Microsoft has been on a drive to clean up Windows 11 by removing legacy features and components for some time now. The latest example of this is the companyâs decision to remove Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) from the operating system. To the casual observer, this is something that has already been consigned to the history books as it was not included in a standard installation of Windows 11. However, the latest move sees Microsoft killing off the ability to add it as an optional Feature on Demand. The loss of WindowsâŚ
Microsoft is backing down on OneDrive Photos, and youâll soon be able to remove it without also removing the OneDrive sync client. That means you wonât have to risk breaking synced files, folders, or shortcuts on Windows 11 if you donât want OneDrive Photos but still use the OneDrive sync client that you may have set up when you got your PC.
On or around August 1, Microsoft quietly added OneDrive Photos to thousands of PCs running Windows 11. OneDrive Photos itself is harmless, but most users dislike the idea of apps getting installed whenâŚ
The Hot Take: Need to get those private details of everyone's life....
Microsoft told Windows Latest that it accidentally shipped the AI-powered OneDrive Photos app on Windows 11 more broadly than it should have, which explains why enterprise PCs where the app doesnât even work now have to deal with it.
Iâm told that Microsoft is going to âfix it,â which possibly suggests that the app will be rolled back, but I think itâll stay on most PCs. If you havenât seen the app yet, hereâs what it looks like out of the box (yes, it has access to all your folders by default):
âOneDrive Photosâ isnât exactly newâŚ
The Hot Take: Nice to see MS wanting stability over features.
I expect Windows 11 26H2 to ship in October 2026 as an enablement package. Based on past trends, itâll roll out sometime between the last week of September and the last week of October. Windows 11 25H2 shipped in the last week of September, but versions 24H2 and 23H2 were released in October of their respective years.
But is there anything new in this yearâs annual update? Iâd say nothing major in particular.
Windows 11 26H2 is the annual feature update for the operating system, but it doesnât come with anything exciting. If youâve readâŚ
The Hot Take: Sorry I prefer privacy on my own cloud. GTFOH.
As Windows Latest first reported, Microsoft is quietly installing âOneDrive Photosâ on PCs, and our tests show that itâs tied to the OneDrive sync client, which is already pre-installed on Windows. Initially, I assumed that only consumers would be getting the app, but it turns out that itâs being pushed to enterprise customers as well.
Windows Latest spoke to IT admins and found that Microsoft is forcing the OneDrive Photos app onto enterprise PCs, including those that use Microsoft Intune. Worse, OneDrive Photos works only with a personalâŚ
Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0 to manufacturing partners on July 31, 1996. Codename Cairo marked an important milestone in the history of Microsoftâs original server OS and would far outlive Microsoftâs original plans as enthusiasts and administrators clung to it, as older readers will be aware. Headlining features of NT 4.0, which made it a winner, include the melding of the intuitive new Windows 95 UI into the fully 32-bit enterprise OS. It was also notable for being the last version of NT to support Alpha, MIPS, or PowerPC CPUâŚ
The Hot Take: Just deeper and deeper into our lives.... I dropped OneDrive because the "backup" nag screens. Thankfully I have Synology NAS with Drive client to replace it.
The year is 2026, and Iâm still amazed when I find a new entry in my Start menuâs All apps list for an app I donât remember installing. This time, itâs Microsoft again, and the product is OneDrive Photos, which appears to be yet another photo editor and viewer for Windows 11 that nobody asked for.
While searching for Microsoft Photos, a new app called âOneDrive Photosâ showed up in my results out of nowhere, and it appears to have arrived either via a Windows Update or an update for the OneDrive sync client on Windows.
For thoseâŚ
New Outlook is âpainful and drives me crazy,â one user told me as their organization prepared to ditch Outlook Classic. But does that mean Microsoft will hold off on its plans to force New Outlook? Certainly not. According to Microsoftâs roadmap, it still plans to move all Classic Outlook users to New Outlook starting in March 2027, and weâre not that far away now.
New Outlook for Windows has been around for almost three years, as it was first rolled out to testers in 2023. Fast-forward to 2024, and Microsoft released New Outlook forâŚ
The Hot Take: M$ is the only one to give us Ads on Windows 11....
LG is removing a McAfee pop-up ad from its LG Monitor App Installer after criticism that some LG monitors were silently installing the app through Windows Update and showing ads on every boot. Microsoft says LG agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up, but the broader issue remains: Windows allows certain peripheral companion apps to install automatically without notifying users. Ars Technica reports: Following Gamers Nexus' video, a Microsoft representative stated that the LG Monitor App Installer will no longer show pop-up ads for McAfee. InâŚ
Microsoft is acting further on its promise to fix some of Windows 11's worst annoyances. The company is rolling out changes in the Windows Insider Experimental channel that promise a less cluttered search box that largely eliminates ads, although you'll need to tweak settings to get the best results.