Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

It is a month since Microsoft added Mouse Jump and Paste As Plain Text utilities to PowerToys, and now there is yet another new toy to play with -- Registry Preview.

We first heard about this new registry editing and visualization module last week, and now it has been officially released as part of PowerToys v0.69.0. Microsoft says that the v0.69 release cycle focuses on new features, stability and improvements, and the company gives early notice for v0.70 which is due for release next month.

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Having announced its plans to do so last year, Microsoft has added support for Gmail accounts to the new Outlook for Windows preview for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Gmail support is something that has been available to Office Insiders for a little while, but now the company is opening it up to anyone who is running the preview of the new Outlook for Windows. Microsoft says that it also plans to add IMAP support as well as support for Yahoo and iCloud, but for now it is Gmail users the company is treating -- but there is something you need to do first.

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Book lovers around the world are mourning the loss of Book Depository following the announcement that the Amazon-owned online bookstore is to close.

Based in the UK, Book Depository has been offering free worldwide delivery of books, including many titles that are hard to get hold of from other sources, since 2007. The shutdown date is imminent -- April 26 -- but as orders are being accepted until that day, there is still time to grab a bargain.

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Change is often good, but not when it comes to changing the way Windows works -- particularly the fundamental features that people have become used to. But this is precisely what Microsoft is looking to do by introducing a controversial new limitation on Alt-Tab in Windows 11.

As anyone who has used Windows for any length of time will know, the Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut provides an easy way to switch between open apps and windows. In recent years, Microsoft has added functionality by making it possible to Alt-Tab through Edge tabs, but now the company is testing a new implementation that reduces its usefulness.

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When Microsoft released the latest Dev build of Windows 11, one of the new additions was Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) -- an energy-saving feature that works by dimming areas of the screen depending on the content that is being viewed. Much was made of the fact that CABC was something that would benefit everyone, including desktop users. But it turns out that this is not actually the case.

Microsoft has now backtracked on its announcement, revealing that CABC is rather more underwhelming than we were first led to believe -- and far fewer Windows 11 users will be able to take advantage of it than first suggested.

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Adaptive screen brightness is a familiar function of smartphones, with both iOS and Android boosting brightness in lighter conditions to improve screen visibility, and dimming it when it is darker so you're not blinded during nocturnal social media sessions. Now Microsoft is bringing a similar -- but better -- feature to Windows 11.

Microsoft's take on the feature is called Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC). There is a clue in the name about how it works, and it is about more than just ambient lighting conditions. [UPDATE: Microsoft has had something of a change of heart, as detailed here.]

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Users of Microsoft Teams have a new option to experiment with that can make meetings both more interesting and more private -- green screen.

The ability to change backgrounds in video chats is something that has been available in numerous apps for quite some time, but the results are patchy at best. With the arrival of support for cinema-style green screen though, Microsoft is upping the ante.

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As any owner of an Android device will tell you, while there is a lot to love about Google’s mobile operating system, there remains a lot of room for improvement. A good example is the sharing of files between a smartphone running Android and a PC running Windows -- something that has proved bewilderingly and unnecessarily cumbersome in the past.

To make file sharing easier, Google has launched a beta version of Nearby Sharing for Windows, expanding the availability of what was previously a mobile-only app.

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New Insider builds of Windows 11 are usually about Microsoft testing out new features of the operating system, but sometimes the company tries something a little different. This is something that is true of the latest Canary release, build 25330, and Dev release, build 23424.

In both of these new releases, there are important changes to the Microsoft Store. The latest version of the app gives Insiders a new way to install free apps and games faster than ever.

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Microsoft has addressed a serious flaw in Azure Active Directory which was dubbed BingBang by the security researchers that discovered it.

The vulnerability not only made it possible to manipulate Bing search results, but also to access private data from Outlook, Office 365 and Teams. The issue stemmed from an Azure misconfiguration; it dates back to January this year, but Microsoft has only just plugged the hole.

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This year has seen the addition of a veritable smorgasbord of tools to the PowerToys utility collection -- and the pace shows no sign of slowing. Recent arrivals include Mouse Jump and Paste As Plain Text, and next in line is a handy registry utility.

PowerToys developers are currently working on a new tool called Registry Preview. Designed with power users in mind, this upcoming module will make it possible to preview the effects of importing a .reg file into the registry as well as providing registry editing options.

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In a move that will come as a surprise to just about no one, Microsoft has announced that it is "exploring" the idea of adding advertising to its GPT-4-based Bing Chat.

The company is framing the addition of ads to the AI-powered chat bot as a means of "driving more traffic and value to publishers from the new Bing". Microsoft says that it is seeking to do this by, among other things, "pioneering the future of advertising".

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Microsoft has confirmed an issue with Defender which resulted in users being shown warnings about URLs that were entirely safe. The emails advised admins that "a potentially malicious URL click was detected", with affected users complaining that legitimate URLs, such as Zoom meeting links, were being flagged up as dangerous.

In addition to the false positives, the "View alerts" link included in the warning emails sent out to admins failed to provide any further information that could prove useful.

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Spotify has launched a new personalized playlist option which gives users a unique way to create mixes to suite any mood, occasion or activity.

The company describes Niche Mixes as "a set of personalized playlists that combines all that our Mixes offer in a playful way". What this means in practice is that you can search for an "activity, vibe or aesthetic" (running, 80s, meditative, for instance), add the word "mix", and you'll be provided with a custom playlist to suit.

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Adoption of Windows 11 may well be much slower than Microsoft would have hoped or expected, but this isn't stopping the company forging ahead with its successor. The project is currently dubbed CorePC, but it is being referred to by many as -- naturally -- Windows 12.

What can be expected from Windows 12? Leaks from sources close to the company mean that plans for the next generation of the operating system have been exposed. Predictably, Microsoft is said to be leaning heavily on AI as it looks to modernize Windows. There is also a strong focus on security and faster delivery of updates on the cards.

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