{"slug": "windows-11", "name": "Windows 11", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Microsoft's desktop operating system for PCs, successor to Windows 10.", "recommenders": 10, "commenters": 77, "warners": 55, "score": -36.178, "rising": 0.71, "first": "2025-11-07", "latest": "2026-10-29", "why": "A minority of commenters like it for the stripped-down LTSC and IoT editions and the much-improved ARM64 version.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 10, "neutral": 12, "compare": 0, "warn": 62}, "spark": [0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 1, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["LTSC editions", "Stability"], "caveat": "Ads and bloat", "short_quote": "I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-11", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Windows 11", "Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC", "Windows 11 LTSC"], "verdict": [{"text": "A minority of commenters like it for the stripped-down LTSC and IoT editions", "cites": [{"id": 798194096, "item_id": 49887131, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887131", "by": "mikalauskas", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use ltsc iot edition and I don't have this experience", "excerpt": "I use ltsc iot edition and I don't have this experience", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 779730576, "item_id": 48733161, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733161", "by": "runjake", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is.", "excerpt": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc Aside from that, there are various tools and deployment files to automate a stripped down Windows 11 installation. I don't really use Windows except on my gaming PC, but I like winutil: https://github.com/christitustech/winutil But there are better declarative tools out there", "context": "uses Windows only on gaming PC", "use_case": "lightweight Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}, {"id": 779576336, "item_id": 48723521, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723521", "by": "pipes", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm using ltsc windows 11 and yes it is much better than one of my other pcs which has pro on it.", "excerpt": "I'm using ltsc windows 11 and yes it is much better than one of my other pcs which has pro on it. However I did use windows 10 ltsc for quite a few years until I hit a dll issue with an old game that turned out to be unresolvable as far as I could tell at the time. So much so I switched to pro (I have a work visual studio subscription so I have access to all versions of windows for free). I can't for the life of me r", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}, {"id": 778852416, "item_id": 48678276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48678276", "by": "Marsymars", "date": "2026-06-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to the latest Win11 LTSC after that, and it's a decidedly better user experience without the cruft I didn't need or want.", "excerpt": "I wouldn't suggest an old LTSC version, but in a relatively recent update MS stopped allowing non-LTSC versions to not populate the start menu with ms store ads when your search locally. For me, that was the final straw - I switched to the latest Win11 LTSC after that, and it's a decidedly better user experience without the cruft I didn't need or want.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS without Store ads", "switched_from": "Windows 10", "story": "Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates"}]}, {"text": " and the much-improved ARM64 version.", "cites": [{"id": 804150353, "item_id": 50259397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50259397", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ARM64 version of Windows 11 has gotten very good now", "excerpt": "I recently snagged a really good deal on a Macbook (very nice hardware!), but the more I use it, the more I struggle with macOS (even though a few utilities can help bring some of Windows' features). I used to be able to completely boot into Windows on my Intel mac a few years ago, but Apple no longer supports it for some reason. It's a shame, especially since the ARM64 version of Windows 11 has gotten very good now.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}, {"id": 776656544, "item_id": 48541034, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48541034", "by": "fortran77", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned", "excerpt": "I don't know what the disconnect is. I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned -- an Asus Zenbook A16 with OLED screen and 48 GB of RAM (all for $1699). It's super fast -- it beats a 2026 Macbook Pro rendering Blender \"Classroom\". I have a Microsoft account, I don't know what the big deal is. I follow the happy path. It's nice to have settings (and I can control which ones) sync across m", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is ads, nags and bloat", "cites": [{"id": 798353249, "item_id": 49897078, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49897078", "by": "Stitch4223", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "stinking pile of poorly designed adware", "excerpt": "Never a wrong time to promote windows 11 debloat [1]. Not affiliated. Used it a few days ago for the first time and it transformed the stinking pile of poorly designed adware to something that resembles a pretty decent operating system. [1] https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 797850576, "item_id": 49865661, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865661", "by": "otherme123", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 nags its users all the time, yet they accept it as it was normal and unavoidable.", "excerpt": "My comment was more on the line \"when given options, people will massively choose Windows\" just out of familiarity or fear of the unknown, and by people I also mean management. If I was manager, I wouldn't force Linux (which I use exclusively since c. 2000) unto my workers, unless I am ready to set Linux familiarity as a CV minimum requirement, reducing my hiring pool by 90% at least. The parent comment implies there", "context": "Linux user since c. 2000", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dutch governments builds alternative for Microsoft based on NixOS"}, {"id": 779534737, "item_id": 48720921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "by": "lenova", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions", "excerpt": "Former Windows 11 user here. Microsoft operating systems have been my primary desktop since DOS 6.0, but the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions, and CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 745080496, "item_id": 46567531, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46567531", "by": "flumpcakes", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 makes me hate everyday computing. From the adverts in the start menu, to the sluggish performance", "excerpt": "Windows 11 makes me hate everyday computing. From the adverts in the start menu, to the sluggish performance on a computer orders of magnitude more powerful than any XP machine I used. It's just not fun anymore.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11"}]}, {"text": ", with many also citing sluggish performance, forced AI features and buggy updates.", "cites": [{"id": 789400641, "item_id": 49337540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337540", "by": "t0mas88", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The whole thing is slow on a modern CPU with 64gb ram.", "excerpt": "I agree, the color was great, and also in general Windows 2000 was very good. I used both the desktop and server versions for years. After that Windows XP made me switch to Linux. Since then I've only really used Debian and Mac OS. I recently tried installing Windows 11 on a PC to run some games. The contrast with Windows 2000 is crazy, what a mess. Even just the control panel has three different UI frameworks mixed ", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming PC", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Desktopcolors.com \u2013 A museum for solid background colors of classic OS"}, {"id": 759379761, "item_id": 47461235, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461235", "by": "sunaookami", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 is unbelievable bad.", "excerpt": "Recently got an HP ProBook for a relative to replace his old 2011 ThinkPad with Kubuntu 24.04 and I was shocked how laggy and unusable Windows 11 was. Every menu has tons of latency, programs take forever to start, even something simple like Rufus. File Explorer is a laggy mess, the whole OS feels like you are walking through mud. After a reboot there was a fullscreen message about \"finish setting up the device\" (???", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 790204262, "item_id": 49387766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49387766", "by": "Alien1Being", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the dreadful AI infested Windows 11", "excerpt": "Linux is so very predictably stable from a desktop user perspective . It is an absolute pleasure to use , particularly when combined with TUI applications like yazi, lsd, fzf , neovim etc Been using it since the early nineties . At work I use Windows Server 2025 as my desktop ( the alternative would be the dreadful AI infested Windows 11). While Windows Server 2025 is not dreadful , the Linux experience is so much ni", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.2 Released"}, {"id": 743647584, "item_id": 46477974, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46477974", "by": "mcswell", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I switched to Linux from Win11 a few months ago, because of all the CoPilot junk.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux from Win11 a few months ago, because of all the CoPilot junk. Not sure what the native vs. HTML UIs is all about, though. Are the HTML UIs slower, or is it a question of developers' time?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 782738976, "item_id": 48921186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48921186", "by": "CM30", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 seemingly screwing up something massive in every update", "excerpt": "It's definitely been buggier for a while now. It's already been an issue for a decade or so due to the \"release minimum viable product, fix problems with patches/updates model\" (especially in the world of video games), but the rise of AI has only made the issue more apparent. Microsoft is the biggest example here (with Windows 11 seemingly screwing up something massive in every update), but other companies like Googl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "LTSC editions", "summary": "The LTSC and IoT Enterprise LTSC editions are described as a cleaner experience without unwanted extras.", "quotes": [{"id": 778852416, "item_id": 48678276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48678276", "by": "Marsymars", "date": "2026-06-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to the latest Win11 LTSC after that, and it's a decidedly better user experience without the cruft I didn't need or want.", "excerpt": "I wouldn't suggest an old LTSC version, but in a relatively recent update MS stopped allowing non-LTSC versions to not populate the start menu with ms store ads when your search locally. For me, that was the final straw - I switched to the latest Win11 LTSC after that, and it's a decidedly better user experience without the cruft I didn't need or want.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS without Store ads", "switched_from": "Windows 10", "story": "Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates"}, {"id": 779576336, "item_id": 48723521, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723521", "by": "pipes", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm using ltsc windows 11 and yes it is much better than one of my other pcs which has pro on it.", "excerpt": "I'm using ltsc windows 11 and yes it is much better than one of my other pcs which has pro on it. However I did use windows 10 ltsc for quite a few years until I hit a dll issue with an old game that turned out to be unresolvable as far as I could tell at the time. So much so I switched to pro (I have a work visual studio subscription so I have access to all versions of windows for free). I can't for the life of me r", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}, {"id": 779730576, "item_id": 48733161, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733161", "by": "runjake", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is.", "excerpt": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc Aside from that, there are various tools and deployment files to automate a stripped down Windows 11 installation. I don't really use Windows except on my gaming PC, but I like winutil: https://github.com/christitustech/winutil But there are better declarative tools out there", "context": "uses Windows only on gaming PC", "use_case": "lightweight Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}]}, {"label": "Stability", "summary": "Some long-time users find it stable and say it just works for them.", "quotes": [{"id": 801752497, "item_id": 50109531, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109531", "by": "Kurtz79", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Teams and W11 are some of most stable, \"it just works\" pieces of software coming from them I can think of", "excerpt": "\"Microsoft has completely lost the ability to make good software; see Microsoft Teams and what they've done to Windows 11.\" Uh, what is your positive comparison point? I have been using MS apps since MS-DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 (including doozies like Windows Millennium and Vista) and Teams and W11 are some of most stable, \"it just works\" pieces of software coming from them I can think of...", "context": "long-time Microsoft user since MS-DOS 6.0", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Muse Spark Open"}, {"id": 745108672, "item_id": 46569292, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46569292", "by": "CrzyLngPwd", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Windows 11, and have zero complaints.", "excerpt": "I don't see the same things as the commenters or the article. I love Windows 11, and have zero complaints. Win+R is instant. Notepad is the best version so far, I use it as a todo list and it saves and loads in the same place on my third screen every reboot - fantastic. I have no use for the AI being shoehorned into everything, but I use it every day via chatgpt in the browser, and genie and cp in vsc.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11"}, {"id": 776601040, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm a happy (windows 11) user.", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "developer, 25 years on Linux before switching", "use_case": "main development machine", "switched_from": "Linux", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}]}, {"label": "ARM64 support", "summary": "The ARM64 version is called very good, and one user runs it on a fast laptop.", "quotes": [{"id": 804150353, "item_id": 50259397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50259397", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ARM64 version of Windows 11 has gotten very good now", "excerpt": "I recently snagged a really good deal on a Macbook (very nice hardware!), but the more I use it, the more I struggle with macOS (even though a few utilities can help bring some of Windows' features). I used to be able to completely boot into Windows on my Intel mac a few years ago, but Apple no longer supports it for some reason. It's a shame, especially since the ARM64 version of Windows 11 has gotten very good now.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}, {"id": 776656544, "item_id": 48541034, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48541034", "by": "fortran77", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned", "excerpt": "I don't know what the disconnect is. I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned -- an Asus Zenbook A16 with OLED screen and 48 GB of RAM (all for $1699). It's super fast -- it beats a 2026 Macbook Pro rendering Blender \"Classroom\". I have a Microsoft account, I don't know what the big deal is. I follow the happy path. It's nice to have settings (and I can control which ones) sync across m", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}]}, {"label": "Developer tooling", "summary": "Hyper-V, PowerShell and WSL2 are named as strong development tools on Windows.", "quotes": [{"id": 776601040, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm a happy (windows 11) user.", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "developer, 25 years on Linux before switching", "use_case": "main development machine", "switched_from": "Linux", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 800542434, "item_id": 50033902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033902", "by": "Mabusto", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become.", "excerpt": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become. One of the things I loved about windows was developing on it, WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it and it\u2019s my own little dev box. I\u2019ve really enjoyed the switch so far, having attempted it a few times in the past and ended up going back to windows (once in 2003, another in 2012). It\u2019s encouraging to see MS continue to ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}]}, {"label": "Debloatable", "summary": "Debloat tools and stripped-down installs are said to turn it into a decent OS.", "quotes": [{"id": 798353249, "item_id": 49897078, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49897078", "by": "Stitch4223", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "stinking pile of poorly designed adware", "excerpt": "Never a wrong time to promote windows 11 debloat [1]. Not affiliated. Used it a few days ago for the first time and it transformed the stinking pile of poorly designed adware to something that resembles a pretty decent operating system. [1] https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 779730576, "item_id": 48733161, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733161", "by": "runjake", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is.", "excerpt": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc Aside from that, there are various tools and deployment files to automate a stripped down Windows 11 installation. I don't really use Windows except on my gaming PC, but I like winutil: https://github.com/christitustech/winutil But there are better declarative tools out there", "context": "uses Windows only on gaming PC", "use_case": "lightweight Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Ads and bloat", "summary": "Many object to Start menu ads, constant nags and services that can't be removed.", "quotes": [{"id": 745080496, "item_id": 46567531, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46567531", "by": "flumpcakes", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 makes me hate everyday computing. From the adverts in the start menu, to the sluggish performance", "excerpt": "Windows 11 makes me hate everyday computing. From the adverts in the start menu, to the sluggish performance on a computer orders of magnitude more powerful than any XP machine I used. It's just not fun anymore.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11"}, {"id": 779534737, "item_id": 48720921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "by": "lenova", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions", "excerpt": "Former Windows 11 user here. Microsoft operating systems have been my primary desktop since DOS 6.0, but the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions, and CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 762130432, "item_id": 47633152, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47633152", "by": "gogurt2000", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's absurd how often file explorer windows crash in Windows 11 compared to Windows 7", "excerpt": "Windows: - Bloat: software packages and services that cannot be entirely removed (at least not without 3rd party tools) like Edge, OneDrive, Copilot, etc. - Requiring a MS account - Their focus on adding new features and changing visual elements to make things feel fresh (and justify their asking price) at the cost of stability -- both in terms of system stability (it's absurd how often file explorer windows crash in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you dislike most about Linux and Windows?"}]}, {"label": "Slow performance", "summary": "Users report laggy menus, slow startup and high RAM use even on powerful hardware.", "quotes": [{"id": 759379761, "item_id": 47461235, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461235", "by": "sunaookami", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 is unbelievable bad.", "excerpt": "Recently got an HP ProBook for a relative to replace his old 2011 ThinkPad with Kubuntu 24.04 and I was shocked how laggy and unusable Windows 11 was. Every menu has tons of latency, programs take forever to start, even something simple like Rufus. File Explorer is a laggy mess, the whole OS feels like you are walking through mud. After a reboot there was a fullscreen message about \"finish setting up the device\" (???", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 789400641, "item_id": 49337540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337540", "by": "t0mas88", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The whole thing is slow on a modern CPU with 64gb ram.", "excerpt": "I agree, the color was great, and also in general Windows 2000 was very good. I used both the desktop and server versions for years. After that Windows XP made me switch to Linux. Since then I've only really used Debian and Mac OS. I recently tried installing Windows 11 on a PC to run some games. The contrast with Windows 2000 is crazy, what a mess. Even just the control panel has three different UI frameworks mixed ", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming PC", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Desktopcolors.com \u2013 A museum for solid background colors of classic OS"}, {"id": 764094288, "item_id": 47755893, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47755893", "by": "mikaeluman", "date": "2026-04-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I have been using Windows on my laptop and been annoyed by how performance have really degraded.", "excerpt": "I have been using Windows on my laptop and been annoyed by how performance have really degraded. RAM consumption on startup is 50% (of 16Gi). I asked claude to help me remove bloat and was horrified by all the different background services and \"enhanced\" and \"advanced\" features that are always ON. I don't think it's fair to say \"no AI in any app\", however. That should depend on the value delivered in the app. But I d", "context": "", "use_case": "laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft isn't removing Copilot from Windows 11, it's just renaming it"}]}, {"label": "Buggy updates", "summary": "Updates are said to break things, with reports of blue screens and hard freezes.", "quotes": [{"id": 750880464, "item_id": 46930029, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46930029", "by": "thepuppet33r", "date": "2026-02-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "my Windows 11 laptop for work has been a nightmare, too.", "excerpt": "Everyone complains about one little update breaking your PC, or random things not working, but my Windows 11 laptop for work has been a nightmare, too. I'm always terrified to let them install the latest version update as it has done everything from break all my taskbar shortcuts to make my computer blue screen on boot. My fingerprint reader didn't work on it until I manually installed the fingerprint driver. My frie", "context": "", "use_case": "work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "I went back to Linux and it was a mistake"}, {"id": 759380640, "item_id": 47461290, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461290", "by": "urba_", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "still having regular blue screens come back with Windows 11..", "excerpt": "Me and my family still cannot believe that I bought a Macbook this week. I used Windows since Windows 95 (back in '96, I was 5 years old). But still having regular blue screens come back with Windows 11.. I am better off selling my 64GB of RAM, than Windows Defender eating a third of it at random times", "context": "Windows user since Windows 95", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 747366289, "item_id": 46710393, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46710393", "by": "sergiotapia", "date": "2026-01-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 is so bad that I finally made the permanent jump to Linux.", "excerpt": "Windows 11 is so bad that I finally made the permanent jump to Linux. At the end of my time with Windows, it would HARD freeze about twice a week. I thought I was having hardware failures and got really scared. When I switched to Omarchy, I've had zero crashes. Omarchy gave me a great OS that I spend no time tweaking and fiddling with. Steam works out of the box, and all the games I play work out of the box. Control,", "context": "gamer", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hate is a strong word, but I don't like Windows 11"}]}, {"label": "Forced AI", "summary": "Copilot and other AI features are pushed on users who did not ask for them.", "quotes": [{"id": 759390305, "item_id": 47461894, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461894", "by": "malbs", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 and the forced AI integration was the absolute last straw for me.", "excerpt": "I feel like this commitment to Windows quality post is actually just copilot generated slop. Someone in the comments here said nobody loves Windows. I probably did love Windows 7. I felt that it was the best of all worlds, huge support for hardware, basically rock solid on good hardware, gaming performance was fantastic. In my opinion, Windows has spiraled downwards ever since 7. So much so that I finally switched to", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 743647584, "item_id": 46477974, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46477974", "by": "mcswell", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I switched to Linux from Win11 a few months ago, because of all the CoPilot junk.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux from Win11 a few months ago, because of all the CoPilot junk. Not sure what the native vs. HTML UIs is all about, though. Are the HTML UIs slower, or is it a question of developers' time?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 784668929, "item_id": 49041808, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041808", "by": "mancerayder", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "warn", "quote": "AI features I never asked for, that's the most recent dark pattern here.", "excerpt": "> We\u2019ve reached a point where an update to macOS \u2014 or to any app I rely on, really \u2014 is a source of dread rather than excitement. I now expect the new version to be worse. I actually relate to that. It used to be cool and exciting to update to see what new things are coming for free. I was just looking up what Fedora Workstation 45 might bring. Updates on phones, TV's, cars and non-Linux operating systems on PC's/lap", "context": "moved off Windows 11", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}]}, {"label": "Accounts and telemetry", "summary": "Required Microsoft accounts and telemetry put off privacy-minded users.", "quotes": [{"id": 777480417, "item_id": 48592526, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48592526", "by": "malbs", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The degradation of win 11 , forced win accounts everywhere.", "excerpt": "Agreed. 2026 was the year. The degradation of win 11 , forced win accounts everywhere. I switched to Linux Mint, and I haven't switched back. Missing out on a few random games that aren't supported yet, I decided it was time to get rid of windows on my desktop. I do have one windows machine still, and thats my simrig, this is a purpose built computer+rig specifically for iRacing and iRacing have said that they won't ", "context": "keeps one Windows machine for iRacing sim rig", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly"}, {"id": 745263697, "item_id": 46578981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578981", "by": "raziel2701", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "no need to create a microsoft account and you don't have to deal with all the slop features it tries to shove down your throat.", "excerpt": "I bought a thinkpad X1 carbon refurbished for about ~$300. I wanted to travel abroad with a laptop I wouldn't mind getting stolen if it happened. During the installation of Win11 it asked me to create a microsoft account, fuck that. I installed linux mint. Very nice experience overall, so nice to not get assaulted by ads in the start menu. Pleased to see the nightlight functionality (I googled f.lux for linux and tha", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}, {"id": 779544464, "item_id": 48721529, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721529", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Win11 feels as if Microsoft finally declared total war on the user and I can't support that anymore", "excerpt": "Ever since Win11 I lost all desire to retain Windows. I still have Win10 on my computer on the left side, mostly for testing, but I also decided it will be my last version of Windows anyway. Now, I have been using Linux since many years, so it is not an issue, but Win11 feels as if Microsoft finally declared total war on the user and I can't support that anymore. The telemetry sniffing and spying and now the upcoming", "context": "Linux user for many years", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}]}, {"label": "UI regressions", "summary": "File Explorer, the taskbar and the context menu are called worse than in earlier versions.", "quotes": [{"id": 759396992, "item_id": 47462312, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47462312", "by": "cogman10", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the file explorer experience in 11 was noticeably worse than windows 10 and the same hardware", "excerpt": "I love how the second half of this article is obviously just an AI slop agenda. That entirely speaks to how much microsoft \"cares\". Frankly, the things they've listed as action items for the future are things that they should have been doing FROM THE BEGINNING. Like, how on earth was > Faster and more responsive Windows experiences NOT a part of just the general release cycle of a major windows update? How was it the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 760100881, "item_id": 47506305, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506305", "by": "BitwiseFool", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The taskbar in Windows 11 is a downgrade in every conceivable way.", "excerpt": "While I have many grievances with Windows 11, I am particularly upset about the taskbar. Back in Windows 10, I used a double-height taskbar positioned at the bottom of the screen. I forget the name of the specific setting, but all windows would appear as their own item, and, the taskbar would ensure that all items retained the same width. The taskbar in Windows 11 is a downgrade in every conceivable way. I can look p", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft's \"Fix\" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating"}, {"id": 745088384, "item_id": 46568024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46568024", "by": "throwmsreply", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the new context menu took a perceptible second to appear and it still didn't have everything the old had", "excerpt": "Running W11 on unsupported hardware aside. I was surprised the other day when I used a W11 machine that the new context menu took a perceptible second to appear and it still didn't have everything the old had so you still have to call the old one, very dismaying.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Kurtz79", "context": "long-time Microsoft user since MS-DOS 6.0", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109531", "date": "2026-10-15"}, {"by": "billfor", "context": "has MSDN and a pro key", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49884631", "date": "2026-09-28"}, {"by": "LoganDark", "context": "disables Windows updates since 2017", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49089439", "date": "2026-07-28"}, {"by": "runjake", "context": "uses Windows only on gaming PC", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733161", "date": "2026-06-30"}, {"by": "ahartmetz", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591969", "date": "2026-06-18"}, {"by": "tenderfault", "context": "developer, 25 years on Linux before switching", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "date": "2026-06-15"}, {"by": "pcblues", "context": "Invested in Windows and Office", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46446337", "date": "2025-12-31"}, {"by": "nfriedly", "context": "refreshes computers for local folks", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46350740", "date": "2025-12-21"}, {"by": "djhworld", "context": "uses gaming PC like a console", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45986330", "date": "2025-11-19"}, {"by": "wafflemaker", "context": "Linux user with Nvidia GPU", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45852051", "date": "2025-11-07"}], "tags": ["for PC gaming", "for ARM laptops", "for developers"], "use_cases": ["desktop os", "gaming pc", "gaming desktop", "running legacy windows 3.1 game", "work device os", "lightweight windows"], "compared": [{"slug": "windows-10", "name": "Windows 10", "co": 16, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "linux-mint", "name": "Linux Mint", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 5}, {"slug": "linux", "name": "Linux", "co": 14, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 10, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "ubuntu", "name": "Ubuntu", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "bazzite", "name": "Bazzite", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "cachyos", "name": "CachyOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "debian", "name": "Debian", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 743173824, "item_id": 46448364, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46448364", "by": "sedatk", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Windows 11.", "excerpt": "I love Windows 11. I'm sure some of my code still lives in Windows 11 from my days at Microsoft. But, the hasty and haphazard ways that some teams at Microsoft treat it sadden me. I specifically despise Microsoft Accounts being forced down our throats because, among all other things, they make certain workflows impossible. For instance, you can't schedule tasks to run as your user when you're not logged in[1]. It won", "context": "Former Microsoft employee", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "2025 was a disaster for Windows 11"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47459296", "title": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795864", "title": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46709530", "title": "Hate is a strong word, but I don't like Windows 11", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46567138", "title": "Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881747", "title": "Windows 11\u00bd", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720591", "title": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite", "mentions": 3}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 2, "warn": 5}, "2025-12": {"warn": 3, "recommend": 1, "neutral": 3}, "2026-01": {"warn": 17, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"warn": 3}, "2026-03": {"warn": 8, "neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {"warn": 3}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 5, "warn": 4, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 7, "neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 5}, "2026-09": {"warn": 3, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 4, "recommend": 2, "neutral": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804537666, "item_id": 50283604, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50283604", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My desktop was a Windows 11 gaming system, and I switched that to Linux", "excerpt": "I use a macOS for work daily. My last laptop was an M2 MacBook Pro and I\u2019ve now moved over to Linux on Framework 13 then the 13 Pro when that came out. I switched because didn\u2019t like Liquid Glass, I didn\u2019t like the Photos app redesign for macOS 26, and I liked what Framework was doing. I also wanted more storage and of course that means I was going laptop shopping with the soldered storage of the Mac. Now I\u2019d say App", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Get Ready for Touch on Mac"}, {"id": 804150353, "item_id": 50259397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50259397", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the ARM64 version of Windows 11 has gotten very good now", "excerpt": "I recently snagged a really good deal on a Macbook (very nice hardware!), but the more I use it, the more I struggle with macOS (even though a few utilities can help bring some of Windows' features). I used to be able to completely boot into Windows on my Intel mac a few years ago, but Apple no longer supports it for some reason. It's a shame, especially since the ARM64 version of Windows 11 has gotten very good now.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}, {"id": 804012896, "item_id": 50250806, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50250806", "by": "mattbee", "date": "2026-10-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Backwards compatibility from Microsoft was almost all there", "excerpt": "I just resurrected a 90s kids CD-ROM game that shipped for Windows 3.1 - https://github.com/matthewbloch/orlys-draw-a-story-fixes The finished patch DLL ended up being a tour of the stuff that broke. The game did launch on Windows 11 but the main issue was that the 8-bit pre-DirectDraw behaviour was broken - for 256 colour screens, Windows 11 resolvesld palette indices only once, but the game relies on being able to ", "context": "", "use_case": "running legacy Windows 3.1 game", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11"}, {"id": 802174848, "item_id": 50135928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50135928", "by": "egg1", "date": "2026-10-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "churning out Windows 11 and all of the inexplicably broken functionality", "excerpt": "A not-insignificant portion of HN has full blown AI psychosis. These are the devs churning out Windows 11 and all of the inexplicably broken functionality that has started plaguing software we used to consider reliable in the past year.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI Can Write the Code. Who Verifies It?"}, {"id": 801752497, "item_id": 50109531, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109531", "by": "Kurtz79", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Teams and W11 are some of most stable, \"it just works\" pieces of software coming from them I can think of", "excerpt": "\"Microsoft has completely lost the ability to make good software; see Microsoft Teams and what they've done to Windows 11.\" Uh, what is your positive comparison point? I have been using MS apps since MS-DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 (including doozies like Windows Millennium and Vista) and Teams and W11 are some of most stable, \"it just works\" pieces of software coming from them I can think of...", "context": "long-time Microsoft user since MS-DOS 6.0", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Muse Spark Open"}, {"id": 800542434, "item_id": 50033902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033902", "by": "Mabusto", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become.", "excerpt": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become. One of the things I loved about windows was developing on it, WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it and it\u2019s my own little dev box. I\u2019ve really enjoyed the switch so far, having attempted it a few times in the past and ended up going back to windows (once in 2003, another in 2012). It\u2019s encouraging to see MS continue to ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 800506800, "item_id": 50031675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031675", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "For me Win11 was the final stop.", "excerpt": "For me Win11 was the final stop. I still use Win10 for a few things, including testing stuff works there too, via java. I switched to Linux in 2004 or so, though.", "context": "Linux user since 2004", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 799326881, "item_id": 49957930, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49957930", "by": "neuroelectron", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "end up with something like Windows 11", "excerpt": "Not a lot of good reasons to upgrade to 27. They removed Rosetta and you have to reinstall that if you want it. So is MacOS turning into something that more regular people are going to have to maintain in the future or end up with something like Windows 11? I switched to MacOS 3 years ago because of Microsoft and the writing on the wall seems to say I got another year left before I'm forced into Linux. Because if I h", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}, {"id": 798353249, "item_id": 49897078, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49897078", "by": "Stitch4223", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "stinking pile of poorly designed adware", "excerpt": "Never a wrong time to promote windows 11 debloat [1]. Not affiliated. Used it a few days ago for the first time and it transformed the stinking pile of poorly designed adware to something that resembles a pretty decent operating system. [1] https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 798278129, "item_id": 49892383, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49892383", "by": "Propelloni", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that's more due to MS Windows 11 suckiness", "excerpt": "People make it sound as if Munich flip-flopped on Linux. The then ruling social-democrats and the greens started the LiMux project in 2003! The social-democrats and the conservative christians ruling in 2020 switched back to MS Windows. The current administration is mandating open source but not specifically Linux. I use Linux since the year 2000 and it has been ruff in the early days, no doubt. The desktop competiti", "context": "Linux user since 2000", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS"}, {"id": 798194096, "item_id": 49887131, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887131", "by": "mikalauskas", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use ltsc iot edition and I don't have this experience", "excerpt": "I use ltsc iot edition and I don't have this experience", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 798154096, "item_id": 49884631, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49884631", "by": "billfor", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have a microsoft account but I use a local account for Windows 11.", "excerpt": "I have a microsoft account but I use a local account for Windows 11. I always had MSDN and had a pro key so maybe its an enterprise thing. It is a legit copy. I don't use onedrive or 365. When I go to Accounts it has a blue button to Sign In, so maybe local accounts don't get ads.", "context": "has MSDN and a pro key", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 797850576, "item_id": 49865661, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865661", "by": "otherme123", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 nags its users all the time, yet they accept it as it was normal and unavoidable.", "excerpt": "My comment was more on the line \"when given options, people will massively choose Windows\" just out of familiarity or fear of the unknown, and by people I also mean management. If I was manager, I wouldn't force Linux (which I use exclusively since c. 2000) unto my workers, unless I am ready to set Linux familiarity as a CV minimum requirement, reducing my hiring pool by 90% at least. The parent comment implies there", "context": "Linux user since c. 2000", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dutch governments builds alternative for Microsoft based on NixOS"}, {"id": 791905952, "item_id": 49494122, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49494122", "by": "BlueRoguesDevel", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "In my person user experience W11 is bafflingly bad", "excerpt": "Apologies for not replying to you right away. I intended to follow up but HN wouldn't let me because my account is too new. No, it wasn't a random snipe. I used Windows extensively from 95-Vista and Win 10 for work. In my person user experience W11 is bafflingly bad, and the MS team are making design choices that honestly make me feel like Windows ME was doing more right in that area. Now the argument that genAI is h", "context": "Used Windows from 95 through Vista and Win 10 for work", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Debian votes to allow \"responsible use of generative AI\""}, {"id": 790204262, "item_id": 49387766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49387766", "by": "Alien1Being", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the dreadful AI infested Windows 11", "excerpt": "Linux is so very predictably stable from a desktop user perspective . It is an absolute pleasure to use , particularly when combined with TUI applications like yazi, lsd, fzf , neovim etc Been using it since the early nineties . At work I use Windows Server 2025 as my desktop ( the alternative would be the dreadful AI infested Windows 11). While Windows Server 2025 is not dreadful , the Linux experience is so much ni", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.2 Released"}, {"id": 789501984, "item_id": 49343874, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49343874", "by": "noir_lord", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So much of windows 11 configuration is removing things you never asked for and putting things back.", "excerpt": "Run (as Administrator) in a terminal reg.exe add \"HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\\InprocServer32\" /f /ve Should restore the old right click menu (it did last time I used it at any rate). So much of windows 11 configuration is removing things you never asked for and putting things back. Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2287432/article-restore-old-right-clic", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM"}, {"id": 789400641, "item_id": 49337540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337540", "by": "t0mas88", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The whole thing is slow on a modern CPU with 64gb ram.", "excerpt": "I agree, the color was great, and also in general Windows 2000 was very good. I used both the desktop and server versions for years. After that Windows XP made me switch to Linux. Since then I've only really used Debian and Mac OS. I recently tried installing Windows 11 on a PC to run some games. The contrast with Windows 2000 is crazy, what a mess. Even just the control panel has three different UI frameworks mixed ", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming PC", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Desktopcolors.com \u2013 A museum for solid background colors of classic OS"}, {"id": 786900961, "item_id": 49181310, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181310", "by": "burnoutdv", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Win11 is such a clusterfuck its unbelieavable.", "excerpt": "> Granted, Windows 11 is not a perfect OS that is the fine art of an understatment to nit pick a line in this article. I recently changed jobs and this new one got quite tight managed Win11 devices. Its a work device, if I can work with it its fine. BUT, and thats a big but, Win11 is such a clusterfuck its unbelieavable. Without access to my usual sleught of tools like classic Shell it was very hard to get this syste", "context": "", "use_case": "work device OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux didn't just eat 10% of Windows market share, AI bots inflate the numbers"}, {"id": 785431024, "item_id": 49089439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49089439", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-07-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I decided to give Windows 11 a chance, and it's not bad.", "excerpt": "I've disabled windows updates since 2017. Occasionally, I'll hit a feature I have to update for, like Windows Mixed Reality, and then pull that specific feature update. I think back in 2021 I had to update to the 2019 version of Windows 10 for that. I used uupdump to download what I needed and install it offline. All the fiascos lately about Microsoft completely bricking and destroying systems with terrible updates j", "context": "disables Windows updates since 2017", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'd not buy a LG monitor"}, {"id": 784670982, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's obviously less actively antagonistic than Windows 11", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 784668929, "item_id": 49041808, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041808", "by": "mancerayder", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "warn", "quote": "AI features I never asked for, that's the most recent dark pattern here.", "excerpt": "> We\u2019ve reached a point where an update to macOS \u2014 or to any app I rely on, really \u2014 is a source of dread rather than excitement. I now expect the new version to be worse. I actually relate to that. It used to be cool and exciting to update to see what new things are coming for free. I was just looking up what Fedora Workstation 45 might bring. Updates on phones, TV's, cars and non-Linux operating systems on PC's/lap", "context": "moved off Windows 11", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 782906880, "item_id": 48931680, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931680", "by": "Grimblewald", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "File explorer in W11 is near unsuable for example.", "excerpt": "nah, things are worse. Basic userfacing components in windows frequently shit the bed. File explorer in W11 is near unsuable for example. grim state of affairs. Problem extends to many other platforms at scales where its not a quirk here or there, but rather, I can not longer use system instability and unexpected behaviour as a signal that maybe something is wrong that needs fixing. Bugs and errors were rare and spac", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}, {"id": 782738976, "item_id": 48921186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48921186", "by": "CM30", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 seemingly screwing up something massive in every update", "excerpt": "It's definitely been buggier for a while now. It's already been an issue for a decade or so due to the \"release minimum viable product, fix problems with patches/updates model\" (especially in the world of video games), but the rise of AI has only made the issue more apparent. Microsoft is the biggest example here (with Windows 11 seemingly screwing up something massive in every update), but other companies like Googl", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}, {"id": 782562162, "item_id": 48910135, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910135", "by": "NelsonMinar", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than Windows 11", "excerpt": "One thing that's lovely about Linux is this kind of analysis is not only possible, but meaningful. These results will get reported back to the graphics software authors and the distribution packagers and the ecosystem will improve. There's no sense with Microsoft that kind of improvement is possible. I recently switched to Linux after years on Windows desktop, mostly because the KDE Plasma desktop feels snappier than", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 781554129, "item_id": 48847133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48847133", "by": "OhSoHumble", "date": "2026-07-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I did just remove Windows because I didn't want to migrate to W11.", "excerpt": "I use Linux and MacOS. I did just remove Windows because I didn't want to migrate to W11. Honestly, MacOS is great. I don't really understand the hate for it... and Apple hardware is genuinely a cut above the rest. I actually think it's really a pity that Apple is so big that it's able to vertically integrate so many areas of laptop development that OEMs struggle to compete.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Moving to FreeBSD from Linux"}, {"id": 781352368, "item_id": 48834523, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48834523", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 removing support for older hardware", "excerpt": "I think the events line up... Windows 11 removing support for older hardware, skyrocketing prices for new Hardware along with bad decisions to make even more money and Apple making ahead of its time tech now forces more and more users to give Linux a try or just buy a Mac. Linux gaming is also nice. Often a pad or phone is enough, I know many non-tech people not owning a single PC any more.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows Drops Under 60% in Global Desktop OS Share for the First Time in Years"}, {"id": 779730576, "item_id": 48733161, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733161", "by": "runjake", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is.", "excerpt": "This is essentially what the IoT Enterprise LTSC edition is. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc Aside from that, there are various tools and deployment files to automate a stripped down Windows 11 installation. I don't really use Windows except on my gaming PC, but I like winutil: https://github.com/christitustech/winutil But there are better declarative tools out there", "context": "uses Windows only on gaming PC", "use_case": "lightweight Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}, {"id": 779576336, "item_id": 48723521, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723521", "by": "pipes", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm using ltsc windows 11 and yes it is much better than one of my other pcs which has pro on it.", "excerpt": "I'm using ltsc windows 11 and yes it is much better than one of my other pcs which has pro on it. However I did use windows 10 ltsc for quite a few years until I hit a dll issue with an old game that turned out to be unresolvable as far as I could tell at the time. So much so I switched to pro (I have a work visual studio subscription so I have access to all versions of windows for free). I can't for the life of me r", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}, {"id": 779544464, "item_id": 48721529, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721529", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Win11 feels as if Microsoft finally declared total war on the user and I can't support that anymore", "excerpt": "Ever since Win11 I lost all desire to retain Windows. I still have Win10 on my computer on the left side, mostly for testing, but I also decided it will be my last version of Windows anyway. Now, I have been using Linux since many years, so it is not an issue, but Win11 feels as if Microsoft finally declared total war on the user and I can't support that anymore. The telemetry sniffing and spying and now the upcoming", "context": "Linux user for many years", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Needs Windows Lite"}, {"id": 779534737, "item_id": 48720921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720921", "by": "lenova", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions", "excerpt": "Former Windows 11 user here. Microsoft operating systems have been my primary desktop since DOS 6.0, but the embedding of advertisements in Win11 drove to me finally try out Linux distributions, and CachyOS was the only one that stuck for me in terms of familiarity and performance. It's been my daily driver for 1.5 years now, and I've been extremely grateful for it.", "context": "former Windows user since DOS 6.0", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "CachyOS June 2026 Release"}, {"id": 778852416, "item_id": 48678276, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48678276", "by": "Marsymars", "date": "2026-06-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to the latest Win11 LTSC after that, and it's a decidedly better user experience without the cruft I didn't need or want.", "excerpt": "I wouldn't suggest an old LTSC version, but in a relatively recent update MS stopped allowing non-LTSC versions to not populate the start menu with ms store ads when your search locally. For me, that was the final straw - I switched to the latest Win11 LTSC after that, and it's a decidedly better user experience without the cruft I didn't need or want.", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS without Store ads", "switched_from": "Windows 10", "story": "Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates"}, {"id": 777480417, "item_id": 48592526, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48592526", "by": "malbs", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The degradation of win 11 , forced win accounts everywhere.", "excerpt": "Agreed. 2026 was the year. The degradation of win 11 , forced win accounts everywhere. I switched to Linux Mint, and I haven't switched back. Missing out on a few random games that aren't supported yet, I decided it was time to get rid of windows on my desktop. I do have one windows machine still, and thats my simrig, this is a purpose built computer+rig specifically for iRacing and iRacing have said that they won't ", "context": "keeps one Windows machine for iRacing sim rig", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly"}, {"id": 777471506, "item_id": 48591969, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591969", "by": "ahartmetz", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Even Windows 11 is \"pretty\" if you don't click the wrong thing", "excerpt": "Windows 8 was stupid with the tablet-optimized UI, but I thought it was OK aesthetically, and Windows 10 more so. Even Windows 11 is \"pretty\" if you don't click the wrong thing and get a legacy dialog from 1...\u221e versions back. I use Linux by the way... but not all Windowses look ugly IMO.", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}, {"id": 776732209, "item_id": 48545763, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48545763", "by": "thomasdziedzic", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "didn't even bother with windows 11 with how much anti-consumer features it had", "excerpt": "Why would I use Linux on Windows when I can just use Linux? I switched from Windows 10 to Debian a year ago (didn't even bother with windows 11 with how much anti-consumer features it had). Everything works for me on Debian, with the additional bonus that my operating system is no longer spying on me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 3 gives developers a compelling reason to stick with Microsoft"}, {"id": 776656544, "item_id": 48541034, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48541034", "by": "fortran77", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned", "excerpt": "I don't know what the disconnect is. I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned -- an Asus Zenbook A16 with OLED screen and 48 GB of RAM (all for $1699). It's super fast -- it beats a 2026 Macbook Pro rendering Blender \"Classroom\". I have a Microsoft account, I don't know what the big deal is. I follow the happy path. It's nice to have settings (and I can control which ones) sync across m", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 776601040, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm a happy (windows 11) user.", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "developer, 25 years on Linux before switching", "use_case": "main development machine", "switched_from": "Linux", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 768280433, "item_id": 48017527, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48017527", "by": "isfttr", "date": "2026-05-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "And currently, I use Windows 11 daily.", "excerpt": "I got the idea for this text after learning from the Fireship channel about the latest Linux kernel exploit, which was related to a 2017 commit. And last week, I was discussing with friends who work with data science why I prefer to stay away from Linux today. All right, but who am I to talk about this subject? I\u2019ve been using macOS since mid-2007, without dual boot with Windows until mid-2010. After that time, I mai", "context": "", "use_case": "daily use", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux, Windows or macOS: Which Operating System to Use in 2026?"}, {"id": 764094288, "item_id": 47755893, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47755893", "by": "mikaeluman", "date": "2026-04-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I have been using Windows on my laptop and been annoyed by how performance have really degraded.", "excerpt": "I have been using Windows on my laptop and been annoyed by how performance have really degraded. RAM consumption on startup is 50% (of 16Gi). I asked claude to help me remove bloat and was horrified by all the different background services and \"enhanced\" and \"advanced\" features that are always ON. I don't think it's fair to say \"no AI in any app\", however. That should depend on the value delivered in the app. But I d", "context": "", "use_case": "laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft isn't removing Copilot from Windows 11, it's just renaming it"}, {"id": 764048304, "item_id": 47753019, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47753019", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-04-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "They sold out to AI and all Win11 users will have to support the hype train.", "excerpt": "Didn't Microsoft say it will listen to the community, some weeks ago? And now it looks as if Microsoft did not tell the truth. To be fair: I think Microsoft actually has no alternative option. They sold out to AI and all Win11 users will have to support the hype train. I am so glad to have switched to Linux a long time ago.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft isn't removing Copilot from Windows 11, it's just renaming it"}, {"id": 762130432, "item_id": 47633152, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47633152", "by": "gogurt2000", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's absurd how often file explorer windows crash in Windows 11 compared to Windows 7", "excerpt": "Windows: - Bloat: software packages and services that cannot be entirely removed (at least not without 3rd party tools) like Edge, OneDrive, Copilot, etc. - Requiring a MS account - Their focus on adding new features and changing visual elements to make things feel fresh (and justify their asking price) at the cost of stability -- both in terms of system stability (it's absurd how often file explorer windows crash in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you dislike most about Linux and Windows?"}, {"id": 759379761, "item_id": 47461235, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461235", "by": "sunaookami", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 is unbelievable bad.", "excerpt": "Recently got an HP ProBook for a relative to replace his old 2011 ThinkPad with Kubuntu 24.04 and I was shocked how laggy and unusable Windows 11 was. Every menu has tons of latency, programs take forever to start, even something simple like Rufus. File Explorer is a laggy mess, the whole OS feels like you are walking through mud. After a reboot there was a fullscreen message about \"finish setting up the device\" (???", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 745080496, "item_id": 46567531, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46567531", "by": "flumpcakes", "date": "2026-01-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Windows 11 makes me hate everyday computing. From the adverts in the start menu, to the sluggish performance", "excerpt": "Windows 11 makes me hate everyday computing. From the adverts in the start menu, to the sluggish performance on a computer orders of magnitude more powerful than any XP machine I used. It's just not fun anymore.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11"}, {"id": 743647584, "item_id": 46477974, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46477974", "by": "mcswell", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I switched to Linux from Win11 a few months ago, because of all the CoPilot junk.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux from Win11 a few months ago, because of all the CoPilot junk. Not sure what the native vs. HTML UIs is all about, though. Are the HTML UIs slower, or is it a question of developers' time?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}]}