Microsoft Updates Six Windows Apps. 'Photos' Gets Watermarks for Copilot Images (Off by Default)

Microsoft dropped "massive" updates for six stock Windows apps, reports the "Microsoft enthusiast" site Neowin.

Here's some of their more interesting highlights for Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint:

The Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0):

• AI watermarking — "AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings."

Calculator (version 11.2605.9.0):

• More accurate square-root results. "Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) — 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead...."

• Reliable launch after upgrading. "Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening..."

The Clock app (version 11.2605.9.0):

• "Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone..."

• "Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions... "

• "No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice."

Media Player (version 11.2605.14.0).

• "Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name."

"massive"

[TheMiddleRoad]

"massive" my "assive".

Re:

[thegarbz]

You don't understand. Never before have so many deckchairs been rearranged. This is MASSIVE.

Really?

[Uldis Segliņš]

If such updates are massive, then I have in one weekend reinvented 10 times faster C language. Just struggling with the name for it.

My take

[stabiesoft]

Funny how we worry about tiny errors in sqrt on a computer and yet we rave about hallucinating AI. I think fundamentally the problem with AI is that the common non-techie is believing the answer from AI like they do from a sqrt. I still recall I think it was Intel that had the major flub in some IEEE math result that many wanted to have Intel do a complete recall. I can't remember the details it has been so long and I didn't own the product so it did not affect me. If it was an AI error, no one would even n

Re:

[PPH]

sqrt(2.25)

My slide rule gets this right every time.

Re:

[BeaverCleaver]

sqrt(2.25)

My slide rule gets this right every time.

What worries me is the error occurs in "rare cases." This indicates that the same calculation can give different results under certain conditions. That doesn't sound like a good calculator.

Re:

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

Who or what is not getting this right?

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

sqrt(2.25)

My slide rule gets this right every time.

And the batteries last forever!

Re:

[acvh]

windows 11:
-1.256651575149455e-47

and I also remember the Pentium bug. We had to replace hundreds of chips for a large investment bank.

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

windows 11: -1.256651575149455e-47

and I also remember the Pentium bug. We had to replace hundreds of chips for a large investment bank.

Yup, the tiny errors OP was seemingly claiming were insignificant are not insignificant in banking.

There was a story years ago about how someone became wealthy by taking the fractions of a cent leftovers from banks and pushed them in to his own account. That's just a story, but it do add up.

Re:

[sk999]

| sqrt(2.25) - 1.5

Haven't checked my slide rule, but 2 different aps and a pocket calculator give the same (correct) answer.

Re:

[cdc]

Hey, sk999. I'm trying to track the source of a memory about postgres, and your comment from March 15, 2006, is the closest I've found: You said 'Many years ago we looked at Postgres, and the developer at the time said that "he would not trust his payroll to it."'. I thought I had read this in a postgres FAQ in the mid-1990s. But I cannot find it. Perhaps your comment from 20 yrs ago is the source of my memory. Do you know of, or have the source of the original developer comment?

Re:

[Gleenie]

Funny how we worry about tiny errors in sqrt on a computer and yet we rave about hallucinating AI.

Who's "we", sucka?

Re:

[tlhIngan]

Funny how we worry about tiny errors in sqrt on a computer and yet we rave about hallucinating AI. I think fundamentally the problem with AI is that the common non-techie is believing the answer from AI like they do from a sqrt. I still recall I think it was Intel that had the major flub in some IEEE math result that many wanted to have Intel do a complete recall. I can't remember the details it has been so long and I didn't own the product so it did not affect me. If it was an AI error, no one would even n

Re:

[stabiesoft]

Ah thanks for the remembrance. It was FDIV.

A German court just did an interesting thing. They ruled google's AI summaries are fair game for incorrect answers. The ruled that it was not a search result, so google bares liability for the answer. Hopefully the beginning of a massive set of rulings that make the ai makers think about where they could end up liability wise. I think interesting, because the ai guys have put themselves in a box. They claim it is not a copy to avoid paying fees to who they scoop u

Re:

[allo]

Computers are not exact. See https://0.30000000000000004.co... [30000000000000004.com]

Microsoft square-root :o

[Mirnotoriety]

* More accurate square-root results. "Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) — 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead...."

* "Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions... "

With an honorable mention of the Microsoft Encarta edition where the globe revolved the wrong way.

Re:Microsoft square-root :o

[Gleenie]

Surely the "correct" icon for midnight sun regions should show both. I mean, the moon *does* come up during the day, even in temperate regions. Sometimes it even crosses the sun and we get a cool eclipse.

Oh My God

[Gleenie]

Looks like I gave up and went 100% Linux on my new gaming PC 6 months too soon. Is it too late to come back?

Praise for the MS Calculator

[unixisc]

Hope it's nothing like the updates to Notepad and Paint, or the removal of Wordpad. Just took a quick look:

• Photos - I never use AI to create imaginary images, so don't care. But I did open my Photos app, and it does seem a tad better, w/ all images being the same dimensions, and none being made bigger or smaller than the others
• Clock - Yeah, I had read of the seconds in the bottom-right corner tweak on a YouTube video weeks ago, and made that change. My setup now has it
• Media Player - haven't used it f

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

> One thing I'll give Microsoft: they do have the best calculator out there

tell me you've never used a decent calculator app without telling me...

Claiming an app that can't even get basic math right is "the best". lulz

Appeared in ribbon without asking for it!

[mattr]

Office 365 (Excel) on a Mac. I had the Claude add-in in the ribbon. Today I discovered a Copilot add-in has been inserted to its immediate left. (I renewed my subscription but was unable to easily find a way to cancel and renew without Copilot like last year.)

When I decrease window width first Claude starts to disappear and Copilot icon becomes mini-sized, but Claude is not shown below it. Add-Ins ribbon button shows My Add-Ins with only Claude in it, Copilot not displayed.

In Preferences, select Copilot

Speaking of Clocks

[Ol Olsoc]

Why hasn't Microsoft increased their clock accuracy?

I have some programs that need pretty accurate timing, and always have to use Meinburg and NTP on the windows version to get it close enough. MacOS doesn't have this issue.

Re:

[CEC-P]

I am 100% serious, it's because most single DC networks are set up wrong because of wrong NTP settings by default in the latest server OSes. It takes manual correction and most people don't bother or don't care. On top of that, you have to go out of your way 2 different ways to disable time sync from the virtualization host. Why can't the hosts sync to NTP correctly? No idea. Haven't solved that one yet. But I work at an MSP and all of our clients had incorrectly configured server clocks. Literally 100%.

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

I am 100% serious, it's because most single DC networks are set up wrong because of wrong NTP settings by default in the latest server OSes. It takes manual correction and most people don't bother or don't care. On top of that, you have to go out of your way 2 different ways to disable time sync from the virtualization host. Why can't the hosts sync to NTP correctly? No idea. Haven't solved that one yet. But I work at an MSP and all of our clients had incorrectly configured server clocks. Literally 100%.

Yeah - it seems like you could integrate NTP into setting up the computer. And it is true most don't care, but some of us could use that enabled from the getgo.

I've had too many conversations - "My computer isn't correcting or decoding." Are you using an NTP service? "Huh? what's that?" So now I gotta tell them to download Meinberg NTP or the like, then talk them through setting up and using. I mean, if MacOS can do it by default, why can't Windows?

Not available for builds prior to 26H1

[schwit1]

https://learn.microsoft.com/en... [microsoft.com]

Latest updates
June 2026
6/12/2026: Rolling out to Experimental, Experimental (26H1), and Experimental (Future Platforms) with version 11.2605.9.0

Moon

[mcswell]

"Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions... "
Huh? The Moon comes up in day time just like it does at night (with the possible exception of the full Moon, which rises about the same time the Sun sets, and sets about the same time the Sun rises). And if you look in the right place, you can see the Moon perfectly well in the daytime (assuming no clouds in the way).