Vitor spotted the banner in Microsoft Edge Dev, as did we in the Canary Channel, despite still being on the waitlist to access Bard. The prompt offers to compare Bard's answers with Bing, and clicking the ad opens Bing Chat in a split-screen tab (a new feature Microsoft introduced earlier this year).

Tactics like this are not new, and Google is also guilty of using aggressive user-poaching methods. However, this time, Microsoft's approach at least seems reasonable since it allows users to compare two products and decide which is better. It is far better than the shameless ad Microsoft placed on the Google Chrome website several months ago (and fortunately ditched shortly after).

Source

Microsoft has confirmed an issue on Windows 11 and Windows 10 caused by this month's Patch Tuesday updates. The issue, Microsoft explains, is associated with the local account. When a user installs the Patch Tuesday updates (Windows 11, Windows 10) and logs in using a local user account, a message is displayed on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 that states that "Your data will be processed outside of your country or region". The bug does not affect all client devices and is only an issue on Education and Enterprise versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10.

The Microsoft support article regarding this issue notes the following:

Symptoms

A notice is displayed that informs users about the transfer of data outside China after installing a Windows 10 or Windows 11 update that is dated on or after March 21, 2023.

Alongside this notice, a Microsoft Privacy statement dialog box is also shown. The Redmond firm has provided steps to work around the issue. They are given below:

We are aware that the notice is shown to users who log on to a device that is running Enterprise or Education versions of Windows 10 or Windows 11 by using a local user account. If an Enterprise wants to suppress this notice, implement the following workaround.

1. Before you apply a Windows update dated on or after March 21, 2023, create the following registry entry on the Windows 10 or Windows 11 device for each local account.

   Registry location	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\CloudExperienceHost\Intent\ PersonalDataExport
   Value name	PDEShown
   Data type	REG_DWORD
   Data value	1

    

2. Then apply the applicable Windows updates dated on or after March 21, 2023 and then restart the device.

You can find more details on Microsoft's support article (KB5026964) here.

Microsoft confirms Patch Tuesday breaks Local Account log-in on Windows 11 and 10

During the presentation, Weston discussed the progress Microsoft has been making with Rust as part of the Windows kernel. The tech giant has been interested in this language for several reasons and one of those happens to center around memory safety and security that Rust offers. Weston added that Windows 11 will soon be booting with Rust in the kernel and it could be happening really soon. In fact, it could potentially happen within just a few weeks from now.

Benefits for using Rust over C++

He stated:

So you'll actually have Windows booting with Rust in the kernel in probably the next several weeks or months, which is really cool. Umm basic goal here was to convert some of these internal C++ data types into their Rust equivalents.

Weston added that 36 thousand lines of code have been added so far and there are also no major performance regressions in tested scenarios. The Win32k's GDI (graphics driver interface) port to Rust was able to pass all tests when booting on Windows.

The full presentation contains a lot more details about the other aspects of Windows security. You can watch it on YouTube at the source link below.

Source: BlueHat IL (YouTube) via David Weston (Twitter)

Senior Microsoft exec says Windows 11 kernel will soon be booting with Rust inside

New tool bar in icon mode

Valve continues its rollout of slow but content-packed Steam client overhaul updates, and the next one on the list is the aging in-game overlay. Revealed today, this reimagining arrives as part of a larger code restructuring happening behind the scenes for the entire Steam software ecosystem that contains the desktop client, Big Picture mode, and the Steam Deck.

As the embedded images show off, gone are the multiple information boxes at the bottom, with a much cleaner tool bar (which can be in icon or list view) taking its place to offer access to all the previous and some new options. Users can pick and choose what windows they want open, and Steam will remember the selection between games for easy access.

New tool bar in list mode

Game Overview is one of the new options, quickly showing off what achievements are close to triggering, playtime, screenshots, guides, and other relevant information to the game being played. Also new is the Notes section, letting players jot down whatever they need on a per-game basis which Valve will sync across devices and is accessible outside games.

The Notes, Guides, Discussions, and the web browser windows can now also be pinned, letting their most essential parts hover in front of the game even when the overlay is disabled. At the same time, Valve has updated client notifications to show more relevant updates and the screenshot manager to be more offer more information and be snappier. Users will also find minor UI changes across the client, with places like the header, settings, and server browser all getting some touch-ups.

Pinning feature in action

To join the Steam Client Beta, head to the Account tab in settings and change the Beta Participation dropdown. On the Steam Deck, this can be found in the System menu's Beta Participation section, which goes the same for Big Picture users.

Valve also highlighted that hardware acceleration is finally coming to macOS and Linux versions of Steam, enabling faster and more responsive UI elements. Linux users can try it out right now, but macOS users must wait a couple of weeks for their beta update to land.

Valve shows off a fully overhauled Steam in-game overlay, now available in beta

Respawn Entertainment's highly anticipated Star Wars game is releasing tomorrow, April 28, and AMD is recommending an upgrade to this driver before jumping into Cal Kestis' Jedi boots. AMD hasn't detailed exactly what sort of improvements are included, but reports say the game is suffering some optimization issues at launch, so it's almost always a good idea to have the latest drivers installed.

As Naughty Dog continues to work on The Last of Us Part 1's wonky PC port, AMD is also joining in with the bug hunt. Here are the fixed issues in this release:

• Red corruption may occur in World War Z™: Aftermath when using the Vulkan® API.
• Longer than expected shader compilation time when first launching THE LAST OF US™ Part I.

The currently known issues being worked on are:

• High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Video stuttering or performance drops may be observed during gameplay and video playback with some extended display configurations on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Some virtual reality games or applications may experience lower-than-expected performance on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Brief display corruption may occur when switching between video and game windows on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
• Application crash may be intermittently observed while playing RuneScape™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 5700 XT.
• AMD is working with the game developers of Hogwarts Legacy™ to resolve issues with water corruption on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 580.

The AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.4.3 WHQL driver can now be found on the Radeon Settings app on Windows as a recommended upgrade. Those looking for a standalone download link can find one on the driver's release notes page here.

AMD 23.4.3 WHQL driver brings Star Wars Jedi: Survivor support and a Last of Us Part 1 fix

If you want to test a free platform’s ability to protect content over the long haul, here’s a fun test: Upload an image, post it somewhere, then wait a decade to see if it sticks around.

Odds are, it won’t.

Which is why, perhaps, it’s not totally surprising to learn that Imgur, a popular photo-uploading service that has been informally tied to Reddit since its 2009 founding, will remove two types of content from its platform starting next month: explicit or pornographic imagery, and images uploaded anonymously—the latter with a lean on unused images, according to the company. While technically banned from Imgur for years through its community rules, adult content hasn’t been actively removed (and is incredibly popular). Until now.

“We understand that these changes may be disruptive to Imgurians who have used Imgur to store their images and artwork,” the company stated in a terms of service update announcing these changes. “These changes are an important step in Imgur’s continued efforts to remain a safe and fun space on the internet.”

The move is also going to be disastrous for the continuity of the internet. Like Photobucket before it, Imgur has been widely used to host millions of photos that are linked to, embedded, or used elsewhere, and lots of these photos were uploaded by people who didn't bother to sign up for accounts. Imgur is especially popular as a host for Reddit, meaning the content of those old posts could suddenly disappear off the internet. The move will likely also break embeds in various forum posts and blog posts all over the internet, creating an unpleasant form of link rot.

(The Archive Team, generally a harbinger of shuttering sites, is working on backing up this material, according to an announcement on Reddit.)

That Imgur, a meme-friendly platform that has been active for nearly 15 years and is most widely used on Reddit, is making this move is not totally a surprise. A number of major image-hosting platforms have done essentially the same thing in the past decade.

Perhaps the best-known example of this kind of image-gating is Photobucket, which in 2017 announced plans to charge expensive annual subscription fees, particularly for those who used the site as an external image host. (Since the platform was designed to host images on forums, it created severe digital disruption in its wake.) The company eventually had a change of heart about the removals and the high pricing, but not before destroying much of its digital goodwill.

Especially at risk of disappearing are sites that take on a symbiotic relationship with a larger host, with platforms such as TwitPic and yFrog disappearing entirely because they gradually found themselves replaced by their parent service. (In the case of TwitPic, Twitter nearly acquired it, only to back out amid a trademark dispute.)

While more resilient than those services, Imgur generally fits this category, especially as it’s now possible to host images on Reddit without using a service like Imgur. When that change happened in 2016, the number of Imgur submissions to Reddit fell by a quarter basically overnight, according to one data analysis.

Why Image Hosts Inherently Face Risks

A number of factors can lead to decisions that restrict image uploads. For example, high bandwidth is a major pressure point for image hosts, leading to an increased reliance on advertising and business decisions that gradually favor paid users. A change in ownership can shift priorities in unforeseen directions, leading to business decisions that go against the original mission of the platforms.

And then there’s the risk of explicit material, something that has bedeviled a variety of platforms, Imgur included. Legal realities, such as copyright removal and the risk of CSAM imagery, are an ongoing challenge for image hosts, but more acute are the pressures from payment processors, advertisers, and distribution partners to limit access to questionable material.

The brand-safety concern has perhaps been the most disruptive for communities with a NSFW element. Tumblr disrupted its own user base by blocking adult content in 2018, along with a whole slew of amusing false positives, largely as a result of aggressive pushback by Apple App Store, which at one point removed the social network from its service.

(For fans of schadenfreude, Imgur has said it will pull images with the help of AI-driven tools—though with assistance from human moderators—so Tumblr-style false positives are very possible in the coming weeks.)

While this situation is not the best to navigate, some platforms have been more successful at this than others. Since being acquired by SmugMug in 2018, Flickr has gained a reputation of removing images carefully while keeping the interests of the larger community in mind, which has allowed the firm to maintain a semblance of goodwill.

Through its history, Flickr has had to navigate each of the above issues, including putting strict limitations on free accounts and reining in explicit imagery. The company removed millions of images from unpaid accounts—but strained to maintain goodwill by continuing to support its large library of Creative Commons images. And while Flickr announced plans to limit explicit image uploads last year, it created room for compromise by allowing paid users to continue hosting them on the service.

And it’s possible that issues could expand beyond image hosting, too: Last year, Vimeo began charging Patreon users dramatically high fees for video hosting, as a part of a larger shift to business-to-business hosting. While it walked back some of those changes, it ultimately reflects how the company shifted its approach dramatically as a part of an ownership change.

Image Hosts vs. Corporate Tides

Ultimately, image hosting platforms are subject to the same kinds of business pressures as everyone else—and when those pressures prove incompatible with free hosting, that makes them potential victims of the whims of partners, governments, even shifting interests.

Imgur, while on its face the same service it was in 2012 or 2015, has seen significant ownership changes in recent years, with the holding company MediaLab AI acquiring it in 2021 and its founder, Alan Schaaf, departing about a year ago, according to his LinkedIn page.

In a Reddit comment, Schaaf suggested that the changes went against the spirit of the company he founded—though he ultimately has no say, because he sold it off.

“I’m not sad about selling at all. I’m sad about the decisions they’re making that aren’t aligned with Imgur’s vision or values,” he wrote.

It’s possible other services you rely on for image hosting could someday face the same fate as Imgur or PhotoBucket. For example, there’s no evidence anything might happen to the GIF-hosting platform Giphy, but its failed acquisition by Meta—the British government is forcing the company to divest the service for competitive reasons—puts it at risk of this kind of disruption in the future.

It’s enough to make you want to self-host.

Source

The short answer is no, you don't. But if you wanted to know why, read on as we explore why you don't need WSL.

What Is Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)?

WSL is a Microsoft Windows feature that allows you to run Linux software natively on your machine. It's not a full Linux distribution, but rather an emulation layer that runs inside of Windows and lets you run Linux applications alongside other programs.

Many popular open-source applications aren't yet available for Windows. Even if they are, they may not work correctly due to missing dependencies or other issues. WSL helps solve this problem by providing access to many common UNIX tools like grep and sed, which can't be run directly from within Windows itself.

WSL was mainly designed with web developers in mind. Many developers work on Linux, but they need to test their websites on Windows to make sure they look right. WSL lets them do this without needing to switch back and forth between operating systems. It also provides access to a full version of Bash (which is the default shell for many Linux distros), as well as its underlying toolset.

What Are the Advantages of WSL?

As much as you don't need WSL, there are some upsides to using it.

• It's easy to get started. All you need is a Windows 10/11 machine, an internet connection, and a little bit of time.

• It's easy to use. Once installed, it works just like any other Linux distribution would--you can run commands or scripts as if they were natively installed on your machine (which they are!). You can also install new applications through the command line using apt-get or yum commands just like any other Linux distribution would allow you to do so too! What else could be better than that?

• It's easy to install: If installing WSL wasn't already simple enough, Microsoft has made it even easier by providing an installer that guides users through each step needed before installing WSL on their computers--and even includes troubleshooting tips if something goes wrong during the installation process!

Disadvantages of WSL

WSL is a fine tool, but it's not for everyone. Here are a few of the downsides:

• Performance is slower than a virtual machine or running Linux natively on your hardware. WSL uses software emulation to run Linux programs, which can be slow compared to running them directly on your computer's hardware.

• Not compatible with all Linux programs. While many popular applications like Firefox and GIMP run fine in WSL, some don't work at all (for example Ubuntu-based distributions such as Mint or Lubuntu).

• It doesn't truly integrate with Windows itself—you still have separate instances of Bash and Windows Explorer open at all times when using this feature; there's no seamless integration into one cohesive operating system environment.

That last point is perhaps the biggest shortcoming of using WSL. While WSL can be configured to read/write to the Windows file system (and vice-versa), that's all it can do. Your Linux programs won't have access to Windows, and your Windows programs won't have access to Linux.

Let's say for example, after installing WSL, you try to run apt-get in the Windows command line. It won't work. You'll need to use apt-get from your Linux instance.

Your system PATHs are also completely separate when using WSL. So if you install a program like Node just on the Windows side, none of the commands will work in WSL unless you separately install Node on Linux.

What Are the Alternatives to WSL?

If you're an experienced Linux user unfamiliar with the Windows command line, there are other options for running Linux/Bash on your Windows machine.

Git Bash: This is a popular terminal emulator for Windows systems that allows users to run bash scripts and commands in a native environment. It's available as part of the Git for Windows app or can be downloaded separately from the official Git Bash download page. Unlike WSL, Git Bash integrates with the Windows system PATH. This can be more practical in a development environment because you can use many of the Linux commands, while still having access to your Windows programs.

Cygwin: This suite provides a Unix-like environment on top of Windows, including tools such as grep, awk, and sed; it also includes OpenSSH server software so you can access your home computer remotely via SSH when working from another computer on your network (or remotely). You can visit the Cygwin website for more information.

Linux in a VM: There are many virtualization programs out there. You could install the VMware Workstation Player free edition ($0) or VirtualBox ($0) on your PC then download an ISO image file containing Ubuntu 18 LTS (or whatever flavor appeals most).

WSL Is a Nice Feature... but It Isn’t Essential

In summary, WSL is a nice option but not a necessity if you're used to working in a Linux environment. If you want access to the thousands of open-source projects out there and don't mind spending some extra time learning how to use them, WSL is worth it. But if you simply want to run one or two command-line utilities from time to time, then it's probably not worth investing in yet another set of tools for your toolbox just yet.

WSL is not for everyone. It's a bit of a niche tool, designed for developers who need to run Linux-based software on Windows 10 and 11 machines. If you're looking for something that will make your PC faster, more secure, or easier to use then WSL probably isn't going to help much at all.

Source

Valve Software announced in March 2023 that it would end support of its Steam platform on Windows 7 and 8 systems on January 1, 2024.  The two operating systems are not supported by Microsoft, the company that created them, anymore, and software and hardware companies have started to end support for these systems ever since.

Steam users who still use Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices won't be able to run the client anymore come January 1, 2024. In other words: any game or DLC that has been bought on Steam can't be run anymore on these systems.

Valve Software gave two reasons for its decision. First, because the embedded Chromium core does not support Windows 7 or 8.1 anymore either, and second, because future Steam versions would rely on security and non-security features present only in Windows 10 and newer versions of the Windows operating system.

Both Windows 7 and 8.1 devices can be upgraded to Windows 10. Windows 10 has the same system requirements, and most devices should upgrade without larger issues. Microsoft changed the system requirements in Windows 11, and a good number of devices can't be upgraded to the latest Windows operating system because of that.

Windows 10 reaches end of support in October 2025. This gives Windows 7 and 8.1 users who have not upgraded yet more than 2 years of access to Steam, before another decision has to be made. Some may be able to upgrade their devices to Windows 11 to extent support further.

Most may not be able to do so because of the system requirements. A viable option in that case would be to switch to a Linux distribution, for which Steam is also available. It would ensure continued support for Steam on the device and thus all, or the majority of, games in the user's library.

Valve ended end of life warnings in the latest Steam update. The warnings are displayed if Steam is run on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, macOS 10.11 or macOS 10.12 systems.

Source

Today's announcement means users should not expect feature upgrades for Windows 10. The company will continue servicing Windows 10 Enterprise, Education, Home, and Pro SKUs with monthly security patches and minor fixes. As for existing LTSC releases, they will remain supported beyond October 14, 2025, as described in the official documentation.

In addition, Microsoft announced plans for the first Windows LTSC release. The first Windows 11-based Long-Term Servicing Channel version (Enterprise and Enterprise IoT) will arrive in the second half of 2024, which means companies have enough time to plan and implement an upgrade from Windows 10 to 11. Microsoft says it will share more information as we get closer to the scheduled release window.

You can learn more about Microsoft's plans to retire Windows 10 and unveil Windows 11 LTSC on the Tech Community forum.

Microsoft confirms 22H2 is the final Windows 10 version, announces Windows 11 LTSC

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1680 and Build 22624.1680 (KB5025303) to the Beta Channel.

• Build 22624.1616 = New features rolling out.
• Build 22621.1616 = New features off by default.

The latest build brings the evolved widgets board, new Firewall settings, fixes the LAPS issue and an ReFS issue, and more. The full changelog is given below:

What’s new in Build 22621.1680 & Build 22624.1680

Evolved Widgets Board

We are beginning to preview a revamp of the widgets board experience with a larger canvas (3-columns if supported by the device) and new zones to provide users quick access to glanceable widgets from their apps and services as well as enable users to take a high-value break with their personalized feed.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22621.1680 & Build 22624.1680

[General]

• The new features for app defaults in Windows 11 as mentioned here in this blog post are included in this build. The features for app pinning are coming in a future flight.

[Widgets]

• We are beginning to roll out animated icons for Widgets on the taskbar. The animation triggers when you hover or click on the Widgets taskbar entry-point or when a new widget announcement is displayed on your taskbar. Currently, only a few weather and finance icons are supported.

Fixes in Build 22624.1680

[File Explorer]

We fixed the following issues for Insiders with access keys in File Explorer:

• Shift + Right clicking on a file or folder should open “Show more options” again now.
• Adjusted how Narrator was reading out the access keys after pressing the menu key, to make it clearer.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where the touch keyboard and PIN entry wasn’t appearing on the login screen for touch capable PCs in the previous flight due to an underlying crash.

[Live captions]

• Fixed an issue which was causing clipping in live captions text for non-English languages.
• Fixed an issue in Language & region settings that caused language feature installation progress to be hidden.
• Adding enhanced language recognition support in Language & region settings will now install the right files on ARM64 devices. You will no longer need to restart live captions after switching between caption languages installed from Language & region settings. However, you will need to uninstall any “speech pack” entries in Settings > Apps > Installed apps which were installed before the Language & region settings fix and re-install from Language & region settings.

[Notifications]

• Fixed an issue where 2FA codes weren’t being recognized if they were in parentheses.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where if you searched for service host in the Processes section, it wasn’t returning any results.
• Improved the performance of the expand all / collapse all View options on the Processes page.
• Fixed an issue where the search icon could end up overlapping the Task Manager icon in the title bar.
• The search box should no longer be cropped at the top when the window is maximized.
• Fixed an issue impacting Task Manager reliability.
• Double clicking Task Manager’s title bar to maximize the window should work again now.

Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.1680 & Build 22624.1680

• New! This update changes firewall settings. You can now configure application group rules.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the legacy Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) and the new Windows LAPS feature. They fail to manage the configured local account password. This occurs when you install the legacy LAPS .msi file after you have installed the April 11, 2023, Windows update on machines that have a legacy LAPS policy.
• This update affects the Islamic Republic of Iran. The update supports the government’s daylight saving time change order from 2022.
• This update addresses an issue that affects apps that use DirectX on older Intel graphics drivers. You might receive an error from apphelp.dll.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Resilient File System (ReFS). A stop error occurs that stops the OS from starting up correctly.
• This update addresses an issue that affects protected content. When you minimize a window that has protected content, the content displays when it should not. This occurs when you are using Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Unified Write Filter (UWF). When you turn it off by using a call to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), your device might stop responding.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Chinese input method. You cannot see all of the first suggested item.
• This update addresses an issue that affects SMB Direct. Endpoints might not be available on systems that use multi-byte character sets.
• This update addresses an issue that affects mobile device management (MDM) customers. The issue stops you from printing. This occurs because of an exception.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) process. It might stop responding. Because of this, the machine restarts. The error is 0xc0000005 (STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION).
• This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. The Tab Window Manager stops responding.
• This update addresses an issue that affects signed Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policies. They are not applied to the Secure Kernel. This occurs when you enable Secure Boot.
• This update changes the app icons for certain mobile providers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects MySQL commands. The commands fail on Windows Xenon containers.
• This update addresses an issue that displays Task View in the wrong area. This occurs when you close a full screen game by pressing Win + Tab.
• This update addresses an issue that occurs when you use a PIN to sign in to Windows Hello for Business. Signing in to Remote Desktop Services might fail. The error message is, “The request is not supported”.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. Pop-up windows open in the background instead of in the foreground.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Administrator Account Lockout policies. GPResult and Resultant Set of Policy did not report them.

Known issues

[Search on the Taskbar]

• If you have the Bing button in the search box on the taskbar and you restart your computer, you may see the daily rotating search highlight for some time before getting the Bing button back.

[Widgets]

• [NEW] When you launch the widgets board for the first time, you may see momentarily placeholders of the widgets/feed cards of the old 2-column layout even if your device supports 3-columns.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 Beta build (KB5025303) fixes LAPS, ReFS issue, gets new Firewall and Widgets

The option for toggling on or off different features in Microsoft Edge is rolling out to some users in the Canary Channel as a part of the so-called Controlled Feature Rollout. Those with a lucky ticket can disable optional components by heading to Settings > Optional Features or the edge://settings/optionalFeatures link.

Screenshot by @Leopeva64

In a nutshell, optional features in Microsoft Edge work the same as those in Windows 10 and 11. Here is how Microsoft describes the latest addition:

Microsoft Edge now lets you turn off optional browser features so as to make it the fastest browsing experience for you. Features that are turned off are still available to you but will require a small download to enable.

Many people have been complaining that Microsoft is turning what was once a decent and fast browser into bloated adware, so the new Optional Features settings section will please many users who are not happy with questionable features, such as built-in games. It is a sign that Microsoft is paying attention to feedback and wants to deliver a better experience. Of course, it remains to be seen what features will be removable, but at least things are now moving in the right direction.

Microsoft Edge will soon let you remove some of its unnecessary features

AMD says that it has put appropriate caps on certain CPU rails such that the specification limit is not exceeded. For example, the SOC (System on a chip) voltage has been capped at 1.3V. The good thing is that the new AGESA update will not affect memory overclocking like when doing so via EXPO.

An AMD spokesperson issued the following statement to AnandTech:

We have root caused the issue and have already distributed a new AGESA that puts measures in place on certain power rails on AM5 motherboards to prevent the CPU from operating beyond its specification limits, including a cap on SOC voltage at 1.3V. None of these changes affect the ability of our Ryzen 7000 Series processors to overclock memory using EXPO or XMP kits or boost performance using PBO technology.

We expect all of our ODM partners to release new BIOS for their AM5 boards over the next few days. We recommend all users to check their motherboard manufacturers website and update their BIOS to ensure their system has the most up to date software for their processor.

Anyone whose CPU may have been impacted by this issue should contact AMD customer support. Our customer service team is aware of the situation and prioritizing these cases.

In case you haven't been following the saga, you can read about it in more detail here.

AMD releases critical AGESA firmware update as fix for burning Ryzen 7000 processors

Following the criticism though, Atlas has confirmed that it has changed its mind after stating a few days ago that Defender "was not going to be added any time soon". In fact, not only has Atlas backtracked on this, but the dev believes the new OS could potentially allow it to be even more secure than stock Windows itself.

On its official Twitter handle, the AtlasOS team posted the following message:

To address the recent concerns about AtlasOS' security, and what we're doing to improve.

... due to our recent shift to being a more popular project, the security concerns have been brought up due to the expectation of everyone knowing the risks being unrealistic.

For this reason, in future versions of Atlas, it is now a priority to give the users warnings about disabling security features and having features like Windows Update and Defender optional.

Therefore, for the next release, you should be able to configure Atlas to be as secure as you'd like, potentially even more secure that stock Windows in some areas.

The change is expected in the next version of the software. Interestingly, the latest version removes some more features too, like OneDrive and Microsoft Edge.

AtlasOS says Defender will be back and it may even be more secure than original Windows 10

According to Valve's own survey data, 1.86% of Steam's user base is on the three operating systems getting the boot. The vast majority of Windows users, which amount to 96.37% of total active accounts on the platform, are using Windows 10 (62.33%) and Windows 11 (32.06%).

Alongside that, the update also brings other fixes and improvements like reduced CPU usage during Big Picture Mode window, crash fix in Compatibility mode, among others. Over on macOS side, End of Life alert for macOS 10.11 ("El Capitan") and 10.12 ("Sierra") are being pushed.

General

• Added "End of Life" alert for Windows 7/8/8.1. Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on Jan 1st, 2024 at 10am. See here for additional details.
• Fixed crash when clicking links in Compatibility Mode alert dialogs
• Reduced CPU usage of the Big Picture Mode window

macOS

• Added "End of Life" alert for macOS 10.11 ("El Capitan") and 10.12 ("Sierra"). Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on September 1st, 2023 at 10am. See here for additional details.
• Fix Steam Overlay crash in some games using Metal graphics API

You can find Valve's official support article here.

Steam Client pushing "End of Life" alert for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 to all

GAMING HIGHLIGHTS:

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

• Star Wars Jedi Survivor*
• The Swordsmen X: Survival*
• Redfall*

KNOWN ISSUES:

Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• System may hang while waking up from sleep. May need to power cycle the system for recovery.
• GPU hardware acceleration may not be available for media playback and encode with some versions of Adobe Premiere Pro.
• Topaz Video AI* may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

Intel® Iris™ Xe MAX Graphics Products:

• Driver installation may not complete successfully on certain notebook systems with both Intel® Iris™ X e + Iris™ X e MAX devices. A system reboot and re-installation of the graphics driver may be required for successful installation.

Intel® Core™ Processor Products:

• Total War: Warhammer III* (DX11) may experience an application crash when loading battle scenarios.
• Call of Duty Warzone 2.0* (DX12) may exhibit corruption on certain light sources such as fire.
• Conqueror's Blade* (DX12) may experience an application crash during game launch.
• A Plague Tale: Requiem* (DX12) may experience application instability during gameplay.
• Battlefield: 2042*(DX12) may exhibit colour corruption at the game menu.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may experience colour corruption in QuickPlay Lobby

INTEL® ARC™ CONTROL KNOWN ISSUES:

• Windows UAC Admin is required to install and launch Arc Control.
• The Live Performance Monitoring page may not apply the desired removal of some performance metric tiles.
• The Resizable Bar status may show an incorrect value on systems with multiple Intel® Graphics Adapters.
• Using Arc Control Studio capture with certain games may incorrectly generate multiple video files.
• With Intel® Arc Control installed, systems may experience slightly higher than expected power consumption during system sleep or hibernate.

Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning (BETA):

• Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning is currently in Beta. As such, performance and features may behave unexpectedly. Intel® will continue to refine the Performance Tuning software in future releases.

You can download the Arc 31.0.101.4335 beta driver by heading over to Intel's official website via this link.

Intel launches 31.0.101.4335 beta driver for Arc optimizes Star Wars Jedi Survivor, and more

However, with the new Canary, Microsoft is apparently experimenting with a new handy option to toggle on or off browser windows right on the three-dot menu. This means users will not have to navigate all the way to the three-dot menu > Settings > Appearance. The change was spotted by Deskmodder and you can see how the option would work in the images below. The left image shows the new toggle which is present right at the top while the right image shows the change after the browser was restarted with the toggle set to disabled.

Notably, this option is not available for everyone as it seems to be a controlled feature rollout. This feature could be available to all once it is ready for the Stable channel release sometime in the future.

Microsoft is making it easier to tweak Windows 11-styled rounded corners on Edge

Highlights

• This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. Pop-up windows open in the background instead of in the foreground.
• This update affects Xbox Elite users who have the Xbox Adaptive Controller. This update applies your controller remapping preferences on the desktop.
• This update changes the app icons for certain mobile providers.

Improvements

This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB:

• New! This update changes firewall settings. You can now configure application group rules.
• This update affects the Islamic Republic of Iran. The update supports the government’s daylight saving time change order from 2022.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) process. It might stop responding. Because of this, the machine restarts. The error is 0xc0000005 (STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION).
• This update addresses an issue that affects Edge IE mode. The Tab Window Manager stops responding.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client. The client returns an HTTP server error status (500). This error occurs when it runs a transfer job in the Storage Migration Service.
• This update addresses a rare issue that might cause an input destination to be null. This issue might occur when you attempt to convert a physical point to a logical point during hit testing. Because of this, the computer raises a stop error.
• This update addresses an issue that affects protected content. When you minimize a window that has protected content, the content displays when it should not. This occurs when you are using Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview.
• This update addresses an issue that affects provisioning packages. They fail to apply in certain circumstances when elevation is required.
• This update addresses an issue that affects mobile device management (MDM) customers. The issue stops you from printing. This occurs because of an exception.
• This update addresses an issue that affects signed Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policies. They are not applied to the Secure Kernel. This occurs when you enable Secure Boot.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Windows Defender Application Control. The policy that blocks software using a hash rule might not stop the software from running.
• This update addresses an issue that occurs when you use a PIN to sign in to Windows Hello for Business. Signing in to Remote Desktop Services might fail. The error message is, "The request is not supported".
• This update makes improvements to the performance of the search box.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Administrator Account Lockout policies. GPResult and Resultant Set of Policy did not report them.
• This update addresses an issue that affects Active Directory Users & Computers. It stops responding. This occurs when you use TaskPad view to enable or disable many objects at the same time.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Unified Write Filter (UWF). When you turn it off by using a call to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), your device might stop responding.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the Resilient File System (ReFS). A stop error prevents the OS from starting up correctly.
• This update addresses an issue that affects MySQL commands. The commands fail on Windows Xenon containers.
• This update addresses an issue that affects SMB Direct. Endpoints might not be available on systems that use multi-byte character sets.
• This update addresses an issue that affects apps that use DirectX on older Intel graphics drivers. You might receive an error from apphelp.dll.
• This update addresses an issue that affects the legacy Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) and the new Windows LAPS feature. They fail to manage the configured local account password. This occurs when you install the legacy LAPS .msi file after you have installed the April 11, 2023, Windows update on machines that have a legacy LAPS policy.

You can find the official support document for KB5025298 preview update here.

Microsoft released KB5025298 Windows 11 21H2 update with a long list of bug fixes

Google Meet finally supports 1080p video calls

Wintoys is a new free program available in the Microsoft Store. It features a sleek, modern user interface that matches Windows 11's general aesthetics. But eye candy is just a nice bonus—the most important is what the app can do with your system, and it can do a lot.

The developer aimed to create an easy and safe app for tweaking, servicing, and debloating Windows 11. It provides access to Windows Services with clear explanations of what each service does and a one-click option to enable or disable them. Wintoys can also sort out third and first-party services, highlight the running ones, list arguably unnecessary parts, and more.

Another great feature is the ability to uninstall or reset apps, including those Microsoft does not allow removing without resorting to utilities like winget or more radical methods.

Finally, plenty of "health"-related features and tweaks can help you get extra performance and maintain your computer in good shape that fits your needs and preferences. The Wintoys app gathers settings and options scattered across the operating system in one place, sorts them, and provides a clear, easy-to-understand, and convenient control panel. Plus you get extra tweaks and tools not available in the Settings app or Control Panel, such as better controls over ads, privacy, and more.

It is worth noting that Wintoys is a third-party app for tinkering with Windows and its settings, so you must consider potential security and privacy risks before getting started. If you want to give Wintoys a shot, get the app from the Microsoft Store (via WC).

Wintoys offers a safe and easy way to debloat, optimize, tweak, and repair Windows 11

The full changelog is given below:

Changelog:

• Fixed the Hyper-V and VBS enable/disable scripts.
• Fixed installation of the features in Settings App.
• Fixed Steps Recorder application.
• Fixed the "Reticulating splines…" issue. However, the full fix will be available in the next update.
• Fixed the Unlock Tiles script.
• Fixed the Chocolatey and Scoop installation issue.
• Fixed settings sound scheme to "No Sounds".
• Fixed the lock screen enable/disable regedit file.
• Fixed the Teredo issue and general issue with networking on Atlas.
• Fixed the NVIDIA Display Container.
• Fixed Microsoft Flight Simulator.
• Fixed COD Modern Warfare and older editions.
• Fixed Word and other alternatives (e.g. LibreOffice).
• Fixed invalid links and shortcuts.
• Fixed Network Discovery enable/disable scripts.
• GPL-3.0 License is now available.
• DevManView is now replaced with our own script - toggleDev.cmd.
• Added GitHub Actions for the experimental playbooks.
• Added a completely new installation menu for programs that uses automatically installed Chocolatey.
• RunAsTi now supports cmd and scripts correctly.
• toggleDev.cmd and setSvc.cmd support error checking correctly.
• Drive is now detected by the installation - SSD or HDD. Depending on that, optimizations will be properly applied.
• Device Type is now detected by the installation** - Laptop or PC. Depending on that, valid power settings will be properly applied.
• Mitigations prompt is now available. You can choose what to change during the installation. Automatically, it is disabled after 5 minutes.
• Auto-Cleaner.cmd is now available. It automatically cleans Windows from residual files on startup. It can also disable useless Browsers' services.
• Added error checking in Static IP script.
• Packages list is re-done and optimized, however the components will be disabled/optimized in the next release. [Better balance of compatibility and performance]
• APPX packages disable list was completely re-done and optimized.
• RefreshEnv.cmd was removed due to not being needed.
• Open-Shell menu is now changed.
• User Account Control is now disabled by default.
• Game Explorer is not removed to prevent issues related to old games.
• OneDrive and Edge is now properly removed - no leftovers of scheduled tasks.
• 7-Zip Context Menu now does not enable unnecessary menu.
• Atlas power scheme is now completely revised and optimized for the performance.
• Unnecessary scripts and folders are now removed from the Atlas directory.
• Useless features are now disabled from Optional Features properly.
• Disable the DiagTrack service responsible for Telemetry.
• More unnecessary HID and PNP devices were disabled using the new script.
• A lot of new changes to registry for QoL and performance.
• Introduced a lot of different options for performance and latency improvement during the installation.

As mentioned above, AtlasOS removes Windows Defender which is a crucial component of the OS security. But in case you want to download and try it out, head over to its official website or GitHub.

Windows 10 lite AtlasOS 22H2 removes OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, gets SSD optimization

While the use of ReFS on Windows grows, Linux on the other hand is also making some steady progress on some of its file systems. From some of the recent Linux kernel patches, it seems some of the most popular Linux file systems, Flash-Friendly File System (F2FS), B-Tree Filesystem (Btrfs), and fourth extended filesystem (EXT4), are getting significant performance boosts.

For example, Btrfs is getting around a 10% performance boost on SATA SSDs. Perhaps the improvement on NVMe drives may even be higher:

Always read in 64KiB block size The real blocksize of read starts at 64KiB, and ends at 512K. This already results a better performance even for the worst case:

• With patchset: 404.81MiB/s
• Without patchset: 369.30MiB/s

Around 10% performance improvement on an SATA SSD.

Moving on to EXT4, there are a number of optimizations in place:

There are a number of major cleanups in ext4 this cycle:

• The data=journal writepath has been significantly cleaned up and simplified, and reduces a large number of data=journal special cases by Jan Kara.
• Ojaswin Muhoo has replaced linked list used to track extents that have been used for inode preallocation with a red-black tree in the multi-block allocator. This improves performance for workloads which do a large number of random allocating writes.
• Thanks to Kemeng Shi for a lot of cleanup and bug fixes in the multi-block allocator.
• Matthew wilcox has converted the code paths for reading and writing ext4 pages to use folios. * Jason Yan has continued to factor out ext4_fill_super() into smaller functions for improve ease of maintenance and comprehension.
• Josh Triplett has created an uapi header for ext4 userspace API's.

Finally, here are the improvements on F2FS:

Enhancement:

• support non-power-of-two zone size for zoned device
• remove sharing the rb_entry structure in extent cache
• refactor f2fs_gc to call checkpoint in urgent condition - support iopoll

Overall, it looks like Linux kernel version 6.4 will be quite decent in terms of performance.

Source: LKML (1) , (2) , (3) via Phoronix

Following Windows ReFS improvements, Linux getting F2FS, Btrfs, EXT4 performance boosts

After testing this feature for the past few months in the Windows Insider program, Microsoft is now rolling out support for its Phone Link app to support Apple's iOS devices like the iPhone.

Microsoft's blog post stated:

Once enabled by the Windows 11 customer, Phone Link for iOS will offer basic iOS support for calls, messages and access to contacts. This means if your phone is tucked away during a presentation or focus time, you’ll receive notifications on your Windows PC and can choose which action to take – all on your Windows 11 PC. Need access to your iPhone photos on your PC? Our iCloud integration with Photos makes this a simple process – all within the Photos app in Windows 11.

The rollout process will take a few weeks to get to all of Windows 11's users. You can check to see if the Phone Link for iOS update is available by simply searching for the Phone link app in the Windows 11 taskbar. Microsoft has supported these kinds of features in Phone Link for Android phone users for sometime.

Phone Link for iOS on Windows 11 is now rolling out worldwide

You can find the full changelog below:

GAMING HIGHLIGHTS:

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

• Resident Evil 4 Remake*
• Elden Ring RT Update*

Performance optimizations on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics for:

• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy*
• D5 Render*
• Blender* in Material Preview viewport mode
• Counter Strike Global Offensive* on Intel® Arc™ Graphics for Laptops

FIXED ISSUES:

Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• Conqueror’s Blade* (DX11) may exhibit corruption in benchmark mode.
• Portal with RTX* (Vulkan) may experience application crash when loading to gameplay.

Intel® Core™ Processor Products:

• Overwatch 2*(DX12) may see lag or freeze while launching the game.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2*(DX12) may experience application crash during gameplay

KNOWN ISSUES:

Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020* (DX11) may experience application crash during gameplay.
• Diablo 4 (Beta)* may exhibit corruption on character during gameplay with ‘Highlight Character When Obscured’ setting enabled.
• Sea of Thieves* (DX11) may exhibit colour corruption on water edges.
• System may hang while waking up from sleep. May need to power cycle the system for recovery.
• GPU hardware acceleration may not be available for media playback and encode with some versions of Adobe Premiere Pro.
• Blender may exhibit corruption while using Nishita Sky texture node.
• Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve* may exhibit colour corruption with Optical Flow.

Intel® Iris™ Xe MAX Graphics Products:

• Driver installation may not complete successfully on certain notebook systems with both Intel® Iris™ X e + Iris™ X e MAX devices. A system reboot and re-installation of the graphics driver may be required for successful installation.

Intel® Core™ Processor Products:

• Total War: Warhammer III* (DX11) may experience an application crash when loading battle scenarios. • Call of Duty Warzone 2.0* (DX12) may exhibit corruption on certain light sources such as fire.
• Conqueror's Blade* (DX12) may experience an application crash during game launch.
• A Plague Tale: Requiem* (DX12) may experience application instability during gameplay.
• Battlefield: 2042*(DX12) may exhibit colour corruption at the game menu.

INTEL® ARC™ CONTROL FIXED ISSUES:

• Using Arc Control Studio capture with AVC codec selected may incorrectly use the HEVC codec.

   

• Modifying performance sliders may fail to apply back to their default values. A workaround is to use the "Reset to Defaults" button.

   

INTEL® ARC™ CONTROL KNOWN ISSUES:

• Windows UAC Admin is required to install and launch Arc Control.
• The Live Performance Monitoring page may not apply the desired removal of some performance metric tiles.
• The Resizable Bar status may show an incorrect value on systems with multiple Intel® Graphics Adapters.
• Using Arc Control Studio capture with certain games may incorrectly generate multiple video files.

Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning (BETA):

• Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning is currently in Beta. As such, performance and features may behave
• Unexpectedly. Intel® will continue to refine the Performance Tuning software in future releases.

You can get the download from the official Intel website. This download installs Intel Graphics Driver 31.0.101.4255 for Intel Arc and Xe Graphics. You can download and learn more about the update on Intel's official site.

Intel 31.0.101.4314 Windows Arc WHQL driver brings support for Resident Evil 4 Remake, more

The firm has published an accompanying support document meant to guide users on to enable the option, present inside the Settings app. It explains:

We're committed to delivering continuous innovation by releasing new features and enhancements into Windows 11 more frequently. Windows devices get new functionality at different times as Microsoft delivers non-security updates, fixes, improvements, and enhancements via several servicing technologies—including controlled feature rollout (CFR). With this approach, updates may be gradually rolled out to devices.

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).

The option is simply known as "Get the latest updates as soon as they're ready for your PC" which is pretty intuitive.

You can follow the steps below to enable the option:

1. Select Start > Settings > Windows Update and, next to Get the latest updates as soon as they're available, set the toggle to On.
2. (Optional) Select Check for updates and if any updates are available for you, your device will download and install them. If prompted to do so, restart your device to apply the updates.

You can also keep the option disabled if you don't wish to receive the updates immediately. Security updates however aren't affected by this change. The toggle is also not enabled for managed devices like those that are managed by Windows Update for Business or WSUS.

Microsoft shares helpful guide on how to get latest Windows 11 updates faster and sooner

What is new in Microsoft Edge 114.0.1807.1 Dev?

New features:

• Added CTRL + SHIFT + / shortcut for Sidebar auto-hide/always show.

WebView2:

• Added experimental Profile Autofill/Password Autosave

Changes and fixes:

• Fixed Auto-hide sidebar button not working.
• Fixed Sidebar pane not rendering properly.
• Fixed pinned Collection, History, and Favorites pane not displaying correctly when Sidebar is set to auto-hide mode.

iOS:

• Fixed dark mode not working in some sites.

Android:

• Fixed dark mode caused some web pages to be blank.

WebView2:

• Fixed CustomItemSelected event not firing for custom items (#3300)
• Fixed PostSharedBufferToScript stops after about 32000x1MB buffers are posted (#3360)

Enterprise:

• Fixed the blank Profile preferences settings page on macOS.

Microsoft Edge Dev is available for public testing on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. You can find the links for download on the official Edge Insider website. Edge 114, currently available for testing in the Dev and Canary Channel, will be available for all users on the week of June 1, 2023. Release in the Beta Channel is scheduled for the week of May 9, 2023.

Edge Dev's latest update adds several fixes and a shortcut for toggling Sidebar