Your membership journey starts here. Keep exploring and earning more as a member. Latest about Microsoft Updates, launches and rumors. Latest about AI. AI updates, how-tos and comparisons in one place. Explore your membership benefits. Stay Ahead with Windows Central Get the biggest gaming news, reviews, and releases straight to your inbox. Deals A big Labor Day discount turns this 16‑inch Ryzen AI laptop into a standout performance deal. GAMING For years, Modern Warfare 2 on Steam was a vector for all sorts of exploits and hacks. With this week's update, it should be solved. Gaming Microsoft has announced that it's bringing Xbox Cloud Gaming to TCL-branded Smart TVs in the coming months, and we're got the scoop on how it will work. Gaming Qualcomm released new Adreno GPU drivers for Snapdragon X and Snapdragon X2 PCs, bringing stability and quality fixes to titles like Halo Infinite and Avowed. Windows 11 Microsoft just announced Project Zenith, a new Windows 11 experience for developers. Devices will come with dev tools preinstalled and settings pre-enabled to tailor to developer workflows. Gaming The third Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance weapon showcase trailer features a look at how the Boost Bracer will enhance the already agile Dual Blades weapon type to lightning-fast proportions All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards. GAMING PUBG: DED.NET is a 1996-set PvP FPS that introduces a multi-match career journey and roguelite progression to the PUBG universe. Airjet Powered by Intel and cooled by Frore Systems' AirJet technology, Lenovo's AeroBlade concept rethinks what a modern laptop can be. GAMING I went hands-on with God Save Birmingham at Gamescom, a medieval zombie survival game set in my actual hometown. XBOX Hands-on with Fable at Gamescom proved its combat is incredible; now it just has to survive the internet's Xbox Tax. GAMING No UI hand-holding, total narrative freedom, and a city where every single NPC can be flatlined. Welcome to No Law Windows 11 Microsoft is rolling out long-awaited Taskbar and UI fixes in Windows 11 26H2, but where is the flagship Surface hardware to actually show them off? From The Windows Central Archives As we look ahead to Windows Central’s 20th anniversary in 2027, we’re taking time to revisit the stories that shaped our community. From Microsoft and Xbox to Windows and PC, these throwbacks remind us how far we’ve come together. As we look ahead to Windows Central’s 20th anniversary in 2027, we’re taking time to revisit the stories that shaped our community. From Microsoft and Xbox to Windows and PC, these throwbacks remind us how far we’ve come together. On this Day A look back at Xbox’s 2015 “games everywhere” vision — the moment Phil Spencer sketched out a future that Asha Sharma is now fully realizing 11 years later. Flashback A decade later, Microsoft’s unreleased Moonraker smartwatch still feels like a glimpse into an alternate timeline. Flashback Looking back at the 2016 editorial that captured Xbox’s growing pains and predicted the decade ahead. Flashback A look back at the LG Lancet and the era when Windows Phone 8.1 defined Microsoft’s mobile peak. Flashback A 2016 warning about Android apps on Chrome feels newly relevant as Googlebooks pushes Android PCs into the agentic era and challenges Microsoft again. Flashback From our archives: A decade ago Microsoft was already testing a Bing “concierge bot,” an early take on the AI agents Google is only now announcing. Apps Battery Flyout's latest update brings power management and detailed battery tracking straight to the Windows 11 Taskbar, complete with ARM64 support and a new widget. Windows 11 Microsoft's kernel level security feature will be automatically enabled on eligible PCs starting next month. Windows 11 Microsoft is rolling out long-awaited Taskbar and UI fixes in Windows 11 26H2, but where is the flagship Surface hardware to actually show them off? Apps The latest update to Microsoft Edge brings new security tools and admin controls, but it also gets rid of one of my favorite Edge features. Windows 11 Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 version 26H2 is now available to test in the Windows Insider Release Preview Channel, which means general availability is imminent. Zac Bowden Senior Editor — Windows Jez Corden Executive Editor Daniel Rubino Editor-in-Chief Richard Devine Managing Editor — Tech, Reviews Sean Endicott Staff Writer — News Ben Wilson Senior Editor — Tech

Mauro Hucalak Windows How-To Expert Cale Hunt Staff Writer — Tech Jennifer Young Contributor — Commerce, Gaming Kevin Okemwa Contributor — News Brendan Lowry Contributor — Tech, Gaming Laptops With seven colors, customizable keycaps, and a choice of AMD, Qualcomm, or eventually Intel, the IdeaPad Vibe is anything but another boring laptop. Airjet Powered by Intel and cooled by Frore Systems' AirJet technology, Lenovo's AeroBlade concept rethinks what a modern laptop can be. News NVIDIA has announced a massive acquisition of an AI company pushing $13 billion in value, reinforcing its focus nowadays as an AI company over everything else. Laptops Dell announced the Dell 14S, a budget-friendly 14-inch Windows 11 laptop built to take on Apple's MacBook Neo with a lightweight chassis, multiple colors, and full-day battery life. News In a world where everything is getting more expensive, it's extra nice to see a solid new mid-range laptop from Samsung with a mid-range price to go with it. All-in-One PCs HP's Envy Move was a clever all-in-one PC with a portable twist thanks to a genius built-in battery, but it didn't last long. I'd love to see it return one day. Deals The ASUS ROG Strix G16 remains one of the best-performing premium laptops for gaming at over 120 fps on 1,600p resolution, and it's now 24% off thanks to Best Buy's Labor Day deal Deals Antonline is offering gamers a chance to boost their performance for less with Intel's modern Core Ultra desktop CPUs. Deal Newegg is offering massive discounts on 12-month Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions bundled with NordVPN, dropping prices down to as low as $61.99. Deals Back‑to‑school Dell deals are offering the bargain new XPS 13 laptop, along with essential accessories, and standout value for students. Deals Some of our favorite Dell and Alienware monitors with 4K and QD‑OLED panels are a no-brainer upgrade for heading back to school as a new semester begins. Deals Huion is launching a back-to-school campaign, discounting a large variety of its high-quality tablets for note-taking and creating art. Here are our top recommendations from this sale. Pre-order The ROG Xbox Ally X20 is now available to pre‑order, giving Windows handheld fans a new OLED option with upgraded hardware and a premium standalone price. No limit The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ vanished from retailers almost immediately, and the grey market has responded the only way it knows how: by duct-taping an absurd surcharge to the box and calling it market demand. PC Gaming Steam Deck (and other Linux systems) might soon be able to play PC Game Pass games with the help of Xodus. GAMING PUBG: DED.NET is a 1996-set PvP FPS that introduces a multi-match career journey and roguelite progression to the PUBG universe. Gaming With BlizzCon just over a week away, fans have noticed that StarCraft's website is glitching out and have dug into it to discover secret messages that could hint at a new game being made after over a decade Gaming Capcom unveils new details for Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance regarding its storyline and new monsters players will experience through its Sony State of Play trailer Gaming The epic conclusion of the ambitious Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy will arrive on April 8, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S (with Xbox Play Anywhere), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC Gaming Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, Metro 2039, Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, and more Xbox-adjacent titles were given new info and reveals at the Sony State of Play livestream for September 2026 AI Microsoft EVP overseeing Office and LinkedIn Ryan Roslansky posts an oddly oblivious self-own. The company flooding the internet with AI slop has started to realize how dumb its technology actually is in most scenarios. AI In a new podcast, OpenAI and ChatGPT lead Sam Altman lamented how much the industry made AI a hated tech, in his words, that they failed to "explain the benefits." You will no longer be able to use the COPILOT function in Excel after September 14, 2026. Here is why Microsoft is retiring the preview feature and what it means for your spreadsheets. Apps Copilot has gone missing in classic Outlook, drawing joking questions about whether the behavior is a feature or a bug. AI Windows users were (and still are) unsure about Recall, and something similar is now headed to macOS. Copilot We knew it was coming, and now it's official: Microsoft is beginning to rollout a new Copilot app that merges Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot under one experience. Apps Microsoft Teams will soon let users temporarily pause all notifications. Here is how the new quiet feature works and how it differs from Do Not Disturb. Microsoft Over 41,000 people have signed a petition opposing Microsoft's planned $5.4 billion hyperscale data center in Leeds, England. Apps Microsoft renamed the Microsoft 365 Roadmap as the "AI at Work Roadmap," even though most of what it tracks has nothing to do with AI. LIVE Join Daniel, Jez, and Zac on August 21 at 1PM ET for the LIVE Windows Central Podcast. Apps Microsoft's July 2026 Teams update introduces a dedicated Recap app for meeting summaries, transcripts, and recordings. Microsoft Microsoft's FY26 earnings report came in, and it has been taken extremely well on Wall Street, as investors reward $MSFT stock with a 20% bounce in less than a month. Review Razer’s tenth Huntsman keyboard brings optical analog power down to desk level—and my trained typing hands couldn't be happier. Keyboards Windows Central tests and reviews the latest and greatest gaming keyboards to help you make the best possible decision for your gaming setup. Hardware It's no longer enough to pick the keyboard with the best aesthetics. I dig into switches and how they differ. Please login or signup to comment