Microsoft Updates Windows 11 For Greater Productivity, Management Capacity And Security

Faced with the need to address the requirements of a changing, increasingly flexible and hybrid-based work market, Microsoft has announced enhancements to its flagship product: the Windows operating system.

The professional editions of Windows 11 and Windows 365 receive updates to boost productivity, tasks administration and security.

Thus, for example, Microsoft has decided to train employees with more accessible experiences through Focus Sessions, Live Captions and Voice Access features. Through these features, even people with special needs will be able to benefit from the technology.

Focus Sessions will help people with attention deficit and hyperactivity to adopt healthy digital habits. Real-time captions will enable those with hearing impairments, or even language learners, to better understand spoken content. Meanwhile, Voice Access is meant for people with limited mobility or injuries, such as carpal tunnel, to control their device and dictate content.

Another Windows feature that will contribute to boosting efficiency is a redesigned, cloud-based file explorer that streamlines searches by displaying all results in one place. Microsoft offers the ability to pin files and create tabs.

To support collaboration in Windows 11, new intelligent meeting capabilities that leverage hardware features thanks to artificial intelligence have been announced. These include voice improvement (Voice Clarity), automatic framing of participants (Automatic framing), background blurring (Portrait background Blur) and eye contact maintenance (Eye contact).

IT professionals will benefit from updates through optimized administration. Windows 365 Enterprise allows Windows to be deployed on both business and personal devices. Through Endpoint Manager, the IT department will manage Windows 365 Cloud PCs alongside their physical machines.

Microsoft promises support for Azure AD Join for Cloud PCs starting next May.

App management for Microsoft Edge is also coming to Windows 11. App protection policies in Endpoint Manager for Edge for Windows facilitate the transfer of data and the definition of the Windows Defender protection level.

With these new features in place, employees are expected to be able to securely access company resources from their personal computers.

Microsoft Endpoint Manager aims to bring critical endpoint security and management tools together in the cloud. It now includes a premium endpoint management add-on, and later the Redmond company will introduce capabilities to improve the end-user experience and reduce costs, following Zero Trust models.

Regarding security, Microsoft reinforces Windows 11 with a couple of functions prepared to fight against cybercriminals. And, more specifically, against identity theft and targeted malware.

On the one hand, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen protects against phishing attacks by alerting about malicious applications and web pages. On the other hand, Smart App Control combines code signing certificates and artificial intelligence technology to ensure the execution of secure applications.

Specific security processors included in the hardware, such as Microsoft Pluton, will shield firmware updates through the cloud.

The revamped operating system features chip-to-cloud technologies to meet the requirements of hybrid working models.

Its capabilities also include Config Lock, which monitors registry keys through MDM device management policies. It dynamically corrects them in the event of an incident.

Finally, the technology giant behind Windows is committed to launching new integrations linking Windows 11 and Windows 365. Among them are Windows 365 Switch for seamless transitions between the local computer and the cloud, and Windows 365 Boot to directly boot the PC in the cloud. It will enable automatic resynchronization after working offline, without losing data with Windows 365 Offline.