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Posts tagged "Windows"

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New Windows 11 energy-saving option could save money and extend your laptop’s battery life
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Windows 11 laptops could soon benefit from improved battery life thanks to a change in the works currently in testing.

The new feature called ‘Energy Saver’ is in the freshly released preview build 26002 of Windows 11 in the Canary channel (the earliest testing avenue).

Microsoft describes it as an extension of battery saver, and it reins in system performance to give you more battery life. The blurb for the feature notes it will limit some background activities, so apps and the system may run a bit slower, or be a touch less responsive when you return to them, but your laptop will last longer.

Energy Saver can be set to kick in when your battery percentage drops to a certain level, or you can manually select it. In the latter case, the option is present in the quick settings accessed via the system tray (far right on the taskbar).

Speaking of the quick settings panel, in build 26002 Microsoft has applied some other work here, including experimenting with a tweak that makes it pop up faster and act more responsively, which will be a useful addition to the mix.

Furthermore, dealing with VPNs has been improved in quick settings, with the introduction of the ability to turn your VPN on or off with just a single click.

For all the gory details of the changes made in build 26002, check out Microsoft’s blog post (spoiler alert – they’re not all that gory).

Analysis: Energy Saver – and Money Saver, too

What we don’t know yet is how much effect this new Energy Saver will have in extending battery life, but Microsoft is certainly billing it as a more heavy-duty method of eking out greater longevity than battery saver, so that’s promising.

What’s also interesting with this feature is that while it’s designed for laptops, Microsoft is also allowing it to be used for desktop PCs (or notebooks plugged into the mains and not running on battery, for that matter).

In short, this allows you to save a bit of money when running your desktop PC all day – maybe you work from home and do so, like us – if you’re happy with somewhat constrained performance levels, of course. With power bills being what they are, though, and the cost-of-living crisis still very much around, it’s a useful option to have. Not to mention an environmentally-friendly choice, to boot.

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This Windows app could soon let you use your phone as a webcam
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Right now, there’s no need to use one of the best webcams to record yourself in video calls and meetings, as there are plenty of third-party apps that let you use your phone as a webcam. Even Apple has got in on the act with its Continuity Camera system, and it now seems that Microsoft also wants a slice of the pie.

According to Android Authority, Microsoft is working on adding this functionality to its Phone Link app that helps connect Android phones to Windows. That could be a major boost to anyone who doesn’t want to spend money on a webcam when they already have excellent cameras built into their smartphone.

Android Authority claims that code in the 1.23102.190.0 version of the Phone Link app gives the game away. The outlet has spotted code strings that reference setting up a camera stream on your computer, with controls allowing you to switch to the front or back cameras, enable Do Not Disturb, and more.

As well as that, there look to be a raft of video effects that you might be able to apply, ranging from HDR and night modes to soft focus, image stabilization, face retouching, and more. There’s also an 'auto-framing' feature that sounds similar to Apple’s Center Stage.

Plenty of competition

Apple's Craig Federighi demonstrating Continuity Camera in macOS Ventura at WWDC 2022.

(Image credit: Apple)

Phone Link can already access your camera, but in its current state this just mirrors video-calling apps on your phone. The new code, on the other hand, suggests that Microsoft is working to bring video-conferencing functionality into Phone Link itself.

It’s not known which devices this feature will be available on, but Android Authority speculates that it could end up being limited to products that include Phone Link as a system app. That would include a number of the best Samsung Galaxy phones, as well as the OnePlus 11 running Android 14, for example.

When – or if – this feature does launch, it’ll face some stiff competition. For instance, the Camo app is a superb tool for using your phone as a webcam, and contains a ton of fine-grained control for perfecting your videos. Microsoft will need to work hard to overcome that challenge.

Stepping back for a moment, there’s no guarantee that this feature will eventually make it into Phone Link. It could be that Microsoft is simply experimenting with it, and might scrap the feature before launch. Time will tell, but if Microsoft can do what Apple has done with Continuity Camera it could be a great addition for Windows and Android users.

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Check your Windows 11 Start menu for an HP app that’s mysteriously installing itself without permission
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Windows 11 and Windows 10 users are reportedly experiencing a puzzling situation whereby an unwanted HP app is being installed on their systems without their knowledge.

Windows Latest flagged up this rather peculiar problem that affected the writer’s PC, as well as others according to reports.

The application in question is HP Smart, and we’re told it’s being errantly installed from the Microsoft Store. It’s an app which allows for controlling HP printers or MFDs (multifunction devices that also scan), and it’s being installed on non-HP PCs and also  those not connected to an HP printer, which is pretty mystifying.

It isn’t clear why this installation is happening, but there are reports of it occurring on Windows 11 23H2, 22H2, and Windows 10 (on Reddit and elsewhere, as well as from Windows Latest).

Windows Latest has been in touch with Microsoft about the problem, and the software giant said it was aware of these reports, and will be in touch soon to share further details on the matter.

Analysis: Not so smart move

This is an odd one, for sure, but it seems Microsoft has an investigation underway and we’ll get the results of that soon enough. Stay tuned.

If you’re curious about whether you’ve been affected, you can just jump into the Start menu and scroll down to the ‘H’ section of the app list to see if HP Smart is present. If so, the cure is simple enough – just right click on the entry for the app, and select uninstall. (The app may also be present under the ‘recently added’ section at the top of the menu).

Whether the app could end up being installed again after you remove it isn’t made clear. At any rate, we’d imagine Microsoft will have the solution to this one before long.

It should be noted that in the past there’ve been complaints of the HP Smart app being installed on PCs when people have, for example, taken their computer to a friend’s house and gone on a network that has an HP printer. In other words, Windows detects the presence of the HP printer and then automatically grabs the app. So perhaps what’s going on here is a false detection of HP hardware triggering the installation, but we’re just guessing here.

Really, there should never be a case where software is installed without the user’s knowledge, and there should always be a prompt to show what’s about to happen, and to check that it’s okay to go ahead with the installation.

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Good luck getting Microsoft’s ugly Christmas sweater for 2023 – it stars Windows XP and is almost sold out already
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Microsoft has revealed its ugly sweater for this year’s holiday season – and it’s going to be a real crowd-pleaser for fans of Windows XP.

And there are plenty of folks who regard this operating system as one of the best versions of Windows ever – after all, it’s the operating system that refused to die – so it turns out there’s been quite some demand for the sweater.

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The cotton garment (well, 55% cotton, 45% acrylic) shows a stylized version of the Bliss (default) wallpaper for Windows XP, and it’s labeled as ‘Merry Blissmas’ in the product listing.

The design features the iconic fluffy clouds in a blue sky, with a green landscape underneath, and the addition of an oversized mouse cursor (you wouldn’t want anyone to miss the point of the sweater, now, would you?).

It’s yours via the Xbox Gear Shop for $ 70 (£56 in the UK, and around AU$ 105).

The sweater can be shipped internationally, across the globe, but if you want the bad news, it’s already sold out in the most common sizes.

Small, medium, large, and extra-large have all gone, with only the 2XL and 3XL sizes remaining. You can still request a notification for one of the sizes that’s currently out of stock, mind, so Microsoft will let you know when (or if) more inventory comes in.

Microsoft advises: “Machine wash cold, tumble dry low, and never take off.”

As an added bonus, some of the money goes to charity – namely The Nature Conservancy, which aims to protect our environment and combat climate change.

Windows XP Sweater

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: Do sweat it

Microsoft’s holiday sweaters have become pretty famous at this point. In the past we’ve had the likes of Clippy last year (maybe a retired Copilot could be on a future sweater, though Microsoft better hope not, with the amount of eggs it has in that particular basket), and a Windows 95 sweater.

Indeed, there was a Windows XP sweater back in 2019 (which was also available in 2020, when Microsoft resurrected some past designs), covered with the ‘XP’ logo, but this take is a bit more subtle – aside from the stupidly supersized mouse pointer, anyway.

If there’s one point of criticism here, it’s that Microsoft should be making more of these garments. They’re clearly popular sweaters, and to be sold out of most sizes already is obviously going to be disappointing for those keen to get a slice of ‘bliss’ for the festive period.

We’re still waiting for the BSoD, frankly (that's the 'Blue Sweater of Death').

Via Tom’s Hardware

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Windows 11’s new features won’t be for everyone – but they’re seriously cool for those who’ll use them
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Windows 11 is close to getting some smart additions for those who use a stylus, and other improvements besides, as seen in a new preview build.

This is preview build 22635.2776 (also known as KB5032292) which has been pushed out to the Beta channel, the last avenue of testing before Release Preview (the final step before new features come to the finished version of Windows 11).

The big step forward here is for Windows Ink, with the ability to write directly in some text boxes in Windows 11 coming to a lot more people. In other words, rather than typing in text for a search, for example, you can directly scribble your search terms into the box.

This ability was available for the US, but is now coming with support for a bunch of new regions – that includes English (Australia), English and French (Canada), English (India), and English (United Kingdom), plus many more (check out the blog post for the full list).

Windows 11 stylus writing in menus

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Windows Ink is being further bolstered by a greater level of accuracy for its recognition technology, as well as some new gesture controls. There are now gestures to select, join, or split words, to delete a word, and to insert a new line.

The Task Manager has also been tinkered with in this beta release, with Microsoft noting that it has improved process grouping in the panel that lists your running processes.

Also rolling out in this preview are notifications for Microsoft accounts on the home page of the Settings app. We’ve seen these in the past, and they’re prompts to remind you about the status of your account, and tasks you might want to finish off (though we should note we’ve not been keen on the way this has been handled in the Start menu).

Analysis: Supercharging that stylus

This is an important update for those who use a stylus, then, outside of the US, as a lot more territories across the globe are now being covered with support for writing directly in menus. This is an excellent time-saving feature for those using their convertible laptop as a tablet, for example, and it’s something Microsoft is set to develop more going forward.

Indeed, we’ve been told in the past that the eventual aim is that you’ll be able to use your stylus to write anywhere in Windows 11, which is a very cool concept.

Improved process grouping in Task Manager should be a useful little change, too, if you’re one of the Windows users who takes an interest in diving into this area of the interface. Task Manager can be a useful tool for troubleshooting what’s slowing down your PC, for example, if it seems to have hit a sticky patch.

We don’t know how the change will work yet, but more intelligent grouping of related processes should enable better visibility into what’s happening under the hood at any given time with your Windows 11 system.

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Windows 11 users should fire up Paint now to check out this superb new AI-based feature
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Windows 11 users are getting the Paint app bolstered with a really smart addition on the AI front.

This is the introduction of Dall-E 3 support to Paint, or as it’s known in the app, Cocreator.

If you’ve seen the feature in Bing AI, it’s a top-notch image creation feature. Basically, you can tell Cocreator what you want and it’ll make an image based on your description (and specified art style).

As we’ve already seen with Bing AI, it’s easy to use and provides powerful results, so much so that when first rolled out with Bing Chat (now renamed as Copilot), there was a massive rush to use the image generation capability – and a whole lot of buzz around how good it is. (With a few wobbles along the way, mind, but that’s par for the course for AI in many respects).

Windows Latest reports that Cocreator in Paint is now rolling out to all Windows 11 users, so it has left the testing phase (where it was first spotted back in September, before making it to the Release Preview build at the end of October).

There’s a short tutorial to introduce the feature to help beginners understand what it’s all about, too.

Analysis: Not got Cocreator yet? You will have it soon

Not everyone will see the Cocreator feature right now, as the rollout will take a little time. Also, you need to ensure that you’re running the latest version of Paint (so update the app), and if Microsoft asks you to sign up to the waiting list for the feature (in the app), make sure that you do this.

Paint has been fleshed out considerably this year, not just with the addition of this AI-based feature, but also with a transparency effect, and moreover, layers, a much-requested piece of functionality that was added recently. Not to mention background removal which does what it says on the tin, quickly and with no fuss (the Photos app also got this recently, as well as a background blur option to boot).

The improvements for Microsoft’s core Windows 11 apps keep coming, as well as the ditching of some of the chaff in this department too, which is equally welcome.

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Microsoft’s AI tinkering continues with powerful new GPT-4 Turbo upgrade for Copilot in Windows 11
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Bing AI, which Microsoft recently renamed from Bing Chat to Copilot – yes, even the web-based version is now officially called Copilot, just to confuse everyone a bit more – should get GPT-4 Turbo soon enough, but there are still issues to resolve around the implementation.

Currently, Bing AI runs GPT-4, but GPT-4 Turbo will allow for various benefits including more accurate responses to queries and other important advancements.

We found out more about how progress was coming with the move to GPT-4 Turbo thanks to an exchange on X (formerly Twitter) between a Bing AI user and Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft’s head of Advertising and Web Services.

As MS Power User spotted, Ricardo, a denizen of X, noted that they just got access to Bing’s redesigned layout and plug-ins, and asked: “Does Bing now use GPT-4 Turbo?”

As you can see in the below tweet, Parakhin responded to say that GPT-4 Turbo is not yet working in Copilot, as a few kinks still need to be ironed out.

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Of course, as well as Copilot on the web (formerly Bing Chat), this enhancement will also come to Copilot in Windows 11, too (which is essentially Bing AI – just with bells and whistles added in terms of controls for Windows and manipulating settings).

Analysis: Turbo mode

We’re taking the comment that a ‘few’ kinks are still to be resolved as a suggestion that much of the work around implementing GPT-4 Turbo has been carried out. Meaning that GPT-4 Turbo could soon arrive in Copilot, or we can certainly keep our fingers crossed that this is the case.

Expect it to bring in more accurate and relevant responses to queries as noted, and it’ll be faster too (as the name suggests). As Microsoft observes, it “has the latest training data with knowledge up to April 2023” – though it’s still in preview. OpenAI only announced GPT-4 Turbo earlier this month, and said that it’s also going to be cheaper to run (for developers paying for GPT-4, that is).

In theory, it should represent a sizeable step forward for Bing AI, and that’s something to look forward to hopefully in the near future.

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Tiny11 is now even smaller, giving you Windows 11 23H2 but without the clutter
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There’s a new version of Tiny11, the super-streamlined take on Windows 11 which is now even more compact, and it’s based on the latest release of Microsoft’s desktop OS – and yes, you can add Copilot into the mix if you wish (we’ll come back to that).

The new Tiny11 2311 is based on Windows 11 23H2, the recently released upgrade for the operating system, coming with major improvements including being 20% smaller than the previous Tiny11 23H2 installation.

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The developer, NTDEV, tells us that the new version “fixes most, if not all of the nagging issues with previous releases of Tiny11.”

One of the most important fixes is that the OS now works properly with Windows Update. Previously, there were problems with implementing the monthly cumulative updates for Windows 11, but that’s no longer the case, and you can keep your Tiny11 fully up to speed with all the latest introductions from Microsoft.

As mentioned at the outset, while Copilot isn’t in the new Tiny11 by default – this project is all about streamlining, of course – if you want the AI assistant in your Tiny11 installation, you can have it.

As the dev notes: “You just have to install Edge using Winget and voila, you have Copilot on Tiny11! It’s all about choice!”

Analysis: Important advances

This is very impressive: a reduction in the footprint of an already small Windows 11 installation by 20% is no mean feat. For those interested in super-compact sizes for Microsoft’s OS, this is obviously going to be a major boon.

The ability to get Windows updates fixed is even more important, though. Cumulative updates are very necessary in terms of keeping your OS secure, of course, as without them you won’t get the latest patches for vulnerabilities, and your PC won’t be as secure as it should be.

The choice to get Copilot on board is welcome, too, for those who may want a decluttered Windows 11, but still fancy having the AI assistant on tap. While the desktop-based Copilot isn’t very fleshed out yet – at all – and not many folks will take up this option, more choice is always good (and naturally the AI will be improved considerably going forward).

Note that there’s a version of this bloat-banishing OS for Windows 10, which as you might imagine is called Tiny10 (which can run on very low-spec old hardware, it should be noted).

Via Windows Central

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Windows 10 might get Copilot sooner than you think
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Windows 10 should get Microsoft’s Copilot AI – a feature that was previously exclusive to Windows 11 – in the near future, and some users might benefit from the desktop-based assistant quicker than you think.

As you may have noticed, Copilot came to Windows 10 last week, but only in testing for consumers (Windows 10 Home, and non-business Pro editions). And we’ve just had a clarification about how Copilot will be deployed to Windows 10 users.

As Windows Latest spotted, in a blog post penned earlier this week, Microsoft tells us: “Copilot will begin rolling out to devices running Home and unmanaged [consumer] Pro editions of Windows 10, version 22H2 in the near term. We will roll out this experience in phases using Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) technology over several months.”

Notice that the full rollout will begin in the ‘near term’ so that certainly suggests we’ll be seeing Copilot in Windows 10 soon enough.

However, it won’t be for everyone. As noted, Copilot will be pushed out in stages, so only some users will get it, and then its reach will gradually be expanded.

In short, a lucky few – presuming you want Copilot, mind – could be getting the AI assistant quite soon indeed.

The deployment of Copilot in Windows 10 will mirror that of Windows 11, we’re also told, meaning that it’ll only come to the US and North America first, as well as parts of Asia and South America. Other regions will be covered down the line.

Analysis: Driving adoption of Copilot

It makes sense that Microsoft would want to get Copilot live in Windows 10 as soon as possible.

After all, witness the remarkable turnaround from the previous announcement that Windows 10 would get no major new features, to suddenly adding the biggest new feature of all from Windows 11. This is presumably the result of Microsoft wanting to drive up the numbers of those using its AI – and Windows 10 users are a billion strong, of course. That’s a very big number indeed.

If this is true, and Microsoft is looking to tap into the Windows 10 user base to this end, then the company will likely want to move sooner rather than later.

More broadly, it seems that Microsoft wants to jam Copilot into pretty much everything it can. As an example, Windows Latest also flagged up the addition of Copilot to the command line in Windows 11 (and presumably Windows 10 eventually).

The theory is that Copilot in Windows 10 will be pretty much equivalent to the Windows 11 version, but as we stand at the beginning of the porting process to the older OS, that isn’t yet true, and the initial incarnation is more limited. Mind you, it’s still a barebones affair in Windows 11, truth be told, and Microsoft has a lot of work to do to fulfill its vision of an AI that can manipulate all manner of settings at the user’s request.

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New Windows 11 update fixes a seriously frustrating bug that messed with AMD GPUs
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A bug that’s been frustrating Windows 11 users with AMD graphics cards (and CPUs to an extent) has been fixed in the latest update for Microsoft’s OS – or mostly fixed, anyway, going by reports.

This glitch was brought in with the Moment 4 update (it was first seen in the preview of that upgrade), and it messed with AMD profile settings. Every time affected users restarted their PC, those GPU settings (and reportedly CPU settings too, in some instances, like overclocking) went back to their defaults.

The good news is that the Windows 11 update for November (which began rolling out last week) cured this issue, albeit with some caveats.

As Windows Latest reports, the bug has been squashed according to its own testing. The tech site has also been talking to a selection of users hit by the bug and the majority said that this new patch from Microsoft fixed things – however, a few observed that their profile was still being reset.

It appears there are still minor gremlins kicking about, perhaps, though it should be noted that for the fix to work, as well as the November update for Windows 11, you also need to be running AMD’s Adrenalin graphics driver version 23.10.2.

Another slight caveat, too: the November update that resolves this issue has some vexing problems itself.

Analysis: A thornier problem for some?

This is a nasty bug. Having your settings reset and having to redo any customization from scratch after every single PC restart is going to get very annoying, very quickly. Especially if you’ve done a lot of tweaking on your AMD system.

Seeing the fix arrive is great news, although there’s the slight catch of apparently not everyone getting the benefit. Windows Latest doesn’t make it clear if those who found the bug still present after the latest Windows 11 update were using the mentioned version of AMD’s GPU driver (v23.10.2), but presumably they were, as the site would’ve surely clarified that if not.

The tech site suggests that those continuing to be affected may be suffering a profile reset from another cause other than Windows 11 updates.

Whatever wrinkles are left in the solution, if any, Microsoft will hopefully iron them out quickly – although the software giant hasn’t actually confirmed the presence of this fix in the new update.

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