Developers and curious Windows users can check out the official documentation published on the Microsoft Learn website. The articles contain detailed descriptions of Windows Widgets, their components, design guidelines, UI elements, interaction manuals, etc. Besides, it describes the principles of good widgets that provide a satisfactory user experience. Microsoft says developers should consider the following:

• Glanceable—a widget should provide the most value and necessary information at a glance. Users should click on a widget only if they need "richer details" or "deeper integratioins."
• Dependable—a widget should display frequently used information instantly to save users time.
• Useful—developers should ensure their widgets provide valuable and relevant data.
• Personal—a widget should provide personalized content and "build an emotional connection with customers." No ads should appear on Windows widgets.
• Focused—widgets should not aim to replace apps or websites but should focus on one main task or scenario.
• Fresh—a widget should dynamically refresh and provide up-to-date information.

In addition to third-party widget support, Microsoft is working on other improvements in this area. Preview versions of Windows 11 let you switch to the full-screen view and disable open on hover or widget notifications. Hopefully, Windows Widgets will soon turn from a cluttered and tabloid-filled space into something more valuable and enjoyable.

Microsoft details how to build good third-party widgets for Windows 11

What is new in Vivaldi 5.5?

The Tasks Panel joins other productivity tools in Vivaldi. It is a simple task manager that lets you create regular and recurring reminders, set due dates, and add locations and notes. The Tasks Panel is integrated into the built-in Calendar, which means you can see your reminders alongside other events.

Faster Address Field now features reworked logic for better performance.

Through Snap Support on Windows 11, Vivaldi users with the latest Windows version can use Snap for faster window management. Hover the cursor over the maximize/restore button to preview various presets and quickly resize and reposition the window.

When it comes to improved Mail and Calendar onboarding, the latest Vivaldi update makes setting up accounts much easier by automatically fetching the required mail and calendar accounts.

Mail forgery improvements will help you ensure you do not fall victim to an email scam. Vivaldi says there is still room for improvements, but the email client should now be better at detecting fraud emails that appeared to be valid in the previous browser versions.

As usual, Vivaldi 5.5 comes with a long list of minor fixes and security improvements. You can download Vivaldi 5.5 on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

Vivaldi 5.5 gets Tasks Panel and Snap support on Windows 11

Frontpaged:   Vivaldi 5.5 Build 2805.32

Spark Mail for Windows and a redesigned interface

The new UI for Spark Mail adds a Homescreen, which displays a greeting with your name, a nice background wallpaper, a clock widget, and a couple of other options such as a Smart Search bar. More importantly, the homescreen implements a feature called "Email Focus Time" that you can define. When enabled, it serves as a reminder to not spend too much time on mails, to help improve your productivity.

Click on the Open Inbox button to access your mails. Things have changed here too, there is a Smart Inbox at the top of the screen, it lists important mails from all your accounts (not unlike Outlook's Focused Inbox), while other messages are displayed below it. It also groups mails as notifications and newsletters. You may mark an email as done by clicking the dot next to it.

You can search through your mails and perform various actions quickly from the Command Center, which can be accessed using Ctrl + K or Cmd + K. The mail client now supports OAuth for logging into mail services such as Gmail and Outlook.

The email client shows a banner when you receive a new mail, with options to accept or block mails from the sender. This behavior can be changed from the app's settings. Spark Mail can be set to display Priority Mails at the top of your other mails in the list, it shows 5 lines (mails) by default, but you may choose to view up to 10 mails.

The Settings page in Spark Mail has also been redesigned, and includes options to configure the time to Send Later (schedule emails to be sent later), Reminders for mails that haven't received a response, and Snooze mails that you want to deal with later.  The additional options are interesting, but the new interface is a little too bright for my liking. The app is also available on Android and iOS, if you want to try it on your mobile phone.

Spark Mail has not been updated on the Mac App Store with the new design yet. You can download the new version from the company's website, and install/use it along with the old one.

Note: Spark Mail's macOS app is about 598 MB in size. The version from the app on the App Store is 288.2 MB, the difference in the size suggests that the new app is likely based on Electron.

I've used Spark Mail on my iPad a few years ago, before trying it on my Mac. Spark's free tier is sufficient for basic email usage, but most of its special features are locked behind a paywall.

Spark Mail Pro pricing

Spark Mail Pro costs $7.99 per month for individuals, while the annual subscription has been priced at $59.99 ($4.99/month). Previous subscribers are eligible for a 30% discount on annual subscriptions, which brings the price down to $41.99. You can view a comparison chart on the company's website, to learn about the differences between Spark's free vs premium features.

A one-time payment would obviously be better for users, but it could be tough for a company to sustain its business. That said, the prices for its services could have been better. While the Spark Pro plan is completely optional, I think that $8 a month and $60 for a yearly subscription is quite expensive for an email app.

In comparison, Microsoft 365's annual subscription costs $69.99, and it gives you the full Office suite experience with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access and the Outlook mail app.

Airmail for iOS and Mac did something similar a couple of years ago, when it locked some features behind a subscription. But its Pro plan costs $2.99 a month, and its annual plan has a $10 price tag. In retrospect, that seems very affordable compared to Spark Mail's Pro tier.

Spark Mail adds a "Sent with Spark" signature for free users

The last feature in the comparison chart mentions that the free version of Spark Mail cannot remove the "Sent with Spark" signature, the app adds this to every email that you send. You can remove the signature from the mail manually before sending it, but this can become tedious quickly, which makes it an aggressive marketing maneuver to push users towards its premium subscription. Such annoyances could also drive users away from the email client.

If you're looking for a free alternative to Spark, it's already there on your Apple device, I'm talking about the stock Mail app, which is free and likely has everything you need for managing your emails. Take a look at the features in macOS Ventura's Mail app, it includes Undo Send, Send it later, Reminders, etc. The new Mail app is superb, and the features also available on iOS 16. Gmail for iOS and Outlook are good alternatives as well, and you can try Thunderbird if you want an open source app on your Mac.

Spark Mail is now available on Windows with a new UI, and a premium subscription

Developers of the open source VideoLAN media player have challenged India’s government to explain why the project’s web site has been blocked.

As The Register reported in August 2022, the videolan.org site has been unavailable in India since March 2022, meaning the official source of downloads not available. No official explanation for the block has been offered.

As VLC is open source the occasional clone infected with malware has appeared – with Chinese actors suspected as the source.

India has banned many Chinese apps on national security grounds. But VideoLAN’s home base is France, not the Middle Kingdom. And VLC is not known or rated to pose a sterner risk of carrying either malware or the kind of nasty content India’s government likes to ban. The argument has also been made that driving would-be users to third party download sites increases the chances of poisoned clones being passed off as legitimate, making a ban on security grounds ineffective.

Activists protested the blocking of the project’s site and now one such group – India’s Internet Freedom Foundation – has stated that it helped VideoLAN to write a letter to India’s Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology that demands an explanation for the blocking of videolan.org.

The letter [PDF] points out that Indian government policy documents [PDF] name VLC as a “preferred” tool for media playback and encourage use of open source software.

The letter also points out that Indian law requires website operators to be notified of bans, and to be given a hearing at which to contest them, but that VideoLAN’s previous attempts to have India’s government explain the ban have produced no substantive response.

VideoLAN asserts it’s therefore not been treated fairly and wants that to change.

The letter also asserts that the ban on videolan.org harms freedom of speech and therefore international law.

VideoLAN president and lead developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf signs off with a demand for India to explain itself, and the ban, or action under Indian and international law will follow.

The letter doesn’t set a deadline for India to respond.

Which leaves the world watching for India’s supposedly FOSS-and-tech-friendly government to make the next move.

Based on The Register’s past reporting of Indian government tech policy, your correspondent fancies authorities may offer an explanation to the effect that blocking VLC downloads will prevent access to copyrighted media and/or material deemed objectionable under local laws. ®

Source

According to Ned, Windows 11 2022 Update users can experience up to 40% less throughput over SMB when copying large files weighing several gigabytes or more. The bug does not affect the initial release of Windows 11, so those sticking to the previous release will not experience issues with copying from a remote computer.

Interestingly, the bug is not exclusive to SMB, which means users might notice performance dips even when copying local files. While Microsoft is busy investigating the problem and figuring out the fix, affected customers can use robocopy or xcopy with the /J parameter to restore the lost performance. Expect to hear from Microsoft about this problem soon.

Microsoft recently acknowledged another problem exclusive to the latest Windows 11 release. The company said users with specific printer drivers might lose some features, such as color, two-sided printing, paper size settings, etc. The affected devices will not get the update until Microsoft has a permanent fix.

Microsoft confirms performance degradation in Windows 11 22H2 when copying large files

Command Palette in Microsoft Edge

The Command Palette is a tool that can be handy for regular users and web developers. The command bar feature was introduced in Microsoft Edge 105 Canary, in July 2022. Since it is an experimental feature, the option is not enabled by default, you need to toggle it manually in order to use it.

How to enable the new Command Palette in Microsoft Edge

1. Open a new tab and go to edge://flags.

2. Search for command palette. You should see a new setting in the results.

3. Its default value is set to "Disabled", click on the drop-down menu and change the setting to Enabled.

4. Restart the browser, and use the hotkey to trigger the feature, Ctrl + Shift + Space.

5. A large text box will appear at the top of Edge's interface (near the address bar).

Using the Command Palette in Edge

Start typing something in the box, and the browser will display some results. Highlight one of the options in the list, and hit the enter key to execute the corresponding command. It is quite similar to the tool in Microsoft Visual Studio and PowerToys.

I mentioned that the Command Palette is not necessarily a developer-centric tool, and that it can be handy for all users.  Here's how you can use it for tab management. Enter the word tab and Edge will display a set of tab management actions that you can choose from, such as open tabs, switch between tabs, search your bookmarks, add site to bookmarks, history, etc.

You may also use it to open the browser's tools such as the task manager, extension store, etc. This can be handy since you can do all these tasks without leaving the current tab, or clicking on the menu and navigating through the options.

Advanced options

The Command Palette in Microsoft Edge can be used for advanced tasks without opening the Dev Tools first. For instance, you could use it to emulate a mobile device, this command will open the view the mobile version of the current web page in DevTools, thus allowing you to test how the website works on touchscreen devices.

If you want the tool to only list DevTools options and exclude regular results like tabs, history, you should include the > before you start typing the keywords. This will filter the results displayed in the box accordingly, you can follow it up with advanced commands like Show Console or Show Snippets, or simply press the down arrow key to access all commands in the list.

The keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + Shift + Space could conflict with other applications and extensions, e.g. it does for me with the Simple Translate add-on. So, you may want to change the keybinding in the third-party tool to prevent it from being triggered accidentally. Microsoft has uploaded a video to explain how the new DevTools work in Edge 106, the video also mentions that the hotkey for the Command Palette will be changed to Ctrl + Q in future versions. A feedback thread on GitHub says this change will come in to effect when Microsoft Edge 108 is released, it is expected to be available in the week of November 1st in the beta channel, and will be rolled out to the stable channel in the first week of December.

The Command Palette is now available in the stable version of Microsoft Edge

If you are reading this on October 4, 2022, Firefox 105.0.2 may not yet be released. The update will be published later today.

Firefox includes automatic update functionality to download and install updates without user interaction; this does not happen in real-time though. A manual check for updates is an option to install updates earlier.

To do that, select Menu > Help > About Firefox. Firefox opens a small window with information about the installed version. It runs a check for updates furthermore to download and install the latest update.

Firefox 105.0.2: the changes

Firefox 105.0.2 includes a single major fix and four lesser fixes. The main issue affects the loading of some sites in the browser's Safe Mode. Firefox users may enable Troubleshoot Mode under Menu > Help > Troubleshoot Mode to run the browser without extensions, themes and custom settings.

Designed to troubleshoot issues in the browser, it requires a restart before it becomes the active mode.

According to the bug report on Bugzilla, the loading of some sites stalls permanently in Troubleshoot Mode. The issue depends on the browser's font configuration and site content, according to Mozilla.  Only Firefox instances with the shared font list disabled appear affected by the issue.

Firefox users may set gfx.e10s.font-list.shared to false in the advanced configuration to disable the shared font list.

Two of the fixed bugs address styling issues in the browser. The first issue affected the styling of sidebars of some add-ons in Private Browsing Mode, the second resolved issues with dynamic appearance changes.

• Fixed a bug causing some dynamic appearance changes to appear when expected
• Fixed a bug causing theme styling to not be properly applied to sidebars for some add-ons in Private Browsing Mode

The fourth bug fix addresses a poor contrast issue on Linux systems. Some menu items "with certain themes" had a poor contrast. The final fixed a scrollbar appearance issue on right-to-left locales.

The official release notes will be updated later today (if you are reading this on October 4, 2022).

Firefox 105.0.2 is the second point release of Firefox 105. The first restored the original focus behavior of the browser, which Mozilla changed in the Firefox 105 release.

Firefox 105.0.2 fixes 5 different issues in the browser

Frontpaged:   Mozilla Firefox Browser 105.0.2

Other users are reporting similar issues on Intel 11th Gen chips as well. This user confirmed that downgrading to the previous 5.19.11 release fixes the problem:

I'm on a laptop (Lenovo Legion 5 Gen7 15IAH7H, Alder Lake i7-12700H) and when I boot this kernel, the laptop internal screen seems to flicker between "on but completely black" and "off" every second or so without actually displaying anything.

[..] This reproduces consistently on my machine with 5.19.12 and disappears immediately after downgrading to 5.19.11.

Over on the Framework community forum, affected users have been raising this issue for close to a week now, and it looks like an Intel Linux kernel engineer, Ville Syrjäl, had picked it up. Syrjäl says that the panel power sequencing (PPS) delay is bugged which could potentially even damage the LCD panels. He wrote:

After looking at some logs we do end up with potentially bogus panel power sequencing delays, which may harm the LCD panel.

[..] 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 5.19.12 changes have been reverted with a new stable release (5.19.13). Users are reporting that this has indeed fixed the issue.

Via: Phoronix

Beware: Linux kernel 5.19.12 could damage your Intel laptop display, literally

What is new in PowerToys 0.63?

Highlights:

• Quick Accent contains a new setting to select a language. This should reduce the number of accented characters a user needs to pick from. Thanks @damienleroy!
• Reduced installer (125 MB in 0.62.1 compared to 83 MB in 0.63.0) and installed (817 MB in 0.62.1 compared to 587 MB in 0.63.0) sizes by sharing the Windows App SDK, VC++ redistributable and PowerToys Interop runtime files between utilities. This is a step towards removing the UAC requirement on install. The next step is shipping .NET self-contained and shared between utilities.

Known issues

• The Text Extractor utility fails to recognize text in some cases on ARM64 devices running Windows 10.

• After installing PowerToys, the new Windows 11 context menu entries for PowerRename and Image Resizer might not appear before a system restart.

• There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications (RTSS RivaTuner Statistics Server and MSI AfterBurner are known examples of this). If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

   

General

• Fixed an issue that caused bug report generation to fail. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

• Updated the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.5.

   

Always on Top

• Fixed an issue causing the border to linger when moving a window between virtual desktops.

• The minimum thickness for the borders is now 1. Thanks @unuing!

• Borders were showing in Virtual Desktop thumbnails. These were removed.

• Corrected the borders visuals to more closely follow the application borders.

   

Awake

• Fixed utility exit logic to close all threads and avoid crashes. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

   

Color Picker

• Fixed utility exit logic to close all threads and avoid crashes. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

• Fixed initialization error that caused the mouse position to be incorrectly set.

   

FancyZones

• Fixed FancyZones Editor exit logic to close all threads and avoid crashes. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

   

File explorer add-ons

• Updated the WebView 2 dependency to 1.0.1343.22. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!

• Fixed preview of .reg files.

   

Image Resizer

• Fixed a bug causing File Explorer to crash under some conditions when accessing the context menu.

   

PowerToys Run

• Added support to opening Terminal windows in quake mode. Thanks @FWest98!

• Fixed utility exit logic to close all threads and avoid crashes. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

• Improve the icon shown in the Program plugin for application execution aliases. Thanks @MikeBarker-MSFT!

• Fix calls to the default browser when Firefox is installed from the Microsoft Store.

• Fixed accessibility issue in which controls appended to the result entries weren't announced.

• Search was improved and should now return results where the terms in the query appear at the end of the result.

   

Quick Accent

• Improved the keyboard hooks performance. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

• Fixed a bug that was causing Quick Accent to interfere with Keyboard Manager. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

• Added the correct ß uppercase character. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!

• Accent character selection should now wrap around. Thanks @wmentha!

• Added language selection setting to reduce the number of accented characters shown. The available languages are Currency, Czech, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Maori, Pinyin, Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Spanish and Turkish. Thanks @damienleroy!

   

Screen Ruler

• Improved UI/UX and settings descriptions.

• Fixed utility exit logic to close all threads and avoid crashes. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

   

Settings

• UI icons updated. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

• Descriptions improvement and disambiguation. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

• Fixed checkbox margins and other design tweaks. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

   

Text Extractor

• Removed extra spaces when recognizing Chinese, Japanese or Korean languages. Thanks @TheJoeFin!

• Fixed utility exit logic to close all threads and avoid crashes. (This was a hotfix for 0.62)

• Fixed an issue where a selection would start on right-click.

   

Installer

• Added logic to exit PowerToys on upgrade before trying to update .NET.

• Updated the .NET dependency to 6.0.9.

• Added clearer installation step names for the bootstrapper. Thanks @htcfreek and @Jay-o-Way!

• Windows App SDK, VC++ redistributable and PowerToys Interop runtime files are now shared between utilities through hardlinks, reducing installation size.

   

Documentation

• Fixed typos in Keyboard Manager documentation. Thanks @eltociear!

• Replaced docs.microsoft.com links with learn.microsoft.com. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!

   

Development

• Fixed a build error that was restricting developers to switch between configuration without first cleaning local build files.
• C++ exception catches were corrected to be caught by reference to avoid unnecessary copy operations. Thanks @NN---!
• General C# code clean up, format fixing and removal of unused code analysis suppressions.
• Removed unnecessary muxc prefix from XAML files. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Re-enabled tests on our pipeline that depend on WebView2.
• Windows 11 tier 1 context menu packages now contain the "Microsoft.PowerToys" prefix.

You can download PowerToys 0.63 from the Microsoft Store or the app's GitHub repository.

PowerToys 0.63 is out with a much smaller installation footprint

Following the original Overwatch's shutdown yesterday, Overwatch 2 goes online today, October 4, as a fully free-to-play experience. Those seeking to jump into the hero shooter with a graphics solution from the red team will want to update to this driver before doing so for optimal performance and stability. AMD has not given details on the exact improvements players will gain with it, unfortunately.

As for the fixed issues, those looking forward to the upcoming Street Fighter 6 Beta will appreciate a crash fix that's included in here. Here are the two bug fixes:

• GPU for image processing option may not be available using Adobe® Lightroom® on Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs.
• App crash may be experienced in Street Fighter™ 6 Beta.

Known issues are below. Note that some bugs are specifically listed to be fixed with the next driver version, 22.10.2, sometime later this month:

• Radeon™ Super Resolution may fail to trigger after changing resolution or HDR settings on games such as Nioh™ 2.
• Oculus dashboard menu and rendered controllers may appear bouncing/wobbly on Oculus Quest 2 with some AMD Graphics Products such as the Radeon™ RX 6800 XT Graphics.
• GPU utilization may be stuck at 100% in Radeon performance metrics after closing games on some AMD Graphics Products such as Radeon™ 570.
• While previewing the timeline in VEGAS Pro™, some colors may appear inverted.
• Chromium-based browsers may experience video stuttering on extended monitors with mixed refresh rates using Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs.
• Users may encounter dropped frames during video playback using hardware acceleration on Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs. [Resolution targeted for 22.10.2]
• Display may briefly show corruption when switching between video and game windows on some AMD Graphics Products such as the Radeon™ RX 6700 XT. [Resolution targeted for 22.10.2]
• When Vertical Refresh Sync is set globally to Always Off, system stuttering or driver timeout may occur during video playback using Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs. [Resolution targeted for 22.10.2]
• Driver timeout may occur using HEVC hardware encoding on Radeon™ RX 6000 series GPUs. [Resolution targeted for 22.10.2]

The new AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.10.1 driver can be downloaded via the direct link listed in the official release notes page here. The Radeon Settings app on Windows can also be utilized to trigger an update to this version. The driver can be found in the Optional section of the app.

AMD 22.10.1 driver brings support for Blizzard's Overwatch 2

Frontpaged:   AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 22.10.1

Most Windows machines come installed with Realtek HD Audio Manager or driver. You can check it by going to your Device Manager by simply right-clicking the Start button. After opening it, scroll down and look for the “Sound, video and game controllers” option. Click it to expand the list of devices or drivers. If you find the Realtek High Definition Audio, it confirms that your machine indeed has the Realtek HD Audio Manager, and you are just probably encountering a problem with it. Updating Realtek HD Audio is a quick way to resolve your issue. Just right-click on it to get the “update driver” option, select “Search automatically for updated driver software,” and Windows will do the job for you. However, doing this does not guarantee the best results, so manually downloading and reinstalling Realtek HD Audio Manager in your Windows 10 or 11 is much more recommended.

The first step is to uninstall the Realtek High Definition Audio from the items under the Sound, video and game controllers option within the Device Manager. It is an important step to ensure the success of the reinstallation of the Realtek HD Audio driver and prevent further problems. So, instead of selecting the update option for the Realtek High Definition Audio, choose “Uninstall device.” Confirm your decision by checking the box that says “Delete the driver software for this device,” and select OK. Follow the steps that will appear in the prompt to complete the process. After that, click the View tab at the top of the Device Manager and select “Show hidden devices” to uninstall other duplicate drivers.

Once your PC is clean of the Realtek HD Audio driver, you need to get the suitable Realtek HD Audio driver for your system. Realtek provides a list of different versions of its HD audio codecs software on its download page, including ZIP and executable file versions. Find the one that fits your system and click the download icon beside it. If you are using Intel NUC8i7BE, NUC8i5BE, and NUC8i3BE products, you can check the Realtek High Definition Audio Driver for Windows 10 and Windows 11 on Intel’s site. Intel also offers Realtek High Definition Audio Driver for Windows 10 64-bit and Windows 11 for the 11th Generation Intel NUC11PHKi7C products. You can also try to obtain the latest Realtek HD Audio driver via your motherboard manufacturer’s website. Just get your motherboard manufacturer brand and system model name details by pressing Windows + R and typing the msinfo32 command. After that, visit your manufacturer’s official website and download the Realtek HD audio manager using the information you have.

Once you have downloaded the file, locate it within your PC system and start the installation process (if you chose the ZIP version, unzip it first at an easy-to-access location). Run the downloaded file and select Next to confirm your actions. It might take some time, but once the Realtek HD Audio Manager is reinstalled, your PC will ask you for a restart. Do it to complete the steps. After restarting, you can check if the installation is successful by visiting the Device Manager again and looking for the updated Realtek High Definition Audio under the Sound, video and game controllers option. If it is not there, you can simply repeat the process of running the downloaded file until the driver appears in the Device Manager.

How to reinstall the latest Realtek HD Audio Manager on Windows 10 and 11

The full announcement says:

We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25211.1010 (KB5019342). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Hence, all the bug fixes and improvements that were announced with the earlier released build 25211 to the Dev Channel are carried over into this.

Interestingly, while there are no new changes made in this build, servicing test builds like these before have been known to break some features despite not adding any new features or containing fixes.

The official announcement can be found on Microsoft's website here.

Windows 11 build 25211.1010 released to Dev Channel to test the pipes

First spotted back in June, the Redmond giant confirmed during the Windows 11 2022 update rollout that the one for Windows 10 is also heading out soon. According to the company, we should see the rollout happening in October itself. Naturally, that would mean internally the company is preparing to deploy it to its servers soon and as such, ISO download links have already been spotted.

Similar to what happened ahead of the Windows 11 22H2 release, two ISO links for Windows 10 22H2 have been spotted on the TechBench dump website.

While one can not download the 2022 update yet since the links aren't live, their presence confirms the general availability (GA) rollout of the 22H2 feature update for Windows 10 is quite close. In the case of Windows 11, the links were added just a few days ahead of the release itself.

In terms of what to expect, Microsoft has suggested a "scoped" set of features are coming, though do not expect anything absolutely out of the ordinary. If you can't wait for Microsoft, you can upgrade to Windows 10 22H2 today by following our guide.

Source: TechBench dump via techosarusrex (Twitter)

Microsoft's Windows 10 22H2 shipment is almost ready as ISO download links are spotted

Here’s the full list of feature and policy updates from the changelog:

Feature updates

• More reliable web defense. Browse the web with more reliable protection thanks to the rewritten Microsoft Defender SmartScreen library for Microsoft Edge on Windows, which was introduced in Microsoft Edge version 103. The NewSmartScreenLibraryEnabled policy is now deprecated in Microsoft Edge version 106 and will be obsolete in Microsoft Edge version 107.
• Increased Work Results in the Microsoft Edge address bar. We’ve increased the maximum number of work results that display in the address bar from 2 to 4, which offers greater visibility into the work content available to you as you search. This feature requires the AddressBarMicrosoftSearchInBingProviderEnabled policy enabled to work.

Policy updates

New policies

• EfficiencyModeEnabled - Efficiency mode enabled
• EfficiencyModeOnPowerEnabled - Enable efficiency mode when the device is connected to a power source
• InternetExplorerIntegrationAlwaysUseOSCapture - Always use the OS capture engine to avoid issues with capturing Internet Explorer mode tabs

Deprecated policies

• NewSmartScreenLibraryEnabled - Enable new SmartScreen library
• ShadowStackCrashRollbackBehavior - Configure ShadowStack crash rollback behavior

Obsoleted policies

• OutlookHubMenuEnabled - Allow users to access the Outlook menu
• EdgeDiscoverEnabled - Discover feature In Microsoft Edge

If you have Microsoft Edge installed on your system and want to update it, open the browser, select Settings and more > Help and feedback > About Microsoft Edge. It will let you know here whether Edge is up-to-date or whether you need to download the new update. If you want to download a fresh copy of Edge, grab it from the official website.

Microsoft Edge 106 arrives on the Stable Channel with more reliable web defences

Designed to reduce clutter while using the default file browser of the Windows operating system, tabs in File Explorer look like a power user's dream come true on first glance.

The core feature works similarly to tabbed browsing in web browsers. There is a plus icon to create a new tab, and a close icon to terminate it. Microsoft added the same keyboard shortcuts that browsers use, meaning that you may use Ctrl-T to open a new tab and Ctrl-W to close the active tab. A right-click menu displays the same options to complement the feature set.

Internet users who use browsers that support tabs will feel right at home using the core tabbed browsing functionality.

The missing features

While you can create and close tabs in File Explorer once the feature lands, you may soon find out that the functionality is limited otherwise. The only other options right now are to drag tabs to reorder them, and to close all other tabs or tabs to the right using the context menu (no shortcuts for these, apparently).

Want to drag a tab to create a new File Explorer instance, or drag a tab from one File Explorer window to another? These features are not supported, which means that you can't perform these common operations right now. There is also no history to quickly reopen a tab that has been closed, or an option to add a tab to the Quick Access, sorry Home, menu for permanent access. Lastly, there is no option to push each tab to individual File Explorer instances and display them aligned on the screen.

Compared to free alternatives, some of which have been around for decades, Microsoft's implementation of tabs loses out. Programs like Explorer++ or XYplorer, or the "commander" applications, such as Free Commander, Altap Salamander, or Total Commander, offer richer sets of features.

Closing Words

File Explorer tabs, with all the current shortcomings, is still a work in progress. Microsoft could, in theory, launch the feature this month with the missing options to make it more useful. It seems more likely, however, that tabs will launch exactly the way they work right now in preview builds of Windows 11.

It is possible that Microsoft has plans to add missing features at a later point in time.

For now, tabs are still a nice-to-have feature to access multiple locations in a single File Explorer window.

Now You: what is your view on Microsoft's implementation of tabs in File Explorer?

Microsoft's implementation of Tabs in File Explorer is lacking severely

Disclaimer: Valve randomly picks users that get offers to participate in the survey. Customers are free to reject data collection, so the final result is not 100% accurate and does not cover 100% of the user base.

In September 2022, Windows 11 continued biting off Windows 10's share. The former has reached the 24.84% mark, gaining 1.06 points. Windows 10 lost 0.57%, settling at 68.49%. Although the seven-year-old operating system keeps losing customers on Steam (and will continue doing so), Windows 10 will remain the most popular choice for quite a while.

Windows 7 stubbornly refuses to leave the platform and remains the third most popular Windows version on Steam. Valve says the 64-bit version of the thirteen-year-old Windows has 2.40% (-0.20 points in September 2022). All versions combined, Windows holds 96.41% of all Steam users, and the value went up 0.18 points compared to August 2022.

1. Windows 10 64-bit - 68.49% (-0.57)
2. Windows 11 - 24.84% (+1.06)
3. Windows 7 64-bit - 2.4% (-0.2)
4. macOS - 2.36% (-0.14)
5. Linux - 1.23% (-0.04)

Now here are the most popular hardware configurations:

As usual, you can find more detailed information on the official Steam Hardware & Software Survey page.

Almost every fourth Steam user has updated to Windows 11

The command line tool checks if specified usernames exist on online platforms and creates reports based on the findings. The sites that Maigret checks are some of the world's most popular sites; the list includes social media sites, shopping sites, streaming sites, torrent sites, I2P sites and many other sites.

The application's main features include the ability to run checks for multiple usernames in one go, run recursive searches, and limit searches by tags or geographical locations.

Maigret runs its checks on 500 popular sites by default, but users may run a search across all 2500 sites that it supports. Usage is simple and straightforward.

Windows users may download an executable file from the GitHub repository. Linux users may install Maigret using pip or Docker, or launch it from the cloned repo.

Here are the instructions for Windows:

1. Once you have downloaded and extracted the Maigret archive, open a Terminal window in the location. While in File Explorer, replace the path with CMD and hit the Enter-key.
2. Run the command maigret_standalone.exe USER1 --pdf. Replace USER1 with the username that you want to check.
3. Wait for the application to complete the search and create a PDF report of its findings.

To run searches for multiple usernames, add them after USER1, e.g. maigret_standalone.exe USER1 USER2 USER3 --pdf.

To run a search across all sites, use the -a parameter. You may also create a HTML report using --html, limit searches using --tags TAG1,TAG2, or print all sites on which the username was not found.

Results depend to a large degree on the specified username or usernames. There is a good chance of false positives, especially for short or common usernames. Other Internet users may have picked usernames on some of these sites.

Note that you may search for email addresses, which is less prone for false positives. Maigret will cumulatively search for any usernames that it detects during its searches that are associated with the specified usernames.

Closing Words

Maigret is a powerful tool to create a profile based on usernames. Like many comparable tools, it has the potential for abuse and usefulness. Internet users could use it to find out if their username is taken on sites that they want to sign-up for, or run checks, to find out where their email address is registered.

For Internet users who value privacy, it is a good reminder to not only set unique passwords when signing up for accounts, but also unique usernames and email addresses, if possible.

Now You: what is your take on Maigret?

Maigret: create user dossiers based on username searches on thousands of sites

Recently, former President of the Microsoft Windows division, Steven Sinofsky, shared some of the early concept photos of Windows 8 features. According to Sinofsky, the images, in the form of a video presentation, were shown off during final meeting where the collective idea and plans behind the whole project were shared among the Windows 8 development team.

You can watch the video below:

We have included the pictures of the mockups below. In the first row we have the Start menu, Internet Explorer 9, and Microsoft Excel. Alongside Excel, there is also a demonstration of live tiles in Widgets with a finger indicating touch gestures.

Moving on, in the second row, we have File Explorer with a ribbon copying several files and also downloading a 5GB movie. Beside that, we have a multi-monitor wallpaper demo alongside multi-monitor taskbar. Lastly, we have a very different looking Task Manager.

While we are on this topic, another ex-Windows director, Jensen Harris, also shared some interesting trivia about Windows 8. For the first time ever, the canceled startup sound was revealed and you may find it extra-intriguing since you are already likely familiar with it.

Via: Deskmodder, WinFuture

Ex-Windows boss shares early Windows 8 multi-monitor, Task Manager, IE 9 images

A stable version of Linux 6.0 is out, with 15,000 non-merge commits and a notable version number for the kernel. And while major Linux releases only happen when the prior number's dot numbers start looking too big—"there is literally no other reason"—there are a lot of notable things rolled into this release besides a marking in time.

Most notable among them could be a patch that prevents a nearly two-decade slowdown for AMD chips, based on workaround code for power management in the early 2000s that hung around for far too long. Intel's Dave Hansen wrote the patch that made it into 6.0, noting in a comment on an Ars post that the issue had become an expensive drain as AMD systems gained higher CPU core counts. The average desktop user won't see huge gains, but larger systems working on intensive input/output applications should benefit.

Intel's new Arc GPUs are supported in their discrete laptop form in 6.0 (though still experimental). Linux blog Phoronix notes that Intel's ARC GPUs all seem to run on open source upstream drivers, so support should show up for future Intel cards and chipsets as they arrive on the market.

Linux 6.0 includes several hardware drivers of note: fourth-generation Intel Xeon server chips, the not-quite-out 13th-generation Raptor Lake and Meteor Lake chips, AMD's RDNA 3 GPUs, Threadripper CPUs, EPYC systems, and audio drivers for a number of newer AMD systems.

One small, quirky addition points to larger things happening inside Linux. Lenovo's ThinkPad X13s, based on an ARM-powered Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, get some early support in 6.0. ARM support is something Linux founder Linus Torvalds is eager to see—he recently wrote release notes for kernel versions from his M2-powered MacBook Air and believes that more people using Linux on ARM devices leads to more bug reports, more patches, and more enthusiasm.

Among other changes you can find in Linux 6.0, as compiled by LWN.net (in part one and part two):

•     ACPI and power management improvements for Rapid Sapphire CPUs
•     Support for SMB3 file transfer inside Samba, while SMB1 is further deprecated
•     More work on RISC-V, OpenRISC, and LoongArch technologies
•     Intel Hbana Labs Gaudi2 support, allowing hardware acceleration for machine-learning libraries
•     A "guest vCPU stall detector" that can tell a host when a virtual client is frozen

Not included in 6.0 are Rust enhancements, but those are likely coming in the next point release, 6.1. Rust, a memory-safe language sponsored by the Mozilla project, started out as something Torvalds took a wait-and-see approach toward and is now something he was hoping to see in 6.0. "Unless something odd happens, it will make it into 6.1," Torvalds told ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols in mid-September. Even just having the "core infrastructure" for Rust in 6.1 signifies a big change in Linux, which has long been dominated by C languages (however extended and modified).

It must be noted that in 2022, there are patches in Linux 6.0 to help Atari's Falcon computers from the early 1990s (or their emulated descendants) better handle VGA modes, color, and other issues.

Source

Google has discontinued its China-based Google Translate app and site, translate.google.cn, allegedly because no one was using it.

Beginning last Saturday, users seeking to visit the mainland China version of Google Translate were instead presented with a redirection to the Hong Kong page.

"We have discontinued Google Translate in mainland China due to low usage," a Google spokesperson told The Register.

The development comes as little surprise since Gmail, Chrome, and Google-based search has long been unavailable in mainland China. Some have accessed the services by using virtual private networks (VPNs) that mask the user's location. Services have remained available in Hong Kong.

Google officially entered the Chinese market in 2006, but its relationship with Beijing was clouded by policies and views on censorship. Although at times Google acquiesced to Beijing's censor demands, at other times it turned to Hong Kong as an intermediary of sorts – rerouting search queries through the city and special administrative region in attempts to neither have to confront nor comply with Beijing itself.

In January 2010, Google announced it would no longer censor content in China at the request of Beijing, a move that sealed its departure. The company cited cyberattacks that sought to access the accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The overall threat, which targeted over 20 companies and not just Google, was named Project Aurora.

In 2011, Google said it wanted to re-enter China, but ultimately it was never able to recapture users in the country in the same way.

Google's market share in China plummeted from 2009 onward. According to one statistics and web traffic analysis company, market share in the Middle Kingdom fell to less than 4 percent in September 2022 from over 97 percent in early 2009.

As Google's use in China declined, homegrown tech and search engine company Baidu saw its market share soar. That value ranged in 2022 from nearly 85 percent to 63 percent, averaging in the mid-70s.

At this point, it seems no one is optimistic Google will return given that the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in which Chinese government leadership and party direction changes are announced, is less than two weeks away. It is highly unlikely the party will decide to turn toward US tech given the geopolitical environment between the countries.

But the withdrawal of mainland China's Google Translate has created other problems. Sites that rely on it have suffered as have some apps. But these dependencies are just glitches that surely have a moderately easy fix, unlike Google's absence in the Middle Kingdom. ®

Source

Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 Dev Channel build 25211 a few days ago, and it's a significant update not because of the new features it packs, but arguably, for returning a basic functionality that people have been clamoring for since Windows 11 became available. This is the ability to open the Task Manager by right-clicking the Windows 11 Taskbar.

Windows 11 has been available for almost a year, and it has become very obvious to its users that while it is aesthetically pleasing, Microsoft has cut a lot of functionalities. One such feature was the ability to open the Task Manager by right-clicking the Taskbar and selecting the option from the associated context.

This is how people had been using Windows for years, and suddenly losing access to it for seemingly no reason was a bit jarring. We discussed this in detail in our dedicated Closer Look on Taskbar. The rebuilt Taskbar in Windows 11 is inspired from the now-defunct Windows 10X, an OS that was being designed for dual-screen devices.

Following months of complaints all over social media and in the comments sections of Neowin itself, Microsoft has decided to return this relatively basic functionality to Windows 11 users, and there are important lessons in here for everyone.

Although the centered Taskbar in Windows 11 is a design that I have become fond of in terms of aesthetic, there is no doubt that this is a significantly pared down version compared to what we had on Windows 10. Assuming that this is a component of what was supposed to be Windows 10X, it's clear that simplification is not always better.

To be clear, I'm 100% in support of simplification where it makes sense. For example, the redesigned context menu has lost a lot of options - especially those from third-party apps - and has replaced some textual options with icons instead. This makes sense to me because context menus on Windows have become overly bloated, it's arguably time for a do-over. And Microsoft knows that this is a work-in-progress that will require significant input from both users and developers, which is why the former can easily revert to the classic look by clicking "Show more options".

However, it seems like Microsoft threw this strategy out of the window when designing the current Taskbar. It was just simplification for the sake of simplification, and that's never really a good option when your software is going to be used by potentially hundreds of millions of users. Did Microsoft solve any problem by removing the context menu in the Windows 11 Taskbar altogether? I don't think so. It's a bit strange that it expected millions of users to just let go of their muscle memory and adapt to how Microsoft wants them to use its latest operating system.

The very purpose of collecting behavior and usage telemetry of customers who use your software is to recognize patterns and adapt your product according to these implicit hints. However, given the backlash over Taskbar simplification along with the fact that Microsoft has at least returned it to the Dev Channel suggests that this factor wasn't initially taken into account.

If you're simplifying something, you should ensure that your customers are compensated or offered alternatives for missing functionalities. It shouldn't just be simplification for the sake of simplification. And while I'm glad that Microsoft has finally started to recognize this, it's a bit disappointing that it took the company over a year to reach this decision on such a basic functionality.

This is the same stubborn approach Microsoft is taking with the Windows 11 Taskbar's positioning - which is why people are now actually paying for third-party solutions to achieve the same - and the redesigned Start menu, which the company thinks is great.

I feel like I circle back to the same foundational thoughts after every few weeks, and those are that getting the basics of Windows 11 right should be a higher priority for Microsoft and that the company needs to have a clearer public roadmap about OS development, even if it's tentative. Until both of these things happen, we'll keep waltzing into the same pitfalls, where new functionalities are being added to the OS while old ones are either being axed or being kept in a crippled state.

I like Windows 11 overall, it's my secondary OS after Windows 10, and I only passionately write about it regularly because I want it to be better. Praising new or returning functionalities is fine, but it really shouldn't take Microsoft this long to (re-)implement relatively basic features, especially when they have been removed for no-good-reason in the first place. I'm still peeved about this other axed Taskbar functionality too, and I hope that it will soon follow suit as Microsoft rethinks its Taskbar strategy.

And let's not forget, this Taskbar context menu change has only been implemented in the Dev Channel for now. There's no knowing how long it will take for Microsoft to make it generally available (GA), provided that it actually does get out of the Dev Channel at some point. The Redmond tech firm gives no guarantee that Dev Channel features will hit GA and there has been little consistency in features moving between Insider branches too.

Software development is tricky, and this is obviously just an outsider's view on how the process inside Microsoft's actual Windows development process can be better. That said, a couple of things that have become abundantly clear over the past year is that simplification for the sake of simplification is never a good idea and that user feedback is the most important factor to consider when you're designing a product for millions of customers.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Are you a fan of Microsoft's "simplify everything" approach with Windows 11 or do you prefer the company's older operating systems due to their additional capabilities? Let us know in the comments section below!

Microsoft's latest Windows 11 Taskbar update proves that simpler is not always better

Changelog

Excel

Notable fix:

• We fixed an issue where text formatting caused Excel to stop working.

Outlook

Notable fixes:

• We fixed an issue where Web view showed an error message on restart and cancel.
• We fixed an issue where the scroll bar was not visible while reading or composing a message.

Project

Notable fix:

• We fixed an issue where only one cross project linking option was applied, even when mutiple were selected.

Word

Notable fix:

• We fixed an issue where the Read Aloud feature was not available when Microsoft 365 was deployed on Windows Server 2016.

Office Suite

Notable fixes:

• We fixed an issue where Excel files opened from a Sharepoint 2019 library intermittently opened as read-only in Excel for Windows.
• We fixed an issue that prevented locked Word and Excel files from from opening.
• We fixed an issue that slowed down the saving of PowerPoint slides with SVG content to metafile formats.

Microsoft’s last Office Insider release last week was also mostly about bug fixes and only one new feature for the Excel application. Before the previous two releases, the software giant added a new Sensitivity toolbar that prevents data leaks in several Office apps, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. It also added the ability to upload Excel documents to OneDrive. You can learn more about changes Microsoft introduced to Office Insiders last week here. Hopefully, Microsoft will not disappoint Office Insiders next week with the roll-out of only bug fixes.

Microsoft is currently testing these changes with Office Insiders, so the general public cannot see them right now. The good news is that they will eventually be available for all Office users. Meanwhile, Beta Channel Insiders on Windows will get another new Office Build next Friday, and we are hoping the company will introduce exciting new features with the latest update.

To update the Microsoft Office Insider Preview Build to the latest version, open any Office program and go to File> Account> Update Options> Update Now.

Microsoft releases Office Version 2210 (Build 15726.20000) for Insiders

Here are the highlights in Windows 11 22621.608 (KB5017389) Preview:

• Addresses issues that cause updates to the Microsoft Store to fail.

• Updates the start date for daylight saving time in Chile. It will start on September 11, 2022 instead of on September 4, 2022.

• Addresses an issue that affects the font of three Chinese characters. When you format these characters as bold, the width size is wrong.

• Addresses an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.

• Addresses an issue that successfully opens a browser window in IE mode to display a PDF file. Later, browsing to another IE mode site within the same window fails.

• Adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.

• Addresses an issue that affects Dual SIM calling. If you select no SIM on your phone and initiate a call on your device, Dual SIM functionality does not work.

• Addresses an issue that affects some apps that were not signed by the Microsoft Store. You must reinstall them after you upgrade the OS.

   

And here is the complete changelog:

• Addresses an issue that affects some apps that were not signed by the Microsoft Store. You must reinstall them after you upgrade the OS.

• Addresses issues that cause updates to the Microsoft Store to fail.

• Addresses an issue that stops you from signing in to various Microsoft Office 365 apps. This affects Outlook, Word, Teams, and so on

• Updates the start date for daylight saving time in Chile. It will start on September 11, 2022 instead of on September 4, 2022.

• Addresses an issue that affects the Windows Search service. It causes the indexing progress for the service to be slow.

• Addresses an issue that affects some processors. This issue occurs when you turn on Hyper-V and kernel Direct Memory Access (DMA) protections.

• Addresses an issue that affects a network’s static IP. The issue causes the configuration of the static IP to be inconsistent. Because of this, NetworkAdapterConfiguration() fails sporadically.

• Addresses an issue that affects Task Manager. It stops working when you switch between light and dark mode or change the accent color.

• Addresses an issue that affects the font of three Chinese characters. When you format these characters as bold, the width size is wrong.

• Addresses an issue that affects graphics drivers that use d3d9on12.dll.

• Reduces the power that the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol uses on some devices when they are in Sleep mode.

• Addresses an issue that affects URLs generated by JavaScript: URLs. These URLs do not work as expected when you add them to the Favorites menu in IE mode.

• Addresses an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.

• Addresses an issue that affects window.open in IE mode.

• Addresses an issue that successfully opens a browser window in IE mode to display a PDF file. Later, browsing to another IE mode site within the same window fails.

• Addresses an issue that affects the Microsoft Japanese input method editor (IME). Text reconversion fails when you use some third-party virtual desktops.

• Addrsses an issue that might cause an application to stop responding. This might occur when the input queue overflows.

• Addresses an issue that affects XML Paper Specification (XPS) viewers. This might stop you from opening XPS files in some non-English languages. These include some Japanese and Chinese character encodings. This issue affects XPS and Open XPS (OXPS) files.

• Addresses an issue that creates a duplicate print queue. Because of this, the original print queue stops working.

• Addresses an issue that might bypass MSHTML and ActiveX rules for Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC).

• Addresses an issue that affects the Miracast UI. Sometimes it closes too soon when you cast to devices that use the DeviceObjectType:Aep.

• Adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.

• Addresses an issue that affects the SharedPC account manager. The issue stops it from deleting many accounts during cleanup.

• Addresses an issue that causes LogonUI.exe to stop working. Because of this, you cannot dismiss the lock screen to view the credentials screen.

• Addresses an issue that affects Dual SIM calling. If you select no SIM on your phone and initiate a call on your device, Dual SIM functionality does not work.

• Addresses an issue that affects the FindNextFileNameW() function. It might leak memory.

• Addresses an issue that affects robocopy. Robocopy fails to set a file to the right modified time when using the /IS option.

• Addresses an issue that affects cldflt.sys. A stop error occurs when it is used with Microsoft OneDrive.

• Addresses an issue that affects Roaming User Profiles. After you sign in or sign out, some of your settings are not restored.

• Addresses an issue that affects the LanmanWorkstation service. It leaks memory when you mount a network drive.

   

You can download KB5017389 from Windows Update or the Windows Update Catalog for manual installation. Microsoft will include the fixes in upcoming Patch Tuesday updates, so there is no need to rush installing this release unless you want a specific fix or feature mentioned in the changelog.

Windows 11 2022 Update gets Widgets notifications, Store fixes and other improvements

Starting off with performance, we know that Teams now runs natively on Apple Silicon. This should result in better performance and an optimized experience in multi-monitor setups too.

When it comes to meetings, the Cameo experience is now supported via PowerPoint Live. It allows presenters more control over how they can have both themselves and their slides visible at the same time, while also offering layout recommendations.

Meeting participants can also leverage from collaborative annotations powered by Microsoft Whiteboard, along with language interpretation. Organizers in meeting can set a Together mode view for everyone as well. Other new features include pre-assigning channel members to breakout rooms, automatic transcriptions (and transcripts for Android and iOS), ranking polls, less distracting notifications, and improved informational messages. This is in addition to the ability to leave a meeting on all your devices, background blur effect for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), Human Interface Devices (HID) support for VMware, and the option to convert a Word of PDF document to a Microsoft Forms form with one click.

In the domain of calling, admins can now configure music on hold for calls placed on hold for a call transfer. There is also initial support for media when it comes to organizations who want to integrate compliance recording solutions. Inbound VoIP calls can now be blocked from all Teams users outside an organization too.

On the devices side, we have updates to both the single display and dual-display modes in the front row experience for Teams Rooms on Windows. On the same SKU, meetings can now be joined with a meeting ID and videos for 18 participants can be shown simultaneously on dual-display setups. Furthermore, participants can utilize mute status indicators, control in-room noise suppression, leverage the simplified share tray, and pin and hide room video. Admins can also disable split gallery via XML.

Three more devices have become Teams-certified, namely the Poly CCX 505 Business Media Phone, Logitech Brio 500, and Brio 505.

Over in the chat and collaboration section, we have the ability to configure our preferred download location for files on Teams desktop, along with intelligent chat message translation in Android and iOS. Meanwhile, on the Power Platform and custom development side, we have support for apps in Teams Phone VoIP calls and instant meetings.

Teams for Education customers have a lot of new stuff to leverage too, including:

• Parent Connection
• LTI apps integration with Schoology LMS
• Brightspace (D2L) LMS integration with Microsoft 365
• Home page for Teams for Education class teams
• Activate a class from inside the Teams Classes LTI app within your Learning Management System (LMS)
• View video recordings and attendance reports inside LMS
• Timed quiz

IT admins can personalize their Teams admin center dashboards through various widgets, customize instructions for people requesting access to resources, and understand policy operations to a greater extent through the updated activity log.

For frontline workers, Microsoft has introduced the ability to deploy Teams at scale and has provided additional filters in the Approvals apps too. Meanwhile, U.S. Government Community Cloud High (GCC-High) and the United States Department of Defense (DoD) can leverage isolated audio feeds and an attendance dashboard.

Of course, this is just a high level recap of all the things that Microsoft introduced to Teams in the past two months. If you would like to see more details, head over to the associated blog post.

Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Teams in August and September 2022

Windows 11 build 25211 has brought a much improved system tray with better visuals and the previously missing features. Icons now have a rounded focus area that matches the rest of the buttons on the taskbar, the overflow menu appears with "delightful" animations, and the tooltips follow the system theme. Although visual changes and consistency are great additions that Windows 11 need a lot, many users seem to care more about arranging icons by dragging them. That feature is also back, and it has a modern-looking divider helping you to place an icon in the right spot. Neat.

Old variant

New variant

Microsoft says the updated system tray is preliminary, which means users should expect more changes and improvements in the future. Besides, it is not available for all. Luckily, if you are running the latest Windows 11 Dev build, you can force-enable the redesigned system tray using the ViveTool app. Here is how.

Important: Back up your data before experimenting with early implementations of new features, especially using third-party apps like ViveTool. The safest option is to wait for Microsoft to enable new features on your system "naturally" or not use preview builds at all, although bugs can still hit you hard.

How to enable new system tray in Windows 11 build 25211

Before you start, ensure you have enabled the previous set of improvements for the taskbar as described in our separate guide.

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and extract its files in an easy-to-find folder. For example, in the root of drive C.

2. Launch Windows Terminal as Administrator and switch to the Command Prompt profile using the arrow-down button on the tab strip

.

3. Go to the folder containing ViveTool's files using the CD command. For example, CD C:\Vive.

4. Type vivetool /enable /id:38764045 and press Enter.

5. Restart your computer.

The redesigned system tray is not the only noteworthy taskbar-related change in the latest Windows 11 Dev build. Microsoft has finally addressed one of the most popular complaints and restored the option to launch Task Manager by right-clicking anywhere on the taskbar.

What do you think about the redesigned system area? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Source: @PhantomOfEarth

Windows 11 gets much improved system tray with previously missing features