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From time to time, certain key elements in the Windows 10 or 11 user interface can go dormant. You click on or touch the Start menu icon, or other icons in the taskbar, and nothing happens. Keep trying, but nothing keeps happening. This can be anywhere from frustrating to infuriating.

Thankfully, there’s an extremely easy fix for this sort of behavior, as I will soon explain.

No need to restart, though that works, too

One ingrained response in many Windows users when the UI starts misbehaving is to restart their computers. And indeed, that does work to fix a nonresponsive Start menu or taskbar icons. But it takes time — at least a minute for most PC users — and can derail your productivity.

Because File Explorer handles processing for the Start menu and the taskbar, including its notification area, there’s a simpler, faster fix worth trying before you pull out the big gun.

If you press the key combination Alt-Shift-Esc or right-click an empty area in the taskbar, you can launch the Task Manager utility quickly and easily. Figure 1 shows the right-click pop-up menu in Windows 11 (left) and Windows 10 (right), from which you should select the Task Manager item to run that tool.

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Figure 1: Right-click taskbar options in Windows 11 (left) are far fewer than in Windows 10 (right). In either, pick Task Manager.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

Use Task Manager to restart File Explorer

After Task Manager starts up, look for the entry named “Windows Explorer” under the “Apps” heading (see Figure 2). Even though the app itself is named “File Explorer,” it’s shown up as “Windows Explorer” in Task Manager since Windows 95 made its debut 30 years ago.

Figure 2: Right-click on Windows Explorer, then click Restartin the pop-up menu (2nd from top).

Ed Tittel / Foundry

If you don’t see Windows Explorer listed in Task Manager, no worries. Simply launch an instance of File Explorer. If you can’t do that from the taskbar or Start menu, use the Windows key + R shortcut. This opens the Windows run box, inside which you can type explorer (or explorer.exe). Once launched, it appears in Task Manager as Windows Explorer under the Apps heading as shown above.

Right-clicking Windows Explorer and selecting Restart from the menu that appears usually restores the Start menu and the taskbar to normal operation. This can take up to 30 seconds to complete, so wait for the taskbar to reappear before resuming normal Windows activity. That said, this restart is much faster than restarting Windows.

Don’t be surprised when you see the taskbar go blank and all icons disappear. This is a normal side effect of restarting File Explorer. Before it can be restarted, it must first be stopped — and when it’s stopped, all those UI elements disappear temporarily. However disconcerting this may be, it won’t last long.

As soon as the File Explorer process restarts, it restores the Start menu and taskbar icons and the UI behaviors they support. In the vast majority of cases, that will fix whatever caused the Start menu or taskbar icons to stop responding to user inputs via mouse or touch — and you can get back to work.

The old fallback

If that doesn’t do the trick, then it’s time to restart Windows. If the usual techniques (e.g., Start > Power button > Restart) don’t work, you can use Windows key + R and type the command shutdown /r /t 0 into the run box. (Warning! The /t 0 setting means Windows will restart immediately, so save what work you can before taking this route.)

This article was originally published in July 2021 and updated in July 2025.

More Windows how-tos:

• How to fix a Windows black screen
• 6 steps to recover missing data in Windows
• How to troubleshoot and reset Windows Update
• Windows PowerToys: Your handy productivity toolbox
• WinGet: The best way to keep Windows apps updated

Microsoft never sleeps. In addition to its steady releases of major and minor updates to the current version of Windows 10, the company frequently rolls out public preview builds to members of its Windows Insider Program, allowing them to test out — and even help shape — upcoming features.

Although Windows Insiders can choose to receive Windows 11 preview builds in one of four channels — the Canary, Dev, Beta, or Release Preview Channel — Microsoft currently offers Windows 10 Insider previews in the Beta and Release Preview Channels only.

The Release Preview Channel typically doesn’t see action until shortly before a new feature update is rolled out; it’s meant for final testing of an upcoming release and is best for those who want the most stable builds. The Beta Channel previews features that are a little further out.

Below you’ll find information about recent Windows 10 preview builds. For each build, we’ve included the date of its release, which Insider channel it was released to, a summary of what’s in the build, and a link to Microsoft’s announcement about it.

Note: If you’re looking for information about updates being rolled out to all Windows 10 users, not previews for Windows Insiders, see “Windows 10: A guide to the updates.”

Releases for Windows 10 version 22H2 Windows 10 Build 19045.6156

Release date: July 10, 2025

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build adds the ability to deploy SKUSiPolicy VBS Anti-rollback protections through the Secure Boot AvailableUpdates registry key.

It also fixes two bugs, including one in which the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) enrollment wizard closed unexpectedly for some users, and another that caused stability issues for some users after installing the May 2025 security update and subsequent updates.

 (Get more info about Windows 10 Build 19045.6156.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.6029 (KB5061087)

Release date: June 12, 2025

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build adds several new minor features, including ugrading the curl tool to version 8.13.0. Several minor bugs have been fixed as well, including one that caused jump lists to disappear from the Start menu.

(Get more info about Build 19045.6029.

Windows 10 Build 19045.5912 (KB5058481)

Release date: May 15, 2025

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build adds description text for the weather button on the rich calendar flyout and brings back the clock view that displays seconds. It also fixes several bugs, including one in which some GB18030-2022 characters in plane 2 were not rendered in GDI/GDI+.

(Get more info about Build 19045.5912.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.5794 (KB5055612)

Release date: April 14, 2024

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build fixes two bugs, one in which the check for GPU paravirtualization was case-sensitive in Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2), which potentially caused GPU paravirtualization support to fail, and another in which additions to the Windows Kernel Vulnerable Driver Blocklist (DriverSiPolicy.p7b) blocklisted drivers with security vulnerabilities that have been used in Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks.

(Get more info about Build 19045.5794.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.5674 (KB5053643)

Release date: March 13, 2025

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which thumbnails in File Explorer crashed and caused white pages to appear instead of the actual thumbnail.

(Get more info about Build 19045.5674.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.5552 (KB5052077)

Release date: February 13, 2025

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which Open Secure Shell (OpenSSH) refused to start, stopping SSH connections.

(Get more info about Build 19045.5552.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.5435 (KB5050081)

Release date: January 17, 2025

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This update introduces a new calendar and the new Outlook app. It also fixes a variety of bugs, including one that depleted virtual memory, causing some apps to fail, and another in which the Capture Service and Snipping Tool stopped responding you pressed Windows key + Shift + S several times while Narrator was on.

(Get more info about Build 19045.5435.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.5194 (KB5046714)

Release date: November 14, 2024

Released to: Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel

For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel, the recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps from a small set of curated developers. If you want to turn this off, go to Settings > Personalization > Start. Turn off the toggle for Show suggestions occasionally in Start. Note that this feature is being rolled out gradually.

Windows Insiders in the Beta and Release Preview Channels get several bug fixes, including for a bug in which when you dragged and dropped files from a cloud files provider folder, it might have resulted in a move instead of a copy.

(Get more info about Build 19045.5194.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.5070 (KB5045594)

Release date: October 14, 2024

Released to: Beta and Release Preview Channels

In this build, those in the Beta Channel who have chosen to get features as soon as they are rolled out get new top cards that highlight key hardware specifications of their devices.

Insiders in both the Beta and Release Preview Channels get a new account manager on the Start menu. The new design makes it easy to view your account and access account settings. Those in the Beta and Release Preview Channels also get fixes for a variety of bugs, including one in which a scanner driver failed to install when you used a USB cable to connect to a multifunction printer.

(Get more info about Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.5070.)

Windows 10 19045.4955 (KB5043131)

Release date: September 16, 2024

Released to: Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which playback of some media could have stopped when you used certain surround sound technology, and another in which Windows Server stopped responding when you used apps like File Explorer and the taskbar.

(Get more info about Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.4955.)

Windows 10 19045.4842 (KB5041582)

Release date: August 22, 2024

Released to: Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which when a combo box had input focus, a memory leak sometimes occurred when you closed that window, and another in which some Bluetooth apps stopped responding because of a memory leak in a device.

(Get more info about Windows 10 22H2 19045.4842.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.4713 (KB5040525)

Release date: July 11, 2024

Released to: Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel

In this build, Insiders in the Beta Channel get a fix in which they will see a search box on their secondary monitors when the setting for search on the taskbar is set to “Search box.”

Insiders in the Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel get fixes for a variety of bugs, including one in which the TCP send code often causes a system to stop responding during routine tasks, such as file transfers. This issue leads to an extended send loop.

(Get more info about  Windows 10 22H2 19045.4713.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.4593

Release date: June 13, 2024

Released to: Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel

In this build, Insiders in the Beta Channel get bug fixes for Windows Backup. Insiders in both the Beta and Release Preview Channels get a new feature for mobile device management in which when you enroll a device, the MDM client sends more details about the device. The MDM service uses those details to identify the device model and the company that made it.

Insiders in the Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel also get a variety of bug fixes, including for a bug that could have stopped systems from resuming from hibernation after BitLocker was turned on.

(Get more info about  Windows 10 22H2 19045.4593.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.4472 (KB5037849)

Release date: May 20, 2024

Released to: Release Preview ChannelThis build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which TWAIN drivers stopped responding when you used them in a virtual environment, and another in which the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) app stopped responding.

(Get more info about  Windows 10 22H2 19045.4472.)

Windows 10 Build 19045.4353 (KB5036979)

Release date: April 15, 2024

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build introduces account-related notifications for Microsoft accounts in Settings > Home. A Microsoft account connects Windows to your Microsoft apps. This feature displays notifications across the Start menu and Settings. You can manage your Settings notifications in Settings > Privacy & security > General.

A wide variety of bugs have been fixed, including one in which when your device resumed from Modern Standby you might have gotten the stop error, “0x9f DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE, and another in which the Windows Local Administrator Password Solution’s (LAPS) Post Authentication Actions (PAA) did not happen at the end of the grace period. Instead, they occurred at restart.

(Get more info about  Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.4353.)

Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.4233 (KB5035941)

Release date: March 14, 2024

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This build adds Windows Spotlight, which displays new images as your desktop wallpaper. If you want to know more about an image, click or tap the Learn More button, which takes you to Bing. To turn on this feature, go to Settings > Personalization > Background > Personalize your background and choose Windows spotlight. The update also adds sports, traffic, and finance content to the lock screen. To turn it on, go to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Note that these two features will roll out to users gradually.

In addition, in Windows Hello for Business IT admins can now use mobile device management (MDM) to turn off the prompt that appears when users sign in to an Entra-joined machine. To do it, turn on the “DisablePostLogonProvisioning” policy setting. After a user signs in, provisioning is off for Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.

A wide variety of bugs have been fixed, including one in which some applications that depend on COM+ component had stopped responding. Also fixed was a deadlock issue in CloudAP that occurred when different users signed in and signed out at the same time on virtual machines.

(Get more info about Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.4233.)

Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.4116 (KB5034843)

Release date: February 15, 2024

Released to: Release Preview Channel

In this build, using Windows share, you can now directly share URLs to apps like WhatsApp, Gmail, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Sharing to X (formerly Twitter) is coming soon.

The build fixes several bugs, including one in which you weren’t able to use Windows Hello for Business to authenticate to Microsoft Entra ID on certain apps when using Web Access Management (WAM).

(Get more info about  Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.4116.)

Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.3992 (KB5034203)

Release date: January 11, 2024

Released to: Release Preview Channel

This update adds eye control system settings. You can back up these settings from the former device while you set up a new device. Then those settings will install automatically on the new device so you can use them when you reach the desktop.

The build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which an MDM service such as Microsoft Intune might not get the right data from BitLocker data-only encryption, and another in which some single-function printers are installed as scanners.

(Get more info about  Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.3992 (KB5034203).)

The impact of threatened tariffs from the Trump administration could cause shrinking PC sales, particularly in the US market, and potentially in other regions across the globe as well.

This prediction was featured in the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, released Tuesday, which showed that, while global PC shipments during the second quarter of 2025 increased by 6.5% from the prior year, with 68.4 million units, the US market is starting to feel the pinch of import tariffs.

Jean Phillippe Bouchard, IDC’s research vice president of data and analytics, said, “what we are witnessing here might highlight US PC demand slowing down in anticipation of the import tariffs looming deadline.”

In an email to Computerworld, he added, “as we’ve seen with the latest quarterly results, the US market remained flat, while the rest of the world grew at 9% year over year. As PC vendors are looking for ways to mitigate the impact of tariffs on pricing, the supply chain is bound to be impacted.”

On Wednesday, Canalys reported similar results for the quarter, estimating that while worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations grew 7.4% to 67.6 million units, “the Trump’s administration’s ever-changing and unclear approach to tariffs continues to generate considerable uncertainty. While PCs were exempt from tariffs in Q2, indirect impacts threaten not only the US, but the global market recovery.”

No pending crisis

Greg Davis, lead US analyst on the Canalys team that put the findings together, said Thursday, “at this point in time, we do not predict that a pending crisis might exist, at least not one that is specific to the PC industry. While, as we have mentioned, there is still quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding the US and its global economic trade policies, many of the larger PC vendors have taken steps to help diversify their supply chains to better navigate what evolving scenarios may occur in the near-term.”

He said, despite that, “what may have a larger impact on the anticipated growth of the PC market this year, and next, is the rising cost of goods for everything else. When you look at consumer purchasing behaviors, expensive electronic devices like PCs are not as high a priority as things like food and energy.”

When overall purchasing power is impacted by rising costs, said Davis, “the PC market will face a downward pressure even if the industry itself is not directly affected by economic changes.”

Tariff situation a ‘moving target’

Scott Bickley, advisory fellow at Info-Tech Research Group, said, “the US market has already moved to accelerate PC purchases in Q1 of this year in anticipation of tariffs being enacted in July. Buyers who have not been proactive should prepare now while the tariff exemption window is still open.”

The tariff situation, he said, “is a moving target and changes daily in terms of the impacted countries, product classes affected, and level of tariff to be levied. PC buyers are sandwiched between the Windows 10 end of life date looming large, normal PC refresh cycles, and the prospect of some level of tariff to be a likely outcome at some point in the future. Some PC vendors are already trying to apply a tariff price increase to new PC sales; buyers should push back on this tactic.”

Mark Moccia, VP research director with Forrester Research, added that if PC shipments, which are currently exempt, do become impacted by tariffs, there’s the potential for ballooning costs for enterprises that are in the midst of an entire fleet device refresh as part of a migration, or just a modest increase in costs for business as usual device refreshes.

The downstream impact of this, he pointed out, “is either the CIO has less money to spend on transformational efforts [such as] AI, or the CEO has to allocate more money from the company P&L toward tech to keep both the run and transformational expenses going.”

And supply chain complexity “provides additional uncertainty in terms of the cost of PCs due to where raw materials are sourced, where chips are produced, and where assembly occurs. The uncertainty with PC costs is especially problematic with the loss of Windows 10 support (and potential mass upgrades) occurring this year,” he said.

A complicated story

Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insight & Strategy, described the current situation as a “complicated story, because I do believe tariffs are a major issue. Some of the inflationary pressures of tariffs on OEMs are forcing them to keep prices higher, which is affecting their ability to offer deals, and that’s affecting volumes.”

Additionally,  he said, “we are likely already in a recession, which would make both consumers and businesses more sensitive to PC prices. By all measures, this was supposed to be an up year for the PC industry because of AI PCs, Copilot+, and Windows 10, but with so much uncertainty, including tariffs, things are not looking as rosy.”

With tariffs, Bickley pointed out, “the devil is in the details, and those details are not yet finalized. This means any supply chain pre-positioning by the PC manufacturers may be premature. It is safe to say that for PCs manufactured in Mexico vs Southeast Asia, the tariff impact would likely be lower due to the favorable provisions in the USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement].”

He added, “aside from the obvious tactic of pre-buying to build stock, I expect organizations to start buying down-the-stack as a means to offset a tariff-based price increase. While suppliers will absorb some of the tariff impact, their supply chains and internal processes are already quite mature, meaning most of the impact may be passed onto the customer.” 

This, said Bickley, mean organizations must become more mindful of the minimum performance level of the hardware required for various job roles. 

Further reading:

• Is Microsoft really axing Windows 10? Here’s what you need to know
• Yes, you can still upgrade Windows 10 PCs to Windows 11
• Here’s how much Microsoft will charge for Win10 security updates once support ends
  

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Because workers don’t want to be in meetings all day — especially if they’re unproductive — Zoom is packing more AI features into its software so attendees get more value from conversations and can use agentic AI to finish projects.

“The vision that our CTO has really laid out is this idea of agentic AI task completion,” said Kim Storin, the chief marketing officer at Zoom.

The approach to agentic task completion is designed to integrate smoothly into corporate workflows to take advantage of opportunities before, during and after meetings.

“That’s why we’ve been able to embed it into the platform instead of bolting it on,” Storin said. “It’s truly part of the overall workflow, versus just a side project of AI.”

Zoom took steps toward its conversation-to-completion goal this week by adding more tools to the company’s Custom AI Companion feature; it shows up in the interface as a chatbot where users can pose questions. 

The Custom AI Companion is now widely available to customers — and the chatbot can get answers from the third-party tools. For example, users will be able to pull out sales records from Salesforce during a conversation by querying the chatbot, and then update records, said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom.

Zoom has also expanded the functionality with integrations with data storage platform Box and project management tools from Asana and Atlassian’s Jira. That means, for instance, users will be able to update Jira tickets or pull information from files in Box.

Users can also connect to services such as AWS’s Q agents, which is a generative AI (genAI) assistant. Q is Amazon’s version of Microsoft’s Copilot, which helps workers complete jobs and get answers.

“Great meetings are when you’re having an engaging, creative conversation, you are brainstorming, people are alert, they’re not fiddling around,” Hashim said.

Zoom’s AI Companion is available to all users, but the customized AI companion had been available only to large organizations. The add-on is now available to more customers, including small businesses, and will cost $12 per user per month, Hashim said.

“The Custom AI Companion can also join your Google Meet meetings or Teams meetings,” Hashim said.

Zoom’s AI features are based on established large language models (LLMs) from the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta. The company also uses custom and small language models for AI functions within its videoconferencing software.

“These small language models are more specific to a task and those are becoming better. It’s a federated approach that we are using for models,” Hashim said.

Product integrations are commonplace across productivity suites and project management tools, even if from rival providers. The integrations improve user productivity and keep projects on track.  

Zoom wants to “take that conversation and convert it into something which is really actionable” allowing users to complete tasks “as much as we can in the moment,” Hashim said.

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May 12, 2025: Microsoft and OpenAI are renegotiating their multibillion-dollar partnership deal to better align with each company’s evolving goals in the artificial intelligence race

OpenAI hires Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to oversee customer-facing apps

May 8, 2025: The hire indicates that OpenAI’s roadmap will involve more structured, productized offerings rather than just API access.

OpenAI offers help promoting AI outside the US, but analysts question why countries would accept

May 7, 2025: OpenAI, acting as part of the US government-led Stargate AI project, rolled out a program called OpenAI for Countries. The idea is for Stargate to help other countries create their own genAI environments, including data centers and genAI models.

OpenAI reaffirms nonprofit control, scales back governance changes

May 6, 2025: OpenAI has scrapped plans to reduce its nonprofit parent’s oversight and will keep its existing governance structure intact, a move that limits CEO Sam Altman’s influence and responds to mounting external pressure.

OpenAI to acquire AI coding tool Windsurf for $3B

May 6, 2025: The acquisition comes just months after Windsurf explored funding at this same valuation from investors, highlighting the premium being placed on specialized AI coding capabilities, according to reports.

Former OpenAI employees urge regulators to halt company’s for-profit shift

April 23, 2025: A broad coalition of AI experts, economists, legal scholars, and former OpenAI employees is urging state regulators to keep OpenAI’s nonprofit foundation in control of the company.

OpenAI’s new models can ‘think with pictures’

April 17, 2025: OpenAI has released o3 and 04-mini, two reasoning AI models designed to be extra good at programming, math, and science and that can use images to “think,” according to Engadget, This means that users can upload sketches or diagrams, for example, and even if they are of low quality, o3 and 04-mini will understand what is meant.

OpenAI GPT-4.1 models promise improved coding and instruction following

April 15, 2025: The GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and GPT-4.1 nano models, available only via the API, will provide better performance than GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini at a lower price, OpenAI said.

OpenAI slammed for putting speed over safety

April 11, 2025: According to a Financial Times report, the ChatGPT maker is now assigning staff and third-party groups only a few days to assess the risks and performance of its latest large language models (LLMs) as compared to several months they were given earlier.

OpenAI fears irreparable harm from Musk, files countersuit

April 10, 2025: OpenAI has filed a countersuit against Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire of a sustained campaign to damage the company and urging a US federal court to block further actions it described as unlawful and disruptive. The legal filing, submitted in a California district court, marks the latest escalation in a dispute between Musk and the AI startup he helped establish in 2015.

Senators probe Google-Anthropic, Microsoft-OpenAI deals over antitrust concerns

April 9, 2025: Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden have launched a formal inquiry into partnerships between tech giants Google and Microsoft, and AI startups, demanding detailed information about arrangements they fear may be circumventing antitrust scrutiny while consolidating power in the rapidly evolving AI market.

Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s new AI education initiatives offer hope for enterprise knowledge retention

April 4, 2025: Two of the biggest names in artificial intelligence are independently developing new AI tools that encourage learning, at a time when the technology has been criticized for dumbing down smart users in the enterprise and discouraging critical thinking. While the new initiatives from OpenAI and Anthropic are aimed at transforming how AI is used in higher education, the opportunities they open up extend beyond universities.

Amazon, OpenAI, and China’s Zhipu unveil new AI tools amid intensifying competition

April 1, 2025: A wave of new AI products is hitting the market, signaling a shift toward more autonomous, task-completing systems that could reshape how businesses and consumers interact with digital services: Amazon has unveiled Nova Act, an AI agent designed to operate a web browser much like a human user; OpenAI said it will release an open-weight language model; and China’s Zhipu AI introduced a free AI assistant aimed at strengthening its position in the domestic market and competing with Western tech giants.

OpenAI, Google AI data centers are under stress after new genAI model launches

March 28, 2025: New generative AI models introduced by Google and OpenAI have put the companies’ data centers under stress — and both companies are trying to catch up to demand. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman tweeted that his company was temporarily restricting the use of GPUs after overwhelming demand for its image generation service on ChatGPT.

Microsoft abandons data center projects as OpenAI considers its own, hinting at a market shift

March 26, 2025: OpenAI has privately discussed building and operating its first data center to house storage, which is essential for developing sophisticated AI models. Microsoft, on the other hand, has pulled back on its buildouts, canceling data center projects in the US and Europe.

OpenAI calls for US to centralize AI regulation

March 13, 2025: OpenAI executives think the federal government should regulate artificial intelligence in the US, taking precedence over often more restrictive state regulations.

New tools from OpenAI help companies create their own AI agents

March 12, 2025: OpenAI launched Responses, a new api intended to eventually replace Assistants. The big draw? Responses provides a number of new tools that companies and organizations can use to create their own AI agents.

Microsoft is developing its own AI models to compete with OpenAI

March 10, 2025: Reports suggest Microsoft has decided to seriously challenge Deepseek and OpenAI by developing its own set of reasoning AI models called Microsoft AI (MAI). If successful, Microsoft would eventually not have to use its partner OpenAI’s o1 models in Copilot

Microsoft-OpenAI investigation closed by UK regulators

March 5, 2025: The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) spent a great deal of time deciding whether it should investigate Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI as a potential merger situation, but in the end, decided to open and close the investigation within 24 hours.

OpenAI revamps AI roadmap, merging models for a leaner future

February 13, 2025: OpenAI will integrate “o3” into GPT-5 instead of releasing it separately, streamlining adoption while signaling a shift toward fewer, more controlled AI models amid rising competition and cost pressures.

Musk’s $97B offer to buy OpenAI rejected as leadership stands firm

February 11, 2025: In a message to staff, Altman said the board has no intention of considering Musk’s offer, stating that the proposal does not align with OpenAI’s mission

OpenAI launches deep research agent for multi-step research tasks

February 3, 2025: Hot on the heels of its launch of the o3-mini model, OpenAI announced another component for ChatGPT that allows the generative AI tool to do more in-depth research. “Deep research is built for people who do intensive knowledge work in areas like finance, science, policy, and engineering and need thorough, precise, and reliable research,” OpenAI said in a blog post announcing the new capability.

OpenAI unleashes o3-mini reasoning model

January 31, 2025: OpenAI released the latest model in its reasoning series, o3-mini, both in ChatGPT and its application programming interface (API). It had been in preview since December 2024.

Indian media houses rally against OpenAI over copyright dispute

January 27, 2025: The legal heat on OpenAI in India intensified as digital news outlets owned by billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani joined an ongoing lawsuit against the ChatGPT creator. They were joined by some of the largest news publishers in India including the Indian Express, and Hindustan Times, and members of the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), which includes major players like Zee News, India Today, and The Hindu.

Altman now says OpenAI has not yet developed AGI

January 20, 2025: Confusion over whether OpenAI’s o3-mini has reached the major milestone of artificial general intelligence (AGI) or not deepened following a post on X by CEO Sam Altman that completely contradicts what he said two weeks earlier in an interview with Bloomberg.

Microsoft sues overseas threat actor group over abuse of OpenAI service

January 13, 2025: Microsoft has filed suit against 10 unnamed people (“Does”), who are apparently operating overseas, for misuse of its Azure OpenAI platform, asking the Eastern District of Virginia federal court for damages and injunctive relief.

With o3 having reached AGI, OpenAI turns its sights toward superintelligence

January 6, 2025: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reinvigorated discussion of artificial general intelligence (AGI), boldly claiming that his company’s newest model has reached that milestone.

Now US government agencies can use OpenAI’s ChatGPT too

January 28, 2025: OpenAI has rolled out ChatGPT Gov, a version of its flagship frontier model specifically tailored to US government agencies. The platform has many of the same capabilities as OpenAI’s other enterprise products, including access to GPT-4o and the ability to build custom GPTs — and it also features a much higher level of security than ChatGPT Enterprise.

OpenAI debuts AI agent Operator to transform web task automation

January 24, 2025: OpenAI has unveiled “Operator,” a new AI agent designed to perform web-based tasks, offering potential productivity enhancements for enterprises. The tool enables interaction with on-screen elements, positioning it as a solution for automating routine processes in business workflows amid growing competition in the generative AI space.

OpenAI opposes data deletion demand in India citing US legal constraints

January 23, 2025: OpenAI has informed the Delhi High Court that any directive requiring it to delete training data used for ChatGPT would conflict with its legal obligations under US law. The statement came in response to a copyright lawsuit filed by the Reuters-backed Indian news agency ANI, marking a pivotal development in one of the first major AI-related legal battles in India.

OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle lead $500B Project Stargate to ramp up AI infra in the US

January 22, 2025: Several large technology firms including OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, Nvidia, and MGX have partnered to set up a new company in the US to ramp up AI infrastructure in the country.

OpenAI is losing money on its pricey ChatGPT Pro subscription

January 7, 2025: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a post on X, says the AI ​​company is currently losing money on its ChatGPT Pro subscription. “People are using it much more than we expected,” he wrote.

Fine-tuning Azure OpenAI models in Azure AI Foundry

January 2, 2025: Microsoft Azure’s new AI toolkit makes it easy to customize OpenAI large language models for your applications.

OpenAI still hasn’t released tools to deny data collection

January 2, 2025: OpenAI has failed to release the tool to opt-out or customize data collection the company promised to make available by 2025, according to Techcrunch.

FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) compliance isn't optional when handling law enforcement data. From MFA to password hygiene, see how Specops Software helps meet FBI standards while also securing your Windows Active Directory. [...]

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested four people suspected of being involved in cyberattacks on major retailers in the country, including Marks & Spencer, Co-op, and Harrods. [...]

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested four people suspected of being involved in cyberattacks on major retailers in the country, including Marks & Spencer, Co-op, and Harrods. [...]

** Vnitro odhalilo zásah neznámých útočníků do svých IT systémů. ** V rámci prevence je úřad odpojil, aby se zabránilo úniku dat. ** Ministr Rakušan ujišťuje, že žádné osobní údaje ani tajné informace neunikly.

It was only a matter of time before they came for America’s only openly gay CEO, and it’s got nothing to do with performance. How can it? Apple’s valuation has soared under his watch, while the company’s positions on privacy and environmental responsibility lead almost every industry — and should be an example to all.

I imagine that’s precisely what reactionaries dislike about the Cook-led company. It would be so much simpler to introduce various kinds of surveillance (state, services, advertising, etc.) if Apple would just get out the way.

No one likes a goody two shoes

The last thing they need is a company that successfully shows us it is possible to transition to climate neutrality across its business. If it succeeds, it would prove that not only is this possible, but it benefits the business and its customers. Believe it or not, there are powerful forces who will fight to the death to prevent such high-profile successes.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, those with the power and the money (and there’s only a few that have both) know how much easier it would be to train our future MechaHitler overlords if everybody’s digital identities could be turned into open books. In their ghastly vision of tomorrow, privacy becomes something only the very wealthiest among us can afford. 

The rest of us exist solely to feed the machine.

But all of these visions keep hitting the same snags: Apple gets in the way. The company, built on so-called liberal values such as peace, internationalism, diversity, and LGBTQ+ rights, is a conceptual anathema to some of those riding high on the zeitgeist today. Negative energies always focus inward in the end, and they are focusing inward today.

Knives out

In truth, they’ve been after Cook for a while. They didn’t mind Steve Jobs so much; they accepted his ability and genius. Indeed, the kind of people Jobs probably had little use for now use his quotes to sell “business wisdom’”books.

That’s how it rolls.

But Cook’s a different story. The knives have been out for him since he took the CEO throne. And even while the company moves from strength to strength, nothing he does is ever seen as quite good enough; I’ve lost track of the number of people I once respected who seem to take great delight in berating him.

The man who seemingly led development of the Vision Pro, a product so advanced it isn’t expected to become a mass market item until the next decade, is apparently not a “product guy.” The guy who spent a billion on Beats as a flagship to lead a suite of services that now generate almost as much revenue as the iPhone doesn’t get it. Tim Cook’s Apple, which has restored the Mac to glory on the back of Apple Silicon, has lost its way.

I’m sick of reading these kinds of things. They seem to state the news, but miss the reality — that in the current environment, nothing Apple does will be good enough, no matter who leads it. 

The company is beset. 

On the one hand, it faces reactionary forces. On the other it has the current crop of ghastly brain dead neo-liberals (I’m looking at you Europe and the UK), who, by incompetence or design, continue to erode the very values they claim to champion. “Security” means people in the UK don’t even know and aren’t even told the extent to which the dreadful authoritarians in the current government spy on their digital lives, meaning no security at all. While “trade” means Apple products are going to cost more in the US because of the “Trump Tax.” Meanwhile Europe continues to damage Apple’s business and ecosystem so some games developers can make a few dollars at the cost of platform security, using state- sponsored savagery to force an ideological vision of “free market” competition on the business of only one company.

What is there about using state power to undermine the business of one company while leaving competitors untouched that can be defined as ‘free market’?

Climate change

Apple does have its own problems, of course. It’s arguable that its top team has needed refreshment in the form of new talent for a while; hopefully, the company has a wealth of second-line talent to fill the gaps as senior leadership inevitably retires.

It is also interesting that there must be one or two high-placed Apple top 100 leaders who are taking delight in leaking Apple’s secrets, to the detriment of senior leadership’s credibility. Perhaps that is why they do it, reflecting their own ambition?

But for many Apple critics, the biggest problem isn’t Apple, its leadership, its many business challenges, or even Cook. No. The reason they want to force regime change is because Apple, since its inception, has always strived to mean something, to push for positive change. It’s the hopeful antidote to others’ hopeless empty rhetoric. Because at its heart, it has values, values Cook tries to push for, values we must maintain if there is to be any hope at all of surviving this spiritually bereft, morally absent, economically hopeless, nihilistic age.

That’s why I feel the company, despite its own structural imperfections (who else recalls Siri snooping or pressure against in-store unionization?), continues to be worth our time. 

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.k

The European Commission has published the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice to help enterprises comply with their obligations on transparency, copyright, safety, and security under the European Union’s AI Act.

Following the code of practice is voluntary — but the Commission presented it as a way for enterprises to be sure they meet their obligations under the law.

The Code of Practice was originally scheduled for publication in May, and some European enterprises had called for application of the EU AI Act as a whole to be delayed. However, a Commission spokesperson said earlier this week that it there would be no pause and that it would publish its guidance “in the coming days.”

Microsoft’s cloud storage, OneDrive, works both as a web app that you use through a browser and as a storage drive integrated into File Explorer in Windows 10 and 11. When you upload a file or folder through the OneDrive web app, it becomes available on your Windows PC through File Explorer, and vice versa. You can also access it on your smartphone or tablet (via the OneDrive app for Android, iPhone or iPad) or a Mac (via the OneDrive Mac app) if any of these devices are signed in with the same Microsoft account.

OneDrive is handy when you’re collaborating with others, too. You can share files or folders in your OneDrive with anyone by sending them a web link to it. If it’s a Microsoft Office file, then you and others can collaborate on it in real time in the Excel, PowerPoint, or Word web apps. Users with certain Microsoft 365 subscriptions can also use the desktop versions of these applications to work together on the file.

We’ve covered how to use OneDrive in Windows in a separate story. In this guide, we explain how to work with OneDrive for Web, which offers several features — including new Copilot AI features — that are not available in OneDrive in Windows.

Get started with OneDrive

To use OneDrive, you need a Microsoft account. If your company uses Microsoft 365 or you have an Outlook.com account, then you have a Microsoft account. If not, you can sign up for one for free.

With a free Microsoft account, you get 5GB of OneDrive storage. You can upgrade to 100GB storage or more by subscribing to a Microsoft 365 plan, starting at $2 per month. Business customers can subscribe to a 1TB OneDrive for Business plan for $5 per user per month or opt for a Microsoft 365 plan. (See all the Microsoft 365 plans for home, small business, and enterprise use.)

Note: Some features covered here are available only with higher-level Microsoft 365 plans. And while you can use OneDrive for Web in any modern browser, some features may work better in Chrome or in Microsoft’s own browser, Edge.

Get to know the new OneDrive for Web interface

The first step is to sign in to OneDrive with your Microsoft user account. If you’re already signed in to your account, you can go directly to the OneDrive portal for Microsoft 365 subscribers (formerly office.com) or for non-subscribers in your browser.

After you sign in, the OneDrive for Web home screen is shown. Along the top of the main pane are cards that highlight files that may be important to you. This may include documents you’ve been working on with co-workers, items that you open frequently, or projects that someone has tagged your name to. You can click the action button on a card (e.g., Open or Go to task) to open that item inside the corresponding app in a new browser tab.

In the left navigation pane, right below your name or username, you’ll see that Home has been selected. This view lists the files you’ve recently opened in the main pane, whether they’re your own files or they’ve been shared with you. You can see at a glance who owns each file and recent actions taken on each. Files with the most recent activity appear first.

The OneDrive for Web home screen shows important files at the top, with recently accessed files below.

Howard Wen / Foundry

Above the main pane is a row of buttons that let you filter items in the files list by file type (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF, etc.). You can also type a word into the “Filter by name or person” box at the right to search for filenames containing that word.

Below Home in the left navigation are several options that you can click to display your files in the main pane in the following ways:

My files: This view lists all your files and folders. When you click a folder name to open it, the files in it are shown in the main pane. To navigate out of the folder, click My files again in the left pane, or click a folder name in the “breadcrumb” hierarchy path that’s shown above the main pane.

For example, the “My files > Pictures > Research” path indicates that you’re viewing files in the Research folder. You can click either Pictures or My files to go back up the folder hierarchy.

Shared: These are files that you are sharing with others and that other people are sharing with you. As in Home view, you can use the buttons above the main pane to filter by document type, and/or you can type into the “Filter by name or person” box to search for filenames containing a particular word or files shared by a particular person.

Favorites: This shows all the files or folders that you’ve marked as favorites in the main pane. You can favorite your own OneDrive files and folders, as well as those shared by others with you in their OneDrive.

To favorite a file or folder, move the pointer over the file or folder and click the star icon that appears by it. Click the star icon again to un-favorite the file or folder.

Recycle bin: Here you’ll find files that you’ve deleted from your OneDrive.

People: In this view, you see a list of people who have shared files with you, with their files or folders listed to the right. This is handy when you remember who shared a file or folder with you but not when or what the filename is. To quickly zero in on a person, type their name in the “Filter by person” box at the upper right.

The People view organizes files by who shared them with you.

Howard Wen / Foundry

Only users with a Microsoft 365 work or school plan will see the remaining three navigation items in OneDrive for Web:

Meetings: These are files that were shared in Microsoft Teams meetings that you took part in. Files attached to scheduled meetings that haven’t happened yet will also be listed.

Media: Click this to conveniently browse images and videos that you’ve stored in your OneDrive.

Quick access: When you open files or folders stored in SharePoint document libraries, those libraries are added to the Quick access list. Click the name of a library here to open it and browse its files and folders.

Note that OneDrive for Web is integrated into the Microsoft Outlook and Teams apps for Windows, macOS, and web. The OneDrive icon is on the vertical toolbar at the left edge of each application. Clicking it opens your OneDrive in the main pane of Outlook or Teams, with the same layout as described above.

OneDrive for Web is integrated into the new Teams app.

Howard Wen / Foundry

Store or create files and folders in OneDrive for Web

To upload a file from your PC to your OneDrive, click the + Create or upload button at the upper left. From the menu that opens, click either Files upload or Folder upload. The web browser will open a file manager so that you can select the files or folders on your PC that you want to upload to your OneDrive.

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Click the Create or upload button and make a selection from the menu.

Howard Wen / Foundry

If you select Folder at the top of the menu, OneDrive prompts you to type in a name for the new folder. You can optionally choose a color for your folder, then click Create. The folder will appear in the main pane.

The + Create or upload menu also has options to create a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation, or other Microsoft 365 file formats. When you select one of these, the web version of that Microsoft 365 app opens in a new browser tab with a blank spreadsheet, presentation, document, etc. inside it, so you can get right to work creating content in it. This new file will immediately appear in your OneDrive.

Tip: OneDrive will upload or create files and folders wherever you happen to be in your folder hierarchy when you click + Create or upload. For example, if you’re viewing the Home screen in OneDrive, it will place the new file or folder at the top level of your OneDrive.

If you want the new file or folder to be within another folder, click My files and navigate to that folder first, and then click + Create or upload. (You can also drag-and-drop files and folders to move them inside another folder, just as you would in Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder.)

When you add a file or folder to OneDrive for Web, it is stored in the cloud and you can also access it through File Explorer in Windows 10 or 11 or through Finder in macOS (if you have the OneDrive app installed). If you rename, move, or delete a file or folder in OneDrive via either OneDrive for Web or File Explorer/Finder, you’ll see those same changes synced in the other interface — they’re just two different ways to access the same content stored in your OneDrive.

Open OneDrive files on the web or in a desktop app

To open a Microsoft 365 file — such as a document, presentation, or spreadsheet — in OneDrive for Web, just click it. By default, it will open in the corresponding web app in a new browser tab. Click an Excel file, for example, and the spreadsheet will open in the Excel web app.

If you’re subscribed to a Microsoft 365 plan that lets you use its desktop applications, you can open the spreadsheet in the Excel desktop app that’s installed on your PC. Either right-click the file or move the pointer over the file and click the three-dot icon that appears by its filename.

From the menu that opens, select Open and Open in app next. (You may see the name of the app in this menu — for instance, “Open in Excel” — instead of “Open in app.”) Note that ad-blockers and some browser privacy settings may interfere with this feature.

Opening an Excel file from OneDrive for Web.

Howard Wen / Foundry

This also should work with other file types, depending on what desktop apps you have installed on your PC. For example, you can right-click a PDF and select a desktop app that you use to edit PDFs (e.g., Adobe Acrobat).

Create file or folder shortcuts in OneDrive for Web

You can create a shortcut to any file or folder you have access to in OneDrive, including files and folders shared with you by another person. For example, maybe you want to have easy access to files located in several different folders, but you don’t want to go through the trouble of moving the files or making copies of them. Instead, you can create several shortcuts to them and organize these shortcuts inside a single folder.

A shortcut is treated as its own file in your OneDrive. You can delete the shortcut or rename it, but these actions won’t delete or rename the file or folder that it’s linked to. Think of a shortcut as a little file that works like a web link. When you click it, it opens the file or folder that it’s linked to.

To create a shortcut, right-click the file or folder or move the pointer over it and click the three-dot icon that appears by its name. On the menu that opens, select Add shortcut and select the folder where you want the shortcut to be saved in.

Create shortcuts for quick access to key files.

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Access your OneDrive files offline in OneDrive for Web

You can make files stored in your OneDrive available on your PC without an internet connection. Until fairly recently, you couldn’t do this through OneDrive for Web; instead, you had to go into Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder, right-click a file or folder in your OneDrive, and select Always keep on this device.

That still works, but now most users can save files for offline use via OneDrive for Web too. Select one or more files or folders, and click any one of the three-dot icons that appear by their file or folder name. From the menu that opens, select Make available offline.

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Choose Make available offline to ensure that you’ll always be able to access this file, even without an internet connection.

Microsoft

This action downloads the file or folder to your PC and stores it locally so you can still access it if your PC goes offline. An icon of a computer screen with a checkmark will appear by the file or folder name to denote that it is available offline.

If you want to turn a file or folder back to online-only (i.e., you’ll only be able to access it when your PC is online), just reverse the above steps.

Share files or folders in OneDrive for Web

Move the pointer over the file or folder that you want to share. Click the Share icon — a square with an arrow over it — that appears to the right.

Click the Share icon to begin sharing a file.

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The Share panel opens. (From this point on, the steps for sharing a file or folder are generally the same as in OneDrive in Windows.)

Note: If you’re using a Microsoft 365 account that’s owned by your company, the options for sharing a file or folder in your OneDrive may be restricted by your IT administrator. Depending on the type of Microsoft account you’re using, you may see slightly different interfaces and options than those shown here, but the sharing process should be similar.

Share a file or folder with specific people

In the Share panel, you can invite specific people to access the file or folder in your OneDrive. Enter their email addresses in the first field. If they’re in your Outlook contacts, you can start typing their name and select from the suggestions of people that pop up.

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Sharing and setting access permissions for a OneDrive file.

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Click the pencil icon to the right to change the access level to your file or folder. Depending on your Microsoft account or Microsoft 365 account, you may see some or all of these options:

• Can edit: The people you’ve invited can view your file or folder (and its contents), download it, forward its link to others, and make changes to it (including contents in a folder). For example, if it’s a Word document, then a person viewing it can edit it with Word. This also means that when they edit your file or folder, their changes overwrite the original copy in your OneDrive.
• Can view: Invitees can view your file or folder, download it, and forward its link to others — but they can’t make changes to the original file or folder (or its contents) in your OneDrive.
• Can review: If the file being shared is a Word document, this option will appear. The person you share the document with will be able to add comments or make suggestions to it in the Word app, but they won’t be able to make actual edits to it.
• Can’t download: Invitees can view the file or folder but can’t download it.

You can also enter a brief message for the recipients to read, and then click the Send button. An email will be sent to these people that contains a link to your file or folder that only they can open.

Share a file or folder with all your co-workers

If, instead of inviting specific people, you want to share the file or folder with everyone in your organization, click the gear icon, which may appear toward the upper right of the Share panel or at the bottom next to the “Copy link” button, depending on your account type.

A “Link settings” panel appears. Select People in [your organization name] to share the file or folder with all your co-workers.

In the “More settings” area below, you’ll see the same access permission options as on the main Share panel — so you can, for instance, change Can edit to Can view. Users with certain Microsoft 365 accounts can also set an expiration date after which the link to the shared file or folder will no longer work, as well as password-protect the file or folder.

After you’ve made your selections, click the Apply button. This returns you to the Share panel, where you can click Send to send the invitation email.

Share a file or folder via public link

Another way to share a OneDrive file or folder is with a public link. We strongly advise not using this method with files or folders that contain sensitive data. (Some organizations turn off this capability.)

On the aforementioned Share panel, click Copy link, and a link to your file or folder is copied to your PC clipboard. You can then share this link with other people — but before you do, it’s wise to think about sharing permissions.

By default, anyone who clicks this public link can view your file or folder (and its contents), download it, forward the link to others, and make changes to the file or folder (including the files in a folder).

To change the access setting of this public link, click the gear icon next to the “Copy link” button or at the upper right of the Share panel. This will open the “Link settings” panel, where you can change access permissions, set an expiration date, and/or password-protect the file or folder as described above.

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Use the “Link settings” panel to change who you invite and fine-tune access permissions.

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Or, if you change your mind about sharing the link publicly, select a different recipient group from the “Share the link with” list, such as people in your organization, people who already have existing access to your file or folder, or people you specifically choose to invite.

After you’ve made your selections, click Apply, which returns you to the Share panel. Click the Copy link button. You can now share this link with other people by pasting it into a document, email, message, etc.

Note: The quickest way to create a link to publicly share a file or folder in your OneDrive is to right-click the file or folder and select Copy link from the menu that appears. A link will be created using your default permissions, which you can adjust by clicking the “Settings” icon on the “Link created” pane that appears.

Stop or manage sharing for a file or folder

Select My files in the left pane. Move the pointer over the shared file or folder, click the three-dot icon, and select Manage access.

On the Manage Access panel that opens, you can click Stop sharing to stop sharing the file or folder completely.

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You can manage access permissions or stop sharing a file or folder at any time.

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To manage access permissions for a person, on the People tab, click the permission next to a person’s name to change it — for instance, from Can edit to Can view. You can do the same for groups by clicking the Groups tab.

To manage shared links, click the Links tab. To stop sharing a public link, click the trash can icon by the link. Or click the gear icon if you want to change the access settings for the link to your file or folder.

New Copilot genAI features in OneDrive for Web

Microsoft recently added Copilot AI functions that you can use to take actions on Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and (some) other files stored in your OneDrive. For instance, Copilot can quickly summarize a lengthy Word doc without you even having to open it. These functions only work through OneDrive for Web — they’re not available in your OneDrive through Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder.

Notes:

• These AI functions are available only with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription, a Copilot Pro subscription, or a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription for business.
• Under a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan, you’re allotted 60 AI credits (requests to Copilot) per month. If you have a Copilot Pro or M365 Copilot plan, there are no limits to accessing Copilot.
• According to Microsoft, Copilot in OneDrive supports most text-based files, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, newer Microsoft 365 formats like FLUID and LOOP, OpenDocument formats (ODT and ODP), Web files (ASPX, HTM, and HTML), and universal formats such as PDF, TXT and RTF files. File size is currently limited to 150MB. The company says support for images, videos, meeting recordings, and OneNote notebooks is coming soon.

Summarize a file, create an FAQ from it, or ask a question about it

Move the pointer over file and click the Copilot logo that appears by its filename. From the menu that opens, select Summarize, Create an FAQ, or Ask a question.

Click the Copilot logo next to a file and choose an option.

Howard Wen / Foundry

Summarize and Create an FAQ: When you select either of these options, a panel opens over the screen. Copilot will analyze your selected file, then generate a summary or a list of “frequently asked questions” (and answers) based on its content. The resulting text will appear in the panel.

Copilot can generate a summary of or FAQ list for a file.

Howard Wen / Foundry

Then you can…

• Click the thumbs up or thumbs down icon to rate the quality of the result.
• Click Copy. The text that Copilot generated will be copied to your PC clipboard.
• Ask a question is the same choice that appears on the prior menu, described below.

Ask a question: Clicking this option will open the Copilot chat panel along the right of the screen. In the entry box along the bottom of this panel, you can type a command or question to prompt Copilot to generate a response.

For example, if you selected an Excel spreadsheet, you could try asking Copilot: “What’s the most expensive item in this spreadsheet?” If it’s a PowerPoint presentation: “What are the key points mentioned in this slideshow?”

Or, along the lower right of the entry box:

• Click the View prompts icon (with the star) to view suggested prompts that you can select for Copilot to respond to.
• Click the microphone icon to turn on your PC’s microphone so that you can speak your command or question.

You can enter a question about your file at the bottom of the Copilot chat panel.

Howard Wen / Foundry

Once you’ve entered a question or prompt, Copilot will analyze your request and try to generate a response. You can copy its resulting text to your PC clipboard, and rate it with a thumbs up or down. Or you can keep chatting with Copilot about the file, asking follow-up questions in the chat box.

Summarize, compare, or ask questions about more than one file

You can select up to five files (any combination of supported file types), and then instruct Copilot to generate a summary of their contents, list differences among them, or open the Copilot panel to ask questions or make other requests.

Select My files on the left pane, then select up to five files in the main file list. On the toolbar above this main pane, click Copilot and choose one of the options from the menu that appears.

Select multiple files in your My files list, then ask Copilot to summarize, compare, or chat with you about them.

Howard Wen / Foundry

If you select Summarize or Compare files, a summary of all selected files or comparison noting the major differences between selected files will appear in a panel over the screen. Choosing Ask a question will open the Copilot chat panel, where you can ask questions about all the selected files.

A Copilot-generated comparison of two Excel spreadsheets.

Howard Wen / Foundry

More Copilot features on the way

In addition to the aforementioned functions, the Microsoft 365 Roadmap lists several more Copilot features for M365 Copilot business customers that have just been launched or are in the process of rolling out in OneDrive for Web, including generating audio summaries of files, asking Copilot questions about images and meeting recordings, converting Word documents to PowerPoint presentations, and Copilot Agents (assistants powered by AI that you set to do tasks for you).

It’s likely that some, though not all, of these features will eventually make their way to M365 Personal/Family and Copilot Pro users as well.

OneDrive for Web: Worth another look

Microsoft has poured considerable resources into beefing up the web versions of its Microsoft 365 apps, and this effort has clearly paid off in OneDrive for Web. If you haven’t used the web version of OneDrive in a while, it’s worth another look as a powerful alternative to using OneDrive within Windows (or Mac). You might find that OneDrive for Web provides a significant productivity boost.

This article was originally published in June 2024 and updated in July 2025.

Google Chrome’s dominance in the browser market is facing new threats as OpenAI and Nvidia-backed Perplexity unveil AI-powered browsers aimed at reshaping how users interact with the web.

Perplexity AI, this week, launched Comet, a new web browser with built-in AI search capabilities, the company said.

[ Related: More OpenAi news and insights ]

Separately, OpenAI is preparing to release its own AI-powered browser, in a move that could further challenge Chrome’s dominance, Reuters reported.

In a blog post, Perplexity said that Comet offers a unified browsing experience where users can ask questions, complete tasks, and explore information through a single interface.

“Comet allows you to ask questions anywhere they occur to you, whether you want to understand a complex concept, find hidden connections, create new possibilities, or solve problems that have been puzzling you,” the company added.

OpenAI’s upcoming browser is reportedly designed to handle some user interactions within a ChatGPT-style chat interface, reducing the need to visit external websites. The approach is said to be part of a broader strategy to embed OpenAI’s services more deeply into both personal and professional aspects of users’ lives.

Change in browsing approach

AI-driven chat tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are gaining traction as alternative channels for information discovery, but web browsers continue to serve as the primary access point for more than 90% of users on smart devices.

“Though AI usage is on the rise, the workflow is still distributed and scattered for users,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and lead analyst at Techarc. “By default, all web-related tasks happen through browsers. In many cases, collaboration tools and cloud applications are even accessed through browsers. Now, if a user has to use AI during the workflow, it’s a detour, taking the data or information to an AI app, processing it there, and then bringing the results back into the workflow.”

With these companies entering the AI browser market, AI tools could become more integrated into everyday browsing, potentially improving workflow efficiency.

“The industry is witnessing the advent of the ‘Browser 2.0’ era, exemplified by the deep integration of Copilot within the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge,” said Neil Shah, partner & co-founder at Counterpoint Research. “Until AI agents become the primary interface for information access, developing an AI-native browser is a crucial strategy for user acquisition. This approach complements the growth of standalone applications and deeper OS-level integrations, such as the partnerships between OpenAI and Apple, or Perplexity and Motorola.”

An AI-native browser offers a key advantage by bypassing the data restrictions of standalone applications. For firms like OpenAI and Perplexity, it opens the door to detailed telemetry on user browsing behavior, creating new opportunities for monetization through advertising, data deals, and other channels.

Strategic advantage, with challenges

Controlling a web browser offers a direct channel to user behavior and data, an advantage that has long set Google apart. Chrome held 68% of the global browser market in June, according to StatCounter, far outpacing competitors such as Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox.

“Browsers can collect detailed user data, including browsing history and activity,” Kawoosa said. “If OpenAI and Perplexity gain traction with their browsers, they could access similar real-time data streams, potentially boosting the accuracy and efficiency of their AI models.”

That said, since Google, Edge, and other browsers have already integrated AI features, there’s a strong possibility that users may not turn to OpenAI or Perplexity for their AI needs.

“Users are often reluctant to switch from default, OS-integrated browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Safari, which are highly optimized for their respective platforms,” Shah said. “Furthermore, enterprise adoption will be contingent upon the perspectives of CIOs, who will need to assess the privacy, security, and manageability of these new browsers.”

The shift presents both a challenge and an opportunity for firms like OpenAI and Perplexity, which could offer CIOs greater control by integrating enterprise app APIs directly into AI-native browsers, creating a more streamlined and secure environment for search and information access.

When people ask me about the difference between Android devices and an iPhone these days, my answer is almost shockingly simple: It’s all about choice.

• With an iPhone, you’re committing to using your phone in the way some sweater-vested executives within Apple think you should use it. It’s the Apple ecosystem and the Apple way, through and through. If you like that and that aligns with your own personal phone-using preferences, hey, bravo! It’s a match.
• With an Android device, you can use your phone in basically any way you want to use it. You aren’t locked into any one particular ecosystem of software, accessories, or philosophies — and if there’s any part of the standard experience that doesn’t jibe with your style of gettin’ stuff done, you can change it and make it work exactly how you like.

Now, of course, we can quibble all day over the many minute differences between the two platforms — but ultimately, that mindset mostly sums it all up: If you like the precise way Apple thinks you should use your phone and you don’t mind sticking to that specific prescription, an iPhone will work brilliantly for you. If you crave anything more or different with your mobile device experience (and you don’t mind venturing outside of the carefully constructed Apple bubble and its assorted bits of artificial fencing and pedantic perceptions), Android is the path you need.

And there’s no better illustration of the choice-making power Android provides than what we see in the land o’ launchers — the full-fledged replacements for standard home screen and app drawer environments that dictate so much about how you interact with your device.

Android launchers offer an endless array of opportunities for choice and customization. You can create virtually any manner of environment you want and take complete control over your Android-using experience. The power is in your hands, in other words — not solely in the hands of random managers who sold you the gizmo.

And while we’ve long had a splendid slate of commendable Android launchers to choose from, every now and then, a new contender shows up that really opens your eyes.

[Want even more advanced Android knowledge? Check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks.]

Android minimalism, to the max

My friend and fellow Android appreciator, allow me to introduce you to a sleek little launcher called Flow — or Flow Minimalist Launcher, if you want to use its full (and notably less minimalist) name.

Flow, as we’ll call it, is designed to do something most modern mobile devices absolutely don’t want to accomplish by default — and that’s actively help you use your phone less. Or, to reframe that slightly: It’ll help you use your phone more deliberately and efficiently and with less mindless swiping and scrolling.

The Flow philosophy is actually quite simple:

• On your main home screen panel, you see shortcuts to the five apps you open most often — along with built-in buttons for your Phone and Messages apps and an unfussy time-and-date widget that shows your next calendar appointment.

The Flow home screen is simple and free from unneeded distractions.

JR Raphael, Foundry

• When you swipe up on your screen, you see a complete list of every app installed on your device — with built-in buttons for narrowing the list down based on dynamically created app categories like “Most used” and “Productivity.”

Even Flow’s app drawer is optimized for efficiency.

JR Raphael, Foundry

• And when you swipe over to the right of the main home screen, you see a single “Feeds” panel that holds some sleek built-in widgets for your agenda, tasks, and screen use and can be expanded to include any standard Android widgets as well.

Flow’s “Feeds” panel is a clever way to work with widgets on your Android home screen.

JR Raphael, Foundry

There’s also a noteworthy “Focus Mode” button on the main Flow panel that fires up a Pomodoro-style timer and encourages you to stay away from all apps other than your top five until its minutes elapse.

Flow’s Focus Mode discourages you from poking around within your non-essential apps.

JR Raphael, Foundry

And — well, that’s essentially it. Flow is by design minimal and limited in what it shows you — with the idea that you’ll mostly just see what you actually need for your day-to-day doings and avoid getting lost in endless on-screen screwery. It’s distraction-free and clutter-free, and it’s also mostly effort-free to set up and start using, since everything is built right in and carefully constructed to work that way.

That being said, you can customize a fair amount of things about Flow’s appearance, if you’re ever so inspired. The launcher’s settings include commands for changing the shape and style of your various app icons, for instance, along with other such surface-level adjustments.

Despite its focus on simplicity, Flow offers up a fair amount of options.

JR Raphael, Foundry

But by and large, the appeal of Flow is its simplicity and the lack of contemplation that goes into its configuration. You just decide which five apps are most important to you, think about which widgets you need to see alongside ’em, and then go about your business with a cleanly organized workspace and a fraction of the usual distractions.

It’s a refreshingly different approach to device interaction and an interesting change of pace to try out and potentially stick with — even for short periods, as an alternative to your standard setup, when you really want to focus and frame your device as a work-centric productivity tool.

Flow is free for its core functions, too, without any annoying ads or over-the-top limitations. If you find yourself diggin’ it and want to support its development while unlocking some extras, you can opt for a 99-cent-a-month or $30 lifetime Premium upgrade that provides a smattering of special features and advanced options — but you definitely don’t need that to enjoy the experience.

That’s the power of Android for ya — the power not only to add in all sorts of advantageous step-savers but also to remove elements and make your setup simpler.

The choice, as usual, is entirely in your hands. And now, with Flow, you’ve got one more enticing option to consider.

Get six full days of advanced Android knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of time-saving tricks!

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Tuesday imposed sanctions on two individuals and four companies involved in schemes to provide US companies with illegal remote IT workers whose income would, it said, generate revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) regime.

Song Kum Hyok, described as a “malicious cyber actor” associated with the already sanctioned DPRK Reconnaissance General Bureau hacking group Andariel, was sanctioned for facilitating the scheme. OFAC said that in 2022 and 2023, Song created aliases for foreign workers using the names, Social Security numbers, and addresses of US individuals, which the workers then used to pose as US applicants looking for remote jobs.  

In addition, Russian national Gayk Asatryan, who OFAC said has used his Russia-based companies to employ DPRK IT workers, was sanctioned for “having attempted to engage in, facilitate, or be responsible for the exportation of workers from North Korea, including exportation to generate revenue for the Government of North Korea or Workers’ Party of Korea,” OFAC’s announcement said.

OFAC noted that in 2024 Asatryan signed a 10-year contract with DPRK’s Korea Songkwang Trading General Corp. to hire up to 30 DPRK IT workers to work in Russia for his company, Asatryan Limited Liability Co. He also signed a contract with Korea Saenal Trading Corp., another DPRK company, to hire 50 DPRK IT workers for his company, Fortuna Limited Liability Co.

OFAC said that Asatryan’s two companies were sanctioned “for being owned or controlled by or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Asatryan, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked.” Songkwang Trading and Saenal Trading were also designated “for being North Korean persons, including North Korean persons that have engaged in commercial activity that generates revenue for the Government of North Korea or Workers’ Party of Korea.”

“These sanctions against the DPRK-Russian fake IT worker pipeline are a significant step toward closing a long-standing gap in remote-work security,” said Fritz Jean-Louis, principal cybersecurity advisor at Info-Tech Research Group. “By adding these key brokers to the SDN [US Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons] list, the government has instantly frozen any payments that might flow through Russian front companies or crypto rails to North Korean developers, thereby cutting off a revenue stream that Pyongyang has relied on. They also raise the bar for corporate due diligence, as the IT worker scheme worked primarily because many organizations hired remote contractors on little more than a resume and a US PayPal address.”

Ongoing crackdown with caveats for hiring companies

These actions are the latest efforts in the US government’s battle to stop DPRK’s illegal activities. Last month, the Justice Department’s major sweep across 16 states seized laptops, financial accounts, and websites associated with the illegal remote IT worker scheme, and the FBI and Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) also took action.

The latest sanctions mean that any property in the US, or possessed or controlled by US persons, in which the sanctioned individuals hold interest are blocked, and must be reported to OFAC, and unless authorized, “OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons,” OFAC said in the announcement. The regulations also forbid “any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services” either directed to the blocked persons, or being received from them.

“These sanctions draw clear liability boundaries and nudge organizations towards stronger vetting without broad new regulations,” Jean-Louis noted. “A key risk to consider: If a US company unknowingly hires or pays a newly sanctioned contractor, the consequences can escalate quickly. OFAC violations are a strict liability, which means that intent does not matter, and civil fines can run up to significant amounts. Organizations can also face criminal penalties and loss of export privileges. Since OFAC is a US law with extraterritorial application, foreign organizations may do well to also consider potential exposure. An improper hire can turn into an expensive legal crisis overnight.”

Microsoft is rolling out a new backup system in September for its Authenticator app on iOS, removing the requirement to use a Microsoft personal account to back up TOTP secrets and account names. [...]