Windhawk arrives as a surprisingly polished bridge between what Microsoft ships in Windows 11 and what many users actually want: a lightweight, open‑source mod platform that makes the Start menu, taskbar, File Explorer and other core UI elements genuinely customizable — and, in many cases...
customization
explorerpatcher
fileexplorer
mod platform
modding
modding community
open source
open-source mods
software security
start menu
start menu styler
taskbar
taskbar styler
taskbar styling
ui customization
vertical taskbar
windhawk
windows 11
windows customization
Windows 11 gives you more than one way to open the Settings app — and knowing the right method for the moment can save minutes or avert a full restart when you’re troubleshooting. The platform exposes the app everywhere: Start, Taskbar, Quick Settings, File Explorer, Run and command-line tools...
Clearing Windows 11’s growing pile of cache and temporary files is one of the simplest, highest-ROI maintenance tasks a user or IT pro can perform — it frees gigabytes of storage, reduces odd performance glitches, and keeps modern AI-driven features responsive as your workload grows.
Background...
ai features
cache cleanup
cache hygiene
cleanup recommendations
delivery optimization
disk cleanup
dns cache
enterprise it
fileexplorer
icon cache
performance optimization
power users
softwaredistribution
storage sense
system maintenance
thumbnail cache
update reliability
update troubleshooting
windows 11
wsreset
Microsoft’s latest Insider preview (Build 26220.6682, KB5065782) sharpens Narrator’s reading and navigation behavior, brings a small curated set of Emoji 16.0 glyphs to the emoji picker, and rolls out incremental Click to Do (Copilot) refinements — changes that are small in headline but...
Microsoft has quietly expanded the Second Chance Out‑of‑Box Experience (SCOOBE) in Windows 11 Insider builds so it can surface a full‑screen reminder when a Microsoft 365 subscription “needs attention” — for example, when a renewal payment fails — and that reminder can appear before the desktop...
Microsoft’s Windows 11 25H2 arrives as a compact, operationally focused update: an enablement package that flips on capabilities already seeded into the platform, adds a handful of practical conveniences (notably a native sudo command, archive handling in File Explorer, and groundwork for Wi‑Fi...
802.11be
archive support
command line
copilot plus
enablement package
enterprise it
fileexplorer
hardware gating
on-device ai
product strategy
security & privilege
software update
sudo for windows
tech news
ux improvements
wi-fi 7
windows 11
windows 11 25h2
Windows 10 and Windows 11 now let you open and work with your Linux files from the Windows desktop with two simple tricks: enter \wsl$ in File Explorer to browse all installed distributions, or run explorer.exe . from inside a WSL shell to open the current Linux directory in Windows File...
best practices
cross-platform development
distro interoperability
enterprise security
explorer bridge
explorer.exe
fileexplorer
linux files on windows
network drive
notepad eol
safe file access
troubleshooting wsl
visual studio code remote wsl
windows 10
windows 11
windows subsystem for linux
wsl
wsl performance
wsl$
Windows 11’s sleek redesign promised speed and simplicity — what many users didn’t bargain for was a steady stream of promotional content running inside the shell, quietly consuming cycles, network bandwidth, and attention. Recent reporting and large-scale user tests show Microsoft’s...
ads
advertising id
appx
debloat
fileexplorer
group policy
os ux
performance
powershell
privacy
recommendations
settings
speed
start menu
system tuning
toggle off
troubleshooting
widgets
windows 11
windows spotlight
Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6682 (KB5065782) to the Dev Channel on September 12, 2025, and the flight brings a focused set of AI-driven productivity updates, accessibility refinements, and a broad collection of stability fixes — while also surfacing a few noteworthy...
25h2
accessibility
ai productivity
click to do
copilot
dev channel
emoji 16
enterprise it
fileexplorer
gaming
insider preview
narrator
obs audio
phi-silica
release preview
start menu
studio effects
windows 11
windows hello
windows-11
Microsoft is quietly moving generative AI from apps into the very heart of Windows by adding an AI Actions submenu to File Explorer — a right‑click surface that lets you run visual search or apply quick, model‑driven image edits without opening a separate editor. The capability, visible in the...
If the new “Ask Copilot” entry in Windows 11’s right‑click menu has landed on your system and you’d rather not see it, you can remove it quickly — either by blocking the File Explorer shell extension that adds the menu item or by uninstalling/disabling Copilot entirely. The tweak is...
ask copilot context menu
context menu
copilot
copilot clsid
dllpath
fileexplorer
group policy
hkcu
hklm
mdm
packagedcom
power user tips
registry
registry tweaks
shell extensions
shell extensions blocked
system tweaks
uninstall copilot
windows 11
windows 11 copilot
Microsoft is rolling out Windows 10 Build 19045.6388 (KB5066198) to the Release Preview Channel, delivering a targeted quality rollup for devices on Windows 10, version 22H2 that focuses on reliability, enterprise scenarios, and a handful of practical fixes rather than broad consumer-facing...
Microsoft’s September Patch Tuesday delivers more than a routine security roll-up: KB5065426 (OS Build 26100.6584) for Windows 11 24H2 packages a slate of small but visible UI tweaks, on-device AI components, and a collection of reliability fixes that will matter to both home users and...
click to do
copilot+
enterprise security
fileexplorer
kb5065426
kerberos
licensing gating
on-device ai
passkeys
powershell removal
privacy
recall
refs
search on the taskbar
smb
snapshot
taskbar
windows 11
windows backup for organizations
windows hello
Microsoft is testing a set of context‑aware AI editing tools that sit directly in File Explorer, letting you right‑click an image or document and invoke tasks such as Bing Visual Search, background blur/removal, generative object erase, and document summarization — and there are documented ways...
Microsoft’s latest Insider activity shows a subtle but telling change: the long‑standing green progress indicator in the File Explorer copy/move dialog has been replaced with a blue variant when the system is in Dark Mode, and several legacy file‑operation dialogs are now honoring the OS dark...
Microsoft’s latest Canary‑channel experiment stitches AI into one of Windows’ oldest workflows: right‑clicking files. The reported Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27938 surfaces a new AI actions entry in File Explorer’s context menu that lets you run visual search, blur or remove backgrounds...
Microsoft is quietly restoring a piece of the Windows 10 experience many users missed: a larger, in-your-face clock with seconds in the Notification Center — and it’s arriving alongside a set of AI shortcuts in File Explorer and new transparency controls for generative AI access in Windows 11’s...
ai actions
bing visual search
canary channel
clock display
data privacy
date time settings
developer flags
fileexplorer
image editing
insider program
notification center
privacy controls
privacy settings
seconds clock
text and image generation
third party apps
ui ux
visual search
vivetool
windows 11
Microsoft released the September 9, 2025 cumulative update for Windows 11, version 24H2 — KB5065426 (OS Build 26100.6584) — a combined security and quality rollup that both closes recent high‑priority vulnerabilities and addresses a string of functional regressions introduced earlier in the...
Microsoft is quietly folding AI-powered image editing and Bing visual search directly into the File Explorer right‑click menu as part of Insider testing, a move that turns the once‑simple file manager into a micro‑workflow gateway for quick edits and visual lookups.
Background
Microsoft’s...
Microsoft’s latest Insider whispers fold AI deeper into the Windows shell: right‑click a picture in File Explorer and you may now see an “AI actions” submenu offering Bing Visual Search, background blur, object erase, and background removal — a small set of micro‑workflows that signal a broader...