This is part of a series of features about new year tech projects and challenges for 2025. Read all of our Tech Resolutions articles here.
Everybody hates Windows 11, right? Okay, that’s unnecessarily harsh, but if you browse around a few popular online forums, it’s an opinion you’ll certainly see expressed here and there. It’s definitely true that Windows 11 remains somewhat unloved, and adoption of the OS has lagged way behind the speed with which PC owners jumped on the Windows 10 bandwagon.
However, Windows 11 is far from a bad operating system – this is no Windows 8 or Windows ME – and in fact it has a good few strengths. And as far as I’m concerned, the time is right to upgrade as next year rolls in, due to two main factors.
Firstly, the sands of time are running out for support in 2025. And secondly, Windows 11 24H2 has just brought in some nifty introductions. There are other reasons why I’ve decided to make the leap and migrate to Windows 11 as the New Year begins, so let’s dive in and explore them.
1. It’s time to act, while there’s still plenty of time
As next year begins, Windows 10 only has nine months left to live, or just over. On October 14, 2025, Microsoft stops support, meaning no more security (or feature) updates. You’re then potentially vulnerable to freshly uncovered exploits, as they won’t be patched.
So if, like me, you’ve been thinking of upgrading to Windows 11 at some point – but have just been putting it off – do so no longer. You could wait for another six months or so, but then you’re looking at cutting it fine, if any unforeseen problems crop up. So my thinking is just get it done straight off the bat as the New Year starts, and put any necessary tinkering in place.
In my case, that simply means enabling TPM 2.0 in the BIOS (which I, in criminally lazy fashion, just haven’t got round to doing yet). I should note here that your PC may not offer you an upgrade to Windows 11, saying that the device isn’t compatible.
However, if you have a relatively modern PC (bought in the last five years or so), odds are it’s fine, and like me, you just need to enable the TPM feature in your BIOS. Use the PC Health Check app to find out if your Windows 10 machine is eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 11 – you may need to enable TPM 2.0 (here are Microsoft’s instructions for doing that).
If you can’t upgrade to Windows 11 due to having too old a CPU, or no built-in firmware TPM that you can enable, head to our Windows 10 End of Life guide to explore your various other options.
2. Windows 11’s interface is now much better
When Windows 11 first came out in October 2021, the interface failed in some key aspects for me.
The lack of ‘never combine’ for apps in the taskbar was a dealbreaker for starters – that’s my workflow, I don’t want my instances of, say, Chrome windows all stacked up together, thanks. There were plenty of other shortcomings on this front (no taskbar drag-and-drop functionality is another obvious example) that all added up to some major roadblocks on ‘Route 11’ for me.
The good thing is that over the past few years, most of those niggles and quirks around Windows 11’s UI have been resolved, and interface-wise for me, Route 11 is now clear of obstructions.
3. Windows 11 24H2 is another sizable step forward, too
Windows 11 24H2 arrived at the start of October 2024, and took some important strides forward in making the OS better. Version 24H2 is actually built on an all-new underlying platform – Germanium – which means that while there aren’t a huge number of visible changes from 23H2, there’s a lot of innovation under the hood.
The results? Windows 11 24H2 benefits from tighter levels of security, which can never be a bad thing (Windows 11 was already ahead of the game compared to Windows 10 in this respect).
And more noticeably, it’s more performant thanks to Germanium, too. Or at least there are plenty of anecdotal reports that Windows 11 is snappier and generally more responsive with 24H2 installed.
So with that new version rolling out more widely in the New Year, it seems a good bet to get on board and (hopefully) enjoy those benefits.
4. It could save me some money
Another potential benefit I’m keen to explore is the new Energy Saver feature the 24H2 update introduced.
This is an upgraded version of the previous Battery Saver functionality, and an important addition is the ability to enable it with a desktop PC. Now, I’m upgrading to Windows 11 on a desktop, and the idea will be to run Energy Saver in order to keep power usage down even on a PC that’s plugged into the mains (Battery Saver, as the name suggests, was more about laptop longevity).
I don’t know how Energy Saver will work out exactly, but if it can save me a bit of money on my power bill – and I don’t see why it wouldn’t – that’ll be a big plus point, particularly in this age of price-hiked utility charges.
5. Windows 24H2 has other nifty features too
As further (albeit more minor) upgrade carrots, it’s worth bearing in mind that Windows 11 24H2 introduced some other useful features.
They include built-in support for multiple compression formats (not just basic ZIPs), cumulative updates being installed faster, and Wi-Fi 7 support (if you’ve made the jump with your router and PC).
There are also some extra AI tricks such as Voice Clarity, which dampens background noise so you sound clearer on video calls – previously this was for Copilot+ PCs only.
Closing thought: Beware of the bugs?
While I’ve outlined the pros of Windows 11 24H2 as reasons to grab the OS now – and for me, there’s enough to push me towards that upgrade button during January – there are some potential cons.
You may have seen reports of version 24H2 carrying more than its fair share of bugs, and that’s true. Indeed, there have been way too many of these, and some truly odd mishaps to boot, perhaps because of that big shift under the hood to Germanium.
However, as January 2024’s monthly patch rolls around, I’m hoping Microsoft will have contained the worst offenders (a bunch of cures have already been deployed).
And of course, if you have a PC with a hardware or software configuration which may be prone to a known glitch, you won’t get 24H2 rolled out to you anyway. It’ll only arrive when the relevant bugs that would cause you trouble are fixed, so in that case, it’s just a matter of being patient, and hopefully not for long.
At any rate, Windows 11 24H2 is still in the earlier stages of its phased rollout, with the floodgates not yet fully open, so you may have to be patient anyway – but it should arrive soon enough in 2025 for the majority of PCs.
