Windows 11 looks familiar on the surface, but buried behind its glossy desktop is a grab bag of strange utilities, experimental interfaces, and half‑hidden power tools that most people never open.

Windows 11 is a legacy PC operating system, and these archaic Microsoft apps and system components prove as much.

If you were asked to pick the most annoying of the various Microsoft Windows interfaces that have appeared over the years, there’s a reasonable chance that Windows 8’s Metro start screen and interface ...