However, there is one seemingly small missing feature that does bother me a lot when I'm using Windows 11. That is the fact that the clock flyout in the Taskbar no longer shows time to the precision of seconds.

Let me be clear right off the bat, it's not about me potentially missing out on a few important seconds of my life, it's just that I don't understand why Microsoft would remove this. It doesn't occupy extra space on the Taskbar, it probably doesn't consume a lot of resources, and the information is definitely there on the backend since it is being synced (unless you have set the time manually). It makes absolutely no sense to remove it.

For many missing Windows 11 features such as Live Tiles, an updated context menu, and the Taskbar, I can at least try and rationalize why Microsoft would want to remove some functionalities. For example, Live Tiles being ditched in favor of pinned apps is a new direction that Microsoft is trying, the updated context menu is mostly a design revamp, and the missing Taskbar functionalities was clearly a misstep in the name of simplification and the company is trying to correct course on that front in the Dev Channel too.

However, there is no such rationalization that I can figure out for ditching more precision when showing time in Windows 11. We do know that the current Taskbar is actually an implementation from the now-defunct Windows 10X, but removing seconds from the clock isn't really simplification we should gravitate towards. If that was the case, we wouldn't have the seconds arm on the majority of analog clocks either. So I considered the fact that maybe the company removed it because it doesn't have a lot of users or utility.

To validate this rationalization, I went to the Feedback Hub and found out that it's actually among the top-voted items there. The feedback titled "Bring back big clock with seconds in the flyout when you click the date and time in the taskbar in Windows 11" has almost 5,000 upvotes and was submitted several months ago.

To Microsoft's credit, it has posted an official response noting that:

Thanks for taking the time to share feedback about this. [...] Please note, at this time showing the seconds in the flyout is not supported, however your interest in this has been shared with the team for future consideration.

However, this response is over seven months old too and we still don't have this capability back, even in the Dev Channel.

Maybe having increased precision of time in the Taskbar is a niche use-case; I primarily use it to join some online meetings at specific times where I try not to be the first person in a meeting without being considered "late". I also use it to keep track of some activity that I am eagerly anticipating. For example, yesterday, I switched to my Windows 10 machine looking at the Taskbar flyout clock waiting for my Nintendo Switch Online subscription to expire so I could switch to the one with the Expansion pack. It was quite a therapeutic experience - okay, okay, I'm exaggerating. It's definitely something I leverage a lot, but it's probably not something that I won't be able to live without.

However, the response in the Feedback Hub shows that this is clearly not a niche demand. This is a feature that people definitely want and it's just baffling to me why such a seemingly minor implementation is not being completed despite it garnering thousands of upvotes over months. Maybe it's just be obsessing over the lack of a simple feature, but for the life of me, I can't rationalize how and what led to it being removed in the first place. I am hopeful about the future of Windows 11, but that doesn't mean that I'm blind to its current shortcomings.

This missing Windows 11 feature annoys me a lot

This week, Microsoft released Insider Preview build 22567 for Windows 11 and a cumulative update build, which moved the build number of the operating system to 22567.100. The cumulative update included no new features or changes. Its purpose was to test the servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev channel according to Microsoft.

The latest update confirms the version of the next feature update, as Microsoft lists it as Windows 11 version 22H2 in Windows Update. The version indicates the period in which the new version will be released, in this case, in the second half of 2022.

New features are not being added anymore to Windows 11 versions once they are declared feature complete. Microsoft will continue to work on new features for the next feature update that it plans to release in 2023. New features may also be added outside of the scope of feature updates.

Work on Windows 10 version 22H2 will continue in the coming weeks and months. Microsoft engineers will use the time to fix issues and improve features that have been added already to the new feature update.

Microsoft will push the new version of Windows 11 to the Beta development channel soon to increase the number of devices that participate in testing. Microsoft has yet to announce a release date for Windows 11 version 22H2. Rumors suggest that it may be released as early as Summer 2022.

Windows 11 version 22H2 may be completed in May 2022, and released between June 21 and September 23 of 2022 according to that rumor. Development is an active process, however, and delays may occur that push the release date to October 2022 or even later than that.

The developer build versions of Windows 11 may receive new features in the coming builds as these are active development builds. The Dev builds will move to a new build number eventually that distinguishes it from beta and stable versions of the operating system.

Now You: what would you like to see in the next versions of Windows 11? (via Deskmodder)

Windows 11 version 22H2 appears to be feature complete

“Time and Date” is a new plugin for PowerToys Run. It can show the specified date and time in various formats and copy each result to the clipboard. For example, you can “ask” PowerToys Run to display the current date and time, day of the week, day of the month, day of the year, etc.

PowerToys will offer a set of customization options, such as including or excluding results from global results (you can trigger the plugin using a predefined hotkey), displaying time with seconds, or hiding an error message.

Besides the new “Time and Date” module, PowerToys Run will get an improved Window Walker (a tool finding running apps and windows using the launcher). The upcoming version will let you close windows and kill processes without launching Task Manager or switching to the app you need. Also, if the user has more than one desktop, Window Walker will show the desktop name for the specified app alongside its process ID.

In typical PowerToys fashion, the updated Window Walker will come with a few options for personalizing the user experience. Some of those include the ability to display processes only from a visible desktop, end a process with its child processes, request confirmation before “killing” an app, personalize tooltips, and others.

New and improved modules for PowerToys Run will arrive as a part of future updates. Meanwhile, you can download PowerToys for Windows 10 and 11 from the Github repository, the Microsoft Store, or using winget. PowerToys is an open-source project, which means everyone can contribute and offer their ideas.

Source: Github (1), (2)

PowerToys will soon get a new tool and an option to end running processes

A post on web.dev details how the four companies, alongside other contributors, will work on a new interoperability benchmark for modern browsers called Interop 2022. The ultimate goal is to reduce “pain points” for developers and help them focus on building their web experiences instead of working around various inconsistencies in browsers.

Interop 2022 is a benchmark that focuses on 15 different areas of modern browsers. Those areas often cause headaches for web developers due to platform differences. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, Bocoup, and Igalia agreed to ensure browsers behave the same in those areas. They include cascade layers, color spaces, CSS color functions, viewport units, scrolling, form controls, etc. Some of the focus points are derived from Compat 2021, another joint effort Google announced in late 2021 to improve compatibility across the most popular browser.

Developers and users can track how Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox progress in the 15 areas on the Interop 2022 dashboard. The page shows scores for stable and experimental versions of each browser (Chrome and Edge Dev, Firefox Nightly, and Safari Tech Preview) and explains how the benchmark calculates scores.

Interop 2022 is a multi-year project to ensure every browser can provide the same experience for developers and users. It is a welcomed change in the world where Google Chrome dominates the browser market, and alternatives lag behind due to numerous compatibility issues.

According to the latest data from Statcounter, Google Chrome holds an immense 64.92% share in the desktop browser market. Perhaps, Interop 2022 will help other players to improve their products and catch up with Google.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Mozilla join forces to make browsers better

All web browsers come with a set of search engines, called default search engines, that users may start using right away.  Google's Chrome browser comes with Google as the default search engine, but also with a handful of other search engines, including Microsoft's Bing and DuckDuckGo.

The web browser supports other search engines, and users of Chrome may simply visit the sites of most search engines to add these to Chrome. Search engines may be added manually as well to Chrome's list of supported engines. The custom search engines may then be configured by loading  chrome://settings/searchEngines in the browser.

Chrome 97 introduced a change that prevented the deletion of default search engines in Chrome. Chrome users could not remove these anymore, while all other search engines could be deleted just as before.

Google reasoned that preventing the deleting of the default search engines was for the benefits of the users, as it was easy to get them removed but not as easy to reinstated them, if the deletion was done in error.

Starting in Chrome 99, Google reintroduced the ability to delete default search engines in Chrome. Chrome users may once again select the menu icon next to the search engine that they want to remove to bring up the context menu with the delete option.

Selecting the delete option removes the search engine immediately. The default search engine can't be removed, but it is easy enough to make any search engine the default to get rid of all others.

You can make Ghacks (http://www.ghacks.net/?s=%s) the default search engine in Chrome to remove Google, Bing and all other search engines that are listed under default engines. Naturally, this works with any other search engine that is listed on the search engines management page in the browser.

Closing Words

Google listened to the community and reinstated the removed feature. Removal of default search engines may look like a cosmetic change on first glance, as it is easy enough to make another search engine the default in Chrome. On the other hand, some users may want the freedom to remove any search engine from their browser, regardless of whether it is a default or not.

Now You: do you remove the default search engines of your browsers?

Source: https://www.ghacks.net/2022/03/05/google-restores-ability-to-delete-default-search-engines-in-chrome-99/

Updates are available for Firefox 97.0.2 Stable, Firefox ESR 91.6.1, Firefox for Android 97.3.0 and Firefox Focus 97.3.0.

All browser versions are configured to update automatically, but that happens on a scheduled rollout and not instantly. Firefox desktop users may speed up the installation of the security update by doing the following: Select Menu > Help > About Firefox

A small window opens that displays the version that is installed currently. Firefox runs a check for updates when the window opens, and will either download the new update automatically or on user request. Firefox needs to be restarted to complete the process. Versions 97.02 or 91.6.1 should be displayed afterwards when the about window is opened, depending on the branch of Firefox that is used.

Firefox on Android is updated through Google Play. There is no option to speed up the installation of the update via Google Play.

The official release notes list the following fixed security vulnerabilities in the Firefox releases:

Critical -- CVE-2022-26485: Use-after-free in XSLT parameter processing

Removing an XSLT parameter during processing could have lead to an exploitable use-after-free. We have had reports of attacks in the wild abusing this flaw.

Critical -- CVE-2022-26486: Use-after-free in WebGPU IPC Framework

An unexpected message in the WebGPU IPC framework could lead to a use-after-free and exploitable sandbox escape. We have had reports of attacks in the wild abusing this flaw.

Both vulnerabilities have a severity rating of critical, the highest rating available. Mozilla notes that both vulnerabilities are exploited in the wild, but it is unclear how widespread the attacks are. The linked bugs are not public.

Firefox users are encouraged to update their browsers as soon as possible to protect the browser and data against attacks targeting the vulnerabilities.

Firefox 97.0.2 and Firefox ESR 91.6.1 are out with critical security fixes

Frontpaged: Mozilla Firefox Browser 97.0.2

For starters, there is better support for ARM64 devices such as the Surface Pro X. Essentially, winget will now automatically download the best available software package for your device, based on its architecture.

Another improvement in user experience is that winget now stores a list of error code messages, so if an installer fails and throws a 10-digit error code, rather than forcing you to browse the web to figure out the meaning of the error code, winget can try to provide the error details to you itself. Developers can enable this by defining a link between their custom error codes and the generic ones understood by winget.

You can now also enable installation of local manifest files by running them in administrator mode. However, Microsoft has noted that you should ideally do this in a Windows Sandbox environment first for added security.

Windows Package Manager 1.2 has been released as an update to App Installer in the Microsoft Store here. It requires Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) or Windows 11.

Windows Package Manager 1.2 now live with improved ARM64 support

So far, we have talked about App folders in the Start menu, Task Manager, Snap Layouts, File Explorer, and Focus. Today, we are going to talk about some nifty enhancements Microsoft made to quick to Bluetooth in Quick Settings. These changes were actually a late addition to build 22563 which became available over a week ago, but they are present in the latest Dev Channel build 22567 too, naturally.

In a nutshell, Microsoft is enabling Windows 11 users to manage their Bluetooth settings and devices directly through the Taskbar. You can click on the system icon tray in the Taskbar to launch the Quick Settings menu, and click on the caret icon next to the Bluetooth to open the dedicated menu for this.

Opening this menu results in Windows 11 automatically searching for nearby devices. You can then click on individual device names to pair to them. Once you are paired with a peripheral, you will be able to see its remaining battery capacity too. In the same vein, you can click on it to expand the menu and disconnect it as well. Clicking on the "More Bluetooth settings" hyperlink at the bottom opens the dedicated section in the Settings app, as can be seen below.

Here, you can see more details about your connected devices and the Bluetooth configuration and management capabilities offered by Windows 11.

Overall, it's a pretty seamless experience and I don't really have any complaints about it. I feel like this is something that is quite important for people who regularly connect and disconnect multiple Bluetooth devices to their Windows 11 machine.

With Windows 10, you were forced to open the Settings app and manage your Bluetooth devices there. It makes complete sense to offer quick access to some necessary Bluetooth settings directly in the Taskbar and also enable users to view more details in the Settings app, if they want. It is actually quite similar to mobile layouts, for example, Android offering a set of quick settings directly within the notification bar. I have no complaints with this approach.

I know that this is a relatively minor feature and that people who use wired peripherals probably won't even care about it. However, I do feel that there is an audience for it and it's actually the little features like these that contribute to an overall good experience, especially when it comes to software.

That said, it is important to note that Windows 11 Dev Channel features are not tied to a specific release of the OS. There is no guarantee either that they will ever see the light of day in terms of general availability (GA) either. However, I see no reason why Microsoft shouldn't bring this capability to the GA version of Windows 11 as soon as possible.

Closer Look: Bluetooth Quick Settings in Windows 11 Dev Channel

The full announcement says:

We are starting to roll out Cumulative Update Build 22567.100 (KB5012427). This update does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline for builds in the Dev Channel.

Hence, all the bug fixes and improvements that were announced with the earlier released build 22567 to the Dev 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.

You can find the original press release linked here.

Microsoft releases Windows 11 Dev build 22567.100 (KB5012427) to test the servicing pipeline

Rufus is one of those handy open source tools that let you create bootable media. You can use it to create Windows installation media among other things, to upgrade or install Windows on devices.

Up until now, Rufus supported the bypassing of Windows 11 system requirements when installing Windows 11 from scratch. The new release, Rufus 3.18, adds support for bypassing the restrictions while doing Inplace upgrades.

Inplace upgrades may be used for two main purposes: repairing a Windows installation or installing a newer feature update on the machine.

Rufus 3.18, currently available as a beta, supports the functionality now. The entire process of creating bootable media remains more or less the same.

Here is how you create bootable Windows 11 media that bypasses the restrictions for Inplace upgrades:

1. Download Rufus 3.18 Beta or newer, when released, from the GitHub project website.
2. Run the application with elevated rights.
3. Insert a USB device that you want to turn into bootable media into the PC.
   • If you already have a Windows 11 ISO image, activate the Select button and select it using the file browser that opens.
   • If you don't have a Windows 11 ISO image already, check out our guide on downloading Windows 11, or use the Fido application that has been created by the developer of Rufus to download Windows 11. Alternatively, you may also select the tiny down-arrow button next to Select in the Rufus interface to switch it to Download. Rufus downloads Fido and you may use it to download a Windows 11 ISO to your system.
4. Switch from Standard Windows 11 Installation (TPM 2.0 + Secure Boot) to Extended Windows 11 Installation (no TPM / no Secure Boot).
5. Optional: you may change the volume label but should leave most options as they are.
6. Select the Start button to create a bootable Windows 11 media that you may use to install Windows 11 from scratch or to perform Inplace repairs or upgrades with. Installation and upgrade will bypass the requirements check regarding TPM and secure boot.

Closing Words

Rufus is a handy application, and the new bypass option for Inplace upgrades makes it even more attractive. Now it is possible to use it to upgrade Windows 11 installations on incompatible systems once the first feature update is released using Inplace upgrades.

Now You: Have you installed Windows 11? Are your devices compatible with the operating system? (via Deskmodder)

Rufus 3.18: bypass Windows 11 system requirements during Inplace upgrades

Frontpaged:   Rufus 3.18.1876 BETA

For starters, people who use multiple profiles in Edge can now create a custom list of websites for each profile. When you launch a website mentioned in your custom lists, Edge will automatically open it in your preferred profile.

Navigating PDF documents is easier too, you can simply use page thumbnails in the left pane to jump between pages. Microsoft is also prepping for the imminent release of Microsoft Edge version in this release, with the company noting that:

Starting with version 100, Microsoft Edge will send a three-digit version number in the User-Agent header, for example "Edg/100". Starting with Microsoft Edge 97, site owners can test this upcoming agent string by enabling the #force-major-version-to-100 experiment flag in edge://flags to ensure their User-Agent parsing logic is robust and works as expected.

There are some enhancements over on the password management front too. You can utilize the PasswordManagerBlocklist policy to identify a list of domains where you don't want to leverage password manager. Autofill workflows will be disabled for these domains.

Another interesting capability is the option to set custom primary passwords. Edge users can now define a custom string as their primary password. Only when they authenticate first using this string will they be able to utilize autofill capabilities for credentials on a webpage. The idea is to stop unauthorized users from using your saved passwords by adding another layer of security.

There are lots of other policy- and security-related changes in Edge 99 that you can check out here as well. The current Stable version of Edge is 99.0.1150.30. You can click on the three-dotted menu and then navigate to Help and feedback > About Microsoft Edge to trigger the update.

Microsoft Edge 99 is here with custom primary passwords and preparations for v100

Frontpaged:   Microsoft Edge 99.0.1150.30

Introduced in 2021 on Brave for iOS, support for custom RSS feeds was a much requested feature. It allows users of the browser to add any RSS feed to the news listing that is displayed on the new tab page.

Up until now, users of the desktop version of Brave could only select news sources that Brave added to the News feature of the browser. Called Brave Today initially, the feature is now known as Brave News.

Brave users may scroll down on the browser's new tab page on desktop machines to get to the section. Users can customize the listing with a click on the customize button on the page.

Brave displays a list of categories, Business, Top News, Food and so on, and the preselected sources that users may enable or disable individually. One shortcoming up until now was that there was no option to add other sources to the listing.

Brave 1.36.109, released on March 2, 2022, adds support for the missing feature. To add a custom RSS feed to Brave, select customize while on the new tab page and enter/paste the address into the Feed URL field at the top. Select "add source" once you are done to add the feed to Brave. The feed is added to the news listing from that moment on.

One difference between custom feeds and the list of preselected feeds is that custom feeds lack images, even if they may have them. You only get the title, name of the publication and when it was posted.

Brave users who want to display news from custom sources only can do so, but they need to disable each preset source individually, as there is no option to unsubscribe from them all using a button or switch in the interface. An option to import an OPML file, a file that has data on multiple feeds, usually exported from feed readers, might also be appreciated by users. For now, each feed needs to be added individually.

Closing Words

Support for custom news is coming to Brave for Android as well in the future. Brave desktop users may use the new feature to customize the news listing on the browser's new tab page.

Most Internet users who rely on RSS feeds for their news reading may use dedicated RSS feed readers, as these provide better functionality. Mainstream users may like the integration of news feeds in their browsers though. Note that Brave displays ads as part of the news feed.

Now You: how do you keep yourself informed?

Brave News: Brave desktop users get custom RSS feeds support

Microsoft Edge has a section called “Experiments”, where it allows testers to access and activate features that might not be fully ready yet. Microsoft has added a flag for the “Web App Sidebar”. It is off by default, but the feature can be easily enabled for evaluation.

The description confirms the new feature is being developed for all the major iterations of Microsoft Edge. In other words, Mac, Windows, and Linux users, who prefer to use Microsoft Edge, could receive the new Web App Sidebar in the near future.

In its current iteration, the Sidebar appears to offer quick access to the Search function. As Reddit user Leopeva64-2 discovered, typing text into the Sidebar’s search grabs relevant web links. Incidentally, the feature does mention its primary function is to offer search results. Just like in Bing and Google Search, the Sidebar search function also supports auto-generated suggestions based on the text entered.

As the feature is geared towards Web Apps, it is quite likely Microsoft could add more functions in the future. But the current iteration essentially mimics Bing. It offers users three tabs: All, Images, and Videos. There could be more options such as News, Shopping, and so on, hidden in the “Options” menu.

Latest Microsoft Edge Canary build includes new “Web App Sidebar” for quick search

But first, we look at what's new in Build 22567:

Windows Update leverages more renewable energy

Windows Update will try to schedule update installations at specific times of day when doing so results in lower carbon emissions. Most electrical grids are powered by multiple sources, including renewables and fossil fuels. Whenever possible, Windows 11 will now prioritize installing updates in the background at times when greater amounts of clean energy sources (like wind, solar, and hydro) are available. Users can always choose to install updates immediately by navigating to Settings > Windows Update and choosing “Check for Updates”.

This feature will only be enabled when your PC is plugged-in and regional carbon intensity data is available from our partners electricityMap or WattTime. If enabled, users will see the text shown below on the Windows Update settings page. We’re still working on the content that the text links to – stay tuned for future updates.

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Install and Update > Downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Update.

Improving Microsoft 365 subscription management in Settings

In October, we introduced subscription management within “Your Microsoft account” under Settings > Account. This enabled you to view your OneDrive storage, recurring billing and sharing information as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription within Windows 11. With today’s build, we’re making it easier for you to manage your Microsoft 365 subscription:

• We are elevating the Microsoft 365 subscription management experience a level up under Settings > Accounts. As we mentioned here, we will use Online Service Experience Packs to bring more experiences to you within accounts under Settings > Account.

• We are introducing payment details within the subscription card experience. This will allow you to view your payment information and be notified when your payment method needs to be updated, allowing you to continue your subscriptions without any disruptions.

For customers who are not Microsoft 365 subscribers, we are highlighting the free benefits you have access to as part of your Microsoft account on the “Your Microsoft account” page. You can directly access your Office Web Apps, view your OneDrive storage or upgrade to a Microsoft 365 subscription to unlock the premium benefits.

[We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Settings > Settings Homepage.

Device Setup (OOBE): Phone Linking

You can now link your Android phone to your PC as part of the device setup (OOBE) for Windows 11. Linking will give you instant access to everything on your phone, right from your PC. Without needing to constantly swap your attention to your phone, you can use your favorite mobile apps, send text messages, make calls, and more on your PC with the benefit of a full keyboard and mouse.

We will be releasing updated ISOs in the coming weeks that will allow Windows Insiders to do a clean-install if they want to or set up a virtual machine to run through the device setup experience. You can use the PC reset feature under Settings > System > Recovery if you want to run through the device setup experience today.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Your Phone

Smart App Control

Smart App Control (SAC) is a new security feature for Windows 11 that blocks untrusted or potentially dangerous applications. SAC can only be enabled on Windows devices that have performed a clean install with the latest Insider Preview build (Build 22567 and higher). SAC is first configured in evaluation mode. While SAC is in evaluation mode, it will learn if it can help protect you without getting in your way too much. If so, it will automatically be turned on. Otherwise, it will automatically be turned off. While in evaluation mode, a user can manually turn on SAC in the Windows Security app under the App & Browser Control section. More details on this feature will be shared in the future.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > App Reputation & Verification.

The improvements and changes in the new Build 22567 are given below:

[General]

• We have updated the “Open with” dialog box to align with Windows 11 design principles. The updated dialog box honors light/dark theme. We have also simplified the experience by making it possible to update your default app with just one click. [We are beginning to roll this feature out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet

[Start menu]

• When you hover one pinned app icon over another, there will now be a small animation to hint that this will create a folder.

[Windowing]

• We’re updating multi-finger touch gestures to include responsive and delightful animations that follow your finger.

[Voice typing]

• The ability for voice typing to download Speech Packs from the Microsoft Store for device-based speech recognition to provide a better performance of transcription is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel. This began rolling out with Build 22538.
• The ability for you to choose which microphone to use in voice typing if you have multiple microphones connected to your PC is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel. This began rolling out with Build 22557.
• The following new commands in voice typing are now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel. This began rolling out with Build 22557.

[Settings]

• We have made updates to pages across the Settings app to adopt WinUI controls for consistent look and feel across the app.
• To make it easier to find settings within the app, we have made improvements to how searching for settings works behind the scenes. These improvements will provide users with a more accurate set of search results as well as bring more relevant search results up to the top of the list.
• You can now mute and unmute your audio by clicking the volume icon in the hardware indicator for volume.

[Task Manager]

• The redesigned Task Manager that began rolling out with Build 22557 is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel.

[Windows Sandbox]

• Windows Sandbox mapped folders now support relative paths. For example, ..\relative\folder..

Here are all the fixes in Build 22567:

[General]

• Fixed an issue where users weren’t hearing the startup sound.

[Taskbar]

• Using the taskbar to bring an already running app to the foreground should work more reliably now.
• Fixed an issue where if you changed time zone the calendar flyout wouldn’t update to reflect a date change.
• Using Narrator key plus Enter or Narrator touch gestures should now work to activate items in the taskbar now.
• Mitigated an issue that was causing windows to be able to draw on top of the taskbar after dismissing one of the taskbar flyouts.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

NOTE: These fixes will only show if tablet-optimized taskbar is enabled on your device, which is beginning to roll out to Windows Insiders and not yet available for everyone.

• The taskbar setting has been changed to “Optimize taskbar for touch interactions when this device is used as a tablet”.
• We have improved mouse click reliability of system tray icons.

[Start menu]

• Fixed an issue affecting the reliability of the Start menu opening.
• Fixed an issue where dragging a pinned app icon between pages of pinned apps wasn’t working.
• Addressed an alignment issue with the More button.

[File Explorer]

• Clicking the buttons in the new OneDrive flyout should now bring those objects into foreground focus.
• Star rating supported files (for example mp4 files) should work again now.
• Fixed an issue that could cause explorer.exe to crash when opening the context menu sometimes.
• Improved the performance of displaying the content in the Recycle Bin in cases where there were many files.
• Addressed an underlying crash that was happening when trying to start a search from File Explorer, impacting the ability to search.
• Fixed a rare issue for people with small screens where the context menu in File Explorer would animate in downwards, disappear, then immediately reappear animating upwards.

[Input]

• Improved input switching responsiveness when using WIN + Space.
• Fixed an issue which was leading to some Insiders seeing black text on a dark background in the input switcher.
• Addressed an issue where the Japanese IME toolbar could become transparent, and the IME candidate window clipped or not displayed at all.
• If you’re using the Japanese IME with a vertical candidate list, the text should now appear written in the correct direction.
• Updated the icon used for hiding key press visuals in the touch keyboard when focus is set to a password field to help make it easier to understand.
• Fixed an issue where the new “Press Backspace” command when voice typing wasn’t working in Japanese.
• Mitigated an issue that was causing Narrator focus to get stuck in the wrong place after inserting an emoji and dismissing the emoji panel.

[Settings]

• Items in the app list under Apps > Installed apps should no longer overlap each other.
• Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to select the restart now button in Settings > Windows Update using touch.

[Windowing]

• exe shouldn’t crash anymore when dragging a window between monitors.
• If you’re hovering over a Desktop thumbnail in Task View, the tooltip should now actually match the one you’re hovering over.
• Fixed an issue where snap assist might unexpectedly trigger when you already had a window snapped in that area.
• Improved reliability of invoking snap layouts at the top of the screen.
• Task View should now successfully launch if you invoke it while the search flyout from the taskbar is open, rather than invoking and immediately dismissing.

[Voice access]

• Fixed an issue that was causing Outlook to scroll to the beginning of your emails if you enabled voice access and started talking.
• Button text in voice access will no longer be cut off when you’ve changed your text size.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing voice access from launching on ARM64 devices.
• Voice access will no longer turn on after you log in unless the voice access setting is also turned on.

[Live captions]

• Live captions will now handle you switching audio devices more smoothly.
• Changing the size of live captions will no longer cause white flashes in dark mode.
• You can now search for live captions to find their page in Settings.
• Accessibility home page in Settings now lists “live captions” under Captions.
• Settings flyout can now be light-dismissed in the live captions window.

[Narrator]

• Fixed an issue causing high CPU usage while using Narrator.
• Narrator will now read out the theme as well as the selection state in Settings > Personalization > Text input > Theme.
• When a dialog pops up, Narrator will now consistently announce that it’s reading from a dialog when reading its message.
• When using Microsoft Edge’s History page, Narrator will now announce the name of the page and the focused element correctly.
• Fixed an underlying issue which was impacting Narrator keyboard navigation in webview2 in certain apps.
• Updated Braille display input and output table type dropdowns in Settings to have a default value now.
• Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to hang when using Norton Power Eraser.
• If you Review > Check Accessibility in Excel, Narrator will now read the errors, warnings, tips & intelligent services section correctly.

[Task Manager]

• The suspended and efficiency mode icons should no longer be clipped in Task Manager at high DPIs.
• Fixed an issue where column preferences weren’t being preserved.
• The default start page and always on top settings should work now.
• When there’s nothing to show under the “…” menu, it won’t display now.
• Mitigated a crash that was happening sometimes when trying to launch Task Manager.
• Fixed an issue where Efficiency mode icons were missing on some child processes.
• Fixed an issue where some settings options were not preserved.
• Fixed an issue where Suspended and Efficiency mode icons were clipped when displayed on monitors with high DPI settings.

[Lock screen and logging in]

• Fixed an issue causing the accessibility flyout on the Lock screen to flicker.
• The accessibility flyout on the Lock screen’s location and spacing should now be centered and consistent with the design of other options on this screen.
• Fixed the border of the accessibility flyout on the Lock screen to show correctly in high contrast mode.
• Addressed an encoding issue in the message text when using a security key to login.
• Mitigated an explorer.exe crash some Insiders were seeing when logging into their PC.

[Other]

• Notification Center will now close when you start a focus session, and the focus timer opens instead of you having to dismiss it.
• Fixed an issue which was impacting the ability of opening Quick Settings and Notification Center when animations were disabled.
• Quick Settings and Notification Center should dismiss more reliably now if you had used a gesture to invoke them before trying to dismiss them.
• Fixed an issue relating to the UiaDisconnectProvider API which was causing certain apps to crash.
• Mitigated a bug check which was happening in the last few flights for Insiders with more than 8 monitors connected.
• If you have pinned an app to the taskbar within Windows Sandbox, clicking the app to launch it will now actually work.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th, 2021.

Known issues

[General]

• Users running Windows 10 who try to upgrade directly to build 22563 or higher in the Dev Channel may encounter an install failure with error code 0x8007007f. To bypass, please join the Beta Channel, install the offered Windows 11 build there, and then switch to the Dev Channel to receive the current Dev Channel update. This issue is understood and will be fixed in an upcoming build.
• When going through the device setup experience (OOBE) on the Enterprise edition, the network add screen will be skipped on the first attempt. As a workaround, when users see the “name your computer” option, please reboot and re-start OOBE. The network add screen will now appear as expected.
• We’re investigating reports from Insiders that Windows Mixed Reality is not working starting with the previous flight, due to repeated explorer.exe crashes.
• Scroll bars are not rendering appropriately on some Win32 applications. This bug is visual only as users are still able to click/drag the scroll bar as expected.

[Taskbar]

• If you right click on the Start icon in this build or press WIN + X, explorer.exe will likely crash. Please use CTRL + Shift + Esc for the time being if you use this menu to launch Task Manager.

[Tablet-optimized taskbar]

• The taskbar doesn’t always automatically collapse after launching an app or tapping outside of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices.
• Some areas of the OS are not yet tracking the height of the expanded taskbar on 2-in-1 devices so you may see overlapping components, such as Widgets overlapping with the taskbar.

[File Explorer]

• Opening suggested results shown while entering search terms in File Explorer’s search box may not work.
• We’re working fixing issues regarding icon sizing, visual bugs, and text clipping in the flyout showing OneDrive storage.

[Widgets]

• Sometimes when pinning from the Feed, the pinned widget is placed at the top instead of below other pinned widgets. If this happens this will autocorrect within 30 minutes, moving the recently pinned widget to the expected default location. Or you can sign out of your Widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.
• After rearranging widgets in the widgets board, some users experience problems with widgets in the pinned section rendering incorrectly. If this happens, signing out of your widgets board and immediately signing back in should correct the problem.

[Focus]

• The taskbar icon and tooltip may not match the focus state.
• The Clock app does not yet update Windows Focus state when configuring focus sessions within the app. This will be addressed in a future app update.

[Live captions]

• Certain apps in full screen (e.g., video players) prevent live captions from being visible.
• Certain apps positioned near the top of the screen and closed before live captions is opened will re-launch behind the live captions window positioned at top. Use the system menu (ALT + Spacebar) while the app has focus to move the app’s window further down.
• The very top of maximized apps (e.g., title bar window management buttons) can’t be reached with touch while live captions is positioned at the top.

[Task Manager]

• Some tooltips do not accurately display the preferred visual setting when Task Manager is configured for dark mode.

The Dev channel release is now known as the "NI_RELEASE" or Nickel branch in preparation for the major feature update to Windows 11 later this year. You can find the official press release here.

Latest Windows 11 Dev Build 22567 brings multiple Taskbar fixes and but issues persist

Chrome 99 is already available but the rollout will take weeks to complete. Chrome users who want to update their browser early can do so on desktop versions by selecting Menu > Help > About Google Chrome or by loading chrome://settings/help directly.

Note: if Chrome is not finding the update when you are loading the page, you may download the latest version of Chrome from Google to update it.

The official release notes reveal little about the changes in Chrome 99. While you can take a look at the log file, it is not advised to do so unless you have hours to spend.

The release notes mention 28 different security issues that are patched in Chrome 99.  The highest severity rating is high, the second-highest after critical.

Google publishes the list of externally reported issues only on the blog. None of the vulnerabilities appear to be exploited actively, as Google mentions this usually.

The company's platform status page lists 15 changes that are tracked for version 99, but the list is developer-centric.  One change, Convert adoptedStyleSheets to use ObservableArray, appears to be controversial as Apple won't implement the change in Safari at this time. Google notes that Mozilla and Microsoft will ship the implementation as well.

Chromium is the only shipped implementation of adoptedStyleSheets. Gecko would like to ship this feature, but has been waiting for the resolution of this issue (FrozenArray vs. ObservableArray) to ship their implementation. This should unblock Gecko [1]. The Edge team supports this change [2]. WebKit continues to be skeptical [3] of this usefulness of this feature, despite the general agreement of the rest of the web components community [4], and the support of the developer community [5][6][7]. So the interop risk is mainly that WebKit decides not to implement this feature.

The remaining changes affect:

• "paintworklet" destination for PaintWorklet
• Allow infinity, -infinity and NaN in CSS calc()
• Autofill in ShadowDOM
• CSS cascade layers
• HTMLInputElement showPicker()
• Handwriting Recognition API
• Intl Enumeration API
• Intl Locale Info in ECMA402
• New Canvas 2D API
• Origin Private File System extension: AccessHandle
• Remove font-family -webkit-standard
• Replace GamepadList with sequence<Gamepad?> for navigator.getGamepads() return value
• Unprefixed text-emphasis properties
• Window Controls Overlay for Installed Desktop Web Apps

Closing Words

Most of these changes will find their way into all other Chromium-based browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Brave and Opera.

Now You: when do you update your browsers?

Google Chrome 99 is out with 28 security fixes

Frontpaged:   Google Chrome 99.0.4844.51

The update includes fixes for a number of security vulnerabilities. Aside from that, the update also includes system stability improvements, improved camera performance, support for the new Surface cover, improvements to the Surface Dock 2 integration, and much more. You can read the full official changelog below.

Surface Pro X changelog

Surface Pro 5 update changelog

Surface Pro 6 update changelog

Surface Laptop 4 update changelog

Meanwhile, Surface Pro X, Laptop Pro 6, 5, Surface Laptop 4 owners can now go to Settings>Update and Security>Windows Update to download and install the latest firmware update.

Surface Pro X, Pro 6, 5, and Surface Laptop 4 are getting February 2022 update

Acknowledging that “it’s a long time coming,” Mosseri announced the rollout of the feature via Twitter while stating that it “empowers those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.” 

While auto-generated captions are definitely a nice feature to have if you’re deaf, hard-of-hearing, or just prefer the sound off, it’s certainly been quite the wait, as the social media juggernaut of TikTok implemented a similar feature last April.

Considering that companies are seemingly doing whatever they can to keep up with TikTok’s phenomenal rise in popularity, the only surprise is that it has taken Instagram so long to copy this rather basic feature which makes content consuming so much easier. 

Previously if a creator wanted to have captions on their video, it was up to them to manually add them in what was often a laborious and time-consuming task.

As reported by TechCrunch, auto-generated captions are available in 17 launches at launch. These languages are: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian, German, Turkish, Russian, Thai, Tagalog, Urdu, Malay, Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese. Support for more languages will be coming soon.

Instagram is finally adding auto-generated captions to videos

The original Census Project ("Census I") was conducted in 2015 to identify which software packages in the Debian Linux distribution were the most critical to a Linux server's operation and security. The goal of the current study (Census II) is to pick up where Census I left off and to identify and measure which open source software is most widely deployed within applications developed by private and public organizations. This Census II allows for a more complete picture of free and open source software (FOSS) adoption by analyzing anonymized usage data provided by partner Software Composition Analysis (SCA) companies Snyk, the Synopsys Cybersecurity Research Center (CyRC), and FOSSA and is based on their scans of codebases at thousands of companies.

"Understanding what FOSS packages are the most widely used in society allows us to proactively engage the critical projects that warrant operations and security support," said Brian Behlendorf, executive director at Linux Foundation's Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF). "Open source software is the foundation upon which our day-to-day lives run, from our banking institutions to our schools and workplaces. Census II provides the foundational detail we need to support the world's most critical and valuable infrastructure."

Census II includes eight rankings of the 500 most used FOSS packages among those reported in the private usage data contributed by SCA partners. These include different slices of the data based on versions, structure, and packaging system. For example, this research enables identification of the top 10 version-agnostic packages available on the npm package manager that were called directly in applications:

• lodash
• react
• axios
• debug
• @babel/core
• express
• semver
• uuid
• react-dom
• jquery

To review all of the Top 500 lists in their entirety, please visit Data.World.

The study also surfaces these five overall findings that are detailed in the report:

1) The need for a standardized naming schema for software components so that application libraries can be uniquely identified

2) The complexities associated with package versioning - SBOM guidance will need to reflect versioning information that is consistent with the public "main" repository for that package, rather than private repositories

3) Much of the most widely used FOSS is developed by only a handful of contributors - results in one dataset show that 136 developers were responsible for more than 80% of the lines of code added to the top 50 packages

4) The increasing importance of individual developer account security - the OpenSSF encourages the use of MFA tokens or organizational accounts to achieve greater account security

5) The persistence of legacy software in the open source space

Census II is authored by Frank Nagle, Harvard Business School; James Dana, Harvard Business School; Jennifer Hoffman, Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard; Steven Randazzo, Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard; and Yanuo Zhou, Harvard Business School.

"Our goal is to not only identify the most widely used FOSS but also provide an example of how the distributed nature of FOSS requires a multi-party effort to fully understand the value and security of the FOSS ecosystem. Only through data-sharing, coordination, and investment will the value of this critical component of the digital economy be preserved for generations to come," said Frank Nagle, Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School.

Supporting Quotes

FOSSA

"Open source software plays a foundational role in enabling global economic growth. Of course, the ubiquitous nature of OSS means that severe vulnerabilities — such as Log4Shell — can have a devastating and widespread impact. Mounting a comprehensive defense against supply chain threats starts with establishing strong visibility into software — and we at FOSSA are thrilled to be able to contribute our market-leading SBOM capabilities and experience helping thousands of organizations successfully manage their open source dependencies to improve transparency and trust in the software supply chain." – Kevin Wang, Founder & CEO, FOSSA

Snyk

"The Linux Foundation's latest multi-party Census effort is further evidence that OSS is not only at the very heart of today's modern application development process, but also plays an increasingly vital behind the scenes role throughout all of society," said Guy Podjarny, Founder, Snyk. "We're honored to have made significant contributions to this latest comprehensive assessment and welcome all future efforts that help to empower the developers building our future with the right information to also effectively secure it."

Synopsys

"With businesses increasingly dependent upon open source technologies, if those same businesses aren't contributing back to the open source projects they depend upon, then they are increasing their business risk. That risk ranges from projects becoming orphaned and containing potentially vulnerable code, through to implementation changes that break existing applications. The only meaningful way to mitigate that risk comes from assigning resources to contribute back to the open source powering the business. After all, while there are millions of developers contributing to open source, there might just be only one developer working on something critical to your success." – Tim Mackey, Principal Security Strategist, Synopsys Cybersecurity Research Center

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation and its projects are supported by more than 1,800 members. The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, Hyperledger, RISC-V, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Source

For starters, Chrome 99 will change the implementation of the JavaScript (JS) adoptedStyleSheets specification. This previously used the FrozenArray backing array but will now leverage ObservableArray. The new methods will make it easier to mutate JS arrays. While this is all quite technical, the arguably interesting thing for our readers would be that changes to this specification have been debated between Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, and Google since 2018.

As it currently stands, Google will go ahead and implement this in Chrome 99. It is supported by both Mozilla and Microsoft. On the other hand, we have Apple's WebKit team which is refusing to support the change in implementation, noting that there's no worthwhile benefit to it. Google has stated that it will continue to ensure backward compatibility with the previous implementation but has mentioned in a rather disappointed tone that:

WebKit continues to be skeptical of this usefulness of this feature, despite the general agreement of the rest of the web components community, and the support of the developer community. So the interop risk is mainly that WebKit decides not to implement this feature. Compat risks (from the change from FrozenArray to ObservableArray) should be minimal, as the same re-assignment semantics will continue to work. As documentation improves, and usage expands, we expect re-assignment usage to wane, and mutation (e.g. adoptedStyleSheets.push()) to expand.

The latest version of Chrome also incorporates a new Handwriting Recognition API that can be used by web developers to offer inking capabilities, for example, in a note-taking web app. They won't need to lean on third-party integrations.

Talking about web apps, Chrome 99 will allow installed Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to cover more area on the screen so that they appear more like native apps rather than web apps.

On the CSS side of things, the calc() math function now functions more closely to the official specification. CSS cascade layers should make management of layers in web components easier for developers too. Similarly, the "-webkit-standard" font-family value is being removed to improve interoperability with Firefox, developers can just use "-webkit-body" explicitly instead. And if you're doing some textual formatting using CSS, check out the new properties supported in Chrome 99 here.

The Canvas 2D API is being modernized to attain feature parity with other 2D APIs, leverage existing CSS properties, and improve performance. The API is primarily used in games and "full featured apps". In the same vein, the Gamepad API is being enhanced to align with standard specifications.

Google is also offering a new surface to the File System Access API which will give performant and in-place write access to files if you're a developer using the Origin Private File System. This is being implemented by Apple's WebKit team too.

There are a bunch of other developer-facing features in tow too such as Autofill in ShadowDOM, a programmatic picker for HTML input elements, introduction of Intl Enumeration and Intl Locale Info APIs, and a new destination for PaintWorklet. But that's not all as there are lots of new capabilities in Chrome 99 DevTools too, and you can check out all the details here.

Chrome 99 will start rolling out in the later hours of today. If it does not update to version 99 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 100 which will hit the Beta channel on March 3, and will land on Stable on March 29.

Chrome 99 is coming today with improved PWAs and a hotly debated JS spec change

Edge has long had the ability to open PDF files within the browser and perform other document-related functions. Clicking on a link pointing to a PDF file opens the file within a new tab. Navigating within a PDF file has always been easy due to the on-screen menu. Moving ahead, Microsoft is enabling the browser to be used as a presentation tool or just help in reading PDF documents without any distraction.

Spotted by Reddit user Leopeva64-2, Microsoft Edge Canary v100 has a full-screen mode optimized for PDF files. The full-screen mode is often preferred for presentations. Selecting the mode ensures only the PDF document is visible on the entire screen; even the PDF reader toolbar is hidden. The full-screen mode is denoted by a diagonal bi-directional arrow. The icon is currently located within the PDF reader toolbar itself. The full-screen mode can even show multiple pages.

In addition to the full-screen mode, Microsoft is also testing a new menu that includes options to hide annotations and to view document properties. All the features are currently available in the latest Edge Canary build. As Microsoft is executing a “controlled rollout”, some testers could receive these features before others.

Latest Microsoft Edge Canary build v100 gets full-screen PDF reader, document properties

Notepad++ has been the go-to application for many Windows users when it comes to plain text editing. Features that make it a better solution for many are its support for larger files and plugins, programming language support, advanced find and replace functionality and a lot more. The text editor opens plain text files quickly and is offered as a portable version or an installer.

The last major release version of Notepad++, version 8.2, was released on January 1, 2022. It fixed a memory leak and introduced new features, including the much requested folder exclusion option for its find in files functionality.

Notepad 8.3.2 is a bug fix release for the most part, but it does include some improvements as well. The first improves the performance of the program when exiting under specific configurations. Users who noticed delays when closing Notepad++ while large files were open in the editor may benefit from this.

For those interested, the two settings that affected the performance were the unchecked Remember current session for next launch and the checked Default (mono-instance) settings.

Notepad++ users who open large files using the application may benefit from improved support for large files. Files with 2 Gigabytes or larger benefit from the improvement. You can read up on it here if you are interested in the specifics of the patch.

Here is the full list of changes:

Fix incorrect message while double clicking on search result regression. (Fix #11215, #11106)
Fix regression: file can’t be saved if it’s set to other charset before. (Fix #11238)
Fix UDL comment config input fields broken regression. (Fix #11239)
Fix UDL dialog crash issue on over 30 created UDL. (Fix #11257)
Add sorting document tab order commands by name, path, type and size under “Window” Menu. (Fix #10393)
Add API NPPM_GETCURRENTLINESTR and variable $(CURRENT_LINESTR) for RunDlg. (Fix #11216)
Support better 2GB+ file (cmdline & session file adaptation). (Fix #11213)
Fix auto-completion sort order problem due to fx icon. (Fix #11233)
Refine auto-saving session on exit behaviour. (Fix #11249)
Enhance performance on exit with certain settings. (Fix #11219)
Fix auto-complete case insensitive not working issue. (Fix #11187)
Fix saving problem (regression) with “Sysnative” alias in x86 binary. (Fix #11196)

Notepad++ 8.3.2 is available for download at the official project website. There you also find listed the changes in the release and links to the issues pages on GitHub.

Now You: which text editor do you prefer, and why?

Notepad++ 8.3.2 improves very large file handling and performance

Frontpaged:  Notepad++ 8.3.2

What's new in KeePassXC 2.7.0 Beta

Tags and Groups

KeePassXC now supports the KDBX 4.1 database format. You may add tags to your logins, to find them faster. e.g. tag your email IDs with "mail".

Click on the tags in the sidebar to filter the view and only see the results that match.

Groups can be cloned from the context menu and the Group menu.

The new groups will inherit the settings of the parent group, though you can customize these settings.

Database backup, Cloud Saving

Regular users may know that the password manager has an option to autosave changes made to the database. It also creates a backup of the vault, that you can revert to in case something went awry. The latest version of KeePassXC lets you choose the folder where the backup of the database is saved to.

Users who have their vault saved on cloud storage services, can now select to save changes to the database directly on the server, or use a temporary file. These options can be toggled from the File Management section of the General settings.

Password Rating Column

A new column called Password Strength is available, which, when enabled, will display a colored box to indicate the strength of the selected credential. You can mouse over the box to view a tooltip that displays the password rating.

Auto-Type

The Perform Auto-Type button on the toolbar has an arrow icon next to it, clicking on which displays a dropdown menu. You can use it to set the hotkey for Auto-Type on a per-account basis. Auto-Type now lets you pick whether to input only the username or the password, as opposed to entering both fields.

The password manager can be set to lock the database automatically, after Auto-Type has been used.

Quick Unlock

This is another feature that I like in KeePass with the KeePassWinHello plugin. It provides a convenient way to unlock your vault by using your device's fingerprint scanner, or your Windows PIN. KeePassXC 2.7.0 brings this feature natively (without a plugin).

It will still prompt you to input the master password when you run the program, but for subsequent unlocks, i.e. when your database is locked, you can use Touch ID, Apple Watch or Windows Hello to quick unlock your vault easily. This security feature is enabled by default, and can be toggled from the Settings > Security > Convenience page.

Prevent screenshots

KeePassXC 2.7.0 introduces a new screen capture prevention option on Windows and macOS. It makes the program's window transparent, in order to block screenshots from obtaining the contents displayed within its interface.

There is no option to toggle this feature. So, how did I capture the screenshots? You can turn this security feature off by using an argument. Create a desktop shortcut for KeePassXC.exe, and open its Properties window. Add the following argument at the end of the Target field, --allow-screencapture. Hit OK, and the program will let you capture screenshots of the interface.

Browser integration

KeePassXC now supports Microsoft Edge on Linux. The extension has a new option that integrates it with the native password generator, when invoked, it calls the desktop tool's passphrase generator and sends the data to the add-on. It also has a new menu item for TOTP.

The plugin can be used to trigger Auto-Type, manage the Group settings, search for entries by Path or UUID. The extension will automatically download the favicon for entries.

Download the latest version of KeePassXC for Windows, macOS, and Linux from the project's GitHub page. For a full list of changes, fixes, please refer to the release notes, which are available on the same page.

KeePassXC 2.7.0 Beta adds support for Windows Hello, Touch ID, Apple Watch, improves Auto-Type, and more

The public version of Windows 11, which is Windows 11 21H2, is now at 19.3%. Meanwhile, Insiders flighting the various preview builds now stands at 0.3%. This takes the total share of Windows 11 to 19.6% and by March, this percentage share could sit above 20%.

The breakdown for the share of Windows 11 and the many Windows 10 versions is given below:

It is interesting to note that the overall percentage share of Insiders running Windows 11, at least in terms of percentage points, seems to have fallen in February by 0.1 compared to January when it stood at 0.4%.

For the GA Windows 11 version, there is nearly a 20 percent growth in terms of percentage point difference as it is 19.3% now in contrast to 16.1% last month.

The graphic below shows the growth trajectory of Windows 11 and compares it with various previous Windows 10 releases.

The growth is definitely a little subdued at least as per these figures. The hype surrounding upgrading to Windows 11 may have waned. All this is despite Microsoft's recent effort to accelerate the adoption rate of Windows 11.

Source: AdDuplex

One in Five PCs now have Windows 11 but adoption seems to be slowing down

Improvements

Taskbar

• Microsoft is starting to roll out a feature that allows users to manage all their Bluetooth devices from Quick Settings quickly. Along with this, users can easily connect, disconnect, and check the device’s battery level all in one place.

File Explorer

• Quick Access search has been updated to include files and content from Downloads, OneDrive, and any other indexed location, allowing users to find whatever they need quickly.
• Files that don’t have any local presence, such as the ones shared to users from another OneDrive location, will show thumbnails in Quick Access.

Windowing

• Microsoft has made it even easier for users to snap related windows side by side by including tabs from Microsoft Edge as suggested windows in snap assist. Windows will automatically suggest three of the most recent Microsoft Edge tabs whenever a user snaps a window. This will be done by default, but users can change the settings by going to Settings > System > Multitasking.

Emoji

• With this latest build, Windows Insiders can use 37 new emojis from Emoji 14.0, including a “playground slide,” “melting face,” “mirror ball,” “coral,” and more.
• There are new skin tone options for hand gestures and people, which means there are 112 emojis overall, including the handshake.

Accessibility

• The accessibility flyout from Build 22557 is now available in the Dev Channel.

Fixes

General

• Users with a significantly large temp folder will experience improved login performance.
• Microsoft also fixed a couple of issues affecting the reliability of explorer.exe.

Taskbar

• When using Task View to switch through different Desktops, the auto-hide taskbar will remain expanded.
• When dragging a file or app to the taskbar, the message users see about whether it’s supported will now respond to contrast themes and dark mode.
• The mute icon in the taskbar now gives users a hint about its keyboard shortcut (WIN + Alt + K).

Start Menu

• Microsoft fixed an issue on the Start Menu where users reported that it didn’t open consistently whenever they used the new touch gesture.
• Recommended items have animated icons that will either fade in or fade out depending on whether you’re adding or removing them.
• The sleep icon located in the power menu is no longer a bell.
• Trying to share an app within All apps will no longer result in a crash.

File Explorer

• Microsoft got rid of the random white dot that appeared for users in the context menu.
• The OneDrive icon will now correctly appear in the File Explorer command bar.

Input

• The emoji search results have been improved, thanks to user feedback. For instance, the search results will suggest the balloon emoji first when users search for the word “balloon.”
• Microsoft also fixed the explorer.exe crash that some users experienced when switching between different input methods.
• Users with a grayed-out “Sync across your devices” option can now read an explanation within System> Clipboard.

For a complete look at the new improvements and fixes in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563, Microsoft’s blog post has all the details.

Fixes and Improvements in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563

Windows 11 Fixer 2.0 comes as a large archive, and one of the main reasons why that is the case is the integration of .NET Core in the package. It is handy in case the required .NET Core version is not installed on the device, but blows the size up significantly.

You need elevated rights to run the program, and are asked to provide them if you launch the executable file from a regular user account on Windows 11 machines.

The main interface may look identical to the old on first glance. It uses the same color scheme and features that light and dark mode switch at the top right corner. Tabs have been added to the left side of the program window that lead to different groups of tweaks. The four tabs that are available in the 2.0 release are Fix Windows, Windows Settings, Uninstall MS Bloat, and Install Software.

Options are grouped on each page. Fix Windows, for example, displays six groups to modify taskbar, context menu, File Explorer, Start Menu and other areas of the operating system.

All options are listed with a name that describes it and switches or menus to change the state from the default "no change" to something else.

To give you a few examples:

• Add Take Ownership to the right-click context menu.
• Block Windows from searching online.
• Disable Widgets.
• Enable Compact View in File Explorer.
• Change privacy settings, e.g., disable the personal inking and typing dictionary, or access to location services.
• Remove pre-installed applications. The setting is divided into easy and hard to uninstall apps. You may use it to remote apps like Paint, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Teams, or Skype from the operating system.
• Install popular third-party applications, e.g., Firefox, Zoom, GIMP, Notepad++, or VLC.

Note that you need to hit the "apply" button on each page after making changes. Every change you make is reset when you leave the tab without hitting that button.

Verdict

The update to version 2.0 improves Windows 11 Fixer significantly. It adds more options to the application that users may find useful. The lack of options, when compared to tweakers such as WinAero Tweaker or ThisIsWin11, was one point of criticism when I reviewed the first release version.

Other points of criticism still stand: the size is very large in comparison. Nice to have features, such as a universal undo or start-over option, or a search are not available either.

Now You: do you use tweak applications? Which is your favorite?

Windows 11 Fixer 2.0: new design, more options