TechRadar Review Credits Windows 11 Fixes After Six Months, Flags Bugs
TechRadar's six-month report card on Microsoft's Windows 11 improvement campaign praises memory, speed, search, context-menu and privacy fixes while warning that quality-assurance problems persist.
In the latest assessment, TechRadar highlighted five areas where Microsoft has got things right. The first is performance tuning for PCs with 8GB of RAM. Microsoft said in August that one goal of its Windows 11 work is memory optimization for 8GB devices and for any RAM loadout, with the overall aim being to “Reduce Windows memory footprint to deliver a fast and responsive Windows experience across the PCs customers use every day.” TechRadar said the move is necessary because an ongoing RAM crisis is pushing laptop makers to rely more on 8GB configurations as 16GB becomes too pricey. The report said there is already evidence of performance improvements, including faster loading for apps and not just Windows menus.
The second area is speed. Microsoft has announced plans to speed up boot times, make Windows Hello login more responsive and streamline the Windows 11 setup process. TechRadar noted that Windows 11 already boots relatively quickly, but said the additional work should help users reach the desktop faster.
Search is the third area of progress. TechRadar said Windows 11 search has long been subpar, and Microsoft has moved to address some of its thornier problems. The improvements include finding files with long compound names, handling typos better and showing possibly relevant results after only two characters have been typed. The most important change, according to TechRadar, is the ability to turn off web results, which clutter the list, as well as Microsoft Store suggestions.
The right-click context menu is the fourth area. Microsoft is decluttering the lengthy list of options in the default view and tuning the menu to load faster. TechRadar also said a welcome option to revert the layout to how it appears in Windows 10 is in the pipeline.
Privacy controls are the fifth area. Microsoft is finally letting Windows 11 users adjust privacy controls for each installed app, according to TechRadar. Currently, that is only possible with apps from the Microsoft Store; other Win32 desktop apps have a single master toggle for allowing or blocking camera and microphone access, meaning users can allow everything or no apps at all. The change, currently in testing, would allow per-app privacy choices.
TechRadar also identified three glaring oversights that Microsoft has yet to address, beginning with quality assurance. The report said Windows 11 still has too many bugs appearing with annoying regularity. It cited broken backup features and audio being torpedoed by a Windows update as two recent glitches that emerged last month. TechRadar acknowledged that Windows is a complex operating system with many hardware configurations and a sprawling set of legacy features to maintain, but said the sheer level of bugs remains a problem.