WINDOWS 11: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
What’s new in Windows 11?
Windows 11 includes major changes to how the desktop looks, along with a range of new tools and features.
Visually, the most obvious change is that the Start menu and program icons sit in the centre of the taskbar. You can shift these back to the left side of your taskbar if you like, but we enjoyed its new position when testing a preview release of Windows 11 (find out how to install this on page 55).
The Start menu also gets a refresh, and slides up into view when you click the Start button ( 1 in the screenshot below). The animated live tiles of Windows 10 (which continuously update to reveal further information, such as how many unread emails you have) are replaced by smaller, static icons 2 with more spacing between them, mimicking the icons on phones and tablets.
Microsoft has changed the appearance of windows on the desktop, giving them a slightly translucent background and colours that match your desktop theme. We like the curved corners on each window, which helps them blend in with the desktop.
Aesthetics aside, one of the biggest new features in Windows 11 is that you can install and run Android apps. You have to download them via the Amazon App Store (see screenshot above right) instead of Google Play, so you don’t have the same selection of apps as on your phone (around 700,000 apps compared with Google’s 3 million), but most of the big names are there.
Windows 11 also lets you organise the windows on your desktop using a new
Snap tool (see screenshot below right), access a range of widgets (similar to desktop gadgets in Windows 7) and benefit from smaller, less intrusive updates, which Microsoft claims will be 40 per cent faster than those in Windows 10.
We’ll take a closer look at all the new features – and how to get equivalents of them in Windows 10 – a bit later.
Will it work on my computer?
Shortly after announcing Windows 11, Microsoft released the PC Health Check tool to let you check whether your computer was compatible with the new operating system.
However, Microsoft removed it following criticism that the tool marked some computers as incompatible without explaining why.
We suspect Microsoft is also having a rethink about the minimum system requirements, which at present will leave many computers stuck on Windows 10. Microsoft says it will release an improved version of the tool “soon” (you can check whether it’s available yet at www.snipca.com/38799).
If your computer was built in the past four years, there’s a good chance it will run Windows 11. Anything older than that might need to be upgraded or replaced.
On page 52, we explain Windows 11’s minimum system requirements and reveal a more reliable way to check whether your computer is compatible.
When can I get it?
Microsoft says new computers with Windows 11 will be available to buy by Christmas. It might be even earlier, with rumours of an October launch, while other reports suggest 11 November (11/11).
We think the latter is more likely, giving Microsoft more time to iron out bugs, but still get new Windows 11 computers on the shelves before Christmas.
However, if you’re upgrading an existing computer from Windows 10, you’ll need to wait. Microsoft will roll the Windows 11 update out gradually, starting in early 2022.
How much will upgrading cost?
Upgrades from Windows 10 to Windows 11 will be free. Microsoft says this free offer will last one year from the release of Windows 11, but we expect it to be available for much longer (despite officially ending the free Windows 10 upgrade in 2016, Microsoft still lets you upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1 via www.snipca.com/38798).
Will my old devices still work?
Microsoft says all hardware (graphics cards, printers and so on) that works with the latest version of Windows 10 should continue to work in Windows 11. Yes, that’s a big ‘should’.
We know from bitter experience that Windows 10 Feature updates can prevent older hardware from working properly, so we’d be surprised if Windows 11 doesn’t create a few problems of its own.
Can I stick with Windows 10?
There’s no requirement to upgrade to Windows 11 – you can refuse the free upgrade when offered and continue using Windows 10. Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 until 14 October 2025, though we suspect it might extend this if it judges that, as the deadline approaches, too many computers worldwide are still running Windows 10, which would mean certain hardware becoming unsupported (and unsafe).
However, it remains to be seen how hardware manufacturers react to the demise of Windows 10. Some smaller manufacturers might decide to stop producing driver updates for Windows 10 before support ends in 2025, instead choosing to concentrate on Windows 11, which would mean certain hardware (webcams, graphics cards, printers etc) becoming unsupported in Windows 10. Also, as we head towards 2025, some new hardware – particularly processors – may work only with Windows 11, so you wouldn’t be able to install them on your existing Windows 10 computer should you decide to look for a faster processor.