Goodbye, Cortana: these features are no more in Windows 11
Windows 11 not only features a new start menu. The new operating system has been a great opportunity for Microsoft to declutter old programmes. These functions will be scrapped or replaced.
Windows 11 is not only introducing new things, it’s also getting rid of old things. You won’t miss much of it. Maybe the snipping tool. Other than that, the removal of features feels like Microsoft is doing some serious decluttering.
Cortana bids us farewell… almost
Rewind to 2014. Apple’s Siri is already successful and Amazon’s Alexa has taken root in the US. Google’s Voice Assistant is catching up. And Microsoft wants a piece of the pie. So Windows 10 is equipped with the voice assistant Cortana.
Even before it’s launched, Cortana has a die-hard fan base. After all, it’s the same voice as the artificial intelligence in the game series «Halo». The voice has inspired fans so much that songs have been written about it. Songs that have been listened to millions of times on YouTube.
And yet, PC Cortana has never caught on, even if it does have the same voice as Cortana in the Halo games. At most, Cortana was the fly in the ointment when you were setting up Windows. Cortana was never a success on smartphones either, and the support app has been discontinued.
Fast forward seven years: Microsoft pulls the plug on Cortana. The app no longer comes pre-installed on Windows 11 PCs. You won’t be greeted by it during setup. But if you still wish to use the app, you need to look for it, install and activate it.
Internet Explorer is dead. Finally.
Windows 11 now only comes with Edge – Microsoft’s new browser. The browser was originally meant to be called Spartan like the Spartan II programme in the Halo video games.
Internet Explorer is history at last. What feels like about 4,000 years after the first announcement is now a reality: Internet Explorer is no more.
Edge also offers you an IE mode.
Of course.
Tablet Mode is replaced
When you disconnect your Surface Pro from the keyboard in Windows 10, it becomes a tablet. Windows 10 then switches to tablet mode, which is optimised for touchscreens. This mode will disappear.
However, Windows will still detect when a keyboard is disconnected from the device. Or if a keyboard is hooked up to a tablet.
Tablet Mode will be removed. Instead, new functionality and capability is included for keyboard attach and detach postures.
What this means exactly remains to be seen. But the basic user interface of Windows 11 generally suggests improved touch-friendliness. Perhaps the icons in the newly designed taskbar will be moved a bit further apart.
What’s more, Screen keyboards will no longer dock and undock keyboard layouts on screen sizes 18 inches and larger.
Snipping Tool becomes Snip & Sketch
Each time you open Snipping Tool, you are greeted by a message that says «Snipping Tool is moving». Except, this never happened in the last few years. Plus, its successor application «Snip & Sketch» is hardly used.
But now, Snip & Sketch is going to be the Snipping Tool. Since no one really used Snip & Sketch, but everyone is a fan of the Snipping Tool, Microsoft simply rebranded Snip & Sketch. In other words, what used to be Snip & Sketch is now called Snipping Tool. The Win10 Snipping Tool will be scrapped.
More feature disappearances coming soon
- Quick Status, i.e. the calendar entries on the lockscreen will be removed.
- S Mode will no longer appear in Windows 11 Pro, but remains a feature in Windows 11 Home.
- Wallet will be scrapped.
- 3D Viewer is no longer pre-installed.
- OneNote for Windows 10 is no longer pre-installed.
- Paint 3D is no longer pre-installed.
- Skype is no longer pre-installed.
- Live Tiles in the start menu will disappear. Widgets will take over this functionality.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.