Windows 11 isn’t unhealthy.
Yes, we’ve called Windows 11 “unnecessary,” and nonetheless really feel that the typical individual has no must make the transition to an unfamiliar, restrictive working system. But it will be unfair to say that Windows 11 hasn’t taken any steps forward, both — sure, past Windows 10. So we’re calling them out.
I actually use Windows 11 every day, as half and parcel of my protection right here at PCWorld. As a part of our “Windows 11 at six months” re-examination of Windows, about the one facet of Windows 11 that I refuse to make use of is the Start menu. It’s merely poorly organized and gives little worth.
I do assume that finally, you’ll improve your PC to Windows 11 when you haven’t already, so this piece places a highlight on a few of its greatest bits. Rest assured that this story isn’t making an attempt to listing the entire options of Windows 11. Instead, these are the significant options that we expect justify an improve. Our protection of 6 new Windows 11 features to try first and how to make Windows 11 look like Windows 10 can also be of curiosity when you determine to take the leap.
A productivity-first method
There is totally no means that anybody would attempt to work on an Xbox. That implies that Microsoft can design its recreation console for video games, with an interface, Game Pass subscription service, and Auto Resume options all designed to purchase, play, and resume video games as shortly as attainable. Let’s face it: On the Xbox, the Edge browser is an afterthought (and an actual ache to make use of, by the way).
Windows itself suffers from a basic dichotomy: It’s an working system for work and play. Windows 10 leans extra towards enjoyable, and Windows 11 feels optimized for a piece atmosphere. Why? Microsoft chief govt Satya Nadella stated it greatest: Windows is the “socket” for Microsoft subscriptions, and Microsoft’s most profitable subscription is Microsoft 365, née Office. Windows 11 was subsequently designed round Microsoft 365, Q.E.D.
Mark Hachman / IDG
That’s greater than a little bit cynical, however okay. If the Start menu wasn’t so ineffective, suggesting paperwork to work on wouldn’t really feel obtrusive. Creating a reasonably staid row of icons alongside the Taskbar and Start isn’t enjoyable, but it surely helps you focus. I assist that — in any case, I argued that no one really wants distracting animated emoji in Teams.
Microsoft’s chief product officer, Panos Panay, tends to introduce new Surface gadgets within the context of “flow” and “focus”, and the redesigned Clock app’s “focus time” replicate that Microsoft is pondering arduous about such issues. As a shopper, I believe it’s price pushing again in opposition to this concept of “business first, fun second,” however you’ll be able to’t deny Microsoft’s efforts that will help you turn into extra environment friendly.
It’s most likely honest to say that most individuals don’t purchase an working system to tinker with it beneath the hood. But when you do must dive into the Settings menu for a tweak, the design of latest Windows 11 Settings menu definitely makes it simple to seek out what you want, make the change, and get out.
Settings not solely makes use of the usual Windows 11 sidebar navigation to leap backwards and forwards, however a brand new navigation system on the highest of the display means that you can transfer up and down a “level” fairly simply. Each subsection additionally contains its personal abstract display, with its personal graphical parts, in order that “Network & Internet” exhibits what community you’re related to and the way a lot information you’ve used on the prime of the display.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Windows additionally makes use of quite a few visible parts to can help you dive down even additional, with drop-down menus, buttons, and caret menus main deeper into the Settings menu. Most of not all of those are appropriately labeled, so {that a} submenu like Settings > Bluetooth & gadgets > Cameras tells you that you simply’ll discover connected-camera settings and default picture settings the additional you go. Microsoft is slowly making the legacy Control Panel out of date.
The “out of the box” (OOBE) expertise
Windows 11 gives a implausible expertise out of the field, with an environment friendly startup course of that visually introduces you to the Windows 11 feel and appear whereas strolling you thru what Windows is doing and what info you’ll want to supply to assist it on its means. It’s additionally a straightforward strategy to immediately arrange your new PC with Office apps (offered you might have a Microsoft 365 subscription) and it facilitates connecting to your Android telephone by way of Phone Link (previously referred to as Your Phone), too.
Yes, you’ll must enter a Microsoft account to proceed, which some received’t be pleased about. But for anybody who’s complained that Windows 11 remains to be one thing of a hodge-podge of assorted working programs previous, the OOBE belies that utterly. If most customers have been polled about their perspective towards Windows 11 proper after setup, my guess is that Windows 11 would have the next approval score than it does.
The Action Center
I’ve come round on the Action Center, the small assortment of controls that lives within the backside right-hand nook of your major show. I nonetheless don’t like how non-intuitively the Action Center set off is inside Windows 11; in Windows 10, the entire nook icons are basically one collective “button” that you could click on to open the Action Center. In Windows 11, it’s a must to know that an icon like OneDrive is one button, the clock/date one other, and the Action Center is itself opened by clicking the quantity management or battery icon.
Mark Hachman / IDG
A variety of folks nonetheless have quibbles with how Windows 11 represents particular person controls. For instance, the quantity slider doesn’t let you know which machine is getting used for audio until you click on the small “caret” menu to the proper. Focus Assist can’t be tweaked with out opening its corresponding Setting menu. But the Action Center itself doesn’t require additional, er, motion besides in a small number of instances, and it’s aesthetically per the remainder of the Windows 11 OS. It’s a step ahead.
Snap View
This has been a small however necessary enchancment to Windows 11 for the reason that starting, particularly necessary as (hopefully!) increasingly more folks transfer to multiple large external monitors along with their major show. The improved Snap View means that you can snap your window by hovering over the normal “full screen” icon within the higher right-hand nook of the window, then selecting which of a small variety of templates you’d just like the window to suit into. The the rest of your show can be utilized to accommodate the opposite home windows.
Let’s be honest: Sites like PCWorld.com are designed to accommodate smaller shows, and there’s a number of further white area to the left and proper that can be utilized for advertisements or left clean. Snap View could be an environment friendly use of that area. About the one factor Microsoft didn’t appear to anticipate with Snap View are ultrawide displays, which could profit from three or 4 vertical columns reasonably than the default two.
Windows 11 additionally eliminated Timeline (to the chagrin of some) which makes the entire expertise cleaner.
I’m not satisfied that most of the updated Windows 11 native apps signify enhancements, per se – simply visible updates and/or reorganizations. Windows Media Player is greater than that — it’s a real step ahead, not less than for this particular app. With Groove Music’s retirement, Media Player has stepped in to play again audio and video, and there’s even a long-awaited equalizer, besides (!) The new Media Player will not be a part of Windows 10.
Yes, fanatics are going to ask: is it nearly as good because the iconic play-everything VLC app? No, it’s not. But whereas VLC will seemingly play nearly each codec beneath the solar, Microsoft has targeted on the commonest codecs…effectively, we expect. We’ve by no means discovered a listing of file codecs particularly supported by the Windows 11 Media Player app.
Android apps
Android apps on Windows 11 are a little bit of a gimmick, in that you simply’re restricted to a restricted variety of apps from the Amazon Appstore, for now. Chances are that you simply already personal an Android telephone (and might load these apps in your telephone) or an iPhone, which means that you just won’t care.
IDG
Android apps are a bit just like the Linux apps that Microsoft allows as a part of the Windows Subsystem for Linux. They have specialised functions, which is likely to be enticing to those that don’t wish to search out a webpage or app. But the potential is there to enhance this, if Microsoft and its companions select to. How that’s managed, and what specialised benefits that may provide, nevertheless, have but to be seen.
DirectStorage and AutoHDR
We’ve been burned earlier than by Windows options that both didn’t ship or simply never showed up. But we’re cautiously optimistic about DirectStorage, which might promise some extraordinarily meaningful reductions in game load times for these with each the {hardware} and Windows 11. To be clear, DirectStorage is obtainable on Windows 11, however there isn’t a single publicly launched Windows recreation that helps it at press time.
Still, DirectStorage seems to be a comparatively protected funding, in that Microsoft can be a idiot to not push this as arduous as it may possibly. Windows players are Windows fanatics, and if that bloc embraces Windows 11, it might effectively be a tipping level for the OS—although Windows 10 will also support DirectStorage, albeit to a lesser extent. Auto HDR, a Windows 11 function that lets older games simulate HDR visuals to great effect (sometimes), might additionally turn into a really attractive cherry as HDR monitors become more common.
Some “new” options aren’t new
No one requested for Windows 11. Microsoft let shoppers consider that Windows 10 can be the “last Windows,” and the emergence of Windows 10X and its transition to Windows 11 was met with perplexed expressions from expertise fanatics. That similar perspective applies to a number of the modifications made to Windows 11, which hearkens again to our “unnecessary” characterization. We’re not going to let you know that the mounted Start menu is price upgrading for, for instance, or Teams Chat. Others, like Windows dictation, already seem in Windows 10, as does the properly revamped Microsoft Store app. Widgets, too, is only a barely expanded model of the News & Information function that’s on Windows 10 as effectively.
What we’ve proven you above are a number of the actual variations between Windows 10 and 11. We’d completely encourage you to take a tough take a look at Microsoft’s latest OS when you haven’t already. And when you’re nonetheless a little bit nervous, don’t be! Check out our story on how to roll back from Windows 11 to Windows 10 — we’ll present you what to do and the way shortly it’s essential to act.