The Redmond software giant has released new updates for supported versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11. Traditionally, there are fixes and general improvements, as such updates don't aim to ship new features.
Author: Sergey Tkachenko
Internet Explorer is no longer available in most Windows versions
As you know, Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer 11 last June, but enterprise users could use it on demand. Today Microsoft finally killed the aged browser.
What’s new in Windows 11 ‘Moment 2’ Update
‘Moment 2’ is a feature update to Windows 11, officially known as “February 2023 Update”. It is not a traditional major release, but a portion of fresh features to add something new to the OS. Microsoft is using these “Moment” updates to deliver new functionality faster, without users having to wait for a couple of years to receive improvements.
Windows Subsystem for Linux has got hardware acceleration for video
Microsoft today announced that WSL now supports hardware video encoding and decoding. The implementation makes it possible to use hardware processing, encoding and decoding of video in any application that supports VAAPI. The above is supported for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA graphics cards.
Mozilla has silently removed the Bypass Paywalls Clean add-on from AMO
Without a notification in advance, Mozilla has removed the popular Bypass Paywalls Clean extension for Firefox from the addons.mozilla.org (AMO) catalog. As per extension's developer, the removal happened due to a DMCA claim. This makes impossible to restore the add-on in AMO in the future.
The History page in Microsoft Edge will have a new “Sent pages” section
Microsoft is testing a new addition to the "History" page in the Edge browser. It can now remember and show the pages you have sent to other devices.
Microsoft could merge Cortana and Action Center in Windows 10
More information comes about features planned and implemented for Windows 10 that never seen the light in release versions of the OS. You may already heard about the cancelled Start menu with 3D tiles, which is one of such features. The unified user interface with Cortana and Action Center combined is another one.
Microsoft may soon integrate of ChatGPT in Word, PowerPoint and Outlook
Last week, Microsoft revealed an updated Bing that includes ChatGPT, an AI powered chatbot. Microsoft makes high stakes on artificial intelligence, so you could expect it to appear in more its products. The next software and services to receive ChatGPT may be Office apps.
Windows 11 now allows controlling RGB lighting of peripheral devices
Yet another hidden novelty in Windows 11 Build 25295 in the Dev channel makes it easier to customize the RGB lighting of peripherals. You will no longer need to install a third-party software for that. There are native options for that in a dedicated section in Settings. This feature will likely be officially revealed within a year.
Windows 11 will allow you to disable individual Suggested Actions
One more hidden gem has been discovered in Windows 11 Build 25295. The Settings app now includes an option to disable individual Suggested Actions.
