A fews days ago, Microsoft shared more information about one interesting feature that comes into play with known issues exist for a Windows update. Known Issue Rollback helps developers undo the problematic patches. It eliminates the need to deploy additional updates or force users to manually troubleshoot their PCs. This is a particularly welcomed addition to the Windows Update mechanisms, considering how many updates the operating system receives every month.
Author: Taras Buria
Taras is here to cover stories about Microsoft and everything around, although sometimes he prefers Apple.
Microsoft starts testing Chromium-based Edge for Xbox
Microsoft no longer supports the Edge Legacy browser. The company is ending support for the original Edge this month in favor of more modern Edge Chromium. Still, there is a single platform where Edge Legacy remains the primary way to browse the Internet. Microsoft keeps Edge Legacy on Xbox consoles, but the old browser will soon bite the dust even there. The company recently started selective testing Edge Chromium on the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles.
First and second-gen Surface Laptop receive a new firmware
A new month means new patches and updates for Surface devices. This time, the new firmware is available for the first and second-gen Surface Laptop. You can download the updates in the Settings – Security and Updates – Windows Updates. They would be there if your Surface Laptop is running Windows 10 1903 and newer. The chances are that you are already on a newer version, considering that Microsoft is forcing Windows 10 20H2 update to more devices.
WSL Hello sudo brings Windows Hello authentication to Linux on WSL
Although Microsoft is improving Windows Subsystem for Linux with almost every major Windows 10 update, some features are still not available in WSL. For example, users cannot utilize any biometric authentication inside Linux distros. This is where third-party developers step in. Takaya Saeki, a developer from Japan, came up with a nifty tool that enables Windows Hello biometric authentication to Linux running in WSL.
Visual Studio Code 1.54 is out with native Apple Silicon CPU support
Microsoft has released a new Visual Studio Code version 1.54. February update is available with several improvements for those using this excellent free code editor from Microsoft.
Chrome is moving from six-week to four-week release schedule
Google Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers receive major updates every six weeks, but Google thinks it can finally change a decade-old schedule and shorten this period. Later this year, Chrome will shift from a six to four-week update cadence. The company has announced this change in the Chromium blog.
WhatsApp adds video and voice call support to its desktop app
WhatsApp is finally rolling out video and voice calls support to its desktop app for Windows. With the latest version installed, you can make and receive one-to-one calls. At this moment, there is no group calls support, but the Facebook-owned messenger promises to fix this inconvenience in the near future. Also, for some reason, WhatsApp on Mac does not support any kind of calls. The same applies to WhatsApp for Web.
Microsoft highlights new features rolled out to OneDrive in February
Every month, Microsoft publishes the OneDrive roadmap highlights. These posts describe new features for Microsoft's cloud storage receives in production. In case you missed some of the updates, here are the most recent OneDrive updates.
Microsoft force-updates more devices to Windows 10 version 20H2
If your PC is not yet running a Windows 10 release from 2020, prepare for the incoming forced upgrade. Several days ago, Microsoft quietly notified users about a new rollout phase. Now, the company is forcing the update to Windows 10 20H2 on more computers with older Windows 10 releases.
Panos Panay is super-excited for “the next generation of Windows”
Panos Panay, Microsoft's chief product officer, briefly spoke at the Ignite 2021 virtual session. While the Windows chief did not make any major announcements, he vaguely teased the upcoming changes in Windows 10. Panos is very excited about the subject.
