Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted in the latest earnings call that the company is trying to win back consumers, especially in the Windows business to regain the recognition of ordinary users. After Microsoft announced its fiscal third-quarter results for fiscal year 2026 and exceeded analysts' expectations, Nadella took the initiative to mention Windows many times in the meeting. This is not common in Microsoft's senior management's communications with the capital market, because such occasions used to focus more on corporate and government customer business.
According to reports, Microsoft has long been more focused on enterprise and government customers, but this does not mean that it has given up on the general consumer market. Nadella said at the conference call that Microsoft is currently carrying out "basic work" around consumer-oriented product lines such as Windows, Xbox, Bing and Edge, with the goal of regaining user favor and improving overall usage stickiness.
According to Nadella, Microsoft's short-term focus is not on fancy concepts, but on returning to the "basic skills" that core users really care about, giving priority to improving product quality and better serving core audiences. He mentioned that this idea has been reflected in the adjustment direction of Windows, including bringing performance optimization to low-memory devices, simplifying the Windows update experience, and returning more attention to the core functions and basic experiences that are most important to users.
Nadella also revealed that the current number of monthly active Windows devices has exceeded 1.6 billion, but this number likely covers Windows 10 and earlier versions, and does not only refer to Windows 11. As for the independent installed base of Windows 11, the report pointed out that Microsoft did not give a specific number, but Nadella emphasized that the value of Windows will continue to extend in the future to provide "non-metered intelligence" at the edge.
Microsoft has recently begun to gradually implement such improvements in Windows 11, such as extending or even pausing Windows updates on demand, speeding up startup item loading, and promoting a series of larger-scale system optimizations. The article believes that Microsoft is not just making verbal statements in 2026. Some changes have begun to be pushed to Windows Insider test users, and at least 18 important updates are under development.
In terms of specific improvement directions, the report first mentioned that Microsoft is trying to create a more "quiet" Windows experience. According to the information cited in the article, Microsoft executives have confirmed that the company plans to reduce advertisements and upsell prompts in Windows, especially during the first startup configuration phase of a new machine, which is the OOBE process. Currently, services such as Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Xbox Game Pass and even Copilot are often recommended at this stage. Although Microsoft has not explicitly stated that it will completely remove these contents in the future, it has confirmed that it will reduce such interference, and will further simplify the first setup and boot process, allowing users to enter the desktop in fewer steps.
The second change that was highlighted was the removable taskbar. The report pointed out that Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 will allow users to move the taskbar to either side of the screen like in earlier versions of Windows. It also plans to add taskbar resizing capabilities similar to Windows 10 to improve the flexibility and personalization of the interface.
The third important tweak involves the Start menu. The article stated that the current start menu of Windows 11 is not completely native. The "recommended" area uses the React Native solution. Although it performs normally in most cases, it still has latency problems, especially when there is a lot of recommended content. It is more likely to freeze. In order to solve this problem, Microsoft plans to switch the Start menu to the WinUI framework to improve performance, and is also preparing to allow the Start menu to support resizable features similar to Windows 10.
In addition to these more intuitive changes, the report also mentioned that Microsoft is weakening the integration of Copilot in some Windows 11 applications, including screenshot tools, notepad and other applications. At the same time, File Explorer will continue to improve speed, fluency and stability, reduce interface flickering, improve navigation and search performance, and enhance file transfer reliability.
In terms of lower-level system experience, Microsoft is also promoting the reduction of basic system memory usage and fixing the display inconsistencies in dark mode in areas such as old dialog boxes, file properties windows, operation pop-ups, account interfaces, and even the registry editor. On the other hand, more features in the Control Panel are still slowly migrating to the modern Settings app, but reports indicate that Microsoft cannot rush this matter because older hardware, legacy drivers, and enterprise workflows still rely on these historical components.
Microsoft is trying to fix the controversial points exposed by Windows 11 in the past year in a more pragmatic way. From the update mechanism and performance to interface noise and native experience, the focus is on the "return to the basic experience." According to reports, these improvements are expected to be rolled out one after another this year, and whether Microsoft can really win back the trust of Windows users will also depend on whether these promises can finally be implemented stably.