Top 6 Windows 11 Changes You Should Upgrade For

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The Start menu will be much smoother, better windowing, and games will load faster and look brighter.

A free update is already available for Windows 10 users. Windows 11 has an improved user interface, several useful new features, will take up less disk space and run faster. Here are six of the most significant features Microsoft has prepared.

1. Updating the Start Menu

Windows 11 introduces a new Start Menu. The developers decided to move it from its usual place in the lower left corner of the screen to the middle of the taskbar. Everything is in the spirit of macOS. Or Linux with KDE.

If you get used to it, it is quite convenient, since you can move the cursor to the menu equally quickly from any edge of the screen.

If you prefer the classic interface, the personalization menu will allow you to return to it.

Windows 10 tiles are missing here. Instead, there are icons for applications and folders, which can be sorted to your liking. It is also possible to add new ones. It looks pretty nice.

In addition to the icons and folders you have selected, the menu will display documents that you worked with in Microsoft Office both on your main computer and on other devices.

2. Smart window management

Another feature that Microsoft has decided to delight us with is a new window management called Windows Snap. Hover the mouse cursor over the Maximize button in the window title, hold it for a second, and the window templates menu will appear.

It will be possible to place the program with the main document in the middle, and the auxiliary windows on the sides, divide the screen into several equal parts, fit several utilities so that they are always in front of your eyes - in general, complete freedom of organization.

The function is really very useful and convenient. And the only drawback is that Microsoft hasn't thought of this before.

If you want to try something like this in the Top Ten, install PowerToys. In it, smart window management appeared even earlier.

By the way, you can also drag windows to the edge of the screen so that they "stick" to it.

3. The appearance of widgets

Widgets are returning to Windows - small programs that display various information on the desktop. They weren't very popular in the days of Windows Vista, but now Microsoft has seriously redesigned the concept, adding to its system something like Google's ribbon on Android devices.

So far, widgets show the weather, currency quotes and news, but in the future, third-party developers will be able to add their applications there. And in this area, you can take out a calendar, to-do list, email - in general, everything that you would like to keep close at hand.

The widget panel opens when you click a special button on the taskbar. And yes, it can also be removed if not needed.

4. Improved work with multiple monitors

Laptop users who connect their devices to an external monitor know that support for external displays in Windows 10, let's face it, is not up to the mark. After disconnecting the device, all windows change their size and position and the contents of the screen turn into a mess.

Windows 11 will remember the arrangement of windows on the display. When you disconnect the laptop from the external monitor, those that were open are minimized. But it is worth connecting the second screen again - and all programs will return to their places.

5. Updating Microsoft Store

Chances are, you've noticed that the Microsoft Store isn't particularly useful right now, to put it mildly. In it you can find only a couple of trendy "universal" applications and games, and for all other programs you will have to go to the websites of their developers.

In Windows 11, the store will be optimized. Developers will be able to put their programs into it, as in the same Google Play, and you will not have to open a browser to download and install something. We enter the name of the application, and the Microsoft Store finds it and downloads it itself.

In addition, it will be possible to download Android applications from the store, which Windows 11 will be able to run without emulators.

6. The emergence of new opportunities for games

Windows 11 will also receive several new features that will delight gamers. The first is Auto HDR mode. It, according to Microsoft, already supports more than a thousand existing games, and new ones will be added to them. Auto HDR makes the colors in the game more vivid and vivid.

The second possibility is DirectStorage. It will allow the PC to load video game resources from the SSD directly into the memory of the video card, bypassing the processor and thus reducing the load on it. To do this, you need a special NVMe and drivers for it.

And finally, there will be a transfer of cloud saves between all your devices, just like on the Xbox. You can leave the game on one computer and then return to it on another.