Windows 11

[LizzieW]

When I turned on my laptop this morning, Windows 11 had been installed.  It is dreadful, all my icons had disappeared and when I put them back on my task bar and then clicked on, for instance, my Thunderbird email icon, I was asked to register, same with my Roboform password and my Legacy family tree.  I tried opening Mozilla Firefox, same thing, please register and download.  I was nearly in tears, everything had disappeared.  I tried to find out how I could revert back to Windows 10 but it didn't seem possible.  So I just shut down and restarted the laptop and by some miracle, everything is back to normal.

I looked up Windows 11 which is being rolled out on all compatible PCs (from last June apparently) and it seems they want it to be more like a Mac, easier for gamers, etc. but it's not easier for people who aren't gamers and have never used a Mac PC.  As far as I was concerned, it was totally unintuitive, not surprisingly, everything was Windows based, so Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Store, etc. were on the taskbar, but everything I use like Word, Skype, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, even Windows media player had totally gone. 

It seems after 2025, Microsoft will not support Windows 10 but, hopefully, by then they will have made Windows 11 more intuitive to use.

Anyone else had any problems, or was it only me?

[Gadget]

Was it automatically installed, Lizzie, or did you agree to it?

I'm not sure that I want it at the moment so need to know if I can stop it.

Add ~

Under Windows11 in updates page, I just get:

Great news—your PC meets the minimum system requirements for Windows 11. Specific timing for when it will be offered can vary as we get it ready for you.

[Gadget]

Just found this:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/block-windows-11

Add - I see that one of the reviews says that you can rollback to Win10 in the first 10 days of the upgrade.

[LizzieW]

It was automatically installed, I got the impression from their website that that's what they're going to do.  It was a bit odd that when I went to settings to try to revert back to Windows 10, the only option I got was to reboot.  Whatever, it worked thank goodness.  There was an update but that was a few days ago and I didn't notice any difference.  I've now blocked windows 11 as per your link, just have to restart the laptop.

I can't really begin to explain what is wrong with Windows 11, but it seemed that everything that was on Windows 10 was wiped out, although most of the icons were shown under start, although not Irfanview, not VueScan64 which I use for scanning and printing, not Zoom which I am still using for various lectures that are being given by different groups plus a few programs I use.  Of course, Cortana, Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Store were front centre.  If anyone is interested they can always go to Microsoft and search out Windows 11 to see what they think of it, there is even a box where you can put your feelings - I did. 

Thank you for your help Gadget.

Lizzie

[Redroger]

Hopefully you are in time for me. I took an update a few days ago. I was under the impression it was going to be "offered" rather than rammed down our throats!

[Crumblie]

My PC gives the impression it will be offered rather than automatic. They should give you have a chance to backup your data first just in case.

[Redroger]

My PC gives the impression it will be offered rather than automatic. They should give you have a chance to backup your data first just in case.

If we are lucky! Remember they are the Omniscient Master race!

[LizzieW]

As one comment said on line, Microsoft is now acting as sales place rather than an operating system. It's pushing Amazon apps, and lots of ads arrived on the opening page for furniture etc.  I haven't even been looking at furniture ads, so who knows why they were pushing furniture ads.  There's also  Widget panel, which shows you tiles for news, weather, stock quotes, sports scores, and more, which fills your screen.  If I want to look at any of those things I can just go to Mozilla Firefox, or BBC or similar, I don't need Microsoft to push their ideas at me.

Fortunately my data is backed up through a Cloud company and also an external hard drive and now it's reverted to Windows 10 everything seems to be back to normal.

[Gadget]

Did everything come back exactly as it was, Lizzie?