The changelog isn't very lengthy but there are still features that will likely appeal to some consumers. Excel for the web has a single new capability called Chart Data Foils. Simply stated, it provides a visual indicator of the source range of cells used to create a chart. This range can easily be modified by clicking on a cell range and dragging across it.

Meanwhile, Excel for Windows and Mac have the exact same changelog this time around. The first of two new feature in tow is Show Changes. As the name suggests, it enables you to see the edits made to a workbook and revert to older states. The other capability is Office Scripts to automate repetitive tasks, it is now generally available for all.

Finally, a general update for the Office app on Excel has a more modern look for the contextual command bar and ribbon palette thanks to Fluent Design principles. The menus on the contextual command bar are now faster and resizable too. These improvements are only available to Office Insiders for now.

As usual, if you don't like the implementation of a particular feature or want something new, do remember to file feedback to Microsoft on the dedicated portal here.

Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Excel in November 2022

If you do not know what those Windows 11 "moment" updates are, check out our article shedding more light on Microsoft's new Windows servicing strategy.

Here is the good stuff you can enable in Windows 11 22621.900:

• A brand-new Settings section with energy recommendations

  

   

• Improvements for Task Manager: a search bar, improved theme support, modernized UI bits

  

   

• A slightly enhanced settings page for managing the touch keyboard

It is worth noting that the thing above will be available for you right after installing KB5020044 if you have enabled previous features (tablet-optimized taskbar and redesigned notification area). If not, run the command described in our guide, showing how to enable the re-introduced tablet mode (including the "compact" taskbar).

Keep in mind that Microsoft hides new features for a reason. Enabling them before the public announcement might result in potential instabilities or bugs, so be prepared to troubleshoot your system and undo the damage. As usual, the best option is to wait for Microsoft to deliver you new features organically with monthly security and feature updates.

Do you plan to enable those hidden features on your PC with Windows 11? Let us know in the comments.

Some Moment 2 update features are now available for stable Windows 11

So far the company has released Moment 1, which came out in mid-October with features like Tabbed File Explorer, Taskbar Overflow, among others. Moment 2 is expected to be released early next year, sometime in February or March. We did receive a tiny glimpse of it already from none other than Microsoft itself, which also confirmed that "moment" is indeed what the internal name of these updates are.

Following those, the internal test ID of what appears to be the next update, ie, Moment 3, has also been found. Microsoft might be referring to these velocity feature updates for Moment as "MTestUx" as similarities have been found by Windows detective and Twitter user PhantomOcean3. The latest one "MTestUx15" with the ID "42105254" was discovered in the latest Windows 11 Beta Channel build.

The table below summarizes the Feature update and probable Test IDs:

The "(?)" in the above table indicates rumor as at this moment, it is not confirmed whether these indeed are referring to future Moment releases or not. However, if it is, then Microsoft looks to be in top gear as it appears to be itching to get on with the development of next-gen Moment updates.

Source: PhantomOcean3 (Twitter)

Microsoft might be itching to roll on with future Windows 11 Moment updates

Here is how the new search box looks with and without search highlights in Windows 11 build 25252. Notice how easy it is to confuse search highlights with regular apps on the taskbar.

Caution: Third-party apps for tweaking Windows can sometimes cause bugs or instabilities. Back up important data before using ViveTool, and remember that stable Windows versions are the best way to ensure your computer remains as bug-free as possible.

Disable Windows 10-like search highlights in Windows 11 build 25252

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files somewhere convenient.
2. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Windows Terminal to Command Prompt profile by pressing Ctrl + Shift + 2 or clicking the arrow-down button at the top of the window.

    

   
4. Navigate to the folder containing the extracted files using the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /disable /id:41415839 and press Enter.
6. Restart your computer.

You can enable search highlights once again using the vivetool /enable /id:41415839 instead of the one in step 5. The feature is not available to all insiders, so some users might be curious to see how it works.

Do you like the new search highlights feature? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

How to disable Windows 10-like Search highlights in Windows 11 build 25252

Here is the new search box in action:

Unlike the current button that confusingly looks like a small search bar, the new search box lets you input your request into the search field on the taskbar with results showing up in the Windows Search UI. As with most new features in the Dev channel, the new search box is not available for all. However, you can force-enable it using the ViveTool app.

Note: the new search box is paired with another feature called "search highlights." You can learn how to enable or disable highlights in a separate guide.

Caution: Back up important data before using the ViveTool app and enabling hidden options. Remember that using stable Windows 11 is the best way to ensure your system remains as bug-free as possible.

How to enable the new search box in Windows 11 build 25252?

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

    

   
4. Navigate to the folder containing the copied ViveTool files using the CD command. For example, if you have extracted ViveTool to C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id:40887771 and press Enter.
6. Restart your computer.
7. Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and select Search Box from the drop-down menu.

    

   

It is great to see Microsoft giving Windows 11 users more design choices. It would also be nice if Microsoft could teach Windows Search more advanced tricks like finding Recycle Bin. Maybe in newer builds.

Credits for finding the ID go to @PhantomOfEarth!

How to enable the new taskbar search box in Windows 11 build 25252

Every bit of information I provide for people I do so with the lowest common denominator in mind. It's a common misconception that everyone who joins or browses a tech site is a techie. Some people are just looking for guidance. That is why for some, these tech tips may seem a bit too simplistic but they are educational for others.

On the bottom of your screen, you have the taskbar (unless you move it). On the taskbar are applications you have open and applications that you've pinned there.

To pin an application to the taskbar,

• Right click the application
• Left click on "Pin to taskbar".

Did you know you can launch one of those pinned apps on the taskbar without ever touching your mouse?

Those icons on the taskbar are numbered. To the right of the start menu is 1 and it goes up to 10 (0).

If you wish to launch the app located directly to the right of the start button, you would hold down the windows key and press the number 1 just once (Win key + 1). If you wish to launch the next app over, you would press Win key + 2 and so on.

Happy Computing!

If you learned something today, great! If not, maybe share your own tech tip in the comments below!

How to open pinned icons using your keyboard

Interestingly, this is not the first time Windows 11 2022 Update and its Suggested Actions feature have thrown a wrench into Firefox. Earlier this month, Mozilla had to release an update to fix crashes happening in similar scenarios.

Here is the changelog for Mozilla Firefox 107.0.1:

• Fixed an issue with accessing some sites reliably in Private Browsing mode or Strict ETP due to anti-adblockers (bug 1717806).

• Fixed an issue where Color Management was not available for some users (bug 1799391).

• Fixed an issue with text overlapping in the Settings Menu for some locales (bug 1800379).

• Fixed an incompatibility with the new Windows 11 22H2 Suggested Actions feature resulting in hangs when copying phone number links (bug 1798098).

• Fixed an issue where the DevTools UI is not accessible when an alert dialog is displayed (bug 1801840).

   

You can download Firefox from the official website. The browser will update itself in the background if it is already installed on your system.

Mozilla Firefox supports all modern macOS, Linux, and Windows versions, including the now-dead Windows 7. As the beloved operating system approaches the end of the extended security update program (in January 2023), Mozilla is considering extending Firefox support on Windows 7 until August 2023.

Firefox 107.0.1 is out with another fix for Windows 11 22H2 and Suggested Actions

Frontpaged:   Mozilla Firefox Browser 107.0.1

We'll start off with deprecations this time to switch things up a bit. Due to extremely low usage, feedback from spec editors, and the constraints it poses on current implementations, the ImageDecoderInit.premultiplyAlpha feature is being deprecated. The navigateEvent.scroll() function is also being discontinued and replaced by restorescroll() because of the better behavior it offers. In the same vein, navigateEvent.transitionWhile() is being killed off and replaced by intercept() because of design flaws highlighted by web developers.

Additionally, the googIPv6: false attribute in mediaConstraint is being deprecated and removed. It is used to disable IPv6 in WebRTC but Google does not recommend doing this anymore since IPv6 has been the default for ages. Similarly, window.defaultStatus and window.defaultstatus are being deprecated because of fingerprinting concerns, low adoption from other browser vendors, and the fact that they do not affect the browser's behavior in any meaningful way.

There are a couple more deprecations being tested behind developer trials (flags) too. The first disallows the Web Payment API to bypass the connect-src CSP policy while fetching the manifest. Disabling this behavior enables better data security. The second feature on the chopping block is the PaymentInstruments API. It is being killed off due to privacy flaws and lack of adoption from other browser vendors. Similarly, the Merchant origin details in the "canmakepayment" service worker event is also being removed to improve user privacy.

Now that we are done with the deprecations, let's change gears to new features and other additions. Chrome 108 packs a better implementation of COLRv1 color gradient vector fonts through support of the "variable" functionality. Some of our readers may remember their introduction in Chrome 98 when they faced pushback from Apple. Google claims that Apple's Safari team is now "neutral" about the feature instead of being "negative".

There are tons of CSS changes too, you can see them listed below:

• CSS break-after, break-before and break-inside support
• CSS Overflow for replaced elements
• CSS Values and Units Module Level 4: Small/Large/Dynamic/Logical viewport units
• font-tech() and font-format() condition extensions to CSS @supports
• ContentVisibilityAutoStateChanged event
• Last Baseline Item Alignment
• tech() function support in @font-face src: descriptor
• CSS 'lh' Length Unit (developer trial)

Other functionalities in tow include the ability for Android on-screen keyboards to resize the visual viewport by default, a Federated Credentials Management API for improved privacy, support for printing in LayoutNG, and updating of asynchronous methods to synchronous in SyncAccessHandle in the File System Access API.

Some minor improvements have also been made such as additional methods for the Array and TypedArray classes, the ability to use symbols as keys in WeakMap, modifications to Client Hints Header, and support for the wildcard character in permissions policy. Moreover, the Media Source Extensions (MSE) API can now be used by Workers and there is also a new NotRestoredReason API for the back/forward cache (BFcache).

Chrome 108 will start rolling out in the later hours of today. If Chrome does not automatically update to version 108, head over to Help > About Google Chrome to trigger the update once it becomes available. Next up is Chrome 109 which will hit the Beta channel on December 1, followed by a Stable release on January 10.

Google Chrome 108 is coming today with lots of deprecations and improved COLRv1 support

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1020 and Build 22623.1020 (KB5020035) to the Beta Channel.

• Build 22623.1020= New features rolling out.
• Build 22621.1020 = New features off by default.

Here is the full list of changes and improvements, as well as bug fixes in the new Beta builds:

Support for new Braille displays in Narrator

We are excited to announce support for new Braille displays and new Braille input and output languages in Narrator. Some of the new braille displays we support include: the APH Chameleon, the APH Mantis Q40, the NLS eReader and many more. Refer to the detailed documentation to learn more about the new displays and languages that we support.

Prerequisites:

You must remove Narrator’s current braille support if it is already installed by following the steps below:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Apps > Optional features > Installed features.
3. Search for Accessibility – Braille support.
4. Expand Accessibility – Braille support and uninstall the feature.

Install new narrator braille support:

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Narrator > Braille.
2. Select the more button.
3. Download braille from this new window by selecting the Download and install braille button.
4. After braille is installed, restart your computer and return to Settings > Accessibility > Narrator > Braille.
5. For Braille display to continue working seamlessly while switching between Narrator and third-party screen readers, select the braille display driver used by your third-party screen reader from the “Braille display driver” option. See the note below for customers that use the JAWS for Windows screen reader. This only needs to be done once. Refer to the detailed documentationto learn more about the braille driver solution.

Note: If you have the JAWS for Windows screen reader installed from Freedom Scientific and are using a version released in April 2022 or later along with a Focus braille display then there is no need to select the braille display as noted above.

Additional Resources:

Please refer to the Narrator User Guide for additional information on braille functionality in Narrator.

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

Fixes in Build 22623.1020

[General]

• The spelling dictionary now uses a language-neutral word list and syncs across all devices that use the same Windows account (Microsoft accounts and AAD) is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Users can toggle this feature via Settings > Accounts > Windows backup > Remember my preferences > Language preferences.

   

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash in the previous Beta Channel flight related to the system tray. This crash is also believed to be the cause of some Insiders experiencing a repeated explorer.exe crash when entering safe mode on that flight.

• Fixed an issue which was causing certain third-party app icons in the system tray to be unresponsive after the latest system tray changes.

• The Windows Update icon in the system tray should no longer look pixelated after changing between light and dark mode.

   

[Windowing]

• If you have two monitors on top of each other, the Desktops list in Task View should no longer appear to be floating in the middle of Task View.

   

[Task Manager]

• Moved the open navigation pane button to be under the title bar when Task Manager is wide enough to expand it inline – in doing so, addressed an issue where you couldn’t drag Task Manager from the area in the title bar above the navigation pane if the navigate pane was expanded.

• The Delete key should work in the search box now.

   

Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.1020 & Build 22623.1020

• New! We combined Windows Spotlight with Themes on the Personalization page. This made it easier for you to discover and turn on the Windows Spotlight feature.

• New! We provided the full amount of storage capacity of all your Microsoft OneDrive subscriptions. We also displayed the total storage on the Accounts page in the Settings app.

• New! We gave Microsoft OneDrive subscribers storage alerts on the Systems page in the Settings app. The alerts appeared when you were close to your storage limit. You could also manage your storage and purchase additional storage, if needed.

• New! We added the organizational messages feature. With it, third-party companies could provide content to their employees. They did not need to use the default behavior of Windows.

• We fixed an issue that affected protocol activation of the Settings app. The app failed to open a page under the Accounts category.

• We fixed an issue that affected certain applications. They stopped working. This occurred when you used keyboard shortcuts to change the input mode for the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME).

• We fixed an issue that affected cluster name objects (CNO) or virtual computer objects (VCO). Password reset failed. The error message was, ” There was an error resetting the AD password… // 0x80070005”.

• We fixed an issue that might have caused certain apps to stop responding. This occurred when you opened the Open File dialog.

• We fixed an issue that sometimes affected File Explorer when you opened a file. Because of that, there was high CPU usage.

• We fixed an issue that affected Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Automated investigation blocked live response investigations.

• We fixed an issue that affected Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) authentication hardening. We would automatically raise the authentication level for all non-anonymous activation requests from DCOM clients to RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_PKT_INTEGRITY. This occurred if the authentication level was below Packet Integrity.

• We fixed an issue that affected microphone streams that used the Listen To feature to route to the speaker endpoint. The microphone stopped working after you restarted the device.

• We fixed an issue that caused File Explorer to stop working. This occurred when you closed context menus and menu items.

   

Known issues

[General]

• We’re looking into reports that audio stopped working for some Insiders in recent Beta Channel builds.

   

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• The taskbar sometimes flashes when transitioning between desktop posture and tablet posture.

• The taskbar takes longer than expected to transition to the touch-optimized version when switching between desktop posture and tablet posture.

   

[Task Manager]

• Filtering by publisher name does not match correctly on the Processes page.

• Some services may not show in the Services page after filtering is applied.

• If a new process is starting while a filter is set, then that process may appear for a split second in the filtered list.

• Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.

• The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.

• There’s an issue we’re investigating where Task Manager isn’t displaying light and dark content correctly, leading to unreadable text. This happens when you have your mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors set to Custom – as a workaround for the time being, please switch it to Light or Dark.

• The Startup apps page in Task manager does not list any apps for some Insiders. If you are impacted, please use Settings > Apps > Startup for the time being.

   

You can find the official blog post here.

Latest Windows 11 Beta builds (KB5020035) add OneDrive alerts, fixes high CPU usage, more

Changes and Improvements

[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 your system accent color over the active network connection.

Glanceable VPN status in the system tray.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• In this build, we are continuing to try out different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar. We are excited to learn from your feedback on this, so please let us know what you think via Feedback Hub if you see the different treatments on your PC. Insiders who get this experience will have the ability to change the treatment of search on taskbar in settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items.

Example of different treatments we are trying out for how search looks on the taskbar.

Here are the bug fixes:

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash when using Alt+F4 with the show hidden icons flyout in the system tray open.
• Fixed multiple explorer.exe crashes impacting system tray performance.
• Updated the battery icon’s tooltip to let you know if your device is charging slowly.
• Made a small refinement for tablet-optimized taskbar users to make it a bit easier to expand the taskbar without invoking the Start menu.
• Fixed an issue which could lead to the taskbar jump lists and preview thumbnails not appearing in the correct position for Insiders with 2 in 1 PCs.

[Start menu]

• We fixed an issue causing folders in Start menu to not open on the first try.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with the error SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION after upgrading to the previous flight.
• Fixed an issue which was causing certain apps (including Media Player) to crash when playing media in the background in recent flights.
• Fixed an issue which could lead to your PC going to sleep although it was configured to not sleep.
• Fixed an issue where network-to-local copying (for example, when copying a file from a network share) was slower than expected from some users.

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.

And finally the known issues:

[General]

• [NEW] Under certain circumstances, Widgets may appear missing for a small subset of Windows Insiders causing explorer.exe to crash in a loop after upgrading to this build. If it is missing, you can install it here. We recommend doing this before you upgrade. If you upgrade and are impacted, please follow these steps for rolling back the build.
• [NEW] There is an issue in Build 25247+ causing some Insiders to not able to view certain secondary drives – this may also affect other PCI devices. The device shows as having an error in Device Manager. We are working on a fix, once you upgrade to a build with the fix it should be functional again.
• We’re looking into reports that audio stopped working for some Insiders after upgrading to the latest flights.
• We’re investigating reports of crashes with a few different apps and games in recent builds.
• We’re working on the fix for an issue causing various UI elements in apps appear to disappear and reappear sometimes in recent builds.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• The taskbar is sometimes cropped in half when using the tablet-optimized taskbar.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing the Bluetooth section of Quick Settings to crash starting with the previous flight. If you are impacted, please use the Settings > Bluetooth & Devices for the time being instead.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• For certain files ending with .cmd, .exe or .bat you will need to press backspace after typing before you will see results.

The following known issues only apply for Windows Insiders who received one of the different treatments for how search looks on the taskbar as mentioned above in this blog post:

• [NEW] When you change your primary monitor, for example by plugging an external display in, you will see a search box that appears to be floating on the desktop. You can fix this issue by going into Personalization > Taskbar > Search and toggling the setting.
• [NEW] When using multiple monitors, the search box is not visible on the non-active monitor when the search flyout is open. This is only present when “Show my taskbar on all displays” is enabled.
• [NEW] When you click on the search box on taskbar, the search box will momentarily flash before the Search flyout shows up
• [NEW] In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, there are layout issues with the text in the search box on taskbar.
• [NEW] Some Japanese IME candidate items are clipped inside the search box on taskbar.

[Task Manager]

• Filtering by publisher name does not match correctly on the Processes page.
• Some services may not show in the Services page after filtering is applied.
• If a new process is starting while a filter is set, then that process may appear for a split second in the filtered list.
• Some dialogs may not render in the correct theme when applied from Task Manager Settings page.
• The data content area of the Processes page may flash once when theme changes are applied in the Task Manager Settings page.
• There’s an issue we’re investigating where Task Manager isn’t displaying light and dark content correctly, leading to unreadable text. This happens when you have your mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors set to Custom – as a workaround for the time being, please switch it to Light or Dark.
• The Startup apps page in Task manager does not list any apps for some Insiders. If you are impacted, please use Settings > Apps > Startup for the time being.

[Widgets]

• In right-to-left display languages like Arabic, content animates out of view before the widgets board resizes when clicking to expanded view of the widgets board.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 build 25252 lands with VPN status, new Taskbar search, and more

With version 3.21, Rufus brings improved Windows support, which includes updated drivers, a major bug fix for NTFS and exFAT file systems, Windows user experience improvement, and better local account support. Changes related to GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) and a few other components are also present.

The full release notes are given below:

• Allow the provision of an arbitrary local account username in the Windows User Experience dialog

• Improve Windows version reporting from ISO/.wim

• Update UEFI:NTFS' NTFS drivers to v1.4 and exFAT drivers to v1.9

• Switch to remote download for nonstandard GRUB (Fedora 37, openSUSE Live, GeckoLinux)

• Fix UEFI:NTFS partition not being set in MBR mode for ISOs with a >4GB file (UwUntu)

• Fix GRUB support for Arch and derivatives, when a non FAT compliant label is used (#2086)

• Fix incorrect detection of GRUB with nonstandard prefixes

• Fix tab order not working on the Windows User Experience dialog

   

To download Rufus 3.21, head over to this article where you can find the standalone download link, as well as links to the official Rufus page and the GitHub page.

Rufus 3.21 with improved Windows local account support, NTFS, exFAT, now available for all

Frontpaged:   Rufus 3.21.1949

Behold the notification in action:

As you can tell from the GIF above, the camera notification dismisses itself and does not stay on the screen when the camera is in use. If you missed the alert and want to see what app has been using the webcam, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Camera > Recent activity and see the report.

Caution: We recommend creating a system restore point before modifying the registry. A fresh restore point will help you get everything back to the working state hassle-free and as quickly as possible if something goes wrong.

How to enable camera privacy notifications in Windows 11?

1. Press Win + R and type regedit to launch Windows Registry Editor. You can also use Windows Search or any other preferred method.
2. When in Registry Editor, paste the following into the address bar: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OEM\Device\Capture. The command will let you get to the necessary registry key without getting lost in the Windows Registry.
3. Locate the NoPhysicalCameraLED value and open it. If there is no such value, click Edit > New > DWORD and rename the new value to NoPhysicalCameraLED.

   

    

4. Open the value and change its value data from 0 (default) to 1.
5. Restart your computer.

Changing the NoPhysicalCameraLED value from 0 to 1 makes your computer think it has no physical indicators for camera-on scenarios, forcing the operating system to display the "Camera On" and "Camera Off" notifications when something gets access to built-in or external cameras. Note that changing the value does not affect the LED—it will keep working regardless of the value data.

If you want to disable Windows 11's camera privacy notification, repeat everything above and change the value data from 1 to 0 in step 4.

Windows 11 has a hidden camera privacy indicator, here is how to enable it

Microsoft has announced a new feature for its form solution to boost the visualization experience for users. Microsoft Forms will soon be capable of letting users insert images in both forms and quizzes. Emphasizing the importance of visualization in teaching and learning, Microsoft says the ability to insert images as answers is a "long expected feature" from users and will be rolled out gradually, starting in December.

If you are a teacher and want to conduct a quiz competition online, the ability to insert images in multiple-choice questions is something you would appreciate. Not only that, but you will also be able to edit images if you want to modify them. You can zoom in/out to resize images or drag them to change focus through the image editor. However, you can not use an image beyond 5MB in size.

While inserting images into Microsoft Forms, you can use Bulk import, or Drag & drop, or Copy-and-paste. Images from OneDrive, local or Bing search are all available for you to add. Drag & drop, Copy-and-paste options are enabled directly in Microsoft Forms. The latter is useful when you need to quickly insert some images from the web.

While creating quizzes and surveys, users will be able to preview images they just inserted as answer choices. Images will also be displayed when responders fill out the survey or when the owner wants to check details on the individual result page. Barring these cases, only text shows up as representations of these choices.

If you use Microsoft Forms, let us know in the comments whether this functionality will be helpful to you.

Source & images: Microsoft

Microsoft Forms adds a much-awaited new feature for forms and quizzes users

Firefox Translations, for those who have not heard about the feature yet, is different than the majority of browser-integrated translation services. Unlike Google Translate, Bing Translate or others, Firefox Translations is offline-based. Means: no data is submitted about the websites or content to third-parties.

The next best thing, after local translations, is used by browsers such as Brave or Vivaldi. These host the translation service on their servers.

Firefox Translations is a game changer, at least for users who value privacy. I had a few "ifs" regarding the game changer part back in August 2022. Especially language support was limited at the time. While this is going to change in the coming years, thanks to a new EU project, which provides financing, it is a big limitation.

Firefox Translations 1.2 addresses at least one of the reservations that I had regarding the service. One point of criticism was that the add-on support full page translations only. The new version introduces a free text translate feature. It adds a new icon to the Firefox toolbar, which displays the free text translate interface then.

Type or paste text into the source field and get a translation in the destination field automatically. You may select source and target languages in the interface as well. Firefox Translations lacks an option to select text on a webpage to get it translated automatically, though.

Firefox Translations 1.2 includes a number of important improvements besides that. Firefox users may now select a different target language; the language was limited to the system language in previous versions of the add-on. There is also a new option to restore the previous state, instead of having to reload the page using Firefox controls.

Firefox users may now also block the translation feature on specific websites or for specific languages.

Closing Words

Most Firefox Translations users should receive the update automatically. It is available on the add-ons official page on Mozilla Add-ons as well (linked in the summary box below the article as usual).

Firefox Translations is a promising service, that works well for users who require it only for languages that are already supported. The next three years will see support for more language pairs, but this won't happen overnight. The four star rating for the add-on is based on that.

Now You: do you use translate services?

Firefox Translations 1.2: free text translate option and usability improvements

Proton revealed its plans for Proton Mail and Calendar in a blog post on the official website. These features are planned for 2023 and customers of the service should expect most if not all in the coming year.

Here is what you can expect in 2023 from Proton Mail:

• Schedule Send -- An option to schedule emails instead of sending them right away. Write emails in advance and set a date and time for the delivery.
• Improved tracking protections -- Proton Mail protects against trackers in emails already, but the company plans to add enhanced protections. The company mentions protection against senders knowing when/if emails are opened, and tracker protection on by default in the Proton Mail App for Apple devices.
• Reminders and Snooze Emails -- Reminders may be set for certain emails to receive a notification about it at a later time. Snooze emails hides emails for the time being and reminds users about them at a later time. Both are designed to improve focus when using Proton Mail.
• Categorize Emails -- Proton is working on a way to categorize emails automatically and privately. The company gives a single example: move all social media notifications into a separate category for better accessibility.
• Message content search in mobile apps -- Proton apps will download a local index to the device so that search becomes available.
• Deeper service integration -- Further integration of the SimpleLogin service. Proton Drive will also be integrated deeper into Proton Mail. When users write emails with large attachments, they get "automatically uploaded to Proton Drive and sent as a secure link" instead. Saving of attachments will also improve using Proton Drive. Lastly, the company plans to implement Single Sign-On on mobile, so that one sign-in on the mobile is sufficient to use all company apps using that account.
• Proton plans to launch a rewritten Android app that is faster and has a conversation view.
• All official Proton Mails are marked with an "authenticity badge".
• Message View in the inbox will be streamlined. Users will be able to respond to messages "without opening the email composer".

Proton Calendar is getting a few improvements as well in 2023. Among them a new tasks and to-do lists feature, improved sharing and convenience features.

You can check out all improvements mentioned by the company in the linked blog post.

Now You: do you use Proton Mail or other services of the company?

Proton Mail: these features are planned for the email service

Reports about the feature were revealed by WABetaInfo – a website providing information about Beta features on WhatsApp – towards the end of October. The capability “Message Yourself” enables users to share reminders, lists, and notes with themselves. They can also pin the conversation to keep the chat in an accessible place at the top of the plethora of chats with other users.

While the ability to text yourself on WhatsApp isn’t something new, the “Message Yourself” feature makes it easier to do so. Previously, users had to choose the “click-to-chat” option on the application, but now they are getting the same benefit minus the additional steps. According to WABetaInfo, the feature, for some beta testers, could also bring improved synchronization between their chats on different devices.

The capability has been confirmed by WhatsApp to TechCrunch and will launch on Android and iOS in the coming weeks.

Earlier this month, WhatsApp came out with a 32-person video chat feature and communities that help users organize their chats under personalized communities to ensure similar chats are bundled up together. However, recently, phone numbers of around 500 million WhatsApp users were put on sale following a hacking attempt at the Meta-owned company.

Via TechCrunch

Hold conversations with yourself with WhatsApp's latest feature

Users of Macrium Reflect Free may receive information about the end of the product as a service announcement during updates. It states:

Macrium Reflect Free - Service Announcement

This is to notify that Macrium Reflect Free Edition is being retired. Security patches will be provided until 1st January 2024, but there are no planned feature changes or non security related updates following this update.

Note: This notice only applies to Macrium Reflect Free.

Please see the section 'Macrium Reflect Free Product - End Of Life (EOL)' in our support policy for more information.

The information is not shown in the Macrium Reflect interface nor on the Macrium website when you open the Macrium Reflect Free section. There is a product support policy page on the website, however, which provides information on the end of life of Macrium Reflect Free.

Paramount Software UK Limited plans to provide security updates for Macrium Reflect Free until January 1, 2024. No further updates will be provided after that date. Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7167 was the last release to receive bug fixes, compatibility updates and features. Users of the free version may continue to use it, but they are on their own when they run into issues.

All commercial versions of Macrium Reflect remain available. Macrium Reflect Home is available for €57.95 regularly.

Macrium Reflect Free alternatives

With Macrium Reflect Free being retired, users of the backup software face a tough decision. While they may continue to use the free version, it is not advised to do so. Imagine running into a bug that prevents recoveries or that the app starts on the system. While it is possible to pay for Macrium Reflect Home, a license is good only for a particular major release version.

If you purchase a Macrium Reflect 8 Home license, support is guaranteed until the release of Macrium Reflect 9 plus one year.

There are free alternatives available for Macrium Reflect, here is a short list:

• AOMEI Backupper -- Another free solution with paid upgrades. The Standard Edition is free to use, supports file, system, disk and partition backups to all sorts of storage devices, including Network/NAS and cloud. It lacks some features, including differential backup, encryption or dynamic disk backups.
• Paragon Backup & Recovery Free -- This is the backup solution that I use. It supports all major features, including file, partition/disk and entire computer backups, scheduled backups, incremental and differential backups, and more.
• Rescuezilla -- An open source backup solution that supports creating and restoring data backups. It is operating system agnostic.

Now You: are you affected by the decision? Have another backup suggestion? (thanks Peter for the tip)

Backup software Macrium Reflect Free is being retired

Note: Microsoft calls flags in Edge experimental for a reason. Some of those features are works in progress and could break other parts of the browser. Although the following flags work well on our machines, be prepared to disable specific flags in case of unexpected behavior or bugs.

How to enable or disable experimental flags in Microsoft Edge?

1. Go to edge://flags or use the direct link to the flag you want to enable.
2. Type the name of the flag you want to enable in the search bar.
3. Select Enabled from the drop-down menu next to the flag. Select Disable to undo the changes. Note that some flags have additional variables in the drop-downs that modify how they work.

   

    

4. Restart the browser.

If you read this article from Microsoft Edge on your computer, click the links below the flags' names to find the needed features faster.

1. Enhance Text Contrast

edge://flags/#edge-enhance-text-contrast

Some users think Windows is not the best at rendering fonts, and text in Linux or macOS looks much better. You can fix this problem using the "Enhanced text contrast" flag.

Enabling this feature will make fonts a little bit bolder and more contrasty. If the default value still seems insufficient, run the built-in ClearType calibration tool to adjust the font.

2. Show block option in autoplay settings

edge://flags/#edge-autoplay-user-setting-block-option

Everyone hates when websites start playing video ads without user consent. Microsoft knows this, so the company has equipped Edge with an option for managing media autoplay. For some reason, you can only allow or "limit" media autoplay. The much-need "block" option is, for some reason, hidden behind the "Show block option in autoplay settings" flag.

After enabling the flag, go to Settings > Site Permissions > Media Autoplay and select Block. Note that some banners and players might still get through, so users sometimes restore to help from third-party extensions.

3. Show Windows 11 visual effects in the title bar and toolbar

edge://flags/#edge-visual-rejuv-mica

Flicking on this flag turns on the Mica effect on the tab strip, giving the browser a more modern look in Windows 11. The result will depend on your wallpaper, and the practice shows that the Mica effect in Microsoft Edge looks the best when combined with colorful and vivid wallpapers. Try several background images to see the flag in action.

You can enhance the browser's looks by enabling a related flag called "Enable Windows 11 Acrylic effect in menus." It will apply translucency to right-click menus across Microsoft Edge.

Note: Microsoft Edge turns off the Mica effect when you enable global battery saving mode.

4. Assigns the Backspace key to go back a page

edge://flags/#edge-backspace-key-navigate-page-back

Microsoft Edge has tons of keyboard shortcuts, allowing you to operate the browser without touching the trackpad, mouse, or display. However, not everyone likes that the browser uses Alt + Arrow Left / Right buttons to navigate back and forward. Some users prefer the good old Backpace button for returning one page and Shift + Backspace for going forward.

Edge has no dedicated option in its settings for enabling the Backspace key to go back one page, but you can enable this feature using an experimental flag.

5. Rounded tabs

edge://flags/#edge-visual-rejuv-rounded-tabs

Although the Mica effect makes Microsoft Edge much prettier, the overall design remains unchanged. Those wanting a more substantial redesign can try toggling on the rounded tabs flag. It makes Edge look slightly Firefox-like, switches to a bolder font for tabs, and applies the Mica effect to the address and favorites toolbar.

Do you use experimental features in Microsoft Edge, or prefer waiting until the company starts public rollouts? What flags do you use in Microsoft Edge? Let us and other users know in the comments.

Top 5 hidden Microsoft Edge features every user should try

While we wait for Apple to distract its software engineers from pushing more ads into iOS, third-party developers deliver much better alternatives for iTunes and the web-based Apple Music player. Behold Cider—an open-source and cross-platform Apple Music client that could make you forget about the upcoming Apple Music app for Windows.

Disclaimer: Although the app is fully open-source, you should always mind the potential risks of using your Apple ID or Microsoft account in unofficial software.

The Cider app (beta) lets you access and stream Apple Music and Podcasts (no offline support or local files for now). It offers a beautiful, responsive, macOS-like design with many personalization options (extra points for Mica support). More importantly, the app supports most Apple Music features—playlists, collections, radio, iOS-like lyrics mode, animated album covers, and more.

Unfortunately, Cider does not support lossless and spatial audio. However, there are built-in audio-enhancing features and a "spatializing" effect. These tools are unlikely to delight hardcore audiophiles (who probably do not use Apple Music in the first place), but my limited time with the app showed that the optimizers indeed enhance the perceived audio quality. At the end of the day, it all depends on what headphones or speakers you use. If you do not like how those optimizers work, a regular equalizer is here for manual tuning.

Other noteworthy features in the Cider app include remote control from your phone or tablet, AirPlay and Chromecast support, Karaoke Mode, a compact player, and support for external themes and plugins. In a nutshell, the Cider app is an iTunes without its worst parts, plus a lot of extra neat features.

As for the bugs and performance, there is nothing major to complain about. I did experience one or two minor slowdowns (after all, it is an Electron-based project that is also in beta), but they are nothing compared to the official apps from Apple. A slow launch is probably the only thing I can complain about.

Cider is available in the Microsoft Store for $0.99 (50% off right now). You can also get it from GitHub and winget. It is also worth noting that Cider is not all about Windows—the app is also available on Linux and macOS.

Note: the app was purchased by myself for personal use, and the developers had no input in this article.

Edit: Fixed typing error.

This $1 iTunes alternative does what $2.4 trillion company for some reason cannot do

The initial version of Hasleo Backup Suite supported the backing up of partitions and the cloning of disks only. It lacked features that other backup applications, like Paragon's Backup & Recovery Free or Macrium Reflect, offer. Among the features were backup scheduling, the ability to restore files and folders from backup images, or storing backups on network shares.

All of these features were introduced in updates. The latest update, which raises the version to 3.0, adds the last missing puzzle piece: file backups. When you open the Backup page of the application after installation, you find File Backup listed next to the already existing system backup and disk/partition backup options.

Selection of the feature allows users to backup folders or files. All important backup options, including support for encryption and compression, retention settings or splitting, are supported.

These backups are configured with just a few clicks. One click to select File Backup, several to select files and folders using a tree structure, another to set the destination folder for the backup, and that is it. Options and scheduling require more clicks, but these are optional.

Existing users of the backup program may notice performance improvements during backup jobs. The developers note also that backup scheduling is improved in version 3.0, but do not provide details on these improvement.

Another new feature in Hasleo Backup Suite is the ability to inject drivers into the WinPE image to support devices that would otherwise not be supported at all or supported only with basic feature sets. Just select Tools > Common Tools > Emergency Disk to add drivers to the recovery environment. It is a good idea to create such a recovery environment, as it may be needed to restore a system, partitions or files if the Windows operating system won't boot anymore.

You can check out the full changelog and all previous changelogs here. The application is free to use.

Closing Words

Hasleo Backup Suite has been improved significantly since the initial release in mid-2021. The program performed as expected on a test system; it backed up and restored the system partition and non-system partitions without issues.

Now You: which backup apps do you use, if any? (via Deskmodder)

Hasleo Backup Suite 3.0 launches with file backups and other improvements

Individual Master File, Sabre Airline Reservation System

What

~60 year(s)

Where
United States ()

The oldest software system in use is hard to identify with absolute certainty, but it is likely either the SABRE Airline Reservation System (introduced in 1960), or the IRS Individual Master File and Business Master File (introduced in 1962–63). The uncertainty lies in the difficulty in proving continuity from the earliest versions of these programs to their present-day equivalents. The IRS system is slightly newer, but is also less likely to have been stripped of all its 1960s legacy code, making it perhaps the more probable candidate.

The Individual Master File systems are reportedly written in a mixture of COBOL and IBM Assembler. As assembly code written for the Internal Revenue Service's pre-System/360 mainframes would not work with any subsequent machine, the oldest IBM Assembler in the IMF's codebase would have to have been written after the IRS transition to System/360 architecture in 1967. COBOL is a more easily ported high-level language, however, so it's possible that some elements of the pre-1967 code could have been carried over.

The IMF's persistence is a consequence of the notorious complexity of the United States tax code, the need for full backwards compatibility, and the low level of funding the IRS has had for modernization. As much as 20 million lines of the IMF's code is reportedly written in Assembler – a major obstacle to any modernization, as this code is specific to the System/360 Architecture, and so cannot be run on anything other than an IBM mainframe.

Source

Gaming, too, hasn't been immune from the 2022 feature update as the Redmond company finally acknowledged gaming performance issues on the new Windows version after several user and reviewer complaints. This led Microsoft to put an upgrade block or safeguard hold on such devices.

While the bug(s) leading to such problems have not been fully resolved yet, Microsoft has published an update on the matter partially removing the block. On its health dashboard, the company writes:

November 22, 2022: The safeguard hold with the safeguard ID of 41990091 has been updated to only safeguard Windows devices which have one of the small subset of games and apps which are still affected by this issue.

Hence, it looks like the upgrade block on at least some Windows 11 devices (which had the Safeguard ID 41990091) has been removed as Microsoft has been able to narrow in on a group of games or apps causing the issues. Initially, the company put up the safeguard hold for two IDs, 41766570 and 41990091.

Finally, Microsoft adds that it could take about 48 hours before the Windows 11 2022 feature update is offered on your system.

Microsoft removes Windows 11 22H2 upgrade block on some PCs suffering from gaming issues

With the launch of Windows 11 version 22H2, Microsoft detailed the security features users can expect in the new feature update. However, the 2022 update has now got a security upgrade as Microsoft has announced that Intel's Total Memory Encryption - Multi-Key (TME-MK) is now available on Windows 11 22H2 as well.

In a new blog post penned by Microsoft's Jin Lin, who is the PM Manager at Azure and Windows OS Platform, the company confirmed this new development. In terms of hardware, TME-MK is available on Intel's 3rd Gen Xeon scalable Ice Lake CPUs, and Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake processors on the client side.

TME-MK is available in Intel 3rd Generation Xeon server processors and Intel 12th Generation Core client processors. Azure, Azure Stack HCI, and now Windows 11 22H2 operating systems also take advantage of this new generation hardware feature. TME-MK is compatible with Gen 2 VM version 10 and newer. List of Guest OS’s supported in Gen 2

Here are the steps to enable multi-key total memory encryption:

To boot a new VM with TME-MK protection (assigning it a unique encryption key from other partitions), use the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Set-VMMemory -VMName -MemoryEncryptionPolicy EnabledIfSupported

To verify a running VM is enabled and using TME-MK for memory encryption, you can use the following Powershell cmdlet:

Get-VmMemory -VmName | fl *

The following return value would describe a TME-MK protected VM:

MemoryEncryptionPolicy : EnabledIfSupported

MemoryEncryptionEnabled : True

You may find more details on the official blog post.

Windows 11 22H2 gets more secure on Intel 12th Gen PCs thanks to multi-key encryption

Last month's feature update was a significant update for Windows 10. Not because of the features and changes it introduced, which Microsoft still has not revealed and likely won't, because there are not many, but because of its meaning for the support of the operating system.

Microsoft plans to support Windows 10 until October 14, 2025. The Home and Pro editions of last month's Windows 10 2022 Update release reach end of support on May 14, 2024 according to Microsoft. The Enterprise and Education editions of the Windows 10 2022 Update reach end of support on May 13, 2025. Only Enterprise Long-Term Servicing Channel and IoT Enterprise Long-Term Servicing Channel and Long-Term Servicing Branch editions are supported for longer. Version 21H2 will be supported until January 13, 2032 by Microsoft.

If you look at the dates, you may notice that there is not a lot of room left for future feature updates, provided that these follow the same support lifecycle. The Home editions could see an update in the second half of 2023, which would then be supported until October 2025. The Enterprise and Education editions, on the other hand, have no room left for a feature update that follows Microsoft's current support lifecycle. A 2023 update for Enterprise and Education would push support into 2026 under current terms.

Microsoft could adjust the support lifecycle again, or, decide to make Windows 10 2022 Update the last update for Windows 10, as Martin Geuß over at Dr. Windows suggested.  There is still the six months period to consider between support end for Windows 10 version 22H2 and the end of support for the operating system.

Microsoft has yet to reveal its plans, and it seems unlikely that Microsoft will reveal how it plans to proceed in the coming months. I expect an update closer to the potential 2023 feature update release, if it will ever happen.

When you look at last month's feature update for Windows 10, you may come to the conclusion that it does not really matter if Microsoft releases another one. The last was unspectacular and there is a great chance that any other feature update that Microsoft may release will be equally unspectacular. Most Windows 10 customers may not even mind if Microsoft won't release another feature update, considering that it is unclear what the last feature update included.

Now You: will there be another feature update for Windows 10?

Will there be another Windows 10 feature update?

According to OMG! Ubuntu!, the daily builds that are available right now, don’t really include anything new. During these early stages of development, efforts are focused on backend work such as “syncing imports” and “updating tooling”. Regardless, if you have a test machine lying around, you could install the daily image and apply the updates as they’re released to get all the new Ubuntu 23.04 features as they become available.

Ubuntu 23.04 is due out on April 20, 2023. As an interim release, it will only be supported for nine months until January 2024. During the development cycle, there will be two Testing Weeks from December 29 and March 2, the Feature Freeze will take place on February 23, a Beta will drop on March 30, the Kernel will be frozen on April 6, and the final release will be available on April 20.

For most people, it’s advised that they stay on LTS versions of Ubuntu. These are the most stable releases of Ubuntu and are supported for five years, meaning you don’t have to keep messing around with upgrades. Developers releasing software for Ubuntu sometimes focus on LTS releases too, so this is another benefit of staying on these releases rather than upgrading to interim releases like Ubuntu 23.04.

Source: OMG! Ubuntu!

Daily builds for Ubuntu 23.04 become available for download