While Microsoft hasn’t said a single word about Windows 12, looks like it will be the next major version of the OS. As Microsoft mentioned several times, the future Windows releases will heavily use AI here and there. To be successful in this area, Microsoft needs support from its hardware partners, i.e. Intel and AMD. A leak from Intel's internal documentation mentions Windows 12 as the supported OS by the Meteor Lake desktop platform.

Intel is working on the Meteor Lake product that will receive a block for processing artificial intelligence tasks, similar to that of AMD. In addition, the company will use the chiplet design for its processors for the first time, and the chips themselves will be manufactured using the Intel 4 (7nm) process technology. It is expected that Meteor Lake CPUs will be released in late 2023 or early 2024.

Microsoft releases Windows 11 Build 25309 to Insiders in the Dev channel. A new enhanced volume mixer, theme-aware icons for Widgets, an updated color scheme for Search, more personalized "Let's finish setting up your device" screen, an updated Voice Access are some of the included improvements. This build also marks the return of new Snap Layout, but revokes new Desktop Spotlight UI.

Insiders in the Beta channel are also receiving a portion of new features introduced today in the Dev channel build 25309. Microsoft has released builds 22621.1391 and 22624.1391, with the latter including new Voice Access features. Both builds come as KB5023011, but build 22621.1391 has new features disabled out of the box.

These are all hidden features you can enable in Windows 11 Build 25309. Some of them were announced as a 'gradual roll-out', some of them are brand new and not available to anyone unless you activate them with ViVeTool. You will find the appropriate ViVeTool commands in the post.

+ New Volume Mixer
+ New File Explorer
+ + File Explorer Gallery
+ Start menu badges and actions
+ Start menu recommendations to show tips, shortcuts, new apps and more
+ Auto Color Management
+ New 'Show the touch keyboard' option
+ Default position of the Spotlight desktop icon
+ Ability to create ReFS developer volumes
+ Hidden Add Bluetooth device button for devices that don't support Bluetooth

According to Microsoft, every third video the user plays in the Edge browser has a low resolution; 480p or even lower. Even on a modern powerful hardware, there could be technical reasons for that. The user may have a low bandwidth, or it could be issues on the server side.

To improve the situation, Microsoft has implemented a new 'Super Video Resolution' feature. When enabled, it will programmatically upscale the image up to 720p.

It is in a gradual roll-out, but you can enable the edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution flag to get it working. However, it only support NVIDIA RTX 20/30/40 and AMD RX5700-RX7800 series GPUs. Also, it only works with DRM-free videos.

The new taskbar in Windows 11 can be moved to the top. But it can be just a bug rather than a new feature. Time will tell. Found by Albacore

The ability to install Windows on ReFS may become exclusive to Windows 12. After rebooting the Insider program, everything has been scrapped from the Dev channel and moved to Canary builds. While Microsoft claims that both Dev and Canary channels may have features that will never reach production versions of the OS, the fact that ReFS support disappeared from the Dev channel may indicate that Microsoft is not going to add native ReFS support to the Windows 11 setup program.

If you want to try to install Windows on a ReFS drive, you need to be running Windows 11 Build 25314 Canary. Follow carefully these steps.

Microsoft has released March 2023 cumulative updates for Windows 11 and 10

▫️Windows 11 (version 22H2) - KB5022913 (OS Build 22621.1344). Manual download from Microsoft Update Catalog.
▫️Windows 11 (version 21H2) - KB5023698 (OS Build 22000.1696). Manual download from Microsoft Update Catalog.

▫️Windows 10 2022 Update (version 22H2) - KB5023696 (OS Build 19045.2728). Manual download from Microsoft Update Catalog.
▫️Windows 10 November 2021 Update (version 21H2) - KB5023696 (OS Build 19044.2728). Manual download from Microsoft Update Catalog.
▫️Windows 10 October 2020 Update (version 20H2) - KB5023696 (OS Build 19042.2728). Manual download from Microsoft Update Catalog.
▫️Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) - KB5023702 (OS Build 17763.4131). Manual download from Microsoft Update Catalog.

The Dev & Canary channels are without updates this week. But Beta channel insiders are getting Windows 11 Build 22621.1465 and 22624.1465. They come as KB5023775 that enables new features for those who is on Build 22624.1465. It includes Live Captions available in more languages, updated touch keyboard settings, word prediction for Simplified Chinese IME, multi-app kios mode, a new VPN overlay icon, and several fixes and general improvements.

Microsoft has released a new version 2202.4000 of Windows Subsystem for Android. The update incorporates security fixes available for Android 13, as well as generally improves the WSA platform. Here are the changes.

+ Stability improvements to graphics card selection
+ Updates to the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app to include performance options for graphics cards
+ Docking and undocking with external monitors issues fixed with the subsystem
+ Fixes to apps with audio buffer issues
+ Android 13 security updates

The official announcement is published here. You can install WSA from the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft has added a new option to Windows 11 that allows you to automatically install preview updates once they appear on Windows Update.

The option manages how you receive monthly C and D updates. Microsoft releases them in the third and fourth weeks of the month, respectively. D is for the latest version of Windows 11 and Windows 10, C is mostly for older versions of Windows.

When enabled, it makes your PC to automatically download C and D updates, and install them. This works if there are no upgrade blocks for your device. This way, you can speed up your access to newest features Microsoft ships now as "Moment updates".

You can enable the GUI option with ViVeTool. The command is: c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:43132439
Run it as Admin, open Settings (Win + I), and click on the Windows Update section on the left. On the right, enable the new Get the latest updates as soon as they're ready for your PC toggle option.

Some Windows 11 "Moment 3" features are already in Build 22621.1483 (Release Preview):

+ Starting with this update, the profile icon in Start will display notification badges to take action. Currently, this change is available only to some insiders. It will roll out to more users in the coming months. The visual appearance of notifications may vary from device to device as Microsoft hasn't made a final decision yet.
+ When you access the new Bing, a new button will appear in the taskbar search box that opens the Bing chatbot in Microsoft Edge. If the new Bing is not available to you, then the search field will display a button to dynamically text.
+ This update brings with it many new features and improvements to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Details can be found on the official website .
+ The search field on the taskbar will become lighter if Windows has a custom color scheme. For example, when dark theme is selected for Windows 11 and light theme for apps (under Settings -> Personalization -> Colors), the taskbar search box will be light.

Starting in April 2023, non-security cumulative updates will be released during the fourth week of the month. As a reminder, these updates are intended to test fixes and innovations for next month's mandatory cumulative updates, which users will receive on the second Tuesday.

"Starting in April 2023, we now target optional non-security preview releases for the fourth week of the month. We have found this to be the optimal time for us to publish and for you to consume these updates. That's two weeks after your latest monthly security update and about two weeks before you'll see these features become part of the next mandatory cumulative update.", says Microsoft.

Microsoft is aware of the issue and has issued an update. Snipping Tool 11.2302.20.0 fixes the bug. Currently, it is only available to Insiders. After installing this update, you shouldn't be able to reproduce the scenario any longer.

It is easy to test if your Snipping Tool is affected by the bug.

1) Capture a screenshot, and save it to a file.
2) Make note the size of the saved file.
3) Heavily crop the image and then save it (Ctrl + S).
4) See the size of the file. If it grew instead of becoming smaller, your Snipping Tool is affected by the bug.

Traditionally for Dev channel builds, Windows 11 Build 23419 comes with a bunch of hidden features and options. They reveal what we will have in the OS in the near future.

+ an updated Home Folder
+ an option to disable Start bages
+ an new 'Show websites from your browsing history' option
+ Bing Highlights button in the taskbar search box
+ The ability to disable Date and time in the system tray
+ Permanently visible notification counter
+ More sharing options in the Cloud PC settings