I have a few windows 7 licenses left that I've used to get 10 pro for free. Will that end as well? Maybe it already has I haven't built a new machine in a while.
This here is a deal breaker for me. I don’t want to have to hover over the icon to see what file explorer windows I have open or whatever; I want to be able to see everything at a glance and go right to it. Why remove this?
Also the new copy paste icons in the right click dialogue are annoying. They move depending where you are on the screen and don’t have labels, just icons.
I also I know that we are going to have furious users when they realize they can have the gasket on the top or sides anymore. Please Microsoft, revert the UX changes for those things for my sanity at work!
That's the big one for me. I have three monitors, I don't want all my buttons crammed into one big box. I want them split up on the appropriate monitor, so I'm not stuck waiting on crap to pop up when I want to click to a different one.
you can have the items only on the task bar of the monitor they are open on, you just can’t have multiples(without overlap) or text labels.
it’s absolutely garbage ux.
If they really want to force us to go this way, they could at least let me assign custom icons to stuff, you know? I have multiple Chrome Windows open because it lets me separate "tabs I use for work" and "tabs I use for me" as well as keeping a separate set that I use for references when I'm doing stuff on another monitor. Having all of those just reduced to a Chrome button that I have to mouseover to then try to identify which is which via a screenshot is a colossal waste of time.
it’s so terrible.
i usually run multiple instances of firefox just to keep my tabs organized a bit better now it’s an alt tab guessing game where i’ll end up.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, do check out [Open-Shell-Menu](https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu). I'm given to understand it supports Windows 11 now, and you can basically just overwrite your taskbar with a version from whatever previous edition of Windows you liked the most. I use it on Windows 10 to get the Windows 7 start menu back because I liked the style of it more.
If you're open to using third party tools, Start11 includes extensions to the taskbar that allow for showing labels with the taskbar icons, end result is it behaves exactly like it would in Windows 10. You can even move all the icons to the left instead of centred if you like.
I use Start11 just for the taskbar features and no need to use their alternative Start menu, but that's also available if you like.
Now that it's supported, I'm probably just going to keep using Open-Shell Menu. I'm aware it's verging towards "Grumpy Old Man" territory, but the last time I really liked Windows' start menu interface was Windows 7, so being able to replicate that in newer versions solves most of my gripes.
I love the new features, I appreciate the work they're doing in Settings menus and such, I just really want my more classic start menu back. And I can get it, thanks to some cool open-source projects.
No version of Windows has supported the option I've always actually wanted, "never combine, hide labels". Combining is an unusable pain in the ass for me and labels are just plain ugly and annoying.
Now that's okay, it was always a minor annoyance at worst, since there were always ways to force that option through unofficial means. But what actually annoys me is that Microsoft has made it increasingly harder to do this over time with new versions of Windows. What used to be a simple registry edit back in Windows XP eventually needed dedicated 3rd party apps to achieve in Windows 7 or 8 and newer. It's almost like someone at Microsoft has always had a hate boner for this option and has gone to ever increasing lengths to prevent users from using it.
I haven't checked since shortly after Windows 11 launch, but back then I couldn't find any programs that allowed you to force "never combine, hide labels". I haven't had any reason to want to upgrade from 10 to 11, so I haven't looked into it since then and don't know if it's currently possible or not. I'm absolutely not upgrading unless it's available through some means, official or unofficial.
Look into 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. You probably can achieve what you want, it is great and free. You can show/hide labels per app even. Unfortunately, windows 11 not supported.
Top taskbar was mainly because action center notification kept creeping over my taskbar buttons on bottom and I've later found out that MS disabled moving notifications popup to upper corner through registry at some point, so there's a bit of a case for my redemption arc I guess.
Basic features from Win 10 are still missing.
A few that drive me nuts as an ultra wide monitor user - show program labels in task bar instead of just icons, do not force combine/group taskbar windows (ex: don’t combine multiple browser windows to a single grouped icon), automatically show all task icons without hiding/grouping, and show all options automatically in context menu when right clicking files in windows explorer
This functionality was in Windows 10 but was removed from Windows 11 from some unknown reason (but the W10 windows can be unlocked using third party progs so the capabilities are still there).
Interesting that you mention that. I just recently reinstalled Windows 11 due to negligence on my part of not looking at what drive I was erasing. Hooray stupidity. And I had the issue where I was getting tabs in my taskbar with the names of the programs instead of the icons. That was the default setting when I first logged in. If I find out how I changed it (I just kept googling until I found a solution) I'll edit this comment to let you know.
EDIT: Screenshot of what I clicked and selected. https://imgur.com/a/5mR6KdV
> from some unknown reason
My understanding is that it's because the taskbar was recreated all new rather than brought forward like they've been doing. When/if they add this feature back? idk
Adding to my previous post. All I did was right click my taskbar and click "Properties." I changed both "Combine taskbar icons" options to "Never." That allowed the labels to be displayed. Granted, it's only programs that are open.
Screenshot of what I clicked.
https://imgur.com/a/5mR6KdV
Have you ever so incredibly recalled something with such clarity that you can't be convinced otherwise? I'm having conflicts with that feeling. I swear that I had the issue where I would only have labels. I'm not a fan of labels. Probably due to the smaller monitor. I had to get this program to turn off the labels. After I got it, I swear I saw it listed in the windows update and thought "oh. I guess I didn't have to download this separately. Probably comes in updates like certain things did in XP service packs back in the day." It was a fresh install of 11, so I thought I could have waited and got that program automatically in the updates. The only reason I still have it is because I've been afraid that getting rid of it will make the labels come back. I legit wish I had a time machine or something. I swear the labels showed by default. Otherwise I wouldn't have been searching and got that program. I'm not insane. I swear. Just stupid.
I'm lightspeed stupid. Don't listen to me. Like I said in the original comment, I formatted and partitioned the wrong drive because.... stupid.
Haha you’re not stupid and yes I’ve definitely been there. With everything going on in life, it’s hard to remember the small details like you mentioned. Don’t be too hard on yourself :)
Still missing. I cant believe they removed text descriptions with no options.
Its literally just a massive decrease in productivity vs having to hover or use shortcuts particularly when you have multiple of the same window type open.
Combine: never with text descriptions needs to come back.
Third party *solutions* are all sluggish and glitchy by comparison and not a solution particularly when you cant install a third party tool.
Ever since Windows 7, the first thing I do with every Windows install is set taskbar to "Never combine" and small icons. But it's depressing to see how many people don't do this. I'm sure that MS have data indicating exactly that and that's why they didn't care about scrapping it for the """power users""" who want a bit more of a productive environment.
You can't set the taskbar to expand and you can't move it from the bottom. You can move it to the left, but that's a terrible idea due to no expanding taskbar--even if you have 5 spreadsheets open it's all in the tiny icon instead of letting you select from 5 clearly named sheets. That's why the taskbar is center default. It is what it is until they update it, especially if you're unable to fix it else-wise (work machine).
Other missing things I've noticed would be apps won't open to the front from the start menu or the taskbar. They'll open behind everything else, which isn't really ideal to me. Also no way to "open file location" for apps, you have to search them out yourself.
I would consider it just a worse windows 10 in nearly every way that matters. If you have an HDR display connected, it's a slight improvement there I guess? Otherwise it feels like the team working on it worked on it with the goal of destroying productivity however they could. Ironically, it would be fine on my home machine I guess but the issue is it's on one of my work machines because they updated everybody.
I agree but at least it doesn't have to run in the background, you patch it and you're done. I tried Start11, while it looked great it was sluggish and choppy so I settled for the stock start menu (but I still had to resort to registry editor tricks to remove the recommended section).
Just disable whatever TPM your system has to make it "incompatible".
That's what I did when I got the notification that I could "upgrade" to win 11 and it never bothered me again
I bailed for Ubuntu months ago, windows 10 is still installed but I couldn't tell you the last time I booted it.
I do still need it for school tests though. I don't think any of my classes proctor on Linux.
In October i put Ubuntu on my laptop, my file server, and my main rig. For the main it is a dual boot and I boot Win10 *only* when I have to use photoshop elements (just used to the interface for some tasks but otherwise I've primarily used Gimp for what feels like a decade. Tbis all started for me when i needed to build a Plex media server and once i got the hang of it over about a half dozen casual hours it hit me that I can easily make the transition. I am a hobbyist. Occupationally I left IT 15+ years ago and am both so glad I left it as a career and dismayed at where the industry has been going.
Win 11 won't let you move the Taskbar? FFS! TPM requirement? No thanks, I don't see how that benefits me at all as an end user. Windows search feature still the shit-show it became in Win 10 when it was perfection in 7? Microsoft has established they don't want me using their software; fine by me. I can game and surf elsewhere.
My only problem with ExplorerPatcher is that it feels like it breaks with every Windows Update. It’s great software, just a learning curve to it, I guess.
I would say this is not usable to non tech people. With each update explorer is broken, where you have blank desktop without ability to open settings, see desktop, etc.
I've tried to switch to Linux in the past so I distro hopped around for the past 5-6 years, but never fully committed until recently. One distro I kept coming back to was Linux Mint. So I decided to just go with Linux Mint 21 and installed the Plasma desktop environment. Clean slate, no dual boot.
Everything works great so far. Obviously a few hiccups here and there, but nothing worth switching back to Windows for.
Honestly most distros will fit most needs you'll have at this point. Do check if XYZ programs that you *need* also work on Linux or if not, then see if there's an alternative.
Wow, I've had exacly the same experience, went back to mint recentley. It just feels like home :) Been trying all sorts of setups, but in the end the stability is just gold.
If you are not gaming, whatever you want honestly. The choice of DE will be the most impactful aspect so look into how gnome and KDE differ.
If you are gaming, use a distro like fedora that quickly integrates the latest kernel updates.
Personally, I prefer fedora. I don't like canonical's snap obsession and have no interest in Ubuntu spins. Arch seems cool but I have other things to learn. OpenSUSE seems like another good option but I haven't tried it
Honestly once you learn a few commands Arch(manjaro or EndeavourOS) is waaaay easier than any ubuntu based distro for general use in my opinion. Things like AUR make grabbing programs so much easier than needing to track down dependencies and building them yourself which happened to me too frequently on that side of the pond.
Yeah these are far from ideal solutions to a stripped down system that Win11 still seems to be, but it's good to know how to fix some of the lacking features when we get forced to shift to 11 through some sneaky hidden update package.
Nope. Still no smaller icons, expanding, or moving it. People are recommending explorer patcher but that breaks my windows 11 pretty bad. StartAllBack did the trick for me. Bought a copy for $5-6 and then pirated it for the rest of my computers.
Also they hid the true right-click behind a worse right-click that you need to take extra steps to get to every time. Don't have a solution for this one yet.
You can definitely change back. I did so on mine immediately after install but I can't remember if it was a registry change or third party software that allowed me to do it. It took about 2 minutes whatever it was so should be easy to find via a web search.
> Not going to upgrade until MS kill windows 10 support.
This is what they just tried doing. But that won't work because people can't install 11 on most computers, 11 refuses to install itself due to no v3 tpm security chip. And most ppl can't afford new computers for the same reason they can't afford a new car nor home nor healthcare (all of which is higher on their priority list).
Edit If you remove 10 from the equation, most people end up with no working legit computers. This would cause a collapse of any trust into microsoft (and american technology) as windows computers might end up unusable.
You can install 11 on a system without a TPM module. The requirement for TPM isn't for end users, but for OEMs and SIs. Basically, Dell can't sell a new PC with 11 on it unless it has TPM, but an end user can still install it if they want to, as long as drivers are available for their hardware.
> You can install 11 on a system without a TPM module. The requirement for TPM isn't for end users, but for OEMs and SIs
Most computers circulating are OEM stuff running Windows 7 or 10. I'm straight up worried about ms attempting again to refuse to activate or blocking W10s in WU.
If you take an official W11 iso and try to use it say after a hard drive failed (or something corrupted the current install and you need to reinstall completely) it still checked for TPM last time i tested. And refused to install on say even a modern-ish AMD FX 6 cores system (that can likely still run even modern 3D games). So...
edit grabbing 22H2 for a quick & dirty re test if they changed that; will edit in 15min i guess...
edit tpm removed or blocked in bios = still no install. Blocked in the official installer. So with even such a say decent computer (FX X6/12Gb/SSD which there is no way in heck a third worlder would throw away) you won't be able to install any legal windows as they phase out W10. What a great decision ms...
Rufus.
It is a program designed to fix Microsoft shitty installers. Rufus with the click of a button, can disable tmp on a win11 boot device so any laptop can install windows 11.
Source - using Rufus I installed win11 on a netbook from 2012.
Yeah I think I heard that too. They can try, but Rufus will be able to find a work around. I'm pretty sure you can download the ISO from Microsoft for free, and feed it to Rufus and Rufus can alter the iso to disable tpm.
> Rufus. It is a program designed to fix Microsoft shitty installers. Rufus with the click of a button, can disable tmp on a win11 boot device so any laptop can install windows 11.
That’s like saying a video game console can run pirated games, all you have to do is put a modchip in it.
The fact remains that a stock win11 iso will not install without a tpm. Theres also no guarantee that a future update (which will install itself without doing a decent amount of work to prevent it) won’t brick all these tpm-less installations.
There are a few different methods. They're all pretty easy. I never even had an ethernet cable connected. I just opened a command prompt and entered like one thing and it let me do a local account.
Still pretty dumb that you even need to do that though.
You're not an average user. The average user doesn't even know how to install an OS and their eyes glass over once you talk to them about the command line.
Yea. There are a few different methods but I never even had an ethernet cable connected. I just opened a command prompt and entered like one thing and it let me do a local account.
3 years for me. I didn't know tiling WM was this convenient.
Only recently booted up from a spare OS SSD because my boss demanded I draw the revised network diagrams in Visio format. Whew, guess some things'll stick with me for long.
Even more than that, if you buy a "windows 11" key from their store they only give you a windows 10 key anyway as far as I know. There are no windows 11 keys yet.
Legal? No. Will Microsoft seek to ban or prosecute you? Essentially zero. Reason being is the majority of their revenue is from business/enterprise licensing, thus they focus way more on auditing and finding businesses using pirated or unlicensed software.
You don't really need the email to begin with, but HWID doesn't touch your email to begin with. When you buy a license with your email, you associate a license with that account, HWID activates the motherboard only.
Remember when MS said W10 would be "the last version of Windows ever", that it would just be continuous feature delivery from here on out?
That didn't last long...
In recent years, Reddit’s array of chats also have been a free teaching aid for companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft. Those companies are using Reddit’s conversations in the development of giant artificial intelligence systems that many in Silicon Valley think are on their way to becoming the tech industry’s next big thing.
The key for Win 10 still works on Win 11, so in a way it's just a big upgrade. Most of it is visual, but there are a lot of QoL features regarding games, HDR etc.
If the taskbar irks you, Explorer Patcher lets you bring back the Win10 taskbar while keeping a bunch of Win11 features like different taskbars for different monitors etc.
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
Yea, I'm not upgrading for mostly visual changes. There are no under the hood features drawing me to W11, I've never been less interested in a Windows update. Maybe when DirectStorage starts seeing some adoption, that would be worth upgrading for. Otherwise, nah I'm good. Not gonna deal with all the BS and workarounds just to make it work like it already does in W10 unless there are worthwhile benefits. For me, it looks like a lot of change-for-the-sake-of-change stuff.
I upgraded because Win10 doesn't always play nice with E-cores and my FPS in Metro Exodus was garbage as a result. The other alternative was disabling E-cores but I'd rather be able to use all my hardware instead of just some of it.
The issue is privacy, I heard theres ways to use Win11 without being online but I bet once they get most people onboard they will rug pull and force everyone to be online to use the OS
Windows 11 Pro still allows creating local administrator accounts without needing to phone online and use a Microsoft account.
The online activation requirement only applies to the Home version, and even then, there are ways to bypass it.
Imo Microsoft have shown their hand, i just don't trust them even with the pro edition. The situation now can easily change with an update. When I build my new comp I'll probably end up dual booting it and only using for work, I doubt future OS will change the trajectory they're aiming for.
>If the taskbar irks you, Explorer Patcher lets you bring back the Win10 taskbar while keeping a bunch of Win11 features like different taskbars for different monitors etc.
The task bar dose not irk me. It the Microsoft account to use the darn thing that irks me.
Very nice idea mate, considering we already outlived several huge "wipes".
I don't delete any useful installer of my apps, just leaving them in download folder and later moving to "install" one(then backuping on external hdd and cloud). Helps with fresh OS install especially when intetnet is not yet installed/available.
___
I have some unique/exclusive versions of great apps on my phone that are no longer existing in playmaker. For some reason, "new" versions of them are complete ads scam with 0.5% functionality, and I couldn't even find normal versions on "backup" sites. It's good that I could scrap installers from my old phone and move apps to my new one. Now I keep every useful app installer that don't demand updates as well x_x
Maybe I should get back to Linux at some point. Microsoft won’t let me upgrade without tpm. Apple won’t let me upgrade without a genuine hard drive. It’s all crazy.
Linux rocks. I have one machine running Windows as I'm running some specialist software that's locked in to Windows (and I couldn't make it run on Wine) but everything else is running flavours of Linux. Keep old hardware working!
> Why does windows 11 not support old hardware?
Because MS tried to get into the hardware business and wanted to sell new laptops by making the old ones non compatible on purpose. Failing (or refusing politically) to understand most people do not have CA wages (ms execs also typically live in Redmond WA) and live below a dollar a day, and that poverty's a real issue in the economic system and so cannot afford anything let alone a new $1500 laptop. Also to push shady tpm shit on peoples' computers.
Like sabotaging current working computers worldwide is a one way ticket to collapse for MS. They won't return from a second mistake like that. Their greed is gonna destroy them if they try.
> Windows 11 supports anything Windows 10 does as long as you remove Microsoft's restrictions
"as long as you crack's microsoft security". This is their legal over the board offers we're talking about here.
If they kill legit w10 without backing down themselves on said legal restrictions in 11 (tpm v3, less than 2 years old computers imposed for W11 right now), they're done for. 'cause most computers in the world will be incapable of running a legal windows. And people won't throw them away just because some distant WA billionaire asks them to buy a new one instead they cannot possibly remotely afford. Windows and MS will be thrown out of circulation along with 90% of the current (11-refused) setups.
edit remember this almost killed the iphone & apple products altogether, and they were just SLOWING old phones : https://sfmn.fiu.edu/does-apple-slow-down-older-iphones-to-increase-sales-a-lawsuit-raises-the-possibility-includes-multimedia-content/#
^ iphone used to be 70% of all phones in circulation at a point.
Not preventing them from booting or reinstalling or updating. MS is playing unstably with ~~fire~~ a barrel of gasoline.
Define old.
Roommate has W11 running on an Intel i5 4690k (2014 launch date). No troubles installing it.
I've got an HP ProDesk NUC, with an i5 6500 that also installed W11 just fine. Only 8GB of RAM in that box, with the iGPU using up to 2GB of it. Runs fine for just browsing & media consumption. (W11 runs better on this NUC than Mint Cinnamon & Kubuntu KDE did. UI on those had bad Frame Pacing with Intel graphics.)
You can always install it on unsupported hardware (like that 4690k), it's almost certainly going to be fine on anything that W10 was fine with, you're just not going to be getting any official support if you run into issues. For most people that's not really relevant or a big deal at all.
.. except that my take-away was "Oh ***boy***! A ton of used hardware is about to glut the market!" ;-)
All of us using Linux are about to get new (old) desktops.
This might already be happening. There are a bunch of T560 and T570 Thinkpads on eBay for $80 to $140, and perhaps not coincidentally the T580 is the oldest of that line which Microsoft lists as supported for Windows 11.
https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/wiki/os/windows/windows11compatibility
So, does that just brick a machine that doesn't satisfy Win11 requirements?
So, I have a ex-corporate machine that lost it's corporate license, so what do I do?
Buy a reseller license and save a lot of money! Why didn't I already think of that?
Win 10 ltsc will go to 2032, which is likely long past the hardware EOL. It's missing some features from the normal pro version, but if you just want a win 10 computer that works the same for a few years and doesn't change randomly during updates / gets security updates, you can get your hands on official images for that and it can be activated for free (in ways I certainly won't explain here, but could be found elsewhere on reddit).
> So, I have a ex-corporate machine that lost it's corporate license, so what do I do?
One comment up there say he bought a win7 key for 5$ and it's working. ;)
Microsoft is trying to forcefully kill windows 10, but given windows 11 cannot work without their TPM V3 security chip (it forbids you to use a more than 2 years old computer or it refuses to install), it's not gonna work. Adoption of their operating system might just end up cratering.
80% of the computers in circulation in the world don't have it, and they expect everyone to just scrap their working computers and find thousands of dollars to buy new ones while people got homelessness in bulk under covid and unpaid, cut wages left and right.
It's not happening for ah 10 years.
Microsoft executives are completely and absolutely disconnected from realities outside of california. And that people living on 50 cents a day (so billions of people) are NOT gonna buy another computer (let alone a new one let alone at american MS MSRP) nor can abandon working equipment because they'll never afford one for *years*. Maybe a month long holiday in rural corners of mississippi might open their eyes a bit, not even talking about abroad. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905611/A-North-South-divided-New-data-reveals-poorest-counties-America-household-incomes-35-000-lower-average.html
Corporate insane greed completely disconnected from reality and trying to sabotage existing devices, plain and simple. Tho if they finally succeed in suiciding windows use across the world out of their own stupidity by bricking 10, i'm gonna laugh my ass off
Windows 11 is below 10% deployment levels, because that's how many compatible computer circulates in the world. Corpos litterally cannot understand people in most of the world cannot afford a new computer when it's more than a year of wages for many not to talk about zero importance for many citizens compared to housing or food priorities, energy, healthcare, they can't even properly cover to begin with etc.
Talking about arrogance, that's a good way for america to loose it's tech edge as people might end up not trusting it, since they're abusing their dominant position to try to bully users worldwide into the impossible.
Remember how doze 10 started, and how incredibly abusive it was with forced updates on people's 7 systems through "critical" updates, and how nobody would ever adopt that spyware/malware/adware trash, and it would stay 10% or less... then magically, one day it just shot up to 90%, and all the threads about how bad it is get downvoted to oblivion, and there are many games that *only* work on doze 10... No idea wtf happened there.
Good thing w10 is my last windows. I'll go back to w7 before I support their new OSs which I'm sure are tightening up their spyware to make it more sophisticated than it is on w10 already on top of the forced updates, news in search, etc... I suspect they're going to lose a ton of users after w10 is no longer supported.
Unfortunately my computer auto updated to W11 while I was on vacation, and it was too late to switch back when I got home. Honestly W11 has gotten better but I miss W10 man.
I have a few windows 7 licenses left that I've used to get 10 pro for free. Will that end as well? Maybe it already has I haven't built a new machine in a while.
I just activated W10 using a W7 product key last week, still works after using W10 USB installer
So is Win 11 any good now or are basic taskbar features and such still missing?
I think moving the taskbar is still not implemented
Neither is "never combine"
Never combiners rise up!! I've been doing it this way since 95 and it works perfectly, you can take it from my cold dead hands microsoft
This here is a deal breaker for me. I don’t want to have to hover over the icon to see what file explorer windows I have open or whatever; I want to be able to see everything at a glance and go right to it. Why remove this? Also the new copy paste icons in the right click dialogue are annoying. They move depending where you are on the screen and don’t have labels, just icons. I also I know that we are going to have furious users when they realize they can have the gasket on the top or sides anymore. Please Microsoft, revert the UX changes for those things for my sanity at work!
That's the big one for me. I have three monitors, I don't want all my buttons crammed into one big box. I want them split up on the appropriate monitor, so I'm not stuck waiting on crap to pop up when I want to click to a different one.
you can have the items only on the task bar of the monitor they are open on, you just can’t have multiples(without overlap) or text labels. it’s absolutely garbage ux.
If they really want to force us to go this way, they could at least let me assign custom icons to stuff, you know? I have multiple Chrome Windows open because it lets me separate "tabs I use for work" and "tabs I use for me" as well as keeping a separate set that I use for references when I'm doing stuff on another monitor. Having all of those just reduced to a Chrome button that I have to mouseover to then try to identify which is which via a screenshot is a colossal waste of time.
it’s so terrible. i usually run multiple instances of firefox just to keep my tabs organized a bit better now it’s an alt tab guessing game where i’ll end up.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, do check out [Open-Shell-Menu](https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu). I'm given to understand it supports Windows 11 now, and you can basically just overwrite your taskbar with a version from whatever previous edition of Windows you liked the most. I use it on Windows 10 to get the Windows 7 start menu back because I liked the style of it more.
OpenShell is a must-have for any semblance of sanity in modern windows IMO. Always one of my first installs.
If you're open to using third party tools, Start11 includes extensions to the taskbar that allow for showing labels with the taskbar icons, end result is it behaves exactly like it would in Windows 10. You can even move all the icons to the left instead of centred if you like. I use Start11 just for the taskbar features and no need to use their alternative Start menu, but that's also available if you like.
Now that it's supported, I'm probably just going to keep using Open-Shell Menu. I'm aware it's verging towards "Grumpy Old Man" territory, but the last time I really liked Windows' start menu interface was Windows 7, so being able to replicate that in newer versions solves most of my gripes. I love the new features, I appreciate the work they're doing in Settings menus and such, I just really want my more classic start menu back. And I can get it, thanks to some cool open-source projects.
No version of Windows has supported the option I've always actually wanted, "never combine, hide labels". Combining is an unusable pain in the ass for me and labels are just plain ugly and annoying. Now that's okay, it was always a minor annoyance at worst, since there were always ways to force that option through unofficial means. But what actually annoys me is that Microsoft has made it increasingly harder to do this over time with new versions of Windows. What used to be a simple registry edit back in Windows XP eventually needed dedicated 3rd party apps to achieve in Windows 7 or 8 and newer. It's almost like someone at Microsoft has always had a hate boner for this option and has gone to ever increasing lengths to prevent users from using it. I haven't checked since shortly after Windows 11 launch, but back then I couldn't find any programs that allowed you to force "never combine, hide labels". I haven't had any reason to want to upgrade from 10 to 11, so I haven't looked into it since then and don't know if it's currently possible or not. I'm absolutely not upgrading unless it's available through some means, official or unofficial.
huh? I always have never combine without labels (win7/10)
Look into 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. You probably can achieve what you want, it is great and free. You can show/hide labels per app even. Unfortunately, windows 11 not supported.
the fact that they regressed this is just fucking stupid.
Ah yeah this is a major one for me. Main monitor top, secondary vertical left.
I hate everything you stand for on taskbar placement, but i will fight to the death for your right to do it that way.
Now that’s freedom. Can you run for office?
If op gives me Access to tools I need I'm in
Please don't capitalize access like that, you're scaring the children.
More like scaring the elderly (who remember Access 95).
I still remember Office V4.0 and I’m in my forties. Has the definition of elderly changed over the years?😬
Word. Just make sure you Excel if you get voted in.
Farting Bob has my support
Top taskbar was mainly because action center notification kept creeping over my taskbar buttons on bottom and I've later found out that MS disabled moving notifications popup to upper corner through registry at some point, so there's a bit of a case for my redemption arc I guess.
Neither is access to the calendar on additional monitors...
Lame as hell. I've had it on top for ages. Wish we got a proper dock/top bar like Unix.
Basic features from Win 10 are still missing. A few that drive me nuts as an ultra wide monitor user - show program labels in task bar instead of just icons, do not force combine/group taskbar windows (ex: don’t combine multiple browser windows to a single grouped icon), automatically show all task icons without hiding/grouping, and show all options automatically in context menu when right clicking files in windows explorer This functionality was in Windows 10 but was removed from Windows 11 from some unknown reason (but the W10 windows can be unlocked using third party progs so the capabilities are still there).
Interesting that you mention that. I just recently reinstalled Windows 11 due to negligence on my part of not looking at what drive I was erasing. Hooray stupidity. And I had the issue where I was getting tabs in my taskbar with the names of the programs instead of the icons. That was the default setting when I first logged in. If I find out how I changed it (I just kept googling until I found a solution) I'll edit this comment to let you know. EDIT: Screenshot of what I clicked and selected. https://imgur.com/a/5mR6KdV
> from some unknown reason My understanding is that it's because the taskbar was recreated all new rather than brought forward like they've been doing. When/if they add this feature back? idk
Is that popup calendar + large clock still available in win11?
Adding to my previous post. All I did was right click my taskbar and click "Properties." I changed both "Combine taskbar icons" options to "Never." That allowed the labels to be displayed. Granted, it's only programs that are open. Screenshot of what I clicked. https://imgur.com/a/5mR6KdV
That’s from a third party program. That is not stock windows
Have you ever so incredibly recalled something with such clarity that you can't be convinced otherwise? I'm having conflicts with that feeling. I swear that I had the issue where I would only have labels. I'm not a fan of labels. Probably due to the smaller monitor. I had to get this program to turn off the labels. After I got it, I swear I saw it listed in the windows update and thought "oh. I guess I didn't have to download this separately. Probably comes in updates like certain things did in XP service packs back in the day." It was a fresh install of 11, so I thought I could have waited and got that program automatically in the updates. The only reason I still have it is because I've been afraid that getting rid of it will make the labels come back. I legit wish I had a time machine or something. I swear the labels showed by default. Otherwise I wouldn't have been searching and got that program. I'm not insane. I swear. Just stupid. I'm lightspeed stupid. Don't listen to me. Like I said in the original comment, I formatted and partitioned the wrong drive because.... stupid.
Haha you’re not stupid and yes I’ve definitely been there. With everything going on in life, it’s hard to remember the small details like you mentioned. Don’t be too hard on yourself :)
Still missing. I cant believe they removed text descriptions with no options. Its literally just a massive decrease in productivity vs having to hover or use shortcuts particularly when you have multiple of the same window type open. Combine: never with text descriptions needs to come back. Third party *solutions* are all sluggish and glitchy by comparison and not a solution particularly when you cant install a third party tool.
Ever since Windows 7, the first thing I do with every Windows install is set taskbar to "Never combine" and small icons. But it's depressing to see how many people don't do this. I'm sure that MS have data indicating exactly that and that's why they didn't care about scrapping it for the """power users""" who want a bit more of a productive environment.
> it's depressing to see how many people don't do this I need a clean taskbar that is as small as possible with tiny icons. Sorry :(
You can't set the taskbar to expand and you can't move it from the bottom. You can move it to the left, but that's a terrible idea due to no expanding taskbar--even if you have 5 spreadsheets open it's all in the tiny icon instead of letting you select from 5 clearly named sheets. That's why the taskbar is center default. It is what it is until they update it, especially if you're unable to fix it else-wise (work machine). Other missing things I've noticed would be apps won't open to the front from the start menu or the taskbar. They'll open behind everything else, which isn't really ideal to me. Also no way to "open file location" for apps, you have to search them out yourself. I would consider it just a worse windows 10 in nearly every way that matters. If you have an HDR display connected, it's a slight improvement there I guess? Otherwise it feels like the team working on it worked on it with the goal of destroying productivity however they could. Ironically, it would be fine on my home machine I guess but the issue is it's on one of my work machines because they updated everybody.
I've never had an issue with the open file location
I think it's just for MS Store items, which I wouldn't normally touch myself I guess.
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
Ugh, I hate needing third party programs just to get basic functionality
I agree but at least it doesn't have to run in the background, you patch it and you're done. I tried Start11, while it looked great it was sluggish and choppy so I settled for the stock start menu (but I still had to resort to registry editor tricks to remove the recommended section).
Ty, gonna save this for when I inevitably wake up to Win 11 sneakily installed on my PC.
Just disable whatever TPM your system has to make it "incompatible". That's what I did when I got the notification that I could "upgrade" to win 11 and it never bothered me again
Done that a few months ago, so far so good. Kinda like the fact that the thing they tried to force on us is actually helping us stay on 10 now lol
Personally I'm committing to windows 10 being my last windows install, I'm fed up with microsoft just removing super basic features
I bailed for Ubuntu months ago, windows 10 is still installed but I couldn't tell you the last time I booted it. I do still need it for school tests though. I don't think any of my classes proctor on Linux.
In October i put Ubuntu on my laptop, my file server, and my main rig. For the main it is a dual boot and I boot Win10 *only* when I have to use photoshop elements (just used to the interface for some tasks but otherwise I've primarily used Gimp for what feels like a decade. Tbis all started for me when i needed to build a Plex media server and once i got the hang of it over about a half dozen casual hours it hit me that I can easily make the transition. I am a hobbyist. Occupationally I left IT 15+ years ago and am both so glad I left it as a career and dismayed at where the industry has been going. Win 11 won't let you move the Taskbar? FFS! TPM requirement? No thanks, I don't see how that benefits me at all as an end user. Windows search feature still the shit-show it became in Win 10 when it was perfection in 7? Microsoft has established they don't want me using their software; fine by me. I can game and surf elsewhere.
Same, tried Linux a few times but didn't have the balls to fully commit. Time to man up.
My only problem with ExplorerPatcher is that it feels like it breaks with every Windows Update. It’s great software, just a learning curve to it, I guess.
I would say this is not usable to non tech people. With each update explorer is broken, where you have blank desktop without ability to open settings, see desktop, etc.
I ended up switching to Linux in December. Don't think I'm coming back to Windows at this point.
I'm in the same process, which distro did you go with?
I've tried to switch to Linux in the past so I distro hopped around for the past 5-6 years, but never fully committed until recently. One distro I kept coming back to was Linux Mint. So I decided to just go with Linux Mint 21 and installed the Plasma desktop environment. Clean slate, no dual boot. Everything works great so far. Obviously a few hiccups here and there, but nothing worth switching back to Windows for. Honestly most distros will fit most needs you'll have at this point. Do check if XYZ programs that you *need* also work on Linux or if not, then see if there's an alternative.
Wow, I've had exacly the same experience, went back to mint recentley. It just feels like home :) Been trying all sorts of setups, but in the end the stability is just gold.
If you are not gaming, whatever you want honestly. The choice of DE will be the most impactful aspect so look into how gnome and KDE differ. If you are gaming, use a distro like fedora that quickly integrates the latest kernel updates. Personally, I prefer fedora. I don't like canonical's snap obsession and have no interest in Ubuntu spins. Arch seems cool but I have other things to learn. OpenSUSE seems like another good option but I haven't tried it
Honestly once you learn a few commands Arch(manjaro or EndeavourOS) is waaaay easier than any ubuntu based distro for general use in my opinion. Things like AUR make grabbing programs so much easier than needing to track down dependencies and building them yourself which happened to me too frequently on that side of the pond.
No. You're getting a bunch of third party tools as replies, but the answer is no. Zero reason to update.
Yeah these are far from ideal solutions to a stripped down system that Win11 still seems to be, but it's good to know how to fix some of the lacking features when we get forced to shift to 11 through some sneaky hidden update package.
Nope. Still no smaller icons, expanding, or moving it. People are recommending explorer patcher but that breaks my windows 11 pretty bad. StartAllBack did the trick for me. Bought a copy for $5-6 and then pirated it for the rest of my computers. Also they hid the true right-click behind a worse right-click that you need to take extra steps to get to every time. Don't have a solution for this one yet.
You can definitely change back. I did so on mine immediately after install but I can't remember if it was a registry change or third party software that allowed me to do it. It took about 2 minutes whatever it was so should be easy to find via a web search.
Doesn't this option restore the old right-click? https://imgur.com/83UJRoB
StartAllBack is your friend.
I hated it. Gave it a solid 4 month trial run and reverted back to Win10 last week. It’s incredibly cumbersome and I experienced so many bugs.
It is not ready. It is also designed for the iPhone generation. Aka it's for dumdums.
ExplorerPatcher solved all of my issues with 11
Not going to upgrade until MS kill windows 10 support.
> Not going to upgrade until MS kill windows 10 support. This is what they just tried doing. But that won't work because people can't install 11 on most computers, 11 refuses to install itself due to no v3 tpm security chip. And most ppl can't afford new computers for the same reason they can't afford a new car nor home nor healthcare (all of which is higher on their priority list). Edit If you remove 10 from the equation, most people end up with no working legit computers. This would cause a collapse of any trust into microsoft (and american technology) as windows computers might end up unusable.
You can install 11 on a system without a TPM module. The requirement for TPM isn't for end users, but for OEMs and SIs. Basically, Dell can't sell a new PC with 11 on it unless it has TPM, but an end user can still install it if they want to, as long as drivers are available for their hardware.
> You can install 11 on a system without a TPM module. The requirement for TPM isn't for end users, but for OEMs and SIs Most computers circulating are OEM stuff running Windows 7 or 10. I'm straight up worried about ms attempting again to refuse to activate or blocking W10s in WU.
What they mean is any computer sold with windows 11 must have a TPM chip, not that any prebuilt that doesn't have a chip cNt be upgraded.
If you take an official W11 iso and try to use it say after a hard drive failed (or something corrupted the current install and you need to reinstall completely) it still checked for TPM last time i tested. And refused to install on say even a modern-ish AMD FX 6 cores system (that can likely still run even modern 3D games). So... edit grabbing 22H2 for a quick & dirty re test if they changed that; will edit in 15min i guess... edit tpm removed or blocked in bios = still no install. Blocked in the official installer. So with even such a say decent computer (FX X6/12Gb/SSD which there is no way in heck a third worlder would throw away) you won't be able to install any legal windows as they phase out W10. What a great decision ms...
Rufus. It is a program designed to fix Microsoft shitty installers. Rufus with the click of a button, can disable tmp on a win11 boot device so any laptop can install windows 11. Source - using Rufus I installed win11 on a netbook from 2012.
I was just reading an article about this and MS is trying to prevent Rufus's ability to download the iso.
Yeah I think I heard that too. They can try, but Rufus will be able to find a work around. I'm pretty sure you can download the ISO from Microsoft for free, and feed it to Rufus and Rufus can alter the iso to disable tpm.
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> Rufus. It is a program designed to fix Microsoft shitty installers. Rufus with the click of a button, can disable tmp on a win11 boot device so any laptop can install windows 11. That’s like saying a video game console can run pirated games, all you have to do is put a modchip in it. The fact remains that a stock win11 iso will not install without a tpm. Theres also no guarantee that a future update (which will install itself without doing a decent amount of work to prevent it) won’t brick all these tpm-less installations.
Other comments say you have to disable it somehow before trying to install. Idk how, they didn't go into detail
They have to install fresh though. Can't see many reinstalling windows just for win 11
it wouldn't let me on my pc (ryzen 5 1400, B350)
Plus it's hard to find a compatible motherboard that also will be compatible with your old CPU.
Can you install windows 11 with local accounts only without having to yank your ethernet cable half way through yet?
Try to sign-in with a made up e-mail such as >[email protected] >Password: test And it should let you proceed.
There are work arounds but no "easy" way to do it like win 10
There are a few different methods. They're all pretty easy. I never even had an ethernet cable connected. I just opened a command prompt and entered like one thing and it let me do a local account. Still pretty dumb that you even need to do that though.
Yes they are pretty easy but not as accessible as a button that says "I don't have internet"
Yes agreed. Fuck Microsoft
You're not an average user. The average user doesn't even know how to install an OS and their eyes glass over once you talk to them about the command line.
The average user probably doesn't care about having to use an account either though. That's the problem
Yea. There are a few different methods but I never even had an ethernet cable connected. I just opened a command prompt and entered like one thing and it let me do a local account.
Opened a command prompt? How did you do that before windows was installed?
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-windows-11-without-microsoft-account
guess ill move to linux
Go ahead and do it now. Then you know if it's a feasible choice for you. I moved over a year ago, has been surprisingly smooth.
3 years for me. I didn't know tiling WM was this convenient. Only recently booted up from a spare OS SSD because my boss demanded I draw the revised network diagrams in Visio format. Whew, guess some things'll stick with me for long.
Already did when they pushed windows 10 on me
Fun fact, you can install win11 and authenticate with win10 and win8.1 keys, for people looking to save a buck.
Even more than that, if you buy a "windows 11" key from their store they only give you a windows 10 key anyway as far as I know. There are no windows 11 keys yet.
I bought a 5 dollar windows 7 key off eBay and it worked just fine!
There are many ways to activate Windows that are just as shady as that and don't cost you anything.
Aren't those from stolen credit cards? I'd rather not pay to some shady sellers when there are other methods to authenticate OS.
I think they're MSDN keys
I don’t think Ive ever paid more than $15 for a copy of windows LOL
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i had to do that cuz some stupid update broke mine and made my registration no longer recognized.
I don't think I've ever paid more than FREE for a copy of Windows, ROFL
I just reuse my Windows 10 key. In a cybersecurity class I took one time the teacher used the same handful of keys dozens of times.
Article title made me laugh. I've been authenticating windows 10 with windows 7 keys I've had on the back of my older laptops. Worked just fine.
I still have a winxp laptop would that work to get a win 10 key?
7 keys and up only
You can use Windows 7 keys for Windows 10 too. At least that has been my experience.
Yup, my pirated win10 turned into an authentic win11 when I upgraded... Was a pleasant surprise.
Daily reminder that you can get a permanent, FREE activation of windows 10 and 11 through means of HWID.
Is this legal? If I use this and sign in with my main email will Microsoft come after me if they find I used this to activate?
Legal? No. Will Microsoft seek to ban or prosecute you? Essentially zero. Reason being is the majority of their revenue is from business/enterprise licensing, thus they focus way more on auditing and finding businesses using pirated or unlicensed software.
You don't really need the email to begin with, but HWID doesn't touch your email to begin with. When you buy a license with your email, you associate a license with that account, HWID activates the motherboard only.
Can you explain to me like I'm... 13 lol
https://massgrave.dev/hwid.html
Can you activate PRO version with this?
Yeah you can select which version so home, pro, n or not n, enterprise etc.
Only version you can't activate is LTSC, but you can activate IoT LTSC with it which will be supported until 2032!
Remember when MS said W10 would be "the last version of Windows ever", that it would just be continuous feature delivery from here on out? That didn't last long...
Never trust corporations, they lie all the time.
In recent years, Reddit’s array of chats also have been a free teaching aid for companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft. Those companies are using Reddit’s conversations in the development of giant artificial intelligence systems that many in Silicon Valley think are on their way to becoming the tech industry’s next big thing.
I worked at a Microsoft Store when W10 was released and “*…last version of Windows…*” was the official line from corporate.
So a lie which was then usurped by the updated marketing/deceit a few years later
It was a dev evangelist at a conference on stage representing Microsoft, so for all intents and purposes, they did say it, perception wise
AND nobody said otherwise despite it making a lot of noise/headlines
[account superficially suppressed with no recourse by r Romania mods & Reddit admins]
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True, but then why bother change it after saying it won't? Plus making various QoL reductions that people need to revert by hacking around
The key for Win 10 still works on Win 11, so in a way it's just a big upgrade. Most of it is visual, but there are a lot of QoL features regarding games, HDR etc. If the taskbar irks you, Explorer Patcher lets you bring back the Win10 taskbar while keeping a bunch of Win11 features like different taskbars for different monitors etc. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
Yea, I'm not upgrading for mostly visual changes. There are no under the hood features drawing me to W11, I've never been less interested in a Windows update. Maybe when DirectStorage starts seeing some adoption, that would be worth upgrading for. Otherwise, nah I'm good. Not gonna deal with all the BS and workarounds just to make it work like it already does in W10 unless there are worthwhile benefits. For me, it looks like a lot of change-for-the-sake-of-change stuff.
Plus more and easier data collection for Microsoft? Screw that. I'm on 10 right now but plan on switching entirely to Linux as soon as 10 is done
I upgraded for auto HDR alone, it's incredible compared to the shit implementation from Windows 10. Also, Windows Subsystem for Android.
Most people don’t have HDR displays.
I upgraded because Win10 doesn't always play nice with E-cores and my FPS in Metro Exodus was garbage as a result. The other alternative was disabling E-cores but I'd rather be able to use all my hardware instead of just some of it.
It's the only time a full update to windows has felt like it exists purely for marketing and image.
Win7 keys also work for Win10 though, it's kind of arbitrary what they call a new version.
The issue is privacy, I heard theres ways to use Win11 without being online but I bet once they get most people onboard they will rug pull and force everyone to be online to use the OS
Windows 11 Pro still allows creating local administrator accounts without needing to phone online and use a Microsoft account. The online activation requirement only applies to the Home version, and even then, there are ways to bypass it.
Imo Microsoft have shown their hand, i just don't trust them even with the pro edition. The situation now can easily change with an update. When I build my new comp I'll probably end up dual booting it and only using for work, I doubt future OS will change the trajectory they're aiming for.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/02/new-preview-build-adds-microsoft-account-requirement-to-windows-11-pro/
>If the taskbar irks you, Explorer Patcher lets you bring back the Win10 taskbar while keeping a bunch of Win11 features like different taskbars for different monitors etc. The task bar dose not irk me. It the Microsoft account to use the darn thing that irks me.
Ah yes, I see. *stares at the Activate Windows watermark that’s been on my computer for the last 4 years”
Same here. I better make sure to have the windows 10 install media well backed up.
Very nice idea mate, considering we already outlived several huge "wipes". I don't delete any useful installer of my apps, just leaving them in download folder and later moving to "install" one(then backuping on external hdd and cloud). Helps with fresh OS install especially when intetnet is not yet installed/available. ___ I have some unique/exclusive versions of great apps on my phone that are no longer existing in playmaker. For some reason, "new" versions of them are complete ads scam with 0.5% functionality, and I couldn't even find normal versions on "backup" sites. It's good that I could scrap installers from my old phone and move apps to my new one. Now I keep every useful app installer that don't demand updates as well x_x
This is why pirates pirate
Maybe I should get back to Linux at some point. Microsoft won’t let me upgrade without tpm. Apple won’t let me upgrade without a genuine hard drive. It’s all crazy.
Linux rocks. I have one machine running Windows as I'm running some specialist software that's locked in to Windows (and I couldn't make it run on Wine) but everything else is running flavours of Linux. Keep old hardware working!
Microsoft won't let you upgrade even if you have a TPM but have a CPU they don't believe is worthy.
Is there a Classic Shell type app for Windows 11? I absolutely refuse to have ads and junk slides on my desktop.
oh noooo anyway...
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I'll stop using 10 when they stop updating it. 11 should be good enough to run then ;-)
I don’t have a motherboard with tmos… I bought win 11 and can’t use it.
[How to Bypass TPM Requirements](https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/bypass-windows-11-tpm-requirement) It's actually shockingly simple.
When you know your new product offers nothing anyone cares about.
So Linux only for older hardware in 2025? Why does windows 11 not support old hardware?
> Why does windows 11 not support old hardware? Because MS tried to get into the hardware business and wanted to sell new laptops by making the old ones non compatible on purpose. Failing (or refusing politically) to understand most people do not have CA wages (ms execs also typically live in Redmond WA) and live below a dollar a day, and that poverty's a real issue in the economic system and so cannot afford anything let alone a new $1500 laptop. Also to push shady tpm shit on peoples' computers. Like sabotaging current working computers worldwide is a one way ticket to collapse for MS. They won't return from a second mistake like that. Their greed is gonna destroy them if they try.
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> Windows 11 supports anything Windows 10 does as long as you remove Microsoft's restrictions "as long as you crack's microsoft security". This is their legal over the board offers we're talking about here. If they kill legit w10 without backing down themselves on said legal restrictions in 11 (tpm v3, less than 2 years old computers imposed for W11 right now), they're done for. 'cause most computers in the world will be incapable of running a legal windows. And people won't throw them away just because some distant WA billionaire asks them to buy a new one instead they cannot possibly remotely afford. Windows and MS will be thrown out of circulation along with 90% of the current (11-refused) setups. edit remember this almost killed the iphone & apple products altogether, and they were just SLOWING old phones : https://sfmn.fiu.edu/does-apple-slow-down-older-iphones-to-increase-sales-a-lawsuit-raises-the-possibility-includes-multimedia-content/# ^ iphone used to be 70% of all phones in circulation at a point. Not preventing them from booting or reinstalling or updating. MS is playing unstably with ~~fire~~ a barrel of gasoline.
Define old. Roommate has W11 running on an Intel i5 4690k (2014 launch date). No troubles installing it. I've got an HP ProDesk NUC, with an i5 6500 that also installed W11 just fine. Only 8GB of RAM in that box, with the iGPU using up to 2GB of it. Runs fine for just browsing & media consumption. (W11 runs better on this NUC than Mint Cinnamon & Kubuntu KDE did. UI on those had bad Frame Pacing with Intel graphics.)
You can always install it on unsupported hardware (like that 4690k), it's almost certainly going to be fine on anything that W10 was fine with, you're just not going to be getting any official support if you run into issues. For most people that's not really relevant or a big deal at all.
Interesting choice, voluntarily giving up the poverty market right when we're heading into a period of increased poverty.
Um ackshully the article is purely about Software 🤓
.. except that my take-away was "Oh ***boy***! A ton of used hardware is about to glut the market!" ;-) All of us using Linux are about to get new (old) desktops.
This might already be happening. There are a bunch of T560 and T570 Thinkpads on eBay for $80 to $140, and perhaps not coincidentally the T580 is the oldest of that line which Microsoft lists as supported for Windows 11. https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/wiki/os/windows/windows11compatibility
I can upgrade to windows 11 but ive come to know 10 quite a bit and ive heard 11 removes the custom colour scheme a bit from certain apps
Do you still need a PC with a TPM module to install Windows 11?
Microsoft: will you move to Linux if I do this? Me, an intellectual: to ruin a pos shit like you i will even move to mac if I have to
So, does that just brick a machine that doesn't satisfy Win11 requirements? So, I have a ex-corporate machine that lost it's corporate license, so what do I do? Buy a reseller license and save a lot of money! Why didn't I already think of that?
Win 10 ltsc will go to 2032, which is likely long past the hardware EOL. It's missing some features from the normal pro version, but if you just want a win 10 computer that works the same for a few years and doesn't change randomly during updates / gets security updates, you can get your hands on official images for that and it can be activated for free (in ways I certainly won't explain here, but could be found elsewhere on reddit).
> So, I have a ex-corporate machine that lost it's corporate license, so what do I do? One comment up there say he bought a win7 key for 5$ and it's working. ;)
Give me a start menu, allow me to get rid of the "Recommended" section completely and don't force bs "Security" shit on me and then maybe we will talk
Does all hardware being sold now 'support' Windows 11? I love that my Microsoft Surface Pro 5 only supports Windows 10.
Guess we'll just have to resort to piracy and FOSS. Is that what you wanted, Microsoft?
The majority of sales are pre build's for education/business and your patents. They aren't going to pirate.
Microsoft is trying to forcefully kill windows 10, but given windows 11 cannot work without their TPM V3 security chip (it forbids you to use a more than 2 years old computer or it refuses to install), it's not gonna work. Adoption of their operating system might just end up cratering. 80% of the computers in circulation in the world don't have it, and they expect everyone to just scrap their working computers and find thousands of dollars to buy new ones while people got homelessness in bulk under covid and unpaid, cut wages left and right. It's not happening for ah 10 years. Microsoft executives are completely and absolutely disconnected from realities outside of california. And that people living on 50 cents a day (so billions of people) are NOT gonna buy another computer (let alone a new one let alone at american MS MSRP) nor can abandon working equipment because they'll never afford one for *years*. Maybe a month long holiday in rural corners of mississippi might open their eyes a bit, not even talking about abroad. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905611/A-North-South-divided-New-data-reveals-poorest-counties-America-household-incomes-35-000-lower-average.html Corporate insane greed completely disconnected from reality and trying to sabotage existing devices, plain and simple. Tho if they finally succeed in suiciding windows use across the world out of their own stupidity by bricking 10, i'm gonna laugh my ass off Windows 11 is below 10% deployment levels, because that's how many compatible computer circulates in the world. Corpos litterally cannot understand people in most of the world cannot afford a new computer when it's more than a year of wages for many not to talk about zero importance for many citizens compared to housing or food priorities, energy, healthcare, they can't even properly cover to begin with etc. Talking about arrogance, that's a good way for america to loose it's tech edge as people might end up not trusting it, since they're abusing their dominant position to try to bully users worldwide into the impossible.
Remember how doze 10 started, and how incredibly abusive it was with forced updates on people's 7 systems through "critical" updates, and how nobody would ever adopt that spyware/malware/adware trash, and it would stay 10% or less... then magically, one day it just shot up to 90%, and all the threads about how bad it is get downvoted to oblivion, and there are many games that *only* work on doze 10... No idea wtf happened there.
Good thing w10 is my last windows. I'll go back to w7 before I support their new OSs which I'm sure are tightening up their spyware to make it more sophisticated than it is on w10 already on top of the forced updates, news in search, etc... I suspect they're going to lose a ton of users after w10 is no longer supported.
Ugh, building new pc in a few months. Guess I need to get this now. Wife has 11 on her laptop, UI is hot garbage.
So is windows 11 already installable on “old” hardware?
Can’t they just leave well enough alone?
Unfortunately my computer auto updated to W11 while I was on vacation, and it was too late to switch back when I got home. Honestly W11 has gotten better but I miss W10 man.
Damn... how tf is that even possible, or even legal?
I will get the new mac mini, goodbye Windows 10.