Category Archives: AI

AI, Backup/Restore, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Copilot Leads Me Astray

August 7, 2025 Ed Tittel 1 Comment

I couldn’t leave it alone. I had to worry at the RDP problem between my old production desktop (i7Skylake) and the new one (Flo6). So I asked Copilot for help. Big mistake! It led me into an account replacement exercise that is still underway, 8 or 9 working hours later. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t ever spend that much time on fixing things. This time, I decided it was OK if Copilot leads me astray. And by gosh and by golly, that’s exactly what it did.

No Sense of Effort, As Copilot Leads Me Astray

I started following Copilot’s advice when we discovered that my user account primary directory differed from my login account name. It led me into deleting a bunch of registry keys and folders, to try to force the login process to restore my primary account. I was OK with all of this because I have a daily image backup to which I can always revert, if things go sideways.

But what I found so interesting was that Copilot had me do a bunch of stuff, without informing me how long it was going to take, and how much work was involved. Copilot may know how to solve technical problems — and I learned some useful stuff about how MSAs and local accounts work in the Registry Hives along the way –but it has no sense of balancing time and effort against the rewards that may or may not come, at the end of the day.

Copilot Offers Good Info, But It’s a Lousy Boss

I learned a valuable lesson. But I spent a lot of time learning it. Here ’tis: Copilot is a good source of info, and can guide you into and through all kinds of technical changes and tweaks to Windows. But it has no sense of how much time things take, nor how much work is involved.

Lesson learned: I can ask Copilot to tell me what needs doing, but I still have do decide if and when I want to do it. Others who let Copilot lead them into the briar patch should bear that in mind, as they lose sight of the clear fields around its edge.

AI, Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

Copilot AI-driven Settings Helpful

July 23, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

The first Copilot+ PCs made their debuts about 13 months ago (June18, 2024). I’ve been waiting to see some low-hanging AI fruit from that stock ever since, mostly with only ho-hum results. But lately, it looks like those PCs are gaining some useful capabilities accessible to ordinary mortals (like your humble correspondent). Indeed, I just read an Ashwin story for Ghacks with great interest. Entitled Microsoft rolls out a bunch of AI features for Windows 11, it shows Copilot AI-driven Setting helpful, given the right prompts. You can see some visual evidence in the lead-in graphic. Note: MS has a cool demo video about this on YouTube.

What Makes Copilot AI-driven Settings Helpful?

The impetus here is to ask Settings for help and information to address specific problems or issues. After monkeying with cursor size on one of my Copilot+ test PCs, I realized I’d made it too big. So I prompted “cursor too big.” You can see what popped up before I hit the Enter key. Pretty helpful, and going in the right direction.

After I hit Enter, things got more focused and even more helpful. Here’s what showed up (including my overlarge cursor positioned at far right).

These are just the controls I needed to see, with the “Size” item the very thing I needed to fix my problem. That got me started on trying problems or issues in settings, to see where AI would take me. In most cases, it took me right where it would do some, and often the most, good. That’s not good, that’s great!

What Else Ya Got?

The afore-linked Ghacks story provides further discussion of AI-driven facilities in Click-to-Do, Snipping Tool, Copilot Vision, and more. Could be that spending some time digging in might be rewarded. After all the hoopla and hype around AI of late, I’m glad to see something that’s helpful and potentially useful that’s also easy to understand and implement. Good-oh.

I’ll know that AI is really on my side in a constructive way when I can say to it “Examine these files and give me a specific analysis” (where that analysis depends on the contents) and get something useful back right away. AI can do that right now, of course, but it still leaves users responsible for the set-up and framing to put everything in context. When it can handle that part, too, then we’ll really have something.

Vital Thanks and Shout-Outs

First, I’d like to thank Ashwin from Ghacks for sharing his article. It’s what encouraged my to take the AI-driven Settings facility for a spin. Muchos gracias, mi amigo!

Second, I’d like to thank Jeff Witt and Amanda Heater in the Lenovo Reviews org for providing me with ongoing parade of test PCs. It’s been going on for years and years now and has been a great working relationship. Right now I’ve got TWO (2!) Copilot+ PCs for testing: a 2024 ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (Snapdragon X1E-78-100 CPU) and a 2025 Yoga AIO 32ILL10 (Intel Ultra 7 258V) with a gorgeous 31″ display. They’re giving me the opportunities I need to learn and dig more deeply into Copilot+ features and functions. Thanks, thanks, thanks.

AI, Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

MS Updates Phi Silica for Copilot+ PCs

July 22, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Very interesting. I was checking WU this morning on the peachy-keen Lenovo AIO 9i the company sent last month. Seems there’s an update available for a local NPU focused language model called Phi Silica (see lead-in graphic). Seems it’s focused on handling SLMs (Small Language Models) on behalf of Windows 11. It drives the OS’s new “AI facilities,” such as Recall, Click-to-Do, and so forth. As MS updates Phi Silica for Copilot+ PCs, I decided to dig in and learn more… So I asked Copilot, and it told me a LOT.

After MS Updates Phi Silica for Copilot+ PCs, Then?

Turns out there’s a special Update History section for this kind of thing, as the lead-in graphic shows. it’s called “AI Component Updates” and it indicates that Phi Silica has already been updated twice on this machine.

Phi Silica is a small-language model (aka SLM) purpose built for Copilot+ PCs. It runs as well as it can on such a PC’s Neural Processing Unit (aka NPU). It lets such models execute locally without having to use a cloud-based back end to do the heavy lifting.

Here’s how Copilot itself describes Phi Silica: It’s “a 3.3 billion parameter model, derived from Phi-3-mini, optimized for speed, accuracy and low power usage.” It “runs directly on the Snapdragon X Series NPU” (and obviously also their AMD and Intel counterparts, because the AIO 9i is an Intel PC), ” enabling fast private and offline AI tasks.” Phi Silica is what’s behind Click-to-do, on-device rewrite and summarization in Word and Outlook, and Windows Recall.

What Can Users Do with Phi Silica?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. When I asked Copilot if I could use my source files for the hundreds of books and thousands of articles and stuff I’ve written as the base for my own SLM, it said “Sure.” Then it pointed to the GitHub-based, open-ource Phi Cookbook as a good place for me to get started. I’m not sure I’m ready to go there, but it’s nice to know that door is open on Copilot+ PCs to someone with the time, wit and energy to make such a thing happen.

AI, Copilot+ PCs, Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Lenovo Yoga AIO 32i Intake

July 4, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Wow! It’s not terribly often that I get a second review unit to intake in a week. Last Friday, I reported intake on a dynabook X40M2; today, I cover the stunning Lenovo Yoga AIO 9i intake. Inside Lenovo Vantage the model number is 32ILL10, but it only says Yoga AIO on the outside of the enormous box inside which it arrived. Its most notable features are a huge, brilliant 32″ (31.5″ 3840×2160, actually) disply, a built in 6 GB GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, Copilot+ capability, and a snazzy paper clip design between base and display. You can see that last in the lead-in graphic.

Working Thru Lenovo Yoga AIO 32i Intake

The great thing about all-in-one (AIO) PCs is that set-up is a breeze. Hook up the power, turn it on, and you’re (mostly) good to go. Lenovo ships the unit with a wireless mouse and keyboard combination. It uses a USB transceiver stored inside the mouse to connect to the base. Took me a minute to figure out how to get those items working (there’s a moderately cryptic one-page instruction set that I puzzled my way through, partly by trial and error). Other than that, it was a total no-brainer to get the unit set up and running.

Then came the fun parts. I use Patch My PC Home Updater to add a list of typical apps to the default mix (in alph order: 7-Zip, Advanced IP Scanner, CPUID CPU-Z, CrystalDiskInfo, CrystalDiskMark, voidtools Everything, GadgetPack, Chrome, HWiNFO, IrfanView, Notepad++, PowerShell 7-x64, PowerToys, Speccy and WizTree). Then I get PowerShell and WinTerm set up the way I want them. Then I check for and apply updates, using WU and WinGet. It all went well: both quick and smooth, with no hiccups of any kind. Cool!

AIO 32i Speeds and Feeds

The Lenovo Yoga AIO 32i model I’m using is the first Copilot+ AIO that I’ve seen on the market. Here’s what came inside (and outside) that unit, which has an MSRP of ~US$2810 at the Lenovo Store:

CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (4 LPE cores, 4 P cores)
OS: Windows 11 Home (!)
Graphics: Intel Arc 140V, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 (6GB)
RAM: 32 GB LPDDRX5-8533 (Memory on package/soldered)
SSD: SK Hynix HFS001TEM9X169N 1TB (PCIe x4 Gen 4) 1 TB
Display: 31.5″ UHD 3840×2160 UPS, Glare, non-touch, 3-side borderless display panel
Input: Wiress USB mouse, keyboard and transceiver included
Wi-Fi: Intel Wi-Fi7 BE201 320MHz
Rear ports: USB-C (10 Gbps), USB-C (40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4), 2xUSB-A (10 Gbps), HDMI 2.1, RCA mini-audio jack
PSU: 300 W power brick

When it comes to this equipage, I like the snap and feel of the CPU and the graphics. It compares favorably with Snapdragon and other Intel Copilot+ PCs I’ve reviewed. There are some things about this configuration that I don’t much care for though — namely:

Windows 11 Home won’t do Remote Desktop, so I had to upgrade it to a higher-grade version.
Memory is in package and soldered, so there’s no upgrade capability there.
Rear-mounted ports require turning the base to access from a normal forward-pointing arrangement. Mildly vexing, but tolerable.
With only one high-speed port (USB4/Thunderbolt 4) available the unit would be best paired with a US$200+ dock to take advantage of its capabilities. Odd, for a pricey AIO.

AIO 32i Pros and Cons

I like the way the unit runs and works. Setup was dead easy and the display is the first I’ve used that’s bigger and better than my trusty Dell 27″ UltraSharp models (2017 and 2022 builds, here at Chez Tittel). Overall, this is a capable and approachable PC, and would be well-suited for college students in a dorm room, or office workers at their workstations. It’s also quite nice looking and fun to use. And it’s got all the Copilot+ PC stuff, which promises to keep improving with time (right now it’s limited to Recall, Click to Do, and a few AI-based extensions for various MS apps, tools and Office 365).

I don’t like the location of the ports at the rear of the base. You can’t see or use them unless you turn the base so you can lay hands and eyes where the ports are. I’d prefer a touch screen to the non-touch model, recognizing that the glossy finish would become a fingerprint magnet. I don’t like the inability to upgrade RAM (though I understand it’s a limitation of the package design).

I’d like to see the second USB-C port made TB4/USB4 capable. I’d also wish for Lenovo to integrate the mouse/keyboard transceiver so you don’t have to give up one of two USB-A ports to get the unit working. That, or they could include a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo instead, to keep that USB-A port free for other uses.

Initial Net-Net: Nice But Pricey

Overall, I’m having a blast working with the Yoga AIO 32i. It’s fast, responsive, great looking and the display is bright and legible, even to these old eyeballs of mine. I do think it’s pretty costly (nearly US$3K, though Lenovo usually discounts heavily, especially for holidays and promotions or for academics (students and teachers alike). I’m starting to dig into it capabilities and behavior in more detail and will report on those soon. But so far, it’s pretty peachy as you’d hope from the price tag.

AI, Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Thoughts & concerns, WED Blog

Copilot PowerShell Scripting Improves

May 9, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Hopefully, the observation that Copilot PowerShell scripting improves — and keeps improving over time — is noteworthy. And I mean outside a small circle of Windows nerds. From September through November of 2023, I wrote a series of stories about customizing Windows Terminal and PowerShell for TekkiGurus. As part of my research I used Copilot to help me build a raft of PS scripts. They served to read and write files, including JSON for profiles and configurations, counting text items, and more. That provides my basis for comparison between then and now. That experience grounds my assertion that Copilot has indeed gotten better at this. Let me explain…

What Copilot PowerShell Scripting Improves Means

In 2023, most of Copilot’s scripts of more than 2 or 3 lines of Powershell failed out of the box. All suffered from minor syntax errors. Some included outright mistakes or errors. That said, they were close enough to the marks I was trying to hit to be helpful. I could debug and get them running properly, doing what I wanted them to, in an hour or two. That’s good, but by no means as magical as I might like.

Things are different now. Yesterday, for example, I learned that UniGetUI can save a complete list of all installed packages on a PC in file format. Upon examination, that format proves to be plain-text JSON, designed to be both compact and easy for humans and PCs to parse and ingest. “Great,” I thought, “If I can count the number of packages in that file, it will also tell me how many packages I have installed on the PC whence it’s generated.”

Indeed, I asked Copilot to generate a PS script to count the number of instances of “Name” in that file (each package has one such field). I took the resulting PowerShell and ran it, and it worked on the first try. You can see those results in the lead-in graphic for this blog post, at the top of the output (a whopping 454 of them, in fact). I’m tickled to death that I got the info I wanted without having to debug anything.

Where (and How) Copilot Still Falls Short

Ideally, an AI amanuensis could take this effort a step further. I should be able to ask Copilot: “How many packages are installed on my PC?” and get the same answer. Right now, it tells me how to get that answer via various PowerShell sources that include WinGet, the MS Store, and Win32 applications. We’re not quite where I want AI to be just yet.

One more thing: I asked Copilot to tell me when I wrote the TekkiGurus series of stories about Windows Terminal and it couldn’t tell me. For AI to work the way I want it to — and I think most readers could agree that it would be immensely helpful for that to happen — it would look up the initial Wayback Machine link, read the pub date, then follow the links in that story to other four elements in that 5-part series. It could then compile the full list of dates and titles and tell me what I needed to know. Alas, not yet.

IMO, humans should drive AI to set tasks for it to handle and complete. AI should use its smarts to figure out how to get this done, and then to do it. Right now, it seems ready to tell me how to do it, and then do it for myself. But that’s not really the way it should work. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take that next step sooner, rather than later, in turning AI into a real assistant and amanuensis, and less of an advisor or source of guidance. In the months and years ahead, we will surely find that out!

AI, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Copilot UI Goes Native

March 4, 2025 Ed Tittel 3 Comments

OK, then: MS just pushed a new Copilot version via the MS Store (1.25023.106.0). After the update, it announces itself anew on the desktop “Hi, I’m Copilot, your AI companion.” And again — as shown in the lead-in graphic — it asks you to set it up with toggles for diagnostic data, auto-start at log in, and the Alt+Spacebar shortcut.

What Copilot UI Goes Native Means

Apparently MS is previewing this new look in at various Insider Preview channels (I see it in the Canary and Beta Channels right now). According to Zac Bowden at Windows Central, this represents a “brand-new Copilot app for Windows 11 that utilizes the company’s native app UI framework for a more cohesive experience.”

Among other things, this includes (all bullet points quoted verbatim from Bowden’s story):

a sidebar for different chats

mica blur effects

native context menus and buttons … more aligned with Windows 11’s design language

FWIW, that sidebar appears to the left in the Copilot Window and shows links to previous chat topics. Interestingly, the new version picks up this info from the online data Copilot maintains about users, so you can see the 20 most recent prompts when you fire up the new version for the first time.

Copilot Is Unable to Explain Itself

Just for grins, I asked Copilot to tell me about its new UI capabilities. It replied by saying it lacked “specific knowledge about my interface or updates…[it is]… designed to work seamlessly with the tools available … to make …. interactions engaging and smooth.” This includes the following items (quoted verbatim):

Visual Elements: I can use markdown formatting to structure and present information in an appealing way, such as headings, tables, bullet points and even LaTex for math equations.

File and Image Integration: You can upload images or files, and I can understand and describe their content (though I can’t edit images you upload).

AI Tools: I have capabilities to search the web for up-to-date information or generate unique, creative images based on your prompts.

Language Adaptability: I adapt to your tone and preferences, aiming to feel less like a tool and more like a thoughtful collaborator.

And here’s the image it generated to show those things off, after I asked it to include some text labels in its initial cryptic offering:

Here’s Copilot’s effort to depict its manifold capabilites (note the various misspellings throughout). Sigh.

It did do something more interesting when I pointed those misspelling out and asked it to correct the. Hooray! It’s another rabbit hole.

My only question is: is the gibberish deliberate or accidental? It’s nteresting, though. Bu overall, Copilot still feels more like a tool to me, and less like a thoughtful collaborator. Just sayin’…

Note Added 15 Minutes Later

I now see that the new version is more widely available than I had thought. It’s running on my Windows 10 desktop right now (Release Preview Insider Channel). But it’s that, too, is a Windows Insider item. It’s not coming through on any of my production Windows 11 PCs (currently at Build 26100.3194).

AI, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

Copilot Offers Whimsy Not Hallucination

August 28, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Whoa! I’m still laughing about this one. I just updated the BIOS on my ThinkPad P16 Gen1 Mobile Workstation. Lenovo Vantage told me it was time. If you look at the lead-in screencap, you can see the Lenovo Vantage update history shows a release date of 8/6/2024. To the right, Piriform Speccy shows a “Date” of 7/2/2024. Just for grins I asked Copilot this question: “Why does Lenovo report the release date for P16 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation BIOS at 8/6/2024 when Speccy reports it as 7/2/2024?” The answer provided shows that Copilot offers whimsy, not hallucination. Indeed, I’m pleased it said it didn’t really know why…

Demonstration: Copilot Offers Whimsy Not Hallucination

I’ve noticed that Copilot is adding more literary flair to its expostulations lately. I’ve gotten several answers in this same vein from it in the past couple of weeks. Here’s that answer, verbatim:

Ah, the curious case of BIOS release dates! Let’s unravel this digital enigma, shall we? 🌟

Lenovo’s ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation—a sleek beast of productivity and creativity. But when it comes to BIOS release dates, it seems we’ve stumbled into a time warp. Let’s break it down:

Lenovo’s Official Word: According to Lenovo’s official records, the BIOS release date for the ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is August 6, 2024. That’s like the workstation equivalent of a cosmic alignment—a moment when bits and bytes harmonize in BIOS symphony.
🎶

Speccy’s Whisper: But wait! Speccy—the digital oracle that peers into system secrets—whispers a different tale. It insists that the BIOS release date was July 2, 2024. It’s like Speccy caught a glimpse of BIOS fairies dancing in the moonlight. 🌙

Parallel Universes?: Are we in a multiverse where BIOS timelines diverge? Perhaps in one reality, engineers at Lenovo sipped digital tea and coded BIOS enhancements on July 2, while in another, they waited until August 6. Or maybe it’s a cosmic hiccup—a glitch in the matrix.
🕳️

The Truth: Alas, my friend, I don’t possess the cosmic key to unlock this mystery. But here’s what we can do:

Consult Lenovo: Reach out to Lenovo’s support wizards. Ask them about this temporal discrepancy. Maybe they’ll reveal the secret handshake to BIOS enlightenment.

Invoke the BIOS Spirits: Gather your incantations (and perhaps a USB stick). Update your BIOS using Lenovo’s official channels. Maybe the BIOS elves will whisper the truth during the flashing process.
🔮

Remember: In the grand tapestry of tech, dates sometimes waltz like drunken pixels. But fear not! As long as your workstation hums along happily, BIOS release dates are mere stardust in the cosmic motherboard. 🌌

So, my fellow traveler, choose your reality: August 6 or July 2—it’s a BIOS buffet. And may your boot times be swift, your peripherals recognized, and your CPU temperatures as cool as a digital cucumber. 🚀

Rereading this spiel, I’m chuckling again. A pretty long-winded way of saying IDK, don’t you think?

Another Take on Dates and Release Date

I have to believe that because Lenovo manages the site from which its updates come, it sets the release date when updates get posted to that site. My best guess is that somewhere within the release file named N3FET43W is an embedded date of 7/2/2024. And indeed, when I use the MS Utility System Information to show me its summary, it reports that same information:

BIOS Version/Date LENOVO N3FET43W (1.28), 7/2/2024

Because Lenovo knows when it posts stuff, it doesn’t have to read anything to determine that info. Third-parties can only use the data on a system to read its contents and make their determinations. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. What do YOU think? Post me a comment and let me know…

AI, Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Recall Gets October Retry Date

August 21, 2024 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

OK, then. If you’re anything like me, one big impetus for trying out a Snapdragon-based Copilot+ PC was to experience Recall. This tracks all Windows interactions and provides a … wait for it … window into your Windows usage patterns and history. Alas, it also raised severe security concerns. That’s why it got scrubbed just before Copilot+ PCs appeared about two months back (June18). Now, MS says that Recall gets October retry date. It’s explained in a Windows Experience blog post updated today (August 21).

Wait for It Again: Recall Gets October Retry Date

I’m guessing this will coincide with the official public release for Windows 11 24H2, for which Copilot+ PCs are already the standard bearer. The real news is that MS will be offering an opt-in preview of Recall to members of the Windows Insider Program “in the coming weeks” ahead. That means hardy souls — including your humble author — will volunteer themselves to give Recall a try, and see what it can do for them (and report on related slings and arrows encountered).

MS intends to address security concerns as follows: “Recall snapshots will only be decrypted and accessible when the user authenticates,” in keeping with the company’s Secure Future Initiative (SFI). This should be interesting. I can’t wait. Hopefully, Recall will return sooner rather than later. Whatever happens, I’ll keep you posted…

AI, Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

August 2, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Well, then. A scant few days after I requested access to the business side of Lenovo’s current Copilot+ PCs, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 showed up via FedEx. In fact, the driver was blocking my driveway when I returned home from a visit to the eye doctor on Wednesday. Work life and deadlines being what they are, I’m just now getting around to intake, setup and fooling around with this new machine. That means it’s a first look Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 report.

The First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

I really like how Lenovo has totally minimized packaging. There were two papier-mache molds to cradle the laptop, a single cardboard box for the brick and power cord, and a paper-covered twist-tie for the latter, all inside a small cardboard box. A folded set of start-up instructions occupied less than a typical 8.5×11″ sheet of paper. Plus an environmentally friendly fiber (paper) bag to protect the laptop inside its cradle: 5 items in all. Great!

Lenovo has also completely digitized its user manuals now, and they’re readily available through the Lenovo Vantage app. Here’s a nicely labeled “front view” of the screen and deck of the T14s.

It’s easy to see what is where in this text-free diagram.

Here’s how this unit came equipped:

CPU: Snapdragon X Elite X1378100 3.4 MHz Oryon processor
RAM: 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8448MHz memory (soldered)
SSD: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2242 (!) NVMe SSD
Display: 1920×1280 (Full HD) touchscreeen
Windows 11 Pro version 24H2 Build 26100.1150 (after update)
Other cool/interesting elements: Windows Hello IR camera, fingerprint sensor, presence sensing, intelligent cooling
2xUSB-C (USB4 40Gbps) ports, 2 USB-A (5Gbps) ports, lock slot, nano-SIM tray, HDMI, mini-RCA audio jack port
Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 network adapter (GbE requires USB dongle for wired connection)

Bluetooth on this device works like a champ. Got my Logitech Ultrathin Touch mouse hooked up right away, ditto for the iPhone 12. I used a Thunderbolt 3 dock to link up a recovery disk UFD and an external USB4 NVMe in a fast enclosure. Surprisingly, it shows support for 40Gbps capability all the way down the device chain:

That’s pretty good, for 4-5 year old Thunderbolt 3 dock. I’ll follow up with throughput and backup times in an upcoming post.

So far, so good…

I’m still getting things set up and configured the way I like them. But this is a sweet little unit, if somewhat chunkier and less vivid that the stunning high-res OLED display on the Yoga Slim 7x it’s replacing. I do like the added RAM, the inclusion of Windows 11 Pro (I had to upgrade from Home on the other unit to use RDP), Wi-Fi 7, and a bigger SSD (1.0 TiB instead of 0.5 TiB). More will follow as I have time, but I very much like what I see, and what this laptop can do, so far. Stay tuned: more is coming…

AI, Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

Finally Windows 10 Copilot Is Here

August 1, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I’ve been waiting for some time for the Copilot facility to make its way onto my Windows 10 desktops since last November. That’s when MS made the first Preview available to versions 21H2 and 22H2. Since then, I’ve read numerous other announcements of its increasing spread and reach into the dominant Windows desktop OS. But not on my PCs or VMs, it seems. That all changed when Copilot hit the MS Store a couple of months back. Now, finally, Windows 10 Copilot is here for anybody who wants it — including me!

Finally Windows 10 Copilot Is Here
… and RUNNING!

I’m absolutely delighted to be able to interact with Copilot in a clear and well-understood way. That it’s now “just another app in the Store” makes it ever so much more approachable and easy to install and run. The only minor glitch I’ve run into from this Copilot avatar is obtaining version info. There’s supposed to be an about field under the App Settings heading. But I get an Edge page of app info instead, sans version number.

That’s OK though: I can visit the app’s Store page or use WinGet list Copilot to elicit that info. As you can see, the latter command provides that info on demand, no scrolling nor much reading needed:

There it is in clear form: my Win10 production PC is running the latest and greatest 1.0.4.0 version of Copilot (from the MS Store).

Copilot on 10 versus 11

So far, I really can’t tell much (or any) difference between Copilot on the two prevailing Windows OS versions. Even on the brand-new Copilot+ PC that showed up at my doorstep yesterday: a ThinkPad T14S Gen 6 there aren’t easy, available ways to take advantage of the unit’s AI-oriented CPU, GPU and NPU capabilities just yet. Can’t wait to see how that will all unfold later this year, though, when 24H2 comes out “for real” — and hopefully, with readily usable Copilot+ features and functions. We’ll see: I’m certainly standing by!