Over the last couple of years AI has been popping up everywhere, including in Windows 11. What’s interesting is the response from everyday people both at work and at home.
First people were skeptical or unsure about AI. Then they were amazed by it. Then they started tinkering with how it could help them at work. And then they ran into its limitations. Somewhere along the way, sentiment started to change a bit. People got annoyed with AI — and with how every single big tech company seemed to be cramming AI-powered everything into just about every software and platform.
Don’t get us wrong: AI delivers genuine value in business, and it’s a good idea to look for where exactly it can improve specific areas of your workflows.
AI-powered meeting summaries are incredible, for example: they give you capabilities most businesses were never going to pay to do manually. The best ones even surface insights you might have missed.
What’s New in Windows 11
Let’s get back to Windows: if you’ve felt like recent updates were a little obnoxious on the AI front, you aren’t alone.
Copilot is genuinely fantastic at some things. But some of the other instances of AI in Windows seem useless or annoying.
And some could even be downright dangerous (we’re looking at you, Windows Recall…).
Microsoft has gotten some bad PR lately in the form of AI backlash (there’s even a term for it: Microslop). And based on the latest preview build of Windows 11, it looks like Microsoft is taking note.
Most of the new features in the latest build are decidedly AI-free. Most aren’t very flashy, either. This is more of a quality of life update that improves lots of little things that annoy lots of users.
Here’s a quick list of a few changes:
- Network speed test in taskbar: Instead of going to speedtest.net or another site (and fighting through the accompanying ads), you can just run a test in your taskbar. This will give you a quick answer on whether a slowdown is due to your internet connection or something else.
- Adjusted app behavior in taskbar: When you have multiple windows open of the same app (like 4 Word docs or 3 different browser windows), things get weird in the taskbar, with some shoved off into an overflow area. This is changing so that your windows are easier to work with.
- Speed and performance tweaks: Microsoft is making changes under the hood that make Windows a touch faster, even on less capable hardware. One of these is changing how Windows resumes from sleep. If you’ve ever been leading a meeting and had to stall while your laptop slowly woke up, you’ll love this change.
Beneficial AI Adjustments
Microsoft has heard the masses saying they don’t want AI jammed into every empty space on their desktop, and it seems they have slowed the pace of AI rollouts. We think that’s a good thing.
Instead, Microsoft has worked to improve controls over the AI features already in Windows. In various AI contexts, you’ll start to see options to manually adjust what AI is doing or to dial back AI presence/visibility.
Better PC Performance Equals Better Business Performance
Small performance increases in Windows matter because time lost to slow, clunky PC experiences is time you can’t spend pushing your business forward. When Windows is faster and easier to use, you are faster too.
Compound this across your entire team, and you’ll see how small performance boosts add up.
Of course, there are lots of other ways to smooth out network and IT issues and give your team back more time to do what they do best. Working with a managed IT service provider like us is one of the best ways to find these efficiency gains. Reach out anytime to schedule a call.