Users of Avast and AVG antivirus solutions that use the open source email client Thunderbird may face another problem. Earlier versions of Avast and AVG products on Windows caused severe crashes of the Firefox web browser earlier this month. Mozilla had to rush a release, blocking older drivers of the antivirus solutions to prevent crashes in the Firefox web browser.

Now it is Thunderbird. This time, it is not crashes that Avast and AVG software is causing, but issues with the email client's updating system.

The Mail Shield component of Avast and AVG products, designed to block malicious emails from reaching a user's inbox, appears to be the culprit. The Thunderbird team confirmed the issue on its Twitter account, stating that the issue is caused by connection issues of Avast's and AVG's Mail Shield component.

Sören Hentzschel discovered that the issue dates back to at least July 2022. A user published a bug report on the Avast Forum, stating that Avast blocked automatic updates in Thunderbird.

Avast is testing a Beta version at the time, but has not published a stable new update that addresses the issue.

Thunderbird users may want to check the installed version of the email client to find out if they are affected. The latest version, at the time of writing, is Thunderbird 102.3.3.

Thunderbird users who are affected by the issue may disable the Shields component of the Avast or AVG software temporarily to update Thunderbird. Selecting Menu > Help > About Thunderbird should download and install the latest version once Shields are down.

Another option that users have is to uninstall Avast or AVG software on their device. On Windows, fallback is provided by Microsoft Defender.

Avast has not revealed a release date for the fixed version. The beta version was released on September 22.

Now You: which security solution do you use on your machines?

Avast may block Thunderbird updates

Ever wanted to find a way to scroll through hundred of tabs quickly? Well now you can. Thanks to a Windows program called Windhawk. From the creator of 7+ Taskbar tweaker, this software brings a modular to approach to modifying programs on Windows.

After installing Windhawk on Windows, users will see suggestions for mods on the main screen. Upon selecting a mod, the user only needs to click the install button. A call to action will appear where the user will need to choose between accepting to install the mod or rejecting it.

Chrome/Edge scroll tabs with mouse wheel is a Windows mod for using the mouse wheel while hovering over the tab bar to switch between tabs on Chrome, Brave, Opera and Edge browser. Users can go to the mod settings and select the reverse scrolling option should they wish to scroll through browser tabs in the opposite direction.

This mod also supports Edge's vertical tabs mode and the sidebar. It sadly does not work on Mozilla Firefox at the moment of testing. Since the mod is free and open-source, users that are not so trusting of third parties can read the source code. Users with programming experience are welcome to fork the code or make a pull request to add features on the repository.

Windhawk opens more possibilities in for customization on Windows. Power user have another accessible way to improve their experience on Microsoft OS. This is one of several Windhawk mods available to this date. More will be covered in the future.

Scroll through browser tabs using mouse wheel with this Windhawk mod

Dubbed simply as "Windows 95", the project brings Windows 95 to life with the help of the Electron framework and hence, is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Earlier today, the latest version (3.1.1) of the application was released, and it brings some major changes. That is because the underlying Electron framework has received a big update. Broadly speaking, the app will now support the latest Chromium 106. The changelog is given below:

v3.1.1 Changes:

• Upgraded from Electron v18 to Electron v21 (and with it, Chrome and Node.js)
• Upgraded v86 (sound is back!)

Electron 21.0.0 also adds an "immersive dark mode on Windows" support that will help set a dark title bar based on the system preference. Other features include Web Bluetooth pairing support, support for the V8 JavaScript engine, and more. The main changes in Electron 21.0.0 are given below, but you can view the full release notes on its website.

Electron 21.0.0

Stack Upgrades:

• Chromium 106.0.5249.51
• Node v16.16.0
• V8 v10.6

You can download and find more information on the Windows 95 in Electron project at the source link below.

Source: GitHub via Deskmodder

The Windows 95 in Electron now supports the latest Chromium, Windows 11-based dark mode

Gurman states in his "Power On" newsletter that the first version of macOS Ventura and will add support for new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. While there will be minimal changes to these laptops, they will get the first M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, the successors to the existing M2.

While Gurman expects the MacBooks to launch in the foreseeable future, he does not expect them to be released alongside the next iPad Pro. "The company has historically launched new Macs in November, as was the case in 2019 with the initial 16-inch MacBook Pro and in 2020 with the first Apple Silicon-based MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini," he stated.

Apple is also reportedly working on an M2 version of the Mac mini, which was last updated in 2020. To this day, Apple still sells Mac minis with Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

Finally, Gurman states that Apple will quietly launch its newest products on its website instead of holding an event like it usually does. "Apple is probably saving its marketing energy for the Reality Pro headset debut next year," he said.

Source: Bloomberg via MacRumors

macOS Ventura expected to release in final week of October

Interestingly, Tails users may not have to wait too long for Tails 5.6 because the release calendar says that it’s due around October 25th following the availability of Firefox 102.4. While you wait for a fix to the kernel vulnerability, it’d be wise to stay off untrusted Wi-Fi networks.

Automatic upgrades to Tails 5.5 are available from Tails 5.0 or later. When you first connect to Wi-Fi in Tails, you should see a pop-up letting you know that an update is available. It will download the update over the Tor network, so it could take a while to complete. If you prefer, you can do a manual upgrade which may be faster for you to do, it’s also a good option if you have problems with the automatic update.

If you use persistent storage to store your files on Tails, you should ensure you are performing an upgrade rather than a clean install because your files will be deleted if you perform the latter. Tails users should upgrade to the new version quickly to ensure they are protected against the latest vulnerabilities.

Tails 5.5 issued but includes worrying Linux kernel bug

According to Sordum, users have been reporting problems and errors in their systems whereby they are unable to open or re-enable Microsoft Defender if they had disabled it using the Defender Control utility. Sordum believes that Microsoft is at fault here, as Windows tries to repair Defender in the case it is force-disabled and hence corrupts the files.

Explaining the problem, Sordum updated it's last release with the following message:

We get some messages like this ; After turning off Defender with Defender Control, it cannot be opened again. Although it never causes this error on our systems. There are complaints from users
Microsoft does not want Defender to be turned off completely. Therefore, when defender is turned off, windows update or windows component is trying to repair Defender and as a result Defender may become corrupt. Of course a malicious program may also corrupt Defender completely. (If there is no different security software in windows, when Defender is turned off)

Microsoft is constantly taking new measures because it does not want Defender to be turned off. There is a possibility that Windows Defender may be corrupted among these measures. Therefore We will no longer update this program

Sordum.org Team

Interestingly, although Sordum still touts a clean report for its Defender Control on Virus Total, 55 out of 72 security product vendors currently flag Defender Control as malicious.

Via: Deskmodder

Sordum kills Defender Control updates due to conflict with Microsoft Defender

Microsoft announced that it would launch Dark Mode for the Word web client in May, but the company kept delaying the rollout for some reason. While it missed the deadline, the implementation of Dark Mode is equally good as on Word for Mac and Windows. When you enable it, the dark color scheme gets implemented on both the menu controls and the document background.

Moreover, you can switch to Dark Mode without impacting the white background of your document. You can switch between Light and Dark Mode in the Canvas with just a click. If you are pleased with Dark Ribbon and White canvas and never want to see a Dark canvas, Microsoft Word for the web will remember the state of your background toggle.

To implement the dark color scheme to Word for the web, you need to navigate to View > Dark Mode. If you do not like Dark Mode in canvas, you can click on the Switch Background button, and that will bring the white document background.

Microsoft has also paid attention to minor details while working on the feature. To make sure that everything looks visually pleasing with the new dark background, it has shifted reds, blues, yellows, and other colors slightly to mute the overall effect of the color palette.

However, everything is not perfect here. Microsoft Word may not remember your Dark Mode preferences across all platforms. If you have it enabled on Word for Mac or Windows, do not expect the Word web client to respect that dark color scheme preference. You might need to switch it on separately for each platform. It is a known issue and should be fixed in the coming days.

Source

The AMD Ryzen 7000 series is on the Windows 11 22H2 supported CPUs list (the system requirements are the same as on Windows 11 21H2) and these kinds of performance bugs, though not unexpected, are certainly undesirable on a supported CPU. Ironically, however, a 12-year-old Intel CPU, that's not officially supported by Windows 11, has been found to be running the new feature update like a dream.

A Reddit user with the username "paul_is_on_reddit" found out their Core i5-580M, a two core four thread CPU from 2010, is working fine on the 2022 update. The user even claims that Windows 11 22H2 "runs like magic" on it. Rufus 3.20 was used to bypass the system requirements, like TPM among others, for Windows 11, a feature that was introduced with the previous 3.18 update.

They write:

Using Rufus 3.20, I was easily able to install Windows 11 on this Acer laptop (which was made in 2010). Notice the CPU is a first-gen intel i5-580m (3Mb L2, 2-cores, 4 threads, hyperthreading, 2.67Ghz-3.2Ghz). I used Rufus to remove all the TPM/RAM/CPU requirements. W11 runs like magic on it.

What this suggests is that older hardware, which have been shunned by Microsoft mainly due to security-related reasons, are nearly perfectly capable of running Windows 11. Ironically, however, the company itself recommended disabling some of the security features to gain more gaming performance, as some of them have always been known to cause performance degradations even on supported CPUs.

Interestingly, back in June, Microsoft had actually begun offering the 22H2 upgrade to users on unsupported systems. Though the company was quick to pull it, citing it as a bug.

Source: paul_is_on_reddit (Reddit)

Windows 11 22H2 "runs like magic" on 12-year-old unsupported Intel CPU, says elated user

Today, I'm going to throw another idea into the mix, so bear with me. Remember how when you're updating to a new version of Windows, you get a few brightly colored screens saying stuff like "Getting things ready", "This might take a few minutes", "Almost there" etc. for a few minutes while the update is being installed?

Well, I think those need to go in Windows 11. I'll explain why I'm being specific about Windows 11 in just a bit, but first, I want to talk about what needs to replace those screens. Wouldn't it be much better if rather than showing colored screens with meaningless fluff text, Microsoft actually told you what an update includes?

Imagine that you're installing the Windows 11 2022 Update (version 22H2) and rather than reading lengthy articles on Neowin about what the update packs (we would still appreciate you reading, by the way!), Microsoft just showed you some useful graphics about changes to the Start menu, Task Manager, accessibility, and more. Like, have a screenshot of the redesigned Task Manager and explain using arrows and other graphics about all the nifty improvements.

I feel like there could be multiple advantages to this approach. The first would be that it would be much more useful than seeing pointless phrases like "Getting things ready". Right now, the update messages read like "Hey, we installed lots of stuff on your computer... but we won't tell you about it, figure it out yourself!"

If you want your users to actually use the features that you added, it's worth emphasizing their presence rather than just hiding them behind some menu or obscure UX interaction and just hoping that they find it. If you want people to use Teams on Windows 11 and have even added new features to it, why not shout it from the rooftops about it while Windows is being updated? Want people to use and see the benefits of Widgets? Tell them about it.

Of course, you could argue that most people probably don't sit in front of their PC while it's being updated but my counter-argument would be that it's because of this lack of meaningful information or purpose that nobody sits in front of an updating PC. Why should you sit there for 30 minutes when all it says is "Getting there, do not turn off your PC"?

This leads me to my second point, you need to drum up excitement for people who are installing updates. They need to know that an update is worth it and they aren't just wasting their time. This would not only encourage them to install future feature updates but might even bring some positive reinforcement for installing security updates in a timely manner.

I've talked before about how Windows 11 excites me from time to time, but I'm a tech-savvy person who tries to live and breathe Microsoft news on a daily basis. This feeling needs to be downstreamed to the Average Joe in the masses, people need to know what they are getting with an update and how they can be more productive with it.

Now, to cap off this piece, I'd like to circle back to why I only mentioned Windows 11 at the start for this particular change. This is because I feel like this should only be used for feature updates or "Moments" updates that introduce consumer-facing changes. Your Average Joe could be excited about a tabbed File Explorer, but they couldn't care less about a backend "KB12345" change made for Windows 10 version 22H2.

We still don't know if Windows 10 is getting any major features with version 22H2 later this month and it's less likely that it will receive any moving forward too, considering that development focus has shifted to Windows 11.

For relatively minor feature and security updates, Microsoft can just have some text on the update screen which reads "Go to Windows Update in Settings after the update installs to find details about all that is new".

I know that something like this isn't ground-breaking and it won't set the world on fire, but I stand by my original stance that if Microsoft wants people to knowingly and willingly install Windows updates and actually be excited about new functionalities, they need to convey this to the consumer without being intrusive. And leveraging the otherwise useless colored update screens would be perfect to achieve this purpose.

What do you think about Microsoft implementing something like this during the Windows update process? Let us know in the comments section below!

This small change could make Windows 11 updates much more exciting and useful

Take the touchpad of my ASUS Zenbook on Windows 11 as an example. It comes with a toggle to turn it into a numpad, supports zooming, multi-taps, and three- and four-finger gestures among other things. You may configure these options in the Windows 11 Settings, and disable those that you don't require.

Configuring your laptop's touchpad on Windows 11

Select Start and then Settings to get started. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Windows-I to open the Settings app quicker. Switch to Bluetooth & Devices, and select Touchpad on the page that opens.

The Touchpad page in the Settings lists all available options, including one to turn the touchpad off completely. The touchpad may not be needed if a mouse is connected to the device, and turning it off may prevent accidental activity of the touchpad.

You find an option to change the cursor speed at the top. If it is too slow or fast for your liking, you may use the slider to speed it up or slow it down,

The remaining four options define actions, and they need to be expanded for configuration.

Taps is the first and all of its options are enabled by default. The four main actions are:

• Tap with a single finger to single-click.
• Press the bottom right corner of the touchpad to right-click.
• Tap with two fingers to right-click.
• Tap twice and drag to multi-select.

Left and right-click functionality are essential, but there are two options to perform a right-click. Uncheck any of the actions to disable them and avoid accidental activation. There is also an option to change the sensitivity of the touchpad from medium to low, high or most. The first reduces the sensitivity, the two others increase it.

Scroll & Zoom is the second group of settings. All options are enabled as well by default. The two main options configure pinch to zoom and two-finger dragging to scroll functionality. These may be disabled if they are not needed.

Considering that zooming is quite difficult without mouse otherwise, most users may want to keep the zoom option enabled.

The third and final option under Scroll & Zoom defines the scrolling direction. By default, a downwards motion scrolls up, but this can be changed to scrolling down instead.

Three- and four-finger gestures define five actions each that are executed when moving three- or four-fingers on the touchpad, or when tapping with the right number of fingers.

Both options are enabled by default and very similar. Upward and downward swipes with three or four fingers open the multitasking view or show the desktop. Left or right swipes with three fingers let users switch apps, while the four finger gesture lets them switch desktops instead.

A three-finger tap opens the search, a four-finger tap the notification center. Windows 11 includes options to customize the functionality to a degree. Besides turning off the actions entirely, it is possible to switch one set of actions to controlling the volume on the device. This allows users to increase or decrease the volume, or play the previous or next track.

The tap actions include options to map a middle mouse button or play/pause functionality to them.

Options to change the gestures are also available. Just select the Advanced Gestures link in Settings to change tap and swipe actions for three- and four-finger gestures. For tap, for example, options to emulate mouse back and forward actions, or to set a custom keyboard shortcut are provided. Some new actions are available for gestures as well.

Main actions

The main actions for touchpads on Windows 11 go beyond replicating basic mouse functionality. Left-clicking and right-clicking are essential, but other actions, including two-finger dragging to scroll, pinching to zoom, or mapping a three-finger tap to a middle-mouse button action are all useful.

Closing Words

The configuration options give users some control over the touchpad's functionality. Actions that are not required may be disabled to avoid accidental activation.

Now You: touchpad or mouse, which do you prefer?

How to customize the touchpad on Windows 11

Fluent Flyouts works by placing a new battery indicator in the notification area. Clicking that icon reveals a dedicated space where Windows users can switch between power modes, check the remaining battery capacity and health, and see estimated battery time, charge rate, and voltage. Another noteworthy feature is the ability to drag the flyout anywhere on the screen, which is an extra convenience for users with ultra-wide monitors or multi-monitor setups.

Of course, being a third-party app, Fluent Flyouts has one notable limitation. It cannot replace the stock battery indicator, so prepare to see two battery indicators in the notification area.

Also, there is no option to display the battery percentage on the taskbar (something I desperately want Microsoft to fix), but the developer promises to add this feature in future updates. Also, upcoming releases will add additional flyouts, such as calendar and CPU load monitoring.

Fluent Flyouts is available for free in the Microsoft Store. You can also find the app's source code on GitHub and contribute to its development.

Fluent Flyouts restores Windows 10's battery flyout features and adds more

Windows 12 is likely to be Microsoft's follow up to Windows 11 - and it could come sooner than you might think.

Rumors suggest that the imaginatively titled OS could arrive in 2024, and the possibility that Windows 12 could follow so soon after Windows 11 has delighted some of us at TechRadar.

And while that still leaves Microsoft behind the yearly updates that macOS and some other operating systems manage, Microsoft's upcoming 'Moments' releases will at least see it get more regular refreshes.

Whenever it comes, we'd like to see a bigger evolution compared to what Windows 11 brought. So, what improvements and new features might Windows 12 have? Users have been peppering Microsoft with feature requests, with some of these wishes having been granted with the 2022 update, which brought a refined Taskbar.

Windows 12: Cut to the chase

•     What is it? Windows 12 is the rumored successor to Windows 11
•     When will it come out? Possibly 2024 based on the three-year schedule
•     How much does it cost? Should be free as Windows 11 currently is

Windows 12 release date rumors

This is still very early days for Windows 11 – we're not even at the one-year anniversary of the update having been announced. However, going on past releases, we'd expect to see Windows 12 arrive in late 2024, just as support for Windows 10 is ending.

Windows 12 supported devices

When Microsoft announced availability for Windows 11, the main requirement was for machines to have a hardware feature called TPM enabled, which is a security feature that can be found on most motherboards.

While the same requirement will most likely be requested by Microsoft again, it may be at a point where almost every PC has TPM enabled anyway.

Other than that, it will likely have similar requirements to Windows 11:

•     64-bit processor
•     1Ghz clock speed
•     4GB of RAM
•     64GB drive
•     UEFI, Secure Boot capable
•     TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module)
•     A display larger than 9-inches with HD Resolution (1366x768)
•     DirectX 12 compatible graphics / WDDM 2.x
•     Internet connection

What we want to see

We don't know much about Windows 12 yet, or whether the rumored upgrade will even become a reality, but we do have a good idea of what we want from it, with the following features topping our list.

With this in mind, here's everything we've found so far about the next major update to Windows, alongside five features that we'd also like to see arrive in Windows 12.

1. Merge Skype and Teams into MSN Messenger 12

(Image credit: TechRadar)

It's no secret that Microsoft's efforts on video calling and collaboration through messaging apps have been less than stellar in recent years. In a time when people needed to communicate remotely more, it was Zoom that took the lead and Skype was bafflingly left by the wayside.

While there have been some new features brought to both Teams and Skype, there's still an air of confusion as to which one you should use. If you need to take part in a job interview that's on Teams, for example, chances are you'll quickly need to install the app and make sure it works.

Instead, let's see them both retire and mark a fresh start for Windows 12, with the return of MSN Messenger to do the job these two apps have limped on with.

Not only would we like to see the return of nudges, winks, and classic sounds if users want, but we'd also be keen on powerful features to make it go toe-to-toe with Zoom, Google Meets, and FaceTime. Perhaps have integration with Slack, so if a video meeting is needed, it can prompt in a channel and with one button, MSN Messenger will launch with the required invitees.

Microsoft needs to reboot how it perceives itself for messaging apps, and the return of MSN Messenger could be a great start to that.

2. Live wallpaper

(Image credit: Wallpaper Engine)

A request by TechRadar's Senior Computing Editor Matt Hanson, and an intriguing one at that. There have been similar features in iPhones and Android phones for some years, with animations moving across these devices. But for PC and Mac, they've been relegated to third-party apps, such as Wallpaper Engine (opens in new tab), to be able to have animated wallpapers with the ability to display information from your PC.

To so something similar in Windows 12, Microsoft could further push its efforts in themes, something that's seen improvements in Windows 11, thanks to its dark themes.

Having a dedicated section for wallpapers, where you can place static bytes of information on the desktop that works with an animated live wallpaper, could appeal to all kinds of users.

Microsoft could also bring back previous wallpapers, such as the hillside of Windows XP, but have it animated, alongside some clouds displaying battery status or the weather.

This can update the desktop substantially and make it much more up to date, without having to rely on widgets or a taskbar to showcase changes.

3. Dedicated podcast app

(Image credit: Primakov / Shutterstock)

While it's been great to see the return of Windows Media Player from Microsoft, having additional features such as podcasts feels irrelevant for what Media Player is for.

macOS has had its own podcast app since Big Sur in 2019, but if you wanted to use a similar app on Windows, it's not clear where to start, as Microsoft doesn't offer a dedicated podcast app.

This is why Windows 12 should include a dedicated podcast app that could also be used on other platforms, such as iOS and Android, so your subscriptions could sync across all your devices.

Podcasts are massively popular, and managing them all in a first-party app would be great for Windows users. It's something that could really help spur the company's effort to make content available on almost every device.

4. Dedicated streaming app

(Image credit: Razer)

A storming idea by our resident Computing writer Jess Weatherbed, as there is yet to be an integrated option in Windows to stream what you're playing.

For years there have been apps such as OBS and Twitch that offer ways to stream what you're playing or watching with others. However, these apps have always required extra effort to make sure that you're streaming to viewers in good quality, with low latency.

Then there's the additional aspect of the peripherals that streamers use to help show them in a better light, or Stream Decks to easily control their setups with shortcut keys.

It can be overwhelming to manage multiple apps just to control all of these, which is why Windows 12 could benefit from having one app that can manage your streams and the peripherals.

Microsoft has been pushing gaming in Windows 11 since its announcement in June 2021, with a redesigned Xbox app and HDR support. But countless gamers also stream these games through Windows, so there's a big opportunity here.

Having one app to control, say, ring lights and the streams for viewers is appealing, shifting the heavy lifting to one app. It could automate streams based on the schedule and the games being played, alongside different lighting scenarios for the different times of the day.

This could encourage more gamers to see Windows as a service, as the CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella has been stating since the release of Windows 10 in 2015, while also making Windows 12 an enticing prospect for streamers to earn more followers and income for their careers.

5. Companion app for Android

(Image credit: Samsung)

A suggestion by our Editor-in-Chief at TechRadar Pro, Desire Athow – this can be an expansion of Your Phone, Microsoft's effort to sync your mobile to Windows. But when you open this new app in Windows 12, it would have a layout reminiscent of Windows Phone and its tile layout, and would enable a desktop experience from your phone.

This would be similar to Samsung DeX, which can transform your Galaxy S22 or Galaxy S22 Ultra into a desktop once it's connected to a peripheral.

This new app would go beyond DeX and Microsoft's Your Phone efforts, though. When you connect to a monitor, it would become a fully-fledged Windows 12 desktop, showcasing everything from your main PC. And when you click on an icon, it would download the content from the cloud and display it in its native resolution.

It would be an innovative extension of the cloud, where you can access your files wherever you are. Here, you'd be carrying your desktop with you and all you'd need to do is to connect your smartphone to a monitor, either with touchscreen features or a keyboard and mouse.

As with the streaming feature above, this would again further Nadella's plans of seeing Windows as a service. Having your PC in an app is an enticing thought, and could help for those situations when you have a short window of opportunity to do some work with a spare monitor, keyboard, and mouse somewhere.

Source

The blocks appear to be active even on devices and VMs that are not part of the upgrade issues, and as such, in this guide we will offer a way to upgrade without having to opt into the Windows Insider program.

It is possible through the official Microsoft Windows 11 Installation Assistant, which, helpfully, has been updated with the 22H2 bits. So assuming your PC is compatible with Windows 11, this is a seamless way to update your Windows 11 21H1 device to 22H2 without too much effort.

First, a word of caution: Consider setting a System restore point. To do this click on Start and start typing Restore, click on Create a restore point in the results, and in the classic dialog that opens, click on the bottom button "Create". You may have to enable System protection for the drive where Windows 11 is installed in order to create a restore point.

1. Download the “Windows 11 Installation Assistant” here by clicking on the Download Now button from the Microsoft.
2. Navigate to where you saved the Windows11InstallationAssistant.exe and run the tool.
3. Click the Accept and install button to begin the installation.
   You may be required to run the PC Health Check app if you have never used it before on that PC. Download the PC Health Check app here, run it and confirm Windows 11 compatibility, then click Refresh in the "Windows 11 Installation Assistant" which should then allow you to click on Accept and install to begin upgrading to Windows 11 22H2.
4. Click the Restart now button to complete the upgrade. If you don't do anything, or you are away from the device, it will restart automatically after counting down 30 minutes.

The whole process took about an hour, and at the end of the Windows 11 Installation Assistant upgrade process your PC may restart multiple times like a new install would, depending on your configuration. However, all files and settings are retained and by way of this guide, you'll be upgraded to the Windows 11 2022 Update.

The image up above is the desktop after the upgrade process completed, now we're on Windows 11 2022 Update (22H2) build 22621.674 which was the version released on Tuesday as part of the monthly Patch Tuesday updates, and all is good.

Have you received the update already, or are you waiting/forcing it? Let us know in the comments!

Get the Windows 11 2022 Update now with the updated Installation Assistant

Now with the recent Windows 11 version 22H2 release, it looks like a new problem is bugging the Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series CPUs. CapFrameX (CFX) has discovered that when a single CCD (CPU Compute Die) on the 16 core Ryzen 9 7950X is active, the configuration is able to outperform the default dual CCD 7950X. Each Zen 4 CCD features eight cores along with its cache, among other things Hence essentially, an octa-core Zen 4 CPU is able to beat out the higher core count 16 core variant.

To better understand the issue and assess the scenarios affecting the problem, CFX decided to test two other instances where simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) was disabled. Hence in a single CCD situation with SMT disabled, the 16 core 32 thread 7950X was now reduced to an eight core CPU with eight threads.

Just like the single CCD case, the SMT-off situation also yielded similar results that are showing better performance with fewer threads.

This does not seem like a one off case either as seasoned hardware benchmarker Hardware Unboxed (HBU) noticed similar problem on their RTX 4090 test system. And apparently, it has been happening much more frequently in recent times.

The performance issue seems to be prevalent on Windows 11 22H2 (via @OneRaichu), and from the looks of it, it seems like Windows 11 22H2 is having a scheduler issue on the new Ryzen 7000 CPUs which is why more threads aren't helping. There could also be a driver bug at play here similar to the Nvidia fiasco that happened recently. Perhaps the GPU driver itself is not properly utilizing the extra threads.

Source: CapFrameX (Twitter) (1 , 2, 3)

Windows 11 22H2 apparently causing performance issue on AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs

One of the key Windows features that Hendricks oversees is the Task Manager. And while there is no evidence anywhere suggesting it is the case, it is possible that a new Task Manager related feature or enhancement could be landing next week.

At the moment though it is difficult to say what exactly that will be. However, if one had to guess, then Microsoft could be working towards making the Task Manager more Windows 11-like, something it has gradually been doing for a while. The initial Task Manager on Windows 11 itself was not a redesign as it was based on the Windows 10 style.

The company has since added rounded corners to the tool, a whole bunch of accent colors for more customization, and the dark mode. All this visual treatment is meant to make the Task Manager blend in more with the overall vibe of the Windows 11 OS.

Aside from cosmetic and design changes, more features too have been added to Task Manager which include stuff like the new live kernel dump option.

Senior Microsoft employee teases "something exciting" for Windows next week

Microsoft introduced efficiency mode for the Edge browser in version 101. According to the company, it can give users 25 minutes of extra battery life (on average), and our recent browser efficiency test showed that efficiency mode indeed makes computers last longer. Now Microsoft Edge has even better battery-saving tools.

Edge 106 offers several extra options for its efficiency mode. The browser uses the "Balanced Savings" option by default, which takes reasonable steps to save battery without noticeable slowdowns. The browser will take a more aggressive approach when your device enters battery saver mode (Windows) or reaches 20% of battery (Mac), resulting in worse performance and a less smooth experience.

Those who want to squeeze every bit of battery juice can opt for the "Maximum savings" option. In this mode, Edge applies every possible energy-saving measure, trading-off speed for battery life.

Another noteworthy change in Microsoft Edge 106 is the option to keep the battery saver on when connected to power. This ensures your device consumes less energy to reduce carbon emissions, similar to how Windows Update tries to be more eco-friendly and "green."

Microsoft says the updated battery efficiency mode in Microsoft Edge 106 is currently rolling out to customers, so you may need to wait a few more days before the feature reaches your computer. You can learn more about the latest efficiency improvements in Microsoft Edge 106 in a post on Microsoft's Tech Community forums.

Microsoft details energy efficiency improvements in Edge 106

Traditionally, the most exciting changes and new features are rolling out in waves, which means only some Windows Insiders can use them right after installing the latest build. If you do not have access to the new Widget settings, this guide will show you how to force-enable them using the ViveTool app. You can also use the program to enable other hidden features, such as the ability to move the Search button to the left.

Important: always back up important data before experimenting with your operating system, and remember that preview builds and the newest features may be unstable or buggy. If you do not want to risk tinkering with Windows using third-party apps, wait for Microsoft to expand the rollout of new features so they can reach your system naturally.

Note: this guide works in Windows 11 build 25211 and newer.

How to enable Widget settings in Windows 11 build 25211?

1. Download the ViveTool app from GitHub using this link.

2. Extract the files wherever you like. We keep the app in C:\Vive so that we can type fewer characters in Terminal.

3. Right-click the Start menu and select Terminal (Admin).

4. Switch Terminal to the Command Prompt profile using the arrow-down button on the tab strip

5. Navigate to the folder containing ViveTool files using the CD command. Here is an example: CD C:\Vive.

6. Type vivetool /enable /id:38652916 and press Enter.

7. Restart your computer.

Now you can customize Windows Widgets behavior using a dedicated settings page. Open Widgets, click the button with your profile logo and disable the features you do not want to use.

Credits for providing us with the ID go to ever-giving @PhantomOfEarth!

How to enable new Widget settings in Windows 11 build 25211 and newer

Rumors say Microsoft has decided to go back to releasing a major Windows upgrade every three years, and the next Windows (12?) is on track to arrive in 2024. The screenshot from the Ignite conference represents the design ideas Microsoft explores and considers implementing in Windows "Next Valley." It is not very high-res and lacks details, so here is a better mockup showing some of the key changes:

Other variants of the idea include a translucent bar for the items sitting at the top of the screen, similar to macOS's menu bar. Microsoft also plans to redesign other parts of the operating system, such as the login screen, notification center, and so forth.

Such a drastic UI change is a significant shift for the operating system and its UI principles. Windows Central's sources say the idea is to make Windows work better on traditional PCs, tablets, hybrid laptops, and foldables. This approach makes sense if you consider how Windows 8 focused too much on touch, and Windows 10 went the opposite way and abandoned touch-based computers.

It is worth mentioning that the images in this article do not represent the final thing Microsoft plans to ship in 2024. It is too early to tell what the next Windows will look like and what changes it will bring, so expect more changes and refinements as we get closer to the next generation of Windows.

Source: Windows Central

Microsoft accidentally revealed design prototype of next-gen Windows version

Although the Windows Insider account confirmed it today, Jason Howard, who is on the Engineering Team at Microsoft, suggested yesterday that it wouldn't happen this week due to a pesky bug.

We do wonder what kind of bug the developer team has caught as nothing more about it was said, maybe the resizeable Start menu that was accidentally shown off during the Microsoft Ignite event? Or something else. We might catch a hint next week when a new build drops.

Microsoft confirms no Dev build this week as it is chasing down a blocking bug

Microsoft says that while it has supported color management APIs on Windows for a couple of decades, they were meant as helper functionalities for apps that wanted to use it, other apps simply used the standard sRGB space and were not directed by the OS. ACM on the Windows 11 2022 Update makes this process more streamlined by controlling color management for apps at a system level.

Basically, apps that don't target HDR or other wider color gamuts will get mapped to the sRGB color space but with more "consistency". Microsoft claims that they will be able to render more colors, offer additional details, and have fewer color artifacts. Meanwhile, apps that want to do color management can utilize the ICM/WCS color management APIs on the display's native gamut. Finally, apps can also leverage Advanced Color APIs can use a combination of both gamuts. For those unclear what Advanced Color content includes, the minimum specifications are as follows:

• Dynamic range (luminance): higher than sRGB's 0-100 nit range
• Color gamut: wider than sRGB's color primaries
• Precision/bit depth: greater than 8 bits per color channel

Microsoft has described other advantages of ACM as well. Without the technology, the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) bounds windowed apps to 8 bits per color channel but with ACM enabled, apps can access color spaces with 10-16 bits of precision. On displays that only support 8-bit precisions, Microsoft claims that the colors will look better overall because it will leverage dithering.

If you're a developer who wants to try out ACM with your app, here are the requirements:

• Windows 11, version 22H2 (10.0; Build 22621) release
• WDDM driver version 3.0 or greater
• Supported GPU
  • AMD
    • AMD RX 400 Series or later
    • AMD Ryzen processors with Radeon Graphics
  • Intel
    • Integrated: Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake) or later
    • Discrete: Intel DG1 or later
• NVIDIA
  • NVIDIA GTX 10xx or later (Pascal+)
• There are no hard requirements on the display or connection – ACM can provide benefits even on 8-bit sRGB panels. However, we strongly recommend ACM devices to have panels with a wider-than-sRGB gamut, and optionally 10-bits per color channel or greater.
• Global registry key (for app developer use only, see details here)

It is important to note that ACM isn't exactly new, in a way. Advanced Color APIs were introduced for HDR displays exclusively with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update a few years ago. The good news is that ACM in the Windows 11 2022 Update brings these capabilities to SDR displays too, but the not-so-good news is that it's only supported for "specially provisioned" SDR displays, those being the Surface Studio 2+ and Surface Pro 9 for now. For display manufacturers and PC OEMs, Microsoft has offered documentation on how SDR displays can be calibrated to take advantage of ACM.

Microsoft details Auto Color Management for SDR displays in Windows 11 2022 Update

Here is the full changelog for Skype 8.90.76.202:

New Features:

• Skype Calendar extension added to the iOS Calendar's location of events on iPhone, iPad and Mac. You can now easily create a Skype meeting from your iOS calendar, and also invite others who are not Skype users, to join this meeting.
• Auto-language detection for call subtitles and translation on all Platforms. If User A speaks English and User B speaks French, translation starts with en-US fr-FR configuration. If User B starts speaking Czech, translation will get reconfigur to en-US cs-CZ. User A will not notice any change, the translation will keep going to English. User B will start hearing translation to Czech.
• View and scan a QR code on Skype, to connect more easily with friends and family on iOS, Android and Web. Tap your name at the top of the ‘Chats’ screen to view the QR code, at the top right.
• Clickable messages that appear over a call participant, when in full screen view/call stage on all Platforms. While on a call, you can click the message preview that pops up when a call participant sends one, to easily navigate you to the message in chat.
• Hints for new message reaction features on all Platforms. This should easily let you know when we release new features.
• Support for Android 13 themed launcher icons on Android. Skype icons will align themselves to match your preferred theme.

Fixes and improvements:

• Deleted the @ symbol on a separate line for mentions.

• Hold call not appearing on iPad.

   

You can download Skype Preview from the official website on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Latest Skype preview adds themed icons on Android 13 and Calendar extension support on iOS

Settings backup in PowerToys will let users export all customizations to a dedicated file and restore settings from another. Microsoft also wants to add extra features, such as automatic backups and restorations. The new backup options will sit on the general tab alongside the option to specify where PowerToys should store its backups.

Besides the ability to backup PowerToys settings, the app will soon receive a new "toy" for editing the hosts file. Current Windows versions have no built-in tools for working with hosts, so a dedicated utility will make it much more convenient.

PowerToys's hosts editor will allow users to work with the file using a convenient UI instead of the good-old Notepad. The tool can add new entries and reposition, filter, disable, and ping existing addresses. Also, you will be able to add comments to each entry for extra convenience.

There is no information on when Microsoft plans to release a new PowerToys version with settings backup and the hosts editor, but these improvements should not take too long to arrive. Meanwhile, you can check out what is new in the latest PowerToys update.

PowerToys to get settings backup and hosts editor tool

The merge window for contributions to Linux 6.1 is still open and incoming features include Wi-Fi security fixes and hardware tests.

Five new vulnerabilities in Linux's Wi-Fi handling have been identified and will be fixed in the forthcoming kernel 6.1. For completists, they are CVE-2022-41674 (kernels up to 5.19), CVE-2022-42719 (5.2 to 5.19), CVE-2022-42720 and CVE-2022-42721 (both 5.1 to 5.19), and CVE-2022-42722 (5.8 to 5.19).

Now that these are public, the fixes will doubtless be backported to the older kernels in use in the various enterprise distros.

Another useful new patch will display the processor and core number, and which socket it's in, when there is a segfault error in a program. As the patch's notes say, this isn't a perfect diagnostic, as it's possible that the fault program might have been rescheduled onto another core between the fault occurring and the message appearing, but it could help troubleshooting flakey CPU cores.

There is also more support for Intel's new Gaudi2 AI accelerator chip.

China's MIPS-like LoongArch processors, which gained support in GCC 12.1, got initial kernel support in 5.19, and received PCI bus support in 6.0, now gets support for UEFI boot and laptop motherboards, among other features. They are very hard to obtain outside the People's Republic of China, probably because the performance isn't very competitive, but shipping Loongson hardware does exist, as this review describes.

However, Torvalds giveth and Torvalds taketh away (with the help of his many lieutenants and thousands of contributors, of course).

Disappearing from the kernel in the next point release will be support for the fwserial driver, which allows serial connections over FireWire. FireWire was a very useful interface in its time, strongly supported by Apple and Sony, but it disappeared from Macs a decade ago, and has been replaced by Thunderbolt and USB 3.

Also being removed is the ability to compile the kernel with the Intel C Compiler, ICC. As we noted when discussing Rust in the kernel, it's possible to compile Linux with both GCC and LLVM/Clang – but there was a third option: Intel's own in-house compilers. However, Intel itself is moving the compilers to the basis of LLVM, so this is now superfluous, and as of kernel 6.1, this will be back down to two.

On the subject of Rust in kernel 6.1, don't get too excited just yet. As an analysis on kernel commentary site LWN put it:

    No system with a production 6.1 kernel will be running any Rust code.

The article says that Rust in the kernel needs Rust 1.62, released at the end of June, while so far, the Rust-GCC project targets Rust 1.49, which was released at the end of 2020.

At this stage, a "Hello, world" module is essentially the limit:

That is, to a first approximation, the extent of what can be done with Rust kernel modules in 6.1. Torvalds asked for something that could do "hello world" and that is what we got. It is something that can be played with, but it cannot be used for any sort of real kernel programming at this point.

Adding a second language to the world's biggest open-source project is a big deal, but don't expect much from the first version. The interesting stuff remains in the future. ®

Source

I've been using Firefox for decades. That doesn't mean I've used it nonstop for that period. In fact, there have been plenty of instances where I've shrugged off the open-source browser in favor of another. Some of those instances were simply because one browser added a feature that I wanted to make use of.

Case in point, Opera's Workspaces feature has been an absolute game-changer for managing a constantly growing collection of tabs that would have been otherwise daunting.

Seriously, Opera's Workspaces feature is that good.

However, some features have been added to the Opera browser that not only don't match up to all that is Workspaces, but also make me question why they are there in the first place.

The same thing holds true with other browsers that take a kitchen sink approach. Instead of a web browser being a web browser, they become crypto wallets, media players, email clients, online calendar services, task managers, to-do lists, schedule reminders, RSS readers, alarms, translation tools, gaming platforms, theme generators, and more.

It seems almost weekly a new feature is added to yet another browser to make it more, more, more.

There's a problem with that approach. The further a web browser gets from being just a web browser, the more bloat it suffers. The more a browser suffers from bloat, the less usable it is.

This very thing happened to Firefox, and it went very south very quickly. Firefox went from a lean, fast, lightweight web browser to an entire toolkit of features, most of which, in my opinion, were absolutely useless. (This was some years ago; I do recommend it in its current iteration.)

There was once an Experiments feature that allowed participating users to test-drive every new feature the developers threw at the browser. I participated in that experiment and wound up shaking my head in shock more often than not at some of the ideas that were proposed.

Sure, some of the experiments were pretty cool, but they still had no place in a browser.

Let me be clear: The job of a web browser is to make viewing websites easy, reliable, secure, and simple. Given that most of us use a web browser for the majority of what we do on our desktops and laptops, that idea needs to take front and center, and web browser developers need to take heed.

Fun can be fun until it's not

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy it when a company (or development team) releases a cool new feature for a web browser. I love seeing what developers can do.

But again, the thing is, when you add too many features to such a crucial tool, you run the risk of that tool becoming unusable.

Consider this: As of this writing, I have 32 tabs open in my web browser, each of which consumes system resources.

Now, imagine I'm using a web browser that wants to be everything to me as a user. Email client, calendar, task manager, to-do list, project manager… all of the things I would normally probably do within a tab anyway.

Instead, the developers decided to bake those features into the web browser as small applications that can be used. Now, I might still have 32 tabs open, but I also have a bunch of built-in apps running.

That browser is now hogging even more of my system resources.

Sure, those features might be fun at first, but eventually my system resources could get used up to the point where my desktop becomes unresponsive. Everyone has experienced that a time or two.

That's not fun.

Overwhelming is not productive

The other issue is that too many features can quickly become overwhelming. Imagine you've opened a recently upgraded version of your web browser, only to find out a bunch of new features have been slapped on. You have your workflow, which is absolutely blindsided by all of these new options and tools.

That can get overwhelming fast. And given how so many people shun change like it's the Grim Reaper coming for their soul, adding too many features can be a recipe for losing users.

I'm not saying that developers shouldn't consider innovation a big part of their web browser projects. Quite the opposite. However, maybe it might be possible for developers to allow users to enable and disable features in their browser, so they can use only what they need and have everything else hidden away from sight and not consuming system resources.

To that end, web browser developers should focus their efforts on:

•     UI and UX
•     Security
•     Efficiency
•     Reliability
•     Page rendering accuracy
•     Speed
•     Tab management

If a feature doesn't belong to one of the above categories, it should be considered optional and be disabled or hidden by users during the first run.

It shouldn't be that hard. A web browser is used to view web pages securely and efficiently. Get that right and you've got a winning product. Get it wrong and you've created a monster that will get in the way of users doing what they need to do effectively.

For those who might be curious as to which web browsers are nailing this aspect, here's my shortlist:

•     Firefox (a web browser that's been there and done that).
•     Chromium (the only version of Chrome I'll use).
•     GNOME Web -- aka Epiphany -- (a GNOME-based web browser for Linux).
•     Safari (the only browser I use on MacOS).
•     Pale Moon (a great option for Linux and Windows).
•     Comodo Ice Dragon (keeps security at the top of the list).

Use any one of the above browsers and you'll enjoy a stripped-down, efficient, and lightning-fast experience.

Source

During the annual Ignite conference, Microsoft showed a weird-looking (some even say it is cursed) screenshot of Windows 11 with a radical shell redesign. The taskbar is once again "floating" with rounded corners, and all the indicators from the notification area appear at the top of the screen instead of the bottom-right corner. You can also spot a search bar and a weather widget sitting at the top, leaving a ton of black space to the left and right of the taskbar.

It is hard to tell why Microsoft would create such a strange-looking user interface. It might be a teaser of the upcoming changes or just one of the many UI prototypes floating inside Microsoft's labs. Still, it is hard to imagine Microsoft bringing such radical UI changes, especially considering how much criticism the company has received after releasing Windows 11 with its crippled taskbar and redesigned Start menu. Turning Windows 11 into a Ubuntu-looking clone might spark even bigger rage among the audience.

What do you think about this concept image? Do you think it is a good idea to decouple the notification area, search, and Windows Widgets from the taskbar and move them to the top of the screen? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Via: FireCube (Twitter), Albacore (Twitter)

Microsoft shows Windows 11 with floating taskbar and notification area on top