I skipped most upgraded and new OSs because they suck. I still have my Win7 and I have a Win10 sitting on the floor unused in case I need it. Win11 is just looking bad. I have tested a bit and seen stuff on it.

>Office 365 is not workable anymore for me anyway, as for various volunteer projects that can not pay for my subscription i would need just a small part of the home and a small part of the business version.

You're probably already aware of this but LibreOffice (formerly OpenOffice) is a good alternative if your school/work isn't providing Office365.

>That aside, like Win10 when it came out, 11 works as a rough product that has been released before finishing touches could be made.

I'll probably wait until a game that I want to play requires Win 11 to play it.

>Just yesterday we had a new "privacy statement" update in Edge. What "privacy"? Information theft update for cookies we can't decline.

Well...you would have to use Edge in the first place for it to matter. :P

Libre is good, yet OnlyOffice gives me better compattibility between mostly GoogleDocs, MS Office and Open/Libre Office files, now i can't use Office 2010 anymore.

As for the use of Edge: yeah well, next to 3 versions of Edge and 3 versions of Chrome i still have 5 other browsers to keep accounts appart and still have all needed bookmarks ready whilst being separated from leisure time bookmarks. Besides having one reserved for phishers at Steam.
Mighty glad i already was accustomed to doing so on my previous computer. That with in 2021 hacked websites of several projects, where-of one dumped on my layman shoulders after i discovered the hack so the professional web-builders from that project could concentrate on building a new site from scratch.
In fact, i'm used to multiple browsers (not this many though) since Windows 7, because of severe malware infestation at 2 other projects/institutes where i worked + 2 where i was a regular visitor.
Needless to say, synchronisation defeats the purpose of multiple browsers.

Oh, one much talked about feature i forgot: You know, the browser of choice all the Youtube bloggers have one or more rants about? That also goes for other filetypes like documents and images. The advanced users already know this from the mediaplayer codexes. You either needed to add codexes to your fav mediaplayer(s) or have multiple of them installed to be able to play all common and uncommon mediafile types. For the advanced users this is a reasonably fine solution, to have those options in the OS. It does make installing mediaplayers and office suites more easy-going. But for the common users (& the majority of Ppl are) i agree with what they say about prefered browsers: realy annoying and confusing.

I upgraded to Windows 11 early. I haven't come across any major issues I didnt face in Windows 10. A few new menus and UI elements seem useless, and as with Windows 10, I end up in the old Windows 7 style menus and CMD eventually. The "start" menu makes little sense in how little it can be customised, but I hotkey/search for everything anyway.

Bumbefly, did you try using Edge profiles? I use them in my new job which has systems that expect Edge only and I have to juggle accounts.

Did they change the Start Menu again?

I just got a new computer with Windows 11. It reminded me of why I went to Linux ages ago. Someone recommended it already, but I use LibreOffice. It's just like Office (and it's free). Good luck.

Originally posted by budozero:

I upgraded to Windows 11 early. I haven't come across any major issues I didnt face in Windows 10. A few new menus and UI elements seem useless, and as with Windows 10, I end up in the old Windows 7 style menus and CMD eventually. The "start" menu makes little sense in how little it can be customised, but I hotkey/search for everything anyway.

Bumbefly, did you try using Edge profiles? I use them in my new job which has systems that expect Edge only and I have to juggle accounts.

I welcome profiles in my game mod manager and some other stuff, but i did not yet try them in Edge. For me it's not just about keeping actual email messages seperate, it's also about preventing cross-contamination through the browser, as i tend to corrupted email and websites occasionally. And yeah, there're also browser specific advantages, f.e. MS for MS, Google for Google with exception of Youtube & gaming, that's for OperaGX. & Some browsers free of any account, amongst which a browser to open links from not yet trusted parties and another account-free-browser to research phishing links and a rare malware link i would find at Steam (not to mention another browser for the X-rated sites).

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Did they change the Start Menu again?

Major change. MS pre-installed a lot of apps which they think the general public might be served with. Considdering: if most everybody can find a few apps they actually use, then everybody will also have apps in their recommended ("readibly available") start menu they don't use. In other words, there's more bloatware and this bloatware is more clearly accessible. For Ppl who use Xbox and Facebook and Twitter and Tiktok and {you name it} this is convenient, but for Ppl who don't it takes extra work to customize and/or an extra mouse-click to see all installed apps. The space the recommended apps take up from the start menu can not be recovered in favour of another type of start menu items.

The only time I use Edge is to compare or verify the functionality of a website. I typically don't upgrade to a new OS unless a game/program I want to use absolutely requires it. Windows has a track history of OS updates that go from good to bad to good to bad...and so on.

Originally posted by Bumbefly Sony Test םו:

Originally posted by budozero:

I upgraded to Windows 11 early. I haven't come across any major issues I didnt face in Windows 10. A few new menus and UI elements seem useless, and as with Windows 10, I end up in the old Windows 7 style menus and CMD eventually. The "start" menu makes little sense in how little it can be customised, but I hotkey/search for everything anyway.

Bumbefly, did you try using Edge profiles? I use them in my new job which has systems that expect Edge only and I have to juggle accounts.

I welcome profiles in my game mod manager and some other stuff, but i did not yet try them in Edge. For me it's not just about keeping actual email messages seperate, it's also about preventing cross-contamination through the browser, as i tend to corrupted email and websites occasionally. And yeah, there're also browser specific advantages, f.e. MS for MS, Google for Google with exception of Youtube & gaming, that's for OperaGX. & Some browsers free of any account, amongst which a browser to open links from not yet trusted parties and another account-free-browser to research phishing links and a rare malware link i would find at Steam (not to mention another browser for the X-rated sites).

I find having a bunch of different browsers, separately installed, seems to be generally useful, for keeping different things separate. Portable installs are also very useful.

Originally posted by Bumbefly Sony Test םו:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Did they change the Start Menu again?

Major change. MS pre-installed a lot of apps which they think the general public might be served with. Considdering: if most everybody can find a few apps they actually use, then everybody will also have apps in their recommended ("readibly available") start menu they don't use. In other words, there's more bloatware and this bloatware is more clearly accessible. For Ppl who use Xbox and Facebook and Twitter and Tiktok and {you name it} this is convenient, but for Ppl who don't it takes extra work to customize and/or an extra mouse-click to see all installed apps. The space the recommended apps take up from the start menu can not be recovered in favour of another type of start menu items.

I know Win10 comes with a bunch of probably-pointless preinstalled stuff (e.g. Your Phone (on a PC), XBox-related stuff, Microsoft Office trial versions), and also spaces that are meant to download advertisements on first contact with the internet, but most of those can be semi-easily (even if tediously) removed (there are some that require PowerShell to remove).

Also, it's just a good idea to start up Windows 10 without an internet connection for a variety of reasons, these being some of them.

Is Windows 11 even worse than this?

11 is much worse then 10 was for me, yes. Indeed, as with 10, installing offline gives some bonus perks....

No DL of ??? before we get to use the installation disk ourselves (see start of the video below: "Good things are comming your way")

Command to bypass online registration of a MS account and in stead install a local admin account that there-after gives choice to create accounts with limited rights, local user and/or MS user.
i found 2 such commands at Youtube. First didn't completely work for me. 2nd did, from this video below 9 minutes in.

Warning, as MS has disabled such work-arounds and commands in the past, and no-one else commented after my comment in March that it still workes, there's no guarantee it still works.

I debloated the admin account with the script given with this video. Debloating script includes things like Windows asking me for a MS account every 3 days, and prevents automatic re-appearance of bloatware that's uninstalled manually It also ads a few customizatrions, from TweakUI (my, that's long ago sinc i used TweakUI).
I didn't debloat the user accounts.

Warning, Research everything in the menu provided by the Github script where your knowledge might be lacking as you can delete things you wouldn't want to delete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ReoMuCUdKE&list=PLOLPNHHnxXeEz8SkjkaykpxXykHt7oW90

Wow, it asks you to make a Microsoft account every 3 days? That's just messed up.

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Wow, it asks you to make a Microsoft account every 3 days? That's just messed up.

Yes, they "promised" to do so when i clicked away the message the first few times. But they stopped asking, even though it still says so in the message. Had one this morning but it was a long time ago since the previous one.

Have to say, it's not completely the same message now. In the meanwhile my motherboard and adaptor short-fused. First time in a many decades career the shop-technician had that happening on a custom rig build by him. I had to re-activate the Windows licence via phone-service and somewhere there-after an acc. i use in one of the Edge versions got "accepted" as the main email account used for the local computer account. So this morning i got a message to further complete the set-up.



Starting to think this is a lost cause anyway. When i look at all the new cookie policies from all kind of websites, they try to gather all of that info too. They know more about me then my psychiatrist knows! It's as if European Privacy Law didn't provide any privacy, all of it merely has better descriptions for even more invasive cookies.
{Now where did i hear that kind of "effectiveness" from new Laws before........?}

Finally getting rid of pesky start menu, search & other iritations of Windows 11
one feature
make me even wanna advertise myself: the new Stardock release (games & software on Steam - their previous Windows enhancing software doesn't work in 11)


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1811010/Start11/

[Edit] Note, i do hope it can be used WITHOUT Steam. Otherwise it'll be like Wallpaper Engine, everybody broadcasting their entire desktop.
I found no posts about broadcasting our desktops when Steam is running. This can be a problem as Ppl might broadcast their game and their desktop at the same time, having 2 broadcasts going (happens a lot with Wallpaper Engine, mostly by Chinese users). [endEdit]

[Edit] Somehow store link doesn't work for Start 11. Added no-parse.
And yes, this does work without Steam opened.

Whole World is keeping their breath for the Microsoft Updates tomorrow (always 2nd tuesday o.t. month). Those of you who keep up with their IT info know what's it about: Recall.
I've had the corresponding European preview, no Recall for me. For the most part, the monthly preview update installes 1 week in advance like it always has become available 1 week in advance, giving corporate administrators a chance to work on it before implementation to their company. This time however, it installed the 30st of May, a very rare exception.
First Youtubers i consulted, didn't know if Recall would be in the monthly update or in 24H2, nor if these would be one and the same. It will be tomorrow, in all likelyhood. But who knows, Microsoft might've listened to the protests to some degree.

With Recall, Microsoft will take the lead in being spyware, ahead of Google and apple.
Different vloggers might have different versions of the preview update. Some speak of Windows taking snapshots every 2 seconds, others speak of 3 or 5 seconds, one spoke of every 30 seconds. Yet i've seen it RT from several vloggers. It's not about the time interval it's more about what we're doing and how important such is for the system..... or for our privacy. When working at admin level in Cmnd prompt, more screenshots will be taken then when browsing a website without logging in. When logging in however, screenshot & description are taken and yes, screenshots DO INCLUDE USERNAME, EMAIL, PASSWORD, BANK ACCOUNT, CREDIT SALDO, BILLING ADDRESS, SHIPPING ADDRESS, FAMILY FOTO'S, RECEPIES FOR FOOD OR MEDICATION, (porn), or what-ever important info we're handling at such times. No "Safe Browsing" or VPN-extention or what-ever can mask this.

Microsoft claims the info is purely for our convenience to quickly recall in detail what we were doing up to 3 month in the past. And this info being stored safely and localy and that no telemetrics are send over to microsoft nor to their partners. No other users of a given device can get access to the info, or so MS says. However, multiple vloggers show how awfully easy it is to get to this data. Be it from another account on the same device, be it with remote access, be it with a scripted hack of the device. Recall is the most comprehensive database any hacker & social engineer can dream of.

In 24H2 Recall will be paired with an AI on a limited amount of brand computers. Basicly, if you have a customized computer, you won't get that AI, for now......

So that's it. Microsoft now drives any abled body to Linux
(& i'm not able to. Please correct me if i got some of the details wrong, i get my info from Youtube).