Windows 11

[Jaymann]

Yes, the video is flawed. But the concerns about W11 encrypting your PC are real.

You know that you can unencrypt it, right? It is not just W11. My HP W10 laptop that I bought three years ago also came encrypted but I can easily unencrypt it.

That's just it. Why should you be forced to unencrypt a computer you own.

[Victoria Raverna]

Yes, the video is flawed. But the concerns about W11 encrypting your PC are real.

You know that you can unencrypt it, right? It is not just W11. My HP W10 laptop that I bought three years ago also came encrypted but I can easily unencrypt it.

That's just it. Why should you be forced to unencrypt a computer you own.

It is to provide default security for users. In case of theft, encrypted disk can prevent other from accessing your data. For those that don't need that, they can just disable it easily.

[gbasden]

Yes, the video is flawed. But the concerns about W11 encrypting your PC are real.

You know that you can unencrypt it, right? It is not just W11. My HP W10 laptop that I bought three years ago also came encrypted but I can easily unencrypt it.

That's just it. Why should you be forced to unencrypt a computer you own.

It is to provide default security for users. In case of theft, encrypted disk can prevent other from accessing your data. For those that don't need that, they can just disable it easily.

Right. Bitlocker is there so if someone gets physical access to your hard drive, they don't have access to your data. It's a brick. I encrypt every disk I use if it might have sensitive data on it. It's super simple to turn on or off. These people are the same ones that would castigate Microsoft if they lost their laptop and someone gained access to their financial data. It's always no win.

[Blackhawk]

So, what if you have important data on a drive, and the system dies? Maybe a power surge fries the motherboard and the drive that the OS was installed on. Will you be able to pull a Windows encrypted drive to access it from another PC?

[Zaxxon]

So, what if you have important data on a drive, and the system dies? Maybe a power surge fries the motherboard and the drive that the OS was installed on. Will you be able to pull a Windows encrypted drive to access it from another PC?

Yes, you'd use the recovery key to do so. But of course you'd have backups elsewhere, right? #amidalayou'dhavethemright

Remember that Microsoft has to target their default policies to the masses.

[Blackhawk]

I try to have backups, but complete extra drives are expensive.

[Victoria Raverna]

I try to have backups, but complete extra drives are expensive.

You don't need to backup everything but you need to have backup of your important and irreplaceable data.

Computer drives don't last forever. While it is possible to get professional service to recover data from broken drives, it is much more expensive than just to invest in having a backup drive for your data.

[Jaymann]

I don't have much data that is critical. If I do I email mail it to myself.

[Carpet_pissr]

Welp, I made the mistake of trying to use an upgrade to Windows 11 as a fix for a problem I couldn't solve (which it didn't solve BTW). Now my computer (particularly internet) is noticeably slower, and my printer is not supported (I thought the stupid "Windows 11 Check" app I downloaded and ran was supposed to check that?!?).

It looks like there SHOULD be an option to roll back to Windows 10, but it's greyed out dammit. Any other recourse than to do a whole new clean install? (and no, I don't need or want a new printer, my ancient Dell is working fantastically thankyouverymuch )

[Anonymous Bosch]

Welp, I made the mistake of trying to use an upgrade to Windows 11 as a fix for a problem I couldn't solve (which it didn't solve BTW). Now my computer (particularly internet) is noticeably slower, and my printer is not supported (I thought the stupid "Windows 11 Check" app I downloaded and ran was supposed to check that?!?).

It looks like there SHOULD be an option to roll back to Windows 10, but it's greyed out dammit. Any other recourse than to do a whole new clean install? (and no, I don't need or want a new printer, my ancient Dell is working fantastically thankyouverymuch )

There is an option to roll back to Windows 10 without losing any data, but it only remains available for a period of ten days after upgrading to Windows 11:

Downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10

Requirements for downgrade: Downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10 is subject to fulfil some requirements. Here they are:

• You can only downgrade to Windows 10 within the 10 days of your upgrade. For example, if you upgraded to Windows 11 on 1 Sept, 2021, then you can downgrade within 10 days. If you want to downgrade on 25 Sept, 2021, you can’t.
• Previous Windows version files, typically Windows.old folder and other required files should be present on your system.

Alas, this means you just hafta bite the bullet, and perform a whole new clean install of Windows 10.

[Carpet_pissr]

It’s been around 20 days since I upgraded. Nice.

[Isgrimnur]

The Verge

Windows 10 22H2 will be the final version of the operating system, Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday. Moving forward, all editions of Windows 10 will be supported with monthly security updates until October 14th, 2025, when Microsoft will end support. (Some releases on the Long-Term Servicing Channel, or LTSC, will get updates past that end of support date.)

Microsoft is encouraging users to now transition to Windows 11 because Windows 10 won’t be getting any new features.

[Kraken]

Yeah, never going to happen. By Oct. '25 both of my machines will be seven years old and due for replacement anyway.

[Max Peck]

I finally got around to converting my PC's boot drive from MBR to GPT and switched the firmware from BIOS to UEFI. I winced through the entire process because I wasn't completely confident that I wasn't about to brick the system, but everything seems to have worked correctly and according to the PC Health Check tool the system is now Windows 11 compatible.

Now I just need to wait until the last possible moment to actually upgrade, as is tradition.

[hitbyambulance]

Microsoft is encouraging users to now transition to Windows 11 because Windows 10 won’t be getting any new features.

SOUNDS LIKE A FEATURE TO ME AMIRITE

[Kraken]

Microsoft is encouraging users to now transition to Windows 11 because Windows 10 won’t be getting any new features.

SOUNDS LIKE A FEATURE TO ME AMIRITE

I just wish the nag screen had a button that says Fuck Off, because neither Tell Me More nor Remind Me Later are options I want.

As I understand it, we'll be able to buy another year of support for $30 or $45 or something like that.

[Max Peck]

Oddly enough, my PC stopped nagging me about upgrading ages ago. I have no idea if I found some secret setting that turned it off, or if somewhere in the bowels of MS some marketing algorithm decided that playing hard to get was the key. It could simply have been due to the fact that, as configured, the system was not capable of being upgraded, so maybe it'll start actively nagging me now.

[LordMortis]

Oddly enough, my PC stopped nagging me about upgrading ages ago. I have no idea if I found some secret setting that turned it off, or if somewhere in the bowels of MS some marketing algorithm decided that playing hard to get was the key. It could simply have been due to the fact that, as configured, the system was not capable of being upgraded, so maybe it'll start actively nagging me now.

The only PCs nagging me were the ones that could upgrade. The ones that can't stopped.

[Max Peck]

Nagging has commenced...

[Blackhawk]

I will switch my main PC at the last moment. Every other PC in the house will remain on 10.

[Rumpy]

So, is it safe to upgrade to it at this stage? I had heard reports of people not having such great experiences with it when gaming. Has this changed?

Also wondering: They've made a lot of noise about requiring a microsoft account. But if I were to just upgrade from my Windows 10, could I still keep my existing local logon password?

[disarm]

I built a new gaming PC with Windows 11 back in March and have had no issues at all. It has worked flawlessly with games installed from Xbox, Steam, Epic and GOG, and performance has not been an issue (although that could be due to a very high-end end rig).

I went straight to Win11 on the new build, used my existing MS login from Win10 and have zero complaints.

[Montag]

I have been in Windows 11 for a year now. I think the only issue I had was some audio setting things that were sorted out over time. There are some UI changes that are annoyances, but not enough to motivate me to find away to correct them. I just don't think there is a reason to avoid it.

[Max Peck]

I only know one person that has tried to upgrade to W11 and had problems. In their case, there were issues getting MS Defender running and they had to roll back to W10 temporarily. Their advice to avoid the issue was to run the upgrade from the admin account instead of a user account.

If I do go through with a motherboard/CPU/GPU upgrade this year I'll probably get my computer guy to do the W11 upgrade while the PC is in the shop for the hardware upgrade, so that he can sort out any glitches for me. If not, I'll probably wait until the W10 support ends before pulling the trigger, IAW my general strategy of not fixing what isn't yet broken. Also, procrastination.

[JCC]

I upgraded my gaming desktop a week or two ago and it was painless. Seems to be fine post upgrade. My web browsing laptop is fine on 11 too.

[Zarathud]

I am more annoyed about Office trying to get me to use their AI in every paragraph on Word.

[Rumpy]

If I do go through with a motherboard/CPU/GPU upgrade this year I'll probably get my computer guy to do the W11 upgrade while the PC is in the shop for the hardware upgrade, so that he can sort out any glitches for me. If not, I'll probably wait until the W10 support ends before pulling the trigger, IAW my general strategy of not fixing what isn't yet broken. Also, procrastination.

That's probably what I'll end up doing too. And yes, the procrastination is real

[Kasey Chang]

I am more annoyed about Office trying to get me to use their AI in every paragraph on Word.

LibreOffice, or Apache OpenOffice.

[Kraken]

All I want to know is, when MS finally forces me to buy a Win11 machine, will I still be able to install my copy of Office 2007? (If I hook up an optical drive, I mean.) I'm still happily using it on my 2018 Win10 machine, and I still know where my CD is.

[Punisher]

FWIW, I've had Windows 11 on my gaming laptop for almost a year and no real issues that weren't caused by me.

[Kasey Chang]

You'll be fine installing old software. There's always "compatibility mode" if it gets that bad.

[Victoria Raverna]

Whatever you do, don't install or upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 now. Still too many bugs that are going to affect gaming.

[Lassr]

All I want to know is, when MS finally forces me to buy a Win11 machine, will I still be able to install my copy of Office 2007? (If I hook up an optical drive, I mean.) I'm still happily using it on my 2018 Win10 machine, and I still know where my CD is.

I installed Office 2016 Professional and it works fine.

[gbasden]

Whatever you do, don't install or upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 now. Still too many bugs that are going to affect gaming.

I've been running it since preview and I can't say I've seen any issues.

[Victoria Raverna]

Whatever you do, don't install or upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 now. Still too many bugs that are going to affect gaming.

I've been running it since preview and I can't say I've seen any issues.

I installed it during preview but right after that it caused problem and I reverted it back to the previous version. Major problem was application's screen freezed, like for example with discord and chrome. I can switch between the applications but the windows of those apps just freezed.

I was waiting for when it was safe to reinstall it again but there had been reports about problems caused by 24H2 for several months. Like games crashing or stuttering with 24H2. AutoHDR problem, Easy Anti-Cheat incompatibilty, etc.

Look like the major ones have been resolved last week:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windo ... ws-11-24h2

[Kasey Chang]

It "feels" a hair slower, but otherwise it ran all of my apps and games just fine. I did end up wasting an hour last night when the latest preview forced me to turn on TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and the whole shebang.

[Max Peck]

It "feels" a hair slower, but otherwise it ran all of my apps and games just fine. I did end up wasting an hour last night when the latest preview forced me to turn on TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and the whole shebang.

I thought that was a prerequisite to running Windows 11 from the get go. Did they relax the requirement for a while?

[Exodor]

I am more annoyed about Office trying to get me to use their AI in every paragraph on Word.

Yeah I woke up last weekend and found my Excel looks like this:


When my 365 sub auto-renewed they "upgraded" me to a more expensive plan that includes their shit AI product without asking. I downgraded back to the previous level but since I already paid for a year I'm stuck with it. And there's no option to turn off the AI.

[Kasey Chang]

It "feels" a hair slower, but otherwise it ran all of my apps and games just fine. I did end up wasting an hour last night when the latest preview forced me to turn on TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and the whole shebang.

I thought that was a prerequisite to running Windows 11 from the get go. Did they relax the requirement for a while?

Technically yes, but you *can* slipstream something in the installer to disable the requirements with something like Rufus, and I think I was able to DISABLE SecureBoot AFTER I got the thing installed. So it's only in the installer, not in the everyday running, unless you need it enabled for one of those advanced Tier Windows Defender plans as your endpoint client.

[Max Peck]

Those are certainly all words that I recognize individually.

One of the things I took care of before my hardware upgrade was to convert my boot drive from MBR to GPT, since that was the only sticking point preventing the switch to Win11. I'm good to go any time I feel like, although Windows is being oddly un-naggy about it.