Tag: ai

Resolutions

Super Resolution promises better game graphics on Windows 11

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Automatic Super Resolution is a new Windows graphics feature that is currently in development. The main idea behind it is to use artificial intelligence to “play games more smoothly with enhanced details” according to Microsoft.

Modern PC games may tax a system’s hardware. If the system is older, users may notice slowdowns or reduced graphics details. One way of dealing with this is to reduce the resolution of the game or its graphics details.

While that may improve frames per seconds, it also reduces the visual quality of the game.

Super Resolution

Automatic Super Resolution

Automatic Super Resolution is a new feature that is in testing right now. The experimental feature was spotted by Twitter user PhantomOcean3.

The support page returns a 404 error at the moment, which is why we know little about the actual functionality of the feature. What we know is that Windows may use AI to improve the performance and visual quality of games.

It is unclear if this is marketing-speak for upscaling, a technology that has been around for a long time.

A second screenshot shows some of the available options. Besides on and off toggles, Super Resolution supports enabling the feature while keeping the display resolution and configuring the feature for individual games and apps.

Super Resolution preferences

Super Resolutions everywhere

Several companies announced similar features in the past. Qualcomm announced Game Super Resolution back in April 2023, which, as Qualcomm put it, promises “increased battery life, higher resolutions and improved frame rates on mobile devices”.

Qualcomm’s solution uses upscaling to achieve this; the company avoided the term AI entirely during the announcement.

NVIDIA’s RTX Super Resolution technology is designed specifically for videos. It upscales videos up to 4K, but requires modern NVIDIA video cards for that.

Microsoft introduced Turing Image Super Resolution back in 2022 in Microsoft Edge. The company cut the “Turing Image” part of the name later that year. It too promises to upscale low resolution images to higher resolutions.

Closing Words

Playing games smoothly at higher resolutions is something that most gamers will be interested in. The main question is how effective Microsoft’s solution is. Another, if it requires certain hardware features to work.

While it is not possible to upscale games beyond the supported resolution of the monitor, Super Resolution could help gamers on older devices especially. If, and that is a big if, the feature does not require specific hardware.

The functionality may also be of interest for classic computer games. Older games may support resolutions of 800×600 or even lower only. These do not look good on modern displays with 1080p or 4k resolutions, usually.

If Microsoft gets this right, it could give certain older PC games a much needed visual boost.

As for when Super Resolution lands. The most likely target is the 2024 feature update for Windows 11.

Now You: would you use the feature to play games on your devices?

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 version 24H2 as the 2024 feature update

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Last year, rumors began to emerge about a new version of Windows that would focus heavily on AI. Microsoft had just begun its AI push, adding Copilots everywhere. Panos Panay, then leader of Surface and Windows teams, left the company in the same year. Panay was replaced by Yusuf Mehdi.

Windows 12, the name that Microsoft never confirmed officially, was said to focus heavily on AI. This went hand-in-hand with the AI PCs for Windows. One of the requirements of these PCs was an integrated chip, neural processing unit, to speed up AI processing on these devices.

The leadership change and the success of AI products at Microsoft may have played a role in Microsoft’s decision to postpone the release of Windows 12.

The company released a new build to the Insider channel this week. This build introduced a few new features, including sudo.

The release notes include confirmation that the 2024 update for Windows 11 will be Windows 11 version 24H2.

Here is what Microsoft reveals in the release notes:

Starting with Build 26-xx today, Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels will see the versioning updated under Settings > System > About (and winver) to version 24H2. This denotes that Windows 11, version 24H2 will be this year’s annual feature update. As mentioned here, Windows 11 will have an annual feature update cadence that releases in the second half of the calendar year.

While this does not include confirmation that Windows 12 won’t be released this year, there is no indication that Microsoft is preparing another operating system release in 2024. It is possible that Microsoft’s initial plans were to release the functionality of the feature update as Windows 12, but that it changed its mind.

Windows 11 version 24H2

Windows 11 version 24H2 is the feature update for Windows 11 in 2024. It is still assumed that the update will focus heavily on AI, but recent changelogs reveal little about the functionality that Microsoft plans to add.

Rumors suggest that Microsoft could launch an improved version of Copilot on Windows. The current iteration lacks any meaningful Windows-specific functionality, which is why users disable Windows Copilot on their devices. This could change, but Microsoft has not released the updated version for testing yet. For now, Copilot on Windows is more or less identical in functionality to Copilot on the Web.

Microsoft has a few months left before the release in the second half of 2024. It is possible that main AI improvements and tools are tested internally only at this time. Microsoft would have to integrate them into preview versions eventually though. This has to happen in the coming months.

AI PCs may have specific requirements, including an NPU. It seems highly unlikely that Windows 11 version 24H2 will only be available to devices with such a chip. It would block updates for the vast majority of systems and fragment the userbase even further.

More likely is that certain features are limited to devices with a NPU or work a lot better on these PCs.

Closing Words

As it stands, there will be a single major Windows release in 2024. It won’t be Windows 12, but Windows 11 version 24H2. Windows 12 may not be off the table though.

Next year will be interesting. It is the year that support for Windows 10 ends officially. While customers may extend support for several years, for a price, it may also be the perfect year for a Windows 12 release.

After all, with Windows 10 gone, there is only Windows 11 and hundreds of millions of Windows 10 devices that cannot be upgraded to the new operating system.

Now You: what do you expect from Windows 11 version 24H2?

Is the main purpose of Windows 11’s Settings Home page advertising?

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

I never really liked the Home page of the Settings app that Microsoft introduced last year in Windows 11. Back then, I described it as half promotion half pointless.

Windows 11 users who open the Settings app see the home page by default. It features a mix of quick settings, which Microsoft calls recommended, account information, and, in some cases, promotions.

These promotions focused on OneDrive cloud storage and Microsoft 365 up until now. One ad unit displays “Try Microsoft 365” to the user, if no Microsoft 365 is detected.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription service that unlocks additional cloud storage and gives users access to the most recent versions of Microsoft Office. A subscription includes other benefits, such as premium templates or a dedicated Microsoft Defender app.

Now it appears that Microsoft is adding another ad unit to the home page. Discovered by Twitter user PhantomOcean3, the new unit promotes the Microsoft Copilot Pro subscription.

Microsoft Copilot is part of Windows. Operating system users may launch it with a click on the Copilot icon on the taskbar or the keyboard shortcut Windows-C. Soon, they may also use the dedicated Copilot key on keyboards of select devices to do so.

Those who do not require Windows Copilot may disable it.

Get Copilot Pro

The new unit is not enabled by default at this time. It was spotted in development builds and it is unclear if and when it lands in stable versions. My guess is that it will land this year in Windows 11, maybe even as part of the upcoming Moment update.

The unit advertises Microsoft Copilot Pro. The subscription gives users priority access to Microsoft’s Copilot AI. It is available for $20 per month in select regions at the time of writing.

Copilot Pro gives users priority access to the AI. Apart from that, it gives users 100 boosts for Designer per day. Designer is an AI image creator and boosts prioritize requests. While boosts are not required to use Designer, using the tool without boosts may take longer.

The Settings home page

The Settings home page has the following sections:

  • Recommended Settings — displays recent and commonly used settings.
  • Cloud Storage — lists used and available cloud storage, powered by OneDrive.
  • Bluetooth devices — manage, add, and remove Bluetooth devices.
  • Personalize your device — option to change the color mode and a link to personalization.
  • Microsoft 365 — an advert to try Microsoft 365. Subscribed users see options to manage their subscription.
  • Microsoft Copilot Pro — an advert for the Copilot Pro subscription.

If you don’t count the Cloud Storage unit as an ad, you get two units on the page. This means that 1/3 of the page is used for advertisement. If you add OneDrive to it, you get 1/2 that is used for ads.

The non-ad units are not that useful. Recommended settings displays dynamic options. While these appear limited, most options are just a click or two away anyway on the system.

Hiding the home page in Settings

Windows users may hide the Windows 11 Settings home page. There is no toggle, though. To hide it, Windows 11 users need to add an entry to the Registry.

Here is how that is done:

  1. Open the Start Menu.
  2. Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key.
  3. Confirm the UAC prompt.
  4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
    • Note: If one of the keys does not exist, create it with a right-click on the previous key and the selection of New > Key. Name it accordingly.
  5. Right-click on Explorer and select New > String Value.
  6. Name it SettingsPageVisibility.
  7. Double-click on the new entry and set hide:home as the value.
  8. Close the Registry Editor.
  9. Restart the system.

The home page of the Settings app is gone. Windows 11 opens the System page instead, which it used to in the past.

You may undo the change at any time by deleting the Registry key again.

Closing Words

The idea of a Settings home page is not bad in itself. It could display popular and often used preferences to the user. Customization options could further expand the usefulness of the Settings page.

It seems unlikely that this functionality is introduced in future versions of Windows.

Now You: do you use the home page of the Settings app?

AI

Why you need to check any AI service before use

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Barely a day goes by without another announcement that some form of AI has been added to a product. Operating systems, web browsers, Office programs ,devices such as smartphones, and yes, toasters, all get AI infusions these days.

These AI additions are disabled sometimes, at other times enabled. While it is tempting to try out the latest AI feature in a product that you use, it is even more important to understand how it works.

Most AI tools require an active Internet connection at the time. This is true for Windows Copilot, the AI that Microsoft has integrated into the Windows operating system, and also for many of the AI tools. Besides requiring an active Internet to work at all, Telemetry may also be collected by companies.

Google, for example, launched new AI features in Chrome this week. One of the features submits all URLs and page titles to Google when used. There is a policy that prevents the sending, but the default state submits the data to Google when the feature is used. Is Google warning users of the feature about this prominently? No, it is not.

Companies use the data to improve their AI tools. These Large Language Models eat data for breakfast. New data is used to train the AI and improve it further.

For ordinary people, it is almost impossible to find out if a system submits data, which data is submitted, and how it is processed.

Oh Transparency, where art though?

Companies should be transparent when it comes to AI. Does it require an Internet connection to work? In other words, does it communicate with a server and submit user data to it?

If it does, how is the data processed and stored? Is it deleted automatically? Is there an opt-out for the use of data for AI training or other purposes?

Companies need to be open about the use of Telemetry data to train AI. Which data is collected, how is it processed and stored? What options do users have to opt-out or get their collected data deleted?

It feels a lot like Wild Wild West currently when it comes to AI. The new data rush promises great returns in the short and long run.

Closing Words

AI has a novelty factor and some good uses. You could use it to create images for blog posts or something else. While all text-based returns require validation, as AI may hallucinate or return factually incorrect information, it can be useful.

Most users need to be aware that most AI tools submit data to servers. The premise may limit data leaks, which can be a real problem, especially if the AI uses the data for training.

It is good to be cautious about any new AI service that is added to a product because of that. Better, do not use it if you are unsure or if the company behind it does not make it clear.

Now You: do you use AI tools?

AI

Microsoft Edge for Android’s new Copilot Toolbar

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft has renamed its browser for Android recently to Microsoft Edge: AI Browser. The browser is getting an infusion of Copilot and AI features. One of the latest is the Copilot Toolbar.

Available in Microsoft Edge Canary only at the time of writing, it is designed to give users even quicker access to Copilot.

Copilot is the main term that Microsoft uses for AI in its products. There is Windows Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and a large number of other Copilots. There is even a standalone Microsoft Copilot app for Android.

The mobile Edge browser supports Copilot already. Since it is the “AI browser”, it ships with Copilot included. This base version works similarly to Copilot on the web, but there are a few differences.

A tap on the prominent Copilot button opens the interface. You may use it to get a summary of the active webpage or communicate with the AI using text or voice input.

The Copilot Toolbar in Microsoft Edge: AI Browser

Copilot Toolbar Microsoft Edge

The Copilot Toolbar shows up at the bottom of webpages. It is placed on top of the main Edge toolbar.

It features two options currently: summarize and “ask me about this page”. Both open the main Copilot interface on selection. The first summarizes the webpage, the second offers information about the content on the page.

The toolbar feels a bit out of place. A tap on the Copilot button opens the interface of the AI as well. There you may also tap on the summary option to get it.

The toolbar saves you a single click. It is not overly useful. Microsoft, on the other hand, gets more eyes on Copilot.

The Copilot Toolbar offers some options. Tap on the three-dots next to it to get them. You may disable the toolbar “once”, “on this site” or “globally” using the menu.

Enable the Copilot Toolbar in Edge

The new toolbar is only available in Microsoft Edge Canary for Android. You need to enable it, as it is provided as an experimental flag only at this time:

  • Make sure Microsoft Edge Canary is up to date.
  • Load edge://flags in the browser’s address bar.
  • Search for Copilot Toolbar.
  • Set the status of the feature to Enabled.
  • Restart Microsoft Edge.

The toolbar shows up automatically on webpages and when PDF documents are loaded.

Closing Words

Microsoft pushes AI into all of its products. Some of the integrations feel like tests, to see what works and what does not. Copilot Toolbar is one of these. It does not offer much in terms of functionality.

The summary function is supported already. Considering that it takes a few seconds or sometimes more to get the AI to generate the summary, it may sometimes be faster to read the article by yourself.

This may not be true for very long articles, but it is necessary to verify the information the AI provides anyway.

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?

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?

windows copilot

How to disable Windows Copilot on Windows 11

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The following guide offers step-by-step instructions on how to disable Windows Copilot.

In less than two weeks, many Windows 11 users will gain access to Windows Copilot. Microsoft included the new AI-powered assistant in an optional update released in September 2023 already.

On October 10, 2023, Windows 11 users who upgrade their devices to the latest version, will receive Windows Copilot among other changes, courtesy of the fourth Moment update for the operating system.

What is Windows Copilot?

windows copilot

Microsoft describes Windows Copilot in the following way:

Copilot in Windows is an AI-powered intelligent assistant that helps you get answers and inspirations across the web, supports creativity and collaboration, and helps you focus on the tasks at hand.

Windows users may interact with Copilot directly from the Windows desktop. A click on the Copilot icon on the taskbar or pressing Windows-C opens the interface on the right side of the screen.

It looks very much like Bing Chat on first glance. Copilot includes Bing Chat functionality and other AI components.

Users interact with Windows Copilot by voice, text or by sending images, similarly to how interactions with other AI-powered tools happen.

One of Copilot’s greatest strengths is the ability to help users directly in Windows. The functionality is very limited at this stage, but you can use Copilot to turn on dark made, capture a screenshot of any desktop, or snap open windows.

What Copilot can’t do in its current stage is terminate processes, check Windows Defender logs and return research on found threats, or help users troubleshoot issues that they experience. All of this may come at a later stage, but Microsoft is tight-lipped about the functionality.

Privacy and Windows Copilot

Windows Copilot requires an active Internet connection and the tool breaks down when there is none.

Copilot needs to communicate with Microsoft servers. Anything typed, pasted or said is known to Microsoft as a consequence. This is not Microsoft-specific, tools like Google Bard or Claude AI do require Internet connectivity as well.

Windows Copilot is not active by default; this is unlike classic assistants, such as Alexa, which are programmed to listen to commands.

Still, some users may prefer to disable Windows Copilot entirely. There is no option to remove Windows Copilot, even though many tutorials sites suggest that there is an easy way to do so.

A click on Private Statement in the Copilot menu opens the general Microsoft Privacy Statement. Copilot is not mentioned once in the statement.

How to disable Windows Copilot

Windows 11 users have several options when it comes to turning off Windows Copilot on their devices.

Individual users may remove its icon from the Windows taskbar, but that does not shut down Windows Copilot, as it may still be launched using the keyboard shortcut.

Note that there is no option to remove Windows Copilot entirely from the system, without affecting other features. It is not listed under installed Apps.

Removing the Windows Copilot icon from the Windows taskbar

Still, it may be sufficient for some users. Here is how that is done:

  1. Right-click on a blank location on the taskbar and select Taskbar Settings from the menu that opens.
  2. Locate Copilot (preview) or Windows Copilot there and toggle it to Off.

The icon is removed immediately. Toggling the feature to the On state restores it again.

Disable Windows Copilot in the Group Policy Editor

The Group Policy Editor is not available in Windows 11 Home. Home administrators may make the change in the Windows Registry, which is explained in the next section.

Here is how you disable Windows Copilot in the Group Policy Editor:

  1. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to open the Run box.
  2. Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter-key.
  3. Use the folder structure on the left to follow this path: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot.
  4. Double-click on Turn off Windows Copilot.
  5. Set the value from “Not Configured” to “Enabled.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Close the Group Policy Editor.
  8. Restart the PC.

Disable Windows Copilot in the Registry

The very same changes may also be applied to the Windows Registry directly. Here is how that is done:

  1. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to open the Run box.
  2. Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key.
  3. Confirm the security prompt.
  4. Use the folder structure on the left to navigate the following path: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot
    • Note: if a key does not exist, right-click on the previous one and select New > Key. Name it accordingly to create the entire path.
  5. Right-click on WindowsCopilot and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
  6. Name it TurnOffWindowsCopilot.
  7. Double-click on the newly created Dword and change its value to 1.
  8. Close the Registry Editor.
  9. Restart the PC.

Closing Words

The Group Policy Editor and Registry Editor tweaks disable Windows Copilot on the operating system. The icon is removed in the process, the user can’t toggle the icon in Settings anymore, and the keyboard shortcut Windows-C does not work either anymore.