Microsofts latest operating system has just been released, deprecating Windows 10 which will become obsolete in 2025.

In this video, Stephen shows his installation of Windows 11 which he has just migrated to without any issues and points out the major changes which have been carried out by Microsoft as they released their finalised latest version of the Windows operating system now in version 11.

Originally Microsoft claimed that Windows 10 would be the last operating system they would ever released, relating to the public that they intended to just carry out automatic updates to Windows 10 forever. After a year of beta-testing by those who took part in the Windows Insider program to get a sneak peak at the new system, the OS was finally released to the public in early October 2021.

Interface Changes

The new operating system features a tidier interface with a centralised task bar and rounded corners for the start menu and windows. The settings and notifications button has disappeared with notifications popping up as part of the right hand corner date/time applet whenever notifications are present. Settings can be accessed either from the start menu or by right-clicking on the desktop or taskbar to go to those specific aspects of settings.

The resore/maximise button has been given an all new feature where the user can hover over this button on the top right to bring up a popup where the user can chose from a variety of window layouts in a more enhanced version of a similar function which was available on Windows 10 if the user moved a window to the extreme left or extreme right to be presented with options on how to split the screen between windows. The new layout manager supports splitting the screen into quarters and a number of other layouts in an easy and intuitive way.

Its not just the desktop manager which has changed as some of the key applications such as the settings application have undergone some revision to make things more navigable and intuitive. For example, the Windows 10 ribbon on File Explorer has disappeared and has been replaced by something much more uniform which doesnt change depending what type of folder you are looking at.

Applications

All the same applications which were on Windows 10 remain on Windows 11 such as Office 365, Outlook Express and even the age old Notepad. One of the features which is gone is The News and Weather Applet which introduced in the Spring 2021 update for Windows 10, however the same application is ostensibly still there in the form of a new feature called Widgets which shows on the taskbar automatically when you migrate or install the new operating system.

Microsoft Teams now comes as a standard part of a Windows 11 installation meaning that those people who used it will have it installed automatically but if you are a gamer looking for maximum performance, this may be one application you might want to dispense with as it runs with 8 to 10 threads and over a 100 megabytes of ram when it isnt even in use.

Cortana, the Microsoft sister of Google's Alexa and Apple's Siri now no longer appears by default on the task although you can set it up to be so.

Migration

The system shown here by Stephen is a migration from Windows 10 and ALL the applications which were working before are still working fine after the migration including Direct X and even old 32-bit applications. The user data saved without issue an all the personalisation settings just moved across to the new operating system making it feel like Windows 11 is just Windows 10 tidied up a bit.

Is it worth it?

If you live in Cumbernauld and you want Auranos.org to upgrade your machine it will only cost £30. If your copy of Windows 7, 8 or 10 is not currently activated, we can upgrade it for you and leave it up to you to activate it yourself at some later stage or if you prefer we can activate it for you at an additional cost of only £30 (£60 total at the time of writing). This will provide you with your own unique license key for your copy of Windows that will allow you the features only activated copies have. These are genuine Microsoft licenses which we can get at a discount rate and pass on to our customers with the guarantee that the license will be yours for life. We can also do the upgrade even if you dont have an activated copy of windows but the new Windows 11 installation will not be activated either and have similar limitations to the unactivated copy of Windows 10 you have been using.

At the present time, there is still support for Windows 10 which will continue until 2025. This will include security updates and virus profiles but its unlikeley that Windows 10 will gain any new features that will not also be made available on Windows 11 and its likely that Windows 11 will gain features that will not be available on Windows 10.

There is no specific software written for Windows 11 just yet but we expect by early next year there will be software which will require this new operating system in order to work so if you plan on upgrading one of the software packages you use frequently, it will be a relief to know that you have already did the migration to the new Windows 11 but as I say, at the current time, seeing as how it has just been released, there is no specific advantage to having Windows 11 over Windows 10 other than being up to date with the latest technology.