ux improvements

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...

Microsoft has quietly begun shipping a coordinated set of updates to three of Windows 11’s oldest built‑in utilities — Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad — turning small, familiar tools into more capable, workflow‑friendly apps and proving once again that Microsoft is using inbox apps as a...

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...

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...

Files v4.0 arrives as a major rework of one of the most polished third‑party File Explorer replacements for Windows 11, introducing a unified Omnibar, a refined Dual Pane workflow, expanded cloud drive support, and built‑in cryptographic verification tools — changes that push Files from a...

Windows 11’s dark theme inconsistency — the jarring white flashes during routine file operations that long annoyed enthusiasts and power users — is finally being addressed in Insider preview builds, with Microsoft beginning to darken legacy file-operation dialogs that previously ignored the...

Microsoft’s Start menu design debate has taken a new turn: a growing chorus of users are asking the company to bring the new, reimagined Start menu interface—the one shipping with recent Windows 11 updates—back to the “regular” Windows 10 experience, and that request exposes tensions between...

Microsoft has quietly rolled out a refreshed right‑click experience for Notepad in Windows 11, aligning the long‑running text editor with the redesigned, streamlined context menus Microsoft introduced across the OS — a change now appearing in Notepad builds shipping to Windows Insiders and...

The Windows 11 Widgets Board has been an area of curiosity and, at times, frustration for power users and casual newcomers alike. For months, it has languished in a halfway state: more than a glanceable news scroll, less than a true dashboard of productivity, often ignored even by third-party...

The newest update to Windows 11 is making significant waves in the tech community, and for good reason: the optional KB5062660 patch for version 24H2 brings a suite of transformative features, many powered by AI, and signals Microsoft’s clearest vision yet for the future of Copilot+ PCs and the...

For years, one of the persistently frustrating aspects of Windows 11 for portable device users—especially those with tablets and laptops—has been the lack of a clear, user-friendly battery indicator on the lock screen. While Microsoft responded to widespread user feedback by redesigning the...

Ubuntu’s visual identity has always straddled the line between practicality and personality, and with each release, the desktop experience subtly evolves to reflect the sensibilities of its global community. With Ubuntu 25.10 on the horizon, a long-simmering debate has resurfaced at the heart of...

Here’s a summary of what’s new and important in Rufus 4.8, based on the provided article: Key Changes & Improvements in Rufus 4.8: Major Speed Boost (WIMLIB Integration): Rufus now uses wimlib for all Windows Imaging (WIM) processing. This results in much faster image analysis when opening...

Redesigning the user experience has become one of Microsoft’s top priorities in recent years, and Windows 11 is at the forefront of this initiative. A key development—now being tested within the Windows Insider Program—sees Microsoft merging all existing Search settings into a unified page in...

The Start menu has long been the signature gateway to the Windows experience, continually evolving yet never straying far from its foundational purpose: launching applications and accessing key functionalities with minimal friction. In recent years, however, Microsoft’s design choices—especially...

Microsoft's latest update to PowerPoint brings a notable enhancement to the core experience of creating presentations: the modernization of placeholders, those familiar dotted boxes that serve as guides for placing text, images, charts, and other content on a slide. For millions of users who...

Microsoft’s continuous refinement of the Windows 11 experience is again taking center stage, this time with a quiet but significant visual overhaul: a comprehensive redesign of the laptop battery charge indicators. For most users, the battery icon resting in the corner of the taskbar is little...

In the dynamic landscape of operating system refinement, the smallest interface changes can radiate meaning far beyond their surface. The recent overhaul of the battery icon in Windows 11 is a case in point—a subtle, often-overlooked part of the taskbar, but one that touches nearly every Windows...

Windows users everywhere are about to breathe a faint sigh of relief—the kind you exhale when someone finally takes their finger off that one debatable button on your desktop keyboard. Yes, after a tidal wave of negative feedback, Microsoft is recalibrating the role of its infamous Copilot key...

Hi everyone, We have a new build for PCs releasing today to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring – Build 10158. This build is full of improvements to stability and quality as well as some additional UI polish. It also has some great new features included for Microsoft Edge as well. Here is what’s...