Windows 11 just got a pile of nifty new features – and something you might hate

Windows 11 just got a whole bunch of new features which are now available to all-comers.

As you may, or may not, realize, the Moment 3 update turned up in the Windows-verse quite some time back, but not everyone running Windows 11 was able to install the new functionality.

When Moment 3 was first made available, it wasn’t to all PCs – just those with the ‘Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available’ option turned on. And on top of that, the update remained a staggered rollout even among those selected users, with only some folks receiving it.

Now, though, following the release of Moment 3 features in preview late last month, the full upgrade – tested and complete – is now available to anyone who wants it.

Fall into that category? Then all you have to do is head to Windows Update and check for the latest updates, and you’ll get Microsoft’s freshly released patch (KB5028185) which enables Moment 3 features.

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Analysis: Some cool functionality is here – and something unwanted too

Is Moment 3 worth having? We think so, as it brings some nifty additions to the mix for Windows 11. For starters, there’s a good deal of work on the accessibility front, with the help system for Voice Access commands being revamped to give users a much better understanding of how everything works, plus there are new commands too (for selecting and editing text). On top of that, Microsoft now supports more dialects for Voice Access and more languages for live captions.

Elsewhere, some important bits of the Windows 11 interface have also been improved, such as the Settings app, Task Manager, and widget board. We discuss these changes in more depth here.

Unfortunately, there’s a sting in the tail here with what Microsoft calls the expanded rollout of “notification badging for Microsoft accounts” on the Start menu. What does that mean? More folks – but still not everyone – will be receiving nag prompts on the Start menu to sign up for a Microsoft account (or to finish configuring their account).

We’ve been voicing our opposition to this move since Microsoft kicked off this badging scheme (which would be better named badgering, as we’ve noted in the past), but it seems the software giant is determined to push ahead with it for now. These are thinly disguised adverts by any other name, even if they are designed to ‘help’ the user as Microsoft argues.

Whatever the case, the odds of seeing these badges are increasing with the delivery of Moment 3, and the update is not something you can avoid, of course. (Windows 11 Home users can only postpone a cumulative update for a short time, as they are mandatory and will be automatically installed eventually).

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