‘We need to improve Windows in ways that are meaningful for people’: Microsoft promises to fix Windows 11 this year — and it’s about time

• Microsoft has promised to fix Windows 11
• The company will undertake a major effort to smooth out performance issues and fix bugs
• It’s acting based on ‘clear’ feedback from Windows 11 users and testers who aren’t happy with the current failings of the desktop OS

Microsoft has finally said that it’s going to work hard on fully fixing Windows 11, smoothing over performance issues and remedying glitches.

The Verge got the scoop here and reports that Windows engineers are going to focus on fixing the core problems with the desktop operating system. This will happen in a process called ‘swarming’ – which is basically referring to bringing a lot of software engineers together to work collaboratively on bug fixing and fine-tuning.

In short, it means Microsoft is throwing everything it has got at fixing up Windows 11, and not before time.

Pavan Davuluri, who heads up the Windows and devices division at Microsoft, told The Verge: “The feedback we’re receiving from our community of passionate customers and Windows Insiders has been clear. We need to improve Windows in ways that are meaningful for people.

“This year you will see us focus on addressing pain points we hear consistently from customers: improving system performance, reliability, and the overall experience of Windows.”

Analysis: reputational recovery

Obviously, it’s one thing to say this, and another thing to go through with it – and get results. I’m hoping that we’ll start to notice differences in Windows 11 sooner rather than later, and the initial goal, I’d imagine, is to stem the flow of bugs in the first place.

In this first month of 2026, we’ve witnessed quite a number of fresh gremlins scurrying around in the innards of Windows 11, causing quite a bit of havoc for some users. Indeed, some nasty bugs have been evident, such as that boot failure glitch, and reported issues around sleep mode with older PCs (and much more besides). A terrible start to a new year, all in all.

If Microsoft can bring Windows 11 back on more of an even keel with updates, so that they aren’t, for example, solving some issues while bringing in a bunch of new bugs, that’ll be a good start to this ‘swarming’ effort to fix Windows 11 and its fundamentals.

Performance tuning will also be key here, and that includes speeding up File Explorer and making it more responsive, as it’s been a long-complained-about sluggish aspect of Windows 11.

I write about Windows pretty much daily, and one of the common themes that constantly pops up for me is how Microsoft is losing trust with Windows 11 users due to all the brokenness, the bugs, and the sluggish performance.

Davuluri acknowledges this in one of his statements to The Verge, observing that: “Trust is earned over time and we are committed to building it back with the Windows community.”

Trust is crucial when it comes to one of the other key areas of Windows 11 for Microsoft – namely AI. If the reputation of Windows 11 keeps suffering blow after blow – due to this bug, or that performance glitch – over and over, the desktop OS may never recover its standing.

And if users don’t have any faith in Microsoft to keep Windows 11 together and in generally decent working order – how are they going to have trust in the AI agents Microsoft so desperately wants to make one of the cornerstones of its OS going forward? They won’t, and Microsoft’s AI plans will come off the rails as a result – particularly if these agents turn out to be buggy themselves.

AI has, of course, been a very controversial area for Windows 11. People feel Microsoft is relentlessly pushing AI as the next big thing, bringing it to all corners of the operating system (more or less) with dubious benefits, and moreover at the cost of ignoring the fundamentals and everything that’s wrong with Windows 11.

This is Microsoft signalling that this is no longer the case. I just hope it turns into more than just mere signalling, and 2026 does indeed prove to be the year where Microsoft turns Windows 11 quality assurance around – which will require a longer-term strategy than ‘swarming’ it should be noted – while beating back the performance demons that lurk in certain parts of the OS.

I’ve already said that I think this year is going to be make-or-break for Windows 11, and it seems that Microsoft now realizes the gravity of this situation. The proponents of Linux in its various flavors certainly do, and are waiting to capitalize on any further failings.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel – ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ – was published by Hachette UK in 2013).