Missing Copilot? Microsoft’s latest Windows patch restores the AI after mistakenly deleting it

By Judy Sanhz Published March 19, 2025

Microsoft Copilot Pro. — Microsoft

In an update to its Support page, Microsoft announced that it’s aware of the March 11th update bug that accidentally uninstalled Copilot from PCs. The Verge previously reported on the issue. Microsoft says the affected PCs “are being returned to their original state,” so if you missed Copilot, it should be back on your PC.

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We first reported on the March update bug wiping Copilot from Windows PCs and said that Microsoft encouraged users to reinstall the app and manually pin it back to the taskbar. Microsoft also said, “We’re aware of an issue with the Microsoft Copilot app affecting some devices. The app is unintentionally uninstalled and unpinned from the taskbar,” the company explained in updated support documents. “This issue has not been observed with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.”

The accidental removal of Copilot only affected those Windows PCs that had installed the KB5053598 build from Windows 11 24H2, 23H2, or 22H2, along with Windows 10 22H2 or 21H2. This isn’t the only headache the Windows 11 24H2 update has caused, since it previously caused visual layout issues and flaws for certain wallpaper apps. However, Microsoft has not said what led to Copilot’s accidental removal, but hopefully, the software giant will say something soon.

Even though updates can cause issues, it’s always best to keep your Windows computer up-to-date with the latest available update since it can include security fixes that help keep your computer safe. For example, only a couple of days ago, Microsoft patched an extraordinary number of zero-day security vulnerabilities, including six critical issues.

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Judy Sanhz is a Digital Trends computing writer covering all computing news. Loves all operating systems and devices.

Computing

Microsoft 365 Copilot gets an AI Researcher that everyone will love

Researcher agent in action inside Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Microsoft is late to the party, but it is finally bringing a deep research tool of its own to the Microsoft 365 Copilot platform across the web, mobile, and desktop. Unlike competitors such as Google Gemini, Perplexity, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, all of which use the Deep Research name, Microsoft is going with the Researcher agent branding.
The overarching idea, however, isn’t too different. You tell the Copilot AI to come up with thoroughly researched material on a certain topic or create an action plan, and it will oblige by producing a detailed document that would otherwise take hours of human research and compilation. It’s all about performing complex, multi-step research on your behalf as an autonomous AI agent.
Just to avoid any confusion early on, Microsoft 365 Copilot is essentially the rebranded version of the erstwhile Microsoft 365 (Office) app. It is different from the standalone Copilot app, which is more like a general purpose AI chatbot application.
Researcher: A reasoning agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot
How Researcher agent works?
Underneath the Researcher agent, however, is OpenAI’s Deep Research model. But this is not a simple rip-off. Instead, the feature’s implementation in Microsoft 365 Copilot runs far deeper than the competition. That’s primarily because it can look at your own material, or a business’ internal data, as well.
Instead of pulling information solely from the internet, the Researcher agent can also take a look at internal documents such as emails, chats, internal meeting logs, calendars, transcripts, and shared documents. It can also reference data from external sources such as Salesforce, as well as other custom agents that are in use at a company.
“Researcher’s intelligence to reason and connect the dots leads to magical moments,” claims Microsoft. Researcher agent can be configured by users to reference data from the web, local files, meeting recordings, emails, chats, and sales agent, on an individual basis — all of them, or just a select few.

Why it stands out?

Computing

Microsoft will soon use AI to help you find your photos and files on Copilot+ PCs

The Surface Laptop shown in front of a Copilot+ sign.

In a Windows Insider blog post, Microsoft announced an AI upgrade to Windows Search to make finding photos, documents, and settings easier. However, the enhanced feature is restricted to Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon processors; AMD and Intel support is coming soon.

The update has all the same fixes and improvements from build 26100.3613; nonetheless, some of the best Copilot+ PCs will be left out simply because they use AMD or Intel processors. Microsoft will release the update gradually, and you can also take advantage of both semantic and lexical indexing to search for your photos and documents more efficiently. Because of this improvement, you don't have to remember the exact file name you're looking for, which is a huge time-saver.

Computing

Microsoft’s Copilot can now control your phone from your PC

Microsoft Copilot Pro.

Microsoft Support announced an improvement to the Phone Connection app in a blog post. The update makes tasks like messaging, setting alarms, and locating places more manageable through the Copilot app. Microsoft set the update for general availability to all users by the end of February 2025. However, Phone Connection is not currently available in the web version of Copilot, as spotted by Windows Latest.

Microsoft aims to make everyday tasks more manageable by allowing you to access your contacts without picking up your phone. The app was formerly known as Phone Plugin and now has a refreshed visual design to make it nicer to look at. Microsoft says the feature "boosts your productivity by allowing you to perform common phone actions on your PC, such as sending messages, setting alarms and timers, locating places using the map on your device, and more, without needing to reach for your device."