7 Windows 11 Features That Should Be Enabled By Default

When you install a new version of Windows 11, your system will be preconfigured with a set of default settings that Microsoft believes are suitable for most users.

However, many of these default settings are designed to promote the company's own products and services (like Microsoft 365, PC Game Pass, and Microsoft Edge) rather than optimizing the experience for all users.

In addition to these promotional features, Windows 11 also turns on and off many system settings by default, which may sometimes not align with what's best for performance, security, or productivity.

For example, System Protection, a feature that lets you undo unwanted system changes, is disabled by default for all drives, although it used to be enabled for the primary drive in previous versions. Likewise, automatic Registry backups, an important recovery safeguard, are no longer created by default.

 

File Explorer also continues to hide extensions for known file types, which can make it harder to identify potentially harmful files or manage advanced file operations.

While new features like the 'Sudo' and 'End Task' commands from the Taskbar are now part of Windows 11, they are still disabled by default and are primarily reserved for developers.

This article will highlight 7 features that should be enabled by default on every Windows 11 installation.

System Protection

On Windows 11, System Protection is a recovery feature designed to help protect your computer's system files, apps, Registry, and system settings. It works by creating and managing restore points, which are essentially snapshots of your current settings at a specific point in time.

 

To reduce the setup footprint, Microsoft decided to turn this feature off by default. However, you often won't remember to turn it on until it's too late, and for this reason, Microsoft will make the feature enabled by default on all installations.

Sudo command

Sudo (superuser do) is a tool that allows you to run commands with elevated privileges without having to run the command line console as admin.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it works similarly to the sudo command found in Unix-based operating systems like Linux and macOS. While Windows 11 lets you manage this feature from the Settings app, Microsoft should enable sudo on every install to make it easier to run commands without having to run the console with admin rights.

End Task option

On Windows 11 , when you're done using an app, you usually click the "Close" button , but when the app is unresponsive, clicking the "X" button may not work.

If an app freezes, you'd normally open Task Manager , select the app, and force-quit it. However, the operating system includes an "End Task" option to quickly terminate an unresponsive app without having to open Task Manager, but this option is disabled by default because Microsoft thinks it's a developer tool.

 

Automatic Registry Backup

In previous versions of the operating system, the system automatically created a backup of the Registry every time the computer started properly in the "REgBack" folder. However, in Windows 10 (version 1803), Microsoft removed this feature to reduce the footprint of the setup.

Although not many users know about this behavior, it is a great feature to restore the system after a faulty update or making system changes that cause the operating system to not boot properly.

It's important to note that you can still enable this feature, but it requires modifying the Registry and creating a custom task using Task Scheduler .

File Explorer has file extensions

By default, File Explorer will list files in folders and subfolders without extensions (such as ".txt", ".docx", etc.), but the default configuration on all installations should be set to show extensions.

While hiding extensions for known file types can make the experience cleaner and help reduce the chance of accidentally changing the extension, you may also find some benefits to showing extensions by default.

For example, always showing extensions for known files can help identify files quickly, make renaming files easier, and change extensions more easily, such as changing a file from ".txt" to ".bat" or ".ps1" for scripting.

 

Hibernate option in power menu

On Windows 11, Hibernate is a feature that saves the contents of the current session loaded in memory to the main drive. This feature allows you to shut down your computer and resume that session the next time you turn on your device.

This feature is often useful for saving power on a desktop or laptop. Additionally, if your laptop is running low on battery, you can use the Hibernate option to shut down the device while keeping the current session alive until you find a power outlet to charge it.

Regardless of the reason, the system should be able to detect and enable the feature, automatically displaying the option in the power menu on supported hardware.

Taskbar left aligned

Starting with Windows 11, Microsoft introduced an updated version of the desktop experience that included a new design for the Taskbar and Start menu, but now, by default, the Taskbar and Start menu icons are centered.

While you still have the option to change left alignment, the OS should keep left alignment with the option to change to center, since most people are used to the old alignment.

If you are still new to Windows 11, you can use the instructions: How to change Taskbar position on Windows 11 to change the Taskbar alignment on your computer.