Windows 11 Anniversary Update is coming to your PC: 5 new features to try

You may have found that file My Windows PC recently updated itselfWhether you like it or not, Microsoft has automatically started upgrading Windows 11 PCs with its big annual update at the end of January. It has been an optional upgrade since its release in September. But that’s okay: there’s a lot of new stuff to check out The huge Windows 11 2022 update, codename 22H2. The system has been given a bit of a lick and polish pretty much everywhere – you might have noticed some of the more obvious changes in the interface, like the new icons for changing the volume.

Here are five of the substantial changes you should check out first in the Windows 11 2022 Update. If you want to dig deeper down the Windows 11 rabbit hole, check out our guide to 10 Windows 11 tips and tricks we use to customize our PCs.

Clipchamp: a new and free video editor

Windows now has a new default video editor: Clipchamp. As a sort of spiritual successor to the likes of Windows Movie Maker, it’s simpler and more accessible than professional video editors—the kind of thing you can use to quickly cut or fade if you’re sharing a YouTube video with friends. The tool includes the usual basic timeline and editing capabilities, and can be directly uploaded to YouTube, TikTok, and various web storage services.

As of Windows 11 version 22H2, Clipchamp should be included in your operating system — just find it in the Start menu. If it is not there, you can download it for free from the Microsoft Store. Here is a complete guide About the basics of this new tool.

tabs in file explorer

Experienced users have been waiting for this for a long time. Tabs is a feature that the most advanced alternative file browsers have been using for decades, and finally Microsoft—finally—Tabbed File Explorer delivered in Windows 11 2022 Update. Here Complete guide on how to use it.

Mark Hatchman/IDG

To open a new tab in any explorer window, just click the “+” button at the top of the menu bar. Tabs work just as you’re used to on any modern web browser, although you can’t click and drag them into a new Explorer window (yet). While you’re here, check out the new, simplified left-hand menu, with faster access to your most used system folders and locations.

If you like having a lot of apps handy in your Start menu, you’ll love the new Folders feature. It works more or less exactly like the folders on your Android or iOS (or perhaps more relevantly, Chrome OS) home screen. Any two or more shortcuts can be combined into a folder, and any folder can have a custom name.

Michael Kreider/IDG

To get started, just click and drag the Start menu icon to another icon. When you see both of them shrink, release the mouse button and a folder will be created automatically. Click on the new folder, then click on the title to rename it. Any additional programs can be dragged in or out of the folder, and you can have as many folders as you want.

New ways to use the Snap Bar

Snap Bar is one of the most useful multitasking tools in the newer versions of Windows. You may have seen it if you frequently drag windows by their title bar: it’s this thing that lets you move them to halves, thirds or quarters of your screen with ease. But there is New ways to get there.

Michael Kreider/IDG

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Hover (don’t click!) on the window’s maximize button, between the close (X) and minimize (_) buttons in the upper-right corner. You will see the six most popular layout options. Click on any of the subnets in this popup to send the window to that location. You can also activate this view by typing Win + Z, then a number, then a number again to “drill down” in the options.

Notepad has been renewed

NotePad is one of the oldest and simplest tools in all of Windows, but this basic text editor is a bit more capable than you might remember. In the basic version, it now follows the dark or light color scheme in your personalization settings.

Michael Kreider/IDG

Microsoft may have more in store for the humble NotePad. As you’re reading this, Windows 11 versions are being tested Updated with tabs in Notepad Its an add-on similar to Windows Explorer. It remains to be seen if this will make it to the full version.

Want to discover more cool computer tricks? Check out our report on 10 little-known Windows features that will blow your mind.