Windows 11

[Diasi]

My old desktop pc, that I built around 2007 & kept modifying, packed up several months ago & since then I've been using a 2016 HP laptop that ran both Windows 7 Pro, my preferred OS, & Windows 10 Pro.

I've looking at fixing my old desktop with a new motherboard, CPU & power supply but the parts were nearly as much as a ready-built desktop so a month ago I bought an HP mini tower desktop that was reduced by £200 & worked out cheaper than refurbishing my old desktop pc.

This one came with Windows 11 Home preinstalled & I decided to give it a go & once I'd uninstalled all the bloatware, unnecessary functions & installed a programme to make it emulate the layout of Windows 7, I decided to stick with it.

[klondike]

It works and is easier than learning Linux. Plus you can get software to do just about anything that doesn't look like it was written for a Commodore 64 with endless arcane options and error messages. Usually free too.

Want to add a device? It will work without umpteen Google searches to find what command line nonsense is needed to make it.

There is a very good reason why Windows is the most common operating system. It runs on cheap hardware and doesn't require a degree in computer science, growing a beard and wearing sandals or forever searching Google to make it work.

The downside is every new release you have to start out with searches to stop it doing all the annoying crap that Microsoft added so you'd know it is a new release.

[Diasi]

It works and is easier than learning Linux. Plus you can get software to do just about anything that doesn't look like it was written for a Commodore 64 with endless arcane options and error messages. Usually free too.

Want to add a device? It will work without umpteen Google searches to find what command line nonsense is needed to make it.

There is a very good reason why Windows is the most common operating system. It runs on cheap hardware and doesn't require a degree in computer science, growing a beard and wearing sandals or forever searching Google to make it work.

The downside is every new release you have to start out with searches to stop it doing all the annoying crap that Microsoft added so you'd know it is a new release.

I had a go with Linux & quite liked it, but the downside was that, at the time, some of the tax accounting sites that I used didn't support Linux so I gave up.

This HP desktop has a really small footprint & the only moving part is the cooling fan. Everything else is solid state & it is quite fast.

[klondike]

It's for computer hobbyists more than for people who just want to use them. It is also ok if all you need a machine to access the internet but then a Chromebook would be easier still.

I do have a Linux machine set up which I use for some things but I haven't even turned it on in weeks.

[Diasi]

I have a lot of documents on my laptop that I haven't yet moved over so I've bought a few cheap-as-chips switches & cables that mean I can have either the laptop or the desktop connected to the routers & all the devices with a couple of button presses.

[klondike]

I store anything I intend keeping on network RAID box plus small regularly changed stuff in Dropbox that is mirrored to other machines including the RAID which runs a Dropbox client. 
Passwords get stored in BitWarden. 
Browser settings are synced between machines. 

I do occasionally make Macrium Reflect image backups but rarely these days as if a machine were completely trashed everything important is duplicated and a reinstall of Windows is easy enough if a bit tedious making the settings that turn off all the annoying new bits they've added.

[JBR]

I recently took the plunge and accepted an 'update' from Windows 10 to Windows 11, which MS has been nagging me about for a long time.

Expectedly, the change took over an hour, but apart from making several small changes to 'convert' W11 back to how I used W10, the final product is surprisingly good.  No distinct practical improvement from W10, as far as I can see so far, but I suppose that it may now be better protected than before.  Of course, I am no computer expert.

One welcome improvement is that it doesn't keep nagging me to download Windows Updates as did W10, and when I have done that, the update was done quickly.
I still, however, state that my working hours using an internet connection are from 8am to 2am!  A complete lie, of course, but it does prevent them from downloading things which I don't want until I find the time when it would be more convenient.

[klondike]

Most of the updates are quick and you get the option when to reboot. I usually just leave it and do an update and shutdown when I'm turning it off.

[JBR]

Most of the updates are quick and you get the option when to reboot. I usually just leave it and do an update and shutdown when I'm turning it off.

Yes, that's an improvement.  I still prefer to do the download and reboot when I'm not busy.