Question Aha! PCMag publishes 10 reasons to not "upgrade" from Win10 to Win11

[Muse]

I have resisted the entreaties from Microsoft to install Windows 11 that occur every time I reboot one of my Windows 10 laptops. Absent a compelling reason (I know of no reasons at all at this point), I figure why bother? It's not like I don't have other things to do that are compelling. Many of the reasons PCMag explains look like compelling reasons to NOT "upgrade." Honestly, I don't know if my Win10 machines' hardware fully support Win11, but one definitely does not, the one that's running 32bit Win10 (it runs a couple apps that are 32bit only that I require).

10 Big Reasons Not to Upgrade to Windows 11

If you don't want to buy a new computer or give up an efficient interface that you love, then don't upgrade to Windows 11. Windows 10 does everything just as well, and in some cases even better.

www.pcmag.com

 

[OlyAR15]

Yeah, that's just clickbait. PCMag has long passed into a useless site.

 

[biostud]

Just like with win8 I've installed a taskbar/start menu 3rd party software that makes it usable again.

Also always install Power Toys.

Otherwise it is fine.

 

[mikeymikec]

IMO the main (possibly only) reason to install Win11 is that Win10 is only supported with updates until October 2025 (if MS goes on past form then Win11 should be supported until 2031).

I don't think much of PCMag's list. IMO the biggest indictment of Win11 is that it's a waste of time and space; they said that Win10 was going to be the last version of Windows supported forever (which I think is a nice sentiment but when was there ever a good time to say in tech "ok, things aren't going to change much from now on"), then they broke that promise; one might think that a good reason to break that promise would be because they needed to make significant alterations in response to innovation, but instead they re-arranged a few deckchairs, threw a TPM requirement in there as well as absurd CPU requirements, and thought it was good. PCMag's list touches on many of those deckchair re-arrangements; I'm no fan of Win10 (for example, the network system tray UI having a one-click button that disables wifi and another button next to it that toggles flight mode constitutes very strange thinking, ie. who wants to neuter their laptop in a single click? Why have two buttons next to each other that do almost the same thing?), but the taskbar design in Win11 is actually regressive in many ways. Coming back to that wifi UI briefly, the fact that in Win11 when you bring up that UI, the wifi symbol actually disables wifi then the little right-arrow next to it gives the options that 99% of users will need. That is like swapping the 'save' button in Word for 'save as' then make 'save' a drop-down option next to the save as option!

Just like with win8 I've installed a taskbar/start menu 3rd party software that makes it usable again.

Also always install Power Toys.

Otherwise it is fine.

Please could you list the software you're using? I'm in two minds about whether I should produce a registry file of UI tweaks for customers who are interested or whether third party software would be the better choice.

 

[mxnerd]

I can always replace Windows Start with Open Shell Menu,

but Win11 task bar and right click context menu is absolutely annoying,

so I stay with Win10.

 

[biostud]

IMO the main (possibly only) reason to install Win11 is that Win10 is only supported with updates until October 2025 (if MS goes on past form then Win11 should be supported until 2031).

I don't think much of PCMag's list. IMO the biggest indictment of Win11 is that it's a waste of time and space; they said that Win10 was going to be the last version of Windows supported forever (which I think is a nice sentiment but when was there ever a good time to say in tech "ok, things aren't going to change much from now on"), then they broke that promise; one might think that a good reason to break that promise would be because they needed to make significant alterations in response to innovation, but instead they re-arranged a few deckchairs, threw a TPM requirement in there as well as absurd CPU requirements, and thought it was good. PCMag's list touches on many of those deckchair re-arrangements; I'm no fan of Win10 (for example, the network system tray UI having a one-click button that disables wifi and another button next to it that toggles flight mode constitutes very strange thinking, ie. who wants to neuter their laptop in a single click? Why have two buttons next to each other that do almost the same thing?), but the taskbar design in Win11 is actually regressive in many ways. Coming back to that wifi UI briefly, the fact that in Win11 when you bring up that UI, the wifi symbol actually disables wifi then the little right-arrow next to it gives the options that 99% of users will need. That is like swapping the 'save' button in Word for 'save as' then make 'save' a drop-down option next to the save as option!



Please could you list the software you're using? I'm in two minds about whether I should produce a registry file of UI tweaks for customers who are interested or whether third party software would be the better choice.

I use https://www.startallback.com/
But there is also https://www.stardock.com/products/start11/

 

[fralexandr]

Yeah, that's just clickbait. PCMag has long passed into a useless site.

When I'm shopping for a router, I find their wireless router reviews pretty helpful.
Only a handful of websites actually do proper reviews on them.

-----
As for Windows 10/11, not really a fan, but it seems to recover from driver or platform issues much better than Windows 7/8. My old i7 860 computer would randomly blue screen and shut down on 7 once every blue moon, but in Windows 10 it ran fine. I could never figure out what was causing it. The only thing I didn't replace/upgrade over its lifetime was the CPU, the Antec 300 Illusion case, and the Corsair VX450W.

It's annoying now that there's the older control panel UI and the newer control panel UI. For example Windows now has 2 sound settings with different settings. Its a chore to find the setting I need because it's only found on the older one, and Windows only makes it easy to find the new one.

My favorite Windows were XP, 2003, and 7.

 

[biostud]

Yes, the smartphonication of Windows is an abysmal horror. I know why they are going in that direction, but it makes Windows a worse OS.

 

[Muse]

Yes, the smartphonication of Windows is an abysmal horror. I know why they are going in that direction, but it makes Windows a worse OS.

I still have my Alcatel 4S Windows 10 phone (right beside me). I really liked its OS. Intuitive. The screen is the best of any phone I've used, beats my Galaxy S9 by a mile. I had to stop using it, of course, when nobody would write apps for it! Argh. Went Android, and it's been a few years but I still don't know my way around Android worth a crap. Windows 10 for phone was easy peasy.

 

[Muse]

My favorite Windows were XP, 2003, and 7.

Uh, what is Windows 2003? You mean maybe Windows 2000?

Edit: Oh, Windows Server 2003. That's not exactly Windows. It's not on the PC.

Microsoft Windows version history - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[A///]

You can install Windows Server on a desktop.

@biostud Power toys is still maintained? I thought maintenance was dropped.

 

[biostud]

You can install Windows Server on a desktop.

@biostud Power toys is still maintained? I thought maintenance was dropped.

It is very much being updated. I use fancy zones, power rename and batch photo resize often.

 

[A///]

It is very much being updated. I use fancy zones, power rename and batch photo resize often.

What's power rename like compared to advanced rename?

 

[biostud]

What's power rename like compared to advanced rename?

I haven't tried advanced rename, so I couldn't say.

Microsoft PowerToys

Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for customizing Windows. Utilities include ColorPicker, FancyZones, File Explorer Add-ons, Image Resizer, Keyboard Manager, PowerRename, PowerToys Run, a Shortcut Guide and more to come.

learn.microsoft.com

 

[WelshBloke]

I don't know if it's a Windows11 thing or just a Microsoft thing but restarting my computer and Teams loading (slowly) up and dumping a splash screen on my desktop and me going "but I uninstalled Teams last week!" is getting pretty old.

 

[mikeymikec]

I don't know if it's a Windows11 thing or just a Microsoft thing but restarting my computer and Teams loading (slowly) up and dumping a splash screen on my desktop and me going "but I uninstalled Teams last week!" is getting pretty old.

Teams is integrated into Win11, so I suspect it got 'updated' on your computer. Did you already have 22H2 installed?

 

[WelshBloke]

Teams is integrated into Win11, so I suspect it got 'updated' on your computer. Did you already have 22H2 installed?

That's on my gaming PC so it's as up to date with updates as possible.
I'm not sure about teams being integrated as it uninstalls fine. It just randomly installs. (On this last uninstall there was also an entry for some other Teams updater or something that's a separate app so I've nuked that as well, hopefully that's the end of it)

Windows11 appears to be trying to be all things to all people. You get the productivity stuff like teams and OneDrive but you also get the Xbox app and game bar. And candy crush!🙄
They are bound to end up annoying someone doing that! Just make windows a bit more modular and stop crowbarring everything into it!

 

[biostud]

What's power rename like compared to advanced rename?

powertoys

PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity.

www.techspot.com

A new update