The new backup tool arriving on your PC

And the classic alternative  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Thanks for reading this special early preview edition of Windows Intelligence, brought to you in partnership with [Thurrott.com](=). This design is merely a placeholder for what's to come. Stay tuned! ​ There's a rhythm to the tech industry, and it flows just like the seasons. Right now, we're in the back-to-school shopping season. After that, we'll start seeing new hardware announcements come fast, and those new products will come out before the end of the year in time for the all-important holiday shopping season. But although I'm already seeing Christmas decorations in stores, I double-checked the calendar, and it's still summer. So let's talk backups and not rush this whole holiday season thing. Microsoft wants you to back up your PC to OneDrive, and Windows is about to encourage that even more strongly. But you can still create local backups. (You can even use both for extra safety: It's easy.) Check out this week's Things to Know to and Things to Try sections to learn all about it. Chris Today's read: ⌚ 3 Things to Know: 1 minute 30 seconds ⌚ 3 Things to Try: 1 minute 30 seconds ⌚ Top Thurrott Thoughts: 30 seconds ⌚ Just for Fun: 30 seconds [] ❱❱ 3 Things to Know This Week 1. Windows is getting smartphone-style backups ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Microsoft is rolling out a new "Windows Backup" app that will back up your PC to the cloud, and you'll see a shiny "Restore" interface in the setup wizard when you set up a new PC. 🔎 KNOW MORE: These changes make backing up and restoring a Windows PC a lot more like backing up and restoring an Android device or iPhone. - The Windows Backup app is coming to both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft is clearly hoping the app will help Windows 10 users migrate to new Windows 11 PCs. - The app backs up folders (files, documents, and photos), installed apps, Windows settings, Wi-Fi credentials, and other passwords to your Microsoft OneDrive account. - Windows will duplicate the pinned app shortcuts on your old PC's Start menu and taskbar to your new PC. Click them, and Windows will automatically download the app from the Store. If it's not available in the Store, Windows will point you at the publisher's website so you can redownload the program manually. 📌 READ MORE: Microsoft shows off the new backup and restore interface in [this blog post](=). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Microsoft's new Bing popups look like malware ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Windows has been annoying people for months with advertisements for Bing that don't respect your notification settings — and even pop up and interrupt full-screen games. 🔎 KNOW MORE: The "Switch your default search engine to Microsoft Bing" popups only appeared if you used Google Chrome as your default browser. - Windows has become increasingly filled with advertisements for various Microsoft services, but this recent one crossed a line with just how intrusive it was. - I've personally seen this advertisement within the past few months and just dismissed it without even thinking about it — a sad reminder of just how common ads like this are in Windows these days. - Microsoft has now "paused" this notification and will "investigate and take appropriate action to address this unintended behavior." 📌 READ MORE: Learn more (and take a look at the popup itself) in [this editorial](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Browser choice may come to Windows (*in the EU) ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: It looks like Windows will soon obey your default browser choice and open all web links in your default browser of choice... but only in the European Union. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Windows 11 lets you choose your default browser, but links from many places — including the Start menu, widgets, Outlook, and Teams — will always open in Edge. That seems like it's about to change, but only in some countries. - Without any further explanation, Microsoft recently included the following patch note for a Windows 11 Insider Preview build: "In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows system components use the default browser to open links." - A Microsoft spokesperson said "Microsoft does not have anything further to add beyond the blog." - The EdgeDeflector project once allowed you to get around this anywhere in the world, but Microsoft broke this workaround in 2021. (EdgeDeflector's developer said Microsoft "[sabotaged]()" the project.) 📌 READ MORE: Read about all the commotion in [this quick article](. ​ [] ❱❱ 3 Things to Try This Week 1. Back up your PC's files to an external drive Microsoft's new "Windows Backup" app is all about backing up to OneDrive. But did you know that Windows has a built-in backup tool named "File History"? Despite the name, this is a pretty useful tool for backing up your files to an external hard drive. Even if you use OneDrive cloud backups, File History is a convenient way of creating some additional local backups without installing anything extra. You can restore all your files from File History on a different PC, or you can recover previous versions of them. ⌚ Setting up backups will take 1 minute. (The actual backup will take longer — it depends on how many files you have to back up!) 💻 File History is built into both Windows 10 and Windows 11. 📌 Learn how to set it up by following the steps in [this guide I wrote just for you](). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Get Microsoft's free grammar checker (in Chrome, too) Microsoft just removed the grammar-checking tool from Microsoft Edge. (Did you know Edge had this feature? Edge is full of little-used features like that.) But the company offers a powerful grammar checker that's free for everyone — and it even works in Google Chrome. ⌚ Installing this tool will take you 10 seconds. 💻 This works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. 📌 Download Microsoft Editor for [Google Chrome](=) or [Microsoft Edge](. You'll have to sign in with a Microsoft account, and then it can provide suggestions to improve your grammar anywhere you write on the web. 👀 It's worth noting that text you type in grammar-checked fields is sent to Microsoft's servers for processing, but Microsoft says it is immediately deleted. (This is how other advanced grammar and spell-checking tools work, as well, including Grammarly and Google Chrome's enhanced spell-check.) [The Microsoft Editor extension in Google Chrome.] --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Open your PC's Settings in the fastest possible way Microsoft is giving the Settings app a facelift on Windows 11, adding a shiny new dashboard that makes it easy to quickly access the settings you use. Here's another speedy tip for accessing settings. ⌚ Opening the Settings app with this trick will take you 1 second. 💻 This shortcut works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. ➜ To open the Settings app from anywhere in Windows, just press Windows+i. (That's a lower-case i.) Bonus: You can immediately start typing to search the Settings app after opening it. So, to find airplane mode options, for example, you could press Windows+i, type "airplane", and then press Enter. ​ ​ [] ❱❱ Top Thurrott Thoughts Some standout links and expert analysis from our friends at Thurrott, who have been covering Windows since 1994: - ​[Microsoft’s September Event Isn’t Just About Surface]()- Microsoft will be talking about a lot more than Surface in September — Windows is on the agenda, too. - ​[Amazon Increases Free Shipping Minimum for Non-Prime Members in Some Markets](​- It's going up to $35 if you don't have Amazon Prime. - ​[Microsoft is Deprecating Kids Mode, Citations, and Other Edge Features]()​- These features really should have been browser extensions in the first place. - ​[Scaling Back the Terrible in Windows 11 and Other Stories I’d Like to Tell (Premium)]()​- Paul Thurrott details his experience trying to get recent new features in Windows 11 working in Insider builds of Windows 11. - ​[IDC: PC Sales to Grow Slightly in 2024](​- Will PC sales grow next year? IDC sure thinks so. - ​[Behind Thurrott.com: Community Guidelines](=)​- Maintaining a good, respectful comment section on the web is a lot of work.​ ​ [] ❱❱ And Just for Fun... Windows 95 just had its 28th anniversary last week. It's hard to overstate just how big a deal Windows 95 was and still is: This was the operating system that delivered the taskbar, notification area, and Start button that have been core parts of Windows ever since. (Except for that time when Microsoft decided to remove the Start button because people supposedly weren't using it, only to bring it back a year later, of course.) If you'd like to look back, you should check out this [nostalgic Windows 95 retrospective](=) from Thurrott.com. Also, Microsoft's [Windows 95 commercial](=) set to "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones is gloriously '90s, and watching it is like opening a time capsule. [[video preview]​](=) ​ Have a great Labor Day weekend We're now headed into the Labor Day weekend here in the States. This weekend is widely considered the end of summer. But, astronomically speaking, summer doesn't end until the autumn equinox. In the northern hemisphere, that will be on September 23 this year. Enjoy your last few weeks of summer! Thanks for reading Windows Intelligence and being a part of our early preview phase! We'd love to hear what you think so far. ​[Submit your feedback here]() — or just reply to this email. We'll read every single comment, and your thoughts will absolutely help shape and guide what this newsletter becomes. You received this email because your address was signed up for the Windows Intelligence early preview. If you didn't mean to sign up or no longer wish to be subscribed, you can [unsubscribe or update your preferences here](=).