The latest update fixes an annoying issue where this EverythingToolbar utility would get added to autostart applications after installing Windows 11. Aside from that, there is new Setup assistant which now consists of three separate pages for each step (images below). Previously, the Setup assistant was on a single page with each step being one below the previous.

Aside from these, the new release also brings updated Search box style to match Windows 11 release, fixes a clipboard copying issue, resolves Windows 7 crash, and more. You can view the full changelog below:

•         Redesigned setup assistant (for search icon)
•         Updated search box style to match latest Windows 11 release
•         EverythingToolbar doesn't get added to autostart applications anymore after installation on Windows 11
•         Fixed an issue while copying files whenever the clipboard was blocked by another application (#363) 💖 @yyjdelete
•         Fixed various window placement issues (#328, #344)
•         Fixed a crash on Windows 7 (#340)

To download EverythingToolbar head over to its GitHub page at this link. However, bear in mind that this is a third-party application, and Everything, on which this utility is based, was exploited to carry out ransomware attacks.

Source

Workspaces in Edge has two main features: assign sets of tabs to a workspace and only work with tabs of a particular workspace in dedicated browser windows, and work together with others on specific workspaces.

Microsoft Edge displays a workspaces icon on the left side of the titlebar. Depending on Edge's version, it may be the first or second icon on the titlebar. Microsoft moved the profile icon in development versions of the Edge browser to the left side of the screen. In Edge Stable, workspaces is the first icon that is displayed.

Edge users may create workspaces with a click on the workspaces icon and the selection of the plus icon. Each workspace has a unique name and a colour assigned. Edge paints the titlebar of the browser in that colour to help distinguish between different workspaces.

Microsoft Edge remembers tabs that are opened in workspaces, and will reopen them when the workspace is closed and later opened again.

Collaboration is limited to 5 invites per user during the preview. Microsoft hasn't announced any specifics on the feature, if collaboration will be reserved to business or Enterprise customers, or available for a price. For now, everyone may invite up to 5 users to work on a workspace together.

How to remove the Workspaces icon in Edge

Edge users who have no use for the Workspaces feature may want to disable the icon, so that it does not show up anymore.

There are four methods available to do so, but only three of them will remain in the future:

1. Right-click on the Workspaces toolbar icon directly and select "hide from toolbar" from the context menu.
2. Left-click on the Workspaces icon, select the three-dots menu, and then "Hide Workspaces button" from the menu that opens.
3. Load edge://settings/appearance to open the Appearance settings. Scroll down to Customize toolbar and toggle Show Workspaces to off there.
4. Load edge://flags/#edge-workspaces in the Edge address bar and set the feature to Disabled; this option will likely be removed in the future.

The icon is no longer displayed in Microsoft Edge's toolbar after one of the methods is used.

To restore the Workspaces icon at a later point in time, load edge://settings/?search=show%20workspaces in the address bar and toggle the switch next to Show Workspaces to On.

Now You: what is your take on the Workspaces feature?

How to disable Microsoft Edge's Workspaces feature

The bug was recently resolved by the efforts of Microsoft and the Mozilla development team. Yannis Juglaret, a Firefox developer confirmed this around three weeks ago:

According to Microsoft, this will be deployed to all users as part of regular definition updates, which are packaged independently from OS updates. This includes even Windows 7 and 8.1 users, even though these platforms should not have had the performance issue with Firefox in the first place because the ETW events that cause it do not exist on these older versions of Windows.

Later on, Yannis Juglaret added that the recent Microsoft Defender March-2023 definition update (Platform: 4.18.2302.x | Engine: 1.1.20200.4) fixed the issue:

mpengine.dll version 1.1.20200.4 was released on April 4, so the fix should be available for everybody now.

Here are details for the Defender update:

March-2023 (Platform: 4.18.2302.x | Engine: 1.1.20200.4)

• Security intelligence update version: 1.381.61.0

• Release date: April 4, 2023 (Engine) / April 11, 2023 (Platform)

• Platform: 4.18.2302.x

• Engine: 1.1.20200.4

Interestingly, it has also been found that there is further scope of improvements to the processor usage in Firefox when compared to Chrome. Perhaps we will see such performance improvements in upcoming browser updates and it won't just be exclusive to Microsoft Defender alone.

Microsoft finally fixes 5 year old Windows Defender high CPU bug on Mozilla Firefox

To start, you'll need to open the Registry Editor by searching for "regedit" in the Start menu. From there, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3

Once you've found the "Settings" binary key, double-click it and change the value to 01 to move the Taskbar to the top of the screen, 02 to move it to the right side, 00 to move it to the left side, or 03 to move it back to the bottom.

After making the necessary changes, click "OK" and restart the Windows Explorer process by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Task Manager" then clicking the "Processes" tab and selecting the "Windows Explorer" process, and clicking "Restart".

Alternatively, you can simply restart your PC.

There are third-party tools too

In addition to the registry workaround for changing the Taskbar position on Windows 11, there are also third-party apps available that can achieve the same result.

These apps can be particularly useful if you're not comfortable making changes to the registry, or if you want a more streamlined solution. One free solution that can restore the classic design of the Taskbar on Windows 11, along with its legacy features like the ability to change the bar position, is ExplorerPatcher.

While this solution may not be perfect, it offers an alternative for those who are looking to make changes to their Taskbar settings without spending money.  So, if you're interested in repositioning your Taskbar on Windows 11 and don't want to pay for a third-party app, ExplorerPatcher may be the best free option for you to consider.

Keep in mind that while changing the Taskbar position is still possible, it's not a supported feature on Windows 11, so the behavior may not work as expected.

However, if you're willing to take the risk, you can enjoy your preferred Taskbar location on Windows 11. Here is how to set default apps in Windows 11 if you need help with that too!

How to change taskbar location in Windows 11?

PowerToys Run is a search bar-like launcher that lets you search for files, perform calculations, execute commands, navigate the registry, convert units, and many more. Just press Alt + Space (default shortcut) and start typing your request. Unfortunately, as of now, PowerToys Run does not support launching other PowerToys utilities, which slowly becomes a problem as the number of tools steadily grows with each major update. An upcoming PowerToys Run update may soon fix this (via Deskmodder).

As proposed by @davidegiacometti on GitHub, an updated PowerToys Run would let you type the name of the tool you want to find, plus get a list of the running utilities with a quick shortcut to their corresponding settings sections. According to the draft published on PowerToys' GitHub repository, the project still needs some work, so do not expect it to arrive tomorrow.

In case you missed it, the latest PowerToys update added a brand-new Registry Preview utility. It allows visualizing and editing complex Windows Registry files, making the registry less intimidating and more convenient. You can learn more about the release in our dedicated coverage.

PowerToys may soon make it easier to launch utilities with built-in Launcher

Starting this week, Microsoft's blog says that over 20 Snapchat Lenses will be available to use in Teams for Work. Microsoft's blog post stated:

Lenses give you an easy way to show your personality or mood—from silly to sweet—through the power of AR. There are Lenses that make you look like a cartoon character, Lenses that add quirky backgrounds like Airy Sparkles to your video feed, and Lenses that let you show up as a Fungi, or... “fun guy?” With so many options to choose from, it's easy to find a Lens that suits your personality and sense of humor.

People who want to add one of these Lenses to their Teams video can do the following before a meeting begins:

• First, click on the Video Effects selection, and then More Video Effects.
• You can then scroll down through the Filters category, and then click the Snapchat selection.
• You can then browse through all the Snapchat Lenses selections and pick your favorite. You can then click Join Now to enter the meeting.

You can also switch to a Snapchat Lens while a meeting is in progress with this method

• Click on the More selection on top of the screen, then click on Video Effects.
• You can then scroll down through the Filters category, and then click the Snapchat selection.
• You can then pick your favorite Lens and then either click Preview to check it on yourself before you go live or simply click Apply to put the Lens on immediately.

This is for the current "classic" version of Microsoft Teams and not for the recently announced new Teams that's currently in public preview.

Microsoft Teams adds over 20 Snapchat Lenses for some goofy fun in meetings

The new feature was added this week to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap site. It states:

The dynamic background feature in Teams Meetings allows users to replace their existing background with a dynamic animation for a more immersive virtual environment. It offers various options to enhance meeting experience with creativity and personalization according to their preferences.

The feature is just for desktop and Mac users for now. It will start rolling out for General Availability sometime in May.

Microsoft is also working on a related new feature for companies that sign up for the Teams Rooms Pro license. It states:

Admins can upload up to 3 images specifying which goes to the left or right room display and console. Higher resolution images (minimum of 1280x800 on console and 1920x1080 on displays) in PNG, JPG, JPEG, and BMP formats are supported.

This feature is for Teams and Surface devices only and will start rolling out to Teams Rooms Pro subscribers sometime in June.

Microsoft Teams Meetings to add animated backgrounds in May

Since Microsoft's Bing Chat is using OpenAI's latest version of ChatGPT, GPT-4, it makes sense to speculate that Bing Chat could add third-party plugin support. In fact, it looks like that might happen.

In a Twitter exchange Sunday with a person who asked about that very subject, Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft's head of Advertising and Web Services, replied with a simple but very hopeful answer: "Stay tuned ;-)"

    Stay tuned 😉

    — Mikhail Parakhin (@MParakhin) April 9, 2023

Adding plugin support for Bing Chat could allow Microsoft's chatbot to expand to new applications. We could also see new plugins made for Microsoft's own apps, like Word, Excel, or Outlook, that could use Bing Chat as well for a variety of purposes. So far, the other big competitor in the chatbot AI race, Google's Bard, has not hinted yet at any third-party support.

Source

However, for the past year or so, rumors about Windows "12" have surfaced, claiming that Microsoft is going back to its three-year release cycle and plans on releasing its next major OS in late 2024, which isn't really that far away. In the past few weeks alone, we have seen multiple indications of what changes this purported version of Windows could feature, including tighter Cloud PC integration, stronger focus on AI-powered capabilities, and an emphasis on modularity.

However, while all of that sounds really fascinating and futuristic, I feel that it is important to understand that if Windows 12 does release in 2024, it would have been barely three years since the initial release of Windows 11. What this means is that consumers shouldn't expect radical changes in Windows, either design-wise or with respect to new features.

In fact, when it comes to the aesthetics of Windows 12, we have already seen a purported prototype of the OS, and it's not vastly different than Windows 11. And that's completely fine and understandable. There is no point in re-inventing the wheel every three years. Windows 11 introduced somewhat major changes to the UI and UX of Windows, but this was six years after the release of Windows 10. A major change was due in 2021, it shouldn't be expected in 2024.

I feel like it's important to temper expectations. Based on the comments I've seen from our readers on Neowin as well as many users on social media, there is a significant portion of Windows customers who believe that Windows 11 was a colossal failure and Windows 12 is going to fix this "mess".

I know some of my critics here think that I hate Windows 11 and can't let go of any opportunity to complain. That couldn't be further from the truth. Windows 11 is a solid 7/10 OS in my book (which is also close to the review score I gave it on release day) and yes, I do call out its limitations because I think they can grab Microsoft's attention with the support of our readers and propel the company to fix issues faster, but I also praise the OS when I find something noteworthy.

The point I'm trying to emphasize is that Windows 11 is just fine. It doesn't need a radical overhaul and I'm fairly confident that Microsoft isn't planning one either. In fact, some alleged system requirements for Windows 12 have indicated that hardware restrictions are going to be similar to Windows 11.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Windows 12 isn't going to be exciting. If Microsoft's recent investments and innovation in AI and Cloud PCs is anything to go by, we should expect AI copilots and cloud-powered mechanisms sprinkled throughout the UX.

However, I do believe that Windows 12 should be anticipated and treated as an incremental upgrade to Windows 11, especially if it arrives next year. Windows 11 has great enhancements and various issues, and Windows 12 will likely be more of the same. Microsoft will continue making incremental enhancements (and even potentially bad decisions) through its Windows Insider Program just as it has been doing right now, and people will find stuff to complain about, or conversely, praise. To summarize with a modification of the meme-worthy iconic line from Disney's WandaVision: But what is Windows 12, if not Windows 11 persevering?

What are your expectations from Windows 12? Do you believe that it's going to be a radical overhaul of Windows 11 or do you think it's going to be more of an incremental upgrade? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

But what is Windows 12, if not Windows 11 persevering?

I got my first PC in late 1995 from the late and great Gateway computers. Unlike most older PC users at the time, I rarely had to go to the command line route to run programs, with the exception of the occasional MS-DOS game like Descent. I just used Windows 95 and, more specifically, its Start menu, to launch programs and games.

The Start menu was Windows 95's calling card, and it helped Microsoft solidify its dominance in the PC operating system market. The idea of having a place where you could click on one button at the bottom left of the screen, and then access nearly any Windows program by expanding on the nesting columns from the left to the right was a huge time saver. On top of that, it also made Windows 95 look much different compared to, say, Apple's Mac OS

Windows XP made a big update to the Start menu in 2001. Instead of one column when you hit the Start button, there were two. The left hand side had all of your programs, with the most used ones getting the prime menu space, while the right side had links to your PCs more important folders. It was definitely a nice evolution from the original, which on occasion could flood the desktop with menus.

Windows Vista, as badly as that operating system was received, did include some small but important adjustments to the Start menu in 2007 that carried over to Windows 7's version in 2009. That included putting in a search bar on the bottom of the left Start column to find files and programs, which I found particularly handy for finding things like downloaded PDF files and images. You also got a sliding menu for the left column that replaced the right column when you clicked on some programs. The right column also listed categories in your PC instead of direct folders.

While there were major changes in the design of the Start menu since it was introduced in Windows 95, it seemed like this was a desktop feature that was going to be refined well into the future.

And then came Windows 8.

Oh boy.

Microsoft felt that every computing device was moving into a touchscreen interface, so the company decided to develop a Start Screen. The colourful "Live Tiles" were meant to be used on touch displays such as laptops and tablets, but Microsoft seemed to forget that there were hundreds of millions of PCs out there with no touchscreens, especially ones that were desktops that used a mouse and keyboard. They still needed a UI they could use, but Microsoft didn't want to give it to them in Windows 8 when it launched in 2012.

In short, people hated Windows 8 in general, and its lack of a Start menu in particular. They hated it so much that they helped to launch a cottage software industry. Lots of small and big software developers rushed to create programs that added a version of the Start menu to Windows 8. Some of those programs continue even today, with StartAllBack (launched as StartIsBack) and Stardock's Start8, which has now evolved into Start11. Indeed, Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell told AllThingsD in May 2013 that Start8 had five million downloads since it launched in late 2012.

Those kinds of numbers from third-party apps showed that there was still a need for the Start menu in Windows. Just a few weeks after Stardock's Wardell revealed that five million download number for Start8, Microsoft confirmed that some version of the Start button would be back for Windows 8.1. Not the menu, but the Start button for the desktop.

It wasn't really what people wanted, but it was, pun intended, a start. In 2014, two years after Windows 8, Microsoft finally said it would return a version of the Start menu for a Windows 8.1 update. When Microsoft first showed the Start menu back at its annual Build developer conference in a keynote speech in April 2014, a massive cheer and applause came from the crowd.

However, at it turned out, Microsoft decided to wait until the launch of Windows 10, with a technical preview version in late 2014, to fully launch a new version of its Start menu, two years after the debut of Windows 8.

However, the Windows 10 Start menu was similar to what was shown back at Build 2014. The left column was for desktop apps, along with the PC categories on top, while the touchscreen Windows tiles from 8 and 8.1 were on the right hand column. Those tiles could be resized in the menu, like they could on the Windows 8 Start screen.

In 2021, Microsoft launched Windows 11 and with that came yet another makeover of the Start menu. For the first time, the menu didn't appear on the left-hand side by default but was placed in the center of the desktop screen. Thankfully, you can make some quick changes in settings to place it on the left-hand side. You also got a search bar on top of the menu, and thankfully there's no Windows 8 "Live Tiles" anymore. Instead, you can pin your desktop apps right on the menu.

While the Start menu in Windows 11 has some good features, it has nevertheless become a source of controversy for many people who feel that it doesn't meet the needs compared to the ones in older versions of Windows. The good news is that Microsoft isn't as tone deaf to feedback like it was in the Windows 8 days, so we should hopefully get more tweaks that will make the Start menu a major feature of future Windows versions for years to come.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

A quick and personal look back at the Windows Start menu

Basically, what Microsoft did was add Outlook attachments data to the available storage space on OneDrive. The change meant, for some users at last, that they suddenly found that they had exceeded their available storage quota.

Microsoft customers who sign-up for a free Microsoft Account get 5 gigabytes of storage space. Grandfathered account may have access to more, for instance 15 gigabytes, the previous limit, or more thanks to certain promotions in the past that rewarded participants with additional permanent storage space.

Microsoft confirmed the change on this support page. There, the company notes that "starting February 1, 2023, cloud storage used across Microsoft 365 apps and services will include Outlook.com attachments data and OneDrive data". Consequently, the update "may reduce how much cloud storage you have available to use with your OneDrive".

Microsoft customers who go over the capacity will have their ability to send and receive emails in Outlook.com disrupted.

Microsoft claims that these changes ensure that it offers "the best experience", without explaining how that change is beneficial to customers.

Reports from affected Microsoft customers, here and here, confirm that many have been caught off guard. Some may not have gotten the memo that Outlook data counts against the available cloud storage quota of their Microsoft account.

Affected users have only three options to deal with the issue:

• Buy additional storage space by upgrading to a higher tier OneDrive or Microsoft 365 plan.
• Remove attachments and other large data from Outlook to free up space and get used storage below the quota. Outlook emails may also be downloaded first to the local system, or archived using Mailstore Home or other email archiving solutions.
• Switch to another email provider.

Microsoft's calculation, probably, is that many customers may not have the desired to go through their emails to remove large attachments to restore the ability to send and receive files. Upgrading to a paid plan resolves the issue immediately. Switching to another email provider is even more complex, as it may require changing email addresses at services and sites, and informing contacts about the change.

The web-based version of Outlook has a filter that is useful when it comes to finding emails with attachments.

To use it, open the main Outlook website and select Filter > Has Files. This displays only emails with file attachments. There is also a Filters listing, which may be even more useful, as it lists file attachments exclusively.

To access it, select the Files icon of the left sidebar in  Outlook. Outlook lists all file attachments in a list. Filters are provided to filter by type or date. The one thing that is missing is to filter by size.

Closing Words

Five gigabytes of email storage is not really much, especially if it is shared with OneDrive. Microsoft has been pushing OneDrive on Windows 10 and 11, and if used, may also use up storage.

Cloud is lucrative for companies and many attempt to push these offerings. Microsoft's strategy is to promote its cloud storage service OneDrive and Microsoft 365 in Windows, and to make changes to existing products that impact users negatively. This is done to get a portion of these users to sign-up for paid cloud storage services.

Microsoft squeezing Outlook users into buying cloud storage

To begin using reader mode, press the Chrome URL bar and type chrome://flags to get to the Experiments page and then in that page’s search box type reader and you should see Enable Reader Mode, toggle this to Enabled and then press Relaunch at the bottom. This feature will work on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Fuchsia, and Lacros. If you’re on Android, you can go to Settings > Accessibility > enable Simplified view for web pages.

Once you’ve relaunched the browser, head over to a news article and you should see a reader mode icon to the left of the share button in the URL bar, pressing this will strip away most of the page’s elements except the page’s text, images, and headline. You can press the little A at the top right to change the reader mode’s settings such as font, background colour, and font size. Tapping the reader mode button again will revert the page back to normal.

While the feature can be nice if you need to focus on work and need text online to be distraction-free, you should be aware that reader mode may not present all of the text that you’d normally see on the webpage. This is a common theme across reading mode implementations and there’s nothing you can do about it. You may also see some stylistic issues such as apostrophes not appearing properly.

If you have a reader mode extension installed on Chrome, definitely give the built-in version a try. Chrome extensions sip your computer’s memory, even when you’re not actively using them so using this feature as an in-built part of Chrome could save you a bit of memory too.

How to enable Google Chrome's secret reader mode feature

The number of web browsers I have on my system grows every day. Mostly I stick with one or two browsers (at the moment, those are Firefox and Sidekick), but every once in a while, I toss in a third for good measure -- that third is currently Mullvad.

For those that have yet to hear about the Mullvad Browser (which would probably be most of you), it's a rebuild of the Firefox browser, available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows, that enhances online privacy and security by reducing your browser fingerprint.

What is a browser fingerprint? It's a way to identify you by collecting data about your online activity. These fingerprints can be used to either partially or fully identify users and devices… even when cookies are turned off.

You read that right. You could have your browser cookie feature completely disabled and third parties could still identify you via your fingerprint.

How does Mullvad prevent such behavior? It masks your metadata to block websites from fingerprinting you. Mullvad also blocks third-party cookies and trackers, and only adds a bare minimum of plugins (such as uBlock Origin for ad blocking) to further reduce your fingerprint. Of course, you could always configure Firefox to do exactly what Mullvad does, but for those who just want something that works out of the box (and are looking for serious privacy protection), this browser might be just what you want.

But why not just use Tor, given that Tor not only prevents tracking and blocks other security threats but it also offers complete anonymity by using the Onion Network? The primary reason most don't use Tor is that it's a bit more complicated than standard browser.

That's why Mullvad looks so appealing. However, given Mullvad does not include a built-in VPN, you don't get near the level of anonymity you get with Tor. I ran a simple test, using whatismyipaddress.com on the Mullvad browser. The test results were somewhat confusing. On the first run, it accurately detected my IPv6 address but failed to detect the IPv4 address. On the second run, it was reversed. However, both times my location and ISP were detected. I am not sure why these two tests offered different results but I do know, when using Tor, both IPv4/6 addresses and location are fully hidden.

To get that level of anonymity with Mullvad, you would have to also employ a VPN. You can pay for a subscription to the Mullvad VPN or use one of the VPN services we recommend. The Mullvad VPN does not have a free tier, but the price is reasonable at just over $5.00 USD per month.

Even with that caveat, you still get Private Mode enabled by default, First-Party Isolation (to help against cookies), and zero telemetry data collected.

Bottom line, the Mullvad browser does do a good job of dramatically reducing your browser fingerprint, without you having to make a single configuration change. So, if you're looking for heightened security without having to go through complicated setups or adding third-party extensions, Mullvad is a great option.

If, however, you're also looking to add anonymity into the mix, you'll either have to either install and use a VPN or opt to go with Tor Browser instead. Keep in mind, you can use any VPN service you choose, so Mullvad Browser isn't a scheme to get users to purchase their VPN.

Who is Mullvad Browser for?

The Mullvad Browser is for anyone looking to dramatically reduce their browser fingerprint and browse securely… without having to make configuration changes to their current browser or install third-party extensions. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that DNS over HTTPS isn't enabled by default.

This is an odd oversight. However, if you click the Mullvad extension button, you'll see a Read more button that takes you to the instructions for enabling DNS over HTTPS (a way to encrypt your search queries and other activity). It's strange that a browser that promises heightened security would leave that out.

Neither DNS over HTTPS nor a VPN is enabled by default.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

That same menu indicates that you're not using Mullvad, which refers to their VPN service. Those two bits together make it clear that Mullvad rests somewhere between a standard browser (such as Firefox or Chrome) and Tor Browser.

If you want serious security, privacy, and anonymity, Tor Browser is the way to go. If you don't want to have to deal with the complexity and speed reduction of the Tor Browser, and you still want a bit more privacy than the typical out-of-the-box browsers, then the Mullvad browser is the way to go. Consider Mullvad a stepping stone toward Tor Browser.

With that said, everyone should consider a browser like Mullvad because browser privacy and security should be at the top of your list of concerns when using a web browser for any type of online activity.

Source

The latest version brings support for Windows 11 22H2 Moment 2, as well as Windows 10 version 22H2. While these are the major changes, there are plenty of other improvements and fixes that you can find in the changelog below:

•         General: Added Support for Windows 11 22H2 (Moment 2)
•         General: Added Support for Windows 10 22H2 (19045)
•         General: All policies are removed when disabled to make sure that their default applies
•         Edge (Chromium): Disabled policies are now removed to prevent “Edge is managed by your organization” warnings
•         Tweak updated: Privacy: Disable Display of microsoft.com Files in Explorer (from build 22572)
•         Tweak added: Apps: Disable Continue Experiences
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Discover Bar
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Follow Service
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Hubs Sidebar
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Microsoft News Content on the New Tab Page
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Microsoft Rewards Experiences
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Microsoft Search in Bing Suggestions in the Address Bar
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Personalization of Ads, Search and News
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Resolution of Navigation Errors Using a Web Service
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Speech Recognition
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Suggestions From Local Providers
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Telemetry
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable Top Sites From the New Tab Page
•         Tweak added: Edge: Disable User Feedback
•         Tweak added: Edge: Enable Online OCSP/CRL Checks
•         Tweak added: Edge: Prevent Websites From Querying for Available Payment Methods
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Connected Experiences
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Help Improve Proofing Tools
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Logging in Outlook
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Logging in Word
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable OneDrive Sign In
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Opt-in Wizard on First Run
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Option to Include Screenshots and Attachments in Feedback
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Small Updates to Improve Reliability
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Agent Logging
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Agent Uploads
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Access solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Application-specific add-ins)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Apps for Office)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (COM add-ins)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Excel solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Microsoft Outlook solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Office document files)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Office template files)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (OneNote solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (PowerPoint solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Project solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Publisher solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Visio solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Disable Telemetry Dashboard (Word solutions)
•         Tweak added: Office: Enable File Obfuscation in Telemetry Agent
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Advanced Gaming Services
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Clipboard Synchronization Across Devices
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Device Usage (Business)
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Device Usage (Creativity)
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Device Usage (Entertainment)
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Device Usage (Family)
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Device Usage (Gaming)
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Device Usage (School)
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Remote Assistance Connections to This Computer
•         Tweak added: Privacy: Disable Taskbar Chat Button

You can download DoNotSpy11 from the official website here. However, bear in mind that this is third-party software and is also unsigned. There are also a few anti-malware solutions which detect DoNotSpy11 as unwanted program, grayware, and even malicious on VirusTotal. Hence only proceed with the installation if you are sure you want such a tool on your system.

Via: GHacks

Source

OTTAWA – “Hi there! I’m TaxGPT, a friendly AI tax advisor. I can help you learn more about taxes in Canada in 2023.”

Those are the first words of TaxGPT, a new (and free) artificial intelligence-powered chatbot launched by Ottawa software developer Paul Craig to help Canadians file their own taxes instead of turning to tax preparation software companies constantly trying to “upsell” their services.

“A lot of people have what is called simple tax situations. If you have a T4, investments, maybe an RRSP or something, then it’s really not complex to file. But a lot of people just feel low confidence,” Craig said in an interview.

The Ottawa developer and public servant says tax filing gets a bad rap for being impossibly complicated unless people pay for sometimes unnecessarily costly software to help them file otherwise straightforward tax returns.

Some tax filing software is part of the problem, he said, because they reel users in with a free version before trying to “upsell” them, often by reinforcing the idea that it is difficult or even risky to file taxes on your own.

“In some cases, they’ll say they have a free product, but if you want all the benefits you’re entitled to, you have to go one level up,” he explained. “The other thing they do is trying to upsell you to a person” that can advise you individually.

“People are afraid to make a mistake. They feel like taxes are really confusing. They feel like they can read some stuff about it, but if they do anything wrong, that is where the police are coming to their house in the middle of the night and shooting their dog,” he said with a laugh.

“I think some software filing products try to reinforce that low confidence, that you may be doing something wrong, that you might not be getting all your benefits, that there may be a problem you’re not aware of.”

TaxGPT.ca (not to be confused with an American tax preparation software with a similar name) is easy to find and easier to use. It won’t do your taxes for you, nor will it replace the advice of an accountant or the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

But Craig says it’s designed to help Canadians who are intimidated by the idea of doing their own taxes better understand their tax situation so they feel confident they fill out their own return at no cost if possible. It’s particularly aimed at vulnerable Canadians, such as low- or fixed-income taxpayers or first-time filers.

The website features a short explanation on the left side of the screen and the interactive “chatbot” on the right that looks very much like the average customer service chatbot that pops up on online stores.

Craig says he designed the “frame” of the website, then used a well known chatbot software called “Typebot” to create the interactive tool in which he integrated ChatGPT, the revolutionary AI language model software that is taking the world by storm.

TaxGPT has two main functions. The first is a chatbot that will guide users through the process of filing their taxes for free via a pre-programmed question-and-answer format that adapts to their specific tax situation and provides specific answers as the user responds.
 

For example, the first question a user will have to answer is how they normally file their taxes. Depending on their answer (“I’ve never filed before,” “I file my own taxes” or “someone else does them for me”), TaxGPT will ask follow-up questions aimed at helping them understand their tax situation and help them file to the CRA for free.

The second function is where the AI and ChatGPT function kicks in. Ask TaxGPT any question and it will string together the best answer possible based on information fed into it from a variety of sources, namely the CRA’s website.

There is a caveat though. Craig says people can trust his system, but it isn’t perfect and mistakes or missing caveats may slip into responses to more complex questions.
 

“I think TaxGPT is better than not having any resources available. It’s a low-friction way to casually learn about taxes that you can do from your home, and it give you ideas on next steps,” he said.

He also insists that his tool will never request, collect nor store a user’s personal data.

Craig, who is a public servant currently on a one year leave from the Canadian Digital Service, says he was inspired by a now-defunct pilot project he worked on in 2016 which would provide a “wizard-like tax filing experience” to low- or fixed-income Canadians.

“Rather than requiring tax-filers to enter their information, the service presents information that the CRA already has, then asks tax-filers to confirm the information is correct,” read the website for the “Claim tax benefits” service. The government pulled the plug on the project before its launch in 2018.

He also says he was inspired by work done by participants of the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), a network of volunteer-run and federally funded tax clinics aimed at helping people with modest incomes and a simple tax situation file their returns and claim their benefits.

“I was constantly watching people coming in who felt like, ‘This is a task that I could never do on my own, it’s too hard.’ They were left to their own devices. There’s a lot of, sort of, predatory business models out there” aimed at people afraid to file their taxes, Craig said.

The federal government is constantly looking for ways to encourage the estimated 12 per cent of Canadians who currently don’t file their taxes. Since most of them are low-income individuals, the government says they are likely missing out of a host of benefits, such as the Canada Child Benefit and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Craig says his work isn’t sponsored by anyone and that he is paying all expenses out-of-pocket. He estimates that it took about 40 to 50 hours to develop TaxGPT and it has cost him about $60 to date.

His goal is to both help boost Canadians’ confidence in their ability to file their own taxes all the while building up his professional portfolio and showcasing his developer skills.

But he does suggest one tax filing software to users if they’re interested: Wealthsimple Tax, because it is completely free and doesn’t try to upsell any necessary features because the company is instead trying to attract users toward its investment platform.

Source

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1546 and Build 22624.1546 (KB5025310) to the Beta Channel.

• Build 22624.1546 = New features rolling out.
• Build 22621.1546 = New features off by default

The new release contains a few small improvements and bug fixes, along with a list of current known issues. You can check out the entire changelog below:

Changes and Improvements in Build 22624.1546

[General]

• In the previous flight, we documented that Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) works on desktop PCs – however, it does not. We have updated that blog post. Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) also needs to be enabled by the OEM (the manufacturer of the device). As a result, this feature is not available on all laptop or 2-in-1 devices.

[Settings]

• Improved the performance of search within Settings.
• Pressing the print screen key will now open Snipping Tool by default. This setting can be turned off via Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard. If you have previously modified this setting yourself, your preference will be preserved.
• A limit of 20 most recent tabs has been introduced under Settings > Multitasking to show tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.

Fixes in Build 22624.1546

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where text input features like touch keyboard, voice typing, and emoji panel might not launch.
• Fixed an issue where the buttons in the Pinyin IME’s settings flyout were hard to see when they had focus if a contrast theme was enabled.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue where some of the details in the Performance page wouldn’t display properly until you resized the window or changed pages back and forth.

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.

[File Explorer]

Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer:

• [NEW] Shift + Right click on a file or folder is not opening “Show more options”.

[Live captions]

• On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page will require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu.
• Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
• When adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, language feature installation progress may become hidden, and you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions). (You can use the language’s “Language options” to monitor progress.) If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the live caption setup experience detects this and lets you continue.
• Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Windows 11 Beta build 22624.1546 (KB5025310) adds Snipping Tool support for print screen key

What’s new in Build 23430

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Urgent or important notifications that break through when do not disturb is turned on while using apps at full screen will now display a “view notification” button to view the content of the notification for privacy.

• In the previous flight, we documented that Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) works on desktop PCs – however, it does not. We have updated that blog post. Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) also needs to be enabled by the OEM (the manufacturer of the device). As a result, this feature is not available on all laptop or 2-in-1 devices.

[Settings]

• A limit of 20 most recent tabs has been introduced under Settings > Multitasking to show tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.

[Developer]

• We are introducing a new setting under Settings > Privacy & security > For developers to enable end task when right-clicking an app on the taskbar. This setting is in Build 23430 but does not currently work when the feature is toggled on. It will be fixed in a future flight.

Fixes

[General]

• Fixed an underlying issue causing some Insiders to see an increase in explorer.exe crashes in the last 2 flights.

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where text input features like touch keyboard, voice typing, and emoji panel might not launch.
• Fixed an issue where the buttons in the Pinyin IME’s settings flyout were hard to see when they had focus if a contrast theme was enabled.

[Task Manager]

• Fixed an issue impacting Task Manager reliability.
• The search box should no longer be cropped at the top when the window is maximized.

[Accessibility]

• Fixed an issue where in Quick Settings, Narrator was reading out the previous page’s title instead of the active page’s.
• After downloading voice access, information to help you get started with it should correctly open again now.
• Fixed an issue where popups for voice access weren’t translated correctly.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[Search on the Taskbar]

• There is an issue where some people may not see the search box on the taskbar and/or the settings to adjust the search box experience on the taskbar after updating to Build 23403. We are aware of the issue, and we are working on a fix.
• 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.

[File Explorer]

Insiders who have access keys in File Explorer:

• Access keys will appear inconsistently if no button is pressed. Pressing a button will cause them to reappear.
• [NEW] Shift + Right click on a file or folder is not opening “Show more options”.

Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer:

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

[Live captions]

• On ARM64 devices, enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page will require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu.
• Certain languages shown on the Language & Region settings page will indicate speech recognition support (e.g., Korean) but don’t yet have support for live captions.
• When adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, language feature installation progress may become hidden, and you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions). (You can use the language’s “Language options” to monitor progress.) If this happens, there may be an unexpected delay before the live caption setup experience detects this and lets you continue.
• Captioning performance may be degraded in non-English languages and missing out-of-language filtering in non-English (United States) languages which means that incorrect captions will be shown for speech not in the caption language.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 Dev build 23430 brings end task option on Taskbar, File Explorer changes, more

Changes and Improvements

[Settings]

• Improved the performance of search within Settings.
• Customers with 2 or more discrete graphics adapters with no integrated graphics can now choose which of the discrete graphics adapters is considered high-performance. Navigate to Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Default graphics settings and select which of the discrete graphics adapters you would like to be designated as the Default high performance GPU.
• A limit of 20 most recent tabs has been introduced under Settings > Multitasking to show tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist. This change rolled out with Build 25330 last week.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 Insider Canary build 25336 has a few small improvements

Since then, the app has received a few updates and with the previous release, it made its debut on the Microsoft Store. However, there were some Store policy violation issues which have been resolved with the latest version. Alongside that, some features have also been removed which were causing conflicts with other apps and features on Windows 11. You can view the full changelog for BloatyNosyApp version 0.42 below:

• Some app features have been removed that could cause conflicts with other apps or features of Windows 11
• In the app store version, the "InstaPackage" app (app installer via winget for other apps. App Policies: 10.2.5) had to be deactivated as it violates store policies. It's surprising that the app made it to the store in the first place. I didn't expect anything different from the[sic] Microsoft
  • As a workaround in the Store version for the deprecated/deactivated InstaPackage app/module, you can install the provided "Chris Titus Tech Utility" mod for WinModder. This also allows you to install packages directly via winget.
• Numerous other small improvements. The app store version will be released later. I'm curious to see what other unwanted features Microsoft will find.

In case you want to try BloatyNosy, you can head over to the Microsoft Store or download it from GitHub.

Dev confirms Windows 11 debloater app was causing conflicts with other OS features and apps

Feature update

• Enhanced security mode improvements. Enhanced security mode now supports WebAssembly for ARM64. Cross-platform support is now available for x64 Windows, x64 macOS, x64 Linux and ARM64 systems. For more information, see Browse more safely with Microsoft Edge.
• Added features for web app policy. The WebAppInstallForceList policy lets administrators configure a list of web apps that install silently, without user interaction, and which users can't uninstall or turn off. This policy now supports custom_name, which permanently overrides the app name of installed apps and custom_icon, which permanently overrides the app icon of installed apps.
• In-browser JSON viewer. Improvements to how JSON files are displayed in the browser, which includes a colour-coded tree view with line numbers and the ability to collapse and expand the data. This functionality will trigger automatically when the browser navigates to a JSON file on the web or the user opens a local one. Additional features and enhancements will roll out as available. For more information, see View formatted JSON - Microsoft Edge Development. Note: This is a controlled feature rollout. If you don't see this feature, check back as we continue our rollout or you can navigate to edge://flags and search for JSON Viewer to manually enable.
• Updated new tab page policy. The NewTabPageHideDefaultTopSites policy hides the default top sites from the new tab page in Microsoft Edge. Starting on March 20th, when the policy is enabled it will also remove sponsored quick links from the new tab page.

Policy updates

New policies

• CryptoWalletEnabled - Enable CryptoWallet feature

You can find the official release notes here:

Latest Microsoft Edge 112 stable version has new security improvements and more

It is on our list of the best Windows 10 privacy tools. DoNotSpy11 is for Windows 10 and 11, and the developer of the application has just released version 1.1 of it. The new version adds support for Windows 10 version 22H2 and Windows 11 version 22H2.

DoNotspy11 users may select About > Check for Updates in the application interface to run a check for updates. The new version is also available as a direct download from the developer website.

This is the first version of the application since May 2022.

DoNotspy 11 1.1.0.0

The interface of the application has not really changed. It displays the full list of tweaks in list form when launched. A search is provided to find tweaks for certain keywords quickly. colour coding is still supported, with blue coloured tweaks safe to use, red not recommended, and orange requiring a case-by-case decision.

One of the main changes of DoNotspy11 1.1 is that policies that are disabled are now removed entirely to make sure that they are reset to their defaults. Previously, Windows or Microsoft Edge might display a "managed by your organization" warning for certain disabled policies.

Microsoft, Edge, Microsoft Office and Privacy in general are the three main areas with new tweaks. Microsoft Edge has over a dozen tweaks, including options to turn off Telemetry, disable the hubs sidebar and Discover Bar, or blocking websites from querying Edge for payment methods.

Microsoft Office, similarly, has over two dozen tweaks, most of which related to various Telemetry features. Other privacy tweaks including disabling the logging in Word and Outlook, the One Drive sign-in, or the disabling of Connected Experiences.

As for Privacy in general, most apply to Device Usage, but there are also tweaks to disable the Chat button on the Windows taskbar, advanced gaming services, or Clipboard syncing across devices.

You can check out the full changelog here.

Closing Words

DoNotspy11 is a powerful tweaker for Windows that focuses on privacy for the most part. It is easy to use, supports the latest versions of Windows 10 and 11, and includes options to create system restore points for backup purposes.

Now you: do you use Windows tweak apps?

DoNoSpy11 1.1: Windows privacy tool updated with Windows 10 and 11 22H2 support

Existing users may run a check for updates in the PowerToys settings to update the application to the latest version. Installers are also provided on the official GitHub repository of the project.

Registry Preview

The main feature of the PowerToys 0.69 release is the new Registry Preview tool. We mentioned it back in March 2023 already, when it was first announced by PowerToys' development team. Back then, only screenshots existed. Now, all PowerToys users may make use of the application.

Registry Preview is a helper tool for Registry files. These files, with the .reg extension, make changes to the Windows Registry when executed on a Windows machine. They can be loaded into any plain text editor, and display what they do then using a simple syntax.

Registry Preview visualizes these instructions in its interface. It displays the contents of any Registry file on the left side in its interface, and information about keys and values on the right.

Values are only displayed when keys are selected on the right. There is no option to display all values right away, and it may lead to a bit of clicking to find out about these.

While that may be useful already, especially for larger Registry files, it also comes with editing capabilities.

The left pane, which displays the contents of the Registry file, supports direct edits. Users of the application may add, delete or change content. It takes just a second to change a specific value, or paste another line into the file to include it in the execution.

A save option is available to save edited Registry files, and there is an option to write the content to the Registry.

The Registry Preview tool lacks a syntax checker. Mistakes are not highlighted by it, which is a big problem; this can be tested by removing a character, e.g., a bracket, from the Registry file. While this leads to the removal of these instructions on the right side, there is no alert of any kind about the problem.

Registry Preview needs a bit of work, but it is a useful tool for Windows administrators and users, who work with Registry files regularly. It needs an error checking functionality though.

PowerToys 0.69 includes a large number of additional fixes and changes. These include fixes for some of the included tools, and an ability to change the user-scope of the installation, using policies.

Full details on all of these changes are available on GitHub.

Now You: do you work with .reg files regularly?

PowerToys 0.69 with Registry Preview tool released

Windows Defender bug was causing high CPU usage in Firefox

When Firefox was running, Windows Defender's Antimalware Service Executable would act up, causing its CPU Usage to rise significantly. Many users said that the performance was so bad that their PCs would lag when using the browser. Some people had compared the performance with other browsers such as Chrome and Edge, and found that it didn't affect them, the bug was limited to Firefox. The issue had been reported on Bugzilla 5 years ago (May 2018). That means it was not restricted to Windows 11, it also affected Windows 10.

Mozilla's engineers narrowed down the issue to the Antimalware Service Executable, which is Msmpeng.exe (Microsoft Malware Protection Engine). They discovered that the executable was accessing sechost.dll to run ProcessTrace, i.e. it was processing ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) from other processes. Essentially, it was generating way too many ETW events than normal, and was using 5 times more CPU power to do this with Firefox as compared with Chrome and other browsers.

Further investigations shed light on the root cause, Windows Defender's real-time protection was invoking VirtualProtect several times. Mozilla's engineers worked with Microsoft's team to solve the problem. They came to the conclusion that the calls to VirtualProtect were abnormally high, which in turn caused the performance issue.  Mozilla's team pointed out that disabling JIT (in about:config) mitigated the problem, but didn't solve the CPU usage issue completely. The bug was later addressed by Microsoft, when it released a beta version of Defender's engine (1.1.20200.2). The fix has been tested for a while, and has now been pushed to the stable channel of the antivirus definitions.

According to a comparison graph shared by a Mozilla engineer, Yannis Juglaret, the fix has a huge impact on the system's performance. There's nearly a 75% improvement, or should I say a 75% reduction in the CPU usage.

You don't need to do anything, the bug has been patched in the March 2023 update that was released on April 4th. It bumps the app's version number to 4.18.2302.x, and patches the Engine to version 1.1.20200.4. To be more specific, that is the version number of the mpengine.dll file. The fix is also being deployed for Windows 7 and 8.1 users, even though they were not affected by the problem.

How to check if you have the latest version of the DLL? Go to the following folder, C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Definition Updates. It should have a folder with a long alphanumeric name, open it, and right-click on mpengine.dll. Select Properties and switch to the Details tab, and check the product version. It should say 1.1.20200.4.

Image credit: Bugzilla

It is worth noting that this patch only applies to Windows Defender, and not other antivirus programs, but some users have reported a similar issue with other security software such as Norton Antivirus. Mozilla is already working on more improvements to patch the issue with other security applications. (Refer: 1 and 2)

Have you noticed a similar issue on your PC? Did the update fix the issue?

Source

Prototype UI of Next Valley (Windows 12)

In case you wanted a look and feel of what that would be like, Stardock's WindowBlinds 11, which was released earlier this year in February, introduced a new Diamond-themed taskbar option with a rounded taskbar. This design makes it appear like the taskbar is floating, somewhat similar to what you can see in the image above for Next Valley prototype.

The blog post describing the feature says:

WindowBlinds 11 is the easiest way to truly personalize your desktop. With only a few clicks, you can theme your desktop with a retro style like Windows Classic, or jump ahead in time with a theme like Diamond, which rounds the taskbar and looks like the next version of Windows.

And with the latest version of WindowBlinds 11, the support for Windows 11 22H2 Moment 2 (KB5022913) has been added, which means those on Moment 2 can now have a Windows 12-like taskbar experience. Here is what it looks like:

The release notes for WindowBlinds 11.0.2.1 says:

• Tweaks how the address bar transparency is handled on Win11 in explorer and has a small fix for taskbar support for Windows update KB5022913

• This has support for 22H2 Moment 2

   

You can download WindowBlinds 11.0.2.1 from Neowin's dedicated story page here, where you will also find additional details regarding the software. You can also download the entire Object Desktop package. Object Desktop includes programs such as Fences, Start11, Groupy, SoundPackager, DeskScapes and Multiplicity.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

With Stardock WindowBlinds, you can make your Windows 11 Moment 2 PC resemble Windows 12

Microsoft is pushing out some big feature updates to its Edge web browser shortly. We have already reported on a couple of them, including putting the new Bing Image Creator in the Edge sidebar. We've also posted about the new Browser Essentials features for monitoring the browser's security and overall performance. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In a blog post, Microsoft outlines a few more big new features coming to Edge. Perhaps the most interesting one is that Edge will soon add the ability to both save and edit web images from inside the browser. That might make a number of stand-alone image editor apps obsolete. Microsoft says:

Now instead of having to download, save and edit in a separate app on your PC or macOS device, you can simply right click on the desired web image and, without leaving your browser window, crop, adjust lighting and colour, and add filters. From there, you can save the edited image for later use. You can also start editing simply by hovering over an image and selecting edit image from the menu. This reduces the need to toggle from app to app.

Another new feature coming to Edge is called Drop. It's being included in the Edge sidebar and it's made to give people a way to share photos, notes, and other files from one of their devices to another device. Microsoft says:

Let’s say you’re at work thinking about what you’ll make for dinner later that day and you find a quick recipe your kids will enjoy. With Drop, you can copy the ingredients and recipe, and send it to yourself so you have it on your mobile for easy reference when you get to the grocery store.

Finally. Microsoft is making some improvements to the efficiency mode in Edge. Previously, if your Windows laptop was running out of juice, the efficiency mode kicks in to cut down on battery use. The new improvements will add two modes. One is "Balanced Savings" which will still extend battery life while still offering full use of Edge. the other mode is "Maximum Savings" and will cut energy use much further but at the expense of Edge performance.

There's no word on when these new features will roll into the stable version of Edge.

Microsoft Edge is getting a big feature update including editing and saving web images