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Microsoft is reminding users of important upcoming dates in the support lifecycle for older versions of Visual Studio. Support for the widely used Visual Studio 2013 will end on April 9, 2024, meaning it will no longer receive security updates or fixes. Developers still using older versions like Visual Studio 2013 and 2015 are encouraged to upgrade as those editions will also see reduced support over the next few years. According to Microsoft, Visual Studio 2015 moves to extended support only (security fixes only) on October 14, 2025, while Visual Studio 2017 reaches that stage on April 13, 2027. Even Visual Studio 2019 will transition from mainstream to extended support on April 9, 2024. To remain supported, Microsoft emphasizes that users must be on the latest version 16.11 release of Visual Studio 2019. The preview channel of Visual Studio 2019 is also no longer receiving updates. Microsoft recommends all developers upgrade to the latest version, Visual Studio 2022. It provides a 64-bit architecture (first in the IDE), built-in Git version control, AI code completions with GitHub Copilot, and tools for .NET 8 and .NET MAUI app development. Microsoft also said that Visual Studio 2022 offers different update channels to meet different needs - from getting early previews to using long-term maintenance releases. You may find more details on Microsoft's official download page. Source

Microsoft's Visual Studio Code (VS Code) code editor and development environment contains a flaw that allows malicious extensions to retrieve authentication tokens stored in Windows, Linux, and macOS credential managers. These tokens are used for integrating with various third-party services and APIs, such as Git, GitHub, and other coding platforms, so stealing them could have significant consequences for a compromised organization's data security, potentially leading to unauthorized system access, data breaches, etc. The flaw was discovered by Cycode researchers, who reported it to Microsoft along with a working proof-of-concept (PoC) they developed. Yet, the tech giant decided against fixing the issue, as extensions are not expected to be sandboxed from the rest of the environment. Stealing secrets with extensions The security problem discovered by Cycode is caused by a lack of isolation of authentication tokens in VS Code's 'Secret Storage,' an API that allows extensions to store authentication tokens in the operating system. This is done using Keytar, VS Code's wrapper for communication with the Windows credential manager (on Windows), keychain (on macOS), or keyring (for Linux). This means that any extension running in VS Code, even malicious ones, can gain access to the Secret Storage and abuse Keytar to retrieve any stored tokens. Cycode researcher Alex Ilgayev told BleepingComputer that other than the built-in GitHub and Microsoft authentication, all of the saved credentials from use of third-party extensions. "Other than the built-in Github/Microsoft authentication, all tokens saved in VSCode come from extensions," Ilgayev told BleepingComputer. "They are either defined by official extensions (from Microsoft), such as Git, Azure, Docker/Kubernetes, etc., or by third-party extensions, such as CircleCI, GitLab, AWS." Keychain containing login passwordsSource: Cycode Upon discovering the problem, Cycode's researchers started experimenting by creating a malicious extension to steal tokens for CircleCI, a popular coding platform with VS Code extensions. They did this by modifying CircleCI's extension to run a command that would expose its secure token and even send it straight to the researcher's server. Gradually, they developed a more versatile attack method to extract those secrets without tampering with the target extension's code. The key to this process was discovering that any VS Code extension is authorized to access the keychain because it runs from within the application that the operating system has already granted access to the keychain. "We developed a proof-of-concept malicious extension that successfully retrieved tokens not only from other extensions but also from VS Code's built-in login and sync functionality for GitHub and Microsoft accounts, presenting a "Token Stealing” attack." - Cycode. Next, the retrieved tokens had to be decrypted, and Cycode found that the algorithm used to encrypt tokens was AES-256-GCM, which is usually safe. However, the key used to encrypt the tokens was derived from the current executable path and the machine ID, making it easy to recreate the key. Info that helps decrypt secretsSource: Cycode The retrieved tokens were decrypted by a custom JS script run in VS Code's Electron executable, deciphering and printing all passwords of locally installed extensions. Decrypting the retrieved tokensSource: Cycode A second flaw discovered by Cycode's researchers was that the 'getFullKey' function retrieves secrets by a given 'extensionId,' which is derived from the extension's name and publisher. This problem allows anyone to modify these fields and trick VS Code into granting them access to another extension's secure tokens. Cycode tested this using a PoC extension that mimicked CircleCI again; however, they noted that replicating any other extension and gaining access to its secrets would be trivial. Disclosure and (not) fixing Cycode told BleepingComputer that they disclosed the problem to Microsoft two months ago, even demonstrating their PoC extension and its ability to steal stored extension tokens. Regardless, Microsoft's engineers didn't see this as a security concern and decided to maintain the existing design of VS Code's secret storage management framework. BleepingComputer has contacted Microsoft for a comment on the above but has not received a response to our questions. Source

Last night, Microsoft released the latest version 17.6.4 of Visual Studio 2022. The new version fixes a high CPU usage bug when multiple test projects were run in sequence. This was a consequence of the constant data polling via testhost, and it has been disabled in this release. The new version also fixes an issue when saving a C++ file would hang the IDE (integrated development environment). The full changelog is given below: Summary of What's New in this Release of Visual Studio 2022 version 17.6.4 Fixed an issue where Saving a C++ file sometimes results in the IDE hanging. Fixed an issue when "Show All Files" mode is set for a VC project sometimes results from files in those projects will be missing in GoTo and FindInFiles. Fixed '__declspec(property) causes syntax errors with C++20 and /clr Fixed a race condition in ASAN initialization causing crashes on start up When multiple test projects are run in sequence, vstest.console can consume a lot of CPU because it is constantly polling for data from testhost that is started but not executing yet. This was mitigated by disabling testhost pre-start. This regression was introduced in 17.6.0. Fixes a MessagingRemoteException when an XCFramework is involved in MAUI targeting iOS. Ref xamarin/macios#18308. This version of Visual Studio includes Win App SDK 1.3.230502000. See Windows App SDK release channels - Windows appsfor more details. Includes servicing update 10.0.22621.1778 for Windows SDK for Windows 11. See Windows SDK for details. Fixed a bug where document tabs could accidentally undock into a floating window. Fixes some Visual Studio crashes on Solution Close. Developer Community Highlights Internal compiler error compiling Xbox Series X UnrealEngine plugin with VS2022 17.6 Preview Find in Files is broken and returning partial results C++/CLR syntax error in VS 17.6.0 when compiling templated class with finalizer with C++20 support Compiler crashes for analysis of code including specialization of class template with nested non-template class referring to containing class Visual Studio 2022 always crash while selecting MS-Access as a data source TextTransform utility (TextTransform.exe) command line handling regression error in VS2022 17.6 LTSC Duplicate key strokes when editing javascript in cshtml file Experimental function "Sticky scroll" not selects items by cursor position You may find more details on Microsoft's official website. Source

Microsoft has released Visual Studio Code 1.79.0 (May 2023 release) with several new features including a read-only mode for specific files and folders in your workspace. If you’ve been using GitHub Copilot, there are also some improvements to that in the update. The highlights from this release are as follows, be sure to click through each of the headers to get an in-depth review from Microsoft: Read-only mode - Mark specific files and folders in your workspace as read-only. 'Paste as' options - Choose how you'd like item links pasted into the editor. Automatic copy of external files - Drag or paste to Markdown adds new files to your workspace. Default Git repo branch name - Use "main" as the default or override via a user setting. Notebooks rich content search - Search based on Notebook output or filter on cell type. Linked editing for JSX tags - Simultaneously change opening and closing JSX tags. Preview: GitHub Copilot Chat improvements - Easily manage your chat session history. Inline chat "live preview." VS Code at Microsoft Build 2023 - Catch up on the sessions in the YouTube playlist. The introduction of the GitHub Copilot means you can use the feature in the stable VS Code and not just in Insiders releases. To use it, you will need to install the GitHub Copilot Nightly extension and to access the chat view and inline chat, you’ll need to sign up for the GitHub Copilot chat waitlist. If you've not looked into GitHub Copilot yet, it's worth mentioning here that it is a paid product and prices start at $10 per month. If you just want to try it, there's a 30-day free trial too. To get started with the new update, open Visual Studio Code, press Help, and then Check for Updates. You can also download it from the Visual Studio Code website. If you have VS Code installed on Ubuntu, you'll need to apply the update from the update manager, check out our recent guide on applying updates quickly. Visual Studio Code May 2023 update adds read-only mode tagging for files and folders

Microsoft has announced the availability of Visual Studio Code 1.80, also known as the June 2023 update, despite being released in July. In this update, the integrated terminal can now display images directly, there are accessibility improvements, and more. Image support in the terminal was a preview feature in the previous VSCode release but is now switched on by default. To display images in the terminal, the image pixel data is converted to text before being written to the terminal via a special escape sequence. Right now, the terminal supports the sixel and iTerm inline image protocols. To give the feature a go, you can download a .six file from the libsixel repo and use the cat command in the terminal followed by the filename. If you want to pass a typical PNG, GIF, or JPEG file to the terminal, you’ll need to install the imgcat python package and then run imgcat followed by the filename in the terminal. With regard to the accessibility improvements, Microsoft has added a new command (Alt+F2) to open Accessible View. This view allows screen reader users to inspect content character by character and line by line. Copilot audio cues are also included in this release. The list of changes in this update is shown below: Accessibility improvements - Accessible View for better screen reader support, Copilot audio cues. Better editor group and tab resizing - Set min tab size, avoid unnecessary editor group resizing. Skip subwords when expanding selection - Control whether to use camel case for selection. Terminal image support - Display images directly in the integrated terminal. Python extensions for mypy and debugpy - For Python type checking and debugging in VS Code. Remote connections to WSL - Connect to WSL instances on remote machines using Tunnels. Preview: GitHub Copilot create workspace/notebook - Quickly scaffold projects and notebooks. New C# in VS Code documentation - Learn about C# development with the C# Dev Kit extension. To get the latest update, just open up VSCode then go to Help > Check for updates. You can also download a fresh installer from the Visual Studio Code website. Source

After releasing three preview versions, Microsoft has now released the final version of its Visual Studio 2022 17.5. The new additions and improvements in the company's popular development tools are extensive, and you can check them all out on Microsoft's blog post. One of the highlights in the new version is something called All-in-One Search. Microsoft says that when enabled, it will allow developers to quickly find any files, types, or members. To use it, however, you will have to go through this procedure: Tools > Manage Preview Features > “New Visual Studio Search experience. You will also need to restart Visual Studio afterwards. Another new feature is Intent-Based Suggestions. Similar to how some email clients or messaging apps offer suggestions for your next word, this new feature offers in-line suggestions for new code based on your recent changes. The new Visual Studio 2022 update also has improvements in the tool's text visualizer, along with performances improvements in the debugger, an easier way to set up Dev Tunnels, a new native Arm64 Clang toolset, and much more. You can grab the new 17.5 version of the tools at Microsoft's Visual Studio 2022 download site for Windows and Mac PCs. Microsoft releases Visual Studio 2022 17.5 with new features and improvements

Microsoft has launched a new Developer News extensions for Visual Studio, so developers can keep up with all the latest software releases and developer events. The feature had used to be on the Start Page in Visual Studio 2017, but the newer versions scrapped the feature. To access the news feed after installing the extension, you should see it docked near the Solution Explorer, if you tap the tab, you’ll get the news feed. If you have no use for the news feed, you can go to View and toggle Developer News. You can also use the handy keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + N. One of the complaints about the feature in the past was that relevant news wasn’t being shown, this updated version fixes that. Just tap the cog in the upper right and choose the topics you’re interested in, now that’s all you’ll get in the feed. You can now get news on topics including Visual Studio, .NET, Azure, C++, DirectX, IoT, PowerShell, Python, SQL Server, Visual Studio Code, and more. One of the other issues with the news feed in older versions of Visual Studio was that it was only available on the Start Page. Some users skip the Start Page so never got to read the news, with the new implementation, however, this is no longer the case. Early reviews that Microsoft got seemed to suggest that people are happy with the new extension, with one user calling it “Simple, elegant, and unobtrusive”. You can download and install the extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace. In the future, the extension could include local invents and Developer Community integration. If you have any suggestions to improve it, you can let the developers know on GitHub. Microsoft releases Developer News extension for Visual Studio after complaints from users

For a few days now, Windows 11 Insiders who develop using Visual Studio 2022 have been complaining about severe performance issues. According to user reports, some of the recent Windows 11 Insider builds including the 22H2 RTM build 22621 are affected. The issues however are not exclusive to Visual Studio and all .NET-based applications like Blazor, JetBrains Rider, among others, are affected. Form the reports, it looks like there is high CPU usage in the range of 90-100% which is causing the whole system to slow down making the apps unusable. Microsoft though is aware of the issues and it has confirmed that the problem stems from the Windows 11 Beta Channel. The company provided a temporary workaround of switching over to the Release Preview Channel. However, that probably won't be necessary as a patch has been deployed and will be rolling out soon. Are you developer on the Windows 11 Insider channel affected by this issue? Let us know in the comments below if the performance patch works for you. Microsoft confirms Visual Studio, .NET broken for Windows 11 Insiders, fix incoming

Did you know that Windows Update is used not only to annoy you deliver regular system updates but also new versions for other Microsoft products, such as Office? Soon, the list of Microsoft apps that can get to newer versions via Windows Update will expand with a new entry: Visual Studio. Mads Kristensen, from the Visual Studio team at Microsoft, posted in his X that Microsoft is looking to make it possible to deliver updates for its main integrated development environment (IDE) via Windows Update to keep users secure and up to date automatically in the background. According to a post on the Developer Community for Visual Studio website, the proposed update mechanism applies to all supported Visual Studio releases and LTSC channels of Visual Studio 2022, 2019, and 2017. However, it does not apply to preview versions. Microsoft understands that it is very easy to upset developers and Windows users in general (the recent Recall scandal proved that one more time), so it does not plan to enforce the new update mechanism. Instead of making it the new default, Microsoft will let developers decide how to receive Visual Studio updates. Moreover, you will be able to separate Visual Studio updates from the "Receive updates for other Microsoft products" toggle in the Settings app so that the IDE remains unaffected by that option if the user or IT admin prefers it. You can already preview the new update experience by configuring a specific registry key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Setup\PreviewAutomaticUpdates (REG_DWORD) = 1 Opting out requires changing another key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Setup\VSthroughMUUpdatesOptOut (REG_DWORD) = 1 Microsoft will replace this rather crude method with a much more user-friendly option in August. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of May): Nearly 2,400 news posts

At its Build 2023 event today, Microsoft has shared some of the developments and headways it has been making in terms of Windows on Arm development. In the list of applications that are getting upgrades are Visual Studio, Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM), Node.JS, WiX Installer, Luminar Neo, and Unity Player. Visual Studio is now shipping with Arm support thanks to .NET Multi-platform App User Interface (MAUI). MAUI is a cross-platform framework that helps to create native desktop and mobile apps with C# and XAML. Meanwhile, LLVM is getting native compile support for Arm. Speaking of native support, Node.js is also getting native Arm support with latest version 20.0.0 that contains new binaries. Additionally, it has also received Arm64 tier 2 support. Moving on, Windows Installer XML (WiX) version 4.0 has received support for Arm64 in the core toolset, extensions, and Burn. On the creator side, apps like Luminar Neo: Skylum, which is an AI photo editing software, have also gained native support for Arm. The Unity Player is also getting native Arm support and will be generally available (GA) in June. The full highlights regarding Windows on Arm progress are given below: Visual Studio: Visual Studio 17.6 will ship with MAUI support for Arm. Visual Studio 17.71 Preview 1 now ships with support for Linux development with C++. LLVM v12.0 and onwards for cross compile and native compile options for Arm Node 20.0.0 with native Arm support. WiX installer v4.0 is available to create native installers for Arm. Luminar Neo: Skylum is releasing its native Arm version of photo editing AI software, Luminar Neo, which can be installed from the Microsoft Store on Windows. In addition, Unity Player will become generally available in early June for Windows on Arm natively. Developers using the middleware engine can easily target Windows on Arm devices to get native performance on current and future titles. You may find more details on the official blog post on Microsoft's website. In case you want to read more, you can find the rest of the Build 2023 coverage here. Microsoft improving Windows on Arm support for Visual Studio with MAUI, LLVM, Node, Unity

Microsoft's Visual Studio development tools may have added more features over the years. However, the actual visual language of the program hasn't changed since Visual Studio 2012. That's more than enough time to get a makeover, and that's what the Visual Studio team is working on right now. In a blog post, the team said they had three main goals with this project: Cohesiveness: It is important to make sure these updates balance a new, refreshed look and feel with the familiarity of the Visual Studio our customers already know. By aligning with Fluent, Visual Studio will look and feel more seamless with the rest of the operating system and other Microsoft products. Accessibility: It is important that the updates follow our accessibility best practices and make the product easier to use. This manifests in several ways, including: adjusting target sizes to make them easier to use while maintaining information density, using colour more intentionally to decrease visual noise and draw attention to the active areas of the IDE, and using lighter weight controls to make it easier to distinguish different actions. Productivity: The UI updates work towards creating more consistent experiences, making it easier to navigate the product with confidence by reducing the amount of time it takes to get familiarized with the UI. Our updates also work to reduce cognitive load and mental fatigue, making Visual Studio a more comfortable work environment. Left: Visual Studio 17.6 menu UI; Right: Proposed menu UI The mockups that were showing in the blog post include more spacing on the Visual Studios menu, shown above. The toolbars will also get bigger with the UI refresh, and document tabs and tool window chromes will get some colour and, again, more spacing so users can find and access these features faster. The UI changes will be released soon, but the Visual Studio team is taking feedback about these changes from its many users at the Developer Community Ticket site. Microsoft Visual Studio is getting a UI makeover for the first time in over 10 years

Visual Studio is the preferred integrated development environment (IDE) for many programmers around the world. Microsoft regularly updates this software with new functionalities to retain existing customers as well as entice new ones. Now, it has revealed that it is working on a significantly better search functionality for the IDE. The new search functionality is aptly being called "All-in-One Search" because it basically combines all search functionalities in a single interface. This includes searching for code files, classes, methods, features, and options. The rationale behind this is that it will lead to more productivity as developers will no longer have to look for the correct search interface for whatever it is they are looking for. That said, it is important to note that All-in-One Search is currently in active development and is only available as a preview feature through Tools > Options > Environment > Preview Features > New Visual Studio Search Experience. You need to be on preview version 17.5.0 of Visual Studio to leverage this capability. Once you enable All-in-One Search, it will be available in the Search button on the title bar. You can also use Ctrl + T and Ctrl + Q to launch Code Search and Feature Search respectively. That's not all, though. You can also use "f:", "t:", and "m:" prefixes in the search to filter by files, types, and members. In fact, when you get a code snipped as a search result, you can even directly edit it in the preview window instead of manually navigating to that specific section. You can check it out in action below: It's currently unknown when All-in-One Search will become generally available in Visual Studio. Microsoft is working on a better search functionality for Visual Studio