Windows 11 is currently testing a hidden FAQ page within its Settings app, aimed at elucidating the reasons behind PC performance slowdowns. This feature, accessible through ViVeTool with the ID "5530588," seeks to diagnose hardware limitations that contribute to decreased speed, such as insufficient RAM and GPU capabilities . By focusing on these technical aspects rather than attributing issues solely to the operating system, Microsoft aims to enhance user understanding of their devices and potentially drive future hardware purchases.
RAM can affect your PC’s performance and the tasks it can handle, and how GPUs can elevate your gaming experience. It also lets you know in nice natural language whether you’re on the latest version of Windows.
Spotted by Bluesky user phantomofearth, this feature could be great for users who aren’t knowledgeable about PC specs — we all need to look at them sometimes but lots of us won’t get any useful information from that cryptic list of specs without googling all the keywords first.
FAQ, users will hopefully be able to get all of the information they need without leaving the page. We can see that the first question “Am I running the latest version of the Windows OS?” is dynamic — it changes depending on the user and the state of their PC. We don’t know yet, however, how dynamic the rest of the questions are or what other variations there could be. Microsoft hasn’t mentioned this feature on the preview build’s support page, so we only know about it because someone stumbled across it.
Instead of simply stating whether your PC has enough RAM, the page explains how having 4-8GB of RAM impacts performance.
Since the FAQ page is a hidden feature, it's not clear if the same questions will appear on all systems. I would hope a PC with 32GB of RAM would not see a message about how low RAM affects PC performance.
The feature is hidden with Builds 26120.3576 and 22635.5090 of Windows 11. It can be enabled through third-party utility ViVeTool with the ID "5530588," though there isn't much value in enabling the feature early.
It’s possible that the next big yearly Windows update will include the new FAQ section. And it’s just as possible that it won’t. Or that this info will only appear when it detects that your hardware is a little pokey. We’ll have to see how Microsoft is feeling in the latter half of the year, and if it shows up already enabled in Windows Insider builds before then.
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