Microsoft says Windows 11 is up to 20% more responsive after months of performance fixes

Microsoft announced in October 2026 that Windows 11 has become “up to 20 percent more responsive” following months of targeted improvements to performance, reliability, and the overall operating system experience.

The updates span several core areas of Windows 11, including Start, File Explorer, Search, Edge, and memory management. Navjot Virk, corporate vice president of Windows experiences at Microsoft, said the company has focused on “making smarter use of memory and system resources” to keep more of a PC’s resources directed at what users are actively doing.

One of the more notable changes targets machines with 8GB of RAM or less. According to Virk, Windows can now keep up to 2GB more of active data in memory rather than offloading it to slower storage. As a specific example, Widgets now load only when opened on lower-memory PCs, freeing up more than 200MB of memory for other applications.

Other improvements include a faster Windows Hello sign-in process, more reliable Bluetooth pairing — with AirPods pairing described as up to 15 seconds faster — and less disruptive Windows Update behavior. Microsoft has also cleaned up the Widgets section and, notably, now allows the taskbar to be repositioned to the sides or top of the display, a feature users had long requested.

Looking ahead, Microsoft is preparing a new Windows Search experience it says is faster and more capable. The feature is currently available to Windows Insiders and is expected to roll out more broadly later in 2026.

The changes may be significant for users running Windows 11 on older or budget hardware, where the 8GB memory improvements could translate into a more usable day-to-day experience without requiring a hardware upgrade.