Windows 11 24H2 is in final testing - and it unshackles Copilot, turning the AI into a full app

Windows 11 24H2 is entering the final phase of testing ahead of its likely fall release later this year, and Microsoft has made a big move with Copilot.

In preview build 26100, which is now in the Release Preview channel (the last stage before general availability), Copilot has been transformed into a fully standalone app.

That means the AI assistant is no longer confined to a panel at the right side of the desktop, but it's now in its own window which can be moved around the desktop and resized, just like any other app.

Microsoft explains in its blog post for the new build: "This enables users to get the benefits of a traditional app experience, including the ability to resize, move, and snap the window - feedback we've heard from users throughout the preview of Copilot in Windows."

The assistant is no longer in preview, by the way, with the 'PRE' lettering being dropped from the icon - which has also been shifted from the system tray on the right of the taskbar, to the middle of the bar (with all the other icons).

Windows 11's 24H2 update brings a bunch of other improvements to the OS, including support for Wi-Fi 7 and HDR backgrounds to name a couple of things.

What you won't get, however, are the fancy new AI features inbound that are for Copilot+ PCs only - as they require a beefy NPU (which only the Snapdragon X Elite SoC sports at the moment, but that'll change as 2024 rolls onwards).

You may not want one of those new AI features, mind, as the Recall facility (previously rumored to be AI Explorer) has been causing a whole lot of controversy around possible privacy issues.

Read more: It looks like Microsoft could cram more adverts veiled as 'recommendations' into Windows 11