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The Windows 11 Paint app gets dark mode and more in a new Dev and Canary Insider update by John Callaham Many Windows 11 users have been waiting patiently for the company's Paint app to add a dark mode. Some people were not so patient. Mod developers have been putting in a dark mode feature in Paint via third-party apps for a while now. Today, the long wait is over, at least if you are a member of the Windows Insider program. Microsoft revealed today that Insiders in the Dev and Canary channels can download the new version (11.2304.17.0) of the Paint app. Yes, it does finally include a dark mode. Microsoft stated: With this update, we are introducing support for dark mode in Paint. By default, Paint will adapt to your system theme preferences, but you can change this option yourself on the brand-new settings page. In addition to the new dark mode, the new Paint app for Dev and Canary Insiders includes some new features and improvements for its zoom mode: The classic presets are still available, but you can now also zoom in and out with finer granularity increments on the zoom slider or set a custom zoom value for even greater precision. We are also introducing a new fit to screen option to quickly optimize zoom to match your window size. Microsoft has also made changes to the Paint App's Image Properties dialogs: They now match the style of the new Windows 11 design and fit in with the new Paint app backdrop as well as many accessibility and usability improvements to dialogs throughout the app. We have also improved access key and keyboard shortcut support throughout the app for improved accessibility and productivity with keyboard. There's no word yet on when these features will be available for all Windows 11 users. Hopefully the rest of us won't have to wait too much longer to get the dark mode in the Paint app.

WinRAR's Twitter post on Windows 11 RAR support is anything but fine by John Callaham Last week at Build 2023, Microsoft very casually mentioned it would add support for opening files in a number of formats to Windows 11, including opening RAR files. This move was so unexpected we decided to contact the company behind the popular file archive program WinRAR to get its reaction. In the email response we received, Louise Cusworth of the WinRAR sales team stated that the company felt "honoured with Microsoft's decision." However, Cusworth did add, "Are we concerned? Of course we are, because we are a small company and Microsoft is a big international multi-billion dollar company with a lot of power. " She also stated that this developer creates "both challenges and benefits for our business." Well, it would appear that WinRAR might be a bit more concerned than Cusworth let on in her statement to us last week. The official WinRAR Twitter page posted a new message stating "Us right now. #Windows11" . The well-known "This is fine" meme image of a cartoon dog surrounded by fire is right below it. Us right now. #Windows11 pic.twitter.com/t8WnXaWyZa — WinRAR (@WinRAR_RARLAB) May 30, 2023 Of course. WinRAR's business model was already interesting. According to its own rules, you could download the archive program and use it for free for a 40-day trial period before you technically had to pay for it. However, the truth is that most people can simply ignore that request and use WinRAR for free with little to no issues. Having said that, Windows 11's RAR support is only supposed to allow for the opening of those archive files. That means people who want to compress files in that format will still need a third party app like WinRAR. We would like to believe that loophole will keep the company going for some time. By the way, there's a new version, 6.22, of WinRAR that you can download and use right now. It's mainly a bug fixing update that addresses a few outstanding issues.

WinRAR on Windows 11 getting RAR support: "We feel honoured with Microsoft's decision" by John Callaham Microsoft made a lot of big announcements during its Build 2023 developers conference this week. That included reveals like Windows Copilot, a redesign of its Edge browser, and adding Bing Search to ChatGPT. However, one reveal that Microsoft casually mentioned deep inside in a blog post managed to get a lot of attention from users and the media online. Windows 11 will soon add native support for opening a number of archive file types, including RAR. As we mentioned when we first posted on this development, the RAR format remains very popular for Windows PC users 30 years after it was first created by Eugene Roshal, and 28 years after he created the archive program WinRAR. It's been used by millions of people since then to both open and compress files in the RAR format. Now that Windows 11 will soon have the ability to open RAR archives on its own, we wondered how win.rar GmbH, the Germany-based company that owns and updates the WinRAR program, felt about this new development. We asked the company for a statement and received one via email from Louise Cusworth of the WinRAR sales team: It's taken Microsoft 30 years to implement support for RAR files into the Windows OS, and we were taken by surprise by the announcement, but now we're wondering if they're considering providing the RAR engine in 30 years, too? Microsoft announced many other features for the next Windows 11 release, but obviously the part about the support for different archives and for .rar, in particular, created a big splash on the internet. First of all, we feel honoured with Microsoft's decision. This will hopefully make RAR compression even more popular and more accessible to those users who are not familiar with WinRAR. Are we concerned? Of course we are, because we are a small company and Microsoft is a big international multi-billion dollar company with a lot of power. However, others might be even more concerned about Microsoft's decision. When searching on Google for "how to open rar files", we see the advertisements of our competitors; this could become obsolete in the future, but we simply don't know. Although users will still need WinRAR to create RAR files, they'll no longer need it to open their .rar files (which was never exclusive to WinRAR anyway), but, hopefully, there are enough people out there who will continue to support a small software company like us, so that we can continue to develop WinRAR for a long time to come! Your article and the many others that are now popping up online, introduce both challenges and benefits for our business. We need to keep developing WinRAR to make it even more attractive to users, and we have just released the Beta version for WinRAR 6.22 and are currently working on a major upgrade, which will hopefully be ready by the end of the year. We want to thank Louise for this statement. It will certainly be very interesting to see if people will continue to use WinRAR and if Microsoft also decides to add native support for archiving files in the RAR format for future Windows releases.

Microsoft launches surprise Windows 11 Insider Beta build (KB5026438) with some bug fixes by John Callaham Today, Microsoft released new builds 22621.1755 and 22624.175 (KB5026438) to the Beta Channel for Windows 11 Insiders. The company writes in its blog post: Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1755 and Build 22624.1755 (KB5026438) to the Beta Channel. Build 22624.1755 = New features rolling out. Build 22621.1755 = New features off by default. This new Windows 11 Beta comes less than a week after the last Beta release for Insiders. As such, this new build has some bug fixes and some known issues but does not have any new features. Here is the changelog: Fixes in Build 22624.1755 [Settings] Settings should no longer crash when attempting to uninstall an app while using grid view. [Input] Fixed an issue where the Pinyin IME’s insert text button wasn’t displaying correctly in some cases. Fixes for BOTH Build 22621.1755 & Build 22624.1755 This update addresses a race condition in Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS). The Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) might stop responding. This occurs when the system processes multiple local account operations at the same time. The access violation error code is 0xc0000005. Known issues [Search on the Taskbar] If you have the Bing button in the search box on the taskbar and you restart your computer, you may see the daily rotating search highlight for some time before getting the Bing button back. [Widgets] When you launch the widgets board for the first time, you may see momentarily placeholders of the widgets/feed cards of the old 2-column layout even if your device supports 3-columns. You can check out the full blog post here.

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Windows 11 April 2023 non-security preview build 22621.1635 released by John Callaham Microsoft has released the April 2023 non-security preview version of the Windows 11 22H2 update, with the build number 22621.1635 (KB5025305). This preview version of the update has a number of new features, along with many improvements. Here is the changelog: Highlights New! This update adds animations to a few icons on the Widgets taskbar button. These animations turn on when: A new announcement appears on the Widgets taskbar button. You hover over or click the Widgets taskbar button. New! This update adds a new toggle control on the Settings > Windows Update page. When you turn it on, we will prioritize your device to get the latest non-security updates and enhancements when they are available for your device. For managed devices, the toggle is disabled by default. For more information, see Get Windows updates as soon as they're available for your device. This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. Pop-up windows open in the background instead of in the foreground. This update addresses an issue that affects the Chinese input method. You cannot see all of the first suggested item. Improvements This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB: New! This update changes firewall settings. You can now configure application group rules. This update affects the Islamic Republic of Iran. The update supports the government’s daylight saving time change order from 2022. This update addresses an issue that affects the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) process. It might stop responding. Because of this, the machine restarts. The error is 0xc0000005 (STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION). This update addresses an issue that affects Microsoft Edge IE mode. The Tab Window Manager stops responding. This update addresses an issue that affects protected content. When you minimize a window that has protected content, the content displays when it should not. This occurs when you are using Taskbar Thumbnail Live Preview. This update addresses an issue that affects mobile device management (MDM) customers. The issue stops you from printing. This occurs because of an exception. This update changes the app icons for certain mobile providers. This update addresses an issue that affects signed Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policies. They are not applied to the Secure Kernel. This occurs when you enable Secure Boot. This update addresses an issue that displays Task View in the wrong area. This occurs when you close a full screen game by pressing Win+Tab. This update addresses an issue that occurs when you use a PIN to sign in to Windows Hello for Business. Signing in to Remote Desktop Services might fail. The error message is, "The request is not supported". This update addresses an issue that affects Administrator Account Lockout policies. GPResult and Resultant Set of Policy did not report them. This update addresses an issue that affects the Unified Write Filter (UWF). When you turn it off by using a call to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), your device might stop responding. This update addresses an issue that affects the Resilient File System (ReFS). A stop error occurs that stops the OS from starting up correctly. This update addresses an issue that affects MySQL commands. The commands fail on Windows Xenon containers. This update addresses an issue that affects SMB Direct. Endpoints might not be available on systems that use multi-byte character sets. This update addresses an issue that affects apps that use DirectX on older Intel graphics drivers. You might receive an error from apphelp.dll. If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device. Windows 11 servicing stack update - 22621.1626 This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates. Symptom Using provisioning packages on Windows 11, version 22H2 (also called Windows 11 2022 Update) might not work as expected. Windows might only be partially configured, and the Out Of Box Experience might not finish or might restart unexpectedly. Provisioning packages are .PPKG files which are used to help configure new devices for use on business or school networks. Provisioning packages which are applied during initial setup are most likely to be impacted by this issue. For more information on provisioning packages, please see Provisioning packages for Windows. Note Provisioning Windows devices using Windows Autopilot is not affected by this issue. Windows devices used by consumers in their home or small offices are not likely to be affected by this issue. Workaround If you can provision the Windows device before upgrading to Windows 11, version 22H2, this will prevent the issue. We are presently investigating and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Symptom Copying large multiple gigabyte (GB) files might take longer than expected to finish on Windows 11, version 22H2. You are more likely to experience this issue copying files to Windows 11, version 22H2 from a network share via Server Message Block (SMB) but local file copy might also be affected.Windows devices used by consumers in their home or small offices are not likely to be affected by this issue. Workaround To mitigate this issue, you can use file copy tools that do not use cache manager (buffered I/O). This can be done by using the built-in command-line tools listed below: robocopy \\someserver\someshare c:\somefolder somefile.img /J or xcopy \\someserver\someshare c:\somefolder /J We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. You can check out the full changelog here.

Windows 11 Snap Assist may get some AI features like saving snap layouts in the future by John Callaham AI is the new technology trend for 2023, and Microsoft is certainly going all in for AI with its new Bing chatbot. Now, a new report from Windows Central says AI features will be coming to another Microsoft product, Windows 11. Specifically, the report says the OS may get AI-assisted additions for its Snap Assist feature. The report, citing unnamed sources, states Microsoft is working to add a feature that will allow Windows 11 to remember snap layouts for apps so that users can quickly go back to them instead of having to set them up themselves every time. Another new feature that's reportedly in the works will let users search for apps in the snap suggestions interface. The report says this will use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to find the right app, via a word or image they are searching for. Finally, Windows Central says Microsoft is experimenting with allowing Snap Assist to dynamically change the app percent ratio. It offers an example of two apps snapped together, one with 70 percent of the display and the other with 30 percent. The new feature would allow a person to click on the app with the 30 percent view, and it would then switch and command 70 percent of the layout's screen. All of these new features may or may not be added in future Windows 11 builds. However, it's clear that Microsoft is trying to use AI to make Snap Assist better for power users to save them some time. We have already seen some small improvements in Windows 11 Insider builds, including reducing the hover time for the feature, and adding an app icon and description.

Microsoft begins rolling out Windows 11 to select users starting today by Abhay V In what comes as a surprise, Microsoft today announced that it is beginning the rollout of Windows 11 to devices that are running supported hardware. While the company had promised that the rollout will commence on October 5, the company seems to have changed its mind and begun rolling out the new OS to users a day earlier. Of course, the date is already October 5 in some regions like Australia, but the firm specifically notes that the "upgrade will start to be delivered to qualifying devices beginning Oct. 4". There has been a lot of confusion regarding the minimum hardware requirements, but as of today, the hardware requirements seem to be locked, with supported processors including select seventh-gen Intel Core chips, and all eight-gen chips, and newer. If you have been running Insider builds on unsupported hardware, you likely will be moved off of the Insider Program if you haven't been, already. If you still force the OS on an unsupported device, the firm might deny you any updates and even get you to sign a waiver. However, if you are unsure whether your device qualifies for the update, you can head here to download the PC Health Check app to ascertain if you are eligible. Additionally, you can also download the Installation Assistant, the updated Media Creation tool, or the official windows 11 ISO images from Microsoft here to perform an in-place upgrade, create media for a different PC, or clean install the OS, respectively. As for what's new, Windows 11 brings a much-needed coat of paint to Microsoft's popular OS. There are UI changes, new apps, new capabilities aimed at power users, and much more. However, there have been some steps in the opposite direction as well with half-baked features and some inconsistencies still present. Overall, those looking for a refreshed design and some new bits to play with will be happy to upgrade, while those accustomed to the OS might see some inconsistencies in the taskbar, default apps, and more. Windows 11 will roll out to "eligible new devices" first, who will be offered to install the OS right away. Through the course of this year and the next, Microsoft will gauge the rollout performance and eventually expand availability to more devices. You can check our Closer Look series to take a detailed look at all the separate components added in Windows 11, or check out our full review of the OS. If you can't wait for it to be offered to you in Windows 10, you can use the new Windows 11 Installation Assistant on this page at Microsoft.

Windows 11 build 22000.120 out for the Dev and Beta channels, adds a new Family widget by Abhay Venkatesh It’s a new week, which means it’s time for a new Windows 11 build for Windows Insiders. Today, the firm is releasing build 22000.120 to both the Dev and Beta channels. The first Windows 11 build for the Beta channel was released last week. While the Dev channel is usually not tied to a specific release, both the Dev and Beta channels are currently running the same builds, with Dev users expected to soon begin receiving development bits of Windows 11 slated for the next major versions scheduled for the next year. Beta channel builds, however, will eventually be promoted to the Release Preview channel, before they finally make it to general availability, which hints suggest will be sometime in October this year. This is also the best time to hop off the Dev channel to more stable releases in the Beta channel if you wish to, without having to perform a clean install. You can check out the steps to follow to switch builds in our quick guide here. As for what’s new, there isn’t much in the way of major features since the builds are still being prepped for release, and the underlying bits of the OS are almost complete. There are a bunch of improvements based on user feedback, along with the usual crop of bug fixes, which is to be expected in this stage of the development. What is still missing is the ability to run Android apps, which the firm promised will arrive in future builds. Build 22000.120 brings a new Family widget that shows information about users' family groups connected to their Microsoft accounts. The firm is also adding the ability to notification badges for the chat icon on the taskbar, something that will not be available to many users. Additionally, File Explorer context menus are also being tweaked to make them compact, which is suited for use with a mouse pointer. There are also some UI tweaks for the taskbar. Here is the full list of the changes: We are introducing a new Family widget for MSA accounts! It is available in all Windows languages and regions. It allows you to see recent activity from members of your Microsoft family group. We are beginning to rollout notification badging for the Chat icon on the Taskbar. Not everyone will see it right away at first. Made some adjustments to improve how the close button looks like in the Taskbar preview windows. When changing backgrounds for Desktops, even if Settings is already open, using Choose Background via Task View will now force Settings to move to whichever Desktop you’re actually on. Moved the Identify button in Display Settings to be right under the control for arranging your monitors (when you have multiple monitors connected) so it’s easier to find. We’ve updated File Explorer’s context menu to be a little more compact for mouse users. Updated the “New” button in the File Explorer’s command bar to use a dropdown menu style with all options in one list instead of a nested list. We’ve made some adjustments to improve the use of space and thumbnail sizes within ALT + Tab, Task View and snap assist. In addition to these, the firm is also rolling out an update to the Microsoft Store for Dev channel users with a bunch of improvements. These include a new auto-scrolling feature for the spotlight apps on the main page, a refreshed design for the gaming section, and improvements to the ratings and review form. These changes are expected to make it to Beta channel users if there are "no blocking issues", the company adds. As usual, there is a list of bug fixes and other improvements that the firm has detailed. With these builds heading towards general release, there are a ton of fixes, which is always a good thing. These are welcome for those running Beta builds as well, as a level of stability is expected from those users, unlike those in the Dev channel. Here is the complete changelog for what's fixed: Taskbar: The virtual touchpad is now available again to be enabled in Taskbar Settings. The Task View flyout will no longer dismiss when you start typing when attempting to rename your Desktops. The Task View flyout should now display in the correct direction for Insiders using the Arabic or Hebrew display language. When Cortana is set up for voice activation, hovering over the microphone icon in the Taskbar corner will now say “Your assistant is ready to respond” instead of “Host process for Windows Services”. DPI changes should no longer cause icon duplication and overlapping in the Taskbar corner. Adjusted the calendar flyout header spacing to give a bit more room in response to feedback that the days of the week were wrapping in some languages. Fixed an issue where if you updated your preferred first day of the week, it wouldn’t be reflected in the calendar flyout until you signed out and back in. Your preferred calendar flyout state (expanded or collapsed) should now persist reboot. Fixed a race condition for Insiders will multiple monitors related to the Taskbar that was causing Start menu to fly up into the corner of the screen, and explorer.exe to crash when you tried hovering over the Task View button on secondary monitors. Mitigated an issue that could trigger an explorer.exe crash loop for Insiders running Windows with multiple monitors. Based on our analysis of the previous flight, we believe the explorer.exe crash loop for Turkish Insiders when their laptops were at 100% charge has been addressed and we are removing this from the known issues list. Clicking the widgets icon on your secondary monitor should now open widgets on that monitor instead of your primary one. Right-clicking on the Taskbar with a pen should no longer cause a crash. Addressed an issue that was making app icons in the Taskbar blurry for some Insiders. We’ve done some work to address an issue where app icons in the Taskbar could become stuck in a blank state when loading. Fixed an issue that was making explorer.exe crash when clicking the Task View button. Fixed an issue where the Chat window was getting stuck on the screen. Clicking Chat on a secondary monitor should now launch it in the correct position and DPI. We’ve done some work to address an issue where the Taskbar preview windows were getting stuck on the screen and not dismissing when you clicked something else. To address an issue where pressing F7 with focus set to the Taskbar would lock up the taskbar, we’ve made a change so that the caret browsing prompt will no longer appear if F7 is pressed somewhere where a text block is not present. If you press WIN + B followed by the arrow keys, you will now be able to navigate to all the elements in the taskbar corner without needing to press Tab first. Badges on the app icons on secondary monitors should now be in sync with what’s showing on the primary monitor. Settings: Settings will no longer crash when clicking “Facial recognition (Windows Hello)” under Sign-in Settings when Windows Hello is already set up. We fixed an issue where in navigating to Settings > Network & Internet > Ethernet could unexpectedly change the network profile type. If you are an ethernet user, please check your settings after upgrading to this build to ensure your desired network profile type is selected and change it if it isn’t. Fixed an issue where setting your IP address in Network Settings wasn’t working in certain cases. Editing your VPN proxy details in Settings should no longer cause Settings to crash. Fixed another issue causing Power & Battery Settings to crash. Also fixed an issue that could make Settings crash specifically if you went to look at the 7-day battery usage graph in Power & Battery Settings. The progress bars in Settings are now properly accent colored. Saving custom themes in Personalization Settings should now work. Hooked up some Get Help links that stopped pointing to specific guidance after the Settings updates introduced in Windows 11. Hovering over the toggle switches in Settings will no longer make them disappear. Fixed an issue that could cause search in Settings to be in a permanently broken state, saying “No result” for every search. Did some work to help address an issue where you would see a big solid accent color area while resizing the Settings window. Settings should no longer flash green on launch. We’ve done some work to fix an issue that was causing random crashes on Settings pages with lists, as well as an issue causing random crashes on Settings pages with radio buttons. Links to specific Settings pages will now properly navigate to the correct page in Settings when Settings isn’t already open. Your profile picture in Settings should no longer have an unexpected square backplate when transparency is enabled. Added in the missing progress bar when uninstalling apps under Apps & Features in Settings. Icons in the volume mixer in Sound Settings should no longer become overlapped. In-bound Bluetooth PIN pairing in Settings should work again now. If you click “Advanced Options” at the top of the page while navigating through Windows Update Settings, it should now actually open Advanced Options. Made another fix for the volume and brightness sliders becoming unexpectedly tiny if all other settings were removed from Quick Settings. Going from one of the subpages of Quick Settings over to the input flyout should no longer cause a crash. If you use the Accessibility section of Quick Settings, the toggles should now show the correct state of each feature. If you press WIN + P to go directly to Project within Quick Settings, the arrow keys now work to navigate up and down the list. Fixed an issue that was causing some thumbnails to be randomly squished in the media control above Quick Settings. Made another fix to address Focus Assist turning on unexpectedly when viewing the desktop. File Explorer: Fixed an issue resulting in File Explorer unexpectedly not showing an updated scroll bar when in dark mode. Addressed a GDI handle leak related to context menu usage resulting in sluggishness across File Explorer after prolonged usage. Made a change to address a memory leak which was impacting File Explorer, increasing each time more File Explorer windows were opened. Also made a change related to the command bar in File Explorer that was resulting an increased thread count every time a new File Explorer window was opened that would continually grow, consuming resources. Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash related to the use of Acrylic in File Explorer’s context menus. Fixed an issue making the focus rectangle unexpectedly appear when using mouse to interact with File Explorer’s command bar. The context menu shouldn’t flicker anymore if you hover over it when Contrast themes are enabled. The context menu should no longer unexpectedly get clipped on the side, not rendering completely. Right clicking the bottom corner of the desktop show no longer causes the context menu to open at the top of the screen. We addressed an underlying issue that we believe is the root cause for a scrollbar appearing in the context menu and explorer.exe crashing when you tried to interact with it. Made a change to help make the radio buttons in File Explorer’s File Options a little more obvious when they’re in the selected state. Clicking the rename button in the command bar should no longer randomly show the Open With dialog sometimes. Fixed an issue that was making some of the file operation dialogs have unreadable button text in dark mode (for example, “File in Use” and “Destination Folder Access Denied”). Start menu: Rapidly pressing the Windows key multiple times should no longer crash Start. Made a change to help improve Start menu launch performance. Fixed an issue where if you clicked on one of the files in Recommended, it was opening the file in an unexpected app in some cases. Made a change to address an issue where Search was sometimes randomly flashing on top of Start when opening Start. Search: Hovering over the Search icon should no longer cause a crash when the recent searches have been updated. When hovering over the Search icon the window should no longer become clipped. Windowing: Connecting and disconnecting to a PC over Remote Desktop, and switching users, should no longer make all your open apps unexpectedly minimize. Addressed a high hitting explorer.exe crash when snapping certain apps on system with mixed DPI monitors. When the snap layouts window is visible after hovering on the maximize button of an app it should now dismiss more reliably now when you move your mouse away. Fixed an issue that was making explorer.exe crash sometimes if you docked or undocked your PC with snapped windows. Window frames should no longer get stuck on the screen when closing windows. Fixed an issue that was making windows unexpectedly open on the wrong Desktop when they shouldn’t. We’ve turned off the animation when switching Desktops using the keyboard shortcuts as it was leading to flashes and hangs. When maximizing certain windows, like File Explorer, the border should no longer low over to secondary monitors. Addressed an issue that was causing screen readers to unexpectedly say “DesktopWindowXamlSource” when using ALT + Tab. We’ve done some work to improve the sensitivity when using the touchpad gesture to invoke ALT + Tab and switch apps. If you were experiencing issues with snap ssist not appearing on the previous flight, we believe this should be resolved after upgrading to this one. Windows Security and logging in: Windows Hello Face should be working again now after upgrading. The button text in the UAC dialog should now correctly say Yes and No again for Insiders not using EN-US. Fixed an issue that was making the UAC dialog launch in the background for apps pinned to the Taskbar in certain scenarios. A Windows Defender fix to address the issue where “Automatic sample submission” was unexpectedly turned off when you restarted your PC is rolling out. We mitigated an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing a repeated logonui.exe crash. We also mitigated a deadlock that could result in your PC getting stuck at a black screen when unlocking your PC, and a separate crash that was making some Insiders see a black screen for a few seconds after logging in. Fixed an issue that was making explorer.exe crash for some Insiders when logging in for the first time after booting their PC. Improved visibility of login screen elements when using high contrast. Logging in or locking your PC should no longer cause full screen white or accent colored flashes. Input: Fixed an issue related to tooltips that was making clicks happen in the wrong place across the system, for example when interacting with icons on the desktop. The touch keyboard should no longer get clipped after rotating the screen orientation when docked. Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash sometimes when changing focus between apps while using a third-party IME. Mitigated an issue that is believed to be causing certain hardware keys and buttons to not work on some devices, including the function keys. Mitigated a race condition that could result in certain devices unexpectedly waking from sleep if the touchpad was used to click the Sleep option in Start. Other: Fixed an issue that could lead to PCs bug checking while sleeping. Fixed an issue that was causing stuttering if you tried to play a game while the Xbox Game Bar performance monitor was pinned on the screen. Mitigated an issue that could result in stutter or fps drop for Insiders when moving the mouse in certain games. Thank you Insiders who have taken the time to share feedback about gaming performance with us – if you continue experiencing issues after upgrading, please check our guidance on logging actionable feedback on this subject. Fixed an issue where the boot menu wasn’t identifying Windows 11 correctly. Addressed an issue believed to be causing a number of unexpected UI issues in the previous flight, including semi-transparent and unreadable dialogs, z-ordering issues, large, shadowed areas getting stuck on the screen. and backwards text in context menus for Arabic and Hebrew Insiders. Addressed an issue where windows created while transparency was disabled would become stuck in a solid color instead of becoming acrylic when transparency was enabled. We’ve done some work to remove the unexpected white artifacts in the corners of windows when using dark mode. Right clicking multiple times in certain apps like Task Manager will no longer make the context menu frame change from rounded to square. Fixed a focus issue that was making the window immediately dismiss after pressing ALT + F4 on the desktop. Mitigated an issue that was resulting in unexpectedly needing to re-pair certain connected devices after rebooting. Mitigated an explorer.exe deadlock that could happen when reordering your Desktops. Addressed an issue that was resulting in Microsoft Store appearing to download app updates that were already installed on the PC. Fixed an issue that was resulting in some Insiders experiencing bugchecks, in particular when playing games. The update should be available for users running Beta and Dev channel builds from Windows Update. However, if you have been moved from the Beta channel to Release Preview owing to the lack of supported hardware, you will not be receiving this update, since those users are testing Windows 10 version 21H2. As for developers, the company announced the release of the first Windows 11 SDK preview build, so developers can begin submitting apps for Windows 11. The company also says that it will continue releasing SDK preview builds along with Dev channel builds. You can check out the list of Known Issues for this build here.

Microsoft teases Windows 11 event with an interesting desktop animation reflection by Abhay Venkatesh Microsoft’s Windows event is just a couple of days away, and the firm has been posting teasers on Twitter to generate hype about the upcoming Windows 11 announcement. While the first one likely hints at the return of the startup sound, today’s teaser seems to show a glimpse of the new default wallpaper, one of the many that were found in the leaked build. These wallpapers are expected to be tied to the in-built themes in Windows 11. What’s next? Find out June 24th at 11 am ET when we go live. Set your reminder 👉 https://t.co/bk0mVX2d5S pic.twitter.com/bLZmqRyIgH — Windows (@Windows) June 22, 2021 As is the case always, such teasers are scrutinized for any possible easter eggs, and while the possibilities of finding something significant are thin, we observed something interesting in the teaser. The reflection of the desktop in the eye of the individual in the reel seems to feature subtle animation, with the background image’s contrast varying slightly along with the lighting. While we might be splitting hairs here, it is not clear if the movement is a reveal animation for just the teaser or if the OS will feature some animation effects at boot. The new default image does seem to bear some significance, as the official Twitter account for Windows too features what looks to be a blurred image of the new wallpaper. While the leaked Windows 11 build did provide a look at the upcoming UI changes, such as the new centered taskbar icons and the windows snapping feature, there could be a lot that is yet to be unveiled. The firm is rumored to be readying Feature Experience Packs that deliver UI elements and other improvements that are decoupled from the underlying OS updates. It is anybody’s guess what new features and capabilities are in store for the “next generation of Windows” and if there are any hidden surprises that will be unveiled during the event. It is also not sure if the teaser animation is similar to the Windows 10 one that the company hyped. All will be known on June 24 at 11 AM ET.