Oct 09

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18999

By Erik Moreau in Windows 10

Hi all, Yesterday Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18999 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

Lots of Your Phone app updates, calling from your pc… missing out on this with my iphone…

What’s new in this build?

Your Phone app – unveiling Calls, now even more ways to stay connected to what matters

We first announced the Calls feature at the Samsung Unpacked event in August, and you saw a live demo at last week’s Surface event. Today, we’re excited to unveil the Calls feature to the Windows Insider community. Check out this early preview and let us know what you think.

No need to dig for your Android phone to answer your personal or work calls. You can now stay connected by simply answering (or not) your phone calls on your PC. Tap into your PC’s speakers, microphone, and large screen for a richer calling experience.

With the Calls feature you can:

Answer incoming phone calls on your PC.
Initiate phone calls from your PC using in-app dialer or contact list.
Decline incoming phone calls on your PC with custom text or send directly to your phone’s voicemail.
Access your recent call history on your PC. Clicking on a specific call will auto populate the number within the dialer screen.
Seamlessly transfer calls between your PC and phone.

Screen showing incoming phone call on the PC.

Calls requirements:

Android Phones 7.0 or higher
Windows 10 PC with Bluetooth radio
Requires 19H1build or newer
Requires minimum Windows 10 build 18362.356

Known issue:

In certain instances, Calls feature may require you to pair your mobile phone & PC again. If you have previously paired your devices, unpair your devices and go through the Calls set up flow again.

This feature will gradually roll out to Insiders on 19H1 builds or newer, so it may take a few days to be available inside the Your Phone app.

We value your feedback, so give it a try and let us know what you think. You can report any issues under the Your Phone > Settings > Send feedback.

Update on the ability to move & resize Cortana’s window

We first started rolling out this change with Build 18975, and wanted to share that as of today’s build, this work is now available for all Insiders.

Please note that we’re still in the process of expanding language/region support of the new Cortana app (as discussed here), and Insiders outside of English (United States) will see a message when launching Cortana saying “Cortana isn’t available.” We’ll update you when the availability increases.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing error 0x8007023e when installing updates.
We fixed an issue where, after successfully updating to Build 18995, the Windows Update Settings page might show the same build still needs to install. After installing Build 18999, you won’t see this issue on future flights.
We fixed an issue resulting in the Optional Features page in Settings crashing for some Insiders.
We fixed an issue where some Insiders were finding that Settings doesn’t launch from the button in Start, isn’t listed in the All apps list, or as a search result. If you are impacted, pressing WIN+R and inputting “ms-settings:” (without the quotes) will launch Settings if you need it.
We fixed a deadlock in the Network and Sharing Center Control Panel, that could result in it not loading.
We fixed an issue where if Cortana had been moved from the default position, then it wouldn’t be visible when you tried to launch it via the WIN+C keyboard shortcut.
We fixed an issue where when on battery saver SearchFilterHost.exe might use an unexpectedly high volume of CPU.
We fixed an issue where search would crash if a Start Menu layout including a folder had been applied via group policy.
We fixed an issue impacted VPN connection reliability.
We fixed an issue in Narrator which caused Chrome to become unstable when navigating web contents.
In Narrator braille, group header contextual elements are now represented with a “grp” abbreviation instead of “group.”
Narrator would not show the text being spoken when returning to the same edit field in braille just after navigating back from an element that did not support a standard text control.
Magnifier now remembers its window position after close and will reopen in that same location next time.
We fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator did not adjust to show in the correct location after content was scrolled.
We fixed an issue in the Search bar in either Control Panel or File Explorer where the box becomes grey and prevents input.
We fixed an issue where devices configured for dual scan (WSUS and Windows Update) for updates may not have been offered new builds in the Fast ring.
We fixed an issue where some devices configured to Use HDR may have experienced a bluish tint on their HDR displays after using Night Light.
We fixed an issue where certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) were incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality and were blocking their content from being recorded.
We fixed an issue where, when capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you couldn’t select Stop video.
[ADDED] We fixed the issue causing theme packs downloaded from the Microsoft Store to fail to apply.

Known issues

There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.

source: Windows Blogs

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Sep 24

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18985

By Erik Moreau in Windows 10

Hi all, last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18985 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

Lots of fixes in this one, Bluetooth Notification for nearby ready-to-pair devices & a very nice new Snip & Sketch update.

Enjoy Upgrading!

What’s new in Build 18985

Improving your Bluetooth pairing experience

For Windows 10 version 1803, we announced a new streamlined experience for pairing supported Bluetooth devices. The idea was simple—if a supported device was nearby and in pairing mode, we’d show a notification that prompted you to go through pairing. This saved you from opening Settings yourself and finding the right place to go. Today, we’re rolling out an update with improvements we hope you’ll like.

Here’s what’s new:

Pairing is all done in notifications now. You don’t need to go to the Settings app anymore to finish pairing.
For faster pairing time, we improved the UI by showing one less notification.
We added a Dismiss button to the first notification to give you more control while using Swift Pair.
To make the notification more helpful, now we show the device name and category when we can.

We’re excited for Insiders to try it out and share feedback. This new experience is currently rolled out to 50% of Insiders, and we’ll let you know as the rollout increases. Supported devices include:

Surface Ergonomic Keyboard
Surface Precision Mouse
Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse
Surface Mobile Mouse
Microsoft Arc Mouse
Surface Arc Mouse
Surface Headphones

Streamlined Bluetooth pairing experience.

Improving your optional update experience

As some Insiders have noticed, we’re working on making it easier for you to see all optional updates (including drivers, feature updates, and monthly non-security quality updates) in one place. Once optional updates are detected, they will be listed in a new page under Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View optional updates. For drivers, you no longer need to browse Device Manager for a specific device to update. Windows Update will automatically keep your drivers up-to-date, same as before, but if you’re having a problem one of those optional drivers might help.

Other updates for Insiders

Snip & Sketch app update

After spending time in both the Fast and Slow rings, we’re now starting to roll out Snip & Sketch version 10.1907 to 100% of Insiders in the Release Preview ring. We will also be rolling this update out to a small percentage of those using retail builds. As a reminder, this update includes two notable improvements based on your feedback:

Single window mode: We’ve heard that some of you prefer your previous snip to close when you click New in Snip & Sketch, so you don’t end up with a bunch of windows. Going forward, this will be the default option. If you liked having multiple windows, don’t worry! That’s still an option too if you go to Snip & Sketch settings.
Zoom support: You can now zoom in on your screenshots if they’re a bit too small for you to annotate on (and yes, touch, CTRL+Plus, CTRL+Minus and Ctrl+Mouse wheel are supported!) If you prefer keeping a small Snip & Sketch window, we’ll also zoom out to ensure the whole snip fits in the Snip & Sketch window.

Showing a small Snip & Sketch window, where the screenshot has been shrunk to fit the window.

What snipping improvement would you like us to work on next? Let us know! Fastest way to get to the right place is to select the “…” menu in Snip & Sketch, and then choose Send Feedback.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

We fixed an issue where adding a new Language Pack reported successful installation but was not installed.
We fixed an issue impacting the reliability of Settings when accessing the Network & Internet section.
We fixed an issue that could result in printer entries not displaying properly for non-admin accounts—the text overlapping, and not being clickable.
We fixed an issue resulting in Task Manager showing an unexpectedly high temperature for certain GPUs.
We fixed an issue resulting in Task Manger unexpectedly showing 0% CPU usage in the Performance tab.
We fixed an issue where the setting that enables Microsoft accounts on your device to go Passwordless (by requiring Windows Hello sign in and hiding the password option from the lock screen) was showing for local account users. Now the setting will only show for Microsoft account users.
We fixed an issue with the Reset this PC cloud download option not calculating the correct amount of space you needed to free up if you did not have enough disk space to proceed.
We fixed an issue with the Reset this PC cloud download option not working when specific optional features were installed.
At this time, we’re removing our known issue about Realtek SD card readers. If you are still encountering issues with any SD cards, please take a moment to check for driver updates, and file feedback if that does not resolve it for you.

Known issues

There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
Certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) are incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality. During video capture, these 2D apps block their content from being recorded.
When capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you won’t be able to select Stop video, due to the protected content issue noted above. If you want to submit a repro video, you will need to wait 5 minutes for the recording to time out. If you’d like to file the bug without a repro video, you can close the Feedback Hub window to end the recording and resume filing your bug when you reopen the app in Feedback > Drafts.
When viewing Optional drivers in the new section on the Windows Update page, you may notice older drivers showing as available for download. If accepted, they will attempt to install and fail to do so. This is a bug related to revised Windows Update detection logic rather than this new UI. The root cause is understood, and a fix will be available in an upcoming build.

source: Windows Blogs

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Sep 14

Resume from Black Screen magic key-combo

By Erik Moreau in ITPro - Dojo, Tips

Ever resumed from standby & confronted with a black screen?

1st response would be to hit some keys, move the mouse & if the doesn’t work press the power button for 4 seconds & start the machine again with potential unsaved work lost?

Ad this one to your steps, it might just get you there faster & without any loss:

Windows Key + CTRL + SHIFT + B

More details available here: MS Support (select option 1 or 2)

Make sure you look for the latest Graphic drivers for you device to avoid the issue in the future.

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Sep 14

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18980

By Erik Moreau in Windows 10

Hi all, last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18980 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

Smooth upgrades on all devices here, a few applications firewall rules were reset but no harm done.

If you experience any strange non-working key combinations, let me know, I had AtlGr only working when elevated & same for the enter key just the 1st few minutes after resume from standby.

If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle.

Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected.

What’s new in Build 18980

An update on Cortana

In response to feedback, we are executing a plan to make it easier for all Windows customers to use Cortana. As a first step, starting with today’s build, all Insiders worldwide will see the Cortana icon and the new app. In a future Cortana app update, customers will have the option to use Cortana if they speak a supported language, regardless of their OS display language. The new Cortana app currently supports English (United States)—because Cortana is service backed, we can and will continue to add new languages over the coming months outside the bounds of OS build updates. We expect to support the same set of regions and languages we currently support in retail by 20H1 launch. We will share more details of our language rollout plans as they progress and appreciate your patience during this transition period.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) improvements

In this build, we’ve added WSL2 support for ARM64 devices! We’ve also added the ability to set your distribution’s default user using the /etc/wsl.conf file. This release also contains multiple bug fixes, including a long-standing issue for legacy Windows symlinks (for example those in the user profile directory.)

For the full details of changes in this latest Insider Preview build, please see the WSL release notes.

Other updates for Insiders

Update on the Optional Features settings section improvements

These changes are now available to all Insiders in Fast! Thanks to those who’ve already tried it out and shared feedback. If the experience is just rolling out to you now, we can’t wait to hear what you think! To quickly recap, amongst other things, we’ve added multi-select, search, and generally done work to make this section easier to use:

Showing a before and after of the add a features section in settings. You can now multiselect and search.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

There was an upgrade block on the previous flight in order to ensure that Insiders with certain versions of Outlook weren’t impacted by an issue in the build, which resulted in some insiders not finding the build when they checked for updates last week. This has been removed with this flight.
We fixed a deadlock in netprofmsvc.dll that was occurring in recent builds. Symptoms for those impacted potentially included upgrade to the build freezing at 98%, or (if you were able to upgrade,) various aspects of the system unexpectedly freezing and becoming unresponsive.
We’ve done some work to help address an issue where Outlook wouldn’t launch if you clicked an incoming email notification.
We fixed an issue impacting touch keyboard reliability in recent builds.
We fixed an issue impacting WIN+(Period) reliability.
We’ve made the decision to return to the retail build version of the Korean IME while we work on addressing feedback Insiders shared with us about the updated IME experience.
We fixed an issue impacting screen snipping reliability in the last few flights.
We fixed an issue that could result in the login screen acrylic on the previous flight sometimes unexpectedly showing squares around UI elements.
We fixed an issue that could result in certain app thumbnails going unexpectedly blank when you right-clicked them in Task View.
We fixed an issue where removable devices were erroneously labeled as HDD in Task Manager’s performance tab. They will now be labeled Removable.
As some Insiders have noticed, to give you the option to save disk space if needed, we’ve converted MS Paint and WordPad into Optional Features. You can choose to uninstall them or reinstall them via Optional Features in Settings.
We’ve made some adjustments to help improve performance of the Apps & Features page in Settings when searching.
We fixed an issue that could result in Settings crashing when updating your account picture.
Ease of Access settings are no longer participating in settings synchronization (roaming). Accordingly, we have now removed the Ease of Access toggle in Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings.
Magnifier reading now works better in applications like Google Chrome and Firefox.
Magnifier reading no longer clicks the application when using the “Read from here” button or the Ctrl + Alt + Left Mouse Click keyboard shortcut.
We fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator would not display when switching between left-to-right and right-to-left languages.
We fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator would sometimes appear on read-only areas of the screen.
We fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator would appear over the Start menu instead of staying in the Search edit box after typing text in the Search edit box.
Improved the ability of reading the title of the window with Narrator while reading messages in Outlook.
Improved auto-reading in Outlook with Narrator to make it more reliable.
Made changes to more reliably read the message headers using Narrator while reading when using the Shift + Tab command while in Scan Mode.
Improved the verbosity of Narrator when reading lists at verbosity level one.
We fixed an issue where an edit field on some webpages was not getting properly updated on a configured braille display when editing the contents with Narrator.
We fixed an issue where certain Local Experience Packs (LXPs) may revert to English.
We fixed an issue resulting in certain Wi-Fi adapters not being able to load (code 10 error) after upgrading from a previous release of Windows and needing to be disabled and re-enabled for it to work.

Known issues

The Reset this PC cloud download option is not currently calculating the correct amount of space you need to free up if you do not have enough disk space to proceed. To work around this until the fix is available, free up an extra 5GB beyond what is prompted.
The Reset this PC cloud download option is not currently working when specific optional features are installed. The process will begin, but an error will occur and roll back the changes. To work around this issue, remove the optional features before trying the cloud download option. We’ll let you know once this issue has been resolved. The optional features are: EMS and SAC Toolset for Windows 10, IrDA infrared, Print Management Console, RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit (CMAK), RIP Listener, all RSAT tools, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Windows Fax and Scan, Windows Storage Management, Wireless Display, and WI SNMP Provider.
There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
We are looking into an issue where, after updating to this build, adding a new Language Pack reports successful installation but is not installed.
Certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) are incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality. During video capture, these 2D apps block their content from being recorded.
When capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you won’t be able to select Stop video, due to the protected content issue noted above. If you want to submit a repro video, you will need to wait 5 minutes for the recording to time out. If you’d like to file the bug without a repro video, you can close the Feedback Hub window to end the recording and resume filing your bug when you reopen the app in Feedback > Drafts.

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 27

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18965

By Erik Moreau in Windows 10

Hi all, Last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18965 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

Smooth upgrades here, feedback hub looks awesome! multicolor and improved search! new layout of your achievement’s

UPDATE 8/22: Hello Windows Insiders, we have released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18965.1005 (KB4517787) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. This Cumulative Update is a little bit bigger as it is designed to help us test our servicing pipeline with larger updates. This update contains nothing new. We simply updated the version numbers of several components in the OS.

What’s new in Build 18965

Control over restarting apps at sign-in

As some of you already know, apps have the ability to register for restart, which helps in a few situations, including enabling you to get back to what you were doing if you need to restart your PC. Previously this option was tied to the “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device” option under Sign-in options in accounts settings. We’ve heard feedback that some of you would prefer more explicit control over when Windows automatically restarts apps that were open when you restart your PC, and with 20H1 we’re bringing that option to you.

Windows now puts you in control with a new app restart setting. When turned on, Windows automatically saves your restartable apps when signing out, restarting, or shutting down Windows, and restarts them next time you sign in. This setting is off by default and you can change it any time in Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options, and can find it by searching for “restart apps” in Start or the search box.

Showing Sign-in Settings, with the separated toggles described above.

Other updates for Insiders

Feedback Hub updates

The Feedback Hub team has been hard at work lately to bring you some app updates based on your feature requests, and we have a few changes and improvements to share about the latest version that’s currently rolling out to Insiders in the Fast ring.

Feedback Search UI updates

On the Feedback section of the app, you will now be able to more clearly see the differentiation between Problems and Suggestions, with each showing an icon, color, and labels Problem or Suggestion displayed above each feedback entry. We also have updated iconography and displays for Adding similar feedback to problems, upvoting suggestions, and adding comments to feedback.

Showing the view when browsing for feedback in Feedback Hub.

Adding similar feedback

In the past, Feedback Hub allowed two kinds of participation on feedback: upvoting and adding more details. The notion of voting on Suggestions makes a lot of sense – engineers at Microsoft want to know which features the community wants us to build next, and voting on feature suggestions is a great way to see where your interest lies.

However, voting on Problems was trickier – problems are not a matter of popularity, and what helps engineers here resolve problems is having clear descriptions of how the issue arose. Feedback is especially helpful if it includes a reproduction of the problem, diagnostics that help our teams pinpoint what went wrong so they can fix issues faster. Voting on the search page often did not provide enough detail as to what was happening, and we saw that few people went into existing feedback to add their personal reproductions of the issues.

With the new Add similar feedback feature, selecting a problem with symptoms that match your own will take you to the feedback form, with the title pre-filled. You edit the title or add your own description to let us know exactly what was happening when you encountered the problem. We’ll already have your category selected to ensure the right feature team sees your feedback, and in our new Similar Feedback section, the feedback you selected will already be selected. As usual, the last step involves optionally adding your own reproduction of the issue or any attachments you like.

Windows Insiders Achievements

We are excited to announce a refresh of the Windows Insider Achievements page. We’ve made achievements more discoverable by moving them from your profile page to their own landing page, and we added additional features that allow you to categorize and track your progress. Be sure to check it out today and begin unlocking badges. We would love to hear your feedback on social media by using the hashtag #Builds4Badges.

View of the refreshed Windows Insider Achievements, grouped by categories.

The information previously found in your profile (Device ID and User ID) is now located in the settings section of Feedback Hub.

As always, we appreciate your feedback – if you have any suggestions or problems to report, you can share them in the Feedback Hub under Apps > Feedback Hub.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

We fixed an issue resulting in the screens shown while updating Windows unexpectedly saying “managed by your organization” for some Insiders.
We fixed an issue resulting in the taskbar unexpectedly hiding sometimes when launching the touch keyboard.
We fixed an issue where some of the colors weren’t correct in Language Settings if using High Contrast White.
We fixed an issue that could result in background tasks not working in certain apps.
We fixed an issue where if you set focus to the notification area of the taskbar via WIN+B, then opened a flyout and pressed Esc to close it, then the focus rectangle would no longer show up correctly anymore.
We fixed an issue where on the Bluetooth & Other Settings page, the device type wasn’t read out loud when using a screen reader.
We fixed an issue resulting in help links not being accessible when adding a new wireless display device on the Bluetooth & Other Settings page if the text scaling was set to 200%.

Known issues

Insiders may notice a new “Cloud download” option in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) under “Reset this PC.” This feature is not working quite yet. We’ll let you know once it is, so you can try it out!
There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
We’re working on a fix for an issue resulting in the minimize, maximize, and close title bar buttons not working for certain apps. If you’re using an impacted app, Alt+F4 should work as expected to close the app if needed.
Some WSL distros will not load (Issue #4371).
We’re investigating reports that DWM is using unexpectedly high system resources for some Insiders.
There’s an issue impacting a small number of Insiders which started on the previous flight, involving a lsass.exe crash and resulting in a message saying, “Windows ran into a problem and needs to restart.” We’re working on a fix and appreciate your patience.
[Added] Text on Devices pages in Settings for “Bluetooth and Other Devices” and “Printers and Scanners” isn’t rendering correctly
[Added] Search isn’t working for Insiders using certain display languages, including Polish. If you are impacted by this, switching your display language to English then back to your preferred display language should resolve it.

source: Windows Blogs

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Aug 27

Easy way to Access Your UEFI bios

By Erik Moreau in ITPro - Dojo, Tips, Windows 10

Noticed how hard it seems to get to get into some devices UEFI Bios?

Lots of different ways to trigger it, every vendor using other keys, F1, F10, Del,….

How many reboots before your were fast enough to press the right key?

One way to rule them all!

On Windows 10 run the following command in an elevated prompt, it will reboot your device directly into the Firmware:

shutdown.exe /r /fw

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Aug 13

Windows 10 Feature: Clipboard History

By Erik Moreau in ITPro - Dojo, Tips, Windows 10

One Windows 10 feature that turns a lot of heads every time I demo it is Clipboard History.

This feature was already available on the 1809 release since the May 2019 update, 1903 it can do even more!

How do I turn this on?

easy:
just type Windows-key + V
and this window will appear
click on the Turn on button

What does it bring me?

I used to need to re-copy a lot before being able to paste the correct text or image because the clipboard could only hold 1 item before.

The classic ‘I already copied something else’ nightmares are over!
Clipboard History now enables you to recover up to 25 previous copied items for pasting

Typing CTRL+C & CTRL+V still have the same functionality
When you type Windows-Key+V however, you get the choice of what to paste

more on this: Windows Community Blog

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Aug 13

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18956

By Erik Moreau in Windows 10

Hello all, last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18956 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

The New networking Status page rocks! visibility into usage per nic is easy to find now! Calculator can finally be set always on top! Enjoy upgrading your devices!

What’s new in Build 18956

A redesigned Network Status page in Settings

Based on your feedback, we’re revamping the Network & Internet landing page in Settings to provide more information at a glance about your device’s connectivity, combining several pages to give you one clear view of how you are connected to the internet.

New view of active connections: We now show all available connection interfaces on the Status page, so you can quickly see what is connected and view and change properties as needed. If you have multiple connections, only one will be used for internet connectivity at a time, and that one is still shown in the Status diagram at the top of the page.

Showing the updated Network Status page in Settings.

Integrated Data Usage: As you may have noticed in the picture above, you can now see how much data is being used by a network right from the Status page! If it looks like you’re using a lot of data, you can drill into the Data Usage page to create a limit for that network, which will warn you if you get close or go over your limit. You can also see how much data each app is using on that network.

Showing the updated Data Usage Settings page.

We hope you like the changes! If you have any feedback about these, you can share it via the Feedback Hub under Network and Internet > Networking Experience – Look and Feel.

Traditional Chinese IME Improvements

Thank you everyone who’s shared feedback about the new Traditional Chinese Bopomofo / ChangJie / Quick IME so far! The development team has been working on improving the quality and fixing bugs based on what you’ve told us, including:

Bopomofo, ChangJie, and Quick IMEs: We improved the speed of toggling conversion mode ([中] mode and [英] mode). Now it you can switch between the two faster.
Bopomofo IME:
- We heard feedback that some of you’ve been accidentally hitting the Shift + Space keyboard shortcut, resulting in the character width changing unexpectedly between Half-width and Full-width, so we’ve added a new setting for this if you’d prefer to disable the keyboard shortcut (Note: The default is enabled). To access this setting, right click the [中/英] icon in the taskbar, click Settings > General > “Use Shift + Space to switch character width”.

As you may have noticed in the screenshot above, we’re now adding the ability to change the candidate font size, separate from the rest of the system if you find that you need it to be a bit bigger. (You can still change the system font size under [Ease of Access]>[Display]>[Make text bigger].)

Showing the Bopomofo new options in the IME setting page.

We also fixed issues where:
- The candidate numbers sometimes disappeared from the candidate window.
- Shift+Number wasn’t working for selecting an associated phrase.

Thanks again! If you have any further feedback about these experiences, let us know.

Notification settings improvements now rolling out to all of Fast

Thanks everyone who’s tried out our improvements so far. We’re now starting to roll these out to all Insiders. To recap what you’ll see when you have the change:

If you hover your mouse over an incoming notification, you’ll now see a settings icon to make it easy to adjust that app’s notification settings.
We’ve updated the design of the per-app notification settings for visual clarity.
There’s now a direct link to notification settings at the top of the Action Center.
Notifications & Action Settings now has a checkbox for muting the sound of all notifications.
By default, the senders in Notifications & Action Settings are now sorted by “most recently sent a notification.”

Showing an example notification, pointing out the settings icon in the toast .

Cortana rollout increasing to more Insiders using English (United States)

We’re increasing the rollout of the new Cortana experience to now be available for 50% of the Insiders using English (United States). You may need to reboot before you see the change on your PC. Looking for something to try once it appears for you? Try “What’s the weather?” or “Tell me a joke” to get started.

Showing the new Cortana experience, with a joke (“I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.”

[ADDED] Accessibility Improvements

Text Cursor Indicator Preview: Changes to the text cursor indicator can now be viewed on the fly in a new preview pane when changing the size or color in the Text cursor page in Ease of Access.
Magnifier reading now supports 3 new ways to start reading: Press the play button to start reading from the top of content, or selected text if text was selected, or press the read from here button then click where you want to start reading. Note that this experience works with apps with large content like Edge, Word, Mail, etc. Known issue: Play from top may not work at times and you will hear “cannot read from here.”
Narrator gives page summaries and popular links: In Build 18894,we released a quick summary with Narrator + S that will give you headings, links, and landmarks. Pressing Narrator + S twice quickly will open a dialog window with the number of headings, landmarks, and links and a list of popular links. Popular links are the most commonly used links on the website, and you can navigate directly to those links from the page summary.
New Narrator Sound Scheme: We’ve revamped Narrator sounds to be more functional and responsive. As part of that effort, we added sounds for common actions, such as when you land on a link or when you turn on or off scan mode. To manage sounds for common actions, go to Narrator settings.
In Build 18945, we released a more efficient reading experience in Outlook when arrowing through emails. If the older reading experience is preferred, you can disable the new reading experience by unchecking the “Have Narrator be more efficient in Outlook (experimental)” option in Narrator Settings.

[ADDED] Sideloading setting for MSIX no longer required

Starting in this build, enabling the sideloading setting is no longer required to install MSIX packages. Prior to this, you would need to enable a sideloading policy through Settings or group policy to deploy an MSIX package. Now, you can deploy a signed MSIX package onto a device without a special configuration. As part of this change, we have changed the developer mode to be a toggle in the For developer page in Settings. Enterprises can still disable sideloading behaviors via enterprise policy. To learn more about MSIX, please refer to the documentation here: aka.ms/msix

Other Updates for Insiders

Calculator app updates

Over the next few days we’ll be starting to roll out a Calculator app update to Insiders in the Fast ring. This app is most notable because it adds the ability to put Calculator in an Always on Top mode! Thanks everyone who shared feedback requesting this – we look forward to you trying it out. Once you have the updated version, you’ll be able to switch into the Always on Top mode by clicking the icon next to the calculator mode name.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

We’re in the process of returning Tamper Protection to being on by default for all Insiders. You’ll see this change reflected on your PC across the next few weeks.
We fixed an issue where, if snipping via Print Screen was enabled, certain UI would unexpectedly dismiss before it could be captured in the snip.
We fixed an issue resulting in the touch keyboard button not launching the touch keyboard on certain devices.
We fixed an issue where, if you dragged File Explorer while the search dropdown was visible, the dropdown could end up disconnected from the search box.
We fixed an issue where, if a search was in progress in File Explorer, then it’d take two clicks on the X to clear the search results.
We fixed an issue where using the “Automatically type into Search Box” view setting would result in the first letter of your File Explorer search being dropped.
We fixed an issue where File Explorer recent searches weren’t disabled when the group policy “Turn off display of recent search entries in the File Explorer search box” was enabled.
We fixed an issue where explorer.exe would crash when searching File Explorer starting in a OneDrive folder if OneDrive was not running.
We fixed an issue where Homegroup options might still appear in the “Give access to” File Explorer context menu entry, despite the Homegroup feature no longer being available.
We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a taskbar search crash right after log-in.
[ADDED] The Sounds menu item is now back. You can get to the Sounds control panel by selecting Sounds from the Speaker’s context menu on the Task bar.

Known Issues

There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
Occasionally, the candidate selection in prediction candidate window for the Japanese IME doesn’t match with the composition string. We are investigating the issue.
When connected via cellular, the Network status will be incorrect, but the device is able to use the connection.

source: Windows Blogs

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Jul 25

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18941

By Erik Moreau in Windows 10

Hello All,

Last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18941 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

Some strange stuff going on with DPI scaling resuming from standby: https://aka.ms/AA5ot6z

IMPORTANT: As is normal with builds early in the development cycle, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you take this flight, you won’t be able to switch Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC. If you wish to remain on 19H1, please change your ring settings via Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program *before* taking this flight. See this blog post for details.

If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head on over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle.

What’s new in 18941

Updating the Korean IME

Earlier in this development cycle, we released updated versions of both the Chinese and Japanese IMEs. As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize and improve your typing experience in Windows, today we’re rolling out an updated version of the Korean IME to all Insiders in the Fast ring. This update is going out with the goal of making the IME more secure, reliable, and more beautiful to look at.

For those who’re familiar with typing in Korean, the changes will be most noticeable if you write in Hanja; we have a new candidate selection window that uses modern controls and clearer typography:

Showing the candidate window for the Korean IME.

We have also improved the algorithm used for text prediction when writing Korean using the touch keyboard. Text suggestions should now be more accurate and relevant to what you are writing.

With this change, we have a couple of known issues we’re working on addressing:

Typing very fast in Notepad can cause the IME to stop working. If you experience this, restarting Notepad should resolve it.
Pressing hotkeys, such as CTRL + A, in while in the middle of writing a Hangul letter has inconsistent behavior across apps.

We started rolling this change out to a small portion of Insiders a few days ago, and appreciate the feedback shared so far! Your feedback helps make Windows is better for everyone, so please don’t hesitate to continue sharing your thoughts and experiences.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

We fixed an issue resulting in some users experiencing a large amount of lag when using the previous flight.
We fixed an issue where explorer.exe would crash if you started a File Explorer search while in a OneDrive folder.
We fixed an issue where if you searched for advanced Windows Update options, the search result would open to the main Windows Update Settings page, rather than the advanced one.
We fixed an issue where Settings would crash if you clicked on the microphone section under Privacy Settings while audio recording was in progress by a Win32 application.

Known Issues

If you have attempted to install Build 18936 or Build 18941 and experienced install failures with error code c1900101 – see below section regarding this issue.
There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
Tamper Protection may be turned off in Windows Security after updating to this build. You can turn it back on. In August, Tamper Protection will return to being on by default for all Insiders.
On occasion, the candidate selection in prediction candidate window for the Japanese IME doesn’t match with the composition string. We are investigating the issue.

source: Windows Blogs