> The desktop speed and responsiveness are significantly improved compared to whatever was before. This is the first time EVER that I feel Windows 11 has a normal desktop behavior, and isn't just a total flop.
> The battery doesn't last as long as it should. Strangely, it ran out in about an hour or so while I was fiddling with the system, trying to tame it
Is this the new "low latency" mode in action, where they didn't actually fix anything, they just boost the CPU clock?
> The so-called "Low Latency Profile" is a special performance mode that aims to make Windows 11 snappier and more responsive. It boosts the processor clock speed to its maximum for a brief moment when rendering user interface elements or launching apps.
Windows Enterprise provides a much better experience than Windows Home, even more-so if you have domain admins that care. You can also largely get to that with Windows Professional and some tweaking.
Last fall I got two roughly similarly speced laptops running windows 11 professional. On one, I went through and disabled a bunch of junk with the policy editor and it feels much better than the other. I'm sure you could use one of the slimming scripts that are out there, it's just easier for me to poke at the checkboxes rather than try to audit a script.
It still has weird stuff where sometimes the win+x menu doesn't have keyboard accelerators and sometimes it does, and I still hate right mouse in explorer, but it's tolerable.
That is just madness. I think it is a good idea for people to periodically try other Operating Systems, but to be responsible for the design of an OS and not use it is just crazy.
They do not, in general. It's know those developing for the Mac platform do and maybe a few graphics artists but it's a small minority, from reports out there.
It can be pretty questionable when you're not so regular either :\
The dedoimedo website is from a very advanced long-term user of Windows who is finally throwing in the towel and joining the crowd turning to Linux and now Macs.
There are loads of helpful Windows articles on this site, I sure hope they can remain posted for those of us who still deal with some of this stuff in the future.
You will find extremely helpful Windows posts, including good stuff for Windows 11, right up until version 25H2. After that what's the point?
The latest software for the lab instruments I am using is a couple years old and it gets updates from the vendor when new instruments are introduced. Supports almost every instrument in the field, except the very oldest from before the late '90's, so this version will be with us for a while to come until their software group undertakes another multi-year project as massive. What they have now requires a fairly recent version of Windows 10 minium and also supported Windows 11 since before 2024. Which I tested but did not deploy since the established systems were working nominally. Now with the same software recently validated to support Win11 25H2, as usual for test deployment I dual boot it on the same PC that already has Win10. Using an actual machine in routine operation under real-world conditions.
Back-to-back on the exact hardware, no changes in instruments or wiring, analyzing the same chemicals either way. The only change is the Windows version. This is actually a very controlled test under laboratory conditions like it should be for real meaningful results. Most of this gear is in testing labs where isolating individual variables is table stakes anyway, so testing-R-us.
If it was a chemical, I would say 25H2 fails to measure up to the performance which the hardware is capable of, so badly you could legitimately certify that it sucks.
Your processor, your memory, drive space, unbelievable amounts of network traffic and writing to the drive completely nonstop so much of the time. Wasting more resources than the instrument itself has remaining for scientific work is basically simply disgraceful. It was already through the roof a year ago and now it's about doubled and growing fast with no end in sight.
How is there supposed to be any hope that Windows will ever be more like older versions, at least Win10, and not materially worse for so many millions of users than Win11 is now, as it continues to get more annoying faster than ever?
That's a lot of momentum that would require the most massive effort Microsoft has ever made if they wanted to turn it around.
I recently got myself a Lenovo P-series Thinkpad to test something. My main machine's an MBP, so I was prepared for some pain, but honestly even an old Windows 10 box feels less laggy than the Thinkpad's fully-patched 25H2. Using PopOS on an old Thinkpad easily beats this experience. (And omg the power draw on the P-series!)
I also concur with the "Updates for days" sub-head in the article. That's exactly what it felt like.
I'd love to see some competition in the commercial personal OS space. Windows 11 25H2 isn't a serious contender, I'd love to see what their recent efforts to refocus on native apps will bring.
I'm going to apply the Costco Test: grab a Windows 11 Surface Laptop at Costco and press Win+E to open Explorer. If it takes ages to paint, you've failed the test. Ditto for other bundled apps, including Edge.
>an old Windows 10 box feels less laggy than the Thinkpad's fully-patched 25H2
"This is by design" is the excuse so often seen over the decades from Microsoft when the most useful aspect of a feature is just not quite capable of doing the main thing people would really want it to do in the first place. When they want people to quit trying to do what the hardware is obviously capable of. So they don't get more frustrated for "no reason". Lots of times when they put excess effort to curtail brilliant engineering so it could not participate in a launch. The kind of time when you're going to expect excuses.
Surely this is a point when you can logically extrapolate and say "this is by design . . . misguided design."
So refreshing to see an article that feels written by a human. Really sorry for that frustrating experience, however that was a very hilarious read, in a Schadenfreude way
Nothing really compares to actual human authored content. The emotional connection is always better in human work, it’s miles ahead of the slop that next-token-predictors generate.
Had a very similar experience, plus a few forced system recovery episodes, trying to set up a Ryzen 395+ mini PC. Not to mention the mess of driver installs, having three terminal apps (why is PS7 a separate app??), WSL woes, trying to install python and git. Even chocolatey, which is supposed to make your life easier, has an archaic install process from the 90s. The whole ecosystem is light years behind linux and mac, I cannot understand software engineers using windows.
I tried to keep one windows machine around just in case I needed it but every 2nd time I boot it, I have to delete the edge webview binaries, delete that process tree, kill some services, stop some services if I disable them windows update will eat itself after so many updates which I am sure they did on purpose as a passive aggressive humiliation ritual. Then I have to run a powershell script to change affinity and priority of most windows services. If I set those in the registry it will bork the machine after so many updates. Fragile piece of bloated crap.
As I am not into BDSM and not a masochist I just can't keep that OS around. That will be one more CachyOS install. More governments and schools need to ditch windows or they will just keep getting funded.
From the last paragraph, the author seems defensive and bitter. But they needn't be. Windows just isn't for you. Powerusers should stay far away. Powerusers have unusual requirements that break Windows in unusual ways.
For example, the author is complaining that Windows "forgot" his PNG file association, but I'm 99% sure this means that the author installed and then uninstalled some program that took the PNG file association, and Windows isn't designed to anticipate this kind of poweruser fickleness.
Likewise, the author is running their disk space down to <40GB free, and didn't think that this would cause problems (because to a poweruser, 40GB is like, so many config files!) A normal user who got into this situation would hand their PC to a slightly-more-technically-capable user who would notice that the disk was full. Or maybe they'd take it to a PC repair shop. But a poweruser spends "two days of debugging".
> I'm 99% sure this means that the author installed and then uninstalled some program that took the PNG file association, and Windows isn't designed to anticipate this kind of poweruser fickleness.
The bar is on the fucking floor, I guess, if you think that would be an acceptable excuse. It’s not. But it doesn’t even matter since you’re imagining a scenario here that isn’t even necessary - windows will HAPPILY overwrite your file preferences when it installs updates.
> This is what you pay money for, for Microsoft to decide what to show you and when.
Pfft I’ve been running it unlicensed for years at this point.
More seriously I’ve never been a huge windows hater like many. Sure, there’s always been stupid shit, but I find it kinda fascinating with an interesting history and some cool interesting ideas buried here and there.
But god it’s so bad now I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to justify using it. The only thing hanging me on is that proton isn’t very good at running certain games
> The desktop speed and responsiveness are significantly improved compared to whatever was before. This is the first time EVER that I feel Windows 11 has a normal desktop behavior, and isn't just a total flop.
> The battery doesn't last as long as it should. Strangely, it ran out in about an hour or so while I was fiddling with the system, trying to tame it
Is this the new "low latency" mode in action, where they didn't actually fix anything, they just boost the CPU clock?
https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-11s-big-performance-boos...
> The so-called "Low Latency Profile" is a special performance mode that aims to make Windows 11 snappier and more responsive. It boosts the processor clock speed to its maximum for a brief moment when rendering user interface elements or launching apps.
Wow… so even hidden behind the apparently good, user-friendly change… is underhand toxicity?
I’m genuinely curious what people at Microsoft, and on the Windows team specifically, run on their daily machines.
They cannot possibly be putting up with Windows 11 as experienced by regular people.
Windows Enterprise provides a much better experience than Windows Home, even more-so if you have domain admins that care. You can also largely get to that with Windows Professional and some tweaking.
Last fall I got two roughly similarly speced laptops running windows 11 professional. On one, I went through and disabled a bunch of junk with the policy editor and it feels much better than the other. I'm sure you could use one of the slimming scripts that are out there, it's just easier for me to poke at the checkboxes rather than try to audit a script.
It still has weird stuff where sometimes the win+x menu doesn't have keyboard accelerators and sometimes it does, and I still hate right mouse in explorer, but it's tolerable.
They use Macs there at Microsoft https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30019307
That is just madness. I think it is a good idea for people to periodically try other Operating Systems, but to be responsible for the design of an OS and not use it is just crazy.
They do not, in general. It's know those developing for the Mac platform do and maybe a few graphics artists but it's a small minority, from reports out there.
It can be pretty questionable when you're not so regular either :\
The dedoimedo website is from a very advanced long-term user of Windows who is finally throwing in the towel and joining the crowd turning to Linux and now Macs.
There are loads of helpful Windows articles on this site, I sure hope they can remain posted for those of us who still deal with some of this stuff in the future.
You will find extremely helpful Windows posts, including good stuff for Windows 11, right up until version 25H2. After that what's the point?
The latest software for the lab instruments I am using is a couple years old and it gets updates from the vendor when new instruments are introduced. Supports almost every instrument in the field, except the very oldest from before the late '90's, so this version will be with us for a while to come until their software group undertakes another multi-year project as massive. What they have now requires a fairly recent version of Windows 10 minium and also supported Windows 11 since before 2024. Which I tested but did not deploy since the established systems were working nominally. Now with the same software recently validated to support Win11 25H2, as usual for test deployment I dual boot it on the same PC that already has Win10. Using an actual machine in routine operation under real-world conditions.
Back-to-back on the exact hardware, no changes in instruments or wiring, analyzing the same chemicals either way. The only change is the Windows version. This is actually a very controlled test under laboratory conditions like it should be for real meaningful results. Most of this gear is in testing labs where isolating individual variables is table stakes anyway, so testing-R-us.
If it was a chemical, I would say 25H2 fails to measure up to the performance which the hardware is capable of, so badly you could legitimately certify that it sucks.
Your processor, your memory, drive space, unbelievable amounts of network traffic and writing to the drive completely nonstop so much of the time. Wasting more resources than the instrument itself has remaining for scientific work is basically simply disgraceful. It was already through the roof a year ago and now it's about doubled and growing fast with no end in sight.
How is there supposed to be any hope that Windows will ever be more like older versions, at least Win10, and not materially worse for so many millions of users than Win11 is now, as it continues to get more annoying faster than ever?
That's a lot of momentum that would require the most massive effort Microsoft has ever made if they wanted to turn it around.
I recently got myself a Lenovo P-series Thinkpad to test something. My main machine's an MBP, so I was prepared for some pain, but honestly even an old Windows 10 box feels less laggy than the Thinkpad's fully-patched 25H2. Using PopOS on an old Thinkpad easily beats this experience. (And omg the power draw on the P-series!)
I also concur with the "Updates for days" sub-head in the article. That's exactly what it felt like.
I'd love to see some competition in the commercial personal OS space. Windows 11 25H2 isn't a serious contender, I'd love to see what their recent efforts to refocus on native apps will bring.
I'm going to apply the Costco Test: grab a Windows 11 Surface Laptop at Costco and press Win+E to open Explorer. If it takes ages to paint, you've failed the test. Ditto for other bundled apps, including Edge.
>an old Windows 10 box feels less laggy than the Thinkpad's fully-patched 25H2
"This is by design" is the excuse so often seen over the decades from Microsoft when the most useful aspect of a feature is just not quite capable of doing the main thing people would really want it to do in the first place. When they want people to quit trying to do what the hardware is obviously capable of. So they don't get more frustrated for "no reason". Lots of times when they put excess effort to curtail brilliant engineering so it could not participate in a launch. The kind of time when you're going to expect excuses.
Surely this is a point when you can logically extrapolate and say "this is by design . . . misguided design."
Oh, well.
So refreshing to see an article that feels written by a human. Really sorry for that frustrating experience, however that was a very hilarious read, in a Schadenfreude way
Nothing really compares to actual human authored content. The emotional connection is always better in human work, it’s miles ahead of the slop that next-token-predictors generate.
Had a very similar experience, plus a few forced system recovery episodes, trying to set up a Ryzen 395+ mini PC. Not to mention the mess of driver installs, having three terminal apps (why is PS7 a separate app??), WSL woes, trying to install python and git. Even chocolatey, which is supposed to make your life easier, has an archaic install process from the 90s. The whole ecosystem is light years behind linux and mac, I cannot understand software engineers using windows.
I am very ready to install linux on it.
I couldn’t agree more. Windows 11 is pure garbage.
I've just had to ditch Edge on Win11 in favour of Firefox because of persistent "app is not responding" issues.
Don't know what's going on under the hood but I've wasted enough time trying to root cause it (easily 20+ hours over 3+ months) with zero improvement.
I tried to keep one windows machine around just in case I needed it but every 2nd time I boot it, I have to delete the edge webview binaries, delete that process tree, kill some services, stop some services if I disable them windows update will eat itself after so many updates which I am sure they did on purpose as a passive aggressive humiliation ritual. Then I have to run a powershell script to change affinity and priority of most windows services. If I set those in the registry it will bork the machine after so many updates. Fragile piece of bloated crap.
As I am not into BDSM and not a masochist I just can't keep that OS around. That will be one more CachyOS install. More governments and schools need to ditch windows or they will just keep getting funded.
From the last paragraph, the author seems defensive and bitter. But they needn't be. Windows just isn't for you. Powerusers should stay far away. Powerusers have unusual requirements that break Windows in unusual ways.
For example, the author is complaining that Windows "forgot" his PNG file association, but I'm 99% sure this means that the author installed and then uninstalled some program that took the PNG file association, and Windows isn't designed to anticipate this kind of poweruser fickleness.
Likewise, the author is running their disk space down to <40GB free, and didn't think that this would cause problems (because to a poweruser, 40GB is like, so many config files!) A normal user who got into this situation would hand their PC to a slightly-more-technically-capable user who would notice that the disk was full. Or maybe they'd take it to a PC repair shop. But a poweruser spends "two days of debugging".
> I'm 99% sure this means that the author installed and then uninstalled some program that took the PNG file association, and Windows isn't designed to anticipate this kind of poweruser fickleness.
The bar is on the fucking floor, I guess, if you think that would be an acceptable excuse. It’s not. But it doesn’t even matter since you’re imagining a scenario here that isn’t even necessary - windows will HAPPILY overwrite your file preferences when it installs updates.
>For example, the author is complaining that Windows "forgot" his PNG file association
No, Windows really will mess with your file associations after an update. Recently happened to me.
Can confirm, Windows and acrobat are constantly fighting over who owns .pdf files.
> This is what you pay money for, for Microsoft to decide what to show you and when.
Pfft I’ve been running it unlicensed for years at this point.
More seriously I’ve never been a huge windows hater like many. Sure, there’s always been stupid shit, but I find it kinda fascinating with an interesting history and some cool interesting ideas buried here and there.
But god it’s so bad now I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to justify using it. The only thing hanging me on is that proton isn’t very good at running certain games
Windows isn't getting any slimmer. Storage / RAM isn't getting any cheaper for the first time in the the last ~50 years.
There's a storm brewing.