privacy

Windows 11 now puts a quick internet speed check one click away in the Taskbar — but it’s a launcher to Bing’s web tool, not a native measurement engine, and that choice has real implications for accuracy, privacy, and enterprise control. Background Microsoft quietly began testing a new...

Windows 11 now surfaces a one‑click path to a network speed test directly from the taskbar — but for now it’s a shortcut to Bing’s web tool (which itself delegates to Speedtest by Ookla), and it’s only available to Windows Insiders in preview channels. Background Microsoft has quietly started...

A subtle change hidden inside a recent Windows 11 preview build surfaces a new, one‑click path to measure internet speed directly from the taskbar: a “Perform speed test” option now appears in the network icon’s context menu and in the Wi‑Fi quick settings, and selecting it launches the default...

Mozilla’s Firefox 143 landed as a significant, pragmatic update: it finally brings a long‑promised form of desktop web‑app support to Windows, folds Microsoft Copilot into the browser’s AI sidebar, tightens several privacy and accessibility gaps, and introduces a clutch of media and UX...

Microsoft’s push to fold AI into search and browsing — most visibly through Copilot, Bing Chat, and AI features in Microsoft Edge — can be disorienting for users who want a classic, no‑frills search and browser experience; the good news is you can significantly reduce or hide these AI elements...

Dutch education and research network SURF’s Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) of Microsoft 365 Copilot finds persistent privacy and safety gaps that make the service unsuitable for broad use in schools and research institutions — and even after ongoing talks with Microsoft, two of the...

Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot desktop app on Windows machines that already have Microsoft 365 desktop clients installed, a background rollout slated to start in early October and run into mid‑November 2025 — and while enterprise tenants can opt out, most...

Microsoft is weaving its AI assistant deeper into the Office experience by rolling Copilot Chat and agent capabilities directly into core Microsoft 365 apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote — bringing a unified, in-context chat pane and a raft of new tools aimed at turning an AI...

Microsoft has confirmed a sweeping change to how Windows devices will receive AI integration: the Microsoft 365 Copilot app will be automatically installed on Windows systems that already have Microsoft 365 desktop apps, with the rollout beginning in early October 2025 and expected to finish...

Microsoft will stop regular support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, but a newly expanded consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program gives users a one‑year safety net — and for the first time offers legitimate free enrollment paths if you meet the conditions. This feature‑limited safety...

Microsoft will begin installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot app automatically on Windows devices that already have the Microsoft 365 desktop apps, a background rollout that starts this fall and is expected to reach completion by mid‑November — but it won’t happen for devices in the European...

Microsoft will begin automatically installing the standalone Microsoft 365 Copilot app onto many Windows devices this fall, pushing a dedicated Copilot entry into the Start menu on eligible machines unless administrators explicitly opt out — a move Microsoft describes as a background...

Microsoft has quietly placed a one‑click network speed test where many users already go to check connectivity — the Windows 11 system tray — but for now it behaves as a browser‑launched shortcut to Bing’s speed‑test widget rather than a native, in‑OS measurement engine. Background / Overview...

Microsoft’s Xbox app on Windows 11 has quietly evolved from a Game Pass storefront into a genuine, controller-friendly gaming hub capable of listing and launching installed titles from Steam, Epic, GOG, Battle.net and more — and the company is now rolling key pieces of that work out to wider...

Microsoft Edge is quietly experimenting with a new Visual Search shortcut inside its floating desktop search box on Windows 11, letting users drop images onto a small camera-enabled UI and get Bing-powered image results — all without opening a full browser window first. Background Microsoft’s...

Firefox’s latest release delivers the kind of practical Windows-focused refinements power users have been asking for — and a high-profile AI tie‑in that will keep privacy wonks and enterprise admins debating for weeks. Background / Overview Mozilla’s rapid-release cadence means the browser you...

Microsoft has given Windows 10 users a narrow, conditional lifeline: you can keep receiving security updates after the OS’s official end-of-support date — but only if you complete a short, specific checklist and enroll in the consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) pathway before the deadline...

Microsoft’s Copilot is quietly evolving from a conversational assistant into a multi-modal, transactional platform — and recent test-build evidence shows the company is explicitly styling that evolution around three pillars: search that surfaces explicit references, shopping and order...

Mozilla’s latest stable build, Firefox 143, lands as a pragmatic — and at times polarizing — update: it brings a sidebar shortcut to Microsoft Copilot and the wider AI-chat ecosystem while doubling down on user-facing privacy controls, accessibility fixes, and platform-specific media and web-app...

Microsoft is quietly surfacing a one‑click internet speed test right in the Windows 11 taskbar — a tiny but notable convenience that opens Bing’s speed‑test widget from the network icon’s context menu and Wi‑Fi quick settings in current Insider preview builds. This change, first observed in...