Six Windows 11 problems he desperately wants Microsoft to fix

telcodad

6 first world Windows 11 problems I desperately want Microsoft to fix
By Zac Bowden, Windows Central - April 24, 2025
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/six-windows-11-problems-microsoft-needs-to-fix

I’ve been a Windows user pretty much all my life. I’ve tried switching to the Mac and all kinds of Linux distributions, but I always find myself back on Windows because it’s just the best, in my opinion. However, that does not mean it’s perfect, and I wouldn’t want anyone, even Microsoft, thinking it was.

A lot of my issues with Windows are very minor. I’m a sucker for detail (e.g. my thoughts on touch in Windows , or the terrible new Outlook app ), and sadly Windows doesn’t always do a great job when it comes to paying attention to detail. But it’s hard to complain about such minor issues across the OS because there are usually bigger fish to fry, like trying to ship Windows Recall .

But I say, screw that! Small and unimportant details are just as big a deal as significant game-breaking issues.

So, here are the top 6 “first-world” problems I have with Windows 11 that I would like Microsoft to address.

The way Windows creates a local user directory
:
Missing Taskbar thumbnail preview animations
:
Dark mode is broken and ugly
:
Task View and Virtual Desktops animations
:
Start and Search transition is bad
:
Dumb ads
:
Wrapping it up

Microsoft’s Windows 11 has made strides in modernizing the PC experience, but several design flaws keep it from being a truly polished operating system.

While ambitious, the animations often feel inconsistent and janky, undermining the fluidity that users expect from a premium OS.

The Start menu, a cornerstone of Windows, struggles with its search functionality—delivering slow or irrelevant results that frustrate users.

Meanwhile, the dark mode remains incomplete, with legacy elements stubbornly refusing to adapt, leaving users with a fragmented experience.

Another sore point is the integration of ads within the OS. These ads often lack intelligent personalization, making them feel intrusive rather than helpful.

The coexistence of old and new UI elements, such as the Control Panel alongside modern settings, further highlights the lack of cohesion in design.

Features like Widgets, while promising, feel underdeveloped and redundant for many users.

Addressing these issues is not only recommended but essential if Microsoft wants Windows 11 to be taken seriously as a refined platform.

takeahike

telcodad However, that does not mean it’s perfect, and I wouldn’t want anyone, even Microsoft, thinking it was.

That’s the understatement of the year! But as I’ve said before it’s better than it used to be. Again, it seems to have taken 35 years since Windows 3.0 to get it to be pretty good, but who’s counting!

ugly95

The thing that I don’t like is the merging of launch icons and open windows on the middle of the taskbar. It could be that it’s easily customizable and I just don’t use Windows enough to have found it. But it never made sense to me to have a shortcut to launch a program in the same space that you’re dealing with switching between different windows. It’s especially bad now that they shifted everything to the middle.

PL1

ugly95 It’s especially bad now that they shifted everything to the middle.

Easily switched to the left (depending on the version you are running).

Warzau

PL1 haha I did this to every computer at work.

takeahike

ugly95 The thing that I don’t like is the merging of launch icons and open windows on the middle of the taskbar.

That feature was that was copied, uh stolen, from Macintosh, like pretty much the whole OS was. But don’t be too hard on Bill–he was just stealing something from Jobs that Jobs had stolen from Xerox. See: Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs: Who Stole The Technology? BTW, the ability to move the Start button to the left has been there from the beginning in 2021–it was the first thing I changed and it was therefore in the middle for me for five seconds. I can barely remember.

urbanriot

takeahike

the ability to move the Start button to the left has been there from the beginning in 2021

That’s true but the Start Menu and taskbar sucked for years after Windows 11 came out. It’s still missing options you can find in Windows 95/98/Me/2000/2003/⅞/10, like show all system tray icons.

takeahike

urbanriot

For $4.99 you can get StartAllBack and have a Start Menu, taskbar and desktop that works like Windows 7 or 10. There are many other features, among other things, like a transparent taskbar and it also fixes the double right click hassle in Windows 11.

urbanriot

takeahike yea but when you improve on Microsoft’s deficiencies, you also run the risk that an update will break your system that relies on the third party interface.

takeahike

urbanriot

That is well monitored by most developers, and especially with this one. He has already incorporated compatibility for Windows 12 into recent releases.

Donoreo

takeahike That is well monitored by most developers

They all do, until they don’t. It happens a lot.

takeahike

Donoreo They all do, until they don’t. It happens a lot.

I suppose but isn’t that true of any app and not just ones designed to improve the interface? There is really no end to what an update can break.

OmegaWolf747

Another annoying thing in Win 11 is when waking the PC from Sleep Mode, some of the taskbar icons are blank. This seems to have been a problem from the get-go in 11 and there doesn’t seem to be a one-stop permanent fix for it.

takeahike

OmegaWolf747 Another annoying thing in Win 11 is when waking the PC from Sleep Mode

As far as I can recall from time immemorial Windows has been problematic coming out of sleep mode. For that reason I have never used sleep mode and have just run screensavers. Another advantage is the virtual instant access back to the desktop.

Dustyn

takeahike For $4.99 you can get StartAllBack and have a Start Menu, taskbar and desktop that works like Windows 7 or 10. There are many other features, among other things, like a transparent taskbar and it also fixes the double right click hassle in Windows 11.

Open-Shell is also a great free alternative!
https://open-shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/
https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

bighorn1

So if your name is Jack, but your email is “iamthenight@outlook,” your user directory becomes “iamth” located at C:\Users\iamth, and everything you store on your computer is saved into this directory. It’s so very frustrating if you’re someone who manually navigates to your local directory in places like Terminal or File Explorer.

You should always bypass MS account (For this, and many other reasons) and create local user account during install. Then your “user name” = “directory name”.
Even if you plan on using MS account, you should install it that way.