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I hate to say it but my fav Windows (both from a performance and UI point of view) was Windows 2000.  It was better, stronger, faster than NT with a cleaner look and feel.
Didn't particularly like XP (Fisher Price anyone?).
7 was OK - I actually liked the glass effect.
I skipped 8 (like many of us).
Currently using 10. Seems as stable as any of them but the UI is half baked.
Haven't looked at 11.
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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... ]
modified 21-Sep-23 6:34am.
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You are sooooo right.
Hard to even tell what program you're using sometimes.
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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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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Note that Classic Shell is no longer under development and has been replaced by Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu: Classic Shell Reborn.[^]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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Welcome to how I feel when I am forced at gunpoint to use a Mac.
And given that W11 wants to look like a Mac...well, that's why I've never installed W11 on any of my machines.
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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.
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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.
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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 I were you, I would upgrade to Windows 10 but that's just me. 
"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?"
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Okay. Windows 11 is here to stay, they've made some changes, and you might as well learn them.
1. The Start button is in the center of the task bar. Clicking it or pressing the Windows key on the keyboard opens the Start menu.
2. The Start menu has two sections, your pinned items and your most recently-used items. You can pin things just like in Windows 10. Pinned items can be arranged however you like, dropped into folders, etc. There's an "All apps >" button that is an alphabetized list like the old Start menu. I'll admit I don't use the "most recently-used" stuff very much, but that's me.
3. The Search field on the Start menu works like before.
I know a lot of folks get pissed at changes like this. They certainly raised a fuss back when Windows 10 came out, and Windows 7 before it, and so on. I'm of the opinion you should adapt to the changes rather than work to defeat them if your customer base are so-called "normal" users. They are going to use Windows as it comes out of the box. If you don't want to look like an idiot, you should too.
Software Zen: delete this;
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well, yes. But your "out of the box" experience appears to be different to Honey's experience. (Your start button is in the centre of the task bar, her's is at the left).
The thing is, adapting to change is all well and good, but it does take some time and in the meantime reduces your productivity. (As you get older that adaptation tends to take longer, too!) If you can make the argument that the change is genuinely for the better (more functionality, improved productivity) then all well and good. However if, for most people, there is no discernible improvement then the change is just for change's sake and complaints about it are valid.
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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;
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What do you miss when you go back to Win10? I miss more in Win 11.
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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;
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Yep, I use it too. I'd still be on Win10 if ExplorerPatcher wasn't available.
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If you think that's annoying, wait until the notification widget starts serving you ads 
You really want to use OneDrive, don't you? DON'T YOU!?
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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.
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I use Open Shell (originally Classic Shell), it gives you a very configurable Win7ish style start menu. It's pretty much the first thing I install after installing/upgrading Windows. I've been using it for years with no problems.
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Install OpenShell... 
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K I S M E T ...
Surprised that only Pete got it.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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I got KISMET as the "terrible fate" but discarded it as I couldn't get any of the rest in.
And still can't, TBH ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I'd think:
Keeping It Simple... Making Entirely Terrible fate
...but what do I know.
Mircea
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You are probably right, but it should have had an "initially" or similar, I suspect.
I missed that completely ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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