We covered the roll out of Instant Games in February 2024, and while we liked the idea,  we rightly pointed out that the new feature took longer than usual to begin rolling out to everyone.

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Although announced in September 2023, Instant Games feature wasn’t available in the Microsoft Store for anyone until February 2024. Worse, wider roll out began much later.

It turns out that there weren’t too many people interacting with these Instant Games, which were more or less limited to Arcade category. In a statement, Microsoft confirmed “Instant Games” are going away starting November 14, 2024. This means you won’t be able to play these games without downloading them.

“Starting from 14th November, 2024, Arcade will be removed from the Microsoft Store. You can continue to download your games, but instant play will no longer be available,” the company said.

First spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft has now also updated the Windows Store description under the Arcade section to reflect its decision.

If you have never tried Instant Games, you can still open the Arcade category in the Microsoft Store and try a few of them. These games would still be available, but you must download them to play. Right now, it’s possible to play Instant Games without downloading.

The idea of Instant games might remind you of old Flash games. They’re not of highest quality, but the games are fun to play, especially if you’re looking for time pass or just want to have fun.

Instant Games were supposed to make the Microsoft Store more engaging. In fact, Microsoft had worked with several game publishers to make Instant Games fun on Windows 11, and the company hoped “users [would] jump in and instantly play favorite casual game directly from the Microsoft Store”.

At the time of writing, Windows Latest noticed that there are up to 69 free-to-play acrade-themed games, including some that are pretty similar to Angry Birds.

I personally liked the idea of Instant Games, but it goes without saying that it had a slow roll out and it failed to gain traction because people do not use the Microsoft Store as frequently as they use Google Play.

Perhaps if some popular games were part of the Microsoft Store’s Instant Play catalogue, things would have been different.

The post Microsoft is killing off Windows 11 Store’s no-download Instant Games (Arcade) appeared first on Windows Latest

Microsoft support representative confirmed to Windows Latest that today’s end of support Windows update notification is a bug.

While Windows 11 24H2 is indeed the newest version, Windows 11 23H2 remains supported until November 11, 2025. Microsoft’s official documentation shows that support for Windows 11 version 23H2 will end on November 11, 2025, for Home and Pro. On the other hand, Enterprise and Education remains supported until Nov 10, 2026.

This means after that date, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, bug fixes, or support for older PCs.

However, after installing Windows 11 23H2 Patch Tuesday KB5046633, which began rolling out on November 12’s morning, many users told Windows Latest that they were seeing alerts saying, “Get the newer version of Windows to stay up to date. Your version of Windows has reached the end of service.”

“I’m on Windows 11 23H2, which is still supported, why do I suddenly see a message saying that this is End of Service,” one of the users noted in a post. “Installed KB5045935, KB5046633 now Windows Update says “Get the newer version of Windows to stay up to date,” another user noted.

This “warning” still has the “Check for updates” button, which is causing confusion for users who already have the latest version of Windows 11.

If you also see the error, you’re not alone. Thousands of users have the problem. Windows Latest was able to confirm this issue in our own tests and saw the same incorrect alerts, even on fully updated systems.

A Microsoft support representative confirmed to Windows Latest that Windows 11 23H2’s “Your version of Windows has reached the end of service” alert is a known issue currently being investigated and will be fixed automatically via a server-side update.

“This is just a reporting bug on our side”, a Microsoft support representative told Windows Latest.

I am told that the Windows Update error/warning will automatically disappear within the next few hours. However, logging out of your account or restarting your system may speed up the process.

KB5046633 is November 2024’s mandatory security update and it has tons of decent fixes, including fix for an issue that causes excessive battery power usage if you device has Modern Standby feature. It also added an option to change the Copilot key to do something else, such as open Windows Search.

It’s unclear how an update like KB5046633 caused Windows Update to incorrectly warn people, but you can safely ignore the alert and check back the Windows Update page later.

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KB5046613 is a mandatory November 2024 Patch Tuesday update. The main highlight of this update is the new Account Manager in the Start menu that lets you check the currently active account, some key Microsoft service stats, and promotional stuff. We aren’t fans of the promotional stuff, but that’s just Microsoft putting in too much effort.

As shown in the above screenshot, Windows Latest observed that Windows 10’s Start menu now has the same Microsoft account manager integration available in Windows 11. It’ll likely get better in an upcoming release, but it’s here to stay and you cannot remove it.

The rest of the changes are just fixes for the existing problems with Windows 10. One of the major fixes is for the Windows 11 upgrade issue. When a Windows 10 user tried to upgrade to Windows 11, the PC crashed with a BSOD error, but this has now been fixed.

If you check for updates today, you’ll see “2024-11 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5046613).”

Download Links for Windows 10 KB5046613

Windows 10 KB5046613 Direct Download Links: 64-bit and 32-bit (x86).

If you don’t get the update or it fails to install, use the above offline installer file to install the November 2024 security update. It will advance your PC to Windows 10 Build 19045.5131.

What’s new in Windows 10 Build 19045.5131

Microsoft has fixed an issue where some games stopped responding after Windows 10 KB5044384. According to the company, a bug in a recent update caused DRM-based games to crash. This was due to a change made in the previous update, which is being reverted with today’s patch.

Due to a bug in Windows 10, some multifunction printers worked incorrectly and would print the command string without any request from the user. Even drivers failed to install while connecting to a multifunction printer via a USB cable.

This issue was present in Windows 11 as well and is now patched in both operating systems.

Here are the other noteworthy upgrades added in Windows 10 22H2 build 1904x.5131:

• There’s a new product activation phone number that works in multiple regions.
• Microsoft has fixed an issue where Vmswitch produced a stop error while managing and switching between two virtual machines.
• A bug has been fixed where WebView2 apps couldn’t recognize the device when you connected an Xbox 360 or any other Bluetooth controller.
• Some system apps like Windows Narrator failed to start for non-admin user profiles. This has been fixed.
• Azure Virtual Desktop users faced a black screen issue after logging in and couldn’t sign in to office apps. Microsoft has also patched it.

All these features and improvements will become available after you install the Windows 10 KB5046613 update.

According to the release notes, Microsoft is still aware of an issue where some apps could fail to open. This issue affects apps such as Teams, Narrator and even Quick Assist.

Microsoft confirmed it has already started rolling out a fix for the issue, which will be automatically delivered via a server-side update.

The post Windows 10 KB5046613 adds Microsoft account manager (direct download .msu) appeared first on Windows Latest

KB5046633 is a mandatory security update and as is the case with Patch Tuesday updates, you get all the improvements that were a part of the last month’s optional update. Two features stand out among the long list of improvements, the ability to ditch the Copilot key and a slight change for the Start menu.

If you have a Windows 11 PC with a physical Copilot key, you can map it to another shortcut. We spotted it in a preview build a few months back, and the change is finally here in 23H2. Simply put, you can set it to launch any app of your choice or open the Windows search. The latter is useless because you can easily search for anything in the Start menu.

Adding an extra Copilot key was unnecessary, but it served Microsoft’s Copilot branding and is now useless because we have a vacant shortcut for Cortana. To change the key behavior, go to Personalization > Text input > Customize Copilot key on the keyboard option and pick either Custom or Search option from the list.

For now, the setting appears on Windows 11 PC without a Copilot key. Tweaking it doesn’t have an impact because the PC doesn’t have a physical key.

This November security update changes the naming of the All Apps section to All. We don’t like the change because it’s more confusing. Also, we are still waiting for the Grid and Category layouts for the Start menu.

Download Links for Windows 11 KB5046633

Windows 11 KB5046633 Direct Download Links: 64-bit and ARM | Microsoft Update Catalog.

Since Windows 11 KB5046633 is a mandatory security update, it’ll automatically install on your 23H2 PC. If the update fails to install or isn’t available, you can use the above direct download link to update your PC manually.

What’s new in Windows 11 Build 22631.4460

KB5046633 will bump up your PC’s build to Windows 11 Build 22631.4460. There are some improvements that are a part of the gradual rollout phase and will arrive a little late on your PC.

It includes a new Narrator shortcut key to help you copy its speech to the clipboard. Press the Narrator key + Ctrl + X combination to use the copy feature. Moreover, you can read emails in the new Outlook app, which wasn’t possible before.

This update patches a Microsoft Teams bug that stopped you from joining a meeting via Outlook reminders. It also fixes a Modern Standby bug that dranied more battery instead of conserving it.

Here’s a list of some problems patched in Windows 11 KB5046633:

• The “I forgot my PIN” option didn’t work in Windows Hello mode.
• The Xbox 360 and Bluetooth controller weren’t detected in the webview2 apps.
• Bluetooth apps stopped working due to memory leaks.
• Using vmswitch in a virtual machine triggered BSODs.

While the Patch Tuesday updates aim to fix bugs, they often introduce new ones, like the dual-boot bug for Linux. We’ll keep testing the build for any new troubles.

The post Windows 11 KB5046633 23H2 out with features (direct download .msu) links appeared first on Windows Latest

KB5046617 is a mandatory security (Patch Tuesday) release, which means it’s supposed to download and install automatically in the coming hours. This is the second Patch Tuesday release for Windows 11 24H2 and the fourth if you own a Copilot+ PC. Since it’s still a new operating system version, there are tons of bug fixes.

My personal favourite change in Windows 11 24H2’s November 2024 Patch is a new setting that finally lets you block the “suggestions” to turn off notifications. With Windows 11 23H2, Microsoft added a feature that shows a notification suggesting you block alerts from apps you haven’t interacted with in a while.

Were you also seeing too many of these “Notification Suggestions”? Starting with November 12 update, you can click on (…) button, and turn it off. This can also be turned off with Settings > System > Notifications > “Notification Suggestions”.

Remember that you need to be on Windows 11 Build 26100.2314 or newer to see this toggle. If you’re on Windows 11 24H2, you’ll automatically see the following patch when you check for updates:

2024-11 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5046617)

This will advance 24H2 to Windows 11 Build 26100.2314.

Microsoft has also published an update for the .NET framework 3.5 and 4.8.1. For those unaware, these .NET frameworks are updated every month on Patch Tuesday because they power popular Windows apps, and security patches are necessary.

Download Links for Windows 11 KB5046617

Windows 11 KB5046617 Direct Download Links: 64-bit and ARM-64 | Microsoft Update Catalog.

In addition to Windows Update, these updates are available via the Microsoft Update Catalog, so you can open the above link and get the .msu files. To do this, you need to click on “Download” next to the listed patch for your PC (check for system details from Settings > System > About).

Finally, it will open a pop-up dialog with the link to the .msu file. Click on the link to save the .msu of November 12 Patch, and double-click it to begin installing the update without using Windows Update.

(A bug causes the Update Catalog to appear with incorrect language. Microsoft is investigating it).

What’s new in Windows 11 Build 26100.2314?

Windows 11 24H2 KB5046617 is at the forefront of improvements, which is supposed to make this year’s biggest update more usable. Microsoft has finally fixed an issue where Alt+Tab causes a black screen when you switch between app windows, particularly games.

This was one of the major issues with Windows 11 24H2.

Windows 11 24H2’s long standing bug where Disk Cleanup or Storage Settings will incorrectly estimate the storage usage has also been fixed.

This bug caused the Windows Update cache to appear as 8.63GB. In addition, Microsoft is promising that Disk Cleanup is now more accurate after KB5046617 update.

Similarly, SFC should now work correctly when you use sfc/scannow command. Previously, a bug in 24H2 was forcing SFC to repair certain files on every scan.

Windows Latest can confirm this has been fixed.

Another Windows 11 24H2 bug where Task Manager incorrectly reported “zero processes” has been fixed. Last but not least, DirectAccess now works properly if you upgraded to Windows 11 2024 Update using an in-place upgrade. A bug previously caused connection failures.

In terms of new features, the most notable one is that you can configure the Copilot key on your keyboard to open an app or Windows Search.

Microsoft says that custom app mapping only supports signed MSIX packages, which loosely means you cannot set unverified apps as shortcuts.

As already mentioned at the outset, the next best thing we like about Windows 11 KB5046617 is the ability to remove notifications about turning off the notification from a particular app. Earlier, if you missed a notification for, let’s say Chrome, Windows would nag you about it.

Now, you can click the Turn-off button to remove it or visit the Notifications page in the Settings app.

When you view the Wi-Fi password in the Settings app, it opens in Windows 11 UI style rather than the old, eye-gouging look. There’s also a new Narrator shortcut (Narrator key + Ctrl + X) to copy the narrated text to the clipboard. It now works with the new Outlook web app.

Other minor fixes in Windows 11 Build 26100.2314 include adding a detach virtual hard disk option in the Settings app. Previously, you could only do that via the Control Panel, but now the button is available in the Settings > System > Storage > Disks & Volumes section.

The netsh wlan show networks command gets UTF-8 support. So, reading your “ingeniously” crafted SSIDs with emojis is possible. If you use Windows Sandbox, you’ll see a new Audio and video input control option along with the ability to share folders and clipboard data with the host OS.

Windows 11 KB5046617 also fixes the following existing issues:

• Scanning apps failed to detect certain scanners despite no connection issues.
• Some parts of Windows UI became inaccessible while using apps.
• Shutting down the PC generated a BSOD stop code error.

The post Windows 11 KB5046617 (24H2) out with fixes (direct download .msu) appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows 11 24H2 has been under development for about a year and began rolling out to some PCs on October 1. Microsoft also made the update available via the Media Creation Tool and Update Assistant. Later, Microsoft published the ISO images of Windows 11 24H2 and promised files for ARM PCs in the coming weeks.

At the same time, Microsoft told us that it won’t let everyone go to Windows Update Settings, check for updates and grab Windows 11 24H2. The upgrade blocks were applied on some PCs due to potential issues with Windows 11 24H2 on specific configurations, such as older models from Asus.

Windows 11 24H2 has as many as nine officially listed “upgrade blocks,” and two have been quietly lifted in early November.

Upgrade block lifted for devices with fingerprint senors

As spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft says it has fixed an issue where certain devices might experience problems with fingerprint sensors.

Fingerprint sensors are quite common in modern 2-in-1s, and it’s likely that a bug affected a particular manufacturer or vendor, but Microsoft won’t tell us how many devices were affected.

While we don’t know how many devices with fingerprint sensors were affected due to Windows 11 24H2 upgrade blocks, we think it was one of the widely applied upgrade blocks compared to other issues.

Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft updated its support document to lift the upgrade block on November 8, 2024. According to the company, a bug in Windows 11 24H2 was causing the sensors to become unresponsive after the PC was locked. As a result, the Windows Hello fingerprint did not work, and authentication failed.

“Only a limited set of devices are affected by this issue,” Microsoft originally stated in the support document, and warned people against manually updating “to version 24H2 using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant or the media creation tool until this issue has been resolved.”

With Windows 11 KB5044284 (released on October 8), Microsoft said it fixed the fingerprint issue.

After briefly testing the patch for another month, Microsoft confirmed that the Windows 11 24H2 upgrade block has been lifted on PCs with a fingerprint sensor. You’ll see this on Windows Update when you check for updates.

Voicemeeter BSOD safeguard lifted to allow Windows 11 24H2

While going through the documentation, Windows Latest also noticed that Microsoft has lifted the update block on devices running the audio software Voicemeeter.

After releasing Windows 11, version 24H2, some users flagged a sudden blue screen errors when using Voicemeeter, displaying a “MEMORY MANAGEMENT” error.

As soon as it received the reports from early testers, Microsoft applied a temporary “safeguard hold,” blocking Windows 11 24H2 for people with Voicemeeter app.

A new update for Voicemeeter (1.1.1.8, 2.1.1.8, or 3.1.1.8) is now available and it allows Windows 11 24H2 to go through smoothly.

This upgrade block was lifted on November 5, 2024.

However, Windows 11 24H2 is still not available for some configurations due to the following safeguard holds:

• ASUS devices (models X415KA and X515KA) are still blocked due to blue screen errors.
• Camera issues on devices using object or face recognition can cause apps to become unresponsive.
• Safe Exam Browser versions 3.7 and below are incompatible with Windows 11, version 24H2, leading to launch failures.
• Easy Anti-Cheat with outdated drivers is causing blue screen errors during gameplay.
• Wallpaper customization apps may not work as expected, leading to crashes or incomplete functionality.
• Intel Smart Sound Technology drivers are causing blue screens due to compatibility issues.
• Asphalt 8 may periodically freeze, leading to game crashes on affected systems.

We’re only talking about the upgrade blocks here, not the issues.

Windows 11 24H2 issues are longer than the above list as they cause the mouse cursor to disappear, Windows Update 8.63GB cache, Task Manager zero processes count, BSODs for certain SSDs, network (Wi-Fi) failure, and even a bug where the File Explorer menu appears outside the screen.

The post Microsoft makes Windows 11 24H2 available for more PCs, as two upgrade blocks lift appeared first on Windows Latest

But what’s going on? With Chrome 130, when you copy a link or text in Chrome, you now see a small pop-up that says “Link copied.” This is one of the examples as you might come across similar pop-ups like “Image Copied”.

Google has turned on these alerts for the following actions:

• When you copy a link in Chrome, it shows “Link Copied”.
• Or when you select a text, right-click and Copy link to highlight, it also says “Link Copied”.
  
• When you right-click and copy an image, it shows “Image Copied”.
  
• When you right-click add a tab to the reading list, Chrome shows “Page added to reading list”

Call them pop-up, alert, toast or anything, but they’re annoying.

I don’t think Google has documented the “feature” anywhere, but based on references seen and the proposal read by Windows Latest, it looks like Google believes this an important change to help you realize what you’re doing.

Google says the feature is supposed to confirm an “action”, so you don’t have to wonder if the link was copied or not.

According to documents seen by Windows Latest, Toast UI idea was part of a bigger plan to make these notifications standard across websites, so developers wouldn’t need to build their own versions. The goal was to make web pages easier to build and use, but the plan didn’t fully take off.

However, Google still plans to use the toast UI for built-in features in Chrome.

It depends on how you see Google’s idea, but my problem with “Link copied”, “Image Copied” pop-up is that they stay on the screen for 10 seconds. Worse, Google has even experimented with longer pop-ups.

Do you really need “Link Copied” or other pop-ups to stay on the screen for 10 seconds? Obviously not.

How to disable Chrome pop-ups for copying link, images and more

To turn off pop-ups for “Link copied”, “Image Copied” and others, follow these steps in Google Chrome:

1. Open Chrome, type chrome://flags/#top-chrome-toasts
2. You’ll see a highlighted option labeled “Top Chrome Toasts.”
   
3. Next to it, there’s a drop-down menu with several choices.
   
4. Choose your preferred setting
   • Disabled: Select this to completely turn off the “Link copied” pop-up.
   • Enabled: Select this to turn on the toast feature if it was off.
   • Enabled with 8s, 10s, or 12s: These options allow you to keep the toast feature on but set how long it stays on the screen—8, 10, or 12 seconds.
5. Restart Chrome.

Google plans to show “Text copied” in a future release of Chrome

In a Chromium commit, Windows Latest spotted that Google plans to show toast when text is copied to clipboard. The commit confirms Google will show toast when the “copy text” button is clicked to copy detected text.

We also spotted that Google is testing two Chrome Toast UI Enhanced Safe Browsing (ESB) features in Chrome. This will inform you changes to your Enhanced Protection setting. These.

Toasts are displayed when the setting is turned on or off via sync:

• New Chrome Toasts: Three toasts are created, two for enabling and one
  for disabling Enhanced Protection.
• New Strings: Adds new strings to support the toast messages.
• Chrome Brand Check: Includes a check to ensure ESB sync and toasts are
  only enabled for Chrome branded builds.

Google is convinced these pop-ups are going to help everyone using Chrome, and it doesn’t plan to give up on the idea.

Thankfully, Microsoft Edge doesn’t have these alerts, as it plans to focus on more important features, such as the bottom address bar and extension support for mobile.

The post Turn off Chrome’s annoying “Image copied, “Link copied” on Windows appeared first on Windows Latest

Like every other tech giant, Microsoft wants us to use AI in Windows 11 in one way or another. In fact, most of the promised AI features aren’t even here, including the controversial Windows Recall and the interesting “Click to Do”. They’re all coming and more features are planned, but how is Microsoft planning to market the big update?

Windows Intelligence. This is the answer. According to references in Windows 11, Windows Intelligence could be the new umbrella term for all the AI features. Ahead of the announcement, Microsoft is also preparing a dedicated Settings page for Windows Intelligence AI features.

Microsoft is not killing off Copilot brand, which is a different product and has nothing to do with Windows Intelligence.

As noticed by Albacore on X, new placeholders for the upcoming privacy page confirm that “Windows Intelligence” is a thing. It would be the new name for “Generative AI” settings Microsoft has been testing.

Windows Latest was able to turn on the hidden “Generative AI” page in the Settings. While it shows up as “Generative AI” in our screenshot, it’s getting rebranded to “Windows Intelligence”. That would be the name when the feature goes live in Windows 11.

As shown in the screenshot, the first toggle controls “Windows Intelligence access.” It lets users decide if apps on their device can access generative AI features”. The second setting, “Let apps use generative AI,” is for managing permissions, allowing you to control which specific apps can utilize AI capabilities.

The “Recent activity” section shows a history of AI requests within the last 7 days, providing transparency into which apps have accessed AI features. This could allow you to review past actions, such as when an app tried to access NPU or apps that might have access to AI-related features.

It’s supposed to give more transparency over how AI is being used on Windows 11. We think it looks like the existing recent activity log for apps that might have accessed the mic and camera in Windows 11.

Last but not least, Microsoft will also let you turn on or off Windows Intelligence system-wide or user-wide (if you’ve multiple accounts).

In addition, Microsoft previously explored a dedicated page in Settings for managing “AI Components“, including managing updates for “AI Components” on Windows Update. This is according to references to “AI component updates” in musupdatehandlers2.dll.mui.

When is it coming to Windows 11? A release date is uncertain, but Microsoft could still announce “Windows Intelligence” or tease it in some way by the end of the year, or we might learn more about it in early 2025.

The post Leak confirms Windows 11 AI “Windows Intelligence” brand, privacy features appeared first on Windows Latest

Via a server-side update, Microsoft has started showing the “Windows 11 version 24H2” banner on Windows 10. As shown in the screenshot below, Windows Latest first spotted that Microsoft has updated the way it promotes Windows upgrades.

Previously, users were seeing updates for Windows 11 versions like 22H2 and 23H2, but now, through a server-side update, a new banner is being shown to encourage upgrading to Windows 11 version 24H2.

The design of the banner hasn’t changed, and it’s still the same thing, but when you click on download button, it begins downloading Windows 11 24H2 on Windows 10.

A Microsoft representative confirmed that the company had updated the banner on Windows 10’s Windows Update support page to reflect “Windows 11, version 24H2” and reminded everyone that it was a free update.

There’s a smaller link below that lets you stay on Windows 10 if you prefer.

But Microsoft will be experimenting with more updated banners in the coming weeks as Windows 10 approach end of support deadline.

Based on the references we have seen, Microsoft may have also planned to replace the banner again to warn that the end of support is nearing and that Windows 11 24H2 is a better choice.

Is Windows 11 catching up?

I switch back and forth between Windows 11 and Windows 10, and it’s no secret that Windows 10 feels more polished than Windows 11, especially the File Explorer or the context menu, which takes longer than usual to load.

In fact, on Windows 11, a part of the File Explorer does not even load instantly while the app is open.

But as much as you may want to keep using Windows 10, you’ll probably need to give Windows 11 a try sooner rather than later.

Windows 11 24H2 feels more polished, especially if you work for a business and have the license to use LTSC.

In our tests, Windows Latest observed that Windows 11 24H2 LTSC still comes with your favourite legacy apps, is more or less as fast as Windows 10, and gets the job done. It also has some good features to try out, such as snap suggestions. There are also many good things about Windows 11 if you play games.

Windows 11’s 2025 update is expected to patch the remaining issues with the OS, and Microsoft will try to pull that off before October 14, 2025. It plans to add more features, including Windows Intelligence (a new umbrella term for AI in Windows). There are plans to bring back Windows 10-like small taskbar in Windows 11.

Okay, but can we still use Windows 10?

But what if you want to use Windows 10 for another year? Microsoft has confirmed that it plans to sell extended security updates for $30.

As soon as Windows 10 support ends on October 14, 2025, you’ll be able to extend support for another year by paying $30.

It’s a one-year program that is valid for one device, and we don’t think that’s a lot of money compared to what enterprises will be paying.

For enterprise customers, Microsoft offers a 3-year ESU program through Volume Licensing, with prices increasing each year. $61 per device in the first year, $122 in the second, and $244 in the third. For educational institutions, it’s just $1 per device for the first year, $2 in the second, and $4 in the third year.

It’s also worth noting that not all versions of Windows 10 will lose support on October 14, 2025. Windows Latest has created a table that sums up the end of support plans:

If you don’t want to pay, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 11 24H2.

The post Microsoft begins promoting Windows 11 24H2 on Windows 10 to push migration appeared first on Windows Latest

As you probably know, Windows 11 allows you to open the emoji + clipboard panel with keyboard shortcut Win + . (dot) and ; (semi-colon). It is a small pop-up that lets you quickly insert emojis and GIFs anywhere in a text field. You can also insert kaomojis and symbols, and even view the items you’ve recently copied.

The clipboard and emoji panel in Windows 11 are pretty nice and get the job done without major problems.

At the moment, it is not possible to access the emojis from the taskbar unless you’ve pinned the on screen modern keyboard, and then you use the emoji button inside it, but this could change in a future release.

As noticed by Phantom on X, Microsoft is testing a new emoji button for Windows 11 taskbar’s system tray that will allow you to quickly open the emoji panel.

Windows Latest understands that a new “Emoji and more” button might soon appear in the system tray of Windows 11, based on leaked strings. The strings in the update mentions a new button titled “Emoji and more” and “Press Windows key + . (period) to open the panel” “Settings”.

The idea seems to be all about making emoji panel more accessible, particularly for those who prefer clicking taskbar elements over keyboard shortcuts. I think it’s a nice change for those with a tablet, but since Windows 11 doesn’t have a tablet mode, it would be visible for everyone..

When you open the emoji menu from the taskbar, you will see a default view with a selection of popular emojis. You can scroll through the list or search for specific emojis using a search bar at the top.

Other features coming: smaller taskbar, recommendations in Windows 11

In addition to the emoji panel, Windows Latest previously reported that Microsoft plans to bring small taskbar icons to Windows 11.

As detailed in our article, another leak suggested that Microsoft is building a new “recommendations” engine for Windows 11 that will suggest apps, websites and snap groups (a layout of apps to multitask) directly on or around the taskbar.

Microsoft is still testing these ideas, and it’s unclear when they’ll arrive in the stable builds, but they’ll definitely not happen until early next year.

Also, we are not seeing any references to the ability to move the taskbar, so that doesn’t appear to be a priority at Microsoft.

Microsoft officials previously said that it would not make the taskbar movable because doing so would disrupt the flow of the Start menu and related animations.

The post Windows 11 taskbar’s big update could add a new emoji button appeared first on Windows Latest