News: Software Newshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/page/377/?d=2News: Software NewsenMicrosoft reveal cause for Windows 11 Snipping Tool crash, and it affects more appshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-reveal-cause-for-windows-11-snipping-tool-crash-and-it-affects-more-apps-r3262/ We reported yesterday that Windows 11 users were complaining in their droves that the Snipping tool, used to take screenshots, was crashing and non-functional on Windows 11.

 

The app is crashing with the following error.

 

This-app-cant-open-Snipping-Tool.jpg

This app can’t open

A problem in Windows is preventing Snipping Tool from opening. Refreshing your PC might help fix it.

 

Microsoft has now admitted to the issue and also offered an explanation.

 

They write:

 

Starting on November 1, 2021, some users might be unable to open or use certain built-in Windows apps or parts of some built-in apps. This is caused by an issue with a Microsoft digital certificate, which expired October 31, 2021.

 

The following applications might be affected:

 

  • Snipping Tool

  • Accounts page and landing page in the Settings app (S mode only)

  • Touch Keyboard, Voice Typing, and Emoji Panel

  • Input Method Editor user interface (IME UI)

  • Getting started and Tips

 

Microsoft notes that you can still make a screen shot the old way, by pressing the Print Screen button and pasting the screenshot into a document or Paint.

 

To mitigate the following issues, users can install KB5006746 released October 21, 2021. Microsoft is working on a resolution for Snipping tool and the S mode only issues and will provide an update when more information is available.

 

via BleepingComputer.

 

 

Microsoft reveal cause for Windows 11 Snipping Tool crash, and it affects more apps

]]>3262Wed, 03 Nov 2021 23:19:58 +0000Windows 11 Dev build 22494 adds new Teams mute icon in taskbar, fixes and morehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-dev-build-22494-adds-new-teams-mute-icon-in-taskbar-fixes-and-more-r3261/ Microsoft today released Windows 11 Dev channel build 22494 that adds a new Mute button in the taskbar during Teams calls. You will be able to see your call audio status, what app is accessing your microphone, and quickly mute and unmute your call at any time. When joining a Teams call, the following icon will appear in the taskbar, so no app or Window can cover it for easy access.

 

1635959738_04-mute-zoomzoom2x_story.jpg

 

As has become the norm for new features, not everyone will see it right away, Microsoft states the following regarding availibility of the Mute icon in the taskbar

We are beginning to roll this experience out to a subset of Windows Insiders with Microsoft Teams for work or school installed and ramp it up over time. This means not everyone will see this right away with their Teams calls. We plan to bring this to Chat from Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Teams for home) later.

Here is the complete list of improvements in this build:

  • We are trying out showing snap groups in ALT + TAB and Task View with some Windows Insiders just like when you hover open apps on the taskbar, and you see them there. This isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.
  • If you’re searching for file type or link types under Settings > Apps > Default apps, we’ll now show a dropdown of options containing your current query without having to first press enter.
  • If needed, you can now launch the installed apps settings page under Settings > Apps > Installed apps directly via this URI: ms-settings:installed-apps.
  • Adjusted the names of the sort by options under Settings > Apps > Installed apps to help make them clearer and added a new option to sort from smallest to largest size.

The build also brings a long list of fixes, which is always welcome. As is the case with every build, the company is promising to bring many of these fixes to the publicly available version of Windows 11, but there is no timeline on when that will happen or which fixes will be included specifically. Here are all the fixes:

[Taskbar]

  • Tooltips should no longer appear in random places on the Taskbar after sliding your mouse over volume, battery, network, or other icons in the Taskbar corner.
  • Addressed an underlying issue that was leading to come unexpected duplication of certain icons in the Taskbar corner.

[File Explorer]

  • Addressed an issue that was causing the context menu to crash for some people if you tried to scroll it.
  • Did some work to help address an issue where in certain areas of the screen the context menu submenus would draw on top of the context menu instead of beside it (for example, if you hovered over New).
  • The context menu icons should be less blurry on systems with multiple monitors with mixed DPI now.
  • Addressed an issue that could cause selecting Open With in the context menu to unexpectedly just open the file in certain cases rather than actually opening the Open With dialog.
  • Renaming files on the desktop is back up and running in this flight.
  • Made another adjustment to the command bar underlying logic to help improve performance of command actions in File Explorer.

[Search]

  • Fixed a recent issue that was causing the indexer database to become too fragmented, leading to the indexer unexpectedly consuming a large amount of memory and CPU for a prolonged period of time. This was particularly noticeable for people that have large Outlook mailboxes.

[Input]

  • Mitigated an issue that was causing certain apps to hang when trying to drag something with the Shift or Ctrl key held down.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing the touch keyboard to not appear on tablets when tapping the text field if you were to try to reset your PIN from the login screen.
  • Improved reliability of the Pen menu.

[Windowing]

  • Fixed a few explorer.exe crashes related to using windowing features (snap, ALT + Tab, and Desktops).
  • If you open Task View on a system with multiple monitors, the background should now be acrylic on both monitors.
  • Addressed a couple UI issues with the window thumbnails in Task View and ALT + Tab, notably that the close button might get cut off if the app window was too thin.

[Settings]

  • Addressed an issue where Facial Recognition (Windows Hello) might be unexpectedly greyed out in Sign-in Settings in certain cases until closing and opening Settings.
  • Fixed an issue where Storage Sense wasn’t cleaning up C:\Windows\SystemTemp.
  • Standard users (aka non-admins) should now be able to change the time zone in Settings if Location access is not granted, rather than the dropdown going blank.

[Other]

  • Fixed an issue causing links to Windows Update, Recovery and For developers to show under the main Windows Update Settings page.
  • Fixed a bug where images had a yellow tonality in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Lightroom Classic when in HDR mode.
  • Mitigated an issue related to DHCP that was causing unexpected power usage while the screen was off in recent builds for some Insiders.
  • Did some work to help address an issue where Service Host: WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service would unexpectedly utilize a lot of CPU.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause some devices to have a black screen when coming out of sleep (where the lock screen wouldn’t display).
  • Addressed an underlying issue that was causing some users with ARM64 PCs to experience an increase in Microsoft Teams crashes in the last few Dev Channel builds.
  • We have increased the padding for selected items as seen by clicking Show More Options in the File Explorer context menu, or the menu options in Task Manager.
  • WSL: Fixed error 0x8007010b when accessing Linux distributions via `\\wsl.localhost` or `\\wsl$` (Issue #6995).

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.

 

Here are all the known issues:

[General]

  • Users updating from Builds 22000.xxx, or earlier, to newer Dev Channel builds using the latest Dev Channel ISO, may receive the following warning message: The build you are trying to install is Flight Signed. To continue installing, enable flight signing. If you receive this message, press the Enable button, reboot the PC, and retry the update.
  • Some users may experience their screen and sleep timeouts being reduced. We’re investigating the potential impact that shorter screen and sleep timeouts could have on energy consumption.

[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.
  • We’re investigating an issue in this build where the clock in the Taskbar can get stuck and not updated, particularly when accessing the PC via Remote Desktop.

[Input]

  • Clipboard history says it is empty even if it is enabled and should contain content. This is a UI issue we’re investigating – when a flight goes out with a fix, any pinned items should become available again.

[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.

[Quick Settings]

  • We’re investigating reports from Insiders that the volume and brightness sliders aren’t displaying properly in Quick Settings.

The firm has also made available the SDK preview for this build and NuGet packages for those interested. As usual, build 22494 should be available for Dev channel users via Windows Update.

 

 

Windows 11 Dev build 22494 adds new Teams mute icon in taskbar, fixes and more

]]>3261Wed, 03 Nov 2021 23:17:11 +0000New AMD chipset driver 3.10.22.706 for Windows 11 fixes VBS-related issueshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/new-amd-chipset-driver-31022706-for-windows-11-fixes-vbs-related-issues-r3260/ A couple of weeks back, AMD released a major chipset driver revision with version 3.10.08.506. The driver fixed the CPPC2 preferred core issue that Ryzen processors were having on the Windows 11 GA builds, which generally led to a lowered single-threaded performance output. If you haven't installed it yet, you should.

 

MSI users however already have something newer to look forward to. It seems that a newer driver version 3.10.22.706 is rolling out to them, even though AMD hasn't publicly announced it yet. The new chipset driver 3.10.22.706 apparently brings an updated Ryzen power management plan with version 7.0.4.4 and adds a new I2C ((Inter-Integrated Circuit) controller driver.

 

Perhaps most importantly, the driver fixes an error that was causing inaccuracies related to hardware-based deepest run-time idle platform state (HW DRIPS) readings when Virtualization-based Security (VBS) would be enabled. DRIPS is the lowest available power state that the system can run at.

 

As VBS was already known to hurt the performance of Ryzen CPUs, it might be possible that the new chipset driver fixes this performance issue too. However, it is entirely speculation since neither third-party tests nor AMD has confirmed this.

 

The full purported changelog is given below:

 

  • Adds a new AMD I2C controller driver 1.2.0.118

    • Hide the Powermanagement option of the driver properties in device manager

  • AMDMICROPEP v1.0.30.0 - Major changes to this driver package include:

    • Work around inaccurate HW DRIPS (lower than actual value) due to OS limitation when VBS/Hyper-V is enabled

    • Notify AMD PMF driver about S0i3 entry/exit

  • AMD Processor Power Management Support / AMD Ryzen Power plan 7.0.4.4 10/15/2021

 

If you own an MSI AM4 and TR4 socket motherboard and are running Windows 11 or Windows 10, you can look up your model number and head over to MSI's website to download and install this chipset driver. You can find the 3.10.22.706 chipset driver in the motherboard's support section. An example using the MPG X570S CARBON EK X is linked here. If you are unsure what your motherboard model is, you can look it up using a third-party utility like CPU-Z.

 

via: Steve Truman (Twitter)

 

 

New AMD chipset driver 3.10.22.706 for Windows 11 fixes VBS-related issues

]]>3260Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000Microsoft is now rolling out Skype version 8.77: check out all the new featureshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-is-now-rolling-out-skype-version-877-check-out-all-the-new-features-r3259/

Microsoft has now released Skype version 8.77 across different platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Web, Android, iOS, and iPad. The Skype update offers a ton of useful new features, bug fixes, and stability improvements. You can read the full official changelog below.

Changelog

Skype for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Web 

  • Blur the lines: Don’t bother to tidy up before your Skype on the Web video call; just turn on background blur (because you can do that now). Learn more about customizing your background in Skype.

  • Fresh new threads: We’ve made some changes to modernize Skype’s look, but don’t worry, everything is still where you left it.

  • Foxy: We’ve added support for audio calls in Mozilla Firefox, so you can use Skype on the web on virtually any browser. Learn more about Skype browser compatibility.

  • Put a pin in that: Keep losing track of someone in a large call? We’ve now made it so you can pin participants to the active call stage, so you always know right where they are. Learn more about what you can do in a Skype call.

  • Meet, meet, meet: We’ve made some improvements to the Meet Now flow. Learn more about Meet Now in Skype.

  • Bug fixes and stability improvements. We’ve used loud noises to scare off some bugs, then battened down the hatches a bit to make everything just a little more solid.

Skype for Android, iPhone, and iPad

  • Keep that Data moving: You can now use Skype on the Web on your Android phone or tablet. Learn more about supported browsers for Skype on the Web.

  • Blur the lines: Don’t bother to tidy up before your Skype on the Web video call; just turn on background blur (because you can do that now). Learn more about customizing your background in Skype.

  • That’s a solid render: We’ve fixed some issues with video rendering on mobile, so send those adorable pet videos at your leisure.

  • Fresh new threads: We’ve made some changes to modernize Skype’s look, but don’t worry, everything is still where you left it.

  • Foxy: We’ve added support for audio calls in Mozilla Firefox, so you can use Skype on the web on virtually any browser. Learn more about Skype browser compatibility.

  • Put a pin in that: Keep losing track of someone in a large call? We’ve now made it so you can pin participants to the active call stage, so you always know right where they are. Learn more about what you can do in a Skype call.

  • Meet, meet, meet: We’ve made some improvements to the Meet Now flow. Learn more about Meet Now in Skype.

  • The eye in the sky. We’ve updated the camera function in Skype on your iPhone and iPad to take full advantage of Office Lens. Learn more about personalizing photos and videos in Skype.

  • Bug fixes and stability improvements. We’ve used loud noises to scare off some bugs, then battened down the hatches a little to make everything just a little more solid.

What’s fixed?

  • Emoticon menu cut off on the left and right-hand side, in the mood message menu (Windows/Linux/Web)

  • Issues when locking a device does not turn off video (Android)

  • Issues with starting a Meet Now meeting (iOS)

 

However, it’s worth noting that the Skype build 8.77 is rolling out in a phased manner, meaning you might now get it right now. And if that’s the case, your should wait for a few more days for the update to surface on your device.

 

 

Microsoft is now rolling out Skype version 8.77: check out all the new features

]]>3259Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000Microsoft releases Edge Dev channel build 97.0.1060.2 with an option to print even or odd pageshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-releases-edge-dev-channel-build-97010602-with-an-option-to-print-even-or-odd-pages-r3258/ Microsoft today released the new v97.0.1060.2 build for Edge Dev channel users. This new build comes with the ability to draw arbitrary highlighting on PDFs, option to print even or odd pages and more. Find the full change log of Edge Dev Channel build below.

 

Added features and bug fixes: 

 

  • Added the ability to draw arbitrary highlighting on PDFs.
  • Added an option to print even or odd pages.
  • Combined autofill and password generation on account sign-up webpages to be able to create new website accounts in a single click.
  • Combined personal info and payment info autofill on certain shopping websites to be able to apply coupons and checkout in a single click.
  • Enabled by default one-click password updating by adding a button to the leaked passwords Settings page that goes directly to the website’s password update page and then using password generation to automatically fill in a new password.
  • Added the Downloads button to windows opened with the –app command line flag.
  • Management policies (updates to documentation and administrative templates may not have occurred yet):
    • Added a policy to control if the Internet Explorer Mode Toolbar Button is Enabled.
    • Added a policy to control if the ability for Edge to automatically Enhance Images is Enabled.
    • Added a policy to control if Accessibility Image Labels are Enabled, which controls if a service can be used to generate descriptions for images that don’t already have them.
  • Developer:
    • Added an experimental WebView2 API to handle basic website authentication (Issue 120).
    • Added an experimental API to WebView2 apps to send and receive post web messages to iframes (Issue 139).
    • Added an API to WebView2 apps to query the user data folder location.

 

Edge Dev Improved Reliability:

  • Fixed a crash on launch on Linux.
  • Fixed a crash on Mac when clicking the … button.
  • Fixed a crash on Mac when updating the browser.
  • Fixed a crash when closing the browser.
  • Fixed a crash when closing certain popups.
  • Fixed a crash when searching for text in a PDF.
  • Fixed a crash when using video capture.
  • Fixed a Web Widget crash when switching profiles.
  • Mobile:
    • Fixed a crash when typing in the address bar.
    • Fixed an issue where closing the browser and then immediately re-opening it will crash it.
    • Fixed a crash when sending a tab to another device.
    • Fixed a crash when viewing certain Settings pages.
    • Fixed a hang when navigating on iOS when using a VPN.
  • Fixed a hang when navigating in IE mode tabs.
  • Fixed a hang in Kids Mode when installing a theme.
  • Fixed an issue where background processes were crashing frequently, leading to high CPU use.
  • Developer:
    • Fixed a crash in WebView2 apps when using certain management policies (Issue 1860).
    • Fixed a crash in WebView2 apps after downloading a file (Issue 1723, Issue 1765).

 

Changed Behavior:

 

  • Renamed Web Widget to Edge Bar.
  • Changed the keyboard shortcut to open a new Application Guard window.
  • Reduced the number of alerts that the browser is out of date for work/school users whose browser (and therefore updates) is managed by their organization.
  • Reduced the number of sites that get upgraded to HTTPS when Automatic HTTPS is enabled that shouldn’t be, such as intranet sites.
  • Fixed an issue where Automatic HTTPS can sometimes cause navigations to hang if the website forcibly navigates back to an HTTP page.
  • Fixed an issue where PDF layout is remembered between print jobs when it shouldn’t be, causing the default print layout to be incorrect for the page layout of the current PDF.
  • Fixed an issue where PDFs with both portrait and landscape pages don’t print properly because all pages are forced into a single layout.
  • Fixed an issue where the browser constantly steals focus from other apps.
  • Fixed an issue where attempting to show the original text after translation of text on a webpage sometimes fails.
  • Fixed an issue where dragging and dropping files into webpages in order to upload them fails.
  • Fixed an issue where the mini context menus appear on websites they shouldn’t because those websites have their own menus that appear upon text selection.
  • Fixed an issue where context menus don’t appear when triggered by touching a touchscreen.
  • Fixed an issue where the vertical tabs pane scrolls slower with big turns of the mouse wheel than with small ones.
  • Fixed an issue where bulk deletion of passwords in the password Settings page doesn’t respect the current page filter.
  • Fixed an issue where pinned side panes appear on top of fullscreen webpages.
  • Fixed an issue where double-clicking a word to select it sometimes doesn’t work.
  • Fixed an issue where Smart Copy sometimes results in certain data being copied twice.
  • Fixed an issue where searches sometimes fail when using Family Safety.
  • Fixed an issue where a dialog to choose an app to handle certain links unexpectedly appears.
  • Fixed an issue where certain UI is hard to see or mis-colored if custom themes are installed.
  • Fixed an issue where the user’s profile picture doesn’t load when signing into the browser.
  • Mobile:
    • Fixed an issue where the setting to choose if links can launch external applications is missing.
    • Fixed an issue where location permissions for webpages are prompted for more frequently than expected.
    • Fixed an issue where Guided Switch sometimes doesn’t work.
    • Fixed an issue where certain internal sites can’t be logged into for work/school users.
    • Fixed an issue where downloads sometimes fail.
    • Fixed an issue on iOS where certain files fail to download.
    • Fixed an issue on Android where work or school accounts sometimes can’t be accessed and instead ask to sign into the browser even though the user already is.
  • Developer:
    • Fixed an issue where WebView2 apps don’t work properly when the main view isn’t created by StartupUri (Issue 1577).
    • Fixed an exception in .NET-based WebView2 apps (Issue 946).

 

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 97.0.1060.2 with an option to print even or odd pages

]]>3258Wed, 03 Nov 2021 23:11:13 +0000Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Begins its Development, Download and Test Now.https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/ubuntu-2204-lts-begins-its-development-download-and-test-now-r3253/ Shortly after the release of the stable version of Ubuntu 21.10, Canonical developers began developing the next release of the Ubuntu 22.04 distribution with long-term support. The new Ubuntu 22.04 LTS was code-named Jammy Jellyfish. In addition to publishing the development cycle schedule, developer Steve Langasek also provided some details about upcoming software package updates in his report.

 

With Ubuntu 22.04 comes support for Python 3.10 and finally the transition to the current version of OpenSSL 3.0. The desktop environment could most likely be GNOME 42, which would allow Ubuntu to catch up with GNOME again and always offer its users the latest version. As part of the updates, PHP 8.1 or Ruby 3.0 should also be added, while the GCC compiler collection will probably remain in the latest version 11, as GCC 12 has a scheduled release date in April (April) next year.

 

As always, hardware support should be improved not only with a newer version of the Linux kernel that could be available in version 5.15, 5.16, or even 5.17, depending on the length of their support. Users can also count on the upcoming software library for 3D graphics Mesa 22.0. According to the developers’ plans, the new system installer, which is based on the Flutter SDK with extended functions, such as the possibility of restoring the system from the installation image, will also be a complete novelty. This new system installer is set to replace Ubiquity, and another phase of public testing is currently underway to help resolve remaining issues or detect potential errors.

 

The release of the stable version of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is still plannedin the spring of 2022 and further development reports will gradually come over the coming months. The message to open the development of this version of Ubuntu can be found in the archive at lists.ubuntu.com .

 

Source

]]>3253Wed, 03 Nov 2021 14:42:46 +0000Windows 11 Snipping Tool crashing with “A problem in Windows is preventing Snipping Tool from opening” errorhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-snipping-tool-crashing-with-%E2%80%9Ca-problem-in-windows-is-preventing-snipping-tool-from-opening%E2%80%9D-error-r3252/ Windows 11 users are complaining in their droves that the Snipping tool, used to take screenshots, is crashing and non-functional on Windows 11.

 

The app is crashing with the following error.

 

This-app-cant-open-Snipping-Tool.jpg

 

This app can’t open

 

A problem in Windows is preventing Snipping Tool from opening. Refreshing your PC might help fix it.

 

The issue appears to follow an update to the app over the weekend in the Microsoft Store.

 

Resetting your PC is a somewhat extreme solution. We understand Microsoft has already pulled the offending update and are presumably working on a fix.

 

via HTNovo, WindowsLatest

 

 

Windows 11 Snipping Tool crashing with “A problem in Windows is preventing Snipping Tool from opening” error

]]>3252Wed, 03 Nov 2021 03:29:03 +0000Irony: Microsoft’s Update Stack Package feature having difficulty updatinghttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/irony-microsoft%E2%80%99s-update-stack-package-feature-having-difficulty-updating-r3251/ Two weeks ago Microsoft introduced a new Update Stack Package feature to the Windows 11 Dev Channel, that was designed to make it possible for Microsoft to “deliver update improvements outside of major OS updates such as new builds.”

 

The feature was meant to “help ensure that your PC has the highest likelihood of successfully installing new updates with the best and least disruptive experience available.”

 

Ironically multiple Windows Insiders are reporting difficulty installing the latest Update Stack Package.

 

stack-packing-update.png

 

The Update Stack Package includes a small set of update-related system files that are developed independently of the OS.

 

Ultimately the process should allow Microsoft to deliver an improved update experience to Windows 11 users, but it clearly needs a bit more polish itself. Microsoft says by testing this process first with Windows Insiders, they hope to expand the scope and the frequency of releases in the future.

 

Microsoft’s Jason Howard PM of the Insider Programme says they are actively investigating the issue.

 

Thanks, David for the tip.

 

 

Irony: Microsoft’s Update Stack Package feature having difficulty updating

]]>3251Wed, 03 Nov 2021 03:25:54 +0000Bug: macOS Monterey consuming ridiculously high amounts of RAMhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/bug-macos-monterey-consuming-ridiculously-high-amounts-of-ram-r3246/

Last week, Apple released the Stable version of the macOS Monterey. However, it appears that Apple has spent less time than it should in finding and fixing all the issues in the OS. According to a report published by Macrumors, the latest macOS Monterey update is hit by a bug called “memory leak,” as a result of which apps are consuming RAM much higher than normal.

 

The report states that the bug has hit a wide range of Mac computers, including the recently-released 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Those who’re affected by the bug are receiving a pop-up that says that the system has “run out of application memory.”

 

YouTuber Gregory McFadden has shared a screenshot of Apple’s Control Center taking up to 20GB of RAM. Users on Apple Support Communities and different social media platforms are sharing similar stories. A Twitter user has posted a screenshot of Mozilla Firefox is taking up as high as 80GB of RAM.

 

The memory leak is not the only bug plaguing macOS Monterey. A number of users reported that their Macs didn’t turn on after installing the the latest Monterey update. This issue too isn’t specific to a particular model. Whats’s even worse is that, there appears to be no workaround available to fix these issues.It’s also worth noting that Apple hasn’t acknowledged these issues yet.

 

Given the fact that these issues seem to be quite widespread, you should wait for Apple to fix them before installing the new update.

 

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

 

 

Bug: macOS Monterey consuming ridiculously high amounts of RAM

]]>3246Tue, 02 Nov 2021 20:45:49 +0000Firefox 94.0 release: here is what is new and changedhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/firefox-940-release-here-is-what-is-new-and-changed-r3244/ Firefox 94.0's release date is November 2, 2021. The new stable version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser introduces new features, bug fixes, and security fixes.

 

The new Firefox release marks the end of the Firefox 78 ESR branch, as it won't receive updates anymore. Firefox 91 ESR is the new and only branch that is supported by Mozilla.

 

All other Firefox channel editions are updated at the same time. Firefox Beta and Developer editions are upgraded to Firefox 95, Firefox Nightly is upgraded to Firefox 96, and Firefox for Android to Firefox 94. Firefox 91.3 ESR is the new Extended Support Release version of the Firefox web browser.

 

Check out the Firefox 93.0 release overview here.

Executive Summary

  • Firefox 78 ESR is no longer support.
  • Firefox displays a Colorways prompt on first run, which allows users to pick a different color scheme.
  • Site Isolation is now enabled.
  • Firefox 94.0 includes security updates.

Firefox 94.0 download and update

firefox-94.webp

 

Mozilla Firefox 94.0 is pushed out to all stable versions of Firefox automatically, provided that the automatic update feature has not been disabled.

 

Firefox users may check the installed version and run a manual check for updates. Simply select Menu > Help > About Firefox to display the installed version. Firefox queries Mozilla servers for update information, and will download new updates automatically.

 

Firefox 94.0 features and improvements

Seasonal Colorways

 

firefox-colorways.webp

 

Firefox displays a "pick your palette" overlay on first start after the upgrade to Firefox 94.0 or the new installation of the browser.

 

Called Colorways, Firefox users may select one of six seasonal color palettes for the browser or skip the customization by selecting "keep previous theme".

 

These new palettes can also be selected on the themes customization page of the browser.

 

  1. Load about:addons
  2. Switch to Themes.
  3. Scroll down to the Colorways section.

 

There you find all available palettes, more than six, and the option to enable one of the available options in Firefox.

 

Note that the selection of  a colorway will disable the active theme. You can switch back at any time by enabling the theme again.

Windows Background Updates

firefox-windows-background-update.webp

 

On Windows, updates are now handled automatically in the background using a background agent. Mozilla mentioned the feature in the Firefox 90 release notes, and it is unclear why it is mentioned again in the Firefox 94 release notes.

 

The agent runs through a task in the Windows Task Scheduler, called Firefox Background Update. You may delete or disable the task, but it may be better to disable the option in the Firefox preferences.

 

  1. Load about:preferences in the Firefox address bar.
  2. Scroll down to "Allow Firefox to" on the page.
  3. Uncheck "Use a background service to install updates".

Site Isolation in Firefox Stable

Mozilla started to test Firefox's Site Isolation feature in Firefox 70, and rolled it out in Firefox Nightly in September 2020. Called Project Fission internally, site isolation aims to improve privacy and security significantly by isolation webpages and third-party iframes.

 

You can check out Mozilla's post here for additional details.

Site Isolation builds upon a new security architecture that extends current protection mechanisms by separating (web) content and loading each site in its own operating system process.

 

This new security architecture allows Firefox to completely separate code originating from different sites and, in turn, defend against malicious sites trying to access sensitive information from other sites you are visiting.

Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension with Mozilla VPN integration

The latest version of Mozilla's Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension introduces support for Mozilla's VPN service. In particular, it lets users use a different server location for each of the existing containers.

Other changes

firefox-unload-tabs.webp

 

  • Firefox macOS now uses Apple's low power mode for fullscreen video on YouTube and Twitch; this is done to extend battery life.
  • The page about:unloads is now available. It can be used to unload tabs manually to free up system resources.
  • Firefox no longer warns users that multiple tabs are open when the browser is closed (with one exception).
  • Firefox supports Windows 11 Snap Layouts.

Developer Changes

  • Support for partitionKey, the first-party URL of a cookie when it's in storage that is partitioned by top-level site, is added to cookies.get, cookies.getAll, cookies.set, cookies.remove, and cookies.cookie
  • New supported static method: HTMLScriptElement.supports().
  • New supported property: ShadowRoot.delegatesFocus.
  • @import rule supports the layout() function.

Enterprise changes

  • An MSIX is now provided for Firefox Stable. It is not yet provided for Firefox ESR.
  • Starting in Firefox 91 and Firefox 78.12, DisplayName in the uninstall data does not include the version anymore to "make it easier to write scripts that use this value".
  • Bugs in the policies DNSOverHTTPS and FirefoxHOME were fixed.

 

Bug Fixes

 

  • Performance improvements in various areas.
    • We’ve reduced the overhead of using performance.mark() and performance.measure() APIs with a large set of performance entries.
    • Plus, we’ve modified paint suppression during load to greatly improve warmload performance in Site Isolation mode.
    • And we’ve improved pageload (especially with Site Isolation mode) by setting a higher priority for loading and displaying images.
    • With this release, you’ll notice faster Javascript property enumeration as well.
    • We’ve also implemented better scheduling of garbage collection which has improved some pageload benchmarks.
    • Faster storage initialization.
    • Cold startup improvement by reducing main thread I/O.
  • JavaScript memory reduction.
  • Reduced CPU usage during socket polling for HTTPS connections.
  • Closing the Developer Tools reclaims more memory.

 

Known Issues

 

None listed.

Security updates / fixes

Security updates are revealed after the official release of the web browser. You find the information published here after release.

 

Outlook

 

Firefox 95.0 Stable will be released on December 7, 2021. Firefox ESR 91.4 will be released at the same time. It is the last major Firefox release of 2021.

 

 

Firefox 94.0 release: here is what is new and changed

]]>3244Tue, 02 Nov 2021 20:38:33 +0000Firefox Browser Is Tooting Its Horn as a Fast Company ‘Brand That Matters’https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/firefox-browser-is-tooting-its-horn-as-a-fast-company-%E2%80%98brand-that-matters%E2%80%99-r3241/ The Firefox browser, which has been experiencing declining use for more than a decade, is the only open source brand included in Fast Company’s ‘Brands That Matter.’

 

Fast Company has put the open source browser Firefox alongside iconic brands such as McDonalds, Ford, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and IBM as a “brand that matters,” and mama Mozilla couldn’t be prouder.

 

The monthly print and digital business magazine recently published Brands That Matter, a list of nearly 100 brands it says “have had an undeniable impact on business and culture, far beyond the products they sell.” In addition to Firefox and IBM, tech centered brands making the list include Adobe, Playstation, PayPal, Xbox, and LinkedIn. Other than Mozilla’s browser, no exclusively open source brands are included.

 

Why Firefox?


Mozilla’s 2020 “Unfck the Internet” campaign, which included a full-page ad in The Washington Post urging Facebook to shut down Groups and for Twitter to do the same with trending topics during the presidential election campaign, were cited by Fast Company as one of the reasons for Firefox’s inclusion.

 

“Of course, neither company complied, and we’ve been stuck with ‘Stop the Steal’ and worse ever since,” the magazine said, “but Firefox continues to do what it can to put itself forward as the browser that seeks to protect against disinformation and take digital responsibility as hallmarks of its brand.”

 

Also cited was the RegretsReporter browser extension and the “YouTube Regrets” campaign for dealing with inappropriate YouTube recommendations.

 

“The Unfck campaign and YouTube Regrets work embody its mission perfectly, illustrating Mozilla’s David versus Goliath relationship with Big Tech, and its work for people over profits and humanity over technology. As these issues become front-page concerns, Firefox’s position and brand has only grown stronger,” Fast Company said.

 

Mozilla’s Reaction


“It’s an honor to be recognized by Fast Company as a brand whose mission-driven position is only growing larger,” Lindsey Shepard, the chief marketing officer at Mozilla, said in a statement. “Our team continues to put in the time and heart to be the technology company that people can trust. We’re always inspired by the other challenger and mission-oriented brands that are recognized in these lists and we’re glad to be amongst them leading the charge in creating a safe and open internet.”

 

In a blog, Mozilla pointed out that Brands That Matter is only one of many such awards programs that Fast Company has offered since it began publishing in 1995. In the past, the magazine has awarded Most Innovative Companies, Innovation By Design, and World-Changing Ideas.

“Mozilla will join Fast Company’s progressive and creative community where this roundup will be shared with millions of Fast Company readers,” Mozilla said, “many of whom will learn how Mozilla and Firefox brands work together to show people that it is possible to build a better internet, just by making a few simple choices.”

 

Firefox in Decline?


While accolades such as this are undoubtedly good for Firefox and might even serve to bring new users to the fold, it’s doubtful this will bring any kind of meaningful change to Firefox’s fortunes.

 

Although the browser was the first to bring any meaningful competition to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which dominated the browser market from the late 1990s through a large portion of the 2010s, Firefox’s share of the browser market has been in a steep decline for more than a decade — from a peak of 32% in 2010 to less than 4% today.

 

Mozilla’s revenues, however, haven’t reflected that decline as much as might be imagined, partly due to smart maneuvering on Mozilla’s part. Ten years ago, when Firefox’s user base reached its peak, Mozilla’s largest customer, Google, spent a $123 million yearly to be Firefox’s default search engine worldwide. Last year, with Firefox down to only a small fraction of the user-base it commanded a decade earlier, Google paid about $400 million to be the default search engine only in the US — with other search engines such as Yandex and Baidu, paying to be default for search in other countries.

 

Despite this, Mozilla’s finances appear to be rocky.

 

In January of last year, the organization fired 70 employees due to cash flow issues, and in August of that year announced a restructuring that closed its operations in Taipei and Taiwan, while also further reducing its workforce in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In total, about 250 people lost their jobs, and about 60 others were reassigned. Mozilla also announced that some of its open source projects would be eliminated or see reduced funding as the organization shifted its focus to income producing projects.

 

About the same time, it was announced that the deal with Google that had been set to expire in 2020 had been extended until 2023.

 

Source

]]>3241Tue, 02 Nov 2021 17:57:40 +0000Microsoft's Edge browser for Linux is now available for all usershttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsofts-edge-browser-for-linux-is-now-available-for-all-users-r3240/ It's 'Chredge' time for Linux: Microsoft's Edge browser is now generally available for a number of Linux distributions.

 

A year after releasing the first preview build of its Chromium-based Edge browser for Linux, Microsoft is announcing its general availability. The new release supports a variety of Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE. Microsoft announced Linux on Edge's availability milestone during the first day of its Ignite IT pro conference.

 

With the release of Edge for Linux to the "stable" (mainstream user) channel, Edge is now available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux.

 

As it did when introducing the new Edge on macOS, Microsoft has been positioning Edge on Linux as more of an offering for IT pros and developers who want to test web sites than as a browser for "normal" users on those platforms. However, any user on any supported platform can use the new Edge.   

 

ZDNet's resident Linux expert Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (somewhat surprisingly) gave the first test build for Edge for Linux a thumbs up.

 

In other browser-related news from Ignite, Microsoft is announcing the a tool meant to help businesses transition off Internet Explorer before it's no longer supported on most versions of Windows on June 15, 2022. The new Cloud Site List Management tool enables customers to store their organization's site list in a "compliant cloud location" rather than on-premises. Microsoft officials said users can create, import, and export site lists, plus audit changes to site list entries via the Microsoft 365 admin center. Multiple site lists can be published to the cloud, and group policies can be used to assign different groups of devices different lists.

 

Source

]]>3240Tue, 02 Nov 2021 17:52:56 +0000Audacity 3.1 Sound Editor Releasedhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/audacity-31-sound-editor-released-r3239/ The release of the free sound editor Audacity 3.1 has been published , which provides tools for editing sound files (Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MP3 and WAV), recording and digitizing sound, changing the parameters of the sound file, overlaying tracks and applying effects (for example, noise suppression, changing the tempo and tone ). Audacity code is distributed under the GPL license, binaries are available for Linux, Windows and macOS.

 

Audacity 3.1 was the first significant release to be formed after the project was taken over by the Muse Group. In preparing the new release, the main focus was on simplifying the audio editing operation. 

 

Major improvements and change logs in Audacity 3.1 :

 

  • Added clip control “knobs” that allow moving audio clips in a project without switching to a special mode when hovering over the title in free form.
  • The functionality of “smart clips” has been implemented for non-destructive trimming of clips. The function allows you to trim a clip by pulling the indicator that appears when you hover the cursor over the vertical border of the clip, after which you can return to the original uncut version at any time by simply dragging the edge back, without using the undo button and undoing other changes made after trimming. Information about the trimmed parts of the clip is also saved when copying and pasting.
  • Added a new interface for looping playback. A special button has been added to the panel, when pressed, you can immediately select the beginning and end of the loop on the timeline, as well as move the looping area.
  • Additional context menus have been added to the interface.
  • Default settings changed. When you delete a clip, other clips on the same track now stay in place and do not move. The parameters of the spectrogram have been changed (the Mel scaling method is activated, the frequency border has been increased from 8000 to 20000 Hz, the window size has been increased from 1024 to 2048). Changing the volume in the program no longer affects the system volume level.
  • In the Raw Import dialog, the parameters selected by the user are saved.
  • Added a button for automatic format detection.
  • Added support for logging actions (disabled by default).
  • Added the ability to generate triangular waves.

 

 

Source

]]>3239Tue, 02 Nov 2021 14:29:20 +0000Windows 11 creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directoryhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-creates-lots-of-empty-folders-in-a-system32-directory-r3234/ Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directory, just like the Windows 10 operating system. When you check the folder, you may notice empty tmp folders in the directory.

 

A Windows 11 test system had 100 empty temp folders in the directory, but some users reported that they had thousands of empty directories in the folder.

 

windows-11-empty-tmp-folders-bug.webp

 

Here is how you check if the folders exist on your Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices:

 

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local. Note that Windows may display a warning prompt when you attempt to open system directories, but you should be able to proceed.

 

Some of the folders may be hidden, and you may need to enable the display of hidden operating system files.

 

On Windows 10, you select View > Options in File Explorer, switch to View, and make sure that "show hidden files, folders, and drives" is selected, and "hide protected operating system files (recommended)" is unchecked.

 

On Windows 11, you select Menu (three dots) > Options, and follow the instructions for Windows 10.

 

The folders start with tw and end with .tmp. When you open them, you will notice that they contain no files. The problem has been known since at least 2019 according to a report on Ask Woody, but it may date back even further than that.

 

Günter Born suggests that the temporary folders are created by the Provisioning Package Runtime Processing tool, filename ProvTool.exe. The tmp folders can be deleted and deletion appears to have no negative impact on the system.

 

Closing words

 

The bug is not critical in most cases. Empty folders don't take up much disk space and they don't interfere with the operation of the system. Still, it appears to be leftovers and some users may want to delete these temporary folders, especially if the count crossed the ten-thousand mark on their devices.

 

The bug shows again that Windows 11 is very similar to Windows 10, and that bugs that affected Windows 10 are likely also affecting Windows 11.

 

 

Windows 11 creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directory

]]>3234Tue, 02 Nov 2021 04:02:48 +0000macOS Monterey is reportedly bricking old Macshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/macos-monterey-is-reportedly-bricking-old-macs-r3232/

Apple released macOS Monetary last week as part of its annual update. However, many users reported that their Macs got bricked and weren't able to turn on after updating to the latest version of the macOS.

 

Users fled to Apple Support Communities, Twitter, and Reddit to report the issue after the update. Here are some of the tweets as reported by users:

 

 

 

 

 

A probable solution has come up on the Apple Support Communities which uses the Apple Configurator 2. The software essentially revives or restores the computer's firmware. Apple mentions "In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored" in the support document.

 

Apple has not officially acknowledged the issue. However, we recommend users follow the steps and restore the firmware on their Mac if their machine is affected.

 

 

macOS Monterey is reportedly bricking old Macs

]]>3232Mon, 01 Nov 2021 22:47:05 +0000Microsoft is reportedly bringing this useful taskbar feature back to Windows 11https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-is-reportedly-bringing-this-useful-taskbar-feature-back-to-windows-11-r3231/

Windows 11 has so far received a positive response from the users, and while much of that is well deserved, a sizeable population is still upset over Microsoft’s decision to do away with certain features. One of the downsides of the latest Windows desktop OS is that the new taskbar isn’t as functional as that of the previous versions of Windows, not being able to drag and drop files into app icons like File Explorer on the taskbar is one of the limitations.

 

Thankfully, the company is willing to fix some of the limitations in the upcoming version of Windows 11. According to sources close to Deskmodder, Microsoft is currently readying the ability to drag an icon into the taskbar for a release after Christmas. The Dev Channel subscribers will be the first to get a taste of the feature. And for those running the Stable version of the OS, you may have to wait until October 2022, which is when Windows 11 version 22H2 (October 2022 Update) will be available for the general public.

Drag-and-Drop-blocked.png
Drag and drop to taskbar blocked | OS running: Windows 11 Version 22489

Microsoft has probably been working on the drag and drop feature since August or earlier as it first appeared on Windows 11 Build 22458, which was released in August. However, in order for the feature to work, you needed to modify the registry. Long story short, the drag and drop feature has already been integrated, but it doesn’t work without some modifications in the registry editor. And the good news is that, after Christmas(hopefully), anyone with the latest Windows 11 build will be able to use the drag and drop feature without having to modify the registry.

Taskbar-limitations.jpg
Drag and drop working after modifying registry | Image: Windows Latest

Microsoft will include a ton of other changes in the upcoming Windows 11 Dev builds, and we’ll get to know about them as and when Microsoft releases a new build. Rest assured, you’ll be apprised of all the new features that make their debut on future Windows 11 builds, so stay tuned.

 

 

Microsoft is reportedly bringing this useful taskbar feature back to Windows 11

]]>3231Mon, 01 Nov 2021 22:43:15 +0000Microsoft Defender for Windows is getting a massive overhaulhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-defender-for-windows-is-getting-a-massive-overhaul-r3230/ Microsoft Defender for Windows is getting a massive overhaul allowing home network admins to deploy Android, iOS, and Mac clients to monitor antivirus, phishing, compromised passwords, and identity theft alerts from a single security dashboard.

 

In the past, antivirus solutions were very much a single PC application, where each device got its own protection, but none of the devices spoke to each other.

 

With this setup, if one device detected malware, only the person using the device would know about it, rather than providing a centralized reporting dashboard.

 

As home networks became increasingly more complicated, connected, and diverse, antivirus vendors started to offer stripped-down versions of their enterprise products that allowed a home admin to manage all of their devices from a single dashboard.

Microsoft's full-featured home security suite

For the past few years, Microsoft has been focusing on the enterprise's security while leaving Windows 10 consumers with the passable but fairly generic built-in Microsoft Defender antivirus software.

 

Based on a new Microsoft Defender Preview app added to the Microsoft Store last week, this is all about to change, with Microsoft building what appears to be a full-featured home security suite for Windows 11, Windows 10, iOS, Android, and macOS.

 

"Microsoft Defender is a security application that gives you peace of mind. Through our personalized dashboard, you can view the security posture of your Windows device and other connected devices (Mac, iOS, and Android) all in one place," reads the Microsoft Defender Preview app description.

 

This new preview is codenamed 'Gibraltar' internally as it is currently restricted to Microsoft employees.

 

However, BleepingComputer found strings in the executables that indicate that the new security solution will include antivirus, phishing protection, password breach detection, identity theft monitoring, security recommendations, and more.

 

Home admins will add other family members to their personal dashboard using email or QR code invites. These invites will likely allow a device to install an iOS, Android, Windows, or macOS agent that automatically enrolls in the family's security dashboard.

 

Windows software developer Ahmed Walid patched the application to bypass authentication, allowing us to get a glimpse of how the new Microsoft Defender security dashboard will look.

 

dashboard.jpg

Microsoft Defender Preview dashboard
Source: Walid

As you can see above, the dashboard will allow you to view health alerts for devices, with Identity and "Connections" monitoring coming soon. In addition, the Identity Theft Monitoring feature will support child, and adult subscriptions from API calls found in the Microsoft Defender Preview.

 

Using their "personal dashboard," home network administrators can monitor all enrolled devices for "health" alerts that may include compromised passwords, malware alerts, or identity theft issues. 

 

enrolled-devices.jpg

Summary of monitored devices
Source: Walid

It is unclear when the Microsoft Defender Preview will be available to test, but it will likely come to Windows 10 and Windows 11 Insiders first in the coming months.

 

BleepingComputer has contacted Microsoft with further questions about this new feature and will update the article if we receive a response.

 

 

Microsoft Defender for Windows is getting a massive overhaul

]]>3230Mon, 01 Nov 2021 22:41:03 +0000Linux 5.15 Is This Year's LTS Kernelhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/linux-515-is-this-years-lts-kernel-r3223/ As we approach the end of the calendar year there was some uncertainty whether Linux 5.15 would be this year's Long-Term Support (LTS) kernel or if it would be Linux 5.16 albeit not likely releasing until the start of 2022...

 

Well, Greg Kroah-Hartman has decided on Linux 5.15 being the LTS kernel for 2021. The Kernel.org release page has been updated to reflect the newly-released Linux 5.15 kernel being an LTS branch.

 

At the moment the LTS period projects Linux 5.15 LTS to be end-of-life in October 2023. However, as is usually the case, this can be extended by years given enough industry support. If enough users/developers and organizations step up for committing to testing the new point releases and actually using the LTS kernel in production, the LTS period can be extended by several years.

 

Last year's Linux 5.10 LTS kernel is currently planned to be maintained through end of 2026 while 2019's Linux 5.4 LTS through end of 2025. So it's quite possible Linux 5.15 LTS could be maintained through end of 2027 if those conditions are met.

 

Linux 5.15 is quite an exciting update while some big additions are also en route for Linux 5.16 that led some to hope Linux 5.16 would be the LTS, albeit it's a never-ending game with upstream kernel development.

 

Source

]]>3223Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000Closer Look: Calendar app integration in Windows 11https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/closer-look-calendar-app-integration-in-windows-11-r3216/ It's been almost a month since Windows 11 started rolling out generally but since it's being distributed in a staggered manner, not everyone has received it yet. Regardless of whether or not you have received the update yet, it's worth discussing its features in more detail given that the OS is still quite new. This is exactly what we have been doing in our ongoing Closer Look series for the past couple of months.

 

So far, we have taken a look at Search, Widgets, the Start menu, Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, the Taskbar, quick settings and notifications, Virtual Desktops, power and battery settings, default apps configurations, File Explorer, context menus, Teams integration, the updated Clock app in Windows 11, the Microsoft Store, the Snipping Tool, the Paint app refresh, the lock screen, the revamped Photos app, the voice typing experience, the storage settings, and the touch keyboard. Today, we'll be discussing the updated Calendar app and its integration with Windows 11.

 

For the purpose of this hands-on, we'll be taking a look at the generally available Windows 11 build versus a publicly available and up-to-date Windows 10 (version 21H1 build 19043.1320). Typically, we start with discussing the capabilities of a specific feature before we move on to Windows 11, we won't be doing that this time, because frankly, it's not much of an update. In fact, if anything, the Calendar app's integration with Windows 11 has been crippled almost completely, to some extent.

 

1635658399_c1_story.jpg

The Calendar app in Windows 11

Talking about the Calendar app in Windows 11, you'd be forgiven for thinking that there's no difference when compared to its Windows 10 counterpart, because there really isn't any major difference. In terms of the feature-set and the general UI, it's exactly the same. The only slight difference is the rounded corners, a design staple of Windows 11, but nothing mind-blowing.

 

1635658833_c2_story.jpg

The Calendar app's settings UI in Windows 11

While I really like the emphasis on rounded corners, it is equally infuriating to see design inconsistencies in a native app. A glaring example of this is the Settings UI which has basically been lifted straight from Windows 10. You'll notice sharp corners and a lot of wasted space. It just leaves a bad taste in the mouth thinking that the development team thought that it was not worth updating the full UI of a native app that ships with Windows 11.

 

1635659109_c3_story.jpg

Lack of Taskbar calendar flyout agenda integration in Windows 11

But perhaps the most controversial change when it comes to the Calendar app is its integration - or lack thereof - with Windows 11. I really liked the fact that the calendar flyout in the Windows 10 Taskbar integrated with the Calendar app and showed your agenda directly in the Taskbar. But with Windows 11, Microsoft apparently decided that it should make the lives of its customers more difficult so what better way to do that than to completely remove the integration from the calendar flyout? The (crippled) Taskbar that just keeps on giving.

 

1635660066_c4_story.jpg

Botched integration of Calendar with Widgets in Windows 11

What aggravates this problem even further is that Microsoft apparently wants people to utilize the Calendar app in its Widgets instead, as pointed out by Windows Latest. This move is already being protested by thousands of people on the Feedback Hub. I decided to give Microsoft a second chance and added the Calendar app to the Widgets. To my disappointment (seriously, I should be used to this by now when dealing with half-baked Microsoft software), it showed me a strangely-worded error message that "Sorry, some events from this account can't be displayed".

 

Clicking on the "Learn more" button directed me to a Microsoft FAQs page and neatly tucked away at the bottom, I found this gem:

 

If you created your Microsoft account using an email address that is not from Microsoft, that email address can’t be used to display calendar events. To see calendar events in the widget, you’ll need to create an Outlook.com account so you can use the Outlook.com email address with the Calendar widget.

 

Sorry Microsoft, you can't bully me into creating an Outlook.com account just so I can view agenda events from Calendar.

 

All in all, the Calendar app's integration with Windows 11 is a massive disappointment. It grinds my gears to know that a company could be so dismissive of clear use-cases that it would trade functionality for apparent simplicity. The icing on the cake is that it forces you to create an Outlook.com account just so you can view your agenda items from an Outlook calendar instead of a calendar of your choice, the audacity.

 

If you just want rounded corners and don't really care about the Calendar app, you'll be right at home with the Windows 11 app. However, if you're an active user of the Calendar app and its integration with the Windows 10 Taskbar, either don't upgrade to Windows 11 until Microsoft fixes this blunder, or, look around for third-party workarounds to accomplish the same. But at this point, Windows 11 just seems like a half-baked experiment where Microsoft shipped the bare minimum and asked third-party developers to build functionality on top of it to fix its own blunders.

 

 

Closer Look: Calendar app integration in Windows 11

]]>3216Sun, 31 Oct 2021 21:06:39 +0000New Microsoft Defender Preview now available in the Store for somehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/new-microsoft-defender-preview-now-available-in-the-store-for-some-r3215/ Earlier this week a new version of Microsoft’s popular security app, Microsoft Defender, showed up in the Store.

 

Microsoft Defender Preview featured new styling and a simplified design, and appears to be designed to protect all your devices. The minimum requirements note support for both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

 

The app is now available to download in the Store, but it appears the installation is still restricted for some users.

 
Microsoft-defender-preview-1.jpg
 
Microsoft-Defender-Preview-2.jfif
 
Microsoft-Defender-Preview-3.jfif
 

Ahmed Walid managed to patch the installer and posted the screenshots which can be seen above.

 

Try your luck by checking it out in the Store here.

 

via the windows club

 

 

New Microsoft Defender Preview now available in the Store for some

]]>3215Sun, 31 Oct 2021 21:01:14 +0000How to fix screen flickering in Windows 11https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/how-to-fix-screen-flickering-in-windows-11-r3209/ How to fix screen flickering in Windows 11

It is nearly a month since Windows 11 was offered as free upgrade for users. But the operating system is not devoid of bugs, there are some annoying issues like the File Explorer not responding.

 

How-to-fix-screen-flickering-in-Windows-

 

Another issue that has been troubling users, is the screen flickering in Windows 11. I've had this happen a few times, but they were completely random, and not like what users are reporting. Occasionally, when you switch programs or drag applications to a different location, the display may flash briefly. I have also noticed this with the Taskbar, in early builds of the operating system. But I haven't seen this bug since updating to the stable version of the operating system. But other users seem to be facing the problem, because the release notes for the latest Windows Insider Preview build lists screen flickering as a known issue related to the Taskbar.

 

A few years ago, this screen flashing issue was originally reported as a bug in Chrome. But later, the culprit turned out to be Windows 10. It is strange that the bug still exists in Windows 11, and the fix is still the same.

How to fix screen flickering in Windows 11

  1.  Open the Settings App.
  2. Click on Personalization on the right pane.
  3. Select the Background option.
  4. Now you can do one of 2 things. You may choose to set the desktop background to a solid color, or select an image as your wallpaper. The idea is to avoid using the Slideshow option.
  5. Go back to the previous screen, i.e. Personalization, and click on Colors. Check whether the Accent Color is set to "Manual". If it says automatic, switch it to manual.

 

The idea is to stop the OS from refreshing the colors and backdrop automatically (slideshow), which seems to be causing the screen flickering issue.

Alternative Solution to fix screen flashing in Windows 11

Alternative-Solution-to-fix-screen-flash

 

If the above method didn't work for you, here's something else that you can try. Open the Settings app, and click on Accessibility on the sidebar. Click on Visual effects on the right pane, and toggle the button that says Animation Effects. I found the fix here.

 

Insider Preview builds of Windows 11 had a similar problem, the screen would flash when you switched the theme. I think it was the animation effect that was causing it.

How to fix screen flickering in Chrome on Windows 11

As mentioned earlier, screen flickering in Chrome is a bug in Windows. When I first tried Windows 11 in a virtual machine, I had a slightly different problem with it. Firefox and Microsoft Edge worked fine in the OS, but Vivaldi (Chrome and Brave as well), was glitching. When you exit the browser with several tabs open, Chromium browsers display a white box, that asks you to confirm the action. A similar box appears when you install extensions. These boxes would not render properly in Windows 11, and would sort of appear transparent, making it difficult to use.

Take a look at this screenshot to understand what I'm talking about.

 

Chrome-display-issues-in-Windows-11.webp

 

To fix this issue, open the browser's settings.

 

e.g. vivaldi://settings/ or chrome://settings/

 

Chrome-rendering-issues-in-Windows-11.we

 

Search for Hardware Acceleration, and turn the option off. This should get rid of the partially rendered box, and display it normally.

 

I'd also advise checking your monitor's cable, and updating your graphics drivers to the latest version, to rule out hardware issues.

 

 

How to fix screen flickering in Windows 11

]]>3209Sun, 31 Oct 2021 06:28:50 +0000Microsoft: Windows KB5006674, KB5006670 updates break printinghttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-windows-kb5006674-kb5006670-updates-break-printing-r3207/ Microsoft says Windows customers are experiencing issues with network printing after installing the Windows 11 KB5006674 and Windows 10 KB5006670 updates issued with this month's Patch Tuesday, on October 12.

 

Users attempting to connect to printers shared on Windows print servers might encounter multiple errors preventing them from printing over the network.

 

The errors Windows print clients will encounter after deploying KB5006674 include:

 

  • 0x000006e4 (RPC_S_CANNOT_SUPPORT)
  • 0x0000007c (ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL)
  • 0x00000709 (ERROR_INVALID_PRINTER_NAME)

 

The complete list of Windows platforms impacted by this issue includes:

 

  • Client: Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 21H1; Windows 10, version 20H2; Windows 10, version 2004; Windows 10, version 1909; Windows 10, version 1809; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10, version 1607; Windows 8.1; Windows 7 SP1
  • Server: Windows Server 2022; Windows Server, version 20H2; Windows Server, version 2004; Windows Server, version 1909; Windows Server, version 1809; Windows Server 2008 SP2

 

As Redmond explains, this known issue affecting printing on both client and server Windows platforms is specific to printer servers which are more commonly found in enterprise environments.

 

Microsoft said it's working on finding a solution to allow print clients to establish RPC packet privacy connections to Windows print servers using RPC over SMB.

Users plagued by printing problems the last two weeks

Windows 10 admins and users have been reporting widescale network printing issues in a 14-page forum topic at BleepingComputer for the last two weeks since the October Patch Tuesday updates have been released.

 

While recounting their frustration and attempts to deal with the printing bugs, they came to the same conclusion: uninstalling the October cumulative updates resolves the printing problem.

 

Since then, the issues have gotten so bad that Windows admins have resorted to replacing Windows DLLs with older versions to re-enable printing.

 

The DLLs that admins are replacing to fix printing are localspl.dll, win32spl.dll, and spoolsv.exe.

 

While this approach removes fixes for Print Spooler vulnerabilities, it does avoid uninstalling the cumulative updates, which would get rid of all October security updates in the process.

Microsoft provides a workaround

Customers impacted by these printing problems can now use an official workaround provided by Microsoft to fix the issue.

 

The steps should ONLY be taken on affected print servers that meet the following prerequisite: "print clients must have installed a Windows update released on or after January 2021 before the print server has installed" the October 2021 updates.

 

If the workaround requirements are met, Microsoft asks customers to "ensure that network security and VPN solutions allow print clients to establish RPC over TCP connections to print server over the following port range:"

 

  • Default start port: 49152
  • Default end port: 65535
  • Port Range: 16384 ports

 

Redmond also provides the following articles for additional guidance:

 

 

Before disclosing this new issue, Microsoft said it fixed other Windows 11 known issues causing printer installation fails and prompts for admin credentials before every attempt to print in enterprise environments.

 

 

Microsoft: Windows KB5006674, KB5006670 updates break printing

]]>3207Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000Ubuntu Online 21.10 Released, Lets You Try Ubuntu Desktop in a Web Browserhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/ubuntu-online-2110-released-lets-you-try-ubuntu-desktop-in-a-web-browser-r3198/ Ubuntu Online 21.10 has been released today as a Web based Ubuntu 21.10 desktop remake that lets you try the latest Ubuntu Desktop edition in a web browser.

 

Inspired by the now obsolete Ubuntu Online Tour project created by Canonical a few years ago, the Ubuntu Online project aims to give those with very limited resources the option to try the latest Ubuntu Desktop release in a web browser.

 

Ubuntu Online works both online and offline, but for the best experience the files need to be hosted online, in a web server. This is great if you want, for example, to migrate a bunch of computers to Ubuntu/Linux but you want your users to see what the fuss is all about with an online demo.

 

Ubuntu Online 21.10 comes with some new features compared to its predecessor. For example, it’s compatible with touch devices so you can try it on a tablet or mobile phone, but window resize on mobile is said to work harder than on a computer and some web browsers may not support window resize on mobile devices.

 

In addition, users will be able to open the same application multiple times, drag and resize windows, change the desktop wallpaper, as well as to clone applications. As mentioned before, some of these features will only work if the files are hosted on a web server.

 

The interface is very limited, as you may expect from such as project, but it resembles the GNOME 40 desktop of Ubuntu 21.10 “Impish Indri” quite well. To see it in action, check out the screenshots gallery below or try it yourself right now from here.

 

ubuntuonline2110-1.webp?resize=1536,752&

 

ubuntuonline2110-2.webp?resize=1536,754&

 

ubuntuonline2110-3.webp?resize=1536,755&

 

ubuntuonline2110-4.webp?resize=1536,754&

 

ubuntuonline2110-5.webp?resize=1536,754&

 

The source files of Ubuntu Online 21.10 can be downloaded from the project’s GitHub or Launchpad pages if you want to host them on your web server for your users to try Ubuntu 21.10, or maybe you just want to prank someone for Halloween 🎃.

 

Source

]]>3198Sat, 30 Oct 2021 15:41:38 +0000Microsoft release PowerToys v0.49.1 with 4 fixeshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-release-powertoys-v0491-with-4-fixes-r3193/

Microsoft released PowerToys version 0.49 yesterday with a new utility – Find my mouse and also a modernized new UI for PowerRename. It also merged Video Conference Mute into the stable releases and featured the usual bug fixes and improvements.

 

The update also included some bugs which needed quick fixes, resulting in the release of PowerToys 0.49.1 today with the following patches:

 

  • #14063 – After updating, the settings are not localized
  • #14044 – [FindMyMouse] False positive on activation
  • #14058 – Typo: the word english isn’t capitalized
  • #14009 – Typo in logging

 

PowerToys 0.49.1 otherwise includes the following new features and improvements:

 

PowerRename’s new UI brings a refreshed experience that reflects the modern UI theming of Windows 11, along with helpful regular expression guidance and file formatting tips.

 

With the new mouse utility, PowerToys introduces functionality to quickly find your mouse position by double pressing the left ctrl key. This is ideal for large, high-resolution displays and low-vision users, with additional features and enhancements planned for future releases. To learn more, check out our Mouse Utilities documentation on Microsoft Docs!

 

Additionally, Color Picker’s HEX format will no longer have the # character. This addresses issues with various color inputs that only accept six characters cutting off the last value.

 

Additional work in this release include stability updates and optimizations, installer updates, general bug fixes, and accessibility improvements.

Change log

General

  • Find My Mouse utility added! Utilize the functionality to quickly locate the cursor on your displays! Learn more on our Mouse Utility docs.
  • Accessibility and minor UI improvements to the settings page.
  • Added deep links to the Settings menus for various utilities within their respective editors.
  • Settings improvements to improve clarity for various options.
  • Improved settings window to adjust size and position as needed when multi-monitor conditions change.

PowerToys Awake

  • Screen reader improvements for accessibility.

Color Picker

  • Color Picker’s HEX format was changed to remove the # character.
  • Accessibility improvements for screen reader and UI to distinguish colors from the border when matching.

FancyZones

  • Fixed Color Picker and OOBE windows from being snapped by FancyZones.
  • Fixed regression with layouts not being changed via shortcuts.
  • Fixed crashing issue with FancyZones editor.
  • Fixed zone layouts resetting after screen locking.
  • Accessibility improvements for screen reader in editor.

Keyboard Manager

  • Fixed crashing issue when the editor is opened at high zoom on 4k monitors.

PowerRename

  • New UI update! We hope you enjoy the modern experience and take advantage of new tool-tips to describe common regular expressions and text/file formatting.

PowerToys Run

  • Windows Terminal Plugin added. Open shells through Windows Terminal via _ activation command by default.
  • Added environment variables to Folder plugin search.
  • Fixed certain schemas that were overwritten with HTTPS.
  • Fixed issue with program plugin getting caught in infinite loops as certain file paths are recursively searched.

Video Conference Mute

  • VCM added to stable releases of PowerToys!

 

You can download the latest version from Microsoft here.

 

via Neowin

 

 

Microsoft release PowerToys v0.49.1 with 4 fixes

]]>3193Fri, 29 Oct 2021 23:52:23 +0000Here’s what’s new in Windows Office Insider Preview Build (Beta Channel) Build 14623.20002https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/here%E2%80%99s-what%E2%80%99s-new-in-windows-office-insider-preview-build-beta-channel-build-1462320002-r3192/

Microsoft has released a new Office Insider Preview Build 14623.20002 for Windows users that registered in the Beta Channel of the Office Insider program. The new build adds notable fixes to Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, but includes no new features. You can read the full official changelog below to know about what’s been fixed.

Changelog

Excel

Notable fixes

 

  • We fixed an issue where importing a query, then selecting a range in the new worksheet and loading from that range, would cause the query editor to open with the wrong table name.
  • We fixed an issue causing rendering errors when teleporting great distances in the grid (such as when using Ctrl + arrow key).

Outlook

Notable fixes

 

  • We fixed an issue where the wrong end date for an all-day event was appearing in Calendar view.
  • We fixed an issue where the Windows Explorer would close unexpectedly when doing a “File – Send-To – Mail Recipient.”

PowerPoint

Notable fixes

 

  • We fixed an issue where a printout would be cut off (data loss) when the user changed a document in portrait orientation from a bigger paper size to a smaller paper size.
  • We fixed an issue so the app will no longer prompt for a password to modify it if the user explicitly opens the file in read-only mode.

Word

Notable fixes

 

  • We fixed an issue that caused auto-scroll mode to not function.
  • We fixed an issue with co-authoring mode where a revision might not be saved.
  • We fixed an issue where a graphic could be missing in certain documents.
  • We fixed an issue where certain font styles were not being mapped appropriately when pasting text as “Keep text only.”
  • We fixed an issue where a mail-merge formatted document couldn’t be saved in .doc format.

Office Suite

Notable Fixes

 

  • We fixed an issue where the PowerPoint app would stop responding and the error message “ERROR_TOO_MANY_FILES” would appear.
  • We fixed an issue so that Eyedropper functionality is enabled in documents opened with limited permissions.
  • We fixed an issue in which animated GIFs cropped to a non-rectangular shape would not animate in PowerPoint’s Slide Show presentation mode.
  • We added an option to the Record Slide Show dialog to remove the prompt to Export to Video on closing.

 

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

 

 

Here’s what’s new in Windows Office Insider Preview Build (Beta Channel) Build 14623.20002

]]>3192Fri, 29 Oct 2021 23:50:06 +0000