Although customers often blame Windows updates for everything wrong in this world, the problem is not related to Windows updates this time. Microsoft says the culprit is damaged registry keys or data that affects applications using the Microsoft Office API, such as Barco's ClickShare.

Microsoft is investigating the situation and promises to release a fix in upcoming updates. Meanwhile, customers can mitigate the bug by uninstalling apps that integrate with Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Calendar. The company also recommends running several scripts as described in the official troubleshooting guidance or contacting app developers and asking for advice.

Speaking of other bugs, Microsoft recently confirmed that using Windows System Restore point might result in apps no longer working on certain computers.

Do you have problems using UWP apps, the Start menu, or Windows Search? Share your experience in the comment section.

Microsoft confirms Start menu and UWP apps issues in Windows 11 and 10

You can find the full changelog below:

Highlights:

• Support for:
  • Forspoken™
  • IREE compiler using MLIR interface on Vulkan.
  • Additional Vulkan® extensions. Click here for more information.

Fixed Issues

• AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition may fail to launch with the error message “Delayed Write Failed” on Microsoft® Windows® 11 version 22H2.
• Poor performance and load time may be observed while playing SpaceEngine™.
• Missing or flickering textures may be observed while playing Emergency 4™.

Known Issues

• High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays.
• Video stuttering or performance drop may be observed during gameplay plus video playback with some extended display configuration.
• Stuttering may be observed in UNCHARTED™ 4: A Thief’s End during the opening game sequence.
• Stuttering may be observed in Forspoken™ when dynamic resolution is set to enabled.
• Application crash may be observed while opening Premium Gold Packs in EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23.
• Stuttering may be observed while playing Sea of Thieves™.
• Corruption may be observed while playing Battlefield™ 4 with Post Process Quality settings set to high or ultra
• Some virtual reality games or apps may experience lower-than-expected performance.
• Maximum encode bitrate is limited to 100Mbps for certain applications.

You can download the new Radeon Software 23.1.2 from AMD"s official website. Like its previous two driver updates, the new Adrenalin release is once again only applicable to Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs and those with last-gen cards, like RX 6000 or older, the latest driver still remains 22.11.2 released back in November 2022.

AMD fixes major Windows 11 22H2 bug that led to launch failures with 23.1.2 driver

The list of changes and updates in this update is quite small but the list of fixed issues and known issues is a bit more lengthy, they are as follows:

Changes and updates

• Update Tor Browser to 102.7.
• Update the Tor client to 0.4.7.13.
• Simplify the error screen of the Tor Connection assistant when connecting automatically.
• Improve the wording of the backup utility for the Persistent Storage.
• Remove the confirmation dialog when starting the Unsafe Browser.

Fixed problems

• Fix support for some graphics cards:
  • Update the Linux kernel to 6.0.12. This improves the support for newer hardware in general: graphics, Wi-Fi, and so on.
  • Remove from the Troubleshooting Mode 2 boot options that break support for some graphics cards: nomodeset and vga=normal.
    • Please let us know if the support for your graphics cards has been fixed or is still broken.
• Fix starting AppImages that use the Qt toolkit like Feather and Bitcoin-Qt.
• Fix clipboard encryption and decryption in Kleopatra.
• Fix at least 2 cases of Persistent Storage not activating:
  • When activation takes longer
  • When the Dotfiles feature includes symbolic links
    • Please keep reporting issues with the new Persistent Storage. We give them top priority!
• Fix 3 clipboard operations with KeePassXC:
  • Copying a passphrase to unlock a database
  • Using the auto-type feature
  • Clearing passwords automatically from the clipboard after 10 seconds
• Fix the display of the applications menu that was broken in some GTK3 applications installed as Additional Software.
• Localize the homepage of Tor Browser when started from the Tor Connection assistant.

Known issues

Please keep reporting issues with the new Persistent Storage and when starting on graphics cards that used to work with Tails.

Tor Browser has no minimize and maximize buttons

To work around this:

1. Right-click on the Tor Browser tab in the window list at the bottom of the screen.
2. Choose Minimize or Maximize.

Welcome Screen and Tor Connection don't fit on 800×600

The top of the Welcome Screen and some button of the Tor Connection assistant are cut out on small displays (800×600), like virtual machines.

You can press Alt+S to start Tails.

Progress bar of Tor Connection gets stuck around 50%

When using a custom Tor obfs4 bridge, the progress bar of Tor Connection sometimes gets stuck halfway through and becomes extremely slow.

To fix this, you can either:

• Close and reopen Tor Connection to speed up the initial connection.
• Try a different obfs4 bridge.

This issue only affects outdated obfs4 bridges and does not happen with obfs4 bridges that run version 0.0.12 or later.

While these known issues are a bit annoying, users won’t have too much of an issue upgrading to the latest release. When you boot Tails 5.0 or later, you’ll receive a message letting you know that an upgrade is available. It should download and install without issue but if you want to do a manual update, follow the instructions here.

Tails 5.9 arrives with an apology from the developers

The updated File Explorer will focus on improving the visuals and delivering a better and deeper integration with OneDrive and Microsoft 365. For example, the app will get a redesigned toolbar combined with the address and search bar. Common actions, such as "New," "Copy," "Pase," and others, will sit below the address bar, not above it as in the current File Explorer iteration.

Keep in mind that this is one of Microsoft's internal concepts, not the final, release-ready thing.

As mentioned in previous reports, the Home page will start showing recommended content pulled from Microsoft 365. Microsoft will use large thumbnails with rich previews to separate recommendations from the "Pinned" and "Recent" sections.

The navigation pane will remain mostly the same, with most changes focusing on visuals, rounded corners™, and more modern code. As for the details pane, it will receive many new features, including integration with Microsoft 365, recent activities, comments from other people, access management, related emails, related files, and more.

According to Windows Central's sources, the recently spotted "Gallery" sectionwill deliver a better image-viewing experience. For example, Microsoft wants to give Windows 11 users the ability to preview images by hovering the cursor over the photos (some might prefer pressing the Spacebar key). Finally, rumors say File Explorer in Windows 11 might allow tagging files with words and colours like in macOS's Finder.

Microsoft plans to ship the upgraded File Explorer at the end of this year as a part of the Windows 11 23H2 update. Naturally, Windows Insiders should get their hands on all the good stuff a few months earlier. Those in dire need of a better File Explorer experience might want to check out the Files app we recently included in our "Top 11 apps for Windows 11 users" article.

First look at the upcoming File Explorer redesign in Windows 11

As noted by Twitter user @PhantomOfEarth, Snipping Tool 11.2212.24.0 now lets you pause a screen recording. Besides, it now features a simplified mode switcher that ditched the "Snip" and "Record" text on the buttons. Finally, the app has received slightly changed controls for customizing the recording area border.

Unfortunately, the app still does not allow changing the framerate, which is capped at 30fps, and you cannot reposition the recording area when paused. If you are unhappy with this, be sure to file your complaints in Feedback Hub.

You can download the updated Snipping Tool from the Microsoft Store. Those wanting a more capable app for taking screenshots and recording the screen in Windows 11, check out ShareX 15, which is now available for download in the stable channel.

Microsoft updates Snipping Tool with the ability to pause screen recording

Here is what Microsoft says in the updated announcement post:

Microsoft Edge version 109 will be the last supported version on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 (version 110 and later will be unavailable). Version 109 will receive critical security fixes and fixes for known exploit bugs until October 10, 2023. WebView2 Runtime version 109 will be supported in the same way.

Additionally, Internet Explorer 11 remains supported on those operating systems for as long as they are in support.

It is worth noting that extended support does not mean new features or updates to more recent versions. Microsoft will only issue the most critical security updates, and the browser will remain on version 109 until its end. Also, an attempt to install Microsoft Edge 110 and newer on Windows 7 or 8.1 will result in the installer reporting an unsupported operating system.

Switching to Firefox might be your only option if you have a Windows 7 or 8 system that cannot be updated to Windows 10 or 11. Mozilla still supports its browser on now-dead Windows versions, but that will not last long.

Microsoft extends Edge support on Windows Server 2012 and R2 to October 2023

Of course, you can always use several Edge windows to view several pages simultaneously. However, Edge Split Screen makes working with two pages much easier without dragging tabs and arranging windows. You can also resize the split tabs and open links side-by-side.

This is not the first time Microsoft has allowed opening two pages in one window. The recently introduced Edge Sidebar lets you add and pin websites for quick access. Also, the idea itself is not new—Vivaldi, for example, offers a more advanced version of this feature, allowing users to split one window into four tabs.

How to enable Microsoft Edge Split Screen:

1. Install Microsoft Edge Beta, Dev, or Canary.
2. Go to edge://flags/#edge-split-screen and set the flag to Enabled.
3. Restart the browser.
4. Open any web page and click the Split Screen button on the toolbar. The browser will open a new tab next to the current page.

    

   
5. Alternatively, right-click any link and select Open Link in split window.

You can exit Split Screen by clicking the X button (this will close the page) or pressing the "..." button and selecting View split screen pages in two tabs.

What do you think about the Microsoft Edge Split Screen feature? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Microsoft Edge 110 now lets you split two tabs in one window

This is what’s new in Windows Package Manager (WinGet) 1.4:

WinGet Show Improvements

A few more manifest values like tags and purchase URL were added to the output (if they are present) of winget show . Below I have an example running winget show oh-my-posh -s winget. Since Oh My Posh is available both in the Microsoft Store and the Windows Package Manager community repository, I narrowed the results down to the “winget” source. If you like the colourful display in my prompt, that’s the prompt theme engine I’m using.

Command Aliases

Muscle memory can be hard to overcome. If you’ve ever tried to type “dir” on a Linux system or “ls” on Windows, you know what I mean. Several new command aliases have been added to WinGet that might help a little. When you run winget with no arguments, the default help displays the available commands. If you drill in a bit running winget --help you will see if any aliases are available. Below, you can see “find” is an alias for “search”. Other command aliases include add for install, update for upgrade, remove and rm for uninstall, ls for list, and config for settings.

As you might expect, you can now run winget find vscode and the same output is displayed as if you had run winget search vscode.

Note: The results displayed when searching the Windows Package Manager Community repository are ordered by a “best match” heuristic. WinGet evaluates the name, identifier, moniker, and tags. They are also more inclusive than “show” where WinGet is trying to find a single best match to use for install.

Install / Upgrade Flow Enhancements

Some packages require an explicit argument to be passed in order to perform an upgrade. This was causing winget to fail if a user ran winget install and the package was already installed on the machine. We made some additional enhancements to detect that the package was already installed and switch to the upgrade flow. If you don’t want the upgrade, you can pass --no-upgrade. This is most commonly encountered in scritped scenarios. We’ve also noticed several packages can upgrade themselves, so our default behavior is to allow them to do so. If you run winget upgrade --all and one or more of these packages are encountered, they will be skipped. If you want to include them, just add --include-explicit.

.zip Archive

WinGet now supports installing packages contained within a .zip archive. This feature builds on the existing support for portable packages, and existing installer support for MSIX, MSI, and EXE-based installers. Our initial support includes either a single installer, or (one or more) portable package(s). We’ve kept the Issues and PRs (Pull Requests) open at GitHub and added the “.zip” label to them. Once this release rolls out to the majority of supported Windows systems, we will begin validating the existing PRs and accepting new ones.

Wait

Wait, there’s more. (I couldn’t help myself) Sometimes when you’re scripting things, or debugging, you want a prompt. It can be quite frustrating to see a terminal window display some text and then disappear before you can read everything. Just add --wait.

If you want to learn more about getting started with WinGet, be sure to check out Microsoft’s documentation page which will show you the basics.

WinGet 1.4 launches with zip extraction support and more

Nvidia writes:

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS 3 technology including Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Hitman 3, and Deliver Us Mars. Additionally, this Game Ready Driver supports the launch of titles supporting NVIDIA DLSS technology including Dead Space and Forspoken.

The new 528.24 driver also fixes several bugs across Adobe's software suite, as well as in other professional apps like Autodesk alias and Octane:

• Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom instability with 528.02 [3940086]
• Adobe Photoshop 24.1 application instability with 528.02 when using GeForce Experience [3940488]
• [Adobe Premiere Pro] ProRes RAW files appear completely black when previewing [3924753]
• Autodesk Alias: Expected transparent window appears opaque [3891620]
• OctaneBench 2020 fails intermittently due to render engine failure [3880988]

The company has confirmed several yet-to-be-resolved issues as well:

• Toggling HDR on and off in-game causes game stability issues when non-native resolution is used. [3624030]
• Monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled. [3592260]
• [Halo Wars 2] In-game foliage is larger than normal and displays constant flickering [3888343]
• [Steam version] Forza Horizon 4 may freeze after 15-30 minutes of gameplay [3866530]
• [GeForce RTX 4090] Watch Dogs 2 may display flickering when staring at the sky [3858016]

The Nvidia 528.24 Game Ready driver is now available via the GeForce Experience app. Those who prefer direct downloads can find standalone links below:

Desktop GPUs:

• GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH

Notebook GPUs:

• GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH

You can view the release notes for the driver here (PDF).

Nvidia 528.24 WHQL driver brings support for Forspoken, Dead Space (2023), and more

What is new in macOS Ventura 13.2?

Here is the official changelog for macOS Ventura 13.2:

This update introduces Security Keys for Apple ID, and includes other enhancements and bug fixes for your Mac.

• Security Keys for Apple ID allow users to strengthen the security of their account by requiring a physical security key to sign in
• Fixes an issue in Freeform where some drawing strokes created with Apple Pencil or your finger may not appear on shared boards
• Fixes an issue where VoiceOver may stop offering audio feedback while you are typing

Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices. For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

macOS Ventura 13.2 is available (officially) on the following Macs:

• MacBook Pro 13 2017 and newer
• MacBook Pro 15 2017 and newer
• MacBook Pro 16 2019 and newer
• MacBook Air 2018 and newer
• MacBook 12 2017 and newer
• iMac Pro 2017 and newer
• iMac 2017 and newer
• Mac mini 2018 and newer
• Mac Studio 2022
• Mac Pro 2019

You can download and install macOS Ventura 13.2 by heading to Settings > Software Update.

Apple releases macOS Ventura 13.2 with physical security keys for Apple ID support

Tabs in Notepad can be useful for those who are working on multiple text documents at once, or want to have several files open for referencing them. Please refer to my previous coverage for more details about the options that are available in the new app.

Warning: If you use Notepad on a daily basis for work, studying, I'd recommend not to download the pre-release version, as it may contain bugs. If you really want a text editor with tabs, check some of my recommendations at the end of this article.

How to get Notepad with Tabs in the stable version of Windows 11

1. Go to this web page: https://store.rg-adguard.net/

2. Click on the first drop-down menu on the left, and set it to Product ID.

3. Paste the following in the box. 9MSMLRH6LZF3

Note: This alphanumeric code refers to the URL associated with the Windows Notepad listing on the Microsoft Store.

4. Select the Fast option in the last drop-down menu, and click on the checkbox next to it.

5. Wait for the web page to populate the links, scroll down to the end of the page. The installer is about 11.68 MB in size, and the name of the file that you need to download is,

Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_11.2212.33.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

6. When you try to run the file, Windows will prompt you whether you would like to update the current version of Notepad. Click the update button to proceed.

That's it, you now have Notepad with Tabs on Windows 11.

If you try uninstalling Notepad, and redownloading it from the Microsoft Store, Windows may just use the pre-release version. That could be a problem when you try to downgrade to the previous build. The stable version of Windows Notepad is 11.2210.5.0. You can save a copy of its installer from the site linked in step 1. Its file size is roughly 10.6 MB. This version can be used a backup, or if you are experiencing any bugs with the new version, or simply want to revert the change and wait for the official release. Just run the installer, and click on the reinstall button in the pop-up.

Want to try Snipping Tool with the video recording option? You can sideload it in similar fashion to this, here's how to do it.

Notepad with tabs is nice, but it is still a very basic text editor. That's not a bad thing per se, but if you want more features, you may want to take a look at NotePad++, CudaText, etc,. Notepads is in my opinion, the closest alternative, in terms of looks, to the built-in text editor in Windows, but it is still a work-in-progress. You can also opt for VSCodium, which is identical to Microsoft's VSCode but without the telemetry, if you want a polished code editor.

Don't be put off by the laggy File Explorer with Tabs, Notepad's implementation is a lot smoother, likely due to the fact that the entire app was rewritten, while Explorer recycled the old code.

Source

Garrett Duchesne, a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, published a Tech community blog post recently, outlining the latest improvements the company is making in terms of audio and display driver evaluation. The new driver evaluation method will be looking at Software Digital Rights Management (SWDRM) catalog reload events, which will help troubleshoot related driver timeout issues during software-based DRM content playback on Netflix and other similar applications.

In the documentation titled "Percentage of devices with SWDRM playback that triggered the Catalog reload event", Microsoft explains:

Devices that experience a Code Integrity catalog reload event when loading binaries into mfpmp.exe, may receive a timeout from Netflix and other applications. This "device based" measure is used to capture this scenario.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) techniques (Software or Hardware) are used during Video Playback on windows devices. We use the set of all devices with SWDRM playback as our sample place to compute the percentage.

Aside from that, the company is also looking to better account Audio Processing Object or APO (software-based Digital Signal Processing) crashing as the current method can often lead to Audio Crash measure failing for some time on the driver submission. This has been explained in the documentation titled "Percent of machines with at least one APO disablement in past 7 days" where Microsoft says:

When Audio APOs crash at least 10 times consecutively, the Audio service disables the APO's further usage in order for the suer to have an error free sound experience. This may result in our Audio Crash measure failing for some time on the driver submission and then start to pass again when the APO causing the issue in that driver submission gets disabled. This measure keeps track of the APO disablements in the past 7 days compared to the devices using audio in that day (Audio Client Initialize event).

While Microsoft continues its efforts to improve Windows drivers, there are issues out there that often fly under the reader. Such issues are sometimes related to Multiplane Overlay (MPO), a feature that appears to cause various display-related problems on Windows 11 as well as Windows 10, where disabling it can often fix a variety of bugs. These bugs include the white mouse cursor, black screen, white screen, stuttering, and flickering, among others.

Microsoft working on better Windows 11, Windows 10 graphics and audio driver quality

WinRAR 6.20 follows WinRAR 6.10, which RARLAB released in January 2022 and the smaller release WinRAR 6.11. Beta testing of WinRAR 6.20 began in October 2022.

WinRAR 6.20

The official changelog lists new features, improvements and bug fixes. Here is a detailed summary on the most important changes in the new release:

• Improved RAR5 compression "of poorly compressible data" on CPUs with eight or more execution threads.
• Efficiency of the repair command improved for "shuffled data blocks" in recovery record protected RAR5 archives.
• If the option "autodetect passwords" is set in Organize Passwords, WinRAR will use passwords automatically for RAR 5.0 and ZIP archives. WinRAR users find the option under File > Set Default Password > Organize Passwords.
• Save original archive name and time under Options allows users to save these. Archives that contain the information display them under Info when using the Show information command. These can also be restored.
• ZIPX decompression of archives that contain file references supported.
• Decompression of .zst long range mode archives with a dictionary size that exceeds 128 megabytes supported.
• A 30 second prompt is displayed to the user if the archiving options "turn off PC", hibernate, sleep or "Restart PC2 are selected. If no user selection occurs in 30 seconds, the action is carried out.
• Open in internal viewer option of the context menu in WinRAR. It can be useful to view raw data of the archive using the internal viewer.
• The recovery record size is displayed on the archive page of the file properties in Explorer.
• When adding files to encrypted solid RAR5 archives, a password is required. If the password is not correct, the dialog will be displayed again. Previously, the operation was cancelled.

WinRAR 6.20 includes several bug fixes next to improvements. The new release fixes a memory leak when "reading contents of .tar.bz2 archives", a crash when unpacking files from specially crafted ZIP archives, and a bug that caused archive modification commands to fail for certain ZIP archives with file comments.

WinRAR 6.20 users may install the new version to upgrade the compression software. All downloads are as usually available on the official website.

Now You: which compression tools do you use?

WinRAR 6.20 with improved repair command efficiency and faster RAR5 compression

Fast forward to 2023 though, things could be changing soon for the better in terms of ReFS support on client OS systems. First noticed by Twitter user and Windows enthusiast Xeno, it looks like the Redmond firm is beginning to work on enabling ReFS features on Windows 11. While at the moment the feature is still disabled on the latest Windows 11 Dev channel build 25281, it can be enabled using a special velocity ID "42189933".

Meanwhile, trying to install Windows 11 build 25281 without the feature ID enabled leads to interruption of the setup with the error message:

Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows installation is not supported for the file system on the current partition [ReFS].

PhantomOcean3, another Twitter user who also fancies delving into early Windows 11 features, notes that the setup went well for the most part, though they did encounter a green screen of death (GSOD) once.

Source: Xeno (Twitter)

It may be time to move on from NTFS as Microsoft is quietly enabling Windows 11 ReFS support

For users on other Linux operating systems such as Linux Mint, either perform a clean install (probably the best idea) or seek out upgrade documentation from the project’s website. If you’re on Ubuntu, updating is very easy, just back up any documents you definitely can’t afford to lose then open the Software Updater, this program should let you know that there’s an upgrade available to a newer version. You may have to first upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and then to 22.04 LTS, if you only want to do one upgrade, you can stay on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS until April 2025.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is the newest Long-Term Support version right now and a new one won’t arrive until 2024, by which time, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will have expired so waiting isn’t really an option. If you move to Ubuntu 22.04, you’ll continue to receive updates for five years after release, so until 2027.

For businesses out there that cannot upgrade systems for whatever reason, an Ubuntu Pro subscription enables you to switch on Extended Security Maintenance. You’ll pay for Ubuntu Pro but by doing so you can extend the life of Ubuntu 18.04 by an extra five years, though, you’ll only be getting security updates. To learn more about ESM, check out Canonical’s blog post.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Linux Mint 19.x users should upgrade as support ends this April

If you have tried RSS Guard in the past, you may have noticed that the retrieval of feeds took quite some time. The application processed one feed at the time in previous versions, and it could take quite a bit before all feeds were updated because of that.

The use of threads to download feed updates runs the operation simultaneously for multiple feeds. The developer observed an 800% performance boost on an Intel i5 system with 4 cores. Local tests here confirmed the enormous speed gain during feed fetching.

A new command line switch is available to change the default number of threads that RSS Guard uses. All it takes is to use --threads <number> to define the number of threads that the RSS Guard application should use. The maximum number of threads is 32.

The switch may be used to decrease or increase the number of threads the application uses. Decreasing may improve responsiveness on older systems, increasing may boost feed updates even further on modern systems.

Users of the application who import OPML 2.0 files will notice a similar performance boost. The program uses parallelization for imports as well now, which should reduce the initial import time significantly on most computer systems.

The developer of RSS Guard announced plans to add parallelization support to other parts of the application, including for some of the plugins that the application supports.

Closing Words

One point of criticism leveled against RSS Guard was the weak performance during feed updates. It felt like a turtle racing against a rabbit, when compared to other feed readers such as QuiteRSS.

The update changes that, which should make the application attractive to users who felt that it was too slow for day to day operations.

The developer adds new features and improvements on a regular basis.  A recent update introduced support for feed suppressions, which hide certain feeds from notifications.

Now You: which RSS feed reader do you use?

RSS Guard update brings massive performance boost

Microsoft has started rolling out the “Try the preview” toggle to the UWP Mail app on Windows 10 and 11. When enabled, it will now ask users to download the Outlook for Windows app, suggesting that Microsoft is close to replacing the UWP Mail app on Windows 11 and 10 with the new one. The new Outlook for Windows app is, however, currently in the preview, so it is not as good as you would like.

The new Outlook for Windows app is nothing but a progressive web app. After downloading the app, you will still be able to use the stock UWP Mail app on your PC, which is a bit weird. However, the new Outlook for Windows PWA looks very different than its UWP equivalent: the former being a PWA has an interface that is very similar to Outlook.com.

However, Outlook for Windows PWA is not as feature-rich as the Outlook desktop client. Its PWA equivalent is still missing key features, including support for third-party email accounts, offline support, web add-ins, and many more. But if you are someone who occasionally sends and receives emails, Outlook for Windows preview is capable enough to handle those.

According to Microsoft, Outlook for Windows PWA will get support for additional email accounts, such as Gmail, “soon.” We are hoping it will add more useful features in the future to make the app more capable. Meanwhile, you can get the new Outlook experience by downloading the app from Microsoft Store.

Microsoft moves a step closer to replacing Windows 11 stock Mail app with the new “One Outlook”

When I share information on WhatsApp, whether it’s a voice note or a picture, I surely love that it is clear and understandable to the recipient. Imagine sending an image with showers such that the receipt thinks the picture was taken on a rainy day, and yet it's just of low quality. Below I will outline four ways you can always ensure that your pictures are always high quality. Stay with me. 

Upload Images to the Drive & Share the Image Link

This method is great when sending bigger files, no matter the size. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do this.

• Upload your images to Google Drive or iCloud 
• Select the image you want to share
• Select ‘Get sharable link’ from the drop-down menu when you right-click
• Copy the link and share it on a Whatsapp chat

Send the Image as a Document

This is the easiest and most commonly used method by WhatsApp users.  With this method, you send your image using the document option on your WhatsApp menu. Here is the procedure:

• Open your WhatsApp Messenger and select the chat you wish to send to
•  You’ll see a paperclip at the bottom of the chat screen near the camera icon
• Click the paperclip icon,  a list of the icon menu appears, and click the documents option
• Select the picture you wish to send in documents from your mobile.  if you can't find the picture click on browse other documents
• When you find the image, select it and click on the send button

Send a Zip File/ Folder

Another popular way to ensure that your images maintain high quality when sending them on WhatsApp is to compress them into a zip file. This method is the best especially if you'll be sending multiple images. It also helps to retain the quality of the image while transferring it and this is how you do it. 

• Use your file manager or any third-party zipping app
• Go to WhatsApp under the documents option and select the zip folder 
• The recipient of the zip folder will have to uncompress or unzip the folder to view the images

Rename the Image

This is another simple way of sending high-quality images on WhatsApp. All you have to do is simply rename the extensions for the image files.  Here are the steps to follow:

•  Find the image you want to send to the file manager
• Select and rename the image from JPEG or PNG to PDF or Doc
• On WhatsApp, simply send the renamed files using the document option 
• Ask the recipient of the image to rename the Doc or PDF back to JPEG or PNG

Renaming images or file extensions always works with WhatsApp because WhatsApp can't recognize it as an image and therefore sends it without any compression.

How to Send Pictures on WhatsApp in High Quality

The age of great third-party Twitter clients may be over. After Twitter cut off their API access and changed its rules to bar apps that compete with its own, The Iconfactory has announced that it’s discontinuing Twitterific, Fenix has been pulled from app stores, and Tapbots has posted a memorial for Tweetbot. It’s a loss for all the people who used the apps and, almost certainly, a loss for Twitter itself.

 

As many people have pointed out over the past week, third-party clients helped make Twitter the platform it is today, innovating parts of Twitter we take for granted and, in the early days, helping form the company’s very identity. They’ve also acted as a safe haven from unwanted changes, helping to keep people tweeting when they were ready to give up on the platform.

 

 

Take, for example, that word I just used — tweeting. The idea that a “tweet” would be what we call a Twitter post didn’t actually come from the company itself, according to a blog post from Twitterific developer Craig Hockenberry. Instead, it was suggested by Blaine Cook, a QA tester for The Iconfactory’s third-party client, and immediately adopted. It wasn’t until at least a year later that Twitter the company started using the phrase too. (Originally, Twitter preferred “twittering.”) Twitterific also led the way in using a bird logo.

 

Third-party apps have had a massive impact on how we use smartphone apps in general, not just Twitter. A client called Tweetie is widely credited for inventing the pull-to-refresh interaction that’s become almost ubiquitous throughout iOS and Android for refreshing all sorts of feeds. Even if you haven’t heard of Tweetie before, you may have used it; in 2010, Twitter acquired it and made it the official iPhone client. In 2015, the company also hired a developer of a different third-party client to improve its Android app.

 

Left: Tweetie 2 in 2010. Right: Twitter for iPhone in 2011.

Images: Tweetie / Twitter via The Wayback Machine

 

It’s also not the only time Twitter acquired a popular third-party client outright. TweetDeck, a part of The Verge’s newsroom to this day, was an independent app for years until the company bought it.

 

Third-party client users, who numbered in the millions in 2018, often enjoyed features years before they came to the official app. Echofon added the ability to mute unwanted users and hashtags in 2011, a feature the official versions didn’t get until 2014.

 

An Echofon screenshot from 2011.

Screenshot: Echofon via The Wayback Machine

 

The apps have also acted as safe havens from Twitter’s changes; they didn’t have the flood of recommended and out-of-order tweets that the official app did, and they gave us options for using a Twitter app for Macs after the official one was discontinued for a year. And, yes, people have used third-party clients to get an ad-free Twitter experience, not because they purposefully stripped out ads but because Twitter didn’t serve them through the API. (Side note: it’s hard to believe that Twitter couldn’t have made alternative apps serve ads if it wanted or needed to.)

 

At times, Twitter has seemingly recognized the value outside developers added. “3rd party clients have had a notable impact on the Twitter service and the products we built,” read a 2018 memo from Rob Johnson, who was the company’s developer platform lead at the time. “Independent developers built the first Twitter client for Mac and the first native app for iPhone. These clients pioneered product features we all know and love.” And in a 2010 blog post, Twitter said people who used third-party clients were “some of the most active and frequent users, noting that “a disproportionate amount of the traffic from Twitter runs through such tools.”

 

Despite the praise, the relationship between Twitter and outside developers was often fraught. The company’s developer agreement has had an off-and-on rule barring alternative apps that competed with its official clients, and for years the company introduced new features that it didn’t support in its API, meaning that third-party clients couldn’t have them.

 

Before Musk took over, however, the company appeared to be making amends. It clarified its rules with the express intent of making things easier for third-party clients, started communicating more, and its API v2 finally gave developers access to features like polls and group DMs. In late 2021, Tapbots co-founder Paul Haddad told me, “the pace of development and open-ness have been significantly improved compared to some of the darker days.” And in 2022, he called the company releasing a v2 version of its home timeline API “an indication that they’re going to continue to allow and even encourage alternative clients.”

 

It’s not just third-party clients that have made the Twitter experience better. There are several other outside tools that have improved the experience, such as Thread Reader, Block Party or Twitlonger. (Historically, Twitter users relied on a third-party tool called TwitPic to post pictures to the site before that feature was built-in.) Most of those apps appear to still be working, but as we’ve seen, that could change at any time, and Twitter has the ability to prevent you from posting links to them.

 

Of course, doing so would likely result in massive user backlash and would make the service worse. But based on Twitter’s recent actions, that wouldn’t make it out of the question.

 

I’m not trying to argue that Twitter has never come up with features on its own, or picked up user suggestions on its own, because it has. (The retweet, hashtag, and @ mention were famously invented by users, sometimes with the help of third-party apps, but Twitter implemented them effectively.) My point is that an ecosystem of third-party apps competing with each other and the official client is going to produce more good ideas than a single company could on its own. 

 

Elon Musk just decided to throw all of that away. Twitter has abruptly cut itself off from that stream of ideas — the stream that produced its apps, some of its most popular features, and much of its core identity. Even if he backtracks, why would developers spend their best ideas on a company that’s burned them so badly?

 

 

The third-party apps Twitter just killed made the site what it is today

Resilient File System is designed to "maximize data availability, scale efficiently to large data sets across diverse workloads, and provide data integrity with resiliency to corruption" according to Microsoft.

ReFS vs NTFS

NTFS, the New Technology File System, is the default file system on client versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system. It is a proprietary file system introduced in Windows NT 3.1 and also supported on Linux and BSD.

ReFS and NTFS support a wide range of features, but there are major differences between the two file systems as well.

The Resilient File System, for example, supports file and volume sizes of up to 35 petabytes. NTFS, on the other hand, supports a maximum of 256 terabytes. A petabyte equals 1024 terabytes. While most home systems are very far away from reaching these file and volume sizes, it is clear that the 256 terabyte limit will be reached eventually.

ReFS supports the following features exclusively (compared to NTFS):

• Block clone -- aims to convert expensive physical file copy operations to quick logical ones. Reduces workloads, reduces I/O and increases the performance of the operations.
• Sparse VDL -- allows ReFS to zero files rapidly, which reduces the creation time of fixed VHDs significantly.
• Mirror-accelerated parity (on Storage Spaces Direct) -- designed to deliver high performance and capacity efficient storage. ReFS divides volumes, which can have their own drives, into performance and capacity tiers.  Writes occur in the performance tier and data is moved to the capacity tier in real-time.
• File-level snapshots -- creates a new file that contains data and attributes of a source file.

ReFS lacks support for several important features that NTFS supports. Major features that are missing include file system compression and encryption support, support for disk quotas and removable media, or booting.

ReFS support in Windows 11

ReFS support adds a new option to the Windows 11 operating system. It is possible that the file system will only be supported in Enterprise, Education and Workstation editions of Windows 11. On the other hand, a Pro version of Windows 11 was used by the Twitter user who revealed the support information.

Another aspect that needs to be considered is that there is no direct NTFS to ReFS conversion; this makes it very likely that ReFS can only be selected during initial setup of the operating system, but not while it is running.

Windows 11 administrators may enable ReFS on Windows 11 Insider builds using ViVeTool and the ID42189933. It is recommended to create a full system backup before attempting to install Windows 11 on ReFS.

Now You: would you switch from NTFS to ReFS if such an option would be provided?

Windows 11 is getting ReFS support

Microsoft's official Windows 11 VMs are available pre-built for three types of virtualization software: VMWare, second-generation Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels. They include Windows 11 Enterprise (evaluation), Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, Windows App SDK for C# workloads, Windows Subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu, Windows Terminal, and Developer mode. Pre-built virtual machines from Microsoft are a quick and easy way to start building Windows applications using the necessary developer tools without spending too much time setting up a virtual machine and downloading SDKs manually.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Windows 11 development environment now comes with Windows 11 version 22H2 or the 2022 Update. Developers and curious customers can check out what is new in Microsoft's latest OS without manually installing feature updates or upgrading their computers to Windows 11 22H2.

Windows 11 virtual machines from Microsoft require 20GB of free space on your disk, and you can use them until April 12, 2023. However, Microsoft will likely release newer versions before the current ones reach their expiration date (the last time Microsoft released new virtual machines was on December 9, 2022).

Microsoft updates free Windows 11 evaluation virtual machines, now come with version 22H2

On a side note, Microsoft also released a small patch for Edge 109 in the Stable Channel, fixing the broken print UI on systems with special characters in printer names. Affected customers should update to Edge 109.0.1518.61 to resolve the issue.

What is new in Edge Dev 110.0.1587.11?

You can use quick links to jump to new features, reliability improvements, and other changes.

New features:

• Microsoft Edge will now notify you if an external program illegitimate changes your start page and search engine settings and restore your previous settings.
• Added Personalize my top sites in customize sidebar option in the Sidebar setting.
• Added a Search bar in Customize sidebar to add sites.
• You can now import passwords CSV file.
• Added an option to hide duplicates in History.

iOS:

• New Ad blocker feature now block ads with a long press.
• Read aloud now allows you to select and read.

Enterprise:

• New policy: (Note: Updates to documentation and administrative templates may not have occurred yet)
• Added policy to clear chosen data from IE and IE mode on browser exit.
• Added AutofillMembershipsEnabled Policy.

Reliability improvements:

• Fixed browser crash when removing apps from the Sidebar.
• Fixed browser crash related to memory errors.
• Fixed browser crash related to Address bar search.
• Fixed browser crash related to Visual search.
• Fixed browser crash related to Find on Page.
• Fixed browser crash related to Image editor in the Sidebar pane.
• Fixed PDF viewer crash related to highlighter, links, and keyboard focus.

Linux:

• Fixed a browser crash related to user scripts on Ubuntu.

macOS:

• Fixed browser crash related to PWA install/site as app install button.

iOS:

• Fixed browser crash related to the update banner when using accessibility tools.

Android:

• Fixed browser crash when signing out of MSA/AAD account.

Enterprise:

• Fixed browser crash when selecting a file in the Windows File Picker.

Other changes:

• Sidebar will now Force Dark mode on apps.
• Fixed rendering artifacts when scrolling on PDF.
• Fixed Taskbar pinning wizard window stuck on loading.
• Fixed Internet Explorer compatibility settings from disappearing when refreshing the page.
• Webpages from the History hub will now open in a new tab if the current tab isn’t a New Tab Page.
• Fixed Group tabs from closing “edge://” tabs.
• Fixed blank Share dialog.
• Fixed the missing Zoom and Fullscreen buttons in Settings and more menu.
• Fixed SSL certificate that caused services disruptions like downloading extensions, sync, collections, and others.
• Fixed unable to install browser update.
• Improved Ink performance.
• Fixed Visual search button appears outside of the image.
• Fixed the Setting page not displayed on screen after clicking on the Manage performance setting in Performance Hub from InPrivate window.
• Fixed Search for text not displaying correctly in the Define dialog.
• Fixed external links opening in a shared Workspace if there is a browser window from another profile open.
• Fixed collab photo icons not displaying next to the share button in Workspaces.
• Fixed unable to drag a Workspace name to the top of the Workspaces list.
• Fixed Opening Workspace message stuck displaying after clicking on Move all tabs to new workspace.
• Fixed an issue where logging out of sites like SharePoint in a Workspace caused everyone in that Workspace to log out of that site.
• Fixed Access denied on OneNote file in Workspaces.
• Fixed not showing proper pages after changing the Margins in Print preview.
• Fixed 3rd party sidebar apps not syncing across devices.

macOS:

• Fixed browser can’t update to the latest version.
• Fixed Default workspace for external links setting not working correctly.

iOS:

• Fixed Voice search not displaying the search result page.
• Fixed address bar redirecting to search results instead of the URL website.
• Fixed unable to tap on the … button on top sites.
• Fixed the flash issue when launching.
• Fixed MSA sign-in issue.
• Fixed Read aloud script execution error.
• Fixed Restore prompt shown even if there was no crash in the previous session.

Android:

• Fixed sign-in dialog issue when logging in or switching to MSA.
• Fixed Read Aloud not working with system voice.
• Fixed Password monitor’s Scan now not working with a small number of saved passwords.
• Fixed Newsfeed stuck on displaying in English.

WebView2:

• Moved Experimental Tracking Prevention API to stable.
• Fixed Object not found issue on a new blank window.
• Fixed tapping on a text field does not trigger the on-screen keyboard (#10508)
• Fixed built-in DNS resolver caused a performance hit. (#3077)
• Fixed drag and drop on WinRT.
• Disabled built-in DSN resolver when the UWP app doesn’t have intranet capability to resolve the navigation performance issue. (#3077)
• Fixed disabled default script dialog is shown after WebView2.Close() is called. (#2677)
• Fixed times out issue when writing to CoreWebView2SharedBuffer. (#3108)
• Fixed System.ArgumentException after call HostObject method that returns non-generic Task. (#2787)

Enterprise:

• Fixed about://management page not loading correctly.
• Fixed not displaying a white blank preview in the App switcher on Android.
• Fixed Sign in failed (360) message when logging in on Android.
• Fixed the account switch button not working on Android.
• Fixed IE mode windows size issues on High DPI monitors.
• Fixed can’t open HTML attachment file when tapping on Open Edge button from Outlook app on iOS.
• Fixed the authentication issue in certain scenarios with MDM configurations on iOS.
• Fixed Optional diagnostic data setting could be turned on after logging out of AAD even with disableShareUsageData and disableShareBrowsingHistory policies set on iOS.
• Fixed stuck on Protecting your App Screen message or loading circle when users select their prepopulated accounts on iOS.
• Fixed RestoreOnStartupUserURLsEnabled policy not working on macOS. (#459)

You can download Microsoft Edge Dev from the official Edge Insider website. The browser supports Windows 10 and 11 (no more Windows 7 and 8.1 support), macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

Edge Dev 111.0.1619.2 adds improved ad-blocker on iOS and passwords import from CSV

Microsoft Edge seems to create desktop shortcuts after every browser update at the moment. It is unclear if this is a bug or intentional; Microsoft has not commented on that.

All Edge channels on Windows appear to be affected by the issue. Considering that Microsoft released six Edge Stable versions in the past 10 days, it is clear that the issue can be frustrating for affected users.

Our Deskmodder colleagues have published a workaround to block Microsoft's Edge web browser from planting new icons on the desktop.

Prevent Microsoft Edge from creating Windows desktop shortcuts

The workaround requires edits of the Registry. There is a global edit that applies to all Edge channels and edits for each individual version of the web browser.

The global fix

1. Select Start, type regedit.exe and load the Windows Registry Editor.
2. Confirm the UAC prompt.
3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate
   1. Note: if a key does not exist, right-click on the previous one and select New > Key. Name it accordingly and proceed.
4. Right-click on EdgeUpdate and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
5. Name it CreateDesktopShortcutDefault.
6. Double-click on the new Dword and set it to 0, if that is not the case already.

You may also download the following archive. It contains a Registry file that makes the change on the system when executed: edge-block-desktop-shortcuts

Block individual Edge channels

The second option that Windows users have is to block individual channels of the Microsoft Edge browser from placing a desktop shortcut when the browser updates.

1. Open the Windows Registry Editor again.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate
3. For Microsoft Edge Stable:
   • Right-click on EdgeUpdate and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
   • Name it CreateDesktopShortcut{56EB18F8-B008-4CBD-B6D2-8C97FE7E9062}
   • Make sure its value is 0.
4. For Microsoft Edge Beta:
   • Right-click on EdgeUpdate and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
   • Name it CreateDesktopShortcut{2CD8A007-E189-409D-A2C8-9AF4EF3C72AA}
   • Make sure its value is 0.
5. For Microsoft Edge Dev:
   • Right-click on EdgeUpdate and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
   • Name it CreateDesktopShortcut{0D50BFEC-CD6A-4F9A-964C-C7416E3ACB10}
   • Make sure its value is 0.
6. For Microsoft Edge Canary:
   • Right-click on EdgeUpdate and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
   • Name it CreateDesktopShortcut{65C35B14-6C1D-4122-AC46-7148CC9D6497}
   • Make sure its value is 0.
7. Restart the PC.

Microsoft Edge should not create desktop shortcuts anymore when it updates.

How to block Microsoft Edge from creating desktop shortcuts

The support article for the new KB5022370 update says:

KB5022370: Setup Dynamic Update for Windows 11, version 21H2

Summary

This update makes improvements to Setup binaries or any files that Setup uses for feature updates in Windows 11, version 21H2.

In a Techcommunity blog post about Windows 10 Dynamic Updates, Microsoft explained Dynamic Updates in more detail regarding its various components and uses. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more:

As soon as a Windows 10 feature update initiates, whether from media or a Windows Update service-connected environment, Dynamic Update is one of the first steps invoked. Windows 10 Setup reaches out to an Internet-facing URL hosted by Microsoft to fetch Dynamic Update content, then applies those updates to your OS installation media.

Content acquired includes:

• Setup Updates: Fixes to Setup binaries or any files that Setup uses for feature updates.

• Safe OS Updates: Fixes for the "safe OS" that are used to update Windows recovery environment (WinRE).

• Servicing Stack Updates: Fixes that are necessary to address the Windows 10 servicing stack issue and thus required to complete the feature update.

• Latest Cumulative Update: Installs the latest cumulative quality update.

• Driver Updates: Latest version of applicable drivers that have already been published by manufacturers into Windows Update and specifically targeted for Dynamic Update.

In addition to these updates, Dynamic Update will preserve Language Pack (LP) and Features on Demand (FODs) content during the upgrade process. These are not updates to LPs and FODs, but reacquisition to ensure the user has these elements present with the update completes.

The Dynamic update is available only via Microsoft Update Catalog. You can download it by visiting this link.

KB5022370: Microsoft releases Dynamic update to improve Windows 11 Setup, WinRE, more

Insider channel Windows builds also have hidden features that reveal what the Redmond tech giant may be planning. The same is the case for the latest build 25281 too. Spotted by Windows enthusiast and Twitter user PhantomOcean3, it seems like Microsoft may be looking to kill off the desktop search which was first introduced as a hidden feature in Dev build 25120 May last year.

However, there is a possibility that it could make a return as the EXE file is still there even though the velocity feature does not exist anymore.

The feature began rolling out to Dev channel users with build 25158 alongside the various Taskbar Search styles. The update allowed users to search the web from the desktop itself via Bing.

The feature could have been enabled using the "Show search" option. Our guide here details how users could have enabled or disabled the feature.

Microsoft may be killing off Windows 11 desktop Search bar even before it's out to all