Never empty your Recycle Bin again

Plus: The Excel tweak we've been waiting for  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Thanks for reading this special early preview edition of Windows Intelligence, brought to you in partnership with [Thurrott.com](=). This design is merely a placeholder for what's to come. Stay tuned! ​ Brought to you by: [Aura logo]()​ Microsoft Word just celebrated its 40th birthday. Microsoft shared [a fun little timeline about the history of Word](=), and some of those icons took me back decades. For an instant, it was like I was sitting in front of a Windows 3.1 PC again. Then I scrolled down a bit and snapped back to today. Microsoft says Word is ready to "shepherd in the age of AI." If you asked someone forty years ago to predict something futuristic, the statement "One day, Microsoft Word will write your documents for you" is exactly the kind of crazy answer you might expect. Sometimes it seems like technology moves slowly. Other times, huge advances seem to sneak up on us — the rise of generative AI over the last year has been one of them. Microsoft is hoping a similar leap is about to happen with laptop hardware. But through it all, I'm still here writing tips for optimizing your Recycle Bin experience — and everything else on your PC. (Hey, it's a time saver!) Scroll down to this week's Things to Try section for the details. Chris Today's read: ⌚ 3 Things to Know: 2 minutes ⌚ 3 Things to Try: 1 minute 30 seconds ⌚ Top Thurrott Thoughts: 30 seconds ⌚ Just for Fun: 30 seconds [] ❱❱ 3 Things to Know This Week 1. Windows on ARM may finally become competitive ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Your next Windows laptop might have a more power-efficient ARM chip instead of an Intel or AMD CPU — just like a modern MacBook. Microsoft has been trying to make this happen for more than a decade, but the goal may be in sight. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Qualcomm, which makes chips for a ton of mobile devices — like Samsung Galaxy phones — just announced the Snapdragon X Elite chip for PCs. Computers with it will be available in mid-2024. - Qualcomm is saying its new chip is "the fastest CPU for a laptop, period. Period! It’s faster than anything Apple, anything AMD, anything Intel. But it’s also delivering performance that is faster than the fastest desktop gaming PC from AMD." - Those are some big promises. While Apple's M1 Macs delivered, Windows ARM PCs have been all hype and not great performance in the real world. Still, this could be the moment it all comes together. The actual Windows part of Windows on ARM looks solid — it can even run traditional Windows apps made for Intel PCs — but we've been waiting on solid hardware. - Either way, prepare for more competition: Qualcomm reportedly signed an exclusivity deal with Microsoft in 2016 that expires in 2024. Clearly, it hasn't been a success. NVIDIA and AMD are reportedly making ARM chips for Window PCs, and they could be on sale in 2025. 📌 READ MORE: Take a look at [what Qualcomm is promising](). Or, check out the [report about NVIDIA and AMD's plans](=). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Disk encryption is way too slow on Windows PCs ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Modern Windows PCs use disk encryption by default in many situations. That way, if a thief steals your laptop or you just leave it behind somewhere, no one can access your data without your password or encryption key. But there's a big problem. 🔎 KNOW MORE: To speed up disk encryption and prevent it from slowing your device down, modern devices (not just PCs!), use hardware encryption features. That hardware disk encryption is completely broken on Windows PCs. - Physical disk drives did such a bad job of providing secure encryption that, in 2019, Microsoft completely gave up and stopped trusting drive manufacturers. Windows now always uses software encryption techniques instead of hardware encryption. Windows cannot trust your SSD or hard drive to encrypt your files. - Tom's Hardware did a benchmark and reports that this software encryption "slows SSDs by up to 45%." The actual slowdown in the real world won't be so dramatic. It depends on the tasks you're performing, but it's no surprise that relying on your CPU to do the software encryption is slower. - For businesses and really anyone carrying a laptop around, software disk encryption will be worth it. But if you have a high-performance gaming desktop PC at home? Well... you might seriously want to think about disabling disk encryption to squeeze out more performance. That's really sad and unfortunate, but it seems like the truth. 📌 READ MORE: Take a look at the [benchmarks and in-depth look at the problem](, though bear in mind results may vary depending on your hardware and what you actually do with your PC. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Microsoft wants Copilot to be your new Start button ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made an appearance at Qualcomm's big Snapdragon X Elite launch event to talk about the future of the Windows interface. 🔎 KNOW MORE: As always, Nadella was very excited about the potential of AI for transforming not just Windows, but computing as a whole. - The Snapdragon X Elite also features a neural processing unit (NPU), which means it will be able to locally perform some AI tasks without handing them all off to Microsoft's cloud servers. It's all about "hybrid" computing, with some tasks run on your computer and some on remote servers. - Talking about AI, Nadella said "That, I think, will fundamentally change what an operating system is, what a [user interface] looks like," said Nadella. The early version of Copilot we have today is just a first few baby steps for this technology. - Nadella compared Copilot to the Start button as the place where you will start accomplishing tasks and doing other things. (It's a pretty funny statement from a company that famously removed the Start button back in Windows 8 because, supposedly, few people were using it.) 📌 READ MORE: Satya's comments are just a few minutes long, and you can watch them in [this part of Qualcomm's event](. #top SPONSORED MESSAGE We’re calling about your car’s extended warranty 🤦 [Dog with phone held to its ear.]()​ UGH–another scam! Anyone else fed up over all these spam calls, no matter how many times you “opt out” or block the caller? Introducing [Aura Call Protection](). This AI assistant screens your incoming calls and texts for spam, only allowing through those calls you actually want to receive (like family, friends, deliveries, etc). Unfortunately, phishing scams are on the rise, ruining victims’ lives and costing Americans $1.2 billion in 2022. That’s why thousands of human beings trust Aura to protect their families from spammers — across every device! Other ways Aura secures your identity: 🔐 Scans + even removes your SSN, address, and more from the dark web ⏰ Alerts you instantly if your credit is under attack 💪 Includes $1 million in identity theft insurance and 24/7 fraud support ➜ [Start your free trial of Aura today and see why it is rated #1 by Security.org](). [​STOP SPAM CALLS FOR GOOD ➜]() [] ❱❱ 3 Things to Try This Week 1. Empty your Recycle Bin automatically There's a lot of talk about AI transforming our lives and taking actions automatically, but there are some tasks we're still stuck performing ourselves. Emptying the Recycle Bin is one of them. In a modern cloud storage service like OneDrive or email client like Gmail, anything you send to the trash is automatically deleted in 30 days. You know you have 30 days to get things back. But your Recycle Bin accumulates files forever and ever. So files build and build until you empty your Recycle Bin. And when you do, you delete everything in it all at once — even files you sent there yesterday. But what if your Recycle Bin emptied itself, and you knew you always had 30 days to recover files after sending to them to the bin? ⌚ This will take you 10 seconds to set up. 💻 This tip works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. 📌 Learn [how to put your Recycle Bin on autopilot](=) with my latest quick guide. --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Lock your PC with a keyboard shortcut When you lock your PC, it goes back to the sign-in screen and you can't use it again until you authenticate with a password, PIN, fingerprint, or whatever you use to sign in. Your applications continue running, but no one can use your PC until they authenticate. Whether you work in an office or you're in any other kind of environment where you don't want someone walking up to your PC and using it while you're away, locking is a great trick. Normally, you have to open your Start menu, click your profile icon, and click the "Lock" option to lock it. Or, Windows has a "dynamic lock" feature that tries to automatically lock your PC when you walk away with your smartphone. But there's a faster, simpler way. ⌚ This will take you 1 second. 💻 This shortcut works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. ➜ To lock your PC, press Windows+L on your keyboard. That's it. It's so fast that, if you're getting up from your PC, you can practically press this shortcut as you're standing up. No digging through menus necessary. I've played with Dynamic Lock, but nothing beats this shortcut. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Stop Microsoft Excel's annoying date conversions Microsoft Excel often automatically converts numbers you enter into a spreadsheet into dates. Anyone who's spent time with Excel has probably bumped into this annoyance. It's such a big deal that it's spawned a whole genre of memes and jokes online. Now, Microsoft has finally given people an easier way to stop Excel from converting data into dates and other types of formats. ⌚ You can change these settings in 5 seconds. 💻 This option is available in the latest versions of Microsoft Excel on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. (It's now in Excel for Mac, too.) ➜ To find these options, open Excel, click "File" on the ribbon at the top, click "Options" at the bottom-left corner of the screen, and then click "Data" in the sidebar of the Excel Options window. Choose your preferred settings under "Automatic Data Conversion" here. For example, to stop Excel from automatically turning things into dates, uncheck "Convert continuous letters and numbers to a date." You can mouse over the little "i" icon to see an explanation of what each option does. [Automatic Data Conversion options in Microsoft Excel on Windows 11.] Don't see the option? You may not have the latest version of Excel. (This may not be available in "boxed" copies of Excel and may only be available in Microsoft 365 subscription versions of Excel.) ​ [] ❱❱ Top Thurrott Thoughts Some standout links and expert analysis from our friends at Thurrott, who have been covering Windows since 1994: - ​[Stardock Releases Start11 v2](=) - A major upgrade to the popular Start menu replacement. - ​[You Can No Longer Use Windows 7/8 Keys to Activate Windows 10 Either]() - Microsoft closed the loophole for Windows 11, and now it's closed for Windows 10. - ​[Dave Cutler Talks NT, Cairo, and More]( - Details from a three-hour interview with a person who's been incredibly important in the history of Windows. - ​[Windows on Arm’s Last Stand? (Premium)]() - Paul Thurrott talks Windows on ARM and shares insider details. - ​[Hands-On: Amazon.com Passkeys](=) - Passkeys can replace passwords, and they're gaining steam. - ​[Analysis: Microsoft’s FY24 Q1 is All About AI, Activision, and the Future (Premium)]( - Paul analyzes Microsoft's latest fiscal results. ​ [] ❱❱ And Just for Fun... Let's celebrate that long-awaited Excel tweak by talking about those Excel memes! Here are a few fun ones you might have seen — and if you've dealt with Excel's annoying automatic data conversion in the past, they will almost certainly be funny to you. One goes like this: Optimist: Glass is 1/2 full. Pessimist: Glass is 1/2 empty. Excel: Glass is January 2. It's the perfect Excel joke. Here's another fun one: It's an example of how Excel tries to be "smart" but ends up falling flat on its face, suggesting something obviously wrong. [Microsoft Excel's autocomplete suggesting fake month names.] ​ I mean, "Maruary" — that's excellent. I'd love to credit these jokes to their original creators here, but they've traveled so far and wide on social media — and been reposted so many times — that I have no clue who originally created them. ​ Happy Halloween! Enjoy the lead-up to Halloween! I hope you have an awesomely spooky weekend. Thanks for reading Windows Intelligence and being a part of our early preview phase! We'd love to hear what you think so far. ​[Submit your feedback here]() — or just reply to this email. We'll read every single comment, and your thoughts will absolutely help shape and guide what this newsletter becomes. You received this email because your address was signed up for the Windows Intelligence early preview. If you didn't mean to sign up or no longer wish to be subscribed, you can [unsubscribe or update your preferences here](=).