In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at Recall finally arriving for testing in the Insider program, new Windows 11 updates with many changes and features, a lot of Ignite news, misfired gaming launches, and more.
Table of contents:
- Windows 10 and 11 news
- Windows Insider Program
- Ignite 2024
- Updates are available
- Gaming news
- Great deals to check
Windows 11 and 10
Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.
Let us start with new non-security updates for Windows 10 and 11. This month's C-updates are the final in 2024, as Microsoft is skipping December non-security updates due to the holiday season.
Windows 11 version 24H2 received KB5046740 with new features for jump lists, taskbar, File Explorer, Settings app, and more. Windows 11 version 23H2 also got a fair share of updates for the Start menu, File Explorer, etc, in KB5046732. As for Windows 10, it received KB5046714 with fixes for activation issues and a few more bugs.
Also, Microsoft released new dynamic updates for Windows 10 (beware of the Recovery Partition bug) and the first hotpatch for Windows 11 version 24H2 LTSC.
Hands down, the biggest announcement from this week is the return of Recall. Microsoft finally opened the gates to its controversial AI feature, allowing Windows Insiders to test Recall on eligible hardware. Just keep in mind that the initial version has some limitations, including Recall ignoring filtered-out websites in certain scenarios.
Microsoft also launched Click to Do, a new AI-powered feature to complement Recall. Click to Do provides various quick actions for snapshots so that you can continue using separate applications.
All these goodies are only available in the latest Windows 11 Dev build on Copilot+ PCs. If you want to buy one, there are some solid deals on existing models. However, Qualcomm plans to announce new Snapdragon X chips for even more affordable Windows computers. They will have fewer CPU cores, but the NPU will be the same across the lineup, ensuring each device is eligible for AI features.
If you do not care about Recall and all the AI stuff, you might like this change coming soon to Windows 11: its Game Bar now has a dedicated browser that lets you browse the web while playing without alt-tabbing from the game. Called Microsoft Edge Game Assist, the feature is now available in preview for those with Edge 132 Beta, which was released this week.
Moving on, we have a few known issues in the latest Windows 10 and 11 updates. If you are on Windows 11 version 24H2, you might have problems with adjusting certain time/date settings through the Settings app (there is a workaround), and on top of that, the OS might blast you with a 100% speaker volume in certain scenarios.
There's is more. The update to Windows 11 version 24H2 is now blocked on some systems due to compatibility issues with USB network modems, printers, scanners, and even certain Ubisoft games. Microsoft is investigating the problem and promises to release fixes soon.
Also, Microsoft took down some of Windows 11's widgets to improve the experience. As a result, you can no longer use Calendar, To Do, Photos, Microsoft 365 Feed, and Family widgets.
On Windows 10, where users are currently bombarded with new full-screen ads promoting Windows 11, Microsoft acknowledged a problem with updating packaged apps. Luckily, this one was quickly fixed.
Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:
| Windows 11 | Windows 10 | |
|---|---|---|
| Canary Channel | 27754 | Not Applicable |
| Dev Channel | 26120.2415 | Not Applicable |
| Beta Channel | 22635.4515 | No longer available |
| Release Preview Channel | - | - |
Users also discovered that build 22635.4515 contains some much-needed improvements for File Explorer. At last, you can turn off OneDrive backup notifications in the address bar and make File Explorer open links in a new tab instead of a new window.
Also, note that Microsoft temporarily turned off optical character recognition in the Photos app to improve the experience. Expect it to return somewhere in the future.
Ignite 2024
Here are the most interesting stories from this year's Ignite conference.
Ignite is one of Microsoft's biggest events each year, and the company usually announces a lot of developer- and enterprise-focused stuff. This year is no exception. At Ignite 2024, Microsoft announced a new in-house security chip and a DPU for Azure, a new hybrid infrastructure to replace Azure Stack HCI, Azure AI Foundry (a unified AI application platform), SQL Server 2025 with native vector support, and more.
For its apps and services, the company announced meeting transcription for Microsoft Teams, out-of-the-box agents for Microsoft 365, major upgrades to Microsoft 365 Copilot, a scareware blocker and secure password deployment for Edge, and Universal Print updates.
Some hardware was announced as well. Meet the Windows 365 Link, a thin client in a mini-PC form factor for accessing Windows 365 in the cloud. This box does not run Windows 11 locally—you only get a bunch of ports, local video processing, and some other minor stuff. Everything else runs in the cloud (Windows, apps, data, settings, etc). The Windows 365 Link costs $349.
For Windows 11 developers and IT admins, Microsoft announced a new Imaging API to enable developers to build applications with more advanced image capabilities. Windows Resiliency Initiative was unveiled, a project aimed to improve the reliability of the Windows ecosystem with features like Quick Machine Recovery for remote fix deployments on PCs that cannot boot.
Finally, Windows Subsystem for Linux received Intune compliance and Entra ID integration.
Updates are available
This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.
Tiny11 Builder, a third-party script for creating debloated Windows images, has been updated with fixes for Windows 11 version 24H2. It now packs a new version of the tiny11 core maker, which is a special version for ultra-light Windows images that are good for experimenting in virtual machines with no need to service them later (network drivers and a lot of other parts are not included).
Other tools developers might find useful are the latest version of the Dev Home app, which now has File Explorer source control integration and other features. Microsoft also released new Windows Terminal updates with improved glyph rendering.
This week, Microsoft released its Bing Wallpaper app in the Microsoft Store, offering Windows 10 and 11 users a quick and easy way to get fresh wallpapers from its search engine. However, users quickly discovered that the app behaves borderline like malware. Plenty of dark patterns and quite offensive behavior make it extremely hard to recommend.
Other notable updates include the following:
- Microsoft Edge received fixes for the "Delete browsing data" dialog and more.
- Microsoft is retiring the Microsoft Autofill Chrome extension.
- Google Drive Beta is now available as a native app for Windows on ARM.
- Microsoft announced Translator Pro, a new speech-to-speech translation app for commercial customers.
And here are the newest drivers and firmware updates released this week:
- Intel 32.0.101.6299 non-WHQL with S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 support.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 31.0.82.0 GPU driver with optimizations for creative apps and several games like Baldur’s Gate, Strange Brigade, Ark Survival Ascended, and more.
- Surface Laptop 5 and 6 received fixes for display flickering and audio failures.
On the gaming side
Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.
Microsoft is now testing a new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perk. With the latest change, players can stream the games they own via Xbox Cloud Gaming even if those games are not in Xbox Game Pass. However, the number of available games is currently limited, with Microsoft promising to expand it in the future.
Microsoft announced new games for Xbox and PC Game Pass subscribers. The latest additions include Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, PlateUP!, Nine Sols, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and more.
Speaking of the first two...
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 finally launched, or should I say crashed on Xbox Series X|S and PC. On November 19, 2024, the game became available, but it met pilots with infinite loading screens and truly atrocious world rendering bugs due to the onslaught of gamers and miscalculated server capabilities. This forced the dev team to apologize and scramble to fix all problems. Shortly after that, the game received its first hotfix.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl had a much better launch on November 20, with over one million copies sold on day one. You can play this long-expected title from a Ukrainian studio on PC and Xbox consoles (also available in Game Pass). If your PC cannot run the game and you do not have a modern console, you can try S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl on GeForce NOW—support for the game arrived as part of this week's game updates for the service.
Starfield now has over 15 million players. Bethesda decided to celebrate the milestone with a new vehicle and a fresh November update that packs uncapped frame rates on consoles, lipsync support in Creation Kit, achievements improvements, and more.
Other gaming news from this week include the following:
- Assassin's Creed Syndicate is getting a 60 FPS patch on consoles nine years after the initial release.
- A new report says a Fable reboot features Witcher-like combat, multiple protagonists, and more.
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Homeworld 3's next "mothership-sized" update will be its last as development wraps up.
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Star Wars Outlaws is now on Steam with the first major discount.
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Valve's next-generation Steam Controller is reportedly in mass production.
Deals and freebies
The Epic Games Store is giving away Beholder, a dystopian indie game where you monitor tenants and report their behavior to the authoritarian government. If one game is not enough (it is available for grabs until next Thursday), check out this week's Weekend PC Game Deals, which are packed with sci-fi shooters and other games across different PC storefronts.
Great deals to check
Every week, we cover many deals on different hardware and software. The following discounts are still available, so check them out. You might find something you want or need.
Microsoft has announced this year's Black Friday and Cyber Week deals. Discounted products include various Surface devices, Xbox consoles and controllers, digital content in the Microsoft Store, and more.
- 1TB WD C50 Xbox Storage Expansion Card - $99 | $56 off
- 1TB Western Digital SN5000 PCIe Gen 4 SSD - $59.99 | 40% off
- Acer Swift 14 AI Copilot+ PC - $859 | 19% off
- Apple 2024 MacBook Pro - $1,749 | 13% off
- 4TB Samsung T7 Portable SSD - $239.99 | 17% off
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Sonos Beam Gen 2 Black Soundbar with Dolby Atmos - $369 | 26% off
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ASUS ROG Strix G16 - $1,099 | 21% off
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Denon AVR-S760H 7.2 Ch AVR - $349 | 42% off
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