Windows 11 version 22H2 is finally available to download and install for all eligible Windows 11 users as of July 17, 2024 – just a few months before it's getting ditched by Microsoft.  This final push might seem a little late in the day considering 22H2 is nearing its end of life date, and Microsoft is trying to encourage people to get the more recent Windows 11 23H2 update instead.

Updating will hopefully be straightforward to do as, according to XDA, 23H2 has the same system requirements as older versions of Windows 11. You can check what version of Windows 11 your device is running by going to Windows Update (found in the Settings app) and clicking on Update History. 

If you’re not running Windows 11 23H2, you should be able to download and install 23H2 by going to Windows Update and pressing the Check for updates button. 

Considering 22H2's end-of-support date

Not only has it been nearly a year since 23H2’s initial release, but Windows 11 22H2’s end-of-support date is also quickly approaching. This isn’t unusual, as every Windows product released has a product lifecycle, which is essentially a plan for the product’s development, implementation, and, ultimately, its deprecation. 22H2’s end-of-support date is set for October 8, 2024, and Microsoft will supposedly stop releasing monthly security patch updates for it after this date.

Monthly security patches are important as both the tech companies that release them and industry experts recommend that you install them as soon as they’re available as they contain protective measures to help secure your PC against newly devised attacks and address freshly discovered vulnerabilities. When Microsoft stops releasing these, any devices running 22H2 will be left at risk.

For this reason, devices running Windows 11 Home and Pro will be forced to update to 23H2 (unless they are managed by IT departments of organizations - then they might be exempt). After this happens, these devices will be eligible to receive the latest security patches for 23H2.

The future of Windows 11 with version 23H2

Windows 11 23H2 is slated for an end-of-support date of November 11, 2025, and when compared to its predecessor 22H2, it also brings changes including taskbar regrouping that enables users to see each new app window as a separate icon, a new volume mixer which allows users to control the volume of various apps and playback devices more easily, and native 7Z and RAR file format support.

The broader availability of 22H2 was announced and further detailed on Microsoft’s Learn blog. It’s notable that 22H2’s end-of-support date is coming up very soon and it’s only just been made available for all eligible Windows 11 devices. This slightly older version of Windows had its own fair share of issues that Microsoft had to address, and this is possibly why it’s taken this long for Microsoft to expand its availability to all eligible users.

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Windows 11’s much-awaited 24H2 update might arrive a bit later than was previously rumored, or at least that’s the most recent chatter and speculation online.

Windows Latest picked up on a Microsoft update regarding the potential release timeframe for 24H2 (as part of the introduction of smaller updates for Windows 11 that we just reported on).

Microsoft tells us that: “Windows 11, version 24H2 will be available as a traditional feature update to all devices later this year.”

Of course, that doesn’t mention any specific timeframe, but as Windows Latest and others have theorized, the wording that Microsoft employs here, “later this year,” is a hint (admittedly a vague one) that it’ll be Q4 rather than Q3.

Okay, so technically, later this year could mean next month, but if we were looking at an August 2024 release, it’d be a strange choice of phrasing, let’s face it.

The current rumor for the debut of Windows 11 24H2 is September 2024, but perhaps given this small clue dropped by Microsoft, we might be waiting a little longer. There are other reasons to believe this may be the case, so let’s dive into those next.

Analysis: A case of spinning too many plates?

The reality is that Microsoft is doing a very different kind of update this year, with the annual upgrade for Windows 11 already having been made available – on Copilot+ PCs, anyway. That said, this isn’t the full truth of the matter, as what’s installed on those AI-focused laptops is a barebones version of Windows 11 24H2 – which is required because Copilot+ devices need to have the underpinning platform brought in with 24H2 (called Germanium).

That installation of 24H2 on Copilot+ PCs does not have all the features that’ll be introduced with the full 24H2 update when it arrives later this year. Everyone on Windows 11, Copilot+ and normal PCs alike, will get that update, with all the features on-board, simultaneously rolled out as normal.

The thing is, though, that Microsoft has had a lot more on its plate with the annual update process in 2024, due to having to do all the groundwork for Copilot+ PCs (and the work behind the scenes on Germanium). Heap on top of that a bunch of effort needed to realize new AI features, and some big ones too, including Recall, the controversial addition that was pulled. Indeed, Recall is a flagship AI feature, and one Microsoft is currently having to completely revamp (it’s even been yanked from test builds for now). Again, that’s more work.

So, this is why we aren’t particularly optimistic about a September 2024 release date, as previously rumored, any longer. Simply put, Microsoft is spinning so many plates with preparing 24H2, and other AI features, plus dealing with an almighty headache around Recall, that it’s all too easy to believe a Q4 release is at least somewhat likely for 24H2. After all, it could land as late as November (which has happened in the past with an H2 update for Windows), and Microsoft might just need more breathing room this time around.

This is, of course, pure speculation, and 24H2 could make the cut for Q3 – or September, rather (we’d be seriously shocked at an August release, frankly). As ever, we’ll wait and see, but following the progress of 24H2 in testing should give us more clues as 2024 rolls onwards.

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Want smaller updates for Windows 11? Naturally, everyone does – the smaller the better – and there’s some good news on this front, namely that most updates for the OS will be a lot more manageable, download-wise, soon enough.

This is because Microsoft is introducing a system of ‘checkpoint cumulative updates’ starting from the release of Windows 11 24H2 later this year (and indeed with Windows Server 2025, too).

Cumulative updates are the main monthly updates delivered to your Windows 11 PC (on the second Tuesday of every month), and the idea here is that much smaller updates are applied on top of milestone ‘checkpoint’ updates, ones that only make tweaks to that current checkpoint build.

As Microsoft explains in a blog post: “This will allow you to get features and security enhancements via the latest cumulative update through smaller, incremental differentials containing only the changes since the previous checkpoint cumulative update. This means that you can save time, bandwidth, and hard drive space.”

It’s a very useful step to take with streamlining updates, and we’re likely to see multiple smaller updates coming through, in between the checkpoint cumulative updates that’ll pitch up more rarely (these will be normal-sized downloads).

Analysis: Sterling work from Microsoft

What’s really happening, as Ghacks, who spotted this, points out, is that you can think of a ‘checkpoint cumulative update’ as a new base patch version for Windows 11. So, a bit like an entirely new version (such as 23H2, 24H2), but only for recently applied security fixes and other patches. Normally, these would all be bundled up in every single cumulative update, but now, as the checkpoint updates carry them – providing a new base version – there’s no longer any need to do so (hence the between-checkpoint updates get much trimmer).

All this will happen automatically via Windows Update as usual, and you won’t notice any difference or have to do anything. As noted, the only difference will be most updates (non-checkpoint ones) will be considerably quicker to download and install, and you’ll save a bit of storage space (perhaps an even more important benefit for those with, say, a smaller SSD in an affordable laptop).

When Windows 11 first launched, Microsoft worked to streamline its cumulative updates by using new compression technology. That was a sterling effort, too, and eventually the fruits of that labor – which cut update size by 40% – came to Windows 10 users. Whether this latest change will eventually benefit those on Windows 10 is more doubtful, though, as with its End of Life only just over a year away, Microsoft may not think it’s worthwhile to apply this move to the older operating system.

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Windows 11 is getting some work done on its interface that might consist of more minor tweaks, but nonetheless useful ones, and handy time-savers in some cases.

All this is packaged up in a new beta build (preview version 22635) recently released by Microsoft, and the first noteworthy change is to File Explorer.

Specifically, it’s to the Home page in File Explorer, which now has an option to list all the files recently shared with you. So, if someone has shared a document on Teams, or via email – or indeed other avenues – all the most recently shared material will be listed (chronologically), along with key details such as who shared it.

Another nifty change is inbound for the taskbar, and this one is a streamlining measure. Essentially, in the system tray, on the far right of the taskbar, Microsoft has shortened the time and date so it takes up less space (and doesn’t show the year), plus the notifications bell has been dropped (though you can turn it back on if you want).

On top of this, Windows Studio Effects is now available to access via Quick Settings in the system tray, allowing you easy access to the feature – which provides a bunch of AI-driven camera and audio tricks for PCs that have an NPU (for accelerating AI workloads).

What’s neat here is that if you’re using an app that can leverage Windows Studio Effects – which offers abilities like a background blur feature, or filtering out background noise so you can better hear the speaker – an icon will pop up in the system tray to allow you to directly launch Studio Effects settings in Windows 11.

There are various other minor tweaks with build 22635 and Microsoft’s blog post explains them all at length.

Analysis: Handiness abounds

A trimmer system tray is welcome, certainly, as is the useful touch of being able to access Windows Studio Effects settings much more easily (and to know when an app can utilize these).

Furthermore, the change to File Explorer is another handy move, allowing you to quickly and conveniently access shared material. If you know someone has shared something recently, but can’t find the file, you can just pop open File Explorer on the desktop and look in this list. A useful shortcut indeed, potentially, though one that’ll eventually be overshadowed by the Recall feature, in theory, for Copilot+ PCs – when it’s relaunched. (For folks who want to use Recall, anyway, and we’re guessing after all the controversy, not everyone will).

It’s worth noting that build 22635 comes with an interesting hidden tweak, too, in the form of a move to better organize the list of installed apps in the Start menu – which would be a welcome change as we’ve already observed.

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Windows 11 could be getting a significant alteration to the Start menu - and for a change, it’s a useful one, rather than some of the less welcome ad-related tweaks we’ve seen in recent times for the menu.

This was uncovered by leaker PhantomOfEarth on X, and it’s a new category view for the ‘All apps’ panel. However, this change is hidden in the new preview build 22635 in the Beta channel (released late last week), so it’s not officially underway just yet.

As you can see in the above post, this is another option for how to view your apps in the Start menu, as an alternative to the traditional alphabetical listing of applications – there’s also an incoming grid view (present only in testing), and now, the freshly discovered category choice.

This is essentially a grid of categorized apps, so you can have your apps sorted by category – such as entertainment, navigation and maps, news, productivity – and dive into those specific areas. As opposed to having to scroll down the long list of apps which is how Windows 11 organizes your installed software currently in the Start menu (a pretty clunky setup).

Analysis: Early work

This looks like very early work as when enabled (by using a Windows configuration tool with the mentioned preview build), the feature only shows colored blocks as the graphics for each category. We assume the four colored squares shown will host the icons of four apps from each category (maybe your most-used apps in every category, or that’s the first thought that occurs).

Of course, we don’t know how the interface will be realized, and this is just guesswork. We also need to firmly remember that as this is so early in the work towards this feature – it’s not properly implemented at all, and hidden in testing – it may not ever see the light of day in Windows 11.

After all, the grid view for apps in the Start menu is in testing as well, as mentioned, and so Microsoft might just decide a category view isn’t necessary – and that switching to a grid layout might be convenient enough for this part of the Windows 11 interface. Then again, more options don’t hurt, and the idea of organizing apps into categories might be an appealing way of rifling through installed software in the Start menu – we rather like this potential move.

Via Windows Latest

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Windows 11 has a new preview build and it applies some useful changes to widgets on the lock screen – although not the addition to the mix that we really want – and other tweaks besides.

This is preview build 26252 in the Canary channel (the earliest test versions of Windows 11) and the work on widgets is just rolling out at this point – so not every tester will see this yet.

In the usual blog post, Microsoft lets us know that it’s improving the lock screen weather and other widgets (including stocks, traffic, and sports) with a better card design.

In other words, the small cards that display all the widget info now benefit from an acrylic blur effect, as well as an optimized font, with tweaks to the card size and spacing also implemented to give everything a more pleasing look. Or that’s the idea anyway – we’re sure Windows 11 testers will let Microsoft know if that isn’t the case.

There are a couple of other notable tweaks with build 26252. Firstly, Microsoft has made it so you can drag and drop an app from the pinned section of the Start menu, straight onto the taskbar where it will also be pinned. Yes, a minor move, but another useful touch.

Secondly, Microsoft informs us: “We are beginning to roll out a new energy recommendation for turning off HDR to conserve energy on PCs with HDR displays under Settings > Power & battery > Energy recommendations.”

Analysis: Unfulfilled promise

We don’t want to sound ungrateful – these widget changes in the new preview are welcome – but they’re more skirting around the edges of what really needs to be done with widgets on the lock screen.

Namely, we want a choice of which widgets are displayed, and more customization in general – Apple nails this side of the equation better in macOS, with Sonoma having advanced significantly in terms of selecting and tailoring the widgets you want to see. Whereas right now, with Windows 11’s lock screen widgets, you must have them all, or none. (Even if you don’t want, say, the finance widget, as stocks and shares bore the pants off you – you’re stuck with it).

Microsoft has already promised this change to be able to pick and choose lock screen widgets, but that was a while back now, and we’re getting a little impatient as to why it’s taking so long. It is, after all, a pretty basic piece of functionality – isn’t it?

That aside, it’s good to see the ability to drag pinned apps from the Start menu to the taskbar directly – more of this please, Microsoft. However, you should be able to drag and drop what you want, where you want (within reason) in the OS in our books, but with Windows 11 Microsoft took some strange steps to remove some of these basic abilities. Take, for example, dragging a file out of a folder window to another folder via File Explorer’s address bar – this wasn’t present in Windows 11 until recently, and it’s mystifying as to why.

At least Microsoft is generally headed in the right direction with all these changes, we’d just like some things to move a bit faster.

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The latest Windows 11 update (for July 2024) has arrived packing a cure for a known issue whereby the taskbar was essentially broken (not for the first time this year).

Even though the bug had a limited impact, it certainly affected some Windows 11 users when it was first discovered in the preview of the latest cumulative update (released back at the end of June).

That preview update (KB5039302) was optional and therefore you could swerve it, but the fear for us (and no doubt others out there) was that Microsoft might not get the bug sorted before this preview became a full release, which happened yesterday with patch KB5040442.

Thankfully, this new update – which will be compulsory for all Windows 11 users (though it can be delayed for a short while) – has the fix included.

In the release notes, Microsoft observes that KB5040442 addresses a known issue whereby “you might not be able to view or interact with the taskbar after you install KB5039302 [the June preview update].”

Analysis: From reboot hell to taskbar trauma

As mentioned, the impact of the taskbar bug was limited. It only affected either those running a Windows N edition – a Windows 11 installation with media-related functionality stripped out (such as Media Player) – or people who had turned off ‘Media Features’ in Control Panel.

Still, that would certainly be some Windows 11 users, and having seen the bug pop up in the optional update last month – or maybe even directly experienced the taskbar going wonky if they downloaded the preview update – as we already observed, those folks might well have been concerned about installing this new July update. There’s no need to worry, though.

All in all, this has been a bit of an odd one, mainly because the preview update for June was actually paused briefly after it was found to have a bug that caused a reboot loop (a really unpleasant situation). Once that was remedied (by blocking affected devices), and the rollout resumed, this taskbar glitch was then discovered – so it wasn’t Microsoft’s finest update moment by any means.

There’s no mention of the reboot loop bug with the new July update, incidentally, so we assume that it remains blocked from all PCs that might potentially be affected. If you can’t see the cumulative update for July, this might be why. We assume that if it was also fixed, Microsoft would have mentioned that – though it’s possible a cure has been applied and left off the release notes.

Via Neowin

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Microsoft has resurrected its instructions for Windows 11 (or 10) users who want to switch from a Microsoft Account login to a local account, after recently ditching this guide.

If you’ve not been following this somewhat odd chain of events – which would hardly be surprising – to get you up to speed, Microsoft has a couple of guides relating to Windows 11 and Windows 10 logins. One of them details how to switch from a local account to a Microsoft Account, and the other shows you how to transition the other way, from a Microsoft Account login to a local account.

In June, however, Microsoft dropped the guide on how to revert from a Microsoft Account to a local one. Why? Well, that’s a good question, and one we’ll come back to later.

Whatever the case, there were a number of Windows users who weren’t happy with this development, and how it seemed to fit in with the software giant’s agenda to push more people to use a Microsoft Account.

As Tom’s Hardware reports, though, the guide for changing back to a local account in Windows 11 (or 10) has now been reinstated (in this support document, if you scroll down to the bottom).

So, that’s obviously good news, and Tom’s further noticed that an addition has been made in the form of a new ‘password reset disk’ guide, an extra piece of advice for users who are reverting to a local account.

This is important because if you forget your password for a local account, there’s no way to access help (an online reset, as there is with a Microsoft Account). You’re up the local creek without a password paddle, in short. However, if you have a password reset disk, as you might guess, this helps you extricate yourself from that messy situation with a local account, facilitating a reset.

Check out this secondary guide here and bear in mind you’ll need a USB stick to use as the reset drive. Make sure you keep that USB drive in a safe place, of course, after you’ve created a reset disk on it – and we’d even advise creating a second copy on another USB drive to be extra safe (in case the first drive fails when it comes to the crunch).

Analysis: What was Microsoft thinking here?

As noted, the consternation around Microsoft’s decision to ditch the local account guide – temporarily – mainly revolved around bad feelings that the company was just trying on another measure to stoke Microsoft Account usage (or to keep Windows 11 users on their account login, more to the point).

Is that fair, though? Well, it’s understandable, certainly, given that over the past year or two, Microsoft has definitely cranked up its promotional efforts – some of which are outright ads, let’s be honest – around using a Microsoft Account. (The latest move being to jam a thinly veiled advert into the Start menu, sadly). Furthermore, Microsoft has been closing loopholes that allow folks to keep a local account when installing Windows 11, too.

However, could there be a genuine reason Microsoft pulled the guide – maybe to rewrite it with the added info on password recovery? Well, you could argue that, perhaps, but was there any need to completely take the guide down (after it’s been up for several years) to do that?

It’s stretching things, let’s be honest, but we guess the possibility can’t be ruled out. However, for us it feels inescapably like Microsoft got rid of the guide because it doesn’t think switching away from a Microsoft Account is a good idea – due to the benefits of the latter – then put it back up after the complaints and general outcry from some quarters of the Windows computing public.

Don’t get us wrong: there are indeed benefits to be gained from using a Microsoft Account, as the company keeps banging on about. But therein lies the problem – in the same way that Edge is actually a good web browser, but is constantly promoted in various over-the-top ways, having these products and services shoved in our face repeatedly simply makes us want to rebel and not use them out of principle. One day, perhaps, Microsoft finally will get that.

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Microsoft has just warned Windows 11 users that if they’re not on the latest version of the OS, namely 23H2, then their installation will soon be out of support – meaning vital security updates will no longer be provided.

In a 90-day reminder – which as the name suggests, comes three months in advance of support being dropped – Microsoft has let Windows 11 Home and Pro users know that soon enough, they’ll no longer be safe to stay on Windows 11 22H2. The exact date to mark in your calendar as the official end of support is October 8, 2024.

Furthermore, business (or education) users still on 21H2 (the first ever incarnation of Windows 11) will also be out of support (that deadline already passed for consumers, in case you were wondering).

In short, it’s Windows 23H2 or the highway, come October 2024 – so you’ve been warned. Microsoft notes: “The upcoming October 2024 security update, to be released on October 8, 2024, will be the last update available for these editions. After this date, devices running these editions will no longer receive monthly security and preview updates containing protections from the latest security threats.”

Analysis: Upgrade now, or soon – or be forced (maybe)

We say Windows 11 22H2 users need to upgrade to the latest version – namely 23H2 right now – but it might not be the most recent flavor of the OS come October 2024. Remember that the 24H2 update is rumored to arrive in September, so in October, that’ll likely be available – although that isn’t certain.

So, some folks might still want to hold off a bit, and perhaps look at jumping straight in with 24H2. Whatever the case, you’ll need to do something in October, as you can’t remain on 22H2 (or indeed 21H2) and keep your PC protected. As Microsoft observes, without security updates, you’ll be vulnerable to holes that aren’t patched, and potential exploits that might be leveraged by the bad guys (TM) out there.

What Microsoft normally does in these situations, post-deadline, to keep non-upgraders safe is to force updates (to 23H2 in this case), although in its support document, the company only mentions implementing this for “Windows 11 business devices not managed by IT departments.”

Usually, this statement includes consumer devices, too, but oddly they aren’t mentioned here – so unless Microsoft has changed its policy (unlikely, we’d think, but possible we guess), this is perhaps an oversight.

Via Neowin

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Windows 11 is getting some fixes for various frustrating issues with stuttering in the interface here and there.

Windows Latest points out there are numerous problems around glitchy animations and generally sluggish loading when using certain parts of the desktop interface in Windows 11, both in testing, and in the release version of the OS. However, the good news is that the 24H2 update is bringing some fixes for all these gremlins when it’s rolled out later this year.

The problems witnessed in test builds of Windows 11 include freezing or stuttering with Task View previews and other UI elements. However, Microsoft has implemented a cure in the recent build 26100 (24H2 in the Release Preview Channel).

Microsoft observed: “This update addresses an issue believed to be the underlying cause of some Insiders noticing stutters in some animations recently (dropping frames), particularly with Task View.”

More broadly, Windows Latest notes that issues around sluggish or buggy animations are evident in older Windows 11 versions already out there. Furthermore, the tech site also highlights a glitch with the Quick Settings interface, which has been slow to appear when invoked on Windows 11 23H2 (or indeed older versions of the OS).

The Quick Settings panel itself may appear swiftly enough, but some elements may not actually become visible – and therefore usable – for a few seconds. Again though, with the 24H2 update this problem has been ironed out, we’re told.

Small bugs, but seriously annoying glitches

While these glitches might sound like little things – and indeed they are in the grand scheme of bugs, which can really mess with your PC in the worst cases – they are still wrinkles that can hamper the overall experience of using an operating system.

When you flit around from menu to menu in Windows 11, if, at times, you’re having to pause to wait for a panel of options to actually appear, it feels like using a piece of beta software more than anything else. And true, some of these problems are indeed only in testing right now – but not all of them, with others actually affecting the finished version of Windows 11.

A modern OS must not only look good – and Windows 11 has done some impressive work on that front – but it has to feel good, too, which means no unresponsive bits of interface ruining the smooth flow of navigating around the desktop. Still, at least these fixes are inbound now, and should be here before too long – we’re expecting the 24H2 update to arrive in September or thereabouts.

Note that the 24H2 update is not to be confused with Windows 11 24H2 as installed on Copilot+ PCs – the latter was needed for these Arm-based machines, but it doesn’t contain all the full fixes and features that’ll be delivered in September (in theory). Think of it as a barebones version, with the meat still to be added as an update when Microsoft finalizes everything for the 24H2 update (which is officially still in testing).

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Windows 11 users are finally getting spellchecking in Notepad along with autocorrect, features that were introduced in preview versions of the OS earlier this year.

In fact, it was back in March 2024 that testers got to play with a new version of Notepad that had a spellcheck and autocorrect, so it has taken four months for these abilities to come to the entire userbase of Windows 11.

Tom’s Hardware noticed that the features are now quietly rolling out to everyone on Windows 11, with Microsoft seemingly keeping things on the downlow with Notepad here.

As Tom’s points out, the feature is on by default, and indeed if you’re a regular Notepad user, the move will probably fly completely under your radar. Likely the first time you’ll notice anything has happened is when you fire up Notepad to see some words underlined in red, highlighting spelling errors – just as is the case in Microsoft’s heavyweight word processor, Word.

As with the Word ability, there’s a menu of options that pops up relating to misspelled words, so for example you can tell Notepad to add a word to its dictionary going forward (if it’s, say, tech jargon, and not a spelling error).

Analysis: An addition that’s at odds with Notepad’s raison d’être?

Features in testing usually filter down to the release software, unless Microsoft changes its mind – which does happen on occasion – but we’re not surprised to these capabilities debut.

Even so, given Notepad’s design as very much a stripped-down text editor, this functionality does feel a little at odds with the app’s core philosophy. Although the change could have something to do with Microsoft killing off WordPad, which was a kind of halfway point between Word and Notepad – thereby beefing up the latter to make it a bit more of a suitable substitute in a pinch, perhaps.

There are Windows 11 users who aren’t happy about the new additions, mind, those who firmly believe that Notepad needs to stay a lightweight and streamlined text editing app, and that putting in extra features is just bloating it up. People who use the editor for coding tweaks also have no need whatsoever for these abilities, of course.

However, for some folks, spellcheck and autocorrect will be welcome extras, particularly considering the demise of WordPad as mentioned.

Microsoft previously brought new features to Notepad not long after Windows 11 debuted later in 2021, including a dark mode and a good deal more. The fear for some, then, is that the software giant will continue to build in new abilities, and thus walk ever closer to the line of bloating Notepad, perhaps making the app slightly slower to load and less snappier all round.

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Windows 11 is going to get more AI abilities – which is a given, especially considering Microsoft’s big push behind Copilot+ PCs, aka AI PCs – and we can expect more of this in the future, not just with the OS and its default apps.

While Microsoft will of course be introducing new features that use AI for Windows 11 and its own stock apps, the firm is also encouraging developers of third-party apps to do the same.

Windows Latest spotted a new support FAQ that Microsoft has published which offers up a primer on AI and how it can be usefully incorporated in a third-party application for Windows 11 to all kinds of ends.

That includes discussing running AI tasks locally (on-device, using a powerful NPU to accelerate them, as seen in the mentioned Copilot+ PCs – and with the retracted Recall feature for Windows 11) or in the cloud (sending tasks to be remotely processed).

The document then goes on to dive into depth on some more technical details like what AI models a developer might want to use, or preferred coding languages in terms of bringing in AI to a Windows 11 app.

Analysis: The future is AI, of course

Obviously these details aren’t something that the average consumer will want to know – although some of the FAQ is surprisingly basic, and comprehensible to anyone, going as far as introducing an NPU even – but the point here is that Microsoft is putting in place considerable efforts to help third-party devs use AI in their apps.

We’ve seen evidence of this before, and while the main thrust of development for Copilot+ PCs and Windows 11 has been new features for the desktop OS, and supercharging Microsoft’s own apps with AI, we can expect a lot more of this across a broad swathe of third-party software before too long.

This is the key point really – we’ll have a lot more AI features everywhere across Windows 11 at this point next year. What will be interesting to see is how many of these capabilities will require an NPU for acceleration, and thus how much that’ll push Copilot+ PCs – or upgrades for desktop PCs to processors that have a powerful NPU (such as Intel Arrow Lake, rumor has it). Interesting times ahead, as they say.

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