Windows Latest

Why Microsoft used UI psychology to place the Start button in the bottom-left. Credit: Windows Latest When someone on X posts a picture of their new 5K Dell UltraSharp monitor, worth more than $2000, you would expect questions about the picture quality. But not for Dave Plummer, a former Microsoft engineer. A user saw that his Windows 11 taskbar was left-aligned, and thanked him for holding out against what they called “center aligned heresy.” Left-aligned Start menu in Windows 11.

Microsoft is combining Windows 11's updates into a single monthly restart. Credit: Windows Latest Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 will now bundle driver updates, .NET, and firmware updates together with the monthly security update, so your PC restarts only once instead of multiple times a month.

Windows 10 is fully supported until October 2027 as part of Extended Security Updates (ESU), which makes sense given that 3 in 10 PCs still run the “retired” OS. But it’ll eventually become difficult to keep using it, specifically for gaming, as Nvidia is the first major company to confirm it won’t extend support for another year. Others may follow soon. Windows 10 reached the end of support on October 14, 2025, but Microsoft initially extended security updates for another year, until October 2026.

Joe Belfiore says the NeXT Dock is not where the Windows 95 taskbar came from Former Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore says the Windows 95 taskbar didn’t come from Steve Jobs’ NeXT Dock. Instead, he mentions a leftover “tray” design from Microsoft’s canceled Cairo project, and a fix for a Windows 3.1 problem where users lost track of minimized windows. Windows 95 Taskbar with Notepad and Control Panel.

How to enable the new Windows 11 Search without Copilot. Credit: Windows Latest The August optional update brought some of the most requested changes Windows 11 has ever shipped, and the new Search, without Bing and Copilot results, is my favorite of the bunch. However, for most users, it will not turn on immediately. Microsoft is rolling it out gradually, and since this is an optional update in the first place, plenty of users will not even install it.

We all know Microsoft is trying to modernize Windows for the billionth time, and by modernization I mean moving legacy features to WinUI, the current flagship native UI framework. From the Properties Sheet to the AutoPlay dialog to Windows Run, everything is getting a modern redesign with dark mode, but what about performance? I don’t think Microsoft gets enough credit for making WinUI more stable over the last few months, and one perfect example is the Run dialog.

Windows once shipped with built-in games. Here's exactly when and why that stopped. Credit: Windows Latest If you installed Windows in the 1990s or 2000s, you did not need Steam, the Microsoft Store, or even an internet connection to find something to play. Solitaire, Minesweeper, FreeCell, Hearts, and eventually 3D Pinball were just there after setup finished. Vista and Windows 7 arguably reached the peak, adding Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans, and Purble Place to the list of classics.

Microsoft had a change of heart, and it appears to be sending a full-screen alert to people who were pushed into syncing files to OneDrive when they first set up their PC or clean-installed Windows 11. The company has also dropped one of its worst dark patterns, where you could never permanently dismiss OneDrive backup alerts.

Windows 11's Text and image generation privacy page showing apps with AI permissions is misleading users. Credit: Windows Latest A screenshot of Windows 11’s Settings > Privacy & security > Text and image generation page has gone viral, racking up millions of views. It lists Notepad, Photos, Snipping Tool, Outlook, and more apps under a setting for on-device AI, and users are misinterpreting that as “proof” Windows secretly runs AI in the background and eats up system resources.

If Windows 11 is sending alerts that you need to turn on virus protection and your PC is unprotected, don’t worry. It’s a mistake, and Microsoft has confirmed it’s aware of the issue, but it does not have a fix yet. In our tests, Windows Latest found that the “Windows Security” app, which manages Microsoft Defender Antivirus, randomly throws up “Turn on virus protection” pop-ups when you boot Windows and even when casually using it.