Windows 11 – Time to Update?

January 2022

Dear Readers,

A belated Happy New Year to you all – here’s hoping to a more “normal” 2022. Having said that, I’m sure everyone is a little concerned on the Russia / Ukraine situation and what that might mean for world stability – here’s hoping that common sense prevails.

Windows 11

When Windows 10 was launched, Microsoft announced that this would be the final version of Windows and they would just keep updating Windows 10.

I’m guessing the marketing people at Microsoft were not happy about that, and so the next major version of Windows is now Windows 11.

For people using Windows 10, there is a good chance you would have been offered an update to Windows 11, or been informed that you computer is not compatible with Windows 11.

Microsoft are tightening security in Windows – I think this is a good thing, however, it places more demands on the computer to provide the additional security. If your current computer reports that it is not Windows 11 compatible, there are a couple of things to check before you continue with Windows 10 or decide to purchase a new computer. The first is enable “Secure boot” and turn on TPM 2.0. An internet search will provide a detailed listing on how to enable those two features.

Microsoft have said that they will support Windows 10 until October 2025. This means that if your computer is not compatible for an upgrade, or you just don’t have the time, you have just under four years to make the switch.

Personally, my laptop was not compatible Windows 10 and was getting sluggish. This led me to look at some Dell deals on Black Friday week. I picked up a reasonably good deal for a new laptop that had Windows 11 installed.

Over the Christmas week I didn’t let the household Omicrom outbreak deter me and went ahead and switched everything over to the new laptop. The task of switching has become much easier with Microsoft 365. Something that I highly recommend – Microsoft 365 is very good value and integrates very nicely with Windows as you would expect.

First Impressions

I tried to hate Windows 11 especially as I was a ”bit grumpy” (My wife’s words) with Omicrom. On the surface, not much has changed in Windows 11. The start menu has been moved to the centre of the screen, rounded corners are all over the place and simple things such as search and file operations just seem slicker.

Despite my desire not to like Windows 11, I absolutely love it. As a user, the only thing that changed for me was the start menu has moved to the centre and that’s it. I use a large monitor and moving the start menu to the centre makes complete sense as it means I don’t have to go to the far left of the screen.

Everything else just looks more polished.

There are some other windows management features that you can use if you want to.

Having looked at the Windows 11 known issues list, there are not a huge amount of issues on there.

I’d highly recommend updating if your computer is compatible.

Until next time,

Stay safe.

Lord Squeaky