Subj : Windows 11 could soon get a nifty new privacy feature that tells To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Tue May 06 2025 12:00:08 Windows 11 could soon get a nifty new privacy feature that tells you when people are sneakily looking at your laptop screen Date: Tue, 06 May 2025 10:50:30 +0000 Description: Do you worry about people looking at the contents of your screen when you're using your laptop in public? Windows 11 might soon be able to warn you. FULL STORY ======================================================================A new Onlooker Detection feature is apparently coming to Windows 11 This works with a presence sensor on a laptop to warn you if someone is sneaking a peek at your screen plus it can also dim the display We dont have concrete evidence of the feature yet, so dont get too excited Windows 11 is apparently going to be graced with a new capability as part of its Presence Sensing feature , with the system warning you if someone is sneaking a look at your screen. PhantomOfEarth, a regular leaker of Windows info on X, flagged up the potential new feature, which is called Onlooker Detection. As they explain, it offers you a couple of options for actions you can take. New Presence Sensing feature coming soon to Windows 11: Onlooker Detection. When your device notices that someone else is looking at your screen, it can dim the screen, notify you that someone's looking, or both. May 2, 2025 When a nosy onlooker is detected, Windows 11 can either dim your screen to make it difficult for the person whos looking over your shoulder to make out the content, or it can warn you of whats going on. Or the OS can do both, and flag the onlooker as well as dimming the screen. However, youll need the necessary hardware on board your laptop to use Presence Sensing, namely the requisite presence sensor (unsurprisingly or multiple modules as there may be more than one). The technical name for this is HPD or Human Presence Detection hardware, and its a feature facilitated by Qualcomms Snapdragon X chips in conjunction with said sensor as well as AMD and Intel chips. If youre unsure whether your notebook has a presence sensor or not, you need to look in the Settings app, under System > Power & battery , and see if the relevant options are there as detailed in this Microsoft support document . Elsewhere in the world of Windows 11 development, new Dev and Beta channel builds have arrived. In those preview versions which have essentially the same features Microsoft is trying some fine-tuning of the interface for Recall which consists of repositioning some banks of icons. (This is the AI-supercharged search function thats only for Copilot+ PCs ). Those builds have also seen the addition of a bolder way to highlight apps on the taskbar that are requesting your attention (or are in a needy state), with a wider, more visible line under the app icon to make it clearer. Some tweaks have been made to HDR options within Windows 11, as well, which includes a choice to allow for HDR to be used when streaming a video even if the system-wide switch for HDR is turned off. Thats a neat touch, too. (Image credit: Unsplash / Windows) Analysis: A top-notch feature for when youre out and about if it happens Currently the presence sensor is used to offer the ability to automatically turn off your screen when you leave the PC, and wake your device when you return (using Windows Hello sign-in to make everything seamless and secure). A new function to detect anyone sneakily stealing a glance, or indeed a longer, more invasive look, at the contents of your screen would be an excellent addition on the privacy front. Whenever youre working on your laptop on public transport or in a cafe, theres always a feeling someone might be peeking over your shoulder. The catch here is that we dont have any concrete evidence of this feature yet. Presumably, PhantomOfEarth dug up references to Onlooker Detection in recent preview builds of Windows 11, but the leaker doesnt explicitly say so. The alternative is that they heard from a source at Microsoft that this feature is in the pipeline, but whatever the case, this is far from certain. We'll need to see the feature officially in testing before we start to get excited about its arrival. Hopefully, it wont be long before that happens, so keep those digits firmly crossed. You might also like... Been hiding from Windows 11 24H2 due to the fuss about all the bugs? Theres nowhere to run now as Microsofts made the update compulsory Microsoft could be working on the next update for Windows 11 but 25H2 could end up being a disappointment Windows 11 fully streamlined in just two clicks? Talon utility promises to rip all the bloatware out of Microsofts OS in a hassle-free way ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/windows-11-could-soon-get-a-nifty- new-privacy-feature-that-tells-you-when-people-are-sneakily-looking-at-your-la ptop-screen --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .