Articles about Microsoft

Last week, Microsoft released previews of updates for various versions of Windows before it unleashes the final versions next Patch Tuesday. Included among these was the KB5016691 update for Windows 11 which --although billed primarily as a bug-fixing update -- added new Server Message Block (SMB) compression options.

The same changes were introduced to Windows Server 2022 with the KB5016693 update, and Microsoft has published details of just what the changes mean, as well as explaining how to take advantage of the new options and settings.

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Microsoft's focus may well be Windows 11 and the upcoming Windows 12, but that does not mean that people who have opted to stick with Windows 10 have been forgotten. Having released a preview of the KB5016691 update for Windows 11, the company has also released KB5016688 update for Windows 10.

Available for Windows 10 versions 20H2, 21H1 and 21H2, the KB5016688 update is a preview of the cumulative update that will be released next Patch Tuesday. Although this is a non-security update, it fixes a large number of issues with Windows 10

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Ahead of a wider release next Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has released the preview version of the KB5016691 update for Windows 11. The update addresses a number of issues that have cropped up recently, including fixing problems with USB printers and also with Bluetooth headsets.

There are numerous other bug fixes such as addressing a problem with Microsoft Edge and a trust issue with Microsoft Store apps. There are also a handful of new features and options, helping to enhance security and giving sysadmins new controls.

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Every -- well, almost every -- new build of Windows 11 has new features, options or settings to explore. Some are obvious, some less so. With the latest release of Windows 11, Microsoft has hidden some seriously impressive new animations.

These animations appear in the Settings app; when you roll your mouse cursor over the icons to the left of the app, they now come to life. But the animations do not appear by default, Even if you have Windows 11 build 25188 installed, there are still steps you need to take to unlock the special animation effects.

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Wednesdays are a big deal for Windows 11 Insiders in the Dev Channel as that’s when Microsoft typically releases new flights. Beta Insiders also now get to enjoy the mid-week release schedule, and today sees the arrival of twin builds 22621.586 and 22622.586.

In theory, Windows 11 Build 22621.586 is the flight without new features, while 22622.586 is the one with new features, except the main difference between today's two builds is the fixes included in them.

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The first big update for Microsoft’s new operating system, now set to be called the Windows 11 2022 Update, is due for release shortly. Microsoft is still hard at work developing new features and fixing problems for future updates.

Last week’s Windows 11 build for Insiders on the Dev Channel wasn’t particularly existing, with the focus on fixing problems, but Build 25188, released today, do introduce some more notable changes.

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Users of Windows 11 have been eagerly awaiting the first major update to the operating system. Windows 11 22H2 has been in the works for quite a while now, and it's due for release in the coming weeks; except it's not.

Microsoft will not be releasing Windows 11 22H2, having changed its mind about what the update will be called. Instead, it is Windows 11 2022 Update that will be pushed out to users as soon as next month.

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One of the most recent updates released by Microsoft that has had something of an unwanted payload is the KB5015878 update for Windows 10. Many people installing the update found that it broke audio on their systems.

Microsoft has not only acknowledged the problem, it has also issued a fix. The company is using a once-rare-but-becoming-increasingly-common Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to recall the update. Sadly, it will be of no use to people who are experiencing audio problems!

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, and there's no such thing as free software (well... very, very rarely). If you don't pay a monetary price for software, you're almost certainly going to pay for it with your privacy, or by seeing ads.

This is something that users of Microsoft's software have had little choice but to become increasingly familiar with -- even in the case of paid-for software. The latest of the company's apps to fall victim to the advertising plague is Outlook Mobile. Users are particularly annoyed because the ads are difficult to distinguish from emails.

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Five-hundred-and-four in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft may release the first feature update for Windows 11, version 22H2, as early as next month, according to a new rumor.

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When Microsoft introduced widgets to Windows 11, there was broad agreement that the company had not fully realized the potential of the feature. This is something that is somewhat addressed by a new update to the Windows Experience Pack.

The update means that widgets, including the weather widget, will now be able to get your attention by throwing up announcements and notifications. It's an update that could make widgets genuinely useful, but you may not see the new functionality immediately.

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Some weekly Windows 11 builds come with new features for Dev Channel Insiders to play around with, while others are more about offering fixes and just generally improving the overall user experience.

Today’s new flight, Build 25182, falls into the latter camp, and comes with lots of important fixes. These include:

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It is something pretty much all of us have needed to do at one time or another -- copy text from an image so it can be used in another document. Search online for how to extract text from an image, and you will be pointed in the direction of various OCR tools, but Microsoft is working on a solution of its own.

The ability to copy text from an image is coming to PowerToys. The developers are working on a new utility that will make the process very simple. Called PowerOCR, the unreleased PowerToys utility is undergoing testing right now.

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When it comes to the release dates for big updates to Windows, Microsoft is notoriously cagey. The company gives itself a big window of opportunity to release feature updates by giving them names such as Windows 11 22H2. This tell us nothing more than the release can be expected in the second half of 2022.

But now we may be able to narrow down the release date to something rather less vague than a six-month period. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans say that the release of Windows 11 22H2 is scheduled for September 20 -- so just a month from now.

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Microsoft and Canonical have announced that the .NET development platform is available as a native experience on Ubuntu hosts and container images, starting in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

This means .NET developers will be able to start their Linux journey with Ubuntu and will benefit from timely security patches and new releases as the two companies work together to deliver them.

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