How Bad Is Windows 11?

[easysurfer]

Next year is that time again. More specifically, the year that Microsoft heavily forces people to go to their new operating system that many do not need or want.

I go through this dialogue each time. Am I ready to abandon Win entirely? As tempted as that feels, for me this isn't the time. There are still certain programs I use that are Win only. Plus, I have people that I help who use Win (I'm too nice to say to them that I don't do Windows).

So, back to the threat topic. How bad in Win 11? I read that in Win 11 you get peppered with ads. Also, that there isn't a way of not having a Microsoft account. Are those false info or really the case?

 

[skipro33]

The main issue I've had with Win11 is that they auto update no matter what settings I put in to prevent it. But worse still, occasionally the update locks up my computer. A couple times it almost bricked it and I thought I lost everything. Fortunately, I tried opening my computer, disconnected the battery, reconnected and restarted. It restored. This is on a laptop. I have several tiny screwdrivers but not in torx head, which is what holds most laptops together these days. I had to fabricate a tool to remove the screws.
If you laptop, I recommend buying one with Win11 loaded already and back up to a removable hard drive before hand.

 

[Sunset]

I like it.
I notice right at login, there can be a 2 sentence ad before you sign in, telling a person about something like "backup your data securely to the cloud with some microsoft product".

When installing I was careful to avoid linking it to any microsoft account as the default is to link it. I don't recall what I did so search how to do it.

 

[statsman]

My concern with Windows 11 has to do with privacy issues. There were similar concerns with Windows 10, but most all of those "features" could be disabled or removed. It was time-consuming. My understanding is some of those "features" can't be disabled or removed in Windows 11.

I've read about users being able to bypass the requirement for a Microsoft account in order to install Windows 11, but I personally haven't tried it. I'm still on Windows 10 Pro, and I will remain there until Microsoft no longer supports it with security updates. No Microsoft account tied to my PC.

 

[Sunset]

I'm also on Windows 11 Pro. As I bought a refurbished Dell ( thanks to posters here! ) , and then did the free upgrade to version 11.

Previously I was using Ubuntu for ~12 years.

I do like how there is a way (convoluted) to run linux on my Windows machine from within Windows, pretty slick. Only tried a couple of scripts but it worked well. I'll have to look up how to start it up again and write it down as I've forgotten the steps

 

[Sojourner]

I've been running Win 11 happily without any problems for well over a year now. I have it set to NOT do automatic updates (except for critical security patches), and I login using a PIN code, not a Microsoft account. I don't use Cortana, Copilot, or the Microsoft cloud for anything. It is very stable and runs everything I need quite smoothly. Honestly, I think it's just as good as Win 10, if not slightly better.

 

[Lorenzo]

Does Windows 11 not work offline? Do you have to have the computer connected to the internet?

 

[GrayHare]

Whta about Recall? I'm not a fan of it doing a screen capture of my display every 5 minutes. It's one of those things you can supposedly turn off but which turns itself back on from time to time.

 

[Sunset]

Whta about Recall? I'm not a fan of it doing a screen capture of my display every 5 minutes. It's one of those things you can supposedly turn off but which turns itself back on from time to time.

Never heard of it.

 

[rk911]

One read of the Windows 11 forum is all you need to know about the 24H2 Win 11 update. . Our desktop is still on Win10 and we will NOT be "upgrading?" to Win11. My new laptop IS on Win11 (23H2) but I have permanently disabled updates going forward...at least I hope so.

 

[Walt34]

I've been running Win 11 happily without any problems for well over a year now. I have it set to NOT do automatic updates (except for critical security patches), and I login using a PIN code, not a Microsoft account. I don't use Cortana, Copilot, or the Microsoft cloud for anything. It is very stable and runs everything I need quite smoothly. Honestly, I think it's just as good as Win 10, if not slightly better.

That's been my experience too, although I haven't had it for a year yet. More like eight or nine months, but no issues.

 

[misanman]

I've had 11 on desktop and laptop since whenever it became available. No issues.

 

[imjustawarrior]

I bought a new laptop this year with Windows 11. I have had no issues with it. I don't see any ads. It works just fine.

I have my taskbar with my favorite apps pinned (chrome, excel, word, ...). It works almost the same as Windows 10. If I need to do something more advanced and can't figure it out, I just google how to do it. No big deal.

I wouldn't shy away from Windows 11.

Just about everything seems to have ads these days. One should just learn to ignore them.

 

[Al18]

I haven’t seen any ads on Windows 11. I don’t have a Microsoft account - no problem as long as you don’t want to use Microsoft One drive (cloud backup). Usually gamers are one of the last groups to upgrade, and last month Windows 11 was used by more Steam gamers than Windows 10.

 

[Pointby2]

The only issues I have with Windows 11 and the updates (which are endless) is that the sleep functions seem to continually change. Maybe it's me and my computer but sometimes my computer wants to stay up all night. Other times it goes on screensaver, then sleep and everything is perfect. It seems to work fine and then, there is a windows update and it's all messed up again. Not a big deal but I have to turn it off at night because even manually selected sleep doesn't work.

 

[MC Rider]

This machine runs just fine on W10, but is too old for 11.
When the time comes it will convert to Linux Mint.
I no longer need windoze programs so why not?

 

[Zathras]

I've been running Windows 11 for about a year(?) now.
No issues, very happy with it.

Never saw an ad. I haven't tried to disable updates so I don't know how easy that is to do or how well it 'sticks'.

 

[stedmakr]

I am also happy or very happy with Windows 11. No ads and no problems with updates. It just works. There are a multitude of videos on Youtube that identify settings that you might want to turn on or off.

 

[jim584672]

It is a hot mess. Poor quality control, beta level software.

 

[GrayHare]

Windows 11 Recall is part of Copilot. It records everything you type, click upon and view. What could possibly go wrong? Like other Windows features, you probably can't turn it off without it turning itself back on. I see Linux in my future.

 

[Sunset]

Windows 11 Recall is part of Copilot. It records everything you type, click upon and view. What could possibly go wrong? Like other Windows features, you probably can't turn it off without it turning itself back on. I see Linux in my future.

Thanks... I search how to enable it and how to tell if enabled and then looked at my settings.

I don't have Copilot.
I'm sure I would reject something like that upon install, so maybe that is why, or else it's because I have windows 11 Pro.

 

[donheff]

I have been on Windows 11 for a couple of years. I can't think of any problems I didn't bring on myself. I don't like laptops and don't want to clutter my space so I use all-in-one desktops. I hosed my old desktop twice doing something stupid. The first time I just reinstalled Windows - that took a while but worked fine. The second time, I had been planning to get a more powerful device to better handle the astrophoto processing apps I am using. The new desktop has not had any problems. I converted the old one to KBuntu Linux and it is running fine.

I will note that the cloud aspects of Windows One Drive confuses me. Dropbox is even worse in this regard. I use both for readily available cloud storage. I have twice fat fingered my way into blowing away hundreds of gigs of cloud files. Figuring out what I did and how to restore them was a PITA.

 

[Al18]

Copilot is installed by default in Windows 11 and Windows 11 Pro. More info on how to remove it from the taskbar and disable it How to disable Copilot in Windows 11

 

[Sojourner]

Windows 11 Recall is part of Copilot. It records everything you type, click upon and view. What could possibly go wrong? Like other Windows features, you probably can't turn it off without it turning itself back on. I see Linux in my future.

Recall is an optional feature of the 24H2 update to Win 11, and can readily be disabled. There are always going to be unwanted features, bugs, quirks, etc. with any operating system. I installed Linux Mint on my old laptop (replacing Win 10) a few years ago, and it is FAR from an ideal, trouble-free OS. I have spent countless hours tweaking it trying to get certain simple things to work that Windows can do "out of the box". Hindsight being 20-20, I probably should've just stuck with Win 10 on that machine, but it was an interesting learning experience.

TL;DR: There is no need to fear Windows 11 (or the availability of the optional "Recall" feature), especially if you're an experienced and generally happy Windows user.

 

[triangle]

I think windows 11 is about the same as previous few versions in terms of interactions with it. It stays mostly out of the way as I spend my keyboard time in a web browser, spreadsheet, editor, or other app. I don't use a windows login or the windows store and don't interact with the builtin MSN news feed widget which has not been intrusive enough for me to lookup how to turn it off.

As others have reported it does seem more aggressive about applying updates and rebooting without giving the user a chance to intervene and postpone compared to previous versions. But the updates have not caused any issue and the OS boots pretty quicklys.