Microsoft updates Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11 with picture-in-picture support

Windows 11 laptop and mobile

For anyone looking to run Android apps and game within Windows 11, Windows Subsystem for Android is a fabulous, and free, alternative to the various emulators that are available. In a new update to the compatibility layer, Microsoft has added support for picture-in-picture mode.

P-in-P is only available in apps that explicitly support it -- the update to Windows Subsystem for Android does not add it to other apps -- and it is something that will serve as an aid to multi-tasking.

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Microsoft is adding ChatGPT support to PowerToys for AI-powered searches

PowerToys ChatGPT

Having just added a registry editing tool to PowerToys, Microsoft is now working on the practically inevitable -- adding ChatGPT support to the utility collection.

This will not take the form of a dedicated new module, rather it will be a plugin. Specifically PowerToys' AI-driven ChatGPT functionality will come courtesy of a PowerToys Run plugin that is currently in development. It is a move that neatly integrates the power of ChatGPT into Windows 10 and Windows 11.

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Microsoft releases KB5025239 update for Windows 11, adding new Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS), security fixes and more

11 key

Microsoft has released the cumulative KB5025239 update for Windows 11 22H2, bringing with it not only security and bug fixes, but also general improvements and new features.

Among the highlights are the addition of the new Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) as a Windows inbox feature. This update also adds new notifications about Microsoft account to the Start menu, improves Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and provides easy access to the Bing chat experience in Microsoft Edge via the taskbar.

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Microsoft is changing the function of the Print Screen key in Windows 11

Print Screen

Microsoft is not shy about introducing controversial changes to its software, even if feedback forces it to reverse course further down the line. Windows 11 has seen a huge number of modifications, not all of which have proved popular, and a proposed change to the functionality of a key in Windows 11 is likely to be a divisive move.

The key in question the Print Screen (or Prt Scr and numerous other variations) which currently takes a screenshot and copies it to the clipboard. But in the latest builds of Windows 11, pressing the key does something different by default.

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Windows 11 Mobile is everything a phone operating system should be

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Microsoft made a significant investment in Windows 10 Mobile, including acquiring Nokia to produce its own handsets. Despite the strengths of the tiled mobile operating system, it was unable to compete with the dominant iOS and Android platforms. While Windows 10 became a successful operating system for PCs and tablets, Microsoft was eventually abandon its mobile ambitions

As Windows 11 gradually replaces Windows 10, the question remains whether it would perform better than its predecessor in the mobile space.

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Microsoft is making it easier to terminate unresponsive apps in Windows 11 with new End Task option

Windows 11 End Task

Use Windows 11 for long enough, and you will almost certainly encounter an app that becomes unresponsive. And when an app freezes, you're likely to find that it misbehaves to the point that it is not possible to close it in the usual way.

When this happens, you may well fire up Task Manager, locate the troublesome app or process in the list and terminate it. But to help optimize this unnecessarily lengthy process, Microsoft is introducing a new End Task option that can be accessed from the Windows 11 taskbar.

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Windows 10 vs. Windows 10X vs. Windows 11: A triple comparison

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If you’re running a modern version of Windows, you'll either be on Windows 10 or Windows 11. For a while though, Microsoft was working on Windows 10X, a version of the OS designed for modern PCs.

Windows 10X was built from scratch on top of "Windows Core OS" and aimed to do away with legacy features and offer a simplified Windows experience. It was cancelled in 2021, although leaked builds did give us an idea of how it would look and what it would offer.

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Best Windows apps this week

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Five-hundred-and-thirty-seven 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's official Store on Windows 11 has a new section for widgets. Follow this link to open the Widgets section. Listed widgets may be installed so that they may be displayed in the Widgets interface.

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Microsoft releases Windows 11 Build 23430

Windows 11 laptop

As well as a new Windows 11 build for Insiders on the bleeding edge Canary Channel, Microsoft has rolled out a new flight for testers on the Dev Channel.

New features here include a change to how urgent and important notifications are handled when 'do not disturb' is turned on -- users will have the option to click a 'view notification' button.

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Microsoft releases experimental Windows 11 Build 25336

Canary-Windows-11

Windows Insiders have been made to wait all week for a new Windows 11 build, but arriving in time for the weekend comes a new flight on the experimental Canary Channel.

Build 25336, which is also available for Insiders with Arm64 devices, comes with a couple of changes and improvements.

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Microsoft advises some Windows 10 users of impending automatic update ahead of end of service

Windows 10 laptop

Microsoft has issued a reminder to users of certain versions of Windows 10 that their operating system will reach end of serving in mid-June.

The announcement applies to the Home, Pro, Pro Education and Pro for Workstations editions of Windows 10 21H2, and when June 13 rolls around no more monthly security updates will be issued. Microsoft says that in order to ensure protection, users will be automatically updated to a supported version of Windows.

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Microsoft brings Gmail support to the new Outlook for Windows preview

`New Outlook for Windows preview

Having announced its plans to do so last year, Microsoft has added support for Gmail accounts to the new Outlook for Windows preview for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Gmail support is something that has been available to Office Insiders for a little while, but now the company is opening it up to anyone who is running the preview of the new Outlook for Windows. Microsoft says that it also plans to add IMAP support as well as support for Yahoo and iCloud, but for now it is Gmail users the company is treating -- but there is something you need to do first.

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How to use Windows Sandbox to open files in a secure environment

Windows-Sandbox

Windows Sandbox is a built-in feature of Windows 10 and Windows 11. Its main purpose is to provide a safe environment for running applications. Anything that is executed in the sandbox, e.g., a software that is installed, remains trapped inside. It can’t break out and affect the "real" operating system.

As a consequence, malware, spyware and other unwanted and undesirable code, can’t infect the system or pull data from it.

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Microsoft is about to make a crazy change to Windows 11 that will draw the ire of users

Attacking monitor with a chainsaw

Change is often good, but not when it comes to changing the way Windows works -- particularly the fundamental features that people have become used to. But this is precisely what Microsoft is looking to do by introducing a controversial new limitation on Alt-Tab in Windows 11.

As anyone who has used Windows for any length of time will know, the Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut provides an easy way to switch between open apps and windows. In recent years, Microsoft has added functionality by making it possible to Alt-Tab through Edge tabs, but now the company is testing a new implementation that reduces its usefulness.

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Microsoft backtracks on new Content Adaptive Brightness Control feature in Windows 11 -- desktop users to miss out

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When Microsoft released the latest Dev build of Windows 11, one of the new additions was Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) -- an energy-saving feature that works by dimming areas of the screen depending on the content that is being viewed. Much was made of the fact that CABC was something that would benefit everyone, including desktop users. But it turns out that this is not actually the case.

Microsoft has now backtracked on its announcement, revealing that CABC is rather more underwhelming than we were first led to believe -- and far fewer Windows 11 users will be able to take advantage of it than first suggested.

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