Windows 11’s polished appearance looks nice, but long-time users, especially those who have witnessed the transition from Windows XP to the present, crave some old elements.

One such element is the classic Alt + Tab dialog that opens when you press the aforementioned shortcut. If you don’t remember, the old Alt + Tab dialog had only icons with a flat icon UI instead of the big icons with thumbnails that are available in 22H2 onwards.

While it was possible to restore it using a registry tweak, Microsoft seems to have blocked it in Windows 11 24H2.

Windows Latest tried all the possible tricks to restore the legacy Alt + Tab layout in Windows 11 24H2 and preview builds, but nothing worked.

Using Windows Registry to restore Alt+Tab in Windows 11

First, we started with the registry tweak of adding a new dialog AltTabSettings Dword value that restores the classic menu.

We tried these steps to force restore the classic Alt+Tab in Windows 11:

1. First, we opened Windows Run and launched Registry Editor through the regedit.
2. Then, we navigated to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer.
3. We right-clicked in the right panel and clicked New > 32-bit DWORD.
4. We created a new value named AltTabSettings, and changed its value to 1 by double clicking.

All the tutorials we followed had recommended the above steps, but after restarting the PC, there were no results. The Alt-Tab classic interface didn’t appear in Windows 11.

Then, we tried using open-source Explorer Patcher, which works well with other UI tweaks, such as changing the interface of the Start menu. We also used it for other experimentations. For example, we rrecently used Explorer Patcher to demonstrate removing the “Learn more about this picture” icon on the desktop.

Explorer Patcher has multiple options to restore the old Windows 10, Windows NT, and even a custom simple bar. But that also ended in despair as the option to turn on classic Alt-Tab style didn’t work at all.

Lastly, we tried another popular open-source app to adjust Windows features. Most apps no longer have the option to restore the classic Alt+ Tab dialog.

It could be because Microsoft has finally removed the feature from Windows 11.

Retro look ruined

While the classic Alt+Tab menu was a niche preference, removing it will surely hurt enthusiasts who love to do retro themed PC appearances while enjoying the benefits of a modern system. The next time you try to do the classic XP look or Windows 7 design on your PC, you’ll miss the Alt + Tab dialog.

While talking about menus, it’s hard to forget the classic right-click context menu that caused a major uproar at the time of Windows 11 release. All the above-mentioned apps still offer an option to restore the old menu because it was simply so much better.

Microsoft has been making incremental improvements, such as adding labels to frequently used actions, but it’s an uphill battle to convince everyone.

What about you? Do you miss the classic Alt-Tab in Windows 11? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Can you still enable classic Alt+Tab in Windows 11 24H2? appeared first on Windows Latest

Now, Microsoft has introduced AI Dev Gallery, which makes it easy to add on-device AI features to any app.

The AI Dev Gallery app is for developers who want to try multiple models to integrate an AI feature into their app. AI Dev Gallery has over 25 samples to download and run on Windows 10. Moreover, you can export the project or source code directly into your app and get it working instantly.

It works with Windows 10 and 11 and supports x64 and ARM64 architectures.

Out of curiosity, Windows Latest cloned the AI Dev Gallery from its GitHub repository and compiled our own version of AI Dev Gallery.

Currently, the only way to access it is by building the project in Visual Studio and then running it. In addition, you’ll need at least 20GB of space and a multi-core CPU. It also suggests a GPU with 8GB VRAM, but those are for heavy models only.

We started with a 4-core CPU, 4GB RAM, or a Windows 11 PC. The app has two modes: Sample and models. We used the sample view to check out all the available models.

The app categorizes them into Text, Image, Code, Audio and video, and Smart Controls.

Testing the models

Models for image generation and video generation need about 5GB of bandwidth to download and save it to your PC. To better understand how things work, we started with a small one related to image upscaling, which was under 100 MB.

We took a screenshot of the screen and tried to upscale it using the CPU. Note that you can switch between CPU and GPU for processing the request.

The upscaling happened in under 30 seconds in this inferior virtual machine, where the RAM usage increased to 1GB. As you can see in the screenshots below, App Gallery produced an upscaled version of the image with a 9272*4900 resolution.

However, the 100MB upscale model has its own issues. While it used our local resources to upscale images, elements, especially text, were ruined. You can barely read the texts.

There’s no option to preview this generated image in a bigger window or full-screen. Even the download option isn’t there to save it to disk.

We tried another model called Detect Human Pose. It identifies someone’s position in an image. While it accurately identified a basic walking person, it even started showing position marks for screenshots of our desktop with a few apps open.

We don’t know how these models can be integrated into the app, but some of these features can be run locally. Of course, PCs will need bigger storage for these models and powerful CPUs with 16GB or more RAM.

What do you think? It is worth downloading a 5GB model to convert a text prompt into an image or wait for 30 seconds to do that on a web app. Clearly, most of these features have very niche use cases and implementation environments rather than appealing to the whole Windows 11 user base.

The post We tried Microsoft’s new app to run AI models on Windows 11 locally. It’s really good appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows Spotlight spruces up your desktop with good wallpapers so that you don’t have to change them every day. It’s so good that even we at Windows Latest use it to get away from the boring Windows 11 default backgrounds.

However, enabling the Windows Spotlight feature in personalization settings adds the “Learn more about this picture” icon to the desktop. It is a gateway to learn about the image or change it. Like us, most users don’t need the icon and just use the feature for wallpapers.

Microsoft, being Microsoft, doesn’t offer an option to remove the icon in the Personalization settings. You cannot hide the icon without hiding all the icons on the desktop and cannot move it to recycle. A rant about this ignorant idea on the Microsoft Feedback Hub has over 400,000 views so far.

The Easy Way: Disable Spotlight

The easiest way is to not use Windows Spotlight and use a personal image collection instead like the good old Windows 7 days. It is a straightforward method if the Spotlight feature is accidentally enabled on your PC and you don’t need it anymore.

Remove the “Learn more about this picture” icon using Registry Editor

Modifying a registry entry can help you remove the icon while keeping the feature active. Make a registry backup before treading on this route. After that, follow these steps to disable Spotlight watermark in Windows 11:

1. Launch the Registry Editor and navigate to the following path:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel key

2. Right-click the empty area and select New > DWORD (32-bit) value option.
3. Name the key {2cc5ca98-6485-489a-920e-b3e88a6ccce3} and double-click on it.
   
4. Keep the base Hexadecimal and change the Value Data to 1.
5. Click on OK and exit the registry editor.
6. Restart your PC and log in. The icon won’t be there anymore.

If you want the icon back, revisit this same DWORD value and change its value data to 0.

Remove the “Learn more about this picture” icon using a Third-Party app

If you find the Registry Editor method difficult or prefer an app to do the same, there are ample options for it. You can use open-source Explorer Patcher whichever you prefer.

Repeat the following steps to turn off the icon with Explorer Patcher:

1. Download the latest version of Explorer Patcher from GitHub or other reputable sources.
2. Run the file, and the app will launch after downloading additional icons.
3. Switch the Spotlight tab in the left-hand side menu.
4. Click on Hide the “Learn more about this picture” icon option.
   

As shown in the below screenshot, the icon will immediately vanish from the desktop. You can use the app to restore the icon if you want to change the image again.

This is how you can get rid of the bothersome Spotlight icon on the Windows 11 desktop.

The Feedback Hub post has staggering views and we think it’s compelling enough for the Redmond giant to finally offer a toggle in the Settings app to hide it rather than using third-party tweaks.

The post Permanently remove “Learn more about this picture” icon in Windows 11 appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows Latest covered this announcement and the subsequent developments of this plan when it began showing up on some users’ desktops. It’s almost a week before 2025 begins, but there’s no sign of a watermark on stable builds in Windows 11. The support document spotted by Windows Latest still mentions the watermark will be applied.

We aren’t longing for it, but surprisingly, Microsoft didn’t implement the watermark after such a strong stance against unsupported PCs. Some PCs simply didn’t make the cut due to TPM 2.0 limitation while being perfectly capable of running Windows 11.

As a result, they resorted to third-party tweaks and tools like Rufus to bypass the requirements and try the new OS.

Soon after, it released an official registry fix to bypass the requirement on unsupported PCs, which questioned its original decision to introduce the watermark. We anticipated that this decision wouldn’t stick for long, and until now, the broad rollout of the watermark hasn’t happened.

Microsoft briefly tested the Windows 11 watermark on unsupported PCs two years ago

In 2022, Windows Latest spotted the watermark in Windows 11 preview builds. Then, we spotted the watermark in the stable channel.

For example, in the below screenshot spotted by Windows Latest, we observed that the System requirements not met watermark was applied to the desktop when Windows detected we were using an unsupported device.

However, this watermark was only rolled out to some PCs in 2022 and later pulled back by Microsoft.

It’s also worth noting that the placement of the watermark was also poorly thought out. That area is typically reserved for “Windows not activated” or “Insider build” messages. Displaying two warnings in the same space would have been confusing.

It seems Microsoft has given up on the idea. We reached out to Microsoft, and they had nothing to share beyond what’s already documented.

Future of the incompatibility watermark

Microsoft should let users decide whether or not they want to use a less secure version of Windows 11. After an initial warning, if the user installs Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, they are responsible for their decision. There’s no reason to mock the user on the desktop daily with a watermark.

Microsoft might be the only company trying to hurt the promotion of its product by limiting its reach and coming up with ideas like watermarks.

We don’t expect Microsoft to pay attention to this stupid idea because it’s already got a lot on its plate with multiple Windows 11 24H2 bugs, upcoming Copilot features, and making the Copilot+ PCs more appealing to anyone looking to upgrade.

The post Has Microsoft given up on the System requirements not met Windows 11 watermark? appeared first on Windows Latest

PowerToys Run is similar to macOS’ search experience, but it takes the search experience on Windows 11 to the next level using plugins. Over the last few months, several new plugins, both official and third-party, have popped up that deserve a special mention.

For those unaware, PowerToys Run is powered by a plugin system, which can be turned on manually to enable/disable the features. You can select and expand the features of the PowerToys Run search experience.

One of my absolute favorites is using WinGet directly in the Run bar instead of opening a terminal and then managing the installed packages or downloading new ones. If you don’t use WinGet, you can use the plugin for Scoop. This is similar to WinGet, but is one of the oldest package managers for Windows.

While looking into the Github directory, we also found another useful plugin called BrowserSearch. With this plugin, I can search for my previously visited sites and pages from the Run terminal.

It supports all popular browsers like Microsoft Edge, Chrome and more. Even some less-known ones like Waterfox are supported. So, I don’t need to launch separate browsers and take a wild guess.

You’ll also love Process Killer, one my absolute favourite that basically gives you a reason to not use Task Manager for killing processes.

We found another interesting integration that gives you access to ChatGPT from the Run bar, but the search results open in a new browser window. You’re still basically skipping two steps of launching the browser and typing the search query.

It’s not very useful but might appeal to a few users. It would be great if it could open it in the same bar by expanding it a bit and adding scrolling capabilities.

There are some extending third-party plugins available. Spotify lets you search Spotify and play music, while RDP can open a Remote desktop connection on your PC.

Installing and using a plugin in PowerToys Run

How to use these plugins with PowerToys? Firstly, check out the official plugin page with links to all the official and third-party plugins, then follow these steps:

1. Download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store.
2. Download their latest package archive on your PC and close all the running instances of PowerToys.
3. Extract the archive files to the Downloads folder.
4. Open the start menu, paste the following address, and press Enter to go to the Plugin folder or the tool.

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys Run\Plugins\

   

5. Move or copy the extracted plugin folder to this location and close all the open File Explorer windows.
   
6. Relaunch PowerToys and visit the Run feature’s Plugin section to enable the newly added plugin if it’s inactive. Note down the special direct activation command, which is usually a character or a small word.
   
7. For example, if I want to use the ChatGPT plugin, I’ll type the GPT command in the Run bar, add my query, and press Enter.
   

If the plugins don’t work, recheck the official page for the directions. However, restarting the PC works most of the time.

What about you? Which PowerToys feature is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.

The post PowerToys Run plugins take Windows 11 Search and App access to the next level appeared first on Windows Latest

Microsoft is testing a new scareware blocker feature in the Edge browser that can help identify and warn users about one such prevalent illicit tactic–scareware.

If you haven’t heard of scareware, it’s essentially an ad, banner, or popup that urges you to take immediate action. It could be forcing you to download something like an extension, a memory cleaning or antivirus app (which is mostly spyware in disguise), or presenting too-good-to-be-true deals.

Microsoft Edge will monitor pages in real-time and tell you if AI detects a potential scareware. However, not all scareware detected by AI will be bad. Some software and shopping sites tend to display full-screen ads or lock the page behind them and urge you to buy the product.

To combat such situations, Edge always leaves the decision to the user. You could ignore the warning and proceed with the action, which could be a purchase or installation if the site is legitimate and you trust it. Or, you could close the banner and not visit it again.

We installed the Edge Dev version, but the feature didn’t immediately appear on one of our devices. As shown in the below screenshot, the feature’s label reads “Allow Microsoft to use AI to detect potential tech scams.”

Windows Latest asked Microsoft and the company said it’s normal for business-related features to also appear in the stable version if they serve the interest of a broader audience.

Scareware blocker feature’s impact

While it is a must-have feature considering the myriad scam websites that appear in top results, we don’t have any statistics from Microsoft about the feature’s impact.

Since this feature’s label reads that it works in real-time, it’s unclear the number of resources it uses to scan a page. It’ll have to upload and match the data somewhere which can add a significant delay in the browsing process.

A good example is image generation with Copilot, which takes a while.

Also, there should be an option to whitelist sites that use scareware tactics but are safe. That way, you don’t need to go through the whole process again before going to the cart.

You can hope to see the feature in the public channel a few months later, which gives Microsoft enough time to polish it.

Microsoft is still testing the scareware blocker in the preview builds of Edge and it will begin rolling out in early 2025.

Thanks, Leopeva64, for the heads up.

The post Microsoft Edge’s scareware blocker (AI) detects tech scams to keep Windows 11 safe appeared first on Windows Latest

Firstly, the Copilot page will automatically launch when clicking the Copilot keyboard key in the Microsoft 365 app. The next big change is retiring the top header to give a more clean look to the UI. It is a big change because the right part of the bar contains profile and account-related options.

All these options will now migrate to the bottom of the left-side menu. So, you’ll need to expand the Settings and more section to access profile, feedback, and app settings.

Microsoft is also retiring the organization name header, which appeared in the top header. A valid reason for removing this is that Copilot is a tool to get the job done but not a crucial app like Word or Excel, which the organization uses most of the time.

In addition, it’ll move the AI features like Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Copilot Pages to the left sidebar in hopes of drawing more eyeballs than usual. To make space for Copilot, it’s removing the My Day and Help me Create buttons, which have no need since Copilot is a polished version for queries, summarization, and generation tasks.

You’ll also not see the Back button because Microsoft believes the tabbed interface is enough to switch between multiple apps or app pages.

Also, what about the search bar? It’s now set to appear on the homepage so you can look for content across different sections, but there are no other changes to the search bar. Only the position is changing.

All these app changes apply to both the web and desktop versions of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. You can expect these changes to be reflected in the service from the third week of January 2025.

But are these changes helpful for the end user?

Copilot is omnipresent

Rebranding an already confusing name like Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 Copilot makes little sense. With all the hype this AI assistant has received for the last year or so, rarely users or organizations don’t know about it.

Even worse is renaming the simple Copilot service to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat for enterprise users. That’s a too-long name and based on the little help that it offers, it’ll find very less adoption in the enterprise scenario. The URLs have also changed to reflect the name change, so users don’t get confused.

We hope that Microsoft sticks to the Copilot name until the service is discontinued (less likely as AI is omnipresent now).

The post Windows 11’s Microsoft 365 app is taking a new AI-first approach with Copilot appeared first on Windows Latest

Microsoft’s new Outlook might not have the best adoption rate like the company expected but it’s not giving up. While imposing the new app wasn’t their greatest idea, it is trying to fix many shortcomings that’ll make the new Outlook comparable, if not better than the legacy one.

Joining the list is an upcoming feature that will let you access and save attachments in offline mode.

Windows lastest spotted this upcoming feature on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap website. The feature ID 472026 mentions a new feature for the desktop version of Outlook. Once introduced, you can access all the attachments received in emails offline. What’s even better is the ability to save the attachments after previewing them.

For this feature to work, Outlook will have to save a lot of stuff locally, but there’s no description of how the feature will work. Microsoft plans to release this feature next month, January 2025. So, you can now use the app offline and do more than basic email previewing.

But there are many more features debuting in the new Outlook in January 2025.

January is jam-packed with small improvements

Firstly, you’ll get the feature to move email between multiple accounts. You can also set a custom description for each account so it’s easy to identify.

Another missing feature will join the new Outlook. We’re talking about the S/MIME signing and encryption that wasn’t there when the new Outlook arrived.

There’s also a small change to the recipient separator. You can separate two names by either a comma or semicolon, but for names that have a first and last name, a comma can be useful. So, you can free up the comma from the recipient separator duty and use a semicolon instead.

There’s even a name pronunciation setting shipping in January using which you can spell out how your name should be pronounced. It’s available in Slack and other productivity apps and is a nice addition if you work with a global team.

Lastly, there are multiple Copilot-related features like sharing the custom Copilot prompts with other team members and generating summaries of past meetings to get an overview and prepare for the next one.

Outlook has a lot of good stuff coming, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the new Outlook reaches feature parity with Outlook Classic sooner than expected.

Also, remember that Mail & Calendar apps will stop working on December 31, and you need to get used to the new Outlook. You can still use the classic Outlook version.

The post Microsoft is still trying to make new Outlook work offline on Windows 11 appeared first on Windows Latest

Like most of the previous issues, this Direc Audio problem stems from the cridspapo.dll file, which is incompatible with 24H2. As a result, the PC cannot identify any audio device, be it the inbuilt speakers, external Bluetooth audio devices and more. It is a sound optimisation technology to improve the audio output, but the drivers don’t work with the latest version update.

According to Microsoft, the manufacturer will release a patch to fix this audio issue. Meanwhile, the PCs with the update cannot use audio, a core feature of a computer. The obvious option is to roll back the update or do a clean install of Windows 11 23H2, on which the drivers work fine.

Microsoft will start offering the driver update with a system update once the manufacturer releases them. Until then, 23H2 PCs with Dirac Audio won’t get the Windows 11 24H2 update suggestion in the settings app.

Instead, they’ll see a new “Upgrade to Window 11 is on its way to your device. There is nothing that requires your attention at the moment. Once the update is ready for your device, you’ll see it available on this page” message.

It’ll contain a link to all the safeguard blocks applicable to your 23H2 PC. We like this idea because you can know which apps and services need a manual update for your PC to become eligible for 24H2.

But that’s not the only issue.

Auto HDR struggles on 24H2

As already reported by Windows Latest, Windows 11 24H2 crashes some games that rely on Auto HDR feature.

The Dirac Audio is a manufacturer-related issue, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft has all the corners covered.

One of its gaming-centric features, Auto HDR, doesn’t work in Windows 11 24H2. The overall gameplay appears murky and dull, and some games crash abruptly while the feature is active.

The obvious solution is not to use Auto HDR at the moment and wait for Microsoft to release a fix. Since Auto HDR can be applied game-wise or globally, you can disable it for some games or turn it off completely. We suggest you do the latter, which is better than rolling back to Windows 11 23H2.

The update block is effective if you currently use Auto HDR on your Windows 11 23H2 PC.

Wait for a month or so until Microsoft irons out all the kinks with the new update.

The post Microsoft admits Windows 11 24H2 PCs with Dirac audio cannot play sound appeared first on Windows Latest

The company recently published this information in the Microsoft 365 message center about rebranding Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Then, it wants to change the Microsoft Copilot name for Entra account users to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. All in all, it wants to change the name of the app and its AI chat assistant service for Enterprise customers.

It’s a “necessary” decision, as per Microsoft, which thinks the current naming structure is confusing. The only solution seems to be adding a “Copilot” name to every Enterprise product, which must seem genius in its mind.

It’s also changing the Microsoft 365 Copilot URL to M365Copilot.com and redirect office.com and microsoft365.com requests to m365.cloud.microsoft. There’s also a new icon in the works for the app.

It’ll use the same Copilot icon but with the “M365” label. All these changes will come into effect by mid-January 2025, a month from now.

In short:

Microsoft 365 will become Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft Copilot (for users with Entra Account) will become Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.

As we reported recently, Copilot key will not open the Copilot app, but instead it will redirect to Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Remember that Microsoft 365 Copilot is the one stop app to manage Microsoft 365, including Copilot, but it’s not strictly limited to Copilot as the name might suggest. Copilot app does not work on enterprise PCs, which is why Copilot app will open Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Confusing, right? Good luck to enterprises explaining this to their clients.

Is this change necessary?

Microsoft has never settled for a name for long. Earlier, Copilot was Bing Chat, and then it became Copilot. Now, it wants to change the Microsoft 365 app to a more Copilot-focused branding.

This change comes after their recent suggestion to remap the Copilot key on Enterprise PCs to open the Microsoft 365 app. The app will, by default open the Copilot assistant inside a new tab. We think this name change unnecessarily complicates everything for the Entra account users.

When they can already access Copilot inside the 365 app, why change its name? The Microsoft 365 app offers many more Microsoft products than Copilot, which we think is the least priority of an Enterprise user.

If they wanted, they could allow the users to access the Enterprise version of Copilot via a browser and leave the Microsoft 365 app as a secondary option. Renaming Copilot to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat only makes it difficult to read and remember.

Only time will tell whether this ends up in a similar laughing stock situation as the Copilot key decision.

The post Microsoft 365 app rebranding to Microsoft 365 Copilot, causing more confusion on Windows appeared first on Windows Latest