The main reason to use vertical tabs is that they use screen space more effectively. With screens getting ever-wider, it’s better to use vertical space rather than the more limited horizontal space.

Another benefit highlighted by Brave about vertical tabs is that as you open more horizontal tabs, they get squished and you can’t read the text on the tab. With vertical tabs, however, they are in a list so the text is never cramped up to make room for additional tabs.

According to the Brave team, switching to vertical tabs can be a little bit daunting at first and requires a short adjustment period as you adapt to the new paradigm. Despite this, it said early testers liked the feature with one person saying:

“This, along with tab groups, should help me better organize my almost 300 tabs (!). Before, I used an extension called “Tab Manager Plus for Chrome” along with separating the tabs in multiple windows to keep things just enough organized to be usable. (yes I’m lazy I know). I was considering switching browsers, but thankfully now I won’t have to do that.”

By default, the vertical tabs pane will be on the left side of the browser. Your open tabs will be in a long list, with pinned tabs appearing above them. The keyboard shortcuts you’re familiar with also stay the same.

If you don’t want the tabs taking up too much room, you can click the vertical tabs button to collapse the panel so that just the favicons are visible. If you use grouped tabs, these work the same way and let you create, label, and colour code groups.

To get started with the feature, update to Brave 1.52 and then right-click on your tabs and at the bottom you should find Use Vertical Tabs, just hit that and you’re ready to go.

Brave 1.52 arrives with vertical tabs to take advantage of ever-wider screens

In the email response we received, Louise Cusworth of the WinRAR sales team stated that the company felt "honoured with Microsoft's decision." However, Cusworth did add, "Are we concerned? Of course we are, because we are a small company and Microsoft is a big international multi-billion dollar company with a lot of power. " She also stated that this developer creates "both challenges and benefits for our business."

Well, it would appear that WinRAR might be a bit more concerned than Cusworth let on in her statement to us last week. The official WinRAR Twitter page posted a new message stating "Us right now. #Windows11" . The well-known "This is fine" meme image of a cartoon dog surrounded by fire is right below it.

Of course. WinRAR's business model was already interesting. According to its own rules, you could download the archive program and use it for free for a 40-day trial period before you technically had to pay for it. However, the truth is that most people can simply ignore that request and use WinRAR for free with little to no issues.

Having said that, Windows 11's RAR support is only supposed to allow for the opening of those archive files. That means people who want to compress files in that format will still need a third party app like WinRAR. We would like to believe that loophole will keep the company going for some time.

By the way, there's a new version, 6.22, of WinRAR that you can download and use right now.

It's mainly a bug fixing update that addresses a few outstanding issues.

WinRAR's Twitter post on Windows 11 RAR support is anything but fine

Windows 11 has received a batch of new widgets that let you keep an eye on CPU, GPU, RAM, and network utilization. Moreover, there are a few neat additions, such as the ability to end the most taxing processes, monitor GPU temperature, toggle between graphics cards and network adapters, and more.

The new widgets are a fantastic addition, and they are available to all Windows 11 users, not just Windows insiders. Here is how to use them.

Windows 11 Widgets for monitoring CPU, GPU, RAM, and more

Performance monitoring widgets are a part of the new Dev Home app Microsoft announced at its annual Build developer conference. Dev Home is currently in the preview stage, but you can download it from the Microsoft Store for free and without signing up for unstable Windows 11 builds. In addition to convenient widgets, Dev Home provides extra capabilities and performance improvements for app-makers.

1. Head to the Microsoft Store and download the Dev Home Preview app. You can also get it from GitHub.
2. Press Win + W to open Windows Widgets. The system will notify you that there are new widgets available. Click Add it now.

    

   
3. Alternatively, press the "+" button and select a widget. The current Dev Home release offers the following widgets: CPU, GPU, RAM, network, SSH keychain, and various tools for GitHub.

    

   
4. Click the plus button to add a widget. Now you can monitor your system's performance by pressing Win + W or clicking the widget button on the taskbar. Neat!

It is worth mentioning that the Dev Home widgets in their current form are somewhat unstable and raw (hence the "PRE" badge): they often stop responding or disappear from the board. Also, there is no proper resizing support, so the large variant is the only viable option. One can only hope Microsoft will improve the situation with future updates to make Windows 11's widget experience more delightful.

Performance monitoring widgets are not the only great widget-related addition to Windows 11. Microsoft recently revealed that the operating system would finally let you remove the news feed. Also, rumors claim Microsoft wants to allow placing widgets directly on the desktop.

Windows 11 gets widgets for monitoring CPU, GPU, RAM, and more, here is how to enable them

However, if you happen to own an Nvidia GPU and you installed the latest driver, there is a chance you will run into display flickering issues with this latest driver. There are several user reports online on various threads discussing the problem.

The official GeForce 535.98 driver feedback thread on Nvidia's forum is filled with user complaints about the same issue one after the other. This shows that the bug is quite widespread and it is happening across a wide range of hardware too.

A user turbalicious writes:

And yet, G-Sync on + 4070 Ti still experiences random screen blackouts in regular Windows usage. I never had this behavior with my old 3080. Dell S2721DGF / various DP cables / tested multiple 4070 Ti implementations. And no, it's not a monitor or a driver thing, it's a sh!t driver thing. It's flabbergasting in this price range.

Another user joey.salzmann explains their issue alongwith spec details:

Hello, Never had a problem before except for the known open issue with MSFS.

Updated a few minutes ago to driver 535.98 using Nvidia GeForce Experience. Since then, my screen is flickering like hell every time my cursor is moved.

I checked all cables, it happens on two different top-notch screens. Uninstalled using the installer a first time. Restarted computer. It stopped flickering. Fresh new install again, restarted computer again, flickering is back continuously.

Something is definitely not right with that update. Will revert to previous driver for the time being given that fixed bugs and Diablo are not required on my end for the time being. Material:

- Intel i9-12900KF

- Nvidia MSI Suprim RTX 4080

- Windows 11 Pro

- 4k & 2k gaming monitor fitted with G-Sync

Almost the entire thread is filled with such reports. Meanwhile, it is the same story over on the Reddit FAQ discussion thread for the 535.98 driver as well. And users are complaining on the Twitter announcement post too.

Nvidia's latest Windows WHQL driver 535.98 causing black screen flickering

Gillett's day job is at Microsoft where he is a Partner Technology Strategy Manager. However, he also runs Wallpaperhub.app, which collects and stores Microsoft-themed wallpapers. Today, via a post on Twitter, he announced he has uploaded versions of the classic Windows XP "Bliss" default wallpaper, and the newer but still cool Windows 11 "Bloom" wallpaper.

The new wallpapers used generative AI fill to show what's beneath both of the original versions. While they certainly look different, the new versions definitely look like natural extensions of Microsoft's creations. In the case of the Windows XP wallpaper, generative AI fill created a lake below the green landscape. You can download "Generative Bloom" and Generative XP" at the Wallpaperhub.app site now.

Some users have already asked the AI art creator Midjourney to generate some "Windows 12" wallpapers that actually look pretty good.

Microsoft is currently working on using AI to create new wallpaper visual effects. The first reports on this feature hit the internet earlier this month, as some users found some programming strings in a Windows 11 Canary channel build that were labeled as "Depth effects," "Parallax Background," and "WallpaperMotion."

Later in May, Twitter user Albacore posted a short video on Twitter that showed off these new parallax effects on a Windows 11 wallpaper. Microsoft didn't mention this new feature last week at its Build 2023 developer conference, but hopefully, we will be learning more about these kinds of features officially in the near future.

Check out the classic Windows XP and Windows 11 wallpapers with generative AI fill effects

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

With this release, the Kali Linux Team introduces a variety of new features, including:

•  New VM image for Hyper-V - With "Enhanced Session Mode" out of the box
• Xfce audio stack update: enters PipeWire - Better audio for Kali's default desktop
• i3 desktop overhaul - i3-gaps merged with i3
• Desktop updates - Easy hashing in Xfce
• GNOME 44 - Gnome Shell version bump
• Icons & menus updates - New apps and icons in menu
• New tools - As always, various new packages added

 Pre-built Hyper-V image

As part of the Kali Linux release, the Kali team has released a pre-built Hyper-V image configured for 'Enhanced Session Mode,' which allows you to connect to the virtual machine using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for a better experience.

"Before that, enabling Enhanced Session Mode required some manual steps, both on Windows and in the Kali VM, and it was not super easy," explains the Kali Linux Team.

"We hope that this new images provides a better out-of-the box experience for Hyper-V users. In fact, there should now be zero configuration required."

Enhanced Session Mode makes it easier to resize the desktop and share local devices, such as USB drives, printers, or other hardware with the Kali Linux virtual machine.

To start using the new Hyper-V image, simply download it from kali.org, extract it, and run the extracted 'install-vm.bat' script.

This will launch a PowerShell script that automatically creates a new Hyper-V virtual machine using the downloaded image and will set the VM to use two processors if available.

Eight new tools in Kali Linux 2023.2

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

Below are the thirteen new tools added in Kali 2023.2:

• Cilium-cli - Install, manage & troubleshoot Kubernetes clusters
• Cosign - Container Signing
• Eksctl - Official CLI for Amazon EKS
• Evilginx - Standalone man-in-the-middle attack framework used for phishing login credentials along with session cookies, allowing for the bypass of 2-factor authentication
• GoPhish - Open-Source Phishing Toolkit
• Humble - A fast security-oriented HTTP headers analyzer
• Slim(toolkit) - Don’t change anything in your container image and minify it
• Syft - Generating a Software Bill of Materials from container images and filesystems
• Terraform - Safely and predictably create, change, and improve infrastructure
• Tetragon - eBPF-based Security Observability and Runtime Enforcement
• TheHive - A Scalable, Open Source and Free Security Incident Response Platform
• Trivy - Find vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets, SBOM in containers, Kubernetes, code repositories, clouds and more
• Wsgidav - Generic and extendable WebDAV server based on WSGI

New PipeWire audio subsystem

This version of Kali Linux brings a new audio subsystem, with the team replacing the PulseAudio sound server system with PipeWire.

PipeWire is a modern audio server for Linux that provides decreased latency, enhanced Bluetooth support, and more.

While the Xfce desktop environment does not natively support PipeWire, Kali states that they are using the pipewire-pulse daemon to act as a compatibility layer, allowing applications designed for PuleAudio to work with PipeWire.

"But let’s get back to Kali’s default desktop environment: Xfce. Xfce does not really "support" PipeWire per se, but it does not need to. PipeWire provides a compatibility layer, under the form of the pipewire-pulse daemon," shared yesterday's Kali announcement.

"And that’s what make the magic happens: applications that were meant to work with PulseAudio keep working as if nothing happened, blissfully unaware of the change."

Desktop and UI changes

This Kali Linux version also brings new updates and features to the Xfce and Gnome desktops.

For Xfce, the 'GtkHash' extension was added, allowing you to right-click on a file and select the hash functions you wish to use to compute a hash of the file.

Gnome has also been updated to version 44, bringing updated Kali theming, a new Settings app, and image thumbnails in the file chooser. The Kali Team has also added a new "Tiling Assistant" to Gnome, adding additional UI features.

"Enjoy intuitive window snapping, multi-monitor support, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and personalized settings, all designed to enhance your productivity and workflow," explained the Kali Team.

How to get Kali Linux 2023.2

To start using Kali Linux 2023.2, you can upgrade your existing installation, select a platform, or directly download ISO images for new installs and live distributions.

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

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

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

cp -vrbi /etc/skel/. ~/

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

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

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

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

grep VERSION /etc/os-release

You can view the complete changelog for Kali 2023.2 on Kali's website.

Kali Linux 2023.2 released with 13 new tools, pre-built HyperV image

A Snap-based, containerized Ubuntu desktop could be offered in 2024

Finally, there is something useful in the widgets panel. The best part about this is that you don't need to be on the Windows 11 Insider Channel, so you can use it on the stable release.

How to get the new system resources widgets in Windows 11

1. Download the Dev Home Preview app from the Microsoft Store or Git Hub. (requires Windows 11 21H2 (build 22000) or later)

2. Open the app and wait for it to complete the setup process, after which you will be able to access your dashboard.

3. Click on the Widgets button on the Taskbar.

4. Hit the + button at the top, and you will see options for 5 new widgets: CPU, GPU, Memory, Network and SSH Keychain.

5. Select the widget that you want to use, and it will be added to the Widgets board.

You don't need to have Dev Home running to access the widgets, i.e. you may close the app's window. Don't uninstall it. The widgets can also be pinned to the Dev Home app's dashboard.

All widgets from Dev Home display a graph to indicate the performance of your system, although they don't appear to be updating in real-time, though this could be a bug related to the Widgets board itself, and not the app's widgets.

You may want to switch to the large size of the widgets to access the full data that they provide, because there are some buttons that you can click to perform some actions. The CPU Widget lists 3 actively running processes that you may force quit by clicking on the End Process button. The Network widget displays your network's usage, as well as a button to switch to the next network adapter. Similarly, the GPU button allows you to view your integrated GPU and your dedicated graphics card's usage details.

While Dev Home has been designed to help developers, there is no reason why it can't be useful for regular users who wish to understand their computer's performance without opening the Task Manager. That said, the utility of the Task Manager can't be replaced by widgets. You could also argue that the system resources widget that you can access from the Game Bar (Win + G) is better to monitor the performance in games, as it offers more information such as frame rate per second (fps), RAM and VRAM usage in an overlay that you may pin on the screen.

Microsoft has been working on improving the Widgets experience over the past year. The Widgets board supports a full screen mode, it will soon allow users to pin 3 widgets horizontally, instead of just 2, which would display more information at a glance. The Redmond company recently dropped the Microsoft requirement for using Widgets on Windows 11.

Widgets are still quite laggy on Windows 11, it feels like a beta test. Well, you could say that about the operating system itself, Explorer in particular is a travesty. Microsoft needs to do some serious tweaking to boost the OS' performance if it wants to attract new users, or to convince them to upgrade from Windows 10.

Windows 11 gets new system resources widgets courtesy of Dev Home app

There is a new tool in town, called MSEdgeFeatures, which helps Edge Canary users unlock these features. It may remind Windows 11 users of the excellent ViVeTool, which enables features on Windows 11 devices, but it works in a different way.

In fact, usage of the tool is much simpler, as it does not require IDs of features to enable them. All it takes is to run a single command in PowerShell to get the current list of features that may be enabled in Microsoft Edge Canary. The output that it returns can be added to a shortcut of Microsoft Edge, so that all the features are enabled in the browser when it is run. The PowerShell script does create a new shortcut for Edge that includes the features as well, making it even more straightforward to test them.

Here are the steps in detail:

1. Close all Microsoft Edge Canary instances.
2. Use the Windows-X shortcut to display the administrative menu and select Terminal from the available options.
3. Copy (select all and right-click on the selection) and paste the following instruction into the interface and hit the Enter-key to run it: Invoke-RestMethod 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HotCakeX/MSEdgeFeatures/main/Shortcut.ps1' | Invoke-Expression
4. Running the script creates a shortcut to Microsoft Edge Canary in the downloads folder on the system that contains the enable parameters already. You can also add these to an existing shortcut in the following way:
5. Copy the output, starting with --enable to the Clipboard.
6. Right-click on the Microsoft Edge Canary shortcut and select Properties. It may be found on the desktop. On the taskbar, it is necessary to right-click on the icon, and then again on Microsoft Edge when the context menu opens to get the Properties option.
7. Add a space at the end of the target field and paste the copied parameters. The target field should look similar to this now: "C:\Users\marti\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge SxS\Application\msedge.exe" --enable-features=msEdgeAutofillBloomBypass,msEdgeAutoRefreshTokenDegraded,msEdgeAutoRefreshTokenUIR,msEdgeSkypeShareUI,msMigrateEdgeSettingsToWalletHub,msMigrateEdgeSettingsToWallethubT
8. Select OK to complete the process.
9. Start Microsoft Edge Canary.

The instructions enable all the features in the browser. You can modify the parameters by removing some from the instructions. The data is updated every 12 hours automatically on GitHub, and running the PowerShell script will always return up to date information about features as a consequence.

The GitHub repository of the project lists all added, existing and removed features for each Edge version that it has scanned. Just dive into the Edge Canary directory there and open one of the versions listed on the page that opens.

Closing Words

MSEdgeFeatures is an excellent option to unlock A-B tested features in Microsoft Edge Canary right away. It gives developers and other interested users direct access to these features.

Now You: do you run Microsoft Edge? (via Deskmodder)

How to enable the latest features in Microsoft Edge Canary

In an interview for the new Microsoft IT-based podcast UnplugIT, (via Petri), Anupam Pattnaik, Microsoft's Product Lead for the revamped Teams version, stated it would become the default for Windows users sometime later in 2023.

Right now, the issue is getting the new Teams version (which is also called Teams 2.0) to have the same features as the current "classic" Teams client, including things like Breakout Rooms. Pattnaik stated:

“Right now, the classic Teams is the default because we do not have all the features that we support in classic Teams in the new Teams,” Pattnaik explained. “That’s the reason we have right now classic Teams as the default option, but sometime later this calendar year, we’ll make the new Teams the default option when we have feature parity, and when we feel confident that users can switch to the new Teams.”

Pattnaik also said that Teams 2.0 will also be made available for Mac, web, and VDI platforms later this year, and will expand to Microsoft's education and government customers as well.

The biggest feature in the new Teams version is much faster performance compared to the current classic version. Microsoft says that the new Teams launches twice as fast, and users can also join meetings twice as quickly. The new Teams also uses up to 50 percent less memory than the current version and takes up 70 percent less storage space.

Some of the other new features in the revamped Teams include allowing users to stay signed into the app, even if they access it with different accounts and organizations. It also offers notifications on any Teams account they use.

The Windows version of the revamped Microsoft Teams will become the default later in 2023

In a blog post published shortly after the release of Moment 3, Microsoft provided a comprehensive account of the company's year-long efforts to enhance the experience for over a billion users worldwide. The post serves as a condensed overview of all the changes implemented in the Insider channels throughout the past year, now incorporated into the Moment 3 update.

Panos Panay, Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer, had once reminded people that its latest OS was “all about quality” and once again, the firm has reminded users that Windows 11 is the "most reliable version of Windows ever" in the list of highlights.

• The blog post reads:
  • We improved frequently used shell interactions like Taskbar, Notifications, and Quick Settings by as much as 15%!
  • Getting users into productivity faster by improving the time it takes to get to the desktop by 10% and reducing the impact of startup apps by over 50%.
  • Making PCs more sustainable with our new Energy Recommendations and Carbon-Aware Windows Update. We see a 6% average reduction in energy consumption for the users who use the recommended energy settings
  • Windows 11 is the most reliable version of Windows ever, with recent updates continuing to improve reliability.
  • Microsoft Edge starts up faster than ever before and saves memory with features like Sleeping Tabs, which saves up to 83% of memory for background tabs.
  • The new Teams app for Windows is 2x faster while using half the resources.

Amidst a series of negative news stories, system crashes, and software glitches associated with Windows 11 and its subsequent updates and fixes throughout the year, Microsoft has taken an interesting approach by publishing a blog post that highlights the positive aspects of their latest Moment 3 update. This move can be seen as an effort by the tech giant to reinforce confidence in their product, especially considering the mixed reception Windows 11 has received thus far.

Microsoft's extensive list is "all about improvements" they claim to have made, ranging from environmentally friendly PC enhancements to faster startup times for Microsoft Edge, and even increased user productivity by reducing desktop access time. While the Moment 3 update has been generally well-received, if not eagerly awaited, Microsoft still faces the challenge of convincing more users to migrate to Windows 11.

Image source: Unsplash

Should I install Windows 11?

Recent negative headlines have certainly added to this challenge. However, the blog post could serve as a persuasive tool for those hesitant about upgrading, offering a comprehensive overview of the main changes and potentially alleviating concerns in the decision-making process. It is worth noting that some of the listed enhancements remain somewhat vague, leaving room for interpretation.

Undeniably, Moment 3 represents a positive step forward and showcases the significant progress made by Windows since the troubled days of Windows Vista. By providing consumers with a detailed blog post outlining all the changes made, Microsoft aims to simplify the process of convincing users to upgrade. The extent of persuasion achieved by this approach remains to be seen and will undoubtedly be determined by individual users' responses.

What do you think? Is Windows 11 all about quality? Would you consider upgrading if you have not yet?

Can Moment 3 update make people install Windows 11?

Microsoft, in its most recent blog post, reveals that they have been diligently working on streamlining the process of accessing saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows, aiming to enhance user convenience. This noteworthy feature is included in the Insider Preview Build, recently made available to the Dev Channel.

You can now view your saved Wi-Fi passwords via Windows 11's interface - Image: Microsoft

How to view saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 11 Preview Build 23466?

Gaining quick access to Wi-Fi passwords has become significantly easier with the introduction of the new Windows 11 build (23466). Users can now view their saved SSID keys in plain text by following a few simple steps.

To view the saved Wi-Fi passwords:

1. Navigate to the Settings menu
2. Proceed to Network and Internet
3. Select Wi-Fi and then ''Manage Known Networks''
4. Select the SSID you want to view the password of from the list
5. Click on "View Wi-Fi security key" to reveal the password in plain text format

Previously, accessing Wi-Fi passwords in Windows required navigating through various menus and properties, making it a cumbersome task. The Wi-Fi password of the network currently connected to a Windows 11 PC was concealed within the wireless device properties, only visible upon selecting the "show characters" box within the security tab.

Moreover, if one sought to retrieve other saved Wi-Fi passwords, it necessitated delving into the command prompt and researching the usage of the netsh command through external sources.

This newfound capability represents a significant leap forward in user convenience, eliminating the need to physically examine the back of the router or search for misplaced notes containing Wi-Fi passwords. By enabling users to promptly access their Wi-Fi credentials, Windows 11 empowers individuals to connect to networks seamlessly whenever the need arises.

Microsoft, which also introduced us to the End Task button for the taskbar and Backup app in Windows 11 Insider build 23466, seems to be working non-stop to perfect the popular operating system Windows 11. Let's see how long it will take them to solve their chronic problems.

You can now view your saved Wi-Fi passwords on Windows 11

The Widget icon may display two types of information by default: weather information and stock price information. Not all Windows 11 users require stock price information, and those who do not, may want to hide the stock market information so that weather reports are displayed all the time.

The following guide explains how to disable stock price information on Windows 11's widget on the taskbar. Weather and stock price information is powered by individual widgets.

The display of widgets in the main Widgets interface determines whether the information is also displayed on the icon. In other words: if you disable the stock market watchlist widget in the Widgets interface, you will also disable the stock price information displayed by the taskbar icon.

Note that Microsoft may choose to add other data to the taskbar icon at a later point in development. The company appears to be working constantly on widgets. Recently, it removed the Microsoft Account requirement and announced that users would soon be able to get rid of the MSN news feed entirely.

You may want to check out Ashwin's guide on uninstalling widgets on Windows 11.

Removing the Watchlist Movers widget

Here are the steps required to disable the stock information on Windows 11's taskbar:

1. Click on the widgets icon to display the full Windows 11 Widgets interface.
2. Locate the Watchlist Movers element in the interface.
3. Activate the three-dots icon next to it to display its context menu.
4. Select the unpin widget option from the context menu; this removes the widget from the main interface.

While you may think that this is all that is required, it is not. Microsoft, for reasons unknown, is adding a smaller Watchlist Movers widget to the interface whenever users select to unpin the larger one. It is necessary to repeat the action on the smaller widget as well to get rid of the stock market information on the Windows 11 taskbar.

1. Locate the smaller Watchlist Movers widget in the main Widgets interface.
2. Activate the three-dots icon next to it.
3. Select "hide this widget" from the list of options.

This removes the Watchlist Movers widget from Widgets in Windows 11. The taskbar icon should no longer display stock market information as a consequence.

Windows 11 users who want to restore the display of watchlist information on the taskbar need to activate the plus icon in the Widgets interface and then the plus icon next to the Watchlist widget configuration screen to add the stock market widget again.

Windows 11 users may also remove the entire widget icon from the taskbar by right-clicking on a blank spot on the taskbar, selecting Taskbar Settings from the menu that opens, and then toggling Widgets under Taskbar Items to the off state.

Now You: do you use Widgets in any form?

How to disable stock price information on Windows 11's taskbar

NVIDIA has released a new Game Ready driver today for its GeForce graphics cards. The new driver, version 535.98, is WHQL certified. The update's big new feature is that it is Game Ready for the long-awaited Blizzard Entertainment action-RPG sequel Diablo IV.

NVIDIA's article on this new driver released has some information on how the update helps to boost performance in Diablo IV with its GeForce RTX 40 cards, using its DLSS 3 technology.

In Diablo IV, DLSS 3 helps GeForce RTX 40 Series gamers multiply performance at 4K by an average of 2.5X. In our action-filled benchmark, performance on the GeForce RTX 4090 increased by 2.4X, enabling us to play at 229 frames per second with every single setting maxed out. The GeForce RTX 4080 hit 177 FPS, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ran Diablo IV at 139 FPS, and the GeForce RTX 4070 113 FPS.

Diablo IV launches for pre-orders on Thursday, June 1, and will launch for everyone else on June 5. Keep in mind that if you buy a new GeForce RTX 4070, 4070 Ti, 4080, and 4090 graphics card, or have a new card installed in your new pre-built gaming PC, you can get a digital code for a free PC copy of Diablo IV from now until June 14.

In addition to the Diablo IV support, the new driver is optimized for the System Shock PC remake which launches today. The driver also fixes some bugs:

Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Applying GeForce Experience Freestyle filters cause games to crash [4008945]

Fixed General Bugs

• Monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled. [3592260]
• [SOLIDWORKS 2023] rendering issues when Enhanced Graphics Performance is enabled [4050712]
• [MAGIX Vegas Pro] Preview not working properly on some notebooks [4067005]
• [TouchDesigner] Degraded performance using Vulkan [3952439]
• [Nsight Tools] Abnormal termination that previously required a reboot [4056470]

You can download the new 

NVIDIA GeForce 535.98 WHQL driver is ready for Diablo IV launch, System Shock, and more

Microsoft ended support for the operating systems in January 2023 already and several browser developers, including Google and Microsoft, have already stopped supporting their browsers on these systems. Mozilla took its time to evaluate the situation and informed users earlier this year that it would continue to support Firefox on these operating systems.

Mozilla did not provide specifics back then, only that it would support Firefox for the operating systems until at least the second half of 2024.

A support page provides detailed information on the organization's plans to support the out-of-support operating systems. In short: Mozilla will support Firefox for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 until September 2024, but no longer than that.

This makes it the only major web browser that does so, as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi and Opera have ended support already for the operating systems. All of these are based on Chromium, which Google controls to a large degree. While it is in theory possible for companies to extend support, doing so would require assigning development resources to the task.

In case you are wondering what happens on Windows 7 or 8 devices when you try to run an unsupported browsers, we tried that and discovered that the browsers won't install or run anymore.

Migration to Firefox ESR

Mozilla plans to migrate Firefox Stable users on these three Windows versions to the Firefox ESR channel when Firefox 115 is released. This happens automatically and this special version of Firefox ESR will receive security updates until September 2024, its end of support date.

Firefox ESR, which stands for Extended Support Releases, is updated in the same frequency as stable versions of the web browser. The updates include security and bug fixes only, and not new features, which Mozilla integrates into stable updates regularly.

This means that Firefox users on these operating systems won't receive any new features implemented in Firefox after the release of Firefox 115, which Mozilla plans to release on July 4, 2023.

Most Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 devices can be upgraded to Windows 10, and this is what Mozilla recommends, as Microsoft is not releasing security updates for the older versions of Windows anymore.  Windows 10 is supported until October 2025.

Closing Words

Mozilla extends support for Firefox on Windows 7 and 8 devices until September 2024. This gives users on these systems more than 1 year of extra breathing room, at least where browsers are concerned.

Source

As I occasionally do, lately, I was racking my brain for a fun Linux flight of fancy to take us on. Many pixels have been spilled on the subject of “Linux,” or even just desktop Linux, with many more sure to follow. Even so, I strive for a unique perspective.

That’s when I realized that the reason it’s so challenging to think of something novel to say about the Linux desktop is that it’s so smooth, stable, and versatile that it doesn’t make me think about it unless I really try.

Micro-epiphany in hand, I wanted to explore what it is about Linux that makes it “just work” so well that users aren’t even conscious that they’ve opted out of the desktop operating system duopoly.

Such a Smooth Ride, You’ll Think You’re Floating

Most of what most of us do, most of the time, is done in the browser. So since Linux lets you use almost any browser you can think of, your browser experience on Linux is instantly familiar.

Among the browsers that run on Linux like a dream are Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Vivaldi. Better yet, because system resource use is typically low on Linux compared to Windows and macOS, the browser ends up being one of the few things, if not the only thing, that uses a notable amount of CPU or memory. That leaves that much more room for the browser to utilize the resources it needs.

Rarely does the fan on my Linux box rev up, but when it does, I can almost always trace it to a single browser tab — which, if you didn’t know, you can do with the browser task manager.

If Music and Videos Be the Food of Penguins, Play on

Another major desktop activity is media consumption. Get between a user and their favorite movie, TV show, or music, and they’ll drop your OS in a CPU cycle.

There’s a reason VLC is known for its versatility. It can play practically any media format, audio or video, desktop or mobile. True to form, VLC installation on Linux couldn’t be easier: every desktop distribution I’ve tried has VLC in its repositories. Just open the package manager, search “VLC,” and hit install.

As mentioned above, VLC fears no file format — and “file” in this case can be taken to mean “reading live from the DVD.” It can even cast to Chromecast devices — bet you didn’t know that, did you? If you did, my hat’s off to you!

For those who prefer streaming over cramming your drive with files, Linux remains undaunted. In terms of video streaming, the browser’s got you covered. For music, Spotify has a player client made for Linux. Personally, I’ve witnessed more problems with my Spotify Android app than the Spotify Linux desktop client, and the former is a much bigger focus for their developers.

From the Discord Emerges Harmony

Discord has emerged as one of the most popular communication apps today, an impressive feat considering how many options are out there.

Through the pandemic, I relied heavily on Discord to keep tabletop RPG gaming with friends, so I put it through the gauntlet on my system. During our weekly 4-hour sessions, friends on Windows systems would run into snags while my .deb-packaged “Public Test Build” of Discord didn’t miss a beat.

Old-Fashioned Web Apps Never Looked Better

It will come as no surprise to longtime readers that I view the Linux desktop as the superior desktop. I could sing its praises until my fingers blister. I won’t, though. I’m a professional.

What I will say in that vein on this particular subject — that of Linux providing such a refined experience that one forgets one is running Linux — is that some Linux-centric software makes web apps feel even more polished.

On Linux, web apps aren’t relegated to a normal browser window. I was first exposed to this new horizon on Linux Mint, my current daily driver, via its Webapp Manager program. The program plays nice with other Debian-based distributions, too. If Debian-style Linux isn’t your speed, there are comparable alternatives for other Linux families. Linux wouldn’t be Linux without choice, after all.

Once you configure a web app, it gets placed in your desktop environment’s app menu and behaves like a regular standalone app. All it needs to run is an existing installed browser to piggyback on, which every desktop user already has. Have multiple browsers? Lucky you: you get to pick which browser plays host. You can also choose whether to utilize your browser’s private browsing mode.

Best of all, Webapp Manager lets you stay logged in to your account, so you’re ready to roll on app launch. The managed web app honors this preference even if the browser is configured to clear all authentication tokens and cookies on quitting. This way, you can keep your sensitive accounts secure while staying logged into non-sensitive accounts, e.g., news readers.

Runs Like a Dream but Occasionally Causes Nightmares

Nothing is perfect. Sadly, this applies to Linux distributions, too. Certain scenarios are more likely to yield a less-than-ideal Linux desktop experience.

You could be in for a headache if you try to install Linux on extremely obscure or shiny new hardware. Since becoming a Linux diehard, I have only bought computers with common chipsets. If you try the latest and greatest Mac or a PC with non-standard internals, installation, and normal boots afterward might be rough.

If you’re a big-time gamer, Linux will mean making sacrifices. Custom gaming peripherals, streaming programs, and your favorite triple-A titles may not play nicely with Linux. I hear that Linux has made great strides, the Steam Deck being arguably the most notable example, but all the serious PC gamers I know stand by Windows rigs — as much as we all dream of a day when Linux conquers gaming.

If you’re married to certain proprietary desktop software you’re used to, Linux’s offerings will feel unfamiliar. For my part, I’m perfectly happy to trade Word for LibreOffice, GarageBand for Audacity, and Photoshop for GIMP. Although, if you’re unwilling to learn these eminently suitable alternatives, you will miss their Windows/Mac counterparts on Linux, where they just aren’t available.

None of these programs are ones I use on a daily basis, hence why I didn’t feature them earlier. But if you are a creature of habit in your digital workflow, feel free to pass on Linux. I’m not offended.

Embracing Linux

It speaks to the Linux desktop’s maturity that these hang-ups are exceptions, not the rule. I know more than one person in my social circles who has switched to Linux and hasn’t looked back.

Given how Linux has continued only to climb higher, I’m looking forward to the days ahead of not realizing I’m on Linux most of the time.

Source

A few days after, Microsoft also released a list of performance-related enhancements that it made throughout the year to "more than one billion users worldwide". It is essentially a rundown of what changes were introduced over the past year on Insider channels that have now made their way to the Moment 3 feature.

Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer Panos Panay had once reminded people that its latest OS was all about quality; and once again, the firm has reminded users that Windows 11 is the "most reliable version of Windows ever" in the list of highlights. The blog post says:

Among the highlights from the last year:

• We improved frequently used shell interactions like Taskbar, Notifications, and Quick Settings by as much as 15%!

• Getting users into productivity faster by improving the time it takes to get to the desktop by 10% and reducing the impact of startup apps by over 50%.

• Making PCs more sustainable with our new Energy Recommendations and Carbon-Aware Windows Update. We see a 6% average reduction in energy consumption for the users who use the recommended energy settings

• Windows 11 is the most reliable version of Windows ever, with recent updates continuing to improve reliability.

• Microsoft Edge starts up faster than ever before and saves memory with features like Sleeping Tabs, which saves up to 83% of memory for background tabs.

• The new Teams app for Windows is 2x faster while using half the resources.

Among the improvements, Microsoft has detailed the enhancements made to startup apps on Windows 11 which can lead to over 50% lesser impact on the system resources. As you can see in the graphic below, the "User initiated app" is able to launch much sooner in the "After" section, whereas, in the "Before" part, it had to wait for the Startup App 4 to initiate.

Microsoft has also detailed File Explorer improvements wherein there is up to a 67% reduction in deletion time for bulk files. The average reduction time seems to be around ~40%.

There are also improvements to gaming. Microsoft says that high report mouse stuttering issues are greatly reduced. It explains:

The Windows input stack was being pushed to its limits with high report rate mice and their input being delivered to not just the game, but also multiple background processes. In turn, that caused a significant amount of time processing input rather than providing as many cycles as possible for rendering the game experience.

We set out to reduce the amount of processing time it took to handle input requests by throttling and coalescing background raw mouse listeners and capping their message rate. Prior to these changes, we observed on a Surface Laptop Studio with a 1000 Hz mouse, a test bed of background listeners, and popular games that there was significant stutter. After the improvements, on the same setup, we now deliver a smooth, uninterrupted gaming experience and preserve the low latency, high precision input experience in games while being efficient with input for background listeners!

The company has provided a list that summarizes all the improvements made:

While the examples above highlight some of the improvements in the February and May updates, there are many other improvements available today, including:

• Taskbar improvements to ensure Taskbar is readily available after logging in

• Task View performance improvements when devices are under heavy load

• Improved performance of Windows Notification Service

• Improved launch time of Quick Settings and Notification Center

• Reduced threads, dlls, and graphics device count in Explorer

• Reduced CPU usage of explorer

• Reduced memory usage of Notification Center

• Touch keyboard performance improvements

• Resource usage reductions in multi-user scenarios

• Reduced voice access and Narrator latency in larger documents

• Improved voice typing activation time

• Improved speed of theme changes

• Reduced size on disk by leveraging features-on-demand via the Store

For developers, there is a lot coming in the May release too. Some highlights that intersect fundamentals:

• New enhanced kernel minidump format for better debugging

• Live kernel dumps can now be collected directly via Task Manager

• New richer, more actionable third-party reliability data views in Partner Center

• Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA) is now supported and available on Arm devices

You will find more details on the Microsoft blog post linked here.

Microsoft details Windows 11 performance gains it delivered, reiterating it as most reliable

WhatsApp is working on usernames and screen sharing

The full list of changes in this configuration update is given below:

Highlights

• New! This update adds live captions for the following languages:
  • Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)
  • French (France, Canada)
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal)
  • Spanish
  • Danish
  • English (Ireland, other English dialects)
  • Korean
  • To turn on live captions, use the WIN + Ctrl + L keyboard shortcut. You can also use the Quick Settings accessibility flyout menu. When you turn it on for the first time, Windows will ask you to download the required speech recognition support. Speech recognition support might not be available in your preferred language, or you might want support in other languages. You can download speech recognition support from Settings > Time & Language > Language & region.
• New! This update redesigns the in-app voice access command help page.Every command now has a description and examples of its variations. The search bar allows you to quickly find commands. The new categories provide further guidance. You can access the command help page on the voice access bar from Help > View all commands or use the voice access command “what can I say?” Note that the help page might not include all commands. Also, the supplementary information might be inaccurate. We plan to update this in the future. For a list of all Voice Access commands, see Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice.
• New! This update adds voice access command support for the following English dialects:
  • English (United Kingdom)
  • English (India)
  • English (New Zealand)
  • English (Canada)
  • English (Australia)
  • When you turn on voice access for the first time, Windows will ask you to download a speech model. You might not find a speech model that matches your display language. You can still use voice access in English (US). You can always choose a different language from Settings > Language on the voice access bar.
• New! This update adds new text selection and editing voice access commands. Some examples are in the table.

• New! This update adds a VPN status icon, a small shield, to the system tray. It displays when you are connected to a recognized VPN profile. The VPN icon will be overlayed in your system’s accent colour over the active network connection.
• New! You can now choose to display seconds in the clock on the system tray. To turn this on, go to the Taskbar behaviors section in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar. You can also right-click the taskbar to quickly get to taskbar settings.
• New! This update provides a copy button for you to quickly copy two-factor authentication (2FA) codes. These are in notification toasts you get from apps installed on your PC or from phones linked to your PC. Note that this feature only works for English.
• New! This update adds access key shortcuts to File Explorer’s context menu. An access key is a one keystroke shortcut. You can use it to quickly run a command in a context menu using your keyboard. Each access key corresponds to a letter in the display name of the menu item. To try this out, you can click on a file in File Explorer and press the menu key on your keyboard.
• New! This update adds multi-app kiosk mode, which is a lockdown feature. If you are an administrator, you can specify the apps that can run on a device. Other apps will not run. You can also block certain functionalities. You can configure distinct types of access and apps to run for different users on one device. Multi-app kiosk mode is ideal for scenarios in which multiple people use the same device. Some examples are frontline workers, retail, education, and test taking. Some lockdown customizations include:
  • Limit access to Settings, except certain pages, such as Wi-Fi and screen brightness
  • Show only the apps that are allowed on the Start menu
  • Block certain toasts and pop-up windows
  • Currently, you can enable multi-app kiosk mode using PowerShell and WMI Bridge. To learn more, see Set up a multi-app kiosk on Windows 11 and AssignedAccess CSP. Support for Microsoft Intune, mobile device management (MDM), and provisioning package configuration is coming soon.
• New! This update introduces live kernel memory dump (LKD) collection from Task Manager. Using LKD, you can gather data to troubleshoot an issue while the OS continues to work. This reduces downtime when you must investigate an unresponsive program or high-impact failures. To learn more, see Task Manager live memory dump.
  • To capture an LKD, go to Task Manager > Details. Right-click the System process. Select Create live kernel memory dump file. This capturesa Full live kernel or Kernel stack memory dump. The dump will be written to a fixed location: %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\TaskManager\LiveKernelDumps. You can also go to the Task Manager Settings page to view or edit the settings for live kernel memory dumps.
• New! This update replaces the settings for Show the touch keyboard when there’s no keyboard attached. These are located at Settings > Time & language > Typing > Touch keyboard. A new dropdown menu gives you three options to control whether tapping an edit control should open the touch keyboard. The options are:
  • Never. This suppresses the touch keyboard even when no hardware keyboard is attached.
  • When no keyboard attached. This shows the touch keyboard only when you use the device as a tablet without the hardware keyboard.
  • Always. This shows the touch keyboard even when the hardware keyboard is attached.
• New! This update enables Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) to run on laptops and 2-in-1 devices. This feature dims or brightens areas of a display based on the content. It tries to strike a balance between saving battery life and providing a good visual experience. You can adjust the feature setting from Settings > System > Display > Brightness & colour. Thedrop-down menu gives you three options: Off, Always, and On Battery Only. For battery powered devices, the default is On Battery Only. Because the device manufacturer must enable CABC, the feature might not be on all laptops or 2-in-1 devices.
• New! This update adds a USB4 hubs and devices Settings page. You can find it at Settings> Bluetooth & devices > USB > USB4 Hubs and Devices. This new page provides information about the system’s USB4 capabilities and the attached peripherals on a system that supports USB4. This information helps with troubleshooting when you need manufacturer or system administrator support. Some features include:
  • You can view the tree of the connected USB4 hubs and devices.
  • You can copy details to the clipboard to share them.
  • If your system does not support USB4 with the Microsoft USB4 Connection Manager, this page will not appear. On systems that support USB4, you will see USB4 Host Router in Device Manager.
• New! This update adds a presence sensor privacy setting in Settings > Privacy & security > Presence sensing. If you have a device that has compatible presence sensors, you can now choose the apps that can access those sensors. You can also choose the apps that do not have access. Microsoft does not collect images or metadata. The device hardware processes your information locally to maximize privacy.
• New! This update improves the performance of search within Settings.
• New! This update changes the default print screen (prt scr) key behavior. Pressing the print screen key opens the Snipping Tool by default. You can turn off this setting from Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. If you have previously changed this setting, Windows will preserve your preference.
• New! This update introduces a limit of 20 most recent tabs in Settings > Multitasking. This affects the number of tabs that appear when you use ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.
• New! This update improves the cloud suggestion and the integrated search suggestion. This helps you to easily type popular words in Simplified Chinese using the Input Method Editor (IME). The cloud suggestion adds the most relevant word from Microsoft Bing to the IME candidate window. The integrated search suggestion gives you additional suggestions that are like what you see on a Bing search page. You can insert a suggestion as text or search for it directly in Bing. To turn on these features, select a chevron button in the upper right of the IME candidate window. Then select the Turn on button.
• New! This update improves your computer’s performance when you use a mouse that has a high report rate for gaming. To learn more, see “Reduced game stutter with high report rate mice” in Delivering Delightful Performance for More Than One Billion Users Worldwide.

You can view the official support article here.

Microsoft quietly released Windows 11 22H2 Configuration Update that boosts performance

The feature is not explained on the page and most Windows users may not click on the "learn more" link to find out more about it.

The feature is set to off by default, but it is easy enough to toggle its state to on. Microsoft is releasing updates for its Windows 11 operating system regularly. The company releases a monthly cumulative security update and monthly preview updates, as well as so-called Moments updates, which introduce features, new feature updates, and also unscheduled updates, for instance to fix critical issues.

At least some of these are not released to all Windows 11 devices at the same time. Microsoft uses different servicing techniques to roll out some of these updates to devices gradually. One of the more common technologies is called Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR), which pushes out new features to some devices and rolls them out to others over time from that starting point.

This explains why some Windows users can test new features already, while others need to wait or use the excellent ViVeTool to unlock them on their machines.

Microsoft provides the following explanation on the new update toggle in its Windows 11 operating system: "The good news is if you have Windows 11, version 22H2 or later, you can choose to get the latest non-security and feature updates as soon as they become available for your device (now and in the future)".

In other words: if the toggle is set to On, these devices will be prioritized when it comes to the delivery of non-security updates. The recently released Moments 3 update is only enabled on devices if the "Get the latest updates" option is set to on before installing the required Windows update. That is why some Windows 11 users do not see the new features, even though they have installed the update. Check out the link in the previous sentence for instructions on enabling the features in that case.

Two scenarios may prevent the unlocking of new features on devices. The first is that the "get updates" toggle is not available on managed devices. It is up to IT administrators to enable the functionality.

A new Group Policy is available, which can be configured in the following way:

1. Open Start, type gpedit.msc, and load the Group Policy Editor on the Windows 11 machine.
2. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience > Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default.
3. Set the policy to Enabled to get all features installed and activated immediately.

Here is the full description of the policy. It does require Windows 11 version 22H2 devices or later.

Features introduced via servicing (outside of the annual feature update) are off by default for devices that have their Windows updates managed*.

If this policy is configured to “Enabled”, then all features available in the latest monthly quality update installed will be on.

If this policy is set to “Not Configured” or “Disabled” then features that are shipped via a monthly quality update (servicing) will remain off until the feature update that includes these features is installed.

*Windows update managed devices are those that have their Windows updates managed via policy; whether via the cloud using Windows Update for Business or on-premises with Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

Closing Words

Windows users who want to receive the latest features immediately when they are released, may enable the option on their Home devices directly. Managed devices depend on administrators, who need to enable the option on their end.

Whether it is a good idea to get the features early is up for debate. While it is nice to have as early access as possible on stable machines, it may also lead to new issues.

Now You: have you enabled the feature if you run the latest Windows 11 version? (via Deskmodder)

Windows 11's Get Updates as soon as they're available feature explained

Only one of these is available currently in stable versions of the Windows 11 operating system, but Microsoft announced all the others recently or has introduced functionality already in developer builds of the operating system.

The Edge bar is a search field that Edge users may display on the desktop of the operating system. Introduced in mid 2022, it is still an experimental feature at the time of writing.  Microsoft has enabled the feature by default, at least for some users.

The search option brings the browser's address bar to the desktop. It returns browsing related items, such as previously visited sites or favorites, and suggests searches as well. All of these are redirected to the Edge browser.

Microsoft is also testing functionality that lets users pin the sidebar of the Edge browser to the desktop. It allows users of the operating system to access the various features that Edge's sidebar supports right on the desktop.

Current stable versions of Edge have several items in the sidebar already, including a search feature, Bing Search, Tools, a shopping feature or an image creator. It does feature options to add websites to the list as well.

Widgets, a unique feature of Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system, may soon be pinned to the desktop. All widgets are limited to the Widgets interface right now, but this is changing in the future. The feature may remind users who used Windows 7 of its gadgets feature, which displayed small applets on the desktop as well.  Third-party widget support is slowly rolling out, which extends the available widgets significantly.

Microsoft showcased Windows Copilot during its Build 2023 developer conference. It is an AI-powered assistant that combines functionality of a support chatbot with options to make changes to the operating system and Bing Chat functionality. Windows Copilot opens as a sidebar on the desktop.

The Windows desktop is getting crowded

All of the features are optional. While Microsoft may enable some by default, lit it has done with the Edge bar, all either require that you activate them for display on the desktop or have options to hide them on the desktop.

Some of the features share functionality; three of them come with options to run searches on Bing or interact with an AI.

Several features are experimental at this stage and not all of them may find their way into stable versions of the Windows operating system. Some may change, but there is no doubt that others, including Windows Copilot, will be introduced in Windows 11.

Windows Copilot could make the biggest impact, if it can really help users when they are facing issues on Windows. Tests will show how accurate Windows Copilot is at becoming a useful assistant that helps users.

Widescreen monitor or multi-monitor users may benefit more from the introduction of these features than others.

Still, it will be interesting to see how popular these new options will become once they land in stable versions of the operating system.

Now You: would you place any of these on your desktop, or use them?

It is getting crowded on the Windows desktop

• Build Announcements
  • Windows 11
  • Microsoft Store
  • Edge
  • More
• Updates!
• Windows Insider Program
• Gaming
• Trivia

Windows 11, AI-powered tools and features, and more

During the Build 2023 conference (you can check out our complete Build coverage here), Microsoft unveiled many new features for developers and regular Windows 11 users. Many of them harness the power of artificial intelligence to deliver a better experience and previously unavailable features.

Windows 11

The biggest Windows 11-related announcement during Build was Windows Copilot—a feature to make "every user a power user." Windows Copilot is a new AI-powered assistant on your Windows 11 PC that will help you get things done, control various settings, get answers to complex questions, and more (consider it Cortana 2.0, but actually good, supposedly). Windows Copilot will be available for testing next month, and you can sign up for updates here.

Microsoft also announced a batch of smaller but necessary changes. Windows 11 will soon get taskbar labels and "never combine" mode (both features are already available for testing in the Windows Insider program), native RGB controls, support for more archive formats, such as RAR, 7-zip, GZ, TAR, and more. The latter is a significant change, especially for developers, but the WinRAR team says it is honored and a bit concerned with Microsoft's decision. And yes, there was a teaser of the upcoming File Explorer redesign.

Another long-anticipated change is the ability to remove news from Windows Widgets. Microsoft announced it would soon allow Windows 11 customers to switch between three modes: mixed, widgets-only, and news-only.

Developers will be happy to learn about the new Dev Home app tailored for app-makers. It is a storage volume with a file system focused on performance and security. Based on ReFS, it delivers up to 30% performance uplifts in various tasks. In addition, Dev Home features integrations with WinGet, GitHub, and more.

Microsoft Store

Let's kick off the Microsoft Store section with the Microsoft Store App Awards 2023 winners. It features winners selected by the community vote and honorable mentions picked by editors.

Moving on to the new features, the Microsoft Store will soon use AI to analyze reviews and generate summaries to help you learn what other customers think about the app or game without scrolling hundreds or thousands of reviews. The store will also get a dedicated AI hub to recognize apps that use artificial intelligence. And if you are a Windows app developer, Microsoft Partner Center will help you reach more people with AI-picked keywords for your project.

That is not all Microsoft announced for its app marketplace. Developers will soon be able to promote their applications in the Bing search results, and the store will feature a new ad spot. In addition, the recently launched Microsoft Store Ads program is expanding to more countries and regions.

And finally, Microsoft has prepared new features for progressive web apps and opened Android app submissions to all developers, allowing them to expand their audiences with Windows 11 customers.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft did not forget to treat its browser with a few upgrades. The browser will soon be redesigned with Mica and rounded corners, the Workspaces feature, and a dedicated mode for businesses and organizations.

Other news from the Build conference:

• Improvements for Microsoft Designer and Bing Image Creator
• Improvements for Windows on ARM
• Microsoft Fabric—a new unified end-to-end analytics solution
• Public Preview of GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps

Updates—lots of them!

As usual, this week, we received many software updates for apps, games, operating systems, firmware, and more. Microsoft announced the "Moment 3" update and later shipped it to those willing to get new Windows features as soon as they become available (make sure your PC meets the requirements). Check out our full review if you want to know what is new in the release. Here are the smaller Windows updates Microsoft released this week:

• KB5026436 for Windows 11 with fixes for SMB, LSASS, printers, and more
• KB5026435 for Windows 10 with notification and search box improvements
• Updated ISO files for Windows 11 and 10

Surface Firmware Updates:

• Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 9
• Surface Book 3 and Surface Laptop Go 2

Another noteworthy release this week is Microsoft's updated Windows 11 virtual machines. They are available for free during the evaluation period and provide access to various developer tools for making Windows apps. The VMs are available in four "flavors" for different virtualization software.

As usual, this week, we reported a few notable changes in Microsoft Edge's Canary Channel, where the company tests the waters for new features before shipping them to the general public. Users noticed a new gaming mode and the built-in VPN with an increased monthly data limit. In addition, an upcoming Edge update will introduce a taskbar-like sidebar you can permanently fix on the desktop.

App updates:

• A big update for PowerToys with a new tool that lets you control several PCs with one mouse
• Changes in Google Chrome Canary that disable the recently introduced Mica material
• SwiftKe and Bing for Android with the latest Bing Chat features
• Authenticator Lite support in Outlook for iOS and Android

Not all updates were good: some users reported various issues with the latest cumulative updates for Windows 10, such as blue screens of death with the PROCESS1 INITIALIZATION FAILED error code. Check out Microsoft's recommendations on how to resolve the issue on affected systems. Also, Microsoft confirmed problems with copy/save on Windows 11 and bugs with 32-bit apps on Windows 10.

Insider builds and hidden features

Microsoft treated insiders with many updates after a disappointing no_build week. Here are the latest Windows 11 builds to test:

• Canary: 25370 with TPM improvements, WPA3 support for Phone Link, and more.
• Canary: 25375 with Microsoft Endpoint DLP on WoA.
• Dev: 23466 with new features announced at Build 2023.
• Beta: KB5026440 with various fixes.

New and exciting features in the latest Windows 11 builds are rolling out gradually. If you do not want to wait to get them, check out our recent guides:

• How to enable taskbar labels and "never combine" mode
• How to enable Windows 11's new method to close apps and terminate processes

Gaming

This week, we updated our list of the most anticipated games coming soon to the Xbox consoles in 2023, such as Mortal Kombat1, Layers of Fear, and others. Also, John Callaham published a look back at the original Xbox One unveiled ten years ago and its initial lukewarm reception. It is an interesting story showing how bad decisions and wrong priorities almost sunk Microsoft's ambitious project.

Microsoft continues making its games more cloud-friendly. This week, the company announced several titles for the Ukrainian-based cloud streaming service called Boosteroid. The initial list of supported games is a bit slim, but Microsoft promises to add more soon. And to back its promise, Microsoft released three more Xbox titles on NVIDIA's GeForce Now.

Cloud gaming is one reason the UK's CMA denied the approval of the Microsoft-ABK deal. To deal with the issue, Microsoft filed an appeal against the ruling.

In addition to releasing new games, Microsoft is constantly working on ensuring the platform is safe and friendly for all. The latest Xbox Transparency Report highlights Microsoft's proactive measures and moderation tools that prevent all sorts of nastiness from ruining the fun for gamers.

Deals:

• Deals with Gold this week let you save up to 90% on RIDE, Dying Light, WWE 2K23, and more.

Trivia

This week, I tested Microsoft's claim that enabling seconds on the system clock will make your computer consume more power. Check out this article for our findings.

Another noteworthy piece is the story about the cracked Windows XP activation algorithm. The OS released more than 21 years ago still generates a lot of interest from the community and leads to all sorts of interesting headlines.

And there goes another week in the world of Microsoft and everything around it. As usual, you can check out more news here and sign up for the Neowin Newsletter to get the latest stories regularly delivered directly to your inbox.

Source

Restoring the missing feature in a better form

The system tray seconds feature is one of those returning capabilities Microsoft initially removed when upgrading from Windows 10 to 11. Although I firmly believe no one should praise Microsoft for restoring things it earlier took away for no reason, I think the company deserves some credit for making it much more user-friendly.

In Windows 10, enabling seconds requires a deep dive into the system's registry and a complete restart, while in Windows 11, a single tick in the Settings app is all it takes. Many Windows 10 users do not even know you can make the taskbar display seconds, plus very few want to mess with the system's internals. In this regard, Windows 11 offers a much better experience, so thank you, Microsoft.

It is also worth noting that despite having a brand-new, entirely rewritten taskbar, Windows 11 uses the same registry key for disabling or enabling seconds in the tray clock. Therefore, I was curious to see if there is a difference in power consumption between Windows 10 and 11 with seconds on and off.

How to enable seconds for the system clock in Windows 11?

If you want to enable clocks for the system clock without installing third-party apps like ElevenClock (one of our picks for must-have Windows 11 apps), update to the Windows 11 "Moment 3" update (build 22621.1778 or later, KB5026446) and do the following:

1. Open the Settings app and go to Personalization > Taskbar.
2. Expand the Taskbar behaviors section and place a checkmark next to the "Show seconds in system tray clock" option.

    

   

Alternatively, use the Registry Editor method, which is the same for Windows 10 and 11 (assuming you are on the latest "Moment 3" update):

1. Press Win + R and type regedit.
2. Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced and double-click the ShowSecondsInSystemClock value. If the value is missing, click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) value and name it ShowSecondsInSystemClock.
3. Change Value Data from 0 to 1.
4. Restart your computer.

How did I test it?

I clean-installed the latest Windows 11 update on my 14-inch HP Pavilion x360 with 11th Gen Intel Core i3 and 16GB of RAM, charged it 100%, set brightness to max, enabled flight mode, disconnected from the charger, and left it idling with only stopwatch running. Once the battery was dead, I charged it back to 100%, restarted, enabled seconds on the system clock, and did all over again.

Rinse and repeat three times.

Once I finished experimenting with Windows 11, I purged the OS, replaced it with Windows 10, and did the same testing.

I understand that such a test probably requires more than one device for better results, but I could not source one, so it is what it is. My goal was to take one device, put it into a "sterile" environment, and see how toggling on or off one feature affects the battery life.

The results

The results proved that turning on seconds on the system clock indeed increases the power draw. On average, Windows 11 showed a 1.892% standby time downgrade when running the system clock with seconds off.

I know a 43Wh battery is not great.

And here is Windows 10 with almost identical results and an average 1.902% downgrade:

Pretty much the same result

In conclusion

Yes, turning on seconds on the taskbar clock indeed makes your tablet or laptop consume more battery. Should you worry about it? Probably not, since the difference is negligible. Besides, Windows 10 shows the same difference in power consumption, so if it were not bothering you when running Windows 10, it would not bother you after upgrading to Windows 11. Too many extra things affect your battery life during daily use, so you are extremely unlikely to spot a 2% difference.

Microsoft says this Windows 11 taskbar setting can worsen your battery life, is it true?

However, one reveal that Microsoft casually mentioned deep inside in a blog post managed to get a lot of attention from users and the media online. Windows 11 will soon add native support for opening a number of archive file types, including RAR.

As we mentioned when we first posted on this development, the RAR format remains very popular for Windows PC users 30 years after it was first created by Eugene Roshal, and 28 years after he created the archive program WinRAR. It's been used by millions of people since then to both open and compress files in the RAR format.

Now that Windows 11 will soon have the ability to open RAR archives on its own, we wondered how win.rar GmbH, the Germany-based company that owns and updates the WinRAR program, felt about this new development. We asked the company for a statement and received one via email from Louise Cusworth of the WinRAR sales team:

It's taken Microsoft 30 years to implement support for RAR files into the Windows OS, and we were taken by surprise by the announcement, but now we're wondering if they're considering providing the RAR engine in 30 years, too?

Microsoft announced many other features for the next Windows 11 release, but obviously the part about the support for different archives and for .rar, in particular, created a big splash on the internet.

First of all, we feel honoured with Microsoft's decision. This will hopefully make RAR compression even more popular and more accessible to those users who are not familiar with WinRAR.

Are we concerned? Of course we are, because we are a small company and Microsoft is a big international multi-billion dollar company with a lot of power. However, others might be even more concerned about Microsoft's decision.

When searching on Google for "how to open rar files", we see the advertisements of our competitors; this could become obsolete in the future, but we simply don't know.

Although users will still need WinRAR to create RAR files, they'll no longer need it to open their .rar files (which was never exclusive to WinRAR anyway), but, hopefully, there are enough people out there who will continue to support a small software company like us, so that we can continue to develop WinRAR for a long time to come!

Your article and the many others that are now popping up online, introduce both challenges and benefits for our business. We need to keep developing WinRAR to make it even more attractive to users, and we have just released the Beta version for WinRAR 6.22 and are currently working on a major upgrade, which will hopefully be ready by the end of the year.

We want to thank Louise for this statement. It will certainly be very interesting to see if people will continue to use WinRAR and if Microsoft also decides to add native support for archiving files in the RAR format for future Windows releases.

WinRAR on Windows 11 getting RAR support: "We feel honoured with Microsoft's decision"

End Task and Close window

Windows 11 version 23H2 introduces a new entry to jump lists (context menus that appear on the screen when you right-click an icon on the taskbar) called "End task." It sits next to the "Close window" option, which may look identical at first sight. However, the "End task" feature is different.

Unlike "Close window," "End task" terminates the entire app and its related processes, not just exits one or several windows (this may differ depending on a specific app and its settings). For example, clicking "Close window" on Teams will leave the app running in the background with no open windows, while the "End task" option will shut down all Teams' processes (watch the Teams icon in the notification area disappearing on the GIF below).

Don't worry if that sounds confusing—you will not have to explain two seemingly identical buttons to your grandma. Microsoft says the "End task" feature is primarily intended for developers and thus keeps it disabled by default. Turning it on requires enabling Developer Mode first, which you should be aware of and understand.

How to turn on Windows 11's new "End task" option?

The "End task" option is currently available for testing in Windows 11 preview builds from the Dev Channel (Canary is not supported). You must update to build 23466 or newer, then flick two switches in the Developer section.

1. Open the Settings app and navigate to System > For developers.
2. Turn on Developer Mode and confirm the action.

    

   
3. Switch on the End task toggle. Now you can right-click any running app and terminate it with the corresponding option.

It is worth noting that there is a way to get the "End task" feature without enabling Developer Mode. It involves a third-party app called ViveTool, which Windows insiders often use to discover hidden features and customize various settings.

Caution: Back up important data before using the ViVeTool app. Tinkering with the OS using such programs may result in bugs and instabilities in already unstable Windows builds, so be ready for troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Remember that stable Windows releases are the only way to keep your PC as reliable as possible.

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

    

   
4. Navigate to the folder containing the ViVeTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViVeTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id:42592269,42105254 and press Enter (via @thebookisclosed).
6. Close Windows Terminal.
7. Press Win + R and type regedit.
8. Copy the following path and paste it into the Registry Editor's address bar: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
9. Open the DeveloperSettings key under CurrentVersion. If the key is missing, right-click CurrentVersion and select New > Key. Rename the key to DeveloperSettings.
10. Click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) value and rename it to TaskbarEndTask.
11. Open the new value and change its value data from 0 to 1.
12. Restart your computer.

Now you can terminate running applications by right-clicking them on the taskbar and selecting "End task." To disable the setting, open Registry Editor, navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DeveloperSettings, and change TaskbarEndTask value data from 1 to 0. You cannot disable the feature in the Settings app (it will be grayed out) without enabling Developer Mode first, so using Registry Editor is a must here.

Do you plan to use Windows 11's new way to close apps? Let us know in the comments.

Bonus: Did you notice that the screenshots above show the taskbar in "never combine" mode with labels? That feature is finally coming soon to Windows 11 later this year. Learn how to enable it in our dedicated guide.

Windows 11 has a new way to close apps and end processes, here is how to enable it