Windows 11

Mike Labbe

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Well, I put Windows 11 on the primary home PC today.

It seems faster, has a new bar at the bottom, and settings are much more organized. I haven't explored much yet, but hear it can even run smartphone apps (Android).

THIS screen, showing the new bottom section.

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No start button? I had to install some kind of gizmo to get a start button my my Win10 machine.
It's the leftmost button
 
Nine days in and I'm still loving Windows 11 :)

This computer runs 24/7, has 3 server like programs running all the time, and also does the automated backups twice daily for this forum and for the PPFA forum.

It hasnt missed a beat, or required any kind of reboots (other than after a major update)
 
I got a notification on my 2 year old HP laptop to check for Windows 11 compatability.
I ran the check and find that some piece of hardware on my machine is not supported.
I've never had an issue with a new version of Windows previously.
 
Yea this particular update is VERY picky about it being fairly new. Some machines as young as 6 months old do not qualify, but some that are 3 years old do qualify if they were high end machines. I have a lot of computers, and only 2 of mine qualify.

In some cases, you can fix it with a firmware update from the vendor. But for most, it just requires a faster/newer CPU from what came with the machine.
 
It has better animations, a new taskbar at the bottom with everything centered, better performance. It doesn't make much of a difference in my life, but is stable.
 
I just installed 11 on a new pc here, and only two things really bother me - the new right-click context menu in Explorer that hides the original (with all the other stuff in it that I need) and the fact that the shell Explorer process becomes unresponsive to just the mouse *every night* and I have to sign out to fix it.

Oh, and the first thing I did was left-justify the start menu button :)
 
Could it be some kind of power saving or hibernation thing? This one has to run 24/7, because it does regular FTP runs and has a couple other servers on it for chat networks, so it never goes to sleep. It has been 100% trouble free, so far. (but then again, so was Windows 10)
 
Nah, don't think do. Goggling the problem seems to point to an issue they were having two months ago with some Teams ad service (Iris) that was returning bad data and hanging the operating system (ouch!). I followed the instructions and hacked the registry to disable the service but no avail,... still, I suspect it's either Teams or Visual Studio (which is also doing a few weird things but still seems to work).
 
My 2019 Dell XPS15-9570 laptop is Windows 11 compatible, so I'll upgrade it, but should I wait a while to see if there are any early bug-fixes or improvements to the upgrading process?

My 2012 Lenovo Y480 laptop has an i7-3610QM, 2.3 GHz processor, 8 GB RAM, and 500 GB SSHD. It starts and runs as fast as the newer Dell and it has lots of ports, including (3) USB ports and a CD/DVD drive, so I'll continue to use it until something goes wrong.

Likewise, the 2015 desktop PC upstairs is running a later version of Windows 10, but is incompatible with Windows 11. My neighborhood computer Guru thinks it might be worth replacing the CPU, since it has already had lots of upgrades. It, too, works just fine and is equipped similar to the Lenovo laptop, so It will stay put, too.
 
It doesn't hurt to wait a while, but it has performed well for me. Steve's issue was the first one I have seen, personally, beyond a reported issue with some BROTHER brand printers/driver. (which may have been fixed by now)

If it was me, I'd wait until DELL contacts you about upgrading your XPS15. While you could technically force it to install before that, they will test it out thoroughly and make sure the drivers they provide are all up for the task. They expect to be doing so later this year, and early into 2022
 
I think I might have figured out my issue with the taskbar freezing every evening, but was wondering - are you running multiple displays Mike?

I found an obscure reference that said to make sure the taskbar only shows on the main display. But of course when I remoted in from the laptop that's only one display so Windows thought I only had one display on my work box and disabled the setting so I couldn't try it yet lol. And then when I got in this morning the taskbar was still working, but it might have been the remote session that stopped it from becoming unresponsive again. Sheesh. :shrug:

The worst part is that sometimes I can get it back by killing the Explorer process and relaunching it. If that doesn't work, then I can usually sign out and then sign back in. Twice now though all I get is a black screen instead of the lock screen and I have to hard reboot to get Windows back. Ugh.
 
On this particular machine I only have one screen and I mostly use the machine from remote. Even if I'm home, I often use it from another machine in the other room. It sounds like you are close to a solution!
 
Probably only for internal Microsoft things, like they did in the past for the previous Windows Updates system. Theyre not going to block other browsers for general web use, like Apple IOS does with Safari.
 
Theyre not going to block other browsers for general web use, like Apple IOS does with Safari.
What? I use Chrome on my iPhone. I wouldn't have an iPhone if they didn't allow it. I think...
 
Well it does look like Chrome, but Apple put training wheels and restrictions on it by requiring it use Apple Webkit. This causes it to be slower and not as maintained as the regular Chrome.

My understanding is that it's basically still the Safari browser engine under the hood, with a Chrome front end interface. (but an older version of Safari, not the current one)
 
Well it does look like Chrome, but Apple put training wheels and restrictions on it by requiring it use Apple Webkit. This causes it to be slower and not as maintained as the regular Chrome.

My understanding is that it's basically still the Safari browser engine under the hood, with a Chrome front end interface. (but an older version of Safari, not the current one)
My biggest reason for using Chrome on iPhone is syncing of data (history, bookmarks - I don't save passwords on Chrome).

I don't use my phone much for browsing (probably less than 0.1% overall) but when I do, I drink Dos Equis. Or something like that.
 
Well you do get those benefits, which is very useful! :)
 
Well it does look like Chrome, but Apple put training wheels and restrictions on it by requiring it use Apple Webkit. This causes it to be slower and not as maintained as the regular Chrome.

My understanding is that it's basically still the Safari browser engine under the hood, with a Chrome front end interface. (but an older version of Safari, not the current one)
I don’t like the current Safari on the Mac OS. The interface is clunky and non-intuitive. I much prefer Firefox.
 
Yesterday my Dell XPS15-9570 notified me of an update, which is a fairly common occurrence, so I initiated it at the end of the day. Little did I know it would simmer for almost half an hour. :oops: and require multiple restarts. :rolleyes:

When it was finished I noticed that the icons and other screen features looked different, so apparently Windows 11 was installed last night.

I don't mind having Windows 11, but I had one problem: The taskbar would not automatically "hide". In fact, I couldn't figure out how to 'disappear' it at all. After some clicking around in the system settings, I turned off all options for the taskbar and then turned on the ones I wanted, and voila! It works!

Baby Reaction GIF


Hopefully I'll be able to wiggle through the new stuff without further incidents...
 
Yea you did the big Windows 11 upgrade. I have it on my two primary computers, and have been very happy with it (Bought a new Dell XPS 13 a couple weeks ago)

To auto hide your taskbar in Win11:
-Right click on an unused section of your taskbar
-Click TASKBAR SETTINGS in the pop up menu
-Click TASKBAR BEHAVIOR
-Click AUTOMATICALLY HIDE THE TASKBAR

Mike
 
Thanks for that, Mike, but none of the taskbar settings worked at all, until I turned off all options and re-selected the ones I wanted. And now all is well. Strange.

Here's another strange thing...
For the past couple of months I've used Airpods Pro (I love them 🤗) all day, connected by Bluetooth to this Dell XPS15-9570, using RingCentral VOIP. Since the Airpods' batteries run down after several hours, I wear one in the morning and switch to the other one for the afternoon.

This setup worked perfectly until yesterday - the first day with Windows 11. Three times, on three separate calls, the speakers went dead in mid-call for no apparent reason. The people on the other end of the calls could hear me, but my only choice was to end the connection and call back.

This morning I "removed" the Airpods Pro from the computer and re-paired them. Hopefully, that will fix the issue. If not, I'll be looking for a Plan B. :shrug:
 
Hopefully. Is it possible that two devices are paired to the same bluetooth device and that it is going back and forth, depending on the signal quality?
 
Hopefully. Is it possible that two devices are paired to the same bluetooth device and that it is going back and forth, depending on the signal quality?
Yes, I guess that's possible. My smartphone and secondary laptop are always within Bluetooth range. But the dead-speaker issue emerged the day I fired up Windows 11. Coincidence? :shrug:
 
I doubt it's a coincidence
 
So, 6 months later and I'm still rebooting 11 nightly. I'm going to wait till later this summer and just reinstall from scratch with the latest 11 build and see if that helps.

The main redeeming quality about it right now is that our draconian domain security policies haven't caught up to Win11, and for the time being I can log into my dev PC with my face. :)
 
I've still yet to have any problems, on 4 of my machines (Win 11)

A clean install will hopefully fix it up
 
I've still yet to have any problems, on 4 of my machines (Win 11)

A clean install will hopefully fix it up
I believe I saw something listing Windows 11 as the least popular Windows OS since Windows NT.

That said, I cannot judge something I haven't tried.
 
I don't see why. Win10 was great, this is an improvement from 10. They're always improving it.

Windows ME, Windows 8, and Vista were pretty much dogs.

Win 11 has a surprisingly low share of the desktop market though. That may be due to a fairly NEW computer being required to use it.

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I am running Windows 10 on my computer and have had very few issues with it. While it is working well I will leave it alone.

My general philosophy about computers is "If it ain't broke; don't fix it."
 
Win10 is great, too. We still have it on 4 PCs at the frame shop.

The Valiani PC keeps asking to update to 11, but we keep saying NO until we get the green light from Valiani or Crescent. I suspect it will work fine, because they are so similar.
 
Our home computer upgraded to 11 without asking. We don't use it very often so I suspect it was saying "We have updates for you and will apply them in 3 days unless you cancel or re-schedule". I went to use it one day and it was logged out. When I logged in, it was 11.
 
Yea some of the pop ups for the upgrade can be a bit deceiving, IMO. We are careful on our Valiani machine not to let it upgrade. It isn't forced or automatic, as of yet, but maybe it will be in the future.

10 and 11 are VERY similar. They centered the bar at the bottom, but you can put that back to left justified - if you wish.

I'm using the next version beta now, which is being released in the fall of this year. (Still 11)
 
Yea some of the pop ups for the upgrade can be a bit deceiving, IMO. We are careful on our Valiani machine not to let it upgrade. It isn't forced or automatic, as of yet, but maybe it will be in the future.

10 and 11 are VERY similar. They centered the bar at the bottom, but you can put that back to left justified - if you wish.

I'm using the next version beta now, which is being released in the fall of this year. (Still 11)
Very possible my wife just said "Ok install update" without realizing what it was. The only reason I noticed it was upgraded was because of the centered task bar. I'm not concerned about 11, just thought it was odd that it appeared to have been installed without consent.

Another note - I'm sure most out there remember that in the old days, Windows was only upgraded by paying for it. Apple has (for as long as I'm aware of - probably 10-12 years?) always provided upgrades for free. MS seems to have realized that to maintain their dominant position in the market that they need to provide these upgrades for free. And, of course (no different than Apple) make the minimum system requirements for such to ensure that only newer systems can run it, thereby forcing the replacement of systems, which of course have licenses for that self-same newer OS...
 
Win10 is great, too. We still have it on 4 PCs at the frame shop.

The Valiani PC keeps asking to update to 11, but we keep saying NO until we get the green light from Valiani or Crescent. I suspect it will work fine, because they are so similar.
I just installed the new Valiani software and was specifically told not to get Windows 11

So I won't.
 
My computer recently died and the new one came complete with W11 and until yesterday we were getting a long just fine. There was an update on Thursday or Friday and next time I booted up desktop icon for "word" had disappeared.

Bl##dy Microsoft!

For as long as I have used a computer I have used MS Word as my word processor and now their illegitimate nerds have disabled it and want me to pay monthly to use some complicated abomination called 365 which has more bells and whistles than a Pommy football crowd. Besides that it backs everything up onto One Drive which totally screwed up my last computer.

Well, there is a hack.

Word still exists online so that users can still read their saved documents. I have parked a shortcut to a single document on my desktop. That opens Word and I can then use the “File” menu to create a new document and carry on as usual.

I suppose in time they will disable it completely so I will need to install a new word processor.

Any suggestions?
 
I loathe Word with a burning passion. A friend told me about one of the many free versions of word-processing programs and I am *this close* to downloading one called Trio - she swears by it and uses it for both work and home.

I do not want any of my documents anywhere near the darned Cloud - can anyone say Photobucket???

*grump*
 
I loathe Word with a burning passion. A friend told me about one of the many free versions of word-processing programs and I am *this close* to downloading one called Trio - she swears by it and uses it for both work and home.

I do not want any of my documents anywhere near the darned Cloud - can anyone say Photobucket???

*grump*
Yeah.
I'm with you about Photobucket.
I'm on Mac Catalina now. I've always been on Mac since 2000.
Photobucket has been threatening me for many months about my "account".:shrug:
I don't use them anymore and I just take screen shots of the photos I want and move them but I also have many of my same photos on Photobucket in better places so good luck to them..:icon11:
 
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I use google drive if i need to store something on the cloud or share it with someone. drive.google.com Zapped dropbox years ago, and I only use one drive to let windows back itself up.

Although I support it at work, I don't love the 360 suite of programs either. (which have been around many years, not just Windows 11) You are probably running on a free 30 day trial. I use a free similar suite of programs called OPENOFFICE. (Libreoffice, Openoffice, Google Docs, AbiWord, Scribus, are some free alternatives)
 
For many years we used the WordPerfect Suite of office software. I still feel it's superior to the MS products but MS seems to have taken over the business world and to remain compatible we switched to MS 365 several years ago. BUT we don't use OneDrive. I do still maintain a license for WP as we have hundreds if not thousands of documents created over 20-30 years using it.
 
I always loved WordPerfect. Not too happy with 365suite but that's all there seems to be now. Oh well.

I still haven't upgraded to Windows 11, don't see the need right now. I'm perfectly happy with 10.
 
An aside...

Back in the day I had WordPerfect for OS2 on a Compaq Portable III, with OS2 and 5MB of memory. I was chairing a union disciplinary hearing for pilots that crossed Eastern Airlines mechanics picket line. We had to write decisions for 255 charged pilots. There were about 12 different circumstances that needed addressing in the decisions. I created a merge document in WordPerfect that resulted in about 1,000 pages. With OS2 and WordPerfect for OS2, the entire document was in memory. We could go to any page almost instantly for final editing. There is no way that could have worked in Word with a graphical interface at that time. I'm not sure it could be done today.

Between the OS2 versions of WordPerfect, Lotus, and R:Base that little Compaq was an amazing machine.
 
An aside...

Back in the day I had WordPerfect for OS2 on a Compaq Portable III, with OS2 and 5MB of memory. I was chairing a union disciplinary hearing for pilots that crossed Eastern Airlines mechanics picket line. We had to write decisions for 255 charged pilots. There were about 12 different circumstances that needed addressing in the decisions. I created a merge document in WordPerfect that resulted in about 1,000 pages. With OS2 and WordPerfect for OS2, the entire document was in memory. We could go to any page almost instantly for final editing. There is no way that could have worked in Word with a graphical interface at that time. I'm not sure it could be done today.

Between the OS2 versions of WordPerfect, Lotus, and R:Base that little Compaq was an amazing machine.
We started with Lotus 1-2-3 and AmiPro... But it was pretty short-lived. I had started personally with WordPerfect and QuattroPro due to the influence of a very tech savvy friend or mine, but my business manager wanted 1-2-3 and Ami and since it was mostly his domain I went with it. But when he left we converted to WP/QP.
 
My first Windows computer used Lotus Smart Suite which included a word processor and a spreadsheet called 1-2-3 and I was quite happy with both but, of course, they were incompatible with the operating systems on my later computers so I switched to MS Office.

My gripe is that I only want a word processor to, you know...type letters, essays etc and save them for future editing. I don't need a dozen bells and whistles and cloud backups plus sundry other clever functions I neither need nor even understand.

I did find a few free word processors while googling around but for the time being I am happy enough with my workaround for Word.
 
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