file explorer

Microsoft quietly addressing File Explorer’s sluggish “cold start” in Windows 11 by preloading the app in memory is a small change with outsized practical impact — a pragmatic fix that promises near‑instant launches for many users while exposing meaningful trade‑offs for power, battery life, and...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview—Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307)—arrives as a quiet workhorse update: modest on spectacle but significant in scope, bringing targeted File Explorer refinements, a modern Point‑in‑Time Restore recovery option, expanded Xbox integration...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider preview — Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) — brings a mix of practical recovery tooling, controller‑first gaming polish, and usability tweaks that aim to reduce friction for both everyday users and IT pros, while also continuing Microsoft’s staged, device‑gated...

Windows 11’s File Explorer now surfaces AI-powered shortcuts — “AI actions” — directly in the right‑click menu so you can trigger common image edits, run a visual search, or summon Copilot summarization without opening the target app first. The controls are intentionally conservative: actions...

Microsoft is quietly testing a blunt — and controversial — fix for File Explorer’s long-standing sluggishness: keep parts of the file manager permanently warmed and resident in memory so folders open instantly. The change arrives in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 and is being rolled...

Microsoft is testing a blunt but pragmatic fix for the long‑standing problem of slow File Explorer launches in Windows 11: keep a warmed‑up instance of the File Explorer UI running in the background so the moment a user asks for a window it paints instantly. The change is part of the Windows...

Microsoft’s latest Insider cumulative — Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) — landed in both the Dev and Beta channels with a quiet but meaningful set of refinements to File Explorer’s right‑click menu, an experimental background preload for Explorer windows, and a small but...

Microsoft is quietly changing how File Explorer starts: instead of continuing to rely on the visible window to initialize when you click an icon, Windows 11 will now optionally preload File Explorer in the background so that the app opens faster on first use — a change Microsoft is testing in...

Microsoft is experimenting with a background preloading mechanism for File Explorer in Windows 11 that promises to eliminate the familiar “cold start” pause and make the shell feel instant—an optional change surfaced in the latest Insider preview that includes a user-facing toggle to disable...

Microsoft’s push to fold Copilot into every nook of Windows 11 has reached a new low in clarity: File Explorer now exposes two different Copilot affordances that look and feel nearly identical but route to distinct AI experiences, creating real-world confusion for users and real risks for IT...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview (Build 26220.7271) pushes a cluster of practical, user-facing changes—most noticeably a controller-friendly Xbox full‑screen experience on more PCs, a new point‑in‑time restore recovery option, and a focused set of File Explorer refinements aimed at...

Microsoft is quietly testing a background preloading feature for File Explorer in Windows 11 that aims to eliminate the familiar "cold start" pause and make the file manager appear ready the instant a user clicks its icon. Background File Explorer has long been a cornerstone of the Windows...

Microsoft has quietly added a new, context-aware way to query Copilot from inside File Explorer: hover over a recent file in the Home view, click a faint “Ask M365 Copilot” icon, and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app opens to summarize, identify, or act on the file without forcing you to open it...

Windows 11 is quietly expanding Copilot’s footprint again: Microsoft is testing an “Ask Microsoft 365 Copilot” entry inside File Explorer’s Home tab that sends selected files into the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for quick summaries and insights, and the OS is also gaining a system‑wide universal...

Microsoft’s Ignite 2025 update turns the Windows 11 taskbar into a front door for AI — introducing a one‑click “Ask Copilot” composer, taskbar‑visible AI agents, and deeper Copilot integration across File Explorer, search, voice, and local AI runtimes that shift Windows from a passive OS into an...

Microsoft has released an optional quality update for Windows 11, version 23H2 — KB5070312 — delivered to Release Preview Insiders as Build 22631.6269 (with a later Microsoft KB listing showing OS Build 22631.6276), and it addresses a set of targeted reliability issues including a frustrating...

Microsoft quietly pushed an optional Windows 11 update — surfaced as KB5070312 for version 23H2 — that addresses a persistent and widely reported File Explorer responsiveness bug along with a handful of smaller, but useful, quality fixes. Background / Overview Windows 11 follows a staged...

Microsoft is quietly piloting a change to File Explorer in Windows 11 that lets AI applications request permission to read local files and act on them inside a contained runtime — enabling agents like Anthropic’s Claude or Manus-style assistants to summarize documents, assemble slides, or build...

Microsoft has temporarily paused the rollout of the experimental tabbed-folder behavior in File Explorer as part of the Windows 11 25H2 preview (delivered in builds such as 26220.7262 / KB5070303), while also reconfiguring several AI-driven File Explorer actions and disabling Image Object...

Microsoft is pushing a focused polish cycle to Windows 11 Release Preview Insiders with KB5070311 — delivering builds 26100.7296 and 26200.7296 — that blend Copilot+ PC AI upgrades, broad File Explorer and Settings refinements, the now‑familiar Drag Tray for drag‑to‑share workflows, and an...