Windows is constantly evolving, adding new features and removing others. Many times, changes are for the best, adding needed functionality or removing things that just drag down the experience, but other times, features that are removed can be sorely missed.

There are quite a few things that Windows has shed over the years that I personally wish were never removed. Some of these are fairly old features, and others are more recent and were tragically short-lived. Let's take a look at some of the features I miss the most — and if there's anything you miss that I didn't mention, I'd love to hear it.

9 Flip 3D

Useful? No, but it was kind of mesmerizing

When 3D graphics acceleration was becoming much more mainstream, Microsoft wanted to show it off in Windows, and so Windows Vista and 7 included a new task switcher animation called Flip 3D. While you could still use the classic Alt + Tab switcher, pressing Windows + Tab instead would show this really fun card stack of your open windows, and you could scroll through them with a fun little animation.

Was there any point to this? Not really, but it was very cool to see, and I was always upset it was replaced with a simply app switcher in Windows 8 onward. Now this shortcut can be used to access virtual desktops, which is certainly more practical, but I miss the fun of it.

8 Cortana

The fun side of it

A lot of Windows users didn't care when Microsoft brought Cortana from Windows Phone to the desktop, but to me, this was a pretty cool moment with a lot of potential. If Cortana had received more support for smart home devices, it might just be used actively by me to this day.

But really, what truly made Cortana cool for me was that she was funny and had some kind of personality. Unlike the AI assistants we have today, Cortana's personality and actions were crafted by people and they had a purpose and a vision. Cortana felt like a real person, yet she was very self-aware. I enjoyed seeing what her responses were to silly things like "I love you" or "Marry me". I also remember asking her "Where do I hide the body?", inspired by a YouTube video at the time, and she responded with something like "what kind of assistant do you think I am?". It was funny and I always wished Microsoft built out that side of Cortana more while investing in the more useful side of the feature.

Instead, Cortana just became a business tool before she essentially vanished from existence. Now we have Copilot, and it's not even close to the same thing.

7 My People

This concept could have evolved

I might be the only person who truly ever cared about My People on Windows 10, but that won't stop me from mourning it. My People had a simple idea — what if instead of having entire apps on the taskbar to message the people you care about, you just had those people on the taskbar, and you could message them on any platform? Conceptually, this was amazing. Especially back then, I only frequently messaged a handful of people and they were often on different apps. I just wanted an easier way to stay in touch with them.

While this execution had a lot of limitations, I still think the idea of bridging together all your social networks is fantastic. So much so that I use Beeper for all my messaging needs so I don't need any other apps. It would be great if Microsoft had kept at it.

6 Good games

Not this ad-infested Solitaire

Remember when Windows came with fun games? It feels like a time long gone now that Windows 10 and 11 got us used to brand deals with King or the ad-riddled Solitaire Collection, but before Windows 8, there were actually fun games in Windows, and it was a glorious time.

I'm sure everyone has fond memories of games like Minesweeper and 3D Pinball in Windows XP, or other games like Solitaire, Hearts (a personal favorite of mine), and then the unnecessarily fancy 3D Chess in Windows 7. Back then, these games weren't full of ads and they got straight to the point. Now it feels like Microsoft needs to take every single opportunity to monetize something by making it worse to use.

5 Windows Movie Maker

When making videos was a good time

Windows Movie Maker seems to be one of those features everyone has some memories of, and I'm no exception. While I was no artist myself, I absolutely remember my cousin making a sort of music video that just took clips from a TV show we had watched recently (Harper's Island, if that matters) and overlaid some music on it just because. It was so easy to make videos with Movie Maker. You had a timeline and an interface that was very straight to the point and it just worked well, despite being so many years old.

For some reason, despite video content becoming ever more popular, Microsoft decided there was no reason for it to exist anymore, and after splitting it off into the Windows Live Essentials suite, it even tually got killed off entirely. For years, Windows had no free, easy way to make simple videos. Windows 10 had a video editor in the Photos app, but it was terrible. And now that we have Clipchamp, we're still stuck with a web-based editor that can only export in 1080p unless you pay a monthly fee. We should be in a much better place.

4 Control over Windows Update

Updates are good, but why can't I choose?

Windows has been on a path of reducing user freedom and choice for many years now, and Windows Update is one of the many ways this has manifested. Back in the day, installing updates on a PC was a much more controlled process. You could check for updates, and you always had the choice of installing or skipping certain ones, whether they were Windows updates or driver updates.

Now, many updates are forced onto users because Microsoft always wants everyone on the latest version, and this can have unfortunate consequences, with bugs and problems plaguing many Windows updates on release day. This is especially annoying for drivers, where Windows can sometimes force you to use an older driver than what's available from the manufacturer, and potentially cause compatibility issues. More choice is always better, but Microsoft took a few steps back in this regard.

3 Built-in live streaming

Oh Mixer, we hardly knew ye

Back in 2017, Microsoft was going all-in on creators with a pair of Windows 10 updates focused specifically on that audience. Paint 3D was one of the highlights, but for me, it was all about Microsoft's integration of Beam, the live-streaming platform Microsoft acquired that would later be rebranded to Mixer.

Live streaming games always felt like it was out of reach for a lot of people, because dedicated streaming software seemed overly complex to set up. Being able to stream your games with a webcam feed directly within Windows made total sense, and it completely justified the Beam purchase. Microsoft didn't seem to agree with that for much longer, though, as both the built-in streaming feature and Mixer itself would be terminated in the next few years. Now you'll have to learn something like OBS.

2 The Windows 10 Start menu

In hindsight, it was great

I didn't think I would end up missing the Windows 10 Start menu, but frankly, after trying so many Start menu replacements, it's hard to ignore how much I wish some elements of it would come back, to the point where it might as well be the entire menu.

Three things make the Windows 10 Start menu ideal for me. First, the fact that it was fully resizeable. You could change its width and height to your heart's content, so it would have all the things you want without scrolling or switching pages. Second, it had a list of all your apps right on the left side of the menu, so you could quickly access that list without an extra click that takes you to a completely separate screen. And finally, it had live tiles. Sure, live tiles weren't pretty, but the idea of having information updated in real time in this menu that I always use makes so much sense. Now, we have widgets, but they're in a dedicated panel that I never really want to open.

These concepts made the Windows 10 Start menu much more useful than the current implementation, so I hope Microsoft will revert some changes it's made in Windows 11.

1 A proper tablet UI

Windows 8 had the right idea, actually

I know hating Windows 8 is what everyone loves to do, but there's one thing it deserves praise for, and that's the fact that it knew it wanted to appeal to tablet uses, and Microsoft put in the work to make sure that was the case. Sure, most Windows users weren't using tablets at the time, but for the intended purpose, Windows 8 was crafted beautifully. Smooth and lively animations, a nice colorful UI, big targets for tapping. I mean, swiping in from the sides to open the Charms bar or the task switcher felt exactly how it should feel on a touchscreen.

Ever since Windows 10, Microsoft has been walking back these changes to make Windows more touch-friendly, and now it just lives in this awkward middle-ground. Windows 10 had much slower and less natural animations. If you would swipe in from the sides of the screen, the animation wouldn't follow your finger, it would just trigger after you reached a certain point. Windows 11 fixed some of these issues with improved animations and new gestures, but things still don't feel tailored for tablets. There's no full-screen Start menu anymore, and while many new gestures do exist, a lot of interactions still don't feel made for tablets, particularly with File Explorer and a lot of desktop apps. Using a Windows tablet just gives me no joy, which is very different from an Android tablet or iPad. A Surface Pro could be so much better than those alternatives if it just had a better touch experience.

We've lost too many good parts of Windows

As much as Windows has evolved and improved over the years, I can't help but feel frustrated that so many things I loved have been lost in the transition. I think Windows 11 would be much better today if we hadn't abandoned so many of these ideas, whether it was because Microsoft didn't give them a chance to grow on people or because making money became too much of a priority.