What's new in the most recent update for Windows 11? All these features in the video are coming to everyone on August 12 when Patch Tuesday rolls out.
If you use Microsoft 365 Copilot, there’s a new feature inside Word called “Draft with Copilot.” It helps you write faster by generating content based on your prompts.
Windows is updating the Settings app too. Everyone will see the search bar at the top now, but on AI PCs, it’s powered by a smart assistant.
There’s a new recovery feature called Quick Machine Recovery. If your system runs into a big issue, Windows can now automatically try to repair itself by downloading a fix.
All these features ship later this month. We've a video on YouTube.
It’s a major milestone for Windows on ARM as Adobe has finally released native versions of several popular creative apps.
Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Media Encoder are now available in beta for ARM-powered Windows devices.
This move brings significant performance and battery life improvements, especially for users running Snapdragon X Series chips. Previously, these apps only ran in emulated mode, which limited efficiency and responsiveness.
However, since the apps are still in beta, they come with limitations.
Adobe notes that some missing features, like support for certain codecs and plugins, will not be implemented even after the stable release.
Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 Canary build (27913) for Insiders, focused on small but meaningful fixes.
One of the most noticeable changes is the Settings app’s search box, now centered at the top for a more unified experience.
This update also fixes a strange bug where some users heard the old Windows Vista boot sound instead of the Windows 11 one.
Background glitches causing wallpapers to go black have been addressed too.
Other fixes include: Settings crashing under Power & Battery, Broken apostrophes showing as weird characters, Audio cutting out after casting to a TV, and BSODs caused due to VPN connections.
Windows 11 is finally fixing a long-standing annoyance for multi-monitor users.
Until now, only your main screen let you open the notification center and calendar by clicking the taskbar clock.
On secondary displays, the clock was there, but it didn’t do anything. That’s changing.
Microsoft is now rolling out an update that makes the taskbar on all monitors more functional. You can now click the clock on any screen to open the calendar flyout or the notification center. This means no more moving your cursor across monitors just to check alerts or events.
This small but meaningful upgrade is now available for Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels.
Microsoft is quietly rolling out a new Copilot mode called Smart, and it could be one of the biggest upgrades yet.
We found that existing modes like Quick Response, Think Deeper, and Deep Research let you pick how fast or detailed the AI replies are.
Smart mode does that thinking for you. It adapts automatically, offering quick answers when that’s enough, and going deeper when the task demands more reasoning.
Behind the scenes, Smart is linked to GPT-5, the next-gen model from OpenAI. GPT-5 is designed to unify the o-series and GPT-series into one powerful system that chooses the right thinking depth automatically.
Microsoft Excel now supports automatic updates for PivotTables. This long-requested feature means you no longer have to manually refresh your table when new data is added.
With Auto Refresh turned on, your PivotTable updates itself in real time whenever the source data changes.
Auto Refresh is enabled by default for new PivotTables. You can turn it on or off for older tables by selecting the PivotTable, then going to the PivotTable Analyze tab and clicking the Auto Refresh option.
This works only for data within the same workbook. External data sources are not supported.
If Auto Refresh fails, Excel will show a small alert in the bottom-left corner.
Microsoft is improving how Windows 11 and Android phones work together with a big update to the Phone Link app.
The new design turns your phone into a control center for your PC. You can now check your computer’s battery level, Wi-Fi status, clipboard history, and recent files. You can also lock your PC, send files to it, or cast your phone screen from anywhere.
The setup process is easier now. You do not need to start from your PC.
Just open the Link to Windows app on your Android phone and follow the steps.
The update is rolling out slowly, so it may take a few days to reach everyone.
Microsoft is now using Rust to build Windows drivers, and it's already shipping them in new Surface devices.
The project behind this shift is called windows-drivers-rs, an open-source effort that lets developers write Windows drivers in Rust instead of C or C++. Rust helps prevent memory bugs, crashes, and security flaws by design, something C and C++ struggle with.
The Surface team is leading the way.
Several new Copilot+ PCs like the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro now use Rust-based drivers built using this platform.
Microsoft says Rust makes drivers safer, easier to maintain, and better at handling concurrency and memory.
No, do not believe the claims that Windows 11 24H2 is being automatically downloaded and offered to Windows 10 PCs not meeting the TPM requirement.
A wild rumour from a certain media publication claims that Windows 11 24H2 is now offered on PCs that do not meet the TPM 2.0 requirement.
That's not the case, and it's likely that those who received the upgrade without TPM bypass have already bypassed the requirement unknowingly through some third-party apps or script, and they do not remember doing so.
Windows 11 still maintains the same hardware requirements, including SecureBoot, TPM 2.0, CPU newer than 8th-gen (in case of Intel), and up to 4GB of RAM.
Microsoft is updating the Copilot app with a major improvement to Copilot Vision.
With version 1.25071.125, now rolling out to all Windows Insider channels, you can let Copilot see your entire desktop, not just specific apps. This gives you the freedom to ask for help, tips, or insights about anything you see on your screen.
To try it, open the Copilot app and tap the glasses icon in the composer, then choose your desktop. You can also trigger Copilot Vision during a voice chat, the glasses icon will appear automatically when you're speaking.
Keep in mind this feature only works in countries where Copilot Vision is available, and Microsoft is rolling it out gradually, so it might take a few more days to show up.
Mayank Parmar
Abhijith M B
