Windows is now smart enough to change settings for you

Find Windows settings too complicated to use? Microsoft has the solution - now you just have to tell your PC which settings to change.

Microsoft's new AI agents can change Windows settings

Microsoft has announced a number of new Windows "experiences" for Copilot+ PCs . New features include AI agents that help you find and change Windows settings using natural language.

The AI ​​agent is coming to the Windows 11 Settings app. Once installed, you'll be able to say phrases like "how to control your PC with your voice" or "mouse cursor is too small" and get suggested steps to fix the problem. It can also follow steps, but it requires permissions and you'll need to initiate the process.

Microsoft's blog post announcing the feature claims that finding and changing settings is one of the "most common annoyances" in Windows, and that's true. While Windows 11 does a good job of simplifying the hundreds of settings the operating system has, being able to just talk to your PC and let it fix itself would make life a lot easier.

In its current form, it appears to work by converting your voice into a text prompt and running it like any other text prompt. It also uses on-device AI and asks for permission to automate or perform tasks, a lesson Microsoft seems to have learned from the privacy nightmare that its Recall feature was.

This is one of the better uses of AI implemented in Windows, and is significantly better than shoving Copilot in users' faces in both the OS and Edge. However, for now, the feature is limited to Copilot+ PCs, so there's no telling when regular Windows PCs — which are much more common than Copilot+ PCs — will get it.

Microsoft has confirmed that the feature is 'coming soon' to Windows Insiders on AMD and Intel PCs. Until then, Insiders with Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs can try it out, as long as they speak English.

More new features coming soon

Photos, Paint, and the Snipping Tool will also get a bunch of new features. One of them is an AI photo editor in the Photos app called Photos Relight that lets you add 'dynamic lighting controls' to your photos. This feature lets you add up to three light sources, set their colors, and create a focus point that all the light sources follow.

The Paint app on PC, Copilot+, will have an AI engine that creates 'custom digital stickers from a simple text prompt.' Stickers can be added to a canvas, copied into a document, or used in a chat. You'll also have an object option in Paint that works a lot like its Photoshop counterpart.

Snipping Tool will have a feature called Perfect Screenshot that automatically adjusts the capture area to frame the content on your screen. You also have text and color extraction tools.

Last but not least, there are some upcoming improvements to Windows search and more click-to-do actions like scheduling meetings or sending messages via Teams, converting tables with Excel, and using Copilot in Word to edit documents.