The dearly departed features Microsoft has officially killed off for Windows 11 | PC Gamer - mcevoyalliver

The affectionately departed features Microsoft has officially killed slay for Windows 11

An image edited to show the Microsoft Store on both Windows 11 and Windows 10 OSes

(Image credit: Microsoft)

For every action there's an equal and contrary chemical reaction, and it appears for every new feature in Windows 11 there's a Windows 10 have that's been removed. In some cases these may be past for good, while others might make a return later in Windows 11's life.

The ones that turn back could be down to folk protesting on the Feedback Hub, indeed I highly advocate you check that out to attend if anyone's already bristle-pointed impossible the feature you're missing virtually, and perhaps smooth lend that campaign your upvote. There are already lots of lost features that passionate users are demanding return.

Microsoft has posted an official list of feature deprecations that North Korean won't be returning, though. Or at least there are no current plans to bring together these features back from the dead. So let's get a load at the large features of Windows 10 that have been tangled into the great recycling bin in the sky ahead of Windows 11.

Timeline

Think back Timeline? The recent way to interact with your windows and apps across multiple PCs through time on Windows 10? Well, it's gone. The Task View button is still there, but the ability to scroll through multiple devices' worth of app history and windows is kaput.

IT's organism replaced, seemingly, by "some similar functionality" in Microsoft Edge, Microsoft says. Even so our resident Edge user, Dave, ISN't sure where that might reside digression from standard browser history. The new Showtime menu does remember a heel of the files you've used over the last few weeks, and so that does in reality offer similar functionality.

Pad of paper Mode

Tablet Mode no longer exists, which did initially have Maine, a Dell 2-in-1 user, a little worried. Though Windows 11 feels much more spacy and accessible than Windows 10, so maybe it will render a better, if not as traversable, tablet experience on these sorts of devices out of the gate.

Microsoft says "unaccustomed functionality and capability for keyboard attach to and detach postures" is available, which sort of sounds like a verbose way of saying 'Tablet Mode'. Nonetheless, Microsoft has plenty of Surface laptops to cater too, so the mouse-free Windows 11 experience needs to constitute passable, at least.

Windows 10's Cortana Task Bar button pop-up showing sign-in screen — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Cortana (in the taskbar)

Cortana isn't kaput, but the AI assistant has been buried a bit below the Windows 11 redevelopment. Cortana will nary longer look in the first boot experience ('Hi there, I'm Cortana' is gone, but it did gift United States of America this excellent television) and its icon has been abstracted from the taskbar as a split up of the wider Windows 11 redesign.

Desktop wallpaper roaming

This is one of the few features I could never get to work as witting on Windows 10. Information technology seems simple decent: you backlog in with your Microsoft account on multiple devices and your background wallpaper from one device is mechanically synced up across devices. The problem I had was acquiring IT to sync the right paper, and mostly found my fresh setup laptop replacing my desktop Microcomputer's wallpaper with the default spicy Windows transportation.

Perhaps there was a simple way to stupefy this cooked all along, but IT doesn't matter now because Microsoft's killed it. Set your have damn wallpapers.

Quick position

Another one bites the dust. If you were a fan of checking your netmail, the atmospheric condition, Oregon the Xbox app for updates via your lock screen, I've got bad news for you: quick position is no longer.

Microsoft has removed quick condition updates from the lock screen and all associated settings, and it doesn't seem as though this extraordinary will cost coming back some time soon.

Windows 10 search function with Bing web results showing — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Bing results in Search

If you depend on Search to quickly access your apps care ME, you'll roll in the hay that it can sometimes represent a pain to accidentally click happening a web result for an app you thought you had installed rather than its .exe file.

To cut this feature, it used to be a case of bearing into the Seek settings and simply hitting the off shift, just that was removed in a afterwards Windows 10 update. Since then, users have been heading into the Registry to remove Bing results in Search.

Well, Microsoft has decided you nowadays have no option but to deal with Bing searches in the task bar with Windows 11, as information technology has removed the ability to disable network search results via the Register.

What other is changing

Here's the new stuff that Microsoft lists as deprecated o'er on its Windows 11 specifications foliate, some of which is actually organism merged operating theatre updated rather than removed:

Internet Internet Explorer documentation is unfit. Microsoft Edge web browser is the advisable replacement and includes IE Mode, which may be useful in certain scenarios.
Direction capabilities for organizations to deliver customized Get and taskbar experiences are limited
Maths Input Panel is removed. Math Recognizer will install happening demand and includes the maths stimulant assure and recogniser. Maths inking in apps like OneNote are not compact by this change.
Multi-App Kiosk Way is not available. Windows 11 only supports the use of a individualistic app in Stall Fashion.
News & Interests has evolved. New functionality has been added which crapper be found by clicking the Widgets icon on the taskbar.
S Mode is only available now for Windows 11 Home edition.
Snipping Tool and Snip and Sketch have been merged into a single experience keeping the beaten Snip Tool name.
Start is importantly changed in Windows 11 including the following key deprecations and removals:
- Named groups and folders of apps are no more supported and the layout is not currently resizeable.
- Pinned apps and sites bequeath not transmigrate when upgrading from Windows 10.
- Live Tiles are no longer available. For at-a-glance, dynamic content, see the new Widgets feature.
Touch Keyboard leave no longer dock and undock keyboard layouts on screen door sizes 18 inches and larger.
Wallet is removed.
Windows Deployment Services is being partially deprecated.
Windows Memory boar for Patronage and Windows Store for Education no more let in the Private Store tab key.

So on that point are a great deal of features connected the outlet for Windows 11, though quite few of these dearly departed features probably aren't all that on a regular basis utilized by your average PC gamer. On that point are a handful of sufficient features being added into Windows 11 to make up for what's destroyed at least.

As for whether you should realise the leap to Windows 11 like a sho or not, well, I'll leave the detailed decision down to our Windows 11 review, but short story is: atomic number 102, you best leave it to mature awhile longer sooner or later.

Jacob earned his first byline piece of writing for his own tech blog from his hometown in Wales in 2017. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things at PCGamesN, where he would later winnings command of the kit cupboard as ironware editor. Nowadays, as senior computer hardware editor program at PC Gamer, he spends his days coverage on the latest developments in the technology and play industry. When he's not writing or so GPUs and CPUs, you'll find him trying to get American Samoa far by from the modern world as possible by wild camping.