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Microsoft is quietly testing a new way to put AI front and center on the desktop: references in recent Insider and server preview builds point to an “agentic companions” presence on the Windows 11 Taskbar — a dedicated button that could summon proactive, multimodal AI helpers able to see, hear, and act on what’s on screen. Background: why “agentic” matters for Windows The move toward “agentic” features is part of a clear pattern at Microsoft: integrate generative and multimodal AI into the...

Flyoobe’s first official release arrives as a pragmatic answer to two persistent complaints from Windows users: the rigid hardware checks that block many PCs from upgrading to Windows 11, and the bloated, one-size-fits-all Out‑Of‑Box Experience that ships too much software by default. The project—formerly known as Flyby11—landed as Flyoobe 1.0 on GitHub on August 9, and its author positions it as a combined upgrade assistant, OOBE customizer, debloater, and tweaker that gives users granular...

Microsoft’s Copilot 3D turns a single flat photo into a textured, downloadable 3D asset in seconds — a browser‑based experiment inside Copilot Labs that aims to democratize image-to-3D conversion for hobbyists, educators, indie developers and small businesses while intentionally positioning the capability as experimental rather than production‑grade. Background Copilot 3D arrives at a moment when generative vision and single‑image reconstruction techniques have matured enough to be usefully...

A small, determined group of former Microsoft employees is forcing a difficult conversation into the open: the climate impact of artificial intelligence is not just the electricity powering data centres, it also includes the emissions enabled when AI and cloud services accelerate fossil fuel extraction and production—and those downstream emissions are routinely missing from corporate climate accounts. The Enabled Emissions Movement argues that without mandatory disclosure of these so-called...

The market’s obsession with a tight cluster of AI-exposed mega-cap stocks has shifted from curiosity to conviction, and in the latest earnings cycle that conviction was tested — sometimes rewarded, sometimes exposed — as Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla produced results that crystallize both the promise and the peril of concentrated AI investing. Background The so-called “Magnificent Seven” narrative has re-centered market attention on a handful of companies whose fortunes are...

Microsoft’s latest push on quantum computing — framed publicly as a quiet technical milestone and privately as a strategic cloud bet — marks a turning point in how hyperscalers plan to deliver exotic accelerators to enterprises and researchers worldwide. Microsoft says it has deployed an operational Level 2 quantum capability, doubled down on partnerships to build a production-scale machine called Magne, and is treating quantum as “the next big accelerator” for Azure — a stance that could...

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11, version 23H2 will reach end of updates for Home and Pro editions on November 11, 2025, meaning devices still running 23H2 after that date will no longer receive security fixes or quality updates; Enterprise and Education editions on the same release train have a later end-of-servicing date, tied to November 10, 2026. This advance notice forces an important decision point for millions of PCs: upgrade now, schedule a controlled migration, or accept...

Your Windows PC will collect junk, cruft, and small misconfigurations over time — and a deliberate, methodical “deep clean” once a year can return responsiveness, reclaim storage, and reduce the chance of surprise failures. The short, practical plan in the XDA piece the community shared boils this down to five core steps — uninstall unused apps, run a debloat or privacy script, trim startup and scheduled tasks, check drivers and run malware scans, and purge temporary files — and those are...

I asked Microsoft’s Copilot to make a dinner reservation for me, and it did—eventually—by opening a cloud-based browser, navigating OpenTable, filling forms and clicking buttons until a reservation appeared. The result is promising: Copilot Actions can perform real web tasks, but the experience still feels like a controlled experiment rather than a dependable assistant you’d hand the keys to your life and accounts. The tool works in narrow cases, struggles with common web defenses and...

A Southern California resident has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Microsoft from turning off routine, free security updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 — a challenge that reframes a routine product‑lifecycle milestone as a flashpoint for questions about planned obsolescence, consumer rights, environmental harm and the commercial mechanics of the AI‑driven PC market. Background / Overview Microsoft set October 14, 2025 as the official end of mainstream support for Windows 10. After...

GitHub’s CEO Thomas Dohmke has confirmed he will leave the company at the end of 2025, saying he’s ready to “become a founder again” after steering the developer platform through its most AI‑intensive transformation to date. Background Thomas Dohmke became GitHub’s CEO in late 2021 and has overseen a period of rapid product evolution, commercialization, and deeper operational alignment with Microsoft since the 2018 acquisition. Under his watch, GitHub positioned itself not just as the...

Microsoft has quietly opened a gated public preview for Windows 365 Reserve, a new Microsoft service that delivers preconfigured, on‑demand Cloud PCs as a short‑term continuity option for organizations facing device failures, cyber incidents, or other interruptions that leave employees without a working endpoint. The service is explicitly temporary by design — each covered user receives up to 10 days of Cloud PC access per year — and administration is handled through Microsoft Intune with...

Windows can report “No Internet access” while web pages and apps continue to load — a confusing UI mismatch that’s usually harmless but can mask real network problems and make troubleshooting harder. A recent Guiding Tech how‑to lays out the common quick fixes and three deeper repairs — disabling IPv6, editing the NCSI registry probe values, and running SFC/DISM to repair corrupted system files — and offers practical step‑by‑step guidance for each approach. Background / Overview Windows...

Microsoft has quietly begun embedding bite‑sized Microsoft 365 “companion” apps into the Windows 11 taskbar — compact People, File Search, and Calendar helpers designed to surface contacts, documents, and meeting controls without launching full Office or Teams windows — a shift that promises real productivity gains for organizations while raising urgent questions about deployment, privacy, and administrative control. Background Microsoft first signaled the idea of taskbar‑level productivity...

Microsoft has quietly added a practical — and potentially disruptive — tool to Copilot Labs: Copilot 3D, a browser-based feature that converts a single 2D photo into a textured, downloadable 3D model (GLB) in seconds. The capability is positioned as an experimental, easy-to-use path from photos to usable 3D assets for prototyping, education, indie game development, AR previews, and hobbyist 3D printing; it deliberately favors accessibility over production-grade fidelity while Microsoft...

The knives are out in Silicon Valley: within hours of Microsoft rolling OpenAI’s GPT-5 into its product stack, Elon Musk publicly warned Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that “OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive,” setting off a public skirmish that crystallizes a widening strategic fault line between cloud provider, AI platform partner, and insurgent challenger xAI. (panasiabiz.com, ndtv.com) Background The moment that started it On August 7–8, 2025, Microsoft began a staged rollout of...

NVIDIA’s latest Game Ready release, the GeForce 580.97 WHQL driver, is now available and — beyond performance tweaks for two DLSS 4-enabled titles — brings several targeted display fixes while leaving a handful of high‑visibility problems unresolved for now. Gamers running Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enhanced or Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced will see the headline optimizations, and owners of the Samsung 57" Odyssey Neo G9 should notice improved idle‑desktop stability and reduced flicker...

Local repair cafés from Huddersfield to Slaithwaite are planning a free, volunteer-led “Linux Repair Café Day” to help residents keep working Windows 10 PCs out of landfill and protected after Microsoft ends free security updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. Background Microsoft’s official lifecycle schedule confirms that Windows 10 reaches end of support on October 14, 2025; after that date the operating system will no longer receive free security updates, feature updates, or...

Microsoft’s safeguards can be frustrating when they interrupt workflows, block legitimate programs, or insist that perfectly serviceable hardware is suddenly “unsupported.” The practical reality is that Windows exposes several levers—both built-in and third‑party—that experienced users can use to take back control: pause or block updates, relax Defender/SmartScreen restrictions, and even install Windows 11 on hardware Microsoft calls unsupported. This feature piece walks through the...

Microsoft has quietly pushed a firmware update that brings a long-requested — and long-needed — battery charging control to the Snapdragon-powered Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop (7th Edition), adding a user-friendly 80% charge cap and a temporary 100% override inside the Surface app while also delivering a handful of reliability and security fixes on August 7, 2025. Background Microsoft's Surface lineup has offered battery-conserving features for years, but until recently many of those...