# You're LEAST favorite Windows version ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537 "2014-01-11T21:20:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/1 "2014-01-11T21:20:17Z")
The companion of the favorite version thread. Discuss. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/2 "2014-01-11T21:26:29Z")
ME was bad but enough like Win98 SE to not make it too hard to help people. Vista was revolting but still enough like XP & then 7 to help people. So I would have to give **Win 8 the honors of my least favorite**. Some really terrible design changes for the desktop/laptop user. I know what they were thinking but it was sucky thinking. I worked on one PC with Windows 3.0 but I just exited Windows on that one and did everything in DOS so it wasn’t that bad back at the time. Also I was hardly a windows expert back then so what I considered terrible might not have been so horrible. But I liked Win 3.1 & 3.11 and 3.0 seemed useless. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/3 "2014-01-11T21:29:51Z")
You didn’t include Windows 3.0 and 3.1. Or 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1… Any of those would have gotten my vote… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/4 "2014-01-11T21:33:13Z")
I’ve managed to steer clear of Win8 so far. I actually have fond memories of Win 3.1 as the first really capable windowed/multitasking environment. (Anyone who says otherwise better be able to tell me specifics about their DESQview or XWindows box…) I was an early Vista adopter and both built a new system to its needs and was prepared for problems with drivers, etc. so my experience was not nearly as bad as many who tried to upgrade, use subprime hardware or needed everything to work right away without any hassles. 95, 98 and XP were just meh - did their job, no comment. ME, though… closest I’ve ever come to literally throwing a computer out a window. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/5 "2014-01-11T21:34:16Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > You didn’t include Windows 3.0 and 3.1. > > Or 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1… > > Any of those would have gotten my vote… I doubt the user base for everything prior to 3.1 can be measured in more than a few man-years. Maybe 3.0 had a few more. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/6 "2014-01-11T21:36:03Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > You didn’t include Windows 3.0 and 3.1. > > Or 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1… > > Any of those would have gotten my vote… 3.1 & 3.11 worked fine for the times. 3.0 was a dog from the little I recall of it. Did you actually work on the earlier versions? I don’t even recall seeing 2.1 or older. In the 80s we mainly just stayed in DOS and I had a Amiga for my own use. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/7 "2014-01-11T21:43:27Z")
Vista never bothered me much, but it’s DVR is really starting to drive me nuts. I miss 3.1 more than I can say. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/8 "2014-01-11T21:44:09Z")
The poll leaves off Win NT, but as that was one of the most capable iterations of Windows, especially in its day, I can’t imagine many haters. Maybe desktop users who had it forced on them in place of 98 and couldn’t deal with the lesser features. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/9 "2014-01-11T21:55:52Z")
> [@](#): > > You’re LEAST favorite Windows version ever? Am I? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/10 "2014-01-11T22:04:47Z")
Holy Mother of Christ I (checks forum) _freaking_ hate Windows 8. It’s driving my productivity right through the (checks again) _toilet_ hole, even with the shell program add-on. Hate, loathe, despise it. Hate it with the fire of a thousand suns, I tells ya’. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/11 "2014-01-11T22:32:21Z")
While I loathe Windows 8, I can’t see voting anything but ME. While Windows 8 prevents you from working, it still works. Windows ME just plain didn’t work. Vista is a close second. The real moral of the story is that Windows versions are like Star Trek movies. Skip every other one. I’m sure Windows 9 will be just fine. (In fact, that should be their marketing slogan: “Windows 9. It’s just fine.”) Windows X will suck again. (And I’m sure they will go X. Apple did it, so you know that Microsoft will catch up eventually. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/12 "2014-01-11T23:12:15Z")
I voted for ME for the following three reasons: 1. I haven’t used Windows 8 yet. 2. Windows CE wasn’t an option. 3. Windows ME was fucking awful. 4. Windows ME was fucking awful. I know that, technically, that is four reasons. But I thought the last one was so important that I should mention it twice. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/13 "2014-01-11T23:30:42Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > I voted for ME for the following three reasons: > > 1. I haven’t used Windows 8 yet. > 2. Windows CE wasn’t an option. > 3. Windows ME was fucking awful. > 4. Windows ME was fucking awful. Co-sign. I’m muddling along just fine on Windows 7 and hope to never have to deal with 8. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/14 "2014-01-12T00:29:31Z")
Of the ones I’ve actually had installed on my systems, 7 has annoyed me the most. I’m sure 8 and ME are worse, but I’ve not been forced to have to use either of those daily. Never got the hate for Vista. I’ll take it over 7 any day of the week. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/15 "2014-01-12T00:39:53Z")
I’ve been lucky enough to skip the most derided ones, so can’t really vote. I went from 95 to 98 to XP to Win7. It’s a great shame that next time I get a PC, even if I manage to wait until Win9, it will always have the stupid blocky Metro Interface nonsense. I would happily stay on Win7 for the next ten years, which is around how long I had XP. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/16 "2014-01-12T00:40:51Z")
While I know that ME was awful, I never had the pleasure of using it. I also never was able to try anything before 98 either. I would actually say that my worst experience is between 98 and XP. I kid you not, XP. The amount of error messages, fiddling, blue screens, finicky drivers, finicky graphics issues with games, and absolute catastrophic virus infections render XP as a memory of sheer irritation. 98 had more problems and error messages than that, but I didn’t get to use it for nearly as long as XP. I had to do so many complete reformats on XP I just can’t stand to think about it. By contrast, Vista, aside from one driver issue, ran clean and smooth and I only reformatted once. 7 was an absolute dream; its stability is amazing. I don’t think I bluescreened on it more than twice, and the OS simply functioned better in every way. I use Windows 8 on a surface pro 2, arguably THE machine this OS was made for, so my experience with it is through the roof. It is absolutely stellar with a touch/keyboard/pen interface. On a regular laptop, not as much. I would still go for Win7 as the best choice for the average computer. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/17 "2014-01-12T01:01:39Z")
Microsoft Bob by far the worst ever [Microsoft Bob - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob) The versions I have owned 95,98,XP,7 were solid progressions, each one a bit ‘better’ then the last, so saying 95 was the worst I have owned is not fair. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/18 "2014-01-12T01:39:49Z")
Windows 3.0 was more crash prone than a demolition derby. It’s amazing that Windows survived that debacle. 3.0 to 3.1 was a demonstration of the saying, “Why do you bash your head against the wall? Because it feels so good when I stop.” Then Microsoft released ME and still managed to survive. Says something for marketing inertia. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/19 "2014-01-12T01:54:17Z")
It’s been over a decade, but there was a machine I used with a W2K installation that I _hated_. Can’t remember why, but the OS was a big part of it - probably lots of BSOD’s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537/20 "2014-01-12T02:15:33Z")
Windows 8. Everything is tough to get to, and Microsoft wants to connect and control. I have my own computer to be independent of the mother ship. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-least-favorite-windows-version-ever/678537.md?page=2)