Microsoft is planning comprehensive performance improvements for Windows 11 this fall. Marcus Ash, Design and Research Lead for Windows & Devices at Microsoft, confirmed the measures after testers of preview builds had already reported significantly smoother operation.
File Explorer to open virtually without delay
At the heart of the optimizations is File Explorer, often criticized for sluggishness. Testers in experimental builds report that the file manager now launches almost instantaneously. Feedback gathered from the Insider Program as part of the so-called K2 initiative confirms an overall increase in system responsiveness. However, Microsoft has not yet published specific benchmarks or metrics.
Beyond load times, file search is also getting an overhaul: According to reports, the “This PC” view will gain an indexer-based search to deliver results more quickly.
Back in late summer, Microsoft also began tweaking the right-click context menu, making it open faster and appear sleeker. Users in the Insider channel can now toggle default entries such as “Send to”, “Create shortcut”, “Print”, as well as actions like cut, copy, or rename directly through the settings.
Migration to WinUI 3 tackles legacy code
Performance bottlenecks stem in part from Microsoft’s gradual modernization of the user interface. Legacy code components, some dating back to Windows 95, are making way for the modern UI framework WinUI 3. According to Design Director March Rogers, components including the file properties window have been entirely rebuilt in WinUI 3, with the Start menu slated to follow suit.
At the same time, Microsoft is pushing system maintenance elsewhere: The out-of-band update KB5129195 was recently rolled out for Windows 11.
RAM: 16 GB as the new baseline
A driving factor behind these optimizations is high resource consumption. Surface models with 8 GB of RAM are cited as an example of current systems, frequently using around 6.7 GB during everyday tasks. At IFA 2026, Mark Linton, Vice President of Windows & Devices at Microsoft, confirmed improvements to boot times and Windows Hello, alongside deeper optimization for 8 GB devices. As a new baseline recommendation, Microsoft suggests 16 GB of RAM, and 32 GB for gaming systems.
Initial improvements to the Start menu and taskbar are reportedly already rolling out to standard releases, with further optimizations expected throughout the fall.
Sources: Borncity.com
