Windows 11 Moment 4 and 23H2

A few years ago i have already complained how confusing Windows 10 and later Windows 11 development become when they have introduced a bunch of channels (Beta, Canary, whatever) and it was hard to navigate and understand what feature lands in which version and when. In the past year Microsoft have also introduced Moment updates to Windows 11, when they would release a small set of new features and improvements with a regular monthly update without posting any news articles or blog posts. It becomes harder to track new features as only IT enthusiast websites and Youtube channels seem to comprehend what is happening with Windows. A few bullet points:

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Windows 11 22H2 Moment 3 Update

Tai yra trečias funkcinis atnaujinimas skirtas Windows 11 22H2 versijai. Pirmas buvo išleistas 2022 rudenį, antras pavasarį. Moment 3 išleistas gegužės mėnesį kaip Optional update (KB5026446), bet visi kas nediegia tokių atnaujinimų gavo naujas funkcijas su eiliniu mėnesiniu atnaujinimu liepos mėnesį – KB5028185.

Atnaujinimų šį kart ne tiek daug. Gal Microsoft pasaugo daugiau pokyčių ir naujovių metų galui ir 23H2 atnaujinimui. Keli įdomesni pakeitimai:

Daugiau animacijų užduočių juostoje kai spaudi ant orų ikonos ar kitų mygtukų (pačios ikonos animuotos).

Taip pat nustatymuose galima įjungti sekundžių rodymą laikrodyje (kas naudos šiek tiek daugiau energijos).

Two factor authentication kodas gaunamas Windows 11 pranešimo lange (notification) gali būti greitai nukopijuotas su integruotu Copy mygtuku (turbūt labiau aktualu kai telefonas surištas su kompiuteriu ir gauni pranešimus apie naujas SMS žinutes). Veikia tik su anglų kalba kol kas.

Papildomi nustatymai kada turi būti rodoma klaviatūra ekrane kai naudojamas 2-in-1 įrenginys.

Print screen mygtukas nuo šiol atidarys Snipping tool aplikaciją (tai galima pakeist nustatymuose).

Settings rodo kiek vietos turi ir kiek išnaudota visuose OneDrive paskyrose.

Naudojant VPN prisijungimą tinklo ikona rodys mažą skydelį (overlay), kas leis matyti kada VPN ryšys yra aktyvus. Nors tikriausiai veiks ne su visais VPN sprendimais.

Pridėtas Kiosk režimas su keliomis aplikacijomis.

Task Manager leidžia atlikti “live kernel memory dump”.

Naudojant Alt-Tab kombinaciją ar Snap Assist rodoma tik iki 20 paskutinių naršyklės skirtukų.

Kaip visada su dideliais atnaujinimais internete atsiranda pranešimų apie problemas. Kai kas skundžiasi kad po šio atnaujinimo sulėtėjo sistemos užsikrovimas ir veikimas, lėčiau veikia žaidimai. Taip pat pranešama apie interneto ryšio atsijungimus.

Windows 11 Just Had A Moment

The headline is silly, i know. Couldn’t help myself 🙂 So, i just recently learned that Microsoft decided to change its feature release method again. They had semi-annual feature releases for Windows 10 for a while, with fall releases having longer support time and usually being more reliability, performance and security focused. With the release of Windows 11 they said that they are switching to big updates once a year, because customers (or rather admins) are tired of too fast of a cadence. At my place we just ignored spring releases and only installed second release of the year anyway. But now they say customers want more rapid release of features. Are they polling the same customers or different crowds every time? 🙂

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Windows 10 2022 Update (22H2)

Spalio 18 dieną be fanfarų išleistas Windows 10 22H2 metinis atnaujinimas. Microsoft paskelbė dar kuklesnį įrašą savo IT Pros bloge ir kol kas parašė tik “scoped release focused on quality improvements to the overall Windows experience in existing feature areas such as quality, productivity, and security” neminint jokių konkrečių naujovių ar patobulinimų. Gal net ir neverta jau būtų leisti šiuos metinius atnaujinimus. Bet IT administratoriai dabar turi naują atskaitos tašką, gali ruošti atvaizdus su šia versija naujų kompiuterių paruošimui ir skaičiuoti dar ilgesnį palaikymo periodą.

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Windows 11 2022 Update (22H2)

Prieš kelias savaites buvo išleistas pirmas didelis naujovių atnaujinimas (feature update) skirtas Windows 11 operacinei sistemai. Savotiškas Anniversary Update. Nors Microsoft šį kart nenaudoja jokio ypatingo pavadinimo ir nepririša jo prie konkretaus mėnesio. Galbūt dėl to, kad atnaujinimai bus leidžiami tik kartą per metus (taip pat ir Windows 10). Taigi pavadinimas yra tiesiog “Windows 11 2022 Update”. O versijos numeris – 22H2. Kas reiškia, kad tai antros 2022 metų pusės leidimas. Nors ši numeracija nelabai turi prasmės, kai atnaujinimas tik vienas. Bet turbūt norima išlaikyt IT profesionalams pažįstamą šabloną. Žemiau yra naujovių aprašymas ir keletas mano įspūdžių.

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Personal Task Management in Microsoft 365

Sharing a few facts and impressions from my experience of using To Do and other Microsoft task management solutions. In the past i have used Excel to manage my list of tasks. I know, that sounds weird, but it was very organized, with dates, automatic coloring of various types of tasks and so on. I was getting my work done and that was the most important part. So, nobody cared what i use. For team’s projects we had very convoluted Excel sheets, our manager also used Project and at some point we started to use Planner. But these tools were not really designed for your personal tasks. Then i have switched jobs and as i was starting with a clean slate, i decided to try some app to track my stuff.

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Simulating Internet Explorer retirement scenario

A little bit less than a year ago Microsoft announced that they are going to retire Internet Explorer 11 browser on June 15, 2022. Which is now almost 4 months away. They have also since posted an FAQ detailing all the steps and which versions of Windows can still have IE for some time (LTSC and Server). And explained that IE engine itself is not going away until at least 2029 for supported versions of Windows 10 and 11, it is just the browser itself that is going to be disabled. They also made advancements in Site List for IE mode management and made it possible to do it completely via Microsoft 365 console. IE mode is used in Edge to utilize IE engine to render older websites and systems that still rely on old technology. It is when i remembered about a new group policy they added in January of 2021 that enabled administrators to disable IE11. Which in turn allows to simulate disabling Internet Explorer before its official retirement date.

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Update Connectivity – You are just not updating it right

The title of this post is tongue in cheek. Last week Microsoft has posted an article about Update Connectivity value and what role it plays in PC’s ability to install updates in a timely manner. Post made some waves on various IT news sites and also garnered critical response from systems administrators.

I cannot check if this parameter correlates with problems with updates (we use 3d party tools for updates). But, if you use Intune, maybe you can test this theory and find some useful insights. Although Microsoft provided rather vague explanation on how much time is actually required for PC to successfully update:

Specifically, data shows that devices need a minimum of two continuous connected hours, and six total connected hours after an update is released to reliably update.

Does this mean that only 2 continuous hours needed to initiate update, but the rest 4 can be divided in chunks, but still 6 in total needed to complete? So, if PC is online just 2 hours every day it will take 3 days to update? They need to clarify this part. By the way, this means being connected to Windows Update service, not just being online. But can update itself be interrupted? If not, then why they not say 6 continuous hours. Download already can be resumed next day and shouldn’t be that long anyway. Lots of confusion and questions here as it seems that you kind of need to keep it online for 6-8 hours to make it to update for sure. Which is not optimal. And this probably came from all the smart things introduced in Windows 10 gradually (active hours, Windows trying to find time to update when you are not actively using it). Updates got so big and they need so much time to install that it became a problem for users (being interrupted with updates). But Microsoft’s solution for this was not installing updates at all. Which is bad for security and a headache for administrators. And response from Microsoft is – Windows 11 has smaller and faster updates. Right. Though Windows 10 is not going away yet. And it was “last Windows” version and was intended to be polished and improved all the time. Why not improve update process in it instead of as usual touting better things for new and shiny versions? Who knows, maybe updates will not require a restart. In Windows 65 🙂

Cloud managed Edge IE Mode site list [EN]

In my last article regarding IE Mode i have griped that MS allowed to host site list file in the cloud, but there was no option to actually modify and publish it using M365 console. Well, this is now fixed. Microsoft presented a new section in M365 Admin Console called Microsoft Edge site list, which allows to manage multiple site lists, add URLs, save versions and publish them. There is also an option to import xml file with a list. Then you can copy ID of such site list and use it in Intune device profile to push that site list and a setting to use it to selected groups of devices. Alternatively you can use ConfigMgr or regular group policies. Although it is not clear how you can use just ID with group policies. I think it still requires a path to the file. But if you are in Intune camp completely, then this is a nice way to get rid of hosting files manually in Azure and a nice way to have different rings of devices with different sets of sites that has to be opened with IE mode. More information in this article on MS Tech Community.