Windows 11 - Update 22H2 - Here is everything you need to know - OUT NOW!!!

[GoodBytes]

Windows 11 first major update is coming up soon. Rumors suggest Sept 20th.

Microsoft marked its first Release Candidate of this OS update all the way back in June under the Release Preview ring. It seems that Microsoft really wanted the OS to be well tested as much as possible. Numerous updates have been released since, with lots of bug fixes. So, a good sign.

 

It’s been almost a year since Windows 11 was released and it’s time for its grand update. Unlike the early days of Windows 10, Microsoft has focused more on polishing the OS, and brought more Quality-of-Life improvements, rather than on new features. All-in-all, while it is mostly all small changes, all together, it really elevates Windows 11 experience.

 

Let’s start with the elephant of the room:

 

"Forced MS Linked Account on Pro edition"

Spoiler

While there have been a bunch of click-bait articles on how Windows 11 Pro will join the likes of Windows 11 Home and force a Microsoft account, this is not entirely true. At least, not yet. It only affects those who configure Windows 11 Pro, for ‘Home’ purposes.

 

While I support the idea of a linked account on Windows 11 for the majority of users, due to the benefits it brings for most, I understand that in some applications, local accounts make sense. As for the whole “Microsoft does this to spy on you”, that is all nonsense. Discussed for hours long, ultimately, Windows is an OS, it has access to everything and anything already. If MS wants to break user trust and businesses, they can without you needing to make an account. It is an OS after all, it operates, your, system. Without one, your PC is nothing more than an RGB door stop.

 

Anyways, agree to disagree, let's refocus:

So, let’s cover how you can get a local account without hacks

 

When you arrive to the OOBE screen where you are asked how you would like to setup this device, select “Set up for work or school”
'

 

Then on the following screen, pick “Sign-in options”:

 

Then pick “Domain join instead”:

 

And there you go! Enter your local account name:

 

 

Ta-Da!

 

Ok good, let's get started now!

 

 

What’s New?

A new Home

File Explorer now features a ‘Home’ page when you open which replaces the ‘Quick Access’. It is an evolution of Quick Access. It features the same quick access section of, well, Quick Access,  but includes Your recent files accessed (including those accessed from OneDrive folder), and you can pin them in your Favorite, by simply dragging the file to the Favorites section, or right-click on the file and pick ‘Add to Favorites’.

 

 

 

Taskbar Drag’n Drop

Drag and drop between app via the task bar has been finally added. As before, you can just drag a file over a Task bar program to make it gain focus and drop it there.

 

 

 

Start Menu Customizations

The Start menu can now be customized a bit further by selecting if you want more pinned icons, and a few Recommended items, or the reverse.

 

The option is found under Settings > Personalization > Start

 

 

 

 

Start Menu Folders

You can now create pinned app folders like you could under Windows 10 Start menu with its Live tiles.

Just drag a pinned app on the Start menu over another pinned app on the Start menu, and a folder that can be named can be set. To add more items to the folder, simply drag and drop to the folder more pinned apps. And yes, the folders can be named.

 

 

 

File Explorer – Folder Content Peek

It’s baaaack! Microsoft re-introduces folder preview of files on the folder icons. Keeping with the theme of simplicity, it only shows the latest file in the folder.

 

 

 

Updated Task Manager – With Dark Mode Too

Don’t adjust your monitor image settings, you read that correctly. Windows 11 now has an updated Task manager:

 

 

 

 

File Explorer – Improved OneDrive Integration

Note: This applies to all folders synced with OneDrive, and the main OneDrive folder itself. Nothing shows in other places.

You can now see the update of uploads/downloads from File Explorer without having to dig the OneDrive panel.

 

 

 

 

Mica for All

Mica is the transparency effect that excludes anything behind it. It just considers the background; it is now applied to all Win32 desktop applications and Windows panels. The effect is very subtle, though.

 

 

(Legacy application from 2000)

 

 

 

Improved Touch Gestures

Now when you swipe up to open the Start menu, it follows your finger, and not play a generic animation. Same for all other panels and swiping under the Start menu.

 

 

Also, there is a new gesture to show the quick settings. Simply swipe up on that area of the screen:

Swipe down to dismiss.

 

 

 

 

Quick Bluetooth Management

Talking about Quick Settings, you can now easily connect/disconnect and remove Bluetooth devices from there. Similar to how Wi-Fi section works, just click on the arrow:

 

 

 

 

 

Color Profile Change on Quick Settings

Introduced in Windows 10, but was lost when Win11 was released, is that you can have a button to switch between your device color profiles. As you tap/click on it, it will cycle through the different supported color profiles that have been registered. Please note that this applies only to embedded display devices, not desktop displays (unless the manufacture offers drivers that will add support for this)

 

 

 

 

Cast Notification Icons

A new Cast icon will appear at the lower-left corner of the taskbar to show you are casting (WIN + K) 

 

 

 

Windowing Improvements

Snap group thumbnail preview visuals now include the desktop wallpaper to better differentiate a window and a layout set.

 

 

Also: Improved animations transitioning between snap states:
More fluid, less janky.

 

 

Additional things:

• Rotating a device between portrait and landscape orientation is now snappier and more responsive.
   
• Reduced the number of notifications sounds that play when you connect and disconnect docks and monitors.
   
• It is now easier to move your cursor and windows between monitors, by letting your cursor jump over areas where it would previously get stuck.
  his behavior is controlled in settings with System > Display > Multiple displays > Ease cursor movement between displays.
   
• Small changes to the snapping options under System > Multitasking to help simplify them and make them easier to understand.

 

 

Graphics Related Improvements

• Dynamic Refresh Rate (DRR) has been improved. Currently (before this build), DRR was limited to scrolling in Office and when inking (to reduce latency) (this feature obviously applies to laptops/tablets running Windows 11 with a 120Hz or more). Now, it applies to the cursor. As you move it, it will boost to 120Hz, and drop down when you stop. This will make the system feel more responsive on those devices, Microsoft says. Edge now supports DRR feature as well.
   
• Windows HDR Calibration app. This will allow you to improve color accuracy and consistency on your HDR display. The app can be found under the settings panel: System > Display > HDR. Download app manually: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-hdr-calibration/9N7F2SM5D1LR (HDR display required with a supported graphics card, this release of Windows 11, and HDR needs to be enabled)
   
• Windowed Gaming Optimizations: windowed games get some love! Under System > Display > Graphics > Change default graphics settings (under the Settings panel), you'll have the option to enable this new optimization mode. This mode adds Auto HDR and Variable Refresh Rate support to games running in windowed mode and reduces latency. You can also exclude some games if you have some games having issues with this feature. This of course, only affects DirectX games.
  Full details here:
  https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/updates-in-graphics-and-gaming/

 

 

 

Spot the Light

Spotlight arrives to your desktop. Spotlight daily background images can now be enjoyed on your desktop environment. When enabled via Settings > Personalization > Background:

 

You will get a desktop icon that will show, which will allow you to double-click on it, to learn more about the image, or you can right-click on it, to say if you like it or not, or change the image:

 

 

 

Volume / Brightness indicator – Updated Look

Yes, finally, no more metro there as well! Windows 11 now has its Volume and Brightness slider indicator have been updated. And yes, there is dark and light theme for both.

The indicator will appear at the center of the screen, above the task bar. (Now you’ll need to retrain yourself )

 

 

Alt-Tab – Updated Look

Alt-Tab look got updated, and now has the glass effect background limited to the window/app selection, and no longer full screen

 

 

 

 

Input Switch – Updated Look

The language input switch panel has been updated to Windows 11 style.

 

This also applies to the lock screen.

 

 

Accessibility Flyout Improvement – Lock Screen – Updated Look

Talking about Lock screen, the accessibility flyout panel also got updated to Windows 11 style.

 

 

 

Lock Screen Media Control Player – Updated Look

The lock screen media player no longer has the Windows 10 Metro style. It has been updated to Windows 11 look.

 

 

 

 

Snap Layout (Aero Snap) – Window resizing updated

When resizing windows that have been snapped, the unfocused windows will now fade to an icon of the application like so:

 

 

Improved Snap Layouts

To improve the discoverability of the previously improved snap layouts, when you drag a window to the top middle of the screen, you'll have the option you normally have when you roll over the "maximize/restore" button. This also makes it easier to do on a touch focused device.

 

Notice also the improved animation of the Snap Assist feature.

 

Global Mic Mute – Keyboard shortcut and on-screen notification

When using the global microphone mute button (apps needs to support it), you can mute/unmute via the keyboard shortcut WIN + ALT + K, and a pop-up status will show:

 

 

 

 

Focus Mode / Do not Disturb - Reworked

Microsoft ‘re-imagined’ Focus and Do not Disturb mode.

 

Do Not Disturb
From the Notification Center, you can now easily enable "Do not disturb", which will mute notifications from popping up, and will directly show up in the Notification Center list.

 

Under Settings > System > Notifications, you can setup rules to turn it on automatically, similarly to "Focus assist" feature that we have now (well... prior now)

 

 

Focus Mode

When you open the Notification Center, you'll have the option to start a focus session for a period of time that you can define.

 

 

When enabled: 

• Taskbar badging will turn off
• Flashing of applications in the taskbar will turn off
• A timer will appear on screen
• 'Do not disturb' feature will turn on

 

You can also set a Focus Session with Music (more on that later).

 

 

 

Voice Access – Accessibility

Control your system via your voice. Settings > Accessibility > Speech

Once enabled, you can use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Shift + C and Alt + Shift + B to enable voice listening or not, and control the system, or you can say “Voice access wake up” or “Unmute”, and the reverse “Voice access sleep”, “Mute”. The list of commands is long, and worth reading the full documentation if you are in the need of such feature. But some basic commands are: “Open <app name>”, “Switch to…”, “Minimize ….”, “Right-click ….”, “Scroll down”, “Press <key combination or key name>”.

You can also split an app into quadrants to help focus better on an area or show the numbers for all elements on the screen that can be interacted.

 

 

 

Voice Typing Improvements

Voice typing has been improved with anew navigational commands.

It can now handle "Enter", "Backspace", "Space", "Tab" actions by saying them when needed based on the program you are using.

 

 

 

 

System Wide Close Caption – Accessibility

Windows 11 introduces a system wide close caption that works on everything coming out from your audio source. You’ll get a top bar on the screen where you’ll see text being live captioned.

To turn on this feature: Settings > Accessibility > Caption, and turn on Live captions

 

 

Narrator

New male natural voice called Guy.

 

 

 

Windows Update

Windows Update can adapt to your energy grid to reduce carbon footprint.

Basically, it will attempt to schedule update installations at specific times of day when doing so results in lower carbon emissions.

Of course, this doesn't apply if you manually check for updates.

 

To do this, Microsoft will use the data it partnered up with: electricityMap and WattTime.

In my case, it is 100% renewable (Hydro), so I guess it will update whenever it feels like, as before.

 

 

Power Saving 
Windows will now have more aggressive power saving settings by default compared to before to save power when the system is idle.

 

 

Networking

• TKIP and WEP are deprecated security standards and Windows 11 will no longer allow connections to those types starting with this build.
• Windows 11 Home will no longer enable SMB1 by default. If you have it enabled right now, it will remain so. (If I am not mistaken, this was the last remaining edition of Windows with it that was enabled).

 

 

Input

• Touch screen keyboard, in it's small layout, now has an IME On/Off key (Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Traditional IMEs)
• Some Emoji have been updated to better fit Windows 11 style further
• Additional kaomoji were added
• Hungarian for handwriting support has been added
   

 

Settings

• Size of the icons in the Settings navigation pane have been increased to be easier to see.
• Storage Sense will now be enabled by default for new accounts (and new installs). You can turn it off under:  Settings > System > Storage
• Settings Time & Language category and Date & time page to now include a live digital clock and information about currently selected option.
• Updated the design of Network & Internet > Dial-up when you have a connection set up to align with the overall design of Settings in Windows 11.
• Adjustments were done to Settings > Personalization > Fonts to improve the design of the page, including the drag-and-drop area for installing fonts is now larger.

 

Windows Sandbox

• Aligning with Hyper-V behavior, even if you’re not in full screen mode, modifier keys and shortcuts will now be intercepted by Windows Sandbox if the window has focus.
• It also now supports basic environment variable usage like %USERPROFILE% inside in mapped folder paths.
• It now support mapped folders now support relative paths

 

 

Security

Smart App Control (SAC) is a new security feature part of Windows Security/Defender where when enabled it can block untrusted or potentially dangerous applications.

Microsoft notes that this feature can only be enabled on Windows devices that have performed a clean install with the latest Insider Preview build.

 

Microsoft says:

Quote

SAC is first configured in evaluation mode. While SAC is in evaluation mode, it will learn if it can help protect you without getting in your way too much. If so, it will automatically be turned on. Otherwise, it will automatically be turned off.  While in evaluation mode, a user can manually turn on SAC in the Windows Security app under the App & Browser Control section. More details on this feature will be shared in the future.

 

 

 

Print Queue Panel

The print queue panel is a new panel which shows what is being sent to your printer and its status.

 

 

 

New GPO's:

• Disable Quick Settings flyout
• Disable Notification Center and calendar flyouts
• Disable all taskbar settings
• Disable search (across Start & taskbar)
• Hide Task View from taskbar
• Block customization of ‘Pinned’ in Start
• Hide ‘Recommended’ in Start
• Disable Start context menus
• Hide ‘All apps’ in Start

(They may be others, please consult a more IT focused document)

 

 

 

Nearby Share - Improved

The feature has now been improved with UDP support, and not longer Bluetooth exclusive.

Also, when you use the Share feature (right-click on a file > Share), you’ll have shareable system nearby listed:

 

 

 

In Box App Updates

In-box apps of Windows got updated, 2 got removed, and a new 1 was also introduced:

(Please note that because they are delivered separately, you may already have access to them or have them available)

 

 

Media Player

This app replaces both: Groove Music and Movies & TV. This means that they are no longer included in Windows 11 when you do a clean install. It also aims to replace the classic Windows Media Player 12 introduced all the back in Windows 7.

 

 

Like Groove Music it allows you to view your albums and music in similar fashion, this was not lost.

CD Audio support is present, INCLUDING CD Audio Ripping. Supported formats: AAC, WMA, FLAC, and ALAC.

Video playback, with the same codec supported is still present

 

 

And yes, EQ control is there:

 

 

As well as Speed control

 

And Video color adjustment controls:

 

 

Sound Recorder

Replaces Voice Recorder.

 

The recorder brings wave form presentation, and the ability to add mark points for you to help refer back to. No, it’s not Audacity, just a basic, but more useful, voice recorder

 

 

Clock

Remember Focus Assist I mentioned before, with Music playback support, well it goes hand-in-hand with the new Clock app with Spotify integration, as well as Microsoft To Do integration.

 

You can sign-in to your Spotify account to have quick access to shortcuts and focus playlists from Spotify, and music will play when you start your focus session. Break can also be defined from there. Your To Do list appears as daily Tasks, which can be added from the same Clock app, and can be checked.

 

 

 

Clipchamp - New App

A new video editor app that is more involved and feature rich then Photo editor video editor, with video templates which you can generate (type in text and it will generate a clip that you can insert), it includes sample clips both video and audio which you can use in your work for personal and commercial purposes, define your own template via “Brand kit” to help ensure that all your videos matches the same style. You have slideshow, text overlay, quote animations, social handles animations and lots more. It is of course, not a professional video editor. Simplicity of use is the main focus.
 

The app has 2 plans: Free and paying one.

 

 

 

 

 

Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

Note: Not all features listed here might be delivered on day 1 of this release. WSA has a different release schedule, and its own Insider program.

Lots of improvements are being presented for this feature. Including but not limited to:

·       Android OS updated to: Android 12.1 / 12L with Chromium WebView 100

·       Performance improvements

·       Networking improvements

·       VPN support

·       Scrolling and navigation

·       Redesigned UX WSA settings panel and diagnostics data viewer added

·       Simpleperf CPU profiler recording support

·       Windows taskbar now shows which Android apps are using microphone and location

·       Windows taskbar now shows which Android apps are using microphone and location

·       Hardware video decoding support (VP8, VP9 and H.264)

·       Mail integration with Windows email clients and Android app.

·       Compatibility for games with joysticks (mapped to WASD)

·       Compatibility for gamepad in games

·       Compatibility for aiming in games with arrow keys

·       Compatibility for sliding in games with arrow keys

 

Now available to more regions:

• Andorra
• Austria
• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Gibraltar
• Guernsey
• Ireland
• Isle of Man
• Italy
• Japan
• Jersey
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg
• Monaco
• San Marino
• Spain
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Vatican City / Holy See

 

 

Download

Official ISO (English US x64): 
https://software.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/Win11_22H2_English_x64.iso?t=a4e5c695-01df-4294-9ebc-683ed65ebb75&e=1663775373&h=0d52cc56f1c271a4bde785b34ba593abd229b071d97923b0d7d0d9bc1fd52244

 

Update Assistance and Media Creation Tool:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

 

 

[lewdicrous]

Dark mode task manager! Finally!

[vetali]

25 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Talking about Quick Settings, you can now easily connect/disconnect and remove Bluetooth devices from there. Similar to how Wi-Fi section works, just click on the arrow:

Finally. The button only turning on/off bluetooth was pointless and forced you to go through settings to switch/pair items. Now if they could fix the 3 second freeze when searching through the start menu I'd probably like W11.

[Gamer Schnitzel]

So basically still 0 reason to upgrade to Windows 11?

Give us a 10% FPS improvement or don't bother Microsoft. I am not a 10 year old and I am not going to upgrade because of new icons.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

26 minutes ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

So basically still 0 reason to upgrade to Windows 11?

Give us a 10% FPS improvement or don't bother Microsoft. I am not a 10 year old and I am not going to upgrade because of new icons.

wow thats a really bad mindset to have
Microsoft isnt going to pull 10% performance out of their asses, its nigh impossible without rewriting windows from the ground up

[Lurick]

56 minutes ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

So basically still 0 reason to upgrade to Windows 11?

Give us a 10% FPS improvement or don't bother Microsoft. I am not a 10 year old and I am not going to upgrade because of new icons.

Sure, Microsoft will get right on rewriting everything to maybe squeeze a bit more performance out of a CPU and/or GPU because they definitely make those kinds of optimizations appear overnight right?

This is about the stupidest take I've seen so far.

[GoodBytes]

36 minutes ago, Helpful Tech Witch said:

wow thats a really bad mindset to have
Microsoft isnt going to pull 10% performance out of their asses, its nigh impossible without rewriting windows from the ground up

And even then, 10% is a huge gain. There is no guarantee that this will even happen.

 

Alos, Microsoft also tried that... Windows 10X.

With the preview build they released ages back; I didn't notice any performance differences on my Core i7 930 (so this is a real PoC system in today's standard). And that was supposed to be this 'lean OS', 'no legacy support' OS. This is mostly because Microsoft already done the majority of the work back in Win8 dev days.

[StDragon]

31 minutes ago, Helpful Tech Witch said:

Microsoft isnt going to pull 10% performance out of their asses

Doesn't Win11 have an improved CPU scheduler that's optimized for Intel's Big/Little architecture whereas Win10 won't get this? Also, Windows 11 has improved BitLocker code that takes advantage of newer VAES instruction set which will lower CPU utilization.

[StDragon]

The new EQ, is that just for the app, or system wide?

It's a damn shame that OSes still have next to no EQ control without using the app included with the driver, or a 3rd party utility. The audio subsystem in Windows has been "Mickey Mouse". Is it too much to ask for parametric options as well for those that want them?

[da na]

I might actually upgrade to Windows 11... 

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, StDragon said:

The new EQ, is that just for the app, or system wide?

Just the app.

 

1 hour ago, StDragon said:

It's a damn shame that OSes still have next to no EQ control without using the app included with the driver, or a 3rd party utility. The audio subsystem in Windows has been "Mickey Mouse".

I agree. And it would be nice to have a return/updated to the app volume mixer in Win11.

 

[Sauron]

3 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

lmao

[StephanTW]

IMO it still looks ugly and so different from win 10, still gives off windows 8 vibes and thats enough for me to just entirely avoid win 11 and hope win 12 will be back to more looking like win 10

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 hours ago, StDragon said:

Doesn't Win11 have an improved CPU scheduler that's optimized for Intel's Big/Little architecture whereas Win10 won't get this? Also, Windows 11 has improved BitLocker code that takes advantage of newer VAES instruction set which will lower CPU utilization.

yea but its noot anywhere near 10%.

iirc it was just outside of margin of error.

41 minutes ago, StephanTW said:

IMO it still looks ugly and so different from win 10, still gives off windows 8 vibes and thats enough for me to just entirely avoid win 11 and hope win 12 will be back to more looking like win 10

MS really cant win, people dont want to change to w10 because it looks bad compared to 7, then ms does w10 with a w7 style astethic and suddently w10 looks great and how could they consider changing something

[StephanTW]

1 hour ago, Helpful Tech Witch said:

w10 because it looks bad compared to 7

did people? honestly never thought it looked bad, just needed to turn of some of the cortana stuff and it was basicly the same apart from ofcourse the loss of those aero widgets.
but personally i woudnt compare w10 to w11 jump visually to w7 to w10 its more a aesthetic jump like w7 to w8

[Senzelian]

Thanks @GoodBytesfor always writing these giant update brakedowns.

It's a nice contrast to the usual complaints about Windows, when Windows 11 is really not all that bad.

 

____

 

 

I've been on the beta build of 22H2 for a while now and I do like a lot of the changes they did.

I especially like the cleaned up Windows Explorer.

[BondiBlue]

1 minute ago, Senzelian said:

when Windows 11 is really not all that bad.

It is when you constantly run into random issues that just shouldn't happen. I don't like to hate on Windows 11 just for the sake of hating on it, but some of the issues I've run into with it are just stupid. I went back to Windows 10 after several months of my main desktop being on 11, and I say that as someone who stuck with Windows 10 when it was first released, and that wasn't a particularly smooth release either. 

[LAwLz]

I feel like Windows 11, in many ways was Microsoft taking two steps backwards. Some of the changes in this update is them taking one step forward, but they are still nowhere where I want them to be. 

 

There are also thing I just don't get in this update. 

Global mute button? Sounds great! Except for some reason it only works in Teams. Apparently developers can opt in if they want, but not even Microsoft could be bothered to do it in more than Teams. I am not even sure it works in all Team versions. So if Microsoft can't be bothered, why should we expect other developers to bother? 

Just make it actually mute the mic, regardless of if a program has opted in. There is no reason to make a "global mute" button that only mutes one program. 

 

 

A lot of the bullet points in this update are just "this menu has been updated with the Windows 11 style". That should have been included in day 1. It shouldn't have taken them a year to make the UI in rather basic things like the language selection consistent. It's still nowhere consistent by the way, not even after this update. 

During the first Windows 11 reveal Panos said that the team obsessed over every single pixel, because details matter. So far, I haven't seen any indication of this. They just did what they always do, introduce a new design guideline and then updated some stuff with it.

Didnt like the old inconsistent UI with 5 different styles in different places of the OS? Here is your new OS with 6 differen styles!

 

 

Overall I think this update is good. But Windows 11 as a whole is still, in my opinion, a step backwards from Windows 10. The big promise of an updated and consistent UI is still far from complete, the parts they did rewrite are not only much less performant (their new UI framework sucks when it comes to performance, it is god awful) but also missing a lot of basic features. 

And Microsoft are still trying to make Windows something that serves them rather than their users. There is no reason why users should be expected to follow a 4 step guide on how to configure a local account rather than a Microsoft account. Users shouldn't have to press counter intuitive prompts that goes against their intentions just to get the result they want. 

The OS should exist and be designed to serve its users. It should strive to have as little friction as possible and help the user achieve their intended goal as quickly and easily as possible.

It shouldn't exist to try and annoy the users into doing what the maker wants users to do. 

Users shouldn't have to fight the OS at every turn just to get it to work the way they want and expect. People who are against this simple concept are servants of a corporation that don't care for their users. Only a masochist would encourage such hostile behavior. 

[Senzelian]

6 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Global mute button? Sounds great! Except for some reason it only works in Teams. Apparently developers can opt in if they want, but not even Microsoft could be bothered to do it in more than Teams. I am not even sure it works in all Team versions. So if Microsoft can't be bothered, why should we expect other developers to bother? 

Just make it actually mute the mic, regardless of if a program has opted in. There is no reason to make a "global mute" button that only mutes one program. 

I haven't tested this, but funnily enough in Microsoft Power Toys there is a tool called "Video Conference Mute", which should globally mute your mic.

But who doesn't use a headset with a mute button these days anyway?  

[Helpful Tech Witch]

35 minutes ago, StephanTW said:

did people? honestly never thought it looked bad, just needed to turn of some of the cortana stuff and it was basicly the same apart from ofcourse the loss of those aero widgets.
but personally i woudnt compare w10 to w11 jump visually to w7 to w10 its more a aesthetic jump like w7 to w8

Yea, a lot of people really liked w7 aero design and that was part of the reason that so many stayed on w7 and didnt upgrade to 10, along with other reasons

[Arika]

6 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

While there have been a bunch of click-bait articles on how Windows 11 Pro will join the likes of Windows 11 Home and force a Microsoft account

I'm still using w11 home with a local account though? (On my laptop)

[Lordofcheez]

9 hours ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

So basically still 0 reason to upgrade to Windows 11?

Give us a 10% FPS improvement or don't bother Microsoft. I am not a 10 year old and I am not going to upgrade because of new icons.

I mean I updated got a program for 5 bucks and now my windows looks like windows 7 I dont understand why people don't like windows 11. No one who uses windows 11 actually uses windows 11 like bruh come on.

[Jito463]

2 hours ago, Arika S said:

I'm still using w11 home with a local account though? (On my laptop)

It can be done, it just takes some extra effort.  During the setup process, when it asks for internet, you only connect it hardline with an ethernet cable.  After it updates and prompts you for an account sign in, just unplug the cable and go back a page.  Voila, local account setup.  I've been using that trick with Windows 10 Home for years.  Even though you don't technically need internet during setup on 10 (and thus automatically skip the MS account login), I still prefer it so Windows grabs as many drivers/updates as it can before signing in the first time.

3 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I feel like Windows 11, in many ways was Microsoft taking two steps backwards.

I've felt that way from the first time I played with it.  The UI appearance isn't a favorite of mine, but at least you can put the taskbar back in its traditional space of the left side, and the rest I could deal with.  However, there's so many other changes that just leaves me shaking my head.

 

I used to be able to right click on a file and press 'Shift+D' to delete, that no longer works because they changed the context menu.  Now you have to click on an icon, or click another link to get the traditional context menu (unless you modify the registry to restore the Windows 10 context menu).

 

You also used to be able to drag/drop items onto the taskbar, they've only finally added it back according to this news post.  Took them long enough for a feature that so many people use constantly.

 

What about something simple like being able to just click enter to login without a password from sleep?  In 10 you could click the 'Enter' key on the keyboard to wake the computer, then press it again to sign right in.  With 11 you have to either move the mouse cursor or hit the 'Tab' key to click on 'Sign in'.

 

So many annoyances, I can't even count them all.  It seems like every time I work with 11 at the store, I find yet another annoying change they've made that seems to be change for the sake of change, not for any good reason.

[Arika]

2 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

It can be done, it just takes some extra effort.  During the setup process, when it asks for internet, you only connect it hardline with an ethernet cable.  After it updates and prompts you for an account sign in, just unplug the cable and go back a page.  Voila, local account setup.  I've been using that trick with Windows 10 Home for years.  Even though you don't technically need internet during setup on 10 (and thus automatically skip the MS account login), I still prefer it so Windows grabs as many drivers/updates as it can before signing in the first time.

i didn't even do that, when it asks for MS account info, i just put in "admin" for account name and password, then went straight into local account creation

[Jito463]

5 minutes ago, Arika S said:

i didn't even do that, when it asks for MS account info, i just put in "admin" for account name and password, then went straight into local account creation

Maybe they used an early build of 11 when your laptop was sent out?  All I know, is that when I install 11 on computers at work, I always have to connect to the internet for updates, or it won't let me get past the network connection screen.