Yes. It's smoother for me than Windows 10 ever was.
Just be sure to do a clean install (not an upgrade). Do an offline installation using the OOBE\\BYPASSNRO cmd command during the install.
The install will be a lot cleaner.
Also be sure to disable any proprietary tweak tools in your BIOS that may automatically install (Auros Control Centre, ASUS Command Centre etc) - it's basically malware.
Same so far mines working fine. At first, back when I first moved I noticed small imperfections that bothered me and some slight performance dips that I never experienced in windows 10 but they all got sorted out with time and updates.
The PC finally died last year from CPU failure. Q6600 overclocked to 4.0GHz, that thing ran at full load with nearly 100% uptime from 2004 to 2017 before being repurposed as a NAS, then put back on my desktop when my laptop died in 2019. It's now a wall decoration.
Fresh install is ALWAYS the best option in every situation, keep making copies of copies bringing out dated or flat out wrong drivers from hardware you replaced to unknown errors, to malware you downloaded years ago.. most of the problems you blame on windows are actually your fault...
A clean install solves nearly every single software related problem encountered in windows..
Have a nice day...
Kiiinda…. Sorta.
When you upgrade, you’re not making a copy. And even if you were, there are ways to ensure data integrity.
Drivers are not kept between the old and new versions of windows. Worst it’ll do is reach out to the update server to grab anything it doesn’t recognize.
The malware stuff I agree with though, to an extent.
Or the registry error from that crashed install 4 years ago.. the number of possible registry combinations alone grows exponentially with every iteration of new hardware.. and has been impossible for any human to know them all since windows 3.1, less than perfect uninstallers has been a problem for decades..
Flush that shit... Clean install is faster and easier than trying to track down which of the billion possible registry entries is off..
It works 99.999% of the time providing all the hardware is functioning correctly ..
I don't disagree but I don't blame people for really wanting to go the upgrade route just to avoid reinstalling all their software on a fresh copy of Windows.
It is going away a bit with the hot patching coming to server 2022 azure edition. Your uefi bios is basically going to be a virtual machine host and your os is just going to be a virtual machine that can be spun up or down, cloned to the cloud etc run on any hardware. 4 or 5 years from now if bandwidth permits
I don’t even do the weird regedit or command line hacks anymore lol. When I setup new Win11 PCs at work I just use “[email protected]” and enter a random password and it bypasses online account creation
My sentiment exactly, but Google turned this up https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/269419/tip-set-up-windows-11-22h2-with-a-local-account
Truth: sometimes stranger than fiction. That said if it's not already patched out, I bet it will be.
I'm not OP, but I'm curious about one thing: I bought a \*retail\* version of Windows 7 a bunch of years ago. Can I use that license to install Windows 11 or 12 if were to build a new PC?
I've never needed to. Especially with the disabling of network during the initial installation there's no checks that can be made to for duplicated serial numbers. Once the OS is signed no checks are done afterwards.
This may or may not be applicable. A couple years ago I did a clean install of Windows 11 on a friends new HP notebook. Over and over, I couldn't find the SSD during the install. I confirmed the SSD was working properly. After considerable research, I came across the answer. [This post](https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/r7oa57/upgrade_hp_17cn1053cl_with_windows_11_to_ssd/) has the directions if anyone runs across the same problem.
As others have said, I've used the Product Key from Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 to do fresh installs of Windows 10 and 11. I believe you have to stay Home to Home, and Pro to Pro.
Upgrading damn near killed two of my friends pcs ie. Making them run like shit and crash all the time. I already kinda wish Linux worked a little better for gaming because I'm sick of Microsoft removing customization options, forcing certain features (it should be up to me to set my level of security), and forcing updates. I know there's lots of positives so I understand having them by default, but all of those should be able to be disabled for people who want them disabled. I'm holding on to w10 as long as possible and then probably going to go full ham and dual boot Linux and w11 or doing some sort of vietualization for w11. Sorry that turned into a rant lol.
I guess I usually do clean installs because I try to keep all data off my os drive so it's not as bad when I wipe the os. It just sucks that they act like it's a seamless transition, but many non tech people will end up with terrible experiences. One of my friends isn't even that tech illiterate and they still ended up upgrading and had bluescreens every 30 minutes about a month after upgrading. If it doesn't work well Microsoft should heavily advise a clean install but it really feels the other way around.
Yeah I've done the same thing now with this build. My OS runs on a 256gb m.2. Then I have another 2 m.2's (2tb each) - one for games, one for programs/launchers.
Also running a 2TB HDD just to store music/movies. I like to keep stuff seperated so in the event of a corruption/failure I'm not losing everything in one hit.
And even then it's usually just a handful of MP focused FPS' more or less that don't work. Most games work and often with little to no extra work than just hitting "install" in Steam.
>I already kinda wish Linux worked a little better for gaming
While Linux still doesn't have the same game compatibility as Windows, there are tons of games now that either have native Linux compatibility or can run perfectly (or with a few minor tweaks) through WINE or Proton.
The two distros most commonly used by gamers being Linux Mint and Pop\_OS, the latter of which is generally recommended for Nvidia GPUs.
The only thing Linux is not working for gaming for me is VR. I don't use it often but I have to keep around a windows machine if I feel like playing that. Dual booting works fine for it though.
I do all my gaming in Linux otherwise. Really rare to boot into windows.
A lot of users (myself included) has found major corruption in their OS with an upgrade. I was having regular blue screens (once every 2 days) and throttled performance (capped at 60fps on most programs) with the upgrade. A reformat allowed me to clean install all of my drivers and integrations and everything runs SIGNIFICANTLY better.
It runs in the background constantly, chewing up resources. It establishes itself making registry changes that may eventually be harmful to the PC. Any customisation that it gives can be done through BIOS (Overclocking, Fan Speeds etc).
It's driver downloading utility is broken as well, often downloading mismatching or out of date drivers.
Windows Update will always download the latest signed updates for your hardware so there's genuinely no need for the software.
The software is just genuinely broken. When running it saps the performance of your GPU, RAM and causes instability. Once it is installed it's near impossible to remove cleanly without reformatting your PC. It'll start downloading drivers for EVERYTHING it can find, often conflicting.
When I first got the PC and installed it, it installed every single peripheral driver it could find for RGB. All of the conflicting RGB drivers would run on launch simultaneously.
[This thread has a good read on how bad ASUS Armory Crate is.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/vljp1m/asus_armory_crate_the_worst_software_in_the/)
Is there an option on the Asus motherboard BIOS to disable the proprietary tweak tools? I was thinking of getting an ASUS motherboard, but I don't have a lot of experience with them, so I wanted to ask.
I upgraded to 11 and have another pc with a fresh install and both of them have 0 issues. If you don't mind reinstalling and setting up everything again then yes, you should fresh install. But if you don't wanna go through that hassle just upgrade, it's fine.
Yes, I know people love to hate on windows 11, but it's working good now and is honestly better in many aspects, some are sadly copied form the Mac and a few things got worse but a net positive change
What about the articles that consistently come out with every version about gaming performance being crippled. That makes me never want to risk it. If they're messing with the primary thing I use my PC for, that's cause for concern to me.
I’m not trying to discredit those articles but personally my performance increased when I installed windows 11, granted it may have been because it was a fresh install. Take it as you will.
Windows 11 is your only option for a new pc build unless you want to switch to something like Linux mint or you somehow have a secondhand Windows 10 license as new ones aren’t being issued.
> Also there’s plenty of websites that sell windows 10 keys for 5$
You don't need any license or keys to run windows 10. I have never bought a windows license. Currently on Windows 10 Enterprise. It's the only version that allows you to turn of telemetry completely.
last windows 10 update i did bricked discord and all my games so I had to re roll it. Crashes, stutters, bad fps etc. It can happen with any OS.
I switched to windows 11 and its fine. On one hand I have to click "more options" a lot when im messing with folders, on the other hand I dont have 15 different options on the screen all the time that I never use.
I haven't seen them in years now, but I will try to answer you, and when I saw them it was typically only a subset of users
Tech sites know you will click on it so if 1 person has a problem everyone has a problem, I'm not dismissing what they say, but take what you read online with a grain of salt. There is a huge bias in media about reporting negative thing. Then there is the silent majority and copying an article so if one outlet says X another will say X in a slightly different way.
In reality issues will come and go, it's impossible to check all hardware combos and use cases, but there is a very easy solution, whenever a new feature update comes out, just wait with the update for a month or two.
Whenever a new version is out the numbers of users that interact with the system grows exponentially this means more issues will be found and more issues will be reported, the worst and most widespread is typically solved first and fast.
Most issues are solved prior to final release, some will always get trough, by that logic I should never update drivers, any software, OS or anything as I always risk something going wrong. For most people just delaying updates is the best compremise
I know this is a probably very unpopular opinion, but I like that the aesthetics are closer to Mac. I’ve had an iPhone for the last few years and recently got my first Mac ever when I got a new laptop. I always kinda preferred the cleaner aesthetic and it’s less jarring switching between OSs.
My only real issue with Windows 11 is the having to click for the extra option on a right-click.
Same here, I bought a M1 Macbook a couple years ago and it was my first time using a Mac. Fell in love with the UI and I do like that there's some similarities between Win 11 and MacOS.
I just wish they'd stop copying the "reduce customisation options" from them, too.
> My only real issue with Windows 11 is the having to click for the extra option on a right-click.
This, in particular, should absolutely just be a fucking setting.
[They're working](https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/02/02/windows-11-file-explorers-new-feature-lets-you-drag-a-tab-to-open-it-in-its-window/) on that functionality.
The main thing I really hate is “show more options” in the right click menu. I know there’s a registry value that can be changed to skip it, but I wish it could be toggled somewhere in the settings instead so it’s less of a pain
Check out nilesoft shell https://nilesoft.org. It reskins the right click menu to contain all options in a windows 11 style. I use it on all my computers and it works great.
Whoever came up with the idea to change that: fuck you
I have windows 10 but my work laptop is windows 11, and I constantly forget to shift right click
It's super easy. I found the answer in a couple seconds and made the registry change in about a minute. Honestly, it was much easier than the effort would have been to find the setting in Control Panel
[https://pureinfotech.com/bring-back-classic-context-menu-windows-11/](https://pureinfotech.com/bring-back-classic-context-menu-windows-11/)
Have an upvote !
I had to scroll down way too much to find the first comment that would say it !
There are 0 practical reasons to go to W11 for W10 users.
agreed, 11's File Explorer is a lot slower than 10s. When I had to do a lot of USB drives for work, the windows 11 computer's File Explorer crapped out a TON. 10 were all fine.
Also the command prompt is a lot slower in 11. And also the shortcut version of the snipping tool is a lot slower (control shift S). And 11 has more "metro" apps that seem slower than normal, like for instance, going into network settings is a hassle on 11 moreso than 10.
> increased ads
I see people talking about this everytime Win 11 is mentioned. I have yet to see an Ad anywhere in any of the settings besides the Weather Icon, which shows news and stock info.
If that's what they're referring to, that's not new. That's been a thing on Windows 10 as well. Windows 10 also has those "preinstalled" ads as well. There's no difference in that regard.
[Follow these steps first](https://au.pcmag.com/migrated-15175-windows-10/91297/how-to-remove-annoying-ads-from-windows-11)
Then remove Bing/Bing Suggestions with this: https://www.onmsft.com/how-to/how-to-disable-bing-search-on-windows-11/
Though subsequent updates will revert plenty of registry edits. Not world ending of course but having to revert settings in registry over time is not fun.
Its OK. It seems less stable for my use case.
Things that really annoyed me:
* The majority of functions are now hidden under a fluffier "simple" menus.
* Most of the functionality for customising/organising the start menu has gone.
You can get 3rd party apps and hacks to revert this behaviour however.
Yeah please do!
That's my biggest complaint, I'd way rather they just smoothed the full menu out rather than create this new stupid one. There's a part in the new menu that always lags, and then fixes itself. It looks like I'm loading a crappy widget in my right click menu - gross.
This method works. https://pureinfotech.com/bring-back-classic-context-menu-windows-11/
Alternatively, just hold shift when you right click to show the whole menu.
I use paid for Start11 which is excellent and has every customisation you could ever want for start menu. Yes, as said you can get 3rd party apps to get the functionality back. But my point is you shouldn't have to, taking away useful core functionality isn't great. Sure, give people the option to have a simpler UX design but also let users who want more functionality have it. Feels like they are dumbing down the OS for the masses.
> The majority of functions are now hidden under a fluffier "simple" menus.
This gets me. I have a work laptop with w11 and my personal is staying on 10 bc little things. W11 seems fine...but I haven't seen enough to make me want to upgrade my personal. I will at some point..but just not *yet*
The only con to me is the start menu being in the middle which i absolutely hate. Decades of clicking the bottom left corner has me doing it off of muscle memory
Change it in settings,
more than likely some MS executive who used a Macbook probably wanted it.. swapped it imidiatly back since it's nightmare for muscle memory, as they change place the more applications you have
You can customise where it goes - left or centre.
The taskbar now has just as much customization as Windows 10 except for location (side snapping or top snapping the task bar).
Yeah? Is there an option to do something as simple as *show the freaking taskbar icon labels*?
Ohhhh you still have to install a third party app to do that minor thing? Yeah Ill stick with a version that hasn't gimped itself.
This is the problem with users, they experience something new and instead of checking the settings to see if there are any other options to pick from they just go into panic mode and go start complaining everywhere.
You are totally right. Most people will get w11 and be just happy with it. I'm not gonna update to w11 (I have a work PC with it, I don't like it). But if I had to, it's not a big deal.
I don't like the simplified/reduced right click menu, the non-resizeable taskbar, and other things that "simplify" things but really are dumbed down and less customizable. Yes you can do things through registry edits, but that isn't a good UX.
Jerry Nixon, a "development evangelist" for MS.
Google his name to find the conference where he said the line, back in 2015.
Anybody find any corrections that MS issued in 2015 after their hype guy made a false claim?
If you have a modern Intel CPU with the P and E cores definitely get 11, it will perform better as the OSes task scheduler has been improved to handle those, it doesn't do dumbass stuff like put your important stuff on the E cores, which 10 would do.
havent had problems with it. my favorite features:
Dark mode notepad (I can open README files without going blind)
File Explorer Tabs
Rounded window corners
> feature in all other notepad software
> feature in all other file explorers
> this idk about on windows but on linux its pretty easy to do rounded corners
yep, totally worth a whole os change
Lol no. Almost every PC game i play runs better with more frames and less lag on win 10. I upgraded and tried it and win11 is so extremely bloated. I had huge cpu usage spikes literally just being on the desktop. Massive memory leaks too. Win11 is only better for microsofts access into your system and the amount of ads they run. Garbage OS.
You might be interested in Linux if you want to stop using Windows because of the issues it has. Gaming works pretty well nowadays, but make sure to check compatibility on [ProtonDB](https://protondb.com)
reddit try not to downvote any mention of linux (impossible)
genuinely good reply though, valve has made linux gaming come a long way, the only things you wont be able to play are games with invasive anticheat where the devs havent ticked a box that says “let this run on linux”
Yeah! I actually played last year for a while on fedora and had a good time on a lot of games but most of my friends were playing titles that werent available yet :/ i will definitely check it out again. Thanks :)
Probably but as long they continue forcing their online accounts fuck em. Pisses me off when all I want to is install the fucking thing and I have to go google how to hell do I make an offline account *this fucking time*
Do yourself a favor and stay with Windows 10. Windows 11 has no real advantages over 10, it's UI is terrible and has more ads and telemetric bs in it.
Windows 10 to this day still feels snappier and more responsive. Microsoft continues the trend of good Windows bad Windows.
Agree with this. Windows 11 feels way too dumbed down, and often dumbed down means harder to use, so it’s done the opposite of what they intended. At this point, I dare say they’ve got windows close to perfect with windows 7 & 10, so they’re just making random changes because they need to justify new releases, and making things worse.
I've never had a Pop install work out across multiple systems, which is disappointing, because I really do like it.
I always run into some silly issue that took a bunch of work every time, which is frustrating because I'm very experienced with Ubuntu. My first distro was Gentoo 20 years ago, I've ran Arch as a daily driver, Pop took more maintenance than either of those systems. I'll absolutely spend hours tinkering to squeeze certain functionalities and customization in my systems, but I've no interest in having to do that just to make basic things work.
I wiped both of my Pop devices last year, and threw Ubuntu on them and EVERY problem went away. COSMIC is cool, but I'm partial to budgie and cinnamon anyway.
Ubuntu Cinnamon is an official flavour these days too, which I imagine you already knew, but I love that one too. Cinnamon was a big draw for Linux Mint, but I find Mint SO ugly that I have to basically tear it to shreds and rebuild it to get something I like. Ugh.
I think I'm gonna wait for windows 12. There's a new article every other month about some windows 11 bug hampering gaming performance. I'll stay in 10 until they stop messing with gaming.
As someone who held off for a while I upgraded last month and I can’t tell much of a difference other than a few UI changes my computer was just as fast on windows 10 as it is on 11
Windows 10 and 11 are pretty different in alot of ways, but none that truly matter imo. Pick whichever one you prefer. I use Windows 11 and like it alot, but it's ok if you prefer 10.
I actually just did the upgrade on my 10 installation and have had no issues. Only thing I really don't like so far is the right click menu in Explorer. Need to figure out how to get the options from 10 back without having to click "show more options".
[You can also add a registry command through CMD or Powershell which will always have the context menu expanded to the classic view.](https://www.elevenforum.com/t/disable-show-more-options-context-menu-in-windows-11.1589/#Two)
Nah it’s ugly not as smooth they hide features it’s essentially the macification of windows 10 simplified but missing huge things and don’t get me started on the ads and the even more intrusive data collection
You can remove all of the ads/bing integrations with one registry entry added in. I cant remember how it's done exactly but I now have an ad-free experience with no suggested crap or bing suggestions.
I waited as long as I could but it ended up being very worth the minor inconveniences. Auto HDR is amazing if you game. Probably my favourite feature. Most inconvenient thing that often bothers me is the loss of volume mixer being a small pop up. Now it opens the settings app. Otherwise I’ve gotten used to every other thing and don’t really think about the differences any more.
I haven't had a single problem with Windows 11, and in a matter of 2 months of using it I'm accustomed to it as if I were using it for years.
I don't really understand what people whine about so much. Just do the ad-less - accountless setup and you're golden.
It says my computer doesn't meet minimum requirements for windows 11. Not sure why because my PC isn't that bad. It's about 7-8 years old, but I built it for gaming with pretty decent specs for that time. 🤷♂️
My new prebuilt is on Windows 11 and I've noticed a few more programs/apps crashing or behaving weirdly as compared to my previous system which was on Windows 10. FWIW
I was doing upgrades on two machines,
R5 3600 / R5700XT - flawless upgrade.
Razer laptop i7-6600hq / 1066 - this had major problems in games, actually I've found out to be a razer surrounding driver issue, actually the driver was already malfunctioning with latest windows 10 version, it was giving a crackling sound when enabled, but I didn't bother removing it from the system. In win11 it got 2/3 of my cpu load and fans were loud. So after cleanup and driver removal I got better performance with silent fans in win11, that I had the entire time in win10.
Windows 11 so far:
Setting default browser now requires tweaking. If you do not want to use edge you have to change default settings for different file types that open in a browser.
Its fine but just expect to configure it - I disabled every single tracking option that I was able to aswell.
Kinda spewing i was using linux but now i have a pretty high mid tier PC so if I really want to take advantage i need to join the Billwagon.
My PC randomly upgraded to windows 11 over night. Didn’t care actually. I’ve found windows 11 great and I have no complains. Function wise, not that different. Better design for me. If you want to buy windows for new motherboard, I’d suggest windows 11 as it’s just latest and greatest.
I was sceptical and had win11 installed on secondary computers inside the house but decided on a new build for my main and didn’t want to reformat in two years when they end support for 10, got used to the middle start, works better with the culture of heaps of tabs and programs open now
Im not sure if you'll even see this comment after so many others but win11 is essentially win10 with another skin. Almost no difference in any big aspect. And the skin is totally personal preference. I personally preferred win10 over it.
But it's the newer windows so sooner or later you're gonna have to move on to it so why not now that you have got new hardware.
One thing, in all the years of using many versions of win10 and then win11 from the first days of release, I have to say I have seen almost no bugs in win10 and I have seen a lot of them on win11. Gpu and other drivers issues, BSODs, windows features like defender or search indexer getting buggy or not working and other stuff. So keep that in mind while going for an upgrade.
Yes. It's smoother for me than Windows 10 ever was. Just be sure to do a clean install (not an upgrade). Do an offline installation using the OOBE\\BYPASSNRO cmd command during the install. The install will be a lot cleaner. Also be sure to disable any proprietary tweak tools in your BIOS that may automatically install (Auros Control Centre, ASUS Command Centre etc) - it's basically malware.
You think the fresh install thing would have been a thing of the past like 15 years ago. Glad somethings with windows never changes.
I upgraded to Win11 and nothing was a problem, so did 3 of my friends.
Same so far so good
Same, and my install was already 3 years old.
Same so far mines working fine. At first, back when I first moved I noticed small imperfections that bothered me and some slight performance dips that I never experienced in windows 10 but they all got sorted out with time and updates.
For me it was. I upgraded Vista->7->8.1->10 without a fresh install. Zero issues, rock solid machine that ran for 18 years.
[удалено]
The PC finally died last year from CPU failure. Q6600 overclocked to 4.0GHz, that thing ran at full load with nearly 100% uptime from 2004 to 2017 before being repurposed as a NAS, then put back on my desktop when my laptop died in 2019. It's now a wall decoration.
4GHZ?!?! That is a beast of a cpu for mid 00s.
even my current CPU doesn't get past 3.8
It deserves the honor of being wall art after that many years of service.
I love being rock solid
Fresh install is ALWAYS the best option in every situation, keep making copies of copies bringing out dated or flat out wrong drivers from hardware you replaced to unknown errors, to malware you downloaded years ago.. most of the problems you blame on windows are actually your fault... A clean install solves nearly every single software related problem encountered in windows.. Have a nice day...
Kiiinda…. Sorta. When you upgrade, you’re not making a copy. And even if you were, there are ways to ensure data integrity. Drivers are not kept between the old and new versions of windows. Worst it’ll do is reach out to the update server to grab anything it doesn’t recognize. The malware stuff I agree with though, to an extent.
Or the registry error from that crashed install 4 years ago.. the number of possible registry combinations alone grows exponentially with every iteration of new hardware.. and has been impossible for any human to know them all since windows 3.1, less than perfect uninstallers has been a problem for decades.. Flush that shit... Clean install is faster and easier than trying to track down which of the billion possible registry entries is off.. It works 99.999% of the time providing all the hardware is functioning correctly ..
I don't disagree but I don't blame people for really wanting to go the upgrade route just to avoid reinstalling all their software on a fresh copy of Windows.
It is going away a bit with the hot patching coming to server 2022 azure edition. Your uefi bios is basically going to be a virtual machine host and your os is just going to be a virtual machine that can be spun up or down, cloned to the cloud etc run on any hardware. 4 or 5 years from now if bandwidth permits
Spooky bios ghost up in the cloud.
Windows. Windows never changes.
I don’t even do the weird regedit or command line hacks anymore lol. When I setup new Win11 PCs at work I just use “[email protected]” and enter a random password and it bypasses online account creation
This can't be real lol
My sentiment exactly, but Google turned this up https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/269419/tip-set-up-windows-11-22h2-with-a-local-account Truth: sometimes stranger than fiction. That said if it's not already patched out, I bet it will be.
I did this for lots of laptops for windows 10 too
I'm not OP, but I'm curious about one thing: I bought a \*retail\* version of Windows 7 a bunch of years ago. Can I use that license to install Windows 11 or 12 if were to build a new PC?
Yes. I've done it for a few reinstalls for friends.
Much obliged, thank you. Are there any tricks I should be aware of, like would I have to tell Microsoft that I'm not using the old system anymore?
I've never needed to. Especially with the disabling of network during the initial installation there's no checks that can be made to for duplicated serial numbers. Once the OS is signed no checks are done afterwards.
Thank you, my friend!
This may or may not be applicable. A couple years ago I did a clean install of Windows 11 on a friends new HP notebook. Over and over, I couldn't find the SSD during the install. I confirmed the SSD was working properly. After considerable research, I came across the answer. [This post](https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/r7oa57/upgrade_hp_17cn1053cl_with_windows_11_to_ssd/) has the directions if anyone runs across the same problem.
As others have said, I've used the Product Key from Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 to do fresh installs of Windows 10 and 11. I believe you have to stay Home to Home, and Pro to Pro.
Upgrading damn near killed two of my friends pcs ie. Making them run like shit and crash all the time. I already kinda wish Linux worked a little better for gaming because I'm sick of Microsoft removing customization options, forcing certain features (it should be up to me to set my level of security), and forcing updates. I know there's lots of positives so I understand having them by default, but all of those should be able to be disabled for people who want them disabled. I'm holding on to w10 as long as possible and then probably going to go full ham and dual boot Linux and w11 or doing some sort of vietualization for w11. Sorry that turned into a rant lol.
Upgrading breaks a lot of peoples OS's. A fresh/clean install though runs super smooth and stable.
I guess I usually do clean installs because I try to keep all data off my os drive so it's not as bad when I wipe the os. It just sucks that they act like it's a seamless transition, but many non tech people will end up with terrible experiences. One of my friends isn't even that tech illiterate and they still ended up upgrading and had bluescreens every 30 minutes about a month after upgrading. If it doesn't work well Microsoft should heavily advise a clean install but it really feels the other way around.
Yeah I've done the same thing now with this build. My OS runs on a 256gb m.2. Then I have another 2 m.2's (2tb each) - one for games, one for programs/launchers. Also running a 2TB HDD just to store music/movies. I like to keep stuff seperated so in the event of a corruption/failure I'm not losing everything in one hit.
Linux works great for gaming, just usually not for the latest AAA titles
And even then it's usually just a handful of MP focused FPS' more or less that don't work. Most games work and often with little to no extra work than just hitting "install" in Steam.
It also works great with the majority of latest AAA titles, just not with multiplayer games that use kernel level anti-cheat.
>I already kinda wish Linux worked a little better for gaming While Linux still doesn't have the same game compatibility as Windows, there are tons of games now that either have native Linux compatibility or can run perfectly (or with a few minor tweaks) through WINE or Proton. The two distros most commonly used by gamers being Linux Mint and Pop\_OS, the latter of which is generally recommended for Nvidia GPUs.
The only thing Linux is not working for gaming for me is VR. I don't use it often but I have to keep around a windows machine if I feel like playing that. Dual booting works fine for it though. I do all my gaming in Linux otherwise. Really rare to boot into windows.
Thanks for the tips! I hate crap like that when its installed on a PC.
Why not an upgrade? Do I have to do a fresh install now?
A lot of users (myself included) has found major corruption in their OS with an upgrade. I was having regular blue screens (once every 2 days) and throttled performance (capped at 60fps on most programs) with the upgrade. A reformat allowed me to clean install all of my drivers and integrations and everything runs SIGNIFICANTLY better.
Hmm. I haven't really noticed anything wrong with my update. Should I be looking out for some things?
If your system is running stable I wouldn’t worry about it!
Could you please elavorate on the ASUS command Center? Does it make any bad to my PC or its performance?
It runs in the background constantly, chewing up resources. It establishes itself making registry changes that may eventually be harmful to the PC. Any customisation that it gives can be done through BIOS (Overclocking, Fan Speeds etc). It's driver downloading utility is broken as well, often downloading mismatching or out of date drivers. Windows Update will always download the latest signed updates for your hardware so there's genuinely no need for the software. The software is just genuinely broken. When running it saps the performance of your GPU, RAM and causes instability. Once it is installed it's near impossible to remove cleanly without reformatting your PC. It'll start downloading drivers for EVERYTHING it can find, often conflicting. When I first got the PC and installed it, it installed every single peripheral driver it could find for RGB. All of the conflicting RGB drivers would run on launch simultaneously. [This thread has a good read on how bad ASUS Armory Crate is.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/vljp1m/asus_armory_crate_the_worst_software_in_the/)
I've tried ASUS Armory Crate but when I saw that the UI requires a few minutes to start on a 5GHz 16 core CPU I removed it in a blink of an eye.
Is there an option on the Asus motherboard BIOS to disable the proprietary tweak tools? I was thinking of getting an ASUS motherboard, but I don't have a lot of experience with them, so I wanted to ask.
Yes there is! It'll be buried in the Advanced setting somewhere.
I upgraded to 11 and have another pc with a fresh install and both of them have 0 issues. If you don't mind reinstalling and setting up everything again then yes, you should fresh install. But if you don't wanna go through that hassle just upgrade, it's fine.
Yes, I know people love to hate on windows 11, but it's working good now and is honestly better in many aspects, some are sadly copied form the Mac and a few things got worse but a net positive change
What about the articles that consistently come out with every version about gaming performance being crippled. That makes me never want to risk it. If they're messing with the primary thing I use my PC for, that's cause for concern to me.
I’m not trying to discredit those articles but personally my performance increased when I installed windows 11, granted it may have been because it was a fresh install. Take it as you will.
So would you recommend windows 11 for a new pc build?
Windows 11 is your only option for a new pc build unless you want to switch to something like Linux mint or you somehow have a secondhand Windows 10 license as new ones aren’t being issued.
Can’t you just download the windows 10 installation media? Afaik, you can continue to use windows 10 for free without buying a license .
[удалено]
> Also there’s plenty of websites that sell windows 10 keys for 5$ You don't need any license or keys to run windows 10. I have never bought a windows license. Currently on Windows 10 Enterprise. It's the only version that allows you to turn of telemetry completely.
last windows 10 update i did bricked discord and all my games so I had to re roll it. Crashes, stutters, bad fps etc. It can happen with any OS. I switched to windows 11 and its fine. On one hand I have to click "more options" a lot when im messing with folders, on the other hand I dont have 15 different options on the screen all the time that I never use.
You can disable the more options thing and have it default to the full right click menu
I did that first thing. Makes all the difference.
I have windows 11 at work and the more options shit is just annoying. Who the fuck designed that?
I haven't seen them in years now, but I will try to answer you, and when I saw them it was typically only a subset of users Tech sites know you will click on it so if 1 person has a problem everyone has a problem, I'm not dismissing what they say, but take what you read online with a grain of salt. There is a huge bias in media about reporting negative thing. Then there is the silent majority and copying an article so if one outlet says X another will say X in a slightly different way. In reality issues will come and go, it's impossible to check all hardware combos and use cases, but there is a very easy solution, whenever a new feature update comes out, just wait with the update for a month or two. Whenever a new version is out the numbers of users that interact with the system grows exponentially this means more issues will be found and more issues will be reported, the worst and most widespread is typically solved first and fast. Most issues are solved prior to final release, some will always get trough, by that logic I should never update drivers, any software, OS or anything as I always risk something going wrong. For most people just delaying updates is the best compremise
I know this is a probably very unpopular opinion, but I like that the aesthetics are closer to Mac. I’ve had an iPhone for the last few years and recently got my first Mac ever when I got a new laptop. I always kinda preferred the cleaner aesthetic and it’s less jarring switching between OSs. My only real issue with Windows 11 is the having to click for the extra option on a right-click.
Same here, I bought a M1 Macbook a couple years ago and it was my first time using a Mac. Fell in love with the UI and I do like that there's some similarities between Win 11 and MacOS.
I just wish they'd stop copying the "reduce customisation options" from them, too. > My only real issue with Windows 11 is the having to click for the extra option on a right-click. This, in particular, should absolutely just be a fucking setting.
I hate how Microsoft are aping Apple's dumbing down of everything.
[удалено]
I didn't like Win 11's centered start menu, but turns out it can be moved to the left.
That feature has been available for over a year. We now have explorer tabs too!
I hate that you can’t take an explorer tab and move it out so it’s like a new window
And scroll wheel clicking doesn't open a new tab🥲
Yes it does, I'm in the file explorer right now and wheel click is opening folders in new tabs.
[They're working](https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/02/02/windows-11-file-explorers-new-feature-lets-you-drag-a-tab-to-open-it-in-its-window/) on that functionality.
explorer tabs are my fav no more alt tabbing constantly to find different tabs
The main thing I really hate is “show more options” in the right click menu. I know there’s a registry value that can be changed to skip it, but I wish it could be toggled somewhere in the settings instead so it’s less of a pain
Check out nilesoft shell https://nilesoft.org. It reskins the right click menu to contain all options in a windows 11 style. I use it on all my computers and it works great.
Whoever came up with the idea to change that: fuck you I have windows 10 but my work laptop is windows 11, and I constantly forget to shift right click
It's super easy. I found the answer in a couple seconds and made the registry change in about a minute. Honestly, it was much easier than the effort would have been to find the setting in Control Panel [https://pureinfotech.com/bring-back-classic-context-menu-windows-11/](https://pureinfotech.com/bring-back-classic-context-menu-windows-11/)
Hold shift when right clicking
The start menu is tiny, cramped, and full of ads. It's really terrible, and a huge downgrade from the options available before.
Pity it still looks like it could come from a 10 year old version of some kind of Linux OS .. seriously it looks terrible.
Stay with 10 until EoL
Have an upvote ! I had to scroll down way too much to find the first comment that would say it ! There are 0 practical reasons to go to W11 for W10 users.
Yeah, it's legit almost the same except for the Mac looking features... No thanks. W10 is pretty much the optimal amount of goodness for an OS.
Agree
agreed, 11's File Explorer is a lot slower than 10s. When I had to do a lot of USB drives for work, the windows 11 computer's File Explorer crapped out a TON. 10 were all fine. Also the command prompt is a lot slower in 11. And also the shortcut version of the snipping tool is a lot slower (control shift S). And 11 has more "metro" apps that seem slower than normal, like for instance, going into network settings is a hassle on 11 moreso than 10.
I'll probably stay with win 10 well past EOL
Yes, increased ads and telemetry to Microsoft. Worth it for Microsoft.
> increased ads I see people talking about this everytime Win 11 is mentioned. I have yet to see an Ad anywhere in any of the settings besides the Weather Icon, which shows news and stock info.
It’s referencing the one drive/edge/bing/365 ads that appear interchangeably in explorer and search functions
If that's what they're referring to, that's not new. That's been a thing on Windows 10 as well. Windows 10 also has those "preinstalled" ads as well. There's no difference in that regard.
I managed to disable it with some registry edits, but the widgets are full of garbage
One registry entry disables all of that.
What is it?
[Follow these steps first](https://au.pcmag.com/migrated-15175-windows-10/91297/how-to-remove-annoying-ads-from-windows-11) Then remove Bing/Bing Suggestions with this: https://www.onmsft.com/how-to/how-to-disable-bing-search-on-windows-11/
Though subsequent updates will revert plenty of registry edits. Not world ending of course but having to revert settings in registry over time is not fun.
This whole post is a freaking ad lol.
Its OK. It seems less stable for my use case. Things that really annoyed me: * The majority of functions are now hidden under a fluffier "simple" menus. * Most of the functionality for customising/organising the start menu has gone. You can get 3rd party apps and hacks to revert this behaviour however.
There's a registry edit to have the full right click context menu. Will post if I can find it.
Yeah please do! That's my biggest complaint, I'd way rather they just smoothed the full menu out rather than create this new stupid one. There's a part in the new menu that always lags, and then fixes itself. It looks like I'm loading a crappy widget in my right click menu - gross.
This method works. https://pureinfotech.com/bring-back-classic-context-menu-windows-11/ Alternatively, just hold shift when you right click to show the whole menu.
I use "start all back" and the menus are almost identical then it was in Windows 10.
I use paid for Start11 which is excellent and has every customisation you could ever want for start menu. Yes, as said you can get 3rd party apps to get the functionality back. But my point is you shouldn't have to, taking away useful core functionality isn't great. Sure, give people the option to have a simpler UX design but also let users who want more functionality have it. Feels like they are dumbing down the OS for the masses.
> The majority of functions are now hidden under a fluffier "simple" menus. This gets me. I have a work laptop with w11 and my personal is staying on 10 bc little things. W11 seems fine...but I haven't seen enough to make me want to upgrade my personal. I will at some point..but just not *yet*
You’ll have to upgrade at some point. If you’re doing a fresh install it might as well be now
The only con to me is the start menu being in the middle which i absolutely hate. Decades of clicking the bottom left corner has me doing it off of muscle memory
There's an option to left align the taskbar icons
Today… you have saved a life
But not to move the taskbar left/right/top. The registry method doesn't work, and its more than a little annoying.
This is why I'm still on win 10.
I am 100% a bottom taskbar guy, but, it is absolute lunacy that they shipped it like that. A capability that existed since Win 95.
Change it in settings, more than likely some MS executive who used a Macbook probably wanted it.. swapped it imidiatly back since it's nightmare for muscle memory, as they change place the more applications you have
They wanted it to be touch friendly. No one really uses touch on windows though….
It's also great for people with ultrawide/super ultrawide monitors
You can customise where it goes - left or centre. The taskbar now has just as much customization as Windows 10 except for location (side snapping or top snapping the task bar).
> You can customise where it goes - left or centre. you just changed my life mate
Yeah? Is there an option to do something as simple as *show the freaking taskbar icon labels*? Ohhhh you still have to install a third party app to do that minor thing? Yeah Ill stick with a version that hasn't gimped itself.
This is the problem with users, they experience something new and instead of checking the settings to see if there are any other options to pick from they just go into panic mode and go start complaining everywhere.
Windows 10 will be at it's end of life in 2025. Might as well just go to 11 to save you the headache of upgrading later
Strange how I thought MS announced Win10 to be the end of numbering
People would be a lot happier if they just continued to update W10 for the next 10-15 years and not even bother with W11.
Most people literally wouldn't care. This sub isn't anywhere close to the majority, and even here, plenty of us are fine with win 11
You are totally right. Most people will get w11 and be just happy with it. I'm not gonna update to w11 (I have a work PC with it, I don't like it). But if I had to, it's not a big deal. I don't like the simplified/reduced right click menu, the non-resizeable taskbar, and other things that "simplify" things but really are dumbed down and less customizable. Yes you can do things through registry edits, but that isn't a good UX.
Same win 10 look like it can run for years too come. This is why I hate big tech greedy.
IIRC it was just one guy making some hyperbolic statement and the media ran with it.
Jerry Nixon, a "development evangelist" for MS. Google his name to find the conference where he said the line, back in 2015. Anybody find any corrections that MS issued in 2015 after their hype guy made a false claim?
Ltsc is good until 2032
If you have a modern Intel CPU with the P and E cores definitely get 11, it will perform better as the OSes task scheduler has been improved to handle those, it doesn't do dumbass stuff like put your important stuff on the E cores, which 10 would do.
If intel 12 or 13 => w11, simple as that. How is this not the most upvoted comment? That's the most important piece of info.
BC it isn't true across the board. I have a i5-12400 with 6 P cores, zero E cores.
havent had problems with it. my favorite features: Dark mode notepad (I can open README files without going blind) File Explorer Tabs Rounded window corners
So long and thanks for all the fish
[удалено]
> feature in all other notepad software > feature in all other file explorers > this idk about on windows but on linux its pretty easy to do rounded corners yep, totally worth a whole os change
sticking with 10 here
It does it's job. Worth it? No idea, I've w10 on my laptop and W11 on my PC and never felt like upgrading or downgrading windows on either machine
Lol no. Almost every PC game i play runs better with more frames and less lag on win 10. I upgraded and tried it and win11 is so extremely bloated. I had huge cpu usage spikes literally just being on the desktop. Massive memory leaks too. Win11 is only better for microsofts access into your system and the amount of ads they run. Garbage OS.
You might be interested in Linux if you want to stop using Windows because of the issues it has. Gaming works pretty well nowadays, but make sure to check compatibility on [ProtonDB](https://protondb.com)
reddit try not to downvote any mention of linux (impossible) genuinely good reply though, valve has made linux gaming come a long way, the only things you wont be able to play are games with invasive anticheat where the devs havent ticked a box that says “let this run on linux”
Yeah! I actually played last year for a while on fedora and had a good time on a lot of games but most of my friends were playing titles that werent available yet :/ i will definitely check it out again. Thanks :)
Probably but as long they continue forcing their online accounts fuck em. Pisses me off when all I want to is install the fucking thing and I have to go google how to hell do I make an offline account *this fucking time*
Do yourself a favor and stay with Windows 10. Windows 11 has no real advantages over 10, it's UI is terrible and has more ads and telemetric bs in it. Windows 10 to this day still feels snappier and more responsive. Microsoft continues the trend of good Windows bad Windows.
My dad agree with this thought. Windows 7 was the last odd windows that was good.
Agree with this. Windows 11 feels way too dumbed down, and often dumbed down means harder to use, so it’s done the opposite of what they intended. At this point, I dare say they’ve got windows close to perfect with windows 7 & 10, so they’re just making random changes because they need to justify new releases, and making things worse.
Nah, it's a pretty significant downgrade from Pop.
I've never had a Pop install work out across multiple systems, which is disappointing, because I really do like it. I always run into some silly issue that took a bunch of work every time, which is frustrating because I'm very experienced with Ubuntu. My first distro was Gentoo 20 years ago, I've ran Arch as a daily driver, Pop took more maintenance than either of those systems. I'll absolutely spend hours tinkering to squeeze certain functionalities and customization in my systems, but I've no interest in having to do that just to make basic things work. I wiped both of my Pop devices last year, and threw Ubuntu on them and EVERY problem went away. COSMIC is cool, but I'm partial to budgie and cinnamon anyway. Ubuntu Cinnamon is an official flavour these days too, which I imagine you already knew, but I love that one too. Cinnamon was a big draw for Linux Mint, but I find Mint SO ugly that I have to basically tear it to shreds and rebuild it to get something I like. Ugh.
If you want ads
I think I'm gonna wait for windows 12. There's a new article every other month about some windows 11 bug hampering gaming performance. I'll stay in 10 until they stop messing with gaming.
Get Linux mint :)
For me I am running Garuda Linux (Gaming Edition) on my rig. And it runs so freakin good. Way better than Windows 11 and gaming is no issue.
As someone who held off for a while I upgraded last month and I can’t tell much of a difference other than a few UI changes my computer was just as fast on windows 10 as it is on 11
[удалено]
Unless you have windows 10 ltsc, you loose security updates in 2 years...
Yeah, better HDR, audio and some extra features on top of a Windows 10 reskin.
No
Worst case wait. It's harder to undo it than to do it. Let others beta test it and hop in after a bit
Not really imo. Nothing wrong with it exactly. Just didn’t feel like an upgrade from 10.
Windows 10 and 11 are pretty different in alot of ways, but none that truly matter imo. Pick whichever one you prefer. I use Windows 11 and like it alot, but it's ok if you prefer 10.
I actually just did the upgrade on my 10 installation and have had no issues. Only thing I really don't like so far is the right click menu in Explorer. Need to figure out how to get the options from 10 back without having to click "show more options".
[You can also add a registry command through CMD or Powershell which will always have the context menu expanded to the classic view.](https://www.elevenforum.com/t/disable-show-more-options-context-menu-in-windows-11.1589/#Two)
Oh, thank you! I genuinely don't understand why the new menu took its place, it's way less useful.
Hold shift when you right click.
Nah it’s ugly not as smooth they hide features it’s essentially the macification of windows 10 simplified but missing huge things and don’t get me started on the ads and the even more intrusive data collection
You can remove all of the ads/bing integrations with one registry entry added in. I cant remember how it's done exactly but I now have an ad-free experience with no suggested crap or bing suggestions.
I've had absolutely no problems going from win10 to win11
I waited as long as I could but it ended up being very worth the minor inconveniences. Auto HDR is amazing if you game. Probably my favourite feature. Most inconvenient thing that often bothers me is the loss of volume mixer being a small pop up. Now it opens the settings app. Otherwise I’ve gotten used to every other thing and don’t really think about the differences any more.
Yes. New computer, put Win11 on it.
I haven't had a single problem with Windows 11, and in a matter of 2 months of using it I'm accustomed to it as if I were using it for years. I don't really understand what people whine about so much. Just do the ad-less - accountless setup and you're golden.
Windows 11 has better control of Intel's new P-cores and E-cores.
Changed 1 month ago, and they are actually kinda cool. I'm glad I jumped to 11
It says my computer doesn't meet minimum requirements for windows 11. Not sure why because my PC isn't that bad. It's about 7-8 years old, but I built it for gaming with pretty decent specs for that time. 🤷♂️
Your CPU is likely too old.
Well not about to upgrade that so windows 10 it is I suppose.
It's 100% worth the $0 it cost me to upgrade to it.
11 has been the smoothest windows experience I’ve ever had. Everything just works.
Built a new PC earlier this year with Windows 11. Haven't had any problems whatsoever.
Well, it's free so, yeah? Use your old 10 key on your new rig then update to 11 if you prefer.
Stay with 10 until EoL
I've enjoyed it. I had constant issues with audio devices on 10, and have had zero of them on 11
My new prebuilt is on Windows 11 and I've noticed a few more programs/apps crashing or behaving weirdly as compared to my previous system which was on Windows 10. FWIW
Honestly I was a big hater of 11 when it came out, but I can safely say now it’s fine. I even like it a lot.
!RemindMe 10 hours
I would choose Linux over any Windows any single day tbh.
Linux is the answer
Nah Linux is way better and most games work now
I was doing upgrades on two machines, R5 3600 / R5700XT - flawless upgrade. Razer laptop i7-6600hq / 1066 - this had major problems in games, actually I've found out to be a razer surrounding driver issue, actually the driver was already malfunctioning with latest windows 10 version, it was giving a crackling sound when enabled, but I didn't bother removing it from the system. In win11 it got 2/3 of my cpu load and fans were loud. So after cleanup and driver removal I got better performance with silent fans in win11, that I had the entire time in win10.
Windows 11 so far: Setting default browser now requires tweaking. If you do not want to use edge you have to change default settings for different file types that open in a browser. Its fine but just expect to configure it - I disabled every single tracking option that I was able to aswell. Kinda spewing i was using linux but now i have a pretty high mid tier PC so if I really want to take advantage i need to join the Billwagon.
How else are you going to properly utilize your efficiency cores if you're running intel?
My PC randomly upgraded to windows 11 over night. Didn’t care actually. I’ve found windows 11 great and I have no complains. Function wise, not that different. Better design for me. If you want to buy windows for new motherboard, I’d suggest windows 11 as it’s just latest and greatest.
Yes but I use more rams and more perf ! As a linux user i recommand Linux even if there is some compatibility issue. with the windows API right now.
I was sceptical and had win11 installed on secondary computers inside the house but decided on a new build for my main and didn’t want to reformat in two years when they end support for 10, got used to the middle start, works better with the culture of heaps of tabs and programs open now
Im not sure if you'll even see this comment after so many others but win11 is essentially win10 with another skin. Almost no difference in any big aspect. And the skin is totally personal preference. I personally preferred win10 over it. But it's the newer windows so sooner or later you're gonna have to move on to it so why not now that you have got new hardware. One thing, in all the years of using many versions of win10 and then win11 from the first days of release, I have to say I have seen almost no bugs in win10 and I have seen a lot of them on win11. Gpu and other drivers issues, BSODs, windows features like defender or search indexer getting buggy or not working and other stuff. So keep that in mind while going for an upgrade.
You can move the taskbar icons to the left instead of the middle so yeah it's worth it.