Windows 11 - There's still nothing worth my time

Updated: January 15, 2025

Dedoimedo here, reporting for my periodic dose of masochism. Every few months, I power on my test laptop, which has Windows 11 installed on it (in a dual-boot setup), and I check whether anything has cardinally changed in this system. My latest escapade, back in September, was rife with problems.

But it's not all gloomy. I recently read an article on The Register, which shows that not only has Windows 11 user share not grown, it has shrunk! Ah. Beautiful. Music to my ears. After all, I love reading the AI-flavored marketing self-hype by various big-shot executives, side by side with a nice bundle of hard reality check. But it makes sense. Windows 11 is useless, the file manager is slow, Settings is not as good as Control Panel, and hardware requirements prevent people from "upgrading". Well, well, well. Karma and all that. Shall we?

A little side note ...

Before I dig into the gist of my own testing, just a wee reference to Microsoft's hardware requirement mantra. Apparently, Microsoft has decided to stick with its business plan, statistics be damned. 'Tis a game of who blinketh first, the customer or the arbitrary TPM thingie. Now, Microsoft also set the minimum processor version as a requirement, and that's sort of okay (in my perspective). But the TPM nonsense potentially marks even rather new and ultra-powerful computers as unsuitable for the upgrade.

Well, it does not seem to be working, this approach. If there was one good thing about the 2020-2021 period, it's that it taught people to be more frugal with their electronics spending, as apparently even OLD laptops can send emails and show useless Powerpoint presentations just as well as brand new ones.

Like many a techie, I read the article by Microsoft on how TPM 2.0 is necessary for security and all that. Yawn. But you know, marketing language aside, even if that article is 100% true and correct, and how TPM is a non-negotiable requirement and all that, there was one thing in that entire story that completely ruins its own narrative. It's this part:

Check the TPM status of your devices

As an IT admin, you’re responsible for ensuring the security and compliance of your organization's IT infrastructure.

Ah. AH! I'm not an IT admin. I'm a home user. I don't care what enterprises do in their infrastructure. And like me, bajillions of home users don't need to know and care about ANYTHING written in that article. For home users, TPM is not only negotiable, it's completely irrelevant.

So all those high and mighty words about security, which is, by the way, often overrated, means nothing at all for the common grunt. Also, security, as we see every day, is all about backend infrastructure, like telcos not getting hax0red, amirite, and not about home users. After all, in my three decades of computing, 100% of harm to my "computing estate" came from companies being lax with their data in their "clouds", not from any movie-like hax0rology on my local systems.

So, TPM, necessary? No. Not at all. Could it be useful? Perhaps, but I doubt it.

There's another piece of self-contradiction in that article - BitLocker uses TPM 2.0 for encryption key storage. Amazing, except, again, HOME users cannot even run this BitLocker thingie, even if they want. Just check my article on the sad state of Windows (September update above), to see a plenty of lovely screenshots around this BitLocker nonsense.

Now, my testing ...

OK, as always I started with some updates. For a change, this time around, the process was quick and relatively painless. I didn't suffer the tribulations that I witnessed three months ago. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the procedure worked.

Desktop

On the plus side, I also didn't need to go and fix my privacy posture. The stuff stayed.

Privacy configuration

For example, I purged Windows Defender totally, by booting into Linux and deleting all its folders, and it wasn't reinstalled. As it should be. But then, when you think about it, if the system has TPM and encryption, and it's configured in a "clever" way, then you can't have this lovely freedom of deleting unnecessary stuff, now can you?

Security

But, but, but, you can never relax. There's now an option for apps to override your location choice! After all, you must submit your data to the Big Brother, so you can be properly analyzed and profiled. You don't want the big companies to have lower profits because of you, now do you, naughty nerd?

Location override

Why would this be an option even? Why allow apps to override a PRIVACY setting? It's like saying, you're allergic to peanuts, but ALLOW waiters to ignore your request, cor. This is becoming so ridiculous I'm struggling to find words to describe my utter disdain and contempt for these low-IQ games.

Explorer patching

I wrote about how to make Windows Explorer faster, more responsive a couple of times. Early on, you could actually revert to the old, classic thing, but no more. I tried any number of tricks and registry tweaks, but nothing works. You are stuck with the new file explorer, with its slow, slow, stupid interface.

Explorer

Why am I so negative, you ask? Well, reasons:

Tried registry tweak

Explorer, unchanged

At least Open-Shell works correctly, and hasn't been undone by the updates.

Annoyances

On the plus side, you can now disable "notifications" in Settings, or at least, most of them. But then, the overall low-IQ approach remains.

Notifications

For example, this is from the main page of Settings:

Settings, pointless

Just look at those soulless marketing slogans. "It's all here." What's all here? The plague? The Vandals? The Spanish Inquisition? What? "Connect your ... apps to your device." What? What does that even mean in plain human English? How's that even a sentence? Connect? How can you connect software to hardware?

The "insistence" on YER DATA is almost fanatical. Sign in, Bluetooth nonsense. I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but this whole Web 2.0/3.0 whatever enumeration of our lives is utterly ridiculous and annoying and pointless and stupid. I don't care. I don't want to be part of the mindless hive. Leave me alone.

Other stuff?

Well, not much. I didn't bother using this system, because it makes me feel stupid. The basics sort of work, but that's a pretty low bar to aim for. The responsiveness of the "modern" stuff remains horrible. Explorer, the new system tray. Click, and wait, because stuff gotta be rendered. Awful optimization, awful code. Also, awful ergonomics. Overall, this is just another iteration of failure. Iteration, that's a modern word developers like to use, but what it actually means is, instead of making something right once, you do a mediocre job many times over.

Conclusion

It is time to bring another jolly article to its end. What did we learn today? Not much. Plenty. Stupidity prevails. Windows 11 remains useless, the new tabbed Explorer fails its most basic of tests, the system is still rife with nonsense and pointless features, and there's nothing redeeming about it. As the market share numbers show, as I told you would happen. Oh am I basking in smugness. Windows 10 still, STILL has twice as many users, and that share is actually growing. That's all you need to need about this modern new operating failure of a system. That's it. That is it.

Having applied the December patches, I didn't encounter any great issues. The updates were fast, for a change. My privacy posture wasn't harmed. There are still snags, though, so you always must be vigilant. If you used to patch your Explorer, it ain't gonna work no more. No crashes, but no improvements either. All in all, a meaningless chapter in a meaningless story.

Cheers.