I’m sure you’ll all remember Microsoft telling us only a few years ago that Windows 10 would be the last version of the World’s most popular computer operating system. Indeed the system of bi-annual major updates appeared to support that statement as new features appeared alongside fixes and security improvements each Spring and Autumn. For most of us this process was simple and trouble free. Occasionally there was a hiccup and the update slowed the computer down to a crawl necessitating a return to manually driven methods but by and large everything worked as expected.
Now as we emerge from lockdown Microsoft throw us a curved ball and start telling us about Windows 11 with lots of new features and an improved user interface – all guaranteed to bring a chill to the heart of most users!
On the plus side this update is free if you currently use Windows 10 and your computer hardware is capable of running something called Trusted Platform Module version 2.0 (TPM). Also it doesn’t look too different to Windows 10 with some really minor changes which make you wonder if it was all worthwhile – for instance the start button and main apps which have been in the left lower corner since Windows 95 have moved to the bottom centre of the screen. Lots of the changes are behind the scenes and related to malicious attacks on your computer. Many of us are concerned about ‘bad actors’ and any improvements here will always be welcome.
As usual Microsoft will be producing an app which will check your system before you decide to upgrade and warn you about possible issues. At the time of writing we’re still waiting for it but this is where you will be able to run it from – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-11#pchealthcheck