Pros/cons of Windows 11 OS

[TheB2B]

Switched back to Windows 10 after the latest feature update. I lost the ability to log into my laptop with my domain credentials. I fortunately have a local admin account and was able to gain access to my laptop.

Removed my laptop from my home domain and attempted to rejoin it, failed did not recognize\find my home domain. Plus I noted that this version of 11 was injecting web sites to visit in my browser address bar drop down list. So I dropped back to Windows 10, again fortunately I keep my documents on either a separate hard drive on my laptop or on my file server and I use Office 365 so reinstall is a web site visit. Once back in 10 i was able to join my domain, install Office and run login script to map my network drives.

Yea, I'm not your average user it's what I do for a living.

[permitwriter]

Originally Posted by lemodrop9344

For whatever reason, when they upgrade these products, it seems they always have to change the user interface. What was previously in one place in the OS or the application has now been moved to some other place. It can be very frustrating. If it impacts an individuals productivity in using these products, just imagine the productivity hit this has on a large business entity with thousands of employees.

Software, and to a lesser extent, websites are just a maze. We learn our way through the maze, and we're good to go.

Then they decide to improve it. "we'll make it better, more user friendly, blah, blah, blah". Nope, it's just a new maze. So we have to learn the new way through the maze, and, again, we are good to go.

[Roadyacht1]

I do not like windows at all. Have gone to iOS apple.

[readog]

Originally Posted by W5CI

Just Spend the Extra money and get a Mac and you will Never be sorry

True,

[wildmandmc]

well for being an IT Windows guy since the 90's. Win 11 is just another way for them to sell you something. Back with win 7, "Office" could be bought once and for all. Now it's a yearly price. One thing i noticed is that newer Laptops usally don't come with CD Player an No Hard Wired Connection. Unless u pay more $$. But having the SSD is about the only really good thing.
But also remember while back microsoft said it wasn't going to have anymore windows os, was staying with Win 10. lol

[lemodrop9344]

Originally Posted by TheCatsRV

I think you'll have a hard time finding a new Win 10 computer unless it's old stock or a custom build (with an activation key from ???).



Win 11 is not subscription as far as I know. Office (365) is these days but Office '07 and '10 work just fine.

PCs with Win 10 Pro as an option are not difficult to find at the manufacturers website. May cost a few dollars more & come with the ability to upgrade to Win 11.


Prices at the manufacturer's website, are for the most part, in line with what you will pay at a big box store for current build products. In some cases you can find discounted prices on discontinued models.

For laptops, I am partial to Lenovo's. It doesn't hurt that I get a discount on them.


Win 11 (the Operating System) is not subscription based. Office 365 (applications like EXCEL, WORD, OUTLOO, etc), which will most likely come preloaded as a 30 day trial on either a Win 10 or Win 11 PC, is subscription based. There are other options for Office Products where you can buy a license with a one time charge.

[theoldwizard]

Originally Posted by Dragnflys

I would like Win11 more if I could delete Microsoft Edge.

I don't know about deleting it, but you certainly install a different Web browser as the primary one !

[theoldwizard]

Originally Posted by mark2459

Not so. Cntrl C and Cntrl V still work. Yes I’m very old school, but some things do not change.

I never said they did NOT work. I said the ICONS are missing !

[theoldwizard]

Originally Posted by wildmandmc

well for being an IT Windows guy since the 90's. Win 11 is just another way for them to sell you something.

And frustrate the hell out of you as you keep saying "Where did they put X now ?"

[Steve 716]

I became a fairly early but reluctant Windows 11 user when my Windows 10 laptop died and Windows 11 was all that was available. Typical of Microsoft, Windows 11 was missing functionality when released and left it to the users to complain before they upgraded it. Microsoft has since sent two major updates (an several minor ones) that have fixed many of the initial issues. (Always check your startup program list and changes to your Microsoft account settings after major updates because your settings can change. Same with Chrome).

It took some time to get used to using Windows 11 and time to set it up the way I wanted it. It turns out that Windows 11 is a bit easier to use, things are more logical placed, and it’s faster. It wasn’t at first, but the major updates have corrected most of the problems. Keep in mind that Windows 10 also required many updates to function relatively normally. Now that I am used to using Windows 11, I probably would not go back to Windows 10 if I could. All of my devices work with Windows 11, so there is no problem using your peripherals.

It’s good that you are upgrading your laptops. Vista and Windows 7 are no longer supported and that leaves vulnerability issues that you want to avoid. I was using Office 2003 and recently purchased Home and Student 2019 for a steep discount online (not from Microsoft) as an upgrade, as I use Word, Excel, and some other programs extensively. Microsoft immediately recognized the new software. My brother did the same, so you can upgrade your office software from one of these lower cost non-Microsoft sources if needed. As with any other computer related purchases check the company out before buying.

My new laptop came with an Intel I5 processor. My last laptop had an AMD Ryzen 5 processor. Both of these are equivalent, so you can buy a new laptop with either. A laptop with the AMD installed is usually less expensive than the Intel. I didn’t have any issues with the AMD. My new laptop also included a 512 GB hard drive and 8 GB RAM. I transferred 8 GB from my old laptop to the new one to double its memory. I recommend that you have at least 8 GB and preferably 12 GB installed. More is probably overkill unless you are doing memory intensive tasks like video editing, but it doesn’t hurt to have more if you are more comfortable with it or find a good price. It's easy and inexpensive to add memory later as long as your laptop has available slots for it. Laptops generally include two RAM card slots. After setting my laptop up, I immediately removed the hard drive (HDD) and replaced it with a solid state drive (SSD). I strongly recommend that you do the same. They are easy to install, it’s easy to transfer everything over from your HDD, and once you use a solid state drive you will never go back. I have installed three SSDs with no issues. Laptops are available with an HDD, and SSD, or both. I saved money by buying a laptop with an HDD installed, then moving to the SSD. Some laptops might include a 512 GB HDD and a 256 GB SSD or 1 TB HDD. It seems pointless to me to have both and you have to decide which drive you want to save you data to. You want 500 GB minimum capacity. My SSD is 500 GB and I have filled less than half of it. In all of my years of computing I have never needed more than 500 GH storage, l so I personally think a 1 TB drive is overkill. SSDs and RAM are available in different configurations. You can contact me privately if you want and I will give you the details and my recommendations.

Windows 10 and 11 include Microsoft Defender antivirus and firewall. I am not overly impressed with either. The antivirus is just ok (according to reviews) and one never knows what the firewall will pass and what it will block. For example, I was using Mailbird (which I really liked) for emails. It worked fine for monnths, then the firewall decided to block it. Over three weeks of troubleshooting, reinstalling, and experimentation I could get Mailbird to work for a few days before it was blocked again. Last week, I tried a trial, then purchased McAfee antivirus and firewall software. It works better and has more features. At the same time, I decided to change my email client. It turns out that Microsoft Mail (not Outlook) has a very similar look and feel and it’s free to Windows users. I’m happy with it. I don’t mean to imply that Defender is bad software. For what it does it does a reasonably good job and, until the Mailbird issue happened, I would not have replaced it. Again, if you want to contact me privately I will provide more details.

I have an HP laptop. It does not have a touch screen and I recommend that you purchase laptops with this feature. It does have high speed USB ports, an HDMI port, HP support is pretty good, and it runs cool. Those are features you want. I’m pretty sure heat is what ultimately killed my last laptop, so heat is an important consideration. I have a 17” high resolution screen. I also use a Logitech M705 ergonomic mouse and an Epson tank printer. Other brands and styles are fine. Buy what works for you. Pay attention to reviews, however, before you buy. Several brands, including Dell, have reliability issues.

I hope all of this helps.

[Parafango]

You probably already know this....
You can activate a Win 11 OS install with the product key from Win 10. I have also been successful with a key from Win 7. As far as liking it, it's OK, just more changes because the new crew at MS seem to think their ideas are better than the preceding group. I have no comments about OS stability or it's phoning home with my computer activity.

Originally Posted by TheB2B

Removed my laptop from my home domain and attempted to rejoin it, failed did not recognize\find my home domain.

It's a rare user that has a domain controller on their intranet..

[BonS]

Originally Posted by mark2459

Not so. Cntrl C and Cntrl V still work. Yes I’m very old school, but some things do not change.

And Ctrl X, Ctrl Y and Ctrl Z. All time favorites.

[Parafango]

Originally Posted by BonS

And Ctrl X, Ctrl Y and Ctrl Z. All time favorites.

try this:
Just to prove this works, start notepad.
find some text, use ctrl c
find some other text, use ctrl c
if you like, find some other text, use ctrl c

then go to the notepad window and use "Windows key" and V.
You should see 3 different entries in the clipboard that you can click on, and it will paste to notepad or any other app you have open.
You may need to start "clipboard histories" but you should be able to copy from multiple sources and paste them to a another.
I'm pretty sure this works with pictures too.

try it, you'll like it..