Windows doesn’t make a lot of money, and due to competition laws, Microsoft cannot divert funds from Azure to fund its consumer OS projects. As a result, the company has been slowly showing more optional ads in the OS that can be turned off. Windows 11’s Start menu was recently updated to recommend third-party apps, and more ads may be coming. Let’s first discuss the current state of ads in Windows 11. I’ve previously highlighted Bing pop-up ads in Windows 11. Microsoft confirmed that the pop-up ads are one-time alerts to remind users about Bing’s GPT-4 and can be dismissed. In April, Microsof ..read more

Windows 10 is getting another feature from Windows 11, but it’s not related to the Web or MSN this time. Microsoft is introducing smaller monthly cumulative updates for Windows 10. As a result, the upcoming May 2024 Patch Tuesday update will be less than 700 MB in size, and the April 2024 optional update is already down to 650 MB. Windows updates can be huge. For example, last month’s cumulative update was nearly 900 MB, which may not be a deal for most people, but businesses with limited network resources aren’t big fans of large Windows Updates. Similarly, people in rural regions with limite ..read more

Windows 10 KB5036979 is rolling out to everyone, but it’s an optional patch that won’t download automatically. This update has a noteworthy change: it pushes against local accounts and nags you to use a Microsoft account. You can also directly download KB5036979 offline installers (.msu) from Catalog. We’ve been closely following the development of Windows 10, which has been updated with several changes in the past few months. These include Windows Copilot, a new Backup app, system labels in the Start, new MSN widgets on the lock screen, and now Windows 10 KB5036979 nags you to use a Microsoft ..read more

Windows 11 KB5036980 (April 2024 optional update) has been released for 23H2 and 22H2. This optional update adds advertisements to the Start menu for third-party apps. In addition to Windows Update, Microsoft has posted direct download links for Windows 11 KB5036980 offline installers (.msu) on its Update Catalog. KB5036980 is an optional update that brings Windows 11 23H2 to Build 22631.3527. If you’re on 22H2, you’ll get the same optional patch, but it will bump the OS to Build 22621.3527 instead. Today’s optional release is the last patch in the April 2024 cycle. If you skip the optional up ..read more

Microsoft’s AI PCs are causing quite a confusion among users, so much so that Dell published a post on AI-enabled Windows computers. The support document tries to answer all the common queries related to AI PCs, AI features, and the hardware required to run it. As the document explains, AI-enabled Windows 11 PCs have features that can change how you use your computer. To do that, they use a unique Neural Processing Unit (NPU) component to process all the AI-related tasks, reducing the burden on the CPU. According to Dell, this also improves overall battery life by up to 38%. It also state ..read more

Windows Copilot on Windows 11 (and Windows 10) is getting a big update with several notable changes, including increased character count, support for attaching files like PDF, and notebook integration. Microsoft told me that these features are rolling out via server-side update, and some of you with Copilot Pro might also see 16,000 characters. When Microsoft rolled out Copilot on the web and Windows, it was initially imited to just 2,000 characters, which was later bumped to 4,000. With a new update, Microsoft has increased Copilot’s character count to 8,000 in “Creative” mode. If you own a C ..read more

Windows 11 KB5036985 was released recently to testers in the beta channel with a few changes to the Start menu, Taskbar, and Widgets. With Windows 11 KB5036985 (Build 22635.3500), Microsoft is trying to squeeze more information into the Profile icon in the update, including links to the Microsoft 365 page. In our tests, we spotted that clicking the Profile icon showcases more information about the currently logged-in user. Using a Microsoft Account on your PC will show the email address and the OneDrive storage statistics. Clicking on any of these options will redirect you to the Account page ..read more

Windows Copilot on Windows 11 (and Windows 10) isn’t that useful or exciting, but that will change soon with “AI Explorer”. Thanks to Build 26200, we know what’s coming to Windows 11 as part of the big AI upgrade, which is expected to begin rolling out on Snapdragon X Elite and Plus PCs in September/October. Windows 11 24H2’s flagship feature is “AI Explorer,” which was recently spotted in Windows 11 Build 26100. It is designed to leverage the power of neural processing units (NPUs) to record your screen and activities and then make them searchable. For example, AI Explorer will record what yo ..read more

Snapdragon X Elite isn’t the only new chip in the Snapdragon X lineup. Qualcomm is working on multiple new SKUs for Snapdragon X, including Snapdragon X Plus. It looks like Surface Pro 10 will feature “Snapdragon X Plus” in addition to “X Elite”. However, it’s also possible that the Surface Pro 10 OLED will use X Plus, while the Surface Laptop 6 will ship with X Elite. As respected Microsoft watcher Zac Bowden previously reported, Microsoft has been working on two Snapdragon X products: the Surface Pro 10 with an OLED display and the Surface Laptop 6. Thanks to the new Geekbench listings we sp ..read more

Microsoft isn’t planning to kill off the Control Panel completely, but it wants you to gradually stop using it on Windows 11. Later this year, you’ll be redirected automatically to Windows Settings when you try to open the Fonts page in Control Panel (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Fonts). Windows Latest has been closely monitoring the development of the Control Panel for several years. We have observed that Microsoft’s migration strategy involves migrating (redirecting) the Control Panel to Settings step by step. The company doesn’t plan to remove the legacy settings management ..read more