@phantomofearth on X discovered that Microsoft is working on the so-called Live Annotation feature. This feature makes it easier to write or draw something on your screenshot. In its current form, annotations are only available after you have taken a screenshot. With Live Annotation, Microsoft wants to reverse that, letting you highlight something on the screen before taking a screenshot.

You will be able to launch Live Annotation by pressing a corresponding button on Snipping Tool's flyout when you press Win + Shift + S. In addition to drawing something, the app will let you search the highlighted area with Bing or ask Copilot about it. However, at this point, we are talking work in progress, so most of those features do not work just yet. Therefore, you will have to wait a little for Microsoft to announce and start rolling out Live Annotation.

Here's the feature in action:

Over the last few years, Snipping Tool has received a lot of useful features and upgrades. Some of the recent additions include the ability to save screen recordings as GIFs, the so-called "Perfect screenshot" feature, improved data table handling, and more. Microsoft improved the app so much that Neowin's senior editor, Usama Jawad, considers it a reason to leave Windows 10 behind, which never received any of those upgrades.

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Posted Sunday 17 August 2025 at 7:03 am AEST (my time).

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Let's start with Frameworks 6.18, which is expected next month. KDE is making a big change by dropping all the colorful third-party app icons from its Breeze icon theme. The team reasoned that overriding another developer's branding is rude, and it also lacks the resources to maintain the icons as branding changes over time. Anyone who misses the old look is welcome to create a new icon theme and upload it to the KDE Store.

Plasma's job tracker will now automatically inhibit sleep and screen locking for any registered task, making it an opt-out feature instead of opt-in. Kirigami-based apps will also see several performance and memory usage improvements.

Moving on to Plasma desktop, the upcoming version 6.5 will show a system notification by default when you plug in a device. KDE claims this change improves accessibility and helps with troubleshooting. Before anyone complains, the developers have worked to make these notifications less annoying, and you can disable them entirely if you prefer only sounds or no feedback at all.

The update will also reduce the Ocean sound theme's volume change feedback sound because it was harsh and clipped at high volumes.

Other notable UI improvements for Plasma 6.5.0 include better accessibility for the Flatpak Permissions page and a small change to how you see information when you head to the "About" pages for widgets.

As for the bug fixes Plasma 6.5 will address, switching to global themes will now immediately re-color your KDE applications. The blur effect used to flicker a little bit when maximizing a window, but that has been fixed. A similar fix addresses the noise texture in the blur effect, which no longer moves in the wrong direction when you move a window.

Also, the bouncy app launch feedback animation will no longer get stuck after an app's window appears. Lastly, the GNOME Terminal app now gets the correct background color with the Breeze GTK theme.

Plasma 6.4.5, the fifth bugfix release for Plasma 6.4, will arrive soon with its own set of fixes. The team corrected selection highlights in System Settings' Region & Language page, where text had the wrong color when an item was selected.

A fix was also backported to Spectacle on X11, preventing its own menus from appearing in screenshots. And if you're on an Intel CPU from the Tiger Lake family or newer, a performance problem that caused KWin to lag when changing screen brightness has been resolved.

Here's the rest of the bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue that could cause the ksgrd_network_helper process to linger and delay system shutdown.
• Fixed a bug that generated duplicate entries for widgets on the Shortcuts page over time.
• Corrected an issue where the DDC/CI screen brightness control would reactivate itself.
• NVIDIA GPUs now display their correct names on the "About This System" page.
• The Kicker Application Menu will now show search results even if you have no favorite apps.
• The "Open in File Manager" button for cameras now works as expected.

KDE Gear 25.12.0 will bring a useful improvement for Wayland users. Konsole and Kate will be able to pass Wayland activation tokens to each other, so when you run a command in Konsole to open a file in Kate, the existing Kate window will be raised correctly.

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Posted Sunday 17 August 2025 at 7:02 am AEST (my time).

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@phantomofearh on X noticed that the latest Windows 11 Dev and Beta builds finally have dark mode support for file operations dialogs. Copy/move progress, delete confirmation, and other no longer flashbang users when in dark mode. However, Microsoft has not announced this yet, and for a reason: You can see that some buttons are still missing dark mode treatment.

If you are already on the latest builds, you can try the updated dialogs with dark mode support using the ViVeTool app:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Launch Command Prompt as administrator and navigate to the folder with ViVeTool files using the CD command. For example, CD C:\vive.
3. Type vivetool /enable /id:57857165,57994323,48433719 and press Enter.
4. Restart your computer.

Now, with more legacy parts of Windows 11 getting a fresh coat of dark paint, all we need is automatic theme switching without third-party apps. Until then, you can use free apps like Auto Dark Mode from the Microsoft Store.

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Posted Saturday 16 August 2025 at 5:08 am AEST (my time).

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Starting with Click to Do, Copilot+ PC users can try new ways to select items on the screen: freeform, rectangle, and Ctrl + Click to select several items on the screen. These new toggles are available on the Click to Do's panel at the top of the screen.

Moving to context menus, Microsoft has finally resolved the eyesore in the "Open with" submenu. Packaged apps in that list no longer have the accent-colored backplate. Also, icons are now bigger and easier to use, and overall, the menu looks much better.

Finally, the taskbar now displays animations when moving between app groups and their thumbnails.

Here is the rest of the changelog with fixes that are rolling out gradually:

• [Taskbar & System Tray]
  • Fixed an issue where, if you were using the option to show additional clocks, the date and time tooltip may show them duplicated.
• [Start menu]
  • Fixed an issue for Insiders with the new Start menu with the previous flight, where the layout might temporarily show a smaller Start menu (ex. 6 columns of pinned apps instead of 8).
  • Fixed an issue for Insiders with the new Start menu, where it wasn’t opening when in safe mode.
  • Fixed an issue where when right clicking on Start menu, the context menu may appear very far away from the Start menu.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Hide this pane” option for the mobile device companion for the Start menu may be difficult to see if the option to use a custom accent color has been enabled for Start menu.
• [File Explorer]
  • Fixed an issue where in dark mode, the red color used for a low space drive in This PC was unexpectedly light colored in the latest builds (and some of the other colors were incorrect, including that black was used for space remaining instead of a more visible color).
• [Login and Lock screen]
  • Fixed an issue where some of the login options were shown as blank square icons.
  • We did some work to help improve lock screen reliability, by fixing a few underlying issues which could result in the lock screen hanging.
• [Live captions]
  • Fixed an issue where live captions might crash when attempting to use live translation on a Copilot+ PC.
• [Other]
  • Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to experience an increase in DWM crashes in the previous flight.
  • Fixed an issue where if you’d used the new option to move the hardware indicators, while the hardware indicator was visible, you wouldn’t be able to interact with the screen area underneath (spanning the length of the screen).

Here are the changes available right away:

• [Click to Do (Preview)]
  • Fixed the issue causing text and image actions in Click to Do to not work and Click to Do to crash after updating to Build 26200.5742.
• [Taskbar & System Tray]
  • After updating to the current Dev Channel builds, apps pinned to the taskbar should no longer be unpinned. If the issue persists, submit feedback via Feedback Hub.

And here is the list of known issues:

• [General]
  • Some Windows Insiders may experience a rollback trying to install this update with a 0x80070005 in Windows Update. We’re working on a fix for Windows Insiders impacted. If you are impacted, using Settings > System > Recovery > “Fix issues using Windows update” may resolve the issue.
• [For developers]
  • We are investigating reports after updating to Build 26200.5722 and higher in the Dev Channe that Visual Studio may crash on Arm64 PCs when running various scenarios that depend on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
• [Recall]
  • [NEW] Windows Insiders in the EEA may hit in issue where Recall is not working correctly on their PCs after the most recent Dev and Beta Channel flights. To get back into a working state – please go to Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots > Advanced settings > Reset Recall and click “Reset Recall”.
• [File Explorer]
  • [NEW] For some users, the Shared section in File Explorer Home may be visible even if there is no content to display.
• [Settings]
  • [NEW] We’re investigating reports that Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files is getting stuck when scanning files. We are also investigating previous Windows Installations also not showing.
• [Xbox Controllers]
  • Some Insiders are experiencing an issue where using their Xbox Controller via Bluetooth is causing their PC to bugcheck. Here is how to resolve the issue. Open Device Manager by searching for it via the search box on your taskbar. Once Device Manager is open, click on “View” and then “Devices by Driver”. Find the driver named “oemXXX.inf (XboxGameControllerDriver.inf)” where the “XXX” will be a specific number on your PC. Right-click on that driver and click “Uninstall”.

You can find the announcement post here (Dev build) and here (Beta build).

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Posted Saturday 16 August 2025 at 5:06 am AEST (my time).

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I love Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a critical component of my daily workflow, it's the first piece of software that I boot up after logging in to my PC. I then use it to respond to messages across my organization, schedule and attend meetings, share documents, react to messages in group chats, and more. Although my Teams mobile use is limited to interacting with messages and taking those odd calls on-the-go, my overall Teams usage covers most of the main use-cases of the software.

I love Teams for a multitude of reasons. Since my organization is well-entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem and heavily utilizes SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Azure, Power BI, and other Microsoft 365 office apps, it's a huge benefit to have most of these services accessible directly within the Teams app. It has essentially become an "everything app" as it features strong integration with other Microsoft software, and it sometimes feels magical to directly open a Power BI report in Teams, or open full-fledged Office documents in a software that's primarily meant for online calls and messages.

Since all our documents are either stored on SharePoint Online and/or OneDrive, it's great to have them on my fingertips without constantly opening up the browser or bookmarking online locations for quick access. Now, I can have them all in Teams.

It's also nice that, for all integrated applications, any changes are synced to the online version automatically; you don't need to trigger manual refreshes.

Online meetings feature quite a bunch of useful capabilities too, regardless of whether you're conducting 1:1 calls or conference calls. The ability to send reaction emoji anytime, record content, take notes, enable transcriptions, share screen, collaborate on a shared screen, take control of someone else's screen are all honestly great features that work seamlessly in most cases. The fact that any collateral related to a meeting, such as recordings and notes, can also be directly accessed from Teams emphasizes the feature-rich capabilities of the software.

Multi-account support is nice too, because it means that I can switch to my other work accounts when required. This is important for me because I work as an offshore contractor / consultant for multiple clients on behalf of my organization.

I also like the various customization options for my profile and the Teams app's behavior, ranging from chat layouts to themes, ringtones, and more.

All in all, I feel like Microsoft Teams meets most, if not all, of my daily workflow requirements, which is why I love this software. But there are also other aspects of it that make me want to pull my hair out, this is also why I hate it.

I hate Microsoft Teams

Since Microsoft Teams is an important part of my workflow for all the reasons described in the previous section, it is also important for me that it remains reliable. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Many times, Teams simply won't show me notifications at all until I launch the app in the foreground. I'll get notifications on my phone app, but none on desktop, and even vice versa sometimes. This means that I occasionally miss out on important communication happening during the workday.

The unreliable nature of the software also extends to what I can just describe as glitches. There are times when my phone is ringing due to a Teams call, but the desktop won't show it at all. Similarly, there are instances when I join a call but do not see any call controls like "unmute", "end call" etc., and the only way to fix this is to exit the call interface and rejoin the call. Making excuses for your software's glitches may seem like a childish thing to do that may annoy my co-workers and superiors, but since everyone experiences them more frequently than they would like, it serves as an understandable excuse.

And even when glitches are not a problem, that's when performance issues often strike. There will be moments where I'll just wait for a chat to fully load seconds after I click on it. Now, seconds don't sound like a lot, but it's just idle time you're wasting for your software to respond. This even extends to the mobile app where people will react to a message with an emoji, but when you try to see what emoji it is, you'll just get a whitespace for several minutes, leaving you wondering what people actually think. Performance can be absolutely horrendous sometimes.

I also feel that it is important to highlight that while Teams works well with other pieces of Microsoft software, it doesn't really seem to gel well with its counterpart on other platforms. I often use Teams on the web too since, despite having multi-account support in the desktop app, it's easier to just have one account open on the desktop app and another in the browser. Usually, the former authenticates me within a couple of seconds, while the latter makes me wait for a couple of minutes on end while I just wait and stare blankly at the Teams animations on the screen. And then, I'll get treated with a random error that is often just resolved by clearing the cookies / cache, and restarting the app.

Of course, I understand that there are other problems with the software too - which would explain even more why many people hate it -, but these are just some of the reasons why I personally detest using it sometimes.

Overall take

Microsoft Teams is a great piece of software on paper that feels absolutely magical when it is working correctly. The feature-rich nature of the tool along with deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem means that you will be using it as your one-stop shop for many workflows, especially if you are well-entrenched in the ecosystem.

However, Teams' flaws, unreliability, and performance issues just can't be ignored. Sometimes, it feels like the software is misbehaving on purpose and wants to be as much of a nuisance to you as it can. This can be particularly frustrating when you're in the middle of something important but are held back by Teams' shenanigans.

Of course, my experience with Teams isn't expansive, there are many other features that I don't really use such as the built-in app store and Copilot, so my love-hate relationship is based purely on how I have used the utility in the past. The best way to describe Teams in my eyes would be to make it analogous to a printer: It works great most of the time, but it senses your fear and urgency, and that's when it decides to malfunction and ruin all the goodwill it has accumulated.

Do you use Microsoft Teams in your daily workflows? How has your experience been with the software? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Posted Saturday 16 August 2025 at 5:05 am AEST (my time).

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As noted by Bleeping Computer, Microsoft began tracking a Windows Server 2019 bug that was triggered after July's Patch Tuesday. Although the company initially issued private advisories to customers and requested those affected to reach out to Microsoft Support to apply mitigations, it seems to have updated its public tracker now too.

Basically, after installing Patch Tuesday updates released on July 8, customers noticed that their Cluster Service would start and stop intermittently. This was a major issue as it caused nodes to fail in rejoining the cluster and even enter quarantine states. Affected virtual machines would experience multiple restarts with Event Viewer consistently logging error ID 7031. That said, this particular issue did not impact all Windows Server 2019 customers, only those who had configured BitLocker with Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV).

Regardless, it was a fairly severe issue that Microsoft has now patched, as can be seen in its Patch Tuesday update for August 2025, tagged as KB5063877. The company has not shared details about why the service broke or how it was patched, but customers will be pleased to see a fix being rolled out anyway. This is not the only bug Microsoft resolved in the latest release for Windows Server 2019 either; it fixed an issue that left users with the Microsoft Changjie Input Method unable to select words.

Windows Server 2019 customers can apply August's Patch Tuesday update through Windows Update, Windows Update for Business, the Microsoft Update Catalog, or Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 1:37 pm AEST (my time).

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1. What Is Sleep Mode in Windows 11?

Sleep puts your PC into a low-power state without shutting it down. Your apps and documents stay in memory (RAM), so you can pick up right where you left off.

• Power usage: Low
• Resume speed: Instant (1–2 seconds)
• Best for: Short breaks, like stepping away for coffee

2. What Is Hibernate Mode in Windows 11?

Hibernate saves your session to your storage drive and powers off the system entirely. When you restart, everything loads from disk.

• Power usage: None (PC is off)
• Resume speed: Slower than Sleep
• Best for: Long breaks or overnight use

3. Key Differences between Sleep and Hibernate in Windows 11

4. Which One Should You Use?

• Use Sleep when taking short breaks throughout the day
• Use Hibernate when you won’t be using the PC for a longer time, especially on laptops

5. How to Enable Hibernate in Windows 11

If you don’t see the Hibernate option in the Start menu, here’s how to activate it:

1. Press Windows + X and choose Terminal (Admin)
2. Type this command and hit Enter:
   powercfg /hibernate on
3. Restart your PC
4. Check the Power menu – Hibernate should now be available

FAQs

Is Hibernate better than Sleep in Windows 11?
Hibernate saves more power, but Sleep is faster. It depends on how long you’re away from your PC.

Why can’t I see Hibernate in my Windows 11 menu?
It’s usually disabled by default. Use the powercfg command to turn it on.

Does Hibernate damage SSDs?
No, but it writes more data than Sleep. Still, it’s safe for general use.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 5:01 am AEST (my time).

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As we approach the first half of August 2025, it's time again to look at the most significant changes that Microsoft has been working on for Windows 11 in the channels of the Windows Insider Program.

Thus far, the company has made available five previews, some of which were part of the version 24H2, 25H2, and some others were not part of any specific development.

In the Canary Channel, we've seen:

• 27919

In the Dev Channel:

• 26200.5733
• 26200.5742

In the Beta Channel:

• 26120.5733
• 26120.5742

At the time, builds from the Dev and Beta Channels are still virtually identical, meaning that the changes in versions are mostly the same. Microsoft has also released another preview in the Canary Channel, but it only includes bug fixes and minor improvements.

In this guide, I'll outline the new visual changes and features that were released during the first half of August 2025.

Biggest changes from the Windows Insider Program in August 2025

These are the changes that Microsoft has been working on since my last roundup of improvements for Insiders.

1. Start menu mobile companion redesign

Starting with build 26200.5742, the Start menu introduces a redesigned mobile companion sidebar that retains the main elements of the previous version. However, now, it includes the ability to scroll through more content from your recent activities.

• New! Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available! Experience seamless device transitions with enterprise-grade backup and restore. Whether you’re refreshing your organization’s devices, upgrading to Windows 11, or deploying AI-powered PCs, this solution helps sustain productivity with minimal disruption, ensuring business continuity and organizational resilience.

On the topic of the upcoming Windows 10 end of support, the new build also adds a new feature related to Windows 10 keyless Commercial ESU. The full changelog is given below:

• [Mobile Operator Profiles] Updated: Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA) profiles.
• [Common Controls] Fixed: An issue that affects how certain supplementary characters appear in Windows textboxes.
• [Multimedia] Fixed: An issue where mf.dll failed to enumerate redirected web camera devices on Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments.
• [Windows Hello] Fixed: An issue in which Narrator reads the incorrect name for the “Enhance Facial Recognition Protection” check box under the Facial Recognition setting.
• [Family Safety] Fixed: An issue where the “Ask to Use” approval flow was not being triggered for blocked apps. With this fix, the approval flow now appears as expected when a blocked app is accessed.
• [Portable Devices] Fixed: An issue where the Removeable Storage Access policy may not work properly.
• [Input and Composition] Fixed: An issue with the Chinese Simplified Input Method Editor (IME). Some extended characters were shown as empty boxes.
• [Licensing] New! This update adds a new feature that allows customers using the Windows 10 keyless Commercial ESU solution—alongside a Windows 365 subscription—to block outbound network traffic. This enhancement supports compliance with Zero Exhaust policies.
• [Search pane] Fixed: An issue that might cause the Windows Search pane to not show the preview pane correctly.
• [Windows Backup for Organizations] New! Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available! Experience seamless device transitions with enterprise-grade backup and restore. Whether you’re refreshing your organization’s devices, upgrading to Windows 11, or deploying AI-powered PCs, this solution helps sustain productivity with minimal disruption, ensuring business continuity and organizational resilience.

We can find the official blog post here on Microsoft's website.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:57 am AEST (my time).

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The build fixes a device manager issue related to USB blocking of external devices. Other bug fixes include that of File Explorer slowdown in relation to SharePoint syncing. On the topic of files, ReFS file system and Server Message Block (SMB) file sharing improvements are also present. A Wi-Fi bug has also been resolved.

The full changelog is given below:

• [Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA)] Fixed: This update brings profiles up to date for certain mobile operators.
• [Device management] Fixed: An issue where the removable storage policy didn’t correctly block external devices such as USB flash drives and memory sticks.
• [Family Safety] Fixed: An issue where the “Ask to Use” approval prompt didn’t appear when blocked apps were opened. With this fix, apps now show the expected approval prompt when Family Safety settings are enabled.
• [File Explorer]
  • Fixed: File Explorer might unexpectedly only display a single folder (for example, Desktop), rather than the expected content with recent files and more.
  • Fixed: Syncing more SharePoint sites to File Explorer might slow performance when navigating folders or opening the context menu. This can also affect how quickly files launch.
• [File sharing] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where accessing files on a Server Message Block (SMB) share over Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) might result in unexpected delays.
• [File system] Fixed: This update addresses an issue in Resilient File System (ReFS) where enabling de-duplication and compression simultaneously could occasionally cause the system to stop responding.
• [Input]
  • Fixed: This update addresses an issue where certain extended Unicode characters—such as rare Chinese symbols—appeared as blank spaces or incorrect symbols in Windows text boxes. The fix ensures these characters display correctly and maintains compliance with GB18030-2022 requirements.
  • Fixed: This update addresses an issue with the Chinese (Simplified) Input Method Editor (IME) where some extended characters appeared as empty boxes.
• [Narrator] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where Narrator incorrectly read the name of the Enhance Facial Recognition Protection checkbox under the Facial recognition (Windows Hello) setting.
• [Network connectivity] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where Wi-Fi might not reconnect automatically after a Group Policy update.
• [Remote Desktop] Fixed: An issue where cameras didn’t appear during remote sessions after being added or removed. Newly connected cameras were not recognized in Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments.
• [Windows Backup for Organizations] New! Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available! Experience seamless device transitions with enterprise-grade backup and restore. Whether you’re refreshing your organization’s devices, upgrading to Windows 11, or deploying AI-powered PCs, this solution helps sustain productivity with minimal disruption, ensuring business continuity and organizational resilience.

You can view the official blog post here on Microsoft's website.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:55 am AEST (my time).

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With KB5064081, Windows 11 24H2 receives a new home page for Recall, where users can review their recent activity and launch top-used apps and websites. There is also a clock in the notification center (you can turn it off), AI actions for File Explorer that let you edit images or summarize documents, a redesigned Windows Hello interface with more modern visuals, and plenty of updates for the Settings app. The latter includes the new Advanced Settings page, modernized visuals for Windows activation and expiration prompts, more settings from the legacy Control Panel, a new device specification card on the home page, and more.

Here is the changelog with everything that is rolling out gradually:

• [Recall] New! Recall opens to a personalized homepage that puts your recent activity and top-used apps and websites front and center, making it easy to pick up where you left off. After turning on snapshot collection, the homepage highlights key productivity features like Recent Snapshots, which show the latest snapshots to help you quickly resume tasks, and Top Apps and Websites, which display the three apps and websites you’ve used most in the past 24 hours. You can set filters in Settings to control which apps and websites are saved in snapshots. A new navigation bar on the leftmost side of the screen provides quick access to Home, Timeline, Feedback, and Settings.
• [Click to Do] New! When you launch Click to Do for the first time, you’ll see a quick interactive tutorial. It shows how to complete tasks faster by demonstrating actions on both text and images—such as summarizing large blocks of text or removing image backgrounds. To revisit the tutorial later, select More options … > Start tutorial.
• [General] New! When an app requests access to location, camera, microphone, or other device capabilities, Windows shows a redesigned system dialog box. The screen dims slightly, and the privacy prompt appears centered on the screen.

• [Taskbar]

   

  • New! The larger clock with seconds is now back in the notification center, displayed above the date and calendar. To turn this option on, go to Settings > Time & language > Date & time, and turn on Show time in the Notification Center.

  • Fixed: If you accidentally click down and slide your mouse on the taskbar preview thumbnail, clicking it may stop working.

  • Fixed: File Explorer preview windows may appear when hovering over unrelated app icons in the taskbar.

     

• [Search on the Taskbar]

   

  • New! When you use Search from the Windows taskbar, a new grid view will help you more quickly and accurately identify the desired image within your search.

  • New! Search on the taskbar now provides clearer status information. If your search results are incomplete while your PC is organizing files in the background, Windows shows a notice with a link to check progress. You can dismiss the notice when you’re done. There is also a status for files and folders, so you can easily tell whether they’re available online (cloud) or stored on your device.

     

• [Lock screen] New! After rolling this experience out to Windows Insiders in the EEA, we are now beginning to roll out more widget options on the lock screen as well as support for lock screen widget personalization (previously referred to as “Weather and more”) with Insiders in all regions. You can add, remove, and rearrange lock screen widgets such as Weather, Watchlist, Sports, Traffic, and more. Any widget that supports the small sizing option can be added here. To customize your lock screen widgets, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen.

   

• [File Explorer]

   

  • New! Use AI actions in File Explorer to edit images or summarize documents. Just right click (or Press Shift+F10) on a file and select AI Actions.

     

    • Image actions: You can now use four AI-powered image actions with .jpg, .jpeg, and .png files. Visual Search searches the web using an image instead of text. Blur Background opens the Photos app to highlight the subject and blur the background. Erase Objects removes unwanted elements from your photo. Remove Background uses Paint to change any image leaving a smooth cut out of the subject.

    • AI actions for Microsoft 365 makes it easier to work with your documents. With the Summarize action in Copilot, you can quickly generate summaries of files stored in OneDrive and SharePoint—no need to open each one. This AI action requires an active Microsoft 365 subscription and a Copilot license (Microsoft account and Microsoft Entra ID supported).New! Dividers now appear between top-level icons in the File Explorer context menu.

       

  • New! When you’re signed in with a work or school account (Entra ID), File Explorer will display people icons in the Activity column and the Recommended section at the top of File Explorer Home. Hover over or select a person’s icon to open their Microsoft 365 Live Persona Card, which shows who they are and how they’re connected to the file.
  • Fixed: If you try to use the unblock open in Properties for a file, it still shows as blocked when you open Properties the next time.

• [Windows Hello]

   

  • New! As part of the enhanced passkey features released in September 2023, you’ll see a redesigned Windows Hello interface. These modernized visual updates support fast, clear communication that appear across multiple authentication flows, including the Windows sign-in screen, passkey, Recall, the Microsoft Store, and more. The Windows security credential experience for passkey offers a cleaner, more intuitive interface designed to support fast, secure sign-in. You can now easily switch between authentication options such as passkeys or connected devices.

  • Fixed: Windows Hello may recognize your face on the login screen, however it would still fail and then prompt you to enter your pin. If you continue experiencing issues, you may need to go to the Facial Recognition section under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options, and select Improve recognition.

  • Improved: Fingerprint login after standby is now more robust.

     

• [Advanced Settings] New! The redesigned Advanced settings page under Settings > System > Advanced is an update of the For Developers page and makes it easier to find key options. New settings include Enable long paths, which removes MAX_PATH limitations; Virtual workspaces, which let you turn environments like Hyper-V and Windows Sandbox on or off; and File Explorer + version control, which shows Git details such as branch, diff count, and last commit message directly in File Explorer when you select a repository folder.

• [Settings]

   

  • New! Windows activation and expiration prompts match the Windows 11 design and appear as system notifications when action is required. There also have been improvements to messaging under Settings > System > Activation.

  • New! You can go to Settings > Privacy & security > Text and Image Generation to see which third-party apps have recently used generative AI models provided by Windows. You can also choose which apps are permitted to use them—putting you in charge of your device’s AI experience.

  • New! You can view the Device Card on the Settings home page. It shows key specifications and usage details of your PC. From the card, go directly to Settings > About page for more detailed information about your PC. This card will show when signed in with your Microsoft account and in the U.S. only.

  • New! More time, language, and keyboard settings have moved from Control Panel to Settings. You can now add additional clocks, change your time server, and customize date and time formatting—including AM/PM symbols—directly from Settings > Time & language > Date & time. Number and currency formats, Unicode UTF-8 support, and options to copy language and region settings to other accounts are now under Settings > Time & language > Language & region. Keyboard character repeat and cursor blink rate settings are now easier to find under Settings > Accessibility.

  • New! As part of the Copilot+ PC experience, the agent in Settings helps you quickly find and change settings. Initially available on Snapdragon®-powered Copilot+ PCs, agent in Settings now supports AMD- and Intel™-powered Copilot+ PCs. It currently works only when your primary display language is set to English.

  • Fixed: Settings may crash if you attempt to add a security key under Settings > Account > Sign-in options.

     

• [Task Manager] New! Task Manager now uses standard metrics to show CPU workload consistently across all pages, aligning with industry standards and third-party tools. If you prefer the previous view, you can enable a new optional column called CPU Utility in the Details tab to display the earlier CPU usage value shown on the Processes page.
• [Windows Backup for Organizations] New! Windows Backup for Organizations is now generally available! Experience seamless device transitions with enterprise-grade backup and restore. Whether you’re refreshing your organization’s devices, upgrading to Windows 11, or deploying AI-powered PCs, this solution helps sustain productivity with minimal disruption, ensuring business continuity and organizational resilience.
• [PowerShell 2.0] Starting in August 2025, Windows 11, version 24H2, will no longer include Windows PowerShell 2.0.This legacy component was introduced in Windows 7 and officially deprecated in 2017. Most users won’t be affected, as newer versions such as PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7.x remain available and supported. If you use older scripts or tools that depend on PowerShell 2.0, update them to avoid compatibility issues.
• [Live captions] Fixed: Changing the opacity of live captions in Settings > Accessibility > Captions > Caption Style, has no effect.
• [Input]
  • Fixed: Attempting to type Chinese with an IME after copying something with CTRL + C can result in the first character not displaying.
  • Fixed: An underlying issue related to textinputframework.dll could result in certain apps like Sticky Notes and Notepad crashing.
• [Kerberos] Fixed: There may be an underlying crash in Kerberos when attempting to access a cloud file share.
• [Login]
  • Improved: Addressed some underlying cases which could lead to you seeing a blank white screen, or a screen saying, “just a moment”, for a few minutes when logging in to your PC.
  • [dbgcore.dll] Fixed: An underlying issue with dbgcore.dll could result in certain apps, including explorer.exe, crashing.
• [Audio] Improved: Addressed an underlying audio service hang which could impact the ability to play audio in certain cases.

And here is what is rolling out to al users right here, right now:

• [Device management] Fixed: This update addresses an issue that prevented some system recovery features from working properly due to a temporary file sharing conflict. This affected certain device management tools and disrupted key functions on some devices.
• [File system] Fixed: An issue in Resilient File System (ReFS) where using backup apps with large files could sometimes exhaust system memory.
• [Input]
  • Fixed: This update addresses an issue with the Chinese (Simplified) Input Method Editor (IME) where some extended characters appear as empty boxes.
  • Fixed: This update addresses an issue that prevents typing on the touch keyboard when using the Microsoft Changjie, Microsoft Bopomofo, or Microsoft Japanese Input Method Editors (IMEs). The issue occurs after switching to a previous version of the IME.
• [Performance] Fixed: This update addresses an issue that slows application installation on ARM64 devices. Some installers might take longer to complete.

You can find the announcement post here.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:53 am AEST (my time).

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Additionally, the Settings app in Canary builds now has the new Advanced page that replaces the old For Developers section. It allows you to access additional features, such as enabling long paths, virtual workspaces, and File Explorer with version control.

Here is the rest of the changelog:

• [Input]
  • Adjusted the pointer indicator to be a little more transparent, so it’s easier to see what’s under the crosshairs when it’s enabled.
  • For the time being we have changed the keyboard shortcut for the new pointer indicator from CTRL + WIN + X to CTRL + WIN + ALT + X, to help reduce accidental invocations.
• [Windows MIDI Services]
  • The inbox preview MIDI Service and API has a feedback-driven breaking change to optionally allow for waiting for messages to be completely sent before returning from function calls. Any apps written against previous versions of the Windows MIDI Services MIDI 2.0 SDK will need to update to the latest preview available at https://aka.ms/midireleasesand be recompiled to continue working properly.
• [General]
  • Fixed an issue where the progress wheel might show as a rectangle glyph instead of rendering correctly when upgrading to the latest builds.
• [Widgets]
  • Fixed an issue causing widgets to disappear or not work for some Insiders after the previous flight.
• [Remote desktop]
  • Fixed an issue in the latest flights where remote desktop only used your primary monitor even if it was configured to use multiple monitors.
• [Other]
  • Fixed an underlying webauth.dll crash in the previous flight which may have impacted the ability to use passkeys.

Here is the list of known issues:

• [General] [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
• You may see multiple error pop ups about unexpected elements when opening Group Policy Editor.
• There’s an underlying issue with dao360.dll in this build which may result in some apps crashing.
• [Click to Do (Preview)] The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders:
  • [NEW] Text and image actions in Click to Do may not work and Click to Do may crash. This issue will be fixed in the next flight.

You can find the announcement blog post here.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:52 am AEST (my time).

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"The code execution cannot proceed because api-ms-win-core-console-11-2-0.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem."

The discovery quickly sparked discussions among users (who are already unhappy about Mozilla bloating the browser with unnecessary, resource-taxing stuff) about Mozilla dropping old Windows 10 versions, which is not an uncommon thing. Even though Windows 10 overall is still supported, many apps no longer work on very old releases. For example, Logitech's Options+ app requires Windows 10 1809 and newer.

Still, it would be really surprising for Mozilla to drop support for a part of Windows 10's market share, considering the company still supports its browser on Windows 7. And before you start mocking users for running unsupported Windows 10 versions, remember that certain old releases, such as 2015 LTSB and 2016 LTSC, are still supported. Windows 10 2015 LTSB is only going away in October 2025, while version 2016 LTSC will keep getting updates until October 2016.

However, as it turned out, Mozilla is not killing Firefox on pre-1803 Windows 10 versions.

Mozilla engineers on Reddit quickly jumped on the matter and confirmed that the problem with Firefox 143 Nightly not running on old Windows 10 versions is just a bug, not an intentional behavior. As such, the issue will likely be fixed in no time. You can track the discovered bug on the official Bugzilla website.

Meanwhile, users created a temporary solution that lets you get the browser working while Firefox software engineers are preparing a permanent fix. This could also be a reminder not to rely on Nightly builds because changes in these releases can sometimes break the browser altogether.

Mozilla has not announced its plans regarding the end of Windows 10 support. However, with Windows 7 still being supported, you can expect developers to continue updating Firefox on Windows 10 for quite a while. Microsoft, on the other hand, recently revealed that the Edge browser will remain supported on Windows 10 for three years after the end of mainstream support in October 2025.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:50 am AEST (my time).

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The new context menus now look more in line with Windows 11 24H2's updated menus, which were also backported to Windows 11 23H2. The new variant has common actions like copy, cut, paste, select all, and delete in the upper row, giving you quick access to the most used commands. The rest of the menu remains unchanged, with options like Search with Bing, Write, Rewrite, Spelling, Summarize, and more.

The updated menus are available in Notepad version 11.2507.26.0, which is currently rolling out to Windows 11 Insiders. However, as usual, you can get it on a stable release with a direct download. Here is how to do it:

1. Go to store.rg-adguard.net and select ProductID in the first drop-down.
2. Paste 9MSMLRH6LZF3 into the search box.
3. Select Fast in the next drop-down.
4. Click the button with a checkmark.
5. Find Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_11.2507.26.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle (or higher version) and click it. Note: Microsoft Edge will show a warning that the file cannot be downloaded safely. You can dismiss the warning since the file is being downloaded directly from Microsoft.
6. Launch the downloaded file and click Update. Wait for Windows to install the update, then Notepad will launch automatically. Right-click anywhere and behold the new context menu.

Microsoft will most likely announce the updated context menus for Notepad in an upcoming Windows 11 preview build later this week.

What do you think about the redesigned context menus in Notepad? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Deskmodder

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:47 am AEST (my time).

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For the UI, the global and VM tools have been moved from the hamburger menus. They now live in a new vertical taskbar on the left and in horizontal tabs above the right-hand panel. For Windows on Arm hosts, you can now virtualize Arm VMs, and it is all part of a unified Windows installer package.

On macOS Arm hosts, the team introduced experimental 3D acceleration using a DirectX to Metal translation layer (DXMT), replacing the previous non-working solution. For the macOS/Intel hosts, there is no longer support for 3D acceleration.

This means 3D acceleration is no longer supported on macOS hosts with Intel CPUs. Speaking of Arm, the VirtualBox team says that the saved state from VirtualBox 7.1 is incompatible, so you must shut down any saved Arm VMs before upgrading. Your snapshots will break if you do not. For storage, the NVMe controller emulation is now part of the open-source base package.

As for improvements, the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), reports x86_64 and Arm CPU features better when using Hyper-V as the virtualization engine. The update also brings vboxwebsrv, the web service that lets you remotely manage your VMs, to ARM hosts.

Here are the most notable bug fixes:

• Fixed a cloning wizard bug that prevented snapshots from being included in the cloned virtual machine.
• Addressed a corruption issue that could happen when resizing VMDK disk images.
• Corrected multiple issues within the NAT networking engine, improving DNS server detection and fixing a potential crash.
• Fixed an API bug that caused OVF or OVA imports to create broken virtual machines on Arm systems.
• Fixed an API issue where exporting a VM with an inaccessible disk resulted in a crash.
• Addressed a video recording problem that caused frame synchronization issues and a small memory leak.
• Fixed a rare audio-related crash.
• Solved an issue with the TPM that caused failures when loading from a saved state.
• Removed a release assertion on Windows hosts that could crash the VBoxUsbMon driver if unloading failed.
• Corrected keyboard translation in the BIOS and fixed error reporting for single-sided floppy disks.

You can browse the full changelog and download VirtualBox 7.2 for your platform: Windows, Mac (Apple Silicon | Intel), or Linux.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:45 am AEST (my time).

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Meta announced a bunch of new calling features for WhatsApp. Following the announcement of the long-anticipated iPad client and new tools for combating scams, the platform is rolling out new capabilities for group calls that make calling more convenient and also turn WhatsApp into a makeshift Zoom alternative.

With the latest WhatsApp update, the messenger allows scheduling calls with your friends, relatives, colleagues and other contacts. You can invite people or entire groups to join in advance, with scheduled calls conveniently located in the Upcoming section of the Calls tab. Once the call is about to start, all participants will receive a notification with a prompt to join. The call host will also receive notifications when other people join.

WhatsApp also lets you copy the link to your call to share it with somebody or add it to your calendar. Additionally, participants can raise their hands when they want to speak or send emoji reactions to participate and react without talking. Screen sharing and text messages during calls are available as well. All these changes apply not only to video calls but to voice calls as well.

You can find the announcement on the official WhatsApp blog here.

If you use WhatsApp on Windows 10 and Windows 11, you should also prepare for some not-so-exciting changes. Meta recently updated the WhatsApp Beta client for Windows, and it is no longer a native Windows application. Instead, developers switched to a progressive web app, likely in an attempt to bring the missing features and fix bugs plaguing the native app. You can try the new beta version by downloading it from the Microsoft Store.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp developers are working on other neat features, such as AI-powered writing assistance and improvements for group invite links.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:44 am AEST (my time).

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Up until now, code search in Visual Studio relied on the BM25 algorithm, which is an established and popular ranking method to search for items within a document. One of the factors it considers when returning results is how frequently a term appears in a particular document and how typical it is in the overall repository. This isn't a bad algorithm by any means, but it has a major limitation: it is keyword-based. So, if your term is not an exact match, BM25 may not be able to return accurate results.

This is why, with Visual Studio 17.14.11, Microsoft has upgraded the Visual Studio Copilot Chat pane to leverage Remote Semantic Search instead of BM25. As the name implies, semantic search focuses more on the intent and meaning of the search through advanced vector embeddings rather than matching exact terms. This is exactly why "fetch user credentials" and "get authentication token" mean the same thing to it, even though they do not share exact terms. This contextual codebase-aware search process allows Visual Studio to return more accurate results, even if they are fewer in number, simply because keyword matching is not the sole consideration anymore.

Visual Studio customers with GitHub Copilot can take advantage of Remote Semantic Search through the Chat window. It features "remote" in the name as it has indexed solutions that are hosted in Azure DevOps and GitHub repositories. Microsoft believes that this upgraded search experience will make developers more productive as it will facilitate them in finding exactly what they are looking for.

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Posted Friday 15 August 2025 at 4:41 am AEST (my time).

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While the company did not provide a reason for the shutdown, it is reasonable to assume it was due to cost-cutting. Now, Kaisen Linux, another specialized Linux distro, is headed for the graveyard.

The announcement came recently, bundled with news about the release of Rolling 3.0, the project's final version. In the blog post detailing the release, Kevin Chevreuil, the creator of Kaisen Linux, said that new personal and professional projects are taking up his time.

I would like to begin this blog post by announcing the end of the Kaisen Linux project with this latest release. I wish to embark on other professional and personal projects that will take up a considerable amount of my time, and for this reason, I can no longer continue developing Kaisen Linux. This release will therefore be the last.

For those who never used it, Kaisen Linux was a Linux distro designed specifically for IT professionals and shipped with a massive set of tools for system rescue, administration, and network diagnostics.

It offered different desktop environments like KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE, and Xfce. The distribution also had a "toram" mode which loaded the entire operating system into RAM, freeing up the USB port.

The announcement also detailed the final version's new features. This last version uses the recently released Debian Trixie (Debian 13) as a base. Chevreuil removed a number of tools, including the popular neofetch utility, as well as dmraid, hping3, and the reiser4progs file system utilities.

This release also makes KDE Plasma 6 the default desktop environment and replaces the LightDM display manager with SDDM. Chevreuil mentioned that previous customization issues with SDDM were resolved in KDE 6, prompting the switch. Other changes and bug fixes are outlined below:

• The apt upgrade command now redirects to apt full-upgrade to prevent system breakage.
• A new kaisen-timeshift-fast-restore command allows for one-command BTRFS snapshot restoration.
• ZFS management tools and the kernel module are now fully supported.
• The centralized manpages now include over 1705 pages, with fixed links and new categories.
• The installer's automatic partitioning now only offers separating / and /home to protect the snapshot feature.
• GPG keys have been updated and are functional until 2029.

While the end of any project is disappointing, the situation is definitely better than what's happening with Clear Linux. Unlike the latter, which will receive no further security patches from Intel, Kaisen Linux offers up to two years of security updates. Chevreuil believes this will give users enough time to migrate to a new system.

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Posted Thursday 14 August 2025 at 6:11 pm AEST (my time).

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Introduced almost twenty years ago, WSUS helps IT administrators defer, approve, and schedule updates for Microsoft products on enterprise networks from a single local update server, rather than having each endpoint update from Redmond's servers.

Microsoft confirmed the known issue yesterday evening, one day after widespread reports from Windows administrators regarding 0x80240069 errors when installing the Windows 11 24H2 KB5063878 update.

Those affected also reported finding new entries in the Windows Event Log, which included "Service wuauserv has unexpectedly stopped" and "The Windows Update service terminated unexpectedly" messages.

"The August 12, 2025 Windows security update for Windows 11, version 24H2 (KB5063878), might fail to install with error code 0x80240069 when installed via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)," the company said in a Wednesday Windows release health update.

"Home users are unlikely to experience this issue, as WSUS is designed for use across business and enterprise environments."

Fix pushed via Known Issue Rollback

While a fix for this update issue is not yet being shipped to all customers through Windows Update, Microsoft has started rolling one out automatically through Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to all enterprise-managed devices.

To address the bug, Windows administrators must install the Known Issue Rollback Group Policy on impacted enterprise-managed devices running Windows 11 24H2.

To deploy this policy, admins must use the Group Policy Editor to select the Windows version they want to target in the Local Computer Policy or the Domain Policy on the domain controller, and then restart the affected devices to apply the group policy setting.

You can find additional guidance on deploying and configuring KIR Group Policies on Microsoft's documentation website.

As a workaround for those who prefer to wait for the fix to be included in a future Windows update, Microsoft said that affected customers can also manually install the KB5063878 cumulative update via Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog.

This isn't the first time admins have experienced problems delivering a Windows 11 update via WSUS in recent months.

In April, Microsoft confirmed an identical issue after enterprise customers reported being plagued by the same Windows Update Service errors when trying to update Windows 11 22H2/23H2 systems.

The company addressed the issue in May by rolling out a fix through Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to all enterprise-managed devices.

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Posted Thursday 14 August 2025 at 6:10 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft has published a new video interview with the current head of Windows, Pavan Davuluri, where he discusses the future of the platform and reveals some very interesting aspects about what's next for the operating system.

In the interview, Davuluri is asked how AI is going to change the way we interact with computers. Here's what he had to say on the matter:

"I think we will see computing become more ambient, more pervasive, continue to span form factors, and certainly become more multi-modal in the arc of time ... I think experience diversity is the next space where we will continue to see voice becoming more important. Fundamentally, the concept that your computer can actually look at your screen and is context aware is going to become an important modality for us going forward."

Right out of the gate, there's a lot to unpack here. Davuluri confirms that in the wake of AI, Windows is going to change significantly. The OS is going to become more ambient and multi-modal, capable of understanding the content on your screen at all times to enable context-aware capabilities that previously weren't possible.

Davuluri continues, "you'll be able to speak to your computer while you're writing, inking, or interacting with another person. You should be able to have a computer semantically understand your intent to interact with it."

This isn't the first time Microsoft has hinted that the future of Windows will prioritize voice as an input method when using a computer. Just last week, Microsoft's CVP of Enterprise & Security teased the same thing in a "Windows 2030 Vision" video that also discussed the future of Windows.

It's clear that whatever is coming next for Windows, it's going to promote voice as a first class input method on the platform. In addition to mouse and keyboard, you will be able to ambiently talk to Windows using natural language while you work, and have the OS understand your intent based on what's currently on your screen.

As many admins have reported on social media and BleepingComputer, this issue affects Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) users, who are experiencing 0x80240069 errors when installing the August 2025 security updates.

On impacted devices, users will also see "Service wuauserv has unexpectedly stopped" and "The Windows Update service terminated unexpectedly" messages in the event log.

"I'm in WSUS environment, the update is approved but all of the existing 24H2 client failed to install, with error code - Download Error - 0x80240069. Tried to decline in WSUS and approve again still no luck," someone said.

"Same here. I've got 100 failures via SCCM with that error code. 2 successful, which likely didn't get it from SCCM," another one replied.

Since this issue appears to affect only systems receiving updates through WSUS, home users are unlikely to experience these update problems, since this network service is typically used only in enterprise environments.

A Microsoft spokesperson was unable to provide a statement immediately when contacted by BleepingComputer earlier today.

While Microsoft has yet to confirm these update problems and an official fix is not yet available, some admins have shared a temporary workaround requiring those impacted to import the update into WSUS manually using the following IDs:

WSUS Sync: Update-ID 8018eab0-7242-4932-adf2-afda36f6b3f6

Update Catalog Import: Update-ID 92061378-be93-4659-a72a-037225e6bb0f

This isn't the first Windows update that can't be delivered via WSUS in recent months. Microsoft confirmed an identical issue in April, when enterprise customers were also plagued by Windows Update Service errors with 0x80240069 codes when trying to update Windows 11 22H2/23H2 systems.

The company addressed the issue in May by rolling out a fix through Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to all enterprise-managed devices.

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Posted Thursday 14 August 2025 at 12:57 pm AEST (my time).

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Others include the retirement of the popular, highly-rated document scanner app called Lens; Microsoft has confirmed it is going away very soon, which has also led to some sharp criticism from many of our readers.

Some changes are also met with mixed reactions. The new Windows 11-exclusive Office "mini apps" that are currently rolling out are a prime example of that. While some feel the addition of these is not necessary, others feel they are at least somewhat helpful.

On the topic of Microsoft 365, the tech giant recently announced yet another upcoming change and this time we feel it will most certainly be perceived as something that improves the experience of a user, and that is what Microsoft hopes to achieve as well.

The company is changing the way the Send button works for Outlook email as the current UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) around the Compose toolbar is cluttered and they lead to accidental sending of messages and mails.

With the new update, Microsoft is moving the Send button from the bottom of the Compose view to the top, thus decluttering it.

In a Microsoft 365 roadmap entry titled "Outlook: Send Button update", the company has described the new feature and how it works. It writes:

"This feature reduces accidental message sends by moving the send button from the bottom of the compose view, in the compose toolbar to the header of the compose view. By moving the send button to a less crowded location, users can avoid accidental taps, resulting in a more intentional and error-free messaging experience."

The entry has been added under ID 499900. The feature is planned for rollout next month, September 2025, on Android and iOS devices.

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Posted Thursday 14 August 2025 at 3:55 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

The Command Palette now also supports keyboard shortcuts for context menus, lets you pin your favorite apps, and adds history support for the Run extension.

On top of that, Microsoft says it is faster because of some backend work with Ahead of Time compilation, reducing startup memory usage by 15%, and slashing the installation size by a whopping 55%.

Back in June, we told you that the Microsoft engineers were planning a huge redesign for the PowerToys dashboard. Some users felt the old interface was "undercooked", especially as more modules were added to the collection.

Version 0.93 ships with the new "modern" card-based dashboard and brings changes like a much clearer view of which utilities are on or off, a central list of all your shortcuts, and quick-launch buttons right on the homepage.

For the Mouse Highlighter module, there is a new Spotlight mode that inverts the tool's usual function. Instead of just drawing a circle around your cursor, it dims the entire screen, leaving only the area around your mouse lit up.

Other modules that got updated include:

• Peek: The file previewer now supports instant previews and embedded thumbnails for Binary G-code (.bgcode) 3D printing files, a great addition for makers and hobbyists who need to quickly inspect models.
• Quick Accent: Full support for the Vietnamese language has been added, including mappings for vowels and the letter 'd', expanding the tool's international utility.
• Apps Extension: You can now pin and unpin applications directly from the Command Palette with a quick Ctrl+P shortcut. Microsoft also added all the standard file context menu options to the app items, adding a layer of functionality.
• Calculator Extension: This now accepts regular spaces in numbers that use space separators. There is also a new setting to make "Copy" the primary button and enable a "Close on Enter" option to speed up workflows.
• Window Walker: The "Kill process" command has been renamed to "End task" for better consistency with the terminology used in the Windows Task Manager.
• Add Bookmark Extension: It now automatically detects whether you are adding a file, folder, or URL, so you no longer need to specify the type manually.
• Web Search Extension: Microsoft fixed an issue where a fallback item would not hide properly when a search query became invalid and added a proper message for when no results are found.
• Run Extension: This extension now features command history, allowing you to easily access and re-run previous commands you have executed.
• Windows Settings Extension: A fallback command was added to this extension to improve search results when you are looking for a specific setting.

As for bug fixes, the team addressed the annoying acrylic (frosted glass) display issues in the Command Palette, which sometimes failed to render correctly. There was an issue in the Settings page header where it would drift when resizing the window; that is gone now.

The team also fixed several window behavior problems, including one where focus would not return to the previous application after using the palette, and another where the window would fail to appear properly on top of other apps. Navigation got a fix for the Alt+Left Arrow shortcut not working when the search box contained text.

In the main Settings app, developers sorted out an issue where the page header would drift away when resizing the window and resolved a crash related to an incompatible property name in the ZoomIt config.

You can check out the full changelog on the GitHub repo and download the release binary for your OS.

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Posted Thursday 14 August 2025 at 3:53 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of July): 3,458

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Microsoft appears to be working on an updated design layout for the Edge web browser that places Copilot at the forefront of the experience on Windows 11. The new mysterious UI is appears to be codenamed Olympia, and features a cleaner address bar and window frame, vertical tabs, and other big changes.

The new UI was first spotted by Leopeva64 on X, and appears to have been in the works for a number of months. The latest builds of Microsoft Edge Canary include an early version of the interface that can be enabled, though the UI is still very rough and non functional in a lot of places.

Based on this early implementation, we can see that this new UI places Copilot directly into the address bar, which now takes on a smaller footprint and is centered along the top of the interface. This new address bar places heavy emphasis on Copilot, with the omnibox now prioritizing search and chat, as well as voice input with a microphone icon placed directly in the address bar that is accessible at all times.

The so-called "Olympia" was uncovered towards the end of last year, and it can be enabled in recent Edge Canary builds. While the experience is not complete and some things are not working, we can have a rough look at what Microsoft is preparing. A reworked address bar now sits at the top center and works as your standard omnibox and a Copilot composer. This allows you to enter a website address or ask AI about something, including with Voice Mode.

Like the current version of Microsoft Edge, Olympia lets you have vertical or horizontal tabs. When in vertical mode, all your tabs are hidden in a dropdown menu, and when in horizontal mode, tabs appear below the new omnibox, similarly to Safari's user interface on iPadOS and macOS.

Microsoft has not made any announcements about the new user interface for its browser. Therefore, details about it remain scarce, and a lot is open for speculation. Olympia could be a dedicated user interface for Copilot Mode, as Microsoft leans more into AI, or it could be a complete revamp in an attempt to stand out from its main competitor, Chrome, which dominates the browser market with an overwhelming market share.

At the same time, the thing could never materialize. After all, Microsoft is known for testing stuff that never shipped, such as Windows Sets, a simplified tray area for Windows 11, and rounded tabs for Microsoft Edge. Right now, all we have to do is wait for Microsoft to acknowledge the new user interface and provide more details.

Source: Windows Central via Leopeva64 (X)

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Posted Thursday 14 August 2025 at 3:49 am AEST (my time).

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