privacy

  1. Windows 11 Local Search: Top 6 Keyboard-First Replacements

    Windows 11’s built‑in search can be handy, but for many power users it’s long felt sluggish, cluttered with web suggestions, and inconsistent when dealing with non‑indexed folders or massive file collections — which is why dozens of lightweight, keyboard‑first launchers and indexers have sprung...
  2. Google Windows Desktop Search: Spotlight-style UI, Lens, and AI

    Google has quietly moved search from the browser to the desktop with an experimental new app for Windows that brings a Spotlight‑style search bar, Google Lens integration, and an “AI Mode” for conversational answers — and it’s already available to a small group of U.S. users via Google’s Search...
  3. Google’s Windows Desktop Search: Spotlight-like Overlay with Lens & AI

    Google's new Windows experiment drops a summonable Google search bar onto the desktop — press Alt + Space, highlight anything on screen with Google Lens, and get web, Drive and local-file results without opening a browser. Background For more than two decades Google Search has been primarily a...
  4. Windows 10 End of Support 2025: ESU Debate and Consumer Risk

    Consumer advocates have formally asked Microsoft to keep the lights on for Windows 10 security updates for ordinary consumers, arguing that the company’s announced October 14, 2025 cutoff and the narrowly scoped, account‑linked or paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) option will leave millions...
  5. Google's Windows Labs App: Spotlight-Style Search with Lens and AI

    Google’s new experimental desktop app for Windows drops a compact, Spotlight‑style search overlay onto the PC and promises to unite local files, installed apps, Google Drive documents, and the web — all reachable with a quick Alt + Space keystroke — while folding in Google Lens and an optional...
  6. Windows 10 End of Support 2025: ESU, Advocacy, and E-Waste Risks

    Microsoft’s October 14, 2025 deadline for ending free security updates for Windows 10 has prompted a rare public rebuke from consumer advocates, who say the cutoff risks leaving millions exposed to cyberattacks and could produce a massive wave of electronic waste — unless Microsoft rethinks the...
  7. Windows 10 End of Life 2025 Sparks AI PC Shift with Copilot+ NPUs

    Microsoft’s decision to draw a line under Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 is doing more than closing a chapter — it is sharpening the upgrade calculus for millions of users and accelerating a hardware-led shift toward AI-enabled PCs, commonly sold as Copilot+ or “AI PC” devices. What began as an...
  8. Five Windows 11 Defaults to Disable for Privacy, Performance & Focus

    If you just unboxed a new Windows 11 laptop, there are five settings you should consider turning off right away to tighten privacy, reduce distractions, and reclaim background resources for the tasks that matter most. Background / Overview Windows 11 ships with a range of convenience features...
  9. Google App for Windows: Unified Local, Drive, and Web Search with AI Lens

    Google is quietly bringing its signature search experience to the Windows desktop with an experimental app that unifies results from your PC, Google Drive, installed applications and the web — all summoned with a simple Alt + Space shortcut. Background Google has long treated search as a...
  10. Open-source apps for Windows: boost privacy, productivity, and control

    Open‑source software today offers Windows users a practical way to reclaim control, improve privacy, and boost productivity — and ZDNET’s compact roundup of “10 open‑source apps I recommend every Windows user try — for free” is a useful starting kit that does exactly that. Background ZDNET’s...
  11. Consumer Reports Urges Free Windows 10 Security Updates Beyond Oct 2025

    Consumer Reports has formally asked Microsoft to keep delivering free security updates for Windows 10 consumers beyond the company’s announced October 14, 2025 end‑of‑support date, arguing that the announced one‑year consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) bridge and the paid options that...
  12. Google App for Windows: Spotlight-style Search with Lens and AI Mode

    Google has quietly shipped an experimental Windows desktop application that puts Google Search, Google Lens and its conversational AI Mode a single keystroke away — a Spotlight‑style overlay that searches your PC, installed apps, Google Drive and the web without switching windows. Background /...
  13. Google's Spotlight-style Windows search with Lens and AI Mode

    Google has quietly dropped an experimental, Spotlight‑style search app for Windows that aims to make web, cloud and local file search a single keystroke away — summoned by Alt + Space by default — and bundled with integrated Google Lens and an optional AI Mode powered by Google’s generative...
  14. Windows 10 End of Support 2025: ESU, App Updates, and Migration Plans

    Microsoft has set a firm end-of-support date for Windows 10—October 14, 2025—and the flurry of "30 days" headlines that followed this announcement compresses a complex, staged retirement into a single-sentence alarm that obscures exactly what will and won't change for users and IT teams...
  15. Google Spotlight-Style Windows Overlay: Unified Search Across Web, Drive, and Local Apps

    Google has quietly pushed a compact, Spotlight‑style search overlay to Windows as an experiment — a one‑keystroke gateway that stitches together web results, Google Drive, installed apps and local files while folding in Google Lens and an AI Mode for conversational answers. Background Google’s...
  16. Google Labs Debuts Windows-native Multimodal Search with Lens and AI Mode

    Google is quietly rolling a new Windows-native search experience into its Labs program that brings the company’s web search, Google Lens, and its AI-powered AI Mode onto the desktop — reachable instantly with an Alt + Space hotkey and designed to search your local files, installed apps, Google...
  17. Windows 11: One-click Speed Test launches Bing in your browser

    Windows 11’s taskbar just gained a one‑click “Perform speed test” control — but instead of spinning up a native diagnostic engine, the button opens your default browser and lands on Bing’s internet speed test (the same Speedtest technology Ookla powers in Bing). Background Microsoft has been...
  18. Windows 10 End of Support 2025: ESU, Upgrades, and Migration

    Microsoft has set a firm deadline: Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025, and that change alters the security, upgrade, and disposal calculus for millions of PCs worldwide. Microsoft will stop providing routine OS security patches, feature and quality updates, and standard...
  19. Google's Spotlight-style Windows Search Overlay: AI Lens, Local, Drive, Web

    Google has quietly placed a Spotlight‑style search overlay on the Windows desktop, and this experimental app — available through Google’s Search Labs — promises to bring unified local, Drive, and web search plus Google Lens and AI Mode to a single, summonable interface reached with the Alt +...
  20. Google Windows AI Spotlight-style Search: Local Files, Drive & Web in One

    Google has quietly begun testing a new desktop search experience for Windows that looks and feels like macOS Spotlight but with Google’s distinctive multimodal and generative-AI capabilities layered on top, bringing web search, Google Drive, local files, installed apps, and Google Lens into a...