When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft promised a better Windows 11. Microsoft has delivered the Windows 11 26H2 Update to the masses. We issue a report card on how it's lived up to its promises. This was supposed to be the year Microsoft fixed Windows 11.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. I unleashed AI on the Excel World Championship. If I can use AI like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT to solve the hardest problems at the Spreadsheet Super Bowl, does it still mean anything? At around the same time that a humanoid robot broke Usain Bolt's record for the 100 meters, I was pushing the button to make people like Diarmuid Early irrelevant. Early, the winner of the Microsoft Excel World Championship 2025 competition, used brains, not brawn, to defeat two dozen other finalists in Las Vegas last December for just a few thousand dollars, plus bragging rights.

A complex privacy policy that handles EU users separately (for GDPR purposes), potentially shares user data with corporate, commercial, and research partners, but has a privacy-friendly app.

Microsoft introduced Mico in October 2025 to give an anthropomorphized face to voice conversations with its Copilot AI chatbot. It seems the poor little blob is already getting demoted after less than a year. The company has decided to remove Mico from the voice section of Copilot. Its new home will be the Learn Live hub, where it will continue to be a "tutor" for users. "Mico helped us learn about warmth, expressiveness, and how people want to talk with AI. Those learnings are shaping Copilot going forward," the support page for the blob reads.

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PCWorld reports that Microsoft's new Copilot'PC Insights' feature in Windows 11 allows users to ask direct questions about their hardware performance and system status. The experimental tool analyzes CPU, memory, storage, and graphics components while Microsoft assures that personal files aren't stored or used for AI training. This opt-in diagnostic feature requires user permission and provides hardware insights, though it doesn't automatically fix performance issues and may have incomplete information. Microsoft has begun testing a new "PC Insights" feature in Copilot for Windows 11 that helps users analyze their computer's performance and answer questions about the system's status, reports Windows Latest . With the user's permission, Copilot can now analyze CPU and memory usage, available storage space, graphics card details, connected USB devices, network status, battery health, and BIOS version. The idea is that users will be able to ask direct questions about their hardware, to which Copilot can respond based on the computer's actual current status.

PCWorld examines whether Microsoft's core productivity apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can withstand disruption from advancing AI technology. External AI applications such as ChatGPT and Claude now offer similar document formatting, content creation, and synthesis capabilities that rival Microsoft's own Copilot feature. The analysis suggests Microsoft's traditional productivity suite may become obsolete as AI chatbots increasingly handle tasks previously requiring dedicated office applications. Are Microsoft's core productivity apps -- Word, Excel, and PowerPoint -- endangered by the rise of AI? That's the point that Bloomberg and its sources addressed in coverage this week, noting that Microsoft is being buffeted by AI disruption as its stock plunges. "Whether Microsoft Word or Excel will be rendered obsolete by AI remains to be seen," said Jack Ablin, chief investment strategist at Cresset Wealth Advisors, which owns the stock, according to Bloomberg. "We don't know what the environment is going to look like in a few years, which opens up very real questions like, will we even use a Microsoft suite anymore?" Keith Fitz-Gerald, principal at the Fitz-Gerald Group, added.

PCWorld reports Microsoft is resuming forced M365 Copilot installations after a brief pause, targeting completion by July 1st for all Microsoft 365 users. Previous forced installations caused significant backlash and critical bugs, including Copilot accessing confidential emails, contributing to Windows 11's stagnating market share. IT administrators can opt out of automatic installation, while Microsoft tests an "uninstall AI bloat" button in Windows Insider builds despite continuing AI-driven OS plans. Between October 2025 and March 2026, many Microsoft 365 users discovered that the Copilot AI app was automatically installed on their computers. After heavy vocal backlash and several crucial bugs, like the one that allowed Copilot to read confidential emails, the forced installation of Microsoft 365 Copilot was suspended. However, Microsoft has now decided to reinstate the app's forced installation.

The AI assistant had its personality stripped in pursuit of a more consistent experience. Copilot is getting yet another visual overhaul as Microsoft reconsiders its approach to AI across Windows and its various apps. The new changes are focused on the version of Copilot accessible in Microsoft 365, and visually streamline the AI assistant to using it more consistent across apps like Word, PowerPoint and Excel. The most striking difference in Copilot's new look is how little color it has. You can still get Copilot to produce full-color outputs and it will reference other apps by their colorful app icons.

PCWorld reports that Microsoft is enhancing Copilot with new user controls, including read-only options and the ability to lock the AI assistant to specific document sections. Microsoft is expanding Copilot's prompt box with contextually aware suggestions for Word and PowerPoint, while unifying commercial and consumer versions under single leadership. These updates aim to make AI assistance more helpful and less overwhelming for productivity tasks, with features currently being tested internally before reaching consumers. Google made headlines a short time ago for a plan to expand its Gemini prompt box as it combines AI and search. Microsoft is taking a different tack: it's also dynamically expanding its prompt box, but with an eye towards improving its productivity apps instead. Right now, Microsoft's efforts are traversing the outer reaches of its productivity solar system, being tested internally with a few targeted corporate partners, Fast Company reports .