What's next for Windows?

[Essence Lumin]

So, I have windows 10 on my desktop, and 11 on my laptop - so far, I see no real differences outside of... a much cleaner looking interface/'app' bar

For me it was that and they messed up the volume control. They tried to make it fancy but now it takes a second or two to respond.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Since my computer has some new hardware that meets the requirements, I'm trying out Windows 11.

First observation: Hey, Windows 11 has a startup sound! I missed those!

 

[Free]

First observation: Hey, Windows 11 has a startup sound! I missed those!

I used to replace the default with the sad trombone. I miss trolling myself. Youth...

 

[Essence Lumin]

Since my computer has some new hardware that meets the requirements, I'm trying out Windows 11.

First observation: Hey, Windows 11 has a startup sound! I missed those!

I had a laptop that met the requirements and upgraded it to windows 11. Then it died (unrelated to the upgrade). So I bought this used laptop which is not windows 11 compatible. I don't miss windows 11 in the least. The only differences I've seen are cosmetic and not even an improvement - just different. I think I saw there are improvements to windows subsystem for linux which could be interesting some day, but I haven't been using that lately.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I haven't had any problems with Windows 11 so far, it all seems fairly straightforward. The only thing is using Linux has gotten me used to installing stuff with package managers so I've been doing that still.

Yes, there are package managers for Windows' terminal.

Yes, there are lots of apps on them! Blender, Steam, Krita, Discord, OBS, Voicemeeter, Vivaldi (also Chrome, Firefox, and Brave if you prefer those), Bitwarden - the newest versions of all of them are on winget. The latest Firestorm browser is on Chocolatey.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

By the way, if you're going to clean-install Windows 11 and you want to be able to install it with a local user account rather than a Microsoft Account, this video will show you how:


Skip to 5:20 for the actual procedures

I personally don't mind having and using my MS account in Windows, but I know some people don't, so there you go.

 

[Essence Lumin]

I wish Microsoft would stop trying to "upgrade" their operating system. I still prefer windows 10 but I can't have it. All windows 11 gave me is nothing but a screwed up volume control which they still haven't fixed. Really. Not one thing is better. And now they are talking about windows 12. Just update my device drivers, keep up with security updates and leave the rest alone. No ads either please?

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I personally don't mind having and using my MS account in Windows, but I know some people don't, so there you go.

I always set up a local account as well as a Microsoft account, because if you wait too long between sessions because you only use that particular computer when you're on a cruise, and you're away from shore and the ship's wifi is sucky plus it has a captive portal you can't log into until you're logged into Windows, you can get locked out of your Windows laptop if you use a Microsoft account.

Happened to Mrs. Argent, except I'd set up a local account for her. She still couldn't log in with her "real" account until she got to a port and could use a shore network. And that was somehow my fault.

 

[Khamon]

Built-in ChatGPT-driven Copilot will transform Windows 11 starting in June

I sincerely hope there's a method to deactivate this.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I always set up a local account as well as a Microsoft account, because if you wait too long between sessions because you only use that particular computer when you're on a cruise, and you're away from shore and the ship's wifi is sucky plus it has a captive portal you can't log into until you're logged into Windows, you can get locked out of your Windows laptop if you use a Microsoft account.

Wait...that's bizarre. I've turned on my computer before when the internet was just plain down so it couldn't connect at all, but that didn't stop me from just logging onto the desktop like usual and doing offline stuff.

FWIW, whenever I'm clean-installing Windows I always START with a local account for the silliest possible reason which is that I'm really picky about the name of my user folder.

If you make a local account, you choose a name, and then that name becomes the name of your user folder. But if you start immediately with a linked MS account, the name of your user folder defaults to the first 5 letters of your MS Account username, which is usually your Hotmail/Outlook/Live email address. So, I start with a local account, name the folder Cody (or whatever my RL name is, teehee) and then link the account after setup, which leaves the name intact.

It is p o s s i b l e to change the name of your primary user folder post-setup, but it takes a bunch of faffery so screw that.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Built-in ChatGPT-driven Copilot will transform Windows 11 starting in June

I sincerely hope there's a method to deactivate this.

I hope so too, on principle.

I might try it out. I'll use it if I find it useful. If not, I'd like to turn it off.

Watching like the promo video, I don't really see how it would be super useful to me; it can do things like open your music app, but you can also do that just by clicking an icon instead of typing out "please open my music app", so that kind of functionality seems like a gimmick that will be fun for five minutes and then I would never use it again. If you can ask it to do that with a voice command rather than type it out, then it's just Cortana, and in that case why is this a new separate thing rather than just a Cortana relaunch? I liked Cortana.

 

[Noodles]

Also, the way Microsoft has been lately, asking it to open your music app will probably just open Spotify in Edge.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Also, the way Microsoft has been lately, asking it to open your music app will probably just open Spotify in Edge.

Or the Zune Player app.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Speaking of, there's a new point-release (they've been called "Moments" this year) for Windows 11 that's starting to drop today. I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm interested in having a look.

One feature that's supposedly getting changes is the Widgets tab. I have this tab enabled just because I like having weather info on my taskbar, but I very rarely open the Widget bar itself because it's like....you have these widgets that you can pin, but the rest of the space on the bar below any widgets you pin is automatically filled in with MSN's algorithmic news feed, which can best be described as Satan's ball-cancer.

8 years ago, MSN News app was my favorite news amalgamator, pulling in headlines from a medium-sized but finite and vetted set of established and reliable (despite their various biases) news sources. I hate, hate, hate what it has metastasized into, especially within the last three or four years - it's now an algorithmic feed that pulls ragebait bullsh*t from "news" sources in every corner of the internet, including like, obscure blogs you've never heard of, just because the algorithm wants to pander to whatever political or cultural identity it guesses you are. It's terrible. And it's all seriously rage-baity stuff, it's all LOOK WHAT THOSE PEOPLE DID THIS TIME rubbish.

The new update is supposed to put tabbed widgets in their own section separately from the news feed. This will only be good if you can turn the news feed THE FRICK OFF completely. Because right now I have a bunch of pinned widgets on my widget bar that are on there not because I actually use or care about or want them, but PURELY because pinning them all there pushes the garbage news feed off the bottom of widget so I'd have to scroll down to see any of it which obviously I never do. It is a dumb workaroundy way of hiding the feed, but it works. If the new widget tab redesign makes the news feed un-hideable, then my one weird trick will be ruined and I'm going to have to turn off the Widget bar altogether. I'll live.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Wait...that's bizarre. I've turned on my computer before when the internet was just plain down so it couldn't connect at all, but that didn't stop me from just logging onto the desktop like usual and doing offline stuff.

This only happens if it's a computer you use rarely so Microsoft's "you must have lost this computer so I'm going to re-verify everything online" timers go off.

Like the laptop Mrs Argent only uses on vacation.

 

[Noodles]

You know what direction I wish Window was not going? I wish it would stop messing with the MBR and BIOS and drive partitions.

I have had uodates completely wipe a seperate Linux install on at least 4 occasions over the past few years now.

I also had the original drive from my desktop suddenly become inaccessible, no matter what options I adjusted in the BIOS. Then recently, the one I replaced it with almost didnthe same thing, though thankfully, when I changed the boot options in the BIOS, it came up. I don't even understand why it would ever touch that shit, but I find it really really worrying when I come to my computer and the BIOS screen is on it because thats not something I want to deal with.

 

[Khamon]

Noodles how were you booting to the separate linux installation?

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

You know what direction I wish Window was not going? I wish it would stop messing with the MBR and BIOS and drive partitions.

I have had uodates completely wipe a seperate Linux install on at least 4 occasions over the past few years now.

I also had the original drive from my desktop suddenly become inaccessible, no matter what options I adjusted in the BIOS. Then recently, the one I replaced it with almost didnthe same thing, though thankfully, when I changed the boot options in the BIOS, it came up. I don't even understand why it would ever touch that shit, but I find it really really worrying when I come to my computer and the BIOS screen is on it because thats not something I want to deal with.

When I became interested in trying out Linux I read about that - that people were saying Windows was messing around with drive partitions when they tried to set up a dual-boot Windows/Linux drive. I think I dodged that by getting a new SSD just for the Linux, so it and Windows lived on their own separate drives rather than just different partitions on the same drive, and so far it has worked and I haven't had any conflicts.

I have had a different issue though. I just got a new M.2 drive and installed Windows on it, and that all worked just fine; BUT the new Windows system does not see my old Windows drive, even though it is an NTFS drive. Or wait, correction - if I go into the settings page in Windows where you can manage drives and partitions, Windows does see all of the drives (even my Linux drive), and I can delete the partition or reformat it or whatever; but I would have thought that, being an NTFS drive, Windows would just naturally be able to see and use it. It sees and can use my old HDD storage drive just fine even though there's still the ghost of an old Windows OS install on it.

FWIW this is a different thing from yours though, because BIOS at least still sees the drive. Maybe I'll try using Windows to reformat that SSD and see if it shows up as a usable drive then. I hope so, because I want to try combining it with the HDD to make a StoreMI drive.

 

[Noodles]

Noodles how were you booting to the separate linux installation?

Grub. I have done it on partitions on the same drive and on a seperate drive. It happened both on my desktop and laptop.

 

[Khamon]

hmm that's beyond. I've been exploring the linux environment on Windows 11 with Ubuntu. Not sufficiently tested yet.