Author: Martin Brinkmann

When I was young, I studied German, History and English at Essen University in Germany. I worked in computer support for several years at the time to help other computer users when they ran into issues. Writing started out as a passion project, as I wanted to help more users and not just the ones that I handled in support. This lead to the founding of Ghacks Technology News in 2005. First, as a side-project, but shortly thereafter as a full-time project as the site's popularity exploded. I sold Ghacks to Softonic some years ago, but stayed on as Editor. You can still read my articles on the site. I do publish on Betanews as well. In recent years, I started to write and publish technology books, including my latest book "Windows 11 From Beginner to Advanced", which is available on Amazon. I'm also a freelance writer for the German publisher Gamestar. Chipp.in is my newest project. I want to use it to talk about my book projects, sell my books directly, and write about technology, as this is what interests me.

Taking Microsoft’s Copilot app for Android for a test drive

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft unveiled the Copilot app for Android and iOS this week officially. While it released the app earlier, it is now officially available according to Microsoft.

How good is the app for Android and how does it compare to the web-based version? To find out, I decided to install Microsoft Copilot for Android on a Samsung handheld.

Microsoft describes its Copilot app in the following way:

Improve Your Productivity with Copilot–Your AI-Powered Chat Assistant
Copilot is a pioneering chat assistant from Microsoft powered by the latest OpenAI models, GPT-4 and DALL·E 3. These advanced AI technologies provide fast, complex, and precise responses, as well as the ability to create breathtaking visuals from simple text descriptions.
Chat and create all in one place—for free!

The app contains ads according to the description on Google Play. Ads may be displayed in responses of the AI, but not elsewhere, at least for now.

First thing you may notice is that you do not need to sign-in to use the app. This is similar to Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat, which also works without account. Still, if you sign-in to a Microsoft account you get “longer conversations” and may ask more questions. The latter refers to the number of turns between you and the AI. Anonymous users get 5 turns, which is sufficient for many interactions.

The Copilot interface and capabilities

Microsoft Copilot App Android interface

The application’s interface feels a bit overladen on launch. There is a slider to use GPT-4, some examples to get you started, a microphone icon, the refresh button to start anew, a photo and a keyboard icon. You also get a sign-in link and may vote or copy content the AI produces.

You may interact with the AI by typing, speaking or through images that you capture with the device’s camera or search on the Web. The functionality is similar to the one provided by the Copilot website.

Some features may work better on the web, others on mobile. Typing may work better with a dedicated keyboard, but voice and image inputs may work better on mobile in many cases.

Note that you still need to type or speak when you capture images.

A tap on the “sign-in” icon displays the Settings. This is not ideal, as it may mean that users who do not want to sign in from opening the preferences.

The settings list a few interesting options. You may change country/region, display language and speech language, as well as the theme there.

The privacy options display just a few options, including the ability to block ads. Note that this won’t disable the ads that Microsoft’s Copilot AI may display in its responses. It is unclear which ads the ad-blocker is blocking. There is no explanation on the page regarding that.

Using the Copilot App

It makes almost no difference if you use the Copilot app or Copilot on the web. Typing may be slower for many users, but that is to be expected. It would be interesting to know how many interact with the AI through text and how many use their voice.

Copilot requires an active Internet connection and it may take some time before you get results, especially if you enable GPT-4.

There is little that the current version of Copilot can do that other Internet services can’t. You can use it to translate images that you capture, get recommendations based on your location, or information about art in a museum. One of the advantages of the AI is that you get all of this from a single app.

One of the downsides is that it may hallucinate and produce information that are inaccurate or false. This is also true for other web services and AIs and it may be necessary to verify the output before making use of it.

It works reasonably well most of the time and may be useful because of that. Much depends on how it is used though.

Closing Words

Whether it is better than regular non-AI apps and services is for the individual user to decide. You could ask the AI to create a sightseeing trip that lasts 4 hours and should include all major sights in the vicinity. It may produce a good list faster than you’d be able to create using Google Maps or other services. Then again, it may also lead you to sights that do not exist, or do not exist anymore.

All in all, AI is a promising technology, but it is in its infancy. While technology has leaped forward significantly in the past year, it still has a long way to go before it reaches Star Trek Data or Star Wars 3C-PO levels.

Now you: do you use AI services or tools?

Google

Manage which Google Services may exchange your data (EU-only)

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you live in a European Union region, you will soon benefit from another privacy improvement. Google just announced a new control for users within the EU that allows them to manage links between Google services. Links refers to data that services may exchange between each other.

Google links many of its services by default, which gives it and its services access to user data across its services. This changes soon in the EU.

A search on Google Search may result in recommendations showing on YouTube or Google Play, and Google Ad services may use the information as well.

Google describes the functionality in the following way:

When linked, these services can share your data with each other and with all other Google services for certain purposes. All types of data described in Google’s Privacy Policy can be shared across linked Google services. This includes your activity data when you’re signed in, such as things you search for and the videos you watch and listen to.

Google says that the feature is a response to the Digital Markets Act of the EU. The new functionality is only available to users who live in the European Union.

Note: the functionality is rolling out currently. You may not see the “Linked Google Services” option yet, or only on some devices.

Note 2: The default seems to be that services are no longer linked. This means that they won’t share any data anymore from March 6, 2024 onward. It is still a good idea to verify this.

Manage your linked Google services

Linked Google Services

Google users may control the data sharing of the following Google services under the new system:

  • Search
  • YouTube
  • Ad services
  • Google Play
  • Chrome
  • Google Shopping
  • Google Maps

Here are step by step instructions to manage these.

First, for desktop users:

  1. Open the Google Account website in your browser of choice.
  2. Select Data & privacy on the page that opens.
  3. Scroll down to “Linked Google Services” and select Manage linked services.
  4. Select or deselect services. Any service that is selected will be linked when you select Next.
  5. Review the selections made and select Confirm > Done > Got it.

For Android users:

  1. Open the Settings on the Android device.
  2. Select Google > Manage your Google Account > Data & privacy.
    • If this is not available, open the Google app instead, tap on the account icon, select Google Account and then Data & privacy.
  3. Under “Linked Google Services”, select Manage linked services.
  4. Select or deselect services. Any service that is selected will be linked when you select Next.
  5. Review the selections made and select Confirm > Done > Got it.

On iPhone and iPad:

  1. Open the Gmail application on the device. If you don’t use Gmail, load http://myaccount.google.com/linked-services instead.
  2. Select Menu > Settings > Your account > Manage your Google Account.
  3. Under “Linked Google Services”, select Manage linked services.
  4. Select or deselect services. Any service that is selected will be linked when you select Next.
  5. Review the selections made and select Confirm > Done > Got it.

Microsoft forgets one important aspect when adding AI to everything

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Barely a week goes by without another AI announcement from Microsoft. It all began with the integration of ChatGPT into Bing Search. Called Bing Chat, it allows Bing users to communicate with a custom version of ChatGPT directly from the Bing website.

Exactly a year later, AI has found its way into a wide range of Microsoft products. From Windows Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot to integration in Microsoft Paint and Office. Soon, AI will also have its place in Notepad and many other company products.

Microsoft even started to rename products, Microsoft Edge for mobile to Microsoft Edge: AI Browser, to highlight its commitment and maybe benefit from the hype surrounding AI as well. Heck, there will even be a dedicated Copilot key on upcoming keyboards.

Microsoft seems hellbent to introduce AI into all of its products. Some products certainly benefit from an integration, especially if it is optional. It is up to each Bing user to use Bing Chat or ignore it.

The same can not be said for all products, especially if the integration can not be ignored easily or turned off. Microsoft is forgetting an important aspect in its rush to integrate AI into all of its products: does it benefit the user?

Lack of use cases

The progress that AI has made in the past year is astonishing. It is important that companies create products and tinker around with things. Find out what works and what does not.

When you look at Microsoft, you may notice repeating patterns. The integrations of an AI image creator in Paint or the integration of an AI rewrite tool in Notepad are two examples.

These tools exist already. Bing Chat can be used to create images. The integration in Paint makes it comfortable to access for users of the app, but it does not add anything beyond that to the tool.

Similarly, Cowriter in Notepad exists already in Microsoft Edge. Even worse, the Edge tool is more powerful. Cowriter is still in development, but it is unclear if Microsoft is going to add functionality to it before releasing it to the public.

These integrations benefit a small number of users only, at the very best. While they may introduce others to AI tools made by Microsoft, they annoy others at the same time.

Do we really need rewriters in all text processors or image generators in all image editors? The question exaggerates the issue, clearly, but there is a chance that Microsoft is pushing AI too much. If more and more users get annoyed, it could certainly backfire.

Windows Copilot: the perfect example

Windows Copilot

Windows Copilot, for instance, is just a version of Bing Chat at the moment. Microsoft announced the integration into Windows and Windows-specific tools and options,, but there are just a handful at the moment. Yes, this could be turned into a personal helper for all things Windows, but it is not at this point.

So, almost everyone gets Windows Copilot who runs a modern Windows system. It is difficult to turn off, one can only hide it using built-in options, and it does not work too well at the moment.

It requires an Internet connection and getting answers takes a couple of seconds usually. It is slow and not very helpful. Again, this may change in the future, and it hopefully does, but it feels pressed into Windows at the moment.

Closing Words

Microsoft’s enthusiasm when it comes to AI is understandable. It is a huge business already and will only grow in the future. The company is at the forefront, thanks to its partnership with Open AI.

Microsoft executives do have to make sure that they are not carried away though. It is one thing to launch great AI products that benefit users, another to plaster AI on everything.

Now You: what is your take on AI and AI products?

Copilot key

There has to be more to the Windows Copilot key

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft announced a dedicated Copilot key for Windows recently. Yusuf Mehdi himself announced the “year of AI” and the introduction of the Copilot key for Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft and several OEMs will ship upcoming devices with the key on the keyboard.

Information about the key is scarce at the moment. While Microsoft did publish a blog post on its Windows Experience blog about the key, it revealed little about its functionality.

Mehdi revealed on Twitter that the key would “enable one-click access to Copilot” and Microsoft’s rather lengthy post does not provide any additional information on the functionality it provides besides that.

Microsoft does compare it to the Windows-key, which it introduced almost 30 years ago. This key, also controversial at the time, introduced a number of new shortcuts on Windows.

Microsoft’s own Surface devices and devices by OEMs such as Dell will feature the new Copilot key.

The Copilot key: what we know

A short clip of the key that Mehdi posted reveals its location next to the right Alt key and the cursor keys on a keyboard for a mobile device. What Mehdi failed to mention is that it sits in the place of the right Ctrl-key on the keyboard.

Tom Warren posted a screenshot of a Dell keyboard with the key. It too replaced the Ctrl-key on the keyboard. It appears that Menu functionality is still available as well, albeit not directly when pressing the key.

The removal of the right Ctrl-key introduces a problem for users who use it. There does not seem to be a replacement option and it is unclear if users may map Ctrl again to the Copilot key to restore the current functionality.

Functionality-wise, all that Microsoft revealed was that you get access to Copilot when you activate the key.

Obviously, Copilot itself needs to rise to the occasion as well. It is severely lacking at the moment. It takes to long to process input and anything that you write is submitted over the Internet to a Microsoft server.

Is there more to it?

If the entire functionality of the key is to launch the Windows Copilot interface, then it is quite the redundant feature. The existing shortcut Windows-C opens the Copilot interface already. Users may also click on the Copilot icon to launch it.

What happens to the key when users deactivate Copilot? It is a dead key then? Will Windows 11 map it to Ctrl automatically? Or will it reactivate Copilot even?

It is certainly possible that the key adds just the launch option, which would demonstrate Microsoft’s dedication to AI. It may be great for the stock price and initial usage of Copilot, but it would be lacking functionality-wise.

If that is indeed all there is to the dedicated key, it is a missed opportunity. If Microsoft uses it as another key for shortcuts, it might interest more users.

From launching dedicated AI tools, such as image generation, to creating summaries of open documents or webpages with a simple shortcut.

If Microsoft wants to please everyone, it would even introduce a setting to remap the key to Ctrl.

Closing Words

The coming days and weeks will provide us with additional information about the key and its uses. While many OEM keyboards will include the key, it is uncertain if the majority of standalone keyboards will support it.

Now You: what is your take on the key?

hard drive

How to resume Disk Erase operations on Windows

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

I ran into a bit of trouble recently when I tried to fully erase old hard drives that I no longer needed. Since I wanted to sell or give away the drives, I had to make sure that the new owner would not be able to restore any data from the drives.

My usual routine, formatting the drives fully and using full disk encryption, works well, but it is taking a long time and does not allow interruptions. The drives, for instance 8 TB external Western Digital hard drives, would take 12 or more hours to format alone.

Most regular format and erase tools, including Windows’ built-in format options and the recently reviewed HardWipe, do not support resume. Stopping the format and then restarting it at a later point always begins the entire process anew.

This means, that you need to keep the format operation going until it completes to make sure everything is erased. Since I could not to run the computer for that long, some formats would take more than a day to complete, I decided to look for a format tool with resume functionality.

There were not many out there, to my surprise, that support resume. In fact, I found a single program to do that: Active@ KillDisk.

It is available as a free version and commercial versions. The main difference between the versions, apart from free being allowed for personal use only, is that you can only run one-pass erases on disks. Since I did not want to run multiple passes anyway, as this would have extended the time even further, I decided to give this program a go to see how it fares.

Erasing hard drives with resume functionality

Erase Disk with Resume functionality

KillDisk erases content on disks by overwriting all sectors with the character 0. The professional versions support 24 international erase standards and some other features, such as providing access to boot disks or consoles.

To get started, download the latest version of the program from the developer website. The free version is provided as a setup and portable version; both offer the same functionality. An account is not required so that you may start using the program immediately.

Launch the program after the download and optional installation. You see the list of all connected drives, volumes and partitions.

Select the entire drive and then the erase disk option. The next screen defines the process. You can enable verification, but this extends the length of the process. There is also an option to write a fingerprint to the first sector of the disk and customize the Erase Certificate. This certificate is created after the process to confirm that the disk was erased. An option to disable this is also available.

Activate the Start button to run the erase operation on the disk. You can stop the process at any time with a click on the stop button.

To resume it, select “resume” after selecting the drive. The program will also display the resume reminder on the next start by default.

Note that resume will “go back” a bit and not restart the operation at the exact position it was stopped. Still, with resume supported, you may run the erase job at different times until the entire disk has been erased.

Closing Words

Active@ KillDisk is a well-designed program. While its main application is use in organizations, it is great for jobs at home as well. The erase and resume option sets it apart from the rest of the tools. While it is possible that other programs support resume functionality as well, I’m not aware of them at this point.

It is perfect for erasing data on large hard drives, especially if you can not leave the computer on for the time it takes to erase a disk entirely in one session.

Netfflix

Netflix Games may soon get ads

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Netflix is known for its streaming content, but it also offers a growing library of games to subscribers. These games are available free of charge currently.

On its games website, Netflix highlights the current advantages of games. These includes “no ads”, “no extra fees”, “no in-app purchases” and “unlimited access”.

As far as games are concerned, you find the usual assortment of casual games for the most part. What may be surprising to some is that you get some high quality games as well. This includes the “definitive editions” of Grand Theft Auto Vice City and San Andreas, and the blockbuster Into The Breach.

The free ride may be over soon

Netflix Games

A Wall Street Journal report suggests (paywalled) that Netflix is evaluating a number of ways to monetize its games offering. Next to charging extra for premium titles, Netflix may also introduce in-app purchases or advertisement.

The change torpedoes all main features of Netflix Games, which most subscribers may not like on bit.

Besides this, Netflix also considers giving Standard with Ads subscribers access to the games section. Games are limited to Standard and Premium plans currently at Netflix.

Soon, and this seems a likely option, Standard with Ads subscribers may get their hands on at least some of the available games. These would, you guessed it already, come with advertisement.

Netflix has high hopes for its ad-powered plan. It continues to grow and the inclusion of games would make it more attractive to part of the target demographic.

Netflix Games: the future

Netflix tripled its games download rate in 2023. Count rose to more than 81 million downloads in 2023. For Netflix, it is important that downloads and use rise year on year.

Monetization is the next logical step for the company, even though it stated earlier that it did not want to go down that route. It is possible that Standard with Ads is getting access to ad-powered games only, and that the offer for ad-free subscribers remains as is.

Netflix could run some tests to see how premium game offers fare on the network.

If you are a Netflix subscriber and a gamer, you may want to give some of the games a go before things may change.

Streaming is evolving from its initial goal of providing a simpler ad-free experience. Numerous streaming services compete against each other now in a market that is pivoting towards ads. It is reducing the attractiveness of these services and pushes P2P again.

Netflix is at the forefront of the development. The streaming giant announced a new binge ad format and sponsorships recently.

DNS

DNS Forge Review: privacy-friendly censorship-free DNS with ad-blocking

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

DNS Forge is a DNS provider based in Germany that promises censorship-free access to the Internet, and a secure and private DNS system with ad-blocking.

It looks to me as if news coverage of DNS and technologies associated with it have gone down considerably in recent time. DNS, Domain Name System, is an essential part of the Internet. It is used to translate domain names, which humans prefer, to IP addresses, which computers use.

DNS over HTTPS and other technologies designed to improve privacy and security are not really talked about that much anymore. Most browsers support DNS over HTTPS by know. You may check my guide on enabling DNS over HTTPS in your browser of choice if you need assistance.

DNS works automatically. If you don’t configure it, you use the DNS service of your Internet or network provider. Some of them collect the data and sell them to other companies.

DNS over HTTPS is one way of preventing that. Another is the switching to another DNS provider, preferably one that promises privacy and also supports DNS over HTTPS. DNS Forge is such a provider. There is one downside to using the provider, and that is that it operates servers in Germany only. The further away you live, the longer it will take to process your requests. There is also a 70 queries per 10 seconds limit on lookups.

There are alternatives. Mullvad, known for its private VPN service, operates public encrypted DNS servers as well.

Remember, there is more to security than strong passwords and two-factor authentication.

DNS Forge: the basics

DNS Forge Setup

The project website provides all information required to start using the service. DNS Forge supports a variety of DNS technologies:

  • DNS
  • DNS Clean (like DNS but with youth protection block lists and Safe Search)
  • DNS over TLS
  • DNS over HTTPS
  • DNS over Quic

All services include ad-blocking, DNSSEC and no logging by default.

Instructions on switching to DNS Forge are provided for mobile devices running Android and iOS, Firefox and Chromium-based browsers. You may also set up DNS Forge on desktop systems.

You could set up the DNS over HTTPS technology in the browser’s that you use on your devices and, depending on the operating system, the same or another to cover all bases.

DNS Forge works automatically after setup. Ads are blocked automatically. If you change to the DNS provider on the system level, you will benefit from ad blocking in all applications. Note that some browsers may use their own DNS servers and not the servers set up on the system level. This is why you may need to configure them in the browser separately.

Verdict

If you live close to Germany geographically, then you will get the best performance out of the service. Once set up, it works automatically. The only decisions you have to make is whether you want to use the additional youth protections and where you will add the DNS information on your devices / apps.

The service passed the DNS Leak Test, which is good. Running the leak test prior and after setting up a private secure DNS provider is a good idea.

If you live far away from the German server, you may want to consider using equally respected DNS solutions, such as the one from Mullvad.

Hardwipe

Hardwipe review: erase hard drive data permanently

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Hardwipe is a privacy software for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Its main purpose is to erase hard drive data permanently so that it can’t be recovered anymore with recovery software.

You may remember my guide on making files unrecoverable on hard drives. I used the encryption software VeraCrypt for that, as it runs a full format on the drive by default.

While that is still recommended, full formatting a drive may take a long time to complete. Depending on the drive in question, it may take days to complete.

Hardwipe offers an alternative. Instead of using full format to make data unrecoverable, you’d use the program instead to overwrite all data with random characters. It offers a much faster process.

Note: Hardwipe appears to have been abandoned in 2017. The last version of the program is available on software download sites such as Major Geeks. It is compatible with all recent versions of Windows, including Windows 11.

Hardwipe installation and use

Hardwipe

Installation of Hardwipe is straightforward. Just double-click on the downloaded setup file and follow the setup screens. The only choices that you have to make is whether to place the application’s icon on the desktop and whether you want to add its installation folder to the path variable. The latter is only advised if you plan to run it from the command line.

Once you run it, you are greeted with a simple interface. The left side displays the list of supported sources. You may use the application to wipe an entire hard drive, a volume, free space or specific data.

Select “devices” from the list and check the hard drive or hard drives that you want to erase all data from. Once back in the main menu, activate the “random data” menu to select one of the available options. This defines the characters used to overwrite the data on the selected drive(s).

Hardwipe supports several algorithms next to random. These include Gutman, Schneier, DOD (Department of Defense) and several others. Some overwrite multiple times, which extends the process considerably. You may set the default algorithm in the options.

Select the Start button to begin the process. You will notice that it takes less time than a full drive format. The length of the operation still depends on certain characteristics, such as the speed of the drive or the load of the system.

Apart from wiping entire hard drives, you may use the program to wipe individual files or folders, or the entire free disk space.

Closing Words

Hardwipe is an excellent program if you want to protect data on hard drives against recovery. It is much quicker than full formatting hard drives, which makes it a viable option when it comes to that.

One downside is that the tool is abandoned. Still, it is an excellent program that works reliable and quite fast.

Microsoft Edge

MSEdgeRedirect: open content in your favorite browser on Windows

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

When Microsoft launched Windows 11 in late 2021, it did not only block millions of Windows PC owners from updating to the operating system, it also made the use of Microsoft Edge mandatory for certain operations.

Want to open support articles? Edge is required. Web search results? Edge is required. Links to articles and other content in Widgets? Edge is required.

Setting another browser to the system default did not change any this.

Then came MSEdgeRedirect. An open source tool that promises to redirect hardcoded content for Edge to another browser. While Microsoft did try to make the tool unusable, it did survive.

A new version of MSEdgeRedirect is now available. It comes just a week after the integration of Europe Mode. Europe Mode enables everyone to set the geographic location of the operating system to one of several European countries.

MSEdgeRedirect

Along with the change come abilities to remove Microsoft Edge and Bing Search, and gain control over other areas as well.

The newest update as another redirect option to the application: the ability to redirect MSN Discover content to another browser.

MSEdgeRedirect: modes explained

The application supports a wide range of redirect options. Before you get access to these, you need to select the mode of operation. There are three main options to choose from:

  • Europe Mode — This mode makes native changes to the system to set the region to a country in the European Economic Area. It gives you more control over Windows and includes the option to remove Microsoft Edge for good.
  • Service Mode — The application runs in the background to pick up any Edge link and redirect it to the desired target. Quite taxing for the system (developer says 1-10% CPU usage while running).
  • Active Mode — Runs the app instead of Microsoft Edge when links specific for Edge are opened.

If you picked Service or Active Mode, you may configure redirects on the next screen.

All Redirects

The application supports all variants of Microsoft Edge — Stable, Beta, Dev and Canary — and may do its magic regardless of which variant is installed.

Here is the list of available redirects:

  • Bing Discover — content that “Bing” believes is of interest.
  • Bing Search — web searches using Windows Search.
  • MSN News (Alpha) — news content displayed as a widget in Windows Widgets.
  • MSN Weather — weather content displayed on the taskbar and as a widget.
  • Bing Images — images provided by Bing.
  • PDF Viewer — change from Edge to another PDF viewer on the system.
  • Bing Chat — option to redirect Bing Chat.
  • Disable Windows CoPilot — turn the feature off.
  • Redirect Windows Store ‘Apps’ — don’t open them in the Microsoft Store.

You may configure all of these individually. Note that replacements vary depending on the type of content. Usually, you get multiple options to choose from, including a custom option.

Verdict

MSEdgeRedirect is an open source tool that gives users control over certain functionality that Microsoft decided to restrict. There aren’t any technical limitations for these restrictions. It appears to be an attempt by Microsoft to push its services over others, even at the expense of user control and choice.

Apart from not using these services, which works really well, you might give MSEdgeRedirect a try if you use some of them.

The latest version is available on the project’s GitHub repository. Note that you may get a SmartScreen security warning when you run the program on Windows. It is safe to use, so don’t worry about that.

Now You: do you use Windows 11?

Update installation

About Windows’ upcoming Fix problems using Windows Update feature

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Upcoming versions of Windows will include a new repair feature that Microsoft calls Fix problems using Windows Update. The feature, which was first spotted in January 2023, uses the capabilities of Windows Update to reinstall Windows.

Since it adds another repair option to Windows, you may wonder how it differs from existing options. In this article, we will take a look at the feature and highlight the differences to existing solutions.

Fix problems using Windows Update
source: PhantomOcean3

First the basics. The option is located under System > Recovery on Windows 11 devices. You find the option to “fix problems without resetting your PC” there. This option attempts to troubleshoot and fix issues directly without any reinstallation or resetting.

There is also “Reset this PC”, which reinstalls Windows and allows you to keep personal files, and “go back”, which tries to uninstall the most recent Windows update.

Fix problems using Windows Update explained

Fix problems using Windows Update is the new addition on the page. When you select the option, Windows will download files from Windows Update to reinstall itself.

A core difference to Reset this PC is that you get to keep personal files, installed applications and settings. In other words, it stays away from any user files and customizations and focuses on restoring the operating system itself.

Microsoft confirmed this when it announced the feature back in July 2023 on its Windows Insider blog.

The description of Fix problems using Windows Update reads: “Reinstall your current version of Windows (your apps, files and settings will be preserved)”.

Microsoft explains: “This operation reinstalls the OS that you have and will not remove any files, settings, or apps. The repair content is displayed on the Windows Update Settings page with the title appended with “(repair version)”.”

The main purpose of the feature is for “keeping the device secure and up to date” according to Microsoft. The company admits however that the new feature can be useful in multiple scenarios besides that.

The option may be useful in the following scenarios (among others):

  • When updates fail to install over and over again using Windows Update.
  • When part of the system is damaged, e.g., after a malware attack.
  • When other issues are experienced related to Windows features.
  • If you delete core apps that you somehow can’t restore any other way.

Closing Words

Microsoft has not yet announced when the new feature will land in Stable versions of Windows. Potential targets are the next Moment update, which rumors say launches in February 2024, or the next feature update, which will come later in 2024.

The new feature is an option. It does not take away any existing options but adds a new one that some users may find useful. Whether it will be indeed useful in many different scenarios remains to be seen.

Now You: which reset/reinstall option do you use when things are broken?