Meanwhile, users of the two latest generations of Intel CPUs were affected by a Windows update issue where the system crashes with a blue screen of death (BSOD) displaying a "UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR" error, even though it is supposed to work perfectly. (Microsoft recently updated its support list for both Intel and AMD.)

MSI, which seems to be the most commonly affected motherboard vendor out of all, published a workaround yesterday which you can find here. The problem is mainly affecting Intel's Z690 and Z790 boards, which are chipsets accompanying 12th and 13th Gen Alder Lake and Raptor Lake parts respectively.

Microsoft has also updated its health dashboard page today with new information and details about the issue. Interestingly, the company says that its latest non-security preview updates, ie, Windows 11 (KB5029351) and Windows 10 (KB5029331), which seemingly triggered this Unsupported CPU BSOD error, is not really what's to blame for the error. It says that this is an issue with a "specific subset of processors":

After investigating these reports, we have found that the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” error was not caused by issues in KB5029351 and is limited to a specific subset of processors. We are collaborating with device manufacturers (OEMs) and will temporarily mitigate this issue by not offering KB5029351 to Windows devices that might be affected by this issue. If you still experience this issue, please contact your device’s processor manufacturer.

If you are one of those affected, you can still provide feedback to Microsoft The company's guidance on how to properly give feedback on the issue can be found in this article. You should also contact your motherboard maker and CPU maker, which seems to be Intel at the moment.

Source

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Here is the changelog;

What’s new in Build 25936

Post-OOBE Experiences

We are trying out several new experiences for after completing OOBE (“out of box experience”) starting with this build. You may see one of these three experiences launched automatically on your device after completing OOBE.

• If you choose ‘Development Intent’ within the ‘Let’s Customize Your Experience’ page during OOBE, Dev Home will be automatically launched on your device after logging in and reaching the desktop for the first time after OOBE setup.
• If you choose ‘Development Intent’ within the ‘Let’s Customize Your Experience’ page during OOBE, the Get Started app will be automatically launched on your device after logging in and reaching the desktop for the first time after OOBE setup. The Get Started app will show you a personalized flow that will help you learn more about Dev Home and give you the opportunity to open Dev Home.
• If you choose to ‘Restore’ your device during OOBE, the Get Started app will be automatically launched on your device after you log into your device for the second time after completing OOBE. The Get Started app will show you a personalized flow that will help you learn about key apps and settings, tell you that Windows has restored on your device and show you how to access your restored apps on Start menu or taskbar.

These experiences will help you learn about new features in Windows 11 and help you complete your device setup. These experiences will only be available to a small subset of Insiders in the Canary Channel at first and you may see different variations of these experiences.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Initial out of box setup.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

[REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Canary Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 25931. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Canary Channel.

[Dynamic Lighting]

We have added the ability to choose a custom colour to light up your devices with.

[Task Manager]

We’ve updated the Task Manager settings page to match the design principles of Windows 11. The design has a similar look and feel to the Settings in Windows 11 and provides a cleaner UI separating categories into different sections. We will also be enabling this in the Dev Channel soon.

Redesigned Task Manager settings.

[Settings]

The end task feature under System > For Developers no longer requires Developer Mode to be enabled first before it can be used.

Fixes for known issues

• Fixed the underlying crash which was causing .NET updates to get stuck requesting restart in Windows Update Settings in recent Canary Channel builds.
• Fixed a few issues which were causing the End Task option in the taskbar to not work, or to close more than just the app you had selected.

You can find the full blog post here.

Source

The full changelog of the new build is given below:

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• [REMINDER] Insider Preview Build Expiration: The expiration date for Insider Preview builds flighted to the Dev Channel has been updated to 9/15/2024 starting with Build 23526. Please make sure you are updated to the latest build in the Dev Channel.
• In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows system components use the default browser to open links.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• We’re re-introducing the search experience for invoking the search flyout when you hover over the search box gleam. This behavior can be adjusted by right-clicking on the taskbar, choosing “Taskbar settings” and adjusting your preferred search box experience.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an issue which was causing explorer.exe to not work in safe mode.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when closing File Explorer.
• Fixed an issue which was causing File Explorer to crash when navigating to Gallery if you had a large number of images.
• Fixed an issue where “Automatically type into the Search Box” wasn’t working when File Explorer was open to Home.
• Fixed an issue where if you tried to copy and paste, a file out of a compressed folder and into a OneDrive folder might fail with an error code.

[HDR Backgrounds]

• Fixed an issue which could cause HDR wallpapers to appear washed out when HDR was enabled.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to move the Task Manager window with touch or pen.
• Fixed an issue where Task Manager was crashing when using the reset to default button in Settings.
• Fixed an issue which was causing sporadic crashes when using Task Manager, including when ending tasks.
• Fixed an issue where if you did a search and then cleared it, the view would still be filtered even though there was no search anymore.
• Fixed an issue where the search icon would become overlapped with the Task Manager text in the title bar.
• Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.
• Updated the summary view for the Performance page (that you see when double clicking the graphs in the navigation pane) to make the window smaller.

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.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Sometimes the tooltip when mousing over the search box does not match the current search highlight.

[Windows Copilot]

• 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 find the official blog post here.

Source

Meanwhile, users of the two latest generations of Intel CPUs were affected by a Windows update issue where the system crashes with a blue screen of death (BSOD) displaying an "UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR" error, even though it is supposed to work perfectly. (Microsoft recently updated its support list for both Intel and AMD.)

The issue has been happening since the latest Windows 11 (KB5029351) and Windows 10 (KB5029331) non-security Preview updates (C-releases).

Interestingly, the problem seems to be hitting MicroStar International (MSI) Z690 and Z790 motherboards the hardest. The Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer has published an advisory today that provides a temporary workaround in case you are facing the unsupported processor BSOD issue. This will involve reverting the BIOS to a previous version and uninstalling the problematic Windows update, ie, Windows 11 (KB5029351) and Windows 10 (KB5029331):

Temporary Workaround

If you have already encountered this issue, KB5029351 might automatically be uninstalled to allow Windows to restore to normal. However, if KB5029351 is not automatically uninstalled, we recommend reverting your BIOS to the previous version and uninstalling KB5029351 from Windows.

Meanwhile, Microsoft itself is unsure at the moment what could be triggering this BSOD error. Hence, the company has asked for more feedback on the issue from affected users. The company's guidance on how to provide proper feedback on the issue can be found in this article.

Source: MSI

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In case you haven't received the Windows Update Health Tools, it can also be manually downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center for commercial customers. The latest update at the time of writing is dated 15th of August 2023. On the support document, Microsoft writes:

Microsoft Update Health Tools is offered to devices through Windows Update as update KB4023057. This update is applicable for both Windows consumer and commercial devices, with a slightly different purpose and functionality.

• On Windows consumer devices, this update helps remediate smooth functioning of Windows Update.

• For commercial devices, this update is recommended for Windows Update for Business (WUfB) Deployment Service for managing Feature and Quality Updates.

The Microsoft Update Health Tools is required for Expediting security updates through Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Graph.

In order to verify if the Microsoft Update Health Tools are working, users can migrate to the installation files (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Update Health Tools). Likewise, commercial customers can check if the Update Health service is running on their devices. The update is currently not needed on devices that are administered through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

You can find more details regarding the update in the support article on Microsoft's official website.

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The build also comes with out of the box experiences feature which will help you see and get accustomed to the newest Windows 11 features more easily.

So the two features should go hand in hand. One will offer you the software experience, the other one, a more physical-hardware experience, as devices will light up according to your own preferred colour.

What do you think about it?

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Sure, it is a popular web browser that offers several features, including a built-in ad blocker, tracking prevention, and password manager. However, some users may find that the browser has a border around web pages. This border can be distracting or unsightly, and there are a few ways to remove it.

In this lengthy conversation on r/Edge, several general non-insider users have spotted that a weird border has randomly appeared out of nowhere on Microsoft Edge and they’re not content about it.

“I hate it when these browsers just randomly change things. What a stupid thing to do. I almost switched back to chrome because of this. Why would anyone want a feature that reduces viewing area by even a small percentage?,” one user writes. 

So, how can I remove border from Microsoft Edge, you may ask? Here’s how. 

How to remove border from Microsoft Edge

1. Open your Edge browser

2. Type in edge://flags on the address bar

3. Search for a flag called “Microsoft Edge rounded corners“

4. Select Disabled from the dropdown.

5. Restart the browser

In case you missed it, there have been a lot of features being worked on the browser. We previously reported that Edge for Business, the enterprise-focused mode of the browser, has just arrived in the Stable channel, and how the browser’s native PDF reader will soon let you translate documents easily.

Microsoft Edge desktop is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

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You simply cannot visit your favorite sites without using a desktop or mobile browser, and many people still prefer traditional browsers for social media, shopping, and consuming the news.

The following browser usage statistics will shed light on the most popular browsers, how people use them, and the changing trends along the way.

Most Important Browser Usage Statistics

These stats give a broad overview of the current web browser market, with Google Chrome as king.

• Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world with a 63.55% global market share.
• 2 billion users have Chrome as their default browser.
• Internet Explorer was number one until 2012 when Chrome surpassed it.
• Firefox has never had more than 23% of the web browser market.
• 88% of mobile internet usage is spent on apps, not browsers.
• Opera One’s AI tool Aria has surpassed 1 million users.

Market Share and Browser Usage Statistics

The following statistics take a closer look at the market share, the number of browser users, and some of the differences between countries and platforms.

1. Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world with a 63.55% global market share.

(Source: StatCounter)

As of July 2023, Google Chrome is the most used web browser across both desktop and mobile. It has a 63.55% share of the global market, 63.32% when only accounting for desktop, and 64.81% when only accounting for mobile.

Its closest competitor is Apple’s Safari, which holds a 19.95% share overall, 13.13% on desktop, and 24.76% on mobile.

Microsoft Edge is a distant third, with a 5.13% share of the global web browser market.

2. Chrome has approximately 3.2 billion active users.

(Sources: Statista, AtlasVPN)

Google Chrome’s huge market share equates to an estimated 3.2 billion people using it as their default browser.

The data suggests that Safari must therefore have more than 1 billion users. Safari’s user base is growing and it’s only the second browser (behind Chrome) to surpass 1 billion users.

During Internet Explorer’s heyday, there simply weren’t enough people online to reach such numbers.

3. Safari is closer to Chrome in the United States than in Europe.

(Source: StatCounter 2)

To put Chrome’s market share into perspective, it still dominates in every region, but the gap is closer in the United States where it has a 51.03% share next to Safari’s 30.84%.

In Europe, Chrome has 58.85% and Safari is further behind with 21.36%.

4. 92.3% of internet users browse the web using mobile.

(Source: DataReportal)

Of all internet users aged 16 to 64, 92.3% accessed the web on mobile in Q2 2022, while 65.6% also used a desktop or laptop computer. On the other end of the scale, only 12.7% of internet users accessed the web via game consoles during this time.

5. 88% of mobile internet usage is spent on apps, not browsers.

(Sources: Insider Intelligence, Statista 3)

As of 2022, most mobile internet usage was spent inside apps like social media apps and games rather than mobile web browsers. Data shows 88% to 12% in favor of non-browser apps.

When focusing only on Android, only 8% of the time users spent on mobile was on mobile browser apps, while 92% of the time was spent on other mobile apps and games.

6. Chrome has been downloaded more than 10 billion times from the Play Store.

(Source: Google Play)

Google Chrome has received a total of more than 10 billion downloads on Google Play since downloads began. In comparison, Safari is only at the 100K mark. However, this is because it is more commonly used on iOS devices.

The Samsung Internet Browser is second, with more than 1 billion downloads, followed by Opera at the 100 million mark.

7. Excluding Safari, Chrome is the most popular browser on the Apple App Store

(Source: SimilarWeb Apps)

Safari is the most popular browser on iOS as it comes preinstalled. However, Chrome is still the most popular third-party browser based on current installs and active users. This is followed by Microsoft Edge. All other browser apps fail to make the ranking minimum.

Unlike Google, Apple does not release approximate download numbers only rankings.

8. QQ and 360 Safe are unique to the Chinese market with over 6% market share each.

(Source: StatCounter 3)

The major players in web browsing are consistently popular in almost every country. However, China has some unique competitors. The QQ Browser, which is owned by TikTok parent company Tencent, has a 6.43% market share behind Edge, Safari, and Chrome.

Meanwhile, the 360 Safe Browser by Qihoo has a 6.1% share of the Chinese market. It’s recognized by its complete rip-off of the Internet Explorer logo in green.

9. Just 0.18% of people still use Internet Explorer.

(Source: StatCounter)

Although it’s discontinued and has security vulnerabilities, 0.18% of people are still using a version of Internet Explorer. This includes both individuals and organizations that have failed to update their systems.

It is also not uncommon for software to use old Internet Explorer features embedded within it.

While 0.18% is very low as a percentage, when there are roughly 5 billion active internet users worldwide, that means 9 million of them are still on Internet Explorer!

10. With a 1% market share, UC Browser is the least popular mainstream mobile browser.

(Source: StatCounter 4)

A small percentage of mobile users still access the obsolete Android browser, which has almost universally been replaced by Chrome. However, in terms of browsers still updated and supported by their developers, UC Browser remains the least popular.

As of July 2023, it has a 1.01% share of the market, which jumps to 1.79% when only accounting for mobile browsers. Android trails with 0.65%.

11. However, UC Browser is still the most searched browser on Google.

(Source: Google Trends)

Despite having such a small market share, UC Browser has been the most searched query related to ‘browser’ according to Google Trends over the past 12 months.

As well as genuine growth, this could also be a case where people already know the most popular browsers but feel the need to search out more information when they come across UC in the app store or are researching alternatives.

12. More Xbox gamers are using Edge than PlayStation gamers are browsing the web at all.

(Source: CBS News)

Until the release of the PS5, PlayStation consoles had a built-in web browser based on WebKit, which is also the source of Apple’s Safari. The PS4 also supported third-party apps like Chrome and Firefox. However, there is no built-in browser or app browser support on PS5.

That means Xbox and its built-in support for Microsoft Edge is leading the console browser war. Even if we assume the still 92 million active PS4 players are using the browser, there are far more combined active Xbox players with the ability to use Edge.

Private Browser Usage Statistics

While most people are familiar with Chrome’s Incognito mode, this is what the data says about different private browsers and browsing habits.

13. The first web browser to feature a privacy mode was Safari in 2005.

(Source: LifeHacker)

Originally dubbed a ‘porn mode’, Apple’s Safari was the first major web browser to feature a private browsing mode with its April 2005 release. It wouldn’t save browsing history, autofill information, or any data related to online forms. Additionally, cookies and cached files created during a session were deleted once the session was ended.

14. 46% of Americans had used private browsing by 2017.

(Source: DuckDuckGo)

In a survey of nearly 6,000 Americans, 46% said they had used private browsing. This number is likely to be much higher today.

The main reason respondents said they used private browsing was ‘Embarrassing Searches’.

15. 57.76 million people currently use the privacy-focused Brave browser.

(Source: Brave)

As web users become more conscious of their privacy and how browsers mine their data, a new space is emerging for privacy-focused browsers. Leading the pack is Brave, which reported 57.76 million monthly active users in June 2023.

However, this is still just 1.8% of the number of users as Chrome.

16. Over 2.5 million people use the Tor browser each day.

(Source: ThinkUKnow)

The Tor browser, based on Firefox, is another web browser designed for enhanced privacy and anonymity. However, unlike Brave, it uses the Tor (The Onion Router) network, which is a decentralized network of volunteer-operated servers that routes traffic through multiple layers of encryption. This permits access to the so-called dark web.

Over 2.5 million people use Tor every day for general privacy, bypassing censorship, whistleblowing, and illegal activities.

Web Browsers and AI Usage

The rise of generative AI and chatbots is leading to a natural fusion with web browsers, much like the search engine/ browser relationship that has been a staple for decades.

17. Opera One’s AI tool Aria has surpassed 1 million users.

(Source: NeoWin)

In June 2023, Opera launched a new version of its browser called One. This includes a ChatGPT-powered AI tool called Aria. In under a month, it passed 1 million users, which is impressive considering Opera is the fourth most popular web browser.

18. The introduction of Bing AI chat to Edge increased market share by 0.68%.

(Sources: StatCounter, The Verge)

Between March and May, Microsoft Edge’s market share grew by around 0.68%, the largest jump in years. This is likely due to the introduction of Bing Chat, an AI version of its built-in Bing search engine.

More than 1 million people signed up within the first 48 hours and Microsoft announced Bing usage had passed 100 million, daily.

19. Upstarts like SigmaOS are developing new ways to use AI within browsers.

(Sources: The Verge 2, SigmaOS)

SigmaOS is too new to cause a dent in the web browser market just yet, but it has introduced AI as a built-in assistant that could inspire others.

The Airis tool lets you ask questions about the page you’re on by highlighting text within it, right-clicking, and ‘asking Airis’. It returns results that are both informative but also in context with the page itself.

For example, highlighting someone’s name in a news story will summarize what the author is saying while bringing forth other relevant information from elsewhere on the web.

20. The 6th most popular Chrome extension of 2022 is based on ChatGPT.

(Source: Chrome Web Store)

AI integration into web browsers is also happening through extensions and add-ons. The Chrome Web Store’s yearly ranking for 2022, saw LINER ChatGPT make 6th place. The extension allows you to create ChatGPT responses to comments on popular sites like YouTube.

Historical Browser Usage Statistics

The web browser landscape didn’t always look like it does now. These stats and facts explore the history, rise, and fall of the most popular browsers.

21. The first-ever web browser only lasted 4 years.

(Source: Web Design Museum)

The first-ever web browser was literally called WorldWideWeb and was released in December 1990. However, it only lasted around 4 years, with its final release in 1994 under the Nexus name.

It was quickly surpassed in popularity by the 1993 Mosaic browser, which was the first web browser to get relative mainstream appeal among the internet users of the day. This would go on to become Netscape Navigator, which at one point had a 90% market share before Internet Explorer took over.

22. Internet Explorer gained 99% of the browser market by 1999.

(Source: Converging Media)

When Microsoft began including Internet Explorer with Windows 95 and bundling deals with different OEMs, it quickly gained ground on Netscape. 4 years after it was released, IE had 75% of the browser market and by 1999 it had a virtual monopoly.

23. Internet Explorer was number one until the great battle of 2012.

(Source: StatCounter)

Although Google fully released Chrome across platforms in 2010, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was the entrenched leader of web browsers in the years prior. It would hold the top spot for two more years until the great battle of 2012.

In May, Chrome took the leading share of the market with 29.15% compared to IE’s 28.87%. From that moment on, Internet Explorer would gradually fade into obscurity and was eventually replaced by Edge.

24. Firefox has never had more than 23% of the market.

(Source: Statista 2)

Mozilla’s Firefox is still a strong alternative for some, but its heyday is long behind us. Firefox’s most popular year was 2012, when in May it had a 22.98% share of the market. However, web users quickly picked Chrome as the browser to dethrone Internet Explorer.

Despite arguably having better features and performance for a time, Firefox has always suffered from being independent and not having a giant like Google behind it.

25. Firefox surpassed Internet Explorer in popularity in 2015.

(Source: Statista 2)

The rise of Chrome and the fall of Internet Explorer left Firefox in a race to the bottom, not the top. It wasn’t until September 2015 that Firefox could claim more users than IE, with a share of 9.84% compared to IE’s 9.61%.

26. Edge surpassed Firefox in popularity in 2021.

(Sources: Statista 2, StatCounter)

Firefox enjoyed over 5 years with more users than Microsoft. However, in May 2021, the revamped Edge browser took the lead by just 0.01% with a market share of 3.37% compared to Firefox’s 3.36%.

Edge would widen the gap, and as of July 2023, it has 5.13% compared to Firefox’s 2.79%.

27. Opera is now more popular than Firefox with a 2.99% market share.

(Source: StatCounter)

The Opera web browser now has more users than Firefox, a milestone it first reached in May 2023. At that time Opera had a 2.79% share of the market compared to Firefox’s 2.77%.

The gap has widened further and as of July 2023, Opera has a 2.99% share and Firefox has 2.79%.

Conclusion

These browser usage statistics show what many of us already assumed. Google Chrome is the dominant leader on desktop and mobile. However, with the rise of apps over browsing and the integration of AI search, there may be big changes on the horizon.

Will the leaders adapt, or can a newcomer sneak in and disrupt the status quo?

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Bodhi Linux 7.0 is the latest release of one of the oldest Ubuntu-based distros, with one of the more unusual desktops.

The latest version is based on Ubuntu 22.04, with the Moksha desktop, which is a fork of Enlightenment 17. There's a choice of four editions: three 64-bit ones, and a 32-bit edition which is still based on Ubuntu 18.04, the last Ubuntu LTS which supported x86-32. The 64-bit editions differ chiefly in the kernel they use. You can have either the basic Ubuntu "Jammy" 5.15, or the current HWE version with kernel 6.2, or for those with shiny, very new kit, an "s76" edition with the latest kernel 6.4.

It's Ubuntu, but not as we know it. Ubuntu itself offers 10 flavors with eight different desktops these days. Linux Mint offers three of these desktops: Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. Zorin OS offers just two: GNOME and Xfce. Linux Lite and Zinc, to pick two other examples we've looked at on The Reg, both offer only Xfce. What's notable about Bodhi is that Moksha is not drawn from Ubuntu's range of options – it's the distro's own creation. It's a fork of the Enlightenment environment, which isn't an Ubuntu offering either.

Although it's the most obvious difference, Moksha isn't the only thing that's different about Bodhi. It also comes with almost no pre-installed applications. You get the Chromium web browser, a text editor, an image viewer, and that's about it. This makes for a fairly minimal OS, and it has a correspondingly small memory footprint – under 300MB of RAM when idle. It's lightweight enough to be responsive on a low-end machine while still looking good. It's just as clean and uncluttered as Xebian, which we looked at earlier this week, but it uses about a third as much memory while being compatible with more third-party apps.

There is a form of app store, but unusually, it's not a program but a website, called the AppCenter. It uses AptURL to install software directly from the browser – after authentication, naturally; this isn't the Wild West of Windows. As an example, we installed Firefox, and got the latest version 117 natively packaged. There's no Snap or Flatpak support pre-installed.

So this is not as complete an OS as most Ubuntu remixes, but it's also lighter and quicker than most. If you want lots of local applications, you will need to install them yourself, but the distro does make that easy and unintimidating.

The standout feature here, though, is the desktop. Moksha is forked from Enlightenment, which is one of the oldest extant Linux graphical environments – development started in 1997, before either KDE or GNOME. Enlightenment is somewhere between a window manager and a desktop.

It does provide some desktop-style tools, such as a desktop panel with a Start menu, an app switcher, and some system controls, plus a floating desktop clock, a virtual-desktop switcher, and lots of graphical config screens. It's heavily customizable, even more so than KDE, which is notorious for being a festival of settings twiddling. It does have a handful of its own native apps, such as the Terminology terminal emulator, EPhoto image viewer, and Rage media player.

Enlightenment's development process has not only been very long, but it's further complicated by a complex version numbering scheme, or rather set of schemes. The original 1990s release is known as E16, which saw multiple versions up until 2000. (To make matters even more confusing, it's still being maintained, with a point-release in late 2022.) After a gap of no less than 12 years – unmeasurable eons in FOSS terms – E16 was followed by E17. After so long, this caused some excitement, and that's when the Bodhi Linux project began, by putting E17 on top of Ubuntu 10.04.

Since then, though, the development process sped up considerably. E18 followed in 2013. The project is now up to E25, released in 2021, with the latest bugfix, 0.25.4, appearing late last year. (There is in fact much more complexity to Enlightenment's versioning systems – we're glossing over a lot here.)

The Moksha desktop has its own loading screen, not that you'll see it for long

However, the Bodhi project has chosen not to chase this moving target. It started with E17, and it has stayed with it, meaning that it now maintains its own fork, Moksha. As shipped, Moksha is styled to bear a vague resemblance to the classic Windows design, with a full-width taskbar at the bottom of the screen, and Bodhi teams it with the Thunar file manager from Xfce and the Leafpad text editor. The default theme is green-hued, with a recurrent leaf motif, modeled on the bo tree – the tree under which the Buddha achieved enlightenment.

Bodhi 7's loading screen is, sadly, relatively conventional and much less fancy than previous version's swirling bo leaves

Although Bodhi is one of the best-known Enlightenment-based distros, the upstream desktop has moved on since Bodhi's creation. Enlightenment has attracted occasional controversy and some spirited debate. Even so, it continues to mature, and the underlying Enlightenment Foundation Libraries get regular updates. Samsung's Tizen uses EFL, and the developers of the Budgie desktop plan to move to it.

Moksha's window manager is unconventional. A double-click on the titlebar doesn't maximize a window, it rolls or unrolls it. The up-arrow button is maximize, and also unmaximize. The Windows key doesn't open the start menu, but a left-click on the desktop does. The resemblance to Windows is only skin-deep, but you can adjust that to however you want. But this brings some benefits: for instance, it enables you to resize Ubuntu's Ubiquity installer, which normally has a fixed window size, one of its less endearing attributes.

We did notice one glitch: unlike any other Ubuntu variant we've seen, it's essential to connect the machine to the internet, by Wi-Fi or cable, before installing, or the setup process never completes.

In ancient times – that is, the 20th century – Enlightenment was famed for its bling. It supported more special effects than crude 1990s window managers. Since then, Linux acquired 3D compositing, complete with spinning desktop cubes and other jollities. Then all that went away again: KDE 5 adopted the trendy flat look, and more recently GNOME is trying to ban themes altogether. The world is a duller place today as the decline in desktop diversity mirrors the wider world's ever-decreasing biodiversity. As such, Bodhi's green-hued desktop looks pleasingly retro, and positively colourful in an increasingly drab gray world.

The good thing is that it's Ubuntu underneath. On our testbed Core i7 ThinkPad W520, it was very easy to install Ubuntu's repository and driver manager and use it to enable the proprietary Nvidia driver, meaning we could turn on more of Moksha's transparency effects with no noticeable slowdown. Meanwhile, the same distro also ran usefully quickly on our ThinkPad W500, which has a Core 2 Duo and half the RAM. It was also good to see that all the apps we installed automatically appeared in the appropriate categories in the menus, and could be pinned to the taskbar and so on: Moksha is more closely integrated than some of the other alternative desktops we've tried.

Given that the upstream Enlightenment project seems to have not only regained its impetus over the last decade, but maintained it, we do suspect that it is now time for the Bodhi developers to end their branch and return to the mainstream.

Bodhi Linux 7 is fun. In a world of corporate distros which boast network sign-on, active directory authentication, and cloud sync, Bodhi instead offers bright colors and animation. We rather like that. ®

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Microsoft unveiled the new Settings homepage earlier this year and it seems that it has not made any adjustments to it ever since the initial reveal, other than moving the blocks around a bit.

The Settings Homepage is opened automatically when users open the Settings app on their devices. This is done via Start > Settings or by using the keyboard shortcut Windows-I.

Windows 11 users who open the Settings app currently on their devices are taken to the System category. Windows 11 highlights Windows Update, OneDrive and Microsoft 365 already there at the top.

The new Settings homepage moves two of the three, OneDrive and Microsoft 365, as blocks to the main interface.

The following interactive cards are displayed in the latest iteration of the Settings homepage:

• Recommended Settings -- a selection of settings based on the user's activity to save users time.
• Cloud Storage -- displays the storage of OneDrive (maybe other connected cloud accounts in the future).
• Account recovery -- to make sure that users have configured account recovery options of their Microsoft account to avoid being locked out.
• Personalization -- displays a handful of customization options, e.g., to change the theme or colour mode.
• Microsoft 365 -- displays the subscription status and/or benefits of a Microsoft 365 subscription.
• Xbox -- displays the Xbox subscription status and options to manage the subscription using the Settings app.
• Bluetooth devices -- quick options to manage Bluetooth devices.

Four of the seven options are linked to commercial subscription services or cloud services: cloud storage, account recovery, Microsoft 365 and Xbox.

While some Windows 11 users may find the display of OneDrive storage useful on the frontpage of the Settings app, others may see it as yet another way to sell storage upgrades to customers. Similarly, Microsoft 365 and Xbox show the benefits of these subscriptions to users who are not subscribed. Account recovery, finally, may be useful to some, but it also is designed to link more data to an account.

The three cards that are not promotional in nature leave a mixed feeling. The recommended settings card could be useful, but it depends on the operating system's ability to pick the right options for display. If it just uses part activities, it could display settings to the user that are not needed anymore, similarly to how ads on the web sometimes continue to display promotions for a service or product after you have purchased such a product or service already.

Personalization looks to be less useful, unless changes to the theme or colour mode are made on a daily basis. Even then, right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize opens the detailed personalization options right away.

Bluetooth devices, finally, may be useful to users who connect lots of Bluetooth devices to their Windows 11 machines.

A dedicated Settings homepage is not a bad idea, but Microsoft's implementation lacks useful options. There is no option to customize the cards, e.g., hide some or add others. Why not give users an option to add links to their preferred Settings page to the Recommended section?

Now You: what is your take on the new Settings homepage? Anything you'd like changed?

Source

Intel however has released a new driver today and it has rectified this issue. The company says some Arc A380 variants were reporting this higher clock speed. The full changelog of the new driver version 31.0.101.4669 is given below:

GAMING HIGHLIGHTS:

Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics for:

• Armored Core 6*

FIXED ISSUES:

Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• Shadow of The Tomb Raider* (DX11) may experience an application crash after loading to game menu.

• Some Intel® Arc™ A380 products may incorrectly report a higher value than expected for default clock frequency value.

KNOWN ISSUES:

Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection* (DX12) may exhibit texture corruption on characters.

• Halo Infinite* (DX12) campaign may experience an application crash on some system configurations.

• Dead by Daylight* (DX11) may experience an application crash during gameplay.

• Topaz Video AI* may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

• Adobe After Effects* may experience an application crash during render operations.

Intel® Iris™ X e 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® 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.

• May observe “stream has already ended” pop-up after the power events with Capture/Highlights/Broadcast toggle on.

• Performance Graphs may scale incorrectly after waking up from sleep.

To download the new driver, head over to this page on Intel's official website. This is a beta (non-WHQL) driver so if you are not bothered about any of the above release note changes, you can skip this driver and wait for the next WHQL release.

Source

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2262 and Build 22631.2262 (KB5029339) to the Beta Channel.

• Build 22631.2262 = New features rolling out.
• Build 22621.2262 = New features off by default.

There are a number of new features and improvements for this release, including a new Settings homepage, some improvements for the operating systems backup and restore features and more.

Microsoft also has this additional note about this specific release:

Due to the bug in the previous Beta Channel flight, the “Check for updates” button does not appear as expected under Settings > Windows Update. As a workaround to get this update immediately, you can open Windows Terminal (or the Run dialog) and enter the USOClient StartInteractiveScan command which will perform the same function as clicking the “Check for updates” button in Windows Update. Note that running the command will not display any output. To confirm that the operation was successful, you can run the command while the Windows Update settings page is open. You should see your device checking for updates. Once you’re on this new build, the “Check for updates” button will appear again as expected. Without doing this workaround, this new build will install automatically on its own over the next day or two.

Here is the changelog:

What’s new in Build 22631.2262

Introducing the new Settings homepage

We’re introducing a new homepage in Settings that offers you a dynamic and personalized experience. It provides an overview of your device, quick access to key settings, and helps manage your Microsoft account.

New Settings homepage.

We created interactive cards that represent various device and account related settings, grouped by commonly accessed functions. Each card is optimized to offer the most relevant information and controls at your fingertips. In this release, you’ll see up to seven cards, with more coming soon.

Here’s an overview of each card:

• Recommended settings: This card adapts to your specific usage patterns, providing timely and relevant settings options. It’s designed to streamline your settings management and save you time.
• Cloud storage: Gives you an overview of your cloud storage use and lets you know when you’re nearing capacity.
• Account recovery: Helps keep your Microsoft account more secure by helping you add additional recovery info so you never get locked out of your account, even if you forget your password.
• Personalization: Brings customization to the forefront by offering one-click access to update your background theme or change your colour mode.
• Microsoft 365: Provides a quick glimpse of your subscription status and benefits, along with the ability to take some key actions right in Settings instead of going to the web.
• Xbox: Similar to the Microsoft 365 card, you’ll be able to view your subscription status and manage the subscription from the Settings app.
• Bluetooth Devices: To simplify your Bluetooth device management experience, we’ve brought this to the forefront so you can quickly access and connect to your favorite Bluetooth-enabled devices.

You can take swift actions directly from this page with just a click, making device and account management seamless and efficient. What sets the homepage apart even further is that it’s more than just a landing page—it evolves and learns with you. As you use your device, it’ll adjust to provide the most relevant and useful information based on your usage and preferences.

NOTE: This experience will only be available on Windows 11 Home and Pro editions and not on devices managed by organizations.

[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Beta Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

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

Backup and Restore improvements

Building on the app restore feature we announced last year, we are introducing additional backup and restore capabilities in this build to make moving to a new PC easier than ever and to help app developers retain users across this new PC transition. The goal of these changes is to land users on a desktop that feels familiar to them and get them back to productivity within minutes on their new PC.

The Windows Backup app.

• Windows Backup app – we’re introducing this new app to quickly get your current PC backed up and ready to move to a new PC.
• App pins – your Store apps from your prior PC will be pinned where you left them, both on taskbar and in the Start menu.
• Settings – Settings from your previous device will restore to your new PC to help you get back into the flow as quickly as possible.

Welcome back screen showing PC restoring from backup.

Once you’re backed up either via the new Windows Backup app or by visiting Accounts/Windows Backup in settings, you can try out the new restore during the out-of-box- experience (OOBE) when setting up a new PC or by resetting an existing PC with this build.

Users will see pins for their desktop app restored on the taskbar and Start Menu, including desktop apps that were not installed from the Microsoft Store.

Desktop apps that are available in the Microsoft Store can be restored by clicking on the app pin to get started. For apps that aren’t available in the Microsoft Store, you’ll be directed to the web to download the installer.

Screenshot showing a dialog box to install an app from the web.

NOTE: An easy way for Insiders to try this experience out is by running the Windows Backup app on a PC running this build and choosing “Reset this PC” under Settings > System > Recovery and then going through OOBE for the new restore experience.

For developers, review the developer best practices to learn more about how to provide the best restore experience for your app. Note that in this build not all settings and app types are supported, including Android apps. Backing up a Work or School account is also not supported.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Backup and Restore.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2262

[File Explorer]

• Made some changes which should noticeably help improve the performance of the “calculating” phase when sending a large number of files at once in File Explorer to the recycle bin.

[Cast]

Building off the Cast improvements introduced with Build 22631.2129, 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.

[Dynamic Lighting]

• You can now instantly sync your Windows accent colour with the devices around you with the “Match my Windows accent colour” toggle under “Effects” for Dynamic Lighting via Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.
• We have added the ability to choose a custom colour to light up your devices with.

Fixes in Build 22631.2262

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where after upgrading the Bluetooth icon in the system tray might not display in the system tray after upgrade even though your PC supported Bluetooth and the Bluetooth options were shown in Settings.
• Fixed an issue where the new bell icon might be very difficult to see in some cases because it was using a dark outline when your taskbar was dark.
• Fixed an issue where the titles were missing from taskbar previews when turning on tablet-optimized taskbar while using uncombined taskbar.
• Fixed an issue where app icons on the taskbar would become empty (with no icon) in recent Insider builds after switching between desktops.
• Fixed an issue where if the taskbar was set to uncombined it would still show animations even if they’d been turned off.
• Disabled the setting for uncombining taskbar buttons on other screens by default when no secondary monitors are connected.
• Fixed an issue where using drag to rearrange icons in the overflow area wasn’t working well when the taskbar was set to uncombined.
• Fixed an issue where uncombined taskbar’s app indicators weren’t shown correctly after it showed something was being downloaded.
• Fixed an issue where the hidden icons flyout might close unexpectedly when using keyboard navigation to move focus between icons.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where in some cases, the context menu background in File Explorer appeared transparent. This also impacted the command bar dropdown menus.
• Fixed an issue where the context menu and dropdown menus in File Explorer weren’t working with touch.
• Fixed an issue which was causing the search box in File Explorer to not work well with IMEs.
• Fixed a white flash in dark mode when switching between Home and Gallery.
• Fixed an issue impacted File Explorer reliability.
• Fixed an issue where “Automatically type into the Search Box” wasn’t working when File Explorer was open to Home.
• Fixed an issue where pasting using the context menu in the address bar wasn’t working (or other context menu actions in the address bar).
• Added a little more space between Home in the navigation page and the bottom of the command bar.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where typing with the Japanese and Chinese IMEs may not have performed as expected in certain apps in the last few flights when you had selected the option to use the previous version of the IME. If you are continuing to experience issues with this build installed, please file feedback.
• Fixed an issue where when inking into a text field, if you were writing in Chinese, certain characters were being perceived as taps and not working.
• Fixed an issue where inking into a text field while magnifier was running was not working well as the ink was offset.

[HDR Wallpapers]

• Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where Task Manager was crashing when using the reset to default button in Settings.
• Did some work to help improve the performance when switching between different pages in Task Manager.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which could cause sporadic explorer.exe crashes when using an HDR wallpaper.

Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.2262 & Build 22631.2262

• We fixed the issue causing the “Check for updates” button to not appear as expected under Settings > Windows Update. After updating to this build, the “Check for updates” button should appear as expected. If you are on the previous Beta Channel flight, you can manually check for updates by opening Windows Terminal (or the Run dialog) and entering the USOClient StartInteractiveScan command which will perform the same function as clicking the “Check for updates” button in Windows Update. Note that running the command will not display any output. To confirm that the operation was successful, you can run the command while the Windows Update settings page is open. You should see your device checking for updates.
• Fixed an issue where removing a monitor while connected to a Cloud PC could result in a black screen with only a mouse visible in recent builds.

Known issues

[General]

• We’re working on the fix for an issue causing explorer.exe to crash on the login screen when attempting to enter safe mode.

[File Explorer]

• Investigating an issue where the icons on your desktop may all go blank. Right-click and refresh on the desktop will bypass the issue if it occurs.

[Narrator]

• You may see some of the strings are NOT localized to the selected language. This will be fixed in a future flight.

You can check out the full blog post here:

Source

Those willing to install the August 2023 non-optional updates on their computers with Windows 11 will receive a new search-related feature: the operating system can now invoke Windows Search without you clicking the search box on the taskbar. Like Microsoft Edge and its controversial Bing button, hovering the cursor over the taskbar "search box gleam" is now all it takes to open the search flyout. Did you accidentally place your cursor on the wrong part of the taskbar? Too bad, here is Windows Search.

This update adds a new hover behavior to the search box gleam. When you hover over it, the search flyout box might appear. You can adjust this behavior by right-clicking the taskbar. Then choose Taskbar settings to change your search box experience.

Luckily, as stated in the release notes, you can turn off the new behavior with only a few clicks in the Settings app; here is how.

Disable Windows 11 search open on hover

1. Do the following if you notice that Windows 11 automatically opens Windows Search:
2. Open the Settings app by pressing Win + I or using another method you prefer.
3. Navigate to Personalization > Taskbar.
4. Locate the Search section and toggle off the "Open search on hover (when available)" option.

    

   

And that is how you turn it off. Now Windows 11 will open search only when you press Win + S or click the taskbar search box.

Interestingly, Windows Insiders spotted the change several months ago, and the negative reaction should have made it clear to Microsoft that it was probably better to scrap the idea. Still, the company decided to push it forward, and the new experience will most likely be part of the next Patch Tuesday updates. Fortunately, Microsoft will balance the situation by releasing a few much-requested features for Windows 11's taskbar in the upcoming 23H2 update.

Source

Office add-ins are like browser extensions—they add extra features and third-party integrations to enhance your experience and bring new capabilities. Here is how Microsoft describes them:

Office add-ins are software extensions that add extra features to Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For example, an Office add-in might add a new tool for formatting text, or a new feature for analyzing data. Most Office add-ins are developed by third-party developers and can be downloaded and installed from the Microsoft Office Store.

With the updated Windows and web-based Office apps, you can browse and add new add-ins from the Home page. Click the Add-ins button and select the one you need from the list of popular extensions. If the add-in is not there, click the More add-ins button. Alternatively, go to File > Get Add-ins, where you can view or remove installed add-ins by clicking Manage My Add-ins.

The new add-ins button is now rolling out to Office apps on Windows with version 2301 (build number 16026.20146) and newer. Note that Microsoft is shipping new Office features in waves to ensure stability and smooth rollout, so it might take a few more days before you get them. You can learn more about Office add-ins on the Microsoft 365 Insider website.

In case you missed it, Microsoft recently announced a new default font, Aptos, to replace the aging Calibri. Aptos will soon be available for all users—the recent update on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap page revealed Microsoft's plans to ship Aptos in September 2023. If you want to get it now, enroll in the Microsoft 365 Insider program to preview early updates.

Source

What is new in Microsoft Edge Dev 117.0.2045.1?

We released build 117.0.2045.1 to the Dev channel! Mobile also released as well with small version bumps, iOS build 117.0.2045.3 and Android 117.0.2045.2! The release includes small fixes.

Improved reliability:  

• Fixed browser crash when adding a new site on the sidebar in certain scenarios.

• Fixed browser crash when detached DevTools is in Fullscreen.

Changed behavior: 

• Fixed Workspace dialog disappears when clicking on Move all tabs to new workspace.

Those wanting to join the Edge Insider program can head to the official website and download the latest Canary, Dev, or Beta updates. Preview versions are available on Windows 10/11, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, although testing on the latter is currently closed for new insiders. If you spotted a bug during testing or want to offer a suggestion, open Menu > Help and Feedback > Send Feedback.

Microsoft Edge 117 will arrive in the Stable Channel next month. According to the release schedule, Microsoft plans to ship it on the week of September 14, 2023. Later this week, the update will also hit Beta, the only officially supported preview channel.

In case you missed it, this week, Microsoft launched the Edge for Business experience (announced at Build 2023), a dedicated mode for the browser that allows companies to use Edge for work and personal purposes with an automatic switch between the two modes whenever necessary. Edge for Business is now available in Microsoft Edge 116 on desktop and mobile, and you can learn more about it from our dedicated coverage.

Source

That was certainly the case for Windows 95, which launched 28 years ago on August 24, 1995. It may be hard to believe now, but back then, the debut of this successor to Windows 3.1 was more than just the release of an OS. It was a true media event, similar to the launch of a big-budget video game or movie release today.

On the launch day, The Washington Postremarked about how Microsoft had spent as much as $300 million to promote Windows 95. It did stunts like turning the lights in New York City's Empire State Building to red, yellow, and green colours, which were the same colours that were in the Windows 95 logo. In Toronto, the CN Tower went a bit further with a huge 300-foot banner showing the now iconic Start button on the OS.

Microsoft held its own launch event at its Redmond, Washington headquarters on that day. Bill Gates, of course, was there to demonstrate the event, and the company brought in comedian and Tonight Show late-night talk show host Jay Leno to make a bunch of fairly unfunny jokes.

Microsoft helped to create a VHS tape that was sold alongside the Windows 95 launch to show people how to use the OS. It was promoted as the first "cyber sitcom" because it had actors Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry.

They took some time from filming their hit show Friends to film this rather cringy presentation, as they learned the ins and outs of Windows 95. We think they probably got paid a ton of money to do this video, which was embarrassing to watch, even 28 years ago.

Speaking of people getting paid, the most visible part of the Windows 95 promotion was Microsoft's TV commercials, which used The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" song in the background. This was the first time the rock band had licensed one of their songs for a TV commercial.

In an archived article on the Jupiter Research site from 2006, Brad Silverberg, who helped to lead the development of Windows 95, recalled how the company managed to get the band members to sign off on the deal.

He also mentioned that Microsoft did not pay The Rolling Stones $10 million or $12 million for the rights to the song, as was reported by other media outlets at that time. he said:

I'm not at liberty to disclose the exact amount, but it was a small fraction of that. It was the Stones, who after doing the deal, leaked the big number figure so as to set the market price for their next deal.

Silverberg added that the band first gave Microsoft a later version of "Start Me Up" and not the original version. Apparently, that was because the more recent track was made with newer band members who would get a lower royalty price. Microsoft insisted on the original track, as originally agreed, so the Rolling Stones finally sent that version.

While there were long lines in some retail stores to purchase that big box of disks with Windows 95, The Washington Post said not everyone was lining up to buy Microsoft's hyped product:

There was no mad rush to obtain Windows 95 at the Office Depot on New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring early this morning. About a dozen customers were on hand when the store opened its doors at midnight, and a few more trickled in after that. By 12:30 a.m., the half dozen employees had the store pretty much to themselves.

In the end, all of the hype and promotion paid off for Microsoft as Windows 95 helped to boost PC sales in general and made using a personal computer easier overall for the general public. It's an era in the tech industry that won't be duplicated ever again.

Source

On Windows 11, adding PowerToys to your installation can enhance the experience with additional features. However, if you don't configure the application correctly, some features may not work as expected, you may lose custom configurations, and you may miss out on new features.

For example, even though you can work with most features without additional configuration, some functionalities may only work with administrator rights. For this reason, PowerToys has an option that you can turn on to run the app always as an administrator. 

If you have spent a lot of time configuring PowerToys, you probably didn't know that the app offers an option to back up your settings that you can restore on the same or different computer. 

Finally, if you want to test new features before they become available, PowerToys offers an experimentation option that you can turn on manually. The only caveat is that the option only works for devices already enrolled in one of the channels of the Windows Insider Program.

This how-to guide will walk you through the steps to enable the three essential options you have to configure on PowerToys.

PowerToys features you must configure on Windows 11

If you use PowerToys on Windows 11, you should take a minute to make sure that your installation has these three features turned on and configured.

Run as administrator

Since PowerToys integrates with other features and applications in the operating system, sometimes it may be required to run the tool as an administrator for a specific feature to work. As a result, turning on the feature will allow PowerToys to work as expected in specific scenarios.

To start PowerToys as an administrator, use these steps:

1. Open PowerToys.
2. Click on General.
3. Under the "Administrator mode" section, turn on the "Always run as administrator" toggle switch.

(Image credit: Future)

Once you complete the steps, the features available in PowerToys will work as expected on Windows 11.

Backup and restore 

PowerToys offers the ability to back up your custom settings in case something happens, and you have to restore a previous configuration on the same or different computer.

Backup

To back up your PowerToys settings, use these steps:

1. Open PowerToys.
2. Click on General.
3. (Optional) Under the "Backup & restore" section, click the "Backup and restore your settings" option.
4. Click the Select folder button in the "Location" setting.
5. Select the location to save the backup.
6. Click the OK button.
7. Click the Backup button.

After you complete the steps, the app will create a backup of the settings in the location you specified.

Restore

To restore your PowerToys settings, use these steps:

1. Open PowerToys.
2. Click on General.
3. Under the "Backup & restore" section, click the Restore button.

Once you complete the steps, if the settings on your computer are different from the backup, the system will restore the previous configuration.

Experimental 

Microsoft is always trying new features to enhance the experience of the operating system. If you want to have access to the new features before they become widely available, you can enable the option to receive experimental features as soon as they are ready.

To enable experimental features on PowerToys, use these steps:

1. Open PowerToys.
2. Click on General.
3. (Optional) Under the "Experimentation" section, turn on the "Allow experimentation with new features" toggle switch.

After you complete the steps, as soon as new features are ready for testing, they will become available on your setup.

Source

The tech giant is unsure at the moment if it is an issue with Windows or whether the root cause may be something else. As such, the company has requested feedback via the Feedback Hub app.

On the Windows health dashboard it explains:

Microsoft has received reports of an issue in which users are receiving an “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” error message on a blue screen after installing updates released on August 22, 2023 (KB5029331) [and KB5029351] and then restarting their device. KB5029331 might automatically uninstall to allow Windows to start up as expected.

If you are experiencing issues, please use Feedback Hub to file a report following the below steps:

1. Launch Feedback Hub by opening the Start menu and typing "Feedback hub", or pressing the Windows key + F

2. Fill in the "Summarize your feedback" and "Explain in more detail" boxes, then click Next.

3. Under the "Choose a category" section, click the "Problem" button, and select "Install and Update" category. Then select "Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update” subcategory. Click Next.

4. Under the "Find similar feedback" section, select the "Make new bug" radio button and click Next.

5. Under the "Add more details" section, supply any relevant detail (Note this is not critical to addressing your issue).

6. Expand the "Recreate my problem" box and press "Start recording". Reproduce the issue on your device.

7. Press "Stop recording" once finished. Click the "Submit" button.

Browsing through Feedback Hub, it seems that MSI motherboards, mainly from Intel's 600 series (Z690) and 700 series (Z790), are the ones where the issue is infesting the most, though it is possible the problem is there on other OEM motherboards too.

In case you have a board from some other maker, like say Asus, Gigabyte, or ASRock, among others, and experiencing this bug, Microsoft would likely appreciate some feedback about those.

Source

Microsoft stated:

Resolution: ExplorerPatcher has released a version which lists this issue as resolved. Note: If you are using any third-party UI customization app and encounter this or any other issues, you will need to contact customer support for the developer of the app you are using.

At the time though, ExplorerPatcher did not share any updates, which means Microsoft may have acted based on internal communication that a resolution was coming.

Earlier today, however, ExplorerPatcher developer Valinet published not one but two consecutive updates. The releases were tested on Windows 11 build 22621.1992 which happens to be the July 2023 Patch Tuesday. The changelogs are given below:

22621.1992.56.3

Details

• Windows 10 Start menu: Fixed a bug that prevented the menu from working on OS builds 22621.1413 and newer (46c5041). Please read these important notes regarding the fix here.

• Windows 10 Start menu: Fixed a bug that prevented centering on Windows 10 (275a91f).

• Windows 10 taskbar: Correct centering of taskbar items when search box is enabled in Windows 10 (2e43c67).

22621.1555.55.2

Details

• Weather: Fixed a bug that prevented the widget from loading when using the Microsoft icon pack. (968d969)

• Simple Window Switcher

  • Support for individual list and grouping for UWP apps (implemented grouping and naming enhancements based on using information associated with AppUserModelIDs)

  • Ability to switch between global and local window lists when the switcher is shown.

  • Maintain position in the list when certain events occur, like closing windows or switching between the global and local window lists.

  • Del key closes the currently selected window(s).

  • Fixed a bug that prevented newly spawned windows while the switcher is open from going to the back of the list.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented window lists from building properly when windows were slow to close.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented proper activation of pop-up windows under certain conditions. For example, the switcher is now able to correctly switch to the "Error Checking" window in This PC - right click 😄 - Properties - Tools - Error checking - Check.

In case you are one of those affected individuals, you can download the latest version from Neowin or from GitHub.

Source

Microsoft once said that the newer design focuses on people or connections, and on empowering individuals. And somehow, the cozy design does exactly that.

But what if Adobe Series Software icons would sport a Windows 11 design? Well, guess what? This scenario is now real, all thanks to some passionate people that made it happen. On Reddit, a user created the Adobe Series Software icons with a Windows 11 design, and they look incredible. Each one of them is meticulously designed to meet the round shapes of Windows 11, with faded colours that look especially good in dark mode.

They’re free, and you can download them today if you want to change the scenery of your Adobe Series Software icons for a bit.

Adobe Series Software Icons on Windows 11 design: where to download from

Before you proceed, you should know that these are third-party icons. However, the process of downloading them is quite easy.

1. Go to this GitHub profile and download them.
2. Follow the instructions on how to change the existing icons of your Adobe Software with Windows 11’s Adobe Series Software icons.

Replacing them requires you to download a small third-party app, from where you’ll be able to customize your icons.

Let us know if you did it.

Source

Kali Linux is a Linux distribution created for ethical hackers and cybersecurity professionals to perform penetration testing, security audits, and research against networks.

With this release, the Kali Team says there are not many new features, with most of the changes done internally to increase the overall reliability and optimization of the project.

However, that does not mean that Kali Linux 2023.3 does not have anything new, with the changes listed below:

• Revamping of the internal infrastructure
• Kali Autopilot development
• Kali NetHunter Updates
• Nine new tools - As always, various new packages added

Revamping internal architecture

The Kali Team says they mainly focused on re-architecting the operating system's infrastructure to align with this summer's release of Debian 12.

"With the release of Debian 12 which came out this summer, we took this opportunity to re-work, re-design, and re-architecture our infrastructure. It is as massive as it sounds, and should not be a surprise that its not yet complete," explains the Kali Team.

"This is where a good amount of our focus has been for this release-cycle (and also the next one unfortunately). We are hoping that the majority of it will be done by the end of the year (so we can get back to what we do best!)."

In addition, the Kali Team has refreshed their internal packaging scripts with additional features and improvements.

Nine new tools in Kali Linux 2023.3

We say it with every release, but it wouldn't be a new Kali Linux release without some new tools toys to play with.

Below are the nine new tools added in Kali 2023.3:

• Calico - Cloud native networking and network security
• cri-tools - CLI and validation tools for Kubelet Container Runtime Interface
• Hubble - Network, Service & Security Observability for Kubernetes using eBPF
• ImHex - A Hex Editor for reverse engineers, programmers and people who value their retinas when working at 3 AM
• kustomize - Customization of kubernetes YAML configurations
• Rekono - Automation platform that combines different hacking tools to complete pentesting processes
• rz-ghidra - Deep ghidra decompiler and sleigh disassembler integration for rizin
• unblob - Extract files from any kind of container formats
• Villain - C2 framework that can handle multiple reverse shells, enhance their functionality and share them among instances

In addition to the new tools, Kali says they upgraded the Kernel version to 6.3.7.

Kali Autopilot

Earlier this year, the developers introduced the Kali Autopilot automated attack framework.

In today's Kali release announcement, the developers state that they have continued to work on the platform, adding and changing features based on user feedback.

"This tool has come along a lot in the last 6 months, and no plans on slowing down. As always, its shaped by the community; ideas, features, and direction can be submitted and shaped by YOU," explains the Kali Team.

"If you have developed attack scripts for vulnerable machines, we would love to include it on our Kali Purple Hub."

Kali NetHunter Updates

Kali Nethunter now has additional supported mobile kernels, including:

• LG V20 for Lineage 19.1
• Nexus 6P for Android 8.0 (Oreo)
• Nothing Phone (1) for Android 12 (Snow cone) and 13 (Tiramisu) (new)
• Pixel 3/XL for Android 13 (Tiramisu)
• Samsung Galaxy A7 for LineageOS 18.1 (new)
• Xiaomi Mi A3 for Lineage 20
• Xiaomi Redmi 4/4X for VoltageOS 2.5

A new Nethunter Terminal was also created by Kali developers @martin and @yesimxev.

How to get Kali Linux 2023.3

To start using Kali Linux 2023.3, you can upgrade your existing installation, select a platform, or directly download ISO images for new installs and live distributions.

For those updating from a previous version, you can use the following commands to upgrade to the latest version.

echo "deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free non-free-firmware" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade

cp -vrbi /etc/skel/. ~/

[ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f

If you are running Kali on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, upgrade to WSL2 for a better experience, including the ability to use graphical apps.

You can check the WSL version used by Kali with the 'wsl -l -v' command in a Windows command prompt.

Once done upgrading, you can check if the upgrade was successful by using the following command:

grep VERSION /etc/os-release

You can view the complete changelog for Kali 2023.3 on Kali's website.

Source

Source

The support article for the new KB5029863 update says:

KB5029863: Compatibility update for installing and recovering Windows 11, version 22H2: August 22, 2023

Summary

This update makes improvements to the Windows recovery features for Windows 11, version 22H2.

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

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

Content acquired includes:

• Setup Updates: Fixes to Setup binaries or any files that Setup uses for feature updates.

• Safe OS Updates: Fixes for the "safe OS" that are used to update Windows recovery environment (WinRE).

• Servicing Stack Updates: Fixes that are necessary to address the Windows 10 servicing stack issue and thus required to complete the feature update.

• Latest Cumulative Update: Installs the latest cumulative quality update.

• Driver Updates: Latest version of applicable drivers that have already been published by manufacturers into Windows Update and specifically targeted for Dynamic Update.

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

The Dynamic update is available only via Microsoft Update Catalog. You can download it by visiting this link.

Source