News

Items Being Removed or Deprecated from Windows 11

By Brian Burgess

Published June 24, 2021

With every new release of Windows 10, some items are deprecated or removed. And the list for Windows 11 is quite lengthy and the items might surprise you.

Microsoft today formally announced the next major upgrade to Windows 10, and it’s called Windows 11. In addition to knowing if your PC can run Windows 11, you should also know that some items are being removed or deprecated. This typically isn’t a major thing. Microsoft has been removing or deprecating items from Windows 10 versions as it has been moving along. However, the company announced quite a big list today. Here is what you can expect when the final version is launched later this year.

Removed or Deprecated Items from Windows 11

Note that the company will continue to support Windows 10 through 2025, so if one of the items on this list is something you can’t do without, you have time to prepare.

When upgrading to Windows 11 from Windows 10 or when installing an update to Windows 11, some features may be deprecated or removed. Please see below for information regarding some of the key features impacted:

• Cortana will no longer be included in the first boot experience or pinned to the Taskbar.
• Desktop wallpaper cannot be roamed to or from device when signed in with a Microsoft account.
• Internet Explorer is disabled. Microsoft Edge is the recommended replacement and includes IE Mode which may be useful in certain scenarios.
• Math Input Panel is removed. The Math Recognizer will install on demand and includes the math input control and recognizer. Math inking in apps like OneNote are not impacted by this change.
• News & Interests has evolved. New functionality has been added which can be found by clicking the Widgets icon on the Taskbar.
• Quick Status from the Lockscreen and associated settings are removed.
• S Mode is only available now for Windows 11 Home edition.
• Snipping Tool continues to be available but the old design and functionality in the Windows 10 version has been replaced with those of the app previously known as Snip & Sketch.
• Start is significantly changed in Windows 11 including the following key deprecations and removals:
  • Named groups and folders of apps are no longer supported and the layout is not currently resizable.
  • Pinned apps and sites will not migrate when upgrading from Windows 10.
  • Live Tiles are no longer available. For glanceable, dynamic content, see the new Widgets feature.

In addition to the above items, the list continues with the following:

• Tablet Mode is removed and new functionality and capability is included for keyboard attach and detach postures.
• Taskbar functionality is changed including:
  • People is no longer present on the Taskbar.
  • Some icons may no longer appear in the System Tray (systray) for upgraded devices including previous customizations.
  • Alignment to the bottom of the screen is the only location allowed.
  • Apps can no longer customize areas of the Taskbar.

Also are a couple of things that never really took off in Windows 10 and probably won’t be missed. They include:

• Timeline is removed. Some similar functionality is available in Microsoft Edge.
• Touch Keyboard will no longer dock and undock keyboard layouts on screen sizes 18 inches and larger.
• Wallet is removed.

The following apps will not be removed on upgrade but will no longer be installed on new devices or when clean-installing Windows 11. They are available for download from the Store:

• 3D Viewer
• OneNote for Windows 10
• Paint 3D
• Skype

Summing Up

Yup. Paint 3D, where elements of it can be removed manually from Windows 10, is being removed from a clean install. And Skype is being replaced with Microsoft Teams integration.