Those rocking one of the brand-new AMD Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs with Radeon Graphics will want to update to this driver to gain official support. Meanwhile, Obsidian Entertainment's survival game Grounded is coming out of Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview later today with a full 1.0 release, and this is the driver that's recommended for a smooth experience.

Being such a quick release after the previous driver, no bug fixes are mentioned in the latest release notes. This should still have all the fixes, including the long-awaited one for broken Enhanced Sync, from the 22.9.1 driver.

Users can upgrade to the new AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.9.2 driver via the Radeon Settings app on Windows 10 and 11. The driver is available in the Optional section of the app. A direct link to download the driver can be found on the official release notes.

Following Nvidia's RTX 4000 series unveiling recently, AMD is also planning on a launch event for its next-generation RDNA 3-powered RX 7000 series graphics cards, which is set to kick off on November 3. Rumors suggest that the top-end RX 7900 XT will be more than twice as powerful as AMD's last-generation flagship products.

AMD 22.9.2 driver brings support for Ryzen 7000 Series and Grounded 1.0

Frontpaged:   AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 22.9.2

Aside from these gaming optimizations and changes, the new driver package also brings the latest GeForce Experience (GFE) version 3.26.0.131 which fixes the various performance related issues that have been plaguing Nvidia based systems that are running the new Windows 11 22H2 feature update. Nvidia had already released the GFE as a standalone download but in case you missed that, today's 517.48 driver comes bundled with it.

The 517.48 driver also brings several bug fixes which are listed below:

• [Advanced Optimus] Brightness setting is not getting applied correctly on certain Lenovo notebooks in dedicated GPU mode [3795453]
• [Windows 10][Advanced Optimus]: On certain notebook configurations, “NVIDIA GPU only” option does not persist on system reboot [3794921]
• [Adobe Illustrator] Using Reduce Noise with Ray Tracing appears pixelated [3709309]
• [Windows 11] Chaos Vantage fails to start when NVLink is enabled [3652930]
• [Adobe Photoshop] Resolves random crashes in DirectML.dll [3749935]
• [Fusion 360] Addresses performance issues when using variable refresh rate monitors [3724711]
• On rare occasions, video playback in browser may result in bugcheck code: 0x116 [3508109]
• [Jurassic World Evolution 2] Game may display shadow flickering [3682201]
• Native resolution is not available on the Samsung U28R55/ ASUS VG249Q1A monitors [3703073] [3768670]
• [Windows 11] Some UWP apps may display lag when G-SYNC is set to "Enable G-SYNC for windowed and full screen mode" and "Vertical sync" is changed from the default value [3753141]
• Resolves incorrect wording for NVIDIA Control Panel -> Manage 3D Settings -> Shader Cache Size in German language [3766571]
• External displays connected to certain Razer notebooks via USB-C/Thunderbolt docks/dongles are not detected [3690673]
• [Reallusion Hub] App will crash when launched on PC using a CPU with 32+ logical processors[3738397]
• [DirectX 12] Microsoft Flight Simulator may display texture corruption after extended gameplay [3762763]

And here are the issues that remain unresolved:

• Toggling HDR on and off in-game causes game stability issues when non-native resolution is used. [3624030]
• Videos played back in Microsoft Edge may appear green if NVIDIA Image Scaling is enabled upon resuming from hibernate or booting with fastboot. [3624218]
• [DirectX 12] Shadowplay recordings may appear over exposed when Use HDR is enabled from the Windows display settings. [200742937]
• Monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled. [3592260]
• [RTX 30 series] Lower performance in Minecraft Java Edition. [3702953]
• [Forza Horizon 5] Rainbow like artifacts in game after driver update. [3685123]
• [Marvel Spider-Man Remastered] Cutscene edges may appear blurry when DLSS is enabled on an ultra-wide monitor [3734989]
• Dell XPS 9560 may crash and reboot when using desktop applications [3737715]

To download this driver, you can use your current GeForce Experience app or opt for a manual download. The links are provided below:

Desktop GPUs:

• GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH (en-US)

Notebook GPUs:

• GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH (en-US)

Latest Nvidia 517.48 driver fixes Windows 11 22H2 issues, optimizes Overwatch 2

Frontpaged:   Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 517.48

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

Did you know that Windows 10 and 11 let you easily back up all the device drivers on your system?

First, you need to decide where you want to put a copy of your drivers and go create a new folder in that location. A folder with the name “Driver Backup” should work nicely.

• Now click start and type CMD
• Right-click on “Command prompt” and select “Run As Administrator”

• In the command prompt, type dism /online /export-driver /destination:”E:\Drivers Backup” (The location you created your driver backup folder) and press enter.

Give it a few minutes.

Once it’s finished, open your driver backup folder, and you should see a list of folders, each one corresponding to a different device driver.

That's it, you just created a backup of all your device drivers!

Happy Computing!

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

Backing up your drivers on Warwagon's Tech Tip Tuesday

One of the first things Microsoft did after acquiring Clipchamp in September 2021 was to ditch the complex pricing structure. Earlier, the video editor had four subscription tiers. The Free, Creator, Business, and Business Platinum subscriptions ranged from free to $40 a month.

Microsoft brought down the number of subscriptions to just two: Free and $12 per month. The Essentials subscription tier, costing $12/month, granted access to “Premium filters and effects”.

Clipchamp’s effects and filters library for images and videos currently offers 57 filters, of which, nine are listed as premium. These include warm countryside, dreamscape, soft B&W, winter sunset, cool tone, and sunrise. There are plenty of sound clips like hip hop, energy intro, bouncy walk instrumental, dark tense trailer, whoosh lower pitch. But dozens of additional music and SFX filters are listed as premium.

Moving forward, Microsoft will unlock access to the Premium package for free to those with a Microsoft 365 subscription. In other words, the company is essentially adding another perk to the “Free” tier of Clipchamp, and it is only applicable to those with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Incidentally, subscribing to the Essentials package gets users to access to content backup, premium audio, image, and video stock in addition to a brand kit with logos, colors, and fonts. This is, in addition to the premium filters and effects.

Microsoft has already started asking free users, who want to try Clipchamp Essentials, to link a Microsoft Account before subscribing. In other words, in order to use Clipchamp and any of its features, users would need to have a Microsoft account.

Via: Windows Central

Microsoft starts rolling out complimentary premium filters for Clipchamp video editor

20-year-old Linux workaround is still slowing down AMD systems

However, as can happen, the new update is not without its issues. Previously, we reported about a problem related to updating to this new feature update. The update process is failing for many with the error code "0x800f0806". Luckily, there are a couple of fixes available that we have outlined in this article.

For those that managed to update, there were other problems for users who had Nvidia graphics cards in their rigs. There have been reports of unstable framerates and stuttering, and lower than typical CPU usage in games. Nvidia was quick to look into the complaints and confirmed that the issues were an outcome of new graphics debugging tools in Windows 11 22H2 that were accidentally getting triggered.

Earlier today, Nvidia released a GeForce Experience (GFE) beta update with version 3.26 that resolves the problems. The company has outlined two ways in which users can update to this version of GFE. It can either be done manually by downloading and installing it from the link below, or by enabling the "experimental features" option inside the GFE app which will allow the installation of beta updates.

Issue:

Some users may observe lower performance in games or applications after updating to Microsoft Windows 11 2022 Update

Solution:

Update to the latest NVIDIA GeForce Experience v3.26 BETA by choosing from one of the two methods below:

a) Manually download the NVIDIA GeForce Experience v3.26 installer from the URL below. Once downloaded, proceed with the installation.

https://us.download.nvidia.com/GFE/GFEClient/3.26.0.131/GeForce_Experience_Beta_v3.26.0.131.exe

b) From within the GeForce Experience app, open up “Settings” in GeForce Experience and select “Enable Experimental Features”. Then close GeForce Experience. Wait 30 seconds and then re-open GeForce Experience. The app will automatically update to the latest version.

In case you are facing such issues on Windows 11 version 22H2 on your Nvidia-based system, you should proceed with this update to see if your problems are fixed.

Source: Nvidia

Nvidia releases emergency GeForce Experience update to fix Windows 11 22H2 issues

All these changes are available on Edge 107.0.1387.2 across all platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. You can check out the complete official changelog to learn more about it.

Edge Dev 107.0.1387.2 changelog

Edge 107.0.1387.2 is not as feature-rich as the previous version Microsoft released last week. The previous version introduced some exciting features, particularly for users in India. You can learn all the features the company introduced in the last version here.

Microsoft will continue to add useful new features to Edge in the coming days. For one, the software giant is working on the ability for Edge to block all video ads on YouTube. It is currently testing the feature on Edge Canary for Android. It is important to note that all the new features are available to Edge Insiders first.

If you want to try these new features before Beta and stable channel users, you can download Microsoft Edge Dev here from the Official Edge Insider website. To update to the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Dev Channel users need to navigate to Help and feedback > About Microsoft Edge. You will see the update here. You need to download and install and then restart the browser to complete the installation.

Which features do you love the most if you’re using Edge Dev? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Microsoft Edge Dev Channel is updated to 107.0.1387.2 with new features

Firefox's Container feature is a unique feature of the browser that allows users to separate sites into containers. It is ideal for limiting tracking and may also be used to group sites into categories.

Extensions may improve the core Container functionality. Container Tab Group does so by adding better grouping and management options to the feature, including for the browser's private browsing mode.

The open source extension displays all available tabs and containers in Firefox's sidebar upon installation and as a single menu icon in the main Firefox toolbar. Both elements can be closed to hide them on the screen to display them only when required. The sidebar listing may be displayed or hidden using the shortcut Ctrl-Alt-S.

Sites may be loaded in any existing container, and they are displayed in the main Firefox tab bar then. Individual groups may be hidden with a click on elements in the sidebar or the main menu, which hides them entirely from the tab bar of the browser.

Many Chromium-based browsers support tab groups and the collapsing of these groups as well; an indicator of the group remains open however in Chrome.

Both menus provided by the extension give Firefox users full control over tabs and containers. Opening, closing, reordering or moving tabs requires minimal effort. A search is provided to find specific tabs quickly, and there is a panorama-like interface for managing all open tabs and container groups in the browser window.

Speaking of windows, controls to manage multiple windows, each with distinct sets of container groups and open websites, are provided as well.

Container Tab Groups includes a handful of extra features that users may find useful. New tabs are opened in the active container by default, but this can be changed in the settings. Similarly, when a tab is opened through an external application, a prompt is displayed by default to pick a container.

There is also a setting for having cookies of specific containers cleared automatically, and to enable first-party isolation.

Closing Words

Container Tab Groups is an interesting extension for the Firefox web browser. It adds a tab grouping feature to Firefox and combines it with the browser's Containers feature for that extra bit of security and privacy.

Managing tabs and groups via the sidebar or the main menu works, but some users may feel that it is not as intuitive as the tab collapsing feature of the Chrome browser. Collapsed tabs in Chrome display an indicator that a tab group exists all the time, whereas no indicator is displayed in Firefox's tab bar.

Now You: do you use Containers in Firefox? Would you like to see the feature supported in other browsers?

Container Tab Groups: group sites securely in Firefox

There are tons of choices in web browsers, and we're not going to try to persuade you that any particular one is the best. However, Chrome's ever-climbing market share suggests that a lot of people don't know how to get the best out of their browser, because there are still quite a few things you can't readily achieve in Chrome that are straightforward in Firefox and its relatives.

Some of the snags of Chrome and its derivatives, such as Microsoft Edge, are of course that you're handing over your data and your credentials to big, profit-making corporations. Browsers based on Google's code also limit what ad blockers can do.

Brave's marketing suggests it is the privacy-conscious choice, but we're skeptical. Brave dabbles in cryptocurrencies, and indeed has its own. The Reg FOSS Desk regards all cryptocurrencies as a Ponzi scheme, and that alone would damn it for us… But there's more. Brave has history for silently rewriting affiliate links, and pocketing the proceeds. And of course its boss, Brandon Eich, left Mozilla due his controversial backing of legislation against gay marriage.

But for us at The Reg FOSS desk, the killer feature that Firefox does better than most Chrome-based browsers is vertical tabs. Even if you're not used to them, if you do a lot of surfing, you owe it to yourself to try to get used to a vertical tab bar. They have a whole list of advantages:

•  They make more efficient use of horizontal screen space, plentiful on modern widescreen displays

•  You can have dozens open at once and still read their titles, when horizontal tabs shrink to uninformative icons

•  Optionally, you can arrange them hierarchically, grouping related tabs, and hiding, revealing, or bookmarking groups as one

• The bigger minimum tab size lets the tab show status information for each page

•  Finally, some add-ons let you search or sort your tabs

Vivaldi can do some of this, although our testing found its vertical tabs don't interoperate well with its new email client. Microsoft's Edge has a pretty good version. We've also read that Brave is experimenting with its own version of the feature, but we haven't tried it.

There are Chrome add-ons that fake it, but not on all pages, and worse still, they can't hide the built-in horizontal tabs at the top – so instead of saving screen space, you just waste more.

It's worth it. Give it a try for a week and we suspect you'll become a convert and thank us for it. But there are more tools on offer as well. For clarity, this applies equally to the current Firefox forks Waterfox and LibreWolf. With a bit of experimentation, you can achieve similar in Pale Moon, Basilisk or Seamonkey too.

There are multiple vertical tabs add-ons for Firefox so you can choose based on the features you want

If just one piece of objective evidence might persuade you, it is the sheer number of different extensions available that implement this function. We tried five. Vertical Tabs Reloaded has a simple, flat-look implementation, but with one big snag: you can't pull a tab out of a window and make it a window of its own, nor can you move a tab from one window to another.

Sidebery brings some interesting new functions, such as integrating bookmarks into the sidebar, but we found it a bit unstable. Tab Center Reborn works and its tabs grow to show two lines of description when you have few enough open that it has room. Tree Style Tab is one of the oldest of this type of extension, and it is so customizable it even has extensions of its own. If you like a hierarchical tab bar, it's the one we'd recommend. If you're new to vertical tabs, though, we suggest keeping it simple with Vertical Tabs, which does the basics and no more.

Once you've picked one and installed it, you will notice a new issue: now you've got two tab bars. An unfortunate change in the recent "Quantum" versions of Firefox is that extensions can't readily hide or close the built-in tab bar, which is one of the reasons that we sometimes feel that Mozilla has taken its eyes off the customizability goal of late. Never fear, though, you can still do it. All that's needed is a tiny config file.

Waterfox users are all set from first installation, but if you use upstream Firefox, you'll first need to enable such customizations. Enter about:config in the address bar, and acknowledge the warning that appears. Enter "legacy" in the search box, and you should see a setting called toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets. It's normally set to false; double-click that word to toggle it to true.

Now, you need to find where to put the file. Modern versions of Firefox hide the menu bar, in another of Mozilla's efforts to ape Chrome. We like traditional menus so we turn it back on: Press Alt to open the menus, go to View, then down to Toolbars and tick Menu Bar. Now, go to the Help menu, and pick More Troubleshooting Information. In this screen, there's a line called Profile Directory and this contains an Open Directory button. Click that, and it will open your Firefox profile folder. In there, make a new folder, called chrome (all in lower case). Go into the new folder, and create a new file called userChrome.css. This is where the settings to hide the tab bar go.

Open the new file in a text editor, and copy and paste this into it:

/* to hide the native tabs */
#TabsToolbar { visibility: collapse !important; }
/* to hide the sidebar header */
#sidebar-header {
 visibility: collapse;
}

Save the file, and restart the browser.

If anyone from Mozilla is reading this, could you please make this process a little easier? That'd be great. Thanks.

If you use more than one computer regularly, Firefox Sync keeps bookmarks, passwords, and so on synchronized among them, and it also works between Firefox, Waterfox, and LibreWolf (although in the latter, you need to enable it in the Preferences first).

Mozilla's Extensions page has dozens of others. Here's our essential collection. UBlock Origin cuts a lot of distraction from the Web (but we'd be grateful if you'd whitelist The Reg). Multithreaded Download Manager has recently displaced DownThemAll as our preferred download manager. Tab Hunter will quickly find tabs lost among multiple windows. Disable Autoplay stops a lot of annoying self-starting videos. Sometimes, Firefox Sync can result in multiple copies of some bookmarks, in which case Bookmark Dupes will sort that out.

Once you have a dozen or so add-ons, your browser's toolbar can get a bit cluttered, but there's a fix for that too

Once you've installed all of those, your toolbar might be getting a bit cluttered, but that's easy to fix. Right-click anywhere on the toolbar, pick "Customize toolbar" and you can consign less-used add-on icons to the overflow menu. You can also remove any unneeded spacers or controls by just dragging them off the toolbar, optionally hide the title bar, and so on.

Customize your toolbar and just drag less-used buttons into the overflow menu

There are too many more tweaks and adjustments to list. Among the handy ones, we like "zoom text only" (on the View|Zoom menu), which leaves pictures and layout unscaled while you zoom in and out. There are separate keystrokes for zooming the whole page, or just the text, as well as for controlling media playback and most other functionality. There's a task manager for monitoring memory or CPU-hogging tabs.

Waterfox has the edge in a few cases, such as integrating with Unity's global menu bar, but Firefox runs on more different OSes. For this vulture, 20 years after it appeared, Firefox (or Waterfox) remains our go-to and default browser, on every desktop and laptop OS we use. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, all the BSDs, plus mobile OSes. It keeps all our settings synched, blocks many distractions, and uses fewer resources. OK, we admit, we do usually keep Chrome or Edge around, mainly for webmail and some other communications tools, but Firefox remains our weapon of choice. ®

Source

Although many believe that this is a new approach to delivering Windows updates that Microsoft is introducing under its "Moments" engineering effort of rolling out features every few months, the company has actually been working on this publicly since February. Almost eight months ago, Microsoft released AirShare, a public preview for the Amazon Appstore, and Taskbar enhancements as "new experiences", and it is continuing with this delivery mechanism moving forward too.

There are a couple of major reasons why I think that this is exactly the right thing to do. When Microsoft committed to a biannual update cadence for Windows 10, it dug a bit of a hole for itself. While getting two major updates per year sounds great on paper and gets consumers excited, it's close to impossible to deliver significant features within these timelines, especially when every new feature has to go through weeks or months of testing in the Windows Insider Preview program along with development iterations too.

What this meant was that we sometimes got massive updates, but on most instances, we just had to settle for relatively insignifcant "enablement packages". Enablement packages don't download any new features to your computer, they just switch some existing features from a dormant to active state, which isn't really that exciting. As a result, Windows 10 updates became more of a formality with little fanfare since it became very unlikely that the next feature update to Windows would be drastically different than what you had already.

And to me, and likely Microsoft (given that it changed this approach), this is a problem because it kills any excitement behind the Windows update process for consumers. It becomes difficult to even convince people to upgrade to the next version of Windows, because there's nothing really new in it either way so why not stick to your "stable" OS?

With its recent approach of releasing annual updates for Windows 11 along with other "new experiences" (Moments?) spread throughout the year too, Microsoft is remedying this situation. The Redmond tech firm knows that it can obviously deliver one major feature update per year but it's also leaving the door open for any other functionalities that it can deliver to consumers outside of this cadence too.

The benefits of this approach are most evident in the latest Windows 11 2022 Update where Microsoft has rolled out capabilities like a Controller Bar, Smart App Control, better touch navigation for Snap Layouts, and separate Focus and Do not Disturb functionalities, among many other things. And at the same time, the company has also committed to bring tabbed File Explorer, Suggested Actions, Taskbar Overflow, improved Nearby Sharing, and a new Photos app for preview next month followed by general availability in November.

This gives Microsoft some time to test new features in Insider rings for a few months without worrying about delivering them in September of each year. The firm is being careful about the overall mechanism too though, it has clarified that moving forward, it will only announce timelines for new features when it's ready, so don't expect brand-new stuff to be delivered every October or every other month. In a press release sent to Neowin a few days ago, Microsoft mentioned that:

We are committed to delivering continuous innovation by releasing new features into Windows 11 with increased frequency via our servicing technology (like a monthly update) and Microsoft Store updates, in addition to our annual update process. Our goal is to provide you with the best experiences year-round, when new features are ready based on quality and reliability, via our familiar processes. Today we are also announcing that a new set of experiences including the Tabbed File explorer, considered a component of the 2022 Update for all editions, will be ready this October.

We will share more information and documentation when we initially make these features available. We plan a phased rollout timed with the October optional non-security preview release for these features and then they will be made broadly available in the November 2022 security update release. Going forward we will continue to announce, document and deliver new features and experiences when they are ready.

This solves another problem for general users too. If a feature is ready, consumers won't have to wait for the next feature update to land to get their hands on that specific functionality. An example is tabbed File Explorer, which has been available to Insiders since build 22572 (albeit as a hidden UX) back in March. While Microsoft clearly isn't ready to ship it in the Windows 11 2022 Update this month, it seems like it's confident that it will be able to push it out to consumers in October/November after some more time in the oven.

As such, there is less of a chance that a half-baked implementation of a functionality (looking at you, Taskbar) will become available to general consumers. Microsoft isn't bound to the annual update timelines externally and while it may have internal deadlines, I'm sure they are more malleable than the public deadlines that were in place for feature updates.

All in all, I think that this flexible approach to Windows updates is a win for both Microsoft and its customers. Of course, no mechanism is perfect - especially not on the software side -, so I'll emphasize that I don't believe that this is a silver bullet, I just believe that it's significantly better than what consumers and Microsoft had to deal with before. It makes Windows updates exciting for the end-user again while giving Microsoft the space it would need to further polish functionalities instead of rushing them out the door.

What do you think of the more flexible Windows update process and release cadence? Let us know in the comments section below!

Microsoft's latest approach to Windows 11 updates is a smart move

Microsoft has received a fair amount of complaints for controversial feature changes (primarily for crippled taskbar). As most Windows users discuss new capabilities and things Microsoft has taken away (without intent to bring them back), one question remains unanswered: what about energy efficiency? Does Windows 11 give you better battery life?

Test configuration

Like our recent browser efficiency test, it's time to look at how identical hardware behaves when running four different operating systems:

• Windows 11 21H2 (original release)
• Windows 11 2022 Update (version 22H2)
• Windows 11 Dev (build 25201)
• Windows 10 (version 21H2)

To make the test as accurate as possible, we have clean-installed each system on four different partitions before looping PCMark10 Extended three times from 100% to dead battery. We have signed into our Microsoft account and installed the latest drivers available for each version. Each installation had no extra third-party software.

Here is the test device (upgraded from 8GB to 16GB of RAM since the browser efficiency test):

We have picked PCMark10 Extended to simulate the standard home and office use that includes video conferencing, office apps, photo/video editing, gaming, browsing, etc. Some might argue that PCMark10 might be unoptimized for Windows 11, but remember that not every software you use has already received updates for the newest OS (some never will). We try to see how a single set of software affects battery life in different operating systems.

Before you grab your torch and pitchfork: You might get slightly different results depending on your software and hardware configuration, battery capacity, battery wear, drivers, brightness, power mode etc. Consider this more an experiment rather than a scientific claim.

Testing

It appears that those wanting to get the most out of the battery inside their Windows laptop or tablet might want to stick to Windows 10 for some time. Three Windows 11 versions showed the more-or-less identical result, achieving about three hours of life under strain of the PCMark10 Extended benchmark.

As for Windows 10, Microsoft's "previous-gen" operating system showed a notably better result, surviving for an extra 18 minutes. That might sound not-so-impressive to you, but it is an 11% uplift under a stress test. An 11% worse battery life is nothing to scoff at, especially for the operating system that many consider just a Windows 10 reskin.

1. Windows 10 - 3 hours 12 minutes
2. Windows 11 Dev - 3 hours 3 minutes
3. Windows 11 2022 Update - 3 hours 2 minutes
4. Windows 11 21H2 - 2 hours 54 minutes

A part of our browser efficiency test also proves that Windows 10 is better at giving you the best battery life. Running a 1080p YouTube video in Microsoft Edge has revealed similar results—when running Windows 10, our laptop lasted 35 minutes longer than Windows 11.

1. Windows 10 - 5 hours 24 minutes
2. Windows 11 Dev - 4 hours 55 minutes
3. Windows 11 21H2 - 4 hours 53 minutes
4. Windows 11 2022 Update - 4 hours 50 minutes

Conclusion

Windows 11 is arguably a good operating system, and its latest feature update makes it even better. Still, even one year after the initial release, many users consider Windows 11 raw, and not without reasons. Besides missing some capabilities Microsoft should not have removed, Windows 11 appears to be worse at energy efficiency on some hardware configurations. Microsoft itself says Windows 10 is "a great place to be," so you will be excused for wanting to keep using the old operating system for a bit longer.

On the other side, the 10% difference does not seem like unrepairable damage. You can mitigate the loss by adjusting the display brightness, tweaking your power mode, or using extra features in specific apps like battery saver in Microsoft Edge, which proved itself quite an efficient way to improve battery time. Windows 11 also has the Dynamic Refresh Rate feature on devices with high refresh rate displays that can save some battery juice by reducing the refresh rate without a perceivable downgrade in image smoothness.

Finally, there are customers who love Windows 11 and its features, so a slightly worse battery life is an acceptable trade-off for running the latest operating systems with a much better UI, Android apps support, improved consistency (Windows 8-styled volume/brightness slider is finally gone), new productivity features, significantly improved accessibility, and gaming enhancements. Windows 11 will not make your battery life twice as worse than Windows 10, so it may be worth a try. Although there are scattered complaints about battery life downgrade, we have not heard any wide-spread reports of Windows 11 causing critical damage to a device with an otherwise decent battery life.

Those on the verge of upgrading should also remember that Microsoft allows going back to Windows 10 without reinstalling the operating system and all the apps (unless you perform a disk cleanup). But if you think that Windows 11 currently does not provide a killer feature, there is another reason to stick with Windows 10. Microsoft will keep supporting Windows 10 until October 2025, so you have three more years to decide, and Microsoft has three more years to make Windows 11 (or whatever comes next) better at battery management.

Have you noticed any difference in battery life after upgrading from Windows 10 to 11? Would you accept a slightly worse battery life for a fancy UI, animations, and new features? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Is Windows 11 more energy efficient than Windows 10?

Office Version 2210 (Build 15715.20014) brings notable fixes for issues found in several Office apps, including Microsoft Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and Office Suite. You can check out the official changelog below to learn more about these fixes.

Office Version 2210 (Build 15715.20014) changelog

Excel

Notable fixes

• We fixed an issue where a function would run out of resources or display the wrong error message when alttext had no value.
• We fixed an issue where app would stop responding and consume huge amounts of memory while doing touch zoom on RTL sheets.

OneNote

Notable fix

• We fixed an issue where users could not use the panning tool with stylus.

Outlook

Notable fixes

• We fixed an issue where search would always return results from the primary account and not the selected account.
• We fixed an issue that caused attachment size limits to not be evaluated when drag/dropping an attachment into a mail message.
• We fixed an issue where the app closed unexpectedly when closing the Mail control panel.

PowerPoint

Notable fix

• We fixed an issue where PowerPoint could be prevented from closing when accessed as an IOleObject.

Word

Notable fixes

• We fixed an issue where hyperlinks were not working, and an error was displayed.
• We fixed an issue in interaction mode with application guard.
• We fixed an issue where after splitting document window, lower window did not scroll to expected position below cursor.

Office Suite

Notable fixes

• We fixed an issue where the font size for labels increased unexpectedly in QAT when the icon sizes were updated.
• We fixed an issue where a customer certificate was incorrectly shown as being revoked.

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 release, 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 15715.20014) with a ton of bug fixes and improvements

Browser makers like Mozilla, Brave and Vivaldi are concerned about the controversial declarativeNetRequest API, which threatens the future of content blockers on Chrome and Chromium-based browsers, and poses a risk to the privacy and security of users.  Mozilla will continue to support Manifest V2 in Firefox, as will Vivaldi.

The Manifest V3 Conundrum

An article published on Vivaldi's blog points out that Manifest V2 is not being deprecated completely, only the ability to block requests from webRequest is. V2 will be available for enterprise users until June 2023. The developer says that the underlying code for webRequest will remain intact until that time, and since declarativeNetRequest is built on top of it, Vivaldi's native ad blocker written in C++, should be able to use the Chromium API and on paper, continue to function when Manifest V3 becomes the norm.

If Vivaldi continues to support Manifest V2, existing add-ons including ad blockers will remain unaffected, won't they? The developer says this largely depends on how Manifest V3 develops, and also on which the APIs that the extensions use. The browser maker plans to remove whatever restrictions Google adds, but does admit it could be a difficult ride. In the event that Vivaldi is forced to drop support for Manifest V2, users may have no choice, but to rely on the browser's built-in ad-blocker.

AdGuard recently released a Manifest V3 compatible content blocker, but the extension hasn't had an impressive start. Raymond Hill, the developer of uBlock Origin, released an add-on called uBlock Lite (formerly uBO Minus), it seems promising, but it's not as good as the original version. The extensions are crippled by the changes in Manifest V3, access to the APIs, and artificial limitations. It might take a while for these extensions to evolve.

Limitations in Vivaldi's ad blocker

I like Vivaldi and use it regularly (explained below), it is not my intention to portray it as a bad browser, but I can't shy away from its limitations. I use Vivaldi (and Safari on my Mac) to watch football on Sonyliv.com, because the site's video player doesn't work in Firefox, even though the latter has absolutely no issues with videos on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar, etc.

There is an issue with accessing the site through Vivaldi, Sony Liv detects the native ad blocker, and prevents me from accessing the website without disabling the feature. This is not a huge deal for me, as I can subscribe to the AdGuard annoyances filter to bypass the restriction. You can find the AdGuard filters here, and uBlock Origin filters on this page.

But, I can't say the same for other websites that detect ad blockers, they may not be supported by filter lists, you would need to report them to the maintainers, and wait for the site to be added to the list. Or you could block the anti ad blockers by adding custom rules. This isn't easy, as Vivaldi doesn't have a custom block rule editor, you will have to create a text file with your rules in it, and import it like a filter. These steps might make it an uphill task for the average user. The easier and more effective fix is to install a proper content blocker like uBlock Origin.

Ad banners and video ads aren't the only annoyances on the internet, many websites have custom sidebars, video players, chat boxes, persistent banners that appear while you scroll pages, pop-ups and overlays that prevent you from clicking without subscribing or entering your email address, etc. uBlock Origin's element zapper and element picker are useful for blocking these, Vivaldi's ad blocker lacks such cosmetic filtering aka element blocking. Advanced features like Javascript blocking, web logger, are not available in the browser's built-in blocker.

There is another problem that could affect Chrome extensions. At the beginning of 2022, Google stopped accepting Manifest V2 extensions on the Chrome Web Store, and announced that it will remove all Manifest V2 add-ons from the store in 2023. This will result in the removal of content blockers such as uBlock Origin, so users may not be able to install or update the extension from the Web Store.

Vivaldi's users rely on the web store for installing extensions, so this will affect them directly. If Vivaldi continues to support Manifest V2 in 2023, it will need to provide users with an alternative way to install V2 extensions. The only solution, besides sideloading the browser plugin (needs to be updated manually), would be to introduce a Vivaldi Store to host extensions, something which the developers say could not be an easy task, and would require some effort and willingness from add-on maintainers. The same will apply to Brave Browser, though one could argue that its built-in content blocker is better.

Personally, I feel that uBlock Origin cannot be replaced. Vivaldi's ad blocker is good, but there is plenty of room for improvement. It really needs an element blocker for cosmetic filtering, and a custom rule editor among other things, otherwise it risks losing on users who may want to migrate away from Chrome next year.

Would you use Vivaldi's ad blocker instead of uBlock Origin?

Vivaldi says its ad blocker will continue working even after changes in Manifest V3

Aside from that, it also brings support for a couple of games including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Beta, which is currently in early access. Find the full changelog below:

GAMING HIGHLIGHTS:

• Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics for:
  • The DioField Chronicle* (DX12)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II* (DX12) Beta Early Access

NOTES:

• The Intel® Arc™ 101.3430 BETA driver is bundled with the latest version of Intel® Arc™ Control 4765 to streamline installation experience, resulting in a larger driver package file size.

FIXED ISSUES:

• Marvel’s Spider-Man* (DX12) may exhibit an application crash when loading into the game with Ray-Traced Reflections enabled.
• Total War: Warhammer III* (DX11) may exhibit color corruption on certain regions of the overworld map.
• Call of Duty: Vanguard* (DX12) may exhibit lower than expected performance in the main menu.
• Marvel’s Guardian of the Galaxy* (DX12) may exhibit flickering texture corruption game certain areas
• Horizon Zero Dawn* (DX12) may exhibit texture and color corruption on some terrain and skyboxes.
• Overwatch* (DX11) may experience lower than expected performance may be observed within certain map environments
• Metro Exodus* (DX11) may exhibit a CTD or application hang during gameplay.
• Conqueror’s Blade* (DX11) may exhibit an application crash during game launch.
• League of Legends* (DX11) may experience lower than expected performance when using the DX11 option in on some Intel® Arc™ A730M series graphics products.
• Movies and TV* Application may experience a hang during HDR video playback and changing video to Fullscreen.
• Blender* may exhibit OpenGL rendering errors with certain Intel® system configurations.
• Some Intel® Arc™ A380 series graphics cards may intermittently reboot the system when resuming from S3 sleep.

INTEL® ARC™ CONTROL FIXED ISSUES:

• Recording with Arc Control Studio Capture and “In Stream” mode enabled may not save the output video file at the desired length.
• Streaming with Arc Control Studio Capture and “In Stream” mode enabled may cause unexpected connection instability to the desired platform.
• Some image types may not load when using Arc Control Camera “Background Replacement” option.
• Arc Control may incorrectly be invoked during the login screen.
• Arc Control may incorrectly close automatically when Arc Control is invoked, and system is left idle.

KNOWN ISSUES:

• Marvel’s Spider-Man* (DX12) may experience shadow corruption when using FSR 2.0 upscaling.
• Marvels’ Spider-Man* (DX12) may exhibit scene corruption when Ambient Occlusion is disabled or set to HBAO+
• Sniper Elite 5* (DX12) may experience an application crash on some Hybrid Graphics system configurations when Windows® “Graphics Performance Preference” option for the application is not set to “High Performance”.
• Some Intel® Arc™ A380 series graphics product fans may continue running when the graphics card or system is idle.

INTEL® ARC™ CONTROL KNOWN ISSUES:

• Windows UAC Admin is required to install and launch Arc Control.
• Arc Control may fail to correctly update. A workaround is to uninstall Arc Control from Add or Remove programs before updating.
• Some applications may exhibit a transparent or blank window when CMAA is set to “Force ON” globally.
• Some applications may exhibit pixel corruption when Sharpening Filter is enabled globally.
• Opening Arc Control in some game titles with ALT+I during gameplay may not correctly appear.
• Using Arc Control Studio Capture with “In Stream” mode enabled may not correctly record entire clip when under a 1080p resolution setting.
• A 1440p resolution selection in Arc Control Studio Capture may be unavailable when the display native resolution is 4K.
• Arc Control Studio Camera overlay position may not retain desired position and size after a system restart.
• Hot-plugging peripheral devices such as cameras, microphones, or displays while Arc Control is open may cause Arc Control to become unresponsive.
• Arc Control may not scale automatically when changing from a 1080p resolution to a 4K resolution.
• Some Arc Control Telemetry metrics may not align with 3 rd party applications or built-in OS functions.
• The Arc Control Studio Camera tab may take longer than expected responsiveness upon the first navigation.
• Hot-plugging a secondary display with Arc Control invoked may cause Arc Control to be unresponsive.
• Hot-plugging a display with Arc Control Studio Capture audio device set to display audio may cause an error when attempting to capture or broadcast.

Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning (BETA):

• Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning is currently in Beta. As such, performance and features mmay behave unexpectedly. Intel® will continue to refine the Performance Tuning software in future releases.

You can download the driver by heading over to Intel's official website at this link. The driver is compatible with Intel Arc discrete graphics cards alongside Intel 11th and 12th Gen processor graphics.

Intel Arc, 11th Gen, 12th Gen now ready for Windows 11 22H2 with 31.0.101.3430 beta driver

Current Chromium extensions use Manifest V2 for the most part, even though the January 2023 deadline is looming over the heads of every extension developer.

Google is using its might to push Manifest v3, and most Chromium-based browsers, including Microsoft Edge, will follow. From January 2023 on, extensions need to support Manifest v3 exclusively to be listed in the Chrome Web Store. There is an Enterprise policy to extend the blocking of Manifest v2 support in Chrome by six months, but Google announced already that it won't extend that, despite delays in getting all APIs out in the open for developers.

By June 2022, Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers won't support Manifest v2 extensions anymore. Those installed will be disabled automatically, because they are no longer compatible. Those offered on the Chrome Web Store will vanish, unless their developers published an update to make them compatible with the new Manifest v3.

Mozilla announced early on that it will support Manifest v3 as well, but that it would continue to support important APIs that Google limited in Manifest v3. Probably the most important of them all is the WebRequest API. Used by content blockers extensively to filter certain items, it has been replaced by a less powerful option in Manifest v3.

While Manifest v3 does not mean the end for content blocking on Chrome, Edge and other Chromium-based browsers, it may limit abilities under certain circumstances. Users who install a single content blocker and no other extension that relies on the same relevant API may not notice much of a change, but those who like to add custom filter lists or use multiple extensions that rely on the API, may run into artificial limits set by Google.

AdGuard launched a Manifest v3 compatible ad-blocker recently, and it will display warning prompts if its operation is limited in the browser.

Mozilla reaffirmed this week that its plan has not changed. In "These weeks in Firefox: issue 124", the organization confirms that it will support the WebRequst API of Manifest v2 alongside Manifest v3.

 Again, a reminder that Mozilla plans to continue support for the Manifest v2 blocking WebRequest API (this API powers, for example, uBlock Origin) while simultaneously supporting Manifest v3.

That is good news for users of the web browser who use content blockers such as uBlock Origin. The extension, which its developer claims operates best under Firefox, is the most popular extension for Firefox based on the number of installations and ratings.

Source

Windows enthusiasts discover experimental configurations and hidden features every time Microsoft pushes a new preview build. Often, stable Windows versions get new features disabled by default, just waiting for Microsoft to release an enablement package. That is the case with the Windows 11 2022 Update and its upcoming "moment 1" update.

Tabbed File Explorer, new taskbar overflow, and other goodies are already on your computer if it runs the Windows 11 2022 Update or 22H2. All you need to do is enable them using the ViveTool app, as described in one of our numerous how-tos. Here are the ids for each upcoming feature:

• Suggested Actions: id:34592303
• Taskbar Overflow: id:35620393
• Redesigned "Open With": id:36302090
• Tabbed File Explorer:
  • id:36354489
  • id:37634385
  • id:39145991

As usual, remember that the safest option is to wait for Microsoft to ship you the new features via Windows Update. Enabling hidden features using the ViveTool app can sometimes lead to unexpected behaviors, bugs, and unwanted software weirdness. If you are not ready to troubleshoot your system or uninstall Windows in the worst-case scenario, sit back and wait for Microsoft to do the job for you.

Will you force-enable the upcoming Windows 11 "moment 1" features?

Via: PhantomOcean3 (Twitter)

You can already enable new Windows 11 features Microsoft plans to ship next month

However, like it's usually the case, the new update is not without its issues though. Last night, we reported about a problem related to updating to this new feature update. The update process is failing for many with the error code "0x800f0806". Luckily, there are a couple of fixes available that we have outlined in this article.

For those that have managed to update, there are other problems for users who have Nvidia graphics cards in their systems. There are reports of unstable framerates and stuttering, and lower than typical CPU usage in games. Users across Reddit and Microsoft forums have echoed similar sentiments. Reddit user ChoPT says the issues were present in insider builds too. They write:

I was having serious performance hitches, both on the desktop and especially in gaming (this completely broke gsync as well). Drops to ~30fps randomly from ~120, in non-graphically intense tests. Screen tearing like crazy. I have a VERY powerful system (12700k, 3080 Ti, DDR5 ram), so it's not a hardware issue, and I tried turning all the new graphics settings off as well, so it wasn't that either.

[..] I'm a pretty big gamer, so this is unfortunately a deal-breaker until it can be fixed. But the performance issues on the desktop also just made everything feel a bit sluggish. These same problems were present in the insider build I tried months ago, and I am very disappointed they are still present at release.

Rolled back, and all the problems went away.

Another user Nahett77 says their CPU usage dropped from around 80% down to just around 5%:

I have been experiencing insane stuttering in games. My CPU usage in games have dropped down significantly, in some from 80% to 5%. Just went back to the last update and my in game experience is much better.

Fortunately for those experiencing such problems, Nvidia has confirmed that it is looking into the matter. Manuel Guzman, Software QA at the company has requested for more feedback from the affected users on the Reddit thread. In case you are reading the article and are facing similar issues, you can provide feedback to Nvidia using this form.

Source: Reddit (1, 2, 3), Microsoft forum via How-To Geek

Edit: Updated with quotes from users experiencing the issues for additional context.

Windows 11 22H2 apparently causing problems on Nvidia graphics cards

• We fixed an issue that affects some apps that were not signed by the Microsoft Store. You must reinstall them after you upgrade the OS.
• We fixed issues that cause updates to the Microsoft Store to fail.
• We fixed an issue that stops you from signing in to various Microsoft Office 365 apps. This affects Outlook, Word, Teams, and so on.
• We updated the start date for daylight saving time in Chile. It will start on September 11, 2022 instead of on September 4, 2022.
• We fixed an issue that affects the Windows Search service. It causes the indexing progress for the service to be slow.
• We fixed an issue that affects some processors. This issue occurs when you turn on Hyper-V and kernel Direct Memory Access (DMA) protections.
• We fixed 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.
• We fixed an issue that affects Task Manager. It stops working when you switch between light and dark mode or change the accent color.
• We fixed an issue that affects the font of three Chinese characters. When you format these characters as bold, the width size is wrong.
• We fixed an issue that affects graphics drivers that use d3d9on12.dll.
• We reduced the power that the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol uses on some devices when they are in Sleep mode.
• We fixed 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.
• We fixed an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.
• We fixed an issue that affects window.open in IE mode.
• We fixed 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.
• We fixed an issue that affects the Microsoft Japanese input method editor (IME). Text reconversion fails when you use some third-party virtual desktops.
• We fixed an issue that might cause an application to stop responding. This might occur when the input queue overflows.
• We fixed 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.
• We fixed an issue that creates a duplicate print queue. Because of this, the original print queue stops working.
• We fixed an issue that might bypass MSHTML and ActiveX rules for Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC).
• We fixed an issue that affects the Miracast UI. Sometimes it closes too soon when you cast to devices that use the DeviceObjectType:Aep.
• We added 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.
• We fixed an issue that affects the SharedPC account manager. The issue stops it from deleting many accounts during cleanup.
• We fixed an issue that causes LogonUI.exe to stop working. Because of this, you cannot dismiss the lock screen to view the credentials screen.
• We fixed 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.
• We fixed an issue that affects the FindNextFileNameW() It might leak memory.
• We fixed an issue that affects robocopy. Robocopy fails to set a file to the right modified time when using the /IS
• We fixed an issue that affects cldflt.sys. A stop error occurs when it is used with Microsoft OneDrive.
• We fixed an issue that affects Roaming User Profiles. After you sign in or sign out, some of your settings are not restored.
• We fixed an issue that affects the LanmanWorkstation service. It leaks memory when you mount a network drive.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 Release Preview build 22621.607 (KB5017389) fixes d3d9on12, Hyper-V issues

Microsoft first announced this app back in February, saying that it was bringing the Xbox' HDR Game Calibration functionality to Windows.

The Windows app offers three main test patterns. These include patterns to determine the darkest visible detail, the brightest visible detail, and your display's maximum brightness. These are based on the recommendations of the HDR Gaming Interest Group (HGIG). Additionally, Microsoft has added another functionality that offers full control over color saturation.

Microsoft says that calibrating your display will ensure that you get the optimal viewing experience for HDR content and will help avoid clipping effects.

There are two ways to launch the Windows HDR Calibration app. One is to download the app from the Microsoft Store here and the other is to launch it from Settings > System > Display > Use HDR > HDR display calibration. However, the latter is only supported for Windows Insiders.

After opening the app, follow these instructions:

1. If you have multiple displays, make sure the app window is visible on the HDR-capable display you want to calibrate.
2. Use the app in the same lighting conditions that you typically use for your HDR display.
3. While you’re calibrating your display using the three test patterns, drag each slider until the pattern is no longer visible.
4. When customizing SDR and HDR content color saturation, drag the slider to adjust the saturation from less saturated (default, on the left) to more saturated (right).
   1. This change might be very subtle depending on your display characteristics.

If you're facing issues with HDR calibration, make sure that you have an HDR display and meet the minimum requirements mentioned here. It is also important to know that the app does not work on Windows 10 and color saturation adjustment isn't supported on all GPUs either. You can also opt to file feedback directly to Microsoft through the dedicated feedback button on the top-right corner of the main menu of the app.

Windows 11 gets brand-new HDR calibration app

Mozilla released a report titled "Five Walled Gardens: Why Browsers are Essential to the Internet and How Operating Systems Are Holding Them Back". The report focuses on how people use web browsers. Needless to mention, the most popular web browsers today are Chrome, Safari, and Edge. Firefox isn’t far behind, but Mozilla claims the three most popular browsers enjoy a bigger user base because of their parent companies.

The report argues tech giants employ a variety of methods to make it difficult or impossible to switch web browsers. This not only lowers the quality and experience, but may also increase risk. Mozilla has outlined five examples of "consumer harm from operating system self-preferencing."

• Limited or frustrating choice: An operating system provider making it difficult or impossible for a consumer to switch browsers ultimately removes their ability to choose for themselves. It also hampers existing competitors and deters new products from entering the market and providing an increased choice.
• Lower quality: Where the monetary price for consumers is zero (as is the case for browsers), providers might be expected to compete on quality. But without effective competition from independent browsers, consumers may receive products that are of lower quality.
• Lower innovation: Linked to quality is innovation. Consumers miss out on developments (for example, improved features and functionality). A reduced likelihood of disruptive innovation might be accompanied by reduced choice for consumers.
• Poor privacy: Consumers can be left with a product that subjects them to compulsory data sharing, misuse of data, or other privacy harms. These outcomes can be an indication of low quality caused by ineffective competition.
• Unfair contracts: Without proper choice, consumers may be forced to enter into contracts that might be exploitative or unfair.

Needless to mention, such claims aren’t new, and more importantly, aren’t entirely unsubstantiated. Microsoft with its Windows, Apple with its iOS and macOS, and Google with its Android, have been previously accused of steering users and indirectly limiting their choice of web browsers. These companies have also faced lawsuits for what is considered to be arm-twisting consumers or cleverly restricting and influencing their choice.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft limit browser choice, alleges Mozilla

Firefox users who installed Firefox 105, either as this week's stable release or a development release, may have noticed that the browser's startup behavior changed in that release. Firefox would focus the address bar on startup, which it did not do in previous versions of the browser.

The automatic selection of the address bar caused issues in several use cases, for instance when a search engine website was loaded in the active tab. The search engine's search field was focused in previous versions of Firefox, but in Firefox 105, the address bar was focused instead.

Firefox users who wanted to search had to activate the search field to do so. Similarly, input fields were not selected on other sites automatically. Another related issue was that users could not use keyboard shortcuts to scroll or interact with the active webpage anymore, as Firefox was focusing the address bar and not the webpage. Keyboard shortcuts such as down-arrow or up-arrow may be used to navigate sites without use of the mouse or touch.

The changed behavior required an extra click or action from the user to use webpages affected by the change.

Firefox 105.0.1 is a bug fix release that restores the original behavior of the browser. Users who have not updated to Firefox 105 yet may never experience the issue; those who have updated may download and install the update to resolve it.

Mozilla notes in the official release notes: "Reverted focus behavior for new windows back to the content area instead of the address bar".

Additional information is available on Bugzilla.

Mozilla plans to launch Firefox 105.0.1 later today. A check for updates via Menu > Help > About Firefox displays the current version and installs the update once it is released.

Now You: which site(s) do you load on startup of your browser?

Firefox 105.0.1 restores focus behavior on startup

Frontpaged:   Mozilla Firefox Browser 105.0.1

On affected systems, files or shortcuts will not copy to the target drives or end up as zero-byte files when using Group Policy file operations.

"File copies using Group Policy Preferences might fail or might create empty shortcuts or files using 0 (zero) bytes," Microsoft explained.

"Known affected Group Policy Objects are related to files and shortcuts in User Configuration -> Preferences -> Windows Settings in Group Policy Editor."

The list of affected platforms includes client (from Windows 8.1 up to Windows 11 22H2) and server releases (from Windows Server 2008 SP2 and up to Windows Server 2022).

Microsoft acknowledged the issue following a stream of Windows admin reports across multiple social networks and on Microsoft's online community regarding issues with Group Policy settings after deploying September 2022 Patch Tuesday updates.

At the time, some of the affected admins suggested a radical fix requiring manually uninstalling and hiding the offending cumulative updates. Unfortunately, this would also remove all fixes for recently patched security vulnerabilities.

However, multiple admins have also reported that un-checking the "Run in user security context" option on the affected GPOs will help address the file copying and shortcut creation problems.

Official workarounds are also available

Microsoft confirmed the last workaround shared by impacted customers before the issue was acknowledged, together with a couple of additional ways to mitigate the issue (any one of them is enough for mitigation) :

1. Uncheck the "Run in logged-on user's security context (user policy option)." Note: This might not mitigate the issue for items using a wildcard (*).
2. Within the affected Group Policy, change "Action" from "Replace" to "Update."
3. If a wildcard (*) is used in the location or destination, deleting the trailing "\" (backslash, without quotes) from the destination might allow the copy to be successful.

Redmond also added that its developers are working on a resolution for this known issue and will provide a fix with an upcoming update.

Microsoft shares workarounds for Windows Group Policy issues

Since release, many, however, are reporting of problems and issues when trying to update to Windows 11 22H2. According to these reports, the update is failing with an error code "0x800f0806". This is apparently happening when trying to do an in-place upgrade via Windows Update in Settings due to some compatibility issue or something similar. A clean install though is seemingly working fine.

Thankfully, a Reddit user by the name rap1021 has found a solution to the issue. Apparently, manually downloading and installing the update seems to bypass this problem caused by trying to do an upgrade via Windows Update. To do so, simply head over to Microsoft's Update Catalog website and download the update.

Other known solutions like running the "sfc /scannow" via Command Prompt, or resetting the Windows Update mechanism don't appear to be working either according to the same user, and manually downloading the update is seemingly the best bet.

Another user, CusiDawgs, on the same thread says the latest version of Windows 11 Installation Assistant also resolves the problem. You can download it from Microsoft's official website here.

Source: rap1021 (Reddit) via CusiDawgs (Reddit)

Edit: Looks like one of our Neowin members "kiddingguy" had also noticed the issue and came up with the workaround. So here's a shoutout to them!

Windows 11 22H2 update failing with error 0x800f0806, here are potential fixes

This led to issues related to incorrect times in Outlook, Calendar, third-party apps, logs, Kerberos authentication, and more. In fact, Microsoft noted that even users outside of Chile could be affected if they are connecting to servers in the country. At the time, the Redmond tech firm issued some workarounds, but it has now rolled out an official fix.

For now, the patch is available as a cumulative preview update in the form of KB5017380. This update was initially rolled out to Insiders only but has now been made available to non-Insiders as an optional update too.

It is important to note that since this is an optional update available as a preview, you won't get it automatically. In fact, you'll have to go through the "seeker" experience of manually checking for updates in Windows Update.

Microsoft says that the update will fix this DST issue and more (see the complete changelog here) on the following SKUs of Windows:

• Windows 10, version 1809
• Windows 10, version 20H2
• Windows 10, version 21H1
• Windows 10, version 21H2
• Windows 10, version 22H2
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows 11

Those who want to wait for the update to become generally available will have to do so until next month's Patch Tuesday, which falls on October 11 this time around.

Microsoft fixes Daylight Saving Time bug in optional update, general patch coming next month

It was important for Microsoft to add systemd support to WSL because most popular Linux distribution use it by default. There are several Linux applications that depend on systemd including Canonical’s Snap, microk8s – which lets you get Kubernetes running locally, and systemctl – which is part of systemd and lets you interact with services.

Microsoft is rolling out the WSL update to Windows Insiders initially before bringing it to all users in a couple of weeks. If you’re not an Insider, you can still download the latest WSL release from GitHub. The version you need to be on to enable systemd is 0.67.6. With the latest WSL in place, you need to edit wsl.conf using the following command: sudo nano etc/wsl.conf, under [boot] make sure it reads systemd=true, close out of the nano editor using CTRL+O to save and CTRL+X to exit.

Now you need to restart your WSL instances, so run wsl.exe --shutdown from PowerShell. When you run a distro, you should be able to use systemctl list-unit-files --type=service to check systemd is running. To learn more about what you can do with systemd on WSL, check out this Canonical post that gives some ideas.

Microsoft and Canonical bring systemd support to WSL