Microsoft Hijacks Keyboard Shortcut To Bring Copilot To Your Attention

An anonymous reader shares a report: Copilot has gone native for Windows Insiders and commandeered a popular keyboard shortcut in the process. The move from a Progressive Web App (PWA) to a native binary -- although most of it appears to still be a website, just not running as a PWA -- will be welcomed. Microsoft noted that once the app update has been installed, Copilot will appear in the system tray.

However, the assistant's quick view feature has been given the Alt+Space keyboard shortcut. This is already used by many other applications, including Microsoft's own PowerToys. PowerToys Run, for example, uses Alt+Space to open a launcher into which users can type in the name of the service they are seeking. Alt+Space is also used to show the context menu of the active window. Therefore, Microsoft's decision to hand the shortcut over to Copilot is unlikely to please keyboard warriors who are used to their shortcuts working in a particular way.

The Windows vendor acknowledged that the shortcut was already in use by many apps, saying: 'For any apps installed on your PC that might utilize this keyboard shortcut, Windows will register whichever app is launched first on your PC and running in the background as the app that is invoked when using Alt+Space.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.