Articles about Microsoft

The death of the Control Panel has been slow and painful. The long and drawn out move from the Control Panel to the Settings app started years ago, and it is still an ongoing process in Insider Builds of Windows 11.

It is not really clear why Microsoft is taking so long to migrate options across from the Control Panel to Settings, other than factoring in the idea that it is really not considered a priority. But with the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27928 to the Canary Channel this week, the Control Panel continues to be subjected to a death by a thousand cuts.

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Microsoft could be accused of many things in relation to Copilot on Windows, but standing still is not one of them.

Both in terms of functionality and design, the company seems to be constantly at work and this is something that is evident in the latest Insider build of Windows 11. Microsoft is rolling out new features such as Semantic Search, and also a completely redesign home page for Copilot on Windows.

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Windows 10 is set to reach its end of life in just a couple of short months, which means Microsoft will stop providing free security updates and official support for the beloved operating system. Although extended security updates will be available for a fee, most users will soon be faced with a stark choice: upgrade to Windows 11, switch to Linux, or wait for the long-rumored Windows 12.

The retirement of Windows 10 unquestionably marks a major shift in the PC landscape. Microsoft is pushing its customer base towards a newer, AI-enhanced Windows experience -- whether they are fully ready for it or not.

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The National Football League and Microsoft announced today that their strategic partnership will run for at least several more years, with the goal of expanding the use of artificial intelligence across the sport

The collaboration brings Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI into areas that affect game day decisions, scouting, and stadium operations. With the league hosting hundreds of events each year, the aim is to improve both performance and the fan experience.

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We have already seen Microsoft bringing Copilot to Excel. The company only recently added the AI assistant to its spreadsheet as a way to explain formulae to help users better understand them.

Now Microsoft is bringing Copilot to Excel in more ways – arguably more useful ways. Currently available to Insiders, the latest addition sees Microsoft giving users the option to “bring AI to your formulas with the COPILOT function in Excel”.

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Microsoft’s approach to Windows 11 means that the operating system is never complete. This is evident in many areas, including dark mode.

Like so many companies, Microsoft jumped on the dark mode bandwagon quite some time ago – almost a decade ago, in fact. Work started on the eye-saving option back in Windows 10 but it is still not complete. However there are signs that Microsoft has not given up, and there are still more changes to come.

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If you can rely on Microsoft for anything, it is that the company will use Windows to push its own products and services – just look at Copilot.

You will have noticed that Microsoft is busy squeezing Copilot into everything it possibly can. The latest victim of this treatment is the Start menu in Windows 11. This should come as no surprise – Microsoft is not only hellbent on shoving Copilot down people’s throats, it is turning to its tried and tested technique of using the Start menu to do so.

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TweakNow AutoDark 1.0 is a new, free Windows 11 tool that automatically switches between light and dark mode based on your schedule, without the need for manual changes. It can even sync your wallpapers with the chosen theme and delay transitions during full-screen apps or games.

The app is very straightforward to use. Once installed, all the options are presented in a single screen, so you can set it up how you'd like in a few mouse clicks.

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If you’re the sort of person who likes to be in control of what happens on your computer – as much as such a thing is possible – you may have disabled automatic updates for Microsoft Store apps.

Microsoft has, without warning or any sort of announcement, removed this option. If you have installed an app from the Microsoft Store, you are now essentially forced to keep the very latest versions of that app installed.

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Microsoft has reminded users, yet again that support for Windows 10 is coming to an end. You could be forgiven for being tired of hearing about this, but as the cut-off date is very much on the horizon, Microsoft’s eagerness to ensure everyone knows is understandable.

There are now less than two months to go until Microsoft stops issuing updates to Windows 10 for anyone who has not paid for extended support. This is really not long, and while it is hard to believe that there could possibly be anyone who is not yet aware of this, there will of course be some.

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You can’t have failed to be aware that Windows 10 is approaching its end of life, meaning security updates will soon stop.

For users who don’t watch to take risks with their system safety, the obvious next step is a move to Windows 11, but the newly released SparkyLinux 8.0 offers a lightweight, fast, and fully configurable alternative that supports both modern and older hardware.

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It is time for a new PowerToys update, and with the release of version 0.93.0 of the utility suite, Microsoft delivers a lot.

As well as fixing bugs and making improvements to a number of the modules, PowerToys v0.93.0 features a new dashboard UX. There are no new modules this time around but there are some impressive performance improvements.

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Six newly discovered Windows vulnerabilities, including one rated as critical, could crash systems, allow attackers to run malicious code, or expose sensitive data. The flaws were uncovered by Check Point Research and privately reported to Microsoft under a responsible disclosure process.

One of the most notable discoveries involves what is likely the first publicly disclosed bug in a Rust-based Windows kernel component. Rust is often chosen for its ability to prevent memory errors that have historically led to security flaws

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Microsoft just found a new use for AI. Excel users can now turn to the new Explain Formula feature which uses Copilot to use artificial intelligence to understand how a formula works.

There are many advantages to this. It can serve as a way to learn about how to create new formulae of your own, but it is also a handy way to not only understand how a formula works as well as a means of debugging if the output is not what you were expecting it to be.

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Microsoft OneNote is an incredibly useful tool, and a clever one – sometime too clever. After being absent for far too long, it now finally has an unformatted text pasting option.

It is hard to believe that it has taken over twenty years for this to arrive – and it is not clear why it has taken so long – but it is finally here. No longer will you have to strip out unwanted formatting, change color and so on. Unformatted text pasting is now just a keyboard shortcut away.

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