Microsoft is working on lots of major and minor improvements for Windows 11 as part of the Sun Valley 2 (version 22H2). The company isn’t necessarily making everything public, but as we get closer to the launch of the update, Microsoft has begun dropping hints of what could ship to consumers in the fall.
Microsoft is apparently working on a new Task Manager built on top of the existing Win32 frame, but it sports WinUI 3.0 design components. This includes Windows 11’s Mica effects, Fluent Design’s Acrylic and other design improvements. Additionally, it also supports dark mode.
Task Manager update drops the classic tabbed interface in favour of a sidebar which houses options like Processes, Performance, App History, Startup, Users, Details, Services and a new option called ‘Settings’ that lets you toggle between dark and the light mode on Windows 11.
In the Windows Insider podcast, Microsoft teased a new colourful design for the Task Manager, as the app has now been updated to support system accent colours.
Windows currently allow you to customize the appearance of the operating system with accent colours for many surfaces like the Start menu, taskbar, title bars, etc. However, if you select an accent colour for the system, you’ll probably notice that it doesn’t apply to legacy areas like Task Manager.
It’s not a bug. It’s an expected design behaviour on Windows.
Microsoft is now adding the system accent colour support to Windows 11’s Task Manager as the company continues to work on more aesthetic improvements.
In other words, the accent colour which can be seen in the Start menu or taskbar is now heading to the Task Manager. The company plans to launch the design for beta testers in the coming days and it’s likely the company would continue to work on Task Manager ahead of Windows 11 version 22H2 launch.
As you can see in the above screenshot, the system accent colour support works in both light and dark.
More features coming to Task Manager on Windows 11
Microsoft is also working on a useful battery and app health feature for Task Manager, and the feature is apparently hidden away in preview builds.
The health feature is still broken and it doesn’t work in the current preview builds
However, based on the references in preview builds, Task Manager could offer a useful way to peek at the battery usage of the device and how it is optimized or how apps are running.
It is worth noting that Microsoft hasn’t announced these features for Task Manager and we don’t know if these improvements will ship in the production builds later this year.
