Nobody likes Windows 12

[Cindy Claveau]

My new PC is installed & updated for the most part. I had it working fine last night before bed. Now, this morning, none of my desktop icons work. I tried everything I know to get something to launch. I screwed up once already with the stupid desktop-switching button (why can't I disable that? I will only ever use 1 desktop I promise!). right now, my computer investment is a huge bust since I can 't get it to work in one consistent way. Or any way.

Rebooting. Checking user settings. Blah blah. I officially now hate Win 12 11 (thanks for captioning my pain, Free ) worse than I ever hated Windows 10, which was actually not that bad.

Youtube videos (Youtube stalled me out already by demanding Update-Update-Update on my laptop I never use, increasing my frustration a hundred fold). My usual tech resources have already moved way beyond this piddly layman's understanding. I can't get not satisfaction.

I just need to know how to get Desktop 1 to function like a normal f***ing computer. I would hate to throw a $1300 machine in the trash before I even get it set up, but that's looking more and more like a viable option. My old PC sits here next to me, with all its bugs and bloat and weird behavior and broken web browser and it's starting to look very inviting.

 

[Free]

Windows 12

Operating systems are not known to behave very well in time travel scenarios.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

I mean - I'm stressed til my brain is exploding, reaching out for help and I can barely type. Just copy/paste that after Win 12 comes out. I might repeat this experience just for fun.

 

[Free]

I mean - I'm stressed til my brain is exploding

We've all been there.

If your setup is completely borked, a refresh and reinstall might not be a seriously laborious effort (on a new system).

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

My new PC is installed & updated for the most part. I had it working fine last night before bed. Now, this morning, none of my desktop icons work. I tried everything I know to get something to launch.

That does sound weird but it reminds me of a bug I used to have. Right-click the taskbar, choose settings and disable Widgets. The Widgets tab is horrible anyways the way it currently works, but it felt like sometimes the system would think it was "open" when it wasn't, and when "open" it normally covers the left-hand side of the screen where desktop icons like to be, so the system wouldn't register clicks on the icons because of this mistake? Or maybe not, I dunno. But, disable Widgets and that might fix it.

Also in the same menu disable Task View, that might get rid of the desktop-switching button?

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Loving all the extra clicks needed to do basic tasks I do all the time. Also looking at you, Discord Mobile.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I would be happy with Windows NT 3.51 with security fixes and driver/subsystem updates. I was crook when NT4 took the only nice thing about Windows NT and threw it in a fire.

 

[Noodles]

Install Gentoo

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I only knew one guy who used Gentoo for anything real, and he had an R-type sticker on his computer.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Install Gentoo

s/Gentoo/Fedora

 

[Noodles]

I only knew one guy who used Gentoo for anything real, and he had an R-type sticker on his computer.

Phhht, Gradius is the superior shoot'em up series anyway.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Oh gawd, Fedora? Just no. RPM is maybe the third most screwed up file format I've ever had to deal with.

 

[Kokoro Fasching]

My new PC is installed & updated for the most part. I had it working fine last night before bed. Now, this morning, none of my desktop icons work. I tried everything I know to get something to launch. I screwed up once already with the stupid desktop-switching button (why can't I disable that? I will only ever use 1 desktop I promise!). right now, my computer investment is a huge bust since I can 't get it to work in one consistent way. Or any way.

Rebooting. Checking user settings. Blah blah. I officially now hate Win 12 11 (thanks for captioning my pain, Free ) worse than I ever hated Windows 10, which was actually not that bad.

Youtube videos (Youtube stalled me out already by demanding Update-Update-Update on my laptop I never use, increasing my frustration a hundred fold). My usual tech resources have already moved way beyond this piddly layman's understanding. I can't get not satisfaction.

I just need to know how to get Desktop 1 to function like a normal f***ing computer. I would hate to throw a $1300 machine in the trash before I even get it set up, but that's looking more and more like a viable option. My old PC sits here next to me, with all its bugs and bloat and weird behavior and broken web browser and it's starting to look very inviting.

If you are still unable to click on anything, it might be time to restart Explorer.exe. This process is straightforward and easy to follow; all you need to do is press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, and the Task Manager will open.
Once you’ve opened Task Manager, use the Tab and arrow keys to access the Details section. Now press Enter to view the options list, and then use the down arrow key to find and select Explorer.exe.
Since your mouse is not working, you must now press Shift + F10 in order to bring up the context menu. Select the End task option from the menu list and press Enter.

In the confirmation window that appears, make sure the End process button is highlighted, and then press Enter to proceed.
Now that you have stopped the Windows Explorer executable file, you must restart it. At this point, your desktop will turn black and everything except the Task Manager window will vanish. Don't worry; this is totally normal.

At the top of the Task Manager window, click Run new task. If you still can't click on anything, navigate there using Tab instead.
Then, in the text field, type explorer.exe and press the Enter key. This will cause an immediate restart of Explorer.exe, which should allow you to access your documents again.
After restarting Explorer.exe, try clicking anywhere on your screen to see if the problem is fixed.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Thank you, Kokoro. Sadly, I still seem to be locked inside limbo. Some of my apps actually work (Secondlife.com, for example). Others, like Discord or Firefox, just load a copy in the task view at the bottom but won't launch. In fact, the only way I can get to Virtualverse is to run it in Edge. Not acceptable.

Update: I discovered that if I try to launch anything from Microsoft Edge, it seems to work! I thought I disabled EDGE because I prefer to use Firefox!

I vote for Win11 as the absolute worst idea for a desktop EVER.

EDIT: my desktop functionality is now borked. Some things work, some things don't. I'm about ready to look up beginner's classes in using Windows. FFS.

 

[Knutz Scorpio]

Think I would have 'upgraded' it to Windows 10 by now (can't think of Windows 11 as an upgrade to anything).

The license for 11 will supposedly work for 10, but you'll have to install Windows 10 and all your apps from scratch and restore your data. And there's a small chance that some apps and hardware won't work with anything but Windows 11.
Link to zdnet article

 

[Noodles]

Does Windows 11 have an "S Mode" like Windows 10? Maybe it's that?

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

In the past three months I have reinstalled my son's laptop from scratch at least four times, and sent it in to HP for "repair" three times, and AAA games still crash as soon as they do anything with the discrete GPU. They're supposed to be getting back to me next week about replacing the whole thing.

When my daughter was still living at home I had to reinstall her Windows desktop at least every six months.

I have to reboot *my* Wintendo to get voice to work in SL. For major version jumps I reinstall everything from scratch rather than upgrade lest I copy over a broken driver.

I use Linux, FreeBSD, and Mac OS for anything real. I haven't done a complete reinstall of all my applications since I started using OS X in the early noughties. But anything on Windows I assume I'll have to wipe out and reinstall sooner than later.

 

[Kokoro Fasching]

Thank you, Kokoro. Sadly, I still seem to be locked inside limbo. Some of my apps actually work (Secondlife.com, for example). Others, like Discord or Firefox, just load a copy in the task view at the bottom but won't launch. In fact, the only way I can get to Virtualverse is to run it in Edge. Not acceptable.

Update: I discovered that if I try to launch anything from Microsoft Edge, it seems to work! I thought I disabled EDGE because I prefer to use Firefox!

I vote for Win11 as the absolute worst idea for a desktop EVER.

EDIT: my desktop functionality is now borked. Some things work, some things don't. I'm about ready to look up beginner's classes in using Windows. FFS.

Windows 10 in S mode is designed for security and performance, exclusively running apps from the Microsoft Store. If you want to install an app that isn't available in the Microsoft Store, you'll need to switch out of S mode. Switching out of S mode is one-way. If you make the switch, you won't be able to go back to Windows 10 in S mode. There's no charge to switch out of S mode.

1. To switch out of S mode, click here to open the Microsoft Store to the Switch out of S mode (or similar) page.
2. On the Switch out of S mode (or similar) page, select the Get button. After you see a confirmation message on the page, you'll be able to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Store.

Sounds like you are in S(afe) S(ucker) mode

 

[Cindy Claveau]

I don't see anything like what you describe. The Microsoft store won't open. We're also talking about PC Desktop apps, here. Not mobile.

Also: who thinks this stuff up?

!

 

[Kokoro Fasching]

Windows S mode basically turns your PC into a walled garden mobile device.

There does seem to be serious issues with the install. At this point doing a reset of the Windows to default, and then making sure it isn't in S mode would be best, otherwise we are about to dive into Registry settings and other witchcraft.

How to factory reset a PC on Windows 11:

1. Open ‘Settings’, then go to ‘System’ on the left and scroll down to ‘Recovery’.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on ‘Reset PC’.
3. A new popup box will appear and you can choose to keep your files or remove everything (choose this option if you’re giving away, recycling, or selling your PC).
   
   
   
   
4. Next, you’ll get the option to reinstall Windows via a Cloud download (will not come with the same configuration as the manufacturer) or reinstall Windows from your device (will restore drivers, settings, etc.) and click ‘Next.’
5. You may receive some additional warning messages on your screen depending on whether you chose to keep your files or not. Check the messages and click on ‘Reset’ when you’re sure you want to start the process.