Microsoft has once again refreshed the lock screen of Windows 11. This update doesn't significantly change the applicable experience, but it enables a new interactive weather card on the lock screen. It's only a minor change, but more important changes may be yet to come. Microsoft is using it in Windows 11 Build 23612"Cards"Feature test updated lock screen, which is available in the canary channel. You can pass:"Settings">"Personalization">"Lock screen">"Status"to control the new weather card.
As you can see from the screenshot below, the new lock screen with weather cards displays dynamic weather information with a simple hover operation. When you hover over a weather card, you can see more information without leaving the lock screen. Once the card is tapped, Windows redirects the user to the MSN weather page in Microsoft Edge.
The feature is only available in the United States, but the tech giant plans to expand the rollout in the coming days.
Interestingly, Microsoft is planning to enable the feature by default. At the moment, you can't change the weather**, so you'll need to rely on MSN Weather to open web pages in Microsoft Edge.
Voice Recognition, the flagship feature of Windows 11, replaces voice recognition, and the voice access feature in Build 23612 also gets some much-needed improvements.
In addition to the lock screen update, Build 23612 adds multi-monitor support, custom commands, and new languages for voice access. Voice access is a new way to control your PC using your voice. Starting with build version 23612, users can finally have voice access in French, Spanish, and German. Voice access works best in English (US), but you can expect gradual improvements in the upcoming cumulative update.
The second big change is support for creating commands. With this feature, you can create custom voice commands to control different parts of Windows 11. For example, if you want to create a new command to open a URL, you can go to the voice access settings and tap on it"Create command"。
You can use voice or text to enter commands and choose the last one"Create"button to execute custom voice commands.
You can access the interface by voice"Settings">"Language"to switch languages. Most of these changes arrive with an optional cumulative update for Windows 11 and don't require much action.