New Windows 11 build adds self-healing "quick machine recovery" feature(arstechnica.com)
arstechnica.com
New Windows 11 build adds self-healing "quick machine recovery" feature
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/new-windows-11-build-adds-self-healing-quick-machine-recovery-feature/
39 comments
Here's a good picture for everything that's wrong with the Windows team (or rather their management idiots):
I got one of those Win10 fullscreen "let's finish setting up your system" popups yesterday (I finished the setup a couple of years ago thanks - instead it's just an euphemism for "let's re-enable all the annoying and useless things you specifically disabled"), and it doesn't have the "Skip" button anymore, instead it now says "Remind me in 3 days" >:(
I got one of those Win10 fullscreen "let's finish setting up your system" popups yesterday (I finished the setup a couple of years ago thanks - instead it's just an euphemism for "let's re-enable all the annoying and useless things you specifically disabled"), and it doesn't have the "Skip" button anymore, instead it now says "Remind me in 3 days" >:(
You can turn those off in Settings, System -> Notifications -> Additional Settings -> Check box for suggestions to get the most out of Windows. So scummy they hide it there though.
Win11 was great for me, but recently the shoe-horning of Copilot/AI into everything has been degrading my experience.
The worst of it being Notepad.
I use Notepad _constantly_. I am always pasting little bits of text or drafts of things in ephemeral tabs for later reference.
For the first time in Windows history, there is PERCEIVABLE FUCKING LATENCY trying to type ... in NOTEPAD.EXE
Idk what the execs are smoking there, but they need to fix this ASAP.
The worst of it being Notepad.
I use Notepad _constantly_. I am always pasting little bits of text or drafts of things in ephemeral tabs for later reference.
For the first time in Windows history, there is PERCEIVABLE FUCKING LATENCY trying to type ... in NOTEPAD.EXE
Idk what the execs are smoking there, but they need to fix this ASAP.
Use Notepad2.
https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/screenshots
https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/screenshots
Use the newest fork, https://github.com/zufuliu/notepad4. That's what I switched to when Microsoft started bloating up Notepad.
Or notepad++
The new Notepad can be removed. I'm on mobile right now and don't have the docs handy, but it will be a Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage command in PowerShell.
The old Notepad is still there once you remove the odious new one.
The old Notepad is still there once you remove the odious new one.
Oh, that is great to know, thank you!
For reference I used to be a Microsoft advocate in XP days, but since then I have decline. Feels like since Azure started them become money hungry.
On topic, I don't have an alternative for Windows. I have plenty of issues with Linux "just working" (sound, graphics, etc).
On topic, I don't have an alternative for Windows. I have plenty of issues with Linux "just working" (sound, graphics, etc).
Maybe you should reinstall. I upgraded from Win 10 and have no issues.
Interesting comments here because from my limited usage of Windows 11 I thought it was pretty good. UI, Ads, and a lot of little annoying things are still there but it was also the case in Windows 10 and prior. ( Ok may be not ads ) But it is better.
I just wish Windows 11 start doing 11.1 and 11.2 instead of some 2H26 name. And start iterating towards a better Windows 12. May be because there are plenty of low hanging fruit still that makes Windows improvement easier.
Cant say the same about macOS. Let's see if macOS 26 will be any better.
I just wish Windows 11 start doing 11.1 and 11.2 instead of some 2H26 name. And start iterating towards a better Windows 12. May be because there are plenty of low hanging fruit still that makes Windows improvement easier.
Cant say the same about macOS. Let's see if macOS 26 will be any better.
My biggest issue with Win11 is that it constantly forces AI down our throats while removing our ability to do basic things without clicking into sub menus. It's pretty clearly a push to get people to use a product inside of the OS, which defeats the purpose of the OS.
The UI is a garbled mess of like 15 years of UI design. There are 3+ menus for doing nearly every task. You can still use some views that have been around since windows 98. Then basic tasks get hidden.
it's just a garbled mess in so many ways. They push updates that break the OS on a regular basis.
And then with every update it erases all the changes you've made. The lack of customization is really annoying.
Then some updates kill performance for no real reason.
A couple years ago I switched to a custom build of Win10(spectre) then finally made the jump to full time linux again. My partner also switched, as did a bunch of her coworkers in academia. Everyone had similar complaints, in that win11 was harder to use for what they needed without any real benefits. I asked if there has been anything in win11 that has been beneficial and nobody can really say anything. A lot of win 11 feels like updating just to update.
Also somehow win11 audio/bluetooth is worse than linux. I had so, so many issues with bluetooth audio in win11. Just a mess of an OS.
The UI is a garbled mess of like 15 years of UI design. There are 3+ menus for doing nearly every task. You can still use some views that have been around since windows 98. Then basic tasks get hidden.
it's just a garbled mess in so many ways. They push updates that break the OS on a regular basis.
And then with every update it erases all the changes you've made. The lack of customization is really annoying.
Then some updates kill performance for no real reason.
A couple years ago I switched to a custom build of Win10(spectre) then finally made the jump to full time linux again. My partner also switched, as did a bunch of her coworkers in academia. Everyone had similar complaints, in that win11 was harder to use for what they needed without any real benefits. I asked if there has been anything in win11 that has been beneficial and nobody can really say anything. A lot of win 11 feels like updating just to update.
Also somehow win11 audio/bluetooth is worse than linux. I had so, so many issues with bluetooth audio in win11. Just a mess of an OS.
> Then basic tasks get hidden.
> The lack of customization is really annoying.
This has been plaguing pretty much all software for at least 15 years now. Everyone wants to get away with an MVP. Advanced settings are deeply buried or they're simply inaccessible to users. Error messages no longer say anything meaningful, just 'oops' and 'we're sorry.' And that 'we' pronoun shatters any doubt as to who's now in control.
> The lack of customization is really annoying.
This has been plaguing pretty much all software for at least 15 years now. Everyone wants to get away with an MVP. Advanced settings are deeply buried or they're simply inaccessible to users. Error messages no longer say anything meaningful, just 'oops' and 'we're sorry.' And that 'we' pronoun shatters any doubt as to who's now in control.
> The UI is a garbled mess of like 15 years of UI design. There are 3+ menus for doing nearly every task. You can still use some views that have been around since windows 98. Then basic tasks get hidden.
A great example is the Power & Battery settings. There are two separate Control Panel screens for these, one of which has the old Control Panel UI and you're not really meant to use.
They really need to go through all the internal settings/configs screens and port them to the new UI platform.
The Windows kernel and most of the stuff under the hood is great (most, not all). The userspace has been on a steady downwards trend ever since Windows XP. Windows 11 is a bit of a mixed bag in that regard. Some things clearly got worse, but in return, for seemingly the first time since Windows 2000, Microsoft remembered that it ships tools like Windows Explorer and Notepad and gave them some improvements
But not sure what the decent alternatives are. Yes, Windows Explorer is a slow piece of 90s tech, but it's still leagues ahead of Gnome's Nautilus. And I was never a friend of macOS's finder. Just as one example representative of the wider OS. I can get a decent command shell on any OS, but in terms of power-user GUIs Windows is still has little competition. Even if you have to fight against enshittification and need 3rd party tools to fix its deficiencies
But not sure what the decent alternatives are. Yes, Windows Explorer is a slow piece of 90s tech, but it's still leagues ahead of Gnome's Nautilus. And I was never a friend of macOS's finder. Just as one example representative of the wider OS. I can get a decent command shell on any OS, but in terms of power-user GUIs Windows is still has little competition. Even if you have to fight against enshittification and need 3rd party tools to fix its deficiencies
> but in terms of power-user GUIs Windows is still has little competition
Nowadays, KDE is stable and is way better at being Windows that Windows. It's a remarkable desktop
Nowadays, KDE is stable and is way better at being Windows that Windows. It's a remarkable desktop
> Windows Explorer is a slow piece of 90s tech,
Somewhat ironically, in Win11 it has been substantiay modified. Now it crashes on basic stuff like creating an empty folder.
Honestly, it's like Microsoft looked at the mess that is the Linux DE world and thought "yes, that's what we need!"
Somewhat ironically, in Win11 it has been substantiay modified. Now it crashes on basic stuff like creating an empty folder.
Honestly, it's like Microsoft looked at the mess that is the Linux DE world and thought "yes, that's what we need!"
> “crashed on basic stuff like creating an empty folder”
Wut?
Wut?
Yeah, on my work laptop after the upgrade it struggles on the most basic tasks, probably because of the crap integration with OneDrive getting even crappier. Or maybe it's the stupid extra-padded skin, reminiscent of 2005 KDE, who knows. I just know I now have a system with less functionality (no vertical taskbar, no start menu on the right...) and more crashes.
Sounds interestingly good.
A recent patch bricked my entire hard drive making it unable to boot or mount. New install of Win11 on new hard drive didn’t install recovery mode so I had to do it manually.
A recent patch bricked my entire hard drive making it unable to boot or mount. New install of Win11 on new hard drive didn’t install recovery mode so I had to do it manually.
When did this become acceptable?
If you had installed btfs and something like this happend people would be all over the place, but on windows this is normal
If you had installed btfs and something like this happend people would be all over the place, but on windows this is normal
It has always been acceptable, in the Windows world. Machines have always been seen as inevitably fragile and ethereal. This is why the likes of Dropbox took off, among other things.
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Regardless of OS, if you don't have reliable backups then stuff like this will happen from software or hardware issues. Best to have automated system images nightly.
> When did this become acceptable?
When he/she installed Microsoft products.
When he/she installed Microsoft products.
> enrolled in the Canary channel of Microsoft's Windows Insider testing program. This is the least stable and most experimental of the four Windows 11 testing channels. As Microsoft adds features and fixes bugs, it should gradually move to the Dev, Beta, and Release Preview channels
Strange naming convention. In my company canary sits between dev and beta, usually used for load testing. Then move to beta for A/B and stability testing, and finally to release/production. Dev is the most unstable.
Strange naming convention. In my company canary sits between dev and beta, usually used for load testing. Then move to beta for A/B and stability testing, and finally to release/production. Dev is the most unstable.
I think Dev from the Windows perspective is targeted towards people developing solutions atop windows, whereas I assume in your org, Dev is indicating development of the actual product/codebase you have. With Windows, Canary does come after that point - we don’t have access to the channel you would refer to as Dev.
> New Windows 11 build adds self-healing "quick machine recovery" feature
Which, in the best Microsoft tradition, will become broken by a new "update".
Which, in the best Microsoft tradition, will become broken by a new "update".
It'll just be swapping out the used pair of underwear that is a Windows install that's been "upgraded" fifty times with a slightly less dirty pair of underwear that's still going to get "upgraded" in place another fifty times.
.... I never enjoyed the full OS "upgrade in place" crap that Windows has been doing for a while...
.... I never enjoyed the full OS "upgrade in place" crap that Windows has been doing for a while...
It's a shame they abandoned Windows 10X, which would of allowed fatal upgrades to be instantly reversable (due to being image based) rather than 'workarounds' for terrible OS design like this.
Akin to Google using things like overlay filesystems to deploy Android updates (by skipping the OS managed by OEMs) rather than actually fixing the update system.
Akin to Google using things like overlay filesystems to deploy Android updates (by skipping the OS managed by OEMs) rather than actually fixing the update system.
Would be great if I could use it with my 6700k.
Polishing turds.
I'm actually pretty hopeful about this - I do some home computer help as a side gig and Windows recovery is usually either great or a complete roadblock. Usually if it can get to the recovery environment and people remember their passwords the existing tools are great. If not... well either wipe or good luck. Anything that helps Windows get to the RE is great.
Uhm, Fedora Silverblue and similar OSTree based distros (And GNU Guix) can rollback themselves from boot.
Does the article suggest otherwise?
"self-healing" = "we'll revert changes you did that we (MS) don't want"
So it’s good they’re adding this tool, but sucks that these scenarios are so common a tool like this is needed. However, I’ve seen issues where something gets corrupted, a sfc scannow check is triggered on reboot, and never finds anything. Windows diagnostic troubleshooting is very painful because the OS doesn't give you much information, and what’s there is very obscure. So if this tool is built on that shoddy foundation, I’m not sure it’ll be very successful. There are thousands of guides suggesting an sfcscannow or other disk check and they never work.