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

We have a mix of Windows and Mac, and most user moans come from the Windows camp.

I can go to London and back (1h40 train each way), work a full day, and not have to worry about taking a charger. Whereas all the Dell users are constantly looking for a power source and all I can hear in meeting rooms is their fans spinning up.

I only use Windows where I have to. Such as in my lab for a domain controller, VDIs for customers, or my gaming PC. I used to be a big fan but it just frustrates me these days. Let me do what I want and go away with the full screen takeover after updates etc.

Problem is MacOS is too restrictive for a corporate environment. You can't just do whatever you want with it, Apple controls it all and they seem to go out of their way to make things not compatible.
 
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Yes it’s easy when you know how but kinda missing the point. MS have made Windows 11 more intrusive and more bloated than ever. Once you jump through that tiny hoop you have another one to remove the focused ads, or another one to remove the terrible context menu with a mix of icons and text. Or to make the start menu even close to as functional as the old Windows 10 one. Then you have to learn the pointlessly changed settings menu that makes things such as changing your audio output device a convoluted chore etc.

I know I can get around these things but decided not to. Windows 11 offers nothing over 10 that is meaningful to me and obviously the vast majority of PC owners. The fact their adoption rate is getting lower shows it is an utter failure.

It made changes for the sake of change rather than through necessity and above all, it got personal. An OS should not require you to have personal account details logged on a corporate server somewhere, that collects and shares your personal data with “trusted partners”. It absolutely should not then collect personal stuff about you to send you targeted advertisements.

I understand exactly what you mean, while it is easy to 'fix' these things, you shouldn't have too.
If Microsoft want to sell you a product, they then shouldn't use that product to make money from you in one way or another, if Windows were free, then perhaps they would have an argument, but as it stands, its a big fat no from me..
 
best clock:
Speaking of clocks, and sorry in advance for the rant. But what is it with the clock in W11, why do MS force people to display the time and the date, why don't they have any customisation like the size, the font, whether to display seconds, etc, etc.

I use T-Clock on W10 so i can have just the time displayed in a large font so i can see the time when walking past or from across the room (I only need to see the date once, maybe twice, a day), but T-Clock doesn't work on W11 unless you use explorer patcher and EP can break anytime a Windows update is applied (there's ElevenClock but because it's an overlay on-top of W11's clock it can act a bit weird). And then there's the dumb ass way the calender works, when i use the mouse wheel i don't want it to scroll from one week that's displayed to another week that's displayed, i can see all the weeks of the month already, i want it to scroll to another month but no in typical MS's fashion they think being able to configure that would be too complex for people.

And that's just a clock, don't get me started on other asinine things MS have chosen to add, take away, change, etc, etc.

It's almost like something as simple as the clock in W11 could be used as a case study for what's gone so wrong with Windows. With Windows 95 they conducted in-depth research into the usability of the GUI (this is just a small part but it give you an idea of the sort of details they went into), but with W11 it feels like they've throw all that out the window and have just been making changes for the sake of it without considering why something is they way it is. The clock is a perfect example, why do they think people need to know what the date is all the time? Do they really think people can't remember if a day has passed since last time they sat at the computer, do they think people will forget what the date is, that what year it is just slips people minds, that clicking on the clock to bring up a calendar is beyond some people...who knows what they were thinking but it doesn't seem to have been usability.

/r
 
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Windows 11 22631.3668 (KB5037853) update fixed the random checkerboard corruption in Chromium based applications (eg. Chrome, Edge, Discord)" which is coming end of May for non Windows Insiders.

Glad this is finally being fixed... Used to think it was a GPU fault when it first started
 
Been using StartAllBack for eons and recently installed the trial of Start11 and fully configured it to a similar level as what I have StartAllBack to then compare usability and general UX.My review, Screenshot 1 is Start11, #2 is StartAllBack.StartAllBack offers more scope of customisationa nd coherence to the dark system theme. Like you can see there are more subtle elements made dark vs with what Start11 offers. The classic Control Panel for example is fully dark whereas it has the white BG with Start11.

2024.05.21_Start11..png


2023.11.08_StartAllBack.jpg



I also prefer the dynamic island style taskbar BG on StartAllBack vs Start11's floating single bar.

I don't like that Start11's start menu doesn't have a fly-out All Programs listing option like on StartAllBack, but I do prefer the level of customisation you have in Start11's start menu like grouping apps, removing icon labels to make it tidier etc.

I feel that StartAllBack appeals to my old school power user preferences more. I like seeing all the installed apps in one big flyout menu rather than having to either scroll or filter using the more modern options in Start11.

Either way, both offer a superior boost to customisation and usability over the stock Windows 11 start menu and taskbar/presentations, with StartAllBack going one step further and actually giving options to tweak File Explorer and other areas of the OS too.
 
Meh, Windows has enough bloat as it is :p

So have the mods decided your name change is now permanent or that they have not have not had enough amu yet? Lol
 
Been using StartAllBack for eons and recently installed the trial of Start11 and fully configured it to a similar level as what I have StartAllBack to then compare usability and general UX.My review, Screenshot 1 is Start11, #2 is StartAllBack.StartAllBack offers more scope of customisationa nd coherence to the dark system theme. Like you can see there are more subtle elements made dark vs with what Start11 offers. The classic Control Panel for example is fully dark whereas it has the white BG with Start11.

2024.05.21_Start11..png


2023.11.08_StartAllBack.jpg



I also prefer the dynamic island style taskbar BG on StartAllBack vs Start11's floating single bar.

I don't like that Start11's start menu doesn't have a fly-out All Programs listing option like on StartAllBack, but I do prefer the level of customisation you have in Start11's start menu like grouping apps, removing icon labels to make it tidier etc.

I feel that StartAllBack appeals to my old school power user preferences more. I like seeing all the installed apps in one big flyout menu rather than having to either scroll or filter using the more modern options in Start11.

Either way, both offer a superior boost to customisation and usability over the stock Windows 11 start menu and taskbar/presentations, with StartAllBack going one step further and actually giving options to tweak File Explorer and other areas of the OS too.

mrk you should do a vid on this, W11 set up video showing start11 and startAllBlack options and customisations
 
This is a hit to privacy. Having Windows 11 recording everything we do!?


Who is asking for these features?

Wouldn't this effect the performance of the computer having to constantly create snapshots, I think they are video snapshots too.

I don't see why an OS is wanting to do this. It should be a feature in specific programs, not the whole OS.

This is the downside of this episodic Windows release, the programmers feel like they have to keep adding to it instead of letting it be the finished product.

They should at least give us the option to opt out of these features.
 
This is a hit to privacy. Having Windows 11 recording everything we do!?


Who is asking for these features?

Wouldn't this effect the performance of the computer having to constantly create snapshots, I think they are video snapshots too.

I don't see why an OS is wanting to do this. It should be a feature in specific programs, not the whole OS.

This is the downside of this episodic Windows release, the programmers feel like they have to keep adding to it instead of letting it be the finished product.

They should at least give us the option to opt out of these features.

If that feature cannot be disabled I will likely only use Windows for gaming. These guys losing the plot honestly.
 
It's obviously going to be an option you can turn off, even the article states:

Users can pause, stop, or delete captured content and can exclude specific apps or websites. Recall won't take snapshots of InPrivate web browsing sessions in Microsoft Edge or DRM-protected content. However, Recall won't actively hide sensitive information like passwords and financial account numbers that appear on-screen.
Just like how you can disable Copilot and remove it via powershell, well effectively Recall won't work without Copilot, so just continue turning off Copilot and job done.
Also everything is done on-device and encrypted, so unless someone has access to your PC and your sign in account, then the data cannot be viewed outside of that environment.
 
It's obviously going to be an option you can turn off, even the article states:


Just like how you can disable Copilot and remove it via powershell, well effectively Recall won't work without Copilot, so just continue turning off Copilot and job done.
Also everything is done on-device and encrypted, so unless someone has access to your PC and your sign in account, then the data cannot be viewed outside of that environment.

Still annoying the direction they are headed in though dude.

Eventually there will be a whoops moment.
 
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A feature like that absolutely should be by enable only not on by default.

EDIT: Though as things stand you need the required hardware to use it.

While they can't even build a competent start menu though what a joke.
 
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I'm already sick of this AI garbage being thrown in front of everybody. I've practically got zero interest in it, yet they want to put it in our computer's hardware and software.

You have to ask yourself why, because it probably won't be for our own good.

Exactly. In the past a younger me would have loved all this stuff. Now I just don't have any interest in it beyond using it as a tool on the odd occasion when I need it.
 
I'm already sick of this AI garbage being thrown in front of everybody. I've practically got zero interest in it, yet they want to put it in our computer's hardware and software.

You have to ask yourself why, because it probably won't be for our own good.
Spot on. MS says they don't upload anything, but let's just wait for someone to discover some data they've uploaded 'accidentally' that was just sitting on an unsecured server somewhere...
 
Unfortunately, AI isn't just here to participate, it'll be everywhere soon enough.

I do agree though that you should have the option not to install it, rather than having it installed automatically and then having to remove it.
 
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It's obviously going to be an option you can turn off, even the article states:


Just like how you can disable Copilot and remove it via powershell, well effectively Recall won't work without Copilot, so just continue turning off Copilot and job done.
Also everything is done on-device and encrypted, so unless someone has access to your PC and your sign in account, then the data cannot be viewed outside of that environment.
Unless it's a managed system. Sure an employee or child shouldn't really be doing anything nefarious but it's still a bit big brother'esc.

I mean is a teenage child going to bother using private browsing so their parents don't discover that they're pregnant, is a victim of domestic abuse going to bother, is someone using the work computer during their lunch break to look for another job going to bother.
 
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