Microsoft Windows 11 Review: A Redesigned, Copilot-Powered OS

Much of the work on the initial Windows 11 release went toward redesigning the interface rather than building wholly new features, so the OS is more familiar than you might expect. It borrows ideas from ChromeOS, though you can still place app icons on the desktop background, which Google’s lightweight desktop OS doesn’t allow.

Windowing and multitasking remain more advanced in Windows than in its competitors. The interface has rounded corners (like those in macOS) for all windows, which is not a significant change but does give the OS a smoother, more consistent look. Microsoft’s Fluent Design System and the system’s Mica material play large roles in the redesign. This semi-transparent look is appearing in more and more included apps and utilities.

Copilot in Windows

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Microsoft Copilot is an optional AI tool that has become increasingly humanlike. In the 24H2 version of Windows, you access it and resize its window just as you would any other Windows app. You give Copilot prompts or commands by typing in a chat box or clicking a microphone icon and speaking. The updated app now carries on remarkably natural conversions in one of six humanistic-sounding AI voices. A Quick View option displays a smaller always-on-top Copilot window.

Plug-in support is gone from the latest incarnation of Copilot, though similar agents will be coming, and other new tools are arriving at a good clip. Copilot Vision, for example, conversationally provides information about webpages you visit in the Edge web browser. The Think Deeper option, which uses more advanced AI models to delve into topics, is now free for all Copilot users.

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The Microsoft Copilot Labs blog says Think Deeper can “help with anything from solving tough math problems to weighing up the costs of managing home projects.” It also notes that the feature “can take more time before responding, allowing Copilot to deliver detailed, step-by-step answers to challenging questions.”

Strangely enough, Copilot+ has little to do with Copilot itself; it’s instead a set of locally processed and unique AI features that some newer PCs offer. Among them are Cocreator image generation, Live Caption translation, Studio Effects for video calls (like background blur and live filters), and the aforementioned Recall feature, which lets you search for recent actions on your computer via a timeline.

Start Menu and Taskbar

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The Start menu gets a complete overhaul. Pinned app buttons (larger than icons but smaller than Windows 10 tiles) are at the top of its panel. The Recommended section below them doesn’t work well for me. I prefer simple Recently Added and Most Used sections like those in Windows 10. The Start menu’s icons are adequate for touch input, but they’re smaller, and you lose the info that Windows 10’s live tiles offer, as annoying as some users find those to be.

Another quibble I have with the 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. You can now group pinned app icons into folders and change the portion of Pinned vs. Recommended icons that appear in the Start menu. News is out, however, of changes coming to the Start menu: You will be able to see every app by scrolling down, and a side panel for your smartphone can accompany the main Start menu to its right.

For decades, the Windows Start button lived in the lower-left-hand corner. Getting used to it being in the center instead could be one of the bigger adjustments you need to make in Windows 11. The issue for me is that, until now, the Start menu has always been in the exact same place. Now, if you run more programs, it moves a bit more to the left. Not having to think at all about the Start button’s position was a plus in Windows versions going back more than 20 years. Happily, a taskbar alignment option in Settings lets you move the Start button back to its rightful position in the left corner.

I wasn’t crazy about the new taskbar in Windows 11’s initial release, but subsequent updates have rectified my issues with it. You can choose to have the taskbar buttons wider by selecting the Never Combine option in Settings. In Windows 11, you can still hover over the buttons to see a thumbnail of the app window and right-click to view the Jump List, which shows recent documents or other common actions for the app.

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File Explorer

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File Explorer is a good example of Windows 11’s new look, particularly its left panel controls and colorful folder icons. Note the simplified ribbon along the top, which is far less busy and distracting than Windows 10’s File Explorer. It also now has tabs, so you can use several pages in one window. The Gallery view shows recent photos you’ve added, no matter where they reside on the disk. Finally, the system can handle 7-Zip and RAR files without the need for third-party software.

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File Explorer’s New button at the top left works for new folders or documents supported by your apps, and the same viewing options (list, details, differently sized icons) for files are available. The overflow menu has file compression, selection, and Properties options, as well as the old Folder Options dialog. The right-click context menus get a small update for version 24H2: They now show text in addition to the icons for copy, paste, and so on across the top. The context menus, in general, are clearer, shorter, and smarter in Windows 11. They show only the most often-needed options, but you can tap “Show more options” to see the extra menu items that installed programs add.

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If you want still more functionality out of your file manager, you always have the option of using one of several File Explorer Alternatives. But you no longer need one of those to use tabs. And if you’re on a Copilot+ PC, you now have natural-language semantic search in File Explorer, meaning you can type something descriptive rather than exact.

Windows Search

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The search function started life in Windows 11 as a mere button, but it can once again display as a real entry box that you type in. You can choose whether you want a button, a box, or no search at all in Settings. Just clicking in the search box shows you a daily spotlight on the left (World Donkey Day in the screenshot above) and a list of icons of recent apps along the left. This layout is actually more useful than the Start menu if you’re just looking to jump back into an app. Once again, Copilot+ PC users get semantic search here.

Widgets

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Windows 11 has a Widget panel that shows you tiles for news, weather, stock quotes, sports scores, and more. It’s not entirely new since the News and Interests taskbar pop-up in Windows 10 is similar, down to including a weather indicator on the taskbar. You can full-screen the panel if you really want to dig into it. In addition to Microsoft-produced first-party tiles in the Widgets panel, third-party developers can offer content through Windows 11’s widgets. Third-party entrants include Spotify and Meta Messenger. If your machine has a touch screen, you can easily swipe in from the left to open widgets and full-screen the panel to get a bigger view.

The left column is where the widgets you choose appear, and the right side has widgets in the Discover, Following, Play, and Gaming sections. The first three from the latter group are mostly content from news sites. An Entertainment widget surfaces new movies and TV shows, and the Family widget is good for those who use Microsoft Family Safety parental controls tools.

Notifications and Quick Settings

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Windows 11’s Notifications resemble macOS’s previous notification area, which used to be a clean, simple, single panel but is now a collection of smaller pop-ups. The Windows 11 version isn’t as bad as the macOS one since it doesn’t pop up a new box for every notification that you must dismiss by clicking an X, but I still prefer Windows 10’s single Action Center panel for notifications and quick settings. I appreciate the circled number that shows how many notifications you have. Touch users can swipe in from the right to display the Notifications panel.

The Quick Settings panel opens when you click on or tap the connection, speaker, or battery (if it’s a laptop) icon. The included buttons vary by PC, but you usually see buttons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, Energy Saver, and Accessibility, along with sliders for audio volume (now with a source mixer) and screen brightness.

The 24H2 update adds the ability to scroll the panel so that it can accommodate more control buttons. The panel includes Cast (for external displays and audio), Nearby Sharing (like AirDrop for PCs), Night Light, and Project. Copilot+ PCs get more buttons here for exclusive features like Live Captions, Recall, and Studio Effects. You can still hover over each of the three icons in the taskbar to see their status, but I prefer to have just sound settings pop up when I press the speaker and just Wi-Fi options when I press the Wi-Fi icon.

Snap Layouts and Multitasking

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Windows has long surpassed macOS in the way it lets you arrange app windows on the screen, and the gap grows wider with Windows 11’s Snap Layouts option, even after macOS Sequoia started mimicking the Windows feature. You get to Windows’ Snap Layout feature by hovering the cursor over the maximize button at the top right of any window. When you hover over the maximize button, you see a choice of layouts—two windows side-by-side, three with one large and two small, and so on, as shown above. The layout thumbnails even show you the app icons of running apps to help you choose where to place them.

Snap Layouts appear as options in the taskbar, so you can either open a group of apps or a single app. You also see layouts preserved when you open a group of apps on an external monitor multiple times. Snap Layouts also works on touch tablets, but using it isn’t particularly intuitive.

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Windows still gives you multiple virtual desktops, something I find incredibly useful for separating work apps and websites from personal ones. I either press Ctrl-Windows Key-Arrow to move back and forth between them or the Windows Key-Tab keyboard shortcut to choose one from Task View. With Windows 11, you can use a four-finger swipe to move back and forth, something Mac users have long enjoyed, though only via trackpad rather than right on the screen. Also new is the ability to set different desktop backgrounds (aka wallpapers) for each desktop. Setting up a wireless display is another option for separating computing tasks, and Windows 11 doesn’t make that process too difficult.