Notepad has gotten plenty of goodies lately, now, Microsoft took the wraps off a lot of new improvements that are available for insiders.

Quite simply, if you're part of the Windows Insider program and running Windows 11 preview builds on your device, a new version of Notepad can be tested with a lot of refinements.

One of the highlights is the native ARM64 support, with Microsoft explaining that Notepad should now feel faster and more responsive when running with an ARM device.

"We've improved the Notepad experience on ARM64 devices on versions 11.2204 and better available in all channels. You'll see faster and performance when you use the app," the company explains within an announcement today.

No ETA for that launch to non-insider devices

Furthermore, Notepad now comes with improved performance on all devices, but also with updated accessibility capabilities, with the app to now feel at home on most screen readers.

"In accessory for the raised performance on ARM64 devices, you'll notice additional performance improvements-especially when scrolling very large files or replacing large amount of text-across all devices in version 11.2205 and better obtainable in the Dev channel," Microsoft explains. "Improved support for screen readers, text scaling, access keys, and other assistive technology is available starting in version 11.2204 and better in most channels, with a lot more improvements in version 11.2205 and better available in the Dev channel."

As said, the new features are only readily available for insiders at this point, and Microsoft hasn't provided an ETA as to when they may go live for production devices too.

However, given these are app updates that aren't directly tied to the operating system, the rollout could start once the tests are complete, and Microsoft makes sure that everything is running not surprisingly for those Windows 11 users available.

Microsoft Edge is a browser whose market share keeps improving, and it's not only because it's offered as the default app on Windows 11.

Edge is really a fully featured browser, and Microsoft keeps improving it with new functionality regularly, adding new capabilities that make it faster, more stable, and more power efficient regardless of platform.

One of the biggest additions to the advantage feature arsenal is support for Sleeping Tabs, a tool whose main role is to simply put inactive tabs to sleep. This means they no more use resources without anyone's knowledge, with the browser therefore reducing the battery consumption when Microsoft Edge is running.

Microsoft has recently revealed on Twitter that Microsoft Edge managed to put to sleep forget about, at least 6 billion tabs in just 30 days.

"Use sleeping tabs in order to save resources? You aren't alone! Over the past 4 weeks on Windows devices, we slept 6 billion tabs resulting in a savings of 273.7 Petabytes of RAM. That's roughly 39.1 megabytes saved per tab," the organization announced.

Sleeping tabs have been around for some time, but an essential update was announced in April this year when Microsoft added an improved behavior to enhance resource saving.

"Beginning in Microsoft Edge 100, we've updated sleeping tabs to enable pages that are sharing a browsing instance with another page to now go to sleep. With this particular change, 8% more an eye on average will sleep, helping you save much more resources! On average, each sleeping tab saves 85% of memory and 99% CPU for Microsoft Edge. We've also added a means for you to view just how much memory sleeping tabs is saving you by going to Performance under the "…" ("Settings and more") menu," Microsoft announced at that point.

Sleeping tabs can be found in Microsoft Edge on all desktop platforms in which the browser could be installed.

Microsoft's most recent preview build for that Dev channel includes a new Windows 11 account settings page.

The software giant has included a number of changes to show the present Microsoft 365 subscriptions in settings, therefore making to manage any services which are of a specific Microsoft account.

"In October, we introduced subscription management in Settings > Accounts, which enabled you to definitely view your Microsoft 365 subscriptions in Windows 11. With this particular build, we're making it simpler for you to view all supported Office perpetual products such as Office 2021 or Office 2019 related to your bank account within Settings > Accounts," Microsoft explains.

"This update will allow you to view all supported Microsoft 365 Office products licensed to your account and you may view information regarding your product or install Office by clicking the "View Details" button. This information is shown on the Microsoft account management page and you will certainly be in a position to view these datils in Windows 11 via Settings > Accounts as shown in the above screenshot, beginning with this build."

At this time, the rollout of this feature continues to be in the past, so not all insiders are getting it. Microsoft says it's just attempting to collect more feedback before enabling it for everybody.

In case you're wondering if this feature may go love everybody, there's a chance it'd happen in the 2023 update for Windows 11, though I wouldn't necessarily be surprised to determine it being enabled with the help of a cumulative update released sooner.

Microsoft, however, reminds users that the new features being tested in the Dev channel don't possess a specific release date.

"The Dev Channel receives builds that represent long lead work from our engineers with features and experiences that may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. It is important to keep in mind that the builds we release towards the Dev Channel shouldn't be viewed as matched to the specific release of Windows and also the features included may change over time, be removed, or replaced in Insider builds or may never be released beyond Windows Insiders to general customers," Microsoft explains.

A new Windows 11 feature update is on its way, and while Microsoft doesn't talk too much about it, information coming through unofficial channels earlier this month indicated the final build might be none other than 22621.

Obviously, the Redmond-based software giant has refused to discuss this speculation, however in a post which was specifically targeted at hardware partners, the company actually confirmed that build 22621 is indeed the RTM for Windows 11 version 22H2.

Unsurprisingly, the software giant doesn't provide too many specifics on this build, but it does confirm build 22621 is RTM.

"Minimum acceptable build for Windows 11, version 22H2 certification is RTM build (i.e. 22621)," the organization explains.

No ETA at this time

What we should still don't know is when the rollout of Windows 11 version 22H2 should really begin. Without a doubt, Microsoft continues to refine build 22621 with additional updates that would be shipped to users enrolled in the Windows Insider program.

Obviously, the purpose right now is to further refine the experience with this build, which means that no other additional features would be added. The updates to visit love this build is going to be entirely focused on resolving the rest of the bugs and polishing the performance of the operating system prior to the public launch begins.

There's an opportunity the rollout of the new build could start in September, but such information happens to be unconfirmed. Just like when it comes to Windows 11, the rollout would take place in stages, meaning not everybody would receive it on the first day.

This method has been used specifically to prevent major bugs from hitting a big quantity of devices, because the company can suspend the rollout of certain configurations if it detects any problems in Windows 11 version 22H2.

Microsoft has recently announced a big new feature that could come to Windows 11 someday, as the clients are focusing on bringing what it really calls "interactive content" towards the desktop.

In plain English, they are more or less the current successors to widgets pinned towards the desktop, and also at first glance, they could end up a pretty great Windows feature.

The very first such widget that's now available for testing in Windows 11 preview builds is a search box that enables users to carry out a search right from the desktop.

"Starting with this preview build, some Insiders might find one of these simple conceptual features once we begin to explore exposing lightweight interactive content around the Windows desktop. Today, Windows exposes this kind of content in the Widgets board. To start assessing this general idea and interaction model, the first exploration in this region adds searching box displayed on the desktop that allows you to search the net," Microsoft says.

Microsoft Edge exclusively

And while at first glance such a search box could come in very handy, the primary shortcoming is that it seems to be limited to Microsoft Edge only.

Quite simply, when you conduct searching, only Edge is launched to show the outcomes, no matter what browser is installed and configured as default on your Windows 11 device.

The problem is discovered by Rafael Rivera and reported on Twitter, though at this time, it's very important to keep in mind we're still in the very initial phases of the growth and development of this new feature.

Obviously, I wouldn't necessarily be surprised for Microsoft to insist upon Microsoft Edge when the production version of this selection is prepared as well, but so far, the organization hasn't said a single thing about its plans in this regard.

Microsoft has officially completed the rollout of Windows 11, because the company now labels the brand new operating system as ready for broad deployment.

Quite simply, Windows 11 has become ready for all eligible devices, so if you haven't installed the new OS on your pc at this time, you'd better visit Windows Update since there might be a surprise waiting for you.

Microsoft originally announced Windows 11 in June 2021, and the company promised to complete the rollout to any or all eligible devices by the summer of this year.

"We're also dealing with our retail partners to ensure Windows 10 PCs you buy today are prepared for that upgrade to Windows 11. The disposable upgrade will begin to roll out to eligible Windows 10 PCs this holiday and continuing into 2022. And then week, we'll begin to share an earlier build of Windows 11 towards the Windows Insider Program - this can be a passionate community of Windows fans whose feedback is important to all of us," Panos Panay said at that time.

But captured, the organization revealed that the Windows 11 rollout was advancing faster than anticipated, therefore the broad availability was expected to be reached earlier.

Indeed, this is exactly what has happened, as Windows 11 therefore opens up for those eligible devices sooner than summer time.

Just one bug at this point

Out of all bugs which have already been acknowledged by Microsoft, there's just one that's yet to get a fix.

"After installing updates released May 10, 2022 on your domain controllers, you may see authentication failures around the server or client for services such as Network Policy Server (NPS), Routing and Remote access Service (RRAS), Radius, Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), and guarded Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP). A problem has been discovered related to the way the mapping of certificates to machine accounts has been handled through the domain controller," Microsoft says.

A fix for this bug has already been in the works.

Microsoft continues the work on the very next feature update for Windows 11, and a few hours ago, the company moved one step nearer to the actual launch of the highly anticipated release with a brand new build for the Beta channel.

In other words, insiders who are signed up for the Beta ring from the Windows Insider program can now download and install Windows 11 build 22621 on their devices.

This era also marks the official closing from the window that allowed insiders to change between Dev and Beta channels without a full reinstall.

This new build doesn't come with any breaking changes, as it's focused specifically on refining bugs and increasing the performance of the OS. This is an indicator that we're in the final stages of the Windows 11 version 22H2 development.

Important bug fixes

File Explorer and the taskbar are generally getting improvements in this build, based on Microsoft.

"Fixed a problem resulting in Insiders seeing error 0x800703E6 when copying files from Google Drive. Fixed a problem where if you had ever opened the context menu, doing CTRL + ALT + DEL and cancelling would result in explorer.exe crashing," Microsoft explained.

"Fixed an issue associated with loading the machine tray icons in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar that could cause Settings to crash when opening that page recently. This problem may have also resulted in some explorer.exe crashes for impacted Insiders."

The only real known issues concern the live captions.

Microsoft insists that while the watermark is not there in this build, it doesn't suggest the introduction of this feature update is complete. However, there's an opportunity the RTM phase would be reached rather earlier than later, especially as Microsoft manages to iron the last remaining bugs.