Jun 22

Fast Ring: Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14371 for PC

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Here’s what’s new in Build 14371

Activation Improvements: We’ve received feedback from Windows Insiders who have run into activation issues on Genuine Windows devices after making changes to device hardware such as replacing a hard drive or motherboard. As part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and starting with this Insider Preview build, we’re introducing the Activation Troubleshooter that will help you address most commonly encountered activation issues on Genuine Windows devices including those caused by hardware changes. For example – if your device has a digital license (formerly called “digital entitlement”) for Windows 10 Pro from a previously installed activated Windows 10 build but you accidentally re-installed Windows 10 Home on such a device, the troubleshooter will automatically guide you through upgrading to Windows 10 Pro and activate Windows. You can launch the troubleshooter by going to Settings > Update & security > Activation and select Troubleshoot. Remember, Windows 10 Insider Preview builds are intended to be installed on Genuine Windows devices.

Based on Insider feedback, we are also introducing the ability to link your Microsoft account (MSA) to the activation digital license with this Insider Preview build. If you already used an MSA to log in to your activated Windows 10 Home or Pro device, your MSA will be automatically linked. You can use this MSA linked digital license to re-activate your Genuine Windows 10 device by running the Activation troubleshooter, if you run into Activation issues caused by hardware changes.

Go to the Feedback Hub for additional details about this feature.

Other improvements and fixes for PC

  • We have made a couple of key fixes for accessibility. We fixed the issue causing Narrator to not launch when you toggle switch to “on” via Settings app > Ease of access > Narrator. We also fixed an issue where Narrator spoke at an unexpectedly accelerated rate.
  • We improved learning speed for some slow cases on Japanese IME conversion, and prediction candidate quality. We fixed a short hang issue in Japanese IME which had been there since the Windows 10 November Update.
  • We improved the file download experience in Microsoft Edge. Now if you click on a download link from outside of Microsoft Edge that quickly opens and closes a tab, we will open the Download Hub so it is more apparent that a download has begun and succeeded. We also fixed an issue where moving the caret to beyond the visible end of the textbox when editing the name of a favorite in the Favorites Bar would result in keyboard focus moving to the next favorite. And we also fixed an issue where enter might not work to navigate to a URL if you began typing in the address bar very shortly after opening a new tab.
  • Going forward from Build 14371, the 3D Display setting state will be preserved across build updates.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in MPEG-2 videos showing the wrong duration in the Movies and TV app.
  • We fixed an issue where “Scan options” text in Windows Defender would be clipped when high DPI (text scaling) was increased. We also fixed an issue where the offline scan event wasn’t correctly formatted, and would show an exposed parameter (%1) in the Event Logs. We also fixed an issue resulting in the permissions dialog for a new extension possibly appearing under the Microsoft Edge favorites bar.
  • We fixed an issue where using the OneNote Web Clipper extension for Microsoft Edge on certain sites might result in an error saying “Please allow third party cookies in your browser”.
  • We fixed an issue where the Action Center icon was clipped by the “Show Desktop” icon at 225% DPI. We also improved the resolution of the sound and network icons when using a non-standard DPI setting.
  • We added a small animation to Action Center for when notifications are deleted by the platform or dynamically repositioned, and generally improved Action Center reliability.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the Clock and Calendar flyout possibly showing a very old appointment when looking at today’s events.
  • We fixed an issue where certain keys in the Calculator app might stop working after switching between OCT and HEX mode. We also fixed an issue where hitting Enter in the calculator could result in the menu opening rather than calculating the current result.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in the VPN Settings page freezing after pressing Connect. We also fixed an issue where VPN might attempt to automatically connect over metered networks, despite “Allow VPN over metered connection” being turned off.
  • We fixed an issue where the icon for Settings was missing from the Background apps and Data usage settings pages. We also fixed an issue where content in the Windows Insider Program settings page might be truncated.
  • We fixed an issue where File Explorer would show two copies of any picture or screenshot taken on a phone while that phone was connected to the PC, despite only one file actually existing on the phone.
  • We fixed an issue where going between the All apps list and the tile grid of Start in Tablet mode could have a glitchy animation, or not have an animation at all.
  • We fixed an issue where you might see duplicate “The VPN connection needs your sign-in info.” notifications saved in the Action Center, when only one needed to be displayed.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in certain PDFs failed to print.
  • We fixed an issue where a focus box was sometimes visible when launching the Start menu, resulting in type to search not working.

Known issues for PC

  • Clicking on networks or VPN connections in the network flyout on the taskbar doesn’t launch the network settings page like it should.

Read more at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/06/22/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-14371-for-pc/#d5Qv3XwtJXwhZjXi.99

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Jun 19

Fast Ring: Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14367 for PC and Mobile

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Improvements and fixes for PC

  • Cross-device notifications from your phone to your PC via Cortana are now more reliable and faster. You can also use quick replies from your PC for notifications that support that feature (there is a known issue in which this will only work if your phone’s screen is turned on – we’ll be fixing this!). Additionally, notifications from your phone to your PC will appear under its own Windows Phone group in Action Center – with a fancy new logo to boot!
  • We fixed an issue where the emoji in cross-device notifications would appear as boxes. We also fixed an issue where certain emoji would appear as square boxes in some apps like Notepad.
  • We have fixed the issue with the Desktop App Converter Preview (Project Centennial) however you will need to download the updated version here  http://aka.ms/converter.
  • Fixed an issue resulting in the dialog when joining the PC to an Azure AD potentially being unexpectedly large on certain devices
  • Quick Actions in Action Center that turn on and off different functionality in your device, like Bluetooth on your phone or Tablet Mode on your PC, now have a transient On/Off text indicator so you can clearly see the state change for these. We fixed an issue where the WIN + A keyboard shortcut to launch Action Center wouldn’t work if Action Center icon had been turned off. We also fixed an issue where certain notifications could result in the Action Center not launching until that toast had been cleared.
  • We fixed an issue where Cortana wasn’t showing relevant system settings results for certain terms, in particular “typo” or “connect”.
  • We fixed an issue where the text in the network flyout might change color from white to black when entering credentials if your PC is using dark mode.
  • We fixed an issue where PowerShell shortcuts pinned to the taskbar could only create one functional window – subsequent windows generated from the pinned icon would not accept input.
  • We fixed an issue where each newly opened notes in Sticky Notes would flash white and black after a certain number of notes had already been created.
  • We added a new shortcut to turn on/off Private mode when using the Japanese Input Method Editor. This new keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + P. We also increased the width of the Japanese 12 key keyboard for small devices when in portrait, so as to improve ease of use and fixed an issue where no characters would be input when using this keyboard in a field where Input Method Editors are disabled
  • We updated the Update & Security, Windows Update and Recovery icons in Settings, to be more reflective of the action
  • We fixed an issue where the Office apps might not show up in Start’s “Most used” list.
  • We fixed an issue where saying “Hey Cortana” would launch Cortana behind Windows Ink Workspace.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Explorer.exe crashing if you selected “Open Command window here” from File Explorer’s context menu.

Improvements and fixes for Mobile

  • For all of my fellow devs: you should now be able to deploy an app via Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 to a phone running this build. Thanks for being patient!
  • We fixed the issue where Quick Actions in the Settings app were flipped from the order you saw it in the Action Center.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in existing reminders failing to display in Cortana’s reminder section, and an error when attempting to save a new reminder.
  • We fixed an issue where the text selection grippers would appear very tiny in certain places on high DPI phones, such as when selecting text in the reply textbox of an interactive notification.
  • We reduced battery usage when Microsoft Edge is running in the background.
  • We polished Action Center so that font size of dropdowns in interactive notifications is now consistent with surrounding text.
  • We fixed an issue where Battery Saver wouldn’t be turned on after tapping the notification prompting you to turn on Battery Saver when battery is at 20%.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in dropped keystrokes when typing in Outlook Mail or Word Mobile.
  • We fixed an issue where, for phones that support it, the “3G Only” and “Only 3G or 4G” cellular options were not working correctly for some Insiders, resulting in 2G networks being selected.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the Japanese Input Method Editor not working correctly in the All apps list search box.
  • We updated the Phone Update and Update & Security icons in the Settings app to be more reflective of the action.
  • Quick Actions in Action Center that turn on and off different functionality in your device, like Bluetooth on your phone or Tablet Mode on your PC, now have a transient On/Off text indicator so you can clearly see the state change for these. We fixed an issue where if you swiped up on a full screen VOIP notification, the dimmed screen behind it would flash. We also fixed an issue where you may not receive notification toasts until the next time the Action Center had been opened if you had tapped on a notification on the Lock screen but then aborted the prompt to enter your pin.
  • We fixed an issue where Lock screen page in Settings may show incorrect data while page is loading.
  • We fixed an issue where Quiet Hours might unexpectedly turn off after having been manually turned on using the Quick Action.
  • We fixed an issue where certain sample images were displaying in portrait rather than landscape when used as a Lock screen background and phone was connected to an external monitor. In fixing this, these sample images have now become available to select as a background for your second monitor using Continuum.
  • We fixed an issue that could result in key presses sometimes being entered multiple times over Miracast.
  • We fixed an issue where the “The accessory you’re connecting to isn’t working” error was truncated on the Connect settings page.
  • We fixed an issue where the Windows Hello icon might get stuck on the screen after logging in.
  • We fixed an issue where selecting a letter from the All apps list would sometimes scroll that letter to the bottom of the screen, rather than the top.

Known issues for PC

  • Narrator does not launch when you toggle switch to “on” via Settings app > Ease of access > Narrator.

Known issues for Mobile

  • We are investigating data issues with some Dual-SIM devices where cellular data doesn’t work correctly with a second SIM. Several issues relating to cellular data with Dual-SIM devices have been reported by Insiders with the last two Mobile builds and we’re investigating these reports. Thank you for giving us this feedback.
  • There is an issue where certain apps won’t be able to set Start or Lock screen backgrounds.

Read more at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/06/16/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-14367-for-pc-and-mobile/#su0QVylML2sRkRDX.99

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Jun 09

What’s new in Office 365 administration—May roundup

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Updates for the new Office 365 admin center

– Support for mail-enabled security groups
– Create custom tiles
– Provide a customized help desk
– Manage email apps
– One management experience across admin center and admin app

Read more here:

https://blogs.office.com/2016/06/08/whats-new-in-office-365-administration-may-roundup/

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Jun 09

Fast Ring: Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14361

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Here’s what’s new in Build 14361

LastPass extension for Microsoft Edge: We are excited to announce that LastPass, a popular free password management extension, is now available for download. Visit our extensions page at the Microsoft Edge Dev website to learn more and try it out for yourself! Be sure to check out the list of known issues for the LastPass extension here.

Introducing Hyper-V Container: You can now use Docker natively on Windows 10 with Hyper-V Containers, to build, ship and run containers utilizing the Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5  Nano Server container OS image. A new version of the Docker engine for Windows has also been made available that extends the support of containers while also improving the DockerFile syntax and getting started experience for users. For more details on how to get started with this check out the Windows container documentation or the Windows 10 Getting Started Guide.

Windows Ink improvements:

  • The Windows Ink ruler is now long enough to span diagonally across the entire Surface Book display.
  • We fixed an issue with the Windows Ink pencil tool, where the line when drawing along the ruler wouldn’t be flush with the ruler as well as an issue resulting in a slight flicker visible in the colored section when opening the Pen, Pencil or Highlighter flyout.
  • We have updated the Touch Inking icon in Windows Ink Workspace to be more reminiscent of the Windows Ink Workspace icon.
  • We improved the performance of loading the Sketchpad thumbnail in the Windows Ink Workspace flyout from the taskbar.
  • Based on Insider feedback, we have made the “clear all” option more discoverable in Sketch Pad as the trash can icon in the menu bar. This was previously accessible as an option under the Erase button.

Settings improvements: We made some improvements to the Settings app based on Insider Feedback. The navigation pane is now white in light mode or black in dark mode and we have added a small block of color (which is same as the accent color of your profile) to highlight what Settings page you are on. Clicking anywhere on the Home button at the top left takes you to the Settings homepage. And we have made some other polish improvements, including slightly increasing the size of the page name text.

image: http://az648995.vo.msecnd.net/win/2016/06/settings-app-improvements-1024×832.png

Settings improvementsNew icons: I’ve been told that Insiders love hearing about new icons. So I thought I would mention we have updated the Blu-ray icon so that it is more consistent with the other drive icons in Windows 10.

image: http://az648995.vo.msecnd.net/win/2016/06/Storage.Optical.Blueray_256.png

Storage.Optical.Blueray_256We also changed the icon for the network Quick Action to better represent it as an entry point to the network flyout (previously, it was a generic globe icon).

image: http://az648995.vo.msecnd.net/win/2016/06/network-quick-action.png

New network Quick Action icon

Other improvements and fixes for PC

  • We fixed the issue causing keyboard navigation in Store apps like Netflix or Tweetium to not work.
  • We fixed the issue causing certain websites like YouTube to fail to render in Microsoft Edge or IE due to a recently implemented feature called TCP Fast Open.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in a strange grey bar frequently being seen on the left side of the Microsoft Edge browser window (for example, after invoking a context menu).
  • The window of active hours for when you are using your PC has been increased from 10 to 12 hours under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update and “Change active hours”.
  • We have updated the download notification in Microsoft Edge to include filename, download status, and site domain on separate lines.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause the icons to disappear from the tabs in Microsoft Edge after the DPI change corresponding with remotely connecting to the PC via Remote Desktop.
  • We fixed an issue where DNG file thumbnails were not displaying in File Explorer.
  • We polished the appearance of Start by reducing the amount of whitespace at the top of Start, and adding logic so that the scrollbars will immediately hide once your mouse is no longer hovering over that area. We also fixed an issue resulting in clipping on the bottom or side of Start’s context menus.
  • We fixed an issue where pressing the Enter key would not submit the Wi-Fi password in the network flyout from the taskbar.
  • We decreased the size of icons used in notifications from 64×64 to 48×48 – maintaining the visibility, while improving the use of space in the Action Center.
  • We have improved the reliability of Cortana’s listening after tapping the mic button and fixed an issue that resulted in focus being lost to Cortana’s search box after a typed search has been deleted via backspace.
  • We have updated Windows Defender to not show recap notifications in normal mode if no scans have been run, or in scan-only mode if no threads have been found.
  • We fixed an issue that resulted in certain apps, such as Photos, not being able to set the desktop background.
  • Going forward from Build 14361, your Task Manager settings will now be preserved across build updates.
  • We fixed an issue where Start wouldn’t dismiss after launching Sticky Notes, leading to Sticky Notes appearing behind Start.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to set your account picture in Settings using the camera option.
  • We have added a keyboard shortcut for opening the taskbar’s clock and calendar flyout – this shortcut is WIN + Alt + D.
  • We fixed an issue where Command Prompt wasn’t maximizing correctly on high DPI monitors. We also fixed an issue where Command Prompt wouldn’t refresh the windows properly when doing an upwards Ctrl + F search with a long output of text.
  • We fixed an issue where the taskbar’s volume icon was showing incorrect states for 0% and muted.
  • We fixed an issue where applying a new save location on the Storage Settings page for any one file type would result in any other pending save location changes being lost.

Other improvements and fixes for Mobile

  • We fixed the issue that was causing your phone to freeze after touching the screen immediately after enabling Narrator.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in a strange grey bar frequently being seen on the left side of the Microsoft Edge browser window (for example, after invoking a context menu).
  • Going forward from Build 14361, your preferred DPI setting will be backed up and reapplied when restoring your phone.
  • We fixed an issue where “Find on Page” in Microsoft Edge wouldn’t always scroll the word into view. We also fixed an issue resulting in videos played on Facebook flickering if you started playing them after rotating the phone with the video in full screen mode.
  • We fixed an issue where text was being truncated instead of wrapped in the Windows Insider Program page in the Settings app.
  • We polished the notification dismissal model. Now if you receive and dismiss multiple interactive notifications in a row, the black transparent background will not start fading away between them. We fixed an issue that was making it more difficult to dismiss a notification with a hero image, an issue where peeking at a notification while watching Netflix would result in the video pausing, an issue where the keyboard could end up covering the quick reply text box, and an issue where certain notifications might just say “new notification” after a reboot. We also fixed an issue where Action Center would close unexpectedly quickly if a notification had been expanded when you start moving the Action Center’s border up. And we also fixed an issue where an incoming notification would stop Action Center from opening if you were in the process of swiping it down when a notification arrived.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the “now charging” sound frequently playing twice when the charging cable has been plugged in.
  • We fixed an issue where the “Everytime” setting for how often to prompt for pin would be blank on the Sign-in Settings page after opening Settings from the Lock screen.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to infinitely cycle left or right through the Phone app’s tabs.
  • We fixed an issue where the Lumia 535 and 540 were not displaying a flash toggle in the Camera app.
  • We have updated the text prediction engine for multilingual users, so now the candidates you see when selecting a word will be based on the active keyboard language, rather than the language that was active at the time the word was written.
  • You can now use the keyboard with one hand with additional 5-inch devices such as the Lumia 640 and 830. To use this feature, press the space bar and slide the keyboard to the left or the right – whatever feels most comfortable for you! To return the keyboard to the center, press the space bar again, and slide it back to the middle. You can also slide the keyboard up, using the same method, so it’s closer to the top of the screen if you prefer a higher grip on your phone.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to infinitely cycle left or right through the Phone app’s tabs.

Known issues for PC

  • If you have a French Windows 10 Insider Preview build installed on your PC, you will not receive Build 14361. There is an issue with the French translation process in this build that would revert a lot of text that was used to be shown in French back to English. So we have chosen not to release this build to Insiders whose base build is French. If your base build is not French and you have a French Language Pack installed – you will still be able to install the new French language pack on top of this build, but this issue will also impact you.
  • Text prediction using the Japanese IME will freeze your PC. To avoid this issue and continue using the Japanese IME, we recommend turning off text prediction. You can do this by right-clicking IME mode icon “A” or “あ” in systray and selecting “Properties”, clicking “Advanced”, and navigate to the “Predictive Input” tab and check off “Use predictive input system”. You can turn on prediction feature again by checking it on.
  • Navigating to the Privacy pages in Settings app will crash the Settings app and prevent you from adjusting your privacy settings. Your privacy settings already set will remain intact after updating to this build. If this is a blocker for you, you can move to the Slow ring until this bug is fixed or be sure to set your privacy settings before updating to this build.
  • If you click on a file download link outside of Microsoft Edge, sometimes Edge will open a tab and close it without doing anything. The workaround is to go to the Download pane and start the download there by clicking “Save” or “Save As”.
  • For certain languages, such as Chinese or Portuguese (Brazil), you will not be able to launch Start while an app is installing.

Known issues for Mobile

  • You won’t be able to deploy an app via Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 to a phone running this build. As a workaround – you can deploy the app by using the Windows 10 Application Deployment (WinAppDeployCmd.exe) command-line tool.
  • In some cases, the new cross-device Cortana features first highlighted in Build 14356 may not work. Restarting your phone should fix the issue and get the features working.
  • After installing this build, you may notice your Quick Actions icons are not in the same order. This is a side effect of the fixes/changes we made to Action Center. To re-arrange your icons to your preferred order, just go to Settings > System > Notifications & actions > (Quick actions) and touch, hold, and then drag to re-arrange icons to whatever position you want. Remember: the four items in the top row are what will show as your immediately viewable Quick Actions.
  • We are continuing to investigate data issues with some Dual-SIM devices where cellular data doesn’t work correctly with a second SIM. Several issues relating to cellular data with Dual-SIM devices have been reported by Insiders with the last two Mobile builds and we’re investigating these reports.

Read more at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/06/08/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-14361/#J86s1L8pwdCWwlfm.99

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Jun 03

Join the European Online Learning Championship 2016 and help your country to win the game!

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Euro Learn 2016Join the European Online Learning Championship 2016!

From June 1st to 30th you can support the tech community of your country to win the European Online Learning Championship 2016. Be part and help your county, by learning about the latest technologies, to win the game! All you have to do is select an Online Learning Training from Channel9 or Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) and spread the word.
Make sure that your team stays on top. Your country needs more points?

Spend more time learning about the latest technologies and motivate more friends.

 

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May 30

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14352

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Last week Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14352 to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

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Here’s what’s new in Build 14352

Cortana Improvements

Cortana, Your Personal DJ: In addition to playing songs via your local files and OneDrive, you also now have the ability to play any song from the entire Groove Music Catalog using Cortana. If you have a Groove Music Pass, just ask Cortana to play your favorite artist, genre, playlist or song. This also works with Cortana on your Lock screen.

  • “Hey Cortana, play <song name>”
  • “Hey Cortana, play <artist>”
  • “Hey Cortana, play my <Groove playlist name>”
  • “Hey Cortana, pause”

NOTE: Groove Catalog support currently for U.S. English only – other regions to come in the future.

Set a timer: You can now set a timer using Cortana to remind you to go get a snack, take a break, or while cooking. You can set a timer, query how long is left and cancel using natural language. On your PC, this works logged in or above the Lock screen. On your phone, you can use speech or text. Examples below. We are continuing to improve the overall user experience including conversation mode (“set a timer”, then specify the time), and enable turning off a ringing timer using speech. Try out:

  • “Hey Cortana, set a timer for 10 minutes”
  • “Hey Cortana, how much time is left?”
  • “Hey Cortana, cancel my timer”

Windows Ink

Updated Sticky Notes: With the latest update, Sticky Notes are now better than ever* with the ability to create Cortana reminders from your notes that will flow with you across your Cortana enabled devices. You can also ink or type a phone number and it readies itself for calling; write an email address and launch directly to email, write a URL and launch into Microsoft Edge right from the Note. A few jotted-down bulleted items become an easy-to-manage checklist. Don’t forget that Sticky Notes is also a standalone app, just launch it from Start if you’d like to use it outside of Windows Ink Workspace.

 *Certain features are currently limited to EN-US, with more market and language support coming in future updates.

Compass on the ruler: We’ve updated the Windows Ink ruler to include a compass. If the ruler is oriented in the direction of any of the cardinal points or midpoints, the compass indicator will become bold.

New compass on Windows Ink rulerGeneral improvements to the Windows Ink experience: We have made performance and reliability improvements based on feedback including:

  • Sketchpad will now dismiss if you tap Esc or Windows key combinations (for example, Win + S or Win + D).
  • We’ve updated the export icon to be the more familiar floppy disk icon for saving your sketch.
  • We’ve polished the experience of opening Sketchpad when many ink strokes are present on the canvas.
  • We fixed an issue that resulted in Sketchpad sometimes needing to be tapped twice before it would launch from the Windows Ink Workspace flyout.
  • Sketchpad and Screen Sketch will now default to touch inking ON for non-pen devices. They will also remember the state of the button when you relaunch Windows Ink Workspace.
  • Going forward from Build 14252, the Windows Ink Workspace icon state (on or off) on the taskbar will be preserved after upgrading.
  • We have updated Sticky Notes to show a small sticky note icon next to the app name when hovering over the app in the taskbar or in Task View.

Other items of note

Windows Game bar improved with full-screen support: One of the most common requests we see for the Windows 10 Game DVR feature is the ability to use the Windows Game bar with more games running in full-screen.  With this flight, we’ve added support for six additional games in full-screen mode with Windows game bar: League of Legends, World of Warcraft, DOTA 2, Battlefield 4, Counterstrike: Global Offensive, and Diablo III. With those games, you can now use Windows key + G to bring up the Windows Game bar when the game is running full-screen.

Tip: You can control this feature through the Windows Game bar settings. In the settings dialog, look for the “Show Game bar when I play full-screen games” checkbox.

Feedback Hub will now show Microsoft responses: You’ll now see short status tags on feedback to let you know what we’re doing with it. The tags are a short-form way to give status on feedback we’re actively working on or have made changes for. The tags will often be published along with a “Microsoft response” comment that gives more context on what the team is doing. This change also replaces the “Received” tag that you’ve been seeing on all feedback with something much more useful and informative!

Status tags for feedbackUpdated File Explorer icon: Based on Insider feedback, we have updated the File Explorer icon with more color.

Updated File Explorer iconDeploying Windows Enterprise edition gets easier: Prior to Windows 10, the upgrade from the Pro to Enterprise edition required a complete wipe and reinstallation of the OS. In Windows 10, we enabled bit-less edition upgrade from Pro to Enterprise. This means all the features are on the device already and the upgrade to Enterprise edition can be performed by changing the product key rather than having to download and deploy a new image. However, doing this required a reboot to complete. We heard a lot of feedback about having to reboot to complete the upgrade so starting with this build a reboot is no longer required when upgrading from the Pro to Enterprise edition. You can try out this out by going to “Settings -> Update & Security -> Activation” in the settings app and click the “Change product key” button and enter a valid Enterprise product key. If you find any issues, please send us feedback via the Feedback Hub!

Upgrade to a higher edition of Windows 10Limited Period Scanning: Limited Periodic Scanning is a new security setting you can choose to turn on if you use an antivirus program other than Windows Defender. This setting can provide an additional line of defense in scanning and detecting malware on your device. To enable this – go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Defender and turn “Limited Periodic Scanning” on. Each month Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool detects malware on 1 to 2 million devices, even those running other antivirus software. This setting can be turned on for unmanaged devices. You can read more about Limited Period Scanning here.

Here’s what’s fixed for PC

  • Feedback Hub should now be localized properly. If you install a different language, you will need to relaunch Feedback Hub to have it show in that language.
  • We fixed the issue with Intel HD Graphics 3000 or Intel HD Graphics 2000 GPUs causing rendering issues and instability with Microsoft Edge. If you mitigated this issue by using software rendering instead of GPU rendering, you can go back to GPU rendering.
  • Starting with this build, pinned tabs in Microsoft Edge should no longer get lost after updating to a new Insider Preview build.
  • We fixed an issue causing Surface Books to bugcheck (bluescreen) when using Windows Hello.
  • We fixed an issue that caused the Brightness Quick Action to appear missing.
  • This build includes fixes for Precision Touchpads. We have Improved reliability of using gestures to switch between virtual desktops. We also improved touchpad responsiveness for pans and two finger taps. We also fixed an issue where swiping on the touchpad might not wake the device once it was in Connected Standby state.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in maximized UWP apps slightly overlapping the taskbar if taskbar was positioned on top.
  • We fixed an issue in the Action Center where it wouldn’t show the hover state when moving your mouse over notifications if a notification had been expanded.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in missing icons in Action Center when using Light mode.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in “Restart Required” continuing to show in Action Center after restart has already occurred.
  • Increased hit target of X icon for notifications in Action Center, to make them easier to dismiss.
  • We fixed a timing issue where the Bluetooth Quick Action might appear (with state ON) for a device with no Bluetooth.
  • We fixed an issue where using Esc to exit a full screen video with Microsoft Edge maximized would result in the window becoming unmaximized.
  • We fixed an issue where playing mp4s from a network share in the Movies & TV app would sometimes show an “MF_E_UNSUPPORTED_BYTESTREAM_TYPE” error.
  • We fixed an issue that resulted in the volume mixer slider for system sounds getting reset to 100% after receiving a notification or altering master volume.
  • Update notifications to now deep link straight to Update History, rather than the Windows Update landing page in the Settings app.
  • Updated the Settings app so now the CTRL + E keyboard shortcut will set focus to the Settings search box.
  • We fixed an issue where theme settings were not roaming correctly to other PCs with the same Microsoft account.
  • Fixed an issue resulting in the All apps list in Start being blank for certain languages
  • We updated the Action Center icon to now hide unread notification count when the taskbar is using small icons, as there’s not enough space to display it.
  • Fixed an issue with Command Prompt where it wasn’t keeping the current line in view after resizing the window.
  • We fixed an issue that resulted in the User Account Control dialog sometimes appearing behind other windows instead of in the forefront.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the Lock screen sometimes not showing the Caps lock warning when Caps lock was on.

Known issues for PC

  • Previously installed extensions for Microsoft Edge may not work for around 15 minutes after your first sign-in. A work around for this is to manually re-install each extension from the Store.
  • In some cases, the new Cortana features highlighted above may not work. Restarting your PC should fix the issue and get the features working.
  • Using the keyboard to navigate in certain Store apps like Netflix or Tweetium does not work. You will need to use your mouse.

Read more at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/05/26/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-14352/

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May 28

MVA Course: Power Tools for Windows 10

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This course gives great insight in some of the most used tools in Windows 10

Instructor(s): Jennelle Crothers and Ed Bott

https://mva.microsoft.com/en-US/training-courses/power-tools-for-windows-10-16405/

Certainly worth a look!

 

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May 26

ITPROceed yet another IT Event in Belgium?

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ITPROceed

We’re going to ITPROceed on June 14th 2016 @Utopolis Mechelen

Hope to see you there!

ITPROceed yet another IT Event in Belgium?

Wrong! ITPROceed is THE technology geek fest for IT Professionals in Belgium on Microsoft technologies, tools, platforms and services.

This one day event will be your one-stop for all your questions regarding new technologies and how they will become more and more important for you as an IT Professional and your customers.

The day will be packed with sessions about the new technologies and how you can implement and use them in your day to day business as an ITPRO. These sessions will be packed with notes from the field and delivered by top notch speakers who earn their stripes daily by delivering solutions build on these technologies.

ITPROceed yet another Microsoft drive event in Belgium?

Wrong again! ITPROceed is a joint effort between the ITPROfessional User Groups with strong support from Microsoft. Their mission? Delivering you content throughout the year about the technologies they represent and work with. ITPROceed is the pinnacle for the user groups to have an open forum to all attending ITPRO’s to show what their technology is capable of and how it is evolving in the faster and faster changing ITPRO world we live in today.

ITPROceed is focused on one particular technology?

Wrong again! ITProceed will have separate tracks touching almost every aspect of the broad spectrum of technologies ITPRO’s support throughout the ITPRO universum. This is in fact also one of the key benefits of ITPROceed: you can stay in your comfort zone and follow the track you specialize in or make a bold move and join other ITPRO’s in another track to explore whole new worlds and broaden your spectrum.

Technologies that will be discussed in the different tracks:

  • Azure
  • Azure Stack
  • Nano and Server 2016
  • SharePoint
  • Lync
  • Unified Communications
  • Windows 10
  • Office 365
  • System Center
  • SQL
  • Cloud OS

http://itproceed.be/register/

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May 15

Fast Insider Ring: Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14342

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windows-10-logo

The 10th of May Microsoft Released the 14342 Build to the Insider Fast Ring

Here’s what’s new in Build 14342

Updates for Extensions in Microsoft Edge: Instead of extracting and loading extensions from a local folder, all available extensions can now be downloaded directly from the Windows Store. This change means that your currently installed extensions will be removed, and you’ll have to reinstall the ones you want from the Store. Then in future updates, your extensions will be automatically re-downloaded and installed.

We also have some new extensions available for you to try out. We are excited to announce that starting with this build, both AdBlock and Adblock Plus are now available for download in the Windows Store in addition to Pin It Button, Mouse Gestures, Reddit Enhancement Suite, Microsoft Translator, and OneNote Web Clipper. It is recommended that you only install one of either AdBlock or Adblock Plus as having them both running at the same time can cause issues with viewing websites in Microsoft Edge.

Important note: There is a bug in this build that occurs if you turn off all extensions without uninstalling them, you may not be able to close the browser or get context menus to work. To avoid this issue, uninstall any extensions you no longer want to use instead of turning them off. If you do hit this issue, to get out of this state you will need to turn on one or more extensions or uninstall all extensions, kill any Microsoft Edge processes running in Task Manager, and restart Microsoft Edge.

Real-time web notifications in Microsoft Edge: Microsoft Edge now supports real-time web notifications, which allow participating websites to send notifications to you via Action Center, with your permission. For example, when your friend sends you a message on Skype for Web while you’re busy in the Xbox app, you won’t miss a thing. A notification from the website will appear in Windows, just like an app might send. Click on the notification and you’ll be right back in Microsoft Edge at the site that sent it!

Swipe navigation in Microsoft Edge: Since the release of Windows 10 Mobile, our top feedback request for Microsoft Edge has been asking for the return of the swipe gesture to navigate back and forward. It’s also been one of our top 10 requests on PC. With this build, you can now swipe from anywhere on the page to get back to your previous page. This will be coming in the next Mobile build as well!

Bash on Ubuntu on Windows Improvements:

  • Symlinks within the Windows Subsystem for Linux are now functional on the mounted Windows directories. This fix helps support many scenarios including the npm installer.
  • Users with non-Latin Windows usernames are now able to install Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.
  • Many more improvements can be found in the WSL release notes here!

Skype UWP Preview Update: The Skype UWP Preview app has been updated will be updated tomorrow (5/12) via the Store in response to your feedback. In this release, you have the ability to set a dark theme and can switch between different Skype accounts. You can expect mobile release in the June timeframe.

Updated Windows Ink Workspace icon: We have updated the Windows Ink Workspace icon on the taskbar. The new icon shows a more expressive ink stroke and is more consistent with other icons in the notification area. The new icon also looks better at wider range of sizes. 

Updated visuals for User Account Control dialog: The UAC dialog now supports dark mode! As part of this work, we’ve updated also the header color from yellow to blue.

image: http://az648995.vo.msecnd.net/win/2016/05/dark-mode-uac.png

Dark mode UAC PromptMiddle-click for dismiss in Action Center: Action Center now supports the popular dismiss model of middle-clicking on a notification via the middle button scroll wheel on your mouse to a single notification. Middle-clicking on an app’s name will dismiss all the notifications listed for that app.

Apps for websites: As we discussed at Build 2016, you will soon be able to redirect certain websites to open with an app instead. While there are currently no apps that support this, in preparation for their availability we have added a new page at Settings > System > Apps for websites where you will be able to manage them. Please stay tuned!

Feedback Hub improvements: We’ve heard from you that it can sometimes be hard to find which category your feedback belongs in. Now when you create new feedback, the Feedback Hub will suggest categories and subcategories based on the title and description you entered. If you see a suggestion that looks right, just click it to fill in the menus and get your feedback to the right engineers quickly.

Here’s what’s fixed for PC

  • We have fixed the issues blocking the Desktop App Converter Preview (Project Centennial). You can now run the converter on the Enterprise edition as well as Pro edition of Windows. You will need the latest converter and base image from here to take advantage of all the improvements which will be available later today.
  • We fixed the issue causing Tencent online games from not working in current builds from the Development Branch.
  • We have fixed the issue causing DRM-protected content from services like Groove Music, Microsoft Movies & TV, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or Hulu from being playable with playback with 0x8004C029 or 0x8004C503 errors.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in audio crashes for users who play audio to a receiver over S/PDIF or HDMI, and use a driver that supports real-time encoding via technologies like Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect.
  • Polished the animation when invoking Cortana on the Lock screen. And also resolved an issue where tapping the link to fix mic issues wouldn’t fix them.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in the ok/cancel buttons in the network flyout being clipped on high DPI devices.
  • We fixed an issue where you might see Windows Hello messages on the screen while you were already logging in with a fingerprint.
  • We fixed the issue where if you were in an app and clicked on a link with a URL longer than 260 characters, it would bring up the “Open with…” dialog instead of opening with your default browser.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to use your mouse in the Photos app to either move photo while zoomed or adjust crop region.
  • The ALT + Y keyboard shortcut to choose “yes” now works with the updated UAC UI.
  • Updated new Credential UI to add support for pasting into username and password fields
  • Polished icons used to identify pages in the Settings app – in particular, updated battery icon to be more consistent with the weight of the other icons.
  • Made some polish improvements to the Action Center, and resolved an issue where icon in Taskbar wasn’t displaying correctly at 175% DPI.
  • We fixed an issue where the image used in Screen Sketch would be rotated 90 degrees for native portrait devices (such as the Dell Venue 8 Pro). Also polished the experience of cropping images in Screen Sketch.
  • We fixed Clock and Calendar flyout issues on the taskbar with the 24-hour time format where the agenda items would display using 12-hour format instead of the 24-hour time format and certain items would be off by 12 hours.
  • We fixed an issue where the Clock and Calendar flyout couldn’t be dismissed by clicking on the date and time in the taskbar a second time.
  • We updated the “set location” notification so tapping anywhere in the notification will now enable you to set a default location.
  • We fixed an issue where certain shortcuts weren’t working in UWPs, for example CTRL + C, CTRL + V, and ALT + Space.
  • We fixed an issue where tapping the battery icon wouldn’t open the Battery flyout when in Tablet Mode.
  • We fixed an issue where clicking elements in the Start navigation pane might result in the Store opening instead.
  • We fixed an issue where background audio tasks might show up in the volume controls.
  • We added a “Clear Input History” option to the IME Settings page.
  • We fixed an issue where doing an action on a file in a folder pinned to Quick Access after using the address bar to get there might result in File Explorer unexpectedly navigating to Quick Access.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in Cortana crashing if you shared an avatar with Cortana from the Xbox Avatars app.
  • We fixed an issue causing the search box on the Language Settings page to not work.
  • We fixed the issue causing Symantec products such as Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security are causing PCs to bluescreen (bug check).

Known issues for PC

  • Feedback Hub is not localized and the UI will be in English (U.S.) only, even with language packs installed.
  • Feedback Hub takes about 20-30 minutes after updating to this build to download and populate itself if launched from Start. If you launch Feedback Hub from All apps – it will force the app to hydrate.
  • Symantec products such as Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security are causing PCs to bluescreen (bug check).
  • The QQ app from Tencent crashes. We’re working on a fix for the issue.
  • If you are using a non-English keyboard, you can’t accept Bash prompts.
  • We are investigating an issue where if you’re running Insider Preview builds in certain languages, the All apps list on Start appears empty. A workaround for this is to use search to launch apps.
  • You may see square boxes in certain apps when using some of the new emoji – we’re still getting things set up, this will be resolved in a future build.

Read more at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/05/10/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-14342/#VQ8IJPklB0LAHiYv.99

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May 14

Blocking the Store App on Windows 10 Pro

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windows-store-logo

As blocking access to the store app isn’t available through GPO in 10 Pro,

This is an option to keep your users from installing store apps.

There’s a firewall rule allowing outbound access for the store app, this PowerShell command will switch it to block the app

Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup ‘Store’ | Set-NetFirewallRule -Action Block

The app will still be available, but will only display this:

blocked_Store

To revert to a working store app, run this one:

Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup ‘Store’ | Set-NetFirewallRule -Action Allow

 

 

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