Products You May Like
Today has not been a good day to update your Windows machine (ugh), but Windows 11 home users should be able to confidently download and install the latest version of the operating system. The big annual update for Windows 11, 23H2, came out last year but is now available for all users for the first time, Neowin reports. The update includes many new features and fixes, and as always, it’s best to ensure you always have the latest version of your OS for security purposes.
Windows 23H2 originally came out on October 31, 2023, but has been slowly rolling out to compatible PCs. To access it previously, you had to manually ensure your system received updates as soon as they were available, as opposed to when Microsoft wanted you to have them. Windows 11 23H2 is a cumulative release containing all the previous updates and has the same code base as the previous year’s big update, 22H2.
The big news with 23H2 is it included Copilot, which the company is touting as the next big thing in computing.
Credit: Microsoft
Windows 11 23H2 was a pretty big deal when it arrived, as it included Windows Copilot, the company’s AI-powered assistant. If you’re one of the systems that haven’t received this update yet, you can now use Copilot, which could be good or bad news, depending on your opinion. Windows 11 23H2 also includes a redesigned File Explorer, much-needed changes to the Taskbar, RGB controls for a small list of supported devices, native support for RAR and 7zip file compression, and more according to Windows Central.
If you’re thinking, “Wait a minute; isn’t Windows 24H2 the newest version of Windows 11?? Yes, it is, but it’s only available on Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm processors. It will begin rolling out to x86 users later this year. That big update will include new features targeting the newly birthed AI PCs, as they will become omnipresent later this year when both AMD and Intel join the party. The two companies will be launching their Strix Point and Lunar Lake laptop processors shortly, and both platforms will need to be certified by Microsoft to join the Copilot+ PC program, which will assuredly happen.
Windows 11 24H2 could prove to be a controversial update, as there have been reports that it will disable some third-party applications that modify the OS’s UI. This seems like an effort by Microsoft to get people to stop using freeware or inexpensive utilities that “fix” the Taskbar and Start Menu of Windows to be more like Windows 10’s version. Installing one of these illicit apps might even prevent you from upgrading to 24H2, but we will learn more soon when it officially arrives for x86 computers.