insider-program

  1. Windows 11 Inbox Apps Get Local AI: Notepad, Paint, Snipping Tool Upgrade

    Microsoft is quietly rolling out another round of practical — and strategically significant — updates to three of Windows 11’s oldest built‑in utilities: Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool. Insiders in the Dev and Canary channels can already try a mix of incremental UX improvements and larger...
  2. Windows 11 SCOOBE: Full-Screen Renewal Prompt in Insider Builds

    Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider builds are shipping a new, full-screen renewal prompt aimed at lapsed Microsoft 365 subscriptions — an eye-catching SCOOBE (Second‑Chance Out‑of‑Box Experience) screen that insiders and early reports describe as a full‑screen nag to renew rather than a...
  3. Windows Release Preview: Small Cumulative Updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10

    Microsoft’s Release Preview rings received another quiet pair of cumulative updates this week: one for Windows 11 and one for Windows 10, both described by Microsoft as small, stability-focused fixes rather than new features—an unsurprising posture as Windows 10 approaches end of support and...
  4. Windows 11: Xbox button long-press opens Task View for controller multitasking

    Microsoft is testing a small but meaningful change in Windows 11 that lets the Xbox button on controllers do more: a long press will open Task View so gamers can quickly switch between apps and games, while a short press still opens the Game Bar and a sustained hold continues to power off the...
  5. Windows 11 Insider: Xbox Button Long Press Opens Task View, Short Press Opens Game Bar

    Microsoft has quietly repurposed the Xbox button on gamepads when used with Windows 11 Insiders: a long press now opens Task View while a short press still launches the Game Bar, and a press-and-hold continues to power down the controller — a small but practical tweak rolling out to Dev and Beta...
  6. Windows 11 Release Preview: Auto SR expands to Copilot+ hardware

    Microsoft’s latest Release Preview update for Windows 11 brings a concentrated set of AI-driven features to Insiders — and one of the most eye-catching is the expansion of Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) to more titles, but with a strict hardware caveat: Auto SR remains gated to Copilot+...
  7. Windows 11 Canary Build 27938: AI Actions in Explorer, Seconds Clock, and AI Activity

    Microsoft’s latest pre-release whisper to the Windows Insider Program’s most experimental ring landed with a thud of déjà vu: the Canary channel recently received a new build — reported as Build 27938 — that mainly repackages features already seen elsewhere in the Insider ecosystem, notably...
  8. Windows 11 Android-to-PC Handoff Begins with Spotify

    Microsoft has started testing a native Android-to-PC handoff in Windows 11—beginning with Spotify—so you can start a song or podcast on your phone and continue with a single click on your desktop, complete with a one‑click app install if Spotify isn’t already on your PC. The preview is rolling...
  9. Copilot in Edge, Outlook, Word: Practical AI That Saves Time

    I avoided Copilot for years, but after forcing myself to try specific features I quietly use them every day — not because the assistant is flawless, but because a handful of targeted tools actually save time and reduce friction in common tasks. The move from novelty “chatbot” to practical...
  10. Windows 11: Contextual Android-to-PC Handoff with Spotify Resume

    Microsoft’s Windows 11 is taking a deliberately different route to device continuity: instead of locking users into a single smartphone ecosystem, it’s building a handoff designed around Android phones and the Windows desktop — and the first public test, rolling out to Windows Insiders, uses...
  11. Windows 11 Dark Mode Gains Momentum in Insider Builds

    For the first time in years, there are convincing signs that Microsoft is finally taking the long-neglected promise of a true, system-wide dark mode for Windows 11 seriously — and the changes showing up in Insider preview builds point to incremental but meaningful progress in File Explorer and...
  12. Xbox PC App Expands Local Gaming on ARM Windows 11 (Insiders)

    Microsoft is rolling out a targeted update that begins to change how the Xbox PC app behaves on Arm®-based Windows 11 devices, and for the first time Microsoft is letting Insiders download and run more PC titles locally on ARM hardware rather than relying solely on cloud streaming. This shift —...
  13. Xbox Insider Tests Free with Xbox Tab to Clean Up Full Library

    Microsoft is quietly testing a small but welcome cleanup for crowded Xbox libraries: an experimental “Free with Xbox” tab inside the Full Library that automatically groups time-limited trials, demos, and other non-owned entries so they no longer clutter the list of titles you actually own or...
  14. Windows 11 Windows 11 24H2 is now incompatible with USB scanning devices, too

    Editor's take: Windows 11 24H2 increasingly shows how the Windows Insider program does nothing to improve Windows security and reliability. The number of show-stopper bugs experienced by customers who updated to the latest OS version is staggering. Meanwhile, Microsoft is just saying that...