Windows 11 is five years old today

Marie SWE · 2026-10-06T08:36:06-0400

BruceR said:
Do you now or have you ever used Windows 11? There's no mention of it in the details of your 35 computer systems.

I have tested windows 11 Pro and did an evaluation of it.. in the same way i did with Win10 back in 2015.

My conclusion of windows 11 as with win10 is that you can debloat it and tweak the system to become okay as the LTSC version is that all business can buy...
But you will end up choosing between going EOL on locking down a H version and no longer get security updates. Or on every EOL upgrade and then re-tweak the whole system again, that is hours of work without fancy powershell scripting.

BruceR · 2026-10-06T09:25:12-0400

Marie SWE said:
I have tested windows 11 Pro and did an evaluation of it.. in the same way i did with Win10 back in 2015.

I'll take that as a "No" then, as your "experience" of Windows 11 is from five years ago.

Marie SWE · 2026-10-06T09:58:16-0400

BruceR said:
I'll take that as a "No" then, as your "experience" of Windows 11 is from five years ago.

What "experience" do you talk about then?
Just using it as a daily driver... or looking down under the hood of how it ticks?
Win11 Home/Pro is still a rolling edition with more or less the same functions as windows 10.. a few new features, a few new security features.. new UI. Still split settings with some under start/settings and some under control panel.
It has a lot more processes and services then win10 and a larger and a larger run-list in the scheduler.

BruceR · 2026-10-06T10:01:24-0400

Marie SWE said:
What "experience" do you talk about then?
Just using it as a daily driver... or looking down under the hood of how it ticks?

Both.

Marie SWE · 2026-10-06T10:13:40-0400

BruceR said:
Both.

as a daily driver one downside with Home/pro is it keep changing the UI over time and adding new features and integrate AI more and more.
When you use your computer and only have the OS as an engine for your work, then that is disrupting in the workflow.
How many times have the Start menu changed the last five years? If you only having the computer as a fun hobby and only browsing the web, then it might be fun with the OS is changing the UI and puts in more and more AI features for every new version release.
But as a work tool. you have a better workflow on the LTSC versions, when you only install what you need instead of MS installing it for you, what they think you should use..

Even i dont use Home/Pro i still see the changes that are made as i see the win11 news section and i see you people in here posting screenshots and talking about functions etc.
So even i dont use it myself as a daily driver, I'm not totally out of the loop.

BruceR · 2026-10-06T10:41:00-0400

Marie SWE said:
So even i dont use it myself as a daily driver, I'm not totally out of the loop.

But you get a misguided impression about the extent of issues and impact of changes if you're not seeing them yourself.

spapakons · 2026-10-06T11:31:25-0400

Marie SWE said:
I have tested windows 11 Pro and did an evaluation of it.. in the same way i did with Win10 back in 2015.

My conclusion of windows 11 as with win10 is that you can debloat it and tweak the system to become okay as the LTSC version is that all business can buy...
But you will end up choosing between going EOL on locking down a H version and no longer get security updates. Or on every EOL upgrade and then re-tweak the whole system again, that is hours of work without fancy powershell scripting.

That's precisely why I insist on trying to upgrade an old version to the latest version first and then clean install if unsuccessful. If you successfully upgrade, you do it in less than a couple of hours and you have your computer ready to use again. If you select to backup your data and clean install the last version (aka format), it will surely take much longer to reinstall and reconfigure everything again. Let alone the time it takes to backup tons of data and restore them afterwards. Not everyone has a separate disk for their data. The average inexperienced user will just save everything locally on the Windows disk. So attempt to upgrade first and if you can't, then consider the clean installation. It's not as easy as you think to start over. At least not for a typical home computer with tens of applications and games to reinstall, assuming you have all the installers and keys.

spapakons · 2026-10-06T11:52:07-0400

BruceR said:
But you get a misguided impression about the extent of issues and impact of changes are if you're not seeing them yourself.

I use Windows since 1995. I have used all versions: 95, 98, NT 4.0, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11. Hardly any version is exactly the way one would like out of the box. Most user change settings, enable more features that are not enabled by default, disable others that don't use, add third-party applications for those Microsoft ones they don't like. Some of us even customize the GUI to look like an older and nicer or more familiar version of Windows. All of these changes take considerable time. It's not something we are willing to do very often. That's why we try to upgrade the old system to the latest version and avoid clean installation. To save us all that trouble and time required to do it again from start.

Regarding what I would like, since I have an unsupported computer, a completely different Windows version, such as Windows 12, would probably be incompatible without workaround and leave me with Windows 11 which would eventually become obsolete. So I believe it is safer for all of us with unsupported computers to hope Microsoft will stick with Windows 11 and release a new version yearly. If we are lucky enough to have a CPU with the required instructions and don't make NPU mandatory, we will be able to bypass compatibility check and upgrade to the next Windows 11 versions for a few more years. My main PC (see 2nd system specs) is much faster than what I need and works without issues at Windows 11 26H2. It would be a pity if I had to replace it. A total waste of money. In the unfortunate case that a future version of Windows would be incompatible, I would stick with the latest compatible version and keep Windows Defender or third-party Antivirus updated. Like my test laptop (see 1st system specs) which is stuck in Windows 11 23H2 because the CPU doesn't have SSE4.2 So what? I think it will be at least 3-5 years more before all applications demand at least 24H2 or newer version. No bad for Vista era laptop! Even then I will stick with the latest version of the applications that work on Windows 11 23H2 until it is really too old to meet my needs. Like I said in other threads, I decide when my computer is obsolete. Not Microsoft, nobody else.

BruceR · 2026-10-06T17:24:08-0400

spapakons said:
I use Windows since 1995. I have used all versions: 95, 98, NT 4.0, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11. Hardly any version is exactly the way one would like out of the box. Most user change settings, enable more features that are not enabled by default, disable others that don't use, add third-party applications for those Microsoft ones they don't like. Some of us even customize the GUI to look like an older and nicer or more familiar version of Windows. All of these changes take considerable time. It's not something we are willing to do very often. That's why we try to upgrade the old system to the latest version and avoid clean installation. To save us all that trouble and time required to do it again from start.

Regarding what I would like, since I have an unsupported computer, a completely different Windows version, such as Windows 12, would probably be incompatible without workaround and leave me with Windows 11 which would eventually become obsolete. So I believe it is safer for all of us with unsupported computers to hope Microsoft will stick with Windows 11 and release a new version yearly. If we are lucky enough to have a CPU with the required instructions and don't make NPU mandatory, we will be able to bypass compatibility check and upgrade to the next Windows 11 versions for a few more years. My main PC (see 2nd system specs) is much faster than what I need and works without issues at Windows 11 26H2. It would be a pity if I had to replace it. A total waste of money. In the unfortunate case that a future version of Windows would be incompatible, I would stick with the latest compatible version and keep Windows Defender or third-party Antivirus updated. Like my test laptop (see 1st system specs) which is stuck in Windows 11 23H2 because the CPU doesn't have SSE4.2 So what? I think it will be at least 3-5 years more before all applications demand at least 24H2 or newer version. No bad for Vista era laptop! Even then I will stick with the latest version of the applications that work on Windows 11 23H2 until it is really too old to meet my needs. Like I said in other threads, I decide when my computer is obsolete. Not Microsoft, nobody else.

Not sure how any of that relates to my comment which you quoted.

spapakons · 2026-10-06T17:30:11-0400

You are right. I quoted you, but in fact I wanted to use your quote of @Marie SWE that she doesn't use Windows as a daily driver. The point is, Windows or any other OS is not always the way we like it out of the box. We have to do some work before it is to our liking and we can start work or play with it.

Windows 11 is five years old today

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