Microsoft’s development team has just implemented a new update that should see certain Windows 11 tasks speed up by 40%. This is a huge improvement, and the massive increase will hopefully enhance the operating system’s usability.
Announced by Microsoft Principle Architect Rudy Huyn via Twitter, Version 22403 of Windows 11 has now been rolled out to all users after previously being available to beta testers for the past couple of weeks. According to Huyn, it heavily focuses “on performance,” with product pages now loading 40% faster than the previous update. As evidenced in a video clip in the thread, you could expect loading times around 900ms – 1010ms before the update, which has now shortened to just 560ms – 630ms, depending on the page.
The bulk of the upgrades appear to focus on the Microsoft Store, which you can use to purchase games and software, and it also powers PC Game Pass. Another video showcases enhanced loading times for the buy/download button to appear. While this previously took nearly five seconds to show up, it now happens in just shy of two seconds. It’s a huge reduction in wait times, albeit however short they may be.
Furthermore, Microsoft has also drastically overhauled its launch animations and the speed at which the storefront opens. Instead of waiting for something to emerge from a blank white screen, the application now slickly fades in and offers up a splash screen that you can customise. All these improvements go hand in hand to make Microsoft Store far more pleasant to engage with. If you’re someone who has avoided it due to clunky interfaces or long wait times, then this update may be what you’ve been waiting on to give it another shot. Let’s just hope it doesn’t break anything.
Microsoft Store (previously known as Windows Store) has been a hallmark of the past couple of operating systems under the company’s banner, but it’s never been particularly well-liked. Nowadays, this storefront hosts everything from free software and can be opened as a channel to download external programs directly. These updates go a long way to improving the usability of Windows 11, especially if you’re running on a battery-powered laptop, where the storefront appeared to struggle the most.