A must-know PC multitasking trick

Plus: Take control of OneDrive  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 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! ​ It's a weird time for Windows. If you're interested in the AI Copilot on Windows 11, you've probably flipped the switch to install the update early. Everyone who hasn't flipped the switch will likely get Copilot on their Windows 11 taskbars this coming Tuesday, on Patch Tuesday. And... then what? This is basically Bing Chat with a few extra goodies, and we've seen that Bing Chat hasn't exactly moved the needle in pulling people away from Google. Will Copilot really be transformative, or will people just turn the taskbar icon off — or ignore it? How much will the average PC user use this, really? We'll see. But this week I'd like to talk about a hidden Windows feature I've been using for decades — something I wish was built into Windows itself so everyone could easily use it. It's just such a great multitasking trick. Scroll down to this week's Things to Try section to get the details. Chris Today's read: ⌚ 3 Things to Know: 2 minutes ⌚ 3 Things to Try: 2 minutes ⌚ Top Thurrott Thoughts: 30 seconds ⌚ Just for Fun: 30 seconds [] ❱❱ 3 Things to Know This Week 1. 'Tis the season for new smartphones ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Google just announced its new Pixel 8 phones, just weeks after Apple released the iPhone 15 line of phones. If you use a PC and you're on the fence, I recommend Android. I just preordered a Pixel 8 Pro, myself. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Android is getting a lot of new features that work well with PCs, and Windows is getting a lot of smartphone tie-in features that require Android, too. Meanwhile, iPhones are getting more and more features that require a Mac or other Apple hardware. - Android 14 now lets you use your phone as a PC webcam. iPhones can only do that with a Mac. Android can send files back and forth with Windows via Nearby Share, while iPhones need a Mac with Airdrop. These are just two examples of a larger trend. - The Phone Link experience on Windows works best with Android phones, unlocking a lot of convenient experiences like the ability to text from your PC — something that iPhone users need a Mac for. (You can do a bit of texting with an iPhone and a Windows PC, but it's "hackier" and doesn't work as well.) - I'm not a big believer in replacing a perfectly good phone every year. If you're happy with your phone, that's great — but if it's time for a new phone and you're using an iPhone with a Windows PC, know that Android will work better with it. 📌 READ MORE: Take a look at [Microsoft's PC-to-phone-sync features](=), or check out [how to use your Android phone as a webcam](). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Copilot is weirder than you might think ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Copilot, the AI assistant for your Windows PC, will start arriving on everyone's Windows 11 PCs with the Patch Tuesday update next week. But it's not really the productivity assistant Microsoft is pitching it as. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Under the hood, Copilot is just Bing Chat with a few little extras, and Bing Chat is really just ChatGPT. These are very interesting technologies, but we're still in a bit of a "wild west" period. - Like other assistants, Copilot will often hallucinate and be "confidently wrong." Be prepared to fact-check it, and get ready to argue with your PC. - Microsoft has overhyped Copilot's Windows integration. You can only do a few things with it, and Copilot will mostly search the web for instructions when you try to change a setting on Windows. (The instructions it finds may even be outdated.) - Like ChatGPT and Bing Chat, Copilot is fascinating and interesting and has a lot of potential — but you need to know what you're getting into. 📌 READ MORE: I ponder why people are going to use Copilot wrong in [my latest Computerworld column](). --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The new Windows Backup isn't brand new ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Microsoft's new "Windows Backup" tool is already on Windows 10 PCs, and it's about to arrive on most Windows 11 PCs next week. But, despite the name, this tool isn't exactly new — or what you may be looking for. 🔎 KNOW MORE: The Windows Backup app mostly collects existing Windows features in one place, but it also has a new app-backup-and-restore feature that works in some odd ways. - Windows Backup points you at OneDrive for folder backup. OneDrive can back up (sync) folders like your Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Videos, and Music between your PCs using your Microsoft account. - For app backup, Windows remembers the apps you have installed in your Start menu and pinned to your taskbar. After a restore, Windows leaves placeholders to these installed apps in your Start menu and taskbar, and you have to install them yourself. - You can "restore" a backup while setting up a Windows 11 PC. Windows will also restore some system settings (it's hard to say which) as part of this process. 📌 READ MORE: This article dives into [how the new Windows Backup app actually works in practice](=). #top PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE The W8 (for the Pixel 8) is finally over! �€‹ The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro made their much-awaited debut this week, and Google’s newest devices are packing a serious punch. If you are thinking of picking up one or the other, The Intelligence readers who pre-order now from Best Buy will also receive a [free Pixel Watch 2 with the Pixel 8 Pro](, and a [free set of the Pixel Buds Pro with the Pixel 8](. Some of the most compelling new features? 📱 New displays on both devices, with the Pixel 8 sporting a 6.2” Actua display and the Pixel 8 Pro boasting a 6.7” Super Actua display 📷 Camera improvements, including “Best Take” that uses a series of photos to create a single image with everyone's best smile 🤳 Face unlocking upgrades, allowing you to unlock banking and other similar apps previously unavailable with face unlock And so much more. Possibly the icing on the cake, though? The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro come with seven years of OS security updates, feature updates (really, so many updates!) and support. Additionally, using these links will ensure that a small portion of those sales go towards The Intelligence and supporting our brand of independent journalism. (Also, we’ll think you’re cool. But, truth be told, we already think you’re cool.) ➜ [Pre-order a Pixel 8 Pro and receive a free Pixel Watch 2](, or a [Pixel 8 and get a free set of Pixel Buds Pro!](​ [​​PRE-ORDER TODAY TO END YOUR W8 ➜]( [] ❱❱ 3 Things to Try This Week 1. Make any window always on top I'm always juggling windows on Windows, and sometimes Alt+Tabbing back and forth gets annoying. Snapping windows is great, but something I've relied on for decades is the magic of always-on-top. When a window is always on top, it's always on top of other windows, no matter where you Alt+Tab. That's useful in so many situations. A handful of applications let you make them always on top with a built-in setting, but I've turned to other apps to let me make any window always on top. I recommend Microsoft PowerToys for this these days. ⌚ You can make a window always on top in 2 seconds (or 20 seconds if you have to install PowerToys first.) 💻 This works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. 📌 Learn how to make any window always on top in [this quick guide I wrote just for you](=). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Control what OneDrive is doing with your folders The new Windows Backup experience is another reminder of what OneDrive is doing with folders. OneDrive may be syncing your folders to the cloud — it often sets this up automatically, to some people's surprise — or it may not be syncing your PC's folders to the cloud. ⌚ Checking your OneDrive backup settings will take you 10 seconds. 💻 This applies to both Windows 10 and Windows 11 ➜ To check what's going on with OneDrive and your photos, look for the cloud-shaped OneDrive icon in your notification area — it may be hidden behind the little up arrow. ​ Click it, and then click the Settings gear at the top of the pop-up menu and select "Settings." ​ Under "Sync and backup," click the "Manage Backup" button. You'll see a list of which folders are being synced from your PC to OneDrive. What you do here is up to you. Maybe you want to sync a folder to OneDrive so you can back it up and access it from all your PCs. Maybe you don't want OneDrive backing up a folder and you'd prefer to back it up in another way. You're in control. ​ 🤔 As Paul Thurrott of our partner site [Thurrott.com](=) has noted, there are a variety of different OneDrive apps you could encounter here — it seems Microsoft is A/B testing a variety of different interfaces. The OneDrive application on your PC may look different. The one shown above is the one I have on all of my PCs at the moment. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Generate images with DALL-E 3 Microsoft recently updated its Bing Image Creator to use OpenAI's brand-new DALL-E 3 image generation model. It's a big upgrade, and it's very cool that anyone can start generating AI images in just a few seconds — without installing anything. ⌚ You can generate an image in about 10 seconds. (But it depends how overloaded Microsoft's servers are.) 💻 This works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. (And anything else with a web browser.) ➜ You can access Bing's DALL-E 3-powered image generator in a variety of ways: - Open [Bing Chat]( in a browser and say something like "Generate an image of a purple camel eating a yellow marshmallow in a cyberpunk desert." - Go to the [Bing Image Creator website]( and describe the image you want. - Launch Copilot from the Windows 11 taskbar (if you have it already) and ask it to generate an image, just like you would in Bing Chat This will soon be built right into Microsoft Paint for everyone, too. [Generating an image with DALL-E 3 in Windows 11's Copilot.] ​ [] ❱❱ Top Thurrott Thoughts Some standout links and expert analysis from our friends at Thurrott, who have been covering Windows since 1994: - ​[HP: AI Will Transform the PC Into a Personal Companion](=) - There's a lot of talk about AI features moving off the cloud and onto our PCs — next year. - ​[Satya Nadella Testifies in U.S. v. Google and Admits to AI Search Failure]() - Microsoft's CEO admitted that the big investment in Bing Chat hasn't resulted in Bing - ​[Microsoft Announces the New OneDrive](​ - "The next generation of OneDrive" has more AI features, naturally. - ​[We Need to Discuss Windows Backup (Premium)]( - Paul Thurrott takes a look at Windows Backup and what he'd like to see in the future. - ​[Gmail is Getting Serious About Unwanted Bulk Email](=) - Gmail is cracking down on spam. - ​[Sadly, Now We Need to Talk About OneDrive (Premium)](=) - Paul shares his concerns about OneDrive. ​ [] ❱❱ And Just for Fun... The Windows 11 setup process now has a built-in game. The game is the secret surfing game built into Microsoft Edge (launch Edge and plug edge://surf into the address bar to find it.) As Tom Warren notes over at [The Verge](, it sure beats [having Cortana yell at you during the Windows setup process](=). If you haven't seen this classic video yet, it really is crazy that Microsoft thought this was a good idea. The video certainly makes me laugh. [[video preview]​](=) ​ On to the weekend That's another week's issue down! I'm looking forward to spending more time with Android and highlighting all the cool stuff that you can do with both a Windows PC and Android phone. If you're an iPhone user, don't worry — I'll always include the best tips for iPhone-toting PC users, too. Enjoy your weekend! 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](=).