Software & Apps News - Page 12

We've only just heard a rumor that Microsoft was going to introduce Copilot Pro, a subscription version of the AI, and it's officially happened.

Copilot Pro will cost $20 per month and is aimed at individual users who want the best AI experience, or as Microsoft puts it:

"Whether you need advanced help with writing, coding, designing, researching or learning, Copilot Pro brings greater performance, productivity and creativity."

What do you get for your money? As mentioned in the leak yesterday, one of the major selling points is access to the latest AI models, and with this initial incarnation of Copilot Pro, users will get the benefit of GPT-4 Turbo (for faster and more accurate responses to queries).

YouTube has been at war with ad blocker extensions since they came into popularity, and now the company behind the largest video platform in the world has moved to implement what is easily the most annoying change yet. Slowed video load times.

This isn't the first time YouTube has targeted popular ad-blocking software such as AdBlock Plus, uBlock Origin, or Ghostery, as it was back in November last year when the company annoyed millions of users around the world by disabling video-watching for select accounts. A recent video posted to Reddit indicates the company is now throttling video load times for accounts using ad-blocking software.

These suspicions were backed up by a report by 9to5Google, which stated there is "an artificial timeout written within YouTube's code to act as a laggy internet connection," and while this code has been within YouTube's software for quite some time, it appears it's being used to a much wider effect.

Microsoft could be planning a Copilot Pro subscription service if a fresh leak is anything to go by.

Currently, the Copilot AI is free, but that might change if some hidden code that Android Authority unearthed (via TechRadar) turns out to indicate the direction Microsoft is going to head in.

The code is for a 'Copilot Pro' in Edge which is paywalled and requires a subscription. The text provided says the paid version has the following benefits:

"Get the latest AI models, priority access for quick answers, and high-quality image creation with Copilot Pro."

Microsoft has acknowledged a problem with the latest Windows 10 update and the company has said it's working on a fix.

As we reported last week, the issue lies with the KB5034441 security update - which is piped to Windows 10 PCs alongside the cumulative update for January 2024 - which fixes a flaw that potentially allows an attacker to bypass BitLocker encryption.

The long and short of it is that the odd error caused by KB5034441 - which consists of an unhelpful stop code - is apparently due to the recovery partition (WinRE) in Windows 10 not being large enough.

Microsoft might be experimenting with presenting Copilot straight away, as soon as Windows 11 boots - a controversial idea in testing, naturally - but another more useful change has been spotted in the latest preview build of the OS (23615).

This was flagged up on X (formerly Twitter) by well-known Microsoft leaker PhantomOfEarth, and it consists of the ability to drag and drop files onto the Copilot icon on the taskbar.

You can see how it works in the above tweet, but it's exactly as you'd expect - pick up a file, drag it over to the icon, and then the Copilot side panel opens, whereupon you can drop the file in and have the AI interact with it.

In a change that could prove controversial - who are we kidding, it will prove divisive, for sure - Microsoft is making it so that the Copilot side panel pops up right on your desktop when you boot the PC.

This behavior is only being tested right now, with some Windows Insiders in the Dev channel, coming packaged with Windows 11 preview build 23615.

So, only a small number of testers will get this (at least to begin with - there's going to be a wider rollout), and there is a way to turn it off (in Settings > Personalization > Copilot for those interested).

Windows 10's latest cumulative update is coming off the rails due to a security update that's installed alongside the Patch Tuesday upgrade for January.

Bleeping Computer reports that the KB5034441 security update is failing to install with an '0x80070643' error code for some Windows 10 users. That update patches up a security flaw, namely a BitLocker encryption bypass that could let an attacker access encrypted data (leveraged via the Windows Recovery Environment).

After KB5034441 failing and the PC rebooting, users are presented with a message informing them that there were problems with installing updates, and the OS would try again later.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's leak of the Cowriter AI functionality for Notepad in Windows 11, we've now got a glimpse of the full interface for this feature.

As flagged up by regular leaker Albacore on X (formerly Twitter), the UI is in place, and while it still feels like placeholders in terms of the implementation, the main options are shown and give us a good flavor of what to expect.

The Notepad user will be able to summon Cowriter and get the AI to rewrite chunks of text in much the same vein as previously seen with Copilot (formerly Bing Chat).

Intel has pushed out a new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth driver for Windows 11 (and 10) that fixes some nasty wireless-related issues.

The Intel PROSet Wi-Fi Software release version 23.20.0 (spotted by Neowin) fixes a particularly irritating bug which triggers a BSOD crash when heavy traffic is present on the network.

That gremlin is present in Windows 11 only, but the other bugs affect not just Microsoft's latest operating system, but Windows 10 as well.

Windows 11's Notepad, the venerable default app, is set to be infused with the power of AI in the near future.

Windows Central's Zac Bowden spotted that leaker PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter) did some digging and discovered that there are references to a 'Cowriter' feature for Notepad in Windows 11.

That includes files such as 'CoWriterCreditLimitDialog' along with 'CoWriterDropDownButton' and 'CoWriterInfoButton' plus more besides.