productivity tools

Open‑source software gives Windows users a fast, private, and flexible path away from closed ecosystems — and ZDNet’s compact list of “10 open‑source apps I always recommend Windows users try — and they’re free” is a practical starter kit for anyone ready to swap proprietary defaults for...

ChatGPT’s Windows app has jolted the desktop AI landscape: in practical day‑to‑day tasks it outpaces Microsoft’s Copilot in accessibility, file handling, and a snappier user experience, while Copilot still holds important advantages in deep Office integration and tenant‑aware security—making the...

Google’s Gemini is positioning itself as more than a chatbot — it’s being packaged, integrated, and promoted as a daily workhorse that can replace single-purpose assistants and win user loyalty through consistent utility rather than flash. Recent coverage and first‑hand user testimonials point...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider flight quietly folds generative and assistive AI into three of the operating system’s oldest — and most widely used — utilities: Notepad, Paint and the Snipping Tool. The changes are modest on the surface but signal a broader, deliberate push to make AI part...

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...

Starting this fall, the U.S. House of Representatives will begin a controlled pilot giving thousands of House staffers access to Microsoft Copilot — a marked reversal from a 2024 prohibition — as leadership frames the move as a pragmatic modernization push that must be matched by strict...

Microsoft has begun rolling out a free, in‑app Copilot Chat experience inside the desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote for Microsoft 365 business customers — a strategic shift that embeds a web‑grounded AI assistant directly into the places people do their daily work...

Microsoft has quietly moved Copilot from a separate app and demo stage into the daily work surface: a persistent, context‑aware Copilot Chat sidebar is now rolling out inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, giving Microsoft 365 users a free, in‑app conversational assistant while...

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 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...

Windows 11 hides a surprising number of productivity tools and convenience shortcuts under its polished surface — features that are easy to miss but powerful once discovered. From window management that finally stops the dragging-and-resizing circus to clipboard vaults that remember what you...

Microsoft’s Copilot in Word for the web now offers a genuine time-saver for anyone who spends hours polishing documents: a one‑click “Fix spelling and grammar” action that applies all suggested corrections to a selected passage, then lets you accept or undo them in bulk or one at a time...

Microsoft’s push to fold generative AI into everyday file management just moved a major step closer to most Windows users: Microsoft 365’s Copilot is now integrated with OneDrive inside Windows, letting subscribers invoke Copilot actions from File Explorer and the OneDrive Activity Center on the...

Microsoft’s latest education push folds generative AI into the everyday toolkit of U.S. college students by making Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot available free for eligible students—an aggressive expansion of earlier trial offers that places Copilot, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has publicly shared the five AI prompts he now relies on inside Microsoft 365 Copilot — a short, practical blueprint that reveals how a top executive turns generative AI into a daily decision engine and meeting prep assistant. Background / Overview On August 7, 2025...

Judy Sanhz represents a modern breed of consumer-focused technology journalism: experienced, methodical, and relentlessly practical in translating platform changes into usable guidance for everyday users. Her body of work emphasizes clear how-tos, hands-on testing, and fast, accessible...

Microsoft's gradual reinvention of the PowerToys launcher is becoming a serious contender — the Command Palette in PowerToys 0.93 brings measurable performance wins, a cleaner settings dashboard, and a handful of useful built‑in modules — but in practical, day‑to‑day responsiveness and the...

Windows PowerToys has quietly become one of the most useful free downloads for serious Windows 10 and Windows 11 users, bundling dozens of small, well-crafted utilities that smooth the rough edges of everyday computing and unlock customization that Microsoft doesn’t expose by default. If you’ve...

Microsoft’s new Copilot Pages is a notable entry in the rapidly expanding field of AI notes—a simple, writable workspace amplified by generative models that aims to make research, study and creative projects feel less like data wrangling and more like conversation-driven composition. Early...

Windows 11’s Snipping Tool can now pick and record a specific application window — accessible via the familiar Win + Shift + R shortcut — thanks to a new window mode introduced in Snipping Tool version 11.2507.14.0, currently rolling to Insiders in the Canary (and some Dev) channel builds...