I love trying out new features on my computer or smartphone. You'll often find me signing up to test new apps and services since I like digging deep and finding bugs/issues to report. Owing to this, I signed up for the Windows Insider program. While I was initially excited to try all the unreleased features, like a new lock screen and AI additions to the Photos app, I soon figured I had probably made a mistake. It didn't take me long to head to Settings -> Update & Security -> Windows Insider Program and select Stop Insider Preview Builds.

That's when I figured I would let more people know about my experience. Lots of Windows 11 users may be tempted to switch to Insider builds to try hidden features, but read on to find out all the issues I faced. You may change your mind after that.

6 Unstable UI

Unexpected bugs and crashes

As with any beta program, Windows Insider builds are often plagued with bugs and issues. While they're certainly usable and run fine during basic tasks, you may face occasional freezes, lags, stutters, and slowdowns. I've also experienced weird scaling issues with my ultrawide monitor or problems with rendering media on some builds. Some users may pass it off as understandable, considering it is, after all, a beta version of Windows. However, it's annoying to see these issues pop up more than once daily.

If I'm in a hurry to get some work done, I don't want to be interrupted by a random bug on my computer. So, if you use your computer for any sort of serious work, you should be aware of the fact that there may be situations when your work gets interrupted due to a sudden slowdown. Funnily, I've also experienced the Task Manager not responding when I tried to end an unresponsive task using it.

5 Random reboots

A threat to unsaved work

Yet another bug that's not as prominent but might hit you any time is random reboots. I experienced a few random reboots during my usage, which can be fatal for several users. Thankfully, I wasn't doing anything important on my PC when it occurred. The first time, I was watching a video on YouTube, and the other time, I was researching for an article on Chrome. Both times, I could simply use the restore previously opened tabs feature on Chrome to resume from where I left off.

However, if someone is working on an important document, spreadsheet, or presentation, there's a high chance of losing it when your PC randomly reboots. A lot of offline apps and programs do not have auto-save functionality. In such cases, you may lose any unsaved progress. So, if you're using a Windows Insider build, I highly recommend constantly saving your progress no matter what you're doing. At one point, hitting Ctrl+S every few seconds became part of my muscle memory.

4 Throttled performance

Not ideal for gaming

Due to limited or no optimization, Windows Insider builds can be sluggish when running processor-intensive tasks requiring many resources. The same applies to graphic-intensive tasks like gaming and video rendering. I tried running Cyberpunk on my Windows 11 PC, running an Insider build. While the game ran smoothly initially, I could clearly see a ton of frame drops after a while. This could either be attributed to an actual hit in performance or the unoptimized software leading to thermal issues.

Notably, the performance was much better when I ran the game the next time. This makes me believe the performance is inconsistent. Your experience may vary depending on your PC's build version and specs. Apart from gaming, I also experienced performance issues with editing videos. I use Premiere Pro on my PC daily, so I am well aware of how it generally runs. With the Insider build, the timeline was lagging every now and then, which annoyed me. There was no big impact on rendering speeds, though.

Obviously, Windows Insider builds don't necessarily affect the clock speeds or raw performance of your CPU. The issue lies in poor optimization, since the OS is only meant for those who are willing to hunt for bugs and report them.

3 Possibility of data loss

Don't install it on your primary machine

Apart from the chance of data loss due to random reboots, one also needs to be wary about storing important files on PCs running Windows Insider builds due to the possibility of BSODs and system failures. While I didn't face the issue myself, I've read several horror stories on Reddit about how numerous Windows users have woken up to a PC that won't boot because of an issue with a Windows Insider build.

Since the OS is unstable, it may lead to corrupted system files, further leading to issues with booting into the OS. In such cases, your only option may be to wipe your internal drive and reinstall Windows. If you have created a restore point using System Restore, you can recover your PC to a usable state. If you haven't, though, you may end up losing all the data in your SSD or hard drive. Due to this, I would suggest not storing any critical files on a PC running Insider builds. Even if you do, ensure you have a backup on an external drive.

2 Sharing usage statistics with Microsoft

Slight compromise in privacy

The primary rationale behind the existence of the Windows Insider program is for users to try early releases and send bug reports and feedback to Microsoft. The company can then use this information to fix bugs and improve the OS. Owing to this, Microsoft collects diagnostics data from PCs running Insider builds. Some users may look at this from the angle of compromised privacy, since your computer will constantly keep communicating with Microsoft's servers.

While the computer only shares information relevant to bugs or issues, the log may contain some data about the tasks you performed on your PC when an issue occurred. So, if you don't want your PC to interact with Microsoft's servers or send any data to the Windows development team, I would highly recommend against signing up for the Windows Insider program.

Notably, you may also need to contribute actively to discover issues and provide feedback if you want to be valued as a member of the Insider program. That definitely requires some extra work and time, which you may not be willing to put in. That said, there's no compulsion to participate in providing feedback or reporting bugs. Then again, if you're not doing that, it beats the purpose of joining the Insider program.

1 Too many updates

Some good, some bad

Honestly, my primary computer is a Mac and not a Windows machine. One reason for that has to be the constant updates on Windows that take forever to install. I've had instances where an update automatically starts installing, and I'm stuck without a computer for 20–30 minutes. Being a part of the Windows Insider program means more such updates with a higher frequency. Now, don't get me wrong. Updates are good — especially on beta software — since they fix existing bugs. However, they also introduce new bugs that can be problematic.

Moreover, the time lost in regularly installing these updates can get annoying if you know how long Windows updates generally take. Another situation that can potentially become an issue is the incomplete installation of updates. My PC once lost its connection to the power supply while updating (not during the Insider program), leading to a state where it was stuck in the BIOS and wouldn't boot further. Unfortunately, I didn't have a restore point at that time (don't be like me), so I had to reinstall Windows to fix it. That was a total bummer. Like me, if you live in a country like India where power outages are frequent, and you don't have a UPS, you might want to stay away.

I would rather wait for new features

Considering all the pain points I mentioned above, I figured it was better to wait for all the new features in the Insider builds to trickle down to the stable release of Windows 11. The drawbacks definitely outweigh the pros for me, and that might be the case for several users out there. Moreover, I value peace of mind, which was missing when running Insider builds. I have the luxury of using multiple computers, so I could afford to install the Insider build on a computer that I didn't rely on for my work. However, most people have a single computer that they use daily, so I certainly wouldn't recommend joining the Windows Insider program.