When you’re putting your rig to the test with the latest triple-A release, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on how your components are faring. There’s a few ways to do that: you can hit up Task Manager, or install a third party app like Nvidia GeForce Experience. Now, you’re even more spoilt for choice, with Microsoft adding some useful widgets to Windows 11 to do just that.
Windows 11 hasn’t all been smooth sailing for PC gamers, and that’s putting it lightly. The plucky cybernauts who’ve migrated to Microsoft’s latest OS have endured a Windows 11 update which froze AMD CPUs and a Windows 11 22H2 update causing bad GPU performance. Not cool, Microsoft.
But the software giant is keen to make it up to gamers, and Dev Home has helped it do just that. The new open source developer app has brought a swathe of new widgets to Windows 11, including some nifty ones that report your CPU’s speed and utilization, and your GPU’s speed and temperature. Don’t want your shiny new rig overheating, after all! And, if you happen to be lucky enough to own multiple GPUs, there’s a widget allowing you to toggle between different graphics cards at will.
Of course, you’ll have to download the Dev Home Preview app from the Microsoft Store if you want to make use of these widgets. And they do come with a caveat: since Dev Home is only at the preview stage, the widgets are unstable and could become unresponsive or even disappear from the board entirely.
With Microsoft intent on bringing gamers into the Windows 11 fold, and introducing new features to sweeten the deal, more and more of us are probably giving the upgrade serious consideration. Maybe now’s a good time to get ahead of the curve and grab a key.