Windows 11 is getting 3 new features in a major quality of life update — is Microsoft starting to pull back on AI slop?

A laptop running Windows 11, representing an article about how to use task scheduler on windows — (Image credit: sdx15 / Shutterstock)

Microsoft just issued a Windows 11 Release Preview build that previews a bunch of new features coming to the OS.

The team at Redmond has been doing this on a regular basis for months, but this one follows the company reportedly pulling back on stuffing Windows 11 with AI.

The name of the game here is optimization and upgrading the quality of life of using Windows, and these new features make me cautiously optimistic that we’re heading in the right direction.

The Taskbar is getting more helpful

The taskbar settings menu in Windows 11. — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

First of all, there is now an option to run a network speed test directly from the taskbar — great for helping check network performance or identify any issues if you’re not seeing pages load.

Also, shout-out to the improvement that doesn’t move multiple windows of the same app into an overflow area, and just uses the space available on the bar itself.

Faster ‘wake up’ times for your PC

Windows 11 lock screen widgets in action — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has made some performance improvements and optimized how Windows resumes from “sleep” mode. If you’ve ever felt like your laptop takes a while to wake up when you leave a lot of apps open before closing the lid, this update specifically targets that.

You can expect your system (be it notebook or desktop) to feel snappier when you wake it up, which should bring some equality between the zippy Snapdragon X Elite systems and those from Intel and AMD.

Camera control

The Logitech MX Brio webcam perched on top of a display — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Tired of AI trying to frame your face on the webcam? Now there are manual controls! Within “Bluetooth & devices” settings, you’re now able to control the pan and tilt for supported cameras.

This is because it’s often easy to trick AI framing, and many people may not want dramatic zooms that are out of their control.

That’s not all…

There are other noteworthy updates coming, too, and all of them seem to indicate a shift from Microsoft towards “pulling back” from stuffing Windows 11 with AI. Not groundbreaking, but useful features and optimizations:

You’ll finally be able to set .webp image files as your desktop wallpaper.
The “Storage Settings” page is now much faster at scanning for temporary files to help you reclaim disk space.
Windows update page now responds faster when you click “Check for updates.”
New emoji alongside the 16.0 release — including a harp, splatter and a face with bags under eyes (hard relate).

Of course, we have a long way to go in the area of bringing Windows 11 back to the promised land.

Optimizations and efficiencies need to be made to help the OS run smoother (using less memory that is currently being consumed in the RAM crisis), and my dream would be to see Microsoft tackle the many unnecessary pop-ups promoting different services to subscribe to, alongside the ads.

But this is definitely a small step in the right direction. These features are all on gradual rollout, so don’t expect to see them all immediately if you’re on the Windows Insider program!

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Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.

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