A successful interface that streamlines the system
The biggest novelty of Windows 11 that we cannot escape and which has caused so much ink to flow: its new interface. As soon as the system is first configured on a new machine, it is displayed in front of your eyes. Colored icons, rounded buttons, white theme instead of blue backgrounds: it's impossible not to see the change. Obviously, the aesthetic appreciation of an interface depends on tastes and colors. We can all the same say that the new design of Windows 11 is in tune with the times and rather well worked. In my case, I fully adhere to the choices that have been made for Windows 11 and I find the new system much "cleaner" than what Windows 10 offered.
But the most important is what cannot be seen in pictures: the animations. Microsoft has reworked animations all over the system extensively to make the user experience feel much smoother. This is exactly what Apple and Google have accustomed us to on iOS and Android. The animations participate enormously in the appreciation of a system. This is especially true if you have a high refresh rate screen. It is not for nothing that the new Surface range includes 120 Hz screens.
The Start menu
Each version of Windows has its own function which will divide users. For Windows 11, it's simple, it's the Start menu. After ending the Start screen with Windows 10, Microsoft gives up its work and brings a whole new Start menu to the center of the experience, literally.
There is a Start menu that is intended to be as simple as possible: a list of shortcuts to pinned applications, a list of documents and applications recommended by Microsoft and the ability to launch a search or access the complete list of installed applications. No more dynamic tiles, no folders, no shortcut sorting, no magic widget: an app launcher in its simplest form. This is a recurring trend in Windows 11 that you will quickly understand: a new interface that is simple to use, but which lacks features.
Beyond the apparent simplicity of this Start menu, I think its new location will bother most people. In my opinion, its new default location in the center has no ergonomic interest, apart from giving Windows 11 a taste of novelty. Worse, it is not really in the center, but rather to the left of the centered shortcuts. This means that the more shortcuts you have in the taskbar, the further left it will be. In other words, his position will change and you will never really have the muscle reflex of his position. Fortunately, it is possible to put it back on the bottom left, which I quickly did.
Quick actions and notifications
Another important part of the system that has been reviewed can be found at the bottom right of the screen. Everything is now divided so as not to get lost. We first have the notifications which open a shutter with the list of all the notifications received grouped by applications and a shortcut to the concentration function allowing to deactivate the notifications in certain situations. This is also where we find the calendar of the month. This new version no longer offers to directly manage your agenda and create events.
If you click on the volume or the network icon, you come across the quick actions pane of Windows 11. It is here that you can easily adjust the sound volume and brightness, activate or not the Wi-Fi. Fi and Bluetooth or broadcast its display on an external screen, in a meeting for example.
Widgets, Teams, multitasking and search
Among the major elements of the system interface, we must address the disappearance of Cortana. The assistant is retiring and is definitely replaced by a new search engine that incorporates the elements of the latest versions of Windows 10: the ability to search on the web or on the PC, and Microsoft suggestions such as the latest applications. launched.
Unfortunately, web research must go through Bing, and in our country this search engine still lacks relevance to Google. I have been using Bing on a daily basis for several years, and the search engine is still unable to find the answers I am looking for with quite simple queries. Not offering an alternative search engine here is doing Windows 11 a disservice. The function is bound to lose its interest.
The same problem affects the Widget menu which includes interactive elements for the various Microsoft applications. It's very interesting when it comes to ToDo, the calendar or even the weather, but much less when it comes to the very bad Microsoft News. Microsoft's article aggregation service is very irrelevant in our country when it does not highlight tabloid articles, or outright false information. I did not find the Widget pane very relevant to use on a desktop PC. It disappears as soon as you click elsewhere, which makes multitasking, for example between a website and the calendar, quite difficult. On a tablet, the shutter only takes up a small part of the screen. We would have liked to have a widget screen as Microsoft presented it in the first Windows 11 videos.
Multitasking is more efficient than ever. First, we can now easily rename the different desktops and customize their wallpapers to make them easier to distinguish. Especially Microsoft now offers a better version of the "snap" which allows you to attach a window to an edge of the screen. This has been one of the great strengths of Windows since Windows 7 and it is interesting to see Microsoft continue to improve on this asset.
By leaving the cursor on the window icon of the title bar, a configuration selection appears. With one click we determine the new position of our window and where we place the other open windows in the remaining spaces. Convenient to quickly divide the screen into three or four zones and increase its productivity.
Last item on the default taskbar: Microsoft Teams. The firm wants to put its communication service at the center of Windows 11 to push the adoption of Teams by both businesses and individuals. Microsoft would indeed like you to chat through Microsoft Teams between family members for the week's schedule or homework. In fact, the application does not really call for use by the first comer, it is hard to imagine "creating a meeting" to talk with your brother. Beyond that, I encountered several bugs from the first use of the tool that make me think that the integration of Teams in Windows 11 is not really ready. Inviting someone to a written chat never worked, the "service was having a problem" when the person tried to join, and it added a notification to my Microsoft Teams, without the software being able to tell me where it came from. this notification. Result: I have a “2” bubble on my Teams icon which cannot disappear.
Parameters reviewed and corrected
Redesigning settings has been one of Microsoft's big projects throughout the life of Windows 10. Work takes another leap forward with Windows 11, which offers a settings application that is much more convenient to use and better to store. All the options are indexed by the Windows search engine, so it is often unnecessary to go through the main settings menu before finding the one you want to change.
The main options are easy to access and the advanced settings generally do not require you to exit the settings. For the deeper settings, dedicated to advanced users, the Settings application will still offer a direct link to the right window. It's always taken.
We also like the redesign of Windows Update which now displays the estimated time to download and install updates. So many small practical additions that facilitate the management of the PC on a daily basis.
History is still below the surface
If you are familiar with Windows, you won't be surprised to know that the leftovers from previous versions are still there. As always, Microsoft adds a new layer to its mille-feuille, and by digging a little, we can dig into the layers until we find elements of Windows 98 or Windows 95. We are especially disappointed that the firm does not have managed to at least completely erase the passage of Windows 8 and Windows 10.
It cannot be denied that there has been a big effort to modernize a lot of interface elements, even File Explorer is finally entitled to a new version. But all you have to do is ask for the PC to be reset, to put it back to factory condition, to discover a window dating from Windows 10. You just have to touch the control panel, still there, to fall back on Windows Vista or from Windows XP. Apple has however demonstrated with the latest versions of macOS that it is possible to completely review, from A to Z, the interface of a system.
The Microsoft Store: the best new feature of Windows 11
Since the launch of Windows 8, Windows has integrated an application store. Inherited from the world of smartphones, it allows in principle to find software and games easily and install them with confidence. It also makes it easy to keep them up to date. Clearly the contract had not been fulfilled until then, especially with Windows 10. Microsoft offered a store full of malicious applications, which was not able to reliably download applications or updates and which was the source countless problems.
With Windows 11, Microsoft offers a brand new Microsoft Store revised and corrected. And this is perhaps my favorite novelty of Windows 11 as Microsoft finally seems to have made the necessary efforts. On the one hand, the store itself is much more stable. The navigation is smooth and pleasant and we download applications and games without bugs. In any case, I did not encounter any problem during several months of testing with this new store, when it was enough to look askance at the Windows 10 store not to succeed in downloading a game.
Microsoft has also worked on the content of its store by breaking down a number of restrictions. We are starting to find alternative stores like the Epic Game Store, or alternative browsers like Opera, but also many popular applications: Discord, VLC, TikTok, Spotify. Little by little, it becomes less and less necessary to leave the Microsoft Store to download a software or a game.
Microsoft should now take its courage in both hands to clean its store of countless malicious applications. They are still too numerous and the store's search engine presents them in first position when the official application is not available.
Windows 11 Home: Microsoft account required
Microsoft continues to offer two different editions of Windows for home users: the home version and the professional version. It is in my opinion a complete anachronism which is only the legacy of an old habit of Microsoft and which should not change much in its turnover. In 2021, Windows 11 should have only one edition for individuals: Windows 11. The differences between the two editions have become laughable over the versions of Windows, the Pro version offers some additional features such as BitLocker management, Hyper-V or Windows Sandbox virtualization.
With Windows 11, however, Microsoft gives the Pro version another advantage: the use of a Microsoft account is not mandatory. In fact, with Windows 11 Home, the use of a Microsoft account (Outlook.com, Xbox Live) is now mandatory. It is written in the conditions of use. We did the test: you can't escape it during the PC configuration steps. It also means that it is mandatory to be connected to the Internet during the initialization of a PC under Windows 11 Home.
An interesting synchronization
I know that having to use a Microsoft account is going to cringe, but you have to admit that Microsoft is just following the standard of modern operating systems. We use an Apple account on iPhone and iPad, and a Google account on Android. Note also that the synchronization of the Microsoft account is very well done by Windows 11. In my case, I use a Microsoft account without password and the configuration was done very easily: I entered my email address and I received a push notification on my smartphone to validate the authentication. Windows Hello is also always there to manage identification by Pin code, by fingerprint reader or by facial recognition.
Applications: Microsoft unites Windows 7 and Windows 10
Like every version of the system, Windows 11 comes with applications preinstalled by Microsoft. With Windows 8 then Windows 10, the firm had created new applications in duplicate with that of Windows 7: Paint 3D as a nickname replacing Paint, Snip & Sketch as a replacement for the screenshot tool, etc. With Windows 11, Microsoft has made the interesting choice to go back to old applications, those of Windows 7, and to bring them up to date.
Paint3D therefore disappears (we can still find it on the store), but the preinstalled Paint gains a new very modern interface. Overall, it's very successful and it gives the impression of a very harmonious system with applications designed for the latest version. We particularly like the new version of the Photos application which is much more stable than that of Windows 10 and allows photo editing very easily. The screenshot app is also much more pleasant to use.
For the first time in many years, Microsoft has completely reworked File Explorer. The context menu has in particular been revised to keep only the essential options. If you want to access the full menu, it takes one more click, but in principle it's rare to need it. The new interface perfectly harmonizes the explorer with the light theme or the dark theme of the system.
Obviously the default browser is the "new" Microsoft Edge, the one based on Chromium. Since our first tests, the browser continues to improve update after update. There is little reason today to install an alternative browser as Microsoft Edge is both powerful and fully customizable with all Chrome WebStore compatible extensions. This is also what Microsoft seems to think, which made changing the default browser become more complex with Windows 11.
On the other hand, playing movies and music still leaves much to be desired. It still goes through the Movies & TV app and the Groove Music app, and it would be necessary for Microsoft to rework those aspects of the system with something more functional. Here, the firm has kept what already existed with Windows 10. It also lacks certain functions found on macOS such as video editing beyond the cutting offered by the Photos application.
A new tablet experience
Windows 11 puts an end to the tablet mode of Windows 10 which had already lost its interest over the updates. Now the system can adapt to the “posture” of a 2-in-1 machine. If you use your device as a tablet, Windows can more easily detect the things you want to touch and display them more widely than when you have a mouse in your hand. The new versions of applications such as the file explorer are also very well suited for tablet use.
Microsoft has returned the various touchscreen shortcuts that we knew with Windows 8: a swipe from the right displays notifications, from the left to display the widget pane. The movement of the windows is also quite easy with the finger with areas of transparency well done. The problem remains the weak ecosystem of applications designed for tablet use on the Microsoft Store. To date, if I had to choose a tablet, I would go with my eyes closed to an iPad entirely designed for this use. The arrival of Android apps may help, but Microsoft must also make efforts to push developers to strengthen the ecosystem.
Youth problems
Microsoft has made sure to simultaneously release Windows 11, a new generation of Surface and a new version of the Office suite. We imagine that this synchronization work must have been particularly complex internally, and that it was absolutely necessary to keep the planned release schedule. The direct consequence: in many ways, Windows 11 seems to be coming out in a hurry.
First, there is the disappearance of certain options. For example the new taskbar which can no longer be moved or whose drag & drop files to icons no longer work. Until Windows 10, it was possible to drag files to a shortcut to directly drop these files into this application (the file explorer for example). If you are using multiple displays, the taskbar no longer displays the time on secondary displays. It was a habit I had to watch the time on my second screen while a game was running full screen on the main screen. The taskbar is also impossible to expand or shrink easily, without going through the registry editor.
In many ways, Windows 11 seems to be coming out in a hurry.
There are also the various bugs that can still be found. Of course, this will depend on machine to machine, but I regularly encountered taskbar crashes that made quick actions inaccessible. Instead, friends have had file explorer crashing issues. There are also the translation problems that can still be found here and there. This is now an issue that affects all Microsoft products. The quality of the French localization has collapsed for several years.
In addition, there are some new features promised for Windows 11 that are absent from this first version. Android applications for Windows 11 are now planned for the course of the year 2022. The 1800 new Windows 11 emojis are still missing. The Direct Storage feature promised for video games cannot be found at this time. Looks like the API is available, but games aren't using it yet. Finally, even the dynamic management of the screen refresh rate will not be offered upon the release of the first compatible devices, including Surface. With these late novelties, Windows 11 is not that different from Windows 10.
With these late novelties, Windows 11 is not that different from Windows 10.
It should be noted once again that all these comments are made on the commercial version of Windows 11, we are not talking about a beta here. It seems clear that these various problems can be corrected with major updates that will arrive in 2022. We must not forget that Windows 11 was developed in the midst of a pandemic, and we know that such pharaonic project management can only be complex in such circumstances. However, all this contributes to think that nothing is lost by waiting for a later version of Windows 11, more mature.
performances
Is Windows 11 Better Optimized Than Windows 10? Can we get better performance with the new system? First, we must remember that Windows 11 is not reinventing the wheel. Microsoft keeps the same kernel and on the pure technical aspect, Windows 11 translates as a simple new major update to Windows 10, as there have been several since the release of the previous system in 2015.
On a machine updated from Windows 10 to Windows 11, we did not observe a significant change in performance. Ultimately, Windows 11 should offer better performance on modern machines, in particular thanks to Direct Storage allowing better use of SSDs and better scheduling of tasks on hybrid processors. Either way, we can't verify at this time, Intel has yet to launch its hybrid processors, and Direct Storage is not yet offered by a game.
On new machines, the VBS (or Security Based on Virtualization) function could limit the performance to guarantee better security of Windows 11. Those and those who want to obtain the most performance at the expense of this security element can however disable the function in the Windows security settings. On the PC we tested, it was activated and that does not prevent you from playing greedy video games in good conditions. On some securities, the drop in performance with the activation of this option can reach 30%.
Video Games
Windows 11 does not bring great news for gamers. Microsoft is content to put much more forward the famous Xbox Game Pass, its video game subscription service which is now the center of its gaming strategy. The integrated application allows you to download and install games from the PC catalog, stream games installed from your console, but also and above all access the games catalog in cloud gaming.
The functions of Windows 10 are still there like the Xbox Game Bar accessible with "Win + G" and really very practical for managing your PC from a game. This function makes it possible to monitor performance, adjust the volumes of the various applications, change music on Spotify or even talk to your Xbox friends. Too bad all the same not to have made the ecosystem evolve a little more, in particular by making it easier to share video clips from your Xbox on social networks.
We would like to see Microsoft take a more serious look at functions that could help the daily practice of video games. I am thinking for example of a better way to save the parts of the games which are today distributed in various places of the storage, and sometimes saved on the system storage.
Excluded from Windows 11
Unfortunately, Windows 11 will not be accessible to everyone. Microsoft has imposed fairly strict conditions to install its new system, relying on arguments of reliability and security. The result is that many machines will not be able to officially install Windows 11. Fortunately, Windows 10 will continue to be updated and will receive some new features of Windows 11 such as the new Microsoft Store.
Still, Microsoft strongly advocates accessibility and inclusiveness, and factually, Windows 11 will not be accessible to the greatest number. On the issue of accessibility, the system is not yet at the level of what Apple can offer with macOS. Microsoft is making progress from version to version, but some elements like the magnifying glass are still less practical to use than their equivalents at Apple.
Windows 11: How to install the update without waiting for the deployment
Do you have a Windows PC compatible with Windows 11 and want to install the new Microsoft system now? Here is how to do it.
Read more
Everything you need to know about Microsoft Windows 11
- Dell Inspiron 15: with 400 euros discount, this powerful laptop becomes a good deal
- Windows 11: the Weather button could be back in the taskbar
- Google announces the arrival of Android games on Windows in 2022
- Windows 11: you'll love using the new version of Notepad
- Windows 11: Intel and Microsoft fix a DRM bug that hampered around fifty games
