Windows 10 users are getting an expanded ‘News and interests’ panel whether they like the idea or not, it seems (something of a familiar theme these days, we might add).
This was spotted by Windows Latest which notes that News and interests, which is an icon on the Windows 10 taskbar – that expands to a large panel when hovered over or clicked, depending on your settings – is now much bigger. We’re talking around 50% larger, or even more, apparently.
This started as an experiment tested with a small number of Windows 10 users early in 2024, the tech site explains, but is now rolling out to everyone on the older of Microsoft’s two supported desktop operating systems.
The News panel covers around half the screen now, or even more like 60% of the display, Windows Latest notes – perhaps depending on the resolution and desktop configuration that you use with Windows 10. The site observes that with a laptop that has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600, and 150% scaling of the desktop, the panel took up close to two-thirds of the screen.
This panel mostly pushes news stories from the MSN feed, but also packs widgets on the side for the weather, stocks, traffic info, and so forth (which open further details in – you guessed it – Microsoft’s Edge browser and Bing).
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Analysis: Breaking news – Windows 10 user switches off sprawling MSN panel
The first thing we did was turn News and interests back on with our Windows 10 PC (we’ll come back to how to switch it on, or indeed off, shortly) and observed that Windows Latest is correct. At least about the panel expanding to 50% of the desktop when summoned – whereas before, it took up more like 20% (if we recall correctly).
Certainly, it has been supersized, but not quite to take up more than half the screen, at least not on our desktop anyway (at 1440p resolution). Windows Latest does provide a screenshot of the panel where it is indeed eating around 60% of the screen real-estate available – which seems rather ridiculous.
The bad news is that there’s no way to tweak the size of the News panel – you’re stuck with it being as big as Microsoft wants. The good news is that, as we already touched upon, you can turn off the feature.
It’s easy to do this: just right-click on a blank part of the taskbar (or the News icon itself) and in the menu that pops up you’ll see a ‘News and interests’ option. If you hover over that, a flyout menu will appear with the option to Turn off and you just select that – the News icon will then disappear. You can also make the icon smaller (choose Show icon only), and disable it appearing when you hover over it (untick Open on hover), if you want to keep the News option, but make it a bit less intrusive on the desktop.
The choice is yours, and as long as there is a choice, then it’s not so bad, no matter how Microsoft changes said panel.
One of Microsoft’s most ambitious – and controversial – new artificial intelligence (AI) features for Windows 11, called Recall, is still missing in action, over two months since it was supposed to launch alongside a swathe of new Copilot+ PCs.
The progression of Recall, going from a flagship feature to a controversy, to a growing embarrassment, for Microsoft has certainly been interesting to witness.
If you’re having trouble – ahem – recalling Recall, essentially, it was pitched by Microsoft as one of the key selling features of Copilot+ PC devices, which are Windows 11 laptops built with special hardware (NPUs) that allow them to run complex AI tasks on device, rather than having to be connected to the internet.
Recall, Microsoft told us, would act like a photographic memory. All you’d need to do is give it a vague description of a website, or ask where you’d saved a document, and it should find it for you.
Sounds kind of useful, but concerns were raised about how Recall was doing this. It was taking a screenshot of your screen every few seconds, and then saving that screenshot. It would then comb through those saved images to find files, images, or text that fit your descriptions.
The idea that Microsoft was taking snaps of everything you’re doing on your PC, and saving it, didn’t go down well with people who were concerned about their privacy. Microsoft hasn’t got the greatest reputation when it comes to securing its users' data, and if hackers were to get access to the screenshots, there could be major security implications.
The outcry was enough that when Copilot+ PCs launched in June, Recall was not included, with Microsoft explaining that it will become available to Windows Insiders to test first, before being rolled out at a later date.
This was a welcome move, though it was no doubt highly embarrassing as well. Due to the last-minute pulling of Recall, makers of Copilot+ PCs had to awkwardly talk about a key feature that was no longer available at launch. It also showed that some of the concerns raised by people over Recall weren’t initially considered by Microsoft.
Microsoft has been vague about when Recall will finally arrive – and as Windows Latest reports, the company has gone completely silent about a feature it was once all too happy to claim would change the way we use our computer in the future.
All quiet on the Recall front
As Windows Latest’s Mayank Parmar reports, since Microsoft delayed the launch of Recall in June, he’s reached out to the company to find out when Recall might be coming, only to be told that Microsoft has nothing to share. He was pointed to a blog post last updated on June 13, which just says that, “Recall will now shift from a preview experience broadly available for Copilot+ PCs on June 18, 2024, to a preview available first in the Windows Insider Program (WIP) in the coming weeks”, after which it will be rolled out to all users.
The problem is that there’s still no sign of Recall coming to the Windows Insider Program, and it’ll take a while for people signed up to the program to be able to fully test Recall, feedback to Microsoft and Microsoft then implement any changes based on that feedback before rolling it out to all users.
None of the recent test builds of Windows 11 that have been made available to Windows Insiders have any reference to Recall, so Microsoft’s timeframe of, “the coming weeks,” vague as it was, isn’t aging well.
While Parmar doesn’t believe that Recall has been ditched, and I agree, I’d actually like to be proved wrong, and hope that Recall gets dumped in the same shallow grave as Clippy, Zune and other underbaked Microsoft products.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware )
Analysis: A solution looking for a problem
Ever since Microsoft announced Recall, I’ve felt that the feature is emblematic of many of AI’s problems.
My biggest issue is that Microsoft was asking for a lot (privacy and resources on our devices – storage space to keep all the images and processing power to record and log all the screenshots) without giving a solid enough reason for why we’d find the feature useful.
The examples I’ve been given by Microsoft spokespeople include, using it to find a website, or a folder location of a misplaced file. To start, those ‘problems’ (forgetting a website or where you put a file) are more inconveniences than world ending issues, and they already have perfectly serviceable solutions.
When it comes to websites, I can use the browsing history of Chrome with a search function to find a website I’ve visited, and while it means I can’t find something by just typing in a vague description, as long as I know a keyword used on the website, I can usually find it that way. Even better, my browsing history is synced across devices including multiple laptops and a smartphone – so even if I looked at the website on my phone, I can still find it on my laptop. Recall will only work on the device it has stored the screenshots on.
And I can’t remember the last time I lost a file. Can you? I’ve got a decent file system going where things are saved by category, and apps, including the File Explorer, often show recent files and where they are saved, making it easy to find, even if I wasn’t paying attention.
Crucially, the solutions Recall offers just aren’t good enough to justify using such an intrusive feature. It seems to overcomplicate things whilst also compromising on privacy and feels like a solution looking for a problem, which is something I’ve been feeling about a lot of these new AI features being forced upon us.
Microsoft’s silence on when Recall might finally arrive suggests that the company is having trouble addressing the privacy concerns of the feature, while also struggling to come up with reasons why we should use the feature.
If it doesn’t do that soon, people are going to stop asking where Recall is – it’ll just be forgotten about. Ironically, I think that would be best for a feature that nobody can remember asking for.
Microsoft is testing a new Compact Mode to hopefully make using Game Bar in Windows 11 (and 10) easier and improve navigation on smaller screens, Windows handheld devices such as the Asus ROG Ally X, and while using a controller. As well as a simplified Game Bar layout, it includes a redesigned Home widget, displaying any games currently running on your device and games you’ve recently played.
The Game Bar is a centralized place in Windows 11 where you can easily control your gaming setup, including audio settings and capturing gameplay for streaming. If you’re an Xbox Insider (which is similar to the Windows Insiders program, allowing users to test and provide feedback on upcoming features, but focusing specifically on Xbox console updates and gaming experiences) - you can enroll to try Compact Mode. Once you have, you can turn it on by opening Game Bar and going to the Settings widget. Here, in the General section, you can turn on the ‘Compact Mode’ option by switching its toggle.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Better navigation, more control with Compact Mode
Once Compact Mode is switched on, you can interact with widgets (interactive tools that provide real-time information and quick access to gaming-related features) and navigate content more easily and quickly - for example, you can use a controller to switch between widgets using the left and right bumpers (LB/RB). The upgraded Home widget will display games currently running and recently played games, and enable you to quickly open common game launchers such as Xbox, Steam, and EA Play.
You’ll be able to quit games from the Home widget, allowing you to select the game and click to close it instead of having to quit from within the game or navigate out to your desktop. Other new menu items like the Resource widget will enable you to check what applications are using your device’s resources and swiftly close them to help boost performance. You can also explore and open any installed widgets directly from the Widget Store by accessing the widgets menu.
(Image credit: Asus)
A major handheld gaming push from Microsoft
This update shows some desire from Microsoft to improving Windows 11’s performance on non-traditional PC devices, such as the growing number of PC gaming handhelds, and it looks like it could be a substantial improvement to the Xbox app on Windows.
Devices like the ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go use Windows 11 as their operating system, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Windows 11 isn’t ideal for these devices.
The operating system has been designed to work on laptops and PCs with larger screens, and mice and keyboard controls. On handhelds that have smaller screens and only gamepad controls, Windows 11 can feel clunky and frustrating, especially compared to the likes of SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system that was built specifically to be used on the Steam Deck handheld. These improvements to Windows 11’s Game Bar could make the OS a much better fit for handheld devices - which is especially important considering there are rumors that Valve will allow SteamOS to be installed on non-Steam Deck devices.
If you want to try Compact Mode sooner rather than later, you’ll need to join the Xbox Insider Program (which you can do for free), which will give you access to new features and updates early, and allow you to share your opinion and feedback to help improve the user experience. You’ll need to download and install the Xbox Insider Hub app from the Microsoft Store, and then log in with your Microsoft account.
Microsoft’s latest update for Windows 11 has arrived, and the August patch fixes a pretty glaring BitLocker bug while adding some neat new twists for the interface on the desktop, including a nifty ability relating to the Start menu.
Cumulative update KB5041585 resolves the mentioned BitLocker bug which was actually introduced as part of July’s update last month. This glitch caused the BitLocker recovery page to appear for no reason after the user rebooted their PC, giving them something of a fright, no doubt, and requiring them to enter their recovery details.
While this problem mainly affected business users, BitLocker is a drive encryption tool that’s also provided with Windows 11 Pro, so some consumers may have been holding off installing the July update if they’re running that OS. Now, however, they can go ahead with the August update, given that the fix is in place. (Windows 11 Home users weren’t affected here, as it doesn’t have BitLocker).
(Image credit: Future)
Useful tweaks and fixes in the August update
The resolution of the BitLocker issue aside, what about those interface changes applied in the KB5041585 update?
We mentioned a new Start menu feature at the outset, and this enables you to pin apps straight to the taskbar - you can simply drag an app from the former to the latter, where it’ll remain pinned. Yes, this is an obvious piece of functionality, and we’re not sure why it wasn’t in Windows 11 in the first place - but at least it’s present now.
Windows Latest further observes that File Explorer tabs can be easily duplicated now - you can simply right-click on a tab, and select the ‘Duplicate tab’ option to do exactly that.
On top of that, the performance of File Explorer has been improved in a number of ways. Problems where search would fail have been rectified, as well as a memory leak bug that could see everything grinding to a halt when opening archive files (like ZIPs) and browsing them. There’s a bunch of bugs affecting File Explorer that have been smoothed over here, in fact - another one is Gallery search falling over, and images flashing when they’re viewed.
As ever, there are security fixes bundled in this month’s patch, too. You should get the August update piped through on your Windows 11 PC automatically, but if you haven’t yet, you can manually check for it: in the Start menu, select Settings, then Windows Update.
Are you a Windows 11 (or 10) user who’s jealous of Mac owners with iPhones who can use AirDrop to seamlessly transfer files? AirDrop’s slickness is hard to deny, even for the most hardened Apple dissenters, but Windows users with Android smartphones should soon get similarly smart file sharing powers, with any luck.
As mentioned, the feature will work in a similar way to AirDrop in Apple’s ecosystem, and it’ll be hosted in the built-in Share menu of the device you’re sharing from, whether that’s your Android phone or Windows PC. All you’ll need to do is tap on, or right-click, the file you want to share, then choose to ‘Share’ and then find the relevant app (Phone Link, if you’re sharing from a PC, or Link to Windows if the file is on your phone).
(Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)
A long-awaited arrival that could really impress
This feature will be available for PCs running Windows 10 and Windows 11. You’ll need Windows 10 May 2019 or later, or any version of Windows 11 - and your mobile device will have to be running Android 9.0 or later. Also, your phone will need to run the Link to Windows app version 1.24032.518.0 or better, and your PC needs Phone Link version 1.24032.156.0 or later.
It’s worth noting that this new feature is not the same as the existing cross-device copy and paste feature in Phone Link, which enables you to have a shared clipboard between two devices where items that are copied are stored, able to be pasted into a suitable app on either device.
All in all, this will be a very useful addition to Windows 11 (and Windows 10) for those of you with Android smartphones, facilitating sharing files more seamlessly and potentially speeding up your workflow. Let’s hope it progresses to the release version of Windows 11 (and 10) soon enough.
I was alarmed to learn that Microsoft’s ditching one of its Paint apps in Windows 11 (and 10) - until I discovered that the application on the chopping block was Paint 3D.
In case you didn’t realize, there are two Paint apps for Windows 11: Paint, a modernized version of the classic app, and Paint 3D which was served up as its replacement way back in 2016, the idea being that it enabled you to use 3D features in your creations.
However, Microsoft never managed to fully get behind Paint 3D, and it fell by the wayside - in fact, the software was dropped from the roster of default apps in Windows 10 early in 2021. While you can still download Paint 3D from the Microsoft Store in Windows 11 (or 10) today, soon, that won’t be the case.
As leaker PhantomOfEarth on X noticed - along with Windows Latest - there’s a new warning banner that has appeared informing Windows 11 users of Paint 3D’s imminent removal from the store.
The warning notification reads: “Paint 3D won’t be available in the Microsoft Store or receive future updates starting on November 4, 2024.”
This is followed by a ‘Learn more’ link which leads to a web page where Microsoft provides more information and confirms the date that Paint 3D will no longer be available on both Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Paint 3D now has a banner stating that it will no longer receive updates or be available in the Microsoft Store starting on November 4th. pic.twitter.com/ksPg1IrdjoAugust 10, 2024
Paint 3D is looking rather shabby these days
At this point, there’s doubtless only a small niche of Windows users who are Paint 3D fans - although they will no doubt be upset by the news of the app’s demise.
That said, Microsoft has not been giving Paint 3D any attention for a long time going by some of the reviews on the Microsoft Store, which complain about the poor maintenance of the app. One common beef with Paint 3D is the app no longer appearing in the flyout menu when right-clicking on an image and going to the ‘Open with…’ option, meaning that opening an image is a much clunkier process.
If you’re interested in dipping your toes into 3D image editing, and have been mulling over using Paint 3D, then you better download and install the app from the Microsoft Store while you still can. Despite the mentioned complaints, the overall rating of the app is pretty high. Indeed, you never know, if Microsoft hears enough noise being made about Paint 3D being totally canned, maybe it’ll change its mind - and bring Paint 3D back as an optional app in the Microsoft Store.
After all, Microsoft pretty rapidly reversed course with its predecessor and my personal favorite childhood app, Paint.
Many of the recent changes to Windows 11’s Start menu that we’ve seen tested by Microsoft have been getting hot and cold reactions, but this hasn’t deterred the software giant from continuing to experiment with the menu, and it’s currently trialing a new ‘Category’ layout that we learned about last month.
This layout is an alternative to the standard presentation of the ‘All apps’ section of the Start menu, alongside a new grid-based layout that Microsoft has also been testing. We’ve already seen a hint of this new Category view, and that sneak peek featured solid-colored squares arranged in blocks of four (reflecting the fact that it was an early working version of the layout).
However, since a new build arrived in the Windows 11 Beta channel, the Category layout now works, or it’s at least somewhat functional, as Windows Latest reports. (Although note that the layout still remains hidden in Windows 11 - testers will need to dig to find it).
(Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft)
Getting neater and more organized with apps
This more finished-looking version of the Category layout now shows some app icons instead of just colored blocks as was the case before. Each themed category - such as entertainment, music, or news and weather - shows up to four icons of installed applications in a 2 x 2 grid. However, this grid can show more than just four apps by bundling up to four together as mini-icons - as you can see in the above screenshot, in the ‘other’ category - giving a total of 16 apps that can be listed in any category (in theory, as it stands in testing).
That said, none of this is fully functional in the beta build yet - those mini-icons should expand when clicked on, presumably, but don’t yet - and Microsoft could change things (or even scrap this idea) as testing progresses.
Both the Category and Grid layouts would be better options than the default Windows 11 layout for the Start menu to the present one, which shows a long list of apps you have to scroll through in a painful manner. The Grid view bundles up apps alphabetically in a grid, meaning less scrolling, and the Category layout refines things even further with themed groups to make sifting through your apps easier.
Just reading about these updates to the Start menu has made me nostalgic for older Start menu designs where you could instantly see all your apps in curated categories.
Windows Latest believes that the new Category layout will be functional soon enough, and maybe even implemented in the next major Windows 11 update, version 24H2 - although given how early the feature seems to be in testing right now, I’m not sure how realistic that expectation is.
Windows 11 has a new preview build in the Dev channel - one of the earlier testing channels - and it brings some worthwhile improvements for voice functionality and power-saving, plus some other tweaks besides.
This is preview build 26120 and as mentioned, one of the bigger changes is with Voice Access. According to Microsoft’s blog post for the build, there’s an improved “spelling and corrections experience” for the feature. This is used during dictation when you notice that Voice Access has misspelt a word, and it allows you to run a correction - saying the correct spelling out loud, letter by letter, for said word.
Specifically, the change means you can now dictate characters at a faster speaking speed when spelling out a correction for a word, and Voice Access will keep up (or should do, hopefully). Also, you can now use dictation commands here, to select or delete something, for example.
(Image credit: Shutterstock/RecCameraStock)
Useful moves to help save power
Some other nifty tweaks are applied in this preview build to help with power saving, including a change for Energy Saver mode (which is due to replace Battery Saver, the existing mode for Windows 11). With build 26120, when you’re running a laptop on battery - and Energy Saver is set to ‘Always On’ and you will get a notification urging you to plug in your laptop if its charge goes down to 20%.
Another power-saving measure is a new recommendation that suggests turning off HDR on your display to conserve energy (assuming it supports HDR, naturally - which allows for improved contrast and more vivid colors). This will appear as part of the recommendations provided in Settings > Power & battery > Energy recommendations.
Other improvements implemented by Microsoft here include a new option to turn off ‘enhanced mouse pointer precision’ if you’re not keen on it, and the ability to change the mouse wheel scrolling direction (in Settings > Bluetooth & Device > Mouse).
Overall, it’s not the most dynamic Windows preview build I’ve ever seen, and some of these changes have been sighted elsewhere previously, but I appreciate that Microsoft is continually working to genuinely improve the Windows 11 experience in various ways, including accessibility and energy saving - two very important areas for the OS.
As the Windows 11 24H2 update draws nearer we’re learning more details about the upgrade, and some fresh info has popped up regarding a power-saving feature.
This is Energy Saver, which is a new, more potent version of the existing Battery Saver, although the idea is naturally the same - to conserve power.
We’ve seen Energy Saver previously in testing, where it became clear that one major benefit over and above Battery Saver is that you can use the former when your PC is plugged in. (That means even with a desktop PC, you can choose to save some Watts - as long as you’re happy with reduced performance - to knock a bit of money off your power bill).
The new details about Energy Saver were spotted by Windows Latest, and they come courtesy of a support document that Microsoft recently updated to show us exactly what Energy Saver will do when it arrives with Windows 11 24H2.
Like Battery Saver - which has been a Windows staple for some time and is also available for Windows 10 - Energy Saver is a mode that can kick in when your laptop’s battery charge gets down to a specified low level, to help the battery last a bit longer (or you can switch it on manually).
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Spectral-Design)
How Energy Saver outdoes Battery Saver
Windows Latest distilled the support document published by Microsoft into a handy table laying out all of the differences between Battery Saver and Energy Saver.
One notable change is that when you turn on Energy Saver, you won’t be able to toggle the power mode of your device and adjust it for, say, the best performance or best battery life (presumably because Energy Saver is overriding whatever you choose here). If you want to adjust the power mode, you’ll have to turn off Energy Saver first - otherwise, the power mode slider will be greyed out, according to Windows Latest.
Another difference is that Energy Saver will also turn off transparency effects in windows (Battery Saver doesn’t), and the new feature will curtail more in the way of background app syncing (including switching off OneNote, OneDrive, and Phone Link syncing).
All of these measures help to preserve even more in the way of battery longevity than the past Battery Saver capability - although, in other respects, these two takes on power-saving features are the same (except for the already mentioned ability to use Energy Saver when you're plugged in to the mains).
As someone who likes to challenge my laptops (sometimes unintentionally) in terms of their longevity, I welcome this change as it certainly seems to give users more control over how their devices use up their battery charge.
We should see exactly how Energy Saver works when the 24H2 update debuts, which may not be too far away - though some recent rumors have suggested the upgrade might turn up a bit later than earlier chatter from the grapevine indicated.
This new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version 3.2 will come with the 24H2 update and a support document from Microsoft, spotted by Windows Latest, outlines various driver-related improvements that it’ll implement.
This WDDM update will have a weighty focus on NPU optimization, for devices that have an NPU on-board, of course, which includes Copilot+ PCs (a speedy NPU is a requirement for the latter). This will mean faster AI processing, so that features such as Recall - the controversial supercharged search functionality Microsoft has temporarily put on ice - or other AI workloads, will happen in a swifter fashion. It will also deliver GPU-related measures that could improve gaming performance.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Helping Copilot+ PCs fly higher
WDDM 3.2 is set to arrive with a lot of goodies in terms of taking strides forward in powering up the NPU. A range of features that Windows Latest highlights promises to beef up performance levels of some AI tasks, ensuring they run more smoothly, as well as achieving better power-efficiency for the Neural Processing Unit during these tasks. The latter could mean eking out a bit more battery life when it comes to a Windows 11 laptop.
Microsoft is also implementing a “dirty bit tracking” feature, which accelerates data transfer speeds when virtual machines are being migrated between two systems.
It’s not all about AI, though, and PC gamers have some GPU-related optimizations to look forward to with WDDM 3.2. Windows Latest again points out some possible benefits including a suggestion that it could help with lag issues (we’d take that with a heavy pinch of seasoning, though).
We can apparently expect smoother frame rates and overall performance to some extent when gaming thanks to WDDM 3.2, but it’s not made clear exactly how much impact to expect - temper your expectations, as ever.
You can see the full details of all the changes related to WDDM 3.2, if you’re curious, as there are plenty of enhancements applied here. Windows Latest also created a handy table explaining how the various driver-related improvements for both AI and gaming will boost your PC’s performance when Windows 11 24H2 comes out. These may, however, turn out to be relatively minor improvements in many cases - we’ll just have to see when the time comes.
Note that, unfortunately, certain AI features (like Recall) will be for Copilot+ PCs only - although all Windows 11 PCs will get the 24H2 update and these WDDM 3.2 improvements, when the big upgrade rolls out later this year. Copilot+ PCs are, of course, the devices with the beefiest NPUs, and so will benefit the most from the AI-related tweaks that WDDM 3.2 applies - perhaps making a more convincing case for AI with these machines.
Windows 11 has finally crept over the 30% mark for market share according to the latest stats from an analytics firm.
Statcounter’s figures for July 2024 show that in the ranking of all Windows versions, Windows 11 is now at 30.83% (in second place), which is up just over a percentage point from the previous month. Windows 10 moved proportionately in the other direction, dropping a percentage point to 64.99%, but remaining in pole position, of course.
While Microsoft will doubtless be pleased to crack the 30% barrier, this has been a long time coming seeing as it was back in March 2023 that Windows 11 crested the 20% mark. So, getting this latest 10% increase has taken a year and four months, nearly as long as it took reaching 20% in the first place.
Whichever way you dice it, Windows 11 adoption has been sluggish (well, outside of PC gaming anyway). Indeed, the OS even dropped users earlier in 2024, according to Statcounter’s figures – but at least it has been picking up a reasonable pace of growth since April 2024. Indeed, in the last three months, it has gained over 4.5%, which represents a decent spike of users migrating to Windows 11.
As ever, this is just one set of stats for Windows market share, so add some seasoning (but other figures reflect a similar, if not identical, reality, by and large).
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
Analysis: A very slow ascent indeed
Could this be the magic of AI enticing folks to switch over to Windows 11? We doubt it, considering that not a great deal has been happening with Copilot in the OS of late. Indeed, Copilot is now in the process of being turned into an app (app-ified?) rather than a locked panel on the right of the desktop, and this has witnessed the AI taking some backward steps.
All the promises about Copilot being a super-smart assistant which can change Windows settings for you (maybe multiple settings in one fell swoop) seem to have gone out the, er, window – for now, this side of the AI’s functionality appears to be going nowhere. On top of that, Microsoft’s biggest new AI feature, Recall – for Copilot+ PCs – crashed and burned in remarkable fashion too. AI-wise, things aren’t going so well for Windows 11 right now.
Taking the perspective of an overall level, though, it might be thoughts of the impending demise of Windows 10 next year – when it runs out of support – that really drives folks to jump on the Windows 11 wagon.
Windows 11 users, take note: there’s a hidden feature which was recently introduced by Microsoft that allows you to kill an app that has become unresponsive (or isn’t working in some way) in a far quicker manner than the normal route.
The new piece of functionality is an option to directly right-click on the icon of any app in the taskbar and select End Task to kill it, there and then - in the same way you can nuke an app in Task Manager, but with much less hassle.
This traditional method of dismissing a crashed or unresponsive app in Windows 11 (or Windows 10) is to open Task Manager (pressing Ctrl + Shift + Escape is the quickest way), then you must scroll through to find the misbehaving software process. It’s then a case of clicking on the app and pressing the Delete key (or you can right-click and select End Task from the flyout menu).
I find myself having to quit apps forcibly from time to time, and having to do it this way, via Task Manager, is rather cumbersome. Just clicking on the unresponsive app on the taskbar and killing it directly makes life a lot easier, but while this option is present in Windows 11 now, it’s not enabled by default. However, if you don’t mind delving into the menus of Windows 11 a bit, it’s easy enough to turn the feature on (or off) in the Settings app.
How to enable the new task killer feature
Here’s how you can enable this ‘End Task’ right-click option on the taskbar - just follow these steps:
1. Open the Settings app - you can do this by pressing the Win + I keys at the same time, or search for it in the search box on the taskbar.
2. In the left-hand side menu, select System.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
3. Scroll down to and click on the ‘For Developers’ section. (Bear in mind that these settings are intended for developers, but we’re only going to apply a slight tweak here - don’t be tempted to change anything else here, though).
(Image credit: Microsoft)
4. Navigate to the End Task setting and switch it On by clicking the toggle.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
5. Try the newly enabled option on an app running in your taskbar.
6. Right-click the app icon and select End Task - this should kill the app.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
To turn off this feature, just follow the above steps, but switch the slider in step 4 to Off.
You might run into problems if you try this on larger apps or games because, as Tom’s Hardware points out, these can take a while to load - and they might lock up and freeze before the icon actually appears on the taskbar. In this case, there’s nothing to right-click on the taskbar, and you’ll be forced to head into Task Manager and find the relevant ‘background process’ to kill that.
All in all, this is a useful shortcut and I can see it saving me a good few moments of frustration in the future, plus it’s easy to turn it on or off. It’s a commendable introduction from Microsoft, and I hope to see more timesavers like this in the future.
