Windows 11 leak reveals new UI, Start menu, and more (Discussion)

Thanks @mood Received this update as well as KB5007292 on my Windows 11 desktop tonight. So far so good.

 

I got the KB5007262 just three short days ago, via the Insiders Beta channel. Used to be much more of a gap betw. Beta and mainstream release. Maybe it's the holiday season, I dunno. Did get the .NET Framework update also, like maybe an hour ago.

 

I'm pretty sure the Beta and Release Preview channels are running the same updates at the moment. This is why the small gap.

Since this lat update on my laptop my brightness keeps resetting to seemingly random values. Previously it would just keep resetting to 20% which I did not like but now it will go to 16%, 22%, it's always something different. This is a laptop obviously. Adaptive brightness is off. Anyone else having this issue? It's becoming enough to make me regret Windows 11 though I am far enough into it now I don't want to restore back to 10 as that image is more than 6 weeks old.

 

How to download any Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft
November 24, 2021
https://www.ghacks.net/2021/11/24/how-to-download-any-windows-11-iso-from-microsoft/

 

I updated one Win 10 machine to Win 11 a few days ago, via the Update Assistant. It without amazingly smoothly and quickly, and the only glitch on reboot was that Keyscrambler was borked and had to be uninstalled and reinstalled. Very pleasantly surprised!

So far I'm liking 11 better than I expected to. Everything seems a lot faster, which was a pleasant surprise as this machine isn't my gruntiest by a long shot. I particularly like the new settings and the clean interface, and also the new sounds. I didn't think I'd use Widgets, but I actually am. The Weather, Calendar, To-Do, Mail and News were the only tiles in Win 10 that I used "Live" and at a size bigger than "small", and the Widgets can do all of those apps except for mail (which I can live without). I've removed all the other apps in Widgets bar those ones.

I also like the appearance of the new Explorer, but for me the lost functionality of the stuff in the ribbon (some of which has been completely removed, not just moved or only accessible via a lot more clicks), does not make up for it. I'm seriously considering downloading Winaero Tweaker to bring that ribbon back. I particularly miss the "move" function for transferring very large files to an external SSD (high res videos that are many GBs and just not ideal to "cut/copy/paste" or "copy" - way way too slow that way, and more than the clipboard will handle). I also remove metadata from a lot of my Office files that I intend to share, and that process used to involve one mouse click via the drop down option on "Properties" on the explorer ribbon. Now it involves See More, Properties, Details, Remove properties and personal information, and then FINALLY I'm on the pop up I could get with one mouse click in the old explorer.

My Start menu in 10 was a highly customised and organised masterpiece, if I say so myself, haha. Grouped into five sections, and also some folders within each section. I think I'll actually get used to the new 11 one. I wish the Recommended section could be removed, as that seems like a giant waste of space. What I've realised is that many of the icons (tiles) I had on my 10 start menu were clicked on so seldomly, that not having them pinned to start is not such a terrible loss. Also there were a number of things I had pinned that are duplicated in the right click of the start button (command prompt (now terminal), event viewer etc), or duplicated in my taskbar (Edge, Store, Outlook etc). I just have to get used to accessing them in other quick to get to places instead of using my start menu as a go to for everything. It's forced me into doing some computer housework, which is not a bad thing. That said, I wish the start menu could be more customisable than it is currently. I miss being able to group my icons/tiles.

The taskbar is also taking a bit of getting used to. One of the main things is getting used to bringing up task manager quickly from right clicking the start button. What I do miss is the action centre 'moon' symbol changing colour like in Win 10 when there's a notification (I have my focus assist set to alarms only). I have to remember to mouse over it occasionally to see if there's a notification. I also miss the desktop toolbar in Win 10. I preferred accessing my desktop that way to having desktop icons showing, as I don't like them obscuring my desktop wallpaper. I'll probably end up making desktop icons visible on 11, as it's cumbersome to have to right click to show them, so I can get to right click options that are not present in the options when you right click start menu icons (e.g. run Sandboxed). I never grouped my taskbar icons, so I'm personally not missing that lost function, but I really want that desktop toolbar back!

They are my only gripes so far. In terms of bugs. I've really not found any, except for Edge when Sandboxed makes the search bar for "Find on this page" invisible, but that's literally it. Unfortunately that's a function I use quite a lot when I'm studying, so I'm hoping that can be fixed.

 

The problem i have with widgets in Windows 11 is i have to be signed in to a Microsoft account, which I have blocked in Group policy for privacy reasons, so I turned that "feature" off.

 

Same here. I have it disabled with GPO as well.

 

Windows 11 Enterprise virtual machine now available for developers
November 24, 2021
https://www.windowscentral.com/wind...ual-machine-now-available-developers-download

 

No random brightness issues of note on my Lenovo laptop.

 

this is correct , setting min processor to 25% always helps me (or like you said 5%), it its not placebo tweak, the laptop won't use full cpu potential without it

 

Just got this article via my Twitter stuff and haven't finished reading thru it yet but since it has an interesting app that supposedly allows you to drag 'n' drop to Taskbar (at least in theory), I thought I would post about it. The article also reports that Microsoft will restore drag 'n' drop to Taskbar in mid 2022 anyway. The stuff is mostly from GitHub but also some dedicated sites so can't speak for anything like their security. But it makes for some interesting reading at least if one doesn't care to risk it.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...e-windows-11-experience-with-these-free-apps/

 

I don't see the point of all of the Microsoft account hesitation, especially when some of the same folks would use Microsoft Defender without concern.

 

Two months in, Windows 11 is still a work in progress
Features have been added and bugs have been fixed, but things are still missing.
November 29, 2021

 

Anyone that remembers what Windows 10 looked like when it was first released will not be surprised by this. I would have been more surprised if it was different this time.

 

Hey Jack, I'm interested in your thoughts about Windows 11. Frankly it just annoys me since I don't see any reason for it. By "reason" I mean some inadequacy in Windows 10 that required a major upgrade. It was clear why Windows 10 was necessary to replace Windows 8, but I don't see anything compelling here and it doesn't make me feel kindly toward Microsoft. What do you think?

 

Unless you are looking for the DoH (DNS over HTTPS) support that we originally thought we were going to get in Windows 10 21H2 then there probably is no great necessity for it. At least not yet. I have a mix of 10 and 11 as I will likely encounter customers that will have 11 and being familiar with it will help us when they contact us with any issues.

 

Do not remind me. I was stuck in the Insider channel for a year only because MS originally promised it in 20H2. I like DoH, though I would prefer DoT, but the downsize is that DNS Cache can not be disabled anymore, since it controls it.

 

Yeah, I wasn't happy about that either. Firefox is probably as close as you can get on Windows 10.

 

Good point about supporting others. I will probably have to put 11 on at least one machine for that reason. As for DoH what about using something like YogaDNS? I know it's preferable to have things baked directly into the OS, but it does work well in my experience.

 

I took a look at it once and felt it was too difficult to set up for the average user. Unless it has changed since then. As the idea of it catches on I'm wondering if someone will release something a little more user friendly in the future.

 

I doubt it. I asked in MS and Edge forum, how to setup DoH in Edge via policies, they did not know, they told me to use Feedback form. For the record:

Spoiler

Code:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v "BuiltInDnsClientEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v "DnsOverHttpsMode" /t REG_SZ /d "secure" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v "DnsOverHttpsTemplates" /t REG_SZ /d "https://dns.nextdns.io/xxxxxx?" /f

Custom DoH has to be added in 11 manually and MS docs are not that helpful either, but it can be done via CMD (malware can add it's own too), if you know your network interface ID. Well for now, since WMIC is deprecated.

Spoiler

Code:

reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters" /v "EnableAutoDoh" /t REG_DWORD /d "2" /f
netsh dns add encryption server=45.90.28.91 dohtemplate=https://dns.nextdns.io/xxxxxx autoupgrade=yes udpfallback=no
netsh dns add encryption server=45.90.30.91 dohtemplate=https://dns.nextdns.io/xxxxxx autoupgrade=yes udpfallback=no
wmic nicconfig where macaddress="00:D8:61:6E:E8:C5" call SetDNSServerSearchOrder ("45.90.28.91","45.90.30.91")
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\InterfaceSpecificParameters\{1782f959-86c5-424f-a46e-09fc0a7daa02}\DohInterfaceSettings\Doh\45.90.28.91" /v "DohFlags" /t REG_QWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\InterfaceSpecificParameters\{1782f959-86c5-424f-a46e-09fc0a7daa02}\DohInterfaceSettings\Doh\45.90.30.91" /v "DohFlags" /t REG_QWORD /d "1" /f

 

Yes, I remember it took a little time to puzzle it out. Since those early builds they have added a wizard though with multiple options to setup DoH automatically. I haven't been using it for a while (I switched to using a VPN) so can't comment on whether or not it's more user friendly now.

http://yogadns.com/docs/#install

 

For HKLM malware would have to already have admin privileges. At that point you have bigger problems. That said there are far too many system and Windows Defender settings you can change in the registry and if you were trying to hide on someone's system most people would never notice.

 

How to Enable DNS Over HTTPS on Windows 11:

https://www.howtogeek.com/765940/how-to-enable-dns-over-https-on-windows-11/