Microsoft rolls out final Windows 11 update for 2021 | ZDNet

Microsoft debuted its final update of 2021 for the Windows 11 Preview to members of its Windows Insider program. Since launching on October 5, the company has continually refreshed its latest OS to gradually introduce new features and tighten the performance and stability of its revamped interface. Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22523 is specifically targeted at ARM64 PCs and brings with it a long list of new features and bug fixes. 

Completely new features in this build of Windows 11 include support for snap groups in the ALT+TAB command menu, the introduction of a quicker way to add and remove media servers in the File Explorer menu, and the latest portion of the company’s “ongoing effort to bring over settings from Control Panel into the Settings app.” 

This final feature update, which has really been ongoing since Windows 10, sees the option to uninstall a given third-party app, as well as the option to uninstall Microsoft’s own Windows updates being moved over to the new settings interface. 

In addition to the new features, fixes were introduced to deal with bugs in a handful of areas: 

• Taskbar: Corrections to possible Windows Shell freezes on ARM64 PCs, improved battery tooltip accuracy, and a fix for app icons overlapping the date & time panel. 

• File Explorer: Updates to OneDrive to fix an issue with keyboard focus being lost during file renaming.

• Spotlight Collection: Speed improvements for the initial loading procedure and the addition of icons to context menu entries. 

• Input: Improved reliability of voice typing activation, corrected broken interaction between text input and contrast themes, and mitigated random crashes caused by the pen menu process. 

• Widgets: Corrected an issue causing widgets not to load properly when opened using hover. 

• Settings: Fixed unintended truncation of certain menus, corrected crashes being caused by clicking combo boxes or the “Add a device” option in the Bluetooth menu, and improved accessibility of Voice Access results in Settings search.

• Others: Various bug corrections mostly focusing on eliminating crashes, hangs, and other performance malfunctions. 

The update also shipped with the latest batch of known issues, including unintended behaviors in the Start Menu, Taskbar, Search, Settings, and Spotlight Collection interfaces. These issues will have to wait until 2022 to be addressed when Microsoft plans to push its next Windows 11 build to Windows Insiders. 

ISOs of the latest build are available now, as is the newest Windows Insider SDK. Links to other related packages can be found within the full patch notes.