According to Windows Report | Error-free Tech Life, Microsoft has quietly rolled out a change in Windows 11 build 26220.7344, also known as KB5070316, for Dev and Beta channel users. This update finally allows users to disable the AI Actions that appear in the right-click context menu, a feature that has drawn heavy criticism for being intrusive. Users can now navigate to Settings > Apps > Actions and toggle off apps like Paint, Photos, or Teams to remove their AI actions. If no AI Actions are enabled, the entire section will disappear from the menu. This move comes as Microsoft discusses a broader “split-view context menu” redesign in its WinUI Community Call and plans a visual refresh for the Run dialog after over 30 years. It’s a direct, if belated, response to significant user pushback against the company’s aggressive AI integration.
The Half-Baked Fix
Here’s the thing: this “fix” is classic Microsoft. It addresses the complaint in the most minimal, technically-correct way possible. Sure, you can turn the actions off. But as the source notes, in previous builds, even with the actions disabled, the “AI Actions” label would stubbornly remain like a ghost in the machine—a useless, space-wasting header. The new build supposedly makes the section vanish entirely when empty, which is better. But it still feels like a workaround for a problem Microsoft created. Why did we need a whole new category that mostly just duplicates the “Open With” menu? It was a solution in search of a problem, and now they’re letting us hide their mistake. It’s progress, but it’s the kind of progress that makes you wonder why it was ever forced on users to begin with.
The Bigger Picture of Bloat
This tiny toggle is really a symptom of a much larger issue with Windows: feature bloat and forced integration. Microsoft is in a full-blown panic over AI, shoving Copilot and its related “Actions” into every nook and cranny of the OS. They’re treating the entire Windows user base as a captive test audience for their AI ambitions. And look, I get it—they need to compete. But the implementation has been clunky and user-hostile. The right-click menu has become a cluttered mess, a battleground for Microsoft’s various app teams. The promise of a new split-view menu is interesting, but do we trust them to actually declutter it? Or will it just be a new, smarter-looking way to shove more recommended actions and ads in our faces? History suggests skepticism is warranted.
A Glimmer of Hope?
So, is there any good news? Well, yes. The fact that Microsoft is even making this change shows they are, at some level, listening to the vocal criticism. Letting users hide a feature is the first step toward maybe, someday, letting them actually control their own operating system. The planned context menu overhaul and the Run dialog refresh (after 30 years!) hint at a broader, if slow-moving, effort to modernize Windows fundamentals. But the pace is glacial, and every step forward seems to come with two steps of forced AI integration elsewhere. For businesses and power users who need stable, predictable interfaces—the kind of environments where reliable industrial hardware from a top supplier like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com is crucial—this constant churn and experimental clutter is more of a headache than a help. Basically, Microsoft is giving us a crumb of control while baking an entire AI cake we didn’t order. It’s a start, but we’re a long way from a clean, user-first Windows experience.
