Over the time since we launched, our set of services has become much more complicated. With that complexity we have developed policies around how we handle abuse of different Cloudflare features. Just as a broad platform like Google has different abuse policies for search, Gmail, YouTube, and Blogger, Cloudflare has developed different abuse policies as we have introduced new products.

We published our updated approach to abuse last year at:

https://www.cloudflare.com/trust-hub/abuse-approach/

However, as questions have arisen, we thought it made sense to describe those policies in more detail here.

The policies we built reflect ideas and recommendations from human rights experts, activists, academics, and regulators. Our guiding principles require abuse policies to be specific to the service being used. This is to ensure that any actions we take both reflect the ability to address the harm and minimize unintended consequences. We believe that someone with an abuse complaint must have access to an abuse process to reach those who can most effectively and narrowly address their complaint — anonymously if necessary. And, critically, we strive always to be transparent about both our policies and the actions we take.

Cloudflare's products

Cloudflare provides a broad range of products that fall generally into three buckets: hosting products (e.g., Cloudflare Pages, Cloudflare Stream, Workers KV, Custom Error Pages), security services (e.g., DDoS Mitigation, Web Application Firewall, Cloudflare Access, Rate Limiting), and core Internet technology services (e.g., Authoritative DNS, Recursive DNS/1.1.1.1, WARP). For a complete list of our products and how they map to these categories, you can see our Abuse Hub.

As described below, our policies take a different approach on a product-by-product basis in each of these categories.

Hosting products

Hosting products are those products where Cloudflare is the ultimate host of the content. This is different from products where we are merely providing security or temporary caching services and the content is hosted elsewhere. Although many people confuse our security products with hosting services, we have distinctly different policies for each. Because the vast majority of Cloudflare customers do not yet use our hosting products, abuse complaints and actions involving these products are currently relatively rare.

Our decision to disable access to content in hosting products fundamentally results in that content being taken offline, at least until it is republished elsewhere. Hosting products are subject to our Acceptable Hosting Policy. Under that policy, for these products, we may remove or disable access to content that we believe:

•  Contains, displays, distributes, or encourages the creation of child sexual abuse material, or otherwise exploits or promotes the exploitation of minors.

•  Infringes on intellectual property rights.

•  Has been determined by appropriate legal process to be defamatory or libelous.

•  Engages in the unlawful distribution of controlled substances.

•  Facilitates human trafficking or prostitution in violation of the law.

•  Contains, installs, or disseminates any active malware, or uses our platform for exploit delivery (such as part of a command and control system).

•  Is otherwise illegal, harmful, or violates the rights of others, including content that discloses sensitive personal information, incites or exploits violence against people or animals, or seeks to defraud the public.

We maintain discretion in how our Acceptable Hosting Policy is enforced, and generally seek to apply content restrictions as narrowly as possible. For instance, if a shopping cart platform with millions of customers uses Cloudflare Workers KV and one of their customers violates our Acceptable Hosting Policy, we will not automatically terminate the use of Cloudflare Workers KV for the entire platform.

Our guiding principle is that organizations closest to content are best at determining when the content is abusive. It also recognizes that overbroad takedowns can have significant unintended impact on access to content online.

Security services

The overwhelming majority of Cloudflare's millions of customers use only our security services. Cloudflare made a decision early in our history that we wanted to make security tools as widely available as possible. This meant that we provided many tools for free, or at minimal cost, to best limit the impact and effectiveness of a wide range of cyberattacks. Most of our customers pay us nothing.

Giving everyone the ability to sign up for our services online also reflects our view that cyberattacks not only should not be used for silencing vulnerable groups, but are not the appropriate mechanism for addressing problematic content online. We believe cyberattacks, in any form, should be relegated to the dustbin of history.

The decision to provide security tools so widely has meant that we've had to think carefully about when, or if, we ever terminate access to those services. We recognized that we needed to think through what the effect of a termination would be, and whether there was any way to set standards that could be applied in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory way, consistent with human rights principles.

This is true not just for the content where a complaint may be filed but also for the precedent the takedown sets. Our conclusion — informed by all of the many conversations we have had and the thoughtful discussion in the broader community — is that voluntarily terminating access to services that protect against cyberattack is not the correct approach.

Avoiding an abuse of power

Some argue that we should terminate these services to content we find reprehensible so that others can launch attacks to knock it offline. That is the equivalent argument in the physical world that the fire department shouldn't respond to fires in the homes of people who do not possess sufficient moral character. Both in the physical world and online, that is a dangerous precedent, and one that is over the long term most likely to disproportionately harm vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Today, more than 20 percent of the web uses Cloudflare's security services. When considering our policies we need to be mindful of the impact we have and precedent we set for the Internet as a whole. Terminating security services for content that our team personally feels is disgusting and immoral would be the popular choice. But, in the long term, such choices make it more difficult to protect content that supports oppressed and marginalized voices against attacks.

Refining our policy based on what we’ve learned

This isn't hypothetical. Thousands of times per day we receive calls that we terminate security services based on content that someone reports as offensive. Most of these don’t make news. Most of the time these decisions don’t conflict with our moral views. Yet two times in the past we decided to terminate content from our security services because we found it reprehensible. In 2017, we terminated the neo-Nazi troll site The Daily Stormer. And in 2019, we terminated the conspiracy theory forum 8chan.

In a deeply troubling response, after both terminations we saw a dramatic increase in authoritarian regimes attempting to have us terminate security services for human rights organizations — often citing the language from our own justification back to us.

Since those decisions, we have had significant discussions with policy makers worldwide. From those discussions we concluded that the power to terminate security services for the sites was not a power Cloudflare should hold. Not because the content of those sites wasn't abhorrent — it was — but because security services most closely resemble Internet utilities.

Just as the telephone company doesn't terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we have concluded in consultation with politicians, policy makers, and experts that turning off security services because we think what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy. To be clear, just because we did it in a limited set of cases before doesn’t mean we were right when we did. Or that we will ever do it again.

But that doesn’t mean that Cloudflare can’t play an important role in protecting those targeted by others on the Internet. We have long supported human rights groups, journalists, and other uniquely vulnerable entities online through Project Galileo. Project Galileo offers free cybersecurity services to nonprofits and advocacy groups that help strengthen our communities.

Through the Athenian Project, we also play a role in protecting election systems throughout the United States and abroad. Elections are one of the areas where the systems that administer them need to be fundamentally trustworthy and neutral. Making choices on what content is deserving or not of security services, especially in any way that could in any way be interpreted as political, would undermine our ability to provide trustworthy protection of election infrastructure.

Regulatory realities

Our policies also respond to regulatory realities. Internet content regulation laws passed over the last five years around the world have largely drawn a line between services that host content and those that provide security and conduit services. Even when these regulations impose obligations on platforms or hosts to moderate content, they exempt security and conduit services from playing the role of moderator without legal process. This is sensible regulation borne of a thorough regulatory process.

Our policies follow this well-considered regulatory guidance. We prevent security services from being used by sanctioned organizations and individuals.

We also terminate security services for content which is illegal in the United States — where Cloudflare is headquartered. This includes Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) as well as content subject to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). But, otherwise, we believe that cyberattacks are something that everyone should be free of. Even if we fundamentally disagree with the content.

In respect of the rule of law and due process, we follow legal process controlling security services. We will restrict content in geographies where we have received legal orders to do so. For instance, if a court in a country prohibits access to certain content, then, following that court's order, we generally will restrict access to that content in that country. That, in many cases, will limit the ability for the content to be accessed in the country. However, we recognize that just because content is illegal in one jurisdiction does not make it illegal in another, so we narrowly tailor these restrictions to align with the jurisdiction of the court or legal authority.

While we follow legal process, we also believe that transparency is critically important. To that end, wherever these content restrictions are imposed, we attempt to link to the particular legal order that required the content be restricted. This transparency is necessary for people to participate in the legal and legislative process. We find it deeply troubling when ISPs comply with court orders by invisibly blackholing content — not giving those who try to access it any idea of what legal regime prohibits it. Speech can be curtailed by law, but proper application of the Rule of Law requires whoever curtails it to be transparent about why they have.

Core Internet technology services

While we will generally follow legal orders to restrict security and conduit services, we have a higher bar for core Internet technology services like Authoritative DNS, Recursive DNS/1.1.1.1, and WARP. The challenge with these services is that restrictions on them are global in nature. You cannot easily restrict them just in one jurisdiction so the most restrictive law ends up applying globally.

We have generally challenged or appealed legal orders that attempt to restrict access to these core Internet technology services, even when a ruling only applies to our free customers. In doing so, we attempt to suggest to regulators or courts more tailored ways to restrict the content they may be concerned about.

Unfortunately, these cases are becoming more common where largely copyright holders are attempting to get a ruling in one jurisdiction and have it apply worldwide to terminate core Internet technology services and effectively wipe content offline. Again, we believe this is a dangerous precedent to set, placing the control of what content is allowed online in the hands of whatever jurisdiction is willing to be the most restrictive.

So far, we’ve largely been successful in making arguments that this is not the right way to regulate the Internet and getting these cases overturned. Holding this line we believe is fundamental for the healthy operation of the global Internet. But each showing of discretion across our security or core Internet technology services weakens our argument in these important cases.

Paying versus free

Cloudflare provides both free and paid services across all the categories above. Again, the majority of our customers use our free services and pay us nothing.

Although most of the concerns we see in our abuse process relate to our free customers, we do not have different moderation policies based on whether a customer is free versus paid. We do, however, believe that in cases where our values are diametrically opposed to a paying customer that we should take further steps to not only not profit from the customer, but to use any proceeds to further our companies’ values and oppose theirs.

For instance, when a site that opposed LGBTQ+ rights signed up for a paid version of DDoS mitigation service we worked with our Proudflare employee resource group to identify an organization that supported LGBTQ+ rights and donate 100 percent of the fees for our services to them. We don't and won't talk about these efforts publicly because we don't do them for marketing purposes; we do them because they are aligned with what we believe is morally correct.

Rule of Law

While we believe we have an obligation to restrict the content that we host ourselves, we do not believe we have the political legitimacy to determine generally what is and is not online by restricting security or core Internet services. If that content is harmful, the right place to restrict it is legislatively.

We also believe that an Internet where cyberattacks are used to silence what's online is a broken Internet, no matter how much we may have empathy for the ends. As such, we will look to legal process, not popular opinion, to guide our decisions about when to terminate our security services or our core Internet technology services.

In spite what some may claim, we are not free speech absolutists. We do, however, believe in the Rule of Law. Different countries and jurisdictions around the world will determine what content is and is not allowed based on their own norms and laws. In assessing our obligations, we look to whether those laws are limited to the jurisdiction and consistent with our obligations to respect human rights under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

There remain many injustices in the world, and unfortunately much content online that we find reprehensible. We can solve some of these injustices, but we cannot solve them all. But, in the process of working to improve the security and functioning of the Internet, we need to make sure we don’t cause it long-term harm.

We will continue to have conversations about these challenges, and how best to approach securing the global Internet from cyberattack. We will also continue to cooperate with legitimate law enforcement to help investigate crimes, to donate funds and services to support equality, human rights, and other causes we believe in, and to participate in policy making around the world to help preserve the free and open Internet.

Source

The redesigned Start menu is arguably one of the most divisive features in Windows 11. However, Microsoft believes that it is a great piece of engineering and provides an amazing user experience, something that it regularly advertises to consumers. However, it is interesting to know that a former Microsoft executive who is quite authoritative in this domain isn't a fan of Windows 11's Start menu either.

As spotted by WinFuture.de, Microsoft's ex-Director of User Experiences Jensen Harris - who spent five years in this role out of the over 16 years he spent at the company in total, leaving in 2014 - has slammed the UX of Windows 11's Start menu on Twitter, saying that he is "shocked" by the design:

The Twitter thread is quite long and if you want, you can view it in full by clicking the embedded tweet above. However, we will explain some of his grievances directly in this article.

Harris claims that the banner advertisement for the Bing Wallpaper app looks like a virus, has a dated background color choice, and the text is misaligned too. Additionally, the left side of the banner has a rounded corner while the right has straight edges. The former executive went on to say that:

The bigger issue here though: why are there banner ads in the Start menu? Is the amount of $ made by this wallpaper app worth cheapening the experience people have in this very high-touch piece of UI? It erodes trust—I wasn't even searching for "wallpaper." Which brings me to:

Great UI should help people achieve a task with minimum friction. But the next section down (referring to the "Switch to the browser recommended by Microsoft" section) is expressly designed to introduce friction into my experience. It's the largest UI in the Start menu, and it's designed specifically to distract me away from achieving my intended task.

Moreover, the "Open results in browser" hovering button at the bottom is covering two buttons below it. There are other inconsistencies that Harris has highlighted too:

Harris then dived into the history of the Start menu and how the previous iterations were built with so much thought and effort put into the intricacies of the design:

Design matters. Details matter. Especially in UI as iconic as the Windows Start menu. I remember the team creating a special ligature in the Segoe UI font (used in Windows) to make "S" and "t" align beautifully for the word "Start". That's how important Start was to Microsoft.

Microsoft has many brilliant designers who care deeply about the work they do—I worked with many who are still there! It just comes down to a question of what you prioritize. User experience needs to be architected with as much intensity as you architect your tech investments.

Finally, Harris has concluded his thread by saying that he's not a fan of the Start menu being moved to the center too as it also goes against the recommendations of Fitt's Law. That said, our readers should know that you can left-align the Taskbar/Start menu, if you want.

Overall, it's clear that Harris isn't a fan of the revamped Start menu and he is making his feelings known to the public. Obviously, he doesn't hold a position at Microsoft anymore so he can't directly influence the design process at the company, but it's interesting to see that a person who is more of an authority on Windows 11's design than regular consumers isn't a fan of the new UX either.

Do you agree with Harris or do you think that the Windows 11's Start menu isn't as bad as he claims it is? Let us know in the comments section below!

Via: WinFuture.de

Microsoft's ex-User Experience chief is "shocked" by poor design of Windows 11's Start menu

Mozilla Firefox 104.0.1 is now available on supported platforms with a single fix in the changelog:

• Addresses an issue with Youtube video playback that was affecting some users.

Like every other modern browser, Firefox updates itself in the background without requiring any action from the user. If you need to force-update Firefox to version 104.0.1, open the About Mozilla Firefox window (Open the main menu and go to Help > About Firefox) and wait for the browser to download and apply available updates.

In case you missed it, Mozilla released Firefox 104 a week ago. The update improves energy consumption by throttling the browser's user interface when minimized or not in focus. Our recent tests revealed that Firefox lags behind its competitors in terms of energy efficiency, so improvements in this area are welcome.

You can learn more about all changes in Firefox 104 in our dedicated coverage.

Firefox 104.0.1 is out, fixes YouTube freezing issues

Frontpaged:  Mozilla Firefox Browser 104.0.1

Chrome 105 packs a lot of changes on the backend. One of those is User Agent Client Hints which is an API that exposes information about device activity and conditions so that developers can make their webpages respond to various hardware dynamically. With the release of Chrome 100 back in March, Google cautioned web developers that they had until March 2023 to migrate to this Client Hints API instead of depending on user-agent strings.

As such, the criticism of the Clients Hints API is not new but Chrome 105 makes some changes to it where developers can request information about the height of the browser window displaying the content. Previously, this API only exposed width information of the viewport, but Google believes that fetching the height would be useful as well to make sure that height-constrained images on webpages display properly. The syntax for Client Hints delegation is being changed too, in response to developer feedback.

Google has highlighted a thread dating back to 2020 where Apple's WebKit team has cited concerns with the Client Hints API being used to fingerprint users. Excerpts from the thread are attached below:

I may be misreading the spec, but as written getHighEntropyValues seems to give access to all of the high entropy client hints to third-party scripts in the first party context, and scripts running in third-party iframes, regardless of which ones the site has opted into via the relevant HTTP header.

[...] We’re currently deeply skeptical of implementing any of the other client hints due to their expansion of fingerprinting surface, so I don’t feel particularly compelled by that precedent. That said, it’s likely the other client hints have this same problem, where they expose fingerprinting surface way more widely than they may be intending to. That would be a huge problem, as it would grant a lot of active fingerprinting surface unnecessarily.

[...] My understanding is that feature policy applies at the frame level, and therefore could not be used to control what happens when a third-party script in a first party context calls the API. Even for third-party iframes, it seems like Feature Policy could only default-deny this JS API entirely, and would not be able to filter the results down to the set delegated via HTTP headers (or otherwise). Maybe you intend a feature policy per individual high entropy hint, but first of all that seems like overkill, and second, the spec is clearly not written to support such filtering. So no, it would not address the concerns. I think the best approach is to limit the hints to those opted into (or, in case of a third-party frame, delegated). That or remove the script API entirely. The origin-based delegation model that works well at the HTTP level is not well aligned with the widespread practice of including third-party scripts in the top frame. The spec does not even allow denying the request entirely as written. A non-normative Note suggests that is allowed, but I can’t find any step in the algorithm that would ever reject the promise.

In case you're wondering why Apple's thoughts on Chrome are even important, that is because web developers ideally want to write code that is consistent and compatible across all browsers. As such, when it comes to a new feature, a buy-in from major browser vendors is important. A rejection of a feature from a vendor would mean that developers would either ditch the feature completely or write specific code for that browser to ensure compatibility and behavior across platforms.

There are other notable changes too, though not quite so controversial. The use of WebSQL in non-secure contexts is being deprecated because it's a legacy spec from 2009 that Apple abandoned in 2019 and Mozilla didn't even implement it. Other removed features in Chrome 105 include Gesture Scroll DOM events which were never meant to be released and the ability to use the "default" CSS keyword in custom identifiers.

A global event handler called "onbeforeinput" has been introduced too, and it has support from Apple, Mozilla, and web developers. In the same vein, another new feature that enjoys support from developers is explicit marking of resources that should be blocked from rendering.

Other capabilities shipping with Chrome 105 are Container Queries for more consisting styling for elements, two pseudo class selectors (1, 2), a way to access the TransformStreamDefaultController class more easily, and some new methods for navigation classes (1, 2), along with some behavioral changes for fixed elements during overscrolling.

Another thing that will make developers using the File System Access API very happy is the ability to get a writable directory in the same prompt as the readable directory. Previously, this only returned the latter which caused confusion and permission fatigue for the user. In the same vein, a fetch upload streaming method has been introduced so developers don't have to write messy code on the WebSocket to achieve the same purpose. Additionally, an MVP version of the Sanitizer API is being shipped as well, it enables developers to build XSS-free web applications in an easier fashion by transferring some maintenance burden to the platform.

Major changes are being made to the audio input and output mechanisms. Streaming and video conferencing applications should now explicitly request to receive non-system audio. There is also a new method to resolve imported URLs, and a Media Source Extensions (MSE) API, described as follows:

Web authors have consistently requested that MSE be available from Worker contexts. In the absence of such mechanisms, web authors are forced to perform all operations on the MSE API on the main Window context. Especially when the main context is busy servicing other application logic, these restrictions can significantly impair the user experience. For example, even if an app uses Worker contexts to fetch media to feed to MSE, such feeding must still occur on the main context, resulting in delayed media playback start and recurring playback stalls in extreme cases when the playback reaches points in the presentation timeline for which the app has been unable to buffer enough media.

The original proposal included text to support "early open" using a new MediaSourceHandle object. The subsequent discussion, simplification and experimental implementation drop "early open" and MediaSourceHandle from this initial work since those are both significant complexities that can be decoupled and incubated in follow-on features.

Furthermore, it's now easier to create a JSON response. Worklet loading is now reported to Resource Timing for more transparency too.

While that is all for generally available features, there are quite a few capabilities locked behind developer flags as well. These include throttling all timers (including DOM timers) to 125Hz, which should encourage developers to migrate to better and more power-efficient alternatives. Other interesting capabilities include anonymous iframe objects (read all the technical details here), removal of the merchant identity from the "canmakepayment" service worker event, and exposing the WebHID API to extension service workers.

In addition to being available on Android already, Prerender 2 for Desktop is now being implemented for the sake of feature parity too. Those who play games on their Android handset using gamepads will be very happy to know that the Gamepad API will be able to take advantage of haptic feedback options like trigger-rumble and dual-rumble (Android 12+ only). Finally, Chrome 105 also has an implementation of TLS Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) for improved privacy behind a flag, similar to Microsoft Edge.

As you might have surmised by the length of this article, Chrome 105 is a major update. It will start rolling out in the later hours of today. If Chrome does not automatically update to version 105 for you throughout the course of the day, head over to Help > About Google Chrome to trigger the update once it becomes available. Next up is Chrome 106 which will hit the Beta channel on September 1, and will land on Stable on September 27.

Google Chrome 105 is shipping today despite Apple's privacy concerns

Frontpaged:   Google Chrome 105.0.5195.54

Here is the official changelog for CPU-Z 2.02:

• AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X, Ryzen 5 7600X.
• AMD X670E/B650 chipsets.
• AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (Navi 21 KXTX), RX 6750 XT (Navi 22 KXT), RX 6650 XT (Navi 23 KXT) and RX 6400 (Navi 24 XL).
• Preliminary support of AMD EXPO memory overclocking profiles.
• Intel Z790 platform.
• Intel Xeon Platinum, Gold and Silver "Ice Lake-SP" (10nm, FCLGA4189).

@momomo_us uncovered in the CPU-Z files several unannounced processors from the Ryzen 7000 line-up. According to the finding, AMD is preparing non-X variants of the Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7900X.

Besides displaying information about the hardware inside your computer, CPU-Z has a built-in benchmark for measuring single and multi-thread CPU performance. According to AMD, Ryzen 7000 processors deliver up to 1% instruction-per-clock uplift compared to the Zen3-based models. Perhaps, the updated version of the CPU-Z can show more impressive results.

You can download CPU-Z 2.02 from the official CPUID website.

CPU-Z 2.02 adds support for AMD Ryzen 7000 Series alongside some unannounced models

Frontpaged:   CPU-Z 2.02

Intel Wi-Fi driver version 22.160.0 is now available from the official website. The latest release supports Windows 10 and 11 (no Windows 7 and 8 support since version 21.50.1) on systems with the following Intel Wireless Adapters: Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6, 9000, 8000, and 7000. Here is the changelog:

• Driver package 22.160.0 has been validated to support Microsoft Windows 11 22H2.

Fixed bugs:

• Throughput performance occurs after resuming from hibernate when using Intel® Wi-Fi 6 wireless adapters.
• When using a PC with an Intel® Wi-Fi 6 wireless adapter in hotspot mode, some Android devices might experience degraded downlink throughput performance.
• When roaming from a 2.4 GHz network to a 5 GHz network with a different SSID, the PC may fail to obtain an IP address.

For now, only the Wi-Fi driver has received Windows 11 22H2 support, but you can expect Intel to provide the same treatment for its Bluetooth driver.

Intel is not the only company preparing its drivers for the Windows 11 22H2 update (rumored to arrive on September 20). AMD recently released a new chipset driver optimized for the latest operating system from Microsoft too.

Intel releases Wi-Fi drivers optimized for Windows 11 22H2

One of the key features highlighted by Microsoft is the integration of flagged emails, which automatically generates a Flagged email list within To Do and the email can be opened directly from the task to keep the items linked together. If this isn't automatically visible, it can be enabled through To Do Settings > Connected Apps > Turn on Flagged email toggle.

Furthermore, To Do will also support integration with Microsoft Planner, allowing all assigned tasks to show in the Assigned to me list. To Do also integrates with the different theming options within Microsoft 365, and dark mode can be enabled by setting the Outlook theme to Black.

To Do will be available in the following versions of the Microsoft 365 Current Channel:

• Current Channel Version 2201 (Build 14827.200000) or later: available through enabling the Coming Soon toggle in the top right.
• Current Channel Version 2207 (Build 15427:20000) or later: available by default - some users may need to enable the Coming Soon toggle in the top right until the feature has fully rolled out).

Users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription who have a license for the Microsoft To Do app will be able to access it directly from the vertical menu bar along the left of the folder pane alongside the email and calendar icons.

Microsoft To Do is now rolling out to Outlook for Windows

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.

In Windows 7, 8, 10, and Windows 11 (off by default in 10 & 11) there is a feature called “Aero shake”.

Aero Shake allows you to hold down the left mouse button as if you were going to drag a window but instead quickly shake the window back and forth.

Doing so will minimize all the windows displayed on the screen(s). Shaking it again restores all the windows.

Windows 10

For Aero Shake to work in Windows 10, "Snap Windows" must be enabled. Here is how to check to make sure it's enabled.

Click Start > Settings > System > Multitasking > On the right look under "Snap Windows" and make sure it's enabled.

Windows 11 also has this feature but it’s off by default, if you wish to try it here is how you turn it on.

In Windows 11 Click Start > Settings > System > Multitasking and then turn on “Title bar window shake”

Happy Computing!

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

Do the “Aero Shake” on Warwagon's Tech Tip Tuesday

Microsoft has been releasing monthly updates for the feature, and it generally brings new features. For example, the July update (version 2205.40000.14.0) added AV1 codec, VPN support, and more. Meanwhile, the August update (version 2206.40000.15.0) brought gaming-focused changes, graphics improvements, among others.

The new WSA 2207.40000.8.0 release expands the gamepad with keyboard options that were introduced in the previous release. Now it has additional features related to gamepad and keyboard settings. This could mean Microsoft is looking to appeal to more gamers out there who enjoy playing Android games, which also happen to be some of the most popular games out there.

There could be more changes under the hood, that we can be sure of once Microsoft releases a changelog for the new update. That shouldn't be too long now, since we are already at the end of August.

Source: IT Home

Microsoft quietly releases the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) 2207.40000.8.0 update

Dynamic wallpapers are one of those neat personalization options Windows lacks compared to macOS. Apple's desktop operating system has different wallpapers that adapt to the current time, creating an immersive and beautiful desktop background.

Even though there were rumors about Microsoft implementing similar capabilities in Windows, dynamic wallpapers are currently possible only with the help of a third-party app called WinDynamicDesktop. Today, it received an update to version 5.1.0 with new wallpapers and improvements.

Here is the changelog for the latest release:

• Added Ventura Abstract theme
• Added dropdown in theme download dialog to select alternate mirrors that may be faster
• Added "Hide system tray icon" to menu which hides tray icon until the next time the app is manually launched
• Added Estonian translation (thanks ST)
• Fixed error when applying settings and there is no active theme (#457)
• Fixed theme not updating on displays that were connected when device is sleeping
• Fixed error when theme download is cancelled
• Fixed PowerShell scripts being invoked multiple times with the same arguments
• Fixed incorrect theme name shown in bold when there is no active theme

Another thing worth mentioning is that version 5.1 ditched the Sync Virtual Desktops script responsible for changing wallpapers on all your virtual desktops. The developer says the script uses an experimental API, which is "too unstable to support." Still, users can restore the deleted feature by installing the script via this link.

WinDynamicDesktop is a free app you can download from the Microsoft Store or GitHub. It contains many free dynamic wallpapers (mostly from macOS), plus users can buy additional packs from the app's repository. Alternatively, you can download macOS Ventura wallpapers without installing third-party apps. There is even a Ventura-inspired mod of the stock Windows 11 "Bloom" wallpaper.

WinDynamicDesktop 5.1 brings macOS Ventura dynamic wallpapers to Windows

Inserting images into cells instead of floating on top unlocks many new scenarios, such as tracking inventories, creating employee dashboards, or building games and brackets. In addition to mere image insertion, the IMAGE function supports additional properties for better customization and accessibility. You can add alt text and specify size, width, and height.

To insert image into a cell, type =IMAGE(source). Here is an example: =IMAGE(“https://support.content.office.net/en-us/media/2d9e717a-0077-438f-8e5e-f85a1305d4ad.jpg”, “Sphere”).

Note that the IMAGE function has several limitations and known issues:

• If the URL to the image file you are using is pointing to a site that requires authentication, the image will not render.
• Zooming in and out with images in cells may distort the images.
• Moving between platforms (for example, Windows and Mac) may result in irregular image rendering.

To try the new function, update Excel on your device to version 2209 (build 15608.10000) on Windows, 16.65 (build 22080701) on macOS, 2.65 (build 22080701) on iOS, or 16.0.15608.10000 on Android. Keep in mind that Microsoft rolls out new features over time to ensure everything works as it should and to prevent the spread of potential bugs.

You can learn how to join the Office Insider program on its official website.

Excel gets new function for inserting images into cells

His point was that software was the new engine of value creation.

“My own theory is that we are in the middle of a dramatic and broad technological and economic shift, in which software companies are poised to take over large swathes of the economy,” Andreesen wrote.

The article details a variety of examples in which digital companies, such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Spotify, have achieved a dominant position powered by software and digital products. The article defines software rather loosely, asserting that companies use software to trade in digital assets and dramatically expand the use of data and automation are the new winners.

Andreesen was right. Software-powered companies have and are eating the world. Though, his analysis focuses on large companies winning considerable victories with industrial-scale software. The software he points to that ate the world was a product of elite engineering teams and layers upon layers of complex platforms.

In my view, we are entering a new era in which software will continue to eat the world, but in a far broader and more distributed way. It won’t just be the most famous or largest companies that achieve digital victories. We will find that in almost every business, the use of software will boom to increase efficiency, bring new awareness and expand automation.

This will never happen if this software can only be created by elite engineering teams.

The way that software will eat the rest of the world will be through low-code and no-code methods, but that’s not all. Much of the software that Andreesen points to as having eaten the world will itself be eaten by low-code methods.

In short, if software is eating the world, then low code is eating software.

Let’s review what exactly I mean and explain why this is happening.

Low-code basics

Low code makes the process of creating applications much easier. It is important to remember that modern low-code systems are just this era’s model for the intelligent application of core concepts of computer science.

If you’ve been around the enterprise software and computer science world for a while, you know that the idea of simplified coding that takes over the world of software development is not new. Domain-specific languages are one form of this idea. SAP created ABAP and Salesforce invented Apex as domain-specific languages to make it easier to code their applications and separate them from underlying implementation details. Going way back, so are fourth generation languages. Going even farther, we can point to IBM’s RPG as a form of low code.

Low code, in simple terms, is the capability to build and automate applications of a certain type rapidly. No code is the ability to customize an application purely through configuration settings.

Low code, in simple terms, is the capability to build and automate applications of a certain type rapidly. No code is the ability to customize an application purely through configuration settings.

The “code” in the term low code is the key to understanding its power. Unlike a traditional high-code language like Java or Python or C, in which you can almost code anything you want, in a low-code world, the code exists to provide just enough ability to adapt an application of a certain type.

The “low” in the term suggests that the amount of coding to adapt an application should be small compared to the amount of code needed to implement the application in a high-code manner. The “low” also means simplicity, it is easier to use low-code methods.

The “of a certain type” part of the definition is also important. Low-code development systems aren’t built to do anything. Low-code development environments focus on particular types of applications and provide building blocks that do much of the work to implement that type of application.

Once low-code applications are created, they can be changed and adapted to ever-evolving requirements faster than high-code methods. Low-code applications also require less maintenance, meaning lower technical debt. Modern low-code applications created using platforms from companies like Appian are proven to be enterprise-grade in terms of scalability, reliability and performance.

There is a tradeoff. Low-code applications are focused on creating specific types of applications. When a low-code platform matches your needs, then a much larger number of people can participate in creating, maintaining, and evolving applications. This is where the big win comes from, a topic I will return to in a minute.

Expansion of services creates leverage

Low-code development platforms are more relevant and powerful than ever because we live in a world that is full of abstractions and services. Low code allows us to access services and create new applications with much less effort.

The most advanced low-code development platforms have a full stack of capabilities required for creating enterprise applications. For example, most low-code development platforms have a simplified way to define a user experience. This abstract definition is then rendered into user interfaces that are delivered on numerous devices.

On a modern low-code platform, a developer can define one user experience (UX) using the abstraction and then find that the application will work on the web, on desktops, on tablets, and on mobile devices without any additional effort. The low-code applications have to live with the power of the abstractions the platforms provide. That’s the cost, but as the platforms have matured, that cost has become lower and lower.

The collection of abstractions for UX, data, and process automation are extended by various types of application components for case management, legacy modernization, collaboration, and so on. Low-code also excels at orchestrating services from many systems to add higher levels of automation and process control.

Ray Kurzweil points out in his explanation of the exponential growth of technology how acceleration takes place at faster and faster rates as more and more powerful services are orchestrated. (See this article on Technology Leverage for more detail.)

Ray Kurzweil points out in his explanation of the exponential growth of technology how acceleration takes place at faster and faster rates as more and more powerful services are orchestrated.

Now that software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools have become widespread and API-enabled, a rich landscape of services exists. Even small or medium-sized companies have lots of SaaS applications that act as systems of record and perform essential transactional functions such as accepting or making payments.

Low code unlocks the power of all of these services with much less effort than high-code approaches.

The expanded services landscape also makes a much wider set of data available. Low-code applications can access and distill this data to create much more detailed models of business activity, which can be the foundation of better analytics and increased automation.

For certain functions, low-code methods are also being used to create services that can be used by the platform or by external consumers. High code methods can always be used to create new services that can be plugged into the low-code environment.

Low-code development platforms are constantly evolving. Process mining, conversational artificial intelligence (AI), AI and machine learning (ML) modeling, and new forms of data storage such as graph and document databases are showing up in low-code platforms.

As time goes on, low-code development platforms will be more and more powerful.

The superpower of low code: Increased productivity

The fact that coding is simpler has several profound effects on productivity. Specifically, low-code development platforms:

•  Expand the number of people who can code. This is a claim that must be made carefully. Low code doesn’t mean that everyone can now create advanced software. However, it does mean that people who could never create high-code apps can create simple low-code apps, and these can be hugely helpful.

•  Improve productivity of advanced developers. Developers using low-code methods can get more done than using high-code methods for numerous types of applications.

•  Reduce maintenance burden. Low-code software generally is easier to maintain over time than high-code methods because much of the complexity is managed by the platform. The simplified applications dramatically reduce technical debt.

•  Improved user experience and satisfaction. Standards and design principles enforced by low-code platforms avoid many errors and provide a pleasing experience as well as make applications automatically work on a phone, a tablet, a laptop, or a desktop without modification.

•  Better TCO and ROI. All of these improvements to productivity lead to better TCO and ROI for low-code applications.

Now that low-code methods have become more powerful, increasingly low-code apps are being managed not like one-off spreadsheets but like the key software assets they are. Like other software assets, they are being created with test suites and source code management techniques, and advanced operational logging and monitoring. In other words, low-code apps have become real-software, not just departmental toys. As this maturity is recognized, more and more developers and enterprises will consider low-code platforms for their applications.
Low code will eat high code

The economics of the low-code development platforms will be one of the main engines driving their adoption. Low-code development will eat software because it will be the cost-effective and efficient way to create the applications the world needs.

People with a need for an application will face the following choices:

•  Build with high code methods

•  Buy a product if one exists

•  Build on a low-code development platform

•  Buy a product built on a low-code development platform

The difficulty of high code and the lack of fit for many products will drive people to low-code methods. Many of the low-code platforms now come with a huge number of components and templates to accelerate development.

As low-code development platforms have matured and the number of services has grown, low code fits many more problems. Low code expands the pool of people that can solve them.

The number of new components and techniques available through low-code development platforms such as process mining, conversational AI, and others mentioned above, continues to grow. Low-code platforms will become a safe and low-cost way to experiment with new technologies.

Using low code is a tradeoff. Developers accept the limits of the environment, hoping that the simplified coding methods still allow them to create the application they require. Low-code systems can do much more than they could in the past. Low code will eat software because the trade-off becomes less and less painful as low-code systems become more and more powerful.

Tarun Khatri is the cofounder, executive director and head of the Appian practice at Xebia.

Source

Before that, Chrome users will notice that the tabs of the browser shrink so much that even the site's icon is no longer displayed, let alone the title of the webpage.

Google implemented several techniques in the past year to address this. The most prominent feature is Tab Groups, which Chrome users may use to create collapsing tab groups in the browser to have more tabs open in it without experiencing any of the described issues.

Tab Scrolling is another feature. It is still experimental, but available in Chrome Stable and all development editions of the browser. When enabled, it unlocks tab scrolling, which Chrome does not support by default.

Tab Scrolling may have a positive side effect: it limits the minimum width of browser tabs in Chrome. Once configured, tabs in Chrome won't be reduced to blank icons anymore in the extreme case.

Configure Tab Scrolling and a minimum tab width in Chrome

Note: Tab scrolling is an experimental feature. It may be integrated in Chrome natively one day, or it may be removed again by Google.

Here is how you configure the feature:

1. Load chrome://flags/#scrollable-tabstrip in the browser's address bar.
2. Activate the status button, reading Default, to display the available options.
3. Select one of the following values to set a minimum tab width in Chrome:
   • Enabled - tabs shrink to pinned tab width
   • Enabled - tabs shrink to medium width.
   • Enabled - tabs shrink to large width.
   • Enabled - tabs don't shrink.
4. Restart the browser once you have made the selection.

You may need to experiment with the medium and large width tabs values, as Google does not reveal pixel values for those. If you don't want Chrome to shrink tabs at all, select the don't value to prevent that from happening.

tabs medium width

The flag enables tab scrolling as well. Once you open a number of tabs in Chrome, scroll buttons appear on the right side of the tab bar. These can be used to scroll the available tabs.

The one downside to using tab scrolling is that some tabs may not be visible on the tab bar, as you need to scroll to make them visible.

Now You: tab groups, tab scrolling, or something else? How do you manage tabs?

How to set a minimum tab width in Google Chrome

Both updates mention Server Message Block (SMB) compression improvements in their changelog but don't really go into the details. Fortunately, Microsoft's Ned Pyle has talked about all the enhancements that SMB compression is getting in a dedicated blog post.

For those unaware, SMB compression in client-server environments allows admins, users, and applications to request file compression as content is being transferred over the network. The benefit of this approach is obviously the reduced consumption of bandwidth but it comes at the cost of increased CPU usage as the hardware attempts to compress and decompress files as they are being transferred over the network. If that still doesn't make SMB compression and its use clear enough to you, try checking out the embedded video below:

Up until the arrival of KB5016691 and KB5016693, SMB compression behaved in a weird way, to say the least. Basically, it utilized a default algorithm which attempted compression only on the first 500MiB (Note: 1MB = 1000KB but 1MiB = 1024KB) of a file, any content smaller than this threshold would never be compressed, even if it was very "compressible".

And there was an additional caveat too. During its reading of the first 500MiB of a file, if the algorithm detected that less than 100MiB of the file could be compressed, it would not attempt to compress the rest of the file at all. Imagine there is a 10GiB file that is extremely compressible but only 80MiB of the first 500MiB can be compressed, the SMB compression algorithm would just give up compressing the file altogether and you'd end up sending pretty much the same 10GiB over the network. The only way to force-compress would be to override certain default registry settings, and editing those isn't really what you should do unless you know exactly what you are doing.

It's a very odd behavior and one that has likely impacted a lot of use-cases. However, the good news is that Microsoft is doing away with the restrictions in the algorithm completely. Essentially, SMB compression will now try its best to compress any and all files that you request compression for.

Obviously, that does not mean that SMB compression should be used in every use-case. Pyle has highlighted that some formats like JPG, ZIP, and DOCX are already compressed but the removal of these restrictions will certainly benefit other formats like VHDX, ISO, and DMP, among others.

Microsoft isn't just stopping here, though. It is introducing new PowerShell, Group Policy, and registry settings that make it easier to control the two behaviors. All those details and associated commands are mentioned in the blog here, if you're interested.

Microsoft is significantly improving SMB compression in Windows 11, here is how

Microsoft later explained in detail how such technologies like TPM 2.0 and Virtualization-based Security (VBS) took the security aspect of Windows 11 to the next level, and also demonstrated successful hacker attack on a system with TPM and other such security features disabled.

In case you are wondering when exactly the Redmond giant started adding in these requirements on Windows 10, Twitter user and prolific leakster Xeno spotted the change within the Build 21327 for the first time. This was available in the appraiserres.dll in the Windows 10 build 21327.

Speaking of the appraiserres DLL file, there's a workaround available for bypassing the system requirements check on Windows 11 which basically involved deleting this file.

Windows 11 TPM, Secure Boot requirements get unearthed in old Windows 10 build

As Google carries out the needlessly complex process of combining both the Meet and Duo apps, now it’s throwing a feature copied from Zoom in the mix. In an update on the Google Workspace blog, the company announced that Google Meet will soon give you the ability to unmute yourself by holding down the spacebar and to mute yourself again by releasing it.

If you frequently use Zoom, this feature might sound a lot like its push-to-talk feature — and that’s because it’s essentially the same thing. Zoom obviously didn’t revolutionize this feature (we have walkie-talkies to thank for that), but it conveniently makes it available during video conferences, which comes in handy whenever you want to chime in during a meeting but don’t want to stay unmuted for long. Cisco’s Webex has a similar capability, and while Microsoft Teams widely launched a Walkie Talkie feature earlier this year, it’s not something you can use during video conferences.

Google says it'll start rolling out its own version of the shortcut to all Workspace users on September 9th, but it could take up to 15 days for you to see it. Once it arrives, it won’t be turned on by default, so you’ll have to enable it from Google Meet’s settings.

Confusingly, Google’s efforts to merge Duo and Meet have left us with the new Meet app (the one that combines both Duo and Meet), the old Meet (Original) app, and a Duo shortcut that leads to Meet. It’s truly something only Google could think up. That said, I’m pretty sure the new push-to-talk feature’s coming to the new Google Meet app, but it’s still not exactly clear whether it’s coming to the Meet (Original) app, as Google will eventually discontinue it. The Verge reached out to Google to see if it could clear things up but didn’t immediately hear back.

Update August 28th, 2:15PM ET: Updated to clarify that Zoom wasn’t the first to create push-to-talk, and that some other services use similar features.

Google Meet is stealing Zoom’s trick to easily unmute

In a world where Valve’s Proton dominates gaming headlines, it's hard to remember that it would be nothing without the forward progress of Wine. Wine 7.16 was released this morning, breaking with its tradition of releasing every other Friday. It's the latest on the march toward 8.0 which is due out later this year. Thankfully, we don't have to wait for version 8.0 to benefit from lots of meaningful fixes. So, how will this affect Steam Deck, HoloISO, and Chimera OS gamers? Well, let’s cover the boring bits first.

• Wow64 support in X11 driver
• Session storage in MSHTML
• Unicode regexp fixes in MSXML
• IME improvements in Edit control
• Various bug fixes

Support for WoW64, Microsoft’s 64-bit compatibility layer for 32-bit applications, has been introduced into the X11 driver. If you’re a Steam Deck gaming mode user, this change won’t affect you when the changes are merged upstream to Proton.

Now, on to the gaming-related fixes. If you’re trying to play the latest Saint’s Row, a bug is fixed where the game crashes on error “unimplemented function kernel32.dll.SetProcessDefaultCpuSets”. Though it’s worth noting the community has already produced a workaround.

Ragnarok Online sees a fix with a false positive related to detection of anti-cheat. A Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain bug is now fixed and progress past the chapter one intro is now possible. Finally, fixes to the beloved Star Citizen prevent the launcher from freezing due to a heap space issue. There are a lot of fixes for other non-gaming Windows-y stuff, and you can check out those changes at WineHQ.

Source: WineHQ

Wine 7.16 arrives two days late, brings game enhancements

One of the main improvements of VirtualBox 7 is that it supports Windows 11 officially. VirtualBox users who tried to install Windows 11 in previous versions of VirtualBox may have run into hardware compatibility verification issues. While there are ways around those, it has been a burden.

VirtualBox 7 improves the Windows 11 setup experience as well. Besides the improved setup screen, which makes the selection of the local folder for the VM and the ISO image easier, it is supporting unattended setups.

It is possible to skip the unattended installation by checking the box on the first page of setup. Unattended installation support allows users to add a user account right away, enter a product key, set up a hostname and domain name, and enable Virtual Box Guest Additions.

If the host supports the requirements of Windows 11, the installer in the VirtualBox environment won't throw the unsupported error message anymore during installation; this speeds up the installation of virtual Windows 11 systems significantly.

VirtualBox 7 includes a number of additional improvements. Oracle classifies VirtualBox 7.0.0 as a maintenance release:

• Audio recording: Now using Vorbis as the default audio format for WebM containers. Opus
is no longer being used.
• Audio: Added “default” host driver type to make it possible to move VMs (appliances)
between different platforms without the need of changing the audio driver explicitly. When
the “default” driver is selected, the best audio backend option for a platform will be used.
This is the default for newly created VMs.
• Guest Control: Implemented initial support for automatic updating of Guest Additions for
Linux guests
• Guest Control: Implemented ability to wait for and/or reboot the guest when updating
Guest Additions via VBoxManage
• VBoxManage: Added Guest Control “waitrunlevel” sub-command to make it possible to
wait for a guest to reach a certain run level
• Windows hosts: Added experimental support of running autostarted VMs in session 0, to
allow running VMS even when a usser is not being logged in (disabled by default, please
consult the manual)
• Audio: Added “default” host driver type to make it possible to move VMs (appliances)
between different platforms without the need of changing the audio driver explicitly. When
the “default” driver is selected, the best audio backend option for a platform will be used.
This is the default for newly created VMs.
• Guest Control: Implemented initial support for automatic updating of Guest Additions for
Linux guests
• Guest Control: Implemented ability to wait for and/or reboot the guest when updating
Guest Additions via VBoxManage
• VBoxManage: Added Guest Control “waitrunlevel” sub-command to make it possible to
wait for a guest to reach a certain run level
• Windows hosts: Added experimental support of running autostarted VMs in session 0, to
allow running VMS even when a usser is not being logged in (disabled by default, please
consult the manual)

The company has not revealed yet when VirtualBox 7.0.0 Final will be available.

Now You: do you use virtualization software? (via Deskmodder)

Oracle VirtualBox 7 Beta adds support for Windows 11

For Excel users, Microsoft has reduced fragmenting of conditional formatting rules across a contiguous cell range when pasting copied cells into that cell range. It is not a major change, but it will certainly be useful for many users. You can read the complete official changelog to learn more about what’s new in Excel and what’s been fixed in the latest Insider build.

Changelog

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.

In other Office news, Microsoft recently released a plethora of new features for Current Channel subscribers on Windows, including better messaging regarding PivotTable compatibility, 14 new text and array functions to Excel to help you supercharge your spreadsheets, more insights into people in your organization with LinkedIn data in Outlook, and more. The updated Outlook will now show the public LinkedIn profile information where available, and the best part is that it does not need you to connect your accounts to do that.

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 Insider Version 2209 (Build 15619.20000) for Windows users

You can find the highlights of the new KB5016688 update below:

•  Addresses an issue that might cause some game installations to fail because of a licensing issue.
•  Addresses an issue that affects the icon colors of the list in the Search app.
•  Addresses an issue that might cause error 0x1E when you shut down or restart a device.
•  Addresses a known issue that causes Microsoft Edge to stop responding when you use IE mode. This issue also prevents you from interacting with a dialog.
•  Addresses an issue that causes a subscription activation to fail under certain conditions.

The new update is available on:

•  Windows 10 Enterprise Multi-Session, version 20H2
•  Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, version 20H2
•  Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 20H2
•  Windows 10 on Surface Hub Windows 10, version 21H1, all editions
•  Windows 10, version 21H2, all editions

You can download the update manually from Microsoft Update Catalog here. To know more about this update, head over to the support article on Microsoft's official website here.

Source

Microsoft changed File Explorer in several key areas when it launched the new Windows 11 operating system in 2021. One of the most prominent changes was the introduction of the compact context menu, which File Explorer displays by default.

Tip: here are instructions to restore the classic File Explorer context menu in Windows 11.

The change was not the only one, as Microsoft streamlined the main toolbar of File Explorer, which resulted in many items being accessible only after an extra-click or two.

Windows users who had hoped that Microsoft would address these issues in the upcoming feature update will be disappointed. There are other changes though, and the following paragraphs highlight all the important changes in File Explorer.

File Explorer in the Windows 11 2022 Update

Several elements have changed when you open File Explorer. The homepage, the first screen that opens when you launch the file manager, may look similar on first glance. The menubar at the top is identical to the 2021 version, but the sidebar has seen several changes.

Quick Access has been renamed to Home, but the underlying function is still called Quick Access in menus. Microsoft replaced the star icon of Quick Access with a new Home icon to better visualize the change.

In the main area of the homepage, Folders has been renamed to Quick Access. It offers the same functionality, but has been renamed. Files that are pinned are listed under Favorites, a new section of the File Explorer homepage.

Files and folders may be added to the favorites via the context menu. Right-click on a file or folder and select the "add to favorites" entry to add it to the section on the homepage.

Favorites are displayed on the homepage but not in the Quick Access listing of the sidebar.

Search will find files and folders listed under favorites and recent files, even if these are not local files. Files hosted on OneDrive may be returned here.

Home is not the only available entry point when File Explorer is opened. Windows 11 users may open This PC or OneDrive instead.

Here is how that is configured:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Select Menu > Options from the main toolbar at the top (menu is the three dots).
3. Open the menu next to "Open File Explorer to" in the Folder Options window to make the selection:
   • Home: the default selection.
   • This PC: displays Quick Access folders and all connected drives.
   • OneDrive: displays OneDrive content.

OneDrive was missing in the release version of the Windows 11 operating system. Other file synchronization providers may add their services to the menu as well so that users may pick them as the start page when they open File Explorer.

Folder Options list another new feature in Windows 11 2022 Update. The option to display files from Office.com is enabled by default.

Windows 11 users who have no need for that may uncheck "Show files from Office.com" to disable the feature and remove file listings from Office.com.

Folder previews

Then folder preview feature is making a return in the upcoming feature update for Windows 11. Microsoft launched Windows 11 without it.

Basically, what it does is provide a preview of the content of a folder in the folder's icon. If a folder contains images, one of the images may be displayed as a thumbnail in the folder's own icon.

Other file types may show up as previews as well. Applications show up as the default application icon, and Office documents as a preview of one of the documents. Other file types may not show up as previews at all, or with generic icons only.

Still, for Windows 11 users who use File Explorer to browse image or media collections, it may improve the experience.

Shortcuts and the context menu

Microsoft improves the full context menu shortcut in Windows 11 version 22H2. Windows 11 users can use the shortcut Shift-F10 to display the full context menu of the selected file, folder or drive.

In the new feature update, users may also hold down the Shift-key and right-click on an item to display the full context menu right away, bypassing the compact one.

Shift-F10 remains an option for keyboard-only users, but Shift-Right-Click is improving the experience for Windows users who prefer to use the mouse.

The compact right-click context menu displays a few new options when certain items are active. Fonts .inf and .cer files display a new install option in the context menu now to improve the installation process for these.

A right-click on This PC displays the new "Map network drive" and "Disconnect network drive" options, and a right-click on a connected network drive displays disconnect right away now in the new update.

The same options are displayed as well when you right-click This PC in the navigation pane of File Explorer.

Some items of the context menu have new icons.

The new keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-C copies the full path of the selected file or folder to the Clipboard.

Other changes

The Share feature, which is listed as one of the available options in the toolbar, may display contacts, nearby people and apps now. The share menu opens right after selecting share, making it easier to share to users or apps that content is shared with on a regular basis.

The available options depend on whether a local or Microsoft account is used, and which apps are installed on the device.

Tabs in File Explorer

It looks as if tabs won't be a part of the Windows 11 2022 Update, but will be delivered via a smaller update after the release of the first feature update.

Tabs are one of the main features that Microsoft has been working on for a long time. Windows 11 users may open multiple different folders and drives in a single File Explorer when the feature lands, similarly to how tabbed-browsing works in modern web browsers.

Closing words

File Explorer in Windows 11 version 22H2 gets a handful of new features that improve it. The new full context menu shortcut option, folder previews, or the option to display cloud provider content when launching File Explorer need to be mentioned specifically.

The update does not address the usability issues, on the other hand. There are still two context menus that users have to juggle between, and the main toolbar is still hiding options that were accessible right away previously.

Windows 11 version 22H2: file explorer changes

Version 4.08.09.2337 is now available for download from the official website, and it brings official support for Windows 11 version 22H2, with no other changes mentioned.

Before installing, check out the list of known bugs and issues:

• Sometimes custom install fails to upgrade to latest drivers.
• Text alignment issues may be seen on Russian language.
• Manual system restart required on Non-English OS after the installation is complete.
• Windows® Installer pop-up message may appear during the installation.
• Uninstall summary log may incorrectly show uninstall status as fail on non-English OS.

The latest AMD Chipset Driver is available for all motherboards compatible with Zen-based processors (Ryzen, Athlon, and Threadripper) with the following chipsets: A320, B350, X370, B450, X470, X399, A520, B550, X570, TRX40, and WRX80. Although all AM4 and TR4/sTRX4-based motherboards support Windows 11, first-gen Ryzen and Threadripper, seventh-gen AMD A-Series, and Ryzen 2000G do not officially work with Microsoft's newest OS. Still, users can bypass these limitations using a popular utility called Rufus.

Download AMD Ryzen Chipset Driver 4.08.09.2337 for Windows 10 and 11 64-bit here.

AMD releases new chipset driver with official Windows 11 22H2 support

Following this announcement, head to head testing back in November 2021, indeed showed Windows 11 outperforming Linux quite easily thanks to the special optimizations baked into Microsoft's new OS. In fact, it was beating out Windows 10 too, even when using an older Lakefield CPU.

Fast forward to August of 2022 and things are looking quite different than they were previously. Linux has since been optimized further with changes made under the hood to close the gap with Windows 11. The latest test on Ubuntu using Linux kernel version 5.18 shows an Alder Lake-S Core 19-12900K being barely any worse than when compared to a Windows 11 system.

However, further optimizations are still being done according to a new patch by Intel's Linux engineer Ricardo Neri. The new patch basically talks about improving task scheduling between the Bigger P-cores (performance cores) and the Bug E-cores (efficiency cores).

On processors with a mixture of higher-frequency SMT cores and lower- frequency non-SMT cores (such as Intel hybrid processors), a lower- priority CPU pulls tasks from the higher-priority cores if more than one SMT sibling is busy.

Do not use different priorities for each SMT sibling. Instead, tweak the asym_packing load balancer to recognize SMT cores with more than one busy sibling and let lower-priority CPUs pull tasks.

Removing these artificial priorities avoids superfluous migrations and lets lower-priority cores inspect all SMT siblings for the busiest queue.

With this Linux can potentially leave Windows 11 in the dust depending on the kind of improvements the new optimization sees. Besides it will be beneficial either way since Intel's upcoming 13th Gen Raptor Lake as well as future 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs will all be employing the same Performance Hybrid-based design.

Via: Phoronix

Linux could leave Windows 11 in the dust as Intel hybrid CPUs get further optimizations

Windows 11 has seen the Settings panel decorated with fresh animations in a new preview build of the operating system.

As Rafael Rivera, a Microsoft MVP, pointed out on Twitter (via XDA Developers (opens in new tab)), the animated navigation icons are an experiment in build 25188 of Windows 11.

Microsoft is experimenting with the idea of animating Settings navigation icons (vso/feature 34878152, Windows Insider Build 25188)[.]

The Microsoft Design team calls these delightful unexpected moments of joy with purpose https://t.co/rUIi924aIT

pic.twitter.com/2zYmbqg97N August 25, 2022[.]

As you can see in the tweet above, the animations are simple touches, so when you hover over the icon for Time & Language for example, the globe spins around, as do the hands of the little clock.

If you’re in the dev channel and have this latest preview build, but don’t see the animations in Settings, that’s because Microsoft is only testing them with a limited number of Windows Insiders to begin with.

In other Windows 11 news, we’re also hearing from Windows Latest (opens in new tab) that Microsoft is working on curing a bug with the taskbar which can cause a delay of a few seconds when it comes to the icons actually appearing on the bar – or even longer in some cases.

That’s pretty annoying, but the report claims Microsoft is aware of this problem and is working on a fix, and what’s more, that solution which will usher in other improvements in overall responsiveness, such as when pinning apps to the bar. This promises to be a very useful improvement, although issues like this shouldn’t have been present in the first place, of course.

Analysis: Moments of joy – or not?

Those animated icons in testing have prompted quite a polarized response. Some enjoy the effect, or even love it, and think that it adds some life to the interface. We can certainly see the argument that it’s nice to introduce a bit of flair and character to the UI. As Rivera points out, Microsoft has a philosophy of adding motion (opens in new tab) to the Windows 11 interface, rather than having a purely static environment, and it calls these touches “unexpected moments of joy”; but for some, they’re not particularly joyful.

These are the commenters who feel that such animations are unnecessary clutter, a case of trying to do too much with the interface. And naturally, with lots of little moments such as these adding up, there’ll be some concerns around any potential system slowdown (certainly on lesser powered PCs).

However, the obvious point to placate naysayers is that Microsoft will surely put in an option to be able to switch off these animations if necessary (and it will, of course, be needed from an accessibility standpoint for some users).

Indeed, further in the thread of his tweet, Rivera observes (opens in new tab) that currently these new animations for Settings are tied to the Animation Effects slider (under Accessibility > Visual Effects), so if you turn that off, they’re banished. There’s no reason to imagine this won’t be the case if these animations do make it through to the full release of Windows 11.

Note that for testers in the dev channel who aren’t seeing this feature, it is apparently possible to force the animations to be implemented, but we really wouldn’t recommend doing this. Have patience, as we should see a wider rollout to testers soon enough, if it seems like this feature is going anywhere. And if it isn’t, well, then it doesn’t really matter anyway.

Source

This update will eventually make its way to the Patch Tuesday release in September, but you can install it now if you want. The update brings improvements to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, file compression, Microsoft Edge for IE mode, and more.

Here are the major highlights in this update:

• Addresses an issue related to USB printing that might cause your printer to malfunction after you restart it or reinstall it.
• Addresses an issue that prevents Windows 11 SE from trusting some Microsoft Store applications. This might prevent you from downloading the untrusted app.
• Addresses an issue that might cause certain Bluetooth audio headsets to stop playing after a progress bar adjustment.
• Addresses a known issue that causes Microsoft Edge to stop responding when you use IE mode. This issue also prevents you from interacting with a dialog.

Here are the fixes:

• New! We gave IT admins the ability to remotely add languages and language-related features. Additionally, they can now manage language scenarios across several endpoint managers.
• New! We compressed a file regardless of its size if you have configured Server Message Block (SMB) Compression.
• New! We enhanced Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s ability to identify and intercept ransomware and advanced attacks
• We fixed an issue that causes ServerAssignedConfigurations to be null in a few full configuration scenarios.
• We fixed an issue that affects the automatic high dynamic range (Auto HDR) feature for cross-adapter resource scan-out (CASO)-capable GPU drivers.
• We fixed a known issue that causes Microsoft Edge to stop responding when you use IE mode. This issue also prevents you from interacting with a dialog.
• We fixed an issue that prevents virtualized App-V Microsoft Office applications from opening or causes them to stop working.
• We fixed an issue that might cause the deployment of the Windows Hello for Business certificate to fail in certain circumstances after you reset a device.
• We fixed multiple issues related to USB printing, such as:
  • A printer malfunctions after you restart or reinstall it
  • Being in the wrong mode after you switch from an Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Class Driver to an independent hardware vendor (IHV) driver
  • Experiencing bidirectional communication issues that prevent you from accessing device features
• We fixed an issue that affects the ProjectionManager.StartProjectingAsync API. This issue stops some locales from connecting to Miracast Sinks.
• We fixed an issue that degrades BitLocker performance.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Windows 11 SE from trusting some Microsoft Store applications.
• We fixed an issue that prevents HyperVisor Code Integrity from being enabled automatically on systems that have Arm64 processors.
• We fixed an issue that stops non-Windows devices from authenticating. This issue occurs when they connect to a Windows-based remote desktop and use a smart card to authenticate.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Resultant Set of Policy tool (Rsop.msc) to stop working when it processes 1,000 or more “File System” security settings.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Take a Test app to remove all policies related to lockdown enforcement when you close the app.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Settings app to stop working on server domain controllers (DCs) when accessing the Privacy > Activity history page.
• We fixed an issue that might cause certain Bluetooth audio headsets to stop playing after a progress bar adjustment. This issue affects modern systems that support Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) offload.
• We fixed an issue that prevents devices from receiving an offer from Windows Update for the same extension driver when that extension driver is already installed without the base driver.
• We fixed a race condition that causes the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) to stop working on Active Directory domain controllers. This issue occurs when LSASS processes simultaneous Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) over Transport Layer Security (TLS) requests that fail to decrypt. The exception code is 0xc0000409 (STATUS_STACK_BUFFER_OVERRUN).
• We fixed an issue that affects a lookup for a nonexistent security ID (SID) from the local domain using read-only domain controller (RODC). The lookup unexpectedly returns the STATUS_TRUSTED_DOMAIN_FAILURE error instead of STATUS_NONE_MAPPED or STATUS_SOME_MAPPED.
• We fixed an issue that might cause the Local Security Authority Server Service (LSASS) to leak tokens. This issue affects devices that have installed Windows updates dated June 14, 2022 or later. This issue occurs when the device performs a specific form of service for user (S4U) in a non-Trusted Computing Base (TCB) Windows service that runs as Network Service.

Microsoft also disclosed that it contains a new service stack (from a previous build) that should improve the quality of Windows Updates:

Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22000.910

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

There is one Known Issue for this build, however it mainly only applies to IT admins, and shouldn't affect consumers (home users).

After installing this update, XPS Viewer might be unable to open XML Paper Specification (XPS) documents in some non-English languages, including some Japanese and Chinese character encodings. This issue affects both XML Paper Specification (XPS) and Open XML Paper Specification (OXPS) files. When encountering this issue, you may receive an error, "This page cannot be displayed" within XPS Viewer or it might stop responding and have high CPU usage with continually increasing memory usage. When the error is encountered, if XPS Viewer is not closed it might reach up to 2.5GB of memory usage before closing unexpectedly.

This issue does not affect most home users. The XPS Viewer is no longer installed by default as of Windows 10, version 1803 and must be manually installed.

There's a couple of ways to get this update, you can Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. In the Optional updates available area, you’ll find the link to download and install the update. You can also grab it from the Microsoft Update Catalog and install it manually for ARM and x64 versions of Windows 11.

The official update notice is linked here.

Windows 11 optional update (KB5016691) fixes USB printing, Bluetooth audio, and more