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Finally upgraded my machine to Windows 11

First impressions:

-Mixed on the new taskbar. I don't have an issue with it being centered. But one of the more egregious aspects of it are the automatic resizing of the taskbar tabs, which forces the rest of the buttons to move. In theory this shouldn't be a huge deal, since I haven't actually misclicked yet, but one of my pet peeves in modern UIs in general is the location of buttons dynamically being pushed around into a different spot. iOS in particular is very bad about this, and I'm not happy to see it creep up in Windows. There doesn't seem to be a way to natively turn off the individual tab resizing yet.

-The new Start button/feature is fine with me since the main start menu was all but unused in Win 10 anyway. I had mostly been using the search feature as the go-to for apps for a long time now.

-I like having the widget thing on the bottom left tell me the weather outside. That being said, it was WAY too much work to figure out how to remove the MSN feed. I absolutely do not want any kind of news slop feed on my desktop.

-On that note, the usual bullshit and bloat that starts on Windows machines (Why would I need a LinkedIn app on a desktop??). Nothing new here for Windows. Just have to remove it.

-The settings area is much cleaner and more polished than Win 10. A lot of times in Win 10 I just found myself going back to the old control panel, but this seems much better.

-The Explorer UI in general feels like an improvement over Win 10. Being able to right-click into powershell in Explorer right out of the box is nice

Anyway,
Pros: Generally cleaner polished UI, much better settings menu than 10. Upgrading from Win 10 was seamless and painless. Many of the cons are just issues with modern Windows in general and are not worse than Win 10.
Cons: Questionable UI decision with the individual taskbar tabs resizing, run-of-the-mill Windows widget bullshit and app bloat.
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@SomeIrishPerson says
I miss XP

If you want Win11 to look & feel more like XP, start by downloading and installing RetroBar and Open-Shell (details below). I don't love windows (i'd run Linux for everything if that were practical), but I love the fact that there are free open-source tools to change the UI in ways I prefer.

Here's what the google AI says

For the Taskbar:

1. Download and Install RetroBar:
Download the latest version of RetroBar from its official source, such as the GitHub repository.
2. Run the Installer:
Open the downloaded file and follow the on-screen prompts to install the application. You may need to install the .NET Desktop Runtime first.
3. Apply the XP Theme:
Once installed, right-click on the RetroBar taskbar and select "Properties". Choose the "Windows XP Blue" theme from the dropdown menu.
4. Adjust Settings:
You can also enable "Allow Font Smoothing" and "Show Windows Previews (Thumbnails)" for a more authentic experience.
5. Set to Start on Login:
In RetroBar's properties, you can enable it to start automatically when you log in.

For the Start Menu:

Download and Install Open-Shell: Download the Open-Shell application from its official sources.
Launch and Configure: After installing, open the Open-Shell menu settings.
Select a Style: In the Start Menu settings, choose the "Classic" style with two columns.
Choose the Skin: Under the "Skin" option, select a Windows XP-style skin, such as Windows XP Luna. You can also adjust options for the shutdown icon and icon size.
Adjust Start Button: Right-click on the Start button and find the option to select the Start button image you prefer, often a classic XP orb.

General Adjustments for a Windows XP Feel:

Align Taskbar:
In Windows 11's Settings (Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behaviors), set the Taskbar Alignment to "Left".

Disable Visual Effects:
Go to the Control Panel, select System and Security, and disable visual effects such as animations, shadows, and transparency to make your system feel more lightweight and similar to XP's performance, as noted in Computerworld.

Naturally there are also videos showing how to install these apps.

MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD FROM A REPUTABLE SOURCE SUCH AS GITHUB
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DDonde · 31-35, M
@CrazyMusicLover I did have one compatibility message with a driver that pops up on startup, but I'm not sure what it is or what it does yet. Doesn't seem to be impacting anything so far.
Hopefully if you're already on 10 it won't be too bad of a jump for your stuff
CrazyMusicLover · 31-35
@DDonde I have Windows 11 on my laptop and hate it with passion. Current state is that I can't install the updates because I'd end up with a black screen. 😐 So much for the Windows 11.
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DDonde · 31-35, M
@SomeIrishPerson The good ole days
CrazyMusicLover · 31-35
@SomeIrishPerson Windows 7 was the peak

 
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