Microsoft is axing this seven-year-old Windows app

By Willow Roberts August 12, 2024

Someone using Paint 3D on a tablet with a stylus. — Microsoft

As spotted by Windows Central, Paint 3D will stop receiving updates and be removed from the Microsoft Store on November 4 of this year. Although it was once intended as a replacement for the classic Paint program, Paint 3D will be outlived by its predecessor and some of its best features have been transferred to the older app instead.

However, anyone who downloads Paint 3D before the cutoff date should be able to carry on using it past November.

First released in 2017, Paint 3D was meant to be an exciting upgrade for Paint users and enthusiasts that brought a modernized UI, layers, PNG support, transparency, and 3D modeling features. And people didn’t hate it — but what they did hate was Microsoft saying it wasplanning to deprecate the old Paint program. After the internet made its dissatisfaction clear, Microsoft posted on its blog, saying it had decided to keep Paint and move it to the Microsoft Store where anyone could download it for free.

But why do people still love the old Paint app so much? Well, part of it is nostalgia, and part of it is ease of use. Practically anyone who has ever used a computer in the past 40 years knows how to use MS Paint — and some of those people are not interested in learning anything else. The old Paint app is also noticeably faster and more responsive than Paint 3D, and that’s an important factor for a lot of people.

Eventually, Microsoft began giving in to Paint’s popularity, giving it some of Paint 3D’s features in a 2023 update, including layers, transparency, and background removal. It then received AI-powered tools for Copilot+ PCs, allowing people to generate images with specific art styles directly from the app.

Now, with this news about Paint 3D’s demise, it’s clear that Microsoft has officially given up on trying to replace Paint or make it irrelevant. There are still a lot of features Paint 3D has that Paint doesn’t, so perhaps there could be more updates coming in the future — but the whole 3D part of Paint 3D never really caught on anyway, so Microsoft can probably just forget about that.

Topics

Computing Writer

Willow Roberts is a contributor at Digital Trends, specializing in computing topics. She has a particular interest in Apple…

Computing

This background process may consume up to 20% CPU usage

The Phone Link app being used on a phone and laptop screen.

A bug that was first spotted almost two weeks ago in a recent Windows 11 build is still there, and while Microsoft has acknowledged it, there have been no updates as to when a fix might be released. The issue stems from a feature that should otherwise run in the background and suddenly results in up to 20% CPU usage when idle. We're talking about the Windows Cross Device Service.

The service in question helps your Windows PC connect and share files across other devices. For most of us, that means features such as Phone Link, which is Microsoft's attempt at replicating Apple's seamless ecosystem. It can be used to send texts, download photos, and use apps from your computer without having to pick up the phone. However, with the new bug, you might be better off disabling the Cross Device Service entirely.

Computing

Windows may let you purge your PC of AI

Person sitting and using a Windows Surface computer with Windows 11.

Microsoft raised some serious privacy and security concerns with the upcoming launch of the controversial AI feature Recall as part of Copilot+ PCs. This led to Microsoft making changes to Recall, including making it opt-in rather than on by default. And now, according to an X (formerly Twitter) thread, Microsoft is giving you even more control over what apps can use AI.

The new feature will reportedly be found in Settings > Privacy & Security section > Let app use Generative AI. Users can toggle the feature on or off with a single click and select which specific apps are granted AI access. The idea is to give you more control over what apps and users can use generative AI.

Computing

Microsoft is backpedaling on future Windows 10 updates

The Windows Update screen in Windows 10.

Windows 10 is on its way out, with support ending in October 2025. That isn't changing, though Microsoft's approach to rolling out new features in the meantime definitely has. In a surprising move, Microsoft announced in a June 4 Windows Insider Blog post that it is bringing a Beta Channel for those Windows Insiders currently running on Windows 10 version 22H2.

This means that despite the end of support, Windows 10 users will continue to get some new features that were initially restricted to Windows 11, such as the new Copilot app. It's also possible that other features may be on the way, but Microsoft has not released any further information on the subject. It was originally stated that Windows 10 version 22H2 would be its final feature update, but that appears to not be true anymore.