Software & Apps - Page 48

Windows 11 just received a major new update known as 'Moment 2' which is now rolling out across all PCs, but there are early signs of issues with the upgrade.

Granted, early adopters running into problems with an update is nothing new, and to be fair to Microsoft, reports of issues are thin on the ground thus far - but there are already a couple of worrying red flags being waved.

This is on the Reddit thread (from Jen Gentleman of the Windows engineering team at Microsoft) introducing the cumulative updates for Windows 11 (KB5023706 for Windows 11 22H2, and KB5023698 for Windows 11 21H2).

Windows 11 looked to have rid itself of the Bing ChatGPT-powered AI from the taskbar, but actually this isn't the case, Microsoft has clarified.

There's no disputing that the Bing chatbot suddenly vanished from the taskbar (as we reported earlier in the week) after being announced as coming to that part of the Windows 11 interface with the latest major update (called 'Moment 2').

However, Microsoft has explained to TechRadar that the AI hasn't simply been banished from the taskbar, but rather that it's out of rotation.

Windows 12 - or whatever the next-gen Windows will be called - could be what testers will preview very soon in a new channel Microsoft has just introduced for Windows Insiders.

What's happened here is that the Dev Channel, which up until now was the earliest test channel for Microsoft's preview builds of Windows 11, has been forked into the Canary Channel and Dev Channel.

Those familiar with other beta programs will recognize the designation of 'canary' as the earliest testing avenue available (for example, with Google's Chrome browser). In other words, those bravest testers who are facing the greatest probability of bugs (and possibly nasty ones).

You don't need to be a heavy WhatsApp user to have too many dead chats hanging around and now the instant messaging platform seems to be working on fixing that.

Dead chats are group chats that you joined for whatever reason but no longer need. Those chats could be set up to organize a work night out for example. And once they're done, they're done. WhatsApp is reported to be working on a feature that will make those chats easier to clean up when they're no longer useful

The feature, dubbed expiring chats, is now available in the latest version of WhatsApp that's available to beta testers via TestFlight. That means that those of us who have the shipping version of WhatsApp can't make use of the feature just yet, but that will hopefully change soon enough.

WhatsApp is reportedly working on an updated Android app that will make it right at home on tablets.

The current Android version of WhatsApp isn't optimized for use on tablets, especially larger ones. However, a new report has WhatsApp testing a new version with beta testers that would make use of a new two-pane interface.

The new beta was first reported by WABetaInfo and is current;y being tested in beta form, but will likely be made available to the public in due course.

Windows 11's recent big update, less than a week ago, brought the Bing chatbot to the taskbar - but the AI has just been unceremoniously ejected from the interface (at least for the time being).

Microsoft removed the ChatGPT-powered AI without any notification or reason why the chatbot was given its marching orders, as MS Power User observed.

So, we're left scratching our heads a bit about what has happened here. Although it was something of a surprise to see Bing appear at the foot of the Windows 11 desktop in the first place, given that it wasn't tested in preview first.

The idea of Apple ever making it easy for anyone to send and receive iMessages from their Windows-powered PC seems incredible, but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from trying to make it happen.

A new beta version of the Phone Link app finally supports iPhones, and yes, send and receive iMessages. But that doesn't mean that it works well. Or that there are any guarantees that it'll work for much longer once Apple gets wind of what's going on.

Right now the version of Phone Link that's available to Windows Insiders does indeed include iPHone support, and it can send and receive iMessages thanks to a Bluetooth connection between PC and iPhone. There is even support for making and receiving calls, and phone notifications can also be seen from that Windows PC.

Windows 11 just received a major update that puts the Bing AI chatbot onto the taskbar, among other big changes.

This is essentially the return of the search box on the taskbar - which was replaced by a more compact button in Windows 11 - except now when you're typing queries, you'll be enlisting the help of the ChatGPT-powered Bing to assist you.

Only those who have signed up for the preview of the 'new Bing' (as it's called formally by Microsoft) will have access to the AI, mind you, providing they have also installed this new Windows 11 update.

Windows 11 users might eventually get the ability to declutter the taskbar somewhat, or more specifically, the system tray at the far-right end of the bar.

As spotted by known Windows leaker PhantomOfEarth on Twitter, Microsoft could be working on a feature to allow users to turn off the clock display (date/time) in the system tray.

Or at least some hidden code points to the existence of such functionality, even if it hasn't yet been enabled in testing - these nuggets were uncovered in preview build 25300 of Windows 11 (which was recently released).

As part of Apple's iOS 16 update, it introduced the ability for users to edit recently sent messages on the iMessage platform as a nice little feature for those of us that put too much faith in autocorrect. It set a 15-minute time limit, but it proved to be a very welcome addition, in addition to reducing the need to send a quick follow-up message correcting that the word 'boobs' was actually 'books.' Like, "I want to borrow a few books."

And now it looks like WhatsApp is adding the edit feature, as it has been spotted in a new beta via wabetainfo.com. As per the screenshot, an edited message gets an 'edited' tag - which is excellent, and like the Apple version of the editing feature, users will be limited to a 15-minute window to make any changes.

As the first version of the editing feature, it's limited to messages, though editing image and video captions and documents are expected before release. Or further down the line.

If you've been using your PC to play games, you'll no doubt have dealt with an unresponsive app where you need to open up the Task Manager, find the process, and kill it via the 'End Task' function. It's just a part of the process of playing games, and for many PC gamers, Task Manager is used exclusively for this one, well, task.

The only issue is that you're more than a few clicks away from getting to that point, which makes this new feature discovered in Windows 11 build 25300 in the Windows Insider developer channel something to celebrate. And really, we're wondering why this hasn't been an option in Windows for years. The ability to right-click on the app on the taskbar and select 'End Task' to kill the process.

The advanced feature was discovered by Windows Insider PhantomOcean3, who posted the screenshot you can see here. Even so, it's a hidden feature in the Windows 11 build that needs to be enabled via the ViVe tool developed by Albacore using the command: vivetool /enable /id:42592269. After that, it appears as an option, and yeah, it's a great little feature.

Microsoft Edge has long been testing an integrated VPN feature, and this functionality has now debuted with the browser.

The VPN, which will be bundled free with the browser and is known as 'Edge Secure Network', is now working in the release version of Edge according to reports from some users, as flagged up by Neowin.

The VPN was previously only accessible to Edge testers, but now the 'preview' label has been discarded, so it would seem to be the case that this is the start of the rollout of the built-in VPN, and presumably it will be coming to a wider audience in the near future.

A fresh version of Google's Chrome browser has just been pushed out, and there's some good news for laptop owners in the form of a pair of new features that have just gone live.

These aim to extend the battery life of a notebook, and they're called Memory Saver and Energy Saver, with both now rolling out to those using Chrome version 110 on the desktop.

As you may be aware, Chrome has long held a reputation for taking up too much in the way of system resources - and therefore draining battery life for those running the browser on a notebook - so this is part of Google's fightback against that perception.

Windows XP might just be one of the most beloved versions of Microsoft's iconic OS, and it was fast, easy to use, and, best of all - stable. Well, at least once, the Service Packs rolled around. Apologies if this stat makes you feel old, but it debuted 21 years ago, back in 2001. Yeah, in the world of tech Windows XP is pretty ancient.

Many people still use the operating system in 2023, even for gaming, mostly to play older titles.

Today comes a little trip down memory lane and a glimpse at 'what could have been' designs for Windows XP logos. Microsoft turned to a company called Frog Design to create a new logo and help shape the look and feel of the UI and taskbars. At this point, the classic four window panes of the Windows logo were already well established, and even though brand identity was ultimately established with the final look, a few very strange options were put together.

AMD's Ryzen Master, a utility used for overclocking Ryzen processors, has a nasty security flaw that you should address swiftly if you have the software installed.

This vulnerability is labeled with a severity level of 'high' and it could potentially allow an attacker to gain control of your PC in the worst-case scenario.

AMD explains:

By now we're well-used to Microsoft trying to get people to adopt its Edge browser in Windows 10 and Windows 11, but the software giant has set its sights on iPhone users too, according to a new report.

This comes from Windows Latest, who spotted that when opening a link from Outlook, Microsoft's email client, in iOS, users are being confronted by a pop-up asking if they'd like to open that link in Edge (rather than Safari, or whatever their default browser may be).

Now, you can choose to open with 'default browser' and also tick a box to remember this selection so the pop-up doesn't happen again - except the catch is that you'll need to do this separately for different file types when opening attachments in your emails.

Windows 11 could soon offer users a much more convenient and swifter way to close an app that has become unresponsive.

Normally when an app stops working and becomes non-functional, the standard way to close it down is to go to the Task Manager.

However, in a hidden change to Windows 11 (still in testing) spotted by leaker @PhantomOfEarth and highlighted on Twitter, it seems that Microsoft is going to allow for processes to be killed via the taskbar.

Recently we reported on the alarming amount of data that a fresh install of Windows 11 sends to third parties, where it seems like Microsoft's latest OS is all about geo-tracking and telemetry and saying hello to Bing, Google, Steam, McAfee, and more before you do anything. That little deep dive, compared to Windows XP, was posted by The PC Security Channel on YouTube, and it didn't paint a flattering picture of the behind-the-scenes DNS traffic happening on Windows 11.

So, what if you want a version of Windows 11 without all the bloatware and telemetry and still be able to play PC Game Pass titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Gears of War? For that, there's Ghost Spectre Windows 11 - which covers Windows 11 version 22H2 SV2. Described as bloatware free with several custom optimizations for removing things like Windows Defender, OneDrive, the Action Centre, and all manner of telemetry - it's a stripped-back version of the OS that still supports PC gaming.

As per The PC Security Channel's latest video, it even manages to keep memory (RAM) usage down to an impressive 1GB. For comparison, my Windows 11 PC uses 20GB of memory simply because I've got a few browser windows open.

Use third-party apps from Razer, Corsair, ASUS, MSI, and others to manage and sync RGB lighting on all your PC hardware. That's how it has been for many years now, and to be honest, that's how we expected all things RGB and lighting would continue for the foreseeable future. Well, as per the latest public test build of Windows 11, it looks like Microsoft is adding the ability to customize lighting directly within Windows settings.

As spotted on Twitter by user Albacore, the options appear in the 'Personalization' section of Windows 11 and include all of the basic stuff you'll need to customize RGB lighting. It's a simple interface, but it includes options to adjust brightness, Lighting effects, Effect speed, and Color, and even have your lighting match your current Windows accent color. What effect this will have on people installing Razer Synapse or Corsair iCUE to manage their lighting remains to be seen. Still, it's certainly interesting to see these features being added to Windows 11.

Microsoft's approach has been all over the place regarding Windows as a platform for PC gaming. However, with Windows 10 and now Windows 11, the integration of the Xbox app and PC Game Pass has seen a renewed focus on Windows as a hub for gaming, so it makes sense that controlling RGB lighting would inevitably become a part of Windows.

Twitter has changed a lot since Tesla, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk purchased the platform for $44 billion back in October last year, and now it's going to change again.

Twitter has taken to its 'Twitter Blue' account to announce that it's launching an upgrade for tweets, with the company writing that it's introducing longer tweets that will have a character limit of 4,000 characters. The account wrote the announcement in the form of a long tweet that explains that beginning on February 9, individuals that are Twitter Blue members will gain access to the long tweet feature.

Additionally, Twitter wrote that it's aware that the introduction of long tweets would mean users would be inundated with long scrolling, ruining the unique Twitter experience of being able to see multiple tweets from many users at once. To remedy this problem, Twitter has implemented a 'see more' button that will be attached to every long tweet. A user that wishes to read more of the tweet can simply press this button to reveal the remainder of the post.