This is something you can enable after installing the operating system to your supported computer, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort to get done either.
Find everything you need on Microsoft special page
You will most likely want to download all the essential data from the Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit, and you can easily find all you need on Microsoft’s dedicated page.
From there, according to Redmond officials, you should test the recommended configurations. Also, you will want to customize and implement as appropriate for your needs.
From what we understand, two new settings have been included for this recent release. They were initially added to the Windows Server 2022 launch, so some users may already have ample experience with them.
These recent settings are custom for the printer driver installation restriction and a new Microsoft Defender Anti-virus feature. Interestingly enough, the software giant has removed all Microsoft Edge legacy settings from this release.
So what’s new?
Script Scanning
Script scanning was a parity gap we had between Group Policy and MDM. Since this gap is now closed, Microsoft is enforcing the enablement of script scanning (Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Real-time Protection\Turn on script-scanning).
Restrict Driver Installations
In July a Knowledge Base article and a subsequent patch were released for CVE-2021-34527, more commonly known as PrintNightmare.
A new setting to the MS Security Guide custom administrative template for SecGuide.admx/l (Administrative Templates\MS Security Guide\Limits print driver installation to Administrators) and enforced the enablement was added.
Microsoft Edge Legacy
Microsoft Edge Legacy (EdgeHTML-based) reached end of support on March 9, 2021 and is not part of Windows 11.
Therefore, the settings that supported it have been removed from the baseline. Going forward, use the new Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) baseline, which is on a separate release cadence and available as part of the Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit.
Tamper Protection
While you are enabling the Microsoft Security Baseline for Windows 11 (and/or Windows 10, and/or Windows Server 2022/2019/2016), make sure to enable Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s Tamper Protection to add a layer of protection against Human Operated Ransomware.
What is your opinion on these extra security measures imposed by the Redmond-based tech giant? Let us know in the comments section below.
Gaming is a billion-dollar industry that focuses on bringing the very best electronic games or video games to your computer or game consoles.
Game programming is a subset of game development and is the process of software development of video games.
The creation of games involves a lot of areas of expertise like simulation, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, physics, audio programming, and input.
With all the tools available on the market in today’s gaming industry, it’s easier than ever to start developing games with or without any specialized education.
It is not easy to become a successful game developer or to create a good game that people will want to play, but thanks to today’s technology, it is entirely possible.
Whether you are trying game development as an after-work hobby or want to create a name for yourself on the market, this list will give you the resources you need in order to get started ASAP.
Unity started off as a 3D engine but it also supports 2D. As a word of warning, you may sometimes encounter some minor issues when creating 2D games.
After all, Unity’s 2D system is built upon a 3D core system. This also means that Unity adds a lot of unnecessary bloat to 2D games and that can affect performance.
Unity doesn’t have a component-entity design but has played an important role in popularizing it. This platform offers you the possibility to treat everything in the game as an editable object.
Being able to attach various components to each object is crucial. This feature allows you to control the object’s behavior and logic for optimum results.
To get the most out of Unity you need to use C# programming language. The good news is that you can quickly get the hang of this tool even if you haven’t used it before.
There are literally thousands of tutorials available on YouTube and on Unity’s official website for you to watch and learn.
With Unity it is very easy to publish your creations using one of the supported export formats that are compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, etc.
With this program, you can create games for VR systems like Oculus Rift and Steam VR as well as gaming consoles.
Unity Asset Store gives you the possibility to download and use various pre-made features in your game. You can easily add 3D models, HUD graphics, environmental textures, dialog systems, etc.
Other key features of Unity include:
Support for mobile game creation
Small Instant Game support via Project Tiny
Kinematica character animation system
Unity has a free, personal use version which comes with certain limitations. You can also get various subscription plans based on the scale of your project.
Unity
Create 3D or 2D model games with HUD graphics, environmental textures, and more!
GameMaker is a rewritten version of Game Maker: Studio that came out in 1999. Today it has become one of the most popular and active free game development engines available on the market.
The company also releases new feature updates at regular intervals. It is a great piece of software that allows you to create entire games using either its drag-and-drop interface or by coding.
This software gives you a lot of power by using its flexible Game Maker Language which looks similar to C++.
This application supports a lot of quality-of-life features such as the ability to add in-app purchases to your game, real-time analytics, source control, multiplayer networking.
GameMaker2 has built-in editors for images, animations, and shades. You can also extend GameMaker2 capabilities by using third-party extensions.
GameMaker Studio’s key features include:
Drag & drop actions – loops, switch data structures, buffers, ini files, etc.
Godot is another great option for your game programming needs. This engine supports the creation of both 2D and 3D games.
Unlike Unity, Godot’s support for 2D processing is far better because it was carefully designed from the start. That allows for greater performance, fewer bugs, and a cleaner overall experience.
Godot’s way of approaching game architecture is unique in that everything is divided in scenes. A scene is a collection of elements like sprites, sounds and scripts.
You can use this feature to combine multiple scenes into a bigger scene and then you can combine those scenes into an even bigger one.
This hierarchical design makes it easy to stay organized and modify specific elements with ease.
This software uses a drag-and-drop system for keeping tabs on elements, but each of these elements can be extended by using the built-in scripting system which uses a Python-line language called GDScript.
Godot is a great option for beginners in game design because it’s programming language is easy to use even without any coding experience.
Much like Unity, Godot Engine can deploy to multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, HTML5, etc.
Unreal Engine is developed by the gaming industry masters and it is the most professional game programming engine from this list.
This platform is very efficient because it was designed specifically to allow you to iterate and develop as quickly as possible. The engine is filled with features and customization.
You can use it without any coding experience being required because of its Blueprint system which lets you create game logic without coding. This allows everyone to be able to work with it.
This feature can be used to create entire games, even complex ones without opening a source editor but if you want to go in-depth you can code your own Blueprints with ease.
The UE YouTube channel has a wide range of videos (20 to 60 minutes long) that take you through all the features of this engine and teaches you how to use it.
Unreal Engine has been used to make some of the best and most popular triple A games out there in these past years. Thanks to its capabilities, it is the go-to choice for many developers.
Moreover, the engine is capable of hyper realistic graphics and physics which will create eye-catching visuals for any game if used properly.
Adobe Animate CC is a useful tool for game programming with a professional user interface and a lot of tools for creating animations and characters for games, TV shows, and other purposes.
It works closely with Adobe Flash that helps you create codes and develop ActionScript, so all the content created on Adobe Flash could be exported in Adobe Animate.
Animate CC allows you to make changes to different characters and features right inside the application, which will ease considerably your workflow.
Moreover, you have the possibility to update all the features within the program when a new release appears. You have the chance to bring your animation into an augmented reality experience.
Also, you can customize your artworks created in Adobe Animate with start screens and integrated audio in order to build an interactive game experience.
You can design a game with expressive animations that will seem alive on the display, so you can bring life to them by making them talk, blink, and walk.
It is possible to export your artwork to HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, Flash/Adobe AIR, and even SVG. Including the fact that you can add different codes inside the project, will make the publishing workflow a lot easier.
Other key features of Adobe Animate include:
Social media share support
Step by step animation tutorial within the app
Paints fill option for quick shading
You can try Adobe Animate for free, as you have the chance of a free trial.
In this article, we explored the best options available on the market for game programming. This list included both light-weight programs and high-performance full game programming and creation platforms.
Make sure you let us know about your choice and any extra information on the subject in the comment section below.
Microsoft has announced today the acquisition of Ally.io, a Seattle-based objectives and key results (OKR) company for an undisclosed amount. The Redmond giant plans to integrate Ally.io to its Viva employee experience platform that launched earlier this year.
Ally.io was founded in 2018 and currently has over 250 employees helping over 1,000 customers turn their goals into results. Notable clients including Dropbox, Slack, and Google, and Ally.io currently help teams achieve their goals wherever they’re working, including Slack and other apps. However, Microsoft has big plans for Ally.io that will go beyond the planned Viva module.
“Ally.io and Microsoft Viva will enrich how people and teams come together to build alignment and achieve better business outcomes. Over the next year, we’ll be investing to bring Ally.io into the Microsoft cloud, evolve the existing integrations with Microsoft Teams, and weave Ally.io into Viva, Office, Power BI and the broader set of Microsoft 365 apps and services,” explained Kirk Koenigsbaue, CVP of Microsoft 365 Marketing.
Far Cry 6 is Ubisoft’s biggest release of the year and the much-anticipated sequel is poised to top the sales charts on both PC and consoles, just like the previous title did before it. Normally this is the time we’d publish our review for the game, but seeing as the massive open-world easily offers 100 hours of gameplay we’re bringing you some hands-on first impressions instead.*
*Clarification: I think a review should be written when you’ve experienced at least all the main storylines of the game and a majority of the side content. Personally, I aim for near 100% completion before giving a title a score.
This article will cover the opening environments of the games where you are taught the basic gameplay elements as well as the first region of the game. The good news: this means we won’t be diving into any real spoiler territory and you can safely read this if you’re still planning on playing Far Cry 6 yourself.
The Story
Far Cry 6 takes place in Yara, a fictional island nation that closely resembles real-world Cuba. The once-elected leader Antón Castillo, played by well-known actor Giancarlo Esposito who is known for his roles in Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian, rules it with an iron fist and has become more of an oppressive dictator.
Yara has thrived economically under his rule, with the discovery of cancer-curing tobacco that can only be grown there, but it comes at the cost of the Yaran people. They are randomly conscripted into the military or if they’re less lucky, forced to work on the tobacco fields as slaves.
He’s also training his son Diego to become his successor (so much for elections) and trying his hardest to make the soft-boiled young boy into a heartless ruler himself.
A Far Cry is only as good as its villains
At the start of the game, a rally to find new workers has just started and we’re introduced to our playable character: Dani Rojas. You get to pick the gender at the start and I went for the female character as she looks badass and has great voice acting. I was almost reminded of Kassandra at times, one of my favorite female characters ever from another Ubisoft title: Assassins Creed Odyssey.
We barely escape with our lives as Antón attacks the boat we tried to escape on and is asked to join the guerilla resistance soon after. If we can bring all the revolting factions together, there just might be a chance to dethrone the feared despot.
The Gameplay
Far Cry 6 is an open-world First Person Shooter with a ton of RPG elements. While most of the central gameplay obviously revolves around shooting people, as it always has been, Ubisoft has gradually built in more and more skinner box mechanisms making for one hell of an addictive gameplay loop.
— BloodyGoodReviews™ | Pirate PR ?☠️ (@BloodyGoodRev) October 6, 2021
While shooting enemies doesn’t grant you experience to level up, a lot of actions will increase your rank and you’ll find plenty of treasure boxes with new gear or weapons. There is always a new collectible just within reach, making it very hard to put the game down for the night.
Even when you’re making your way towards a main quest of sidequest objective, you’ll constantly spot items to pick up in the corner of your eye or a chest with resources on the minimap, taunting you to stray off the roads and into the action for some kind of reward.
It’s a blessing as well as a curse, as this particular search for feeling accomplishment is the reason why I keep coming back to the open-world Ubisoft games, kind of like the videogame equivalent of comfort food, but it’s also the reason why I’m somewhat scared to start them, knowing full well I’ll be in it for the long haul.
Variation is the name of the game
While shooting people in a videogame will probably never truly tire, it’s nice to change things up every now and then. Far Cry 6 has a lot of alternative activities to entertain you; from elaborate treasure hunts that will have you diving through underwater caves and swinging from ropes, to a full-on 1V1 cockfighting game.
Don’t you get too cocky!
The entire game can be played in co-op and I can really see how playing this with your friend or spouse could be a great bonding experience, especially considering the amount of time you’ll be spending in the game together.
It’s nice then, that you can also face off against each other in minigame-like activities such as this. My favorite one is probably the checkpoint racing, especially by jet-ski. I’ve been hungering for a new Wave Race title for years now and I was super glad they added this to the game.
— BloodyGoodReviews™ | Pirate PR ?☠️ (@BloodyGoodRev) October 6, 2021
The human element
Far Cry 6 is a great-looking game, but something rubbed me the wrong way when playing. It’s probably because the Assassin’s Creed games in particular are known for breaking graphical boundaries and looking downright gorgeous, that I had too high expectations. While it doesn’t look bad by any means, especially not on Xbox Series X where there was a 26GB HD texture pack, it kind of failed to impress.
I had a hard time pinpointing what was bothering me about the game and it slowly dawned on me that it wasn’t really the graphics, but rather the human animations that felt robotic and off. NPC movement that doesn’t look natural and hardly any emotional expressions besides the ones found in cutscenes can go a long way toward giving a feeling of disconnect.
You’ll be spending the majority of the game traversing the world and interacting with NPC characters, as well as shooting tons and tons of enemies. When the former don’t behave naturally and the latter are rarely more than braindead target practice, the world itself can sometimes lose its grip on you.
Luckily the main character’s animations as well as the interactions with your amigos make up for that…
Pet companions make a return in Far Cry 6 and possibly play their biggest role ever. With a pet crocodile named Guapo joining you in your guerilla fights almost from the get-go and a cute dog name chorizo distracting enemies for you, there is a lot to like. And yes, of course, you can pet them. I’d have been angry at the game if this wasn’t the case.
Your Amigos even have their own set of challenges that will grant them new abilities upon completion, motivating you to use them in a certain way.
Chorizo is the cutest!
Over the top action
I’ve mentioned just now how much of a pushover the enemies are, no matter which difficulty you’re playing on, but when they group together and start attacking you with helicopters or when a tank drives into the fray, that’s when you have to start paying attention.
Luckily you have a crazy arsenal of inventive weapons at your disposal. From rather simple shotguns that set your enemies ablaze to disc-launching guns that play the macarena. Far Cry 6 doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a better game for it, in my opinion.
Sure, you could roleplay as a true guerilla, using only weapons and gear that seem fitting for the character and setting you find yourself in. Or.. you can just give in to the loco tendencies and become half a cyborg with laser weapons, a metallic robot-dog companion, and an army’s worth of weaponry in your backpack.
Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon set, courtesy of the Ultimate edition
Micromanagement
Each of those weapons can be customized, with new scopes, different types of ammunition, and even cosmetic changes like a new paint job or keychain ornament. Upgrading the weapons and your various base camps are the main reason you’ll be hunting for new resources, but more often than not, you can make do with very basic equipment.
If you find yourself needing more Pesos or building materials, you can even resort to a management-style minigame called Los Bandidos. You can recruit leaders by completing Yaran stories during the main quest or you can grow your regiment by freeing people being held up by soldiers and then send these off on daily missions.
Los Bandidos
It’ll be familiar grounds for people who spent a lot of time building a fleet of ships in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag but this time you even get small missions to guide your crews through, deciding whether they go undercover to increase their success rate or risk robbing a money truck to make some quick cash.
Tons of content
It’s the massive amount of content that makes Far Cry 6 such an easy game to recommend, especially to people with a limited budget and who are looking to get as much value as possible out of their games. There are easily 80+ hours of content here between the main storyline, the sidequest, and the free content updates that will arrive on a weekly basis.*
*If you’re curious about the free content and the paid DLC that is coming to Far Cry 6, be sure to check our detailed article where we guide you through the post-launch content roadmap.
Plenty to come!
Some issues dampen the fun
While I can definitely say I’ve had a great time with Far Cry 6 so far (about 15-20 hours and I’ve barely scratched the surface) there have been some annoyances.
Other than the enemy AI not putting up much of a fight, the companion AI can also get in your way. Literally even as there was one instance where a story character that was along for a mission follow me up a guard tower and blocked the only way back out: the ladder. It’s frustrating to have to reboot the game over something so silly, but luckily Far Cry 6 saves your progress with almost every action, so you hardly have to backtrack to pick up from where you left off.
One thing that constantly bothered me, however, was the simple act of picking up items. You’ll be doing this action almost all the time but for some unknown reason, you have to slow down the action and wait a full second before you can interact with bags or gasoline canisters and such. It makes the game come to a screeching halt.
Testing my patience
First impressions on Far Cry 6 – Is it worth it?
Pros
An enormous open world will keep you busy for hours
The gameplay is fun and lets you experiment with different weapons, amigos, and vehicles
It has a likable main character and an antagonist you will love to hate
Cons
Some minor bugs hamper the fun
The enemy AI doesn't really put up much of a fight
While I would have preferred to bring you a full-on review with a score, I’m not deep enough into the game to justify that. I can however answer the simple question: Is it worth it? And the answer is a resounding Yes.
Far Cry 6 is an incredibly fun game with a massive open world that is there for you to experiment in. It’s like videogame comfort food, always waiting for you to discover something new around the corner while feeling very familiar at the same time.
The story is gripping at times, Antón makes for a chilling antagonist that steals every scene he’s in and there is so much to discover that you’ll probably be playing this well into the new year. But the most important element of all, it’s just a plain fun game to spend time with.
To quote world-famous guerilla Juan Cortez; Have some fun for fuck’s sake!
Far Cry 6 is available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Luna, and Stadia. The standard edition costs $59.99 and the Gold Edition will set you back $99.99 which includes the Season Pass. The Ultimate edition includes three additional and exclusive gearsets and costs $119.99.
*Disclaimer: Reviewed on Xbox Series X, with the HD texture pack installed. Review copy provided by Ubisoft Belgium.
Windows 11 has now hit general availability, but if you’re hoping to make your fresh Windows 11 install feel more personal, Stardock is here to help. As promised, the company announced this morning the release of a “Release Candidate 1” update for Start11. The new release promises to help bring back some of the lost functions that Microsoft removed in Windows 11.
For most people, the big part of this release has to be how Start11 will now let you move the Taskbar to the top of the screen in Windows 11. And, as another big function, it also brings back the proper context menu on the taskbar in Windows 11. For folks in Windows 10, however, the release also brings the ability to use a Windows 11 style Start Menu.
This is still a release candidate, so keep in mind that there will still be some bugs. You can expect the final build soon. If you’re interested, you can purchase Start11 here for $5. If you’ve previously used Start8 and Start10, you will also have an upgrade option. We previously chatted with Stardock, and the company indicated to us that this is just the start and newer features are ahead, including a business edition.
Microsoft Teams launched support for interactive webinars with up to 1,000 attendees back in May this year. The Redmond giant has recently updated its Microsoft 365 roadmap with new entries hinting at the upcoming improvements to the webinars feature in Teams.
First up, Microsoft is working to add support for automated invites to Teams webinars. This means that going forward, the webinar invitations will be automatically added to the respective calendars of all participants. The feature should be great for a hybrid setting where people find it harder to keep track of important meetings and live events.
In addition to this, Microsoft Teams is also getting domain customization capabilities for all sorts of webinar communications. This feature will allow an organizer to create customized invites by adding the name of their tenant to the sender name and email domain. This should help users to find emails in their inboxes with ease.
Microsoft is planning to make all these new webinars capabilities available to all desktop and web users in December 2021. In case you missed it, the firm has recently announced that a new co-organizer role and structured question and answer experience is coming soon to Teams webinars.
After a day delay (thanks to FedEx,) I finally have a Surface Laptop Studio (Core i7/RTX/512GB SSD/16GB RAM) in my hands. Call me crazy, but I sold off my old HP ENVY 15 video editing laptop, as well as my XPS to pay for this new Surface. After 24 hours or so of playing around with it, I feel like I am glad I did.
It’s only been a short period, but so far, there’s a lot I like about my new Surface Laptop Studio. I have a full review coming up once I put the laptop through my daily grind, but It feels like this is my dream laptop in more ways than one.
The hardware:
I’ll start first with the hardware. This might seem like I am rehashing my hands-on post from a few weeks ago, but it’s still true. The Surface Laptop Studio feels like MacBook married a Surface Pro married a Surface Laptop. From the rounded corners, a display with rounded edges, and a gray keyboard, I initially felt like the Surface Laptop Studio looked just like a MacBook. There are a few areas where it is different from a Mac and where it exceeds, though.
The first of those is with the extra engineering Microsoft put into this device with the hinge system. The hinge behind the screen is pretty nifty, even though it’s made of fabric. Thanks to magnets, it holds things together strongly when I want to keep the screen open just like a laptop. Yet, it makes transitions to Studio Mode and Stage Mode feel so smooth.
So far, I have spent most of my time in Laptop Mode, using the Studio as a regular laptop. Here it feels just like a Surface should. An excellent bright display, 3:2 aspect ratio, and responsive screen. Things feel a bit more responsive thanks to the 120Hz panel, too, especially when scrolling through Twitter and other web pages. The best place to see this though is with Windows and opening/closing the Start Menu, Quick Settings, and more. Studio brings this to life.
Oh, and while I am at it, the haptic touchpad is amazing. I’m quite used to using physical trackpads, and the one on the Laptop Studio feels just like a MacBook. You can touch it anywhere, and it will register your click. It’s amazing to see this in Windows, and you can go into the settings and tweak things to be stronger, or weaker if you want.
Now, for the second part as to why this isn’t a Mac clone. I ended up using the Studio in Stage mode to watch YouTube videos. It’s here where I noticed that this screen is one of the brightest ever on a Surface, All my videos looked so lively like they never did before. This also carried over into Studio Mode, too where I brought down the screen to ink. The 120Hz panel made ink strokes feel so fluent, and it just feels so beautiful.
The other reason why this isn’t a MacBook clone is with the stage on the bottom of the device. I did do some gaming (as I get into next) and I find this bottom stage very convenient. It blows air out the sides and keeps the Studio cool. Even 1.5 hours of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 didn’t meltdown my Studio.
I do want to save my other impressions for a full review in the next two weeks (that’s my standard for any laptop I review.) So be sure to keep tuned for more then!
The performance, the battery life
Another good thing about the Surface Laptop Studio is the overall performance. I did get a model with 16GB of RAM, but I’m quite surprised with the performance thus far. While the initial out of box experience and update process took some time, the process of signing in and installing all my apps, games was super quick. I sped through the store to install my apps, and I wrote this entire post with YouTube, and 20 other media-heavy tabs in the background and the device didn’t flinch. For the web-based work that I need it for in these first, the Laptop Studio was fine.
Sorry for the poor recording. But Here is Microsoft Flight Simulator running on the Surface Laptop Studio. 1080p resolution. High end settings. Feels Surprisingly smooth. Windows 11 Xbox Game Bar doesn't have the frames widget for me to count though? :/ GTX 3050 TI not too bad. pic.twitter.com/LPYBBo68c9
I also took Flight SImulator for a spin to test the GPU. The results were alright. It’s not a machine that will get you 60FPS in high-end games on ultra settings, but I did get to around 30-40 frames when dialing back settings. These results are fine for me, as I don’t game too much, and this will be the most demanding title I will ever play. I’m more interested in video editing performance, which I hope to address when I edit the weekly OnMSFT podcast this weekend. So, stay tuned!
As far as battery life, this is one of the most concerning parts of the Laptop Studio for me. Sitting idle during a photoshoot, the Studio dropped from 100% to 95% in just a few minutes, with nothing on the screen. I’ll need to run it through my other tests, but for now, I feel like the battery won’t be this device’s strong suit.
The Pen
I want to end with a note on the Surface Slim Pen 2. This was something that I wasn’t quite sure about in my hands-on time but now that I had a day to play with it, I do feel a bit better. Microsoft actually lets you tweak the feedback on the Slim Pen 2 and once I did, it replicates the pen-to-paper feel. Only a few apps currently support the haptics, however. In Fresh Paint, I didn’t get the haptic feedback, but it did work in Whiteboard and OneNote. When it does work, it’s amazing.
Excited for a full review
Panos Panay always says he’s pumped, and I rightfully agree with him this time around. There’s something really special about the Surface Laptop Studio, and I can’t wait to write up a full review. Be sure to stay tuned to OnMSFT, and let us know if you have any comments/concerns about the Laptop Studio, as we’ll be answering your questions in our latest podcast episode.
The deck measures 8” x 32” and is made from 7 ply Canadian Maple which means that it’s more than capable of being used for actual skating instead of just a cool accessory for a gaming or streaming space.
“Skateboarding doesn’t have a lot to do with Xbox,” the deck’s official description reads. “There are skateboarding games, of course, but otherwise, you typically have to pause a video game to use your skateboard (in fact, this is strongly advised). We made an Xbox skateboard deck anyway because we think it looks amazing.
“Also, you CAN hang this on your wall as a decoration or shelf. Then you can use your Xbox AND the Xbox skateboard deck at the same time!”
Microsoft is really pumping out the Xbox merch this month. A new collaboration with Adidas was announced just this morning and while official Halo Infinite Rockstar Energy Drinks are now available.
If there is something all gamers can agree on is that lag kills the mood of the game. Sometimes it can be due to packet loss or other Internet connection issues.
In case of experiencing any of these issues, there is some good news for you. Wi-Fi Dual Station is a new Windows 11 feature that is a development from a Valve and Qualcomm collaboration.
It reduces latency up to four times more compared to existing connections. Windows 11 has features that promise to give gamers an exciting experience and improve performance.
AutoHDR and DirectStorage are just some of the top features. However, their appetite for RAM could make users hold off on upgrading to Windows 11.
All these issues seem to have a solution with Wi-Fi Dual Station. Its addition to the OS could help enhance the performance of Wi-Fi gaming on laptops. So, how does it work?
How can I use the new Wi-Fi Dual Station?
NOTE
The feature works by sending similar data across two different Wi-Fi 6 bands.
1. Get a device with the Qualcomm FastConnect Wi-Fi chip
The Wi-Fi Dual Station will only work and make its way to Windows 11 gaming PCs because it supports Wi-Fi 6, the fastest available Wi-Fi speed in the industry.
This will allow the devices to use the 6 GHz frequency as other frequencies will be occupied by other devices. The Wi-Fi 6 expands the Wi-Fi capacity and doubles the pathway for sending and receiving data.
2. Build a Wi-Fi Dual Station environment
The integration between game server, game, router, and device needs to support Wi-Fi Dual Station, and the list, at the moment, only includes Windows 11 supported devices.
The Wi-Fi Dual Station utilizes your network 2.4 and 5GHz bands to provide ethernet-like capabilities on a wireless connection to improve gaming performance.
So, not only your device has to be prepared with a FastConnect chip but the router must be also compatible with the technology and the server you connect to must also allow the technology.
What are the Qualcomm chips that support Wi-Fi Dual Station?
If you want a device that supports Wi-Fi Dual Station, you must look for the following Qualcomm chips in the configuration of the PC.
Apart from the obvious increase in communication and transfer speeds, the new Wi-Fi Dual Station technology comes with up to 4X decrease in latency.
It’s useless to say that latency plays a huge role in online multiplayer games so that’s a clear sign that we can say goodbye to LAN parties and say hello to Wi-Fi parties.
And if you might have noticed, these chips come with another new technology called Qualcomm aptX that will work with Bluetooth antennas to enhance wireless audio quality.
This gimmick offers advanced modulation and coding optimization to get better audio communication at both ends of the wireless devices.
There are also clear indications in Qualcomm’s overview of the technology that the FastConnect chips can also be embedded in mobile devices and even VR goggles.
So, get ready for faster connection and crisp communication in MMOs over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Can’t wait to try the new Wi-Fi Dual Station in gaming? Let us know in the comments section below.
Mozilla Firefox has recently updated its features and is coming to Microsoft Store. Microsoft had made the decision to host third-party apps on its platform to give its users more variety. Firefox was elated that the store was now more open.
Updated Mozilla features
Firefox Focus is quickly becoming a fan favorite since its launch. The newly streamlined features give off minimalism and are super quick. The new design allows users to make a quick search devoid of distractions and numerous advertisements.
The colors are also refreshed as this time, the company went for a dark theme. The logo has also been revamped and shortcuts added to the homepage so that users can have their favorite sites when they launch the app.
There is also a privacy Tracking Protection Shield that allows users to turn off individual trackers and keep abreast with the blocked trackers.
Enhanced compatibility
The newly released Firefox has a PDF functionality added to filling forms, AVIF supported and blocks downloading from unsecured connections. Firefox will now also automatically unload tabs if the available system memory is too low.
New browser versions
Apart from the new features and revamped logo, Mozilla has also released two new browser versions for mobiles. The two allow Android users to sync features across their devices and enabled password autofill. Firefox assures users that their passwords are safe and can take them on the go. These features are also available on the iOs version.
What new Mozilla features excite you the most? Let us know in the comment section below.
The talk of the town these days is undoubtedly Microsoft’s new operating system, so let’s continue to add to the immense pile of news regarding this software.
While waiting for it, we’ve also taken an in-depth look at some of the new Windows 11 compatible laptops that well know manufacturers have put on the market lately.
But what do we know about its consistency as an OS? We’re talking about the full product, of course, not Insider preview versions.
Windows 11 users claim WLS is more consistent
The main reason why WSL has more consistency than the main product itself is because Linux is more consistent.
Most apps use a theming engine called GTK, which means that all apps look consistent but can easily be customized.
However, some users moved back to Windows 11 after trying WSL, because of an issue where every time they opened a window they got about a second of stutter, and the mouse cursor would be unresponsive the entire stutter.
Another problem that arose while using the subsystem was that users couldn’t control their system fans on Linux, for whatever reason.
Also, Discord had no sound during screen share. But, all-in-all, a lot of people agree that WSL is a bit more reliable than the real deal.
But let’s not forget that Windows 11 is still fresh, only being released yesterday, so there is still a lot of room for improvement.
And we’re sure that Microsoft will react promptly and patch any inconsistency found or reported by the community.
Since we’re speaking about running Windows 11 on different operating systems, we thought you should know that you can now run Microsoft’s new OS on M1 chips as well, despite past rumors that it wasn’t possible.
This can be achieved by using the Parallels 17 VM. It’s also great for playing some beloved new games, but we recommend you inform yourself about this experience before doing it.
If you’re old enough to remember the PS1-era Metal Gear Solid, then UnMetal from Versus Evil will speak volumes to that part of you that first fell in love with the bizarre covert world of Solid Snake. It’s from the same mind as UnEpic, a game that liberally lampoons dungeon crawlers in sometimes hilarious ways. The science here is much the same, as UnMetal parodies late-90s stealth action games while at the same time putting their mechanics to pretty good use throughout.
Set in 1972, the protagonist is Jesse Fox, perhaps the most unreliable narrator to ever front a video game. After his stolen helicopter crashes he’s arrested by the US government and forced to explain how he came to be piloting said chopper and what the hell he’s been getting up to.
Jesse himself is perhaps UnMetal’s biggest and most prominent punchline. Everything he says and does is a parody of 80s action heroes, from his raspy dudebro voice to the bandanna holding his mullet back.
Naff action hero
Almost everything he says is pretty clearly a lie. From his account of breaking out of prison to the tentacle junk monster, he fought in the sewers. At key moments the reins are handed to you to provide answers to the interrogator’s questions.
Were there rats in the sewers? is a fairly innocuous question, and since I couldn’t be bothered dealing with rats I said No. So instead of hordes of flesh-eating rats, Jesse’s mind conjured swarms of bloodthirsty squirrels. UnMetal punishes you for trying to take the easy road and laughs its head off as it does so.
As you pick your way through the grid-like levels, Jesse’s interrogator changes from a CIA agent in a dark grey room to an attractive sidekick in the passenger side of a jeep, with Jesse reimagined as a charming Nathan Drake-type. This just happens, for no reason. I thought I’d missed something but no, replaying through confirmed that, like everything else, this too is unreliable. It switches back and forth for no reason regularly.
Toilet humour
Thankfully, UnMetal is consistently amusing if not anywhere near as funny as the writer believes it is. Most of the jokes don’t really land, but the situations that present themselves had me chuckling now and then. Jesse’s penchant for punching things to search them, for example, is usually remarked upon by either the man himself or his interrogator. And there are moments where the game rewards your bad behavior.
An example is when I found a guard in a toilet cubicle. He asks for paper, which I gave him, but then started wondering. I went back and beat in the door, knocking him unconscious in the process, and was reprimanded by the interrogator for my actions.
Each stage is set out in a fairly formulaic way. You’ll usually need to explore and loot things until you find an item you need to continue, and the process repeats. Now and then, there’s a boss fight to contend with or some other obstacle such as the world’s most infuriating minefield.
Boss trouble
These boss fights usually take time to understand, and can often be fiddly due to the grid-based nature of the game world. And if you fail, you’re often sent back to before whatever cutscene triggers the fight. Having to sit through the same cheesy one-liners over and over isn’t fun. You can level up though, as you earn XP for knocking out unaware guards.
Each level offers a choice of power-ups such as faster health regeneration or a reduction in the time taken to apply a bandage. Like in a point-n-click game, Jesse’s inventory slowly fills up, and you’ll often need to combine items to proceed. A meathook tied to a rope, for example, allows you to rappel down into the sewers.
You’ll be in fairly regular contact with a couple of different NPCs via Jesse’s encrypted radio, who will offer advice or just more chitchat when contacted. Jesse himself is pretty verbose, remarking on most events and items you find as you progress.
Sneaky snake
The stealth element is surprisingly tight, too, as you use tossed coins and high crates to silently take down patrols. You’ll need to hide the bodies, too, as you can’t actually kill any guards and other patrols will find and revive their downed comrades. You have a slingshot made from an eyepatch and a y-shaped branch that you can use to pelt the enemy with depleted uranium balls, but you’ll occasionally unlock new weapons that are usually temporary.
There’s nothing overly difficult about any part of UnMetal. A few of the boss fights are infuriating, and there were a few times where I just felt lost because I’d missed a crate containing an essential item. The map isn’t the best, and I often found myself running back and forth looking for a solution.
Graphically, UnMetal looks pretty good for what it is. As a pixel-art game it doesn’t set outlook amazing, but the animations are on point, the environments sell themselves well, and everything is clear to see and workaround.
Achievements and completion
UnMetal is surprisingly long for the type of game that it is. Running through the main story alone will take you around 8 to 10 hours, though if you really want to see every joke and find every item, you’re probably pushing closer to 12.
That being said, there’s not much of an incentive to go back and replay UnMetal, or even attempt to 100% complete it. Once the story is done, you’ll probably move on.
Final thoughts on UnMetal
Pros
Solid stealth mechanics
Pretty funny in places
Some wacky ideas
Cons
Story makes no sense
Boss fights can be infuriating
Not all the jokes land
Final Score: 3/5
UnMetal is a game that refuses to take itself seriously in any way. From childish, immature humor to a liberal sprinkling of pop culture references and anachronisms, the plot itself is as unreliable as its narrator. It’s very silly, and it knows it.
But, if you’re looking for a solid old-school stealth game that also happens to be pretty damn funny most – if not all – of the time, then UnMetal delivers. If nothing else, it treats the player with a certain amount of respect by actually playing very well, and that’s perhaps the most important thing.
Keyloggers are software tools designed to record keystrokes and actions on a PC. For example, they can record applications that are opened and closed.
Moreover, they can print activities or copied clipboard content. Illegitimate keylogger software is sometimes included within the malware we have to face.
However, there are also more legitimate keylogger programs designed for business purposes. Anti-keylogger software detects and removes keyloggers.
These tools will at least encrypt keystrokes so that keylogger software is of little use to anybody. As such, anti-keylogger programs can be considered a type of antivirus software.
The list below will answer all your questions related to keystroke protection:
Which of the following is an example of anti-keylogger – SpyShelter, Zemana AntiLogger, and Ghostpress? – In case of being unsure about that, just read the lines above to find out what each of these anti-keylogger programs has to offer.
Anti-keylogger and anti-screen shot software – We totally get your worries with screen loggers that might reveal private data you enter on your PC. SpyShelter’s Screen Capture Protection is ready to help you out.
Free anti-keylogger software with blazing tools – There are indeed some 14 and 15-day trials that give you a risk-free route to sampling the best anti-keylogger software for yourself.
Below are 5 effective anti-keylogger programs for Windows.
TotalAV suits anyone who shops, banks and works online and wants protection that does not need managing. Real-time scanning stops spyware and keyloggers as they arrive, WebShield blocks phishing pages before they load, and downloads and attachments are checked automatically.
For privacy it adds a Safe Browsing VPN and an ad and tracker blocker in the higher plans, plus a password vault so your logins are not typed out on every site. Windows and Mac are both covered, with mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Real-time protection against spyware and keyloggers
WebShield for phishing and malicious pages
VPN and tracker blocker in the higher plans
Password vault
Windows, Mac, Android and iOS
TotalAV
Use this powerful tool to protect your privacy online and keep your computer safe from viruses and malware applications.
Avira Antivirus is designed to protect you from scams, financial loss, and identity theft. Use its built-in VPN to secure your online activities. Enjoy excellent productivity after this software cleans and improves your computer speed.
After installing it, Avira Antivirus will block all online threats, keeping your device safe from spyware, malware, and ransomware. Once you have used its Speed Booster feature, your computer will be more performant too.
Moreover, using this tool you secure the digital activity and personal data stored on the web. You have included efficient VPN services to encrypt any online traces left while browsing.
Try out Avira Password Manager if you want to secure your online accounts that will contain strong and unique passwords you won’t need to memorize anymore.
Let’s quickly look at its main features:
Browser tracking blocker
Speed up the system
Cleanning your web traces
Anti-scamming protection
Powerful passwords manager
Free VPN
Avira Antivirus
Use Avira Antivirus and say goodbye to viruses, adware, spyware, ransomware, keeping your computer optimized.
Bitdefender needs no introduction since it’s one of the most popular, worldwide cherished protection suites.
This is a powerful, well-balanced, feature-rich security software that guarantees the ultimate protection against all kinds of cyberthreats including emerging malicious programs, with a minor impact on your system’s performances.
One of the most appreciated tools included in its suite is the real-time protection feature that delivers 24/7 protection against malware, spyware, and most significantly keyloggers.
Simply start to scan your system for keylogger apps and leave the rest to Bitdefender.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Intuitive interface with neatly organized menus and accessible functions
Advanced scans to quickly identify threats in: documents, emails, archives, apps, scripts, network shares, boot sectors, and more
The sophisticated malware detection engine
Scan potentially unwanted programs (PUP) and potentially unwanted applications (PUA)
Early boot scan option to scan your system as soon as startup services are loaded
Anti-keyloggers protection
Bitdefender Internet Security
Bitdefender uses a sophisticated malware detection engine and it protects your computer against viruses and unwanted applications.
Norton 360 is an all-in-one protection suite that guarantees to protect your system against viruses, malware, online tracking, phishing, keyloggers, and more.
No matter how advanced the cyber threat, this security software will deliver the results you expect and a little something extra.
Its powerful monitoring capacities are able to prevent your data from getting exploited by keyloggers, phishing attacks, malicious scripts and programs, and more.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Scan emails for malware infections and take appropriate measures to eradicate the threats
Scan for keylogging activity and malicious websites or page scripts
Powerful detection capacities that can intercept sophisticated keylogger software
Password protection and data encryption tools
Anti-spyware for enhanced privacy
Norton 360
Choose Norton 360 as an efficient means to protect your computer from viruses, online tracking, malware, and more.
While there are dozens of anti-keylogger software options to pick from, none of them isn’t as good as SpyShelter.
As the world’s best choice in that regard, its Graphic User Interface design makes it stand out from the crowd. You can easily access all features and settings within a click or two.
The interesting fact is that SpyShelter does not rely on an antivirus signature database since antivirus solutions can’t always spot the latest versions of keyloggers.
Furthermore, this anti-keylogger is known to shield all private data from your Windows clipboard as a result of copying and pasting actions.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
AntiNetworkSpy proactive module against trojans
Clipboard data hacking prevention
Anti-screen recovery module
Webcam Protection module that detects unauthorized webcam access
Sound Logger Protection security module against VOIP sound loggers
Restricted Apps module that controls app access to system resources
SpyShelter
SpyShelter has a friendly Graphic User Interface that will allow you easy control to get rid of keyloggers, trojans and other threats.
Zemana AntiLoggeris a highly rated anti-keylogger software for Windows currently retailing at $24.95, but you can try out a 15-day trial of the program before you buy it.
This doesn’t just detect keyloggers, it removes and quarantines them. It also encrypts keystrokes to further defeat keyloggers.
Zemana AntiLogger provides real-time scanning and enables users to initiate scans for more specific files and folders.
Plus, you can get full protection from malware and ransomware attacks online, removing keylogging risks on your PC. Another useful feature help to eliminate adware infections came from unwanted apps or tools.
Users can also schedule deep system scans that thoroughly scan PCs for keyloggers.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
SSL secureness to protect sensitive data
Efficient malware scanner
Background real-time protection
Keystroke logging removal
24/7 technical support
Adware protection
Zemana AntiLogger
Zemana AntiLogger helps you camouflage all your daily online activities. Get the 1-year license with no hesitation!
Avast Free Antivirus is very efficient in protecting your computer against viruses and malware. Also, take advantage of this software to protect your home network against intruders.
With a user-friendly interface, Avast offers advanced protection for your applications and enjoys the new passive mode allowing you to run multiple security products at the same time.
Another great feature you will definitely enjoy is the anti-ransomware. Thus, you don’t have to worry anymore about the danger of becoming a victim of digital extortion.
In addition, you can maximize your anti-keylogging protection through products like Antitrack, which can grow privacy exponentially, and reduce thousands of data tracking on the web.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Strong virus scanner
Anti tracker to reduce online traces
Ransomware protection
Wi-fi network security
Phising websites protection
SecureLine VPN solution
Avast Free Antivirus
Avast Free Antivirus will keep your computer safe and protected against viruses, malware, ransomware and other threats.
BullGuard Internet Security is a complete security suite that brings you all the tools you need to stay safe online.
The keylogger removal tool is most useful to keep your data private and prevent it from being exposed to unauthorized access.
Since spyware is getting more sophisticated and aggressive with each passing day, security software must step up its game and its pace.
Bullguard does not disappoint and manages to provide the ultimate triple-layered, cutting-edge anti-malware and anti-spyware technology, thus keeping threats (including keyloggers) at bay.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Antispyware and anti-keyloggers detection tools
Ultimate protection for your data and online identity
Overall, there isn’t an especially wide variety of anti-keylogger software for Windows. The idea is that they’re all effective programs that provide keystroke encryptions and scanning tools.
While backing up your PC data is extremely important, using game backup software is equally crucial.
Windows 10 is one of the most popular platforms for gamers to indulge in their gaming activities. But it can be frustrating when the game is already in progress and there’s a system crash.
After trying all the possible hacks from the internet, giving up is the only solution left. Moreover, manually identifying saved files of the favorite games can be time-consuming.
Through its user-friendly interface, EaseUS Todo Backup Free allows you to generate backups of your essential files from gaming data on your PC. To begin, simply select the type of backup you want to generate and let the software handle the rest.
Regular backups are required due to the frequency with which data is used and accessed. Todo Backup is a free backup program for Windows that allows you to store game progress in full, incremental, differential, and schedule backup modes.
These are the main features of EaseUS Todo Backup Free:
Back up your entire game progress to another location.
Backs up your entire partition, HDD/SSD and volume.
Make copies of files or folders in many formats, including network shared data.
Automatic backups for saving game progress while playing.
If you choose a premium membership with EaseUS Todo Backup, you will have access to many more features like disk cloning, cloud backup service, system transfer to another PC, and many more.
EaseUS Todo Backup
EaseUS Todo Backup makes it easy for you to secure and store your data, as well as plan and execute backups actively as data grows on a daily basis.
Handy Backup is another great game backup software that automatically backs up and restores any home PC (including Windows 10) or business server.
It does not just allow gamers to save their game data in native file format, they can also view, change, or recover even a single file of the backups using the conventional file-browsing utilities such as the Explorer with no requirement of complete recovery.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Consolidated user interface that allows users to backup files, folders, cloud accounts, sites, etc.,
Multiple backup techniques (complete, progressive, different or blended backups, sync data, and even create different versions of dataset data)
Selection tools available to secure only specific files and folders
Compression and password-protection included
Handy Backup
A quick and simple backup solution for anything from files and folders to emails and games.
Genie Timeline Home 10 is perfect for those who wish to back up their games while the other tasks on their PCs go on effortlessly.
It automatically compresses the files to save space and displays the protection level to denote backup health. The software allows the users to return back in time to recover files.
Users can also view the timeline by new, changed, and removed files. Best of all, it blends with Windows, so users can control the backup with just a right-click.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Automatically runs without any intervention
Backups monitor on the go
Game/movie mode that automatically blocks any unnecessary pop-ups ensuring the users have an uninterrupted gaming experience
Clean and simple interface that offers easy setup for backups
For those looking for a free alternative, GameSave Manager can be the best bet. This software allows users to back up their games, recover, and then share the game progress using the saved files.
It saves the time the users would use to look for saved files manually for a specific game since it’s compatible with a huge selection of games.
The best part is it not only backups the stored files but also backups any registry data linked to the game. Once the game backup is created, gamers can save their data securely on their cloud account.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
Sync and link option (shift saved data to a directory using a representative link)
Recover data by simply clicking on the Open Archive ->Restore tab
Playing a game is addictive, and so, losing game data can be disappointing. Back up and restore your game with one of these powerful tools, and experience uninterrupted, blissful gaming.
Check out more useful solutions in our Backup Tools section for detailed information and explore our Data Recovery Hub to get the best tips and latest updates on how to recover and protect your valuable data.
Bitcoin is undisputedly the king of cryptocurrencies. However, given its tendency to be volatile, other crypto coins have grown in popularity. Perhaps, the main competitor to Bitcoin is Ethereum, which was created by Vitalik Buterin in the early 2000s. If you are interested in mining Ethereum, and you’re not sure where to start, then you will want to read this list of best apps to mine Ethereum Windows 10. These apps are fairly easy to use and all work on the Windows 10 platform.
Topping our list with NiceHash, the right platform for anybody who is considering investing in Ethereum. This full-featured tool offers you all the services needed to grow your crypto coins wallet.
If you start mining cryptocurrency from scratch and need rounded support, rely on this software capabilities to help you reach more hash power and exponentially grow your profit. Hence this solution aims to offer proper resources for any people who desire to capitalize from the Ethereum market.
For instance, the platform includes features like secure trading services, fast exchange currencies, or guides to help beginners make the first bitcoin trade. Afterward, it won’t be long for any newcomer to start mining or trade between the preferred currencies.
Considering Ethereum as your cryptocurrency it’s a smart choice due to its blockchain interface and decentralized service which doesn’t store confidential data on others clouds or devices.
Thus, NiceHash is a solution that helps you to buy and sell multiple currencies, and also offers a hash power marketplace that connects hash power buyers and sellers with hash power miners.
NiceHash
Choose the most convenient software for Ethereum mining and be one step forward from other markets.
The next one is MinerGate, which was created by a group of cryptocurrency devotees. This application works on Windows, Ubuntu, macOS, and Fedora. It has a very user-friendly interface and offers several unique features.
The primary unique feature MinerGate provides is its merged mining service. With this service, you can mine several different crypto coins at the same time, without any decrease in the hash rate! In addition to mining Ethereum, you can also mine Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dashcoin, and other popular cryptocurrencies.
All in all, MinerGate is a great tool for mining Ethereum that is both quick and easy to use. It has been reported to be capable of using your hardware’s maximum processing power. You can also choose how much you want your hardware to be working on mining crypto coins. In other words, if you are using a mining computer for other tasks, then you will find this software to be useful.
Wineth is another extremely simple application that works perfectly on the Windows 10 OS. It has a good deal of positive reviews and has a great reputation. One reason why Wineth is popular is that it takes little to no configurations to get things running. The software also comes with a wallet and access to proxy servers (Useful for users in restricted areas).
This Ethereum mining software automatically pays you and updates their systems. If you are planning on using your hardware for other tasks, then you can switch Wineth to background mode. In background mode, Wineth will only use a small portion of your computer’s processing power. You can also choose for Wineth to only run/mine when your computer is idle. This way you don’t have to worry about it interfering with your work or play.
Perhaps one of the best things about Wineth is that it is validated by DigiCert. This should mean that you will be using servers that have very strongsecurity.
On the other hand, Wineth is not completely free. Yes, it is free to download, but you pay the developers by giving 1% of your mining time for them. In other words, the way it seems to work is that if you were to mine for 100 hours, 1 hour will mine Ethereum exclusively for the team behind Wineth. It’s debatable whether or not this deal is good or not. If you don’t mind lending your computer’s processing power to mine Ethereum every now and then, then Wineth is a great application to use, especially for beginners.
The application is promoted to be immune to fraud, censorship, downtime, and third-party interference. You can use the application as a standalone client or as part of a library.
The standalone project named Geth works on all major operating systems, including Windows 10. Go Ethereum can also be embedded in your Android, iOS, or Go projects for greater convenience.
Thus you can install this client in various ways, choosing the standalone pre-built bundle or other package managers you want. You can also run this program as a Docker container if you prefer.
We recommend this application because it is one of the safest clients to use and there doesn’t seem to be any fees like Wineth. It might take some time to learn how to use Geth, but it will be worth it in the end.
Ethminer is a GPU mining worker that is used to mine Ethereum. It is actively maintained and updated. It originated from the CPP-Ethereum project. However, the CPP-ethereum project has discontinued its mining feature. Therefore, Ethminer has been set up for users who like the platform. It also builds on Genoil’s fork improvements, which means that you will have more features to work with.
Here are the features:
Farm failover
OpenCL picking for devices
Mining for Nvidia CUDA
Mining for OpenCl
Realistic benchmarking
Much More!
One great thing about Ethminer is that there is a portable version. In other words, you only have to download and extract to be able to get things going. On the other hand, Ethminer is a command-line software. This means that it is not as user-friendly as other software mentioned in this list.
However, if you are an experienced miner or you do not mind learning a few codes to input into Windows command prompt, then Ethminer is a great choice for you.
Far Cry 6 is Ubisoft’s biggest release of the year. The much-anticipated sequel will launch on consoles and PC on the 7th of October, but it doesn’t end there. Ubisoft has given a detailed overview of all the free and paid content that is in-store for the game and we’ll be taking a closer look at each one.
Free post-launch content
As if the 100h+ main adventure isn’t enough content yet, we’ll be getting showered with free content within the first year after launch. This is a game Ubisoft does not want you to put down for some time to come.
From the very first day, there will be Weekly Insurgencies where you get to earn fresh gear and find some much-needed loot. These are extra difficult combat encounters that will appear on your map and clearing them will have you reap plenty of rewards.
There will also be six Special Operations from October onward that will task you with special missions, like bringing an explosive chemical weapon to a designated location while making sure its temperature stays cool enough by cooling it with water or other means. It’s a new gameplay element that is bound to bring a lot of excitement.
Far Cry 6 Post-Launch Roadmap
Crossover Missions
We’re still in the free content update category, but this time the playable missions are even meatier and feature well-known characters or IPs. We’ve seen plenty of Rainbow Six crossovers with pop-culture multimedia IPs and it seems like Far Cry 6 also makes for a perfect fit for some of them.
Danny & Dani Vs. Everybody
In December, you’ll get to join Danny Trejo on some wild adventures. He’s a famous movie actor known for films like Con Air, Desperado, and Machete. It’s no surprise then, that he’ll be bringing his trusty melee weapon into Far Cry 6 and you’ll accompany him on a mission to bring tasty tacos to the citizens of Yara in Danny & Dani Vs. Everybody
Rambo – All The Blood
The next cross-over event is for next year, February 2022 to be precise, and is called Rambo – All the Blood. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a guest appearance by Sylvester Stallone himself, as we’re playing with a Rambo superfan that only dresses like him and will probably quote some lines from the movies. They do promise us some blood-soaked and over-the-top action straight out of an ’80s blockbuster though. I’m already curious about the many references to the Rambo movies we’ll be able to find in the game.
Stranger Things – The Vanishing
Netflix also wants a piece of the action cake and lens Ubisoft their famous Stranger Things IP. They’re no stranger to partnering up, as among things (-see what I did there?-) they’ve already worked together on bringing La Casa De Papel (Money Heist in some countries) to Rainbox Six Siege.
This cross-over event, called The Vanishing, will launch in March 2022 and brings the horror-filled world of Stranger things to our PC and consoles. The plot spoils that we’ll be searching for our Amigo (Far Cry 6’s name for pets) Chorizo and I’m already getting shivers thinking about it. I wonder if we’ll visit The Upside Down or if we’ll have to face a Demogorgon. (Fingers crossed!)
Season Pass content
We’re venturing into paid territory now, meaning you’ll have to pay for the season pass or the separate DLC episodes to get access to the content below. Speaking from past experience with Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs Legion and the Assassin’s Creed titles, we’re getting many many hours of gameplay and the Season Pass is usually more than worth it. Let’s dig in!
Far Cry 6 – Season Pass
From Day 1, you’ll get access to the Blood Dragon set, giving you unique weapons like a fast-firing futuristic handgun or a leather and neon-pink outfit with a laser eye. It’s my favorite set in the game and I’ve been keeping it equipped for hours, but you’ll have to suspend some disbelief that someone is playing the guerilla in such clothes.
From November onwards, there will be three DLC episodes where you play as a famous villain from previous games. The gameplay is said to be a roguelike where you start with a small firearm and keep dying and retrying while slowly getting better gear and stats. It’s something we’ve seen in a lot of games, but new to the Far Cry franchise.
Far Cry 6 – Insanity
The first DLC episode, up in November 2021, is called Insanity and will have you play as fan-favorite villain Vaas from Far Cry 3. While he wasn’t the main bad guy in the game, he is by far the most popular one and his famous quote often gets repeated online: Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact… same fucking thing… over and over again expecting… things to change… That. Is. Crazy.
Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon
To tide us over until the next character-DLC releases, we’ll get access to the full game Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon in December 2021. This stand-alone release received a lot of praise when it launched back in 2013 and can still be bought for around $14.99 on most previous-gen platforms. They didn’t detail if this is a slightly remastered version or the original without any upgrades though. But it’s a nice extra to keep us busy regardless, especially if you didn’t own it.
It’s a kick-ass cyber shooter taking place on a bizarre open-world island, crawling with evil. It’s a journey into an 80’s VHS vision of the future where the year is 2007 and you are fighting against a cyborg army gone rogue. Your mission: get the girl, kill the baddies, and save the world.
Far Cry 6 – Control
In January 2022 we get access to the second character episode Control. This time we’ll be playing as Pagan Min from Far Cry 4. Pagan Min is the leader of Kyrat and is known for his flamboyant dress, eccentric violence, and generally, unconcerned approach even to highly climactic events. He is a rather soft-spoken sort of person, rarely expressing emotions stronger than a minor annoyance. In this DLC episode, we’ll see some of the inner workings of his mind from behind the veil as we control the character ourselves.
Far Cry 6 – Collapse
Lastly, in March 2022, we’ll be able to play Joseph Seed, better known as The Father, in the last character episode titled Collapse. He is the main antagonist in Far Cry 5, a game I know all too well having spent dozens of hours in it. He’s the leader of a religious cult and has the seven sins etched into his skin. Even a nuclear apocalypse couldn’t kill this guy, as evidenced by Far Cry New Dawn. It will be interesting to walk a mile in his shoes and see what makes him tick.
Is the Season Pass worth it?
While we’re getting a ton of free content and Far Cry 6 is already a massive game in its own right, there is no denying the appeal of the Season Pass content this time around. Playing as the main villains from Far Cry 3, 4, and 5 is definitely something that tickled my interest, and knowing Ubisoft, each episode will be good for over a dozen hours of content.
With the Three DLC episodes, a full (albeit somewhat old) game in Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon, and some nifty gear that is available from day one, it seems like you’ll definitely get a lot of bang for your buck.
Far Cry 6 – Different Versions
Far Cry 6 is available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Luna, and Stadia. All costing around $59.99 for the Standard edition. For $99.99 you can get the Gold Edition, which includes the Season Pass, valuing it at ~$40. The Ultimate edition includes three additional and exclusive gearsets and costs $119.99.
Depending on how fast of a player you are and how quickly you want access to the exclusive gear, it may be smarter to wait for a sale. If you’re the type who will have beaten the main game within a month or two, then you definitely can’t go wrong with the season pass and it will add many hours of extra fun.
If you’re the slow-burn kind of player who dips into the game every now and then, playing a few missions at a time, then it’s probably a good idea to wait for a discount, as Ubisoft Season Passes usually go on a 50% sale about one year after launch.
Much toward user delight, Microsoft is embracing the Reo Māori and the name Aotearoa in the new version of the Windows operating system.
This new addition thought of by Redmond officials actually boosts macron availability for vowels as default.
By pressing and holding the tilde key ~, located in the top left corner of the keyboard, before entering a vowel, the macron will be seamlessly added to the letter.
Pretty neat, right?
New keyboard options for the new OS
It’s important to mention that the functionality of using the tilde key for macrons existed before Windows 11 but was pretty clumsy in the past if we remember correctly.
Users either had to switch between the Māori and New Zealand English keyboards or copy and paste a vowel with a macron from another document or online.
We can all see how that could get really old, really fast, thus the immense need for this type of change.
The Redmond tech company says that the new keyboard is a labour of love by Microsoft kaimahi Dan Walker (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Maniapoto, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Kahungunu) and linguistics professional Ellie Greenly.
Both have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to improve the diversity of Aotearoa’s tech sector and bring free the Reo Māori interfaces to the technology Kiwis use every day.
Vanessa Sorenson, of Microsoft New Zeeland, says the keyboard is part of a broader focus on te ao Māori at the company.
It represents the latest milestone in the work we’ve been doing alongside cultural and language advisers for the past 15 years to support te Reo Māori.
It’s about encouraging Kiwis to learn and engage with each other in the language every day. The Aotearoa keyboard will enable millions of Windows users around Aotearoa and the world to write more easily in te reo Māori, removing the barriers people currently face to expressing themselves in our indigenous language. That’s huge.
Microsoft worked with indigenous software company Piki Studios, in 2019, to create a Te Ao Māori learning environment called Ngā Motu in its sandbox video game Minecraft.
Redmond sources say the game, complete with Pā, Waka Hourua and even Moa and Kiwi, is used by learning institutions across the motu.
So, even more reasons to be excited about the new operating system, while you wait for it to make its way into your home.
Remember that the giant rollout process for the free OS started yesterday, and will continue throughout this year, all the way up to mid-2022.
Happy with Windows 11 so far? Share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comments section below.
Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 yesterday to all eligible devices that are running supported hardware. Now, the company has published a blog post explaining how its design team created the Windows 11 ‘Bloom’ wallpaper as yet another new promotional tool for the latest version of the OS.
The firm says its Bloom wallpaper looks like a flower that blends natural elements with digital ones, and it has been designed to harmonize with Windows 11’s new centered Start menu. “Bloom was meant to complement the new centered layout of Windows 11, which includes the taskbar and the Start menu. And from a practical standpoint, it was important to the design team to have negative space around the image so that folders and files could be placed on the desktop, reducing visual clutter,” the company explained in the blog post.
As you probably know, some older versions of Windows featured a couple of iconic wallpapers, such as the Bliss wallpaper in Windows XP and the Windows 10 wallpaper with the glowing Windows logo. However, this new Windows 11 Bloom wallpaper has a more artistic touch and its own symbolic value, which indicates the beginning of a new era of Windows. “It’s the same Windows that you know and love, but this is a new beginning, a new era,” said Christina Koehn, creative director for Windows 11.
If you’re interested, you can find more details about the story behind the Windows 11 Bloom wallpaper on this blog post. Let us know in the comments if you think Bloom will leave its mark in the history of Windows, and we also invite you to check out our detailed Windows 11 review we published earlier today.
Microsoft has teamed up with adidas to create cool sneakers to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Xbox. The adidas Xbox 20th Forum Tech design features different shades of green and translucent soles, and in place of an adidas logo on the tongue, there’s the original Xbox logo right there.
If Xbox fans won’t be able to buy these Xbox-inspired adidas sneakers, the collaboration also marks the launch of the global “Always Played In. Never Played Out” program which celebrates popular eras of play over the past two decades. There’s even a well-made ad with vintage TV images you can watch below.
“This is just the beginning of our partnership with adidas, and over the next few months we’ll continue to mark our 20th anniversary by launching additional sneakers inspired by past and present Xbox console generations, including the first-ever sneaker available for purchase by our fans later this year,” the Xbox team said today.
It’s not the first time that Microsoft partners with a popular lifestyle brand to create Xbox-inspired sneakers. Back at E3 2018, the Xbox team revealed limited-edition Xbox Air Jordan 1 sneakers that have since become a collector item.
Microsoft points out the newly branded wallpaper as being the quickest way to indicate a Windows 11 Cloud PC upgrade on its Windows 365 Enterprise blog, since Cloud PC sizing and configurations remain untouched.
New for Windows 11 is the wallpaper that makes it easy for end users to distinguish between the Windows 10 and Windows 11 Cloud PCs assigned to them in the Windows 365 end user portal.
Aside from the background change, IT Admins can play around with the tie-ins and support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Admins can also take a little bit of comfort in the new security requirements of installation for Windows 11 that include TPM, UEFI and Secure boot improvements.
Windows 365 support of Windows 11 also includes gallery images that have the same applications preinstalled and configured as Windows 10, as well as support for the creation of custom Windows 11 ones if necessary.
If there is a need to create a custom Windows 11 image, Microsoft notes that users will need to change the VM type from Gen1 to Gen 2 as its source image in preparation for Windows 11. For anyone who needs a bit more help walking through this process, Microsoft does offer this handy instructional here.
As for provisioning, Admins can also upgrade existing Cloud PCs by changing the gallery from Windows 10 Enterprise to Windows 11 Enterprise + Microsoft 365 Apps and triggering the reprovision through the Devices menu in their Intune/Microsoft Endppoint Manager account.
A secondary upgrade path for current provisions exists but it’s a bit lengthier and includes backtracking and performing an in-place upgrade to Windows 11 Enterprise.
If you want to support in-place upgrades from Windows 10 to Windows 11, Cloud PCs need to be turned on the day of October 5th or after. For those organizations that need to re-provision their Cloud PCs, because we leverage OneDrive Known Folder Move as one of the standard services, the process will be seamless. Your end users’ personal data is automatically backed-up and will be restored after the re-provisioning process. Simply ensure that they are assigned a OneDrive license.
To get started on an in-place upgrade to a Windows 11 Cloud PC, Microsoft has spun up a new Work from Anywhere (preview) tool in its Endpoint Analytics platform. Device that supports the Windows 11 upgrade will read Capable and a user should be off to the races.
If you thought Microsoft was done with adding new features to Windows 11, you were wrong. In an announcement made recently, Microsoft is teaming up with Qualcomm to bring native support for Wi-Fi Dual Station to Windows 11 that is set to deliver low latency in gaming.
The DBS feature is exclusive to FastConnect mobile connectivity and has the capability of harnessing multiple bands and antennas that deliver low latency in gaming. By simultaneously utilizing the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, the OEMs will deliver high-speed and reliable connections and solve the latency issues experienced in gaming.
Windows 11 supported
Since game developers and publishers will have it easier to deliver low latency experiences, the feature will only work with devices upgraded to Windows 11 and support the Qualcomm FastConnect systems.
Companies such as Dota 2 and Global Offensive are among those set to benefit from utilizing the Steamworks SDK for networking and improved responsiveness.
Players will definitely experience a better connection and experience wire-class responsiveness. Another advantage is that this technology is expected to meet the growing needs of the enterprise PC industry such as two-way data traffic such as remote management tools, video calls, and collaborations.
To deliver high-quality connectivity solutions, Qualcomm is in collaboration with Acer, AMD, and others. Acer has already produced gaming notebooks that feature the FastConnect 6900 connectivity that provide Ethernet-grade Wi-Fi.
Overall, the technology is supposed to decrease the overdependence on wires both for charging and connectivity.
Do you think the new technology by Microsoft and Qualcomm will improve your gaming performance? Let us know in the comment section below.
The arrival of Windows 11 seems to have motivated the launch of products from various tech companies. Razer is the latest to join the bandwagon as it has announced a refresh of its ultraportable Razer Book laptop and the Razer Blade 15 Advanced gaming PC. Both Pcs have fresh new and powerful specs and Windows 11 supported.
Razer Book
Razer’s products are generally known for gaming, but this attempt at a portable PC is a new dimension for the company. The features make it a major competitor in ultraportable giants such as Dell’s XPS 13. It comes in a silver aluminum chassis and weighs 2.9 pounds at 0.6 inches in thickness.
The starting price is $1,000, and you will get an i5-1135G7 quad-core CPU, 256GB storage, 8GB RAM and a 1920 x 1200 resolution screen, and a 60Hz refresh rate. There are also more advanced and powerful versions for $1500 and $1800 with twice the RAM.
Razer Blade 15 Advanced
Of the two machines, this is more suited for gaming purposes. Its design is trim and weighs 4.4 pounds with a 0.67-inch thickness.
It uses an i7-11800H octa-core, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, RTX 3070 GPU, and a 2560 x 1440 screen resolution with a 240 Hz speed. They are retailing at $2,700 and $3,100 for the advanced model with double the RAM and a more powerful RTX 3080 GPU.
At present, Razer’s PCs will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 gradually.
Razer delivers new ultraportable and gaming PC options for Windows 11 https://t.co/VyjNzC1UVl
Microsoft is renowned for its Office suite, a robust set of productivity tools ideal for individuals and business users.
In this guide, we will delve into the distinctions between Microsoft 365 and Office 2021, the most recent versions of Office Suite, to help you understand the differences between them so that you can make an informed decision.
Are Office 2021 and Office 365 the same?
No, Office 2021 and Office 365 are not the same. The Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that lets you access basic Office apps, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, on one computer.
Office 365 is a subscription service that ensures you get the updated version of productivity tools available in the suite, along with cloud integration and additional features.
What are the Differences between Microsoft 365 and Office 2021?
Microsoft 365 vs Office 2021: Price Comparison
Office 2021 is a perpetual license and comes in three different versions; here are the version name and their prices:
Plan Name
Price
Apps & Services Included
Office Home & Student 2021
$149.99
Word 2021, Excel 2021, PowerPoint 2021, & OneNote 2021
Office Home & Business 2021
$249.99
Word 2021, Excel 2021, PowerPoint 2021, OneNote 2021, Outlook 2021
Office 2021 Professional
$439.99
Word 2021, Excel 2021, PowerPoint 2021, OneNote 2021, Outlook 2021, Publisher 2021, Access 2021
On the other hand, Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based model with many variants and plans to choose from. The business plans can be purchased for up to 300 users, whereas the Personal and Family ones are available for 1 and 6 people.
Here are the other details:
Plan Name
Price
Apps and Services included
Microsoft 365 Family
$99.99 per year or $9.99 per month
Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, Outlook.com, Skype, & Microsoft Family Safety
Microsoft 365 Personal
$69.99 per year or $6.99/month
Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, Outlook.com, Skype, & Microsoft Family Safety
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$6.00 per user/month
OneDrive, Exchange, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Outlook Web App, & Office Online
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Publisher, Access (PC), Intune, Azure Information Protection, SharePoint, & Exchange
Microsoft 365 Apps for Business
$8.25 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access (PC), Intune, & OneDrive
Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise
$12.00 per user/month
OneDrive, Microsoft Access (PC only), Microsoft Publisher (PC only), Delve, Sway, Microsoft Forms
Office 365 E1
$10.00 per user/month
Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Exchange, SharePoint, Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Viva Insights, Microsoft Bookings, Delve, Microsoft Stream, Sway, Microsoft Forms, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Planner, & Microsoft To Do
Office 365 E3
$23.00 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Microsoft Access (PC only), Microsoft Publisher (PC only, )Exchange, SharePoint, Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Viva Insights, Microsoft Bookings, OneNote, Delve, Microsoft Stream, Sway, Microsoft Forms, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Planner, & Microsoft To Do
Office 365 E5
$38.00 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Microsoft Access (PC only), Microsoft Publisher (PC only), Exchange, SharePoint, Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Viva Insights, Microsoft Bookings, OneNote, Delve, Microsoft Stream, Sway, Microsoft Forms, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft To Do, & Power BI Pro
Microsoft 365 E3
$36.00 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Windows., Teams, Outlook, Exchange, SharePoint, OneNote, OneDrive, Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Bookings, Microsoft Publisher (PC only), Microsoft Access (PC only), Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Viva Insights, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Forms, Sway, Visio, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Planner, & Microsoft To Do
Microsoft 365 E5
$57.00 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Windows, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Exchange, SharePoint, OneNote, OneDrive, Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Bookings, Microsoft Publisher (PC only), Microsoft Access (PC only), Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Viva Insights, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Forms, Sway, Visio, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft To Do, & Power BI Pro
Microsoft 365 F1
$2.25 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Microsoft Teams, Exchange, Microsoft Bookings, SharePoint, Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Viva Insights, OneDrive, Microsoft Stream, & Microsoft Planner
Microsoft 365 F3
$8.00 user/month
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Windows, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Exchange, SharePoint, OneNote, OneDrive, Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Bookings, Viva Connections, Viva Engage, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Forms, Sway, Visio, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Planner, & Microsoft To Do
Microsoft 365 vs Office 2021: Version Comparison
Microsoft 365 Business and Standard, Family, and Personal editions allow you to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other apps on your desktop. The rest of the Microsoft 365 versions provide web and mobile app access.
On the other hand, all three versions of Office 2021 allow you to download the classic Desktop versions for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. And, with Office Professional, you get two additional apps, Publisher and Access.
All the versions of Microsoft 365 (earlier known as Office 365) enable you to download mobile apps for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook on your iPhone, Android, and iPad.
Additionally, you can download Microsoft Teams, One Drive, SharePoint, and Exchange apps for Business Standard, Business Premium, and Apps for Business versions.
If we talk about operating system compatibility, all the Microsoft 365 versions can be downloaded on:
Windows – Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022.
If we talk about the changes throughout the years of Microsoft Office since its inception, it would not be wrong to say that it has come a long way. Here’s an overview of the changes over time:
Office Version
Changes introduced
Office 1.0 (1990)
The first version of Office introduced the concept of integrated office apps.
Office 4.0 (1994)
Added the Office Assistant, Clippy & improved collaboration features.
Office 95 (Office 7.0) (1995)
The first 32-bit Office version came with a Task Pane and an online Help section.
Office 97 (Office 8.0) (1996)
Added Internet Explorer integration, Office Toolbar, and Outlook as email clients.
Office 2000 (Office 9.0) (1999)
Enhanced web integration with Office Web Components.
Office XP (Office 10.0) (2001)
Introduced Smart Tags features and shifted their focus to security and user experience.
Office 2003 (Office 11.0) (2003)
Improved XML support and added Research Task Pane.
Office 2007 (Office 12.0) (2007)
Introduced the Ribbon interface and improved collaboration with SharePoint integration.
Office 2010 (Office 14.0) (2010)
Added Backstage view and enhanced collaboration with Office Web Apps.
Office 2013 (Office 15.0) (2013)
Improved touch support and added the Start screen.
Office 2016 (Office 16.0) (2015)
Introduced Tell Me feature and enhanced collaboration with real-time co-authoring.
Office 2019 (2018)
A standalone perpetual license with the classic apps.
Microsoft 365 (2020) {Formerly known as Office 365, introduced in 2011}
A subscription-based model with cloud-based services
Microsoft 365 Apps
Continuous updates with a cloud-connected suite and focus on real-time collaboration, & security
Microsoft Office LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) (2021)
A version of Office with infrequent updates and long-term support with security updates, ideal for organizations.
Office 2021 (2021)
A standalone perpetual license with a focus on offline use and conventional software licensing
In 2019, Microsoft introduced the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) for Office 2019 for organizations who prefer stability with less frequent updates & a fixed set of apps & features.
As the name suggests, the LTSC versions support a longer support lifecycle and are intended for environments where strict regulatory needs are essential to maintain control over software updates.
Remember that if you choose the LTSC version of Microsoft Office, you might be unable to use the latest features, cloud-based services, or other collaboration tools.
Microsoft 365 vs. Office 2021: Feature Comparison
Category
Office 2021
Microsoft 365
Licensing model
Perpetual license
Subscription-based model
Updates
Fixed set of features available at the time of purchase, along with security patches and bug fixes
Regular updates, including new features, bug fixes and security updates
Office Apps
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Publisher (based on the plan chosen), and Access (depending on the plan).
Cloud-based services
No services included
Cloud-based services like OneDrive for online storage & collaboration, Teams for communication & collaboration, and SharePoint for managing documents.
Real-Collaboration Tools
Track changes, & sharing documents via email
Real-time collaboration, which allows multiple users to make changes to a document in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
Cross-Platform Compatibility
Can be installed on Windows and macOS
Works on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and web browsers
AI-powered features
No AI features
Comes with AI features to check grammar, provide content suggestions, design suggestions, and more
Security & Compliance
No security features
Advanced security features, threat protection, data loss prevention (DLP), and other compliance tools
Offline Use
Intended for offline use and is ideal for those who don’t have continuous access to the internet
Need internet connection for full functionality but can work offline with some limitations
Can you switch from Microsoft 365 to Office 2021?
You can switch from Microsoft 365 to Office 2021 or vice versa. Still, you need to cancel the subscription plan, backup your data, uninstall Microsoft 365, register & purchase 2021 via your Microsoft account, and install the new software suite from the download link on your account.
To subscribe to Microsoft 365 services and get extra features, you need to abandon your Office 2021 license, uninstall it from your machine, get a plan as per requirements, and download & install the apps from your Microsoft account to get started!
Remember, understanding your requirements while purchasing any of the software is important. If you are a single user and don’t want continuous updates, you can choose Office 2021.
However, if you want to get the latest features and updates from Microsoft and enjoy using collaboration features and cloud storage, then Microsoft 365 is the right choice. If you want to know how to get this Office suite at a cheaper price, read this guide.
Today, the Windows Report team will be showing you some of the best website security software. Website security has become more important in the past decade with news of high-profile web attacks on websites.
These attacks range from DDoS, malware distributions, heavy adware activity, website hijacking, and complete website shutdown.
Hence, the emergent needs to secure websites against impending attacks. However, this has led to an increase in web security but the hard choice for users is how to pick the right website security software.
Meanwhile, Windows Report has compiled some of the best web security software available on the market to help you choose the right security solution for your website.
Sucuri is a popular website security software provider with a reputation for its strong security features. The program uses cloud-based technology to ensure comprehensive security for your website. Meanwhile, this web security software helps to increase your website performance through its CDN and smart catching features.
In addition, Sucuri suite package comes with an inbuilt antivirus and firewall to detect viruses and prevent bug attacks on your website. Also, the software filters web traffic and blocks hack and bugs through DDoS mitigation and WAF, hence, Sucuri also patches vulnerable spots on your website to prevent exploit attacks.
You can also back up your website information with their cloud storage which is a cool feature. Sucuri offers quality customer support services which are available 24/7 all through the year.
Moreover, this great tool provides SEO support and guides you to respect principal rules for a legitimate site on the web. So aspects like keyword stuffing or links injections are removed in order to make your site appealing in searches.
Thus you don’t have to worry about the security issues or performance needs of your website because this platform can resolve them effectively and also increase site results.
Also, Sucuri is available on Windows devices and comes at a basic cost of $10 per month.
Sucuri
Improve your website using professional security services to fully increase the gains of your business.
This is one of the popular website security software with millions of websites protected by this security software. Comodo Cwatch uses cloud network technology to manage security services for websites and online applications.
Comodo offers comprehensive security services which detect, and removes malware after detection. The software uses a unique combination of security information and event management with web application firewall to create a secure content of delivery network which secures your website.
In addition, this website security software also comes with improved website performance with the DDoS keeping threats at bay while keeping your website information safe. Comodo Cwatch helps your website to be PCI compliant which gives online merchants more credibility as a safe place to make purchases.
The software also boasts excellent customer support which guides you through the entire setup and is available 24/7 a day.
However, Comodo Cwatch is ideal for any business website either startup or established website. The software is available on Windows devices to download.
Therefore, you should take advantage of the superior security services offered by experts and engineers ready to protect any business website.
This web security software uses cloud-based security technology to automatically detect threats and attacks on your website. Sitelock also helps prevent attacks by fixing threats and putting them in their database, to ensure the attack is recognized and fixed anytime it resurfaces.
The software helps to boost website performance and allows online e-commerce websites to meet PCI compliance standards through excellent customer-based support it offers. Sitelock uses “Truecode” statistic application testing which allows for fast analyzing the source base of websites and applications to prevent attacks.
The DDoS protection helps to keep your DNS server and Web applications secure from malware. This website security software is excellent software to use for your website protection.
Hence choosing this reliable platform you invest positively in website maintenance and secure the digital activity of your business, no matter what type of site you have. With this service the security worries are null and you enjoy constant website safeguarding.
The software is available for download on Windows devices and the price range from $9 to $49 depending on your website activities.
This web security suite offers complete and advanced web protection features. Rapid 7 helps to analyze traffic, detect and repel attacks on your website. The software has a simple interface which allows for easy settings and customization.
Meanwhile, this website security software utilizes a unique vulnerability management feature that analyses your website traffic and indicates vulnerable spots, which are remediated by the security program.
In addition, the cloud-based protection technology allows your entire system workload to be minimized while increases your website credibility and protecting your site endpoints. In addition, Rapid 7 is available for Windows devices.
What’s more, this SIEM (System Information and Event Management) tool is prepared to boost your site performance and assures instant return of investment regarding superior security benefits.
Hence you can rely on high-security services based on machine learning and advanced technology, detecting all potential threats to your website and help resolve them.
Invicti offers excellent web security features and is cross-compatible on several operating system platforms.
This website security software offers a nice user interface which makes web security easy to set up and use without having any technical knowledge.
In addition, Invicti scans your website and gives detailed vulnerability reports periodically which allows for easy detection and removal of threats. The software enables full configuration of its scanning tool whereby you can select which part of your website needs more attention.
The penetration test feature enables the software to protect your website from DDoS attacks and bugs as it detects and blocks these threats.
In addition, Invicti enables your website to be PCI compliant; hence, it improves your website performance and boosts credibility with your site visitors.
Therefore a program like this offers qualitative security services in order to provide the needed website administration thus improving the traffic or sales.
If you want to protect your website, perhaps Menlo Security Web Security might be just what you need. This tool isolates all web activity on a pool of secure browsers and thanks to its special technology it delivers a seamless browsing experience. By doing so, users are at no risk of malware infection.
This service uses its own Secure Web Gateways technology that will completely eliminate all malware infections and enhance your security. The service has a special feature called “allow without risk” that will eliminate any risks associated with uncategorized websites.
Menlo Security also has a document protection feature that will isolate and open all documents and email attachments thus prevent malicious documents from infecting your PC. This service also has a Data Loss prevention feature that has special file upload and download policies. For extra protection, there’s a special Isolate + Read-Only option available.
Another great feature of Menlo Security is webmail protection. Thanks to this feature, all web traffic will be isolated thus keeping your emails safe from malicious links. In addition to webmail, Menlo Security will also protect you against malicious URLs.
Menlo Security Web Security offers solid features, so if you’re looking for website security software, you might want to try it out.
Overview:
Isolates all web traffic to reduce the chance of malware infection
Conclusively, there are other website security software out there but those listed here are the best ones which have been properly reviewed.
However, the website security software listed is unique in its own way; the best software combines a blend of affordability and capability, which are highlighted in this post.
You can always rely on powerful penetration testing services to help you determine what your vulnerabilities are and what the right tool is for you to use. Cyberglobal offers a wide range of testing capabilities and a team of security experts that operates 24/7 to provide the best solutions to your needs.
Have you used any of the website security software which we mentioned above? Feel free to share your experience with us by commenting below.
One of the most popular virtualization tools available now, Parallels Desktop, recently launched version 17, which was used to run the Windows 11 beta on Apple M1.
However, soon after that, the development version started to have hardware compatibility errors when using the software.
Trying to avoid an uncomfortable situation, the Parallels team fixed this issue with version 17.0.1 but gave absolutely no guarantee that similar incidents won’t happen again.
Recent information dissipates all the doubt and brings smiles to the faces of those who really wanted to take Windows 11 for a test run on their Apple desktops and laptops.
You can run Windows 11 on M1 chip powered desktops
Given the unpredictable state in which Windows 11 was a few weeks ago, and the scepticism of many, in regards to it being ready in time, every Mac owner was getting worried at the thought they couldn’t run it on VM.
You can relax now, as it has been confirmed that you can indeed run Microsoft’s new operating system using Parallels, on your M1 chips.
Users that already tried and were successful at installing and running this OS on their Apple devices were quick to share the exciting news with everyone else, through forums or social media platforms.
For those of you that don’t have VHDX, all you have to do is simply download the update and convert it to ISO.
NOTE
And just in case you aren’t familiar with the term, VHDX is a semi-open file format that describes a virtual hard disk.
It is not related to formats, such as NTFS or FAT, or EXT3. It is also not concerned with partitions. VHDX presents the same characteristics as a physical hard drive, or SSD, or SAN LUN, or any other block storage.
It is up to some other component, such as the guest operating system, to define how the blocks are used.
Also, if you are looking to game on your Windows 11 ARM< you might want to look into it first, as there are some concerns about gaming on Parallels 17.
So it doesn’t matter if you were an Apple person all your life, you still have the chance to try out the Redmond company’s recent operating system, without having to worry about a thing.
Well, of course, maybe just how many hours you are willing to spend in front of your monitor without taking a small break.
Did you manage to install Windows 11 on your M1-powered device, using Parallels 17? Let us know in the comments section below.
Microsoft has released Edge Dev channel update 96.0.1032.0. This update is another fairly minor one, however, it does bring some new features. These include voice typing support, and Microsoft Editor built directly into the browser. Here’s what you need to know.
We start first with the new features. You can now use voice typing on web pages on Windows 11 in Edge. In addition, you should see a new item in the right-click many on tabs that can move that tab to a different profile, even if no windows are open. Other added features are below.
Added a button to the main feedback dialog to easily get to the “Recreate my problem” sub-dialog.
Added an X to close certain toast notifications that appear when managing Collections.
Added a button to exit Immersive Reader on iPad.
Added improved messaging when the Web Widget fails to open because an extension disabled it.
The reliability improvements and changed behaviors are short this week. We’ve included all of them below. These cover various crashes, as well as issues with importing data and editing text notes.
Fixed an issue where enabling spellchecking for multiple languages resulted in only one language getting spellcheck results.
Fixed an issue where opening a new window from the Favorites or History management pages fails.
Fixed an issue where importing data from other browsers sometimes fails in certain languages.
Fixed an issue where certain kinds of browser history are able to be deleted even when deleting history is disabled by management policy.
Fixed an issue where editing a text note in a Collection sometimes isn’t possible because the pane automatically scrolls to where the note isn’t visible.
Fixed an issue where entering Kids mode unnecessarily adds badging to browser shortcuts.
Fixed an issue where websites that ask for permission to use a 2-Factor Authentication device result in a blank permission dialog.
Fixed an issue where setting a website installed as an app to run when the device starts up via the app’s post-install dialog isn’t reflected in the Apps management page.
Fixed an issue where there is no indication that a download has started in websites installed as apps.
Fixed an issue where clicking the button in Settings to restart the browser doesn’t actually restart it.
Fixed an issue where input sometimes doesn’t work when mini menus are visible.
Fixed an issue where the Web Widget doesn’t respond to touchscreen input.
Fixed an issue on Xbox where the Setting to open a specific page on browser startup doesn’t work.
Known issues are slim this week, but the same as in the past. These include issues with ad-blocking extensions, tabs crashing with a STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_HASH error, and wobbling with scrolling. Happy downloading, Edge insiders, and remember that Edge is on Xbox now, too!
Emails are still the best way to communicate in the workplace. However, most people don’t have their emails organized. It is noisy, all over the place and none of us have the patience to keep cleaning the mess every other day.
The problem multiplies when you have to deal with multiple email accounts on day to day basis. Managing all of these email accounts can take hours of your work hours that you would rather spend taking your business forward.
This is where the email clients come into play. Even though, modern web-based email clients like Gmail and Outlook have come a long way and pretty much offer all the functionalities to keep your emails spam-free and organized, web-based email clients, are not still feasible when you have to deal with multiple email clients all the time. Having to keep multiple tabs open to manage email again clutters the desktop.
This is where offline email clients excel. Desktop mail clients can manage all your email addresses from a single window, store emails for offline use, offer top-notch encryption, offer business app integration such as WhatsApp, Trello, Slack, and more.
If you feel like buried in emails and spending hours managing the accounts every day, here is the list of best emails clients for increasing your productivity that will help you to supercharge the email management process like never before.
What are the best productivity-oriented email clients?
If I had to sum up Mailbird is an email client in one sentence, it would get 4.5/5 stars. That should be enough to tell you that it is a real deal and worth being your primary email app and you should give it a shot without any second thoughts.
Mailbird is a premium email client for Windows users and comes in yearly and lifetime licenses which is affordable for many. But, there is a free version as well just in case you are looking for a free email client.
The Personal subscription gets you multiple account support, contacts manager, app integration, and personal use license.
The Pro subscription allows you to use Mailbird for commercial use, Exchange support, email speed reader, LinkedIn Lookup Feature, Mailbird essential options, and customer support plus everything that comes with a personal account.
As an email client Mailbird has the basics covered. It can send and receive emails, filter emails, and supports keyboard shortcuts to create and compose new emails, etc.
You can manage emails from your multiple accounts from one place. It has a customizable layout with free themes to make it look exactly like you want it to look.
Then there is app integration support. You can use apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Dropbox, Google Calendar, Asana, Slack, Trello, Todoist, and more right from the Mailbird client.
In addition, Mailbird also gets features like attachment search, Undo Send, custom sounds, Speed Reader, and the Snooze option to snooze messages for later and deal with the emails on a priority basis.
Mailbird is an excellent email client with all the necessary features on offer and makes email management a much simpler process.
Mailbird
Download Mailbird for free and see how your productivity skyrockets. Take advantage of the limited-time offer!
With superior search options, apps integration, and support for a vast range of email providers, eM Client is an excellent email client for Windows users.
It comes in both free and premium accounts. The free version retains most of the features except VIP support, unlimited accounts setups (only two accounts allowed in the free version), and the license to use it for commercial use.
Although the Pro plan is expensive, it could be worth the money if you need features missing in the free account and also use the email client for commercial purposes.
eM Client supports almost all the email technologies including POP3, SMTP, IMAP, Exchange, and Office 365.
The user interface is simple and intuitive. All the emails can be grouped into one folder, or you can view them separately.
The Conversation View automatically groups all the relevant conversations much like Gmail resulting in a much cleaner inbox.
The messages can be encrypted with PGP or S/MIME to secure signed documents and confidential information.
In addition, it also gets a message scheduler, quick text, email translator, mall mail, templates and signature, emails, categorization and tags, and more.
eM Client also has a calendar management feature that allows you to sync data from Gmail or iCloud accounts, create schedules and agendas, send meeting invitations and confirmations, set reminders, and more.
Furthermore, you can manage contacts with features like categorization, contacts merging, automatic deduplication, and exhaustive field, etc.
eM Client makes the process of email and contact management a breeze. It is expensive than Mailbird, but it does offer more features. Do take the free version for a spin to see if it meets your requirement.
eM Client
Manage all your emails securely and work better with message schedulers, quick texts, email translators, mall mails, mail templates, and more!
Thunderbird (formerly known as Mozilla Thunderbird) is the most popular free email client that offers all the features for free and more with extension support with no strings attached.
The latest version of the popular email client has received a major overhaul making it better than ever. You can add as many email accounts as you want without any limitations.
Setting up an email account is as easy as entering your email address and password. For some email service providers authentication may be required.
Thunderbird also allows you to set up your own custom email address directly from its dashboard. Address Book helps you to manage contacts with add, and edit functionality and customize it with photos, birthdays, and other details.
Thunderbird comes with integrated chat support for multiple channels including Facebook, Google Talk, Twitter, XMPP, and more with the ability to search through the conversation and receive emails.
Other handy features offered by the app include attachment reminder, tabs, and search, web search, quick filter toolbar, search tools, activity manager to record the interaction between the email client and your service providers, and large file management options.
And if that is not enough, you can always extend the functionality by adding third-party Thunderbird add-ons. For example, if you are unhappy with the default anti-spam add-ons, try these best anti-spam addons for Thunderbird.
Although this email client may require some getting used to, it is an excellent alternative to the native email client on Windows 10. If you haven’t used Thunderbird before, it is time to give it a shot.
Mailspring is a multi-platform free email client that boots your productivity. It comes in both free and a pro version with obvious differences in the features list.
The Pro version of Mailspring offers features such as template support, rich contact profiles, send later feature to schedule response, company overview, ability to snooze messages for later, link tracking, read receipts for better email conversion analysis, and the ability to send follow-up reminders.
Mailspring supports all the major email technologies including IMAP, SMTP, and Office 365 which means you can add email accounts from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and more and manage all the email in one place.
You can add unlimited email accounts to the client. The advanced search features help you with searching message contents from all the connected accounts.
Then there are some handy features like the ability to add signatures to your outgoing email to add a touch of professionalism with ease.
Similar to eM Client, Mailspring offers an email translation feature in case you receive an email written in an unfamiliar language, spell check to avoid silly mistakes, and customization options to stylize your email clients with multiple layouts and themes to match your desktop mood.
Mailspring is available for Windows, Linux, and OSX and if the premium features don’t seem exciting, you can use the free version forever.
Sylpheed is yet another free email client that is available for Linux, Windows and Mac users. Unlike other email clients in this, Sylpheed is completely free without any premium plans on offer.
Sylpheed is at least two decades old, and the UI is no different. However, for an email client Sylpheed offers excellent email management options for those looking for a lightweight yet feature-rich email client that can be used by anyone.
You can extend the functionality using third-party plugins. Sylpheed supports all the major email protocols and allows you to configure multiple email accounts with ease.
The minimal user interface means Sylpheed doesn’t have any noticeable impact on system performance thus allowing the user to browse through thousands of emails without any lag issues.
Other email management features like email filtering, search, Junk/Spam mail control, and multi-language support make Sylpheed a super simple yet effective email client for casual users.
Both Windows and OSX come with their own email clients aka Mail apps. The built-in apps get the job done most of the time and work great for casual users and for those who like apps with minimal features.
However, if you are a professional looking for a mail app that can organize your emails, offer business app integration and streamline the whole email management process, then this list of premium email clients for productivity should help you do more in less time.
Make sure you take the apps you like from the list for a spin and commit to the one that meets your requirement rather than one that has the most features on offer.
Like all digital data, archives such as ZIP files are prone to be damaged as well. The biggest problem is when these archives contain important data that we haven’t backed up anywhere else. That’s precisely when a good ZIP archive recovery tool can come in handy.
The problem is that the Internet is full of such tools, so choosing the right one is difficult. They all pretty much look and sound the same, and the differences are just minor.
We’ve selected a list of the best archive repair tools that you can buy today. The main criterion that we’ve based this list on is the efficiency with which it manages to recover data from the archives.
What are the methods to repair a corrupted ZIP file?
Stellar File Repair by Wondershare represents efficient software for damaged ZIP files or other types of files like Word, Excel, PNG files, and many more.
Using a toolkit like this one, you will fix corrupted files and save a big time trying to restore them. Thus, it can provide support for corrupted video files, unsupported downloads, virus attacks, etc.
Regarding the ZIP archives, you can benefit from services like repairing large ZIP files, fixes of corrupted files by viruses, bad sectors on the disk, or incompatible compression.
What’s more, the program can offer support not only for ZIP files but also with Office Suite including MS Word documents and MS Excel files.
Pros:
Provides repair of ZIP files as large as 800 MB
Restore damaged video files for multiple reasons
Recovery for non-password protected subtypes ZIP files
Available on multiple PCs
30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
Price tag
Not compatible with Windows 10
Stellar File Repair Toolkit
Using strong software like Stellar File Repair your ZIP files are in no danger, so check it out confidently!
You can’t talk about repairing the ZIP archive without at least mentioning the best ZIP archiver in the world.
WinZip can zip and unzip to and from all of the most known archive file formats, and the ones that it creates have the highest compression rates among all such programs.
Besides that, it can protect the archive by encrypting them or making them password-protected.
Any archive that may have become corrupted for one reason or another can also be repaired using WinZip, with a very high rate of recovery.
Once you are done with your archives, you can move them between PCs, networks, and clouds, or share them on social media with ease.
Pros:
Can provide encryption and password-protection
Great for repairing damaged archives
High data compression rate
Lightweight and fast
Easy-to-use
Cons:
The Trial is too short
WinZip
Extract RAR files in a fast and efficient manner with the help of this professional compression and unzipping tool.
The following program is Remo Repair Zip, an extremely easy-to-use ZIP archive repair tool that can bring back data from even the most damaged archives.
It can recover the corrupted files with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors, and the data that has been repaired can be saved to any particular destination accessible to the host operating system.
Pros:
Can be used to repair all types of ZIP (32-bit, 64- bit)
Efficiently repairs data from within damaged archives
If your archive has been severely damaged and it seems like no tool can recover the data from within it, then you need to try DiskInternals ZIP Repair.
This lightweight tool is capable of recovering the data from archives that have been corrupted in pretty much any way imaginable, from archives broken from interrupted downloads to archives that are in bad hard drive sectors or on damaged disks.
Pros:
Repairs zip files broken during an interrupted download, copy, move, and network transfer
Repairs partially overwritten zip files from data recovery software
Repairs data from zip files damaged by viruses
Repairs ZIP files from damaged or defective disk, CD, DVD or bad sectors
If the archive isn’t all that damaged but you are concerned about repairing as much of the data as possible, then DataNumen Zip Repair is the utility that you need.
Proven to have one of the highest repair rates on the market, this handy tool is the favorite of thousands worldwide.
Pros:
The highest data repair rate on the market
Supports batch repair
Can be used as a computer forensic tool and electronic discovery tool
Free for personal use
Cons:
A lot of the auxiliary features are available only for the Business version
Aryson ZIP Repair Tool is highly efficient to extract corrupt, damaged, and inaccessible zip files easily without damaging or changing the contents in any way.
Additionally, the program works even with data that was split into multiple archives, allowing you to recover that other programs could not.
Pros:
Quickly recovers and repairs the corrupt zip file in a bulk
Offers support to all archive types
Works even with errors of zip files like “Cannot open file: not a valid archive”
Enable users to save the extracted file at a user-specified location
Archives are great as a format since they allow you to carry around data of all types in a safe and more compact manner. However, if corruption ever occurs, then all of that data is compromised.
Since Windows 11 is officially here and everyone is patiently waiting for their turn at the full version of the operating system, we can now talk about some of the additions coming to it.
But did you also know that Mixed Reality for Windows 11 has also been released by Microsoft?
This update adds a new virtual home environment to the Places menu called the Infinite Expanse, a smaller and more performant home environment that utilizes fewer system resources during VR sessions.
Additionally, new settings options have been enabled, to allow you to jump directly into SteamVR when launching the Mixed Reality Portal.
Furthermore, you can control whether Mixed Reality Portal opens when your device is connected or when the presence sensor on your headset is engaged.
This was a totally expected move since Microsoft did tell us a few months ago that we were going to gain more control over this exciting VR world.
Prepare to explore the Infinite Expanse
Focusing on enhancement, the Infinite Expanse was designed to address long-standing customer requests for a less resource-intensive virtual home environment that allows users to get the best performance out of their games and experiences.
Redmond officials have announced the new virtual home environment for Windows Mixed Reality devices featuring a significant reduction in scope and size, streamlined down to singular stage instead of the more feature-rich Cliffhouse.
This new virtual home environment can be found in the Pins Panel within the Places menu.
New startup experience settings and SteamVR boot
As we mentioned above, Microsoft added some new settings that give you the ability to automatically launch SteamVR when WMR launches.
This, of course, will allow you to bypass WMR home space and jump directly into SteamVR.
The Redmond tech giant optimized the system for us to better configure our ideal startup experience by increasing your level of control over when Mixed Reality Portal launches.
You can now control whether or not Mixed Reality Portal launches when a device is connected or when the presence sensor is activated, as well as control how the virtual Desktop app opens.
This is excellent news for all the Windows VR users out there, who were expecting such an update for quite some time now.
And the fact that Microsoft decided to combine the release of the OS and the new version of Mixed Reality makes it all so much better.
However, we were recently discussing that various people are actually having trouble installing this software on their Windows 11 devices.
Then again, we were still talking about the Insider preview version of the operating system, so hopefully, these problems are behind us now.
Did you take the new version of Mixed Reality out for a test drive? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.
As Windows 11 is finally here, and because we already discussed the complete system requirements for running this OS optimally on your device, some wonder if Windows 11 will be good for gaming.
Microsoft has taken this element into consideration when building its new OS, so it will be capable of running games at an even better speed than the predecessor OS, Windows 10.
As we know already, Windows 11 has some other important improvements, besides the design of the interface itself. One of the most important is the requirement to have a TPM chip on your device to improve your system’s security.
Some game developers are planning on using the new TPM improvements to ban any cheaters on online multiplayer game servers, and this would signify an important change in the world of online gaming.
Here are Windows 11’s system requirements:
Processor: 1 GHz or faster with 2 or more cores
System memory: 4 GB minimum
Storage: 64 GB minimum
System firmware: UEFI
Security: TPM required, UEFI Secure Boot
Display: 9-inch minimum in diagonal, High definition (720p), 8 bits per color channel
Graphics: DirectX 12 API, WDDM 2.0
Connectivity: Bluetooth (excluding desktop PC), Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection
Digitizer: Precision Touchpad (if the touchpad is present)
Hardware buttons: Power button and volume up and down buttons required
Ports: USB ports (at least one), video output required
That being said if you want to run games without issues besides running the OS optimally, it is extremely important that your system can deal with the latest and greatest game requirements.
In today’s guide we will explore some of the best gaming laptop options that can run Windows 11 without any issues, so make sure to read the details for each of the products.
How we chose the best Windows 11 gaming laptops?
The WindowsReport team of professional testers, with a combined experience of more than 15 years, have taken each of the devices described in this guide through a rigorous process of analysis and tests.
As we understand how important it is to ensure not only that the devices can run Windows 11, but also some of the latest games on the market, we took the time to install the OS from scratch, and then matched the hardware capabilities with some of the most resource-intensive games released until this point.
Tip
Editorial tip:
To ensure that your gaming laptop will not only be able to run Windows 11 perfectly but will also tackle any of the latest games without issues, there are a few elements that need to be taken into account:
➡ CPU ➡ GPU ➡ RAM ➡ Storage space ➡ Display size
Depending on the exact game/games you’re trying aiming to play on your PC, the exact requirements in regards to the elements presented above will vary considerably.
That being said, we do consider that it is always best to have a more capable PC and play a game with smaller requirements than the other way around.
For this reason, the list our team of testers produced will start by presenting the best gaming laptop we could find that runs Windows 11 without issues, and then gradually the capabilities will taper off.
It is also worth noting that even the laptop in the last position, and also the bottom runners will be good choices, even if the FPS levels for the latest games will not be comparable to the results of the first options.
What to consider when choosing the best Windows 11 gaming laptops
CPU
The processor is one of the most important elements of your laptop, acting as the brain of the device. If you want to run the latest games released on your Windows 11 gaming laptop, the CPU will need to be capable of fast data processing speeds.
That being said, if your system has a good CPU, but some of the other elements are not up to par, the games still won’t run, so choosing the right gaming setup is crucial.
All of the devices presented in this guide have a powerful CPU that will surely be able to run any game without problems.
GPU
The GPU, or the graphics processing unit is the component that processes all the visual input and the transformation of pure data into cinematic and immersive scenes in your games.
When it comes to its importance, the GPU is almost at the top of the list, very close to the CPU, as the combination of these two hardware pieces are the ones that allow you to immerse yourself in the world of your game, and do so at a normal speed, without any lagging and stuttering.
The rate of FPS (frames per second) will vary depending on the GPU’s capabilities, and the requirements of the game you’re trying to run.
As you can see from the image above, the optimal FPS range for games should be below 30, but games will run without large issues even at 60fps. From that point on, the games will start lagging and will make the game almost unplayable.
What is the best FPS rate for gaming?
30 FPS – Good enough for single player games
60 FPS – The most suitable FPS rate for most gamers and games, being able to sustain both single player and multi-player configurations
120 FPS – Provides you with an important edge when it comes to multi-player gaming, but will tax your GPU considerably, so lowering some of the graphics settings might help
240 FPS – Can provide an added edge if you’re playing games profesionally, but, as it requires a professional-level monitor, will be very expensive
Even though for a smooth operation the GPU is also important, in case you find that this device is not enough to run your favorite games properly, then you can supplement its power by using an eGPU, which can be attached to your system by the use of a USB cable.
It is worth noting that choosing this option will imply that the mobility of your gaming laptop will be reduced considerably, so it would only prove useful in the case you’re planning on using your gaming laptop at home.
RAM
The rapid access memory of your laptop will prove useful in case you need to run multiple applications like photo editing software, and sound editing tools at the same time, but will also be extremely handy when playing games.
Different games will have different requirements when it comes to the RAM of your system, but it is safer to have more than you need.
Windows 11 requires you to have at least 4GB of RAM, so any value above this will ensure that the games you play will be able to run optimally.
A good starting point for gaming laptops is to have around 8 GB of RAM, but 16, and even 32 RAM setups are becoming more common as the gaming industry evolves, and more and more realistic games are produced.
All the gaming laptops our team of testers has chosen for this list have 16GB RAM or more, ensuring that you won’t encounter any issues no matter what game you choose to play.
Storage space
As you might expect, the storage space you have available on your device will make a huge difference when it comes to storing the games you install, their save files, and also other applications and personal files.
The requirement for running Windows 11 is only 4 GB of space, so that shouldn’t be a concert at all, as most laptops nowadays have around 512GB storage at least.
The list we created is not any different, as 512GB is the minimum amount our options have, but we included laptops with 1TB or even 2TB storage capabilities.
That being said, not all storage components are the same, as laptops have either an HDD, an SSD, or a combination of both.
HDD and SSD data processing speed comparison
As you can see from the image above, the processing speed for a system using an SSD is two times better than in the case of a system with an HDD.
This can be a very important factor when it comes to running games on your laptop, as the speed at which the data can be read is of paramount importance when it comes to the overall gaming experience.
For this reason, our list only includes options that have an SSD installed, but not all SSDs are the same.
What are the types of SSD and what is the difference between them?
SATA SSD
This type of SSD uses the same interface as HDDs, even though they are still four to five times faster.
This type of interface has been used for a while, and even though computer producers are slowly moving towards the next model, it is still widely found in systems across the globe.
NVMe SSD(including PCIe/NVMe/PCIe-NVMe)
The NVMe SSD is used especially in gaming PCs, as the faster transfer rates can make a huge difference.
For this reason, the entire set of gaming laptops we’ve chosen for this list will have an NVMe SSD installed.
Display size
The size of the display your gaming laptop features will make a very big difference in case you’re not planning on using an external monitor with your setup.
That being said, it is always best to have the option to play games without connecting it to an external monitor or TV, so at least 15 inches are required to have a good experience.
Of course, as in the case of RAM, having a bigger monitor, like a 17-inch, will not do any harm, but will affect the portability of your laptop, making it bigger as well.
Tip
Buyer’s tips:
➡ For the best overall performance, and insurance that you won’t need to invest in a new PC at least for the next couple of years, going with the Razer Blade 15 is the best option.
The combination of the powerful CPU, GPU, and RAM will ensure a smooth operation even when dealing with the most graphic-intensive tasks or the latest games available.
➡ In case you would like to invest in a laptop that offers great processing capabilities, and also offers extra storage space, the Elektronics Prometheus XVII is the best option on the list.
With a small difference between the capabilities of the CPUs between this model and the best option from the list, the Prometheus XVII offers a great configuration, and at a more affordable price.
When it comes to choosing the best between them, take the time to consider that the latter has almost 3 times the amount for RAM, and a better GPU, even though the price is a bit steeper.
➡ If you don’t mind having a less capable GPU, the Acer Predator Triton 300 is a very good option.
Equipped with 32GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD, it could be a good contender to the Strix G17 option, but the less powerful GPU makes it discussable.
All these elements considered, it is now time to see what the results of our 3-days long tests have been. Even though we tried to include a variety of laptops in all price ranges, we assure you that every last one of them will provide a great Windows 11 gaming experience.
The Razer Blade 15 is our top pick for the best gaming laptop that can run Windows 11 without any problems, while also offering you the possibility to explore the fantastical world o gaming with the best quality display possible.
This device not only offers more than enough power to run multiple graphic-intensive and CPU-intensive tasks but also provides you the freedom of upgrading to Windows 11 free, as soon as you get it delivered.
Besides looking incredible, the Blade 15 from Razer has some serious firepower built into its slick designed case, starting with an 11th Generation Intel Core i9-11900H processor with 8 cores.
This powerhouse processor will ensure that the laptop will outperform most other laptops no matter if you’re running the latest released games, or running resource-intensive applications at the same time.
The overall benchmark results for this CPU proved to be 9% better than the laptop in the second position, which is a huge difference at this level.
To ensure smooth gaming across the board, the Razer Blade 15 comes equipped with a powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU.
Even though this GPU is the same model found in the laptop we chose for the second position, the more powerful CPU is capable of using every last drop of power that the GPU is capable of.
The 32GB RAM installed on this slick-looking gaming laptop ensures that running the latest games, and also providing enough memory to run CAD software and photo-editing apps will be a breeze.
This laptop also has a 1TB nVME SSD installed capable of processing data at lightning speeds, but where this device shines the most is the display capabilities.
It has a 15,6-inches 4K OLED display that will ensure an amazingly immersive gaming experience.
The Prometheus XVII from Eluktronics is another very powerful gaming laptop that will be able to run games on Windows 11 without any issues whatsoever.
At a slightly lower price, this amazing laptop comes with a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, which offers only 5% less speed than the first choice in our list.
This CPU is one of the best on the market at this point, so the speed reduction is negligible, even more when considering the GPU.
The RTX 3080 GPU from Nvidia installed on this PC is exactly the model found in the laptop in the first position, making it a great contender, and with a more accessible price.
At the same time, the GPU has proven to be 48% better in our overall benchmark tests than the laptop found in the 3rd position, which is a huge difference when it comes to data processing capabilities and overall projected gaming experience.
The Prometheus XVII has 32GB DDR4 RAM, which ensures that you have more than enough processing capabilities for the latest games or to run multiple applications that require a large amount of resources at the same time.
When it comes to storage, this laptop has a 2TB NVMe SSD, which allows you to store data from a large number of games, personal files, save games, high-definition movies, and everything in between.
The display installed on the Prometheus XVII runs at 165Hz and offers a 17.3-inches screen surface for an immersive gaming and movie-watching experience.
The ASUS ROG Strix G17 has all the features it needs to run games on Windows 11 without facing any problems like stuttering or lagging, and it is powered by the same CPU as the model presented previously – an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX.
That being said, the Strix G17 is a lot more affordable than the Prometheus XVII, making it obvious that the GPU is where the main difference in configuration is.
Even though that is the case, the Strix scored a 10% better GPU benchmark rating than the model found on the 4th position in our guide.
The Strix G17 is equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which even though it is slower than the one found on the previous laptop we mentioned, is still a capable GPU.
The GPU will be allowing you to play most games found on the market without any stuttering, but it might be helped by reducing the graphics quality to a medium setting.
16GB DDR4 RAM also ensures that most game system requirements will be fulfilled without any problems, and will be capable of running multiple instances of CAD software, music-editing apps, etc.
When it comes to storage capabilities, the Strix G17 has a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, which offers great data processing speeds both for your gaming experience and day-to-day usage.
The 17.3 inches display mounted on this gaming laptop runs at 144Hzm and offers a 1920×1080 Full HD resolution, ensuring that the power of the graphics card will be used as best as possible.
The Asus TUF 3070 is another great gaming laptop that can run the latest releases on Windows 11 without any problems.
It is powered by an Intel Core i7-11370H CPU, which is 11% in our overall benchmarks scores than the next option presented in this guide.
This CPU will allow you to run any games you want, and even though it might not reach the same capabilities as the first option in our list, it is a clear contender nonetheless.
The GPU, a GeForce RTX 3070 is 9% better than the previous laptop, and a whopping 30% better than the laptop option that follows it.
This justifies the bigger price when compared to the Strix G17, and provides a better performance overall, even though not by much.
This laptop impressed us with 40GB RAM, which trumps all the other options we discussed in today’s guide, offering un-paralleled multi-tasking capabilities.
Another element that makes this laptop a worthy opponent even when compared with the first position, the Razer Blade 15, is the 240Hz FHD display, which measures 15,6 inches.
The resolution for this display comes in at 1920 x 1080 and uses anti-glare technology for a better experience even in sunny weather.
At the same time, the Asus TUF 3070 is one of the slimmest options on our list, allowing greater portability, and also lighter weight than most gaming laptops.
The package also comes with a Mytrix HDMI cable which ensures great image quality, and also amazing transfer speeds to any HDMI-enabled display.
The Acer Predator Triton 300 is worthy of being part of the list containing the best Windows 11 gaming laptops, even though it is the last choice.
This device is powered by an Intel i7-10750H CPU, which provides good processing power even with the latest games. It is also powerful enough to run any resource-intensive applications like CAD software or image processing apps.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU which comes installed in this device does its job, even though compared with the Asus Rox Strix G17 – which is in the same price range – it offers fewer capabilities overall.
That doesn’t mean that the GPU from the Triton 300 will not be capable of running games, but, depending on your exact preferences, there would be better options.
It comes with 32GB DDR4 RAM, which is double the amount that the direct competitor Strix G17 has, making it a better option if you’re planning on running multiple applications simultaneously.
The Triton 300 also comes at an advantage if you require more storage space, offering a 2TB NVMe SSD. This is more than enough to store a large number of photos, 4K videos, game data, and other personal files.
It also has an RGB backlit keyboard, which proves useful when playing at night, while also improving the looks of the device.
The display of this device runs at 144Hz and offers a 15.6-inch surface for gaming and everyday use. It is a Full HD IPS, which will provide immersive color quality and good refresh rates.
Bottom runners
Besides the options we presented in the list above, there have been a few other gaming laptop options that stood out.
The reasons for not including them in the list will vary depending on the laptop itself, but they are worth a mention nonetheless:
This device is a great gaming laptop option but has not made the list as the i7-9750H CPU is slower than the model we described at the end of our list.
That being said, the price is more accessible than any options we described in our list, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and the 16 GB RAM make it a worthy contender.
The Nitro 5 from Acer is another good option that comes at a very accessible price and still contains a powerful i5-10300H CPU, a GeForce RTX 3050, and 8 GB of DDR4 RAM.
This is a great option for those of you who don’t want to break the bank when investing in a PC but don’t want to compromise too much on performance either.
These are some of the best gaming laptops that can run Windows 11 without any problems, and since the release of the OS is upon us, having some options that are worth investing in is a great idea.
If you’re not interested in a gaming-specific laptop that can run the new OS, you can also check out some of the best Windows 11 laptops on the market.
Microsoft has quietly started to roll out a redesigned Xbox Store on the web that lets customers add games to their wishlist or launch cloud-enabled games. This new Xbox Store was spotted yesterday by Twitter user @tamelucas (via The Verge), and it seems to be only available in Canada as of this writing.
The Xbox Store just received a fresh new design on the web – looks a lot like the redesigned Xbox app.
— tamelucas ???????? (Day One on Game Pass) (@tamelucas) October 5, 2021
This revamped Xbox Store uses a new dark theme that’s easier on the eyes, and it looks consistent with Microsoft’s dedicated website for Xbox Cloud Gaming or the Xbox mobile apps. The store listings are also more complete with the addition of supported languages and accessibility features for every game.
For Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, the ability to launch a cloud-enabled game right from this new Xbox Store should be pretty handy. Microsoft has yet to officially announce this new web experience, though, so it could be some time before it becomes available in other markets.
Microsoft wants to make it easier to get Windows 11 on new Windows 10 devices. The company released a patch that improves the initial setup experience in select Windows 10 editions, so you can directly upgrade a new device to Windows 11 without needing to complete the full Windows 10 setup process.
The new experience will be available on new devices with all the most recent versions of Windows 10, including Windows 10, version 2004, 20H2, 21H1, and 21H2. Of course, you’ll need to have an internet connection to get the KB5005716 update that allows this to happen, and the device will need to be eligible for the Windows 11 upgrade, too.
Once your system has this update ready, you can choose the upgrade to Windows 11 option, and the process will begin shortly after the out of box experience is completed. If you really want Windows 11 and you just got a new Windows 10 PC, this new option should be a real-time saver as you won’t have to go through Windows Update or deal with using the Installation Assistant to get the new OS.
Windows 11 has started rolling out yesterday on eligible PCs, and we invite you to check out our detailed post if you want to install the new OS now without waiting for Windows Update. Stay tuned to OnMSFT as our full Windows 11 video review will be available soon!
While the clip art function from MS Word got replaced by Bing images, there are many other options to insert clip art.
There are some of the best software to create Clip Art online, that help users to choose from their favorite images.
From making greeting cards to visually informative presentations, Clip Arts are the best way to perk up any illustration.
These images do not belong to stock photos and are copyrighted to avoid getting stolen. Clip arts are solely designed for sale or distribution.
So, those looking to access exclusive clip art images should invest in the best software to create clip art.
These software solutions are available in both paid and free versions and keep users off from any legal issues. Best of all, these programs offer a host of royalty-free images from every genre.
Here we have listed some of the best clip art software that can save both time and money.
What are the best Clip Art tools to create great digital images?
The industry-standard vector graphics software is the natural choice for creating beautifully sophisticated clip art.
This solution is packed with everything from vector-based graphics that allow you to scale your artwork to the perfect size and obtain crisp, sleek-looking print-ready outputs every time.
The results are complex drawing tools, gorgeous typography with stunning effects, loads of different styles, and a rich color palette plus an unlimited fonts library.
Unleash your creativity and get your clip art over the top with Illustrator. As a bonus, you can work seamlessly with other Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop, InDesign, XD, and Premiere Pro.
Let’s quickly go through its key features:
Improved launch time and faster file opening for peak performance
Improved effects (faster rendering of Drop Shadows, Gaussian Blurs, and Feather Effects in preview mode)
Simplified vector paths (simply remove redundant points to accelerate your workflow)
Freeform Gradients that allow you to create rich color blends
Step-by-step tutorials to help you get the job done hassle-free
Adobe Illustrator
Make clip art and icons out of shapes and colors. Make typography, freehand drawings, and trace and recolor visuals.
Edraw is one best clipart software programs that work on all major platforms.
It empowers users to create different types of diagrams like flow charts, floor plans, mind maps, etc. using their gallery full of templates and examples.
It’s a convenient vector-supported clipart drawing tool that offers a free download. This powerful application comes loaded with advanced functions that help make amazing clipart.
The software helps users create amazing designs using its high-quality and exceptional functionalities.
It features 8500 plus vector clip art that can be used to personalize greeting cards, flowcharts, business diagrams, and more.
Best of all, users do not require any added verification for using and sharing these clip art.
While it offers several categories, it also features easy-to-understand floating dialogues. The images are saved within the software and no downloading is required.
Compatibility with an extended range of software, scaling of images without losing clarity, or the option to export to TIF, GIF, JPG, PNG file formats are among its other major features.
Edraw
Hundreds of pre-made, customizable beautiful templates, symbols, and icons may help you do your clip art fast.
InDesign product by the Adobe suite is the most suitable choice for layout design with clip art tools.
This professional interface offers a variety of tools for crafting layouts or editing projects that can definitely stand out.
More so, the UI allows you to create awesome design layouts for both digital and print media. You also have standalone design tools for incredible outcomes.
To sum up, there are high-quality instruments to craft all you can imagine, and add creative art clips to make your design more interactive.
It’s worth mentioning that InDesign is the right place to create your brand. There are effective collaboration tools and real-time feedback for improving your final product.
Adobe InDesign
Craft media or print designs with this high-professional clip art solution.
Canva is the next entry if you need the definitive solution for clip art software and a free online design hub.
This photo design and editing platform is overly popular and everybody used it at least once. And for good reason as it delivers professional digital tools.
There are flyers, brochures, presentations, video templates, or creative clip art to transform your pages into art.
Using Canva, you can craft or edit any project and make it your own. The platform includes graphic elements, icons, and animated graphics to personalize your project.
Therefore, be aware that you have a galaxy of different templates and designs, from print media to digital marketing, which you can customize with suggestive clip art.
Canva
Simply adorn your designs with creative clip art elements.
Fotor is the new big hit for easy online editing and digital designs, coming with plenty of project types and graphics.
This simple-to-use UI is similar to Canva as it provides various templates and design pages to customize however you like.
More exactly, you can start with marketing-related designs like posters or logos and go to social media designs or AI avatar makers.
Besides that, it includes smart photo editing options to beautify your page. So, there are background removers, photo enhancer tools, AI image generators, and more to go.
That being said, you can sign up with a click and start creating any digital media or print with interactive clip art elements.
Fotor
Choose this whole editing solution to create visionary designs with animated graphics.
Greeting Card Builder by PearlMountain is another great software that offers a fun and fast way to make personalized greeting cards and clip art using your own images and text.
The program is user-friendly making it easier even for beginners. It does not require any previous experience or any computer skills.
It helps users to create personalized greeting cards in just three simple steps.
The software offers a good collection of editing options with easy controls. Its WYSIWYG editor enables users to view any changes made to the greeting cards made immediately.
Moreover, it comes with an aggressive set of tools that helps arrange light and color, resizes images, crop, applies masks, and more.
Pre-made templates for all occasions, or options to save, share, and print images, are some of its other significant features.
SmartysSoft Label Maker is counted among the best software to create clip art due to its ability to design and print some nice-looking images.
From address labels, postcards, envelopes, or media labels to even CD/DVD labels, it offers all possible designs.
The software comes equipped with a range of pre-designed templates, images, shapes, and symbols for templates.
Users can pick one of their liking from the library and then modify it using their own logos, pictures, and clip art.
This robust program is perfect for vector graphics that allow users to design their own high-quality labels that are print-ready. Users can also get a print of the clip arts or images on any regular paper on their local printer.
Moreover, it also lets users save their prints in different formats, viz., PDF, BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and TIFF.
It provides tools for visual path editing, different types of dash styles, and smoothly painted drawing elements. Best of all, it works as a perfect image editing software that offers powerful layer editing.
A compact, fast, and easy-to-use program, PhoXo is rightly among the best software programs to create clip art. It’s free software that’s so tiny that it can be used as a small PhotoShop tool.
Option to undo, adding layers, batch processing, more than 50 special effects, and a wide range of handy tools are among its major features.
These tools help users to perform different functions like selecting, cropping, painting, retouching, measuring, and navigating.
Moreover, users can also add text effects like shadows, gradients, and more to the images. It comes with a huge collection of resources that includes step-by-step shapes, patterns, textures, clip art, tutorials, and more.
Photo enhancement tools, brush pens, and multi-language support are among its other major features.
Clip arts are especially useful for those who are creative and love to add images to express their words more artistically.
So, if you are looking for the best software to create clip art, you will definitely find the right tool for you in our guide. Let us know which one you liked best in the comments section below.
Microsoft has officially started rolling out Windows 11 yesterday on select PCs, and one of the big new consumer-facing features is a built-in chat app powered by Microsoft Teams. Even though Teams remains an enterprise brand first and foremost, Microsoft has recently introduced new features for consumers in the communication app, and the company may now see Windows 11 as a good opportunity to make Teams for consumers a built-in alternative to more popular messaging apps.
As you may know, this is a strategy the company tried before with Skype, with little success. The company actually announced last week that Skype was getting another redesign, confirming along the way that the app Microsoft acquired 10 years ago was here to stay. Skype didn’t really benefit from the worldwide pandemic that made Microsoft Teams a true juggernaut in the business communications space, but it remains to be seen if Windows 11 can help Microsoft Teams to become more popular with consumers
Microsoft previously emphasized that Windows 11 was the first version of Windows designed for the hybrid work era, and this new built-in Teams app is a pretty good example of the increasingly blurred lines between our personal and work-related activities. The new Windows 11 Chat allows users to connect with their friends, family, and colleagues right from the taskbar, but it’s also designed for sharing tasks and calendars with other people.
A simpler, lighter Microsoft Teams experience
When you first install Windows 11, you will see a new chat icon on the taskbar. Simply click the icon (or use the Windows + C keyboard shortcut) to launch the Chat app and sign in with a personal Microsoft account. People who have never used Teams will need to set up their profile and automatically sync Skype and Outlook contacts if they want to.
By default, the chat app opens in a small window, but you can click on the “Open Microsoft Teams” button at the bottom to open it in a big window you can resize the way you want. Your most recent individual and group messages appear at the top of the window. You will be able to immediately start a new chat or call by clicking the Meet or Chat buttons at the top and choosing who you want to contact.
Compared to the regular Microsoft Teams app, this new Chat experience certainly looks a lot less cluttered. While it may be difficult to get your contacts to use this new Chat app on Windows 11, there’s also a new SMS Chat feature that lets you send a text message directly to a phone number, though it’s is only supported in select markets.
A first look at Microsoft Teams 2.0
As you probably know, the regular Microsoft Teams app is based on Electron, and it’s pretty heavy. Since launch, many users have been complaining about high memory usage and performance issues, but the new Chat app on Windows 11 is a different story.
Under the hood, this new Windows 11 Chat app has ditched the Electron framework in favor of Edge Webview 2, and it’s pretty fast. It also offers a more modern design language which really helps to make the app feel native on Windows 11 design. You can expect support for light and dark themes, live emoji reactions, Together Mode, native OS notifications, quoted replies, and much more.
Microsoft previously said that the faster “Teams 2.0” architecture used by this new Windows 11 chat app will eventually make its way to the regular Microsoft Teams app for enterprise users. “The journey is starting with Windows 11 + consumer accounts, and will continue from there, explained Rich Tandon, CVP of Engineering for Microsoft Teams. In a series of tweets, the Microsoft employee explained that this new Teams architecture will also allow Microsoft to iterate faster and add support for new “work life scenarios.”
Lastly, this architecture will help us add support for multiple accounts, work life scenarios, release predictability, and scale up for the client. It will be a journey but with #Windows11 we have taken key first steps.
Overall, this new Chat experience is an interesting look at the better “Teams 2.0” architecture that should make a big difference when it starts supporting enterprise accounts. For consumers, though, there’s no guarantee that putting this new Chat app front and Center in the Windows 11 Taskbar is going to make Microsoft Teams the hottest messaging app for consumers.
As you know, Microsoft is competing with many other popular platforms in the messaging space such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. To make things worse, Microsoft Teams is also competing with Skype, an app that still enjoys better brand recognition in the consumer world. To be frank, the “Teams” brand screams enterprise, and most people would probably not use an app named “Teams” to chat with close friends and family.
Since the release of Windows 10, we’ve seen Microsoft try and fail with new consumer-focused features that never got any significant traction, such as Paint 3D or Timeline. However, the Windows 11 Chat app could be a different story as Microsoft really seems serious about Teams for consumers. Recently, the company hired a former Facebook and Google product leader to work on its new “Teams for Life” initiative. Previously, the company hired former Google and Uber employee Manik Gupta as its new CVP for Teams Consumer Experiences.
Microsoft obviously has a strategy to make Microsoft Teams an app that can appeal to everyone, but we may well see history repeating itself with this new Chat app on Windows 11. The software giant pushed Skype pretty hard on Windows 8 and Windows 10, but most people had already moved to other messaging apps. Do you think the new Chat app on Windows 11 will get traction once the novelty effect wears off? Sound off in the comments below.
Ever since the first leaked version of Windows 11 appeared on the internet, people have been constantly speculating on when the OS will officially be released.
Some even thought that this was all a big hoax, and all that was coming was only a system-wide revamp for Windows 10.
Now, on October 5th, we are happy to announce that Windows 11, version 21H2, has been officially released to the general public and will soon be in your home, provided your device has the necessary specs.
The rollout process will prioritize newer machines first and will continue to become available for everyone throughout 2021, until mid-2022.
What’s new in Windows 11?
Let’s start at the beginning, with the Out of Box Experience, and mention that the Installation UI will now show the Windows 11 logo in some places.
Also, some form controls have been updated to match the Windows 11 form controls in the Installation UI. When using the Home edition, you must set up an internet connection, to be able to install it.
During OOBE, you will not be asked to name your PC, instead of having Windows generate a name consisting out of random numbers and letters. A random name can still be set by skipping this step.
After connecting to the internet, you’ll see sign-in options that allow you to set up a local account with internet.
This entire experience has been redesigned from the ground up, with half the screen dedicated to animations to visualize what you’re doing.
Windows will now ask you to restore your device from a previous system setup in the OOBE.
The Getting things ready for you UI is now animated with fading blue glows behind the text.
The Getting things ready for you UI now has a light theme in addition to the dark theme.
The OOBE will now ask if the device will be used by just you or your family and help setup a family group once the OOBE completes.
The OOBE will now ask you what you use your device for.
The OOBE is an excellent opportunity for fresh users to get acquainted with this new and improved operating system.
But don’t go thinking that Windows 11 is just a reskinned version of Windows 10, because you couldn’t be more wrong.
At its core, it’s still a Windows OS, so there are of course many similarities, but this is a whole new and enhanced experience.
The Redmond tech giant sought to tweak and improve everything it possibly could. Here are some of the changes that you will surely enjoy while dealing with Windows 11:
Start + taskbar
The taskbar is now taller.
The touch gestures on taskbar icons have been removed.
Icon’s progress indicators are now part of the “Opened window” indicator instead of the background.
The icons in the taskbar are now center in the taskbar.
Icons that want your attention will now stop flashing after a while and switch to a red-ish backplate with a red activity indicator.
Icons that you tap on will now animate in the same way as clicking would do.
The various flyouts like Network, Battery, and the Action Center have been refreshed with more modern controls in some places.
All context-menu items with the exception of “Taskbar settings” have been removed from the taskbar’s context menu.
Window previews will now show groups the window is part of as a snap composition.
Cortana has been removed from the taskbar.
My People has been removed.
The Tablet Mode Quick Action has been removed from Action Center.
Taskbar previews have been redesigned.
Right-clicking locally available files in jump lists will now show an option to “Open File Location”.
Toggling night light from the Action Center will now immediately turn it on or off instead of slowly fading.
Audio endpoints from the same device are now shown as 1 audio endpoint in the audio control. Windows will automatically switch between the various variations depending on the context.
Start
The start menu has been redesigned, dropping live tiles in favor of pinning apps in an icon grid of 6 by 3 icons with one or more pages.
The search box has been added to Start as a visual element, it will however still trigger the separated search UI.
Pinned items in start no longer support jump lists.
Start’s “Recommended” now show you files, in addition to recently installed apps and can be expanded to show more.
The username is now shown at the bottom of start.
The power menu will now show you estimates for how long it will take your device to restart when an update is ready to be installed.
After upgrading or installing Windows, start will now open on the first launch.
App list
The alphabet in the apps list has been updated for the Vietnamese alphabet which does not include the Latin letters F, J, W, and Z.
Folders in the app list in the Start menu will now be flattened when only 1 item is located in the folder.
Windows Tools has been added and replaces the Windows Accessories, Windows Administrative Tools, Windows PowerShell, and Windows System folder.
File Explorer has been been moved out of the “Windows System” folder into the root apps list.
Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool have been moved out of the “Windows Accessories” folder into the root apps list.
Search
You can no longer show search as a search bar in the taskbar.
The search UI has received a minor refresh.
Hovering over the Search button will now show you a list of recently used search results.
Task View
Virtual desktops can now be re-ordered by dragging them across the virtual desktop bar.
A virtual desktop can now have its own individual background.
Task View now shows Virtual Desktops at the bottom of the screen in a prominent bar, even if only one desktop exists.
The close-button in Task View for apps is now always visible.
Hovering over the Task View button will now show you your desktops to quickly navigate instead of having to open Task View entirely.
Timeline has been removed.
Setting a background for a virtual desktop will now force Settings to move to that desktop.
Widgets
“News and Interests” has been moved to the same area as Search and Task View, is now a static icon, and has been renamed “Widgets”.
Widgets appears as a full-height sidebar on the left hand side of the screen.
You can now add your own widgets to the top of the feed, as well as resize them and move them around.
Chat
Microsoft Teams is now integrated in the taskbar.
Pen menu
Windows Ink Workspace has been renamed to “Pen menu”.
Pen menu has been revamped and is now fully customizable in regards to which app you pin to it.
The Pen menu now only shows while you are using your pen when enabled in Settings.
On-screen keyboard
The on-screen keyboard button has been updated with a smaller icon to be more in line with other systray icons.
Quick Settings
The Quick Settings now open with the Windows + A keyboard shortcut.
The main system icons (battery, network, and sound) have been combined into one big button and now open the Quick Settings fly-out.
Right-clicking the volume icon and selecting “Volume mixer” will now open the modern volume mixer in Settings.
The “location in-use”-icon has been altered to be a compass arrow instead of a dot in a circle.
Show Desktop
Hovering over the show desktop button no longer makes the windows transparent.
Calendar
The calendar can now be collapsed to show only 2 weeks.
The Notification counter icon is now shown in your accent color as part of the clock.
Notification center
The Action center has been renamed to “Notification center”.
The Notification center now opens with the Windows + N keyboard shortcut.
Media playback controls have been added to the Quick Settings fly-out.
Focus assist settings can now be accessed from the Notification center.
User Interface and Experience
App windows will now appear with rounded corners.
Windows has various new animations for resizing windows.
Most sounds have been replaced.
The acrylic effect in some UI elements is now more translucent and has an increased saturation.
Apps can now use theme-aware splash screens
Replaces the MDL2 icons in the Windows UI with Segoe Fluent Icons.
Updates the window opening and closing animations.
Windows Shake has been made optional, and is disabled by default.
The desktop icon set has been revamped with new Fluent style icons.
Windows Snap & sizing
Hovering over the maximize button will now show a variety of snap positions for your window depending on your screen size, resolution, and scaling.
Windows will now resize all windows in any composition, previously this only worked when only 2 windows where snapped on both sides. A snap composition doesn’t need to be completely filled for this to work.
The Snap preview is now an acrylic window rather than a light shadow.
In portrait mode, moving a window to the left and right side will now snap apps to the top and bottom of the window.
Windows now supports snap compositions where 3 apps are shown in a row, similar to Windows 8.1’s Snap for Modern apps.
Dragging a window around with touch will now show the windows dropped into itself with an acrylic border.
The touch-targets for resizing windows is now much larger both when resizing individual windows as well as Snap compositions.
File Explorer
The File Explorer icon has been redesigned.
File Explorer has been redesigned, removing the ribbon in favor of a simpel toolbar on a Mica-background.
All File Explorer context menus have been redesigned.
You can now enable the settings to “Show Network” and “Show This PC”.
You can now remove previous searches by right-clicking an entry in the dropdown menu
File Explorer will now show more padding for touchscreen devices by default
WSL distro’s will now show in the sidebar
Zipped files stored on your OneDrive that are not available offline will now show an “Extract All” option in their context menus
The 3D Objects user-folder has been removed as a default library.
The File Explorer layout has been updated to be more in line with modern XAML experiences.
The “View”-ribbon has a new option to enable compact mode, restoring the previous spacing.
Settings
General
Settings has an updated icon to match the other new app icons.
The Settings app has been redesigned, moving the categories to the sidebar and the pages to the main content area.
Settings have now been divided on their page in sections with improved iconography for better readability.
Various system alerts previously styled in the Windows 8-design language have been refreshed.
System
The System home page now shows your device information (name, type), Microsoft account, OneDrive status, and Windows Updates status on the top of the page.
System is now opened by default.
Display
You can now control which GPU apps can run on.
You can now set the default high performance GPU.
You can now pick which application should default to which GPU”.
Content Adaptive Brightness Control can now be disabled.
An option has been added for Windows to remember window locations based on which monitor is connected. Enabled by default.
An option has been added to minimize windows on a monitor that is being disconnected. Enabled by default.
Support for Dynamic Refresh Rates has been added to the “Choose a refresh rate” setting.
Custom Scaling settings will now warn you against altering the scaling.
Sound
Sound > Manage sound devices will now mark the default devices as such.
Sounds now displays a message when microphone permissions have been turned off for the whole system or all apps.
“App volume and device preferences” has been renamed to “Volume mixer” and has been redesigned to hide the default input and output devices behind a dropdown.
When managing sound devices, the properties page now shows the provider, driver date, and version as well as various options related to audio output like the format, volume, left and right channel, enhance audio, and the type of audio (stereo, mono).
Notifications
“Notifications & actions” has been renamed “Notifications”.
A shortcut to Focus assist settings has been added to the page.
An option has been added to let Windows suggest options to finish the setup of your device. Enabled by default.
You can no longer manage your Quick actions.
Focus assist
Focus assist’s default setting for showing the summary is now off.
Storage
Storage will now provide you with cleanup recommendations.
Storage Sense will no longer clear your Downloads folder when the folder is being synced to a cloud provider.
Under Storage, a new setting “Manage Disks and Volumes” has been added which allows you to change your volumes similar to Dis Management.
Storage will now warn you when a drive’s health is degraded.
You can now toggle Advance View in “Optimize Drives” to show hidden volumes, “Current status” will now provide more detailed information and support for refreshing the window with F5.
Storage Space settings have been added.
Power & battery
“Power & sleep” has been renamed “Power & battery” on mobile devices and “Power” on desktops.
You can now view a detailed overview and graph of your battery usage from the last 7 days.
You can now manage the Power Mode of your device from Settings.
Nearby share
“Nearby share” has been added.
Includes the Nearby share-related settings from “Shared experiences”.
Tablet
All Tablet-related options have been removed.
Multitasking
An option has been added to toggle Windows Shake. Disabled by default.
Windows Snap can now be turned of completely. Enabled by default.
You can now set Windows to make the drag targets for snapping larger. Enabled by default.
You can now toggle whether Windows should show you snap compositions when hovering over the maximize button. Enabled by default.
Windows now allows you to show snap compositions an app may be part of when hovering over its icon in the taskbar. Enabled by default.
Activation
Activation has been moved from “Updates & security” to this category.
Troubleshoot
Troubleshoot has been moved from “Updates & security” to this category.
Recovery
Recovery has been moved from “Updates & security” to this category.
Shared experiences
Shared experiences has been removed, in favor of Nearby share. Other share options are not available.
About
About will no longer show your Windows Security status.
About will now show your graphics card information.
Bluetooth & devices
“Devices” has been renamed “Bluetooth & devices”.
The home page of this category now shows your paired devices and their status at the top of the page.
Devices
A controller has been added as an example for the Bluetooth option in the “Add a device” dialog.
The notification to pair Bluetooth devices will now remain on screen longer.
“Bluetooth & other devices” has been renamed “Devices”.
Your Phone
“Your Phone” has been added as a page.
The link to the settings page provides a quick link to the Your Phone app.
Cameras
Adds the camera page which allows you to manage webcams and other network-connected cameras.
Touch
A setting has been added to enable three- and four-finger touch gestures. Enabled by default.
Touchpad
Toggling the touchpad no longer required admin privileges.
Typing
“Typing” has been moved from this category to “Time & language”.
Phone
The “Phone” category has been consolidated into “Bluetooth & devices”.
Network & internet
The homepage of this category now shows you your network status and internet usage as well as quick toggles to disable and enable various network-related settings (like Wi-Fi, mobile hotspot, and Airplane Mode).
You can now edit Encrypted DNS settings in the Settings app.
A static DNS entry is now required when entering a static IP, making a gateway is no longer required.
Status
The Network properties page will now show your Network DNS settings.
WiFi
Hotspot 2.0 has been removed as its own setting and is now considered enabled when Wi-Fi is enabled.
VPN
Disconnecting to a VPN network will now uncheck the auto-connect option.
Personalization
The homepage for this category now shows a preview of your selected theme as well as quick access to the default themes in Windows.
Background
Right-clicking on a background will now provide you with options to set it for a specific virtual desktop.
Changing a wallpaper when using virtual desktops will only change the background of the current active desktop.
The default backgrounds have been replaced.
Themes
The Windows 10 and Flowers themes have been removed.
The “Windows” theme has been renamed “Windows (dark)”
Glow, Captured Motion, Sunrise, and Flow have been added as new default themes.
Touch keyboard
“Touch keyboard” has been added.
You can now change the keyboard theme between 16 pre-defined themes (default, light, dark, black-white, color pop, poppy red, ice blue, platinum, tangerine tides, lilac river, silky dawn, indigo breeze, pink-blue, green-purple, pink-orange, and blue-green) or your own custom theme.
You can now change the color of the key text, suggestion text, keys, and window of the on-screen keyboard individually, or set a background image for the window. For the keys, you can also set the transparency level.
You can now enable or disable key backgrounds. Enabled by default.
You can now change the key test size between small, medium, and large. Small by default.
You can now trigger the on-screen keyboard from the Settings app.
Start
The icon for Start has been refreshed to represent the new Start menu instead of live tiles.
Option related to the tile-based start menu have been removed.
“Show app list in Start menu” has been removed.
“Show suggestions occasionally in Start” has been removed.
All additional folders to show in Start have been disabled by default.
Taskbar
Toggles for showing the Windows Ink Workspace button, touch keyboard button, Task View button and Search have been added.
You can now set the alignment of the taskbar to left or center. Center by default.
You can now disable the “Show desktop” button. Enabled by default.
The option “Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode” has been removed.
The option “Use small taskbar buttons” has been removed.
You can no longer unlock the taskbar.
You can no longer disable Windows Peek.
You can no longer switch the Windows PowerShell items in the Win + X menu with Command Prompt.
You can no longer change the location of the taskbar.
You can no longer change the combination method of taskbar buttons.
The dropdown to change the way Search is displayed on the taskbar has been replaced with a toggle for whether to show the button or not.
Device usage
The “Device usage”-page has been added allowing you to customize suggestions for tips, tools, and services based on whether you use your device for gaming, family, creativity, schoolwork, entertainment, business, or any combination of these 6 categories.
Apps
Default apps
The basic default app settings have been removed.
A search field has been added to “Choose default apps by file type”.
Windows will now prefer to open text files in either Notepad or Word by default, instead of WordPad.
Offline maps
The wording of various phrases has been updated.
Optional features
“Optional features” has been added to manage features.
Accounts
The homepage of this category now shows your Microsoft Rewards points and OneDrive status.
Your info
Previous profile pictures are no longer shown.
Email & accounts
You can now pick Microsoft Edge when setting up Assigned Access.
Whenever you need to sign in again because something about your account changed, the notifications will now make this clear by saying “Select here to sign in to your account to continue using apps between this device and your other devices.” instead of telling you to fix your account.
Windows backup
“Sync your settings” has been renamed to “Windows Backup”.
The page now shows your Desktop icon and name, as well as the status of your OneDrive account and whether or not apps and preferences are being backed up.
A setting has been added to sync your theme.
Time & language
Date & time
The “Set time zone automatically” toggle will be disabled if location is disabled.
When the time zone in your locations changes, Windows will now show a notification indicating that the time zone is being changed, if the OS isn’t certain about this change, it will provide options within the notifications to not change the time zone.
Language & region
The individual “Language” and “Region” pages have been merged into one page.
Typing
Typing has been moved from “Devices” to this category.
Gaming
Xbox Game Bar
Settings to manage Xbox Game Bar shortcuts have been removed in favor of the in the Game Bar present settings.
Xbox Networking
The “Xbox Networking”-page has been removed.
Accessibility
“Ease of Access” has been renamed to “Accessibility”.
Text size
“Text size” has been added as a new page and contains text size-settings previously contained on the “Display”-page.
Visual Effects
“Visual effects” has been added as a new page and contains settings related to animations, transparency, scrollbars, and notification duration which were previously available on the “Display”-page.
Mouse pointer and touch
The “Mouse pointer”-page has been renamed to “Mouse pointer and touch”.
Text cursor
The page icon has been updated.
Magnifier
Magnifier now follows keyboard focus by default.
Color filter
A preview image and color grid has been added to better preview the filter.
High Contrast
The high contrast themes have been removed and replaced with 4 new themes named Aquatic, Desert, Dusk, and Night sky.
The high contrast themes are now selected from a visual representation similar to normal system themes.
Captions
“Closed captions” has been renamed “Captions”.
The captions preview is now an enlargeable video.
You can now create multiple caption styles and switch between them with a dropdown.
Privacy & security
“Privacy & security” is a new category existing out of all pages from the “Search” and “Privacy” categories, as well as the pages not related to Windows Update from “Update & Security”.
For developers
You can now change the default terminal app from Settings.
Diagnostics & feedback
“Basic diagnostics data” and “Full diagnostics data” have been renamed to “Required diagnostics data” and “Optional diagnostics data”.
Location
Improved the description on the Location page to indicate that the icon shown when an app is using your location will be shown in the taskbar.
Downloads folder
Download Folder has been added as a new privacy setting to manage which apps can access your account’s downloads folder.
Screenshot borders
Screenshot borders has been added as a page to control which apps can disable the screen capture border.
Screenshots and apps
Screenshots and apps has been added to control whether or not an app is allowed to make screenshots beyond its own borders.
Windows Update
“Windows Update” is a new category consisting out of all pages from “Update & Security” that are related to Windows Update.
Windows Update
Windows Update will now keep your drivers up-to-date as part of Optional Updates.
You can now copy the text from Optional Updates Available.
The toggle for “Automatically adjust active hours for this device based on activity” is now enabled by default and will enable if you’ve never interacted with it.
Windows Insider Program
Updates the names of the various Windows Insider Channels.
Touch
Many new touch gestures have been added, they mostly match the default Precision Touchpad multi-finger gestures.
Swiping in from the left side will now open Widgets instead of Task View.
Apps
Connect
Connect now has an updated icon.
Control Panel
Volume Mixer has been removed.
“Device Encryption” has been renamed “BitLocker Drive Encryption”.
The “Administrative Tools” have been renamed “Windows Tools”.
Device Manager
Device Manager will no longer ask you to install drivers from a floppy disk in the A-drive by default.
Options to sort drivers as “Devices by drivers”, “Drivers by type”, and “Drivers by devices” have been added.
Get Started
Get Started has been added as a default app.
Get Started walks you though settings up OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, and Your Phone.
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer has been removed.
Options related to the UI of Internet Explorer have been removed from Internet Options.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge Legacy support has been removed.
Microsoft Store
The Microsoft Store has been redesigned.
Notepad
Notepad now supports for its windows to persist through updates.
Notepad is now updated through the Microsoft Store.
Notepad now has an updated icon.
Paint
Paint is now updated through the Microsoft Store.
Paint now has an updated icon.
People
The People app no longer appears as an app in the app list, it can now be accessed from Mail and Calendar only.
Power Automate Desktop
Power Automate Desktop has been added as a default app.
PowerShell
PowerShell will now run as x64 on ARM64 instead of x86.
Register
Adds support for using Ctrl + Backspace to delete an entire word in the Find window, when renaming a key and other places.
Snip & Sketch + Snipping Tool
Snipping Tool can now be uninstalled through Optional Features.
Snipping Tool is now updated through the Microsoft Store.
Snipping Tool has been added to Snip & Sketch, installing one will install the other.
Task Manager
Task Manager has a new icon
Under the tab Details, a new column has been added called “Architecture” as an optional column.
The keyboard short cut for Restart is now Alt + R when setting focus to the Windows Explorer in the Processes tab.
Updates the scaling of graphs in the Task Manager’s Performance-tab.
Adds support for properly classifying the various processes of Microsoft Edge.
Windows Sandbox
Windows Sandbox and Microsoft Defender Application Guard now use a new runtime that optimizes for container scenarios.
Windows Sandbox has been updated to include the new Microsoft Edge.
Windows Sandbox WDB files are now case insensitive.
Windows Security
Updates the Windows Security icon.
Improved performance when there are a large number of detections.
Windows Subsystem for Linux
WSL is now services through Microsoft Update like 3rd party drivers.
Support for GPU compute.
WSL can now be installed with the wsl -install command and updated with wsl -update.
Support for accessing the Linux file system when they are not natively supported in Windows.
The default path to access Linux files from Windows has been changed from \\wsl\\ to \\wsl.localhost\\.
Linux GUI applications can now run on Windows through WSL.
Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal has been added as a default app.
Other app changes
3D Viewer has been removed as a default app.
OneNote for Windows 10 has been removed as a default app.
Paint 3D has been removed as a default app.
Skype has been removed as a default app.
Fonts
The Segoe UI Variable font has been added.
Support for Emoji 12.1 and 13.0, as well as updates to pre-existing emojis.
The Ebrima font has been updated to support Bamum characters.
The Nirmala UI font has been updated to improve how characters are displayed.
The Segoe UI Historic font now supports characters from the Bamum Unicode range.
Language and input
The touch keyboard now has support for theming with 13 themes included by default.
The voice typing launcher has been can now be placed anywhere on the screen.
The Scottish Gaelic keyboard will now use AltGr + 7 to input ⁊, pressing ´ will now directly insert this characters and Alt Gr + ´ will now act as a dead key to add the acute accent to the next letter.
The on-screen keyboard will now open by default when tapping in a text field on a touchscreen device.
The new touch keyboard introduces a revamped design that can float around on the screen.
The floating keyboard now has an acrylic background.
The accent color is no longer used to colors keys that are being tapped, new animations have been added as well as sounds.
Selecting child keys is now easier.
The settings menu now labels all options including the various keyboard layouts.
The revamped emoji bar design is now integrated in the keyboard.
Voiced Typing is now integrated in the keyboard.
You can now control your cursor with the spacebar.
The keyboard now supports the split keyboard layout in portrait mode.
The Emoji picker now has an updated design with an in-line search box for emojis.
Adds a new home page showing the most recently used emojis, gifs, kaomoji’s and symbols.
Adds a new page for gifs.
The Kaomoji’s tabs are now represented by text rather than icons.
The Symbol’s tabs are now represented by text rather than a singular character from the group.
Adds a new page for your clipboard history.
The N’Ko keboard layout has been updated so that pressing Shift + 6 will now insert ߾ and pressing Shift + 7 will now insert ߿.
The Math Input Panel has been removed.
The dictation UI has been updated to appear floating at the bottom of the screen instead of beng locked to the top bar.
Improved spellchecking and text prediction relevance.
Undocking the keyboard will now automatically switch it to the small keyboard layout.
The symbols view has been updated for the small and split keyboard layouts.
The keyboard layouts are now a nested menu under settings rather than a top-level one.
Updates the password feedback icon to an eye-icon instead of a blinking-key icon.
When the keyboard is shown on screens larger than 12″, the Esc, Tab and Windows key will be shown as well.
The candidate bar will now only show up to 5 results and center them for easier access.
The N’Ko keyboard layout now provides quick access to currency and other symbols by holding Shift and using the top row.
A new Japanse 50-on touch keyboard has been added.
The launch animation for the touch keyboard has been updated to better work with UWP apps where the content reflows as the keyboard appears.
The touch keyboard will now show a backslash when setting focus to the Run dialog.
Emoji picker & Clipboard
You can now pin items in the clipboard history.
An option to “Paste as plain text” has been added to the clipboard history.
Support for searching in Amharic, Belarus, Cherokee, Filipino, Faroese, Icelandic, Khmer, Mongolian (Cyrillic script), Burmese, Sindhi, Serbian (Cyrillic script), Serbian (Latin script), Swahili, Thai, Turkmen, Tonga, Uzbek (Latin script), and Cantonese (Traditional) has been added.
Updates the sort order of the symbols in the emoji panel.
Input Method Editor
The Korean IME has been updated with a new candidate selection window and improved algorithms for text prediction when using the touch keyboard.
The Japanese IME can now switch between Hiragana and Katakana by using Ctrl + CapsLock and Alt + CapsLock respectively.
The Japanese Address and Rinna candidate suggestion services has been removed from the Japanese IME.
Revamps the IME design to be more in line with Fluent Design.
The IME now provides quick access to the emoji picker.
The Korean IME has been reversed to the version shipping in Windows 10 version 2004, 20H2, and 21H1.
Accessibility
Windows Voice Typing replaces Windows dictation.
Narrator will no longer enable scan mode when interacting with Excel’s Ideas pane.
Narrator can now distinguish candidate characters and words by providing detailed reading information when using the Pinyin IME.
Narrator will now tell you that no linked item is available when annotated content and linked control Narrator commands are invoked.
Microsoft Print to PDF will now try to convert a provided font glyph to Unicode where possible.
Narrator will now read out any notification that appeared while the computer is locked and was labeled as high priority.
Narrator will now announce that notifications have been cleared when deleting a group of notifications when using the Delete key or Dismiss button.
Narrator has an updated icon.
Magnifier has improved, smoother motion when transitioning between mouse and keyboard.
Advanced startup has been improved to allow for a number of Accessibility functions to work as expected.
Gaming
Auto HDR Preview has been added to automatically apply HDR visuals to over 1000 DirectX 11 and 12 games.
Features & technologies
Native support for Wi-Fi 6E has been added.
DNS-over-HTTPS support has been added.
Support for DNS over HTTPS has been added.
Support for nested virtualization voor AMD processors.
Support for TLS 1.3.
Support for the AAC codec has been added.
HDR support has been added for color managed apps.
Adds support for Hyper-V features on ARM devices.
ESENT Warning Event ID 642 has been turned off.
Support for x64 emulation on ARM devices.
Compatibility settings for x64 applications have been added.
Windows will now require your system to have a TPM2-compatible CPU or TPM-module.
Official support for 7th gen Intel and Zen 1 AMD CPUs and lower has been dropped.
The minimum RAM requirements has been updated from 2GB to 4GB.
The minimum storage requirement has been updated from 32GB to 64GB.
The minimum display resolution has been updated from 800×600 to 1280×720.
The display size must be 9 inch or larger.
The minimum graphics card requirements have been updated from DirectX 9 to DirectX 12, and from WDDM 1.0 to WDDM 2.0.
Support for legacy BIOS has ben dropped.
Support for single-core CPUs has been dropped.
All hardware requirements are ignored for virtualized instances of Windows 11.
Windows is no longer available in a 32bit edition.
System
MSI installers will now show a new icon.
The Segoe UI font has been replaced with Segoe UI Variable as the new default Windows font.
You will now receive a notification whenever an app registers as a startup app.
Other features
The Eye Control settings have been redesigned to span multiple pages to make it easier to navigate.
Services implemented by binaries residing in the user profile will now persist through upgrades.
You can now reset apps from the command line with Reset-AppxPackage.
Windows Sandbox and Microsoft Defender Application Guard now use a new runtime that optimizes for container scenarios.
Windows Sandbox has been updated to include the new Microsoft Edge.
“Use legacy display ICC color management” has been added to program properties.
You will now receive a notification whenever an app registers as a startup app.
The Windows Recovery Environment no longer requires an admin password to access recovery tools.
Improved the drag-and-drop default cursor design when dragging items into other apps.
Users will no longer be reminded of Home Group’s removal.
Improved support for 940nm wavelength cameras in Windows Hello.
Starting your username with a space when logging in will no longer cause an error.
Replaces the display version with “Dev” rather than the YYHH-version, and removes the copyright year from the Windows version dialog.
Known issues
Since we’ve gone through almost everything new that Windows 11 brings to the table, let’s also have a peek at some of the known issues that this OS has.
You weren’t thinking that everything was just going to be perfect, were you? But don’t worry, because its mainly about some compatibility problems, nothing to be alarmed about.
Oracle VirtualBox and Windows 11
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the Oracle VirtualBox VM won’t really work with Windows 11 as it did before.
Microsoft and Oracle have found a compatibility issue between VirtualBox and Windows 11 when Hyper-V or Windows Hypervisor is installed.
As a result, you might be unable to start Virtual machines and you might receive an error.
To safeguard your upgrade experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on these devices from installing or being offered Windows 11.
In order to mitigate the safeguard, you will need to remove Hyper-V or Windows Hypervisor until this issue is resolved with an update
However, if you are no longer using VirtualBox, uninstalling it should also mitigate the safeguard. Please note, if there are no other safeguards that affect your device, it can take up to 48 hours before the upgrade to Windows 11 is offered.
NOTE
We recommend that you do not attempt to manually upgrade using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved.If you are trying to upgrade to Windows 11, you might encounter an upgrade compatibility hold and receive the message, VirtualBox. Your PC requires the latest version of this app. Click Learn More for more information on how to update this app.
Intel Killer networking software and Windows 11
Some compatibility issues have also been found between some Intel Killer networking software and Windows 11.
Thus, devices with the affected software might drop User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets under certain conditions.
This creates performance and other problems for protocols based on UDP. For example, some websites might load slower than others on affected devices, with videos streaming slower in certain resolutions.
Keep in mind that VPN solutions based on UDP might also be slower.
NOTE
Microsoft is working on a resolution and targeting its release in the October security update (October 12, 2021).
The Cốc Cốc browser and Windows 11
Since we were discussing compatibility conflicts, here’s another one that might interest you, even if we are talking about software that’s not so widely used.
The Cốc Cốc browser might be unable to open and, on some devices, might cause other issues or critical errors.
In order to safeguard your upgrade experience, Microsoft applied a compatibility hold on these devices from installing or being offered Windows 11.
NOTE
We recommend that you do not attempt to manually upgrade using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved.
Removed features
As you might have imagined, certain features that we used and enjoyed during Windows 11’s predecessor are no longer available on the new OS.
Of course, you can continue using them if you still haven’t upgraded, but once you did, they will be gone.
Here is a complete list of all removed features, so that you get the general idea of what we’re dealing with:
Bundled apps
3D Viewer
Cortana
Internet Explorer
OneNote for Windows 10
Paint 3D
Skype
Wallet
Windows shell
Quick Status
Tablet mode
The Timeline feature in Task View
The Save Search option in File Explorer
In addition:
The touch keyboard no longer docks in screens larger than 18 inches.[1]
Windows no longer synchronizes desktop wallpapers across devices with a Microsoft account.[1]
Folder previews for images or videos contained in that folder in thumbnail view/large/extra large icon views are removed. The generic folder icon is now shown for any folder containing images or videos.
Start menu
Some functionality from the Start menu will be removed and replaced with other features.
Folders and groups
Live tiles (the Widgets app provides portions of what the live tiles of Windows 10’s bundled apps once provided)
Pinned apps and sites
Recent and pinned files on apps
Taskbar
Support for bringing an app into focus by dragging a file to its button
Support for moving the taskbar to the top, left, or right of the screen
The People button
The Peek button
All context menu items, excluding a link to its Settings menu
The Network flyout
“Some icons in the System Tray,” although Microsoft doesn’t specify which
Support for third-party taskbar components (deskbands)
The option to hide or customize individual system tray’s icons (Only third-party icons can be hidden or shown)
Support for launching another instance of an app via Shift + left click
The upward swipe gesture for jumplists
Microsoft has listed News & Interest among the removals but instead says that it has been evolved. This part of the taskbar, introduced in Windows 10 version 21H1, is now called Widgets.
Support for showing each instance of an application as a separate button in the taskbar
Architecture
Windows 11 only runs on the x64 or ARM64 CPU architectures. As such, the NTVDM subsystem, which was never available on these architectures, is no longer part of Windows 11.
This is only the first version of the new OS that has been released to the general public, but the Redmond-based tech company is working on bringing more improvements to it, as well as a second version.
Have you already received your Windows 11 free upgrade? Tell us all about your experience in the comments section below.
Keystroke logging or keylogging is a technique that’s used by hackers to catch your keystrokes in order to extract precious data such as passwords, bank account details, and more.
There are various types of keyloggers, and these include hooking keyloggers and kernel-driver keyloggers.
Kernel ones are harder to detect because when they are installed, they can be almost invisible.
The best defense against this kind is to stop them from getting installed in the first place.
So, you need to block all driver installation via limited user accounts or HIPS. Hook-based keyloggers are easier detected, and most software works against them flawlessly.
Keyloggers can usually be detected by signatures. There’s software that reveals keyloggers because it can defeat the methods used by the keyloggers to hide.
We gathered five of the best free anti-keylogger programs that will protect your system.
Make sure to check out their sets of features, just to make the most informed decision for your computer running Windows.
SpyShelter Free is a handy way to protect your system running Windows.
This anti-keylogger app can protect your computer against any known and unknown custom compiled malware such as keystroke loggers and more.
This app is able to continually monitor all the vulnerable areas from your operating system, in our case, Windows.
The reason is to make sure that your personal data is being protected from data-hacking software. Using anti-spy services assured by this tool you exponentially expand your security against keyloggers.
To exemplify, all kinds of important data like your passwords, credit card data, addresses, or chats can be tracked with keylogging. Consequently, this solution detects and protects you against zero-day malware attacks.
More benefits you should explore include a proactive system protection module that monitors your system components, real-time keystrokes encryption, anti-network spy, or even webcam protection.
Therefore this kind of security issue requires conscious shelter plans, which SpyShelter software will cover for you.
Check out more impressive features that are included in SpyShelter Free:
There are various modules that are integrated into this app’s set of functions, and they help the software better understand how malware operated and how it can alter your system files.
These modules that we’ve mentioned make sure that your computer is protected at all times from unwanted intrusions that are able to expose confidential data.
SpyShelter Free can detect and stop most complex malware.
Using this app you will be able to enjoy high-quality anti-keylogging protection.
You will also get clipboard and screen protection.
SpyShelter Free uses keystroke encryption to protect your computer.
There’s no need for virus databases, and the app is compatible with most anti-virus software and other security programs from your system.
It has a two way firewall protection that provides detection for incoming and outgoing requests. Spy Shleter stops unwanted applications from connecting to the internet.
The app comes with a great design. It’s a fast and powerful tool with secure processing algorithms that won’t affect your system’s performance.
SpyShelter Free
Stay protected against dangerous activity using anti-keylogger software, and navigate safely from now on.
Keyloggers usually arrive as a bundled download, an infected attachment or a fake page, and TotalAV covers each route. Real-time protection stops spyware before it can run, downloads and attachments are scanned as they are saved, and WebShield blocks the phishing sites that try to plant it.
The higher plans add a password vault, so fewer passwords are typed by hand, and a Safe Browsing VPN for shared networks. It is available for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS under one subscription, and the free version gives you on-demand scanning to check a machine you suspect.
Real-time protection against spyware and keyloggers
Scans downloads and attachments as they arrive
WebShield blocks phishing and malicious sites
Password vault and VPN in the higher plans
One subscription for several devices
TotalAV
Acquire this powerful protector software to safeguard your PC against keyloggers, using TotalAV.
This program is able to recognize, prevent and block all kinds of online identity theft and financial deception tools.
Financial malware can deeply harm you by obtaining your credentials which include passwords, usernames, or credit card details.
You can wake up one morning and find out that your bank account is empty. Also, your payments can be authorized in your name, and we know that this would be a horrible nightmare.
Thus you can secure information as social security number, credit card, or login data to remove any risks of attacks on your PC. More so, with keystroke logging protection you’re able to secure daily online activities that require sensitive data on your part.
That’s why we recommend that you take a look at the main features and functionalities that you can enjoy if you do decide to get Zemana:
Zemana AntiLogger is a powerful tool that’s also easy to use.
It will keep track of who is operating on your PC, and it monitors your system against hackers, preventing all attempts at recording and stealing your private data.
The app is able to block various suspicious activity.
Zemana makes sure that your precious data gets transmitted securely without reaching any attackers.
You will also be able to camouflage your daily online activities such as calling, texting, shopping and more.
Using Zemana, you will get the chance to enjoy the best ransomware protection.
This tool is also able to detect and clean your browser’s add-ons and adware infections.
Zemana AntiLogger comes with a lightweight and efficient online malware scanner that can detect malware and various malicious processes.
This tool will work continually in the background protecting your system in real time.
Ghostpress is a modern free anti-keylogging program. It is able to detect key-loggers and prevent them from capturing your keystrokes.
This tool is able to do its job flawlessly, and it’s based on hiding and manipulating all of your keystrokes on a really low level.
This way, key loggers won’t ever be able to capture them. At the same time, it’s possible to block profound attacks on your PC that read your keystrokes.
Moreover, the software can protect your system fully without limitations, covering all programs on the system and protect the activity accordingly.
Thus regarding data protection, this tool can provide powerful security over information like passwords or email addresses.
Take a look at the program’s main features and functionalities:
Ghostpress is a straightforward program to use, and you won’t have to struggle with sophisticated configurations.
This tool is customizable, and you can set the desired features according to your preferences.
You will get to choose from lots of languages that are available in the program.
There will also be automatic updates that can be enabled in order to keep the program updated automatically.
There’s a “Start with Windows” option available, and this will allow the tool to star whenever you log on to the operating system.
In Security Settings, you will find some pretty neat security features that can prevent any attacks to the software.
You can enable Process Protection, and this will not let anyone but the admin stop the program’s processes.
The Delay Protection can be set in order to prevent the identification based on typing style.
The Prevent Hook Overwriting feature is another essential protection step.
The software’s widget can be configured to stay on top of other windows.
The Whitelist feature allows you to choose the apps that are not supposed to be monitored and which should be permitted key logging.
It comes in 7 languages (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Polish).
Overall, this is a complex app that’s really easy to use and it protects your system. Hence you can benefit from it entirely free or choosing the business plan if needed.
SecureEncrypt’s SE-OPS is another useful tool that comes with anti-keylogger features among many others. It is guaranteed to provide ransomware and malware protection.
The founder company’s mission is to protect users from cybercrime and online threats.
On the same note, this software helps you to secure various ransomware attacks that can come unexpectedly and lock your valuable information.
Thereby choosing this solution means detecting dangerous risks that may harm your PC and remove the unusual activity identified on system components. So keylogging activities are highly encrypted, plus eliminating third-party tracking cookies to secure online data.
With that being said, you can watch this tool in action by trying out the 15-day free trial and seeing how it works.
Check out the best features that are included in SE-OPS:
This tool is able to detect unusual behavior on your system and remove all malicious tools.
All threats are detected, blocked and removed by SE-OPS before they get a chance to infect your system.
SE-OPS keyboard encryption can prevent any interception of keystrokes between your keyboard and apps.
This tool will scan your computer for all known and unknown key loggers, and it can also detect keyboard Hooks that come with every key logger.
You will be able to enjoy real-time protection if you choose to use this tool.
With the help of SE-OPS, you can stop key-loggers from capturing your private logins.
You will get the opportunity to secure your logins for social media, email, online banking, and online gaming as well.
Check out even more features and functionalities that are included in SE-OPS by heading over to SecureEncrypt’s official website.
![5+ best anti-keylogger software [Windows 10/11 & Mac]](https://windowsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/zemana-logo-210x160-1.png){kind=logo}
![4 Best Game Backup Software for Windows [2026 List]](https://windowsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Gaming.jpg)
