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Native RGB dynamic lighting controls in Windows 11 may soon be available to beta testers. Windows 11 preview builds have shown the native settings page to manage RGB lighting for keyboards, mice, or controllers, but this feature doesn't work and requires extensive configuration. Lighting is a new option in Windows 11's configuration menus. It appears that the new lighting home in Windows 11 will allow you to experiment with more than just RGB controls. Turning on the switch enables dynamic lighting across all supported devices. RGB, which stands for "Red, Green, and Blue," can be managed with a variety of free and open-source programs in Windows. According to Microsoft, these are the "energy and emotion to your PC experience" primary colors that are used to create various shades of light. Image courtesy of TheWindowsFan.com's Windows 11 Light Settings. It can be difficult to keep track of RGB for all of your devices and the third-party t

In a future update of Windows 11, Microsoft may allow you to disable "Chat," a Microsoft Teams for consumer feature. This change may have been motivated by a desire to head off potential antitrust scrutiny from European Union authorities. The unannounced update has been tucked away in Windows 11 preview builds since May and could soon make its way into production. The new Windows 11 operating system includes a Chat app for communicating with loved ones through Microsoft Teams. At the October 2021 Windows 11 event, chat was announced with much fanfare. This feature is built right into the Windows 11 Shell/taskbar and provides a simple interface, making it easy for anyone to keep in touch with their loved ones when they're not at work. Compared to Meta products like WhatsApp and Facebook, Teams doesn't fare well in the consumer market. Microsoft's attempt to stay current with consumers included Chat, which flopped in the consumer market. Rather than

The "Chrome Refresh 2023" is a major redesign of Google Chrome for Windows 11, macOS, and other platforms. Canary users are now being given access to Chrome Refresh 2023 via "Google Labs," a new way to test upcoming features that was previously hidden behind experimental flags. What, then, is Chrome's 2023 refresh? Google says they are updating Chrome. Chrome hasn't undergone a major facelift, so the new design is being called a "refresh" by Google's developers and internal flags. The user interface has not changed, so none of your preferred options have been relocated. All of Chrome's visuals have been updated to reflect Google's Material design language. There is no need to worry about any major changes to the user interface in Chrome. Google's kept the same layout, but the right-click menus are bigger, there are more colors, and there's a subtler dark theme. New Chrome home page | Image via TheWindowsFan.com

Those who have signed up for Windows Insider and selected the Dev Channel in Windows Insider Settings will be able to try out the updated File Explorer immediately. The updated version is meant to make using the software easier and more natural. The updated File Explorer has a new "Home" that uses the Fluent Design System for a unified, user-friendly, and engaging interface. In Windows 11, if you sign in using an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account, you'll see a carousel of suggested documents. Cloud-based files that the user either owns or has access to through collaboration are used as recommendations. Quick Access folders, Favorites, and Recent in File Explorer are updated with the help of WinUI, a native user experience framework for Windows applications. A new address bar and improved search functionality have also been added to File Explorer as part of the update. The new address bar is capable of intelligently differentiating between local and

As it continues to test this new feature to deliver quality improvements outside of the major Windows feature updates, Microsoft has released yet another Windows 11 Update Stack Package. Microsoft's Update Stack Packages are designed to lessen the likelihood of problems during setup due to specific updates. Microsoft has started rolling out Update Stack Package to everyone with Build 22478 and later this year. Since no changelog is available, it is unclear how many changes or fixes are included in the new "Update Stack Package 1201.2305.30021.0" from Microsoft. The Update Stack Package "will help ensure that your PC has the best and least disruptive experience possible when installing new updates," Officials from Microsoft remarked  in an earlier post on the blog this year. Users on the Dev and Canary channels will receive Update Stack Package 1201.2305.30021.0 today. If all goes as planned, Update Stack Packages will be made available in the pr

Windows 11 now has the latest version of Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). The May 2023 update includes numerous enhancements and fixes. The ability to allocate memory to Android is one of the most noteworthy updates, giving users greater control over the resources available to their mobile applications. The updated WSA now features package verification, which scans Android apps with anti-virus software on Windows prior to installation. This helps guarantee the integrity and security of the set up software. The new Android AppLink support allows users to access Android applications from within any app that supports this feature. This release upgrades the Linux kernel to version 5.15.94 and enhances WSA's performance and dependability. We noticed that the official changelog was published on the website a few days ago, so here it is Github WSA uses anti-virus software on Windows to check the safety of downloaded Android apps before they a

Microsoft has released KB5026372 for Windows 11 22H2, which includes fixes and enhancements. The company's website now features downloadable copies of the Windows 11 update (KB5025239). Unless you have modified your installation preferences, the mandatory security update for Windows 11, KB5026372, will be downloaded and installed automatically. There aren't many brand-new features in this update, but there are a number of quality fixes, such as animated icons for Windows widgets. The addition of moving icons to the Widgets button in the taskbar is one of the most noticeable changes in this release. When a notification appears on the Widgets button in the taskbar, or when the mouse is hovered over or clicked on it, users will now see these animations play. Microsoft has also added a new toggle control to the Settings > Windows Update page, which complements the visual changes. When enabled, this function ensures that the user's device is among the first t

Windows 10 KB5026361, which includes numerous fixes, is now being pushed to devices in the production channel. This update is available via Windows Update or can be manually installed using the.msu file. Microsoft has made available offline installers for Windows 10 KB5026361. KB5026361 for Windows 10 is a required safety update that will be downloaded and installed without user interaction at some point. Update pausing and delaying will be unavailable for well over a month. This is a security update, so don't expect any major changes to the operating system. A number of enhancements have been made, however. For instance, you can now modify the language used for your Microsoft account's interface and regional settings in one convenient location: the Settings menu. The update also includes this change and a number of other bug fixes. The issue that caused Edge IT mode to stop working has been fixed, for instance, by Microsoft. The update fixes a problem where th

The Windows 11 taskbar is a major letdown for power users who rely on features like ungrouping icons, dragging and dropping, seeing the time in seconds, using third-party customization tools, and so on. Although drag-and-drop was reinstated in Windows 11 22H2, many features remain unavailable. Microsoft is working on enhancing the taskbar for Windows 11, and reliable sources have informed me that this is one of the team's top priorities. The reemergence of lost characteristics, and KB5026372 for Windows 11 restores functionality of the taskbar clock to include seconds. After the cumulative update has been released through Windows Update, users will have the option to manually activate the function. Changing the value of "ShowSecondsInSystemClock" in the Windows Registry to 1 will cause the taskbar clock to display seconds. The "ShowSecondsInSystemClock" feature was removed with the release of Windows 11 version 21H2. Image Credit: Thewindowsfan

It would appear that Tuesday's release of Windows 11's latest cumulative update, KB5026372, is causing a lot of issues for users. Users have reported a wide range of problems on Reddit and other forums, despite the update's stated goals of improving things like the Kernel-mode Hardware-enforced Stack Protection security feature and fixing a race condition in LAPS. Multiple users have voiced serious concern that the update is breaking their VPN connections, especially their L2TP/IPsec ones. Others have had trouble downloading files via sftp while connected via L2TP/IPsec VPN, and some users have reported a significant slowdown in both download and upload speeds. Users tried reinstalling WAN, flushing DNS, turning off IPv6, and even turning off the firewall, but none of these measures worked. According to another user, installing KB5026372 triggered BitLocker, which then got stuck in an endless repair loop and may have necessitated a clean install of Windo