PCWorld May 2025

In the mid-1990s, Microsoft DOS dominated most PCs. Those who were a step ahead might’ve been using Windows 3.1, but even that was a superimposed user interface on top of MS-DOS. Windows was still pretty darn unfamiliar to people back then, so in 1995, Microsoft came up with a more user-friendly interface called Microsoft Bob (code name Utopia). Bob was a complete replacement for Windows 3.1, changing the way users interacted with their PCs. Instead of “windows,” you interfaced with a digital house with all files, folders, and features represented as parts of the house. For example, there was a room for mail and one for the calendar, plus furniture and animated characters (like the dog Rover), all in a welcoming cartoony look. The intent was to lower the usability…

Imagine a live tutor within Windows that could walk you through an application, showing you what to do. That’s what Microsoft has in mind for Copilot Vision for Windows. Microsoft is celebrating its 50th anniversary by showing off Copilot Vision for mobile (Android and iOS) as well as Copilot for Windows. Copilot Vision for mobile is available now. Copilot Vision for Windows debuted in early April for members of Microsoft’s Windows Insider blog and will deploy more broadly later on within the existing Windows app. Microsoft showed off Copilot Vision for Windows in a recorded demonstration released in early April. In the video, the user asked Copilot Vision, who was “following” the user as she worked in Adobe Photoshop, how to adjust the saturation. Copilot responded in the affirmative, then…

Newly appointed Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said all the right things in his opening statement as Intel’s new chief executive, pledging to earn customer trust and return to an engineering-based culture at the chipmaker. Tan, who has served about two weeks on the job, didn’t indicate that any major changes would be forthcoming. For now, he emphasized that Intel’s next-generation Panther Lake chips would ship this year, on the Intel 18A process node that is the legacy of Tan’s predecessor, Pat Gelsinger. Gelsinger, a former chief technical officer at Intel who also promised a return to the engineering-driven days of Intel legends like Gordon Moore, was forced out in December after pushing through a series of layoffs, and watching the company’s stock price plunge. Chief financial officer David Zinsner and…

Comparing the Nintendo Switch 2 to the Steam Deck is dumb. I said that already, and I stand by it. But as people all over the world watch price tags climb, especially in Trump’s America, I can’t help but do a double-take at Nintendo’s $450 price tag for the Switch 2. Nintendo used to be the cheapest option for console gaming, and now it’s right in the middle of the pack, with even more expensive games. Nintendo now makes PC gaming look cheap by comparison—not at first glance, perhaps. But if you’re savvy, you can play a lot more PC games for the same price or even less. And I’m not talking about an endless flood of indie games on Steam, although that certainly helps. I mean brand-new, AAA games,…

After a spate of woes that include a major data breach and hefty cut to its workforce, genetics testing company 23andMe recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its search for a buyer instantly raised a question, given the sensitive nature of the data it holds—what’s to become of user data if the company is sold? Privacy experts are wary of what comes next, as outlined by news reports from NPR and ABC. You can break down the concerns like this: • Your data will likely be part of what is sold to a new buyer. • When transferred, a new privacy policy could take effect. • Those changes could lower the amount of privacy you’re entitled to—for example, it could be sold to third-party companies. The third point in particular is…

You know how every annoying Windows program wants to launch as soon as you boot up your computer? Well, now Office is going to do that, too. A new Startup Boost function will set Office to load when Windows starts up, which will make apps like Word and Excel launch faster—while making the rest of your computer slower. Whoopie. I’m being flippant, but it’s understandable that Microsoft would want to give Office a performance boost, even if it is somewhat illusory. And in the company’s defense, the announcement in the Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive (spotted by The Verge) does say that the new tool will only be enabled on PCs that have at least 8GB of RAM and 5GB of free disk space. I think even trying to run Windows…