This week’s Microsoft news recap is here with the latest financial report from Microsoft, ad-free Skype (a surprise to be sure), one Windows 11 preview build, gaming news, and more.
In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at Microsoft’s latest financial report, fresh Windows 11 stats, big updates for Skype (yes, it is still alive), a new PowerToys release, some good and not-so-good gaming news, one new Windows 11 preview build, and more.
Table of contents:
On July 30, 2024, Microsoft posted results of the Q4 2024 fiscal year. The company generated $64.7 billion in revenue, with a net income totaling $22 billion. You can check out more details that Microsoft revealed during its earnings conference call with investors.
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.
This week’s Windows section kicks off with fresh stats from Statcounter and Valve. According to Statcounter’s July 2024 report, Windows 11 crossed the 30% mark for the first time since its launch three years ago. Valve, on the other hand, reports a slight decrease in Windows 11 users. On Steam, the OS now sits at a little lower than 46%.
Although we are a few days away from the August 2024 Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft released some additional patches and improvements for its operating system. KB5001716 is out for Windows 10 and 11 to make Windows Update components run better, and KB5040529 is out as an optional update for Windows 11 24H2.
Also, Microsoft restored some of its previously missing official virtual machines, which are also known as Windows Developer Environment. WDE 2407 is now available for VMware users, but the Parallels version is still missing. On the bright side, the timebomb has been prolonged to October 29, 2025, instead of October 9, 2025.
Microsoft quietly confirmed a bunch of known bugs in the latest Windows Server updates. The most important one is probably a bug with the old Remote Desktop protocol, which causes intermittent connection dropouts. While Microsoft is busy fixing the bug, IT admins can apply a temporary workaround to mitigate the problem.
Finally, Microsoft offered a detailed explanation of the root cause of the recent CrowdStrike outage, which still sends ripples across the industry. Although CrowdStrike and Microsoft managed to recover most of the systems that were affected by the no-legendary outage, the story is far from over. Delta Airlines, which suffered big time, is now reportedly planning to file lawsuits against Crowdtrike and Microsoft. Apparently, those $10 Uber Eats gift cards were not enough to remedy the situation.
Windows Insider Program
Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:
Earlier this week, Microsoft quietly updated release notes for the most recent Windows 11 preview builds to notify users that the setting for toggling on or off tray clock seconds now lives in another part of the Settings app. Now, if you want to turn on the tray clock seconds, you should navigate to the Date & Time settings section, not Personalization.
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.
PowerToys, one of our favorite apps, received a big new update this week. Version 0.83 delivered a revamped Awake module and a metric ton of improvements for other modules. Sadly, there are no new utilities, but Microsoft says it is working on more substantial changes in versions 0.84 and 0.85, so stay tuned for those.
StartAllBack, this time a third-party app for tweaking Windows 11, received a new update with Windows 11 24H2 support. Besides removing the upgrade block, the update improves performance and introduces several new features.
Skype is another Microsoft-made piece of software that got a large update. The most notable change in version 8.125.76.201, which is currently Insider-only, is the complete removal of any ads. Skype is now ad-free across platforms, something that is truly unique in the modern Microsoft world. Besides, there are AI image generation improvements, OneAuth support on iOS, and some bug fixes.
Teams, one more communication service from Microsoft, also received new features. In a blog post, Microsoft outlined new capabilities, such as a new gallery design, better 3D avatars, and improvements for the events feature. In addition, the company is working on merging Teams chats and channels in a new UI.
