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It's been almost a month since Windows 11 started rolling out generally but since it's being distributed in a staggered manner, not everyone has received it yet. Regardless of whether or not you have received the update yet, it's worth discussing its features in more detail given that the OS is still quite new. This is exactly what we have been doing in our ongoing Closer Look series for the past couple of months.
 
So far, we have taken a look at Search, Widgets, the Start menu, Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, the Taskbar, quick settings and notifications, Virtual Desktops, power and battery settings, default apps configurations, File Explorer, context menus, Teams integration, the updated Clock app in Windows 11, the Microsoft Store, the Snipping Tool, the Paint app refresh, the lock screen, the revamped Photos app, the voice typing experience, the storage settings, and the touch keyboard. Today, we'll be discussing the updated Calendar app and its integration with Windows 11.

Intel's latest 12th gen Alder Lake micro-architecture is exciting for enthusiasts. Irrespective of its performance against its predecessors or AMD's competing Ryzen CPUs, the new generation of Intel processors is landing with a fundamentally new design that has not been seen before in the x86 space. The architecture is introducing the big.LITTLE approach (Intel calls it Big-Bigger), which is an extremely popular way of designing mobile phone SoCs where larger more powerful cores are combined with smaller more efficient ones to get the optimal performance out of a microprocessor.
 
Not just that, the Alder Lake also brings cutting-edge next-gen features that include PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5 / LPDDR5 memory support. Essentially Alder Lake's integrated memory controller (IMC) is ready for the fifth generation of double data rate (DDR) SDRAM but it is also compatible with last-gen DDR4 as well. As default spec, Intel states that the Alder Lake-S desktop CPUs would work with DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200, but higher speeds should work fine too.

Microsoft says Windows customers are experiencing issues with network printing after installing the Windows 11 KB5006674 and Windows 10 KB5006670 updates issued with this month's Patch Tuesday, on October 12.
 
Users attempting to connect to printers shared on Windows print servers might encounter multiple errors preventing them from printing over the network.

How to fix screen flickering in Windows 11

It is nearly a month since Windows 11 was offered as free upgrade for users. But the operating system is not devoid of bugs, there are some annoying issues like the File Explorer not responding.
 
Another issue that has been troubling users, is the screen flickering in Windows 11. I've had this happen a few times, but they were completely random, and not like what users are reporting.

We are at the close of the week so it's time to recap everything important that happened in the world of Microsoft in the past week. We did get a new Windows 11 Dev channel build this week, as well as optional updates for Windows 10. Microsoft posted a strong quarter with improvements across the board (almost), but the company faced backlash from the community over some controversial changes to .NET. Find out more about this in our weekly digest for October 24 - October 29.

The Clalit Research Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University, analyzed one of the world's largest integrated health record databases to examine the effectiveness of the third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162B2 vaccine against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. The study provides the largest peer-reviewed evaluation of the effectiveness of a third "booster" dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass-vaccination setting. The study was conducted in Israel. It is published in The Lancet journal.
 
Many countries are currently experiencing a resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 infections despite hitherto successful vaccination campaigns. This may be due to the greater infectiousness of the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of SARS-CoV-2, and to waning immunity of vaccines administered months earlier. In the face of the current resurgence, several countries are planning to administer a third booster dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Two fans, 512 execution units, 6+8-pin PCIe
 
Intel is building dedicated gaming graphics cards, due out in Q1 2022, and we may have just gotten our first look at the big one, the Arc Alchemist. Here are some leaked images from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (via Videocardz)

Microsoft Edge set to work more closely with Microsoft 365 apps
 
Microsoft has unveiled a number of upcoming changes that will make its web browser Edge the obvious choice for users of the Microsoft 365 productivity suite.
 
In a lengthy blog post, the company announced it is working hard to implement intelligence changes that streamline workflows for Microsoft 365 customers.
 
For example, although people are often logged into personal and professional Microsoft accounts simultaneously, Edge will soon automatically open files in whichever profile was active when the link was clicked.

It's almost been a month since Windows 11 became generally available, but since it is being rolled out in a staggered manner, it's not available for everyone. Although there are ways to jump the queue and immediately install the OS on your machine, it's wiser to know what you're getting into before you decide to pull the trigger. This is why we have been discussing Windows 11's features and capabilities in more detail in our ongoing Closer Look series.
 
So far, we have taken a look at Search, Widgets, the Start menu, Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, the Taskbar, quick settings and notifications, Virtual Desktops, power and battery settings, default apps configurations, File Explorer, context menus, Teams integration, the updated Clock app in Windows 11, the Microsoft Store, the Snipping Tool, the Paint app refresh, the lock screen, the revamped Photos app, the voice typing experience, and the storage settings. Today, we'll be the touch keyboard in Windows 11.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Dune' tops the chart, followed by ‘Halloween Kills'. 'Free Guy' completes the top three.

Microsoft is pushing out the new PC Health Check app out to Windows 10 users as part of KB5005463.
 
The somewhat controversial app is taking on an additional role beyond just checking the readiness of your PC for Windows 11.

Notable the app will automatically install updates when you open it, usually followed by a prompt to restart your PC, which may be an annoyance for some users.

It's been a few weeks since Windows 11 started rolling out generally (check out our review here), but since it's being distributed in a staggered manner, not everyone has it yet, even if they're on a supported machine. Although there are ways to skip the queue and trigger the update immediately, it's perhaps advisable to know what you're getting into before you decide to make the jump to Microsoft's latest OS. This is exactly why we have been discussing Windows 11's features in more detail in our ongoing Closer Look series.
 
So far, we have taken a look at Search, Widgets, the Start menu, Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, the Taskbar, quick settings and notifications, Virtual Desktops, power and battery settings, default apps configurations, File Explorer, context menus, Teams integration, the updated Clock app in Windows 11, the Microsoft Store, the Snipping Tool, the Paint app refresh, the lock screen, the revamped Photos app, and the voice typing experience. Today, we'll be discussing storage settings in Windows 11.

When Microsoft transitioned to a Chromium-based browser they become somewhat less motivated to support non-Chromium platforms, and when Microsoft released a new version of Skype for the Web in 2019 it only supported Edge, Chrome and Opera, and did not support Safari or Firefox.
 
Microsoft eventually delivered support for Safari a year later, and today the company confirmed support for all browsers, including Firefox, for their web app.

StartAllBack has been updated to 3.0, you may remember this program by the name StartIsBack, well according to the developer it now has a new name and a new focus for Windows 11 UI shortcomings that are plaguing early adopters. Namely: the stubborn taskbar, slow File Explorer with cut context menus and the "quite cringe start menu" (their words, not ours).
 
So what does it do? StartAllBack restores taskbar from Windows 10, adopted with Windows 11 features and look. It restores the File Explorer UI and context menus, improved with Mica and Acrylic effects, as well as the classic start menu derived from Windows 7. That last point is the kicker, this app appears to mostly emulate the Windows 7 Start menu. So if you are looking for an app to restore the Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11, this is not for you.

A new security weakness has been disclosed in the WinRAR trialware file archiver utility for Windows that could be abused by a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on targeted systems, underscoring how vulnerabilities in such software could beсome a gateway for a roster of attacks.
 
Tracked as CVE-2021-35052, the bug impacts the trial version of the software running version 5.70. "This vulnerability allows an attacker to intercept and modify requests sent to the user of the application," Positive Technologies' Igor Sak-Sakovskiy said in a technical write-up. "This can be used to achieve remote code execution (RCE) on a victim's computer."

Microsoft recently released their Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) for Windows 11 Insiders, and while it is an amazing achievement, at present it is pretty limited, with access to only about 50 titles in the Amazon app store.
 
While it is possible to side-load any Android app, in practice the best apps are in the Google Play Store, and those will not work on WSA as it lacks Google Play Services, needed for most apps in that store.
 
Of course, Windows is nothing but hackable, and it appears Windows hacker ADeltaX has cracked the problem, and managed to install Google Play Services, including the Store, on Windows 11.

Microsoft yesterday released Windows 11 Build 22483 to the Dev Channel Insiders. This build includes 7th anniversary badges, the ability to right-click on either “Recommended” or the “More” button in Start and several bug fixes. Microsoft today announced the release of ISO images of Windows 11 Build 22483, you can download it here.

Microsoft is rolling out a fresh new build for Windows Insiders in the Dev channel, bringing build 22483 that includes a bunch of bug fixes and a tiny new feature. However, those waiting for Android app support might have to wait slightly longer, as support for running Android apps will first head to Beta channel users only.
 
While it is odd that a new feature is first being tested in the Beta channel instead of the Dev channel, it is likely due to the fact that support for running Android apps might be being readied for the version of Windows 11 currently available publicly. It will be no surprise to see the feature make it to the Dev channel eventually. Additionally, some fixes made as part of today's build will also make it to the Beta and Release Preview channels, before eventually making it to the generally available version.

With Windows 11, Microsoft has finally redesigned the modern Settings app.
 
The new Settings app uses a sidebar and breadcrumbs to help users easily navigate between different pages, and it also features new controls for customization, managing network, power usage, disk management, and more.
 
The settings app has been significantly improved, but several Control Panel features are still missing.
 
Thankfully, Windows 11 still comes with the Control Panel and File Explorer-based advanced configuration page called "God Mode" that allows you to easily access all advanced tools, features, and tasks.

A couple of days ago, VMware received an update to 16.2.0 build-18760230 that broke the dark mode, VMware has acknowledged this and plans to release a fix soon, but the interesting thing about this build is that it includes an undocumented change for the TPM requirement, essentially adding a software level TPM, rather than an emulated hardware one.
 
If you have been using a Windows 11 virtual machine in VMware Workstation Pro with TPM enabled, you will be used to having to set and enter a password for each encrypted VM, but with this update you can now remove the encryption and add in the software level TPM flag instead. Fortunately, the flag also works in the free VMware Workstation Player.
 
The following assumes you have not encrypted the VM further with BitLocker within Windows, if you have you may need to decrypt the drive first before performing the steps below.

Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and I want to reverse this delta
 
Microsoft is boasting of how it reckons to have reduced the size of Windows 11 updates. Surprisingly "cutting hardware support" didn't feature.
 
The monthly cycle of fixes for Microsoft's wares has been the bane of many an administrator's life over the years. The operating system's decision to go for a lengthy lie-down at inopportune times while updates were being downloaded and applied have become something of a running joke, particularly with much of the world's move to remote working and occasionally iffy domestic internet connectivity.

Microsoft today announced improvements to how Microsoft Edge is listed in Windows Task Manager on Windows 11 PCs. Instead of a list of processes named Microsoft Edge, you can now see a detailed view of the Microsoft Edge processes as shown in the image above.

Microsoft's new Windows 11 has a ton of security-based features baked into it like Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0), Virtualization-based Security (VBS), and more, which - much to the annoyance of certain users - have lead to some strict system requirements. While they were still present in Windows 10, they weren't however enforced on users unlike now in Windows 11.
 
The company though has defended its position and recently, David Weston, Partner Director of Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft, explained why these features have played a key role in ensuring a secure experience for Windows 11 users.

AMD’s processor range has been on the ascent the last few years,  but the company has been held back in one area –  the company’s AMD Ryzen 5000 processors have not been able to support technology like eGPUs because Thunderbolt 3 was a proprietary Intel technology.
 
Thankfully standards have moved forward, and the new USB 4 standard folds in support for Thunderbold 3 and there is evidence that AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 processors will be supporting that technology.
 
A new Linux kernel driver patch submitted by AMD engineers for Penguin OS now includes USB 4 DisplayPort 1.4 tunnelling which, along with DisplayPort 2.0 Alternate Mode, are two mandatory features of USB 4.

While Windows 11 may be making all the headlines lately, it is important to note that Windows 10 version 21H2 is on the horizon as well. Although Microsoft doesn't have a firm release date as of yet, the near-final build made its way to the Release Preview channel for consumers and businesses recently.
 
Windows 10 version 20H2 came out on October 20, 2020, which means that we can expect version 21H2 to arrive in a similar timeframe as well. This also makes sense from the perspective of Windows 11's staggered rollout, which began on October 5 (check out our review here). In fact, Microsoft might even decide to give its big OS refresh a few more weeks under the spotlight before letting people know that they also have Windows 10 version 21H2 as an option.