2015 has been a good year for Windows enthusiasts like me. We started out 2015 with the Windows 10: The Next Chapter event on January 21st, during which the Windows 10 January Technical Preview made its debut and we first learned that Windows 10 would be a free upgrade for people running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Over the next six months we heard a lot about the new features in the operating system. Then on July 29th, we got our hands on the final product.

Over the last five months, we’ve been using Windows 10 and reveling in its ups–and dealing with its downs. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty to be happy about in Windows 10. However, there are some things we’d all like to see fixed or added to the new operating system in 2016.

I was going to provide a list of everything I have found wanting in Windows 10, but I decided against doing that. Instead I thought it would be more valuable for all of us if I just posted a few of the things I’d like to see happen for Windows 10 and then ask you, the reader, to post a couple of things you’d like to see fixed or added to the operating system in 2016. So here is my short list. Now please jump into the discussion and share yours.

Do away with Control Panel

In Windows 10, Microsoft moved a lot of operating system controls to the Settings user interface (Figure A), but the Control Panel still exists. Having to go back and forth between Settings and the Control Panel to make changes is a pain. If Settings is the wave of the future, I’d like to see everything moved to Settings and put the Control Panel where it belongs–in the past.

Figure A

Many Windows configuration options have already moved to Settings. Why not move the rest of them?

Update the icons

While Microsoft updated many of the icons in Windows 10, there are still a lot of icons from earlier versions of the operating system and they just look odd on the Start menu with its tile-based system (Figure B). Since it decided to employ a new vision for the Windows 10 icons, why not finish the job and give all the icons a makeover? Right now, it just looks sloppy.

Figure B

The mix of old and new icons on the Start menu looks odd.

Tabs in File Explorer

File Explorer is a great file manager with many nice features (Figure C). However, I’d really like to have folder tabs in the user interface so that I can open more than one folder and easily switch back and forth between them by selecting the tabs. Just like you can do in any web browser

Figure C

If would be nice to have folder tabs in File Explorer.

What’s your take?

What would you like to see fixed or added to Windows 10 in 2016? Let us know in the discussion thread below.

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