Whether you’ve been using Windows 11 for a while or you’re just getting started with a new Windows 11 PC, there are some useful new features you might have missed. Here are ten great ones that you should use.
Quick settings menu
One of the nicer new features in Windows 11 is the Quick Settings menu, which lets you quickly change system volume, brightness, Wi-Fi settings, power options, and more. It replaces the Windows 10 Action Center.
To use it, press Windows+A on your keyboard or click the volume and Wi-Fi icons in the right corner of the taskbar. When it appears, you’ll see a variety of buttons that allow you to control aspects of your PC. You can customize the menu by clicking the pencil icon in the bottom right corner of the menu.
new instant menu
Fit, which lets you quickly resize windows to predefined areas of the screen without overlapping, isn’t a new feature in Windows 11. But the handy Fit menu is. It allows you to select from six different window layouts with good diagrams for reference. To use it, hover over the Maximize button (the square in the upper right corner of a window’s title bar next to the “X”), then click the section of the layout you’d like to use. The window will instantly snap into position. Pretty nice!
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windows terminal
Windows Terminal was available for Windows 10, but it comes with Windows 11 built-in and is a great way to access the command line. In fact, you can switch between Windows PowerShell, Command Prompt, Azure Cloud Shell, and even Ubuntu Linux if you have Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) installed. To use Windows Terminal, search for it in the Start menu or right-click the Start button and select “Windows Terminal” from the menu that appears.
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New themes and wallpapers
Windows 11 includes several beautiful new themes and more than a dozen new wallpapers to choose from. Wallpapers give your PC a fresh, contemporary look, and themes let you quickly switch between styles to suit your mood.
To change your desktop background, press Windows+i (to open Windows Settings) and navigate to Personalization > Background. To change themes, open Settings and go to Personalization > Themes. Click on the thumbnail of the theme you want and it will change instantly.
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Centered taskbar icons
You’ve probably noticed that Windows eleven positions he Begin button and application icons in he center of he taskbar by Default: A big change from Windows 10 (although you can still to line up them to he left Yeah you prefer). This central provision feel nice in tap screen devices, but we’re also surprised by how useful it feels in desktop mode, especially on ultra-wide screens (what you need is right in the center of the screen). So if you immediately aligned your taskbar icons to the left when you started using Windows 11, try centered icons, you might enjoy it.
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Virtual desktops with unique wallpapers
Unlike Windows 10, Windows 11 allows you to assign custom wallpapers to each virtual desktop. This makes it useful for quickly visually determining which desktop you are working with. To assign a wallpaper, switch to the virtual desktop, right-click on the desktop, and select “Personalize.” Then select “Background” and you can change your wallpaper there.
And if you’re new to virtual desktops, you should use them too. Click the task view icon on the taskbar (two overlapping squares) and click the plus (“+”) button labeled “New Desktop.” You can switch between desktops in the task view at any time by clicking on the different desktop thumbnail icons.
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new notepad
Windows 11 now includes a new version of Notepad’s text file editor (and excellent quick note-taker) that matches the system theme with rounded corners. It also includes an option to operate in dark mode or switch between light and dark mode automatically based on the system theme (click the gear icon in the top right corner of the Notepad window to change this setting). Best of all, you can still press F5 to get an instant timestamp/date, which is our favorite feature.
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Microsoft Teams
If your company or group uses Microsoft Teams to coordinate and communicate with each other, you’ll be happy to know that Teams is deeply integrated into Windows 11 thanks to a chat feature you can access by clicking the purple word bubble icon in your bar. of tasks. . You can also use Teams to collaborate, share calendars, and video chat, so it can be a great productivity tool.
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Nearby Shared Use
This one is a bit tricky since it’s also in Windows 10, but so few people know about Nearby Sharing that it feels like a new feature. It allows you to wirelessly transfer files between two Windows machines using Bluetooth in a similar way to AirDrop on a Mac. To use Nearby Sharing, you’ll need to enable it in Settings > System > Nearby Sharing. You can then right-click on any file in File Explorer, select the Share icon, and select the destination PC from the menu. The receiving machine must also have Nearby Sharing enabled.
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Run Android apps
Thanks to the Amazon Appstore, which is available for free from the Microsoft Store, you can now run Android apps on Windows 11 if your PC supports hardware virtualization. To do this, open the Microsoft Store (find it on Start), then install the Amazon Appstore and it will guide you through the process of installing Windows Subsystem for Android. After restarting, the Amazon Appstore will open automatically. Sign in with an Amazon account and you can download and use Android apps. Have fun!
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