Our Picks

There are certainly valid reasons why you may not like Windows 11. A lot of it has to do with the stringent system requirements Microsoft introduced, which turned off a lot of users who had PCs that were only a few years old - at the time of the Windows 11 announcement - labeled incompatible. There have been more changes since then. And those on eligible systems often find Windows Update reminders or forced / automatic updates.

The Files app has been updated to version 3.3, just one month after its last release. Version 3.3 is now available for download with two main changes: a reworked layout slider and thumbnail improvements, including better DPI support. In addition, the update contains multiple fixes for other parts of the application.

Mozilla Firefox 124 is now available in the Release channel with various improvements and new features. The most notable changes include caret browsing support in the PDF viewer for better accessibility (the ability to navigate a webpage with a keyboard), improved Windows jumplist support, fullscreen API support on macOS, and more.

In February 2023, Microsoft and Adobe announced a joint effort to improve the PDF viewing experience in Edge by integrating the Adobe Acrobat PDF engine into the browser. That allowed Microsoft to provide its customers with better document rendering, snappier performance, and improved security and accessibility.
 
A few days ago, Microsoft updated the original announcement post with new details about the removal of the old PDF engine (via Deskmodder).

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Madame Web' tops the chart, followed by 'Oppenheimer'. ‘'Poor Things' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.
 
Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at new builds in every Windows Insider channel, Samsung spoiling the next-gen Copilot features, Copilot Pro launching worldwide, a new wave of ads targeting Chrome users in Windows 10 and 11, game sales, and all sorts of app updates.

The theme of the week is technology that extends across platforms.

What a wild week it's been for Microsoft and Windows news. Seemingly by coincidence, the biggest news stories of the week have a theme, crossing platforms. Sea of Thieves became was the most pre-ordered game on PlayStation, developers managed to get the Surface Duo to run Windows 11, and new EU law forced Microsoft to let people use non-Microsoft services on Windows. Toss in Windows 11 shoving an ad for Bing into Chrome, and you have a packed week of news. Oh, and did I mention the free version of Copilot got an upgrade as well?

Do you need to create multiple folders on Windows 11? Here's a quick way to do this.

On Windows 11 (and 10), you can create a new folder through File Explorer in multiple ways, but the only caveat is that you can only create one item at a time. However, if you're working on a project or organizing files, it's possible to create multiple folders in bulk.

Ah, here we go again.
 
Microsoft is back to its classic tactics of harassing users to make them switch from competing services. Multiple posts on Reddit and other social media report that the company is once pedaling malware-like popup banners asking Chrome users to set Bing as the default search engine in exchange for free access to GPT-4.

These malware-like pop-ups are gross.

Microsoft is once again injecting pop-ups into Google’s Chrome browser in a bid to get people to switch to Bing. The software giant first introduced malware-like pop-up ads last year with a prompt that appeared over the top of other apps and windows. After pausing that notification to address “unintended behavior,” the pop-ups have returned again on Windows 10 and 11.

In November 2023, leaked screenshots showed that Microsoft was internally testing Office 2024, the next stand-alone version of its suite of productive apps. Today, Microsoft confirmed it was working on Office 2024 for both businesses and consumers.

In December 2023, Proton announced that it had launched beta versions of a new Mail desktop app for Windows and Mac platforms. Today, the company revealed those desktop apps are now officially available in non-beta versions.

I fear that Microsoft has sidelined Edge's Sidebar in favor of Copilot.

The Sidebar in Microsoft Edge is one of my favorite features in the browser. I use it like a phone within my browser that syncs to all my services, such as Telegram, Spotify, and Instagram. It's also handy for other things, such as searching the web without leaving your current window and sending files to yourself through the Edge Drop feature (which is arguably the best Edge feature you aren't using). But while I like the Edge Sidebar, it has some flaws that need to be taken care of.

Microsoft has released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 23H2, 22H2, and 21H2. The 23H2 and 22H2 versions' update is delivered via KB5035853 while the 21H2 update is KB5035854. You will be on build versions 22631.3296, 22621.3296, and 22000.2836 respectively after applying the update.

It's the second Tuesday of the month, which means it's Patch Tuesday time again. As such, today Microsoft is rolling out the monthly security update (also called "B release") for March 2024 on Windows Server 20H2, and Windows 10 for the latest supported versions, 20H2, 21H2, and 22H2.

Windows 10 version 21H2 is about to reach its end of life. Microsoft published a new support document notifying that June 11, 2024, will mark the end of support for the remaining editions of Windows 10 version 21H2, including Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Argylle' tops the chart, followed by 'Poor Things'. ‘'Dune: Part Two' completes the top three.
 
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.
 
Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

Pretty much like Windows 11, Microsoft tries to find ways to push more users into using OneDrive or upgrading their existing capacity.

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at another no-build week, the death of Windows Subsystem for Android, an upcoming Surface/Windows/Copilot event, new controllers, all sorts of Windows updates, and more.

Copilot and other AI projects are big new things for Microsoft, and with the company investing billions of dollars into this area, it wants to make sure customers know about its products and, more importantly, use them. As a result, Windows is getting multiple Copilot entries plastered across its UI, and some of those implementations look borderline ridiculous.

You can use these five ways to determine if your device has a good wireless signal on Windows 11.
On Windows 11, you can check the Wi-Fi signal strength in multiple ways, and in this guide, I will show you how to complete this task.

Copilot in Windows might launch like an unwanted pop-up ad.

What you need to know

Microsoft is testing a new way to launch Copilot AI on Windows 11.
In Windows 11, users might be able to launch the chatbot by hovering their mouse cursor over the Copilot icon on the Taskbar.
The hovering experience is exclusively available to Windows Insiders in the beta channel.
We asked our readers how often they interact with Microsoft Copilot on Windows 11, and the results are finally out.

Unsurprisingly, WSA struggling to make money stopped Android apps on Windows from being viable.

What you need to know

Microsoft announced the deprecation of Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) recently. Support for WSA will end on March 5, 2025, but Amazon has already stopped downloads of the Amazon Appstore from the Microsoft Store.
Andrew Clinick, who worked for Microsoft for almost 30 years, shared insight as to why WSA was shut down.

By Susan Bradley

Because of the ongoing rollout of Copilot enhancements, I recommend deferring or pausing updates.

That’s why I’m raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2.

Earlier today, we noticed that Microsoft had quietly released a KB5001716 update for Windows 10 users. In a nutshell, it is meant to offer the next feature update for your PC. You can learn more about what the update is meant to do in the dedicated article.
 
We, however, noticed that some of Neowin's forum members are complaining about installation issues with this update. They are coming across the "0x80070643" error message which users have become familiar with recently due to the installation issue with another update, namely KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11).