News: Software News

How to use snap layouts in Windows 11

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:39:14 +0000

This handy new feature organizes your active apps

Windows 11 may not be exactly revolutionary, but there are some features that are just plain useful, and snap layouts are one of them. Replacing the drag-and-drop snap assist feature of Windows 10, snap layouts let you arrange your apps quickly and neatly on your desktop, making it much simpler to see all and use all at once. (Certainly, it’s a lot better than the constant Alt-Tab switching between apps that many of us are used to.)

Here’s how you set it up:

Hover your cursor over the maximize icon in the upper right corner of an app or press Win-Z. You’ll see four (or six if you have a large monitor) different grid layouts that you can choose from. Each layout will have several zones in a different configuration.
Choose a layout and hover over the zone you want your active app to be in. That zone will turn blue; click on it. Your app will then snap into that position.

Choose a layout and then the zone you want your active app to be in.

If you had other apps open, they may appear as thumbnails in another of the zones. Alt-Tab to each open app, and choose which zone you want that app to be in. You can also simply click on the app if it’s in the zone you want it to be in.

When you choose a zone for one app, the others may appear as thumbnails in another zone. Just Alt-Tab to each and choose a zone.

(Note: Sometimes, while you’re rearranging, one app can overlap the other. If things get confusing, use Alt-Tab to see where each app is or find them in the taskbar.)

And you’re ready to go!

Snap layouts arranges your windows into a neat grid pattern.

Your snap layout will be reflected in the taskbar as well. If you go to the taskbar and hover over the icon for one of the apps in your layout, you will see a thumbnail for both the app and for the layout group it’s part of; you can click on either.

Hover over an apps taskbar icon, and you’ll see both the app alone and its layout grouping.

Need to maximize an app? Just click on the maximize icon. Click on it again, and the app will snap back into its former configuration.

Adjust layout settings

You can adjust the snap layouts by going to “Settings” > “System” > “Multitasking.” You have a variety of options that you can enable or disable. For example, you can choose not to have the snap layout feature appear when you hover over the maximize symbol or when you hover over your app icon in the taskbar. You can arrange for the other windows to automatically resize when you manually resize one. And, of course, you can disable the feature entirely.

Go to the multitasking section in your setup to tweak your snap layout features.

Learn how to use it

When you first start to use snap layouts, it may take a little getting used to, especially when it comes to deciding which app goes where. Once you’re set, however, you may find that snap layouts make it a lot easier to, say, monitor your Twitter or Slack account while working on a document or watching a video. Admittedly, if you have a smaller display, having more than two apps open at the same time could make things a bit crowded, but it’s worth experimenting a bit to see what works for you.

How to use snap layouts in Windows 11

New Edge Dev build adds voice typing support on Windows 11 and more

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:34:47 +0000

Like clockwork, Microsoft is today releasing Edge Dev build 96.0.1032.0 with a few new features. The most noteworthy is the addition of voice typing in the Windows 11 version. With Windows 11 now rolling out to more users, the new feature is accessible to more users for the company to gather feedback on. Additionally, there are a couple of other new features, including for iPads.

Another nifty addition made in this build is the ability to move a tab to a different profile, even if there are no tabs from the other profile open. This might come in handy when moving tabs between personal and work profiles and the like. The browser is also adding the option to close toast notifications that are served when using collections.

As usual, the features are also accompanied by a bunch of bug fixes and overall improvements. Additionally, there might be a few more Edge Dev builds before major version 96 is promoted to the Beta channel, thanks to the new release cadence.

Here are all the new features added to this build:

Added an item to the menu when right-clicking tabs that moves the tab to a different profile, even if no windows for that profile are currently open.
Enabled voice typing in web pages on Windows 11.
Added a button to the main feedback dialog to easily get to the “Recreate my problem” sub-dialog.
Added an X to close certain toast notifications that appear when managing Collections.
Added a button to exit Immersive Reader on iPad.
Added improved messaging when the Web Widget fails to open because an extension disabled it.

And here are all the improvements made to enhance the reliability of the browser:

Fixed a crash when opening a window to a profile when a window for another profile is open.
Fixed a crash when viewing Settings in a Guest window.
Fixed a crash when using Internet Explorer mode.
Mobile:
- Fixed a crash on Android when using third-party autofill providers.
- Fixed a crash on Android when downloading something.
- Fixed a crash on iPad.
- Fixed some crashes on Android 12.
Fixed a crash in WebView2 apps when opening a context menu (Issue 1744).

These are followed by the fixes that are aimed at addressing changed behavior. This includes a fix for addressing issues with importing data from other browsers, input issues, and a bunch of issues plaguing the mobile versions. Here is the complete list:

Fixed an issue where enabling spellchecking for multiple languages resulted in only one language getting spellcheck results.
Fixed an issue where opening a new window from the Favorites or History management pages fails.
Fixed an issue where importing data from other browsers sometimes fails in certain languages.
Fixed an issue where certain kinds of browser history are able to be deleted even when deleting history is disabled by management policy.
Fixed an issue where editing a text note in a Collection sometimes isn’t possible because the pane automatically scrolls to where the note isn’t visible.
Fixed an issue where entering Kids mode unnecessarily adds badging to browser shortcuts.
Fixed an issue where websites that ask for permission to use a 2-Factor Authentication device result in a blank permission dialog.
Fixed an issue where setting a website installed as an app to run when the device starts up via the app’s post-install dialog isn’t reflected in the Apps management page.
Fixed an issue where there is no indication that a download has started in websites installed as apps.
Fixed an issue where clicking the button in Settings to restart the browser doesn’t actually restart it.
Fixed an issue where input sometimes doesn’t work when mini menus are visible.
Fixed an issue where the Web Widget doesn’t respond to touchscreen input.
Fixed an issue on Xbox where the Setting to open a specific page on browser startup doesn’t work.
Mobile:
- Fixed an issue where signing into the browser sometimes fails.
- Fixed an issue where signing into the browser sometimes fails after updating the app.
- Fixed an issue where company resources are sometimes blocked with a “You can’t get there from here” error even though the device and browser are signed into the company properly.
- Fixed an issue where setting the default search provider sometimes fails.
- Fixed an issue where certain websites can’t be logged into in InPrivate.
- Fixed an issue on Android 12 where autofill data save prompts sometimes don’t appear when they should.
- Fixed an issue where data is sometimes inadvertently imported from other browsers multiple times in a row, leading to duplicate data.

As is always the case, the build is rolling out in a staggered fashion, meaning that it might be a while till it shows up for all users. When it does make it to users' devices, it will be automatically downloaded in the background. Users can also force-check for an update through the About Microsoft Edge setting.

New Edge Dev build adds voice typing support on Windows 11 and more

AMD Radeon 21.10.1 driver has support for Windows 11, Far Cry 6, and BF 2042 beta

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:32:11 +0000

With a brand-new operating system release and new games on the horizon, AMD has released a fresh graphics driver, Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.10.1, for owners of GPUs from the red team to bring in official support.

While the company added Windows 11 compatibility to its driver suite several releases ago, it was never listed on the driver as supported. Now, with the new Microsoft operating system officially launching, it's all official.

Moving on to game optimizations, Far Cry 6 is gaining major performance benefits with this driver ahead of its October 7 release. 10%, 12%, and 13% FPS improvements were seen on 1080p ultra, 1440p medium, and 4K medium configurations, respectively. All benchmarks were running on an RX 6700 XT GPU with ray tracing being enabled on the 1080p and 1440p runs. AMD has not shared the exact frame rates this time.

The battle royale title PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is also seeing FPS gains, with an 11% performance increase being spotted when using DirectX 12 on a RX 6800 XT.

Meanwhile, official support for this week's Battlefield 2042 open beta and Naraka: Bladepoint have also landed with this driver.

Fixed issues this time contains great news for RX 500 series GPU owners, as AMD has tracked down the driver timeout issue that occurred when gaming and playing a video stream at the same time. Here's the full list:

Playing Horizon Zero Dawn™ for an extended period may lead to driver timeouts or game crash on some AMD Graphics products such as Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
Driver timeouts may be experienced while playing a game & streaming a video simultaneously on some AMD Graphics products such as Radeon™ RX 500 Series Graphics.
Some users may experience high idle memory clock speed values when two or more monitors are connected to their system.
Driver timeouts may be experienced while playing The Medium™ on some AMD Graphics products such as Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
On full GPU load, Radeon™ Software may incorrectly display higher than actual GPU power consumption values.
While playing Wreckfest™ or Arma™ 3, image corruption may be experienced when viewing foliage.

Here are the remaining known issues:

Open Broadcaster Software™ may continue to run in the background after a user ends a recording session and closes the application.
AMD Radeon™ Software may crash or become unresponsive while playing some DirectX® 11 games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds™ with multiple displays connected in extended mode.
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.

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.10.1 optional driver is now available on the Radeon Settings app on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Standalone download links are listed on the official release notes page here.

AMD Radeon 21.10.1 driver has support for Windows 11, Far Cry 6, and BF 2042 beta

Microsoft is now rolling out Skype Insider build 8.77, here’s everything that’s new

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:26:00 +0000

Microsoft has released a new Skype Insider build 8.77 for bor both desktop and mobile applications. The new build brings some of the new features that Microsoft recently promised to add, including a new look for tab, header and footer on Desktop and Mobile. Build 8.77 also includes video rendering improvements on Android, iPhone and iPad, new avatar selection options for group profile screen, bug fixes, and stability improvements. You can read the full official changelog below.

Changelog

Modernized UI improvements: New notifications/activity tab look, new look for the header and footer on Desktop and Mobile

Video rendering improvements: on Android, iPhone and iPad

Group Profile screen to support new avatar selection options from the MeetNow creation board: emoticon or sticker on colorful background + uploading photo (which already is there)

Bug fixes and stability improvements

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 Insider build 8.77, here’s everything that’s new

Preview and Stable versions of Windows Terminal get updated, here is what’s new

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:23:20 +0000

Microsoft has recently pushed an update to both Windows Terminal and Windows Terminal Preview. The latest update takes Windows Terminal Preview to version 1.11.2731.0, while the stable Windows Terminal is updated to 1.10.2714.0. However, the updates include bug fixes and no new features. You can read more about everything that has been fixed in the official changelog below.

Windows Terminal Preview v1.11.2731.0

Bug Fixes

Accessibility

Resolves hang on launch for Windows Server 2022 (and similar client Windows versions) when tablet input keyboard is activated (#11312)

Selecting text in the terminal while Narrator is open will no longer hang (#11386)

Reliability

Fix KeyChord constructor assertion failure during tab dragging (#11306)

Terminal Emulation

Fixes alignment of the mouse coordinates when the viewport is scrolled for all events, not just mouse button pressed event. (#11290)

User Interface

Clear selection on paste (#11286) (thanks @serd2011!)

JSON Settings

Fix serialisation of findMatch action to persist the direction (#11233) (thanks @ianjoneill!)

Windows Terminal v1.10.2714.0

Bug Fixes

Accessibility

Resolves hang on launch for Windows Server 2022 (and similar client Windows versions) when tablet input keyboard is activated (#11312)

Reliability

Fix KeyChord constructor assertion failure during tab dragging (#11306)

Terminal Emulation

Fixes alignment of the mouse coordinates when the viewport is scrolled for all events, not just mouse button pressed event. (#11290)

User Interface

Clear selection on paste (#11286) (thanks @serd2011!)

JSON Settings

Fix serialisation of findMatch action to persist the direction (#11233) (thanks @ianjoneill!)

You can download Windows Terminal Preview here from Microsoft Store for free.

Preview and Stable versions of Windows Terminal get updated, here is what’s new

Firefox 93.0 release: here is what is new and changed

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:21:22 +0000

Firefox 93.0 will be released later today, if you are reading this on October 5, 2021. The new stable version of Mozilla's Firefox web browser is a feature update that includes security and stability fixes as well.

All other Firefox channels are updated around the same time. Firefox Developer and Beta versions are upgraded to version 94, Firefox Nightly to version 95, and Firefox for Android will also be updated to version 93.

The last Firefox 78.x ESR version is released today. Mozilla released Firefox 91.0 ESR in August, and it will become the only supported ESR channel when Firefox 94.0 is released next month.

You can check out Firefox 92.0 release information, in case you missed it or want to read it again.

Executive Summary

Firefox 78.15 ESR is the last release of the branch, and the only supported version of Firefox to support Adobe Flash and Mac OS X versions 10.11 and older.
Firefox supports the AVIF image format by default
WebRender should be enabled on all systems now.
Firefox 92.0 includes security updates.

Firefox 93.0 download and update

Firefox installations will be updated automatically on most systems, as Firefox checks for updates automatically in intervals to download new updates automatically.

To check the installed version, go to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Note that this will also run a manual check for updates and will install new versions that are found during the scan.

Manual downloads are also available. The following pages list direct downloads for supported Firefox channels.

New features and improvements

AVIF format support is enabled by default

Mozilla planned to enable AVIF support in Firefox 92, but postponed the release. AVIF support is enabled by default in Firefox 93. It is an open format that offers "excellent compression" and has no patent restrictions.

The Firefox implementation supports still images, "with colorspace support for both full and limited range colors, and image transforms for mirroring and rotation", but no animated images.

Tip: open this test site in your browser to see if it supports AVIF.

Unload tabs on Windows when memory is critically low

Firefox includes a new tab unloading feature on Windows. It is an automated feature that will unload tabs if available "system memory is critically low".

Tabs are unloaded based on last access time, memory usage and other attributes.

Mozilla hopes that the feature will reduce the number of memory-related crashes that users of Firefox experience.

See our full coverage of Firefox's new tab unloading feature here..

Insecure downloads are blocked by default

Firefox blocks insecure downloads by default now (non-secure downloads on secure webpages).

The preference dom.block_download_insecure can be toggled to allow insecure downloads again, by setting it to False.

Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
Confirm that you will be careful if the warning prompt is displayed.
Search for dom.block_download_insecure.
Set the preference to FALSE.

See our full coverage of the new insecure downloads blocking feature of Firefox here.

Firefox 93.0 release: here is what is new and changed

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 issues with VirtualBox, Intel Killer

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 23:17:19 +0000

Right after officially releasing Windows 11, Microsoft has added three know issues to the Windows 11 12H2 release health dashboard.

Microsoft has released Windows 11 worldwide yesterday and is now rolling it out via Windows Update to new Windows 10 devices and those pre-loaded with Windows 11.

Windows 10 users can now upgrade to Windows 11 via Windows Update as long as their computers come with compatible hardware. Devices also need to run Windows 10 2004 and later and have installed at least the September 2021 updates.

Windows 11 incompatible with Oracle VirtualBox VMs

The company confirmed previous reports that the latest Windows version has compatibility issues with the Oracle VirtualBox virtualization software where customers might be unable to start their Virtual machines (VMs) and might receive an error.

"Microsoft and Oracle have found a compatibility issue between VirtualBox and Windows 11, when Hyper-V or Windows Hypervisor is installed," Redmond explained.

Microsoft has applied a compatibility hold to safeguard the users' experience, blocking impacted devices from being offered or installing Windows 11.

Customers who try to update affected systems will receive the "VirtualBox. Your PC requires the latest version of this app. Click Learn More for more information on how to update this app." message.

Oracle is currently working on resolving this known issue with an estimated release date for a compatible VirtualBox version later this month.

While Oracle is fixing the issue, Microsoft has provided a workaround to enable impacted customers to mitigate the safeguard hold.

"You will need to remove Hyper-V or Windows Hypervisor until this issue is resolved with an update Oracle plans to release in October 2021," the company said.

"You can check Oracle's progress by monitoring their ticket #20536. If you are no longer using VirtualBox, uninstalling it should also mitigate the safeguard. Please note, if there are no other safeguards that affect your device, it can take up to 48 hours before the upgrade to Windows 11 is offered."

Intel 'Killer' networking software and Cốc Cốc browser issues

Microsoft has also found Windows 11 compatibility issues with the Intel "Killer" networking software and the Cốc Cốc browser.

The incompatible Intel networking software can lead to slower streaming and site loading due to User Datagram Protocol (UDP) performance issues caused by dropped UDP packets under certain conditions.

Cốc Cốc browser users might also be unable to open sites and encounter other issues or errors on some affected Windows 11 devices.

Microsoft has applied an additional compatibility hold on devices running Cốc Cốc browser to prevent Windows 11 upgrades that could degrade the user experience.

Microsoft is currently investigating and working on finding a solution for these Windows 11 known issues, with an update addressing them to be released with the October Patch Tuesday.

For all these issues, Redmond recommends that you not attempt to manually upgrade via the Update now button or use the Media Creation Tool until a fix is available.

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 issues with VirtualBox, Intel Killer

How to download the latest Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has officially released Windows 11 and ISO images that allow you to create bootable media to perform clean installs of the operating system and troubleshoot bugs and problems.

If you are not familiar with ISO images, they are a sector-by-sector copy of a DVD into a disk image file that you can save on your computer. These ISO images can then be used to create bootable media, such as a bootable USB drive, or mounted directly as a drive letter in Windows.

How to download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft

Now that Windows 11 is released, Microsoft has also made an ISO image available to download.

To download the latest Windows 11 ISO, follow these steps:

Go to Download Windows 11 page in your favorite web browser.
When the website opens, scroll down until you see 'Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO),' and then select 'Windows 11,' and click on 'Download.'
You will now be prompted to select your language. When you have chosen the language you want to use, click on the 'Confirm' button.
The site will now show you a 64-bit Download button, which opens your generated download link. This link is only valid for 24 hours.

Click on this button to download the Windows 11 ISO.

Windows 11 download link
When the download is complete, you can close the web browser.

What should you do with the ISO?

Now that you have a Windows 11 ISO, you can use it to perform a clean Windows 11 install on a new device, as backup bootable media, or a bootable device to enter the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot issues with your computer.

When installing Windows 11, you must have a valid Windows 10 product key. For Windows 7 users, you will not be able to use the media to perform an upgrade but rather do a clean install instead.

To create a bootable Windows 11 USB drive, you will need at least a 16GB flash drive, while 32GB is recommended to store other files or programs you may want in your recovery environment.

If you do not have a spare USB drive, you can purchase a 32GB Sandisk drive for about $8.99 or a 5-pack of 64GB USB drives for $27 on Amazon.

You can then create a bootable USB drive from the ISO and use it to install the operating system.

As previously said, the bootable USB drive is also excellent for troubleshooting tasks, such as removing malware, deleting a stubborn file, removing problematic Windows updates, or diagnosing why Windows 11 no longer boots.

Windows 11 recovery environment

It is suggested that all users create new bootable media from the Windows 11 ISOs as new versions are released.

How to download the latest Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft

Microsoft's problem child, Windows 11, is here. Will you run it? Can you run it? Do you even WANT to run it?

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 13:34:13 +0000

Hardware compatibility, testing fury... though under the hood there are things to like

Microsoft has launched a new operating system today, but whether you'll be able to run it is open to question. As is if you'll want to run it.

The Redmond-based Windows flinger has a problematic history with Windows releases. The century opened with Windows XP, shipped in 2001, which seemed OK. Then came Vista, in 2007, which was not. Then Windows 7 turned up in '09 to undo the Vista badness. And yeah, the users were happy. Right up until the monstrosity of Windows 8 was released (only partially rectified in Windows 8.1).

As of yesterday there was Windows 10, which has evolved into a pretty good platform over the years.

The pattern is clear. For every decent release there must be a duffer. And Windows 11 is not on the right side of things.

Windows Insiders have had a copy of the operating system to play with for a while and although some of the GUI decisions might cause the bile of the faithful to rise (new Start Menu, anyone?) the change from 10 to 11 is nowhere near as painfully loud as the clanger Microsoft dropped with Windows 8.

However, all is not well in the world of Windows, despite the relentlessly perky expulsions from Microsoft's social media orifices.

We fear that some gamers might disagree. PC Gamer put the OS through its paces (in pre-release form) and found a drop in average frame rate of up to 28 per cent thanks to the enablement of Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) on new kit. VBS should improve security (and is an option in Windows 10) but the penalty for gamers already forced to buy new hardware might be too much to bear.

What great timing as world+dog struggles to source components

It is difficult to discuss Windows 11 without addressing the silicon elephant in the corner: Microsoft's OEM-delighting decision to keep the hardware upgrade gravy train rolling just a little longer by taking an axe to Intel Core CPUs prior to the eighth generation (unless it happens to be a seventh-generation CPU that Microsoft uses in its own kit).

Another of the company's orifices attempted to clarify the hardware requirements, which look at first sight to be minimal. 4GB of RAM and 1GHz CPU? What is all the fuss about?

Sadly, while TPM version 2.0 was listed, a key fact was omitted. A PC using Intel silicon from a family dating back four or more years probably wouldn't work for reasons of reliability, security or compatibility.

A worthy argument, but this was slightly undermined when Microsoft hurriedly added the Surface Studio 2's Intel Core i7-7820HQ as well as an all-too-short list of other older Intel silicon.

Testy testers

And then there is the shoddy treatment dispensed to the company's loyal band of Windows Insiders. First through the hardware compatibility list and then with the company's maybe-maybe-not approach to virtual machines (VMs) – upon which many testers place the company's wares for validation. Having initially said VMs would not be subject to the same requirements, the company performed a reverse-ferret in its Dev Channel and said actually they were.

A cynic might wonder if it is payback for not shouting quite loudly enough prior to the company unleashing the file-munching Windows 10 October 2018 update.

And so it is into this furore that Windows 11 has emerged, its rounded corners satisfying fans who looked longingly at their Mac-owning chums' desktops while going strangely quiet about legacy hardware support and having to choke down some of the stranger user interface decisions (the trimming of the context menus and shunting of the Copy option to an icon springs effortlessly to mind).

Sure, not all of the promised toys have turned up (Android support) but over-promising and under-delivering have long been a thing where Windows is concerned. After all, Windows Insiders are unlikely to have forgotten the much-trumpeted and quietly culled "Sets" feature of Windows 10, nor the big dreams and grim reality of the Windows Insider programme itself as Microsoft struggled to decide how to test its Windows platform (before opting to, well, kind of not do it at all).

A slew of broken patches, and administration pain has accompanied the Windows platform while Microsoft appears to have remained deaf to the cries of anguish. You didn't really want to print anything anyway, did you? Look at those rounded corners in the new version!

There are some positives – this could have all been so different

It's a shame, because under the hood there are things to like. Windows 11 is subjectively snappier than Windows 10 (in our opinion) despite the updated GUI being mostly lipstick applied to the porker.

The changes to the Start Menu and Taskbar might annoy some (as well as a perceived shedding of power-user features, but won't overly bother others, and for most just require a bit of retrained muscle memory. Some features, such as the Windows Subsystem for Linux, can already be found in Windows 10, while others – Android app support, for example – have slipped quietly into the future. But they are on the way, according to Microsoft.

However, the infamously appalling communication skills of the Windows machine could well have put paid to a warm reception for Windows 11 from any but the company's most ardent apologists... and the sellers of new laptops.

The minimum hardware requirements represent an own-goal of impressive proportions, particularly when Windows 10 will continue to be supported for another five years, and Windows 11 was demonstrated running quite happily on non-sanctioned kit. There is a certain irony that only one of this hack's Intel-based Windows 10 PCs will accept it without tinkering, while an M1 Mac running Parallels Desktop 17.0.1 appears to have no such difficulty.

Unlike certain other vendors of locked-in ecosystems, Microsoft used to be about letting their users choose their own kit.

No more, it seems.

Despite a Microsoft drone insisting the OS was "Available on the Widest Array of Choice in Devices," the experience of users tells a different tale. And forcing users to ditch perfectly serviceable kit in order to run Windows 11 does not sit well with Microsoft's professed eco-warrior credentials or the wallets of customers faced with the requirement for new hardware amid an IC shortage.

Windows 11 is here. Perhaps it is time to consider the alternatives. ®

Source

Microsoft has officially released Windows 11 in the stable branch

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 07:56:00 +0000

Windows 11 is now officially available for download, as announced by Microsoft on its blog. Despite the fact that in the United States it is still October 4, the company decided to release a new operating system early, because in a number of countries is already October 5. Thus, if you recently purchased a computer based on Windows 10, then you can now upgrade to Windows 11.

Microsoft notes that the upgrade to Windows 11 will roll out gradually. First of all, the system will receive new devices, and then the company will start releasing an update for the rest of the supported PCs. The update distribution process is expected to complete by mid-2022.

This means some users will have to wait until early 2022. And many will not get a new system at all, as Microsoft changed the minimum hardware requirements, which made a large number of devices incompatible with Windows 11. However, there are unofficial ways to bypass restrictions.

By the way, on October 4, 2021, the 24-month lifecycle of Windows 11 Home and Pro editions also began.

As you may already know, the key difference between Windows 11 and Windows 10 is a completely new user interface. It looks beautiful, smooth and friendly.

There is a new Start menu, new Settings, new File Explorer. The user interface comes with rounder corners, bright colors and new icons everywhere.

Microsoft has also updated some of the built-in apps, including Paint, the Photos app, and Alarms and Clock.

So, should you upgrade to Windows 11 right now? Well, maybe it is not the best idea. It still lacks some features; the interface is not finished and still has usability flaws. Anyway, Windows 11 starts a new era of the modernization of the operating system. Of course, there is still a room for improvements, but the step in the right direction has been taken.

Most of the updated user interface features are separated from the system and are part of the Windows Feature Experience Pack. Microsoft can update this package with monthly cumulative updates, bringing more fixes and new options to the user. Besides, Windows 11 will receive major updates once a year in the fall, and not twice a year as it was set for Windows 10.

Right now, you can safely stay on Windows 10. It will be possible to switch to Windows 11 later this year, or even in 2022. Perhaps by this time Microsoft will fix all the major issues and minor bugs in the OS.

Source

Wayland Support Plan for Firefox

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 01:46:40 +0000

Martin Stransky, the Firefox package maintainer for Fedora and RHEL, who is responsible for porting Firefox for Wayland, has published a report summarizing the latest advances in Firefox in Wayland environments.

In the coming releases of Firefox, it is planned to address the issues observed in builds for Wayland with the clipboard and popup handling . These features could not be immediately implemented due to differences in the approach to their implementation in X11 and Wayland. In the first case, difficulties arose due to the operation of the Wayland clipboard in asynchronous mode, which required the creation of a separate layer to abstract access to the Wayland clipboard. The specified layer will be added to Firefox 93 and enabled by default in Firefox 94.

With regard to pop-up dialogs, the main difficulty was that Wayland requires adherence to a strict hierarchy of pop-ups, those. the parent window can create a child window with a popup, but the next popup initiated from this window must bind to the original child window, forming a chain. In Firefox, each window could spawn multiple popups that did not form a hierarchy. The problem was that when using Wayland, closing one of the pop-ups requires rebuilding the entire chain of windows with other pop-ups, while the presence of several open pop-ups is not uncommon, since pop-ups are implemented as pop-up menus. prompts, add-on dialogs, permission requests, etc. The situation was also compounded by flaws in Wayland and GTK , where small changes could lead to various regressions. However, the pop-up handling code for Wayland has been tweaked and is planned for inclusion in Firefox 94.

Other Wayland-related improvements mentioned include the addition of 93 to Firefox changes DPI scaling to eliminate flicker when moving the window to the edge of the screen in multi-monitor configurations. In Firefox 95, it is planned to deal with the problems that arise when using the drag & drop interface, for example, when copying files from external sources to local file systems and when moving tabs.

With the release of Firefox 96, the Firefox port for Wayland will be brought to overall parity in functionality with the X11 build, at least when running on the GNOME Fedora environment. After that, the attention of developers will be switched to honing the work in the Wayland environments of the GPU process, in which the code for interacting with graphics adapters is taken out and which protects the main browser process from crashing in the event of driver failures. It is also planned to bring code to the GPU process for decoding video using VAAPI, which is currently being launched in content processing processes.

Additionally, we can note the inclusion for a small percentage of users of the stable branches of Firefox, the regime of strict isolation of sites , developed within the framework of the Fission project. Unlike the arbitrary distribution of tab processing across the available process pool for content processing (8 by default), which has been used so far, the isolation string mode brings the processing of each site into its own separate process with division not by tabs, but by domains ( Public Suffix ), which allows you to further isolate the content of external scripts and iframes. Fission mode activation is controlled through the “fission.autostart = true” variable in about: config or on the about: preferences # experimental page.

Strong isolation mode protects against side-channel attacks, such as those associated with Specter class vulnerabilities, as well as reduces memory fragmentation, returns memory to the operating system more efficiently, minimizes the impact of garbage collection and computation intensive on pages in other processes, and improves load balancing efficiency. different CPU cores and improves stability (the crash of the process that processes the iframe will not pull the main site and other tabs along with it).

Among the known issues that occur when using the lockdown, there is a marked increase in memory consumption, connections X11 and file deskriptrov at the opening of a large number of tabs, as well as the disruption of some supplements, loss of the contents of iframe print and calling screenshot recording function, decrease the effectiveness of caching of documents with iframe, loss of content of filled but not submitted forms when recovering session after crash.

Other changes in Firefox include the completion of the migration to the localization system Fluent , an improvement in High Contrast Mode, the addition of the ability to in about: processes, record process performance profiles in one click and the removal of the setting to revert to the pre-Firefox 89 style new tab page layout. …

Source

Windows 11 review: Aesthetics over functionality

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 23:45:48 +0000

Despite announcing Windows 11 availibility on October 5, Microsoft has pulled the trigger on the staggered rollout as it becomes October 5 around the world, so the general rollout of Windows 11 is starting today October 4 in North America. The OS will be flighted in a staggered manner to eligible users automatically via Windows Update.If you are on a supported machine and are eager to the receive the update, you should head over to Windows Update and manually check to see if you can trigger the update. If it doesn't become available, it's likely that you are not included in the initial subset of users that the OS is being seeded to. Since the OS is being rolled out in a staggered manner, it means that you'll eventually get the update. However, if you simply can't wait, you might want to check out how to upgrade to Windows 11 right now.

Windows 11 was officially announced on June 24 and is the successor to Windows 10, which was formally unveiled in September 2014. It is available as a free and optional update for those on supported Windows 10. This time, Microsoft has been really strict with system requirements (you can check out more details here) and while unsupported machines can still upgrade to the OS, they will have to sign a waiver confirming that they will not be entitled to updates. If you're unsure about whether your PC is eligible for Windows 11, you should probably check out Microsoft's PC Health Check app, which can quickly tell you the status of your machine. It is important to remember that even if your PC doesn't qualify for the free upgrade, you're not being left out in the cold. Windows 10 is supported until October 2025, and you will receive version 21H2 of the OS soon as well. That said, if you were really looking forward to updating to Windows 11 but don't want to do so in an unsupported state, you'll likely be left with a bad taste in your mouth.

We have been discussing Windows 11 for quite some time now and taking a Closer Look at some of its standout features and enhancements. However, with the OS now generally available, we feel like it's time to compile our thoughts in a comprehensive manner and see how the individual pieces come together. Let's begin!

Start menu

The Start menu has received a major overhaul with this release of Windows. Gone are the Live Tiles that were a design staple since Windows 8, and in come pinned apps that will be more familiar to users of smartphone devices. I personally never used Live Tiles that much and will likely never utilize Pinned apps either. But people who leveraged the Start menu in Windows 10 quite a lot will be disappointed that Microsoft has taken away some useful features such the ability to group apps, which essentially means that you have a lot more scrolling to do if you want to find a specific app. I can't help but feel that this is a design oversight on Microsoft's part, especially considering there's no workaround.

While recommended files are displayed in the bottom half of the Start menu, Microsoft thankfully does allow you to disable this, which I think is great in terms of privacy. In today's hybrid world, if I'm sharing my entire screen, I don't want my files to be visible to the audience each time I click on the Start menu.

Meanwhile, the Search experience in Windows 11 is a bit of an odd duck. When I initially had a look at it a few months ago, I noted how the search bar in the Start menu is closely coupled with the dedicated Search button. In fact, it was so closely related that if you click the search bar at the top of the Start menu, it closes the Start menu and opens the dedicated Search UI, which is a very jarring experience. You would hope that Microsoft would have fixed this by the time of Windows 11's general availability, but unfortunately, this is not the case. While Search seems to offer relevant local results in my use-case, I find it simply ludicrous that Microsoft is shipping Start menu in its current stuttering state when it comes to integration with the Start menu. This is not a good look for the OS, especially considering that the Start menu is used by tons of people.

Taskbar

The Taskbar in Windows 11 is probably the most controversial feature of the OS. That is because Microsoft has taken a bunch of features away and practically added nothing back in the name of "simplification". If you used to right-click on the Taskbar and open the Task Manager from the corresponding context menu, too bad, you're out of luck. The Windows 11 Taskbar does not have a proper context menu.

Then there's the problem of its placement. The Taskbar is centered by default and while you can align the items on it to the left, you can't change the location of the taskbar. Although I always position my Taskbar at the bottom, I absolutely understand why some people are furious that Microsoft has taken away this capability.

And that's not even all the company has taken away. You can't even drag-and-drop apps on the Taskbar to pin them. You can't view the date and time on multiple monitors. The system clock does not show time to the accuracy of seconds anymore. You can't make items smaller. The list goes on and on.

The apparent reason for these drastic changes is that the Taskbar is actually something that was borrowed from the now-defunct Windows 10X, a simplified OS that was being designed for dual-screen devices. This simplification results in a modern aesthetic that is arguably nice to look at in Windows 11, but it fundamentally cripples the functionality of a UI element that is very important, especially for power users.

Closer Look: Taskbar in Windows 11

Widgets

Widgets are a mixed bag for me in Windows 11. Microsoft gave us a taste of widgets in the Taskbar with the "News and Interests" functionality at the start of the year. For some reason, it decided to do a u-turn on this stance in Windows 11 and you'll no longer find that information directly in the Taskbar. Instead, there is a dedicated button for Widgets in the Taskbar.

Clicking on it opens up a set of widgets where you will find information related to weather, stock prices, news, and more. It also integrates with Microsoft To Do, Outlook Calendar, and OneDrive albums so there is a lot of opportunity for personalization here. You can also further customize what categories of news you are interested in. Alternatively, if you're not interested in Widgets at all, you can simply remove the Widgets icon from the Taskbar via Windows Settings.

I don't have major complaints against the implementation of Widgets in Windows 11 and I do find myself using it sparingly. However, it takes up a lot of screen real estate. It occupies roughly 40% of the horizontal width on my 15.6-inch laptop display with a resolution of 1920x1080. Clicking on any other UI element closes the Widgets pane. This essentially means that there is no room for multitasking. Either you have Widgets open or you continue with other tasks, there is no way to have them both open side by side, where I can maybe scroll through the news on the side while browsing social media. I feel like Microsoft can further enhance the UI behavior to make it more useful for those who want to benefit from the capability.

Closer Look: Widgets in Windows 11

File Explorer

The File Explorer in Windows 11 has received a redesign too. Notable changes include some fresh icons that I personally really like, and a ribbon UI that replaces the legacy toolbar interface provided by previous versions of File Explorer. I have no complaints against either of these things since I have been able to find what I want quite easily. Most of the settings in the toolbar have been moved to the three-dotted menu. However, the emphasis on ribbon icons instead of the usual text in toolbar makes the job of support desks relatively difficult, and it also means that people have to familiarize themselves with a new interface, especially if they don't use shortcuts.

There is a new context menu too, but this is more of an OS-wide change rather than something that is dedicated to File Explorer, so I'll discuss it more in the "UI" section of this review.

While I like the overall UI redesign, I have started noticing some performance issues when it comes to my day-to-day use of File Explorer in Windows 11. This is especially prominent when I'm choosing a download location for a File and the icons take a second to load. It's not a deal-breaker but it is definitely noticeable. I have no such issues in File Explorer on Windows 10. Other Neowin readers have noted the problem too, so the issue is definitely not isolated and will be noticed by other people who upgrade to Windows 11 too.

Closer Look: File Explorer in Windows 11

Multitasking

Multitasking is a very broad area when it comes to the OS level, so I'll only be focusing on major improvements in this area rather than each and every detail. Starting off with probably my most favorite Windows 11 feature, we have Snap Layouts and Snap Groups (collectively, Snap Assist). This is something that the OS has borrowed from PowerToys in Windows 10, and enables users to quickly snap windows to different areas on the screen. Screen locations are presented when you hover over the "window" icon of a window. Although the functionality has been available in previous versions of the OS using shortcuts too, this new interface really makes things a lot easier and brings other advantages in the form of Snap Groups too. These are essentially collections of apps in a Snap Layout that you can open or close with a single click. I find that Snap Layouts and Snap Groups have really increased my productivity thanks to their ease-of-use.

Similarly, Virtual Desktops have received some nifty improvements too. The most obvious one is a clean UI because Timeline has been axed. Other enhancements include the ability to set different backgrounds for Virtual Desktops, and the ability to efficiently move them using the context menu. This is not groundbreaking stuff, but all these small improvements make for a much more satisfying experience overall.

Meanwhile, the Quick settings are a bit of a mixed bag. Microsoft has done away with the Action Center and split quick settings and notifications into their own separate trays. This isn't a bad thing in my opinion as it means that less screen space is taken up. What really bothers me here is the odd coupling of the system icons on the Taskbar. If you click on any of these icons, you have to see all the Quick settings rather than the relevant ones. It isn't a deal-breaker but it's an odd design decision because it means that you might have to visually sift through all the settings before you find the relevant one, until you familiarize yourself with the new interface, at least. I really hope Microsoft changes this behavior in future iterations of the OS.

User Interface

Although we have indirectly talked about UI a lot when discussing specific features above, I think it's worth discussing it separately too, particularly due to the fact that some UI changes are OS-wide. These are primarily rounded corners and updated context menus.

Rounded corners are a minor but noticeable change that you'll notice when you upgrade to Windows 11. Instead of having sharp corners across windows and context menus, you'll notice that a lot of OS component and apps have been updated to have rounded corners. In my opinion, they are pleasant to look at and do not detract from the core experience of using Windows. Some may not like them but I think everyone will get used to them eventually, which isn't a bad thing.

Context menus is yet another element which has received a major revamp. Context menus now support a ribbon at the top for common functionalities, similar to File Explorer, while other options are neatly grouped below them. However, one thing of note is that some options that contain third-party apps integrating directly with certain file types will not be immediately visible. They are tucked away in the "More options" configuration which will open the legacy context menu. Simply stated, this not the final behavior. Microsoft hopes that developers update their integration mechanism to be shown in Windows 11's updated context menu, but until they do that, they will have to reside in the legacy context menu which is not immediately visible. While I agree with the overall approach, the potential drawback is that many developers may simply refuse to update their apps or may have already abandoned them, so there's absolutely no guarantee that you will see all third-party integrations in the Windows 11 context menu ever.

There are other smaller UI improvements too. This includes updated icons and design language across the OS as well as certain Microsoft apps like Clock, Photos, Snipping Tool, and Paint. But this is more of a work in progress and we'll likely see more improvements being made in this area with the passage of time. The modern UI seems to a strong focus in Windows 11, but more work needs to be done to make it consistent across the entire OS.

Microsoft Teams Integration

Ah, probably one of the most unnecessary features in Windows 11, in my opinion. Microsoft is positioning Teams as a brand for consumers and is integrating it directly into its new OS. It can be accessed directly from the Chat icon in the Taskbar. The idea is to make Teams the FaceTime of Windows 11, something that the company has failed miserably at with Skype.

Right now, Teams integrations offers a flyout UI directly above the taskbar when you launch it, and from there, you can communicate online with your friends and family. While there isn't anything inherently wrong with this approach, the issue is that there is no strong selling point for the feature. Most people have better alternatives at hand for online communication and the only possible selling point I see for this over other alternatives for personal online communication apps such as WhatsApp is the ability to quickly share your PC screen. In the 25 years that I have spent on this Earth, I have personally never come across this use-case.

Then there are other issues with this Teams integration too. Chat windows do not support Snap Layouts - even though it's an OS-level functionality -, the context menus are barebones, the UI is unintuitive, and frankly, quite buggy.

Simply stated, Microsoft really wants to utilize Teams for personal communication, likely banking on its success in the enterprise space, but right now, there just isn't a strong enough selling point for people to move en masse to Teams for online communication.

Closer Look: Microsoft Teams integration in Windows 11

Microsoft Store

The Microsoft Store redesign in Windows 11 is coming to Windows 10 too, but since this is something that Microsoft worked on with Windows 11 in mind, it makes sense to discuss it in the OS' overall review as well.

The digital store has been overhauled pretty much end-to-end in an effort helmed by Rudy Huyn, a stellar developer who worked on third-party clients for Windows Phone when prominent developers such as those behind Instagram and Snapchat refused to support the platform.

The app has been seemingly built from the ground-up with a brand new experience across every page that you visit including search, individual listings, library, settings, and more. There are some nifty effects and animations too when you interact with certain UI elements, space utilization is much better, and I have genuinely enjoyed my time with the app. Make no mistake, it's not perfect, but I feel like Microsoft is on the right track here in terms of design and I can see things only improving from here.

Microsoft has made the pot even sweeter for developers by opening the Microsoft Store to competing browsers and other storefronts like the Epic Games Store. It accepts all applications too, regardless of the framework or technology used to develop them. This essentially means that developers can publish Win32, .NET, UWP, Xamarin, Electron, React Native, Java, and Progressive Web Apps directly to the storefront, and will be responsible for its update mechanism. Coupled with developer-friendly policies related to revenue-sharing, I think the Microsoft Store can become a major player in the app distribution front.

The only major issue worth highlighting is the lack of Android app support, which isn't really a flaw of the Microsoft Store, but is closely related. Microsoft touted it heavily when it announced Windows 11, but since then, we have learned that the feature - made possible due to a partnership with Amazon - is not coming on October 5 after all, which is a major bummer. Unfortunately, there is no firm release date for the capability and it's not even available in the Windows Insider Preview channels, so it could be days, weeks, months, or years away from general availability, who knows. But overall, it's not a good look, especially considering the hype surrounding it.

Closer Look: Microsoft Store in Windows 11

Default apps settings

While I didn't plan to write about this initially due to the fact that it's not really a feature, I was skimming through my Closer Look articles, and realized that people simply have to know about this especially because of the potential headache that it is going to cause them and because it's straight up anti-competitive.

Windows 10 offered a way to quickly set the default app for particular categories such as Email, Maps, Music player, Photo viewer, Video player, and Web browser. This is completely gone in Windows 11. Now, Microsoft wants you to manually set the default app for each extension protocol. If you want to change your default browser from Microsoft Edge to Google Chrome, you'll have to painstakingly set it as such for each file type and extension.

Apart from being a headache for consumers, it's also blatantly anti-competitive. There's no other way to say it. The move has faced massive backlash from competitors and Mozilla has even reverse-engineered Microsoft's code to quickly change the default browser to Firefox for all relevant extension types. It's just unacceptable and developers are already building tools that forces Windows to bypass default apps, just because the OS does not really respect user preferences in a lot of cases.

People who upgrade to Windows 11 and utilize a lot of third-party apps for certain file types need to be aware of this caveat, especially since it affects the end-user experience in a notable way.

Closer Look: Default apps settings in Windows 11

Conclusion

Before I properly kick off the final section of my review of Windows 11, I would like to highlight that my final score (verdict badge at the end) is not the average of the aforementioned features. If that was the case, my final rating would be 6.05/10, which it is not. That is because I believe that an OS is more than the sum (or in this case, the average) of its individual parts. It's more about how all those different pieces come together to provide an overall experience.

Simply stated, I really, really wanted to like Windows 11. You can gather from everything I've said above as well as my dedicated Closer Look articles, that I love the modern UI design as well as specific features like Snap Assist, the Microsoft Store, and other multitasking enhancements.

However, there are some things that I just can't ignore. Glaring examples of this is the half-baked and shoehorned implementation of Microsoft Teams, the awful Taskbar, and the default apps settings.

I fully understand that a lot of these things will improve with time, but I just can't help but feel that Microsoft rushed to meet some deadline that we don't know about yet. You can't just make a big deal out of Android app support when you unveil the OS on June 24 and then randomly decide that you're not going to make it available with general release on October 5.

Then there's the problem of missing functionality too. Microsoft, you shouldn't need Windows Insiders to tell you that they don't want to sacrifice functionality for the sake of simplicity. And even if that was the case and the company absolutely needed your input on each and every feature, it's not like the Feedback Hub already doesn't have hundreds of highly-upvoted bug reports and feature requests. It's just absurd that we are getting a "simplified" taskbar that barely functions and a Start menu whose search functionality stutters majorly. Microsoft may treat Windows Insiders like glorified software testers, but they shouldn't be shown disrespect in the form of ignored feedback for even the most basic of functionalities. Given the misses in this OS and half-baked implementation of a bunch of features, one has to wonder whether Insider feedback is even taken into account at all.

Don't get me wrong, there is stuff to like here. As I've stated multiple times, I really like the modern UI, aesthetics, icons. I don't even have a problem with the bottom-centered taskbar or the divisive Start menu, but people really need to be given more options when they're using something as big as an OS. You can't just remove functionalities left and right in the name of simplification and expect everyone to sit quietly.

All in all, the problem with Windows 11 right now is that with the absence of a standout feature like Android apps support, it just feels like a re-skin of Windows 10 and nothing more. The re-skin is nice but is it something that you should upgrade to as soon as possible? Not at all. Windows 11 has a bunch of right ideas but it needed more time in the oven, I don't understand why Microsoft decided to rush an OS update which doesn't even have all of its marketed features yet. And even the included features lack lots of functionality.

Unfortunately, Windows 11 is just another entry in Microsoft's book of "ship first, fix later". It's not bad, but it's not great right now either. There's tons of potential here; simplification of UI isn't a terrible idea but having it there in a half-baked manner doesn't really make for an enticing user experience. Windows 11 will undoubtedly get better with time, but did we really need an OS update before the basic functionalities were complete? I don't think so. Right now, Windows 11 is little more than a glorified re-skin. There's more form here than substance. That isn't to say that the OS will never be truly great, it just wasn't ready for primetime yet, in this reviewer's opinion.

Windows 11 review: Aesthetics over functionality

Here are the known issues in the first Windows 11 public release

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 23:35:52 +0000

Microsoft today began rolling out the first-ever version of Windows 11 to the public. The OS is being rolled out in a staggered fashion to ensure that only a select group of new devices running supported hardware receive the update, with more devices eventually being served the OS as and when the Redmond firm gathers more information. However, while the OS brings a ton of new features and improvements, it does ship with a few known issues.

There are three known issues listed today, two of which are blocking bugs, meaning that the firm will be putting in place compatibility holds to safeguard users from running into the issue were they to install the OS. The firm also advices users against forcing the upgrade using the assistant of the Media Creation tool so as to not face issues with the upgrade. Here are the three known issues listed by the firm:

Compatibility issues have been found between Oracle VirtualBox and Windows 11 (check here)
- You might be unable to start Virtual machines (VMs) and you might receive an error.
Compatibility issues with Intel “Killer” networking software and Windows 11 (check here)
- Internet speeds might be slower than expected on affected devices.
Compatibility issues have been found between Cốc Cốc browser and Windows 11 (check here)
- Cốc Cốc browser might not open on Windows 11

For users affected by the Oracle VirtualBox and Cốc Cốc browsers, Microsoft is putting in place safeguard blocks till the issues are resolved. The firm, however, does detail a workaround for the VirtualBox issue, which might help with removing the block. This involves removing Hyper-V or Windows Hypervisor to mitigate the issue. It is best for those that have not been served Windows 11 automatically to wait for these bugs to be fixes. The firm has been promising more bug fixes, especially those that have been made in the Dev channel.

Windows 11 will follow a staggered rollout, heading into mid-2022 to be fully available. As mentioned, users can always force the upgrade using other methods, but it's best to wait for bugs to be ironed out before opting for the upgrade. Additionally, as more devices begin receiving the update, more issues might be discovered and added to the list.

Our Windows 11 review is now up for those that are unaware of the features and improvements made in this major update. You can also check out our Closer Look series for a more detailed walkthrough of the specs.

Here are the known issues in the first Windows 11 public release

Windows 11 is released: What you need to know and new features

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 23:31:43 +0000

Microsoft has released Windows 11 worldwide, and it is now rolling it out via Windows Update on devices with compatible hardware and the latest updates.

In August, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 would be released on October 5th, 2021. While it may seem like they are rolling out the new operating system a day early, Microsoft is using a follow the sun approach to the release.

This approach means that Windows 11 is being released worldwide when October 5th first begins, such as New Zealand and Australia regions.

How to get Windows 11

Windows 10 users can upgrade to Windows 11 for free now via Windows Update as long as their device has compatible hardware. Devices will also need to run Windows 10 2004 and later and have installed at least the September 14th, 2021, updates.

"We will begin to offer the upgrade to eligible new devices first. Then, as with previous rollouts, we will study device health data and other signals to determine the pace at which Windows 11 is offered via Windows Update," explained Microsoft in a new help document.

To upgrade to Windows 11, simply open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and select Check for updates. If Windows 11 is available for your device, it will be offered as an optional update, as shown below.

Windows 11 is offered via Windows Update.

As with all Windows releases, if Microsoft detects a compatibility issue with a particular hardware component of your PC, they will place a safeguard hold to prevent the upgrade until it is resolved.

For users with older but compatible hardware, you may have to wait a bit before Windows Update offers the upgrade, as Microsoft is offering it first to devices with newer hardware.

If you wish to install it immediately, you can instead use the new "Installation Assistant" tool or the Media Creation Tool to perform an update immediately.

However, for users without a TPM 2.0 process, an older CPU, or other incompatible hardware, you will need to perform a few steps before installing it, and you may not receive security updates in the future.

For Enterprise admins, Microsoft has released Windows 11 deployment tools and made Windows 11 available via WSUS.

What's new in Windows 11!

Windows 11 comes with numerous changes, such as an overhauled user interface, start menu, taskbar, and new features and apps to enhance gaming and creativity.

By far, the most noticeable change is a redesigned Start Menu that is now centered on the Windows 11 taskbar by default but can be set to a left alignment if users wish.

New Windows 11 Start Menu

Other highlighted features include:

A new Widgets feature replaces News and Interests and gives you quick access to personalized news stories, weather forecasts, stock market information, etc.
A new Snap Layouts feature that lets you quickly arrange your open windows how you like them.
Microsoft Teams is now integrated directly within Windows 11, allowing you to chat with friends and colleagues easily.
DNS-over-HTTPS support brings encrypted DNS lookups for more privacy and to bypass censorship.
A new Microsoft Store
An optimized File Explorer interface.
An updated and more organized Settings interface.
Improved virtual desktops.
Enhanced HDR gaming support.

This version of Windows 11 does not include the Windows Subsystem for Android, allowing you to launch Android apps directly on your desktop. This feature is expected to be released later this year.

Windows 11 also marks the start of the 24-month lifecycle for the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11, with a 36-month life cycle for Enterprise and Education editions.

Windows 11 is filled with controversy

While Windows 11 comes with great new features and enhancements, it does come with its fair share of controversy.

After Microsoft announced the new operating system, they also said that a device would require a newer CPU, a TPM 2.0 security processor, and Secure Boot to upgrade to Windows 11.

As many devices with incompatible hardware run Windows 10 flawlessly, many felt that this was just Microsoft pushing people to purchase new hardware for no good reason.

Microsoft has pushed back, explaining that the newer CPUs provide a more reliable crash-free experience and that many of the operating system's security features are powered by TPM 2.0 processors.

Unfortunately, many of the features we have come to love in Windows 10, are for some reason, not available in Windows 11.

For example, you can no longer right-click on the Windows 11 taskbar to open a context menu to launch Task Manager, show the desktop, or access various settings.

New Windows 11 taskbar

Another missing feature that is quite annoying is the inability to ungroup open windows for the same application on the taskbar. For example, if you have numerous Notepad windows open, Windows 11 will only display one notepad in the taskbar, making it challenging to find the windows you want.

Finally, Windows 11 does not currently allow you to drag a file on an open taskbar icon to launch that file automatically within the app.

As Microsoft is aware that many people want these features back, if they are ones you cannot live without, you may want to hold off on upgrading for now.

However, if you want to install Windows 11 now, you can use tools like Start11 and StartAllBack (both cost $4.99) to restore all of these missing features.

Windows 11 is released: What you need to know and new features

Windows 11 build 22471 for the Dev channel brings more bug fixes

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 23:28:19 +0000

Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 build for the Dev channel, serving build 22471. As has been the case with these recent builds, there are no new features. There are, however, a bunch of bug fixes that the firm says will eventually make it to the version of Windows 11 releasing tomorrow. It is not clear when the fixes from the Dev channel will make it to the stable release since these fixes haven't headed to the Beta and Release Preview channels either.

Today's build comes from the rs_prerelase branch, which is not tied to any specific Windows 11 release. The build from the Dev channel will soon become more unstable as the firm begins adding new features and testing components that will be baked into the OS for later. For now, though, it's mainly fixes and improvements that are minor. What the Dev channel build still doesn't have is support for running Android apps.

With that out of the way, the fixes being made in this build bring improvements to the taskbar, File Explorer, windowing behavior, and more, which are always welcome improvements. Here is the complete list:

[Taskbar]

We fixed an underlying issue that was causing the Taskbar’s hidden icons flyout to have sharp corners instead of rounded corners sometimes.
Using the down arrow when interacting with the Desktops flyout’s context menu should now move focus down the menu instead of dismissing it.

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue that was making explorer.exe crash sometimes when closing File Explorer windows.

[Input]

Addressed an issue where voice typing might fail with an error message citing a network connection issue when that was not actually the cause of the failure.
If you’re using the touch keyboard in “Kana” key mode for the Japanese IME, the key labels will now correctly show the character that will be input when you’re holding Shift.
Mitigated a race condition that was causing textinputhost.exe to crash on launch sometimes.

[Windowing]

Typing wt from the Run dialog will now open Windows Terminal in the foreground instead of the background.
Addressed an issue that could lead to apps getting stuck in a minimized state after disconnecting an external monitor and resuming the system from sleep.

[Other]

Addressed a network issue for Insiders running certain traffic optimization software. This should lead to improved performance on websites utilizing HTTP/3.
Fixed and issue where some devices were failing to update to a newer build with error code 0xc1900101. If you are still experiencing this error code, please file a new piece of feedback in Feedback Hub.
Updated the “reboot needed” dialog for Windows Update to now say Windows 11. Please note that you will only see the results of this change when prompted to reboot for the next flight, as you need to be on a build with the change.
Fixed a DWM crash that could happen when enabling a contrast theme.
Corrected an issue for ARM64 PCs that could result in certain apps not responding to display language changes if they were installed prior to upgrading to Windows 11.
Addressed an issue where when explorer.exe is launched from an elevated process was using a lower memory priority, impacting the performance of all processes launched after it (Issue #55).

As usual, there are a bunch of known issues that users must be aware of. This is expected since these are pre-release builds that are in active development. Here is the complete list of 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 reports that Notification Center will get in a state in recent builds where it doesn’t launch. If you are impacted by this, restarting explorer.exe may resolve the issue for you.

[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.
Search panel might appear as black and not display any content below the search box.

[Widgets]

The widgets board may appear empty. To work around the issue, you can sign out and then sign back in again.
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Those running Release Preview and Beta channel builds might receive more fixes in the next few months before Microsoft moves those users to a newer branch of builds. However, select Windows 10 users running supported hardware will begin receiving Windows 11 as a free upgrade starting tomorrow. As the rollout is a staggered one, expect it to be measured and slow, which means that not many devices will see the update before the start of next year.

Windows 11 build 22471 for the Dev channel brings more bug fixes

Google commits $1M to new Linux Foundation open source security rewards program

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 15:16:37 +0000

Google has announced that it’s sponsoring a new open source security program hosted by the Linux Foundation. The Secure Open Source (SOS) Rewards pilot program provides financial incentives for developers working on security around critical open source projects.

Open source software plays an integral part of many critical infrastructure and national security systems, however recent data suggests that “upstream” attacks on open source software have increased in the past year as bad actors seek new ways to infiltrate the software supply chain.

Moreover, countless organizations — from government agencies to hospitals and corporations — have been hit by targeted software supply chain attacks, leading President Biden to issue an executive order outlining measures to combat it.

As such, Google recently unveiled a $10 billion five-year commitment to support President Biden’s plans to bolster U.S. cyber defenses, including a $100 million wedge to fund third-party foundations that support open source security. A few weeks back, Google revealed it was giving financial backing to the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund (OSTIF), with plans to initially sponsor security reviews in eight critical open source software projects. This latest announcement builds on that, with Google now committing $1 million to the SOS Rewards program.

Rewarding

Rewards can vary from $505 to $10,000 or more depending on the scope and significance of the project in terms of industry adoption and the potential impact the improvements will have.

While the SOS Rewards program does bear some similarities to a traditional bug bounty program, SOS Rewards is different in that it isn’t looking to reward specific project vulnerability discoveries and fixes — it’s about supporting “project-wide improvements and the implementation of open source security best practices,” according to the project’s FAQ section.

For now, only representatives from Google’s open source security team (GOSST) and the Linux Foundation will sit on the evaluating panel, though plans are afoot to extend membership to other organizations in the future.

Source

What if Chrome broke features of the web and Google forgot to tell anyone? Oh wait, that's exactly what happened

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 15:10:11 +0000

Browser monoculture bad

"Browser monoculture" is often bemoaned as a threat to the web. According to Statscounter, which tracks browser use, over 70 per cent of the market is made up of people using Google Chrome or another browser based on the underlying Chromium project.

What web advocates worry about when they say this is bad is that Google can effectively determine the future of the web by determining which features to support and which not to. That's a lot of power for a single company that also has an effective monopoly on search and advertising.

What would happen if Chrome decided to break fundamental features of the web and didn't even feel the need to tell anyone?

Well, we can answer that question because that's what Chrome did.

Earlier this year Chrome developers decided that the browser should no longer support JavaScript dialogs and alert windows when they're called by third-party iframes.

That means that if something is embedded from another website, let's say a YouTube video, Chrome wants to stop allowing that embedded content to call the JavaScript alert function, which opens a small alert window. Eventually Chrome aims to get rid of alert windows altogether.

So what happens when Chrome does this? At first nothing because it's just an obscure bug in a bug tracker that only Chromium developers read. Then a Chrome developer happens to mention it in passing on Twitter. That raises a riot of angry developers, in the face of which Chrome postpones the move until January 2022, when it will again try to remove the features and hope that this time no one notices.

You know what isn't happening here? No standards bodies are being consulted, no public discussion happens with other browser vendors (Mozilla still makes a web browser believe it or not). No, what happens is Google gets to do what it wants and the web breaks.

"Big company bad" is hardly news at this point, especially if the big company is Google, but there's more going on here than that and it's worth picking apart a little.

Discontinuing a feature is rare. Part of what's amazing about the web is that you can still go to the very first web page and view it in any browser. The web is the web in large part because of this high level of backwards compatibility. To their credit, browser makers have generally been very good about making sure changes don't break the web.

That said, change happens. Most browsers don't support the blink tag anymore. Try using applet or AppCache – both are gone. That is, they're gone from the official web standard. Individual browsers may still support them, but they are no longer valid HTML. Therein lies the key. This is exactly why we have standards bodies like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG).

These are the groups where decisions about what should and should not be part of HTML happen, and those decisions usually come after lengthy discussion and testing. The WHATWG FAQ even addresses how this process should work, calling it "a very tricky effort, involving the coordination among multiple implementations and extensive telemetry to quantify how many web pages would have their behavior changed."

Google, notorious for the amount of data it collects before making changes to its own web properties, has not, as far as we can tell, done any telemetry or have the slightest idea how many web pages would be affected by removing support for alert and dialog. Google just wants them gone so gone they are. That's a monopoly for you.

The WHATWG FAQ goes on to say that "when the feature is sufficiently insecure, harmful to users, or is used very rarely, this can be done. And once implementers have agreed to remove the feature from their browsers, we can work together to remove it from the standard."

Part of the problem is the lack of communication. When the developer community finds out Google is going to break a ton of websites through a tweet, you know communication has failed. But there was a follow-up tweet that's actually far more disturbing than the news of alert() disappearing.

The tweet comes from Chrome software engineer and manager Emily Stark, who is of course speaking for herself, not Chrome, but it seems safe to assume that this thinking is prevalent at Google. She writes: "Breaking changes happen often on the web, and as a developer it's good practice to test against early release channels of major browsers to learn about any compatibility issues upfront."

First, she is flat out wrong – breaking changes happen very rarely on the web and, as noted, there is a process for making sure they go smoothly and are worth the "cost" of breaking things. But second, and far more disturbing, is the notion that web developers should be continually testing their websites against early releases of major browsers.

That's actually why there are web standards – so developers don't have to do ridiculous things like continually test their websites to make sure they're still working. You build the site using the agreed-upon standard and it works as long as the web does. Full stop. That is the point in standards. That someone of considerable stature in the Chrome project would think otherwise should be a red flag.

Web developer and advocate Jeremy Keith points out something else that's wrong with this idea. "There was an unspoken assumption that the web is built by professional web developers," he writes. "That gave me a cold chill."

What's chilling about the assumption is just that, it's assumed. The idea that there might be someone sitting right now writing their first tentative lines of HTML so that they can launch a webpage dedicated to ostriches is not even considered.

What we are forced to assume in turn is that Chrome is built by the professional developers working for an ad agency with the primary goal of building a web browser that serves the needs of other professional developers working for the ad agency's prospective clients.

As Keith points out, this assumption that everyone is a professional fits the currently popular narrative of web development, which is that "web development has become more complex; so complex, in fact, that only an elite priesthood are capable of making websites today."

That is, as Keith puts it, "absolute bollocks."

I've been teaching people to build things on the web (in one form or another) for almost 20 years now, and you know what? It's no harder to write HTML now than it was 20 years ago. There's no more need for the supposed complexity of the modern web than there ever was. In fact, I think it's actually the opposite.

I find myself increasingly turned off by sites that are so obviously overengineered. I've started to notice the beautiful simplicity of an HTML page. Just the simple fact that it loads without a spinning circle makes it stand out on the web today.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the most common content on the web these days is that little spinning circle you see while you wait for simple text content to pass through several layers of unnecessary complexity before being seen.

The complexity of the modern web seems like the law of diminishing returns in action. Developers keep pouring on the JavaScript and we keeping getting... less of what we actually want.

That's not to say there isn't a time and place for complexity. Building turn-by-turn navigation with real-time map updates calls for some complex JavaScript and it's great that the modern web has the standards to make that possible. But not every webpage needs to be that. The web is not a place just for professional developers, it's a place anyone can build pretty darn near anything, and it certainly isn't a place where Chrome gets to dictate the tools we use or who can participate. The web is for everyone, not just developers.

Just a friendly reminder, Firefox is an excellent web browser. ®

Source

Closer Look: Microsoft Store in Windows 11

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 23:49:32 +0000

The starting date for Windows 11's staggered rollout is only a couple of days away, and hopefully, you've been following along to our in-depth coverage of the OS to find out what's new. We have also been discussing specific Windows 11 features in dedicated articles via our ongoing Closer Look series.

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, and the updated Clock app in Windows 11. Today, we'll be discussing the revamped Microsoft Store in Windows 11, that is actually coming to Windows 10 too.

For the purpose of this hands-on, we'll be taking a look at Windows 11 build 22000.194 that was released to the Beta Channel a couple of weeks ago versus a publicly available and up-to-date Windows 10 (version 21H1 build 19043.1237). While the OS is still under active development, given that we're nearing the launch date of Windows 11, it's a bit unlikely that the feature-set we talk about get massively revamped by the time of its general release.

The landing page for the Microsoft Store in Windows 10

As stated previously, the new Microsoft Store is coming to Windows 10 too, but since that has not happened yet, it makes sense to discuss the storefronts present in the two operating systems separately. Starting off with the launch experience, it's fairly straightforward. You get a landing page that shows you some highlighted apps in a carousel, but you can also shift between different categories using the pane at the top.

You can add a work or school account by clicking on the profile symbol on the top-right and use the three-dots menu next to it to access a variety of configurations such as Downloads and updates, Settings, Library, and Wish list, among other things.

The Settings page for Microsoft Store in Windows 10

Talking about specific options available via the three-dots menu, I must say that I'm not a fan because they waste too much space. A prominent example of this is the Settings menu shown in the screenshot above. You can't expect me to believe that this is really the most space-efficient way to show this information.

In the same vein, "Purchased" launches a webpage to show you all the apps that you have bought. I just don't understand why this information can't be presented inside the Microsoft Store app. It makes for a very jarring experience and I don't really like the fact that I have to sign in from my browser just to see the apps I have spent money on. The same thing happens when you click on "View account" or "Payment options". I'm not sure if this is due to some security reasons or something else, but overall, it just results in a bad user experience.

Search UI for Microsoft Store in Windows 10

In terms of the end-user experience, the search functionality is easy-to-use. You simply type in your search item, after which you'll (hopefully) be shown relevant results. You can use the filters at the top to further restrict results to different "departments" - which are essentially categories - or the type of device you are using. There is no context menu to install an app directly from the search results, you have to visit its dedicated store listing by clicking on it.

Listing in Microsoft Store for Windows 10

Talking about the dedicated store listing, most of the space is taken up just by a huge banner for the app, the app's description and rating, and a few other options such as Wish list, and Install. I've always found this to waste way too much space as you have to scroll down to view the actual reviews, detailed descriptions, screenshots, system requirements and more even though there is tons of wasted space at the top. It's a very inefficient UI.

I'm not a big fan of the download information shown too. Maybe this is just me, but I'm not used to being shown download speeds in Kb/s or Mb/s instead of KB/s or MB/s respectively. If an app's download size is 8MB, being provided the download speed in MB/s makes calculating and estimating the remaining time needed to download an app is much easier for me. Under the current implementation, I have to perform an intermediate step of converting Mb/s to MB/s before I can estimate how much time is remaining. It's just a personal grievance I have with the app, and I don't know if anyone else feels the same way.

Landing page for Microsoft Store in Windows 11

Coming over to the Microsoft Store in Windows 11, you'll notice that the landing page has been completely revamped. The carousel promoting highlighted apps is much more prominent and less cluttered. The categories pane at the top has been done away with, which doesn't bother me much because I typically relied on the search functionality to find the apps that I wanted anyway.

There are some very nice acrylic effects, transitions, and animations when your hover your cursor over certain UI elements such as the collections at the center of the screen or the "See details" button. The Microsoft Store's new design and development is being driven by Rudy Huyn, and the quality shows. Long-time fans may remember him as the star developer behind several stellar third-party clients for Windows Phone apps such as 6tag and 6snap, when companies refused to support the OS.

The three-dotted menu has been done away with and options have been moved to either the profile icon or the pane on the left. Unfortunately, "Manage account and devices" and "Payment methods" still launches a webpage separately. I really wish Microsoft think of a better approach for this.

Settings page for Microsoft Store in Windows 11

That said, I am pleased to say that almost the entire Settings page now fits on the screen of my device without having the need to scroll, unlike Windows 10. Space is much better utilized and it's clear that Microsoft recognizes that its existing UI for Windows 10 is not that good. There's still a lot of whitespace but I don't mind it because separation is better and everything you would want fits in a single screen.

Library page for Microsoft Store in Windows 11

The Library page has received a redesign to and now utilizes most of the width of the screen. There's still a lot of whitespace, but again, I feel like this to contributes more to the neat look of the UI and should not be considered a flaw. You don't need to have your screen cluttered with all sorts of information, most of which will likely be useless. You can click on the three-dotted menu to access further options such as sharing the app or pinning it to the taskbar. I would like slightly more information such as the installed size of individual apps, but the lack of this data is not a deal-breaker for me right now.

Unfortunately, it's still not possible to uninstall apps from this Library page, which I think is a pretty big miss in terms of user experience.

Search experience for Microsoft Store in Windows 11

The search experience has received a very noticeable upgrade. First of all, a full length search bar has been added to the top-center of the screen. This aligns really well with Microsoft's vision of a center-aligned UI for Windows 11, as we have noticed in the default taskbar experience too. Even apart from that, I think this should be the natural place of a search bar, rather than being a small icon on the top-right of the screen, like in Windows 10.

The UI for search results is much more sophisticated too. The most relevant result is surfaced prominently at the top and you can install the app from right there without having to go to its store listing. Other possibly relevant apps are shown at the bottom but you can still see them without scrolling so while the surfaced app definitely has an advantage, it's not that big because other relevant options can be seen at the bottom too. There are some handy filters at the top already but you can also click on the "Filters" option on the top-right to see more advanced options. I really like this revamp.

Store listing UI for Microsoft Store in Windows 11

Finally, the store listing page has received a major redesign too. The information that occupied a lot of space in the Windows 10 Microsoft Store has been moved neatly to a pane on the left. Meanwhile, all other important information such as detailed descriptions, screenshots, and detailed ratings and reviews have been moved to the right. I think this is a major improvement over its predecessor as it utilizes space much more efficiently and shows you lots of important information without having the need to scroll.

Unfortunately, download speeds are still measured in Kb/s and Mb/s, and are visible when you hover your cursor over the "Downloading..." area, but I suppose that this is just something I have to get used to.

Lastly, it would be unfair not to talk about app support when it comes to the Microsoft Store in Windows 11. The storefront has been making great strides in getting developer and app support recently. This is primarily due to the fact that it is now open to all applications, regardless of the framework or technology used to develop them. This essentially means that developers can publish Win32, .NET, UWP, Xamarin, Electron, React Native, Java, and Progressive Web Apps directly to the storefront, and will be responsible for its update mechanism. We've recently seen PowerToys, Microsoft Edge, Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Code all make their way to the digital storefront.

Tons of other apps including storefronts like the Epic Games Store and competing browsers such as Opera and Yandex Browser are on the way as well. It is also important to note that the Redmond tech giant does not deduct any revenue if a developer chooses to utilize a third-party commerce system instead of the standard one offered by Microsoft.

Now that we've talked about the enticing benefits offered by the Microsoft Store, I feel that it's important to address the elephant in the room too. I'm talking about the current lack of Android app support. When Microsoft officially announced Windows 11 back in June, it made a big deal about Android app support in the OS, courtesy of a partnership with Amazon. However, as we later found out, this arguably huge capability will not be present in the October 5 release of the OS.

Given the fact that Android app support is not currently even present in the Windows Insider Preview channels, and the only information that we have from Microsoft is that it's coming "soon", one can't help but be a bit disappointed about this major miss. Having this ready by the time of Windows 11's general availability would have been a major win for the OS and would have helped put it on the map, an area that we have seen Microsoft struggling in. It is what it is though. Seeing that Windows 11 will receive one major feature update per year, it's unknown whether Microsoft will ship bits for this via cumulative updates or whether we will have to wait a whole year until native Android app support on Windows becomes a reality.

Regardless of that, I have to emphasize that I really like the current implementation of the Microsoft Store in Windows 11, and I think it's great that those on Windows 10 will be able to take advantage of the front-end enhancements soon too. The revamp is quite major and even though I wouldn't call it perfect, it's important to note that updates to the Microsoft Store are not tied to OS updates so it will undoubtedly get better with time. Microsoft's policies when it comes to openness and ease of distribution via its storefront will likely entice many developers. If the Microsoft Store had shipped with Android app support, I can't help but feel that Microsoft could have knocked it out of the park with marketing, but that's not really a flaw of the front-end implementation, which I think is superb - barring a few minor issues.

Take a look at the section here or select from the links below to continue exploring Windows 11 in our ongoing "Closer Look" series:

Closer Look: Microsoft Store in Windows 11

Linux 5.16 Aims For Better USB Low-Latency Audio Playback

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 14:37:41 +0000

The Linux kernel is trying again to enhance the low-latency playback mode of its USB audio driver.

Takashi Iwai of SUSE who oversees the Linux kernel's sound subsystem and has been responsible for many of the sound improvements to the kernel drivers over the past number of years has taken a fresh stab at enhancing the low-latency playback support.

Takashi explained with one of the patches, "This is another attempt to improve further the handling of playback stream in the low latency mode.

The latest workaround in commit 4267c5a8f313 ("ALSA: usb-audio: Work around for XRUN with low latency playback") revealed that submitting URBs forcibly in advance may trigger XRUN easily. In the classical mode, this problem was avoided by practically delaying the submission of the actual data with the pre-submissions of silent data before triggering the stream start. But that is exactly what we want to avoid. Now, in this patch, instead of the previous workaround, we take a similar approach as used in the implicit feedback mode. The URBs are queued at the PCM trigger start like before, but we check whether the buffer has been already filled enough before each submission, and stop queuing if the data overcomes the threshold. The remaining URBs are kept in the ready list, and they will be retrieved in the URB complete callback of other (already queued) URBs. In the complete callback, we try to fill the data and submit as much as possible again. When there is no more available in-flight URBs that may handle the pending data, we'll check in PCM ack callback and submit and process URBs there in addition. In this way, the amount of in-flight URBs may vary dynamically and flexibly depending on the available data without hitting XRUN."

These USB-audio driver patches were queued into the sound subsystem's "-next" branch ahead of the 5.16 merge window opening next month. This low-latency playback code should particularly help JACK use-cases with its small period size. The latest usb-audio driver improvements are in sound for-next.

Source

Windows 11 Concept – what if the widgets were IN the Start Menu?

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 23:18:11 +0000

Microsoft is officially releasing Windows 11 in only a few days, so there is no chance that they will be changing much of how the new Start Menu works. Having said that, the new Start menu has so far not engendered a lot of love from users for a number of reasons, including limited and difficult customizability. The Windows 11 Widget system also appears very tacked on, much like the News and Interests pop-up on Windows 10.

At this late date, Gab Leo askes an interesting question – What if the Widgets were integrated into the Windows 11 Start Menu?

The idea has several advantages over the current system. One is that it is a natural transition from the Windows 10 Start menu, which includes app icons and live tiles. The second is that it would also be very familiar to Android users, the majority of smartphone users in the world, who are also used to mixing widgets and icons and lastly, it would expose the widgets to more users, versus having it on its own taskbar button.

If I would make one change to Gab’s concept, it would be to make the Start Menu horizontally scrolling, which would again make it very similar to the Android home screen billions of people are familiar with.

As mentioned earlier, it is much too late for Microsoft to change course, but what do our readers think of this alternative? Let us know below.

Windows 11 Concept – what if the widgets were IN the Start Menu?

Microsoft has updated the Edge Apps page with “refreshed experience”

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 04:02:29 +0000

Microsoft has updated the PWA Apps page in Edge Canary in what Microsoft calls an “improved and refreshed experience.”

The old page looked like this:

The new page has many more options and filters.

It includes both a list view (above) and grid view.

The details page (absent from the current version) offers information such as Permissions, and offers a number of options, including Pinning to Start, Auto-Start on Login, clearing cookies and more.

To Try out the new Apps page enable the Refreshed Edge://apps user experience flag in Edge Canary.

Source: Leo Varela

Microsoft has updated the Edge Apps page with “refreshed experience”

Microsoft VBS apparently cripples gaming performance in Windows 11 even on supported CPUs

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 00:12:14 +0000

Almost everyone in the tech community familiar with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 11 OS knows that it has some stringent system requirements for security reasons and that requires a PC to have TPM 2.0 enabled, Secure Boot, and a processor that the Redmond giant officially lists on its recommended catalog.

There are several PCs, like those based on AMD's Ryzen 1000 series or 6th/7th gen Intel CPUs, that are capable of enabling TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot but still aren't listed as supported. That's because these older processors lack Mode Based Execution Control (MBEC) and hence exhibit a greater impact on the performance when running Microsoft's Virtualization-based Security (VBS).

UL benchmarks, the creator of popular 3DMark and more, has noted that there can be an impact on the performance, especially related to gaming tasks, due to VBS. It has stated:

In our testing with pre-release builds of Windows 11, a feature called Virtualization-based Security (VBS) causes performance to drop. VBS is enabled by default after a clean install of Windows 11, but not when upgrading from Windows 10. This means the same system can get different benchmark scores depending on how Windows 11 was installed and whether VBS is enabled or not.

The firm has stated that it will later update its benchmarking software to detect VBS on a user's system so comparisons can be made on equal grounds.

In order to test the claims of UL, ComputerBase (CB) and PC Gamer ran some gaming benchmarks and also 3DMark Time Spy. The two publications tested using a different set of hardware and a different suite of games. But while the hardware may not have been the same, both the CPUs are officially supported by Microsoft and they can make use of MBEC. So on paper, the impact from VBS should be low-ish.

The takeaway from the results is that the impact on performance according to PC Gamer's data is much bigger in games despite running them on GPU-limited situations with an RTX 3060 Ti on a 1440p screen. The site reports up to 28% loss in the case of Shadow of the Tomb Raider (SoTR). Meanwhile, CB's numbers show a much lower impact in games overall, including in SoTR. Bizarrely, the Time Spy scores exhibit the opposite pattern.

PC Gamer says it tested using the Beta channel build 22000.194 which is more in line with what we will get as the public version of Windows 11. CB on the other hand measured the impact of VBS on the Dev channel build version 22463 and Microsoft has already clarified that these Dev builds will be significantly different from the one we receive at launch in a few day's time.

So while we aren't sure, this difference may be indicating that VBS isn't really optimized yet to take advantage of the newer CPUs in the release version of Windows 11 (Beta), at least in the case of games. However, there could be other reasons at play here too.

Source: UL benchmarks via CB, PC Gamer

Microsoft VBS apparently cripples gaming performance in Windows 11 even on supported CPUs

How to enable the hidden Windows 11 administrator account

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 00:09:21 +0000

Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system includes several user accounts, including an administrator account, that are disabled by default. Users who start Windows 11 for the first time need to create a user account to start using the operating system. The user account is of the administrative class, and other user accounts can be regular user accounts or also administrative.

It is recommended to use standard user accounts on Windows 11, as it limits what malicious code can do on the system, as it runs with the same rights as the user account.

The Windows 11 administrator account

The Windows 11 administrator account is disabled by default. Administrative privileges are required to enable it on the device.

You may ask yourself why you would want to enable the Administrator account if you have administrative rights already. One of the main differences between a user's account that is of the administrator group and the Administrator account that is included by default, is that the latter does not receive UAC prompts.

It may also be a handy backup account in case things go wrong, and you have locked yourself out of the system.

How to enable the default Administrator account on Windows 11

The process requires just a few commands, in fact just one command if you are in a hurry, that is executed from an elevated command prompt window.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: launch an elevated command prompt window

Launch an elevated command prompt window, e.g. by opening the Start menu, typing CMD, and selecting "run as administrator" from the context options that Windows 11 displays. You need to confirm an UAC prompt to launch the elevated command prompt window.

Step 2: check the list of user accounts on the system

Run the command net user to display the list of all accounts that are available on the system. Note that the listing does not reveal if accounts are active or disabled.

Step 3: check the status of the Administrator account

Run the command net user Administrator to display information about the Administrator account. Check the "account active" status to find out if the account is active (yes) or not (no).

Step 4: Enable the Windows 11 Administrator account

Run the command net user Administrator /active:yes to enable the Administrator account. Verify that the command executed successfully by running the command from step 3 again.

Tip: to disable the account, run the command net user Administrator /active:no.

Step 5: Change the administrator password

The default administrator account of Windows 11 is not password protected. You may sign in without typing a password. While that is useful in same cases, it is usually better to set a password to protect it.

Run the command net user administrator * and hit the Enter-key. Type the password that you want to set and repeat the password after you have hit the Enter-key. If the passwords match, the new password is set and is required to sign-in to the account.

Note: the password is not displayed when you type.

Enable the Windows 11 Administrator account in Local Users and Groups

Administrators may use the Local Users and Groups administrative interface to manage the built-in Administrator account.

Step 1: Open Local Users and Groups

Open the Start interface, type lusrmgr.msc and hit Enter on the keyboard to load the management interface.

Step 2: Display User accounts

Expand the Users folder displayed on the left to display all accounts that are known on the system.

Step 3: Enable the Windows 11 administrator account

Right-click on the Administrator account in the middle column and select Properties from the context menu. To enable the account, remove the checkmark from "Account is disabled", select apply and then ok to complete the process.

The account is now active.

Step 4: Set a password for the native administrator account

Right-click on Administrator again and select "set password" from the context menu. A warning is displayed, select Proceed to continue.

Type the password twice and select the OK-button to set it.

How to enable the hidden Windows 11 administrator account

Microsoft teases Disney+ app for Windows 11 again

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 23:59:24 +0000

Disney Plus has rapidly emerged as the only real challenger to Netflix, offering the exact opposite value proposition of blockbuster movies which are missing from the Netflix platform.

On Windows there is however a problem – while it is possible to stream movies from Disney+ via the browser, on Chromium-based browsers you are only able to stream in 720P, something not even YouTube users will tolerate.

1080P streaming was possible on the old Edge browser, but if you have updated your PC over the last year you should no longer have access to that app.

The solution is a dedicated app, and Microsoft has been teasing that since June this year, with the unveiling of Windows 11.

Now with the launch of the new Surface Laptop Studio, which features a Stage mode perfect for watching movies, Microsoft has once again teased the Disney+ app coming to the Microsoft Store.

Hopefully, the app will not just be a PWA, which would be a waste of the beautiful screen on the device.

via WindowsReport

Microsoft teases Disney+ app for Windows 11 again

Microsoft Office 2021 starts at $149.99, offers new experience tailored to Windows 11

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 23:57:05 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced that Office 2021 is launching on October 5, which is the same date on which Windows 11's staggered rollout begins. For those wondering how this offering differs from Microsoft 365, look no further. While Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based offering that takes advantage of the cloud and gets new features regularly, Office 2021 provides five years of mainstream support via a one-time "perpetual" license purchase, but that also means that it won't get any new features or updates until the next perpetual license release. It is primarily intended for users who want to pay a one-time fee with a fixed feature-set. Today, Microsoft has detailed some information about pricing and features included in Office 2021.

Office 2021 borrows a bit from Microsoft 365 in the way of collaborative features such as real-time co-authoring powered by OneDrive. People who sign-in to Office apps with their Microsoft account will get 5GB of complimentary storage, and will have the option to purchase more. Other features that were previously exclusive to Microsoft 365 but are now coming to Office 2021 include the ability to easily record PowerPoint presentations, as well as the modernization of formulas in Excel.

Another major change from previous releases is that Office 2021 ships with Teams as part of the installed features, rather than Skype for Business, but Teams is treated differently than other Office apps. Unlike the others, it will continue to get updates continuously over time, but you also only get access to the free version of Teams, since the premium version is licensed separately. You can learn more about managing the free version of Teams here. Teams is also integrated at an OS-level with Windows 11.

Microsoft has noted that with Windows 11's release on October 5, Microsoft 365 and Office 2021 apps will be revamped to match the design language of the new OS. The redesign will also be available to those on Windows 10. The company says:

This visual update is modern yet familiar, designed to help you focus on your best work. You’ll notice a neutral color palette, softer window corners, refreshed tabs in the ribbon, and colorful presence indicators so you can easily see who’s working on a document with you. App themes will stay in sync with your Windows light or dark mode by default. Updated apps include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Project, Publisher, and Visio. We’ve also intentionally aligned this visual update with the availability of Windows 11 to provide a coherent and seamless experience on a new Windows 11 PC.

It is important to note that Microsoft still recommends its Microsoft 365 subscription plans if you want to take full advantage of what the firm has to offer, but those who would rather pay a one-time fee can purchase Office Home and Student 2021 for $149.99, and Office Home and Business 2021 for $249.99. All these SKUs will be available from retailers and Microsoft's website from October 5, 2021. Microsoft has emphasized that Office 2013 is not supported on Windows 11, so if you are thinking of upgrading to the company's upcoming OS with the aforementioned legacy version of Office, now would be a good time to upgrade to Office 2021 as well.

Microsoft Office 2021 starts at $149.99, offers new experience tailored to Windows 11