That’s interesting.
I still have a couple of old laptops (I hoard things), but I don’t think either of them run XP. I think one of them is Vista.
Unfortunately, as they become old they don’t run very well, which is why I replaced them.
I think the ideal would be if you could buy new, up to date laptops with a choice of the version of Windows you prefer.
Yes, I know that third party software sometimes insists on recent version(s) of Windows to run properly, but I think the same applies: if the software I run works perfectly, even on an old version of Windows, why change?
I have just installed Windows 10 on a mini computer i have moved my secondary PC to and that is easy enough, what is a pain is removing the 37 piesce of bloatware Microsoft seems to think I cannot do without. On the plus side at least you can remove the bloatware unlike with phones.
I have Win11 on my new laptop and I really like it.
The start menu is so much better than that cluttered Win10 abortion. All my Win10 machines ran the Windows 7 type menu because I hated Win10’s menu so much.
The taskbar is centred so the start button is nearer the centre of the (botttom of the) screen than in other windows versions but that doesn’t take much getting used to.
Setting it up from the word go without a Microsoft log in took a bit of fiddling about, I ended up turning off the wifi while I did it. Then I spent a while turning off some of the intrusive functions
I’ll stay with Windows 10. As far as I am concerned Windows 11 has many totally unnecessary changes for change sake. I had it on one of my PC’s and apart from slowing down because of a known fault with some AMD chips, my PC I really do not see why I should have relearn where everything is, spend half a day removing all the bloatware and what with the ticking countless boxes just to make Chrome the default browser why on earth did some idiot at Microsoft think that was necessary?
I’ve got two W10 machines, haven’t been offered W11 on either yet. But when it’s forced upon me I’ll take it on the chin. Resistance is futile.
I’ll probably buy something new sometime later this year, and it will have W11 built in, no doubt. It won’t be the cheapest but something with a bit of extra ram, oomph, whatever, and I’ll see how it goes.
I’ve had Windows 11 now for about a month. It has worked fine so far. As far as design goes I am not impressed. I have had no big problems. Though I am by no means endorsing it yet, too soon.
Thanks. That’s interesting, but what is the advantage of having the taskbar icons centred?
The other taskbar icons I see are still on the right anyway.
I fully appreciate that. I understand that MS always include a load of bloatware (as do others) in order to bring in money from the advertisers, but don’t we pay MS enough to avoid them?
Coincidence that you should mention that. The NUMLOCK key on my new HP laptop doesn’t have an indicator light which my old laptop had. I often find that I have accidentally pressed it and turned it off, or it has turned itself off!, and consequently I beging typing numbers only to find nothing happens. Just one of two disappointments with this new laptop.
It is funny you should mention that because neither does the Numlock key on my new Dell Laptop which worried me also BUT on looking at the keys they have purely numbers on them and appear to serve no other function so the Numlock key seems to be there purely for old time’s sake. As I never have used the keypad for anything other than numbers as far as I am concerned that is a result!
No, I’m afraid it isn’t. I occasionally type on the number keys only to find that nothing appears and have to press the NUMLOCK key. Now if it had a light, I’d know whether numbers are functioning or not.
No. Mine has other functions (which I never use): up, down, left, right, pg down, home and end. I never use them though.
When you’re typing lots of numbers, it’s easier and quicker to use the number pad.
Even though , on this laptop, the keypad apparently serves no other function and there is no indication either on the screen or keyboard I was wrong to say the Num Lock key doesn’t work. Apparently it does but I only discovered this yesterday when the numbers didn’t work and I had to press the Num Lock key. I don’t know if this is new because of an upgrade or always existed - really thought I had tested it out. However even though the keys are not marked they do perform other functions such as arrow keys etc.
Seems stupid to me.
I used to have a problem with Win10 where it would not remember the last position of the Num Lock key and it had to be pressed every time at boot up but this seems to have ben solved in later upgrades but not having an indications is, as you say, really annoying.
I have the same problem with this new laptop (Windows 10 as on my old one), which for some reason doesn’t have an indicator light to show that the NUMLOCK is operative.
Worse, it sometimes disables itself for no apparent reason and when I try to quickly type in some numbers nothing happens.
The other related problem with this HP laptop is that you can’t keep the keys illuminated. They light up when you press something, but then go off. OK in a lit room, but if dark you’ve got to press something first. I use the shift key as it doesn’t type anything! I suppose I’ll get used to it in time.
