Microsoft tries to make Windows 11 less annoying

Calm female executive meditating in front of a laptop
(Image credit: fizkes / Shutterstock)

Shortly after the rollout of the major Windows 11 Moment 3 update, Microsoft is testing features that’ll clear out notifications clutter and make viewing your saved Wi-Fi passwords a lot easier.

The Moment 3 update is full of useful features, with one of those being the ability to copy and paste two-step authentication codes directly from notifications. However, notifications can get really spammy very quickly. I spend at least five minutes each morning clearing out notifications from my desktop to try to keep things clean and manageable, so the company’s proposed fix looks promising.

Notification spamming will be detected so that if you receive numerous alerts from any app and don’t interact with them, Windows 11 will trigger a final alert suggesting you turn off notifications for that particular app. By only muting notifications from the specific spammy app, it allows you to silence the pop-ups without stopping notifications from every app (so no blanket ‘turn off all notifications’), so you can keep in the loop and not deal with spam. 

I can now forget all my passwords in peace 

Windows Latest notes that the feature isn’t based on artificial intelligence, but uses a rather simple algorithm to sort out whether or not a user interacts with notifications. 

In a screenshot taken by Windows Latest, you can see a message pop up with a suggestion to turn off notifications from a particular app, which says “You haven’t interacted with notifications from (specific app) in the past month.”
Additionally, Microsoft is testing a new way to simplify viewing saved Wi-Fi passwords. Users will be able to access the Wi-Fi passwords of their networks via the ‘Network and Internet Wi-fi’ section of their device settings and click ‘Manage known networks’ section. 

This incredibly useful feature will let you share Wi-Fi passwords with friends and family or set up new devices a lot easier. Rather than messing around trying to find the password either on a notepad on your phone or going all the way to the router, you can just click through your settings. 

I’m personally excited about this feature because it would let me keep more secure passwords for my Wi-Fi networks, rather than having to consistently rely on something short and easy to remember. If I know I can look up the password in an instant I’m much more likely to use an actually hard-to-guess password.

These new features are expected to ship with the Windows 11 23H2 update, rolling out later this year.

Muskaan Saxena
Computing Staff Writer

Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).

Read more
AOC Agon Pro AG276FK gaming monitor tilted slightly to the side, showing the Windows desktop screen
Windows 11 users get ready for more ‘recommendations’ from Microsoft – but I’m relieved to say these suggestions might actually be useful
Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop display showing the Windows 11 login screen
Shock, horror – I’m not going to argue with Microsoft’s latest bit of nagging in Windows 11, as this pop-up is justified
A laptop with the Windows 11 desktop on screen, glowing, while on a work desk
Microsoft changes Windows 11’s Start menu for the better (gasp) while introducing nifty new file sharing options
Windows 11
Clues in Windows 11 suggest Microsoft has a nifty plan to help you move all your stuff from an old PC to a new computer more easily and conveniently
A laptop on a desk with the Windows 11 background on its screen.
Microsoft is adding image editing and compression to its Windows Share feature - and I couldn't be happier
Windows 10 Fail
I have good news and bad news about Windows 11 24H2’s new update: it introduces nifty features and fixes... but also includes another ad
Latest in Windows
Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop display showing the Windows 11 login screen
Shock, horror – I’m not going to argue with Microsoft’s latest bit of nagging in Windows 11, as this pop-up is justified
A laptop on a desk with the Windows 11 background on its screen.
Microsoft is adding image editing and compression to its Windows Share feature - and I couldn't be happier
AOC Agon Pro AG276FK gaming monitor tilted slightly to the side, showing the Windows desktop screen
Windows 11 users get ready for more ‘recommendations’ from Microsoft – but I’m relieved to say these suggestions might actually be useful
Microsoft Store logo on a blurred background
There's finally a fix for an annoying Microsoft Store bug that's older than Windows 11
Portrait of African-American teenage boy studying at home or in college dorm and using laptop, copy space
Windows 11’s Notepad gets AI-powered ‘Rewrite’ feature, but not everyone’s going to be happy about it
Copilot on a laptop
Microsoft quietly updates Copilot to cut down on unauthorized Windows activations
Latest in News
Vision Pro Metallica
Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage
Mufasa is joined by another lion, a monkey and a bird in this promotional image
Mufasa: The Lion King prowls onto Disney+ as it finally gets a streaming release date
An American flag flying outside the US Capitol building against a blue sky
Sean Plankey selected as CISA director by President Trump
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 on a table with its retail packaging
Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU spotted in Acer gaming PC, suggesting rumors of imminent launch are correct – and that it’ll run with only 8GB of video RAM
Indiana Jones talking to a friend in a university setting with a jaunty smile on his face
New leak claims Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release will come in April
A close up of the limited edition vinyl turntable wrist watch from AndoAndoAndo
This limited-edition timepiece turns the iconic Technics SL-1200 turntable into a watch, and I want one