Tag: Microsoft

Featured Article : Dutch Tax Office Drops Microsoft 365 Cloud For In-House And Open-Source Tools

Posted on by Paul Stradling

The Netherlands’ tax authority has abandoned its planned Microsoft 365 cloud rollout in favour of infrastructure it controls and European open-source software, highlighting how concerns about sensitive information and supplier dependence can change major IT decisions.

What Has Changed?

In a letter to parliament dated 5 October, State Secretary for Finance Eelco Eerenberg confirmed that the Belastingdienst, Customs and Benefits services would adopt an on-premises approach combined with open-source tools. On-premises means software runs on servers the authority owns or controls, rather than through a supplier’s public cloud service.

Email and calendars are due to move to that in 2027, followed by European open-source tools for personal storage and collaboration later in 2027 and during 2028. The letter doesn’t name the actual replacement products, and the detailed design and implementation plan are still being developed.

Explaining the intended outcome, Eerenberg writes, “This allows targeted work towards a sustainable and more autonomous solution for these functionalities.” In practice, that should essentially mean giving the authority more control over its systems and data, with less reliance on a single big supplier.

Why Was Microsoft 365 Chosen Originally?

The reversal follows an October 2025 announcement presenting Microsoft 365 as the only realistic option available at the time. The government said maintaining the existing workplace was becoming more expensive, while the expertise needed to support it was increasingly scarce.

The planned move to Microsoft 365 covered everyday staff tools such as email, calendars and document sharing, while the systems used to assess and collect taxes were to remain in the authority’s own data centre in Apeldoorn. The reversal therefore will really only change how employees communicate and work together, rather than where the core tax systems run.

By July 2026, the Dutch government had formally paused the programme while reconsidering an internally hosted alternative. Its latest letter says increased data-centre capacity has helped make that option possible.

What Went Wrong With The Plan?

By January 2026, the new Microsoft 365 setup had reached around 5,000 of the authority’s approximately 47,500 employees. However, an independent review by the Dutch Advisory Council on ICT Assessment, known as AcICT, found that it did not adequately meet the organisation’s needs.

The reviewers identified problems with how sensitive information was classified and protected, as well as gaps in the backups. For example, some encrypted attachments could not be restored without Microsoft 365, while the backup failed to preserve all Teams content and associated information about files and their use.

These weaknesses also raised some questions about how easily the authority could leave the service. The review found no workable exit plan, an incomplete picture of costs and responsibility divided between teams in ways that made the programme harder to manage. Its criticism therefore concerned how the authority had designed and managed this rollout, rather than suggesting that every organisation using Microsoft 365 faces the same problems.

Why Does Supplier Dependence Matter?

The practical concern is whether an organisation can continue working if access to a supplier’s service changes. For example, holding a separate copy of information offers limited protection if staff can’t restore it, open it or understand how it relates to other records.

For a tax authority handling confidential information, those questions concern both privacy and continuity. Greater control over servers may help reduce some dependencies, but it still requires reliable software, skilled staff and tested recovery arrangements.

The revised plan therefore considers different tools for different functions. Eerenberg’s letter says, translated from Dutch, that this follows advice “not to assume one solution from one supplier, but to examine alternatives for each functionality”.

What Will Be Difficult About Switching?

The authority intends to reuse existing licences where possible to limit additional investment. However, changing direction doesn’t actually remove the need to modernise, and the letter acknowledges that the revised approach affects both the replacement timetable and planned records-management improvements.

Some capabilities intended to help organise and retain information were included in the Microsoft 365 package but are unavailable on-premises. The authority says it’s still assessing how to replace them and has promised a further update.

That matters because storing documents is only part of managing them properly. Staff also need to find the correct version, apply retention rules and preserve records required for accountability.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, the useful lesson from all this is to examine what each service must deliver before choosing where it runs. Email, customer records and collaborative documents may have different requirements. Decisions should account for sensitivity, availability, integration and support, rather than assuming either cloud or on-premises hosting is automatically the safer choice.

Exit planning should also involve practical tests. Businesses should establish what they can export, whether permissions and document history survive, and how quickly staff could resume work elsewhere. A backup that depends on continued access to the original service may provide less independence than expected. Suppliers should explain those limitations before contracts become difficult to leave.

Also, compare the full cost of each option, including migration, training, maintenance, security and records management. Open-source software can offer flexibility, but somebody still needs to support it and keep it secure. The Dutch decision shows why reviewing an earlier choice can be sensible, provided the replacement is assessed just as carefully and delivers the control, usability and continuity the organisation actually needs.

Tech News : Microsoft Cuts Shared OneDrive Storage By Up To 4TB

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Microsoft is replacing individual OneDrive allowances on its Family and Premium subscriptions with a shared 2TB pool, cutting the maximum combined storage by 4TB and leaving some households facing extra costs or decisions about where to keep their files.

What Is Changing?

Previously, Microsoft 365 Family and Premium allowed up to six people to receive 1TB each, giving a fully shared subscription 6TB in total. Under the new arrangement, everyone draws from the same 2TB allowance.

Microsoft 365 Pro provides a shared 5TB pool, while Basic and Personal retain their individual allowances of 100GB and 1TB respectively. Additional storage purchased by subscription members is added to the shared pool.

The biggest reduction therefore affects Family and Premium subscriptions with six members making full use of their allowances. Their combined included capacity falls by two-thirds, although the practical impact depends on how much they actually store.

Why Does Microsoft Call This More Flexible?

Microsoft’s explanation is that separate allowances can leave storage unused while another member runs out of space. Its support page states, “Shared storage helps ensure that one person doesn’t run out of space while other members have unused storage available.”

That addresses a limitation of the previous arrangement. For example, someone with 1.2TB of photos and documents couldn’t simply borrow unused capacity from another member’s allocation. However, a shared pool allows that person to exceed 1TB, provided enough space remains.

That said, pooling storage and reducing its total are actually separate decisions. Six people storing 500GB each would previously have been comfortably within their individual limits, but their combined 3TB would exceed the new allowance by 1TB.

For lighter users, the flexibility may be useful. For households with several large photo libraries or document collections, it means less room to grow without paying more.

When Will Subscribers Be Affected?

The shared model applies to new and upgraded subscriptions from 8 October 2026. Existing Family and Premium subscribers generally move across when their subscriptions first renew on or after 2 May 2027, with Microsoft promising advance notification.

The renewal date matters because the change does not take effect for every existing customer on 2 May. An eligible subscription renewing later would normally move at that later renewal.

Upgrading can bring the change forward. For example, Microsoft says moving from Family to Premium before May 2027 triggers the shared model, whereas a downgrade alone does not trigger an early transition. Customers considering a plan change should therefore check its storage consequences before proceeding.

Will Shared Storage Expose Private Files?

It should be noted here that sharing the allowance doesn’t give other members access to someone’s documents or photographs. As Microsoft says, “While storage quotas are shared, files remain private.”

Each person retains their own account and can access only their own files unless someone explicitly shares content. The change concerns available capacity, rather than creating a communal folder.

However, members’ storage habits become more closely connected. One person uploading a large video collection could leave less space for everyone else, making occasional checks of combined usage more important.

What Happens If The New Limit Is Exceeded?

Microsoft says affected customers will receive notifications and can free space, purchase additional capacity or change their subscription. Storage can be expanded to a total of 10TB.

Its transition guidance says customers exceeding the limit can continue accessing their files for up to one year while managing their storage. That shouldn’t be interpreted as a promise that uploading, editing and synchronisation will continue without restrictions throughout that period.

Some existing Family and Premium customers may also receive transitional bonus storage in eligible markets. However, the support page does not specify how much they will receive or provide complete eligibility details, so customers should rely on their own notification rather than assume additional capacity is guaranteed.

Anyone planning to leave should arrange alternative storage before their subscription expires. Microsoft’s cancellation guidance says the standard free cloud allowance is 5GB, meaning cancellation could create a much larger shortfall than the announced reduction.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This announcement concerns the named consumer subscriptions, rather than an equivalent reduction across Microsoft 365 business plans. Microsoft’s UK business pricing still lists 1TB of cloud storage per user. However, sole traders and small organisations should check which subscriptions actually hold their working files, particularly where personal accounts have become part of everyday operations.

The immediate task is to establish current usage, renewal dates and likely future requirements. Comparing alternatives should include the cost of moving files, maintaining access and supporting users, as well as the advertised storage price. Before deleting anything to reduce usage, customers should confirm that important files have complete, accessible copies elsewhere and understand whether deletion will also remove synchronised copies.

The key point here is that a cloud subscription’s value can change after customers have built their routines around it. Keeping clear records of where information is stored and maintaining a practical way to move it makes future changes easier to manage. Shared storage may suit some users, but decisions should reflect the capacity and access they need, rather than the flexibility promised in the announcement.

Company Check: Microsoft Gives Copilot Coding And An Always-On Agent

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Microsoft has announced a redesigned Copilot app that can build software and keep working while users are away, bringing AI further into everyday business operations while raising questions about permissions, costs and responsibility when delegated work goes wrong.

What Is Changing?

The new experience brings together Home, Code and Autopilot, covering everything from answering questions and preparing documents to creating applications and managing ongoing tasks.

Home combines Chat, for conversational assistance, with Cowork, which handles delegated tasks involving several steps. For example, users can request a customer briefing or financial reporting package, rather than repeatedly asking the AI to complete each stage separately.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint are also being built into the experience, allowing Copilot to create and update editable files that colleagues can work on together. The aim is to reduce the copying, app switching and repeated explanations that can otherwise interrupt AI-assisted work.

Building Software By Describing It

Code extends that approach to software, allowing employees to describe a tracker, dashboard or internal application in ordinary language and have Copilot build it.

Microsoft is presenting this as a way for people outside software development teams to create tools for particular jobs, saying “Code moves solution-building outside the realm of developers alone.”

For example, a team repeatedly updating a spreadsheet could try building an application that collects information and displays outstanding work. However, creating something that appears to function is only the beginning, because someone still needs to check its calculations, access permissions and behaviour when information is missing or incorrect.

Code uses the same underlying technology as GitHub Copilot, Microsoft’s coding assistant, which remains available for professional developers. It runs in a sandbox, an isolated environment that limits interaction with surrounding systems, and applications can be hosted within an organisation’s Microsoft 365 environment.

What Makes Autopilot Different?

While Code creates tools, Autopilot is intended to continue carrying out work over time, remembering its role and returning to tasks without waiting for another prompt.

Previously called Scout, the agent runs in the cloud with its own identity, memory, computer and workspace. Microsoft says it can follow conversations, carry out recurring work and resume a project days later, with employees interacting through familiar services such as Teams and Outlook.

The company gives supplier reviews as an example, describing an agent that organises schedules, prepares meetings and contacts people for updates. Its promise is that “You set the objective and boundaries”, with the agent handling subsequent work.

It seems Autopilot could actually save employees time by chasing updates and organising work while they are away, but businesses need to be clear about how far it can act on their behalf. For example, an agent asked to collect information for a supplier review should still seek approval before agreeing to a deadline or making a commitment to that supplier.

What Is Available Now?

Microsoft’s latest announcement suggests a phased rollout, rather than immediate access to every capability. Home and Code are entering Microsoft’s Frontier early-access programme, while Autopilot’s private preview expands at the end of September.

Code is also scheduled to reach Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers in preview later this year. Automatic routing between Chat, Cowork and Code is described as coming soon, so businesses should check their actual access before planning deployments.

Microsoft’s new Copilot Managed Runtime, the infrastructure for hosting generated applications under IT control, is already in preview. Its role is to give organisations a managed place to run these tools as employees become more able to create them.

How Will Businesses Pay?

Microsoft says everyday Copilot use is covered by a subscription, but businesses will be charged according to how much they use Cowork, Code and Autopilot.

This means businesses shouldn’t assume that an existing per-user subscription covers unlimited background activity. For example, an agent repeatedly checking information or pursuing an unsuccessful task could consume resources even when it produces little useful work.

Microsoft is expanding controls for spending policies, approval requests and usage visibility, giving administrators and employees ways to track consumption. Those controls will matter most when budgets are linked to completed work rather than simply to how often people open Copilot.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, a sensible starting point is a repetitive task with clear inputs, a measurable result and limited consequences if something goes wrong. Preparing an internal briefing may be easier to assess than allowing an agent to manage supplier relationships independently. A trial should compare the time saved with the effort needed to review, correct and supervise its work.

Organisations should also decide who owns any applications employees create and who can stop an agent once it starts running. Access should match the task, with human approval before important commitments and records showing what happened. Faster software creation will provide limited value if it leaves behind tools that nobody maintains or understands.

The broader opportunity is to remove routine coordination while preserving accountability. Businesses should expand autonomy only when results show that an agent works reliably within its instructions, rather than assuming that an always-on service deserves always-on permission.

Tech Tip : Find Email Attachments Without Opening Every Message

Posted on by Paul Stradling

If you remember receiving a document but cannot find the email, Outlook’s attachment search can help you locate it without opening messages individually.

Why Is This Useful?

An invoice, contract or project document can easily disappear into a busy mailbox, particularly when you cannot remember the sender or subject line.

Filtering for attachments removes messages without files from your results, while adding a relevant keyword helps narrow the search further.

How To Do It In Classic Outlook

  1. Click the Search box at the top of Outlook.
  2. Type hasattachments:yes and press Enter.
  3. To narrow the results, add a keyword, for example invoice hasattachments:yes.
  4. Check the search scope beside the Search box and select Current Mailbox if you want to search beyond the selected folder.
  5. Open the matching email to access its attachment.

In New Outlook Or Outlook On The Web

  1. Click the Search box and enter a relevant keyword.
  2. Run the search, then select Has attachments to narrow the results.
  3. Alternatively, open the search filter options and tick Attachments.

Make Your Search More Precise

Choose a distinctive project name or phrase rather than a broad word such as “document”. Outlook can search message text and many attachment types, so the keyword does not have to appear in the email’s subject.

Note: The results show matching emails containing attachments, rather than a separate folder of downloaded files.

Tech Tip : Turn An Email Into Time Set Aside For The Work

Posted on by Paul Stradling

If an email contains a job you need to complete, classic Outlook can turn it into a calendar appointment, helping you reserve time for the work while keeping the instructions attached to that time slot.

Why Is This Useful?

Flagging an email can help you remember it, but it does not set aside time to deal with it. Creating an appointment makes the work visible in your schedule, which is useful for requests such as preparing a quotation, checking a report or reviewing a proposal.

Outlook copies the email’s subject and message text into the appointment, saving you from entering the details again or searching your inbox when you are ready to begin.

How To Do It

In classic Outlook for Windows:

  1. Find the email in your message list.
  2. Hold down the left mouse button on the message and drag it onto the Calendar icon in Outlook’s navigation bar.
  3. Release the mouse button to open a new appointment.
  4. Adjust the title if needed, then choose the date, start time and end time.
  5. Set Show As to Busy if you want the time to appear unavailable to colleagues checking your availability.
  6. Choose a reminder if useful, then select Save & Close.

What Happens To The Email?

The original message stays in your mailbox, while the appointment contains a separate copy of its text. Creating the appointment does not send a reply or invite the sender, so it can simply serve as time reserved for your own work.

Note: These instructions are for classic Outlook for Windows. Check that any attachments or other supporting information you need are available before relying on the calendar entry alone.

Company Check : Microsoft Combines Its Copilot Apps

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Microsoft has combined its standalone consumer Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot apps into a single updated Copilot experience, simplifying a confusing product line while making its AI assistant a more direct gateway into Word, Excel, Outlook and the rest of Microsoft 365.

Why Were There Two Copilot Apps?

For many people, Microsoft’s Copilot branding may have become difficult to follow in recent times. For example, the standalone Microsoft Copilot app operated mainly as a general-purpose AI assistant for consumers, while Microsoft 365 Copilot evolved from the old Microsoft 365, formerly Office, app and focused more heavily on productivity, files and workplace tools.

That distinction made more sense when the products were separate, but seemed to become less convincing as both gained overlapping AI capabilities and Copilot spread deeper into Windows and Microsoft 365. The company is now bringing those experiences together, saying it wants to create a “simpler, more cohesive experience for everyone”.

The updated Copilot app combines conversational AI and image creation with direct access to Word, Excel, Outlook, other Microsoft 365 apps, files and content. Microsoft describes the new approach as bringing together “the best of Copilot chat and image creation” with its productivity tools.

One App, Different Accounts

People will also be able to sign into the same Copilot app using personal, work or school accounts and switch between them, rather than moving between separate applications.

That doesn’t mean Microsoft is merging the data behind those accounts. The company explicitly says “Work and personal accounts remain separate”, with commercial data boundaries, tenant controls and compliance protections continuing to apply.

For businesses, that distinction matters. For example, an employee may be using the same Copilot application for personal and corporate activity, but information entered through a Microsoft Entra work account should not flow into the personal Microsoft account experience, and vice versa.

Users will also be able to connect services including email, calendars and cloud storage, allowing Copilot to use more relevant context when helping with work or personal tasks.

Why Is Microsoft Doing This?

The obvious benefit is reducing confusion, although there is clear commercial logic too.

Microsoft increasingly wants Copilot to become the place users start when they want to find information, create content, open documents or ask AI to complete a task. Putting chat, files and Microsoft 365 applications behind one interface gives the company a clearer route towards that goal.

It also creates a more obvious path from free Copilot use into paid Microsoft 365 services. People can continue chatting with Copilot, creating images and uploading files without paying, subject to capacity and usage limits, while Microsoft 365 subscriptions provide higher limits and access to more advanced capabilities such as agents and complex multi-step tasks.

In effect, the unified app becomes both a productivity tool and a much clearer front door into Microsoft’s expanding AI ecosystem.

What Happens To Existing Users?

For most users, Microsoft says the transition should require little effort. People using the consumer Copilot experience will be moved to the updated app, with their chat history and most existing content coming with them.

Those already using Microsoft 365 Copilot should see comparatively modest changes to appearance and navigation, while people who previously used both applications with a personal account will have their Copilot chats and created content brought together in the updated app.

Files shared or generated through the standalone Copilot app will be moved into OneDrive, further tying Copilot into Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem.

Some Features Are Disappearing

Combining the products also gives Microsoft an opportunity to remove features that no longer fit its plans.

For example, Podcasts, Group Chat and consumer Deep Research are being retired. Microsoft says users will no longer be able to continue conversations as Group Chats, while prompts and content contributed by other participants may become inaccessible, so customers are being advised to preserve anything they want to keep.

The Podcasts feature is no longer available, having stopped on 18 August, while Deep Research is also disappearing from the consumer Copilot app. Microsoft 365 Premium customers can instead use Researcher for more detailed research work.

Microsoft also warns that some features may be temporarily unavailable while the updated app is being rolled out, meaning the exact experience could vary by account and device for a time.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses already invested in Microsoft 365, the change should make Copilot a bit easier to explain and easier for employees to find. Instead of presenting staff with several similarly named applications, Microsoft is now, thankfully, moving towards one recognisable Copilot interface whose capabilities depend on the account and subscription behind it.

That could actually help adoption as Copilot evolves from a chatbot into an assistant capable of working across email, documents, calendars, files and AI agents.

Businesses should still make sure employees understand which account they are using, particularly where personal and work profiles exist inside the same application. The interface may be unified, but the security and data boundaries deliberately remain separate.

It could also be said that with this move, Microsoft is signalling that it wants Copilot to become the main AI interface people use to access and work across Word, Excel, Outlook and the rest of Microsoft 365.

Tech News : Microsoft Pays Bug-Finders $20 Million

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Microsoft has paid more than US$20 million to ethical hackers over the past year, its largest bug bounty payout ever, reflecting how the company is increasingly relying on independent security researchers to help identify vulnerabilities before cyber criminals can exploit them.

Bug Bounty Programme Payouts Up

The company’s Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) has revealed that its bug bounty programme awarded more than US$20 million to 562 security researchers from 64 countries during the past year, making it the largest payout and the broadest researcher participation in the programme’s history.

The figures represent a substantial increase on the previous year, when Microsoft distributed US$17 million to 344 researchers from 59 countries.

Microsoft says the growth reflects both stronger engagement from the global security research community and important changes it has made to its vulnerability rewards programme.

As the MSRC team explained in an online announcement: “Security is a team sport. Every vulnerability reported through our bounty programs represents an opportunity to address risk before it can be exploited against customers.”

The company added: “The work of the research community plays a critical role in helping Microsoft stay ahead of emerging threats while strengthening the security of cloud services, AI systems, enterprise platforms, and consumer technologies.”

Why Are The Rewards Increasing?

One of the biggest reasons is Microsoft’s new “In Scope by Default” policy. For example, previously, researchers were generally rewarded only for vulnerabilities affecting products or services that had been specifically included within Microsoft’s bug bounty programme.

Under the revised approach, announced last year, Microsoft now rewards researchers for finding critical vulnerabilities affecting its online services even when those weaknesses originate in eligible third-party software, open-source projects or external components used by Microsoft.

The policy reflects the reality that modern cloud services increasingly depend on software developed by many different organisations rather than a single vendor.

As Tom Gallagher, Vice President of Engineering at the Microsoft Security Response Center, explained: “If a critical vulnerability has a direct and demonstrable impact on our online services, it’s eligible for a bounty award. Regardless of whether the code is owned and managed by Microsoft, a third-party, or is open source, we will do whatever it takes to remediate the issue.”

Since introducing the expanded programme, Microsoft says it has received more than 300 additional vulnerability reports and paid more than US$800,000 for discoveries that would previously have fallen outside the scope of its rewards programme.

Working With The Research Community

Microsoft has also expanded its Zero Day Quest initiative, bringing together security researchers from 20 countries at its Redmond headquarters to collaborate directly with Microsoft’s engineering and security teams.

The live hacking event focused on Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms, generating nearly 700 vulnerability reports and awarding researchers a combined US$2.3 million.

Rather than viewing external researchers as outsiders, Microsoft increasingly treats them as an extension of its own security operation.

As the MSRC team said: “This year’s record-breaking results, including more than US$20 million in awards and recognition for 562 researchers, reflect the impact of a strong partnership between Microsoft and the global security research community.”

It added: “Researchers continue to play a vital role in protecting customers around the world.”

Individual rewards can also be substantial. Depending on the vulnerability involved, Microsoft’s programmes now pay up to US$100,000 for many cloud vulnerabilities and as much as US$250,000 for qualifying endpoint and on-premises security issues.

Why AI Is Changing Bug Hunting

The announcement also reflects a wider change taking place across cyber security. Artificial intelligence is helping many security researchers analyse software more quickly, automate repetitive testing and identify potential weaknesses that previously required much more manual investigation.

Microsoft says it experienced a notable increase in vulnerability submissions during the second half of the year, reflecting both growing participation from researchers and the increasing use of AI to support security research.

At the same time, AI is creating new challenges. For example, security teams across the industry have reported growing numbers of low-quality vulnerability reports generated largely by AI tools, requiring significant effort to assess before determining whether a genuine security issue exists.

Microsoft’s expanded programme therefore reflects not only greater investment in security research but also the increasing need to distinguish valuable discoveries from automated noise.

Security Through Collaboration

Perhaps the most significant aspect of Microsoft’s announcement is what it says about how cyber security itself is changing.

Rather than relying solely on internal testing, organisations are increasingly recognising that thousands of independent researchers examining software from different perspectives can identify vulnerabilities that internal teams may never encounter.

Microsoft’s decision to reward research involving third-party code also acknowledges that modern technology ecosystems are highly interconnected. A vulnerability affecting an open-source component may ultimately present just as much risk to Microsoft customers as one discovered within Microsoft’s own software.

The company’s approach therefore broadens responsibility for security while encouraging researchers to investigate the areas most likely to matter to customers.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, Microsoft’s record investment should provide reassurance that the company is continuing to strengthen the security of the products and cloud services on which many organisations depend every day. Finding vulnerabilities before attackers do remains one of the most effective ways of reducing cyber risk, and Microsoft’s willingness to reward responsible disclosure demonstrates how seriously it now views collaborative security research.

The announcement also highlights an important change in how software security is managed. Modern applications increasingly rely on open-source software, cloud infrastructure and third-party components, meaning vulnerabilities can emerge well beyond the boundaries of a single vendor’s own code. Businesses should therefore expect software suppliers to take greater responsibility for securing their wider technology ecosystems rather than focusing solely on their own products.

Microsoft’s latest figures, therefore, seem to show that cyber security is becoming an increasingly collaborative discipline. As AI accelerates both software development and vulnerability discovery, partnerships between technology companies and independent researchers are likely to become even more important in identifying weaknesses before malicious attackers have the opportunity to exploit them.

Company Check : Windows 11 Slims Down

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Microsoft is redesigning parts of Windows 11 to use less memory, a move that could help millions of older and lower-cost PCs remain responsive as rising RAM prices make hardware upgrades increasingly expensive.

Why Is Microsoft Doing This?

The company has confirmed that reducing Windows’ memory footprint has become one of its major engineering priorities.

Writing in an update on Microsoft’s Windows quality programme, Pavan Davuluri, President of Windows and Devices, said the company is focusing on “memory optimisation for 8GB and above” by “reducing Windows memory footprint to deliver a fast and responsive Windows experience across the PCs customers use every day.”

The announcement forms part of a broader initiative to improve Windows 11 performance, reliability and responsiveness while making everyday tasks feel faster and smoother.

Although Microsoft has not linked the changes directly to the global memory shortage, the timing is significant. Memory prices have risen sharply as AI infrastructure consumes increasing quantities of advanced memory chips, making even budget PCs more expensive to manufacture.

That matters because many Windows computers still operate with 8GB of RAM, particularly lower-cost laptops purchased by home users, schools and small businesses.

How Will Windows Use Less Memory?

Rather than removing features, Microsoft says it’s redesigning how Windows manages memory behind the scenes.

One area receiving attention appears to be the operating system’s memory allocator, which determines how Windows distributes RAM between applications and system components. Improving that process reduces unnecessary overhead and leaves more working memory available for users’ software.

Microsoft says it’s also continuing to optimise WinUI 3, the framework behind many modern Windows applications.

As Davuluri explained, Microsoft has delivered “substantial improvements in memory efficiency and latency”, adding that “these investments are strengthening the platform foundation needed to accelerate the modernisation of Windows 11 and the broader application ecosystem.”

The company is also improving Chromium and WebView2, technologies that underpin Microsoft Edge and many Windows applications. Since these components appear throughout Windows, even relatively small efficiency improvements can reduce memory consumption across the operating system.

Taken together, the changes are intended to make Windows feel more responsive without requiring additional hardware.

Can Software Really Replace More RAM?

In reality, the short answer is yes, but only up to a point. Microsoft isn’t suggesting that software optimisation can turn an 8GB computer into the equivalent of a 16GB machine. Applications still require physical memory, and demanding workloads such as video editing, software development, engineering design and advanced AI tools will continue to benefit significantly from larger amounts of RAM.

However, operating systems themselves inevitably consume part of the available memory before users even open an application.

Reducing that overhead means more RAM remains available for web browsers, office applications, video conferencing software and other everyday workloads. On lower-specification devices, even relatively modest reductions in memory usage can improve responsiveness by reducing the need for Windows to move data between RAM and slower storage.

The result is not necessarily a more powerful PC, but one that feels faster during everyday use.

The AI Hardware Challenge

The announcement also reflects a wider challenge facing today’s PC industry.

Over the past year, Microsoft has invested heavily in Copilot+ PCs, a new category of AI-capable computers that require a neural processing unit delivering at least 40 trillion operations per second, together with a minimum of 16GB of RAM.

Those specifications enable advanced AI features to run directly on the device rather than relying entirely on cloud computing. However, they also place many lower-cost computers outside the Copilot+ ecosystem.

At the same time, rising memory prices have increased the cost of building mainstream PCs, making 16GB configurations less affordable than many manufacturers had expected.

Optimising Windows for 8GB devices therefore allows Microsoft to improve the experience for millions of existing users while the wider hardware market adjusts to changing component costs.

Rather than encouraging immediate replacement, Microsoft appears to be extending the useful life of existing computers that remain perfectly capable of handling everyday business tasks.

Part Of A Wider Windows Refresh

It should be noted here, however, that memory optimisation is really only one element of Microsoft’s broader Windows quality programme.

The company says it has already introduced improvements across File Explorer, Windows Search, Start, the taskbar, Windows Hello, printer support, Bluetooth connectivity and Windows Update while continuing to strengthen the underlying architecture of Windows 11.

Davuluri said: “We’re continuing to invest across the full stack, from the kernel and shell to the apps and developer tools built on Windows, so performance improvements benefit the broad range of ways people use Windows.”

He added that “application launches and experiences like Start, File Explorer, Search, and Snipping Tool are faster and more responsive”, while boot and logon times have also improved.

Many of these enhancements have already appeared in Windows Insider preview builds and are expected to roll out more widely through future Windows 11 updates.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, Microsoft’s announcement offers some reassurance that existing Windows hardware may remain productive for longer than many organisations had anticipated. Improving memory efficiency can’t overcome genuine hardware limitations, although it can help extend the useful life of devices that still perform well for everyday office applications, helping businesses delay costly replacement programmes during a period of unusually high component prices.

The announcement also highlights an important change in how software companies are responding to AI-driven hardware costs. For example, rather than relying solely on increasingly powerful specifications, Microsoft is investing in making Windows itself more efficient so that performance improvements benefit a much wider range of devices. That approach could prove particularly valuable while global memory supplies remain constrained and hardware costs continue to fluctuate.

A key point to note here is that Microsoft’s latest work demonstrates that software optimisation still has an important role alongside advances in hardware. Faster processors and larger amounts of memory will always improve performance, although making better use of the resources that computers already have can often deliver meaningful gains without requiring users to buy entirely new machines.

Video Update : New Central Prompt Library Now In Copilot

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Microsoft Copilot’s new Central Prompt Library gives you a single place to browse, save and reuse effective AI prompts, making it quicker and easier to get consistent, high-quality results without having to recreate prompts from scratch every time.

[Note – To watch this video without glitches/interruptions, it may be best to download it first]

Tech Tip : Quickly Find Every Photo On Your PC

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Finding an image you saved weeks or even years ago can be frustrating if you can’t remember which folder it’s in. Fortunately, Windows includes a simple search feature that can locate every picture within a folder and all its subfolders in seconds.

How It Works

Instead of searching by filename, File Explorer can search by file type. By using the search term kind:=picture, Windows looks for recognised image formats, including JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP and others, regardless of what the files are called.

This makes it an easy way to find screenshots, downloaded images, scanned documents or photographs without manually browsing through folders.

How To Find All Your Photos

  1. Open ‘File Explorer’.
  2. Browse to the drive or folder you want to search.
  3. Click in the ‘Search’ box in the top-right corner.
  4. Type ‘kind:=picture’ and press ‘Enter’.
  5. Windows will display every recognised image in that location and its subfolders.

One Thing To Be Aware Of

The search only looks within the folder you currently have open. If you’re unsure where an image is stored, start your search from ‘This PC’ or your main ‘Pictures’ folder to search a much wider area.