Microsoft also released a new update for the Windows 11 Insider Canary Channel, with the build number 25387. However, it didn't get any release notes as it did not have any major changes. However, it did put in some new features to the Microsoft Store for both Dev and Canary Channel users.

The changelog for the new Dev Channel release is below:

What’s new in Build 23475

Modernized File Explorer Home and Address Bar

Now that File Explorer is powered by Windows App SDK, we are introducing a modernized File Explorer Home powered by WinUI. Recommended files for users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account will be displayed as a carousel and support file thumbnails which is coming soon. Quick Access folders (available by default for users signed into Windows with a Microsoft account), Favorites, and Recent also bring in an updated experience with WinUI.

Modernized File Explorer Home.

We are also introducing a modernized address bar and search box to File Explorer. The new address bar intelligently recognizes local vs. cloud folders with built-in status. For OneDrive users, you’ll notice the address bar now contains your OneDrive sync status and quota flyout.

Modernized address bar in File Explorer with OneDrive sync and quota flyout

.[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Dev 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 Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Dynamic Lighting

Dynamic Lighting provides Windows users and developers with native control of Lighting Devices implementing the open HID LampArray standard. By adopting an open standard, and by working with our OEM and ODM partners, Microsoft seeks to improve the RGB device and software ecosystem for users by increasing interoperability of devices and apps. Included are APIs for Windows apps to control devices from the background and foreground, as well as a page in Windows Settings for users to customize how their devices behave.

The new Dynamic Lighting settings page.

Several device manufacturers including Acer, ASUS, HP, HyperX, Logitech, Razer, and Twinkly have partnered with Microsoft on Dynamic Lighting.

As of the publication of this post, a list of current, in-market compatible devices is below. Review the Dynamic Lighting Hardware MS Learn page for a more current list of compatible in-market devices. The latest firmware should be used with these devices. We are aware of several issues with wireless device connections so please use a wired connection with a compatible device to a PC, if possible, for the time being. And check out the known issues below in this post for other issues that may impact this experience.

Note: Many of the devices listed below have not yet been verified for compatibility by Microsoft. In case of issues, contact the device manufacturer.

Keyboards:

• Coming soon: ASUS ROG Scope II Wireless 96 Gaming Keyboard
• Razer BlackWidow V3
• Razer BlackWidow V3 Pro
• Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini
• Razer BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless
• Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro
• Razer DeathStalker V2
• Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro
• Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro TKL
• Razer Huntsman Mini
• Razer Huntsman Mini Analog
• Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
• Razer Huntsman V2
• Razer Huntsman V2 Analog
• Razer Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless
• Razer Ornata V2
• Razer Ornata V3
• Razer Ornata V3 TKL
• Razer Turret Keyboard Xbox One Edition

Mice:

• Coming soon: ASUS ROG Harpe Ace AimLab Edition Gaming Mouse
• Microsoft Pro IntelliMouse
• Razer Turret Mouse Xbox One
• Razer DeathAdder V2
• Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro
• Razer Naga Left-Handed
• Razer Naga Pro

To control and configure a HID LampArray device at both the per-device and all-device level, navigate to the new Dynamic Lighting page in Settings > Personalization > Dynamic Lighting.

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

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• The feature where we now detect if the user is interacting with toasts or not and provide a suggestion to turn the toast banners off for such apps that began rolling out with Build 23466 is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

[Emoji]

The Unicode Emoji 15 is beginning to roll out to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Users will now be able to see, search for and insert new emoji from the emoji panel. Here are a few of our Emoji 15 designs which include more hearts, animals and one new smiley face.

Examples of some of our Emoji 15 designs.

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an issue where the taskbar may not have shown the correct apps when using multiple desktops.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Fixed the issue where Narrator customers were unable to navigate down the left side panel of the search flyout.

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue where when using a Japanese display language, sometimes apps with names written in kanji would all show at the bottom of the all apps list, rather than displayed alongside hiragana and katakana app names.

[Notifications]

• Fixed an issue where certain notifications were leading to an explorer.exe crash.

[Input]

• We’re rolling out the fix for an issue where Korean touch keyboard sometimes finalizes characters unexpectedly in the search flyout on the taskbar.

[Backup and Restore]

• Backups of a PC that was set up using a restore will now show up in subsequent restores.
• Restore of solid colour desktop backgrounds are now supported.

[Other]

• Fixed issues that were causing voice access commands for moving settings sliders and selecting things on the taskbar to fail.

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

[Dev Drive]

• On a reboot, additional filters beyond AV might be attached to your Dev Drive. To check what filters are attached, please run ‘fsutil devdrv query :’ in Windows Terminal. If you are seeing more than your AV filters, you can run ‘fsutil volume dismount :’ and then ‘fsutil devdrv query :’. After those steps, you should only see your AV filters.
• There might be variable performance on different hardware. If you notice slower performance on your machine, please file feedback!

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Navigating the search flyout on the taskbar with the keyboard arrow keys will not work as expected.
• Text scaling may not work in the search flyout.

[File Explorer]

• Insiders may experience a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.
• Thumbnail loading performance in Gallery for dehydrated cloud files and memory usage in large collections are known issues we are focused on improving. Please capture Performance traces in Feedback Hub for any performance-related issues. Rebuilding your Indexer can help if thumbnails are missing for cloud files; Search for “Indexing Options” and look in Advanced settings to find the rebuild tool.

Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer Home that began rolling out with Build 23475:

• [NEW] File Type icons are displayed in place of file thumbnails for ‘Recommended’ section (applicable to Enterprise users).
• [NEW] When navigating from another group to the Recommended section using a keyboard, focus does not appear on the group header or files appropriately.
• [NEW] Files display file extensions with the Show file extensions setting disabled.
• [NEW] Sync status icons for files backing up to a storage provider are not reliably displayed.
• [NEW] In case of an authentication error on File Explorer Home, the ‘Please Sign-in’ button appears but clicking on it does not pop-up the authentication dialog.

Insiders who have the modernized File Explorer address bar that began rolling out with Build 23475:

• [NEW] Windows Insiders may notice missing craftmanship polish with the modernized address bar and search box. The team greatly appreciates the use of Feedback Hub to help call out important details to address.
• [NEW] Users might experience lost keyboard focus and missing keyboard shortcuts. The team implemented improved tabbing with keyboard shortcuts that will be available soon.

Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer that began rolling out with Build 23403:

• Clicking on the Share command will currently bring up the Windows share sheet (non-OneDrive).

[Notifications]

• The copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts (first introduced in Build 23403) is currently not working in this build. A fix is coming in a future flight.

[Dynamic Lighting]

• [NEW] On first boot after installing this build and connecting a device, the “Use Dynamic Lighting on my devices” toggle is off in Settings. Device LEDs may not turn on automatically. Turning this toggle on in the all-device Settings page and in the per-device page(s) should turn on your device’s LEDs. If this doesn’t work, try restarting your Windows PC again.
• [NEW] All-device settings changes are not propagating to per-device Settings.
• [NEW] Device icons are missing from the device cards in Settings.
• [NEW] Switching user accounts can turn off device LEDs.

You can get check out the full blog post here.

Windows 11 Insider Dev Channel build 23475 gets the new File Explorer home and more

Aside from that, games and movie cards have also been redesigned to make it more aesthetically pleasing to browse through. The full changelog for the Store update is given below:

Microsoft Store Update

Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels running version 2305.1401.x.x of the Microsoft Store and higher will see the following improvements rolling out:

• Install free apps and games from search results: The ability to install free apps and games from search results which began rolling out to Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channel at the end of March is rolling out to more Insiders starting today.

• New designs for game and movie cards: Browsing the Microsoft Store is more delightful than ever with our new designs for game and movie cards. The cards give more room for artwork, adding more colour to your experience and making it easier for you to spot your next favorite product.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Microsoft Store.

The official Microsoft blog post is linked here.

Microsoft makes it easier for Windows 11 Insiders to install free games and apps from Store

Following those, Microsoft has now released a new Defender anti-malware update package for Windows OS installation images, ie, for Windows Imaging Format (WIM) and VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) formats.

The latest definitions support Windows 11, all editions of Windows 10, and Windows Servers 2016 and 2019. This update package is necessary as a Windows installation image may contain old, outdated anti-malware definitions and software binaries.

Aside from better security, these updates can also provide improved performance benefits too in some cases.

Microsoft is delivering the latest security definitions for Windows images via security intelligence update version 1.389.44.0. The Defender package version is 20230503.1. In the support document describing the new update, Microsoft explains:

The first hours of a newly installed Windows deployment can leave the system vulnerable because of a Microsoft Defender protection gap. This is because the OS installation images may contain outdated antimalware software binaries.

[..] Devices using either the Windows built-in antivirus or another security solution can benefit from these updates.

[..] This article describes antimalware update package for Microsoft Defender in the OS installation images (WIM and VHD files). This feature supports the following OS installation images:

• Windows 11

• Windows 10 (Enterprise, Pro, and Home editions)

• Windows Server 2019

• Windows Server 2016

Version information

• Defender package version: 20230604.1

This package updates the anti-malware client, anti-malware engine, and signature versions in the OS installation images to following versions:

• Platform version: 4.18.23050.3

• Engine version: 1.1.23050.3

• Security intelligence version: 1.391.476.0

You can find details about the package and how to install it in the support article on Microsoft's official website.

From Microsoft's security bulletin, we learn that the security intelligence update version 1.391.476.0 was released just a couple of days ago. It adds threat detections for various trojans, ransomware, and backdoor exploits, among others. For those wondering, the latest intelligence update is version 1.391.701.0 at the time of writing.

Following new ISOs, Microsoft releases special Defender update for Windows 11 install images

This isn't completely new to the operating system, it existed in a slightly different form in macOS 13 Ventura. To be more specific, if you activate Stage Manager in macOS 13, your app windows will take center stage, leaving the desktop wallpaper visible on all 4 sides. With the multitasking feature on, you can click anywhere on the wallpaper to view your desktop.

The same "show desktop" feature is now available in macOS Sonoma, even when Stage Manager is not enabled. This can be quite handy for people who work with apps that are windowed, i.e. not maximized to fit the screen, or in full screen mode. It may also be useful for people who have a large monitor, and have multiple app windows on the screen. You may want to quickly access the desktop to view your app icons, access files on it, or to unmount drives.

But there's another reason why the desktop will be more useful than ever. In case you missed it, macOS Sonoma allows you to now drag and drop widgets from the notification panel onto your desktop, or add them from the new Widgets gallery that you may access from the desktop's right-click menu. So, the new gesture to show the desktop may have been enabled to promote the use of the desktop widgets.

To use the gesture, simply click outside an app's window on a wallpaper, and all your open windows will be minimized, leaving the desktop in view. Click again, this time on the home screen, to return to the app's window. Sometimes you may have to double-click to trigger the feature.

The option to show the desktop when clicking on the wallpaper is enabled by default. Not a fan of it? That's understandable, you can turn the feature off in a couple of clicks

How to disable the show desktop shortcut in macOS Sonoma

1. Go to the Settings > Desktop and Dock.

2. Scroll down the page to the Desktop section.

3. Click on the drop-down menu that is next to "Click wallpaper to show desktop items", and change it to "Only in Stage Manager".

If you want to enable the show desktop shortcut, repeat the steps 1 and 2, but in step 3 set the option to "Always".

Of course, you can always use the show desktop keyboard shortcut, Fn + F11, which some may prefer. That said, clicking on the wallpaper to get to the desktop offers a couple of other advantages. For starters, it frees up a hotcorner shortcut that you may assign to another action. You no longer need to rely on the 4-finger swipe to get to the desktop, there's a good chance that you may have triggered Mission Control instead while trying the gesture on the trackpad, we've all been there. And like I mentioned earlier, you don't have to turn on Stage Manager to use the show desktop option.

macOS 14 Sonoma lets you view your desktop by clicking on the wallpaper

According to the official Windows Insider Program Twitter account, the new build number for this update is 25381.1200. This specific update contains no new features, with Microsoft stating that this is being pushed out "to test our servicing pipeline."

This is the first time in a few months that Microsoft has released a Canary update with the intent to just test its systems. Microsoft previously released a major new Canary update last week. The build number for that update was 25381, and it made SMB signing a requirement for Enterprise editions as the default for the OS.

Microsoft made a separate announcement on the same date stating that this new SMB signing default would be added to "Pro, Education, and other Windows editions over the next few months, as well as to Windows Server." Microsoft said this change was "part of a campaign to improve the security of Windows and Windows Server for the modern landscape."

Microsoft updated the Beta channel for Insider users on June 1. It added WPA3 support to the Phone Link instant hotspot feature. On the same day, it also released a Dev channel update for Insiders. It had a few new additions, including adding a new button in the File Explorer Gallery for adding photos from a phone, and new natural voices in Spanish for the Narrator feature.

Windows 11 Insider Canary channel gets a small servicing update for Build 25381.1200

Mozilla announced the change in the Firefox 113 release notes, but appears to have rolled out the functionality gradually to installations of the browser.

Please note that Firefox does not display the search term in the address bar if a dedicated search field is displayed in the browser's address bar; it can be added by right-clicking on a blank spot on the main toolbar and selecting the "customize toolbar" option from the menu. Drag & drop the search element to the Firefox toolbar to display it there.

The browser displays a notification to users the first time this happens. Mozilla explains that the change makes searching simpler, as it makes it easier to adjust the search term directly in the address bar of the browser.

While some Firefox users may appreciate the change, others may dislike it, as it breaks one of the fundamental principles of web browsing: that the URL of the active page is always visible and accessible in browsers.

Mozilla might argue that the URL is not that important in this specific case, and that users know that they are on Google or another default search engine that they have set in the browser. Clearly, most Internet users who run searches do not need access to the URL of the search engine, as they do not edit it manually or use copy or share operations.

Critics argue that users may also edit the search term on the results page directly, as the default search engine usually displays a search field with the term there as well. Google, which is Firefox's default search engine in most regions, displays the search field at the top of the results page directly.

Disabling the search term in the URL in Firefox

Firefox users may disable the new functionality, so that the address of the search engine is displayed again in the browser's address bar.

Here is how that is done:

1. Load about:preferences#search in the browser's address bar.
2. Under Search Bar, uncheck the "Show search terms instead of URL on default search engine results pages" to return to the status quo.

The change happens immediately, a restart of the Firefox web browser is not required. To undo the change, check the box again the Firefox preferences.

Closing Words

The display of the search term instead of the URL in Firefox's address bar, when the default search engine is used, is not really all that helpful. The search engine displays the term on its results page usually, which gives users the option to adjust it as needed. Even more problematic is the removal of the URL in the address bar, as it breaks a fundamental principle of browsing on the Internet.

Now You: what is your take on this new feature?

How to disable Firefox's Search Terms in the address bar feature

The new version of Firefox is a security update, but it also introduces new nice-to-have features that improve search and the usability of the browser.

Firefox 114.0 and the ESR release are available for all supported platforms. The updates will be released later on June 6th, if you are reading this on the day.

All development channel versions of Firefox are updated at around the same time. Firefox Beta and Dev are moved to version 115, and Firefox Nightly is moved to version 116. Firefox for Android follows the stable version, it is updated to version 114 as well.

Executive Summary

• Firefox 114 patches 4 security issues in Firefox, the aggregate severity rating is high, and Mozilla makes no mention of exploits in the wild.
• Mozilla added the ability to change the order of extension icons.
• Bookmarks and Local search improvements added.
• Enabled native capture support on macOS devices.
• A new Firefox ESR base will be released next month. It is based on Firefox 115, and will be the new base for Windows 7 and 8.1 users.

Firefox 114 download and update

Most Firefox installations will receive the new update automatically, thanks to the built-in updating functionality. The updating does not happen in realtime, and some users may want to speed it up by downloading Firefox manually or by running a manual check for updates.

Select Menu > Help > About Firefox to display the installed version. The popup that opens runs a check for updates. Any new version found is either downloaded automatically or on user request at this point.

Here are the official download locations:

• Firefox Stable download
• Firefox Beta download
• Nightly download
• Firefox ESR download
• Firefox for Android on Google Play

Firefox 114.0 new features and improvements

Secure DNS (DNS over HTTPS) settings in UI

Firefox 114 makes it easier to configure DNS over HTTPS in the browser. Mozilla calls it secure DNS, and the new options are found under Settings > Privacy & Security > Enable secure DNS using.

There are four options right now that define whether DNS traffic will be encrypted or not when using the Firefox web browser:

• Default Protection -- Firefox makes the decision using the following logic:
  • Use secure DNS if it is available in the region.
  • Use default DNS provider, if there are issues with the secure DNS provider.
  • Use a local provider, if possible.
  • Turn off secure DNS, if a VPN is used, parental controls are enabled, or Enterprise policies are active.
  • Turn off secure DNS "when a network tells Firefox it shouldn't use secure DNS".
• Increased Protection -- gives the user control over the feature. The secure DNS provider is selected by the user, but Firefox will fall back to the regular DNS provider if there is a problem with the secure DNS provider.
• Max Protection -- gives the user control, but won't fall back if issues are encountered. Warning is displayed if secure DNS is not available.
• Off -- the feature is not enabled.

Search improvements

A new option to search bookmarks has been added to the Bookmarks menu. To access it, select Menu > Bookmarks > Search Bookmarks. This enables a bookmarks-exclusive search filter in the Firefox address bar.

Firefox supported this for a long time with the special character *. All it takes is to type * then Space, followed by the search term to search only in the browser's bookmarks.

Mozilla has also added an option to restrict searches to the local browsing history. This option is available in the History, Library and the Application menu.  Firefox users may use the special character ^ followed by the Space-key to limit searches in the browser's address bar to the browsing history.

Other changes and fixes

• Video capturing on macOS devices supports all native resolutions in Firefox 114. Resolutions were limited to 1280x720 previously.
• The list of extensions can now be reordered in the Extensions panel.
• Users on macOS, Linux, and Windows 7 can now use FIDO2 / WebAuthn authenticators over USB.
• Pocket Recommended content is now available in France, Italy and Spain.

Developer changes

• CSSImportRule.supportsText can now be used for getting any supports() conditions that were specified when using the @import at-rule
• The -webkit-text-security property that lets you replace characters with shapes is now supported.
• The :lang() pseudo-class now uses string-matching semantics (including * wildcards) for matching language codes rather than prefix-matching semantics.
• The infinity and NaN constants are now supported inside the calc() function
• The crossorigin attribute is now supported on image and feImage elements
• Window.print() now opens a print dialog on Firefox for Android, allowing the current document to be printed
• Workers now support loading ECMAScript modules.
• Worklets can now use import to statically import ECMAscript/JavaScript modules
• The deprecated and non-standard mozImageSmoothingEnabled property is permanently removed
• Support for browser_style in the manifest keys action, options_ui, page_action, and sidebar_action is deprecated for Manifest V3 extensions.
• WebTransport is now enabled by default and will be going to release with 114

Enterprise changes

• The WebsiteFilter policy allows setting the blocklist and Exceptions via JSON.
• The Preferences policy allows setting security.osclientcerts.assume_rsa_pss_support to add RSA-PSS support.
• The SecurityDevices policy supports deleting security devices now.
• Firefox ESR 115 will be released next month. The remaining Firefox 102 ESR releases will only get security updates going forward.
• Support for Windows 7 and 8.1 is ending on September 26, 2024. Firefox installations on these devices will be migrated to ESR automatically.
• Support for macOS 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14 ends on September 26, 2024 as well. Firefox installations on these platforms will also be migrated to ESR automatically.

Security updates / fixes

Mozilla Firefox 114 fixes 4 security issues in Firefox:

• CVE-2023-34414: Click-jacking certificate exceptions through rendering lag
• CVE-2023-34415: Site-isolation bypass on sites that allow open redirects to data: urls
• CVE-2023-34416: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 114 and Firefox ESR 102.12
• CVE-2023-34417: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 114

Additional information about the security fixes is available here.

Outlook

Firefox 115 and Firefox 115 ESR will be released on June 4, 2023. Firefox installations on Windows 7 and 8/8.1 devices will be migrated to Firefox ESR automatically.

Firefox extension reviews and news

None

Recent Firefox news and tips

• How to disable Firefox's Search Terms in the address bar feature
• How to hide the Shorts section on YouTube
• Mozilla confirms Firefox's end of support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 systems
• Mozilla showed VPN ads in Firefox before suspending them
•  

Additional information / resources

• Firefox 114 release notes
• Firefox 114 for Developers
• Firefox 114 for Enterprise
• Firefox Security Advisories
• Firefox Release Schedule

Source

macOS Sonoma comes with redesigned desktop widgets that can adapt their colour according to the wallpaper set on the desktop. The latest update also comes with a revamped widget picker UI which can access widgets stored on the iPhone as well. The new widgets on macOS 14 are now interactive, for instance, the user can check off reminders, play/pause media, access smart home controls, etc. directly from the desktop.

Furthermore, the widgets can fade away into the background when the user is working on an app on the desktop. Along with that, Apple has also added new slow-motion screensavers to macOS 14 that users can also set as their wallpapers.

A useful addition for gamers is the new "Game Mode" for macOS 14 that's designed to reduce audio latency for AirPods and make sure "games get the highest priority on the CPU and GPU." Apple says the mode can work with all Mac games and can double the Bluetooth sampling rate for Xbox and PlayStation controllers to reduce input latency. Also, the Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima showed up during the keynote live stream to reveal that Death Stranding: Director’s Cut will arrive on macOS.

Speaking of video conferencing features, macOS 14 comes with a new Presenter Overlay effect that puts the user on top of the content they are sharing during a video call. Users can also share how they feel in the form of reactions such as balloons, confetti, hearts, etc. the video.

The Safari browsing experience has been improved with the addition of browser profiles. These allow each user to have their own personal space with separate cookies, history, extensions, Tab Groups, and other stuff.

macOS 14 Sonoma will be released to the public later this year with all the new features and changes. Its developer beta is available to try, starting today, and the public beta will arrive next month.

macOS 14 Sonoma officially announced at WWDC 2023

Now a version of the "Like" button is going to appear in Microsoft's new update for its Word app. In a blog post, the company said that it is rolling out the new "like" icon for user comments in Word for Windows.

Microsoft stated:

Previously, you would find yourself typing replies like “+1” to convey agreement. Now you can simply click a button to “upvote” a response, agree with a sentiment, or acknowledge that you’ve read a collaborator’s feedback. We heard from many of you that you wanted to be able to quickly and easily convey your reaction to a comment like you can do on Word for the web, Teams, or other social media apps. We’re happy to deliver!

The "Like" icon button will now appear on any comment that's created for a Word document in the top right corner. You can just click on it to show that you approve of the comment. You can also hover the cursor over the button to see who else has liked it. You can also take back your "Like" by clicking on the button again.

Microsoft says the "Like" icon will not be available if a Word document is in a read-only mode. You can also react to a comment below the top comment by pressing the Down arrow. That will allow you to move through the list of comments.

This new feature is available now for Word for Windows beta testers, along with Word users on the web. It's now rolling out for Current Channel (Preview) users running Version 2305 (Build 16501.20152) or later. The "Like" icon comment feature will be added to the Mac version of Word in the next few weeks.

At the moment, iOS and Android Word users won't be able to see the "Like" reactions. Also, older Word documents with comments may not show the "Like" button but any new comments added will support it.

Word for Windows has added a "Like" button icon for comments, and it's coming soon to Mac

Home users can download PicPick 7.2 from the company website. The existing installation will be upgraded automatically when the downloaded setup file is launched on the device.

Windows users should take note that Microsoft plans to change the function of the PrintScreen key in Windows 11.

PicPick 7.2.0

The main new feature of the screen capturing tool is the new Window capture mode. This is the last mode that the tool lacked to make it an allrounder screen capturing application. The developers have added support for screen recordings and delayed screenshot captures last year.

PicPick supported capturing windows and scrolling windows already, and the new Window capture mode adds an option to the tool to capture the active window quickly.

The new capturing mode is available directly on start. The Home screen of the application lists it under Screen Capture and the new keyboard shortcut Alt-PrintScreen creates a screenshot of the active window automatically. Speaking of keyboard shortcuts, the new keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-S adds Save As functionality of PicPick. The Whiteboard feature supports keyboard shortcuts as well now.

PicPick's capture bar, does not list the new window capture option. It does list the window control and scrolling window capture options, however.

Users of the application may use any of the window capturing options to capture windows. Pressing Alt-PrintScreen may be quicker if the active window needs to be captured. The Window Control mode lets users pick a visible window on the screen to capture its content.

The new window capture option is not the only new feature. The application's screen recorder has been updated; it may now record multiple audio streams on the device while recording.

Other improvements include improved printing functionality. This includes an improved printing and preview quality, image scaling options, and better header, footer and margin settings. The program's PDF Export feature, which exports screenshots to PDF, has also been enhanced in the release, but the developers do not reveal how.

PicPick users who want to start over can use the new restore button in the settings to set everything back to its default value.

Closing words

PicPick is an excellent screen capturing tool for Windows that gets better with every major release. Windows users who use it regularly have two options to support the developers. There is the option to buy a lifetime license, which supports installing the program on two computer systems. The other option is subscription-based and supports installation on two devices as well.

Now You: which screenshot tool or tools do you use?

PicPick 7.2 screenshot tool adds Window Capture mode

• Microsoft just shipped an update to Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11.
• The update adds support for file sharing and transferring files using drag and drop and copy and paste.
• Several other improvements arrive with the update as well, including Android 13 security updates.

Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) on Windows 11 allows you to use Android apps on your PC. The feature came out in late 2021, though it's still relatively unknown. Microsoft steadily improves WSA on a regular basis, and the company recently shipped an update that makes it much easier to use your PC's files with Android apps.

Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11 now supports file sharing, letting you use Windows folders with Android apps. For example, your Pictures folder could be shared with WSA to make it easier to edit photos within an Android app.

The update also adds the ability to transfer files using drag and drop or copy and paste.

In addition to file-related changes, the latest version of WSA includes Android 13 security updates, and updated version of Chromium Webview, and several other improvements.

Here are the full release notes from GitHub:

• File sharing enabled
• File transfer using drop and drop and copy and paste!
• Windows Subsystem for Android Settings (renamed to just "Windows Subsystem for Android") redesign, including displaying all installed Android apps
• Enable apps that specify android.hardware.type.pc in their manifest to opt into receiving raw input events
• Wi-Fi API compatibility improvements
• Camera hardware compatibility improvements
• Linux kernel security update
• Updated latest Chromium WebView to version 113
• Android 13 security updates

The biggest addition is support for file sharing. Since you can now share your Windows folders with WSA, it should be easier to upload and work with content within Android apps.

A separate GitHub page from Microsoft outlines the addition and its benefits:

"We are pleased to announce that Windows Subsystem for Android™ can now share your Windows user folders, like Documents and Pictures, with the Subsystem, so scenarios like uploading a photo to a social media app or editing a video in a creative app work seamlessly. Folder sharing is enabled by default for preview users and can be toggled on and off in Windows Subsystem for Android™ Settings. When folder sharing is enabled, your Windows user profile folder (e.g., “C:\Users\John Doe”) is shared as “/sdcard/Windows” in the Subsystem."

If you're new to the Windows Subsystem for Android, make sure to check out our guide on how to get started with Android apps on Windows 11. While the Amazon Appstore is the simplest way to get Android apps onto your PC, you can also sideload Android apps onto Windows 11.

Microsoft just made it easier to get the most out of Android apps on Windows 11

New DirectX 12-to-Metal translation could bring a world of Windows games to macOS

The Linux Foundation has published its best seller The Open Source Opportunity for Microgrids: Five Ways to Drive Innovation and Overcome Market Barriers for Energy Resilience. The punchy-titled research explains how microgrids could be the next big thing.

For those who came in late, microgrids are groups of distributed energy resources designed to improve energy resiliency, with the ability to operate as part of a larger electrical grid, or separately.

The report highlights the current state of the microgrid market and explores the potential for open source technology to accelerate the adoption of microgrids worldwide.

It concludes that microgrids are an essential tool to improve energy resilience and advance decarbonisation, and that the market faces a range of challenges that the open source ecosystem is well positioned to address.

It looks at how participation in relevant open source programs and activities can help address gaps and challenges "and accelerate the learning, development, and governance of microgrid initiatives."

One focus of the report is "enabling market innovation toward energy resilience at scale, supporting the Energy sector to adopt proven open source-enabled business models, security benefits, and cost reductions demonstrated in the IT and Telecom industries."

The Foundation thinks that there are tons of opportunities for open source to accelerate the proliferation of microgrids as a mechanism for clean energy production and consumption."

Source

Debian 12 "Bookworm" should arrive in a little over a week from now, with a raft of updated components – and no nasty surprises.…

Debian 12, code-named Bookworm after one of the more obscure Toy Story characters, is scheduled for release on June 10. The developers have put out Release Candidate 4 of the new version's installation medium, and it seems to be working pretty well, so at this point there shouldn't be any big changes before the ship date.

Generally, around the time that a new Linux distribution ships, we try to do a preview story which highlights some of the exciting new features in the forthcoming version. Unfortunately for us, that approach doesn't work so well for Debian, because "exciting" is not really what Debian does.

As we've already covered, a couple of the flagship features in this version are the inclusion of non-free firmware on the installation medium as standard, which ought to simplify the installation process – especially for new users. In turn, that's resulted in a new version of the APT packaging tool, but that's only a point release and should make little to no visible difference.

Under the covers, this version will look at the value returned by the vendor_id field of the data in /proc/cpuinfo, and if it recognizes a GenuinIntel or AuthenticAMD processor, it will automatically load the appropriate microcode. (At this point, we would like to register our objection to the intrusion of marketing teams into microprocessor descriptions, which are redolent of a quality that Douglas Adams described as "quoyness" in The Meaning of Liff.) The chances of this making any discernible difference in performance are minimal, but it might make systems very slightly more robust against future sideband security exploits.

Debian 12 will come with kernel 6.1, which is the current long-term support version of the kernel and will get updates for years to come. That's a welcome change: distributions with a faster release cycle often include short-term releases of the kernel, leaving users dependent on the vendor to backport security fixes – possibly after that kernel version's end of life. Potentially less welcome will be the inclusion of systemd version 252.6.

Most of the various desktops that Debian supports come in new versions, including KDE Plasma 5.27, Cinnamon 5.6, XFCE 4.18, LXQt 1.20, MATE 1.26 and so on. The only prominent desktop which will not have the latest version is GNOME, whose version 44 came along too late to be included – so you'll get GNOME 43 instead.

Bookworm does, however, default to using the Pipewire audio server – which in our test installation was the single component which didn't work correctly, and left us without working sound. Another almost shocking inclusion is the proprietary Nvidia driver, version 525.89.

Bundled applications will include LibreOffice 7.4, Vim 9.0, and Emacs 28.2. Generally speaking, Debian favors stable or slow-moving versions over the latest development branches. If you want to know any particular component version, the release notes have a good, comprehensive list.

If you want the latest and greatest versions of pretty much anything, this is not the distribution for you. If you want components which are six months old or less, or you want the very latest hardware driver support, Ubuntu's interim releases may be just the thing for you. If you want bleeding-edge versions, consider Fedora.

If the keywords that you prefer are terms like boring, staid, predictable, and reliable, if you don't have the patience for flim-flam such as rapidly changing cross-platform packaging tools, and if in general you're getting a bit frustrated with Ubuntu, then you might be a prospective Debian user. By default, Debian includes neither Flatpak nor Snap.

It's nearly two years since Debian 11 "Bullseye" came out, although there have been regular point releases since then, and at the time of writing 11.7 is current. In fact, it tends to be so small-c conservative in its choice of components that this can irritate upstream software authors.

Debian is not the sort of distribution which tries to attract users from other distros. It doesn't go out of its way to achieve great ease of use, and its installation program is downright old school. Saying that, though, the project does now offer live media images with a variety of desktop environments, which are an easy way to install the OS as well as being convenient tools for various troubleshooting and system recovery tasks. It's also one of the last major distributions which still supports 32-bit x86 computers as well as 64-bit, alongside three variants of Arm, 32-bit and 64-bit MIPS, 64-bit PowerPC in little-endian mode, and IBM System Z.

Now, with the inclusion of non-free firmware and drivers right in the default installation media, it's less work than ever to get it up and running.

This may prove to be an extinction-level event for quite a few of the alternative Debian remixes out there, many of which have thrived simply by including more drivers and offering an easier installation experience. That edge is getting eroded fast. We suspect the Debian remixes are going to have to come up with more innovative improvements in order to maintain their differentiation from the upstream distro – such as using snapshots to offer transactional installation and rollback, as found in Spiral Linux and siduction, coupled with tracking the unstable or testing branches, in order to deliver an experience to rival rolling-release distros such as Arch Linux.

In the experience of The Reg FOSS desk, Debian users are generally politely mystified as to what appeal people see in Ubuntu, and downright baffled that anybody would ever use a Red Hat family distribution by choice. If you feel that you've maybe outgrown Ubuntu, are getting annoyed with the fun and games it brings to packaging systems, web browsers, and amusing little messages from the packaging tools, then Debian is a solid alternative. A lot of the improved fit and finish that Ubuntu has gradually brought to the Debian family has now worked its way upstream.

As for the inclusion of systemd not being to everyone's taste? In theory, it's possible to remove it post-install and replace it with a different init system, but that's not a trivial exercise or one for the faint of heart. That remains a last key point of differentiation between Debian remixes such as Devuan, antiX or MX Linux, all of which are systemd-free while still being based on Debian. ®

Source

From the addition of live captions in various languages to a significant redesign of the in-app voice access command help page, we've had a chance to test it all and here's our in-depth look.

Live Captions in Additional Languages

The Moment 3 update extends the live captions feature to additional languages, including Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Korean, and other English dialects. You can easily enable this feature via the WIN + Ctrl + L keyboard shortcut or the Quick Settings accessibility flyout menu.

Redesigned In-App Voice Access Command Help Page

This update introduces a revamped voice access command help page, making it more user-friendly with descriptions and examples for every command. The page also features a search bar for quick command access and new categories for further guidance.

Voice Access Command Support for Additional English Dialects

The update expands voice access command support to more English dialects, including those of the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.

New Text Selection and Editing Voice Access Commands

A noteworthy addition in this update is the inclusion of new text selection and editing voice access commands, providing users with more control over their content.

VPN Status Icon

A small shield icon has been added to the system tray to indicate the VPN connection status. This new feature improves visibility and accessibility to your VPN connection.

Display Seconds in System Tray Clock

In this update, you have the option to display seconds in the system tray clock, further personalizing the user experience.

Quick Copy for Two-Factor Authentication Codes

The update adds a convenient copy button to notification toasts for two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, a feature currently available only in English.

File Explorer's Context Menu Gets Access Key Shortcuts

Access key shortcuts have been introduced in File Explorer's context menu. These one-stroke keyboard shortcuts allow for rapid command execution.

Introduction of Multi-App Kiosk Mode

A significant feature of this update is the multi-app kiosk mode, ideal for scenarios where multiple users share the same device. It allows administrators to control which apps can run on a device and block specific functionalities.

Live Kernel Memory Dump Collection from Task Manager

The Moment 3 update introduces live kernel memory dump (LKD) collection from the Task Manager, aiding troubleshooting while the operating system continues to work.

Improved Control Over Touch Keyboard Settings

The settings for controlling when the touch keyboard is displayed have been revamped, providing users with three distinct options.

Content Adaptive Brightness Control

The update enables Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) on laptops and 2-in-1 devices. This feature adjusts display brightness based on the content, balancing battery life with a good visual experience.

USB4 Hubs and Devices Settings Page

This update introduces a USB4 hubs and devices Settings page, which provides detailed information about the system's USB4 capabilities and connected peripherals.

Presence Sensor Privacy Setting

The Moment 3 update also includes a presence sensor privacy setting, allowing you to control which apps can access your device's presence sensors.

Improved Search Performance Within Settings

The update optimizes the performance of the search function within Settings, resulting in quicker, more efficient searches.

Changes in Print Screen Key Behavior

Pressing the print screen key now opens the Snipping Tool by default, a change that can be disabled in the Settings.

Limit on Most Recent Tabs

This update introduces a limit on the number of recent tabs displayed in Settings > Multitasking, affecting the number of tabs that appear when using ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.

Enhanced Cloud and Integrated Search Suggestions

Lastly, this update improves the cloud suggestion and integrated search suggestion features, assisting users in typing popular words in Simplified Chinese using the Input Method Editor (IME).

Windows 11 Moment 3 improves performance

It's great to see Microsoft taking steps to enhance Windows 11 even further with the Moment 3 update. The focus is clearly on boosting system performance and streamlining user experience. Here are a few highlights:

Faster Post-Boot Experience

The changes to the system's startup process are significant. By moderating startup app launches, user-initiated operations are prioritized, resulting in a 25-50% improvement in application launch times after logon. This change has a noticeable effect on devices with limited resources.

File Explorer Improvements

The update brings a quicker launch time for File Explorer, especially for users who have files stored in the cloud, and enhances file deletion operations by over 40%.

Reduced Game Stutter with High Report Rate Mice

For gamers, this update addresses an important issue related to input latency and game stutter. By throttling and coalescing background raw mouse listeners, the Windows input stack now handles high report rate mice more efficiently, reducing game stutter and preserving a smooth, low latency gaming experience.

Taskbar, Task View, and Notification Improvements

These improvements ensure that the taskbar is readily available after logging in and enhance Task View performance when devices are under heavy load. The launch time of Quick Settings and Notification Center is improved, and memory usage of the Notification Center is reduced.

Explorer Efficiency and Performance Enhancements

The Moment 3 update reduces threads, DLLs, and graphics device count in Explorer, decreases CPU usage of Explorer, and introduces touch keyboard performance improvements.

Voice Access and Narrator Latency Reductions

For users who rely on accessibility features, this update improves voice access and reduces Narrator latency in larger documents.

Improved Speed of Theme Changes

The speed of theme changes is enhanced, and the size on disk is reduced by leveraging features-on-demand via the Store.

Enhanced Debugging and Data Views for Developers

Developers can look forward to a new enhanced kernel minidump format for better debugging, the ability to collect live kernel dumps directly via Task Manager, and richer, more actionable third-party reliability data views in Partner Center. Additionally, Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA) is now supported and available on Arm devices.

Overall, the Windows 11 Moment 3 update brings a host of improvements designed to streamline the user experience and boost system performance, with something for everyone, from everyday users to developers and gamers.

Windows 11 Moment 3 hands on, here's everything new

Gevers said that it’s likely even more bugs will be found once Debian 12 has been installed on more computers after release and these issues shall have to be patched afterwards and deployed as an update. He said that the bugs will be listed in the Release Notes, so if stability is critical for you, consult the Release Notes to check you won’t be affected.

One of the nice things about Debian is that the project rolls new ISO images every couple of months and marks them as a new point release containing all the latest fixes up to that point. Gevers said that Debian 12.1 is due out around July, so if you want more stability, hold off installing Debian 12 until then.

“There are still about 100 known RC bugs affecting bookworm, but we have accepted to release having them included,” Paul Gevers said. “Most of them will be mentioned in the Release Notes.”

“No doubt, more issues will be found after the release when more systems will be running bookworm. As on previous occasions, we anticipate that the first point release for bookworm will occur approximately one month after the release.”

Debian is not the most popular Linux distribution among end users but it’s wildly popular as a base for other Linux distributions. Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distro, is based on Debian and Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. The Linux Mint team also maintains a Debian-based version too, should anything happen to Ubuntu.

Source: Debian via Phoronix

Debian 12 is due next weekend but still contains 100 known bugs

You can also see exactly what’s going on during the update, there are no ambiguous messages that make it look like something has crashed. Despite these perks, the additional package formats such as Snap, are complicating things a little bit.

Canonical has set up Ubuntu so that security updates are downloaded and installed in the background. Unfortunately, “other updates” such as browser upgrades are only mentioned to users once a week but they don’t install automatically, the user has to do it.

On top of the “other software” problem, you also have Snaps. Until a few months ago it seemed like these were updating on their own, but recently I’ve been getting notifications saying that updates are ready to be applied; this means more work for me!

Some of you may be aware of the apt update and apt upgrade commands, these are great for updating your Deb packages but they don’t touch the Snap packages, for these, you need to use snap refresh. If you use these commands, you’re interrupted mid-way to ask if you definitely want to apply the updates.

Considering that most updates are pretty stable, it's good to be able to install all Deb and Snap packages in one fell swoop, without being asked to confirm the updates and without having to go through separate commands for Debs and Snaps.

The command chain to update everything in one go is:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo snap refresh

Once you’ve typed or copied that into your terminal window, you’ll be asked for your password and then it will look for updates and apply them without confirmation, it will also check for new Snaps and apply any available updates.

If you’d like more control over the update process, feel free to use the command chain below:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo snap refresh

The command above omits the “-y” portion, this means you’ll be shown the updates that’ll be installed and you’ll be asked to confirm them to make sure you’re happy. This is helpful if you’re aware of any troublesome packages that you don’t want to install on your system accidentally.

As the update command chain is one you’ll probably want to run several times over a few weeks it’s handy to know that you can tap the Up arrow whilst in the terminal to flick through previously used commands, you can do this to go back to the update command chain above and tap enter to get the process stated.

Flatpaks are not supported by Ubuntu out of the box, but if you do use them, you could adapt the command chain from earlier to:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo snap refresh && sudo flatpak update

This should also apply all the available Flatpak updates too if there are any to be had. These commands should work on any system that uses apt. You can adjust it to omit && sudo snap refresh if you don’t use Snaps, such as if you’re on Linux Mint.

If you know any more helpful commands such as these, let us know in the comments.

How to quickly update all software on Ubuntu with this single command chain

Admittedly, it hasn’t been a smooth sail, but it has gotten better over time. It’s very apparent Microsoft has been busy at work to ensure that it delivers a desirable user experience, hence the regular release cycle of features as well as improvements across the Dev, Beta, Canary, and ultimately the Stable Channel.

Of course, other users might prefer third-party browsers like Google Chrome or even Firefox over Microsoft Edge. And while each browser ships with its advantages, I prefer Microsoft Edge, which is why I use it as my default browser across all my devices. Here’s why:

Edge Sidebar

Microsoft introduced the Sidebar in Edge to help users with their multitasking and navigation needs. The company has continued to release updates to the feature to enhance its usability even more.

For instance, through it, you can access all your productivity apps directly in Edge. You can also use it to access important files within Edge. 

(Image credit: Windows Central)

It also ships with Outlook integration, thus making it easier for users to check their emails and calendar within the Edge browser. It also features a Discover tool that users can leverage to find relevant information regarding a specific matter in one convenient location.

It should also be noted that users can also detach the Sidebar from Edge and use it on the Windows desktop soon, even if the browser is closed. This means you’ll be able to use all the tools and sites pinned on the tool from your desktop. 

Collections in Edge

(Image credit: Future)

Collections is a nifty feature available in Edge that lets users save images and videos in one convenient location. All you need to do is, right-click on the item you’d like to save and select Add from the context menu.

Additionally, it’s possible to share your Collections with other users. There are multiple ways through which you can put this feature to use. 

Personally, I use the feature to save interesting videos I stumble upon while browsing the web. This way, it’s easier for me to trace back my steps and use them as reference points for work.

Last year, Microsoft also announced it was working on an inspirational feed for the feature. Essentially, the feed will feature content closely related to whatever you have stored in Collections.

AI-powered browser

(Image credit: Windows Central)

At the beginning of the year, Microsoft deeply ventured into generative AI, which saw the company leverage its capabilities across its products and services, including Microsoft Edge. 

This led to the debut of a new Edge experience, which shipped with two neat features. That is, chat and compose.

Both features have redefined my browsing experience and how I interact with information. Directly from the Edge Sidebar, I can access the AI-powered tools, make queries, and get real-time responses with links to the original source. 

Additionally, it has made it easier for me to get through lots of information within a short period of time. Moreover, it can also create short summaries of the information highlighting the key points.

It’s also worth noting that you can create content using Edge. All you need to do is to make a few prompts to set the stone rolling. You can also adjust the tone to meet your preferred standard and format.

Integrated AI image generator 

(Image credit: Mikhail Parakhin on Twitter)

Aside from the new browser experience, Microsoft also integrated an AI image generator in Edge dubbed Bing Image Creator powered by OpenAI’s DALL∙E models. And as a person who interacts with many images throughout the day, this is a great addition.

The tool essentially lets users create images using natural language prompts Bing Image Creator is now part of the browsing experience in Edge and can be accessed from the sidebar. The ability to create images in Edge isn’t limited to the desktop version. It’s also available on Android and iOS.

In-Built image editor 

(Image credit: Windows Central)

 Edge ships with an in-built image editor. And while it might not be as sophisticated as other standalone apps like the Snipping Tool, which now ships with screen recording support, it will get the job done if your editing needs aren’t complicated. 

The editor has four menus: Crop, Adjustment, Filter, and Markup. You can use them to customize and edit any image directly within Edge before downloading it onto your device.

Split screen

(Image credit: Leo Varela via Reddit)

Microsoft continues striving to enhance productivity and efficiency in Edge, as with the split screen feature. Rather than having to navigate between two tabs, the feature will let you split them into one window.

This means that you can work on both tabs simultaneously without losing the flow of your work. As such, I can multitask and get work done efficiently and effectively. 

 Read Aloud 

(Image credit: Windows Central)

Microsoft Edge also makes it easier for me to remain within the follow of my work. As a journalist, I interact with a lot of information on a daily basis. 

And at times, it gets pretty exhausting to stare at the screen. However, taking a break and coming back may not be possible, especially if it’s a time-sensitive task. Here’s where the Read Aloud feature in Edge comes in handy.

The feature is designed to help users read through files and PDFs. Once enabled, you can step away from your desk and continue to listen to the content while working on something else. 

The best part about this feature is that it’s customizable. There’s a wide variety of voice options available. You can select the one that best suits you. What’s more, you can also adjust the reading speed to accommodate your needs.

Efficiency mode 

(Image credit: Windows Central)

Nothing deters your productivity while trying to accomplish a task like a drained-out device. However, Microsoft Edge ships with a neat feature dubbed Efficiency mode, designed to enhance the battery performance on your device by lowering resource usage.

The feature has the capability to detect when your laptop is running low on juice. As such, it can adjust its performance so that you can make the most out of what’s left. 

You can use Balanced Savings or Maximum Savings, depending on your needs. The former comes highlight recommended by Microsoft as it will help you preserve your battery life when your device is unplugged and not on low battery or unplugged and low battery, while the latter assists to preserve power when your device is unplugged and at any battery level.

Edge for Business 

During Microsoft’s annual developer conference, Build 2023, the company announced a redesigned and revamped look for Edge. One that closely aligns with Windows 11’s design, such as rounded corners, translucent backgrounds, and more. 

Alongside this announcement, Microsoft also launched Edge for Business. A new experience designed to help users split their personal browsing from work. Previously, one needed to download a third-party browser to achieve this.

Though it's still in preview on managed devices, it should ship to unmanaged devices in the next few months. According to Microsoft, admins will be able to establish more control over how people interact with apps in workspaces and even control what can be downloaded onto PCs.

This way, counter cyberattacks will be easier since users only need one browser for their work and personal browsing needs. Like the standard Edge browser, Edge for Business will also store its caches and files separately. 

Therefore, when navigating through work-related sites, you’ll automatically be transitioned into Edge for Business. On the other hand, the standard Edge will be used for personal browsing needs. Of course, users will also be able to categorize which sites are personal or work-related.

That’s it, folks. And while I only hit some of the key features that make me love Microsoft Edge, the list could go on and on.

9 reasons why I use Microsoft Edge as my default browser

•  Windows 11 goes brr
•  RIP, Cortana
•  Dead Surface and bad firmware
•  App updates and not-dead Windows 7
•  Windows and other insiders
•  Games, games, games
•  A word about AI
•  More interesting read

Windows 11 rises as its performance improves.

As usual, the last seven days were packed with Windows 11 news. Microsoft revealed performance improvements in the latest feature update, giving users one more reason to move from Windows 10 to 11. In addition to the "Moment 3" update, the company pushed a configuration update to make your Windows 11 PC run faster.

To help you monitor those sweet performance gains, Microsoft released a new set of Windows Widgets. They let you track CPU, GPU, RAM, network, and other performance-related metrics without launching Task Manager or Game Bar. Learn how to enable the new performance-monitoring widgets in Windows 11 in our guide.

Valve and Statcounter published monthly reports showing Windows 11's latest developments and the ever-growing market share. Valve claims 34% of Steam customers already run Windows 11, while Statcounter's data show a more modest picture and less-impressive gains on the global market.

RIP, Cortana

Microsoft is finally ready to put its ill-fated voice assistant to its final rest. A note on the official Microsoft Support website reveals that the Cortana app for Windows will reach its end of life in late 2023. However, the assistant will continue living as a digital assistant in Outlook and Microsoft Teams on mobile.

Microsoft is getting ready to ship Windows Copilot, so there is no more place for Cortana. Rest in peace!

Surface moment.

Last week marked the end of support for the second-generation Surface Book. Released in late 2017, this weird laptop-tablet combo introduced two screen sizes, better internals, and other hardware improvements. The end of support means the device will no longer receive new drivers, security fixes, and firmware updates. Still, the Surface Book 2 will continue getting Windows 10 and 11 updates.

Besides ending support for its second-gen Surface Book, Microsoft released new firmware for the original Surface Duo and its successor. Like the most recent releases, the May 2023 update is boring and does not contain new features or device-specific changes. However, there is an unexpected twist: users noticed that installing the update causes their dual-screen smartphones from Microsoft to reboot randomly.

Apps, end of support, updates, and more.

Firefox and Windows 7 kick off the apps section with some good news: those unable to move on from Windows 7/8/8.1 can still access the internet using a supported browser. Firefox finally revealed the final end-of-support date for its browser on now-dead operating systems, giving users more than one year of security updates.

Those using Microsoft Teams for work-related communications should prepare for a notable change: Microsoft revealed that the revamped Teams 2.0 would soon become the default Teams client on its modern Windows versions. The new Teams does not support all the classic features, so Microsoft waits for the feature parity to update the default experience on Windows 10 and 11.

Another notable first-party app update is Microsoft Edge: the browser was updated to version 114 with support for the recently announced Workspaces feature. And although Microsoft continuously updates its browser with new features, its market share, according to Statcounter, remains somewhat stalled.

The news about Microsoft implementing RAR support natively in File Explorer could not go unnoticed by WinRAR. The company recently revealed it is honored by Microsoft's decision, but a later tweet with the "this is fine" meme showed that the company is concerned, to put it mildly. By the way, RAR is not the only archive-related news this week: Microsoft has added ZIP install support to winget, Windows 11's built-in package manager.

It is also worth mentioning the release of 64-bit tiny10 23H1. It is modified with ISO with unnecessary components removed, resulting in a slim, easy-on-resources installation with support for updates and the core components.

Here are other notable app updates from the last week:

• PowerToys 0.70.1 with all sorts of various bugfixes.
• Rufus 4.1 with new features and improved compatibility.
• Mouse gestures in Microsoft Edge.
• Windows 11 communities and Designer support in free Microsoft Teams.

On the less-exciting news side, users discovered another stock Windows 11 app infected with ads. This time, the Get Help program fell victim to Microsoft's ongoing ad campaign. Need help? Here's a Microsoft Teams ad.

Windows and other insiders

Let's discuss Microsoft's insider programs and the updates they offered this week.

Windows Insider:

•  Canary: 25381 with SMB changes (coming soon to more SKUs).
•  Dev: 23471 with improved File Explorer, better flyouts, and more.
•  Beta: KB5026443 with WPA3 support in Phone Link.

This week's honorable mention goes to Paint and the feature it finally received after two years of waiting: dark mode. Microsoft is finally rolling out the long-promised dark mode support and improved zoom controls.

Edge Insider:

•  Edge Dev 115.0.1880.1 with redesigned history, InPrivate improvements, and more.

Xbox Insider:

•  The Xbox app on Windows received a few improvements for game cards, friends' activity, and accessibility.

Games, games, games.

We had a few notable gaming stories worth recapping. Xbox Game Pass, for example, received a fresh drop of games. You will soon get access to The Bunker, Car Mechanic Simulator, Farworld Pioneers, and more.

Also, Microsoft revealed new games for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Those two titles are Adios and The Vale: Shadow of the Crown. But that is not all for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. If you pay for multiplayer on your Xbox console, check out this week's deals with gold that slash 90% off Assassin's Creed Origins and other fantastic games.

No week goes by without news about the ever-going and troublesome Microsoft-ABK deal. This time, South Korea approved the merger, joining the other instances from other countries willing to give the purchase the thumbs up. Another report revealed that Microsoft's appeal of the CMA's deal-breaking rejection could happen in late July.

A few words about AI

Like the Windows Insider program, every week brings news about Microsoft's latest AI developments and Bing Chat improvements. In addition to preparing the promised plugin rollout, Microsoft is getting ready to allow third-party browsers access to Bing Chat. Currently, you can only access the service from Microsoft Edge.

Also, the company increased Bing Chat's daily turns to 300 and in-session turns to 30, allowing customers to speak with the AI-powered thingy more. Also, the built-in Image Creator now supports two extra modes: Precise and Balanced.

It is worth reminding that AI magic requires immense and ever-growing amounts of computing power, so Microsoft continues investing in the infrastructure. According to a report from CNBC, the company has signed a deal with CoreWeave to ensure that OpenAI's ChatGPT has enough juice to continue operating.

More interesting read and trivia.

Last week, Fiza Ali published an editorial detailing the importance of evaluating Microsoft's AI-related claims and addressing potential concerns that rise higher as we move into the AI-driven future (it is now officially "taking our jerbs!"). John Callaham made another look-back story dedicated to the legendary Intel 8088 CPU launched 44 years ago.

Speaking of AI, someone has finally put the power of artificial intelligence to good use: check out these AI-generated wallpapers, finally revealing what is beneath the Windows 11's stock wallpaper.

Logging off

Neowin's co-founder and head-honcho posted up a review on Monday taking a look at the Intel NUC 13 Pro, which he found to be a great device. If you aren't interested in wading through ten pages of benchmark graphs and scientific analysis then you should definitely give this a look.

Until next week, toodle-oo folks.

Source

In the last decade I have seen a very slow but steady shift to solutions for packaging software that try to isolate the software from host systems to supposedly make things easier. My first experience with this was Docker, now Flatpak is the thing for desktop applications.

The promise of Flatpak

So the thing Flatpak is supposed to fix for me as developer is that I don't need to care about distributions anymore. I can bolt on whatever dependencies I want to my app and it's dealt with. I also don't need to worry about having software in distributions, if it's in Flatpak it's everywhere. Flatpak gives me that unified base to work on and everything will be perfect. World hunger will be solved. Finally peace on earth.

Sadly there's reality. The reality is to get away from the evil distributions the Flatpak creators have made... another distribution. It is not a particularly good distribution, it doesn't have a decent package manager. It doesn't have a system that makes it easy to do packaging. The developer interface is painfully shoehorned into Github workflows and it adds all the downsides of containerisation.

Flatpak is a distribution

While the developers like to pretend real hard that Flatpak is not a distribution, it's still suspiciously close to one. It lacks a kernel and a few services and it lacks the standard Linux base directory specification but it's still a distribution you need to target. Instead of providing seperate packages with a package manager it provides a runtime that comes with a bunch of dependencies. Conveniently it also provides multiple runtimes to make sure there's not actually a single base to work on. Because sometimes you need Gnome libraries, sometimes you need KDE libraries. Since there's no package manager those will be in seperate runtimes.

While Flatpak breaks most expectations of a distribution it's still a collection of software and libraries build together to make a system to run software in, thus it's a distribution. A really weird one.

No built in package manager

If you need a dependency that's not in the runtime there's no package manager to pull in that dependency. The solution is to also package the dependencies you need yourself and let the flatpak tooling build this into the flatpak of your application. So now instead of being the developer for your application you're also the maintainer of all the dependencies in this semi-distribution you're shipping under the disguise of an application. And one thing is for sure, I don't trust application developers to maintain dependencies.

This gets really nuts by looking at some software that deals with multimedia. Lets look at the Audacity flatpak. It builds as dependency:

• wxwidgets
• ffmpeg
• sqlite
• chrpath
• portaudio
• portmidi

So lets look at how well dependencies are managed here. Since we're now almost exactly half a year into 2023 I'll look at the updates for the last 6 months and compare it to the same dependencies in Alpine Linux.

• audacity has been updated 4 times in the flatpak. It has been updated 5 times on Alpine.

• ffmpeg has been updated to 6.0 in both the flatpak and Alpine, but the ffmpeg package has had 9 updates because if codecs that have been updated.

• sqlite hasn't been updated in the flatpak and has been updated 4 times in Alpine

• wxwidgets hasn't been updated in the flatpak and has been updated 2 times in Alpine

• chrpath hasn't had updates

• portaudio hasn't had updates in flatpak and Alpine.

• portmidi hasn't had updates

This is just a random package I picked and it already had a lot more maintainance of the dependencies than the flatpak has. It most likely doesn't scale to have all developers keep track of all the dependencies of all their software.

The idea of isolation

One of the big pros that's always mentioned with Flatpak is that the applications run in a sandbox. The idea is that this sandbox will shield you from all the evil applications can do so it's totally safe to trust random developers to push random Flatpaks. First of all this sandbox has the same issue any permission system that exists also has. It needs to tell the user about the specific holes that have been poked in the sandbox to make the application work in a way that end users understand what the security implications of those permissions are.

For example here's Gnome Software ready to install the flatpak for Edge:

I find the permission handleing implemented here very interesting. There's absolutely no warning whatsoever about the bypassed security in this Flatpak untill you scroll down. The install button will immediately install it without warning about all the bypassed sandboxing features.

So if you do scroll down there's more details right? Sure there is!

There's a nice red triangle with the words Unsafe! pfew, everyone is fine now. So this uses a legacy windowing system which probably means it uses X11 which is not secure and breaks the sandbox. Well if that's the only security issue then it might be acceptable? Let's click that button.

Well yeah... let's hide that from users. Of course the browser needs to write to /etc. This is all unimportant to end users.

The even worse news is that since this is proprietary software it's not really possible to audit what this would do, and even if it's audited it's ridiculously easy to push a new more evil version to Flathub since practically only the first version of the app you push is thorougly looked at by the Flathub maintainers.

Even if there weren't so many holes in the sandbox. This does not stop applications from doing more evil things that are not directly related to filesystem and daemon access. You want analytics on your users? Just requirest the internet permission and send off all the tracking data you want.

So what about traditional distributions

I've heard many argument for Flatpaks by users and developers but in the end I can't really say the pros outweigh the cons.

I think it's very important that developers do not have the permissions to push whatever code they want to everyone under the disguise of a secure system. And that's my opinion as a software developer.

Software packaged by distributions has at least some degree of scrutiny and it often results in at least making sure build flags are set to disable user tracking and such features.

I also believe software in general is better if it's made with the expectation that it will run outside of Flatpak. It's not that hard to make sure you don't depend on bleeding edge versions of libraries while that's not needed. It's not that hard to have optional dependencies in software. It's not that hard to actually follow XDG specifications instead of hardcoding paths.

But packaging for distributions is hard

That's the best thing! Developers are not supposed to be the ones packaging software so it's not hard at all. It's not your task to get your software in all the distributions, if your software is useful to people it tends to get pulled in. I have software that's packaged in Alpine Linux, ALT Linux, Archlinux AUR, Debian, Devuan, Fedora, Gentoo, Kali, LiGurOS, Nix, OpenMandriva, postmarketOS, Raspbian, Rosa, Trisquel, Ubuntu and Void. I did not have to package most of this.

The most I notice from other distributions packaging my software is patches from maintainers that improve the software, usually in dealing with some edge case I forgot with a hardcoded path somewhere.

The most time I've ever spent on distribution packaging is actually the few pieces of software I've managed to push to Flathub. Dealing with differences between distributions is easy, dealing with differences between runing inside and outside Flatpak is hard.

But Flatpaks are easier for end users

I've ran into enough issues as end user of flatpaks. A package being on Flathub does not mean that it will be installable for an end user. I've ran into this by installing packages on the PineBook Pro which generated some rather confusing error messages about the repositories missing. It turns out that the Aarch64 architecture was missing for those flatpaks so the software was just not available. Linux distributions generally try to enable as much architectures as possible when packaging, not just x86_64.

A second issue I've had on my Pinebook Pro is that it has a 64GB rootfs. Using too many flatpaks is just very wasteful of space. In theory you have a runtime that has your major dependencies and then a few Megabytes of stuff in your application flatpak. In practice I nearly have an unique platform per flatpak installed because the flatpaks depend on different versions of that platform or just on different platforms.

Another issue is with end users of some of my Flatpaks. Flatpak does not deal well with software that communicates with actual hardware. A bunch of my software uses libusb to communicate with sepecific devices as a replacement for some Windows applications and Android apps I would otherwise need. The issue end users will run in to is that they first need to install the udev rules in their distribution to make sure Flatpak can access those USB devices. For the distribution packaged version of my software it Just Works(tm)

Flatpak does have it's uses

I wouldn't say Flatpak is completely useless. For certain usecases it is great to have available. It think Flatpak makes most sense for when closed source software would need to be distributed.

I would like to see this be more strict though. I wouldn't want to have flatpaks with holes in the sandbox with a proprietary license for example. Which is exactly what the Edge flatpak is.

It's quite sad that Flatpak madness has gone so deep into the Gnome ecosystem that it's now impossible to run the nice Gnome Builder IDE without having your application in a flatpak. (EDIT: Turns out that using Builder without Flatpak is possible again)

I don't think having every app on a Linux machine being Flatpak is anything I'd want, If I wanted to give developers that much power to push updates to anywhere in my system without accountability I'd just go run Windows.

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This was added to the M365 roadmap a few days ago and under the feature ID "124963":

Microsoft Edge: Enhanced security mode on by default

Enhanced security mode is being turned on by default to “Balanced” mode for x64 Windows, x64 macOS, x64 Linux, and ARM64 systems. Also, administrators have 2 new policies to manage the Enhanced security mode user experience: EnhanceSecurityModeIndicatorUIEnabled and EnhanceSecurityModeOptOutUXEnabled.

What Enhanced Security mode essentially does is run unfamiliar sites without the just in time (JIT) compilation to reduce the attack surface. This Security mode also initially had a "Basic" browsing preset available when it was launched for the first time to the Stable channel. However, it was removed last month via a major update.

Microsoft explains in a support document what the Balanced secure browsing mode is:

Balanced mode is an adaptive mode that builds on user's behavior on a particular device, and Microsoft's understanding of risk across the web to give sites that users are most likely to use and trust full access to the web platform, while limiting what new and unfamiliar sites can do when visited.

The change is set to roll out next month in July according to the M365 roadmap entry.

Microsoft making Edge more secure by default very soon on Windows, Mac, Linux, Arm

There are other changes as well including Android 13 security updates, Chromium WebView udpate, and more. The full changelog for WSA 2305.40000.2.0 is given below:

• File sharing enabled
• File transfer using drop and drop and copy and paste!
• Windows Subsystem for Android Settings (renamed to just "Windows Subsystem for Android") redesign, including displaying all installed Android apps
• Enable apps that specify android.hardware.type.pc in their manifest to opt into receiving raw input events
• Wi-Fi API compatibility improvements
• Camera hardware compatibility improvements
• Linux kernel security update
• Updated latest Chromium WebView to version 113
• Android 13 security updates

On a separate page, Microsoft has also detailed the limitations currently on File Sharing:

• Only files in your Windows user profile folder are available to the Subsystem. Windows system folders, Program Files, other users’ folders, external drives, etc. are not supported.
• Only files the Subsystem saves to “/sdcard/Windows” are available to Windows. When opening files in other folders from an Android™ app, the Subsystem offers the option of copying the file to Windows and opening it there.
• Windows hidden files/folders like AppData and Android hidden files/folders (dot prefixed names) are excluded from sharing.
• Executable file types, like “.exe” are excluded from sharing to protect your security. If the Subsystem tries to save a file with a blocked extension to “/sdcard/Windows”, the save will fail.
• Cloud storage files must be downloaded to your device. If your cloud storage provider includes online-only files in File Explorer, the online-only files will not be available to the Subsystem until you download them. Simply open an online-only file in File Explorer to download it and make it available to the Subsystem. You can also modify your cloud storage settings to make some or all of your files always available offline.
• The Subsystem needs to index shared files before apps can access them. Indexing is usually quick but may take longer if you have a lot of files. Recent files are prioritized, so if you can’t find a file in an Android™ app, try opening it from File Explorer first.

You can download and find more details about Windows Subsystem for Android preview version 2305.40000.2.0 on its official GitHub page.

Microsoft adds File Sharing, Drag/Drop, Chromium WebView update, and more, to Windows 11 WSA

Microsoft Azure DevOps, a suite of application lifecycle services, stopped working in the South Brazil region for about ten hours on Wednesday due to a basic code error.

On Friday Eric Mattingly, principal software engineering manager, offered an apology for the disruption and revealed the cause of the outage: a simple typo that deleted seventeen production databases.

Mattingly explained that Azure DevOps engineers occasionally take snapshots of production databases to look into reported problems or test performance improvements. And they rely on a background system that runs daily and deletes old snapshots after a set period of time.

During a recent sprint – a group project in Agile jargon – Azure DevOps engineers performed a code upgrade, replacing deprecated Microsoft.Azure.Managment.* packages with supported Azure.ResourceManager.* NuGet packages.

The result was a large pull request of changes that swapped API calls in the old packages for those in the newer packages. The typo occurred in the pull request – a code change that has to be reviewed and merged into the applicable project. And it led the background snapshot deletion job to delete the entire server.

"Hidden within this pull request was a typo bug in the snapshot deletion job which swapped out a call to delete the Azure SQL Database to one that deletes the Azure SQL Server that hosts the database," said Mattingly.

Azure DevOps has tests to catch such issues, but according to Mattingly, the errant code only runs under certain conditions and thus isn't well covered under existing tests. Those conditions, presumably, require the presence of a database snapshot that is old enough to be caught by the deletion script.

Mattingly said Sprint 222 was deployed internally (Ring 0) without incident due to the absence of any snapshot databases. Several days later, the software changes were deployed to the customer environment (Ring 1) for the South Brazil scale unit (a cluster of servers for a specific role).

That environment had a snapshot database old enough to trigger the bug, which led the background job to delete the "entire Azure SQL Server and all seventeen production databases" for the scale unit.

The data has all been recovered, but it took more than ten hours. There are several reasons for that, said Mattingly.

One is that since customers can't revive Azure SQL Servers themselves, on-call Azure engineers had to handle that, a process that took about an hour for many.

Another reason is that the databases had different backup configurations: some were configured for Zone-redundant backup and others were set up for the more recent Geo-zone-redundant backup. Reconciling this mismatch added many hours to the recovery process.

"Finally," said Mattingly, "Even after databases began coming back online, the entire scale unit remained inaccessible even to customers whose data was in those databases due to a complex set of issues with our web servers."

These issues arose from a server warmup task that iterated through the list of available databases with a test call. Databases in the process of being recovered chucked up an error that led the warm-up test "to perform an exponential backoff retry resulting in warmup taking ninety minutes on average, versus sub-second in a normal situation."

Further complicating matters, this recovery process was staggered and once one or two of the servers started taking customer traffic again, they'd get overloaded, and go down. Ultimately, restoring service required blocking all traffic to the South Brazil scale unit until everything was sufficiently ready to rejoin the load balancer and handle traffic.

Various fixes and reconfigurations have been put in place to prevent the issue from recurring.

"Once again, we apologize to all the customers impacted by this outage," said Mattingly. ®

Source

The new hotfix driver release notes makes it clear that the driver only resolves the flickering problem for multiple-monitor setups when its adaptive sync technology, G-SYNC, is enabled. The changelog for the hotfix driver 536.09 says:

GeForce Hotfix display driver version 536.09 is based on our latest Game Ready Driver 535.98.

This hotfix addresses the following issue:

• When using multiple monitors which support adaptive sync, users may see random flicker on certain displays when G-SYNC is enabled after updating to driver 535.98 [4138119]

To download the driver, head over to the support article on Nvidia's official website where you can find the download link.

Interestingly, Nvidia's 535.98 driver changelog already notes a couple of other flickering problems, one of them in the resolved section and another in the open issues part.

Hopefully, the other display flickering bugs will be fixed with the next driver update from the company as plenty of users are still reporting the same problem on the driver feedback thread over on Nvidia's official forum.

The story is mostly the same over on the Reddit discussion thread as well. Interestingly, however, some users are reporting that the driver did fix the flicker issue on single monitors too, even though this hotfix is for multiple monitors.

In case this driver also does not resolve the issue, there are reports that disabling Hardware Accelerated GPU scheduling (HAGS) from the Windows graphics settings fixes the issue. You can refer to this guide in case you are not sure how to disable HAGS.

Nvidia released Windows hotfix driver 536.09 to fix display flickering for some users

In fact, today is officially the 14th birthday of Microsoft's initial launch of Bing. Microsoft puts the date as June 3, 2009. We say "officially" because Microsoft actually announced Bing to the world a few days earlier, on May 28. It also made it available to some parts of the world starting on June 1. June 3 is the date Microsoft uses because it became available to everyone in the US at that time.

Microsoft had offered its own search engine to compete with Google's before Bing came along, with names like MSN Search and Live Search. Microsoft's search revamp was developed internally under the name Kumo before it decided to change the name to Bing. TechCrunch even posted screenshots with its Bing introductory story that showed the Kumo codename.

So why pick Bing as the name for the search engine? According to our story back in 2009, the credit is given to Yusuf Mehdi, who was the Senior Vice President of Microsoft's Online Audience Business Group at that time. He's quoted as saying:

We needed a brand that was as fresh and new [...] A name that was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that would function well as a URL around the world [...] the name needed to clearly communicate that this is something new, to invite you to come back, to re-introduce you to our new and improved service and encourage you to give it a try.

The Bing name wasn't just being used as a replacement for Live Search. Microsoft also renamed its Virtual Earth mapping platform to Bing Maps for Enterprise. Microsoft bought a travel search company called Farecast, and renamed it Bing Travel.

So what was Microsoft's pitch to the public on why they should use Bing as their internet search engine? Here's what the company had to say in its initial Bing press release:

Bing helps identify relevant search results through features such as Best Match, where the best answer is surfaced and called out; Deep Links, allowing more insight into what resources a particular site has to offer; and Preview, a hover-over window that expands over a search result caption to provide a better sense of the related site’s relevancy.

There were other features Microsoft promoted at the time with Bing. That included trying to help people organize their search activities:

Bing includes a number of features that organize search results, including Explore Pane, a dynamically relevant set of navigation and search tools on the left side of the page; Web Groups, which groups results in intuitive ways both on the Explore Pane and in the actual results; and Related Searches and Quick Tabs, which is essentially a table of contents for different categories of search results.

Microsoft reportedly spent up to $100 million in a huge advertising blitz. That included a number of rather funny TV commercials that showed people going somewhat crazy as they reply to answers as if they were Google's search engine. Microsoft tried to promote Bing as a "decision engine" in its marketing blitz.

The launch of Bing wasn't 100 percent smooth. A few days after Bing went live, it made a change to a feature that let people view previews of video clips in search results. Bing disabled this feature after companies complained that people at work could preview inappropriate clips while using Bing.

For a while, Bing seemed to slowly and surely be taking search market share away from Google and the other leading search engine, Yahoo. In fact, in July 2009 Yahoo agreed to use the Bing search engine, effectively boosting Microsoft's market share. However, as the years went on it became clear that Microsoft's efforts were not going to take a significant amount of search market share away from Google.

It's only been in the last several months that Bing has been on the lips of more than a few people again with the launch of Bing Chat. While it didn't get a big commercial and marketing campaign as the original Bing search launch did, it certainly generated more interest in Bing than at any other time since June 3, 2009.

Only time will tell if Microsoft's push with AI via Bing Chat will be more successful than Bing Search 14 years ago.

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