Microsoft, the makers of Windows 11, have begun distributing a Windows update that preloads the "PC Health Check" app on Windows 10 PCs As we have already reported, the app scans PCs to see if they meet Microsoft's strict Windows 11 requirements This update is only for Windows 10 PCs and will not be pushed to Windows 11 users

This is potentially a big problem because Microsoft is seeding a wide range of Windows PCs with a tool designed to help people upgrade to Windows 11 Microsoft now claims that the tool has been enhanced with additional features for Windows 10 users (including new tools to monitor battery and storage capacity and to manage programs to improve startup times), which could make Windows It is not hard to imagine that this is the first step on the road to encouraging Windows users who are reluctant to upgrade to 11

"This update installs the PC Health Check application on Windows 10, version 2004 or later devices," Microsoft explains on its support page

"However, it does not install PC Health Check on Windows 11 devices; PC Health Check includes diagnostics to monitor device health and troubleshooting to improve performance

As reported by OnMST, this app is automatically updated, so there is no need to manually update it; the PC Health Check app is merely a diagnostic tool that Microsoft requires you to run before installing Windows 11 on your system On the surface, this seems like a benign and even useful update, since the updates that are pushed to Windows 10 PCs are also optional and can be ignored

But as TechRadar speculates, this may be the beginning of Microsoft getting pushy with Windows 11 In the future, the app may become more intrusive and start nagging users to upgrade This will be frustrating both for those who do not meet Microsoft's Windows 11 requirements and for those who simply do not want to update to Windows 11

As we noted in our review, Windows 11 is a solid operating system, but Windows 10 users need not switch at this time widely reported issues, such as poor gaming performance on computers with AMD Ryzen GPUs Widely reported problems, such as poor gaming performance on computers with AMD Ryzen GPUs, prove that Windows 11 is not without compatibility issues Unless you plan to build a new PC, it doesn't make much sense to buy new hardware just to run Windows 11 Given Microsoft's track record, we also believe that the Redmond-based company will become more aggressive in encouraging users to update to Windows 11 as time goes on

If you want to update to Windows 11, be sure to read how to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 Also, find out which CPUs are compatible with Windows 11 and how to enable TPM on your PC