Beautiful, smooth but many minor errors

As promised, Microsoft released the first Windows 11 Insider Preview at dawn on June 29. As a person who likes to experience and also partly because of work, I immediately installed the new operating system on my personal computer even though it was too late, just finished the football game that started at 11 time of EURO 2020.

Note 1: Before starting the article, I would like to write a few notes to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. My job is an office worker, so I usually work around browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, messaging apps like Zalo, Viber, Telegram.

I also just played some online games like Fifa Online 4, League of Legends and tested a few things on the NOX Player emulator, Bluestack. Therefore, my experience may not be complete, not fully covering all aspects of Windows 11, hope you understand.

Now let’s get started!

How to download and install Windows 11?

To be honest, I was very nervous when I started the process of downloading and installing Windows 11 because before that PC Health Check software concluded that my computer was not eligible to install. However, in the end the installation went more smoothly than I thought. After only about an hour, the Windows 11 welcome screen appeared to my delight.

The entire download and installation process happens automatically and all data is kept intact.

Note 2: The download and installation process of each computer will be different depending on many factors such as network speed, computer configuration and other issues. For example, I also showed up at the office the next morning at 8 o’clock and started to install Windows 11 Insider Preview on the company computer, but it took until 13 o’clock to install :(.

Feeling about the overall interface of Windows 11

First, your welcome will be the new Windows 11 login screen. This screen still has background image options like Windows Spotlight, Photos or Slideshow. However, the watch interface has been changed, placed in the center of the screen like on mobile devices.

Regarding the main screen, as you know through the dev version, the Start button and the Taskbar applications on Windows 11 have been centered. This is the same design as Apple’s macOS.

Like Windows 10, Windows 11 allows you to adjust everything from wallpapers, themes, colors… Windows 11 also has a dark mode that when activated will apply to the entire application. Overall, the overall interface of Windows 11 brings a new breeze to users after many years of sticking with Windows 10.

However, there are two things that Windows 11 annoys me. First, you cannot change the position of the Taskbar because it is locked to the bottom edge of the screen. Second, the new context menu (appears when right-clicking on the screen) is almost completely changed, taking you time to get used to it. The familiar Refresh option that I often click on my hands free has also been moved to a submenu called Show more options on the new context menu.

Maybe in the future Microsoft will add the option to allow users to change the Taskbar location as well as adjust the context menu.

Other new things on Windows 11

Digging deeper into the other sections, I realized that the Windows 11 Insider Preview has a lot more to offer than the previously leaked Windows 11 dev release.

The first is the new File Explorer with a combination of color icons, blur effects and Fluent Design language. The new File Explorer has removed the Ribbon menu and also has a new context menu to sync the experience.

Next is the new Settings app. While on the Windows 11 dev version is still the old Settings, the Windows 11 Insider Preview has a completely new Settings application. The layout of items, the way to display parameters and options have been refined and refreshed by Microsoft to make the installation easier. Icons are designed with good brightness, reasonable colors create a more comfortable experience.

However, Microsoft said that some settings still use the old interface, have not completely switched to the new interface. Due to limited use, I still have not found the settings that use the old interface on Windows 11.

Windows 11 also has a brand new Notification Center and quick settings area. The notification center will show up when you click on the time display area. Notifications will appear above the calendar box for you to easily organize your work.

Meanwhile, the quick settings area has a slight design direction of mobile devices. There are quick-connect toggles, airplane mode and volume controls, screen lighting, and more. Overall, these changes make controlling options intuitive and quick. than.

News & Interests on Windows 10 has been evolved into Widgets on Windows 11. This can be said to be an information station for users when you can set it to display weather, stocks, maps, etc. Calendars, to-do lists and breaking news. I don’t know how you guys feel, but I personally find this feature a bit redundant.

The new Microsoft Store has also appeared on Windows 11 Insider Preview. However, in addition to the new interface, it still does not offer Android applications, so it is not worth your attention.

Experience working, entertainment, games on Windows 11

In the process of working with Windows 11, I have not encountered any problems. This may stem from my only use of web browsers and messaging apps. But my experience was greatly affected by not being able to quickly switch between browser windows with mouse clicks.

This comes from the fact that Windows 11 only displays small, square-shaped application icons. When there are multiple windows of the same application, the windows will stack on top of each other. On Windows 10 users have the option to expand the application icon size and not stack the application window, but on Windows 11 it does not. Therefore, when you want to open a quick application window by clicking on the application icon, you may mistakenly press or have to click and then select the window to open.

In terms of entertainment, games, Windows 11 meets my needs well. Games that I often play like Fifa Online 4 and League of Legends run fine, no errors. Even, I feel that my computer handles games smoother than when installing Windows 10.

Mistakes of Windows 11

Sometimes I can’t enter keywords to search from Start menu or Taskbar. I also got an error that I couldn’t unpin apps from the Start menu. In addition, Widgets sometimes encounter a white screen error. All these errors are confirmed by Microsoft and can be fixed by restarting the machine.

Conclude

Although it is only the first Windows Insider Preview, Windows 11 has brought me a pretty good experience. However, like I said, my experience is quite limited so I can’t represent the majority of users.

From my experience, I find that if you only work in the office with not too many complex applications, upgrading to Windows 11 right now will not affect your work much. Meanwhile, for those who do graphics, programming … who have to use a lot of complex software, they should not install Windows 11 at this time.