Will There Be Windows 12 After Windows 11

Warren noted that he rarely used the Widgets panel or Microsoft Teams, citing that he preferred the weather display that later versions of Windows 10 offered, and didn't use Teams to communicate with his friends and family. He also acknowledged the expansion of Microsoft Store to include more "traditional" desktop applications. Overall, he concluded that "I wouldn't rush out to upgrade to Windows 11, but I also wouldn't avoid it. After all, Windows 11 still feels familiar and underneath all the UI changes, it's the same Windows we've had for decades." If your existing Windows 10 PC is running Windows 10 20H1 or later and meets the minimum hardware specificationsit will be able to upgrade to Windows 11.

Will There Be Windows 12 The upgrade rollout plan is still being finalized, but for most devices already in use today, we expect it to be ready sometime in early 2022. Not all Windows 10 PCs that are eligible to upgrade will be offered to upgrade at the same time. To see if your PC is eligible to upgrade, refer to our knowledge base for a list of tested systems. Once the upgrade rollout has started, you can check if it is ready for your device by going to Settings/Windows Updates.

Similar to how end users are notified when updates are available in Windows 10, end users will see an indication in the notification areas of the taskbar in the bottom right, that the upgrade is available. More information on how that is presented will be available at a later date. Additional desktop notification options may be also be added at a later date.

Cunningham concluded that "as I've dug into and learned its ins and outs for this review, I've warmed to it more", but argued that the OS was facing similar "public perception" issues to Windows Vista and Windows 8. Internet Explorer has been replaced by the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser, and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via Microsoft Store, and to support Android apps on Windows 11 . The new Windows OS takes cues from its smartphone relatives, simplifying basic settings changes and making them easy to access.

One click or tap in the corner of your taskbar to pull up a control panel similar to Apple's Control Center, which lets you futz with settings like brightness and volume, connectivity, and more. Windows apps now feature more aesthetically pleasing curved corners, and the Settings app has more options to change how you interact with the OS thanks to more accessibility features. New sounds and audio cues are available for blind users, and themes for people with light sensitivity or those working long hours have been updated to be easier on the eyes. A redesigned user interface is present frequently throughout the operating system, building upon Fluent Design System; translucency, shadows, a new color palette, and rounded geometry are prevalent throughout the UI.

A prevalent aspect of the design is an appearance known as "Mica", described as an "opaque, dynamic material that incorporates theme and desktop wallpaper to paint the background of long-lived windows such as apps and settings". If your existing Windows 10 PC is running the most current version of Windows 10 and meets the minimum hardware specifications it will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. Not all Windows 10 PCs that are eligible to upgrade to Windows 11 will be offered to upgrade at the same time. To see if your PC is eligible to upgrade, download the PC Health Check app.

In October 2019, Microsoft announced "Windows 10X", a future edition of Windows 10 designed exclusively for dual-touchscreen devices such as the then-upcoming Surface Neo. Legacy Windows applications would also be required to run in "containers" to ensure performance and power optimization. Microsoft stated that it planned to release Windows 10X devices by the end of 2020. The official, release version of Windows 11 is now available as a free upgrade to anyone who has Windows 10 and a PC that meets Microsoft's minimum hardware requirements. However, the Redmond software giant isn't pushing the upgrade to every eligible system at once.

Some users will be offered the option to upgrade in their Settings menu on or around the October 5th official launch date while others may be waiting until 2022. 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. As with Windows 10, you can let the company know what you'd like to see added to the software, 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. It lets you experience new features before they're available for general release.

The next major update, 22H2 is expected to add Start menu options along with some redesigned stock apps. Original equipment manufacturers can still ship computers without a TPM 2.0 coprocessor upon Microsoft's approval. Some third-party software may refuse to run on unsupported configurations of Windows 11.

The "Widgets" button on the taskbar displays a panel with Microsoft Start, a news aggregator with personalized stories and content (expanding upon the "news and interests" panel introduced in later builds of Windows 10). Microsoft Teams is similarly integrated with the taskbar, with a pop-up showing a list of recent conversations. Perhaps the most important thing to know about the release of Windows 11 is that we should expect it to change significantly over the next few years. I've been using beta versions of Windows 11 for a month in the lead-up to writing this review, and it seems like every few days there's a minor new feature or redesigned app to check out.

We may not see that feature fully realized in Windows until next year. 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. Regardless, it's still early days for the desktop OS that's used on 1.3 billion PCs, so we look forward to Microsoft fine-tuning and perfecting Windows 11's design in future updates. Windows 11, unfortunately, ditches a couple of its best tablet- and touch-friendly features.

Most importantly, you can no longer swipe in from the left to open the task-switching view, a gesture I use all the time on my Surface Go tablet. You can no longer swipe down from the top to close an app, either. This omission is less of a big deal because you can still hit the X in the window's upper right corner as you'd do in desktop mode.

Again, though, for a handheld device, the down-swipe is more direct and requires less dexterity. There are, however, new three-finger swipe gestures to show the Task View and to minimize and app on the desktop. You can use the Task View button in the Taskbar, but it's not as immediate as a swipe of the thumb. I'd argue that switching tasks is more important to tablet users than accessing Widgets, which is what swiping your thumb now gets you. 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.

Microsoft does not recommend downloading Windows 11 on PCs that do not meet its standards, such as minimum 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, TPM chips, and supported processors. Windows 11 will not come as an automatic update for unsupported devices, but users will be able to download it off the web. Microsoft has an app called PC Health Check, which can be used to determine if a PC is ready for Windows 11. Some PCs also have TPM chips installed but disabled and you can turn them on by going into your BIOS settings. Those who have managed to get a hold of the Windows 11 iso or beta version report that the new design is refreshing.

Icons are livelier, and menus appear to have slightly rounded edges. The app transitions and animations appear to be seamless, delivering a better experience for users. However, these are not all the changes that would come with the next generation of windows as more details would be revealed through the official event. Pinned app buttons (they're larger than icons but smaller than Windows 10's tiles) are at the top of its panel. Recent and frequent apps and documents are in a section below them.

The Start menu's new mini-tiles are still good for touch input, but you lose info that live tiles offer, annoying as those could sometimes be. Another quibble I have with the new Start menu is that it's harder to get to the All Apps view than in Windows 10. With that version of Windows, you can see all installed apps as soon as you open the Start menu; they're in a list on the left while tiles for your pinned apps are on the right. This build becomes the fourth release for Windows 12 on the Windows Insider program.

The operating system would switch back for Microsoft developers and part of the Windows community to give feedback. Despite that, Microsoft opens a program from a Twitter announcement named Build your own Windows where users have to give feedback to polish the next major release of Windows. Instead of the somewhat clunky tiling system found in the previous iteration of the iconic taskbar, Windows 11 peels away the cruft and gives you what you need. In my case, it's a list of recently accessed files along with a tray of pinned apps for easy access, with a universal search bar at the top for easy web (or on-device) searching. The clean lines and use of widgets to display information like weather, news, and photos is a welcome change of pace from the busy screen in Windows 10.

The biggest change to Windows 11 is its more stringent hardware requirements. If your PC is recent, say, within the past five years, you should be alright, but older devices may be stuck with Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. That's not to say the company won't be providing security updates to Windows 10, but that's about as much as you can hope for. Since the controversial hardware decision—implemented for both performance and security reasons—Microsoft added Windows 11 support for some older computers, but the company still recommends against it. Microsoft unveiled Windows 11 last month, and it comes with a new interface, widgets, updated app icons and more. Microsoft has also rolled out the first Windows 11 Insider Preview for beta testers before the official release that's scheduled for later this year.

Windows 11 will be available as a free upgrade to Windows 10 users, and it will also come pre-installed on new PCs and laptops. As far as Windows 11 rollout is concerned, some reports have put it at October 20. So, even as we wait for the stable release of Windows 11, Microsoft has revealed how it will roll out updates. Windows 11 SE was announced on November 9, 2021, as an edition exclusively for low-end devices sold in the education market, and a successor to Windows 10 S.

It is bundled with applications such as Microsoft Office for Microsoft 365, Minecraft Education Edition, and Flipgrid, while OneDrive is used to save files by default. Windows 11 SE does not include Microsoft Store; third-party software is provisioned or installed by administrators. As part of the minimum system requirements, Windows 11 only runs on devices with a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 security coprocessor.

According to Microsoft, the TPM 2.0 coprocessor is a "critical building block" for protection against firmware and hardware attacks. In addition, Microsoft now requires devices with Windows 11 to include virtualization-based security , hypervisor-protected code integrity , and Secure Boot built-in and enabled by default. The operating system also features hardware-enforced stack protection for supported Intel and AMD processors for protection against zero-day exploits.

In January 2021, it was reported that a job listing referring to a "sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows" had been posted by Microsoft. A visual refresh for Windows, developed under the codename "Sun Valley", was reportedly set to re-design the system's user interface. Unveiled in June, Windows 11 is designed as Microsoft's most advanced operating system for PCs. The new version brings a fresh user interface that includes a centrally aligned Start menu and upgraded fonts as well as notification sounds. It also integrates Microsoft Teams to let users connect with others over chat, voice, or video calls. Windows 11 also improves multitasking with Snap Layouts and Groups.

It also supports multiple desktops and carries a range of accessibility features such as Narrator, Magnifier, Closed Captions, and Windows Speech Recognition. Windows 11 is the first version update to the most widely used PC operating system in the world in more than five years. Windows 11 is the next major version of the Windows operating system that Microsoft has just released.

The launch of this OS marks exactly six years since the company last released a new version of windows. Microsoft has not released another version of Windows for quite some time because Windows 10 was a continuously updated operating system. You can refer to our knowledge base for a list of tested systems to determine if your device eligible to upgrade to Windows -11. Many PCs that are less than four years old will be able to upgrade to Windows 11. They must be running 20H1 or later version of Windows 10 and meet the minimum hardware requirements to receive the Windows 11 upgrade.

If the Microsoft Surface family of products isn't your style though, other brands like Dell, Asus and HP have all released pages online that specify what devices are Windows 11 ready. Note that many won't come with the new operating system installed, but as they all meet the minimum system requirements, you can simply buy the laptop or 2-in-1 as normal and then update it yourself. 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.

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. One of the more irksome things about Windows 10 is its inconsistent settings windows and dialogs. Sometimes you uninstall a program in the new Settings app, sometimes in the antiquated Control Panel. For some detailed controls, such as sound devices, you still see the content in the old style, though the window uses the new design.

Windows 11 has a new Widget panel, which shows you tiles for news, weather, stock quotes, sports scores, and more. It's not entirely new since the News and Interests Taskbar popup that arrived in Windows 10 recently is exceedingly similar. I've gotten used to it being in the Taskbar in Windows 10, and thankfully a Windows Insider preview build shows that Microsoft is considering bringing back this useful button. To see the same info in Windows 11, you have to click on the Widgets icon in the Taskbar. In addition to Microsoft-produced first-party tiles, third-party developers can offer content through Windows 11's widgets, too. Touch screen users can easily swipe in from the left to open them and you can full-screen the widget panel if you want a bigger view.