This was the subject of a reply of mine to Tatiora's October post on Windows 11 Updates that I think merits a separate thread.
I've been advised by my tech support company to not install Windows 11 under any circumstances. A major reason for that is that I (and my office network) deal with protected health information and Windows 11 is not only not HIPAA compliant but opens your computer to all kinds of background third party access. MS has decided to go the way of Facebook and make you the product which they will sell as the primary method of sustaining their business. The 'upgrade' may be free but orders of magnitude more intrusive, mostly silently of course (the fine print applies when you click Agree).
Windows 11, per my tech, also is a major step toward forcing all your application purchases and subscriptions into the Microsoft Store, a la Apple. They are steadily making it harder & harder to install anything from outside their controlled ecosystem. They actually trialed this approach with a version of Windows 10 called Windows 10S. I learned of this when we purchased a Surface which turned out to have that OS for a dedicated purpose servicing a biometric device early this year. Initially I thought the "S" meant a version specific to the Surface but it turns out the "S" means Store, as in Microsoft Store. Our tech had to force an install of a regular version of Windows 10 before the software for the biometric device could be installed (it obviously wasn't available on the Microsoft Store). There were also incompatible drivers for things like our network printers & Bluetooth devices. The latter issues are probably cleaned up a bit in Windows 11, but beware.
A good example of where this will likely lead is the recent behavior of Adobe regarding Adobe Acrobat Reader DC which is the subject of another post here. They already have the ability to reach into your computer uninvited and steal paid-for software from you.
Enjoy the brave new world of computing and Happy New Year!
Microsoft's policy in regards to hardware requirements and security has made my head spin. First off they put out details themselves how to use a registry patch to bypass TPM and state that they would not try and stop people form upgrading their PC using this method.. Great a green light from Microsoft themselves! A week later they state that people better not try this method because Microsoft will refuse to update any PC that uses this registry patch that they themselves showed off. I think now Microsoft changed their statement from they wont update PC, to they might not but probably still will.Hardware requirements are just as confusing. They keep changing the minimum requirements and hopefully they will figure out what they are doing here. There are still a lot of PC's that are very capable of handling security requirements that are not yet allowed an update. This needs to be fixed and Microsoft needs to figure it out and allow the right number of PC's in. Holidays are over.Yes, this is an area Microsoft has really fumbled. I was lucky enough to have my pc pass the "requirements"
PhoenixRising1 , I did not mean the MS patch were there was confusion over the ability to update. Even before Win 11 was released officially, there was a patch removing the need for the TPM Module and other requirements etc...
I had an I7 Laptop that failed the requirements and used it myself on that machine and the OS has updated on it without issues, but this patch may fall into the realms of things we do not talk about even though it was widely posted on Reddit and Github, my reply was more connected to MS Acts and Others RE Act.
I think those official requirements will change as it was one of the worst "set of things" needed for an OS ever.
Still seeing almost weekly releases of "Win 11 De bloater" and similar programs to help the less experienced users deal with the privacy issues, i am still undecided if Win 10 support will continue past Oct. 14, 2025 as 3 and a half years is a long time for things to happen with Win 11 opening up which machines can use it, if i had to make the call, i would say No.
Each to there own Kona, that is what makes our world so special, different opinions, I personally have gone too far down the custom route to ever go back to any Default look or feel, but can understand how others love the simplicity of the default. Hope your Mac is all you hope it to be. I can offer No opinion on Macs as my hands on time with them has been too few, unless you consider shopping for PC Parts on a IPad, but when it is up and running, please report back to us and share "What is good and Bad".
Yikes you are going to get cornered in that market space and lose all customization and all access to stardock products. At least with Windows you can stray to other companies such as Stardock to make things better.
Don't mind me. I have a long standing dislike for Apple products
Boy Howdy, as a Skinner (Master) I take exception to that comment....
I agree. The TPM Chip should be the ONLY requirement for Windows 11. There is no question, Windows 11 requirements will go down as a fumble when we talk about the OS years from now.
The good thing about Github is that it fixes everything. There are so many talented coders there. Ironically it is now owned by Microsoft.
Sorry there Jafo. I haven't skinned my computer in a very, very long time. I don't know why, I just find the default black taskbar just works for me.
I meant no offense. I should have said for me, I prefer the Microsoft look, but I know others do not. I respect all the skinners on this site, what you all do is amazing.
I haven't installed a Stardock product in over 10 years. I did buy Start 11 just in case I end up using Windows 11. Besides, Apple Mac OS has more then enough eye candy and I don't want to use Windows 11 unless they change a few things to make it feel more like Windows 10. My biggest grip is no icons shown inside folders when in medium or large folder view.
Thumbnails can be put back in from good ol' github or majorgeeks
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows_thumbnail_generator.html
This is why I like windows over Apple. I have a lot of control over my PC.
Honestly, I did have some issues myself with Windows 11 out of the box. The start menu, the taskbar... But there is also a solution to all the problems with the exception that skinning on Windows 11 is still a bit difficult
Then why do you waste your time here?
It's not a waste of time. There is more to WC then just skinning. I have many friends here and once upon a time, long ago, I made a few skins myself. I enjoy the discussions we have here about various subjects.I always skinned Windows 7. When 10 came out I just didn't get around to skinning it and more or less just got used to the plain black taskbar.
Yeah but I have an iPhone and I'm pretty deep in Apple's ecosystem at this point. More then likely, due to how insanely priced Macs are, I'm be getting another HP All-In-One with Windows 11. Just gonna have to buckle down and learn to love it. I do have my copy of Start 11 so that will help.
That is why I am here. I learned to love Windows 11 only with Start 11.
Strange thing is; the Stardock developers actually read the forum here and incorporate things that the users want. Microsoft tries their best to ignore the users because they think they know best.
So yeah there are some annoyances but there are also some good solutions as well.
I've tried several times to use 11 on my current PC. It's about 10 months old, runs 11 just fine. As with all new things, it makes me dizzy when I see a new layout. There is something strange at work when I use 11 on here, the fonts aren't as crisp and readable as 10, and the whole display seems not as sharp with everything.
You are not wrong there PhoenixRising1, Github does have some fantastic stuff and can always help you in times of need, full of likeminded peeps. I love Reddit too as some of those communities are very serious about there subject matter.
Never really been an Apple fan myself besides the IPad, and that is just a convenient way to shop E Bay or Amazon for those "Big Boys Toys" all us IT peeps love playing with, my latest set of upgrades are now finished and my Desktop now looks great inside and out. It is so much more accessible now having the various SSDs all included in a Multi Booting System, should have done it ages ago, now i can flip back and forwards through various OS.
Now we have neone6 & Vampothika doing there own site, i have just picked up a new MasterSkin to try out "Hexagon"
I sent a message asking for a screenshot using the system colour Changer Slider moved to Vivid Green to see how this Skin would look in my preferred colour scheme, neone6 , happily did this for me so first sale of many, always loved there take on skin colours and already have lots of them.
Seven reasons to choose Windows 10 over Windows 11:
https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-10-reasons-to-choose-over-windows-11/?utm_source=MUO-NL-RP&utm_medium=newsletter
A good read I will respond to them
True, I have no counter for this one.
This was very true at release, but 3 months later I would say most of the bugs are ironed out unless a preview version is running. It could be argued that Windows 11 was not in Beta long enough for sure.
Yes, the taskbar is one of the worst features of Windows 11. BUT, with explorerpatcher and soon to be with start 11 the taskbar issue's can easily be corrected.
This was very true at release. But now the android apps are becoming pretty easy to put on windows 11. It was a late arrival but kind of no longer true.
The reasoning that is used for their argument is true, But I am going to have to disagree with this one. Some of the changes are pretty substantial regardless of the development process. Is you look at Apple OS updates or Andriod OS updates you will have to agree that the Windows 11 changes a lot more big in comparison with the previous OS.
Half true, Windows 10 is getting a lot of the same gaming upgrades that Windows 11 is. However xbox integration on Windows 11 is much better.
But the updates will become only security updates and more small as time goes on. Windows 11 will see much bigger updates and support.
And there's the rub.
Who at Redmond said "don't worry if the GUI is shit....there are 3rd party solutions"...?
That applies to ALL MS OS after 7.
Probably why I am still on 7...
True. The taskbar is a bit of a similar problem we saw with windows 8. They keep trying to make an OS that has the same GUI whether it is keyboard and mouse or a Tablet. Unfortunately, it just doesn't feel right.
However, for me... I kind of like the variety third party software brings and prefer that anyways. Take the start menu for example, I much rather having a choice in what style I want to use.. Some people prefer windows 7, some people prefer windows 10, and some people prefer windows 11.. So no OS can really offer a start button for everyone. The flop of Windows 8 really did bring in a golden age of third party modifications. In my view that is a good thing.
Give Windows 11 a go sonnybaker016, spend some hands on time with the OS and report back your findings, i have used the OS since before it's release last year and find it to be fine and stable, i have heard others say it is buggy but from my personal experience and now hundreds of man hours using this OS for both work and play i can not agree. You can always roll back to Win 10 if you do not like it.
Remember to take all the Privacy precautions to stop MS using your Data, and you will be good to go.
I agree with you, I like Win11 as is, just plain Jane (my personal opinion), run it on my laptop, and it runs fine, love it!
Give Windows 11 a go sonnybaker016, spend some hands on time with the OS and report back your findings, i have used the OS since before it's release last year and find it to be fine and stable, i have heard others say it is buggy but from my personal experience and now hundreds of man hours using this OS for both work and play i can not agree. You can always roll back to Win 10 if you do not like it.Remember to take all the Privacy precautions to stop MS using your Data, and you will be good to go.
Sonnybaker016 was spam ...
Will miss Sonnybaker and the great conversation he sparked up. He was definitely the MVP of spam
A lot of our members agree with you don5318. Do you move the Start and Taskbar Icons using Start11 don5318, or just leave as is.
I leave (Win11 Start and Taskbar) as is, I don't use Start11, the only Stardock product on my laptop is Fences.
I'm going to wait for WB11, to use Start11, and I'm fine with that, like I said, I like Win11 right out of the box.
I do like the add on, and upgrades with this latest update on Win11, and that's funny, cause I'm running it on an unsupported hardware machine, I suppose there will be a time, when my laptop won't receive any major updates.
Is there a way to get it on unsupported h'ware? ...I still have no interest running it on the only machine I have that is...but plenty of guinea pigs I can sacrifice to the Gods of Idiocy...
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