Windows 11 upgrade noobie question
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I find stuff by hitting the windows key and start typing. So the exact same way as I have done since Vista.
I've been using a launcher since at least XP. Originally Launchy and now in 10 and 11, Powertoys Run. On the rare occasion that what I want doesn't come up, just hit the Windows key and start typing to find it on the Start Menu. When you don't rely on how the Start Menu looks and operates, any version of Windows works as well as any other. Since XP, I've used 8, 8.1, 10, 11 and they all behave the same for me. Even on the hated (by everyone else) 8 I had no problems.
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Oh, and the start menu will appear in the center by default. You can move it to the left though.
Jeremy Falcon
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I highly recommend installing these 2 free apps to restore one's sanity after upgrading to Win11:
- Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements[^]
- GitHub - dremin/RetroBar: Classic Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista taskbar for modern versions of Windows[^]
/ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Ravi Bhavnani wrote:
Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements[^]
Note that Classic Shell is no longer under development and has been replaced by Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu: Classic Shell Reborn.[^] Highly recommendable!
So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8
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Me too. Every single time. They continue to regress since Win7. I like XP the most from a UI standpoint but 7 was OK. I despise their current "flat" style and the hacks that come with it. What I wish is that they allow users to choose a GUI style with XP, 7, and what ever else as options. With those possibilities I would never choose 10 or 11.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
I started with Windows 1.0x. Didn't start using it regularly until Windows 2.x. These had the flat look. Windows 3.0 gave us more textured windows. XP overinflated them. I think it sucks that Microsoft has gone back to the pre-Windows 3 days in look. They feel lifeless to me.
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Best thing about W2K was it installed from scratch in under 10 minutes. Having installed, it just worked; never had a blue screen, never had driver issues, never had compatibility issues, and ran like something very runny indeed. No flashy stuff, no hiding stuff; just a simple, consistent, functional interface. The thing that's really pissing me off with W10 recently is the lack of a border around windows and the white title bar. Sometimes there's no title in the title bar, just blank (on many Windows dialogs) and if you've a screen with a lot of white on it, it's next to impossible to drag or resize the window. And if you miss by a pixel the window you're trying to manipulate disappears as its Z-order pushes it behind what you actually clicked on. [Update: Having vented my spleen on here I finally got around to finding the setting to change this to something more useful. The dialog was horrendous, and took about 30 seconds to update on any change, but at least I now have a 1px border around windows, plus a really horrible-coloured title bar. Why can't they just use a sensible default?] [Update 2: and then MS goes and tramples over its own settings with a non-configurable title bar colour for Edge! You couldn't make it up... ]
Telegraph marker posts ... nothing to do with IT Phasmid email discussion group ... also nothing to do with IT Beekeeping and honey site ... still nothing to do with IT
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Well I finally took the plunge and upgraded today - where has the start menu gone ? how the f*ck do you find anything ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
If you think that's annoying, wait until the notification widget starts serving you ads :mad: You really want to use OneDrive, don't you? DON'T YOU!?
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Well I finally took the plunge and upgraded today - where has the start menu gone ? how the f*ck do you find anything ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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How ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
Right-click on the taskbar and select Properties. It will bring up the new Windows Settings window. Just scroll through all the options and change what you like. If you use the context menu in Windows Explorer a lot (right-clicking on a file or folder brings this up), then you can change a registry setting to make it appear like the Windows 10 context menu. Google it for details. Hope that helps.
Bond Keep all things as simple as possible, but no simpler. -said someone, somewhere
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Well I finally took the plunge and upgraded today - where has the start menu gone ? how the f*ck do you find anything ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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DerekT-P wrote:
the change is just for change's sake and complaints about it are valid
I heartily agree. There are some things about 11 that still annoy me after using it for more than a year. There are also things I love about it and miss when I use my Win10 box at work. My argument is that whinging about the change is counter-productive if you have to serve customers who are using Windows 11.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I installed Explorer Patcher to make it look and fell like Win 10. Home · valinet/ExplorerPatcher Wiki · GitHub[^]
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How ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I really like the new window layout choices when you hover over the maximize/normal button in the window caption. I use that a lot.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Well I finally took the plunge and upgraded today - where has the start menu gone ? how the f*ck do you find anything ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
Install OpenShell... ;P
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I've been using a launcher since at least XP. Originally Launchy and now in 10 and 11, Powertoys Run. On the rare occasion that what I want doesn't come up, just hit the Windows key and start typing to find it on the Start Menu. When you don't rely on how the Start Menu looks and operates, any version of Windows works as well as any other. Since XP, I've used 8, 8.1, 10, 11 and they all behave the same for me. Even on the hated (by everyone else) 8 I had no problems.
I'm mostly in your camp. Just now, based on recommendations above, I installed Open Shell. Pretty quickly uninstalled it. It's pretty darned easy to just type what you want in the search box or to pin a few things you use a lot to the taskbar.
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If you think that's annoying, wait until the notification widget starts serving you ads :mad: You really want to use OneDrive, don't you? DON'T YOU!?
For me, the worst is DropBox. Just did a fresh install of Windows 10 on my daughter's old laptop and DropBox was very noisy. One drive was pretty bad but calmed down quicker.
