Thoughts on Windows 11

Wynona · Nov 2, 2021

Hazel123 said:
I think maybe both. For touch users who are used to tablets and phones - and to compete with mac/mac users. Who might decide to buy a Windows machine instead of a macbook if function and look are similar and they can get a cheaper laptop. On the other hand read a few angry reviews about the requirements of TPM2 and 8th gen processor, who've said - not buying a new pc to run W11 - getting a macbook instead. All very interesting regarding market share outcome! So people who may have bought a macbook could get a new Windows 11 computer and people who refuse to upgrade to a new computer to run Windows 11 will buy a macbook. Lol.

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

My genealogy teacher is looking for a new desktop machine and is depending on me helping her find one. From the research I've done so far, there are Windows 11 compatible computers with 500 GB drives, an extra data drive 8-16 GB RAM going for less than $600.00. I'm really surprised at the low prices. I have seen some refurbished ones going for between $350.00 and $400.00.

Wynona · Nov 2, 2021

Superfly said:
Obv. horses for courses... but lets face it on a wide-screen centred Start is cool.. ("Run" still bucks left but hey... nothing's perfect) these things most want (like Taskbar on the side etc..) are a bit trivial bearing in mind the OS is faster and more reliable.. (for me anyway)

The taskbar ain't trivial to moi! Because our Senior Activity Center closes down regularly (because someone got COVID), we need to have our Windows 10 and Genealogy classes online via Skype. Skype covers up the Taskbar on the bottom and my students can't see where/what I'm clicking when I share my screen so I need my taskbar on top.

Thanks to @Brink's tutorial, I can hack the registry to get it up there! I haven't seen a way to get it on the sides yet, though.

Wynona · Nov 2, 2021

zooburner said:
Hi there Gary,

Yes I'm talking about the Chrome based Edge, they seemed to have started really well with it, but now it's just a pain to use it was never the base code that bothered me, it was the lengths you have to go to on customising it. Take for instance a simple truly blank page for new tabs, you have to use an extension !! This used to be very basic browser options, not in Edge.

I thought I should try Edge a few days ago. I couldn't find my rear end with both hands it was such a mess. Intuitive it ain't!

swarfega · Nov 2, 2021

Wynona said:
I thought I should try Edge a few days ago. I couldn't find my rear end with both hands it was such a mess. Intuitive it ain't!

I find it intuitive and works fine. Rarely have any issue with it and I use it as my daily driver.

Dru2 · Nov 2, 2021

Yeah, I find no issues with Edge either. I guess it depends on what flavor of Kool-Aid one is looking for :wink:

Edwin · Nov 2, 2021

Didn't know you can now use Google voice search on Edge..., things are lookin up!

Edge seems to be the new memory hog, though!

Superfly · Nov 4, 2021

Wynona said:
The taskbar ain't trivial to moi! Because our Senior Activity Center closes down regularly (because someone got COVID), we need to have our Windows 10 and Genealogy classes online via Skype. Skype covers up the Taskbar on the bottom and my students can't see where/what I'm clicking when I share my screen so I need my taskbar on top.

Thanks to @Brink's tutorial, I can hack the registry to get it up there! I haven't seen a way to get it on the sides yet, though.

Okey dokey Wynona ... great work you are doing btw :wink:

hdmi · Nov 4, 2021

Wynona said:
The taskbar ain't trivial to moi! Because our Senior Activity Center closes down regularly (because someone got COVID), we need to have our Windows 10 and Genealogy classes online via Skype. Skype covers up the Taskbar on the bottom and my students can't see where/what I'm clicking when I share my screen so I need my taskbar on top.

Thanks to @Brink's tutorial, I can hack the registry to get it up there! I haven't seen a way to get it on the sides yet, though.

The only way to get it on the sides AFAIK is to bring back the old taskbar from Windows 10, which causes quite a few negative side effects, but these can effectively be remedied by using ExplorerPatcher. It's what I have been using for the past three and a half weeks. It's free, and it works great.

P.S., always be sure to undo the registry hack before trying to install ExplorerPatcher.

orangecrate · Nov 5, 2021

I don't care for 11, and have started using Windows 10 again.

Wynona · Nov 5, 2021

hdmi said:
The only way to get it on the sides AFAIK is to bring back the old taskbar from Windows 10, which causes quite a few negative side effects, but these can effectively be remedied by using ExplorerPatcher. It's what I have been using for the past three and a half weeks. It's free, and it works great.

P.S., always be sure to undo the registry hack before trying to install ExplorerPatcher.

I had a look at Explorer Patcher, and it looks way, way, too complicated. "Put this here, put that there, etc." makes my brain hurt.

I have my taskbar on top, and can populate it with the things I use most, so it's almost like the Quick Launch Bar. That'll do for now and isn't too invasive.

6391mb · Nov 5, 2021

Well I don't get it. Updated one laptop which was 11 compatible - all went fine.

So thought I'd upgrade my compatible main rig to 11 via ISO. All installed fine until start up then all I had was a blank taskbar and no start icon - no response from mouse right click. Applied the fix via cmd command - reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\IrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0 - that didn't work.

Fortunately was able to get back to 10 via MR but really felt as though this OS is not ready. So will wait more than a few months for MSoft to get the gremlins out.

Whilst looking for a fix/answer, it appears this taskbar problem was being reported to MS during insider beta testing and MS came out with the cmd command fix - meant to be temporary. So I feel as though 11 is still at beta stage. Wonder what other nasties are lurking under the surface.

hdmi · Nov 5, 2021

Wynona said:
I had a look at Explorer Patcher, and it looks way, way, too complicated. "Put this here, put that there, etc." makes my brain hurt. :) I have my taskbar on top, and can populate it with the things I use most, so it's almost like the Quick Launch Bar. That'll do for now and isn't too invasive.

I have no idea what you mean by "Put this here, put that there, etc.". The only things that you need extra are something like Open-Shell (former Classic Shell) to bring back a Start Menu and something like Battery Mode to replace the Battery flyout with. This is because these two items will be broken as a sacrifice. In Open-Shell settings you can conveniently choose which type of Start Menu you want. I picked the "Windows 7 style" option because that's the one that I like best, and it is highly customizable so it is a ~~big~~ huge improvement over the Windows 11 Start Menu anyway IMO, but you also get the option to just bring back the latter if that's what you prefer. Just be sure to install it or something similar to bring back a Start Menu (and undo the registry hack if applicable) BEFORE you install ExplorerPatcher. As for Battery Mode, it is truly great even for those who don't want to install ExplorerPatcher. I mean, freeware like Battery Mode stops my brain from hurting because of how seriously great is factually is.

ExplorerPatcher is just a single file (named dxgi.dll), and, in C:\Windows is where to put it. Granted, you have to restart the Explorer process for it to take effect after that, and then finally just wait a little bit until it gives you a notification (Toast Notifications) saying it has finished downloading the stuff that it needs to download from Microsoft to be able to do its job. Should you want to uninstall ExplorerPatcher or want to update it to a newer version, first you need to rename the file that you have put in your C:\Windows, and, next, you can simply delete it or replace it with the newer version of the same file. (Just restart the Explorer process again after that.)

P.S., in the Win+X menu (the menu that appears when you press Win + X or you right-click on the Start button with your mouse while you hold down your Shift key) there will be a menu item named Properties, which brings up the ExplorerPatcher settings window panel. Right-click on the Start button will bring up the Open-Shell menu where you can access its settings window. There is a tab there named Controls, it lets you change which keyboard+mouse actions should open what.

Wynona · Nov 6, 2021

hdmi said:
I have no idea what you mean by "Put this here, put that there, etc.". The only things that you need extra are something like Open-Shell (former Classic Shell) to bring back a Start Menu and something like Battery Mode to replace the Battery flyout with. This is because these two items will be broken as a sacrifice. In Open-Shell settings you can conveniently choose which type of Start Menu you want. I picked the "Windows 7 style" option because that's the one that I like best, and it is highly customizable so it is a ~~big~~ huge improvement over the Windows 11 Start Menu anyway IMO, but you also get the option to just bring back the latter if that's what you prefer. Just be sure to install it or something similar to bring back a Start Menu (and undo the registry hack if applicable) BEFORE you install ExplorerPatcher. As for Battery Mode, it is truly great even for those who don't want to install ExplorerPatcher. I mean, freeware like Battery Mode stops my brain from hurting because of how seriously great is factually is.

ExplorerPatcher is just a single file (named dxgi.dll), and, in C:\Windows is where to put it. Granted, you have to restart the Explorer process for it to take effect after that, and then finally just wait a little bit until it gives you a notification (Toast Notifications) saying it has finished downloading the stuff that it needs to download from Microsoft to be able to do its job. Should you want to uninstall ExplorerPatcher or want to update it to a newer version, first you need to rename the file that you have put in your C:\Windows, and, next, you can simply delete it or replace it with the newer version of the same file. (Just restart the Explorer process again after that.)

P.S., in the Win+X menu (the menu that appears when you press Win + X or you right-click on the Start button with your mouse while you hold down your Shift key) there will be a menu item named Properties, which brings up the ExplorerPatcher settings window panel. Right-click on the Start button will bring up the Open-Shell menu where you can access its settings window. There is a tab there named Controls, it lets you change which keyboard+mouse actions should open what.

Methinks you just made my point for me, HDMI. The name of my geeky game is KISS.

Thing is, the hack @Brink gave us for putting the taskbar on top is the best I've seen, and is easily understood. After the TB is on top, all I have to do is right click on the app I want on it and pin it to the taskbar.

Change Taskbar Location on Screen in Windows 11 Tutorial

This will no longer work starting with Windows 11 build 22598. The taskbar functionality has changed in Windows 11. Alignment to the left or center at the bottom of the screen is the only location allowed now. However, you can actually still change the taskbar location to the top or bottom on...

www.elevenforum.com

Atomic77 · Nov 6, 2021

Windows 11 is quite the operating system. It is quite different from other operating systems that Microsoft has done. I Have not had any complaints with it so far.

PerpetualCycle · Nov 7, 2021

Atomic77 said:
Windows 11 is quite the operating system. It is quite different from other operating systems that Microsoft has done. I Have not had any complaints with it so far.

How is it quite different than windows 10 as an operating system?

NavyLCDR · Nov 7, 2021

geneo said:
How is it quite different than windows 10 as an operating system?

Maybe because he hasn't had any complaints with it so far? That might be the difference :lmao:

Timaximus · Nov 7, 2021

It is all about habituation.

After a while (when the getting used-to-it phase is over) we all love the new Windows taskbar and Start Menu appearance and center position.

Regards,

Tim van S.

Edwin · Nov 7, 2021

Timaximus said:
It is all about habituation.

After a while (when the getting used-to-it phase is over) we all love the new Windows taskbar and Start Menu appearance and center position.

Naw! Throwin the mouse pointer blindly into the bottom left corner is a habit I don't think I'll ever break!
Not to mention, Taskbar overflow is inaccessible, currently!

barman58 · Nov 7, 2021

With the majority of Windows users being Right handed, I've always been surprised why the Start menu is at the bottom Left. and not the bottom right

It's a pointless question now as I like Edwin have now built up a muscle memory for the Start menu in the left corner