News: Software Newshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/page/50/?d=2News: Software NewsenHow to get started with Microsoft Copilot on Windows 11 — A beginner's guide to the AI chatbot and its many integrationshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/how-to-get-started-with-microsoft-copilot-on-windows-11-%E2%80%94-a-beginners-guide-to-the-ai-chatbot-and-its-many-integrations-r32115/ Copilot is more than just an app on Windows 11, and in this guide, you'll find everything a beginner needs to get started.

On Windows 11, you can use Copilot with the official native app or through integration within other apps, and in this guide, I'll help you get started with the chatbot.

 

Copilot is a personal assistant (similar to Cortana) that uses AI to understand your query using natural language and produce an answer or action. However, unlike other AI features on Windows 11, this chatbot doesn't rely on AI models locally available on the device. Instead, it depends on large language models available through the Microsoft cloud.

 

 

 

How to navigate the Copilot app

On Windows 11, the Copilot app experience is minimal and straightforward. You can access the chatbot in multiple ways and configure a few settings.

Sign in account

To log in to your account (if required), use these steps:

 

  1. Click the Sign in button at the bottom left.
  • Quick tip: If you don't see the option, click the "Open Sidebar" button in the top left corner.
  1. Click the Sign in button again.

 

Copilot app sign in option

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Complete your credentials to access your account.

 

Once you complete the steps, you can start interacting with Copilot using natural language.

Launch Copilot

In addition to using the button in the Taskbar, you can launch the Copilot chatbot in several ways.

 

From Start

 

To launch the Copilot experience on Windows 11, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Start.
  2. Search for Copilot and click the top result to open the app.

 

Windows 11 launch Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

You may also find the Copilot button already pinned to the Taskbar. If it's not available, launch the chatbot from the Start menu, right-click the button, and choose the pin option.

 

From Search

 

You can also invoke the chatbot with the Copilot button when performing a query in the Windows Search experience. However, when you click this button, it will access the chatbot website (at Copilot.Microsoft.com) using the Microsoft Edge browser.

 

Windows Search open Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

From voice command

 

If the "Listen for 'Hey, Copilot'" is available, you can interact with the chatbot hands-free using the "Hey Copilot" voice command.

Customize Copilot app experience

From the Copilot settings, you can configure most of the features available with the chatbot on Windows 11.

 

Control Copilot app on startup

 

To customize the experience of Copilot, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  • Quick tip: If you don't see the menu, click the top-left menu icon to open the sidebar.
  1. Click the Settings option.
  2. Under the "App" section, turn on the "Auto start on log in" toggle switch to launch the app automatically when the computer starts.

 

Copilot auto start on log in

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, Copilot will start minimizing during startup.

 

If the option is grayed out, open Settings > Apps > Startup, and turn Copilot on or off on startup.

 

Configure file search permissions

 

On Windows 11, you can allow Copilot to access your files to work like Windows Search, but using AI.

 

To enable search permissions in Copilot, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. Under the "Permission settings" section, turn on the "File search" toggle to allow access to local files.
  4. Turn on the "File read" toggle switch to give Copilot permission to analyze the data in the files to answer questions using AI.

 

Copilot enable File Search on Windows 11

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. (Optional) Turn off the "Show recent files on home" toggle switch to prevent the app from showing recent files on the main page.

 

After you complete the steps, the assistant will have to search local files stored on your computer.

 

Set up Copilot shortcut

 

You can also control the action for the keyboard shortcut that opens and closes the Copilot app.

 

To manage Copilot shortcut behaviors, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. Under the "Copilot Keyboard Shortcuts" section, choose what happens when opening and restoring the chatbot using the Copilot or "Windows key + C" keyboard shortcut. For example, a normal full window or compact view.
  4. Choose the "Press and hold" action when invoking the shortcut.

 

Copilot shortcut settings

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, the new configuration will apply to the Copilot shortcut behavior.

 

Enable Hey Copilot voice command

 

Microsoft now lets you interact with Copilot hands-free, as you could with Cortana, but the idea is that you'll be able to use natural language to interact with an AI assistant.

 

To enable the Hey Copilot command, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. (Option 1) Under the "Voice mode" section, turn on the "Listen 'Hey Copilot' to start a conversation" toggle switch.

 

Windows 11 enable Hey Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. (Option 2) Turn off the "Listen 'Hey Copilot' to start a conversation" toggle switch to disable the feature.

 

Although it isn't required, you can also use the "Voice" setting to change the chatbot's voice for conversations.

 

Enable Copilot Vision

 

Copilot Vision lets you share any application with the Copilot app. Once you grant permission, the chatbot can view and make sense of the content on the screen, enabling it to offer help with virtually anything you may need.

 

To enable Copilot Vision on Windows 11, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. (Option 1) Under the "Copilot Vision" section, turn on the "Highlights" toggle switch to enable the feature.

 

Copilot Vision enable on Windows 11

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. (Option 2) Turn off the "Highlights" toggle switch to disable the feature.

 

Once you complete the steps, you'll see a goggle button in the Copilot app. When you click the button, you can select an app to share with Copilot, then interact with it by voice.

Change Copilot app privacy settings

To prevent Microsoft from using your data to train its AI models, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. Click the Privacy page.

 

Copilot open Privacy settings

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Turn off the "Diagnostic Data Sharing" toggle switch.
  2. Turn off the "Model training on text" toggle switch.
  3. Turn off the "Model training on voice" toggle switch.
  4. Turn off the "Personalization and memory" toggle switch.

 

Copilot disable privacy settings

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. (Optional) Click the Delete Memory to clear the information that the chatbot knows about you.

 

Once you complete the steps, when using Copilot on Windows 11, mobile, or web, you will no longer be sending your data for training and personalization to the Microsoft servers.

Manage Copilot's memory

Similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT, Copilot can also store helpful details you’ve shared across conversations so it can offer more personalized support. Usually, you only want to feed facts like your name, preferences, interests, or goals, and then the assistant can use them to tailor its responses to you.

 

To add or remove items from memory, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. Click the Manage memory page.
  • Quick note: This option is only available if the "Personalization and memory" option is turned on in the privacy settings.

 

Copilot manage memory option

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Click the delete button for the information you want Copilot to forget.

 

Copilot memory add and remove items

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. (Optional) Click the "Add to memory" button to bring up the prompt to store more information you want the assistant to remember.

 

After you complete the steps, Copilot will only remember the information left in memory.

Configure Copilot Connectors

Copilot connectors are integration tools that allow the Copilot app on Windows 11 to access and understand external data sources.

 

You can connect Copilot to your personal services, such as OneDrive, Outlook, Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Calendar.

 

To connect external services to Copilot, use these steps:

 

  1. Click the account menu from the top left.
  2. Click the Settings option.
  3. Click the Connectors page.

 

Copilot settings open Connectors

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Turn on the Microsoft services that you want Copilot to have access to, such as OneDrive and Outlook.

 

Copilot OneDrive connector

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Click the Connect button and continue with the on-screen directions to connect Google services.

 

Once you complete the steps, you can use natural language to ask Copilot anything about the contents on those services.

How to interact with Copilot app

Getting started with Copilot is straightforward, thanks to the new, warmer, cozy interface that only includes a message box at the bottom of the page. You will also notice that the latest experience no longer includes the option to change the conversation style like before.

Text prompt

To use text prompts with Copilot, use these steps:

 

  1. Open the Copilot app.
  2. (Option 1) Choose the Quick response option for everyday questions.

 

Copilot app change AI model for prompts

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. (Option 2) Choose the Think Deeper option to allow the chatbot to create answers for more complex topics.
  2. (Option 3) Choose the Smart (GPT-5) option if you want the chatbot to adapt automatically for fast, simple tasks and deep for complex ones.
  3. (Option 4) Select the Deep Research option allows you to generate detailed reports, comparisons, or multi-source answers. This option is best when you need citations, context, and thorough exploration.
  4. Compose your prompt in the "Message Copilot" box and press Enter.

 

Copilot text prompt

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  • Quick tip: In the box, you can ask anything using natural language. For instance, you can ask questions like "Make me a picture of a serene koi fish pond with lily pads," "Write a story about a dog who lives on the moon," or "Create a five-day itinerary to visit Chicago in November."
  1. Copilot understands the context, so you can ask additional questions about the same topic without repeating specific keywords.
  2. Click the plus (+) button to upload an image to the AI, and then you can ask it for more information about that piece of content.

 

Copilot upload image

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, it's recommended to check the answer, as AI usually makes mistakes.

 

If you're using Copilot Mode in Microsoft Edge, the "Smart (GPT-5)" option will appear as "Smart," which is also the default configuration.

 

Also, you'll find the "Real talk" mode for honest answers, and the "Study and learn" option is more for guided learning and educational tasks.

Voice prompt

To start a voice conversation with Copilot, follow these steps:

 

  1. Open the Copilot app.
  2. Click the microphone button.

 

Copilot voice prompt

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  • Quick note: Although it might be obvious, this feature requires access to a microphone. If your device doesn't have one, you won't be able to use it.
  1. Start a conversation using natural language with the chatbot.
  2. (Optional) Click the Settings (gear) button to change the chatbot's voice.
  3. Click the Close (X) button to open the main interface again.

 

You can ask the chatbot anything and interrupt it like during a normal conversation with another human.

Copilot Vision on the desktop

Copilot Vision lets you share your screen with the chatbot to get assistance with virtually any activity you're doing.

 

To get started with Vision on Copilot while working on an application, use these steps:

 

  1. Open the Copilot app.
  2. Click the glasses button.
  3. Click the Share button to request that the AI assist you.

 

Copilot Vision on desktop

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Chat with the chatbot to get assistance with the application.

 

For example, if you're in the Settings app, you can say something like: Can you show me where I can check for system updates? And Copilot will be able to highlight where you need to go to change the settings.

 

It's important to note that the chatbot can guide you through the process, but it can't take actions automatically.

 

Also, even though the technology is impressive, in my experience, it's not very accurate.

File Search with Copilot

You can also use Copilot to search for files on your computer instead of using the Windows Search feature, but you have to enable the feature manually.

 

To allow Copilot to search files locally stored on your device, use these steps:

 

  1. Open the Copilot app.
  2. Compose your search query using natural language. For example, what files did I work on this week? And the chatbot should be able to surface the files you're looking for.

 

Copilot File search

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

If you click the file, the corresponding application will open. You can also click the "View all files" button (if applicable) to open the search result in File Explorer.

How to get started with inbox apps Copilot integration

Copilot integrates with various apps, including Notepad, File Explorer, Paint, Photos, and Click to Do.

 

For example, in Notepad, the Copilot integration adds options to modify a text section. For instance, you can write, rewrite, summarize, and change tones and formats.

 

Copilot in Notepad features

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

In File Explorer, the integration is subtle, with an "Ask Copilot" option in the context menu that lets you send an image or document to the Copilot app to ask any question you have about the file.

 

File Explorer with Copilot and AI actions

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

It's worth noting that File Explorer now also includes AI actions, which let you perform various actions on images and Office documents.

 

In the Paint, you'll find a deeper Copilot integration. For example, you can use the AI assistant to create an image using a simple text prompt. You also get an option to remove the background or erase an object within an image with a single click.

 

Paint with Copilot features

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Also, if you have a Copilot+ PC, you'll have access to the "Cocreator" feature to turn a hand-made sketch into a polished artwork in real-time.

 

The "Sticker generator" feature lets you create stickers with AI, and the "Restyle" feature enables you to transform the art style of an image already on the canvas. It's one of the new generative AI features being integrated into the app.

 

Finally, on Copilot+ PCs, when using Click to Do, you can access different Copilot actions, including the "Ask Copilot" button to send selected text or objects to the Copilot app.

 

In addition, you will find options to rewrite, summarize, and create bulleted lists from selected text.

 

On the other hand, if you're selecting an object, the options will be slightly different.

How to get started with inbox apps Copilot integration

If you use the Microsoft 365 (Office) apps, you'll also find Copilot on Word, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint.

 

To use Copilot in Word, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Click the Home tab.
  3. Click the Copilot button.

 

Word with Copilot feature

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Compose the prompt for the task you want the AI to assist you with.

 

For example, you can ask the chatbot to summarize the document, generate an audio overview of the document's contents, or even ask it to create an image based on a text description.

 

The steps to use Copilot in Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint are virtually the same. The only difference is that your conversation and responses will be tailored to the application you're using.

How to manage the Copilot integration on Windows 11

On Windows 11, how you manage Copilot depends on the application you're using to access the assistant.

 

For example, if you uninstall the Copilot app, it will remove the app and the "Ask Copilot" integration from most places. However, in the Microsoft 365 apps and Edge, you can only turn off the integration.

 

In the case of Notepad, you only have access to some Copilot AI actions. You cannot chat with the assistant, and if you want to turn off the feature, you have to do so from within the settings page.

Remove Copilot integration

If you want to remove the Copilot integration across the operating system and apps, you will have to perform some extra steps in addition to uninstalling the app, due to how the AI integrates into the different applications.

 

Uninstall Copilot app

 

To uninstall the Copilot app, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Click on Apps.
  3. Click the Installed apps page on the right side.

 

Open Installed apps settings

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Open the main menu (three dots) to the right of the Copilot app.
  2. Click the Uninstall button.

 

Windows 11 uninstall Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Click the Uninstall button again.
  2. (Optional) Open the main menu (three dots) to the right of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
  3. Click the Uninstall button to uninstall the Copilot app for Microsoft 365 apps..

 

Once you complete the steps, the Copilot app will be removed from your computer. However, you will still see the button inside the Windows Search experience from the Taskbar.

 

Disable Copilot on Microsoft Edge

 

Also, the Copilot feature from Microsoft Edge is independent of the dedicated app available in the operating system. If you want to turn off this feature, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. Open the "Settings and more" (three dots) menu and choose the Settings option.
  3. Click on Copilot and sidebar.

 

Copilot and sidebar

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Click the Copilot setting.
  2. Turn off the "Show Copilot button on the toolbar" toggle switch.

 

Microsoft Edge disable Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

After you complete the steps, the assistant will no longer be available through the web browser.

 

Disable Copilot on Notepad

 

If you don't want to use Copilot in Notepad, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Click the Settings button.
  3. Turn off the Copilot toggle switch.

 

Notepad disable Copilot feature

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, Copilot and the profile menu will be disabled from Notepad.

 

Disable Copilot on Microsoft 365 apps

 

You can also disable Copilot from the Microsoft 365 apps with these steps:

 

  1. Open Word, Excel, OneNote, or PowerPoint.
  2. Click on File.
  3. Click on Options.

 

Microsoft Word Options

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Clear the Enable Copilot option.

 

Microsoft 365 apps disable Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  1. Click the OK button.
  2. Restart the app.

 

After you complete the steps, the Copilot will be turned off on the application, but you will have to repeat the steps on each application for which you want to disable the chatbot.

Re-enable Copilot integration

At any time, you can always reinstall the Copilot app and re-enable the chatbot and actions on apps.

 

Install the Copilot app

 

To install the Copilot app, use these steps:

 

  1. Open the Copilot app page.
  2. Click the "View in Store" button.
  3. Click the Get (or Install) button.

 

Microsoft Store install Copilot app

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, the Copilot will be available from the Start menu.

 

Re-enable Copilot on Microsoft Edge

 

To enable the chatbot on the browser, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. Open the "Settings and more" (three dots) menu and choose the Settings option.
  3. Click on Appearance.
  4. Click the "Copilot and sidebar" setting under the "Other appearance settings" section.
  5. Click the Copilot setting.

 

Edge Copilot and sidebar settings

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

  • Turn on the "Show Copilot button on the toolbar" toggle switch.

 

Microsoft Edge disable Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

After you complete the steps, the chatbot will be enabled again on the web browser.

 

Re-enable Copilot on Notepad

 

To re-enable the Copilot actions in Notepad, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Click the Settings button.
  3. Turn on the Copilot toggle switch.

 

Notepad enable Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, the AI actions will enable one more time in Notepad.

How to access Copilot on Microsoft Edge

On Microsoft Edge, Copilot is a little different, since the assistant offers a more tailored experience for the web.

 

Before getting started, you want to enable "Copilot Mode" in the browser. You can do this from "edge://settings/ai" and turn on the AI mode experience across the browser and the new tab page. Alternatively, you can enable this mode on this page.

 

Microsoft Edge enable Copilot Mode

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you enable the experience, on the "AI innovations" page, you'll notice a few more options, including Journeys and Actions. You can click each option to enable it. (These last two features are in limited preview at the time of writing.)

 

Microsoft Edge enable Actions

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

New tab page with Copilot

The Copilot Mode will transform the new tab page into an AI prompt, identical to the Copilot home on the web.

 

The prompt box is smart enough to understand when you want a web result, open a website, or an answer with AI.

 

Microsoft Edge New Tab Copilot

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

The default mode is "Smart," which tries to make the best decision about the action intent and uses the GPT-5 model.

 

The "Think Deeper" option allows the chatbot to create answers for more complex topics.

 

The "Deep Research" option allows you to generate detailed reports, comparisons, or multi-source answers. This option is best when you need citations, context, and thorough exploration.

 

Also, you'll find the "Real talk" mode for honest answers, and the "Study and learn" option is more for guided learning and educational tasks.

 

The "Quick response" option is best suited for everyday conversation.

Copilot Vision on Edge

The integration of Copilot on Microsoft Edge also includes Vision to assist with anything you're doing on the web.

 

To get started with Vision on Copilot, use these steps:

 

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. (Option 1) Open a new tab page to access the Copilot prompt.
  3. (Option 2) Click the Chat button in the top-right.
  4. Click the microphone button.

 

Microsoft Edge enable Copilot Vision

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

Once you complete the steps, Vision will activate, and you can start asking questions about anything you see on the screen.

Chat with Copilot on a web page

You can also invoke Copilot from any web page using the "Chat" option from the top-right side of the screen.

 

Microsoft Edge Copilot chat sidebar

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

While in this experience, you can use the chatbot to ask questions about the content you're viewing.

 

If the default size of the flyout is limited, you can also click the "Pin" button to dock it to the side.

 

The default configuration for the prompt box is "Quick response," which is appropriate for everyday conversations.

Copilot Journeys

The "Journeys" feature allows Copilot to analyze your browsing history and habits to automatically group related past browsing projects into specific, task-focused storylines called "Journeys."

 

When you turn on this feature, the assistant will create a summary of each page you visit, and it'll store other details, such as page title, URL, searches, chats, and more.

 

Copilot Journeys

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

This feature not only lets you pick up quickly where you left off, but in a way, it improves the bookmarking experience.

Copilot Actions

The "Actions" is a feature that goes beyond generating text or summarizing information. It enables the AI to take direct action on your behalf to complete tasks.

 

On Microsoft Edge, this feature turns the AI into an "agent" that can interact with websites and the browser itself to complete multi-step tasks.

 

Microsoft Edge Copilot Actions

(Image credit: Microsoft)

 

Copilot Actions is a feature that is still in development, but you can use it for actions like booking a restaurant, unsubscribing from email newsletters, and more.

 

Journeys and Actions are opt-in features, and they require confirmation before finalizing an action to ensure security and user permission. Also, it's worth repeating that these features are in preview and limited to users in the United States.

FAQs about getting started with Copilot

These are common questions regarding Copilot on Windows 11.

What is Copilot on Windows 11?

Copilot is a built-in AI assistant for Windows 11 that uses large language models in the Microsoft cloud to understand and respond to natural-language prompts. It can perform actions, generate content, answer questions, and integrate with apps like Notepad, Paint, File Explorer, and Microsoft Edge.

How can I open Copilot on Windows 11?

You can launch Copilot by clicking the "Copilot" button on the Taskbar, from the Start menu, using the "Windows + C" keyboard shortcut, or saying “Hey Copilot” if voice activation is enabled.

Can I use Copilot hands-free with my voice?

Yes. If you enable the “Hey Copilot” voice command from the Copilot settings. Once active, you can start interacting with the assistant hands-free using natural language.

How do I enable or disable Copilot’s auto-start feature?

Open the Copilot app, click your account menu > Settings, and toggle "Auto start on log in." If the option is grayed out, you can manage it from Settings > Apps > Startup.

What are Copilot Connectors?

Connectors allow Copilot to access and analyze information from your online services like OneDrive, Outlook, Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar. This enables the chatbot to provide more personalized and context-aware responses.

Can Copilot search my local files?

Yes. You can enable file search from the account menu > Settings > Permissions, then turn on "File search" and "File read" to let the assistant locate and understand your local files when you ask questions about them.

What is Copilot Vision?

Copilot Vision allows the assistant to "see" and understand what’s on your screen. It can analyze apps, highlight elements, and help guide you through tasks, though it can’t perform actions automatically.

How do I control what data Copilot collects?

You can manage privacy settings by going to (Copilot) Settings > Privacy and turning off options like Diagnostic Data Sharing, Model training on text and voice, and Personalization and memory. You can also delete any stored data manually.

Does Copilot remember my information?

Yes, if the "Personalization and memory" feature is turned on. You can view, add, or remove memory items from (Copilot) Settings > Manage memory. This data helps the chatbot provide more personalized answers.

How do I uninstall the Copilot app?

Open (Windows 11) Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Copilot, click the three-dot menu, and select "Uninstall." You can also uninstall Microsoft 365 Copilot separately. Some integrations in other apps (like Edge or Notepad) must be turned off individually.

How do I disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge?

Open Microsoft Edge > Settings > Copilot and sidebar, then turn off "Show Copilot button on the toolbar." You can re-enable it anytime from the same menu.

What is Copilot Mode in Microsoft Edge?

Copilot Mode enables the full AI experience in Microsoft Edge. It turns the new tab page into an AI prompt and adds features like Journeys (browsing history analysis), Vision (screen context awareness), and Actions (task automation). You can enable it from edge://settings/ai.

Does Copilot work offline?

No. Copilot relies entirely on Microsoft’s cloud-based AI models, so it requires an active internet connection to function.

Is Copilot free to use on Windows 11?

Yes, the core Copilot experience is free. However, certain features tied to Microsoft 365 (like Copilot for Word or Excel) require a Microsoft 365 subscription.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 4:04 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32115Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:08:57 +0000Windows 11 KB5067112 update brings a change to initial Setup that you may not likehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-kb5067112-update-brings-a-change-to-initial-setup-that-you-may-not-like-r32114/ Today Microsoft has released the non-security optional preview update for Windows 11, also known as the C release, for the month of October 2025 on version 23H2. The new update under KB5067112 (build 22621.6133) brings some changes to the intial setup or the OOBE (out of box experience) which may or may not be desirable to you. The company is adding a "Personalized Offers" to entice you with ads for other Microsoft products and services.

 

Aside from that, the update brings some bug fixes and improvements. The full changelog is given below:

 

Here is the main highlight of the update:

 

  • This non-security update includes quality improvements.

 

Improvements on the Normal rollout are as follows:

 

  • [Input] Fixed: This update addresses an issue where the touch keyboard does not enter characters into text fields after the device wakes from sleep. Although touch keyboard animations appear correctly, key presses do not register—for example, when entering a password on the sign-in screen.
  • [Networking] Fixed: An issue where external virtual switches lose their physical network interface card (NIC) bindings and convert to internal switches when the host restarts, resulting in network connectivity loss. The issue was caused by incorrect detection of orphaned virtual switch objects during Host Network Service startup.
  • [Shell] This update enables the Personalized Offers feature during device setup in the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE), and in Settings after the user reaches the desktop.
  • [Storage] Fixed: This update addresses an issue that affects disk communication and causes connectivity errors during Azure Stack Hub or Azure Local cluster upgrades.

 

This is an optional update so it won't be downloaded and installed automatically. To get it, Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. In the Optional updates available area, you'll find the link to download and install the update. You can also manually download it here from the Microsoft Update Catalog webiste.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 4:02 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32114Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:03:34 +0000Firefox 144.0.2 is out with fixes for crashes on Windows, OneDrive issues, and morehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/firefox-14402-is-out-with-fixes-for-crashes-on-windows-onedrive-issues-and-more-r32113/ Firefox 144 received yet another bug-fixing update. Mozilla has released version 144.0.2, which is now available for download for all users, bringing quite a big list of various fixes and improvements. Notably, this update fixed startup crashes on Windows, compatibility issues with OneDrive, various bugs on macOS and particularly macOS Tahoe, and more.

 

Here is the changelog:

 

  • Fixed an issue where the list of available locales in about:settings contained more locales than were downloaded or currently supported. (Bug 1994642)
  • Fixed an issue where using the keyboard to open the Unified Search dropdown was inconsistent. The dropdown now expands properly, allowing users to select a search engine using the keyboard. (Bug 1979826)
  • Fixed an issue where curated photo collections on Microsoft OneDrive's Photos “For You” page failed to load, showing a gray screen instead of content. Collections now display as expected. (Bug 1986533)
  • Fixed a startup crash affecting Windows users with Avast or other security software installed. (Bug 1992678)
  • Fixed an issue on macOS where the emoji picker shortcut and menu entry stopped working after switching between apps. (Bug 1980815)
  • Fixed an issue on macOS where dragging images from Firefox into third-party apps like Preview could fail or behave unexpectedly. (Bug 1995345)
  • Fixed performance and video playback issues on macOS 14.6 (Tahoe) that occurred when the system was under heavy load. (Bug 1995638)
  • Fixed a browser hang on macOS 14.6 (Tahoe) that could occur when bookmark folders contained loops or repeated references to themselves. (Bug 1995621)

 

Security fixes in Firefox 144.0.2 include only one patch under CVE-2025-12380. It is a high-impact vulnerability where use-after-free in WebGPU internals triggered from a compromised child process.

 

You can update to Firefox 144.0.2 by heading to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Alternatively, download it from the official website, Microsoft Store (Windows 10 or 11). Full release notes are available here. Release notes for the previous update, Firefox 144 (a big one) are available here.

 

Source

 

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 3:56 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32113Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:01:00 +0000Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Excel in October 2025https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/here-are-all-the-new-features-microsoft-added-to-excel-in-october-2025-r32112/ Earlier today, we learned that Anthropic has introduced a Claude-powered Excel add-in to amplify its presence in the fintech space. While that can attract customers to Excel, it is perhaps even more significant when Microsoft itself adds new features to its software in a bid to win more users and retains its existing ones. To that end, it has detailed all the new capabilities it introduced in its popular spreadsheet software during the month of October 2025.

 

This month was a bit on the slower side for Microsoft Excel, with only four new features added to the software in the past four weeks. Starting with Excel for the web, the Redmond tech giant has introduced an "early preview" of Agent Mode in Excel through the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot. For those unaware, "frontier" is a term that Microsoft coined to describe firms which are adopting AI-first approaches to scale their business. Agent Mode allows Copilot to take control of a task after you describing what to do in natural language - the feature is coming soon to desktop too.

 

Coming over to Excel for Windows and Mac, we have two features in tow. The #SPILL experience has been ported from dynamic arrays to PivotTables, which means that you'll see an error message if something is blocking your PivotTable from expanding. Secondly, Microsoft has also made significant improvements to Accessibility Assistant, we have discussed those in detail here. This has been tagged as "#FIA", also known as "Feedback in Action" to identify items heavily requested by the Excel community.

 

Finally, Excel for Windows received Formula by Example, which was previously available on the web only. Basically, Excel will automatically look for patterns in your existing data and will then suggest a formula to fill the rest of the associated cells.

 

As always, you can file feedback to Microsoft about Excel directly from within the application or through the dedicated feedback portal here.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 3:57 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32112Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:58:23 +0000This new feature in Teams could save you lots of timehttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/this-new-feature-in-teams-could-save-you-lots-of-time-r32111/ Microsoft Teams is the Redmond tech giant's premier online communication and collaboration software, and one that regularly receives new upgrades designed to make the lives of enterprise customers even easier. Now, Microsoft is introducing an agentic experience that is built to save you lots of time during and after meetings.

 

Microsoft has revealed Facilitator, a new Teams agent that integrates directly into Teams meeting experiences to take care of a lot of arguably menial work so that you can focus on more important stuff.

 

Some of Facilitator's capabilities include tracking topics with visual timeline markers, taking collaborative, real-time notes, answering questions, tracking tasks, drafting documents, and capturing ad hoc discussion items. Microsoft allows turning on Facilitator before or during a meeting, except for meetings started from a chat, Teams call, or channel call.

 

Customers can enable Facilitator from Teams or Outlook. For the former, navigate to Calendar > New Event > Turn on (will be visible next to the message saying "Facilitator is off for this meeting"). When it comes to the latter, head over to Calendar > New Meeting > More commands (...) > Teams Meeting > Set up your Teams meeting > toggle Facilitator.

 

Facilitator in Teams can be useful in a number of scenarios, including time-boxed meetings, collaborative brainstorming sessions, project check-ins, ad hoc discussions, stakeholder reviews, and large hybrid meetings. You can even engage the agent directly using the @Facilitator tag. The agent will also share proactive reminders about tasks during meetings, and does not require transcription or recording services, which potentially alleviates a major concern for privacy-conscious customers. That said, IT admins do have some relevant privacy controls that they can leverage in this regard, read more about them here.

 

Facilitator in Teams is generally available for all Microsoft 365 Copilot customers, but the abilities to track tasks and create documents are currently in public preview only.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 3:57 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32111Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:57:44 +0000Ubuntu Unity faces possible shutdown as team member cries for helphttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/ubuntu-unity-faces-possible-shutdown-as-team-member-cries-for-help-r32110/ Ubuntu Unity, the community-led project that revived the Unity7 desktop, is experiencing a bit of a crisis, leading its team to ask the public for help after admitting that the flavor is "broken and needs to be fixed."

 

In a message posted on Ubuntu's discourse page, Maik Adamietz, the Community moderator and administrator who has been with the project since 2020, explained that the project lead, Rudra B. Rudra, has had less time to dedicate to the work recently. As a result, the team could not ship a stable 25.10 release this October.

 

Because Rudra is busy with university exams, development slowed down significantly around the 25.04 release earlier this year. Maik claimed that he also had to step away for personal reasons around that same time. This lack of active maintenance meant that while the system continued to automatically generate daily ISO images, nobody was actually testing them by hand.

 

This led to a pile-up of critical bugs that now prevent users from upgrading from 25.04 or even installing the DE on top of other Ubuntu flavors without serious issues.

 

Maik said he has been speaking with Tobiyo Kuujikai (@fuseteam), another mod for the project, and they both decided to do the best they can to "keep things going" in the interim. The problem is that neither of them has the necessary technical skills to maintain a full operating system distribution or fix the deep code issues currently plaguing the desktop.

 

Maik wants other developers and project leads in the Linux community to step in and help bring Unity back to the workable state it was in during the 24.04 LTS era. The immediate goal is to find capable people who can squash these bugs and maintain the project at least until the next LTS release, Ubuntu 26.04, arrives next year. He even suggested that someone could teach the current team how to handle the more complex maintenance tasks so they can eventually take it over themselves.

 

Ubuntu Unity started out as a passion project after Canonical, Ubuntu's parent company, made the controversial move to end its development of Unity back in 2017. At that time, Canonical switched back to the GNOME desktop for its main product, leaving Unity's dedicated user base without an official path forward. The community effort, largely driven by a then-younger Rudra, brought the desktop back and eventually earned official flavor status from Canonical in 2022.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Wednesday 29 October 2025 at 3:55 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32110Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:56:27 +0000Firefox users are getting a smart feature that could make Chrome users jealoushttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/firefox-users-are-getting-a-smart-feature-that-could-make-chrome-users-jealous-r32104/ When you think about it, one of the most used parts of any browser is the address bar. In all major browsers, this component behaves the same: you start typing and get search suggestions.

 

Over time, the address bar gained the ability to handle some queries directly instead of sending you to a search page. For example, the address bar in Chrome, called the Omnibox, can handle unit and currency conversions and even perform small calculations.

 

Firefox does that as well with its Awesome Bar. But now, Mozilla says it is taking things a step further by providing rich results or direct answers right in the address bar, so you can "skip the search" page altogether.

 

According to Mozilla, it tried to pull this off several years ago but stopped short. The problem was privacy. Any design that could deliver these kinds of answers required sending whatever you are typing in the address bar to a server for processing.

 

The Firefox maker claims it has a "high standard for privacy" and was not satisfied with any system that would send your raw queries directly to its own servers. An experimental version that users could enable in settings never gained traction, and a small set of locally-matched suggestions was not very useful.

 

In the upcoming "smart suggestions" (US only for now), you can do things like check a flight's status or find a business. If you type "AC 8170" in the address bar, Firefox will show you the flight's route, departure and arrival times, and current status.

A Firefox browser window with an orange gradient background The Google search bar shows ac 8170 The
Image via Mozilla

Typing a common abbreviation like "mdn" could bring up a direct link to the Mozilla Developer Network. Searching for "bike repair boston" might show a highly-rated local shop with its address and hours listed directly in the suggestions.

A Firefox browser window with a gradient pink-to-purple background The Google search bar shows the q
Image via Mozilla

As for the privacy concerns Mozilla had earlier, it now has a "technical architecture" that allows Mozilla to see the query while protecting your IP address. It uses a protocol called Oblivious HTTP. Your encrypted request first goes to a relay operated by Fastly, which can see your IP address but not the query itself.

 

The relay then forwards the request to Mozilla, which can see the query but not your IP. Neowin took a look, and it appears that this feature is powered by Merino, the "privacy-preserving" web service behind the existing Firefox Suggest feature.

 

Mozilla also adds that you might get ads in the suggestions, but because of the OHTTP system, neither Mozilla nor the sponsor knows who is seeing the result.

 

When Mozilla ships this feature, you will have the option to turn it off. You can disable it by unchecking "Retrieve suggestions as you type" in the Search settings. For users who want to preemptively disable it, you can set browser.urlbar.quicksuggest.online.enabled to false in the about:config page.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 28 October 2025 at 1:04 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32104Tue, 28 Oct 2025 03:05:03 +0000Microsoft, it is time to move these five parts of Control Panel to Windows 11's Settings apphttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-it-is-time-to-move-these-five-parts-of-control-panel-to-windows-11s-settings-app-r32103/ The September 2025 non-security update for Windows 11 brought a few useful changes to the operating system, including additional language, time, mouse, and keyboard settings. Now, you no longer need the legacy Control Panel to customize date/time formatting, add extra clocks, or adjust the keyboard character repeat delay. However, there are plenty of important parts of the old Control Panel that should be ported to the Settings app. Here are five.

1. BitLocker Drive Encryption

Windows 11 version 24H2 and newer encrypt drives by default on every edition, which means users now have to learn what BitLocker is and where to find keys or how to remove BitLocker encryption. While you can get to BitLocker settings by simply right-clicking a drive and selecting "Manage BitLocker," all the options still reside in the old Control Panel, which does not support dark mode (we have some progress in this area), is not very convenient to use on touchscreen devices, and is less accessibility-friendly.

 

With Windows 11, Microsoft is ensuring everyone knows and uses BitLocker (willingly or not), so it is time to modernize settings that manage drive encryption.

Legacy Control Panel in Windows 11

2. File Explorer Options

This legacy part of the old Control Panel contains quite a lot of useful features for customizing the File Explorer. From launching File Explorer on "This PC" instead of "Home," to showing hidden files, toggling checkboxes, managing tabs, and more, this applet is quite useful.

 

I wish I could manage all those settings in the modern Settings app, but it does not look like Microsoft plans to modernize them anytime soon. The company recently equipped File Explorer Options with dark mode support, so I guess it will stay with us for a while with its legacy Win32-based user interface. Microsoft, please prove me wrong.

Legacy Control Panel in Windows 11

3. Sounds

Windows 11 reintroduced startup sounds in the operating system (it even had a bunch of updates that brought back the iconic Windows Vista startup sound, albeit by mistake). Microsoft created a new startup jingle to make the experience a little more fun. However, there are quite a lot of users, including me, who do not want Windows to make any sounds. Turning off all sounds is among the first things I change after clean-installing the OS.

 

While the rest of the theme customization (background, color, and mouse cursor) have modernized settings in the Settings app, changing Windows sounds still requires using the old applet, even though the rest of the sound settings are already modernized.

Control Panel and Sound Settings in Windows 11

4. Device and Disk Management

Unlike File Explorer and Sounds, these two are not something you use regularly. Still, that does not mean Microsoft should neglect them. Besides not having modern user interfaces and dark mode support, these applets do not even look good on high-DPI displays, which is a pretty wild thing for a desktop operating system in 2025. Setting up display scaling to anything above 100% results in a blurry and ugly UI.

Legacy Control Panel in Windows 11

5. Recovery

I know that Windows 11's Settings app has a dedicated Recovery section, but it misses a few important features. There, you can only find some troubleshooters, reinstall and reset options, access to advanced startup, and the recently introduced Quick Machine Recovery. Creating a recovery drive, going back to a restore point, or configuring system restore points remain useful and important tools for Windows maintenance and troubleshooting.

Legacy Control Panel in Windows 11

Sadly, these are still buried in the old Control Panel. If you want to configure system protection or restore points, you still have to deal with old dialogs and outdated UIs.

 

Should it, though?

I know, don't fix what is not broken. And I know that some of the modernized Control Panel bits made it to the Settings app without all the features. Also, removing the legacy controls will make some whine about the new Settings app and the need to retrain muscle memory. Still, Microsoft just has to rip the band-aid and make important parts of its operating system more modern.

 

The company has already started this ever-going modernization saga, and stopping halfway only makes things confusing for everyone, with some stuff in the Settings app and some in the Control Panel. I am unsure if my generation will ever see the complete migration from the Control Panel to the Settings app, but Microsoft at least should move the most common stuff. You can keep the Windows 7 Backup and Restore in the Control Panel (even though Microsoft still recommends using it), but useful things like sound settings, Recovery, disk management, device management, File Explorer options, and more, should finally embrace the Settings app.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 28 October 2025 at 1:02 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32103Tue, 28 Oct 2025 03:03:41 +0000Windows will soon prompt for memory scans after BSOD crasheshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-will-soon-prompt-for-memory-scans-after-bsod-crashes-r32100/ Microsoft has started testing a new feature that prompts Windows 11 users to run a memory scan when logging in after a blue screen of death (BSOD).

 

These notifications will be displayed whenever the device encounters a bugcheck (a critical Windows kernel or driver error that the operating system cannot recover from), which triggers a BSOD.

 

The new proactive memory diagnostics feature is designed to improve reliability by ensuring that memory issues that could trigger a bugcheck are found and addressed before they cause system instability.

 

At the moment, it's not available on ARM64 devices and on systems with Administrator Protection or BitLocker without Secure Boot.

 

"We're introducing a new feature that helps improve system reliability. If your PC experiences a bugcheck (unexpected restart), you may see a notification when signing in suggesting a quick memory scan," said Windows Insider Program lead Amanda Langowski.

 

"If you choose to run it, the system will schedule a Windows Memory Diagnostic scan to run during your next reboot (taking 5 minutes or less on average) and then continue to Windows. If a memory issue is found and mitigated, you will see a notification post-reboot."

Memory scan prompt
Memory scan prompt (Microsoft)

In this early testing phase, all bugcheck codes will trigger a Windows memory diagnostics notification while Microsoft investigates the links between OS crashes and memory corruption; however, the targeting will be refined to include a more limited number of such errors.

 

The feature is now rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels who have installed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6982 (KB5067109) and Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.6982 (KB5067109), respectively.

 

Earlier this month, Microsoft also started testing new connectivity capabilities for its AI-powered Copilot digital assistant, which allows it to connect to Outlook and Gmail email accounts, as well as third-party services like Google Calendar and Google Drive.

 

One week later, it announced Copilot Actions, a new Windows 11 Copilot feature that allows AI agents to perform tasks on local files and applications.

 

Microsoft told BleepingComputer at the time that each Agent Workspace, where Copilot Actions perform tasks, is implemented as a Windows Remote Desktop child session, rather than running within a Windows Sandbox or as a virtual machine.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 28 October 2025 at 12:56 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32100Tue, 28 Oct 2025 02:56:42 +0000Windows 11's Taskbar search box is getting a handy upgrade soonhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11s-taskbar-search-box-is-getting-a-handy-upgrade-soon-r32095/ Microsoft has announced a new "Copy & Search" feature for Windows 11 that streamlines searching the web for text copied to your clipboard using the search box on the Taskbar.

Microsoft has unveiled a handy change coming to Windows 11's Taskbar search box soon that will make searching the internet with copied text easier. The change is dubbed "Copy & Search," and adds a button to the search box that provides the ability to search for what you've copied with one click.

 

"We are introducing Copy & Search, a feature that allows you to search the text in your clipboard with a single click. When you copy text anywhere in Windows, a paste gleam will appear in your search box. Click on this gleam and your copied text will appear in the search field, allowing you to search instantly" explains Microsoft.

 

 

Windows 11 search copied text gleam

Once text is copied, the search box will present the option to search automatically.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

 

Once copied, the search box will update with text that says "Search copied text" and next to it will be a clipboard button, which when clicked will automatically paste the text you just copied into the search box. From there, you can hit enter to search the web, or view the results in the search pane automatically.

 

Microsoft just announced a big update coming to the Taskbar search box on Windows 11 next year that will replace the Windows Search pane with Copilot. It'll still be able to search for local apps and files, but it'll be enhanced with the ability to interact with Copilot too.

 

Today's new Copy & Search feature is independent from this new Copilot experience, meaning it works with the current Windows Search pane too if that's what you prefer to use. Of course, this will also use Bing unless you're in a region where Microsoft lets you change the search provider in the Windows Search pane.

What is Windows 11's new Copy & Search feature?

Copy & Search is a feature that streamlines the process between copying text and searching the internet with that text. It's tied to the Windows Search box, and will present a button that automatically pastes in your copied text and searches the web with it.

When will Copy & Search be available?

Copy & Search is currently only available via the Windows Insider Program, as it's still in testing and development. Microsoft will likely begin rolling out the feature to all Windows 11 users in the coming months.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 28 October 2025 at 3:46 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32095Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:47:02 +0000Windows 11’s light/dark mode glitch wasn’t Microsoft’s fault — blame PowerToys (here's why)https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11%E2%80%99s-lightdark-mode-glitch-wasn%E2%80%99t-microsoft%E2%80%99s-fault-%E2%80%94-blame-powertoys-heres-why-r32094/ If your Windows 11 PC kept flipping between light and dark mode, Microsoft says it wasn’t intentional — a PowerToys bug was behind the unexpected theme changes.

Earlier this month, Microsoft released a new update for PowerToys, bumping it to version 0.95. The update shipped with a couple of new features and a host of improvements and fixes.

 

The most notable addition was the long-anticipated Light Switch feature, which lets Windows 11 users automatically switch between light and dark modes based on a schedule or when the sunrise and sunset times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PowerToys 0.95.1: Fixes

Light Switch

  • #42434: Fixed bug where Light Switch was enabled by default
  • #42434: Fixed bug where Manual time schedule was being overridden by sunset calculations
  • #42434: Renamed "Manual" mode to "Fixed Hours" for clarity
  • #42434: Created a new "Off" mode that disables the schedule but still allows the shortcut to be used
  • #42434: Fixed a bug which allowed the taskbar to be the accent color in light mode (this should only be allowed in dark mode)
  • #42774: Fixed a bug where light/dark times where not updating when switch between modes (Specifically manual back to Sunset to Sunrise mode).

CmdPal

  • #42467: Fixed crashes on pages using filters (e.g., Windows Terminal profiles, Windows Services) when built with trimming or AOT by removing runtime bindings from the FiltersDropDown control.
  • #42405: Fixed an issue where window style changes (such as WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) were not properly applied by ensuring cached window data is refreshed.

Find my mouse

  • #42774: Fixed bug that would cause the window to lose focus
  • #42774: Fixed bug that would cause the mouse to go busy (hourglass)

Installer

  • #41975: Removed WiX v3 infrastructure and migrate exclusively to WiX v5, cutting build times.

Bug report

  • #42399: Improvements to the bug report system

 

This news comes as Microsoft doubles down on its efforts to deliver a more consistent and intuitive dark mode user experience in Windows 11, promising a major upgrade across the File Explorer, Run prompt window, and more.

FAQ

What happened with Windows 11’s light/dark mode?

Some users reported their PCs were unexpectedly switching between light and dark themes without input.

What caused the bug?

The issue was traced back to PowerToys, Microsoft’s open‑source utility suite. A bug in its code triggered the theme changes.

Has it been fixed?

Yes. Updates to PowerToys have addressed the bug, and users are encouraged to install the latest version.

What should users do if they still see the issue?

Update PowerToys to the latest release, or temporarily disable it until patched.

Why does this matter?

It highlights how third‑party utilities, even official ones like PowerToys, can impact user experience — and why transparency in communication is key when bugs surface.

 

This collection of utilities includes a large library of features to enhance the Windows experience. PowerToys is designed with power users in mind, but it has handy features for people who just use their PC for everyday computing too.

 

Source

 

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 28 October 2025 at 3:41 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32094Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:42:16 +0000Microsoft 365 price hikes 'deliberately mislead' consumers, company suedhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-365-price-hikes-deliberately-mislead-consumers-company-sued-r32087/ Exactly a month ago, I penned an editorial in which I complained that Microsoft 365's latest price hikes seem unjustified because they are enforced upon customers, regardless of whether they want to use AI and Copilot features or not. In the same piece, I also lamented the fact that while the "Classic" plan did exist with the original pricing, it is not immediately obvious and is only offered when you are in the process of canceling your current plan. Now, an Australian watchdog has sued Microsoft on these exact same grounds.

 

Reporting from local media news outlet, ABC.NET, has revealed that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sued Microsoft for "deliberately misleading" 2.7 million regional customers when it came to the matter of the recent price hike. The watchdog claims that Microsoft repeatedly told customers that they either had to agree to the price increase or cancel their plan, without clearly identifying the third option of a "Classic" plan at reduced prices.

 

According to reports, the ACCC is not happy with the dark pattern that Microsoft utilized for hiding this low-cost plan, saying that it will be seeking a significant penalty in this regard. Meanwhile, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the company is currently reviewing the ACCC's claims:

Consumer trust and transparency are top priorities for Microsoft. We remain committed to working constructively with the regulator and ensuring our practices meet all legal and ethical standards.

The ACCC highlighted that it received over 100 complaints from Microsoft 365 users recently, and since this suite is an essential part of the personal and professional lives on many Australians due to the lack of better alternatives (sorry, LibreOffice), it believes that most customers would have just opted for the Classic plan had they been made more aware about their options.

 

The ACCC noted that while Microsoft did send out two emails and published a blog post, they did not emphasize the presence of a Classic plan:

We allege that Microsoft's two emails to existing subscribers and the blog post were false or misleading as they conveyed that consumers had to accept the more expensive Copilot-integrated plans, and that the only other option was to cancel. All businesses need to provide accurate information about their services and prices. Failure to do so risks breaching the Australian consumer law. The ACCC does not take issue with the offering of new services, or a different plan, or, actually, an increase in price. Microsoft and businesses are free to change the services that they offer, and also to choose as they see fit how to price for them. We have taken these proceedings today because we allege millions of Australian consumers were deprived of the opportunity to make an informed choice about the subscription options available to them.

Although Microsoft is yet to respond in detail to the complaint and the lawsuit, it is this writer's opinion that the ACCC does have a strong case going this time. Only time will tell if the court of law feels the same.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Monday 27 October 2025 at 5:58 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32087Mon, 27 Oct 2025 08:00:12 +0000Linux 6.18-rc3 released and everything still looks normalhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/linux-618-rc3-released-and-everything-still-looks-normal-r32086/ Linus Torvalds has just released the third release candidate of Linux 6.18. He said that this release candidate is calmer than usual with normal fluctuations in pull request timing. The summary of changes turned out to be “pretty short and flat.” The 'calmness' of this development cycle is good because it means Linux 6.18 will likely arrive on time, instead of being delayed by a few weeks.

 

According to Torvalds, the biggest change this week was a significant set of fixes related to smbdirect on the client and server sides. The overall changes in this update were normal with half of them being for drivers and the rest being “pretty random and spread out” including fixes for XFS and other subsystems.

 

Regarding driver and hardware updates this update brings DRM fixes for amd/display, panthor, i915 and the drm/panic screen drawing utility. There were also fixes for hardware monitoring components such as PMBus, gpd-fan, and sht3x as well as PCI/ACPI components such as ASPM, DWC, and Gpio-ACPI.

 

Filesystems that received fixes include XFS, BTRFS, EROFS, CIFS, Hugetlbfs, and OCFS2. There were multiple fixes for XFS regarding locking, deprecated/defunct mount options, and zone caching. BTRFS got fixes for ref-verify and delayed_node use after free, while EROFS fixes include encoded extents and compact indexes. All of these fixes will boost data integrity, system stability, and help to prevent severe failures.

 

Linux 6.18 should have seven or eight release candidates over the coming weeks. This means we can expect it to be released on November 23 or 30. If we see a calmer development cycle, we should get it on the earlier of those dates. When you actually receive it on your devices depends entirely on your Linux distribution. Those on rolling releases or Fedora will get it sooner while those on Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives will get it later on, if at all.

 

Source: LKML

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Monday 27 October 2025 at 5:58 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32086Mon, 27 Oct 2025 07:58:39 +0000Microsoft's decision to axe Windows 10 is driving Apple PC sales growth — users buy Macs instead of AI PCs despite Microsoft’s push for Copilot+ PCshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsofts-decision-to-axe-windows-10-is-driving-apple-pc-sales-growth-%E2%80%94-users-buy-macs-instead-of-ai-pcs-despite-microsoft%E2%80%99s-push-for-copilot-pcs-r32085/ Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 last October 14, ending its reign as one of the most popular operating systems for PCs after nearly a decade. This happened about a year and a half after the introduction of Copilot+ PCs, and while some Windows PC makers were able to increase their shipments in the third quarter of this year, Apple seems to be one of the biggest winners, marching towards the end of the Windows 10 era. According to Counterpoint Research, Lenovo is the biggest gainer, shipping 17.4% more units in 3Q25, but Apple’s Mac shipments also jumped by 14.9% YoY.

 

This creates a huge bump for the company, with brands like Asus (+14%) and HP (+10%) also selling more units. Perhaps surprisingly, Dell sold fewer units, with company shipments falling by 0.9%, while all the rest of other PC makers sold 3% fewer units on average. Despite that, the overall PC market grew by 8.1% YoY — largely driven by the need to upgrade hardware to make them compatible with Windows 11 and to store additional inventory as a hedge from President Donald Trump’s exceptionally high import tariffs.

 

Despite the uncertainty with tariffs and the trade war between the U.S. and China, Lenovo’s growth rate was very high, especially when compared to its competitors. However, Apple is the surprising runner-up on our list, with the company’s shipments increasing by a whopping 14.9% YoY.

 

This means that quite a number of users are purchasing Macs and MacBooks instead of picking another Windows laptop, especially as some devices that are seemingly good enough for Windows 11 cannot install it due to a lack of a TPM 2.0 chip. Tariffs are another driver behind this jump in shipments, with companies stocking up on computers and other components, allowing them to have ready availability.

 

This interesting tidbit is that despite all the marketing, the AI PC has yet to take off more than a year after its introduction from the blueprint to the drawing board. This was the situation over a year ago, when people didn’t choose an AI PC for its AI features, instead picking a model that has the proper components for their needs (like more RAM or larger storage capacity). In fact, Intel is increasing the prices of its Raptor Lake chips owing to the growing demand for this bird.

 

Still, Counterpoint believes that AI PC shipments will increase across the industry in 2025, especially with the pending arrival of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite and the development of Intel’s own Xe3 graphics architecture. “The PC market’s rebound in 2025 is not just about replacing outdated systems; it is about preparing for what is next,” said Counterpoint Associate David Naranjo. “Many enterprises are choosing AI-capable PCs to future-proof their fleets, even if they do not yet need those capabilities immediately. The next refresh cycle will be defined by intelligence at the edge, not just performance improvements.”

 

Source

]]>32085Sun, 26 Oct 2025 17:43:34 +0000Forget Linux Mint — this is the Windows alternative you needhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/forget-linux-mint-%E2%80%94-this-is-the-windows-alternative-you-need-r32084/ I’ve used Windows 10 for years, and with Microsoft pulling the plug on it, several machines like my 2015 HP EliteBook 850 G2 will be left behind. These systems aren’t bad, but simply don’t meet the strict hardware requirements. The only viable choice is switching to an operating system that feels familiar but doesn’t require a hardware upgrade.

 

Although Tiny11 is an option, some experts advise against it. I’ve found Zorin OS to be an ideal replacement. It’s built on Linux but offers a Windows-like interface, with great performance on old computers that wouldn’t qualify for Windows 11 by default. It may not be as popular as Linux Mint, but if you were to replace Windows 10 with something from the Linux ecosystem, Zorin OS should be your first pick.


What makes Zorin OS stand out for Windows 10 users
The perfect balance between familiarity and freedom 

 

Zorin OS is the Linux distribution built for people who have lived entirely in the Windows ecosystem but need more privacy and no forced upgrades. Several Linux distros would require you to adapt to a new workflow, but the team behind Zorin OS designed it to make migration effortless. It has layout options similar to Windows 10 and offers simple app installation via the Software Store.

 

A popular distro like Linux Mint aims to be a traditional, stable Linux desktop with its own classic and comfortable look. Tiny11 is a stripped-down version of Windows. However, Zorin OS finds the middle ground. It closely resembles Windows while inheriting years of security updates and compatibility from Ubuntu. The distribution packages these benefits in an approachable way.

But what counts the most is that you don’t need risky workarounds or unofficial builds. It’s simply a clean and stable OS that works on old and modern computers without the need for special configuration. This is something that Windows 11 or Tiny11 cannot guarantee.


A desktop that feels instantly familiar
No steep learning curve or awkward re-learning 

 

zorin-os-flexible-multitaskiing-settings

 

 The unfamiliar Linux interface is a major barrier for people switching from Windows. Zorin solves this with a desktop layout that looks and behaves like Windows 10. You get a bottom taskbar, a similar Start menu, and, on top of that, quick access to system settings and file navigation.

 

The Zorin Appearance tool offers one-click layout switching between Windows 10, 11, macOS, and GNOME styles. If you rely on muscle memory to move through folders or menus, the flexibility of this feature will keep the transition frictionless. Even though several people would recommend Mint as a perfect Windows alternative, Zorin Appearance gives Zorin OS an edge.

 

Right-click context menus, drag-to-edge window snapping, and several other small touches mimic what you'd expect when using Windows. After switching, you’ll quickly get back to a familiar workflow without spending days mastering new command-line utilities or shortcuts. The level of familiarity makes it very usable, and not just an interesting option.


Performance that makes old PCs feel new again
Optimized speed and efficiency for aging hardware 

 

detailed-resource-usage-on-zorin-os-via-

 

Where Windows 11 demands TPM 2.0 and newer processors, Zorin OS runs efficiently on older systems. While Zorin OS Core gives a richer experience for modern computers, the Xfce-powered Zorin OS lite edition is especially optimized for low-end CPUs with limited RAM.

 

These options translate into practical benefits. Laptops that would've crawled on Windows 11 will become responsive: faster boot times, lighter background processes, and updates that don't freeze the system. You’ll carry out daily tasks — browsing, streaming, document editing — without lag.

 

Zorin OS also offers the advantage of having no bloatware or unnecessary telemetry that eats up system resources. If you’ve ever been frustrated with Windows updates consuming so much disk space or causing occasional CPU spikes, Zorin OS will feel refreshing.


Compatibility that bridges the Windows–Linux divide
Run your essential apps and discover smarter alternatives 

 

exploring-available-programs-for-zoriin-

 

One of the biggest problems with switching operating systems is uncertainty with your apps. Zorin includes built-in support for Windows apps via Wine. When installing an app, the OS will detect if you try opening a .exe or .msi file and will assist you with the compatibility environment.

 

This makes it capable of running Microsoft Office installers, legacy productivity apps, and other essential Windows software with minimal setup in most cases. However, as with any Wine-based compatibility layer, a few apps may still need extra tweaking or configuration.

 

Zorin OS also supports Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, which makes syncing bookmarks and extensions seamless. And if you’re deep in the Android ecosystem, you can create seamless phone-PC integration with Zorin Connect and start sharing files or replying to messages from your computer.

 

Because Zorin OS blends cross-platform support with helpful alternatives, switching from Windows 10 feels less of a leap. It removes the gap that would’ve prevented you from trying Linux in the first place.


Keep your PC relevant after Windows 10

 

Zorin OS ensures that when you make a switch from Windows 10, you’re not sacrificing comfort or performance. You get a familiar interface and the same ease of use, and break free from restrictive hardware requirements.

 

This OS is excellent for reviving an old laptop and also serves well as a daily driver. In many ways, it feels like the ideal Windows 10 continuation. It's familiar in areas that matter and flexible where you’ll need it. Zorin OS is a top Linux recommendation, even though I advise against switching to several other Linux distros if you’re facing the end-of-life Windows 10 dilemma.

 

Source

]]>32084Sun, 26 Oct 2025 17:39:59 +0000Microsoft is finally taking dark mode in Windows more seriouslyhttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-is-finally-taking-dark-mode-in-windows-more-seriously-r32083/ I still remember writing an article about scheduling dark mode in Windows 10 using Task Scheduler and some whacky commands when dark mode was in its inception ten years ago. While dark mode was the default for Windows Phone all the way back in 2011, it took Microsoft years to give it the attention it deserveson the desktop versions of Windows.

 

Many years have passed since Microsoft introduced the ability to change modes in Windows 10 without resorting to Linux-like practices. The OS that debuted it is now six feet under, but Microsoft has only now started treating dark mode in Windows seriously. True, we have dark mode support in File Explorer, but it always felt half-assed. It is a surface-level implementation, and any step into a menu or dialog results in Windows throwing a stun grenade at you. And do not let me get started ranting about File Explorer flashing a white screen whenever you open a new tab. Ugh.

 

Now, however, we finally have some movement in the right direction.

 

Windows 11 is finally getting dark mode support for many more parts of the user interface, particularly for the "old" classic interfaces. The Run dialog, Folder options, and common file actions (copy/move) all now have proper dark mode variants, making the operating system much easier to use during nighttime and visually consistent.

Dark mode in Windows 11

These dark mode improvements are available for Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels. Microsoft is still rolling them out gradually, even among insiders, so it might be a little while before we get them in the stable channel.

 

Of course, it is still far, far from perfect. Tons of sections and dialogs still do not support dark mode, and we have abominations like Windows Tools, where dark mode and light mode blend into one revolting UI that looks like a failed attempt to make Windows XP look like Windows Vista back in the day. Control Panel, a critical element that we need to use to this day (because Microsoft still has not moved everything to the Settings app), is also half-baked. There is still a lot of work to do, but we finally have some noticeable progress, which is nice.

Dark mode in Windows 11
Years later, this is still a thing...

Another important thing that Microsoft is finally considering is automatic theme switching. I keep ranting about this whenever I have a chance, but Windows 11 still cannot switch themes on schedule. While Microsoft is waiting for AGI or some extraterrestrial knowledge to implement a feature that literally every other operating system has had for years, the PowerToys team has brought automatic theme switching with the Light Switch module. True, this is still not as good as having it in the Settings app, but it is something nonetheless.

Dark mode in Windows 11

Changing screen resolution without a system restart used to be a PowerToys feature, which eventually made its way to the system level. I hope Microsoft will do the same with the Light Switch module, given that we already have some PowerToys tools implemented natively. Just do not stop, Microsoft, and do not leave Windows 11 with its half-baked dark mode rotting for another decade. With people becoming increasingly jaded over the influx of AI slop, making the operating system more consistent and better looking in dark mode would be a welcome change for many.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Monday 27 October 2025 at 3:29 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32083Sun, 26 Oct 2025 17:29:59 +0000Google releases second emergency security update for Chrome amid rising riskshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/google-releases-second-emergency-security-update-for-chrome-amid-rising-risks-r32072/ ISLAMABAD:  Google has released its second emergency security update in just one week, addressing a critical vulnerability that could put users at risk of remote code execution attacks.

 

The final patch aims to handle CVE-2025-12036, a high-risk bug in the V8 JavaScript engine of Chrome. The bug is such that the attackers can execute malicious scripts by merely making the victims access a compromised website; they do not have to do anything else.

 

Chrome developer Srinivas Sista verified that Google’s Big Sleep security product, which uses AI to discover bugs, discovered the issue.

 

Details on the bug remain under embargo until most customers have been patched. The update is being pushed across all platforms and will see users over the coming days and weeks.


How to Protect Yourself

 

Protecting your browser is easy. Update Chrome to 141.0.7390.122 or .123 on Windows and Mac, 141.0.7390.122 on Linux, and 141.0.7390.122 on Android.

 

Chrome updates automatically, but you can check by opening the settings menu and selecting “About Google Chrome.” This will make the browser go out and find an update, installing a newer version.

 

Make sure to reboot Chrome after updating, or the security patch won’t work. With the attacks already underway, it’s crucial to update as soon as possible to defend your devices and data.

 

Source

]]>32072Sat, 25 Oct 2025 15:27:20 +0000Windows 11 25H2 gets improved search, proactive memory diagnostics, and more in new buildshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-25h2-gets-improved-search-proactive-memory-diagnostics-and-more-in-new-builds-r32071/ Microsoft is finishing this week with two new Windows 11 preview builds for Windows Insiders in the Dev (26220.6982) and Beta (26120.6982) channels. Today's updates bring a bunch of new features and changes, such as clipboard integration in Windows Search, Voice Typing improvements, proactive memory diagnostics, additional enhancements for the Settings app, and more.

 

Here is the changelog:

 

[Windows Search Box]

 

In this update, we are introducing Copy & Search, a feature that allows you to search the text in your clipboard with a single click. When you copy text anywhere in Windows, a paste gleam will appear in your search box. Click on this gleam and your copied text will appear in the search field, allowing you to search instantly. To get started:

 

  • Copy text from a document, webpage, or app.
  • After copying text, the paste gleam will appear in the search box on the taskbar.
  • Click the paste gleam to search for the copied text.

New features in Windows 11 build 262206982

[Voice Typing]

 

For customers on Copilot+ PCs, we are introducing a new ‘Wait time before acting’ setting in Voice Typing, allowing users to configure the delay before a voice command is executed. This provides greater flexibility for users with varying speech patterns, enabling more accurate recognition whether speaking slowly or quickly.

New features in Windows 11 build 262206982

 

[Proactive Memory Diagnostics]

 

We’re introducing a new feature that helps improve system reliability. If your PC experiences a bugcheck (unexpected restart), you may see a notification when signing in suggesting a quick memory scan. If you choose to run it, the system will schedule a Windows Memory Diagnostic scan to run during your next reboot (taking 5 minutes or less on average) and then continue to Windows. If a memory issue is found and mitigated, you will see a notification post-reboot. Please note:

 

  • This early flight includes all bugcheck codes as triggers while we study the relationship between memory corruption and crashes. Future builds will refine targeting.
  • Currently, this experience is not supported on Arm64 devices, systems with Administrator Protection, or BitLocker without Secure Boot.

New features in Windows 11 build 262206982

 

[Settings]

 

  • Device Cards in Settings have been updated to provide more clarity on information about your device for better readability and streamlined navigation for improved user experience.
  • In Settings About, we’ve enhanced it to deliver a more structured and intuitive experience, empowering users with device insights and seamless navigation to related device components – including quick access to Storage settings.
  • Search: You can now scroll through all search results directly in the flyout, without needing to open a separate results page.
New features in Windows 11 build 262206982

[Click to Do]

 

  • We’re helping users discover more actions in Click to Do!
  • A helpful hint now appears as you launch Click to Do, assisting unfamiliar users in discovering powerful actions that help you work quickly and intuitively.
  • Known issue: When there are multiple monitors, the hint appears on every display, and closing one of them does not dismiss the others.

 

[Start menu]

 

  • Windows Insiders with the larger Start menu flyout will now notice that the Windows Search flyout matches in size. This update aims to create a smoother transition when searching. The feature relies on the updated Start menu rolled out to WIP earlier this year.

 

[File Explorer]

 

  • File Explorer Home on-hover actions for faster file management (previously released to Insiders with MSA) are now available for enterprise customers.

 

[Taskbar]

 

  • We’re restarting the rollout of the new animations on the taskbar– appreciate your patience.

 

[Windows Studio Effects]

 

  • Windows Studio Effects now offers support for additional, alternative cameras as part of a gradual rollout to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered and AMD Copilot+ PCs, previously only available to Intel®-powered Copilot+ PCs.

 

Here is what was fixed:

 

  • [General]
    • Fixed an issue causing text actions that use Phi Silica in Click to Do and Recall to not work correctly on the previous build.
  • [Taskbar]
    • Fixed an issue where hovering over the taskbar with a pen was making the taskbar prematurely hide for some Insiders recently.
    • Fixed an issue where voice access wasn’t working correctly when attempting to interact with the taskbar (calling out a number wasn’t invoking that item).
  • [Input]
    • Fixed an issue where if you used the touch keyboard to input your password on the login screen, it might not disappear after logging into your PC.
  • [File Explorer]
    • Fixed an issue where the search icon in File Explorer might have been looping in an animation recently.
  • [Widgets]
    • If you’ve been experiencing an issue recently with widgets not being able to log in, that should be resolved now.
  • [Administrator Protection]
    • Fixed an issue when running an app as administrator, where the text in the UAC prompt might be truncated.
  • [Task Manager]
    • Fixed an issue that was causing some apps and their processes to not be grouped correctly.
  • [Other]
    • Updated the buttons to have rounded corners when you’re shutting down your PC and are prompted if you want to shut down anyway despite running apps.

 

And here is the list of known issues:

 

  • [General]
    • [NEW] We’re investigating an underlying issue leading to keyboards or other USB devices not working for a small number of Insiders after the latest flights.
  • [Taskbar & System Tray]
    • We’re investigating an issue that is causing the Start menu to not open for some Insiders on click, although it will open if you press the Windows key. It’s believed this issue may also potentially impact the notification center (which you can open with WIN + N).
    • [NEW] We’re investigating an issue where, for some Insiders, apps aren’t showing in the system tray when they should be.
  • [File Explorer]
    • Copy progress might flash when clicking more or less details in the dark mode version of the copy dialog.
    • Scrollbar and footer are missing and showing a white block instead when text is scaled in the dark mode version of the copy dialog.

 

You can find the announcement post here.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Saturday 25 October 2025 at 6:00 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32071Sat, 25 Oct 2025 08:02:05 +0000Microsoft Outlook is getting an AI overhaul under new leadershttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-outlook-is-getting-an-ai-overhaul-under-new-leaders-r32067/ Outlook won’t simply bolt on AI but rebuild around it.

Outlook users have only just got over the webification of Microsoft’s email client in recent years, and already there are major changes on the horizon. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell me that the company recently reorganized its Outlook team under new leadership with a focus on rebuilding the email client for the AI era.

 

“Instead of bolting AI onto legacy experiences, we have the chance to reimagine Outlook from the ground up,” Gaurav Sareen, corporate vice president of global experiences and platform at Microsoft, writes in an internal memo seen by Notepad.

 

Sareen is now taking over direct leadership of the Outlook team from Lynn Ayres, who is taking a sabbatical from Microsoft. He lays out a somewhat unclear vision of how Microsoft is going to transform its email client into more of an assistant, in a way that sounds very much like what Copilot already aspires to be.

 

“Think of Outlook as your body double, there for you, so work feels less overwhelming and more doable because you are not facing it alone,” Sareen writes in his memo. “With Copilot, this body double becomes even more powerful. Copilot turns Outlook from a set of tools into a partner that acts.”

 

Sareen envisions a future version of Outlook where the email client reads your messages, drafts replies, and organizes all of your time. That type of overhaul will require some changes to the way the Outlook team is organized and a renewed focus on shipping even faster. Sareen is expecting weekly feature experiments, rather than quarterly ones, and “prototyping and testing in days, not months.”

 

This also means that AI will be embedded in how Microsoft designs Outlook, builds it, and then ships it to consumers and businesses. “AI will not just be in our product, it will define our culture, helping us move at the speed this moment demands,” Sareen says.

 

The pressure is now on the Outlook team to build and deliver some type of AI overhaul to an email client that’s used by millions. Microsoft’s last major revamp to Outlook started a few years ago, with a web-based “One Outlook” email client that’s replacing its Windows, Mac, and web versions of Outlook. Microsoft has struggled to perfect it in recent years and bring it up to the standard of the existing desktop apps it’s trying to replace.

 

Sareen now wants Outlook employees to find “courage” to “let go of old ways of working” and “step forward when the easier path is to wait.” One Outlook was a big challenge for Microsoft, and attempting to transform an email client that Microsoft’s most important customers count on with unproven AI features is going to be an even bigger task. Executives at businesses around the world rely on their Outlook calendar every day, and Microsoft will have to tread carefully with AI features that could upend an important work tool.

 

The upcoming changes to Outlook are part of ongoing reorgs across Microsoft that are almost always about AI. Microsoft’s LinkedIn CEO, Ryan Roslansky, took on an expanded role as its head of Office earlier this year in an AI shake-up. Sareen reports to Roslansky, who leads all of the Office, Outlook, and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app teams.

 

The challenge for both Roslansky and Sareen is to convince Microsoft’s own employees that rebuilding Outlook for AI is the right thing to do. I’ve spoken to plenty of Microsoft employees who are unconvinced by Microsoft’s AI efforts and the investments being made. That’s not stopping Microsoft’s Outlook leadership from dreaming big, though.

 

“Next year, every product will claim to be AI native,” Sareen writes. “But there will be teams that just slap AI on products and make buzzword complaint claims. And there will be teams that will have actually rebuilt their product and culture from the ground up to make that real. I am betting my leadership that we will be that team.”

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Saturday 25 October 2025 at 4:37 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32067Fri, 24 Oct 2025 18:37:57 +0000Microsoft Edge is getting autofill improvementshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-edge-is-getting-autofill-improvements-r32066/ If you think that Microsoft is obsessed with AI these days, you are hardly wrong. Almost every announcement from the company has some sort of AI in it, and Microsoft Edge is not immune to it, with its newly launched Copilot Mode. However, it is not all-AI. Microsoft is working on improving existing features in its browser, and future Microsoft Edge updates will bring welcome enhancements to the browser's autofill capabilities.

 

Microsoft Edge 142, which is currently available in the Beta Channel ahead of its public release in a couple of weeks, improves form autofill by asking if you want to save the entered address data. Microsoft says that this change should reduce unwanted entries in the future:

Improved Autofill experience in Microsoft Edge. When users fill in an Address on a form, they'll be prompted to choose whether to save it for future Autofill suggestions. This enhancement ensures Autofill data is saved intentionally by users and reduces unwanted entries as part of their Autofill suggestion. Note: This is a controlled feature rollout. If you don't see this feature, check back as we continue our rollout.

In addition to that, Microsoft is working on additional WebUI 2 updates for the Edge browser, which enable significant performance improvements. An entry in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap recently revealed Microsoft's plans to migrate Edge's PDF viewer to WebUI 2. Microsoft has already upgraded a lot of parts of its browser to WebUI 2, and according to one of the latest updates from the company, it has reduced load time by 40% for over a dozen different Edge features.

 

If you want to try the updated autofill experience in Microsoft Edge 142, you can download the latest Beta release from the Microsoft Edge Insider website. Just keep in mind that the feature is rolling out gradually, so it might take some time to appear on your PC.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Saturday 25 October 2025 at 4:36 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32066Fri, 24 Oct 2025 18:36:26 +0000Fedora 43 is coming next week following Go/No-Go meetinghttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/fedora-43-is-coming-next-week-following-gono-go-meeting-r32065/ Unlike some Linux distributions, Fedora has quite a fluid release cycle where planned launch dates are known to slip. It has been the case with Fedora 43, where the initial target date was set for October 21, but this wasn’t met. Now, however, Fedora 43 has been cleared for release on October 28 following a Go/No-Go meeting.

 

The decision to allow the release to go ahead was approved after all outstanding blocker bugs, which caused the previous delay, were addressed. The final release date of the next release is also important for another reason; it determines the end-of-life data for the old stable, Fedora 41. According to the release calendar, Fedora 41 will be retired on November 26, just one month away, so if you haven’t made a move to Fedora 42, now is the time to move to Fedora 43.

 

Fedora 43 is set to launch with all the freshest software, including the Linux 6.17 kernel, the GNOME 49 desktop environment, and Python 3.14. This update also continues enhancements for the Anaconda WebUI installer, and it implements Wayland-only support for GNOME.

 

According to the release calendar, Fedora 43 is to reach its end of life on December 9, however, this is likely not going to be when it’s retired in actuality, it all depends when Fedora 45 ends up being released next year.

 

After Fedora 43 becomes available next week, the main Workstation version will be updated, but so will all of the other editions, including Fedora’s newer Atomic variants like Fedora Silverblue. You can download the new release as an ISO once it's available, or if you have Fedora already, just go to the updates tab in Software and it should show up when available.

 

With Windows 10 recently reaching end of life, Fedora is a good choice for those looking to prolong the life of their computers. Fedora Silverblue is especially notable as it aims to be secure like ChromeOS, while offering a full desktop environment. You can check out my opinions about a slightly older Fedora Silverblue, too.

 

Via: Phoronix

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Saturday 25 October 2025 at 4:35 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32065Fri, 24 Oct 2025 18:35:33 +0000Microsoft Forces Auto App Updates on Windows 11 Users, PC World Groanshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/microsoft-forces-auto-app-updates-on-windows-11-users-pc-world-groans-r32053/ You can only pause automatic updates for up to five weeks now.

 

First, Microsoft took away Windows 10, although it later backtracked and decided to allow people to sign up for a one-year stay of execution through October 13, 2026. Now, they’ve further angered their user base by removing the option of turning off automatic updates for apps from Windows 11.


A MONDAY SURPRISE

 

Microsoft made no formal announcement about the change. It was Windows Central that noticed on October 20 that the Microsoft App Store removed the option to disable automatic updates.

 

Even though I typically encourage people to enable automatic updates, whether they’re using Windows, macOS, Android, iPadOS, or iOS, there are some good reasons not to always immediately install an update for an app when it becomes available.

Sometimes an update comes out that causes an app to become unstable or outright unusable. If it happens in an app that’s crucial to one’s work, it can be disastrous to their productivity.

 

The truly cautious often wait a few days to see if community reports of unstable or broken apps, caused by recent updates, trickle in. If not, they’ll download them. If they do, then they’ll hold off and pat themselves on the back for their cautious approach until a new update is released and vetted by the community, and then they’ll download it.

 

There’s an option to pause automatic updates for up to five weeks, but when those five weeks are up, those apps will download and apply their updates.

 

For as far back as I can remember, Windows enthusiasts prized the customizability of their sandbox operating systems. They could configure, modify, and choose how their operating systems ran to a greater extent than the more restrictive “walled garden” of Apple’s macOS operating system.

 

Even if that meant Windows was often less stable and less efficient than macOS, it’s always been brandished as one of the PC’s trump cards over Mac.

 

Microsoft has been slowly pushing Windows users into more of a “do as I say” approach as Windows 11 has evolved, and this latest change rankled PC diehards who don’t like the idea of Microsoft controlling what gets installed on their computers and when.

 

Source

]]>32053Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:01:13 +0000The best Windows 10 alternative isn't Linux—it's modified Windows 11https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/the-best-windows-10-alternative-isnt-linux%E2%80%94its-modified-windows-11-r32046/ With Microsoft now having officially ended support for Windows 10, several otherwise capable laptops are being relegated to the sidelines. This isn't because they lack power or capacity, but simply because Microsoft's hardware rules for Windows 11 are restrictive. Switching to Linux is a viable option if you're willing to learn new tools and give up familiar software.

 

A second option is Tiny11 25H2. This community-built, ultra-light version of Windows 11 may be a smarter way forward. It avoids Secure Boot and TPM checks, and runs smoothly even with as little as 2GB of RAM. In many ways, it's preferable to Linux distributions, especially for someone who still appreciates the Windows experience and environment.


As Windows 10 hits its end of support, Tiny11 steps in
A full Windows 11 experience without the hardware gatekeeping 

 

For Windows 11, Microsoft included TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and newer CPU lists—strict hardware checks—as safeguards. However, this has excluded capable hardware. You can ignore all those limits using Tiny11 25H2 and get the Windows 11 experience on a five- or six-year-old computer.

 

Tiny11 25H2 is based on the latest Windows 11 25H2 update. It’s not a visual mockup or a pale imitation; it’s the actual modern Windows 11. It gives you Windows 11's Start menu, centered taskbar, and redesigned File Explorer. You can still use everyday software like Office, Steam, and Adobe apps on machines with limited RAM and modest eMMC storage.

 

It has the advantage of continuity, since you're not relearning workflows or troubleshooting drivers in a completely different way. Your old computers feel current again without making steep compromises.


As Windows 10 hits its end of support, Tiny11 steps in
A full Windows 11 experience without the hardware gatekeeping

 

windows-11-system-requirements-check.jpg


 

For Windows 11, Microsoft included TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and newer CPU lists—strict hardware checks—as safeguards. However, this has excluded capable hardware. You can ignore all those limits using Tiny11 25H2 and get the Windows 11 experience on a five- or six-year-old computer.

 

Tiny11 25H2 is based on the latest Windows 11 25H2 update. It’s not a visual mockup or a pale imitation; it’s the actual modern Windows 11. It gives you Windows 11's Start menu, centered taskbar, and redesigned File Explorer. You can still use everyday software like Office, Steam, and Adobe apps on machines with limited RAM and modest eMMC storage.

 

It has the advantage of continuity, since you're not relearning workflows or troubleshooting drivers in a completely different way. Your old computers feel current again without making steep compromises.


Leaner, faster, and stripped of the clutter
How removing bloatware turns Windows 11 into the OS people actually wanted 

 

windows-11-storage-on-the-regular-os-wit

 

In addition to removing the stringent hardware checks, Tiny11 also offers Windows 11 without the distractions. It removes Copilot, stops Teams from auto-running, plus strips out Clipchamp, Weather, and other unnecessary Windows Store apps.

 

This is a tangible difference. On older laptops, it boots quickly, leaves the CPU's power for your apps, and uses minimal RAM while idle. Windows 11 doesn't give that same level of responsiveness on older laptops.

 

It also dramatically reduces disk usage. Where Windows 11 requires more than 20GB, Tiny11 25H2 easily fits under 10GB, freeing up storage for your personal files and software. With the often-limited eMMC storage on cheaper machines, this is a tangible change.

 

Tiny11 cuts away those services you rarely use to give you the speed and focus Windows 11 should have had from the start. It's a modern Windows 11 experience that still respects your old hardware. Where Windows 11 may use up to 4GB after booting, thanks to background services, Tiny11 can dip below 1.2GB.


Tiny11 succeeds where Linux still stumbles
The power of keeping your software, workflow, and habits intact 

 

the-linux-mint-open-source-project-1.jpg

 

 Linux is a commonly suggested Windows 10 alternative. However, for a lifelong Windows user, it creates friction. This is true even for polished distros; they can suffer from inconsistent app support, unfamiliar interfaces, and an overall steep learning curve. The time and effort required take away from the perceived gain in speed.

 

For anyone used to Windows 10, Tiny11 25H2 gives great performance without the same adjustment demands of Linux. You get broad, complete compatibility with a Windows software ecosystem that you're already familiar with. This means no guesswork in finding apps and no relying on compatibility layers—unlike Linux, where you may need compatibility layers such as Wine or Valve's Proton.

 

I've been in the Linux ecosystem for years, and the lack of support for older hardware drivers is a major frustration. Forum searching or knowing complex terminal commands are often necessary to get built-in Wi‑Fi, trackpads, or power features working properly. Tiny11 25H2 uses Windows' driver base, ensuring your peripherals work out of the box.

 

However, security continuity is what makes Tiny11 the ideal Windows 10 alternative. It gives you access to Microsoft's security update channel of essential ongoing patches. This is the biggest step up, since Windows 10 will no longer receive support. If you're already in Microsoft's ecosystem, this is something no Linux distro will offer.

 

Tiny11 25H2 competes with Linux in a unique way. It's not trying to be a better alternative OS; it is rather a lighter version of an ecosystem you already use. It perfectly bridges maximizing performance and maintaining familiarity. Linux's long-standing promise is speed, freedom, and control without requiring compromise, and Tiny11 25H2 perfectly fulfills it.


How to start using Tiny11 25H2
The right way to install Tiny11 25H2 without the risks 

 

windows-11-25h2-settings-with-system-spe

 

 

If you’re going to try Tiny11 25H2, you want to download it from the best sources. The first part of getting Tiny11 25H2 is downloading the latest Windows 11 ISO. Here are the steps to follow:

 

  1. Visit the official Windows 11 download page.
  2. Under Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices, select Windows 11 (Multi-edition ISO for x64 devices) in the dropdown, then click Confirm.
  3. Under Select the product language, pick a language and hit Confirm.
  4. Click 64-bit Download to initialize the Win11_25H2 download.

 

Now you need to download the Tiny11 builder:

 

  1.     Visit the tiny11builder GitHub page.
  2.     Click the green Code button and select Download Zip.
  3.     Extract the Tiny11 builder.

 

For the last part, you need to use the downloaded Tiny11 builder to create an installable Tiny11 25H2:

 

  1. Right-click on the downloaded Windows 11 ISO and select Mount.
  2. Confirm the drive it’s mounted on by opening File Explorer, clicking My PC, and noting the drive letter with the mounted ISO.
  3. Open the Start menu, search for "PowerShell", right-click on it, and select Run as Administrator.
  4. Run the command Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted to allow the Tiny11 script to run on your computer. When prompted, hit Y and Enter.
  5. Enter the path to the tiny11Coremaker.ps1 file inside the downloaded Tiny11 file and hit Enter. For example: [Download Location]\tiny11builder-main\tiny11Coremaker.ps1
  6. When prompted, hit Y to continue the setup, then enter the drive letter for your Windows 11 ISO.
  7. You’ll see a list of Tiny11 options, including Windows Pro, Home, Education, and more. Enter the number corresponding to the Tiny11 ISO you want to create from the displayed list, then press Enter.

 

The Tiny11 builder will proceed with creating the Tiny11 25H2 ISO file.


The reality: safety, updates, and sustainability

 

One of the most important points to note is that Tiny11 25H2 is a community-built modification, not an official Windows OS. It comes at the expense of direct vendor support, guaranteed feature updates, and official digital licensing assistance. Relying on this enthusiast project means willingly accepting any security risks.

 

I understand why some people will argue against using Tiny11. I don't use it on mission-critical work PCs, and my best advice is to use it on secondary or aging systems. If you install it correctly, you still get cumulative security patches from Windows Update. You should only download the ISO from verified sources to mitigate any risks. But alternatively, you may consider using other tools to debloat Windows 11.

 

Source

]]>32046Thu, 23 Oct 2025 22:32:21 +0000Windows 11 gets fixes for Settings crashes and Windows Hello bugs in new build 27951https://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/windows-11-gets-fixes-for-settings-crashes-and-windows-hello-bugs-in-new-build-27951-r32045/ Microsoft has a new Windows 11 preview build for Canary Insiders, just as the program celebrates its 11th birthday (there are two new anniversary wallpapers for you to celebrate). Build 27951 is now available, bringing users some new fixes to test.

 

Unfortunately, the update does not contain any new features or major changes. Instead, Microsoft offers some general improvements and fixes for input, bugs with Windows Hello PIN authentication, and the Settings app crashes when accessing drive information in System > Storage. This bug also affects the drive properties dialog in File Explorer.

 

Here is the changelog:

 

  • [General]
    • This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

 

Here is what was fixed:

 

  • [Input]
    • Fixed an issue impacting touch keyboard launch reliability in the latest Canary builds.
  • [Windows Hello]
    • Fixed an issue impacting certain devices, which was causing the Windows Hello PIN to not work after upgrading to the latest Canary builds, until you set it up again.
  • [Settings]
    • Fixed an issue causing Settings to crash when accessing drive information under Settings > System > Storage. This also impacted accessing the drive information from the properties when you right-clicked a drive in File Explorer.

 

And here is the list of known issues:

 

  • [Start menu]
    • Insiders with the new Start menu may experience it unexpectedly scrolling to the top.
  • [Power and Battery]
    • We’re investigating reports that sleep and shutdown aren’t working correctly for some Insiders after the latest Canary builds.

 

You can find the announcement blog post here.

 

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Friday 24 October 2025 at 8:27 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32045Thu, 23 Oct 2025 22:27:45 +0000PowerToys 0.95.1 fixes theme-switching bugs and other issueshttps://nsaneforums.com/news/software-news/powertoys-0951-fixes-theme-switching-bugs-and-other-issues-r32044/ Microsoft has a new PowerToys update for Windows 11 and Windows 10 users (PowerToys is still supported there, even though the OS is not anymore). Version 0.95.1 arrived with some much-needed fixes for Light Switch, a new module that finally enables automatic theme switching in Windows 11 and 10. Users complained about Light Switch being enabled by default, so now, PowerToys 0.95.1 fixes that, preventing unsolicited theme switching on users' computers. Also, Microsoft changed the Manual mode to "Fixed Hours" and brought a new mode that lets you turn off the schedule but still switch modes with a keyboard shortcut.

 

There are also fixes for Command Palette, Find My Mouse, and the installer. Here is the changelog:

 

  • CmdPal
    • Fixed crashes on pages using filters (e.g., Windows Terminal profiles, Windows Services) when built with trimming or AOT by removing runtime bindings from the FiltersDropDown control.
    • Fixed an issue where window style changes (such as WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) were not properly applied by ensuring cached window data is refreshed.
  • Light Switch:
    • Fixed a bug where Light Switch was enabled by default
    • Fixed a bug where the Manual time schedule was being overridden by sunset calculations
    • Renamed "Manual" mode to "Fixed Hours" for clarity
    • Created a new "Off" mode that disables the schedule but still allows the shortcut to be used
    • Fixed a bug that allowed the taskbar to be the accent color in light mode (this should only be allowed in dark mode)
    • Fixed a bug where light/dark times were not updating when switching between modes (Specifically, manual back to the Sunset to Sunrise mode).
  • Find my mouse:
    • Fixed a bug that would cause the window to lose focus
    • Fixed a bug that would cause the mouse to go busy (hourglass)
  • Installer:
    • Removed WiX v3 infrastructure and migrated exclusively to WiX v5, cutting build times.
  • Bug report:
    • Improvements to the bug report system

 

You can download PowerToys 0.95.1 from the Microsoft Store or GitHub. Existing installations can be updated on the "General" tab.

 

Source

 

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Friday 24 October 2025 at 8:24 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of September): 4,533

RIP Matrix

]]>32044Thu, 23 Oct 2025 22:26:11 +0000