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Microsoft has released its big Fall 2024 update for Windows 11codenamed 24H2, and it brings a host of updates and fixes that should improve your Windows experience a bit.

Even if you’re a die-hard Windows 11 fan, you may not have noticed it Windows 11 24H2 is hereand for good reason: Microsoft spreads the deployment of important updates like this over several weeks or months. So you may not see it unless you diligently check for Windows updates and keep the “Get the latest updates as soon as they become available” option. “Reavailable” is activated.

It might even be installed without you noticing: an easy way to check which version of Windows 11 you’re running is to press the Start button and type “Windows Info,” then select “Windows Specifications” from the results. This will open the About page in your system settings, where you can see which edition and version of Windows 11 you are using.

If you see the 24H2 build listed, congratulations: you have the big Windows 11 Fall Update! There are all sorts of little changes and fixes aimed at improving Windows (like support for Wi-Fi 7), as well as new features to try.

Some of the new features are exclusively available on Copilot+ PCs, such as the new Windows Reminder functionality, Live Captions and some advanced graphics upgrades.

But you don’t need a fancy Copilot+ PC to take advantage of the many new upgrades in the latest version of Windows. No matter what PC you have, here are 5 of my favorite new Windows 11 features you should check out first!

Phone Link arrives in the taskbar

One of my favorite things about using a Mac with my iPhone is how Apple makes it easy to receive my text messages on both devices, so I can see them while I’m working without having to reach for my phone.

Windows 11 has had an anemic Phone Link app for a while now that lets you wirelessly connect your Android or iOS smartphone to your PC to check messages, but it can’t match the interoperability of iPhones and Macs.

However, with the 24H2 update, the situation gets a lot better, at least if you own an Android phone. Those of us using iPhones are still stuck with just a Phone Link app in the taskbar showing our notifications, but you have an Android device, you can send and receive messages from your Windows 11 PC, browse remotely files from your phone and even watch a live broadcast. View your phone’s battery status, connection status, and recent messages in your Start menu. You can even use your Android smartphone’s camera as a webcam by going to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices.

It’s basically almost as good as macOS SequoiaIt is Mirroring iPhone feature, at least if you’re using an Android device.

Quick settings expanded

Once you have 24H2, try opening the Quick Settings menu, which you can do by clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the corner of your taskbar.

When you do, you should notice that the usual simplified interface has been expanded and equipped with pages, which you can navigate using your mouse or by clicking on the arrow icons in the right side of the menu.

This change essentially gives you easy access to all the tools in your Quick Settings menu, instead of being limited to what you put there.

The value is that Microsoft can keep adding tools and you can just scroll down to access them, instead of having to dig through the “Change Quick Settings” tools to add them manually.

One of the new settings you can quickly turn on or off from the Quick Settings menu is Power Saving Mode, another new addition which I’ll explain next.

New power saving mode

Once you get the 24H2 update, you may notice the new Power Saver button in your Quick Settings menu, which is basically a better version of the existing Battery Saver mode.

The existing Battery Saver in Windows 11 is only available on laptops and, when enabled, attempts to reduce power consumption by doing things like dimming the screen and throttling of background application activity.

It’s now replaced by Power Saver mode, available on laptops and desktops so you can use it to reduce your electricity bill and extend battery life.

It’s part of Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to make Windows more environmentally friendly, and in the Settings > System > Power & Battery menu you’ll find a host of options you can use to fine-tune the amount of power consumed by your device when plugged in. and when you are on the new power saving mode.

Wi-Fi refresh

One of the smaller new features that I really, really like is the new Windows 11 taskbar Wi-Fi menu button that lets you refresh your view of available Wi-Fi networks.

If this seems like a minor feature, it is, which is why it’s been incredibly frustrating to use Windows laptops over Wi-Fi for the past few years. There have been so many times I’ve tried to connect to my iPhone’s hotspot in a crowded conference room or train car, only to be frustrated by the deluge of other Wi-Fi networks filling my queue of available networks.

In the past, I’ve had to turn Wi-Fi off and on on my laptop several times in order to refresh the list of networks so that the one I want is available. With this new feature, I can simply press the refresh button on Wi-Fi networks whenever I need to – a small but welcome upgrade for Windows.

File Explorer gets much-needed upgrades

Launch File Explorer and you may notice a few new features to play with, including a new set of compression tools that not only allow you to compress to .ZIP, but now also .TAR and .7z.

This effectively ends the long dark ages that we Windows users have lived in when it comes to file compression. For the longest time, we had to download something like 7-Zip every time we wanted to compress or decompress a file in a format other than .RAR, but a recent Windows 11 update unlocked Windows’ ability to unzip files. .7z files.

Now that 24H2 has added the ability to compress files in these formats as well, you no longer need to go to the web to get a decent file compression tool, although you may still want to, because the Windows 11’s built-in file compression tools are still much slower than something like 7-zip.

While you’re playing around in File Explorer, note another of my favorite new features in 24H2: text labels on the Cut, Copy, Rename, Share, and Delete buttons in the right-click context menu.

Since the early days of Windows 11, these functions have been hiding in the context menu as icons, and while I finally learned which one, it took me months to remember.

Now new Windows 11 users won’t have to deal with this headache: the text labels are on the new icons, so it’s quick and easy to find the Delete or Rename buttons.

These are just some of the new features available to everyone in Windows 11 24H2, so keep digging to see what else is new in Windows.

Microsoft also eliminates some operating system errors, which is why Windows is losing these 7 features in 2024. You probably won’t miss features like Cortana and WordPad, but it’s worth knowing as we prepare for 2025!

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