While Microsoft had already confirmed a workaround for the bug that was available via Intel's driver updates, the issue has been resolved on Windows 10 version 1809 with the latest August 2023 Patch Tuesday update. You can find links to download in this article.

In its support document, Microsoft wrote:

After installing KB5019966 or later updates, you might receive an error with apphelp.dll on Windows devices using Intel graphics drivers with versions 26.20.100.7463 up to 30.0.101.1190. This issue might happen intermittently and affects a small number of enterprise apps which use DirectX or Direct3D to render part or all of their content. Windows devices using updated Intel graphics drivers with a version later than 30.0.101.1190 are not affected by this issue and already have the Intel resolution for this issue installed.

Home users of Windows are unlikely to experience this issue, as the few affected apps are more commonly used in enterprise environments.

Workaround: To mitigate this issue, you can install an Intel graphics driver with a later version than 30.0.101.1190. It is recommended to check your Windows device manufacturer's support for the latest version of the Intel graphics driver for your device. If they do not offer a driver later than 30.0.101.1190, you can check List of Drivers for Intel Graphics for information on how to download and install the latest Intel graphics driver available from Intel directly.

Hence, you could download Intel's 30.0.101.1191 driver, or any of the newer drivers too (you may browse through these articles to find the newest one), to apply the workaround.

The support article has now been updated with the following line:

Resolution: This issue was resolved in KB5029247.

[..]

• This update addresses an issue that affects apps that use DirectX on older Intel graphics drivers. You might receive an error from apphelp.dll.

You can find the official support article on Microsoft's health dashboard here. It is also noteworthy that the issue has already been resolved on all other supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions inside previous Patch Tuesday releases.

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Every modern browser can bring over history and other data from competing alternatives, and Edge is no exception. However, it was impossible to export browsing history to store it in a separate file or to move it to another instance of Microsoft Edge without using sync. Microsoft's browser seems to be the first to offer its customers the ability to save their browsing history in a CSV file. Here is how to do that:

1. Update Microsoft Edge Canary to version 117.0.2026.0 by heading to edge://settings/help.
2. Press Ctrl + H or click Menu > History. Alternatively, type edge://history.
3. Click the three-dot button on the history flyout and select "Export Browsing Data."

    

   

    

4. Select where to save the CSV file with your browsing history.

Microsoft Edge Canary currently lacks a proper UI for importing history using CSV files. Still, you can simply drag and drop a backup file into a Microsoft Edge window to import it. Hopefully, Microsoft will soon add a more elegant solution for managing history backups.

The browsing history export feature is rolling out gradually to Edge Insiders (controlled feature rollout), but you can force-enable it using a special command.

1. Update Microsoft Edge Canary to the latest version (117.0.2026.0 or higher). Go to edge://settings/help to force-update the browser.
2. Right-click the browser's icon and select "Properties."
3. Click the target field, place space, and enter the following command: --enable-features=msHistoryExportUI
4. Launch the browser using the modified shortcut.
5. Go to edge://history and click "Export Browsing Data."

Microsoft Edge 117 is scheduled for release in the Stable Channel on the week of September 14, 2023.

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VisiCalc had a feature called manual calculation mode that was later put into Excel when it launched. Since then, this feature has changed very little, but today Microsoft announced a new update to Excel that puts in a fairly significant improvement.

So what is manual calculation mode? In a blog post, Microsoft stated:

Manual calculation mode suspends calculations, which means that the values in cells can become out of date. We refer to these as being stale. When you edit a cell in a spreadsheet, not all cells become stale, just the ones that depend on your change.

The blog adds that while Excel does keep track of these "stale" cells, there's been no way for users to visually see which ones are stale and which ones are not.

Now, Microsoft has added a new feature to Excel called stale formatting. It now shows stale cells by striking them out with a horizontal line. This finally gives users a way to see those cells and know they should not be relied upon until they are calculated.

Microsoft goes through how stale formatting works:

When a cell containing a stale value is selected we show a warning icon. If you click on the icon, you get a handy menu with contextual actions such as triggering calculation or switching to automatic calculation mode.

The new feature is turned on in Excel by default. It can be switched off by going to the Calculation Options menu on the Formulas tab, and unchecking the Format Stale Values checkbox.

Windows Insiders in the Beta channel can check out the new stale formatting feature now. When it becomes publicly available, it will launch in the Excel Windows app first, followed by other Excel platforms in the near future.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 launched out of early access on PC last week and enjoyed toppling most of the top played games on Steam. While many have already put in dozens of hours into the vast world Larian Studios has created, Nvidia is recommending users install this driver to make use of its "additional optimizations and enhancements." The company did not detail what these updates are.

According to Nvidia's own testing, using the DLSS 2 upscaling tech can increase the performance of RTX 40 series graphics cards in the game by 93% on average:

Meanwhile, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, an asymmetrical multiplayer horror game based on the iconic horror movie, is launching on August 18, and this driver is providing support for that release. Lastly, today's driver also brings support for the upcoming single-player adventure Gord that releases on August 17.

The 536.99 driver has some fixed issues as well:

• [Control][DX12] Cut scenes and videos show tearing and partial jitter [4084000]
• [Battlefield 2042] Game stability can decrease when applying GeForce Experience Freestyle filters. [4170804]
• [GeForce Experience] Game stability can decrease when applying a GeForce Experience Freestyle filter in certain games while using DLSS 3 Frame Generation [4171660]
• [Dead Space] Game stability issues [4140545]
• [Elgato Wave Link] Potential audio issues with NVIDIA Broadcast effects [3752618]

There are a couple of known issues to look out for:

• [Halo Infinite] Significant performance drop is observed on Maxwell-based GPUs. [4052711]
• [DaVinci Resolve] This driver implements a fix for creative application stability issues seen during heavy memory usage. We’ve observed some situations where this fix has resulted in performance degradation when running DaVinci Resolve. This will be addressed in an upcoming driver release. [4172676]

The Nvidia 536.99 Game Ready driver is now available via the GeForce Experience app while standalone download links can be found below. Here are the release notes (PDF).

Desktop GPUs:

GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH [en-US version]

Notebook GPUs:

GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH [en-US version]

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Windows 11 22H2

Highlights

• This update addresses security issues for your Windows operating system.

• This update makes brightness settings more accurate.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain display and audio devices. They are missing after your system resumes from sleep.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Widgets. They unpin from the taskbar when you do not expect it.
• This update addresses an issue that affects virtual private networks (VPN). There might be excessive Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests to the network gateway. This occurs when the VPN is on a wireless mesh network that uses an aggressive throttling algorithm. Because of this, network performance is poor.

Improvements

This security update includes improvements that were a part of update KB5028254 (released July 26, 2023). When you install this KB:

• This update makes miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. No additional issues were documented for this release.

• New! This update affects the Handwriting Software Input Panel (SIP), the Handwriting Engine, and the Handwriting Embedded Inking Control. They now support GB18030-2022 conformance level 2. Because of this, they meet the level 3 requirements.
• This update addresses an issue in the Windows Notification Platform. The issue affects how much power your device uses.
• This update affects the Windows Push Notification Services (WNS). It makes the connection between the client and the WNS server more reliable.
• This update addresses an issue that affects hybrid joined devices. You cannot sign in to them if they are not connected to the internet. This occurs when you use a Windows Hello for Business PIN or biometric credentials. This issue applies to a cloud trust deployment.
• This update affects Windows Autopilot profiles. The process to download the Windows Autopilot policy is more resilient. This helps when a network connection might not be fully initialized. This update increases the retry attempts when you try to download the Windows Autopilot profile.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Event Forwarding Subscriptions. When you add an Event Channel to the subscription, it forwards events you do not need.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository. This causes an installation error. The issue occurs when a device does not shut down properly.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain CPUs. There is inconsistent reporting of the L2 cache.
• This update enhances hinting for some of the letters of the Verdana Pro font family.
• This update affects user mode printer drivers. They unload unexpectedly. This occurs when you print from multiple print queues to the same printer driver.
• This update affects text edit controls in XAML and browser controls. You cannot make text edit controls editable again after they become read only. This occurs when you use the new Microsoft Input Method Editor for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
• This update makes Narrator announce the “Change product key” label.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Defender Firewall Profile. It fails to automatically switch from a LAN that is trusted to a public network.
• This update makes Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a printing job. An unexpected Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) mode switch can cause the print job to abruptly stop. This occurs when there is an independent hardware vendor (IHV) driver.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain wireless wide area network (WWAN) devices. After every restart, a dialog reappears. It asks you to switch to embedded SIM (eSIM) even when you choose "No."
• This update addresses a deadlock in Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). When you configure servers with IPsec rules, they stop responding. This issue affects virtual and physical servers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the MPSSV service. The issues causes your system to restart repeatedly. The stop error code is 0xEF.
• This update affects the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). The issue copies unsigned WDAC policies to the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) disk partition. This partition is reserved for signed policies.
• This update addresses an issue that affects WDAC. The “Disabled: Script Enforcement” option might create audit events you do not need.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the fastfat file system driver. It stops responding because of a race condition.
• This update addresses an issue that affects I/O over Server Message Block (SMB). It might fail when you use the LZ77+Huffman compression algorithm.

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

For more information about security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Security Update Guide website and the August 2023 Security Updates.

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22621.2061

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

Known issues

Windows 11 21H2

Highlights

• This update addresses security issues for your Windows operating system.

• This update addresses an issue that affects virtual private networks (VPN). There might be excessive Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests to the network gateway. This occurs when the VPN is on a wireless mesh network that uses an aggressive throttling algorithm. Because of this, network performance is poor.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain display and audio devices. They are missing after your system resumes from sleep.

Improvements

This security update includes improvements that were a part of update KB5028245 (released July 25, 2023). When you install this KB:

• This update makes miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. No additional issues were documented for this release.

• New! This update affects the Handwriting Software Input Panel (SIP), the Handwriting Engine, and the Handwriting Embedded Inking Control. They now support GB18030-2022 conformance level 2. Because of this, they meet the level 3 requirements.
• This update affects the Windows Push Notification Services (WNS). It makes the connection between the client and the WNS server more reliable.
• This update addresses an issue that affects UI Automation and caching mode.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Notification Platform. It fails to send notifications from applications to you.
• This update addresses an issue that affects hybrid joined devices. You cannot sign in to them if they are not connected to the internet. This occurs when you use a Windows Hello for Business PIN or biometric credentials. This issue applies to a cloud trust deployment.
• This update affects Windows Autopilot profiles. The process to download the Windows Autopilot policy is more resilient. This helps when a network connection might not be fully initialized. This update increases the retry attempts when you try to download the Windows Autopilot profile.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect Win32 and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. They might close when devices enter Modern Standby. Modern Standby is an expansion of the Connected Standby power model. This issue occurs if certain Bluetooth Phone Link features are turned on.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) repository. This causes an installation error. The issue occurs when a device does not shut down properly.
• This update addresses an issue that affects certain CPUs. There is inconsistent reporting of the L2 cache.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Event Forwarding Subscriptions. When you add an Event Channel to the subscription, it forwards events you do not need.
• This update enhances hinting for some of the letters of the Verdana Pro font family.
• This update affects user mode printer drivers. They unload unexpectedly. This occurs when you print from multiple print queues to the same printer driver.
• This update addresses an issue that might affect your computer when you are playing a game. Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors might occur.
• This update affects text edit controls in XAML and browser controls. You cannot make text edit controls editable again after they become read only. This occurs when you use the new Microsoft Input Method Editor for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
• This update makes Narrator announce the “Change product key” label.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Defender Firewall Profile. It fails to automatically switch from a LAN that is trusted to a public network.
• This update makes Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles up to date.
• This update addresses a deadlock in Internet Protocol Security (IPsec). When you configure servers with IPsec rules, they stop responding. This issue affects virtual and physical servers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the MPSSV service. The issues causes your system to restart repeatedly. The stop error code is 0xEF.
• This update addresses an issue that affects a Clustered Shared Volume (CSV). The CSV fails to come online. This occurs if you enable BitLocker and local CSV managed protectors, and the system recently rotated the BitLocker keys.
• This update addresses an issue that causes Windows to fail. This occurs when you use BitLocker on a storage medium that has a large sector size.
• This update affects the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist, DriverSiPolicy.p7b. It adds drivers that are at risk for Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the fastfat file system driver. It stops responding because of a race condition.
• This update addresses an issue that affects refsutil.exe. Options, like salvage and leak, do not work properly on Resilient File System (ReFS) volumes.
• This update addresses an issue that affects I/O over Server Message Block (SMB). It might fail when you use the LZ77+Huffman compression algorithm.

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

For more information about security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Security Update Guide website and the August 2023 Security Updates.

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22000.2237

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

Known issues in this update

Microsoft is not currently aware of any issues with this update.

Both of these updates are available through Windows Update and should install automatically in time, however, if you need to download them for offline installation, get them from the Microsoft Update Catalog (22H2, 21H2).

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

Highlights

This update addresses security issues for your Windows operating system.

And as is generally the case, the Redmond company has also listed the known issues in the update, which is always handy. Here are the symptoms and their respective workarounds:

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

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

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That’s right. Passwordless authentication is a more secure way to sign in to your devices and accounts without using a password. Instead, you can use a more secure method, such as the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, or a physical security key.

It’s also more convenient because you don’t have to remember or type in a password every time you sign in. And it can save businesses money on IT costs.

So if you’re ready to ditch passwords and improve the security of your Windows 11 PC, here’s how.

How to go passwordless on Windows 11 PCs

Microsoft Authenticator app

• Download and install the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone. It’s available on both Android and iOS.
• Open the Microsoft Authenticator app and sign in with your Microsoft account.
• Once you’ve signed up, sign in to Microsoft Account Additional security options from your Windows 11 PC.
• Under Password-free account, select Turn on.

• Follow the prompts to verify your account.
• Approve the request sent to your Microsoft Authenticator app.

Will your account still be secure if you go passwordless? Yes, of course. When you enable passwordless authentication, your Microsoft account will be protected by the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, or a physical security key. These methods are much more secure than traditional passwords.

Let’s go passwordless on Windows 11! 

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You can check out the new indicator by launching the Microsoft Store and clicking the "Library" button. Image/video extensions and some inbox applications, mostly non-user-removable, will show up with the new "System Components" badge. Interestingly, Windows Web Experienced Pack, responsible for Windows Widgets and MSN News, still appears as a regular app.

You can also spot the new indicator when opening a specific listing, but clicking it for some reason opens the "Top free apps" section with third-party software.

Although Microsoft has yet to announce the updated store badging, it is easy to guess the reasoning behind the change. The company uses the Microsoft Store to update multiple Windows components, and a less experienced customer may not understand the purpose of a certain entry. The "System Components" label will provide a bit of clarity.

Microsoft will soon add a similar badge to other parts of Windows 11. The most recent preview builds contain a "System" tag in the Start menu for flagging stock applications. These badges are hardly groundbreaking, but they make the operating system more user-friendly and easier to understand.

Another change in the Microsoft Store is the recently announced AI Hub. The new section for applications leveraging the power of artificial intelligence is now available for all users, not only Windows insiders.

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In a blog post, Google said that in the past, it has released one security update in between the Stable milestone Chrome releases (called "Stable Refresh"), which happens every four weeks. As with many browsers, Google uses the Chromium open-source code as the basis for Chrome. Google states:

This openness has benefits in testing fixes and discovering bugs, but comes at a cost: bad actors could possibly take advantage of the visibility into these fixes and develop exploits to apply against browser users who haven’t yet received the fix. This exploitation of a known and patched security issue is referred to as n-day exploitation.

That’s why we believe it’s really important to ship security fixes as soon as possible, to minimize this “patch gap”.

The move to issue weekly security updates should allow Google to close the "patch gap" for Chome compared to the previous schedule of bi-weekly patch releases:

While we can’t fully remove the potential for n-day exploitation, a weekly Chrome security update cadence allows up to ship security fixes 3.5 days sooner on average, greatly reducing the already small window for n-day attackers to develop and use an exploit against potential victims and making their lives much more difficult.

Google says that if a security exploit in Chome is discovered to be used out in the wild, the company will quickly fix and release an unscheduled patch for the browser. However, since it will now release new security updates every week, Google expects these kinds of unscheduled updates to be reduced as well.

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With the screen sharing option, WhatsApp users can now share their phone or computer screen with other participants during a video call. This allows for sharing documents, and photos, planning vacations together, online shopping and more.

The feature works similarly to screen sharing in other video conferencing apps like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. Users can share their entire screen or just a specific app window.

According to Mark Zuckerberg's post on Facebook, the screen-sharing feature rolls out after tapping the "Share" icon during a video call and then selecting the option to share screen. "We're adding the ability to share your screen during a video call on WhatsApp," Zuckerberg wrote.

Along with screen sharing, WhatsApp has also added support for Landscape Mode during video calls on mobile devices. This provides a wider and more immersive video-calling experience.

The screen sharing feature has been in beta testing on WhatsApp's Android, iOS and Windows PC apps for a few months. It is now rolling out to all users worldwide.

These new capabilities come as WhatsApp faces increasing competition from rival messaging apps like Telegram, Signal and Discord. The company has consistently released new features throughout 2022 to improve its video calling experience.

Lately, the messaging platform started testing an alternative to voice calls for groups. WhatsApp Voice Chat is available to groups and does away with the need to make voice calls on the app. While group participants can send voice messages individually, the new feature allows them to join a common voice chat of phone calls or texting.

WhatsApp's upgrades provide users with better tools for collaboration and communication. The new features will allow users to get more value from WhatsApp's free video calling.

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Google built Project IDX on top of Visual Studio Code (using Code OSS), allowing them to focus on AI integrations like Codey and PaLM 2. Google's Codey AI programming assistant enables smart code completion, a chatbot for answering coding questions, and contextual code recommendations.

Project IDX allows developers to code full-stack web and mobile apps directly in the browser. It currently supports popular frameworks like Angular, Flutter, React, and Vue.js, with support for additional languages and frameworks planned.

A key benefit of Project IDX is that it provides a consistent development environment accessible from any device. This eliminates common pain points like ensuring dev environments are in sync across machines. The cloud-based IDE also provides access to robust computing resources unavailable locally on many developer machines.

For example, according to Google, Project IDX will use macOS machines in the cloud to build iOS apps and display the iOS Simulator. More details on Android emulator support will be announced later.

Project IDX deeply integrates with GitHub for source control and Google's Firebase platform for hosting, cloud functions, and more. Each workspace provides a Linux-based virtual machine.

Project IDX is currently in early preview. Google plans to add more languages, frameworks, and cloud service integrations. It says that "IDX is still in its early stages, but it can potentially revolutionize how developers code."

Meanwhile, Microsoft-owned GitHub has taken Copilot to the next level with the introduction of Copilot Chat. This is a feature that allows developers to interact with Copilot more conversationally. This means you can now ask Copilot questions about your code, get explanations for specific parts of your code, and even have Copilot fix bugs in your code.

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The latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android includes a new feature, still under development, that is elevating the email address from being solely used as part of WhatsApp's two-factor authentication security feature.

Details are murky at the time, but this is what we know about the feature at the present stage. WhatsApp beta version 2.23.16.15 for Android introduces a new security feature that is using an email address for account verification and protection.

Our well-informed colleagues over at Wabetainfo have discovered the new feature. WhatsApp users may add an email address to their WhatsApp account.

Account verification by email is a much requested feature by users of the service. It is unclear at this point whether this addition is used in emergency situations only or as an alternative to phone number verifications.

Potential scenarios include verification of the account when access to the device that WhatsApp is installed on is not possible anymore, e.g., because it has been lost or was stolen.

Adding the email address appears to be an optional feature that Meta plans to integrate into WhatsApp. It appears to have no connections to the email address entered when configuring two-step verification in the client.

While it may not become as essential as configuring two-step verification in WhatsApp to improve the account's protection against unauthorized access, it may still be used widely by users of the service, especially if it improves recoverability of accounts or additional security protections.

WhatsApp users may consider using a unique email address for WhatsApp specifically; this can be done either by creating a new email address or using email forwarding systems, such as Firefox Relay Anonaddy or SimpleLogin.

The exact functionality that the new email integration in WhatsApp provides is unclear at this stage. In best case, it could introduce email verifications of accounts as an option, so that users don't have to verify using the device's phone number. In worst case, it adds little but provides Meta-owned WhatsApp with an additional data set of email addresses linked to phone numbers.

Now You: do you use WhatsApp?

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This update is not only visually pleasing but also comes with enhanced features and functions aimed at boosting productivity and making navigation simpler.

Among the new enhancements, the redesigned File Explorer now features a modern home page powered by WinUI, which integrates the Fluent Design System into all controls and styles.

For those logged into Windows using an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account, recommended files will appear in a carousel with the soon-to-be-introduced support for file thumbnails.

Quick Access folders, Favorites, and Recent sections also get a visual overhaul, providing a seamless, contemporary user experience.

The new File Explorer has an updated address bar that can distinguish between local and cloud folders, displaying built-in status. Particularly for OneDrive users, the address bar will also indicate your OneDrive sync status and provide a flyout for your quota.

Another exciting introduction is the modernized details pane (accessed by ALT + Shift + P). This pane offers a variety of contextual information about selected files, including file thumbnails, share status, file activity, related files and emails, and more.

This new feature enhances the user's ability to manage and collaborate on files without opening them

A new Gallery View

Microsoft is also introducing the Gallery, a new feature in File Explorer designed to simplify access to your photo collection. The photos displayed in the Gallery are the same ones you'd see in the 'All Photos' view of the Photos app.

The new gallery is optimized to showcase your most recent photos, and if you have the OneDrive Camera Roll Backup set up, photos you take will automatically appear at the top of the view.

Users can choose which folders appear in the Gallery and can even add subfolders to filter specific content.

Overall, the modernized File Explorer on Windows 11 breathes new life into a tool that is central to users' daily interactions with their computers.

From smart address bars to detailed file insights and easy photo access, the update greatly enhances user experience, making file management easier and more efficient.

If you want to test the new File Explorer yourself, you can install the Windows Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary preview builds.

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The update is already available for testing in the Beta Channel, meaning the release is getting nigh. However, there is one big problem with the redesigned File Explorer: performance.

To put it mildly, Windows 11's upcoming File Explorer is... not fast. In fact, users may experience severe performance downgrades even when running the update on supported hardware.

Gustave Monce has shown the struggle of using the Surface Go 2, Microsoft's cheapest Windows 11-compatible tablet.

The funniest part (if there is anything funny about File Explorer taking 15 seconds to load) is that the original Surface Duo, a device never made to run a desktop OS, is better at handling the redesigned File Explorer. Not like it does it in a snappy manner, but the difference is appalling nonetheless.

Of course, one may rightfully argue that you should not expect much from a tablet with an entry-level Intel processor, 4GB of RAM, and slow eMMC storage. The problem is that the new File Explorer is slime-like even when running on more capable hardware.

Florian (@flobo09 on Twitter), a Windows Insider MVP, claims their desktop PCs with an Intel Core i5-7600K and 16GB of RAM takes whopping 21 seconds to launch File Explorer.

Although not that drastic, a similar situation occurs on the HP Pavilion x360 laptop with an 11th Gen Intel Core i3 processor and desktop computer with a Ryzen 5 2600. Another frustrated user says the redesigned File Explorer is "borderline unusable" on a system with a Ryzen 3400G and 16GB of RAM, and the Feedback Hub is full of similar complaints.

Upgrading File Explorer to WinAppSDK may have allowed Microsoft to implement new features and improve consistency, but it clearly crippled performance beyond recognition. We can only hope developers will use the remaining few months before the Windows 11 version 23H2 release to improve the situation. If not, many will have to stick to version 22H2 until things get notably better or even remain on Windows 10, as the recent study showed how it is much snappier than Windows 11.

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However, tests, since the early days of the original Windows 11 21H2 release, have shown that certain features on the new OS do hurt the performance, at least when gaming, which is why Microsoft itself has recommended disabling them.

General performance aside, there were bugs too, which the tech giant had to acknowledge and block the 22H2 feature update. This was later fixed with an update in December of 2022, and about a month after that, the company released a somewhat awkward video explaining, again, how Windows 11 (22H2 this time) was great for gaming. Ironically, this video was released just a week or so after a Windows 11 vs 10 evaluation showed that the former was not really better. There was barely anything much to separate the two.

Gaming aside, Microsoft earlier this year, also summarized the general performance improvements and optimizations it delivered. The company claimed improved Shell performance, among various other things.

YouTuber Tech YES City (TYC) recently published a video talking about the performance differences they observed when an Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake i9-13900K CPU was put up against a Core i9-10850K (10th Gen, Comet Lake). Interestingly, in a lot of scenarios, the older CPU pulled up a victory. The general trend showed better snappiness and lower latencies on the older chip. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Intel's collaboration with Microsoft seemed to help as the flagship Intel 13th gen (hybrid) processor was found to often be slightly better under Windows 11, due to special OS scheduler optimizations.

To see if it was all down to the architectural shift on Intel's side, independent of the OS, the Comet Lake i9 CPU was once again pitted against itself on Windows 11; and the results suggested Windows 10 was mostly better, at least in the aspects of performance that deal with latencies.

In CS:GO, for example, the load times were far superior on Windows 10, which is a poor start for the latest OS. And the mouse input latency was also noticeably worse.

The general snappiness and responsiveness of Windows 10 was also better compared to that in 11:

Opening .mp3 and .mp4 file locations using right-click context menu was also tested and Windows 10 seemed to have a slight edge in this case too:

The one aspect that Windows 11 did score points was in idle power draw, where the Windows 10 PC was consuming around 10% more.

However, in the latency department, which leads to a snappier experience, it looks like Windows 10 was the one that almost consistently came out on top.

Source and images: Tech YES City (YouTube)

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Usually, Microsoft details new accessibility enhancements in the official release notes, but here is one that slipped under the radar. As discovered by u/XenoThePanther, Windows 11 build 25921from the Canary Channel introduced extra sliders for colour filters, allowing those in need to adjust the intensity and colour boost.

Windows 10 and 11 have six built-in colour filters to help customers with colour blindness use their computers without extra software. With build 25921, colour filters provide a much more flexible and fine-tuning experience.

Here is how you can use Windows 11's built-in colour filters:

1. Open the Settings app by pressing Win + I or right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Settings.
2. Navigate to the Accessibility section and click colour Filters.
3. Toggle on the colour Filters option and select the one you need.
4. Scroll down and locate two sliders above the reset button and without labels (most likely a bug Microsoft will fix in future updates).

    

   
5. Use the first slider to adjust the filter's intensity. The second slider lets you boost colour. Note that you cannot modify these settings when using grayscale, grayscale inverted, and inverted filters.
6. Hit the Reset button to revert changes or toggle off the colour Filters option.

Other accessibility improvements in the recently introduced Windows 11 preview builds include Voice Access support on the lock screen and more languages for Narrator's Natural Voices feature. You can learn more about that in the release notes for Windows 11 build 23516. Note that colour filter improvements are only available in the Canary Channel (for now).

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The two updates were released less than a week after the official Firefox 116 update, which Mozilla released on August 1, 2023.

Both point updates address non-security issues in the browser. Firefox 116.0.1 addressed an issue that caused chart elements to be rendered incorrectly for Windows users.

The new Firefox 116.0.2 update addresses a single issue as well. This time, Mozilla fixed an issue that affected users of ZoneAlarm Anti-Keylogger only.

ZoneAlarm Anti-Keylogger is a security feature of ZoneAlarm security products. ZoneAlarm users need to enable the Anti-Keylogger feature in the Web & Privacy section of their client application. The tool works in several web browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Internet Explorer.

ZoneAlarm describes Anti-Keylogger as a tool that protects user computers from "any malicious software that records keystrokes".

A bug report on Mozilla's Bugzilla bug tracking website provides additional details on the issue. The bug reporter stated that after installing the last Firefox update, keyboard input would repeat qwerty sequences instead of the typed letter in Firefox.

Several posts on Mozilla's official support forum confirmed that other users of the browser were also affected by the issue. Some of the users discovered that ZoneAlarm's Anti-Keylogger tool was responsible for the issue.

One easy fix for the issue is to turn off Anti-Keylogger in the ZoneAlarm client software.

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 116.0.2 later today to fix the issue for all users. Mozilla's fix removes a ZoneAlarm DLL from the browser's blocklist. The organization added the DLL to the blocklist because of crashes that users experienced that used ZoneAlarm software.

Firefox users who run ZoneAlarm software with Anti-Keylogger enabled may want to install the update once it comes out. While some Firefox installations may crash because of the "other" issue, they at least can type without running into scrambling issues. All other Firefox users should not feel any hurry to install the update, as it does not address any other issues in the browser.

Firefox users may select Menu > Help > About Firefox to display the current version that is installed and run a check for updates.

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In a recent blog post, Microsoft announced that Edge for Business will launch the week of August 17. That's also when the stable edition of the latest Edge version, 116, will be made available for all users.

Microsoft added that anyone who signs into Edge 116 next week by using All customers who sign into Edge using Microsoft Entra ID "will automatically be transitioned to Microsoft Edge for Business as part of the release."

The blog post includes an FAQ about Edge for Business. Microsoft reminds people that this is not a new version of the Edge browser, but rather a new mode that kicks in with an Entra ID. It adds:

IT maintains full control over policy and feature management and configuration with Edge for Business. Meanwhile, Microsoft Edge is lightly managed, with IT maintaining control over security and compliance policies of the personal browsing window. With users separating their work and personal browsing and content, personal data can be excluded from enterprise sync in the work browser window, giving users the privacy they want.

When users first sign into Edge with an Entra ID, they will see a new Edge for Business icon. They will also see a new place to put their profile photo. Any passwords, data, and favorites that are already a part of a user's work profile in Edge will automatically transfer to Edge for Business.

The FAQ also notes that Edge for Business will be coming to mobile users as well. Microsoft stated that the new icon, management settings in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and more will be available on mobile in the future.

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As per the website, WhatsApp Voice Chat is available to groups and does away with the need to make voice calls on the app. While participants of a group can send voice messages individually, the new feature allows them to join a common voice chat of phone calls or texting.

The feature can be accessed via a waveform button present in the top-right corner of the group chat screen. Any participant can start the voice chat and a dedicated UI will show up at the top of the screen.

The difference from phone calls is that starting a voice chat will not ring the phone and all users will only get a silent push notification when a chat is created in their group.

Once started, any participant in the group can join the voice chat and start talking. But it will turn off after 60 minutes if the chat remains empty and no one joins. WABetaInfo notes that only certain groups can access the voice chat feature and it only supports up to 32 participants at the moment.

However, it could be possible that the feature is available to groups with more users. The feature seems to be a wide release and might be available to some users on the stable version of the app.

The Meta-owned instant messaging is on a launch spree this year with features like contextual stickers, confidential chats, silencing unknown callers, and the ability to edit sent messages. In a recent update, WhatsApp also made it easier for users to text unsaved phone numbers without leaving the app.

Source: WABetaInfo

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Aside from updating its list, Microsoft may also be working on blocking Windows 11 installs on unsupported hardware. German website Deskmodder reports that one of its forum members was unable to install Windows 11 on their Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 system. The user is an Insider flighting the Canary channel when Windows 11 build 25905 installation was seemingly blocked on their PC, even though previous builds worked fine. AMD's Turin II P650 [sic?] also did not work.

Interestingly, replacing the install.wim Windows Image file of previous builds with that of build 25905 apparently led to blockage of installs on those earlier releases, confirming the tech giant has certainly made some change there. Bypass options like those provided by tools like Rufus and Ventoy, among others, may not be enough. Others like the TPM bypass may not work either.

While Microsoft maintains its list of compatible CPUs, people have often run Windows 11 on unsupported chips. And such users have had decent experiences most of the time. assuming they have a somewhat new system. For example, a Reddit user once exclaimed that their Core i5-580M ran Windows 11 version 22H2 "like magic". Funnily, even a senior exec from the company was once seen sporting an unsupported part during a Windows Insider webcast. The SKU in question here was a Kaby Lake mobile Core i7-7660U.

Microsoft has in the past mistakenly offered Windows 11 upgrade to users on unsupported hardware. The PC Health Check app also once gave the Pentium 4 chip a thumbs up for installing the OS.

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When developing new features, Microsoft adds them to public Windows preview builds in a hidden and disabled state. These features, or Moments, can be enabled when they want to perform public A/B or internal tests.

For years, Windows enthusiasts have been searching for hidden features in new Insider preview builds and using specialized third-party tools, like ViveTool, to enable them for a sneak peek into what's coming in the future.

Now, Microsoft has revealed its own tool used to enable these hidden features.

Microsoft accidentally reveals StagingTool

As first discovered by Windows sleuth XenoPanther, Microsoft has a utility for enabling hidden development features in Windows 11 called 'StagingTool'.

While the tool was previously only used internally, Microsoft accidentally revealed its existence in a Feedback Hub quest during the August 2023 Bug Bash, an event held by Microsoft to find the most bugs in the operating system.

In this quest, Microsoft wanted users in China to test a new passwordless sign-in feature and offered instructions on using and downloading the StagingTool.exe to enable the feature.

While Microsoft has since made the tool unavailable, it has now been widely spread among Windows enthusiasts, allowing them to use a Microsoft-sanctioned tool to enable hidden features.

How to use the Windows StagingTool to enable hidden features

Microsoft's StagingTool is a command-line program that allows you to enable hidden features, otherwise known as Moment features, in Windows 11.

To enable a hidden feature, you must know its numeric feature ID, which Microsoft developers internally use.

However, it is possible to find new feature IDs and their associated feature name by scanning Windows 11 debug symbols (PDBs) that are released along with new preview builds. A tool called ViVeTool GUI Feature Scanner can be used to help find new feature IDs in preview builds.

Once you have a feature ID for a hidden feature you want to test, you can use Microsoft's StagingTool to enable or disable it.

To use StagingTool, you will need administrative privileges, so the tool needs to be run from an elevated command prompt in a console, such as the Command Prompt or Windows Terminal.

StagingTool includes a built-in help file that can be displayed by entering the StagingTool.exe /? command, which displays the following help text:

    [StagingTool.exe] Controls the feature configurations for this device
       Usage: StagingTool.exe [/enable  <featureId>]
                              [/disable <featureId>]
                              [/query   [featureId]]
                              [/reset   <featureId>]
                              [/testmode]
                              [/setvariant <featureId> <variantId> [payload]]
                              [/serialize]
                              [/setlkg]
                              [/restorelkg]
                              [/trace <featureId1> [<featureId2> ... <featureIdN>]]
                              [/setbootconfigs <jsonFile> <registryPath>]
       /enable          Enable the specified feature
       /disable         Disable the specified feature
       /query           Query the specified feature (or all features, if featureId
                        is omitted) for enablement and variant information
         /v                 Optional parameter to also print ImageDefault and ImageOverride features
       /reset           Reset the specified feature to its default state
         <featureId>        Specifies a feature by its feature Id
                            Example: Enable features with Id 1
                                StagingTool.exe /enable 1
       /testmode        Used in conjunction with /enable /disable /reset
                        Applied feature configs will revert after reboot
       /telemetry       Used in conjunction with /enable /disable /reset
                        Enables sending additional telemetry
       /setvariant      Select a feature variant to use (note: the feature must be
                        enabled for variants to be expressed). Use /query to list
                        configured variants.
         <featureId>        Specifies a feature by its feature Id
         <variantId>        Specifies a feature variant by id.
         [payload]          (Optional) Unsigned int payload for the variant
                            (for variants that support fixed payload)
       /serialize       Rather than apply changes to the local machine, use this
                        option to print out (in reg.exe/hex format) a new config
                        with all of the requested changes. This can be used for
                        offline updates to VHDs prior to first boot.
       /setlkg          Set Boot time feature override states as LKG Configurations
       /restorelkg      Restore Boot time LKG configurations states Feature Configurations
       /trace           Realtime ETW trace for the specified feature(s) usage in code
                        E.g. enable trace for the feature with ID 1235441: StagingTool.exe /trace 1235441
       /?                Show command usage

Before continuing, it should be noted that these are experimental, in-development features that could cause system instability in Windows 11. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you test these features in a virtual machine to easily roll back to an earlier snapshot if something goes wrong.

With that warning shared, you can use the StagingTool.exe /query command to see a list of available feature IDs. However, this command will only list the feature ID numbers and an internal Microsoft link to information about the experiment, which is not very helpful.

If you cannot discover what a particular feature IDs is for, you can follow Windows enthusiasts on Twitter, who sometimes share new hidden features. Some recommended people to follow include Albacore, XenoPanther, Rafael Rivera, and PhantomOcean3.

To enable a hidden feature, you can use the StagingTool.exe /enable <feature ID> command. For example, to enable feature ID 33001637, you would use the StagingTool.exe /enable 33001637 command from an elevated command prompt.

To disable a feature, you would use the StagingTool.exe /disable <feature ID> command. For example, StagingTool.exe /disable 33001637.

Therefore, if you enable a hidden feature and find that it breaks something in Windows 11, you can deactivate it to resolve the conflict.

For some features, you must restart Windows 11 after enabling or disabling a new feature.

Many other StagingTool commands are for more advanced usage, likely enabling feature variants, specific payloads, or telemetry.

Two interesting commands are the /serialize and /trace command line arguments.

The trace option will debug an enabled feature using Event Tracing for Windows (ETW), while the serialize option will create a new config to enable/disable features via the Registry as offline updates to VHDs.

However, most of these advanced features are for internal use by Microsoft and do not need to be used.

Playing with these tools to test hidden features can be fun for Windows enthusiasts, but as previously said, they can also cause instability in the operating system.

Therefore, using ViveTool or StagingTool on your main Windows 11 computer is not advised. Instead, play with them on installs you can reinstall or restore.

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According to Microsoft, customers might experience issues with the taskbar after updating to build 23516—it might disappear after installing the latest update. The company claims it achieved mixed results when reproducing the problem, and its spread "has proven to be inconsistent." Still, there are several methods to mitigate the problem. Here is what you can do if the taskbar is missing after installing Windows 11 build 23516:

1. If your taskbar is missing, allow the computer to sit idle for 5-6 minutes. Users have reported hearing an audible ding notification after which time the Taskbar reappears.
2. Reboot the device. This has not proven to be a fully reliable workaround, but it has been noted as successful from some users.
3. Lastly, you may choose to roll back from this build to the prior build. This bug was not present in the prior Dev Channel build (23511). To roll back your device if the task bar is missing, please follow these steps:

• Click the lock screen to display the login page.
• Select the on-screen Power Button in the lower-right corner.
• Hold the Shift key and select Restart.
  • (The device will reboot and enter the Windows Recovery Environment)
• On the "Choose an option" screen, select Troubleshoot
• Select Advanced options
• Select Uninstall updates
• Select Uninstall latest feature update
  • If your device has BitLocker enabled, you will be prompted for the recovery key. Input the key and click Continue.
• On the next screen select Uninstall feature update.
• The uninstall process will now begin.

Microsoft says developers are busy investigating the problem and hope to resolve it in a future update. If you have more insights on resolving the taskbar issue, let us know in the comments and share your findings with Microsoft in the Feedback Hub. Other users can take this story as another reason why running Windows 11 preview builds on a mission-critical or primary PC is not a great idea.

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As spotted by @Leopeva64 on Twitter, one of the recent Microsoft Edge Canary updates introduced a rewrite with Bing feature. It allows you to select a portion of text in an input field and rewrite it using the Alt + I shortcut. Edge will display a popup window with AI-generated text and a couple of buttons to replace the selected text, adjust the result, or try again with a refreshed variant.

Like SwiftKey on Android and iOS, the rewrite feature in the Edge browser lets you adjust several options to make the result fit your needs and taste. You can select four tones: professional, casual, enthusiastic, and informal; change the format: paragraph, email, blog post, and ideas), and pick length (short, medium, and long. Afterward, click the Rewrite button to apply your settings and regenerate the response from Bing AI.

Text rewrite with Bing is now rolling out to some insiders in the Canary Channel. It is an A/B rollout, meaning not everyone can access the new feature. As for Edge Dev users, they have a similar feature: right-click the highlighted text and select the "Ask Bing AI" option. That will open the Bing sidebar with buttons to explain, revise, or expand the selection.

In case you missed it, Microsoft recently started rolling out dark mode support for Bing and Bing Chat on desktops. Also, the company finally allowed accessing Bing Chat from other browsers, such as Google Chrome and Safari.

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There are separate lists for both Windows 11 21H2 and 22H2 even though the system requirements of Windows 11 haven't changed (much) since the original 21H2 announcement. So if anyone hopes that their currently unsupported hardware could suddenly appear on the supported list, that is simply not going to happen.

The new list, published towards the end of the last month on 25 July, adds some new Ryzen processors, including one that hasn't been announced by AMD. Microsoft had previously updated this list of CPUs sometime around May, adding many new AMD chips, mainly the X3D parts, but there are several others too. The recently released Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which is AMD's first mobile chip with the 3D V-cache, isn't yet on the list though. Bizarrely, the list also removes several Intel chips that were previously there.

The full list of newly added AMD processors is given below:

• AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655G

• AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE

• AMD Ryzen 3 5380U

   

The PRO series chips listed above are based on AMD's Renoir lineup. In case you aren't aware, Renoir is AMD's Zen 2-based APU lineup which has onboard 2nd gen Vega graphics. While the 4655G is a 65W part, the 4655GE is a 35W unit.

The third and final CPU on the list, the Ryzen 3 5380U, is the unannounced part we mentioned before. AMD does not yet have such an SKU on its website but we can certainly guess that it belongs to AMD's "Lucienne" lineup of chips. These are AMD's Zen 2-based mobile chips with integrated Vega graphics. In related news, several of AMD's processors are vulnerable to the Zenbleed security flaw, and the 5380U would also have been on the list had it been released.

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