Windows Latest

We provide all the latest news and reviews of Microsoft, Windows, Windows Phone, Surface and Xbox devices.

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[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Microsoft is adding the funniest possible option for the Copilot key on Windows 11 AI PCs:

“Do nothing.”

Yes, literally.

New Windows 11 preview builds now include a setting that lets you disable the dedicated Copilot key entirely. You can press it, hold it, smash it by mistake, and nothing happens.

This is the same key Microsoft hyped in 2024 as a “transformative moment” for Windows 11, comparing it to the Windows key itself.

Two years later, the new feature is turning it off.

The Copilot key was supposed to make PCs feel more intelligent. Instead, it replaced useful keys like Right Ctrl or the Context menu key, broke workflows for some users, annoyed people who rely on keyboard shortcuts, and became a meme.

"Customers who rely on the Right Ctrl key or Context menu key for keyboard shortcuts or assistive technologies (such as screen readers) experienced some challenges to their workflows when using these devices," Microsoft noted in a support document.

Microsoft previously confirmed it would let users remap the key to Right Ctrl, the Context menu key, or another app. Now we get the most honest option yet, and that is Do nothing.

At this point, the Copilot key is less “new Start menu” and more “please let me use my keyboard normally.”

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

@TimSweeneyEpic thanks for pushing this 👑

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 has no place for bloatware ads, says LG is disabling the McAfee pop-up via its monitor app

Users reported that connecting an LG monitor could silently trigger LG Monitor App Installer through Windows Update, followed by a McAfee trial pop-up on Windows 11.

The issue is that a $1,200 monitor’s companion app had no business pushing antivirus ads through an MS Store-driven install path.

After Tim Sweeney tagged Windows chief Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft said it contacted LG, and LG agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up as an immediate step.

“Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. We’ve connected with the team at LG and as an immediate next step, they have agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up from their app. We appreciate LG working with us toward a shared goal of a better experience for our mutual customers. We will keep improving here with our ecosystem partners.” – Microsoft's Windows boss.

That happened in days, and it's quite interesting that a major Windows complaint did not disappear into the void.

Microsoft clearly listened, acted fast, and pushed an ecosystem partner to fix a bad experience!

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

More details in our story, including LG's statement: https://t.co/Eo0Mab336J

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

More details in our story: https://t.co/LDw3mjoGkD

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

It's happening: Windows 11 is getting a modern Properties sheet, replacing decades-old legacy code.

File Explorer’s classic Properties window, which still traces back to the Windows 95-era property sheet system, is now being rebuilt with WinUI 3.

And yes, it supports dark mode.

This is not a cheap WebView2 shell either. The new Properties dialog appears to be native WinUI, with modern tabs, accent indicators, rounded checkboxes, and updated controls.

The current Properties dialog is ancient. It still comes from the old Win32 Common Controls world, and while it has been visually touched up over the years, the underlying system has barely changed.

But this is also why Windows modernization is hard.

Third-party apps like 7-Zip, Dropbox, antivirus tools, and codec packs can inject their own tabs into the Properties dialog using legacy shell extensions.

Microsoft cannot just replace the old host without preserving those integrations. Microsoft is now modernizing a 30-year-old Windows surface without breaking decades of apps.

Windows is so back!

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Here's the new UI versus the current/old UI, and a closer look at the dark-themed Properties sheet.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

More details in our story: https://t.co/UwbZ6vC2Ed

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

A developer just got a desktop Nvidia RTX 4060 working on Windows 11 ARM.

Windows on ARM has basically been tied to Qualcomm, and Nvidia never released public ARM64 GeForce drivers for normal desktop GPUs. But with RTX Spark, Nvidia now has ARM64 driver work in the wild.

A Chinese developer, VoidTech, extracted the ARM64 Nvidia driver from RTX Spark software and used it on a Huawei Qingyun W510 workstation with a Kunpeng 920 ARM server CPU.

Windows 11 ARM detected the RTX 4060, enabled hardware acceleration, DirectX 12, Vulkan, CUDA, and even reported the driver as WHQL-certified.

Most games run through x64 translation, and the Kunpeng 920 bottlenecks badly. Genshin Impact and Black Myth: Wukong sit around 20 FPS.

But the breakthrough matters.

It proves Nvidia desktop GPUs can work on Windows ARM with the right native driver.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Microsoft confirms "dramatic speed" boost for searching "This PC" in File Explorer on Windows 11.

Windows design and research boss Marcus Ash confirmed that the speed and relevance improvements Microsoft is making to Windows Search are coming to File Explorer next, starting with “dramatic speed improvements” when searching across This PC.

That matters because This PC search is painfully slow right now.

I tested the same file in Windows Search and File Explorer. Windows Search found it in about a second.

File Explorer search across This PC took more than 8 minutes.

And this was not some overloaded machine with thousands of files. It was a clean-ish test PC with barely anything downloaded.

Windows Search has already become much better: cleaner UI, fewer distractions, local-first results, typo handling, two-character file search, substring matching, and a toggle to remove Bing and Store suggestions.

Now those file search improvements are finally heading to File Explorer...

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Windows 11 emergency update released after July 2026 Update caused "unexpected shutdowns, poor performance, increased heat, and battery drain."

The new update is Windows 11 KB5121767 (Build 26200.8894), and it fixes these issues on affected machines, mostly Dell PCs.

Microsoft says today's patch is only recommended for affected Dell PCs, but here’s the messy part... this out-of-band update can automatically download on other PCs too if “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” is turned on.

An emergency Dell-focused fix can still show up as a generic: “2026-07 Update (KB5121767)."

The root cause is an incompatibility between Intel’s Innovation Platform Framework Processor Participant driver and Microsoft’s new Windows USB-C Connection Manager interface.

That driver helps manage thermals, power, fan noise, and performance, which explains the heat and shutdown reports.

Affected Dell PCs should install it. Everyone can skip it, but nothing would happen if you choose to install it on non-Dell PCs.

And please turn off that “latest updates” toggle unless you actually want Windows Update to grab everything Microsoft throws into the channel.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Watch yourself 👇, and you can share your ideas with @marcusash, design and research boss at Microsoft

https://t.co/1LCNz9184D

[Marcus Ash @marcusash]

Happy Friday. Throwback to when the team built a plane.

For shared audio in Windows, the feature is straightforward to describe: split audio across two pairs of Bluetooth headphones or hearing aids.

But the moment is much more human than just technical. Tight spaces. Shared screens. Background noise. Two people trying to watch together without making it complicated. I’ve seen it plenty with my twins.

A lot of design and research is about getting closer to those real moments: observing, simulating, prototyping, and understanding the context around the experience.

For this one, the team built a mock airplane cabin for user testing research, then turned it into a film set to help customers feel the experience with the right details.

A fun look behind the scenes:

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

This is crazy! Microsoft built an actual fake airplane cabin to test Windows 11's Shared Audio.

Shared Audio is a new feature that lets two people listen to the same device audio using two different Bluetooth devices.

Microsoft says Shared Audio can be useful when you're with someone and want to listen to videos, music, or calls together through your own Bluetooth headphones.

"For those friends on a flight who wanted to watch a movie together, shared audio now lets them do that. Or, siblings in the back seat during a road trip can watch their shows together while their parents focus on the road."

Now, the company says it built a full mock airplane cabin to test real-life scenarios for Shared Audio.

It might sound silly to some of you, but it's part of Microsoft's broader effort to better understand how people actually use their PCs.

Microsoft is listening to feedback and gradually delivering on many of its promises. Shared Audio is one of the finest features it has shipped in recent weeks, and there's more to come.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

More details about Shared Audio in our story: https://t.co/vBal4wQw1o

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Microsoft pulls Windows 11’s July 2026 security update on some Dell PCs after users reported severe performance and overheating issues, and unexpected shutdowns.

After KB5095093, these affected PCs may show a yellow warning icon in Device Manager and suffer from:

- Poor performance
- Unexpected shutdowns
- Higher heat
- Battery drain

The root cause is an incompatibility between the Intel driver and Microsoft’s new Windows USB-C Connection Manager interface.

Because of that, Microsoft is temporarily not offering Windows 11 KB5101650, the July Patch Tuesday update, to affected Dell systems.

That is the right call, but also a reminder of how fragile the Windows ecosystem can be.

Neither Microsoft nor Dell is sharing a list of affected devices, which makes me wonder whether they are even aware of the specific models.

The July 2026 Update for Windows 11 is critical, as it patches 570 security flaws, and Microsoft warns against deferring updates for more than 3 days.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Dell PCs are shutting down after Windows 11’s July update, Microsoft admits and blocks it: https://t.co/ZbjeKfPwcU

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Breaking: Microsoft blocks Windows 11's July 2026 Update on some PCs due to concerns of "poor performance, unexpected shutdowns, increased heat, and battery drain."

According to Microsoft, the July 2026 Patch Tuesday update (KB5101650) is blocked on some Dell PCs because of a bad Intel driver compatibility issue.

After installing the June 23 preview update KB5095093, some Dell devices may show a yellow warning icon in Device Manager next to:

Intel Innovation Platform Framework Processor Participant

Microsoft says affected devices can suffer poor performance, unexpected shutdowns, increased heat, and battery drain.

The issue is tied to an incompatibility between Intel’s driver and the new Windows USB-C Connection Manager interface.

Because of this, Microsoft is now holding back KB5101650, the July 14 security update for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, on affected Dell devices while it works with Dell and partners on a fix.

It's unclear if other OEMs are also running into problems.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Windows 11's July 2026 Patch Tuesday is absolutely massive. You should immediately install today's security update.

Microsoft just patched a record-breaking 570 security flaws in one month, including 59 rated Critical.

The numbers are wild:

- 254 elevation of privilege bugs
- 145 remote code execution bugs
- 102 information disclosure bugs
- 35 denial of service bugs
- 17 security bypass bugs
- 16 spoofing bugs

And that still does not include 468 Microsoft Edge/Chromium flaws fixed by Google this month, or other Microsoft fixes shipped earlier for Azure, M365 Copilot, Exchange Online, Entra, and more.

Microsoft also patched three zero-days: two actively exploited in attacks and one publicly disclosed.

This is interesting, but I'm not really surprised because Microsoft recently warned that Patch Tuesday counts would rise as it uses AI-powered vulnerability discovery to find more bugs inside Windows before attackers do.

Microsoft also recommended that users not delay updates for more than 3 days due to a rise in AI-assisted exploitation of unpatched systems.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Windows 11's July 2026 Patch Tuesday is absolutely massive. You should immediately install today's security update.

Microsoft just patched a record-breaking 570 security flaws in one month, including 59 rated Critical.

The numbers are wild:

- 254 elevation of privilege bugs
- 145 remote code execution bugs
- 102 information disclosure bugs
- 35 denial of service bugs
- 17 security bypass bugs
- 16 spoofing bugs

And that still does not include 468 Microsoft Edge/Chromium flaws fixed by Google this month, or other Microsoft fixes shipped earlier for Azure, M365 Copilot, Exchange Online, Entra, and more.

Microsoft also patched three zero-days: two actively exploited in attacks and one publicly disclosed.

This is interesting, but I'm not really surprised because Microsoft recently warned that Patch Tuesday counts would rise as it uses AI-powered vulnerability discovery to find more bugs inside Windows before attackers do.

Microsoft also recommended that users not delay updates for more than 3 days due to a rise in AI-assisted exploitation of unpatched systems.

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

Hands on with new Windows Search without promotion content and clutter: https://t.co/qoeVOjRMoH

TLDR; it's beautiful, and Windows is indeed back!

[Windows Latest @WindowsLatest]

This is the new Windows 11 Search experience without clutter and ads!

Microsoft is letting you turn off Bing/web integration, remove ads, and all unnecessary features to create a clean Search experience on Windows 11.

The home screen is calmer, promotional content is gone from web results, and search now labels results more clearly as app, setting, file, web, or Store. Local files, apps, and settings are prioritized when they are the better match.

And most importantly -- you can now control whether web and Microsoft Store results appear at all!!

That means you can finally stop Windows Search from acting like a Bing launcher when you’re just trying to find something on your own PC.

Microsoft is also improving typo handling for apps, two-character file searches, settings ranking, cloud file discovery, and crash reliability.

Windows is so back! 🥳