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Windows 11 fixes the dreaded update process in one very important way

Dua Rashid
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Windows 11 is bringing an important feature involving the update process that a lot of people have been waiting on. You will now be able to see how long an operating system update will take with the help of the estimated time on the screen showing how long it’ll take for the system to restart.

Apart from attempting to make the updates smaller, more meaningful, and less frequent, Windows 11 will also now show the estimated time it will take for a Windows update. This will be in the form of a little icon shown in various places, including the Windows Update screen, the taskbar, and the power button.

An icon showing how long a Windows 11 update will take.
Image courtesy of ghacks

Putting the new Windows 11 update feature to test, Ghacks reported that their system said it would take five minutes to update. However, it actually took about 1 minute and 10 seconds, which is very impressive. It’s smart of Microsoft to show more time than it’ll take for it to update instead of going over the given time and bothering its users.

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Windows 10 has long been criticized for its updates. Users have complained about their frequency; lack of quality, forcing, pushing, and breaking programs; and not knowing how long they’re going to take. Updates have always been one of the most dreaded features of Windows 10.

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The good news is that this is going to change. During the Windows 11 launch, it was announced that Windows updates are going to bring multiple new features. It will now be shifting to the once-a-year update cycle, just like Apple does with its MacOS updates. The hope is that Microsoft will also resolve the performance and stability issues that its updates were often plagued by. There’s also hope that the updates will be more fulfilling, breaking the long streak of pretty average ones. Another piece of good news is that, according to Microsoft, updates on Windows 11 will be 40% smaller, which means they’ll hopefully take less time to download and install.

We’ll have to wait and see how the update process plays out in the final version of Windows 11. But for now, it’s great to see that Microsoft listened to the feedback and took action. We hope that this small but necessary feature can make Windows updates much more convenient.

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Dua Rashid
Dua Rashid
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dua is a media studies graduate student at The New School. She has been hooked on technology since she was a kid and used to…
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