JUST-LAUNCHED WINDOWS 11 FEATURES YOU NEED TO TRY PRONTO

A SURPRISE CARE PACKAGE BY MICROSOFT

- BRAD CHACOS

Windows 11 may have switched to once-yearly major updates, but that doesn’t mean new features can't show up more often. Case in point: On March 14, Microsoft dropped a massive "quality update" for Windows 11 that's absolutely brimming with fresh goodies to play with, after a surprise reveal in February.

My colleague Mark Hachman covered everything new in the March 2023 Windows 11 quality update, fave.co/3nOhNv5 (also called "Moment 2"), then went hands-on with several of the new features (fave.co/3FGgEzr). There's a lot of new stuff that simply isn't relevant to me, such as better Al tools on Qualcomm-powered PCs, tweaks to the native Teams chat experience, Facebook widgets, improved tablet behavior, and so on. But there are several nifty new features with a broader appeal that I can't wait to try out-and you probably will too. So let's dig in to what's new.

1. AI-POWERED BING CHAT SEARCH BOX 

Microsoft certainly isn't wasting its time bringing the new Al-powered Bing Chat (fave.co/3JqPwp0) to the masses. The company revealed the ChatGPT-powered tool mere weeks ago, rolled it out to mobile Bing and Edge users in short order, and now it's coming right to the Windows 11 taskbar, integrated into the newly returned search box. You'll need to be enrolled in the Bing Al preview to use the chat, though. Here's how to get started with Bing Chat in Windows 11 (fave.co/3JYcfu4).