Even for gaming there is a difference. The primitive startup menu from Win 11 is a complete mess for anyone with houndreds of programs installed. Win 10 is visually great at handling it... Win 11 is just like a smartphone OS and totally unable to use the PCs ability on how to handle this matter.

You may not notice if you always use a launcher, of course. I do not use a launcher, so i need to use the capability of the OS. Win 11 can not handle it...

In the beginning there was a explorer patcher able to bring the old Win 10 features, a much more capable start menu, back. However. MS was now removing it and you kinda have to "hack" your OS just to have something back that should never be removed at all.


They say "Win 11" is fully modular... i see not much of it, else it would be the most easy stuff in order to bring this menu back as a "module". MS simply was failing hard here and all they got in mind is to provide some sort of smartphone OS with a Win label on it. Visually a bad OS and with no good management for PCs.

You're doing something wrong then, it works fine for me.


Also HDR support in games is much better, the gaming mode actually does some good (who would have thought?). Who wants it, can use the XBox Game bar for recording his sessions (what smartphone can do that?).
Also old games (DOSBox, ScummVM, DirectX7) run just as fine as they did in Windows 10. Virtual desktops helps to keep games at bay that used to mess up the desktop resolutions. It even causes less trouble when it comes to access rights of old games installed into an Admin only directory, since it creates virtual directories for their data in appdata. In the "initial setup" .Net and DX are already installed, of course the usual C++ runtimes are still needed, just as it was with Windows 10. If developers ever decide to use it, Win11 has DirectStorage, which can decrease loading times and speed up on-the-fly-loading significantly.
Using Windows for playing games has never been better.


ps: I don't use an account, I only have a local user.

If this Win 11 is fully modular... so i heard... it would be very easy adding all the missing modules from the old OS versions. Yet, the only thing this OS is handling better than the old OS is probably... a few % more performance and easyer to use by a smartphone. I see no other gains... and nothing that seems to be modular.

It is just a primitive OS with some changes that may benefit mobile users, but overall... a Win like any other.

Oh and indeed, being forced making a account is worse stuff...
On Win 10 i was able to avoid it...
In general all the privacy matters is now dropped even more and i see no hint for "higher security".

I just can not say what is actually better here, it just got worse.

If i got a smartphone, yes, i would use Win 11 on it, easyer to use the menu. The issue: I have Android on my smartphone and not Windows... and it will stay that way.

The higher security you notice when it's missing.
If it works, you don't notice anything.

My local account works perfectly.

Privacy was bad in Windows 10 already and like in Windows 10 tools can be used to deactivate most functions.

Seriously, what do you need the account for?

This is my personal system, on a dedicated hardware; i feel no urge using cloud services. I backup my stuff, of course, on my own drive. Not the drive owned by someone else... this is never secure.

The handheld is probably fine using Win 11 too.... if i ever get one. It will need a launcher anyway, because it can not handle a menu optimized for mouse and keyboard. This is another story... i buy a Windows OS so i can use a PC, but if MS would have made it clear:; Win 10 is for PC, Win 11 for the handheld... maybe i would be OK with this. This is not the case because Win 11 is intended to "wipe out" Win 10 and there is no modules able to bring Win 10 and its features back.

Don't know, I don't use it. For me it's the same as it was with Windows 10.
Local user and MS account for the windows store.

OK again: I see no gain at all with this new OS, only losses... this is my issue.

I do not even see bigger security... it is still about the same.

This was a non required OS almost no one was asking for it, with the exception of the handheld-users i assume.

Where is the customization i would enjoy so much? In order to bring all the old menus back? If it is modular... why is it missing?

MS simply failed... this is just a boring OS no Geek would ever ask for.

I want a OS with lot of customization... a modular one where i can tune everything else toward a shape that will be totally unique to my own needs and the enjoyment for my eyes. Yet, this OS is such a boring thing... not even uncle Sam may be pleased. So many years of development and such a huge cost... and in the end: Ubuntu is looking better than this and is even more modular.

Firefox, as a browser, got more custom it seems... but this is just a public license browser that was even free... no rocket science.

The fun thing is, that what you say now about Windows 11 is the same thing that people said about Windows 8, then Windows 10, then Windows 11. They already said that Windows 10 looked as if it was made for smartphones. And one of the messages in Windows 10 DID say "tip here" ... while on Windows phones there was a message to insert the CD ...

The customization was already reduced in Windows 7 and is gone since Windows 8.
I too would like to lighten the dark mode a bit up, the contrast in the file explorer windows is too high. And I would like to get rid of the rounded corners.

There's only two customization options I can think of that are gone and existed in Windows 10.
1. to move the taskbar to one of the sides (left or right)
2. position icons freely in the start menu (that's the one point we can agree on, I also liked the Window 10 start menu better). In Windows 11 I only have a few basic icons in the start menu, but I start everything by search anyway, I am a old keyboard jockey. Game Icons I have in directories, I do that since Windws XP.


And really ... you talk about Windows 11 being unfit for gaming. What have customization options or a MS account to do with gaming?
What does Windows 11 miss for gaming in your opinion? You throw around terms like "handheld" without going into details.
I mentioned some stuff above that makes gaming better than it was in Windows 10. Can you do the same and mention what makes it worse? Privacy does not affect gaming, neither does the start menu. Once you are ingame, where is the difference that makes Windows 11 worse?

I miss the good start menu, i already told.

For raw gaming it does not matter at all... it is same, because ingame i do not think there is any difference. And the maybe few % better FPS (actually i heard there is close to no performance difference) can be boosted by good hardware way more... so there is no noticeable difference at all.

But the menu and the custom in general... it all got even worse instead of improving it.

What i want and need is a good interface for PC use (not mobile use... they can create a handheld WIndows if they enjoy) and as much custom as possible.

It is simply another Win 10 with removed menu options, it seems... totally raw and visually a mess.

At least you didn't find anything worse than the UI in the of the start menu, that's something. I guess it's not that bad after all then.

Yep - AutoHDR in Windows 11 is incredible for people with HDR monitors - it's possibly one of the best features in the OS and for people who can use it makes the upgrade worth it alone.

Fundamentally, for users already on Windows 10 with a modern enough system, I can't see a reason to not run the free upgrade. Even the start menu feels pretty similar on both systems - once I re-aligned it to the left. Hit "All Apps" and you've got your classic list - but most people by now just click start and start typing the name of the programme they want...

For some reason, some of my post are not showing up anymore, weird issue but in general the GoG forum is messy for a long time aready; even the website is kinda broken and it has not been fixed for years.

Other stuff: Auto-HDR: In general, i prefer to be stick to the original condition of a game, On top of that, such matters should be able to be handled by the driver and the GPU. So, i find it weird having a OS trying to handle a matter usually done by the GPU driver and a compatible monitor. Games with initial HDR support will not benefit at all, because they already got HDR. It is simply a forced HDR for games incapable of... this is nothing i was asking for. In general, all of my games looks awesome on my 3090 TI using native drivers.... so i feel no urge using a OS able to "improve" it.

Direct Storage: This feature should be released on Win 10 as well, so it may not be exclusive to Win 11. On top of that, the game NATIVELY need to support Direct Storagè, so you can not use it on a old game never been coded for using it. In addition, if your CPU is a good 16 Core, i got one of those CPUs, it will decompress (which is the main reason for slower loading times on high end hardware) the games so quick that a Direct Storage will barely give me any benefit. Even on a good 8 Core, for example 7800X 3D, it may not change the loading time by a margin you may really feel, because this CPU is able to make decompression quick.

So, Direct Storage is mainly benefiting weaker systems with weak CPUs and/or drives, but the high end systems may not really get much benefit. Again: It will ONLY affect the games that actually are supporting it and so far there is no game because the development just is starting right now! Again: It will be supported on Win 10 too because you will have to code the game to be compatible with and if you are using Win 10 and the game is tuned for Direct Storage, it may even fail to work... so MS is adding the support to Win 10 as well. Not because of a very friendly attitude, rather because they do not want the Win 10 systems to fail with this new feature.

Actually, MS may not even care if a Win 10 system is suddenly failing (as soon as they "invent" a new OS, the old one will be trashed... according to their usual mentality), however... the Devs nowadays still want to support Win 10 (to many users are still using it) and if it may fail... the Devs may not feel the urge adding this feature. So... in order to get sufficient support... there is no other way for MS.

So... finally no "big features for me" and nothing i was really asking for... i rather would enjoy a awesome interface.

Ultimately, nothing to worry at all. Win 10 or Win 11... all the gamers may be able to play the game in the best way possible according the way it has been intended by the creators!

Besides, the PS5 indeed has been optimized for fast loading times, but this is not only software-based; The PS5 is using a specialized Kraken-Decompressor which is able to handle the decompression in the fastest way possible without putting huge load on the CPU. Although, PCs are lacking this sort of intelligent hardware because simply so far it has been unable to be made a standard. So, the PCs will either have to use powerful CPUs, able to take over the work of such a specialized decompressor, or the GPU will have to be attached to this task, which is the way Direct Storage will be tuned for. Still... the software will have to be coded for, the OS can not handle it all allone.

In general, every single game is nowadays using compression because it will allow for way bigger textures impossible to be made without compression. The only issue: It will need a lot of processing power, if you want your system to load quick.

An Awesome interface, you say?

Well, I do miss the freely positionable and resizable icons introduced in Windows 8 and used for the main area in the Windows 10 start menu, the new FlowLayout just doesn't do it for me.
And it took me a while to get used to the small icons (user dir and so on) being on the bottom and not on the left side. But by now I work with both Windows 10 and 11 very efficierntly. It's just a matter of getting used to it.

Critics saying that the new benefits are completely unimportant is nothing unexpected, I would probably do the same if I was against something. I would point out all that I am missing (personally) and would completely ignore all the new stuff.
Almost everything else was improved, but that's completely irrelevant. Funny enough, there's basically only one critic point. The start menu sucks, and therefore it's a OS for smartphones (where Windows 10 actually was the OS for smartphones, remember the "tip here" message - edit - and the first set of flat system icons, people rightfully found them hideous). After pages of walls of text it basically comes down to one sentence: "I don't like the new start menu".

Pretty much this.

Everything else is just a rehash of the same type of argument made for every single Windows release ever, but "insert new technology that I'm going to claim is a waste of time here" and "This feature that I can't argue is useless should be brought to an earlier version of Windows even though that's not how releasing new versions of products works, but as it'll help my argument I'll say it anyway"

Still, I think this thread is done; in conclusion, OP doesn't like Windows 11. I'll be back in 5 years for OP's thread about how Windows 12 is rubbish and he misses Windows 11 and that DirectX14 should be released for Windows 11...