Windows 11 Making It Easier to Transfer Files to a New PC; The Real Reason SSDs are Disappearing; A Quick Easy Way to Debloat Windows 11… and More!
Every day, we scan the tech world for interesting news, sometimes from outside the tech world. Every Thursday, we feature news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s ‘Thursday Newsbytes’ informative and interesting!
Please note that the tips, tricks, programs, and apps appearing in the articles below are not necessarily recommended by Cloudeight. Try at your own risk.
Windows 11 is making it easier to transfer data to a new PC — here’s how it works
Setting up a new Windows 11 PC can be exciting, but it’s also a bit of a chore. Even though Windows has supported “backups” for a few years at this point, this mostly boils down to backing up some PC settings and Microsoft Store apps, and then you have to rely on paid solutions like OneDrive or an external USB drive to move larger chunks of data over. Plus, you have to install all your apps again, too.
It takes a long time to get a new PC up and running, but thankfully, Microsoft is trying to make things easier with a new tool for transferring data to a new PC. This tool is designed to directly transfer data from one PC to another without using the cloud, and it’s a great way to pick up where you left off when you switch PCs. It’s currently in very early stages of rolling out, so you may not see it for a while, but I decided to test it and see how it works.
You need the latest version of Windows
It may not work for older releases
To test this feature, I had to use a couple of virtual machines, as Microsoft’s rollout is oddly phased. The July Patch Tuesday update introduced the ability to transfer data from your current PC to a new one through the Windows Backup app. However, I had to wait a few weeks to actually be able to receive the data on a new PC…
Finally! The real reason why SSDs are disappearing in Windows 11
The root issue behind Windows 11 no longer recognizing some SSDs has reportedly been found.
Over the past month, some Windows 11 users have been running into a problem with disappearing SSDs in both File Explorer and the BIOS, which started after installing the August 2025 KB5063878 update. Last week, Microsoft and Phison both washed their hands of the issue, saying it wasn’t reproduceable and that the issue wasn’t actually connected to the update in question.
Well, the problem may now be solved.
According to both Windows Report and Neowin, new findings from a Facebook group called PCDIY!—a place where Chinese PC hobbyists exchange information—indicate that it isn’t Windows that’s causing the problem but rather preliminary firmware versions on certain SSDs. These unfinished firmware versions, which were never intended for end users, appear to have been triggered by the KB5063878 update and thus began causing the problems described by users.
Phison technicians have reportedly already confirmed this, saying that tests have shown that SSDs that crashed due to the Windows 11 update KB5063878 were using preliminary firmware.
Since all SSD manufacturers that sell products with Phison controllers source their products from the original manufacturer…
The ultimate bloatware removal tool now works on any version of Windows 11
It’s a great way to add Windows 11 support to an older machine.
For the most part, Windows 11 isn’t a bad operating system, even if its adoption rate is slower than Microsoft would like. Its system demands means it requires a relatively beefy system to run, and it comes with more than its fair share of bloatware crap.
Thanks to the release of a new version of Tiny11 builder, it’s possible to create a de-bloated Windows 11 image from any Windows 11 release, allowing you to free up system resources for the apps you actually want to use.
Tiny11 Builder is a free tool created by NTDEV. It’s been around for some time, but was limited to specific Windows builds. The new version (spotted by Neowin) allows you to use it with any Windows 11 version, as well as any language or architecture. This ability to take control of your Windows comes as a result of improved PowerShell capabilities. So, thanks for that Microsoft!
Tiny11 is available at NTDEV’s GitHub page. To run it, you need to set PowerShell to unrestricted using the Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted command. Once that’s done, just follow the instructions provided.
Tiny11 removes the following apps: Clipchamp, News, Weather, Xbox (although Xbox Identity provider is still here, so it should be possible to be reinstalled with no issues), GetHelp, GetStarted, Office Hub, Solitaire, PeopleApp, PowerAutomate, ToDo, Alarms, Mail and Calendar, Feedback Hub, Maps, Sound Recorder, Your Phone, Media Player, QuickAssist, Internet Explorer, Tablet PC Math, Edge and OneDrive…
Microsoft 365 subscribers are getting a new tool to help them get more from their OneDrive files
It’s no surprise at this point that Microsoft is rolling out Copilot to pretty much every product it’s maintaining right now. Recently, we saw Excel introduce a ton of features that utilize the AI assistant, such as explaining formulae in Excel and even generating them based on plain English prompts.
Now, it seems that OneDrive is getting a little Copilot-based boost. Microsoft has confirmed that you can soon sic Copilot on your OneDrive files and let it do all the digging for you while you do other stuff.
Copilot can now go through your chaotic OneDrive file system for you
Regardless of what you use, Microsoft says that you’ll need a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family account and be an active subscriber. On top of that, you’ll need to store your files in OneDrive to use these tools. Once you tick those two boxes, you can right-click a supported file type and use Copilot on it. Right now, the feature lets you use Copilot…
Parents issued warning over ‘phubbing’ in front of their kids
Parents issued warning over ‘phubbing’ in front of their kidsParents issued warning over ‘phubbing’ in front of their kids
You might not even realise that you’ve been doing it
Most of us will find ourselves glued to our phones at certain points during the day.
Whether we’re catching up with our social media feeds over our lunch break, chatting with friends and family in seemingly never-ending chat threads, watching videos on our commute, ordering takeaways, or treating ourselves to some new clothes, skincare or makeup, this could actually be having a negative effect on our relationships.
This is especially true if we’re constantly on our phones when we’re with people we’re meant to be paying attention to.
If you’ve ever missed part of a conversation as you double-tap or reply to a quick email, or aren’t fully…
Thanks for reading this week’s Thursday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful.
