Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1634) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1634, are…

• IGLOO
• PLAIT
• YEAST
• AROMA

This was a tricky game — mainly due to two words ending in vowels.

I thought I had exhausted all words ending in the letter O, before I finally got to one ending in two of them.

Daily Sequence today (game #1634) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1634, are…

• NEEDY
• GOOFY
• ABIDE
• VISIT

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• NOISE
• CHANCE
• VERSE
• TRUANT
• GIVE
• SKATE

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #865) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #865, are…

• TACK
• ZIGZAG
• TURN
• VEER
• DEVIATE
• PIVOT
• SWERVE
• SPANGRAM: CHANGECOURSE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Rerouting… is a word I used to see a lot when I used a sat nav in my car, so this is exactly the theme I was expecting — but I still struggled over it.

It’s not until you play Strands that you realize how many different ways there are to say the same thing, in this case a change of direction.

I took a hint to get going, but TACK didn’t help much. Then, I connected the two Zs for ZIGZAG and finally got motoring.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 15, game #864)

• QUIXOTIC
• IDEALISTIC
• ROMANTIC
• IMPRACTICAL
• SPANGRAM: PIEINTHESKY

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1633) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1633, are…

• PROXY
• BRICK
• BROTH
• SURGE

As befits the appearance of a rare letter it took me a while to find the word PROXY.

Instead, I was trying every letter combination left to me, which is how I ended up with “grovy”.

Daily Sequence today (game #1633) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1633, are…

• FUZZY
• THERE
• TEMPO
• CAUSE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• QUIT
• MARKET
• MAIN
• PLACE
• PLINTH
• RELICS

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #864) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #864) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #864, are…

• QUIXOTIC
• IDEALISTIC
• ROMANTIC
• IMPRACTICAL
• SPANGRAM: PIEINTHESKY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Just four long words made up today’s game, but that didn’t make the search any easier.

I am more familiar with a slight variation on today’s theme — rose-tinted spectacles — which I had viewed as meaning to look favorably on something you are biased towards (such as the fortunes of your team). But the words here leaned more towards fanaticism.

Regardless of interpretation I needed a hint to get going and was rewarded with QUIXOTIC, a word I would have failed to see otherwise. From here I found the other two words with a T-I-C ending, before the spangram helped me to locate IMPRACTICAL.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, July 14, game #863)

• CHAIR
• ROCKER
• BEANBAG
• OTTOMAN
• RECLINER
• THRONE
• SPANGRAM: HAVEASEAT

If you ever feel like you need a break from social media and influencers, you may long for the more fun-focused video content of yesteryear. Windows Movie Maker was a simple program for creating videos, and it can now be yours once again.

The folks at The Internet Archive uploaded Windows Movie Maker 6.0, making it easily accessible and preserving it. The app has been tested on Windows 7, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

Downloading ancient technology can be a fun way to see how far things have changed over the years. Generally, Windows and its built-in apps have improved since the year 2000. But the modern movie-making app on Windows, Clipchamp, falls short of Windows Movie Maker in one key area.

Clipchamp now requires you to sync content to OneDrive to edit video projects. Media within your projects can be stored locally, but the projects cannot be edited unless you save the project to OneDrive.

That controversial change arguably broke Clipchamp. The app still works, but it does not feel like an app that should be bundled with Windows 11. Instead, it feels like a cloud-based app you should download alongside Microsoft 365.

Windows Movie Maker may lack the modern features of Clipchamp, but at least it works offline.

Perhaps Microsoft could justify requiring OneDrive to edit videos if projects could easily extend across devices, but that's not the case. Microsoft retired Clipchamp for iOS last month, meaning you can no longer export video files from that app. Users are now encouraged to uninstall Clipchamp from any iOS devices.

Microsoft never even made an Android version of Clipchamp, so the company has effectively restricted the app solely to the desktop. There is a web version of Clipchamp, but it is optimized for desktop use.

How to download Windows Movie Maker for Windows 11

Windows Movie Maker was not meant for modern versions of Windows, but it can run on Windows 11 or Windows 10. The download link for the program is available through the Internet Archive.

As a warning, I had to refresh the page a few times to get the link to work. The Internet Archive claimed it was a bad link for some reason, but it does work after refreshing.

The file is available in several formats. I'd argue the easiest to use is the executable file because many people have clicked to install one of those before.

To install Windows Movie Maker, you'll need to click through the installation steps, agree to some terms, and click finish.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1632) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1632) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1632, are…

• EBONY
• AVOID
• RODEO
• CUTIE

There was a while when I doubted my three starter words of “duchy”, “robin” and “slate”, but they really have helped me whiz through games recently.

Today, for example, I had three words where I had all the right letters (but not necessarily in the right order) and one word where the missing letter was obvious.

Daily Sequence today (game #1632) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1632, are…

• SEDAN
• VALVE
• FAULT
• SMELT

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• RELIC
• SOCK
• BREAK
• ERASE
• HORN
• RAVE

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #863) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #863) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #863, are…

• CHAIR
• ROCKER
• BEANBAG
• OTTOMAN
• RECLINER
• THRONE
• SPANGRAM: HAVEASEAT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Today’s search takes from the high-born of the seating world (THRONE), to the lowest (BEANBAG).

If I am going to make myself comfortable then I would pick the BEANBAG any day. Although it does depend on how long you’ve owned it; a baggy bean bag is nobody’s friend. Having said that, I’ve not sat in many thrones. Or indeed any, but judging by House of the Dragon, they’re not particularly ergonomic.

Anyway, it was hard not to whizz around today’s game, with even the longest and most obscure word, OTTOMAN, being easy to spot thanks to the double T.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, July 13, game #862)

• PLEASANT
• DELIGHTFUL
• ENJOYABLE
• SATISFYING
• SPANGRAM: HITSTHESPOT

Microsoft Edge may soon let you force any website into dark mode. The option is one of several features in testing that are part of "Web Remix" within Edge.

Web Remix allows you to customize the look of a webpage. With a few clicks, you can change a page's color, font size, and toggle it to dark mode.

But the feature is about more than appearances. Web Remix can convert prices that appear on a page to local currency, summarize a page, or simplify a long article.

Here's what you can do with Web Remix, according to Microsoft:

• Simplify a long article for easier reading
• Add a summary to a detailed page
• Turn a recipe into a shopping list
• Convert prices to your local currency
• Update the appearance of a webpage

Web Remix runs locally and functions similarly to Read mode in that you can click a button in the address bar to enable it or disable it.

Since this feature is in preview testing, there's always a chance that it does not ship. Just last week, I covered the development of a great Microsoft Teams feature being paused while in preview.

You can enable Web Remix in Edge Canary by enabling the "Web Remix" and "Web Remix Internals" flags.

You can use Web Remix to force any website into dark mode, even if the site does not support the feature natively. However, the results will not be perfect. Converting a site to dark mode is more complex than it may appear, since there are many elements that need to remain unchanged.

Leo Varela, who spotted the feature on Edge, was kind enough to show Windows Central swapped to dark mode through Web Remix. The feature does an okay job, though I'd argue it was too aggressive in inverting certain elements. For example, the social media icons and the home bar should not be changed to black and grey, respectively.

The reason extensions like Dark Reader and Dark Mode - Night Eye cost money for full functionality is that converting sites to dark mode requires fine controls and nuance. Those extensions and similar extensions on other platforms let you customize dark mode and give more control than Web Remix.

But for a free tool that's still in early testing, Web Remix does a nice job. Its other features are a nice bonus as well. But I've been obsessed with dark mode since the days of Windows Phone, so I care most about that.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

A great feature won't make it to Microsoft Teams, at least anytime soon. Microsoft began testing two minimized views in Teams earlier this year, but development of the features has been paused.

The idea was that when an active meeting window was minimized, Teams would show a minimized window with shortcuts to perform actions like raising your hand or sharing a reaction. One option called Expanded view showed up to four participant videos, while the Compact view focused on quick actions and settings.

"Updated July 7, 2026: We have paused release to GA at this time. We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed. Thank you for your patience," reads the Microsoft 365 Message Center (archived here).

The views were meant to start rolling out in May 2026, but they now sit stuck in the development pipeline. Neowin spotted that the feature was paused.

There's always a chance that preview features will be changed significantly before release or cancelled. Microsoft also needs to work out any issues before shipping a change to Teams.

Microsoft did not share why it paused the development of these minimized views. They both seem like worthwhile additions to Teams that make multitasking easier. I hope Microsoft ships them to Teams eventually.

Teams gets new features regularly. The communication platform gets so many updates that Microsoft has to list changes in a monthly blog post.

But the most talked about Teams feature this year was omitted from the last roundup. Teams now has a controversial feature that lets your boss see where you are if you're connected to Wi-Fi networks at work.

Microsoft was accused of making Teams a "lapdog for your boss," but the company has made changes to the feature since first unveiling it. Microsoft delayed the rollout of that feature, changed the name of the option, and added better privacy controls.

The minimized views within Teams may go through a similar journey. We could see them in the future with altered controls, a new name, or in the same form but at a later date.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

I've heard the term slop bandied around more times than I'd like recently, but today was the first time I'd heard it in the context of Amazon shopping. Meet Knockoff Shopping, the Chrome extension that de-slops your Amazon search results.

What does this mean? Well, if you've used the site at all recently to look for basic items, whether it be clothes, phone cases, or such, you'll notice that many reputable brands are now buried in a sea of items with capitalized letters. Items that appear to be coming from Temu or AliExpress.

Often, you'll be looking for something like a hairdryer, perhaps, and find an identical model listed under 3 different brand names, all trying their damnest to look like Dyson. Should I buy DRYSON, BLOWY, or the SKIBIDI RIZZ hairdryer? It's hard to decide.

Well, someone has had the gumption to create a Chrome Extension to solve this problem; it promises to filter "trademark-squat pseudo-brands (the SZHLUXes and HORUSDYs) out of your search results, so what's left are brands with a reputation to lose."

You can simply head to knockoff.shopping to get the extension and try it for yourself, but here are some more tips on getting it to work for you.

Using Knockoff

I've had issues with these "knockoff" brands myself recently while shopping for an ultrasonic cleaner for my son's retainer. We've now ordered two seemingly identical models under different brand names, and both have given up the ghost after a week.

Third time lucky, right? Well, I'm going to use the tool to help me narrow down my search this time. As you can see in the screenshot above, when I search for the item, my results are flooded with similar-looking items from different pseudo-brands that feel the need to shout their names at me. COSLUS! HYCHIKA! SEANCHEER! BUY US!

Following my installation of the tool, I can fiddle with the options before I go on my search to add brands that I don't want to be filtered, so ANKER and UGREEN, for example, are reputable electronic brands I trust; I don't want those filtered.

Now, upon running the search again, you can either have the tool 'dim' the dodgy results so you can still see them and make changes, or have it hide them completely. For now, I've set mine to dim results so I can start to teach it what I do and don't want to see.

Here I have selected to block this brand permanently. On the other hand, if I see brands I trust, I can tell the tool to add them to the Allow list for me.

Creator Josh Pigford has already mentioned on his X account some brands that may be inadvertently filtered out. I don't recognize many of these, but BIODANCE and LANIEGE are at least reputable Korean skincare brands, and I would add them to my filter.

The tool has now helped me select a third, and hopefully more reliable, cleaner for my son's retainer. It also helped me see more clearly that many of the 'dimmed' brands were around the same price, so I paid a little more for something potentially longer lasting.

I've only just started using the tool myself, afterall it's only been a day! But others are already reporting great success with it and I hope to have even better results as I tweak what I do and don't want to see. The extension is currently only available on Google Chrome, but it's coming to Safari and Firefox soon. No word on Microsoft Edge (yet).

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Have you ever wondered why minimum specs continue to creep upward? Part of the problem is that developers don't need to be as efficient as they did decades ago.

A recent video by Dave Plummer highlights the bloat of modern applications by following the journey of Plummer making a notepad that's just 2,686 bytes.

App development is complex, and there are genuinely good reasons that games and programs require such high specs in 2026. But generally speaking, programming doesn't have the constraints of yesteryear, so developers don't need to trim code.

A single app not being optimized is not that much of an issue, but when every program on your PC is bloated, problems pop up. The same productivity workflow today requires more RAM than it did in 2015.

For context, Windows 10 launched with a minimum requirement of just 1GB (for 32-bit) and 2GB of RAM (for 64-bit). Windows 11 requires at least 4GB just to boot the operating system, but most users want much more memory. It was controversial when Microsoft and other companies started offering new PCs with 8GB of RAM this year.

Plummer is best known for creating the Windows Task Manager. He also discusses programming and Windows history on his YouTube channel.

In a recent video, Plummer shared how he made a small notepad application that's smaller in size than a YouTube thumbnail.

Tiny Retro Pad has the core functionality of the original Notepad app built by Microsoft. Notably, it lacks the modern features seen in Notepad, such as Copilot. Considering Notepad's addition of Copilot was mocked by many, Tiny Retro Pad is an improvement in some ways.

Making a notepad app that's under 4,096 bytes is more about working within constraints than the specific size of the final app. In the early days of Windows, there were several limits placed on developers, such as hardware caps. Having to work within those constraints forced developers to be more efficient.

Plummer was able to keep Tiny Retro Pad small by utilizing what's already in Windows.

"A tiny native Windows program does not bring along its own entire civilization. It arrives with a lunchbox and a map of the city," said Plummer.

Later in the video, he added, "The program is small because it is not carrying what the platform already has. And that is a lesson that modern software could stand to remember. Not every app needs to bundle the universe. Not every utility needs to ship with a browser engine."

Nowadays, PCs, tablets, and phones have absurd specs. Even modest devices have several gigabytes of memory and tons of storage. Those specs make modern workflows possible, but they also leave room for lazy development.

"Somehow it seems modern software manages to go the other way. You just want a text box and somehow you've imported a runtime, a layout engine, a renderer, a dependency tree, a telemetry client, an auto updater, and a small portion of Chromium," said Plummer.

No one needs a notepad application that's less than 4,000 bytes, but if more app developers focused on efficient code, Windows 11 would feel smoother across the board.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.