Articles about Windows 11

The rollout of Windows 24H2 has been a slow and bumpy road. We’re not far from entering 25H2 and Microsoft has just announced that the Windows 11 2024 Update is now “broadly available”.

The shift to broad availability means that anyone with a compatible system will now be able to download the update, but many people are likely to find that they are automatically upgraded without having to do anything. Despite entering the final stage of rollout and availability, Microsoft says there are still compatibility holds in place that will block access to the upgrade for some users.

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You’ve possibly seen people online try to use ChatGPT to generate valid product keys for paid software, including different versions of Microsoft Windows.

YouTuber Gameboy Hub set out to test how successful ChatGPT is at generating, or sourcing, product keys to activate various versions of Microsoft Windows -- starting from Windows 95 and working up to Windows 7 (from where, in theory, it could be possible to upgrade to Windows 10 and Windows 11).

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Six-hundred-forty-five in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

The optional update for Windows 11 brings the controversial Recall AI feature along with it, at least on Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft seems ready to launch it to all Copilot+ PCs next month as part of the cumulative security update.

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With Windows 10’s end of life looming, users are beginning to consider their next steps. In the past, upgrading to the latest Windows release might have been the obvious path, but Windows 11 -- with its tighter hardware requirements, bloat, problematic updates, insistence on a Microsoft account, and an increasing focus on unwanted AI features -- may no longer be the first choice for many.

Thankfully, Windows 11 isn’t the only game in town. Several Linux operating systems have been developed to appeal to Windows users looking to jump ship. AnduinOS is one such distribution, combining the familiarity of Windows 11 with the power of Ubuntu, and it's just been updated to version 1.3.0.

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Powerful new tools are only useful if people know what they can do and how to get them to do those things. For what feels like an eternity, Microsoft has been pushing Copilot as the greatest addition to Windows since... well, since Cortana it probably thinks.

For tech heads who have kept up with the latest news and developments, it’s easy to know what Copilot is, what it is about, and what it can do. But Microsoft realizes that not every Windows user is a tech head and is adding a guided tour to the app.

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The lukewarm reception to Windows 11 is clear from the wave of third-party tools built to fix it. One of the most recent is Crapfixer Rebirth Version, a utility that’s been around for about seven years (although it looks older), which has now been given a full refresh.

Winhance is another tool you’ll definitely be interested in. It can debloat and optimize Windows -- and keep it that way. Although it’s been designed for Windows 11 it works just fine on Windows 10. Winhance was originally a PowerShell GUI application, but version 4 is a standalone app that can be installed or uninstalled easily, and it also comes in a portable version, so there's no reason not to get started with it today.

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It is only too easy to dismiss something that is less than perfect, that does not meet your every need or desire, as crap. It is an accusation that is frequently leveled at Windows 11, and now there is something you can do about it.

The bluntly named Crapfixer does exactly what the name suggests -- fixes those niggling issues, the crap, that makes Windows 11 annoying. It’s not entirely dissimilar to CCleaner, and that’s something the developer points to as a source of inspiration. So let’s take a look at Crapfixer Rebirth Version and see what it can do for you.

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Ahead of next month’s Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft has released a preview, non-security update for Windows 11. The KB5055627 update is an interesting one, largely because it sees the launch of a preview version of the controversial Recall feature.

But there is more to this update than the feature that sparked so many privacy concerns. While there are changes and fixes for all Windows 11 PCs, the vast majority of the KB5055627 update -- or at least the most exciting elements of it -- are for Copilot+ PCs only. This is the start of a two-tier Windows 11 user experience.

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Using Windows 11 can be enough to make anyone turn the air blue, but being irritated by aspects of the operating system is not the only reason for swearing at your computer.

Profanity is a part of everyday language, but Microsoft has been very prudish about it -- to the extent that the Voice Typing feature censored curse words. But this is changing. An update to Windows 11 means that it is possible to dictate swearwords and have them converted into text.

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We regularly suggest operating systems to consider if you’re feeling disillusioned by Windows 11, and judging by their popularity, Microsoft should be concerned by just how many people are looking to jump ship.

Commodore OS Vision has just been updated to version 3.0, and it’s a major overhaul. The Linux-based operating system offers the modern features you’d expect, but with a retro twist. It’s also packed with classic Commodore content that will appeal to anyone who owned one of those systems in the past.

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Six-hundred-forty-four in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft announced the deprecation and removal of the Maps app by July 2025 from the Microsoft Store. The app won't be uninstalled on user machines, but it won't receive updates anymore and can't be installed again if it is removed by the user after July 2025.

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ThinkPad computers are absolutely legendary, and today Lenovo is expanding its lineup with a fresh batch of laptops and mobile workstations. The company has announced updates across several models, including the ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 AMD, ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 AMD, new L Series business laptops, and additional configurations for its X1 Aura Editions.

Leading the charge are the new ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 AMD and P16s Gen 4 AMD mobile workstations. These machines aim to offer a balance of power and portability, with the P14s weighing in at just over 3 pounds and measuring 16.13mm thin.

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Six-hundred-forty-three in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

The Windows 11 Snipping Tool is getting improved OCR support. The functionality is now available directly via a button or the shortcut Shift-Windows-T. You had to take a screenshot first previously to extract text from it.

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Canonical has announced the arrival of Ubuntu 25.04 -- "Plucky Puffin." This latest interim release introduces a number of updates across the desktop, as well as developer tools, and improved hardware support, with a focus on boosting performance and improving the user experience.

Ubuntu 25.04 ships with GNOME 48, offering new features like a Preserve Battery Health mode, HDR support, and Canonical’s triple buffering patches, now accepted upstream. A new Wellbeing Panel helps users manage screen time, while a redesigned install and boot experience adds improved partitioning options and experimental Dracut support for faster system startup.

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Microsoft has once again been forced to mitigate a problem caused by a faulty update for Windows 11 with a Known Issue Rollback (KIR).

The KB5055523 update, release earlier this month is causing BSoDs and a 0x18B error. The same issue applies to the KB5053656 preview update from March. While it used to be possible to refer to KIRs as a rarely used fix for particularly serious issues, it is something Microsoft is falling back on more and more. The problem is, they don’t work for everyone.

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