Microsoft says Windows 11 performance has improved

Microsoft says the latest Windows 11 update improves responsiveness and memory use, while a redesigned Photos app launches faster. The company described the changes in a blog post; the performance figures are Microsoft's, and results may vary by device and configuration.

Microsoft says Windows 11 is up to 20% more responsive in areas including Search, the right-click menu, Settings, Start, File Explorer and Snipping Tool. It compared the changes in the October update, tested in a September preview, with Windows 11 as it was at the beginning of 2026.

Microsoft also says memory-management changes let Windows keep up to 2GB more active data in memory on PCs with 8GB of RAM, rather than moving it to slower storage. On PCs with 8GB of memory or less, widgets now load only when opened, reducing background memory use by 200 MB.

The Photos editor, rebuilt around WinUI 3, launches 25% faster, according to Microsoft. Its viewer launches about 15% faster on average and opens photos up to 30% faster. The app also adds repair and relight features, plus a Gallery that combines photos stored on a PC and in OneDrive and Apple iCloud. Microsoft says the update improves scrolling and adds natural-language search. The update had been out for only a couple of days when TechRadar reported this, and the article noted that user reactions were not yet available.