- Windows 11 is now 'up to 20% more responsive,' Microsoft tells us, based on benchmarking typical interface workloads
- Apparently, this performance honing 'can make an especially meaningful difference on PCs with 8GB of memory'
- A new Photos app is also out, which is a good deal speedier, alongside changes for Windows 11's Gallery and photo viewer
Microsoft has underlined how it's making Windows 11 faster and ensuring the OS uses system RAM more optimally, while also introducing a new and more performant Photos app.
In a blog post, Microsoft explained how it's been tinkering with Windows 11 to make it run faster, and that: "The result is a Windows experience that's up to 20% more responsive, with improvements you can feel as soon as you boot into your PC."
That 20% figure is quite vague, but Microsoft says it's based on measured speed increases in Windows 11 search, the right-click menu, Settings, Start menu, as well as File Explorer (the folders on the desktop) and the Snipping Tool.
These are performance boosts seen in the most recent October update for Windows 11 (well, they were tested in the September preview update, but it's the same thing) compared to the OS as it stood at the beginning of 2026. Naturally, performance will vary by device and configuration, but the gist is clear: there's a sizeable speed boost.
Microsoft observes that a big part of this nippier performance lies in better use of system resources and RAM, with improvements in memory management and efficiency.
The software giant notes: "That work can make an especially meaningful difference on PCs with 8GB of memory. Windows can now keep up to 2GB more of your active data in memory instead of moving it to slower storage, helping your PC stay responsive as you open more apps or browser tabs."
We're also told that Windows 11's background RAM use is being trimmed back, so on PCs with only 8GB of memory (or less), widgets load only when opened, reducing background workload by 200 MB.
In this blog post, Microsoft also reminds us of all the work it's done to fix Windows 11. From key interface changes for the likes of the Start menu and taskbar, through to improving Windows updates, we've also witnessed recent changes that make search faster, more accurate, and useful (and more efficient with RAM usage).
There's an entirely fresh revelation here, though, in the form of the new Photos app as mentioned at the outset.
Microsoft says it rebuilt the native Photo editor around WinUI 3 (the modern interface framework for Windows 11), and it now launches 25% faster than before. It sports a reorganized set of menus and features, including repair (unwanted object removal) and relight (to swiftly adjust the lighting of a photo).
The Photo viewer also launches faster (by about 15% on average, Microsoft claims), opens photos up to 30% faster, and has a cleaner, more streamlined design, so you see more of the picture.
It also adds a new Gallery that brings together photos on your PC and in the cloud (OneDrive and Apple iCloud). Again, expect faster launch times, more responsive scrolling, and natural-language search, so you can ask for 'pictures of my dog on the beach,' and Windows will find them (hopefully).
Analysis: progress in the right direction
Microsoft previously promised to work hard on memory optimization for Windows 11, and it's presenting clear evidence of that here, which is good to see. As I've said before, though, it's a puzzle why Microsoft hasn't done this before now, and you've got to wonder why, for example, widgets were ever allowed to eat up memory if they're not being used.
At any rate, this is useful progress, and there's a very handy bunch of enhancements for the Photos app, too, along with the associated Viewer and Gallery, with impressive performance improvements therein.
Microsoft is crystal clear about there being significant speed-ups present in Windows 11 all-round with the latest update for the OS, although we're yet to see any commentary from users who are noticing this. Admittedly, the October update has only been out for a couple of days, so it'll be interesting to watch the ongoing reaction.
Overall, this seems like continued progress in the right direction, and we can expect more performance tuning before 2026 is out.