

In Windows 10, you can add app icons to the Start screen, and group them how you wish. Presumably, that functionality will be replaced via Widgets, so Microsoft is getting rid of the Quick Status features on the Windows 11 lock screen. Microsoft used to allow Windows 10 users to place “apps” on the Windows 10 lock screen, so you might see an upcoming calendar notification or an alert about the weather. We’d expect this will be a more touch-friendly interface, perhaps with more spacing between Taskbar icons, among other enhancements. While Microsoft said it’s removing Tablet Mode, the company also said, “new functionality and capability is included for keyboard attach and detach postures.” What this means, apparently, is that while Microsoft may be removing Tablet Mode, it’s also replacing it with something that will act similarly. Tablet Mode, as its name implies, works with tablets: Once Windows senses a hardware keyboard has been removed from a Windows tablet, it moves into Tablet mode, adopting a more touch-friendly UI. Tablet Mode, once a staple of the Windows 10 Surface Pro device experience, will go away within Windows 11. Microsoft won’t include Internet Explorer inside Windows 11 at all, though it will include the browser as part of “IE Mode” within Edge. We knew that Microsoft planned to kill Internet Explorer in 2022, and it’s now shovelled another spadeful of dirt onto the legacy browser. MicrosoftĬortana is now just an app within Windows 11. Based on our experience with the Windows 11 leaked build, you’ll also need to ask (search) for the Cortana app before it downloads and installs. Cortana will exist solely as an app, and probably largely unchanged from what you’ll find in Windows 10. But Cortana has also been kicked off the Windows 11 Taskbar-she is neither an icon nor part of the Windows 11 Search function, as we’ve seen. The most poignant feature that Windows 11 removes is Cortana, which will no longer shout “HI, I’M CORTANA” while setting up a new PC.
