Windows 11 feature updates can be quite scary. While they often add new features, they are notorious for breaking a few things as well. For instance, the recent KB5077181 update caused some devices to go into continuous restart loops, newer updates got stuck at 0-100%, noticeably slower system performance, and even the resurgence of the S3 sleep problems that caused a black screen or freeze on resume from sleep.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The latest Windows 11 update has quite a few new features, including a built-in internet speed test and Windows Hello support for external biometric devices, which makes it a noticeable improvement compared to the more bloated updates in the past.
Built-in internet speed test
Check your network speed without leaving the desktop
It’s hard to make sense of your Wi-Fi speed test results sometimes, especially when your network is acting up, pages take forever to load, or you’re paying for a premium plan but getting sluggish performance. Usually, you’d open a browser and navigate to a speed test site to check if your ISP is delivering what you’re paying for. Windows 11 now bakes this step right into the taskbar.
Right-click the network icon in the system tray, or open the Wi-Fi Quick Settings panel, and you’ll see a Test internet speed option at the bottom. Click it, and it opens your default browser with a Bing-powered speed test page that uses Ookla’s Speedtest under the hood. It’s not a fully native tool as everything still runs in the browser, but it saves you from having to bookmark or search for a speed test site every time something feels off.
It’s a small but very handy addition. If you notice your speeds are lower than what your ISP promised, you can use the results to troubleshoot or call your provider with actual numbers. And if you want more detailed testing, there are still dedicated websites to test your internet speed for free that offer more granular data, like jitter and packet loss.
Improved cross-device resume
Pick up where you left off across your phone and PC
Cross-Device Resume has been around for a while through the Phone Link app, but this update gives it a meaningful bump. The settings for this feature have now moved from the Phone Link app to the main Windows Settings app, making it easier to find and configure without needing to dig through Phone Link’s interface.
The bigger improvement is in what you can actually resume. Previously, Cross-Device Resume worked with a limited set of activities. Now, it supports Spotify playback, Office documents in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and active browser sessions. So you can start a playlist on your phone, sit down at your desk, and continue listening on your PC without manually searching for where you left off.
Android support has also expanded beyond Samsung to include HONOR, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi devices, and even Vivo Browser sessions can be picked up on your Windows PC. There’s also a Copilot tie-in, so if you open an online document through the Copilot app on your phone, Windows 11 can surface that same file on your desktop. The catch is that it only works with cloud-synced content, and since it’s still a gradual rollout, you might not see all of these features right away, even after updating.
Windows Hello support for external biometric devices
Desktop users finally get the same secure login as laptops
Yadullah Abidi \ MakeUseOf
For a long time, Windows Hello’s Enhanced Sign-in Security only worked with built-in laptop webcams and fingerprint readers. If you had a desktop PC with an external USB fingerprint reader or webcam, you could use Windows Hello to log in, but you missed out on the extra layer of protection that ESS provides. That changes with the latest update.
New Windows 11 builds now allow external USB webcams and fingerprint readers to operate inside the same protected authentication environment as built-in sensors. ESS isolates your biometric data, including face and fingerprint information, in a secure environment separate from the rest of the OS, making it harder for malware to intercept or spoof your login. The earlier limitation wasn’t about the hardware’s capability; external devices were simply classified differently by Windows.
If your external device doesn’t support ESS, you can still use it with Windows Hello by disabling ESS in Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Additional settings. If you’re shopping for a Windows Hello webcam, look for one with genuine infrared or depth-sensing support, since Windows Hello relies on IR rather than a standard RGB camera.
You can turn on/off Smart App Control without a reinstall
No more clean install just to re-enable this security feature
Smart App Control is one of those Windows 11 security features that most people either don’t know about or have given up on. It uses cloud intelligence and AI to silently block untrusted or potentially malicious apps before they run. The problem was its all-or-nothing design, which means, once you turned it off, the only way to get it back was a clean install of Windows 11.
With Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 builds, Microsoft has finally made this reversible. You can now toggle Smart App Control on or off freely from Windows Security > App & browser control > Smart App Control without needing to reinstall anything. This is especially useful if you need to temporarily turn it off to run a custom app, and then re-enable it once you’re done.
If you’ve never used Smart App Control before, start with the Evaluation mode first. It quietly monitors your app usage for a few weeks to check whether enabling it would cause issues, without actually blocking anything. Between this, Microsoft Defender, and Controlled Folder Access, most Windows 11 PCs don’t really need a third-party antivirus, as the built-in security stack is already solid enough for most people.
Everything else that is new in the latest update
Smaller changes that add up to a better experience
Apart from these, the latest update also brings a handful of quality-of-life improvements that are worth a mention. Taskbar search now shows the total number of results and lets you preview content directly in the list without opening a separate window. There are also new emojis, a new system monitor, and a full-page Widgets settings menu that replaces the cramped little panel from before.
File Explorer gets a few fixes, too. Opening a new window via shortcuts like Shift-clicking the taskbar icon or middle-clicking now works more reliably, which is a welcome fix for anyone who works with multiple Explorer windows. There’s also a new Extract All option in the command bar for non-ZIP archive folders, and the Network page is better at detecting connected devices.
On the display side, monitors should now wake from sleep more reliably, even when the system is under load. Printing, Nearby Sharing, and Windows Update have all received stability improvements as well. None of these are flashy on their own, but they collectively make the update feel more polished than what we’ve seen in recent months.
A step in the right direction, but keep your expectations in check
This update is one of the better ones Windows 11 has received in a while. The built-in speed test, improved cross-device resume, external Windows Hello support, and a reversible Smart App Control are all practical additions that address things people actually use. It’s a refreshing change from the AI-in-everything approach that dominated previous updates.
That said, it’s still a Windows 11 update. The rollout is gradual; some features may not show up immediately, and there’s always the chance of bugs creeping in. The restart loop and sleep issues from recent builds are a reminder of that. Other than that, it’s an actually good update with less AI-bloat and more quality of life improvements.
