On September 26, 2023, Microsoft releases Windows 11 23H2, a new version of the operating system that brings with it plenty of new features and improvements. It is notable for deeper AI integration here and there, including the new Windows Copilot assistant. For the first time in its history, Windows natively supports RAR and 7Z archives, and several other formats.
Category: Windows 11
Microsoft will release Windows 11 22H2 “Moment 4” on September 26
Microsoft today announced that Windows 11 version 23H2 will be released 22H2 will get a feature update, known as "Moment 4", on September 26. It will be a major update with several new features and improvements made to inbox apps and OS internals.
Windows 11 Start menu will soon group files in Recommended section
Microsoft continues to improve the Start menu in Windows 11, and this time they are going to update the Recommended section. In the near future it may start grouping files into one "Recently added" folder. A working implementation is already present in Insider builds.
WSL September 2023 update brings with it a lot of new features
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) has reached version 2.0. The release comes with a good pack of new experimental features, such as auto memory reclaim, automatic disk space clean up, a new Mirrored networking mode, and much more.
There is a new hotkey in Windows 11 to open LinkedIn directly
It has been discovered that Microsoft has quietly added a new keyboard shortcut for Windows 11 users. The Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Win+L combination opens LinkedIn in your default browser. The latter is not limited to Microsoft Edge.
Snipping Tool now allows you to copy text from images (OCR)
Microsoft started rolling out an updated version of the Snipping Tool to Windows 11 Insiders. It app has received several new features, including the ability to recognize the text in an image and copy it to the clipboard. It has also got deep integration with the Phone Link app and can now edit images captured on the phone. The improvements are available in Snipping Tools 11.2308.33.0 (Dev and Canary channels).
Windows 11 Photos app gets supports for background blur, motion photo, and more
Microsoft has announced a major Photos app update on Windows 11 that adds a galore of new features and capabilities. The app now supports options like Background Blur, support search for objects and locations in images stored on OneDrive. Finally, it can read the video portion of Motion Photos captured on Samsung and Google devices. All these features are available starting in Photos app 2023.11090.13001.0 that is gradually rolling out to Canary and Dev channel insiders.
Enable Open Bing from Search and Nearby Sharing Rename Device in Build 23545
In Windows 11 Build 23545, which is the latest Dev channel build released today to Insiders, there are two semi-hidden features you can enable. One of them changes the taskbar search box behavior. Instead of opening the search pane on hover, it can now open Bing when you click on the search highlight icon. The other feature is the ability to set a friendly device name for the NearBy Sharing feature.
Windows 11 Build 23545 (Dev) disables the annoying search pop-up
Along with Canary, there is also an update in the Dev channel today. It now hosts Windows 11 Build 23545, which disables the controversial auto-open search pane on taskbar hover feature. However, it may now directly open Bing for you! It also allows setting a friendly name for your device when its particiaptes in nearby sharing.
Windows 11 Build 25951 (Canary) improves SMB
Microsoft releases Windows 11 Build 25951 to insiders on the Canary channel. The company highlights several improvements made to SMB, including SMB NTLM Blocking and SMB Dialect Management.
