AI Agents and Redesigned Start Menu Coming Soon to Windows 11
The Windows 11 start menu is being newly designed and Microsoft is integrating AI agents into their additional products for their users.
AI Agents and Redesigned Start Menu Coming Soon to Windows 11
Microsoft is introducing a significant update for Windows 11, which finally provides us with the new, revamped Start Menu, as well as AI agents, Phone Link integration, and a few new AI features. As you can imagine, some of these features will be reserved for the Copilot+ PC users that encompass the newest models released in the past 6 to 10 months in the market.
Reports say that the firm has not announced the official launch date for the update yet. The new build is already being tested by Windows Insiders on Snapdragon X Copilot Plus PCs, including Microsoft's new Surface tablets.
The revamped Start menu, initially released last month in an early preview build, is slightly larger than its predecessors. It provides faster, scrollable access to the "All Apps" view, now categorized for better navigation. The menu also brings three separate views for the all-apps list, now placed at the bottom of the main Start menu page for easier accessibility.
The three options are a typical list view, the new grid list view, and category view, which automatically sorts installed applications into "folders" like the App Shelf on iOS and iPadOS.
The new Windows 11 update also comes with a new phone companion panel, providing easy access to recent contacts, messages, calls, battery level and more on either iPhone or Android phone paired with the PC.
Coming to its AI capabilities, the update will bring with it powerful AI features, such as an AI agent embedded in the Windows settings panel. Users will be able to count on an on-device AI assistant to customize Windows settings or resolve frequent problems, such as resizing a mouse cursor.
The Photos app will receive a new Relight feature, where users can add a maximum of three positional light sources to an image. The Snipping Tool is also receiving significant improvements. These features will initially be rolled out to Windows on ARM devices powered by the Snapdragon X processors, and the Intel and AMD version will receive them later this year.
