Notable to active Windows Insiders, is a simpler and more transparent Insider Program (which reminds me of when it first started) as well as an improved Feedback Hub (you are submitting feedback if you experience and issue, right?:) ). From the sounds of things, this is a return to some old policies and views that really makes the Windows Insider program exciting and feels like you’re a part of the team in helping make Windows the best operating system it can be.

With all these new and latest efforts coming from Microsoft, I do expect a change in the quality of not just the Insider builds, but for Windows in general. There’s been an overall negative response to a lot of things with the operating system lately, with many decisions being what the consumer has said they absolutely did not like or want. The new EVP seems to be more customer focused and has his ear to the ground listening to the concerns. I look forward to more of the changes and direction that they are taking Windows and the Insider Program. It’s also nice to read the post and feel like they are serious about this and not just a PR post (although, the future will tell if that’s true or not).

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If you’re already invested and ready for the exam, go ahead and take it. The retirement does not make the certification any less valuable or invalid. If you’re just starting to study, it’s best to start studying for the updated version. While most materials will still be relevant, be sure to focus on some of the AI aspects of it as well. If you’re ready for the exam and the AI aspects, you can usually grab a seat for the beta exam (typically at an 80% discount) to help with the scoring and development for the final exam, so be sure to leave some comments if you do.

With AI, it’s either “slop” or it’s a very valuable tool in your toolbox. For many, having AI as a tool is very helpful. With many of the AI additions in Azure and elsewhere, it’s something worth learning and using to help make your job a little easier.

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Mikhail Parakhin, the ex-CEO of Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, has posted on X (formally known as Twitter), that he fought hard against the decision to take away the vertical option for the taskbar. However, Microsoft developer Rafael Rivera posted that really wasn’t the case and that Mikhail has responsible for some of the enshitification of Windows.

It seems to be a blame game and pointing fingers at times, which sounds typical when it comes to customer complaints. I’ve always been more supportive of the “Yes, we did that and found that it just wasn’t what the consumer wanted. We’re going to backtrack and fix that right away.”. Yes, they get the “No, shit Sherlock!” replies, but the honesty and addressing the issue is more appropriate than pointing fingers.

The post Microsoft Bringing Back the Vertical Taskbar… Drama Ensues. appeared first on MSTechpages.

A new command-line interface for the Microsoft Store brings app discovery, installation and update management directly to your terminal. This enables developers and users with a new way to discover and install Store apps, without needing the GUI. The Store CLI is available only on devices where Microsoft Store is enabled.

Key capabilities include:

• Browse apps with

  store browse-apps

  : Search and filter the Store catalog by category, subcategory, listing type (top-free, top-paid, new releases), market, language and more.

• Install apps instantly with

  store install <product-id>

  : Deploy apps directly from the command line with a single command.

• Update specific apps with

  store update <product-id>

  : Install the latest version of any app without navigating through menus.

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I know many people like that the latest operating system is utilizing the latest security features in modern PC’s, but without some kind of bridge between supported and unsupported hardware, it’s leaving a lot of people behind with older yet still very capable hardware (just not officially supported with Windows 11, but works without any issues with unofficial workarounds) that otherwise could run it. Stopping all support for Windows 10 outside of paid support (or the mentioned “buy more Microsoft products or use Bing Rewards to get free support) is just a solid stop for users.

This is a very well written letter that hopefully gets some attention from the CEO and possibly some changes from the company. Many enterprises have already migrated to Windows 11 or are in the process of migrating, leaving a lot of home users affected with newer computers that just cannot run the latest OS.

Link to the Consumer Reports post (the link to download or view the letter is on that post, as I don’t want to directly link to a PDF).

The decision to make Windows 11 incompatible with existing hardware, and to do so with only
four years notice is incompatible with consumer expectations and Microsoft’s own history.
Microsoft has long focused on backwards compatibility for Windows, ensuring it can run on
older hardware. This means that consumers could expect to be able to run the latest version of
Windows for at least a dozen years and maybe more. If you bought a PC with Windows 7
preinstalled in 2010, you were able to upgrade it to Windows 8 in 2012 and then Windows 10 in
2015, and many of those devices can still run Windows 10 in 2025.

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1. First, you need to go into Start, then Settings. From there, select Advanced.

2. Next, under Task Bar, click the “End Task” to turn it on.

Now, when you right click on a running application on the task bar, you will see the “End Task” option that works the same was as doing it from Task Manager. This should save you some time and clicks when needing to close an application.

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Cool stuff with it, with notes from Bill Gates included. Always neat to see how it was done and how simple and also complex things can be. The ASM is just fun to look through even if you don’t understand all or any of it, the comments are pretty interesting themselves.

This is BASIC M6502 8K VER 1.1, the 6502 BASIC lineage that powered an era of home computing and formed the foundation of Commodore BASIC in the PET, VIC-20, and the legendary Commodore 64. This very source tree also contains adaptations for the Apple II (“Applesoft BASIC”), built from the same core BASIC source. The original headers still read, “BASIC M6502 8K VER 1.1 BY MICRO-SOFT”—a time capsule from 1978.

The version we are releasing here—labeled “1.1”—contains fixes to the garbage collector identified by Commodore and jointly implemented in 1978 by Commodore engineer John Feagans and Bill Gates, when Feagans traveled to Microsoft’s Bellevue offices. This is the version that shipped as the PET’s “BASIC V2.” It even contains a playful Bill Gates Easter egg, hidden in the labels STORDO and STORD0, which Gates himself confirmed in 2010.

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The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.

The post Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27764 (Canary Channel) appeared first on MSTechpages.

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Known issues

[General]

• [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”.
• We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are still experiencing rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to install the latest Canary builds.
• We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing accent colored window borders to not be not displayed when enabled, shadows around windows not displaying when enabled, and window launching (and other) animations to show even though the setting to show animations is turned off.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing some Insiders to see a bugcheck with error PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA starting with the previous flight.

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