Microsoft Weekly: new features for Windows 10, improvements for Windows 11, and more

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at Windows 11 version 24H2 becoming broadly available, new features for Windows 10 users, some welcome additions to Windows 11 in the latest preview builds, gaming updates, app updates, some fresh reviews, and more.

Table of contents:

Windows 10 and 11 news
Windows Insider Program
Updates are available
Reviews are in
Gaming news
Great deals to check

Windows 11 and 10

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

Windows 11 version 24H2 is now broadly available. As such, Microsoft is ramping up its rollout to all eligible users, including Windows 10 users with compatible PCs. Therefore, if you are on Windows 10, get ready for a message in Windows Update suggesting you leave Windows 10 behind and join the ranks of Windows 11 users.

Even though Windows 10 will soon be out of support, Microsoft is still adding new features here and here. The recently released Release Preview build introduced cute little images for the calendar flyout, plus a weather widget for the agenda view. While it looks neat, it is hard to tell what is going on, considering how lame is Windows 11's calendar flyout.

Another Windows 10 story from this week is about a newly found bug in the latest Patch Tuesday updates. However, Microsoft said, plain and simple, that users should not worry about it because it does not impact the performance, functionality, security, or stability of the operating system, and a future update will resolve the problem with a System Guard Runtime Monitor broker throwing errors in the event log.

Windows 11 users now have a new Game Bar widget that makes it easier to browse the web when playing games. Edge Game Assist is now available in Edge Stable outside the Edge Insider and Windows Insider programs. You can learn how to turn on Edge Game Assist here.

Finally, Microsoft reminded users that Windows WSUS driver updates sync will stop working in less than three months.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:

	Windows 11	Windows 10
Canary Channel	-	Not Applicable
Dev Channel	26120.3000	Not Applicable
Beta Channel	22635.4805	Not Applicable
Release Preview Channel	26100.3025	-

The new Windows 11 preview builds brought some interesting changes this week, such as the new battery indicator in the Dev Channel and more. However, users discovered additional improvements, such as a new way to share files in File Explorer. Microsoft is testing a new tray that will let you share files with apps by simply dragging them.

New Sharing Experience in Windows 11

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

A few recent weeks were plenty of various Outlook bugs and crashes. Microsoft acknowledged that the classic Outlook app could crash when starting new emails, replying, or forwarding. To help affected users mitigate the problem, Microsoft offered a workaround in the form of a guide describing how to roll back to the previous Outlook build.

Another rather sad Office-related news is the death of the Smart Lookup feature in Word. You can no longer right-click words to get their definitions, synonyms, and other information.

Chrome 133 is coming next month, and one of its features is a new battery-saving tool. Google revealed that the new freezing mechanism will help users squeeze more battery life out of their laptops and tablets when running in energy-saving mode. Chrome is going to achieve that by freezing CPU-intensive background tabs.

Mozilla has released another small update for Firefox 134. Version 134.0.2 arrived with fixes for several issues and bugs. Mozilla's engineers resolved problems with crash reports not showing for some locales, non-working anchored HTML links, bugs with developer tools and extension debugging, and more.

Vivaldi is another browser that received an update this week. Version 7.1 is now available for everyone, offering new customization features, improved sync, updates to speed dial, and other welcome improvements.

Files, our favorite third-party file manager for Windows 10 and 11, received a new update in the preview channel. It contains a new layout, Cards View, that lets you see more details about each file or folder. The new layout is expected to be part of the next stable update, version 3.9.

We also have some hardware updates coming later this spring. A new report emerged about Microsoft preparing new compact-sized ARM-powered Surface devices. An 11-inch Surface Pro and a 12-inch Surface Laptop are coming in April or May, in addition to a bunch of business-focused Surface devices that are expected at the January 30 event.

Other notable updates include the following:

And here are the newest drivers released this week:

AMD Radeon Software 25.1.1 with optimizations for Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and more.
Intel 32.0.101.6460 and 32.0.101.6259 non-WHQL with performance improvements for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Reviews are in

Here is hardware and software we reviewed this week

Robbie Khan dropped another review this week. This time, the Dangbei N2 paid a visit to Robbie's testing labs. This smart projector is affordable and easy to use. It produces little notice and provides all the licensed streaming apps. However, it is not the brightest one and has some software limitations and quirky angle adjustments.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Microsoft announced a massive drop of games for Xbox Game Pass. The latest additions include Lonely Mountain: Snow Riders, Flock, Tchia, Starbound, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, Shady Part of Me, Sniper Elite: Resistance, Far Cry New Dawn, Magical Delicacy, and a lot more.

In addition to new games, Microsoft revealed a new controller. The Pulse Cipher Special Edition is now available for preorder. This vivid gamepad has a transparent faceplate, bright red colors, a metallic D-pad, and more. You can get this controller for $74.99.

Xbox Wireless Controller - Pulse Cipher Special Edition

Microsoft is also working on some much-needed improvements to external storage support in Xbox consoles. The latest Alpha-Skip Ahead build for Xbox Insiders added the ability to connect drives larger than 16TB. Now, you can have an absolutely humongous library of games on one single drive. Just make sure to format it before using it.

During the first Xbox Developer_Direct 2025, Microsoft showcased several upcoming games, such as Ninja Gaiden 4 and plenty of details about DOOM: The Dark Ages. The latter will focus on more grounded action than parkourish gameplay from the previous installments. Also, id Software announced hardware requirements, which are pretty demanding but not too extreme. Another showcased game was South of Midnight, which launches in in April.

Forza Horizon 5 is getting its likely final content update. Earlier this week, Playground revealed the last two new cars for the game and confirmed that no new playlists will be offered to racers. Instead, players will get to vote for the next playlist from the previous updates, which will let them earn previously exclusive cars and relive some of the best updates released during the game's three-year lifespan.

A similar thing happened to Dragon Age: The Veilguard. With the latest patch, Bioware said the game is now "in a stable place," and the studio is moving to monitor for any game-breaking bugs.

If you plan to play Ubisoft's upcoming Assassin's Creed game, prepare to upgrade your computer to get the best graphics possible, especially with ray tracing. Ubisoft announced the game's hardware requirements, and the highest settings ask for the RTX 4080 (RT Enthusiast) and RTX 4090 (RT Extreme).

Cyberpunk 2077 is the first PC game to support Nvidia's latest DLSS 4 tech with multi-frame generation support on the RTX 5000 series graphics cards. The necessary patch is now out, which means first buyers will have a solid title to test DLSS 4's capabilities.

Finally, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 received its second seasonal content update. Season 2 adds a bunch of multiplayer maps, new modes, weapons, perks, and other improvements.

Deals and freebies:

Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery is currently available for free on the Epic Games Store. This puzzle-solving experience is up for grabs until the next Thursday. By the way Epic Games Store's weekly giveaways are now available on mobile as well. The company added 19 third-party games to its mobile store and announced a giveaway of Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee.

As usual, we have gathered more discounts and specials on PC games in our weekly Weekend PC Game Deals series, which you can check out here.

Here are other gaming stories from this week:

Great deals to check

Every week, we cover many deals on different hardware and software. The following discounts are still available, so check them out. You might find something you want or need.

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