News: Software News

PHP maintains an enormous lead in server-side programming languages

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 22:42:03 +0000

Despite many infamous quirks, the server-side language seems here to stay.

Enlarge / Ruby is the only server-side web language that experienced much growth over the last decade—and the closest remaining "threat" to PHP, despite having only 6.5 percent the presence.

w3techs

The venerable web programming language PHP is a source of frequent complaints and frustration, but according to a report W3Techs released today, it doesn't seem to be going away any time soon.

W3Techs' web server survey looks for technologies in use by sites in Alexa's top 10 million list; today's report includes a year-on-year chart beginning with January 2010, running all the way through 2021. The survey only includes top sites not out of elitism, but as one part of its effort to avoid data-skewing returns from domain-parking services and spammers, which would otherwise dominate legitimate websites through sheer volume.

Within that dataset, the story told is clear. Apart from PHP—which held a 72.5 percent share in 2010 and holds a 78.9 percent share as of today—only one other server-side language ever broke a 10 percent share. That one competitor is ASP.NET, which held an impressive 24.4 percent share in 2010 but was down to 9.3 percent in January and 8.3 percent this month.

Amongst the small fry, the only truly impressive growth to be seen is in Ruby—which at 5.2 percent this month is still seeing continued uninterrupted growth in W3Techs' survey. This might come as a shock if you're mostly familiar with Ruby on Rails, which itself remains viable but seems to be on the decline in popularity.

There doesn't appear to be any clear contender for PHP to worry about in W3Techs' results, either—the inexorable decline of ASP.NET over the years hasn't produced a significant boost in either PHP or any other single language.

In all likelihood, most of the "disappearing" ASP.NET sites already included some PHP—which would have resulted in a single site being counted twice in W3Techs' results while having little or no impact on the other languages as ASP.NET services quietly deprecate.

Listing image by PavelVinnik / Getty Images

PHP maintains an enormous lead in server-side programming languages

Fast forward: What's coming in future Chrome updates?

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 22:57:08 +0000

Every time Google updates its browser, it publishes release notes aimed at enterprises to highlight upcoming additions, substitutions, enhancements and modifications. Here's a sneak preview of what's coming.

When Chrome changes, people pay attention — not only because Chrome is the world's most popular browser, but also because its underlying technologies, and the decisions that go into making those technologies, power a host of rivals, notably Microsoft's Edge.

Each Chrome upgrade is accompanied by enterprise-centric release notes that highlight some of the additions, deletions, enhancements, and modifications slated for the future. We've collected the most important for this update of Computerworld's latest what's-coming round-up.

Nothing is guaranteed, as Google itself says: "They might change, be delayed, or canceled before launching to the Stable channel." But these ongoing notes are the best forecasting source available.

Chrome 94: Shift to speedier releases

Google's new four-week release cadence for Chrome begins with v. 94, which will launch Sept. 21. From that point on, Google will roll out a Chrome upgrade every four weeks, with an exception for the end-of-year holidays.

Chrome 94 also starts the clock on the Extended Stable release channel, which will be upgraded every eight weeks, giving enterprise IT admins who manage (through group policies) the option of a slower tempo. Commercial customers who adopt Extended Stable will run v. 94 for eight weeks, when it will be replaced by v. 96 on Nov. 16. Meanwhile, security-only updates will be distributed every two weeks to Extended Stable builds.

Chrome 94: Hubba Hubba

A new content-sharing feature that Google calls a sharing hub will debut in Chrome 94 (rather than in Chrome 93, where it was once supposed to appear).

The hub, which is actually a menu, can be called up by clicking on a new icon in the address bar. During Computerworld's test, the icon, a right-facing caret, was at the right of the address bar. The menu will offer users a wide range of sharing-the-current-page functions, including sharing with apps like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others; creating a QR code for the page's URL; and casting the page to any already-set destinations, such as a smart TV or another device.

Chrome users can press fast-forward and begin using the sharing hub immediately by setting an option on the experimental features page reached after entering chrome://flags in the address bar. Find the "Desktop Sharing Hub in Omnibox" item, set the drop-down menu at the right to "Enabled" and restart the browser.

Enterprise IT can control this functionality with the DesktopSharingHubEnabled group policy.

Chrome 94: Settings get themselves organized

Beginning with v. 94, Google will replace the existing single long Settings pane — brought up by clicking the main menu, the three vertical dots at the far right of the Chrome frame, then selecting Settings — with a page that consists of several sections. Google said the change should result in better navigability of the browser's options.

As with most Chrome changes or enhancements, Google will introduce the new Settings pane gradually, starting with a subsection of the user base, then expanding the distribution to more copies. It's likely that no everyone will see the Settings change in Chrome 94.

Chrome 94: Make HTTPS Great Again!

Chrome already defaults to loading pages over HTTPS (rather than the once-standard and less-secure HTTP) protocol, assuming the destination has an HTTPS-secured page. But Chrome 94 will take that lean-into-HTTPS one step further with what Google's calling "HTTPS-First" mode.

If HTTPS-First is enabled — it will be off by default — Chrome will try to upgrade all page loads to HTTPS and if unsuccessful, display a full-screen warning before allowing a click-through to the HTTP destination. HTTPS-First is thus a more aggressive version of what Chrome now delivers: It puts every page through the HTPP-or-HTTPS check and posts an alert for the non-compliant destinations.

Google said that a group policy would be available to enterprise IT to disable the HTTPS-First mode.

Chrome 95: Chrome apps to die, for real this time...seriously

Google has been planning the demise of Chrome apps for years, and with v. 95, the company is literally pulling the plug: Chrome apps "will no longer function."

Chrome 95 is to launch Oct. 19.

(The Chrome 95 cut-off was later than a 2020 adjustment had specified as June 2021. Last year's deadline change likely was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the original drop-dead was to be in 2018, so Google has been working this for quite some time.)

Enterprises will be allowed to extend support for Chrome apps until June 2022, the previously-announced date, using a group policy.

Fast forward: What's coming in future Chrome updates?

(May require free registration to view)

PowerToys v0.46.0 Experimental release delivers Video Conference mute feature

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 22:54:18 +0000

Today Microsoft released an Experimental version v0.46.0 of their PowerToys utility, with a number of fixes and improvements, but also Microsoft’s Video conference mute feature, which would let you interrupt the video stream from your webcam at will.

PowerToys v0.46.0 Experimental also contains everything in the v0.45.0 release, including:

Fixed toolbar top right vertical offset to allow users to close other app windows.
Fixed compatibility issues for certain systems when compiling from source.
Fixed toolbox from persisting on screen.
Fixed microphone un-muting when changing Video Conference Mute toolbar position.
Added Video Conference Mute to the “Welcome to PowerToys” window.

Current known issues and limitations:

With some webcams, there is an incompatibility with Teams and the overlay image is not rendered, instead a corrupted frame is shown. If your camera has this quirk, please let us know the model in the [main tracking issue
The application preview (Teams, Meet, etc.) may show the overlay image flipped horizontally but that is expected, the image will show correctly to the other people on the call.
In order to enable/disable the VCM, PowerToys should run as administrator
Changes to some of the VCM settings require the application to restart to pick up the new values such as a new overlay image.
In some cases, the overlay image can be shown flipped vertically (the workaround is to edit the image and flip it before selecting it).
If the PowerToys Video Conference Mute webcam doesn’t show up in the video conference app, try restarting the app and if still doesn’t show up try restarting Windows.

This release is on the “Experimental” train, so only prerelease versions will be prompted for updates.

Download it from GitHub here.

via Neowin

PowerToys v0.46.0 Experimental release delivers Video Conference mute feature

New drivers add performance-boosting memory-access feature to older AMD GPUs

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 22:48:15 +0000

You'll still need a supported motherboard, BIOS update, and processor.

GPU driver releases normally aren't very newsworthy; they usually fix bugs, boost performance in some games, and add support for new GPUs. But owners of last-generation AMD Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards should take note of today's Adrenalin 21.9.1 release. This update adds support for AMD's "Smart Access Memory" (SAM) feature for older GPUs. AMD says the feature can improve game performance by up to 15 percent in some games.

SAM support was previously restricted to the Radeon RX 6800 series (and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3000 series, which support a mostly identical feature that Nvidia calls Resizable BAR). In addition to the right GPU and the right drivers, you'll also need to be running a supported processor on a supported chipset: either a 10th- or 11th-generation Intel Core CPU in a 400- or 500-series motherboard or a Ryzen 3000 or 5000-series CPU in a 400- or 500-series motherboard.

Whether you're talking about SAM or Resizable BAR, the different names all refer to the same PCI Express functionality. Normally, your computer's processor can only directly access 256MB of your GPU's video memory at a time, and the memory requires larger assets to be broken up into smaller chunks for transfer. Resizable BAR removes that limit and noticeably improves performance in some games. A TechSpot test of 36 games using an RX 6800 GPU and Ryzen 5950X processor observed an improvement of up to 20 percent depending on the game and the settings. For most games, though, performance improved by a much smaller amount or didn't improve at all. A few games even showed performance decreases with SAM enabled, though never by enough to make any games unplayable.

Even with the new drivers and supported hardware, users of existing PCs will need to jump through a few hoops to ensure they're taking advantage of Smart Access Memory. Start by installing your motherboard's latest BIOS update (motherboard makers started adding support for Resizable BAR and SAM in late 2020 and early 2021). Then enter your BIOS settings and enable the feature; depending on your motherboard, it might be called "Resizable BAR" or "Smart Access Memory." Or your motherboard manufacturer might call it something weird and GPU-agnostic like ASRock's "Clever Access Memory." You may also need to enable a separate but related feature called "Above 4G Decoding."

AMD says that the Adrenalin 21.9.1 driver release is also its first to officially support Windows 11 and that it adds support for auto-overclocking Ryzen 5000-series CPUs when they're paired with an RX 6000-series GPU. Overclocking Ryzen processors within Windows normally requires the separate "Ryzen Master" utility, which supports a wider range of processors and doesn't care what GPU you're using.

New drivers add performance-boosting memory-access feature to older AMD GPUs

Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux 5.15 Kernel Release Candidate

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 14:14:31 +0000

As the two-week merge window closes today, the upcoming Linux 5.15 kernel series is now ready for public testing as Linus Torvalds just announced the availability of the first Release Candidate (RC) milestone.

It’s been two weeks since the release of Linux kernel 5.14, which slowly makes its way into the stable software repositories of various popular GNU/Linux distributions, and now it’s time to go out and test another new kernel series, Linux 5.15, which will be released later this fall.

Linux 5.15 looks to be yet another release that focuses on further improving the support for AMD CPUs and GPUs, but it will also bring new features like NTFS3 and KSMBD (CIFS/SMB3) support, and the usual new and updated drivers for better hardware support. But all in all, it looks like a small release.

“At only just over 10k non-merge commits, this is in fact the smallest rc1 we have had in the 5.x series,” said Linus Torvalds. “And while this is not up there with some larger releases, it’s actually been one of the messier merge windows.”

What only a few know is that Linux 5.15 will be the last major kernel release of the year, which means that it could be the next LTS (Long-Term Support) series, supported for at least a couple of years. Of course, this information needs to be confirmed by Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman.

As mentioned before, the final release of Linux kernel 5.15 is expected on Halloween if Linus Torvalds decided to stick to seven Release Candidates, or on November 7th, if a total of eight RC milestones will be published during the entire development cycle.

Until then, if you want to help the kernel developers find and fix bugs in Linux kernel 5.15, go ahead and download the first Release Candidate from the kernel.org website. When testing it, please keep in mind that this is an early development version, NOT suitable for use on production machines.

Source

Pipewire — Multimedia Processing

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

PipeWire is a project that aims to greatly improve handling of audio and video under Linux.

It provides a low-latency, graph based processing engine on top of audio and video devices that can be used to support the use cases currently handled by both pulseaudio and JACK. PipeWire was designed with a powerful security model that makes interacting with audio and video devices from containerized applications easy, with supporting Flatpak applications being the primary goal. Alongside Wayland and Flatpak we expect PipeWire to provide a core building block for the future of Linux application development.

Features include:

Capture and playback of audio and video with minimal latency.
Real-time Multimedia processing on audio and video.
Multiprocess architecture to let applications share multimedia content.
Seamless support for PulseAudio, JACK, ALSA and GStreamer applications.
Sandboxed applications support. See Flatpak for more info.

Getting PipeWire

PipeWire (0.3) with support for audio use cases should be available in most distributions. Most distributions however will not have enabled the audio parts by default but you can read here how to run some examples.

If you want to get the code from GitLab then the latest PipeWire source code is available at GitLab. To clone the repository, just:

$ git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire.git

Setup

PipeWire is using the Meson build system and we provide a convenience script and Makefile that makes building PipeWire fairly straightforward:

$ ./autogen.sh --prefix=$PREFIX
$ make
$ make install

The $PREFIX is commonly set to /usr or /usr/local.

Running

You can test the PipeWire server from the source directory with:

$ make run

To test video capture and display with SDL from the source directory, try in another window:

$ make shell

This sets up the environment variables to run the example apps from the build directory like this:

$ build/src/examples/video-play

You can play around with the other examples as well. Don't forget to set the correct environment variables as shown above or else the plugins and modules won't be found.

Documentation

There is documentation here.

Developers can also check out the (incomplete) PipeWire API documentation.

A collection of other useful pages can be found on the PipeWire wiki.

Get Involved

PipeWire is Free Software and is developed in the open. It was created by Wim Taymans, Principal Engineer at Red Hat and co-creator of the GStreamer multimedia framework. Code can be found on GitLab.

Join us on IRC at #pipewire on OFTC.

Issues are tracked on GitLab Issues.

We adhere to the Contributor Covenant for our code of conduct: Code of Conduct.

Source

Mozilla has defeated Microsoft’s default browser protections in Windows

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 13:31:10 +0000

It’s easier to switch to Firefox as default now

Mozilla has quietly made it easier to switch to Firefox on Windows recently. While Microsoft offers a method to switch default browsers on Windows 10, it’s more cumbersome than the simple one-click process to switch to Edge. This one-click process isn’t officially available for anyone other than Microsoft, and Mozilla appears to have grown tired of the situation.

In version 91 of Firefox, released on August 10th, Mozilla has reverse engineered the way Microsoft sets Edge as default in Windows 10, and enabled Firefox to quickly make itself the default. Before this change, Firefox users would be sent to the Settings part of Windows 10 to then have to select Firefox as a default browser and ignore Microsoft’s plea to keep Edge.

Mozilla’s reverse engineering means you can now set Firefox as the default from within the browser, and it does all the work in the background with no additional prompts. This circumvents Microsoft’s anti-hijacking protections that the company built into Windows 10 to ensure malware couldn’t hijack default apps. Microsoft tells us this is not supported in Windows.

Firefox now makes it easy to switch default browsers in Windows.

Mozilla has clearly grown tired of the more complicated way of setting up a default browser, a process that Microsoft is making even harder in Windows 11. “People should have the ability to simply and easily set defaults, but they don’t,” says a Mozilla spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. “All operating systems should offer official developer support for default status so people can easily set their apps as default. Since that hasn’t happened on Windows 10 and 11, Firefox relies on other aspects of the Windows environment to give people an experience similar to what Windows provides to Edge when users choose Firefox to be their default browser.”

Mozilla has been trying to convince Microsoft to improve its default browser settings in Windows since its open letter to Microsoft in 2015. Nothing has changed, and Windows 11 is now making it even harder to switch default browsers. That appears to be the final straw, as Mozilla began implementing its changes in Firefox shortly after the Windows 11 unveiling in June.

So far, Google, Vivaldi, Opera, and other Chromium-based browsers haven’t followed Mozilla’s lead, and it’s not clear exactly how Microsoft will respond. Microsoft has some genuine security-related reasons to protect against malware with anti-hijacking, but by allowing Edge to easily switch defaults it undermines rival browser vendors that simply want a level playing field. Windows 11 makes that playing field even more complicated, and competitors aren’t happy.

Source

Microsoft is making it easier to save a web page as a PDF

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 22:27:18 +0000

Microsoft is making it easier to save a web page in Edge as a PDF.

The feature, which is currently in Edge Canary, would add the option as a top-level entry in the right-click menu, the same as Save and Print.

The option is more intuitive and obvious than printing a web page as a PDF, the current implementation.

The feature is being tested in Edge 95 Canary, but it appears to be available as a controlled roll-out and not available to everyone at present.

via Techdows

Microsoft is making it easier to save a web page as a PDF

Closer Look: Power and battery settings in Windows 11

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 20:49:31 +0000

Windows 11's general availability is mere weeks away, and this also means that we are getting a near-final look at the OS' first release, at least in the Beta Channel. Although we have discussed Windows 11's major features from a bird's eye view, we have been discussing those features, and more, in our regular Closer Look articles.

So far, we have taken a look at Search, Widgets, the Start menu, Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, the Taskbar, quick settings and notifications, and Virtual Desktops in Windows 11. Today, it is time to discuss the power and battery configurations available in the OS.

For the purpose of this hands-on, we'll be taking a look at Windows 11 build 22000.184 that was released to the Beta Channel a couple of days ago versus a publicly available and up-to-date Windows 10 (version 21H1 build 19043.1202). As usual, it is important to note that the OS is still under active development so it's possible that some of the features we talk about may change by the time of Windows 11's general availability.

Before we discuss the capabilities present in Windows 11, it's important to discuss what is on offer in Windows 10 first. You can click on the battery icon in the taskbar to open a flyout menu which shows you your battery's current status and also offers you a slider through which you can manage your battery plan. You can either click on the "Battery settings" or navigate directly from the Settings app to view more detailed battery information.

And when I say "more detailed", there's not a lot really. You can configure battery saver, power and sleep settings, and battery usage per app. The last item does warrant more discussion though.

Battery usage per app gives you a relatively more detailed view of which software is hogging your battery. It shows you data related to either the past 24 hours or the past week. Along with showing overall consumption, you can also click on individual apps to see how much battery was utilized in active use versus how much of it disappeared in the background.

Certain apps which have the "Managed by Windows" label also enable you to configure if you want the app to run in the background or not. For example, in the screenshot above, we can see that Spotify consumed 4% battery in active use and 1% in the background. I can then choose between three options: Always, Let Windows decide, and Never when deciding which app I want to allow in the background.

Finally, another associated setting worth mentioning is the legacy UI that Windows 10 offers to create power plans. There's nothing Windows 10-specific to speak of here, but it's just kind of silly that this UI hasn't been integrated into the main Settings app.

When we come over to Windows 11, the launch process for power and battery configurations is somewhat similar but there are a few caveats to be aware of, especially when launching from Quick Settings on the taskbar. If you've been reading our Closer Look articles, you'll recall that I complained about the fact that clicking on a taskbar icon opens all Quick Settings rather than only the relevant one, contrary to Windows 10. You can see in the screenshot above that even though I clicked on the battery icon, I got a cluttered flyout menu with all the available settings.

But that's not even the main problem. My concern with the current UI in Windows 11 is that you can no longer directly manage your power plan using a slider in the taskbar flyout. This, in my opinion, is a major step back. When you live in a country like Pakistan where power outages are common, easy access to power plan settings does wonders in Windows 10. For some reason that I haven't been able to figure out yet, Microsoft has done away with the power plan slider. If the reason for this is that the company wanted to make the UI simpler, I think that this design was led by someone who is either connected to a power outlet 24/7 or lives in an area where power outages don't happen at all. And that's a disappointing message from a company that makes an OS used by billions of people. Sure, you can click on the "battery saver" quick setting again, if Microsoft wants me to use that, it should show me that setting only rather than having me sift through the Quick Settings. But I doubt that this is the reason because there is still no way to trigger the "best performance" power plan from Quick Settings.

But moving on from that, you can launch detailed battery configurations either from the Settings app or by clicking the battery icon on flyout menu. As you can decipher from the screenshot above, the main feature to talk about here is the presence of a graph which shows you the trend of the battery usage, but more on that later. All the Windows 10 configurations seem to have been ported over to Windows 11 and are much better categorized. A notable difference here is that screen timeout and sleep settings have been merged into two toggles rather than the four separate ones that were available in Windows 10. Personally, I think this is how it should have always been considering how closely the two behaviors are linked, but please do let me know in the comments below if there are some edge use-cases that me (and Microsoft engineers!) missed.

The standout feature related to power and battery settings in Windows 11 is the addition of a neat graph that shows you the trend of battery consumption - provided that you're on a laptop or any device that isn't solely powered by an external power source. The lowest level of granularity it offers is at an hour level while the highest level of granularity is split by day, but the latter is only visible if you change the drop-down filter to "Last 7 days" instead of "Last 24 hours". The latter option shows you data in a bar chart (screenshot above), while the former displays data in a line chart.

You can click on a particular segment to see how much battery was consumed while the screen was on, when it was off, or when your laptop was on sleep. It also indicates with an icon when your machine was plugged in. While I was initially confused about how my laptop's charging increased after 10am even though the battery icon is shown at 5pm, that can likely be explained by the fact that I have Windows 11 running in a virtual machine (VM) and that VM isn't always on. I shut it down around 10 a.m., and then turned it on again when my laptop was plugged in and fully charged. I doubt this is a notable use-case for people who will be using Windows 11 directly on their primary machine, but it can be a bit misleading in edge cases like mine.

At the end of the page, we have the battery usage per app details, which is similar to that present in Windows 10, except for a couple of nifty improvements. You can sort apps by overall usage, name, background consumption, and in-use consumption. And you can also search for particular apps using the search bar at the top. Both of these capabilities were not present at all in Windows 10.

Furthermore, apart from showing battery consumption in percentage, Windows 11 shows data related to time as well, which I think is pretty neat. You don't need to individually click on these apps to view this data like in Windows 10, it is instead shown by default.

That said, Windows 11 does take some steps backwards in terms of design here too. Although you can configure background battery consumption for individual apps by clicking on the three-dots menu and clicking on "Manage background activity" as shown in the screenshot above, this launches the full settings for that app via "Apps & features" instead of letting you manage them inline like in Windows 10. This breaks the battery management flow for me a bit and I'm not a fan of this change.

The second design flaw I see here is that unlike in Windows 10 which had a label for apps whose background usage you (or Windows) could manage, there is no such hint in Windows 11. You have to manually click on the three-dot menu for each app to find out whether you can manage its background battery consumption or not.

The power plan settings are once again hidden in the legacy UI. Notably, the screen timeout and sleep settings have been merged similar to the Settings app. That said, if the legacy UI can be modified, this is surely precedent enough to include these configurations in the new Settings app. Sadly, that is not the case.

Overall, while I appreciate the changes to battery usage per app and the brand-new graph to indicate trends, I feel like Microsoft has taken some steps backward in terms of design too, at least when it comes to my use-cases. A prominent example of this for me is the lack of a slider for power plans in Quick Settings.

Moreover, while the battery consumption chart is a step in the right direction, I can't help but feel that there's a lot of room for improvement here. As someone who has dabbled a fair bit in business intelligence tools, I feel like Microsoft can utilize some its Power BI expertise here, there's just so much potential. I, for one, would really welcome more visualizations like pie charts, stacked bar charts, color-coded key performance indicators (KPIs), and more. I really hope that Microsoft doesn't just think that it's done enough already, as I feel like this is a great opportunity in terms of expanding Windows 11's feature-set and further differentiating it from Windows 10. Finally, Microsoft, you really need to include the legacy power plan configurations into the main Settings app, please.

What are your thoughts on power and battery settings in Windows 11? Do you like the visualization and nifty improvements? How would you like to see Microsoft enhance them further? Let us know in the comments section below and inform Microsoft via the Feedback Hub too.

Source

You can still complete Windows 11 Home setup without internet

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 23:30:41 +0000

Back in June when the first builds of Windows 11 were leaking or being released to Windows Insiders, it was discovered that Microsoft had blocked setup from completing if there is no Internet connection available on the device, ultimately forcing everyone to sign in with a Microsoft account. We discovered a workaround, but not long after that Microsoft closed that loophole.

Fast forward to today, and Neowin member warwagon contacted us again with a new workaround that enables you to complete the Windows 11 setup (confirmed to be working in build 22000.184) without internet, and Windows 11 doesn't seem to mind operating without a Microsoft ID when the network is eventually enabled.

warwagon captured the steps above in a video he shared with us, but to clarify, we've confirmed in our own testing of the latest build, and detailed what you need to do below:

Pointy clicky method:

At the "Lets connect you to a network" step, press Shift + F10 on your keyboard,
At the Command prompt window that opens, type taskmgr press Enter on your keyboard,
Expand Task Manager to More details,
Find 'Network Connection Flow',
Select it, then right click and choose End task,
Now go back to the Setup and continue to add a local account.

Power user method:

At the "Lets connect you to a network" step, press Shift + F10 on your keyboard,
At the Command prompt window that opens, type:
taskkill /F /IM oobenetworkconnectionflow.exe
Press Enter on your keyboard, close the Command prompt window,
Now go back to the Setup and continue to add a local account.

After booting for the first time, you will notice that several icons in the Start menu will not populate, this is because they are downloaded from the internet.

However, in our testing we found that we can connect to the internet to allow Windows to finish downloading apps, and so far we have not been forced to sign in to a Microsoft ID in order to continue using Windows.

As you can see above, without an internet connection, the icons fail to even load properly, as the apps are not yet downloaded. Opening an app such as the Tips app is possible but it will fail to load anything. Upon connecting to the internet, apps will download as normal and show on the Start menu and the Tips app will function normally, even without being signed in to a Microsoft ID.

Windows 11 is scheduled to release on October 5, which is only weeks away.

Thank you again, warwagon, for the brilliant find and video!

You can still complete Windows 11 Home setup without internet

New Windows 11 Photos app now rolling out to Insiders

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 23:25:07 +0000

After teasing it a few days ago, Microsoft has started rolling out its newly updated Photos app for Windows 11 Insiders.

The app features new WinUI 2.6 controls, new Mica effects and new photo views. Other improvements include an improved cropping menu and easier access to the Information page.

The new version of the app is being pushed out via a controlled rollout and can be identified by the version number 2021.21090.9002.0.

via ALumia, WBI

New Windows 11 Photos app now rolling out to Insiders

Official Windows 11 Build 22454 ISO image now available for download from Microsoft

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

Microsoft has updated the Windows 11 ISO to build 22454, allowing power users to perform a clean install of the OS.

Build 22454 was only released yesterday and has the following changelog:

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Right-clicking on Recycle Bin on the desktop now uses the new modern context menu.

New modern context menu when you right-click on Recycle Bin on your desktop.

Added an option when right clicking a network share in File Explorer to pin it to Quick Access without having to click Show more options.
We have begun releasing an updated version of the Korean IME with adjustments made based on Windows Insider feedback. We believe this will provide a more reliable input experience for Korean on Windows 11. The updated version of the Korean IME follows the new visual design of Windows 11 with acrylic in the candidate window, a new selection visual, and dark mode support. It also improves improved performance and compatibility. The updated Korean IME is rolling out to a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel first, to help us quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. Over time, it will roll out to everyone in the Dev Channel. Please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Input and Language > Text Input.

The updated Korean IME candidate window in dark mode.

FIXES

[General]

We fixed the issue that was causing PCs with Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) enabled to bugcheck continuously. PCs with WDAG enabled should now receive Build 22454.

[Start]

Windows Terminal is listed again when right-clicking on the Start button (WIN + X).
Narrator should announce the Start launch more reliably now.

[Taskbar]

The Desktops flyout should now dismiss properly for Narrator users when scanning with item navigation across the Task View button.
Fixed an issue where the preview thumbnails for Desktops were not rendering correctly for certain aspect ratios.
Fixed a rounding issue that was making the volume icon tooltip show the wrong number in some cases.
The input indicator, Quick Settings, and notification center icon tooltips will no longer display behind the flyouts when they’re open.
Addressed an underlying issue that was resulting in the volume icon in the Taskbar displaying sound was muted when that was not the case.
Fixed an issue that could cause the Taskbar to unexpectedly get stuck on top of full screen applications, such as PowerPoint presentations, after interacting with the Taskbar previews.
Taskbar icons should no longer flicker when you mouse over them while using a contrast theme.
Fixed an issue where app icons would occasionally unexpectedly animate onto the Taskbar from somewhere other than from below.
Shift + Click on an app icon in the Taskbar to launch a new instance of that app (for apps that support multiple instances) is now working again.
Did some work to address an issue where app icons could get stuck in an alert state in the Taskbar even if the app in question was closed.

[Input]

Fixed an issue that was causing the text candidates to not appear after the first time the handwriting panel was invoked.
Mitigated a stutter in the animation when tapping a text field to invoke the touch keyboard.
Fixed a bug that was causing clipboard history to not render for some people.
Displaying 3rd party IME icons in the input indicator should be more reliable now.
Addressed an explorer.exe crash that could happen when changing window focus while using the touch keyboard.
Fixed an issue for people who’d opted into the previous version of the Japanese IME that was causing certain games to crash.
Fixed an issue where the tip for voice typing when using the touch keyboard wouldn’t be connected to the microphone button.
Addressed an issue where the touch keyboard could get into a state where the key labels would be invisible due to the wrong background color being used.
Mitigated an issue that was leading to the touch keyboard settings flyout having white on white text sometimes.
Did some work to address an issue where interacting with the expressive input button in the touch keyboard could result in the candidate area having a broken layout.

[File Explorer]

Improved the reliability of context menu invocation.
Mitigated a couple of issues that were causing leaks when using File Explorer.
The context menu will now not immediately dismiss when the option to open things with a single-click is enabled in File Explorer.
If you press F11 to full screen File Explorer, then use WIN + Shift + Left/Right to change what screen the window is displaying on, pressing F11 again will no longer jump the window back to the original screen.

[Settings]

Mitigated an issue when typing with certain 3rd party IMEs into the search box in Settings that could result in the candidate window being rendered elsewhere on-screen (not attached to the search box) and/or characters inserted into the search box not displaying.
We did some work to help address an issue that was making the Windows Insider Program page in Settings appear blank sometimes.
The mouse pointers under Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch are no longer invisible for Arabic and Hebrew display languages.
System > Storage > Show more categories > Other should no longer always say it’s managed by group policy even when it isn’t.
Added some links to “Find my device” in Settings to help you learn more about the privacy resources.
Start time and end time pickers under Focus Assist > During these times are now visible when focus is set while using a contrast theme.
Addressed a crash that could happen when using Sound Settings.
Fixed an issue with the volume slider in Quick Settings that was causing the volume to sometimes to save at a slightly different level than what was actually set.

[Logging in and Authentication]

Fixed a crash that could happen when the network icon updated states on the login screen.

[Windowing]

Made a change to address an issue where title bar options including close, minimize and maximize where not appearing as expected in certain apps when moving the mouse to top of the screen while the app was maximized.

[Other]

Improved icon rendering for certain apps in the Search hover flyout.
Addressed an issue that was causing overlapping text in the Share window for certain languages.
Made some performance improvements when switching to the Details tab of Task Manager.
If the Windows Security app is open when switching to dark mode, the UI elements should respond better now and not have unreadable text.
If there are a large number of exclusions listed under Virus and Threat Protection in the Windows Security app, it will now display a progress indicator when loading them.
Fixed some text clipping in the Windows Security app when using the option in Accessibility Settings to increase the text size.
Mitigated an issue that was causing the WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC message used in certain apps to be ignored, so the colors in some places wouldn’t appear correctly.
Fixed a leak when the desktop background was set to a slideshow, impacting performance over time until explorer.exe was restarted.
Mitigated an issue that was causing some PCs to bugcheck while in modern standby.
Fixed an issue that was causing slower Wi-Fi speeds after enabling Hyper-V and creating an External V-Switch.
When animations are disabled in the system, there should no longer be a fade animation in UWP apps like Settings or the Feedback Hub when transitioning from the splash screen to the app content.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 after general availability on October 5th.

KNOWN ISSUES

[General]

We’re working on a fix for an issue that is causing some Surface Pro X’s to bugcheck with a WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR.

[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.
System is missing when right-clicking on the Start button (WIN + X).

[Taskbar]

The Taskbar will sometimes flicker when switching input methods.
We’re investigating an issue in this build where app icons in the Taskbar are getting cut off by the “show hidden icons” button and aren’t centered when using multiple monitors.

[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.

[File Explorer]

If you right click files in OneDrive locations in File Explorer, the context menu will unexpectedly dismiss when you hover over entries that open sub-menus, such as “Open with.”

[Widgets]

The widgets board may appear empty. To work around the issue, you can sign out and then sign back in again.
Widgets may be displayed in the wrong size on external monitors. If you encounter this, you can launch the widgets via touch or WIN + W shortcut on your actual PC display first and then launch on your secondary monitors.

[Windows Sandbox]

We’re investigating an issue in which Windows Sandbox may not launch for some Insiders after upgrading to this build.

[Microsoft Store]

We continue to work to improve search relevance in the Store.

You can download the new build ISO from Microsoft here.

Official Windows 11 Build 22454 ISO image now available for download from Microsoft

Latest Ubuntu 21.10 blows the wind out of Windows 10 / 11 in certain performance tests

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 23:12:47 +0000

Microsoft's next-gen Windows 11 OS is set to release publicly on the 5th of October which is about a week earlier than the release date for Ubuntu 21.10 (codenamed "Impish Indri"), the latter being on October 14. As a result, folks over at Phoronix were curious and wondered what the performances differences might be like between the two upcoming operating systems.

According to the benchmark results obtained in the comparison across several workstation applications, it seems Ubuntu 21.10 is quite a bit ahead by around 50%, or much more, in some of the tests especially those that involve more dependency on the CPU, indicating that the OS is probably better at utilizing the available CPU resources than Windows. GPU-based applications however have generally tended to favor Microsoft's OS, however, the performance gaps aren't as big in Windows' favor.

The test system used by the publication consists of:

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
GeForce RTX 3090
16GB RAM
Windows 10 21H1 / Windows 11 Build 22000.168
Ubuntu 21.10

From the numbers, it is noticeable that Windows 11 doesn't really offer much of any significant improvement, if at all, over Windows 10, at least with this build version. The final image that shows WebP image encoding exhibits a certain anomaly as it is observed that the Windows 10 system is much faster than the Windows 11 one, possibly indicating some bug in the latter.

Overall, Ubuntu 21.10 appears to be ~10% faster than Windows 10 and slightly more so in the succeeding Windows 11 build. You can find the full performance review with a lot more benchmark numbers on Phoronix's website linked in the source link below.

Source and images: Phoronix

Latest Ubuntu 21.10 blows the wind out of Windows 10 / 11 in certain performance tests

KeePass 2.49 Password Manager is out with auto-type, accessibility and usability improvements

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 23:02:12 +0000

The developer of the KeePass password manager application, Dominik Reichl, released the new version KeePass 2.49 on September 10, 2021.

KeePass is a powerful local password manager that can be extended in various forms, including through plugins that extend functionality and by installing third-party programs that are compatible.

Using these tools, users may use KeePass in any browser and on any device that they are using, just like commercial password managers.

To get a rundom of core features, check out our KeePass password manager review here.

KeePass 2.49

KeePass may inform users about updates, but updates need to be downloaded and installed manually. Just visit the official KeePass website and download the latest release. It is provided as an installer and as a portable copy. All settings should be retained when it is updated.

KeePass 2.49 "features user interface and integration enhancements" for the most part according to the developer. Core areas that have been improved in the new release are auto-type, accessibility and usability.

Auto-Type is an advanced feature of KeePass that allows users to define sequences of actions, e.g. keypresses, to submit these to the active window, e.g. a browser or login prompt.

A basic template submits the username, presses Tab, submits the password, and hits the Enter-key; this fills out username and password in the login prompt and presses Enter to submit the data.

Auto-Type received the following improvements in the new KeePass version:

Added dedicated context menu for auto-type associations in the entry dialog, which provides the following new commands: 'Copy Target Window(s)', 'Copy Sequence(s)', 'Copy Item(s)', 'Paste Item(s)', 'Duplicate Item(s)' and 'Select All'.
Added button 'More' to the right of the auto-type associations list in the entry dialog, which shows the context menu.
Added optional 'Auto-Type - Enabled' main entry list column (turned off by default, can be turned on in 'View' ? 'Configure Columns').
Added optional 'Auto-Type - Sequences' main entry list column (turned off by default, can be turned on in 'View' ? 'Configure Columns').

Accessibility was improved in the new KeePass release as well. Screen readers may read dialog banners now, provided that the option "Optimize for screen reader" is turned on. Some controls have received accessibility names, which can also be read in the new release.

Additionally:

Controls in the accessibility/automation control tree are now ordered by their visual locations (if the option 'Optimize for screen reader' is turned on).
Added automatic screen reader detection based on the operating system's screen reader parameter (this does not make the option 'Optimize for screen reader' obsolete though, because not all screen readers set the parameter).

As far as general improvements are concerned, there are some. Tooltips are displayer for longer in most list views, support for importing data from Keeper 16.0.0 JSON files was added, and HTML exporting improvements.

Closing Words

KeePass gets better with every release, this version improves auto-type functionality, which is an advanced feature, as well as accessibility support.

KeePass 2.49 Password Manager is out with auto-type, accessibility and usability improvements

Frontpaged: KeePass 2.49

Another Batch of Important Linux Kernel Security Updates Arrives for Ubuntu Users, Patch Now

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 13:02:54 +0000

Canonical published a few minutes ago another set of important Linux kernel security updates for all of its supported Ubuntu releases to address several security vulnerabilities.

The new Linux kernel security update comes one and a half months after the previous update and it’s available for the Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo), Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa), and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system series.

Patched in these kernel updates are several security vulnerabilities affecting the KVM hypervisor for AMD processors on all Ubuntu releases. These include CVE-2021-3656 and CVE-2021-3653, both flaws allowing an attacker in a guest virtual machine to read or write to portions of the host’s physical memory, as well as CVE-2021-22543, a use-after-free vulnerability that could allow an attacker who could start and control a virtual machine to expose sensitive information or execute arbitrary code. These issues were discovered and reported by Maxim Levitsky and Paolo Bonzini.

Only for Ubuntu 21.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS systems running Linux kernel 5.11, the new security update fixes a flaw (CVE-2021-38198) discovered in Linux kernel’s KVM hypervisor implementation that could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service.

Only for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS systems running Linux kernel 5.4, the new Ubuntu kernel security update patches CVE-2020-36311, another flaw discovered in the KVM hypervisor implementation for AMD processors that could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service (soft lockup).

Only for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS systems running Linux kernel 4.15, the new kernel update fixes CVE-2021-38160, a vulnerability discovered in Linux kernel’s Virtio console implementation that could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash).

Also patched in this new Linux kernel update for Ubuntu systems is CVE-2021-3612, a security vulnerability discovered by Murray McAllister in Linux kernel’s joystick device interface, which could allow a local attacker to crash the vulnerable system by causing a denial of service attack or execute arbitrary code on systems with a registered joystick device. This flaw affects all supported Ubuntu releases and kernels.

Only for Ubuntu 21.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS systems running Linux kernel 5.11, the new security update patches several more important vulnerabilities, including CVE-2020-26541, a flaw that could allow an attacker to bypass UEFI Secure Boot restrictions, CVE-2021-38206, a null pointer dereference discovered by Ben Greear in Linux kernel’s mac80211 subsystem that could allow a physically proximate attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash), and CVE-2021-38207, a flaw found in the Xilinx LL TEMAC device driver that could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash).

Same goes for CVE-2021-34693, a flaw discovered by Norbert Slusarek in the CAN broadcast manger (bcm) protocol implementation that could allow a local attacker to expose sensitive information (kernel memory), and CVE-2021-38200, a null pointer dereference issue discovered in Linux kernel’s perf subsystem for the PowerPC architecture, which could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash).

Canonical urges all Ubuntu users to update their installations as soon as possible to the new kernel versions (linux-image-generic 5.11.0.34.36 for Ubuntu 21.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, linux-image-generic 5.4.0.84.88 for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and linux-image-generic 4.15.0.156.145 for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS). Please note that you will have to reboot your systems after installing the new kernel versions to be fully patched against these security vulnerabilities.

Source

Windows 11's File Explorer has serious usability issues

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 23:05:22 +0000

File Explorer, the default file management tool of Windows 11, is not the same tool that users of Windows 10 use to manage files. Microsoft redesigned large parts of File Explorer, and all of the changes can be described with a single word: minimalism.

Windows 11 is still in development, and while there is not a lot of time left until the official release date October 5th, 2021, there is a chance that things may change. It seems unlikely that File Explorer will see major changes this short for release, though.

When you open File Explorer in Windows 11, you will notice several changes immediately. Gone is the ribbon toolbar with its tab and functions; Microsoft replaced it with a single toolbar that displays just a few core options.

Some options are only visible in certain locations, others all the time. The main interaction options allow users to create new files, folders and other items, cut, copy, paste, rename, share and delete items.

Additional items may be displayed, such as ejecting a disc when an optical drive is selected.

The sort menu lists available sorting options, and view options to change the layout and design of items in File Explorer, to enable compact view mode, and some other options, hidden under "show", e.g. to show file extensions all the time.

There is also a three dots menu at the top, which displays additional options, such as selection options, copy path, properties and the folder options.

How does it stack up against Windows 10's ribbon toolbar in File Explorer?

Some options have been merged, e.g. the New folder and New item menus have been merged into the New menu in Windows 11's File Explorer. Others, are nowhere to be seen. Move to and Copy to are not available anymore, and neither are pin to Quick access, grouping options, adding columns, making all columns fit the window, or the link to remove access or advanced security.

Some of these may be available elsewhere, e.g. in the properties window when it is opened, or when right-clicking on column headers to add or remove columns.

The new toolbar is not the main usability issue though. Microsoft has probably analyzed data that it has on File Explorer usage and removed options that were not used a lot.

The main usability issue becomes apparent when you right-click on items. Microsoft developed a new right-click menu design and layout.

It is as streamlined as the new toolbar in File Explorer, and when you compare it to the right-click menu of Windows 10's File Explorer, you will notice that a lot of options are missing.

Some context menu options are displayed only if the right file type is selected, but core options are missing from the menu. Microsoft did not remove the classic menu entirely though, as it is spawned when you activate the "show more options" link or press Shift-F10.

The classic menu is then displayed in all its glory and with all the missing options of the new File Explorer menu.

Several things need to be noted. First, if you install third-party applications that add their own items to the context menu, then you will notice that these are not displayed in the new menu. Maybe it is required to adjust the installer to make that happen, but at least in the preview builds, all third-party context menus are displayed only when you open the classic menu using "show more options".

The decision is terrible for usability. Want to zip files quickly using a program such as 7-Zip, WinRar or PeaZip? Then you need to right-click the selection, select show more options, and then select the archive options of the program that you installed.

Some native options are also only displayed in the classic menu. Restore previous version, pin to taskbar, create shortcut, or give access to are only displayed in that menu, and not the simple one.

Closing Words

File Explorer on Windows 11 has serious usability issues. Besides the stripped down main toolbar menu that hides many of the options in sub-sub-menus, it is the dual-windowed right-click context menu that needs to be mentioned specifically.

Having to juggle between the simple new menu and the full menu that needs to be spawned from the simple menu or by using a keyboard shortcut, is impacting usability significantly.

Will File Managers, similarly to Start replacement applications on Windows 10, make a comeback on Windows 11 as a consequence?

Windows 11's File Explorer has serious usability issues

Here is how you can still use (proper) Internet Explorer in Windows 11

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 23:01:40 +0000

Internet Explorer has been a staple of Windows installations ever since it first got bundled with Windows 95 OSR1 back in 1996, but for the first time ever, with the release of Windows 11, it will not include Internet Explorer. In fact, Microsoft is phasing out Internet Explorer support altogether, which is a final nail in the coffin for the Trident based browser.

If you are like me, and still actually have apps that rely on Internet Explorer 11 being installed in Windows 10, that's fine. In my case I can access my Hikvision doorbell camera's admin page and fine-tune settings that are not available in the Android phone app. Without Internet Explorer, the ActiveX applet will not load even if you "enable" ActiveX in Chrome (it was already enabled). Nothing seems to work. You can try your luck with IE mode in Edge, which is Microsoft's Chromium-based replacement for Internet Explorer, but I can tell you now, the Hikvision admin page will not load.

Enable IE Mode in Edge

Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.
Select the Settings option.
Click on Default browser.
Under the “Internet Explorer compatibility” section, turn on the “Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode” toggle switch.
Click the Restart button.

After that, whenever you are browsing a website on the internet, you can open the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner and then choose the menu option "Reload in Internet Explorer mode" which immediately reloads the web page in the tab.

You can see the steps taken to attempt to open my Hikvision doorbell camera admin page. The page does not work in any major browser except Internet Explorer 11, which I still have installed in my Windows 10 PC. Although the page reloaded in Internet Explorer mode, it still failed to load the admin applet, meaning this workaround is not for me.

However, there is still an option available that sadly, is not free, meaning once again Microsoft has failed to support its customers properly and we have to look for third-party solutions to problems that Microsoft itself created, such as another example where it has become increasingly difficult to set a default browser other than Edge in Windows.

A little add-on for Chrome called IE Tab completely reproduces the effect of visiting a site in Internet Explorer, so much so that the toolbar even looks it belongs to IE. But first, a little disclaimer: Neowin is not affiliated with IE Tab or its developer Blackfish Software, LLC, and we were not employed to write an article about their software extension.

Installing IE Tab

Go to the IE Tab website, there you will also find info on pricing
Click on the "Try it Now" button, this will take you to the Chrome web store
Install the extension
- IE Tab requires that the IE Tab Helper application be installed, you can download it from their site here. The extension may direct you to download it too.
- It also avoids using Internet Explorer, which is still installed in Windows 10 and earlier, other extensions simply redirect pages to Internet Explorer, which does not exist in Windows 11.
Now you can reload pages in IE mode (new or current tab)
You can also set specific URLs to automatically open in IE mode

If you have a page that only opens in Internet Explorer, you can add the URL in the IE Tab options page to automatically launch the page in IE mode, which saves you messing around to reload specific pages from the browser's context menu.

First go to the page you know only opens properly in Internet Explorer
Click on the IE Tab icon in the Chrome toolbar if you have it pinned to reload the page in IE mode, or right click anywhere in the page > select IE Tab options > and select Open in IE Tab (new tab) or Open in current tab
In the IE Tab options, you can set Auto URLs to automatically open specific web addresses with wildcard support.

As you can see above, now my Hikvision admin page displays properly and allows me to configure it.

The only downside to this whole operation is that IE Tab is only available for Google Chrome, and that it is "trialware" which means it will stop working at some point and require a license. At the time of writing, a single user "lifetime" license costs $19, which is not expensive if you really need this. However, I have reached out to the developers of the extension to ask if they will consider a more transparent method seeing as Internet Explorer will no longer be available as an option in Windows 11. I will update this article if I get a response.

Here is how you can still use (proper) Internet Explorer in Windows 11

Instagram is testing new ‘Favorites’ to bring order to your chaotic feed

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 22:54:21 +0000

Surface your VIPs’ content to the top of your feed.

You’re on Instagram looking for your best friend’s daily dog update, but you have to scroll endlessly through a sea of posts you care little about, and probably forget what you’re looking for in the first place. After a few extra annoyed scrolls, you close the app in frustration.

It seems Instagram is well aware of your plight, because it is quietly testing out a solution for your messy feed called “Favorites.”

According to Alessandro Paluzzi, a mobile developer who first posted about the new feature on Twitter, Favorites lets you categorize your most important Instagram accounts (friends and creators) as your priorities, so that their posts will land “higher” in your feed.

If this feature sounds familiar, it’s because Instagram was testing a different Favorites feature back in 2017, which you let you limit the exact audience for each post. For example, you could share your wedding photo with just your designated favorites, rather than with your entire following.

The 2021 iteration of Favorites, however, is about giving you more control over your feed — by telling Instagram which accounts are most important to you. After all, you may follow a bunch of different brands and creators on your account, but you don’t necessarily prioritize their content on the same level as your closest friends and families.

Currently, Instagram ranks the order of your feed by the most recent and shared posts from the people you follow, plus other “signals” like how likely you’ll engage with a post, according to the company’s June 2021 blog post about its algorithm. While you may “like” many posts you see, those may not be the content you’re actually looking for, but might be sending Instagram all the wrong signals on what you actually want to see in your feed.

It’s not clear whether this Favorites feature will become an official feature at all or if it will change before it’s rolled out more broadly. In the meantime, you just might see this feature in your account menu, just below “Close Friends” — a feature that lets you control who you share your Stories.

We’ve reached out to Instagram for more information on this new feature and will update this article should the company respond.

Instagram is testing new ‘Favorites’ to bring order to your chaotic feed

Benchmarks of Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Android suggests it will be pretty snappy

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 22:40:54 +0000

Microsoft has worked with Intel to create an Android emulator for Windows, the so-called Windows Subsystem for Android.

Microsoft says this will give access to a range of apps and games from the Amazon App Store, but a big issue with emulators is of course poor performance.

Now a benchmark for the emulator spotted on Geekbench suggests we will not have to worry.

It appears the WSA will be emulating an 8 core Qualcomm processor with 4 or 6 GB of RAM, and the scores appear to be similar to the Samsung Galaxy S20.

Of course, the good performance may be due to the high system requirements with Microsoft demanding at least 8 GB of RAM.

Microsoft is still working on Windows Subsystem for Android and it will be delivered sometime after Windows 11 debuts. The (non-functional) app iscan be seen in the Store here.

Benchmarks of Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Android suggests it will be pretty snappy

New Windows Office Insider Build 14430.20088(Current Channel) adds a ton of new features

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 22:38:02 +0000

Microsoft has released Office Insider Preview Build 14430.20088 for Insiders on Windows in the Current Channel. The new Office build adds a number of new features, including the ability to add WebP images to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, support for OpenDocument 1.3, improvement to the Read Aloud feature, and the ability to turn off the suggested replies in Outlook. The new Current Channel Office build also includes some minor changes. You can know about them in the Official changelog below.

Changelog

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

Add WebP images to Office creations

WebP is a modern image format that offers better compression for publishing images to the web. We’ve now added support in Office apps for WebP images! To add a WebP image to your creation in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook, just go to the Insert tab, select Pictures > This Device, choose your image, and click Insert.

Learn more

Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Support added for OpenDocument format 1.3

Support for the newest version of OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3 is now available in Office! The ODF 1.3 specification adds support for many features already supported by the Office Open XML (OOXML) format; these features can now be saved by Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (file extensions .odt, .ods, and .odp). To use the new format, just click File > Save As and in the Save as type field, select the OpenDocument format.

Learn more

Apply default sensitivity labels when modifying existing files

Up until now, default sensitivity labels, configured by your administrator, were automatically applied when a file was created. Now, labels are applied whenever a document, worksheet, or presentation is either created or modified. Note that you can select a different label if one better matches the sensitivity of a given file.

Word and Outlook

Natural-sounding voices with Read Aloud

The Read Aloud feature in Word and Outlook is great for authors and readers alike. Whether you use it to “prooflisten” a document or an email you’ve drafted to catch errors, or simply to give your eyes a break, Read Aloud now features more natural-sounding voices for an improved listening experience. To access the feature, click the Read Aloud button (found on the Message tab in Outlook and on the Review tab in Word). To switch between different voice options, select the Settings icon at the upper-right corner of your message or document and click the Voice Selection drop-down menu. (Note: You must be connected to the internet to access this feature.)

Excel

If you use queries in Excel, you know that hovering over the query name in the task pane opens a preview flyout, with information about that query. You might prefer to hide this preview; now you can easily do it. To hide the query preview flyouts, go to the Data tab, then select Get Data > Query Options. In Global > General, uncheck the option Show the query peek when hovering on a query in the Queries task pane.

Outlook

Turn off Suggested Replies

Outlook makes it easy to reply faster to emails by offering short suggested replies for messages that can be answered with just a few words. Some users may not want to see this option, so it’s now possible to turn the feature off. To do so, select File > Options > Mail, go to the Replies and Forwards section, and clear the Show suggested replies check box.

Learn about your organization with Org Explorer

Outlook now features Org Explorer, a new app that enables you to contextualize, visualize, and explore the people and teams around you.? To give it a try, select the Org Explorer icon from the left app bar. You’ll see a pleasing visual display showing the people from your team or organization; select a person’s card or icon to view more details about them.

Learn more

Are you sending a coworker an urgent email at 3 a.m. (where they’re located)? Now you can view your colleague’s time zone and working hours at a quick glance, simply by looking at their Profile card in Outlook, and make more informed communication decisions.

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

New Windows Office Insider Build 14430.20088(Current Channel) adds a ton of new features

Firefox will soon unload tabs to cope with low memory and reduce crashes

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 22:28:41 +0000

Mozilla enabled an automated tab unloading feature to Firefox Nightly on Windows this week, which is designed to improve low memory situations when the browser is used.

Tab unloading work began more than 10 years ago in Firefox, but the feature was never turned on by Mozilla in release versions of the web browser. A new bug was created two years ago and work continued to get the feature ready for release.

Tab unloading is now part of Firefox Nightly on Windows. Firefox Nightly is at version 93 currently, and it seems as if the feature will launch in Firefox 93 for Windows when it is released later this year. Mozilla plans to introduce support for Firefox on Mac OS X and Linux at a later point.

Tab unloading's main purpose is to reduce the number of crashes in Firefox caused by low memory. Out-of-memory crashes happen frequently when memory is low, and the unloading of tabs reduces the number of crashes by freeing memory.

Firefox selects tabs for the unload process based on a number of factors, including "last access time, memory usage, and other attributes" according to Mozilla. Firefox's tab picking algorithm tries to exclude pinned tabs, tabs that play media, and tabs that use WebRTC from being unloaded.

Firefox users may open the new internal page about:unloads to check the order in which tabs will get unloaded if memory reaches certain thresholds. The page features an "unload" button to unload the ta with the highest priority immediately.

Tabs that get unloaded remain visible in the Firefox address bar. Selection of an unloaded tab reloads the content of the tab again.

The Firefox preference browser.tabs.unloadOnLowMemory determines whether the feature is enabled (TRUE) or disabled (FALSE). Firefox users may modify the feature on about:config.

Systems with 8 Gigabytes of RAM or less should get the most out of the new tab unload feature of the browser according to Mozilla.

The purpose of most tab unloading extensions for Firefox, such as Dormancy, Suspend Background Tabs, BarTab, or Unload Tab, is to free up memory. A side-effect of that is that Firefox crashes less often. Firefox's native tab unloading feature frees up memory as well, but its main purpose is to reduce the number of crashes that users experience on low-memory situations.

Google introduced tab discarding functionality in 2015 in the company's Chrome web browser and tab freezing in 2019.

Firefox will soon unload tabs to cope with low memory and reduce crashes

How to disable Firefox Suggest

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 22:22:12 +0000

Firefox Suggest, a new feature of the Firefox web browser that is introducing custom search and sponsored suggestions in the browser's address bar, is included in Firefox 92 Stable, at least for some users . The new version of Firefox was released earlier this week, but Mozilla did not mention Firefox Suggest in the official release notes.

The official support page on Mozilla's website suggests that users who see Firefox Suggest in the address bar, but have no option to turn it off in the Settings, are part of a Shield Study; this was not the case on our test system, however.

Mozilla ran a Firefox Suggest test in the United States last month to gather some data and resolve issues or bugs before the planned release of the feature.

According to a Phabricator page, Firefox Suggest address bar labels were enabled for all en-* locales.

Firefox Suggest

Firefox users should see a Firefox Suggest group of results displayed in the pulldown menu when they type in the Firefox address bar. The feature is independent of the default search engine; a quick test confirmed that it appeared in Google Search, Bing and DuckDuckGo.

With Firefox Suggest enabled, Firefox separates search engine suggestions from the Firefox Suggest group. The first group, search engine suggestions, work as before. Search engines are queried and they return a number of suggestions based on the input.

Firefox Suggest merges the classic browser-based suggestions, taken from open tabs, bookmarks, the browsing history, and shortcuts, with sponsored content that may be displayed.

Disable Firefox Suggest

Firefox users should have an option under Search to disable Firefox Suggest. Our test installation of Firefox, Firefox 92.0 Stable, did not have that option, but you may want to check there first:

Load about:preferences in the Firefox address bar.
Switch to the Search tab.
Scroll down to the Search Suggestions section.
Uncheck "Show Firefox Suggest in the address bar (suggested and sponsored results).

Note: some sites claim that disabling search suggestions will remove Firefox Suggest; this is not the case.

The following is required to hide Firefox Suggest in the browser's address bar:

Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
Proceed when the warning page is displayed.
Search for browser.urlbar.groupLabels.enabled.
Set the preference to FALSE.

Setting it to FALSE, disables the Firefox Suggest label in the address bar. Note that it may not impact the browser's ability to show sponsored content in the suggestions that it displays. There may be another preference for that.

Mozilla used a different preference previously, browser.urlbar.experimental.firefoxSuggestLabels.enabled, but it is no longer supported.

Closing Words

Firefox Suggest sounds like a new feature that most Firefox users may not want. Users may have two main issues with Firefox Suggest:

That the label may take away space in the suggestions pulldown.
That sponsored results may be added to the group.

Most are probably indifferent to the bundling of local suggestions and better separation of local and search engine suggestions.

It is certainly problematic if a feature gets enabled without options to turn it off.

How to disable Firefox Suggest

Windows 11 is finally updating its biggest load of trash feature

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 17:20:57 +0000

One of the most neglected, yet most important features in Microsoft's software arsenal is finally getting a Windows 11 makeover, the company has revealed.

With the launch of Windows 11 just weeks away, many of the company's top-end software tools and services have had upgrades or overhauls revealed, with the likes of Microsoft Teams and the Edge web browser set to sport new looks in the upcoming release.

But we haven't really heard anything about how Recycle Bin will look in Windows 11 - until now.

Taking out the trash

In the release notes for Windows 11 Build 22454.1000, Microsoft has finally confirmed some of the changes and updates we'll see for Recycle Bin in its next-generation software.

Top of the list is a new-look menu for Recycle Bin when users right-click on the desktop icon. Known as a "context menu", this shows the range of actions available for users, providing more information and insight on the various tools within Windows 11.

It seems that along with accessing the files within, deleting them, or seeing the tool's properties, users will now be able to pin Recycle Bin to the all-new Start taskbar using the context menu for the first time.

Previously, users had to go through the "show more options" field on the context menu, saving time and hassle.

Windows 11 Build 22454 is available to download now via the Windows Insider program, but you'll need a suitably high-powered PC, and be part of the Dev Channel to access the latest updates.

Anticipation is growing for Windows 11 as the release date draws ever closer, with the launch set to be one of Microsoft's biggest ever events.

A recent study found that over half of Windows users are planning to upgrade to the new OS at launch - however almost a quarter of users don't have a laptop or PC that meets the lofty minimum hardware requirements to upgrade at all.

The new design also seems to be splitting opinion, with 53% voting in favor of the new look, while 21% think it closely resembles Windows 10, and 13% admitting that the look of Windows 11 isn't to their taste.

Source

Many people find websites difficult to navigate - but who's to blame?

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 17:18:06 +0000

Website accessibility is a key component that most are missing

Although easier said than done, accessibility, usability, and inclusion should always be key aspects in creating a website that works for everyone.

However, according to a new report from Heap, nearly half (43%) of consumers feel the majority of websites are not designed around the end-user's needs.

The digital insights platform sifted through anonymized data from hundreds of customers to see what kinds of insights they are not getting, and it turns out that quite a lot has been slipping through the net.

Website disconnect

With the report pointing out that 98.5% of website owners have a tool that gives them data on how users interact with their product or website, but of that, only 24% say they have full insight into the user journey on their site, it conjures up the question - who is to blame?

With only 16% of digital experience owners knowing why most customers drop off their website, despite over 98% disclosing they have the tools, it appears that the fault lies somewhere in between the website builder service provider and the organizations using it.

TechRadar Pro reached out to Heap for further insight on the report findings, to which the digital insights platform is yet to respond.

There is a significant overlap between accessibility and usability, and with 89% of consumers mentioning that ease of use is a critical factor when choosing between two websites, it is one explanation for the website drop off rates website owners are experiencing.

According to W3C's web accessibility initiative, many websites and tools are developed with accessibility barriers that make them difficult or impossible for some people to use.

Not getting on top of it could cost businesses billions, as analysis from web hosting providers LCN found in its recent report.

Source

Microsoft Edge is celebrating a major milestone

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 13:36:25 +0000

1,000 builds have now passed through the Dev and Canary Insider channels

The future of Microsoft Edge looks rosy after the software announced it had passed a landmark figure in terms of development.

The company has revealed its web browser has now seen a thousand builds pass through its Dev and Canary Insider channels.

Each of these builds represents new additions, upgrades or improvements to Microsoft Edge, hopefully making it a smart and more intuitive piece of software for users around the world.

Edge landmark

The news was revealed on the Microsoft Edge Dev Twitter account as part of the release of version 95.0.1000.0.

The new edition brings a couple of useful additions for users, including better ways for developers to track the performance of their extensions, and the ability to sign into Partner Center using a personal GitHub account.

Also included in the new build are the ability to sync custom IE mode site lists between devices, improved browser profile sign-in dialog, and a number of bug and error fixes. Users can download Microsoft Edge version 95.0.1000.0 now.

Microsoft Edge has grown steadily in terms of user base and popularity since it was first released in 2015 as the company's replacement for the venerable Internet Explorer browser.

Recent figures showed Edge engaged in a furious battle with rival Mozilla Firefox, with the latter clawing back market share on its main rival, as its 3.55% share is now just behind Edge on 3.57%. However Google Chrome still leads the way with 64.94% of the total market share, with Safari in second place on 18.75%.

This battle could be set to rumble on for some time as Edge is set to play a central role in Windows 11, set for release in October 2021.

Edge, which will ship as the pre-installed browser on the platform, could well see its user numbers rise to greater numbers than ever before, with a major makeover scheduled for the launch of Windows 11, with a redesigned interface bringing it into line with the new software's stripped-back design.

Source

News: Software News

PHP maintains an enormous lead in server-side programming languages

Fast forward: What's coming in future Chrome updates?

Chrome 94: Shift to speedier releases

Chrome 94: Hubba Hubba

Chrome 94: Settings get themselves organized

Chrome 94: Make HTTPS Great Again!

Chrome 95: Chrome apps to die, for real this time...seriously

PowerToys v0.46.0 Experimental release delivers Video Conference mute feature

New drivers add performance-boosting memory-access feature to older AMD GPUs

Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux 5.15 Kernel Release Candidate

Pipewire — Multimedia Processing

Mozilla has defeated Microsoft’s default browser protections in Windows

Microsoft is making it easier to save a web page as a PDF

Closer Look: Power and battery settings in Windows 11

You can still complete Windows 11 Home setup without internet

New Windows 11 Photos app now rolling out to Insiders

Official Windows 11 Build 22454 ISO image now available for download from Microsoft

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

FIXES

KNOWN ISSUES

Latest Ubuntu 21.10 blows the wind out of Windows 10 / 11 in certain performance tests

KeePass 2.49 Password Manager is out with auto-type, accessibility and usability improvements

KeePass 2.49

Closing Words

Another Batch of Important Linux Kernel Security Updates Arrives for Ubuntu Users, Patch Now

Windows 11's File Explorer has serious usability issues

Closing Words

Here is how you can still use (proper) Internet Explorer in Windows 11

Enable IE Mode in Edge

Installing IE Tab

Instagram is testing new ‘Favorites’ to bring order to your chaotic feed

Benchmarks of Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Android suggests it will be pretty snappy

New Windows Office Insider Build 14430.20088(Current Channel) adds a ton of new features

Changelog

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

Add WebP images to Office creations

Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Support added for OpenDocument format 1.3

Apply default sensitivity labels when modifying existing files

Word and Outlook

Natural-sounding voices with Read Aloud

Excel

Hide the flyout for query information

Outlook

Turn off Suggested Replies

Learn about your organization with Org Explorer

View vital details in the Profile card

Firefox will soon unload tabs to cope with low memory and reduce crashes

How to disable Firefox Suggest

Firefox Suggest

Disable Firefox Suggest

Closing Words

Windows 11 is finally updating its biggest load of trash feature

Many people find websites difficult to navigate - but who's to blame?

Microsoft Edge is celebrating a major milestone