The logo change was first announced by Google designer @elvin_not_11 on Twitter back in February. As you can see above, the design changes are subtle and primarily include removal of shadows and brightening of colors.

This is the first design modification to the Chrome logo since 2014. As can be seen in the graphic above, since 2011, Chrome has been gravitating more towards a flatter design and the removal of shadows in the 2022 logo just emphasizes this approach.

Elvin went into further details about the update to the logo, saying that the design is actually slightly different across each platform to make it fit in with the theme and design language of the OS too:

We also found that placing certain shades of green and red next to each other created an unpleasant color vibration, so we introduced a very subtle gradient to the main icon to mitigate that, making the icon more accessible.

Then, we created OS-specific customizations. We want the icons to feel recognizably Chrome, but also well crafted for each OS. For example, on Windows, the icons take on an obviously gradated look, appearing at home on Windows 10 & 11.

On ChromeOS, they use brighter colors without gradients to match the looks of the rest of system icons. For macOS, they look 3D.

The updated Chrome logo should be available to everyone after updating to version 100. It probably won't make a difference to your browsing habits but it does align the graphic to Google's current design principles.

Google Chrome 100 comes with a new logo

Frontpaged:   Google Chrome 100.0.4896.60

Chrome users who dig a bit deeper may have noticed that tab audio muting is available again in the browser. First introduced in 2014 by Google as a way to mute audio of specific tabs in the browser and then turned into a site-wide muting option in 2017, audio muting has since then become a feature of most modern web browsers in one form or another.

Chrome users who preferred tab muting over site muting had to install browser extensions such as Tab Muter or Smart Mute to bring back the functionality. Google added an experimental flag to the Canary version of the Chrome browser in early 2022 that restored the browser's tab muting capabilities.

The release of Chrome 100 to the Stable channel brings that experimental function to it as well. While it is still necessary to enable the feature on chrome://flags, doing so restores the ability to toggle audio with a click or tap on the audio icon of individual tabs.

Here is how you restore the functionality in Chrome 100 or newer:

1. Load chrome://flags/#enable-tab-audio-muting in the browser's address bar.
2. Set the flag to Enabled using its menu.
3. Restart the Google Chrome web browser.

All audio icons become switches that allow you to toggle audio on or off for that particular tab after the restart.  Unlike the original tab muting feature, Chrome 100's will mute audio playback of the site and not just the tab. If you have two Twitch or YouTube videos open with audio playing in both, hitting the audio icon will mute both and not just the active one.

Experimental flags may be removed at some point, but it would be strange if Google would remove this particular flag again after restoring it a few months earlier. Still, there is the possibility that the flag is removed and that tab audio muting is not enabled by default in Chrome.

You can check out our full guide on audio muting in Chrome, as it is updated regularly.

Now You: do you use the browser's audio muting option, if supported?

Chrome 100: tab audio muting is back

Frontpaged:   Google Chrome 100.0.4896.60

WhatsApp announced on Wednesday that it will roll out some improvements to voice messages over the coming weeks, including the ability to listen to a message while reading other chats and play messages at 1.5 or 2 times speed (yes, please, put this feature everywhere).

The experience of recording messages is also improving. WhatsApp now lets you pause and resume your recording, so you don’t have to leave large gaps of silence if you’re thinking of what to say next or redo a recording if you need to have a brief conversation in real life. You’ll also be able to listen to a message before you send it to make sure you didn’t accidentally get cut off or include something you didn’t want to.

An example of what the new voice chat UI looks like. Image: WhatsApp

There’s also a slight aesthetic improvement. Instead of just using a line to show your voice message playback progress, WhatsApp will now use a waveform of the actual message. Plus, WhatsApp can remember where you were when you paused playback and let you start playing back from that point again so you don’t have to re-listen to an entire message.

These improvements will likely get a lot of use — WhatsApp says that users send an average of 7 billion voice chats a day. While some similar features were already available in other apps (Telegram, for example, has let you listen to messages outside chats for a while), it’s definitely nice to see WhatsApp’s version getting some attention.

WhatsApp is getting better voice messages in the next few weeks

Below are the release highlights:

• PowerToys Run quality pass. Old standing issues were re-evaluated and fixed.
• Additional features and improvements were added to existing PowerToys Run plugins.
• New plugin for time and date values/information in PowerToys Run. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The PowerToys Run documentation is also receiving a required update. Thanks @htcfreek!
• We're registering svgs as a picture kind when SVG Thumbnails are enabled so they appear when searching for pictures in File Explorer.
• We've disabled PDF preview by default, given its incompatibilities with Outlook and that Edge is now being registered for previewing PDF files on Windows 10 too.
• From a coding quality point of view, every project now has code analyzer active. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!
• A double click on the tray icon is needed instead of single click to open settings.

Always on Top

• New sound for Always on Top activation. Thanks @franky920920!

Awake

• Fixes for the system tray icon. Thanks @dend!
• Temporary duration presets are now configurable. Thanks @dend!
• Fix for an issue causing Awake to not be closed properly. Thanks @dend!

ColorPicker

• It's now possible to delete multiple colors from history and also export them to a file. Thanks @mshtang!
• The CIEXYZ format has increased precision. Thanks @m13253!
• Performance improved by reducing the use of low level keyboard hooks.

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug where the same layout applied with different configurations to different screens would reset to a single configuration. (This was a hotfix for 0.56)
• When snapping windows with rounded corners on Windows 11, set the correct corner preferences to avoid gaps between zones. Thanks @hallatore!
• Fix for canvas layout resetting due to resolution changes.

File explorer

• Additional markdown file extensions added for Markdown Preview. Thanks @skycommand!
• Svgs are now registered as a picture kind on Windows.
• Added a text wrapping setting and copy context menu to dev file preview. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Pdf file preview and thumbnails are now disabled by default, due to incompatibility with Outlook and an appropriate warning is shown in Settings.

Mouse utility

• Find my mouse has a new setting to specify a minimum distance for activation. (This was a hotfix for 0.56)
• Fix for the bug causing the task bar to be hidden behind other windows when a mouse utility was active.
• Fix for the bug causing shortcuts set on icons to not activate when a mouse utility was active.
• Fixed a slight offset in Mouse Pointer Crosshairs when it's configured with an odd thickness.

PowerToys Run

• New plugin for time and date values/information. Thanks @htcfreek!
• WindowWalker now has a tooltip, additional features like killing the process and closing the window, additional settings and improvements. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Unit converter now accepts additional ways of writing feet and gallon. Also interprets as either imperial or US gallons depending on current culture. Thanks @yifan-k!
• Unit converter now accepts metre for meter.
• Localization for Web Search and Unit Converter (not including units) has been enabled.
• Localization for Windows Terminal has been enabled. (This was a hotfix for 0.56)
• Calculator now tries to always interpret the dot (.) symbol as a decimal separator, despite configured culture, to meet expectations.
• Calculator now handles trailing zeroes on hexadecimal numbers correctly.
• System commands plugin can now show the local ip and mac addresses. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Folder plugin has improved results, with improved tooltips. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Windows settings plugin has added entries for Screen Saver and Connect Wiring Display Panel. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Plugins can now show descriptions for their configurations in settings. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Fix for the focus issue when calling PowerToys Run for the first time after login and after returning from some windows.
• Fix for a bug on Program when creating a shortcut.
• Validated that upgrading to .net framework 6 fixed the error appearing when shutting down the system with PowerToys Run running.

Video conference mute

• Newly added microphones are now updated and tracked by VCM.

Settings

• What's new button in the bottom with a new look, with a couple more UI tweaks. Thanks @niels9001!
• Fixed a bug causing Settings not to open when a racing condition caused Keyboard Manager settings to not be read correctly.
• To open settings from the tray icon a double click is needed instead of a single click.
• Fix for a bug which would cause checking for updates to run indefinitely.
• When auto-updating, pass a flag to avoid restarting without being prompted.

Installer

• Dependencies installers are now executed with /norestart to avoid unprompted restarts. (This was a hotfix for 0.56). Thanks @franky920920!
• Upgraded .net framework dependency to 6.0.3.
• Installer logs are now saved where they can be collected and sent by the bug report tool.
• Reverted changes to start with proper elevation and when installed under a different user since those changes ended up causing more issues where PowerToys would start running with the wrong user.

Development

• OOBE code refactor to have all module information in XAML, like in Settings. Thanks @niels9001!
• Every project now has analyzers turned on and warnings fixed. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!
• New patterns added for code spell-checking and stale entries removed. Thanks @jsoref
• Additional logging has been added to Fancy Zones and PowerToys Run.
• A new CI release build will not be triggered if all that was changed was just documentation.
• Fixed a racing condition causing flaky build errors when building PowerRename.
• Centralization of common csproj/vcxproj settings underway. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!

PowerToys is Microsoft's open-source project that offers a collection of nifty tools that people can use to customize the Windows 10 or 11 UI and experience to their liking. As we know, depending upon feedback and general stability, some of the utilities also make their way to the OS eventually. A prominent example of this is Snap Layouts and Span Groups in Windows 11 which borrow heavily from the FanzyZones tool in PowerToys.

If you are using PowerToys in Windows 11, you can grab it in the Microsoft Store. For others in Windows 10, you can open the app and click on "Check for updates" under the updates section on the General tab. Those who would like to try PowerToys for the first time can grab the version 0.57.0 installer from the app's GitHub page.

Microsoft PowerToys 0.57.0 release focuses on stability and improvements

It is that time of the year when major software and hardware companies announce their upcoming flagship developer conferences. In 2022, Microsoft decided to reveal the dates of its upcoming Build conference first, so mark your calendars: Microsoft Build 2022 is coming on May 24-26, 2022.

Microsoft Build 2022 will be a three-day developer conference during which the software giant will unveil its latest developer tools, technologies, and updates for various software products. In 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic, Microsoft had to shift from in-person to virtual events. Build 2022 is no exclusion as Microsoft apparently is not ready to host a large in-person conference.

Microsoft says Build 2022 will give developers around the world an opportunity to learn about the latest tech and developer innovations from Microsoft, follow the news, and sharpen their skills using various tutorials. The conference is also a chance to speak with Microsoft engineers and technical experts about multiple products and technologies. Finally, Microsoft promises "market-specific content and connection opportunities" for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK.

We do not know yet what Microsoft is about to show during the Build 2022 conference. If you want to hear more from Microsoft about its newest operating system, stay tuned for the upcoming "Windows 11 hybrid work" event next week. The company is expected to unveil new features and improvements coming soon to the operating system during the presentation.

You can find more information about Microsoft Build 2022 on the official website.

Microsoft Build 2022 is coming on May 24-26

Like its Chrome browser counterpart, Chrome OS has finally reached its 100th version. Google fully updates its operating system every four weeks or so. The new release comes with a new design for Chrome OS’s launcher meant to make it more intuitive and customizable for Chromebook users.

The launcher (for Windows users, it’s the equivalent of the start menu) has a friendlier design than previous launchers have, with more rounded corners. It now opens from the side of the screen rather than the center. (This is around where the Windows start menu was for ages — it has, funnily enough, moved to the center in Windows 11).

There are new options for sorting icons as well — you can manually arrange them and can organize them by name or color. The search bar will show more detailed previews from Google as you type and can search between Chrome your tabs if you have a bunch open.

This launcher has been floating around for a while; it was spotted in the here-be-dragons Canary channel last summer. Its early days had some kinks, which Google has presumably had ample time to work out.

Other updates coming to Chrome OS include a new dictation edit feature — you can now say “delete” while dictating to delete the previous letter you typed or “move to next character” to make your cursor hop a letter forward — GIF creation in the camera app, YouTube supervision in Family Link, and a new YouTube app with offline access. For IT administrators, Google’s Admin console has a new report “for a quick look at which devices need attention.”

Chrome OS 100 brings new Launcher design to Chromebooks

Here are the full release notes:

• Launch driver for Intel ® Arc™ A370M and A350M Graphics (Codename Alchemist)
• Introducing Intel® Arc™ Control - a modern interface and all-in-one hub that puts you in full control of the Arc experience, supporting both Intel® Iris™ Xe and Arc™ branded GPUs for a unified software experience.

Here are the known issues with the driver:

• A Total War Saga™: Troy may experience an application crash when the campaign is launched and “Ultra” quality game settings are selected.
• Back 4 Blood™ may experience lighting or texture corruption when mist is visible on screen. • Forza Horizon 5™ and Call of Duty™: Black Ops Cold War may experience an application crash when launching the game.
• FIFA 22™ may experience an intermittent application crash during regular gameplay. • Map textures may fail to load or may load as blank surfaces when playing CrossFire™.
• Gears 5™ may experience terrain corruption when using medium or higher quality graphics quality settings.
• Some objects and textures in Halo Infinite™ may render black and fail to load. Lighting may also appear blurry or over exposed in the multiplayer game menus.
• Guardians of the Galaxy™ may exhibit texture corruption on some interactable objects in game.
• Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition may experience minor texture corruption in game. • Naraka: Bladepoint™ may experience texture corruption or flickering on some ground surfaces.
• Rust™ may intermittently experience an application crash when joining a new server.

And here are the known issues in the new Arc Control:

• • Intel® Arc™ Control Studio may fail to capture microphone audio when streaming for extended periods of time.
• Intel® Arc™ Control may fail to start after a driver installation or upgrade. A workaround is to restart your system.
• Checking for driver updates or attempting to install driver updates through Intel® Arc™ Control may sometimes cause an “Error Installing Driver” message to appear.
• Smooth Sync is enabled by default when “Application Choice” is selected from the Frame Delivery settings in the Intel® Arc™ Control game settings page.
• Intel® Arc™ Control hotkeys such as “Alt+I” may fail to work in some games that are capturing keyboard inputs such as CrossFire™ and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege™.
• Invoking the Highlights hotkey may sometimes produce an “Unknown Error” message via the Intel® Arc™ Control overlay.
• When altering the performance metrics overlay visibility in Intel® Arc™ Control, some settings may intermittently fail to be hidden from the performance overlay.
• The Performance Tuning page in Intel® Arc™ Control may erroneously appear visible or configurable on unsupported platforms. When this occurs, changing settings on this page may throw an error message and/or will not function.
• A Windows® UAC prompt may occur when launching Intel® Arc™ Control.

You can download the driver by heading over to this dedicated web page on Intel's official site.

And in case you are wondering what Arc Control looks like and what its features are, Intel has made a new video explaining the it:

While only the Arc A370M and 350M were launched today, Intel also gave a glimpse of the rest of the Arc Alchemist mobile lineup which will be available in the Summer.

In terms of notable achievements, Arc is the first GPU in the market that has full AV1 support, something which neither AMD nor Nvidia has at the moment.

Intel's 30.0.101.1325 driver adds support for brand new Arc Alchemist discrete GPUs

Through this new control, Microsoft Edge could soon offer quick access to Microsoft Office apps or web-based platforms such as Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, OneDrive, and OneNote.

The Microsoft Office button is disabled by default in the latest Canary build of Microsoft Edge but can be activated easily. It is available on the Appearance page. To access the same, fire up the latest experimental version of Edge and enter the following in the search bar:

Edge://settings/appearance

This page allows activating or deactivating the appearance of Internet Explorer mode, Web Capture, Share, Games, and other buttons that appear beside the address bar. The Microsoft Office toggle is available right above the Feedback button. Even if you don't enable it, Microsoft has still added Microsoft Office access to the ellipsis menu, as can be seen below.

Toggling the Microsoft Office button adds a dedicated button to the toolbar. Clicking on it activates a sidebar that offers access to all the Microsoft Office platforms mentioned above.

In its current iteration, clicking on any of the options leads to the web version of the Office platform. For example, clicking on the Excel option leads to Excel available at Office.com. As the feature is geared towards web-based apps or platforms, Microsoft could add more functions or links to other products in the future. According to the Redditor, the feature is part of a controlled rollout, which means that not every Canary user will receive it at the same time.

Latest Microsoft Edge Canary build includes button for quick access to Office apps

According to reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, the Meta-owned company is actively working on the feature. While the feature isn’t available to the general public, Paluzzi has shared a screenshot of the UI.

https://twitter.com/alex193a/status/1507728527550038030?s=20&t=LDCPzDTYDhXSRZpg4G6

As can be seen in the screenshot above, users will get a microphone icon on the left side of the GIF option. For those who want to send a voice message, you will be able to send your message by clicking on the microphone icon.

However, the reverse engineer shared nothing about whether this will be available for all the Instagram clients, including Android and iOS. We will have to wait until the company gives us more clarity.

As mentioned above, the feature is in the developmental phase, so you cannot use it right now. Instagram is likely to release to the general public when it’s ready for a wide rollout. Meanwhile, the company will internally test the feature.

It’s worth noting that Instagram may also scrap the feature if it doesn’t meet the expectation. Hopefully, it will pass the testing phase and eventually be available for the general public.

Aside from the voice message feature, Instagram is also testing another new feature to allow users to use hashtags in supporting various movements. The company will roll out the feature in a future update. However, there is no clarity on when it will be available for users.

Which upcoming Instagram feature you’re excited about the most? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Instagram will soon let you reply to stories with voice messages

Yesterday, Microsoft released an optional cumulative update for the stable version of Windows 11. Apart from fixing a metric ton of bugs, the update backports improvements for the Settings app from the Dev channel. Windows 11 now lets you navigate to the default apps settings section, select your favorite browser, and make it the default one. The OS no longer requires you to manually change more than ten file associations just to force it open links in Google Chrome.

Here is how to change the default browser in Windows 11 after installing version 22000.593:

1. Install the browser you prefer.
2. Open the Settings app (Win + I) and navigate to Apps > Default Apps.
3. Find your browser in the list of apps and open it.
4. Click the Set default button.

Of course, Microsoft is still Microsoft, which means Windows 11 will continue trying to impose Edge in other ways. Changing the default browser in Windows 11 using the updated Settings app does not affect specific formats. For example, Edge will remain the default app for opening PDF, SHTML, SVG, FTP, and other web-related files. Also, you still need third-party tweakers to open links in Windows Widgets in a browser other than Microsoft Edge.

Still, it is good to see Microsoft listening to feedback from its customers and making Windows 11 less user-hostile. It is a step in the right direction that everyone welcomes. To get the latest improvements and bug fixes for Windows 11, go to Settings > Windows Update and download KB5011563.

Microsoft finally lets you change default browser in Windows 11 with a single click

Following backlash, Microsoft has finally added more capabilities to different tiers for Clipchamp, as spotted by @FireCubeStudios on Twitter. The most notable change is that 1080p video exports are now free, the same tier was previously limited to 480p. Below, we have summarized the differences between the launch version and the existing version of the Clipchamp subscription tiers:

As can be seen above, the price across all tiers is the same, but Microsoft is now offering more value, which will hopefully appease some passionate content creators who were angered by Clipchamp's subscription model at launch.

While the lack of editing features as compared to the competition likely remains, Microsoft will likely update Clipchamp over time to bridge that gap too.

Following backlash, Microsoft has added more features to Windows 11 Clipchamp inbox app

Windows enthusiasts recently discovered that Microsoft is working on a tabbed interface for File Explorer, but the first implementation (not available publicly for testing) is half-baked at best. Our Closer Look at tabs in File Explorer revealed that it lacks many features and overall needs more polishing. The good news is that Microsoft appears to be working on improving tabs in File Explorer. The latest preview build of Windows 11 restored the ability to enable tabs, and it brought some much-needed improvements.

The main highlight is that users can now rearrange open tabs, something we are used to in every modern browser. Press and hold a tab, then drag it to wherever convenient. Moving a tab outside the current window launches a new instance of File Explorer, but you cannot move a tab from one window to another. That is one of the many improvements Microsoft still needs to implement.

Like Microsoft Edge, File Explorer in Windows 11 lets you switch tabs using shortcut keys. Press Ctrl + Tab to move to the next tab and Ctrl + Shift + Tab to switch to the previous tab. This area also needs more work, as File Explorer does not cycle through all tabs. You cannot keep pressing Ctrl + Tab to move from the last to the first tab.

All the rough surfaces and missing features are probably one of the reasons Microsoft hides tabs in File Explorer from the public for now, but if you are curious to take a closer look, check out how to enable tabs in File Explorer in Windows 11.

It is worth noting that Windows Insiders should not get their hopes too high, as there is no guarantee that Microsoft will push tabbed Explorer to the stable channel. Windows developers have made it clear that Dev builds would contain experimental features, and some of those capabilities might not make it to the public at all. Windows Sets is one of the features Microsoft killed after brief testing in preview builds. Hopefully, things will go another way this time, and Windows users will get the feature they have been asking for many years.

Microsoft is slowly improving tabs in File Explorer in Windows 11

The full announcement says:

We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22581.200 (KB5013296). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev and Beta Channels.

Hence, all the bug fixes and improvements that were announced with the earlier released build 22581 to the Dev Channel as well as the Beta channel are carried over into this. The build has loads of new features as we are now moving into the next phase of Windows 11 in preparation for version 22H2.

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 original announcement can be found here.

Yet another Windows 11 servicing build 22581.200 (KB5013296) released for Dev and Beta

It's been four weeks since the release of Chrome 99, which means that it is time for Chrome 100 to hit the Stable channel. Apart from being an important milestone in itself, this is also a crucial update because it could potentially break some websites when parsing user-agent strings. Although Google has implemented some safeguards, it will be interesting to see what the impact of a three-digit version number. But apart from this, Chrome 100 packs tons of other changes too, and you can read about them below.

For starters, Chrome 100 is updating the way cookie strings are parsed by allowing the domain attribute to be set to an empty string. This modification will bring Chrome in line with standard specifications and also improve interoperability with Safari and Firefox, which already handle empty strings correctly.

The multi-screen window placement APIs are being enhanced to cater to modern use-cases by providing more information about secondary screens instead of being tied just to the primary display. Google says that this will unlock the following scenarios in terms of accurate window placement:

• A slideshow app presenting on a projector, while showing speaker notes on a laptop screen.
• A financial app opening a dashboard of windows across multiple monitors.
• A medical app opening images (for example, x-rays) on a high-resolution grayscale display.
• A creativity app showing secondary windows (for example, a palette) on a separate screen.
• Multi-screen layouts in gaming, signage, artistic, and other types of apps.

Another interesting feature in Chrome 100 is that sites can now use a new method to voluntarily forget a linked human interface device (HID). This means that websites using Web Bluetooth and WebUSB standards to connect to peripherals can revoke this permission if they don't need it anymore.

Chrome 100 is also introducing a Digital Goods API. This will enable web apps in the Play Store to accept digital purchases. This essentially serves as a wrapper for the Android Play Billing API and enable web apps offering digital purchases to be installable from the Play Store.

Other relatively smaller features include capability delegation so that a frame can transfer the ability to call a restricted API to a trusted subframe, enhancements to the mix-blend-mode property, better error handling for the AbortSignal object, authentication of WebTransport servers through hashes rather than relying on the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and a Web NFC method that enables developers to permanently make NFC tags read-only.

Finally, we also have an integration between AbortSignal and SerialPort objects, minor tweaks to WebSockets, and some compatibility changes for reduced user-agent strings.

While we are on this topic, it is important to know that Chrome 100 is the last version of the browser to support unreduced user-agent strings. Developers have until April 19, 2022 to trial this via Origin. Web developers who need more time can enroll their sites for deprecation trials available from Chrome 100 to Chrome 113 inclusive. This means that they will have until May 2023 to continue using legacy user-agent strings before having to migrate to the User-Agent Client Hints API. You can find out more details here. You can also read more about everything new in Chrome 100 DevTools here.

Chrome 100 will start rolling out in the later hours of today. If it does not update to version 100 automatically for you throughout the course of the day, head over to Help > About Google Chrome to trigger the update once it becomes available. Next up is Chrome 101 which will hit the Beta channel on March 31, and will land on Stable on April 26.

Chrome is hitting version 100 today with cookie changes and multi-display improvements

The project team released smaller updates regularly, but they were mostly security updates and bug fix releases. Thunderbird 102, the next major release of the open source email client, will introduce several new features and improvements to existing features.

Several of these upcoming improvements were highlighted on the official Twitter account of the Thunderbird project. Here is the official list of major features that will be introduced in Thunderbird 102.

All images were posted by the official Thunderbird Twitter channel.

Thunderbird 102: major features

Spaces Toolbar

The Spaces toolbar is a new feature that will be introduced in Thunderbird 102. It provides quick access to certain activities, e.g., to chat, tasks, or the add-ons manager. These are listed as tabs by default, but users may hide them to save screen estate. The toolbar is turned into a single icon that links to the different sections of the email client on activation in that case.

The new Spaces Toolbar is an easy, convenient way to move between different activities in the application. Such as managing your Email, your contacts via address book, using the calendar and tasks functionality, chat, and other full-tab activities (add-ons too!)

New Address Book

Thunderbird 102 ships with a redesigned address book that improves contacts management among other things.  The new interface lists address books in a sidebar, the contacts of the selected address book in another column, and details about the selected contact in the main pane.

After a couple of release teasing a new address book - it's coming in this release. Not only is there a design that makes it easier to navigate and interact with your contacts. but new features enable you to better understand who you communicate with.

Link Preview Cards

Link Preview Cards is a simple new feature that turns pasted links into previews in the compose window. As an example, the pasting of a Twitter link will display the message, date and time and media, if provided.

The new Thunderbird will have a feature that Twitter users are familiar with. When a link is added in the composer, you will have the option to convert it into a rich link preview with content displayed from the website (Twitter link pictured below, WIP).

Account Setup Hub

The first time account setup process works well already, but setting up secondary accounts did not provide the same experience. The new Account Setup Hub of Thunderbird 102 changes that by providing users with a similar experience and functionality.

In past releases, we have improved first time account setup. When setting up an email, autodiscovery of calendars and address books works really well! But managing accounts and setting up after the first time has lagged. We are updating that experience in 102.

Matrix Support

Thunderbird 102 supports the Matrix protocol by default. While it is also supported in Thunderbird 91, users had to enable it via a preference.

Support for the popular chat protocol: Matrix, is coming to 102. While this has existed behind a pref in a beta state in 91, it will finally be usable out-of-the-box in this release. Updates to chat for a better user experience will be in this release as well.

Import / Export

The importing and exporting of accounts and data are integrated into the core Thunderbird installation. Users had to rely on add-ons for these options up until now.

Moving accounts and data in and out of Thunderbird should be a breeze! Until now, add-ons have had to be used for this. In this release we are making a great Import/Export experience a core part of the Thunderbird experience.

Message Header Redesign

The message header gets a visual refresh in Thunderbird 10.2. It highlights important information.

Another UX/Visual update can be seen in the redesign of the message header. The new design better highlights important info, makes it responsive and easier to navigate.

Now You: anything that you would like to see in the upcoming release of the email client?

Thunderbird 102: next major release of the open source email client

FTC sues Intuit in bid to stop “deceptive” ads that claim TurboTax is free

As such the long list of improvements and fixes, shown below, are unchanged.

• New! We displayed up to three high priority toast notifications simultaneously. This feature is for apps that send notifications for calls, reminders, or alarms using Windows notifications in the OS. As a result, up to four toast notifications might appear simultaneously–three high priority notifications and one normal priority notification.
• We fixed an issue that turns off auto-startup for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps after you upgrade the OS.
• We fixed an issue that causes SystemSettings.exe to stop working.
• We fixed an issue that affects searchindexer.exe and prevents Microsoft Outlook’s offline search from returning recent emails.
• We fixed an issue that increases the startup time for Windows. This issue occurs because a UI thread in a networking API stops responding when a 5G wireless wide area network (WWAN) device is slow to wake up.
• We fixed a memory leak in the wmipicmp.dll module that causes a lot of false alarms in the System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) datacenter monitoring system.
• We fixed an issue that incorrectly returns the Execution Policy settings from the registry.
• We fixed an issue in which modern browsers fail to correctly render HTML that is generated by gpresult/h.
• We fixed an issue that causes an “Access denied” exception for a file during a PowerShell test for AppLocker.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Remote Desktop Service (RDS)server to become unstable when the number of signed in users exceeds 100. This prevents you from accessing published applications using RDS on Windows Server 2019.
• We fixed an issue that returns an error message when you browse for a domain or organizational unit (OU). This issue occurs because of improper zeroing out of memory.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Group Policy Management Console to stop working after you close it. The system logs Application Error Event ID 1000 and the error, 0xc0000005 (STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION); the failing module is GPOAdmin.dll.
• We fixed an issue that might cause the Group Policy Service to stop processing telemetry information for Group Policy Registry Preferences.
• We fixed a stop error (0xD1, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) in the DirectX kernel component.
• We fixed an issue that might cause Kerberos.dll to stop working within the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). This occurs when LSASS processes simultaneous Service for User (S4U) user-to-user (U2U) requests for the same client user.
• We fixed an issue that affects the Key Distribution Center (KDC) Proxy. The KDC Proxy cannot properly obtain Kerberos tickets for signing in to Key Trust Windows Hello for Business.
• We added support for Microsoft Account (MSA) Pass-through scenarios in Azure Active Directory(AAD) Web Account Manager (WAM).
• We fixed an issue that logs Event ID 37 during certain password change scenarios, including failover cluster name object (CNO) or virtual computer object (VCO) password changes.
• We fixed an issue that prevents the User Account Control (UAC) dialog from correctly showing the application that is requesting elevated privileges.
• We fixed an issue that might cause a Microsoft OneDrive file to lose focus after you rename it and press the Enter key.
• We returned the corresponding Settings page when you search for the word widgets.
• We fixed an issue that prevents Event 4739 from displaying the new values of certain attributes after a policy change.
• We fixed an issue that causes the Move-ADObject command to fail when you move computer accounts across domains. The error message is, “Multiple values were specified for an attribute that can have only one value”.
• We fixed an issue that prevents you from accessing Server Message Block (SMB) shares using an IP Address when SMB hardening is enabled.
• We fixed an issue that causes stop error 0x1E in the SMB Server (srv2.sys).
• We fixed an issue that causes a mismatch between NetBIOS and DNS Active Directory domain names when you create a cluster.

There's just one known issue to be aware of:

After installing the Windows updates released January 11, 2022 or later Windows versions on an affected version of Windows, recovery discs (CD or DVD) created by using the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) app in Control Panel might be unable to start.

Recovery discs that were created by using the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) app on devices which have installed Windows updates released before January 11, 2022 are not affected by this issue and should start as expected.

Note No third-party backup or recovery apps are currently known to be affected by this issue

There is no official workaround for the above issue yet, but Microsoft says they are working on it.

You can grab this optional update by heading to Settings > Windows Update and if not already available, Check for updates. In the Optional updates available area, you’ll find the link to download and install the update. Or you can manually download the update for your edition through this Microsoft Catalog link.

To view the full support article for KB5011563, head over to the dedicated webpage here.

Microsoft releases KB5011563 for Windows 11 as an optional update with long list of fixes

Windows 11 22H2, the first feature update for Windows 11, should bring a ton of new features and much-needed improvements. One of such improvements is folder thumbnails that allow previewing files inside a folder. If you are not a fan of how folder thumbnails look in Windows 11, here is how you can change it.

A set of custom icons for the folder thumbnails in Windows 11 (courtesy of LEXX911 at Reddit) lets you enlarge the preview and change the folder icon style. You still need to deal with a single file preview (in Windows 7, for example, folder thumbnails can show several images simultaneously), but you can make it larger and more convenient.

Important: Customizing folder thumbnails requires using a third-party app called CustomizerGod. Its source code is not publicly available, so you should proceed with caution when using such tweaking software. We strongly recommend backing up important data and keeping your antivirus on and up to date.

Also, note that this guide applies only to Windows 11 build 22581 and newer. It will not work on the initial release of Windows 11 (build 22000).

Change folder thumbnails in Windows 11

    1. Download the CustomizerGod utility and custom icons in a ZIP archive.
   2.  Extract the downloaded files anywhere you like.
   3.  Open the CustomizerGod.exe file. Upon launch, the app will show an error that you can safely ignore.

    4. Go to the General Icons section and find the ID6 icon. Hover the cursor over an icon to reveal its ID in a tooltip.

    5. Click a button with three lines in the bottom-right corner.

    6. Press Export Resources to create a backup of the original icon. You need a backup in case you want to restore the stock thumbnails.

    7. Now it is time to replace the thumbnail icon with a new one. Click the Change button.

   8.  Select a new thumbnail icon you want to use from a File Explorer window. Once selected, the app will restart Explorer automatically.

   9. At this point, you should have changes applied. If Windows 11 still shows the default thumbnail style, click the Full Clear button in the Icon Cache section to force-rebuild the icon cache and use the new thumbnail style.

    10. In some scenarios, the new thumbnail may still not work. Open the Rebuild Cache.bat file you have downloaded in the ZIP archive to fix the problem. There is no need to restart your computer afterward.

In the end, you should get something similar to this, depending on what icon style you selected:

Restore original folder thumbnails in Windows 11

1. Open the CustomizerGod app and select the ID6 icon.
2. Click the Change button and select the original icon you have exported as a backup in the previous section on step 6.
3. Once Explorer restarts, rebuild the icon cache using the Full Clear button or the Rebuild Cache.bat file.

Do you like custom folder thumbnails in Windows 11, or do you prefer the stock variant? Let us know what you think in the comments.

How to customize folder thumbnails in Windows 11 22H2

According to WABetaInfo, Meta’s instant messaging service, WhatsApp, is soon set to receive an update that allows users to finally transfer files bigger than 100MB, as the file size transfer limit is being increased to 2GB, the same as what’s offered by rival messaging service Telegram. 

Unfortunately for users who want to get their hands on this much-requested feature right now, the feature is currently only available to a select few beta testers in Argentina, so it may take some time for this feature to roll out officially to all users across the globe. 

As WABetaInfo notes, since this feature is so early in testing it’s equally possible that the improvement may never make it to a global audience, with the update instead being rolled back and cancelled if the boost in user satisfaction and retention isn’t worth it for parent company Meta.

Image Credit: WABetaInfo

Alongside this change to file size transfer limits, WhatsApp has recently been gradually rolling out emoji reactions to Android users, finally allowing users to quickly respond with a limited selection of emojis.

WhatsApp is finally testing increased file size transfer limits

New Google Calendar feature takes the back-and-forth out of scheduling

Instead, Sun Valley 2 will be similar to Windows 10 Anniversary Update, so you can expect minor improvements and a few new features.

The version 22H2 will contain a number of improvements and it will be offered as a full feature update rather than an enablement package.

Start Menu improvements

Microsoft is testing a new feature that will allow you to pin more apps or activities in the recommendations section of the Start Menu.

Additionally, you can soon force the Start Menu recommendations tab to open files in Office web only if your device doesn't come with full desktop apps.

There's a possibility that Start Menu features will be released using 'Windows Feature Experience Packs,' which is a new way to update and improve the OS without major feature updates.

Taskbar

Microsoft is restoring the drag and drop capability. This means you can finally drag your files onto apps pinned to the taskbar. Or you can also drag apps to the taskbar to create shortcuts.

Task Manager

22H2 will refresh Task Manager with a new design based on Fluent UI and WinUI.

Like the current version of Task Manager, the new version can also display the same set of screens, such as Processes, Performance, App history, Startup apps, Users, Details, and services. However, there are a few noticeable changes.

As you can see in the below screenshots, Task Manager will now use a new sidebar or hamburger menu to display processes and performance options. This would make the Task Manager easily accessible on touchscreen devices.

Additionally, Task Manager's top bar now displays the brand and name of the device, its model (if available), a picture of the device, and CPU or RAM being used.

New flyout design

Microsoft is refreshing the design for the hardware indicators like sound and brightness.

Media controls that appear on the Lock screen when playing music in a supported app are also getting a new look.

The updated flyout matches the design shown for the media controls across the operating system and Microsoft's vision for WinUI.

Interestingly, the media controls will use a dark theme to complement the rest of the Lock Screen visual style.

Microsoft also noted that updated media controls reflect the Windows 11 design principles, and more flyouts will be updated in future preview releases.

New snapping experience

Microsoft has updated the experience of resizing app windows in snap layouts by overlaying the relevant app icon on top of the acrylic background.

Snap some windows using the snap assist, resize the snapped window layout using the buffer and watch the other snapped windows go out-of-focus overlaid with their app icon.

Tablet-optimized taskbar

Microsoft is adding a new taskbar state that’s specifically designed to optimize the taskbar for tablets and make you feel more confident and comfortable using your device as a tablet.

There are two states of this taskbar

• Collapsed state: The taskbar gives you more screen space, and prevents you from accidentally invoking the taskbar.
• Expanded state: The taskbar is optimized to be easier to use with touch, but common options remain on screen.

Windows Update leverages renewable energy

Windows Update will use data from partners electricityMap or WattTime to perform update installations to lower carbon emissions. Windows 11 will try to install updates in the background at times when greater amounts of clean energy sources are available.

You can still install updates immediately by navigating to Settings > Windows Update and choosing “Check for Updates”.

How to try these changes today

If you're interested, you can download and install the preview update today as these changes are currently available  Windows Insider Dev channel

If you're a member of the Windows Insider Program, head to the Windows Update page, click on the Windows Insider program settings, and select Dev Channel to install the update.

Windows 11 22H2: Everything we know so far

And despite all the applaud, Microsoft's anti-virus solution is far from flawless as just recently, it was found that Defender for Endpoint was flagging its own Office updates as malware, and now reports of Defender SmartScreen causing video playback issues on the latest Beta build 22581 are coming in.

Several users on the Windows 11 subreddit flighting the build 22581 are reporting video playback delays. The mention of MKV is there but other video container formats may also be affected. ISOs too apparently are facing this delayed execution problem. The issue isn't listed among the known issues for the build which means it probably went undetected during testing.

A simple workaround for this problem was figured out by Reddit user kristijan1001 who realized that disabling the "Check apps and files" option under SmartScreen settings was able to resolve the issue. But before proceeding to apply this workaround, make sure the file type is actually trustworthy.

Source: kristijan1001(Reddit) via terroradagio (Reddit)

Defender SmartScreen on Windows 11 Beta build 22581 apparently causes video playback issues

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. With that said, let's begin!

1. Reassess the possibility to ignore or exclude selected OneDrive folders and files from the sync process - 8,468 upvotes
   Microsoft: This feature has rolled out for files and we are looking to expanding it to folders in the future.
2. Enable syncing over LAN - 7,857 upvotes
   Microsoft: We don’t have a timeline yet but it’s still on our radar.
3. Allow shared folders to be stored within sub folders - 5,329 upvotes
   Microsoft: We’re looking at two related pieces of this:
   1) For OneDrive for Business, enable shared folders to be added to the root of the OneDrive folder at all (like in OneDrive Personal).
   2) For OneDrive across business and personal, enable shared folders to be placed into subfolders.
   We appreciate your patience; this is significant engineering work given the architecture of the products and our diverse customer base, spanning individuals to small businesses to multi-national enterprises to government agencies. We aim to address this while maintaining our industry-leading security, privacy, and compliance commitments. Thank you for the continued feedback.
4. Implement a folder tree like Google Drive. It would make navigating and moving files around much easier - 5,236 upvotes
   Microsoft: Thanks for all the feedback on this item. It's one the team hears and we are continuing to track this as part of our future roadmap. Please continue to share your thoughts and ideas here!
5. Enable Linux support - 4,799 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
6. Add the ability to people tag - 4,711 upvotes
   Microsoft: Wanted to provide an update here: this is something we’re planning on doing, but don’t have a timeframe to share yet.
7. Allow OneDrive for Business folder to be renamed - 4,536 upvotes
   Microsoft: Thanks for the suggestion.
8. Ability to access the Personal Vault via MacOS just like Win10 - 4,154 upvotes
   No response from Microsoft.
9. Ability to Zip and Unzip a File - 3,560 upvotes
   Microsoft: Thank you for this suggestion. We don’t have specifics to share, but wanted to provide an update that we are looking into this for future updates.
10. Prevent shared files from being downloaded - 3,459 upvotes
    Microsoft: We’ve rolled out an update which includes support for PDF files, images, audio and other file formats. This update doesn’t yet include support for video files but we’re working on it and will have more to share soon!

This time around, it's encouraging to see that even if Microsoft hasn't been able to commit to firm timelines for most requests, it has at least responded to most items in the top 10 list. Last week, it was quite disappointing to see that even though people have tons of requests for Microsoft Teams, the company is quite unresponsive in that specific portal.

Overall, it's a pretty interesting list and I can see how many of them could benefit users, especially organizational customers. Some features are in active development while others are on Microsoft's radar without a concrete release date. It will be interesting to see how the company caters to these requests and their respective rollouts in the near future.

Here are the top 10 features people want in OneDrive

A startup offering an enterprise-focused web browser has surpassed a billion-dollar valuation, despite launching only a matter of weeks ago.

Island exited stealth mode in early February, but has already achieved unicorn status courtesy of a $115 million Series B funding round that valued the company at $1.3 billion. Although the product was under development for two years prior to launch, Island is still among the fastest startups to achieve the milestone.

The funding round was led by venture capital firm Insight Partners, which has previously invested in the likes of Shopify, Qualtrics and DocuSign, all of which have multi-billion-dollar market capitalizations. Other investors include Sequoia Capital, Stripes and Cyberstarts.

Island browser

The core difference between Island’s browser and the likes of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge is a heightened focus on cybersecurity. According to Island, typical browsers are entirely unsuitable for use in a business context, despite their ubiquity in the professional sphere today.

“The most widely deployed app in the enterprise is the browser, but it’s a consumer-based design,” Island CEO Mike Fey told TechCrunch, when the company emerged from stealth.

“A consumer wants to have infinite freedom; they want to be able to install anything they want, go anywhere they want, and do who knows what with their browser without any issues. The enterprise, however, wants to make sure that their customer data is safe, that their critical information is protected, and that they’re getting a good experience.”

Although Island’s service is built on the same Chromium engine as many popular browsers, and therefore has a familiar interface, it places a number of restrictions on the way in which end users can interact with the web.

For example, the Island browser gives security teams control over simple functionality such as copy-and-paste, screen capture and content downloads. It also places limits on the kinds of extensions that can be installed and the domains that can be visited.

Separately, the service gives IT administrators access to advanced tools to help secure SaaS applications and prevent data leakage, as well as full insight into all deployments to help identify the source of incidents as quickly as possible.

“Island has created a whole new way of thinking about enterprise work. By fundamentally transforming the work environment to be secure-by-design, the Island Enterprise Browser enables organizations to achieve entirely new levels of security, productivity, and IT efficiency,” added Fey.

“New investment from Insight Partners and increased investment from our original funding partners validates our product-market fit, accelerates our momentum, and highlights the huge opportunity in front of us.”

Source

QuickTime supported three main classes of media: audio, video and pictures. For each of these, its framework provided for encoding and transcoding different formats, streaming decoded content for playback, an extensive core of coder-decoder modules (codecs) which was extensible by third parties, and various types of user interaction. Together they were used for everything from playing music and MIDI to interactive games, and were widely used for movies. It also brought some of the first attempts at virtual reality with QuickTime VR, which allowed the user to navigate around VR views.

First introduced in 1991 for classic Mac OS System 6, a subset soon appeared on Windows too. With the advent of System 7 it started to flourish, and QuickTime 2.0 added features like MIDI to its original limited capabilities. MPEG-4 and AAC Audio were major enhancements in QuickTime 6.0 in 2002, which was supported on both classic Mac OS and OS X, as well as Windows.

When Apple introduced QuickTime X in 2009 for Mac OS X 10.6, features began to disappear. Most noticeable by its absence then was MIDI support. This was apparently the result of a transition to using 64-bit code, a change which was eventually to kill QuickTime completely. By this time, Apple was advancing its plans to do away altogether with 32-bit code, but a great deal of QuickTime was still firmly wedded to 32-bit. The decision was made to move to a replacement, dubbed AV Foundation, which was introduced in 2011 and finally took over from QuickTime with the release of Catalina eight years later. Despite the length of that transition period, for many users the loss of QuickTime and many 32-bit codecs was one of the biggest drawbacks of upgrading to Catalina.

AV Foundation drops still pictures (which are catered for elsewhere now) and concentrates solely on what Apple describes as “time-based audiovisual media”. Apple’s master page on AV Foundation links to a mass of documentation if you want to explore its capabilities further. If you want to understand some of the many differences between the two, Tech Note 2300 explains what’s necessary to transition QuickTime code to AV Foundation.

In many respects, AV Foundation builds on Apple’s experience with QuickTime. It may not have the same user visibility, but its replacement APIs are far more capable and include support for much of what has happened in the last decade and more since the heyday of QuickTime. At its heart is the AVAsset, a container for tracks of media such as audio, video and subtitles, a concept designed into QuickTime.

For the user, QuickTime lives on in a few places, like its Player app, although now a shadow of its former Pro version. Gone, though, are the QuickTime folders from the system, those carefully curated collections of QuickTime codecs too. If you’ve still got any QuickTime components, they’ll be legacies in your /Library folder, not that on the macOS System volume.

Apple never took a moment when Mojave handed over to Catalina to roll the credits for QuickTime: to Bruce Leak, who stole WWDC in 1991 with its first demo, Peter Hoddie, who took over from him, Paul Charlton, Michael Kellner, and a great many engineers, and all those who developed pioneering content which made QuickTime such as success. At least its sequel is proving worthy of their innovation.

Source