At a Windows Insider meetup, Microsoft showed off an “instantaneous” File Explorer, according to one tester who shared the details with us. And now, Microsoft’s design and research lead Marcus Ash has sent an email to users saying early testers can already feel improvements in Windows 11’s responsiveness, with more changes planned for this fall.
Over the past few months, Windows has improved significantly in Insider builds. For example, File Explorer now loads faster, even without preloading, and its context menu has been decluttered. You can also customize it and remove items you do not like.
But most of you won’t notice much of this yet because many of the changes are ONLY available to Windows Insiders.
Some have begun shipping to consumers, such as the movable taskbar and resizable Start menu, but thanks to Windows 11’s gradual rollout, you may not see them on your PC yet unless you choose to force-enable them.
As a result, the general perception is that nothing has changed, but that’s not true, especially if you run Windows Insider preview builds with the new features and improvements turned on.
Microsoft emails users, says Windows is now faster
In the email, Marcus, who is the Design and Research lead across Windows & Devices, noted that the recent Insider meetups were “smaller by design,” giving the company more time for direct conversations, questions, and feedback.
“Many of you shared that you can feel the improvements in Experimental builds, especially in overall system responsiveness,” Marcus wrote.
Microsoft still won’t share any numbers or benchmarks to compare Windows 11’s performance before and after these changes, but it insists the OS is getting faster and better. Marcus also noted that early testers want these improvements rolled out so everyone else can experience them.
“Some of that is already underway. Start and taskbar improvements have started rolling out broadly, and you can expect more as we head into the fall,” he added.
Microsoft also plans to share more early design concepts and ideas with testers.
There are a number of internal ideas being explored for Windows 11, and many won’t see the light of day, just like the dozens of Start menu designs the company envisioned before shipping one. If you can’t recall, here’s a closer look at those unreleased Start menu ideas:
We learned about these interesting Start menu ideas long after the redesign had already rolled out to production builds. It didn’t really make sense because consumers didn’t get to give feedback on those concepts before the redesign shipped. Microsoft wants to avoid that going forward.
Marcus pointed to a recent feedback session where the company shared the design for the File Explorer context menus that recently shipped to Experimental builds.
“You can expect more lightweight, early sharing sessions so we can hear your feedback before improvements make their way into Experimental builds,” Marcus wrote.
Microsoft says it’s listening to feedback
Microsoft says it’s always listening to feedback, but it understands that you may not know what happens to your suggestions, especially if you don’t see any changes. It can sometimes feel like they’ve disappeared into a black hole, but that could change soon.
“You want similar feedback grouped together and a clearer view of what we’re considering and actively working on. We’re increasing our investment in this area and will have more to share soon,” Marcus noted.
The company also plans to host more meetups and reach out to Insiders individually for feedback.
“The feedback and energy we feel from Insiders help us shape Windows. We’re looking forward to keeping the conversation going as the tour continues,” Marcus added.
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