Microsoft had been testing its own version of Chromium's Overlay Scrollbars feature in the Chromium-based Edge web browser since August 2021. The company has been gradually layering Windows 11’s style over the feature. Back then, one of the developers, working on Edge browser development, had commented that the team would try to bring these scrollbars to Chromium as well.

There has been no update, until this week. In a new patch that appeared on Chromium Gerrit, one of Microsoft's engineers has confirmed that this feature will soon begin testing in Chrome. Simply put, the Google Chrome web browser for Windows 11 could have Overlay Scrollbars in the coming weeks.

Incidentally, in the bug associated with the patch too there’s mention of Windows 11 style scrollbars for Chrome on multiple occasions:

...(intent-to-implement for Win 11 overlay scrollbars will be posted shortly).

And

Once we contribute the new Win 11 style scrollbars to Chromium, it will probably not look the best in full screen.

The patch attempts to fix a bug that appears in YouTube's full-screen mode when the Windows 11-style scrollbars are enabled. It seems Microsoft engineers intend to fix this bug before they start testing the overlay scrollbars in Chrome.

Source: Leopeva64-2 via Reddit

Microsoft will soon start testing Windows 11-style Overlay Scrollbars in Chrome web browser

Many developers have ended support for Windows XP for their programs already. Programs such as Firefox, Chrome, Audacity, Sumatra or Dropbox do not support the operating system anymore.

The minimum required operating system for WinRAR 6.1 is Windows Vista, which is not supported by Microsoft anymore. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are supported until January 2023.

WinRAR 6.1 is the first version of the application that supports Windows 11's new context menus. Microsoft changed the File Explorer right-click context menu in its Windows 11 operating system. It added a newly designed context menu to File Explorer but kept the classic context menu as one of the options so that users can open it if required. Many third-party application entries are not displayed in the new context menu right now as companies need to publish updates to support it.

One of the limitations of the context menu is that programs are allowed a single top level entry or menu item only.  The new WinRAR context menu on Windows 11 lists all WinRAR commands when selected.

WinRAR users may change the functionality in the preferences. The option "Cascaded context menus" determines whether a submenu with all WinRAR commands is displayed. Disabling the option changes the context menu items to a single extraction or archiving command, which users may select under Context Menu Items.

Select Options > Settings > Integration to access the settings. You may toggle "Cascaded context menus" there, and find the "context menu items" button as well to select the items that you want to display. The configuration dialog is displayed after installation as well.

The new "Legacy context menus" option may be used by WinRAR users if menu items are missing from the legacy context menu of Windows 11 or in the context menus of third-party file managers. The setting is only available on Windows 11 devices.

WinRAR 6.1 introduces several other changes and improvements. The archiver supports the extraction of .zst and .zipx archives now.

The option to create RAR5 recovery records has a new maximum limit; it is now 1000%, which means that the recovery volumes size can be up to 10 times larger than the actual size of the RAR volumes. A recovery file size larger than 99% of the archive is only supported by WinRAR 6.1 or newer. The same is true if the number of recovery volumes is greater than the number of protected RAR volumes. Older versions of WinRAR can't be used in this case to repair archives. See my MultiPAR review for additional details.

The full changelog is available here. Downloads are available on the official download page.

WinRAR 6.1 drops Windows XP support, adds Windows 11 context menu support

Frontpaged:  WinRAR 6.10

The use of online collaboration and communication software has become exceedingly important in this era of hybrid work. One such piece of software is Microsoft Teams, which the company updates on a frequent basis to facilitate the use-cases of its various customers. Now, the Redmond tech firm has announced a bunch of audio improvements for its communication platform, and while not all of them are new, they are certainly welcome.

Something that Microsoft started rolling out recently on Teams is high fidelity music mode. This capability is important because it facilitates numerous use-cases such as music lessons and medical signals during virtual appointments with your healthcare professional. Teams accomplishes this by transferring such audio signals at a 32kHz sampling rate (16kHz bandwidth) at 128kbps. It manages to ensure high fidelity while reducing the bitrate by four times in comparison to lossless encoding. You can find out how to take advantage of this by following Microsoft's guidance here.

A new feature that leverages from high fidelity music mode is machine learning-based noise suppression, that is now enabled by default for Teams customers. This model uses non-speech signals as input and then determines whether it should suppress that noise or not. If it identifies the input as music, such as that being played during a violin lesson, it alerts the user that they should enable high fidelity music mode. If it detects a false positive, the user can simply dismiss that banner. And if the ML model actually detects undesirable noise that is not music, it will automatically suppress it.

Microsoft says that it built this model by training a convolutional neural network on a training set containing one million audio clips with sound and music. The training set included sounds from a variety of environments and instruments to cater to a large variety of use-cases. The output model was then tested on a collection of 1,000 audio clips, which yielded an accuracy of 81%. Microsoft claims that its model outperformed all published research in this area, and you can check out its research paper here.

ML-based noise suppression has now been enabled by default for "most" Teams users, while automatic music detection will be rolled out generally in the coming months.

 Microsoft starts rolling out automatic music detection and noise suppression to Teams

Windows 11 22H2 is apparently internally called Nickel and it looks like its Insider testing is on the verge of completion according to leaked scripts that seem to reveal some of these details. Below is a screenshot of the relevant portion highlighted:

The highlighted portion reveals two deadlines, the first one being for "feature" completion scheduled on February 4, 2022, and the second one being for "config" completion, scheduled on March 4, 2022, which is on the same date but just a month later.

This means Microsoft could be wrapping things up for Windows 11 22H2 Insider testing by March or soon after and moving on to the release of the next feature update revision for 23H2. Windows 11 23H2 is purportedly known as Copper similar to how 22H2 is called Nickel. However, searching for "cu_release" - as Cu is the symbol for copper - did not reveal anything in the leaked file.

Source and image: Azure website via Deskmodder, @techosarusrex (Twitter)

Windows 11 22H2 is almost cooked suggests a leaked internal script for Insiders

When Windows 11 build 22538 was released to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel last Wednesday, it was discovered shortly after that a hidden new Task Manager was included and seemingly being prepped to appear in a future build, we could use Vivetool to enable the new Task Manager even if most of its options currently don't work.

Then when build 22538.1010 was released on Friday, upgrading to it reversed Vivetool's changes and reverted back to the standard Task Manager, however it's possible to switch to the new Task Manager again, for this you first need to download Vivetool and unzip the contents to an easily accessible point on your computer, like C:\ for example.

• Ensure Task Manager is not open
• Open a command prompt as Administrator and change to the same directory where you extracted Albacore.ViVe.dll and ViVeTool.exe
• Enter the following commands followed by pressing enter on the keyboard after each command (as shown in the image at the top of this article)

  • vivetool addconfig 35908098 2
    vivetool addconfig 37204171 2
    vivetool addconfig 36898195 2
    vivetool addconfig 36898195 2

• Open Task Manager to see the new style.

As you will notice, none of the top bar menu items work, such as in the case of the Services tab where Start, Stop, Restart, Open Services and the drop down menu choices all do nothing yet, so all you are getting is a modern Task Manager wrapper that looks more like the Windows 11 Settings app.

In case you are wondering once you have changed to the new Task Manager, it sticks even between reboots. To reverse the change and go back to the old Task Manager, simply repeat the above steps but now use 1 instead of 2 on each command. The Task Manager must be closed in order to be able to process the commands.

Right now the new Task Manager is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard, so we'll have to revisit it when the menu options actually start working. Given that Windows 11 22H2 could RTM by March, we won't have to wait much longer to see the new Task Manager if Microsoft decides to ship it with the update. I've included a gallery of all the tab options so you can see for yourself what you're missing without going through the painful process of using ViveTool.

Here's how you can enable and disable the new Task Manager in Windows 11 build 22538

A couple of days ago, Microsoft released a new Windows 11 build 22538 to Insiders on the Dev channel. The build fixes Explorer crash issues, Taskbar date and time problems, among others.

Speaking of the Taskbar, German outlet Deskmodder discovered something interesting in the new build 22538. Apparently, when narrowing the Taskbar now, the Date and Time section is no longer cut off unlike in some of the previous builds. The site has provided a comparison image of three different scenarios.

The first (top) image is that of the narrow Taskbar in the release version of Windows 11 where the date and time section clearly cuts off. The second image is under a normal Taskbar view (not narrow) in Build 22538 where the date and time appear normally. The third and final image (at the bottom) is also under Windows 11 build 22538 where, despite using a narrow Taskbar, the date and time are not cut off.

The site speculates that this could be an indication of Microsoft internally tinkering around with the Taskbar and could be a sign of further changes to come, such that we need not use Registry edits to resize the Taskbar anymore and it may become a feature in the future. Microsoft had already fixed a somewhat similar issue back with Build 22463.

The new Build 22538 has also revealed a new hidden gem related somewhat closely to the Taskbar. Microsoft is seemingly working on a redesigned Task Manager. The feature was shared on Twitter by FireCube and here are some of the images:

From a quick glance, it appears that there will be new dedicated options for adding tasks or ending running ones, new CPU, GPU, Memory, Disk icons, alongside an apparent dark mode option. Although it is hidden from plain sight, the redesigned Task Manager can be activated using ViveTool.

Narrow Taskbar on Windows 11 build 22538 may be a hint for new changes, new Task Manager too

These servicing pipeline updates are necessary in order to make sure that the builds can be served to users without any noteworthy issues or hiccups. So, in the announcement on Twitter, the firm only notes:

We're releasing a small update (Build 22538.1010) as verification of changes in our servicing pipeline. No feature changes in this small release.

Hence, all the bug fixes and improvements that were announced with the earlier released build 22538 to the Dev Channel are carried over into this. The build improved upon Voice access, which lets you control Windows entirely with you voice, perhaps more importantly fixed an issue where Explorer.exe would crash when using hardware volume controls and more. You can find all the details here.

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, last year Windows 10 Build 21292.1010 caused issues for x64 emulation on ARM PCs.

You may find more information in the official press release linked here.

New Windows 11 build 22538.1010 (KB5010882) released to test Dev channel servicing pipeline

Microsoft has slowly begun to chip away at the old Control Panel interface for the past few years by redirecting users to similar settings found under the modern Settings feature.

It first started with the SYSTEM control panel being redirected to the 'About' settings screen, followed by redirects from the 'Programs and Features' control panel to the newer 'Apps and Features' settings screen.

Microsoft has continued to slowly kill off the Control Panel in Windows 11, with the Network Connections control panel (ncpa.cpl) redirecting to the Advanced Network Settings screen in recent developer builds.

The file associated with the control panel is not being removed, as the ncpa.cpl file still exists under the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

However, when a Windows 11 user tried to open the ncpa.cpl, the operating system would automatically redirect users to the 'Advanced network settings' screen instead, as shown below. This effectively removed the ability to access the older, and to many, more useful control panel.

With the release of the Windows 11 preview build 22538, Microsoft has backpedaled on their decision, and the 'Network Connections' control panel is once again available.

Microsoft has not provided any reason for this change other than stating. "For those who need it, you can access ncpa.cpl directly again."

It's not clear why Microsoft did an about-face on this change, but Windows administrators in /r/sysadmin jokingly said it was probably because Microsoft programmers couldn't fix network issues from the Settings page.

"My guess is their programmers had some issues with the network stack and couldn't effectively troubleshoot them with the new interface... so they put the old one back in. ;)," a user posted on Reddit.

BleepingComputer has reached out to Microsoft with questions on this change but has not heard back.

Microsoft backpedals on Windows 11 NCPA control panel removal

Firefox 96.0.2 is already available. Firefox is configured to download and install updates automatically, but users may speed up the process by selecting Menu > Help > About Firefox. The window that opens displays the current version of the browser. A check is run to find out if an update is available; if that is the case, it is downloaded and installed automatically on the system.

The official release notes list three fixes:

• Fixed an issue that caused tab height to display inconsistently on Linux when audio was played (bug 1714276)
• Fixed an issue that caused Lastpass dropdowns to appear blank in Private Browsing mode (bug 1748158)
• Fixed a crash encountered when resizing a Facebook app (bug 1746084)

The first fix resolves an issue in Firefox for Linux. According to the bug report, Firefox on Linux used to change the height of the tab bar when audio was played in the browser. Firefox displays a sound indicator in tab items when it detects audio playback; this indicator seems to have triggered the resize behavior on Linux. The update to Firefox 96.0.2 resolves the issue.

The second issue is specific to the LastPass extension. It occurred only in private browsing mode and caused the Lastpass dialog window to be displayed without any information (blank in other words). The issue is fixed when users update to the new version of Firefox.

The third and final issue listed in the release notes caused Facebook applications to crash Firefox when the application window is resized. At least some Facebook applications are affected by this, and users who use these applications may want to update to Firefox 96.0.2 to address the issue.

Firefox 96.0.2 is the third Firefox release of 2022. Mozilla released Firefox 96.0 Stable on January 11, 2022, and Firefox 96.0.1 shortly thereafter to fix critical connection issues.

The next stable version of Firefox will be released on February 8, 2022.

Here is what is new in Firefox 96.0.2

Frontpaged: Mozilla Firefox Browser 96.0.2

For those wondering what this ML Windows Update model is, the company announced it back in 2019 as its "Windows 10 intelligent rollout process" to assist in appropriately rolling out new Windows 10 updates to compatible PCs such that the rollout goes seamlessly without facing hurdles and hiccups. The flowchart below helps explain how Microsoft's ML-assisted intelligent rollout process works. It is powered by Microsoft's very own Azure Databricks engine.

While this model was announced just for Windows 10, we wonder if Microsoft also used something similar for Windows 11 when it decided that more PCs needed to have it sooner.

Additionally, in the linked status page, the Redmond giant has also announced that devices running Windows 10 versions 2004 and higher, will also begin to receive the option for updating to Windows 10 21H2 via the "Check for updates" if users choose to manually do so.

Microsoft will force update your PCs to Windows 10 21H2 to train its own ML Update model

All the web browsers have currently adopted a two-digit numbering scheme as none of them have crossed their 100th version. However, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, as well as Microsoft Edge would achieve this milestone within this year. The transition from a two-digit numbering scheme to a three-digit one may have some unexpected, and quite possibly detrimental, impact.

Google had begun preparing for the inevitable scenario way back in September 2021, and now Microsoft is conducting its own tests. Interestingly, Microsoft has adopted a very similar strategy as that of Google. The company has added two experimental flags.

Both the flags essentially force the ‘User-Agent’ identifier to report that Microsoft Edge is on v100. The way websites respond or react to this information is critical. Needless to mention, websites will have to understand and accept a three-digit version and respond by interfacing with the browser correctly.

Every web browser has a User-Agent Identification, which correlates with the version of the same. It helps website developers accommodate a web browser’s special or unique traits, quirks, behavioral patterns, etc. Developers can even add special, browser-specific functions, depending on the User-Agent information.

The stable version of Microsoft Edge is on v97. The Chromium-based web browser’s v99 has already hit Dev Channel. As Microsoft has adopted a four-week update schedule for its browser, users can expect v100 to arrive before the first half of 2022 ends.

While Google started preparing in September, Mozilla conducted a very similar test back in August 2021. The Firefox browser developer indicated that the Internet in general and the majority of websites seemed OK with the User-Agent crossing 100.

Microsoft testing if Edge v100 will break the internet, by adding two new flags

Since Windows 10, version 1511, was released in November 2015, Microsoft has continued to evolve the operating system based on customer feedback, security improvements, new features, and general optimizations.

However, this left behind a confusing mess of group policies that no longer work properly, cause unexpected behavior, or are superseded by new policies that provide a better performance and user experience.

Windows Senior Program Manager Aria Carley hinted in December warned admins that admins should avoid using various group policies in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Yesterday, Carley published an article on the Windows IT Pro Blog going into further detail about what policies should not be used, why admins shouldn't use them, and what they have been replaced with.

"We have listened to your feedback and learned a lot about which experiences work and which don't. We have also worked to evolve and simplify the controls needed to support these improved experiences, and identify which older policies have become irrelevant or replaced with a better option," Carley explained in a new Windows IT Pro article.

"As a result, the Windows update policy set contains policies that no longer have any impact; that don't work as described on devices running Windows 10, version 20H2 or later; or that work but not as well as the policies that were added to accomplish a similar experience in a much better way."

This list is invaluable for Windows admins to review their existing group policy configurations and replace outdated policies with newer variants that provide more control and expected behavior.

Carly also explained that Microsoft made it easier to distinguish the deprecated policies that should no longer be used in Windows 11 with a new Legacy Policies folder under the Windows Update policies in the Group Policy Editor.

Admins can find the complete list of deprecated policies and suggested replacements in Microsoft's article.

In addition to avoiding these policies, Microsoft also warned this week that admins would need to decide if they wish to use the Windows 10 or Windows 11 ADMX files on their Active Directory's Central Store.

"So what to do if you have a mixed environment of both client operating systems? Well, fact is that you can only copy one set of ADMX files to your Active Directory's Central Store. Depending on what your future plans are, you should decide which templates fit best," explained Helmut Wagensonner, a Customer Engineer at Microsoft.

"If you plan to stay on Windows 10 for a while, you should choose the Windows 10 ADMX files. If you're ready to upgrade to Windows 11 and this will become your dominating OS version (or it already is), you should copy the Windows 11 ADMX files to your Central Store."

While admins need to select an OS-specific set of ADMX files for the central store, Wagensonner provided a method that admins can use to manage the policies for the other operating systems in their environment.

Microsoft lists the Windows 10 group policies to avoid

After months in development, DevToys, a multi-faceted toolkit for developers has reached version 1.0. The platform, promising to be the “Swiss Army knife for developers”, has a dedicated website. However, it is actually an application containing several open-source tools that website and app developers need regularly.

DevToys has a GitHub page, a Microsoft Store listing, as well as a dedicated website now. All three were updated this week to indicate that version 1.0.0.0 is now available to the general public. The page, listing, and the official website claim “DevToys helps in daily tasks like formatting JSON, comparing text, testing RegExp.”

The developers call DevToys the Swiss Army knife for developers. But they insist that not only developers but non-developers will find the app useful as well. The app has a neatly organized collection of tools. They are arranged into groups labeled Converters, Encoders/Decoders, Formatters, Generators, Text, and Graphic. It is free to download but can be re-distributed as trialware or shareware (although its developers prefer not to).

DevToys has been under development since September 2021 and has reached version 1.0.0.0 this week. Smart Detection is one of the app’s highlights. Enabled by default, the feature auto-detects the best tool depending on the content that is copied to the clipboard.

The app can be run locally on Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs; developers need not have internet access to use the tools in the app.

Developers generally rely on third-party websites that promise to offer the functionality that DevToys has. The creators of DevToys also allow multiple instances of the app to run at the same time which means that developers can execute multiple tasks simultaneously. The closest competitor to DevToys is CyberChef.

DevToys v1.0 has landed, promises to be a "Swiss Army knife for developers"

The last part involves Google not partnering with Microsoft, BlueStacks, or any other firm to make this happen, and instead, developing this as a home-grown project. This is in spite of Microsoft building Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) to bring Android apps and games to Windows 11, thanks to a partnership with Amazon.

Today, Google has revealed a beta for Android games on Windows PCs in select countries; namely Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Users in these regions can sign up on the dedicated website here for a chance to play Android games on Windows machines. The hardware and software requirements are as follows:

• Windows 10 (v2004)
• Solid state drive (SSD)
• Gaming-class GPU
• 8 logical cores of CPU
• 8 GB of RAM
• 20 GB of available storage space
• Windows admin account
• Hardware virtualization must be turned on
• Compatible PC device and configuration

It is important to note that Microsoft's WSA does not provide Google Play services by default, which gives Google the upper hand with its latest offering. This means that you can seamlessly sync your progress across devices compatible with Google Play and earn points. It also supports Windows 10, whereas WSA does not. Although there are workarounds to install Google Play services on WSA in Windows 11, it is not officially supported.

Google says that it will work directly with developers to ensure that their games are optimized for PCs and support the associated input peripherals. It has also opened up a developer website here to offer guidance to those interested.

People who sign up will be enrolled in a waitlist with invites being sent out on a rolling basis. Google is starting with three countries for now but will extend the program to more countries in this year and beyond. Given the fact that the service officially supports Google Play and Windows 10, it can arguably be seen as the superior competitor to Microsoft's WSA on Windows 11, at least when it comes to Android games.

Google Play Games lands on Windows PCs as a beta

G Suite legacy free edition had a limited set of business features, but it was free and users could sign-up for the service. Google stopped offering the service on December 6, 2012, but customers who signed up for it prior to that were allowed to use it after the deadline.

Nearly a decade later, Google is ending support for the G Suite legacy free edition. The decision affects all customers who signed-up for it, especially those who used it continuously.

Google plans to migrate all G Suite legacy free edition customers to Google Workspace starting May 1, 2022. Users will then be able to use the service at no cost until July 1, 2022.

If you have the G Suite legacy free edition, you need to upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription to keep your services. The G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available starting May 1, 2022. Starting May 1, Google will seamlessly transition you to Google Workspace, which you can use at no cost until July 1, 2022.

Plans start at $6 for individual accounts, but since G Suite legacy free supported multiple users, some users may have to pay more to keep all their user accounts, e.g. for family members.

Customers who don't want to subscribe to Google Workspace should use the data export tool to export their data.

The problem

Some customers have used the service as their main driver on the Internet, meaning they used the associated email address to sign-up for websites and services, make purchases online and on Google Play, and for all communication purposes via email.

While it is possible to migrate some of that to another service, e.g. Google Drive to local storage or another provider, it is unclear at this point how Play Store apps purchases are handled, but it appears that there is no option to migrate those to another account.

Additionally, users who signed-up for dozens or hundreds of sites over the course of the decade may need to spend quite some time changing the logins to another email address.

Google ends the G Suite legacy free edition leaving users worried

As the company explained, searches on the Outlook desktop app might fail and recent emails might not appear in search results if they're stored locally in PST or OST files.

"It might affect POP and IMAP accounts, as well as Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft 365 hosted accounts," Microsoft explained in a newly added entry on the Windows health dashboard.

"If the default search in the Outlook app is set to server search, the issue will only affect the advanced search."

Windows platforms affected by this known issue (first acknowledged earlier this month) include both client (multiple Windows 10 releases and Windows 11) and server versions:

• Client: Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H1; Windows 10, version 20H2; Windows 10, version 1809; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019
• Server: Windows Server, version 20H2; Windows Server, version 1809; Windows Server 2019

Outlook search fixed on Windows 10

Microsoft has fixed this issue on affected Windows 10 devices either through out-of-band Windows updates released on Monday or via the Known Issue Rollback (KIR) feature.

Those receiving the fix via KIR might have to wait until the rollout reaches their systems until it propagates to all affected systems.

"Please note that it might take up to 24 hours for the resolution to propagate automatically to consumer devices and non-managed business devices. Restarting your Windows device might help the resolution apply to your device faster," Microsoft said.

Windows admins can also install and configure group policies to resolve the issue on enterprise-managed devices.

Microsoft has released the following group policies for enterprise environments (a restart is required after configuring the Group Policy):

• Windows 10, version 20H2, Windows 10, version 21H1 and Windows 10, version 21H2
• Windows 10, version 1809, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019, and Windows Server 2019

Workaround for Windows 11 users

While a fix for the Outlook search issue is already rolling out to all impacted Windows 10 devices, Microsoft says it's still "working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release" for affected Windows 11 systems. 

As a temporary workaround, Microsoft advises Windows 11 customers and those who haven't yet received the fix via KIR to mitigate the Outlook search bug by disabling Windows Desktop Search and switching to Outlook's built-in search engine.

"To mitigate the issue, you can disable Windows Desktop Search which will cause Outlook to use its built-in search. For instructions, see Outlook Search not showing recent emails after Windows update KB5008212," Microsoft said.

As previously reported in December, Outlook users have also experienced search issues in Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, and Outlook 2016 after upgrading to Windows 11.

Those problems started showing up in June 2021 after the first Windows 11 preview builds surfaced, and they also impacted emails and other items stored locally in PST or OST files, such as POP and IMAP accounts.

As mitigation, Microsoft also recommended switching to Outlook's built-in search engine, which would workaround the cause: Windows search being broken after the search index gets deleted during the Windows 11 upgrade.

Microsoft fixes Outlook search issues for Windows 10 users

Buried in the changelog was one line item which is actually very interesting. Microsoft notes:

We added a new Your Microsoft Account page to the Accounts category in Windows Settings for Home and Professional editions.

As the line item notes, users in the Release Preview channel can now manage their Microsoft Account from Windows 11 Settings.  This feature has already been in the Windows 11 Dev channel, but Microsoft is now testing it for release to the mainstream Windows 11 users in the next Patch Tuesday next month.

 

 

 

 

 

Users will be able to check their Microsoft order and payment history, rewards, and if they are Office 365 subscribers, manage their Office apps also.

Users will also be able to manage their OneDrive backup from the same setting.

The feature can be found under Settings > Accounts > Your Microsoft account, and as mentioned earlier should come to the mainstream Windows 11 users in the near future.

via DeskModder

You can now manage your Microsoft and Office account in Windows 11 Settings

Revealed by Microsoft’s Clint Rutkas, the accessibility option will help users find their mouse easily, using a cross-hairs-like design.

The module was created with the help of Microsoft’s accessibility team and will show up in PowerToys 0.55 later this month.

PowerToys is getting a new mouse utility

Now the latest app to be getting the Fluent Design treatment appears to be the good old Task Manager.

Windows Developer FireCube has posted the following images on Twitter, which shows the new Fluent Design look of the Task Manager.

The images come from the latest Windows 11 Insider Build 22538, with the new design currently hidden. If you are intrepid you can however enable it using the following instructions and the vivetool.

vivetool addconfig 35908098 2

vivetool addconfig 37204171 2

vivetool addconfig 36898195 2

vivetool addconfig 36898195 2

It is good to see Microsoft taking a real interest in creating a coherent design for Windows 11.  What do our readers think of the look? Let us know below.

Thanks, Ma for the tip.

Microsoft is working on a new Fluent Design Task Manager for Windows 11

Anyway here's what's new in Build 22538:

Updates for voice access

Voice access was introduced in Build 22518. Voice access is a new experience to control your PC with just voice. With today’s build, there are some updates for voice access for Windows Insiders to try out.

Using touch keyboard with voice access

You can use the touch keyboard with voice access to:

• Spell words e.g., names and email addresses.
• Enter numbers e.g., phone numbers and addresses.
• Enter punctuation marks and symbols.
• Enter emojis.

You can only use the following voice access commands while using the touch keyboard:

• Voice access on/ off commands e.g., “voice access wake up”, “voice access sleep”, “turn off microphone”, “turn off voice access”.
• Commands to use touch keyboard e.g., “hide keyboard,” “click 2”.

First up are the Changes and Improvements:

• The updated entry point for Widgets with weather on the taskbar first introduced with Build 22518 should now be available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
• In ALT + TAB, Task view, and Snap assist, the focus rectangle that shows what is selected will now use your chosen accent color on your PC.

• Our updated IMEs and touch keyboard designs will now show on the Lock screen and where you enter your account information such as username and password. This change is currently rolling out to a subset of Windows Insiders at first and we’ll expand over time based on feedback.

 

• We are beginning to roll out the ability for voice typing to download Speech Packs from the Microsoft Store for device-based speech recognition that provides a better performance of transcription.
• We’re experimenting with improving the discoverability of certain input features in various areas across the OS.
• For those who need it, you can access ncpa.cpl directly again.
• We have added HTTPS boot for Hyper-V Generation 2 VMs. The feature is enabled by default.
• For PCs that support it, display calibration is now directly available under Settings > Display > HDR instead of having to open a separate Settings page.

Moving on to the list of fixes, here they are:

[General]

 

• Pressing the hardware buttons for volume up/down should no longer cause explorer.exe to crash for some Insiders.
• We believe that the issue causing some Insiders to see text in Settings and other places mixed up in the previous flight should no longer repro in this build.
• Fixed an issue that was causing Narrator to crash in text boxes when using scan mode.
• Mitigated an issue where for some PCs, after resuming from sleep or hibernate, video playback would resume instantly but the audio could take 10 seconds to start playing.

 

[File Explorer]

 

• Folders named Advanced should no longer unexpectedly open the Advanced Sharing Settings page in Settings.

 

[Search]

 

• We’ve done some work to address an issue wherein typing when using Search from Start or after clicking the Search icon Taskbar would not actually start a Search, as no text was input. If you continue to experience this issue after upgrading, please file a new piece of feedback under Desktop Environment > Search in Feedback Hub.

 

[Taskbar]

 

• Taskbar’s date and time in the long format should no longer cut off on secondary monitors.

 

[Settings]

 

• There should no longer be a random blank entry under Bluetooth & Devices.
• Fixed an issue where Narrator was reading the Resume updates button as “Check for updates” in the Windows Update page.
• Settings should no longer crash when going to System > Display > HDR.
• Fixed an issue believed to be the root cause of Settings crashing sometimes when using the clear location history option.
• Mitigated an issue that was causing Settings to crash for some Insiders when viewing the properties of a Wi-Fi network.
• The “private” and “public” controls in network properties should no longer flicker for people with dual network cards.
• If you search for “network reset” the Settings page for doing that will now appear in the search results.
• When viewing the list of available Wi-Fi networks in Quick Settings, the signal strength indicators should now reflect the correct signal strength instead of all showing full strength.

 

[Input]

 

• Removed the “try out your setup” box from Personalization > Text Input > Custom Theme, since it didn’t work.
• The customized text color from Settings > Personalization > Text input > Custom theme” should actually apply to the text in the candidate window / clipboard history/ emoji panel now.
• Mitigated an issue which was impacting the performance for Insiders with the new input switcher when rapidly switching input back and forth.
• Tapping the search box in the expressive input area of the touch keyboard should no longer cause the touch keyboard to immediately dismiss the first time you do it after switching input language.
• Fixed an unexpected 1-pixel gap between the side of the touch keyboard and edge of the screen when docked.
• Adding missing inverted interrobang (⸘) to the general punctuation section of WIN + Period.

 

[Windowing]

 

• For those using the custom mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors, the background of ALT + Tab, Task View, and Snap Assist should now follow the default Windows mode for light or dark and not the default app mode.
• Dragging and dropping windows in Task View while using an Arabic or Hebrew display language should drag in the correct direction again now.
• exe shouldn’t crash now when closing snap groups which include 3 or 4 apps.

 

[Widgets]

 

• We fixed the issue where if you changed the taskbar alignment, it would cause the Widgets button to disappear from taskbar.
• Widgets content on taskbar should not get out of sync between monitors when multiple monitors are connecting to your PC.

 

[Voice access]

 

• Fixed an issue where recently removed microphone shows up as the selected microphone.
• An issue was addressed to ensure the microphone state changes are announced for screen reader users.
• Fixed an issue to ensure microphone names are read out for screen reader users on the microphone selection page while setting up voice access for the first time.
• Fixed an issue to ensure microphone labels communicate the current microphone state for screen reader users.
• Fixed an issue where duplicate number labels were showing up on Microsoft Edge home page with the command “show numbers”.
• Fixed an issue where the command “lowercase previous character” was not working as expected.
• Fixed an issue where voice access would give an incorrect message to say “voice access wake up” even when no microphone is connected.
• Fixed an issue where the command “switch to Edge” was not prompting for input when two Microsoft Edge windows are open with one of them maximized.
• Fixed an issue where the command “go to font” didn’t give expected results in Microsoft Word.
• Addressed an issue where the command “voice access wake up” was not activating voice access microphone when you speak continuously without any pauses.
• Addressed an issue where dictation was not working as expected on the desktop and File Explorer.
• Addressed an issue where the command “show numbers” was not showing number labels on the window in focus.

 

[Task Manager]

 

• Fixed an issue that was impacting Task Manager reliability.
• Update App History tab column name in Task Manager from “Tile updates” to “Notifications”.

 

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.

And here are the known issues in the build:

[Taskbar]

 

• The taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.

 

[Search]

 

• After clicking the Search icon on the Taskbar, the Search panel may not open. If this occurs, restart the “Windows Explorer” process, and open the search panel again.

 

[Input]

 

• On a UAC prompt, the IME candidate window doesn’t show up.

 

[Widgets]

 

• With the taskbar left-aligned, information such as temperature is not shown. This will be fixed in a future update.

You can find the original press release for Dev channel build 22538 here.

Windows 11 Dev build 22538 fixes Explorer.exe crashes and improves on Voice access

Added features and bug fixes: 

• Added the ability to use Web Capture in PDFs.
• Added address bar dropdown content when first clicking on the address bar like Edge Legacy had.
• Added the ability to change the units that the air temperature is shown in on mobile’s new tab page.
• Enabled support for Data Loss Prevention on websites by default.
• Un-deprecated the management policy to control if the Win Http Proxy Resolver is Enabled, which will be re-deprecated at a later time.
• Added a management policy to Allow the Games Menu (note that updates to documentation and administrative templates may not have happened yet).
• Added an experimental WebView2 API for Clearing Browsing Data (Issue 140).

Improved reliability on mobile:

• Fixed a crash when creating a new tab.
• Fixed a crash when viewing the new tab page.
• Fixed a crash when using Read Aloud.
• Fixed a crash when using InPrivate tabs.

Changed Behavior:

• Fixed an issue where certain search providers can’t be removed from edge://settings/searchEngines.
• Fixed an issue where the new tab page is sometimes blank or shows the offline page unexpectedly.
• Fixed an issue where the Collections pane sometimes crashes or goes blank.
• Fixed an issue where the spellcheck setting is sometimes missing from edge://settings/languages.
• Fixed an issue where the Favorites Bar setting sometimes can’t be turned on.
• Fixed an issue where Guided Switch kicks in to switch to another profile when it shouldn’t.
• Fixed an issue with Collections where certain popups sometimes appear repeatedly even after they’ve been dismissed.
• Fixed an issue on Linux where menus sometimes don’t respond to input.
• Fixed an issue on mobile where the new tab page is broken or blank.
• Fixed an issue on iOS where sync doesn’t work.
• Temporarily disabled support for PDF Linearization due to Chromium Issue 1064175.

Known issues:

• Users of certain ad blocking extensions may experience playback errors on YouTube.  As a workaround, temporarily disabling the extension should allow playback to proceed.  See this help article for more details.
• Some users are still running into an issue where all tabs and extensions immediately crash with a STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_HASH error.  The most common cause of this error is outdated security or antivirus software from vendors like Symantec, and in those cases, updating that software will fix it.
• Users of the Kaspersky Internet Suite who have the associated extension installed may sometimes see webpages like Gmail fail to load.  This failure is due to the main Kaspersky software being out of date, and is thus fixed by making sure the latest version is installed.
• Some users are seeing “wobbling” behavior when scrolling using trackpad gestures or touchscreens, where scrolling in one dimension also causes the page to subtly scroll back and forth in the other.  Note that this only affects certain websites and seems to be worse on certain devices.  This is most likely related to our
• ongoing work to bring scrolling back to parity with Edge Legacy’s behavior, so if this behavior is undesirable, you can temporarily turn it off by disabling the edge://flags/#edge-experimental-scrolling flag.

This Edge Dev channel update should download and install directly but in case it doesn’t then you can head to the Edge settings and manually update the browser.

Microsoft releases Edge Dev channel build 99.0.1135.5 with Web Capture support in PDFs and more

One of the distinguishing factors of Edge when compared to Google Chrome or vanilla Chromium is the browser's support for vertical tabs.

All desktop browsers display tabs in a horizontal bar by default. Only a few support vertical tabs, and Microsoft Edge is one of them. All it takes is to click on the icon that Edge displays on the left side of the tab bar before selecting the "turn on vertical tabs" option from the menu that opens.

All tabs are displayed in a vertical listing that is displayed on the left side in Edge when the feature is enabled.

Vertical tabs offer some benefits over the horizontal layout: better visibility, easier drag & drop operations and more space for the display of websites as the tab bar is no longer displayed (if the title bar is hidden). Vertical tabs work well on widescreen monitors especially, but since you may collapse the listing to a smaller bar, it works well on other monitors as well.

The January 2020 Feedback Summary for Microsoft Edge highlights several new features and improvements that will come to Microsoft Edge in the future.

Edge users will soon be able to move vertical tabs from the left side of the browser window to the right side. The feature has been on the list for 41 weeks but the status changed from "under review" to "planned" just recently.

Planned means that the feature will be implemented in Microsoft Edge, under review that Microsoft is evaluating it.

Planned - We have reviewed this feedback and have a plan to address it. However, we aren't ready to share a target time frame just yet.

Microsoft has yet to reveal a target version for the feature. It seems likely that it is going to launch later this year.

Closing Words

The ability to display vertical tabs on the left side of the browser window is a useful addition. Some users may prefer to see website content on the left, and vertical tabs on the left may get into the way in that case.

You may soon display vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge on the right side

The app in question, which debuted in 2015, is called Audiobooks from Audible. It was discontinued on January 13th, but the listing for the UWP app is still up on the Microsoft Store, though it does carry a message that mentions the app is currently not available.

Audible app for Windows has been discontinued

What about users who already have the Audible app on their computer? A screenshot of the email message shared by a user, reveals that people who currently have the app installed cam continue to use it until July 31st, 2022. I have it installed in my laptop and it still works.

If you want to side-load the Audible app, you can use the ad-guard website to pull the AppxBundle from the Microsoft Store, and install it manually after enabling the Developer Mode from the Windows Settings app. But there is a caveat. The company will no longer allow users to access their audiobook library through the app beyond the said date.

The audiobook platform is recommending users to switch to the Audible mobile app on iOS or Android, as a means to access their purchased content. The other alternative to it, is to use the Audible Cloud Player, which is the web-based solution offered by the service that you can use from any web browser. The AudibleSync app is available from the official website, you can use it to download your audiobooks and transfer it to other devices.

It seems a little odd for the Audible app to be pulled from the Microsoft Store, considering how other companies have been bringing their apps to the app storefront. Even Amazon, which owns Audible Inc, has brought its app for Windows 11. I can only speculate that the move to discontinue the app could be due to the fact that Windows 11 supports Android apps natively, so users could run the mobile version on their computer, or maybe a newer version will be released in the future. Or perhaps a new DRM is in place via the web-player, that they didn't want to add to the desktop program?

A canned response from an Audible representative was met with criticism from users. It's never a good idea to kill an app without having a proper alternative in place. There are many reasons why people prefer to use a desktop program for their entertainment. In this scenario, you could have the audiobook player running in the background while you work, browse or while playing games, etc. The app offered a simpler and more efficient way to manage the library as well, something which cannot be said of the website, it's quite clunky.

Audible for Windows alternative

Users who are on the lookout for an alternative for the Audible app for Windows, you may try OpenAudible or Libation, both of which are open-source programs. The latter is exclusive to Windows, while the former has versions for Windows, macOS and Linux. Both tools allow you to download audiobooks from your library, convert them to MP3 files and remove the DRM for unrestricted usage.

Audible app for Windows has been discontinued, company advises users to switch to the Cloud Player or mobile apps

From Firefox 97 on, Firefox will download files immediately on activation of the download link. The browser displays the downloaded file in the download panel and users may interact with it from there. Options include opening the downloaded file or managing all downloads.

Firefox 96 and older versions of Firefox displays a download prompt by default. It provides users with information about the selected file, and options to either select an application to open the file or to save it directly.

The second option downloads the file immediately, unless users have changed the default configuration of the browser.

Firefox's preferences list just one option for downloads. Users may switch from downloading all files to a single folder, e.g., downloads, to a download prompt that gives them the option to select a folder each time.

1. Select Menu > Settings to open the preferences, or load about:preferences in the address bar directly.
2. Scroll down on the General page to the Files and Applications section.
3. Downloads are configured to save files to a specific directory by default. On Windows, that is the Downloads folder (which Windows users can change).
4. Switch to "Always ask you where to save files" to get a prompt each time to select the download directory for the selected file.

Firefox displays a save to prompt each time a download is started in the browser. You may use it to save files to different folders on the local system.

Why you may want to enable download prompts

Downloads are checked by the integrated Safe Browsing component, but anything that passes the check, is downloaded automatically. Back in 2017, a new attack was discovered that used Chrome's automatic download behavior. The file in question was an old .scf file format, which Windows processed automatically when the folder is opened.

A drive by download attack, which downloads files automatically without user interaction, or getting users to click on the download link, was sufficient to plant the prepared file on the user system.

Our suggestion back then was to enable the "ask where to save each file before downloading" option in Chrome to prevent this attack from happening, as Chrome will prompt to pick a download location for the file before the file is saved to the local system.

Closing Words

Mozilla's new automatic downloading system for Firefox makes downloads more comfortable to users. Firefox users who want more control over the downloading behavior or block automatic downloads, need to enable the "always ask you where to save files" option under Downloads in the Firefox settings to achieve that.

Firefox 97 Stable is scheduled for a release on February 8, 2022.

Firefox will soon download files automatically instead of displaying a prompt

Back in November 2021, we learned that WhatsApp is working on a new desktop app available via the Microsoft Store. Reports at that time claimed that the app is based on Universal Windows Platform (UWP) instead of Electron and also packs inking and multi-device support. Now, it appears that the development team is moving to WinUI 2.6 and newer to take advantage of the Fluent Design elements in Windows 11.

This discovery was made by Windows leakster FireCube (@FireCubeStudios on Twitter), who noted the differences between the new and old versions of the WhatsApp Beta app:

We enrolled in the WhatsApp Beta app as well to have a look and a Windows 11 makeover is definitely in the works. You'll notice rounded radio buttons, drop-downs, and more elements that are in line with the Windows 11 design language. That said, it is definitely a work in progress and there are still some UI elements that are inconsistent with Windows 11, but that is the nature of a beta so it's understandable.

You can download the WhatsApp Beta from the Microsoft Store yourself to give it a go. It works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, but you will need to enroll in the beta for multi-device support in order to proceed. The instructions are mentioned inside the app which you can download from here.

WhatsApp Desktop is getting a Windows 11 makeover