The first step to using Windows 11's Xbox mode is to ensure that it's turned on, which it may not be by default. To do so, open Settings by using the Win I shortcut, then select Gaming Xbox mode. Here, if you see an Enable Xbox mode slider, enable it. You may also see a Choose home app section, where you should select Xbox. If you want quicker access to Xbox mode from the desktop, also enable Show Xbox mode in Task View.

Just because you have to listen to "Let It Go" for the zillionth time while driving your kids to school doesn't mean it should dominate your Spotify Wrapped. The streaming service is adding a new toggle option for users to exclude certain kids or family songs from affecting your music recommendations, like nursery rhymes, TV show theme songs or musical hits from animated movies. Within the settings panel, there's now a new toggle labeled "Include kids and family music in taste profile" that will change what shows up in your Discovery Weekly, Daily Mix or Wrapped. Like the Explicit content switch, Spotify has a note that says it could "take up to 48 hours for these changes to be reflected in your personalized recommendations." However, activating the kid and family music toggle will also work retroactively, meaning that all the relevant music you listened to this year can still be wiped away from your annual Wrapped recap.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Here are a handful of ways to speed that up, ranked from safest to most experimental. A new Windows update does not automatically mean that every user receives the same features on the same day. Even if a feature is technically already part of the installed version of Windows, it may initially remain disabled on your PC. There's a method to this: With phased rollouts, Microsoft can initially deliver new features to a subset of users and monitor whether any issues arise.

Siri's ability to speak notifications is great in the right circumstances, but if it won't shut up about incoming alerts in the car, you can turn this off. Back in Settings on your phone, choose Notifications Announce Notifications. If you want to use this feature outside of CarPlay, keep the top toggle on and select the CarPlay menu. There, disable Announce Messages and Siri won't read anything that comes in during a trip. Back on the Announce Notifications page, you might also want to turn on Reply Without Confirmation.

Google VP Josh Woodward just announced that users will be able to remove visible watermarks from AI-generated images and videos. A toggle will soon be available for the Nano Banana, Omni and Lyria models, which all use the familiar sparkle icon to denote AI. This kind of defeats the whole point of visible watermarks, as they exist to give people a fast way to spot AI-generated content out in the wild. However, users will still have slightly harder methods to identify this type of thing. This move will not impact the invisible SynthID watermark and C2PA metadata, as there are are no toggles to shut those off.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Tired of the'Try the new Outlook' button? Here's how to permanently remove the Try the new Outlook toggle from classic Outlook using a simple registry edit. For several months now, the'Try the new Outlook' button has been appearing in the classic Outlook, allowing you to switch to the new version of the email program. Microsoft hopes that as many users as possible will make the switch as soon as possible.

A recent update made video playback the default for songs and podcasts with a visual component. If you just want to listen to music--and save your data and battery--follow these tips. Spotify, it's fair to say, has made some weird user-experience choices. There are a number of panels in the app, and the layout is confusing. The service constantly tracks your activity.

Google's Pixel phones are chock-full of helpful, smart features, and they capture some of the best-looking photographs on a mobile device. But like several of its peers, Google doesn't have many of its best features turned on by default. For example, Call Screening blocks unwanted phone calls on your behalf, and you need to turn it on yourself. I test smartphones for a living, and I'm constantly switching to a new device every week or two. I'm an expert at running through the settings of every phone I test and toggling on the features I want.

Apple's software design strives to be intuitive, but each iteration of iOS contains so many additions and tweaks that it's easy to miss some useful iPhone settings. Apple focused on artificial intelligence when it unveiled iOS 18 in 2024, but there's a lot under the hood that adds to the steady stream of intriguing customizations and lesser-known features from the last few years. Several helpful settings are turned off by default, and it's not immediately obvious how to switch off some annoying features. We're here to help you get the most out of your Apple phone. Once you have things set up the way you want, it's a breeze to copy everything, including settings, when you switch to a new iPhone.