- Windows 11 could get a feature to better inform you on how fast your PC is
- It’s still hidden in testing, but a new FAQ to help the less tech-savvy has just been discovered
- As this is still in the very early stages – and not an official feature at all yet – we should temper our excitement somewhat
Microsoft is developing a feature in Windows 11 that provides some easy to understand information on the spec of your PC, and how powerful the hardware inside the device is.
Neowin noticed that a regular contributor to the Windows rumor scene on X, PhantomOfEarth, uncovered some new work on this capability which remains hidden under the bonnet of Windows 11.
New Frequently Asked Questions list in Settings > System > About, hidden in builds 26120.3576 and 22635.5090. Has some questions related to the Windows version and device specs. (vivetool /enable /id:55305888) pic.twitter.com/AkaP8XR3PRMarch 17, 2025
PhantomOfEarth found the new FAQ section in preview builds 26120.3576 and 22635.5090, and they enabled the functionality using a Windows configuration utility (ViVeTool).
You may recall that this feature was first discovered in the background of Windows 11 back at the start of 2025, when the same leaker aired images of some ‘cards’ in the Settings app, which are compact info panels that display the specs of the PC so they’re easy to see at a glance.
These panels (in System > About, within Settings) display core specs such as the CPU, graphics card, and amount of memory and storage. On top of that, as we noted at the time, Windows 10 users already had this feature live, in testing, and it came with a FAQ section tacked on.
Now that FAQ has arrived in Windows 11, as mentioned, and it provides a range of questions and answers on elements of the spec of the host PC.
The nifty bit is that the FAQ is tailored based on the PC that’s running Windows 11. So for example, if you haven’t got a discrete GPU, and you just use the integrated graphics provided by your processor, Microsoft will provide info on exactly what that means for your prospects of running certain software or games.
Or if you’ve got a low amount of system RAM, you’ll be given details on how that leaner allocation might affect the running of apps on your PC.
Analysis: Shaping up nicely (albeit at a very early stage)
It’s good to see this FAQ section arriving in Windows 11, although it was expected to do so, given that it was present in Windows 10 (testing) already. (However, I’m not quite sure why Microsoft is developing this for Windows 10 at all, given that the OS is shuffling off its coil before too long, something Microsoft is now regularly reminding us about in, erm, creative ways, shall we say).
We still must remember that at least for Windows 11, this is a hidden feature and not yet enabled in testing, so there’s no guarantee it’ll ever arrive in the finished version of the operating system (the same’s true for Windows 10, for that matter).
I think it’s quite likely that it will be pushed through to Windows 11, though, given that this will be a helpful feature for computing novices who aren’t sure about the capabilities of their PC. The tailored nature of the new FAQ is particularly useful, so the info provided is guaranteed to be relevant to the user.
Still, the answers to the questions posed do remain a little generic, but I can see them being fleshed out by AI in the future. This could be a good use of Copilot in getting the assistant to be of more use to the less tech-savvy out there.
As I’ve discussed in the past, this new approach looks far superior to the Windows Experience Index, which computing veterans may recall from back in the day. The WEI, as it was known, was introduced with Windows Vista, and rated your PC’s performance in a bunch of categories – but it was convoluted and confusing, rather than helpful.
It looks like Microsoft is going to do much better with this fresh take on the concept, but the proof, as ever, will be in tasting the pudding – and this feature is still very much at the mixing ingredients stage right now.
