As the end of support for IE looms near, IE Mode, which is built in Microsoft Edge, has been promoted to help organizations transition gradually. With IE Mode, users could access the legacy IE-based websites and apps while enjoying a more modern browsing experience. However, with less than three months before IE’s retirement, IE mode is still seeing improvements. These include the restoration of IE COM object calls and implementation of bidirectional cookie sharing. 

Restoring the IE COM objects to their original functionality has been prioritized and is now being widely deployed. E COM objects are essential pieces to the functionality of many apps and workflows. With IE or a combination of Microsoft Edge with IE Mode, these scenarios run as expected. However, such scenarios broke when the IE browser stand-alone was disabled. after

Developers raised the issue, and an enhancement on IE Mode was introduced and deployed. Hence, the original functionality of IE COM objects had been restored for users of the latest Windows 11 and Windows 10 updates. This will continue to work even after the IE 11 desktop app is disabled. 

Another significant enhancement in IE mode, especially for organizations on their modernization journeys, is the bidirectional cookie sharing between modern and legacy engines. IE Mode in Microsoft Edge extends the use of legacy apps even after IE retirement. The ability to access legacy and modern sites in a single browser should help organizations in their modernization efforts. 

Formerly, cookies in IE Mode only permitted sharing of session information from sites using modern engines to sites on legacy engines. It does not allow a reverse. This poses a problem to organizations planning to modernize. Recognizing the importance of sharing the right data between sites in workflows that involve modern and legacy sites, SSO scenarios to share credentials between sites and engines have been unlocked. Now, users can manually set cookies for bidirectional sharing of session information from modern to legacy and legacy to modern sites.

Further, manual control for cookie sharing was incorporated into the Cloud Site List Management experience in Microsoft 365 admin center. This permits users to identify specific sites in their cloud-hosted sites to allow cookies sharing as necessary.

Microsoft Edge for IE mode offers two new enhancements

Natural language recognition is a neat feature that will save you several clicks and taps when adding reminders to Microsoft To Do. It removes the need to manually add a due date, reminder time, and repeat schedule. For example, you can type "Check Neowin daily at 7 AM" to automatically create a daily reminder with notifications at 7 AM. Previously, users had to populate the reminder, due, and repeat fields manually.

Date and time recognition is an optional feature you can turn off globally in settings or case-by-case. The latter will come in handy when a word is not meant to be a date. In this case, press the Backspace button after a highlighted word to remove the suggestion.

Currently, natural language recognition is available in Microsoft To Do on Windows 10, 11, and iOS for English-speaking users. You can learn more about how this feature works in the official Microsoft support documentation.

Microsoft To Do is a stock Windows 11 app that comes with every "clean" installation. If you uninstalled To Do (learn how to delete stock Windows apps here) and now want to give the app a spin, download it from the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft To Do gets smart due date and reminder recognition

FastStone Image Viewer 7.6 is already available on the official website. It is offered as a portable version that does not need to be installed and as an installer that installs the program on the system.

Existing users may notice the performance improvement right after they have upgraded the application to the latest version. One of the main changes of FastStone Image Viewer 7.6 is that a new database engine is used. The database is not mentioned, but it promises better performance, capacity and reliability according to the release notes. The program's startup time, folder tree creation and network folder access have also been improved and users should notice improvements in these areas.

The second improvement comes in form of a new rating system. It is a basic one, as it allows you to assign ratings between 1 and 5 to files. Ratings are not enabled by default, selecting Rating > Enable File Rating unlocks the functionality.

The keyboard shortcuts Alt-1 to Alt-5 may be used to assign ratings to files in the application from that moment on. Ratings can be removed with the shortcut Alt-0, and the same options are available in the right-click menu under Ratings.

The rating system would not be very useful if you could not use it to filter images in the application. Select the new ratings filter option to display images that match a specific rating or a rating range. Use the keyboard shortcut Shift-1 to Shift-5 to apply the filter quickly; Shift-0 displays all unrated images. Options to display greater or equal, or less than or equal, ratings are provided as well.

The new FastStone Image Viewer 7.6 supports two additional sorting options: date and tagged.  Tags and ratings are preserved in the database when files are moved or copied.

Another new option is found under Settings:  "Pre-scan folders into thumbnail databases" will scan selected folders or drives automatically, even before they are accessed by the user. Drive letters or paths need to be added to include these in the automatic operation. Subfolders are scanned automatically, but this can be disabled in the configuration window.

FastStone Image Viewer 7.6 has several minor improvements as well:

• Image Strip Builder has a new Center option.
• The status bar displays the size of selected items.
• The three native themes have been improved.
• Preserve Aspect Ratio added to Image Size in the Design and Print tool.
• Google Maps and Google Earth may be accessed via the hotkeys Ctrl-Shift-M and Ctrl-Alt-M for images with GPS coordinates.
• EXIF Lens Model option added to caption in Contact Sheet, text in Slide Show and text in Batch Convert tool.
• Images in the active folder may be shuffled prior to the completion of thumbnail generation.
• Windows View mode: merge two status bars into one to maximize the viewing area.
• New option to select the secondary monitor under Settings > Dual Monitor if more than two monitors are detected.

Closing Words

FastStone Image Viewer 7.6 improves the application in several meaningful ways. Users should notice performance improvements in several key areas, including program launch but also when performing database operations.

Now You: which image viewer do you use, and why?

FastStone Image Viewer 7.6: improved performance and new rating system,

Software Updates:   FastStone Image Viewer 7.6 Corporate + RePack & Portable

ExtPassword is compatible with all versions of Windows starting with Windows XP and including Windows 11. The program may recover a wide range of passwords from Windows and certain programs:

• Windows Credential files passwords, which store remote computer passwords.
• Windows 10 and 11 security questions and answers.
• Microsoft Account cache file.
• Web browser passwords, including Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, Microsoft Edge, Opera and Internet Explorer.
• Dialup and VPN passwords.
• Email client passwords, including Outlook, Thunderbird and Windows Mail App on Windows 10 and 11.
• Wireless network keys.
• DPAPI passwords on Windows 10.

All it takes is to download the program archive from the Nirsoft website, extract the content, and run the application with elevated rights. Note that Windows may display a SmartScreen warning prompt when you run the application. The program is not malicious and warnings may also be displayed if it is not known by Microsoft's SmartScreen service.

The application displays a configuration window on start. Select the external device that you want it to scan, and supply Windows passwords or Firefox master passwords if you have them. The passwords are optional, but some data may not be recovered if they are not supplied.

The extraction takes just a second or two to complete. Data is displayed in a table and columns highlight program names, user names and passwords, storage, the user profile and more information. A click on a column header sorts the table accordingly; there is also a search option to find strings quickly by selecting Edit > Find.

You can export data in several ways. Select any number of rows in the table and select the save/copy selected items options to either copy the date to the clipboard or save it to the local system.

You may also export the entire list of user names and passwords to several different formats, including plain text, CSV or XML.

A tap on F7 displays the log file, which may reveal why a particular password is not displayed.

Closing Words

ExtPassword is a useful program for Windows administrators and users who want to retrieve passwords from the running system or an old system. The program returns the data in a matter of seconds and works best if you can supply Windows passwords (and the Firefox master password if you need to retrieve data from the browser).

ExtPassword is limited to scanning full drives only at this point; there is no option to scan specific folders only using it at this point. Lastly, read access is required to retrieve the data.

All in all, ExtPassword is a useful password recovery software for the Windows operating system.

Now You: have you used password recovery software in the past?

Recover Windows and program passwords with ExtPassword

As usual, we will only be listing issues that are "open", sorted by upvote count. As such, capabilities which Microsoft has rolled out in general availability or preview will be excluded. Also note that this list may cover multiple platforms and does not only include Windows. Furthermore, we have grouped requests for new languages to be added this time just to keep the list a bit unique rather than having half of it be about language support. With that out of the way, let's begin!

1. Add Avar spelling dictionary to Word for Desktop - 19,100 upvotes; Add Chenchen spelling Dictory to Word Desktop version - 15,800 upvotes; Add Kumyuk Spelling dictonary (Latin Alphabet) - 10,400 upvotes
   Microsoft response on all items: Thanks for your feedback! We have no current plans to add spelling support for this language, but we'll keep it in mind. Please keep the feedback coming.
2. Full version of Microsoft Office Applications for iOS - 1,372 upvotes
   Microsoft: Thank you for your feedback! We've recently added several new features to Word Mobile on Android and iOS. You can read about them here. Please let us know what features you're missing, in additional feedback and we will continue to prioritize accordingly.
3. Bring back "classic" text boundaries - 1,194 upvotes
   Microsoft: Thanks for your feedback! We’re reviewing your suggestion.
4. Feature Parity: Word Online should have all the features of Desktop Word - 1,191 upvotes
   Microsoft: Word Online is consistently working towards feature parity with our desktop applications, in addition to incorporating new features. Please let us know if there are any specific features you would like to see.
5. Make page breaks so one can see where the page ends - 990 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
6. Add videos, GIFS or maybe interactive videos for presentation - 719 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
7. Permanently Change/Set a New Default Font - 717 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
8. Add Dark mode feature to Word for the web - 687 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
9. Add ability to comment on Footnotes - 656 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
10. Enable use Tab Key on Word online - 595 upvotes
    No response from Microsoft.

Although it's nice to see Microsoft responding to the first few top-voted items in the feedback portal, it's quite disheartening that the company has not bothered to provide updates on any of the items in the latter half of the list. As such, there is no clarity on whether Microsoft is developing these capabilities right now, testing them, rolling them out in a staggered manner, or deprioritizing them completely. In a way, this lack of transparency destroys the purpose of a feedback hub as customers begin to lose faith that their complaints are even being listened to. Perhaps this is an area that Microsoft can improve upon, moving forward.

Do you use Microsoft Word? Which features would you want Microsoft to implement? Let us know in the comments section below and also inform Microsoft by submitting your feedback over here!

Here are the top 10 features people want in Microsoft Word

By default, Edge lets you filter the browser history by "Today," "Yesterday," "Last Week," and "Older." These four filters may not be enough to find a specific page you visited on some particular day. Although you can find history entries by word, the ability to specify the exact period is a welcomed UX improvement. Here is how this feature works.

1. Update Microsoft Edge Canary to version 102.0.1212.0 or newer.
2. Go to edge://history/all.
3. Click Filter by date in the upper-right corner of the window.
4. Select Date Range.
5. Specify the dates and click Apply. You can select one day or several months.
6. To clear history filters, press Filter by date > Clear Filter.

Besides adding custom date ranges, Microsoft slightly changed the History page UI. Filtering options now sit in a menu in the upper-right corner. The upper-left corner of the browser now contains only the search box and three sections: All history, Recently closed, and Tabs from other devices. You can see in the images below how the new history page compares with the current one in the Stable channel.

Of course, these are not the most groundbreaking changes in Edge, but such small improvements make the browser more convenient and robust in daily use. Fewer clicks to find the needed information and get things done is always a welcomed change.

Other notable changes in the latest Canary updates include a potential return of the Workspaces feature and improved tab groups, which you might soon be able to pin and save as bookmarks. If you are curious to try new features in Edge Canary, download the browser here. The Canary channel is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

Source: Leopeva 64-2.

Edge Canary gets improved history with custom date picker

You can read the full official changelog to know more about what’s been fixed in the latest Windows Office Insider update, which bears version 2204 (Build 15128.20000).

Changelog

It’s been more than three weeks since Microsoft added new features to Office for Windows users. The last time Microsoft added new Office features for Windows users was when Windows Office Insider Preview Build 15028.20050 was released, which added the ability to refresh your stock data in the background regularly, and the ability to insert hyperlinks into Excel comments. The update also added the ability to let users apply labels whenever a document, worksheet, or presentation is either created or modified as against previous scenarios where your administrator configures default sensitivity labels.

Microsoft recently released Office Insider updates for Mac and iOS users too. Like Windows users, Office Insiders on Mac can also add hyperlinks to comments in Excel. Also, in the last iOS Office Insider update, Microsoft added important PDF options to the bottom bar. The company added many new features alongside the ability to add hyperlinks to the latest Office Insider update for Mac.

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

Microsoft releases Windows Office Build 15028.20050

Microsoft has highlighted five notable feature updates in the release notes. The first, of course, is that the browser will now pass a three-digit User-Agent string. The company has noted that this may cause certain websites with buggy parsers to break, so there is also an option in edge://flags to freeze the major version number to 99 instead of letting it go to 100.

Secondly, opening some URLs for Microsoft 365 services such as SharePoint and OneDrive will launch apps directly for organizations which are using Microsoft 365 Application Protocol Activations on trusted Microsoft cloud storage services. IT admins can use policies to control this behavior.

Another improvement is related to preserving the integrity of memory by protecting indirect calls to it. This is an enhancement to hardware-enforced stack protection, which is only available on Windows 8 and later. These are not all the security-related improvements though, Edge 100 also has security updates for nine CVEs that you can view here.

Finally, there are two updates related to how the browser handles PDF files. Edge 100 can take advantage of a lightweight PDF reader to preview files. It works with PDF attachments in Outlook Desktop and local PDF files in File Explorer. You can also leverage a policy to enable validation of digital signatures in PDFs without using any third-party integration.

There are lots of other policy updates and you can find details about them in the release notes here. Microsoft Edge should automatically update to version 100.0.1185.29 throughout the course of the day, but if it doesn't, you can manually trigger the update by clicking on the three-dots menu on the top-right of the browser window and then navigating to Help and feedback > About Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Edge 100 is here with PDF previews and memory integrity protection

Frontpaged:   Microsoft Edge 100.0.1185.29

According to Statcounter, Microsoft Edge is now the second most popular desktop browser. In March 2022, Edge managed to overtake Apple's Safari and hit second place with a 9.65% market share (+0.05). Safari is third with 9.56% (-0.21%), and the almighty Chrome remains first with 67.29% (+2.4%).

1. Google Chrome: 67.29%
2. Microsoft Edge: 9.65%
3. Apple Safari: 9.56%
4. Mozilla Firefox: 7.57%
5. Opera: 2.81%

Things are different in the global market that combines mobile and desktop platforms. Google Chrome is still the king with an overwhelming share, and the mobile market grants Safari a comfortable second position, far from Microsoft Edge.

1. Google Chrome: 64.53% (+1.75)
2. Apple Safari: 18.84% (-0.46)
3. Microsoft Edge: 4.05% (-0.01)
4. Mozilla Firefox: 3.4% (-0.81)
5. Samsung Internet: 2.82% (+0.05)

Microsoft is a relatively new player in the mobile browser market, and it has a hard time rivaling Safari and Chrome. Also, Microsoft has no power to force users to switch to Edge on mobile, which is another reason why Android and iOS combined tank Microsoft's figures in the browser market. Still, Edge demonstrates healthy progress on desktop platforms. Besides, with Microsoft making changing the default browser in Windows 11 less frustrating, you can expect Edge to continue gaining more favor in the eyes of consumers.

Source: Statcounter.

Statcounter: Microsoft Edge is now the second most popular desktop browser

Here are all the highlights of the release:

• Blender Cycles oneAPI support on 11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors and newer
• Minor graphical anomalies seen in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla* (DX12) on 11th and 12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors.
• Minor graphical anomalies seen in Baldur’s Gate 3* (Vulkan) on Intel® Iris® Xe Discrete graphics.
• A TDR may be observed during Netflix HEVC HDR Playback on 11th and 12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors.

Although, the Netflix HDR issue is fixed, other TDR bugs still remain. The full list of known issues is given below:

• An intermittent application crash or hang may be seen in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War* (DX12).
• An error pop-up may be observed when launching Call of Duty Vanguard* (DX12).
• Minor graphical anomalies may be observed in Diablo II: Resurrected* (DX12), Elden Ring* (DX12), Far Cry 6* (DX12), Farming Simulator 22* (DX12), Grand Theft Auto V* and Halo Infinite* (DX12).
• An “Update driver” pop-up error may be observed when launching Battlefield 1* after upgrading from 30.0.100.9955 or older drivers.
• [12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors]: Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Call of Duty: Warzone* (DX12), Hitman 2* (DX12).
• [12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors]: A TDR may be observed in FIFA 22* (DX12) during gameplay and while running Doom Eternal* (Vulkan®) with Steam Overlay enabled.
• [12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics]: An application crash may occur in Watch Dogs Legion* (DX11) when starting the game.
• [11th and 12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors]: Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Gears 5* (DX12), Genshin Impact* (DX11) and God of War* (DX11).
• [11th and 12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors]: A TDR may intermittently occur in Halo Infinite* (DX12) during gameplay.
• [11th and 12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors]: A game crash or hang may occur when launching Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy* (DX12).
• [11th and 12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors]: A game crash or hang may occur when changing resolution in NBA 2K21* (DX12).
• [11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics]: An intermittent crash or hang may occur in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade* (DX12) and Ghostwire Tokyo* (DX12).
• [11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics]: Minor graphical anomalies may be seen in Elex* (DX11), MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries* (DX12) and The Ascent* (DX12).
• [11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics]: A black screen or TDR may occur after launching, or during gameplay in Gears 5* (DX12).
• [Intel® Iris® Xe Discrete graphics]: An intermittent crash or hang may be seen in Forza Horizon 5* (DX12) when launched, Forza Motorsport 6* (DX12) when launched, Red Dead Redemption 2* (Vulkan) when MSAA is enabled and Resident Evil 3* (DX12) when exiting the game.
• [Intel® Iris® Xe Discrete graphics]: Minor graphical anomalies may be observed in Call of the Duty: Vanguard* (DX12), Microsoft Flight Simulator*(DX11), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy* (DX12) and Red Dead Redemption 2* (Vulkan).
• [10th Generation Intel® Core™ processors with Intel UHD Graphics]: An intermittent crash or hang may be observed in Battlefield V*.
• [11th and 12thGeneration Intel® Core™ Processors]: Display’s connected via an external dock may exhibit a black screen when using 4K@60hz resolution.
• Running DirectX®11 games in fullscreen with the Windows® “Fullscreen Optimization” option disabled, may result in a black screen when modifying resolution in game.

To download the Intel 30.0.101.1660 driver, head over to the official website using this link. If you are looking for a driver specific to its newly launched Arc discrete GPUs, find it here.

Intel 30.0.101.1660 driver fixes Netflix TDR crash, adds oneAPI support for Blender Cycles

One of the new features that we could all look forward to is the availability of in-meet reactions. This will allow meeting participants to react using emoticons such as thumbs up and heart, among others, and thus bring more energy and interaction into the discussion without having to disrupt the speaker by unmuting or typing using their keys.

Even as the world is aiming for a return to normalcy, it could be assumed that after having experienced the power and flexibility of online video conferencing, this will remain to be an option for many companies. As such, Google is continuously working to improve the online meeting experience. In fact, it recently announced new and exciting features for Google Meet that were designed to make meetings more interactive and secure. 

One of the new features that we could all look forward to is the availability of in-meet reactions. This will allow meeting participants to react using emoticons such as thumbs up and heart, among others, and thus bring more energy and interaction into the discussion without having to disrupt the speaker by unmuting or typing using their keys. It matches Zoom’s similar feature, which is quite useful in obtaining reactions from participants. These Google Meet reactions will be viewed in the video tile of the participants. If their video tile is not visible, the emoticon or reaction will overflow alongside their names on the side of the screen.   

A significant enhancement in livestream capability using Meet is also something to look forward to. Currently, users can host meetings with 500 active participants and reach up to 100,000 audiences through livestream in trusted Workspace domains. Later this year, Meet users could look forward to streaming Meet to YouTube. This is going to be available for Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching & Learning Upgrade Workspace customers. This integration with YouTube enables users to use their Google accounts for authentication. More than that, livestream participants will soon be able to join in the Q&A and polls, matching the interaction experience of the active Meet attendees.     

Another feature to look forward to is the capability of bringing Meet directly into Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Users who engage in work collaborations had to use another tab to work together on a file while conversing through Meet. Not anymore. In the coming weeks, Google will allow users to start a meeting and bring it directly to Docs, Sheets, or Slides. This allows the group to work collaboratively while discussing — all in a single tab.  

Google also introduced a picture-in-picture mode which will come in handy when we need to multitask — which is really often. This will allow users to see up to four video tiles in a floating window of Google Meet running on the Chrome browser while navigating other tabs or windows.   

Further, Google will be rolling out the optional client-side encryption in Google Meet in an effort to protect the users’ sensitive and private communications. This is going to be available for Business Plus, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers. Later this year, Google will also be introducing optional end-to-end encryption for all meets.  

Finally, it is notable how the recent roll-out of Companion mode enhanced the meeting experience for in-room participants. It gave them the chance to add their own video tile so other participants in the Meet would be able to see their expressions. The rollout of auto noise cancellation on all Google Meet hardware was also intended to further enhance the overall Meet experience.

Google introduces new features for Meet

You may check out Ashwin's article on the Phone Link application for details on the new release. Core changes include a new tabbed navigation, improved setup experience, and improved notifications visibility. The rebranding to Phone Link and the rebranding of the mobile companion applications to Link to Windows are also noteworthy.

Phone Link works with most Android devices, but Microsoft has partnership agreements with Samsung and HONOR that add functionality to some of their devices that extend the basic functionality of the application.

The Your Phone application is installed by default and it will be updated automatically to the new version, including the name change, through the Microsoft Store. Windows users who don't need the application may remove it from their devices.

Some users may prefer to use other phone linking applications, others may not require access to their mobile devices on their Windows machines.

Whatever the reason, it is easy to remove the Phone Link app on Windows.

Remove the Phone Link app on Windows

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator. One option to do that is to open Start, type PowerShell to bring up the main PowerShell application as the first result, and to select the run as administrator link to run it with elevated privileges.
2. Confirm the UAC prompt that Windows displays when you execute PowerShell with elevated rights.
3. Enter the following command to remove the Phone Link app from the device: Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
4. Press the Enter key.

Note that the application's package name has not changed; only its display name changed from Your Phone Companion to Phone Link.  The application is removed from the system and won't be listed anymore when you search for it or when you look through the installed application listing in the Settings application.

Why PowerShell?

Microsoft disabled the option to uninstall the Phone Link application from the Apps section of the Settings application. Since it is not possible to remove the application using the Settings app, it is PowerShell that needs to be used for that.

Reinstallation of Phone Link

Reinstallation of the Phone Link app is a straightforward process. Visit the application's Microsoft Store page and use the Get button to install it again on the device.

Now You: have you used the Phone Link app or another app before to link computers to mobile devices?

How to uninstall Phone Link on Windows devices

This is not an April Fool's Day prank, the app's name has really been rebranded.

Microsoft renames Your Phone Companion to Phone Link

The Phone Link app on has rounded corners, new icons to match Windows 11's design. The app displays the name of the connected device, along with icons to represent the strength of Wi-Fi and Mobile Networks, and the Battery level. Use the buttons at the top to enable/disable Do Not Disturb Mode, Bluetooth, Volume, and control the Audio playback.

The side panel on the left has been revamped, and displays the notifications received from your phone. It is no longer home to the various sections that you could navigate in the old version. Microsoft has moved these tabs to the top of the window.

There are 3 tabs that you can jump to: Messages, Photos and Calls. Select one of the tabs and the Phone Link app will populate its contents on the screen, i.e. the Messages page lists your texts, the Photos app shows all media from your device's gallery, and the Calls tab allows you to view your recent call activity. You can read and reply to messages from the sidebar in the Phone Link app, it even lets you choose the number you want to use, if you have Dual SIM cards on your phone. Similarly, you can make calls directly from your PC.

The Settings of the app has more options that allow you to tailor your experience. Head to the Personalization page to set a custom background as the wallpaper for the app, or to switch between the Light mode and Dark theme. View and manage your connected phones from the My Devices page.

Users can choose to turn off all Badges and Banners for a minimalist experience. The Phone Link has more in-depth controls for this in the Sections >Features page, where you can toggle notifications (sidebar), banners (toast messages), and taskbar badges. It also has various switches for filtering the types of messages, content that are displayed in the app.

The app has some features that, according to the announcement, are exclusive to select Samsung phones, like drag-and-drop files, view recently opened apps, etc. If you have a supported mobile, Phone Link will display a 4th tab called apps, to access apps that you have on the handset.

Download the Phone Link app from the Microsoft Store, or update it to the latest version, 1.22022.180.0. The Phone Link Android app on the Google Play Store is called Link to Windows, which matches the name of the app on Samsung mobiles. So, don't be alarmed if you see an app with the new name on your phone.

Don't like the Phone Link app? KDE Connect is an open source alternative that you can try, and Scrcpy is great for mirroring your device's screen.

I think Phone Link sounds better than Your Phone Companion, which to be honest sounded like a weird virtual friend or pet. That reminds me of LG's app, Virtoo, that is worse, isn't it?

Do you use the Phone Link app?

Microsoft renames Your Phone Companion app to Phone Link, and overhauls its interface

Video Pickup in Opera GX

Video Pickup, as the name suggests, offers a way to send videos that you were watching on a computer to your smartphone. The important part here is that it also preserves the timestamp, so you can resume it where you left the video.

How to use Video Pickup in Opera GX

You don't need to have Synchronization enabled in the browser to use this feature. All you need is to have Opera GX installed on your computer and your smartphone. Open a video from a streaming service, e.g. YouTube or Twitch, and play the media. When you mouse over the player, the browser will display a new icon alongside the video pop-out button, click on the 2nd button and Opera GX will display a QR code. Switch to Opera GX on your phone, and tap on the new tab button, select the viewfinder icon to scan the QR code on your computer's screen. The mobile app will automatically load the video from the exact scene that you were watching.

Since Video Pickup requires users to scan a QR code, it is a one-way option, i.e., you can't send the links using this method from your phone to the PC. The company says that it created the feature with portability in mind, to allow users to watch videos when they are away from their computers. One might argue that you could email or send the links to yourself via an IM app to do the same, I do that. But it's always nice to have multiple choices.

Opera GX Profiles

GX Profiles are modes that you can enable for various purposes. There are 5 set-ups that you can choose from: Standard, Rogue, Streaming, Potato and Custom. The Standard mode is the default profile in Opera GX. The Rogue profile clears all your browsing data when you close the browser. The Potato profile is a bare-bones mode for basic usage, and is best suited for low-end computers. Streaming mode mutes all tabs, which YouTube/Twitch content creators may find helpful, to prevent copyrighted music from being played in their streams. Though Opera terms it as a feature for streamers, I think this could be very useful for other users too, as it can provide a distraction free experience, if you want to concentrate on studying or work.

The 5th set-up, Custom, lets you mix and match the settings as you see fit. E.g. You may choose to toggle bare bones, clear all browsing data on exit, mute all tabs, and disable all audio in the browser, and use these settings as your custom profile. GX Profiles are only available in Opera GX for Windows. It is not clear why this feature has not been added to the macOS version.

How to set up GX Profiles in Opera GX

1. Open Opera's Settings, and click on Manage GX Profiles.

2. Hit the Create Profiles button.

3. Give the Profile a name, pick a color for its icon, and click the Configurations drop-down menu.

4. Pick a preset or create a Custom one.

5. Click the Add Profile button to save your settings.

The current version of the browser is LVL3 (core: 84.0.4316.52). Download Opera GX for Windows and macOS from the official site, and the mobile apps for Android and iOS from the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store respectively.

What do you think about Video Pickup and GX Profiles?

Opera GX introduces Video Pickup to sync video timestamps, and GX Profiles for muting tabs, deleting data on exit

Frontpaged:   Opera 85.0.4341.47

The Windows update KB4474419 introduced support for SHA-2 code signing on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 / 2008 R2. The last version of the update dates back to September 2019, and it should be installed on most Windows 7 devices by now, as it was released before the operating system reached end of support. Systems without the update may get Windows Update error 0x80092004 because of the missing dependency; this may happen on manually updated systems.

Customers who run legacy OS versions (Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP2) are required to have SHA-2 code signing support installed on their devices to install updates released on or after July 2019. Any devices without SHA-2 support will not be able to install Windows updates on or after July 2019.

Windows 7 administrators find the update on the Microsoft Update Catalog, but it should also be available on Windows Update and other update management systems.

Mozilla notes on the Firefox 100 release notes for the Nightly version that the update is required to install Firefox successfully on Windows 7 devices.

Beginning in this release, the Firefox installer for Windows is signed with a SHA-256 digest, rather than SHA-1. Update KB4474419 is required for successful installation on a computer running the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

SHA-1 was phased out by Microsoft because of weaknesses and to "align to industry standards".  SHA-2 does not have these weaknesses and it ensures that the Firefox installation or update has not been tampered with.

Mozilla does not mention if Firefox's installer displays an error message if the required Windows update is not installed on the system. It would make sense to highlight the missing dependency to help users resolve it.

The change affects Firefox for the Windows 7 operating system only. Firefox running on newer versions of the Windows operating system will install or update normally once Firefox 100 is released.

Mozilla plans to release the first three-digit version of the web browser on May 3, 2022 according to the release schedule.

Now You: do you run Firefox on Windows 7, or other systems? (via Techdows)

Firefox 100 requires the Windows Update KB4474419 on Windows 7

"After upgrading to Windows 11, saved information and data from Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) might not be accessible if you did not accept to import it into Microsoft Edge before the upgrade," Microsoft explained in the Windows health dashboard.

"To safeguard your upgrade experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on devices affected by this issue to prevent them from installing or being offered Windows 11."

The new compatibility hold affects only Windows 10 systems where IE11 is the main web browser or is set as the default browser.

Starting today, it will automatically block impacted Windows devices from being offered or installing Windows 11.

This new safeguard hold should not affect customers who have already imported their IE11 information into Microsoft Edge before hitting the Windows 11 upgrade button.

Fix coming via Microsoft Edge update

Redmond says it's currently working on a fix for this known issue, delivered with a future Microsoft Edge update.

"The issue should be resolved for devices that have not yet upgraded and devices that have already upgraded to Windows 11 without accepting to import IE11 data into Edge," Microsoft added.

Before applying this safeguard hold, Microsoft removed four other upgrade blocks, the last one in March:

• Oracle VirtualBox
• Intel Smart Sound Technology drivers
• Apps using some non-ASCII characters in their registry keys
• Serbian (Latin) language pack might be unexpectedly removed

IE11 desktop app will be retired in June

In March, Microsoft has reminded Windows customers that Internet Explorer 11 will finally be retired from some Windows 10 versions in June to be replaced with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge.

After retiring Internet Explorer, Microsoft will still provide support for legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps within Microsoft Edge via the built-in Internet Explorer mode (IE mode) feature.

Once retired on June 15, 2022, the Internet Explorer desktop app will be disabled and it will automatically redirect the users to Microsoft Edge.

You can learn more about Edge's IE mode and how to transition to the new Microsoft Edge by reading this Getting Started guide.

Microsoft adds Windows 11 upgrade block due to IE11 known issue

Boot up classic Mac OS in your browser window with the “Infinite Mac” project

The new beta images are available for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Desktop, Server, and Cloud as well as spins such as Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu. If you do decide to take the risk and install the beta, ensure you keep your system up to date, and by April 21st, your system will be like you have installed the final version of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS rather than the beta.

The upcoming Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is set to arrive with some significant improvements including Linux kernel 5.15, components from GNOME 41 and 42, plus a brand new logo that graces the boot screen. Those who install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will be able to run it on their systems for five years until 2027 before needing to upgrade again.

For those of you running the current LTS, Ubuntu 20.04, you will be able to do an in-place upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS but probably not until July. This gives Canonical a few months to get real-world feedback and fix lingering bugs, ensuring a more stable experience for LTS users.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS beta with Linux 5.15 kernel released weeks before general availability

However, perhaps unbeknownst to AMD, the driver might have introduced an issue into the firmware as a result of which the Ryzen processor settings may become all messed up or reset. A ComputerBase forum user 'der-Kalli' reports this problem which they noticed after upgrading to the 22.3.1 driver. Digging around, we also find some others online, like this Redditor with the username "gaojibao", who came across somewhat similar issues back in January.

The problem may be stemming from the "Auto Overclock" feature that AMD added with its Radeon Adrenalin driver 21.9.1 back in September. In a nutshell, the feature enables CPU and GPU overclocking both in one place, and hence users may not need something more sophisticated like the Ryzen Master utility. However, it's possible that the Radeon driver while accessing the firmware maybe messing up the user made settings. Interestingly, this is also the same driver which enabled Windows 11 support for Radeon GPUs.

In the known issues list for neither of the drivers does AMD mention anything about this bug, so it is possible that the company isn't aware of the problem.

Source: der-Kalli (ComputerBase forum) via gaojibao (Reddit)

Beware: AMD's Windows 11 graphics drivers might be messing up Ryzen CPU settings in the BIOS

Brave 1.37 is already available. Existing users may select Menu > Help > About Brave to run a manual check for updates. Brave should pick up the new version and install it immediately. New users may point their browser to the official website to download the browser for their operating system.

Brave 1.37: new features

One of the main new features of Brave is support for a sidebar. It is disabled by default but you may enable it by selecting Menu > Show Sidebar. Options to show it all the time or only on mouse hover are available.

The sidebar looks very similar to the Vivaldi web browser sidebar. It is attached to the left side of the browser by default and displays just a few icons at this time. Vivaldi's sidebar started out similarly, but the team has added more features and customization options to it since.

As far as the sidebar in Brave is concerned, it displays links to Brave Wallet and Brave Talk, and you may add any active site to the bar by clicking on the plus icon. The bookmarks bar icon displays all bookmarks in an expanded sidebar when it is selected.

The sidebar lacks the flexibility and customization options when compared to Vivaldi's toolbar. There is no option to display it on the right, or to add other functions and features to it. It is possible that new features and options will be introduced in future versions of the browser.

Custom new tab backgrounds

Support for custom new tab page backgrounds launched in the new version of Brave a swell. Users may upload a custom image from their systems for use as the desktop background.

To do so, open a new tab page in the browser and select the customize link on it. There you find an option to upload an image from your device; this image is then used as the new tab wallpaper by the browser. There is no option to upload multiple images to cycle through them.

Unlinkable bouncing

Unlinkable bouncing is a new privacy protection of the Brave browser. I reviewed the functionality previously, and you may want to read the full guide on unlinkable bouncing as it offers additional details.

The feature complements Brave's existing bounce tracking protections through the use of temporary storage. Brave uses temporary storage for bounce tracking sites that is erased once it is no longer open in the browser. Without that data, site can't identify users anymore on their next bounce tracking visit.

Other changes

The official release notes highlight other improvements, most of them fixes or changes to Brave's Wallet and crypto-currency implementations. Brave users who have experienced issues in the previous version may want to check out the full changelog to find out if the issues are resolved.

One new feature adds support for cosmetic filters to the default ad-blocking functionality. Load brave://adblock in the address bar and check the cosmetic filters that you want Brave to use. The list includes popular choices such as Fanboy's annoyances and social lists, various country-specific lists, or EasyList's cookie filter list.

Now You: have you tried the new Brave version?

Brave 1.37: new sidebar, custom new tab backgrounds and privacy improvements

Earlier this month, an update for Chrome Canary introduced a new experimental flag called "Tab Groups Save". It allows users to save tab groups as favorites and quickly launch grouped pages with a single click. Now Microsoft is getting ready to borrow the same feature for its browser with additional improvements.

Spotted by Leopeva64-2, the latest Edge Canary update introduced the ability to pin tab groups. This feature works like pinning tabs, so the browser can open the pinned group the next time you launch it. In addition to keeping the group on the tab strip, Microsoft Edge will "save" the group on the favorites bar, allowing you to restore the group with a single click. The same feature is available in Chrome, but due to its experimental nature and early implementation, Chrome does not preserve groups after shutdown.

Microsoft appears to be A/B testing improved tab groups in Edge Canary, so only a subset of Edge Insiders can test group pinning. You can check whether your copy of Edge Canary has the feature by right-clicking any tab and selecting "Add page to a new group." After that, the browser should offer you to rename, assign a color, and pin the newly created group.

Tab Groups in Google Chrome. Saved groups show up on the favorites bar.

Better tab grouping is not the only experimental feature Microsoft prepares for the Edge browser. Users recently spotted in Edge Canary a new toggle for enabling or disabling Workspaces, which is similar to the tab groups feature.

Microsoft is hosting a Windows 11-focused event next week, where we expect the company to reveal new features for its operating system and the Edge browser. Perhaps, some of these experimental features would show up during the presentation.

Edge Canary now lets you save tab groups as bookmarks

Here's today's full announcement that was made on Twitter:

Unlike last time though, the firm isn't providing any detail at all about why we are missing out on a significant build this week. For example, previously Microsoft said that the build din't quite meet its "quality bar" set for release. In fact, it took two weeks for Microsoft to approve the next major Windows 11 build.

While we wait for a new build that could be coming next week, Insiders can use this time to switch or change channels if they wanted from the Dev channel over to the Beta. If you are wondering how to do so, here's a handy guide we made that you can use.

Microsoft confirms no Windows 11 build is coming this week but we may get one in the next

A Mozilla spokesperson has now reached out to Neowin and provided its take on the matter:

Microsoft’s changes that improve the default browser setting experience for users are a step in the right direction. But more can be done to respect default browser choice on Windows. People should have the ability to simply and easily set defaults and all operating systems should offer official developer support for default status. In practice, we’d like to also see progress on reducing the number of steps required to set a new browser as default, and on opening and making APIs available for apps to set default that other Microsoft applications use.

As can be seen above, Mozilla is somewhat pleased with the changes that Microsoft has introduced in Windows 11 but has made it clear that it wants more to be done. In essence, the firm wants a one-stop solution where a simplified process can set a browser as the default for all use-cases. This is not the case in the current implementation.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft responds to this feedback in upcoming builds and makes it more easy to switch default browsers in Windows 11.

Somewhat happy: Mozilla wants Microsoft to make default browser switching more easy

According to Adduplex, Windows 11 currently holds a 19.4% market share with only a 0.01 gain in March 2022. Unlike the stable release, the number of Windows Insiders doubled from 0.3% to 0.6%. The abundance of new features and experimental changes, such as the tabbed UI in File Explorer, might be why more users are willing to try early Windows 11 builds. Also, the first Windows 11 feature update is now available in the Beta channel, which is usually more stable than Dev.

Windows 10 21H2, the latest release of the previous Windows version, still holds strong. Moreover, the OS jumped from 21% to an impressive 28.5%. Windows 10 21H1 went down from 27.5% to 26.5%. Both versions remain supported, so you should not expect Windows 10 21H2 and 21H1 to lose any ground in the coming months unless Microsoft does the unthinkable and starts force-updating users to Windows 11.

Here are the most popular Windows versions per Adduplex's findings:

1. Windows 10 21H2 (November 2021 Update): 28.5%
2. Windows 10 21H1 (May 2021 Update): 26.5%
3. Windows 11 (Initial Release): 19.4%
4. Windows 10 20H2 (October 2020 Update, now unsupported): 10.8%
5. Windows 10 2004 (May 2020 Update, now unsupported): 8.1%

Overall, approximately 80% of all surveyed computers run Windows 10. Considering Windows 11 remains an optional update with relatively steep hardware requirements, there are no reasons to expect major changes soon.

It is worth noting that Microsoft does not provide official stats about how Windows 11 and 10 perform on the market, which means you should not take the information from Adduplex as 100% accurate. The company prepares reports using data gathered from approximately 5000 apps with Adduplex SDK, so the margin of error is relatively high.

Windows 11 growth reportedly stalled in March 2022

The initial version of Edge Workspaces from 2021.

As spotted by Leopeva64-2 on Reddit, one of the recent Edge Canary updates introduced a new toggle in the Appearance settings. It lets customers enable or disable the Workspaces button on the toolbar like many other modules, such as Math Solver, Tips, etc. Initially, Microsoft put the Workspace button in the upper-left corner of the browser, but it is currently unknown where developers want to place it this time. Although present in settings, the toggle for enabling or disabling Workspaces does not work.

You can check out the new toggle in the latest version of Edge Canary. Note that Microsoft rolls out early and experimental features in "waves", which means not all Canary users can access the newest changes right away. Also, "new features" in the Canary channel sometimes are just bugs or development side effects not intended for the public release.

At this point, we need to sit back and wait for Microsoft to acknowledge Workspaces in Edge. On paper, it looks like a neat feature for those who want to separate tabs in the browser into theme-specific spaces. Alternatively, you can use tab groups for the same purpose.

Microsoft might bring back Workspaces to Edge