With Notepad being updated for Windows 11, what other apps could benefit?

More of Microsoft’s apps are slowly being updated to match the aesthetic of Windows 11, however three apps could additionally profit from this improve.Notepad is the newest to reap the advantages of Fluent Design, with re-arranged options, an updated look, and a darkish mode choice for whenever you resolve to vary your desktop theme to a darker shade.

Currently in testing within the Insider Build Dev Channel of Windows 11, the place you possibly can take a look at options beneath growth, it’s probably the most important replace of Notepad in years, just like Paint’s replace just a few months in the past.However, with Notepad and shortly a new Windows Media Player about to be launched to everybody in a forthcoming replace, we puzzled what other functions could profit from an identical refresh in Windows 11.

Our three picks

Weather

Windows 11 weather widget

(Image credit score: Microsoft)

Users of iOS 15 have been handled to a redesigned climate app, which adapts to the state of the climate in your location. If it’s raining, droplets of water will bounce and land on the menus, whereas a ray of sunshine with lens flare will cowl the entire structure on one other day.Seeing one thing related in Windows 11 can be nice, in comparison with the easy person interface we at present have. There’s a climate widget, however it feels as if there ought to be more to benefit from the Fluent Design language of Windows 11.Alongside this, notifications can be a fantastic addition for when there’s rain scheduled, so you possibly can put together for an umbrella when it is advisable head out for some errands.

Pinball

Pinball3D running in Edge browser, in Windows 11

(Image credit score: Microsoft)

While you possibly can download video games from the redesigned Microsoft Store, alongside Android apps which might be about to reach for Windows 11, there’s a definite lack of built-in video games accessible.Windows XP, launched in 2001, arrived with a built-in pinball recreation that allowed you to ramp up excessive scores to see how lengthy you could final with three balls.While we spoke about how the recreation has been rebuilt as an online app, we’d like to see a sequel or a remake come to Windows 11. Have it characteristic achievements and distinctive 2-player modes. Perhaps permit every participant to manage one flip motion, whereas one other controls a part of the pinball desk.There’s loads of potential right here, and after twenty years, it’s time for a revival.

Windows Update

Windows 11 update showing as available

(Image credit score: SociallyKeeda)

Updating your PC could be irritating, particularly when an replace doesn’t work correctly. Going to the Settings app in Windows 11 is a slight enchancment in comparison with Windows 10, primarily resulting from accessible updates being more seen, however there’s much more that may be finished.Easier methods of seeing which updates had been put in and which failed can be a fantastic first begin, however the strategy of registering and de-registering for the Windows Insider Programme could go a good distance.This is the place you possibly can check out variations of Windows beneath growth which have options not accessible to the broader public. This is how Notepad and the brand new Windows Media Player are at present being examined.If you wish to take away your PC from the Insider Programme, you’re required to wipe your PC, which isn’t an excellent resolution. Apple does it higher by eradicating your Mac or iOS from the beta program as soon as a brand new replace is formally launched, leaving your knowledge utterly.Instead, having the Insider Programme and Windows Update as one separate app, with a simplified person interface could be an enormous assist to those that are anxious about updating their PCs, in worry of updates worsening their units.Updates with explainers on what they're and what they characteristic could assist break down that anxiousness and provides a larger understanding of what an replace can present.