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Windows 11 24H2 officially debuts for Copilot+ PCs, and nobody else – but don’t worry, you’re not missing much
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Microsoft has made Windows 11 version 24H2 available – but right now, it’s for Copilot+ PCs only, at least officially.

This means that to begin with, the 24H2 update is only being released for those specific devices, which means to begin with, Windows on Arm laptops with the new Snapdragon X (Arm-based) chips – and no other PCs.

As Windows Latest spotted, Microsoft states in its release notes: “Windows 11, version 24H2 is only available for Copilot+ PCs devices.”

However, there’s a twist in that what Microsoft means here is that 24H2 is only available in its finished version for Copilot+ PCs. These devices go on sale tomorrow (June 18), and when you fire up your Copilot+ laptop, it’ll be running 24H2 and will immediately apply KB5039239 (it’s the cumulative update for June).

Those who don’t have a Copilot+ PC can actually download and run KB5039239, but only as a Windows Insider. In other words, 24H2 is only available as a test build (26100.863) which is in the Release Preview channel.

As Windows Latest points out, though, if you do run this preview on a standard (non-Copilot+) system you may experience a rough ride in terms of bugs, more so than a normal test build (certainly one in Release Preview which is, as the name suggests, the final step before release).

Analysis: Missing out? Not really

If you're afraid that you’re missing out by not getting Windows 11 24H2, we wouldn’t worry about that. As we already noted, yes, this is only for Arm-based Copilot+ PCs, and while you can technically put the preview spin on a PC running an AMD or Intel CPU, there isn’t much in the way of new features anyway. (And the one huge feature for Copilot+ PCs, Recall, was pulled as you may remember, and put into testing for the foreseeable).

Indeed, for now, all the initial 24H2 release does is apply some bug fixes – including one to ensure games with BattlEye anti-cheat work with Windows on Arm – and security tweaks.

There is one sizable change with Copilot, though, which will become an ‘app experience’ so the desktop assistant can be treated like any app within Windows 11. In other words, you can move the Copilot window, snap or resize it and so forth – rather than having it locked to a side panel – but even that’s something you can likely wait for.

When the full release of the 24H2 update comes, likely in September if rumors are right – though it could slide until later in 2024 – there will be a lot more features on-board (though some of them will be for Copilot+ PCs only, like Recall).

So for now, you’re not really missing out on anything, and indeed this preview build returning to testing is a good sign for everyone in terms of the release timeframe of the full Windows 11 24H2 update. If you recall, the rollout and testing of the preview was paused due to various nasty bugs, and we were worried there might even be a delay to 24H2 – but with the build having its rollout resumed in the Release Preview channel, that’s a good sign that things remain on track regarding the launch schedule.

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If your Windows 11 taskbar’s been acting weird, you’re not seeing things – but don’t worry, there’s a fix
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Windows 11 just received a new update and there’s some good news for those who were experiencing weird and buggy behavior with their taskbar.

Namely that the frustrating taskbar bug – where it can vanish, before reappearing – is now fixed with the cumulative update for June 2024, as Microsoft makes clear in the support document relating to the upgrade.

Microsoft notes: “This update addresses a known issue that affects the taskbar. It might briefly glitch or not respond. It might also disappear and reappear.”

To rewind a bit, this glitchy behavior was actually introduced by the optional update Microsoft ushered in at the end of May 2024 (and we've seen a similar issue in recent times, too).

When the problem became known, Microsoft was swift to act, and fired up a rollback for devices that had installed this preview update for May. This was implemented via a ‘Known Issue Rollback’ meaning Windows 11 users didn’t have to take any action installing another patch – the fix was put in place automatically (as Neowin spotted).

So, those who were worried about this bug carrying over to the June update – after all, May’s optional update is June’s cumulative update, but in testing – well, you needn’t fret. The problem is now fully resolved (or at least Microsoft says it is).

Useful new features are also part of the June update

What else is present in the new June update for Windows 11? It also delivers the long-awaited drag-and-drop functionality for File Explorer’s address bar, changes to Account Manager in the Start Menu, a refreshed Linked Devices page in the Settings app, built-in QR code generation for links, and many security-related tweaks. 

We would always recommend that you make sure that you have Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday update installed, as these patches address the latest security risks and known exploitable vulnerabilities.

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Windows 11 users, watch out – you’re in for an upgrade you can’t ignore thanks to mandatory adverts
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Microsoft seems intent on making ads disguised as recommendations a fact of life in Windows 11, and the tech giant has apparently begun testing promotional recommendation pages that take up your whole screen, urging users to install Edge and other services – similar to the page you see when you first set up your device or install Windows 11.

Thinking back, I recall a few times when this screen appeared on my own Windows 11 PC after an update, and it caught me off guard as my PC is already set up to my liking. Like myself, some users would be greeted with “Let’s finish setting up your PC” automatically after a Windows Update had been installed. Before this, this sort of notification might appear if you bought a PC and set it up for the first time, but now it looks like anyone already up and running could also see it. 

Man sitting at a table and looking at a laptop, holding one hand in the other in front of his face and looking concerned

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Space_Cat)

A breakdown of the new notification in Windows 11

The new notification screens were spotted by Windows Latest following Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday update in April 2024. As shown in a screenshot provided in Windows Latest’s report, the notification screen explains that the ‘set-up’ process will involve backing up your files using OneDrive, restoring “Microsoft recommended settings” (read: setting Edge as your default browser), backing up your phone on your PC, setting up Windows Hello, as well as getting a Microsoft 365 subscription, and turning on Phone Link between your phone and PC.

You are then given two options, neither of which is to opt out of the notification if you’re not interested. You can choose to “Continue” or select “Remind me in 3 days,” and the pop-ups will eventually return. Windows Latest tried the ‘Continue’ option, which led to a “Let’s customize your experience” page which prompts users to customize their Start menu’s ‘Recommended’ section. As shown in a provided screenshot, users would be given some control over the apps that appear in this section. 

If you decide not to make any adjustments you’ll be guided to a page with the heading “Use recommended browser settings.” The top option, not by coincidence, is Microsoft Edge – Windows 11’s default browser. This is accompanied by Bing as the default search engine, which again no surprise. Enabling these also pins the Edge icon to the taskbar and creates a desktop icon (if you’ve removed these). Luckily, if you’re not interested in using Microsoft’s web browser and search engine, you can click on “Don’t update your settings,” (which sounds like you’re getting left behind), and you can keep your previous settings. 

Woman standing in a room at night time with a backdrop of a city, while holding a laptop and using it with one hand

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff)

A closer look at Microsoft's promotional tactics

This isn’t the first of Microsoft’s heavy-handed attempts to get people to use its software and services, and not the first to be met with distaste from users. As Windows Latest points out, Edge already comes preinstalled, and it’s difficult to remove for users running Windows 11 outside of Europe. 

If you make it through all of these option screens and have any patience left, you’ll be met with more promotional pages for other Microsoft services, like the offer to try Microsoft 365 Family with a free trial. You could forgo this and subscribe to Microsoft 365 Basic, which includes ad-free OneDrive and Outlook, along with 100GB of cloud storage. In the screenshot that Windows Latest includes, no prices are stated – just a ‘Continue’ button. After this page, users are urged to set up Microsoft’s Phone Link app, which works in a similar way to Apple’s AirDrop feature, and allows you to access data on a linked Android phone on your PC.

Each page does at least have an option to skip that particular step and finish the PC setup process, but this is strange wording, because as I mentioned earlier when I saw the notification, and as Windows Latest stated while documenting this process, our PCs were already set up to our liking.

This has been happening in parallel with Microsoft adding ads disguised as recommendations in the Start menu and experimenting with adding Xbox Game Pass ads on the Settings page. I don’t like this direction for Microsoft, and if it’s not careful, it could end up annoying users rather than encouraging them to try out the software.  We live in a time when people’s attention spans can be short, but frustrations and annoyance can live in people’s minds for a pretty long time. 

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You’re not imagining it, Amazon Prime deliveries got even faster in 2024
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Amazon Prime continues to be a service juggernaut in the tech industry as the company has broken a new record. According to a recent announcement, Amazon revealed it managed to deliver over two billion items in the first three months of 2024 through Prime. That’s more than the total amount of packages they sent out in Europe to members last year. 

Worldwide Amazon Stores CEO Doug Herrington stated in March that almost 60 percent of Prime orders “arrived the same or next day across” 60 of the largest urban areas in the United States. In London, Tokyo, and Toronto, “three out of four items” arrived at their destination in the same time frame.

This success in the US seems to be the result of the logistical changes Amazon made in 2023. They essentially divided up the country into “eight interconnected regions” to serve specific geographic areas. These regions have a “fulfillment center” housing a wide array of items, allowing the company to quickly deliver their stock right to your door. Amazon even claims that thanks to AI, it can predict “which items [people] in various parts of the country” want and when they want them. The tech giant also works with multiple sellers, both big and small, to get those brand-name products out fast.

It’s possible Amazon will demolish its 2023 Prime delivery record. The company is certainly on the way and Herrington says they’re “just getting started.” But will they meet this goal? Most likely. Recent moves hint that they’ll do it, but there’s a chance they'll fall short.

New services

Not too long ago, Amazon made some important business updates.

They launched a new grocery delivery service for Prime members on April 23. For $ 10, subscribers can get unlimited delivery on orders over $ 35 from local and specialty supermarkets – so long as the final bill is over $ 35. That’s the only requirement. People without a Prime membership can join the program as well at $ 5 a month. However, they must own a registered EBT (also known as food stamps) card. 

Before that, the company said it was expanding its Prime Air drone delivery service to the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona. It’s not running yet. Amazon still has to get all the “necessary permissions” from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) before it can take to the skies.

So with the grocery delivery program and a little help from a fleet of drones, the 2023 Prime delivery record could be smashed. However, we hesitate to be confident in Amazon's corner because of the layoffs we’ve seen in the past few years. The platform has taken a hatchet to its business. From 2022 through 2023, Amazon cut over “27,000 jobs across almost every area” of the business.

Granted, things have slowed down, but Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has said they’re not done cutting costs. Layoffs could ramp up in the near future.

Memorial Day is coming up in the US and that means discounts. If you want to stay up to date on whatever Amazon is planning, be sure to follow TechRadar's Amazon Memorial Day sales roundup for 2024.

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Want an Apple Vision Pro and you’re not in the US? Trust me, you’ll want to wait
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Apple's been clear since the start that its Vision Pro mixed reality headset is launching in the US first and there are still no details about an international launch. Now, with Vision Pro preorders live, people are wondering if they can order in the US and then bring the spatial computing platform to their home in, say the UK. The short answer is yes but there are significant caveats.

For those unfamiliar with Apple's newest wearable, Apple Vision Pro is a mixed-reality headset that can provide a full-immersion VR experience, as well as an augmented reality one. 

Vision Pro ships on February 2 when there should be thousands of platform-ready apps, as well as some written specifically to take advantage of its cutting-edge features.

The good news is that Vision Pro is a travel-friendly device. It has that battery pack, after all, and Apple is selling a $ 200 carrying case. In addition, there's a Travel Mode setting that will counter the motion of the airplane. 

I'm not certain what would happen if you wore the headset on an airplane without the mode enabled, but while in flight, everything that works (or plays) at home in your Vision Pro, should work.

Limitations abound

If all of that sounds good to you and you live outside the US, there are some things you need to consider.

Ordering from outside the US, or even as someone who is visiting the US or VPN-ing into the US Apple Vision Pro pre-order site, may find it impossible to get hold of a headset.

Your Apple ID region must be US-based and all the app purchases you made must be through that ID.

If you wear glasses and need the $ 149 Zeiss inserts, you can't present an eyeglass prescription from outside the US, and Zeiss won't ship lens inserts to international customers.

Even if you do manage to come to the US, buy Apple Vision Pro, and bring it back to another country, there are no guarantees that the content you downloaded in the US will work anywhere else (there are often region restrictions based on content licensing). The same goes for the music and Apple TV-based content you buy through the headset. If it's region-set to US, it won't work

Finally, if you just paid $ 3,4999 for Vision Pro, you'll want the best Apple Care available. Unfortunately, Apple Support for the Vision Pro is not available outside the US.

Put simply, it's probably best to wait to buy Vision Pro until it's officially on sale outside the US.

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Canva thinks you’re doing data visualization wrong
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Canva thinks businesses are doing data wrong. And it’s rolling out a tool to fix that. 

The company has announced the launch of interactive data visualizations built right into the graphic design software. These are engaging data maps, charts, graphs that make things seem just that little bit clearer. Most users will have toyed with them on news sites like the BBC. Now, they can add them to their own photos, PDFs, and presentations.

The move follows the acquisition of UK data-viz platform Flourish, as the Aussie firm ramps up its Europe presence.

Data ≠ dull

Data is tricky to present – especially to an audience who may be unfamiliar or unengaged with the topic. An Excel-generated bar graph, faded and static, will struggle in a content-rich world. The death yawn of a thousand sales pitches and PowerPoint slides. The last sigh of a think-piece.

And while the company didn’t put it quite like that, it’s this thinking – that data needs to be like everything else: visual – driving the roll-out. So, there’s no excuse for making data boring. 

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Users will already find standard charts and graphs on the platform – we’ve always found them somewhat basic and uninspired. But from today, users can embed Flourish visualizations into their designs. Users get access to native hierarchical treemap and packed circle charts straight from the app, with Canva promising “animated charts, zoom-able maps, explorable diagrams, and more.”

That Flourish is deepening integration into Canva will come as no surprise. It’s not the first by any measure, with the firm counting stock photo sites Pexels and Pixabay amongst its relatively recent acquisitions. Meanwhile, it’s been quietly building out the platform with a free PDF editor, website builder, and AI photo tools. 

Readers may spot a common thread among the acquisitions: they’re all European businesses. Then came the opening of its first European campus in London. It seems the continent is where Canva sees its growth potential, with the company calling it home to some of its “fastest growing and most densely populated markets.” Just don’t tell Adobe Express about Canva’s continental plans.  

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Google Workspace doesn’t really need AI, but you’re getting it anyway
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Google has followed the herd and announced a host of new artificial intelligence (AI) expansion for its  is coming to its collaboration tool for enterprise.

The tech giant announced the new Google Workspace feature set, which includes the ability to draft new content and refine existing work in Google Docs , and gives Google Slides the opportunity to generate images from text prompts. 

However given that Microsoft has had their finger in this pie since March 2023, and has just announced a similar text-to-image tool for PowerPoint, it’s hard for us to get especially excited about any of this – for now. 

Google Slides Duet AI Workspace

(Image credit: Google)

Google’s collaborative AI

Everyone’s at it, which is good, I suppose – you’re not beholden to one provider if you’re dying to use the latest tech gimmick. I just wish tech companies remembered that they’re supposed to have original ideas.

But in lieu of that, have this – Google Sheets will now – yawn – analyze and provide actionable insights into your data, with automated data classification and the creation of custom plans. 

Google Sheets io ai duet

(Image credit: Google)

At the center of this is – yep – AI that can understand the context of your data beyond just the content of a cell. A new “help me organize” function will, even though you’re an adult, generate a comprehensive to-do list based on the homework you need your mum’s help with.

Docs won’t just do your work for you (including grammatically correct, “professional-grade” in French, Spanish, Japanese and “more”) – it’ll use its proprietary “smart chip” technology to help personalize it, so now you can, say, entice bright, inspired job applicants into your web until you finally break it to them gently that the machines are running the place.

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Places like gig economy bandwagoner Lyft, that wrote, or had a computer write, without any sense of irony, that “[Lyft] is excited [!] to test out the new generative Workplace experiences [!!]”.

Google deigns to assure us that it continues to believe in the “ingenuity of real people”, characterizing its AI’s work as “suggestions”. It’s all a bit “Gizmo has gone to live on a farm with her other dog friends” to me, but at least, if you’re an IT admin, you’re being given the policy power to make the hurting stop.

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Bing ChatGPT-powered AI not working for you? You’re not alone
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Microsoft’s Bing chatbot has run into trouble with an error popping up for some users, causing their queries to crash and burn – and apparently, this is down to the popularity of the AI.

Mikhail Parakhin, head of Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, tweeted about the error, which informs the user that ‘something went wrong’ when making a query, a fairly unhelpful message (and the chatbot fails to produce any other response than this).

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There are quite a number of reports of users encountering this error on Twitter (which are still coming through), and Parakhin explains that there are multiple causes relating to ‘increased load’ on the chatbot. In other words, the volume of queries being flung at the ChatGPT-powered AI is causing Bing to capsize on occasion.

Of the five main causes, Parakhin says that Microsoft has fixes for three, and mitigation is in progress for the other two.

In short, the cure for this malady is in the pipeline, so if you’re one of the unfortunate folks who has run into this error – and perhaps keeps stumbling into it – then your troubles should be over before long.

Analysis: Something is being put right, and hopefully swiftly

Parakhin has been commendably transparent keeping us up to date with what’s going on with the Bing AI, with regular tweets letting us know about the work in progress with the chatbot.

Given that the root causes of this issue are seemingly nailed down and located, with fixes and workarounds sussed out, we’re betting there won’t be much of a wait for the solution to come through – hopefully. Doubtless we’ll hear about it from Parakhin when that’s the case, if speedy past updates are anything to go by.

Clearly, Microsoft is speeding up the rollout of the chatbot, and more users are doubtless being recruited to chat with the AI via the latest Windows 11 update, which puts the ChatGPT-powered Bing right on the taskbar. (Well, sort of – there’s been some controversy about the implementation as we discuss at length here).

The fact that this extra load on the AI’s shoulders has caused issues shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, with the chatbot still very much in its infancy.

There will likely be growing pains in evidence when it comes to the three new personalities which have just been introduced for Bing. These allow users to change the tone of responses from the AI to be more chatty and creative, or more precise and dry (or there’s a middle road of a balance somewhere in-between).

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If you’re still using Internet Explorer, just please stop now, Microsoft says
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Microsoft has once again urged users to stop using its outdated Internet Explorer browser as the software limps closer to its retirement.

The company has again reminded users that Internet Explorer 11 is being retired from Windows 10 in June 2022, with Microsoft Edge taking its place.

It seems that some users may be a touch unwilling to make the jump, however, with Microsoft forced to emphasise that the days of Internet Explorer really are numbered.

The future is Edge

“As previously announced, the future of Internet Explorer on Windows is in Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft stated in a company announcement.

“The Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) desktop application will be retired on June 15, 2022, for certain versions of Windows 10. This means that the IE11 desktop application will no longer be supported and afterward will redirect to Microsoft Edge if a user tries to access it.”

The company did highlight that any particularly nostalgia-driven users can still use Internet Explorer mode (IE mode) within Microsoft Edge for the time being. IE mode aims to support legacy websites and applications within Microsoft Edge until they can be ported over to the new software.

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Microsoft first announced plans to retire support for Internet Explorer 11 across Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 back in August 2020, and since then has been gradually stripping back services for the software.

Its Microsoft 365 deadline passed in August 2021, although some apps may still function via the browser, albeit with users seeing a severely diminished experience.

External tools have also pulled back, with Google Search withdrawing support for Internet Explorer in October 2021, leaving the browser reliant on its own in-house Bing search, with support for Docs, Sheets, Slides and other Google Workspace apps removed in March 2021.

Microsoft Edge continues to perform strongly in the global browser market, with recent figures placing it on the verge of surpassing Apple's Safari offering. 

The latest StatCounter numbers show Microsoft Edge is now used on 9.54% of desktops worldwide, just behind Safari at 9.84% – although both are still far behind runaway market leader Google Chrome on 65.38%.

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If you’re still using Internet Explorer, just please stop now, Microsoft says
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Microsoft has once again urged users to stop using its outdated Internet Explorer browser as the software limps closer to its retirement.

The company has again reminded users that Internet Explorer 11 is being retired from Windows 10 in June 2022, with Microsoft Edge taking its place.

It seems that some users may be a touch unwilling to make the jump, however, with Microsoft forced to emphasise that the days of Internet Explorer really are numbered.

The future is Edge

“As previously announced, the future of Internet Explorer on Windows is in Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft stated in a company announcement.

“The Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) desktop application will be retired on June 15, 2022, for certain versions of Windows 10. This means that the IE11 desktop application will no longer be supported and afterward will redirect to Microsoft Edge if a user tries to access it.”

The company did highlight that any particularly nostalgia-driven users can still use Internet Explorer mode (IE mode) within Microsoft Edge for the time being. IE mode aims to support legacy websites and applications within Microsoft Edge until they can be ported over to the new software.

Read more

> Microsoft Edge is about to give you an excellent new way to procrastinate

> Internet Explorer might not be entirely dead just yet

> Microsoft 365 update will make sure no one is at a disadvantage

Microsoft first announced plans to retire support for Internet Explorer 11 across Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 back in August 2020, and since then has been gradually stripping back services for the software.

Its Microsoft 365 deadline passed in August 2021, although some apps may still function via the browser, albeit with users seeing a severely diminished experience.

External tools have also pulled back, with Google Search withdrawing support for Internet Explorer in October 2021, leaving the browser reliant on its own in-house Bing search, with support for Docs, Sheets, Slides and other Google Workspace apps removed in March 2021.

Microsoft Edge continues to perform strongly in the global browser market, with recent figures placing it on the verge of surpassing Apple's Safari offering. 

The latest StatCounter numbers show Microsoft Edge is now used on 9.54% of desktops worldwide, just behind Safari at 9.84% – although both are still far behind runaway market leader Google Chrome on 65.38%.

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