Windows 11 is due for another monthly update in a week, and this February release will include some notable new features.
This upcoming update, launching on February 10, promises functionality that will allow you to resume using more apps from your Android phone on your PC desktop, and has been made more viable to use, among other additions, a nifty security feature.
1. Smart App Control finally works as it should for enablement
As previously seen in previews, Windows 11 has the ability to turn Smart App Control on (or off) at will.
In case you’re not familiar with Smart App Control (SAC), it is a security feature that examines any application that is installed on the PC and compares the software to Microsoft’s threat intelligence database. If the system finds something suspicious about an app, it will flag it and prevent you from installing it, possibly saving you a lot of malware-related headaches later.
The problem with this feature was that if you ever disabled it, you couldn’t turn it back on, not without reinstalling Windows 11. Why? I explain it in more depth here, but it goes without saying that if you didn’t realize this was the case, you could end up missing a useful feature when you temporarily disabled it to avoid a false positive (an app detected as potentially problematic, but which you are sure is actually safe).
After the February update, you will be able to activate or deactivate this feature at will, in a much more sensible way than before. This is important, as SAC is a useful safety feature, and being able to accidentally “lose” it was a disconcerting sting to this ability.
2. The multi-device curriculum reaches more applications
As the name suggests, this is a feature that allows you to pick up where you left off and resume what you were doing in an Android app when you get to your Windows 11 PC.
Cross-Device Resume is now available for Spotify, Office apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) along with select browsers. In the case of the latter, Microsoft Edge was already compatible on your smartphone (naturally) along with the Samsung browser, and now with the February update, Vivo Browser is also compatible.
Those who use Samsung smartphones, as well as Honor, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi phones, also have the ability to resume any files opened in the Copilot app (i.e. files stored online).
These are useful additional powers and I hope the option to resume using files on your PC in this way graces many more apps this year.
3. Strengthened voice and typing access
Voice Access will receive a new wizard to make it easier to set up this powerful Windows 11 functionality, which will be useful for beginners to this feature. Additionally, with voice typing, the February update offers the ability to specify the wait time before executing a voice command (so it can be almost instantaneous, if you want, or you can have a long pause before execution).
4. File Explorer Gets a Specific Speed Boost, But Frankly, I’ll Take Any Increase
While this is an improvement rather than a new feature, I think it’s worth mentioning that File Explorer, the app behind your desktop files and folders, is getting a performance boost.
File Explorer is known to be one of the most problematic parts of Windows 11 in terms of slowness; I know I experienced this myself on one of my PCs in particular (an older laptop). So any speed boost is welcome, and while all we get here is faster performance when accessing folders over a network in File Explorer, it’s still worth it for some people.
Beyond that, I’ll take the positive indication that Microsoft is working more broadly to improve different facets of File Explorer.
Other delicacies
In the February update, Microsoft is also introducing new ‘device information’ cards for the Settings app home page, showing you at-a-glance highlights of your PC’s core specs (CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage).
And for those with a musical inclination, Windows 11 will also receive MIDI enhancements, including “full support for WinMM and WinRT MIDI 1.0 with built-in translation, shared MIDI ports between apps, custom port names, loopback, and app-to-app MIDI.”
There are a few other parts as well, although keep in mind that these features are not guaranteed to arrive next week; Although they are expected to do so, it is always possible that something could be delayed at the last minute. It’s also worth remembering that some changes will be rolled out gradually, so you may not get everything immediately after downloading and installing the February update, but it will arrive in the process.
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