What Microsoft presented as its vision for Windows 11 in 2021 has yet to materialize. Some once-hyped features of the desktop OS have quietly vanished, while others are mere shadows of what they could have been. Of course, lasting change is difficult. Back in 2015, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella famously said, “We want to move from people needing Windows to choosing Windows, to loving Windows. That is our bold goal…” I don’t feel like Microsoft has lived up to that promise, but addressing the problem areas below would show it still cares.
Every time I set up a new Windows 11 PC, taskbar widgets are always there to distract me with stock price movements and viral headlines from MSN News and the like. The experience is almost as bad as with Microsoft Edge’s noisy New Tab page.
Widgets were supposed to be a far more useful platform for app developers to show at-a-glance information, but few have bothered to embrace it. And I can’t blame them. Who wants their services to sit next to MSN clickbait?
I’d love widgets for the apps and services I frequently use, including Gmail and Google Calendar. But, for now, the widgets board serves as little more than a glorified weather panel for me—I turn off everything but the weather widget.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
2. The New File Explorer Is Still Buggy
I was extremely disappointed when Microsoft abandoned Windows 10’s Sets feature before it launched, since it would have (among other things) added tabs to File Explorer. So, I eagerly awaited improvements with Windows 11’s File Explorer.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Microsoft eventually added tabs, but the current version of File Explorer is nowhere near as reliable as it should be. I consistently experience performance issues and crashes when transferring files across multiple PCs. Now, I look back fondly on Windows 10’s File Explorer and would quickly trade tabs for better stability and performance. I’m not alone, either. Many Windows power users I talk to have already migrated to File Explorer alternatives.
3. True Android App Support Didn’t Materialize
The Windows Subsystem for Android was supposed to be a big part of Windows 11, allowing it to run Android apps from a wider universe of touch-first apps. This capability would have been invaluable for Windows-based tablets, particularly given the shortage of touch-optimized Windows apps.
Microsoft finished the engineering work for this project, but it never launched a distribution system that made sense. Instead, the company briefly partnered with the Amazon Appstore before killing support in early 2024. (Amazon axed its Appstore for all Android devices in 2025.)
This is a great example of Microsoft’s lack of follow-through. The Windows Subsystem for Android was a major focus prior to Windows 11’s launch, but most Windows users never even realized it existed.
4. A Cohesive Visual Redesign Never Arrived
Windows 11 was supposed to herald in a cohesive visual design for the OS. The initial release wasn’t perfect, but it was a big leap forward in visual and style cohesion. But now, more than four years after the launch, things still seem like a work in progress.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
The Dark Mode is better than it was initially, but it’s still not perfect. The Settings app has unified more of Windows 11’s options in one place, too, but the Control Panel still exists, and lots of legacy tools with ancient interfaces still lurk. I remain waiting for an update that finally makes Windows feel like a singular vision.
5. The Teams Chat Feature Is Gone
Windows 11 arrived with a Microsoft Teams-powered Chat feature on the taskbar. Importantly, however, it relied on the personal version of the messaging app rather than the business one. In other words, even if you used Teams professionally in your organization, you couldn’t use this Chat feature to reach teammates.
Most Windows users were rightfully confused, and Microsoft removed the feature from the taskbar back in 2023. I don’t think the company should give up on this concept entirely, however. Skype and MSN Messenger were hugely popular in their day, and Microsoft should take lessons from those successes.
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6. Phone Link Still Feels Like a Beta Test
I’m a huge fan of the Phone Link app, which lets me copy and paste SMS security codes, respond to text messages, and all kinds of other things directly from my PC. But even I have to admit that it should be better. Whenever I recommend Phone Link to people, I find myself apologizing. I encounter many of the same bugs that readers tell me about, after all.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
I use a Samsung Galaxy phone, which baked in native Phone Link support, and I still experience disconnection issues. The experience was even worse with a Google Pixel phone, and iPhone users shouldn’t expect too much. Sometimes I wonder if I should just disconnect Phone Link and stop bothering. Mobile platforms are arguably as important as desktop platforms (if not more so), so I expect this type of connection to work flawlessly in any modern OS.
7. Touch-Screen PCs Are No Longer a Focus
With Windows 8, Microsoft bet that touch-screen devices were the future of the PC. But consumers and many industry experts hated its Metro-inspired interface, and the company has walked back its vision ever since. However, many PCs still have touchscreens. Microsoft still ships the Surface Pro tablet, lots of convertible and dual-screen devices exist, and some Windows tablets are still alive and kicking, for example.
Windows 10 had a dedicated tablet mode, but Windows 11 doesn’t. When you unplug a keyboard from a Windows 11 tablet, the taskbar simply gets a bit bigger, and touch targets increase in size. It feels like the bare minimum Microsoft could offer. As long as people buy and own touch-screen PCs, Windows needs to do a better job catering to those users.
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8. The Xbox-Inspired Transformation Never Happened
Microsoft talked a big game about bringing Xbox features to Windows with the launch of Windows 11. For example, the DirectStorage API was supposed to enable faster load times for PC games by sending data straight from the SSD to the GPU. Unfortunately, few game developers make it a priority. Windows did get Xbox-inspired Auto HDR technology, which intends to improve the brightness and color ranges of older games, but it’s buggy. I often have to use the Windows Key+Alt+B keyboard shortcut to toggle HDR off and on to fix washed-out colors after playing HDR games.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
The Game Bar still doesn’t get a lot of use, either, with many generally preferring the Steam overlay. Did you know that the Game Bar has a separate widget system? Like with taskbar widgets, few app developers bothered to create Game Bar widgets.
9. Using Multiple Desktops Is Still Inconvenient
The Task View feature, which shows your open apps and virtual desktops, remains a core part of Windows 11. The taskbar includes an icon for it, and you can use the Windows Key+Tab shortcut to pull it up. But most Windows 11 users I speak to simply don’t use Task View, let alone virtual desktops.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
I like the idea of Task View, but I find the interface inconvenient and time-consuming. For example, without using PowerToys Workspaces to automatically launch specific apps on a particular virtual desktop, there’s no good way to save window configurations after a reboot. I have to spend a lot of time dragging apps back and forth between desktops to set things up the way I want.
Additionally, Windows doesn’t provide a convenient keyboard shortcut for moving a window to a different virtual desktop. Such a hotkey could alone transform Task View overnight, but Microsoft hasn’t updated this functionality since the Windows 10 days.
10. Copilot+ PC Features Don’t Do Much
With the announcement of Copilot+ PCs back in 2024, Microsoft promised a collection of NPU-powered AI features that would transform how you use your PC. Chief among them was Recall, which periodically takes screenshots of your activities and lets you search them with AI. Recall was extremely controversial and faced several delays as Microsoft scrambled to address privacy concerns. My biggest problem with Recall is that it simply doesn’t work very well. I’ve never spoken to anyone who found it useful, either. Since it takes screenshots every five seconds, it doesn’t truly remember everything I’ve seen on a PC. If I skim over an email too quickly, for example, Recall won’t capture it.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Overall, I find the AI features in Copilot+ PCs extremely underwhelming. I’ve been using a Surface laptop with Copilot+ PC features since launch, but I almost never use those tools. Some new features, such as semantic search, are promising, but none feel like a must-have upgrade like Microsoft promised.
A Better Future for Windows 11?
Microsoft’s president of Windows, Pavan Davaluri, recently said Microsoft will focus on addressing pain points in Windows, an effort that includes “improving system performance, reliability, and the overall experience of Windows.” That sounds promising. I wish Microsoft would spend less time hyping new features—like the transformation of Windows 11 into an agentic OS—and more time polishing the core features or those it has seemingly forgotten. As the world’s most popular desktop OS, it should work best for people first, and AI agents a distant second.
About Our Expert
Chris Hoffman
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Chris Hoffman is the author of Windows Intelligence, an email newsletter that brings the latest Windows news, tips, and tricks to inboxes each week. He’s also the former editor-in-chief of How-To Geek and a veteran tech journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, PCWorld, Reader’s Digest, and other places.
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