Five-hundred-and-eighteen 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 confirmed a new Remote Desktop connection issue this week that is affecting Enterprise and business customers for the most part. Microsoft did adjust the safeguard hold for devices with certain games or apps, so that more devices may be able to upgrade to Windows 11 2022 Update.

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There have been numerous compatibility holds put in place that have prevented large swathes of people from upgrading to Windows 11 2022 Update. One of the more recent blocks affected gamers, with Microsoft standing in the way of upgrades because of impaired game performance under Windows 11 22H2.

But now Microsoft has lifted the safeguard holding, meaning that more gamers are able to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 11. Sadly it is not good news for everyone, as the block has only been partially lifted.

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The Thanksgiving holiday is today, and I am thankful for many things this year, such as my health, family, and friends. As a self-proclaimed tech nerd, however, I would be remiss not to mention something technology-related I am thankful for. While there are many devices that bring me joy, one of my favorite things is the mini PC. For whatever reason, I just love seeing a lot of computing power crammed into a small chassis. It feels magical.

Speaking of mini PCs, today, MINISFORUM unveils its latest. Called "NAD9," this diminutive Windows 11 Pro computer is powered by an impressive 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900H processor and can be ordered with up to 32GB of RAM (it supports up to 64GB). For storage, you can opt for either a 512GB or 1TB SSD. You can also order a barebones kit that comes without RAM, storage, or an operating system.

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The known issues with Windows 11 22H2 keep on coming thick and fast. Microsoft may want to move all Windows 10 users onto Windows 11, but the constant stream of problems is enough to put off just about anyone.

Now the company has confirmed yet another issue with the latest update to the operating system. Warning that "Connections may fail when using Remote Desktop Connection Brokers", Microsoft offers a workaround -- but not a fix -- for those affected.

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Orange Pi is an affordable alternative to the Raspberry Pi. There are several versions of the open-source computer available, including the recently released Orange Pi 5 and Orange Pi 800, and they can run a choice of operating systems, such as Android, Ubuntu, Debian Image and more.

There’s also now a dedicated Android-based operating system called Orange Pi OS which, as well as being able to run a large selection of Android applications, also offers quick switching between Windows 11 and macOS style themed desktops.

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Microsoft has made two big announcements about Windows Subsystem for Linux. Not only is the Microsoft Store app the default version, it is also losing the Preview label as it is now generally available for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The change means that Microsoft is switching away from offering WSL as an optional component of Windows itself. The company says that it has brought the app to the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 users following community requests, pointing out that this means that "Windows 10 can now run Linux GUI apps".

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While -- thankfully -- not terribly common, it is certainly not unknown for Windows 11 to just hang. If you have found yourself with a frozen desktop, you may have thought there was no alternative but to restart your computer.

But no matter whether your system froze while you were in the middle of a gaming session, while you were given a presentation, or just surfing the web, there is something else you can try.

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There have been complaints recently about Microsoft using the Start menu to promote its own OneDrive service as well as suggesting websites, but another upcoming addition to Windows 11 is likely be rather better received.

Hidden among the numerous new features of Windows 11 build 25247, is an update to the network connectivity icon that appears in the notification area of the taskbar. It provides at-a-glance information about whether your VPN is active.

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Around two months after acknowledging an issue with some printer drivers and Windows 11 2022 Update, Microsoft has addressed the problem and lifted the safeguard hold it had put in place.

The safeguard hold meant that people with printers using Microsoft IPP Class Driver or Universal Print Class Driver were blocked from upgrading to Windows 11 22H2. But in removing the block, Microsoft has opened up the latest version of Windows 11 to more people.

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It’s nearly the weekend and in celebration of that Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 build for Insiders in the Dev Channel.

It’s later in the week than usual, but worth the wait as Windows 11 Build 25247 comes with several new features including Energy Recommendations, improvements for Task Manager, and tweaks to the Account settings page. You can also now access Windows Studio Effects from Quick Settings.

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Five-hundred-and-seventeen 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 confirmed performance problems on Windows 11 this week. The issue affects certain games and apps that enable GPU debugging, which they should not do as it is a development-only feature.

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Microsoft has been increasing its focus on Linux for some years now, including introducing the ability to run a GNU/Linux environment inside Windows 10 and Windows 11 via the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This includes most command-line tools, utilities, and applications.

12 days ago, Microsoft released version 0.70.8 of the tool, which fixed plenty of issues and added some extra features. Now, the company announces it is removing the Preview label and making WSL in the Microsoft Store "generally available".

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Insider versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 come with a watermark on the bottom right-hand side of the desktop that shows the version of Windows you’re running and the current build number. This makes it easy to see which build you’re on, so you’ll know whether or not you’re up to date.

This watermark gets removed from stable Windows 10 and 11 updates (and from Insider builds rolled out close to the release date), but you can easily add it back, so you can see at a glance which version of Windows you’re on.

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Whether for reasons of aesthetics, or to be a little kinder to the eyes, the introduction of a dark mode option to Windows was real blessing. But there are times when dark mode is not appropriate, and it is a surprisingly lengthy process to temporarily disable it. Thankfully, Microsoft is working on a solution.

The company has been spotted experimenting with a dark mode toggle that reduces switching between light and dark mode to a couple of clicks.

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After November's Patch Tuesday releases, and ahead of the latest batch of updates for 2022, Microsoft has released a preview of the KB5019157 update.

The company draws attention to three particular highlights of this update including fixing an issue that saw Microsoft Store Update failing. Also highlighted are fixes for daylight savings problems as well as an issue with pinned apps in the Start menu.

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