Windows 11

Five-hundred-and-seventy-one 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 is testing new features all the time. Windows 11 users may soon get more out of their device's battery thanks to the new Energy Saver tool that is currently in development. Another change moves the Copilot button from its center position on the taskbar to the very right of it.

When it was first released, Windows 10 famously spied on users and shared all sorts of information with Microsoft. Over the years, the software giant has reigned in this behavior and introduced a wealth of privacy controls to let you manage what you share.

That said, these controls are scattered throughout the OS and finding them isn’t always easy. This is where Win10Privacy can help.

Microsoft has released a new Insider build for testers in the Canary Channel. Build 26002 includes changes to the taskbar and system tray, but the standout feature is a new Energy Saver tool.

This experimental inclusion offers an "easy way to extend battery life and reduce energy use by trading off some system performance."

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Build 23595 for those Insiders in the Dev Channel. This new flight comes with the usual selection of changes, improvements and fixes, including shifting the location of the Copilot AI icon.

Microsoft has taken the wise decision to relocate the icon from its current position next to the search box, to the right side of the system tray on the taskbar. The reason for this it to "make the entry point to Copilot more clear and easily accessible by being closer to where the Copilot pane opens."

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.2776 to the Beta Channel. Also known as the KB5032292 update, this fixes numerous issues from previous builds, and also introduces several new features and options.

There are big improvements to Windows Ink, so handwriting recognition is now more accurate and can be used with more languages. Significant changes to Windows Share make it possible to share directly to specific Microsoft Teams Channels and group chats. Beloved stalwart tool Task Manager has some improvements for power users too.

Windows 11 is many things, but small it ain't. This is something that tiny11 exists to address, and we've covered this stripped-back version of Windows 11 before. Now it has been updated with new features and a smaller footprint than ever.

The latest version of tiny11 is based on Windows 11 23H2 and has been shrunk by a massive 20 percent from the previous version. There is a new naming system that makes much more sense (this is tiny11 2311), the software is updatable to future cumulative updates, and Copilot is available as an option. And that's just scratching the surface.

It's easy enough to get Android games running on your PC. You can use third-party emulators like Bluestacks or NoxPlayer, or you can make use of the built-in Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11.

If you want to do the reverse and play Windows games on your Android device, that's a little harder, but it can be done. For this you'll need Winlator. We’ve covered this Android app before, but it’s just been updated to improve compatibility and performance, and fix a number of problems.

Five-hundred-and-seventy 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.

After what felt like ages, Microsoft's Media Creation Toolkit for Windows 11 is finally offering version 23H2 to users. Microsoft began the rollout of the feature update three weeks ago, but only via Windows Update and as direct downloads.

Microsoft has acknowledged an issue with Windows 11 23H2 which causes the Narrator accessibility tool to fail.

The company warns that people using either physical media or ISO images to install Windows 11 2023 Update may find that Microsoft Narrator does not start. There is currently no fix for the problem.

After what feels likes years of user complaints, Microsoft is at long last introducing a way to quickly refresh the list of available wireless networks in Windows 11.

Added in the recently released build 25997 of Windows 11 but -- for reasons we'll go into shortly -- not mentioned by Microsoft in the changelog, there is finally a "Refresh network list" button in the Wi-Fi popup menu.

There are a number of ways to install Windows 11, including using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to creation installation media.

While Windows 11 23H2 has been available for a little, now, many people were disappointed that the Media Creation Tool could not be used to download it. Now this changes.

Five-hundred-and-sixty-nine 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 confirmed that Windows Copilot is coming to Windows 10. The AI promises combines Bing Chat functionality with Windows-specific functions.

Microsoft is slowly but surely trimming the fat away from Windows 11. Over the course of recent months, the company has either removed or announced the future removal of numerous app components, including the Tips and WordPad apps.

Now a new victim has been added to the list. With the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23590 to the Dev Channel, Microsoft has revealed that screen recording stalwart Steps Recorder is no longer being updated and is lined up for removal further down the line.

It is that time of the month again; Microsoft has released a slew of updates including the KB5032190 update for Windows 11.

As this is a cumulative update that includes security fixes, it is therefore mandatory. But the security patches, while nice, are far from being the highlight. KB5032190 is the update with which Microsoft is giving all Windows 11 users access to the new features of Moment 4, including Taskbar changes and Windows Copilot.

Five-hundred-and-sixty-eight 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 plans to retire the Tips app on Windows. Three Windows services will also be removed because of security concerns.