Firefox 121 stable is now available for download. It includes support for AV1 with hardware acceleration, a recycle bin icon in PDF viewer to quickly remove annotations, and fixes 27 vulnerabilities. In addition, Firefox ESR has reached version 115.6.0, and Firefox 122 enters Beta.
Author: Sergey Tkachenko
AI-powered rename suggestions are coming to Visual Studio
Microsoft has introduced a new feature in Visual Studio Preview projects, allowing developers to use AI-powered smart renaming with the GitHub Copilot Chat extension. This option allows developers to choose new names for variables, methods, and classes from suggested lists provided by Copilot Chat, based on their coding style.
After a year, Microsoft has finally fixed the File Explorer auto-opening bug
Microsoft has finally resolved an annoying problem with File Explorer that has been plaguing users for over a year. The issue, which caused the application to unexpectedly open and disrupt attention from other programs, was first reported by numerous users on the Feedback Hub in October 2022. This frustrating bug occurred regularly, every hour, and became a major inconvenience for those using the file manager.
Super Drag Drop in Edge allows opening links in a new tab faster
You can now enable the Super Drag Drop feature in Microsoft Edge, so it will allow you to open any link in a new tab by dragging it aside. This works not only for links but for a text selection too. The latter will make Edge search for the text in a new tab. And it also works for images.
Microsoft has fixed the bug that renames all printers to HP products
Microsoft released update KB5034510 on December 15, 2023, to address a bug in Windows 10/11 where all printers were being renamed to HP products. The patch file for fixing the printer renaming issue in 64-bit versions of Windows 11 is named PrintMetadataTroubleshooterX64.exe and has a size of 240 kilobytes.
Microsoft discontinues Legacy Console Mode in Windows 11
Microsoft has announced that Legacy Console Mode will no longer be supported in Windows 11 and upcoming versions. This feature was originally created for running older command line applications on Windows 10.
Starting January 4, 2024 Google will start disabling cookies in the browser
Google has announced that starting on January 4, 2024 they will start disabling third-party cookies in the Chrome browser among approximately 1% of users. This trial will be conducted on a global scale and will involve a limited number of Chrome users. In the latter half of 2024, Google plans to completely stop using third-party cookies for all users.
Mozilla has officially launched extension support in Firefox for Android
Mozilla has announced that the infrastructure and catalog of add-ons for the Android version of Firefox are now ready. The company claims that the launch marks the first time when a mobile browser offers a full, open add-on ecosystem.
Microsoft adds a dedicated AI Components page to Windows 11
Similar to System Components page in Settings, Microsoft prepares an option for AI software bundled with the OS. A work-in-progress UI has already exists in Settings of the latest Canary build 26016.
Windows 11 Build 22635.2915 (Beta) adds custom Voice Access shortcuts (commands)
Microsoft today released the last Beta build in 2023 of Windows 11 Insider Preview. Build 22635.2915 (KB5033456) adds custom command support to Voice Access with extra language and a multi-display option, and improves discoverability of screen casting. Besides, there are new features and improvements for Windows 365 Boot, Windows 365 Switch, and fixes.
