Microsoft Weekly: Printer nightmares, Teams capabilities, and the death of SwiftKey for iOS

We’re at the end of another busy week, which means it’s time to recap everything important in the Microsoft verse over the past few days. This time around, we have items related to issues and new features in the Windows 11 2022 update, recent capabilities in Microsoft Teams, and some app-related news, including the death of SwiftKey for iOS.

Windows 11 2022 Update… and printer issues

To get us started, we learned a few days ago that Microsoft confirmed some printing issues (sigh) in the Windows 11 2022 Update (version 22H2).

The first issue is related to network printers disappearing from the operating system after installing the latest update. This was apparently due to a default group policy, so the good thing is you can fix it quickly, but there are some caveats.

The other problem, however, is a little more serious. Those who have installed the Windows 11 2022 update may encounter problems detecting all features in printers that use Microsoft IPP Class Driver or Universal Print Class Driver. This can cripple a printer’s ability to use color, two-sided or two-sided printing, paper size and type settings, resolutions, and more. Until Microsoft fixes the issue, it has discontinued the compatibility of the affected devices, meaning they won’t be able to officially install the update until a fix is ​​in place.

However, the news isn’t all bad when it comes to Windows 11 version 22H2. Nvidia has released a new version of GeForce Experience to fix some framerate and CPU usage issues in games reported after installing the Windows 11 update. Microsoft has also rolled out an out-of-band (OOB) optional update for the operating system in the form of KB5019311 (build 22621.525). It fixes localization issues for Windows installation files that prevented installation media from creating successfully. In the same vein, the third-party app “Auto Dark Mode X” also has a new version that fixes some compatibility issues with Windows 11 version 22H2.

And let’s not forget the Windows Insider Program releases either. Windows 11 Dev Channel build 25211 landed this week and finally returns the option to open the Task Manager by right clicking on the taskbar. It has other features such as Widgets settings, support for a new version of Snipping Tool and an improved system tray experience. Meanwhile, the beta channel received build 22623.730 with a tablet-optimized taskbar, system tray updates, and file explorer fixes.

Finally, Windows 11 version 22H2 also received its first cumulative preview update in the form of KB5017389. It introduces Widgets notifications, Microsoft Store patches, Chile daylight saving time improvements, and other improvements. It’s important to note that this update will be generally available through this month’s Patch Tuesday, October 11.

Microsoft Teams and other app updates

Microsoft had a lot of updates to share regarding Teams this week. This is mainly due to the company publishing its overview of all the features it added to the software during the months of August and September, including Cameo via PowerPoint Live, native support for Apple Silicon, collaborative annotations powered by Microsoft Whiteboard. and more.

That’s not all, however. The Redmond-based tech giant has also described how it enhances Teams’ calling experience in challenging network conditions through the use of a technique called Packet Loss Concealment (PLC), powered by artificial intelligence. This is currently already available for Windows customers, but is also being tested on Mac. The company revealed plans to bring payment processing mechanisms to Teams as well, which should benefit smaller businesses running their procedures through the collaboration software.

However, Teams wasn’t the only software to get all the love this week. The new Outlook for Windows experience is now available to all Office Insiders. It brings a lot of new features in addition to the ones announced in May, but as some of our readers noted in the comments section, there are still some crucial functionalities missing. Similarly, the Outlook Web App (OWA) has also received some upgrades in the contact management experience.

Microsoft also summarized all the features it added to Excel across platforms in September 2022, including performance recommendations, selective content sharing, modern comments, and more. Microsoft Lists – MSA Preview for iOS is also available through TestFlight, but only for the first 200,000 users to sign up first.

The Death of SwiftKey for iOS

After not offering SwiftKey updates on iOS for over a year, Microsoft quietly revealed that the app is actually dead on the specific platform. Microsoft acquired the keyboard company in 2016 for about $250 million and while SwiftKey on Android remains in active development, the iOS app has been laid to rest. While the official reason for this decision has not been disclosed, some have speculated that it may be due to Apple’s restrictive policies when it comes to customizing the bundled OS experience. Anyway, the app will be removed from the App Store on October 5.

Speaking of things dead, Microsoft has started disabling Basic Auth for most protocols in Exchange Online as of today. That said, this isn’t really surprising given that the company has been warning customers about this for years. Organizations are encouraged to migrate to Modern Authentication (OAuth 2.0), but if they are determined to use Basic Auth, they can manually enable it until the end of December, after which it will be disabled permanently.

Two 0-day vulnerabilities have also been discovered in on-premises installations of Exchange Server 2013, 2016 and 2019. While there are some workarounds for now, no official patch has been released yet.

If you’re an active Microsoft Edge user, you might be happy to know that the company is working to make desktop web apps more native by giving developers more control over the title bar. What’s possibly more interesting is that from now on Edge Canary can get up to two updates a day instead of the usual.

More good news: Clipchamp’s premium filters and effects are now available at no extra cost to Microsoft 365 subscribers, PowerToys gets a new toy that lets you know what processes are keeping you from deleting a file, and the Nvidia RTX 40-series cards will soon be able to stream AV1 content via Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

Well done

Now switching to gaming news, Nvidia released its latest Game Ready Windows WHQL driver version 517.48 earlier this week. It brings support for Overwatch 2 for Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) image upscaling Microsoft Flight Simulator – players of the latter can now also purchase the Cessna 195 Businessliner for $19.99 in-game or explore the skies of Canada for free via World Update XI.

In the meantime, grounded has finally reached full release after two years of early access. The game now features 13 biomes, 44 creatures, and a full-fledged storyline that follows the mystery behind the shrunken protagonists. It’s available on PC (Steam and Microsoft Store), Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S with a price tag of $39.99, but you can also play it at no extra cost via Xbox and PC Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

October’s Games with Gold have been revealed as Windbound and Bomber Crew. Only two games a month will be released because Microsoft dropped Xbox 360 titles last month. Meanwhile, this week’s free play days promotion has only one title in the form of WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship at. On the other hand, the Deals with Gold promotion is packed with titles headlined by Injustice and LEGO franchises.

Finally, for our readers who are PC purists, don’t forget to check out this weekend’s PC game deals, handpicked by our news editor Pulasthi Ariyasinghe himself.

Developer Channel

In the spotlight

This week I wrote an editorial sharing my thoughts on how Microsoft’s latest flexible approach to Windows 11 updates is worth appreciating.

Meanwhile, news reporter Taras Buria conducted an experiment on his device to find out if Windows 11 is more battery efficient than Windows 10. The results may not surprise you, but you can check them out here.

Finally, forum member Adam Bottjen (better known as Warwagon) wrote his latest edition of Warwagon’s Tech Tip Tuesday on Tuesday, explaining how to quickly back up drivers on your Windows PC.

Log out

Our most interesting (and disappointing) news item for this week concerns a report claiming that Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Studio 3 will have a premium price tag of $3,000, but it will still have a two-year-old CPU and “last-gen” hardware. contain. The first will be an 11th generation Intel processor. While this is a significant step up from the Surface Studio 2, which has a 7th Gen Intel CPU and an Nvidia GTX 1070 GPU, it’s still a little frustrating to see Microsoft bundling outdated hardware into a premium device. We’ll find out for sure at the company’s Surface event on October 12.

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