The Latest on Windows Tips

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."

Microsoft launched its Xbox Player Voice feedback portal this week, and the top results came in fast. Within hours, the most-upvoted requests pointed in one direction: bring back console exclusives, expand backward compatibility, and drop the subscription requirement for online multiplayer. The Verge and IGN both covered the Xbox Player Voice feedback results today.

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.

Brazil's Anatel regulator published images of what appears to be Microsoft's unannounced successor to the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, hours after a separate Xbox Cloud Gaming controller surfaced through the same channel. Brazilian outlet Tecnoblog spotted the filings first. The images show a refined design with two new scroll wheels, a pairing button that toggles between local and cloud modes, and a removable battery smaller than the one in the Elite 2.

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).

Windows 11 gives you three built-in ways to find your IP address, and none of them will show you what you might actually need. That's not a bug it's a distinction worth understanding before you start clicking around. The methods built into the OS return the local (private) address your router assigns to your device. The public address, which belongs to the router itself and is what the outside internet sees, lives somewhere else entirely. This guide covers how to find IP address on Windows 11...

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 today announced a Windows Update automatic driver rollback feature that can replace a faulty driver installed through Windows Update on affected devices without any action from the user or the hardware vendor. The feature, called Cloud-Initiated Driver Recovery, is currently in testing with hardware partners and is scheduled for a gradual rollout in September, The Verge reported today. It applies only to drivers delivered through Windows Update a scope boundary that defines both what...

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

Why the Discord Xbox Game Pass partnership speculation makes strategic sense

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.

Windows 11 April 2026 Update BitLocker Recovery: KB5083769 Bug Explained

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

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced Tuesday that Microsoft is ending Xbox Copilot AI on mobile and halting all console development of the assistant, confirmed the same day by an Xbox spokesperson to PC Gamer. The mobile version is being wound down; console development has stopped entirely. No replacement product has been announced.

PowerShell 7.6 New Features, Breaking Changes, and Upgrade Guide

Xbox hardware revenue fell 25% in Microsoft's fiscal year 2025 on lower console sales volume, the second consecutive annual decline after a 13% drop the prior year, according to the Microsoft Annual Report 2025. Those figures, published last October, cover Microsoft's fiscal year ending June 2025. The back-to-back declines point to something more persistent than a single rough year, though whether that reflects a hardware cycle trough or a structural shift is a question the filings leave open....

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.

Microsoft chose an AI executive with no gaming experience to run Xbox. The internal heir apparent, Sarah Bond, who had spent years rising to Xbox president and COO, was passed over and left the company. That decision captures something larger than a single succession call: it is the clearest illustration of what Microsoft's wave of executive departures is actually building. Across gaming, Office, Windows, developer tools, and GitHub, the company has moved consistently since January toward the...

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.

The dreaded visual glitch when opening windows—you know the one. That split-second stutter, flicker, or distortion that makes your screen look like it's having a brief visual glitch every time you launch an application. If you're running Windows 11 with a dual high-refresh-rate monitor setup and an NVIDIA GPU, you're probably not alone in this frustration.

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.

Windows 11 now has a speed test option built directly into the taskbar. Added this month as part of the March 2026 cumulative update, it gives you a one-click path to check your internet speed on Windows 11 without hunting for a website. That said, knowing how to perform an internet speed test in Windows 11 also means understanding what the feature actually is: it's a browser shortcut to Bing, not a native network diagnostic tool. The Ookla engine behind it is solid, but the results are only as...

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.

This guide walks through building a single USB drive that boots Windows 11, runs MemTest86 for memory diagnostics, and holds additional tools all without ever reformatting. By the end, you'll have a drive you update by copying files, not rebuilding from scratch.

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 security landscape around Windows boot processes has evolved significantly, and understanding your system's Secure Boot certificate status isn't just for IT professionals anymore. With the 2023 BlackLotus bootkit demonstrating how attackers can exploit certificate vulnerabilities, knowing whether your certificates are current has become a practical necessity for anyone serious about system security.

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.

Microsoft's official end-of-support timeline for Windows 10 creates a compelling deadline that makes those tempting budget laptop deals far riskier than they appear. While the bargain prices on used Windows 10 machines might seem attractive, the hidden costs and security implications tell a different story entirely.

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.

Notepad's Markdown Feature Opens Door to Remote Code Execution

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).

Microsoft's latest holiday advertisement for Copilot promises a world where AI seamlessly handles your daily tasks, but the reality behind these glossy marketing claims tells a very different story. The tech giant's festive campaign showcases all the classic hallmarks of AI hype: slick demonstrations, bold productivity promises, and that unmistakable air of "trust us, it just works." The problem? Anyone who's actually tried using these tools knows the reality is far messier than the polished...

When Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke told investors that approximately 500 million computers are avoiding the Windows 11 transition, he wasn't just sharing quarterly numbers—he was documenting what might be the most significant operating system adoption crisis Microsoft has faced in decades. With Windows 10 support ending in less than a year and roughly half the PC market still resistant to change, we're witnessing a fundamental shift in how enterprises and users respond to forced technology...

Reviewed by: Y. Garcia

You know what’s been happening quietly in the background of PC gaming? Microsoft’s Xbox app has been undergoing a fascinating transformation. What started as a simple game launcher has evolved into something far more ambitious, a comprehensive gaming hub that aggregates titles from multiple storefronts, including Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net, Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. This isn’t just another launcher trying to compete with Steam; it is Microsoft taking a completely different approach by...

Reviewed by: Ysa Garcia