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Windows 11…. Is it time yet?

ZoukGalaxy

Gold Member
You should avoid W11 like the plague or go for it if you like UI downgrade and changes for the sake of changes OR/AND like to be treated like a child with an IQ of 10 and love to be assisted for everything in your life.
Bonus: you may like it if you like also giant empty space for non existing touch user.

UI is a pure hell time waster, productivity is dead.

"What year it is old man, that's only because you incapable of useless changes" in 3, 2, 1...
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Few years to decided what exactly, if he wants to use his PC or throw it away? It's not like there is an alternative that isn't called Mac. There is Linux but that is like asking to cut a limb just to check how difficult is the life of a disabled person.
By the time you get to Oct 14, 2025 and still haven't decided if you want Windows 11, your choice then becomes "do I risk having a potentially insecure operating system, or do I finally upgrade?".

Depending on how old OPs computer is though, it also gives them a few years to potentially replace the hardware, which may provide a better experience for Windows 11.
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
As someone who installed Windows 11 just a few weeks ago for a new PC build, I would give it one more year. They decreased productivity to make the UI "pretty". If you're going to upgrade then at minimum I would suggest using Start11 to bring back the Windows 10-style start menu (but with a Windows 11 feel to it with rounded edges if you'd like), and also to be able to uncombine similar windows in the taskbar. Additionally, use the regedit tweak to get the Windows 10 context menu (right-click menu) back.

There really isn't a pro to "upgrading" to Windows 11 other than to get rid of the upgrade prompt in the Windows 10 update menu, or to get the "prettier" UI. The primary con to "upgrading" to Windows 11 is that common functionality in previous versions of Windows is either completely missing (the ability to uncombine taskbar icons) or has changed and is, potentially, more of a hassle to use (such as the context/right-click menu).

If you're upgrading to say you have upgraded, that's pointless. Only upgrade if you have a legitimate reason (such as it being a requirement to access certain games/applications/wanted features).
 
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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Literally no reason to upgrade or downgrade if your PC already came with Windows 11.
They are the same shit from a performance stand point....youll just ave to work a bit harder to make Win 11 more intuitive to use. (No im not going to install all those silly apps im sure you are going to recommend to make Windows 11 feel more like Window 10)
And no the thread director doesnt have any magic sauce to help in.....anything.

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I've held off on my two main systems. Is all Adobe and MS sw/server/.NET stuff operational with Win11? I'm not upgrading until I know all the core elements of what I use day to day are 100% sweet.
 
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Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
Been on it since day one baby!11!!1 Even pre-ordered it so I could play it early.

Be warned though, it’s always online and that triggers some people.

/s
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
Yes it's time to take the plunge. I used W10 for years and then I jumped on W11 on day one and it's been fantastic as well.
 
For those who run a lot of legacy apps or emulators. How has Windows 11 been in that regard?
Genuinely interested in knowing. I can update any time, but... Something keeps me on the fence. Maybe it's just me?
 
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dcx4610

Member
It's fine. Zero issues and I've played numerous games from start to finish with it.

It's mostly just oddball interface changes to make it feel more like Apple which annoys the piss out of me. I'm so tired of Microsoft trying to be Apple when they should do everything to distance themselves from that and even make fun of them.
 

Paasei

Member
It’s been said over and over that they are basically equal at performance. Especially when it comes to playing games. Just a matter of preference.

Will upgrade once I do a fresh install of Windows.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
I accidentally update my work laptop and have been running 11 for over a month now. I'm not a fan. All the UI changes are to make it more mobile like. You have to dig further for options. The start menu is a big downgrade for sake of trying to look sleek. Basically it's made for the casual user with zero additions for the power user. The system clock doesn't even show seconds anymore when you click it. It's also constantly nagging you to sign in to your MS account and use OneDrive for everything.

If you know how to use Windows you won't have any problems finding the things you know, it's just obviously not made for you. At what point does MS accept that jazzing up the UI isn't going to sell PCs? If they steered into the power user market, I wonder if it would actually make people more excited. Ya know, the people who actually use your software intentionally. If you're a casual Windows user and want a flat new UI and rounded corners on everything, go for it. If you're a Windows power user, avoid it for as long as you can.
I'm an oldschool power user that used to keep full control over my Windows processes, if something sneaked in without my permission I just tossed it out, keeping everything clean and tidy.. I'm also a Linux pro at work (well, used to, I'm no longer working in a developer team). And also a long time former Apple / Mac fanboy. Anyway, the point is I still like the Windows 11 user experience.. With Powertoys it's just smooth sailing now when it's kinda starting to see signs of maturing, and I find myself missing mostly nothing. I'm just glad I'm spending my time better on other stuff than lots of largely useless OS tweaking.

Btw, system clock seconds are coming back in a build around the corner for those who for whatever reason miss it. There's absolutely no nag in my W11 version, but perhaps it's because I realized my compulsive resistance to stuff like onedrive was a waste of time. It's just there in the background now, never see it - just like automatic updates that I've rarely ever seen because it usually just happens in a lower power state (not just w11 of course but pretty neat).
 

nkarafo

Member
I just don't get, what's so different in 11 that warrants a new, standalone OS? What are the features that couldn't be implemented in Windows 10? Because other than some questionable cosmetic changes and functions shuffled around to make it harder to use, i don't see the point.
 

Tams

Member
Has all the rough edges regarding gaming been smoothed out yet? Or is it best to stick with W10?
It's perfectly usable if that's what your getting at.

And they have added in some nice features like the window snapping and tabbed Explorer. The action centre or whatever is better looking than the old one. HDR support is much better. They eventually added folders back to the Start Menu.

But they have added back almost nothing they took out. You still can't change the position of the taskbar. Taskbar toolbars are not coming back. You still need to mess about to get the old right-click menu. Widgets are shit and only now are a few third-party ones appearing.

Search is still utter dogshit. Seriously, I don't know what they did but sometimes it won't even find installed programs/apps and offers a web search instead, and that's with indexing on. Everything by comparison is instant.

And every install I've had has laggy UI. This is only the stuff that they started putting with Windows 10 in the settings. That pile of shit code has now crept into the taskbar, notifications, and explorer. Widgets such because it is just that shit.

If you find yourself back in an old part of the UI (some deep parts haven't changed since XP), it's instantaneous and snappy. The old Control Panel is still there and doesn't take seconds to load.

tl;dr: There are some cool features, but mostly it's a pile of shit because they've tried to make the failed Windows X the main Windows OS.
 
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Emedan

Member
My work computer has 11. The computer itself might just suck, but there's one critical flaw in 11:
The search feature is fucking terrible. It takes absolutely ages to find even the most basic programs. And then, when it finally does, and you click on the program, it takes forever to open.

Meanwhile, all of my Windows 10 computers at home work essentially instantly when doing the same thing.
Otherwise, it's pretty much the same thing as 10 (and 7). The Apple-inspired start menu is a bit ugly, but you get used to it within just a few minutes.
Search on Windows has always been trash and still is, it's honestly a joke compared to Spotlight on macOS sadly. Regarding gaming though my old ass MB doesn't even have a TPM 2.0 module so I can't even upgrade
 

Mr Hyde

Gold Member
Haven't had any issues yet with 11. It was a smooth transition and gaming seems fine too (of the games I've played at least).
 

Silver Wattle

Gold Member
I switched to W11 recently, very minor UI difference but I am finding some things that were previously easy to access are harder to find, it seems like a clear step back in user functionality.
 

GymWolf

Member
Installed w11 recently and i fucking hate it.

Ui is complete garbage and i have to do more steps to do the same fucking thing i did in win10.

The first dude that make an app to transform the ui into win10\7 is gonna win the internet.
 
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dEvAnGeL

Member
I’ve been on W11 for 2 months only and as of now it is the same thing as W10. The only difference that i was having difficulty getting used to was start menu. But I downloaded a program called Start11 to change the start menu look to W10 mode and that was it. No glitches. No bugs. No crashes. It’s been great so far.
 

Mithos

Member
Installed w11 recently and i fucking hate it.

Ui is complete garbage and i have to do more steps to do the same fucking thing i did in win10.

The first dude that make an app to transform the ui into win10\7 is gonna win the internet.

I'm evaluating Win11 (before migrating on my main pc) in a Virtualbox and I've installed a program called StartAllBack it helps a lot.
 
I'm using Windows 11 since you could beta test it. Never had a problem with it so far. It's fine. There are some nit-picks though e.g. the context menu for moving/unpacking files etc. is reduced to just a few options and you actually have to click a button: more options to see the old Windows 10 options. But then again, I don't move files all day every day so it's more of a small annoyance than everything else. Performance is great for me and games run great with my old 3070 card :).
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Installed w11 recently and i fucking hate it.

Ui is complete garbage and i have to do more steps to do the same fucking thing i did in win10.

The first dude that make an app to transform the ui into win10\7 is gonna win the internet.
This is my exact beef with Win11.
Its Win10 with a worse user experience, so I havent seen a reason to move to it.
But people bought into the hype about better gaming performance so ive done quite a few Win11 builds already.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I'm evaluating Win11 (before migrating on my main pc) in a Virtualbox and I've installed a program called StartAllBack it helps a lot.
The fact you have to do that means the OS has already failed.
It brings nothing to the table and forces you to install effectively bloatware to make the UX bearable.
 

GymWolf

Member
This is my exact beef with Win11.
Its Win10 with a worse user experience, so I havent seen a reason to move to it.
But people bought into the hype about better gaming performance so ive done quite a few Win11 builds already.
I installed win11 because i dread the idea of formatting and reinstalling shit in my pc in a couple of years from now when win11 is gonna be better than 10.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I don’t think Windows 11 brings anything to the table that makes the switch worth doing?

Gaming isn’t better, and it’s a different UI to get used to. Meh.
 

Graciaus

Member
I noticed no difference in gaming. They did make some odd choices in the way it looks and functions which I searched how to put it back.
 

Mephisto40

Member
If you aren't using bespoke devices that need particular drivers from the manufacturer, there is no real reason not to upgrade to windows 11 unless your have an intense dislike for the way the new gui looks
 

phant0m

Member
W11 is perfectly fine, been using it since June. Great gaming performance and doesn’t have the weird Start Menu issues that plagued W10.

As always, if you “upgrade” just do a fresh install of W11
 

Meowtor

Gold Member
Running win 11 on one of my desktops and while its functional and i can play games fine, the UI is hot garbage and making system changes via control panels is also way too much added clicks now vs win 10. Def feels like a step back
 

Supple

Banned
Windows 11 is great. No issues here. I can actually apply Windows updates, which I always had trouble with Windows 10 for some reason. HDR actually works correctly for me with my LG CX. It didn't with Windows 10. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I just don't get, what's so different in 11 that warrants a new, standalone OS? What are the features that couldn't be implemented in Windows 10? Because other than some questionable cosmetic changes and functions shuffled around to make it harder to use, i don't see the point.
Every version of Windows is iterative though. Windows 11 actually has a lot of features that aren't present in 10 - like the tabbed file explorer, snap layouts, or remembering your window layout when changing monitor configurations.

Could these features be back-ported by Microsoft to work in Windows 10? Sure. Could USB-HID support have been added to Windows 95? Most likely. Could they have back-ported XP's hyper-threading into Windows 98? Probably.

In most cases, these aren't technical challenges so much as deliberate business decisions. Almost every operating system released by Microsoft since their inception could have been a "service pack" for the previous OS.
 

01011001

Banned
I just don't get, what's so different in 11 that warrants a new, standalone OS? What are the features that couldn't be implemented in Windows 10? Because other than some questionable cosmetic changes and functions shuffled around to make it harder to use, i don't see the point.

it wasn't supposed to be a standalone update, but they most likely decided to make it one simply to be easier to understand for the masses.

their new security features need hardware that wasn't needed for Windows 10. and it's easier to tell a casual user "Windows 11 needs this new TPM 2.0 thing" than it is to explain "Well for Windows 10 version 22h1 1836.19163.2 you can still use your old motherboard, but Windows 10 version 22h1 1900.182736.3 needs a TPM 2.0 module"


Microsoft's plan was to stay at Windows 10 forever, similar to how Apple stuck with OS X for ages.
but that was an unrealistic goal from the getgo due to the open nature of the platform and its unlimited hardware configurations.

it's easy for Apple to tell you that your 2019 Macbook will not support the next macOS version... it's less easy to tell someone that the next Windows 10 version isn't supported on your motherboard when your motherboard is 1 in a list of 200 that were previously supported... and then you have to do the same with CPUs and GPUs
 
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