Customers with Intel CPUs who missed the previous driver update should note that Intel has split its graphics driver in two. One version is available for the latest 11th, 12th and 13th Gen processors, while another provides legacy software support for 6th-10th Gen CPUs.

What is new in Intel Graphics Driver 31.0.101.3729?

This update is available for customers with 11th, 12th and 13th Gen Intel processors.

The changelog includes the following:

Release highlights:

Support for 13th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® UHD Graphics.

There are no fixes listed for this driver release.

Known issues:

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive* (DX9) may experience a game crash when changing shadow quality settings in game.
• Destiny 2* may exhibit display signal loss or display flashing during gameplay when HDR is enabled.
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin* may experience an application crash during gameplay.
• An “Update driver” pop-up error message may be observed when launching Battlefield 1* after upgrading from30.0.100.9955 or older drivers.
• [12th Generation Intel Core Processors]:
  • Lighting corruption may be observed in the Halo Infinite* (DX12) multiplayer menus.
  • Grid Legends* (DX12) may experience lighting corruption when lighting quality is set to high in the games settings.
  • CrossFire HD* (DX9) may experience an application crash when task switching during gameplay.
  • Chorus* may experience an application crash in some interior areas of the game such as the ship hangar.
  • Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Destiny 2* (DX11), CrossFire HD* (DX9), GRID Legends* (DX12) (on changing lighting quality to high) and F1 2020* (DX12) when HDR is enabled.
  • Sniper Elite 5* (DX12) may experience a game crash or TDR with an error dialog pop-up message.
  • Red Dead Redemption 2* (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance when the game
  • API is set to DirectX®12 with VSync enabled.
• [11th and 12th Generation Intel Core Processors]:
  • Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Gears 5* (DX12).
  • A game crash or hang may occur when changing resolution in NBA 2K21* (DX12).
• [11th Generation Intel Core Processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics]:
  • Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Elex* (DX11), MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries* (DX12), Strange Brigade* (DX12) and The Ascent* (DX12).

What is new in Intel Graphics Driver 31.0.101.2114?

This driver is applicable to systems with 6th-10th Gen Intel Processors and with integrated graphics.

Release highlights:

Intel will be moving 6th - 10th Gen Intel Processor Graphics and related Intel Atom®, Pentium®, and Celeron® processor graphics to a legacy software support model. For more information on this support update and additional changes to the driver package, see Graphics Driver Support Update for 10th Generation and Older Intel Processor Graphics.

Fixed Issues:

• An application crash may occur in Watch Dogs: Legion* (DX11) when starting the game

And finally, here are the known issues affecting 6th to 10th gen CPUs:

• An intermittent crash or hang may occur during gameplay in Ghostwire: Tokyo* (DX12).
• An error message pop-up may be observed when launching Call of Duty: Vanguard* (DX12).
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive* (DX9) may experience a game crash when changing shadow quality settings in game.
• Destiny 2* may exhibit display signal loss or display flashing during gameplay when HDR is enabled.
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin* may experience an application crash during gameplay.
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint* may experience minor shadow corruption in some areas of the game.
• CrossFire* (DX9) may experience an application crash and or security alert when joining a game.
• Minor graphical anomalies may be observed in Call of Duty: Warzone* (DX12), Diablo II: Resurrected* (DX12),
• Euro Truck Simulator* (DX11), Farming Simulator 22* (DX12), Grand Theft Auto V* (DX11), Halo Infinite*
• (DX12), Hitman 2* (DX12), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy* (DX12) and Microsoft Flight Simulator*(DX11).
• An “Update driver” pop-up error message may be observed when launching Battlefield 1* after upgrading from 30.0.100.9955 or older drivers

You can download the latest Intel Drivers from the official website.

Intel Graphics v31.0.101.3729 driver includes support for 13th gen Raptor Lake

Mozilla released Firefox 106 Stable and Firefox 102.4 ESR just two days ago on October 18, 2022. Firefox 106 included the browser's new Firefox View feature, which improves cross-device use of the browser by highlighting recent tabs open in other instances of Firefox.

Other improvements include basic PDF editing capabilities, limiting to drawing on PDF documents and using text write options, useful for form filling.

Firefox 106.0.1

Firefox 106.0.1 Stable will be released later today, if you are reading this on October 20, 2022.  The new release of the browser addresses a crash issue on AMD Zen 1 devices. The operating systems affected by the bug are not specified, but Windows 10 is among them.

Mozilla fixed the crash issue in record time. It was reported on Mozilla's bug tracking site yesterday (20 hours ago at the time of writing), and fixed nine hours later. Mozilla states that Firefox 102.x ESR is not affected by the issue, and that Firefox 106 is the only affected version of the Firefox browser.

The bug report includes a technical analysis of the issue and references to other bugs related to it.

Firefox 106 installations should receive the update automatically once it is released. Firefox users may download the update from Mozilla's website as well to install it manually.

The crash bug should not affect the starting of the Firefox web browser or the automatic update behavior.

Firefox users may check the installed version of the web browser by selecting Menu > Help > About Firefox from its main interface. Firefox displays the installed version and runs a check for updates. Any update that the browser finds during the check is downloaded and installed automatically.

Now You: when was the last time you experienced a crash in a browser that you are using?

Firefox 106.0.1 fixes a crash on certain AMD systems

Frontpaged:   Mozilla Firefox Browser 106.0.1

If you are using Firefox on your phone, you are probably aware that the stable channel supports just a handful of add-ons, for the sake of compatibility.

Sure, uBlock Origin and Bitwarden are fantastic extensions, but many other add-ons do work perfectly with the mobile browser. Mozilla is restricting users to the collection that it curates, this can be frustrating for many users, and even for developers.

This is why some people prefer using the Nightly builds instead, even though these fresh-out-of-the-oven builds could be a little on the buggier side.

The Nightly channel has supported custom add-on collections for 2 years. It is not a particularly convenient way to use it, since it isn't available out of the box. You need a Firefox account, and you have to manually create a collection of add-ons. It doesn't end there, you also have to do a couple of extra steps in the mobile browser to subscribe to your add-on collections. The same goes for the Beta version too, the feature is still hidden but the steps to enable custom add-on collections are identical to those in the Nightly channel.

The advantage that Firefox Beta has over the Nightly builds is that it has fewer bugs, so it might be a better option to go with as your daily driver. And now that it has gained support for custom add-on collections, maybe you should give it a try.

How to enable custom add-on collections in Firefox Beta for Android

1. Go to the Settings page, scroll down to the bottom.

2. Tap on "About Firefox Beta".

3. Tap on the Firefox logo 5 times. It will display a message that says "Debug Menu enabled".

If you go to the previous screen, you'll notice that a new option is available under the Advanced section. It's called Custom Add-on Collections. Tap on it, and it will ask you to enter the collection owner's ID, and the collection's name.

The ID is a unique 6-digit number that can be found in your add-on collection's URL. The name of course refers to the collection's name, unlike the number this is something that you can choose. For example, the ID for the Ghacks.net collection is 926754 and the name is ghacks.

Tap the OK button, and the app should close to apply the changes. Open the browser and go to the Add-ons section, and you will be able to choose the extensions that you want to install in Firefox Beta for Android.

Note: Creating a custom add-ons collection will remove the default plugins from the add-ons manager. That's not a big issue since you can just re-add them to your own collection. It's also worth noting that not all add-ons support the mobile version of the browser. So you may have to experiment with them to see if they work or not.

Custom add-on collections are available in Firefox Beta 107.0 b1. You can download the app from the Google Play Store, or from the project's GitHub releases page.

Since the feature has been introduced in Firefox Beta, it may not take long for custom add-on collections to be added to the stable release channel. You can follow the issue on GitHub to observe the progress.

Personally, I use Firefox Nightly as my primary browser on my phone, and this won't change even with the release of Beta 107, because the Nightly channel still has something that the Beta and Stable channels don't, pull to refresh.

Source

Downloads are not yet provided on the official Ubuntu website, but several mirrors host the new interim release already. Soon, downloads will also be offered on the official website and you may check out the main download page to find the Ubuntu 22.10 download.

Ubuntu 22.10

Ubuntu 22.10's official release notes are already available. Canonical highlights new tools to optimize developer workflows, improved Raspberry Pi support, updated Enterprise management tools, and improved desktop usability and performance.

The new Ubuntu release comes with GNOME 43, a new version of the desktop environment. Several apps have been converted to GTK4 and libadwaita, including the default file manager Nautilus. GNOME Text Editor is the default text editor and GNOME Terminal the default terminal application. The developers have removed GNOME Books, and recommend using Foliate instead.

Linux kernel 5.19, which improves the power performance of Intel processors, and a small number of other improvements are also included in the release.

Quick Settings, for instance, "provides faster access to commonly used options", according to Canonical, and there is default support for the webp format. There is also the latest Mesa in the Steam snap, which should improve compatibility and performance for more games when using Steam on Ubuntu systems.

Canonical switched the default audio server from PulseAudio to PipeWire, citing that it "broadens support for audio devices" and "improved performance for video conferencing".

The full release notes offer more information on the changes. Several applications have been updated, including Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice. Canonical has updated subsystems such as Mesa, PipeWire, BlueZ or CUPS in the new release as well.

The Linux security module AppArmor may now be used to restrict access to unprivileged user namespaces. Administrators may configure systems "so that only applications and services which are confined by an appropriate AppArmor profile can use this feature".

Ubuntu 22.10 is not as uneventful as Microsoft's release of Windows 10 version 22H2, but it is not a major new release with lots of new features either. The main improvements are GNOME 43, Linux kernel 5.19 and the switch to PulseAudio.

Source

Ubuntu 22.10 is primed, ready to release on October 20 and to help ratchet up the excitement I’ve put together a short video to showcase the release’s most exciting new features.

Not that much of it of will be a surprise if you read this blog often enough 😉!

All told, Ubuntu 22.10 is a fairly modest update to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. The inclusion of GNOME 43 and the switch to PipeWire as the underlying audio stack are both significant changes, but there’s little else to lure long-term support users away from the luxurious bosom (oo-er) of stability.

Not that it’s a total non-event, mind.

As mentioned, GNOME 43 and its new pod-like Quick Settings menu is the star attraction (being able to quickly switch wi-fi network from the menu itself was long overdue).

Plus, an adaptive Nautilus, and out-of-the-box support for WebP images (meme makers rejoice) are welcome additions.

A refreshed set of software ships as standard, though there are some lineup changes.

Few will end up tearful over the loss of the no-frills To Do app, and the decision to replace esteemed text editor Gedit with GNOME’s new libadwaita-based equivalent is likely to excite as much as it enrages!

There’s a newer Linux kernel (5.19, though not the very latest, 6.0) and gamers are certain appreciate the inclusion of a newer Mesa snapshot — all expected changes in a fixed-release distro like Ubuntu.

If anything, the Kinetic Kudu is not as energetic as its codename intimates As interim releases it is a passably interesting yet largely iterative issue. Formulaic? That’s not a bad thing. Releases like this are sure-footed foundations on which more ambitious changes can later rest.

Hit play on the embed at the top of this post to catch the video in-situ, or yeet yourself over to YouTube. It may help you decide to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.10, or it may convince you to stay put on whatever version/distro you’ve currently using. Either way, it’s good to know!

Source

Perhaps more importantly, some Insiders will start to notice search in the taskbar, and being able to launch Task Manager by right clicking anywhere on the taskbar.

The full changelog is below:

• New! We added a new consent form for those of you enrolled in Windows Hello Face and Fingerprint. You have new choices for your biometric data. You can keep storing your biometric data or open Settings to delete the data if you have not used your face or fingerprint for authentication in over 365 days. You also have these options if you upgraded to Windows 11 and have not yet seen the new Hello Learn More Privacy text.
• New! We added improvements to the Microsoft Account experience in Settings. For instance, you can manage your Microsoft One Drive subscription and related storage alerts.
• New! We enhanced search visual treatments on the taskbar to improve discoverability. This is available to a small audience initially and deploys more broadly in the months that follow. Some devices might notice different visual treatments as we gather feedback. To learn more about why you might be seeing these changes, see Search for anything, anywhere.
• New! We enhance the backup experience when using your Microsoft Account (MSA). Some devices might notice visual treatments for this enhancement. This is available to a small audience initially and deploys more broadly in the months that follow.
• New! We added Task Manager to the context menu when you right-click the taskbar. This feature rolls out in the coming weeks.
• We enabled the ms-appinstaller Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to work for the DesktopAppInstaller.
• We will not start daylight saving time in Jordan at the end of October 2022.
• We fixed an issue that affects Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) authentication hardening. We will automatically raise the authentication level for all non-anonymous activation requests from DCOM clients to RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_PKT_INTEGRITY. This occurs if the authentication level is below Packet Integrity.
• We fixed an issue that affects the Windows Search service. Indexing progress is slow when you use the service.
• We fixed an issue that affects cached credentials for security keys and Fast Identity Online 2.0 (FIDO2) authentications. On hybrid domain-joined devices, the system removes these cached credentials.
• We fixed an issue that might affect some types of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections. These connections might have handshake failures. For developers, the affected connections are likely to send multiple frames followed by a partial frame with a size of less than 5 bytes within a single input buffer. If the connection fails, your app will receive the error, “SEC_E_ILLEGAL_MESSAGE”.
• We fixed an issue that affects the Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AAD) Application Proxy connector. It cannot retrieve a Kerberos ticket on behalf of the user. The error message is, “The handle specified is invalid (0x80090301).”
• We fixed an issue that affects certificate mapping. When it fails, lsass.exe might stop working in schannel.dll.
• We fixed an issue that affects Microsoft Edge when it is in IE Mode. The titles of pop-up windows and tabs are wrong.
• We fixed an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. It stops you from opening webpages. This occurs when you enable Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) and you do not configure Network Isolation policies.
• We fixed an issue that affects title bars when you use third-party tools to customize them. The title bars did not render. This update ensures that title bars render; however, we cannot guarantee all text customizations will work as before.
• We fixed an issue that might cause vertical and horizontal line artifacts to appear on the screen.
• We fixed an issue that affects input method editors (IME) from Microsoft and third parties. They stop working when you close the IME window. This occurs if the IME uses Windows Text Services Framework (TSF) 1.0.
• We fixed an issue that might fail to sync the audio when you record game play using the Xbox Game Bar.
• We updated DriverSiPolicy.p7b for the Windows kernel vulnerable driver blocklist. This update includes drivers that are vulnerable to Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.
• We extended original equipment manufacturer (OEM) control of Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity (HVCI) enforcement for targeted hardware configurations.
• We fixed an issue that affects File Explorer. It is less dependable when you browse for Microsoft OneDrive folders.
• We fixed an issue that affects the button style BS_PUSHLIKE. Buttons that have this style are difficult to identify against a dark background.
• We fixed an issue in that stops the credential UI from displaying in IE mode when you use Microsoft Edge.
• We fixed an issue that affects Server Manager. It might reset the wrong disk when several disks have the same UniqueId.
• We address an issue that affects the CopyFile function. It returns ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE instead of ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND when it is called with an invalid source file.
• We fixed an issue that affects the Start menu. It stops working when you use keyboard commands to move pinned items to a folder at the end of a list.

Microsoft did not share any known issues with this build.

No Task Manager for me!

Microsoft also noted that the Task Manager right click option "rolls out in the coming weeks." which may indicate that it could arrive as part of next month's Patch Tuesday update. As per usual, not everyone will see the new features, thanks to Microsoft's staggered approach to releasing test features through the Insider Previews.

You can view the original blog post here.

Windows 11 (KB5018496) Release Preview has right click on taskbar for Task Manager

At its annual Ignite 2022 event, Microsoft announced a plethora of new features for Microsoft 365 users. But what apparently turned out to be the most exciting among consumers was the new Microsoft 365 app designed to replace the current Office application. Days after announcing, Microsoft has finally given us the first look at it.

The Microsoft 365 YouTube channel has posted a video showing some of the key features of the app. Besides showing its new look and a new icon, the video talks about how it can be a hub for all your documents, presentations, and files across all your apps, including third-party content. The video is 55 seconds long, so not everything is covered. But it highlights a good set of features. These include the following:

• The ability to search and find files shared by specific people.
• Creating new content with the help of pre-designed templates.
• All the Microsoft apps, third-party apps, and your company apps can be found.
• The Feed helps you prepare for your upcoming meetings, see updates from people you follow, and much more.
• Personalized recommendation powered by Microsoft Graph.
• Quick access to all your recent files.

Interestingly enough, the Office app on Google Play Store has now been renamed to "Office (Microsoft 365). As of yet, it does not offer all the new functionalities highlighted in the video.

During the announcement, Microsoft said Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows will become the Microsoft 365 app "in the coming months." The software giant has not provided details on when it will arrive for the general public.

Microsoft gives us a first look at the new Microsoft 365 app

Microsoft intends to add Sign Language View and always-on captions in Teams meetings in the next month.

As per the description given on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap page, Microsoft Teams will "prioritize up to two other participants' videos for sign language in meetings." These videos will be visible even when the content is shared.

Microsoft has not explained how the functionality will work on Teams. Its competitor Zoom already has support for Sign Language Interpretation in meetings and webinars. In Zoom, meeting and webinar hosts can designate multiple participants as sign language channel interpreters so that participants can have options to choose from multiple sign language interpretations.

Zoom introduced the capability last month. The timing was perfect, as September is Deaf Awareness Month. Microsoft clearly lost an opportunity to launch these key accessibility features at a time when most people would have talked about it, but better late than never.

Microsoft has promised general availability of Sign Language View in Teams for Windows and Mac devices in November, but it can get delayed, like the arrival of Dark Mode for Word for the web.

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft to add key features in Teams to help people with hearing loss

Firefox version 106 isn't a big release, but it includes some welcome new features nonetheless, with notable improvements in PDF handling and cross-device sync.

The built-in Javascript-based PDF viewer has been updated, so there's less need to rely on a local PDF viewer having these functions. Firefox has been able to display PDFs for many years, and since version 93 late last year, you can complete forms directly in the browser as well – in both AcroForms and the deprecated XFA format. That nicely obsoletes Adobe's scary warning about the older format.

Now the viewer can also annotate PDF documents, which means they can type, or hand-write, directly onto a PDF in a choice of colors, size, line thickness, opacity, and so on, then save the PDF file locally, complete with the new additions. A side-effect is that it can display comments in PDF files, something which third-party PDF viewers often struggle with.

These new abilities get rid of two problems: First, that while you can reasonably expect any random PDF reader app to at least show you the file, some of the alternative ones can't handle things like comments. Second, as malware-laden PDFs are unfortunately still a thing, the less need there is to open a PDF locally, the more it helps your system security.

The PDF viewer can also access the hidden text layer embedded in some PDFs, for example by OCR apps – and it can pass that text through, for example to screen readers such as Voiceover, for users with visual impairments. It can also extract text from images.

Support for the WebRTC set of standards has been improved via libwebrtc version 103, which means better handling of clientless communications apps, including lower latency and better screen sharing. There's also improved support for Wayland and Pipewire on Linux, including a two-fingered swipe gesture for moving forwards and backwards through sites.

A handy new feature is Firefox View, which gives a quick overview of recently-closed tabs and lets you pick up pages that you read on Firefox Mobile – obviously, excluding activity in private windows.

You can take a look at the release notes here.

Windows and Mac users can grab the new version directly from Mozilla and it should appear soon in current Linux distros. ®

Source : https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/18/firefox_106_arrives/

What’s new

Update Management Improvements

Ensuring consistent and predictable timing of restarts for Windows updates is a key part of a successful update strategy. To improve the predictability of restarts, we have made the following changes for the Update Stack Orchestrator:

• The Deadline calculation for both quality and feature updates is now based off the time the client’s update scan initially discovered the update. Previously, the Deadline was based off the release date of the update for quality updates and the reboot pending date for feature updates.
• The Specify deadlines for automatic updates and restarts Group Policy setting was split into two separate settings to align with the existing configuration service provider (CSP) policies. The options in the Group Policy settings are the same for both feature and quality updates. Each of the new settings also has a Don’t auto-restart until end of grace period option. The new Group Policy settings are:
  • Specify deadlines for automatic updates and restarts for quality updates
  • Specify deadlines for automatic updates and restarts for feature updates

• To reduce the impact of the Deadline calculation change, the defaults values for feature updates were changed to the following:
  • Update/ConfigureDeadlineForFeatureUpdates = 2 (previously 7)
  • Update/ConfigureDeadlineGracePeriodForFeatureUpdate = 7 (previously 2)

Microsoft is requesting feedback for these new features in the Feedback Hub, which you can access with (WIN + F) under Install and Update > All other issues.

Here are the Changes and Improvements for this build:

[Start menu]

• We are trying out a small change to the Start menu where some Insiders will see badging on their user profile notifying them that certain actions need to be taken.

   

[Widgets]

• We’re trying out some different positions of the header with new icons for the Widgets board to learn how to best optimize the Widgets board for our users. By using monoline icons, our goal is to bring consistent, clean, and accessible icons to communicate action and features with simple visuals for users.

   

[Input]

• The change to support the use of clipboard history (WIN + V) on password fields that began rolling out with Build 25206 is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

• We made a change to allow you to contribute your voice clips to Microsoft again even if on-device speech recognition is used.

   

[Voice typing]

• We are rolling out a change to sync voice typing settings, Automatic punctuation and Voice typing launcher, across all devices signed in using the same Microsoft account. You can toggle this feature via Settings > Accounts > Windows backup > Remember my preferences > Accessibility. This currently only works with Microsoft accounts today with AAD support coming later.

   

[Settings]

• A new dialog will warn users of potential data loss if they elect to change the partition style of their storage drive under System > Storage > Disks & Volumes > Disk Properties.

• We’ve updated the ethernet and Wi-Fi property pages in Settings to now show gateway information in the network details summary.

   

These are the Fixes included in this build

[General]

• Fixed an issue which was causing some Insiders to not be able to upgrade to recent Dev Channel builds, with error 0xC1900101. As a reminder, this is a generic rollback error code, so if you are continuing to see this error after today’s update you may be encountering a different issue. If you do, please file feedback about it under Install and Update > Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update in the Feedback Hub.

   

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

NOTE: These fixes will only show if tablet-optimized taskbar (documented here) is enabled on your device. Tablet-optimized taskbar is still rolling out to Windows Insiders and not yet available for everyone.

• Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash while switching between apps on the tablet-optimized taskbar.

• Start’s touch gesture should now follow your finger correctly with the tablet-optimized taskbar.

• Improved how touch gestures and their animations with the tablet-optimized taskbar work with the touch keyboard.

• You can now swipe up from within the taskbar with a pen to expand the tablet-optimized taskbar.

   

[System Tray Updates]

NOTE: These fixes will only show if System Tray Updates (documented here) is enabled on your device. Tablet-optimized taskbar is still rolling out to Windows Insiders and not yet available for everyone.

• Fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash when dragging icons in the system tray.

• Right-clicking system tray icons should no longer cause the auto-hidden taskbar to hide incorrectly.

• The show hidden icons panel in the system tray should no longer block context menus opened after it.

• Fixed an issue where the first time you tried to open Quick Settings from the system tray it wouldn’t work.

• Fixed an issue that was preventing system tray icons from updating in real time.

   

[File Explorer]

• When you scroll to the bottom of the navigation pane using a mouse wheel and try to scroll back up it should no longer get stuck at the bottom.

• Fixed an issue which could cause certain apps to hang when opening the Open File Dialog or Save File Dialog.

• Made another fix for a case which could lead to people seeing divider lines overlapping entries in the navigation pane.

   

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue where dragging content across an open Start menu folder could cause a crash.

   

[Search]

• Made a fix to help address an issue where Search might not respond when clicking on the search icon in the taskbar.

• Opening images from search should no longer unexpectedly open them in Print.

   

[Input]

• Fixed an issue where over time you might lose the ability to interact with certain games using the mouse.

• Fixed an issue where the multiplication sign (×, U+00D7) wasn’t displaying correctly in the Yu Gothic font family for people with high resolution screens.

   

[Settings]

• The size of UWP app icons under Apps > Startup shouldn’t be so small now.

   

[Task Manager]

• Dragging Task Manager from the bottom area of the title bar to move the window should work now.

   

[Other]

• Fixed a couple issues causing certain apps to crash in recent builds, including OneNote. We are continuing to investigate feedback in this space.

• Made a change to address an issue which could lead to performance degradation when using performance monitoring tools which leveraged the Microsoft-Windows-DxgKrnl ETW provider. This also impacted performance for Windows Mixed Reality. As a reminder, if you’re experiencing performance issues, please see here for steps on filing actionable performance feedback.

• Fixed an issue where recording devices with “Listen to this device” enabled might not show in the volume mixer when they were playing sound.

• If you reset your PC, the screen displayed while it’s resetting will now be black so it’s consistent with the upgrade screens.

• If you were experiencing Gaming Services crashes while trying to play certain games in the previous Dev Channel flight, please check the Microsoft Store for Gaming Servicing updates, it should be resolved now.

• Fixed an issue which was causing certain PCs to unexpectedly bugcheck on upgrade to the latest builds, with the error message saying “MULTIPROCESSOR_CONFIGURATION_NOT_SUPPORTED”.

• Fixed an issue from the previous flight which could cause Miracast to unexpectedly not be able to connect.

   

Microsoft has also stated that even though some of these fixes are rolling out in the Dev Channel initially, they may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

And finally here are the Known issues:

[General]

• 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 investigating reports that various UI elements in apps appear to be disappearing and reappearing sometimes in recent builds.

   

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

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

• When using the bottom right edge gesture to see Quick Settings, the taskbar sometimes stays stuck in the expanded state, instead of dismissing to collapsed state.

   

[Input]

• We’re investigating reports that the text cursor becomes white on white when hovering over text fields, making it difficult to see.

   

[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 view the full changelog on the Windows Insider blog here.

Windows 11 build 25227 includes Start menu and Widget notification badge experiment

Some Firefox users here in the comments noticed that Firefox displayed the "List all Tabs" icon all the time in the new release. Previously, Firefox displayed the icon only if it could not display all tabs open in the browser in the visible area; this made sense, considering that the feature lists all open tabs of the browser window when activated and includes an option to search across all open tabs.

List all tabs is a handy feature if too many tabs are open in Firefox, as it provides quick access to all of them with a single click of the mouse button or a single tap.

Firefox users may have several reasons for wanting to hide the icon when all tabs are visible. Besides the obvious, it being superfluous, some may also want it removed to avoid accidental activation.

Thankfully, there is an option to restore the previous functionality. Firefox hides the List all Tabs icon if all tabs are visible in the browser window, but displays it when there are too many tabs so that scrolling is activated.

Here is how that is done:

1. Load about:config in the Firefox address bar; this opens the advanced configuration editor of the browser that is a built-in feature.
2. If a warning page is displayed, confirm that you want to proceed.
3. Search for browser.tabs.tabmanager.enabled.
4. Toggle the feature with a click on the "change" button so that its value is FALSE.
5. Restart the Firefox browser.

Firefox won't display the icon anymore on the tab bar if all tabs are visible in the browser window. The list all tabs icon is displayed, however, when scrolling is activated on the tab bar. It may then be used just like before.

You may undo the change at any time by repeating the steps above. Just make sure that the preference's value is TRUE when you toggle it. A restart is required to complete the process.

Google Chrome displays a similar icon all the time in the interface. The browser lists recently closed tabs in the interface, which adds some value to the feature.

Now You: do you use the "list all tabs" icon in Firefox or other browsers?

How to hide Firefox's List All Tabs icon

The branding for Server has still not been updated and remains as Windows Server 2022 in the preview. In addition, Microsoft is asking Insiders to refer to these builds as vNext rather than Windows Server 2022 which is already in the market.

Build 25227 of Server contains just one Known Issue, listed below:

The Languages and Optional Features Preview fails to enable sporadically with an error "Something didn't go as planned. No need to worry-undoing changes. Please keep your computer on"

Available Downloads:

• Windows Server VNext Preview in ISO format in 18 languages,
  and in VHDX format in English only.
• Windows Server VNext Preview VHDX
• Microsoft Server Languages and Optional Features Preview
• Windows Admin Center 2110.2 Preview

Keys are valid for preview builds only:

• Server Standard: MFY9F-XBN2F-TYFMP-CCV49-RMYVH
• Datacenter: 2KNJJ-33Y9H-2GXGX-KMQWH-G6H67

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

The expiration date for this build is set to expire on September 15, 2023.

Microsoft is also requesting that server admins provide feedback via the Feedback Hub on Windows 10 or 11 clients, by navigating to the Windows Server category and provide feedback with:

[Server #build] Title of my feedback

You can download the ISO or VHDX here, and the official blog announcement is here.

Windows Server vNext build 25227 ISO released to Windows Insiders

For many, Windows is the only desktop operating system they've ever used. For them, there's a familiarity that makes dealing with the usual troubles associated with Windows (random restarts for updates, failed drivers, and insecurities) tolerable.

But what if I told you there was an alternative? There is, and it's been around since 1997.

That alternative is Linux.

Now, before you throw your arms up in the air in frustration, hear me out. Sure, there are tons of Linux distributions available to install for free. Those distributions range from the very basic to the incredibly complex and everything in between.

Along with those varied versions of the operating system, there are numerous desktops you can opt to try. Some of those desktops stick with the traditional layout of a bottom panel, system tray, desktop menu, and desktop app launchers. There are also Linux desktops that completely re-invent the wheel to make something altogether more modern and elegant.

For those that stick with Windows, simply because it's what you know, I have a treat for you.

Said treat is called Windowsfx and it's a Linux desktop operating system that uses the KDE Plasma desktop environment to create a very Windows 11 look and feel.

In fact, if you just took a glance at Windowsfx, you'd be certain you were looking at the Microsoft desktop operating system and not Linux.

But Windowsfx isn't just a simple theme that retools KDE Plasma into a very Windows 11-like interface. Windowsfx also includes Android app support, and MS applications pre-installed (such as Edge, Teams, Skype, PowerShell, Office Online, and OneDrive). You'll find apps like:

•     KMail (and all the basic KDE apps).
•     AnyDesk.
•     Google Chrome.
•     K3b.
•     ONLYOFFICE.
•     Java 17.
•     Steam.
•     VLC Media Player.
•     Winetricks.

Out of the box, Windowsfx has you covered, regardless of what you need. With two different office suites, two different default web browsers, and Wine pre-installed (for running Windows applications), there's very little you cannot do with Windowsfx. Just click on the Start button to reveal the desktop menu, where you can access all of the installed applications.

The Windowsfx desktop menu should look very familiar to Windows 11 users.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET

But how does Windowsfx perform?

In a word, Windowsfx performs flawlessly. No matter what you need, this operating system can do it. Even a quick test of installing the Notepad++ Windows application went off without a hitch. Just download the .exe file, double-click it, and walk through the installer.

Installing Windows apps on Windowsfx is simple.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET

One thing that you might want to consider is this: With Windows 11, you're very limited in how you can customize that desktop. Now, imagine you have a very Windows 11-like OS that is highly customizable. That's what you get with Windowsfx. If there's something you don't like about it, change it. And making those changes isn't nearly as hard as you think. Open the System Settings app and you have a world of customizations at your fingertips.

Customizing Windowsfx is all done through the System Settings app.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET

This is Windows 11 on steroids… but only if you need it. If you're not looking for a more customizable version of Windows 11, you can stick with the Windowsfx basic settings and enjoy an operating system that's very Windows-like in look and feel and very Linux-like in stability and security.

Whatever you want your OS to be, Windowsfx can be it. If that's not reason enough to try it, I don't know what is.

In the end, if you're looking for the perfect operating system to help you migrate from Windows, Windowsfx is probably your best bet.

Source

Note: Enabling hidden features using third-party apps always has some risks. The safest option is to sit back and wait for Microsoft to deliver new features "organically." If you are not afraid of experimenting, remember to back up important data before proceeding.

Enable right-click to open Task Manager in Windows 11

1. Start with updating your computer to Windows 11 2022 Update and its "Moment 1" update. Your system should be on Windows 11 build 22621.675 or newer (Stable channel). You can check the build number by pressing Win + R and typing winver.
2. Download the ViveTool app from GitHub and extract the files in a convenient to you folder. For example, C:\Vive. A simple path will make it easier to navigate in Windows Terminal.
3. Right-click the Start menu button and select Terminal (Admin).

   

4. Switch to the Command Prompt profile by pressing the arrow-down button on the tab strip.
5. Go to the folder containing ViveTool files using the CD command. Here is an example: CD C:\Vive.
6. Type vivetool /enable /id:36860984 and press Enter.
7. Restart your computer.

There is another way to enable right-click to open Task Manager in Windows 11. Some will prefer this option as it does not involve third-party software and rely on Registry Editor.

1. Press Win + R and type regedit.
2. Navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FeatureManagement\Overrides\4.

   

3. Right-click the 4 key and select New > Key.

   

4. Rename the new key to 1887869580.
5. Select the new key and click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) value.

   

6. Rename the value to EnabledState and open it.
7. Change the Value Data to 2 and click Ok.

   

8. Click Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) value and rename it to EnabledStateOptions. Leave its value data at 0.

   

9. Restart your computer.

Now you can right-click anywhere on the taskbar and see two options: Task Manager and Taskbar settings.

Source: @PhantomfOfEarth

How to enable right-click to open Task Manager in Windows 11 'Moment 1' update

OneNote version 2211 and newer allows making quick notes by pressing a button on a Surface Pen. When invoked, the app displays a small window with a toolbar that lets you toggle between different tools and ink. Microsoft says customers can use the Quick Note features to create reminders, sketch concepts, annotate screenshots, or jot down notes.

The updated Quick Note feature is rolling out to Office Insiders in the Beta Channel. It requires a computer with Windows 11 22H2 (2022 Update) that supports a Surface Pen with a shortcut button. Note that the rollout happens gradually to ensure things are stable and work smoothly. It is worth mentioning that the Quick Note feature works on any computer, and you can use it by pressing Win + Alt + N or clicking the OneNote icon in the notification area.

You can learn more about the latest improvements for OneNote on Windows 11 22H2 in a blog post on the Office Insider website.

Windows 11 2022 Update lets you create quick notes by clicking button on Surface Pen

According to @WindAesthetic, early stock Windows 11 wallpaper had a "more petal-like appearance" that resembles a weird blue flower instead of the final fabric-like thing. Unlike the wallpaper you see after installing Windows 11, early "petal-like" backgrounds have notable differences between dark and light variants.

Although Microsoft never released these wallpapers, you can easily spot the dark variant in the Microsoft Store—the company uses it on the screenshots for the stock Calculator app. If you like this image, download it here (OneDrive, courtesy of @FireCubeStudios). Unfortunately, there are no links for the light variant, as the build containing the wallpaper has never leaked.

There are many alternative variants of the stock Windows 11 wallpaper, and our favorites include dark variants and macOS Ventura-inspired alternations. If you would rather have a more wild-looking background, check out "Windows 12" wallpapers generated by AI amid the rumors of Microsoft preparing a new operating system for release in 2024. A prototype of the latter recently appeared during the Ignite conference.

Which variant of the default Windows 11 wallpaper do you like more? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Here is an early version of Windows 11's Bloom wallpaper Microsoft never released

Windows users have been running their console programs within the Windows Command Prompt for years.

However, this changed in 2019 when Microsoft introduced its first version of the Windows Terminal tabbed console.

For those who routinely worked in the command line, whether in WSL, PowerShell, or the regular Command Prompt, Windows Terminal brought a new customizable interface that catered to power users and developers.

Using Windows Terminal, users could create profiles for various consoles, custom themes, and a Command palette that lets you quickly launch commands in a console.

Today, Microsoft has announced that all Windows 11 console programs will now automatically launch by default in Windows Terminal.

"The day has finally come! Windows Terminal is now the default command line experience on Windows 11 22H2!," announced Microsoft Program Manager Kayla Cinnamon.

"This means that all command line applications will now automatically open in Windows Terminal."

For Windows Terminal to become the default Windows 11 console program, you must be using version 1.15 or greater and have today's optional KB5019509 preview update installed.

If you do not wish to use Windows Terminal as the default console program, you can go into Settings > Privacy & security > For developers and change the Terminal setting from 'Let Windows Decide' to 'Windows Console Host'. 

When you make this change, the Command Prompt will once again become your default Windows 11 console program.

Windows Terminal is now the default Windows 11 22H2 console

Apple will release macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16 on October 24

The app comes with the promise of true private web browsing 100% free from third-party tracking, targeted advertising, search query logging, and user profiling.

As expected, the default search engine is the privacy-centric DuckDuckGo that generates objective results without any bias or "user preference" factors.

DuckDuckGo for Mac is advertised as an alternative to "incognito" modes in other browsers that don't protect against web tracking, which uses roughly 60% less data than Chrome because of blocking all trackers before they are loaded.

The app is designed to make it easy for the user to set it up by having advanced privacy protection features pre-configured and activated by default

What's new in beta

While DuckDuckGo for Mac is at the beginning, version 0.30 and far from being stable, it comes with several new features since it first rolled out as a public waitlist beta in April.

Among the highlights is the "Duck Player," an embedded YouTube player that automatically blocks the platform from creating an advertising profile on the users, to keep away targeted ads.

The system is optional, and users can seamlessly switch between standard YouTube and Duck Player, depending on their needs, for a more personalized experience.

Duck Player in action (DuckDuckGo)

 

Another significant feature is the integration in the browser of the Bitwarden open-source password management solution.

DuckDuckGo for Mac is also compatible with the 1Password universal autofill feature and the browser's native password management solution.

Bitwarden integration on the browser (DuckDuckGo)

 

The newest version of the browser also has DuckDuckGo's Email Protection as a built-in feature and improved automatic cookie pop-up handling.

Version 0.30 of the app no longer leaves a blank space in the place of blocked ads.

The stable version of the DuckDuckGo browser may still be a long road ahead and the developer hasn't given an estimate for the release, neither for Mac nor for Windows.

Before that happens, though, the DuckDuckGo team has promised to open source both the app and the extensions created for it internally.

Last month, Microsoft released Windows 11 22H2 with various new features. However, the eagerly anticipated Tabbed File Explorer was not released, with Microsoft saying they would enable it in October.

Today, Microsoft has released the Windows 11 KB5019509 preview cumulative update to enable new features that were not ready when 22H2 was released. 

Windows 11 KB5019509 preview update - Source: BleepingComputer

 

Microsoft says that they will start to roll out the new features to those who installed today's preview update but that it may take some time before it's enabled on all Windows 11 devices.

"These new features and experiences will start to become available today in an optional non-security preview release and a phased rollout via our servicing technology and new apps via Microsoft Store updates, ensuring you can take advantage of the latest Windows experiences as these new features are ready," explains a Microsoft announcement on the new features.

Once the cumulative update is installed, Windows 11 users will slowly have the new features enabled.

The most eagerly anticipated feature is the new tabbed File Explorer interface, which allows you to open multiple folder tabs within a single interface.

Windows 11 tabbed File Explorer

 

Microsoft is also introducing the new Suggested Actions feature, which allows you to select text in Notepad or other applications and have Windows automatically prompt you to perform an associated action.

For example, if you select a number, Windows will ask if you wish to call it, or if you choose a date, Windows will prompt you to create a calendar event, as shown below.

Suggested Actions prompting you to create an event

 

The new update also comes with the Taskbar overflow feature that will show a small submenu of open taskbar items when the taskbar fills up with open applications.

Windows 11 Taskbar overflow feature

 

Finally, Microsoft has brought back the ability to launch the Task Manager by right-clicking anywhere on the Windows 11 Task Bar. This feature was removed with the initial release of Windows 11, causing many users to right-click on the taskbar for no reason constantly.

Unfortunately, these features are still rolling out and will not be available to all Windows 11 users immediately, even after installing today's optional update.

Therefore, if you do not have these features yet, please be patient as Microsoft rolls them out over the next few days.

For Windows 11 users who choose not to install today's optional update, these features will be included as part of the mandatory November Patch Tuesday cumulative updates.

Google is hoping to expand its stake in the software industry with the launch of  KataOS, a new OS for machine learning tools.

Described in a company blog post (opens in new tab) as, "a provably secure platform that's optimized for embedded devices that run ML applications", KataOS will run alongside its reference implementation, Sparrow.

Most computer users will be accustomed to the Windows and macOS operating systems, while pro users have been left to source their favourite Linux distro for more specific operations.

Google announces KataOS and Sparrow

In its announcement, the company stated the importance of being able to build “verifiably secure systems for embedded hardware” as smart devices become more commonplace.

Google says that our personally identifiable data - like images and voice recordings - could be at risk if the devices can’t be mathematically proven to keep data secure.

While there’s “plenty left to do”, Google has still confirmed some details about the upcoming KataOS. In the past, the company has favored the Carbon and C++ programming languages, however its new project is “written almost entirely in Rust”, according to its related GitHub page (opens in new tab).

The Register takes a closer look at the underlying seL4 microkernel, which is usually implemented in C. The article explains how CAmkES, which uses Haskell and Python, comes into play as an “abstraction layer to join the C and Rust layers together.”

Google sees this as the first step in a “future where intelligent ambient ML systems are always trustworthy.”

Moving forward, the company hopes to open source all of Sparrow - both hardware and software.

Source

Linus Torvalds has announced the version 6.1 release candidate for the Linux kernel, and added a stern message to developers: stop submitting code at the last minute.

This release isn't that big, Torvalds noted, as it only features 11,500 non-merge commits during the merge window, versus 13,500 last time. But he's been dealing with hardware problems while getting the infrastructure set up for developers to use the Rust programming language for updating the kernel. On top of these hardware glitches, he said he was "somewhat frustrated with various late pull requests."

"I've mentioned this before, but it's _really_ quite annoying to get quite a few pull requests in the last few days of the merge window," wrote Torvalds in his usual Sunday evening update. Work started on Linux 6.1 at the beginning of October.

"Yes, the merge window is two weeks, but that's very much to allow me time to look things over, not "two weeks to hurriedly put together a branch that you send Linus on Friday of the second week". The whole "do an all-nighter to get the paper in the day before the dealine" is something that should have gone out the window after highschool. Not for kernel development."

Torvalds was busy patching several serious memory related Wi-Fi security exploits last week, which is why memory-safe Rust is being positioned for new drivers.    

The few core things being introduced in Linux 6.1 are the initial Rust infrastructure and the the multi-generational LRU virtual machine series of patches. He was trying to get that in place for Linux 6.0. Multi-generational LRU improves Linux performance on memory-constrained systems.

But Torvalds' main request to kernel developers is to prepare their submissions before the merge window opens rather than during.

"With some slack for 'life happens', of course, but I really get the feeling that a few people treat the end of the merge window as a deadline, missing the whole 'it was supposed to be ready before the merge window'."

He added: "You know who you are."

There should be six or seven more release candidates before the final 6.1 version is released, which should be in December. This makes 6.1 the likely candidate for the 2022 Long-Term Support kernel release. Earlier this month, Linux stable maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman said he usually picks the last kernel of the year to be the LTS. Since 6.1 will land in December, it probably will be that one.

Source

The latest Mozilla Firefox web browser update places more focus on privacy, introduces PDF editing, and adds a new "Firefox View" tab history feature.

Mozilla’s sales pitch for Firefox 106, announced Tuesday for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, leads off with privacy–the focus of much of the non-profit’s recent browser development.

Unlike previous updates, which blocked such common tracking techniques as third-party cookies and browser fingerprinting, this release makes smaller changes: a private browsing shortcut that you can place on your desktop for quick switching, plus a default dark mode so it's clear when private browsing is enabled.

(Credit: Mozilla)

Mozilla created a new feature called "Firefox View" for desktop browser users which rolls out with today's release. It acts as a short history of your browser activity (think of it as a supercharged new tab experience), keeping track of up to 25 of your recently-closed tabs. This isn't limited to just one device, though. Firefox will remember the contents of those tabs across all the devices you are logged into. On mobile devices, you'll see the last three tabs you had open on other devices.

Firefox’s PDF viewer, meanwhile, is now a PDF editor as well, allowing users to mark up documents and sign them without leaving the browser. This catches Firefox up to Microsoft’s Edge, which has featured PDF annotation for years, and sets it ahead of Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome. But Firefox still trails Safari, Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge in not offering a tab-groups feature aside from its weirdly Android-only Collections.

Mozilla is also expanding its Firefox Colorways feature, which allows for color-based customization of the browser. The latest, limited edition of the Colorways wallpapers were produced by streetwear and sneaker designer Keely Alexis (best known for the Nike Air Jordans).

Source

Frontpaged:   Mozilla Firefox Browser 106.0

Here is the changelog for the new KB5020387 OOB update that fixes the TLS/SSL handshake issue on Windows 11 21H2:

Highlights

• We address an issue that might affect some types of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections. These connections might have handshake failures. For developers, the affected connections are likely to receive one or more records followed by a partial record with a size of less than 5 bytes within a single input buffer. If the connection fails, your app will receive the error, “SEC_E_ILLEGAL_MESSAGE”.

Improvements

This non-security update includes quality improvements. Key changes include:

• We address an issue that might affect some types of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections. These connections might have handshake failures. For developers, the affected connections are likely to receive one or more records followed by a partial record with a size of less than 5 bytes within a single input buffer. If the connection fails, your app will receive the error, “SEC_E_ILLEGAL_MESSAGE”.

To download this update, apply any available Windows update or head over to the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Microsoft outs Windows 11 OOB update (KB5020387) to fix TLS/SLS network issues

The highlights in this update are the same for Windows 10 20H2, 21H1, and 21H2, they read as follows:

Highlights

• We address an issue that might affect some types of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections. These connections might have handshake failures. For developers, the affected connections are likely to receive one or more records followed by a partial record with a size of less than 5 bytes within a single input buffer. If the connection fails, your app will receive the error, “SEC_E_ILLEGAL_MESSAGE”.

There are also two known issues with workarounds, they are as follows:

Applying available updates through Windows Update should keep you protected against this issue. If you have an offline computer running Windows 10, you can download the standalone package containing this update from the Microsoft Update Catalog too.

Microsoft issues out-of-band update (KB5020435) to Windows 10 to fix connection issues