Disclaimer: As a third-party analytic service, StatCounter cannot provide 100% accurate data, something only Microsoft can do (but does not). Check out the FAQ section on the official website to learn the methodology StatCounter uses to calculate its global stats and monthly reports.

StatCounter claims Microsoft's latest desktop operating system, which will turn two soon, is being used by roughly 23.64% of all PC users. Despite gaining 0.57 points, Windows 11's market share has remained relatively unchanged for the sixth consecutive month.

The Windows 11 Moment 4 update may help the operating system gain momentum thanks to several much-anticipated changes, such as taskbar improvements, a new volume mixer, Copilot, and more. However, do not expect much until Microsoft pushes it to all users somewhere in November 2023. If you want to update right now, check out our guide describing how to install the Windows 11 Moment 4 update.

Here is what the Windows market looks like according to StatCounter:

1. Windows 10 - 71.62% (-0.32 points)
2. Windows 11 - 23.64% (+0.57 points)
3. Windows 7 - 3.33% (-0.17 points)
4. Windows 8.1 - 0.61% (-0.03 points)
5. Windows 8 - 0.35% (+0.05 points)

Microsoft will continue updating Windows 10 with monthly security patches and fixes for two more years, which means the operating system will most likely remain the most popular Windows version for the rest of its lifecycle and even longer. With rumors of Microsoft releasing Windows "12" next year, chances of Windows 11 gaining at least 50% of the global market are thin.

You can find more information on the official Statcounter website.

Source

"This problem has been addressed in Version 2309 Build 16827.20130. To install the update immediately, select File > Office Account > Update Options > Update Now," Microsoft says in an update to the original August support document acknowledging the bug.

This issue could be encountered while using specific Office perpetual retail SKUs such as Microsoft Office Professional Plus and Office Home and Business, particularly from Version 2306 (Build 16529.20154) onwards.

On affected systems, users of Outlook for Microsoft 365 were encountering dialogs with prompts like "Outlook closed while you had items open. Reopen those items from your last session?"

In most instances when using Office perpetual versions, the Outlook options did not display the feature causing this issue—named "Ask me if I want to restore previous items"—making it impossible for users to configure it through the user interface.

The option to automatically restore Outlook windows, enabled by default, was rolled out to Microsoft 365 subscribers using Outlook for Windows on Beta Channel Version 2006 (Build 13006.20002) in June 2020.

"Whether Outlook closed due to a crash, a system update, or when you explicitly closed it, you'll now be asked if you want to reopen any windows that were previously open," Microsoft describes the feature in a Microsoft 365 Insider communication.

Clicking "Yes" in response to the prompt restores email drafts, email windows, meetings, and appointment windows that were open before the app crashed to was closed in a previous session.

Outlook restore windows option (Microsoft)

Workaround also available

Redmond also provides a temporary fix for affected customers who cannot immediately update their Outlook installations.

They can use a simple workaround to disable the window restoration prompts and configure Outlook to stop reopening previous items.

In cases where the problematic feature is not present within Outlook's options but users wish to deactivate it, they can configure a registry key for this purpose.

It's worth noting that given the intermittent nature of this feature, setting this key may not provide a permanent solution and may only partially prevent the unexpected prompts from resurfacing.

The workaround involves a step-by-step procedure outlined as follows:

• Start Registry Editor.

   

• Create or edit the following DWORD registry value at the specified location.
  
  Subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences
  DWORD: ReopenWindowsOption
  Value: 1

   

• Exit Registry Editor.

   

• Restart Outlook.

   

The Outlook Team has also introduced interim solutions to address problems after installing July's Microsoft Office security updates.

These issues included Outlook blocking certain hyperlinks from opening and substantial delays when saving attachments to network shares.

Additionally, Redmond shared a workaround for a bug that led to sluggish starts and freezing of Outlook for Microsoft 365 users in June.

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Microsoft's lifecycle support page states:

After this date, these products will no longer receive security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates.

The original Windows Server 2012, which was based on Windows 8, hit the RTM stage on August 1, 2012, and it officially launched to the general public on September 4, 2012. Ironically, Windows Server 2012 will end up lasting much longer than Windows 8, which reached its end of life in 2016. It even lasted longer than Windows 8.1. Microsoft ended its official support in January 2023.

Microsoft had four different SKUs for Windows Server 2012. Essentials was the cheapest at $425, followed by Standard at $882, and then there was the Datacenter SKU at $4.809. There was another SKU, Foundation, that was made for OEM businesses and had no public price tag.

Just like Microsoft quickly released Windows 8.1 a year after the launch of Windows 8, it also launched Windows Server 2021 R2 in the same time frame. It went gold on August 27, 2013, and officially launched on October 14, 2013.

While official support for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 is ending in a few days, businesses who still need time to transition to a more recent version of the server OS do have options. One is they can access up to three years of extended security updates on Microsoft's Azure cloud services.

Businesses who need on-site access to Windows Server 2012 can also get  Extended Security Updates (ESUs) for three years, until October 13, 2026, but that will cost an undisclosed amount of money. Finally, businesses can just update to the most current version of the OS, Windows Server 2022, which launched in September 2022.

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Microsoft Teams - Rooms will soon be able to join a live event as an attendee and much more

There were lots of new additions to the roadmap for Teams. We have already reported on two of them. One was the upcoming launch of the Town Hall feature on October 5. The other was the addition of the 3D chat environment feature Microsoft Mesh which will be released in a public preview sometime in October.

However, the roadmap also had a number of other smaller new Teams features added in the last week as well. One centered on live events for Surface and Teams that will roll out in November:

Teams Rooms on Windows can now join a live event as an attendee and watch the streaming experience.

Another will add new keyboard shortcuts for calls on Teams on the desktop and web in November:

We are changing the keyboard shortcuts used to initiate calls in Teams to create differentiation from other commonly used shortcuts and reduce accidental calls. The new shortcuts for Windows will be: Alt + Shift + A to initiate audio calls, Alt + Shift + V for video calls. For MacOs the new short cuts will be:Option + Shift + A to initiate audio calls, Option + Shift + V for video calls.

Another update that will roll out next month will add support for Teams Rooms on Windows for all in one PCs including the new Surface Hub 3.

OneDrive - Performance improvements are coming for the web version and more

We've already reported that OneDrive will soon add a way to work even without an internet connection. However, the roadmap says OneDrive on the web is getting some performance improvements, starting in a public preview in November and rolling out fully in December:

This feature will provide faster page load times when using OneDrive for Web or when using the Files app in Teams irrespective of your network speed. You will see faster screen loading, sorting, filtering, file moving, and renaming. This increase in speed is made possible by storing file metadata in the local cache of your device as opposed to requesting it from the cloud service.

Microsoft is supposed to make some OneDrive announcements on October 3.

Outlook - iCloud account support for the new Outlook for Windows

In September, Microsoft launched the new Outlook for Windows app for individual users. Last week, the Microsoft 365 roadmap stated that iCloud account users can now add them to the new Outlook app.

Come back next week as we will go through the roadmap and find the most interesting upcoming or new features in the Microsoft 365 family.

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COMMENT Mozilla seems to be asleep at the wheel, when it once drove online activity and communications. We have some suggestions where it could go.

Mozilla is the wealthy [PDF] independent organization behind the only all-FOSS browser engine that's independent of commercial vendors. It also does important security research – its recent report on the abysmal privacy of in-car software is a good example.

Firefox remains a powerful, capable, fast, and resource-efficient browser. For instance, it doesn't just render PDFs in-browser, without plugins or helpers, it lets you amend or annotate them too. The latest Firefox 118 has privacy-centric, local, in-browser language translation. Some of its shorcuts and navigational features will probably surprise you.

Mozilla's programming languages (yes, plural)

Mozilla also invented not one but two of the hottest programming languages around. This century, it invented the Rust programming language, as we reported back in 2011. In recent years that seems to be eating into every major OS… but six months into the pandemic, Mozilla laid off the entire team, killing its next-gen rendering engine, Servo.

(Much of Mozilla's revenue comes from Google, of course. This couldn't be because Rust was, and is, outshining Google's GoLang? Surely not?)

Back in 1995, before even The Register, Mozilla's commercial forerunner Netscape invented JavaScript, which it introduced with Netscape 2.0; as this fossilized announcement notes, "of possible interest to developers." Yeah, just a tad.

Mozilla's messaging client

Mozilla also backs the development of the leading cross-platform messaging client, Thunderbird. This was sadly neglected for years, but even so, its developers kept working on it. A few highlights:

• 2015: Thunderbird 38 gets integrated calendar handling, derived from the Lightning addon.

• 2017: Thunderbird 51 gained chat support over IRC and XMPP (alongside XMPP-based services such as Google Talk), derived from Instantbird.

• 2020: Thunderbird 78 gets integrated PGP email encryption support, replacing the EnigMail add-on.

• 2022: Thunderbird 102 gets Matrix chat support (even if that protocol remains controversial in some quarters).

• 2023: Thunderbird 115 gets a revamped UI, formerly codenamed Supernova.

And, at some point soon, an Android version is coming.

Mozilla's mobile OS

Mozilla also had a mobile OS, which a decade ago we called the third-place contender and which it officially killed off in 2016. Boot2Gecko,

marketed as FirefoxOS, was rebooted under the name KaiOS. It won some Google investment in 2018 and we even reviewed a KaiOS phone in 2020.

KaiOS is still around, and still in third place, which in such a huge market isn't a bad place to be; it implies substantial growth. Its owner claims 160 million devices, which is no minor rounding error. The Finnish Fund For Industrial Cooperation recently bunged KaiosTech a few million to help them expand into the new growth market of sub-Saharan Africa. The code on GitHub still has Mozilla trademarks all over it. Why isn't this a famous FOSS project to rival, or merge with, postmarketOS? Why doesn't Mozilla talk about it, or better still, reclaim it?

Mozilla's… web editor and music player

It also formerly had some other gems. The original "Mozilla" was an all-in-one suite of internet tools, derived from Netscape Communicator: a browser, plus an messaging client – then meaning email plus USENET – plus calendar, address book, workflow it acquired with Collabra, and an HTML editor. A combined suite is still around, in the guise of the Seamonkey Project.

Although HTML is everywhere, you don't hear much about HTML editors any more – largely because the static stuff has been rendered almost obsolete by dynamically generated web content, much of it generated by code in Mozilla languages, of course. Even decades after Mozilla dropped it, the leading FOSS HTML editor remains Mozilla code; it's just about hanging on in the form of BlueGriffon.

To be honest, we're not sure that it really needed its own music player, but Songbird was a thing for a while. With many companies, including the BBC, making it harder to stream without their own clients, there might be an opening there.

Mozilla's server software

LDAP is not trendy and never really has been, but it's still useful. Red Hat sells an LDAP server as the Red Hat Directory Server. The code originated as the Netscape Directory Server, and the community-supported FOSS version is now called the 389 Directory Server, after the TCP port that LDAP uses .

Oracle is still just about supporting the old Netscape Enterprise Server too.

An impressive history

Netscape was the original open source web browser. We've been covering it from the start; in 1998, owner AOL promised to open source it – before Google was even founded (25 years ago on Monday, as it happens). Four years later, the open source version shipped. Twenty years ago, The Reg covered its rebirth as Phoenix (and when it became Firefox the next year).

So how, and why, has this vastly innovative, pioneering company become a straggler among followers?

It's let many of its jewels go. Some canceled, some sold off, some given away. Many have found new homes, from Rust's foundation to the Servo engine.

And yet it still has some powerful, valuable tech.

Whither the bird?

Browsers are hard, really hard. The days when the web was just HTML are long gone. There are very few web pages any more; instead, they are programs, and worse still, they're client-server programs, with one end running on the device in front of you, talking to a different program running somewhere else.

Much of the modern computing world runs over this stuff. Ostensibly local applications, from Slack to Teams, are just JavaScript applets running inside their own private single-site browser – and those all use Google's browser engine. Web engines and web apps are a core part of the digital world – arguably, the core part.

As, of course, is open source: most web servers run on Linux, and on the client end, over 70 per cent of smartphones run Android, which is also Linux underneath.

Just as over 70 percent of smartphones run Linux, over 70 per cent of browsers are based on Google's code. At the time of writing, some 64 per cent is Chrome, plus 5.4 per cent Edge. Opera and the Samsung browser make up about another 5 per cent. As they all run on the same engine, Chromium – as does Vivaldi and Brave – that's perilously close to three quarters.

Safari, whose rendering engine WebKit is the origin of Chromium's Blink engine, is a little under 20 per cent, making it by far the leading non-Chromium browser – but almost exclusively on Apple OSes. GNOME Web, codenamed Epiphany, is as far as we know the only WebKit browser on Linux (and, it should be noted, on Haiku as well). The Windows port of WebKit is still maintained — for instance, iTunes uses it – but the Windows version of Safari was discontinued back in 2012.

So how come the original open source web browser is now, Statcounter estimates, under 3 percent? Mozilla, it seems to us, has missed a lot of opportunities, and continues to do so.

There is still a niche for power user browsers, and for powerful integration tools to bring together disparate comms channels that force users into web apps and Electron clients. Despite the sales of ChromeBooks and the free ChromeOS Flex, despite the Steam Deck and Steam OS, Linux still isn't a mainstream end-user OS. If you run Linux, you're probably a power user. Firefox is the dominant Linux browser. By default, it's the only standalone app in next month's Ubuntu Mantic Minotaur.

Mozilla, please stop aping Chrome. Copying is rarely the way to win big. The Australis Chrome-like theme in Firefox 29 annoyed users and was a driving force behind Pale Moon. Firefox Quantum killed XUL addons, and drove The Reg FOSS desk to Waterfox Classic. Others went to Basilisk instead, while XP users have MyPal.

Even Microsoft's Chrome-based Edge has vertical tabs. Firefox doesn't, and to make them well, you must mess around with config files, although we still feel it's worth it. The Vivaldi browser shows that there is still plenty of room to outdo Chrome on features, and a market of people who want for them.

Can we please have a Firefox that leans into being the browser for power users? Bundle some of the more powerful extensions that survived your self-inflicted extension extinction event. Vertical or tree-structured tabs, on any edge. Menu bars and hotkeys. Multithreaded downloads, even integrated BitTorrent support. Perhaps experiment with this stuff in the Firefox developer edition. Bring back the customizability it once had, which you've been steadily removing for years.

Thunderbird is also a powerful asset. Although it too is sadly neglected, Pidgin is still around and still works, and libPurple remains uniquely powerful. There are plugins that get it talking to Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, RocketChat, Signal, Mattermost, you name it. Adopt it, update it, add it to Chat Core.

Thunderbird could be the universal client that talks to dozens of services in one place. There is room here for significant improvement over the existing multiprotocol messaging clients we've described before.

Leave Chrome and its offspring to the technophobic, and make some cross-platform tools for the keyboard merchants who know how to email like a pro. ®

Source

One new feature now allows Teams recorded meetings to be watched by attendee afterwards on demand. Microsoft stated:

Once a webinar ends, organizers can publish the video recording and automatically send an email to attendees with a link to watch the video on-demand. The published video will be hosted on the online event page. A recording can be published from the recordings section within the webinar setup and management experience.

Another new feature that's was added last month lets Teams admins to "create up to 1,000 standard or shared channels in new and existing teams." This will be expanded to private channels at a later date.

Yet another new addition in Teams lets users who are making and sending video clips message a way to blur their background, and also a way to just record their screen. They can also now record and send audio-only messages.

Microsoft has also added support for adding guest users between tenants across Microsoft clouds. The company stated:

Guests can participate in a full collaboration experience including audio/video, screen share, file share and both 1:1 and 1:many chat. Admins can establish trust between tenants and across the Microsoft clouds via Entra B2B and Cross Tenant Access Settings.

In September, Microsoft added access to live translations of meeting transcripts for Teams Premium members in a public preview. Last week, it announced the new Town Hall feature, which will allow for up to 20,000 people to join a Teams presentation, will launch for commercial users on October 5.

Finally, today is the day that Microsoft said it would start offering Teams services as a stand alone product outside of Microsoft 365 for the European Economic Area, as well as in Switzerland. This was an attempt by Microsoft to avoid an anticompetitive fine by the EU, although unconfirmed reports claim the effort won't be enough.

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All of the online resources we have seen including Microsoft's own history page, show that the first release of Microsoft Excel happened on September 30, 1985, or 38 years ago today.

Much like the release of Word, the launch of the Excel spreadsheet program was made by Microsoft when there was a lot of competition in this specific software space. VisiCalc was the first such program, which launched in 1979. In 1983, Lotus 1–2–3 was released and quickly outsold VisiCalc.

Microsoft previously tried to enter the spreadsheet industry, even before the release of Lotus 1-2-3, with its launch of Microsoft Multiplan in 1982. The 8-bit program was released for a number of different operating systems including MS-DOS, CP/M, Xenix, and others.

It was also released for a number of different PCs like the Commodore 64, the Apple II, the RTS-80, and more. In 1984, a version of Multiplan was released for the Apple Macintosh, which used a GUI instead of a text-based interface.

However, the sales of Multiplan were not high enough to defeat the popularity of Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft decided to create an all-new spreadsheet program. GeekWire has an interesting article at the creation of Microsoft's second, and ultimately successful, attempt at such a program, with chats from some of the people who developed it.

One of the things the article points out is that Microsoft's developers came up with some features that Lotus 1-2-3 did not have. That included what was called "intelligent recall":

Rather than recalculating all the cells when one cell was changed, it selectively recalculated cells affected by the change — making the program more efficient and improving its performance on the limited hardware of early personal computers.

When it was in development, GeekWire said that it was under the code name "Odyssey". However, some other suggested names were thrown out, like “Master Plan” and our personal favorite, “Mr. Spreadsheet".

The final Excel name came from a suggestion from an unnamed branch manager at Microsoft in 1984, according to the book "A History Of The Personal Computer" by Roy A. Allen.

The first Excel version that launched 38 years ago today was released for the popular Apple Macintosh. Oddly enough, there was never a version of Excel released that was made for MS-DOS. Microsoft decided that the graphical user interface that was made for the Mac was the best way to access the spreadsheet.

Microsoft also released the first version of Windows in 1985, a few months after the launch of Excel. Two years later, the first Windows version of Excel was launched and soon after that, sales of the program exceeded that of Lotus 1-2-3. Along with its other productivity software products like Word and PowerPoint, Microsoft managed to dominate that market and make those programs required for nearly all businesses in the 1990s and into the early 2000s.

Today, while there are certainly other spreadsheet programs, in particular Google Sheets, that are available, Microsoft Excel remains the major force in that market. Microsoft continues to update the program with new features, such as the recent edition of adding support for the Python coding language. It even added an improvement for manual calculation mode just a few weeks ago that had not been appreciably changed since VisiCalc first launched in 1979. Now that's progress.

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Well, today is one of the dates that has indeed been listed as the official launch date of Microsoft Word 1.0 for MS-DOS. Microsoft posted a history of the company and claimed this as part of its 1983 coverage.

September 29, 1983

Microsoft ships it’s full-featured word processing program, Word for MS-DOS 1.00 and provides a free demonstration copy to subscribers of The PC World Software Review.

So today is the 40th anniversary of Microsoft Word, right? Well, maybe not. The same Microsoft history page where that statement was posted also has a video, and during that video (go to the 2:32 mark) the presenter says that Microsoft Word actually launched on November 29, 1983.

And if that wasn't confusing enough, other online histories of this word processor program claim that the launch date was October 25, 1983. If anyone reading this 'quick look' back at the release of Word 1.0 can give us some definitive evidence that one of these dates, or some other date, is correct, we will update this article accordingly.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's look at how Microsoft Word came to be.

PC World posted an article during Word's 25th anniversary that stated back in 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi. He was the lead developer behind an earlier word processor called Bravo. It was notable for being the first such program with a graphical user interface. Along with another developer named Richard Brodie, work commenced on Microsoft's attempt to launch its own word processing program.

The business already had a lot of competition. Wordstar was a popular word processing program in the early days of personal computing, and in 1982 another program for DOS, WordPerfect had launched.

Originally, Microsoft was going to name its program Multi-Tool Word. Infoworld magazine from May 30, 1983 announced the new word processor, and that it would be bundled with a Microsoft Mouse, although the article said it would just be an "option" to actually use the application. The article touted some of the program's features like automatic text reformatting, and the use of style sheets.

Thankfully, the company decided to shorten the name of the program when it finally launched as just Microsoft Word. It also bundled a demo version of the software with the November 1983 version of PC World magazine. It was the first time that a software program would be bundled with a print magazine.

The price for Microsoft Word 1.0, with the included mouse, was $498. That was a ton of money for anything back then and, adjusted for inflation, the Word and mouse bundle would cost $1,514.39 in 2023 dollars.

The release of Word 1.0 was, in fact, a bit of a bust. It did not sell well as many people preferred to use competing products like WordStar, and especially WordPerfect, which became the go-to word processing program for most folks with PCs in the early to mid-1980s.

Indeed, it wasn't until Microsoft launched Word 1.0 for Windows six years later in 1989 that the program began to take hold and more people began to use it. It also sparked a huge rivalry with WordPerfect, which we may write about someday.

In any case, no matter the exact date, this year is indeed the 40th anniversary of Microsoft's first release in word processing software. It didn't set the world on fire back then, but it did lay the foundations for Microsoft's success in that field years later.

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Microsoft's new AI Copilot for Windows 11 is now rolling out, but it's still too slow to be something that people are actually going to want to use. I highlighted this issue when the Windows Copilot first launched in preview back in June; the AI model takes too long to process your commands or queries, to a point where it makes more sense to do the task or find the information yourself.

The only scenario where Copilot makes sense is with complex tasks, asking it to handle multiple search queries and present it as a single answer. In that example, Copilot is fantastic. I can ask it how many Xbox Series X retail boxes I can fit in the back of my Tesla Model 3, and Copilot will do the research to:

1. Find out the dimensions of an Xbox Series X retail box
2. Find out the dimensions of a Tesla Model 3 trunk
3. Do the math to come to an answer

This would take a human much longer to process, whereas Copilot's AI can do it in less than a minute. In this scenario, Copilot makes total sense. That said, it does like to talk and will respond to you like a human instead of just providing you with an answer, almost as if it's trying to teach you how it came to this answer.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I just need the answer. Copilot does have a "more precise" answer mode, which is supposed to reduce the amount of 'humany' responses it gives, but I find it still likes to talk a little too much. No option simply provides me with the answer.

Then there are the more simple queries, such as asking about the weather or finding out the name of an artist's latest album. These kinds of requests can almost always be completed faster with a traditional internet search using either Bing or Google. Copilot has to think about what you're asking first, look up a number of sources to come to an accurate conclusion, and then respond to your query with an answer.

These queries are always typed out in front of you, too. They don't just appear. This adds to the impression that Copilot is slow because I often read faster than its response can be generated. This means I'm waiting for Copilot to catch up to me, and it becomes frustrating.

As a test, I timed the following query: What was the name of Rihanna's last album?

• Copilot: 16.55 seconds 
• Bing: 0.5 seconds

Even though Bing powers Copilot, it uses a different type of technology to find these results, which takes much longer to respond. Bing had the answer at the top of the search page almost the second I hit enter. So, when it comes to simple internet searches, Copilot is not a great experience.

Then there's the issue of having to talk to Copilot like it's a human. You need to use full sentences for it to be most effective, unlike a traditional Internet search provider, which often works best with just keywords. With Bing or Google, I could just type "Rihanna last album" and get the answer I need.

Lastly, there's the Windows-specific stuff. Copilot is supposed to be a replacement for Cortana, which means it should be able to control Windows like Cortana could. This implementation is still quite basic, but I know it will improve over time. Regarding speed, it's still much slower than changing these settings yourself.

You can ask Copilot to turn on dark mode, do not disturb mode, or ask it to open an app or snap that app, but all these queries require an additional step to enable said command. And that's not factoring in the time it takes for Copilot to process the request in the first place, usually around 2-3 seconds.

If you know where these settings are, it's almost always faster to manually toggle it yourself. 

Overall, this first version of Microsoft Copilot on Windows is kind of a letdown. Without plugins, functionally, it's very basic. Even if it did have third-party plugin support like Bing Chat, the time it takes to do stuff is often too slow for it to be useful. I shouldn't find myself thinking, "this would have been quicker if I did it myself" every time I use it.

As I said, for queries that require multiple steps, it's great and often faster. But for the common, everyday queries you might be tempted to use it for, just use Bing or Google instead. 

Hopefully, this improves over time. Part of this slowness comes from the fact that Copilot needs to process its answers on a server farm somewhere far away because this AI tech is too resource-intensive to run on local hardware, at least currently.

Source

What you need to know

• Microsoft just released Windows 11 Build 23555 to Insiders in the Dev Channel.
• The update includes a fix for an issue that could cause PCs to crash after attempting to open Copilot from the taskbar.
• Copilot is available for non-Insiders as well through the Windows 11 September 26, 2023 update that started rolling out this week.

Microsoft Copilot is a new feature that brings the power of AI to your Windows 11 desktop. Unfortunately for some Windows Insiders, attempting to launch Copilot from the taskbar could cause PCs to crash. That's no longer the case, thanks to an update for Dev Channel Insiders that brings systems to Windows 11 Build 23555.

As far as we can tell, the bug is not an issue for those on production builds of Windows 11, so everyday users should not be affected. But those running Windows Insiders builds may have run into the problem, so Microsoft rolled out a fix. The company outlined all of the changes in a blog post.

If you'd like to use Copilot but don't want to enroll in the Insider program, make sure to install the Windows 11 September 26, 2023 update. We also have a hands-on video to show you what Copilot is capable of.

Windows 11 Build 23555: Fixes

Copilot

• Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash when trying to open Copilot from the taskbar.

Narrator

• Fixed an issue that was preventing you from previewing Narrator natural voices in Settings.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Narrator from reading the time stamp on Start’s recommended items correctly.

Task Manager

• Fixed an issue which was causing a Task Manager crash when changing Always on Top mode.

Windows 11 Build 23555: Known Issues

Start menu

• Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

Windows Copilot

• [NEW] The new Copilot icon is not shown currently in Dev Channel builds. It will be updated in an upcoming flight – stay tuned!
• We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.
• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot
• When first launching or after refreshing Copilot while using voice access you’ll need to use “Show grid” commands to click in the “Ask me anything” box for the first time.

Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel can install the latest build through the Windows Settings app or grab the SDK for it through Microsoft's website.

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As part of the messy September update rollout, in addition to many new features and improvements, Windows 11 is also getting various updates for its inbox apps with AI functionalities, and even the Microsoft Paint app is getting a few new capabilities.

In this wave of updates, the Paint app is getting at least four significant features, and everyone is powered by AI, including layers, support for transparency, Cocreator, and the ability to remove backgrounds. 

Although Microsoft is touting the new features for Paint as components of the update available with the September 2023 release, these updates are available through the Microsoft Store, and you have to update the app manually or wait until the new version downloads automatically on your computer.

This how-to guide will dive into the new features coming to the Paint app on Windows 11.

Microsoft Paint: New features

As part of this release, the Paint app will allow you to work with layers and transparency on ".png" files, and you will now get the ability to create different types of artwork and remove the background of images using AI.

Layers

If you ever used image editing applications like Photoshop, you have a good idea about layers. In Paint, you can now add, remove, and manage layers for the canvas of the image. 

Using layers, you can stack multiple images on top of each other, allowing you to edit different parts of your image without affecting the other parts.

You can get started with layers by opening the Paint app on Windows 11 and clicking the "Layers"button in the command bar. On the right, you can start working on the canvas using tools, brushes, shapes, and colours or opening an image you want to use as background. 

Once you're done editing the first layer, click the plus (+) button on the right or use the "Ctrl + Shift + N" keyboard shortcut to create additional layers.

In the new layer, you can start working on the other part of the image. You can always drag the layers up and down to bring parts of the image forward or backward. Also, you can toggle the option on the top-right to show or hide a layer. 

If you right-click a layer, the context menu will give you different options, including the ability to show or hide, duplicate, and delete the layer.

When completing the part of the image that includes different layers, you can use the "Merge down" option to combine those layers into one. Although there's no unmerge button, you can click the undo button to revert the changes.

Transparency

Although you have been able to view and edit ".png" files on Paint, it will always save the image with a white background when editing files with transparency. However, the newest update of the app includes support for images with transparency. 

In other words, this means that the next time you open a transparent ".png" file, you will notice a checkerboard pattern on the canvas indicating the portions of the image with transparency.

Furthermore, when deleting a portion of the canvas, you will end up with transparency instead of a white section.

Background remover 

The Paint app now also includes the ability to remove the background of an image with a single click using AI. 

You can get started with this feature by launching the Paint app and opening any image with a subject and a background, and then you have two ways to remove the background. 

The first option is to click the remove background button from the command bar. As part of the process, the app will use AI to detect the elements on the image and remove the background.

If you only want to remove part of the background, use the selection tool from the command bar to select the region and then click the remove background button.

Cocreator 

Finally, the Paint app is getting an update that integrates the DALL-E AI technology that allows you to turn a description in words into an image. If this feature sounds familiar, it's because this is the same technology you will find in Bing Chat to create images with AI.

You can get started by opening the Paint app and clicking the "Cocerator" button. In the prompt box, type a description of the image you want, choose from one of the available style options, and click the "Create" button. (The more descriptions you add to your prompt, the more accurate the image will be.)

The feature will return three images you can add to the canvas and continue creating with different layers.

According to Microsoft, for the Paint Cocreator feature, you have to sign up for the waitlist by signing in with your Microsoft account. Once the feature is available to you, the "Cocreator" button will appear in the command bar. 

Also, since generating images with AI requires a vast amount of power, you will receive 50 credits to redeem for image creations (each set of images costs one credit). 

Furthermore, the Paint Cocreator feature will initially be available in the United States, France, the UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany.

At the time of this writing, this last feature is gradually rolling out to devices enrolled in the Dev and Canary Channel of the Windows Insider Program. However, the rest of the features mentioned in this article are available with the latest version of the Paint app in the Stable Channel.

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Copilot is one of the big new features in the Windows 11 September 2023 update, and as it becomes 23H2 at a later date. For anyone who's used Bing Chat before, Copilot will be immediately familiar, since Microsoft's AI chatbot is at the heart of it. But the bigger play with Copilot is going to be how it integrates with the OS in a way that Bing Chat simply can't. 

One neat thing you can do is sort of replace Bing Chat in the Microsoft Edge Sidebar with Copilot. You do this by enabling Copilot integration with Microsoft Edge, which allows the browser to send the content of open tabs over to Copilot. It's extremely easy to set up, but not at all obvious that you can do it at all. 

How to enable Copilot integration for Microsoft Edge

(Image credit: Windows Central)

To set up your Windows 11 PC so that Copilot and Microsoft Edge can talk to each other, follow these steps. 

1. Open Copilot on your PC, either by clicking the Taskbar icon or using the Win + C keyboard shortcut.
2. Click on the three dots along the top edge.
3. Click Settings.
4.  Under "Let Copilot in Windows use Microsoft Edge content" turn the toggle to on.

(Image credit: Windows Central)

Once enabled, you'll be able to enter commands into Copilot to act upon content in your active Microsoft Edge tabs, just as you might with Bing Chat. For example, if you want to summarize a web page, you would just ask Copilot to do so and enter the prompt here instead of in the Edge Sidebar. 

Windows 11 Copilot is still in its very early stages and is fairly limited right now, but as it evolves this will surely change. But by enabling its integration with Microsoft Edge, you're able to have a permanent AI helper at your side that won't encroach onto your browser window. 

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The update is available for Firefox and Firefox ESR for desktop operating system, for Firefox Focus and for Firefox for Android.

The desktop version of Firefox is updated to version 118.0.1 to address the issue. Firefox ESR is updated to 115.3..1, and the two Android-based browsers are updated to version 118.1.0.

The security issue is the same that Google addressed in Chromium and Google Chrome yesterday.

CVE-2023-5217: Heap buffer overflow in libvpx, is a critical security issue in libvpx. Libvpx is a software video codec library developed by Google and the Alliance for Open Media. The free tool is open source and widely used in web browsers.

Mozilla notes on the security advisory website: "Specific handling of an attacker-controlled VP8 media stream could lead to a heap buffer overflow in the content process. We are aware of this issue being exploited in other products in the wild."

The issue is actively exploited in the wild, but it is unclear how widespread the attacks are. Mozilla reveals that the attack needs access to a VP8 media stream to be carried out.

Firefox users should update their browser immediately to protect it from attacks. Desktop users may select Menu > Help > About Firefox to do so.

The popup that opens displays the installed version. Firefox runs an automatic check for updates whenever the popup is opened; it should pick up the new version to download and install it. A restart of the web browser is required to complete the installation. Another check of the "About" popup should display the new version and reassure users that their browser is no longer vulnerable to the attack.

Android users need to wait until the new version is pushed to their devices via Google Play.

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This is a pretty minor update, as it is designed to fix a few issues in the new Windows 11 feature update, including the Copilot generative AI assistant, along with fixes for Narrator and Task Manager. It also has a few known issues as well, mostly with Copilot, in this build.

Here is the changelog:

Fixes

[Copilot]

• Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash when trying to open Copilot from the taskbar.

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue that was preventing you from previewing Narrator natural voices in Settings.

• Fixed an issue that prevented Narrator from reading the time stamp on Start’s recommended items correctly.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue which was causing a Task Manager crash when changing Always on Top mode.

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

[Start menu]

• Some apps under All apps on the Start menu, such as PWA apps installed via Microsoft Edge, may incorrectly be labeled as a system component.

[Windows Copilot]

• [NEW] The new Copilot icon is not shown currently in Dev Channel builds. It will be updated in an upcoming flight – stay tuned!

• We heard feedback from Insiders in the Dev Channel that the Windows Copilot Preview is not available in some regions. We found an issue and plan to re-enable it for these Insiders with a fix in a future flight.

• You can use Alt + Tab to switch out of Windows Copilot, but not back into it. Windows + C will move focus back to Windows Copilot

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

You can check out the full blog post here.

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The March OOBE update, for example, added a Shim to improve compatibility with Component Object Model (COM) objects. Meanwhile, the April OOBE update also addressed compatibility issues, but this time it was related to the registry.

With this month's OOBE update release though, Microsoft hasn't gone into any detail about what the new update brings as it has only mentioned that this is meant to improve the Windows 22H2 Out of box experience.

The release notes as well as other related details regarding these updates are given below:

KB5030323: Out of Box Experience update for Windows 11, version 22H2: September 26, 2023

Summary

This update improves the Windows 11, version 22H2 out-of-box experience (OOBE). This update applies only to the Windows 11 OOBE process and is available only when OOBE updates are installed.

How to get this update

Windows OOBE

This update is installed during the Windows OOBE process if an Internet connection is available.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for installing this update.

Restart information

Your device requires a restart after applying this update.

Update replacement information

This update does not replace a previously released update.

[..]

KB5031274: Out of Box Experience update for Windows 11, version 22H2: September 26, 2023

Summary

This update improves the Windows 11, version 22H2 out-of-box experience (OOBE). This update applies only to the Windows 11 OOBE process and is available only when OOBE updates are installed.

How to get this update

Windows OOBE

This update is installed during the Windows OOBE process if an Internet connection is available.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for installing this update.

Restart information

Your device requires a restart after applying this update.

Update replacement information

This update does not replace a previously released update.

The official support articles from Microsoft are linked here: KB5030323 / KB5031274.

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Upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows is no longer possible, and it now seems that Microsoft is removing the loophole to prevent users from activating Windows 11 with old Windows license keys.

As spotted by Deskmodder, Microsoft published a message on the Device Partner Center, notifying customers that the installation path to obtain free upgrades from Windows 7 and 8 to more recent Windows versions is no longer available. What it means is that you can no longer update from Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 or 11.

Windows Ends Installation Path for Free Windows 7/8 Upgrade

Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10 / 11 ended July 29, 2016. The installation path to obtain the Windows 7 / 8 free upgrade is now removed as well. Upgrades to Windows 11 from Windows 10 are still free.

Although old Windows 7 and 8 keys can still activate Windows 11 version 22H2, newer releases no longer accept such keys. We managed to activate a VM running Windows 11 version 22H2, but a similar virtual machine with the latest Windows 11 Canary build (presumably version 24H2) rejected a Windows 7 key.

If you plan to build a PC or buy one without an OS, get an official Windows 11 Home key from Amazon with a 7% discount. The OS usually costs $139, but you can now get it for $129.98. The Professional SKU will set you back $199.

We may earn an affiliate commission when you purchase through links on our site.

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Paint Cocreator is based on DALL-E, a generative AI visual art platform by OpenAI. The integrated system works similarly to Microsoft's Image Creator, which anyone may access on the Bing website.

Paint users describe what they would like created by the AI and the AI interprets the instructions to create three artworks. Users may select a style, e.g., pixel art, and hit the create button to start the process.

All three creations are returned in Paint and a click on one of them opens it in the main pane of the image editor. These images can be saved to the local system or edited, but Paint is still limited when it comes to that, despite the recent features that Microsoft introduced in the image editor.

New features let users remove backgrounds from images and layers in the image editor.

Users get 50 credits to get started using Paint Cocreator. For that, they need to link their Microsoft Account to the feature first. Information on adding credits to the account is not provided at this time; it is possible that users may gain them via Microsoft Rewards and through other means later on.

The feature is restricted in several ways at the time of writing:

• Microsoft rolls out Paint Cocreator to Windows 11 Canary and Dev Insider systems. Not all Insiders get the new functionality right away.
• Paint Cocreator is available in the following regions only: United States, France, UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany.
• Instructions may only be provided in English.

Image generation is restricted in the same way as Bing Image Creator. Microsoft uses content filtering and safeguards to "prevent the generation of images that may be harmful, offensive, or inappropriate".

Closing Words

Paint users who don't want to use Cocreator may ignore the new button in the interface. Since it requires linking a Microsoft account, it won't work, even if activated accidentally without linking first.

It makes sense for Microsoft to integrate the image editor in Paint, even though it has nothing to offer that the Image Creator on Bing does not offer already. It is a natural match and since it is optional, it should not irritate too many users.

Now You: do you use AI to create images?

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While many thought, including Neowin, that the recent September 26 feature update was 23H2, Microsoft clarified later that it had been planned for a different date. However, Microsoft did roll out a bunch of 23H2 features early with the Moment 4 update. In case you missed it, it has been live since last night.

Simultaneously, the tech giant rolled out the first Windows 1123H2 build to the Release Preview channel. Following that, today, the company has announced the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) certification for Windows 11 23H2, though it notes there is hardly any change compared to 22H2 as the system requirements are unaltered.

On a Tech Community blog post, Microsoft explains:

Microsoft is pleased to announce the release preview of Windows 11, version 23H2 annual feature update, which shares the same servicing branch and code base as Windows 11, version 22H2, and will be delivered via an enablement package (eKB).

[..]

There is no plan to update the certification status issued by the HLK: the certification status that was used for the HLK for Windows 11, version 22H2, which is “Certified for Microsoft Windows 11 Client family version 22H2”, will continue to be used for this this HLK release for the Windows 11, version 23H2 update.

While there are no changes to WHCP or certification status, the updated HLK release with Windows 11, version 23H2 will be required when using Windows 11, version 23H2 to certify. Note, certifying for Windows 11, version 23H2 is optional.

If you are not familiar with it, the WHCP certification program is meant to ensure that the hardware is compliant with the minimum system requirements and such, so that Windows application compatibility is maintained.

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After almost two years in beta, Adobe’s Photoshop on the web service — a simplified online version of the company’s desktop photo editing app — is now generally available starting Wednesday, September 27th. According to information Adobe shared with The Verge, Photoshop on the web is launching with the popular Generative Fill and Generative Expand tools that were recently released for the desktop version of Photoshop. 

Powered by Adobe’s Firefly generative AI model, these features are available for commercial use and allow users to quickly add to, remove from, or expand an image using text-based descriptions in over 100 languages, all while matching the original image’s lighting conditions and perspective.

Here’s a screenshot of what Photoshop for the web looks like now that it’s out of beta. Image: Adobe

Photoshop on the web also provides many of its desktop equivalent’s most commonly used tools but with a redesigned layout that provides new Photoshop users with a more “streamlined” user experience. This includes the Contextual Task Bar feature — which suggests the most relevant steps to take in your workflow — that was added to the desktop Photoshop app earlier this year.

Tools that share similar workflows — like those used to select objects and retouch images — are named and grouped together on the toolbar to make the software easier to navigate. This view can be disabled for experienced creatives who prefer the look of the desktop version of Photoshop’s user interface. Adobe says that desktop features like the patch tool, pen tool, smart object support, polygonal lasso, and more will be added “soon.”

Photoshop on the web also enables users to invite others to collaborate on projects and allows those without an active Photoshop description to view and comment on files.

The web-based Photoshop service is included as part of all Photoshop paid plans (which start at $9.99 per month) and will not be available as a free-to-use experience at launch. Adobe started testing a “freemium” version of its Photoshop for the web experience in June last year after the initial beta release of Photoshop for the web in 2021.

The company previously said that it hoped to offer a free version of the service that provided most of Photoshop’s core desktop functions. But Ashley Still, Adobe’s senior vice president of digital media, has now told The Verge that the creative software giant “does not have immediate plans for a freemium offering” and that new users can instead check out Photoshop on the web through “free interactive demos and in-app tutorials” on Adobe’s website before committing to a subscription.

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Windows Development Environment virtual machines are available in four variants: VMware (Workstation Pro and Player), Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels Desktop (macOS). You can use them for free for 90 days, and after that period, you will have to download a newer version (Microsoft updates its virtual machines every month). It is also worth noting that you cannot activate a WDE virtual machine with a license key as stated in the official FAQ section:

Is it possible to activate the Windows license in these images for long term use?

No, these VM images use Windows Enterprise Evaluation Edition and do not support activation with a product key.

To install a Windows Development Environment virtual machine, your PC must have at least 70GB of free space and 8GB of RAM. Also, ensure you have enabled virtualization in your PC's firmware settings (BIOS or UEFI).

Windows Development Environment version 2309 is based on Windows 11 build 22621.2283, which means it includes the latest September 2023 Patch Tuesday updates. Note that since the Moment 4 is currently an optional non-security update, it is not available in WDE—expect Microsoft's virtual machines to get the latest features by the end of November 2023. However, you can download WDE version 2309 and then get the Moment 4 update as described in our "How to install Windows 11 Moment 4" guide.

Microsoft's newest Windows 11 virtual machines include plenty of developer apps and utilities. However, those wanting a clean install without extra software can download the corresponding version here.

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Every month, I read headlines claiming that the latest patches for Windows 11 22H2 are causing major issues and impacting gazillions of users.

Every month, I also note that the deployments of Windows 11 in my home and office are well behaved. Some of that is surely the result of my tender ministrations, such as using an alternate menu system. But for the rest, Windows 11 is not some sort of monster stomping through neighborhoods and ruining lives.

I consider the current updates safe, so I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4.

My key change to Windows 11 is using Stardock’s Fences program to organize the desktop. For several users at the office who find the new start menu difficult, I endorse Stardock’s Start11. But I’ve also given up on the new File Explorer and returned to the traditional copy-and-paste menu (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Explorer’s context menu in Windows 11 (left) and Windows 10 (right)

Honestly, I tried to use the new File Explorer’s context menu. But it was just a bridge too far for me — impacting my productivity at the office, where efficiency is most important. Thankfully, there is a way to restore the mode of operation I prefer. Run the Registry editor and follow these steps (see Figure 2):

Figure 2. New Registry key to restore old Explorer behavior

You should now be able to right-click in File Explorer and get the full copy-and-paste menu. It remains to be seen whether this will stay after the next feature release.

Nearly everyone I know who runs Windows 11 22H2 received an unusual reboot the other night. The Windows Configuration Update was installed on Friday night (Figure 3) and demanded a reboot.

Figure 3. Not a security update

The update is not a security update, and it blew past nearly everyone’s deferral settings. I still have not seen an acknowledgment from Microsoft as to why this update was pushed and required. Needless to say, I’m not going to rest until I find out why it was handled in this fashion. It appears to be an update in advance of the next Windows 11 release. More on this below.

In this week’s optional updates, Microsoft will be releasing Copilot for Windows. This is not the same as Microsoft 365 Copilot that adds AI features to Word and Excel. Rather — as some have described it — it’s a means to counter the lack of good Windows documentation on the Web. In this week’s updates, Windows Copilot is optional, gated behind Moments control (aka commercial control). But Windows 11 23H2 is just around the corner. It will turn on Copilot by default.

Remember: You can use Group Policy to control these Moments. Launch Group Policy Editor on your local computer (Windows Pro and above) and go to Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates, then to Windows Components | Windows Update | Manage end user experience, and find Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default. Make sure this item is disabled (see Figure 4). I’ll be putting more links and information on the Master Patch List page once the preview is released.

Figure 4. Control Moments with Group Policy Editor

Also remember: I do not recommend installing preview releases. Note that 23H2 will not be released on September 26 — just this beginning of the dribbling of the Copilot technology.

Although I consider the Windows 10 updates safe, be aware that the September release of Windows 10 22H2 included a new Backup app in your Start menu. The service is set to manual. It will want to back up your device to OneDrive, ostensibly to facilitate a move to a new computer. Ignore this — at the present time, there is no way to remove it. I’m hoping that Microsoft will provide some sort of script, as this works only with Microsoft accounts and not with local, education, and work accounts. I’ll have more on this in an upcoming newsletter.

Now is the time to be sure you are on Windows 11 22H2, because it will minimize problems with the upcoming 23H2. I recommend using the InControl application to confirm the feature release you are on and to control other feature releases. If you set the feature release for Windows 11 22H2 and are currently on 21H2, you should soon receive the 22H2 feature release. Because this is a minor release, it should be a quick update.

Be aware that we’ve seen appwiz.cp-/mso.dll errors since the Office 2016 Update KB5002457 was applied. I have not seen this in click-to-run deployments of Office, so it appears to be limited to the .msi installation versions of Office. If you are impacted, click to uninstall the update. On Office 2013, I’m tracking problems with the click-to-run version. For this, you’ll need to roll back to the prior release. Rolling back click-to-run is not easy. As described in this Reddit post, perform the following:

I’ve noticed that the Windows backup app provided to all Windows 10 22H2 users doesn’t work in a business setting. It launches to a page indicating we are not supported for the app. Hopefully, Microsoft will provide a script to remove this software that is needed only in a limited consumer setting. No business that I’ve ever interacted with would use OneDrive to migrate their applications to a new computer.

Microsoft is clearly getting ready for 23H2. In addition to the backup application, Microsoft decided several days ago that we all needed Windows Configuration Update. Not only that, Microsoft also decided we needed to reboot all our computers. If you had a Windows 22H2 machine, this update bypassed all patching deferrals we had in place. No one from Microsoft is indicating what went wrong, but my guess is that someone (or some team) accidentally put a reboot command into the code. Normally, these windows configuration updates are like Defender updates — no reboot required. Clearly this one did, much to everyone’s dismay.

It appears that this is a change to notifications, perhaps laying the foundation to advertise the 23H2 release. Hopefully, the next feature release will go a bit more smoothly.

Apple had its fall hardware event last week. Soon after, iOS 17 was released. This is a relatively large release: depending on your device it may offer 4GB to 6GB of data to download. With major releases, bugs are soon found. So it’s wiser to wait until the 17.1 release comes out. Recently, 17.0.1, which fixes only security issues, was released. I installed it on a sacrificial phone and found I had to hard-shut it down and reboot it after install. This allowed the phone to let me to log in and continue any additional prompts.

I didn’t notice any major changes. In fact, the biggest change I’ve seen is that when I call someone, the speaker button is much more obvious. Another new feature is StandBy, which turns your phone into a smart display. Turn your phone horizontally, and place it onto a charger. You’ll see that it changes into a clock that you can use at night. The good news is that all my two-factor applications survived the upgrade without an issue. That said, for firms having to do large-scale upgrades across many devices, you’ll need to allot some downtime and some over-the-air bandwidth for this update.

Always ensure your devices are backed up before beginning any upgrade process. In addition, review your free space on a device. You may find that you need to remove some photos or music files before starting the upgrade process.

Resources

Source

Here's the announcement from the Windows Insider blog:

Today we are beginning to roll out an update for the Paint app to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels (version 11.2309.20.0 or higher). With this update, we are excited to introduce Paint Cocreator, a new AI-powered experience powered by DALL-E that helps you create amazing artwork in Paint by describing in a few words what you’d like to create. You can optionally select an art style, and when you click Create, Paint Cocreator will generate three variations of artwork for you to choose from. Select any of them to add to the canvas to start creating!

We will be rolling out access slowly at first, so when you get the update, you must first join the waitlist by signing in with your Microsoft account and clicking on the new Cocreator button in the toolbar. You will get an email notification when you are in the preview, and we will give you 50 credits to get started. Each credit lets you generate a new set of images.

At the moment, the Cocreator feature is only available in the United States, France, UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany.

There's also a new support page for this feature which include how to actually launch the Cocreator feature:

To use Cocreator, open Microsoft Paint and select the Cocreator icon on the toolbar to see the Cocreator side panel. In the text box, enter a description of the image you want to create. For example, you can type "a blue cat with a red hat" or "a landscape with mountains and a lake". Be as descriptive as possible to generate results matching your expectations.

Microsoft says the Cocreator feature in the Paint app is based on the company's AI standards and guidelines. In includes content filters that will prevent the app from creating content from Cocreator "that may be harmful, offensive, or inappropriate."

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However, the new File Explorer is not as silky smooth as you might have expected. The updated app has some notable performance problems, plus it ditched the ability to drag and drop files onto the address bar. In Windows 11 Moment 3 and earlier versions, you can grab a file and move or copy it to another directory by dragging it over the address bar. As spotted by Windows Latest, this convenience is no longer available—all you get now is a weird-looking stop icon.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Windows Latest that the missing feature "is not currently supported" and the company would "continue monitoring feedback." Also, very few people use drag and drop with the address bar, so Microsoft decided to cut some corners and ship the redesigned File Explorer faster by omitting parts of the old app.

For those unfamiliar with the technical side of things, File Explorer in the Moment 4 update moved to WinAppSDK, resulting in more features, better accessibility, and improved visuals. Microsoft said the updated address bar has better integration with local and cloud files and lets you get more info about your OneDrive storage.

Windows 11 users are no strangers to situations like this. You can probably recall Microsoft doing the same thing with the taskbar. In 2021, the company shipped Windows 11 with the redesigned taskbar and Start menu lacking multiple old features, such as taskbar regrouping, the "Show seconds in system track clock" option, and more. Hopefully, Microsoft will fix the missing drag-and-drop feature in File Explorer in future updates, like it did with the taskbar.

The Windows 11 Moment 4 update is now available as an optional non-security update in the Stable Channel. Click here to learn how to install it right now.

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What is new in Windows Subsystem for Android 2309 Preview?

We've shipped an update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 to the Windows Subsystem for Android™ Preview Program. This update (2309.40000.2.0) includes improvements to platform reliability and functionality improvements.

Release Notes

• Platform reliability improvements

• Updated Chromium WebView to version 117

• Allow .cer files to be shared to Android

• Graphics improvements

• Android Geocoder APIs (Geocoder | Android Developers) provide valid data for all applications. Be sure to check the terms of use for using Bing Maps data. (Microsoft Software License Terms Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Android™ - Microsoft Support)

• Android 13 Platform Updates

   

If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™. For more information about troubleshooting and submitting feedback: Troubleshooting and FAQ for mobile apps on Windows.

To install the latest Windows Subsystem for Android Preview update, head to the Microsoft Store and check for updates. Alternatively, use a direct store listing link. Note that the update is currently available only to those who signed up for the Windows Subsystem for Android Preview program. Windows Insiders will get version 2309 later.

You can sign up for the WSA Preview Program from the Microsoft Learn website. Before proceeding, ensure your computer meets device requirements that include a minimum of 8GB of RAM, a solid-state drive, and Virtual Machine Platform support. Although there are unofficial hacks that let you run Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 10, the program is officially supported only on Windows 11.

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According to a post published on the official Stardock website, Groupy 2.12 makes the app work better with third-party applications and other Stardock products, such as WindowBlinds or Fancy Zones.

In addition to various under-the-hood fixes, developers spent plenty of time and effort improving how Groupy 2 displays, saves, and opens tab groups. As a result, users get better consistency when opening previously saved groups and web browsers.

Here is the complete changelog:

• Fixed an issue where the Groupy config was opening twice on the initial install
• Fixed settings and saved groups not being removed if checked for an uninstall
• Continued improvements made for restoring saved group apps correctly
• Some language strings updated.
• More work was done on tab order when opening a save group
• A fix for mouseover on tabs on top mode without the background bar not painting differently
• A tweak to how mouseover shows for tabs giving them a slight background colour as well as an edge
• A fix for the Groupy drop-down menu on monitors with different scale factors to the primary screen being too large (if the primary display is a higher scale factor)
• A tweak for how it handles window peek as it may have been causing the wrong tab to get stuck selected or the entire tab bar to go missing in edge cases
• Address an issue with FancyZones
• Address an issue on Windows 10 with WindowBlinds skins
• Fix for closing auto-grouping windows in a tab group causing them to regroup if they prompt
• A small change to how appID is saved for saved groups
• The on/off slider is no longer showing off when Groupy is on and on when groupy is off. Now it says Groupy disabled and Groupy Enabled.
• Fix to custom rules based on exact text matching where it would incorrectly group everything but the window text requested
• Small change to protect rule checking from happening in more than one thread at once for one type of rule that wasn't protected the same as the others.
• Added the prompt about tabs in office apps on the very first run (brand new installs only)
• Modified rules system to handle the case of window handle reuse better just in case that was causing the issues with odd grouping
• Modified the auto group logic to ensure the windows are owned by the same process.
• Changed config to only force English in the USA when lang is set to en-us as it was not handling the case of other languages when located in the US correctly automatically (forced was fine)
• Fix for the ‘Explorer enhancement’ option not reading that it was not toggled on when it really was.
• Fix for other conditions where saved groups could have their tabs out of order from how they were saved
• Fixes issue with vertical alignment of tabs for WB when used with explorer-integrated tabs
• Resolves issue with dragging windows between monitors where the window was not a member of a group but shows groupy bar for ungrouped windows was enabled
• Resolved an issue with swapping tabs with WindowBlinds, causing things to resize briefly
• Improved performance when moving a window when using integrated tabs
• Resolved issue with groupy tabs not vanishing correctly when using window snap when non-integrated tabs
• Resolved issue with windows resizing too large when moving windows between displays of different dpis where the window is not high dpi aware
• Added some delays when launching saved groups sometimes
• Resolved a possible crash issue when grouping new windows
• Tweak for maximized windows opening when in a group.
• Adds support for DelayAfterLaunch = amount in ms (1000 = 1 second) in groupy files if a user wants to increase the delay after launching a given app before launching the next one (if any)
• Fixes a problem with WB and Groupy
• Fix for a problem switching tabs when windows are maximized which showed up in the last week
• Adjusted things so Chrome/Edge windows will not match existing windows when opening a new saved groupy file.
• Resolved issue with saved group position not being used on opening saved groups always
• Tweaked how saved group order is reapplied on load
• Potentially resolved an issue with the groupy insert blue fade window remaining after joining a window to a group on occasion
• Resolved possible issue with a new window opening a group being left visible when it is not the active window in a group
• Fixes issue with non-grouped windows shrinking when maximized when the temporary groupy bar goes away
• Fixes issue with dragging a window out of a custom rules grouping can cause it to instantly regroup
• Improves issue with slow resizing on apps that have extremely slow repaint logic
• Updated DE from user feedback
• Closing a single maximized window from Groupy no longer causes flicker
• Resolved issue with non-native dpi scaling apps being offset correctly when maximized on higher dpi setups
• Resolved issue with group creation being delayed when on a maximized window that always shows tabs
• Resolved issue with window positioning, when opened, maximized on some applications
• Resolved issue with extra line painting with integrated tabs on Windows 10 in Explorer windows and in some windows on Win11 when in dark mode
• Resolved issue with Ctrl + T not opening new windows in Explorer on Win10 (but did on Win11)
• Fixed a WB11 + Groupy tab issue with rounded corners being enabled on Win11 when they should not and leaving more space than really needed for window borders
• Adjusted app launch for saved groups to help resolve an issue with the wrong tab name being used on renamed tabs
• Stopped WB from adding themed borders to the tooltips
• Adjusted tooltip display to auto-dismiss if a group goes away whilst visible

Groupy 2.12 is now available for download. Click About > Check Now to install version 2.12 if you already use the app. New users can download a free trial from the official website or get Groupy 2 on Steam. The app is also available as a part of the Object Desktop suite, which includes programs such as Fences, Start11, SoundPackager, DeskScapes, and Multiplicity.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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