Getting rid of Windows 11

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I just bought a new laptop and Win11 certainly is full of bloatware. Even though I've beaten it into submission somewhat already, my intention is to install a "Lite" version of Win 11. I've been running a an NLite version of win 10 for many years and had no trouble so I'm happy with the concept.
I've been noticing that even a fresh image of win 11 is coming with stuff like Spotify and teams already installed. It's becoming an annoyance to remove them.
 
just bought a new laptop and Win11 certainly is full of bloatware. Even though I've beaten it into submission somewhat already, my intention is to install a "Lite" version of Win 11. I've been running a an NLite version of win 10 for many years and had no trouble so I'm happy with the concept.

A few weeks on and I've beaten it a little more into submission to the point where I'm happy enough not to bother with a new lite image. Once you have got rid of all the irritants I can't see what there is to dislike about Win 11, it's very little different to Win 10.

One thing I had been disappointed with was the lack of provision to automatically halt charging at 80% full charge. I discovered that if you use the MyAsus app then it can be done so I should now get a very long battery life. It's lasting 12 hours on a full charge so only having 80% is no hardship.
 
Recently, I purchased a laptop that has Win 11 installed. I hate the program and would like to replace it with Win 10. Does the SSD drive have to be reformatted in order to do this? Is it possible to just replace the O/S without destroying or damaging other files? Is it even possible to go "backward" with the O/S?
Even if you could eventually support will be dropped for Windows 10 and then where will you be.

I have Win10 on work laptop and Win11 on home laptop. I don't notice a big difference. And I see nothing in Win11 that I hate enough to make me want to go back to Win10.
 
From a Debian 12 user, it's interesting to listen to conversations on Windows...
Despite your apparent smugness how much hassle with Firefox, spreadsheets, utilities, back-up, photos, games, music, and other programs do you encounter?

Currently I have zero hassle with Win 10.

I would consider changing but don't want to be a software slave, like the old days of Linux.
 
Despite your apparent smugness how much hassle with Firefox, spreadsheets, utilities, back-up, photos, games, music, and other programs do you encounter?

Currently I have zero hassle with Win 10.

I would consider changing but don't want to be a software slave, like the old days of Linux.
Sorry if I came off as "smug".

The "old days of Linux" are long gone.

I don't use Firefox. I did years ago when it was a good browser. Switched to Brave Browser. Wife uses Chromium Browser on here Linux box.

I don't do spreadsheets but wife does. Seamless coming from her Window version before she retired.

Utilities. I use the command line. Faster and easier. I don't use them very often (don't need to) but most used are apt update, apt upgrade and apt install (if I don't use the package installer). I like doing things this way as I have control of when and how updates happen.

Back ups are done automatically with a program (native) called Back in Time. Wife's computer gets backed up daily and kept for a week. Mine gets backed up weekly and kept for two weeks. My photos get backed up whenever I make a change.

Photos. Like the OP, my hobby is photography and has been since the 1960's. Which is the reason I left my beloved Window XP. I was pretty dumb in those days and didn't keep back ups. When XP took a dump, I lost about 6,000 digital and digitized photographs. I blamed XP, not myself, and moved on. I've since learned but yet to have Linux crash, fingers crossed.

Back to photos. Coming from a long history of film photography (called it quits in 2010) I only shoot JPEG. If you cannot get it right in camera, something is wrong. I do, however, use a Linux editing program called Darktable (native). It's a Linux version of Lightroom. It's only used to convert and clean up digitized film, positives and photographs.

Games? Don't play any.

Music, videos and movie streaming is done using a dedicated Linux NUC box running Debian 12. It's an intel i3 6xxx something (so it's old) with 8g of memory and a small NVME for the operating system. Movies are stored on 5tb and 2tb external HDD's. W play music and DVD's on an external drive.

You can do pretty much anything on Linux than you can do on Windows. Linux has changed immensely in the last ten years, becoming much more user friendly. It's just a different mindset.
 
Sorry if I came off as "smug".

The "old days of Linux" are long gone.

I don't use Firefox. I did years ago when it was a good browser. Switched to Brave Browser. Wife uses Chromium Browser on here Linux box.

I don't do spreadsheets but wife does. Seamless coming from her Window version before she retired.

Utilities. I use the command line. Faster and easier. I don't use them very often (don't need to) but most used are apt update, apt upgrade and apt install (if I don't use the package installer). I like doing things this way as I have control of when and how updates happen.

Back ups are done automatically with a program (native) called Back in Time. Wife's computer gets backed up daily and kept for a week. Mine gets backed up weekly and kept for two weeks. My photos get backed up whenever I make a change.

Photos. Like the OP, my hobby is photography and has been since the 1960's. Which is the reason I left my beloved Window XP. I was pretty dumb in those days and didn't keep back ups. When XP took a dump, I lost about 6,000 digital and digitized photographs. I blamed XP, not myself, and moved on. I've since learned but yet to have Linux crash, fingers crossed.

Back to photos. Coming from a long history of film photography (called it quits in 2010) I only shoot JPEG. If you cannot get it right in camera, something is wrong. I do, however, use a Linux editing program called Darktable (native). It's a Linux version of Lightroom. It's only used to convert and clean up digitized film, positives and photographs.

Games? Don't play any.

Music, videos and movie streaming is done using a dedicated Linux NUC box running Debian 12. It's an intel i3 6xxx something (so it's old) with 8g of memory and a small NVME for the operating system. Movies are stored on 5tb and 2tb external HDD's. W play music and DVD's on an external drive.

You can do pretty much anything on Linux than you can do on Windows. Linux has changed immensely in the last ten years, becoming much more user friendly. It's just a different mindset.
Great answer. If somehow I am required (yeah not there yet) to go to Win 11 and have issues, I WILL change. Maybe just get a 4th SSD and manually swap to be 100% safe.
 
Linux is a totally different mind set and a learning curve. If you have, or can get, an old computer to install Linux on and learn before making the jump. Keeping an open mind and don't give up! Best to get something from 2005 or newer.

Good luck which ever way you go...
 
For those interested in switching, there are "point release" distributions of linux and "rolling distributions"

If you pick a rolling distribution like Manjaro, you will NEVER have to upgrade your machine again. Updates to the OS ARE the new version.

Reading this thread, it must be very attractive to some people. JMO.

-Thomas
 
Photos. Like the OP, my hobby is photography and has been since the 1960's. Which is the reason I left my beloved Window XP. I was pretty dumb in those days and didn't keep back ups. When XP took a dump, I lost about 6,000 digital and digitized photographs. I blamed XP, not myself, and moved on. I've since learned but yet to have Linux crash, fingers crossed.
Only 1 think I want to know.
How did windows xp delete your photos? If a HDD crashed that is hardly windows fault.
 
As for Windows 11 Pro, if you decide to switch back, you can consider getting a buy cheap Windows 11 Pro key. This can make the transition smoother.

If you have a win10 pro, you can upgrade to win11 pro for free. There is no need to buy any keys, unless MS changes their policy, which I doubt they will, since apparently one can still upgrade from win7 to win10 for free to this day.
 
Only 1 think I want to know.
How did windows xp delete your photos? If a HDD crashed that is hardly windows fault.
And the data was probably recoverable. I've seen many system whose OS have become inoperable but the data is easily recoverable simply by placing the SSD/HDD in another system and mounting it, presuming the SSD/HDD was not encrypted.
 
Linux isn't as hard as most people believe it is... In fact, it's far superior to Windows in many ways. I would venture 95% of Windows users could do everything they do now with a good Linux distribution. I actually use both OS's and 100% dislike Windows 11 for many reasons. I have no intention of "downgrading" (Upgrading to 11) as there isn't any benefit. (Unless you like more bloatware and more spying.)

Change is hard... and learning about a new 'system" can be challenging. But... for most people, making the switch is far easier than they are let to believe.
 
Only 1 think I want to know.
How did windows xp delete your photos? If a HDD crashed that is hardly windows fault.
Like I said, Windows XP crashed. Remember this was back in 2005 and recovering data was not so simple then. I took the HDD to a computer shop and they couldn't recover any data.

Today it's easy peasy and I've done it a couple of times with a free Linux program.
 
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I found some new 11 windows for you. :ROFLMAO:
 
Linux isn't as hard as most people believe it is... In fact, it's far superior to Windows in many ways. I would venture 95% of Windows users could do everything they do now with a good Linux distribution. I actually use both OS's and 100% dislike Windows 11 for many reasons. I have no intention of "downgrading" (Upgrading to 11) as there isn't any benefit. (Unless you like more bloatware and more spying.)

Change is hard... and learning about a new 'system" can be challenging. But... for most people, making the switch is far easier than they are let to believe.
I was a Windows only user until Win10 came out. I worked in IT mostly in school districts and they were always Windows based. When Win10 came out I bought an old Macbook just to play around on, then switched jobs to where a Mac is now my main computer. Win11 seems to come with even more annoying bloatware and junk than Win 10 did.

Don't get me wrong, all OS have their quirks, and it's hard to say one is better than the others at everything.
 
I was a Windows only user until Win10 came out. I worked in IT mostly in school districts and they were always Windows based. When Win10 came out I bought an old Macbook just to play around on, then switched jobs to where a Mac is now my main computer. Win11 seems to come with even more annoying bloatware and junk than Win 10 did.

Don't get me wrong, all OS have their quirks, and it's hard to say one is better than the others at everything.

The amount of software that gets packaged in a 11 iso isn't too bad (compared to the big 3 or a smart phone at least) - but it's absolutely stupid to include these in a fresh ISO , especially for Pro ISOs. I don't believe 10 came with any bloatware in it's ISO, here's what's packaged with an 11 iso.

ClipChamp
Spotify
Kindle
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Xbox
Teams (Personal, not Work/School)
OneDrive
 
I was a Windows only user until Win10 came out. I worked in IT mostly in school districts and they were always Windows based. When Win10 came out I bought an old Macbook just to play around on, then switched jobs to where a Mac is now my main computer. Win11 seems to come with even more annoying bloatware and junk than Win 10 did.

Don't get me wrong, all OS have their quirks, and it's hard to say one is better than the others at everything.
Yes, there is no perfect OS. What I dislike most is the telemetry/spying/bloatware. Windows has it. Linux allows you to choose (and delete) what apps are installed without any issues. Most bloat on widows is because we live in the U.S. They (Microsoft) include this because they are paid by companies to bundle it.

The work-around is to select a different "location" (Which won't install much of the bloat). From there you can revert to your country of origin etc.

But then there's the concerted EFFORT on Microsoft's part to make things very difficult to opt-out and well... you get the point.

Linux has none of that crap. Free and open Internet.... Things I would like to see endure.
 
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