It's hard to escape ChatGPT right now, with the conversational artificial intelligence bot taking on everything from web search to essay writing. More than 100 million people have tried out ChatGPT since it launched.

Whether you're using ChatGPT for free or paying for ChatGPT Plus ($20 a month), the impressiveness of its text-generating capabilities aren't really matched by its interface, which sticks largely to the basics.

That's where third-party browser extensions come in: They can help you get easier access to ChatGPT from other websites, add missing features such as a chat exporter, and suggest better prompts for getting better answers out of the AI bot.

These extensions are all compatible with the latest versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, except where stated.

Merlin

Merlin sits in your browser and puts ChatGPT right at your fingertips, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice: Whether you need to compose a reply to a social media post or summarize a long block of text, Merlin can help you out.

The Ctrl+M (Windows) or Cmd+M (macOS) keyboard shortcut is how Merlin is activated once you've selected a block of text. You then need to tell Merlin what you want it to get ChatGPT to do: summarize, reply, write, or whatever it is.

For example, you can highlight all the text in an email and get Merlin/ChatGPT to compose a response. Having the chatbot right inside your browser makes it really convenient to use, though you are limited to 31 requests per day.

ChatGPT for Google

You don't have to wait for Google's own version of ChatGPT to arrive, because ChatGPT for Google shows results from the chatbot alongside the standard results from Google whenever you run a search.

Clearly this is going to work better for some queries than others: ChatGPT can't tell you the latest sports scores, but it can explain what DNA is. Make sure that you're currently signed into your ChatGPT account in your browser to get the responses to load.

The ChatGPT box is neatly integrated alongside the standard Google search results, and you can launch a separate ChatGPT conversation right from it. You can also have the add-on run manually rather than automatically, if you don't want it on every search.

Enhanced ChatGPT

Enhanced ChatGPT does exactly what its name suggests: It adds some handy new features to the basic ChatGPT interface, including an option to export your chats in Markdown format and a selection of tools to help you with your prompts.

Some of those prompt tools include triggers for finding images on the web, getting travel advice, generating translations, and programming in JavaScript. They'll pop up immediately once you've installed the extension.

Look for the new Export Chat option down in the lower left corner when you've set up the add-on. You don't get anything in the way of export options, but it can be helpful to have a copy of your chats to refer to.

WritingMate

If you're planning to do any writing using ChatGPT on the web, from emails to social media posts, then WritingMate can help. You can launch it via a Ctrl+M (Windows) or Cmd+M (macOS) keyboard shortcut, or use the floating icon that appears on the right of the browser window.

You're able to use ChatGPT in any way you like, right in the webpages you're looking at, and there are some helpful prompts included with the extension too. ChatGPT responses can be swiftly tweaked and refined as well.

If you need more than 10 messages per day or longer messages, you can sign up for a $15-per-month premium account. The access you get to the tool for free should tell you whether or not you're going to find it useful.

WebChatGPT

There's no doubt that ChatGPT is an incredible bit of technology, but it also has its limitations: It doesn't have access to the most up-to-date information, and can't search the web as such.

WebChatGPT (for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox) fixes that, dropping in traditional web search results alongside AI responses in the ChatGPT interface. It also tries to integrate both types of responses to give you something coherent and useful.

This approach works better for some queries than others: Try prompts such as "Who is the President?" and "give me the latest Wired headlines" to see the difference that the extension makes to ChatGPT.

Promptheus

For some of us, it's much easier to talk than to type, and Promptheus enables you to talk to ChatGPT just as you would with a real person. It may give you a whole new perspective on interacting with AI.

You use Promptheus from inside the ChatGPT interface, and you simply press and hold the space bar when you're ready to talk. There are a few extension settings you can play around with too, such as the option to send prompts automatically once you stop talking.

As an added bonus, the extension also gives you easy access to ChatGPT from any webpage—just click on the add-on icon in your browser toolbar to start interacting with the AI bot.

ChatGPT Export and Share

One of the most important features that ChatGPT is missing is the ability to get content out of the ChatGPT interface into other places—you're pretty much limited to the good old copy-paste method.

ChatGPT Export and Share (which works in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox) is here to solve the problem. It takes a little bit more time in terms of setting it up in your browser, but full instructions are provided, and the end results are worth it.

Once the extension is installed, you'll see new export buttons down below the prompt box. You can save your chats as images and PDFs, and there's also the option to create shareable links to them.

Make ChatGPT Work for You With These Browser Extensions

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As some of you might know, I have been using Bing Chat recently for random conversations on pop culture topics. For this purpose, I use either the Edge app on mobile or the desktop version. Right now, I launched Edge to discuss Mike Shinoda's music video for Fine with Bing Chat (yes, I am weird like that) but was suddenly greeted with a page telling me that I apparently have new things in Edge to explore. You can see this image below, and as you may notice, it takes up the browser's title bar so you can't close this window via traditional means (pressing the "x" button in the title bar):

While I didn't find this page itself particularly surprising, I noticed that there is a second page that you can get to after you click on the "Get Started" button below the text "Let's get you setup for the best browsing experience". And lo and behold, it's yet another full-screen ad to set Microsoft Edge as your default browser:

The good news this time around is that you can actually uncheck the "Use Microsoft recommended browser settings" rather than being forced to go through with Microsoft's recommendation. However, the move may still be an indication that Microsoft will be showing these full-page ads for Edge after browser updates instead of just fresh installs or first launches (OOBE).

Indeed, I didn't even know that this was caused by a browser update but once I unchecked the toggle and pressed the solitary button, I was told that my browser has been updated:

All in all, there's a possibility that this is not intended behavior and is actually meant to be shown just to people who are launching Edge for the first time. However, given the flow of the post-update process as well as Microsoft's history in this area, it seems like we'll be seeing even more aggressive ads convincing us to set Microsoft Edge as our default browser.

Have you come across this ad before? What is your opinion on this marketing technique? Let us know in the comments section below!

Microsoft is showing new full-page ads asking you to set Edge as the default browser

With the latest driver version 23.3.1, AMD fixed a major annoying issue that would cause the display driver to crash and timeout, leading to the bug report tool popping up, though older cards still remain affected which means such users will have to make do with the MPO workaround. While that is great, the latest driver is also apparently causing major performance loss by 50% or more, at least for a small subset of users. The performance issue was noticed on 3DMark Time Spy, which is a synthetic benchmark based on DirectX 12.

Steam user "opinali" reported the performance drop on their Windows 11 22H2 PC running a Radeon 7900 XTX alongside a Ryzen 9 5900X. They write:

I have a massive drop in the TimeSpy scores (both regular and extreme) in a Ryzen 5900X + 7900 XTX. Example:

https://www.3dmark.com/compare/spy/35755350/spy/36463560

Both tests with same general config, CPU is auto-overclocked by Ryzen Master but GPU is stock.

Important detail that I made this test after upgrading the Adrenalin driver to 23.3.1 released yesterday, so this could be a driver problem but I ran many other benchmarks, from 3DMark and others, also played some games, nothing else drops performance, only the TimeSpy which is a cataclysmic >50% loss.

In response, a 3DMark developer stated that they were unable to reproduce the issue themselves, though they noticed that around 3% of the Time Spy users did have performance drop right after they updated to the latest 23.3.1 driver.

Update on this: We have not been able to reproduce this in our test lab at this time. We're still trying, but nothing so far. So we know at this time that this is not a general issue that affects everyone with 7900XT/XTX. If this were such an issue, it would have also come up during driver approval testing but that process saw nothing odd with the latest drivers when they were tested.

But we also looked at our database to compare results on the previous driver vs. new driver on any result using 7900XT or XTX and can confirm that this appears to be a real, if very rare issue. Among all results with the new driver, approximately 3% of the results show abnormal (very low) scores on Time Spy. No similar group of very low scores appear on the results with the previous driver version.

This would lead us to believe that this is some kind of issue with the latest driver that requires some additional conditions to be true to appear.

..

Since benchmark itself has not been modified for ages, our current view is that this is a rare driver bug that somehow causes the system to run in some kind of low power mode while Time Spy is running, which then tanks the performance to a very low level.

UL benchmarks has confirmed that AMD were able to reproduce it and it does look like an issue on AMD's part. However, the issue may be present only on the Windows 11 Release Preview Insider channel which could explain the low number of affected user cases.

Note that release preview channel Windows is not officially supported by us. We only test on it with a single system so any hardware-specific issues are not visible to us unless they occur with the "live" version of Windows.

In other news, AMD has apparently reproduced this internally and it is starting to look more and more like a driver issue, so at this time I can only offer "rollback to previous or ignore and wait for future driver fixes".

While this driver bug is known to affect only 3DMark for now, it is possible that some games may also be affected, although the performance hit in games is unlikely to be as bad since Time Spy is a synthetic workload.

Nvidia are also not immune to issues as recently, it was found to increase CPU usage. Thankfully, it has since been fixed.

Via: VideoCardz

Windows 11 AMD driver bug causing over 50% performance hit but luckily it's rare

Microsoft has made it really difficult to set up Windows 11 without a Microsoft account. Setting up Windows 11 with a local account is a frustrating experience for many, as there is seemingly no longer an option to skip the Microsoft account sign-in or creation of a new account to set up a local account instead.

Good news is that there are still options available, but they are well hidden, as Microsoft has the clear intention to promote Microsoft accounts. For users, Microsoft accounts have advantages, but also disadvantages. Advantages include getting a bit of free OneDrive storage, synchronization of data between devices, extra security and also the ability to use Microsoft apps and services that require an account. The main downside, for most, is privacy. Microsoft does not really know anything about local accounts, but a Microsoft account gives the company a much clearer picture, and data, about its customers.

Windows 11 users have a few options at their disposal to skip the Microsoft account creation or sign-in during installation of the operating system. Indeed, we have talked about Microsoft account bypass options during Windows 11 setup already here on this site, and also mentioned that the free software Rufus comes with such capabilities.

Some of our readers wanted more options, which is why we have created this guide. Note that you may switch to a local account after the setup experience in the account section of the Settings application.

All three methods listed below have been tested with the most recent Windows 11 version 22H2 ISO image provided by Microsoft. Please note that Microsoft may make changes in the future that render one or even all of these options useless. Please let us know in the comments if you run into issues, so that we may investigate these and update the guide accordingly.

Setting up Windows 11 with a local account

All of the options below allow users to bypass Microsoft account creation or sign-in during the out-of-box experience. This is a wizard that walks users through the final steps of setup, after the operating system files have been copied to the disk already. Most PCs that come with Windows 11 pre-installed start at this stage.

The first few steps of the out-of-box experience are always the same. Here they are:

Step 1: Select the country or region.

Step 2: Confirm or select the keyboard layout or input method.

Step 3: Check for updates runs automatically

Step 4: Name the device. This step is optional.

Step 5: Select if the device is a personal use device or should be set up for work or school.

The next screen prompts users to sign-in to using a Microsoft Account. It is called "unlock your Microsoft experience" and features a sign-in button only.

Bypassing the Microsoft Account setup on Windows 11

Pick one of the following options to skip the Microsoft Account and create a local account during setup instead.

Best Option: email address bypasses

Certain email addresses force the out of box experience to skip the creation of a Microsoft account. All that is required for that is to type one of these email addresses into the Microsoft account field during setup.

Step 1: Select Sign In.

Step 2: Use one of the following email addresses (note that Microsoft may remove this option at one point):

• no@thankyou.com, any password
• test@test.com, password test
• 1@1.com, password test

Select Next once done.

Step 3: Type any password and select Sign In.

Step 4:  Windows 11 displays an Oops, something went wrong page. Select Next.

Step 5: You may now create a local account. Select the local account username and then Next.

Step 6: Type the local password. Note that it is optional. Select Next to complete the account creation process.

The local account has been created, and there are a few additional things that need to be set up before Windows 11 loads the desktop for the first time.

The following options may work as well, but they are not advised, if the above option still works.

Option: Kill the Internet from the command line

Disabling the Internet connection temporarily during setup is another option. It works like the physical disruption of the Internet connection, but is more comfortable in many cases.

• Step 1: at the sign-in to a Microsoft account stage, press Shift-F10 to open a command prompt window.
• Step 2: Type ipconfig /release and activate the Enter-key. This marks the client's IP address as available. In other words: the PC is no longer connected to the Internet.
• Step 3: Close the command prompt window and activate the back button.
• Step 4: It is now possible to create a local account.

Closing Words

Microsoft has a vetted interest to get as many of its customers on Microsoft accounts as possible. It binds customers and gives Microsoft additional data on how computers and products are used.

Now You: have you tried any of the bypasses mentioned above?

How to set up Windows 11 without a Microsoft account

What are Firefox Extensions?

Firefox extensions, also sometimes called Firefox add-ons, are small JavaScript programs that may be integrated into the web browser to add, remove, or change its functionality or the functionality of websites.

Mozilla, maker of Firefox, maintains a Store on its website for Firefox extensions. It offers thousands of Firefox add-ons there, a search for quickly finding extensions, and more.

Firefox extensions may also be installed from other sources.

How safe are Firefox extensions?

Most Firefox extensions are safe to use. While the answer may not please everyone, the past has shown that extensions may be malicious and that they may be pushed to the Firefox extensions store or Google Chrome Store. This does not happen very often, at least not on the Firefox add-ons store, but it has happened in the past.

The vast majority of extensions are useful and safe. Mozilla maintains a list of recommended extensions on the Add-ons Store, which are tested by the organization before they are published on the store. Only these are tested manually, while all other extensions are scanned automatically only.

Some extensions request extra permissions and Firefox users see a prompt during installation that lists all these extra permissions. These permissions give them additional capabilities, and it is a good idea to check them to make sure that they only request permissions that match their functionality.

It is a good idea to read the description and user comments carefully. Check the rating of the extension on Mozilla's website, and also read the linked privacy policy and other resources linked on the page.

How to install Firefox extensions

The Firefox installation process is quick and simple.

1. Open the extension's Store page on the Firefox Browser Add-ons website in Firefox, e.g., this one here for the Bitwarden Password Manager.
2. Activate the "add to Firefox" button on the page.
3. Check the permissions prompt, and select "add" to install the extension, or "cancel" to go back and don't install the add-on.

Firefox extensions may be disabled or removed at any time from the about:addons page. Select Menu > Add-ons and Themes, or load the address directly. Make sure Extensions is selected on the left. Firefox displays all installed extensions, and there is a toggle for each, which you may use to activate or disable them individually.

Selecting the three-dots menu displays an option to remove it completely from Firefox.

10 Best Firefox Extensions by Purpose

The following 10 extensions are regarded highly by the Firefox community. They are safe to use and improve the browser significantly.

1. Content Blocker: uBlock Origin

There are plenty of content blockers available on the Firefox Add-ons Store, but uBlock Origin is the  undisputable king in the category. It is the most popular extension for Firefox and updated regularly by its developer Raymond Hill.

Features:

• Works out of the box after installation.
• Offers customization options.
• Can be extended with additional filter lists, many of which can be enabled or disabled with a simple check.

2. Research: Web Archives

Web Archives is a useful research extension for Firefox. Sometimes, content may get deleted or removed from the Internet. While that content may not be accessible anymore on the original webpage it was published on, it may still be accessible through archives and caches.

Web Archive makes these archives and caches more accessible in Firefox.

Features:

• Works on any link and any webpage that you open in Firefox.
• Supports 10 different archives and caches, including the Wayback Machine, Archive.is and Google Cache.
• Has a handy "all archives" option.

3. YouTube: Enhancer for YouTube

Enhancer for YouTube improves YouTube in several meaningful ways. Many of the features allow users to customize YouTube, from setting video resolutions and volume to managing autoplay behavior or hiding certain elements on the site.

Features:

• Customize YouTube to your liking, by removing certain elements on the site, e.g., the comments section.
• Configure playback parameters, such as the video quality, volume, or appearance of the player.

4. Password Manager: Bitwarden

Many password management services have extensions for Firefox. Bitwarden users may install the Bitwarden extension for Firefox to better integrate the password manager into the browser. It adds features such as comfortable logins, password generation, saving of new account information and more to Firefox.

Features:

• Integrates with Bitwarden, makes available all existing passwords in Firefox.
• May save new logins, generate secure passwords, and more.
• State of the art security and encryption.

5. Downloader: DownThemAll!

DownThemAll! is a helper extension for users who download files regularly. One of its main appeals is that it can be used to download multiple files in one operation. It features a download queue and useful features, such as renaming and filtering options.

Features:

• Adds batch download capabilities to Firefox, including on single pages, but also on all open tabs.
• Includes filters, to only display certain types of content, e.g., images or archive files, for easier selections.

6. Save webpages: Single File

While Firefox includes options to save a webpage to the local system, it creates numerous files doing so. Single File, as the name suggests, saves a single HTML file to the local system.

Features:

• Save any webpage as a single HMTL file locally.
• The HTML files can be opened in any browser.

7.  Temporary Date: Clear Browsing Data

Clear Browsing Data improves Firefox's built-in capabilities to delete temporary data. The extension adds the capabilities to Firefox's frontend and allows users to delete all data in one click or specify, which data they want removed.

Features:

• Delete browsing data in a single click.
• Select specific types of browsing data to clear, keeping others.
• Gives users more control over the deletion.

8. Customizations: New Tab Override

New Tab Overrideadds customization options for Firefox's New Tab page. Users of the extension may set a custom page or colour and configure several other parameters.

Features:

• Load a custom webpage, local file or display just a single colour on the New Tab page.
• Configure where New Tabs are opened in Firefox.

9.  Accessibility: Scroll Anywhere

Scroll Anywhere unlocks scrolling capabilities on the entire webpage, and not just by using the Firefox scrollbar or keyboard shortcuts.

Features:

• Supports scrolling with different mouse buttons.
• Simulates scrollbar, smartphone and other scrolling styles.
• Customize scroll speed and acceleration.

10. Convenience: Snap Links Plus

Snap Links Plus may be used to open multiple links in one go by drawing a rectangle around the links. The extension may also be used to check or uncheck checkboxes on websites.

Features:

• Open multiple links at once in Firefox.
• Check or uncheck boxes on webpages.

Now You: have another must-have extension for Firefox that is not on this list?

10 Best Firefox Extensions and Add-Ons in 2023

Update March 10: 1PM PT

Microsoft has rolled out a Cumulative Update for Windows 11 build 25314 which bumps the build up to 25314.1010. It does not add anything new and is designed to test Microsoft's servicing pipeline capabilities. In addition, there is no blog post announcement for this build update, as specified could happen when the Canary Channel was announced.

The original post follows below:

Microsoft has just launched the first Windows 11 Insider Preview build for the newly established Canary Channel. The build number is 25314, and it actually contains some of the same new features that are in the Dev Channel release.

What’s new in Build 25314

Access Keys in File Explorer

We are adding access key shortcuts into the XAML context menu in File Explorer. An access key is a one keystroke shortcut that allows a keyboard user to quickly execute a command in context menu. Each access key will correspond with a letter in the display name. It’s part of our effort to make File Explorer more accessible. To try this out, you can click on a file in File Explorer and press the menu key on your keyboard.

NOTE: If you see the “pizza” icon on the command bar in File Explorer that denotes you are previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer, you will not see this feature yet.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

File Recommendations in File Explorer

File Recommendations are coming to File Explorer Home to bring users the most relevant file content right to their fingertips. This feature (as pictured below) will be available to users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account. Files that are recommended will be cloud files associated with that account, either owned by the user, or shared with the user.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Introducing LSA Protection Enablement on Upgrade

Local Security Authority (LSA) protection helps protect against theft of secrets and credentials used for logon by preventing unauthorized code from running in the LSA process and by preventing dumping of process memory. Starting with on upgrade, we will audit for a period of time to check for incompatibilities with LSA protection. If we do not detect any incompatibilities, we will automatically turn on LSA Protection. You can check and change the enablement state of LSA protection in the Windows Security application under the Device Security > Core Isolation page.

LSA protection records whether programs are blocked from loading into LSA in the event log. If you would like to check if something has been blocked, information on the logs recorded is available here.

Feedback: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN+F) under Security and Privacy > Logging Into Your PC.

Narrator Outlook Support

Narrator will now retrieve updates to its Outlook support when Narrator is started. You can learn more about the work we did for Outlook in Chapter 5 of the Narrator User Guide. We have not added any additional functionality to our Outlook support, but this work will allow updates to the Outlook experience to be made through the Microsoft Store. You will receive a notification after the download is completed to inform you that the update has been retrieved. With this change, Narrator’s Outlook support is limited to U.S. English only. Other languages will be supported in a future flight.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

To increase security in Windows 11, starting with this build and later we are disabling the Remote Mailslot Protocol by default. The legacy Remote Mailslot Protocol is a simple, unreliable, insecure, and unidirectional inter-process communications protocol between a client and server and was introduced in Windows NT 3.1 and will be deprecated in a future Windows release. If an application attempts to open a Remote Mailslot session over the SMB protocol, you may see one or more of the following errors:

3025 ERROR_REMOTE_MAILSLOTS_DEPRECATED

“The requested operation failed. Remote mailslots have been deprecated.”

If your application still uses Remote Mailslot, contact your vendor about updating their software. The legacy Remote Mailslot is not secure and should not be used under any circumstances. If you need to temporarily enable Remote Mailslot, run the following command in an elevated PowerShell console:

PS C:\> Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableMailslots $true

Microsoft warns people who want to check out the Canary Channel Windows 11 builds that they "could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows." Microsoft may release more Canary Channel builds but it will not post new blogs announcing them unless they contain new features.

Windows 11 Insider Preview build 25314.1010 released to test servicing pipeline

cURL, the omnipresent data tool, is getting a 25th birthday party this month

Microsoft offers an enormous portfolio of software and services, used by billions of people – a substantial proportion of the world's population. As a substantial number of people have accessibility needs, so too do Microsoft's customers. That's the impetus behind the software behemoth's Ability Summit – held this week for its 13th year.

Making Windows, Microsoft 365, developer tools, AI technologies, and other offerings easier for people with different needs to use has long been a priority for Microsoft. And it's an ongoing process.

Among the myriad new and updated products introduced at this year's event is Accessibility Assistant in Microsoft 365 – designed to make creating accessible and inclusive content easier within the standard workflow.

It builds on – and eventually will replace – what Redmond currently offers with Accessibility Checker. That's a tool to check Outlook email, Word documents, and other presentations to ensure they're easy to read and edit for people with disabilities.

Accessibility Assistant offers guidance within the workflow, addressing issues before they become problems. It offers real-time remediation, such as flagging if a color being used is difficult to see. Other capabilities will be added in the months to come.

This stuff is important, given the number of issues – from images without descriptions, videos without captions, and text that is hard to read – that pervade not only web pages but also office work, according to Aleš Holeček, corporate veep of Microsoft's Office Product Group.

"This creates barriers that keep our colleagues and coworkers from doing their jobs effectively, prevent students from getting the most out of their education, and hinder authors from reaching their broadest possible audience," according to Holeček.

Later this year Microsoft will offer 3D-printed attachments to Surface Pens to help people with limited mobility grip the writing tools – something that already is available in the vendor's Business and Classroom pens. In addition, Redmond rolled out 13 new African languages for Microsoft Translator, including Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo. In all, Microsoft Translator can run speech-to-text operations in 125 languages.

In Azure, the Seeing AI app for the visually impaired now has an Indoor Navigation feature to help people navigate through a building by giving audio cues about their surroundings. In LinkedIn, Microsoft is using its Azure Cognitive Services to add automatic alt-text descriptions and captioning to images on the platform. According to the software giant, more than 40 percent of LinkedIn posts include at least one image.

The Windows 11 team this week rolled out Preview Build 23403 for the operating system, which includes expanding the number of languages available for live captions for those with hearing issues.

Initially the captions were only provided in English, but now the languages available include Chinese – Simplified and Traditional – French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and other English dialects beyond American.

To make File Explorer more accessible, Microsoft is adding key shortcuts to the XAML context menu.

"An access key is a one-keystroke shortcut that allows a keyboard user to quickly execute a command in context menu," Microsoft wrote. "Each access key will correspond with a letter in the display name."

There also are improvements to the voice access technology, including a renovated in-app command help page and expanding the English dialects that are available to cover UK, Indian, and Australian.

In Teams, Microsoft announced Closed Captions for PowerPoint Live earlier this week. Users who are deaf or hard of hearing, have a language barrier, or are in a loud environment can turn on closed captions for any video that includes a closed captions file.

For developers, Dante Gagne, senior program manager at Microsoft, outlined how developers can use the Integrated Accessibility Checker in Visual Studio to scan for accessibility in desktop applications. Gagne noted it's the first tool in the IDE to help developers build accessible applications, though more are coming.

"The implications are far-reaching, because many countries have laws governing accessibility in applications for consumers, government, or educational use," Gagne wrote. "Accessibility is as important as privacy or security, to ensure your application is usable by all developers and complies with legal standards." ®

Source

Typing assistant Grammarly has jumped on the artificial intelligence bandwagon with a new generative AI-powered assistant.

Rolling out in beta form next month, GrammarlyGO will do more than just point out your grammar mistakes. It'll learn your writing style and basically write your content for you.

Grammarly argues the feature is a way to stop bad writing from "draining business productivity and performance." It promises to generate "highly relevant text with an understanding of personal voice and brand style, context, and intent—saving people and businesses time while accounting for their unique needs." Translation: Let us handle your terrible copy.

GrammarlyGO launches in April and will work with the same email, social media, and word-processing applications and websites as Grammarly to compose tailored drafts, reply to messages, rewrite for length, and generate ideas.

"It will uniquely offer relevant, contextually aware suggestions that account for personal voice and brand style while staying true to our augmented intelligence philosophy to keep customers in control of their experience," says(Opens in a new window) Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, global head of product for Grammarly.

"GrammarlyGO will enable customers to save time, enhance their creativity, and get more done—helping individuals achieve their potential and enterprises transform how they work," he adds.

Available across the free (in select markets) and paid professional, education, and developer tiers, GrammarlyGO is on by default for individual users, who can toggle it off in their settings. Business and education administrators, meanwhile, must opt in for their organizations.

Generative AI has made quite the splash since the launch of ChatGPT last fall, and the tech industry is scrambling to introduce their own AI-based tools. One industry that doesn't love it: education. Teachers must now determine if some of the work being turned in by students was actually produced by AI, prompting some schools to ban ChatGPT from their networks.

Source

Years ago, circa 2011, Google was in a panic. Facebook was on the rise and Google was convinced the social network would soon swallow everything. To fight this blue scourge, then-Google CEO Larry Page issued a decree to his many employees: Your bonuses are now tied to Google's success in social! Build social features into everything! That memo resulted in many ham-fisted social integrations across Google that were widely hated by the user base. YouTube comments were tied to Google+, and the site was flooded with spam. Making a new Gmail address also required making a Google+ account. Google Search got little "+1" buttons, and generally anonymous usage of Google products was impossible due to the "real name" policy. And that's just the Google+ stuff—earlier this memo resulted in a social network being built into Gmail called "Google Buzz" that all users were initially forced to join.

That forced integration strategy was an abject failure, and after a few years of Google's social panic, all of Google+'s integrations were removed, and the service was eventually shut down. That past failure isn't stopping Google from pulling out that losing playbook for its next great panic: Bloomberg's Julia Love and Davey Alba report that Google wants to build ChatGPT-style features into everything. According to the article, Google issued "a directive that all of its most important products—those with more than a billion users—must incorporate generative AI within months."

We wrote last month that Google's ChatGPT panic seemed a lot like its response to Google+, and several employees relayed that same sentiment to Bloomberg. Just like with G+, the report added that "current and former employees say at least some Googlers’ ratings and reviews will likely be influenced by their ability to integrate generative AI into their work."

AI is one of the few areas of Google that CEO Sundar Pichai is really invested in, with the CEO saying the technology would be “more profound than fire or electricity.” Google was, for years, a leader in AI with voice recognition features like the Google Assistant, speech synthesis features like Google Duplex, and mastering the game of Go. Those features debuted years ago, though, and a fear of rolling out imperfect products has meant Google locks a lot of technology away in a lab somewhere. OpenAI has no such fear of pushing the latest in AI technology out to the masses. While Google releases research papers, OpenAI releases products—and the company's generative chat AI OpenGPT has led to a stratospheric rise for OpenAI. The chatbot is already built into Bing, and the initial novelty has earned Bing 100 million daily active users in its first month. Google is no longer seen as an AI leader, and it's being punished by the stock market for it.

In a 2021 New York Times article that was critical of Pichai's management style, "A common critique among current and former executives is that Mr. Pichai’s slow deliberations often feel like a way to play it safe and arrive at a 'no.'" Despite many seeing Pichai as the source of Google's reluctance, the Bloomberg report says the CEO is now taking a more hands-on approach to product development, saying, "The effort has Pichai reliving his days as a product manager, as he’s taken to weighing in directly on the details of product features, a task that would usually fall far below his pay grade, according to one former employee."

As for exactly what these forced AI integrations will look like, the report cites a recent YouTube feature that would let people virtually swap outfits. In Alphabet's Q4 2022 earnings call, Pichai said the company was "working to bring large language models to Gmail and Docs," so expect to be able to click a few buttons soon and have those apps generate blocks of text. The Bloomberg article quotes one Google employee as saying, "We’re throwing spaghetti at the wall, but it’s not even close to what’s needed to transform the company and be competitive.”

Source

Many software engineers will only take a job if remote work is an option and will likely quit if their employer mandates a return to the office, according to Hired's annual software engineering study. Its finding suggests that employers requiring a full-time or hybrid return to office will hurt recruiting efforts.

Employers open to remote workers "are able to get better-quality talent that's a better fit for the organization," said Josh Brenner, CEO of Hired, a job-matching platform for technology jobs. That's happening despite the attention given to companies that are starting to move people back to the office, he said.

Brenner said they see evidence of employers broadening their efforts to hire from underrepresented groups in technology occupations, such as Black and Hispanic employees. Markets such as Tampa, Fla.; Atlanta; and Columbus, Ohio, saw employers making the highest requests to interview underrepresented engineering talent. AI experts see diversity in hiring as important to addressing AI bias.

Technology companies have faced criticism for failing to hire more women and Black candidates for technical roles. Some companies, such as Salesforce, have argued that remote work could help address the industry's lack of diversity.

By hiring remotely, companies interested in building a diverse team "are able to cast a wider net," Brenner said.

Last fall, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the number of people working from home tripled in just two years, from 5.7% of the workforce in 2019, or 9 million people, to nearly 18% in 2021, or almost 28 million people.

The New York City-based Hired operates a platform for technology workers that pre-assesses candidates through tests and connects them with employers. Its "2023 State of Software Engineers" report, released Tuesday, is based on interview requests and salary data from 68,500 software engineering candidates and a survey of more than 1,300 software engineers and 120 talent professionals.

Risk of quitting

The report showed that nearly 40% of software engineers preferred only remote roles, and if their employers mandated a return to the office, 21% indicated they would quit immediately, while another 49% said they would start looking for another job.

Software engineers aren't necessarily taking a pay cut to work remotely either, even in areas with a lower cost of living and wages. Employers hiring software engineers for remote jobs are facing competition, and "the talent is able to command a higher [wage] premium," Brenner said.

Employers also appear to favor engineers with traditional training, such as an engineering degree, versus candidates who have gained skills through alternative programs, including coding boot camps, Hired found.

The technology industry has experienced an uptick in layoffs since late 2022, with the youngest software engineers getting hit the hardest. Employers that are hiring are favoring engineers with six years or more experience. The survey also found that nearly 70% of software engineers aren't worried about getting laid off.

Source

Twitter user and Windows detective Albacore has found a dedicated Settings page for USB4 devices inside the new build. The screenshot of the Settings app shows a new "USB4 Hubs and Devices" page inside the USB section. The screenshot below shows the USB4 devices that are connected, which, in this instance, is none as Albacore did not have any USB4 devices.

On the previous Dev channel build, the USB page is pretty much like how it is on Windows 10 as well, ie, it shows notifications when USB devices have issues connecting to the system.

The new USB4 page is hidden which means it is disabled by default. However, it can be enabled using velocity ID "39305332" (not recommended since these are work-in-progress features and are often quite unstable). You can check out the other hidden features inside Windows 11 via this link.

Source: PhantomOcean3 (Twitter) via Albacore (Twitter)

Microsoft working to add dedicated, much-improved USB4 Settings page in Windows 11 22H2

Microsoft Word users are going to get a new, and much needed, shortcut that should make text formatting a lot easier. As announced on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, Microsoft Word for both Windows and Mac will be getting a Paste Text Only keyboard shortcut.

As the blog post itself says:

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just copy and paste text from a website into your document and have it look good? Imagine not having to manually remove the source formatting like font size, type, or background colour.

You might be familiar with this shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V (Cmd + Shift + V on Mac)—it’s also called “keep text only” or “paste plain text”—because of its popularity in other applications like Microsoft Teams, Word for the web, Google, and Gmail. No matter what you call it, the Paste Text Only shortcut is now available in Word for Windows and Word Mac.

Actually, it's not quite ready yet for general availability. The blog post says the feature is currently available for Microsoft 365 Home and Business Standard Beta Channel users for the following Windows and Mac versions:

• Windows: Version 16.0.15831.20174 or later
• Mac: Version 16.67.1113.0 or later

The blog post also points out that users can go into settings to get rid of any numbers and bullet icons that might get copied into the Paste Text Only shortcut.

With the new shortcut, some other Word keyboard shortcuts will get changed. Here's the skinny on those new setups:

Microsoft finally adds Paste Text Only shortcut in Word

Google is finally trashing one of its longtime Chrome browser applications, the Chrome Cleanup Tool, alongside another feature that scans Windows PCs and laptops for security threats.

According to The Verge (opens in new tab), the Cleanup Tool will be removed upon the release of Chrome 111 (opens in new tab). After that, users will no longer be able to scan their PC with the tool through either the Safety Check feature or the browser’s ‘Reset settings and cleanup’ option in Windows.

Though it’s a useful tool, the Cleanup Tool was never meant to be a comprehensive one. There are plenty of other tools and applications that serve its function better like Google Safe Browsing and the built-in Chrome virus protection. And, according to Google, user reports of unwanted and malicious software have declined over the years. Apparently, only 0.06% of Cleanup Tool scans in February actually yielded software concerns.

Back in 2020, Google and cybersecurity firm ESET confirmed they would continue their partnership, which included working with Chrome Cleanup Tool. The technology was specifically employed by Google to inform users of potentially harmful software attempting to access their devices, with the Cleanup Tool then being used to rid the machine at risk of said software. Now that Google is ridding its browser of the tool, it's unclear if and where the partnership with ESET will go from here.

We reached out to Google for comment concerning the full reasons why the Cleanup Tool was retired and will let you know if and when we hear back.

Why retiring Cleanup Tool is not a bad thing

Google claims that the Chrome Cleanup Tool has performed over 80 million cleanups since its release in 2015, recovering systems affected by unexpected settings changes and removing extensions violating Google’s Unwanted Software Policy.

However, one of Google’s main reasons for finally retiring the program — other than due to overlap with other applications that perform the same function — is that new phishing and malware trends continue to emerge and evolve. Malicious software, judging by the less than one percent statistic the tech giant provided, is simply not the same threat as it was before and it makes sense to focus budget and time on enhancing and maintaining security measures that focus on current trends.

Automatic Safe Browsing, anti-malware tools, and enhanced system protections, as well as Adblock and other browser extensions, are clearly more than capable of protecting your Windows machine from threats. It’s vital that security measures evolve with the times, and that we lay to rest programs that are effectively obsolete.

Source

Enthusiasts spotted the first traces of the "never combine" feature returning to Windows 11 in late 2022, but those were rather vague clues without any specific details. Now we have a smoking gun evidence: code in the recent Dev and Canary builds explicitly mentions the upcoming features. According to @XenoPanther and @PhantomOfEarth, the latest Windows 11 preview contains the following strings:

• DesktopTaskbar_GroupingMode
• DesktopTaskbar_ShowLabels
• SystemSettings_DesktopTaskbar_GroupingMode
• SystemSettings_DesktopTaskbar_ShowLabels
• SystemSettings_DesktopTaskbar_SecondaryMonitorsGroupingMode
• "Options to group similar windows on taskbar"
• "Show labels on taskbar pins"

Although the unearthed details sound exciting, we still do not know when or if Microsoft plans to allow users to disable app grouping. The company recently reminded us that changes in the new Canary build might never reach the public release, so do not get your hopes too high. Microsoft might also reserve them for Windows 12, of which a public release is expected in late 2024.

Whatever the case, it is good to see more evidence of Microsoft giving users back what it took away earlier. Meanwhile, you can fix Windows 11's taskbar problems with third-party apps like Start11 (on the screenshot above), which recently received an update to resolve compatibility issues with the latest Windows 11 release.

Microsoft might soon let Windows 11 users show labels and ungroup apps on taskbar

However, that doesn't mean Canary channel Windows Insiders will be completely in the dark when a new build rolls out. The official Windows Insider Twitter feed has confirmed, "We will still tweet when releasing new builds!"

This is obviously good news for Canary channel subscribers who will likely get more build releases per week compared to the ones on the Beta and Dev channels. Microsoft says that those released won't be made on a daily basis, but new builds will still come at a more rapid pace.

Microsoft has also warned Canary users that the new builds "could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows." So the fact that all Canary builds will get at least a heads up via Twitter cannot help but be a good thing.

All new Windows Insider Canary builds will still be announced on Twitter

Google introduced the Chrome Cleanup Tool in 2015 to assist users in recovering from unexpected changes made to the browser's Settings. The application could also detect and remove unwanted software running on Windows machines.

For a time, software installations on Windows would sometimes include browser extensions, which were often installed automatically, and changes to the homepage and new tab pages of browsers, as well as search providers. Google notes that its Cleanup Tool has performed over 80 million cleanups since its launch in 2015.

Google was criticized for one specific trait of its Cleanup Tool: the ability to scan the machine Chrome was running on. Privacy fears and concerns were at the center of the criticism, and users discovered ways to block the component, called the Chrome Software Reporter Tool, from running on their devices.

Tip: check out these Chrome security extensions to boost the browser's protective features.

Google explains why it is removing the Chrome Cleanup Tool

Google explains in a blog post on its Security blog, that several factors played a role in the decision making process to terminate the tool and remove it from its Chrome web browser.

The company detected a constant decline in unwanted software findings on Windows PCs over the years. Last month, Chrome's Cleanup Tool returned hits on just 0.06% of all scans that it initiated on Windows. Complains, also in decline according to Google, still make up about 3% of all complaints in the past year.

Changes to the platform ecosystem, both in Chrome but also the underlying operating system, have improved user protections against these often unwanted applications. Google highlights Chrome's internal Safe Browsing component, which blocks known threats and unwanted applications. Google is working on integrating insecure downloads protections in Chrome to further improve protection.

Google noticed a shift in trends in the malware space. Other techniques, more promising, are on the rise. These require different types of security defenses.

Starting in Chrome 111, the Chrome Cleanup Tool is no longer part of the Chrome browser; this includes the Software Reporter Tool. Chrome users who attempt to launch scans manually, which they could do on the internal page chrome://settings/cleanup, will notice that the page does not return anything anymore.

The option to use the "Reset settings and cleanup" option is also removed from the Chrome web browser's settings on Windows machines.

Google notes that Chrome users continue to be protected by the Safe Browsing feature. The company suggests that users may turn on Enhanced Protection in the browser's security settings to increase protections from dangerous websites and downloads "substantially". Users should take note that enabling the feature will transmit browsing data to Google.

Closing Words

It is difficult to say if the Chrome Cleanup Tool has done more good than bad over the years. It seems to have assisted users 80 million times in the eight years in which it was available. The number of users who experienced slowdowns, hangs or high memory usage caused by the tool running on their systems is not known.

Now You: have you used the Cleanup Tool in the past?

Google Chrome won't scan Windows PCs periodically anymore

The actual description of Spatial Audio in the roadmap is very vague:

Spatial Audio brings next-generation spatialized audio to Teams, where you can meet like you're there together. This intelligent audio technology makes the meeting experience more natural, inclusive and focused for everyone.

Yes, but what is it? Spatial Audio is supposed to simulate a 360-degree audio setup, but with just a pair of speakers. That also includes headphones and earbuds, which means Teams users should hear speakers as if they were in a physical office meeting room. This support will officially launch in May in General Availability for desktop and Mac users.

That's not the only new feature coming to Teams in the next couple of months. Here's a breakdown of what was added to the roadmap in the last week:

• Front row gallery improvements for Teams Rooms on Windows: Improvements to the front row experience for Teams Rooms on Windows using Microsoft AI to remove individual backgrounds, adjust video participant size, and apply a unified background design so remote participants appear as if they are in the same room. (GA: May 2023 - Desktop)
• Teams Button to Join Meeting from Pre-Join Screen: Starting today, users can successfully join and participate in a meeting directly with their Teams Button on their Microsoft Teams certified peripheral. After a user receives a meeting start notification, the user can press the Teams Button to bring up their Meeting Pre-Join Screen. Now, a subsequent press of the Teams Button will allow the user to join the meeting! (GA: April 2023 - Desktop, Mac)
• Enhanced OneDrive file picker: Users can leverage the new UI to more easily navigate, access and pick files from OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. (GA: March 2023 - Teams and Surface Devices, Web, Desktop)
• Enable second video stream with "Teams Content Camera on Desktop": Users will be able to enable a second video stream to support both their Personal Video and Teams Content Camera on Desktop feature. When enabling the Teams Content Camera on Desktop feature, the Personal Video is expected to be maintained so long that the user selects a separate Camera to support the two video streams. (GA: March 2023 - Desktop, Mac)
• Invoke Content Camera on Desktop feature: Currently, users must turn on sharing from a content camera in Microsoft Teams via the Share tray on the Teams Meeting stage. Moving forward, users will be able to start and stop sharing content directly from a certified Teams device. This feature enables presenters to share a Whiteboard, document, or video more quickly during a meeting. (GA: March 2023 - Desktop, Mac)

We will keep an eye out on the roadmap and report on any new features for Teams that are coming down the pike every week.

Upcoming Microsoft Teams updates include Spatial Audio support and more

As per usual, there's no full changelog between builds to speak of, so it's unclear what's new in the bits that relate to Server, for a full changelog of the build 25314 client, go here. As you may have noticed, the Windows Server Preview now aligns with the new Canary channel, which might indicate we won't see a new Server version until next year when Windows 12 is expected to be released.

Branding has not yet been updated and remains as Windows Server 2022 in the preview. In addition, Microsoft is encouraging Insiders to give feedback in the Windows Server category and then the appropriate subcategory. The company asks to indicate the build number you are providing feedback on along with the title as shown in the example below:

• [Server #####] Title of my feedback

What's New

RESOLVED: While using Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) or in doing a clean install, users may encounter rendering issues which create difficulty in using these processes. Build-to-build upgrade is unaffected.

RESOLVED: Installing the Languages and Optional Features preview will put the Server in a state where SCONFIG does not reliable start up after login, and Remote Desktop functionality into the Server fails inconsistently. If you depend on either Remote Desktop or SCONFIG, you may wish to avoid installing the Languages and Optional Features preview.

Known Issues

This build has an issue where archiving eventlogs with "wevetutil al" command causes the Windows Event Log service to crash, and the archive operation to fail. The service must be restarted by executing "Start-Service EventLog" from an administrative command line prompt.

If you are have Secure Launch/DRTM code path enabled, we do not recommend that you install this build.

Available Downloads:

• Windows Server Long-Term Servicing Channel Preview in ISO format in 18 languages, and in VHDX format in English only.
  Windows Server Datacenter Azure Edition Preview in ISO and VHDX format, English only.*
  Microsoft Server Languages and Optional Features Preview

Note: Downloads to certain countries may not be available. See Microsoft suspends new sales in Russia - Microsoft On the Issues

Keys are valid for preview builds only:

• Server Standard: MFY9F-XBN2F-TYFMP-CCV49-RMYVH
• Datacenter: 2KNJJ-33Y9H-2GXGX-KMQWH-G6H67
• Azure Edition does not accept a key

To download, registered Insiders can head over to the Windows Server Insider Preview download page here. You can also check out the Getting Started with Server page here on the Windows Insider for Business portal to register for the Windows Insider Program in case you aren't already registered.

Microsoft also notes that this Preview will expire on September 15, 2023.

You can download the build here, and find the official announcement here.

Windows Server build 25314 includes fix for SCONFIG on startup and WinRE rendering

Bing first came into existence in June 2009 and since then it has lived a mostly unnoticed life, until recently. Despite the latest feat, Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi acknowledges that the search engine is still "a small, low, single digit share player" in the market. Yet the engagement from the millions of users who tried the new Bing preview has given it a much-needed boost.

Bing's chat feature is powered by a newer version of OpenAI's large language model and it can throw detailed answers to long and complex user queries. However, a party trick (other than playing chess) up its sleeve is the chatbot can even impersonate popular celebrities like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Microsoft credits its Prometheus model for improving the Bing search quality and its core web search ranking. The Chromium-based Edge, which is Windows 10/11's default browser, has also shown considerable growth in the last seven quarters, contributing to the trial and adoption of Microsoft's search engine.

However, with less than 3% market share, according to StatCounter, Bing has a long road ahead before it steals a big bite of Google's share which currently exceeds 90%. While its ChatGPT efforts did shake things up under Google's roof, Microsoft itself is facing its own set of issues with the AI chatbot.

Source

The new languages that are supported in Microsoft Translator are:

•         chiShona (7 million speakers)
•         Hausa (72 million speakers)
•         Igbo (40 million speakers)
•         Kinyarwanda (10 million speakers)
•         Lingala (65 million speakers)
•         Luganda (21 million speakers)
•         Nyanja (1 million speakers)
•         Rundi (12 million speakers)
•         Sesotho (14 million speakers)
•         Sesotho sa Leboa (15 million speakers)
•         Setswana (13 million speakers)
•         Xhosa (10 million speakers)
•         Yoruba (55 million speakers)

The new additions mean that 335 million more people can now use the Microsoft Translator apps to chat and communicate with others that don't use those languages. It also means the Translator service now supports a total of 124 languages. You can learn more about each of the 13 newly supported African languages on the Translator blog post.

Microsoft has recently released a major update to the Translator app for iOS devices, and both the iOS and Android apps for Microsoft Teams added a feature in late 2022 that prompts for intelligent and automatic translations in chats.

Source

The company announced this change in January with a new entry added to the Microsoft 365 roadmap when it entered an initial testing phase by first rolling out to Insiders.

The new feature will be generally available in multi-tenants worldwide by late March after rolling out to all desktop users in the Current, Monthly Enterprise, and Semi-Annual Enterprise channels.

"We are introducing a default change for Excel Windows desktop apps that run XLL add-ins: XLL add-ins from untrusted locations will now be blocked by default," Microsoft said in a new Microsoft 365 message center post.

"We have already completed rolling out to Insiders preview. We will begin rolling out early March and expect to complete by late March."

Moving forward, in tenants where the XLL blocking will get enabled by default, an alert will be displayed when users try to enable content from untrusted locations, informing them of the potential risk and allowing them to find more information about why they're seeing the warning.

This is part of a broader effort to tackle the rise of malware campaigns abusing various Office document formats as an infection vector throughout recent years.

Microsoft began working to remove Office infection vectors used in attack campaigns back in 2018 when it extended support for AMSI to Office 365 apps to block attacks using VBA macros.

Since then, Redmond started disabling Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, added XLM macro protection, and announced that VBA Office macros are now also blocked by default.

What are XLL add-ins?

Excel XLL files are dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) used to expand the functionality of Microsoft Excel with additional features like custom functions, dialog boxes, and toolbars.

However, attackers are also taking advantage of XLL add-ins in phishing campaigns. They use them to push malicious payloads disguised as download links or attachments from trusted entities such as business partners.

Before being blocked by default, XLLs would allow attackers to infect victims that enabled the untrusted add-ins and opened them even though they were warned that the "add-ins might contain viruses or other security hazards."

After opening the add-ins, the malware got installed in the background without requiring user interaction.

XLLs have been used by both state-backed threat groups and financially-motivated attackers (APT10, FIN7, Donot, TA410) to deploy first-stage payloads onto their targets' systems, according to Cisco Talos security researchers.

"Their usage significantly increased over the last two years as more commodity malware families adopted XLLs as their infection vector," Cisco Talos said.

HP's threat analyst team also reported seeing a "near-sixfold surge in attackers using Excel add-ins (.XLL)" in January 2022 as part of their Q4 2021 threat recap.

Source

Google is rolling out the update for all supported platforms over the course of the coming weeks. Most Chrome users may want to speed up the installation of the update, which they can on desktop platforms.

Select Menu > Help > About Google Chrome, or load chrome://settings/help directly in the address bar to open the Help page. Chrome displays the current version of the browser on the page, runs a check for updates, and downloads & installs any update that it finds. A restart of the web browser is required to complete the process.

The following Chrome version should be displayed on the page after the installation of the security update:

• Chrome for Mac 111.0.5563.64
• Chrome for Linux 111.0.5563.64
• Chrome for Windows 111.0.5563.64 or 111.0.5563.65
• Chrome Extended for Windows and Mac: 110.0.5481.192
• Chrome for Android: 111.0.5563.57 or 111.0.5563.58

Google Chrome 111: vulnerabilities

Google Chrome 111 is a security update first and foremost. It patches 40 different vulnerabilities in Google's browser on all platforms. Google lists only the security issues that were reported by third-parties in its announcements. The maximum severity is high, and includes vulnerabilities in CSS, V8, the Developer Tools, and crash reporting.

The company makes no mention of exploits in the wild, which means that it is not aware of any active exploits targeting Chrome installations already.

Chrome 111: other changes

Google Chrome 111 is also a new stable version of the web browser. As such, it includes several under-the-hood changes and other changes.  Most of these changes are relevant to developers only; a list of them are available on the Chrome Status website.

Google adds more privacy sandbox functionality into Chrome 111. Users will see an updated user experience that shows a confirmation dialog and may direct users to settings pages.

Google highlights a change for Chrome on Android and Linux. It moves the System DNS resolution out of the network process, which is sandboxed, to the unsandboxed browser process. Google notes that this is necessary because "system DNS resolution cannot run while sandboxed on these platforms".

Chrome 111 adds support for Azure AD Single Sign-On (SSO). It enables automatic sign-ins into Microsoft identity providers using Windows account information. The feature is disabled by default, but may be enabled using the CloudAPAuthEnabled policy. Google notes that the feature is only available on Windows 10 and 11 devices.

Chrome 111 on iOS supports the Web Speech API for speech recognition. The speech-to-text conversion is handled by Apple servers according to Google.

Closing Words

Google Chrome 111 is a big security update that users should install immediately to protect the browser against potential exploits.

Now You: do you run Chrome on your devices?

Google Chrome 111 update fixes a massive number of vulnerabilities

What’s new in Build 25314

Access Keys in File Explorer

We are adding access key shortcuts into the XAML context menu in File Explorer. An access key is a one keystroke shortcut that allows a keyboard user to quickly execute a command in context menu. Each access key will correspond with a letter in the display name. It’s part of our effort to make File Explorer more accessible. To try this out, you can click on a file in File Explorer and press the menu key on your keyboard.

NOTE: If you see the “pizza” icon on the command bar in File Explorer that denotes you are previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer, you will not see this feature yet.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

File Recommendations in File Explorer

File Recommendations are coming to File Explorer Home to bring users the most relevant file content right to their fingertips. This feature (as pictured below) will be available to users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account. Files that are recommended will be cloud files associated with that account, either owned by the user, or shared with the user.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Introducing LSA Protection Enablement on Upgrade

Local Security Authority (LSA) protection helps protect against theft of secrets and credentials used for logon by preventing unauthorized code from running in the LSA process and by preventing dumping of process memory. Starting with on upgrade, we will audit for a period of time to check for incompatibilities with LSA protection. If we do not detect any incompatibilities, we will automatically turn on LSA Protection. You can check and change the enablement state of LSA protection in the Windows Security application under the Device Security > Core Isolation page.

LSA protection records whether programs are blocked from loading into LSA in the event log. If you would like to check if something has been blocked, information on the logs recorded is available here.

Feedback: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN+F) under Security and Privacy > Logging Into Your PC.

Narrator Outlook Support

Narrator will now retrieve updates to its Outlook support when Narrator is started. You can learn more about the work we did for Outlook in Chapter 5 of the Narrator User Guide. We have not added any additional functionality to our Outlook support, but this work will allow updates to the Outlook experience to be made through the Microsoft Store. You will receive a notification after the download is completed to inform you that the update has been retrieved. With this change, Narrator’s Outlook support is limited to U.S. English only. Other languages will be supported in a future flight.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

To increase security in Windows 11, starting with this build and later we are disabling the Remote Mailslot Protocol by default. The legacy Remote Mailslot Protocol is a simple, unreliable, insecure, and unidirectional inter-process communications protocol between a client and server and was introduced in Windows NT 3.1 and will be deprecated in a future Windows release. If an application attempts to open a Remote Mailslot session over the SMB protocol, you may see one or more of the following errors:

3025 ERROR_REMOTE_MAILSLOTS_DEPRECATED

“The requested operation failed. Remote mailslots have been deprecated.”

If your application still uses Remote Mailslot, contact your vendor about updating their software. The legacy Remote Mailslot is not secure and should not be used under any circumstances. If you need to temporarily enable Remote Mailslot, run the following command in an elevated PowerShell console:

PS C:\> Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableMailslots $true

Microsoft warns people who want to check out the Canary Channel Windows 11 builds that they "could include major issues that could result in not being able to use your PC correctly or even in some rare cases require you to reinstall Windows." Microsoft may release more Canary Channel builds but it will not post new blogs announcing them unless they contain new features.

Windows 11 Insider Build 25314 released as the first for the new Canary Channel

What’s new in Build 23403

Introducing live captions in more languages

Live captions help everyone and people who are deaf or hard of hearing read live captions in their native language. The first release of live captions in the Windows 11 2022 Update provided captions in English, with a focus on English (United States). In this build, live captions gains the ability to also provide captions in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish and other English dialects. We will add more languages as they become available.

Live captions in Japanese.

To get started, live captions can be turned on with the WIN + Ctrl + L keyboard shortcut, or from the quick settings accessibility flyout via Quick Settings. When turned on for the first time, live captions will prompt for download of the required speech recognition support to enable on-device captioning. If speech recognition support is not available in your preferred Windows language or you want support in other languages, you will be able to download speech recognition support for live captions under Settings > Time & Language > Language & region.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Live captions.

Access Keys in File Explorer

We are adding access key shortcuts into the XAML context menu in File Explorer. An access key is a one keystroke shortcut that allows a keyboard user to quickly execute a command in context menu. Each access key will correspond with a letter in the display name. It’s part of our effort to make File Explorer more accessible. To try this out, you can click on a file in File Explorer and press the menu key on your keyboard.

Access keys in the XAML context menu in File Explorer.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

File Recommendations in File Explorer

File Recommendations are coming to File Explorer Home to bring users the most relevant file content right to their fingertips. This feature (as pictured below) will be available to users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account. Files that are recommended will be cloud files associated with that account, either owned by the user, or shared with the user.

File recommendations in File Explorer for users signed in with an AAD account.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Voice access improvements

Redesigned in-app command help page: We have completely renovated the in-app command help page in voice access to make it simpler to use and comprehend. The search bar allows users to quickly find commands and the various categories provide further guidance. Every command now has a description and examples of its variations, making it easier to understand and use.

You can access the command help page from Help > View all commands on the voice access bar or use the voice command “what can I say”.

Redesigned in-app help page in voice access.

Please note that the redesigned in-app help page in voice access may not include all commands and the supplementary information may be inaccurate. We plan to update this in future builds. If you want an exhaustive list of Voice Access commands and extra information about them, we recommend you refer Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice – Microsoft Support.

Voice access is available in English dialects: We have extended voice access to support other English dialects such as English -UK, English – India, English – New Zealand, English – Canada, English – Australia.

When voice access is turned on for the first time, you will be prompted to download a speech model to enable on-device recognition of voice data. In case voice access does not find a speech model matching your display language, you can still choose to proceed ahead to use voice access in English – US.

You can always switch to a different language by navigating to Settings > Language on the voice access bar.

Language on the voice access bar.

New text selection & editing commands: We have added some more useful commands to make text selection and editing easier with voice access.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Voice Access.

Updated Touch Keyboard Settings

We are introducing updates for the new touch keyboard setting that replaces the “Show the touch keyboard when there’s no keyboard attached” checkbox under Settings > Time & language > Typing > Touch keyboard with a new dropdown menu with 3 options to control whether tapping an edit control should launch the touch keyboard:

• “Never” suppresses the touch keyboard even when no hardware keyboard is attached.
• “When no keyboard attached” will show the touch keyboard only when the device is used as a tablet without the hardware keyboard.
• “Always” will show the touch keyboard even when the hardware keyboard is attached.

New touch keyboard settings.

Narrator Outlook Support

Narrator will now retrieve updates to its Outlook support when Narrator is started. You can learn more about the work we did for Outlook in Chapter 5 of the Narrator User Guide. We have not added any additional functionality to our Outlook support, but this work will allow updates to the Outlook experience to be made through the Microsoft Store. You will receive a notification after the download is completed to inform you that the update has been retrieved. With this change, Narrator’s Outlook support is limited to U.S. English only. Other languages will be supported in a future flight.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Multi-App Kiosk Mode

Multi-app kiosk mode is a lockdown feature for Windows 11 that allows an IT administrator to select a set of allowable apps to run on the device, while all other functionalities are blocked. This enables you to create multiple different apps and access configurations for different user types, all on a single device.

Some lockdown customizations include:

• Limiting access to Settings, except selected pages (e.g., Wi-Fi and screen brightness)
• Lock down the Start menu to show only allowed apps.
• Block toasts and pop-ups that lead to unwanted UI.

Multi-app kiosk mode is ideal for scenarios in which multiple people need to use the same device. This can include frontline workers and retail scenarios, education and test taking.

Currently, multi-app kiosk mode can be enabled using PowerShell and WMI Bridge, with support for Intune/MDM and provisioning package configuration coming soon.

To configure using WMI, follow these instructions. Using the Windows 10 sample XML will enable the feature, but will result in an empty Start menu. To populate the Start menu with your apps, follow these instructions to generate the list of pinned apps, then add it to your XML file after closing the StartLayout section, like the below:

Your JSON here ]]>

Don’t forget to update the namespace by replacing the AssignedAccessConfiguration tag with the below:

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Device Lockdown

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• Users will now see a copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts from apps installed on the PC or from phones linked to the PC. We make a best effort to determine if a notification toast has an authentication code but please send us feedback if we got it wrong or if we failed to detect the code in a notification toast. This change is beginning to roll out, so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel will see it right away.

New copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• We have added a glanceable VPN status into the system tray when connected to a recognized VPN profile. The VPN icon, a small shield, will be overlayed in over the active network connection. Currently, the overlayed VPN icon does not use your system accent colour but will do so in a future build.

A glanceable VPN status into the system tray.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• The search box on taskbar will be lighter when Windows is set to a custom colour mode. Specifically, when the Windows 11 mode is set to dark, and the app mode is set to light under Settings > Personalization > colours you will see a lighter search box on taskbar.

The search box on taskbar will be lighter when Windows is set to a custom colour mode.

[Input]

• We have updated the Simplified Chinese handwriting recognition engine to be faster and more accurate as well as supported characters defined in GB18030-2022. Currently you can write characters in GB18030-2022 Level 2 and some of characters in GB18030-2022 Level 1 in the handwriting panel or directly into the text field when it’s supported. Please try it and let us know what you think.

The Simplified Chinese handwriting recognition engine is faster and more accurate and now supports characters defined in GB18030-202.

[Settings]

• Right-clicking on a Win32 app in Start, or searching for the app, and choosing “Uninstall” will now take you to the Settings to uninstall the app.

Fixes

[Search on the Taskbar]

• Fixed rendering issues when using the touch keyboard with the search box on taskbar.
• Fixed an issue when double clicking the search highlight glyph in the search box makes it disappear.
• Fixed an issue where the search box would randomly disappear.
• Fixed an issue where the search icon flips incorrectly for right-to-left (RTL) languages.
• Fixed on issue where you might have seen some text flicker in the search box when you click into it.
• Fixed an issue where the search box might disappear on one monitor if you are using multiple monitors.
• Made some accessibility fixes to the settings for search under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an underlying issue believed to be the cause of File Explorer unexpectedly jumping into the foreground sometimes.

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

[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.

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).
• Clicking on the “Open File Location” command will pop an error dialog that can easily be dismissed.
• Clicking on the ‘Remove from list’ command will result in no actions.

[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.
• Live captions for Chinese Traditional currently does not work on Arm64 devices.
• 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.

[Voice access]

• Please note that the redesigned in-app help page in voice access may not include all commands and the supplementary information may be inaccurate. We plan to update this in future builds. If you want an exhaustive list of Voice Access commands and extra information about them, we recommend you refer Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice – Microsoft Support.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 Dev channel build 23403 brings XAML, recommended content to File Explorer