We often get asked whether it's a good idea to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. While we can't make the decision for anyone, we can report on John's experience in doing the upgrade.
John did the upgrade and shared what he learned:
"If eligible, you can upgrade your PC from Windows 10 to 11. The upgrade ran smoothly and surprisingly quickly. If you upgrade rather than do a clean install, you will probably keep the programs as-is and won't need to reload indicators. I did that to evaluate it, and after some time, I decided that I didn't like the new version and decided to revert back to Windows 10. Unfortunately, I had passed the 10-day time limit to do so, so I was unable to revert. Since I didn't like the way it was acting and I could no longer go back to 10, I decided to do a clean Windows 11 installation from scratch. This required me to save everything I needed, do the update, then reinstall all my programs. That always takes more than what's expected, at least for me. Make sure you save your files, workspaces, indicators, etc. before doing a clean install.
"I now have a clean install of Windows 11, and it's ok, with no significant improvement over 10. I don't think it's worth doing the upgrade, myself. In fact, I've lost some functionality that I miss, like having seconds displayed in the time in the taskbar, or being able to prevent combining multiple windows into one item on the taskbar. I have installed a 3rd party app to keep windows from combining a programs' windows on the taskbar. Apparently, fixes for these are coming in a future update from Microsoft someday, to restore lost Windows 10 functionality. Most importantly, I haven't seen the touted performance improvement. I don't think there's anything in Windows 11 that I'm using that I couldn't already do in Windows 10.
"Note that your PC must be eligible hardware-wise to install Windows 11. Windows update should inform you if you're eligible. Windows 10 will continue to be supported until Oct 2025, so there's no rush in moving to 11 until that date nears. I will continue to evaluate Windows 11 as updates become available to see if there are any substantial improvements. It seems that PC gamers, who seek to get every bit of performance out of their computers, are starting to upgrade to Windows 11 more and more. Perhaps driver optimizations are becoming more focused on Windows 11 as gamers buy new cutting-edge 3D graphics hardware. I expect improvements to continue, and someday may far exceed Windows 10 performance for gamers.
"My summary: If you buy a new PC and it comes with Windows 11, then go with it. Otherwise, if you don't have a compelling reason to upgrade, enjoy Windows 10 as long as it continues to be fully supported. "
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