Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Windows 11 might finally reverse course on preinstalled applications

Fionna Agomuoh
By

Microsoft is testing the ability to allow users to uninstall various preinstalled applications from its operating systems to make way for third-party apps and modern updates of older programs.

The brand recently began rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23585, which will allow applicable users to uninstall a range of apps from Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft detailed on its Windows Insider Blog that the Insider Preview Build update will allow users to uninstall the Camera app, Cortana, Photos app, People app, and Remote Desktop (MSTSC) client without needing extra tools.

Windows 11 set up on a computer.
Microsoft

Notably, as a Windows 11 Insider build update, this is an exclusive rollout for those who have registered as Windows 11 Insiders to test software ahead of it potentially being released to the public. However, this gives an idea of what Microsoft could have in mind for future updates. There’s no guarantee, however, that this will be an actual Windows feature.

Recommended Videos

Windows Central noted that the Cortana app was depreciated to end-of-life status in August and no longer works on Windows. It would likely be scrubbed from the system in a future update anyway. Microsoft has plans to install its AI assistant Copilot as Cortana’s replacement. There’s a good argument for the ability to manually uninstall features that no longer work rather than having to wait for another update to get rid of them. Microsoft also depreciated the 30-year-old WordPad application in September, which will also remain on devices until it is removed in a future update.

Related

XDA Developers suggested that being able to remove default applications from the system easily will afford users the space to install their preferred third-party apps instead. Last year, Microsoft began to spruce up its app store, first by bringing some of its own applications, such as Microsoft Teams, to the marketplace. Then it made the app store more compatible with third-party developers by ending the waitlist program for Win32 apps in the Microsoft Store.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh
Computing Writer
Fionna Agomuoh is a technology journalist with over a decade of experience writing about various consumer electronics topics…
Intel may have accidentally leaked the release date for Windows 12
Someone typing on the Surface Laptop Studio 2's touchscreen.

Did we just get a confirmation about the release time frame for Windows 12 -- and from Intel, of all sources? It seems that way. Intel spoke about its predictions for 2024, indicating that it expects 2024 to be a good year for client processors. That's huge for Intel because the next generation of its top processors, Meteor Lake, is set to come out in 2024. However, if Intel is right, it might be a big year for Microsoft, too.

The information comes from a transcript of the Citi 2023 Global Technology Conference. Most of it wasn't too exciting -- fireside chats aren't often that interesting to the masses -- but there's a little comment in there that piqued our interest.

Read more
Windows 11 adoption is slowing, and we finally know why
Surface Laptop Studio 2 sitting on a table.

In the consumer space, Windows 11 adoption has been ticking along at a reasonable pace. For businesses, however, the OS may have reached its limit, as businesses struggle to upgrade machines to meet the minimum requirements.

IT asset management group Lansweeper has observed that the adoption of Windows 11 now stands at 8.35% as of October 2023, a slight jump from the 5.74% seen in September 2022. However, having conducted research on approximately 33 million Windows devices in the enterprise sector, Lansweeper has concluded that it is largely device incompatibility that is stalling Windows 11 updates on a grand scale.

Read more
If you have an AMD GPU, stay away from the latest Windows Update
Two AMD Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards on a pink surface.

A quick PSA: If you own one of AMD's best graphics cards and you like to tweak the settings, now is not a good time to download the latest Windows Update. According to users on the AMD forums, the KB5030310 update really doesn't agree with AMD's Adrenalin Control Panel. While it's not the end of the world, this isn't the first Windows update in the last few months that has caused problems.

It appears that every time people restart their PCs, their Adrenalin settings are all reset back to default. This means that any changes made to things like AMD's Anti-Lag or Hyper RX will disappear upon every boot. Fortunately, the graphics driver itself is unaffected.

Read more