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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Copilot’s new PC Insights can analyze your Windows environment.
- You can ask questions about your hardware, software, and settings.
- The goal is to provide key info so you don’t have to hunt for it yourself.
Troubleshooting a Windows problem or even just locating a specific setting can be challenging. Often, you end up stumbling around the operating system, hoping to find what you need. Now, Microsoft is aiming to ease that challenge through its own Copilot AI.
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Now rolling out to the Copilot Windows app is a new skill known as PC Insights. Here, you can ask Copilot a variety of questions about your Windows environment, and the AI will analyze it to provide the answers. As spotted by Windows Latest and described in a Microsoft support article, PC insights tries to serve up the right details so you don’t have to manually dig around your own system settings.
How to use the new PC Insights skill
Here’s how this works.
Download and install the Copilot Windows app if you don’t already have it. Rev up the app and then ask a question about your environment. Some examples cited by Microsoft include:
- “How is my battery health?”
- “What’s my BIOS version?”
- “What’s my current CPU usage?”
- “What network adapters does my PC have?”
- “Do I have enough storage for a large game or app?”
- “Is my printer online?”
Copilot will ask your permission to access the necessary system resources and information. You can grant permission only for a single request, always allow it for similar requests, or deny the permission for this session. A single session lasts until you close the app or restart your computer.
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In response, the AI grabs the specific data needed to answer your question. Microsoft promises that Copilot won’t store or use your personal files to train its AI models. You can also revoke the permissions you granted at any time by going to Copilot’s privacy settings.
You can use PC insights if you’re simply looking for a specific Windows setting or trying to troubleshoot a technical issue with your hardware or software. But there are limitations as to what the AI can achieve.
According to Microsoft, Copilot will answer questions about your system and files, clarify technical info, and explain what’s happening on your PC. But it can’t fix issues or make system changes on its own, nor can it automatically run specific troubleshooting steps. Once the AI identifies a potential problem area, you’ll have to play PC doctor yourself to try to resolve it.
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Still, this could be a useful way to get help in Windows. I often turn to different AIs to talk through and troubleshoot problems on my PC. With direct access to my system components and settings, Copilot might be better equipped to handle this task.
With PC insights just now rolling out, you’ll have to wait for it to arrive. I checked the Copilot Windows app on my main Windows 11 laptop and two virtual machines. At this point, the skill has yet to reach me. But once it pops up, I’ll be curious to see it in action.
