News: Software Newshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/page/368/?d=2News: Software NewsenNew Windows Server updates cause DC boot loops, break Hyper-Vhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/new-windows-server-updates-cause-dc-boot-loops-break-hyper-v-r3869/ The latest Windows Server updates are causing severe issues for administrators, with domain controllers having spontaneous reboots, Hyper-V not starting, and inaccessible ReFS volumes until the updates are rolled back

Y

esterday, Microsoft released the Windows Server 2012 R2 KB5009624 update, the Windows Server 2019 KB5009557 update, and the Windows Server 2022 KB5009555 update as part of the January 2022 Patch Tuesday.

 

After installing these updates, administrators have been battling multiple issues that are only resolved after removing the updates.

Windows domain controller boot loops

The most serious issue introduced by these updates is that Windows domain controllers enter a boot loop, with servers getting into an endless cycle of Windows starting and then rebooting after a few minutes.

 

As first reported by BornCity, this issue affects all supported Windows Server versions.

 

"Looks KB5009557 (2019) and KB5009555 (2022) are causing something to fail on domain controllers, which then keep rebooting every few minutes," a user posted to Reddit.

 

A Windows Server administrator told BleepingComputer that they see the LSASS.exe process use all of the CPU on a server and then ultimately terminate.

 

As LSASS is a critical process required for Windows to operate correctly, the operating system will automatically restart when the process is terminated.

 

The following error will be logged to the event viewer when restarting due to a crashed LSASS process, as another user on Reddit shared.

 

"The process wininit.exe has initiated the restart of computer [computer_name] on behalf of user for the following reason: No title for this reason could be found Reason Code: 0x50006 Shutdown Type: restart Comment: The system process 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe' terminated unexpectedly with status code -1073741819. The system will now shut down and restart."

Hyper-V no longer starts

In addition to the boot loops, BleepingComputer has been told by Windows administrators that after installing the patches, Hyper-V no longer starts on the server.

 

This bug primarily affects Windows Server 2012 R2 server, but other unverified reports say it affects newer versions of Windows Server.

 

As Hyper-V is not started, when attempting to launch a virtual machine, users will receive an error stating the following:

 

"Virtual machine xxx could not be started because the hypervisor is not running."

 

Microsoft released security updates to fix four different Hyper-V vulnerabilities yesterday (CVE-2022-21901, CVE-2022-21900, CVE-2022-21905, and CVE-2022-21847), which are likely causing this issue.

ReFS file systems are no longer accessible

Finally, numerous admins are reporting that Windows Resilient File System (ReFS) volumes are no longer accessible or are seen as RAW (unformatted) after installing the updates.

 

The Resilient File System (ReFS) is a Microsoft proprietary file system that has been designed for high availability, data recovery, and high performance for very large storage volumes.

 

"Installed these updates tonight, in a two server Exchange 2016 CU22 DAG, running on Server 2012 R2. After a really long reboot, the server came back up with all the ReFS volumes as RAW," explained a Microsoft Exchange administrator on Reddit.

 

"NTFS volumes attached were fine. I realize this is not exclusively an exchange question but it is impacting my ability to bring services for Exchange back online."

 

Uninstalling the Windows Server updates made the ReFS volumes accessible again.

 

Yesterday, Microsoft fixed seven remote code execution vulnerabilities in ReFS, with one or more likely behind the inaccessible ReFS volumes.

 

These vulnerabilities are tracked as CVE-2022-21961, CVE-2022-21959, CVE-2022-21958, CVE-2022-21960, CVE-2022-21963, CVE-2022-21892, CVE-2022-21962, CVE-2022-21928.

How to fix?

Unfortunately, the only way to fix these issues is to uninstall the corresponding cumulative update for your Windows version.

 

Admins can do this by using one of the following commands: 

Windows Server 2012 R2: wusa /uninstall /kb:5009624 
Windows Server 2019: wusa /uninstall /kb:5009557 
Windows Server 2022: wusa /uninstall /kb:5009555

As Microsoft bundles all security fixes into the single update, removing the cumulative update may fix the bugs, but will also remove all fixes for recently patched vulnerabilities.

 

Therefore, uninstalling these updates should only be done if absolutely necessary.

 

Not to be outdone by Windows Server, Windows 10 and Windows 11's updates are also breaking L2TP VPN connections.

 

BleepingComputer has reached out to Microsoft for fixes on these issues but has not heard back at this time.

 

 

New Windows Server updates cause DC boot loops, break Hyper-V

 

EDIT: Removed unnecessary "KB" from commands.

]]>3869Wed, 12 Jan 2022 20:44:03 +0000AMD Radeon 22.1.1 driver has God of War and Monster Hunter Rise improvementshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/amd-radeon-2211-driver-has-god-of-war-and-monster-hunter-rise-improvements-r3868/ Coming out as AMD's first graphics driver launch of the year is the Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.1.1 release. The driver is bringing support for two soon-launching PC ports of rather huge games: Sony Santa Monica Studio's God of War and Capcom's Monster Hunter Rise.

 

AMD doesn't go into detail on the Monster Hunter Rise improvements, but does detail impressive gains on God of War. With the latest driver, AMD saw up to a 7% increase in performance in its testing compared to the previous driver 21.12.1. The test systems were using RX 6900 XT, 6800 XT, and RX 6700 XT graphics cards and a Ryzen 9 5900X CPU, with the game running at 4K using the Ultra preset.

 

Monster Hunter Rise launches later today, January 12, while God of War has a January 14 launch attached to it. This driver is a recommended install for both games.

 

Meanwhile, several bugs have been squashed in this driver release too:

 

  • Connecting multiple monitors with high display bandwidths and differences in vertical intervals to a system may lead to high idle memory clock values being experienced by some users.
  • After upgrading to the latest Radeon™ Software, the Power Tuning component of a saved tuning profile may not load correctly when a user imports a previously saved tuning profile.
  • When some users zoom-in during Halo Infinite™ gameplay, they may experience visual corruption on some AMD Graphics Products such as Radeon® RX 5600 XT Graphics.
  • Flickering may be observed when playing Fortnite™ on some AMD Graphics Products such as Radeon® RX 6800 XT Graphics using DirectX® 12 with Radeon™ Boost enabled.

 

Here are the known issues:

 

  • Enhanced Sync may cause a black screen to occur when enabled on some games and system configurations. Any users who may be experiencing issues with Enhanced Sync enabled should disable it as a temporary workaround.
  • Radeon performance metrics and logging features may intermittently report extremely high and incorrect memory clock values.
  • While playing Borderlands 3™ using DirectX® 12 with Radeon™ Boost enabled, longer than expected load times may be observed on some AMD Graphics Products such as Radeon® RX 6800 XT Graphics.

 

1633011952_ss_f8249da14987e3c2d10fd40247

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.1.1 driver is available for Windows 10 and Windows 11, and can be found on the Radeon Settings app in the Optional section. A standalone download link is listed on the official release notes page here.

 

 

AMD Radeon 22.1.1 driver has God of War and Monster Hunter Rise improvements

]]>3868Wed, 12 Jan 2022 20:41:03 +0000Microsoft pushes Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 (KB5009624) and Windows 7 (KB5009610)https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-pushes-patch-tuesday-updates-for-windows-81-kb5009624-and-windows-7-kb5009610-r3860/ Microsoft has released its Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 (KB5009624) and Windows 7 (KB5009610). Both systems have received the same improvements and fixes but each have their own unique known issues while coming with workarounds that will be supplied later in the article.

 

The common improvements and fixes to both versions of Windows is as follows:

  • Addresses a Windows Server issue in which Active Directory attributes are not written correctly during a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) modify operation with multiple specific attribute changes.

The known issues in Windows 8.1 and the respective workaround is shown below

 

Symptom Workaround
Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”. This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege.

Do one of the following:

Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege.

Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership.

Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

 

Meanwhile, Windows 7 includes the following issues and workarounds:

 

Symptom Workaround
After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, "Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer", and the update might show as Failed in Update History.

This is expected in the following circumstances:

  • If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181.
  • If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated.

If you have purchased an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, please see this blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article.

Certain operations, such as rename, that you perform on files or folders that are on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with the error, "STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)". This occurs when you perform the operation on a CSV owner node from a process that doesn’t have administrator privilege.

Do one of the following:

  • Perform the operation from a process that has administrator privilege.
  • Perform the operation from a node that doesn’t have CSV ownership.

Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

 

To get these updates, just head to Windows Update and look for the respective KB numbers. If you don’t see the update, make sure you’ve installed any of the others that are available. If you still don’t get it, check your update history because Windows probably automatically installed it.

 

 

Microsoft pushes Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 (KB5009624) and Windows 7 (KB5009610)

]]>3860Wed, 12 Jan 2022 06:12:28 +0000Microsoft releases new Cumulative Update for Windows 11 PCshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-releases-new-cumulative-update-for-windows-11-pcs-r3856/ Microsoft today released KB5009566 (OS Build 22000.434) Cumulative Update for Windows 11 PCs. This update fixes several security vulnerabilities and a known issue that affects Japanese Input Method Editors (IME). Find the official change log below.

 

This security update includes quality improvements. Key changes include:

 

  • Addresses a known issue that affects Japanese Input Method Editors (IME). When you use a Japanese IME to enter text, the text might appear out of order or the text cursor might move unexpectedly in apps that use the multibyte character set (MBCS). This issue affects the Microsoft Japanese IME and third-party Japanese IMEs.

 

This update also comes with the following known issue.

 

After installing Windows 11, some image editing programs might not render colors correctly on certain high dynamic range (HDR) displays. This is frequently observed with white colors, which could display in bright yellow or other colors.

 

This issue occurs when certain color-rendering Win32 APIs return unexpected information or errors under specific conditions. Not all color profile management programs are affected, and color profile options available in the Windows 11 Settings page, including Microsoft Color Control Panel, are expected to function correctly.

 

Microsoft will be providing a solution for this known issue in late January.

 

Source: Microsoft

 

 

Microsoft releases new Cumulative Update for Windows 11 PCs

]]>3856Tue, 11 Jan 2022 21:03:42 +0000<![CDATA[Windows 10 KB5009543 & KB5009545 updates released]]>https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-10-kb5009543-kb5009545-updates-released-r3854/ The new update is now available for Windows 10 version 21H2, version 21H1, and version 20H2 As per the official release notes, Microsoft has published two main cumulative updates for Windows 10 - KB5009543 and KB5009545.

 

This month's cumulative updates include security fixes for November 2021 Update, May 2021 Update, October 2020 Update (version 20H2). This update is not available for May 2020 Update (version 2004) if you use the consumer edition, but the same update will be offered on devices using enterprise or education SKUs.

 

The update is available via Windows Update, WSUS, and the Microsoft Update Catalog with numerous bug fixes and performance enhancements.

 

The full list of Windows 10 updates released today are:

 

 

Like every Patch Tuesday, you can check for and install new updates by going to Settings, clicking on Windows Update, and selecting 'Check for Updates' to install the updates.

What's new in the latest cumulative update for Windows 10

  • Updates a known issue that affects Japanese Input Method Editors (IME). Text you enter might appear out of order or the text cursor might move unexpectedly in apps that use the multibyte character set (MBCS).

  • Updates security for your Windows operating system. This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

  • This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates.

 

 

Windows 10 KB5009543 & KB5009545 updates released

]]>3854Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:56:20 +0000Mozilla releases Firefox 96 with improved Cross Site Request Forgery safeguardshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/mozilla-releases-firefox-96-with-improved-cross-site-request-forgery-safeguards-r3853/ Mozilla has announced the launch of Firefox 96, it comes with just a handful of new features and several changes but there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking. Perhaps the most interesting item is the improved security against Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks which allow attackers to perform actions in web apps that the user doesn’t intend to happen.

 

The new features in this update are as follows:

  • We’ve made significant improvements in noise-suppression and auto-gain-control as well as slight improvements in echo-cancellation to provide you with a better overall experience.
  • We’ve also significantly reduced main-thread load.
  • Firefox will now enforce the Cookie Policy: Same-Site=lax by default which provides a solid first line of defense against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks.

As for fixes, Firefox 96 brings the following:

  • On macOS, command-clicking links in Gmail now opens them in a new tab as expected.
  • Our newest release fixes an issue where video intermittently drops SSRC.
  • It also fixes an issue where WebRTC downgrades screen sharing resolution to provide you with a clearer browsing experience.
  • Plus, we’ve fixed video quality degradation issues on certain sites.
  • Detached video in fullscreen on macOS has been temporarily disabled to avoid some issues with corruption, brightness changes, missing subtitles and high cpu usage.

If you’re running a supported version of Linux Mint, Firefox 96 is also bringing a big change thanks to a partnership between the Linux Mint project and Mozilla. The settings that Linux Mint had changed in Firefox, such as making the default search engine Yahoo! to raise more income, will be done away with.

From Firefox 96 onwards, the browser will have the same default settings as on any other system when running it on Linux Mint. You can read more about that development on the Linux Mint blog.

 

If you run Firefox already, it should be updated soon automatically. If you don’t have Firefox installed just yet, you can head over to the Firefox website and download the browser now.

 

 

Mozilla releases Firefox 96 with improved Cross Site Request Forgery safeguards

 

Frontpaged: Mozilla Firefox Browser 96.0

]]>3853Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:52:09 +0000DirectX 12 support is infiltrating Linux under the radarhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/directx-12-support-is-infiltrating-linux-under-the-radar-r3852/ In the realm of PC gaming, there is an enormous industry push toward open-source graphics APIs like Vulkan. Performant, cross-platform software like Vulkan enables the incredible performance of games like Doom Eternal and allows low budget titles like Farming Simulator 22 to run on Mac OS X and Linux.

 

Gaming juggernaut Microsoft have maintained DirectX dominance through its Xbox brand and studio acquisitions, and now it seems to be creeping into Mesa, Linux and BSD’s open-source software implementation of OpenGL. Jesse Natalie, Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft, is working on adding and improving D3D12 compute support in OpenGL through Mesa and hints that future enhancements are in the pipeline. From Jesse's merge request:

This adds some parallel state tracking for compute. In some cases, graphics state tracking is simply extended (e.g. resources bound to shaders), in others, it's duplicated (e.g. additional pipeline caches), and in others it's refactored. The final result is support for compute ARB_compute_shader with a bit of a slow path for indirects. Now that compute support is available, we can start hooking up compute shaders for things that need emulation in the future, like a faster path for indirect dispatches that need state vars.

While the purpose of D3D12 compute shader support in Mesa is not clear, it could be advantageous in the data center. Perhaps in Azure, where Microsoft offers GPU optimized VMs for workloads that require more specialized silicon. It’s worth noting that this merge request, and the work it builds upon, is not related to any official port of DirectX 12 to Linux.

 

Source: gitlab.freedesktop.org via Phoronix

 

 

DirectX 12 support is infiltrating Linux under the radar

]]>3852Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:49:00 +0000Mozilla and Linux Mint sign a partnership agreementhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/mozilla-and-linux-mint-sign-a-partnership-agreement-r3851/ Linux Mint, developer of the popular Linux distribution, and Mozilla, maker of the popular Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client, have signed a partnership agreement.

 

The Linux Mint team announced the partnership on the official blog. According to the information published there, the partnership is commercial and technical in nature.

 

Some things will change for Linux Mint users who use Firefox as a browser on the system. Linux Mint shipped Firefox with a custom set of settings and configurations in the past, and most of these will be dropped to go back to the defaults.

 

The team mentions the following changes in particular:

 

  • The default start page will no longer be https://www.linuxmint.com/start/.
  • Default search engines of Firefox are restored, Linux Mint search partners are no longer included (unless they match the default list of search engines in Firefox).
  • Mozilla default configuration switches are used by Firefox.
  • Firefox won't include code changes or patches from Linux Mint, Debian or Ubuntu anymore.

 

For Linux Mint, the change means the freeing up of development and maintenance resources. The team used to build Firefox using Ubuntu's packaging, but will package the Mozilla provided version of Firefox instead.

 

For Mozilla, it is mentioned that the organization wants Firefox to work identical across all supported platforms. Not mentioned but probably as important is the commercial benefit that Mozilla may be getting out of this, as the company's search partners and Firefox's default startpage are displayed to Linux Mint users going forward.

 

One FAQ entry points out that Linux Mint is getting a share of the income that is generated when Linux Mint Firefox users use Google Search. Other details are not mentioned.

 

The transition took already place in Linux Mint 20.3, which the team released last week. For all other supported versions of Linux Mint, Linux Mint 19.x, 20.x and LMDE, it will take place with the release of Firefox 96. Firefox 96 will be released on January 11, 2022.

 

Custom user settings should not be affected by the change according to the announcement. If a user has changed preferences in Firefox, they should remain changed. The team notes that defaults may change however, and that users may want to check the preferences after the upgrade to Firefox 96 to make sure that these defaults have the right values set.

 

Closing Words

 

The Linux Mint and Mozilla partnership should benefit both organizations. Linux Mint is freeing up development and maintenance resources, Mozilla is getting more users to use its search partners and other offers. While specifics have not been mentioned, it is likely that Linux Mint is going to see an increase in revenue that is coming out of this partnership. Whether it is limited to a revenue share agreement between the two parties, or money that Mozilla paid the organization directly is unknown.

 

 

Mozilla and Linux Mint sign a partnership agreement

]]>3851Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:47:23 +0000Microsoft and CCleaner bury the hatchet apparently as the latter comes to Microsoft Storehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-and-ccleaner-bury-the-hatchet-apparently-as-the-latter-comes-to-microsoft-store-r3834/

Piriform's CCleaner, the very popular Windows cleanup utility, is the latest big named software to come to the newly overhauled Microsoft Store for Windows 11. The tool was first spotted by Softpedia though it may still not be available for everyone.

 

1641741980_ccleaner_ms_store_(via-_softp

 

This new entry is particularly interesting as CCleaner, among other registry cleaner software, has had a history of some contention between itself and Microsoft.

 

Like less than two years ago around August 2020, Microsoft's Windows Defender was found flagging CCleaner as a potentially unwanted application (PUA) since CCleaner would come bundled with other non-Piriform software like:

 

  • Google Chrome

  • Google Toolbar

  • Avast Free Antivirus

  • AVG Antivirus Free

 

The Redmond company later revised the CCleaner listing from PUA:Win32/CCleaner to PUA:Win32/PiriformBundler. Perhaps coincidentally, the bundled software all appear to be rival alternatives of Microsoft's own offerings.

 

Going even further back to 2015, Microsoft's Gov Maharaj, Principal Software Development Engineer, had seemingly completely ignored the application during a web show called The Defrag Show that was published on Microsoft's Channel 9 website (link appears not to be available anymore).

 

Maharaj was apparently trying to advise a user upgrading their PC from Windows 7 to Windows 10 about unwanted and unnecessary apps. About CCleaner Maharaj had said:

 

CCleaner is … how do I put it mildly … Don’t… let’s just move on!

 

The expression and words showed that Microsoft at least to some degree wasn't really a fan of the software back then. But now, things seem to have changed.

 

While we are on the topic of CCleaner on Microsoft Store, there appears to be an impostor app posing as CCleaner called "PCCleaner" and uses the real CCleaner's logo.

 

via Softpedia

 

 

Update: It appears that an announcement regarding CCleaner coming to Windows 11's Microsoft Store was officially made by CCleaner last year. However, the original source of the announcement could not be identified.

 

 

Microsoft and CCleaner bury the hatchet apparently as the latter comes to Microsoft Store

]]>3834Sun, 09 Jan 2022 20:14:24 +0000Microsoft Edge could get smoother scrolling on FreeSync panels thanks to a new featurehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-edge-could-get-smoother-scrolling-on-freesync-panels-thanks-to-a-new-feature-r3831/ Microsoft could be adding a new smooth scrolling feature to its Edge web browser really soon. In the latest Edge Canary build, a new flag called "Boost screen refresh rate when scrolling" has appeared and it is especially interesting as it will utilize the Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) technology to provide this experience. The description of this new feature reads:

 

Allows Windows to temporarily boost the refresh rate up when scrolling (provided the machine has a VRR panel and a supporting driver). This provides an overall smoother scrolling experience - Windows

1641627392_ms_edge_high_refresh_rate_scr

Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) panels like AMD Freesync / G-sync Compatible and G-sync panels are those which can vary their refresh rates across a given range. Such displays do not have a fixed refresh rate output and hence can boost or lower the refresh rates through their VRR ranges to synchronize with the games or the contents' refresh rates as long as it is within that range.

 

Essentially, this new Edge feature will leverage this technology to bump up the refresh rate when scrolling down or up leading to more smoothness.

 

The feature could work similarly to how AMD's Radeon Chill does. Chill boosts the refresh rate when the action is heavy and user inputs are higher, but scales down the Hz when there is little or no user input.

 

Source and image: Leopeva64-2 (Reddit)

 

 

Microsoft Edge could get smoother scrolling on FreeSync panels thanks to a new feature

]]>3831Sat, 08 Jan 2022 21:54:44 +0000Microsoft releases first January 2022 Windows Office Insider Preview Build into the Beta Channel with one notable fixhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-releases-first-january-2022-windows-office-insider-preview-build-into-the-beta-channel-with-one-notable-fix-r3827/

Microsoft has released a new Office Insider Preview Build Build 14901.20000 for Windows users that registered in the Beta Channel of the Office Insider program. The new build only brings one notable fix.

 

You can read the full official changelog below.

Changelog

Project

Notable Fix

 

  • We fixed an issue where the Outline Grouping filtering was not working.

 

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

 

 

Microsoft releases first January 2022 Windows Office Insider Preview Build into the Beta Channel with one notable fix

]]>3827Sat, 08 Jan 2022 03:44:19 +0000Brave Browser users doubled again this year to over 50 million monthly active usershttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/brave-browser-users-doubled-again-this-year-to-over-50-million-monthly-active-users-r3823/ Say what you want about Brave Browser, but it is one of the few web browsers on today's Internet that is seeing strong user gains year over year.

 

brave-browser-growth.webp

source Brave

 

Last year, we reported that Brave doubled its monthly active users to more than 20 million users that are active in any given month. This year, Brave reports that the monthly active user account has crossed the 50 million mark in 2021.

 

Brave reached 50.2 million monthly active users and 15.5 million daily active users in December 2021 according to the blog post on the official site.

 

brave-usage-december-2021.webp

source Brave

Brave Browser, which has not been around for more than a few years, started to report usage numbers in 2017 for the first time. Back then, Brave Browser hat 1.2 million monthly active users. The number quadrupled to 5.9 million monthly active users in 2018, nearly doubled to 11.2 million in 2019, doubled again to 24.1 million in 2020, and has now reached the reported 50.2 million monthly active users in 2021.

 

Brave revealed several other metrics in the blog post that show considerable growth:

 

  • Brave Search reached 2.3 billion queries annualized.
  • Verified Creators are up 30% totalling 1.3 million.
  • Brave ad platform revenue increased by the factor 4 over the past 12 months.
  • More than 8 million users earn BAT currency via Brave Rewards.
  • Highest mobile browser growth in 2021 for browsers with more than 10 million downloads.
  • Brave Ads campaigns served 7.5 billion ad confirmation events since its inception.

 

Brave introduced several new features to its browser and business. The company acquired the open search engine Tailcat in the first quarter of 2021 and has launched the search product as Brave Search in the second quarter of 2021. Brave Search is advertised as an "independent search option" with "unmatched privacy".

 

The company integrated Brave Talk in the browser in the third quarter of 2021. Brave Talk is a video conferencing solution that gives users unlimited video calls without privacy sacrifices according to Brave. The technology is provided by Jitsi and Brave launched it as a free and premium version.

 

Closing Words

 

Brave is growing on all fronts and adding features to its browser and launching other products regularly. It managed to increase its usage share significantly in the past five years, but it captured just a tiny bit of the market still.

 

Mozilla, which is struggling to retain users, has more than four times the monthly active users. If Brave's growth continues, it could surpass Mozilla in 2023 provided that the monthly active users of the Firefox web browser remain at a stable level.

 

 

Brave Browser users doubled again this year to over 50 million monthly active users

]]>3823Fri, 07 Jan 2022 20:57:24 +0000Microsoft Edge 97.Stable released with automatic HTTPS, more (Changelog)https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-edge-97stable-released-with-automatic-https-more-changelog-r3816/

Microsoft has updated Edge Stable today to version 97.0.1072.55. This is the first Edge 97 release into the Stable channel.

 

The update brings a large number of fixes and improvements. See the changelog below:

Feature updates

  • Use the current profile to sign into websites when multiple work or school accounts are signed in on a device. When multiple work or school accounts are signed in on a device, users will be asked to choose an account from the account picker to continue their visits to websites. In this release, users will be prompted to let Microsoft Edge sign in to the websites automatically with the work or school account that’s signed into the current profile. Users can turn this feature on and off in Settings > Profile preferences.
  • Add support for Microsoft Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) on macOS. Microsoft Endpoint DLP policy enforcement will be available natively on macOS.
  • Automatic HTTPS. Users can upgrade navigations from HTTP to HTTPS on domains likely to support this more secure protocol. This support can also be configured to attempt delivery over HTTPS for all domains. Note: This feature is a Controlled Feature Rollout. If you don’t see this feature, check back as we continue our rollout.
  • Block WebSQL in 3rd-party contexts. Use of the legacy WebSQL feature will be blocked from 3rd-party frames. The WebSQLInThirdPartyContextEnabled policy is available as an opt-out option until Microsoft Edge version 101. This change is happening in the Chromium project that Microsoft Edge is based on. For more information, see this Chrome Platform Status entry.
  • Citations in Microsoft Edge. Citing sources for research is a common requirement for students. They have to manage many research references and sources, which aren’t easy tasks. They also have to translate these citations to proper citation formats like APA, MLA, and Chicago. This new “Citations” feature, now in Preview in Microsoft Edge, gives students a better way to manage and generate citations as they research online. With Citations turned on in Collections or from Settings and more (Alt-F), Microsoft Edge automatically generates citations that students can use later so they can stay focused on their research. When they’re done, they can easily compile these citations into a final deliverable. For more information, see Previewing Citations in Microsoft Edge.
  • Control Flow Guard (CFG). Microsoft Edge will start supporting more fine-grained protection by combating memory corruption vulnerabilities and by protecting against indirect calls. CFG is only supported with Windows 8 and later. For more information, see Control Flow Guard.

     Note

    This is an evolving technology, please share your feedback to help us strengthen its support.

  • Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) available with security feature. When you enable “Enhance your security on the web”, Microsoft Edge will support an even safer browsing mode that uses hardware-dependent control flow for browser processes. CET is available on the following supported hardware: Intel 11th Gen. or AMD Zen 3.

Policy updates

New Policies

 

You can download the update simply by restarting your browser.

 

 

Microsoft Edge 97.Stable released with automatic HTTPS, more (Changelog)

]]>3816Fri, 07 Jan 2022 04:04:35 +0000PowerToys 0.53.1 adds G-code support for thumbnails and preview pane in File Explorerhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/powertoys-0531-adds-g-code-support-for-thumbnails-and-preview-pane-in-file-explorer-r3813/ Just over a month on from the previous 0.51.1 release, Microsoft has gone ahead and released 0.53.1 today. Microsoft notes that the v0.53 release cycle was designed for a maintenance sprint but with some "amazing community support" it ended up being loaded with greatness!

 

Microsoft says they are still working on improving the installer, but this release should drastically improve things. The three main things to check out are G-code support in file explorer preview pane and thumbnails, the new web search plugin from PowerToys Run via ?? action phrase, and the new Always on Top utility via Win+Ctrl+T.

 

The lead for Microsoft PowerToys Clint Rutkas shared on Reddit that this release has around 100 fixes in.

 

With that being said, here is the full changelog:

Things to be aware of

  • The new installer currently has a visual quirk when upgrade if you have a custom install path. It will show the default install path but it will actually overwrite the current location. We are investigating how to fix this.

Always on Top

  • Welcome to the family! With a quick Win+Ctrl+T, the window in focus is toggled to be on top. Toggle again, and it reverts back to normal.

ColorPicker

  • HEX input improvements for adjust color menu including support for hex code without hashtag and short hex code like #CF0. Thanks @htcfreek!
  • Better bottom right screen detection for overlay

FancyZones

  • Increased negative space margin
  • Fix for not snapping child windows
  • Fix for clearing keyboard focus on editor launch
  • Fix to improve overlays to reduce brightness and hide numbers. Thanks @davidegiacometti

File Explorer

  • Added G-code support for thumbnails and preview pane. Thanks @pedrolamas

Image Resizer

PowerRename

  • Row highlighting + preview support now implemented. Thanks @niels9001
  • Fixed AltGR input issue
  • Improved folder renaming support
  • Opens on active monitor

PowerToys Run

  • Web searching has been added! ?? What is the answer to life will go to your favorite search engine via your browser. You can change the default action key too! Thanks @cyberrex5 for primary implementation and @franky920920 and @htcfreek for supporting
  • VS Code workspace improvements. Thanks @ricardosantos9521
  • Binary and Hex number support. Thanks @gsuberland
  • Ability to use factorials in calculations
  • PT Run will not show in Window Walker results anymore. Thanks @davidegiacometti
  • Fix log / ln calculations
  • Fix to make previous results clear
  • Fix to detect symlinks and prevent recursive loops
  • Fix for trackpad scrolling being too fast
  • Removed unneeded nuget package. Thanks @ChaseKnowlden
  • Better detection for if a packaged app can be elevated
  • Improve crash resiliency for Program plugin. Thanks @davidegiacometti
  • Improved Windows setting results. Thanks @htcfreek
  • Fixed a bug where some similar activation phrases aren't working as expected. Thanks @htcfreek and @cyberrex5.

Video conference mute

  • Disabled by default as this requires elevation to register the virtual camera.
  • Changed (default) hotkey for mute camera & microphone from Win+N to Win+Shift+Q to not conflict with a Windows 11 keyboard shortcut

Settings

  • Multiple accessibility, layout, image, string and icons fixes. Thanks @niels9001

Runner

  • Improved mutex support to prevent multiple PT Run instances from running

 

There's also a few developer related changes to be aware of.

Installer

  • NOTE: The new installer currently has a visual quirk when upgrade if you have a custom install path. It will show the default install path but it will actually overwrite the current location. We are investigating how to fix this.
  • Large progress toward user based installing vs machine wide. Upgrade scenario still needs additional work.
  • Removed custom bootstrapper and now are using a WiX bundle.
  • Removed unused image assets that were still being shipped. Thanks @niels9001

ARM64 support

  • Setting WinUI3 proof-of-concept and validate we do need at least one more feature, elevation support from WinUI 3 unpackaged applications.

Dev improvements

  • New YAML based pipeline for building our signed installer. This will allow us to consolidate our CI to use same file. This was critical for us to unblock ARM64 and .NET 6 migration.
  • Our submodules will no longer auto fetch to prevent locking issues. If you want a refresher on how to do this, head to our dev docs
  • Localization system shifted to Touchdown from CDPx. This should remove many of the loc issues.
  • Consolidated a lot of the naming of EXEs and DLLs along with projects
  • Update to spell checker. Thanks @jsoref
  • /dup response has been added
  • /reportbug /bugreport will ask for a "report bug" zip
 

 

1641491709_snag-0002_story.jpg

 

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

 

If you are using PowerToys in Windows 11, you can grab it in the Microsoft Store. For others in Windows 10, you can open the app and click on "Check for updates" under the updates section on the General tab. Those who would like to try PowerToys for the first time can grab the version 0.53.1 installer from the app's GitHub page.

 

 

PowerToys 0.53.1 adds G-code support for thumbnails and preview pane in File Explorer

]]>3813Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:14:03 +0000Windows 11 Dev build 22526 focuses on fixes and adds more file locations to Search indexhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-dev-build-22526-focuses-on-fixes-and-adds-more-file-locations-to-search-index-r3812/ Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22526 to the Dev Channel. In it, Microsoft has not really highlighted any major changes other than it "includes a good set of changes and improvements as well as fixes." First up are the Changes and Improvements:

 

  • We’re experimenting with showing ALT + TAB as windowed instead of full screen for some Insiders.
  • We have added support for wideband speech when using Apple AirPods products (AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max), improving audio quality for voice calls.
  • Starting with Build 22518, Credential Guard is now enabled by default on Windows 11 Enterprise (E3 and E5) licensed PCs that are enterprise-joined.
  • We are experimenting with indexing more file locations so that using search to find important files in Files Explorer is quicker.

 

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

 

[File Explorer]

 

  • Did some work to help address an issue where if you’d used search in File Explorer, and then explorer.exe crashed, the next time you tried to search in File Explorer it wouldn’t work.

 

[Search]

 

  • We’ve made another fix to help address the recent searches flyout getting stuck on the screen (appearing transparent except the border).

  • Improved the resolution of app icons displayed in search results when the display scaling was set to greater than 100%.

 

[Spotlight collection]

 

  • If you’re using spotlight collection, the current image should migrate on upgrade now (if the build you’re upgrading from is Build 22523 or higher).

 

[Widgets]

 

  • Fixed an issue result in the Widgets board potentially not having the correct resolution when hovering over the entry point on a secondary monitor.

  • Addressed an issue where the Widgets board would temporarily be blank, showing only an Add Widgets button (which also opened to a blank dialog).

 

[Other]

 

  • Fixed a bugcheck with KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED remote desktop users were encountering when attempting to shutdown or restart.

  • Microsoft Store should no longer show a message that trying to install the latest Web Media Extension update is returning error code 0x80073CFB.

  • Addressed a DWM crash impacting some Insiders on the previous flight.

 

And here are the known issues in the build:

 

[General]

 

  • You may be unable to sign-in to certain apps such as Feedback Hub. Restarting your PC should correct the issue.

  • We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are seeing driver and firmware update failures in recent builds with the error 0x8007012a.

 

[Start]

 

  • In some cases, you might be unable to enter text when using Search from Start or the taskbar. If you experience the issue, press WIN + R on the keyboard to launch the Run dialog box, then close it.

 

[Taskbar]

 

  • The taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.

  • The network icon sometimes goes missing in the taskbar when it’s supposed to be there. If you encounter this, please try using Task Manager to restart explorer.exe.

  • If you have multiple monitors connected to your PC and right-click on the date and time on the taskbar on your primary monitor, it will crash explorer.exe

 

[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.

 

[Settings]

 

  • When viewing the list of available Wi-Fi networks, the signal strength indicators do not reflect the correct signal strength.

  • Settings may crash when going to System > Display > HDR.

  • There is a blank entry under Bluetooth & Devices.

  • We’re working on a fix for an issue impacting some Insiders, resulting in Settings crashing when trying to access the Installed Apps, Startup Apps, and Default Apps pages. If you are one of those impacted and need to uninstall an app, using winget should work.

 

[Widgets]

 

  • Changing the taskbar alignment can cause the Widgets button to disappear from taskbar.

  • When having multiple monitors, Widgets content on taskbar may get out of sync between monitors.

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

 

[Voice access]

 

  • Some text authoring commands, e.g., “select that” or “delete that”, may not work as expected across Windows applications.

  • Recognition of some punctuation marks and symbols such as @ sign is not accurate.

 

[Narrator]

 

  • Narrator Settings must be restarted after downloading a voice to see “Jenny” and “Aria” in the voice selection combo box.

  • Users may see a longer period of time before speech is stopped when pressing the CTRL key in continuous reading scenarios.

 

You can find the original press release for Dev channel build 22526 here.

 

 

Windows 11 Dev build 22526 focuses on fixes and adds more file locations to Search index

]]>3812Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:10:33 +0000Photos app update for Windows 11 rolls out with a new interface and editing optionshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/photos-app-update-for-windows-11-rolls-out-with-a-new-interface-and-editing-options-r3811/ The Photos app in Windows 10 and 11 is not exactly a fan-favorite. Many users prefer the good old Photo Viewer, for its speed,  simplicity and overall usefulness. That could change, because Microsoft is rolling out a new update for the Photos app for Windows 11, and it brings a new interface to the program. This is the same design that was introduced to users in the Windows Insider Program, in September 2021.

 

Photos-app-update-for-Windows-11-rolls-o

 

The program's GUI follows Windows 11's design with rounded corners, and supports the Mica material effect. The main screen of the application now has a filmstrip (thumbnail bar) at the bottom, which acts like a mini-gallery to display all images in the same folder. There is a full screen button at the top, that you can toggle for an immersive viewing experience. It looks nice, but the button placement is weird.

 

The toolbar appears at the top of the screen, it looks similar to the old version, but for one change, there is a new browse button at the left end of the bar. Right-clicking on an image hides the toolbar and the filmstrip.

 

new-photos-app-windows-11-crop-tool.webp

 

The GUI of the Photo Editor has been completely overhauled. The Crop tool's buttons are now located at the bottom of the screen, you may control the zoom levels using the options in the left-hand side. Use the slider to tilt the image to a different angle, or rotate images, change the aspect ratio, or flip the picture horizontally or vertically. The Adjustment tab has been redesigned as well, and has sliders to adjust the Brightness, Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Vignette, Saturation, Warmth and Tint.

 

new-photos-app-windows-11-adjustment.web

 

The editor no longer has options for Spot Fix and Red Eye Correction. The Filters tab has various new effects, and an auto enhance tool.

 

new-photos-app-windows-11-filters.webp

 

The Mark-Up section in the new Photos app lets you draw on pictures using pen and highlighter tools.

 

new-photos-app-windows-11-mark-up.webp

 

The new Photos app has a feature called multi-view, which allows you to view two images in a side-by-side comparison. To use it, select the images from the thumbnail strip at the bottom.

 

new-photos-app-windows-11-multi-view.web

 

This also works with multiple images, which is kind of cool.

 

new-photos-app-windows-11-multiple-image

 

The three-dot menu now displays a link that takes you to the Microsoft Store's Photo Editor section. So, yeah it's an ad I guess.

 

new-windows-11-photos-app-menu.webp

 

The new version, first reported by XDA, has the build number 2021.21120.8011.0. If you haven't received the update yet, open the Microsoft Store app and check for updates. As for the performance of the program, I think Windows Photo Viewer is still a bit faster than the new Photos app.

 

Don't like the Photos app? You can restore the Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 11, by following our guide.

 

The Groove Music app is being superseded by the new Media Player. Several websites are reporting that a new Notepad update is also available, and that it brings the Dark theme that debuted in the Insider Preview Program. I didn't get the update on my stable version of Windows 11, but it is possible that the new Notepad app is available for the Beta Channel now.

 

 

Photos app update for Windows 11 rolls out with a new interface and editing options

]]>3811Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:07:32 +0000Microsoft: KB5008212 Windows security update breaks Outlook searchhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-kb5008212-windows-security-update-breaks-outlook-search-r3810/ Microsoft has acknowledged an issue triggered by a Windows 10, version 21H2 security update released during the December 2021 Patch Tuesday that leads to search issues in Outlook for Microsoft 365.

 

"After you install update KB5008212, recent emails may not appear in search results," Microsoft explained in a recently published Office support document.

 

The company said it's currently investigating this issue and will provide more information and an update as soon as possible.

 

This new known issue is very similar to another one triggered on systems upgraded to Windows 11 and causing similar search issues.

 

Unlike the new bug, those problems started showing up in June 2020 after users began installing the first Windows 11 preview builds, which would delete the Windows search index being deleted during the upgrade process.

 

Customers were advised at the time that they could fix Outlook search not returning any results by setting up a registry key to disable Windows Desktop Search and switch to Outlook's search engine.

 

After the built-in search kicks in, Outlook warns that performance is affected, saying that the "search performance will be impacted because a group policy has turned off the Windows Search service."

Temporary workaround for broken Outlook search

Microsoft recommends the same approach as a workaround until a fix is available for the search issues caused by the Windows 10 KB5008212 security update.

 

You have to go through the following procedure to disable the Windows Desktop Search service for Outlook:

 

  1. In Windows, right-click Start, and then select Run. In the Open: box type regedit, and then click OK. This will open the registry editor.

  2. Find this subkey in the registry and then click it:

    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

  3. Click Edit > New > Key, and name the new key Windows Search.

  4. Select the new Windows Search key.

  5. Click Edit > New > DWORD Value.

  6. Type PreventIndexingOutlook for the name of the DWORD, and then press Enter.

  7. Right-click PreventIndexingOutlook, and then click Modify.

  8. In the Value data box, type 1 to enable the registry entry, and then click OK.

  9. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart Outlook.

 

Whenever you want to toggle back the Windows Desktop Search, you have to disable the PreventIndexingOutlook setting by typing 0 (zero) and clicking OK.

 

Microsoft has also recently shared workarounds for other known Outlook issues, including:

 

 

 

Microsoft: KB5008212 Windows security update breaks Outlook search

]]>3810Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:02:42 +0000Linux Mint 20.3: here is what is newhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/linux-mint-203-here-is-what-is-new-r3809/ The Linux Mint team started to push the final stable ISO images of Linux Mint 20.3 to its distribution network. The final release comes weeks after the release of Linux Mint 20.3 Beta releases. Read on to find out what is new and changed in the new versions of the popular Linux distribution.

 

linux-mint-20.3-release.webp

 

Linux Mint 20.3 is a long-term support release, which means that the distribution is supported until 2025. The new version of Linux Mint is available in all three flavors -- MATE, Xfce and Cinnamon -- as usual.

 

A blog post on the official Linux Mint blog reveals that the new version will be made available as a free download and upgrade, from Linux Mint 20.2, this week. Some mirrors have the new ISO images already, but it will take some time before the release can be announced officially on the site.

Linux Mint 20.3: important links

 

The release notes list known issues and bugs, the new features links reveal what is new in the particular environment.

 

  • Linux Mint 20.3 features Cinnamon 5.2, a Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base.
  • Linux Mint 20.3 features MATE 1.26, a Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base.
  • Linux Mint 20.3 features Xfce 4.16, a Linux kernel 5.4 and an Ubuntu 20.04 package base.

Linux Mint 20.3: new features

The IP TV player Hypnotix received an update in this release. It displays flags now to make it easier to find regional IP TV stations, and a search, which also helps find channels, movies and series using it. Hypnotix supports the Xtream API next to m3u and local playlists.

 

thingy.webp

 

The new document manager Thingy makes an appearance in Linux Mint 20.3. It lists recently opened documents as well as favorites, and keeps track of reading progress.

 

A search function has been added to the Sticky Notes application to filter notes quickly. Linux Mint users who use the Sticky Notes application may also notice a changed look as the title is now embedded within the note. The app features a new option to control the site of text.

 

The Linux Mint 20.3 theme features several changes according to the release notes:

 

Linux Mint 20.3 features an updated look and feel with larger titlebar buttons, rounded corners, a cleaner theme and support for dark mode.

 

All three desktop environments feature the changes. The "what is new" posts go into great detail and you may want to check these out for a full rundown on the changes. One particular change that needs mentioning is that support for displaying select applications in dark mode while dark mode is not enabled on the desktop.  Four applications, Celluloid, Hypnotix, Xviewer, Gnome Terminal and Pix, support this out of the box.

 

Linux Mint users who prefer the older style of the desktop may enable the Mint-Y-Legacy theme to restore the previous theme that was used by the Linux distribution.

 

Cinnamon 5.2's calendar applet features multi-calendar events, which events using the same color as the calendar they belong to for easy recognition. The applet supports online calendars and syncing.

 

The file manager Nemo has a new feature that adds an option to file copy or move conflicts. Besides the already existing options to skip, ignore or overwrite old ones, it is now possible to have files renamed automatically.

 

Cinnamon features the following improvements in the new release next to that:

 

  • Increased support for right-to-left languages in the sound and menu applets and in the window settings
  • NVIDIA Optimus: Support for PrefersNonDefaultGPU field in .desktop files
  • nemo: The clipboard content no longer vanishes if the nemo process dies
  • grouped-window-list applet: icon fix for certain applications (virtualbox)
  • nemo-media-columns: m4a and audio mp4, composer and description columns
  • sound applet: support for base64 URI album art
  • nemo-actions: support for UriScheme
  • capi.py: Support for non x86 architecture
  • menu applet: all applications shows an icon
  • settings daemon: trackball support
  • accessibility: new Alt+Super+S shortcut to active the screen reader
  • Support for 3x fractional scaling when the hardware allows it
  • nemo: xls2csv fixed

 

Other changes:

 

  • HPLIP 3.21.8 introduces support for the latest HP printers and scanners.
  • IPP-USB and sane-airscan were backported and may be an option if scanners or printers won't work out of the box.
  • Xreader PDF received manga reading support; this includes right-to-left mode and inverted cursor keys so that the left-arrow key goes forward in a document.
  • The image viewer Xviewer has a new control to fit the image to the height or width of the image.
  • The text editor Xed supports Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab to switch tabs.
  • Xed and Xreader support hiding the menubar.
  • Xreader does not show its toolbar anymore in fullscreen mode.
  • System reports run once per day instead of once per hour to save battery.
  • The WebApp manager displays the browser that is used for particular applications.
  • Bluetooth can be turned on or off from the Bluetooth tray menu.

 

 

Linux Mint 20.3: here is what is new

 

FrontPaged: Linux Mint 20.3

]]>3809Thu, 06 Jan 2022 20:58:54 +0000LibreOffice 7.2.5 Released with 90 Bug Fixes, Now Available for Downloadhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/libreoffice-725-released-with-90-bug-fixes-now-available-for-download-r3801/ he Document Foundation announced today the release and general availability of LibreOffice 7.2.5 as the fifth maintenance update to the latest and greatest LibreOffice 7.2 office suite series.


Coming exactly one month after LibreOffice 7.2.4, which was an emergency update to address a critical security vulnerability, the LibreOffice 7.2.5 update is here to fix a total of 90 bugs (according to the RC1 and RC2 changelogs) across all core components of the open-source and cross-platform office suite, as well as to further improve document compatibility.


This is the fifth of seven planned maintenance updates for the LibreOffice 7.2 office suite series, which was released in mid-August 2021 with many new features and improvements, including improved interoperability with the MS Office document formats, native support for Apple M1 machines, as well as various UI enhancements.


Now that the LibreOffice 7.1 series reached end of life on November 30th, 2021, The Document Foundation recommends all users to upgrade to the LibreOffice 7.2 series, which will be supported until June 12th, 2022.


You can download the LibreOffice 7.2.5 update right now from the official website for GNU/Linux platforms in the DEB and RPM file formats, as well as a source tarball for those who fancy compiling their own LibreOffice instance or for Linux OS maintainers.


Those of you who have LibreOffice installed from the software repositories of your favorite GNU/Linux distributions should keep an eye on the stable repos for the new version and update as soon as possible for a more stable and reliable office suite experience.


The next planned update in the LibreOffice 7.2 series is LibreOffice 7.2.6, which is currently scheduled for release in early March 2022 with more bug fixes and improved document compatibility for those dealing with proprietary document formats, especially from MS Office.


Image credits: The Document Foundation

 

Source

]]>3801Thu, 06 Jan 2022 15:43:24 +0000The success of web browser Brave is a bad sign for Google - here’s whyhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/the-success-of-web-browser-brave-is-a-bad-sign-for-google-here%E2%80%99s-why-r3800/ Privacy-centric web browser Brave has surpassed 50 million active monthly users for the first time, the company has announced.


In a blog post, Brave says the milestone represents the fifth time the browser’s user base has doubled in as many years. The service also currently attracts more than 15 million daily active users, another high water mark.


Brave credits a range of new features and products for the continued growth, including an in-built crypto wallet and private search engine. But the company also acknowledged it has benefited from wider consumer trends.


“Users all over the world are looking for a private, safe and faster browsing experience, along with tools that give them independence from Big Tech. This long term and sustainable growth reflects that user desire,” said Brave.


A paradigm shift?


The uptake of privacy-centric browsers, VPNs, proxies, encrypted email and other privacy tools in recent years hints at a shift in attitudes that could have major ramifications for the largest technology companies in the world, whose businesses are predicated on the collection of vast amounts of data.


Since the Snowden leaks and Cambridge Analytica scandal in particular, public awareness of the importance of data privacy has risen steeply.

 

Generally, consumers are more wary about the information they share with Big Tech companies, and more savvy about how their information is used and monetized in the data economy.


We suspect this trend may begin to register more clearly in the web browser market soon. Currently, Google Chrome dominates the space with a 63.8% market share, followed by Apple’s Safari (19.6%) and Microsoft Edge (4%). However, privacy-centric services operated by smaller players are beginning to gather steam.


Although Brave’s 50 million-strong user base represents just 1% of the market, based on data on the total number of web users from Statista, its rate of growth will give the likes of Google pause for thought. And that’s despite the inherent inconveniences; this writer can attest that Brave frequently breaks website functionality as a result of its no-tolerance policy on cookies.


Although Google has made a show of improving its privacy practices and planning for the demise of third-party cookies, proposed alternatives like FLoC have been panned by privacy advocates, who say the solutions create as many problems as they solve.


There is also plenty of evidence Big Tech companies still cannot be trusted to protect the interests of users. This week, for example, both Google and Facebook were slapped with significant fines for cookie-related breaches of EU privacy laws. The patience of consumers is surely wearing thin.

 

Source

]]>3800Thu, 06 Jan 2022 15:32:31 +0000Microsoft announces redesigned Notepad for Windows 11 now in Beta Channelhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-announces-redesigned-notepad-for-windows-11-now-in-beta-channel-r3799/ 1638903750_win_11_notepad_logo_not_16_by

 

Back in October, we learned that Microsoft was busy working on a redesigned, revamped Notepad for Windows 11. And a month ago, the company publicly announced its arrival, although at the time it only became available to Windows 11 insiders in the Dev channel only. Today Microsoft has announced that it will also be rolling out to Insiders in the Beta channel, so for now still not general release for a dark mode on Windows 11.

 

 

Since the app has primarily been redesigned, the most expected and obvious change is the rounded corner style we have now become familiar with as a Windows 11 staple. There is also the addition of the Mica material theme.

 

The company says:

 

We know how important Notepad is to so many of your daily workflows, so we designed this modern spin on the classic app to feel fresh, but familiar.

 

Dark mode (image below on the right) has also been added and it will automatically be selected based on the system theme being used. However, it can also be set manually from the app's Settings.

 

1638901369_new_notepad_win_11_story.jpg

 

1638901362_new_notepad_win_11_dark_mode_

 

A revamped Find and Replace option has also been added for improving the ease of working inside the Notepad.

 

1638901354_notepad_dark_find_replace_sto

 

Microsoft did not announce any changes from the Dec 7 release, so the new Notepad for Windows 11 still has a few known issues that it is working on. The known issues are presented below in bulleted points:

 

  • Issues affecting keyboard access keys usage for when
    • switching between different input languages
    • while using Japanese IME
  • Under certain circumstances, you may notice unexpected behavior when using shift-click to select text or when scrolling

 

Aside from that, Microsoft also states that it is optimizing the performance of the Notepad for "very large files". The company has urged users to provide feedback on Feedback Hub (under Apps > Notepad).

 

You can find the official updated press release here.

 

Microsoft announces redesigned Notepad for Windows 11 now in Beta Channel

]]>3799Thu, 06 Jan 2022 05:50:27 +0000Microsoft replacing Groove Music player with Media Player app for Windows 11 for some Insidershttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-replacing-groove-music-player-with-media-player-app-for-windows-11-for-some-insiders-r3798/

In November 2021 Microsoft announced the rollout of the new Media Player for Windows 11 Insiders in the Dev Channel.

 

Then the app sat alongside the Groove Music app, but today some Insiders are reporting that the new media player has replaced Groove Music on their PCs, as Microsoft always intended.

 

Windows-11-Media-Player-1200x676.jpg

 

The new Media Player comes with the look and feel of Windows 11, and it showcases your local music collections. The Media Player includes a full-featured music library that allows you to quickly browse and play music, as well as create and manage playlists. The music collection in Groove Music app will automatically migrate to this new app. You have a dedicated playback view that features album art and rich artist imagery, and features items such as a full screen and mini player options and graphics equalizer.

 

In addition to music, the Media Player includes full support for browsing, managing, and watching your local video collections. Microsoft has optimized this app for accessibility, with improved keyboard shortcut and access key support for keyboard users and with other assistive technologies.

 

Microsoft has promised that they will deliver new ways to browse your music and video collections and manage your play queue in the future updates.

 

via onMSFT

 

 

Microsoft replacing Groove Music player with Media Player app for Windows 11 for some Insiders

]]>3798Thu, 06 Jan 2022 05:45:51 +0000Linux Mint 20.3 ISOs pass tests, due for release this weekhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/linux-mint-203-isos-pass-tests-due-for-release-this-week-r3797/ Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, has announced that Linux Mint 20.3 will be made available this week as a stable release and as an upgrade. It comes after a lengthy beta testing phase which began in mid-December. The new upgrade will still be based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and will therefore be supported until 2025 alongside other Linux Mint 20.x releases.

 

According to the Linux Mint Community ISO Images website, the latest set of images have been tested and are approved for release. They will now be distributed to each of the download mirrors and then the final announcement should arrive. The process of distributing the ISO images to mirrors has definitely begun because the ByteMark UK mirror already has the download available.

 

Lefebvre said today that the project would announce the ISOs and the upgrade path from older versions separately. In past updates, we’ve had to wait an additional week for the upgrade path to open up, however, this time around, the upgrade path will open up at more or less the same time which is nice for people on Linux Mint 20, 20.1, or 20.2 who want to upgrade to get the latest features.

 

With Linux Mint 20.3, users will get Cinnamon 5.2 which improves the calendar applet and a range of Mint’s home-grown Xapps will be improved – for example, Xreader will properly support manga. The appearance of the software is also improved with the introduction of larger title bar buttons, rounded window corners, and distraction-free accent colours.

 

 

Linux Mint 20.3 ISOs pass tests, due for release this week

]]>3797Wed, 05 Jan 2022 21:18:14 +0000Cleaning up the Linux kernel's 'Dependency Hell': This developer is proposing 2,200 commit changeshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/cleaning-up-the-linux-kernels-dependency-hell-this-developer-is-proposing-2200-commit-changes-r3793/ Cleaning off decades of code mess isn't for the faint of heart, but leading Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar is giving it the old college try in the open-source Linux kernel. 

 

Last year, Linux's source code came to a whopping 27.8 million lines of code. It's only gotten bigger since then. Like any 30-year old software project, Linux has picked up its fair share of cruft over the years. Now, after months of work, senior Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar is releasing his first stab at cleaning it up at a fundamental level with his "Fast Kernel Headers" project.

 

The object? No less than a comprehensive clean-up and rework of the Linux kernel's header hierarchy and header dependencies. Linux contains many header, .h, files. To be exact there are about 10,000 main .h headers in the Linux kernel with the include/ and arch/*/include/ hierarchies. As Molnar explained, "Over the last 30+ years they have grown into a complicated & painful set of cross-dependencies we are affectionately calling 'Dependency Hell'."

 

To bring rhyme and reason to all this, Molnar is proposing to make 2,200 commit changes to the code. That's a lot of commits! Why so many? Well, Molnar continued, it turns out there's a lot more mess in all that code than he thought there was when he started his clean-up project in late 2020.

To be exact:

 

When I started this project, late 2020, I expected there to be maybe 50-100 patches. I did a few crude measurements that suggested that about 20% build speed improvement could be gained by reducing header dependencies, without having a substantial runtime effect on the kernel. Seemed substantial enough to justify 50-100 commits.

 

- But as the number of patches increased, I saw only limited performance increases. By mid-2021 I got to over 500 commits in this tree and had to throw away my second attempt (!), the first two approaches simply didn't scale, weren't maintainable and barely offered a 4% build speedup, not worth the churn of 500 patches and not worth even announcing.

 

- With the third attempt I introduced the per_task() machinery which brought the necessary flexibility to reduce dependencies drastically, and it was a type-clean approach that improved maintainability. But even at 1,000 commits I barely got to a 10% build speed improvement. Again this was not something I felt comfortable pushing upstream or even announcing. 😕

 

- But the numbers were pretty clear: 20% performance gains were very much possible. So I kept developing this tree, and most of the speedups started arriving after over 1,500 commits, in the fall of 2021. I was very surprised when it went beyond 20% speedup and more than arrived at the current 78% with my reference config. There's a clear super-linear improvement property of kernel build overhead, once the number of dependencies is reduced to the bare minimum.

 

So, today, his cleaned-up "fast-headers tree offers a +50-80% improvement in absolute kernel build performance on supported architectures, depending on the config. This is a major step forward in terms of Linux kernel build efficiency & performance."

 

A 50 to 80% improvement is well worth the time and trouble. These speed savings come from reducing the size of the default headers, which with the fast-headers tree will mostly include type definitions, by 1-2 orders of magnitude. 

 

But, wait, those 2,200 commits are only the tip of the iceberg. Those changes will affect almost every program in the Linux kernel. All together, Molnar estimates that "in addition to the aforementioned 25 sub-trees and 2,200 commits, the fast-headers tree modifies over half of all kernel source files in existence." It's going to change 25,288 files with 178,024 insertions and 74,720 deletions. In other words, "Yeah, so this is probably the largest single feature announcement in LKML's [Linux Kernel Mailing List] history. Not by choice! :-/"

 

On top of this, making these changes doable will require aggressive decoupling of high-level headers; type and API header decoupling; automated dependency addition to .h and .c files; and optimizing headers. This will not be easy. So, before pulling the trigger and starting to make these changes Molnar is gathering feedback from his fellow maintainers and, in particular, he'd loved to hear from "Linus [Torvalds] & Andrew [Morton] and the other maintainers of the biggest subsystems affected by these changes."

 

Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux kernel maintainer for the Linux stable branch, thinks "This is 'interesting,' but how are you going to keep the kernel/sched/per_task_area_struct_defs.h and struct task_struct_per_task definition in sync?" In short, who gets to bell the cat of maintaining all these changes? 

 

Molnar replied that he's willing to tackle this job and that he doesn't think it will be that much trouble. Kroah-Hatman then gave Molnar's efforts his blessings and remarked, "I'll leave all of this up to the scheduler developers, but it still looks odd to me. The mess we create trying to work around issues in C :)"

 

He's not wrong. This is one reason why there are efforts afoot to make Rust Linux's second language.

 

If adopted, users won't see any real changes. But Linux kernel and distro developers will be able to compile Linux faster than ever. The result will be to make it easier and quicker than ever to make improvements, patches, and add features to Linux.

 

Source

]]>3793Wed, 05 Jan 2022 15:34:21 +0000Microsoft Edge is testing an option to allow users to save passwords manuallyhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-edge-is-testing-an-option-to-allow-users-to-save-passwords-manually-r3784/ Microsoft is testing a new feature for Edge. Don't worry, this time it isn't bloatware. The browser's built-in password manager could soon allow you to save credentials manually.

 

Microsoft-Edge-add-passwords-manually.we

 

Most modern browsers have a password manager, that lets you log in to your favorite sites with ease. Not unlike standalone tools (which often require an extension), browsers offer to save the username and password when you sign in to a website. Allowing it to do so, provides a convenient auto-login option that is triggered the next time you visit the same website. Besides, you don't have to type the long passwords, or even remember complicated patterns/phrases.

 

The password manager has been a part of Microsoft Edge for quite a while, though it has been missing an important option, the ability to add passwords without the login process that I mentioned above.

 

For context, Firefox's password manager, Lockwise, has had this feature for a long time, but Google Chrome was a little late to the party, it recently added support for saving passwords manually.

 

Since Edge is based on the Chromium source code, it is not surprising that Microsoft has brought the option over to its browser. The feature, spotted by a redditor, is currently available for select users participating in the Microsoft Edge Canary channel. Screenshots reveal that the feature can be accessed from the Edge Settings > Profiles > Passwords page.

 

With the addition of the handy option, you will be able to click the Add Password button which will bring up a pop-up modal, that allows you to add the URL of the website's login page, the username and password, and save it to your browser's vault. It looks very similar to the Edit passwords panel.

 

Microsoft-Edge-is-testing-an-option-to-a

 

This may not sound like a useful option if you are using a cloud-based service like LastPass or Bitwarden, or a standalone password manager like KeePass. But for people who rely on Edge's password manager, the option to save passwords manually can be a lifesaver. The only other way to add passwords to Edge is by importing logins from other browsers, or a HTML or a CSV file.

 

The new feature seems to be in A/B testing phase in the current build available for users in the Microsoft Edge Canary Channel, version 99.0.1124.0. Once it passes the checks, and gets a positive nod from testers, Microsoft will roll out the option to the stable channel.

 

This is the sort of feature that users need, not a shortcut to MSN Games or Loans and other nonsense. In case you missed it and are wondering what I'm talking about, I recommend reading Martin's article where he wrote about how the recent additions to Edge have cluttered the browser.

 

Personally, I prefer a standalone password manager or a dedicated cloud service, for the sake of cross-platform/device compatibility.  I use KeePass with a cloud service to synchronize the database across my devices, but also have Bitwarden as a partial backup.

 

 

Microsoft Edge is testing an option to allow users to save passwords manually

]]>3784Tue, 04 Jan 2022 22:02:59 +0000