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Satya Nadella opened Microsoft's annual Build developer conference this week by leading with Windows. Not Azure. Not Copilot. Not Teams. The Verge noted it couldn't remember the last time Build kicked off that way. The Microsoft Build 2026 Windows AI strategy, as the keynote framed it, rests on a specific claim: Windows is no longer the legacy platform Microsoft tends while building elsewhere. It's the on-device layer of Microsoft's AI stack, the place where local agents run, where developer...

Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Ultra a few days ago, and while the device won't reach stores until later this year, its default wallpaper is already out. Someone extracted the high-resolution asset from pre-release materials, and Neowin is hosting both it and an unofficial light variant. To download the Surface Laptop Ultra wallpaper and apply it to your Windows 11 desktop, the whole process takes under a minute.

Microsoft Voluntary Buyouts: Who Qualifies and What the Offer Covers

Microsoft has made two distinct bets on how Office work should start and progress. The first: users should generate documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from a chat interface before they ever open an app. The second: once inside Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, Copilot should edit files directly rather than queue up suggestions for a person to apply. Both are now live, moving Copilot from a sidebar assistant toward both file creation in chat and direct editing inside apps. Access is broad, but...

Microsoft says its agentic capabilities for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint reached general availability on April 22, 2026, after a scheduled PowerPoint rollout that began on the web in mid-March and was expected to finish across Windows and Mac by the end of April. For PowerPoint specifically, the update replaces a static suggestion panel with a conversational editing mode that rewrites, restructures, and translates slides directly through chat.

Microsoft today launched the Surface Laptop for Business with two features new to the Surface lineup: an integrated privacy screen on select 13.8-inch configurations, and an OS-level haptic touchpad tied to Windows 11 interactions. The Surface Laptop for Business privacy screen is the more immediately useful of the two. Neither feature is an AI story, and both carry a price that Windows Central described as "outrageously expensive."

Two settings changes are all it takes. Set the lid-close action to Do Nothing and disable the inactivity sleep timer. Both live in Settings > System > Power & Battery and take about three minutes to configure.

The May 2026 Patch Tuesday update is failing to install on a subset of Windows 11 machines, stalling mid-reboot at roughly 35–36% completion and rolling back with error code 0x800f0922. Microsoft says the issue occurs on devices with limited free space on the EFI System Partition, especially when the ESP has 10 MB or less available; The Register covered Microsoft's disclosure on May 18, 2026. Both Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 are affected.

OpenAI published its most detailed technical account yet of how the Codex coding agent runs inside a Windows 11 sandbox this week, following months of documented complaints about the earlier implementation. The redesigned OpenAI Codex Windows sandbox uses separate execution identities, OS-level network isolation, and DPAPI-scoped credentials, according to WinBuzzer's coverage of OpenAI's safety post published six days ago. Whether the redesign resolves the original complaints is a separate...

Microsoft is adding a Windows 11 automatic driver rollback feature that can replace a bad driver update without any action from the user or the hardware vendor. Called Cloud-Initiated Driver Recovery, it works through the existing Windows Update pipeline and is currently being tested with hardware partners, with broad rollout targeted for September 2026 (The Verge, today; Digital Trends, today).

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority has today opened a formal investigation into Microsoft's business software ecosystem, examining whether Microsoft holds strategic market status in that sector and whether it can use that position to limit customer choice. The probe will also consider whether Microsoft's software licensing practices are reducing competition in cloud services and how AI competitors are able to integrate with Microsoft's business software, according to the CMA's...

Microsoft this week pushed a significant update to Edge: the Microsoft Edge Copilot tabs update gives Copilot permission to read every tab you have open and pull answers from across all of them at once. Ask it to compare five product pages, surface a spec from an article you opened an hour ago, or condense a stack of research tabs it draws from your full open set without requiring you to paste or switch. That puts it in a different category than a sidebar chatbot waiting to be addressed.

Microsoft has disclosed internal engineering data showing File Explorer launches faster after being migrated to a newer UI framework, part of a structured initiative called Windows K2. The company hopes to push the changes out of development testing "soon," XDA Developers reported yesterday, covering Microsoft's own engineering disclosures. The Windows 11 performance improvements are real and measurable though independent benchmarks have not yet verified how the numbers translate across...

Xbox Mobile Store Not Dead: Why It Still Hasn't Launched

Enable Xbox Full Screen Mode on Any Windows 11 PC

Discord launched Nitro Rewards today, and the headline feature is free access to the base tier of Xbox Game Pass bundled into the existing $9.99/month Nitro subscription. The Discord Nitro Xbox Game Pass bundle covers more than 50 PC and Xbox games and 10 hours of monthly cloud streaming, TechCrunch reported at launch. For Nitro subscribers who don't already pay for Game Pass, that's a genuine addition. It's also a deliberately constrained one.

Turn On or Off File and Printer Sharing in Windows 11: Full Guide

Windows 11 Dev Build Secure Boot Monitoring Lands in All Insider Channels

State of Decay 3 Development Update: Progress Confirmed, Release Date Still Unknown

PowerShell 7.6 New Features, Breaking Changes, and Upgrade Guide

Starting next month, the Microsoft Xbox employee email address appearing in developers' inboxes, press contacts' threads, and partner correspondence will read @xbox.com, not @microsoft.com. It's a routine-sounding IT rollout. It's also the most concrete step yet in a deliberate push to make Xbox present itself as a brand in its own right rather than a subdivision of its parent company.

Google has updated Quick Share for Windows with a visual overhaul that brings the desktop app's interface in line with the Android version. The redesign is cosmetic. The underlying transfer functionality is unchanged.

Can You Restore a System Image to a New Hard Drive: Full Guide

Gaming on Windows has always felt like a compromise—powerful, yes, but never quite as seamless as dedicated gaming consoles. Microsoft's upcoming "Xbox mode" for Windows 11 promises to change that fundamental reality, potentially transforming how millions of PC gamers interact with their systems. This isn't just another Windows update; it's a strategic pivot that could reshape the entire PC gaming landscape.

Editor's note: Build 29558 referenced in the original announcement could not be confirmed from available sources at publication time. This article covers what is confirmed: the 28020.1797 release on the default track and the 29550.1000 release on the optional 29500 series. The Windows Insider Blog is the authoritative reference for any 29558 changelog.

There are two completely different taskbar indicator problems in Windows 11, and most troubleshooting guides treat them as one. This guide helps you identify whether the underline or dot beneath a taskbar icon is normal Windows behavior, a preference you can't change, or the documented 24H2 bug that causes the underline to persist after an app has fully closed and tells you exactly what to do in each case. Start with the diagnosis step.

A fan has remade the Windows 10 Hero wallpaper in the visual style of Windows 11, and you can download this Windows 11 inspired Windows 10 Hero wallpaper right now for free. One hard constraint before clicking anything: the file is 1920×1080 only. If your monitor runs above 1080p and resolution fidelity matters to you, skip this file entirely. The official Hero variants go up to 4K and are already stored locally at %SystemRoot%\Web\Wallpaper\4K on any Windows 10 machine, according to the...

One checkbox fixes this. Go to Settings > System > Multitasking, expand the Snap windows section, and uncheck "Show snap layouts when I drag a window to the top of my screen." The change takes effect immediately. No restart, no registry edits, fully reversible.

AdHoc Studio's Dispatch is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, supported gaming handhelds, and Xbox Cloud this summer as a full Xbox Play Anywhere title, Xbox Wire confirmed today. The Dispatch Xbox release date is summer 2026, though no specific date within that window has been announced. One purchase covers both console and PC, with save progress shared across devices.

The "Ask Copilot" context menu entry has become a familiar sight for Windows users, appearing when you right-click in various applications and desktop areas. This AI assistant integration represents Microsoft's push to weave artificial intelligence deeper into the Windows experience, but not every user wants this feature cluttering their workflow. Whether you're concerned about privacy, prefer a cleaner interface, or simply don't use Copilot's services, you have several options to remove this...

The gaming world loves a good rumor, especially when it involves high-profile executives. Recently, speculation erupted about Phil Spencer potentially stepping down from his role as Microsoft Gaming CEO—but here's what's actually happening: Microsoft has firmly denied these claims, with Xbox communications head Kari Perez stating that Spencer has no plans to retire in the near future, according to The Verge. The speculation emerged from a Call of Duty leaker who suggested Spencer would depart...

Spotify has been quietly working on something that audiophiles have been requesting for years. The streaming giant recently introduced Exclusive Mode to its Windows beta app, marking a significant shift in how the platform handles audio output. This development addresses a long-standing limitation where the Windows app routes audio through the system mixer, potentially altering the signal through resampling and volume adjustments.

Frustrated by a sudden "access denied" error when trying to open your C: drive on Windows 11? You're not alone in this maddening experience. This particular issue has been cropping up more frequently, especially on systems running Samsung software after recent Windows updates. The problem typically manifests as a complete lockout from your primary drive, leaving you staring at an error message instead of accessing your files and programs.

The sudden inability to access Gmail through Outlook 2024 on Windows 11 has caught many users off guard, transforming what should be a routine email check into a frustrating authentication maze. This isn't just another minor glitch—it's a symptom of broader changes happening behind the scenes with how major email providers handle security and authentication protocols.

When Microsoft shares case studies about companies saving tens of millions with AI deployment, there's an unspoken irony in the presentation. The tech giant is simultaneously closing its own employee library and cutting subscription services—moves that feel almost symbolic of the broader AI transformation happening across corporate America. You might be wondering how a company reporting massive AI-driven savings of $500 million in call center costs can justify eliminating traditional workplace...

Reviewed by: Y. GarciaMicrosoft's AI assistant is about to make a major leap into the world of e-commerce, and it's happening sooner than you might think. Microsoft announced and is rolling out in-chat checkout with 'Buy' buttons in Copilot (Copilot Checkout).