Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Everyone hates Windows 11right? Okay, that’s unnecessarily harsh, but if you browse around a few popular online forums, it’s an opinion you’re sure to see expressed here and there. It is certainly true that Windows 11 remains somewhat unlovedand operating system adoption has lagged at the speed with which PC owners jumped on the Windows 10 street
However, Windows 11 it is far from bad operating system – this is not Windows 8 or Windows ME – and in fact has quite a few strengths. And as far as I’m concerned, the time is right to update as next year comes, because of two main factors.
First, the sands of time have cleared for support in 2025. And secondly, Windows 11 24H2 has just brought in some nifty introductions. There are other reasons why I decided to take the leap and migrate to Windows 11 as the new year begins, so let’s dive in and find out.
1. It is time to act, while there is still a lot of time
As next year begins, Windows 10 only has nine months to live, or a little more. On October 14, 2025, Microsoft will end supportwhich means no more security (or feature) updates. So you are potentially vulnerable to newly discovered exploits, as they will not be patched.
So yes, like me, you thought the upgrade to Windows 11 at one point – but they just put it back – don’t do it anymore. You can wait for another six months or more, but then you will try to cut it properly, if there are any unforeseen problems. So my thinking is just to do it right off the bat as the new year begins, and put in place any necessary tinkering.
In my case, this just means enabling TPM 2.0 in the BIOS (which, criminally, I just didn’t do). It should be noted here that your PC cannot offer an update to Windows 11, saying that the device is not compatible.
However, if you have a relatively modern PC (bought in the last five years or more), chances are good, and like me, you just have to enable the TPM function in your BIOS. Use the PC health check app to find out if your Windows 10 machine is eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 11 – you may need to enable TPM 2.0 (here are the instructions from Microsoft to do that).
If you can’t upgrade to Windows 11 because of have a too old CPUor no TPM built-in firmware you can activate, head to ours Windows 10 End of Life guide to explore your various other options.
2. The interface of Windows 11 is now much better
When Windows 11 first arrived in October 2021, the interface failed in some key aspects for me.
The lack of “never combine” for apps in the taskbar was a dealbreaker for newbies – this is my workflow, I don’t want my instances of, say, Windows Chrome all stacked together, thanks. There were many other shortcomings on this front (no taskbar drag-and-drop functionality is another obvious example) that all added up to some major obstacles on “Route 11” for me.
The good thing is that in recent years, most of those troubles and quirks around the Windows 11 UI have been resolved, and in terms of the interface for me, Route 11 is now free of obstacles.
3. Windows 11 24H2 is yet another important step forward
Windows 11 24H2 arrived at the beginning of October 2024, and took some important steps to make the OS better. The 24H2 version is actually built on a new underlying platform – Germanium – which means that while there aren’t a huge number of visible changes from the 23H2, there is a lot of innovation under the hood.
The results? Windows 11 24H2 benefits from stricter levels of security, which can never be a bad thing (Windows 11 was already ahead of the game compared to Windows 10 in this respect).
And most notably, it’s even better performing thanks to Germanium. Or at least there are a lot of anecdotal reports that Windows 11 is snappier and generally more responsive with 24H2 installed.
So with that new version rolling out more widely in the new year, it seems like a good bet to get on board and (hopefully) enjoy those benefits.
4. It could save you some money
Another potential benefit I want to explore is the new Energy Saver function 24H2 update introduced.
This is an updated version of the previous Battery Saver functionality, and an important addition is the ability to activate it with a desktop PC. Now, I have upgraded to Windows 11 on a desktop, and the idea will be to run Energy Saver to keep the energy usage even on a PC that is connected to the network (Battery Saver, as the name suggests , was more on the net). laptop longevity).
I don’t know how the Energy Saver will work exactly, but if it can save me some money on my energy bill – and I don’t see why it wouldn’t – that will be a big plus point, in particular. in this era of utility charges at the price.
5. Windows 24H2 has other nifty features too
In addition (albeit more minor) updating the carrots, it is worth keeping in mind that Windows 11 24H2 has introduced some other useful features.
They include built-in support for many compression formats (not just basic ZIP), cumulative updates are installed more quicklyand Wi-Fi 7 support (if you’ve made the leap with your router and PC).
There are also some extra AI tricks such as Voice Claritywhich reduces background noise so that it sounds clearer on video calls – previously it was only for PC Copilot +.
The final thought: Beware of bugs?
While I’ve outlined the pros of Windows 11 24H2 as reasons to grab the OS now – and for me, there’s enough to push me towards that update button during January – there are some potential downsides.
You may have seen reports of the 24H2 version bringing more than his right part of bugsand it is true. Actually, there have been too many of these, and then some really strange misfortunes to boot, maybe because of that big change under the hood to Germanium.
However, as the January 2024 monthly patch is around, I hope so Microsoft will contain the worst offenders (a lot of cures have already been implemented).
And, of course, if you have a PC with a hardware or software configuration that may be prone to a known glitch, you won’t get 24H2 anyway. It will only come when the relevant bugs that would cause you problems are fixed, so in this case, it’s just a matter of patience, and hopefully not for long.
However, Windows 11 24H2 is still in the early stages of its phased rollout, with the gates not yet fully open, so you may have to be patient either way – but it should arrive fairly soon in 2025 for most part of the PCs.
