Hands-On Windows (Audio)

Windows 11 offers several different methods by which you can create a screenshot, a still image that represents the contents of your PC's display. It also includes an app that let you create video recordings of what's happening on-screen.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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This Week, Paul shows off some new hardware in the form of the AI PC, computers that have neural processing units that aid in the processing of AI operations.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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Hardware makers, particularly those that serve video game fans, have long provided customizable multicolored RGB lighting capabilities in their mice, keyboards, game controllers, and other PC hardware so that customers can have a more immersive visual experience that extends past the screen. But these solutions are unique to each hardware maker, with each requiring a separate configuration app, making it difficult to mix and match peripherals from different companies.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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The passwords we use to protect our online accounts are insecure and easily compromised. For this reason, Microsoft has been working with industry partners for decades to create and standardize new ways to reduce our reliance on passwords and improve the security of our accounts and the private data they contain. The ultimate goal is to eliminate passwords all-together: In this passwordless world, we can authenticate–prove who we are–using methods that are more secure and easier than typing a password.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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Windows 11 includes deeply integrated security features that help protect your PC and the personal data that it contains from digital and physical attacks. But before we discuss any of that, it's important to tackle a thorny, related issue, the security of the Microsoft account that most of us use when we sign in to Windows. If your Microsoft account isn't properly secured, then the PCs you use it with can't be fully secured either.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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Most people sign into Windows 11 with a personal Microsoft account (MSA), and so we focus almost exclusively on that obvious use case in this book. But some people also have what Microsoft calls a work or school account, which is a special kind of Microsoft account managed by an organization and typically uses Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory, or AAD) authentication and authorization technologies.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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Windows 11 version 23H2 includes three features, Windows Hello, Presence Sensing, and Dynamic lock, that work together to make it easier to sign into Windows 11 and then automatically lock the PC when you're done using it. But because each requires unique hardware components, your PC may only offer some of these features.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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This week, Paul shows us ways to better control the programs installed into your Windows PC. Get a look at how to setup default apps, move app installations, setup startup apps, and more.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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Windows 11 version 23H2 includes a new app called Windows Backup that helps you configure OneDrive Folder Backup and create a backup of the list of apps you installed from the Microsoft Store on that PC along with a limited set of Windows settings you customized and your Wi-Fi passwords. You can then restore from this backup if you buy a new PC or reset your current PC. All of this functionality existed in Windows previously: If you sign in to Windows 11 with a Microsoft account, all of this happens automatically. But there are a few niceties that make Windows Backup unique, plus a few configuration possibilities that most users are probably not aware of.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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With the wide release of Windows 11 update 23H2, Paul shows us the different ways to find and install the latest Windows update.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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