One of the problems with SmartScreen is that it is also blocking file downloads for new and uncommon files. If a file is not known at all by SmartScreen, or not commonly downloaded, then it may be blocked automatically. The file itself may be perfectly harmless, but it won't land on the user system unless explicitly allowed.

Some users may deal with the issue by using another browser or program for the download. Others may want to use controls provided by Microsoft Edge to keep the download.

While the latter is relatively easy, it may not be obvious immediately how that is done. Edge displays different SmartScreen warnings depending on why it is blocking the download.

In the case of new files, it displays:

FILENAME isn't commonly downloaded. Make sure you trust FILENAME before you open it.

The interface has no options to deal with the issue by default. All icons that are displayed are standard icons that do not help. It is necessary to move with the mouse over the entry of the blocked file to get a list of actions. Even then, it is limited to a trash icon to delete it and a three-dots menu.

A click on the three-dots menu displays more options, including "keep". The file is saved to the local system's download folder when you select keep, but not immediately.

Edge displays yet another warning and an explanation for blocking the file download in first place.

It reads:

Make sure you trust FILENAME before you open it.

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen couldn't verify if this file is safe because it isn't commonly downloaded. Make sure you trust the file you're downloading or its source before you open it.

Edge displays the file name below that and the publisher, or unknown, if the publisher is not known.

The entire prompt has no "keep" option by default. There is a big Delete button and a Cancel button. Delete removes the download file, cancel stops the process, but does nothing else.

You need to activate the "show more" link to display additional options.

Once activated, show more reveals new options, including "keep anyway".  Activate the option to -- finally- get the file saved to the local system.

Note that Microsoft Defender may scan the file once it lands on the local system, and that you may have to deal with it interfering with the file as well.

Closing Words

The entire process is designed to discourage Edge users from downloading flagged files. While that would be an understandable approach for malicious files, it is not for files that are blocked just because they are new.

Now You: what is your take on the process? How do you deal with browser's blocking file downloads?

How to deal with Microsoft Edge's "isn't commonly downloaded" warning

Build 15427.20000 for Windows is available for Office Insiders registered in the Beta Channel. It allows users to disable specific types of automatic data conversions, thus eliminating the need for you to worry about Excel converting your data to a format you didn’t want and weren’t expecting. You can now navigate to File > Options > Advanced > Automatic Data Conversion and choose the conversion(s) that you’d like to disable.

You can read the complete official changelog to learn more about the feature and what’s been fixed below.

Changelog

In other Office-related news, Microsoft recently released Office Version 16.0.15427.20004 for Android users, adding a more optimized Excel to Android users. Microsoft has sped up the time required for entering a formula in a cell by reducing memory usage. It includes no other changes, nor does it offer any bug fixes and improvements. The latest Windows Office build in the Current Channel allows you to add SketchUp files to your Office creations. This means it’s now easier to create shareable conceptual designs, such as fully textured architectural models and other graphics used in industrial design and product design and civil and mechanical engineering.

Microsoft releases a new Office update monthly for Beta Channel subscribers on Windows, adding new features and changes. Microsoft is also expected to release a new Office Insider Build for the Beta Channel Insiders next month. We’ll keep you updated if we find anything interesting in the update.

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

Microsoft releases new Office Insider build for Windows users

Windows 11's growth is inversely proportional to Windows 10's decline. Windows 10, a seven-year-old OS, has 71.26% (-2.63%) market share. Despite a steady loss of users, Windows 10 remains (and will remain) the most popular choice on Steam, for some time at least..
Finally, 64-bit Windows 7 is the third most popular OS on Steam, with a puny 3.01% share (+0.6 points).

Overall, Windows holds 96.37% of Steam customers (-0.31%), Apple's macOS is second with 2.45% (+0.25 points), and Linux is third with 1.18% (+0.06 points).

When it comes to hardware, not much has changed since May 2022. Here are the most popular PC components on Steam:

• CPU: 4-core CPUs with clocks from 2.3 to 2.69 GHz. Intel has 68.47% (-1.28 points) and AMD has 31.51% (+1.29 points).

•  GPU: Nvidia has 75.86%, AMD has 14.80%, and Intel maintains 9.11%. The most popular graphics cards are Nvidia GTX 1060, Nvidia GTX 1650, and Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti.

•  RAM: 16 GB.

•  Video Memory: 8 GB.

•  Primary Display: 1920 x 1080.

•  VR: Oculus Quest has 49.02% (+1.03 points), Valve Index has 15.57% (-0.22 points), and Oculus Rift is third with 10.60% (-0.35 points).

Note: Participation in the monthly Steam Hardware and Software Survey is optional, which means there is always a margin of error.

Source: Steam

Source

As of June 2022, Linux is sitting at 1.18% of the Steam user share.

Now, that doesn't sound like a lot on paper, but it puts the monthly active Linux user count at around 1,557,600 at least (based on when Valve last gave the monthly active user count).

Here's the breakdown of the most popular Linux systems:

• "Arch Linux" 64 bit 11.42% -1.43%
•  "Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 10.11% -0.98%
•  Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 64 bit 9.90% +1.86%
•  Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS 64 bit 9.73% -2.02%
•  "SteamOS Holo" 64 bit 7.58% +2.35%
•  Linux Mint 20.3 64 bit 6.45% +0.48%
•  Description:Freedesktop.org 21.08.14 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 6.05% +6.05%
•  Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 4.79% +4.79%
•  Other 33.96% -11.11%

So you can pretty plainly see that the Steam Deck with SteamOS is already rising up the ranks, as one of the most popular Linux gaming systems on Steam's survey with it already making up well over 7% of Linux players which is a nice increase from the 5% from May 2022.

Source

New figures have highlighted the extent of the uphill struggle faced by small browser vendors attempting to compete with the likes of Google Chrome, Safari and Microsoft Edge.

Data provided exclusively to TechRadar Pro by digital intelligence platform SimilarWeb shows that the number of downloads of Opera, one such challenger browser, is comparable to the number achieved by Microsoft Edge.

Between January and May 2022, the Opera download confirmation page was visited 12.03 million times on desktop, whereas traffic to the Edge download page totalled 12.40 million. Unlike the Opera data, the Edge figures are not indicative of completed downloads, which means the smaller browser may in reality have attracted more downloads than its larger counterpart for the period.

However, despite what these stats may suggest about the popularity of each service, market share data from Statcounter (opens in new tab) shows that Microsoft Edge (10.12%) enjoys almost four times the number of desktop users than Opera (2.8%). So what accounts for this incongruity?

The power of the default

One interpretation of the data is that, although browsers like Opera may attract a similar amount of interest to those published by Big Tech players (and may be of similar objective quality), their ability to compete on a level pegging is hampered by forces external to the specific market.

Most significantly, Microsoft Edge comes pre-installed with all Windows 10 and 11 devices, which number in the billions. Opera’s browser, meanwhile, comes pre-installed on practically no devices at all, so the company must rely exclusively on software innovation to attract users.

Until steps are taken to prevent Apple, Google and Microsoft from leveraging their control of major operating systems to promote their own software, mounting an effective challenge will remain practically impossible for companies like Opera.

This much was confirmed recently by the chief executives of DuckDuckGo and Proton, in conversation with TechRadar Pro. Although neither company competes predominantly in the browser space, they face identical headwinds in their primary markets: search and email, respectively.

Microsoft Edge comes preinstalled on all Windows 10 and 11 devices. (Image credit: Microsoft)

“If antitrust regulation doesn’t tackle defaults, it is only addressing 5% of the problem. That’s really the elephant in the room,” explained Andy Yen, Proton CEO. “If you don’t tackle that piece, you don’t break the monopoly.”

Gabriel Weinberg, CEO at DuckDuckGo, made a similar complaint in relation to the way Google handles default services on its Android platform.

“On Android right now, it takes fifteen-plus clicks to change the default search engine, but we really think that should be one click. If this kind of system were in place, we could be five or ten times bigger today,” he told us.

“It’s very important to open up these kinds of industries. The answer to this problem is a regulatory one, so we’re working with bodies across the world to make this happen.”

Is all hope lost?

Although the odds are stacked in Microsoft’s favor, there are some signs the company may have overstepped the mark in its efforts to funnel people towards Edge.

For instance, the company was recently forced to walk back a policy that added an unreasonable amount of friction to the process of changing the default browser after users made their displeasure known.

Microsoft also came under fire for efforts to block links opened via its own services (e.g. Windows 11 widgets, the Start Menu etc.) from launching in any other browser but Edge, another underhand tactic that drew criticism from the community.

Although the power of the default is strong, so too is consumer sentiment, so it’s possible that missteps of this kind will play into the hands of smaller challengers.

Separately, there are indications that regulators have come to terms with the gravity and urgency of the situation. Take recent measures announced by the European Union (EU) under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), for example.

The DMA seeks to limit the power of so-called “technology gatekeepers”, whose dominant market position and wealth of resources is said to limit the opportunity for smaller competitors to accrue market share. It includes measures to prevent gatekeepers from ranking their own products higher in search results and blocking users from uninstalling preloaded applications.

The US has been slower to act than the EU, in part because of the national pride in its famous technology brands. However, the wheels are now beginning to turn and it is expected that landmark antitrust legislation will come into effect in the years to come, opening the door to Opera and its kind.

Source

Tool can also patch out the CPU, TPM, and Secure Boot install requirements.

  Andrew Cunningham - 6/30/2022, 4:45 PM

One of the new "features" coming to the Windows 11 22H2 update is a Microsoft account requirement for all new installs, regardless of whether you are using the Home or Pro version of the operating system. And that's too bad, because the 22H2 update corrects a few of Windows 11's original shortcomings while adding some nice quality-of-life improvements.

An easy workaround for this requirement is the Rufus USB formatting tool, which can create USB install media for Windows and all kinds of other operating systems. Rufus has already offered some flags to remove Windows 11's system requirement checks from the installer, removing the need for clunky Windows Registry edits and other workarounds. But the beta of version 3.19 will also remove the Microsoft account requirement for new installs, making it easy to set up a new Windows PC with a traditional local account.

When setting up Windows 11, make sure not to connect your PC to the Internet before creating your user account. This trick worked to circumvent the Microsoft account requirement in Windows 11 Pro and some of the later versions of Windows 10 but is being removed entirely from Windows 11 22H2. The Rufus tool merely reverts to the pre-22H2 status quo.

If you're using Rufus to avoid Windows 11's system requirements, your system will still be "unsupported" once you have Windows 11 up and running. That means putting up with periodic reminder messages about unsupported hardware and the vague threat that Microsoft may eventually stop providing updates and security patches for unsupported systems.

On the other hand, Rufus doesn't keep Windows 11's TPM and security features from working once the OS is installed, so if you want to create a single USB installer that will cover both supported and unsupported hardware, Rufus makes that possible.

Microsoft provides its own media creation tools for people who want to make USB install drives for Windows 10 or Windows 11, but it obviously doesn't offer the same circumventions for the company's requirements.

Source

These servicing updates are expected sometimes as we have moved into the new 23H2 (Sun Valley 3) feature update.

The full announcement says:

We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 25151.1010 (KB5016322). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Hence, all the bug fixes and improvements that were announced with Wednesday's released build 25151 to the Dev Channel are carried over into this.

Interestingly, while there are no new changes made in this build, servicing test builds like these before have been known to break some features. For example, Windows 10 Build 21292.1010 caused issues for x64 emulation on ARM PCs.

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

Microsoft releases Windows 11 build 25151.1010 (KB5016322) to test servicing pipeline

Chrome users could use the feature to translate webpages to another language using native options. The translate toolbar would pop up automatically on foreign language pages making the whole experience user friendly and convenient.

Other browsers at the time, Internet Explorer, Opera or Firefox, supported translations, but only through browser extensions.

The feature has been a part of Chrome for a long time, but Google did not improve it. In recent years, other browsers started to develop integrated Translate functionality. Microsoft's Edge browser, the Chromium-based one, supports native translations. The browser uses Microsoft Translator for translations and not Google Chrome, but the core functionality is identical. The classic version of Edge supported translations only through browser add-ons.

Last year, Microsoft introduced support for translating text selections and not the entire webpage. To do that, Edge users need to right-click on selected text and activate the "translate selection to" option to have it translated. The selected text is changed into the target language when the translate feature is invoked by the user.

Reddit user Leopeva64-2 discovered that Google's plan to integrate partial translate functionality in Chrome is making progress. The feature may be used to translate selections, but the process is different from how it is handled in Edge.

Chrome users may right-click on selected text and select the "Translate To" option in the context menu, but the translated text is not displayed on the page but in a bubble in an overlay.

The feature is not fully implemented at this point. While it is available in the context menu on some user devices, translations do not happen currently. Google engineers are still working to add the missing bits of code to Chrome to enable the full translate functionality in the browser.

Edge is not the only browser that supports partial translations. Vivaldi introduced support for translating bits of text last year, using its privacy-friendly translate feature. Mozilla is working on Translate functionality, and Firefox users may install an early version of Firefox Translate in the browser, but it is still fairly limited.

Closing Words

Partial translate functionality is a welcome addition to the browser. You may encounter multiple languages on a site, e.g., when you browse comments on a site, some may be in different languages. Browsers that just support full-page translations might not even pick up on these. It is probably a core reason for the popularity of translate extensions for Chrome that support partial translates.

Now You: which translate features would you like to see supported by your browser?

A Year after other browsers, Chrome is finally getting a partial translate feature

What the data says

An early-2000s titanium PowerBook G4 running macOS 10.5, the last version that ran on PowerPC Macs.

Andrew Cunningham

 

Before we look at charts, here are some highlights from our data that are more difficult to visualize:

 

• For all Mac models tracked, the average Mac receives almost exactly seven years of new macOS updates from the time it is introduced, plus another two years of security-only updates that fix vulnerabilities but don't add new features.
• The average Mac receives updates for about 5.5 years after Apple stops selling it. Buying a Mac toward the end of its life cycle means getting significantly fewer updates.
• Macs that are sold for an abnormally long time—the 2014 Mac mini that was available until 2018, the 2013 Mac Pro that was available until 2019, or the 2015 MacBook Air that was available until 2019, to pick three examples that Ventura doesn't support—don't get software updates for longer just because Apple sold them for longer. This differs from the timeline Apple uses to provide hardware repair services, which is determined based on "when Apple last distributed the product for sale."
• The three longest-lived Macs were the mid-2007 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros, the mid-2010 Mac Pro, and the mid-2007 iMac, which received new macOS updates for around nine years after they were introduced (and security updates for around 11 years).
• The shortest-lived Mac is the late 2008 version of the white MacBook, which only received 2.7 years of new macOS updates and another 3.3 years of security updates from the time it was introduced. (Late PowerPC-era and early Intel-era Macs are all generally pretty bad by modern standards).

 

To determine whether Mac update support had improved or declined over time, we organized all Macs by release year and calculated averages of how long that year's Macs had received new macOS versions and, after that, new security updates.

 

We paid attention to the number of years each Mac was supported (rather than the number of macOS releases that each Mac received) to account for shifts in Apple's release strategy, from "whenever-they're-done" major macOS releases in the 2000s to the current once-per-year release model that started in the early 2010s. Macs in the early-to-mid 2000s may have gotten as few as two or three macOS version updates, but because macOS went longer between major version updates, those Macs received active software support for about as many years as later models that received five or six macOS version updates.

 

For Macs introduced between 1998 and 2016, we calculated the average number of years that Macs released that year received new macOS updates (or, macOS versions with new version numbers, codenames, and major feature additions). Macs released in 2017 or later support Ventura, so we have not speculated about when they will stop receiving updates.

Andrew Cunningham

 

We also calculated the average number of years that these Macs could expect to receive security-only updates, which continue for two-or-so years after those Macs stop receiving new macOS versions. For Macs that run Catalina, Big Sur, or Monterey, we used projected dates that assume support until the fall of 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.

Andrew Cunningham

 

Our data shows some pretty clear trends for macOS updates. Support time took a major dip for a few years as the PowerPC era ended and the Intel era began, between roughly 2004 and 2007. This reflects all the big under-the-hood changes that went with that transition and is made even more complicated by a simultaneous shift from entirely-32-bit to entirely-64-bit hardware and software. But after that, Macs received updates for even longer than before, peaking for Macs released between 2009 and 2013.

 

That peak occurred at least in part because Apple didn't drop any Macs from its support list between the release of version 10.8 (Mountain Lion) in 2012 and version 10.11 (El Capitan) in 2015. Apple dropped some Macs in 2016 when version 10.12 (Sierra) came out, and it began requiring Metal-capable GPUs in 2018 with version 10.14 (Mojave). But things accelerated in 2020 with macOS 11 (Big Sur), when Apple began dropping support for a few older Macs every single year.

 

A 2008 MacBook Pro. Many Macs released in the late 2000s and early 2010s received eight or nine years' worth of new macOS updates, compared to just six years for Macs released in 2016.

Andrew Cunningham

 

This has led to a gradual decline in the amount of time that Macs could expect to get new macOS releases, but the amount of software support was well within the normal historical range for Macs released in 2014 and 2015. Ventura changes that for Macs released in 2016, in particular. Those models are getting new macOS updates for less than six years from their release date, the least since 2006 and a year or two less than Mac owners could expect in the very recent past. It's not a historical low, but it's a noticeable step backward.

 

Whether this dip for 2016 Macs is an aberration or a precursor to another 2004-to-2006-style sustained drop in support time depends on Apple; if the system requirements for macOS 14 are the same as the requirements for Ventura, support time could return to being on the low end of "normal" for the Macs lucky enough to run Ventura this year. If Apple continues to drop Macs from the list every year, late-era Intel Macs could end up being as short-lived as some of the final PowerPC Macs.

 

Buying Macs late in their lifecycle means getting fewer updates, even for Macs like the 2015 MacBook Air, 2013 Mac Pro, or 2014 Mac mini that Apple sold for multiple years without replacing or updating.

Andrew Cunningham

 

Measuring support from the time each Mac was discontinued shows us a trendline with the same basic shape as before: a sustained drop during the transition to Intel and a sustained increase once Intel Macs were well-established—but with a more pronounced decrease in support for Intel Macs released in and after 2014. Sometimes, Apple will keep older hardware around as entry-level models after introducing a significant hardware redesign, like it did with 2012's non-Retina MacBook Pros, 2015's Intel MacBook Air, or (most recently) 2020's M1 MacBook Air. Buying those Macs can save you some money in the short term, but you need to weigh the savings against the likelihood that you could stop getting macOS updates a year or two earlier than if you bought brand-new, just-launched hardware.

Some Macs are getting fewer updates than they used to. Here’s why it’s a problem

Tsar Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is forcing the country to switch to Linux.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, now that Microsoft will not touch Russia with a barge pole, some companies are looking for pirated software.

Russia-based web searches for pirated Microsoft software have surged by as much as 250 per cent after the company suspended new sales on March 4, according to Kommersant. In June so far, there's been a 650 per cent surge in searches for Excel downloads, the media outlet added.

While it might take some time to switch out Voleware, and some systems can’t be changed over, it looks like Russian companies might turn to Linux to make the whole “dependant on the US” thing go away for ever.

Russian government agencies are apparently switching from Microsoft's Windows to the Linux operating system. The Moscow Times reported that developers of Russian systems based on the Linux open source operating system are also seeing more demand.

Source

Advertising company AdDuplex has published its latest set of Windows usage figures and it looks like there might be light at the end of the tunnel for Windows 11.

Only the most ardent Microsoft apologists would insist all is well with Windows 11 adoption. Share growth of the OS stalled earlier this year and between March and April, with AdDuplex registering less than a 0.4 per cent increase. Windows 11 stood at a 19.7 per cent share, well behind the 35 percent and 26.4 percent of Windows 10 21H2 and 21H1 respectively.

The figures for the end of June show Windows 11 has clawed its way to a 23.1 percent share of PCs surveyed by AdDuplex, within touching distance of the chunk occupied by Windows 10 21H1 (23.9 percent) but still a long way behind Windows 10 21H2, which grew its share to 38.2 percent. Microsoft itself has not produced any official usage statistics.

There are some limitations to the data. AdDuplex focuses only on PCs using Windows Store apps running its SDK, meaning older or locked-down enterprise machines don't feature in the figures. Other surveys, such as those published by Lansweeper, paint a far bleaker picture where Windows 11 sits some way behind the soon-to-be-out-ESU-support Windows 7.

Without the full enterprise picture of Windows 11 adoption, making sweeping market-level assumptions is a challenge. For the business set, Windows 11 often comes during hardware refreshes, especially with the infamously strict hardware requirements for the OS. This means Windows 11 is unlikely to be reach corporate users until fleets are replaced, which might come later than expected if business PC shipments are any indicator.

The arrival of Windows 11 22H2 in the coming months will also ease enterprise adoption passage; the upgrade is reassuringly low-key, and administrators have had a year to get used to the ins and outs of Microsoft's latest and greatest.

As for the AdDuplex figures, the numbers continue to point to the initial surge of consumer upgrades being complete and growth now occurring as users acquire new kit to replace old. It will be interesting to observe the impact of both Windows 11 22H2 and Windows 10 22H2 when both arrive in the coming months. ®

Source

What’s new

• New! We added Server Message Block (SMB) redirector (RDR) specific public File System Control (FSCTL) code FSCTL_LMR_QUERY_INFO.
• New! We added support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 in Windows client and server Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) implementations.
• New! We added support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 in Windows client and server Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) implementations.
• We updated the Remove-Item cmdlet to properly interact with Microsoft OneDrive folders
• We enabled the InternetExplorerModeEnableSavePageAs Group Policy. For more information, see Microsoft Edge Browser Policy Documentation.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Take Photo button to disappear when you use a common file dialog to open the camera.
• 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 an issue that causes install from media (IFM) creation for Active Directory to fail with the error, “2101 JET_errCallbackFailed”.
• We fixed an issue that occurs when the Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (LDS) resets the password for userProxy objects. The password reset fails with an error such as, “00000005: SvcErr: DSID-03380C23, problem 5003 (WILL_NOT_PERFORM), data 0”.
• We enabled the InternetExplorerModeEnableSavePageAs Group Policy. For more information, see Microsoft Edge Browser Policy Documentation.
• We fixed an issue that occurs when the Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (AD LDS) resets the password for userProxy objects. When you try to reset someone else’s password and you are authenticated using a simple bind, the password reset fails. The error is like, “00000005: SvcErr: DSID-03380C23, problem 5003 (WILL_NOT_PERFORM), data 0”.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Microsoft Edge from being available in Windows Sandbox.

Microsoft have not shared any Known issues, with this build. Incedently, the Release Preview Channel has now overtaken the Beta Channel, which is currently still stuck on build 22621.160 that was released two and a half weeks ago.

You can find the official blog post here.

Update 11:45 a.m. PT: A previous version of this article stated this was released to the Beta Channel, when in fact this update is released to the Release Preview Channel.

Windows 11 build 22621.169 (KB5014958) in Release Preview Channel contains mostly fixes

Earlier this year, Microsoft released build 22567 with a modern "Open With" dialog box, which appears on the screen when you select the app for a specific file. The new version comes with modern visuals, better suggestions, and the option to browse compatible apps in the Microsoft Store. Sadly, in build 22579, Microsoft pulled the redesigned dialog box due to various performance issues. Three months later, the feature is back in Windows 11.

Microsoft has not announced the return of the modern "Open With" dialog box, but you can enable it at your own risk using the ViveTool app. Here is how to do it:

1. Download ViveTool from its repository on GitHub and extract it wherever convenient.
2. Launch Windows Terminal as Administrator in Command Prompt profile.
3. Navigate to the ViveTool folder using the CD command. For example, CD C:\Vive.
4. Type vivetool /enable /id:36302090 and press Enter. Note that the latest ViveTool version uses a new syntax for managing software configurations. If you use an older release, type the vivetool addconfig 36302090 2 command.
5. Right-click any file and select Open With > Choose another app.

To revert changes, use the vivetool /disable /id:36302090 command or vivetool delconfig 36302090 2.

Source: @FireCubeStudios.

Windows 11 build 25151 restores modern Open With dialog box

Despite its growth, Windows 11 could not bypass Windows 10 21H1 and become the second most popular Windows release. Version 21H1 holds 23.9% (down from 26.4% in April 2022), and 21H2 is number one with 38.2% (up from 35% in April 2022). Windows 10 21H2 got more users due to Microsoft ending support of Windows 10 20H2 on May 10, 2022, and force-updating its users to the latest release.

Windows 11 remains an optional upgrade on supported hardware, so it is up to users to decide whether to stay with Windows 10 or pull the trigger on the newest operating system. The latter is about to receive its first feature update that will fix many shortcomings of the original release.

Here is how the Windows market looks according to the latest report from AdDuplex:

1. Windows 10 21H2: 38.2% (+3.2 points).
2. Windows 10 21H1: 23.9% (-2.5 points).
3. Windows 11 21H2: 23.1% (+3.4 points).
4. Windows 10 2004: 5.2% (-1.3 points).
5. Windows 10 20H2: 3.8% (-2.4 points).
6. Other Windows 10 versions: 3% (-0.4 points).
7. Windows 11 Insiders: 0.8% (+0.1 points).

Source: AdDuplex

Windows 11 crosses 23% share mark, almost becoming second most popular version

What is new in Edge Dev 105.0.1300.0

Added features:

• Added a button in the PDF toolbar to share documents. 
• Added new policies by improving trending searches in Microsoft Edge .

Improved reliability:

• Improved efficiency mode strings and its feature settings.
• Improved the phrasing in the sleeping tabs policy to be clearer when it is off/on.
• Improved keyboard UX on Android.
• Improved the Print dialog’s Options announcements for screen readers.
• Improved Android to remove the mask of the entire article after starting Read aloud and now use assorted color schemes for highlights under different themes .
• Improved trending searches in Microsoft Edge .

Changed behavior:

• Fixed an animation error on the mobile sync settings page .
• Fixed an issue when clicking on the search box above top sites on mobile.

According to the release schedule, Edge 105 will be available in the Stable channel on the week of September 1, 2022. You can download Microsoft Edge Dev for Windows, macOS, and Linux from the official website, plus the browser is available on Android from the Google Play Store.

In case you missed it, Microsoft recently announced several new features for collections in Edge. Also, the company has started rolling out the WebView2 Runtime to Windows 10 consumers to make life easier for developers.

Edge Dev 105.0.1300.0 brings several improvements and fixes

Here is what is new in MSEdgeRedirect 0.7.0.0:

• Fixed Apps (again).
• Cleaned up Search Data.
• Added Image Search Redirections.
• Added News De-Embedding (Beta) - Uses I'm Feeling Lucky from Google or DuckDuckGo.
• Added support for @AveYo's Edge Removal Script.
• Removed leftover dialog boxes used for debugging.
• Fixed IEFO Settings not detecting existing IEFO Selections.

Before you download and install MSEdgeRedirect, it is worth noting that the app is still in Beta, and you may encounter some bugs or weird behavior. Proceed at your own risk when using such third-party software.

The developer says the latest release has the following known issues:

• Outlook Previews Inop (#63). - Will be fixed in 0.7.1.0.
• Weird Setup and Setting Menu Edge cases. Will be fixed in 0.8.0.0.
• Debug Dialog left in for using News De-Embedding, Fixed in latest dev build.

You can download MSEdgeRedirect 0.7.0.0 from its repository on GitHub.

MSEdgeRedirect is a spiritual successor to the Edge Deflector app, which many people previously used to deal with Microsoft's Edge-imposing rules. For example, Windows Search and Widgets are permanently tied to Bing and Edge regardless of your default browser. After Microsoft confirmed that it does not plan to change this behavior and would continue fixing loopholes that allow bypassing it, the Edge Deflector creator abandoned the project. Luckily, MSEdgeRedirect is here to save the day with the latest improvements and new features.

You can learn more about how to force widgets in Windows 11 or 10 to use the default browser instead of Edge in our dedicated guide.

MSEdgeRedirect update adds image search redirect and other improvements

Before

After

Thanks to Microsofters on Twitter who spotted this update, you can see above in our before/after images the difference between the context menus in the chat window between version 2.2225.2.0 and the previous version. The context menu can also be collapsed so that the Copy, Cut, Paste, Undo and Select All options are all hidden, and this is remembered between chat sessions.

Unfortunately, since both Facebook Meta, (who owns WhatsApp) and Microsoft does not provide release notes or a history, it is unclear what else was changed with this latest update. But you can grab it right now from the Microsoft Store here.

Some of the exciting features the Meta-owned company recently added include message reactions, sending voice notes, and limited one-time view for media shares, as well as emoji shortcuts, dark mode support, the ability to filter and archive your chats, and many more.

If you're a WhatsApp user, do you use the beta app on your Windows 11/10 PC? Does this new text formatting context menu make the app more useful to you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

WhatsApp Beta for Windows gets full option modern context menu for chats

The new feature updates in version 2206 are as follows:

Excel

• Copy data from the status bar: Quickly copy information from aggregations like "Sum," "Average," and "Count" from the status bar. See details in blog post.
• Find your data faster: The AutoFilter function is now noticeably faster! These improvements were achieved by reducing memory usage and optimizing the calls made by the filter’s comparison algorithm. The optimizations are especially noticeable on low-end devices that have less memory or slower CPU-memory throughput. Learn more.
• Speeding up Formula Entry: Excel has sped up entering a formula in a cell noticeably by reducing memory usage, making more efficient use of allocated memory, and optimizing redrawing. These optimizations are more noticeable on devices with slower Memory or slower CPU-Memory throughput as well as for larger cell ranges.

PowerPoint

• Text Anchored Comments: As part of PowerPoint's modern comments, customers will now have the ability to anchor comments to specific ranges of text.

Meanwhile, these are the issues that have been resolved:

Excel

• We fixed an issue where shared workbooks in .xls format may improperly merge changes.
• We fixed an issue where an AMSI scan would cause the app to close unexpectedly.
• We fixed an issue that caused Excel to close unexpectedly when showing live preview of a chart.

Outlook

• We fixed an issue that prevented the Room Finder from loading in the GCC-High environment.
• We fixed an issue where users were not able to add room mailboxes to the calendar.

PowerPoint

• We fixed an issue where changing the sensitivity label on a document while coauthoring with others might lose the picked sensitivity label.
• We fixed an issue where mandatory sensitivity labeling was not required for save-as when using browse to a location.

Word

• We fixed an issue where nested fields in headers display incorrectly while scrolling.

Office Suite

• We fixed an issue where we attempt font downloads in cases they are known and expected to stop working during downloading, which results in unnecessary resources being used.

If you want to check to see whether you have the latest version of Microsoft 365 Apps, open one of the apps such as Word and create a new document. Go to File > Account > Product Information > Update Options > Update Now. You can then close the “You’re up to date!” window when updates have been checked for and installed. For more information on updating, check out this help page.

Microsoft releases version 2206 (Build 15330.20196) for Microsoft 365 Apps

The full changelog for the new driver is given below:

GAMING HIGHLIGHTS:

• Intel® Game On Driver support for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak*, F1 22*, and Arcadegeddon* on 11 th Generation Intel Core™ Processors with Xe Graphics and newer.

FIXED ISSUES:

• Halo Wars 2* may experience an intermittent crash or TDR during gameplay.
• Naraka: Bladepoint* may experience a crash or application stopped responding error during gameplay.

KNOWN ISSUES:

• Intel and Codemasters are aware of an application crash issue in F1 22*, which occurs on some integrated graphics products. Work is being done to fix the issue via a game patch or driver workaround, which will be made available as soon as possible.
• An error message pop-up may be observed when launching Call of Duty: Vanguard* (DX12).
• An application crash may occur in Watch Dogs: Legion* (DX11) when starting the game.
• An intermittent crash or hang may occur during gameplay in Ghostwire: Tokyo* (DX12). • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive* (DX9) may experience a game crash when changing shadow quality settings in game.
• Destiny 2* may exhibit display signal loss or display flashing during gameplay when HDR is enabled.
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin* may experience an application crash during gameplay.
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint* may experience minor shadow corruption in some areas of the game.
• CrossFire* (DX9) may experience an application crash and or security alert when joining a game.
• Minor graphical anomalies may be observed in Call of Duty: Warzone* (DX12), Diablo II: Resurrected* (DX12), Euro Truck Simulator* (DX11), Farming Simulator 22* (DX12), Grand Theft Auto V* (DX11), Halo Infinite* (DX12), Hitman 2* (DX12), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy* (DX12) and Microsoft Flight Simulator*(DX11).
• An “Update driver” pop-up error message may be observed when launching Battlefield 1* after upgrading from 30.0.100.9955 or older drivers.
• [12th Generation Intel Core Processors]:
  • Grid Legends* (DX12) may experience lighting corruption when lighting quality is set to high in the games settings.
  • CrossFire HD* (DX9) may experience an application crash when task switching during gameplay.
  • Chorus* may experience an application crash in some interior areas of the game such as the ship hangar.
  • Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Destiny 2* (DX11), CrossFire HD* (DX9), GRID Legends* (DX12) (on changing lighting quality to high) and F1 2020* (DX12) when HDR is enabled.
  • Sniper Elite 5* (DX12) may experience a game crash or TDR with an error dialog pop-up message.
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo* (DX12) may intermittently experience a crash or TDR when transitioning between areas in the game.
  • Red Dead Redemption 2* (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance when the game API is set to DirectX®12.
• [11th and 12th Generation Intel Core Processors]:
  • Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Gears 5* (DX12).
  • A TDR may intermittently occur in Halo Infinite* (DX12) during gameplay.
  • A game crash or hang may occur when changing resolution in NBA 2K21* (DX12).
  • Displays connected via an external dock may exhibit a black screen when using 4K@60hz resolution.
• [11th Generation Intel Core Processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics]:
  • An intermittent crash or hang may occur in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade* (DX12).
  • Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Elex* (DX11), MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries* (DX12), Strange Brigade* (DX12) and The Ascent* (DX12).
  • A black screen or TDR may occur after launching, or during gameplay in Gears 5* (DX12).
• [Intel Iris Xe Discrete graphics]:
  • Support for Intel Iris Xe Discrete graphics is not included in this software release. An upcoming software update will re-introduce support for Intel Iris Xe Discrete graphics.

To download the new 30.0.101.3113 Beta driver, head over to the company's official website here. The driver is compatible with Intel 6th Gen products and newer.

Intel 30.0.101.3113 beta driver fixes Halo Wars 2 crash, adds F1 22 support and more

PowerPoint's Recording Studio allows you to create and share videos of your presentation, thanks to its enhanced recording experience. But now, with the availability of Cameo in Recording Studio, you can also use the camera feed to "make the video recording of your presentation even more personal and create an immersive storytelling experience." You also get the option to customize your camera feed's appearance: it allows you to "apply your favorite camera styles, shapes, and sizes to cameo, and choose the place on the slide for your camera feed."

Microsoft is also bringing Cameo to Teams users in August this year.

The way the whole thing works is pretty simple. Open the PowerPoint presentation you want to record and share, then on the Record tab, select Cameo to add your camera feeds to the slides.

Cameo in PowerPoint Recording Studio is rolling out to Office Insiders running Beta Channel Version 2207 (Build 15425.20000) or later.

In another post, Microsoft mentioned that Line Spacing was one of the most-requested features from iPad users. And the company has finally introduced it to PowerPoint users on iPad, allowing them to "customize the line spacing before and after paragraphs, within blocks of text, and more." Users need to select the text and tap the Line Spacing button on the Home tab and then choose their preferred spacing settings.

The new Line Spacing button is available to Insiders running Version 2.59 (Build 22030101) or later.

Sources and images: Microsoft (1, 2)

Microsoft introduces some useful new features to PowerPoint

Before Microsoft released its Windows 11 operating system, it announced that it made several changes to the operating system's requirements. The company released its own tool, PC Health Check, so that users could check whether their devices could run the new operating system. Microsoft pulled the program shortly after release, and third-party programs were created to fill the gap.

While PC Health Check is available again, it is not the best tool when it comes to compatibility checks.

Tip: you may check a Registry key to find out if your Windows PC is compatible with Windows 11 version 22H2.

WhyNotWin11 is an open source program that checks all system requirements of Windows 11 to return whether the device is compatible with the operating system.

Usage could not be simpler: download the program from the project's GitHub website and run it. The program runs the checks and returns its findings to you in a matter of seconds. The new version does not display a warning anymore if run on Windows 11, as users may want to check if their device is compatible with the next feature update.

While that should be a given, as Microsoft has not announced any changes to the system requirements, some may want to run tests anyway. Doing so may also be interesting to users who bypassed system requirement checks initially, but replaced some hardware in the meantime.

The device is compatible if all checks are passed; this is indicated by the color green. While it is possible to bypass some system requirement checks during installation of Windows 11, doing so may lead to issues later on, including the blocking of future updates.

Note: Windows may throw a SmartScreen error when you run the application; this does not mean that the program is malicious, only that it is new and unknown to SmartScreen.

Hover over the "i"-icon in the interface next to a test to find out more about it. You find a couple of useful resource links in the Settings, e.g., on enabling TPM or Secure Boot, as these may be disabled by default on some devices.

WhyNotWin11 is a useful tool, especially for users who run older versions of Windows, as it provides direct compatibility information.

Now You: are your devices compatible with Windows 11? (via Deskmodder)

WhyNotWin11 update readies the program for Windows 11 version 22H2

The new build adds plenty of new changes and improvements on top of bug fixes. The full changelog for Build 25145 is given below:

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed a scaling issue which could result in the tabs being unexpectedly large.
• Right clicking a tab and then clicking somewhere else in File Explorer should dismiss the context menu more reliably now.

[Other]

• We believe an underlying fix in Build 25145 addressed the recent issue where shutting down via the Start menu wasn’t working for some Insiders (unexpectedly rebooting instead), and as such are removing this from the known issues list. If you are continuing to encounter this issue with the latest updates, please report it in the Feedback Hub.
• Fixed a high hitting Windows Security app crash.
• Updated the Exclusions page in the Windows Security app so that file paths now make better use of the available space rather than truncating when space is still available.
• Fixed an underlying issue which was causing a crash when trying to delete ports in printui /s.
• Fixed an issue causing printing to not work from UWP apps for some Insiders in the last 2 flights.

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.

Here are the known issues in Windows 11 Build 25151:

[General]

• We are working on a fix to address reports that the Mica material and Acrylic blur effect is not rendering correct in OS surfaces like the Start menu, Notification Center and other areas.
• Some games that use Easy Anti-Cheat may crash or cause your PC to bugcheck.
• We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are experiencing bugchecks with error message KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED in NetAdapterCx.sys starting with Build 25145.

[File Explorer]

• The up arrow is misaligned in File Explorer tabs. This will be fixed in a future update.
• We’re investigating reports that launching File Explorer in certain ways when using dark mode (for example, from the command line) is showing the body of File Explorer unexpectedly in light mode.

[Widgets]

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

[Live captions]

• Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
• Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is run will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 23H2 Dev build 25151 fixes Windows Security app issues, and more

Foxit PDF Reader 12.0 is a free program to read and print PDF documents. It comes with limited support for additional functionality, such as the signing of PDF documents.

Our first review of Foxit Reader dates back to 2006, when Foxit Reader 2.0 was released. The then lightweight program was a popular alternative to Adobe's heavier Adobe Reader application.

Over the years, Foxit Software tried several monetization options, including shipping the free product with toolbars, and the launching of new paid applications.

Foxit PDF Reader 12.0

Foxit PDF Reader 12.0 is still available for free, but it comes as  a hefty 160 Megabyte installation package that users need to download. The application itself requires more than 500 Megabytes of free disk space. The installer includes everything that is needed to run a Foxit PDF Editor trial, which may explain the size.

As a comparison, Foxit Reader 9.0 had an installer size of 51 Megabytes.

Some may prefer to view PDF documents in a web browser or true lightweight applications, such as Sumatra.

Foxit PDF Reader opens quickly, which is quite good. Version 12.0 of the PDF reader introduces several changes, including several security and stability issues according to the release notes.

As far as changes in the new version are concerned, there are a couple that users may like. One of the changes introduces support for viewing two PDF documents side-by-side in the same Foxit window, which improves comparisons and reviews. Another feature introduces support for reverting PDF files to previously saved versions.

Commenting and reviewing supports several new features. Comments may be exported as FDF or XFDF files, and there is an option to import XDFD comments. Other commenting options include filtering and sorting comments by color, and the ability to edit and reply to comments from the Comments panel.

Preferences include a search field now for quickly finding options without having to click through the various subsections.

Foxit notes that it has improved the user interface in the new version:

Offer improved user interface for better usability with new fonts, distinct colors for icons and backgrounds, and more, and better software accessibility for users using keyboard controls and screen readers.

The program's EUTL certificate verification provides the qualified information of EUTL certificates in the new version.

Foxit PDF Editor 12.0 changes

Foxit PDF Editor 12.0 includes major changes, some of which are shared with the free version. Highlights include:

• Integration of a calculator " to do calculations and add electronic calculator tapes to PDFs as annotations".
• Page management improvements, including inserting web pages into a PDF or customing PDF page sizes.
• Use the logged in user's username in watermarks.
• Option to edit images outside of Foxit PDF Editor using other applications.
• Enhanced ECM integration.
• PDF optimization improvements.

You can check out the full change history here.

Now You: which PDF reader do you use?

Foxit PDF Reader 12.0 released

Frontpaged:   Foxit Reader 12.0.0.12394

Starting off with Excel for the web, users can now configure sheet protection. This allows you to lock and unlock cell ranges in order to prevent unwanted changes. Furthermore, you can now customize which slicer affects which PivotTable on the web. Finally, you can also leverage semi-select to create workbook links based on cross-workbook formula selection.

Coming over to Excel for Windows, we have a couple of interesting features. The first allows you to insert data from images instead of manually typing it out, which could potentially save you a lot of time and unlock new use-cases too. However, it is only available on the Office Insiders Beta Channel. The second capability, generally available, enables Excel to automatically generate alternate text for charts if you're using a screen reader and come across a visual which doesn't have it. This is a major advancement in accessibility.

Finally, we also have two new features for Excel for Mac. The first is the same automatic alternate text generation described above. The second allows Mac users to import local files using Power Query and get a data preview ahead of performing transformations too.

If you have feedback on existing Excel capabilities or would like to see new features being added, file them to Microsoft on the dedicated Feedback portal here.

Here are all the features that came to Microsoft Excel in June 2022

The first noteworthy change is the new collapsible notification pane. If you're using Phone Link, you'd know that on the left side, you get all your notifications, status about your phone's battery, and other important information. And since all these are now part of the new collapsible notification pane, you can choose not to see them all the time. In our experience, the app looks a lot cleaner when the pane remains collapsed.

Before

After

The ability to search for messages is another useful functionality in the app. Phone Link now allows you to search your inbox, just like you do on your smartphone. Try typing anything in the "Search messages" field, and the app will show all the messages containing what you just typed. In our previous posts, we mentioned that Microsoft would introduce the message search in a future update.

The latest version of the Phone Link app is 1.22052.532.0, so in case you do not see the changes mentioned above, make sure you have the latest version installed. You can download the Phone Link app on your PC here from Microsoft Store. And if you're new to this, here's our guide to help you connect your Android phone to your Windows PC with Phone Link.

Microsoft's Phone Link app gets a new notification pane and more with latest update