Category: Windows

The days of using Windows Search mostly as an application launcher may be officially numbered. Starting this week, Microsoft is rolling out a fundamentally redesigned Windows Search experience to testers in the Windows Insider Experimental channel.

Built on a modernized WinUI 3 foundation, this new update transforms the familiar taskbar feature into a streamlined, clutter-free command center. The new Search allows users to perform some system tasks, such as toggling dark mode, right from the search results.

From finding to doing

The most significant shift in this update is the introduction of inline actions. Microsoft aims to reduce the friction of everyday tasks by allowing you to complete them directly within the search interface.

If that sounds familiar, it is something that Microsoft had planned for the initial Copilot AI for Windows. While the former never came to fruition, it appears that Microsoft has finally found a way to link user requests to direct actions.

Need to tweak your settings? You can now type phrases like “switch to dark mode,” “dim my screen,” or “turn on Bluetooth” to make immediate adjustments without digging through menus. The new search can even help you manage your workspace, responding to commands like “minimize all my windows” or “arrange windows on screen”.

In the near future, this functionality will expand to include Phone Link integrations, enabling actions like sending a text message from a connected device directly through the search bar.

What’s Ahead

Looking forward to next year, Microsoft plans to bring this new search experience to the Start menu, ensuring it adapts to various taskbar configurations. For now, searches originating from the Start menu will still use the existing interface while Microsoft gathers feedback from Insiders.

Ultimately, the goal is to create a search tool that understands natural language, provides richer in-context information, and integrates deeply with features like Copilot, closing the gap between finding information and taking action.

With testing just getting started, it is too early to tell if the reimagined search is going to be everything that Microsoft hopes it can be. The past has shown us that announcements and implementations do not always go hand in hand. If Microsoft manages to implement more than a few inline actions, it has the potential of becoming a useful feature used by many users of the system.

On the other hand, if there are just ten or so actions, it is probably something that won’t make a big impact.

Microsoft has officially confirmed a known issue in its late-September Windows 11 update that causes certain games, media players, and productivity applications to close unexpectedly.

According to an advisory published on Microsoft’s Windows Release Health dashboard, the bug was introduced with the optional preview update KB5124010 (OS Build 26300.9550), released on September 22, 2026.

Because Windows 11 versions 24H2, 25H2, and the newly released 26H2 share a common servicing baseline, all three operating system versions are equally affected by the flaw.

Built-in Dolby Digital (AC-3) Decoder Identified as Root Cause

The stability issues stem from a bug in Windows 11’s built-in AC-3 (Dolby Digital) audio decoding component.

According to Microsoft’s technical documentation, the exact symptoms depend on how an application interacts with the system’s audio architecture. In some instances, affected programs fail to launch entirely or terminate without warning during startup.

In other cases, software operates normally until specific audio functions—such as background music playback, in-game sound effects, or volume adjustments—are triggered.

Microsoft notes that the bug predominantly impacts legacy software, including older PC games, standalone media players, and specialized productivity tools that rely directly on the operating system’s native AC-3 decoder.

Most modern applications and recent games remain unaffected, as they typically integrate their own proprietary or third-party audio decoding libraries rather than calling the legacy Windows component.

A Challenging Month for Windows 11 Updates

The AC-3 audio bug follows a series of update regressions throughout September 2026. The regular September Patch Tuesday release (KB5124008 on September 8), which addressed a record 974 security vulnerabilities alongside new user interface features, initially caused issues with Remote Desktop connections and folder sharing in Linux-based virtual machines.

Microsoft deployed an out-of-band emergency patch (KB5129195) on September 14 to resolve those flaws, but that update prevented the built-in Windows File History backup tool from recognizing external and network drives.

The AC-3 audio bug follows a series of update regressions throughout September 2026. The regular September Patch Tuesday release (KB5124008 on September 8), which addressed a record 974 security vulnerabilities alongside new user interface features, initially caused issues with Remote Desktop connections and folder sharing in Linux-based virtual machines. Microsoft subsequently deployed an out-of-band emergency patch (KB5129195) on September 14 to resolve those flaws, but that update inadvertently prevented the built-in Windows File History backup tool from recognizing external and network drives.

Mitigation and Next Steps

Microsoft has not published a specific list of affected software titles, nor has it provided an estimated release date for a permanent patch. The company stated that its engineering team is working on a resolution to be included in a future Windows update. In the meantime, users experiencing sudden crashes in older games or applications can bypass the issue by disabling audio output within the affected software or by uninstalling the optional update KB5124010 via the Windows Update history settings.

Microsoft announced the release of Windows 11, version 26H2 yesterday. The feature update of the year brings only little changes, which is one reason why you should not feel any hurry to install it on your devices, if you run Windows 11.

The good news is that version 26H2 is another light release. It is activated via an enablement package, just like version 25H2 was last year. This means that it installs in a matter of minutes and does not require extended reboots to complete the installation process.

Bad news is that it does not really introduce much of its own that is new and exciting, as Microsoft switched to pushing out most features when they are ready.

So, you can install Windows 11, version 26H2 on devices running Windows 11, version 24H2 or higher by going to Settings > Windows Update, enabling “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available”, and hitting the “check for updates” button, if the update is not displayed right away.

This installs the enablement package and upgrades the version to 26H2. Home users get two years of support with this one, as usual, while Enterprise and Education customers get another year on top of that for that version.

You can also download the enablement packages directly from Microsoft servers to install the update manually. Should work as fine and may be an option for devices where Windows Update refuses to display the update.

Now to the question as to whether it is a good idea to install the update right now. I would say no, it is not in most cases. It does not bring anything revolutionary to the table that can’t wait another month or two.

While Microsoft does not mention any known issues yet, past updates have shown that issues may come to light days or weeks after release. To avoid any issues and prolonged troubleshooting sessions, postpone the installation on most devices, other than for testing.

If you are hellbent on installing it, create a system backup first before you do. This gives you a Microsoft-independent option to restore the system should things go wrong with the installation or during use.

Microsoft introduced a new Windows Search feature recently that aims to improve the indexing of content on Windows devices. For the unaware, search indexing has several goals, including improving the speed of searches on Windows and using more information to return results. Indexing records information about files in folders that do get indexed.

Microsoft explains:

Indexing is the process of looking at files, email messages, and other content on your PC and cataloging their information, such as the words and metadata in them. When you search your PC after indexing, it looks at an index of terms to find results faster.

Up until now, indexing ran on a base set of folders, such as the Documents and Music folders, and any folder the user or organization added to an allow-list.

This changes with recent Windows updates, starting with KB5120998 for the first users. The new feature “Automatically find additional relevant locations” is available on some devices already. It appears to be turned on by default and will add folders to the indexing runs on Windows devices.

The idea is to add folders that are used often by the user, so that Windows Search can return information from these folders more reliably.

While that may be a good idea on devices where users do not touch the indexing configuration at all, Windows users who want to stay in control may want to turn the feature off to decide which folders do get indexed on the system.

Here is how you check for the existence of the feature and how you turn it off, if it exists:

• Open the Settings app via the Windows button or by pressing Windows-I.
• Go to Privacy & security > Search
• Search for “Automatically find additional relevant locations”.
• Switch the feature to off, if turned on and existing.

Note that this won’t disable indexing on the Windows system, but that it will prevent Windows from adding new locations to the indexing process without user say in the matter.

For the past few years at the very least, Microsoft tried to eliminate any option that allowed customers to create a local account in Windows 11 Home and also Pro editions.

While some loopholes remained, it was obvious that Microsoft picked data collecting and binding customers to Microsoft accounts over choice.

A new option to create a local account during setup in Windows 11 Home was discovered earlier this month. While Microsoft has not made any mention of the new option or commented on reports on sites like Windows Latest, it appears that customers may create a local account right away, at least for now and if they use the latest installation media and Insider version.

Apparently, all it takes is to click on the “learn more” link that is prominently displayed on the setup page that asks you to create a Microsoft account. Instead of following the instructions, you activate the link and are taken directly to the local account creation page.

Clearly, this looks more like an oversight on Microsoft’s part and not a change used to regain the trust of the many disgruntled Windows customers and admins out there.

Still, with Microsoft introducing some changes that part of the userbase requested for years, there is a slim chance that this could be more than just an oversight on Microsoft’s part.

Windows users who prefer reliable options may want to stick to trusted options, such as using the open source software Rufus to prepare the installation media to support the creation of local accounts right during setup.

The latest optional update for Windows 11 may cause several issues. Microsoft had to admit earlier that the update could cause certain games to become unresponsive. Two days ago, Microsoft admitted that users might also experience a gigantic mouse cursor instead of custom ones.

Yesterday, the company confirmed that the built-in security tool Microsoft Defender Antivirus might cause a notification to be displayed that is untrue.

The app might show the notification “Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off” even when it is enabled and working correctly.

Microsoft writes:

After installing the latest updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus, notifications might appear stating that “Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off,” even though the antivirus is functioning correctly and all settings show it as active. These notifications can appear when Windows starts and intermittently afterward. They persist even if notification settings are turned off.

The issue may occur in any version of Windows and Windows Server with Microsoft Antivirus running. Microsoft says that it is investigating the issue and plans to release a fix in a future Microsoft Defender Antivirus update.

For now, there is no workaround or other option to resolve the issue. Affected users may want to ignore the notification until the issue gets fixed by Microsoft engineers.

Note that the optional update should be considered a beta release. The three confirmed issues show why. Most Windows users may want to skip them entirely, as the changes are usually included in the upcoming month’s security update for the operating system.

Whether the issues are resolved then remains to be seen. At least the RGB issue is resolved and should not affect Windows users installing the September 2026 security updates.

Microsoft is once again using a tried strategy of its “getting customers to upgrade” playbook. This time it is removing features from the classic app Windows Media Player in order to make the modern Windows Media Player look better on first glance.

The change was observed in the latest experimental builds of the Windows operating system. According to the report by Windows detective Xeno on X, Windows Media Player Legacy lost the ability to display subtitles, captions and lyrics.

Windows Media Player Legacy has been nerfed slightly in build 29648.
It is no longer possible to enable "Lyrics, captions, and subtitles". Attempting to do so will tell you to go use the modern Media Player.
The menu has also been nerfed pic.twitter.com/OToXhpJBRK

— Xeno (@XenoPanther) August 18, 2026

Windows Media Player Legacy has been nerfed slightly in build 29648.
It is no longer possible to enable “Lyrics, captions, and subtitles”. Attempting to do so will tell you to go use the modern Media Player. The menu has also been nerfed

There are better media players out there in most cases, including the free VLC Media Player. It is unclear whether Microsoft will go ahead with the feature deprecation in the legacy Windows Media Player, but it is certainly not too far fetched that it will roll the change out in stable versions of Windows 11 in the future.

Microsoft pushing customers to migrate to certain products

Microsoft has a long history of employing aggressive tactics to move users from legacy applications to newer versions. Instead of simply letting the old app exist unsupported, they frequently implement forced redirects, server cutoffs, or feature stripping to make the “classic” app unusable.

Here are some examples:

Mail & Calendar / Classic Outlook > “New Outlook”

Microsoft is currently replacing the native Windows Mail & Calendar app and the classic Win32 Outlook desktop app with a web-wrapper called “New Outlook”.

How they degraded the classic experience: Microsoft added a persistent “Try the new Outlook” toggle to the classic apps. If a user clicks it, the classic app disappears. For users of the built-in Windows 10/11 Mail app, Microsoft eventually hard-coded the app to forcibly redirect to New Outlook upon launch. If users found workarounds to open the classic Mail app, Microsoft began disabling its ability to send and receive emails, rendering it entirely useless to force the transition

Classic Teams > New Teams

Microsoft rebuilt Teams from the ground up to improve performance, moving from an Electron framework to WebView2/React.

How they degraded the classic experience: Instead of letting the older version slowly phase out, Microsoft announced an “End of Availability” date. After July 2024 (and mid-2025 for certain enterprise environments), the classic Teams app completely stopped connecting to servers. If a user tried to launch it, they were met with a hard-blocking screen stating the app was no longer available, forcing an immediate download of the new version or a redirect to the web browser.

Skype Classic (v7) > Skype 8

When Microsoft redesigned Skype from a native peer-to-peer desktop app into a cloud-based application, the new version was widely criticized for missing features, a confusing mobile-first UI, and heavy resource usage.

How they degraded the classic experience: Because users refused to upgrade, Microsoft simply pulled the plug on the backend servers for Skype v7. Even if you had the classic program installed and it worked perfectly the day before, it abruptly refused to log in, displaying a mandatory upgrade prompt.

Internet Explorer 11 > Microsoft Edge

Microsoft wanted to kill off Internet Explorer in favor of their Chromium-based Edge browser.

How they degraded the classic experience: Before they officially removed IE11 from Windows, Microsoft installed a Browser Helper Object (BHO). If a user tried to navigate to a “modern” website (like YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram) using IE11, the browser would intentionally refuse to load the page. Instead, it would forcibly close the tab and automatically launch Microsoft Edge to open the URL. Eventually, Microsoft pushed a Windows Update that made clicking the iexplore.exe shortcut simply launch Edge.

Other examples:

• Classic Control Panel migration to Settings app (ongoing since 2015). Removing legacy apples, redirecting to Settings, sometimes with inferior options.
• Windows Live Messenger (MSN) to Skype. Microsoft shut down the Messenger protocol servers to force the migration. Messenger displayed a notification that a new version was available, which lead to the downloading of Skype and the removal of the classic app.

When Microsoft released Windows 11, it became clear quickly that the company’s attempt to fix the often convoluted Explorer context menu backfired. Microsoft’s answer was to introduce a two-tier context menu. The new one, displayed when users right-clicked and the second one, which users could access by holding down Shift or selecting the option to display it after the initial right-click.

The first contained common actions, like copying or format, the second all the entries from third-party apps that had not switched to the new system yet.

Microsoft revealed plans to launch another redesign of the context menu days ago on the official Windows blog. There, the company admitted that the current solution had performance and reliability issues.

The redesign addresses these and gives users more control over what they see and what they don’t require.

For that purpose, Microsoft is introducing new customization options in the Settings app for the context menu. You can enable or disable some of the options displayed there, including which apps are allowed to display entries on the main level and not in a submenu.

The shared screenshot shows the options that are in testing right now. You can display or hide

• Send to
• Print
• Create shortcut
• Copy as path
• Rotate image
• The apps that appear directly.

Additional options let users disable the icon-powered actions at the top (cut, copy, paste, rename, share, delete) in favor of inline options, keep cloud options separate, display properties at the bottom of the menu or display the legacy context menu right away.

Some actions can’t be configured at the time, including setting an image as the wallpaper, adding a file to the favorites, or AI actions.

It remains to be seen whether this new attempt at improving the File Explorer context menu is a successful one, or whether it is going to fail as badly as the initial redesign when Windows 11 launched.