Microsoft has restored one tiny feature that has been removed from the OS years ago. The Wi-Fi icon in the system tray now shows connection progress via an animation.

While the connection animation is indeed a minor but welcome change, personally I miss something different. Many legacy Windows versions, including Windows 98, Windows XP, and up to Windows Vista, had a true animated network icon. It was a nice and quick way to check out your network connection activity. When you had an incoming or outgoing traffic, the appropriate indicator was flashing in the tray.

At Qualcomm event, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and head of Windows + Devices Pavan Davuluri briefly talked about the future of "Windows 12", the next major release of the OS. As you could already guess, everything is about AI, Copilot, and that new X Elite chip. To name a few:

* The Copilot assistant helps in reasoning and creating various things. With the reasoning engine and a natural user interface developers can create a new generation of software of nearly all types.
* The future versions of Windows will heavily rely on hybrid computing. While certain AI functions will be processed locally using NPUs, more complex tasks will get additional computing power from the cloud.
* A brand-new generation of computers embedded with artificial intelligence is presently being developed.
* In the future, AI will be capable of managing many various apps, services, and devices, acting as an assistant that can establish and maintain context across all work tasks. Perhaps Microsoft Copilot will have the ability to learn user habits and become an even more useful tool.
* Snapdragon X Elite and Windows 11 will deliver faster performance, and application emulation will be more efficient.
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Speaking about the Snapdragon X Elite chip, we will soon see devices with it from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Honor, Lenovo, Samsung, Xiaomi and Microsoft Surface. All these vendors are already working on such devices.

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB5031455

23H2 Available for Stable Users.

Install Windows 11 23H2 on Unsupported PC (no TPM or Secure Boot)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gdM0dkds97I&si=K67cxqJsdMLZ2_NU

A quick Glimpse of Office 2024 Pro Plus LTSC Preview

Today's insider updates.

Windows 11 Build 25992 (Canary)
New SMB firewall rule
New SMB NTLM blocking exception list
Support for alternative SMB client and server ports
Changes to SMB over QUIC client access management certificates

Windows 11 Build 23585 (Dev)
Allows removing more inbox apps, including Camera, Cortana, Photos, People, and Remote Desktop Client (MSTSC)

Snipping Tool

A new version of the Snipping Tool application (11.2310.49.0) with improved support for HDR displays has become available to insiders on the Dev and Canary channels. Now, when HDR is enabled, the created screenshots and screen videos will have more correct colors.

Microsoft plans to bring up the Copilot feature to Windows 10 in a future update. They may also extend its support period.

It appears that the capabilities of Copilot will be similar for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, making it compatible with both operating systems. In Windows 10, users will find a dedicated button on the taskbar to launch Copilot, which will generate a sidebar similar to that in Windows 11.

The extended support for Windows 10 remains an ongoing discussion within Microsoft, with a final decision yet to be reached. It's worth noting that the current end-of-support date for Windows 10 is set for October 2025.

The latest Canary release, Windows 11 build 25992, adds native support for 7z and Tar archive creation. Just like you've been creating ZIP archives for decades. Right-click a file or folder, select Compress to..., and pick the desired compression option.

While the change is not mentioned in the release notes for the build, the new feature is not hidden and is available to everyone.

Starting with the Moment 4 update, Windows 11 can natively extract several archive formats, including RAR, 7z, and TAR, without you having to install the appropriate apps. The write support (archive creation) in stable version of the OS will become available in 2024. So now Microsoft is testing this feature with Insiders in the Canary channel.

Today's Patch Tuesday updates.

~~Windows 11~~

Windows 11 (version 23H2) -  KB5032190 (OS Build 22631.2715). Microsoft Update Catalog
Windows 11 (version 22H2) -  KB5032190 (OS Build 22621.2715). Microsoft Update Catalog
Windows 11 (version 21H2) -  KB5032192 (OS Build 22000.2600). Microsoft Update Catalog

~~Windows 10~~

2022 Update (version 22H2) -  KB5032189 (OS Build 19045.3693). Microsoft Update Catalog.
November 2021 Update (version 21H2) -  KB5032189 (OS Build 19044.3693). Microsoft Update Catalog.
October 2018 Update (version 1809) -  KB5032196 (OS Build 17763.5122). Microsoft Update Catalog.
Anniversary Update (version 1607) -  KB5032197 (OS Build 14393.6452). Microsoft Update Catalog.
Windows 10 (version 1507)  -  KB5032199 (OS Build 10240.20308). Microsoft Update Catalog.

Happy to see you all in 2024. Here are Insider updates, the first of this year.

Windows 11 Build 26020 (Canary) no longer has WordPad and Steps Recorder preinstalled - both are now deprecated. Also, there is now an option to pause/resume printing jobs. Other changes include several improvements for sharing, preview of natural voices in Narrator, a new energy saver icon for plugged-in PCs, and much more.

An option to pause and resume print jobs in the print queue for printers is now available in the Settings app, under Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. This feature enables users to temporarily halt printing for printer maintenance tasks, such as replacing a cartridge.

Windows 11 Build 23612 (Dev) adds dynamic weather to the Lock screen, several Voice Access improvements, fixes the Start menu, File Explorer and Widgets.

The lock screen will now display more detailed weather information. Hovering your mouse over the card will reveal more information, and clicking on it will open Microsoft Edge with a full weather forecast from MSN Weather.This change is enabled by default for Dev Channel Insiders using US English. Make sure that under Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen > Lock screen status, the Weather option is selected. If you do not want to see this block, then select the “Nothing” option. It does not depend on the selected lock screen personalization option, regardless of what you set there, Spotlight, Photos or Slideshow.

Microsoft is releasing Windows 11 Build 26090 for Insiders on the Dev and Canary channels. The update is notable for a newer Widget pane, improvements made to SMB, and several fixes.

* Microsoft is resuming testing of the Widget Bar improvements that were introduced in Build 26058. Among the changes is a new navigation bar on the left side, which allows you to switch between the widget panel and other integrated panels such as Discover. Changes are only available on the Canary channel.
* Administrators can now disable the SMB over QUIC client using Group Policy and PowerShell
* You can now use the preview version of Copilot for Windows with a local account, but you can only make 10 requests. After this, you will have to sign in using your Microsoft Account (MSA) or Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory).