Reason to install Windows 11

I am at the point that I am thinking about installing Windows 11. I just need a few good reasons to do so.

The problem as I see it, is that once I install Windows 11, it is a real chore to get back to Windows 10 if I don't like it.

Are there any features of Windows 11 that make worthwhile to install?

Hello and I hope you're having a great day.

The reason I opted to upgrade to 11 from 10 was mainly to have the latest version of Windows. The redesign of the settings and start menu are really nice, IMO. Performance wise it's just a tad better than 10 but I think it's more of a subject feel than anything else.

Keep in mind, you can roll back to 10 from 11 within 10 days of the upgrade and from my understanding you can extend that. Also, make a backup of your 10 setup so you will not have major issues going back to it later on if you don't like 11

Just my 2c and others will chime in .. HTH

huffman said:

The problem as I see it, is that once I install Windows 11, it is a real chore to get back to Windows 10 if I don't like it.

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You can make a system image before installing / upgrading then reversion to Windows 10 would take less than half an hour even on a slow system [assuming your own files are on a different disk/partition].

Best of luck,
Denis

From a user experience point of view, there are no compelling reasons to switch and some of the interface changes are irritating. However, under the hood there are security improvements. 11 will be getting new features and updates more frequently than 10. 11 does seam a little faster on my already fast PC, slower computers users may notice a better speed boost?

It should not be a chore. Make an image copy of your existing OS partition before Win 11 install. If you don't like Win 11 or for some reason it does not work normally then do a restore.

You will need some software for the image copy, like Macrium Reflect Fee, and about half the disk space used by the OS partition. This could be on a second HDD in the Desktop, an attached HDD/SSD, or worst case a second partition on the same HDD.

I made an image copy of my OS partition to an external SSD connected via a USB 2 port prior to an upgrade via WU. The image copy of the 120 GB partition took 50 minutes, and the upgrade took 2.75 hours. There was an issue with a 3rd party feature that I did not have time to investigate so did a restore, another 45 minutes. Since then the OS partition has been optimized to 70 GB, image copied on a USB 3 port, about 25 minutes, and Win 11 updated from an ISO, about 2 hours. The 3rd party program has been removed and all is well.

There is no urgent reasons to upgrade but if you are going to upgrade at some point then now is as good a time as any. The UI changes do not bother me and I like the multiple Desktop feature. There are other subtle changes and more things to come that will not be available in Win 10.

bronskimac said:

From a user experience point of view, there are no compelling reasons to switch and some of the interface changes are irritating. However, under the hood there are security improvements. 11 will be getting new features and updates more frequently than 10. 11 does seam a little faster on my already fast PC, slower computers users may notice a better speed boost?

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I don't view the additional security features as a big improvement., Right now MS really hasn't made use of them in anyway that I've noticed and there's no way to prevent a security breach. Old passwords and other bad practices can't be cured with TPM or secure boot. It all comes down to using the soft thing between your ears.

huffman said:

... Are there any features of Windows 11 that make worthwhile to install?

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For me, speed and performance increase on a worthy machine...,

... most of the rest is kinda meh, for now...

huffman said:

I am at the point that I am thinking about installing Windows 11. I just need a few good reasons to do so.

The problem as I see it, is that once I install Windows 11, it is a real chore to get back to Windows 10 if I don't like it.

Click to expand...

You get the standard 10 days to return to your previous version of Windows, which you can extend for up to 60 days. Of course making a system image before the upgrade means you could easily go back whenever you like.

huffman said:

Are there any features of Windows 11 that make worthwhile to install?

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Opinions are divided on that. There are some things to like and some that annoy. This (lengthy) thread probably contains the widest range of opinions, including mine that....

Bree said:

Some thing in 11 I like (the Settings app), some thing I'm neutral about (Start menu: I had about 18 small tiles for my most used apps in 10, I now have the same apps as icons) and some of the extra click for context menus I dislike. My biggest bug-bear is the lack of drag and drop to an app running on the taskbar, but rumour has it that it may return.

On balance I like more in 11 than I dislike, so I'm keeping it.

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If you have a fully compatible hardware, starting from CPU, you definitely should try Windows 11. While making a full system backup before upgrading is a very good idea in any case, I would suggest to perform a fresh test installation of Windows 11 on another drive or on a new drive temporarily connected instead of your main.

You will check how the system may work without any "inheritance", after successful installation you may practise in "taming" of new OS using a lot of tunings, mods and other tools which will change its UI to style you like to see, look at this forum. Check the compatibility with software or peripheral hardware important for you, especially if it's old. If all is OK, perform upgrade or use this installation as main and Windows 10 as secondary/archive OS.

huffman said:

I am at the point that I am thinking about installing Windows 11. I just need a few good reasons to do so.

The problem as I see it, is that once I install Windows 11, it is a real chore to get back to Windows 10 if I don't like it.

Are there any features of Windows 11 that make worthwhile to install?

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Reading all of the posts in the various forums, this has become another "My OS is better than your OS" religious war. Sigh. I'll update to Windows 11 eventually but I'm going to wait until I hear less "This sucks about Windows 11" and more "This is great about Windows 11". My machine was ready to update to Windows 11 and then Microsoft put a hold on it because of a conflict with some software I'm running so I'd prefer to wait until dust like that settles.

May the best OS win. :)

Rob

OldMainframeGuy said:

Reading all of the posts in the various forums, this has become another "My OS is better than your OS" religious war. Sigh. I'll update to Windows 11 eventually but I'm going to wait until I hear less "This sucks about Windows 11" and more "This is great about Windows 11". My machine was ready to update to Windows 11 and then Microsoft put a hold on it because of a conflict with some software I'm running so I'd prefer to wait until dust like that settles.

May the best OS win. :)

Rob

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Well,.,, in this forum we're just discussing the shortfalls of 11 vs the options we had in 10. It's hardly a which is better argument. If you go by others views you might be missing out on things that make 11 decent.

Why not try 11 out and find out?

BunnyJ said:

Well,.,, in this forum we're just discussing the shortfalls of 11 vs the options we had in 10. It's hardly a which is better argument. If you go by others views you might be missing out on things that make 11 decent.

Why not try 11 out and find out?

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Don't get me wrong - nobody enjoys exploring new software more than I do (I've been a systems programmer on IBM mainframes since 1973; it's what I do for a living). Even if I wanted to, I can't upgrade right now. My PC transitioned from "Click here to upgrade to Windows 11", which was available for weeks, to this:

And when I click on "Check hardware requirements" I see this:



I think the problem is Oracle Virtual Box which has been installed on my PC ever since I acquired it in August. Apparently if I had upgraded before Microsoft documented this issue, Virtual Box would have stopped working. Certainly not the end of the world but I'd rather wait until there are no issues that are going to keep me from using the software that already runs without issues on Windows 10.

Rob

It sounds like you are not ready to upgrade, if you you are unsure wait .... or take a chance.
I love 11, if you are going to upgrade from a released stable build via windows Update it should be fine and you can always go back to 10 easily if you don't like it for up to 10 days (longer with dism).
A lot of people on here are using insiders builds etc so do find bugs, that's how it will develop to be a better system

I have Midtower PC buit by a computer shop with 5 ssd 8 years ago . One ssd was often sitting idle but occasionally I would try a linux disto.

After upgrading to windows 11, I was so pleased with the setup that I removed the spare SSD.

My computer is connected with a Canon MF260 multifunciton printer. I installed the windows 10 printer software and the printing was fine.

Today I urgently needed to scan some documents for the bank. The scanner would not work. Visiting canon support website was no help. There are no windows 11 software.

I quickly reinstalled the SSD and restored the Windows10 Macrium image. I booted onto his disk from the bios and scanned he documents for the bank

I am going to keep this win 10 disk for emergencies until Canon has win 11 compatible software for my multifunction printer.

FDretired said:

Today I urgently needed to scan some documents for the bank. The scanner would not work. Visiting canon support website was no help. There are no windows 11 software.

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There shouldn't really be any difference between 10 and 11. All my software works the same as it did in 10, including my Epson scanner software. There don't appear to be any real changes to the core system kernel of 11 compared to 10. Have you tried reinstalling your scanner?

Bree said:

There shouldn't really be any difference between 10 and 11. All my software works the same as it did in 10, including my Epson scanner software. There don't appear to be any real changes to the core system kernel of 11 compared to 10. Have you tried reinstalling your scanner?

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I tried multiple times and the scanner does not work.

I also have issue with WhatsApp for Desktop. To link the computer to my android phone I have to scan a QR code. Nothing happens.

I UPGRADED my wifes computer from win 10-11 and WhatApps is working fine.

It may be possible for you to try Windows 11 in either a supported or unsupported fashion and then return to using Windows 10.

The test drive can be performed by making free or pay backup images.

The software so frequently used in our forums is Macrium.

The software is on sale tomorrow, black friday: Black Friday



So you can make one or more backup images and save to another disk drive or to the cloud.

Then when you have completed the test drive an image can be restored.


If you use the Windows upgrade agent it will scan for unsupported parameters.

Files and or the registry can be modified so that the Windows upgrade agent does not detect unsupported parameters.

Then you can test drive for the default 10 days or modify the period to go back to windows 10.

This can be modified to a maximum of 60 days.

And during the 60 day period it can be modified again.


Sometimes tools can fail so the backup images add additional layers of protection to return to Windows 10.


If you clean install then Windows 11 can be installed on computers that had unsupported or supported findings.

And again the image can be restored when you've completed the test drive.


One more step that at times can be handy is to backup and restore drivers:

Another way you can take a limited test drive of Windows 11 without installing it is here; you can download virtual machines for VMware, Hyper-V, Virtual Box and Parallels.


I downloaded the virtual machine that runs under Virtual Box and took Windows 11 for a spin. My first impression is that the style of the task bar and menu looks a lot like my Chromebook.

Rob

My own view is that upgrading is entirely subjective. I did it because I personally prefer to use the most current OS version from Microsoft -- but that is also why I have been a Windows Insider almost from the first day.

While I DO use Win11 daily, I personally see nothing to recommend it over using Windows 10. I see no really striking "features" that make me really glad I updated; but in all fairness, I see nothing that makes me regret it, either. To me, Win11 is nothing more than Win10 with some minor GUI changes. What I have seen is that some of the newer Windows 11 drivers will not work on my hardware -- while the existing Windows 10 drivers work just fine.

If your PC will run Win11, then use Macrium Reflect to make an image backup of the current Win10 installation and go ahead with the upgrade.

Once you have used it for a while, you will then be in the position to personally judge whether or not upgrading was the best decision for you.

Do you have another drive you can install 11 on ?
Is your PC W11 ready ?