The recent discoveries have once again been attributed to prolific leaker WalkingCat on Twitter who spotted a new create.microsoft.com URL (currently inaccessible) and shared another screenshot of the Designer utility, which can be seen below:

As can be seen, the top of the page says that "We use your content and AI to create designs for you". There are also a couple of drop-downs and text boxes for platform selection and personalization. The bottom of the page also mentions "Browse more templates at Microsoft Create", which is the create.microsoft.com URL where all the templates will likely be housed.

Mary Jo Foley from ZDNet says that the internal codename for Designer is "Oasis". Interestingly, this wouldn't be the first use of this term as a Microsoft product codename. According to Foley, the holographic shell for Windows 10 shared the same name.

There has been lots of speculation about how Designer would fit into Microsoft's portfolio. Although some have talked about a Canva competitor or some form of integration with PowerPoint, another theory also claims that it is the successor to Sway.

Foley believes in the last theory but hasn't dismissed the idea about PowerPoint integrations as an add-on either. Pitching AI-generated designs front and center also suggests that Designer could be powered by ContextIQ technologies.

All in all, it remains to be seen when Designer will be publicly announced and become generally available. There's also the matter of pricing, as it's unclear whether this will be a standalone product, a Microsoft 365 offering, or something else entirely. We'll likely find out within the next few weeks or months, considering that the product is seemingly in active development.

Source and image: WalkingCat (Twitter) via ZDNet

More details about Microsoft's "Designer" tool leak

As can be seen above, the rounded Taskbar appeared for a Reddit user u/caipira113 on the latest Windows 11 Dev Channel build 25174. The user alleges that the same thing happened with them on the earlier build 25131. However, the person now has video and photographic proof of it, unlike last time. The Taskbar is floating a bit too as can be seen in the image below:

According to the OP, the rounded Taskbar randomly appeared and persisted even after display driver updates. That said, it disappeared after the user restarted explorer.exe via Command Prompt.

Of course, there is some speculation that this might be doctored evidence. Neowin's co-founder Steven Parker expressed his concerns on the Reddit thread, saying that maybe the tweaking was done with a third-party application like RoundedTB, which was then uninstalled. So, when explorer.exe was restarted any changes made by the application were reverted. However, the Redditor has denied that this is the case and emphasized that they have no reason to deceive people.

Experimental features unexpectedly popping up for select users isn't entirely out of the ordinary. Earlier this year, ad banners started appearing in File Explorer for some people. Microsoft later explained that they were not meant to published externally (...yet?). The same could be the case right now.

It's possible that Microsoft is playing around with the idea of rounded Taskbar to match the design aesthetics of Windows 11, but it may not be ready for public consumption just yet. But again, there's also the slight possibility that this is doctored evidence or a glitch, especially since no one else has seemingly reported this. We'll likely find out the credibility of this report soon, one way or the other.

Update: Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc has confirmed that this is a bug:

Oh well.

Microsoft may be working on a rounded Taskbar for Windows 11

Initially, the usage of quotation marks allowed you to search for a specific word or phrase, and the results will filter out all other options (e.g. "caesar salad" will not show results for Julius Caesar). The latest updates that Google introduced improves the snippets that are displayed when you are shown the search results.

These snippets often show a preview of the page that it is linking to, but previously would just show a select section of the page. When quotation marks are used in the search, the snippet will now display where in the page that word or phrase is located as shown in the image below.

The reason behind not doing this before, Google says, is that "the quoted material appears in areas of a document that don't lend themselves to creating helpful snippets". But the feedback from people who use these searches showed that actually displaying the quoted phrase in the snippet was valued and found to be useful.

One caveat that Google has highlighted is that quoted searches do not work for local results where listings would be shown with a map, and this is something that the company will be looking at in the future.

Google improves the way it shows search results when using quotes

The Google homepage has historically been known for providing a clean interface that primarily offers a Search field. Google Search is now testing a row of cards on desktop web for an experience that’s similar to Discover.

Update 8/4: Following the original February appearance that ended after a few days, widgets on the Google homepage are being more widely tested. In recent days, we’ve had two reports of people temporarily seeing it live.

What’s new is a “Meet the new Google.com” card that prompts you to “Sign in to customize.” After doing so, tapping “Make the space yours” opens a “Hi, What are you interested in?” window that lets you customize the widgets. Available options include:

Air Quality, Cryptocurrency, Stock Market, Your Top Stocks, Events Nearby, Weather, Trending Searches, Top Stories, Sports, and What to Watch

Meanwhile, by default, the cards are now expanded to be squares rather than shorter rectangles. This allows for more information to be shown at a glance.

This experience being branded as the “new Google.com” is quite interesting given the company’s previous insistence that homepage remain minimalist. That said, these items might be helpful, while the user-facing announcement suggests that a wider launch could be near.

Original 2/16: These cards appear at the very bottom of google.com. There’s a “Hide content” toggle in the bottom-right corner, while Google notes your zip code/city and explains that the information offered is “Based on your past activity.” When the window is fully expanded, six cards are offered and they all expand on hover:

• Weather: Condition (with) icon + temperature. Three-day forecast on hover
• Trending: Cover image with search count
• What to Watch: Shows and movies with cover art
• Stocks/markets: Day graph on hover
• Local Events: With date 
• COVID News

Tapping opens the full web result with the usual Knowledge Panel card and/or related Google Search experience. The number of cards that appear depends on the size of your screen with no way to scroll and see more without physically expanding the window.

We’re only seeing this rolled out on two Google Accounts, albeit across several signed-in devices, today. As such, this is very likely a test to determine whether a full rollout is warranted.

9to5Google’s Take

This very much results in a Google Discover-like experience, but without subjecting people to another feed to scroll through. The company, back in 2018, was adamant that Discover was not coming to the desktop web – just mobile. 

What Google Search is testing today is quite like widgets and provides more utility to a very popular web destination without cluttering the clean experience. Weather is of course the most useful addition, while this is a better approach than the increasingly busy Chrome New Tab page. It also harkens back to the days of the iGoogle dashboard.

‘New Google.com’ adds weather, news, and other cards, enters wider testing

Here's how Microsoft says the enhanced security mode can protect users while browsing the internet.

What is enhanced security mode?

This runs your unfamiliar sites without the just in time (JIT) compilation to provide added protection. Running JIT-less reduces attack surface, making it difficult for malicious sites to exploit.

 The additional protection includes Windows operating system mitigations such as Hardware Enforced Stack Protection, Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG), and Control Flow Guard (CFG).

The important feature updates in this release are given below:

Feature updates
 

Enhance your security on the web. Improvements to Enhance your security on the web in edge://settings/privacy now include Basic as the new default option. With this option, Microsoft Edge will apply added security protection to the less visited sites. This feature preserves the user experience for the most popular sites on the web. For more information, see Browse more safely with Microsoft Edge.

 Import Chrome data without Chrome during First Run Experience. This feature lets a user bring in their Chrome data by logging in to their Google account during Microsoft Edge's First Run Experience. This feature can be turned off by disabling First Run Experience with the HideFirstRunExperience policy, or by setting AutoImportAtFirstRun to 'DisabledAutoImport'.

You can find the Policy Updates in this release among others on Microsoft's official site here.

Source

Google’s newest update for ChromeOS is rolling out to users this week, and one of its new features is support for switching to a dark theme, as 9to5Google reported. Previously hidden behind developer flags while in testing, it finally made an official debut on ChromeOS 104, following dark mode settings popping up more in other Google products.

In a Google blog post mentioning the incoming feature, the company says that the new dark theme would make it easier to “read at night or in low light, and to conserve power,” which switching to a light theme changes the entire UI and wallpaper to make things “bright and airy.” Until now, ChromeOS only included a “Night Light” setting in its software to help you look at your screen in dim light by changing the screen tint.

 

Image: Google

ChromeOS 104 also has an “auto” setting to automatically shift its color scheme between light and dark theme depending on the time of day, complete with matching wallpaper options that can subtly shift along with it.

You have the options of light, dark, and auto mode. Image: Google

Here’s how you can change your display theme in ChromeOS 104:

• Go to Settings
• Select Personalization
• Select Set your wallpaper & style
• Select Light, Dark, or Auto mode based on your preference

You can also access the Wallpaper & Style settings through your home screen by pressing your touchpad with two fingers and selecting the option.

ChromeOS 104 is rolling out with a new dark theme, and automatic transitions

Maybe 5.19 will be a release that surprises you. But if you don't want to be surprised, here's some of what to expect.

1. ARM-Related Performance Boosts

Linux runs on various ARM devices, but the experience pales in comparison to how well Linux runs on Intel devices. While there remains a big gap between the two, progress continues. ARM support has reached a level where Linus Torvalds tested and released this version of the kernel using an ARM laptop, an Apple M2 MacBook Air. Special thanks go to the Asahi team, which has been working to get Linux up and running on Apple Silicon.

In semi-related Apple M1 news, drivers for the Apple M1 NVMe controller and Apple eFuse have merged into the kernel.

2. Intel Overheating and Battery Drain Fixes

Some laptops with Intel CPUs have experienced faster than expected battery drain when suspended. Owners often find themselves surprised with an overheating laptop, especially when pulling the device out of a bag. The latest kernel contains fixes to address these issues for Intel Skylake (launched in 2015) through Comet Lake CPUs (launched in 2019). Now laptops should keep cool and sleep for longer.

There is also Linux idle driver support for Intel Alder Lake CPUs. The Intel p-state driver receives quite a few improvements as well. The p-state driver concerns optimization of power consumption and specifically relates to the optimization of voltage and CPU frequency.

That's not all for Intel-related news. Raptor and Alder Lake CPUs gain support for Running Average Power Limiting (RAPL). This is a way to limit max average power, putting less strain on a computer's components and allowing the system to run cooler.

3. LoongArch CPU Architecture Support

Linux 5.19 is closer to running on devices utilizing LoongArch CPU architecture. The code comes from the Chinese company Loongson, known for its MIPS64-based systems. You could describe LoongArch as being MIPS64 and RISC-V. Some LoongArch kernel code reuses MIPS code.

But not too fast. Linux cannot yet run on actual LoongArch hardware, since there is driver code that hasn't merged in time for this release.

4. Graphical Improvements

There are graphical improvements to go around, regardless of your hardware. The primary one concerns changes to the Direct Rendering Manager subsystem, which benefit AMD GPUs extensively while also improving the experience on Intel hardware and some ARM GPU chips as well. This involved nearly half a million lines of code.

5. Numerous Networking Additions

Linux kernel 5.19 adds BIG TCP support, which allows for larger TSO/GRO packet sizes for IPv6 traffic. Network speeds can now reach 400Gbit/s. This will be of help to people managing data centers and other cloud-based infrastructure, those whose job it is to manage substantial volumes of networking traffic. The rest of us can get a start by learning what TCP stands for and what it does.

This release also adds a userspace component for managing MultiPath TCP (MPTCP). If you don't work in system administration, this won't impact you directly (aside from websites possibly loading more quickly).

Network drivers have also received improvements. Consider Qualcomm's ATH11K driver, which has gained wake-on-LAN support. Then there is Realtek's RTW89 wireless driver that now supports Realtek 8852ce 5GHz devices. Support has also landed for MediaTekT700 modems and Renesas RZ/V2M.

There is also a new driver for pureLiFi. LiFi is a light-based networking technology where data transmits using a stream of light that a device converts into an electronic signal and then back into data. This is a technology that won't impact most of us for the time being, but you can file it under "cool."

If you work on IoT devices, you may be pleased to know that Silicon Labs' WFX Wi-Fi low-power IoT receives now have a driver in the kernel.

6. Newly-Enabled Accessories

The Keychron's wireless mechanical keyboard now has working function keys. And the Linux kernel now supports button mapping and native scrolling on the Lenovo ThinkPad TrackPoint II keyboard, alongside also allowing owners to use the middle button. So if you bought either of these keyboards before switching to Linux only to find they don't work as well, it will soon be okay to plug them back in once 5.19 arrives in your distro.

While not quite an accessory, the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 TrackPoint, also known as the mouse nub that appears in the middle of some keyboards, has received some attention. The Google Whiskers Touchpad also works under version 5.19.

The Wacom driver can now handle pens with three buttons. It also supports pen and touch time stamps. Alternatively, if you use Huion tablets and pens, the UC-Logic support now includes support for more of these devices.

7. Better Compression

The kernel now supports zstd compressed firmware. zstd is a lossless data compression algorithm originally developed at Facebook. That's right. We've reached a point where companies of all kinds are invested in making the Linux kernel better. Compression is a vital component in reducing download speeds and wait times.

Is It Time to Install Linux Kernel 5.19?

While you can install kernel 5.19 directly, the better approach is to wait for the latest version to arrive as a system update to your distro. This version of the kernel will be better tested and configured to be ready to go.

Some distros do provide new kernels relatively quickly, like Fedora, and rolling-release distros like Arch Linux. Others tend to save new kernels for the next major release of the distro, as is the case with Ubuntu. But if your computer and your peripherals already work, then waiting isn't so hard, if you even notice at all.

Source

However, there are also more changes that are generally present under the hood that remain undisclosed in the release notes. Such is also the case with Build 25174 it seems as Twitter user and leakster Xeno found that the PC-like icon on the Shut Down menu is missing.

This is what the Shut Down dialog box on previous Windows 11 Dev Channel builds looks like:

And here is how it appears on Build 25174 which shows no icon:

Upon digging further using the Resource Hacker Windows editor, Xeno found that the "Icon" and "Icon Group" folders within the "shutdownux" DLL file were missing.

While this could simply be a bug in the Build that Microsoft did not register while testing internally, it could also imply that Windows 11 Shut Down icons could finally be getting a revamp and a redesign.

With an earlier Dev build 25115, Microsoft has already made some minor tweaks to the Shut Down menu. And now, some bigger changes could be in store for Dev Channel flighters.

Source and images: Xeno (Twitter)

Update: Changed the title and added a better image showing the missing icon.

Build 25174 missing icons suggests Windows 11 Shut Down might get an overhaul

What is new in Microsoft Edge 104.0.1293.44 Beta?

• Enhance your security on the web. Improvements to Enhance your security on the web in edge://settings/privacy now include Basic as the new default option. With this option, Microsoft Edge will apply added security protection to the less visited sites. This preserves the user experience for the most popular sites on the web.

Enhanced Security in Microsoft Edge is a feature that makes the browser more secure by disabling Just-in-time compiler (JIT). According to Microsoft, turning off JIT reduces attack surfaces, effectively making it harder for malicious websites to inject malware. Besides disabling JIT, Enhanced Security (formerly Super-Duper Secure Mode) applies additional protection measures, such as Hardware Enforced Stack Protection, Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG), and Control Flow Guard (CFG).

You can learn more about Enhanced Security and how to enable it in Edge Stable in our dedicated guide.

Microsoft plans to release Edge 104 to all users in the Stable Channel in the upcoming days. Meanwhile, Google released Chrome 104 with some controversial changes.

Microsoft turns on Enhanced Security in Edge for all users in the latest Beta update

Rufus 3.20 introduces new capabilities that help users create Windows 11 installation media with fewer annoyances. In addition to bypassing TPM, SecureBoot, and Microsoft Account requirements, version 3.20 adds the option for automatic account creation and the ability to copy regional settings from the current Windows installation.

Of course, Rufus is not only about creating a Windows 11 installation media. You can use the app to make bootable USB drives with other operating systems, so version 3.20 comes with other improvements. Here is the full changelog:

• Enable applicable Windows User Experience options for Windows 10.
• Remember last Windows User Experience selection between sessions
• Add automatic local account creation and regional options duplication. This is limited to creating an account with the same name as the current user and with an empty password that the user will be prompted to change after first reboot.
• Add a workaround for ISOs that have a syslinux symbolic link to /isolinux/ (Knoppix).
• Revert to offline insertion of registry keys for the TPM/SB/RAM bypass where possible.
• Remove storage bypass, since this is a bogus bypass that doesn't do anything.
• Improve BIOS compatibility when displaying the "UEFI boot only" alert message.
• Fix Windows User Experience dialog appearing twice for Windows To Go.
• Fix Windows User Experience options not being applied for ARM64.
• Fix Microsoft Account bypass not being applied unless TPM/SB/RAM bypass is selected.
• New: Fix overeager detection of GRUB2 bootloaders with nonstandard prefixes.

You can download Rufus 3.20 from its website or GitHub repository.

Rufus 3.20 is out with automatic local account creation, and more for Windows 11

Frontpaged:   Rufus 3.20.1929

After installing updates released on June 28, 2022 (KB5014666) or later updates, the Input Indicator and Language Bar might not appear in the notification area. The notification area is normally located on the right end of the taskbar. Affected devices have more than one language installed. The Input Indicator and Language Bar is used to switch between input or keyboard languages on Windows devices and is used especially with languages that use Input Method Editors (IME).

To fix the problem, Microsoft issued the Known Issue Rollback mechanism that automatically undoes troublesome changes in cumulative updates with no additional action required. Affected users can restart their Windows 10 computers to attempt to apply the rollback faster.

On the other hand, Enterprise users need to install a special Group Policy rule that allows Microsoft to fix bugs using Known Issue Rollback. Microsoft has dedicated documentation on the official website about using Group Policy to deploy a Known Issue Rollback.

Microsoft says the bug affects Windows 10 client versions 21H2, 21H1, 20H2, and Windows Server 20H2. Windows 11 users and customers using only one input language, are not affected.

Besides breaking the input indicator, KB5014666 fixed multiple bugs in Windows 10 and introduced several new printing-related features. You can learn more about the update in our dedicated article.

Microsoft issues fix for broken input indicator and language bar on Windows 10

What is new in Windows Package Manager (winget) 1.3?

Manifest Improvements

Display Documentation

Some packages include documentation associated with a package version. You will now be able to see the documentation and an associated URL when you run winget show .

Installation Notes

Most command-line packages require a terminal restart for the environment variables to be loaded. Some other packages have nuances related to what a user should understand before running them the first time. Installation notes will be displayed after the package is installed. We’ve also added arguments and settings to manage these notes. The default behavior is to display these notes. You can add “suppressInstallNotes” as a setting to prevent them from being displayed. You can also pass “–display-notes” or “–suppress-notes” to override settings.

Expected Return Code Response URL

Most .exe-based installers can provide custom responses for various failure scenarios. We’ve added an enhancement to provide not only a standard error message, but now a URL can also be included. We’re hoping this will help with troubleshooting why something didn’t go quite right. Manifest authors can add a “ReturnResponseURL” to the array of “InstallerReturnCode” values.

New Settings

The Windows Package Manager settings file is opened with your default JSON editor when you run winget settings. If you happen to have Visual Studio Code installed and configured, you also get the benefit of the JSON schema for tooltips and code completion. If you don’t, you can run winget install vscode.

Installation Notes

The Windows Package Manager was designed to behave in a predictable manner by default and give users the ability to customize those behaviors. The “suppressInstallNotes” setting was added for users who prefer not to see install notes included in manifests.

Verbose Logs

If you add “–verbose-logs” to any command, the Windows Package Manager adds additional information to the logs. This is often helpful for troubleshooting or digging deeper into exactly what the Windows Package Manager is doing. Users can now specify what level of logging they want. The “Logging” levels available are “verbose”, “info”, “warning”, “error”, and “critical”.

New Version Reporting

Some packages like the Microsoft .NET SDK display versions to users that are slightly different from their build numbers. Unfortunately, this caused confusion during the upgrade process, and it caused frustration for manifest authors. The Windows Package Manager will now honor the preferred version publishers would like to display, and the tooling will still be able to make the correct comparisons when determining if a newer version is available.

In the example below from Windows Apps & Features, you can see the Microsoft .NET Runtime packages and the Microsoft .NET SDK package versions displayed start with “6.0”. The but the Microsoft .NET SDK version below the display name starts with “6.3”. Manifests can now use the display version (“packageVersion” in the manifest) to show users what version is installed or which upgrade is available, but it can still use the build version (“displayVersion” manifest key from the registry and “AppsAndFeatures” from the manifest) for comparison.

Display System Architecture

Not all packages run natively on every architecture. Sometimes packages are run under emulation. We’ve updated winget –info so it now displays the system architecture so you can quickly see what architecture your hardware has. This might help with troubleshooting why a particular package doesn’t have a matching installer, or why it might not behave exactly as you expect.

An Even Better Progress Bar

One of our most popular features is the customizable progress bar. Thanks to a community contribution, it just got better. Additional fine-grained blocks make that progress bar buttery smooth. If you didn’t know, you can customize your progress bar in settings. I use:

“visual”: {“progressBar”: “rainbow”}

Don’t worry, all the styles get the improved progress bar.

Support for Portable Packages

Is there a portable package you wish you could manage with the Windows Package Manager? These are essentially just executable programs that don’t have an installer. Maybe you would like to winget install Microsoft.NuGet or winget upgrade Microsoft.NuGet. We wanted to make sure you could manage these portable packages, so we add the appropriate entries in Windows Apps & Features when you install them. That allows you to see them as installed applications. You can even uninstall them from there if you don’t want to type winget uninstall Microsoft.NuGet.

Uninstall via Apps & Features

Note: We’ve added Microsoft.NuGet to the repository so you can test this out. It will fail on Windows Package Manager versions lower than 1.3 as shown in the image below.

In addition to releasing Windows Package Manager 1.3, Microsoft announced it would soon start accepting portable package submissions. It should take another week as the company finishes rolling out the update to all users via the Microsoft Store. For now, portable package submissions remain blocked.

Microsoft releases Winget 1.3 with portable apps, documentation, and install notes support

Now that I knew IE 11 was alive and well in Windows 11, I wanted to figure out a way to create a shortcut to also open it up. So, I launched Process Monitor and Internet Explorer 11 from Internet Options. Then, I filtered the data to just show me iexplore.exe.

Turns out, the command line that was being issued was "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -Embedding, as can be seen in the screenshot below:

By pasting that in the run box, iexplore.exe did show up in task manager, but that was about it, no GUI appeared. So I thought, “what if I put something in front of the -embedding?”

So I tried iexplore yahoo -embedding

That successfully launched Internet Explorer and brought me to a Bing search page for Yahoo.

No matter what I put in front of -embedding I couldn't actually get it to load into a webpage on launch other than a page not found or a Bing search.

Using what we now know, we can create a shortcut using "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" yahoo -embedding

You can put whatever you want before the -embedding.

You now have a shortcut again for Internet Explorer! For how long, nobody knows.

I hope it should go without saying that you really shouldn't use this for your day-to-day browser, but it was a fun challenge.

How to create a shortcut to open Internet Explorer 11 in Windows 11

As you would expect, the core benefit of having a Teams client that natively runs on Apple Silicon instead of relying on emulation is the performance enhancements. Microsoft has stated that:

We are rolling out a production grade universal binary version of Teams, which means it will run natively on the entire Mac lineup, including those with Apple silicon. For Mac users, this means a significant boost in performance, ensuring efficient use of device resources and an optimized Teams experience even when using multiple high-resolution monitors during calls or meetings.

It is important to note that the updated Teams client isn't being made available for all customers at once. Instead, Microsoft will roll in out in a staggered manner to everyone over the next few months, likely to fix any lingering issues ahead of wider availability.

That said, if you're in a rush to try it out before general availability (GA), you can download a Public Preview build from here.

Microsoft Teams now runs natively on Apple Silicon, rolling out generally

According to Valve, in July 2022, Windows 11 went down from 21.23% to 21.12%, effectively losing 0.11 points. This is the first month of Windows 11 not gaining and even losing its market share on Steam.

Still, users should not think Windows 11 has reached its critical mass or the OS is doomed to failure. Participation in Steam's monthly surveys is optional, so there is always a margin of error. Besides, unlike Windows 10, Microsoft does not force users to upgrade to Windows 11 and allows rolling back to Windows 10, so it is natural to expect a slower climb with periodical dips.

The upcoming Windows 11 22H2 update, rumored to arrive in September 2022, will bring many quality-of-life improvements and some gaming-related features. Expect the OS to become more popular as users upgrade to newer hardware or update existing PCs.

Here are the most popular operating systems in Steam according to the latest Hardware and Software Survey:

1. Windows 10 64-bit - 73.17% (+1.91 point)
2. Windows 11 - 21.12% (-0.11 points)
3. Windows 7 64-bit - 2.04% (-0.97 points)
4. macOS - 1.74% (-0.71 points)
5. Linux - 1.23% (+0.05 points).

Source: Steam

Windows 11 market share on Steam dips for the first time

Did you know you can search for an exact word or phrase on Google by putting quotation marks around it? It’s a great way to get specific about something you’re looking for. And on Thursday, Google announced what I think will be a nice improvement: the small snippets underneath a search result link will now be created based on where the quoted term appears on the page.

Google’s blog post about the change has a good image that illustrates how this will work in practice, which I’ve included below. Google googled “google search,” and the two snippets shown in the example both include the bolded phrase “Google Search.”

The Google search results for “google search.” Image: Google

Previously, Google would show you results that included the quoted word or phrase, but the small snippet under a link may not have shown exactly where the phrase appeared on a page. In the blog post, Google’s Yonghao Jin explains why that was and why it made the change:

In the past, we didn’t always do this because sometimes the quoted material appears in areas of a document that don’t lend themselves to creating helpful snippets. For example, a word or phrase might appear in the menu item of a page, where you’d navigate to different sections of the site. Creating a snippet around sections like that might not produce an easily readable description.

We’ve heard feedback that people doing quoted searches value seeing where the quoted material occurs on a page, rather than an overall description of the page. Our improvement is designed to help address this.

As noted in the blog post, there are a few caveats about quoted searches. Some text may be hidden in a meta description tag or alt text and not be easily visible on a page, for example, or Google may have crawled a page when it contained a quoted term that has since been removed in an update. And Google “mainly” bolds quoted content in webpage snippets on desktop — bolding won’t work for mobile results.

One of the best Google search hacks is getting even better

Google’s video chat merger begins: Now there are two “Google Meet” apps

The full changelog for Build 25174 is given below:

What’s new

Introducing the new Game Pass Widget

PC Game Pass and Windows are a fantastic combination for gaming; with PC Game Pass, you have access to hundreds of high-quality games for your PC. For the past couple of months, we’ve been working with our friends on the Xbox team to make Windows and PC Game Pass an even better combination; today we’re announcing something new for gaming and our widgets experience: the Game Pass widget preview.

This widget is a window to the extensive PC Game Pass library – it will show the latest additions, games leaving soon, and others from highlighted categories and then take you to the Xbox app where you can install them, see reviews, and go all in.

We’re still hard at work on some exciting functionality coming soon that will let you sign-into your Xbox profile and easily jump back into recently played games as well as see personalized recommendations of games we believe you’ll love.

The Game Pass widget preview is available in the widgets board alongside other widgets that bring weather, sports, and other great content closer to you. The widgets board is shown by clicking the left corner of your taskbar or by pressing Win + W. To pin the Game Pass widget, select the ‘+’ button in the top right corner of the widgets board.

Here is how to get started:

• Open the widgets board.

• Click on the + icon next to your user profile.

• Click on the + icon besides the Game Pass

• Close the Widget settings window.

• The Game Pass widget should now appear in your widgets board.

   

We are looking forward to getting feedback on the Game Pass widget from Windows Insiders who are PC gamers. Tell us what you’d love to see in the widget, or if you see anything that is strange or unexpected on the widget itself or on the widgets experience.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements

[File Explorer]

• Middle clicking a folder in the navigation pane of File Explorer will now open it in a new tab, like clicking a folder in the body of File Explorer already does. Please note that this requires tabbed File Explorer, which hasn’t rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel yet.

   

Here are the bug fixes in Build 25174:

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening new File Explorer windows.

• Fixed an issue where launching File Explorer in certain ways when using dark mode (for example, from the command line) was showing the body of File Explorer unexpectedly in light mode.

• Fixed an issue where the left/right arrows in File Explorer were in light mode when you were using dark mode, causing them to not have enough contrast to show when they were enabled.

• Fixed an issue where the dividers in the navigation pane were overlapping / drawing too close to text sometimes.

• Fixed an issue where if you drag and drop a folder into the navigation pane was sometimes unexpectedly putting the folder at the bottom of the list rather than where you’d dropped it.

• Fixed an issue causing UI issues in File Explorer when using F11 to put File Explorer in full screen mode.

   

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue leading to various system tray elements being unexpectedly missing for some Insiders on the previous build.

   

[Settings]

• Fixed a crash on some PCs were experiencing when going to System > Storage > Disks & Volumes.

   

[Other]

• Fixed an issue which was leading to mouse and keyboard input not working correctly in certain games in the last 2 flights.

• Fixed an issue believed to be leading to SQL Server Management Studio failing to launch for some Insiders.

• Fixed an issue where Memory Integrity in Windows Security might show a warning saying it couldn’t be enabled due to incompatible drivers, but the incompatible drivers list would be blank.

• Fixed an issue which was causing some apps to unexpectedly not launch in the last few flights when core isolation was enabled in Windows Security.

   

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

And here are the known issues in Build 25174:

[General]

• Some games that use Easy Anti-Cheat may crash or cause your PC to bugcheck.

• [NEW] We’re looking into reports that audio stopped working for some Insiders after upgrading to the last flight.

• [NEW] We’re working on a fix for an issue leading to some Insiders experiencing a decrease in FPS when playing certain games in recent flights due to the wrong graphics card being used.

• [NEW] We’re investigating reports of a few different apps having started crashing in recent builds.

   

[File Explorer]

• The left-half of the File Explorer title bar may not be draggable via mouse or touch.

• The up arrow is misaligned in File Explorer tabs. This will be fixed in a future update.

• [NEW] We’re working on a fix for an issue causing Home, Documents, Pictures and potentially other folders to become unexpectedly duplicated in File Explorer’s navigation pane or appear on the desktop.

• [NEW] We’re working on a fix for an issue where the search box background in File Explorer might be the opposite color of your current mode.

• [NEW] We’re working on a fix for an issue causing the delete key to unexpectedly not work on files in File Explorer. If you encounter this, you should still be able to use the context menu to delete.

   

[Widgets]

• Notification badge number may appear misaligned on the taskbar.

• In some cases, the notification banner for some badging will not appear in the widgets board.

• We’re working on the fix for an issue causing Widgets preferences (temperature units and pinned widgets) to unexpectedly get reset to default.

   

[Printing]

• [NEW] We’re working on a fix for an issue causing hangs and crashes when trying to print from certain apps (like Excel) in the last flight.

• [NEW] We’re investigating reports in recent Dev Channel flights lines aren’t included when printing tables from certain apps.

   

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 Dev build 25174 brings multiple File Explorer fixes and improvements

Microsoft’s first new Windows 11 widget should make it even easier to find out which games are coming to PC Game Pass. The widget is only available to Windows Insider testers for now and is supposed to provide a “window” into the service’s game library, allowing you to check out recent additions and the games leaving soon.

Microsoft currently has a fairly limited selection of widgets in Windows 11, but a Game Pass widget indicates that Microsoft is trying out other applications (that aren’t so boring as the weather, a calendar, and the news). Windows 11 is supposed to support third-party widgets eventually, but adding Game Pass could be a good way to shake the widgets board up for now and might even help promote the subscription service.

In addition to letting you see which games are coming and going, the new Game Pass widget displays games from certain categories and provides a portal to the Xbox app. Microsoft says it’s working on adding other features to the widget as well, including personalized recommendations and a way for you to sign in to your Xbox account and boot up a recently played game.

If you’re a Windows 11 tester, you can add the Game Pass widget by opening the widget board on your PC and then clicking the “plus” icon beside your user profile. From there, hit the “plus” icon next to Game Pass, and the widget should show up on your board.

Microsoft’s testing a handy Game Pass widget on Windows 11

This known issue affects devices running Windows 10 version 20H2, 21H1, and 21H2, with more than one language installed.

"After installing updates released on June 28, 2022 ( KB5014666) or later updates, the Input Indicator and Language Bar might not appear in the notification area," Redmond explained on the Windows health dashboard on Tuesday.

"The Input Indicator and Language Bar is used to switch between input or keyboard languages on Windows devices and is used especially with languages that use Input Method Editors (IME)."

Microsoft addressed the issue using the Known Issue Rollback (KIR) Windows capability that helps revert buggy non-security fixes delivered via Windows Update.

Fixes pushed through KIR should reach all consumer and non-managed business devices within 24 hours, with users having the option to speed up the rollout by restarting impacted Windows 10 devices.

Group policies for enterprise customers

To resolve this known issue on enterprise-managed devices, IT admins must install and configure a specific KIR Group Policy associated with the systems' Windows version.

You can find this Group Policy in Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> KB5014666 220706_033027 Known Issue Rollback.

The steps needed to deploy a Known Issue Rollback via Group Policy require navigating to the Local Computer Policy or the Domain policy on the domain controller using the Group Policy Editor to select the Windows version to target.

You can download the Known Issue Rollback Group Policy for affected Windows 10 versions from here.

Detailed information on how to deploy and configure KIR Group Policies can be found on Microsoft's support website.

Last month, Microsoft addressed another known issue via KIR that was causing the start menu on some Windows 11 to stop opening after installing recent updates.

Microsoft rolling out fix for Windows 10 language bar issues

What is new in Edge Dev 105.0.1336.2

Added features:  

• Added Narrator announcing 'banner' on 'Learn more' link in Microsoft Edge 
• Added support for a management policy from Chromium to control if Unthrottled Nested Timeout is Enabled - this will be deprecated in the future

Improved reliability:  

• Performance improvements to IMap properties 
• Improved iOS tooltips 
• Improved Android shared device support 
• Optimized read aloud voice options page for Android  
• Improved Android shared device support 

 Changed behavior:  

• Fixed an issue where the profile popup sometimes is cut off
• Fixed various crashes 
• Fixed Diagnostic button layout 
• Fixed Drag and Drop for Collections
• Fixed a crash when clicking the Tab Actions Menu button  

Although Microsoft has not mentioned any known issues in the latest Dev update, users noticed that version 105.0.1336.2 misses a chunk of its settings. If you open Settings > Privacy, Search, and Services, you will see no "Services" section responsible for managing search engines, shopping features, and search suggestions.

The disappearance of the "Services" section does not appear to be intentional, as it is still available via its direct link. If you use Edge Dev or Canary and want to change the default search engine, use edge://settings/search to access the page.

Edge Dev 105.0.1336.2 adds Narrator and performance improvements

When The Verge’s Richard Lawler reported that Google was rolling out its newly stylized version of Gmail for the web, I decided I wanted to take a look as well. Since my Gmail page hadn’t yet switched over, I clicked on the cog-like Settings icon in the upper-right corner of my page and then on the link labeled Try out the new Gmail view and refreshed my page.

As Richard writes, the change isn’t radical. There is a new color scheme that I rather like and a few other interface tweaks. The main change, however, is the left-hand side panel — now, the two side panels.

Previously, you had a single panel that gave you access to a menu of your various Gmail categories and labels (such as the Inbox, Starred, Trash, etc.). By clicking on the three-line icon in the upper left (also known as a “hamburger”), you could tweak this panel to show either icons and labels or just icons. But now, Google has added another side panel that gives you immediate access to several apps: Mail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet.

If you feel that two side panels is a bit much (as I do, especially on a laptop display), you can make the one with the categories disappear entirely by clicking on the hamburger icon in the upper-left corner.

If you want to go to a different category or label in your Gmail, you can find them by hovering your cursor over the Mail icon in the new panel.

Want your second panel back? Click on the hamburger icon again.

Get rid of the apps panel

And what if you don’t really use Google Chat or Meet? It’s actually very easy to get rid of their icons — and that extra side panel as well:

• Select Settings > Customize.
• You’ll be invited to choose which apps to use in Gmail. Uncheck Google Chat and Google Meet and click on Done.

• Click on Reload.

That’s it! You’re now back to a single familiar side panel. And just as before, the hamburger icon will simply toggle between a side panel with icons and labels or just icons.

And if you’re just tired of the whole thing, for now you can go back to the way things were by clicking on Settings > Go back to the original view. How long that option will be available is up to Google.

How to change the side panels in Gmail’s new view

Brave 1.42.86 is already available for all supported desktop operating systems. Brave installations should upgrade automatically, but users may speed up the installation of the 1.42 update by loading brave://settings/help in the browser's address bar. Brave displays the current version and runs a check for update, when the page opens. Any new version that is found is downloaded and installed automatically. A restart is required to complete the process.

Brave 1.42

Brave 1.42 is a security and functionality update. The browser's core is upgraded to Chromium 104.0.5112.81. The official release notes make no mentions of the specific changes of the upgrade, but it appears that all Chromium-based security issues are fixed in the new version.

The new Brave Stable version includes several Brave-specific security  and privacy changes:

• Unlinkable bouncing is enabled by default now. The feature is Brave's attempt to disable a tracking feature called Bounce Tracking. Ability to debounce based on a regex is now supported.
• Improved fingerprint farbling in aggressive tracking protection mode.
• A warning is displayed to indicate that local IFPS nodes bypass the browser's proxy settings.
• An IFPS crash issue has been fixed.
• Fixed a wallet API freezing issue.
• New Tab Page design has been updated for private windows and private windows with Tor.
• The configuration page brave://settings/cookies has been updated to better align with brave://shields.
• Removed known Marketo email tracking parameters from URLs.

Brave 1.42 includes a number of usability improvements and changes:

• Brave supports the import of data from Microsoft Edge now.
• Settings to refine autocomplete suggestions added to brave://settings/appearance. Users get options to enable/disable the following items individually:
  • Top sites
  • Suggested sites
  • Browsing history
  • Bookmarks.
• Setting for Search engines used in the address bar in private windows added to brave://settings/search.

The new  Brave release includes several crypto-currency and wallet related changes next to that, as well as some fixes for non-security issues.

Check out the changelog for a full list of those changes.

Now You: do you use Brave?

Brave 1.42 released: security fixes and Edge import support

The CMA’s latest inquiry into the matter found that the two businesses will still be up against “significant competition” after the merger. Its main competitor will be McAfee, but there are a number of other suppliers which have a smaller market in the UK that will also compete in the space. With these extra players, NortonLifeLock won’t have a monopoly position in the UK.

Kirstin Baker, chair of the CMA inquiry group, said:

 “Millions of people across the UK rely on cyber safety services to keep them safe online.

 After gathering further information from the companies involved and other industry players, we are currently satisfied that this deal won’t worsen the options available to consumers. As such, we have provisionally concluded that the deal can go ahead.”

In regard to the word “provisionally”, the CMA is soliciting responses from third-parties to get their take on the findings. This period will run until August 24, and then a final report on the matter will be published on September 8.

Source

Although Windows 11 does not officially come bundled with Internet Explorer, the ancient browser can still be launched on the OS. This can be seen in the video below, courtesy of The Verge's Tom Warren.

you thought Internet Explorer was dead, didn't you? muahahaha 😈

 ⎛⎝( ` ᢍ ´ )⎠⎞ pic.twitter.com/i5bXZwLRr3

 — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 3, 2022

The method to launch IE11 in Windows 11 was first discovered by Twitter user @XenoPanther earlier today.

If you'd rather follow textual instructions to open IE11 in Windows 11 for some godforsaken reason, we have you covered:

• Search for Internet Options in the Start menu search bar
•  Open the Control Panel applet that pops up in search results
•  Go the Programs tab
•  Click the Manage add-ons button
•  Click on Learn more about toolbars and extensions in the bottom-left corner of the window
•  Voila, Internet Explorer is back again!

This should work for all versions of Windows 11, including generally available and Insider Preview releases. As can be seen in the header image for this article, we managed to successfully open it on an older Dev Channel build 25158.

This is clearly unintended behavior and is likely a legacy piece of code that Microsoft forgot to re-purpose. Now that it's common knowledge, the company will likely work fast to close this gap.

Source