IT House February 17 news, today is Microsoft stopped the Windows 11 Dev Preview a few weeks after the release of the new version again, sure enough is a blockbuster update, Microsoft's latest for the Dev channel released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 system. Brings a lot of new features as well as fixes and improvements and so on.
The highlight features are as follows:
Windows insiders will notice that the branch name of the Microsoft release build has been changed to NI_RELEASE. Microsoft releases build branches to insiders in the development channel regardless of the features and improvements it contains. In the future, Microsoft will no longer pay attention to the timing of these branch changes.
This version will not be available to ARM64 PCs. Microsoft hopes to soon be able to provide a new build for the internal testers of the ARM64 pc.
The release includes some new features for insiders to try out, including folders in the app area pinned in the Start menu, live captions, a new focused experience, quick access improvements in File Explorer, new touch gestures, and more.
This release also includes many general improvements and refinements to Windows 11.
Microsoft does have some new known issues, and these new features and improvements were introduced into this release, so be sure to read the known issues before submitting feedback.
Microsoft is making it faster for you to get the most recent Android app on your phone from your phone app.
New in Windows 11 Build 22557
Create and organize folders in the Pinned Applications area of the Start menu
Microsoft has heard from many people that users want to customize your icons in Start by organizing them into folders, so Microsoft introduced the first version of folders in this version. Just drag one application onto top of another to create a folder. You can add more apps to a folder, rearrange apps in a folder, and remove apps from a folder. Note further improvements, such as the ability to name and rename folders in microsoft's upcoming release.
Introduction to Do Not Disturb mode and focus
Microsoft has redesigned the focused experience on Windows. Do Not Disturb mode makes it easy to put notifications still. Focus is a new experience that allows everyone to stay in the moment and minimize distractions on the PC. To help you stay focused, Focus integrates with the Clock app with other focus tools, such as focus timers and calming music.
Do Not Disturb mode:
It's now easier than ever to keep the notification banner quiet with Do Not Disturb Mode. When you're ready to see notifications that you might have missed, you can find them in Notification Hubs.
You can control your notifications at any time. Under Settings > System > Notifications, you can set up rules to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb. For example, you can set Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically outside of your business hours. In addition, you can set priority notifications to control when Do Not Disturb is turned on, calls, alerts, and specific apps are exceptions.
Focus:
It's easy to initiate focus directly from notification center (tap the time and date on the taskbar).
Open Notification Center.
Choose the amount of time you focus on.
Press "Start Focusing".
When you start a focused session, the taskbar badge will turn off, the flashing of the app in the taskbar will turn off, a focus timer will appear on the screen, and Do Not Disturb will turn on. Focus in Windows is integrated with focused sessions in the clock app, so you can play calm music and see a task list from Microsoft To-Do. When your focused session ends, you'll receive a notification that lets you know that the focus time has been completed. You can personalize your focused experience (set up > system > focus).
Real-time subtitles
Real-time captions will help everyone, including the hearing impaired or re-hearing, better understand the audio by looking at the captions of spoken content. Subtitles are automatically generated on your device by any content with audio. Captions can be displayed at the top or bottom of the screen, or in a floating window. The title window can be resized, and the appearance of the title can be personalized by applying or customizing the title style. Microphone audio can be included, which can be helpful in face-to-face conversations. Live captions support English (U.S.) content.
To get started, you can turn on live captions with the WIN+Ctrl+L keyboard shortcuts, or pop up from accessibility under Quick Settings. When first turned on, live captions will prompt you to download the desired voice model to enable captions on your device.
Improved quick access in File Explorer
Microsoft is updating the Quick Access view of File Explorer. First, Pin to Quick Access support has been expanded from only supporting folders to now also supporting files. Pinned files appear in a new section above recent files in Quick Access.
Next, for users who sign in to Windows with a Microsoft account or a work/education account (or as a secondary account), the pinned and recent files for Office.com will also appear in Quick Access. Changes to files hosted in Pinned or unpinned OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams are synchronized and reflected in Office.com and Office applications. File activity updates from collaborators, such as edits and comments, appear in tile view or in detail view.
View your OneDrive storage in File Explorer
Backing up your files and managing your cloud storage is important for the security of your content. To help you control storage consumption and ensure your files are synced, Microsoft has added OneDrive integration in File Explorer. As you browse your OneDrive folder, you can now see sync status and credit usage without having to leave File Explorer.
ALT-TEXT: The OneDrive store that appears in File Explorer when navigating to the OneDrive folder.
Brand new touch gestures
This release includes 5 new touch gestures that make it easier and faster to navigate Windows 11 with touch on your PC.
Swipe to invoke and cancel Start: Swipe your finger from the middle of the taskbar to invoke the Start menu and swipe down to cancel it.
Swipe between Pin / All apps and Recommended / More in Start: In Start, swipe right-to-left from Pin to get to All Apps, and swipe left-to-right back to Pin. The same gesture applies to "Recommend / More".
Swipe your finger to invoke and cancel quick settings: Swipe your finger from the lower right of the taskbar to invoke quick settings, then swipe down to cancel it.
Swipe to invoke and close Notification Hubs: Microsoft has updated the animation when invoking and closing Notification Hubs by swiping from the right edge of the screen to make them more responsive and follow your fingers.
Full-screen grabber: In full-screen touch apps and games such as solitaire, a grabber appears if you swipe from the edge of the screen. This feature is designed to keep you in the app if you accidentally swipe to the edge. If you need access to content at the edge, just swipe again on the grabber.
Note that these gestures are opposite in right-to-left languages. Any swipe from the right becomes a swipe from the left and vice versa.
Improved Snap multitasking layout
Microsoft has added a new way to snap windows into snap multitasking layouts that work well on both touch and mouse. To try it out, simply drag a window to the top of the screen to display the Snap multitasking layout, drop the window at the top of an area to arrange it as Snap multitasking, and then use snap multitasking assist to complete the layout.
In addition, Microsoft has improved Snap multitasking accessibility to seamlessly navigate between zones in the layout for a pleasant end-to-end Snap multitasking experience.
More sustainable power settings and recommendations
Defaults for sleeping and turning off screens have been updated to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions when PCs are idle. Microsoft will also provide energy-saving recommendations to help users who set sleep and screen off to "never" reduce their carbon footprint.
Changes to the default sleep and screen off settings are only visible to those users who use this version or later to install Windows 11 purely. If you deliberately set sleep or turn off the screen to "Never", let Microsoft know why, especially if sleep isn't working as expected. Microsoft is still working on the content of the "Power consumption and carbon emissions" option link – stay tuned for future updates.
More improvements in using Narrator Narrator to browse the web in Microsoft Edge
Building on builds on builds on the improvements made to Narrator and Microsoft Edge in Build 22509, Microsoft has been working to make more improvements to browsing the web with Microsoft Edge and Narrator. Specifically, more useful information is provided when browsing the web, browsing dialogs are more natural, and editing text should now be more reliable.
While browsing a webpage, you can have Narrator read the current item (such as current page, current time, etc.), and when you need to sort the tables on the page, Narrator announces the sort order you selected (e.g., ascending, descending).
Microsoft has also made it easier to know when an item in the tree view control is selected, and to know the status of a check box when those are part of a list. Microsoft has also improved link navigation, and you'll find that linking through a tag on a web page and pressing Enter always takes you to the link's destination.
When you encounter a dialog box on a Web page, Narrator will help you keep your attention in the dialog box and prevent you from navigating to the content behind the dialog box. This improvement is currently available in the Microsoft Edge Canary build.
Finally, Narrator has some improvements when you edit text on the web. First, if you delete text on a form field, Narrator will read the deleted characters, and if you need to cut a large set of text with Control + X, Narrator will confirm that the text has been cut.
Task Manager redesign and efficiency mode
Microsoft has updated the design of Task Manager to comply with the new Windows 11 design principles. This includes a new hamburger-style navigation bar and a new settings page. Each page has a new command bar that provides access to common actions. Microsoft is also pleased to bring a dark theme to Task Manager and will automatically match the system-wide theme configured in the Settings app.
Last April, Microsoft experimented with a new feature called "Eco Eco Mode" in Task Manager, which Microsoft will bring back under a new brand name: Efficiency Mode. This feature is helpful when you notice that one application consumes a lot of resources and want to limit its consumption so that the system prioritizes other applications, which will lead to faster foreground response and better energy efficiency.
You can apply efficiency mode by clicking on the command bar of the process page or right-clicking on a process. You can apply efficiency patterns only to a single process, not to an entire group of processes. If the option is grayed out, this usually means that it is a core Windows process, and throttling it can affect the performance of the system. Processes in efficiency mode will be marked as a new leaf icon, and Microsoft has also introduced a new pause icon for suspended processes to indicate that the process is in pause mode.
[Microsoft is starting to roll out this change, so it's not available to all insiders yet, as Microsoft plans to monitor the feedback and see how it goes before pushing it to everyone.] ］
Changes and improvements
[Taskbar]
The Windows 11 taskbar now supports drag-and-drop functionality. Quickly drag and drop files between application windows, hover over the application on the taskbar, and bring its window to the foreground. Try attaching a file to an Outlook email message by dragging it and hovering over the Outlook icon on the taskbar to bring the window to the foreground. Once in the foreground, place your files in the email to attach. You can also customize your taskbar from the All Apps list in Start with your favorite apps by dragging them across the taskbar to pin them. You can also drag and drop to the desktop from Show Desktop in the upper-left corner of the taskbar.
For testers using Microsoft Teams at work and school, if they use any window in the taskbar to share, Microsoft has added a new visual indicator to the taskbar indicating which window is being shared. This is especially important when you have multiple applications running, or when your attention is distracted across multiple displays. When you choose to share a window in a Microsoft Teams call, the shared window will now also be surrounded by a colored border.
On PCs with multiple color profiles, you'll be able to add a quick setting to easily switch between these modes. In a pure installation, the color profile button should not be fixed by default, but it may appear when upgrading.
When casting (WIN + K) from your PC, a cast icon will appear in the lower-left corner of your taskbar, showing that you're casting. Tapping the icon will open Cast Express Settings, where you can quickly stop mirroring if you want. And look forward to more improvements in this experience.
As insiders found in Build 22543, Microsoft has updated the battery charge indicator to use lightning instead of a power cord. It also addresses the feedback that the lower charging level cannot be seen at a glance due to being obscured by cables. This is also in line with other consumer electronic devices and reflects developments in the charging space, including USB charging devices.
[File Explorer]
File Explorer will now display a preview of the items within the folder.
When you share a local file with Outlook in File Explorer, you can now compose email messages directly in the Share window instead of going directly to Outlook. You'll need to install Outlook Desktop Integration through the Store, which isn't available for files stored in the OneDrive folder because OneDrive has its own sharing experience. Additionally, the Share window will now suggest that contacts from Microsoft 365 share files through Outlook.
[Search]
Searching for apps and settings in the Windows search box on the taskbar is now faster and more accurate than ever. Try searching for apps you like or settings you use frequently to see faster results. Microsoft has also fixed an issue that prevents Windows users from searching for an app for the first few seconds after it's installed.
[Window]
Microsoft has updated the visuals for Snap Snapshot Groups, including desktop wallpapers to make it easier to distinguish your group from normal windows. This appears in the preview using ALT+ TAB, task view, and taskbar. In addition, ALT+TAB now appears windowed for all testers running Build 22554 and later.
Microsoft is updating transition animations to show from one grabbed window state to another. Use the crawl assist to grab some windows, move windows from one configuration to another, and observe the smoothness of transitions for the new animation.
Rotate your device between portrait and landscape orientations faster and more responsive.
Microsoft has reduced the number of notification sounds that play when you connect and disconnect the dock and monitor.
It's now easier to move the cursor and window between displays, allowing your cursor to skip where it would have previously stuck. This behavior can be controlled in the settings by displaying multiple displays > system > > easily moving the cursor between displays.
Microsoft has made some minor changes to the preemption options under System > Multitasking to help simplify them and make them easier to understand.
[Narrator]
Narrator now offers a new male natural voice called Guy. Microsoft introduced a new natural voice for Narrator in Build 22543.
[Voice Input]
If you have more than one microphone connected to your PC, Microsoft will add the ability to choose which microphone to use in your voice input. [Microsoft is starting to roll out this change, so it hasn't made it available to all insiders yet, as Microsoft plans to monitor feedback before pushing it to everyone.] ］
Microsoft is beginning to roll out the ability for you to use the following new commands in voice input. [Microsoft is starting to roll out the change, so it hasn't made it available to all insiders yet, because Microsoft plans to monitor feedback before pushing it to everyone.] ］
[Voice Access]
Added a new setting to automatically add punctuation marks when dictate text. You can turn it on by clicking on the settings icon in the voice access interface and selecting auto-punctuation from "Management Options".
Microsoft has added new settings to filter swear words. This is turned on by default, and when dictating text or commands, any profanity or sensitive words will be masked with an asterisk (*). You can turn it off by clicking on the settings icon on the voice access user interface and selecting Filter Profanity from "Manage Options".
It's now easier to use the Show Numbers command because Microsoft has reduced the number labels for controls hidden on the Windows user interface, making it difficult to understand controls under numbers.
Microsoft has improved feedback messages for unsupported languages.
Microsoft has also improved feedback messages for using voice access when you set up multiple monitors.
Microsoft has improved the discovery of using the touch keyboard and voice to enter passwords or PINs, correct errors, and spell out words using "correct that" and "spell that" commands.
[Graphic]
Microsoft is expanding the Dynamic Refresh Rate (DRR) experience on laptops with 120Hz monitors, more than just smooth scrolling and low-latency ink in Office. When you move the cursor, the system now rises to 120Hz, making your computer feel more responsive. The interaction of touch and pen blends into the smooth animations of the Windows UI and application UI. Smooth scrolling is now supported not only in Office, but also in Microsoft Edge Canary and the Windows UI, such as settings applications. To enable smooth scrolling on Edge Canary, you need to enter the following in the address bar of a new tab. edge://flags/#edge-refresh-rate-boost-on-scroll, set the highlighted Flag flag to Enabled, and then restart edge.
The Windows HDR calibration app will soon be available on Windows PCs — you'll be able to improve the color accuracy and consistency of your HDR display. For easier access, you'll be able to access the app through the Windows settings under System > Display > HDR, and you might see early access points for HDR settings in this build, but since the app isn't live yet, it will simply lead you here.
This release introduces a feature called "Window Game Optimization" that aims to significantly improve latency and unlock other exciting game features, including auto HDR and variable refresh rate (VRR). Improved latency can benefit all gamers – from improving your input latency to creating a competitive advantage in your gaming experience. Enter the System > Display > Graphics > change the default graphics settings to enable the feature. Note that this feature may already be turned on by default and is also required for other graphics features such as Auto HDR.
[Input]
Microsoft is working to add an IME on/key to the touch keyboard small layouts for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Traditional IME. For insiders with only one keyboard, this will be a separate key, located to the left of the spacebar. If you have multiple keyboards, the On/Key is combined with voice input – to access voice input, simply hold down the key. In addition, Microsoft is adding support for small layouts for Chinese Simplified Microsoft Pinyin and Microsoft Wubi IME. These changes are currently rolled out to a subset of Windows Insiders, and Microsoft will gradually expand based on feedback.
Updated some emojis based on feedback, including tearful smiles, cherry blossoms, and colored hearts.
Based on the feedback, some new items have been added to the kaomoji section of WIN + Period (.), including UwU.
Starting with this release, Windows 11 now supports handwriting in Hungarian. Pick up your pen, write in Hungarian in Handwriting Input Panel or Handwriting Keyboard, and convert your handwriting to text.
[Settings]
Microsoft has done some work to generally improve results when searching in settings, including more relevant results, and now has some flexibility to return results in cases where search terms have common typos.
Microsoft has increased the size of the icons in the Settings navigation pane to make them easier to see.
To help customers give their computers a second life, or recycle their computers, Microsoft has added links to settings to help customers find available programs. Some articles may not be localized.
PCs through OOBE will now have Storage Aware enabled by default. Your current settings will remain the same at the time of upgrade. You can configure your Storage Sense settings under Storage in the System >.
Updated the Set Time and Language categories and date and time pages to now include a real-time digital clock and information about the currently selected option.
Updated the design of network and Internet > dial-up to align with the overall design set up in Windows 11 when you set up a connection.
Microsoft has made some tweaks to "personalization" > "fonts" to improve the design of the page, including the drag-and-drop area where fonts are installed is now larger.
[Windows Sandbox］
Consistent with Hyper-V behavior, even if you're not in full-screen mode, modifier keys and shortcuts (such as Windows key shortcuts) will now be blocked by Windows Sandbox if the window has focus.
Windows Sandbox now supports the use of basic environment variables (such as % USERPROFILE%) in mapped folder paths.
[Other changes]
Microsoft has updated the accessibility pop-up on the login screen to conform to the design principles of Windows 11.
Insiders will notice more mica material on the surface of the title bar. For example, the Run dialog now uses mica.
TKIP and WEP are deprecated security standards, and starting with this release, Windows 11 will no longer allow connections to these types. Contact your network administrator or update your router to one that supports at least WPA2 (WPA3 is the current standard).
Similar to Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro now requires an internet connection. If you choose to set up your device for personal use, you will also need an MSA to set it up. You can expect to require a Microsoft account in a subsequent WIP release.
repair
[Generic]
Fixed a recurring backgroundTaskHost .exe issue encountered by some insiders.
Fixed an issue that caused auto HDR not to activate as scheduled in some games.
Mitigated the issue of lsass .exe crashes that caused some insiders to see crashes on the login screen in recent versions.
Addresses an issue that causes significant distortion in audio devices connected using the Xbox Wireless Adapter in recent versions.
If you hold down CTRL while hovering over the taskbar, the task view should no longer crash.
Dragging a file across the taskbar on a secondary monitor should no longer cause explorer.exe crash.
Updated the Storage Usage button in the disk's Properties dialog box, now called Details, and a little wider to accommodate the language case where the button text is truncated.
Improves the performance of deleting files in the Recycle Bin.
Fixed the Blu-ray icon to make it consistent with the icons of other drives and volumes.
Addresses an issue where an IME candidate window unexpectedly does not follow the user's preference for light or dark mode.
Fixed an issue where some elements of the voice input setting pop-up in dark mode were not visible.
The IME Candidate window should now appear as expected in the user name area of the UAC prompt.
Updated the word "half-width alphanumeric / direct input" in the Japanese IME context menu to say only "half-width alphanumeric".
Fixed an issue where after entering a hiragana in kana input mode, if there was a half-width letter character before hiragana, it would unexpectedly become full width.
Addresses a rare issue where an input switcher might unexpectedly list the same entry twice.
Mitigated an issue that caused the input switcher to sometimes have unexpected black boxes.
Updated the input method switcher, which now makes it taller for users with more than 4 keyboards.
Fixed an issue where a memory leak in the input switcher caused explorer .exe to crash after repeated quick uses.
Fixed an issue where explorer .exe crash when tapping More Keyboard Settings in the Input Switcher.
Fixed an issue where the emoji panel might display "You're offline" even if you have a network connection.
Fixed an issue where multiplicative emojis and counterclockwise arrow button emojis showed the wrong emoji design.
Updated the preview in the Personalized > Text Input Settings page to reflect your desktop wallpaper instead of the default.
Some work has been done to improve the reliability of the Stop Media key when media is playing.
Fixed an issue where a Visual C++ Runtime mismatch caused voice access to not work on some PCs.
[Search]
Fixed an issue where searches with high hit ratio crashed.
Tapping the search box in Start will now switch to search immediately without showing an animation of the search window going up, just like you pressed the Windows key and start typing.
Addresses an issue where Narrator does not correctly read elements stored in system >.
Fixed broken Dimensions and Themes link under the Time and Language > Typing > touch keyboard.
Some work has been done to help improve performance when updating emphasis colors or patterns.
Microsoft made a change to help reduce the cut of combo boxes in certain language and text size settings.
Fixed an issue that caused icons on the IME settings page to sometimes be white background.
Mitigated an issue that caused the install button to truncate text in some languages when previewing fonts.
Fixed a potential issue that caused system > display preview videos on > HDR to sometimes be distorted.
Addresses a potential issue that could crash settings when you scroll through a window.
Adjusted the Wi-Fi icon in the Wi-Fi section of Quick Settings so that the lock displayed by the secure network now has a small separation from the Wi-Fi strength, making it easier to distinguish.
[Windows Spotlight]
Update the name of the Spotlight Collection to Windows Spotlight to match the name of the lock screen.
A change was made to help make Windows Spotlight update images more reliably.
If for some reason there is no new Windows Spotlight image on the desktop, it will now fall back to showing the default Windows Spotlight background image (Whitehaven Beach) instead of displaying a solid color background.
Right-clicking on "Learn more about this picture" on Windows Spotlight on your desktop will now always show all the options, just grayed out if it's not currently available.
When hovering over Learn more about this picture, the tooltip should now align more consistently with the current picture.
Addresses an issue that causes the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons in File Explorer and some other applications to be invisible in some cases.
Mitigated an issue that caused performance to be affected in cases where windows were dragged with acrylic and other situations with acrylic.
When taking screenshots, you should no longer see the yellow borders that are briefly visible.
Some improvements have been made to address the feedback that the window is unexpectedly repositioned.
[Network]
Some work has been done to resolve issues that can cause some virtual private network connections to fail. If you continue to experience problems, submit your feedback under Network and Internet > Connect with a VPN client and attach a screenshot of the problem.
Fixed an issue where a song caused Wi-Fi speed to drop after waking your PC from sleep in the previous release.
When backing back, Narrator now more consistently announces that you are deleting characters with fallback.
Fixed an issue that caused Narrator to be unable to read selected text in the Feedback Hub.
Note: Some of the fixes mentioned here in insider Preview builds from active development branches may lead to a service update for the Windows 11 release release that is generally available on October 5, 2021.
Known issues
When doing the Device Setup Experience (OOBE) on enterprise editions, the network add screen is skipped on the first attempt. As a workaround, when the user sees the Name your computer option, restart and restart the OBE. Now the network add interface will appear as scheduled.
[Start]
When you open a folder in Start, the application names in the folder may appear briefly blurry.
When you switch input methods, the taskbar sometimes flashes.
Searching from Quick Access may not work.
Microsoft is working to fix issues with icon size, visual errors, and text clipping that shows pop-ups from oneDrive storage.
[Focus]
Taskbar icons and tooltips may not match the focus status.
The integration of the clock application requires an update of the application, which is available starting today. Most users should get the update automatically, but you can manually check for app updates by navigating to the Microsoft Store > library and tapping Get updates.
When a focus session is configured within an application, the clock application has not updated the Windows focus state. This will be addressed in a future application update.
After you tap the search icon on the taskbar, the search panel may not open. If this happens, restart the Windows Explorer process and open the search panel again.
[Widget]
With the taskbar left-aligned, information such as temperature is not displayed. This will be fixed in a future update.
[Real-time subtitles]
Some apps in full-screen, such as video players, can't see live captions.
Some applications located near the top of the screen, which are closed before running live captions, will be restarted behind the live captions window located at the top. When the application has focus, use the System menu (ALT + Spacebar) to move the application's window further down.
When live captions are at the top, the topmost of the maximized application (for example, the window management button of the title bar) cannot be touched.
[Task Manager]
Microsoft is aware of the lack of efficiency mode icons in some sub-processes.
Some setting options are not preserved.
Microsoft is working to fix issues with icon size and visual errors, and in most cases, the solution is to resize task manager or lower the settings for > Display > Display Resolution.
Task Manager has limited keyboard support for navigation and command bars. Due to limited support, users may not be able to use the keyboard to navigate the user interface.