Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22494 fixes some Taskbar, Explorer bugs and adds a Mute Mic button

One of the many quirks in Windows 11 is the Taskbar bug, which causes tool-tips to appear randomly when you mouse over the system tray and back to a different area on the Taskbar. Microsoft has fixed this issue with the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22494.

The update is live for testers on the Developer Channel. Some of you had commented about the bug, but for those who don't know what it is, here's an animated GIF.

I have been using the latest preview build on my virtual machine for a day, and can confirm that it has fixed the anoying taskbar bug. The announcement for the new build mentions another fix related to the Taskbar, it patches a bug that led to duplication of icons in the Taskbar's corner.

Mute and unmute your mic from the Taskbar

The previous Insider Preview build introduced a new way to control the volume, by scrolling the mouse wheel over the system tray icon. Windows 11 Build 22494 lets you mute your computer's microphone directly from the taskbar. There's a huge caveat here, this feature seems to be exclusive for Microsoft Teams, at least for now. When you join a call on Teams, the mic icon will appear on the tray, click on it to mute and unmute it.

Image credit: Microsoft

There's something else I should mention, the mute option only works with the regular Microsoft Teams app, and not the Chat Teams app that is bundled in Windows 11. Well, if you're one of the folks who are using it for working/studying from home, you should find the option useful.

Snap Groups in Alt + Tab and Task View

The new Windows 11 build will show Snap Groups in the Alt + Tab and Task View screens. Microsoft says that this option isn't available for all users, only some Insiders have this option.

Settings

The Apps & Features section in the settings app, has been renamed. Well, technically it has been split into two sections: Installed Apps, and Advanced App Settings.

The former has some new options to change the view: List, Grid and a Smaller Grid.

Here's the larger grid view, looks very touch-screen friendly, doesn't it?

And this is the other one.

The Advanced App Settings screen houses options to Choose where to get apps, Share across devices, App execution aliases, Archive apps. It also has an Uninstall Updates option, which I thought would allow us to uninstall app updates, but it just takes you to the Windows Update History section.

The Default apps' search bar now displays a drop-down list as you type the letters of the file type or link type, i.e. you don't have to type the full extension and hit enter.

File Explorer

File Explorer has a bunch of fixes that address problems related to the context menu crashing, sub-menu drawing on top of the current menu, blurry context menu icons, the open with menu opening files directly, and the performance of command bar actions. Files on the Desktop can now be renamed directly on the homepage, the previous build didn't allow users to do this and they had to edit the names from the Desktop folder in File Explorer.

Explorer should no longer crash when using Snap, Alt Tab or Virtual Desktops. Storage Sense will clean up the SystemTemp folder as expected. The Search function's performance has been improved, apparently the indexer database was being fragmented, which in turn was causing high memory and CPU usage, especially for people with large Outlook mailboxes.

A black screen problem which prevented the lock screen from being displayed, after the computer came out of sleep, has been resolved. The latest build also patches the WSL: Fixed error 0x8007010b, that occurred when users tried to access Linux distributions using the subsystem, i.e., \\wsl.localhost or \\wsl$

KB5008295 Update for Windows 11 Beta and Release Preview Channels

Microsoft has released the KB5008295 Update for Windows 11 Beta and Release Preview Channels. The update fixes an issue that prevented some apps from opening, this includes the following apps:

• Snipping Tool
• Touch Keyboard, Voice Typing, and Emoji Panel
• Input Method Editor user interface (IME UI)
• Getting started and Tip

Some users who got an error while opening the apps tried to roll back the clock to a previous date as a workaround. But you don't need to do that with this update. The release notes says that a Microsoft digital certificate that expired on October 31st, 2021, caused the issue. The update also fixes a problem with S-Mode, which prevented the Start Menu and Settings app from opening. The update does not bump the firmware version number, you may check the Windows Update History to see if the patch has been installed on your computer.

The performance improvements seem to be good, I can notice a slight difference in the Search function's speed. The context menu is still unimpressive (I'm using it with the Accessibility > Animations turned off). The mute mic option looks useful, but Microsoft needs to make it a global shortcut, instead of restricting it to teams. A double click to mute the speaker volume would be nice too, wouldn't you agree?

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