Windows 11: Second feature update version 23H2 with ChatGPT

On September 20, 2022, Microsoft pressed the start button for the first Windows 11 feature update. The second free function update is scheduled for this calendar year. This is a collection of previous minor Moments updates that are combined into a new version. In the following we present the previously known innovations that registered Windows Insiders can already test in the beta channel.

File manager with major overhaul

The file manager has been functionally unchanged for years, but has been given an adapted user interface with Windows 11. But that’s not the end of it, because Microsoft is putting the venerable program on a new footing. So the Microsoft program will build on top of the Windows App SDK. The Windows App SDK focuses on Win32 programs and web apps. Natively executable apps can be written in C# or C++, and the user interface is WinUI 3 with a responsive design. In addition, the library allows access to a number of interfaces, so that, for example, the photo gallery from the installed photos app can be integrated. Below the new start page, for example, there is an entry called “Gallery”, which shows photos saved in chronological order. If you want, you can also search explicitly for photos. By clicking on Locations, you can determine from which folders the images in the gallery come.

New File Explorer with Gallery feature from Microsoft Photos app offers chronologically sorted images from different locations in one place. [Quelle: Tomshardware]

New start page in File Explorer in Windows 11 version 23H2. [Quelle: Windowslatest]

New properties view in File Explorer in Windows 11 version 23H2. [Quelle: Windowslatest]

Recommended files for enterprise customers in Windows 11 Version 23H2 File Explorer. [Quelle: Windowscentral]

In addition, the file explorer gets a new start page. In connection with Microsoft 365 can then, for example, work directly together on a Word document. Right-clicking on a file shows who last edited the document. Another click then leads directly to the fact that you can send an e-mail to the person including the appropriate file as an attachment. As early as November 2022, Microsoft had brought tabs to the file explorer in a first feature moment update. With Windows 11 Version 23H2 comes this extension for all users of Windows 11.

Faster access to Task Manager

With the optional update KB5019980 there is faster access to the task manager. From now on, you can right-click anywhere on the taskbar to call up a context menu with the task manager. Previously, you had to right-click the Start button to do this. In addition to faster access to the task manager, Windows 11 Version 23H2 offers the option of right-clicking to end a running process. For example, a website can be specifically terminated when it is paralyzing the PC.

Display of the search in the taskbar. [Quelle: Windowslatest]

New task manager with search function in Windows 11 version 23H2. [Quelle: Windowslatest]

If the task manager is open anyway, you can also search for processes directly in the program. For this purpose, the task manager has a search function that Windows 10 does not have.

Taskbar with innovations

A new taskbar is included in Windows 11, in which users have to do without many features compared to previous Windows versions. With the goal of simplification, however, Microsoft has gone too far, as numerous forum entries by disgruntled users show. Microsoft will make the comeback of taskbar functionality dependent on usage. Only features that are used by a majority of Windows 10 users and are not yet available in the successor will be added later. You will have to do without a flexible positioning of the taskbar at the edge of the screen, because only very few users have taken advantage of this option. Microsoft has reacted to initial feedback and has allowed the user to choose between different symbols in the integrated search since patch KB5022303. In addition to hiding, there is a search button, a search magnifying glass as an icon or a search bar to choose from.

Taskbar search with ChatGPT

Anyone who is already a registered beta tester of the new Bing with ChatGPT has been able to use the new search engine with AI chatbot in the Windows 11 taskbar since February. If you are not a participant in the beta test, nothing changes and the search remains linked to the usual Bing.

How to turn off Bing search with ChatGPT

If you don’t want to use an OpenAI AI tool at all, you can hide the search icon in the taskbar settings. To turn off the AI ​​search, you have to go to the “Privacy and Security” section in the Settings app and go to “Search Permissions”. In this options menu you can deactivate “Search cloud content” so that no search results from Microsoft Bing are displayed. When the new Bing with KI-Co-Pilot can be used by all Windows users is still open.

Set search without ChatGPT. [Quelle: PCGH]

With the deactivation of “cloud synchronization”, the processing history of documents on Onedrive is not synchronized either. [Quelle: PCGH]

Not all innovations from the Dev Channel come in Windows 11 Version 23H2

Not all innovations from the Dev Channel actually make it into a new version of Windows 11. This is shown by Windows 11 Insider Build 25120, which was distributed to Insiders in the Dev Channel. This tested a floating search bar on the desktop, but this experimental feature is not part of Windows 11 version 23H2. Only when a feature from the dev channel is also tested in the beta channel will it be integrated into the next feature update.