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Posts tagged "update"

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Windows 11’s next big update is almost ready to roll – but most people won’t get it for a long time yet
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Windows 11’s next major update is coming close to completion, and in fact it’s rumored that it’ll hit its final stage of development very shortly – though its launch for all users will still be a good way down the line (we’ll come back to that).

As well-known Microsoft leaker Zac Bowden shared on X (formerly Twitter), Windows 11 24H2 is on track to hit RTM (release to manufacturing) in April.

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What this means is that the 24H2 update is ready to go to PC manufacturers so that they can work on installing it on their devices. In other words, Windows 11 24H2 is all but done at this point, save for final testing and changes that might need to be applied if PC makers run into any last-minute stumbling blocks.

Bowden mentions the ‘ge_release’ which refers to Germanium, a new platform that Windows 11 is built on with 24H2. While this won’t make any difference to the visible parts of the OS, under the hood, Germanium will offer tighter security and better overall performance.

With RTM for 24H2 happening in April, in theory, the plan is that it’ll take two months to finalize the new Windows 11 Germanium build, and it will be installed on ARM-based AI PCs when they start shipping in June.

Analysis: Clarifying the 24H2 release timeline

Note that as Bowden outlines on X, this does not mean Windows 11 24H2 (Germanium) will be released for everyone in June.

It will only be out on ARM-based laptops running Snapdragon X Elite chips (or variants) initially – like the consumer spin on the Surface Pro 10 or Surface Laptop 6. Which is why only the business models were unveiled recently – they have Intel CPUs that don’t need Germanium. Whereas the Germanium platform is actually required for these new ARM chips – which have been stoking a great deal of excitement – so this is why Microsoft is pushing it out ahead of time so as not to hold up those notebooks any longer than necessary.

As Bowden makes clear in a later tweet, Windows 11 24H2 won’t actually be ‘done’ until August, so the leaker suspects Microsoft wants to limit where Germanium is present until then.

What we can surmise from this is that while Windows 11 24H2 will be out on those mentioned AI PCs as early as June (if everything stays on schedule), not all of 24H2’s full library of features will be enabled – presumably.

Whatever the case, the full rollout of Windows 11 24H2 to all users won’t happen until after it’s fully done in August, meaning a September or October rollout to all Windows 11 users. This is the timeframe Microsoft is working to based on rumors that go back to the start of this year, in fact.

The long and short of it is that while Windows 11 24H2 may be ready for RTM next month and on the cusp of finalization technically, it won’t fully arrive until September (at the earliest). And the rollout will be phased as ever, so you might not get it on your particular Windows 11 device until several months after, which is all standard practice.

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ChromeOS update lets you control which apps can see your location
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ChromeOS is slated to receive some new privacy tools in a future update, and chief among them is the ability to control your Chromebook’s location privacy setting. According to a post on the Google Cloud blog, the feature is an expansion of the privacy controls that the company added last year. They’re referring to the microphone and camera toggles from last April. Google didn’t really provide a whole lot of details in their post, but 9To5Google helped with a recent deep dive.

The site states you can determine which apps and system services on your laptop have “access [to] your geolocation”, giving you almost total anonymity. It’s not perfect. The publication explains that the tool “specifically disables Google Location Services,” however it is still possible for an app or website to have an idea of where you currently are by looking at the IP address. 

ChromeOS new privacy tools

(Image credit: Google)

Geolocation controls do exist on ChromeOS, but are limited to the Chrome browser itself. On-device software is still free to collect your information unless you go into an app and manually disable the respective tool. This update will make the process easier to do. No more micromanaging.

Controls for camera, microphone, and location privacy

Alongside the privacy upgrade, ChromeOS will also introduce more granular camera, microphone, and geolocation controls. For certain apps like Instagram, you can decide how you want it to interact with your hardware. Access to a Chromebook’s microphone can be outright denied, allowed for free interaction, or something in between. For example, Instagram can connect to a webcam, but only when you, the user, are actively using the social network. Otherwise, the connection is blocked.

The Google Cloud blog does mention other features coming down the pipeline, but they pertain more towards enterprise customers; not everyday users. It talks about local data recovery as well as an expansion of Google’s data loss prevention policy.

A company representative told us the geolocation patch will roll out to all Chromebooks within the first half of 2024 – so hopefully before the end of June. 

To find the new tools, you’ll need to first launch the Settings menu, then go to the Security and Privacy tab. They’ll be under the Privacy controls. Or as an alternative, you can go to a specific app in Settings and expand the Permissions tab. The controls can also be found there.

If you're in the market for a new laptop, check out TechRadar's list of the best Chromebook for 2024.

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Spotify for Windows 11’s annoying new update shoves one of the app’s most important features to the side
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Spotify recently released the new “Jam” feature for its Windows 11 and 10 app, which allows users to listen to the same playlist or album at the same time on different devices. So you and a friend or coworker can enjoy the same tunes while you work, study, or just jam out (hence the name). However, with this new feature, the queue list has been booted to a small space on the right side of the app's UI. 

Please, please change it back. This is the opposite of an improvement.

foryoublue94 via Spotify Forum

This change has proven to be rather unfavorable among Spotify users, who’ve taken to Reddit to voice their complaints. The official blog post that announces the arrival of Jam dubs this change as the “new Queue experience”, explaining that the right sidebar now allows you to browse content in the app and keep an eye on what's currently playing. 

The official post has several disgruntled comments from users dismayed by the change, with one user saying “Why on earth has Queue and Recently Played been moved and is now cramped into the small right-hand column? This is just horrible, and a pain to look at. It makes zero sense from a usability standpoint.

Thanks, I hate it 

You may be thinking something along the lines of what an odd little change for people to be riled up about! Pre-update, you could have your library on the left, your queue in the center, and your Now Playing view on the right. In other words, you could boot up the app and have everything you need all in one place. Now, you can only have one or two of these views open at once because of the new layout. 

If you’re someone who’s a fan of the Jam feature and plans to use it quite often with your mates, you’re probably not as upset as other users. But, as a person who will probably never use the Jam feature, I feel robbed of a pretty decent app layout with nothing in return. Now, I am no longer able to see how long the current song is or the album name in the queue.

It seems like Spotify users live in fear of every new update that is implemented. A common notion that’s shared on Spotify Reddit and in the blog post comments is ‘another Spotify update, another change no one asked for.’ I use Spotify every day, and I can’t remember a single update implemented to the app on mobile and desktop that didn’t make me mad. Hopefully, we can convince Spotify to change everything back to how it was – or we'll just end up waiting until another update comes around and knocks everything out of place again. 

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Windows 11 update is reportedly causing some PCs to crash or run very sluggishly
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Windows 11’s cumulative update for this month is causing serious problems in some reported cases.

This is KB5035853 for Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2 which started rolling out earlier this week carrying some useful new features. That includes being able to use the Snipping Tool to edit photos from your Android smartphone directly on your PC, plus adding support for much faster (80Gbps) wired connectivity with USB4 v2.0.

However, some Windows 11 users have hit major snags when installing the March update, with Windows Latest highlighting these, and the site experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) itself after running the update process.

The tech site’s BSoD arrived with an error saying ‘Thread Stuck in Device Driver’ which isn’t very helpful, and others have been hit by this problem, such as a reader running a bunch of Lenovo devices (in a business setting).

Furthermore, there’s evidence of this nasty crash on the Reddit thread introducing KB5035853. One user tells us: “This update caused a Windows to crash on startup. Got blue screen error. Had to rollback. Just a warning. That happen to anyone else?”

Someone chimes in to say they were affected too (and got put in a boot loop, with repeated reboots, before ending up at that BSoD).

There are other reports on this thread noting that the update did install, but then caused ‘random’ BSoDs afterwards.

On top of this, there are also folks who are complaining about Windows 11 running sluggishly, with their PC stuttering after the update, or even freezing up periodically.

Analysis: Fixing with one hand, breaking with the other?

These are really unpleasant side-effects here, and the cure so far seems to be simply rolling back the installation (removing KB5035853, or using System Restore to rewind time back to before the update was triggered).

On Reddit, there is a mention of a YouTube video that offers potential solutions, and we’ve had a look – there are a couple of clips, in fact – but we’d take the advice imparted with a hefty pinch of salt. Some folks in the YouTube comments have reported seeing success, and others have said the fixes outlined have failed. But for now, rather than trying what seems like shots in the dark as attempted cures, if you’re affected, we’d probably just go for reverting the update and waiting for Microsoft to investigate these glitches.

(It’s worth noting that in the YouTube comments there are also further complaints of PCs seriously chugging with slowdown post-update).

At the moment, Microsoft’s support document for the March cumulative update indicates there are no known issues.

The irony here is that this March update addresses a problem with the February update for Windows 11 whereby it failed to install (and got stuck at 96% complete with an error code and a helpful message saying that ‘something did not go as planned’). So, the patch curing that problem with the previous patch failing to install, also fails to install in a different, and in fact worse, way.

Hopefully Microsoft is on the case with this one as we type this. It’s difficult to say how widespread the BSoD problem is, but there are certainly enough reports of post-installation performance blues to suggest that something has gone awry with KB5035853.

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New macOS Sonoma update is reportedly taking down printers as well as USB hubs
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Not content with playing havoc with USB hubs in some scenarios, it appears the latest update for macOS Sonoma is also a troublemaker for printers, too.

Indeed, according to various reports online as flagged up by Apple Insider, the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update is breaking printers in some cases. In other cases, there appears to be a more limited impact, in that the printer still works, but selecting page sizes doesn’t.

It seems Sonoma 14.4 is either stripping out, or messing up, printer drivers in Apple’s operating system, rendering the devices non-functional, at least for the time being in many of these reported cases.

There are users complaining about printer functionality going very wonky on Reddit and Apple’s support forums – however, there does appear to be a solution.

Namely, as stated in the above Apple post, you need to head to System Settings, and ‘Privacy & Security’ and then ‘Full Disk Access’ to grant full disk access to ‘com.microsoft.dlp’ – and that might sort the issue.

This isn’t guaranteed, mind, but there are a number of users giving the thumbs-up and saying this move did get their printer (or printers) working in macOS again.

Analysis: A cocktail of possible causes?

Seemingly the issue pertains to Microsoft Defender (which is what the above disk access change relates to), and/or JAMF mobile device management software, and possibly some other factors. It’s difficult to know exactly what, but the most prominent commonality seems to be Defender.

The good news is that this doesn’t seem to be affecting too many macOS Sonoma 14.4 users, as while there are a number of reports, they aren’t too widespread. And they appear to relate to particular configurations, too, mainly in office scenarios.

Given that, hopefully your average user at home isn’t seeing this problem – or only in rare cases. In short, you’re probably pretty unlucky if you hit this snag outside of a business network setting – but it seems that there are isolated incidents of this occuring with individual Macs.

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The latest macOS Sonoma update is reportedly breaking some USB hubs
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Updating to macOS Sonoma 14.4 is breaking the functionality of some USB hubs, according to reports across the web – though it's unclear how widespread the problem is, or which particular peripherals are affected.

The heads-up first came via AppleInsider readers, but there's also some discussion on Reddit, Apple support forums, and MacRumors. So far, it appears to be just USB hubs built into monitors affected by the bug, including models from Dell, Samsung, and Gigabyte.

Judging by the number of replies to the article and threads linked above, several people are seeing this issue. That said, it doesn't appear to affect everyone with a macOS Sonoma 14.4 machine and a monitor USB hub.

Apple hasn't said anything about the issue and is unlikely to unless it becomes widespread. The 14.4 software update started rolling out last week, bringing with it new emojis and bug fixes – though it may have introduced some more bugs of its own.

Can you fix it?

macOS Sonoma bug

Changing this setting seems to help some people (Image credit: Future)

The users afflicted by the USB hub problem are trying various troubleshooting measures. There doesn't seem to be a single solution that works for everyone, across different types of monitors and USB connections.

For some, completely powering down everything and then powering it back up again seems to work. Other people have reported that heading to the Privacy & Security page in macOS System Settings and changing the Allow accessories to connect option to Ask every time, then rebooting, fixes it.

Reading between the lines, there may be something awry with the way macOS 'sees' the USB hub and the devices connected to it as peripherals, but there are a lot of links along that chain – some users have found that simply switching to a different USB cable helps.

We'll have to wait and see if Apple issues a fix for those affected. Of course, if workaround solutions are already being discovered, it's more likely that any necessary bug fixes for the problem will get quietly rolled into the macOS Sonoma 14.5 update.

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Apple Vision Pro update makes Personas less creepy and can take the creation process out of your hands
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I finally look slightly less creepy in my Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Oh, no, I don't mean I look less like an oddball when I wear it but if you happen to call me on FaceTime, you'll probably find my custom Persona – digital Lance – a little less weird.

While Apple Vision Pro hasn't been on the market very long and the $ 3,499 headset is not owned in iPhone numbers (think tens of thousands, not millions) this first big visionOS update is important.

I found it under Settings when I donned the headset for the first time in a week (yes, it's true, I don't find myself using the Vision Pro as often as I would my pocketable iPhone) and quickly accepted the update. It took around 15 minutes for the download and installation to complete.

VisionOS 1.1 adds, among other things, enterprise-level Mobile Device Management (MDM) controls, closed captions and virtual keyboard improvements, enhanced Home View control, and the aforementioned Persona improvements.

I didn't test all of these features, but I couldn't wait to try out the updated Personas. Despite the update, Personas remains a “beta” feature. visionOS 1.1 improves the quality of Personas and adds a hands-free creation option.

Before we start, here's a look at my old Vision Pro Persona. Don't look away.

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Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

My original Persona (Image credit: Future)
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Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

My original Persona (Image credit: Future)
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Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

My original Persona (Image credit: Future)

Personas are Vision Pro's digital versions of you that you can use in video conference calls on FaceTime and other supported platforms. The 3D image is not a video feed of your face. Instead, Vision Pro creates this digital simulacrum based on a Spatial Photography capture of your face. Even the glasses I have on my Persona are not real.

During my initial Vision Pro review, I followed Apple's in-headset instructions and held the Vision Pro in front of my face with the shiny glass front facing me. Vision Pro's voice guidance told me to slowly look left, right, up, and down, and to make a few facial expressions. All this lets the stereo cameras capture a 3D image map of my face.

Because there are also cameras inside the headset to track my eyes (and eyebrows) and a pair of cameras on the outside of the headset that points down at my face and hands, the Vision Pro can, based on how I move my face (and hands), manipulate my digital persona like a puppet.

There's some agreement that Apple Vision Pro Personas look a lot like us but also ride the line between reality and the awful, uncanny valley. This update is ostensibly designed to help with that.

Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

Scanning my face for my new Persona using the hands-free mode. (Image credit: Future)

Apple, though, added a new wrinkle to the process. Now I could capture my Persona “hands-free” which sounds great, but means putting Vision Pro on a table or shelf and then positioning yourself in front of the headset. Good luck finding a platform that's at the exact right height. I used a shelf in our home office but had to crouch down to get my face to where Vision Pro could properly read it. On the other hand, I didn't have to hold the 600g headset up in front of my face. Hand capture still happens while you're wearing the headset.

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Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

My new visionOS 1.1 hands-free Persona (Image credit: Future)
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Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

My new visionOS 1.1 hands-free Persona (Image credit: Future)
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Apple Vision Pro 1-1 update

My new visionOS 1.1 hands-free Persona (Image credit: Future)

It took a minute or so for Vision Pro to build my new Persona (see above). The result looks a lot like me and is, in my estimation, less creepy. It still matches my expressions and hand movements almost perfectly. Where my original Persona looked like it lacked a soul, this one has more warmth. I also noticed that the capture appears more expansive. My ears and bald head look a little more complete and I can see more of my clothing. I feel like a full-body scan and total Persona won't be far behind.

This by itself makes the visionOS 1.1 update worthwhile.

Apple Vision Pro vision 1-1

Apple Vision Pro vision 1.1 remove system apps from Home View (Image credit: Future)

Other useful feature updates include the ability to remove system apps from the Home View. To do so, I looked at an app, in this case, Files, and pinched my thumb and forefinger together until the “Remove App” message appeared.

Apple also says it updated the virtual keyboard. In my initial review, I found this keyboard one of the weakest Vision Pro features. It's really hard to type accurately on this floating screen and you can only use two fingers at a time. My accuracy was terrible. In the update, accuracy and the AI that guesses what you intended to type appears somewhat improved.

Overall, it's nice to see Apple moving quickly to roll out features and updates to its powerful spatial computing platform. I'm not sure hands-free spatial scanning is truly useful, but I can report that my digital persona will no longer send you screaming from the room.

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Microsoft Paint update could make it even more Photoshop-like with handy new tools
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Microsoft Paint received a plethora of new features late last year, introducing layers, a dark mode, and AI-powered image generation. These new updates brought Microsoft Paint up to speed with the rest of Windows 11's modern layout (maybe a different word? Trying to say vibe)  after years of virtually no meaningful upgrades, and it looks like Microsoft still has plans to add even more features to the humble art tool. 

X user @PhantomOfEarth made a post highlighting potential changes spotted in the Canary Development channel, and we could see these new features implemented in Microsoft Paint very soon. The Canary Dev channel is part of the Microsoft Insider Program, which allows Windows enthusiasts and developers to sign up and get an early look at upcoming releases and new features that may be on the way. 

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 We do have to take the features we see in such developer channels with a pinch of salt, as it’s common to see a cool upgrade or new software appear in the channel but never actually make it out of the development stage. That being said, PhantonOfEarth originally spotted the big changes set for Windows 11 Paint last year in the same Dev channel, so there’s a good chance that the brush size slider and layer panel update that is now present in the Canary build will actually come to fruition in a public update soon.   

Show my girl Paint some love

It’s great to see Microsoft continue to show some love for the iconic Paint app, as it had been somewhat forgotten about for quite some time. It seems like the company has finally taken note of the app's charm, as many of us can certainly admit to holding a soft spot for Paint and would hate to see it abandoned. I have many memories of using Paint; as a child in IT class learning to use a computer for the first time, or firing it up to do some casual scribbles while waiting for my family’s slow Wi-Fi to connect. 

These proposed features won’t make Paint the next Photoshop (at least for now), but they do bring the app closer to being a simple, free art tool that most everyday people will have access to. Cast your mind back to the middle of last year, when Photoshop introduced image generation capabilities – if you wanted to use them, you’d have to have paid for Adobe Firefly access or a Photoshop license. Now, if you’re looking to do something quick and simple with AI image-gen, you can do it in Paint. 

Better brush size control and layers may not seem like the most important or exciting new features, especially compared to last year's overhaul of Windows Paint, but it is proof that the team at Microsoft is still thinking about Paint. In fact, the addition of a proper layers panel will do a lot to justify the program’s worth to digital artists. It could also be the beginning of a new direction for Paint if more people flock back to the revamped app. I hope that Microsoft continues to improve it – just so long as it remains a free feature of Windows.

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Haven’t got round to installing Windows 11 23H2 yet? You’ll soon be forced to get the latest update
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The 23H2 update is coming, whether you're ready or not, for those holdouts who have yet to upgrade their Windows 11 installation from 22H2 (or indeed 21H2).

Tom’s Hardware noticed that Microsoft updated its Windows 11 23H2 status document to let users know what’s happening, and that eligible Windows 11 devices will be automatically upgraded to version 23H2.

That means you’ll have no choice in the matter, of course. Updating to Windows 11 23H2 is mandatory at this point, with the caveat that this automatic upgrade process may not come to your PC all that soon.

Microsoft uses AI to “safely roll out this new Windows version in phases to deliver a smooth update experience,” and therefore some PC configurations may find it’s still a while before they have 23H2 foisted on them.

Alternatively, you may find the upgrade is piped to your machine imminently. It’s a roll of the hardware (and software) configuration dice, in short.

Analysis: Staying safe

Automatic upgrades being forced on Windows users is nothing new, of course. This happens whenever an update has been around for a good deal of time, and Microsoft feels everyone who is running an older version of Windows 11 (or Windows 10) needs to step up and move away from it (because it’s running out of road for support, or indeed has run out).

Regarding Windows 21H2 users (the original version of the OS), you may be thinking – didn’t they already get forced to upgrade to 22H2? Yes, they did. So why are some folks still on 21H2 then? Well, there may be a small niche of users remaining on 21H2 as anomalies, basically (we spotted a couple on Reddit), and they will be transferred direct to 23H2 instead. (Hopefully, anyway – though it’s possible that not having been offered an upgrade at all so far could be the result of a bug).

Microsoft needs to push upgrades like this for security reasons. If a Windows 11 user remains on an unsupported version, they won’t get monthly security updates, which is bad news of course – their PC could be vulnerable to exploits. Hence the big updates become mandatory eventually.

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Windows 11 with no taskbar? A crucial part of Microsoft’s OS has gone missing for some thanks to new update
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Windows 11’s latest cumulative update comes with an odd bug, it seems, one that reportedly causes the taskbar to disappear – or rather, to become blank space.

The February patch (KB5034765) for Windows 11 23H2 (and 22H2) has seen a number of complaints from users who have witnessed their desktop being affected by this apparent glitch, which as you can imagine is pretty frustrating.

As Neowin flagged up, there are reports on Microsoft’s Feedback Hub and the Reddit mega-thread on said patch from folks who have been hit by this problem.

One Redditor wrote: “Yay, both my Win11 23h2 workstations have no taskbar after updates and a reboot… have to kill explorer and relaunch.”

Somebody replied to that: “This is happening to me as well I thought something broke, but removing KB5034765 resolved it for me. I don’t even see explorer.exe in my running tasks when that happened, though.”

There are a number of other reports, as mentioned, with those affected not able to launch their taskbar pinned apps (as the icons aren’t there, of course), or see the system tray, access Quick Settings and so on. The basic ability to see your running apps and switch between them on the bar is obviously missing in action, too.

Analysis: Have a little patience?

We should note that in the interest of balance, a lot of folks on that Reddit thread are saying they had no issues with KB5034765. It’s not clear how widespread the vanishing taskbar gremlin might be, and Microsoft has not acknowledged the problem yet in its known issues – but we get the feeling it has a limited impact, looking at the overall feedback on this patch.

As noted above, the only solution seems to be uninstalling the February cumulative update, which certainly works to return the taskbar to its normal state.

The slight twist here is that this problem has been seen before, and another Redditor offers up a theory as follows: “The taskbar missing thing is part of the EU policy updates. Taskbar is not showing for up to 10 minutes, it’s normal and has been in the Release Preview Channel for 2-3 months.”

This makes some sense, as there’s some heavy duty work on the taskbar going on with those EU regulation-related changes, like unhooking Bing from the search box on the bar.

So, in theory the taskbar may reappear soon after applying the update – maybe. But we presume given the number of affected folks, with no one else observing said reappearance that we can see, there could be more to this issue than merely this. Unless everyone hitting the snag is uninstalling KB5034765 pretty sharpish, which seems unlikely across the board.

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