*** Microsoft Windows 11 Thoughts & Discussion Thread ***

Soldato
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I've tried Win11 a few times on an old machine. Liked the cleaned up explorer tree but other than that it's was just meh.

I dislike the all the privacy and MS Account stuff. For me that ends up as 5 family accounts which I then have to manage.
 
Associate
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Signs-that-MS-is-mentally-Ill.jpg


4. If you count the ability to just simpally click on the desktop
I am so with you on this … it’s bonkers, OneDrive nested in documents nested in one drive nested OneDrive, double listed …

I finally managed to clean it up , but I can’t remember the setting it was.
 
Man of Honour
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It is crazy - the File Explorer in 7 is fine just needed a little modernisation in places - improved file copy, etc. dialog, sidebar list of active file destinations including other open Explorer windows so you can drag from the one screen and so on. At least they've cleaned it up a little from 10 but it is still a fragmented, visually noisy, poorly thought out mess.

How MS can't just get these bread and butter, tried and tested parts of the OS right just boggles my mind.

I've tried Win11 a few times on an old machine. Liked the cleaned up explorer tree but other than that it's was just meh.

I dislike the all the privacy and MS Account stuff. For me that ends up as 5 family accounts which I then have to manage.

This is something which seems to persistently not enter the thick skulls of those developing the OS and something some posters don't seem to be able to understand - it is one thing if you have 1 or maybe 2 PCs and a fairly average user - but when you are dealing with multiple systems in different types of use and uses which might be even just a little bit different to average 10 and 11 are just a pain in the rear and something which might be a minor inconvenience at best when you deal with it once becomes a huge chore when it is duplicated many times.

Let’s all go back to 98.

For all its flaws at least 98 was an OS developed with the concept that an OS's main purpose is to enable the end user and everything else is secondary to that. With 10/11 the end user is treated like a product.
 
Soldato
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Signs-that-MS-is-mentally-Ill.jpg


4. If you count the ability to just simpally click on the desktop
In File Explorer's options, change "Open File Explorer to" to "This PC". I can't remember if that's the default Windows 7 behaviour, but nothing else makes sense to me.

You could also unpin all the Quick Access shortcuts and close if, like me, you like File Explorer to look neat and functional.
 
Soldato
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Just so people can see what I meant by my above post, I've uploaded some before and after pictures.

1.png
2.png

I know which I prefer and find more functional.
 
Soldato
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I'm just baffled went they constantly create such poor interfaces and visual bloat. Windows 10 was worse for it.

That said I see it with programmers I work with. They insist on over complicating things. Or leaving out basic functionality that makes the end users life easier.
 
Associate
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Advantages to Windows 11:
-Can use Intel vTune
-DirectX 12
-Variable refresh rate mode and various DirectX 11.2 enhancements available.
-The resizing windows / scattered icons caused by the "virtual monitor" with a stupid 640x480 resolution has been fixed.

Disadvantages in order of severity:

-worse performance
-"Fullscreen optimizations". Causes taskbar to appear at the bottom sometimes and 10-bit colour won't work without true fullscreen. Cannot be disabled without user intervention.
-file associations cannot be changed without reverse engineering the registry hash code. This has been done intentionally to force people onto Windows Store apps.
-Intel Management Engine installed without permission
-control flow guard enabled by default
-taskbar combine option gone
-windows scheduler bugged. I understand this bug started in Windows 8 or 10? "An error has occurred. Specified arguments not valid"... Still not fixed.
-updates cannot be turned off.
-disabling bloatware such as "UserManager" causes UWP programs including system settings to stop working.
-classic windows programs: notepad, paint, calculator replaced with inferior UWP versions.
-classic right click menu replaced with a useless one.
-queryperformancefrequency() wrong. The correct value can be obtained from CPUID.
 
Man of Honour
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-soon won't be able to use Windows 11 Pro without a Microsoft account.

All personal users are being forced towards an account with increasing attempts to prevent local accounts for 10 and 11 - personally doesn't affect me but it is another **** move by developers with their heads firmly up their behinds.
 
Soldato
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All personal users are being forced towards an account with increasing attempts to prevent local accounts for 10 and 11 - personally doesn't affect me but it is another **** move by developers with their heads firmly up their behinds.
One of the reasons I only use Enterprise images these days.
 
Soldato
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Seems like Win11 was a build for Microsoft's benefit not the end user.
So true.

I've left my main machines in Win10. I've also done my periodic rage install of Linux (which I never keep) on an older laptop. It actually worked better than Win11 did on the same machine. Though newer builds of Win11 have worked better on this machine.

That said I'm strongly considering switching the family to office 365 and Ms Accounts to synch all the various machines.
 
Man of Honour
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Whilst I agree that Windows update is uncontrollable (literally) which is very annoying, I don't agree with some of the other things mentioned. I feel as though currently my Windows 11 install is customised exactly how I like it and it functions to a level that is not much more different to Win7/10 that I had before. The only missing thing is that I no longer use sidebar or desktop widgets like I used to for system info and stuff like that.

Performance? Is noticeably better than Windows 10/7. Then again I have up to date hardware that is made use of by the newer technologies in Windows 11 so I wasn't expecting any performance issues. There were some issues with SSD write speeds for a while but they have been resolved for a while now.

Everything else just works really.
 
Associate
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Whilst I agree that Windows update is uncontrollable (literally) which is very annoying, I don't agree with some of the other things mentioned. I feel as though currently my Windows 11 install is customised exactly how I like it and it functions to a level that is not much more different to Win7/10 that I had before. The only missing thing is that I no longer use sidebar or desktop widgets like I used to for system info and stuff like that.

Performance? Is noticeably better than Windows 10/7. Then again I have up to date hardware that is made use of by the newer technologies in Windows 11 so I wasn't expecting any performance issues. There were some issues with SSD write speeds for a while but they have been resolved for a while now.

Everything else just works really.
I agree, though I do hate having to go through additional clicks for simple tasks that were 1 click in W10.

I have it installed on a Surface Pro 7 and it really enhances the device, especially the touch / tablet experience. That said it should as MS make the Surface! but W11 does make the Surface significantly better than W10.
 
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