Microsoft Weekly: Recall arrives and Windows Maps dies

This week's Microsoft news recap is here with Recall finally arriving, Windows 11 getting a big feature drop, plenty of new Windows 11 preview builds to try, the first signs of Windows 11 version 25H2, gaming news, and a lot more.

Quick links:

1. Windows 10 and 11
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and Windows 10

Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions.

The biggest Windows story of this week is the launch of the long-promised AI features for Windows 11. After a nearly year-long delay, Microsoft finally launched Recall on Copilot+ PCs. Also, Microsoft dropped Click to Do, AI-powered Windows Search, and more. If you have a compatible Copilot+ PC (some features are limited to those with Snapdragon processors), you can get that good stuff by installing the latest non-security update for Windows 11 version 24H2.

This month's non-security updates are now available for all supported Windows versions. The biggest one was pushed to Windows 11. KB5055627 arrived with a lot of changes, new AI-powered experiences for Copilot+ PCs, and more.

Windows 11 version 23H2 received KB5055629 with Phone Link integration in the Start menu, File Explorer improvements, new features for Narrator and Widgets, and a lot more. There is also one for Windows 10, KB5055612, with only two fixes.

Microsoft also released new recovery and OOBE updates for Windows 11 and brought native PyTorch Arm support to Windows PCs.

This week, we also published a bunch of useful guides for Windows users. One will show you how to pause or defer Patch Tuesday and quality updates in Windows 10 and 11 (in case Microsoft ships a botched update or there is a critical known bug), and another one will show you how to change the default screenshot folder.

To finish this week's Windows section, here are some interesting discoveries that were made. For one, it turned out that the mysterious inetpub folder that appeared after recent security updates allows hackers to block Windows updates permanently. Also, Windows 11 version 24H2 resurrected a 20-year-old bug in the original Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We posted a rather lengthy article describing what is actually going on.

Finally, Microsoft announced that the Windows 10 Update bug it previously told you to ignore was fixed.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week:

Shortly after Microsoft released the latest Windows 11 preview builds, enthusiasts discovered that more parts of the old Control Panel had made their way to the Settings app. This time, Microsoft is moving keyboard settings and giving certain options a modern overhaul.

Also, in Canary build 27842, users found references to Windows 11 version 25H2. We knew that Windows 11 would receive a big feature update this year, and now, there is a sort of confirmation from Microsoft, as code lines in build 27842 point to GE25H2 with build number 26200. This also indicates that this year's feature update could be a small enablement package, not a full system upgrade as it was with version 24H2 last year.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

One of our favorite File Explorer alternatives, Files, received a new preview update. Version 3.9.7 is now available in the Microsoft Store, offering users a bunch of useful improvements, such as an updated sidebar, the ability to customize file size units, ZIP enhancements, and more. Look out for this update in the stable version in the near future.

Microsoft announced a big update to the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, which now features new agents with OpenAI's deep reasoning models, GPT-4o image-generation capabilities, Copilot Notebooks, Copilot search, and more, all as part of Microsoft's effort to improve human-agent interactions within organizations.

In addition to that, we had a bunch of Copilot updates in Office apps. Word, for one, now lets you reference massive documents and entire folders (up to 1.5 million words and 3,000 pages). In PowerPoint, Copilot is now capable of creating slides from your documents.

Speaking of PowerPoint, it also got the ability to link slides (on the web version) and retain comments when moving parts of a presentation around. Finally, Microsoft released a fix for the high CPU usage bug in the classic Outlook for Windows.

On the browser side, we have an interesting development happening in Microsoft Edge. The company is working on a new feature that lets you have Copilot as your default new tab page. This feature is currently an experiment, and you can check out this article to learn how to enable it.

What will no longer receive any updates is the Windows Maps app. Pour one out for the program, as Microsoft confirmed that it is deprecated and will soon be removed from the Microsoft Store in July 2025. Before that, the company will ship the final update that will make the program fully inoperable. Those who want to use Bing Maps can switch to the web version, which is available via this link.

Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting:

• Nvidia Project G-Assist received ChatGPT integration to let gamers build custom plugins

Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week:

• Nvidia 576.15 Hotfix with patches for temperature reporting errors.
• Intel 32.0.101.6737 WHQL with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered support and more.
• AMD Radeon Software 25.4.1 non-WHQL with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered support and more.
• AMD released a new chipset driver with bug fixes for Windows 10 and 11.

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week

This weekend, I published a small hands-on review of the Cuktech 10 100W GaN charger. This portable brick has plenty of ports and power to keep all your devices, including laptops and power banks, juiced up at high speeds and with "clean" power. The best part is that it is currently available for as little as $35.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more.

If you have a relatively modern LG Smart TV, you can now install the official Xbox app on it. It will let you play games directly on your TV using Microsoft's cloud streaming. All you need is a select TV released in 2022 or newer, a Bluetooth-enabled controller, and an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 received a new City Update. City Update 10 focuses on revamping five cities in the United States, namely Dallas, Texas, Denver, San Francisco, and Honolulu.

Forza Horizon 5 is now welcoming PlayStation 5 users to the vibrant world of Mexico. The game finally arrived on the PlayStation 5 with all the content it received over the last three years. Also, the latest update, Horizon Realms, is now available to play, allowing gamers to revisit the most iconic location from the previous updates and earn some new cars.

Nvidia announced a set of new games for GeForce NOW subscribers. The latest drop includes The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Sunderfolk, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, EXFIL, Sands of Aura, and more.

Deals and freebies

The Epic Games Store is giving away Chuchel, a cute point-and-click adventure from Amanita Design, which replaced the previous Botanicula giveaway. As usual, we also have a new issue of the Weekend PC Game Deals series, where you can find plenty of various discounts and deals.

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