Many computer users are like little kids with a toy. As soon as the next best thing comes along, they got to have it. As an IT Tech, I can see now, after battling many of the next best thing upgrade. You might want to hold off and wait to upgrade to Windows 11.
It is true, right now, Windows 10 users are offered for free, the Windows 11 upgrade. It comes in a Windows Update. But before you get all excited and jump on the band wagon, you need to consider some things. Drivers and compatibility, and also hardware and software.
Do You Have The Power To Run It?
Windows 11 has what is called an “Accelerated Desktop.” Without all the technobabble, this means that 11, is going to put a hard demand on the video card. Windows 11 requires a GPU at least compatible with DirectX12, with a WDDM 2.0 driver.
Again, that is a lot of technobabble, so let me clean that up some. Most Windows 10 PC’s up to 2020, have been running DirectX 11. Graphic cards are available with 12, however, with hardware shortages, prices are sky high. All this DirectX talk means, the higher the number, the less graphics has to use the computer processor. The more the graphics has to draw on the computer processor, the slower the computer gets.
This has actually been the history of Windows upgrades since the beginning. Microsoft keeps wanting to make the Desktop look better and better. They want all your graphics to be improved, so they make it happen. Unfortunately, it kills an older computer because it doesn’t have the power to run it. So, you might want to wait to upgrade to Windows 11 until you know your computer can handle it.
Microsoft Keeps A Better Eye On You
Every Windows upgrade comes more and more with a line of communication between your computer and them. Windows 11 doesn’t offer the Timeline that was in Windows 10. Now they use what is called as Widgets. If you remember, Windows 10 Timeline was the visual way to keep your stuff organized. It did this without you having to login to Microsoft.
With Windows 11, you have to login to Microsoft to use the Widgets feature. The more you have to login to Microsoft, the more they keep tabs on what you do. Many people don’t really care. In some ways it is a nice feature, as you can login from anywhere to Microsoft and your profile is there.
This is just something to think about and why you might want to wait to upgrade to Windows 11. The previous versions of Windows were less intrusive by the Microsoft influence. You can still use 11 without logging into Microsoft, however, you will not get the full features if you don’t.
Disappointment For Taskbar Fans
Windows 11 has removed the ability to move your task bar from side-to-side or top or bottom. The taskbar is now stuck at the bottom and that is where it will stay. I personally think this is a downgrade, not an improvement. People do not need someone else to decide for them about their computer and preferences.
Although, you can still right-click on a taskbar icon to get more option per application. Middle clicking has been removed where you could launch a new instance. This may not be a big deal to many, but for super users, it might. I myself have many sessions open of many of my apps, so this is not an improvement to me.
Video Communications
There are still many Skype users out there and I still use it myself. However, Skype has been slowly pushed out of the way for Zoom and Teams. Windows 11 completed this push by eliminating Skype all together.
If you love your Skype, you will hate Windows 11, as it is not included with this new OS. With time, like anything, changes are inevitable. Skype is going away and Zoom and Microsoft Teams are the new. I have heard such praise over Zoom but I have found it to be crap. Video and Audio are both glitchy. The audio sounds like you are talking through a tin can. All my years of using Skype and some other programs, the audio never sounded that bad.
Just be prepared to start using a new video communications program if and when you go to Windows 11. The good new is, you can still install Skype on Windows 11 through the Microsoft Store. Just open your search tool and type in Skype and click on Apps. You will find the install there.
No More Cortana
I don’t consider this a loss at all. Cortana was Windows 10 A.I. Assistant, similar to Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. It was also a big power resource sucker that often slows many computers down tremendously.
Windows 11 does not come with Cortana activated. It comes with Windows 11, but you have to sign in to Microsoft to run it. This is another search, just type in Cortana in the search tool and follow the steps to activate it.
Almost Impossible Safe Mode
My biggest aggravation of Windows 11 is, getting into Safe Mode. Microsoft has removed the legendary F8 feature on bootup. They feel you can just get to it once you are into the OS. What the idiots didn’t consider. If your Windows is messed up and you can’t either get in it or it keeps rebooting, Safe Mode is unavailable.
According to Microsoft, all you have to do is turn off the computer three times as it just starts Windows on a bootup. This will throw the computer into Repair Mode. From there you can go through Troubleshoot>Advanced Options and then click on Startup Settings. Well again, this is the idiots at Microsoft showing their stupidity.
This feature only works if this is a fresh install of Windows 11. If you take the upgrade, from 10 to 11, the feature Startup Settings is not there to use.
Hours To Fix
This is my biggest reason why you should wait to upgrade to Windows 11. I just recently took in a failed 10 to 11 upgrade. It seemed to have worked for my customer at first. Actually, up until the day after the 10-day period to revert back. His laptop went into a continuing reboot loop. Sometimes you might have a little longer in Windows but not much.
The method of holding down the shift key while clicking on restart wouldn’t work. That is one of the methods to get it into Safe Mode. The only way I found to get it into Safe Mode was using MSCONFIG. From there, I changed the boot method to Safe Mode. However, it took me almost 2 hours to get it to work. The laptop kept crashing at the point before saving my settings.
The issue was that whatever was actually wrong with it, was causing the CPU to hold at 100%. This was causing it to overheat and it would crash and shut down to protect itself. Once I got it into Safe Mode, it would stay up and running. However, all the errors in the log indicated missing drivers. I replaced all but it still wouldn’t fix it.
Not A Clear Solution
All the normal places where you would normally go to do a restore back to a previous backed up point was showing nothing available. I had to use a Windows 10 Recovery USB drive to get Windows into a repair mode. The only option was to Reset Windows, which sounded a bit harsh. My customer had some special programs he didn’t want wiped out.
I took a few hours to do inventory and to ensure I could reinstall his programs for this worst-case scenario. Even under System Restore in Recovery Mode, there were no other backed up points showing. However, from Reset, once I click on it, expecting it to wipe it all out. There was my list of restore points. I have to ask, why was that not available to me all the other times I tried it.
The only restore points were all after it upgraded to 11. Luckily, I grabbed the day after it was first upgraded and carefully ran Windows Updates. This was many unnecessary hours to fix that wouldn’t have occurred if Microsoft had their heads out of their butts. Why remove or change tools to make repairs?
Wait To Upgrade To Windows 11
Microsoft does this lousy way of upgrading every time. In haste, they throw their new version out that isn’t fully working correctly. They let the consumer be their guinea pig. They collect data and all the complaints so they can work on Service Pack 1. This service pack usually fixes about 60% to 70% of the issues.
Windows 11 Service Pack 1, is scheduled to be released in October od 2022. I recommend hold off buying a new computer with 11 on it or upgrading to 11 till after. I would personally would wait till December of 2022.
Conclusion
If your computer is 3 years or older, do not upgrade it to 11. I looked up the hardware requirements for Windows 11 and they can’t be right. Other than the video card needing to be stronger, the computer requirements meet the same as what Windows 7 are.
I have been doing this for over 2 decades, been through many of these upgrades. When Windows 7 first came out, people were upgrading from Windows XP to 7. As soon as they did, the computers ran extremely slow. The CPU, RAM and Mother-Board was just not powerful enough to run the new operating system.
This is always the case in every upgrade. Microsoft is only providing the bare-minimum hardware requirements to get you to buy into the new. The rule of thumb is, only upgrade to the latest OS if your computer isn’t more than a year and a half old. If your computer is older than that, wait to upgrade to Windows 11.
Windows 11 is inevitable and we will all have to go over to it, that is just the way it is. Just keep in mind, if you are upgrading, there will be many adjustments to make it work. Just be prepared for some aggravation before it starts running semi-OK.
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