Ventus v1.0.32 - AI attachments, settings sync fix, login fix, popup layering fix

This release adds file attachments to the AI sidebar and fixes several privacy, settings, and UI layering issues, including the one that was blocking email/password logins on sites like X.

New

• Attach files to AI chats. Click the paperclip in the AI sidebar to add documents, PDFs, or images to your prompt. The AI reads their contents so you can ask questions about them directly.
  • Images (PNG, JPG, WEBP, GIF) are sent as native image parts to models that support them: Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, and Ollama all get the actual picture, not a description.
  • PDFs are sent as native documents where supported, with extracted text as a fallback so unsupported models can still read them.
  • Documents and code (DOCX, TXT, MD, CSV, JSON, HTML, XML, YAML, and more) are extracted to text and included as context.
  • Attachments stay with the message, so they are available for follow-up questions and survive when you reopen a chat. Up to 5 files, 8 MB each, 10 MB total.

Fixed

• Privacy settings now actually save. If you are signed in, Ventus syncs your settings across devices, but the cloud copy was overwriting local changes on every launch, so toggles like Block third-party cookies, Anti-fingerprint, Secure DNS, and Strict permissions kept switching back on. Ventus now tracks when settings changed locally and only accepts a cloud update that is newer than your local copy, so your changes win and still sync to your other devices.
• Logins no longer blocked on X and similar sites. Anti-fingerprint protection was adding random noise on every canvas/WebGL read, so reading the same canvas twice gave different pixels. That is exactly the signature anti-bot systems flag as a tampered browser. The noise is now deterministic per session (consistent reads, still not your real fingerprint), and the fake "Ventus GPU" WebGL string was removed. Same privacy, no more false positives.
• No more restart on every privacy toggle. Flipping a privacy setting used to force an immediate restart. It now saves instantly and asks once whether you want to restart now or later. Pick Later and it will not nag you again that session, with an Apply changes banner in Settings -> Privacy you can use whenever you are ready.
• Popups no longer appear under web content. When one panel (like address-bar suggestions) was closing at the same moment you opened another (Downloads, Ad Blocker), a race could clear the wrong clip region and the new panel would render behind the page. Each popup now owns its own region and claims it synchronously, so panels always appear on top.

Removed

• Removed the unused "Open visible pages" button from the History section of Settings.

Install or update

• New users: download and run Ventus-Setup-1.0.32.exe below.
• Existing users: Ventus offers the update automatically, or you can run the installer over your current version.

Requirements

• Windows 10 (build 17763) or later
• Microsoft WebView2 Runtime (bundled in the installer)

Ventus v1.0.31 - Settings polish, UI refinements, smarter update flow

What's new

UI & Design

• Ad blocker popover - redesigned with a compact, minimalist layout inspired by Apple developer aesthetics; status dot replaces the old colored header, tighter spacing, no gradient fill
• Incognito badge - new spy/fedora icon, frosted-white chip style, no background gradient
• Software Update card (Settings > About) - full Apple-quality status card with live states (checking, up to date, available, downloading, error); status line and progress render inline in the card
• Downloads in Settings - now matches the downloads panel exactly (same compact rows, same file-type chip, same action buttons); fully consistent across both surfaces

Behaviour

• Smarter update flow - clicking "Check for updates" from the About panel now updates inline in the card only; no redundant update modal stacking on top of Settings
• Tab sleep indicator - moon icon now appears only when a tab is fully discarded (WebView dropped), not when merely suspended; avoids the icon showing up on mildly idle tabs
• Download popover shadow - fixed the hard-cut shadow clipping on the right and bottom edges (was sized for the wrong CSS shadow variable)

Internal

• Version bump: 1.0.30 > 1.0.31

Installation

Download Ventus-Setup-1.0.31.exe below. WebView2 Runtime is bundled - no separate install needed on most Windows 11 machines.

Requires: Windows 10 1809+ (x64)

Ventus v1.0.30 - smoother updates, smarter sleeping tabs, cleaner browser UI

What's new

This release focuses on making Ventus feel faster and less annoying during the stuff you do every day: updating the app, switching tabs, keeping background tabs around, and managing workspaces.

Update flow feels much better

• Ventus now keeps the UI open while the update handoff is being prepared.
• After the current app process shuts down cleanly, the updater relaunches Ventus with the saved session.
• Update installs now wait for the app and WebView2 profile to release before reopening, which should reduce weird startup timing issues.
• The update flow should feel closer to an instant relaunch instead of making you manually open the app again.

Sleeping tabs keep more state

• Background tabs now use WebView2 low-memory and suspend behavior instead of being discarded too aggressively.
• When you return to a sleeping tab, Ventus resumes the same WebView instead of reloading the page whenever possible.
• This should help keep scroll position, form state, logged-in pages, and interactive page state alive.
• Tabs only get fully unloaded under stronger pressure, like very low free memory or too many preserved WebViews.

Cleaner update modal

• Rebuilt the update progress modal to be more compact and cleaner.
• Removed the duplicate percentage text, so progress only shows once.
• Switched the modal to a solid background so it still looks good without blur.
• Simplified the layout with less container noise and a cleaner icon treatment.

Navigation polish

• Added Ctrl+Tab for next tab.
• Added Ctrl+Shift+Tab for previous tab.
• Tab switching now works more consistently from content pages too.
• Improved how active tabs are restored when switching back from a suspended state.

Workspace UI polish

• Refined the workspace switcher and compact workspace controls.
• Workspace hover actions now feel cleaner and more direct.
• The workspace UI should feel tighter without taking up extra space.

Privacy and permission behavior

• Blocked browser APIs now look more like native browser functions from the page side.
• This helps strict permission blocking behave more naturally on websites that inspect function shapes.

Build details

• Version: 1.0.30
• Installer: Ventus-Setup-1.0.30.exe
• SHA256: D66D7E6F3DB30C2FA79093A0375B158F15262C016C8677EDB5482F3BDA0318AE

Ventus v1.0.29 - Tab Shortcuts, Workspace Polish, and Privacy Fixes

What's new

This release adds normal browser-style tab cycling and includes the latest workspace, downloads, and privacy fixes.

Changes

Tab switching shortcuts

• Added Ctrl+Tab to move to the next tab.
• Added Ctrl+Shift+Tab to move to the previous tab.
• The shortcut works when the page is focused, when the chrome UI is focused, and through the native WebView2 shortcut path.
• Tab cycling follows the active workspace tab order, so it stays consistent with the sidebar.

Workspace improvements

• Added a compact sidebar workspace button so workspaces are still reachable when the sidebar is collapsed.
• Added a workspace switcher modal with workspace names, avatars, tab counts, and active workspace state.
• Right-clicking a workspace in the switcher now opens actions for editing or deleting it.

Downloads popover cleanup

• Redesigned the downloads popover to be smaller and cleaner.
• Reduced extra color and visual noise.
• Kept core actions available, including open file, show in folder, pause, resume, cancel, and remove.

Privacy and browser detection fix

• Fixed strict permission API stubs so feature detectors can still see the real native browser surface.
• This avoids sites reading blocked APIs as fake JavaScript functions and incorrectly thinking Ventus is spoofing its Chromium version.
• Strict permission blocking behavior is still kept.

Version and installer

• Updated Ventus release surfaces to 1.0.29.
• Rebuilt the Windows release binary.
• Rebuilt the Windows installer.

Installer

File: Ventus-Setup-1.0.29.exe

SHA256:
D9F2B15FDF55898AE8F832F4AD7A4FCECC0A626632C0317F421B04BCDA5EB4ED

Ventus v1.0.28 - UI Polish

This release brings a cleaner, calmer interface across the AI and account areas, with a stronger focus on polish, readability, and everyday usability.

What's New

• Redesigned the AI sidebar model selector with a more minimal text-first style.
• Reworked the model picker into a cleaner, Apple-style selection sheet.
• Updated the account settings page with a more polished profile layout.
• Made AI responses selectable so text can be copied directly from the sidebar and omnibox AI.
• Refined primary buttons with a simpler white style and removed the previous glow-heavy treatment.
• Fixed broken UI symbols and text encoding issues.

UI Polish

• Softer motion for the model picker.
• Cleaner list rows and selected states.
• More consistent spacing, borders, and typography.
• Reduced visual noise across AI controls and account settings.

Installer

Download and run:

Ventus-Setup-1.0.28.exe

SHA256

C1AD6F0C917C65DDDE82686AB8C963853DA5971FABAC22F5C9B783C075FC446C

Ventus v1.0.27 - AI Chat Overhaul, Push Notifications & Zoom Fix

New Features

• AI Chat UX Overhaul - Redesigned AI sidebar with improved provider settings, thinking activity indicators, and a more polished conversation experience.
• Push Notifications - Sites can now send push notifications through the browser with a native permission flow.
• Omnibox Autocomplete - Smarter autocomplete behavior in the address bar with improved suggestion ranking.

Bug Fixes

• Zoom Controls - Fixed the broken minus button (corrupted character rendering) in the More menu. Fixed zoom percentage display resetting to 100% when navigating between sites even though the actual zoom level was correct.
• Multi-Layer Authentication - Fixed site loading failures on pages with complex authentication redirects.
• RAM Usage Management - Improved memory management with tab sleep and process optimizations to reduce resource usage.

Download & Install

Download Ventus-Setup-1.0.27.exe below and run the installer. WebView2 Runtime will be installed automatically if needed.

System Requirements: Windows 10 (1809+) or later, x64

Ventus v1.0.26 - Smarter Omnibox, Push Notifications, and Better Reports

Ventus v1.0.26 improves the browser search experience, notifications, and issue reporting.

What's New

• Added AI autocomplete support to the omnimodal search experience.
• Added web push notification support with proper native notification handling.
• Added a new report button so users can send feedback and diagnostics more easily.

Improvements

• Improved reports with richer diagnostic logs and app context.
• Kept diagnostic logs bounded to avoid unnecessary performance impact.
• Made omnibox recommendations smarter by ranking sites based on real browsing frequency.
• Reduced noisy login redirect suggestions in omnibox recommendations.
• Improved autocomplete cancellation so search phrases are not forced into domain completions like youtube.com.

Fixes

• Fixed inline autocomplete behavior in the address bar and omnimodal search.
• Spaces, backspace, delete, and word selection now feel more natural when using autocomplete.

Release

• Rebuilt the Windows release binary and installer for v1.0.26.

v1.0.25 - Performance & Download Engine Overhaul

What's New in v1.0.25

Memory Efficiency

• Background tabs no longer prevent Chromium from throttling - Ventus now uses significantly less RAM with multiple tabs open, on par with other browsers
• Two-tier tab sleep: tabs are first frozen (DOM/JS preserved in memory) and only discarded to disk when RAM is critically low — restoring a frozen tab is instant, no reload needed
• Sleep thresholds dynamically scale with available system RAM so the browser sleeps aggressively only when it needs to

Tab Sleep Improvements

• Waking a frozen tab is now fully interactive immediately - no page refresh, state is preserved
• Tabs playing video (including muted background videos like YouTube) are never put to sleep
• Tabs from sites with active notifications (WhatsApp, Discord, etc.) are kept alive automatically

Notifications

• Sites can now request browser notifications that appear as native Windows toasts
• Permission prompts show per-site under strict mode - you're asked before any notification is sent
• WhatsApp, Discord, and similar web apps work end-to-end

Download Engine (IDM-style)

• Downloads now use a multi-segment parallel engine - files are split into up to 8 simultaneous streams for maximum speed on capable servers
• Auto-recovery: interrupted downloads resume automatically with exponential backoff (up to 8 retries)
• Speed display uses EMA smoothing - no more volatile jumps
• Falls back gracefully to native WebView2 download for servers that don't support range requests

Bookmark Folders

• Bookmark folders in the bookmark bar can now be dragged to reorder, just like individual bookmarks

---

File: Ventus-Setup-1.0.25.exe

Ventus v1.0.24 - Omnibar, Customizable Toolbar & Polish

What's new in v1.0.24

Address Bar Omnibar

• Smart suggestion dropdown as you type — history matches, search suggestions, and direct URL detection
• Keyboard navigation (↑ ↓ Enter Escape) and mouse selection
• Right-click context menu on the address bar with Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste and go, Delete, and Select all

Customizable Top Bar

• Choose which buttons appear in the top bar (AI, Downloads, History, Bookmarks, Settings)
• Up to 4 buttons — More options always stays pinned
• Reorder by drag-and-drop or ↑ ↓ arrows in Settings → Appearance → Top bar buttons

UI Improvements

• Site info popover now closes by clicking anywhere outside it (including the toolbar)
• Removed the X close button from the site info popover — click away to dismiss
• Back button now correctly navigates between internal neura:// pages (e.g. newtab → apps → newtab)
• Workspace sidebar design refinements
• Navigation icon fixes
• Improved CSS variables and site info popover shadow

Fixes

• Removed forced dark mode override
• Permission handling fixes
• Startup/profile locking improved — less "loading forever" on launch when a previous instance didn't exit cleanly

Installation

Download Ventus-Setup-1.0.24.exe below and run it. WebView2 is bundled if not already installed.

Ventus v1.0.23 - Login and Omnibox Fixes

What's Changed

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Google quick-login flows could get stuck after selecting an account in WebView2 pages.
• Authentication windows are now preserved as real popups when websites require popup behavior, instead of being converted into regular tabs.

Improvements

• Improved omnibox recommendations by reducing duplicate suggestions.
• Blended internet trends more naturally into regular recommendations.
• Added more context to trend-backed results while keeping them limited, so they do not flood the suggestion list.

Installer

Ventus-Setup-1.0.23.exe

SHA256

38CB51E49786A156A0BAB804C47F2F9E349BFB388B7629CC410785DF7E6C5337