The best 14-inch laptops hit the sweet spot between a 13-inch laptop's portability and a 15-inch laptop's performance. I've seen this size's popularity rise since I started reviewing laptops in 2018, and that balance is one of a few reasons why it's become my favorite form factor.

If you're like me and travel a lot for work, having a small and light enough laptop to take with you everywhere is important. The repetition of adding weight around your shoulders and back multiple times a day — every day — can strain your muscles over time. A 14-inch laptop doesn't sacrifice too much screen space, either, keeping everything large enough to read and your eyeballs off your list of "body parts that hurt." (Hopefully!)

Performance and battery life are just as important as portability. A 14-inch laptop should be able to handle complicated spreadsheets, dozens of browser tabs, streaming music, and other resource-heavy tasks at the same time without dramatically draining the battery. A few hours of remaining battery life at the end of an 8-hour workday is ideal.

For the best overall battery life, performance, and build quality, check out the Apple MacBook Pro 14 M4. On a budget? The $700 Acer Aspire 14 AI has plenty of performance and battery life to handle your digital clutter. If you need more screen space but don't want to sacrifice portability, the dual-screen Asus Zenbook Duo could be the laptop you've been looking for.

This page is constantly updated based on our latest reviews to reflect Laptop Mag's current picks for the best 14-inch laptops in 2025.

The Quick List

Best overall

As Laptop Mag managing editor, Sean Riley, said in his review, the MacBook Pro 14 M4 is a "5-star laptop that goes above and beyond in so many categories that it almost seems unfair to the competition." It sets the bar high for other 14-inch laptops — especially now that the $1,599 base model comes with 16GB of RAM. (Finally!)

The latest MacBook Pro still has its iconic design, keyboard, and plus-sized trackpad (if it's not broken, why fix it?), in addition to powerful speakers, a fantastic high-resolution webcam, and a stunning 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display.

But Apple's M4 chip makes this laptop nothing short of incredible. Its consistent, breakneck performance handles a wide variety of tasks, from productivity to creativity — and even a little gaming, too.

On the Geekbench 6 overall performance test, the MacBook Pro 14 M4 churned out a staggering score of 15,114, making it 21% faster than its M3 predecessor. In our real-world video transcoding test, it converted a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes, a whole minute faster than the M3.

As an anecdotal testament to this laptop's speed, my fiancé recently upgraded from an M2-series MacBook to an M4 and he was so blown away by the processing performance he kept opening and closing programs because he was amazed laptop opened them that fast. There was that much of a noticeable difference between his old MacBook and his new M4.

The battery life on this thing is unreal, too. On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits, it lasted 18 hours and 32 minutes before dying. This is phenomenal, making it one of the longest-lasting laptops we've reviewed in years.

Its display doesn't cover as much of the DCI-P3 color gamut as other laptops we've tested (80.2%), especially OLED, but it still produces beautiful, vibrant colors and sharp images. The upside to Apple's mini-LED panel is that the display gets remarkably bright — an average SDR brightness of 556 nits and a peak HDR brightness of 1,096 nits.

But if you prefer to keep the brightness down to conserve battery power or because you have sensitive eyes, Apple offers an optional nano-texture display for an extra $150. It made a meaningful difference in reducing glare during our testing.

See our full Apple MacBook Pro 14 M4 review.

Best budget

Laptops like the Acer Aspire 14 AI are a big reason why budget devices catch my eye more often these days. For $700, this one has a long list of great features that are par for the course on more expensive laptops but have recently become more common on sub-$1,000 machines.

The Aspire 14 AI's processing performance is more than enough for everyday multitasking, near-equivalent to some of its pricier rivals. Its SSD transfer speed is also about 75% faster than typical budget laptops, 1,746 MBps verses 1,000 MBps. Its battery keeps it running for over 14 hours, the keyboard is bouncy and responsive, and there's a great variety of ports that you'd be lucky to see on a more expensive laptop. Even the Aspire 14 AI's speakers produce decently clear and loud sound.

But even though budget laptops' overall quality has improved over the years, they still come with one big drawback. If it's not a small amount of RAM or storage space, it's usually a dim, lifeless display. The Aspire 14 AI's caveat is the latter. Laptop Mag's Claire Tabari called it "dreadful" in her review, dim and lackluster.

Its panel brightness reaches only 284 max nits, below our recommended 300 nits, and its color gamut coverage is akin to a box of Crayola basics: 44% of DCI-P3 and 63% of sRGB. On average, most laptops we review cover 75-85% of DCI-P3 and 100% of sRGB.

By comparison, the Qualcomm-based Acer Swift 14 AI (our previous best budget pick) has a better display and battery life, but it's more expensive — and though plenty of popular programs and apps run natively on Windows on ARM, compatibility on the Intel-based Aspire 14 AI isn't a concern, making it a more compelling option (or automatic choice) to some.

See our full Acer Aspire 14 AI review.

Best dual screen

The new Asus Zenbook Duo may just be a generational refresh, but the seemingly small changes make a huge difference. With a starting price of $100 more compared to the inaugural model, this dual screen laptop now comes with a faster processor, double the RAM, and higher-resolution OLED displays with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, it's about 25% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in last year's model we reviewed. (Cutting the amount of time it took to convert a 4K video to 1080p in half!) Its SSD transfer rate is 35% faster, 1825 MBps compared to 1349 MBps. There's not a huge difference between the models' display brightness or color gamut coverage, but the new Zenbook Duo's are more color accurate.

The biggest drawback to this laptop is its battery life: 8.5 hours with one screen turned on. With both screens turned on, that number dropped to just over 6 hours — well under our recommended 9 hour minimum.

Shorter battery life is expected with a dual screen laptop. But this latest Zenbok Duo comes with a more powerful processor and higher resolution OLED displays compared to last year's model. As Laptop Mag's Claire Tabari noted in her review, both of those things combined need more power to run. "With the second display active, the Zenbook Duo 2025 lasts 6 hours and 5 minutes, versus last year's 8 hours and 22 minutes." Not great!

However, if you see yourself using this laptop primarily as part of your desktop setup, that shouldn't be something you'd need to worry about as long as you had the laptop plugged in at all times. And you're a sucker for vivid OLED panels, the Duo's should hold your gaze.

See our full Asus Zenbook Duo (2025) review.

Best Ultrabook

Laptop Mag's Madeline Ricchiuto sums up the Asus Zenbook S 14 nicely in her review: "This is an impressive launch laptop for Intel Lunar Lake and a win for Asus." Nearly everything about it — its design, portability, performance, battery life, and OLED screen — makes it the best-balanced, thin and light laptop in its class.

On the Geekbench 6 cross-platform CPU benchmark, the Zenbook S 14's Core Ultra 7 258V (Intel's new Lunar Lake chip) is evenly matched in single-core performance with the the Asus Zenbook S 16's AMD Ryzen AI 9 chip, 2,751 to 2,765, respectively — that's about a 0.5% difference, so feel free to load the Zenbook S 14 up to its gills (or grills) with browser tabs and simultaneously running apps. It'll handle that just fine.

Unfortunately, the Zenbook S 14 couldn't best the MacBook Pro 14 M3 (3,163) as it's about 14% slower in single-core. But it's evenly matched with the Dell XPS 13's Snapdragon X Elite chip (2,797, so about a 1% difference), and it's 11.5% faster than last-gen's Asus Zenbook 14 OLED with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (2,435).

This laptop's story is flipped when it comes to multicore performance, though. Against the MacBook Pro 14 M3, it scored 11,157 to 11,968, or about 7% slower — but it trails behind the Asus Zenbook S 16 (13,282, or 16%), Dell XPS 13 (14,635 or 24%), and Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (12,707 or 13%). That's disappointing to see, especially compared to Intel's last-gen Meteor Lake chip.

But the Zenbook S 14 makes up for that with its quick SSD, taking just 17.8 seconds to complete our 25GB File Copy test at a transfer rate of 1,513 MBps. That's three to four seconds faster than the XPS 13 and Zenbook 14 OLED, and almost 12 seconds faster than the Zenbook S 16.

It's OLED display and battery life are this laptop's most impressive features. The glossy, 3K display produces rich and accurate colors. Its peak brightness (342 nits), though dimmer than some of its competitors, is still bright enough to ward off the harsh glare of fluorescent office lighting. The 3K display also helps conserves power, while still looking as crisp and clear as 4K; the Zenbook S 14 lasted just under 14 hours in our web surfing battery test.

While that's not as long as some of its competitors, it's impressive how Asus fit a large, 72Wh battery inside the laptop's incredibly thin chassis. That definitely has a hand in powering this laptop past the 10-hour mark.

See our full Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) review.

Best 2-in-1

Once in a while, we're blessed by the emergence of a 2-in-1 that crushes expectations in every conceivable manner. In this case, the HP Spectre x360 14 is not only the ultimate 14-inch 2-in-1 laptop, but it's the best of the year, period. "It's a star, and a hell of a one at that," as Laptop Mag editor, Rami Tabari, called it in his review.

This is thanks to the culmination of phenomenal battery life, a stunning OLED display, powerful speakers, a sleek design, and solid performance, thanks to the Intel Ultra 7 155H and a satisfying keyboard.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over wifi at 150 nits, we saw the Spectre x360 last 11 hours before running out of juice. For context, our previous best 2-in-1, the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 8), lasted 10 hours and 10 minutes before dying.

Thanks to the power of OLED, you don't have much to worry about if you're a fan of a solid-looking display. It features a 2,880 x 1,800-pixel resolution touchscreen with OLED technology, meaning blacks are far deeper and inkier.

On the colorimeter, the HP Spectre x360 covered 86% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is solid but not the best compared to competing laptops like the Lenovo Yoga 9i (136%). However, anything with an 80% or higher DCI-P3 coverage is usually more than enough to enjoy a nice and vivid panel and OLED historically performs lower on DCI-P3 testing. Its brightness of 366 nits isn't super high, but that's unsurprising, considering OLED panels are typically a tad dimmer.

Of course, its Intel Ultra 7 155H performance delivers excellent scores and real-world speeds. On the Geekbench 6.1 overall performance test, the Spectre x360 managed a multi-core score of 12,358. That's stellar and absolutely crushes previous-generation chips, even pulling ahead of the MacBook M3 (11,968).

See our full HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review.

Best business

The Asus ExpertBook P5 has all the essentials of a business laptop and then some: a fast Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, well-spaced and comfortable keyboard, battery life, a 144Hz display, tons of RAM, tons of ports, and even surprisingly good speakers. Its looks are nothing to gawk at but it provides so much at such a great value, it doesn't matter that it lacks panache.

If your day-to-day business tasks mostly comprise of working on the web or using local productivity apps, the Asus ExpertBook P5 is a multitasking champ. It can handle dozens of open Chrome tabs with spreadsheets, music, video, emails and more all at once.

It bore similar multicore results to the Asus Zenbook S 14 in our Geekbench 6 overall performance test, falling behind its main competitors like the MacBook Air M3 and HP EliteBook Ultra, by about 7% to 12%, but this shouldn't be an issue as long as you are not looking for a dedicated photo or video editing machine. (We have other recommendations for that.) Still, the ExpertBook P5 surpasses the average premium laptop by about 9%, 11,259 to 10,308, respectively.

While the ExpertBook P5 performance and battery life is comparable to the Asus Zenbook S 14, it shines in two crucial areas for any business laptop: the webcam and thermals. In a well-lit environment its color accuracy is on-point, whether what's on screen in is the foreground or background.

The ExpertBook P5 also effectively manages the heat it puts out. Our managing editor, Sean Riley, said it's "one of the coolest laptops" he's ever encountered when he reviewed it. All but one spot on the laptop stayed well below Laptop Mag's 95-degree threshold — and the spot that didn't only spiked to 95.4 degrees. The HP Elite x360 1040 G11, by comparison, reached 103.1 degrees on the underside. The Zenbook S 14 and Zenbook S 16 reached 97.7 and 105.5, respectively — and the Dell XPS 13 reached an alarming 120.

See our full Asus ExpertBook P5 review.

Best gaming

The Asus TUF Gaming A14 is a 14-inch gaming laptop done right: respectable gaming performance in a thin and light chassis, a brighter and more colorful screen than the average IPS display, and a battery life that makes other gaming laptops weep. The 14-inch ROG Zephyrus may be a long-standing gamer favorite, but the TUF Gaming A14 offers much of the same experience at a more affordable price.

This gaming laptop is ideal for anyone who can still enjoy a game even if its graphics aren't cranked to the max — though the RTX 4060 will still net you higher framerates with Nvidia's DLSS and Frame Generation technology enabled. Without either of those enabled, the TUF Gaming A14 still pulls higher frame rates than last year's ROG Zephyrus G14 and keeps up with some of its similarly-configured competitors.

In Far Cry 6 at 1080p the TUF Gaming A14 averaged 77 frames per second, where the Zephyrus G14 averaged 69 fps and the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 averaged 82 fps. The TUF Gaming A14 fared better in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, averaging 87 fps, equivalent to the Predator Helios Neo 16 and 10 frames ahead of the Zephyrus G14. It's a similar story with more graphically intensive games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.

While an IPS panel can't match the vibrancy of OLED, the TUF Gaming A14 has one of the more color accurate and brighter ISP displays out there. It showcases the moody and colorful landscapes from games like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree well, and its max brightness (411 nits) ensures characters are still visible even in the darkest of movie scenes.

Gaming laptops generally aren't known for having long battery lives, but the TUF Gaming A14 shatters that stereotype. Where the average gaming laptop lasts around five hours (and some can't even last that long), this one gets twice the amount of battery power: 10 hours! It even ousts Acer's Predator Helios Neo 14, its closest competitor, by a hour and 15 minutes.

To quote our reviewer, Claire Tabari, this the "longest lasting gaming laptop we've seen in over four years." The last time we saw this much battery life in a gaming laptop was when we reviewed the 2020 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (11 hours and 32 minutes).

See our full Asus TUF Gaming A14 review.

Benchmark Comparisons

Recently Reviewed Laptops

Not every laptop can make the best 14-inch laptop page. (We wouldn't be doing you that much good if that were the case!) We review new laptops every week and over 100 laptops yearly, so here's a look at our most recently reviewed laptops that didn't make this page either due to a fault, display size, form factor, or something else.

How to choose the best 14-inch laptop

14-inch laptops cover many different laptop categories, including gaming, productivity, business, and more. As you've honed in on a specific size, presumably that's a major factor in your choice, and we've broken down the size and weight of every pick on this list in a handy table in our best 14-inch laptop FAQs below. However, here are some other general factors to consider.

Budget: What you get for your money

You can find a good 14-inch laptop for under $1,000, but you'll spend between $1,200 and $2,000 for most laptops on this list. While the starting prices for these laptops will all fall in that range, if you have more robust needs that require higher-end CPU, RAM, or storage configurations, you could end up above $2,000.

Design: 2-in-1 or Clamshell?

The 14-inch size is well-represented among the best 2-in-1 laptops as it's again a nice balance of screen real estate while maintaining portability. The screens on these laptops either bend back 360 degrees or detach so you can use them as tablets. If you like the idea of using your laptop in slate mode for drawing or note-taking, a 2-in-1 could be for you. However, you can often get better features or a lower price with a traditional clamshell-style laptop.

Battery Life: 11+ Hours for portability

Again, I expect that you value portability if you choose a 14-inch laptop, so if you are toting your laptop and using it out and about regularly, battery life matters. Even within your home or office, having plenty of juice enables you to work at the couch or at the conference table without being chained to the nearest outlet. We recommend getting a laptop that lasted over 11 hours on the Laptop Mag Battery Test for the best portability. The laptops with the best battery life can endure anywhere between 10 and 21 hours. Just set your expectations based on the category, even the best gaming laptops are toward the bottom of that scale, while the best MacBooks and best business laptops tend to come in toward the top.

FAQs

Q: What are the typical 14-inch laptop dimensions and weight?

A: In general, the best 14-inch laptops weigh under 4 pounds and are less than an inch thick, so they're easier to carry around compared to their larger counterparts. Here's how our current favorites compare to one another:

Q: Should I choose a 14-inch vs. 15.6-inch laptop?

A: What do you value more: screen space or portability? 14-inch laptops are generally lighter and thinner than 15.6-inch laptops, so they will be easier to carry around. If you need more screen space, you'll have to sacrifice that. But since 15.6-inch laptops have a larger footprint, you might end up with more ports or longer battery life.

Q: Are 14-inch laptops good for gaming?

A: If portability is more important to you than screen space, absolutely! This is one of the main reasons I consider the Asus TUF Gaming A14 the best 14-inch gaming laptop. It's affordable and it has the battery life of a productivity laptop, too. Keep in mind that gaming laptops of this size are considered "entry-level," so you'll find the more powerful hardware in devices that are thicker and heavier.

Q: What's a good laptop bag for a 14-inch laptop?

A: One that is durable, long-lasting, and within your budget. (If you're like me, one that fits your personal style, too.) Laptop Mag has its own picks of best laptop bags, so check it out if you're not sure where to start.

Q: Will my stylus work with one of these laptops?

A. That depends! Not all touchscreens have stylus support. The ones that do might not support the same type of pens. We recommend checking the manufacture's website of both the laptop and stylus to be absolutely sure.

This will help you determine what pen protocols the stylus and laptop support. The two main ones are Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) and Wacom AES. They're not intercompatible, but some pens support both, while others only support one.

How we test laptops

We put each laptop through extensive benchmark testing—both synthetic and real-world—before we send it to our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers, and heat management.

In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the laptop display's brightness and DCI-P3 color gamut. For performance testing, we run the computer through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 6 and 3DMark professional graphics tests.

To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is Sid Meier's Civilization 6 Gathering Storm benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution. For gaming laptops, we test Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, and others.

We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 11 laptops, a runtime of over nine hours is considered a good result, whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered longer than five hours deserve praise.

Once a laptop is through our initial lab tests, our expert reviewers take over, using it extensively in their daily work for approximately a week. This hands-on, real-world approach, coupled with our lab data, enables Laptop to deliver a detailed and accurate review of every laptop.

See this page on How We Test Laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.

Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over a hundred laptops yearly, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.

We are 100% independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades and continues to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on.

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it.

One of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing, enforces our editorial trustworthiness. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.

Though bugs showing up in Windows updates is no surprise anymore, a startup sound from 2007 suddenly making a return nearly two decades later is still a bit strange. But Microsoft is full of surprises, and that’s exactly what happened.

Last Monday, we reported on an odd issue in Windows 11’s latest Beta and Dev channel builds, where the iconic Windows Vista startup chime resurfaced out of nowhere. Microsoft acknowledged the bug and even leaned into the nostalgia a bit when the issue was first spotted, and promised a fix.

Credit where credit is due, Microsoft did indeed stick to its word and tried to patch things up in the latest Windows 11 Preview Builds released earlier this week. Unfortunately, the Redmond-based giant only partially succeeded.

The Vista sound is still lingering in the Dev Insider build

Microsoft rolled out the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4452 and Build 26200.5661 for the Beta and Dev channels, respectively, earlier this week on Monday. Initially, the “Fixes for everyone in the Beta/Dev channel” section mentioned: Fixed the issue causing the Windows Vista boot sound to play instead of the Windows 11 boot sound.

Although this was great news, Microsoft updated the release notes of the Dev build the very next day on Tuesday, after realizing that the fix for the issue was “not working correctly in this build.” It further mentioned that the issue will be fixed in the next flight.

There’s been no update to the Beta release notes yet, suggesting that the fix is working as anticipated.

If you aren’t familiar with the bug we’re referring to here, a Windows Insider, @XenoPanther on X (formerly Twitter), spotted a bug that swapped the Windows 11 startup sound with Vista’s startup sound. This issue was found in the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4441 and 26200.5651 for the Beta and Dev channels.

Like a true tech enthusiast, he went on a quest to trace down the cause of the bug and determined that the .WAV file located inside the imageres.dll.mun resource file was the culprit. It previously had the Windows 11 startup sound and had been replaced with Vista’s.

Vista nostalgia or an indirect dig at Apple?

Though most would've likely disregarded it and forgotten about it as yet another silly Microsoft bug (despite the years), what truly raised eyebrows was the timing of the bug. It was spotted around a week after WWDC 2025, where Apple announced its new operating systems alongside its "Liquid Glass" UI design.

Though the redesign was certainly refreshing for Apple users who've grown tired of staring at the same old design, it felt like a step back in time to many. This was because Microsoft first debuted similar translucent glass effects with its Windows Aero theme in Windows Vista.

Brandon LeBlanc, the Senior Product Manager for the Windows Insider Program Team, replied to @XenoPanther’s X post and mentioned that Microsoft had added the issue as a known issue.

In the replies, when asked how it happened, LeBlanc jokingly mentioned that he “went in and had some fun with the sound files in Windows and thought folks wanted a blast from the past.”

Though LeBlanc was clearly joking around, people were still unsure if it was a genuine bug or an actual blast from the past, so he clarified that it’s an actual bug.

Whether an intentional bug or not, the sudden return of Vista’s startup sound just days after Apple debuted a design that looks suspiciously similar to Aero feels a little too well-timed to be pure accident.

Given that this strangely seems to be one of those bugs Windows Insiders aren’t too mad about, it’s also one of those rare times when Microsoft not having a proper fix isn’t bothering people all that much. If you're one of those affected and waiting for a fix, the only thing you can really do for now is sit tight for the next build, and maybe enjoy the nostalgia in the meantime.

More from Laptop Mag

• Microsoft just threw Windows 10 users a free lifeline — but it could test your loyalty
• This secret version of Windows 10 still gets updates until 2032
• A second Windows 11 bug takes suspicious aim at Google Chrome — and the same Microsoft app is to blame

Last Friday, we reported on an issue in Windows 11 where Google Chrome would simply refuse to launch. Chrome’s support manager, Ellen T., confirmed that the team had investigated the problem and pinned it on Microsoft's Family Safety feature, but users were provided with a quick workaround instead of an official fix.

The workaround? Either disable the “Filter inappropriate websites” option under Family Safety or, oddly enough, rename the Chrome.exe file to Chrome1.exe.

Microsoft still hasn’t rolled out an official fix, but it has finally acknowledged the issue while confirming another bug impacting Chrome users, too.

Chrome’s still the main target in Microsoft’s latest bug

As reported by Neowin, Microsoft confirmed one more issue affecting Google Chrome users on Windows via a new Microsoft Learn entry. The entry was opened on Tuesday, June 24, and it hasn’t been updated since.

The new bug Microsoft has identified also has to do with the Family Safety feature that caused the issue we reported on earlier. However, instead of the feature causing Chrome to crash entirely, the feature just… doesn’t work.

The Redmond-based giant explains that the Web Content Filtering system relies on a block list to prevent browsers from accessing inappropriate search results and websites.

Unless a browser version is added to the block list, it won’t be, well, blocked — even if content filtering is turned on for the account. Something that, in the Microsoft Learn entry, the tech giant admitted to not having done with the latest version of Chrome and several other browsers.

Due to this mistake on Microsoft’s end, the browsers not added to the list might temporarily appear unblocked. Thankfully, Microsoft confirmed that it’s currently working on updating the block list.

The Redmond-based giant also touched on the issue we’ve already talked about in our previous article, which is causing Google Chrome and “some browsers” to shut down unexpectedly. PCs with Parental Controls enabled typically receive a parental approval message: “You’ll need to ask to use this app.”

Once a parent approves, the child gains access to the browser. However, this bug is causing the browser to shut down immediately without the prompt even appearing. Microsoft has pinpointed that this issue is only observed when the Activity reporting feature is disabled.

The suggested workaround is to enable Activity reporting under Windows settings in Family Safety. Once the feature is enabled, parents will begin to receive approval requests as usual.

The issues discussed above are affecting Windows 10 version 22H2 and Windows 11 versions 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2.

Is this another sneaky push toward Microsoft Edge?

Microsoft’s confirmed that it’s actively working on resolving both the above issues, and will update the support document when it has more information. What’s great is that the tech giant has finally acknowledged the issue and provided a workaround to the Google Chrome crashing problem.

Considering Microsoft has had quite the rocky history with Google Chrome, it’s frankly a bit odd that both issues seem to primarily be affecting Chrome.

Microsoft has a history of targeting Chrome (the world's most popular web browser) directly in various ways, including publishing a guide on “how to uninstall Google Chrome,” displaying pop-up ads promoting Edge in the Chrome app, and interrupting users who search for Google Chrome using its Edge browser, just to name a few.

Are both bugs genuine, or are they simply another attempt by Microsoft to push users toward Edge instead of Chrome? In this instance, I guess we’ll never know.

More from Laptop Mag

• I quit Google Chrome after 15 years: Here’s where I ended up and why
• Why I ditched Google Chrome for Microsoft Edge (and haven't looked back
• Microsoft doesn't want to tell you how to uninstall Microsoft Edge

By now, I know it, you know it, and most of the Wi-Fi accessible world knows it: Windows 10 is on the chopping block, with an end-of-support date set for October 14, later this year — and some users are not happy about it.

Whether unwilling or unable, a large portion of Windows 10 users feel caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Microsoft's looming deadline to upgrade to Windows 11. Not only do the increased hardware requirements for Windows 11 render a large number of functioning computers unfit for purpose, but Microsoft's flagship operating system has something of a soured reputation, leaving even those with viable machines hesitant to adopt it.

For those users, time is the enemy. Time, and Microsoft. However, the latter is at least offering them a hand in compromise. One more year of additional year of support through its Extended Security Updates (ESU) program (previously costing $30 for individuals), at no monetary cost. Please note: I didn't use the word "free" for a reason.

Three ways to stay on Windows 10 until 2026: Bucks, backups, and Bing

Microsoft's ESU is nothing new, and we've known about its availability for individual Windows users since November 2024. For businesses, even earlier. And we know that signing up for this program will cost the average Windows 10 user $30 for a single year of additional support.

However, in a recent post to the Windows Experience Blog, Microsoft has provided a few additional ways for Windows 10 users to gain this additional support, without needing to pay Microsoft a single dime.

In the blog, Microsoft shares the following alternative ways to gain ESU for Windows 10:

• Gain ESU for Windows 10 by using Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud

Windows Backup is a new free tool from Microsoft that aims to make switching from your older Windows 10 machine to an upgraded Windows 11 machine a whole lot easier. It's not the only purpose though, users can also backup files and folders to external drives similarly to any other backup tool.

So, great. Download Windows Backup, transfer a few files to a USB storage device, and claim an extra year of support. Right? Well, no.

To become eligible for free ESU, you'll need to upload a copy of your Windows Settings to the cloud. Specifically OneDrive. Meaning you'll also need a free Microsoft Account. Which is, once again, another hurdle some Windows 10 users refuse to clear.

• Redeem ESU for Windows 10 with 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points

Microsoft Reward points are Microsoft's own Monopoly money you can earn through shopping at its store; completing challenges on Xbox Game Pass; referring friends to sign up for a Microsoft Account and also earn Reward points (not a pyramid scheme); willingly trading your information through polls, quizzes, and trivia; or helping Microsoft to artificially inflate engagement by watching certain videos online.

Of course. There is one other way of earning Microsoft Reward points, but it'll test your loyalty in ways you never thought. You'll need to start using Bing Search.

Yes, simply searching on Bing can score you some of that lucrative Microsoft Monopoly moolah, though earning 1000 points may take you some time. If you start now, I'm sure you'll make it in time for October 14.

Frustratingly, for those who want to avoid signing up for a Microsoft Account, this is yet another method of attaining ESU for free that leaves you no choice.

What's next

So, are you ready to backup your settings or switch to Bing to save a few bucks and gain an additional year of support for Windows 10? The ball's in your court.

Some would say that this method is simply delaying the inevitable. And I'm sure that anyone hoping for a savior in a potential release of Windows 12 will be sorely disappointed.

However, if you need a little longer to secure your next device, or a few more months to pluck up the courage to give Linux a shot, Microsoft's newest incentive might be ideal. Well, almost ideal. You might have to use Bing, after all.

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Microsoft has a long and underhanded history of trying to gently subvert users away from Google Chrome on Windows.

In an effort to push the Edge web browser and its Bing search engine to Google's userbase (with all the tact of a used-car salesman), Microsoft has injected pop-up ads, tricked users with a fake Google Search page, flagged other browsers as errors that need to be fixed, and potentially broken a Chrome feature by blocking it through a system update. Oopsie.

However, after years of "coincidental" issues, "unintended" behaviors, and "accidental" bugs, Microsoft may have found a way to at least cut off the youth from being indoctrinated by Google's superior search and browser... By accidentally flagging it as unsuitable using Windows 11's Family Safety feature.

Too hot for Windows: Google Chrome no longer safe for small eyes on Microsoft's OS

In yet another unlikely turn of events that seems to benefit Microsoft's Edge browser and penalize Google's Chrome, Windows 11's Family Safety feature has been effectively blocking the world's most popular browser from opening for the better part of a month under the guise of a parental control measure.

The issue was first reported on June 3 to the r/Chrome subreddit by user Witty-Discount-2906, who claimed that following a crash, Chrome now "Just flashes quickly, unable to open with no error message."

Some time later, another Redditor suggested it was related to Windows' Parental Controls, stating, "I've had 9 students come see the IT Desk in the last hour saying Chrome won't open."

The issue was seemingly confirmed by Chrome support manager Ellen T, replying to a related post to the Google Chrome Help Community message board, stated: "Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior. For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled."

According to a follow-up post, Microsoft advises that parents (or IT admins in the case of our previous Reddit sleuth) seeking a solution can use the Family Safety web portal or mobile app to select their Child's (or user's) account and choose to disable "Filter inappropriate websites" under the Edge tab.

However, while this will open up access to Chrome once more, it'll also open up access to all of the parts of the internet most parental controls seek to keep restricted.

Alternatively, admins or parents can navigate to Windows > Apps & Games, and unblock Chrome from there.

What's next

If this is a bug, it's an incredible on-brand one, and a genuine blessing. Typically, Microsoft would have to set aside engineers for weeks to plot and scheme ways to attempt to topple Chrome's popularity. This one would then have fallen into its lap for free.

According to Chromium's bug tracker, the problem persists for some, though reports have slowed. One team member shares: "We've not heard anything from MSFT about a fix being rolled out. They have provided guidance to users who contact them about how to get Chrome working again, but I wouldn't think that would have a large effect."

Narrowing down potentially affected users, the Chromium team member shares: "The set of Chrome users who are affected are those who turned on Web Safety under the Edge tab of the parental controls between roughly Nov 2024 and June 3rd."

Whether this is a fault with Chromium or with Windows 11's Family Safety feature remains to be seen. However, Microsoft will likely not see a situation that causes Edge to appear more attractive than the competition as a high-priority issue. So while we wait for a potential fix, I wouldn't blame Microsoft for dragging its heels.

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For Windows users rocking Western Digital SSDs, we've got some good news and some bad news.

The bad news: Windows version 11 24H2 is still failing to install on systems with specific Western Digital SSDs. When users encounter this error, Microsoft does not advise a fix.

The good news is that a firmware patch will solve the issue.

Here's what you need to know.

What SSDs are impacted and what version of Windows is causing trouble?

The SSDs affected all belong to Western Digital (now SanDisk). In particular, the issue seems to be cropping up with the popular SN770 model.

The troublesome update is Windows 11 24H2, which was released in October 2024.

If you happen to own a WD SN770 SSD and try to update to the 24H2 version of Windows 11, you'll get an obscure pop-up that reads:

Your PC has a hardware that isn't ready for this version of Windows. Windows Update will automatically offer you this version of Windows once the issue has been resolved.

This error code appears after Windows scans your computer's hardware and indicates a mismatch between your SSD and Windows 11 24H2's requirements.

But don't run back to Best Buy to pick up a new solid-state drive. You have options.

What should you do if your SSD isn't compatible with Windows 11 24H2?

If you take the nuclear option, you can revert your SSD to a Windows 10 image and rock the better version of Microsoft's OS for a little longer.

Alternatively, you could go the grumpy route and switch to Linux.

But if you'd rather not nuke your entire SSD just for one measly Windows update, there's a simple firmware patch that should get you back on track with all the new features and security updates from Microsoft's latest annual update.

Windows aficionados on Reddit have already devised a quick fix for the issue with version 24H2. You can use the SanDisk Dashboard to update your WD SSD to the latest firmware.

The updated firmware should get your system safely through the Windows 11 hardware scan, and onto the download process for the October 2024 Windows feature update.

Is this finally the push Linux needs to win the OS wars?

Okay, look: I did mention installing Linux on your hardware because that is one surefire way to avoid upgrading your computer when Windows 10 is finally kicked to the curb.

Since Linux is an open-source platform, you don't run into many hardware requirements for the various Linux distributions. So if it's more than just a WD Black SN770 holding you back from the latest Windows 11 update, it might be worth checking out Ubuntu before buying a new laptop or desktop.

But for all of Linux's benefits, there is a pretty high barrier to entry for many people. Some programs won't run on Linux, while others require work with translation layers to get them up and running as expected from a Windows machine.

So it may be similar to using one of these routes to hold on to Windows 10 for a while longer.

Or you can hold out hope for Windows 12.

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Not too long ago, Microsoft announced that it’s finally caving in and giving users exactly what they’ve been asking for: a redesigned Start menu. Getting excited about new Windows features is almost never a good idea, and the new Start menu isn’t an exception.

This time around, though the shiny new Start menu is simplified and looks much cleaner for the most part, it drags along a new limitation that’s already rubbing people the wrong way.

A more organized Start menu, with one big catch

As spotted by Windows Latest, the new Start menu features a new Category view that groups your applications into, well, different categories. These categories include: Utilities and tools, Productivity, Games, Social, Entertainment, Creativity, Information & Reading, and Other.

Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? In fact, it sounds like it might even make finding the right app quicker. But here’s where things start to fall apart. You can’t create your own categories beyond the existing ones or even decide where each application goes.

Instead, Windows automatically sorts your applications for you based on a predefined system, and you don’t get a say.

Windows Latest mentions that Microsoft doesn’t use AI or cloud-based analysis to sort your apps into one of the categories. Instead, everything is handled locally on your computer using an on-device JSON file.

This is a great thing privacy-wise, as it means your list of installed apps isn’t being sent to Microsoft’s servers. But it also means there’s little flexibility or intelligence in how the sorting process works.

In the case that Windows 11 can’t determine exactly which category an application should go into, it’ll add it to the “Other” category instead. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end here.

Not all the categories we’ve listed above need to show for you. According to Microsoft, a category only appears if the system detects at least three apps that belong to it. So if you’ve got exactly three apps in, say, the Creativity category and uninstall just one, the entire category disappears.

Of course, this means the remaining apps get automatically dumped into the “Other” category, even if they clearly don’t belong there. Microsoft also notes that apps within each category are arranged based on usage. So if you’ve got Paint in the Creativity category and it’s the app you use most often, it’ll appear at the top of that category.

Thankfully, the rest of the Start menu is what people wanted all along

To be fair, though, there’s likely a good chance that Microsoft will direct its efforts toward improving the “Categories” view and might eventually let users create their own categories and move apps around.

Other than this one frustration (which is admittedly a big one), the redesigned Windows 11 Start menu is certainly a step in the right direction and addresses multiple complaints users have had.

It’s cleaner, makes better use of screen space, and finally ditches the cluttered two-page layout for a single scrollable view. It even lets users finally remove the “Recommended” section, which shows recent apps and files they’ve installed.

The all-new Windows 11 Start menu is currently being gradually rolled out to Windows Insiders.

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Those who sign up for the Windows Insider program know what to expect: you get first dibs on the platform's new and interesting features, and in return, you enlist in the volunteer ranks of Microsoft's bug reporting beta army.

However, few would anticipate the kind of bug found in the latest Preview Build 26200.5651 of the Windows 11 Beta and Dev channels .

It's not disruptive, it doesn't cause any frustrating software gremlins, and neither is it particularly annoying to deal with — but it does, inexplicably, drop an 18-year-old platform relic into the Windows experience, welcoming users to their desktops with the iconic, long-retired chimes of Windows Vista/7.

While this bug would typically be seen as nothing more than your average post-update blunder, given the timing, I'm convinced it has a lot more to do with Apple's recently announced operating system makeover for iOS 26 and macOS 26 than Microsoft is willing to admit.

Hasta la Vista, baby (again)

One eagle-eyed (or eared) Windows Insider brought attention to the bug in a post to X on Friday, even tracking down its cause to the imageres.dll.mun resource file, where Windows 11's typical startup sounds had been overwritten.

In its place? The ethereal startup chimes of Window Vista (which you can preview below) — a certified classic for those with fond memories of running Windows circa 2007, and a surprising shot of nostalgia that harkens back to an era of computing that didn't require a Copilot, when the Start Menu knew its place, and a world in which Microsoft had yet to dream up the Lovecraftian horrors of Windows 8.

Microsoft's Senior Program Manager of the Windows Insider Program Team, Brandon LeBlanc, was first to acknowledge to bug on X, highlighting it as a now known issue, while also joking that it was an intentional tweak to give folks a much-needed "blast from the past."

And while LeBlanc was quick to double down on confirming the out-of-place tones as an actual bug, many a truth is also said in jest, and the timing of this so-called bug lines up almost too well with a sudden spike in interest surrounding Windows Vista following the reveal of Apple's new Liquid Glass visual overhaul at WWDC 2025 — a design that those with working eyes say borrows heavily from Vista's Aero theme.

What's next

Could the revival of Windows Vista's iconic startup sound have originally been an off-the-cuff Easter egg for those drawing parallels to Apple's new Liquid Glass design language, intended for a short stay at startup for Windows Insiders before quietly returning to the Windows graveyard?

Absolutely. It's not like Microsoft hasn't taken a few shots at Apple already, with a recent Instagram post showcasing the brand's willingness to join in on ribbing its rival over claims of Aero inspiration.

However, if it is the truth, Windows Insider lead Brandon LeBlanc isn't fessing. Instead, the patch notes for Preview Build 26200.5651 have been updated to include the lighthearted: "This week’s flight comes with a delightful blast from the past and will play the Windows Vista boot sound instead of the Windows 11 boot sound. We’re working on a fix."

Sadly, LeBlanc and his team will be looking to get Windows 11 back to its regular and far less iconic xylophone-like introduction as soon as possible.

Boo.

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Get ready to always have an AI lighting technician at the ready -- even if you have already shot the photo and it's a decade old.

Microsoft announced earlier this month that a jaw-dropping feature is rolling out to Windows 11 users across all Insider Channels. That's the good news.

The not-so-good news takes a bit of the shine off this announcement.

The Relight feature in the Photos app is only available to Windows 11 users who have a Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PC. However, Microsoft points out in its announcement that AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs will get the Relight feature in the Photos app "in the next few months."

Relight gives Photos app users more control over the lighting in their images and adds “dynamic lighting controls to pictures.” Essentially, it's an after-the-fact AI gaffer on your laptop, assuming your laptop meets the requirements.

As announced on the Windows Insider Blog, the tool lets you position a maximum of three light sources and customize their color, intensity, and the focus point where all the lights automatically aim. You can also adjust the brightness and softness using a slider.

If editing isn’t exactly your strong suit, Microsoft is also adding built-in presets with “ready-made lighting styles” that you can apply to your image with just one click. Based on the example image Microsoft shared in its blog, the presets include options like Softbox, Classic Portrait, Dramatic, Golden Hour, and Cyberpunk. These presets are much faster, if you'd prefer not to twiddle the knobs.

Microsoft also announced a massive Windows 11 update in May during Build 2025, showing off a redesigned Start menu and new capabilities in Photos and the Snipping Tool.

The Snipping Tool got a color picker and a Perfect Screenshot feature that can intelligently resize a screenshot you’re capturing, along with an AI-powered Relight tool in the Photos app.

Though the Snipping Tool features started rolling out toward the end of May, Microsoft announced on June 6 that the Photos app updates are now going live.

The Microsoft Photos app is getting a new AI-powered Relight tool

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Relight is yet another AI-powered feature Microsoft’s added to its apps. Like a lot of them, Relight is restricted to Copilot+ PCs. For now, Microsoft’s only rolling out Relight to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, with support for AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs coming in the next few months.

Relight isn’t the only new AI feature coming to Microsoft Photos

Microsoft has been testing Improved Windows Search for a few months now and finally rolled it out widely with the May Patch Tuesday update. In the same Windows Insider Blog post, Microsoft announced that it’s now enabling the “improved semantically-based Windows search” in the Photos app.

The feature works just like it does in File Explorer, only now within Photos. This means you can search for images with a description rather than typing in the exact file name or filtering by properties like date, file type, or tags.

For example, if you saw a bunch of camels in the desert on vacation, instead of scrolling through all your vacation images or trying to remember what the file was called, you could just search something like “camels in the desert,” and the app will pull up the most relevant photos automatically.

Microsoft mentions that this improved photo search works on images in your Photo Library that are saved locally and have been indexed. Similar to Relight, you must have a Copilot+ PC to try out the improved search in the Photos app.

Is this just another push for Copilot+ PCs?

It is ironic how Microsoft continues introducing more features exclusive to Copilot+ PCs. Though Microsoft hasn't admitted it, it's easy for even the non-cynics among us to wonder if the Copilot+ requirements are only there to nudge more users to upgrade to these AI-powered machines, even as some still aren’t sold on Copilot+ AI.

Besides, finding alternatives to at least some of the features Microsoft is locking behind Copilot+ PCs isn’t all that difficult. For instance, Clipdrop is a web-based AI tool powered by Stability AI and has a Relight tool.

Once you upload an image, you can choose from different presets, add multiple light sources, and customize their color, power, distance, and radius.

It matches much of what Microsoft’s Relight tool offers and works on almost any device with a browser. And of course, no Copilot+ PC required.

Both AI-powered Relight and Search in Microsoft Photos are currently being tested for Windows 11 across all Insider channels. They’re rolling out gradually, so you might not see them immediately, even if you’re a part of the Windows Insider program.

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The latest Windows Insider preview build introduces what Microsoft calls “User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management”, a background feature designed to throttle your processor only when you’re not using it.

In essence, you walk away, and your CPU backs off. You come back, and it’s ready to go. Microsoft is betting that these micro-adjustments will lead to macro savings, especially for laptops and 2-in-1s that rely on battery efficiency to stay competitive.

It might not be a flashy UI update or new Copilot feature, but it might be one of the smartest energy features Windows has introduced in years.

What exactly is User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management?

It’s a mouthful, but the idea is simple: When you’re not actively touching your PC — no keyboard, mouse, pen, or touchscreen input — Windows shifts the CPU into a lower-power state. The moment you interact again, full performance kicks back in automatically.

Microsoft says it does this by applying a more aggressive processor power management policy than your laptop would normally use during idle time. That includes dropping clock speeds, activating deeper C-states, reducing voltage, and even scaling back high-performance cores in favor of efficiency cores.

The feature is live now in builds 26120.4151 (Beta) and 26200.5603 (Dev) and is expected to ship in Windows 11 25H2, with a possible backport to 24H2 for supported devices. To date, no issues have been reported.

Like low power mode, but with some brains

Traditional power-saving modes don’t always account for how you’re using your device. User Interaction-Aware Power Management adds a layer of context. If you’re watching a movie, for example, the CPU stays active. Running a background encode? It doesn’t interfere. But if your laptop’s sitting open with a dozen browser tabs and no input, that’s when it kicks in.

In theory, that means longer battery life with no performance trade-offs unless you're the kind of user who wants to game and walk away at the same time. And if you’re not a fan of how it works, Microsoft says that you can toggle the feature off in your Windows 11 device’s Power & Battery settings.

On paper, this is an easy win. But depending on your workload and your laptop’s OEM settings, there are edge cases to watch out for.

For example, if you're encoding video or training an AI model in the background without input, you may not want Windows to throttle your CPU just because you walked away.

Microsoft says these scenarios should be excluded, but it will depend heavily on your device and how well your laptop’s manufacturer tunes the feature.

Some users have already flagged concerns in early feedback threads. One Reddit user writes, “If I leave the machine doing a video encode, I really don’t want Windows choosing to make it take longer.”

Another wrote, “Designed and real world [performance] are two different things… how soon it triggers, how long it takes to resume, how third-party software reacts…”.

An ongoing obsession with smarter power control

This move feels like a natural next step in the PC industry's recent obsession with smarter power control. Between Copilot+ PC requirements, ARM-based laptops, and NPU optimization, battery life is quickly becoming the next competitive spec. Microsoft knows this.

With User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management, Windows adds a subtle but potentially significant tool to its energy toolbox. For ultrabooks, tablets, and 2-in-1s, especially those with limited cooling headroom, this could be a game-changer.

Don’t be surprised if you see OEMs like Dell or Lenovo marketing this by name in their next-gen laptops.

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Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. We've been singing the requiem of Windows 10 for quite some time now.

This past March, Asus published a blog post that makes one thing clear: You should update to Windows 11. "With a mandatory Windows update on the horizon, there are essential steps you should take to ensure a smooth upgrade experience."

That same month, Microsoft updated its Windows 11 system requirements (as reported by Neowin, the Microsoft-focused tech news site). Those updated requirements are to support Windows 11 24H2, which will enable the generative AI tool Microsoft Copilot+. AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm now all make silicon that supports Copilot+.

All of which is to say: The forces urging you to update to Windows 11 are growing — but are things as dire as they appear?

Microsoft's end of support for most versions of Windows 10 means the operating system won't get any feature updates, technical support, or security updates. That doesn't mean the operating system will just stop working, but it will put systems running Windows 10 at higher risk for viruses and malware than systems upgraded to Windows 11.

Laptop Mag has examined several workarounds for the End of Windows 10, but they all have steep disadvantages.

So, should you just bite the bullet and upgrade to Windows 11? Let's recap a bit.

The Windows 11 update isn't strictly mandatory

There are currently several ways to stay on Windows 10 past October 14, including Microsoft's own Extended Support Updates program and Windows 10 Long-Term Service Channel, which can offer full security updates until 2032.

While both the ESU and LTSC options will let you keep running Windows 10, both options come at a price, fiscally and in terms of stripped-down features. So they may not be the most attractive solution.

Alternatively, you could switch to Linux and enjoy all the perks of an open-source operating system while learning a lot about translation layers and software emulation to get some of your favorite applications running.

However, Linux is a lighter-weight operating system that can help keep older hardware running smoothly. So it's a worthwhile option if your current laptop or desktop is rocking hardware too old to meet the stringent Windows 11 upgrade requirements.

If you don't like the idea of having to custom-bootstrap your operating system into working the way you need it to, that's fair. While there are certainly reasons why Linux has a dedicated following, the operating system isn't quite as easy to use out of the box compared to Windows or macOS.

This brings us back to either keeping your version of Windows 10 limping along or caving to the Windows 11 update, which, honestly, may not be as big a deal as the hype suggests.

Windows 11 isn't even that bad

Look, all software eventually becomes old and outdated and gets replaced by a new version. That's just the tech lifecycle.

While Windows 11 is not a perfect operating system, it's pretty easy to use and set up out of the box. It looks more Apple-y than Windows 10, but all your necessary Windows 10 features made the jump, though some have found new homes. But it doesn't take long to get oriented with the new operating system.

You can also opt out of or uninstall any Microsoft programs you don't want to tangle with, like OneDrive or the controversial Recall system on Copilot+ PCs. And you never need to use the Copilot chatbot if you don't want to.

The problem most have with Windows 11 is the strict hardware requirements. You need a GPU capable of running Microsoft's DirectX 12 API and a CPU that runs at 1GHz or faster, with more than two cores, and compatible with a 64-bit operating system.

This essentially means you need an Intel chip that's newer than the 10th generation or an AMD processor that's newer than the 3000 generation.

Should you upgrade anyway?

Given the Windows 11 hardware requirements, a lot of folks will need newer hardware to upgrade.

However, the CPU requirements only really make an impact on hardware that's five to seven years old. While that's not a great look for Microsoft, that older hardware has aged past the usual tech hardware upgrade cycle of about four years.

So maybe you just need a new laptop or desktop, and you've been putting it off for too long.

Even if you don't want all the AI features of a Copilot+ PC, plenty of non-AI options would still get you all the benefits of Windows 11 without the hassle of trying to hold on to Windows 10 for another decade.

Plus, there are rumors that Windows 12 is around the corner. So maybe this whole discussion will be redundant in a few months, anyway.

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Copilot might get a face.

According to TestingCatalog, Microsoft is quietly giving Copilot a customizable face (quite literally) through a new feature called Live Portraits, alongside updates to Copilot Pages and memories.

Though Live Portraits isn’t publicly available yet, TestingCatalog notes that Microsoft is working on a dedicated interface for the feature where users can pick from different visual styles of male and female avatars. The site also mentions that when they attempted to select a portrait, they were redirected to a placeholder voice conversation view.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has dabbled with Characters for Copilot. A couple of months ago, TestingCatalog spotted Microsoft working on two characters, Mika and Hiraki, and four background images. From what they described, it was essentially Microsoft’s attempt to “gamify” its assistant. They explained that characters would emerge from the background to the front once a chat began, and would start to wave to the user.

The end goal of both features seems to be the same — to make Copilot more personalized and interactive. However, with Live Portraits, Microsoft aims for a more polished, human-like presence rather than playful, animated characters.

With Live Portraits, Microsoft appears to be aiming for a more polished, human-like presence rather than playful, animated characters.

While there’s no telling if Microsoft will ever launch this or Copilot Characters widely as stand-alone features, the company might merge both. If that’s how it pans out, it could offer a variety of assistants, ranging from lighthearted characters like Mika and Hiraki to more professional avatars.

TestingCatalog also spotted internal references to “3D generations,” suggesting that the tech giant might want to extend this feature beyond simple avatars and create more dynamic, animated 3D characters instead.

What’s next

Whether Microsoft Copilot has quickly become your go-to AI assistant or you simply can’t stand it and are trying to uninstall it altogether, Microsoft’s made up its mind and is doubling down on its assistant ambitions. The Live Portraits feature seems to prove that commitment.

TestingCatalog notes that these features would likely first appear in the Copilot web interface. As with most experimental features, there’s no telling when Microsoft will release Live Portraits — if at all.

Given that the characters were first spotted in January, and they’re yet to roll out widely, it could take a while before either feature sees an official launch, if they do at all.

However, since it aligns perfectly with Microsoft’s vision of turning Copilot into more than just a chat window, and considering the company’s overall push in AI, it’s unlikely the tech giant will shelve the idea altogether.

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Windows is 40 years old, and the latest iteration of the operating system, Windows 11, keeps making some big improvements. Most notably, Windows 11 for Copilot+ PCs is using AI to create some interesting — and controversial — features, such as Recall, which takes snapshots of your computer to create a searchable timeline of what you did.

Microsoft has also been revisiting some of its long-time Windows programs, and one program, which even predated the first iteration of the operating system, is getting an upgrade.

Notepad, the simple text editor that pops up whenever a Windows user clicks on a text file, will finally get some formatting options, according to a blog post from Microsoft. The app will soon have a formatting toolbar that allows the use of bold, italic, and hyperlinks for a document, as well as making a list and creating headings.

This simple formatting addition may seem a bit odd to include after all these years, but Windows users tend to use Notepad because it doesn't have any formatting options. Those people simply want to edit text without dealing with different fonts or styles.

The Notepad update is rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels on Windows 11 as of Friday.

Revitalizing the classics

Notepad was largely untouched by Microsoft for a long time, but in recent years, the company has made more use of it. Back in 2021, it and Microsoft Paint received a design overhaul to make them more modern. Notepad also received an update on May 22, enabling users to write new content using generative AI. These changes to Notepad could be a way for Microsoft to replace its free word-processing program, Wordpad, which was retired in 2023.

Other Windows programs receiving new upgrades this month include the Snipping Tool and Paint. Both will incorporate AI with the Snipping Tool, using AI to create the perfect screenshot and noting the exact color values on whatever is on your screen, while Paint will generate stickers based on a prompt.

What could be the biggest change to Windows 11 is the change to the crash screen. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) that appears whenever a severe issue occurs requiring Windows to restart might soon become the Green Screen of Death (GSoD). The GSoD is currently available for Windows Insiders and offers fewer details about what happened to cause the restart. Still, the change will offer a slightly less panic-inducing reaction with the color change.

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The gaming industry is notoriously volatile. And that's true of more than just software.

This week, we have a new entry for the graveyard of delayed or discontinued gaming hardware, and Microsoft is at the heart of it all.

Microsoft's rumored first-party Xbox handheld may take longer to arrive than initially expected.

According to an exclusive report from Windows Central, Microsoft has paused development on the Xbox handheld to focus instead on optimizing Windows 11 for gaming experiences.

Here's what we know so far about the delay, Windows optimizations, and the future of Xbox handhelds.

Xbox Handheld delayed indefinitely

Even though the Xbox handheld seems to be on pause, Microsoft is still working on something else.

Codenamed "Kennan," the project for a branded Xbox handheld with Asus is reportedly still underway. So we will still get an Xbox handheld — even if it's mostly just a next-gen ROG Ally with a black-and-green color scheme.

The first-party handheld that's reportedly been delayed was initially expected to launch alongside a next-generation Xbox home console in 2027.

While we understand that the Xbox Series X successor will still launch during that window, the handheld device appears to have been shelved for now.

According to the report from Windows Central, "sources have indicated ... that Microsoft is still deeply investing in developing its own Xbox gaming handheld technology in the future, but it was announced internally [Thursday] that the priorities are moving more deeply towards third-party OEM handhelds in the interim."

So it appears that Microsoft is still planning to make its own handheld gaming device, just not by 2027.

Microsoft's Xbox handheld may end up being a mid-cycle device rather than a dual-launch device for Microsoft's next console generation, but only time will tell.

Windows 11 optimization isn't a terrible trade-off

Microsoft is switching its handheld development to further support the "Kennan" handheld, which was co-designed with Asus, and to focus more on software optimization.

As Windows Central reports, "Microsoft has decided to prioritize its teams to improve Windows 11 gaming performance, specifically for devices like the ASUS partner, 'Project Kennan.'"

It's possible that the threat from SteamOS, which on paper delivers better gaming performance than Windows 11 itself, has informed these decisions."

Now that Lenovo's Legion Go S with SteamOS is available, Microsoft has some serious OS competition for gaming handhelds. Valve's Linux-based operating system tends to be less resource-intensive than Windows 11, and thus offers better battery life and smoother performance.

Of course, SteamOS isn't the best solution for everyone. Some first-party launchers don't have Linux support or may not run correctly through Proton emulation. Workarounds exist for more major launchers, like the Epic Games Store or Ubisoft Connect.

And Valve is still updating the Steam library to make more games compatible with SteamOS. The SteamOS library currently features over 17,000 games, though most are single-player.

Kernel-level anti-cheat systems seem the most significant barrier to enabling popular multiplayer games on SteamOS.

Outside of the smaller multiplayer library, SteamOS is stable, is a low-hardware-lift OS, and it doesn't get hamstrung by Windows 11's terrible touchscreen controls on the desktop. This has made the Steam Deck (and potentially now the Legion Go S with SteamOS) a more attractive gaming handheld than its Windows competitors.

Unless you're like me, and you've got an MMO you just can't put down, SteamOS is a solid solution.

However, if Microsoft optimizes Windows 11 for gaming handhelds, that could remove at least a few OS-based pain points for Windows-based gaming handhelds.

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Microsoft won't advertise it, and you're highly unlikely to stumble across it by accident, but there's a version of Windows 10 that drops the ads, the AI, and will be officially supported for years to come — long after most are forced to upgrade to Windows 11.

For those unaware, Windows 10 is due to be retired by Microsoft on October 14, 2025. Beyond this date, the operating system will lose access to any technical support, future feature drops, and vital security updates.

While your computer will run as normal, and you don't actually need to leave Windows 10 behind, any potential system vulnerabilities discovered after the end-of-support date will remain exploitable forevermore. It'll be open season on your data, hardware, and privacy, and your copy of Windows will be about as secure as a piñata at a party packed with sugar-lusting Little Leaguers.

Microsoft's ideal solution is for Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11. Those whose devices don't meet the operating system's minimum specs can alternatively opt into the company's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which offers regular consumers an extra year of security updates for $30.

However, there's one group of Windows 10 users this doesn't apply to. In fact, those running this particular version of Windows 10 might be among the happiest of all. At a glance, it appears to be the operating system that dreams are made of.

• A near-stock version of Windows 10, without the ads or bloat.
• No Copilot, no AI, not even Cortana.
• And up to seven more years of official security updates, ending in 2032.

This version of Windows 10 sounds like the one many have been wishing for, but in true monkey's paw fashion, the real cost of that wish isn't immediately clear.

Getting it isn't easy. Running it comes with its own consequences. And using it means stepping into a sealed room where time stopped ticking in 2021 — for better or worse.

I'm talking, of course, about Windows 10 21H2 LTSC.

What is Windows 10 LTSC?

Windows 10 LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) is a special, stripped-down version of Windows 10 designed primarily for embedded systems that don't need the usual array of features found in the typical desktop experience.

Think hospital equipment, factory machines, ATMs, and even those touchscreen kiosks at McDonald's. LTSC versions of Windows 10 are typically installed on machines that serve a single purpose and can't afford any software surprises that might throw a sudden wrench in the works.

To that end, Windows 10 LTSC doesn't receive any feature updates or flashy redesigns — just a quiet stream of security and stability fixes.

It's the version of Windows 10 Microsoft never wanted you to use, and, even though it's entirely capable, it was never designed to run your laptop or desktop machine. Still, that doesn't mean you can't do it anyway.

Windows 10 LTSC: The price of "perfection"

Windows 10 LTSC offers a streamlined experience that many users might find deeply appealing. No ads, no Microsoft Store, and no Copilot in sight.

It's a pure, undiluted shot of Windows 10 — a snapshot of the operating system before Microsoft began meddling with how users liked it.

Factor in the platform's extended support, running until January 12, 2027 for the 2021 LTSC release; and up to January 13, 2032 for the 2021 IoT Enterprise LTSC, and you've got a shimmering beacon of hope for those seeking a secure way to continue using Windows 10 long after its mainstream October 14 end-of-support date.

But not all that glitters is gold.

The first hurdle? You'll need to get your hands on it. LTSC editions aren't available through standard retail channels like Home and Pro editions. They typically require a volume licensing agreement with a minimum purchase of five licenses, which can push the price of switching through the roof.

That said, ISOs are readily available online, and OEM keys for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC can be found through grey market retailers, completely cutting out the middleman at a fraction of the price (albeit with the usual risks).

Compatibility is another looming issue. While versions of Windows 10 LTSC have years of official support ahead of them, Windows 10 is still approaching its mainstream end-of-support date, and support for the regular Windows 10 21H2 edition ended years ago, meaning certain software or drivers may drop support for the operating system in future updates, leaving your longer-lasting operating system to slowly decay through digital attrition.

Windows 10 LTSC: Is it worth it?

On paper, Windows 10 LTSC is everything users could ask for. It's a safe haven to continue using their favored operating system with peace of mind, a bloat-free experience that does away with all but the basics, and a restore point positioned right before Microsoft dove into AI with both feet first and never looked back.

But it's also a version of Windows you were never really supposed to have, perhaps for a reason.

Yes, you can use it. But it comes with caveats: a frozen feature set, a licensing process that can range from ludicrously expensive to ethically murky, and the knowledge that while Microsoft is obliged to support the platform with updates for several years, third-party developers aren't. Compatibility headaches could lie further down the road.

Still, for aging hardware that doesn't fit the Windows 11 mould, securing a Windows 10 LTSC key could be the difference between longer life and landfill.

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Microsoft just launched a new tool that makes it easier and safer to upgrade your Windows 10 laptop to Windows 11, but will it be enough to get reluctant users to finally say goodbye to Windows 10 ahead of its October 14 end-of-support deadline?

While there are some hardware hurdles for regular Windows 10 users to clear as they prepare to upgrade, the switch isn't so easy for business and enterprise users who need to consider vital security and data backups before changing their OS.

Microsoft is finally addressing this issue through a new tool designed to make it easier and more secure for businesses to switch to Windows 11: Windows Backup.

The question is, will it be enough to finally win over business users reluctant to bid Windows 10 farewell, or even win over users considering leaving Windows altogether?

See also: Best laptop deals in May 2025

Microsoft launches Windows Backup for Organizations

On Tuesday, Microsoft launched Windows Backup for Organizations, a tool that allows organizations to easily and securely back up and restore their Windows settings.

That can come in handy in situations where an employee needs a new work laptop or, in this case, where a business wants to switch to Windows 11 without losing all of the settings they have established on Windows 10.

Switching from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is fairly straightforward for individual users, especially if your laptop already qualifies for the free upgrade. It's not as simple for businesses, though, partly due to the sheer scale of upgrading dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of laptops.

Windows Backup for Organizations can help mitigate that issue by giving organizations a way to quickly configure Windows 11 without needing to manually tinker with every device.

Will that added convenience be enough to get reluctant users to finally make the switch to Windows 11? It's a high bar to clear. Surveys show that as of April 2025, 52.9% of Windows users are still on Windows 10. Windows 11 is close behind at 43.7%, after steadily gaining on Windows 10 over the past several months.

Microsoft effectively needs to get about half of its entire userbase to upgrade to Windows 11 by October, or at the very least sell those who remain on subscribing to the company's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program.

Windows Backup might not be enough to get all of those people to switch, but it will be a big help to business users looking for a simpler solution.

Switching to Windows 11 is easier now, but it's not your only option

While Windows Backup for Organizations is only available to businesses, there's another version of it that individual users can similarly take advantage of when switching to Windows 11.

We strongly suggest you take the time to backup your data before swapping operating systems, but keep in mind that Windows 11 isn't your only option.

If you're reluctant to switch to Windows 11, it may be worth considering Linux as an alternative. It's not necessarily an option for everyone (Linux probably isn't a good fit for business users, for instance), but it can be a great alternative to Windows for certain people.

I've been using Linux on my main PC for months now with little to no issues. I can customize it to make it look and feel however I want (including just like Windows 10, or even macOS), and most versions of Linux are free and open-source. I've even had a good experience gaming on Linux, including with modern AAA games.

Linux can be an especially good option if you have an older Windows 10 laptop that isn't eligible for Windows 11. I revived an 8-year-old HP laptop by installing Fedora Linux on it and not only got it up and running again, but more than doubled the battery life. So, it might be worth it to consider Linux before making the leap to Windows 11 — it might just save your laptop from the landfill.

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You might want to think twice before installing Windows 11 on your gaming PC. You could be sacrificing a huge dip in performance, and we finally have proof.

The SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go S debuted over the weekend, and according to tests performed by gaming YouTuber Dave2D, the Legion Go S running on SteamOS trounces in the Windows model in one of the most important areas for a handheld.

The results might just convince you it's time to finally ditch Windows 11. Here's what we know.

On Sunday, Dave2D posted a comparison video showing his side-by-side test results for two Legion Go S handhelds with the same hardware but different operating systems.

The results show a clear and significant lead for the SteamOS version, especially when it comes to battery life. The video title sums up Dave2D's assessment: "Windows was the problem all along."

A tale of two operating systems

Earlier this year, Lenovo unveiled the Legion Go S, its latest handheld gaming PC and the first handheld that can run on either Windows or SteamOS. The Windows version came out earlier this year but severely under-performed in our testing. Our Legion Go S (Windows) review ultimately found that it "fumbles the one thing it needed to get right."

SteamOS, Valve's in-house version of Linux, was previously only available on the Steam Deck, which is consistently ranked among the best handheld gaming PCs, often topping the list. But is that because it's a uniquely good gaming device, or could it be because it does not run Windows?

Laptop Mag will soon put the new SteamOS version of the Legion Go S through the same rigorous proprietary lab tests we did for the Windows model, and we'll compare the two side by side.

Where SteamOS beats Windows

The SteamOS handhelds have over two times more battery life than the Windows 11 version of the Legion Go S, according to Dave2D's testing. Keep in mind, both Legion Go S handhelds in this test have the same hardware from the same manufacturer.

The only difference to account for that huge performance difference is the Linux-based operating system on the SteamOS version.

With fewer background and telemetry processes, Linux can use the Legion Go S's hardware much more efficiently, consuming less battery life and achieving higher FPS.

That's especially impressive considering most games have to run through Steam's Proton compatibility layer, which allows Windows games to run on Linux. You'd think that would hurt performance, but Proton works shockingly well in most games (you can even check the Proton database to see how your favorite Windows games run on Linux).

It's not just gaming handhelds, either. Another YouTuber noticed similar performance gains when switching a gaming laptop from Windows to Linux. I've even seen this myself. I switched an aging laptop to Fedora Linux earlier this year and instantly got 2-3 times longer battery life compared to when the same laptop was running on Windows 10.

There's one weakness still holding back SteamOS

I love gaming on Linux, but it's not perfect. SteamOS can clearly deliver some impressive performance gains, but there's still one big weakness holding it back from being the new must-have OS for PC gaming: anti-cheat systems.

If you like games like Fortnite or Apex Legends, you won't be able to take advantage of the performance boost you'd get on SteamOS because most games that require kernel-level anti-cheat aren't supported on any version of Linux, not even with Valve's Proton compatibility layer.

There are some exceptions. For instance, I've been playing Marvel Rivals on Fedora Linux for months now and very rarely have I run into any issues.

However, as long as the majority of popular competitive multiplayer games require kernel-level anti-cheat that isn't compatible with SteamOS or Linux in general, many gamers will remain locked into Windows.

Hopefully those compatibility problems decrease, because gamers could be missing out on huge performance gains that result from switching to Linux.

We'll have more data on this soon once we complete our in-depth lab tests for the SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go S, so stay tuned for more updates and our full review.

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Microsoft’s never been the best at rolling out feature-complete software right out of the gate. But every now and then, the Redmond-based giant makes up for it by getting something exactly right, even if you still wonder what took so long.

On Thursday, the company announced that it's baking a color picker into the Snipping Tool on Windows 11, and it’s the perfect example of a minor but long-overdue addition.

Windows 11’s Snipping Tool finally gets a built-in color picker

As announced on the Windows Insider Blog, Microsoft is adding a built-in color picker to the Snipping Tool, version 11.2504.38.0. The feature does exactly what you’d expect it to: letting you quickly figure out exact color values from anywhere on your screen.

The way it works is ridiculously simple. To use it, you’ll need to invoke the Snipping Tool like you usually do — either by clicking the “Start” button and searching for the Snipping Tool app, or by pressing the Windows logo key, Shift, and the S key simultaneously.

You’ll then find a new Color picker option, denoted by a pencil icon on the toolbar (according to Windows Latest). All you need to do is hover the dropper over any part of your screen, and the tool has a dropdown that instantly shows the color code in three formats: HEX, RGB, and HSL.

If you’re into design work, you likely know the difference between the three. But if not:

• HEX is a six-digit code (like #8F00FF) commonly used in web design to represent colors.
• RGB shows the amount of red, green, and blue in a color, formatted like rgb(143, 0, 255).
• HSL stands for Hue, Saturation, and Lightness. It’s especially useful if you want to fine-tune how vibrant or bright a color appears. For example, violet: h: 274°, s: 100%, l: 50%.

This saves you the manual effort of needing to use a third-party tool to convert the color code from one format to another. In case you need more precision, you can also press Ctrl and +/- to zoom in or out.

The best part about the feature, though, is that you don’t need to take a screenshot just to find out the color code. So if you’re someone who needs to figure out colors often, you won’t have to worry about your PC overflowing with unnecessary screenshots.

Before switching to Mac, there were multiple times I needed to figure out the color code from an image or somewhere on my screen, often for my school projects. What I always had to do back then was take a screenshot and then use a third-party tool like RedKetchup or Color Picker online. Since Macs have a similar built-in utility called Digital Color Meter, I haven’t felt the need to use those online sites anymore.

So, I’m thrilled that Microsoft’s finally integrating this basic functionality right within the Snipping Tool.

Perfect screenshots are now just a Ctrl key away too

The Snipping Tool is also getting a new AI-powered feature for Copilot+ PCs, called Perfect screenshot. This feature can intelligently resize a screenshot you’re attempting to take based on the content in your selection.

This means you won't need to manually edit a screenshot after capturing it. It also saves you the hassle of trying to get everything just right in a screenshot before hitting the capture button.

All you’ll need to do is open the Snipping Tool, select the Perfect screenshot feature, and choose the region of your screen you’d like to capture.

The best part about this feature is that you don’t necessarily need to pick the option from the toolbar. Instead, you can simply hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard once you’ve invoked the Snipping Tool and selected the screenshot region.

Both of these new Snipping Tool features are currently in testing for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels on Windows 11. They’re rolling out gradually, so even if you’re part of the program, you might not see them right away. For everyone else, they’ll likely show up once Microsoft pushes them to the release branch. So you’ll need to wait a little longer.

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Microsoft Recall is going to have trouble recalling images of private messages sent through Signal after it announced its desktop app will block the AI screenshotting feature.

Microsoft Recall has had a rocky road on its path to a wider release, facing a slew of delays, major security concerns, and overwhelming skepticism from consumers and cybersecurity experts. In fact, the renowned antivirus maker Kaspersky had previously called the tool "dangerous" in a June 2024 blog.

Recall is one of several new AI features coming to Windows 11 and aims to help you "recall" things you've done on your laptop or PC by analyzing a treasure trove of screenshots of your activity.

It's also a feature that Kaspersky Cyber Security experts referred to as "dangerous," in a

The current preview version of Recall, which rolled out in April, is an opt-in feature, meaning it's not turned on by default. Even if you have it turned off, though, it's natural that some will still be concerned about their most private content being captured by an AI.

That's not a problem anymore on at least one app: the Signal private messaging app. It may be the first of many apps to announce a feature that will block Recall screenshots. Here's what Windows 11 users should know.

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"Signal is ready": Private messaging app blocks Microsoft Recall screenshots

On Wednesday, Signal announced in a blog post that its desktop app now includes a "Screen security" feature designed to block Microsoft Recall screenshots. The feature is turned on by default for Windows 11 Signal users.

Signal left no doubt about what motivated it to add this feature, clearly stating, "The purpose of this setting is to protect your Signal messages from Microsoft Recall."

The blog post goes on to explain: "Although Microsoft made several adjustments over the past twelve months in response to critical feedback, the revamped version of Recall still places any content that’s displayed within privacy-preserving apps like Signal at risk.

"As a result, we are enabling an extra layer of protection by default on Windows 11 in order to help maintain the security of Signal Desktop on that platform even though it introduces some usability trade-offs."

"Microsoft has simply given us no other option."

With Signal's new "Screen security" feature turned on, content from the Signal app won't show up in any screenshot tool, including Microsoft Recall.

Signal now uses the same Digital Rights Management (DRM) functionality that prevents you from taking screenshots of content from sites like Netflix or Hulu. Any attempt to do so shows only a blank black screen.

There are a number of reasons you might not want private or personal conversations recorded, and this feature ensures that you don't have to worry about that on Signal, even on its Windows 11 app. Signal likely won't be the only app developer to roll out a feature to block Recall, either.

How to block Microsoft Recall on your Windows 11 laptop

If you're worried about Microsoft Recall posing a threat to your privacy, you're not alone. Even if you're using your laptop for casual web browsing or schoolwork, you may find it uncomfortable that an AI could be snapping photos of your screen in 7-second intervals.

Luckily, if you want the peace of mind of having Recall turned off, it's pretty easy.

First, if you're on Windows 10, you have nothing to worry about right now. Recall is only available on Windows 11. It's also currently an opt-in feature, so if you didn't manually turn it on, it should be turned off by default.

If you're not sure if you have Recall turned on or not, head over to the Settings app and navigate to the "Privacy and security" tab.

Here, you should see a section called "Recall and snapshots." (If you don't have this section in your security settings, it probably means your Windows 11 PC doesn't have Recall yet.)

Select "Recall and snapshots" and turn off "Save snapshots." If this option was turned on, it's a good idea to also select "Delete snapshots" and "Delete all" to remove any existing screenshots Recall has captured.

Those steps should ensure Recall is disabled on your device, but you may want to keep an eye out for any pesky pop-ups trying to get you to turn Recall on again.

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Cross-device functionality has not traditionally been Microsoft’s strongest suit, especially compared to Apple.

Though the Redmond-based giant has consistently worked to catch up over the years, it’s yet to match all of macOS’s features. For instance, Microsoft still doesn’t have a true AirDrop equivalent!

However, the company just took a step closer to closing the gap in cross-device functionality by previewing a feature inspired by Apple’s Handoff during this week's Microsoft Build 2025.

The funny (and slightly suspicious) part? They’re now acting like it never happened.

Windows is currently working on its own take on Apple’s Handoff

Microsoft held a “Create Seamless Cross-Device Experiences with Windows for your app” session during its Build event. In the session, Microsoft’s senior product manager, Aakash Varshney, reviewed the company’s plans to launch new features this upcoming year to make Windows more seamless across multiple devices.

He demoed a new feature currently in the works, titled “Cross-Device Resume,” which, as the name suggests, will allow users to pick up tasks or apps right where they left off on a different device.

In the demo, Aakash used Spotify as an example to show how the feature works.

He explained that when he opened the Spotify app on his mobile device, the Spotify icon on his Windows PC’s taskbar displayed a subtle badge, indicating that the app was active on another device.

Upon hovering over the app’s icon, a message, “Resume, recently opened on your mobile device,” showed that the app had been opened recently on his phone. It also allowed him to pick up on his Windows PC from where he left off.

Once he clicked the app’s icon, Spotify launched, and he was back in the same song.

He explained that this saved him the hassle of searching for the song he was just listening to. A single click was all it took to get going. If you haven’t used a Mac before, what Aakash described is essentially the same thing as Apple’s Handoff feature.

Handoff also allows you to begin something on one device and resume it on another nearby device. Apple’s native apps, such as Safari, Messages, Notes, and FaceTime, and third-party apps, like Spotify and WhatsApp, all support Handoff.

When you open an app that works with Handoff on your iPhone or iPad, the app’s Handoff icon appears on your Mac’s Dock.

It’s the regular app icon, just with a gray circle and a tiny phone/tablet hovering in the upper right. Once you click the icon, you can pick up where you left off.

Microsoft quietly removed the demo, but not without people noticing

However, as reported by Windows Central, Microsoft ended up editing the demo out of the session.

A leaker known for digging through Microsoft builds and spotting unreleased features, @phantomofearth, managed to grab a screenshot of the demo before the video was edited (in a pre-recorded Build session) and posted it on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

While Microsoft is yet to comment on why the demo was edited out, it could very well be because the tech giant isn’t quite ready to show the feature publicly.

What’s weird is that they realized this after going through the hassle of demoing it in the first place. The most recent Build 26100.4188 (KB5058499) for Windows 11 24H2 seems to suggest a somewhat similar story.

The release notes include a Cross Device Resume feature that’s being rolled out gradually, but the description focuses on making it easier to work on OneDrive files across phones and Windows 11 PCs.

With the feature, if you view or edit a OneDrive file, such as a Word document, you’ll get a notification on your Windows 11 PC asking if you’d like to pick up where you left off. It doesn’t mention third-party support like Spotify, which the demo showcased.

So, it’s likely that Microsoft plans to roll out a more limited version of the feature first or that full third-party integration is still a work in progress.

Handoff is hands-down one of the best hidden macOS features, and it coming to Windows might finally be the cue I needed to make the switch.

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Imagine you're a Windows user and need to summarize a file or edit an image. You’d likely start by heading to File Explorer, navigating to the file you need, and then opening it. Let's say it's a task AI can handle quickly — you’d then launch your AI app of choice and manually prompt it to perform the action.

Microsoft believes that you shouldn’t waste this much time on such tasks, which is exactly why it announced AI shortcuts in File Explorer, called AI Actions, in its most recent Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4151 (KB5058486).

Here's the context around this update: Windows users have historically been opinionated about changes to core parts of the operating system. Seemingly innocuous updates have caused an uproar — and not without good reason. Whether or not Windows users revolt over this change to File Explorer remains to be seen. Will users revolt or rejoice? The answer may surface in the coming weeks as this new feature is used more and creates ripple effects across File Explorer and Windows as a whole.

Microsoft introduces AI actions in File Explorer with new update

Microsoft notes that AI actions in File Explorer are designed to help you “interact more deeply with your files.”

The idea behind them is simple — you locate a file, right-click it, and then choose the new AI actions entry in the context menu. Depending on the content of the file, you’ll be suggested appropriate actions.

For instance, the screenshot Microsoft shared shows the company demoing AI actions on an image file. Hovering over the AI actions entry in the context menu gave the following options: Visual Search with Bing, Blur background with Photos, Erase object with Photos, and Remove background with Paint.

Visual Search with Bing is essentially Microsoft’s branding of reverse search, and lets you search the web using an image. You can use the feature to find similar images and products, get website details, and identify famous people, landmarks, and plants. The other three are editing features you’ve likely used before.

Blur background uses the native Photos app to automatically detect the background in an image, highlight the subject, and blur everything else behind it. Remove background works similarly, but instead of blurring, it removes the background entirely and leaves just a cutout of the subject.

The erase object also uses the native Photos app, which automatically highlights any unwanted elements or distractions in your image. The AI action then uses the Generative Erase feature to remove them completely.

At the time of writing, these four image actions are the only ones Microsoft has announced. They support JPG, JPEG, and PNG files. However, the company plans to roll out new AI actions for Microsoft 365 files in the coming weeks.

This includes a Summarize action, which uses Copilot to generate summaries of documents without even opening them. You’ll be able to use the Summarize AI action on .docx, .doc, .pptx, .ppt, .xlsx, .xls, .rtf, .txt, and .loop files. A "Create an F.A.Q." AI action will allow you to convert a file into a question-and-answer list.

Summarize and Create an F.A.Q. AI actions will only be available to Microsoft 365 commercial subscribers with a Copilot license. Microsoft notes that consumer support with a Microsoft account is “coming later.” Keep in mind that AI actions are part of a gradual rollout. So, you might not see them immediately, even if you’re on the latest Insider Preview build.

AI actions don’t seem to ruin File Explorer unless you let them

When you control-click a file on Macs, a “Quick Actions” option appears in the context menu with options like Rotate Left, Markup, Create PDF, Convert Image, and Remove Background.

The only difference is it isn’t publicly marketed as AI (though it might be using it under the hood, who really knows?). Editing software like Adobe Express also offers similar quick actions, like removing backgrounds from images with a single click.

I believe AI actions in File Explorer would help save more time, especially for those who work with a huge list of files daily. It would've been a different story if Microsoft mandated the feature, but since you can simply ignore AI actions if you don’t want to use them, it feels more like a helpful option than an intrusive change.

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Microsoft will hold its annual Microsoft Build 2025 event starting on Monday. This is when the Windows maker shows what it's working on, which comes during a busy period for tech companies.

A day after Microsoft Build 2025 starts, Google will put on its Google I/O show and the big tech expo, Computex.

This year's Microsoft Build is expected to be all about AI. Copilot has been a feature the company has been pushing hard in 2025, and it doesn't look like it plans to slow down talking about AI.

How can I watch Microsoft Build 2025?

Microsoft Build 2025 starts on May 19 at 12 p.m. ET with a two-hour keynote featuring CEO Satya Nadella and other company leaders discussing the latest features and services Microsoft is developing. Other events will focus on everything Microsoft is developing.

A livestream of the event will be available on Microsoft's YouTube channel.

Here are some of the things to expect at Microsoft Build 2025.

Copilot

If there's going to be a star of the show, it'll be Copilot. Microsoft is not slowing down in making Copilot the AI model Windows users should be using. Expect to see a few new features finally roll out after being in preview for the past several months.

Copilot semantic search in Settings, File Explorer, and the main Windows Search will likely be demoed during the show, along with other features that have been shown in previous events.

Windows 11

It wouldn't be a proper Microsoft show without discussing Windows. Now, the question is whether there will be a lot of talk about Windows 11.

Arguably, the most significant and most controversial feature for the operating system, Recall, has already debuted on Copilot+ PCs. Expect some talk about the feature, maybe it's improving a bit more, or simply becoming more widely available.

As for other Windows 11 features, it's hard to find other big changes needed for the operating system. Microsoft could show off some major innovation that it has kept quiet for some time, but the most likely situation is that there will be some optimizations and a few small features coming to Windows 11.

Copilot Agents

In April, Microsoft held a Copilot event to show off the Copilot's AI companions. These avatars act as your personal AI agent while using Copilot and can come in different forms. One popular option was the Clippy companion.

It's like Microsoft will reveal some more features for the companions at Microsoft Build, along with a few more character options for your AI friend.

A new AI?

Copilot is now Microsoft's big focal point, and OpenAI's ChatGPT powers it. While the Windows maker owns a stake in OpenAI, it reportedly wants its own AI model. Microsoft's AI model is reportedly on par with some of the newer models of ChatGPT, but it's unknown if this new AI is ready for the spotlight. If it is, Microsoft Build 2025 would be the show to make its debut.

Azure

Microsoft Azure is the company's cloud platform and one of its biggest moneymakers. However, it's not the sexiest subject to discuss during an event, as it's mainly intended for businesses.

There will be some Azure talk, and how much will depend on what's new with Microsoft and AI. The cloud platform uses ChatGPT to run various services for clients, such as chatbots, customer support systems, and content generators. If Microsoft sticks with OpenAI, expect to hear some new features for Azure, but if a new AI model is revealed, a slew of changes could be coming to Azure.

New Xbox handheld?

While the next Xbox is still a ways off, Microsoft is working with Asus on a handheld. Nicknamed Project Kennan, the device isn't the next generation of Xbox. Instead, it's set to be a way for Microsoft to dip its toes into the handheld market by providing the Xbox UI for a handheld made by Asus.

Microsoft Build could be the show where we get the first glimpse of this new hardware. If not, expect it to be shown at the Xbox showcase on June 8.

Windows 12?

The least likely news item coming out of Microsoft Build is Windows 12. The company is currently struggling to get Windows 10 users to upgrade to 11, so it's unlikely there will be talk about it.

Unless Microsoft finds it needs a whole new operating system to fully use AI. Plenty of updates are coming to Copilot to make Windows 11 work seamlessly with AI, but maybe there are limitations to what can be done. Again, it's unlikely, and Windows 12 won't be teased until next year at the earliest.

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After nearly a year, Microsoft finally fixed a Windows 11 bug from last August, making it easier than ever to try Linux.

In its May 2025 patch, which also saw Recall return, Microsoft resolved a nine-month-old bug that made it difficult or impossible to dual-boot Windows 11 with another operating system, specifically Linux.

Now that the bug has been resolved, it's the perfect time to try Linux and maybe even leave behind Windows 11.

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Microsoft finally fixes Windows 11 dual-booting bug from August 2024

Last August, Microsoft released this Windows 11 patch that didn't exactly go as planned: It introduced a Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) setting that was intended to block old or unsafe bootloaders in Windows 11. (A bootloader is the program responsible for starting up your operating system when you turn on your PC.)

Unfortunately, this SBAT setting had the unintended side effect of breaking dual-boot setups, where users have two different operating systems running on the same PC and can freely swap between them.

The SBAT setting was not supposed to be applied to Windows 11 PCs with dual-boot setups, but the update failed to detect those setups on some devices.

As Microsoft explains in one of several updates on the patch, "On some devices, the dual-boot detection did not detect some customized methods of dual-booting and applied the SBAT value when it should not have been applied."

This error meant that dual-booting no longer worked for some users. Luckily, that's no longer the case.

As of May 2, the issue is officially resolved. Windows 11 version 24H2 cleared up the SBAT error at last, meaning you should now have no problems running a dual-boot Windows 11 system.

That's exactly why now is the perfect time to try dual-booting and see if Linux might be a better fit for you than Windows 11.

This bug fix is the perfect reason to try out Linux

I switched to Linux rather than jumping from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and haven't regretted my choice. The past few months, I've tried out a few different versions of Linux, known as "distributions." There are dozens of them, most of which are free and open-source.

Switching to Linux can give you more freedom to choose how your device runs and how your operating system looks and feels.

Most Linux distributions are also more private than Windows, making it a good choice if data privacy is a top priority for you.

Linux is also a more lightweight operating system than Windows, which means it can be a great way to revive an older laptop that's slowing down on Windows or can't run Windows 11 at all.

Dual-booting can be a great way to try out Linux since it doesn't require you to completely delete your Windows environment.

If you're new to Linux, I'd recommend starting with a beginner-friendly distribution like Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint.

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Microsoft's Windows operating system has a trail of mysteries that people are eager to see solved, and they're not limited to Google searches for Blue Screen of Death error codes, either.

From "Whatever happened to Windows 9?" to "How did we get an artificial intelligence, before decent Windows Search performance?" Everybody is looking to Microsoft for answers.

But according to one Microsoft employee manning the official Windows account on X, one question looms larger than most, humorously posting earlier this week: "It's always 'when is Windows 12 coming' and never 'how are you doing person who runs the Windows account."

Shockingly, this might count as the first official mention of Windows 12 by the Redmond-based company, even if it was only used to spice up a social media post.

When I saw it, I could only mutter "Don't do that." And not in a Hawkeye crying in the Tokyo rain, Marvel's Avengers Endgame, "Don't give me hope" way either.

I was happy when people weren't talking about Windows 12. Microsoft, especially. Nobody should be talking about Windows 12. That path only leads to disappointment. Here's why.

Holding out for a hero? Windows 12 isn't your savior

I've heard it time and time again from Windows 10 holdouts who refuse to upgrade to Windows 11, even as its October 14, 2025, end-of-support date rapidly approaches: "No thanks, I'll wait for Windows 12."

No doubt, those people are old enough to recognize a peculiar pattern. One where every other Windows release stumbles before being replaced by a supposedly superior alternative.

It all feels a little superstitious, but the evidence is undeniable: Windows 95, good. Windows 98, bad. Windows 98 SE, good. Windows ME, bad. Windows XP, good. Windows Vista, bad. Windows 7, good. Windows 8, bad. Windows 10, good. Windows 11, kill it with fire.

Logically, the next major milestone release, presumably Windows 12, is destined for greatness — except it isn't. If you're unhappy with the direction of Windows 11, I can guarantee that if Windows 12 exists, and whenever it arrives, you'll be equally as unhappy still.

Be careful what you wish for

Thankfully, I won't, based on a single post by one bored social media manager, that this is some dog-whistle for the supposed future operating system's imminent arrival. There's been no official-official word of Windows 12 from anybody in a position of authority at Microsoft so far, and I hope it stays that way.

If Windows 12 arrives — and I do stress the if — it'll bring with it the kind of hardware requirements that make TPM 2.0 look as trivial as insisting a keyboard includes a spacebar.

Microsoft's multi-billion-dollar AI push all but guarantees that the next milestone Windows release will be designed for the Copilot+ PC experience, demanding hefty investments from users to adopt the latest NPU-equipped hardware.

Given the operating system's current heading, Windows 12 wouldn't simply lean on AI, it would practically collapse into it, leaving hundreds of thousands of Windows 10 users wishing they'd have been more careful about what they asked for as their previously dated hardware is left looking like it should be gathering dust on a museum shelf next to the Antikythera mechanism.

If you're not happy with Windows 11, the last thing you want to be doing is haranguing Microsoft to release Windows 12. In my opinion, not even playfully.

Let's keep Windows 12 well and truly out of the discourse, at least until Microsoft is finished with its experimental AI phase and starts setting its sights on fixing what has turned so many away from its current flagship operating system in the first place..

In the meantime, there's always Linux.

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For the second Tuesday of May 2025, Microsoft released updates for Windows 11 22H2, 23H2, and, of course, 24H2. The latter is getting all of the most exciting updates, which Microsoft is likely hoping will entice you to make the jump to it.

While the second Tuesday of the month isn't all that special for most companies, it marks Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday. As the name implies, Patch Tuesday is when the tech giant rolls out new patches for its software to fix bugs and address security vulnerabilities.

These patches also usually bring the previous month’s preview updates, which were limited to certain insider or optional channels, to the general public.

Though Microsoft has a bit of a habit of downplaying what’s actually exciting in these updates in its release notes and chooses to focus on the security fixes instead, this one seems to pack quite a punch, particularly for those using a Copilot+ PC.

• See also: Best AI laptops in 2025

Recall is back, but this time with more privacy controls

The 24H2 update, delivered through the KB5058411 patch, includes all the improvements from the KB5055627 patch that Microsoft released as a Preview build on April 25, 2025.

The KB5055627 patch heavily focuses on the AI-powered features Microsoft has been quietly refining for a while now, including one that turned into one of the biggest controversies of 2024: Recall. The feature is finally making a comeback… after it was, well, recalled (pun fully intended) last year due to a widespread privacy backlash.

Recall, announced at Microsoft's 2024 Build event, is designed to help you “recall” something by capturing snapshots of what you’re doing on your PC every few seconds. For example, imagine you decided to watch a few Instagram Reels on your PC during your lunch break and came across a hilarious meme you wanted to share with your best friend. Before you can send it or save it, Instagram randomly refreshes, and that meme is lost forever.

With the Recall feature, you could type something like “funny cat meme from Instagram,” and it would harness the AI capabilities of Copilot+ PCs to “retrieve both text and visual matches for your search.”

Microsoft also added more privacy controls to avoid controversy this time around, like the option to pick which apps and websites Recall can snapshot. You’ll also be able to pause or turn off the feature at any time.

Critically, Recall is also now an opt-in experience, and Windows will ask for your permission before saving snapshots. You must also enroll in Windows Hello to “confirm your presence so only you can access your screenshots.”

Recall isn’t the only AI feature that’s finally landing

Copilot+ PC users will also finally be able to use Click To Do, which can analyze what’s on your screen and perform tasks like finding an app that can best do the job for you. You can use this feature by hitting the Windows key and clicking with the mouse, or the Windows key and the Q key.

Microsoft demonstrates how this feature could be useful by giving an example of using Click To Do to select an image. The feature might display different options you can take, like using the Photos app to erase an object from the image or using Paint to remove the background.

Improved Windows Search is also finally landing on Copilot+ PCs, allowing you to search for something with a description rather than the exact terminology. For instance, if you want to change the theme of your PC, instead of typing in random words you think might match the setting name, a description like “change my theme” should suffice.

Other than the Settings app, Improved Windows Search will also work in File Explorer, Windows Search in the taskbar, and even the Photos app.

The May 2025 Windows 11 update also includes a new Speech Recap feature in Windows’s built-in screen reader, Narrator, which can track what the Narrator said while providing you with a live transcription. The update also makes it easier to control or access your phone from your PC by placing Phone Link right in the Start menu.

The security updates, compared to the new features, are relatively limited, so you don't need to rush to update to protect your PC.

There are also no known issues in the April 2025 update, though, like every Windows update, bugs can surface as users begin to install it and start reporting their experiences.

What's next

This update arrives just ahead of Microsoft Build 2025, which will be held from May 19 to 22 in Seattle, Washington.

Now that Microsoft has finally rolled out all of the features announced at Build 2024, we can expect a new collection to debut with a heavy focus on AI again.

We'll also be keeping an eye out for any additional details on end-of-support plans for Windows 10, as Microsoft recently walked back the end of Microsoft 365 support for Windows 10 users. That may not be the last concession for Windows 10 holdouts.

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Microsoft doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation for how users prefer to search. On the web, the company's Bing search engine limps its way through life with an estimated 3.89% market share (via StatCounter), dwarfed by Google's near-monopolistic 90% dominance.

And if you've ever dared to use the search bar in Windows 11, you'll know that it's hampered by slow performance, often irrelevant results, and occasionally the odd ad or two.

Windows Search was supposed to be the antidote to endless folder scouring, a quick and easy way of finding files, folders, or settings without trawling through drives and menus manually. But, like many Microsoft promises, Windows Search, in both Windows 10 and 11, often struggles to live up to expectations.

However, according to Microsoft's Vice President of App Store and Apps, Giorgio Sardo, change is on the horizon. Can we finally expect a revamped search experience in Windows that, at the very least, nails the basics?

Sadly, much like their search results, in this update, Windows users still haven't found what they're looking for.

Windows Search, or "I still haven't found, what you're looking for"

Microsoft's App Store VP took to X earlier in the week to tease a coming update to Windows Search that integrates the Microsoft Store — allowing users to "Quickly find and install apps right from your Start menu or Taskbar!"

Yes, instead of improving the way that Windows Search already works, by, say, tweaking performance and prioritizing local files and folders, users will now be met with a new layer of recommended apps to wade through as they meticulously pick through their search results.

Many aren't reacting warmly to the news — with one user quipping that Windows is "The only OS with a search feature that finds everything but the files you actually need," while others call for ways to disable the feature before it even officially rolls out.

That said, judgment on the feature isn't entirely unanimous. Some users have highlighted its usefulness in quickly finding available apps without needing to open the sometimes painfully slow Microsoft Store directly.

Still, this change seemingly doesn't blend all that well with Windows Search's primary use case. While it might make it that much easier for you to quickly install the TikTok app in a snap, it does nothing to help users track down that spreadsheet they created last week or locate last year's holiday snaps.

What's next

As of yet, there's no official word on when we can expect this feature to go live, with Microsoft's Sardo simply suggesting that it's "coming soon."

Initial reactions to the announcement skew heavily towards the negative, but that's unlikely to change Microsoft's course. It'll just be another potential low-level annoyance chipping away at the patience of Windows users, no different than a percentage of the changes made in any update prior.

For a company quick to champion its platform's efficiency and productivity, Microsoft's habit of slipping in distractions like this and ads in strange places can, at times, feel like it's flying in the face of itself.

There are many issues with Windows Search, and this update won't resolve them. At best, the new Windows Search experience will help users find only one thing: what they don't have, and likely weren't looking for.

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In news unlikely to surprise anybody, Windows 10 is rapidly approaching its October 14 expiration date. That doesn't mean you'll be waking up on October 15 to a computer that no longer functions, but it does mean you'll miss out on Microsoft's technical support, feature updates, and security patches.

You can probably make do with the former, but the latter will leave you, your data, your hardware, and your system integrity completely exposed to every ne'er-do-well netizen with a willingness to exploit legacy machines (of which, there are a lot).

The official solution? Upgrade to Windows 11, obviously. And if your hardware doesn't meet Windows 11's stricter requirements? According to Microsoft, it's time to scrap your hardware and invest in one of the best laptops that comes pre-installed with Windows 11, instead.

However, the official path isn't the only path, and a new project called End of 10 is offering a different solution — one that doesn't involve tossing out your perfectly good hardware, surrendering to Windows 11's centrally-aligned, ad-laced Start Menu, or being constantly harangued about the spiritual benefits of owning a Microsoft Account.

In fact, it doesn't involve Windows at all. It's guiding people towards a different platform entirely: Linux.

The "End of 10" but a fresh, Linux-based start for your brand-new, old computer

Yes, I'm well aware that suggesting Windows 10 users migrate to Linux may sound a bit like suggesting you start living in a van, under a bridge, and down by the river. It's free, it's liberating, but you might need to write a Bash script every time you want to start the engine.

At least, that's how Linux used to be seen.

Modern Linux is a different beast entirely, and it's perhaps in its most accessible state ever. That said, with only a 4% share of the desktop OS market (as per StatCounter estimates), Linux may rival Apple's macOS in terms of popularity, but it's vastly overshadowed by Windows' presence as the "standard" operating system.

Still, it's often that 4% who are the most vocal about their operating system of choice. They may be just as evangelical as your local Mormons, but they also have good reason to be. Even I, a lifelong Windows user, have been enjoying dabbling in Linux thanks to Valve's Steam Deck and its Arch Linux-based SteamOS platform.

Gaming with Proton? Surprisingly excellent. General computing? Seamless.

End of 10 seeks to promote Linux adoption, not by challenging Windows 11 with any particular distro, but instead by educating users with a mix of online or in-person guidance on how to make the switch with confidence.

It's less about the cold suggestion to "download this ISO" and more "let's walk you through it."

If you've ever debated giving Linux a shot, but have been scared off by its "experts only" reputation, End of 10's global network of repair cafes, independent shops, organizations, and Linux-familiar groups, could have you up and running on a fresh install in no time at all — breathing new life into older hardware, and letting you enjoy a brand-new, old computer.

What's next

Let's be fair. Windows 11 isn't terrible. It's (relatively) stable, secure, and very much the definition of a modern operating system with its growing AI-backed feature set. Most of what works in Windows 10 carries over to Windows 11 pretty smoothly.

For every problematic switching to Windows 11 story you come across, there are probably a dozen or more silently satisfied upgraders now residing on Microsoft's flagship operating system.

But when it comes to hardware requirements, there are a lot of computer owners who don't even have the opportunity to give it a chance, even if they wanted to.

End of 10 isn't just about keeping older hardware out of landfills, it's a project that reminds people that, in the shadow of Windows' dominance, they still have a choice.

Linux isn't perfect, either. It has its quirks, and it's not going to be suited for every workflow, especially if you rely on currently unsupported programs like Adobe's suite of tools, for example.

However, for those with aging hardware, those who don't want to be forced onto Windows 11, or those who've already made the jump and are regretting it, Linux stands as a more than viable alternative in 2025.

While I can say that Windows 11 probably isn't the horror show that it's made out to be, I can also admit that it didn't get off to the best of starts, and its AI-focused future isn't appealing to everybody.

Windows 11 is probably in its best shape to date, but the one thing Microsoft still can't patch out of its operating system is the stigma.

Maybe the End of 10 can be the start of something new for you.

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Microsoft is bringing even more new AI features to your Windows 11 laptop, this time with a tool that might save you a lot of aggravation.

Windows 11 users will soon be getting a new "AI agents" feature that will let you use natural language to change your system settings with AI. This feature could be helpful for making Windows 11 PCs more accessible — assuming you trust Microsoft's AI to control your system settings.

Here's a look at when you'll get access to Microsoft's new AI settings agent and what you should consider before using it.

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Microsoft announces feature that can control system settings with AI

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced in a blog post that it will soon be launching a new "AI agents" feature that will allow Windows 11 users to use natural language to adjust their settings with the help of AI.

As Microsoft explains, "With this update to Settings, you will be able to simply describe what you need help with like, 'how to control my PC by voice' or 'my mouse pointer is too small' and the agent will recommend the right steps you can take to address the issue."

You will even be able to grant the AI permission to make the changes for you if you want. The feature will use on-device AI, meaning it will not rely on transmitting data to the cloud, so any data about your system settings will stay on your device.

The feature will be rolling out this week for Windows Insiders members with Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs . It will be available later for Windows Insiders with Intel and AMD-powered PCs, although Microsoft has not specified a date yet.

Should you use Microsoft's settings AI on your Windows 11 laptop?

I always try to look at new AI features and tools with a healthy dose of skepticism since using AI can often come at the cost of your data privacy. Privacy concerns motivated the wave of backlash around Microsoft's Recall AI feature last year that has faced delays ever since.

With that said, this week's new AI agents feature isn't quite as concerning. This feature could legitimately be a game changer for a lot of people, helping to improve accessibility. That's especially true for people who are new to using Windows 11 or just aren't familiar with all the inner workings of their settings.

You might know exactly what you want to change about your PC, but just unsure where to find the right setting to adjust. The option to simply explain what you're looking for and allow an AI to make the right changes could save everyone time and trouble, assuming the feature works as advertised.

Of course, like with any AI tool, you should still take privacy into account. The risks for this feature look relatively low, at least on paper, since it uses on-device AI and only runs when you specifically request it to.

As Microsoft's blog post states, "With your permission and at your initiation, [AI agents] can even complete the actions to change your settings on your behalf."

While that could be great for tweaking basic settings, I'd still caution users against using AI to change more system-critical settings. For instance, it's probably not a good idea to let Microsoft's AI try to update your graphics drivers for you. Until it's clear that this AI feature is capable of consistently, accurately acting on requested settings changes, it's probably best to only use it with basic settings like mouse pointer size or display brightness.

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For Windows 11 users, it's time to update, whether you want to or not.

Microsoft announced on Friday on its Windows 11 update blog that "Windows 11, version 24H2," will not be optional, using the term "rollout" for the update. For everyone less-than-pleased with Windows 11 updates, this news may cause some annoyance. This auto-update applies to Windows 11 Home and Professional editions.

However annoying the news might be, the rollout of this Windows 11 update, which includes all previous updates if you’ve not been updating, comes just a few months before Windows 11 25H2 debuts, which should occur in September or October of this year. (Windows 11 24H2 first debuted in October 2024.)

This sort of forced update isn’t new; it’s just the annual “final” feature update, minus the monthly security updates. The number – “24” – is for this year, and the H2 means “second half” because the annual feature updates are debuted in the second half of the calendar year.

To see if your Windows machine can download this update, go to Settings > Windows Update and select Check for updates.

Windows Latest, the first outlet to report this news, also notes there is a measure of control over this update, though: “The Windows 11 2024 Update is offered immediately when you check for updates, but it will not download unless you click ‘Download and install.’”

With this update, Microsoft states that users can “choose the time to restart your device or postpone the update.” But you cannot cancel this update.

As our colleagues at Tech Radar observe: “In short, it’s time to get ready for version 24H2 on your Windows 11 PC before too long – which might be a worry for some folks given the amount of bugs and complaints of all sorts of oddities that have been associated with this particular feature upgrade. Microsoft must be confident enough that it’s been hammered into better shape at this point, though, to open the 24H2 update to this broad general deployment.”

If you haven’t updated to Windows 24H2 yet — say you’re still running 23H2, 22H2, or 21H2 — you will also receive the update automatically. The only caveat is if your company’s IT department manages your Windows machine.

There is a way to stop the download once it has begun — Windows Latest helpfully offers a step-by-step guide — but that might only be delaying the inevitable.

If you’re still on Windows 10, none of this news may matter much to you. However, the days of Windows 10 are numbered, as well: Support for the OS from Microsoft ends on October 14.

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Maybe not precisely on October 14, 2025, but at some point soon, Windows 10 will become a security risk.

That date is when Microsoft will stop supporting the operating system, and it will not patch any new vulnerabilities. If you’re still using Windows 10 at work, your IT department will most likely not allow you to use the OS any longer.

All of this will hasten the death of Windows 10, which has been slowly dying since Windows 11 debuted in October 2021.

The death of Windows 10 has been slow because, as Laptop Mag has reported often over the years, Windows 10 users are raging against the dying of the light.

There are myriad reasons for keeping Windows 10 instead of Windows 11, and in the words of Laptop Reviews Editor Rami Tabari, “You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t displeased with Windows 11 in some shape or form.”

But with each new update, Windows 11 gets better and better, and the data shows that more people are making the switch. StatCounter, a site that tracks various data, showed that in April 2024, Windows 10 usage accounted for 70% of Windows users. A year later, it accounted for just 54% of Windows users.

And this week, Microsoft revealed a statistic that demonstrates just how bold the change to Windows 11 has been in the past year.

“We continue to see increased commercial traction as we approach end of support for Windows 10. Windows 11 commercial deployments increased nearly 75% year over year,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tuesday. ("Commercial deployment" is finance-speak for "units sold and switched on," essentially.)

The comments came during Nadella’s remarks to investment analysts after Microsoft released its earnings report for the third quarter of its 2025 fiscal year.

While Windows is top of mind for many PC users, as a revenue earner for Microsoft, it's pretty small. In the 2024 fiscal year, Windows revenue made up just 9% of the company's $245 billion.

The growth of Windows 11 has been steady since its launch in October 2021. In its 2023 annual financial report, released in July 2023, Microsoft noted that the number of devices running Windows 11 had doubled in the previous year.

Wait — what does Copilot think about Windows 10?

If you ask Copilot, Microsoft’s generative AI app that comes included with many Windows 11-enabled laptops, why Windows 10 hangs on for so many so close to its end-of-support date, the reasons are apparent.

For one, if you have an older computer, it may not run as efficiently or at all with the Windows 11 operating system.

Other, more OS-focused reasons – such as quibbles about the Start menu and control over system updates – keep people on Windows 10.

What's next for Windows 11?

If you haven't upgraded or it’s your first time with Windows, know that it's free to upgrade to Windows 11 if you have Windows 10. However, there's a non-monetary cost: it will require more of your RAM and memory.

Your system requirements, if not up to spec, will put a choice in your hands: stick with Windows 10 and risk a security vulnerability, or buy a new laptop.

Windows 11 rolls out updates to features in the second half of every calendar year and monthly security updates.

Each new update includes information from all previous updates. Microsoft released the most recent security update on April 25, and, as the name suggests, the 24H2 version of Windows 11 was released in the second half of 2024, specifically in October 2024.

The Windows 11 25H2 release window is rumored to be between September and October. As reported by Windows Central, Microsoft started testing 26200 series builds in March, a precursor to 25H2, with developers.

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Microsoft will stop supporting the Windows 10 operating system on October 14, 2025, which will force the hand of many to update to Windows 11.

While Windows 11 debuted in October 2021, Windows 10 still claims the largest user base worldwide.

Research from StatCounter shows that 54% of Windows users were still running Windows 10 as of April 2025, down from nearly 70% a year earlier. While use of Windows 10 is decreasing, it's still massive on a global scale.

What does "stopping support" mean for Windows 10 users who don't want to upgrade, or cannot because their laptop won't support it, to Windows 11? At its most basic level, the end of support for Windows 10 means your laptop that runs Windows 10 will be more vulnerable to new security risks that Microsoft won't address.

Whether you're looking for the latest news about Windows 11, how to get the most out of Windows 10 before support ends in October, or original reporting and analysis, check back to this page regularly. Laptop Mag will have new reporting, original ideas, opinions, and essays leading up to and beyond the moment when Windows 10 support ends.

Last year at Microsoft's Build event, the company unveiled a new feature for its Microsoft Copilot+ PCs called Recall. This AI feature would automatically take snapshots of what you're doing on your computer to create an easily searchable timeline to find something like a browser tab from a month ago or an image you saved last week.

This feature, however, raised a lot of concerns regarding users' privacy, as the AI would technically be spying on everything you do on your computer. This led to Microsoft pausing the rollout of Recall to make some changes, including letting it be an opt-in feature for Windows 11 devices.

Almost a year later, Microsoft is finally rolling out the Recall feature to all Copilot+ PCs, according to a new Windows blog.

"Recall retrieves your digital memory, allowing you to retrace your steps in seconds to quickly and securely find and get back to an app, website, image or document," Microsoft wrote in the blog. "Simply scroll through your timeline or describe the content you remember. With Recall on Copilot+ PCs it can take up to 70% less time to find and reengage with your PowerPoint presentation – just use your own words, no digging required."

Microsoft did reiterate that Recall is an opt-in experience, and that there is a set of privacy controls to filter content and customize what is saved on the timeline. The company says there are also additional security features such as data encryption, the Windows Hello sign-in, and isolation in Recall to make sure a user's data is safe.

More new AI features for Windows.

Along with Recall, Microsoft also offered details on two other AI features for Copilot+ PCs.

Windows Search has been improved upon. Instead of having to provide the exact wording of what you're looking for, search will now understand what you're looking for based on more natural words or phrases you would use. An example would be doing a search by describing a picture based on what was in the actual picture instead of the filename of the picture.

There's also a new Click to Do feature that will integrate different Windows tools to cut down on the back and forth you would have to do. Using a prompt such as hitting the Windows button and clicking with the mouse, certain tools can be made available to you. Let's say you're on a website and there's an image you want to screenshot. Instead of having to open up the Snipping Tool, the Click to Do feature will do it for you.

Recall, the improved Windows Search and Click to Do will be available on Copilot+ PCs starting in April in the Windows non-security preview update. The features will then gradually roll out starting in May.

It came like a thief in the night, springing up in the system drives of Windows 11 users worldwide without warning or explanation. But now, Microsoft's mysterious "inetpub" folder risks veering from fix to flaw as its vulnerabilities are exposed.

The folder's sudden appearance caused a stir online as users noticed it for the first time. Thankfully, the curiously empty directory was traced to April's Windows 11 24H2 (KB5055523) update — and was believed by many to be little more than a harmless artifact left behind that could be safely removed.

However, it was anything but. Microsoft quickly followed up on suggestions that the folder could be deleted with a clear warning not to. Proving that appearances can be deceiving, the seemingly inert "inetpub" folder was actually intentionally positioned by Microsoft to tackle a Windows Update security vulnerability (CVE-2025-21204).

With the secret of Windows 11's mystery "inetpub" folder revealed, Windows users believed there was nothing left to worry about. Turns out, they were wrong.

Windows 11's "inetpub" folder: From mystery to menace?

In a recent blog post, cybersecurity expert (and self-confessed porg lover) Kevin Beaumont exposed how Microsoft's efforts to patch one Windows 11 exploit may have created another — potentially leaving millions of machines open to new attacks.

Microsoft's original patch was designed to block an exploit where limited-access users could use "symbolic links" to gain advanced control of a machine by piggybacking on Windows Update's elevated permissions.

Symbolic links redirect processes from one location to another, similar to how desktop shortcuts redirect to files in other directories. Windows 11's April security patch borrowed certain safeguards from Microsoft's Internet Information Services (which uses inetpub as its default directory) to block this behaviour (known as "link following").

Ironically, the patch designed to prevent link following exploits is also vulnerable to it, as Beaumont reveals that a simple junction script run through the Command Prompt, pointing C:\inetpub to notepad.exe, can reportedly introduce a new denial of service vulnerability that prevents Windows updates, leaving systems wide open to future threats.

The initial exploit Microsoft hoped to solve was primarily a local issue. However, Beaumont's research suggests that this type of meddling with the inetpub folder could leave users vulnerable to attackers from external sources if exploited.

What's next

Beaumont reportedly informed Microsoft of the issue two weeks prior to publishing his findings, and has yet to hear back from the company.

However, this kind of silent response isn't abnormal for Microsoft. Following reports of its AI chatbot Copilot handing out PowerShell scripts to illegally authenticate copies of Windows 11, Microsoft similarly played its cards close to its chest, quietly patching out the issue at a later date.

In the meantime, there's no official guidance for mitigating any risk other than to remain vigilant. Ensure your computer is up to date at all times, avoid downloading sketchy software, and don't presume that deleting the inetpub folder will solve these issues, as it may cause complications with future updates.

For now, the new mystery surrounding Windows 11's "inetpub" folder is how Microsoft plans to secure it from similar meddling in the future.

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Changes to the Windows operating system are nothing new, the platform is in a constant state of flux thanks to a never-ending onslaught of updates, security patches, and feature drops.

However, there are some things we can count on Microsoft to leave untouched, like the painfully slow Microsoft Store, unwanted injection of ads, and a years-old issue that sees bloatware called Microsoft Edge preinstalled on every system.

That said, the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build (27842) is preparing to shake things up by wiping one of Windows' most dreaded features of the last two decades off the board entirely. Kind of.

A fresh coat of panic for Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death

The legendary Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) — an infamously dreaded fixture of Windows that announces critical system errors since the early days of the operating system looks set to be no more.

However, those hoping this means that Microsoft has finally found a way to fix the common hardware and software errors that cause this screen to display are in for a letdown. This update is less of a memory and driver issue panacea, and more of a facelift for a digital panic attack.

At least, that appears to be the trajectory Microsoft is heading in with the latest Windows 11 build. The iconic BSoD will be replaced with a new error screen dedicated to the announcement of an unexpected restart, devoid of the modern QR code and relatable frowny face emoji, and plastered in a fresh coat of Medium Forest Green panic.

Yes, the Blue Screen of Death is dead. Long live the Green Screen of Death — an even more sterile wall of frustration whose singular superpower might be the subtle reminder to go outside and touch grass amid your driver woes. Perhaps an attempt to lessen the likelihood of you putting your fist through your keyboard after all of your hard work is flushed down the proverbial pan, as said screen forces a reboot of your machine.

Ironically, this might be Microsoft's first efforts to preserve hardware, following its advice for Windows 10 users to toss their computers into the scrap heap ahead of the operating system's October 14 end-of-support.

What's next

While the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build (27842) offers several more impactful improvements to Microsoft's operating system, including improved battery iconography for laptops, along with the usual mix of bug and security fixes.

The retiring of the BSoD is less of a solution and more of a vibe shift that Microsoft claims will offer a "more streamlined UI for unexpected restarts which better aligns with Windows 11 design principles and supports our goal of getting users back into productivity as fast as possible."

By aesthetics alone, the new design is cleaner, though it offers even less context than before on what the cause of the unexpected error may have been — which may make for a streamlined UI, but makes for a terrible troubleshooting experience.

Should Microsoft stick with the new color scheme, users can likely expect to see the refreshed error screen become standard as part of the Windows 11 25H2 update later in the year.

Ideally, Microsoft will be hoping that this is a change that most users won't ever become aware of. But are you really getting the full Windows experience without the occasional BSOD-inducing crash?

It's a subtle tweak, but it marks something of an end-of-an-era moment for the constantly evolving Windows platform. After decades of watching the BSoD trash my productivity, hamper my gaming sessions, and induce panic over the state of my hardware, for once, I might actually miss it.

So long, and thanks for all the glitch.

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Recall was one of the signature new AI features for Copilot+ PCs announced by Microsoft at its Build event on May 20, 2024. On Thursday, almost a year later, Microsoft started a gradual rollout of Recall to Windows Insiders.

So why the delay? The concept behind Recall sounds excellent; it knows what you've done on your PC, allowing you to pull up anything you've seen with simple semantic searches describing what you remember. Here's how Microsoft describes it: "Unlock your photographic memory with Recall."

That may be the greatest sales pitch for buying one of the best AI laptops that I've heard, but Recall faced immediate backlash over privacy concerns, with Microsoft first changing it to an opt-in feature that you had to activate and then removing it entirely. It became one of the biggest AI controversies of 2024.

See also: Best laptop deals in April 2025

However, Microsoft did not give up on Recall, making small changes and allowing limited sets of Windows users to continue testing it out.

In December 2024, Laptop Mag contributing writer Shubham Agarwal spent weeks using the Microsoft Recall preview, and while he was initially put off by the privacy concerns, he stuck with it and found it "to be a game-changer and a glimpse into the future of desktop productivity."

Microsoft is taking another swing at bringing the feature to market via the Windows Insider program before a presumed eventual rollout to all Windows 11 users. Before that happens, let's take a look at the feature as it exists today — because you might have the chance to opt in to Recal soon.

Microsoft Recall in April 2025

Despite the rocky road for Recall, it retains the same promise and feature set we saw in May 2024. The goal is for you to be able to find anything you've seen or done on your Windows PC using a simple search bar rather than having to dig through multiple apps, files, or your browser history.

The biggest changes are all around the privacy guardrails that are in place.

The first is that the feature remains opt-in, even for those in the Windows Insider preview.

You have to launch Recall and then toggle the option to "Save snapshots" by going into Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots.

If you have concerns, you can also check this setting and verify that it's in the off position.

Second, you can manually filter apps or websites from inclusion in Recall snapshots by adding them to an exclusion list that is also found in Recall & snapshots settings.

This filtering option is in addition to the auto-filtering of sensitive information, which is designed to exclude passwords, ID numbers, and credit card numbers from snapshots. (However, Tom's Hardware reported late last year that Recall still would screenshot information like credit card and Social Security numbers.)

You also must enroll in Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security with one or more biometric sign-in options to use Recall. And finally, the snapshots are processed on-device without going to the cloud, which is why your laptop must meet the following hardware requirements:

• A Copilot+ PC that meets the Secured-core standard
• 40 TOPs NPU (neural processing unit)
• 16 GB RAM
• 8 logical processors
• 256 GB storage capacity
  • To enable Recall, you’ll need at least 50 GB of storage space free
  • Saving snapshots automatically pauses once the device has less than 25 GB of storage space

When will Recall be available on your laptop?

If you are a member of the Windows Insider Program in the U.S., Recall started rolling out on Thursday of this week, so if you don't have it already, it should arrive soon.

For Windows 11 users who aren't part of the Insider program, there's no official statement from Microsoft regarding the rollout yet.

Given the gradual rollout of the feature to Insiders even with Recall still flagged as in "preview," it seems clear that the company isn't going to rush it to a wide release.

If you can't wait, you can register for the Windows Insider Program and join the release preview channel.

What's next for Recall

The biggest question for Microsoft next is whether the influx of new Recall users will create another privacy panic or if Windows Insiders will be wowed by the feature and become evangelists for it.

The truth may be somewhere in between, but if Recall can't convince the Windows Insider audience, it will likely have trouble breaking through to mainstream users.

While the existence of a single "killer app" for AI remains in question, features like Recall certainly have strong potential.

We'll watch with interest to see if Microsoft's slow and steady approach with Recall finally pays off.

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Following the publication of this story, Microsoft has revealed that the "inetpub" folder is created as part of a security process and should not be deleted. This article has been updated to reflect this advice.

If you're a fellow Windows user, then you're all too aware of certain frustrations that come along with running Microsoft's operating system.

One of the more common frustrations we share is the sudden appearance of the platform's infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), which leaves you only an obscure cryptographic puzzle of an error code to decipher its cause.

Then there are the moments when you leave your work open for the night, ready to hop back on the wagon in the morning with a head-start — only to find Windows Update has evaporated all of your unsaved work with an unprompted reset.

However, there are also the times that momentarily turn your blood to ice; that strangely named entry in your Task Manager processes, a brief flash of the Command Prompt when opening a file you downloaded online, and unannounced folders mysteriously appearing in your system drive.

The latter is something I recently came across, finding a strange, empty folder named "inetpub" sitting comfortably in my C: drive. I didn't create it, I didn't install anything relating to it, and I definitely didn't ask for it. Alarm bells did surely ring.

Naturally, I did what any person would do in this instance: groan at the thought of having to wipe my hard drive, change all of my passwords, and burn my wireless router at the stake in case it had fallen prey to a Chinese botnet.

Thankfully, before taking the nuclear option, I did what any tech-savvy person would do in this instance: I Googled it.

Turns out, I wasn't alone.

What is "inetpub," and why is it on my computer?

Let me spare you any more agonizing seconds spent wondering whether hackers have sneaked their way into your system and stumbled across the contents of that hidden folder on your desktop: no, they haven't.

Well, they might have. Astral projection for tech support is one of the few skills I've yet to develop in life, and I can't speak for the safety or status of your machine, after all.

However, if the only symptom you're facing is the lifeless and barren "inetpub" folder in your C: drive, then they likely haven't. In fact, you — like me — have nothing to worry about.

As it turns out, the "inetpub" folder is appearing for many users following April's Windows 11 24H2 (KB5055523) update, and it appears to be little more than a harmless artifact left behind by Microsoft's recent security patch, as noted by Windows Latest.

If you're unfamiliar with the name "inetpub," that's likely because it's the default directory used by Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS), something typically not activated on most consumer systems.

In a nutshell, IIS is Microsoft's built-in web server — something you'd use if you were to host a website from your Windows PC in the year 2006 for reasons unknown (and probably not worth venturing into) to anybody under the age of 40.

So, how did it suddenly appear on Windows systems?

UPDATE (04/15/25): Microsoft has since confirmed that the mysterious "inetpub" folder was created to patch a vulnerability that could see attackers exploit an elevation-of-privileges flaw in Windows.

On Microsoft's advice, "this folder should not be deleted regardless of whether Internet Information Services (IIS) is active on the target device."

What's next

Nothing. That's what's next. It's all a bit Much Ado About Nothing, really. However, it always pays to be vigilant.

The "inetpub" folder isn't a danger; it's not running any unidentified processes in the background, nor is it secretly hosting the contents of your Windows PC for internet users to access with wanton abandon.

For now, we all calmly move on and collectively agree to pretend we didn't just panic-Google "What is inetpub" and move into the comment section to talk about the wider quirks and nuances of the Windows 11 experience. See you there.

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You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t displeased with Windows 11 in some shape or form, but Microsoft is developing a new Windows 11 Start menu that’s bound to make a lot of people happy.

Bluesky user phantomofearth, who dives into Windows Insider builds, discovered the new Start menu in a recent build. The menu offers a larger, more streamlined look that finally displays all of your apps in one place. More importantly, you can finally axe the Recommended feed.

Getting the apps front and center is nice and all, but I’m more excited about the overall customization.

The new Windows 11 Start menu

Previous Windows 10 users have been asking for this back forever now, which makes sense why people are so excited. Going a step backward is obviously a step forward for Windows, which surprises (let me check) no one.

To be clear, I am still using Windows 10 for my gaming PC for these exact issues… and also Microsoft put a ridiculous hardware requirement on Windows 11. (At least I get to experience the silliness on each laptop I review.)

Again, I love that I don’t need to go through two different menus just to see my apps and that I don’t need to see the (generally) useless Recommended section anymore. However, a list of all the apps in alphabetical order isn’t exactly clean, either. It just makes it more accessible.

With the new UI, you can easily switch between seeing “All” apps alphabetically, all apps in a Name Grid, and then in Categories. This isn’t anything new, but the Category setting previously felt useless because I’d have to click into the Start menu, click All, then click on the category with the app I want, and finally click the app.

However, now with Categories, you'd get an instant, clean look at all my apps in the Start menu on one page with little-to-no scrolling. This isn’t revolutionary by any means, but Microsoft makes Windows hard to love. Heck, that’s why some folks ditched Windows 11 for Linux.

But if the Categories aren’t your style, you can now pin more apps, up to 8 per row. And you’re not stuck with 3 rows anymore, you can technically customize all the apps you see on your Start menu by doing this. So, folks who are very particular will have a field day customizing their Start menu.

If all you care about is ditching the Recommended section, however, you can disable it in the Personalization section in the Settings. Or at least whenever this update becomes available.

Technically, this feature was found in both the 23H2 and 24H2 versions of Windows 11. All that means is that we’ll likely see these new features soon, ideally in the coming weeks.

I won’t be surprised if Laptop Mag Windows expert Rael Hornby has a few things to say about it, so stay tuned for that.

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Microsoft might be turning 50, but its eyes are still firmly fixed on the future.

And that future, by its own estimation, has everything to do with AI.

At its 50th anniversary event on Friday, Microsoft's top brass took the stage to talk about what the company has in store for the future of its iconic operating system.

The answer? Copilot. A lot of Copilot.

Copilot is getting more personal

Microsoft had a lot to tell us about the future of Copilot, and the biggest takeaway is that it's getting a lot more personal.

"Copilot will understand you in the context of your life, and show up, on your terms, in the right way at the right time," said Mustafa Suleyman, Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft AI in a statement.

"This is far richer, more dynamic, supportive and emergent than any software we’ve seen before. It’s a new kind of relationship with technology, a new era."

What that means, specifically, is more customization but also more sophistication, and perhaps the most exciting example of that is Copilot's glow up in the AI agent department.

Microsoft announced that starting soon, Copilot will be able to act on your behalf to browse the web and carry out tasks like booking event tickets, making dinner reservations, and even buying gifts and other items.

Microsoft says this Copilot feature, dubbed Copilot Actions, will "work with most websites across the web," and initial partners include 1-800-Flowers.com, Booking.com, Expedia, Kayak, OpenTable, Priceline, Tripadvisor, Skyscanner, Viator, and Vrbo.

How well Copilot performs in those tasks remains to be seen, but ascending into a more fully-formed AI agent is a promising sign for anyone (like myself) who wants chatbots to make my life more tedious.

And the personalization doesn't stop there.

Microsoft is also working to give Copilot more of a "memory" in an effort to make it more of an "AI companion."

That means remembering your inputs to recall things like your favorite food, what movies you like, birthdays, and more.

Microsoft hopes that the glut of personal data will help Copilot make better suggestions and even become more proactive so that it can remind you about tasks and help build your calendar without you asking.

That's a big ask from a privacy perspective, but Microsoft says users will be able to tailor their security and privacy settings to control what data is remembered and what remains untouched — users will also be able to opt out entirely, according to the company.

Whether Copilot users will be made abundantly aware of those controls is another question entirely, but it's nice to know they exist.

If there's one thing that's clear about Microsoft's anniverary annoucements regarding Copilot, it's that it still very much envisions its ChatGPT-powered AI as the centerpiece of future Windows functionality.

Copilot take the wheel

Slowly but surely, Microsoft has focused on making Copilot more independent.

While AI agents aren't exactly singularity territory, they are by far the most promising and marketable form of generative AI I've seen so far.

I, like many, long for a world where I can actually entrust AI to carry out tasks on my behalf — read my email, set my calendar, or order my Uber — but unfortunately, it feels like we're not quite there yet.

As advanced as Copilot or ChatGPT may be, they're imperfect technologies, which makes handing over the keys to them completely a more stressful experience than it ought to be.

I have no doubt that tools like Copilot could very well be the future of Microsoft and the main lens by which we interact with its Windows operating system, but there's still a lot of proving to be done.

And if Microsoft is going to make the next 50 years of Windows as iconic as the last, then Copilot is going to have to ace its flight test or crash and burn trying.

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Windows users just can't catch a break — unless the break in question is a myriad of routine update-related BSoD errors.

First, Microsoft gatekept Windows 10 users from upgrading to Windows 11 through its controversial hardware requirements, insisting on previously non-standard TPM 2.0 modules and a strict cut-off for particular processors.

Then, after years of pretending not to understand why people with perfectly good PCs chose to avoid Windows 11 like it had the plague, Microsoft announced Windows 10's end-of-support date of October 14, 2025.

The news was an indicator that Microsoft was effectively preparing to strong-arm holdouts into upgrading or going turncoat on their operating system under the duress of no more security updates, technical support, or feature drops.

Now, Microsoft has let the mask slip even further, recently publishing an update checklist for Windows 10 users that spends more time suggesting they prepare their computers for the scrap heap than emphasizing how to upgrade to Windows 11.

And that's all because, while many Windows 10 users have the hardware to accommodate Windows 11's hardware requirements, Windows 11's minimum specifications are something of a red herring.

New AI-backed additions to the platform, like Copilot, Recall, Cocreator, Restyle, Super Resolution, and more, are either exclusively available to or vastly superior on a new wave of Copilot+ PCs that depend on modern processors outfitted with dedicated NPUs (Neural processing units).

Make no mistake about it. These aren't just features, they're a fork. Microsoft is splitting the Windows 11 userbase down a clear hardware divide. And if it's going to do that, it might as well cut the cord entirely and call it Windows 12.

Copilot+ isn't a feature set, it's a fork

Microsoft touts Copilot+ features as a bold step into an exciting AI-powered operating system frontier. And sure, it is. But it's not a feature drop, it's a platform fork hiding behind the Windows 11 nametag.

The requirements for running Microsoft's modern vision of Windows 11 dwarf the old TPM 2.0 module complaints, requiring modern Intel Core Ultra, Qualcomm Snapdragon X, or AMD Ryzen AI processors to make use of many exclusive Copilot+ PC tools.

That's a benchmark the vast majority of Windows 11 users are yet to meet, effectively holding these newer features to ransom under hardware requirements that turn Microsoft's official minimum specs into a joke.

That's because Microsoft's scope for Windows 11 has exploded in recent years alongside the AI boom, and what was once intended to be a prettier, more secure, and more "modern" operating system is morphing into something else entirely — something that perhaps isn't all that fitting.

After all, you don't need a Copilot for a vessel originally designed to be helmed by one. Perhaps it's time that Microsoft christened an entirely new ship for its AI-driven expedition.

Let's just get to Windows 12 already

After spending years trying to bring Windows users together under the banner of Windows 11, Microsoft has now effectively placed a hardware divider among its userbase once again.

It's time Microsoft bit the bullet and stopped trying to wedge its next-gen operating system ambitions into Windows 11's framework and started forging the road ahead with Windows 12.

This makes hardware expectations clear from the get-go, gives developers a clear milestone to move on from, and gives Windows users peace of mind that they won't once again be left chasing further hardware requirements to access the latest Windows features when Microsoft inevitably moves the goalposts on their 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS) NPU recommendation.

If Microsoft is going to split its userbase, raise the hardware bar, and launch a fleet of AI-first features that only work on the latest chips, then fine — but at least do it properly.

Just as Windows 10 never panned out to be the "final version of Windows" that Microsoft claimed it to be, neither will Windows 11. It's time for Windows 12.

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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years, it's been nigh impossible to avoid Microsoft's relentless push to bring Windows 10 users to Windows 11 ahead of the older operating system's October 14, 2025, end-of-support date.

And while that strategy is starting to pay off — with Windows 11 now claiming an all-time high Windows market share of 42.69% on desktops and rapidly closing in on Windows 10's 54.2% lead — Microsoft still has plenty of work to do in the months ahead to cater to those yet to upgrade.

Attempting to convince Windows 10 users that the grass is greener on the other side, Windows 11 is marketed as a more secure, smoother, and feature-rich experience.

However, a recently published end-of-support checklist perhaps says the quiet part out loud: reading less like a guide on getting ready to transition and more like funeral arrangements for your favored hardware.

It's hardly subliminal; in fact, it's barely even subtle. The truth of the matter is that Windows 11's minimum hardware requirements only paint half the picture of what you'll need to experience the operating system in full.

In my opinion, this checklist all but confirms that Microsoft doesn't want you to upgrade to Windows 11. It wants you to upgrade your laptop or PC entirely — preferably to something of the Copilot+ PC variety.

Upgrading to Windows 11: It's about the hardware, not the software

Cynics (read: most Windows users) have long claimed that Microsoft's stricter hardware requirements for Windows 11 were less about security and more about sales.

Given the contents of the company's Windows 10 end-of-support checklist, that suggestion feels less like conspiracy and more like clairvoyance.

By default, Microsoft's checklist automatically assumes that your hardware is fit for the scrap. The checklist's first three steps suggest that users update Windows, make a backup of their files, and then promptly erase everything.

Immediately following this, Microsoft suggests recycling your PC responsibly — or trading it in "for money you can use toward a faster, more secure, new Windows 11 PC."

Any mention of upgrading to Windows 11 from Windows 10 is an afterthought, with Microsoft failing to even state its operating system's minimum requirements or indicate to readers that their current hardware may be up to par.

While not explicitly stated, Microsoft's true message is easy enough to decipher. It's time to part ways with your PC, preferably in a way that frees up shelf space at your local Best Buy.

Windows 11's minimum requirements are a problem for Microsoft

Officially, the most divisive aspect of Windows 11's minimum hardware requirements has historically been its hard-line demand for a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip. However, while not explicitly commonplace at the time of Windows 11's 2021 launch, this module is now a standard offering of modern hardware.

Unofficially, Windows 11's evolution into an evermore AI-backed platform has raised that bar considerably — and it has "Copilot+" written all over it.

Microsoft's checklist isn't about ensuring users can run Windows 11. It's about ensuring that users can run Microsoft's vision of Windows 11. And the operating system's own minimum requirements aren't enough to ensure that will be the case. I just don't think Microsoft is willing to face the backlash if it were to state so openly.

The company's big gamble on AI has seen a growing suite of features and tools emerge on Windows 11 that increasingly benefit from an on-board NPU offered in newer processors from Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD through Snapdragon X, Core Ultra, and Strix Point chipsets.

Just because your system can upgrade to Windows 11 doesn't mean you'll have access to several of these features. In a sense, your hardware might get you through the door, but you'll have a hard time finding a space at the bar without the latest hardware.

For many, upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 will be a temporary band-aid and a gateway to a sub-par experience as a member of the crowd that Microsoft isn't primarily looking to cater to anymore.

What's next

In all honesty, this is likely the path Microsoft has to take. Windows 11's minimum requirements have slowly transitioned from controversial to obsolete, at least when compared to the operating system's current scope.

With Windows 10's end-of-support date rapidly approaching, there's still time to stretch your current hardware to its limits or see it reborn as a Linux machine if you're content enough.

However, it's clear that Windows' future is both AI-powered and hardware-dependent. If your laptop or PC isn't up to spec (and I'm not just talking about minimum requirements), then it's perhaps time to say your goodbyes. Clearly, Microsoft already has.

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Since its arrival in October 2021, Windows 11 has been yet another "ugly duckling" in Microsoft's family of operating systems — sneered and jeered at in similar ways to Windows 8, Vista, or ME.

However, with Windows 10's October 14, 2025 end-of-support date fast approaching, it's Windows 11 or bust for familiars of Microsoft's OS, with no sign of Windows 12 to be found as a viable alternative (although if it does arrive, it's unlikely to be the lifeboat users are hoping for).

Thankfully, for Microsoft at least, Windows 11 is finally gaining notable traction as it is rapidly closing in on Windows 10's majority market share among desktop PCs.

But with Windows 11 now practically guaranteed the success and userbase Microsoft has long sought, the company still isn't content.

Taking advantage of this timely swell in users, Microsoft will now seek to maximize Microsoft Account sign ups on install by removing a well-known bypass from Windows 11's initialization process.

From "bypassnro" to "Bypass? No"

Windows 11 is no stranger to controversy. From expanded hardware requirements, injecting full blown ads into the platform, and Recall's privacy concerns, the operating system has given users plenty to complain about.

However, one of its more frustrating requirements was the insistence that users connect to the internet and forge a Microsoft Account to complete the Windows initialization process — Introduced with Windows 11 version 22H2.

Luckily, a workaround has been available for some time by way of the bypassno.cmd script, which can be run to circumvent the Windows OOBE's (Out-Of-Box Experience) need to connect to a network during setup.

Unfortunately, the latest Windows 11 preview build (26200.5516) seeks to close this loophole, with Microsoft stating:

"We’re removing the bypassnro.cmd script from the build to enhance security and user experience of Windows 11.

"This change ensures that all users exit setup with internet connectivity and a Microsoft Account."

What does it mean?

The change means that new users must now complete the Windows 11 initialization process using both an internet connection and a Microsoft account—effectively eliminating offline installations and potentially hampering Microsoft's efforts to attract more users to Windows 11.

The update is currently in preview, meaning there'll be a short Windows Insider testing phase before it's pushed out to all users in the coming weeks.

The changes will not affect users who have previously used this process to avoid creating or linking a Microsoft account to Windows.

Are there ways to install Windows 11 without an internet connection or a Microsoft account?

While Microsoft has removed the bypasnro command in its latest preview build for Windows 11, it is still possible to re-add it to your system using the following script, as noted by Windows Central.

"reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BYPASSNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f shutdown /r /t 0"

That said, this workaround may be temporary, with Microsoft likely to close this loophole before the update goes live for all users.

Another method of bypassing Windows 11's online initialization efforts includes creating an unattend.xml answer file to automate certain aspects of the installation process.

However, this is a lengthier process, not as accessible to all users as the more popular bypassno command.

What's next

According to estimates sourced by StatCounter, last month, Windows 11's market share saw a 4.56% growth, catapulting the operating system to a 42.69% share of the Windows desktop market and rapidly closing in on Windows 10's dwindling 54.2% lead.

That gap is expected to close fast as businesses and home users jump ship to Windows 11 ahead of Windows 10's October 14, 2025, end-of-support date.

In the meantime, Microsoft's moves suggest the company is interested in tightening up any workarounds and closing out any loopholes in the initialization process to maximize potential Microsoft account holders, and ensure users have an internet connection — likely to ensure they're able to take full advantage of the platform's cloud-based tools like OneDrive or its AI assistant, Copilot.

More from Laptop Mag

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• I'm ready to gamble on this alternative gaming-focused underdog to Windows 11, are you?
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If you're setting up a new Windows 11 laptop or desktop or switching browsers to Google Chrome right now, you may have run into this persistent blue pop-up error stating that Chrome isn't supported on your PC:

"This app can't run on your PC."

Don't panic, you're not the only one.

Laptop Mag has identified an issue with Chrome installation on Windows and corroborated the bug on multiple devices. As it turns out, other Windows users are aware of the issue and not happy about it either.

Laptop Mag reached out to Microsoft and Google about this bug. A representative for Google tells Laptop Mag that the company is aware of the situation and has updated the installer so it is now compatible with Windows machines.

In the meantime, here's what we know about the Google Chrome installer issue, plus the official fix and our original workaround.

Affected systems

Laptop Mag's testing lab was able to confirm that the issue is specific to Windows devices. We replicated the error on four systems and then came across Reddit users with similar troubles.

"Just re-installed Windows and I can't install Google Chrome," reads one Reddit post.

"It's not just you. Something is going on with the installer," comments another user faced with the same problem.

In our research, macOS systems were able to download and install Chrome the usual way.

Our lab also attempted to install Chrome on a Windows 10 machine, which brought up the same app incompatibility pop-up error as Windows 11.

If you already have Chrome installed, you won't have any issues with loss of service. This is specifically impacting new Chrome installations.

We do not currently know what's causing the installer error. Due to the timing, it doesn't appear related to the March 21 Google Chrome update, nor was there a Windows 11 or Windows 10 system update that could have caused compatibility issues.

How to get a working Chrome installer

The compatibility error appears to be caused by a version of the general Chrome installer, ChromeSetup.exe. This is the Installer file you find at the top of the Google Chrome download page.

Google has now updated that installer with a compatible version of the ChromeSetup.exe executable. So you may need to refresh your browser or clear your cache to get the correct installer.

Alternatively, you can get the Windows 10/11 64-bit specific installation file, ChromeStandaloneSetup64.exe, otherwise known as the offline installer.

The bad news is that the offline installer is no longer available through the typical Google Chrome download page.

The good news is that the Windows 64-bit offline installer is available for download from Google, but you need a specific web address to access it. To get the offline Chrome installer:

1. Go to http://google.com/intl/en/chrome/?standalone=1
2. Click "Download Chrome"
3. Download and install the app

Both the Offline Installer and General Installer are working on the systems Laptop Mag used for testing.

If you have a saved version of an older Chrome Installer, versions of the installer prior to 3/25 appear to be working.

As of our update on 3/25 at 4:33 pm Eastern, all versions of the ChromeInstaller currently available on Google's pages are compatible with Windows systems.

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Windows 10 is coming to an end. Microsoft set the date of October 14, 2025, as the day when support for Windows 10 comes to an end. Still, a lot of Windows 10 users are sticking with it.

Windows 10 users represent 58.7% of all Windows desktop users, while Windows 11 is at 38.1% according to StatCounter. This is a slight improvement from last month when the gap between the two Windows versions was at its narrowest.

Microsoft wants its users to make the switch to Windows 11, and in a new message about the upgrade, the company suggested a radical idea: Just get a new computer.

Microsoft sent an email titled "End of support for Windows 10 is approaching" to Windows 10 users and along with giving info about the upgrade to Windows 11, there was also a link to buy a new computer, according to a report from Windows Latest.

Included with the link to get a new PC, the email has a FAQ explaining what it means when Microsoft ends support for Windows 10, what users can do with an old computer, and some of the benefits of Windows 11.

This email is part of Microsoft's approach to get Windows 10 users to make the jump before support ends on October 14.

Do I need a new computer for Windows 11?

It's very unlikely that Windows 10 users will need a new computer to run Windows 11.

The minimum specs required to run Windows 11, according to Microsoft, are a 1 GHz or faster processor with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor, 4GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0.

A thread on the Windows 11 subreddit from 2022 asked what the oldest computers were that users were able to install Windows 11 on. Multiple posters said they have computers from the mid-2000s running Windows 11.

Even though most Windows 10 computers should be able to upgrade without any issue, there are lesser-known hardware requirements that could cause an error requiring users to stay with Windows 10.

For those who insist on staying with Windows 10, Microsoft will offer Extended Security Updates (ESU) for a price. There is a one-time fee of $30 to get Windows 10 updates for another year. After that, anyone on Windows 10 will be completely on their own.

How to upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10

Fortunately, Microsoft is making it very easy to upgrade a PC from Windows 11.

If you're on the old operating system, you're likely already seeing messages about the upgrade. Microsoft is giving away the upgrade to Windows 11 for free, although a blog post from the company went up back in January claiming that this would be a "limited time deal." Microsoft has since deleted that post, confirming with Windows Latest that the upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10 will remain free.

Microsoft claims Windows 11 is safer, has better performance, more functionality and better features such as the controversial Microsoft Recall, which takes snapshots of the computer allowing users to do a search for actions they've done in the past.

When Valve launched the Steam Deck in February 2022, handheld gaming PCs entered an all-new era. In our review, we said it was "almost portable perfection."

Since then, we've seen several special editions and an OLED revamp for the Steam Deck that it still among our best handheld gaming PCs, but no true follow-up has been in sight.

The release of more powerful hardware like the ROG Ally stole some of the spotlight, but Valve designer Lawrence Yang insists that a Steam Deck 2 will only arrive when a "generational leap in compute" makes it necessary.

Valve clearly didn't believe that AMD's Ryzen Z1 chips met that standard, and neither did its Ryzen Z2 APU, revealed earlier this year during CES 2025. Thankfully, Lenovo did.

Also revealed at CES 2025 was the Lenovo Legion Go S, a new handheld gaming PC with both Windows 11 and SteamOS variants. Or, as I've been viewing it, a Steam Deck 2 in all but name.

Disappointingly, the Legion Go S model that followed in February touted the less impressive Ryzen Z2 Go processor and as a Windows-only configuration.

However, the pre-orders for the real Lenovo Legion Go S have finally arrived at Best Buy, and by as early as May, we're set to get our hands on a true spiritual successor to the Steam Deck — packing the highly-praised Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor and running the impressive Linux-based SteamOS.

Steam powered and ready to (Legion) Go

The all-new Legion Go S revamp offers both SteamOS and "WindowsOS" (read: Windows 11) models. Though, if you ask me, the latter option is entirely redundant when placed next to its lighter, bloat-free, and buttery-smooth counterpart.

As a Steam Deck user, I can attest to Valve's SteamOS being far better suited for gaming on the go, thanks to the experience gained from developing Steam's Big Picture mode.

Windows, while undoubtedly more familiar to many and the home of PC gaming, has always been the sticking point for handheld gaming — regardless of the tweaks Microsoft has made purportedly in preparation for its own Xbox handheld.

Aside from that, there's the issue of price. SteamOS, based upon Arch Linux, doesn't appear to carry with it the same kind of license price bump that its Windows counterpart does — with the Legion Go S costing $80 more if you opt for the model packing Windows 11.

Based solely on price, Lenovo's SteamOS-powered Legion Go S mops the floor with the Windows configuration and stands toe-to-toe with the original Steam Deck in value while offering a more powerful APU (though less storage).

But it's what that more powerful Z1 Extreme APU could be capable of that we really need to take into consideration.

Can the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme shine on Linux?

Linux gaming has arrived, or, had arrived? Sure, Linux gaming has been in a constant state of improvement for some time, but if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, blah blah blah.

In the eyes of the average Joe or Jane, Linux gaming might as well have capped out at Pong — and that's if they even know what Linux is in the first place.

Meanwhile, Steam Deck, using Valve and CodeWeaver's Proton compatibility layer, has been putting the operating system's gaming capabilities front and center for years.

The improved Z1 Extreme APU of the Legion Go S only helps SteamOS flex that little bit harder, stretching that Steam Deck-verified badge to its limits by being able to tackle more demanding titles that Valve's current hardware struggles with or can't run at all.

Better still, thanks to its lighter footprint, SteamOS may allow the Legion Go S to squeeze out more life from its 55.5Whr battery, not to mention potentially improve in-game performance.

In a test to see how a non-Windows operating system could impact handheld gaming performance, Managing Editor forTom's Guide, Jason England, managed to squeeze out a 15% increase in frame rate and a 22% improvement in battery life when he used a custom Linux image to turn his Asus ROG Ally X into a Steam Deck.

Of course, we can't be sure if these results are repeatable until we get to see Valve's SteamOS officially in action for ourselves, but those findings do offer plenty to whet the appetite of handheld gaming PC owners.

SteamOS: Underdog to MVP?

No matter what your friendly neighborhood Linux evangelist tells you, sometimes the superior platform or product doesn't come out on top in the end.

AskJeeves, HD DVD, and my efforts to woo Sarah Michelle Gellar all came in second place to "inferior" alternatives. (Sorry Freddie, but you know it's true.)

You can likely add Linux to that list on desktops, as Windows has had the market in the palm of its hands for decades. However, SteamOS' wider arrival on handhelds could give Linux a major victory over Microsoft's OS.

If SteamOS' performance, battery life improvement, and user experience topple that of Windows 11 (and let's face it, Microsoft hasn't done much to help that — yet), I don't see handheld gaming PC owners turning their noses up at Valve's platform as it becomes available on more diverse hardware.

SteamOS, if the hype holds true, could flip the handheld gaming market from Windows to Linux overnight. And, if the neckbeard prophecy is true, perhaps that will convince desktop users to follow.

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Handheld gaming PC owners have been clamoring for Microsoft to update Windows 11 for a smoother user experience through gamepad, but there haven't been many changes since the launch of the Asus ROG Ally back in June 2023.

However, a Windows 11 update released on Tuesday could be a sign that things are changing.

The update adds gamepad support for the touch keyboard in Windows 11, which allows an Xbox controller to navigate and type, as you would if you were using an actual console.

One of my major criticisms of Windows in the handheld space became apparent during my review of the Asus ROG Ally. Using Microsoft's on-screen keyboard required swapping the control configuration to Desktop mode and then using the joystick as a cursor to individually tap each key.

It was unbelievably painful, and an obvious sign that the operating system was not remotely designed for this type of hardware.

Microsoft addressing this issue may seem small to anyone who doesn't use Windows gaming handhelds, but it could be a sign of things to come. After all, we just got word of an Xbox-branded Windows gaming handheld in the works.

If Microsoft is fine-tuning Windows 11 to enhance the user experience for the launch of its own hardware, we could be in store for even more improvements further down the line.

Xbox's branded Windows gaming handheld could be great news for everyone

The Xbox-branded handheld in question could be an OEM "rebranding" from Asus or MSI — essentially manufacturing a similar device to the ROG Ally or Claw 8 AI+ but with the Xbox design philosophy.

However, with Xbox being a Microsoft brand, Windows 11 should be in the best shape it can be before the company releases its own handheld gaming PC.

Gamepad support while using the digital keyboard in Windows is already one massive flaw to cross off for Microsoft, but there's still so much more that needs to be addressed.

• Why can't I navigate the desktop, settings, and finder windows through a gamepad?
• Why is the Xbox app so difficult to use in desktop and gamepad mode, especially compared to Steam, which works seamlessly?
• Why doesn't the digital keyboard appear when I need it to?
• And why does it automatically detach from the input box when I'm trying to type?

The majority of these headaches may only be resolved by a dedicated alternative launchable version of Windows 11 that's optimized for gamepads.

With an Xbox-branded handheld on the way, I'm hoping that Microsoft continues releasing updates that address the flaws of the operating system for handheld gaming PCs.

Tweaks like this could be of great benefit to a growing catalog of Windows-based handheld gaming PCs. If Microsoft doesn't hold back any improvements strictly for its own hardware, that is.

After all, these businesses are competing, and if Microsoft really wanted to take its Xbox handheld to the next level, it could mean less support for alternative products.

However, I asked Asus if the existence of an Xbox-branded handheld meant a lack of support from Xbox or Microsoft, particularly in terms of advertising and the product being packaged with Xbox Game Pass.

Anthony Spence, Asus PR Specialist, tells Laptop Mag "There aren't any changes to our Game Pass bundles for current products and I personally don't foresee any changes in this area either." This could change as nothing is set in stone, but it's good news for now.

I also asked if Asus happened to be the company manufacturing the Xbox-branded handheld. However, Spence revealed very little, stating Asus doesn't "have any information about this or anything to share at this moment in time." Exactly the answer I expected, but it was worth a try.

Xbox's handheld could take us into the next generation

The Xbox-branded handheld could take us into the next generation of Windows gaming handhelds. The technology is fantastic, but if you read any review of the Asus ROG Ally, MSI Claw, or Lenovo Legion Go, the fundamental flaws always come back to Windows 11's lack of support.

Microsoft could stand idly by while an Xbox-branded handheld launches, with no further changes being made to improve the user experience. But the digital keyboard now being functional with gamepads is already one huge flaw resolved, and I can only hope we see more issues addressed throughout the remainder of 2025.

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The eternal tug of war between keeping Windows 11 as up-to-date as possible and avoiding the potential chaos behind every step in that direction continues.

Microsoft's latest fix, part of the Windows 11 24H2 (KB5053598) update, resolves a peculiar Copilot issue that will divide its userbase into two camps:

Those happy to see things righted and those who thought of this particular bug as a long-overdue feature.

For a company so hell-bent on converting the world's most popular operating system into an AI-powered platform of the future, the original KB5053598 update included one of the more embarrassing gaffes in Microsoft's recent history.

Originally intended to offer several miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality, the update also completely uninstalled the company's flagship AI assistant, Copilot.

More embarrassingly for Microsoft, some users saw it as a blessing, with one user even referring to it as "the greatest bug in living history."

Copilot returns to side-stick Windows 11

Following a few days of Windows users flying solo, Microsoft's AI has returned to its side-stick position.

Microsoft has since quietly admitted that the issue has been resolved within the comments of its KB5053598 update support page (as spotted by Windows Latest).

According to the support page, the bug both uninstalled and unpinned Copilot from the Windows taskbar on affected devices.

Thankfully (depending on who you ask), the bug didn't affect all Copilot-related services, as Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI-powered office suite, wasn't affected.

The fix will automatically attempt to reinstate the AI assistant, though any still missing the tool can re-install it from the Microsoft Store and manually repin it to the taskbar.

Microsoft Copilot still receiving flak

Microsoft was quick to find a solution to the problem posed by its most recent Windows update. However, not all users found it to be an issue in the first place.

Since its launch in September 2023, Copilot (along with several other AI-powered tools Microsoft has brought to the Windows operating system) has faced criticism from users who find it intrusive, or think of it as unnecessary "bloat."

Following initial reports of Copilot's accidental deletion, some users took to social media to celebrate.

"I wish this wasn't a bug," one Reddit user hoped in vain. With similar sentiments shared by many others.

Copilot can't stick the landing with some users

Given the amount of importance that Microsoft has placed on Copilot, it's shocking to see just how celebrated its accidental dismissal from the platform has been.

Dive into any discussion about the AI assistant online and you'll be hard-pressed to find many users saying anything positive.

The animosity towards features like Copilot may ultimately boil down to users feeling that Microsoft is neglecting several aspects of Windows to focus on its AI push.

Platform instability (especially surrounding updates), platform bloat, intrusive ads, and issues with the New Outlook app all appear to be issues the Windows community sees as a higher priority than broader Copilot integration.

Still, Microsoft's vision for an AI-powered Windows platform comes first, and the company seems ultimately unswayed by online reaction to its AI assistant or similarly AI-backed tools like Recall.

The recent Windows update blunder appears to have reinforced skepticism surrounding these tools. Instead of users realizing that you don't know what you've got until it's gone, many simply enjoyed a short-lived vacation from what they see as one of Microsoft's biggest missteps in recent years.

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I'm once again repeating a phrase that you've no doubt come across so much that it's burnt into your retinas like the Halo HUD on a cheap plasma TV: Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025.

In other unsurprising news, not everybody is all that keen on the enforced switchover to Windows 11.

So, what are your options? macOS? I've been a Windows user my entire life, and I just can't wrap my brain around those weird traffic light window controls. ChromeOS? Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

How about clinging to Windows 10 past its expiry and falling foul to every security pitfall possible? No thanks. Considering all of my passwords are just the word "Password," I'm already walking enough of a tightrope of trouble every time I venture online.

Then, of course, there's switching to Linux — or as I like to refer to it, the hardware driver hellscape whose reputation paints it as so unapproachable it might as well adopt hieroglyphics as its system font.

But, what if, hidden among all of those various Linux distros, there was some lightweight, easy-to-install, bloat-free, alternative to Windows that doesn't require a degree in computer science to handle?

Well, there is. It's Valve's SteamOS, and its latest preview build (SteamOS 3.7.0 Preview) is opening the doors for its adoption on "non-Steam Deck handhelds" and potentially opening up a new lane for disgruntled Windows gamers looking for a genuine off-ramp from Microsoft's ecosystem.

SteamOS: Linux for people who fear Linux

Yes, SteamOS is Linux, but it's not that Linux — or it certainly doesn't feel like it, anyway.

Having spent some time with the OS through my use of the Steam Deck, I have to say that this is one of the most accessible versions of Linux I've come across to date. To power users, yes, this is very much baby's first Linux gaming platform, but to the average gamer, what more do you need?

Built on Arch Linux, SteamOS is a painless gaming companion through its Proton compatibility layer and isolated Gamescope micro-compositor that offers a console-like gaming experience reminiscent of Steam's Big Picture mode.

If the bulk of your computing consists of media, browsing, and gaming, SteamOS has you covered, and there's very little you'll need to do to get the ball rolling.

SteamOS is simple enough that even your grandma could effortlessly launch her way into a game of Stardew Valley, yet flexible enough to accommodate more enthusiast demands for plugins, mods, and more.

SteamOS: What's the catch?

As nicely as I may have presented SteamOS, it's not without its drawbacks. SteamOS wouldn't be for everyone. If your computing itinerary consists of more than YouTube, Steam gaming, and Discord, you're likely going to run into the same hurdle most first-time Linux users do: limited compatibility.

Love your Adobe products or heavily rely on that Microsoft Office suite? Bad news, champ. Beyond web-based versions, you're not going to have a good time when looking to lean on your favorite apps.

Instead, you'll likely have to rely on Linux-compatible alternatives like GIMP and LibreOffice.

That's not to say SteamOS' desktop mode isn't capable of handling a lot of your daily driving on productivity tasks, just that it wouldn't be a frictionless experience.

Factor in Linux's anti-cheat software struggles (effectively locking gamers out of certain titles), typical Linux hardware driver woes, and SteamOS' double-edged immutable system (great for stability, but painful for customization), and you can begin to see where headaches could form.

However, the potential SteamOS still offers, remains.

The underdog option that might be crazy enough to work

Originally designed for Valve's gone-too-soon Steam Machines in 2013, the Arch Linux-based SteamOS has gone on to act as the backbone to one of the most popular handheld gaming PCs to date, the Steam Deck.

Current rumors suggest that SteamOS will return to Valve hardware to handle the company's upcoming standalone Deckard VR headset.

However, later this year, SteamOS will be stepping away from Valve hardware for the first time, with Lenovo's Legion Go S and the GPD WIN 4 among the first third-party devices to adopt the platform — and you'd be fooling yourself to think it will be the last.

SteamOS clearly has potential beyond handhelds, and users (including yours truly) have been eagerly awaiting its broader release to see how it handles desktop and laptop computers. Some have already managed to get SteamOS running on non-Valve hardware, transforming their devices into modern quasi-Steam Machines.

For gamers who don't need to drag around all of the baggage that Windows carries with it, SteamOS might be exactly what a clean break from Microsoft's operating system looks like.

It's an OS designed by gamers, for gamers — a streamlined approach that lets you focus on playing rather than wrestling with bloat, AI, and Microsoft's complexities.

According to Valve's own Steam Hardware & Software Survey for February 2025, only 0.14% of the platform's users make use of "Arch Linux" at the moment, only fractionally more than the number of users still running Windows 7 (0.10%), and leagues below those running Windows 10 or Windows 11 (53.34%, 44.1% respectively).

It'd take some surge in popularity for SteamOS to challenge Microsoft on that front. Windows is still the home of PC gaming, and Valve's primary position is still as the pipeline to accessing those games, not in providing the operating system with which to play them.

However, knowing that the quirky, risky, and oddly compelling SteamOS exists as an alternative is quite exciting — and I look forward to the day I get to take it for a full test drive on hardware of my own.

There's a long road ahead until Windows 10's end-of-support date, and plenty of time for Valve's OS to shape up. When it's time for Microsoft to finally pull the plug, I think I'm ready to take the gamble on this underdog alternative. The question is: are you?

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It's no secret that Microsoft is all-in on AI for Windows 11. Copilot has been central to that push, positioned as an all-in-one assistant baked into the OS in various forms or additions — whether users asked for it or not.

Recently, Copilot shed its web app skin and became a fully native app, embedding itself into Windows more deeply. However, Microsoft isn't stopping there. Copilot is creeping its way into even more corners of the Windows ecosystem, with Copilot for Gaming (which promises game-aware guidance and assistance in popular titles) set to roll out to Xbox insiders in April, before finding a home on Microsoft's operating system.

Microsoft's position is clear: unlike Cortana, Copilot isn't a feature or a gimmick — it's the core of Microsoft's AI-driven vision for personal computing, which makes the fallout of a recent Windows Update all the more amusing.

Despite Microsoft's best efforts to minimize the chaos of regular Windows Updates through its Dev and Canary channels, problems inevitably slip through the cracks. The latest Windows 11 24H2 update is another prime example of that.

But, this time, some users might actually be grateful, as reports indicate that update KB5053598, released last week, is unintentionally removing portions of Copilot from Windows entirely — undoing Microsoft's hard (and controversial) work to revamp the operating system.

Windows Update 24H2 (KB5053598: Bugs and blessings in disguise

Microsoft's latest Windows 11 update (KB5053598) was meant to offer several miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality. Instead, it's unintentionally offering users a glimpse at the alternate reality in which Microsoft doesn't so heavily pursue AI for its flagship operating system, by deleting Copilot entirely.

According to Windows Latest's reports, the bug uninstalls and unpins Copilot from the taskbar, effectively removing the AI assistant's primary stand on the operating system, with no obvious way to bring it back.

While Microsoft will no doubt see this as a disaster, some users who have been asking for a way to remove Copilot from Windows for many months now will surely see this as an unintended win — with one Reddit user hailing it as "The greatest bug in recent memory."

Sadly, this Windows Update presents several other bugs of the less amusing variety, including the usual litany of hardware-dependent BSoD errors (it just wouldn't be a Windows Update otherwise) and reports of failed installations on various systems.

Microsoft is investigating, but not all users want them to rush

Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and is currently "working on a resolution to address this issue," but for some, this is one bug that doesn't require a speedy fix.

With Windows 10's end-of-support date rapidly approaching and many users still reluctant to upgrade to Windows 11 (with Microsoft's full-scale push into AI being the cause for some), ironically, Copilot's vanishing act may have made that upgrade more tempting than ever to AI skeptics.

Unfortunately, Copilot's absence is likely to be a brief stop-gap more than a fork in the road ahead for Windows. A new fix will undoubtedly bring the AI assistant back into the fold. Still, in the meantime, should Microsoft pay attention to the reaction of its users, it may serve the company well to consider why so many have celebrated this bug.

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The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge is truly at the bleeding edge of performance for Windows on Arm laptops, challenging some of the best laptops overall, even powerhouses like the MacBook Pro M4.

That's in addition to one of Samsung's consistently excellent touchscreen AMOLED displays, a thin-and-light chassis for a 16-inch laptop, and Galaxy AI features that complement the Microsoft Copilot+ suite. The positives for the Book 4 Edge are building up fast.

But all that speed comes at a cost, and no, I'm not talking about the $1,749 retail price of the configuration we reviewed.

The Book 4 Edge's battery life falls short of our expectations, and when you push that impressive performance, the chassis heats up to an uncomfortable degree.

However, all is not lost for the Galaxy Book 4 Edge if you like the rest of what it offers. Read on for a complete picture of my time with Samsung's speedster.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Specs and benchmarks

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Price and configurations

I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1-84-100 processor, Qualcomm Adreno integrated GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2880 x 1800 AMOLED touchscreen display. This is the top-end configuration for the 16-inch model. The full listed price is $1,749 directly from Samsung, but there’s an instant $300 savings, so you’ll pay only $1,449.

If you want to save money and still want the 16-inch display like my review model, you can upgrade to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1-80-100 CPU and 512GB SSD, which costs $1,449 ($1,149 with the same instant savings). That’s the mid-tier Snapdragon X Elite processor, so that the performance will fall slightly. However, based on our experience with this chip in other laptops, you should benefit from less heat concerns and longer battery life.

The Book 4 Edge also has a 15.6-inch FHD LED Display (1920 x 1080), the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. At $899 ($799 with an instant discount), it’s considerably cheaper, but the display and CPU are significantly downgraded. If you need to stay below $1,000, this configuration is worth considering, but the display and CPU upgrade make the base 16-inch configuration the best value.

If the Galaxy Book 4 Edge doesn’t fit your budget or needs, you can check our best 16-inch laptops or best AI PCs for some of our favorite alternatives.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Design

Samsung calls the color of the Galaxy Book 4 Edge “Sapphire Blue,” but I would be shocked if 100 out of 100 people surveyed on the street wouldn’t say it was silver. Regardless, it’s still a welcome break from the tired dark grey. The design of the Book 4 Edge otherwise sticks closely to that same Samsung look. Galaxy laptops have worn it like a comfortable sweater for several years, but it still looks good. The laptop flares slightly at the back to allow for the ports but tapers toward the front, which also makes it easier to pick up off a table.

Inside, there are minimal bezels on the top and sides, while the bottom bezel remains thicker than you might expect in 2025. I suspect that other components within the laptop chassis may be driving the size decision, but if the whole laptop could be reduced slightly along with that bezel, it would be a welcome change for the next generation.

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge falls on the lighter end of the scale for 16-inch laptops, at 3.38 pounds, and is pleasingly portable at 14 x 9.85 x 0.48 inches. That’s comparable to its rivals, with the exception of the HP Spectre x360, but that is a 2-in-1:

• HP Spectre x360 16 (2024): 4.3 pounds, 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.44 inches
• MacBook Air 15-inch M3: 3.3 pounds, 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches
• Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: 3.3 pounds, 13.92 x 9.57 x 0.51 inches

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Ports

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge has all the typical ports most users need, but I have one complaint about their specific arrangement.

• 2 x Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Type-C
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
• 1 x HDMI 2.1
• 1 x headphone mic/jack
• 1 x microSD card slot

Credit to Samsung for not dropping the USB Type-A or HDMI 2.1 port in a laptop this thin and light. However, I would like a Thunderbolt 4 port on both sides of the laptop so that I can charge from either side. It’s not that Samsung doesn’t provide a long enough charging cable; I’d just prefer not to stretch the cable around the laptop depending on where I’m working, as it puts unnecessary stress on the cable.

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge isn’t short on ports, but if you need more, our best USB Type-C hubs or best laptop docking stations guides can help.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Battery life

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge’s battery life is an anomaly among the first wave of ARM-based Windows laptops that arrived in the summer of 2024, and that’s not a good thing.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite laptops were among the first to completely shift the standard for good battery life in a Windows laptop. At the time of publication, the longest-lasting laptop on our laptops with the best battery life page is the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1-78-100 chip, it delivered over 21 hours of battery life in our testing.

On the same Laptop Mag battery test, which involves surfing a set group of websites with video and static images while the display is set at 150 nits of brightness, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge lasted an average of 9 hours and 56 minutes. The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 isn’t as powerful as the Book 4 Edge, but it delivers over twice the battery life and only about a 9% drop in performance. I recently covered five powerful laptops that deliver over 15 hours of battery life to highlight that you simply don’t need to trade performance for battery life in 2025.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Display

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge features a 16-inch, WQXGA+ (2880 x 1800) touchscreen AMOLED display. A Samsung AMOLED display has yet to disappoint me. Watching the latest Marvel series on the Book 4 Edge was a pleasure.

I watched the first two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+ for my real-world testing, and the thematically and visually dark show played to the OLED panel’s strengths. A close up of Charlie Cox as Daredevil with his face half in darkness and half bathed in red light retains fantastic detail. It illustrates the incredible color and contrast capabilities of this display.

Reproduction of the dark doesn’t mean this display can’t get bright. In our testing, it registered a solid 387 nits, so I could work in any environment with the Book 4 Edge. It passed my typical torture test of working next to an east-facing floor-to-ceiling window in the morning at my local coffee shop with flying colors.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Keyboard and touchpad

Samsung makes full use of the 16-inch chassis on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, giving you an absolutely massive touchpad paired with a full-size keyboard and number pad.

While the key travel is fairly shallow, I found the keys bouncy and quick to type on. Turning to 10fastfingers.com to test my typing performance, I hit 92 words per minute with 99% accuracy. I slightly outperformed my average of 88 words per minute with 99% accuracy. That short key travel is not ideal if you spend all day typing. Our best laptops for writers include alternatives with up to 1.5mm key travel.

The touchpad measures 4.2 x 5.9 inches, which may be larger than it needs to be. However, touch rejection works effectively as I didn’t get any stray cursor movement while typing, and it makes Windows 11 gestures a breeze by allowing my fingers to glide smoothly over its surface. While I’m happy to use a touchpad on the go, I still like to pair one of the best wireless mice with my laptop when I can, but that comes down to personal preference.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Audio

The quad-speakers on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge create a solid soundscape, but aren’t as loud as I hoped. They filled my small 10’ x 7’ office, but at 100%, the audio does perceptibly distort, so you need to scale back slightly. Listening to my typical playlist of Creative Writing Scores, “S.T.A.Y.” from the Interstellar soundtrack sounded crisp and clear at about 85% volume, but pushing beyond that diminished the quality while still not completely enveloping the room in sound.

While the built-in speakers are perfectly fine for casual use, if you’re regularly trying to enjoy audio content through your Galaxy Book 4 Edge, I’d recommend picking up a pair of the best wireless headphones or best computer speakers for a superior listening experience.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Performance and heat

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge is one of the few laptops to offer the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1-84-100 chip, which makes for blistering fast performance, but it may have you blistering too.

For years, Windows-on-ARM laptops were hampered by the weak performance of available ARM-based chips. That was finally put to rest with the arrival of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite in June of 2024.

The productivity performance of even the lowest X Elite chip is outstanding. While it isn’t a fitting comparison for other reasons, the Book 4 Edge’s top-of-the-line X Elite chip also beat the 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro (and the newer 14-inch MacBook Pro M4) in the Geekbench overall performance test.

My laptop usage is a malstrom of multitasking with dozens of Chrome tabs across at least a few windows alongside Asana for task management, Slack for communication, and typically Photoshop. While it isn’t going to claim a spot among our best laptops for Photoshop or best video editing laptops, it dealt with my casual Photoshop usage without slowdowns.

Now, we get to the downside of all this performance muscle. One of the highlights of most Snapdragon X Elite laptops is their power efficiency, which typically rivals or surpasses Apple Silicon, representing the gold standard for that metric since 2020.

However, for fans of Greek mythology, Qualcomm may have flown too close to the sun, like Icarus. Its most powerful chip is a little too hot to handle.

The hottest temperature our lab testers recorded following a 15-minute video test was 112 degrees Fahrenheit behind the vent on the bottom right-center portion of the laptop. That’s well beyond our 95-degree comfort threshold. However, we see gaming laptops pass our much more rigorous gaming heat test with results lower than that.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Gaming and graphics

Do not buy this laptop with gaming or graphics work in mind. This is one clear weakness for the first generation Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips. You can look at our best gaming laptops or cheap gaming laptops for stronger options, including a few that are at or below the Galaxy Book 4 Edge price.

Our only gaming test that would run on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge is the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark, and it delivered only 24 frames per second (30 fps is the minimum for playability). Civ 6 wasn’t even intensive when it debuted in February 2019, so unless your gaming sticks to much older titles, this isn’t the laptop for you.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: AI features

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge gets a full scoop of AI with the full Copilot+ PC suite of AI features and then sprinkles Galaxy AI features on top of the AI sundae.

If you've been shopping for a laptop online, you've undoubtedly seen ads for Copilot+ PCs AI features or AI features in general, but if you are currently on an older laptop, they may not be part of your routine just yet.

Samsung has a few features that are exclusive to its laptops, including Circle to Search, AI Select, Photo Remaster, and Chat Assist. The first two make searching the web on your laptop easier by allowing you to circle or highlight an image or text onscreen to search for information regarding that content. Photo Remaster tries to unblur hastily snapped photos, while Chat Assist gives you spelling and grammar help in Messages.

The Book 4 Edge also supports all of Microsoft's Copilot+ PC features. This includes Recall, which essentially records the activity on your laptop to help you find anything you've seen or done in the future.

If you need help creating an image, Microsoft's Cocreator will do it with a text prompt, allowing you to refine it as you go. Live Captions can translate audio from over 40 languages into English. Finally, Windows Studio Effects augments your laptop's webcam with extras like portrait lighting, automatic framing, and improved voice isolation.

One oft-ignored key to some AI features is that they offload tasks from your CPU. For example, using Windows Studio Effects won't impact your laptop's performance, which is a win for everyone.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Webcam

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge features a 2MP webcam, and it is no threat to the best webcams, which you will want to buy if you regularly do video calls. Turning the camera on in my well-lit office, the image was grainy and even had a slight blur or haze.

The colors are accurate, but the camera simply can’t produce a sharp, satisfying image. That's not a problem if you're using it occasionally for personal calls, but if you ever have more important video calling needs, you’ll want an external webcam.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: Software and warranty

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge comes with Windows 11 Home or Pro, which includes the typical array of Windows software, but Samsung really adds to the tally.

There are an additional 19 Samsung apps when you first boot up the laptop. To be clear, some of these apps, like Samsung Notes, are quite good, so I’m not calling these bloatware by any means, and you can uninstall most of them if you prefer to keep your laptop storage tidy.

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge ships with a typical one-year limited warranty, but it can be extended with Samsung Care+ or Samsung Care+: Extended Warranty, starting at $99.

Bottom line

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge may be the fastest thin-and-light Windows laptop we've ever tested, which is an incredible feat. However, this is not enough to overcome the poor battery life and thermal performance.

It simply doesn't have enough of a performance edge on the best AI PCs to justify its significantly lower battery life, and truly, you do not want to touch the bottom of this laptop when it's going all out.

Again, there's more to like here than just the performance. The display is outstanding, the keyboard is fast, and if you're in the Samsung ecosystem, it melds seamlessly with your phone or tablet.

But if you do opt for the Book 4 Edge, I strongly recommend the base model. It will unquestionably deliver longer battery life in exchange for a negligible dropoff in performance.

If you're unsure if it's the right choice for you, then consider checking our best laptops page for our current top recommendations across numerous categories.

With Microsoft planning to pull the plug on one of its most popular operating systems to date on October 14, 2025, Windows 10 is living on borrowed time — but it's not going down without a fight.

Over the last month, the aging operating system has made a surprising comeback in one key battlefield, countering the slow but widespread migration of users to Windows 11.

Windows 10's impending end-of-support has been widely known since Microsoft's Windows client roadmap announcement in April 2023. At that time, Statcounter figures suggest that the operating system had a global market share among desktop users of 71.6%. A year on, in April 2024, that market share fluctuated, but ultimately only dropped by 1.7%

However, as of February 2024, updated Statcounter figures suggest that Windows 10's global market share has fallen to its lowest share of the market (58.7%) since August 2019 (59.8%) — a point in time when the then four-year-old operating system was still involved in its own drawn-out switchover from Windows 7. On the flipside of those stats, Windows 11 has climbed to its highest peak so far, claiming 38.1% of the desktop market.

By the numbers, Windows 11 adoption is healthily on the uptick. That said, one corner of the computing world seemingly isn't willing to follow suit: gaming. According to the latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey for February 2025, Windows 11 isn't on the rise. In fact, it's on the decline — and not by mere fractions of a percent, either.

Do gamers still favor Windows 10?

There are plenty of reasons for gamers to upgrade to Windows 11, including DirectX 12 Ultimate which unlocks ray tracing and variable rate shading, Auto HDR which offers older games a graphical facelift, better optimized DirectStorage for loading games faster, Dynamic Lighting control to bring all your RGB peripherals under one umbrella, and improved gaming performance in windowed mode.

However, perhaps the two most important features of that list, DirectX 12 Ultimate and DirectStorage, are also available on Windows 10. Factor in Windows 10's reputation as the more stable platform of the two, and you can understand why gamers might prefer Microsoft's previous operating system.

While the last few months of Steam's Hardware and Software Survey (a monthly survey that collects data on the platform's 132 million monthly active users) have seen Windows 11 on the rise — securing 54.9% of Steam users as of December 2024 — February's survey has flipped the script on its head entirely.

According to the most recent Steam survey, the number of Windows 10 64-bit users has shot up by 10.4%, while Windows 11 64-bit is down 9.3%, practically reversing December's figures and giving Windows 10 the majority 53.3% lead.

The shift is one of the biggest we've seen for some time and could indicate that gamers aren't quitting on Windows 10 just yet. However, with the wider trajectory of Windows 11 adoption pointing in the opposite direction, what's the real cause of this Windows 10 resurgence among gamers?

Could it be that new hardware owners have downgraded from pre-installed versions of Windows 11 following the holiday period en masse, or is there more to consider?

What caused Windows 10's comeback?

Looking elsewhere in the Steam survey, there's an even more impressive shift in Steam user's demographics when it comes to one key area: language.

Over the past month, there has been a more than 20% rise in the number of Steam users selecting Simplified Chinese as their language. This pushes the total population of Simplified Chinese users up to 50% of the platform, with English trailing at 23.8% ahead of Russian at 6.7%.

This influx of Chinese users may be the cause of the sharp uptick in reported Windows 10 users on the platform, with Statcounter data specifically relating to China estimating that only 26.4% of users are operating on Windows 11 systems, compared to nearly 40-42% of European and North American users.

Is Windows 11's dominance an inevitability?

Ultimately, the closer we get to Windows 10's October 14 end-of-support date, the more clear it will become: the Windows 11 take-over is an inevitability.

While China's Windows 10 adoption is still relatively low, Chinese users are seemingly more willing to stand by older operating systems, with Windows 7 still estimated to be run by 16.5% of desktop PCs.

However, with Windows 11 adoption steadily progressing elsewhere, it seems as if all things are going to plan for Microsoft as it seeks to unify its users under its flagship operating system.

More from Laptop Mag

• Think Windows 11 is bad? Picture how much worse Windows 12 could be
• A Windows 11 update has tanked performance on some Intel CPUs — Here's what it means for you
• Microsoft Copilot just helped me pirate Windows 11 — Here's proof