Tag: windows 11

Just a few days ago, Microsoft released the cumulative security updates for Windows 10 and 11 to the public. The company did not confirm any new issues at the time, but that has changed now.

A new issue has been confirmed that is affecting all supported client versions of Windows.

The details:

• Windows 10, version 22H2 and Windows 11, versions 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2 are affected.
• The bug uninstalls the Copilot app from the operating systems.
• The Copilot icon is removed from the taskbar in the process as well.

Microsoft confirms furthermore that only the native Copilot app for Windows is affected. In other words, Microsoft 365 Copilot remains unaffected by the issue and won’t be uninstalled.

Microsoft writes:

We’re aware of an issue with the Microsoft Copilot app affecting some devices. The app is unintentionally uninstalled and unpinned from the taskbar.

Note: This issue has not been observed with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

It is unclear how widespread the issue is.

Workaround: affected users are asked to reinstall the Microsoft Copilot application from the Microsoft Store and pin it manually to the taskbar to restore the functionality.

Here are the links to the support articles and the KB IDs.

• Windows 11, version 24H2 — KB5053598
• Windows 11, version 23H2 / 22H2 — KB5053602
• Windows 10, version 22H2 — KB5053606

Not all Windows users may be unhappy about this new bug. Granted, it is easy enough to remove Copilot from the system or hide it at least.

If you do not want to do it manually, you could give helper apps like O&O AppBuster or NoBloatBox a try.

Now it is your turn. Have you tried any of the Copilot apps on Windows ever since it was pushed onto systems by Microsoft?

One of the new features of Windows 11 was the recommendations section of the start menu. Windows displays recently added programs or opened files in the section.

Microsoft likes it that much, that it made it a mandatory feature. You can reduce the number of recommendations or even display none at all, but you can’t remove the entire section to make room for more pinned items and other useful things.

Note: third-party programs or Start menu replacement apps do away with this, but that is another story.

The latest Windows 11 Insider preview build adds another recommendations section to the operating system. It is not really a new feature, considering that Microsoft tested it in the year 2023 already. It does come with a new design though.

File Explorer: Recommendations

This time, it is File Explorer that is going to show a recommended section when you launch it or display the home section.

Here is how Microsoft describes the feature:

These files will provide you quick access to relevant files based on your activity in the Recommended section which is displayed as a carousel with thumbnail previews. This includes content such as files you frequently use, have recently downloaded, or added to your File Explorer Gallery.

It is interesting to note that Home is already showing recently used files on the very page. Even Microsoft’s screenshot shows the same file under recommended and recent.

The new section is displayed only for users who sign-in with a personal Microsoft account or a local account. Users from the European Economic Area do not get the feature at this point.

It is unclear at this point whether this section will also be mandatory, or if users may disable it. There is an option to collapse it.

Registry hacks exist to remove the entire Home section in File Explorer. This could be another option for users who do not really need the recommendations there.

What is your take on these recommendations? Is it a useful feature that you would like to use? Or do you prefer to hide these whenever possible?

After two months of not adding anything new to the list of deprecated features, Microsoft has added another feature to the list of features that will eventually be removed from its Windows 11 operating system.

This time, it is the Location History feature that has been put on the list by Microsoft.

Microsoft says that it is an API that was used by Cortana to “access 24 hours of device history when location was enabled”. With Cortona no longer playing a role at Microsoft, it is put to rest as well.

As far as the effect of the removal is concerned, Microsoft notes that location data will “no longer be saved locally”. Furthermore, the corresponding settings under Settings > Privacy & Security > Location will also be removed in the process.

The option to clear the Location history in the Settings will be removed.

As always, Microsoft does not say when it plans to remove the feature exactly. Best guess is that it could be removed as part of the 2025 feature update for Windows 11. For now though, it remains available on Windows 11 devices.

The end of Cortana

Back in 2023, Microsoft announced that it would retire the Cortana application for Windows later that year. The personal assistant Cortana was created at a time when personal assistants were en vogue. Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa were popular services back when Microsoft created its personal assistant.

Microsoft removed Cortana in Teams and other apps in the fall of 2023 and several other Cortana-related features in 2024 in favor of AI. It is rather funny that Cortana’s Windows-specific features have been more powerful than those of Microsoft’s AI Copilot.

Even careful Windows users may accumulate a good number of software programs over the years. Some of these are used daily or weekly, while others may sit idly on the hard drive for months or years without any use.

It is certainly possible to use a program just once every six months or once a year, but some of these may not be needed anymore. The old web browser that you no longer use, a program that you tried and forgot to remove, or a game that you no longer play.

While you can go through the list of programs manually, you may also use the “last used” metric to find these programs easily.

Windows 11’s own list in the Settings app under Apps > Installed apps shows the install date, but not last used date. For that, you need to look elsewhere.

Using Last-Used to find old installed programs

Wise Program Uninstaller is a free program for Windows that is a popular option when it comes to the removal of applications on Windows systems. It is compatible with Windows 11 and also older versions of Windows, down to Windows XP.

It needs a moment on first run to display the installed programs. Each ist listed with its name, size and installation date. Next to that is the last used metric.

Wise Program Uninstaller may display date ranges, such as “within 1 week”, “7 month(s) ago”, or “1 year ago” there.

A click on the last used column header sorts the data accordingly. One click displays the programs that were not used for a long time at the top. Note that the information may be missing from some apps. This is the case, for instance, when they were never run.

All that is left now is to select one or multiple apps for removal. Hit the uninstall button in the program interface afterwards and keep the settings. A System Restore Point is created in that case and a leftover scan is run after the actual removal of the applications from the Windows PC.

Note: Wise Program Uninstaller uses the default uninstaller of the selected applications. You may need to interact with them to commence the removal. You may want to save all open work before you start using the app, as automatic restarts may happen, depending on the software that you remove.

Most unused programs are not problematic, apart from them using disk space. Removing them may still be beneficial, especially if your system is low on free disk space or will be in the future.

Do you keep a keen eye on the list of installed programs on your systems? What is the program that you have not used in a long time that is still on your PC’s hard drive? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

When you install Windows or start a PC for the first time that comes preinstalled with Windows, there is a high chance that you have dozens of apps installed already on the system before the first sign in.

Some of these apps are all-time classics, like Notepad or Calculator. Others are not liked nearly as much with some of them consider bloat.

It did not take long for clever developers to create applications designed to remove preinstalled Windows apps. O&O AppBuster is my personal favorite, but there are others.

Remove preinstalled apps with NoBloatBox

NoBloatBox is such an app. It is developed by serial developer Belim and the successor of BloatBox. It is an open source app that is designed and optimized for Windows 11, even though it runs on Windows 10 as well.

When you run the 200 Kilobyte app you may notice that it does not really do much on its own. It uses signature files, which you need to download separately from the GitHub repository. Currently, only a Windows 11 version 24H2 signature file is provided.

It lists the included apps afterwards. You may now select one, some, or even all of them for removal. A click on the remove selected button starts that process.

Apps are not necessarily listed by their name, which makes it difficult to identify specific apps. The removal happens without any user interaction.

It is highly recommended to create a system backup before running NoBloatBox or any application remover or tweaker for Windows.

Verdict

NoBloatBox is an easy to use program to remove preinstalled Windows apps. It is not as easy to use as AppBuster, but that could change in the future. It is a bit of a hassle to download the signature file. A better solution would be to always include the latest version or include an option to download it directly from the program on first start.

It is an early release on the other hand and improvements are said to come in the future. The community-powered approach of these filter lists is interesting, as it opens it up for wider use cases and ensures that the developer has time for actual development.

All in all, one to keep an eye on. For now, I will stick to AppBuster though.

Do you use app uninstallers for Windows? If so, which is your favorite and why?

When you use a mobile Windows device, you see a battery icon on the taskbar that ideally should indicate the remaining battery live before the device needs to be charged.

Problem is, this icon is so bad on Windows, that it is barely workable. To get a true reading, it is necessary to hover the mouse cursor over the icon or dive deep into the Settings or other apps.

All other major operating systems support detailed battery indicators already. Microsoft is late to the party, but work has begun to change that in the near future.

The latest Developer build of Windows 11 adds an option to enable battery percentages on the taskbar next to the battery indicator. This is how that looks like.

As you can see, Microsoft is also adding a splash of color to the icon. Each color indicates a different state of the battery:

• Black — Regular use.
• Yellow — Energy saver mode is enabled.
• Green — Battery is charging.
• Red — Battery is critically low.

The percentage next to the icon displays the load state of the battery. It is not enabled by default, which means that you need to become active and enable it to get the detailed listing.

Here is how that is done:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Select the Settings application.
3. Go to System > Power & battery.
4. Enable Battery percentage on the page to display the new information directly on the taskbar.

Microsoft is rolling out the feature to Windows Insiders in the Dev channel currently. Means, it will take some time before regular users will get it. It could be rolled out with the 2025 feature update for Windows 11, but Microsoft has not made such an announcement at this stage.

You can check out Microsoft’s announcement of the feature and the other changes of the release here.

What is your take on this change? If you use a mobile Windows 11 device, will you enable the new indicator once it becomes available?

If you still run an earlier version of Windows 11 on a PC that meets the minimum system requirements, then you may have the latest version of Windows 11 installed automatically on your PC.

Microsoft says that Windows 11, version 24H2 has reached a new stage of distribution. Previous stages required manual interaction with Windows Update or intervention of the administrator to install the upgrade.

Tip: if you run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, you may check out this free software to make upgrades dead easy.

This changes now, as Windows 11 may be installed automatically on most non-managed devices.

Microsoft writes:

We have reached a new stage in the phased rollout of version 24H2. Eligible devices running Home and Pro editions of Windows 11, versions 23H2 and 22H2 will be gradually updated to version 24H2.

There are good reasons for not wanting the latest version of Windows 11 on a device at this time. Several issues exist that Microsoft has confirmed but not resolved. For some, mitigations may exist.

As always, you can check all issues on Microsoft’s release health website for Windows. There you see all the confirmed issues.

For Windows 11, version 24H2, these are:

• Some ASUS devices might fail to install Windows 11, version 24H2
• Camera use might cause some applications to become unresponsive
• Safe Exam Browser application might fail to open
• Some devices using Easy Anti-Cheat stop responding and receive a blue screen
• Wallpaper customization applications might not work as expected
• Compatibility issues with Intel Smart Sound Technology drivers
• Asphalt 8 might periodically stop responding
• Issues might occur with media which installs the October or November update
• Auto HDR might cause games to stop responding or display incorrect colors
• Some devices that have Dirac Audio with cridspapo.dll might lose audio output
• Date & Time in Window Settings might not permit users to change time zone
• Disk Cleanup might incorrectly report space available for cleanup

Good news is that Microsoft is blocking the upgrade to the latest Windows 11 version on PCs that are affected by a known issues.

Windows 11 users who run version 23H2 should not feel any rush to upgrade to the latest version. The version is supported until the end off the year and there is little that the 2024 release offers that justifies a quick upgrade. Even the promised AI functionality is not there yet to a large degree.

Now it is your turn. Do you run Windows 11 already? When do you upgrade your Windows PCs to a new version usually?

Winget is a software manager that Microsoft integrated into its Windows operating system years ago. It is a command line utility that you can use to find, install, uninstall, or update many Windows applications.

Tip: there is WingetUI, which is a third-party application that adds a user interface to winget. Great if you prefer this over using the command line.

Using winget is simple, even if you are not used to using the command line. Still, there are a few tips and tricks that may make things a lot easier. I mention five in this guide.

Tip 1: Search is your friend

To install, uninstall, or update software, you need to know its name or ID. While you could try your luck, you may run into roadblocks quickly. Google Chrome’s name, for instance, is Google Chrome (EXE) and the application’s ID is google.chrome.exe. Once you know that, it is easy peasy.

So, how do you get the names or IDs? You use the search parameter. Run winget search name to find applications.

Here is how this works:

• winget search name – returns any instance that contains “name”, e.g., winget search chrome returns any application with chrome in its name, tag or ID.

You can use partial names to find applications. To find any Firefox application, search for firefox and you get all different editions of the browser returned (plus any other app that has firefox in its name, id, or tag.

Tip 2: update everything

You can use winget to check if updates for installed programs are available. Even better, you can upgrade individual programs or all at once using a simple command.

Here is how this works:

• winget update – the command checks if upgrades are available for installed programs. Each program is listed with its name, installed version, and new version.
• winget update name – this command upgrades the program “name” only.
• winget update –all – this command updates all programs that have updates available.

Winget downloads the installer from the official website or repository (usually) before running the installer. Some apps may require prompts, but most installs happen silently in the background.

Tip 3: remove programs

You may use winget to uninstall individual programs from the system. It may be a faster and better option than using the Settings app or other build-in uninstall options.

Here is how this works:

• winget uninstall name – the command removes “name from the system. You can use the (case-sensitive) name or ID to uninstall a program from the system.

Tip 4: list programs

If you want a quick overview of programs on a Windows PC, you may use winget for that as well.

Here is how this works:

• winget list – the command lists programs on the system. Each program is listed with its name, version, and other information.
• winget list name – the command returns all matching applications.

Closing Words

Winget is an excellent tool. Especially the ability to quickly check for program updates and upgrade programs is noteworthy. Third-party programs filled the gap up until the creation of winget.

Now it is your turn. Have you used winget in the past? What is your take on the program? Useful or do you prefer other applications for the job? Feel free to leave a comment down below.