Windows App Essentials add-on: welcome back, version 26.04 released

[joseph....@gmail.com]

Hi all,

Windows App Essentials is back. Although the add-on was officially discontinued in October 2025, I released 26.04 to update compatibility statements (not yet with 2026.1 but planned) and to backport a fix affecting File Explorer from NVDA 2026.2 alpha to earlier NVDA releases. Specifically, Windows App Essentials 26.04 resolves a long-standing bug where File Explorer (explorer.exe) had wrong product version reported (this is resolved in recent versions of Say Application Name and Version but Windows App Essentials fixes it by working directly with File Explorer support module). Just like other add-ons, Windows App Essentials 26.04 can be found on the NV Access add-on store.

Complete changelog:

* Removed add-on end of life notice for the time being.

* Initial (experimental) support for Windows 11 Version 26H1 (for new ARM64 devices).

* File Explorer: Product version for File Explorer will reflect actual Windows version including correct build and revision numbers. This is more noticeable for Windows releases which are enablement packages on top of an earlier release such as Windows 11 Version 25H2 based on Windows 11 Version 24H2.

The last item is the File Explorer fix and will be removed from the add-on shortly after NVDA 2026.2 stable version is released later this year.

IMPORTANT: Windows App Essentials require supported Windows 11 releases; I know some of you would like me to make the fix from future NVDA releases available on Windows 10 ESU (extended security updates) but that request will not be honored (sorry).

Cheers,

Joseph