Here’s Why I Downgraded From Windows 11 to Windows 10 Hallie Frederick | usagoldmines.com

Regardless of Microsoft selling Home windows 11 as the way forward for computing, I just lately downgraded to Home windows 10 on my primary PC and was pleasantly shocked. It’s not nearly resisting change; right here’s why going again to the older OS may really be price it.

1

Home windows 11 Felt A lot Slower

Whereas I didn’t discover a lot of a efficiency distinction in sustained workloads or when utilizing apps, Home windows 10 felt noticeably snappier total. On Home windows 11, fundamental actions like opening an app or citing the context menu took only a bit longer, and over time, that slight delay turned actually irritating.

File Explorer, although nonetheless completely usable on Home windows 11, felt like a significant downgrade by way of efficiency, particularly since I used to be coming from Home windows 10 on the identical machine. Even with an SSD, navigating via folders took a beat longer, which added to my annoyance.

One other frustration was the slower animation speeds. They weren’t laggy, however they felt slower—like switching desktops, which was a lot faster on Home windows 10.

Home windows 11 has prioritized type over perform, leading to a way more restricted context menu that solely shows a handful of choices on the primary right-click. Even fundamental actions like lower, copy, paste, and rename have been changed with obscure icons as a substitute of easy textual content, which took a while to regulate to.

As a result of the alternatives are so restricted, you need to click on Present extra choices on the backside to entry all of the accessible actions, which appears like an pointless additional step only for the sake of aesthetics. This added layer may be irritating, particularly if you’re used to the extra simple and purposeful context menu in Home windows 10.

3

The Taskbar and Begin Menu Are a Downgrade

One factor I couldn’t wrap my head round is why the taskbar prioritizes aesthetics over performance, very like the context menu. For example, you’ll be able to not transfer the taskbar wherever on the display screen, as the one possibility now’s to maintain it on the backside.

One other challenge that actually bothered me is how Wi-Fi, sound, and different associated settings are consolidated right into a single button. As an alternative of citing the related menu if you click on an icon, it merely opens the Motion Heart, and all the pieces now requires a further click on, which feels utterly pointless.

It makes me query why a UI designed for contact gadgets is being compelled onto a desktop-centric working system.

The Begin menu additionally suffers from comparable issues. As an alternative of exhibiting all my apps in an easy listing or displaying one thing helpful, there’s a complete part dedicated to really helpful apps and information. Nevertheless, it’s by no means proven me something I’d really need to entry shortly.

It might have been far more useful if I might use that house to pin extra information or apps of my alternative, however sadly, that’s not an possibility. This wasted house appears like a missed alternative for extra customization.

4

Home windows 11 Is A lot Extra Intrusive

Home windows 11 additionally forces you to connect with the web in the course of the preliminary setup and requires making a Microsoft account to proceed. Whereas there are methods to bypass these restrictions, they really feel extra like workarounds, and there’s at all times the chance that Microsoft will patch them sooner or later.

Microsoft additionally continues to push advertisements for Edge and different first-party apps and providers all through the system, which at instances feels borderline like malware. Changing your default apps is extra tedious as properly. As an alternative of permitting you to set a default app for a whole class, reminiscent of your internet browser, Home windows 11 makes you manually change the default for every particular person file extension. This provides to the rising development of needing pointless clicks for even the only duties.

Whereas there are a number of features that Windows 11 offers over Windows 10, I’ve discovered solace in downgrading to Home windows 10 for now. It’s clear that this isn’t a long-term answer since Home windows 10 will solely obtain official assist till October 2025, so finally, I’ll need to upgrade to Windows 11. Hopefully, Microsoft will tackle among the points plaguing Home windows 11 earlier than I make the inevitable change.