As part of it It promises to upgrade Windows 11Microsoft wants to clean up the Widgets panel, including hiding the MSN News feed and aggressive article pop-ups.
Microsoft is experimenting with a change in the new Windows 11 build preview spread to insiders Experimental channel. “One of the areas we are looking closely at in the operating system is the idea of ’quietness,'” wrote Corporate Vice President Marcus Ash. blog post. “When you’re designing experiences for over a billion users, what are the right defaults that are easy, simple, and limit distractions?”
This approach prompted Microsoft to make the Discover bar in the Widgets board “quieter by default.” Currently, it pops up when you open Widgets, prominently displaying various articles from MSN News. It can bombard you with various click stories and photos, including those related to US politics, which can be distressing.
(Credit: Microsoft)
The new preview layout removes the Discovery Feed and MSN News from the default view and places them in a separate tab. The company released a picture showing the before and after. The update removes the in-your-face articles and replaces the Widget board with a more minimalistic, space-saving approach. The change helps address one of our complaints about Windows 11: the default Widgets mode can be a a noisy mess and can potentially alienate users.
The preview release comes after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said this week that the company works to “win back” consumers by focusing on the basics and prioritizing quality. While Windows has long dominated the PC market, Microsoft seems to be acknowledging that it’s losing traction with consumers as some consider alternatives like Apple’s affordable prices. MacBook Neo Linux distributions like SteamOS and Ubuntu.
As Windows has long faced complaints, the quiet philosophy is gaining traction swelling and intervener is recommended by Microsoft programs It opens in the OS. We’ll be interested to see how far this idea goes, but the decision to update the Widget board seems to be a sign of things to come for the main Windows 11 release.
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In a blog post, Ash added that the company is making “system performance improvements in several areas of the operating system,” including reducing memory usage. “Several of these changes are starting to roll out to Windows Insiders today, and we’ll be sharing more improvements in Widgets and other areas in the coming months,” he said.
The company is also addressing complaints about Windows 11 being weakened by artificial intelligence. Ash noted: “In Snipping Tool and Photos, we’ve completely removed the ‘Ask Copilot’ button. And in Notepad, we’ve replaced the generic Copilot icon with a clearer ‘Writing Tools’ label that better describes what it does.”
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I have been a journalist for more than 15 years. I started as a school and city reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, covering satellite internet services, cybersecurity, computer hardware, and more. I currently live in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing more than 600 stories on availability and feature launches, as well as regulatory battles over expanding satellite constellations, battles with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and efforts to expand into mobile satellite-based service. I scoured FCC filings for the latest news and traveled to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cell service.
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I also cover the PC graphics card market. Disadvantages during the pandemic he took me to the camp In front of Best Buy to get the RTX 3000. Now I’m watching how AI-based memory shortages affect the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please leave feedback in the comments and send me tips.
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