As we know, Microsoft has been working to improve the performance of Windows 11 for several months. And with RAM prices rising, particularly due to demand linked to artificial intelligence, it’s not really the ideal time to buy a new PC or add RAM to your computer.
Microsoft therefore has every interest in ensuring that Windows 11 runs correctly, even on small configurations. And it is evident that the latest changes are bearing fruit. The company announces up to 20% more responsiveness and gains of up to 40% in multitasking on PCs equipped with 8 GB of RAM.
But what exactly has changed? And how can you benefit from these improvements? We explain everything to you.
Windows 11 now makes better use of the 8 GB of RAM
With only 8GB of RAM, Windows 11 can sometimes have trouble keeping up, especially when you open multiple software programs or many tabs in your browser. Microsoft has been working on this problem for several months and has significantly revised the way the system manages RAM.
The company has improved memory compression, a technology already present since Windows 10. It allows certain data to be kept in RAM instead of transferring it to the SSD, where it takes longer to recover.
With these changes, Windows 11 can keep up to 2 GB of additional active data in memory. As a result, when you return to the software or a tab that has been open for a while, you are less likely to have to reload it.
Windows 11 multitasks up to 40% faster
Microsoft has also worked on the responsiveness of Windows 11. Opening the Start menu, File Explorer, Settings or even the context menu would now be up to 20% faster than in January 2026.
To achieve this, Windows temporarily prioritizes user actions and slows down certain background tasks, such as file indexing.
But the most interesting figure refers to multitasking. Microsoft announces a gain of up to 40% in a test carried out on an HP OmniBook 3 equipped with 8 GB of RAM and an eight-core Snapdragon X Plus processor.
For this test, the Redmond firm opened 20 tabs in Edge, a 4K video, several large documents in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as Outlook and File Explorer. All applications remained open during the operation.
The PC completed this series of tasks up to 40% faster than with the versions of Windows 11 used in January 2026.
Of course, these results come from tests conducted by Microsoft in a specific configuration. Therefore, income may vary from one computer to another.
Microsoft has published a video to show the difference in performance on the same PC equipped with 8 GB of RAM.
Microsoft Edge, Teams and Office also consume less memory
Microsoft applications have also been entitled to some changes. In Edge, inactive tabs now go to sleep after 15 minutes, instead of two hours. The browser can also open up to 33% faster under certain conditions, even when it is already running in the background.
For Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Microsoft announces savings of up to 360 MB of memory in total during its tests.
Computers can automatically activate Efficiency mode on PCs equipped with 8 GB of RAM. This limits resource consumption and speeds up startup by up to 20%.
Even Windows 11 widgets are affected. On PCs with 8 GB of RAM or less, they no longer load until you open their panel. Microsoft estimates that this saves about 200 MB of memory.
In total, Microsoft tests show up to 900 MB less committed memory when using multiple applications. This is not an amount of RAM permanently freed, but rather a reduction in memory consumed during the tested scenario.
To benefit from the latest optimizations, Microsoft recommends installing Windows 11 26H2, build 26300.9818 or a newer version.
If your PC is compatible, here’s how to check if an update is available:
- open them Settings Windows 11 with shortcut windows + Yo.
- Click ” Windows Update » in the left menu.
- Activate the option “ Receive the latest updates as soon as they are available “.
- Click ” Check for updates » to check if a new version is offered.
Also consider updating the Microsoft Edge, Teams, and Microsoft 365 apps. Some improvements are distributed separately, especially through the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft specifies that its availability may vary by computer and region.
More optimizations planned for Windows 11
Microsoft hasn’t finished its job. In the coming months, Windows search and widgets should share the same web engine to avoid unnecessarily loading multiple components into memory. OneDrive and the Photos app should benefit from similar operation.
Changes are also planned in File Explorer, Notepad and Paint, to reduce their RAM consumption and speed up their opening. Microsoft also plans to further improve memory compression.
These changes are a step in the right direction, although the 8GB of RAM is still quite limited when using multiple software programs at the same time. For browsing the Internet, working on documents or watching videos, this amount may be enough. But for more demanding tasks, such as video editing, 3D modeling or recent video games, it is better to have at least 16 GB of RAM.
Fountain : microsoft
