Something to look forward to: Microsoft has vowed to improve Windows 11 for most of this year, and at IFA 2026, the company made a few more promises. The tech giant says that it is preparing to reduce boot times in its latest OS and improve Windows Hello responsiveness. It also reiterated that Windows 11 will run great on 8GB machines.
As reported by Windows Latest, Mark Linton, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Devices at Microsoft, spoke about the improvements being made to Windows 11, including "significant gains on things like boot time, Windows Hello responsiveness..."
"We're continuing to improve on the fundamentals," Linton added. "We're listening to customer feedback, continuously improving Windows, and you'll see those updates as Windows just gets better as the updates come through."
Linton is believed to have been referring to an internal build of Windows 11, rather than live preview builds. Microsoft hasn't confirmed when these particular improvements will reach the Experimental testing channel, or provided performance figures.
If this sounds familiar, it's because we've been hearing these kinds of promises a lot in 2026.
Microsoft outlined a Windows 11 overhaul in March. The company said it would focus on the fundamentals, improving performance and reliability while giving users more control over the interface and Windows Update. It also promised to make File Explorer more responsive and reduce the amount of memory consumed by Windows.
Later reports added a faster Start menu and Search to the plans. Microsoft also formed a team to create native Windows apps instead of the resource-heavy web wrappers blamed for making parts of the operating system feel slow and inconsistent.
Some of the changes have materialized. Windows 11 users can now move and shrink the taskbar, resize the Start menu, and hide unwanted sections. Search has received a cleaner interface and an option to disable web results, while Low Latency Profile can improve the launch speed of Windows components and third-party apps.
Another claim about 8GB machines could raise eyebrows. Microsoft's own 8GB Surface Laptop struggled with Teams calls and froze during basic Google Docs work in a review we covered in July.
There's still little evidence of dramatically lower RAM use or a native-app revolution. Problematic patches also continue to appear, too, including an August update linked to game crashes and unexpected reboots.
Microsoft offers no average Windows 11 boot-time figure, though its guidance recommends that notebooks reach the Start screen within 15 seconds, excluding BIOS initialization. Linton never said how much faster the changes will make the process, but we can all appreciate a faster boot time.
Microsoft promises faster Windows 11 boot times and better performance on 8GB PCs
