Should You Upgrade to Windows 11?

Microsoft introduced Windows 11 on Oct. 5, 2021, as a free upgrade from Windows 10. This is a rolling introduction, so over time when you check for updates on your Windows 10 computer, it will ask if you want to download and upgrade to Windows 11. You don’t see the upgrade? There is a chance that you haven’t been selected to download it yet or your computer is not within the proper specifications to successfully run Windows 11. Here are the base requirements:

• 64-bit processor
• 4GB of memory
• 64GB of storage
• UEFI secure boot
• TPM Trusted Platform Module 2.0

It’s that last one that gets tricky for some people, especially on cheaper laptops. If you’ve got a CPU older than a seventh-gen Intel Core series (we’re up to 11th-gen now), you might be in trouble. There is an application you can run to see if your computer is capable of running Windows 11. Search Google for “Microsoft PC Health Check App.” For you techies out there, there are workarounds for installing Windows 11 anyway, but proceed with those at your own risk.

Once you install Windows 11, you are going to see the first visual difference. The start menu and taskbar are now centered on the bottom of the screen, rather than aligned to the left by default.

Easily organizing a bunch of open windows so you can see and access them when you want (and hide them when you don’t) is handy once you get the hang of it. The ability to snap windows into preset slots on the desktop has been around for a while now, but the new Snap Groups and Snap Layouts have made it easier for us.

Multiple desktops are a common MacOS feature, and a good way to keep your digital life organized. For example, you can keep all your work apps, email programs, browsers, video conference apps on one desktop, and all your gaming apps on another. Like on a Mac, you hot swap between them, it’s just a change in how your open apps are visualized.

Remember “Gadgets” in Windows 7? They are back but with a different name: Widget. On the plus side, the new widgets are easy to find. Hit the button and a semi-transparent panel pops out from the left edge of the screen. It has, by default, widgets for weather, your Outlook calendar, photos you may have in OneDrive, a To Do list and a few others. You can customize the list a bit, but there are not too many options for now.

Microsoft Teams is now fully integrated into Windows 11.

There are other additions like pressing Windows + Shift + S to take a screenshot and the Edge Browser now has a kid’s safe mode. A big one that they are working on is the ability to run Android Apps in windows. There are more and a simple search in Google will list the various changes to Windows 11.

The real question is whether it is worth upgrading? The answer is…wait. If you want the latest and greatest, go for it, install it, play with it. For the rest of us, and especially for businesses, let’s wait until the next update to 11 comes out. This revision to the current version of 11 will fix any bugs, issues and security flaws that may pop up during the initial introduction.

I know, I know, why can’t you give me a real answer? Here it is, if you MUST have the latest and greatest, install it. If you don’t have to have the latest and greatest, don’t install it, yet. QCBN

By Theo Soumilas

For additional information or to schedule an appointment to assist your business, call 928-719-7724 or visit northernazit.com.

Theo Soumilas is the owner of Northern Arizona IT servicing Arizona.