We all saw and still can see how many issues Windows 10 updates can create. Those huge changes in the Windows 11 can offer a much better user experience. But updating to an entirely new version of the OS right away can be risky. Minor complaints aside, we like to see Microsoft giving its marquee software some attention.
For the last few years, the company has focused more on its Azure cloud computing services—justifiably given that business's profitability. Windows 11 brings slick new looks, useful new tools, updated default apps, extra capabilities, and performance advances. Perhaps that's enough to lure away some Chrome OS users or Mac users. 2021 is going to end with a bang because Microsft announced that Windows 11 comes out in October. This new version of the operating systems should bring various functions and new features from the transparent UIs to particular boosts for gaming performance.
People online, as always, discourse about the latest releases, and when the specific preview got released, those questions started to increase. This is not a perfect thing, Windows, so it is normal to have issues, bugs, other problems requiring fixes and patches. Anyone with one of the newer chips should have no trouble installing Windows 11 via Windows Update. Microsoft made a downloadable ISO disk image file for the beta Insider version available for installing Windows 11, allowing in-place upgrades or clean installations on a PC or in a virtual machine. A similar installation option is now available for the release version of Windows 11 via Microsoft's Download Windows 11 page.
Some sources have reported that installing the OS with the ISO installer bypasses the system's hardware requirements, but that's not advisable as you may not get future OS updates if you install it on unsupported hardware. As with Windows 10, you can let the company know what you'd like to see added to the software in a dedicated Feedback Hub app, and you may be surprised at how often it listens. Anyone can sign up for preview builds of the OS through the Windows Insider Program. This lets you experience new features before they're available for general release. The next major update, 22H2 is expected to add Start menu options, some redesigned stock apps, and machine-learning intelligence.
Microsoft released preview versions of Windows 11 earlier for testing purposes. It is the opportunity to see possible issues that can get fixed until the final release. Improvements can be implemented, and the list of bug fixes gets smaller. The upgrade is in the development stage, so even these known errors can be the thing of the past once Windows 11 becomes available for all home PC users.
However, there are some issues that users need to be aware of and expect to have them on the day of release too. Some of them might have workarounds until the proper solution. In making that change with Windows 11, Microsoft acknowledged some IT pros' grumblings that biannual Windows 10 feature update releases were just too frequent. The once-per-year Windows 11 feature updates also promise to be less disruptive for end users. Microsoft uses artificial intelligence to gauge machine readiness for feature updates, and also tracks a user's active hours to optimize update deliveries. Windows 11 advances from Windows 10 with a rounded corners design change, plus more stringent security hardware requirements.
Unlike cumulative updates released on Patch Tuesday, preview updates do not contain security updates and only includes bug fixes and performance improvements. This build introduces a new family widget for MSA accounts (a single sign-on Microsoft account). It lets people see recent activity of members of their Microsoft family group. This build introduces a "Taskbar settings" page, which lets you hide and unhide icons on the taskbar. Generally, MS wants to reduce Options and Compatibility with major new releases as that simplifies code and makes the product easier to support .
Those options eventually get added back either by MS to calm enraged users or by 3rd parties eager to capitalize on those users left behind by MS's "vision". That same vision usually involves some new "features" that break old functionality in unpredictable ways... And it takes time for work arounds, or tweaks to be found to turn these features off. And of course all the change makes the whole thing less stable and compatible until the first year or so of product updates (remember, home-users are the beta testers now). Nope, every version of Windows has been broken out of the box for decades now, and it's always a good idea to wait a while before moving up inversion number.
Some previous Windows versions were vastly different from their predecessors. This led to significant issues when users upgraded, including data loss and driver and program incompatibility. Fortunately, Windows 11 is pretty much just a big update for Windows 10 as opposed to a radically different OS. This means aside from the cosmetic changes; almost everything works the same way.
This article talks about the realities of being a Windows 11 user, so technically, if you're already a Windows 11 user, you won't have to deal with the minimum hardware requirements issue. But there are still the hardware compatibility issues that come from running any new OS release. Back in October, Windows 11 had some issues with AMD chips, but that's been subsequently patched. Windows 11 has a problem with SSD NVMe drives, but you can pull down a patch via the Windows Insider program to fix it. And, of course, there is a host of other compatibility and driver problems, many of which Microsoft is aware of and working on.
For new users, Windows 11 will seem like a good option with the new design. You get rounded corners, a departure from the sharp edges we've seen in Windows for a long time. The Start Menu is now cleaner, featuring pinned apps and a recommended tab that shows you files based on your recent usage. The desktop more or less stays the same, but the right-click menu gets a simplified look, with the most common options like cut, copy, paste, and rename, at the top in a grid.
File Explorer is a good example of Windows 11's new look, particularly its updated left panel controls and folder icons. Note the simplified ribbon along the top, which is far less busy and distracting than the previous File Explorer's. The New button at the top left works for new folders or documents supported by your apps, and the same viewing options for files are available. The overflow menu offers file compression, selection, and Properties options, as well as the old Folder Options dialog. The right-click context menus, which have grown longer and longer over the years, get shorter, smarter, and clearer in Windows 11. I like the new looks, the huge upgrade to the settings app, and I actually kind of like the tile-free start menu.
Plus the edge swipe gestures are a major downgrade for tablet users, at least for me. I'm going to tough it out and see if MS can iron out some kinks. Windows 11 is once again being causing some issues for users, this time with numerous reports of slower performance of NVMe SSDs using the operating system. The reports can be found on multiple Reddit threads, as well as on Microsoft's support forums , and they're actually not new.
Reports on this problem go back a few months, when Windows 11 is still in preview, but the complaints persist two months after launch. You have probably read that Microsoft released Windows 11 with a flaw that slowed the write/read speed for millions of customers. While the January 2022 cumulative update was supposed to fix these issues, some users have reported drive sluggishness even after installing it. Microsoft has finally issued a full fix for performance concerns with the Windows 11 February 2022 update.
This build includes a new feature that lets you right-click on either "Recommended" or the "More" button in Start to refresh the items shown there. In addition, it has a number of bug fixes, including one that caused Search to appear black and not display any content below the search box, and another that caused cellular data to not work on certain devices. With this build you can mute and unmute your microphone from the taskbar during a Microsoft Teams call.
In addition, a wide variety of bugs have been fixed, including one in which context menus crashed when you tried to scroll through them, and another in which some devices had a black screen when coming out of sleep. For example, Windows 11 has new Contrast themes, redesigned closed caption themes, and AI-powered Windows Voice Typing. The new OS also adds APIs for programming assistive apps, and even the Windows Subsystem for Linux now has accessibility options. Don't upgrade for a couple of months at least or until there is a feature you will really want like DirectStorage or android apps when they release. To be honest windows 10 has more features at the moment like drag and drop into taskbar and is significantly more stable the only nice feature is that it looks slightly nicer and is more secure.
Other than that, it feels like a badly reskinned windows 10, menu options are less and the start menu is huge with no decent customisation or pinning apps. Consider backing your data before upgrading in case something is not going to go smoothly. You can go ahead and upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as it comes out in October. The new release looks promising, and various issues people have already indicating should be fixed. The same goes for many problems with previous versions and things that users have complained about for years. Microsoft released a preview update on 22nd November to address the performance issues with NVMe, SSD, and hard disks on Windows 11.
They have identified that the problem persisted due to the enabled NTFS USN journal. This preview update has been launched and will be available to everyone. The first Visual Studio 2022 for Mac preview became available last fall, featuring support for .NET 6 and C# 10, speed and stability improvements and a better Git user experience. Subsequent preview releases (as of this writing, it's four previews in) have been focused more on fixing numerous bugs and less on delivering major new features and capabilities. However, Microsoft has hinted that it plans to add support for Apple's M1 processors at some point in the preview process. Since the release of Windows 11, users have complained about problems with color management and that the use of ICC color profiles does not work.
Now Microsoft has fixed the problem, which was officially confirmed in 2021, with the preview update KB from January 25, 2022. Any major operating system upgrade comes with an element of risk, and while I've not seen reports of any serious Windows 11 upgrade flaws yet, there's always the chance it will snag on your particular system. If you've got a stable Windows 10 installation and none of the new features are desperately appealing, why take the risk? Windows 10 will be supported with security updates until late 2025, so there's no rush to move. By the time 2025 rolls round, you'll likely be eyeing up a new PC anyway. Upgrade to Windows 11 if you have a new system — If you have a new computer or laptop with some solid hardware, and especially one that came with the promise of a Windows 11 update, you should upgrade to Windows 11.
As such, you're less likely to run into performance issues and bugs. There have been a few reported performance issues with Windows 11. The most prominent one causes a performance drop on AMD Ryzen systems. An update seems to have fixed this issue, which was related to the L3 cache. However, Hardware Unboxed has discovered another issue with Windows 11 and AMD CPUs, also related to the L3 cache.
This issue requires you to reinstall Windows 11 if you're swapping the CPU in your system. So it can't count as a general strike against performance in Windows 11. For long-time Windows users, this update may cause a few annoyances. The start button resides in the center by default, although you can move it back to the left. Also, the right-click menu hides away some menu options, like some app-specific functions you get with apps like Winrar, or some other Windows options like Troubleshoot compatibility. We've covered some of the worst Windows 11 changes, and how to fix them.
Ultimately, two months after release, our Windows 11 launch impressions remain largely unchanged, and we're discovering even more disappointing aspects to the OS—like the Windows 11 SSD issues, which apparently still persist. With that in mind, I wanted to verify that Windows 11 doesn't impact graphics card performance before switching to the new OS. Of course, that switch is still in the works since I'll be shifting to an Alder Lake Core i K system for GPU reviews in the near future. And of course, using Alder Lake is one of the only good reasons to switch to Windows 11, thanks to the new process scheduler that integrates with Intel's Thread Director hardware.
If you're affected, your Windows 11 installation could act slightly slower than before. This build lets you quickly share content from open app windows directly from your taskbar to your Teams meeting calls. In addition, a wide variety of bugs have been fixed, including one in which Clipboard history wasn't working properly, and another in which explorer.exe crashed when using the touch keyboard.
This build gives new capabilities to voice access, including spelling words and entering numbers, punctuation marks, and symbols and emojis. Windows Widgets are back in Windows 11, accessible via the dock, with Microsoft touting AI-powered dynamic features that enable widgets, as with the Start menu, to change depending on the apps you're using and the time of day. On the touchscreen, you can slide from the left on the desktop to have widgets appear. On June 24, 2021, Windows 11 was introduced first and its official version was released on October 5, 2021. Since the release of this new operating system, many users have upgraded to Windows 11 because of its brand new UI design and some new features & improvements. Android application support is another great new feature that should compensate for those cons, including the lack of tools that go away with this built or the different look.
We should remind you that Windows 10 updates are still causing issues, so jumping straight to upgrading the Windows 11 might not be the best option right after the release. Also, the problem where the Reddit app kept running in the background came to light with iOS 15 beta 8. There were even compatibility issues with Microsoft apps on the iOS and iPadOS 15 RC updates. Microsoft's early Christmas present for administrators will come on 14 December when security updates and patches will cease.
The advice from the Windows behemoth is to upgrade to Windows 11 if possible; an option sadly not available to all. These include users of Microsoft's own Surface Go, which was on sale as 2020 opened. The original Go was equipped with an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU, which sadly does not appear on the infamous hardware compatibility list for Windows 11. Microsoft has issued a series of out-of-band patches to correct problems, which included Windows domain controller boot loops and Hyper-V failure, caused by the January 11 Patch Tuesday updates.
According to the changelog for the preview update, named KB , Microsoft finally addressed the performance regression issue that occurs when you enable the update sequence number journal. This is typically where Windows stores the filesystem changes made to your disk drive. And, per posts on social media, was the culprit of poor SSD speeds from the beginning.
"To enable this support, we will be moving the IDE to run on the .NET 6 CLR ," senior program manager Jordan Matthiesen was quoted as saying in this Visual Studio Magazine article about preview 3. Hover your mouse pointer over the maximize window icon and you get a choice to snap the window to the left or right of the screen, or a variety of different configurations. These screen configurations are available in Windows 10, but they are now much easier to find and makes working with multiple windows much easier. Windows 11 is a free upgrade, but the minimum system requirements are quite a bit higher than ever before. Microsoft calls Windows 11 the most secure Windows yet, and that tag comes at the cost of backward compatibility.
Trusted Platform Module 2.0, aka TPM 2.0, is one of those requirements. There are ways to manually install Windows 11 on incompatible systems, but those include giving up on official future updates via Windows Update and/or modifying the Windows 11 ISO file to remove security checks. Stardock's new Start11 app lets you skin the appearance of the Windows 11 Start menu. You can bring back the classic appearance of the Start menu, change the taskbar size, and position it across multiple monitors.
Windows 11 users shouldn't really need to resort to third-party apps just to bring back basic taskbar functionality that has existed in Windows for decades, but until Microsoft addresses this area, Start11 certainly helps. If you're missing the time and date on multiple monitors, there's also ElevenClock that will help until Microsoft brings back this feature next year. Microsoft has released Windows 11, and while its public reception is much better than that of, for example, Windows Vista, certain design changes have proven controversial.
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