Windows

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1245 and Build 22623.1245 (KB5022358) to the Beta Channel. Build 22623.1245 = New features rolling out. Build 22621.1245 = New features off by default. REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22622 will automatically get moved to Build 22623 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25284 to the Dev Channel. TL;DR This build will not be available for Arm64 devices due to a known issue (listed below) that is resulting in devices getting stuck at the OS boot logo. We have a new widget for Insiders in the Dev Channel to try! This build includes a small set of fixes. What’s new New Widget With the release of Windows App SDK 1.2 developers are now able to create widgets for their apps. Users can access these experiences on their Windows 11 widgets board in current Dev Channel Insider Preview builds. Ready to try out a new widget? The Messenger app now has a preview version of its widget available. To give it a try, go to the Microsoft...

Though schools have returned to in-person learning, that doesn’t erase the digital paradigm shift that was brought on by the pandemic. At the Future of Education Technology Conference in New Orleans, Lenovo announced refreshed and new solutions aimed at supporting hybrid learning styles and ongoing technological pivots by students and teachers. Lenovo’s latest Windows 11 laptops and convertibles are built to withstand the challenges of education at every level. Lenovo DuraSpec provides a series of hardware features and testing methods to ensure the company’s devices withstand the rigors of daily indoor and outdoor classroom life. These protective innovations built into the laptops include anchored keys, drop protection, reinforced LCD...

The Windows Terminal team is back with our first release of the year! This release introduces version 1.17 to Windows Terminal Preview and updates Windows Terminal to version 1.16 with these new features. As always, you can install Windows Terminal and Windows Terminal Preview from the Microsoft Store, from the GitHub releases page, or by using winget. Here’s what’s new in Windows Terminal Preview 1.17: Dropdown Menu Customization Windows Terminal now supports dropdown menu customization! Shoutout to @fwest98 for this feature! This feature includes support for adding folders, adding separators, and adding profiles. You can now arrange the dropdown menu to your liking! This is especially useful for organizing your Profiles. For now...

The Windows Package Manager team has been busy working on WinGet 1.4. This release introduces support for .zip-based packages. WinGet can now extract and run an installer inside of a .zip archive or install one or more portable packages from an archive. The WinGet open-source community has also been busy adding new features like command aliases to help with muscle memory if you use more than one package manager, and a wait argument to keep winget.exe open long enough to see what’s happening if it’s called from other applications. WinGet Show Improvements A few more manifest values like tags and purchase URL were added to the output (if they are present) of winget show <package>. Below I have an example running winget show oh-my-posh...