Microsoft Weekly: finally new Windows 11 preview builds, Office 2024 LTSC is out, and more

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at the new, long-expected Windows 11 preview builds and some hidden stuff inside them, the new Office 2024 LTSC release, a couple of reviews on Neowin, future PowerToys updates, and more.

Table of contents:

1. Windows 10 and 11 news
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews
5. Gaming news
6. Great deals to check

Windows 11 and 10

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

On September 17, Microsoft announced that MDM-enrolled Windows 11 devices will be downloading cumulative updates during the initial setup experience, which is also known as OOBE. However, just a few days later, the company reversed its course and postponed that change.

Another important change is coming to Windows Server Update Services. Microsoft announced that WSUS is now deprecated, which means the company is no longer investing in new capabilities or accepting new feature requests. Still, current WSUS capabilities will remain intact, and Microsoft will continue publishing updates through the Windows Server Update Services channel.

Windows Insider Program

After two no-build weeks, we finally received a couple of new preview updates for Windows 11 and 10. Here is what Microsoft released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:

While there was nothing groundbreaking in the new preview builds, they introduced several interesting changes. For example, the Beta build now has a new context menu entry for Android users, which should make it much easier to send files from PC to smartphones. Also, the Snipping Tool app now lets you change the default location for screenshots and screen recordings.

Finally, Microsoft quietly updated Task Manager to make it show more precise information on what kind of SSD your computer has. It is a small but very neat improvement.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Microsoft has officially launched Office LTSC 2024 for business and government customers. The new suite will be rolled out to eligible users by October 1. It includes apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, and OneNote.

In addition, the company revealed quite a lot of information about bugs and fixes for some Office apps, namely Outlook. It announced what to do with the msls70.dll error and notified about fixes for crashes when typing in certain apps and sign-in issues in Outlook.

Finally, Microsoft sent out the final notice about Modern Authentication methods for the company's email clients.

On September 16, Microsoft dropped a series of Copilot announcements, which include more data protection in Copilot for Windows 11 for work and school customers, persistent, shareable AI-powered pages (Copilot Pages), new Copilot-powered features for Office apps, including Python in Excel, Copilot Agents for Microsoft 365 users (more information about it is available here), and more.

The new Windows app is now generally available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. It is designed to give both end users and IT admins a more unified user experience for connecting to remote, local, and cloud PC services such as Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Remote Desktop, Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft Dev Box, and others.

PowerToys, one of our favorite Windows apps, might soon get a new module. The so-called "Settings Scheduler" was proposed by a developer to let users change various Windows settings on timers and other triggers. For now, there is no information on whether the module will make it to PowerToys, but you can track the progress of the proposal on GitHub.

MSN Weather, Microsoft's weather forecast service, received a new feature. It can now alert users about unusual local weather trends.

On the browser side, we have a new extension performance detector for Microsoft Edge. This tool gives you an overview of how your extensions perform and affect your browsing experience. You can toggle it on with a special flag on the edge://flags page.

Also, Microsoft released Edge 129 on the Stable Channel. This release deprecated the CryptoWallet feature and introduced some changes to the operating system requirement. Now, if you want to run Microsoft Edge on macOS, you need to update to macOS 11 and newer. As for preview releases, we received Edge 130.0.2835.2 in the Dev Channel.

Other notable updates include the following:

• Microsoft will use energy from the Three Mile Island NPP to power its data centers.
• Microsoft announced a new 3D Fluent Illustration style for its products.
• Hotpaching is now available in the Windows Server 2025 public preview.
• Dev Home 0.18 Preview is out with a File Explorer source control integration.
• Microsoft expanded AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi to support societal goals.
• Microsoft increased its quarterly dividend and announced a $60 billion share repurchase program.
• Microsoft announced a new HLK Refresh for Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025.

And here are the newest drivers and firmware updates released this week:

• AMD 24.20.11.01 non-WHQL with Frostpunk 2, God of War Ragnarok, and The Sims 4 DX11 update support.
• Intel ARC 32.0.101.6077 non-WHQL with optimizations for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, Final Fantasy XVI, Frostpunk 2, and God of War Ragnarok.
• AMD AGESA 1.2.0.2 with performance improvements for the Ryzen 9000 series processors.
• Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 received big updates with multiple improvements and fixes.
• Surface Pro 10 for Business got fixes for non-working keyboard and trackpad and more.

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week.

Robbie Khan reviewed the Ducky One 3 Pro Nazca, a premium keyboard with great build quality, fantastic typing performance, an 8KHz polling rate, and more. While very good overall, the keyboard is a bit pricey. Plus, it has some quirks with its USB-C port, which leaves some questions about the bundled accessories.

Another NAS made its way to Steven Parker's lab for a review. This time, TerraMaster sent its F8 SSD Plus: a palm-sized powerful media-class 8-bay network-attached storage. Small, toolless, and with plenty of RAM, this NAS gives plenty of space for NVMe SSDs. However, it has only one Ethernet Port, PCIe 3.0 X1 lanes, and a pretty hefty price tag.

Moving from hardware to games, we have a review of Frostpunk 2 from Pulasthi Ariyasinghe. This grim city builder features stunning city visuals, solid building mechanics, brutal politics with tough decisions, and haunting sound effects and music. The game is fantastic overall, but look out for some UI glitches and FPS drops over lengthy gameplay periods.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Microsoft announced the end of the Xbox Ambassadors program. The program will cease operations on October 15, so members still have a couple of weeks to claim their remaining rewards. Before that, Microsoft will hold the final sweepstakes and send out a special "thank you" reward to all participants.

Overwatch 2 is now available in Xbox Game Pass. The best part is that the game arrived in the catalog with some benefits, such as six hero skins: Cardboard Reinhardt, Turtleship D.Va, Cyberdragon Hanzo, Street Runner Genji, Bee Mercy, and Cleric Lifeweaver. Every Game Pass subscriber also gets a 10% XP boost.

Speaking of Game Pass, there are some new games to play. Wargroove 2 and Frostpunk 2 are now available for Game Pass subscribers on Cloud, Console, and PC. On September 24, the catalog will get another entry—Ara: History Untold.

Bethesda is launching the first Starfield expansion on September 30, and we now have a gameplay trailer. The expansion features more than 50 new locations, enemies, weapons, and a brand-new quest line in the city of Dazra.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is coming on November 19, and Microsoft has now revealed what editions buyers will have to choose from. In addition to regular tiers, there is a whopping $199 Aviator Editions that includes a metric ton of various premium content, such as planes, airports, and more. If you are not into that, get ready to pay $69.99 for the Standard Edition. However, it is also coming to Game Pass as a day-one release.

In addition, Microsoft unveiled hardware requirements for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. If you want to play the game, you will need quite a beefy computer and a relatively fast Internet connection. The ideal specs include 64GB of RAM, a 100Mbps Internet connection, and more. Interestingly, the storage requirement was lowered to just 50GB, which is due to Microsoft's new asset streaming technology.

A remaster of the original Red Dead Redemption may soon be available on a PC. The latest update to GTA Online (which also now has built-in anti-cheat) revealed traces of metadata of the potential remaster. However, since the information is not yet confirmed officially, take it with a reasonable grain of salt.

What is not coming is The Sims 5. Electronic Arts has shot down rumors about the upcoming sequel, claiming it would continue to update The Sims 4 to add features that people want from a "5." That will allow gamers to keep their progress while enjoying new features and capabilities.

However, a new installment of Skate is launching soon. The game's official account on X announced that Skate would hit Early Access in 2025, and developers plan to unveil more details in the coming months.

Mojang announced the date of the next Minecraft Live with a "new look and feel." It is set for September 28, and gamers can expect some "ever before seen" content. It will be the first Minecraft Live after the recent announcement of a significant rework of how the game receives feature updates.

In addition, Mojang is pulling the plug on Minecraft support for PlayStation VR. It will be discontinued in 2025. Sadly, those playing the blocky game on Sony's console will be required to move to the flat-screen experience in March 2025.

Finally, Nvidia added seven new games to its GeForce NOW cloud streaming service. They include the following:

• Frostpunk 2
• FINAL FANTASY XVI
• The Plucky Squire
• Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak
• REKA

Deals and freebies

Steam's Planes, Trans, and Automobiles Fest sale is still live, so you have one more day to get automotive-themed games with big discounts. The sale ends on September 23, 10 AM Pacific Time. If you need more deals and some freebies, check out this week's Weekend PC Game Deals article, where you can find boomer shooters, legacy bundles, some publisher sales, a new giveaway from the Epic Games Store, and more.

Other gaming stories include the following:

• The final Ara: History Untold Q&A dev diaries are out before the game's launch next week.
• Cities: Skylines II DLC is further delayed as work on improving the base game continues.
• Diablo IV has reportedly generated over $1 billion in revenue since its June 2023 launch.
• Microsoft will release a documentary about the creation of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
• A remaster of Horizon Zero Dawn may be coming soon to PC and PlayStation 5.

Microsoft Weekly background image by Lenzatic on Pixabay

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