It's been a few months since Microsoft released Windows 11 24H2, but there are still ongoing issues with the version of the OS, many of which we've experienced ourselves here at PC Gamer. As each update rolls by, a collective breath is held and fingers are crossed for fixes—sometimes they come, sometimes they don't (said the Yogi). Thankfully, it now it looks like at least a few of the more irksome bugs might be soon ironed out.
The just-released Windows 11 Preview Channel Build 26100.3025 (KB5050094) has a few new features and improvements, but given the as-yet buggy 24H2 experience, I'm more focused on those "fixed" notes, of which there are a fair few.
This build is an Insider one, meaning it's an early version that you can access by signing up for the Windows Insider Program, but these builds do hit the main release channel eventually.
You can check out the full list of fixes yourself on the Build announcement, but here are some of the bugs that we're particularly happy to see getting fixed:
- A disappearing mouse cursor when you hover over certain text fields in some applications.
- The mouse cursor stuttering when it moves across the screen.
- Oversaturated HDR in some games when you use Auto HDR.
- Searches repeating for no reason.
- The search box losing input focus as you type.
- Task Manager taking a long time to close.
- Snipping Tool screenshots being distorted.
Here in the PCG hardware den, a bunch of us have faced such kinds of issues with 24H2, from Auto HDR game crashes to audio device issues, stuttering, and more. I've personally faced animation glitches when minimising and maximising windows, Nick's had 24H2-induced graphical issues in Chrome, and Andy seems to have had the worst of it, with broken drivers, disappearing and reappearing notifications, and in-game stutters and hangs.
Some of us have also experienced mouse cursor stutters, which seems like the most irritating and ever-present bug of the lot. And also possibly the most baffling issue of them all. It's 2025, so how is it that Microsoft rolled out an update that breaks one of the most fundamental things to get right for GUI operating systems? (The 'Small Indie Company' joke is fruit that's almost too low-hanging to mention.)
Microsoft's reasoning might be that 24H2 is apparently a "full operating system (OS) swap". This sounds silly, given the user experience is mostly the same but with some AI gubbins sprinkled here and there. But I suppose we're only getting the front-end experience; a complete low-level redesign might have been needed to get Windows ready for the AI PC era.
Whatever the reason, and however ridiculous some of the bugs may seem, at least new builds are attempting to fix them. Let's just hope new bugs aren't thrown into the mix for good measure—if there's anything that'll be sure to keep the Windows 10 die-hards from updating, it'll be that tiresome whack-a-mole.
