Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central and has been with the site since 2016. His expertise is in exclusive coverage about Windows, Surface, and hardware. He's also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices, and was fortunate enough to daily drive both the fabled Lumia McLaren and Microsoft Band 3, along the Surface Mini and even Surface Neo. Keep in touch with him on Twitter and Threads!
Latest articles by Zac Bowden

Windows 11 is gaining agentic AI Taskbar features
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft has announced a new capability coming soon to the Taskbar that will let AI agents appear as app icons offering glanceable information about automated tasks.

Microsoft announces hardware accelerated BitLocker encryption for new Windows 11 PCs in 2026
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Windows 11 is gaining anew, hardware accelerated BitLocker encryption capability on new devices starting next year.

Windows 11 gains point-in-time recovery feature
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft has unveiled new recovery methods for Windows 11 PCs in the event where a PC is no longer able to boot, or data has become corrupted.

Drivers on Windows 11 may be about to get a lot more stable
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Windows 11 is raising the security and resiliency bar when it comes to driver signing, and is trying to move peripheral drivers out of the kernel.

Windows 11 gains powerful new AI features to enhance productivity
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft is adding the ability to generate text in ant text box, dictate and transcribe speech using natural language, and summarize emails using AI to Windows 11.

X / Twitter knocked offline after major Cloudflare outage
By Zac Bowden published
Cloudflare A major Cloudflare outage has caused hundreds of websites to go offline, including X. Here's what that means.

Microsoft warns Windows 11 agentic OS could expose users to Xpia malware threats
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft is pushing ahead with its plan to add agentic capabilities to Windows 11, but has issued an important security warning for anyone who is interested in trying it out.

Microsoft's latest tweet is angering developers
By Zac Bowden published
Microsoft The company's latest post on X hasn't gone down well with the developer community, as responses beg for it to focus on fixing Windows instead.

Microsoft finally explains how Windows 11 is evolving into an agentic OS
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 A new agentic workspace feature will contain AI agents in their own secure session, which users can share data with or shut down at a moment's notice.

Microsoft is adding an 'experimental agentic features' toggle to Windows 11 as it gears up for AI OS future
By Zac Bowden published
The latest Windows 11 preview builds now include a new toggle dubbed 'experimental agentic features' which Microsoft says is designed to allow AI agents to take control of your PC

Windows lead Pavan Davuluri addresses negative response to agentic OS plans
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Pavan Davuluri has addressed recent negative feedback about the future of Windows becoming an agentic OS, and says the team is listening and wants the platform to be great for developers and power users too.

Did Microsoft's Copilot ad just prove the AI isn't ready for your Windows 11 settings yet?
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft's obsession with AI in Windows 11 is becoming so toxic that its latest ad campaign shows Copilot failing to help a user in their quest to change a setting, while pretending it worked as intended.

Android PCs are coming, but Lenovo says stick to Windows for gaming
By Zac Bowden published
Android We now know more about Google's upcoming Android PC platform, thanks to a Q&A posted by Lenovo that reveals what Android for PC will be good at, and what it won't be good at.

Valve sets up an Arm-based gaming future with its new VR headset
By Zac Bowden published
PC Gaming The new Steam Frame is coming next year and is Valve's first all-in-one headset running SteamOS, powered by a Snapdragon chip.

Users push back against Windows president over agentic OS plans
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft's current Windows lead Pavan Davuluri has tweeted that the future of Windows will be one that evolves into an agentic OS, but has received significant pushback online.

Windows 11's latest November Patch Tuesday update is out
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 November's Patch Tuesday for Windows 11 is out with lots of new features and fixes. Download KB5068861 now.

Microsoft hits the brakes on Windows 11 File Explorer 'recommended files' feature
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft has paused the rollout of an upcoming new feature for the File Explorer on Windows 11 that promoted "recommended" files in large thumbnails at the top of the File Explorer Home tab.

Windows 11 may soon vibrate when you snap app windows
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 A new setting has been discovered in the latest Windows 11 preview builds that reveals Microsoft is working on bringing haptic feedback responses to the OS.

Microsoft promises a cleaner, faster context menu experience in Windows 11
By Zac Bowden last updated
Windows 11 Microsoft has confirmed that it's adding support for split view menus, which will let developers nest multiple actions into submenus in the right-click menu.

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 version 26H1
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 The next version of Windows 11 is version 26H1, but Microsoft says it won't be released as an update to version 25H2.

Phone Link is dropping support for viewing photos
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 The Phone Link app is losing support for viewing photos from your phone. Microsoft says to use the File Explorer app instead.

Windows 11 version 26H1 is coming: Here's what we know
By Zac Bowden published
Windows 11 Microsoft looks to be preparing a new version of Windows 11 for release in the first half of 2026, based on a newer version of the Windows platform codenamed Bromine. Here's what we know.

Apple’s rumored $599 MacBook might be the Windows killer no one expected
By Zac Bowden published
Laptops With Windows 11 adoption lagging and AI PCs still niche, Apple’s rumored $599 MacBook could undercut Microsoft’s entire strategy.
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