Windows 11 Pro : 25th Clean install from the ISO since first first time the O/S was officially released.

Device name DESKTOP-JR9S079
Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz 2.80 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.64 GB usable)
Device ID ECE3C0BA-74CB-49B3-80C9-3DCC459A18C6
Product ID 00330-80000-00000-AA963
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 21H2
Installed on ‎27/‎06/‎2022
OS build 22000.778
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.778.0

Hi everyone,

I have been reading the topics on here for some time now and posted a few myself.

Maybe I have been lucky but I have installed; mucked about with the Windows 11 system , crashed it, messed the BIOS alarmingly and gone well over the top with " anti tracking and privacy tools" since I first installed Windows 11 way back when.
I use Office 2016 Why? I works well still and does well with my emails too and seems to fit in nicely with official documents sent to me which are always on systems still haunted by Windows 7 or even XP
In a nutshell I like Windows 11 and never found altering the taskbar apps or using software like StartisBack to be much good. If you're going to use a new system you may as well learn it as is from scratch and grow in knowledge as you mess up routinely.
I have found the system very forgiving and yeah it boots up from cold in under 10 seconds to the desktop.
Just some thoughts for you all to disagree with or ignore.
Thanks,
Paul.

The main reason there have been so many installs was initially I was a sucker for tips, bat and cmd scripts and reg files which promised to do miracles and mostly crashed the system totally in the early days; so I late on learned well about back ups and system restore as they say !!
Plus I use my computer four quite mundane things so easy to put back together again !

My computers just run. They don't crash. They don't have stutters and freezes. They always update. They just run. And the reason is, I don't have need to muck around in all the commands and scripts that are supposed to stop Windows telemetry, increase performance, or block updates. And if you are really concerned about telemetry, you can view everything Microsoft is collecting by looking at your Microsoft Account.

Me too!! I don't poke sticks at bears, either

NavyLCDR said:

My computers just run. They don't crash. They don't have stutters and freezes. They always update. They just run. And the reason is, I don't have need to muck around in all the commands and scripts that are supposed to stop Windows telemetry, increase performance, or block updates. And if you are really concerned about telemetry, you can view everything Microsoft is collecting by looking at your Microsoft Account.

Click to expand...

In complete agreement. Windows works incredibly well for me. 99% of the time, if something goes terribly wrong, it was something that I did . That's not to say that I have not seen my share of bugs, but so far for me, (hoping I don't jinx myself), I really don't run into critical flaws or faults. Of course, that's why good backups are important, just in case.

I did have one issue recently that was causing "silent" data corruption, but that was a hardware issue.

Never had an actual windows problem on 11, and the only problem I had on 10 was when Nvidia released dodgy drivers about 6 years ago.

NavyLCDR said:

My computers just run. They don't crash. They don't have stutters and freezes. They always update. They just run. And the reason is, I don't have need to muck around in all the commands and scripts that are supposed to stop Windows telemetry, increase performance, or block updates. And if you are really concerned about telemetry, you can view everything Microsoft is collecting by looking at your Microsoft Account.

Click to expand...

Same here. I like Windows 11. I have no need to try to make Windows 11 look and work like Windows 10. I don't run beta software either as I need reliability.

The OS has never had a blip. My hardware is 100% compatible, I run the release version, I don't game, I manage my own driver updates, and I don't try to alter the GUI with some 3rd party app. More importantly I do not use a modern standby device. Have I tweaked? Sure... but only with minor things like bringing back the old right click context menu. For the most part, I've bitten the bullet and use the OS as it was designed.

The OS would be 99.9% solid if MS could ever get updates to always play well...but then MS has never been able to handle updates as well as its competitor so I've learned to accept it with a grain of salt. At least, they've finally gotten it to where updates do not quit working all the time like we had to deal with in the Win7 days. Only headaches I've had were issues the manufacturer finally resolved and dealing the MS BS with Onedrive and MS account. Otherwise, I've had no problems with the OS itself at all.

Insider going on 5 years. Both Win 11 Dev & Canary (previously Beta & Dev) on 2 systems.
Upgraded Drives, memory and never had to rebuild from stratch.
Run Linux as VM, like to test software a lot.
As previously posted by @NavyLCDR, 'they just run'.

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I have 'modified' my Win11 machines using OpenShell and EP. The only problems I've had was with the Lenovo updating to 22H2 slowing the PC to snails pace. Eventually found it was a Lenovo driver issue. The Dell's worked fine. And there was the small problem with the right click not working with the mouse on the Lenovo but that was sorted by helpful advice from a fellow member round here although why the issue resolved itself changing the theme to default and back to my preference I have no idea.

Apart from that a nice 'boring' OS which I like - it just works.

Anyone remember messing up their Windows 3.1 and getting the *HAL missing error? I never found a fix and had to reinstall Windows which took about two hours if you baby sat the whole time.

*hardware abstraction layer

Guess I'm the odd one out - since my Windows is heavily tweaked.

That's sort of a passion of mine (tweaking stuff - to what i deem optimal for a specific hardware configuration - while aiming to achieve the best of both worlds: an optimal functionality/performance - without sacrificing aesthetics (tho, that's also a matter of taste - for example: i like solid, snappy/fast and smooth transactions - while other prefer slower yet flashy looking stuff even see through). I'm kinda skeptic by nature too - definitely not the type whom applies things blindly - just because some random (or even a legit source) - claims that change would improve performance and such (which is something i like to measure myself - before reaching a verdict). Thus, i dissect every script, every registry file and check every command - making sure it's legit.

The thing is... tweaking stuff the right/conscious way is a learning a process, as in - learning about those changes - what they actually do and in what way they can impact the system (for example: if it's a Windows Service - one should always check the dependencies - or else you're bound to brake other stuff). That being said - while buying a new rig or dabbling with a new release of Windows (clean install OFC) - it takes me a whole day to tweak things my way - and around a week or so (if not more) - to settle in. And i like it this way (doesn't feel like tedious work - quite the opposite - it's something i enjoy doing). What can i say - computers are simply my cup of tea. Same way some people are passionate about cars - while others (such as myself) - see it just as a means of transportation (a faster way to get from point A to B).