Your Windows 11 PC is getting a dozen small upgrades this week
Yesterday was Patch Tuesday, which means Microsoft has released another month’s worth of security fixes for its various products and services, plus a bunch of new features for Windows 11. Not only are Windows 11 apps launching faster on slower PCs, but File Explorer and Windows Hello have gotten improvements, among other features.
None of the new features are singularly game-changing enough to stand out on its own, but the whole package adds up to a nice boost for Windows 11 users. Many of these improvements were already made available via July’s optional update, but now they’re being rolled out to all Windows 11 PCs via this month’s mandatory update.
Here’s a quick summary of small but practical changes:
File Explorer now displays file sizes in more intuitive units. Previously, Microsoft used KB as the unit of measurement regardless of file size, which meant that an 8 GB file would show as 8,388,608 KB. Now, however, file sizes will show in MB or GB as it makes sense to do so; smaller files will still show in KB. You can now also use the middle mouse button to open a folder in a new File Explorer tab via the address bar and the Start page.
Windows 11’s voice control can now filter out other voices and background noise, improving intelligibility. Windows Search, meanwhile, now delivers smarter results even when typos are present in the query. For touchpad gestures, you can now adjust scroll and zoom speeds as well as enable accelerated scrolling. Improvements have been made to the taskbar and to the power and battery settings.
Anyone using Windows Hello to securely log in to a Windows PC can now also use external fingerprint readers. Previously, Windows Hello only accepted built-in fingerprint scanners.
And with regard to Secure Boot, Microsoft says the number of PCs receiving updated Secure Boot certificates has been expanded again.
After installing the August Patch Tuesday update, Windows 11 versions 25H2 and 24H2 will have build numbers 26200.9165 and 26100.9165, respectively. But even once it’s installed, you may not have all of these features right away—Microsoft likes to roll them out gradually to an increasing number of PCs over days and weeks.
By the way: If you’re using Windows 11 Home, you’re missing out on the many benefits of Windows 11 Pro. To learn more, see our comparison of Windows 11 Home and Pro. If you want to upgrade, snag it for cheap in the PCWorld Software Store: now just $59 instead of $99.
