Microsoft is releasing a big Windows 11 update on September 26. Update 23H2 includes the new AI-powered Windows Copilot feature, a native RAR app, a new volume mixer and a lot more.
Oh, another system wide crapware that nobody is going to use.
They might as well call it Cortana AI
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Started a new job 4 months ago. First time using a windows desktop since windows 2000. Have multi screens always sucked this bad? You never know on what screen a launched window will appear.
How can people work like this?
They have not sucked this bad, no.
That’s interesting. Windows 11 is the best multi monitor version of windows ever, in my experience. It “remembers” where apps were last used opens them there. While not perfect, I find it great that it handles more than one multiple monitor setup. I have 3 monitors at home and 2 at the office. I just plug in and they are always in the same alignment. Given how bad it was in previous versions, I’m impressed.
I love the part where it remembers what screen an application was last launched on, even if that screen is no longer connected, so the window is completely missing with no visible way to get it back 😅
But yes, I find multiple monitor stuff to mostly be good in Win11 I agree!
Though it’s sorely missing a feature Win10 had that I find really, REALLY annoying. My monitors aren’t the same resolution, so when I move my mouse from one of a higher resolution to a lower one, if the mouse is near the top of the screen as it often is, it will literally get stuck on the edge of the screen, because the next screen technically has no pixels that high up 🤦♀️
So I then have to move the mouse down an inch or two to get it to be allowed to move to the next screen. Incredibly infuriating, and a problem that was solved in previous versions of Windows (which would just helpfully move your mouse to the top of the neighbouring screen, as you’d intuitively want).
When the invisible app window happens, you can use the windows key + arrow keys to move the current window around.
Agreed about the mouse thing being infuriating. I match my display resolutions to avoid it.
When I still had monitors with different resolutions I used an app called https://cursr.app/ to fix that. Or at least I think that is your issue…
I usually move the monitors around, the move my mouse to test it, until I avoid that, as perfectly aligning then with different resolutions doesn’t work. But yeah, totally know what you’re saying.
to be fair my macbook pro I use for working has the same problems. If I connect it to my dual screen setup at home it always forgets which screen contained which window…sometimes it even forgets which wallpaper I have set up. Multiple screens seem to be a huge challenge for modern operating systems…
I have been using a multi-monitor setup for years and never had any issues. Windows will usually appear on the screen you closed them on.
I’ve been waiting to move my fucking taskbar forever.
We just haven’t advanced technology to that stage yet. Big ask.
we had it in windows 7, 8, Vista, 10
This ancient technology is long lost by now. Pictures on clay plates is not how we are used to read comments in code now.
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Still chasing the dream of mainstream Clippy acceptance.
fr tho, MS has been on the digital assistant thing for decades at this point.
“Maybe it’ll work this decade”
The problem is Cortana or clippy or whatever they call it now sucks. I’ve never found its suggestions to be helpful. Google assistant has been helpful at least once in a while.
Google now used to be so good. Integration between calendar, email and maps for appointments and travel plans was amazing and I don’t even travel that much. But it just all worked and was legitimately helpful.
No one since has really sat down and tried to figure out ways to speed up or improve a typical users daily routine. They just build little isolated gimmicks that seem cool in an advert, but barely get used in reality.
I hate that everyone wants to build an ecosystem that locks you in and then doesn’t even seem to deliver on the low hanging fruit that being in that ecosystem could accomplish.
I see you are trying to open the terminal, would you like me to:
A: break your knees
B: kill your entire family
“I’m sorry but you didn’t supply a valid answer which means that you want both. I will send a contract killer to your house immediately. Would you like to leave feedback on how I did?”
Bing search is ran instead
“I’m sorry Dave…”
Can we just ungroup the damned Taskbar already? I don’t understand why they are being so stubborn on this.
I recommend StartAllBack. Granted no third party apps should be required for such a simple feature, StartAllBack does this and more.
It won’t be needed on the 26th, ungrouping was announced months ago.
I do love StartAllBack though. I’m curious if the new file explorer will convince me to stop using the Win10 Ribbon mode in StartAllBack
That’s the number one reason I stayed on 10. I’m figuring out a swap to Linux - gaming is my only concern. Might just dual boot.
Other than game devs who intentionally block Linux with anti-cheat (Epic, Riot) almost all other games work perfectly fine on Linux nowadays.
Does Teams work on Linux?
This is a LOT of people currently. We all want off of this Microsoft crapfest. Luckily a lot of us bailed on Windows 11 so we won’t have to deal with this further enshittification of windows.
Gaben had a talk about the future of Linux gaming so things are moving and windows will finally be a forgotten memory.
I’m a passionate Linux User, so take it from me: Many things won’t work. Especially without figuring technical things out. Steam stuff is often okay, modding sucks, Anti-Cheat crapware will Mist probably not work at all.
That’s just what were dealing with. Praised be all game companies with Linux Support, this and “No Tux no Bux”.
Due to lack of this I just started tinkering with computers instead.
I much prefer Linux to Windows except for a few key things.
One key thing is hardware / driver support. It isn’t that Windows is easier to develop drivers for, it’s just that most people use it, so that’s where manufacturers put their effort. But, it is really annoying that things mostly just work under Windows, but often under Linux they don’t. Sometimes getting them to work is a matter of a quick internet search and a small patch. Other times there is no solution and you’re stuck with hardware that doesn’t fully work.
The other key thing is game support. Again, since Windows is the default platform, games work on Windows. But, for a long time, they didn’t work at all on Linux.
I’m really excited that Valve is changing that thanks to the Steam Deck. It could end up solving both of those problems. As more and more games work on Windows, there will be less of a reason to use Windows if you’re into PC games. If more people use Linux, there will be more of an incentive for driver manufacturers to support Linux.
The year of the Linux desktop is coming my friend
I know it’s a joke, but I never saw “The Year of the Linux Handheld Gaming Computer Which Was Released and Supported By Valve” coming so…
It’s only a joke if times seem desperate
I swapped about a month ago. I’m running Ubuntu on desktop and openSuse Tumbleweed on laptop; both with KDE Plasma desktop environment, which makes the transition from windows easier. It’s a little bit of a learning curve as the names of software packages are unfamiliar to me, but I’m liking it.
My partner who never even contemplated anything else but windows did some work on my computer and I expected questions and frustration from her, but alas she did what she needed to do and I doubt she even noticed.
Mind you, I don’t really do gaming.
Even gaming is good on Linux now. Until you use the minimum softwares portfolio it’s okay. But if you are a content creator or if you need many softwares for your work it’s better to keep windows. After years of testing and trying to swap, Linux still have issues with hardware compatibility and version update (without reinstalling all the stuff) on my concern. And it will never replace windows cause the software library is too small. I am not saying that is not polish or easy it just depends what you need to do with.
Start11 by Stardock does this and more, its not FOSS, but is cheap (if you go the legal route). There is also Winhawk, which is FOSS, though is a little less intuitive.
I keep hearing this complain so I guess it clearly bothers some people but personally to me it never causes any issues nor I see the benefit on ungrouping.
If you have multiple windows of something you can go to the one you need directly. Them always bring grouped and requiring twice as many steps instead feels like I’m being handicapped by the OS.
Idk I guess I barely use the mouse for windows changing and that’s why doesn’t bother me. Well that and I don’t think I have that many apps with multiple windows that group, except I guess the file explorer but now it has tabs support.
Ungroup icon of multiple instances of one app into separate taskbar items? That’s been in insider builds for some time now. (Luckily…)
They’re not being stubborn, it’s coming in this same update and was announced at least 6 months ago
“a new volume mixer” - please just be an interface change and nothing dramatic 👀
AI powered volume switcher?
It’s been shown off for months. You click the volume speaker and then a second click will get you to a mixer that almost looks like Ear Trumpet. I’ll probably stick to Ear Trumpet though since it’s just one click
We heard your feedback and the volume mixer is now controlled exclusively through ChatGPT! Also it’s their ChatGPT so you’re limited to like 20 commands an hour.
I actually spoke with one of the people on the team for this the other week.
They have significant money problems. Copilot is expensive as crap to run, and this is about to make the situation 10x worse.
(Also this feature was completely broken a few weeks ago, so I’d be surprised if it launches without a hitch)
They have significant money problems.
Who is “they” here? Microsoft?
I think they’re doing just fine financially.
The particular team is burning money to run Copilot, and this new feature will burn money faster. Microsoft is mega profitable and happy to do this in the short-term, but they’re banking on a better solution in the long run.
I also specifically asked if Copilot was nerfed, and all the employee said was (paraphrasing): “Some people have run benchmarks and found it is worse than a year ago”
It’s GPT itself that’s shittier. All of these cloud AI platforms are very expensive to run. These are both well-known and you definitely didn’t have to talk to “Microsoft” to make that conclusion.
Man fuck that shit.
Who would even create rar archives these days, when there is 7zip?
Everybody using usenet.
Memesters, because WinRAR is a negware type of shareware (having an unlimited trial period), which constitutes as being “the good guy”.
Okay but 7zip can open and create .rar archives so why would anyone ever use WinRAR
Don’t try to understand memesters. I once installed one 7zip instead of WinRAR, and he installed the latter because “it’s free, you just have to click the button and wait a little bit”. It was even worse with the uTorrent vs. qBitTorrent situation, where the former is a de-facto spyware/adware, but the latter isn’t in piracy memes.
People using WinRAR. “Why would people use WinRAR?” It has more features than 7zip (password, encryption, profile presets especially).
If you’re asking why Microsoft would include it as a format for their extremely basic compression tool built into Explorer… why not, it’s one of the top three formats.
more features than 7zip (password, encryption,
Eh? 7zip supports these.
profile presets
I have to admit, I’m not familiar with this feature.
What I mean is more options for those features. The profiles and password tools are especially clever. (Examples: Password organizer can be locked with short master password, great for quickly decrypting archives matching ANY stored password. Profiles can quickly encrypt using specific settings, including super-long saved password without entering it.)
Ah, I see what you mean. 7zip’s password support looks pretty simple in comparison.
But that’s WinRAR not rar file format, no?
a native RAR app
It better come with a “Trial Expired” pop-up or I am not using it
Damn, this is actually kinda sad news that the OS will come with a rar app. Makes me finally want to buy a copy on WinRAR for like 15+ years of service.
This type of shit is why i jumped to linux mint recently. Who the hell removed the right click menu options. I’m sure it will be back as a feature.
Old context menu is still there. Need to do a regedit to make it default again.
They didn’t remove it. Go down to the bottom and choose More Options.
It’s bullshit but they’re still there
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Like baking a turd into a mud cookie.
Lol nope. Definitely sticking with 10 for the foreseeable future.
Clippy on steroids.
How do I install the nVidia drivers on Linux? I asking in case I decide to finally switch (found some Linux DAW, now all is happy, likely will go with Ubuntu + KDE).
On Ubuntu it’s just an option during installation. So far that’s the easiest install I’ve seen.
OpenSUSE supports a graphical install through their software manager, but I found it caused some issues so I ended up using the command line. That was actually very easy if you’re not uncomfortable using a terminal. Their docs were also accurate and easy to follow.
On fedora I followed the official docs but their instructions didn’t work, so I had to find some thread on a forum with alternate instructions. It took over an hour to get it working.
For sheer ease of use I would definitely stick to Ubuntu since that’s also the only distro Steam officially supports. I’ve had a good experience with OpenSUSE though so I’m sticking with it.
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What DAW do you use? I was pretty happy with Bitwig, the only con is that it’s not FOSS.
I found LMMS, which is perfectly fine for playing around with music. Lacks a few features though unfortunately, like recording at the moment. Not open source, but I also use Reaper, mainly to test MIDI stuff of my game engine through a loopback port on Windows (I’m a crazy person, and I wrote software synthesizers for my game engine).
LMMS and Reaper weren’t my things. I usually do everything by Terminal, but DAWs I’d where UI is a core necessity. IMO LMMS and Reaper just dont have those. Good that you found a setup through! Music on Linux is definitely getting better, maybe even faster than gaming.
Depends on the distro you choose, but these days it’s nothing too complicated. Either clicking an option for enabling the private driver in the drivers settings, or worse case just running a couple commands to manually add the private driver repo and download the package. You are done in 5 min m
Not NVidia driver-related, but I would recommend KDE Neon or Kubuntu since they’re both KDE and Ubuntu-based, KDE Neon is made by KDE while Kubuntu is an Ubuntu flavor.
Pick a distro that ships with Nvidia drivers out of the box. My personal recommendation is Pop OS.
