Windows 11

Simon · Dec 03, 2021, 11:10:15

Has anyone installed it yet? I've got it lurking in the background of both my Windows 10 machines, but haven't plucked up the courage yet. TBH, it doesn't feel that long ago that I upgraded to Windows 10, having clung on to Windows 7 until its last breath.

My laptop says 11 is ready to install, but I need to do something in the BIOS relating to TPM 2.0 on my desktop, which is actually newer.

zappaDPJ · Dec 03, 2021, 13:09:17

None of the PCs we have support Windows 11 so I doubt I'll be seeing it here in the next few years. Ironically my main, self-built, ten year old PC still blows virtually every off-the-shelf model out of the water.

You'll need to turn TPM 2.0 on in the BIOS before you can upgrade your laptop. You should find the setting under 'Security'.

Simon · Dec 03, 2021, 13:21:17

I think I'll probably just hold onto Windows 10 for now, unless I feel particularly bored and adventurous over the Festive season.

talos · Dec 04, 2021, 07:34:49

Quote from: Simon on Dec 03, 2021, 13:21:17
I think I'll probably just hold onto Windows 10 for now, unless I feel particularly bored and adventurous over the Festive season.

Same here

nowster · Dec 04, 2021, 12:38:57

Windows? What's that?

robinc · Dec 05, 2021, 06:09:21

Quote from: nowster on Dec 04, 2021, 12:38:57
Windows? What's that?

It's what you opens to let the virus out.

Simon · Dec 05, 2021, 09:54:29

Quote from: robinc on Dec 05, 2021, 06:09:21

It's what you opens to let the virus out.

Clive · Dec 08, 2021, 10:51:13

I have no intention of installing it. Windows 10 was supposed to last forever - what happened to that promise?

Simon · Dec 08, 2021, 21:46:49

Whoever keeps promises these days?

Postal · Dec 10, 2021, 00:02:47

Quote from: Clive on Dec 08, 2021, 10:51:13
I have no intention of installing it. Windows 10 was supposed to last forever - what happened to that promise?

It took me 5 hours with Windows 11 before I gave up and reverted to Windows 10. The things that give me problems are basically cosmetic and not problems with the actual OS but are the sort of things that aggravate. For example, there is no longer a clickable option to change the taskbar icon size (and thus the amount of real estate grabbed by the taskbar). This can be fudged using a Registry tweak but selecting a smaller icon size for the taskbar leaves the notification area at the right hand end untweaked with the icons misaligned at the bottom of the task bar to the extent that some of the icons only show their top half. This includes the clock so that it is possible to read the time but the date is almost all off-screen. It is also impossible to show the seconds in the clock, only the hours and minutes. There was a Registry tweak in W10 to force the display of seconds but this is now deprecated. The deprecation also means that third party clocks like T-ClockEx will no longer work. That is not Microsoft's problem as they cannot be responsible for third-party software but it just makes the user-interface less friendly.

No idea why that functionality was removed but it means that I will be stopping in my comfort zone with W10 until the functionality is restored or W10 reaches end of life.

Simon · Dec 10, 2021, 00:23:16

I do hate it when software developers force cosmetic changes that can't be reverted by the end user. It's like them saying, "Well we like it this way so you'll have to put up with it," but I'm sure there are other reasons for it.

Postal · Dec 11, 2021, 16:10:50

Quote from: Simon on Dec 10, 2021, 00:23:16
I do hate it when software developers force cosmetic changes that can't be reverted by the end user. It's like them saying, "Well we like it this way so you'll have to put up with it," but I'm sure there are other reasons for it.

You can follow which of the functional silos in Microsoft is making the running by looking at their release cycle. If the tecchies are making the running we get lots of "We haven't asked the people who pay our wages if they will like this but it is whizz-bang technology so of we force them to have it they will learn to live with it and eventually like it" whereas the people on the customer facing side of the house are driven to change things by listening to people saying "This is rubbish, we don't like it" and trying to give what the customer base seems to want. So when the customer facing side was driving things we had XP. Then the tecchies got their hands on the controls and we had Vista. Back to the outward-facing people and they had Vista replaced with Windows 7. The tecchies broke that with Windows 8 which forced those who took notice of customer feedback to drive Windows 10. If that thesis holds we have a pointer as to which side of the house has been driving the changes for Windows 11.

Simon · Feb 22, 2023, 00:40:57

Quote from: Postal on Dec 10, 2021, 00:02:47
It took me 5 hours with Windows 11 before I gave up and reverted to Windows 10. The things that give me problems are basically cosmetic and not problems with the actual OS but are the sort of things that aggravate. For example, there is no longer a clickable option to change the taskbar icon size (and thus the amount of real estate grabbed by the taskbar). This can be fudged using a Registry tweak but selecting a smaller icon size for the taskbar leaves the notification area at the right hand end untweaked with the icons misaligned at the bottom of the task bar to the extent that some of the icons only show their top half. This includes the clock so that it is possible to read the time but the date is almost all off-screen. It is also impossible to show the seconds in the clock, only the hours and minutes. There was a Registry tweak in W10 to force the display of seconds but this is now deprecated. The deprecation also means that third party clocks like T-ClockEx will no longer work. That is not Microsoft's problem as they cannot be responsible for third-party software but it just makes the user-interface less friendly.

No idea why that functionality was removed but it means that I will be stopping in my comfort zone with W10 until the functionality is restored or W10 reaches end of life.

I'm now being nagged almost daily (well, weekly) to upgrade to Windows 11. Does anyone know if the above issue has been rectified? Also, if I go ahead with the upgrade, will all my programs remain working as they do with W10?

zappaDPJ · Feb 22, 2023, 01:02:26

I don't believe anything has changed because it's not seen by Microsoft as an issue. As far as I know the Registry hack will still leave some elements within the bar misaligned. Anything written for Windows 10 should work on 11 but I can't say if that's the case for older programs.

I think Microsoft has finally given up on my PC which is too old to update to 11 because the only nag screen I get now is to switch to Edge.

nowster · Feb 22, 2023, 10:02:22

What is this Microsoft thing of which you speak? Oh, yes, didn't they write a version of BASIC?

(For me the year of the Linux desktop was 1996.)

peasblossom · Feb 22, 2023, 20:32:34

Quote from: Simon on Dec 10, 2021, 00:23:16
I do hate it when software developers force cosmetic changes that can't be reverted by the end user. It's like them saying, "Well we like it this way so you'll have to put up with it," but I'm sure there are other reasons for it.

GMail we're looking at you. (I don't use the desktop version now, happily, but when I did ...

Also Mint, Mint, Mint, Mint.

Who was that masked poster? :-)

nowster · Feb 22, 2023, 22:00:18

Quote from: peasblossom on Feb 22, 2023, 20:32:34
Also Mint, Mint, Mint, Mint.

Debian unstable for me. But then I'm an inactive Debian developer.

Simon · Apr 17, 2023, 14:22:48

This is just laughable. The Windows 11 update downloaded itself and has been lurking menacingly on my hard drive for several weeks, taking up precious disc space.

I finally bit the bullet and decided to install it this morning, but instead of installing the update it had previously downloaded, it downloaded a new one, and is now complaining that it can't install it because of low disc space.

So, Windows 11 is taking up disc space, and also complaining that it can't proceed because of the disc space it's taking up. I realise it was lowish in the first place (~17Gb on C drive), but couldn't it have said this before it started?

It's now asked me to attach an external drive with <10Gb of free space so that it can continue the installation. I have little faith that it will succeed but I'm going out and have left it to its own devices.

zappaDPJ · Apr 17, 2023, 15:34:41

Ouch! Well good luck with that one

Sooner or later I'm going to have to build a new PC to run it. My issue will be not so much the cost of the new PC but all the old software I use daily like Photoshop that came 'boxed' but is now only available as a cloud offering. That alone will cost me £623.76 a year.

Simon · Apr 17, 2023, 16:16:18

I did do a little bit of checking beforehand, and it does say that Windows 11 won't uninstall any existing software, so hopefully anything that was installed on Windows 10, will still work on Windows 11.

I believe any new device with Windows 11 pre-installed, has some sort of security feature that prevents you from installing anything that is not from the Microsoft store. I believe this can be disabled but it gives you dire warnings about the consequences should you decide to do so.

Clive · Apr 17, 2023, 18:06:26

Apparently MS plan to force you to install 11 if your machine can withstand it. I'm OK because my laptop isn't suitable but Mrs Clive's is vulnerable.

Simon · Apr 17, 2023, 19:52:30

I've given up. It want me to install it, then it refuses to install. I've given it all the disc space it needs. So now I'm left with a useless lump of software taking up space on my hard drive that I need to find out how to get rid of.

nowster · Apr 17, 2023, 20:18:31

I'm so glad I've been using Linux since 1994.

Simon · Apr 17, 2023, 20:27:43

I suspect, even if I find a way to get rid of it, it'll download the bloody thing again next time Windows updates.

Simon · Apr 17, 2023, 22:12:30

I think I might have beaten it!

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-cancel-windows-11-update/54c282c9-962a-4680-920d-16629c063557

I did the above, and have reclaimed about 20Gb of hard drive space.