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Surreal winter scene of a collapsing barn and house among twisted, snowbound trees.

I used a tiny, open‑source tweak to turn my chaotic Windows system tray into something calm, usable, and—most importantly—predictable, and the change felt disproportionately big compared with the small amount of time it took to apply. The author at MakeUseOf described that same revelation after wrestling with a crowded tray and finally using ExplorerPatcher to tame it; the utility allowed selective pinning, a configurable overflow, and a few small UX improvements that made daily interactions...

For Windows 10 x64 users hunting a working driver for the ATI ES1000 (Rage-series) graphics — especially those trying to resurrect older desktops or embedded systems — the practical reality is plain: official modern support no longer exists, and the safest, most reliable path is to accept the Microsoft‑supplied legacy driver or follow a cautious, advanced manual install workflow drawn from community experience. Background The ATI ES1000 is a member of ATI’s older Rage/legacy embedded...

Microsoft is retiring the Windows desktop version of Sway — the lightweight, free presentation/storytelling app that has lived mostly in browsers for years — and will move the experience entirely to the web on June 1, 2026, a change Microsoft says will simplify development and keep all existing content accessible through the browser interface. Background Sway launched as a modern, cloud-first addition to Microsoft's Office family designed for fast, visually appealing presentations...

Microsoft appears to be testing a deeper Copilot integration inside Windows 11’s File Explorer — not merely a context‑menu shortcut but a docked, chat‑style Copilot experience that could open directly in the file manager and be detached into its own pane or window. Background Microsoft’s Copilot strategy has been plainly visible across Windows for more than a year: the assistant has been folded into the taskbar, the Copilot app, Microsoft 365 apps, and a growing set of “AI actions” in File...

Using a PlayStation 4 DualShock controller on a Windows 10 PC is simpler than many users expect: you can connect it wirelessly over Bluetooth, plug it in with USB for plug‑and‑play reliability, use Steam’s Input layer for game mapping, or run a small wrapper like DS4Windows to expose the DualShock as an XInput device for legacy games — each method has clear trade‑offs in latency, feature support, and compatibility. Background / Overview The DualShock 4 (PS4 controller) uses Sony’s...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview (Build 26220.7535 / KB5072046) broadens Windows 11’s Cross‑Device Resume by adding a Windows Notification System (WNS) integration path, while also delivering practical enterprise controls for Copilot and expanding Narrator’s ability to request Copilot‑powered image descriptions—changes that signal Microsoft is pushing continuity, accessibility, and manageability simultaneously into the Windows shell. Background Cross‑device continuity has been a...

Windows hides a surprising number of usability options behind the Settings app that, when enabled, remove daily friction and make Windows 11 far more pleasant to use without installing any third‑party tools. Background / Overview Many users accept Windows’ out‑of‑the‑box behavior—single‑slot clipboard, small cursor, and default window behavior—because those defaults are what they see first. That’s a missed opportunity: Windows exposes several low‑risk, reversible settings that materially...

PayPal’s dual announcements this week accelerate a clear industry shift: AI is moving beyond product discovery into the payment lane itself, and PayPal intends to be at the center of that shift—powering Microsoft’s new Copilot Checkout while offering advertisers a cross‑merchant measurement engine built on its Transaction Graph. Background The commerce landscape in early 2026 is defined by "agentic commerce"—AI agents that not only recommend products but also act on purchase intent and...

Microsoft’s new agentic commerce push folds checkout, catalog management and frontline operations into Copilot, promising to convert conversational intent into completed purchases while also automating the back‑office work that long frustrates merchants and B2B sellers. The announcement — centered on a live U.S. rollout of Copilot Checkout and a suite of agent templates in Copilot Studio — marks Microsoft's most aggressive move yet to make Copilot not just an assistant, but an end‑to‑end...

Concentric AI’s Semantic Intelligence platform can now run its heavy-duty data scanning and classification entirely inside a customer-controlled Microsoft Azure tenancy with the launch of Private Scan Manager for Azure, a deployment option pitched at organisations that must keep raw content inside sovereign or tightly controlled cloud boundaries. Overview Concentric AI’s announcement expands an existing “private scanning” deployment model—previously emphasised for AWS—by enabling the...

Owners of the Bose QuietComfort 35 II who rely on the headset’s built‑in microphone have increasingly reported a puzzling and persistent problem: the QC35 II either loses its microphone entirely after newer Windows 10 updates, or Windows sees the device but captures no audio (microphone level stuck at 0% or the “Format” field blank). This problem has been visible in community threads and independent reproductions, and appears to be rooted in the interaction between Windows’ Bluetooth audio...

Microsoft’s first Windows 11 Insider update of 2026 lands as a focused, practical release: Build 26220.7535 (delivered as KB5072046) broadens Copilot’s reach into accessibility with Copilot-powered image descriptions for Narrator, gives IT teams a targeted Group Policy to remove the consumer Copilot app on managed devices, and offers developers an additional Cross‑Device Resume integration using the Windows Notification System. Background Windows 11’s early-2026 Insider preview continues...

Microsoft quietly pulled the plug on the online album-lookup service that made Windows Media Player (both the legacy desktop app and the modern Media Player in Windows 11) automatically populate track lists and cover art when you inserted a CD, leaving users seeing “Unknown album” or the prompt to “Update album info offline.” Background For decades, one of the small but powerful conveniences of desktop Windows was the moment you popped a compact disc into a drive and Windows Media Player...

Microsoft has begun turning Copilot from a conversational advisor into a transactional workhorse, unveiling a suite of agentic AI tools that embed checkout, catalog intelligence, merchandising and store operations into a single Copilot-driven commerce playbook for retailers and B2B sellers. The rollout pairs an in-chat purchase flow called Copilot Checkout with prebuilt Copilot Studio templates—Brand Agents, a personalized shopping agent, catalog enrichment, and store operations...

Microsoft has pushed the first public preview builds for Windows 11’s early 2026 development to Insiders, and the headlines are practical: targeted File Explorer fixes — including an optional background preloading toggle and a reworked right‑click menu — accompanied by additional shell and platform quality improvements designed to quiet high‑frequency user pain points. Background / Overview File Explorer remains one of the most visible and repeatedly used surfaces in Windows, and performance...

Concentric AI’s Semantic Intelligence platform can now run its heavy-duty data scanning and classification entirely inside a customer‑controlled Microsoft Azure tenancy, bringing a new on‑tenant deployment option — Private Scan Manager for Azure — to organisations that must keep raw content inside tightly controlled cloud or sovereign environments. Background Concentric AI has built its product strategy around semantic, context‑aware classification and remediation, positioning Semantic...

CES 2026 made one thing unmistakably clear: AI stopped being an optional spec line and became the operating layer across PCs, displays, and peripherals — and the devices that impressed most were the ones that treated on‑device intelligence as a first‑class design constraint rather than a sticker on the box. Background The 2026 Consumer Electronics Show felt less like a parade of incremental refreshes and more like a platform pivot. Chipmakers shipped NPUs into every device class; OEMs...

A wave of low-cost, bootable USB sticks and third‑party “password reset” kits has reappeared on marketplaces in 2025, and one listing that sums up the sales pitch is a shrink‑wrapped “2025 Windows Password Reset USB — Reset In 3 Min.” that claims broad compatibility (Windows Server through Windows XP), unlimited device use, and an instant fix for locked Windows accounts. The listing blends two separate realities: legitimate, built‑in Windows recovery options that must be prepared in advance...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview, delivered as Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7535 (KB5072046), brings a pragmatic but important management control: a new policy that lets administrators uninstall the consumer Microsoft Copilot app on managed devices when specific conditions are met — a one‑time, targeted uninstall intended for enterprise, Pro, and Education SKUs. Background Microsoft’s ongoing campaign to fold Copilot into Windows has been accompanied by two competing pressures...