Microsoft Releases March 2024 Patch Tuesday Updates

Microsoft has just released the March 2024 Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10. For Windows 11 users, today’s KB5035853 update for the versions 23H2 and 22H2 of the OS brings changes to the Phone Link settings page, which has been renamed to “Mobile devices.” There’s also a new Snipping tool feature for Android users, as well as support for the USB 80Gbps standard.

If you have an Android phone, Windows 11 will now be able to suggest you to edit pictures you’ve just taken in the Snipping Tool app. After enabling this new Android integration in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices, Windows 11 will start showing notifications when your Android phone takes a new photo or screenshot, with an invitation to edit these images in Snipping Tool.

This month’s update also add USB 80Gbps support to Windows 11. This is the latest generation of the USB4 standard that offfers double the bandwidth of the previous version. However, it requires a recent PC with a chip that supports it. In other words, this is going to affect a very small subset of users as of today.

If you have a device that offers cellular connectivity, today’s patch for Windows 11 version 23H2 and 22H2 should also improve the reliability of cellular to Wi-Fi switching. This update also addresses an issue preventing PCs from going to sleep when external devices are connected.

There’s nothing newsworthy in the KB5035854 patch for the original version of Windows 11 (21H2), so let’s move on to Windows 10: Today’s KB5035845 update  for the versions 21H2 and 22H2 of the OS add new sharing options to WhatsApp, Gmail, Facebook, and LinkedIn in the Windows Share window. This update also includes relialibility improvements for secondary drive storage for games.

The March 2024 Patch Tuesday updates follow the release of the first big Windows 11 update of the year (“Moment 5”) in late February. For now, the Copilot improvements and other new features included in this update are only rolling out to Windows 11 users who turned on the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available.” Microsoft said that most of these new features will be enabled by default in the March 2024 optional coming later this month, with the public rollout expected to begin in April.