Should your business move to windows 11? Or should you move to windows 11? You’ve probably seen it in the news, in advertisements, and all over social media for a while now. As some tech-savvy people may be aware, it has been out since October 2021 so although it’s considered a ‘young’ operating system. It has had some time to get over its initial bugs. But has it? Should your business make the move to Windows 11?
ITC Service kept a little quiet in regards to windows 11 at first, as do most MSPs. We’ve historically found that major operating system changes cause all sorts of weird and wonderful issues, and we like to be aware of those before our customers experience them. In this blog article we are going to break down some things you may like about windows 11, and some things you may not be a fan of. We hope we can help you decide, should your business move to windows 11!
In no particular order, here we go!
Pros for upgrading to windows 11
- Android App Integration
- Better touchscreen support
- Customizable widget board
- Windows 11 Search
Android app integration
Windows users have been waiting a long time for a release like this. Android apps are now available on the Microsoft store in windows 11. This is a huge update that was initially very buggy. This development was a collaborative effort between Amazon, Intel and Microsoft and it allows you to use all the same apps you use on your android phone on your windows machine. This may not matter to the average business power user but could have huge implications to a consumer who can now migrate their Google Podcasts, Adobe Sketch, Instagram and even their Ring Doorbell Camera app to their desktop or notebook device.
Finally, better touchscreen support.
Microsoft stated in the early release days of windows 11 that one of the things they focused on is making the windows experience more touch screen friendly. What does this exactly mean? Well, they claimed elements on a screen have more space now, which allows you to more accurately select a button. In addition to this, there are some additional gestures, changes to start menu widgets, and a significantly improved window snapping system.
Customizable widget board.
Yes, you could argue that this was always in windows 10. But in reality, who used it? In the start menu, you now have the ability to entirely customize all the widgets and the board on which it resides. This means you can play around with the layout of all your widgets as well as even adding entirely custom ones or widgets made by 3rd party developers. This may be a game-changing update for you.
Windows 11 search, is it better?
Yes, it’s certainly faster. Microsoft promised a more extensive yet quick search functionality for windows 11. They called it ‘centralized search’. Now within one click of a button, or a hotkey (windows+s) you arrive at the new search bar. With this search bar you can do all the things you could in windows 10, but significantly quicker. From filtering apps. documents and files to now even adding folders and better frequency-based suggestions. This is one are that ITC Service believes Microsoft have improved on significantly, a large part of this is due to Microsoft’s new indexing system. Which you now have the ability to change. See our article here on How to get faster windows 11 search results.
Cons for upgrading to windows 11
- Right-click options now has too many steps.
- Windows 11 File explorer bugs and service issues.
- Teams home preinstalled – but NOT for your work.
- Edge, Edge, and open with Edge.
Contextual right-click on windows 11.
Microsoft brought unwanted changes to the right-click options, at least in our opinion. When you now right-click on a file, you’re greeted by a far more lacking menu. Which now requires multiple clicks to access certain windows functions. You’ll notice now you have to select ‘show more options’ to reveal all the handy things you had in windows 10. Microsoft commented on the old windows 10 menu and why this is now an improved revision. They said: “The menu is exceptionally long, it has grown in an unregulated environment for 20 years, since Windows XP, when IContextMenu was introduced.” See the blog post by Microsoft here. We understand their desire to slim the contextual menu, but this change will irritate some power users. There is a way to bring back the old contextual menu. We’ll be posting that soon, so sign up to receive updates!
Windows 11 File explorer crashes
This is something a few of our engineers have complained about at ITC Service. It seems to be a common complaint online also. We’ve noticed one of two things: Windows Explorer gets stuck on not responding until you restart it via the service or Task Manager, or windows explorer service randomly restarts on its own accord. This issue is an annoying one, to say the least, and it is something we hope will improve in future patch releases. User experience may vary with this annoying, intermittent issue.
Teams home is pre-installed, but NOT the one you actually want
Windows 11 comes with ‘Teams Home’ pre-installed! Nearly everyone loves teams. ITC Service practically lives in the application. It’s our main communication system between engineers and we find it to be efficient and effective. Telling you that windows come with it pre-installed sounds like a positive, however, it’s absolutely not. ‘Teams Home’ is the specific Teams application for personal accounts. There is no way of linking this to your work or school account. Why, Microsoft, why! In order to use teams with your work account, you need to download and install the Microsoft Teams (work or school) app. We can tell this is going to be a confusing thing for none teams aficionados. To download the full Microsoft teams app, you have to visit the following link: Microsoft Teams for Windows
Why Edge, for everything!
Your data! That’s why. In windows 11 out of the box, Microsoft Edge is set as the default app for opening so many file extensions. In Windows 10 it was a simple change to make sure that your favorite browser opens webpages, whether it be chrome or edge. However, Microsoft has clearly made it one step more annoying to change your default apps. In ‘default apps’ you now have to change every individual file extension that may be related to internet browsing activities. It’s a pain, I’m sure this screenshot below demonstrates that. You may ask, why did Microsoft do this? Microsoft makes lots of money on your data. The more users that use their browser, the more data they have on you and their users. If you’re curious to find out more about Edge and some of its controversy, we advise you to watch this video by Linus Media Group
What does ITC think about windows 11
Here are a few words from some of the staff on this topic
Strong potential, but maturity required. I liked the UI: the mix between traditional Windows and Mac elements to make it look clean and modern. Due to it’s immaturity some products don’t work effectively as of yet. With a lot of work to be done before I personally feel it’s ready for enterprise use. It’s more light weight and has less bloatware than W10; but it has a long road ahead.
Nathan Wilson – Proactive Monitoring Engineer
So, should your business move to windows 11?
It is a complex topic, and every company is vastly different, operating with different requirements. It is a question for yourself and your IT Provider. ITC Service has been providing IT Support since 2006, so we have seen many operating system changes and have become experts in helping companies make the move. There will be a time, eventually when windows 10 becomes end-of-live and unsupported. Your business will eventually be forced to make the move. It’s your choice whether you make that move early ITC is here to help you with your IT strategy, get in touch today.
