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In Computerworld this week I started my list of feedback for Windows 11. Before we get to the next version of Windows, I have a list of things that n
[See the full post at: What’s your feedback for Windows 11?]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
The most helpful change would be an attitude adjustment. If Microsoft wants to see Windows as a service, perhaps they could start behaving like a service organization? At a minimum, a service attitude would include attributes like transparency and responsivity, not to mention responsibility. I’m sure others could lengthen this list considerably.
I would like a reversion to the Windows updating settings used in Windows 7, so complete choice is available over whether to update and when – none of the “click on ‘check for updates’ and it installs them without telling you what they are and asking if you want them” or “we’ll tell you how long you can pause things for then it’s going to happen regardless” nonsense. It wouldn’t go amiss to return to occasional service packs coupled with critical-only security patches when needed but without the monthly Russian Roulette that we all play on Patch Tuesdays not to mention the twice-yearly “feature” updates.
Doubtless there are lots of other similar things, but the essence of my views as a home user with two desktops is that I just want an operating system that allows me run my computers consistently and reliably with the operating system running unobtrusively in the background while I remain in charge of my machines. I’d be perfectly happy for this to be based on the old principle of my buying the initial Windows 11 box with the resulting revenue stream allowing Microsoft to revert to some decent internal testing.
I’d be even happier if any new version of Windows dropped the “one size fits all” approach and recognised that hand-held devices and desk-based devices have different operating system/UI requirements.
Susan, the following sentence in your CW post caught my eye:
I’m also starting to see pushback that too much private information collected with telemetry is being shared to vendors.
Where have you seen this kind of pushback, and what private information is being said to be shared with what kinds of vendors?
Thanks for the details!
Primarily on the Apple platform where there is a lot of transparency as to what is being shared.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Feedback for Windows 11… Where to start? To begin; is any feedback useful in the first place? Like there are a tremendous amount of wishes out there and I don’t think Microsoft ever delved into them. So what’s the use of feedback? Ok, lets pretend Microsoft actually listens to their customers. I would like to see some fundamental changes.
Number one: One Windows. No Home, Pro, Workstation or whatever sub-version you can come up with. Just one is enough.
Two: separate the system from applications. System should be read-only. No messing about.
Three: separate the GUI from System. Core-windows does it to a certain extent. Now separate it all the way.
Four: come up with an understandable permission system with logical inheritance. No two columns with ‘allow’ and ‘deny’. Just one column. Checked = allow, unchecked = denied. And for inheritance – a checked permission is inherited upwards , where you can uncheck a permission to stop it from that point on.
Simon
Two: separate the system from applications. System should be read-only. No messing about.
The system can’t be read only. The system itself is constantly writing to system-owned directories for one reason or another, from updates to configuration (registry and otherwise) to swap/pagefiles.
If you mean denying write permission to the user, you can do that too. I haven’t tried a pure user account in Windows since XP, but that sounds like what you are looking for. Not everyone is looking for a “hands off” kind of thing, though. That would be a deal-breaker for a lot of us.
Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, KDE Neon (and Win 11 for maintenance)
Wholeheartedly agree about options to setup Windows without a Microsoft account. Don’t have one now, and don’t want one. Unfortunately, it appears from what I’ve read about Windows 11, a MS account will be REQUIRED for those on the home edition and the only way to avoid one is to pay for an upgrade to the Pro version.
MS account will be REQUIRED for those on the home edition and the only way to avoid one is to pay for an upgrade to the Pro version.
There is a workaround for home users : click alt-F4 to close the Windows Account request window.
Perhaps the issue is that users and not alerted they can do that. You don’t need to think for long to come up with a possible reason to not alert users it is easy to configure a device without an account. Weasel tactics.
I will keep it to only ten items but I have over 100 things that need to be fix with Windows 10 and future Windows 11 from the leak source code with the iso on internet.
Remove Settings and bring back Control Panel
Out of interest, what version of Windows 11 have you been testing?
I’m using W11 Dev Build 21996.1 and it hasn’t lost the Control Panel yet.
It will go eventually, but not in the version I have and the version that most are using.
It’s worth reminding folks that some say this is the finished W11 that will be released, but in reality, things ‘may’ change in that release version.
So I’m more concerned that there is clearly a leak in some development servers somewhere.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
. . . . there is clearly a leak in some development servers somewhere.
Many folks are saying that Microsoft themselves are purposely leaking the Dev builds to just to get feedback.
Just my opinion. I believe Microsoft leaked this on purpose to see if it would excite users to want to move away from 10 and to get better data than what insiders are providing. I have already upgraded after testing and virus scanning and have found 11 to be way better than 10. I’m moving on. After all it must be free. The upgrade is activated from win 10. I have longed for a better windows and this is it.
A good operating system should be like a good umpire or referee: you don’t notice them when they do a good job. When was the last time you didn’t notice Win10? Sadly I expect more of the same with 11 which is an OS that I didn’t know we needed.
But as Susan asked, at the top of my wishlist for 11 is that patches don’t break my PC. Spend less money on the dev team for things like News and Interests, and more on a team that tests the updates. I’m not seeing a check from Microsoft, so I don’t want to be one of people that is forced to test the fixes each month.
When was the last time you didn’t notice Win10?
Today.
Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2361 + Microsoft 365 + Edge
A more transparent attitude. Accountability and a willingness to step up when they screw up. Internal Testing. The Insider program doesn’t work. It’s not the fault of the insiders, they are just not trained to be testers. And definitely a MASSIVE reduction in telemetry. The ability to remove bloat at installation time, and to remove or at the very least disable system components that we don;t want to use (defender, edge, cloudexperience host, advertising, system restore, file history, and so on). More control over patching. Less time on the dressing and more time on stability and performance. But most of all, a massive change in attitude. Microsoft is deceptive and irresponsible. They need to be more transparent – Did I say that already 🙂
One last thing – stop with the forced installation of garbage we don’t want. Nothing should be installed – ever – without informed consent. If I don’t want it – don’t install it.
We all want something that we’re not going to get out of Microsoft and Windows. There is no way other than to invest billions in the company’s stock to get heard. With that much invested, I suspect that the desire to change the way things are done may be reconsidered, due to the risk of losing investment value. If I want to control my OS these days, I’ll use a Linux distro. However, I see no reason to not use Windows as long as it doesn’t bork my machines more than it has in the past, in which case I simply restore my latest drive image and file backups. It happens. Just not that often that I hate the OS. It’s too versatile to really hate it, in spite of the dozens of (mostly minor) annoyances.
GreatAndPowerfulTech
Long time since I posted here, but in this case, let’s go with the usual list that MS doesn’t care about:
Would have more, and maybe something major slipped my mind now, but I’m getting tired of writing this…
— Cavalary
Ordinary users shouldn’t have to be scared every time MacroHard releases some new “features”/updates aka marketing scheme…
I actually prefer the Win 95, 98, and XP Classic Start Menu. They’re much easier to use in my opinion.
Susan asked for people’s feedback, and anonymous gave his/her feedback. It’s an opinion, just like yours. Nothing about “bring back the Windows 7 start menu” implies “imposing” it on anyone. Anonymous did not suggest that the tiled Windows 10 menu or its Windows 11 successor should be removed, or that anyone who didn’t like it should go get an aftermarket program rather than having MS provide the choice.
There is a annoying trend for software developers to have this idea that “good” software will have as few options as possible, with the premise being that options are only there to allow users to work around the developer’s mistakes. Options, to them, are a sign that they didn’t get the design right, an admission of failure. That notion presupposes that there’s a single “right” way of doing things that is optimal (and unquestionably so) for all people, which is absurd.
One size has never fit all. Which start menu design, for example, is the “right” one? I like the Windows Classic cascading menu from the Win 95 through 2000 era, and the menu design I have chosen for my own use is very much in line with what that would likely have become if MS kept evolving it. Anonymous likes the Win 7 menu, and clearly you prefer either the 10 or 11 menu. Which of us three is correct? If there’s one truly “right” answer, only one of us can be (and perhaps none of us are, and the correct design isn’t any of those three).
Good UI design doesn’t get “dated.” If it worked in the first place, it was because it meshed with the way that humans process information, and that hasn’t changed since long before computers existed. Styling fads and aesthetics may work with clothing fashion and automotive model year changes, but they don’t belong in UI design. If there are genuine advances to be made, by all means, make them, but if the only reason to change UI elements is that they look “dated” in some people’s opinions, it’s probably better left alone, if that’s all anyone can come up with that is wrong about it. I am sure the automotive pattern of a steering wheel and pedals for the brakes and the throttle (and clutch in the more entertaining models) must have seemed dated to some, but it’s a pattern that has stuck for decade after decade, with each exciting new model having the same old user interface as ever.
Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, KDE Neon (and Win 11 for maintenance)
Major suggestions
I have an easy one that has irked me since Day one.
When setting default apps by file type…
Why do I have to scroll through the entire list of file extensions?
Why can’t I search for my extension with a search box? Why can’t I hit the P key to be taken to the P extensions so I can get to PDF more easily? Did Microsoft just give up and say “Tough luck, sort through the thousand extensions on your own? It sure seems like it.
This seems like a ridiculously simple thing in the scheme of things to fix, and yet we’ve seen multiple Windows releases and nobody said “We should make this better”?
We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.
A search box should be in the next version, as Insiders have had one for a year:
Over the years, we’ve made a number of improvements to Settings based on your feedback, and we’re happy to share the next one is starting to roll out. We’re adding the ability to search the lists of file types, protocols, and apps when setting a default.
(But I told you that five months ago 😉)
Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2361 + Microsoft 365 + Edge
Some of these have been mentioned by others it seems but this is my list. MS will ignore it as well.
Lotsa territory covered by all here, I can only add a few:
(Maybe that’s why all those “minds” are lying in squishy piles around the “Tree”…<sfx:object whistling thru air, hits ground with “splotz”.>
Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"Windows Update? Bah! I could carve a better ecosystem out of a banana!" -Jamrach Holobom
Lot have been said here. The best I can sympathize with is the name of Susan Bradley’s article name at Computerworld:
Before we get Windows 11, can Microsoft fix Windows 10?
Whats the point od having two unreliable and overly demanding “operating systems”? I think the outcome from the IT community is clear: people are upset and tired of neverending update madness. Its so unnescessary.
Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise
HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29
PRUSA i3 MK3S+
Before we get Windows 11, can Microsoft fix Windows 10?
Exactly what Mitch Tulloch writes: Windows 11 and IT pros: It’s déjà vu all over again (techgenix.com)
I just cant see any benefit for users to go through this all over again. Its just Microsoft, that profits from this – to sell you “brnad-new-trully-the-last-and-final-Windows-version”.
Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise
HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29
PRUSA i3 MK3S+
Does Microsoft actually have any interest in feedback from Home users? – Nope!
Pro users, being non-business or small and medium sized businesses have no sway with MS either. Feedback from this group is of no consequence to MS.
There are over 1 billion W10 users, most of whom are Enterprise subscribers – they pay for the ‘privilege’. They have gatekeepers who give MS feedback on a regular basis. They have sway but have learned that MS is like a massive aircraft carrier on a mission (heavily armed, on course and with one mindset – might makes right).
W11 will get a new look and no doubt dressed to kill, however W10 will be underneath with all its warts. Feedback is for ‘window’ dressing.
I have already commented here #2373305 on this after today’s announcement made by MS on Windows 11, and in my comment the conclusion is:
“So this seems to be a 99.9999% consumers mass-market product. For doing also serious computer work using a PC as a proper work-station (the way Windows used to be in what it now feels like several generations of computers — and of people — ago), well … not so much, as far as I can see, except for making the use of “Teams” for setting up and, or attending virtual meetings easier (maybe) than otherwise.”
“There is, for now, a Mac running macOS in my present and a PC running Linux, and only Linux, in my future.”
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
It took me 5 years to get over the squarish Windows 10 ui and finally upgrade from Windows 7, but now I got so used to it that I wouldn’t want to change it for Windows 11’s rounded corners. Hope there will be a setting to change that, or it will take me another 5 years to get used to.
On the more important side: MS should build in a Mint style Update Manager, that gives the user the choice to install an update or not, see what it’s for and whether it has been tested or not, and how urgently it should be applied.
+ tabs in Explorer!
TPM 2.0 is a requirement for Windows 11 (Microsoft’s own Surface Book 2 is not Win11 compatible).
1Ghz 64-bit dual-core processor
4GB RAM
64GB storage
9-inch display (1366×768 resolution)
UEFI, Secure Boot
TPM 2.0
DirectX 12 compatible graphics / WDDM 2.x
That was quick. This is amazing, how fast Windows 11 came. And next week, they start to roll this out for insiders. Forcing customers to obsolence after 3 (!) years and advising to buy new device is obviously new standard. Im so happy with my GNU/Linux.
Advice to go to BIOS/UEFI and enabling TPM can be utopia, because enabling TPM 1.1 (or whatever version do we have) does not allow to install anyway.
Semms like Bitlocker will be critical service for Win11. Wonder if Microsoft solved all problems with TPM during updates, guess not, users will use anyway, right? Recently there were issues when WU updated TPM firmware during update.
Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise
HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29
PRUSA i3 MK3S+
TPM 2.0 is a requirement for Windows 11
That’s not strictly true and a little deceptive to those who have a report that their machine isn’t capable of upgrading/updating to W11 (should they want to).
Intel PTT has been around for a few years now and it is starting to get mainstream attention as motherboard makers have begun removing TPM pin headers from their boards to reduce costs and to free up motherboard surface area for other features.
I ran the W11 Health Check shown in your link:
. . . . and it reported that my 10 month old, high spec, machine isn’t capable of running Windows 11.
I did know the PTT isn’t enabled by default so I wasn’t too worried.
I simply enabled it in the BIOS and here’s the before and after:
I have no doubt that many machines won’t be capable of running W11 for a variety of reasons, but I’m sure many can without the actual TPM 2.0 chip which is widely reported as needed.
Intel PTT has been around for a few years now and it is starting to get mainstream attention as motherboard makers have begun removing TPM pin headers from their boards to reduce costs and to free up motherboard surface area for other features.
Thanks for the info on PTT. My board has the PIN headers for TPM, so I have already ordered one of those.
But I was curious to see what my BIOS had to offer for PTT/TPM. In my “Advanced > PCH-FW Configuration” I had the options for a “Discete TPM”, or a “Firmware TPM”. The discrete version was selected, but changing to firmware brought up the PTT option, so that is available. I exited the BIOS without making changes, because Win 10 Pro Bitlocker is already in use and I didn’t wish to lose those keys.
Will proceed with the discrete $15 TPM when the time comes…
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Microsoft dropped support for 6th and 7th gen Intel CPUs with Windows 11.
But when I checked with the update readiness tool listed in this thread, it definitely will not budge on saying that anything you can do with a 6th Gen Intel system will never make Windows 11 accept it for an upgrade. So, no Windows 11 for me — EVER! Turning Secure Boot off again right now.
-- rc primak
Microsoft dropped support for 6th and 7th gen Intel CPUs with Windows 11
I think that will probably need to be revised. As well as for the Ryzen 1000 and 2000 chips.
I would also love to be a fly on the wall when the Windows 11 project team gets asked why a number of MS Surface computers are being dropped.
Too many current CPUs with those specs will likely still be running in 3-4 years… my 2 cents…
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
I bought a new computer, had it built, exactly 2 years ago. Has:
From the ASUS Prime Z390-A Motherboard manual – section 3.6.6, Page 19
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/PRIME_Z390-A/E15017_PRIME_Z390-A_UM_V2_WEB.pdf
Have a look in the UEFI BIOS > Advanced > PCH-FW Configuration > PTT > Enable. It may look a little different in your UEFI BIOS.
PTT is the Intel equivalent of TPM and once enabled, should show as TPM enabled in any checks.
My feedback is ewwwww.
Despite Microsoft championing itself as the protector of openness, I see the increasingly stringent Microsoft Account requirement, the SecureBoot enablement, and the emphasis on apps and app stores as moving in the direction of Google-Android and Apple – aka locking down.
I don’t do anything particularly interesting with computers, but I at least educate myself on keeping mine running well, watching the DEFCON to know when to update. Being corralled into one silo or another for my own good reeks of dehumanization – in the context of a new operating system that word is exaggerating things, but I still don’t like my internet activity being farmed for advertising or whatever social engineering is being cooked up next.
The ASUS Prime Z390-A motherboard takes the ASUS TPM-M R2.0 14-1 pin TPM module. I am running the same board and it has the pins on the board and the settings in the UEFI. However, the module is sold out everywhere I have just looked after reading about Windows 11 and watching the broadcast. Fortunately the module is around $15 US.
Same Asus motherboard here. Those modules are likely to remain in short supply for a while. Probably a good idea to waitlist, or back order if you can.
Good thing we all have until 2025 to upgrade… 🙂
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Feedback for Windows 11?
Quite easy – none from me ‘at this time’. And there will be none in the future unless Windows 11 can run on my current collection of mildly elderly PCs and laptops, which host Windows 10 quite happily.
Why should I buy stupidly overspecified machines just to run a new operating system not wildly different from the current one, with the same applications?
BATcher
Plethora means a lot to me.
Why should I buy stupidly overspecified machines just to run a new operating system
Exacly. OS should be environment for running applications, not the bottle neck of our computer.
Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise
HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29
PRUSA i3 MK3S+
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