I purchased a Windows 11 machine back in January from a local computer shop. They build their own machines and install the OS without any of the annoying bloatware described above. I have found very little difference in the user interface between 10 and 11.
Opening a folder looks a bit different, as does copying, moving, or renaming a file. The taskbar is somewhat different, but nothing major. Once I got used to those minor details, I can switch between my Win11 desktop and Win10 laptop without missing a beat.
Soon, however, I will be upgrading that Win10 Lenovo laptop to Win11. I don’t anticipate any hiccups, but who knows?
It’s harder to find Windows functions until you get used to it. Examples of that would be: putting a Windows laptop on a domain; adjusting sleep/power/display options; setting a default printer; etc. Instead of beating your head against a wall, one can simply google: “setting a default printer in Windows 11”; “putting a Windows 11 computer on a domain”; “adjusting power and display options in Windows 11”; etc. It only takes a few seconds to find that information.
They moved the default location of the start menu from the left to the center, so that the left side can show you stock prices.
When you right click on a file instead of saying “Move to recycle bin” or “Delete” in the menu, you have to find the icon at the top or bottom, or someplace.
The start menu now has another section you can pin frequently used applications, if putting them in the task bar or on the desktop is not good enough. To see all your applications you have to click on the “All” button.
Coming soon, will be the ability to add videos as a background wallpaper. This will never be used to show Geico ads, and it will be at least 2027 before the video wallpaper can steal focus and move to the front. Only for the premium ads, though.
The “forcing you to save to the cloud” stuff is at the same annoyance level as it was with Windows 10, which is quite annoying but worth getting right when you get Windows 11 set up. If you’ve already been through it, it’s just more of the same (and yes Office still defaults to wanting to save to the cloud).
I’ve replaced my 3 Windows 10 machines now and upgraded to 11. I haven’t been disappointed or annoyed.
I don’t understand all the dire warnings about adware, cloud storage, etc. in this thread. I bought a new Windows 11 computer a few months ago in anticipation of my Windows 10 system losing support, and I don’t think I’ve seen even one ad. There were the usual “suggestions” to use OneDrive, just like with WIndows 10, but it was easy to disable OneDrive just like on W10, and I haven’t seen anything else unexpected.
I have multiple computers so I actually like storing everything on OneDrive (though another cloud solution would work similarly). I can jump back and forth between computers and access the same files on each. But I don’t see any ads in Windows 11 and have disabled Copilot or other AI features.
I resisted upgrading my 3 yo machine to 11 because I know there are differences and who needs it. In particular the interface with the Windows icon is different. But then my computer started doing a couple of wonky things (the clock kept losing time–it would jump back 5 or 10 minutes suddenly) and something else I’ve suppressed. So I figured, let’s try Win-11. At first, the clock kept losing time. But for three nights in a row, it rebooted every morning and the clock now runs correctly. And whatever the other problem was is now also cured. I’ve adjusted to the differences. So if your machine can upgrade, I recommend it.
Those of you saying that Windows 11 doesn’t have ads and spam, etc. — it does, out of the box. Which is why there are scripts like the one DPRK mentioned earlier (Windows 10 Going on 11? - #12 by DPRK) explicitly written to remove those things.
But if you upgraded from an older version where you already had some of those turned off, or simply take the time to manually turn them off on a new install, yes, you can usually disable most of it. Some of it will likely come back with the next major Windows update (like the incessant Edge spam), but those can usually be disabled too.
If you’re not bothered by that, then you’re not bothered by that. It’s not some horrible disease affecting mankind, just another piece of shitty software. We’re all somewhat desensitized to it by now, since enshittification is the default state of software these days.
It’s like how some people don’t mind seeing ads on the web and don’t bother with an ad blocker. That’s fine if they don’t care. If you do care, though, the out of the box Windows experience is annoying and user-hostile; you shouldn’t have to see ads in software you pay for, period, even if it’s just for other Microsoft products & services. (But it’s not always. The Start Menu will also advertise recommended apps and games, and Edge will take you to some ad-laden Microsoft spam search engine, etc.).
My mini Aerofara hooked up to the TV runs Windows 11. It’s fine. I typically use Ubuntu and would never go back to developing on WSL so it’s fine. Gets me BBC iPlayer, ITV 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and it has a good VPN for all else.
I got a new computer with Win11 two years ago, and I don’t remember any ads or any spam. I don’t use Edge, maybe that’s it. The AI annoyances are from various apps, like Google. I’ve used Copilot for one or two things but it has never bothered me. File Manager is a bit different (but I think that happened during an upgrade) and the windows icon is slightly moved, but aside from that it is very similar to Win 10.
The only real negative is that ancient versions of things like Quicken and Acrobat which I got before they went into subscription mode didn’t copy over. I don’t blame Microsoft for that.
Besides a glitch at the beginning which made me have to reload Windows, no BSODs in two years.
Gee, maybe HP turns them off by default, since neither my nor my wife’s computer ever got ads, and I never turned anything off. Weird. I get lots of ads in the Microsoft games, but that is from them trying to sell you a no-ad upgrade. Where do these ads show up?
I’m not sure why some users see ads and some don’t. But it’s probably not worth digging into unless the OP is concerned about it. I don’t want to steal any more of their topic.
I don’t remember ever getting ads but if I enable the news widget in the taskbar, it is a cacophony of intrusive crap that doesn’t seem to ever remember the settings and deletions I apply to try and corral it into something useful. After a short while I gave up and switched that off completely. No ads or other bothersome intrusions since then.
I wonder if people saying they don’t see ads know what we mean when we mention them. They aren’t graphical ads like you see on webpages without adblocker.
They are, for example, apps you don’t own listed under Recommended or when you’re searching for apps. A little notification that recommends you try using Edge or some other Microsoft product. A bunch of text that can show up on the lock screen (which you see either before you log in or after you wake up the computer from sleep), a banner in File Explorer advertising OneDrive (if you don’t have it turned on), a popup that recommends Bing and AI when you first install Chrome, and so on.
I’ve not seen all of these before I disabled them, but I did see some. Generally they are about getting you to use a Micrsoft product, or to install an app from the Micrsoft App Store. No such ads are welcome.
And, yes, the News Ticker thing also will occasionally show ads.
How pain-free would it be for me, a longtime Windows user, to change to Linux. Are there various hacks/apps/solutions that would make using it seem to me just like a Windows (hopefully 7 or 10) experience?
For the most part, yes, it’s not as bad as it used to be to switch to Linux.
But, even now in 2025, it’s not quite as transparent and simple a process as advocates make it sound.
If you don’t mind doing a bit of your own technical support work to set it up or know somebody willing to be patient enough to spend the time with you to do it, it’s mostly pain free. But if you are the type that risks your PC blowing up if you touch the mouse wrong, it’s not there yet.
I think you should try one of the live CDs or USB drives for yourself. Linux Mint seems a popular one.
It depends on 1) your hardware and 2) what apps you need. The browsers are largely the same. MS Office is replaced by LibreOffice. Many Steam games can run via the Proton compatibility layer (it’s automatic). Windows apps won’t run unless you virtualize them or emulate them. There are often but not always free replacements.
Linux is great when it works. But there are sometimes driver and display and wifi issues that you might have to work through on a new install. That gets better every year, though.
I jumped ship to a Mac not so much because I like macOS (it’s usable but annoying in many small ways), it’s that the Mac hardware is astoundingly better these days – Apple absolutely killed it with the M series chips.
Linux doesn’t offer that. It just runs on the same hardware that’s mostly made for Windows, with a IMO inferior user experience. Its mainly selling points are freedom (not important to many regular users, especially since they have to jump through hoops to get some of their apps to run) and price (hard to beat). I’d put it on old laptops that I don’t want to pay for a Windows license for, but it wouldn’t be my first choice for a daily driver. YMMV.
icon at the top or bottom, or someplace.