windows 11

Microsoft has abandoned plans to recommended websites in the Windows 11 Start menu. It hasn't said exactly why but suggests user feedback played a role. An idea to suggest searching on Microsoft Edge when copying text has also been ditched. It was ... the latest attempt to promote the browser to Windows users. The two ideas were both rolled out last November to users of the Dev channel in the Windows Insider test program. That's the first time potential new features are available to anyone outside of Microsoft. People who choose to use the Dev channel are particularly eager to see new ideas, ... (view more)

Windows 11 may soon show whether or not users are connected to a VPN. It's a simple feature, but it's significant since the technology is getting such mainstream acknowledgement. VPN stands for virtual private network, a feature that has three main ... benefits. The first is that it creates an "encrypted tunnel" for data going back and forth between the user and the Internet. One analogy is that ordinary Internet traffic works like a glass tube, while a VPN is more like a totally enclosed road tunnel. In simplistic terms, it means nobody else can see what is happening as data is sent and received ... (view more)

Microsoft Defender has come in last in two separate tests of Windows 11 security software. It's a surprise result given it generally did well on Windows 10. There's some comfort for Microsoft, however, as the nature of the testing means many users ... won't notice that much difference in practice. That's important given Microsoft Defender (previously Windows Defender) is built-in to Windows 11. The first rankings came from AV-Test, which describes itself as "The Independent IT-Security Institute." It ran a series of tests on 19 products using "realistic test scenarios" and "real-world threats." ( ... (view more)

Microsoft is once again testing advertising for its own products in Windows 11. This time the promotion appears in the Start menu. As with the previous testing, it's unclear how likely the advertising is to be rolled out to all users. It seems ... Microsoft is not just testing the technology itself but also how users will respond. Back in March, a selection of users in the Windows 11 test program started seeing promotions in the File Explorer tool. One suggested the user install a Microsoft-made browser extension for getting spelling and grammar suggestions when typing on websites such as forums ... (view more)

Microsoft has added a new feature to warn users when they type their Windows password into a scam site. It's particularly aimed at people who reuse passwords, a particularly risky approach. "Enhanced Phishing Protection" is available to both ... consumer and business users who've installed 22H2, the first major update for Windows 11. However, it's not yet switched on by default and instead users must enable it in settings menus. The relevant menus are Start, Settings, Privacy ... (view more)

Microsoft has released the first major update to Windows 11. It also says it may issue new features every month, yet another change to its update strategy. One year after Windows 11 first came out, the new update is formally called 22H2, though ... Microsoft has also simply called it the 2022 Update. That reflects an initial theory that updates would be relatively infrequent. Older versions of Windows had new features added as and when they were ready, with a Service Pack bringing everything together every couple of years for users who didn't want to install frequent updates. Windows 10 switched ... (view more)

A recent Windows 11 update has failed to install for some users. Meanwhile, some of those who did install it have reported annoying bugs. It reawakens an age-old dilemma: some users may conclude it's safer to avoid the update altogether and even ... manually uninstall it, but that means missing out on some security fixes for previous vulnerabilities. To make the decision more difficult, Microsoft hasn't provided much detail about these fixes other than to say the update "addresses security issues for your Windows operating system." For some users, there's no choice to make as they ... (view more)

A third-party tool can help users get round some of Microsoft's restrictions on upgrading to Windows 11. It won't remove Microsoft nagging, however. Although Windows 11 is a free upgrade for Windows 10 users, three main restrictions mean some people ... may not be able to get it. The first is a series of hardware minimum specifications, with even some relatively recent computer processors judged inadequate by Microsoft. The second is the need for a Trusted Protection Module (TPM), a hardware device aimed at boosting security. Many computers either don't have a TPM or have it disabled by default, ... (view more)

The next major update to Windows 11 should be going public in the not-too-distant future. The 22H2 update has reached its final testing stage. The name might suggest it's the second of the usual two main updates to Windows 11 released each year. In ... fact the pace of change has slowed so much that there was no Windows 11 22H1 release, and instead 22H2 is the only major update expected this year. The update has now reached the third and final "channel" of the Windows Insiders test program that lets people access updates early. The Dev channel is used for all prospective changes to Windows, ... (view more)

The most recent Windows 11 update has caused bugs so significant that some users may be better off uninstalling it, despite the security implications. It's a situation with some particularly embarrassing elements for Microsoft. The update has the ... code name KB5013943 and was released to the general public on May 10th. It's reported some users in Microsoft's test program who got the update early experienced problems, meaning it's a surprise the same bugs appear to still have been present in the general release. Compatibility Glitches The problem is with the .NET Framework. That's effectively a ... (view more)