Windows users need to be careful with the next major feature update. Microsoft is removing these applications and features.
Microsoft has now released a preview version of Windows 11 24H2, this year’s major annual Windows update. But watch out: When Microsoft installs the autumn update on your Windows 11 computer, a number of older applications and features will be removed forever. Cortana, Tips, and Wordpad are perhaps the most well-known victims of this cleanup.
Microsoft said about Cortana:
“Cortana in Windows as a standalone app is deprecated. This change only affects Cortana in Windows. Your productivity assistant Cortana is still available in Outlook Mobile, Teams Mobile, Microsoft Teams Display and Microsoft Teams Rooms.”
And about the Tips app:
“The Tips app is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Windows. Content in the app will continue to be updated with information about new Windows features until the app is removed.”
“Wordpad will no longer be updated and will be removed in a future version of Windows. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents such as .doc and .rtf and Windows Editor for text-only documents such as .txt. Wordpad will be removed from all editions of Windows starting with Windows 11 version 24H2 and Windows Server 2025.”
However, the full list of applications and features being removed in the upcoming update—or sometime thereafter, as Microsoft isn’t removing ALL features considered obsolete as early as autumn 2024 but instead says they “may be removed in a future release”—is significantly longer.
Microsoft justifies this by stating that some well-known applications will be removed with 24H2:
“Each version of the Windows client adds new features and functionality. Occasionally, new versions also remove features and functionality, often because they have added a newer option. This article provides details about the features and functionalities that are no longer being developed in the Windows client.”
Microsoft lists all “deprecated features for the Windows client,” including many that Microsoft has long since removed. Most are only of interest to administrators or professional Windows users, but some removed applications may affect private users.
The Steps Recorder is also marked for removal, so if you want to record problems or step-by-step instructions on your PC, you should use the snipping tool. Microsoft is also removing the scripting language VBScript. Learn more about disappearing Windows features.
