IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting to know Windows 11

Discovering the new features in Windows 11

Figuring out what’s missing from Windows 11

Keeping up with updates to Windows 11 and its apps

Understanding why Windows 11 often changes

Deciding whether your PC is powerful enough to run Windows 11

Knowing which version of Windows 11 you need

Chances are good that you’ve heard about Windows: the boxes and windows that greet you whenever you turn on your computer. In fact, millions of people worldwide are puzzling over Windows as you read this book. Most new computers and laptops sold today come with Windows preinstalled, ready to toss colorful boxes onto the screen.

This chapter helps you understand why Windows lives inside your computer, and I introduce Microsoft’s latest Windows version, Windows 11. I explain how Windows 11 differs from previous Windows versions, and why parts of Windows 11 and its gang of apps can change behind your back.

What Is Windows, and Why Are You Using It?

Created and sold by a company called Microsoft, Windows isn’t like your usual software that lets you calculate income taxes or send angry emails to politicians. No, Windows is an operating system, meaning it controls the way you work with your computer. It’s been around since 1985, and the latest incarnation is called Windows 11, shown in Figure 1-1.

The name Windows comes from all the little windows it places on your computer screen. Each window shows information, such as a picture, a program, or a baffling technical reprimand. You can place several windows onscreen simultaneously and jump from window to window, visiting different programs. Or you can enlarge one window to fill the entire screen.

When you turn on your computer, Windows jumps onto the screen and begins supervising any running programs. When everything goes well, you don’t really notice Windows; you simply see your programs or your work. When things don’t go well, though, Windows often leaves you scratching your head over a perplexing error message.

In addition to controlling your computer and bossing around your programs, Windows comes with a bunch of free programs and apps — mini-programs. These programs and apps let you do different things, such as write and print letters, browse the internet, play music, and send your friends dimly lit photos of your latest meal.

And why are you using Windows 11? Well, you probably didn’t have much choice. Nearly every computer, laptop, or Windows tablet sold after October 2021 comes with Windows 11 preinstalled. A few people escaped Windows by buying Apple computers (those nicer-looking computers that cost a lot more). But chances are good that you, your neighbors, your boss, and millions of other people around the world are using Windows.

• Microsoft wants Windows 11 and its gang of apps to run on nearly everything: PCs, laptops, tablets, video game consoles, and even yet-to-be-invented gadgets. That’s why Windows 11 includes many large buttons for easier poking with fingers on touchscreens. Windows 11 can also run apps, small programs usually found on smartphones and tablets, in windows on a desktop PC.
• To confuse everybody, Microsoft never released a Windows 9. Microsoft skipped a version number when moving from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.
• To confuse everybody even more, Microsoft said Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows. Six years later, Microsoft began pushing Windows 11.

• For years, the desktop’s Start menu lived in your screen’s lower-left corner. Windows 11 moves the Start menu, as well as the Windows key that launches it, to the screen’s bottom center. (I explain how to change it back to its old, lower-left corner home in Chapter 2.)

What’s New in Windows 11?

Microsoft views Windows 11 as a one-size-fits-all computing solution that runs on laptops and desktop PCs (shown earlier in Figure 1-1) as well as on touchscreens, including tablets, shown in Figure 1-2.

Windows 11 looks and behaves almost identically on each device, and it brings a bonus: Its apps and programs will run on a Windows 11 tablet, PC, and laptop.

Besides aiming to run on everything but clock radios, Windows 11 brings these changes to your computer:

• Start button and menu: Windows 11 moves the Start button and menu from its traditional lower-left corner to the center of the screen. The revamped Start menu sports a few rows of icons, but leaves out the animated tiles found in Windows 10. Look closely, and you’ll notice the Start menu now sports rounded corners, as do all other desktop windows. Flip ahead to Chapter 2 for more information on the Start button and menu.

  

• Hardware requirements: Previous Windows versions worked fairly well on older PCs, even those up to ten years old. Windows 11 breaks that model, unfortunately. If your computer is older than three years, you probably won’t be able to upgrade it to Windows 11. I explain how to see if your PC can upgrade to Windows 11 in Chapter 22.
• Settings app: Have you mastered Windows 10’s Settings menu? Erase that memory, because the new Settings app contains a new layout with new switches in new places. Head for Chapter 12 for oodles of Settings menu tips and tricks.
• Apps on the desktop: Apps, which are small programs from the world of phones and tablets, consumed the full screen in Windows 8 and 8.1. Windows 11 lets you choose whether to run apps full screen or within desktop windows. (Microsoft says Windows 11 will let you download and run apps designed for Android smartphones sometime in 2022.) I cover apps and programs in Chapter 6.
• File Explorer: File Explorer, which lets you find, store, and manage files, receives a new, slimmed down look. The ribbon of menu options across the top has vanished, replaced by a single row of unnamed icons. I cover the new File Explorer in Chapter 5.
• Teams Chat: When everybody jumped onto Zoom for video chats during the pandemic, Microsoft decided to push its own Teams app for people to hold online meetings. The chat portion of Microsoft’s Teams program now comes built into Windows 11, and I cover it in Chapter 10.

• Your Phone: The newly revamped Your Phone app lets you send and receive your phone’s messages from the keyboard of your desktop PC, all wirelessly. You can browse your phone’s latest photos from your desktop, make phone calls, and even run apps. I cover the Your Phone app in Chapter 17.

• Widgets: Widgets are simply a strip of little windows that update automatically to show the latest news, weather, or other informational tidbits. They leap onto the screen with a click on its taskbar icon, a process I cover in Chapter 3.

Unlike previous Windows versions, Windows 11 no longer feels like two operating systems crammed into one computer. It feels like a single operating system that can handle both tablets and desktop PCs.

Windows 11 is a free upgrade for people owning fully patched Windows 10 computers that meet the stringent new hardware requirements required to run it. To see if your current PC qualifies, download and run Microsoft’s PC Health Check app at https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckApp. Chances are, you’ll need to buy a new PC with Windows 11 preinstalled.

What’s Missing from Windows 11?

Windows 11 offers many new features, described in the previous section and covered throughout this book. However, it dropped just as many features found in Windows 10. Here’s the rundown on the features left behind from Windows 11:

• Compatibility: Windows 10 could run on many older PCs, making it popular with owners of old Windows 7 PCs. Windows 11, by contrast, requires newer PCs with the latest technology. Chances are, you’ll have to buy a new PC. (I had to buy a new PC just to write this book!)
• Timeline: Windows 10 kept track of which programs and files you worked with for the past 30 days. A click of the Timeline button let you jump back to see them all, letting you quickly and easily jump back to, say, an unfinished file from last week. Windows 11 removes the feature, offering no replacement.
• Movable taskbar: The Windows taskbar normally lives along the screen’s bottom edge. Previous Windows versions let you move that taskbar to any edge you wanted. With Windows 11, the taskbar now remains affixed to the bottom of your desktop, with no option to move it.
• Synced wallpaper: In Windows 10, owners of Microsoft accounts see their wallpaper appear whenever they log onto a Windows 10 PC. To the dismay of computer decorators, Windows 11 killed that feature.
• Tablet mode: Designed specifically for tablets with touchscreens, Tablet mode quickly spaced your icons farther apart to accommodate thick fingertips. The Start screen and programs always filled the entire screen. Windows 11 dumps Tablet mode because Windows 11 is automatically finger-friendly.
• Live Tiles on the Start menu: In Windows 10, the Start menu sometimes resembled a moving marquee, with animated tiles that changed to show different things. Windows 11 ditches the animated tiles in favor of a simpler menu that merely shows static icons. You can no longer create folders on the Start menu for storing related items, either.
• Internet Explorer: Microsoft’s elderly browser, Internet Explorer, disappeared completely from Windows 11, replaced by the new browser, Microsoft Edge.
• Cortana: Microsoft fired its little robot that tried to help you work but mostly got in the way. You can still launch the Cortana app from the Start menu, should you miss it, but otherwise, Cortana won’t bother you.
• Paint 3D: Paint 3D let you design three dimensional models for 3D printers to create using layers of plastic. Few people used it, and even fewer will notice that it’s missing.
• Skype: Microsoft paid billions for Skype, an app for making inexpensive (or free) phone calls using the internet. But Microsoft let the app languish. Now, it’s replaced by Teams, a program for creating online meetings. Microsoft added the chat portion of Teams into Windows 11 to compete with Zoom, which zoomed in popularity during the pandemic.
• OneNote: Windows 10 came with OneNote, an app for taking notes much like a virtual school notebook. OneNote vanished from Windows 11, but compulsive note takers like me can still install it for free from the Microsoft Store.

Why Does Windows 11 Keep Changing?

Windows 10 updated itself seemly at whim, much to the detriment of people who preferred their PCs to look and behave the same whenever they sat at the keyboard. Who wants a computer with a confusing new doodad tossed in overnight?

Microsoft aims to ease that confusion by updating Windows 11 only once a year, thank goodness.

Apps, by contrast, can still be updated whenever the app’s creator decides that it’s time for a change.

Microsoft sends many of these updates automatically to your computer through Windows Update; you don’t need to jump through hoops to find and install them.

Similarly, your apps update themselves automatically through the Microsoft Store. They constantly add features, squash bugs, and sometimes even change their names.

You may not notice these changes in the apps, as well as in Windows 11 itself. Indeed, most of them just fix hundreds of annoying bugs, making Windows 11 run and install more smoothly and safely.

So, when Windows 11 or its apps change overnight, don’t think it’s your fault. Microsoft constantly tweaks Windows 11, and Windows and its apps will keep changing for years to come.

Can My Current PC Run Windows 11?

If you want to upgrade to Windows 11, your old computer will probably complain. Unlike Windows 10, Windows 11 usually requires a PC sold within the past two or three years.

If you have a technogeek in your family, have him or her translate Table 1-1, which shows the Windows 11 hardware requirements you can find written in the fine print for new computers.

In common language, Table 1-1 simply says that most computers sold in the past two or three years can be upgraded to Windows 11 with little problem. If your computer is older than that, you’re out of luck.

Don’t know what version of Windows runs on your current PC? If clicking the Start button brings a Start menu, right-click the menu’s Computer entry, and choose Properties. The screen that appears lists your Windows version.

If there’s no Start button, you’re running Windows 8. And if clicking your Start button fills the screen with a bunch of colorful tiles, you’re running Windows 8.1.

Finally, if right-clicking your Start menu brings a large pop-up menu, you’re running Windows 10 or 11. Choose the menu’s Settings entry, and scroll down to the About section. Your version of Windows, either Windows 10 or Windows 11, is listed in that section’s Windows Specifications area.

The Different Flavors of Windows 11

Microsoft offers several versions of Windows 11, but you’ll probably want only one: the aptly titled “Home” version.

Small businesses will choose Windows 11 Pro, and large businesses will want Windows 11 Enterprise.

Here are some guidelines for choosing the version you need:

• If you’ll be using your PC at home or in your small business, pick up Windows Home.
• If you need to connect to a domain through a work network — and you’ll know if you’re doing it — you want Windows Pro.
• If you’re a computer tech who works for businesses, go ahead and argue with your boss over whether you need Windows Pro or Windows Enterprise. The boss will make the decision based on whether it’s a small company (Windows Pro) or a large company (Windows Enterprise).
• If you’re a daring soul at a business, watch for Microsoft to release Windows 365. This program represents a daring experiment where Windows runs speedily in the cloud, bypassing the limits of your slow and aging PC.

For more details about upgrading to Windows 11, visit Microsoft’s Windows website at www.windows.com.