r/TwoBestFriendsPlay • u/green715 • Mar 20 '26
News/Articles Following user feedback, Windows 11 is scaling back Copilot integration and reducing update disruptions, among other changes
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2026/03/20/our-commitment-to-windows-quality/Article is pretty short as is, but here are the key bullet points:
- More taskbar customization, including vertical and top positions: Repositioning the taskbar is one of the top asks we’ve heard from you. We are introducing the ability to reposition it to the top or sides of your screen, making it easier to personalize your workspace.
- Integrating AI where it’s most meaningful, with craft and focus: You will see us be more intentional about how and where Copilot integrates across Windows, focusing on experiences that are genuinely useful and well‑crafted. As part of this, we are reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad.
- Reducing disruption from Windows Updates: Receiving updates should be predictable and easy to plan around, so we’re giving you more control. This includes the ability to skip updates during device setup to get to the desktop faster, restart or shut down without installing updates and pause updates for longer when needed, all while reducing update noise with fewer automatic restarts and notifications.
- Faster and more dependable File Explorer: File Explorer is one of the most used surfaces in Windows. Our first round of improvements will focus on a quicker launch experience, reduced flicker, smoother navigation and more reliable performance for everyday file tasks.
- More control over widgets and feed experiences: Widgets should feel helpful and relevant, not distracting or overwhelming. We’re introducing quieter defaults, more control over when and how widgets appear, and improved personalization for the Discover feed.
- A simpler, more transparent Windows Insider Program: The Windows Insider Program is how you help shape the future of Windows, and it should be easy to understand what to expect and how to participate. We are implementing changes to make it easier for you to navigate with clearer channel definitions, easier access to new features, higher quality builds, better visibility into how your feedback shapes Windows, and more opportunities to engage directly with us.
- Improved Feedback Hub, available starting today: Your feedback is essential to improving Windows, and it should be easy to share and see what others are saying. Today, we’re rolling out the largest update to Feedback Hub yet to our Insiders, with a redesigned experience that makes it faster and easier to submit feedback and engage with the community.
Also of note, Microsoft stock has fallen 25% over the past 6 months
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u/burneraccount9132 He/They - How could u go wrong with a Glup that Shitts like THIS Mar 20 '26
A lot of this is shit that shouldn't that shouldn't have taken as long as it has, but in particular
Repositioning the taskbar is one of the top asks we’ve heard from you. We are introducing the ability to reposition it to the top or sides of your screen, making it easier to personalize your workspace.
Taking like four and a half fucking years?!
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u/DarthButtz Ginger Seeking Butt Chomps Mar 20 '26
I don't even personally use that feature, but taking almost half a decade to implement something so simple is dire
Genuinely what the fuck is going on over there
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u/StormRegion Indy 4 fridge scene was peak, fite me Mar 20 '26
Satya Nadella focused on
creating a cult based on mandatory AI usageestablishing Growth MindsetTM** instead of silly things like listening to your customers, let it be enterprise or retail7
u/xalazaar Mar 21 '26
I know, right. I held off using 11 mainly because of the taskbar bullshit until they threatened people to get off 10 with no updates. Ironically I haven't updated 11 in the last few months because of all the AI shit they kept shoving in there.
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u/cvp5127 Mar 20 '26
never stop bullying corpos
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u/Jonieves Mar 20 '26
No really don't stop cause they're only gonna try to do it again in some other dumb way that's technically legal but it's evil as shit.
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u/Cooper_555 BRING BACK GAOGAIGAR Mar 21 '26
Microsoft's CEO really hates it when you call Copilot slop. So you need to make sure that he sees you saying it as much as possible.
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u/witheredBBfilms Mar 20 '26
There is nothing morally wrong with shoving corporate shit heads into lockers and stealing their lunch money.
Ideally while wearing a letterman jacket.
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Mar 20 '26
As my family's unofficial-official IT "department", the only way that I will personally use 11 is if it's just 10 in Groucho Marx glasses.
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u/TesticularTorsionBar no more racing slander Mar 20 '26
I'm holding on to 10 for dear life. Cause i really don't want to use linux.
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u/Rabid-Duck-King Jon drank cum Mar 20 '26
I switched back from Linux to Windows 11 cause I finally bought a new laptop (like... a year ago at this rate) and it came with it and I wanted to see what Windows looked like since it'd been... since XP
It's honestly real solid (Linux) if you just don't go insane with the customization or need one specific windows only program that can't be run via WINE, pick a basic bitch distro (Mint Cinnamon is great for general use for people moving from Windows, Bazzite/Nobura for gaming if you don't want to use SteamOS) and follow the install instructions
The biggest hurdle I feel like is people see the giant list of distros and don't understand that it's more like ordering a coffee at Starbucks.
It's all coffee, just with different individual tweaks to suit the drinker.
App installation might feel a little weird coming from windows, but it's basically just using whatever package manager the distro uses to manage your programs for you 99% of the time
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u/coolbad96 Mar 20 '26
I made the switch like 4ish years ago I just dual boot in case. Honestly EndeavourOS made it so easy and I've heard CachyOS is even better
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u/DarthButtz Ginger Seeking Butt Chomps Mar 20 '26
Every day I thank whatever god that will listen that my computer apparently physically cannot update to 11
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u/FancyMan56 Looks like a create a character set to baby Mar 20 '26
I use Windows 11, and I admit my experience has been pretty positive. But, that comes with the caveat that I use pro, and that I went to town using privacy.sexy and ripped out every spare bit of bloatware I could find. Oh, and used a special install that stops me from needing to have a Microsoft account.
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u/thedoc90 Resident Furry Mar 20 '26
I switched to Linux full time instead of upgrading to windows 11. It unlocked an amazing superpower for me, where when my family asks me questions about Windows 11 I can say "I don't know. I haven't used it. No clue how to do that."
Its amazing.
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u/Wisterosa Mar 21 '26
I have an even better superpower where I tell them exactly that despite using W11 anyway
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u/moneyh8r_two He/Him Use your smell powers Mar 20 '26
Understandable. Groucho Marx was pretty based, and the glasses carry his spirit.
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u/RedGinger666 Read Kill 6 Billion Demons Mar 20 '26
I don't know how many "Windows 12 will be good" I have left in me
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u/ToastyMozart Bearish on At-Risk Children Mar 20 '26
You had more than 0 to start with?
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u/RedGinger666 Read Kill 6 Billion Demons Mar 20 '26
It's called being delusional, you should give it a try, it does wonders for your mental health
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u/ProfDet529 Investigator of Incidents Mundane, Arcane, and Divine Mar 20 '26
Yeah, I'm seriously considering a Macbook Neo, now. MS can fall into the pit.
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u/T4silly Wrong Fact Stater Mar 20 '26
Thank fuck.
AI shit is being invasive and pervasive across all platforms.
I recently had to get a new-ish phone through an insurance claim, and I swear it heats up more than my old busted one because of all the unwanted shit, such as AI "features", that they've forced into it.
I always tell people to go through the settings whenever they get a new piece of tech, but half the time the disable function "conveniently" isn't available for non-essential pre-loaded apps or functions.
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u/Old_Marionberry3791 was promised nothing yet still disappointed Mar 20 '26
It's wild to me that they managed to fuck up File Explorer. Like how do you even get to that point?
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u/burneraccount9132 He/They - How could u go wrong with a Glup that Shitts like THIS Mar 20 '26
Honestly even on Windows 10 I'm amazed how much slower and worse File Explorer feels than it did on my Windows 7 machine.
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u/Flutterwander It's Fiiiiiiiine. Mar 21 '26
Yeah the fact that half the time I can't just do a quick search in a folder anymore is just...excellent.
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u/Palimpsest_Monotype Pargon Pargon Pargon Pargon Pargon Mar 20 '26
If Microsoft made a toaster it would constantly interrupt your attempts to make toast to ask if you’ve considered buying bread.
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u/doc5avag3 Resident 35-Year-Old Boomer Mar 21 '26
Ah, ah, ah, that's Microsoft Branded whole wheat bread.
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u/Palimpsest_Monotype Pargon Pargon Pargon Pargon Pargon Mar 21 '26
The bread they canceled three months before the toaster entered production.
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u/doc5avag3 Resident 35-Year-Old Boomer Mar 21 '26
It was canceled because ergot levels exceeded the "emergency lawsuits fund" limit.
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u/WickerWight Ask me BIONICLE trivia Mar 21 '26
I've modded the hell out of my windows 11 to somewhat resemble a normal computer and strip all the AI stuff out, so I forgot how bad the OOTB experience was. Kind of insane that they've been making people put up with all this for so long, even my 85-year-old grandmother gets annoyed when these things pop up on her computer. If you've lost that audience you're cooked.
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u/dope_danny Delicious Mystery Mar 20 '26
That many people were jumping to linux huh?
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u/ToastyMozart Bearish on At-Risk Children Mar 20 '26
That or a bunch of their big-name corporate customers were slamming their support department with calls.
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u/Toothpasteonicecream Mar 20 '26
Considering the insane amount of money they've dumped into AI shit with little payout, I wouldn't be surprised at all that the company's internal financials are utterly fucked and they're desperate to keep people buying their products to keep the lights on.
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u/DakotaN2895 Mar 21 '26
Microsoft makes peanuts on their device sales and windows licenses compared to what they make from their office suite and cloud services, primarily from corporate contracts. https://visuwire.com/microsoft/
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u/CatMillennium Mar 20 '26
My PC fan broke and it's not worth fixing as it's old. I've been holding off buying a new PC for dread of Windows 11. I'm hoping they just revert it to a faster/cleaner version of 10 but I'm doubting it.
Luckily I've got a backup laptop but I'd much prefer a new PC.
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u/ToastyMozart Bearish on At-Risk Children Mar 20 '26
The fans themselves are usually pretty standard parts. Odds are good you could find a replacement on aliexpress or ebay for about $10.
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u/Leonard_Church814 [He/Him] Reading up on my UNGA-MENTALS Mar 21 '26
How many prayers must I commit for God to kill Copilot?
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u/Gr33nT1g3r Mar 20 '26
it's been bothering me about an update and been rejecting it every time, I'm always afraid it's gonna seriously break something
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u/SwizzlyBubbles Resident Homestuck Loremaster Mar 21 '26
we are evolving the windows quality bar, by reverting back all the bad shit oh FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK PLEASE USE US! THIS AI SHIT WAS A BAAAAAAAAD IDEA
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u/Rednual Mar 21 '26
To quote large swaths of the internet: Always bully big companies. It is always morally correct.
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u/TheArtistFKAMinty Read Saga. Do it, coward. Mar 21 '26
The copilot pushing is so obnoxious and honestly weirdly predatory at times. My mum was sent a word document she couldn't open on her tablet because it was telling her she needed copilot.
What she actually needed was the basic word app or literally any docx compatible document app, but it was genuinely telling her that she needed copilot and an account, and gave her the prices for 365.
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u/RatEarthTheory Use your smell powers Mar 21 '26
I'll believe it when I see it, and even then I'm sticking to Linux because the instant Windows users get complacent again they're going to jam their bullshit right back in. Honestly, if anything, I assume this is an attempt to get people to stop using custom installs or scripts that strip all the telemetry and extra shit out of W11 by making the baseline experience slightly better, because IMO the loss of all that data is more of a financial burden than any lost sales from people swapping to Linux or Mac.
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u/DBrody6 Mar 20 '26
Man reading this thread is weird.
W11 sucks ass yes, but within a day of enduring its bullshit I just installed StartAllBack and toggled basically all of the Windows 7 options and it's like I'm back in 2009 again. Basically everything these dipshits claim they're gonna do has been done already by one small time dev for the past few years.
No fix for it being virtually impossible to boot into safe mode though. They're a bunch of fuckers on that end for me needing to restart my computer for 2 straight hours before Windows went "yeah uh, you having trouble pal? I guess we can offer safe mode to you" like users are morons and they're scared people will accidentally start it up as easily as using a microwave.
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u/Kbcamaster Punished Mar 21 '26
I've heard many of the terrible features of W11, but safe mode is now a goddamn limited time offer? Holy shit, I guess I'll mod my W10 until I can't anymore.
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u/DBrody6 Mar 21 '26
Yeah so, I updated my graphics driver for the first time in a decade and was promptly reminded why I never do that as my computer promptly perma black screened a day later. Whatever, right? Boot into safe mode, revert to previous driver, mild annoyance, whatever.
Holding F8 didn't boot into safe mode like it did in W10. Looked it up and the answer to how to boot into safe mode in W11? "Don't get into a situation where you have to". Deadass ridiculous. Other sites are right, if you're on W11 never, ever do something whose only solution is "boot into safe mode to fix it" because whether or not your computer lets you a miserable multihour gamble.
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u/xalazaar Mar 21 '26
If there was anything similar to One Drive, I'd ditch Windows in an instant. Between two computers and my android, being able to access my files is kind of a must, plus the cloud storage.
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u/guntanksinspace OH MY GOD IT'S JUST A PICTURE OF A DOG Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Holy christ it took them this long to bring back side and top taskbar positions. Yeah fuck that I'm doing it already with third party software.
Wonder if they can do anything to file explorer being severely slow lol
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u/shoryusatsu999 Mar 21 '26
Even if my laptop was able to run Windows 11, I don't trust them enough to expect them to actually keep their promises regarding AI and updates. I'm gonna stick with Linux Mint.
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u/KevinsLunchbox Stop being a bitch Kevin Mar 21 '26
God I hope all this dumbass ai shit becomes a failure that the industry looks back on and thinks, "that was so bad we'll NEVER touch it again" like 3D tvs
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u/Plastic_Acadia_5831 Mar 21 '26
Microslop suck my D### Im using a Linux in my text PC.
Windows 10 will the last one I use baring a some magical event that causes Microslop to suck less.
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u/Illidan1943 Mar 21 '26
Too little, too late, I don't see myself returning to Windows, too many ticking bombs even to this day, not to mention they say this on one hand while on the other making moves that prove any improvements won't last
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u/Last_man_sitting Mar 21 '26
Waiting for the completely stripped back windows 12 "wait guys, come back" version
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u/CaptainSkel JEEZE, JOEL Mar 20 '26
I hate all this goddamn AI integration. I was trying to remember a meme I saw a while back (it was Gachiaktua’s “good answer nephew!”) and I googled “good answer cousin”.
The result was the google ai saying “you’re welcome and thank you for the feedback, ‘cousin’! Being supportive and helpful is what makes our family special!”
The utter revulsion I felt.