Microsoft has released the optional March 2023 non-security preview update for Windows 11. The update includes a search box that matches the current color scheme and a new feature called “notifications for Microsoft accounts.”
The update also has many improvements and bug fixes, including new Microsoft Defender for Endpoint features and a fix for a Microsoft PowerPoint freeze issue.
It is a monthly non-security preview release that helps Windows administrators test improvements that will roll out with the next month’s Patch Tuesday.
The update also comes with a new set of notifications, which will show up in the sign-out flyout of the Windows 11 Start menu.
These notifications promote Microsoft products, such as OneDrive, or prodding users to create or complete their Microsoft accounts. Some users on social media have reacted negatively to the “Microsoft account notifications,” describing them as ads.
Microsoft has promoted its products within the user interface of Windows apps in the past, including displaying ads for Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions to Office 2021 customers and ads for Microsoft products in the File Explorer app.
The update includes more fixes and improvements, including addressing an issue that affects Windows Search, adding Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 to the list of protocols that can be set in the Group Policy Editor, addressing an issue that affects the Microsoft HTML Application Host, and addressing an issue that affects the Remote Procedure Call Service (rpcss.exe).
Microsoft has announced that after March 2023, there won’t be any other preview cumulative updates for supported Windows 10 versions. Only cumulative monthly security updates will continue for these versions.
Windows 10, version 22H2 will continue to receive security and optional releases. Starting April 2023, optional non-security preview updates will be released on the Tuesday of the fourth week of the month to replace the “C” and “D” releases previously issued during the third and fourth weeks.
