In an attempt to make Windows 11 more responsive, Microsoft is making several changes to how the operating system behaves in terms of memory usage, especially when it comes to PCs with limited RAM capacities. According to Microsoft’s official announcement, computers with 8GB of RAM or less will no longer load Windows Widgets before you actually open them. The company claims this can open up more than 200MB of memory for other apps and workloads.

Moreover, another memory-management update to Windows 11 allows it to keep up to 2GB more active data in RAM rather than shifting it to slower storage. Microsoft says its recent improvements make Windows 11 up to 20% more responsive overall, although the results will vary by device and usage.

Windows 11 might actually be tolerable with 8GB of RAM

And we’re happy to see Microsoft roll out updates that are actually useful

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Digvijay Kumar / MakeUseOf

Widgets can continue using memory in the background, even if you rarely open them. Once Microsoft’s change reaches your PC, the feature will instead load on demand. While the 200MB figure doesn’t sound enormous, it can amount to roughly 2.5% of the physical memory available on an 8GB machine. When several apps are competing for limited resources, reclaiming even a couple hundred megabytes could make room for more browser tabs or prevent an active app from being pushed into virtual memory.

Virtual memory allows Windows to move data that’s less immediately useful from RAM to a page file on your SSD. It prevents apps from crashing when physical memory begins to reach its limits, but even a very fast SSD is significantly slower than RAM. Switching to apps whose data has been moved to the page file can cause delays or make your entire PC feel sluggish.

This is where the extra 2GB of active data comes into play. Windows can now retain up to 2GB more active data in memory instead of moving it to storage. In theory, this would make just about any app and workflow feel snappier when you return to them.

Previously, some users saw Windows 11 consume up to 3GB less RAM after installing the 26H2 update. Microsoft’s attempts at resource efficiency aren’t limited to the operating system. Just recently, the company released a new update for Edge that makes it less demanding on RAM. It seems like Microsoft is finally rolling out genuinely useful updates, instead of introducing random features nobody asked for. Kudos to whoever is green-lighting these changes!

Such improvements come alongside more visible upgrades, including the new Windows 11 desktop-customization options that allow you to remove visual clutter around the Start menu and the taskbar.