Windows 11's Next Big Update Now Available With Copilot, AI-powered Paint

Microsoft is releasing one of its biggest updates to Windows 11 today. It includes access to the new Windows Copilot, AI-powered updates to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Photos, RGB lighting support, a modernized File Explorer, and much more. From a report: Windows Copilot is the big new feature for this Windows 11 update, bringing the same Bing Chat feature straight to the Windows 11 desktop. It appears as a sidebar in Windows 11, allowing you to control settings on a PC, launch apps, or simply answer queries. Microsoft is integrating Copilot into many parts of Windows, too. Copilot will essentially exist as an AI-powered digital assistant, much like Microsoft's vision for Cortana. While Microsoft shut down the Cortana app inside Windows 11 last month, Copilot looks like it's very much Microsoft's big push into AI.

Microsoft is also adding AI-powered features to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Windows 11's Photos app. Microsoft Paint is getting Photoshop-like features, with support for transparency and layers. [...] File Explorer is getting a more modern look with this Windows 11 update. The updated File Explorer UI includes a modern home interface with large file thumbnails and a carousel interface that can surface recent files and favorited ones. These changes make File Explorer blend in better with the overall Windows 11 design.

Windows explorer

[ZERO1ZERO]

MS have been consistently gimping the featureâ(TM)s functionality and usability of windows explorer in a downward trajectory since windows XP.

i swear that no one at ms actually uses explorer to do any actual work or file management. It actively makes things more difficult and hinder access.

Iâ(TM)ve started using one commander recently and it is a very good replacement for explorer for people actually needing to manage files

Re:Windows [File] explorer

[Tablizer]

Are there any open-source replacements? Another issue is that MS Office and other MS apps have put a stupid spamy middle-man "cloud resource panel" between the Save options and File Explorer. I now have to do extra steps to get to Explorer. I tried various registry tricks to stop it, but updates appear to overwrite the tweaks. (I'm stuck with MS-Office for work stuff, can't use Libre.)

MS keeps breaking things that mostly work and we got used to; like drop-down menus, title bars, and File Explorer. Ever trie

Re: Windows [File] explorer

[ZERO1ZERO]

Yes, one commander as i mentioned is very good try it. Also yes to the Middle man office thing itâ(TM)s literally confusing to save files in office these days

Re:

[ThurstonMoore]

I think the confusion is by design, they really want you saving your shit in OneDrive so when it gets full the computer illiterate will have to buy more space. This sort of behavior should be illegal.

Re:

[b0s0z0ku]

Office still allow you to choose "Save to Computer by Default", at least on my Windows VM. Can you remove this fuckery by disabling OneSkive and selecting this option?

Re:

[Tablizer]

I tried "to computer" but it only works under narrow conditions.

Re:

[PhrostyMcByte]

I think what you're seeing is Windows team flailing a bit as it tries to find a way to be relevant while also keeping a giant OS modern. Azure is the cash cow now and most development targets Linux (or doesn't care) on the server, or web or mobile for client-side.

Introducing ads to the start menu, bloaty Edge features that aren't plugins because nobody would download them, and replacing old features with less functional shinier ones.

Feels like an intentional strategy shift here. MS likes to be data driven,

Re:

[nightflameauto]

I think what you're seeing is Windows team flailing a bit as it tries to find a way to be relevant while also keeping a giant OS modern. Azure is the cash cow now and most development targets Linux (or doesn't care) on the server, or web or mobile for client-side.

Introducing ads to the start menu, bloaty Edge features that aren't plugins because nobody would download them, and replacing old features with less functional shinier ones.

Feels like an intentional strategy shift here. MS likes to be data driven, so I bet numbers support it all being a good move. Some of it seems kinda silly and likely to bleed more users, though.

Maybe they want to make Windows so unpalatable that we'll all happily climb aboard whatever their "all online all the time" replacement is that's sorta Chromebook-ish and forces a forever payment every month? Today you can still, with a LOT of bullshit extra-steps, install Windows and run all local. MS is very not fond of that idea. As is evident by the constant nags about needing to log into the Microsoft account if you don't keep it always logged in when working locally.

you told us this already

[drinkypoo]

Stop trying to get us excited about this. We don't care. It's not even interesting enough for a good argument.

Re:you told us this already

[nightflameauto]

On the contrary, the argument was made long ago.

Microsoft - WE'RE GONNA ADD AI TO PAINT!
Users - Please don't mess up paint.
Microsoft - WE'RE GOING TO FEATURE LOAD PAINT!
Users, resigned - I beg you, don't mess up paint.
Microsoft - WE ADDED FEATURE BLOAT TO PAINT! YAY!
Users - Sigh.

Repeat with Explorer. Repeat with every new feature. Edit the user response to be more along the lines of, "Please don't force us to try to find a way to turn off another ridiculous unwanted feature," and Copilot could be added too.

Copilot currently needs specific setting enabled

[fishscene]

I installed KB5030310 and saw no sign of Copilot. Did some extra research:

As detailed here: https://blogs.windows.com/wind... [windows.com]

1) You won't see Copilot unless you go in to settings and enable the megaphone-icon option called "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available"
2) "Windows Configuration Update (KB5030509)" will show up even if you've already installed KB5030310 with the megaphone option off.

Re:Copilot currently needs specific setting enable

[fishscene]

Update: Still no sign of Copilot.
MS and news articles are advertising Copilot, I've installed the necessary updates, and there's still NO SIGN of Copilot except for a Bing chat icon on either side of the start menu.
- The one on the left called "chat", opens the Edge browser to a blue-ish (Balanced) webpage and submits my search query automatically to "The new Bing" AI chat.
- The one on the right with a Bing chat bubble opens a purple-ish (Creative) webpage and does not submit my search query automatically to "The new Bing" AI chat.

Also, it looks like Copilot isn't a single "thing"- rather, it appears to be an addition to several different products, including:
- Edge (browser)
- Teams
- O365
- MS Paint ... all of which may have different ways of activating Copilot?
For example, MS Paint shows no signs of Copilot- Do I have to sign in on Edge? Do I have to have to log in to my computer with a MS account? Do I need to somehow activate a Beta/Dev/Canary channel somewhere? Do I need to download and install some kind of Bing sidebar?

It is NOT clear how to activate or use Copilot within the context of the computer itself. So far, I've only found the purple and blue webpages.
I see screenshots of folks using a standalone Copilot icon in their taskbar- no one seems to be talking about how that got there or how to get it there. I for one, do not have this icon on my start bar.

You could just offer those things as separate apps

[Arnonyrnous Covvard]

I'm not interested in Windows anymore because Microsoft wants to keep rearranging my environment. An OS is supposed to be infrastructure, invisible unless something breaks. Mint is not perfect, but at least it doesn't have ads in the start menu. [linuxmint.com]

Re:

[Tablizer]

> Microsoft wants to keep rearranging my environment. An OS is supposed to be infrastructure, invisible unless something breaks.

It is infrastructure: a spam engine.

Maybe we can make a deal: have a Windows option to choose to accept innocuous ads, and in exchange MS doesn't break or change normal common functionality. A few ads that don't block what I need I can live with in exchange for stability.

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[Baron_Yam]

That is a deal that would never be honoured. In all the history of 'just the tip', putting advertising into a product has never ended with anything but the full shaft.

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[silvergig]

> Microsoft wants to keep rearranging my environment. An OS is supposed to be infrastructure, invisible unless something breaks.

It is infrastructure: a spam engine.

Maybe we can make a deal: have a Windows option to choose to accept innocuous ads, and in exchange MS doesn't break or change normal common functionality. A few ads that don't block what I need I can live with in exchange for stability.

No. Just Fucking No. I paid for the fucking OS, I expect it to just be a fucking OS.

Re:

[Entropius]

The only OS's that are just OS's are the ones you don't pay for.

I didn't pay for Fedora, but it treats me with a hell of a lot more respect than the Windows 11 my dad *did* pay for.

Interestingly, my parents are both non-techie people. But I wind up doing a vast amount of phone tech support for my dad's Windows 11 box. My mom's Fedora laptop, on the other hand, just works for her. Linux has now surpassed Windows as an OS for ordinary folks who want a machine that just works and doesn't do stupid shit.

Re:

[Tablizer]

= Clippy on LSD.

or, Trippy Clippy.

My only question is ...

[b0s0z0ku]

For the few times that I use Windoze ... how do I turn the fucking thing off and make sure it never blights my screen with its presence again?

And the usual Windows question

[Opportunist]

Can you turn it off and if, how?

good old microsoft

[jdawgnoonan]

It is hilarious that Microsoft really believes that users want this. I run prerelease windows on one of my virtual machines and within 3 minutes playing with CoPilot it was obvious that this is not any more interesting than I thought that it was.

Sick of the intrusion

[spaglia]

More AI nonsense. Anytime I try to do something important, something else pops up saying "you know you can do this or that now, try it?" NO! I'm trying to get something done here. It's only getting worse.

Re:

[avandesande]

Clippy 2.0