Windows is still the preferred operating system of most people, and there are many good reasons for that. It's got pretty much every app under the sun, and feature-wise, it's a very robust platform while being easy enough for most users to get to grips with without too much stress.

But that's not to say Windows is perfect. In fact, it's far from it, and I have a lot of problems with it. The severity of these problems is debatable, but I wanted to highlight some of features missing in Windows 11 that should have been here a long time ago. To be fair, in many cases, these features are also missing from rival operating systems like macOS, but that's beside the point. Let's get into it.

8 A convenient volume mixer

Managing multiple outputs is a nightmare

If you have a laptop connected to an external monitor with speakers, or you use USB headphones or otherwise external speakers, you probably know that managing audio across your different sound outputs is terrible. Microsoft has improved things a bit with a volume mixer built into the Quick actions panel, but it still does very little to help you manage these apps.

It's hard to change whether a given app is playing audio from a specific device, and simply adjusting the volume for individual apps takes more clicks than I'd like. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if EarTrumpet wasn't an excellent third-party app putting Microsoft to shame here. Volume controls are a total breeze with this app, and you can easily drag and drop apps to move them from one device to another. It's crazy to me that a simple solution like this hasn't been implemented yet, but frankly, I don't think it will ever happen.

7 Focus profiles

A big macOS win

Do not disturb is a feature that's everywhere these days, and Windows has supported it for a good while. However, Apple has evolved this feature to support multiple profiles, so you can filter different kinds of notifications easily based on what their source is by simply switching profiles. For example, while you're at work, you might not want Discord messages disrupting you, but when you're back home, you don't want Slack to take away from your personal time.

It's important to set boundaries when it comes to work and personal life, and Focus/Do not disturb profiles help greatly with that, so here's hoping Microsoft will take some notes from Apple here.

6 Brightness controls for external monitors

It shouldn't be this hard

One of the most frustrating parts of using a desktop PC or an external monitor is the fact that I can't change the brightness on those external monitors directly within Windows (or macOS, for that matter). Only internal monitors are usually supported, which means you either have to use the uncomfortable buttons on the monitor itself to change settings, or install the official app from the manufacturer off the monitor, which is usually bloated.

Actually, there is a third option: installing one of the many monitor control apps that do a way better job of it, such as Twinkle Tray. But while this works fine, it shouldn't be necessary. External monitors aren't some niche use case. Anyone with a desktop PC will have one, and out of the box, you just don't have convenient brightness controls. It's a frustrating and seemingly pointless problem to have.

5 Bulk file renaming

It works, but it could be much better

This isn't a feature that's missing entirely in Windows, because you can in fact rename multiple files at once. But I remember just a couple of months ago telling my wife that she could do it and she didn't realize it was possible. When you rename multiple files in Windows 11, only a single file's name is highlighted and changed in real time. That name is then applied to all the selected files when you press Enter, with numbers added in parentheses at the end.

This works fine enough, but macOS has a much better implementation, showing a dedicated dialog for renaming multiple files, with options for replacing the entire text or adding text, as well as variations on how each file is differentiated from the other. This implementation makes it much easier to know what you're going to get, and it's clear that Microsoft agrees it makes sense because there's a tool called PowerRename in PowerToys that adds this kind of functionality, too.

I don't think the built-in windows tool needs to be as advanced as PowerRename, but something similar to Apple's implementation would be really great to have.

4 A good email client

No, an Outlook web client doesn't count

One of the most controversial changes Microsoft has made in recent times is replacing the Outlook apps with a web-based version. I and many others have held the opinion that this was a bad change, and because of it, Windows still has no good email client built in.

I would argue that the Windows 10 Mail app was actually quite good at the time, even supporting touch gestures that made it really easy to sort through my inbox. It got left to rot after a while, but I think that was a winning formula that could have been built upon for a free app. Instead, the new web client is a downgrade across the board, and I'm still hoping it gets rolled back.

3 A good gaming UI

Handhelds are starting to look elsewhere

Ever since the Steam Deck sprung onto the scene, competition has been heating up significantly in the gaming handheld space, but a very common opinion is that Windows is just not well suited for these kinds of devices. And it's easy to see why considering Windows always boots to the desktop, designed for mouse and keyboard interaction (or touch, to some extent). All those physical controls on a gaming handheld are kind of worthless on Windows, and manufacturers have to come up with their own software solutions to make devices usable, but Windows will sometimes shows up again and spoil the experience.

It's bad enough that Lenovo introduced the Legion Go S earlier this year, and it's going to come in a version powered by SteamOS. Sure, there's a Windows version too because that's still the more popular market. but companies are realizing Windows is not good for these devices, and competing with the Steam Deck is not going to be feasible without a similarly robust operating system. I expect SteamOS to appear on a lot more handheld gaming PCs, and if Microsoft doesn't act quickly, it's going to lose that market entirely.

2 A flexible Start menu

Why is still so bland?

The Start menu has been a point of contention with Windows 11 ever since its debut, and frankly, that seems to be the case ever since Windows 8. There are a lot of Start menu alternatives out there that give you extra flexibility and options to make the menu more useful to you.

That begs the question of why Microsoft hasn't done anything about it yet. Sure, Windows 11 version 22H2 added Start menu folders, but the options you have for this core part of Windows are still so limited. You can't resize the Start menu, and while you can somewhat shift the size of the Pinned and Recommended sections, you can only choose between three preselected options. Not to mention the fact you can't remove the Recommended section altogether, which a lot of people don't like.

Windows 10 was a far cry from this design. Not only was there no Recommended section at all, but the menu could be resized horizontally and vertically to accommodate more live tiles. And live tiles themselves, while they weren't beautiful per se, they at least kept the menu a little more interesting with updated information. The current Start menu is just very bland and static. At least it has some kind of phone integration now, but it's still only what Microsoft wants it to be. This needs to change.

1 Fast and reliable search

Spotlight is so much better

Finally, let's talk about searching and launching apps. Windows Search, which is built into the taskbar and Start menu, has never been the greatest for me. It can be a but slow to respond, and sometimes it will highlight one result before changing its mind at the last second just before you press Enter, causing you to open the wrong thing. Oftentimes, that means performing a web search in Edge using Bing, which is even more frustrating.

Meanwhile, by comparison, Spotlight on macOS is a very fast and efficient search solution. You can easily use it to launch apps and perform web searches, and it actually respects your default browser and search engine if you do — crazy concept, I know.

That's not to mention the myriad third-party launchers that do a better job of launching apps on top of supporting numerous plug-ins to speed up all kinds of tasks. Flow Launcher is still, in my opinion, one of the best tools you can use on Windows, but it shouldn't be a necessity. Microsoft needs to fix Windows Search, and it's not doing that by infusing it with AI. It just needs to be optimized and tweaked.

Windows needs to step up its game

Even though I've used Windows all my life, I recently converted to a macOS user after trying the Mac Mini, and I can see why many are disappointed with the state of Windows in 2025. The features above should be built into Windows, even if realistically that wouldn't address all the problems I have with the operating system. These would be big steps towards attracting many of the users who are considering moving away from Windows, and I can only hope that someday Microsoft will listen.