Comment by bluecalm
2 years ago
If Windows 8 broke you Windows 11 is going to to make you wish you stayed broken. They got rid of a lot of nice things in the UI like ability to move the toolbar (what Microsoft calls taskbar) to the right (hiding it completely would be nice but of course you can't have that without unreliable 3rd party scripts), shoved MS account through users' throat, introduced "lock screen" mess which you can't disable while breaking on battery behavior. In my case it made my laptop completely unusable on battery as I either need to type my password 30 times an hour and/or deal with screen going dark because of "inactivity". No matter how many settings I disabled the behavior is still there. It's widely reported on the Internet but pleas to Microsoft to just let us use our computer in peace by disabling lock screen and screen dimming are unanswered.
So now Windows forces you to use Microsoft account, shoves ads and crapware into your face (even in "pro" version), makes significant part of your vertical screen real estate unusable because of popping up toolbar like in good old days of internet browsers, makes using laptops on battery a mess. They removed a lot more options to tweak the UI. It's just full on assault on usability. It really does seem like they want to get rid of power users so they can continue shoving more ads and dark patterns on remaining ones. Like those Nigerian Prince scammers who make glaring grammar errors in their emails so people with any kind of critical thinking skills won't bother them responding.
If you wonder why I upgraded - I really didn't want to but at some point they must've sneaked a dialog somewhere where I had a habit of clicking through and to my surprise it was Windows 11 from now on. I resisted for a long time but they have won.
Not trying to negate your experience as all that's pretty awful, but I purchased my Windows 11 legally of course, and then immediately used modified/pirated install media to install it:
- Without a Microsoft account
- With telemetry disabled (as much as is possible anyway)
I haven't seen any ads in the OS... maybe a OneDrive one? I have no idea what you're talking about with a toolbar though, the only thing of size that pops up on mine is the start menu. Unless that's the new search thing I disabled.
I dunno. On balance, I LOVED Windows 7, Windows 8 was a mess, Windows 10 was... more or less just 7 with an uglier and more confusing interface, and if anything, 11 is a step back towards 7 in my mind, both in aesthetics and usability. Though I was also never one for the side taskbar, so if that's your bag, I can absolutely see you not enjoying it being gone. Other positives:
- They're finally reunifying settings into a single interface, hopefully they finish this time before starting a new one
- New display configuration options are much more sanely organized
- I've had just, WAY fewer issues with drivers in general
Some negs:
- Audio settings are now in five places, any of which can and can not apply to whatever you're doing, seemingly on the fly
- They replaced the context menu with a different context menu that's only slightly different and instead of just carrying over old options with some sensible defaults, hid them in a sub-context context menu which just... ugh
MacOS is still bae though. And that's probably why I like 11 okay is because it feels distinctly like Microsoft chasing Apple with regard to OS design. But as someone who would definitely consider myself a power user, I have no issues using 11. It's an improvement on 10, IMO, which was a distinct downgrade from 7 but itself was a massive upgrade from the train-wreck that was 8, so overall the trajectory is acceptable.
Good thing you reminded me of context menus when right clicking on files. Now everything that was easy with one click requires two and you get some useless options instead. I forgot about it because I was able to find a hack to bring the old menu back. Hopefully it survives at least a few updates.
>> the only thing of size that pops up on mine is the start menu. Unless that's the new search thing I disabled.
They call it "taskbar" and I guess that's what you mean by "start menu". I use the word toolbar because it's equally useless for anyone who has a keyboard. Anyway, the obvious behavior of "hide it and keep it hidden unless I press Windows key" is of course not an option. It just needs to be there all the time to randomly mess up whatever you are doing when clicking around bottom of the screen.
>>I haven't seen any ads in the OS... maybe a OneDrive one?
There are at least a few places in the system settings where instead of showing you options there is "One Drive", "Try Office" or Windows Store or Edge on most of the screen.
> Now everything that was easy with one click requires two
Technically it's a click and a mouse movement, but if anything that's more annoying than two clicks, haha.
> They call it "taskbar" and I guess that's what you mean by "start menu".
I genuinely haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. I'll have to look next time I'm using my PC.
> There are at least a few places in the system settings where instead of showing you options there is "One Drive", "Try Office" or Windows Store or Edge on most of the screen.
That might be because I'm signed in on OneDrive and with my Office subscription then. That's shitty though.