Microsoft is still working on important changes that, sooner or later, will eventually come to Windows 11. We have already seen some of these changes in previous news, such as its goal of achieving full integration with Android smartphones, the watermark that will remind us that we do not meet the requirements of said operating system and others that we touch generally in this article.
Obviously, not all the changes that Microsoft is preparing will have the same impact on Windows 11 users, and logically they have not had the same acceptance, but one of the changes that has generated the most commotion has reached the insider channel with the Windows 11 Insider Preview build. Build 22567, which introduces a setting in the section dedicated to our Microsoft account where we can enter the data of our credit card.
I know what you are thinking, does this mean that I will have to make a payment? Not at all, Microsoft has already made it clear that Windows 11 updates will be completely free, as have all those that have come to Windows 10, so we will have nothing to worry about. This change is an adjustment with which the Redmond giant seeks to centralize, through the user’s Microsoft account, the payments of the different services that it offers, such as Office 365 or PC Game Pass, among others.
Windows 11 becomes a shopping platform
Although the integration of this option to enter our credit card data in Windows 11 does not suppose, a priori, a problem, since it will only be used for the payment of specific services and under a secure payment process, this represents a change very important in said operating system, since also becomes a payment platform with which we can make purchases online, and maintain subscriptions to different services.
So, for example, if we are subscribed to a specific service and it is about to make a charge, but we have a credit card linked to Windows 11 that is no longer valid (it has expired, for example), this could send us an alert so that we are aware of this problem, and so that we can solve it as soon as possible, thus avoiding that we cannot continue using said service. Useful, without a doubt, although I understand that more than one this idea will generate some rejection.
On the other hand, Microsoft has also introduced Smart App Control, an app that is described as a new security feature that blocks potentially dangerous or doubtful applications. It can be a very useful tool, as long as false positives do not become a problem. Based on what I have been able to read, it is clear that this application is still in a very early stage, and that Microsoft will closely monitor its behavior to assess if it is really effective, or if, on the contrary, it may end up causing more problems than another thing. We don’t know when these new features might come to the mainstream channel, and it’s important to keep in mind that some might fall by the wayside.
