As great as Windows 11 can be, it's also flawed and lacking in many ways, and the experience is far from perfect out of the box. Over the years, I've tried my fair share of software that helps tweak the Windows experience in one way or another to make it work better for me, and there are a few that have stuck with me in such a way that I really wish they would just be built into Windows itself.

So hear me out, Microsoft, I know you're definitely reading this. This is what needs to be done to make Windows good.

7 Transparent taskbar

It just looks great

Let's start with the most basic and superfluous one: getting a proper transparent taskbar. Over the years, fans have been teased by this idea, and a few apps do provide this option, but officially, the Windows taskbar is still, well, a bar. It actually became less transparent with the transition to Windows 11, since it now just uses the Mica effect found throughout the OS, rather than the old Acrylic style or just plain translucency.

Apps like Start11 can create a transparent taskbar, but there's also a free app that does the same thing, so it's not like you don't have options. I just don't know why this hasn't been implemented. I recall a few years ago someone reported getting a transparent taskbar in Windows 10 in a preview build, but that turned out to be a bug. But really, this is one instance where it should be a feature.

6 Auto dark mode

It makes so much sense

I'm frankly really surprised that there still isn't an option to auto-enable dark mode in Windows considering everything else the OS does that involves easing your eyes. Lots of laptops have automatic brightness thanks to ambient light sensors, and if you use the Night Light feature to tint your screen, you can schedule it to kick in everyday at sunset.

It would make perfect sense for these mechanism to also tie into dark mode, but instead, you have to configure it manually each and every time. Thankfully, there's a free app called Auto Dark Mode that does exactly this, but Microsoft really needs to fix this itself.

5 A more customizable Start menu

Why is it so limited?

If there's a genre of app that I've spent a lot of time on, it's Start menu alternatives, and it's really shown me how much Microsoft could be doing to provide a more user-friendly experience. I won't really suggest bringing back the Windows 10 or Windows 7 designs, but Stardock's Start11 truly shows the potential there is even if you stick to the Windows 11 design language.

Having the ability to completely remove the Recommended section, creating groups and folders, and being able to view your app list next to the pinned area can all make it much easier and faster to get things done on your PC. And that's to say nothing of novelty customization features like tinting the app icons, or the ability to browse folders as suspended menus, which I wouldn't consider as essential for Microsoft to do. There's so much room for improvement.

4 Changing the default file manager

File Explorer is alright, but there are some great options out there

Microsoft has been trying to modernize the Windows File Explorer ever since Windows 11 came around, and to the company's credit, I think it has succeeded in many regards. It definitely looks nicer than it used to, and features like tabs really help elevate it, but it's far from perfect, and it's not the fastest app around.

There ar plenty of alternatives to File Explorer out there, which show just how many people have problems with it. But Microsoft still doesn't provide a way to change the default file manager on Windows. Many apps, like OneCommander, provide this option by altering the registry, but this can sometimes be limited, and frankly, this kind of solution should just be offered out of the box. Making it easier to use different file managers, and adapting Windows so that these apps can be more reliable, would make Windows much more usable for a lot of people.

3 Flow Launcher (or PowerToys Run)

It's so snappy

Improving the Start menu is one thing, but recently, I've found myself using the Start menu a lot less than I used to, and it's mostly because, for a lot of things, I like keeping my hands on the keyboard, it's just faster. Flow Launcher is the app that makes this possible for me. It's a search/command bar that can do all kinds of things, from launching apps to opening folders and websites, and so much more.

Sure, some of these are things you can do with the search bar on Windows, but Flow Launcher is super snappy and much more responsive. And more importantly, it's extensible, so you can add even more capabilities. It can run CMD or PowerShell commands, it can do calculations, find YouTube videos (and download them), terminate a running app, or even uninstall it, and more. Microsoft has a similar tool as part of PowerToys, called PowerToys Run, so Microsoft has the tools to do it (even if PowerToys Run has far fewer integrations).

2 Brightness controls for all monitors

It's unacceptable this isn't there yet

It's absolutely ridiculous to me that in 2024, Windows still can't adjust the brightness of a display unless it's built into the computer itself. If you have a laptop, changing the display brightness is completely trivial, but on a desktop monitor, you ave to use the sometimes frustrating navigation buttons on the monitor itself, or install proprietary software.

I recently discovered an app called Twinkle Tray that fixes this by allowing me to change the brightness for any connected display, on top of providing tools to help ensure that brightness level is even across different monitor model. It's a total lifesaver.

And on that note, if you have multiple audio outputs, a tool called EarTrumpet does something similar, so you can easily change the volume for every audio output device from the same interface.

1 PowerToys FancyZones

Make multitasking a breeze

I've talked about FancyZones to no end, but I'll keep bringing it up. Managing open apps on Windows works fine if you have a standard screen, but if you have a super large monitor like I do, it's very lacking. FancyZones is a dream in that it allows me to create my own custom zones for snapping apps to, so I can have the perfect layout to work on my 32:9 ultrawide display.

Beyond that, this tool also makes it faster to snap apps. The standard snapping effect in Windows requires you to drag an app to the edge of the screen to work, and there's a little animation of the window resizing to the spot you chose. PowerToys skips the visual flair and just snaps the app instantly, plus the app is snapped to a given area as soon as you move the mouse into said area, so it's a big time saver if you're doing this repeatedly.

I know PowerToys features are aimed at a subset of users, but FancyZones is o useful to me that I would love to have it built into Windows. It's the main reason I install PowerToys on my PCs these days.

There's probably more that can be done

Adding these features to Windows would, in my opinion, turn this great operating system into a wonderful one, and it would give users some real reasons to upgrade their PCs, in my opinion. While there are apps that can do all of these things, not everyone knows about them, so having these features built in would really change the game.