Windows quietly tests AI power management and redesigned Widgets

Microsoft has begun testing a new power-saving technology within Windows, as well as assigning AI actions to a right-click menu within File Explorer.

Microsoft is also tweaking the way in which widgets are laid out, letting Copilot handle the decisions itself. Microsoft published the changes as part of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.4151 (Beta Channel) and Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5603 (Dev Channel), which share many of the same features.

By testing these features, Microsoft doesn’t necessarily have to commit to eventually rolling them out, although many appear to be under consideration for a more general release.

Under the hood, Microsoft said that it’s testing out what it calls User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management, “an OS-level enhancement that helps reduce power consumption and extend your battery life.”

Laptops can drop into various power states, such as idle or hibernate; this appears to be slightly different. “After a period of inactivity on your PC, Windows now conserves power by automatically applying efficient power management policies, Microsoft says.

But it’s difficult to say when this will happen, how sharp the decline in performance and power will be, and how much your laptop’s battery life will improve as a result. Microsoft does promise that when you begin working again, your device will regain full performance.

Microsoft is also applying “Click To Do” assignments to File Explorer. Right-click a file, and you may see options for Bing Visual Search, Blur Background, Erase Objects, and Remove Background.

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Essentially, what Microsoft is doing is using these right-click commands as a macro of sorts. Right-click a file and select “Blur Background,” for example, and Windows will open the Photos application, use AI to distinguish the subject from the background, and then blur the background. “Bing Visual Search” will “open” the file and then visually search for it, using Bing. Only JPEG and PNG files are supported.

We will add Microsoft 365 files and actions over the coming weeks, summarizing files (without even opening them explicitly!) and creating FAQs.

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Although the file name should serve as its summary, hovering over a shared file and seeing what it includes could be rather handy.

How do you feel about widgets? I tend to forget that they’re hiding behind the small weather icon to my lower left. But if you do click them, several suggested stories and small apps open up. In this case, you might see a relatively mammoth block open up, as Copilot begins suggesting either stories or packages of stories. Here’s the way that will look:

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This Copilot Discover view can be toggled on and off.

Microsoft is also testing some smaller changes:

• Snipping Tool: Although WIN+SHIFT+S launches the Snipping tool, a new feature — Text Extractor — is receiving its own shortcut, WIN+SHIFT+T.
• Windows Share: When sharing documents, you can specify the image quality (affecting the size of the image) as either High, Medium, or Low Quality.

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• Taskbar Search: Microsoft will tell you whether a searched document is in the cloud or on your PC.
• Quick Settings: The accessibility settings now come with text descriptions.
• Developer settings are now available, under Settings > System > Advanced.