Windows 11 is a bit over half a year old now, and there was a lot of buzz around it when it first came out. Microsoft said publicly that it had designed Windows 11 specifically with businesses and professional individuals in mind, and this is reflected in the system and some of the great tools that are built into it.
TechQuarters is one of the top London IT support companies working with Microsoft, and they discussed some of their favorite features of the new operating system. Some of these tools look fairly innocuous on the surface, but when you get into them, they actually have some impressive functionality. Below is a list of 5 great tools in Windows 11 to look at.
1.Clock App
To start with, an app that you’ve probably never given much thought towards. The Clock app in Windows 11 might not even be an app you’ve ever opened before – after all, you can see the time in the bottom right corner of your display. However, when you do open the app, you’ll see there are several useful features.
To start with, the app has a World Clock section, complete with a world map, where you can add different time zones (which get marked on the map when added). This is a great native tool if you happen to work with businesses or individuals from different countries.
The app also has the requisite stopwatch and alarm feature. The timer section allows you to program and set multiple timers of different durations (3-minutes, 5-minutes, 10-minutes, etc.) which is great if you’re needing to balance several time sensitive tasks.
The most interesting feature in the Clock app is Focus sessions. This section of the app allows you to set a period of focus – from as little as 15 minutes, all the way up to 240 minutes, punctuated with scheduled breaks. This is a great way of managing your time better. This section also contains widgets for both Microsoft To Do, and Spotify, so you can listen to music and view your daily tasks during Focus sessions.
2.Calculator App
Having a calculator on hand is always useful. You might be used to using the calculator app on your phone, or even the Calculator app that is built into Google; but the Calculator app in Windows is more convenient and feature-dense than both these options. Not only does allow you to switch between different calculators – such as Standard, Scientific, Graphing, Programmer, and even a Date calculator – it also has additional functionalities.
The app also contains a Converter section. You can convert currencies, volume, length, weight and mass, energy, and so much more.
3.Storage Settings
The Settings app is the easiest way to view and manage system settings on Windows 11. The Storage Settings in particular is a great tool to know about. TechQuarters told us that, as part of the managed IT services London businesses get from them, they do a lot of training for customers – one of the most important lessons they tell people is to keep their internal storage optimized. The Windows 11 storage settings is a great way to manage this.
This section gives you a breakdown of how the storage on your computer’s internal hard drive is being allocated – it is split between Apps & features, Desktop, Documents, Temporary files, and Other. The Storage settings also has a Cleanup recommendations section that shows you how you could increase storage by deleting unnecessary data. There is also a function called Storage Sense that you can turn on, which will automatically manage your storage, delete temporary files, and free up space.
4.Virtual Desktops
One of the most useful built-in tools in Windows 11 is the Virtual Desktops feature in Task View. If you’re prone to multitasking, you will know the frustration of having loads of apps and windows sitting on your desktop – sifting through them all can be a pain. With Task View in Windows 11, you can view all of your windows, as thumbnails, in a simple, scrolling view. But, even better, you can create additional desktops for holding different windows.
Say you’re working on two projects for work, can could keep all the windows associated with one project in your primary desktop, and then offload the windows for the second project into a secondary virtual desktop. This way, everything is organised in a more reasonable way.
