- Microsoft pushes a new Open With menu design that makes it a little more difficult to choose an application.
- The update KB5040535 also introduces a new “Recommendations & offers” page in the privacy settings.
- Windows 11 build 22635.3936 is now available for download through the Beta Channel.
Microsoft is in the process of rolling out the preview build 22635.3936 for Windows 11 in the Beta Channel as the update KB5040535. The update is small, but it includes a few interesting interface changes and new settings.
According to the official notes published on July 22, 2024, Windows 11 build 22635.3936 introduces a new “Open With” menu design that no longer shows the group of apps that can be used to open a file. Instead, you now have to click on “More apps” to see the apps and to access the “Choose an app on your PC” option.
In addition, a new “Browse apps in the Microsoft Store” opens the store to find the right app that opens the file. The only issue with this new design is that you usually don’t need to install another application. You only have to choose the app already installed on the computer, and this change will lure users into opening the store more often and probably downloading apps they don’t need. However, sometimes, it’s necessary to install another app to open a specific file, but usually, you need a third-party app that isn’t available from the Microsoft Store.
The update KB5040535 also hides a preview of changes that the company plans to roll out to the Settings app. In this release, the “Privacy & security” page, under the “Windows permissions” section, is replacing the “General” page with the new “Recommendations & offers” page.
Inside the page, you will now find the new “Personalized offers” setting that was previously known as “Tailored experiences” from the “Diagnostics & feedback” page.
The “Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID” option has been renamed to “Advertising ID.”
The “Show me suggested content in the Settings app” option is now the “Recommendations and offers in Settings” option.
The “Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking apps launches” option is now the “Improve Start and search results” option.
Finally, the “Let websites show my locally relevant content by accessing my language list” option has now become the “Allow websites to access my language list” option.
Although the new “Recommendations & offers” page doesn’t introduce new settings, it does make it easier to understand that these settings are available to control some of the advertisements inside the operating system, which the company still disguises as “offers,” when it should read “ads.”
The new settings page was spotted by @PhantomOfEarth on X, and you have to enable it manually by running the vivetool /enable /id:49666228,48433719 command with the ViveTool.
As part of the update KB5040535, Microsoft is also pushing a few fixes for text suggestions for hardware keyboard, crashes for ctfmon.exe that affects input devices, and addresses an issue that could cause mice and keyboard not to work when starting Windows 11 in Safe Mode.
This release also includes some known issues regarding File Explorer, Widgets, and input.
Microsoft also notes that the option to shorten the date and time from the Settings app has been disabled because of some issues in this preview, but it’ll be included in future updates.
Install preview
To download and install this Windows 11 build, enroll your device in the Beta channels through the “Windows Insider Program” settings from the “Update & Security” section. Once you enroll the computer in the program, you can download the build from the “Windows Update” settings by turning on the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” option and clicking the “Check for Updates” button.