Win 10 computer with free upgrade to Win 11 - worth it?

[JRD77VET]

Worth doing or stay with Win 10?

[cptlo306]

In my opinion, stay with Windows 10 for now.

[Bruze]

I would stay with 10.

I bought a new Dell laptop from Amazon last November. I bought it specifically because it came with W10.

So I'm monkeying with it and a few things seemed odd. Come to find out, it actually had 11 on it. A vendor in between Dell and Amazon must have installed it for some reason.

There are several things I don't like about 11, but the biggie is that the taskbar is YOOGE and you can't reduce its size like you could with 10. Some apps I run don't recognize this and the bottom part of the app is covered up by the YOOGE taskbar.

Also, the way the icons work on the taskbar is a step or two backwards from 10 -- IMO.

Otherwise there isn't a lot of difference, besides from MS trying to force more crap down your throat.

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by Ill Duce

<Linux user> WTF is Win 10? </Linux user>

[MadInNc]

Overlords say Win 11

[MikeB]

My Win10 has been Win11 capable since 2019.

Still on win10.

[snide]

I doubt that my work laptop would support Win11.

[Wathen1955]

Win11 is just like 10 except for the desktop facelift. I believe 10 is supported until 2025. I would wait until after 2025 so bugs are worked out.

[Louie Detroit]

I run Windows Classic Shell on a couple of W10 computers so the desktops appear familiar to previous versions. Both computers occasionally want to upgrade to W11 but like Wathen1955 said, I'll wait until W10 expires.

I hear W11 has automatically implemented displaying some Fag Flag widget in the desktop tray which is pissing off many users, no thanks.

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by Ill Duce

Besides tying your computer to Bill Gates nutsack this is just one more reason why everyone should switch to FOSS (Free Open Source Software)

Can you please post a list of usable free apps supported by FOSS.

[Olustee bus]

I went with 11 not long ago. Don't like it and the conversion back to 10 is not working right for me yet.

[DJ_Critterus]

I hate that MS made Win11 look and feel like MacOS. What used to take one click of the mouse is now 2-3 clicks, and you have to interpret what the damn icon means instead of reading what you want. Example, copy and paste. Both icons look almost identical. It was easier to read the function, but I guess MS is making the OS for the illiterate dumbasses and those who refuse to learn English while here in the states.

[Frankie the Fink]

My only issue with Win 11 (and any OS upgrade from a commercial vendor) is ensuring my privacy and security settings are re-instituted and often that takes some research because there are subtle, intentional changes.

I also absolutely revile the setup routines that try to force you to operate through a "cloud' Microsoft account for "your convenience". I always use local accounts but you have to read the fine print when setting up to instantiate them.

There was also a Win 11 update a few months back that turned on Bitlocker encryption unasked and if you want to disable it you have to go through a complicated key recovery routine. WTF ?

[Datawiz]

Originally Posted by cptlo306

In my opinion, stay with Windows 10 for now.

Agreed.

My newly rebuilt tower is still Windows 10 Pro. I purchased Win 11, and will create a virtual machine out of it to test it out, but 10 has been so stable for me over the years.

[Wathen1955]

The other issue with 11 is it making it mandatory for the user to create a MS account. With 10 doing a fresh install, it was easy to bypass the MS account BS by clicking on the "I don't have internet". With 11, there is a way to bypass the MS account if doing a fresh install.

At the Wi-Fi connection screen hold SHIFT+F10 and a command box will open.
Type OOBE\BYPASSNRO and press ENTER and system will restart and you will be able to choose to use a limited setup at the connection screen and be able to create a local account now.

[JRD77VET]

Looks like I'll be staying with Win 10 for a while.

Thanks to most of you ( except that one guy )

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by Louie Detroit

Can you please post a list of usable free apps supported by FOSS.

Here are the ones I've been using for years, some going back to 2004:

Firefox browser
Thunderbird email client
Jarte word processor
Sumatra PDF reader
GIMP image creator
VLC media player
Irfanview image viewer
Open Office, free replacement for Microsoft Office (all I ever needed was the spreadsheet though)
Agent Ransack, for searching your hard drive. The last several versions of Windows had a crap search tool. You would do a search, and when finished it would ask you if you wanted to search your hard drive. WTF WERE YOU DOING ANYWAY? That's what the search function is supposed to be for. Agent Ransack searches your HD by default, as it should be.

There might be another one or two, but I can't recall right now. I've never had any problems with any of these FREE programs. Most of them work very well because they are not bogged down by bloat like MS programs.

[Moond0ggie]

SSD drives are so inexpensive now a days, you can start with a fresh drive & save the old one .
May as well buy several, run Win 10 , another to try Win 11, load another with Linux Mint - Ubuntu Cinnamon .

Sure, you can dual boot, but its best to have a dedicated system drive.
May as well get a 1T drive for back ups .....
https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Soli...ode=1292116011

[Wathen1955]

You can create a custom install of 10 or 11 by removing a lot of the programs like Cortana and telemetry.

YouTube (Short URL)

I have a spare Dell E6540 with a i7 Pro CPU and 16 gigs of ram. This laptop from Dell does not meet the Windows 11 requirements for CPU and TPM, only UEFI and secure boot are available on this laptop.

I decided to give this a try since I'm retired and wanted something to do. I probably accepted about 95% of the changes in the video that he modified. After making the ISO and using Rufus to burn the ISO, I noticed installation took only 10 minutes or less from start to finish (I should have timed it). The nice part is I did not have to deal with the MS account BS, 1 Drive, Meet Now, Skype, TPM, and the other items like Cortana which were all removed, including all the telemetry. Got all the latest updates installed with no issues or any other warnings. It accepted my digital license from Win10 Pro that the laptop already had. Once item I forgot to remove were all the widgets.

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by Bruze

Here are the ones I've been using for years, some going back to 2004:

Firefox browser
Thunderbird email client
Jarte word processor
Sumatra PDF reader
GIMP image creator
VLC media player
Irfanview image viewer
Open Office, free replacement for Microsoft Office (all I ever needed was the spreadsheet though)
Agent Ransack, for searching your hard drive. The last several versions of Windows had a crap search tool. You would do a search, and when finished it would ask you if you wanted to search your hard drive. WTF WERE YOU DOING ANYWAY? That's what the search function is supposed to be for. Agent Ransack searches your HD by default, as it should be.

There might be another one or two, but I can't recall right now. I've never had any problems with any of these FREE programs. Most of them work very well because they are not bogged down by bloat like MS programs.

One more FREE open source program that I use regularly is "Audacity," a digital audio recorder/editor. You can record directly from your browser, from a digital mike, whatever. Record live radio and play it back at your leisure, etc.