Windows 11’s Copilot can now explain settings and detect problems on your PC

• Microsoft is rolling out “PC insights” to the Copilot app on Windows 11, allowing users to ask questions about their PC in natural language.
• Copilot retrieves live system information to explain hardware, storage, battery, BIOS, CPU usage, and more.
• The feature is read-only, meaning it can explain your PC but cannot change settings or fix problems.

Microsoft is giving Copilot on Windows 11 a new experimental feature called “PC insights” that lets the AI answer questions about your computer using live system information. The feature is rolling out gradually to Copilot app users on Windows 11, and it aims to replace the familiar routine of digging through Settings, Task Manager, and File Explorer just to answer simple questions about your computer.

Copilot wants to become Windows’ interpreter

Windows 11 has never lacked diagnostic tools. The problem is that most people don’t know where to look.

Need to check your graphics card? That’s Device Manager or System Information. Want to know why your laptop feels slow? Open Task Manager. Running out of storage? Head to Settings or File Explorer. The operating system has the answers, but it expects you to know which tool holds them.

Microsoft’s latest experiment is trying to remove that step.

Instead of navigating Windows yourself, you can ask Copilot questions such as “What graphics card do I have?”, “Do I have enough space for a 100GB game?”, or “What’s my current CPU usage?” After you approve the request, Copilot reads the relevant system information and responds in plain English.

It’s a small change on paper, but it points to a much bigger direction for Windows 11.

Microsoft is teaching AI to understand your PC

The feature, called PC insights, doesn’t rely on guesswork or generic AI knowledge. When you ask a question, Copilot determines what information it needs, asks for permission, retrieves only the required data, and generates an explanation based on your computer’s current state.

That means it can answer questions about your hardware, battery health, BIOS version, storage capacity, connected USB devices, printers, webcams, antivirus status, and other system details without asking you to hunt for them manually.

Microsoft is also putting privacy front and center. Every request requires your approval unless you choose to permanently allow similar requests. The company says PC insights doesn’t scan your computer in the background, doesn’t access information until you ask, and doesn’t use your personal files or system information to train AI models.

This is about making Windows 11 easier to understand

For tech-savvy users, this feature won’t replace Task Manager. If you already know where to find CPU usage, GPU information, storage statistics, or network adapters, opening the appropriate tool will almost always be faster.

The audience here is everyone else. Windows has accumulated decades of utilities, settings pages, legacy control panels, and diagnostic tools. Even the company has struggled to simplify the operating system over the years. PC insights acknowledges something many experienced users have accepted long ago, which is that finding information is often harder than understanding it.

Instead of teaching users where every setting lives, the software giant wants people to simply ask. This is arguably a smarter long-term strategy than redesigning Settings for the tenth time.

Don’t expect Copilot to repair your PC

There’s an important limitation. PC insights is strictly read-only.

It can tell you whether your antivirus is running, explain why you’re running low on storage, or report current CPU usage. It cannot change system settings, install drivers, remove unnecessary files, or troubleshoot problems automatically.

If Copilot identifies a possible issue, it can recommend next steps, but you’re still responsible for making the changes, and that’s probably the right balance for now.

Giving AI unrestricted control over the system settings would introduce a completely different set of trust and reliability questions. Microsoft appears willing to let Copilot observe first before allowing it to act.

Pureinfotech’s Take

At first glance, PC insights looks like another AI feature looking for a purpose. After all, Windows 11 already has Task Manager, System Information, and plenty of built-in tools that can answer the same questions.

However, Microsoft isn’t trying to replace those utilities. It’s trying to remove the learning curve that comes with using them. A lot of people don’t know where to check their BIOS version, battery health, or GPU model. Asking a question is simply easier than remembering which app has the answer.

What’s interesting is how this fits into Microsoft’s broader AI strategy for Windows. The AI agent in the Settings app can already understand natural language requests and, with your approval, change system settings. PC insights takes a different role. Instead of making changes, it explains what the operating system knows about your computer in plain language.

Together, the two features hint at where Windows is heading. One AI helps you understand your computer, while the other helps you configure it. If Microsoft eventually brings those experiences together, the operating system could evolve into one where finding information and making changes start with the same conversation.