a technical adjustment, this is a commitment to the developer community. When performance problems arise in production, developers are often faced with the task of recompiling their applications to include debugging information, then trying to reproduce the situation that caused the software to perform poorly. 

This can be relatively simple for smaller applications, or those with few dependencies, but for large applications with deep dependencies on operating system components, the process becomes incredibly complex.

By enabling frame pointers by default, we’re lowering the barrier to entry for performance profiling and debugging, meaning:

• Simplified Profiling: Dive straight into profiling without worrying about compiler configurations.
• Lower Overhead: Unwinding with frame pointers is significantly cheaper than using DWARF or DWARF-derived information.
• Debugging Accessibility: Even those new to profiling can access high-quality data, democratising the process of performance optimisation. It will allow bcc-tools, bpftrace, perf and other such tooling to work out of the box.
• Ecosystem Benefit: Ubuntu comprises thousands of open source projects, and we’ll work to upstream performance fixes that we find across potentially thousands of packages wherever we can.

Canonical, and the Ubuntu community, can make use of this improved debugging information to diagnose and target performance issues that are orders of magnitude more impactful than the 1-2% upfront cost.

A testament to open collaboration

Our collaboration exemplifies the power of the open source community. By working together, we’re hoping this change will benefit countless developers, organisations and software end-users.

“Canonical is investing heavily in the performance and observability, and it’s clear that Polar Signals are blazing a trail in the practice of continuous profiling, and particularly with their zero-instrumentation eBPF-based Parca Agent. Our decision to enable frame pointers by default in Ubuntu marks a significant step forward in making Ubuntu the most performant and efficient platform for your workloads. I’m really excited to see the impact this has over the coming months and years”. said Jon Seager, VP Engineering at Canonical.

“Hyperscalers have long adopted frame-pointers by default because they recognise that the potential performance impact is negligible compared to the insight they can bring during debugging and troubleshooting. These increased performance insights often enable optimisations that are orders of magnitudes larger than the cost associated with enabling frame pointers. I couldn’t be more excited about Canonical recognising this and bringing it to the masses with Ubuntu 24.04 – this is a huge leap forward for observability and debuggability”. said Frederic Branczyk, CEO/Founder at Polar Signals.

Looking ahead

We’re excited to bring a greatly simplified profiling and debugging experience to the masses in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, which will see mainstream adoption for years to come. The impact of this change coupled with the follow-on investment in performance engineering at Canonical will result in better quality, and higher performing applications globally.

Source

This is a minor release that includes the previously announced transition from Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) to voice access, along with some fixes. Here is the changelog:

Changes and Improvements

[General]

Windows 11 is transitioning from Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) to voice access. WSR is being deprecated. A dialog will pop up when WSR is opened directing you to try voice access and we have also added a banner under Settings > Accessibility > Speech as well. Voice access, our new assistive technology in Windows 11, uses on-device speech recognition, enabling control of your PC and authoring text without an internet connection. It will support multiple languages and custom commands in a future update (these features are now available for Windows Insiders to try in the Dev and Beta Channels). We recommend WSR users try and start using voice access today.

 

 

Dialog directing you to try voice access when opening Windows Speech Recognition.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

Fixed an underlying issue causing the details pane in File Explorer to unexpectedly take keyboard focus sometimes.

 

Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when accessing or scrolling Gallery.

[Input]

• Fixed a high hitting tabtip.exe crash when trying to use pen input in the previous flight.
• NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[Copilot in Windows*]

• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot in Windows while using voice access, you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

[Widgets]

• You may experience a loading delay when the Microsoft Start feed is reenabled.
• Announcements from the Microsoft Start feed are still shown on the taskbar after the feed is hidden.
• The Widgets Board should automatically close and reopen when enabling or disabling feeds.
• Keyboard navigation from settings subpages back to the top-level Settings page is broken.
• Incorrect spacing and fonts used in some settings pages.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

Chrome users may want to update the web browser as soon as possible. While Chrome supports automatic updates, these may take days or sometimes even weeks before they are pushed to all installations.

The best way to update immediately is to load chrome://settings/help in the browser's address bar. Chrome displays the version of the browser and checks for updates. If an update is found, it will be downloaded and installed automatically. A restart is required to complete the process.

The update is available for all desktop versions of Chrome as well as Chrome for Android. One of the following versions should be displayed after the successful update installation:

• Chrome for macOS, Linux or Windows: 120.0.6099.109
• Chrome Extended for macOS and Windows: 120.0.6099.109

Google released Chrome 120 Stable last week. Besides security fixes, Chrome 120 did introduce several non-security changes. Notable is the dropped support for Android 7 Nougat devices, a new proactive Safety Check feature, the sending of URL-based signals as part of the browser's Permission Suggestion Service, and the ability to share passwords to other members of a Family Group account.

Google Chrome 120

The Chrome security update patches nine security issues in the browser. Six of the nine security issues are listed on the official Chrome Releases website. The three undisclosed vulnerabilities were detected internally by Google. Google never reports internally discovered vulnerabilities publicly.

Here is the list of disclosed vulnerabilities:

• [$16000][1501326] High CVE-2023-6702: Type Confusion in V8. Reported by Zhiyi Zhang and Zhunki from Codesafe Team of Legendsec at Qi'anxin Group on 2023-11-10
• [$7000][1502102] High CVE-2023-6703: Use after free in Blink. Reported by Cassidy Kim(@cassidy6564) on 2023-11-14
• [$7000][1504792] High CVE-2023-6704: Use after free in libavif. Reported by Fudan University on 2023-11-23
• [$7000][1505708] High CVE-2023-6705: Use after free in WebRTC. Reported by Cassidy Kim(@cassidy6564) on 2023-11-28
• [$6000][1500921] High CVE-2023-6706: Use after free in FedCM. Reported by anonymous on 2023-11-09
• [$7000][1504036] Medium CVE-2023-6707: Use after free in CSS. Reported by @ginggilBesel on 2023-11-21

All but one have a severity rating of high, which is second only to critical in terms of severeness. Most patches address use after free vulnerabilities in various components, including WebRTC, libavif and CSS. There is a single type confusion in V8 issue listed as well.

Google makes no mentions of exploits in the wild. This means that the company is not aware of exploits that target the fixed vulnerabilities actively at the time. There is a possibility that exploits will be created after the release of the update, which is one reason for updating Chrome as soon as possible.

Now You: do you use Google Chrome?

Source