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's Ask Copilot Taskbar feature is going away, for now
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Copilot's own search and chat experience for Windows 11 is being temporarily removed as the company responds to feedback and prioritizes new Copilot superapp.

Microsoft admits Windows 11's context menus are sluggish, unveils major upgrades coming soon
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Windows 11's context menus are being overhauled with more customizability and a new decluttered layout that's faster to open.

Microsoft pulls Windows 11 'Drag Tray' feature for sharing files after user feedback
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 The Drag Tray, which appeared at the top of your screen whenever you grabbed a file in File Explorer, is being removed from the latest preview builds of Windows 11.

Windows 11's context menus are getting a major glow up: Hands on!
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 We go hands-on with the new customizable context menu options coming soon to Windows 11 that make them faster and easier to use!

Windows 11's new movable Taskbar and customizable Start menu are just a few weeks away
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 The ability to move and resize the Taskbar, as well as customize the size and layout of the Start menu should begin rolling out imminently, if the latest Windows 11 preview builds are anything to go by.

Podcast: Everything we know about the leaked "Surface" phone
By Zac Bowden Published
Podcast On this week's episode: Zac and Jez sit down to discuss the newly leaked images of a mysterious Windows Phone prototype from 2013, plus the latest from Windows and Xbox.

Did the Surface Phone finally leak? — Windows Central Podcast LIVE
By Zac Bowden Last updated
LIVE Join Zac and Jez on August 13 at 2PM ET for the LIVE Windows Central Podcast.

Microsoft confirms unified Copilot app rollout has begun
By Zac Bowden Published
Copilot We knew it was coming, and now it's official: Microsoft is beginning to rollout a new Copilot app that merges Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot under one experience.

Windows 11 KB5101684 makes PCs with low RAM faster and more reliable
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Windows 11 is getting more reliability and performance upgrades with its latest update, which will benefit PCs with low amounts of system memory.

Leaked images may have finally revealed Microsoft's canceled Surface Phone from 2014
By Zac Bowden Published
Surface Images floating around online have revealed a Windows Phone prototype from late 2013 that looks awfully like a pocketable Surface of some kind.

Windows 11 license fee hikes contributing to higher laptop prices, says report
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 A new report claims Microsoft has raised the cost of the Windows license by up to 10% for certain OEMs, which is much higher than usual.

Windows 11 OneDrive Photos app was an incubation project rolled out by mistake
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Microsoft has confirmed that it accidentally rolled out a new OneDrive Photos app for Windows 11more broadly than it intended.

Microsoft confirms that it won't be bringing a transparency slider to Windows 11 anytime soon
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 A Microsoft designer has confirmed that there are no plans to being an iOS-like transparency slider to Windows 11 at current, and recommends users download Windhawk instead.

Microsoft is overhauling the Windows 11 interface with WinUI everywhere
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Everything from the Start menu to legacy File Explorer dialogs are being rewritten with WinUI in the coming months. This is what to expect.

Halo Studios hit by layoffs just days after Halo: Campaign Evolved launch
By Zac Bowden Published
Xbox A number of developers previously employed at Halo Studios have posted on LinkedIn confirming layoffs at the studio.

Microsoft is actually delivering on its promises to improve Windows 11
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 When Microsoft announced its plans to fix Windows 11, a part of me was concerned that it was all just words and to expect broken promises. To my surprise, it's actually delivering.

We interview Microsoft about Windows K2!
By Zac Bowden Published
Podcast Windows design and Insider lead Marcus Ash chats with the Windows Central Podcast about the current state of Windows 11

Microsoft design CVP explains why it's taking so long to modernize legacy UI on Windows 11
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Microsoft's CVP of Design and Research on Windows, Marcus Ash, sits down with Windows Central to talk all things UI on Windows 11.

Microsoft explains how it's going to optimize performance on Windows 11
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Marcus Ash, Microsoft's design and research lead for Windows 11, sits down to talk about how the company is planning to optimize Windows 11 for devices with low amounts of RAM.

Microsoft outlines new areas of focus for Windows 11 as it promises make OS great with 8GB RAM
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 Microsoft's Windows chief Pavan Davuluri has provided an update on the work it's been doing to fix Windows 11's biggest problems.

Microsoft is finally fixing Windows 11's slow context menu problem
By Zac Bowden Published
Windows 11 A new feature coming soon to Windows 11 will overhaul the context menu system on Windows 11 with a new compact design that users can customize themsevles.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the Surface Duo 3 I've been waiting for
By Zac Bowden Published
Surface After getting some hands-on time with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, I can't help by feel mournful over what could have been with Surface Duo.

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra review: The business laptop that isn't boring
By Zac Bowden Published
Review ASUS' latest flagship business-class laptop is a true sight to behold, with a Tandem OLED 3K display, a beautiful design that turns heads, and a high price tag to match.
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