With the 2022 Update, Windows 11 Is Finally Worth an Upgrade
Microsoft will finally make the Windows 11 update available to anyone running Windows 10 with a version that's 2004 or later. The new operating system is called Sun Valley and is designed to be compatible with the previous versions of Windows 10. If you're not sure if you should make the move, read why this upgrade is worth it.
Free
One reason Windows 11 is worth upgrading is that it's free! That's right; Microsoft has made this update free for everyone who owns a PC running any Windows 10 version 2004 or later. So if you've been holding off upgrading because you don't want to pay for something that may not be worth it, now is your chance!
Easy to Use
In the past, Windows was a complicated and frustrating operating system. It was hard to use and often challenging to get the hang of. With Windows 8 and 10, Microsoft has made a lot of progress. The problem is that these improvements have come at a cost - these operating systems are still difficult to use.
With the 2022 Update, Microsoft has finally done something about this problem. They've made Windows 11 as easy to use as Mac OS X. The reason for this change is simple. Microsoft knows that if they want their users to upgrade from Windows 10.
They needed to make sure that upgrading wasn't too difficult or awkward for users who weren't already familiar with the new interface design changes. The 2022 Update makes it easier for everyone - even those who have never used a Windows computer!
New Look Menu
The start menu has been a boring feature of Windows until now. It was just a place to find shortcuts to your most-used programs and files, and it didn't even have any customization options. That's about to change with the 2022 update.
The start menu will now be customizable. You'll be able to customize its colors and fonts and add new folders or buttons that open specific apps. It'll also include support for Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant, that can help you with calendar reminders or scheduling meetings.
Upgraded Microsoft Edge
With the 2022 Update, Microsoft has finally made Edge good enough to use as your primary browser (without worrying about security). You can pin websites and apps to the taskbar and right-click on links to share them easily.
With the new "dark mode" feature, you can ensure that your browser doesn't take up all your screen real estate by dimming its background color until you close it - perfect for watching videos on YouTube or Netflix!
New File Explorer
One of the biggest changes is the new file explorer interface. This new interface is much easier to use than previous versions of Windows and makes finding files even faster. It also allows users to add folders directly into their taskbar and access them quickly without opening up a different program first.
Search Box
Another new feature is a unified search box that can be accessed from any screen in Windows, including when using email or instant messaging software like Skype. This feature will allow users to quickly find any information they need without switching between different functions on their computer or smartphone device.
It's time to upgrade
Overall we believe that the 2022 update is certainly worth the upgrade. Windows 11 brings some exciting new features to the table and furthers Microsoft's vision of a connected PC ecosystem and a seamless experience between devices. The new interface won't be for everyone, but after using it for a few days, you'll find it easy to adapt. Overall, the 2022 update isn't a must-have upgrade, but you'd be missing out if you didn't at least try it out.
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Easier to use? Yeah by cutting out features that older OSs already have. It’s a bad sign when Windows 11 can’t do things even Windows 95 did ages ago. Also Microsoft is trying to transition everybody to a cloud OS model so that you won’t own the eventual Windows 12 or beyond. I wish some of my software had Linux support otherwise I’d finally swap to it.
Indeed the article is a thinly disguised ad. Windows 11 is definitely inferior to Windows 10. Besides the reasons pointed out by others in the comments I would add 1] its propensity to generate BSODs, 2) the text on some applications, including VSCode, becomes tiny after the PC wakesvup from sleep, requiring that the user closes and opens the application, 3) removal of Quick Launch, which was by far the best way to start apps and access files and folders.
You guys get those? I’m on latest Insider Dev Build on W11 and get absolutely 0 BSODs…
And I actually quite love how much better 11 is from 10
Same. Have W11 on 3 computers for nearly a year, zero BSOD so far.
Firstly, windows 11 is as hard to use as windows 11 because the things changed is some start menu and taskbar. Secondly, people hate the microsoft edge browser because it’s hard to change it to chrome or other browsers. Finally, don’t say that windows 11 is worth the upgrade. I upgraded to windows 11 and it just made the taskbar worse by giving less options, so this article is not the best way to say that windows 11 is worth updating. This article is more of an advertisement to windows 11.
The start menu is so much worse. I want to have a ton of shortcuts on it to declutter my desktop. That’s literally what it’s there for. But now it’s locked to what, 12 icons? Yeah more icons if you click more times.
Everything requires at least twice as many clicks to do anything now.
Right click on desktop now contains zero useful things and you have to click “other shortcuts” to get what you want.
Every single setting you actually need is hidden in multiple sub menus, device manager, WHY do you hide this??
Sound settings, such as enabling full bandwidth speakers, also hidden in the old school settings.
There’s also this new genius “sound enhancement” that is enabled by default which agressively boost treble and reduce bass, I spent hours looking for broken cables as my system suddenly sounded like crap.
The unbelievably god awful mouse acceleration is also only possible to disable in you guessed it, old settings, that is now eleven clicks away instead of what two?
Who in their right mind wants the mouse cursor to flail away to a corner of you move it slightly faster, I don’t get it.
And the fact that the file system manages to corrupt it self every month with start menu, settings or Windows update failing to launch requiring a rollback.
I tried rocky linux, I have to admit its too good, too clean os, no third parties , everything go smooth. If you need anything go to store.
Linux Mint is your choice. It easy to install and use.
I’ve been using it for 2 years and find it far more stable than Windows!
Did Panos Panay write this garbage?
It’s written by Shaun. Just ignore his ridiculous adverticles.
There is so much nonsense and outright lies in this article.
“In the past, Windows was a complicated and frustrating operating system. It was hard to use and often challenging to get the hang of. With Windows 8 and 10, Microsoft has made a lot of progres”
It is the opposite. Window 8 and 10 were harder to use. The Windows 8 GUI was a big failure because it was not clear how to use it and had less features. Windows 10 start menu also lack features compared to the start menu of Windoes 7.
The new settings GUI is incomplete and so you still
had to use settings in Control Panel, which was not obvious for new users.
The flat GUI design makes it hard to see the borders or titlebars of overlapping windows, or see what is a button or just a text box.
“They’ve made Windows 11 as easy to use as Mac OS X.”
Mac OS is still a dumb down GUI with too few features to really optimize your tasks and workflow.
What is ‘easy to use’ can be a problem if restictions and lack of feaures does not let you work efficiently or solve problems when they occur (and they will).
What use is someting that is ‘easy to use’ if it slows down your work and stops you from fixing problems?
Restrictions are needed to protect the OS, but they can go too far and so cause problems.
“They needed to make sure that upgrading wasn’t too difficult or awkward for users who weren’t already familiar with the new interface design changes. The 2022 Update makes it easier for everyone – even those who have never used a Windows computer!”
They made it harder to install Windows 11 by requiring TPM 2 and a internet connection.
I am not going to wast my time listing all the practical and moral problems that occur with the requirement of a internet connection to install a OS, especialy the dominant OS that most people need to run software they need.
“The start menu will now be customizable. You’ll be able to customize its colors and fonts and add new folders or buttons that open specific apps.”
Will it be so customizable that it can fully emulate the windows 7 or XP startmenu, as many people want? I think not.
“With the 2022 Update, Microsoft has finally made Edge good enough to use as your primary browser (without worrying about security).”
Part of security is protecting sensitive data like your browsing history.
Edge is even worse than Chrome in weakening your secuirty by colleting your privet data.
See: https://www.ghacks.net/2020/02/25/study-finds-brave-to-be-the-most-private-browser/
.
“Another new feature is a unified search box that can be accessed from any screen in Windows, including when using email or instant messaging software like Skype.”
This makes it easier to accidently type senstive data in Microsoft search box that then automaticly send the data to Microsoft. It also takes up space in the screen.
I do not want a search box that send the type to Microsoft all over the place in Windows.
“Overall we believe that the 2022 update is certainly worth the upgrade. Windows 11 brings some exciting new features to the table and furthers Microsoft’s vision of a connected PC ecosystem and a seamless experience between devices. The new interface won’t be for everyone, but after using it for a few days, you’ll find it easy to adapt.”
How is the upgrade worth it, if it furthers Windows goal to make society more fragile by making people and companies more dependant on having a internet connection to do their daily essential tasks?
How can you just state that all or most users will easily adapt to the new interface after a few days?
Sorry Shaun, but from now on I will not trust much of what you write.
Mr. Shine writes, “Mac OS is still a dumb down GUI with too few features to really optimize your tasks and workflow.”
While everyone has his/her preferences of OS or OS distribution, MacOS is an elegant and powerful gui built atop BSD unix. The user interface and builtin OS tools offer many ways to optimize tasks and workflow. And the unix command level tools are pretty nifty.
I don’t know what the hell Mr Sine is babbling about.
Testimony to macOS’s quality is how closely GNOME tries to emulate its look and feel on Linux.
It’s strange that this article doesn’t even mention TPM ! Just lost my respect for ghacks !
Haters will always hate. By now everyone knows about TPM for pcs, so I see no point why not including TPM in this article is a sin. It is perfectly written and Windows 11 is worth it for some of us..even MacOS is not good for everyone why should windows be? Osamatiyesa(do not test us)
No.
@ShintoPlasm and David
I agree that MacOS has it’s good points, and others like Microsoft and Gnome are trying to be like it.
But many Windows and Linux users are not happy about that, as comments in various forums online have shown the past years.
Apple tries to keep things simple and restricted, so while you get some tools and some freedom, you do not get all the freedom and features to fully optimize your workflow in the best possible way and do all the tasks that some users want to do.
That is why many users turn to other software and tools to try to get around these problems.
An example is Windows users using other File browsers than the deafault Windows Explorer, or Gnome users adding extensions to make it more usable.
Another example of this thrend to simplify (dumb down) the UI of software, is Firefox trying to copy Chrome by removing features and settings. This gives the users less freedom to configure the browser in a more optimal way for them, and in some cases makes it hard to solve some problems.
And Firefox users have been complaining about this for years.
I totally agree. Windows was so much easier before 8. Many people forget the reason for 8 was an effort to make an MS OS which would run on mobiles, tablets and PC’s, a unified hybrid OS if you like. They screwed it up horrifically and have since ditched mobile altogether. The result is a horrible difficult to use OS with mixed elements of the past and present. I really wish MS had not been so foolish as to attempt to compete with Android and Apple on the mobile front back in the day. Windows 7 rocked and everything since has been poor by comparison as a result.
Martin, this is an ad (and a very bad one, at that), not an objective article, but it is not labeled as such on the main screen. I clicked on it thinking it was an article and read it with growing disbelief as I couldn’t believe that gHacks is now publishing this kind of nonsense, although I will say that based on prior experience, the fact that Shaun was the author should have signaled to me that there might be quality and integrity issues associated with posting.
It does finally say that it is an ad, but it is in very small print at the very bottom of the ad copy.
I’m sure we would all appreciate it if gHacks puts an immediate end to this type of misleading presentation, and goes back to clearly labeling all ads so that people are aware of what they are reading.
All articles have regular ads at the end of the article.
If you have an ad-blocker you will not see the actual ad, but still se “Advertising” at the bottom.
“Some Dude”, That’s not what is being said.
It’s being said that the way the article itself is worded sounds more like an ad in itself, rather than news or an opinion piece.
An “ad” for something free? Not really. If I were a Windows user running an old version, I’d go for the upgrade. And that’s generally not bad advice for those who want to stay on top of security threats… regardless of OS.
Lmao, Windows 11 is killing people computer out there
https://i.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/q1ybce/updated_to_windows_11_it_had_updates_and_now_my/
You should write about this fact instead.
It isn’t windows 11 that’s killing computers according to that hyperlink. It’s the bios update the the OEM is pushing.
This article ends forever my coming to this site as I have done daily for years.
How much money did you get for this?
There is NOTHING this site could write about that I can ever take seriously.
AMEN
Yep me too! Even marked Ghacks as “unreliable” in feedback for my google newsfeed! I don’t thionk I’ve ever read a bigger load of drivel and LIES in my life! Feels like M$ wrote this for the widly ignorant “author” I use the term loosely.
ads should be made clear *AT THE START*
deleting my bookmark.
This is not an ad. The “advertisement” you see is for an ad-block that is not shown, likely because you are using an ad-blocker.
I think you’re missing the point.
The Article itself is an ad, and a very bad one.
Over time Windows has become much more cumbersome to use, not easier.
I just ran a comparison on 1809 vs 21H2. The latter being significantly slower, less responsible and more bloated (even after de-bloating it), then 1809.
Windows is headed in the wrong direction.
As has been said elsewhere in these comments – this article is an advertisement that is full of untruths.
There will never be a time to upgrade to Windows 11.
Microsoft is so embarrassed with Windows 11 usage of only 11% after a year that it need an ad ?
I heard someone talking in a PalTalk chat room, about people going back using windows 7.
That one feller in PalTalk, said just the other day, he has 6 desktop’s and he was installing win 7 on every one of them.
>One reason Windows 11 is worth upgrading is that it’s free!
Free data for MS! Sorry Shaun, but I will hard-pass on this deal with Redmond. Pulling the plugs on Windows 10 has cost me months of work and basically resorts to putting a Linux server between my desktop and the Internet and making tiresome use of countless group policy editor settings.
Not in years again! I will wait until Windows 10 ceases. 3 more years of updates, maybe extended support. Who knows? After all the hasardeurs and pioneers cleared the minefield that is windows 11 and tools and tweaks are broadly available and the UI is stable and not being ruined by terrible UX designers, then maybe I can migrate.
Windows 11, an uncharted barren territory.
A good reputation is hard to win, but easily lost. I was flabbergasted to read this article and didn’t notice the “Advertisement” notice at the bottom until I read the comments. ghacks can do better. If this sort of misleading material continues, I’m afraid ghacks will lose its reputation and it’s readership (including me!).
Again, this is not the label for the article, but for an ad-unit. If you use a content blocker, you may not see the ad, but the content blocker apparently is not blocking the “advertisement” label of the unit.
@Martin, maybe time to remove this hard-coded ‘advertisement’ label.
It had to be an article so flagrant in nonsense that some users considered it as an ad and in the flow perceived the ‘advertisement’ label as evidence.
I must say that it is maybe the first time I read an article here so filled with inepties. The content displays perhaps only “mistakes’ and the style sounds very familiar with advertisement : “It’s time to upgrade” is not something you read in technical reviews unless the review is so close to promoting deliberately a product that informing the user it is advertisement is somewhat superfluous. I know you wouldn’t use this rhetoric and up to now i’ve never read an article written by you which could in any way be close to this comedy.
@Martin, a suggestion: change blog template just a bit and put that (and other similar) “advertisement” label into an element with class or id attribute that is commonly blocked by ad blockers. So, if someone blocks ads, they will not see label and if they allow it, label will be also visible.
Disappointing article because, like Microsoft, it doesn’t seem to reflect actual users’ experiences. I mean actual proper users, not someone who just browses the newspapers a few times a week and types out a letter now and then. Microsoft couldn’t have written a more positive review.
Microsoft has become focused on improvements that are basically just eye candy rather than adding or improving functionality. That applies just as much to Windows as it does to its other products like Office. All ‘updates’ in Office over the past 5 years (at least) have reduced my efficacy and seriously messed with my workflow, necessitating rollback to previous versions whilst paying for a ‘current’ version. Microsoft’s Modern Comments’ in Office 365 is an excellent example – Google Microsoft’s user forum and see how we who work in the publishing industry/academia are very unhappy with the changes made. All looks very pretty but you can no longer format comments for example.
Everyone hated Vista – I had a business version and found my system to be very stable and still very configurable without grief. Microsoft has slowly taken away our ability to customize our system in all aspects how we wish. Now we mostly just get to play with pretty pictures and colours. Things we used to adapt have either been removed or buried so deep that if you have a life, much of it will pass by whilst you’re digging. I’m wondering what will ‘die’ when I have to upgrade to Win 11. Upgrade from 8 to 8.1 left one PC without wifi or bluetooth. I almost fainted when my new in 2018 PC underwent a Windows-enforced BIOS update. Guess I’m old-fashioned at wanting full control over all these things. But that makes my life easier than losing three or four days work time trying to fix something a Windows update screwed up.
So sad to have to remove this site from my RSS feed. What a shame to see such a valuable resource lose its integrity.
Why?
Indeed, why? Because nowadays the slightest mistake and you cet crucified.
But articles such as this one, even if you aren’t the author, hurt Ghacks’ reputation of seriousness and integrity.
I’m sure such poor littérature won’t become a habit here.
So no more required specs that prevented Windows 10 users from updating before? Interesting. I guess Microsoft decided there weren’t enough people using compatible PCs. It’s a welcome change. For a change.
Surely you can’t be serious? I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley! =D
You have to read the article as sarcasm for it to make sense.
I beg your pardon but it’s hilarious to recommend the “downgrade” of W11, always considering that W10 is by now the most stable MS OS and it’s working like a charm in all affordable computers. Anyway, I don’t understand the purpose of this article (i.e., TMP requiremt, less productivity taskbar, insidious startup, explorer with 5 clicks and so forth issues everywhere). If we want to be serious we should put the advantages and disavantages of W11 to let the readers to decide. Thanks however for the article.
While this article seems like an ad at first, it is not one. Ads get removed by adblockers and so only advertisement line remains, giving impression it’s an ad. However every Ghacks page looks the same except promoted one but then it is mentioned clearly.
As for Windows 11, as someone who got a new laptop(budget one) Windows 11 does work better than any previous Windows including 7. It boots up in 5 sec, every application(light to heavy) loads in mere seconds. Didn’t had any sign-in Microsoft account requirement(maybe a Lenovo thing). i5 processor with 8 Gigs RAM and yet it absolutely flies for normal everyday task. My whole perception regarding Windows 11 changed in last week. Latest major update took 2 minutes of restart time only. I’ll install Linux in few days but Windows 11 sure is better. Privacy issues remain but only option is to either switch OS completely disable/remove Microsoft crap and enjoy your device equipped for everyday task like I did.
How much of that is the hardware? Are you using an SSD? None of this will affect me at all, as I’ve no intention of going back to Windows as a daily driver; but I’m retired. I’m just curious.
@just an Ed
Personally I would put it down to three things –
a) Lenovo laptop, not an advertisement for Lenovo. But I’ve used every company laptop and I’ve found Lenovo to be quickest, with least bloatware and best bang for buck.
b) SSD.
c) Most Microsoft crap is removed. Essentially it is Windows 7 in everything but name.
@Yash
Sounds exactly like my two Windows 8.1 (Pro, with Classic/Open Shell) desktops that are 2018 hardware (i5 processor, 8 GB RAM) with the only exception the HDD was upgraded to SSD. Both systems boot up in <5 seconds, OS updates take <2 minutes and all applications load in seconds. Even had somewhat similar performance with a 10 year old laptop on Windows 7 Pro with a SSD until it had to be retired due to CPU fan hardware failure. =D
@Mothy
Almost same when it comes to previous hardware performance in Windows 7 and 10. And same now with 11. That doesn’t make Windows 11 a downgrade, does it!
does the latest update got the never combine taskbar back? it’s so annoying, especially when you’re working with some ms.office
Sry, an I5 will never load a modern OS in 5 seconds. What you are seeing is trickery. Try doing a complete cold boot from bios screen through *complete* OS load (not a hybrid sleep to wake load).
@ OS Tricks
No trickery, my two desktop systems are not configured for sleep or hibernate and always do a cold boot from the BIOS screen which is at most 5 seconds to get to the desktop.
“I’m a published author of horror and fantasy novels”
This largely explains the fascination with Windows 11.
@Cor Invictus: I think you just won the thread. ;-)
“Microsoft will finally make the Windows 11 update available to anyone running Windows 10 with a version that’s 2004 or later.” Really? This sounds like all hardware requirements are no longer.
This article is written very badly.
There are so many who don’t understand how ad blocker works, actually including me however, isn’t it obvious “advertisement” is something ad blocker missed to clean?
Unfortunately some people are so thick.
Was this nonsense hacked into ghacks? How else could it have gotten here?
It’s not up to tech journos taking payola to decide wether win11 suits users’ needs. regardless of whenever those did their evaluation and decided for a reason or another this win11 was not suitable.
Switching to linux or just macos would be superior alternatives to adopting halfbaked crippleware with forced updates that does not respect your choices and cripples your workflow rather than empower it the way you need and want.
A massive number of computers are blocked from running win11 and believe it or not they will NOT be dumped in a landfill but running another operating system and lacking in neither functions nor reliabily compared to this bloatware.
Here’s a uBO rule to block Shaun’s articles:
http://www.ghacks.net##.hentry:has-text(by Shaun)
Remove the “http://” part, that’s been added automatically to my comment.
@ShintoPlasm, I think you’re overreacting and that’s excessive from some point of views. All the writers of Ghacks has the right to write its opinions and articles like everyone. Probably this article is too much flower power for my taste, however I enjoy every article of every writer at Ghacks, probably the best english website to learn about computers nowadays.
@ShintoPlasm
This is a bit harsh, but your tip did make me laugh out loud.
I’m blocking hacks completely
When I go to Windows Update running Windows 10 22H2 19045.2311, Microsoft tells me “Note: Some Windows 10 features aren’t available in Windows 11. Certain apps and features may have additional requirements.” I suggest believing Microsoft and many others, not Shaun’s simplistic perspective.
My plan was to wait until 2025 to go from Windows 10 to Windows 11. However I found an application that claimed to work on Windows 11 and after testing it on Windows 10, it proved to be better than the old fee one I thought I could not give up. Thus on 20230130 I upgraded to Windows 11 Home x64 22H2 build 22621.1105 with no problem, and absolutely love it.
Is this an advertisement, or just some delusional nonsense written by a fanboy? I expect more quality from ghacks.
Please stop publishing worthless “articles” like this
After reading through the article and comments I’d say ghacks has completely missed its demographic. This is typical m$ behavior, propagandize people into liking a bad OS instead of designing one. I’m sure some of you remember when people used to stand in line to get the new windows, now they shovel it down your throat whether you want it or not. I suppose when you command a monopoly you can do whatever you want but at some point people will jump ship and it will be the end of an era for window$. They should just rip the bandaid off already and go full cell phone OS for desktop, its what all the kids want.
The only reason people moved to Windows 10 is because support for Windows 7 ended (no more security updates).
When Windows 10 support ends (10/14/2025), people will be forced to move to Windows 11, but Windows 10 does everything Windows 11 does without pushing a tablet touch screen interface & forcing people to use the cloud (more than Windows 10 already does).
Windows 7 Ultimate was the best operating system Microsoft ever made (the Ultimate version had XP mode, which allowed people to use Windows XP hardware that didn’t have a driver for Windows 7).
DDR4 Memory lasted 10+ years on PC hardware, no one wants to buy a DDR4 memory computer, when DDR5 was coming (which hopefully lasts another 10+ years). DDR5 memory is expensive now, but it will get cheaper over time. Some people want to wait until DDR5, USB 4, WPA3, WI-Fi 7, etc. are available & cheap before upgrading, rather than buying now & getting last generation technology.
Unfortunately, Apple forces you to buy their hardware (same tech, 2x+ times the price, remember the $1,000 monitor stand, lol). Not everyone wants to be an iTard.
And Linux is harder to install/use than Windows (people are used to Windows), & hardware unfriendly versus Windows. And don’t bring up Linux Mint, if a Linux kernel security update interferes with Cinnamon, Linux Mint will NOT use the security update (say hello to getting hacked).
Due to lack of options, everyone uses Windows, & the majority use Windows 10, only because they were forced out of Windows 7/Windows XP.
I disagree. It depends on the distribution, and the individual use case. I’ve given people Mint, for example, with no problems for them. If all you want is somewhere to put music/videos and web browse, Linux is easy. Most distros install themselves, and do so faster than Softy does.
Strongly disagree, Windows 7 is still completely functional and as powerful as ever. Still using about 30 machines (hard & VM), all Win 7. I have about 8 Win 10 boxes built, waiting for Win 7 to die. I assume I have about 8 more years of Win 7 minimum. Takes a bit of time to create an archive of KB.Hotfixes and strategies for updating certs. But once done, Win 7 is as good as ever.
Who is this Shaun, and why is he being allowed to destroy gHacks reputation? Most of the latest RSS article topics are by him/her/it.
When you sold ghacks you promised that the site would not lose anything, for many months it was, now unfortunately I have to say that the site is turning into another worthless garbage.The beginning of the end of ghacks, sadly, but many sites have already ended up like this. Bye.
How did this article pass quality control, it just turned this whole website into a joke to not take seriously, just like most of websites in the Internet nowadays.
This whole article makes no sense, and didn’t provide a single valid argument to upgrade to Windows 11.
Shaun, this is not your best article.
I am daring to write that it’s a ferry bad article. Maybe it’s wise to develop yourself a bit.
You should consider waiting for a while before you write another article for Ghacks.net
> One reason Windows 11 is worth upgrading is that it’s free!
Nope, it’s not Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) with reproducible builds.
“Nonfree (proprietary) software is very often malware (designed to mistreat the user). Nonfree software is controlled by its developers, which puts them in a position of power over the users; that is the basic injustice. The developers and manufacturers often exercise that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.
This typically takes the form of malicious functionalities.”
– Microsoft’s Software is Malware
– https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html
> With the 2022 Update, Microsoft has finally made Edge good enough to use as your primary browser (without worrying about security).
What a shame with all the billions of dollars M$ has, they couldn’t make their own browser from the ground up, no, they had to take from G00GLE. Pathetic. ‘Without worrying about security’ really gave me a good belly laugh.
I can’t wait for the 2023 updates coming to see all of the future remote exploits that can take over your entire system patched. LOL! It’s the same with every version of M$ Wintards.
The whole article reads like a paid advertisement. Long time readers of ghacks.net will notice the putrid smell of all of the M$ articles lately.
“Microsoft killed my company, and I hold a personal grudge. They are a company with vicious, predatory, anti-competitive business practices, and always have been. They also happen to make terrible products, and always have. I do not use any Microsoft products, and neither should you.”
– https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/xscreensaver-windows.html
Keep pushing Win11 and bleed users or, post tech articles that users find useful.
Learn the difference between shit and shineola.
But, what do I know, I’ve only been a ‘hacker’ for 40+ years.
Why have this obvious ads for Microsoft flooded GHacks lately? This is very disappointing.
I will continue to use Windows 7. If I wanted to use Microsoft’s awful, broken operating system, Microsoft would have to pay me for the privilege. As soon as we started to think Windows 10 was bad, Microsoft came up with something even worse. Windows 11 is the unfortunate outcome of Microsoft’s bad decision to entrust software development to a charlatan. Windows 11 is not worth upgrading to until all of the Microsoft employees who worked on it have been fired, all the MSN, ads, and cloud-based black patterns have been removed, and all the functionality missing from Windows 95 through 10 has been restored.
Nah, I’ll wait until they remove secure boot. Then maybe it is worth it since I only use Windows for gaming.
After reading this article on yesterday (there were no comments yet) I even checked opinions on this 2022 update on other sites because I seemed something revolutionary. I thought – wow, maybe MS did release something revolutionary to Windows 11 to make it decent. But I was wrong it seems – I was baffled by overall article tone how this 2022 update changed Windows 11 significantly.
It seems – it didn’t. Article from this perspective really looks like an advertisement.
In the days of yore I liked Windows but Windows 10 has changed my attitude to Microsoft and the operating system itself. Windows 10 and 11 take away the users’ freedom of choice in several areas. Any update may withdraw some features you find useful and introduce features you don’t want, you are expected to follow Richmond. You are pushed to use Internet when you’d prefer to stay offline. Your data is sent to MS servers. In fact, user seems less important than the company and its ideas, its choices, its views on what is the best for the client. Microsoft says they love Linux and open source but… Installing Linux in dual boot is getting more difficult. You can use Linux from inside Windows, but I suspect that in this case you are being watched by the peeping Tom. I might be wrong, but you see – there is lack of trust. Microsoft made deals with Duckduckgo and is said to have hijacked open source code from Github. Again, I don’t know their intentions, but my trust is gone. I don’t get excited about Windows news anymore, the OS is almost dead for me. Linux is the future. In some areas it is still lacking when compared to Windows, but it has become pretty good overall. I’m still the decision-maker there.
>Installing Linux in dual boot is getting more difficult.
Can anyone comment on that please?
I did see a mention somewhere a while back that the BIOS on one new laptop precluded installing Linux.
I wouldn’t want to buy a laptop and then find that I couldn’t install Linux on it easily.
@Chris
UEFI has made it harder to install Linux, if you do not know how to fix it.
Last monith I was working on a Acer laptop from 2020, and it would not boot Linux from a USB stick. So by default it could not boot Linux.
I solved the problem by going into the BIOS and finding to option to add a custom EFI file to the internal database of approved EFI files.
Only then did Linux boot from the USB stick.
But then I could not install LInux on the laptop SSD, because Linux could not see the SSD.
This was caused by the SSD using Iintel Optane tech for which Linux had no support.
I solved this problem (after some online research) by again going into the BIOS and changing the SATA mode from Intel Optane to AHCI, and then booting Windoes in safe mode so that it would install it’s AHCI driver.
So as you can see dual booting to Linux has indeed become harder, but luckily not impossible.
@Sol Shine
Many thanks for your reply: I haven’t had any difficulty installing Linux Mint from memory sticks on two basic Acer UEFI laptops, and Optane is I think on the way out, or at least unlikely to be found on a reasonably basic laptop.
But something I read elsewhere in the last year or so did concern me, along with the possibility that maybe MS might in some way encourage manufacturers to make it difficult or impossible to dual-boot Linux.
If this becomes a real issue, if I were buying a laptop I would really like an assurance that Linux could be installed on it, but I imagine that in practice it would likely be impossible to obtain one from either the laptop manufacturer or retailer.
@Chris
I don’t think we have to worry about Microsoft forcing laptop manufacturers to block the installation of Linux.
They are evil and would like to do it, but it would risk them being taken to court for abusing their monopoly.
A stronger reason is that many countries (China, Russia, Iran, India, etc) do not want to be too dependant on US software like Windows. That is why they are developing their own OSes based on Linux.
Even the EU wants more independance of US tech, after the Trump election and all the privacy problems Microsoft, Facebook and Google are creating.
So there will always be laptops and PC’s that can run Linux, as there is demand for them.
There are some laptop vendors that sell laptops specificly for Linux.
Examples are system76.com, http://www.tuxedocomputers.com, laptopwithlinux.com and configurelaptop.eu.
They will give you a garanty that their laptop will run Linux.
Acer or HP will probably never give you that garanty.
These Linux laptops are often made by Clevo in Taiwan and often have better features than the laptops from Acer or HP. The laptops are made in China as most laptops are, but Clevo has the end control like Acer or HP does.
I would avoid laptops made by TangFong (owned by Chinese Militairy).
Clevo also have better bios and driver update support than TangFong, but Acer and HP are better than Clevo.
For the record, I did not post this. Someone else apparently has decided to use “Mothy” as well. How confusing!
Besides this one, I only posted the two much further up, one with “Surely you can’t be serious?” and my response to Yash.
Windows 11 is not that bad, but it’s always 1 step forward, 2 steps back since Windows 8. Well with Windows 8 it was 0 steps forward, 10 steps back, but that’s an exception.
The sad, funny and stupid thing is that by the time Windows 11 gets feature-complete, Windows 12 will have already released.
And then Windows 12 will be the newest version, some things will be better, some things will be worse and by the time Windows 12 is feature-complete, Windows 13 will release.
But I guess there may not be Windows 13, because of superstitions.
Mr. Brinkman, I found this site via Woody on Windows, back when I was even more of a newby than I am now. I am unwilling to stop coming here because of one article, even though most articles on Windows are of no interest to me. (I realize that such topics are of interest, simply due to the power wielded by the company.)
Articles such as this are, however, a disservice to both you, your site, and your readers. I am sure my voice will be drowned out (deservedly) by the outcry of those both more competent and better known to you. I will add it anyway.Please don’t allow such tripe as this, if at all possible.
cordially,
Ed B.
The website is no longer what it used to be. I’ve know it since maybe 2010-2011, but I did not start reading it until the last couple of years and it was around the time the change happened.
I think the website was sold to a parent company and there are guest writers from that company who come here and write some articles. The original owner of the website only comes from time to time to write some articles and writes on other websites too, like betanews.
It’s not my place to put labels on anything, but if you don’t like where this is going, you can stop visiting the website.
I’ve found out that most of the websites I follow for news on interests that concern me have dropped in quality, be it technology, gaming, anime or what have you. You just have to come to terms and move on when you feel it’s time.
Don’t count on the website getting better, because you voiced your complaints about it. When the home page changed layout to whatever this mess is, people complained for days and maybe weeks, it was not even acknowledged.
If it wasn’t for whatever moderation there is still here, one could post links to shady websites, porn, pyramid schemes, gambling and whatever else and nobody would bat an eye.
Who has written this bullshit?
As a long-time reader of GHacks, I’m also very disappointed in this article and agree that it reads much like an advert or opinion piece than a piece of news.
“Free” – OK, I’ll give you that this helps, but software needs to be good as well as well for this to be a positive.
“Easy to Use” – Most regulars on GHacks prefer the phrase “dumbed down”. Lots of functionality has been removed compared with Windows 7/10, plus it *still* has both Settings and Control Panel – not great for usability when config options are in two completely different places.
“Start Menu” – Most people agree that the Start Menu in Windows 11 is pretty rubbish. It’s good that some customisability is being added, but they’re just adding back functionality that already exists in previous versions of Windows. Again, not a reason to use it over W10.
“Upgraded Edge” – This is pointless, seeing as the same “upgraded Edge” exists on Windows 10 as well. It is no reason what-so-ever to upgrade from Windows 10.
“File Explorer” – I do find the new interface fairly easy to use and cleaner than Windows 10’s ribbon, but it’s hardly a major feature IMO.
“Search Box” – Why is this any better from the Windows 10 search box on the task bar? Or clicking the Windows key then typing your search? I’ve never seen anyone comment that Search was difficult previously.
Following on from this, no mention of the crippled taskbar or any of the other down-sides (laughable system requirements) means that this article comes across as very biased and one-sided.
Sorry Martin, not the type of article I expect to read on a site that used to take a balanced and critical look at things.
My trust level for ghack.net just dropped by 50%, plus now I’ll be even more cautious about Windows 11 – cause Windows 11 must be crap if they have to lie to trick you into using it.
I understand the need for ads, but don’t understand the need to be slimy about it.
Ghacks.net – this is pretty bad garbage bullshit, and if you pull this crap too much, it will negatively impact your revenue. Stupid newbie-style move.
Martin, I’ll take your word that this is not an ad, but it certainly reads like one. Also, Shaun states that “we believe that the 2022 update is certainly worth the upgrade.’ Who exactly is the ‘we’ he refers to in that statement.” Does that speak for the rest of the gHacks staff? If so, that is radically inconsistent with virtually all of the prior articles on this site about the various and obvious problems and weaknesses associated with Windows 11. And, of course, none of those weaknesses were addressed or referred to in this article.
Contrarian views are fine, but this article was amateurish. If there was a way to simply block Shaun’s ‘articles’, I would certainly do so.
There is a way. ShintoPlasm explains it above.
Stop making ad for alpha pre-release of so called OS. Sadly this article has put last nail in the coffin for once very good site, now it is completely Microsoft ads platform. Every release of Windows 11 is enigma, you just never know what will work and what will stop working with tons of new bloatware and integrating ads in every possible corner.
Also make any comment that something is “free”, especially from Microsoft or Google? In which universe does Shaun live? Does he work for Microsoft?
Also – if you were calculating Microsoft latest math equation – they said some time ago that they will release major release on every 3 years – OK, Windows 11 was released in 2021, 2021+3 = 2024, what the f..k will be then in October 2025? Windows 11.1, 12.0, 13.0 – 13 surely not?
https://pureinfotech.com/microsoft-release-new-versions-windows-every-three-years/
Windows 10 enterprise version 1809 ltsc no more questions no more words.
>>>The start menu has been a ***boring feature of Windows until now. It was just a place to find shortcuts to your most-used programs and files***, and it didn’t even have any customization options. That’s about to change with the 2022 update.<<<
Sorry, author of this article does not meet ghacks standards. The above para completely disqualifies him from writing about OSes.
Years ago, when I fanatically read almost everything Ziff-Davis published from cover to cover, I watched with growing dismay as they increasingly became a huge shill for Microsoft, Dell, Adobe, Gateway and others who paid for a lot of advertising. Eventually, I quit reading anything from that company and others did likewise.
Please don’t allow this to happend to your otherwise fine website.
Also it has hardware requirement. On the Intel side you need a 9000 series or newer processor. Not sure on the AMD side n
What about people who rely on the back end and “harder features” for more complex setups? Are they still there but hidden?
What a load of rubbish! The only point that I agree with is (1) that it’s free!
(2) The new look menu means Jack all if you can’t customise it for your workflow! The menu and taskbar are the LEAST effing customisable thing Microsoft has EVER done to windows! It’s NOT easier to use! Wife’s company recently “upgraded” her work laptop with new hardware and windows 11. She has had to effing Google how to do everything and find everything! You can’t customise the start menu and taskbar like you could in windows 10! Lots of lost PRODUCTIVITY!
(3) Microsoft Edge is built on the same engine as chrome so meh.
(4) file explorer now has tabs. Some improvement. Still doesn’t support “paste and go”.
(4) Search box. See point (2). If you can customise your menus and taskbar you have almost ZERO need for a search box.
(5) It’s NOT time to DOWNGRADE to windows 11. I’ll wait and see if 12 is any better if not I’m quite capable of using Linux as is my wife!
(6) (My point) remember how much windows 8 was hated for the extra clicks to get to places, do anything or even shut the PC down?! It’s the same stupidity with 11 all over again!
How much did Microsoft pay you for this trash piece? Hell they probably wrote it for you!
Wow. There’s some serious comments I just read. I’m not sure if I should even say this but people, get a life. Sure Microsoft sucks sometimes, so does everything else sometimes. Give it a rest. I mean I’m a geek and I didn’t even get that upset but to each his own. Happy holidays. Y’all a bunch of angry freaks..lol
@BD Bush:
Here Hear! Everyone here sounds like an angry Luddite. Yes I prefer Windows 8, but I’m not bitching about an article that a person rightly has an opinion to write about.
Everyone here thinks you better ONLY praise Windows 7, Firefox or Gecko Forks. Anything else is sacrilege.
Nope. The one thing Win11 still will not do, without a registry hack, is “move to” and “copy to” from explorer alt menu. A ctrl x/c/v isn’t a fix. Microsoft puts that function back, and I will upgrade. Otherwise my 5 devices and I will hang onto Win10 until 2025 and then find an alternative.
Worth Upgrading? From my personal experience as a man who just built a brand new $4000 gaming PC from scratch and spend $300 more for the W11 Pro Retail version earlier at September 2022,
I’m very disappointed, Microsoft. Really. Actually I want my money back and return this failure of an OS to you, and just buy W10 Pro instead, but it might be too complicated both for me and for the seller, so i’ll to keep it anyway..
Even tho you, Microsoft, you keep punching your buggy updates over and over again to my PC. Yes it’s a high-end system so it might still be able to take some punches. But I just want to play. I don’t really need those strict TPM regulations.
Ever since your 22H2 Update, my Ryzen 9 5900X’s fTPM data just disappear from your web (SCEP Certificate enrollment initialization for Local system via https://AMD-KeyId-578c545f796951421221a4a578acdb5f682f89c8.microsoftaik.azure.net/templates/Aik/scep failed:).
And everytime some app triggered that TPM Certificate check, my PC froze so hard till i had to unplug the cable from the wall just to reboot it. How did i fix it? I have to spend another $20 to buy a dedicated TPM module cuz Microsoft just don’t care about this issue as this is from the Microsoft’s server-side issue, not from AMD nor from ASUS Motherboard, since some Intel users are also experience it.
For you, Microsoft : DON’T FIX WHAT ISN’T BROKEN.
And for Gamers out there : JUST STAY ON W10 AND OR WAIT FOR W12 AND HOPE THAT MICROSOFT WON’T SCREW THAT ONE UP LIKE THEY CURRENTLY DO WITH THEIR W11.
Or another best alternative : Wait for game developers to port the game you like into Linux (I might also want to try it out even with or without any knowledge about it since windows is just too broken to be considered as an OS, and it’s currently heading to the worst).
Haters will always hate. By now everyone knows about TPM for pcs, so I see no point why not including TPM in this article is a sin. It is perfectly written and Windows 11 is worth it for some of us..even MacOS is not good for everyone why should windows be? Osamatiyesa(do not test us)
@Nyalo, haters will always hate as long as what they hate hasn’t changed. And is it really hatred when exasperation is the cause, not to mention revolt? Of course you’ll always have chronic haters but I’d be cautious about condemning exasperated users on the basis of chronic warrior haters. This said, the era is that of over-reacting : we can, should express our likes and dislikes with educated and respectful words and proportionally to the intensity of what we consider a mistake, a fault or even a lie. We live in a world where the slightest insatisfactions lead to intense wordings, for the best as for the worst, hysteria in fact, especially when speaking out anonymously.
“It is perfectly written” Lol
The Start Menu still looks so stupid. So, the answer is definitely a NO.
How much did microsoft paid you to make this article?
I’ve been using windows 11 since day 1 of it’s release and now currently on 22h2 and I can say with confidence that windows 10 is still far easier to use. For example, you can’t even change default app for certain file formats as simple as just a few click like in w10, in w11 you have to change default app for each file format one by one. Is that what you call “easier to use”? Not to mention all the great features from previous OSes that they removed, and the increase amount of stupid unnecessary bloatware that can’t be disabled using regular way, unless users fiddle with the services, group policy edit, or registry edit to disable them
I’ve been using Windows 11 and the thing that is driving me nuts is I can’t set the right refresh rates for my monitors my main monitor is 144hz and it won’t let me go beyond 120 and my second monitor is 120 and it won’t let me go beyond 60 I am almost ready to reinstall windows 10 haven’t been able to figure out my problems with my refresh rates tried installing the display drivers didn’t fix my problem.
Booooo! My laptops have 11, but fortunately on my home PC I was able to revert to 10. (Please don’t impose further changes without my knowledge.)
Incredibly stupid advertorial. 11 is in no way easier then 10 or 7. It’s a monstruosity with a cripple taskbar and menu, troubles with printers and other peripherals, saying it’s easy is a ‘gotspe’
I actually thought this was a sarcastic article and I took as such once I saw “Advertisement” in the end of the article before noticing after checking the comments that this wasn’t really a sarcastic article and… what a shame…
At lease try to scan ALL comments before you post as your accusation is already proved false.
People can’t/don’t read comments before post repeating the same already posted. Stupidity.
Did you read and understood the comment you just replied to? Stupidity.
> I am almost ready to reinstall windows 10 haven’t been able to figure out my problems with my refresh rates tried installing the display drivers didn’t fix my problem.
Just another reason why Windows is not ready for the desktop.
What a load of crap! Win 11 is a buggy malformed mess of an OS, an offers little functionality over windows10, which itself was a malformed mess – very much an unfinished project.
As for Windows being “hard to use”, erm? Really? And Win 11 is certainly no improvement. It’s actually worse. It has left off many win 10 features & replaced the “boring”(?!) start menu with a god-awful. dumb-downed “Dock” which is a complete mess.
Many of the admin apps are dumbed-down with bloated interfaces & why replace text with meaningless icons on the context menus? Who wanted that?
I get the impression the fool who wrote this thinly disguised promo for Win 11 has never used a computer in his life.
I hope he didn’t get paid much for this garbage
Interesting title.
But it seems Shaun is but a shill for Microsoft marketing department.
The one point that I do agree with is that MS Windows is, in general, too complicated for many non-technical users. This is based on my experience helping a fair number of non-technical people with Windows.
But for the Shaun author to say that Windows 11 is easier and imply better than Windows 10 and that people should now all upgrade to 11 is just ridiculous.
I do agree with user comments stating that the move to the so-called modern design and flat UI look is very hard on people who now must struggle to see what window is on top, there being little to no help from the now missing window space border edge and shadows. Or even what on the screen is really part of the active window and application. This UI design feature seems worse in my experience with Windows 11 so far.
So anyway, Except for folks who buy a new PC that already has Windows 11, I am recommending every one else stick with Windows 10 as long as possible.
OH, IMPORTANT NOTE – even if you have clicked the “Stay on Windows 10 for now” — that choice will be undone by subsequent Windows 10 Tuesday updates.
You must be vigilant and click it again from time to time. BAD BAD behavior Microsoft!
(though I do not know if Microsoft reads and takes note of the articles here and their flood of user comments)
Honestly, I think the Windows 10 start menu was better – live tiles included.
“if you’ve been holding off upgrading because you don’t want to pay for something that may not be worth it, now is your chance!”
is this article written by a troll or someone who musts copies and pastes media release / marketing release articles