Windows Central
@windowscentral.com
THE news & reviews site for Microsoft, Windows, Xbox, AI, and PC gaming. Tips: tips@windowscentral.com | Not part of Microsoft.
Xbox has dropped some incredible limited‑edition consoles over the last 25 years, from Crystal Greens to Halo 4 branding and even that Mountain Dew OG Xbox. But which is your favorite? 🤔
Which limited edition Xbox console design is the best from the last 25 years?
As Xbox celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, let's look back upon all the limited edition console designs and try to pick our favorite.
windowscentral.com
Microsoft is rolling out five new features to Outlook in August 2026, including mobile calendar drag-and-drop rescheduling, event message filters, and floating Copilot Chat ⤵️
Outlook is finally getting drag-and-drop calendar rescheduling on mobile
Managing a daily schedule in Outlook is about to get a lot less painful on mobile. Here are five simple upgrades rolling out this month that will make a difference to your daily workflow.
windowscentral.com
🚨 Windows Insiders should update to a build with a renewed flight certificate before August 11, 2026. Microsoft extended the requirement across Beta, Experimental, and Canary channels to prevent builds from expiring and keep automatic updates flowing.
Windows Insiders have one week to update their PCs before test builds start expiring
Microsoft is urging Insiders across all channels to update before current flight certificates expire on August 11. Skipping it won't break your PC, but you'll be stuck dealing with nagging pop-ups and...
windowscentral.com
Razer's BlackShark V3 Pro addressed the criticisms of its predecessor and fixed them all, creating one of the best Xbox headsets ever made. Deal link 🔗 winc.shop/razer-blacks... Grab it for $195.50 at Amazon (down from $249.99) while this limited-time deal lasts!
Larian explains why Baldur's Gate 3 hit Xbox Play Anywhere, as the service is seemingly growing faster than ever. www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/... 💬 More than half of new Xbox games are supporting Xbox Play Anywhere, and more and more devs are adding it retroactively too. ☝️
Larian explains why Baldur's Gate 3 started supporting Xbox's best feature
Xbox Play Anywhere is one of my favorite features of the Xbox ecosystem, as the service hits something of a watershed moment.
windowscentral.com
Beat bosses and save desk space with Razer's Huntsman Mini 60% wired gaming keyboard, featuring up to 5 onboard profiles for your settings and clicky mechanical switches! Deal link 🔗 winc.shop/razer-huntsm... Best Buy just dropped it below $100 for a limited time, with shipping and in-store pickup
Xbox has announced the first wave of games coming to (and leaving) Xbox Game Pass for the first half of August 2026. There's an undeniable star of the batch in Gears of War: E-Day's early access multiplayer beta test ⚙️
Drop what you're doing this week — Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer is dropping on Xbox Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass's line-up for August 2026 includes the first beta test for Gears of War: E-Day's much-anticipated multiplayer mode, along with several indie and AA titles.
windowscentral.com
"Security is a team sport. Every vulnerability reported through our bounty programs represents an opportunity to address risk". Microsoft paid 562 security researchers $20 million for finding vulnerabilities in its software and cloud services, setting a new record for the bounty program.
Microsoft paid $20 million to security researchers in biggest-ever bug bounty payout
Microsoft paid out a record $20 million to security researchers this year. AI tools helped drive a surge in reported vulnerabilities across cloud services, enterprise platforms, and open-source softwa...
windowscentral.com
An NVIDIA RTX 4060 has been hooked up via an eGPU to an ASUS Zenbook A16 with a Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CPU, and it works! Is this a glimmer of hope for Windows on Arm gaming or just a clever workaround from ETA Prime?
This hack got a Snapdragon laptop to game with an RTX 4060
By using experimental developer drivers, creators managed to get a desktop RTX 4060 running AAA games on a Snapdragon laptop.
windowscentral.com
Windows 11 saw plenty of changes in July across Insider channels, including smarter Search, a faster File Explorer, new touchpad gestures, Taskbar positioning options, and a unified update experience to reduce restarts! These are the most important changes coming to your PC ⤵️
Windows 11 received a bunch of new improvements in July, and these are the ones worth knowing
Microsoft spent the second half of July improving Windows 11 with better customization, improved search, smoother updates, and long-requested Taskbar controls.
windowscentral.com
At this point, it's probably easier to ask what doesn't run DOOM, as Microsoft Azure's CTO Mark Russinovich has the 1993 classic bizarrely playable via Paint. "Paint renders the game but does not compute it. Paint computes nothing. Paint has never computed anything. That's the joke."
DOOM is now playable in Microsoft Paint, thanks to an in-house Azure executive
DoomPaint is a fascinating hobby project of Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, and it really works.
windowscentral.com
Apple is adding iPhone-to-Windows clipboard sync after Microsoft pushed for it under EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules, but it isn't expected to be available until 2027.
You might finally be able to copy on an iPhone and paste on a PC... unless you live outside the EU
Microsoft used EU interoperability laws to force Apple’s hand on iPhone-to-PC clipboard syncing. But you may never see the feature if you're outside of Europe.
windowscentral.com
Its creators are best known for Pokémon, but "Beast of Reincarnation" is completely different (and beautiful). It combines a good story and interesting setting with some excellent combat and a campaign to get your teeth into. However, there are some launch performance issues.
Beast of Reincarnation is a beautiful game that shows its makers are far bigger than Pokémon
Game Freak showcases why Pokémon isn't the only game they should make.
windowscentral.com
Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer beta is almost here! Two long weekends, Horde Siege chaos, 4v4 versus, and exclusive rewards up for grabs. Early access starts August 6th, and the open beta follows on August 13 ⚙️ More information ⤵️
Want to know how to sign up for Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer beta tests? Here are the answers!
Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer beta tests are upon us, and The Coalition has released new info on how to access them, what content they'll offer, and more.
windowscentral.com
Microsoft Edge includes a free built-in Read Aloud feature, while the "Speechify" extension offers higher voice quality and skips web clutter, but charges $29 per month. Here's how the two text-to-speech tools compare in my testing.
I tested a $29 text-to-speech extension against Microsoft Edge's free built-in reader
The Speechify extension has cleaner AI voices and skips web clutter better, but Edge's built-in Read Aloud feature is completely free. Would you pay $29 a month just to listen to web articles?
windowscentral.com
In the United Kingdom, you can still pick up a 1TB Xbox Series X console at Argos for the pre-hike price of £499.99! Deal link 🔗 winc.shop/Xbox-series-... Elsewhere, a 1TB Series X costs $669.99, and presumably, that's what you'll see at Argos when this offer expires.
Windows Central@windowscentral.com · 3d agoIt looks like Xbox fans in the United Kingdom still have a chance to pick up an Xbox console for pre-hike prices 💸 • Series S (512GB) for £289.99 🔗 winc.shop/xbox-series-... • Series S (1TB) for £349.99 🔗 winc.shop/xbox-series-... • Series X (1TB) for £499.99 🔗 winc.shop/xbox-series-...
Microsoft is testing deeper Phone Link integration in Windows 11, including Start menu message previews, but a question remains: Do enough people actually use it? 🤔
Microsoft is testing deeper Phone Link integration in Windows 11, but do you actually use it?
The latest Windows 11 preview build adds message previews straight to the Start menu. How do you prefer connecting your phone to your PC?
windowscentral.com
Tired of losing in PC games? Logitech's G413 SE mechanical keyboard pairs with its G502 HERO mouse in a limited-time bundle to help you gain an edge. Deal link 🔗 winc.shop/Logitech-G41... A 55% discount drops the duo to under $73.00 at Amazon while supplies last!
Xbox is NOT quitting Steam any time soon. But it is investing more than ever in Windows 11 gaming. Here's how Xbox is planning to expand its footprint across Windows 11, Xbox Helix, and beyond: buff.ly/MQihHeV 👇👇👇👇
No, Xbox isn't quitting Steam — but it IS doubling down on PC gaming. Here's how.
Xbox's PC offering has improved immeasurably over the last few years, and while it isn't indicative of a shift away from Steam, it does show how seriously Microsoft is taking PC gaming.
buff.ly
It looks like Xbox fans in the United Kingdom still have a chance to pick up an Xbox console for pre-hike prices 💸 • Series S (512GB) for £289.99 🔗 winc.shop/xbox-series-... • Series S (1TB) for £349.99 🔗 winc.shop/xbox-series-... • Series X (1TB) for £499.99 🔗 winc.shop/xbox-series-...
It's true, I'm one of the dozens(?) of people still using To Do, a lightweight, Microsoft-made app that stops my mind from wandering and forgetting what I'm supposed to be doing. Will it last forever? Who knows. Plenty of apps are consigned to the 'Microsoft Graveyard' these days.. 🪦
I still use Microsoft's basic To Do app to manage my day, so I'm hoping it avoids the "graveyard"
A lightweight favorite of mine, Microsoft To Do keeps my daily workflow manageable and my mind calm, and I hope it can avoid Microsoft's app graveyard.
windowscentral.com
Xbox Play Anywhere is gradually hitting a 50% support ratio, which is a HUGE win for Microsoft's ecosystem. But big gaps remain, as indies and AAA devs alike often don't seem to see the value: buff.ly/oD41sH5 📈 Here's the analysis.
Xbox Play Anywhere report card: Microsoft's most-underrated gaming feature is steadily gaining traction, but big gaps remain
New data shows Xbox Game Pass adoption has improved in recent months, but big app gaps remain. Can Microsoft do more to boost it?
buff.ly
Windows Hello is convenient, but Enhanced Sign‑in Security offers stronger protection — if your hardware supports it. Here’s how to choose. 🔗
buff.ly
HP's Omen Max 45L is one of the biggest, heaviest, and most powerful gaming PCs I've used. It's just under $6,000, and at that price, you can imagine I had high hopes. After two weeks, it's clear that the PC delivers incredible performance, but it has drawbacks I can't look past.
I switched to HP's $6,000 Omen Max 45L pre-built gaming PC for two weeks, and the price isn't what's giving me second thoughts
I love the PC's performance and cooling, but at the asking price, HP could be paying more attention to small details.
buff.ly
New data suggests that PlayStation gamers don't care about Halo. Microsoft's controversial decision to decouple Halo from Xbox has been met with a shrug on PS5, as Master Chief managed to clinch just 1% of the player base. Was the brand damage worth it in your opinion?
Halo Campaign Evolved performed well on Xbox, but PS5 gamers shrugged
Halo Campaign Evolved has been an abject failure on PS5 according to new data, heaping on evidence that Xbox's rush to PS5 publishing has been a huge mistake.
windowscentral.com
Windows 11 is finally updating File Explorer to show file sizes in MB and GB instead of KB. But is the upgrade a welcome change or another thing to get used to
How do you feel about Microsoft's "improvements" to Windows 11?
File Explorer is finally ditching endless rows of KB, but breaking decades of muscle memory is always easier said than done.
buff.ly
Microsoft finally says Windows 11 will run better on 8GB machines. Good news for anyone stuck on older hardware — now they just need to actually deliver on the fixes. 🔗 www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/wi...
Major Windows 11 update will make 8GB RAM laptops much better to use
Microsoft's Windows chief Pavan Davuluri has outlined new areas of focus for Windows 11 as we head into the fall.
windowscentral.com
Following rumors, Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has confirmed they're collaborating with Blizzard Entertainment to create D&D: World of Warcraft! It's a tabletop RPG that combines tabletop roleplaying with WoW's setting, races, and classes.
Okay, Blizzard, if you won't back "War" in Warcraft, we'll do it in this new D&D tabletop RPG crossover
D&D: World of Warcraft, the new TTRPG collab between Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft, sounds like a great way for WoW players to tell stories they've missed experiencing from the MMORPG's gol...
windowscentral.com
I've been feeling a little burned out by gaming of late, despite the raft of great titles out there to play. But getting into truck simulators has been the perfect remedy. No, seriously, I've played over 50 hours this month, and I'm hooked on these relaxing drives.
How Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator helped me overcome gaming burnout
A huge playground and time to relax has changed how I'm gaming after starting to feel burned out. Driving virtual trucks is awesome.
windowscentral.com
Coalition unveiled a massive gameplay overview of Gears of War: E-Day's PvE and PvP multiplayer modes, and they're looking to blow their predecessors out of the water. A 12-player Horde mode with raid bosses, 4v4 versus skirmishes, and more awaits you ⚙️
Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer reveal is more insane than I imagined, and I'm hungry for more
Gears of War: E-Day has shown off its grand 12-player Horde Siege mode and various 4v4 Versus modes. After viewing it, I'm putting this game at the top of my 2026 Xbox wishlist.
windowscentral.com