Sam Chiet, a YouTuber and a game developer, was able to run Doom in Notepad using ASCII graphics as a rendering engine at 60 frames per second (via Kotaku). According to him, the video above has not been sped up, he did zero modifications on Notepad, and Doom is completely playable. He even plans to make Notepad Doom available to the public in the coming days.

Chiet is also an ‘experiment creator’ who enjoys tinkering with older systems and looking for ways to breathe new life into them. Back in September, he detailed his work resurrecting Xbox’s defunct Kinect technology. Kinect is a motion capture sensor that Microsoft used for its Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. While the company invested heavily in Kinect, it wasn't reliable enough and there weren't enough games for it, forcing Microsoft to discontinue the device. Today, the sensors that powered the Kinect are the same ones that you can find on Microsoft HoloLens devices.

YouTuber gets Doom running in Notepad, because why not

Windows 95 went the extra mile to ensure compatibility of SimCity, other games

Although I agree that Windows 10 is better than Windows 11 in some aspects, they are not enough for me to justify ditching the eye candy of the latter. Windows 11's taskbar does not trigger me as much as other users, so I am willing to accept some of its pittfalls for a much prettier design. After all, by now, I am fine with right-clicking the Start menu button to launch Task Manager. Of course, I understand that not many users share my approach, so you are free to argue with me in the comments.

I do not want to sound like a blind fanboy, and I know that Windows 11 is still far from macOS or something you can call a consistently beautiful operating system. Microsoft still has a lot of room for improvement here, and in this article, I list five things I want the software giant to address in Windows 11 to make it better looking. This is not a definitive list, just a few rough surfaces that annoy me as I use Windows 11 daily, and I am sure you could add more to it.

1 - Automatic Theme Switching

For me, using dark mode during the daytime is as uncomfortable as using light mode at night. Although Windows and its apps received dedicated dark mode many years ago, Microsoft still refuses to give users a simple yet genius feature: automatic theme switching.

I am no software engineer, but I am confident that implementing automatic theme switching is not an incredibly time-consuming or difficult task, especially when the foundations are already there. Every mainstream operating system lets you set custom hours for theme switching or tie the feature to sunrise/sunset. It is an essential accessibility option that Microsoft keeps ignoring for some reason.

Fortunately, developers thrive where Microsoft fails. Windows Auto Dark Mode, an ingenious third-party app and a winner of the Microsoft Store Awards 2022, has been among my favorite programs for years. But even though I love Auto Dark Mode and some of its advanced features, I want Microsoft to teach its operating system how to switch themes at sunrise and sunset without third-party software. It would also be great to see Windows 11 change from dark mode to light and vice versa without the UI going haywire.

Amazing!

2 - Battery percentage on the taskbar

Battery percentage on the taskbar is another feature Microsoft should copy from the other operating systems. The battery indicator in Windows 11 is a slightly confusing thing. It clearly has fewer charge level steps compared to what Windows 10 has, and I often think my laptop has much less battery than the indicator tries to tell me. Just look at the screenshot below.

The indicator seems to be missing a third of a charge rather than 21%. Sure, you can get an exact battery level by hovering the cursor over the battery icon, but that requires extra steps, something I do not want to do as a person that gets distracted way too easily. Besides, our laptops and tablets have large displays with screen-wide taskbars that can spare several pixels to accommodate a slightly improved battery indicator.

3 - New paste dialogs

My favorite change in the Windows 11 2022 Update is undoubtedly the redesigned volume and brightness sliders. Still, Windows 11 retains many old user interface bits desperately waiting for a fresh coat of paint. The copy/paste dialog (and dialogs overall) is one of such parts I want to see redesigned.

We can start with simple dark mode support, something that enthusiasts managed to implement in tweaking software, such as StartAllBack. Besides, Microsoft could swap the old Windows 8-styled progress bar in favor of something more modern and similar to the new volume/brightness slider. It might sound like I am nitpicking, but the thing is that we encounter dialog boxes and copy/paste UI far more often than the redesigned Task Manager with its fancy interface and dark mode support.

4 - Confusing app pinning

Here is another Windows 11 UI area that grinds my gears. Although Microsoft restored the ability to drag and drop files to the taskbar, pinning apps by doing the same is weirdly confusing. You cannot pin an app to the taskbar from the Start menu, and all you get is a stop icon indicating a prohibited action. But go to the "All apps" list, drag an app, and voila - it appears on the taskbar like nobody's business.

At the end of the day, it all comes to the fact that Windows 11's taskbar and Start menu remain raw and in dire need of more improvements. Windows 11 is the next-gen operating system that should focus on improving Windows 10's strengths instead of crippling them.

As I said before, I am the kind of user who can accept some feature trade-offs in favor of eye candy. But I can also understand that the force of habit and muscle memory is too strong for some. Many people stay away from Windows 11 only because of the downgraded taskbar with its numerous issues. To name a few: no right-click to launch Task Manager (addressed in the latest Dev builds), no option to hide volume/network/battery indicators separately, botched drag-and-drop, puzzling Start menu, and many more. Sadly, these complaints still remain relevant even one year and one major update after the launch of Windows 11.

5 - Improve performance and responsiveness.

I like Windows 11's user interface and overall design language. It is beautiful, sleek, and modern. Unfortunately, it is also notably slower than Windows 10. Context menus take much longer to render, and often you can spot their parts load on the fly. For example, I have lost count of how many times Windows Terminal randomly disappeared from the right-click menu. Also, the control and notification centers sometimes refuse to open, or widgets take too long to start.

I have experienced all these symptoms on my laptop with an 11th-gen Intel Core i3 (not a powerhouse, but also far from being a minimum-supported processor) and my desktop with the Ryzen 5 2600. And do not tell me to buy newer or more powerful hardware—the latest data from Valve shows that your average Joe does not run the Intel Core i9-12900K and RTX 3090 Ti connected to a 300Hz monitor.

Closing Words

Windows 11 is a beautiful operating system I am delighted to use daily. It is great to see Microsoft finally investing more into making Windows more stylish, modern, and fluent. It is an operating system that gets the job done while also looking good. Still, Microsoft should not stop halfway. UI consistency and better attention to detail will help more users deal with some of Windows 11's shortcomings. It will help me, at least, because I am 100% sure great visuals and design consistency are the only things modern Windows versions lack. And yes, the taskbar needs some work too...

Five things I want Microsoft to improve in Windows 11 user interface

For example, many users reported that the update was failing with an error code "0x800f0806". Interestingly, one of our Neowin members managed to figure out a workaround for the problem. Then there are the usual suspects, like printer problems, where a new printer policy was leading to printers being not detected post the 2022 Update. Another related issue led Microsoft to block the update altogether on affected devices. Following that, Microsoft issued a word of warning to IT admins as it discovered that provisioning is currently broken for Windows 11 22H2.

In the meantime, the Redmond firm re-visited another issue which led to massive slow-downs in large file copy speeds when done remotely on a 22H2 system. The company said that around 40% lower speeds were being observed. However, users are reporting even worse performance hits.

ivicask, who is a regular on the Microsoft tech community forums, claims they're seeing over a 100% performance hit:

I would just want to correct 40% slower statement from Ned, im seeing way over 100% difference on setups like 10gb NICs (5gb/s vs 2gb/s) difference, or on SMB multi channel setups with multiple gigabit NICs.

While the issue was initially thought to be affecting the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol mainly, Microsoft's Ned Pyle has now confirmed that their initial suspicion was a bit off. Apparently, the problem exists somewhere else:

I can't share too many details yet, but we know exactly where it is getting slower in Kernel, nothing to do with SMB or compression.

Regardless, Microsoft has provided a detailed workaround in case you are struggling against this problem:

We will keep you posted.

The Windows 11 22H2 file copy performance bug could be far worse than first thought

Microsoft announced back then that it would allow third-party widgets content. Shortly after the release of the first feature update for Windows 11, Microsoft gave the starting signal for third-party widgets development for Windows 11.

Microsoft released the Insider Preview build 25217 this week, and along with it came the announcement that developers could get to work. Microsoft released a new preview of the WinAppSDK 1.2, and it includes the third-party widgets platform according to Microsoft's announcement.

"We are excited to announce support for 3rd party widgets as part of the WinAppSDK 1.2 preview 2 release. Our team has been working hard to expand the Widgets board that was first introduced in Windows 11 to more developers."

For now, developers may test third-party widgets that they develop locally only. The latest Windows 11 Insider Preview build is required for that as well. Additionally, and that is the last of the requirements, Developer Mode needs to be enabled on the Windows 11 machine.

To do that, administrators need to open Start > Settings > Privacy & Security > For Developers. The option to enable Developer Mode is located there.

Microsoft published two support pages for developers. The first, Widgets Overview, includes important information about Windows Widgets, including design fundamentals, interaction design guidance, and Widget states and built-in UI components. The second, Widget service providers overview, offers information on implementing a widget provider in a win32 app and related information.

Microsoft has yet to announce when third-party widgets will become available on Windows 11. It is possible that basic support will be added as part of a feature drop update for Windows 11, or, when the next feature update for Windows 11 is released, which will be in late 2023. The company plans to offer them to users via its Microsoft Store.

What you may expect regarding third-party widgets

Every type of content that Microsoft is offering as a widget may soon be offered by different third-party services as well. This may include weather widgets using different sources, news from other providers, integration of file listings and document listings from providers such as Dropbox or Box.

There is also the chance that new types of widgets will make an appearance. Maybe an RSS feed reader that pushes the most recent updates to the widget, or media content.

Now you: what would you like to see created as a widget?

Microsoft gives the starting signal for third-party widgets development for Windows 11

Mozilla started its investigation and discovered, rather quickly, that Avast software was the culprit. Avast, maker of security products, is a popular choice when it comes to third-party antivirus protections on Windows.

It became clear quickly that the issue affected all versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system on which certain versions of the Avast Antivirus software were installed on. The issue in Avast software was critical, as it was the causing the top 5 desktop browser crashes on Windows on release, and the top 20 desktop browser crashes on release.

Antivirus applications are notorious for interfering with legitimate applications on Windows machines. In this particular case, it appears that Avast versions 18.0.1473.0 and older are causing the crashes of the Firefox web browser.

Mozilla decided to block Avast's DLL files using Firefox's DLL blocklist file to stop the crashes from happening. An update to Firefox 105.0.3 is available already, which includes the new entry to the blocklist.

The new version of Firefox Stable addresses just the one issue. According to it, the crashes may also be caused by AVG Antivirus software. Avast acquired AVG in 2016 and has since then brought antivirus products closer together.

Mitigated frequent crashes for Windows users with Avast or AVG Antivirus software installed

Firefox users who run Avast or AVG software may want to update the Firefox web browser to the latest stable release right away. They may also want to check for Avast or AVG updates as well to make sure the latest versions of the security applications are run on the system.

Mozilla employee Gabriele Svelto has another suggestion: uninstall Avast or AVG products.

Firefox users may select Menu > Help > About Firefox to update. If the browser does not open, they may download Firefox from the Mozilla website instead to install the update.

Closing Words

Bugs or false positives are common, and they may lead to crashes of third-party applications and other issues. Often, users of these programs blame the innocent third-party application and not the real culprit, the antivirus solution, when crashes or other issues occur.

Issues like these may see numerous users migrate to another browser, with a good chance that they are lost for the foreseeable future.

Mozilla reacted very quickly to the issue, which is commendable.

Now You: when was the last time you experienced crashes in programs that you use?

Mozilla rushes to address an Avast bug that causes crashes in Firefox

Hence, the company devised a potential workaround using the same method to manually input the value to bypass the issue. Additionally, if also recommended disabling support diagnostics in Outlook using a registry edit. Microsoft also recommended the age-old trick of signing out and signing back in to re-populate the entries automatically.

Recently, Microsoft came back to the bug and confirmed the issue has now been fixed. The crashfix is available in the current channel version 2209 (Build 15629.20156) and semi-annual enterprise channel (Preview) version 2208 (Build 15601.20158).

Microsoft writes:

ISSUE

When you start Outlook Desktop, it gets past loading profile and processing, briefly opens, and then stops responding.

STATUS: FIXED

This issue is fixed in Current Channel Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156) and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) Version 2208 (Build 15601.20158). As these builds get to the other channels the fixes will follow.

You can find the official support document here.

Microsoft finally fixes email bug that was causing Outlook to crash at startup

Friday Freeware Fest Elmar Hanlhofer's Plop Boot Managers are a small family of tiny tools to enable booting from media that a computer can't usually boot from.

Before you point out that all modern computers can boot from USB – the boot managers also work well in virtual machines, where USB boot support is still a lot rarer. Yes, of course, you can virtually "insert" an ISO file into your VM's virtual CD-ROM, but if you want to boot a VM from a real physical USB key, it's not so easy.

The programs are tiny: they fit onto a single floppy disk (even a 720kB one), and the ISO image is about half a megabyte.

Boot PBM5, and it presents a menu, allowing you to boot the real target OS on the machine from a floppy, or from a CD-ROM, or from USB. None of this uses the PC's BIOS, so it doesn't matter if the firmware is blissfully unaware of the existence of these media.

Optionally, the boot manager can be installed directly onto your PC's hard disk, in which case it presents a list of partitions and will boot their contents. The still-unfinished PBM6 supports UEFI as well as BIOS systems. Intriguingly, the separate Plop VHD Loader can also boot some OSes directly from MS hypervisors' VHD virtual-disk files, without using a hypervisor or starting another other OS first.

As an example of what you might use this for: you can install a Linux distro directly onto a USB key, and then have a universal bootable drive that will run on almost any PC. It's easier and safer to create this inside a VM, and you don't run the risk of accidentally writing the bootloader to your main drive and ending up with a PC that won't boot unless the USB key is present. But most hypervisors still default to a legacy BIOS, and mostly, these can't boot from real, physical USB drives on the host. With PBM, they can.

It makes it easier to create the bootable drive in the first place, without the fuss of assigning that device as the VM's drive with the VBoxManage command's createrawvmdk option, which as the VirtualBox manual illustrates, is quite complicated and needs root permissions.

Speaking purely hypothetically, of course, if one were expecting to spend a lot of this winter in one's local library because one could no longer afford to heat one's home, this could be a handy way round time limits on the library PCs.

Important Bootnote

The original Plop Boot Manager, currently on version 5.15, and the new, still in development, PBM6 are freeware, but they're not open source. Saying that, though, both are free to use for both personal and commercial purposes. They also have a Linux-only relative, PlopKexec, which is fully open source.

Source

Among the changes, Microsoft also updated its vulnerable driver blocklist and its functionality, which will now be enabled by default on Windows 11 22H2 under the following conditions:

Now with Windows 11 22H2 is out of the way, the Redmond giant has turned its focus on the Windows 10 22H2 update, which is anticipated to be heading out soon. This has been confirmed via leaked ISO links that were spotted recently. Microsoft has previously suggested that a "scoped" set of features will be coming and it looks like Defender will be one of the aspects of Windows 10 22H2 to receive some of them.

According to its driver vulnerability block rules documentation that the company updated today, Microsoft is apparently planning to release an updated driver blocklist on Windows 10 22H2. The document says:

The blocklist is updated with each new major release of Windows. We plan to update the current blocklist for non-Windows 11 customers in an upcoming servicing release and will occasionally publish future updates through regular Windows servicing.

This means the upcoming 2022 feature update on Windows 10 could be getting the same treatment as Windows 11 did. Also, the October Patch Tuesday is less than a week away and we could also be seeing the updated driver block-list roll out with it, instead of with the 22H2 release. Either way, the two incidents are unlikely to be far off from one another.

Just like Windows 11, Windows 10 22H2 could be getting a boost to Defender right at launch

As usual, the company has also released the same build version for Windows Server Insider Preview. Build 25217 is available to download as an ISO from the Windows Server Insider website along with a VHDX. Even though this uses the same underlying kernel as the Windows 11 Dev build development, as per usual, there's no changelog to speak of. As such, it's unclear what's new in this build.

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.

The downloads currently on offer are:

• Windows Server VNext Preview ISO - Build 25217
• Windows Server VNext Preview VHDX - Build 25217
• Microsoft Server Languages and Optional Features Preview - Build 25217
• Windows Admin Center 2208 Preview

Meanwhile, the keys valid for preview builds are:

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

If you haven't registered for the Windows Server Insider Preview, find out how to do so by visiting the introductory page here and the Windows Insiders for Business portal here.

The expiration date for this build is September 15, 2023.

ISOs for Windows Server Insider Preview build 25217 are now available

The update is available already and should be downloaded and installed automatically on most systems. Thunderbird users may check the installed version by selecting Menu > Help > About Thunderbird.

A check for updates is performed when the window opens, and any update that is found during the scan is downloaded and installed.

Thunderbird 102.3.2

Thunderbird 102.3.2 is a bug fix update only. It does not include security patches. The official release notes on the Thunderbird website lists one change and more than a dozen fixes.

According to the changelog, Thunderbird attempts to use POP CRAM-MD5 authentication even if the server is not advertising support for the feature.

The new update for the email client makes several important changes. One of the bigger fixes addresses a deadlock when checking for POP3 messages on servers. If the mail server "was slow or non-responsive", it could result in the locking of the POP3 folder.

The team of engineers addressed a hang issue in Thunderbird, which occurred when events after the year 2035 were added to the Calendar. Speaking of Calendar improvements. several Calendar specific issues are fixed or improved in the new release:

• Performance of recurring event date calculation has been improved.
• Quarterly events on the last day of the month were repeated one month early.
• The event reminder window did not close after selecting snooze or dismiss.
• The new event button was displayed incorrectly sometimes in the Today Pane.
• Creating events from the Today Pane used the wrong day.
• Whitespace was handled incorrectly in calendars after upgrading from Thunderbird 91.

Other changes in the new Thunderbird release include fixing a CardDAV server sync issue, missing contacts from LDAP on macOS address books, and several chat related fixes.

You may want to check out the full changelog for additional details on the fixes.

Now You: do you run Thunderbird 102 on your devices?

Thunderbird 102.3.2 is a big bug fix release

Frontpaged:   Mozilla Thunderbird 102.3.2

According to reports from regular customers and IT admins published on Microsoft's forums and other social media, Windows 11 has a hard time connecting to remote desktops after upgrading to version 22H2. Symptoms vary from case to case and include problems with connecting, random disconnections, and freezes.

Although Microsoft has not acknowledged the problem, one employee says the company is aware of the issues and is looking into the reports. Meanwhile, affected customers advise rolling back the latest Windows 11 version or disabling UDP connections to bypass the bug.

You can do the latter by creating a new fClientDisableUDP DWORD (set value to 1) in the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services\Client. Alternatively, enable the Turn Off UDP On Client policy in the Group Policy Editor. Those unhappy with Microsoft's latest operating system can use our guide to uninstall Windows 11 22H2 and go to the previous build.

Source: Bleeping Computer

Windows 11 22H2 has issues with Remote Desktop, Microsoft investigating

The virtual machine platform is the feature your computer needs to run virtual machines, Windows Subsystem for Linux, and Windows Subsystem for Android. The latter is necessary for running Android apps, which are now available in more than 30 countries. Memory integrity is a part of the security toolkit Windows 11 uses to prevent attacks and protect you from malware. It is available in Windows 11 2022 Update, and you can turn it on only after clean-installing the latest Windows 11 release.

Interestingly, this is not the first time we hear about virtualization technologies causing headaches for gamers. Back in 2021, before Microsoft shipped Windows 11, reports emerged about VBS crippling gaming performance.

Microsoft does not detail the exact performance impact the virtual machine platform and memory integrity could cause. Also, there is no information on what hardware experiences get the biggest hit. If you suspect that performance in the games took a nosedive after updating to Windows 11, try the following steps to see if the virtual machine platform and memory integrity are to blame.

Important: Memory integrity is a security measure Microsoft has implemented to guard you against malicious code. Disabling this will not necessarily make your device unprotected, but it will make it less secure. Therefore, proceed at your own risk. Turning off the virtual machine platform has no security implications, but you will lose access to some features, such as virtual machines, WSL, and Android apps.

How to improve gaming performance in Windows 11 by disabling the Virtual Machine Platform and Memory Isolation?

1. Press Win + R and type optionalfeatures.
2. Uncheck the Virtual Machine Platform option.

   

    

3. Click Ok and restart your computer.
4. Launch the Windows Security app.
5. Go to the Device Security tab.
6. Click Core isolation details.
7. Toggle off the Memory integrity feature.

   

    

8. Restart your computer.

In non-gaming-related news, Microsoft recently confirmed that Windows 11 2022 Update cripples solid-state drivers. Users can notice a throughput downgrade of up to 40% when copying large files locally or via SMB.

Have you noticed any performance issues after upgrading to Windows 11?

Source: Microsoft via The Verge

Disable these features to improve gaming performance in Windows 11

As spotted by @PhantomOfEarh, Windows 11 build 25217 introduces more substantial changes to the search button besides numerous design variants (some of them on the way to Windows 10). A new hidden ID lets you switch from the standard search icon in the middle of the taskbar to a search box in the left corner of the screen next to the Widgets button. The option is available under Settings > Taskbar > Taskbar Items, and here is how to enable it.

Caution: Unannounced features are often raw, unstable, or borderline unusable. Back up important data before using the ViveTool app and enabling hidden options. Remember that using stable Windows 11 is the best way to ensure your system remains as bug-free as possible.

How to enable new Search button settings in Windows 11 build 25217?

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and extract the files wherever convenient. For example, in C:\Vive.
2. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Terminal to the Command Prompt profile using the arrow-down button on the tab strip.

   

    

4. Navigate to the folder containing ViveTool files using the CD command. For example, CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id:40887771.
6. Press Enter and restart your computer.
7. Open the Settings app and go to Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items > Search. Note: disable the ID 39072097 if the search box appears to the left of the Start menu button.

To revert the changes, repeat the steps above and use the vivetool /disable /id:40887771 on step 5.

What do you think about the new option to place the Windows Search button next to Widgets? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Windows 11 build 25217 lets you reposition Search button on taskbar

In the build Microsoft has fixed several Tablet-optimized taskbar bugs, though some still remain open. The full changelog is given below:

What’s new

Developers can start building 3rd party widgets

We are excited to announce support for 3rd party widgets as part of the WinAppSDK 1.2 preview 2 release. Our team has been working hard to expand the Widgets board that was first introduced in Windows 11 to more developers. The 3rd party widgets platform included in this release will allow developers to create widgets for their packaged Win32 apps and test them locally on the Windows 11 Widgets board.

New features:

• Developers with packaged Win32 apps will be able to create and test 3rd party widgets locally if their machine is running in Developer Mode under Settings > Privacy & security > For developers. Developers will also need to be on the latest Insider Preview build from the Dev Channel to get the necessary update for the Widgets Board (version 521.20060.1205.0 or higher). For more information on widgets including pre-requisites please see Widget Design Docs and Widget Dev Docs.

Known limitations:

• 3rd party widgets can only be tested locally on the latest Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel for this preview release. Once WinAppSDK 1.2 GA is out, users on released versions of Windows 11 can begin acquiring 3rd party widgets via the Microsoft Store for shipped versions of their app.
• Support for 3rd party PWA widgets will also be coming as part of a future Microsoft Edge release.

Cloud Suggestion in Simplified Chinese IME

We are trying out some changes that will allow you to easily type fresh, hot, and popular words in Simplified Chinese. The changes include an improved cloud suggestion and integrated search suggestion. The cloud suggestion adds the most relevant word from Bing to the IME candidate window. We’ve updated the back-end logic so that we can provide better, fresh suggestions.

Simplified Chinese IME candidate window with a word suggestion from Bing at the second place.

The integrated search suggestion gives you additional suggestions that are similar to what you see in Bing search page. You can either insert a suggestion as text or search it directly in Bing.

Bing search suggestions expanded from IME candidate window.

To turn on these features, select a chevron button at the right end of the IME candidate window. You’ll find Turn on button.

IME candidate window with a balloon tip that points to the chevron button.

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

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Input and Language > Text Input.

Here are the Changes and Improvements in build 25217:

[Input]

• We began rolling out the new Tamil Anjal keyboard for the Tamil language with Build 25179 and starting today, it is now available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. To add it, make sure Tamil (Singapore), Tamil (Malaysia), Tamil (Sri Lanka), or Tamil (India) is listed under Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region, and then click the “…” next to the language, select Language Options, and add Tamil Anjal (QWERTY) to the list of keyboards.
• We have disabled the new touch keyboard setting that first began rolling out to Windows Insiders in Build 25188 for now. We hope to bring this feature back in the future after further refinement of the design. As we’ve mentioned previously, features we try out in the Dev or Beta Channels may not always ship.

Here are all the bug fixes:

[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.

• We fixed the issue causing the taskbar to sometimes collapse when it should be expanded if there are no running windows on the desktop.
• We fixed an issue that would occur when using the left or right edge gestures resulting in the Widgets or Notification Center (respectively) to overlap with or look truncated by the taskbar.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the tablet-optimized taskbar to crash explorer.exe while switching apps.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the tablet-optimized taskbar to crash explorer.exe if you entered the overflow flyout.

[Windowing]

• Fixed an issue where the close button for window preview thumbnails in Task View was drawing slightly outside the bounds of the thumbnail.
• Fixed an issue where when switching between windows in recent builds you might see the entire window flash black for a frame while rendering.
• Fixed an issue causing Miracast video quality to be very slow and stuttering in recent flights despite having a solid internet connection.

[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 so that Quick Settings items can now be rearranged with touch again.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue under Network and Internet > Advanced Network Settings, where certain networks were displaying the wrong link speed.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where remote desktop on ARM64 PCs was unexpectedly not using UDP and only TCP.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

And finally we have 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 a few different apps having started crashing 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.
• The taskbar takes longer than expected to transition to the touch-optimized version when switching 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.

[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.
• Notification badge number may appear misaligned on the taskbar.

You can read the official blog post here.

Microsoft fixes several Tablet taskbar issues, and more, with Dev build 25217

A year later, Lansweeper has released new data and the landscape has definitely changed somewhat in favor of Windows 11. However, it is probably not close to what Microsoft had hoped for. The percentage of CPUs that meets the requirements has gone up from 44.4% last time to 57.26% this time, an increase of around 13 percentage points. This means close to 43% systems do not meet the CPU requirements still.

Lansweeper says that 30 million devices from across 60,000 organizations have been surveyed. This number is the same as last time's which means the comparison becomes easier as the base is the same. You can view the breakdown of CPU, RAM, and TPM requirements in the image below:

Up next, a separate column showing the breakdown of TPM requirements for workstations and servers is provided. The chart below plots the same data for physical machines from the previous image that shows 14.66% of workstations do not feature TPM 2.0.

Finally, we have two charts that shows the market share of the different versions of Windows. According to it, Windows 11 currently has just over 2.5% share which is absolutely tiny compared to Windows 10.

The second chart compares the adoption trend of Windows 11 for consumers and businesses. You may find more insight in the original survey report here.

Via: OnMSFT

Survey shows nearly half the systems still not ready for Windows 11, a whole year later

Alongside those, the company has also released an update to the Microsoft Store, and a "sneak peek" into the new video calling options that the company is introducing inside Teams Chat. Microsoft calls it the sneak peek since this only rolling out to some users at the moment, with wider availability planned for later in the coming months.

The company explains how the new features in Teams Chat works:

When you open Chat from the taskbar, the focus will be on you with a preview of your own video, and the various ways you can connect with your people. It is now easier than ever to immediately start a video call with those who are using Microsoft Teams for personal use. For those who are not on Teams, not a problem- you can easily share a call link with anyone via SMS or email and get the conversation going directly within Chat.

You can find the official announcement post here.

Microsoft gives a "sneak peek" of new Teams Chat on Windows 11

What makes the update rather mysterious is that Google provides little information on the nature of the updates. The official Chrome Releases blog posts reveal no information on the nature of the updates.

In fact, the only information that is provided is that the version of Chrome is updated to 106.0.5249.103 on the Stable and the Extended Stable channel.

Users who click on the "log" link that Google provides may parse the official Chromium changelog to find out more about the updates. The parsing returns confirmation that Google fixed a potential deadlock issue in CacheStorageManager and corrected an issue in AT actions API, which could cause "serious regressions with JAWS".

JAWS, which stands for Job Access With Speech, is a screen reader "developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with the mouse".

It is unclear if the listed issues are the only ones fixed in the new Chrome release. Google does not report security issues that it discovers internally in the release notes or in the Chromium log, to prevent misuse by bad actors. It is possible that the company fixed security issues in Chrome found by internal teams.

Either way, it is recommended that Chrome users update the browser as soon as possible to avoid the deadlock issue. The best way to do so is to load chrome://settings/help in the browser's address bar. Alternatively, selecting Menu > Help > About Google Chrome displays the current version and runs a check for updates. Any update that Chrome finds is downloaded and installed automatically at this point.

The update is the third for Chrome Stable and Extended Stable that Google released recently. Both the update to Chrome 106 and the point update that followed afterward were security related.

Closing Words

Google is tight lipped when it comes to Chromium and Chrome updates. Some say that this is by design, others that the company is indifferent.

Now You: what is your take? Should Google provide more details in release notes?

Google releases mysterious update for Google Chrome 106

Frontpaged:   Google Chrome 106.0.5249.103

As reported by The Register, Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, has now accepted a pull request that will bring Rust support to the kernel with version 6.1.

The idea is not to rebuild the entire kernel in Rust, but rather to complement the existing C codebase with new components written in the secondary language, helping to reduce the likelihood of memory bugs that lead to security vulnerabilities.

Rust in Linux 6.1

With the release of Linux 6.0 last weekend, eyes will now inevitably turn to the next version. Although the latest kernel update included only relatively unsexy changes, the addition of Rust to Linux 6.1 is considered a major addition.

According to a recent survey of 70,000 developers by StackOverflow, although Rust is not the most widely used of all languages (that’s JavaScript), it was voted “most loved” by respondents. It is also, incidentally, among the most lucrative languages for developers, commanding a median yearly salary of almost $90,000.

The campaign to bring Rust to Linux has been ongoing for some time, earning support from an array of stakeholders, including Google, which developed Android atop the Linux platform.

“We feel that Rust is now ready to join C as a practical language for implementing the kernel,” said Wedson Almeida Filho, a member of the Android team.

“It can help us reduce the number of potential bugs and security vulnerabilities in privileged code while playing nicely with the core kernel and preserving its performance characteristics.”

Until recently, concerns around the need to build non-standard extensions for Rust in order to make it compatible with Linux have limited progress. But ultimately, it was decided the language is sufficiently well-supported in Clang, a compiler front end for the C family of languages.

The initial merge brings roughly 12,500 lines of Rust code to the kernel, laying the groundwork for subsystem abstractions and Rust-based drivers, to be introduced with future pull requests.

Following the traditional pattern, Linux 6.1 should go live within the next two to three months.

Source

For desktop Linux users, updating to a new Linux kernel typically carries relatively small, contained risks: wonky drivers, GRUB pain, maybe a full wipe and reinstall. For one subset of laptop owners on rolling release distributions, however, kernel version 5.19.12 could cause actual LCD screen damage.

"After looking at some logs we do end up with potentially bogus panel power sequencing delays, which may harm the LCD panel," wrote Intel engineer Ville Syrjälä in a discussion on the issue. "I recommend immediate revert of this stuff, and new stable release ASAP. Plus a recommendation that no one using laptops with Intel GPUs run 5.19.12."

The conflict between Linux kernel 5.19.12 and Intel GPU drivers, captured by Michael Kan.

One day later, kernel 5.19.13 was released. But there's a distribution chain between kernel work and distribution desktops, and certain laptop owners were caught up in it.

"Two days ago, I updated to kernel 5.(19).12, and my screen now flickers rapidly," wrote user CrepeDragonball in the r/framework subreddit for owners of the Framework laptop, which contains an Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU. "I can see the flickering even on UEFI (BIOS), so I think it is hardware related, not OS/driver related. ... The flickering is at such high rate[s] that I can't capture it with my phone camera." Similar reports came up in ArchLinux and Fedora forums and subreddits, along with Framework's official forum.

Some users reported flickering that didn't go away after reboots or after switching to base-level tools like BIOS or GRUB. A few managed to switch their kernel versions by connecting to an external monitor and saw the flickering gradually fade with time. But panel power sequencing (i.e. screen timing) gone awry can permanently damage screens, especially the LCDs integrated into laptops. As of this posting, the original poster to the Framework subreddit has not posted about his screen being restored.

Linux kernels and distributions doing physical damage to desktop hardware is rare but not unheard of. Mandrake 9.2 was found in October 2003 to be capable of killing specific LG CD-ROM drives. The cause could have been kernel code, LG's firmware, or both, according to an update on a Linux.com post about the issue. LWN.net noted that LG Electronics did not support or test hardware with Linux.

More typical is hardware being written to, or operated, out of specifications; many veteran hardware programmers attest to this time-honored tradition in an unusually intriguing Quora thread.

It's a good idea to update your Linux kernel beyond 5.19.12 if possible or otherwise downgrade, even if you're not immediately seeing graphical issues.

Source

The change was noticed by Twitter use Mauro earlier today when a new Search bar style showed up on their 21H2 build.

Later on, the leaksters picked up on it and one of them, who goes by the alias PhantomOcean3 on Twitter, discovered that Microsoft had indeed brought in such changes to Windows 11 21H2 under the hood. However, this is hidden which means they are still being tested.

The PhantomOcean3 posted three different taskbar Search styles in 21H2 build 22000.1042 (KB5017383). You can view them in the screenshots attached below alongside the winver dialog box which shows the build number. There are three variants of it:

How to enable the new Taskbar search in Windows 11 build 22000.1042

1. Download ViVeTool from its repository on Github and extract the files whenever you like. For example, in the root of drive C.
2. Right-click the Start menu button and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Terminal to the Command Prompt profile using the arrow-down button on the tab strip.
   
4. Navigate to the folder containing Vive files using the CD command. Here is an example: CD C:\Vive.
5. Execute the following command:
   • vivetool /enable /id:39263329 /variant:X (1, 3 or 5)
6. Restart your computer (optional).

Via: PhantomOcean3 (Twitter)

Leak: You may soon be getting Windows 11 22H2 features on 21H2 as well

The software giant has updated its official Windows 11 documentation with a new status message. Microsoft has entered a new rollout phase, meaning more users should get the latest Windows 11 version upon checking for updates in the Settings app. Those not bothering with visiting the Windows Update section will remain on the initial release for a while as Microsoft carefully monitors the rollout to ensure a bug-free experience for everyone.

Microsoft has also warned users that computers affected by software/hardware compatibility issues will not get the update until the company has a solution or workaround. As of now, Microsoft blocks the Windows 11 2022 Update on systems with specific printer and Intel SST drivers. There is also a confirmed bug that can cause your SSD to lose up to 40% of its throughput.

Those who do not want to wait to receive the latest Windows 11 version via Windows Update can manually update their systems using the official ISO files or the Windows 11 Installation Assistant available on the official website. Do that only if you are 100% sure that your computer is not affected by any of the safeguards placed by Microsoft. The best and safest option is to wait for Microsoft to test its pipes, ensure the update is rolling out smoothly, and deliver the update to your computer "naturally." While you wait, check out our Windows 11 2022 Update review.

Microsoft also has an upcoming update for users not amused by Windows 11 with its fancy interfaces, Android apps support, improved accessibility, and other features (and degradations). The company is about to launch Windows 10 22H2, but the update will not introduce any groundbreaking or notable feature changes.

Windows 11 22H2 is now available for more users as Microsoft speeds up rollout

The report comes via German outlet Deskmodder wherein one of its forum members noticed the issue when trying to do an in-place upgrade to Windows 11 version 22H2 on a disk set up as dynamic. This was not a problem on the original 21H2 release. On trying to attempt the upgrade, the error message "0x8007001" pops up which generally happen due to disk related issues. The user tried swapping the install.wim files in the 22H2 setup with that of 21H2 and the upgrade process apparently worked out fine.

Dynamic disks provide more features than basic disks like the ability to create volumes across multiple disks (spanned and striped), running RAID 5, among others, though it also has its limitations. Microsoft however does not generally recommend dynamic disks anymore. The company instead recommends using its Storage Spaces and hardware RAID controllers for functions historically provided by a dynamic disk setup. This may be a reason as to why 22H2 installs are failing on such a disk. Microsoft says:

Dynamic disks have been deprecated from Windows and we don't recommend using them anymore. Instead, we recommend using basic disks or using the newer Storage Spaces technology when you want to pool disks together into larger volumes. If you want to mirror the volume from which Windows boots, you might want to use a hardware RAID controller, such as the one included on many motherboards.

In case you are wondering if you have a basic or a dynamic disk, you can check it with the following steps:

1. Go to "Disk Management" by right-clicking the Start button or by running "diskmgmt.msc" in the Win + R (Run) dialog box.
2. Right click on the boot drive (C:) or any other drive, and go to "Properties"
3. Go to the "Hardware" tab in the Properties dialog box
4. Select the boot drive model within the "All disk drives" window
5. A properties dialog box for that drive model opens
6. Go to the "Volumes" tab and click on the "Populate" option.

This will reveal if your disk type is "Basic" or "Dynamic". It also shows the partition style, ie, GPT or MBR.

Source: Deskmodder

Microsoft apparently blocks Windows 11 22H2 upgrades on dynamic disks with 0x8007001 error

For those keeping track, this is just a slight bump up from build 22621.607 which was released to the Release Preview Channel a week and a half ago and contained a ton of fixes.

The full changelog is below:

• New! We enhance File Explorer. It now includes tabs to help you organize your File Explorer sessions like you do in Microsoft Edge. On the new File Explorer homepage, you can pin important files for quick and easy access. Using the power of Microsoft OneDrive, you can view your colleagues’ actions on your shared files. We also provide personalized suggestions based on your Microsoft 365 account.
• New! We add suggestions for actions when you copy items. For example, when you copy phone numbers or future dates, we provide suggestions, such as make a call with Teams or Skype or add an event in the Calendar app.
• New! We add a taskbar overflow menu. The taskbar will offer an entry point to a menu that shows you all your overflowed apps in one space.
• New! You can now share to more devices. You can discover and share to more devices, including desktops, using a nearby share.

Microsoft did not share any new fixes or known issues with this build.

Microsoft also notes that although these features are rolling out to Windows Insiders who have elected to test preview software, not everyone will be getting these features immediately after installing the KB5017389 update. Microsoft will be pushing the features out at a staggered state so that the company can "monitor feedback" from Windows Insiders and likely gather telemetry on usage.

For those on the General Release of Windows 11 version 2022, you can already force enable these features if you don't want to wait for later in October, when they will be made available to everyone.

You can view the original blog post here.

Microsoft starts rolling out tabbed File Explorer and more in Windows 11 build 22621.608

Because of this, I have trained myself when copying a file to highlight it and hold down CTRL and mash the C key repeatedly, resulting in CTRL + CCCCCCCCC. I know many of my friends and colleagues also experience the same issue, but think it's only affecting them. It's more widespread than you think.

I’ll never forget mowing a lawn with a zero-turn mower, listening to the Security Now podcast, and hearing Steve Gibson talk about his recent issues with the Windows clipboard and how it has become unreliable. The following was said on the Security Now Podcast episode 249 on May 20, 2010:

LEO: Right. Question 3 from listener Matt. He says, "Please, Sir, can I have some more?" Episode 248 was fantastic. Oh, and you're right about ctrl-c, the copy-paste bug. It's been like that for a few years. So much so that it's second nature for me to always now press ctrl-cc. And that always works. But it's a pain in MS Office because it brings up a multiple-paste toolbar. So everybody's responding to this. I mean, apparently it's something people are really having happen.

STEVE: Yes. I wanted to drop this in for Matt, mostly as a placeholder and reminder. Many of our listeners have responded that they were so happy to hear this brought up.

LEO: Not just you.

STEVE: Because they've been thinking it was just them for a long time. And one person wrote a lengthy piece of email where he's convinced this happened at Service Pack 3.

LEO: Oh, interesting. Of XP.

STEVE: Of XP, and it's in Vista and 7, that Microsoft did deliberately, in their security enhancements for Service Pack 3, they changed the way the keyboard hooking technology works in order to thwart some behavior of keystroke logging. And that it's his belief - and this is not confirmed, but I just wanted to share it - that that was the boundary; that Service Pack 2 works fine, reliably, and that it got broken somehow subtly when Microsoft went to Service Pack 3 and beyond, that that was the boundary. And it had something to do with the way Microsoft increased the security in order to thwart keystroke logging. So I don't know whether that's true or not, but I thought that was an interesting thought. And I know that Paul and Microsoft are pursuing this. So if you think of it when you talk to Paul again.

Fast-forward 12 years and 5 Windows versions later, and I'm still experiencing the same unreliable copy and paste. I've also posted about it in the forum:

• Microsoft really has got to fix the Ctrl+C Bug (doesn't work sometimes)

The response has been mixed, half the people have experienced the issue at some point, while others never experienced it at all.

When searching the Feedback Hub, this issue has been posted numerous and people have been chiming in. Here is one such feedback post. It has 394 upvotes and 18 comments, Microsoft has also responded by saying "We've got it". That means they know about it.

When you're copying and pasting next time, notice if you have problems. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Let us know in the comments below about how reliable the Windows clipboard works for you?

Can we talk about how copy and paste sucks so much in Windows?